All Japan Pro Wrestling 1/3/2025 New Years Wars 2025 Day 2

All Japan Pro Wrestling 1/3/2025 New Years Wars 2025 Day 2

Day 1 is here: https://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2025/02/all-japan-pro-wrestling-122025-new.html

Hikaru Sato, Naruki Doi, Seigo Tachibana, Seiki Yoshioka & Yuko Miyamoto vs. Atsuki Aoyagi, Dan Tamura, MUSASHI, Rising HAYATO & Taishin Nagao

SY = Seiki Yoshioka

Nagao and Doi go at it. Nagao hammerlock takedowns him. Doi reverses it and Nagao reverses it. Doi side headlocks him. Doi shoulders him over then Nagao dropkicks him. Doi shoulders him over then Nagao dropkicks him. Nagao hits stomps in the corner and both tag out.

Dan and Sato go at it. Sato wristlocks Dan and they trade forearms and chops. Sato spin kicks him then Dan slams him. SY and Rising get in. Rising chops him then armdrags him off the hiptoss. Rising running back elbows him. Rising teases a dive but SY moves. Rising poses and is stomped. Everyone fights outside.

Rising takes corner attacks in the ring. Seigo come in and running facekicks Rising after an atomic drop. Rising running dropkicks him. Atsuki gets he. He 2nd rope twisting crossbodies Seigo then dropkicks him. Seigo STO's him.

Yuko gets in. He double boots him out of the corner and hits a spinning heel kick. Yuko superkicks him in the gut then takes a handspring kick off the ropes. Musashi gets in and chops Yuko. Musashi dropkicks him in the knee, double stomps his back and basement dropkicks him for 2. Musashi step up enzugiri's him. Yuko overhead belly to belly suplexes him. 

Musashi gets hit by SY while running the ropes and this is weird as SY is his partner. Doi then flipping sentons Musashi. Seigo facekicks Doi on a failed double team. Doi takes a double dropkick then Musashi falcon arrows Doi for 2. SY comes in and scissors kicks Musashi. Dan flying shoulders SY over then Dan takes a double suplex. Nagao hits a top rope double dropkick then Rising springboard plancha's out. Seigo tope con hilos out and Atsuki 2nd rope moonsaults out. Musashi goes for a dive and is tripped by Doi.

Doi hits doi fives on Musashi then is superkicked. Doi crucifixes Musashi for 2. Doi goes for another hold and Musashi crucifixes him for 2 and then for the win.

Thoughts: It was long for an opener at 15 minutes but the match was fine. They did some dives, they had a little lighthearted stuff with Seigo and Musashi/SY and it was fine overall.

Musashi gets on the mic after and has words for Doi. Doi has some words back and they seem to set up a match for Doi's title.

ELPIDA (Ren Ayabe & Ryuki Honda) vs. Hokuto-gun (Hartley Jackson & Jack Kennedy)

Ren and Hart go at it. Ren clean breakers him on the ropes. Hart side headlock takeovers him and is put in a headscissors. They stand off. Jack and Honda shoulder and forearm battle. Jack shoulders him over.

Jack slams and elbow drops him for 2. Honda shoulders him over. Honda chokes Jack on the ropes. Jack takes a double shoulder. Ren hits forearms on Jack in the corner. Ren slams Jack. Honda corner lariats Jack then chinlocks him.

Jack and Honda trade forearms. Jack boots him out of the corner and flying shoulders him. Hart tags in. Hart corner splashes Honda. He lariats and sentons him. Honda running spears Hart. Ren hits forearms on Hart then flying neckbreakers him. Ren running facekicks Hart in the corner for 2.

Hart enzugiri's him. Jack corner splashes Ren then fallawa slams him for 2. Ren takes corner lariats from both opponents. Jack splashes Ren for 2. Hondaz and Ren hit corner attacks on Jack then Honda spears Jack. Ren running dropkicks Jack for 2.

Jack lariats Ren then suplexes him. for 2. Ren hits a big dropkick on Jack. Ran spinning sitout gordbusters Jack and wins.

