This is at Sumo Hall and has 18 matches. There's no real need for this to have 18 matches. If I had to guess why, it would be that they either figured having 50+ people on the show would capture a lot of different fans or they got everyone to chip in to bring down costs. Not a lot of people showed up though and this seems like a giant money loser.
Jaguar Yokota and Shinobu Kandori vs Crane Yu and Dump Matsumoto (with Bull Nakano)
Dump's now been at this for 42 years as she debuted in 1980 and Jaguar's been at this for 45 years, making her debut in 1977. She's still wrestling weekly too which is insane. Dump kendo stick shots an announcer during her entrance. They have some of Dump's other cronies out there but I'm not sure who.
If you can believe it, this is only the 7th time Aja and Kandori have ever been in the same ring. Aja vs Kandori has been a long time dream match of mine and it just never happened. Dump hits Jag with her stick to start and everyone goes outside. Jag is thrown on an announcer and hit with the stick. Crane chokes Kandori with a chain then Jaguar and Kandori are tied together via chain. Bull comes in with nunchuks and hits both.
Kandori fujiwara armbars Dump then Jaguar octopus stretches Crane but Bull interferes. Bull tosses Dump a stick and she hits Kandori, Jag and the ref. Dump hits a nice lariat on Jag and splashes her for 2. Jag gets a trash can and hits her opponents with it and crane lariats Jag. Crane hits a double underhook piledriver on Jag for 2. Jag hits two stiff ddt's on Crane and Dump mists Jag. Jag then rolls up Crane for the win.
It's cool to see the legends and I'm not going to be some jerk that judges this too hard. Getting to see them period is a win. This was real quick, which it should have been and didn't have a whole lot to it. Poor Dump's knees are shot.
Haruka Umesaki, Kyoko Inoue and Tsukasa Fujimoto vs Aja Kong, NATSUMI and Yuna Manase
Aja and Kyoko have been going at it for over 30 years now and they start us off. Aja steps on her foot and takes a big forearm. Yuna and Kyoko shoulder battle and Yuna wins that one. Kyoko lariats her then Tsuka gets in and top rope dropkicks her. She corner dropkicks her. Yuna hits some corner lariats then hits a real nice lariat and a lightning spiral for 2.
Aja release saito suplexes Tsuka for 2. She goes up the buckles and is pulled down then takes corner attacks from her opponents. Tsuka jumps off of both of her partners backs to dropkick Aja. Aja misses a butt drop on Tsuka then gets PK'd. Haruka gets in and pop-up dropkicks Aja. Haruka gets her crossbody caught but Kyoko comes in and pushes her over for a 2 count. Aja double suplexes Haruka and Tsuka.
Natsumi and Haruka go at it. They trade shots and Natsumi hits a face kick on her then a suplex for 2. Haruka comes back with a nothern lights bomb. Kyoko takes corner attacks and Natsumi does a nice bridge pinfall attempt. Kyoko lariats her and Aja hits her in the head with her trash can. Kyoko accidentally lariats Tsuka then takes a sandwich lariat. Natsumi then runs up Kyoko and sunset flips her for 2. Kyoko hits a top rope superplex on Natsumi and wins it.
LOL of course Kyoko gets the win. Some things just never change. It was fast paced and fine but nothing too special. Natsumi's still green and Aja's really getting too old for this stuff. Just a real simple joshi match with nobody doing anything too crazy.
Yuji Hino, Jun Kasai and Satsuki Nagao vs Daisuke Sekimoto, Yuji Okabyashi and Daichi Hashimoto
Hino and Yuji charge at each other to start then trade chops. They butt heads then lariat battle. They then run into each other with a shoulder and both go down. Sek and Nagao trade shoulders then Sek gets a flatliner. Daichi and Satsuki trade chops then Daichi drops him with a forearm.
Satsuki tries chops on Yuji but gets nowhere then gets taken down with just one. Daichi slams Satsuki and knee drops him. Oka slams him and crabs him. Satsuki tries some chops on Oka but gets nowhere then he drills him with a hard forearm and back elbow then knocks him down.
