Well with two big days of Wrestle Kingdom approaching, let’s set the table with another Japanese promotion’s two day affair!

Now the New Year is quite a busy time for many Japanese promotions. Many foreign fans flock to Japan at this time, not only to take in the New Year traditions, but because the whole country is ripe with tons of wrestling.

Today we look at All Japan, which has had back to back New Year dates at Korakuen Hall for quite some time. This first day we have the traditional Battle Royal, which is about a serious as a samurai duel between two clowns covered in Vaseline, but usually at least entertaining. The notable matches being the two semi-final matches for the now vacant Junior Championship and the World Tag Team Championship main event.

So let’s see how All Japan kicks off the year!

Ratings:

• Rising HAYATO, Akira Francesco  & Danny Jones  vs Dan Tamura, Yusuke Okada & Atsuki Aoyagi: Francesco wins via Swinging Fisherman’s Neckbreaker @5:35 – **
• Jake Lee, Naoya Nomura & Fuminori Abe vs Takao Omori, Jun Akiyama & Black Menso-re: Jake wins via Backdrop Driver @8:15 – ** 1/2
• Great Kojika, Frank Atsushi & Abudllah Kobayashi vs Tajiri, Great Sasuke & Masanobu Fuchi: Tajiri via Roll-Up @10:15 – *
• New Year Battle Royal: Atsuki Aoyagi, Akira Francesco, Danny Jones, Jake Lee, Naoya Nomura, Black Menso-re, Fuminori Abe, Osamu Nishimura, Yusuke Okada, Rising HAYATO, Takao Omori, Dan Tamura & Chikara: Danny Jones wins @7:35 – **
• Omori Hokuto, Yuma Aoyagi, Kento Miyahara & Yoshi-Tatsu vs Izanagi, Shigehiro Irie, Utamaru & Lucas Steel: Steel wins via Sitout Side Chokeslam @10:15 – *** 1/4
• Kagetora vs Hikaru Sato: Sato wins via Cross Armbreaker @12:35 – *** 1/4
• Susumu Yokosuka vs Koji Iwamoto: Susumu wins via Jumbo no Kachi @10:30 – *** 1/2
• World Tag Team Championship: Violence Giant (Suwama & Shuji Ishikawa) vs Zeus & Ryoji Sai (c): Violence Giants win via TKO @18:15 – *** 3/4 – TITLE CHANGE!!!

Analysis:

Rising HAYATO, Akira Francesco  & Danny Jones  vs Dan Tamura, Yusuke Okada & Atsuki Aoyagi – Solid opening match with younger wrestlers, and we got a lot of Akira and Okada Akira was trying to avenge a loss from the Junior Battle of Glory, and we saw some great stuff. Rolling Double Stomp, nice transitions and surprisingly, Akira hits a Swinging Fisherman’s Neckbreaker for the pinfall. A surprise to everyone. Looks like Okada will have an early year rival.

Jake Lee, Naoya Nomura & Fuminori Abe vs Takao Omori, Jun Akiyama & Black Menso-re – This was actually a lot of fun. Jake and Takao started off, Nomura tried his hand at Akiyama, and Abe and Menso-re were fantastic comedy. Abe and Menso-re were what felt like the bulk of the match because they did so much between decent ring work, mocking each other, comedy spots and Abe trying to use the “Sha” against Menso-re. Eventually Jake Lee tagged in and put an end to the fun. Being that he has the title match on tomorrow’s show, there was no way he was taking the comedy route to a loss. Biggest takeaway was Fuminori Abe and how well he could do most things in the ring, I believe his home is BASARA, so I might have to look into more of that promotion.

Great Kojika, Frank Atsushi & Abudllah Kobayashi vs Tajiri, Great Sasuke & Masanobu Fuchi – Oh boy…old guy mostly joke match. A little curious why it’s third on the card, but if it’s anything I’ve learned about New Year Wars, aside from the title matches, it’s not really a completely serious affair. Sasuke and Kobayashi have a …ki grappling spot. Imagine using the Force to lock in Headlocks and Arm Wringers….I think I need to join Jim Cornette in the Emergency Room for this. I wonder if Frank Atsushi is called Frank because he has a giant hot dog on a stick weapon…but I don’t really care all at the same time. An errant Hot Dog, hits Kojika, Tajiri mists Frank, Roll-Up and the match is thankfully over. Yes, I know what I wrote.

