All Japan Pro Wrestling 9/8/2023 Giant Series 2023 Day 3
Osamu and Fuchi start us off. Fuchi headlocks him and Osamu headscissors him. Fuchi headscissors him and Osamu headstands out of it. Osamu abdominal stretches him then Fuchi dropkicks him. Nagai eye rakes Fuchi, is booed and yells at the crowd for it. Inoue then helps nagai stomp Fuchi.
Nagai does Fuchi's headlock + punch spot then Kaz gets in. Nagai eye rakes Kaz then Kaz does a weird corner move to Nagai and punches him. Inoue rubs his knuckles in Kaz's eyes then Osamu sleepers Kaz. Ryuji gets in and hits kicks on Osamu.
OSamu hits forearms on him then does the spinning toe hold. Kaz breaks it up. Fuchi does his headlock + punch spot on Nagai. Inoue corner clotheslines Fuchi then Fuchi backdrops him. Nagai eye rakes Fuchi then Fuchi blocks Inoue's slam, falling on him. Fuchi then cradles Inoue and wins it.
You know the deal here. It was slow, there wasn't any crazy spots and they did the best they could with this. I don't know why it went over 9 minutes then 5 would have been fine.
Astronauts (Fuminori Abe & Takuya Nomura), Koji Iwamoto & Ryo Inoue vs. STRONGHEARTS (El Lindaman, Shigehiro Irie & T-Hawk) & Junjie
This is Koji's first match in AJPW since he left in 2021. He has only done really small indy shows, minus one Tenryu show. The crowd is hyped for him.
Linda dropkicks Koji in the back and they proceed to kill off a hot crowd in seconds by not flowing well together. Koji shoulder throws Linda. Junjie and Nomura go at it. Nomura slaps him and hits a nice dropkick. Junjie does kung fu on him and they tag out. Irie shoulders over Ryo then Ryo dropkicks him. Nomura is double dropkicked and piledriven onto Ryo.
Ryo is put in a crab then Irie stands and sits on him while T walks on him. Ryo 2nd rope dropkicks Junjie. Abe slap flurries Junjie then hits a nice dropkick on him. Abe spin kicks Junjie then kicks him in the back at 5 minutes. Junjie forearms him then hits a blue thunder. Abe step up enzugiri's Irie then Koji and Irie trade forearms.
Irie canonballs Koji against the ropes then Koji lariats him. Ryo messes up a triangle enzugiri on T then kicks him for 2. Everyone starts coming in to get a move in and Irie black hole slams Abe during that. Irie cannonballs nomura then is backdropped by Ryo. Ryo is popped up into a Linda german then Linda tope con hilos onto everyone. T hits a sit out reverse slam on Ryo then does a high angle fire thunder on Ryo to win it.
It was a short match with everyone trying to squeeze something in before it ended. It was okay an had some highlights, but it wasn't going to be anything more than it was.
Evolution (Dan Tamura, Hikaru Sato & Suwama) vs. Burning (Jun Akiyama & Yusuke Okada) & Sanshiro Takagi
This is a unique and unusual DDT vs All Japan 6-man. All 6 fight at the bell and 4 of them go out to fight. Jun and Suwama go at it and Suwama hits shots. Sato takes Takagi up into the stairs and Dan and Okada wrestle around. Sato hits Takagi with a rail then Suwama and Jun go out. Jun is snet into the rails. Dan and Okada have the greatest mini-brawl ever, dueling a rail vs a chair and just stiffing each other hard. They then slap each other. Okada is ddt'd on the floor and Suwama sends Jun into another rail.
Jun and Suwama battle in the crowd and Jun hits him with an umbrella. Dan and Okada continue the fight and Jun trades forearms with Suwama. Suwama drops Jun by putting him in a sleeper on the ropes. Dan samoan drops Jun for 2. Jun hits headbutts on Dan then takes forearms and a lariat. Dan hits a stiff lariat on Okada then hits a death valley driver on Jun. Jun powers up and jumping knees him. Jun hits a stiff lariat on him for 2.
Suwama belly to belly suplexes Okada into the ropes then Jun hits knees on Dan. Jun exploders Dan for 2 then guillotine chokes him. The ref then stops it as Dan is unable to continue.
