Dramatic Dream Team 1/30/2022 - 2022 Ultimate Tag League Opening Round
I didn't know Ino is doing a copycat gimmick of Danshoku Dino's shtick going into this, but he spent half the match with his pants off and his butt showing and I couldn't bear to finish it. Imanari rolled up Shunma to win it. Don't expect anymore matches with Ino's new gimmick to get reviewed here.
Hirata and Ueno leapfrog each other early and Hirata tries to put on glasses but Kondo stops him. Takeshita gets some shots in on Hirata's stomach and Ueno does a nice vader bomb style double knees to Hirata. Takeshita then sentons Hirata. Ueno has Hirata in a camel clutch. Kondo breaks it then stomps on his own partner much to everyone's confusion. Hirata dropkicks Takeshita from the 2nd rope but then gets a brainbuster. Hirata is very tired out but hits a tilt-a-whirl headscissors and tags out.
Kondo gets in and puts Ueno on the middle rope where he drives him down with his boot. He then does his big lanzarse spear for 2. Kondo tries to pop up Ueno for a move but gets hurricanrana'd. Takeshita hits a flying shoulder to Kondo. He then forearm combo's him and then hits a release dragon suplex. Kondo blocks his spear then hits a big lariat. Hirata tags himself in and eats Takeshita's boot. They trade forearms and Hirata enzugiri's him but eats a nice high knee. Ueno puts Hirata in a very high boston crab then Takeshita does the same to Kondo. Hirata tries to tap out but Kondo stops him from doing so and the holds are broken.
Ueno half and half suplexes Hirata for 2. Hirata then gets double single arm powerbombed but Kondo breaks the count. Kondo takes a double dropkick then Hirata is superplexed and frogsplashed. Kondo breaks the count again. Kondo and Takeshita lariat battle and Hirata almost gets a surprise pin on Ueno. Hirata goes for a frogsplash but Ueno block it then Takeshita hits knees on both oppoents. Takeshita picks up Hirata and Ueno does a springboard doomsday device leg lariat for 2. Ueno then wins it with a double jump moonsault.
I didn't like some of the comedy with Hirata but the dynamic between Kondo and Hirata grew on me as it went on. I think Hirata kicked out of a little too much though.
Ultimate Tag League 2022 Block A Match - Burning (Jun Akiyama and Tetsuya Endo) vs Yuji Hino and Yukio Naya
This is a good looking match. Naya hits a hard forearm and knee to start on Endo then throws him into the rails. Naya then throws Jun into the rails and nails some hard shots on him outside. Hino grounds Endo for a while. Endo and Naya trade forearms and Endo is thrown on a slam.
Hino does a big senton on Endo for 2. Hino tries to slam Endo but Endo turns it into a ddt. Jun gets in and hits a sliding knee on Hino for 2. Hino and Jun trade chops. Jun gets the better of the forearms but is belly to belly suplexed.
Naya gets in and avalanches Jun in the corner and hits some big knees to the gut. Jun comes back though with a big knee and tags back out. Endo springboard forearms Naya and goes for a handspring back elbow but is german suplexed. Naya hits a big splash in the corner on him and they try to double flapjack Endo but it gets botched.
Jun comes in and hits exploders on both opponents but Hino no sells it and exploders him. Endo hits a handspring kick on Naya for 2 but then gets superplexed. Naya nails Endo with a running knee to the chest for 2. Jun shining wizards Naya and naya fights them off with forearms and tries to do with a facekick but gets an exploder. Endo standing SSP's Naya then then hits a spinning sitout bomb for 2. Endo then top rope ssp's him for the win.
It went a little longer than it needed to with some slow sections. I thought Naya took a little too much as well. It seemed like they going for a match where the smaller guys get beat on then make a big comeback and while they did do that, the comeback never really ended and it hurt the bigger guys. It still wasn't a bad effort, just it could have been done better.
Ultimate Tag League 2022 Block B Match - Calimari Drunken Kings (Chris Brookes and Masahiro Takanashi) vs DISASTER BOX (HARASHIMA and Naomi Yoshimura)
Masa and Harashima chain wrestle early then Brookes and Yoshimura do the same. Brookes and Yoshimura shoulder battle. Brookes and Masa try to double boot Yoshimura but Brookes has longer legs and Masa can't do it. Disaster Box gets tied together in a fujiwara armbar and octopus stretch combo.
Harashima hits some pendulum knees on Masa in the corner and Masa brainbusters him. Brookes bridges Harashima on the top rope then swinging neckbreakers him. Harashima evades an octopus stretch and shotgun dropkicks him. Yoshimura suplexes Brookes while he is seated on him then they trade running moves in the corner. Brookes and Yoshimura trade chops. Brookes hits a running high knee then takes a judo throw.
Harashima superplexes Masa for 2. Masa goes outside and trips him then Brookes senton atomico's him from the 2nd rope. Brookes and Masa do it again but this time, Yoshimura takes a dropkick as Brookes falls. Disaster Box misses a double team and Harashima takes a slingshot cutter from Brookes. The ref gets put on Harshima as he is bent over and is used to hit a code red.
Everyone starts getting some moves in and Bookes slingshot cutters Yoshimura. Harashima hits some kind of meteora/dropkick combo on a seated Brookes then falcon arrows Masa for 2. Harashima does a gorilla press double knee to Masa then Masa rolls him up out of the figure four and wins it.
I thought this went too long and didn't see any real story or logic to it. It was slow and they saved most of the bigger moves for the last 2 minutes.
DDT Universal Title Match - Daisuke Sasaki (c) vs Minoru Fujita
Really not sure about this one. Fujita spears Sasaki early and Mad Paulie beats up on Fujita outside. Fujita strangeholds Sasaki but he hits the ropes and breaks it. Fujita starts a "we will rock you" chant and splashes Sasaki in the corner.
Sasaki steps on Fujita's face but Fujita bites his foot. Sasaki diving clotheslines him then dragon screws him. Sasaki then does it as Fujita is tied up in the ropes and figure fours him but Fujita breaks it on the ropes. Fujita tries a top rope hurricanrana but Sasaki holds on and Fujita goes down alone. Sasaki then top rope elbows Fujita in the lower back and ankle locks him. Sasaki goes back to the ankle lock but Fujita breaks it.
Mad Paulie trips Fujita on the outside then Sasaki tries to tope Fujita but hits his partner instead. Fujita top rope splashes him for 2. He then tombstones him for another 2 when Paulie pulls the ref out. Paulie tries to use a chair but gets stopped. They fight over the chair and Fujita gets a low blow when he tries to use it, then is nailed with it. Fujita then dropkicks Sasaki in the nuts.
They go up top and Fujita hits a top rope tombstone for 2 on a very slow count. Sasaki gets some offense in and is rolled up for 2. Fujita goes for another tombstone but Sasaki does a cool reversal on it and tombstones him. Sasaki then wins with a crossface.
This went too long at around 19 minutes and wasn't anything special. I don't know why companies are putting Fujita in main events lately but he's over the hill and really not that good. Sasaki kind of worked the knee here for a little but not enough to make it a big part of the match.
Overall thoughts: I saw 5 of the 7 matches. They all went longer than they needed to and in front of a crowd that can't cheer, long matches aren't a great idea. I wasn't a huge fan of this though Akiyama's match and Kondo's matches were half-good.
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