Thoughts: It didn't quite get the time to develop into anything special. What we got was fine though. It was the most we have seen of Jack so far in AJPW and he did a good job with some heavyweight offense.

Yuma Aoyagi vs. Fuminori Abe

Abe wrist and hammerlocks him. Yuma reverses it. Abe is put in a headscissors. They get up and stand off. Abe kimura takeovers him and punches Yuma's hand. Yuma bites Abe's leg. Abe hammerlocks him then slaps him. Yuma misses a dropkick and gets PK'd.

Abe hammerlocks Yuma. Abe kicks Yuma in leg. Yuma tries to throw him out, Abe holds on but Yuma dropkicks him off the ropes. Abe is sent into the rails. Yuma then ddt's him on the floor.

Abe's head is banged off the apron for 2. Yuma slams and 2nd rope elbow drops Abe. Yuma then piledrivers him for 2. Yuma does Abe's rope trick where he pulls himself in and mocks him. Abe then dragon screws him for it. Abe spin kicks Yuma then kicks him in the back.

Abe spin kicks Yuma in the gut then kicks him in the back. Yuma hits forearms on Abe, tries his rope trick again and gets nailed. Abe then figure fours him. Yuma brainbusters Abe for 2. Abe hits a big forearm, takes a facekick, does his rope trick and baseball punches him. Abe no sells a brainbuster then does a baseball punch on Yuma.

Abe hits a big slap on Yuma. Yuma does an abdominal stretch and is put in an octopus. Abe gets a 2 count on Yuma. Abe is pushed out and does his rope trick again but Yuma gets a pin attempt off of it. Yuma backrolls him into a bridge and Abe tries a pin off of it. Yuma backslides him and wins.

Thoughts: I didn't like it at all. It was basically all comedy and the endless spots where they held onto the ropes to avoid going out got really old. This also went longer than it needed to. 

Davey Boy Smith Jr., Kento Miyahara & Ryo Inoue vs. Hokuto-gun (Cyrus, Hokuto Omori & Kuma Arashi)

Omori backs up Ken on the ropes and blows a kiss. Ken tries to throw Omori into the rails but Omori grabs the post to escape it. Davey and Kuma get in. They do a double knuckle lock. Kuma back body drops him then Davey shoulders him over.

Cy and Ryo go at it. Ryo hits forearms and kicks Cy in the knee. Cy shoulders him over. Cy suplexes him then hits a twisting vader bomb elbow drop off the 2nd rope. Omori's team tries a tower of doom spot and just ends up powerbomning Omori. Ryo comes off the buckles, misses and is stomped on by the heels for it.

Cy catches Ryo off the ropes and swinging side slams him for 2. Kuma gets in and Ryo fling kicks him. Davey comes in and slams Kuma. Davey then legdrops Kuma for 2. Kuma racks Davey then samoan drops him off of it. Omori is tagged in and top rope dropkicks Davey. Davey makes a tag off of it.

Omori and Ken trade forearms. Ken dropkicks Omori in the knee and the side of the head. Ken poses for the crowd and gets low blowed by Omori. Cy corner splashes Ken then Omori cutters Ken. 

Omori misses a top rope splash on Ken. The two trade forearms Ken blocks a low blow then hits one on Omori. Davey backdrops Omori then Ken delay straightjacket germans Omori for the win.

Thoughts: It wasn't that interesting. They didn't really get enough time nor did they try do a classic here and a lot of the segments just kind of felt disjointed from each other.

Shotaro Ashino vs. Yuma Anzai

Sho and Yuma go to the mat and grab each other. Sho shoulders Yuma over. Sho blocks a flying knee and goes for the ankle lock. Sho takes Yuma over and takes a flying knee. Yuma running knees Sho off the apron. Sho belly to belly suplexes Yuma on the floor.

Sho then giant swings Yuma into the rails. Sho kicks the rails into Yuma's leg. They get back in and Yuma hits forearms. Sho wraps Yuma's leg around the ropes. Sho pulls Yuma off the buckles and pulls on his leg. Sho does a calf-crusher variation to him. Sho then switches to an STF.