This was a great 7 minute brawl. Super heated, out of control fighting and a hot crowd. It doesn't get that much better than this and this is easily one of my favorite matches of the year. This was easily the best thing everyone outside of Jun and Suwama have ever been involved in.
Kairi and Sareee start us off. Sareee hits a chest forearm then takes a hard chop. They grab each other by the hair and forearm each other at the same time. Anou and Unagi go at it. Unagi hits a forearm flurry on the ropes then Sareee comes in and dropkicks Anou. Anou takes a sandwich boot to the head. Anou 2nd rope dropkicks both opponents.
Anou trips Unagi and running headhunters her. Anou then does an indian deathlock and Kairi baseball slides Unagi while she's in it. Kairi running dropkicks Unagi in the corner and Unagi is bullied on the ropes. Sareee top rope crossbodies two opponents at once then top rope dropkicks Unagi. Kairi and Sareee trade chest forearms.
Sareee dropkicks Kairi on the ropes then dropkicks her through the ropes. Sareee fisherman suplexes Kairi for 2 then Kairi ddt's her off a suplex attempt. Anou running knees Sareee then step up enzugiri's her. Unagi codebreakers Anou then Saree M. Bison stomps Anou while she is seated.
Unagi swinging facebusters Anou then legdrops her for 2. Unagi suplexes Anou then Anou top rope hurricanrana's her. Kairi hits a headhunter on Unagi then Anou fisherman suplexes Uangi for 2. Anou and Unagi slap each other. Anou step up enzugiri's her, takes a facekick then they both slap each other at the same time.
Kairi jumps off of Unagi's back to punch Anou then Kairi axe kicks her. Kairi spears her then sliding forearms Unagi. Unagi takes a flying forearm into a german then Kairi does a cross legged boston crab while Anou does a headscissors on Sareee. Kairi forearms Sareee off the apron then Saree dropkicks Anou and Kairi over.
Unagi does her twisting bridging flatliner on Kairi on the floor then Kairi double stomps Unagi as she hangs form the top. Kairi tries to pin Unagi but Sareee top rope double stomps her. Unagi hits a frogsplash on Kairi for 2 then Kairi takes a combo sliding d + basement dropkick. Unagi does a nasty dominator to Kairi then Anou germans Sareee. Sareee germans her in return and all four girls are down. Kairi uraken's Unagi then hits a top rope elbow drop on her to win it.
They tried for a classic here but I don't think they really hit the mark. They just didn't do enough in the first half of the match to justify the big spots in the 2nd half. And they really did do some big stuff in the 2nd half, going all out for this. Unagi tried here, but she's just not a top worker. Her moveset isn't that great and she just does not have the mastery of the basics that Kairi and Sareee do.
Gungnir Of Anarchy (Masao Hanabatake, Ryuki Honda & Yusuke Kodama) vs. Zennichi Shin Jidai (Atsuki Aoyagi, Rising HAYATO & Yuma Aoyagi)
Yuma gives Honda a scroll. Honda takes it then everyone fights. Honda release germans Yuma and running lariats him. Everyone fights outside and I think Yuma gets sent into the rails off-camera. The faces are all down outside. Back in and Honda beats up on Yuma. Honda puts his knee on his opponents on the ropes and he counts along with the ref when he starts counting. Honda gets all three of his opponents at once on the ropes.
Kodama slingshot sentons Yuma then Yuma dropkicks him. Atsuki flips out of Kodama's irish whip and 2nd rope armdrags him into a dropkick. Hayato and Atsuki double dropkick Masao then Atsuki corkscrew knees Kodama. Honda and Yuma get in and trade forearms. Yuma flying forearms him then they trade running corner moves. Yuma germans Honda on his head an Honda no sells it. Yuma rock bottoms Honda for 2.
Honda exploders Yuma. Masao and Kodama get in. Yuma hits boots on Masao in the corner. Masao flying dropkicks Yuma then Honda running lariata Yuma. Masao hits a b-driver on Yuma for 2. Masao has Yuma on his shoulders and Hayato flying dropkicks him, which sends his own partner flying with Masao.
