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Purotopia Catch-All Thread 2014


Graham Crackers

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I haven't ordered any UStream New Japan since Wrestle Kingdom, but I'm thinking the June 3rd BOSJ card looks like it could be worth paying to see.  There's a natives vs. gaijin theme throughout that seems pretty fun, and it gives us TAKA vs. Matt Jackson and Liger vs. Ricochet. 

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Is Big Japan having a down year or is it just no one around here watches it? Only one match nominated.

 

Did everyone just go elsewhere to talk about puro?

Definitely a down year with Sekimoto (though he just returned), Sasaki, and Okabayashi out. AKA their 3 best wrestlers. And now Ito is the champion again. Some enjoyable matches but there's been nothing fantastic for a while.

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Is Big Japan having a down year or is it just no one around here watches it? Only one match nominated.

Did everyone just go elsewhere to talk about puro?

 

 

Heh, I barely post on or read forums period anymore and am years behind on BJW. 

 

But anyways, the recent result I read did have me going WTF at BJW. 

 

Not just Ito winning the title but Ito winning it infront of 341 fans. 

 

Really highlights the problems with the company. He hasn't had the belt in 2 & 1/2 years but it still feels stale as shit because minus a few new names coming along every now & then THE COMPANY NEVER FUCKING CHANGES AND IT'S THE SAME SHIT OVER AND OVER AND FUCKING OVER AGAIN. 

 

Company desperatly needs a new booker because they've been re-hashing the same formula since 2005 or so. 

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Don't worry, with everyone getting so run down and injured, by the time that happens they'll either be out of business or the guys won't be able to walk anymore, so they'll have no choice.

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Is Big Japan having a down year or is it just no one around here watches it? Only one match nominated.

Did everyone just go elsewhere to talk about puro?

 

 

Heh, I barely post on or read forums period anymore and am years behind on BJW. 

 

But anyways, the recent result I read did have me going WTF at BJW. 

 

Not just Ito winning the title but Ito winning it infront of 341 fans. 

 

Really highlights the problems with the company. He hasn't had the belt in 2 & 1/2 years but it still feels stale as shit because minus a few new names coming along every now & then THE COMPANY NEVER FUCKING CHANGES AND IT'S THE SAME SHIT OVER AND OVER AND FUCKING OVER AGAIN. 

 

Company desperatly needs a new booker because they've been re-hashing the same formula since 2005 or so. 

 

 

They don't seem any worse booking wise than any other Japanese company to me. Not going to defend Ito being a good worker or anything but New Japan does the same thing with Tanahashi. Every company has an ace, and with Ito's 15 year anniversary shows coming up it makes some sense that they'd put the belt on him. I assume Takeda will get the belt next and it is a bigger deal for him to get it from Ito. Every company follows the similar booking formula, but Big Japan hasn't had severe splits like All Japan or NOAH that would force them to change much. The big problem is their roster is split into two and they can't do much about it. Like they can't headline with fresh title matches like Yuko Miyamoto vs. Daisuke Sekimoto, or Yuji Okabayashi vs. Masashi Takeda, because obviously they're built around deathmatches and a good chunk of their roster wont do them.  The deathmatch guys challenging for the Strong Title seems like a step down, and the Strong guys are obviously not willing to make a career out of deathmatches so they can't really take that belt. So what else can they book?

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I refuse to go anywhere else. I used to go to the puroresufan forum, and nothing against them but I decided years ago that one forum was enough for me.

Wise decision.

The 10 to 12 of you with opinions is enough for me.

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BJW did go through a split of sorts. When Kasai and Takashi Sasaki formed freedoms that immediately took Kasai out of anything that mattered and Sasaki won't do mid card work for them. They had a star in Takeda and they never put the strap on him. The Kobayashi and Ishikawa reigns were so poor in match quality and Kodaka is fiiiiiine but I'm not a big fan and I haven't really bought any of his wins. Ito sucks. I hate his whole weak ass offense, his horrible physique, the formula to his matches is so predictable, this really is a bummer that he's got the strap again.

The strong division will always rank sub-NOAH so only ever compliment the deathmatch guys, I thought Tsukamoto was awesome and really improving but he got out with minimal scars, good for him, Takahashi is soooooo bland, it's definitely a rough time for the promotion but they've weathered worse. Post CZW was definitely the bottom for the promotion.

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Sounds like Tsukamoto will be back. Who knows though. He has a huge passion for deathmatches, but he might get the Kasai treatment for leaving the company. I think Takahashi is really good actually and has way more fire than Tsukamoto, but he is still really young and will take many more years to develop. Tsukamoto never had a breakout match like Yuko, Isami, Takeda, etc. and his offense was really underwhelming.

