FREEDOMS 3/23/2023 The Gekokujo 2023

FREEDOMS 3/23/2023 The Gekokujo 2023

Gurukun Mask & Takahiro Katori vs. F-SWAG (Jun Masaoka & Yuya Susumu)

We join this in progress. Katori splashes Yuya and they flip on him and hit a baseball slide. Katori steup enzugiri's him then Mask gets in. Mask and Yuya trade forearms then Jun backrolls him into a ddt for 2. Mask takes a stunner over the top rope then Jun slingshot elbows him. Jun punches Mask in the gut then grabs him by the mask. Jun then hits a curb stomp.

Mask takes a double suplex then Mask bulldogs Jun onto Yuya. Mask then 2nd rope connectors both opponents outside. Katori dropkicks and backdrops Yuya. Jun hits Katori in the back with something from the outside. Yuya russian legsweeps Katori then Jun axe kicks him. Katori hurricanrana's Jun and Jun puts the ref in his way. He low blows and superkicks him then Jun does a neat headlock driver for the win.

It was a little rushed but it was okay for an opener with some fast action. 

GENTARO, Rekka & Tatsuhito Takaiwa vs. ERE (Dobunezumi Fukki, Kyu Mogami & Toshiyuki Sakuda)

We join this in progress. Gentaro slaps Kyu then Kyu puts his hands in his pockets. Gentaro headbutts him in the chest then eye pokes him. Gentardo ddt's and bites him. Takaiwa gets in and elbows Kyu in the nose.

Kyu is put in the corner and Gentaro eye pokes him again. Rekka slams his arm over his shoulder. Kyu puts his hands in his pockets again and stands up to Rekka then Rekka forearms him. Kyu facekicks Rekka. Fukki gets in and backdrops Rekka then Fukki hits an angels wings for 2.

Rekka hits a top rope dropkick for 2 then Rekka does a botched spinebuster onto Fukki. Gentaro gets in and elbow drops Fukki then misses a top rope elbow. Sakuda finally gets in and chinbreakers then running euros Gentaro for 2. Gentaro hits a nice northern lights on Sakuda for 2 and tags in Takaiwa. Takawai chops Sakuda and corner lariats him. Takaiwa goes up top and is caught then Sakuda throws him off the top.

Kyu's team hits running corner moves on Takaiwa then lariats Takayuki Ueki, who seems to be Kyu's team's manager today.  Sakuda takes a backdrop from Gentaro then a Takaiwa lariat for 2. Ueki comes in again and running headbutts Takaiwa. Sakuda then crucifix bombs Takaiwa to win it at 10:38.

This wasn't that good. It just went too long and was just missing something.

Daisuke Masaoka, Mammoth Sasaki & Takashi Sasaki vs. Rina Yamashita, Toru Sugiura & Yusaku Ito

Daisuke Masaoka, Mammoth Sasaki & Takashi Sasaki vs. Rina Yamashita, Toru Sugiura & Yusaku Ito

We join this in progress. Toru and Takashi are fighting outside and Rina's trying to trade shoulders with Mammoth which is just stupid. Rina somehow shoulders him over. Masaoka and Takashi double shoulder Toru. Ito facekicks Takashi and Toru throws a chair for Rina to catch but Rina gets hurt off of it somehow. Ito and Sasaki trade forearms then slap each other over the head. Toru and Rina put on masks for some reason then double shoulder Takashi and do his pose.

Takashi hits them both for it then takes a double suplex. Takashi ddt's Toru then Toru and Masaoka trade forearms. Toru headbutts him then takes a superkick. Masaoka flying kicks him then takes a spinning forearm for 2. Rina enzugiri's Mammoth then Mammoth suplexes her. Rina grabs Mammoth and Takashi by the nbuts then nut kicks Masaoka.

Rina and Toru mess up something and Rina comes off the top and nails Toru, who is in the way. Ito brings a bunch of chairs in and Takashi is slammed on them. Takashi then takes a michinoku driver on them for 2. Mammoth chokeslams Ito on them and has a chair thrown at him. Takashi high kicks Toru and suplexes Rina then Ito takes corner moves. Mammoth powerbombs his own partner Takashi to superplex Ito.

Masaoka asai moonsaults opponents outside then Ito kicks Mammoth in the nuts and rolls him up. Mammoth lariats him then chairs a chair that is around his neck. Ito breaks a chair over his own head then Mammoth chairs him. Mammoth brainbusters him for the win.

This was a mess with Rina and Toru screwing up and the goofiness of Rina being treated as a serious threat.

King Of FREEDOM World Junior Heavyweight Title Match - Kamui (c) vs. Dragon Libre

Libre headscissors Kamui then dropkicks him. Libre tope con hilos him then Kamui back body drops him. Libre puts him in the tree of woe then dropkicks him. They trade forearms and Libre misses a dropkick. Libre is PK'd for it then dropkicks him. Libre top rope crossbodies him and ddt's him for 2.

Libre spinning neckbreakers him for 2 then puts him in the rings of saturn. Kamui apron ddt's him then hangs him over the top rope where he is top rope double stomped for 2. They trade forearms then Libre dropkicks him. Kamui cradle shocks him. Kamui goes up top and is stopped. Libre top rope hurricanrana's him for 2. Libre hits a lightning spiral for 2 then dragon suplexes him. Kamui comes right back with a lariat.