Honda is popped up into a superkick then takes a handspring corkscrew kick. Masao is picked up for a double fisherman's suplex but is slammed forward instead of backward. Atsuki and Rising then do stereo plancha's outside. Yuma fisherman suplexes Masao for 2 then twisting fisherman suplexes him to win it.
It was a short sprint. It was entertaining though with the heavies working fine with the juniors and being able to keep up with the fast pace. I didn't think much of this on paper, but they really made everything they could of this and kept it action packed from start to finish. Fun match.
Toshizo and Taru are with the Saito's. Rei and Ren start us off. Ren is immediately hit from behind then Shuji and Jun go out to fight. Ren and Rei trade chops for forearms. Ren running kicks him and is hit by Toshizo when running the ropes. Ren takes a double footchoke then Jun drops him with a chest kick. Jun elbow drops him for 2.
Rei slams Ren then Rei and Jun stand on Ren. Rei hits a chop flurry on Ren then side slams him for 2. Ren neckbreakers Rei. Shuji running lariats Rei then 2nd rope double stomps him. Rei back body drops Shuji then corner lariats him. Shuji then corner lariats him. They trade chops for forearms then lariat battle.
They headbutt battle and Shuji running knees him. Rei slaps and lariats him. Ren and Jun shoulder battle then trade forearms. Jun shoulders him over then Re icorner lariats Ren. Jun facekicks Ren then Ren does a flying neckbreaker. Jun takes a corner lariat and facekick then Shuji running knees him. Ren top rope dropkicks him for 2 as Taru pulls the ref out.
Ren hits facekicks on both opponents then lariats Taru and Toshizo off the apron. Jun and Ren trade forearms then Jun headbutts him. Ren dropkicks Jun then falcon arrows him. Taru throws powder in Shuji's face then Rei hits Ren in the back with a stick. Ren takes a double chokeslam then Jun's lariat. Jun suplexes Ren into a Rei top rope splash then Jun wins with a weak uranage style slam.
It was a non-stiff hoss match. All of Ren's offense looked super weak and nobody really stiffed each other at all even though they can all take it. It was disappointing as we don't get to see these guys trade with people the same size as them often and they did not make the most of their opportunity. The match was okay, but still ended up being a letdown.
Kento has very red hair for this one and it looks like he dyed his hair with turnips. Yuma gives him a clean break but Kento does not. Kento facekicks him then takes a dropkick. They go outside and Kento is sent into the rails. Kento then facekicks him on the rails. Yuma jumps off the rails with a forearm on him then misses an apron dive.
Kento running facekicks him against the rail, hits a headbutt and sends him into the post. Kento drops Yuma with a headbutt outside then rams his head into the rails. Kento headscissors him and Yuma tries some forearms. Yuma hits a nice belly to belly suplex then forearms him in the corner. Yuma double underhook suplexes him for 2. Kento sits on the top rope and is dropkicked to the floor. Yuma comes off the apron and takes a pump kick. Kento then piledrivers him on the apron.
Kento running pumping knees him in the corner and Yuma no sells his german. Yuma then germans him. They trade forearms then Kento facekicks him and running knees him. Kento hits another facekick then is slapped and dragon suplexed. Kento lariats him then hits a pumping knee.
Yuma blocks a pumping knee and hits a forearm. Kento flying pumping knees him then takes a flying knee. Yuma hits another flying knee for 2. Yuma germans him for 2. They collide with knees in the air and Yuma flying knees him in the back of the head and the face for 2. Kento hits a pumping knee then lariats him. Kento pumping knees him then straightjacket germans him for the win.
This was your usual Yuma singles match with him taking a beating as the underdog and coming back with flying knees. Kento then of course shut him down and won it. They did more in the beginning than the usually do with the apron moves and the finishing stretch was okay with them going for various knee strikes. It was a good main and was well done minus the apron piledriver, which I didn't really like.
Overall thoughts: I saw all but the 2 opening matches. It was a good show with everything but the old timers match being at least decent. The main was good. The semi-main was a little disappointing but not awful. The trios match with Honda should have been a throwaway but was fun. The women went all out and I loved the AJPW vs DDT trios match.
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