New Year Battle Royal: Atsuki Aoyagi, Akira Francesco, Danny Jones, Jake Lee, Naoya Nomura, Black Menso-re, Fuminori Abe, Osamu Nishimura, Yusuke Okada, Rising HAYATO, Takao Omori, Dan Tamura & Chikara – Jake Lee starts off with early kicks and then we get the Triangle Necklock Human Centipede spot. Jake gets ganged up on, until everyone turns on Black Menso-re, but it’s all just a clever ruse to make Jake think he can join in the Scoop Slams, before everyone pushes Black Menso-re onto Jake and get the first dog pile elimination. Akira gets eliminated over the top rope, Nishimura and Nomura are simultaneously eliminated when they get double pinned during a Figure Four attempt. A few quicker pinfalls with Fuminori Abe flipping off everyone. Last 3 are Danny Jones, Black Menso-re and Fuminori Abe, who would’ve guessed. Abe tried to Hurricanrana Jones, but couldn’t hook the legs, got reversed and Menso-re helped keep him down. Superkick and Falcon Arrow give Danny Jones the victory.

Omori Hokuto, Yuma Aoyagi, Kento Miyahara & Yoshi-Tatsu vs Izanagi, Shigehiro Irie, Utamaru & Lucas Steel – Lucas Steel was the surprise partner for the freelancer team. He has impressive size compared to the other competitors, nice intensity and crisp striking. He could definitely be a gaijin force in All Japan. Everyone got a few moments, Yoshi-Tatsu and Kento continue to be never really on the same page, but this was Lucas Steel’s match. He looked great and they fed the young wrestler Omori Hokuto to him for the finish. He wins the match with a Sitout Side Chokeslam (think the South of Heaven Chokeslam that Punishment Martinez/Damian Priest uses). Solid match, possible new threat to Kento and the Triple Crown title. Sets up things very nicely.

Kagetora vs Hikaru Sato – This match is all in hopes to crown a new Junior Champion since Atsushi Aoki passed away suddenly last year after a motorcycle accident. Kagetora is a Dragon Gate staple. Most of his titles are tag or trios, but he does have a couple singles titles to his name. Sato however, was a close friend of Aoki and a member of Evolution, so this carries much more weight for Sato.

As a match, there was a lot of stiff striking and transitions from Sato using his mat game. Kagetora hit a few high impact moves like All or Nothing, but couldn’t finish the match. He looked to be setting up Guramakakarikai but couldn’t complete the move. After a Backdrop Driver that got a near fall, Sato looks for the submission. Never locking in his full Ude-Hishigi-Gyaku-Juji-Gatame, he gets the job done with keep the Juji-Gatame locked in and forcing Kagetora to tap.

Susumu Yokosuka vs Koji Iwamoto – Setting up the finals we see another Dragon Gate junior, looking to cement themselves with another company’s title.Much like Kagetora, the bulk of his championship gold is for tag and trios, but he has seen Junior Heavyweight gold. Iwamoto was the one Aoki beat for the title, so in a way Iwamoto would be seen as a favorite since he’s the most recent champion.

This match was a little more intense and had a lot of back and forth. Iwamoto kept trying to stem Susumu’s momentum with his Judo Throw, but everything he did seemed to always be defensive. The strikes were fierce, a few finishing attempts Yokosuka Cutter and Jumbo no Kachi Gatame from Susumu and Iwamoto kept leaning on the Judo Throw he calls Koko no Geijutsu. Susumu blocked it a few times, and kept rocking the former champion with Lariats, until one last Jumbo no Kachi finished him off and sets up a finals between Susumu and Sato.

World Tag Team Championship: Violence Giant (Suwama & Shuji Ishikawa) vs Zeus & Ryoji Sai (c) – Violence Giant earned this shot because they won the Real World Tag League. Not too much set up necessary since winning a tournament is pretty self-explanatory.

The match started off with Zeus trying to play the enforcer role for his team while Ryoji starting things off, working over Suwama with strikes. A major issue for Zeus is the fact that both Suwama and Shuji are bigger than he is, so even though Zeus looks sculpted out of stone, it’s hard to enforce against giants.

A couple exchanges took a little too long to set up or came off a little weird, so this definitely wasn’t the best match from either team. However, it was tough, with big moves from 3 out of 4 big guys. The finish was awkward because after tandem lariats that sandwiched Zeus, Suwama hit him with a Running Lariat that seemed to knock him out. After a small delay, the referee decides to count Zeus down, 10 count happens, Zeus can’t answer the count, so Violence Giant win via technical knockout.

Overall Score: 6/10

Since Day 2 is headlined by the Triple Crown Championship match, with the Junior title finals, it was easy to assume this was the weaker of the two days. Personally, I just wish it wasn’t so obviously weak. There’s an argument to be made that the tag team match should’ve gone over bigger, but Zeus may have been legitimately hurt, so they had to improvise.

Some big takeaways for me would be the fact they’re investing some time and energy in Okada and Akira’s feud, to help raise up a thin Junior division. Violence Giant being champions again is never bad, especially given that Tokyo Sports has said they were the best tag team for 3 years straight. Should also be interesting to see if Sato can win the belt for himself and the memory of his close friend, or if the Dragon Gate outsider ruins the happily ever after.

With everything considered, the show set a couple pieces in motion…just the action in general was lackluster to put it nicely. Not a bad show, actually, a very easy watch. Just nothing really great to push the event over the top.