Kasai gets in and running spears Oka then suplexes him. Jun hits a top rope headbutt for 2. Oka suplexes Jun then Sek beats up on Jun some. Jun hits a high angle pedigree for 2. Hino and Sek then did a chop battle and Sek hit a nice german on Hino. Hino no sold it then gave it to him back then Sek no sold it and they lariated each other down.
Satsuki hit a nice dropkick on Daichi then neckbreakered him. Daichi hit Satsuki with a shining wizard in the corner then Oka double lariated Hino and Jun. Oka german'd Satsuki and Sek german'd Oka while he was doing it. Daichi then hit a falcon arrow on Satsuki for 2. We then got a second double german spot with Hino doing it this time then Hino and Sek battled lariats and both went down.
Daichi and Satsuki traded shots and Satsuki drilled him with two hard lariats. Daichi deadlift german'd Satsuki then hit a shining wizard on him. Daichi then won with the STF.
The finish was a little random but this was a real good one. It was a strong style match with tons of stiff strikes and suplexes and far exceeded my expections. It is honestly the best match on the show up to this point.
Zero1 World Junior Heavyweight Title/Zero1 International Junior Heavyweight Title - Fuminori Abe vs Astroman
Astroman is a mascot for a minor league baseball team. He has a pink glove for a mask and is someone from the Z1 roster (probably Shoki Kitamura). They go to the mat early and Astro headscissors him. He then tope con hilo's him on the outside. They get back in and Astro top rope crossbodies him for 2.
Abe does a nice dropkick to the knee then works the leg. Astro springboard dropkicks him then headscissors him from behind off the top. He then hits an asai moonsault for 2. Abe step up enzugiri's him then spin kicks him. They trade punches then Abe hits a nice spin kick. Abe hits a great dropkick then Astro hits something like a shiranui.
Astro misses a 450 then takes a baseball punch. Abe goes for an octopus stretch but gets rolled up for the Astroman win.
This was a quick one and they kept it moving. Abe's offense looked real good here.
Hirotaka Yokoi, Junya Matsunaga, Takafumi & Tsugutaka Sato vs Satoshi Kojima, Tatsuhito Takaiwa, Tiger Mask & Yuji Nagata
Koji shoulders down Sato early then Yokoi gets in and hammerlocks Koji. We get a fight outside the ring with Sato vs the vets then Koj and Takafumi go at it. Junya gets in and Koji slams him then tags to Tiger. Tiget hits some kicks on Junya then spin kicks him.
Junya goes at it with Takaiwa and Takaiwa slams him then puts him in a half crab. Nagata takes out all of his opponents then stares down with 3 of them as the ref gets in between. Nagata running facekicks Junya then Sato and Nagata trade forearms. Nagata and Junya trade forearms then Nagata hits him with kicks.
Tiger dropkicks Junya and armbars him but it is broken up. Tiger camel clutches Junya then Koji hits his machine gun chops on him. Junya throws Koji off the top then Yokoi comes in and hits a bunch of punches on people. He then slams Kojima but Takiawa breaks up his pin attempt with a chair. Takaiwa tries another chair shot and Yokoi punches through it then punches him. Sato and Koji then trade forearms.
Sato hits a nice lariat on Koji for 2 then Koji comes back wit ha cutter. Takafumi and Nagata trade forearms then Nagata exploders him. Takafumi takes a double kick combo from Tiger and Nagata then Tiger armlocks Takafumi. Taka hip throws Tiger then Tiger takes a weird double team combo that is almost like a double underhook. Tiger double underhook bombs Sato. Takaiwa gets in and brainbusters Sato then hits his death valley driver for 2. Takaiwa gets backdropped by Sato for 2.
Everyone's in the ring then Sato does a fisherman's buster for the win on Takaiwa.
It was alright. Nothing too special but at least the right people won instead of the vets getting a win they didn't need. I don't exactly know how much this put over anyone here though. Yokoi only got a little bit of time in here but was fine.
