All Japan Pro Wrestling Excite Series Day 4 2/23/2021

All Japan Pro Wrestling Excite Series Day 4 2/23/2021

I skipped one match here.

Akira Francesco & Alejandro vs. Purple Haze (Izanagi & Zeus)

Ale and Iza do a little lucha to start with Ale doing a nice springboard armdrag. Iza takes a double elbow and dropkick. Zeus gorilla presses Akira, but he escapes only to get put in a sleeper. Zeus then swings him around while in the sleeper.

Ale comes off a springboard with a dropkick on Iza then he and Zeus blow a spot before Zeus goes out. Alejandro then flip drives onto Zeus and Iza on the outside. Ale springboard splashes Iza and Zeus clears out Akira. Iza hits a brainbuster for 2 but Ale comes back with a tilt-a-whirl into a roll-up. Iza then rolls him up into a choke with an armlock and wins it in a quick one. 6 minutes just isn't enough to do anything and that's all they got here.

All Asia Tag Team Title #1 Contendership Three Way Match - Evolution (Dan Tamura & Hikaru Sato) vs. NEXTREAM (Atsuki Aoyagi & Rising HAYATO) vs. Enfants Terribles (Hokuto Omori & Yusuke Kodama)

Rising and Dan trade forearms to start. Kodama gets 2v1'd by Rising and Dan, who shake hands and then turn on each other. Sato chest kicks Kodama. Aoyagi gets thrown into the ropes an does a handspring ezugiri, then Rising springboard dropkicks Kodama. Rising and Aoyagi then do stereo plancha's to the outside. Sato puts a double leg lock on two opponents which Rising breaks up with a springboard elbow. Rising then hits a falcon arrow on Sato.

Omori spinning elbows Aoyagi then catches him with a german when he handsprings off the ropes. Omori then hits another high german but Dan interrupts the pin attempt. Omori criss-crosses Dan into a cutter  then jumping cutter's Aoyagi for a close 2. Rising then assists Aoyagi with a crucifix bomb on Omori for the win. This was way too short for the amount of people involved and for a title shot.

Enfants Terribles (Koji Doi, Kuma Arashi & Shotaro Ashino) vs. JIN (Jake Lee & Koji Iwamoto) & TAJIRI

Doi and Tajiri go at it to start with Tajiri taking a shoulderblock. Kuma walks on Tajiri's gut then Doi copies him. Lee and Ashino do little until Ashino belly to belly suplexes him then hits Karelin's lift. Ashino then does a running european uppercut.

Ashino takes a 3v1 by his opponents for 2. Lee and Ashino trade some euro's and Lee gutbusters him for 2. Ashino does a nice german an ankle locks him. Kuma and Doi throw their opponents into Ashino then watch as Lee pins Ashino. Ashino, Doi and Kuma have a stare down after and Hokuto Omori comes out and low blows Ashino. Kodama then comes to Ashino's aid before super kicking him in the face. Kuma then lariated and top rope senton'd and is apparently kicked out of Enfants Terribles.

Ashino goes over to Lee for help but Lee knocks him down with a forearm and stomps him. Iwamoto tries to stop it, then he gets nailed too. Lee then joins Enfants Terribles in stomping both and Ashino is thrown out. Lee then walks out with Enfants Terribles and has seemingly joined the stable in a surprise. This was short and most of it was a waste of time.

AJPW World Tag Team Title Match - NEXTREAM (Kento Miyahara & Yuma Aoyagi) (c) vs. Abdullah Kobayashi & Daisuke Sekimoto

Kento and Abby counter each other early. Sekimoto takes a 2v1 and lariats both opponents when thrown into the ropes. Abby and Kento fight outside with Abby going into the post and no selling Kento's headbutt. Abby still bleeds though and Nextream works on the cut with Yuma's punches and more Kento headbutts.

Kento slaps around Abby then bites his cut. Kento tries a slam but gets slammed instead by Abby and Sekimoto comes in. The Big Japan team puts double submissions on Nextream but Yuma escapes his and helps Kento escape his. Yuma gets thrown into the buckles but comes back with a crossbody off the 2nd rope then crossbodies Sekimoto off the top.

Yuma hits some superkicks and runs off the ropes but takes a Sekimoto lariat. Sek and Kento go at it for a bit. Sek tags in Abby who gets stuck up top. Kento tries to superplex him and it takes a while but he gets him over. Abby takes a Kento knee and Yuma boot in the face. Kento can't get Abby over for a german and the BJW team capitalizes. Abby germans Sekimoto while Sekimoto germans Kento. Abby then drops an elbow onto Kento from the top for 2. Abby goes for another but Kento moves.

Yuma and Sekimoto trade some forearms and Yuma takes an exploder but doesn't sell it. Yuma then superkicks Sekimoto. Yuma wakes up Kento who nails a pumping knee into Abby's face. Kento tries it again but hits his own knee trying to nail Abby in the head. Kento then hits a slow german and wins it.

This was fun at times and had more potential than what was delivered. I can't really prove it, but it seemed like whoever set this match up told the AJPW guys not to give the BJW guys too much credibility. They just didn't show Sekimoto and Abby the respect they should have and didn't sell that much for them.

Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship Match: Suwama (c) vs. Kohei Sato

Slow start here, then they finally start exchanging some chops and forearms after about 5 minutes. Sato leg kicks him down and then leg locks him. They get up and Sato continues on the knee work, and puts a calf crusher type of move on him.

Suwama starts a comeback and hits a belly to belly. Sato comes back though with chest kicks. Suwama rolls out to the apron but is kicked off of it then Sato drops a knee off the apron to the floor on him. Sato continues the beating when they go back in but Suwama ddt's him. Suwama hits a german but Sato doesn't sel lit, then Suwama no sells Sato's german before hitting a lariat.

They get up and trade some forearms and Suwama wakes up a little with a chop flurry and a lariat. Suwama then slams him with a hard german suplex for 2. Suwama charges into a forearm and takes a falcon arrow for 2. Sato goes for a german but it gets reversed and he takes a backdrop. Suwama hits another german on him and a spinning lariat. Sato comes back with a headbutt and some forearms, dropping Suwama. Suwama hits another lariat after a failed powerbomb attempt at 20 minutes then he backdrops him again. Suwama hits a nice running dropkick and another backdrop.

Suwama hits two really hard lariats and Sato barely kicks out, then he backrops him for the win.

The early part of the match was a complete waste of time that was slow and boring. The second half just didn't have much flow to it but atleast they hit some hard shots. The crowd also not being able to cheer really hurt this one. 

Overall thoughts: Not a great one. The semi-main was maybe my favorite on the show but it could have been a lot better. It was clear the undercard guys were given almost no time in their matches due to restrictions and it hurt their matches. Some of the guys didn't even bother trying due to it.