All Japan Pro Wrestling 8/21/2023 10th Oudou Tournament Day 2

All Japan Pro Wrestling 8/21/2023 10th Oudou Tournament Day 2

Here's what I saw:

Shuji Ishikawa and Ren Ayabe vs Hikaru Sato and Dan Tamura 

Black Menso~re is the ref here. Ren and Sato start us off. Ren hits a forearm and they trade strikes. Dan and Shuji get in. Dan doesn't give him a clean break and they shoulder battle. They trade forearms and Shuji forearms him. Ren hits corner forearms. Shuji tells Menso to look at something then he hits Dan on the apron. Ren and Shuji then stand on Dan together.

Ren elbows Dan then slams him. Ren and Shuji then take turns slamming Dan. They trade forearms and Ren flying clotheslines him. Ren crabs Dan and Dan ropebreaks. Ren goes for a suplex, is blocked and Dan suplexes him. Sato hits chest chops and kicks on Ren. Sato knee dropkicks him and enzugiri's him.

Ren sideslams him then running facekicks him. Ren legdrops him. Sato rolls him up then Ren slams him. Ren suplexes him. Menso goes to make the count and Dan karelin's lifts him for some reason. Dan's team isn't disqualified and things just go on like that didn't happen.

Dan running shoulders Shuji in the corner then flying shoulders him. Dan samoan drops Shuji then Shuji takes corner attacks. Dan 2nd rope shoulders Shuji for 2. Ren running facekicks Dan then Shuji running knees Dan for 2. Dan running lariats Shuji and knocks him over. Shuji and Dan trade forearms then Dan death valley drivers him. Dan grounded guillotines Shuji and the time runs out.

I don't know what this was or was supposed to accomplish, but it went long, had a bizarre moment when the ref got suplexed and wasn't any good.

Sayaka Unagi and SAKI vs ZONES and Chi Chi

Menso is the ref again. What is this, a budget issue? Unagi's team is hit at the bell. Zones forearms Saki then zones and Chichi double elbow dro pher. Chichi wants to do a pose and Zones ignores her. Chi is tripped and then held for a face kick.

Saki kind of does a surfboard then Unagi slams Chi for 2. Unagi camel clutches Chi and bangs her head off the buckle. Saki stomps Chi in the corner. Chi hits a forearm flurry on her chest and Saki pokes her in the stomach. Chi facekicks her then Zones gets in. Zones hits shoulders on both opponents then double lariats them.

Zones corner lariats Saki and Saki lays her on the top rope. Saki step up knees her in the corner then 2nd rope vader bombs her for 2. Unagi running facebusters Zones then legdrops her for 2. Zones racks Unagi while Chi octopus stretches Saki. Zones lariats Unagi.

Chi forearm flurries Unagi against the ropes and dropkicks her in the gut for 2. Chi 2nd rope dropkicks Unagi then Unagi facekicks her. They trade facekicks and Chi goes down. Chi superkicks her in the chest then suplexes her. Zones top rope dropkicks Unagi then Chi top rope dropkicks Unagi for 2. Unagi codebreakers Chi. Chi takes a double running boot combo then Unagi sliding euros her for 2.

Chi rolls up Unagi. Unagi lifts her and in the gori special position almost makes her head touch her feet causing Chi to tap out.

It was just average. Zones really get what she is doing and Chi Chi played the face in peril here. None of these girls are great workers so a great match wasn't expected.

Oudou Tournament 2023 First Round Match - Hayato Tamura vs Jun Saito

They shoulder battle and Tamura shoulders him over. Jun then shoulders him frum behind and knocks him out of the ring. Jun hits double axe handles and they trade shots in the ring. Jun slams him then elbow drops him. Jun slams him then crabs him.

Tamura gut kicks and ddt's him. Tamura 2nd rope shoulders him then corner lariats him. Jun blocks his lariat then Tamura hits a stiff lariat. They trade chest chops and Jun hits a headbutt. Jun headbutts him again and they lariat battle. Jun running facekicks him for 2 then suplexes him. Tamura hits a nice lariat for 2.

Tamura hits more lariats then hits a big running lariat to win it.

It was very short but they made it into a fun one. It could have been a little faster in the first half but we got some hoss goodness here.

 Oudou Tournament 2023 First Round Match - Suwama vs Fuminori Abe

The ref checks Suwama for weapons and Abe baseball punches Suwama. Abe backslides Suwama then hits chops. Abe hits another baseball punch and flies on a dropkick. Suwama then wins it.

We thankfully got a few boos for this. This was bogus. They got about 27 seconds. It was a good 27 seconds but these guys could have gone a half hour and done a good one. I was very disappointed by this and I hope there was a good reason for this nonsense.

Oudou Tournament 2023 First Round Match - Kento Miyahara vs Atsuki Aoyagi

 

AA = Atsuki Aoyagi

AA dropkicks to start and Kento ducks his standing moonsault. Kento hits a headlock takeover, AA headscissors him and they stand off. AA ducks a lariat then does Kento's dropkick to the knee and side of the head. AA does Kento's pose then Kento takes him out of the ring and hits headbutts.

AA hits forearms then Kento takes him onto the ramp and ddt's him. Kento headbutts him then running facekicks him. AA is popped up and dropkicks him. AA 2nd rope armdrags him and dropkicks him. AA goes up to the 2nd rope outside and is pulled down by Kento. Kento piledrivers him on the apron and sends him flying to the floor.

They get back in the ring. Kento hits a step up knee in the corner then AA hits back elbows, a step up enzugiri and a handspring back enzugiri. AA misses a top rope moonsault. Kento pumping knees him on the ropes then AA superkicks him. AA fisherman's suplexes him and Kento pumping knees him. AA corkscrew kicks him in the head. AA hits two top rope moonsaults in a row for 2 then misses a 450.

AA tries some pin attempts then Kento delay germans him for 2. AA tries another pin attempt and nearly gets him. Kento then pumping knees him and straightjacket germans him for the win.

I didn't like the piledriver on the apron spot. It was just was not sold enough as Atsuki was back up on his feet right after. I liked Atsuki stealing Kento's moves and even I thought he might have gotten the upset near the end on one of the pinfall attempts. I really hate to knock it down over one spot as it was a fun match.

Oudou Tournament 2023 First Round Match - Yuma Aoyagi vs Ryuki Honda

Honda headlock takeovers him and they stand off. Yuma hits a nice dropkick then is shouldered over. Honda knee chokes him ove the 2nd rope then mocks the ref count when she tells him to break it. They trade forearms then Yuma ddt's him. Yuma mocks the ref's count several times. Yuma piledrivers him for 2.

Yuma hits corner punches then bites Honda. He then counts along with the ref again when she tries to break it. Yuna running forearms him in the corner then they trade forearms. Honda suplexes him then spinebusters him. Yuma germans him on his head then backdrops him. Yuma top rope elbows him. They go up top and fight and Honda superplexes him.

Honda hits a corner lariat then Yuma corner knees him. They trade forearms and Yuma release germans him on his neck. Yuma spin kicks him in the face for 2 then fisherman busters him for 2. Honda rolls him up then Yuma rolls him up with a bridge. Honda hits a big lariat then exploders him for 2. Hona hits a running lariat then does a running one-armed powerbomb for the upset win.

Yuma and Honda have words after then Kento and Honda have words on the mic.

It went a little longer than it needed to but it was a decent main event with a surprising upset win. Good on Honda for finally getting somewhere after being a consistent performer.

Overall thoughts: The main and semi main were fine. The opener was not good and went to a draw. The Suwama/Abe match was a straight up robbery and the women's match was average. I wouldn't really recommend this one.