Daiki Inaba and Shuji Kondo vs Naomichi Marufuji and Shoki Kitamura
Shoki came out with a Naohiro Hoshikawa jacket. Hoshikawa was a Zero-1 guy who got injured by Takaiwa and is sadly wheelchair bound.
Inaba and Shoki go at it to start but don't do much. Marufuji facekicks Inaba and Inaba hits some forearms. Inaba then flying shoulders him. Shoki and Inaba forearm each other then Shoki forearms Kond off the apron. Shoki gets 2v1'd as Kondo really stomps on him for payback. Kondo then throws him out and into the seats.
Kondo double stomps Shoki for 2. Kondo corner lariats him and tags out. Inaba back elbows and backdrops Shoki for 2. Shoki hits a running spear. Marufuji gets in and hits some offense then takes a corner cannonball from Inaba. Inaba suplexes him for 2 then the two trade forearms and chops. Inaba sto's him then Kondo hits a lariat/bulldog combo.
Marufuji hook kicks and pump kicks Kondo. Everyone gets in the ring and hits some moves and Shoki triangle enzugiri's Kondo. Marufuji hook kicks Kondo then Shoki germans Kondo for 2. Kondo overhead htrows Shoki then lariats him. Shoki comes back with a dragon suplex then takes a giant lanzarse spear for 2. Kondo hits a big lariat on Shoki and wins it. Shoki and Inaba go at it after and Marufuji pulls Shoki off by the hair.
This was a little rushed and Marufuji did little here. I have no idea why Shoki did the job here. Shoki is supposed to be this big upcoming star for Z1 and they have him job here in a meaningless tag match on their biggest show in 20 years. It's dumb stuff and it's not like Kondo or Inaba are just worth so much that they can't possibly count the lights.
Hideki Suzuki vs Masato Tanaka
Tanaka headscissors him on the mat to start and they trade some holds. Suzuki then headscissors him. They really do little for the first five minutes until Tanaka hits a suplex. Tanaka then clotheslines him on the apron and hits a sliding D off the apron on him.
Tanaka hits him with a stick outside then splashes him off the top through a table. Tanaka then suplexes him off the top rope for 2. Suzuki backbreakers him for 2. They trade forearms then Tanaka hits a sliding D and a top rope frogsplash for 2. Suzuki blocks another sliding D attempt then tombstones him then dragon suplexes him for 2. Suzuki then hits a double underhook suplex and wins it.
I wasn't a fan of this at all. It started off super slow, it was disjointed, they didn't really sell and it was hardly a Sumo Hall semi main event. This was just not either guys best work and there was really no excuse for it.
Zero1 World Heavyweight Title - Takashi Sugiura (c) vs Shinjiro Otani
Otani side headlocks him to start. They shoulder battle and Otani leg sweeps him. Sugi hits a facekick then knocks Otani down with a forearm. Sugi starts working the arm. He ties his arm up in the ropes and kicks the ropes then forearms Otani's arm. Sugi hits come chest forearms.
Otani comes back and does his facewash kick on Sugi then gives him another before a baseball slide to the face. Otani hits a nice top rope dropkick then Sugi gets up and spears him. Sugi hits a running face kick then a running knee in the corner. Sugi top rope superplexes him then running knees him for 2. Sugi then grounded guillotines him.
They trade forearms then Otani gets german suplexed into the buckles. Otani gets legitimately injured and the match ends.
I knew there was an injury coming into this, but how do you really cover something like this and not cover the main? I thought it was a decent match up until the injury but it's hard to say too much when we could be missing a lot of the match. Hopefully Otani will be okay, but there's been too many serious injuries to older wrestlers lately and something has to be done.
Overall thoughts: I don't really have time to watch 18 matches, especially when they don't really mean anything. The crowd wasn't allowed to cheer which hurt all of these and none of them were really anything special. They had too many matches to get in and too many people to put on the show, so people got squeezed in to multi-man tags and none of those matches were as long as they should have been. What I saw really wasn't anything too special and it's a shame a lot of the younger Z1 guys who could have maybe used this to get over weren't put in big spots on the show.
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