Yuma hits a belly to belly suplex on him. Yuma then hits a double underhook suplex for 2. They trade forearms. Sho hits a pop-up shot then Yuma dropkicks him. Yuma's all busted open somehow. Sho ankle locks Yuma. Yuma gerams him and takes a backdrop. They no sell and hit more suplexes. Yuma flying knees him from behind then gets lariated. 

Sho powerbombs Yuma for 2 and switches to a leg lock. Yuma hits a german for 2. Yuma flying knees Sho for 2. Yuma hits a gimlet on Sho and wins.

Thoughts: I didn't like the match. Sho worked the leg and Yuma completely forgot about it. They no sold a bunch of suplexes and Yuma getting busted open sadly got wasted on this. They did seem like they are going to work well together too but it wasn't as good as it should have been.

AJPW World Tag Team Title Match - Saito Brothers (Jun Saito & Rei Saito) (c) vs. Daisuke Sekimoto & Hideki Suzuki

Jun wristlocks Suzuki. Jun clean breaks Suzuki and they shoulder each other over. Rei and Sek go at it. Rei throws him over. They shoulder battle. Sek dropkicks him then Rei shoulders him over. Jun elbow drops him. Jun is on the apron and Sek lariats him off.

Suzuki throws Jun into the rails outside and slaps him around. Suzuki is thrown into a Rei bodyblock outside. Suzuki takes a spike piledriver on the floor. Rei chokes Suzuki around the rails. Suzuki gets 2v1'd outside. Jun shoulder Suzuki over inside. Suzuki tries to fight back and is double teamed in the corner.

Jun slams Suzuki then Rei stands on Suzuki's gut. Jun then joins Rei in standing on Suzuki's gut. Jun suplexes Suzuki for 2.

Suzuki enzugiri's Jun. Sek shoulders over Jun when he gets in. Sek suplexes Rei. Sek corner spears Jun then backbreakers him. Sek sentons and splashes Jun for 2. Jun and Sek trade chest shots. Jun running spears Sek. Rei lariats Sek on the ropes. Rei slams him then splashes him for 2.

Rei hits chops on Sek in the corner. Sek 2nd rope dropkicks Rei. Suzuki comes in and garvin stomps Rei. Suzuki twists Rei's neck with his feet. Suzuki neckbreakers him then slaps him around in the corner. Suzuki boots him out of the corner and hanging headscissors him over the top rope.

Rei is double teamed with shots from both opponents. Rei takes a double backdrop. Suzuki forearms him in the face for 2. Jun hits a double clothesline then Rei in corner lariats Suzuki. Suzuki takes a double hiptoss. Suzuki takes a double chokeslam and a Rei elbow drop for 2. 

Suzuki throws Jun off the top rope. Seki racks Jun and Suzuki does an octopus onto Rei. Suzuki forearms Jun in the gut several times. Sek double suplexes his own partner and Jun.

Sek and Rei lariat battle. Rei hits him in the throat and Suzuki dropkicks Rei. Suzuki and Rei trade. Rei slaps him and gets punched in the face multiple times. Suzuki hits elbows to the side of Rei's head. Suzuki hits kicks to the chest. Rei powerbombs Suzuki and wins.

Thoughts: The match was okay but it was a long match on a show filled with long matches. I thought Suzuki had a better performance than usual but Sekimoto is just not doing his best work in AJPW and I don't understand why. The Saito's won this one as expected and I thought they did alright with this one.

The Sait's talk on the mic after. Yuma Anzai comes out and seems to want a tag title match.

Overall thoughts: There were only 6 matches and all of them went long. That made for a longer and slower show that was tough to get into. The main was the best thing on here but it wasn't a classic and went too long. Ashino/Yuma showed some promise but the selling was bad and that brought it down. The opener was okay but I didn't care for the rest here. I'd give this one a 4 out of 10 overall as it was too slow of a show for me. I wouldn't recommend it.