Libre does a la mistica into a bow and arrow then code red's him. Kamui enzugiri's him twice then tiger drivers him for 2. Kamui blue thunders him then hits a 450 for the win.

I just didn't think it was anything special. It went longer than it needed to and there was just nothing super exciting about it.

Kamui was attacked after.

Fluorescent Lighttubes Alpha Death Match - Jun Kasai & Masashi Takeda vs. Abdullah Kobayashi & Drew Parker

Abby from Big Japan is in here.

Drew and Takeda get tubes to start then nail them over each others heads at the same time. They trade forearms and both of their backs go into the tubes on the ropes. Drew is thrown out and Takeda hits him with a tube there. Jun and Abby trade then flurry punch each other at the same time. Abby goes down then he russian legsweeps him on knives. Abby headbutts tubes into Jun's head.

Drew gets in and throws darts at Jun's back then Jun tries to stick a dart in Drew's throat. Jun lariats Drew then Takeda gets in and rakes scissors across Drew's face. Jun ddt's drew with some kind of weapon in hand then Drew and Takeda trade forearms. Takeda is put on a chair and asks Drew to forearm him. Takeda puts a tube in Drew's mouth then knees him in the back to force him to bite on it. Drew is then slammed onto a chair.

Jun corner lariats Drew then Drew does a rope feint into a back cutter. Abby shining wizards Jun then tries to elbow drop a board with forks on it into Jun, but Jun turns it around so it goes into Abby. Takeda then punches a chair into Abby's face. Takeda scraps scissors onto Abby then Abby does a bad uraken and spin kick.

Drew top rope hurricanrana's Takeda then suplexes him. Takeda shotgun dropkicks tubes into Drew then running meteoras a nail board into him for 2. Takeda then swantons tubes onto him for 2. Drew has a nail board chaired into his arm then Drew and Takeda trade forearms. Drew hits him with the nailboard then half nelson suplexes him. Drew then jumps up and knee presses him before Takeda kicks him in the chest. Jun gets back in and has skewer sticks put in his head. He kicks Drew in the nuts then puts skewer sticks into his head. They break tubes over themsleves and Jun lariats him. Drew takes a sit out pedigree and Jun tells him he loves him. Jun goes up top and is stopped. Drew superplexes him while Abby powerbombs Drew in a dumb move.

Drew hits a styles clash on Jun then misses a top rope swanton. Takeda hits him in the back with a nailboard then Jun does a top rope double underhook canadian destroyer..only for 2.  Drew is chokeslammed and top rope splashed for 2. Jun and Drew trade then Jun hits a sitout double underhook driver for 2. Jun then sit out straightjacket piledrivers him for the win.

They did way too much as customary. The top rope double underhook canadian destroyer not meaning anything was pretty bad. I think it went a little longer than it needed to and Drew was in this a lot more than Abby was, which is probably a good thing. The crowd liked it but it was a weapons fest with the moves and wrestling being secondary to the weapons.

King Of FREEDOM World Title Glass Board Alpha Death Match - Violento Jack (c) vs. Tomoya Hirata

They trade shoulders early and do chest slaps. Jack dropkicks his knee then Hirata shoulders him. Jack is lariated over the top then tope'd on. They trade chops outside then Hirata gets thrown into a barbed wire board on the inside. Jack puts barbed wire around his head then puts a tin can lid contraption on his back. Jack then sentons it into his back.

Jack chairs his back and they trade chops. Jack then sideslams him onto the side of a chair. Hirata bodyblocks tubes into Jack's body then runs a barbed wire board into his body. Hirata then top rope dropkicks him for 2. They trade forearms and Hirata powerslams him for 2. Hirata goes to set up chairs outside and is tope con hilo'd. Hirata then is slammed with a chair on his back.

They go up top and Jack finlay rolls him off the apron onto a glass pane bridged on chairs. They run into each other with light tubes and trade forearms on their knees. Jack buzzsaw kicks him then does a gorilla press gutbuster for 2. Jack top rope swantons tubes into Hirata but Hirata no sells it and germans him. Jack spin kicks him.

Jack goes op top and is caught then he takes a top rope german through a glass pane bridged on chairs. They lariat battle and trade kicks. Hirata hurricanrana's him then hits a big lariat. Hirata side slams him then misses a top rope moonsault. Jack lariats him then package piledrivers him for 2. Jack breaks tubes over his head then throws a giant stack of tubes at him. Hirata runs through tubes to lariat him then Jack hits punches. Hirata forearm club flurries him then hits a uranage. Hirata then hits a nice spinning lariat or 2 and wins it with a german.

The no selling was an issue as always here and they did way too much as customary. If top rope germans through glass and apron finlay rolls aren't doing it, what will? Aside from that, Hirata was likely as usual as the underdog face and he bled a ton all over the place.

Overall thoughts: This was about the usual efforts from Freedoms. The main and semi main are crazy matches and the rest of the show has a mix of vets and smaller indy wrestlers who sometimes click and sometimes don't. I really didn't care much for the undercard matches and the top matches had big spots but weren't that great.