 

On the strong front, I really like what I've seen from Maruyama (Tigers Mask), so hopefully he sticks around and becomes a mainstay, and Ishikawa and Sato are challenging for the tag titles next Korakuen, so I do think there's always a few things that are reliably enjoyable in the company. Sato as a whole as been really great the last 6 months, and Ishikawa vs. Sekimoto was really good. Soya still continues to bring the mediocrity though and the crowd really doesn't seem to wanna get into him.

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I actually don't mind the "in front of 341 fans" as that's about how much the Nagoya Diamond Hall holds. It gives the feeling that a title change can happen at a non Yokohama Bunka Gym show. Besides Shuji Ishikawa winning it at Korakuen back in January 2013 (and that's because they wanted Kobayashi to hold the title a full calendar year in 2012 to get a bunch of a awards by the media and couldn't do back to back Kobayashi/Ishikawa matches in the building) every title change since May 2008 has happened at the Yokohama Bunka Gym. That's like if the WWE title only changed hands at WrestleMania and/or SummerSlam every year for 6 years with the exception of one year when it was at a Royal Rumble. Kodaka was also out of challengers so that's why they're going with Ito especially if it really is for what everyone is speculating to drop it to Takeda. The crowd definitely was ready for Takeda to win it last year.

The Kasai/Sasaki thing is not really true. Kasai left Big Japan back in 2003 over money issues and probably other reasons not known. When he joined the Apache Army promotion in 2005 and started working in Big Japan for the extra money he was never going to be the top guy because of how he left/how he is still upset at the company over why he left in 2003. He was a FREEDOMS wrestler when he beat Death Match Champion Ryuji Ito in a non title match at Korakuen back in November 2009. It's not that he is with another promotion because they've had other promotion guys hold the title (we just ended a 17 month run of Union Pro guys having the belt).

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I'm all for doing it somewhere besides Yokohama but geez, atleast save it for K-hall or something, they had it booked 1 week later.

 

I mean, ok, great, they showed a title can change hands at a tiny show, what's the benefit?

 

More people show up to the tiny buildings? Are things that bad they can't sell out 350 seat buildings anymore without hot shoting a title change 2 weeks after Yokohama and 1 week before K-Hall? 

 

Those 2 buildings are down significantly from where they were a few years ago. Used to claim 3 to 4000 at Yokohama and full sell outs at K-Hall now except for I think their most recent 1, they hadn't cracked 2000 at Yokohama in years and they're lucky to crack 1000 at Korakuen. All the more reason i'd think you'd want to save your best stuff for those buildings. 

 

Just looked at the 5/31 lineup......Kohei Sato tag title challenge main eventing........sigh.....

 

 

every title change since May 2008 has happened at the Yokohama Bunka Gym. That's like if the WWE title only changed hands at WrestleMania and/or SummerSlam every year for 6 years with the exception of one year when it was at a Royal Rumble.

 

 

In the age before monthly PPV's that's exactly what happened in the WWF for like a decade plus, things worked out well enough. Lot of other big companies have been booked like that. 

 

Kodaka was also out of challengers

 

 

Unless i'm missing someone, he only defended against 4 people.Tsukamoto, Hoshino, Miyamoto & a previous defense against Ito in March. The division can't possibly be that depleted can it?

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They don't seem any worse booking wise than any other Japanese company to me. Not going to defend Ito being a good worker or anything but New Japan does the same thing with Tanahashi. Every company has an ace, and with Ito's 15 year anniversary shows coming up it makes some sense that they'd put the belt on him. I assume Takeda will get the belt next and it is a bigger deal for him to get it from Ito. Every company follows the similar booking formula,

 

 

Yeah but no other company is so obviously formulaic like BJW is. They switch names in & out of diffrent slots but it's always the same pattern

 

Just at random let's look at some K-Hall shows from earlier this year

results from purolove.com

 

BJW, 07.02.2014 (Samurai! TV)

Tokyo Korakuen Hall

912 Fans

1. Yuichi Taniguchi & Hideyoshi Kamitani besiegen Frank Atsushi & Takayuki Ueki (9:11) nach einem Backdrop Suplex von Kamitani gegen Ueki.

2. HUB & Onryo besiegen Brahman Shu & Brahman Kei (7:55) nach dem Viper Strike von HUB gegen Kei.

3. Scramble Bunkhouse Death Match: "Black Angel" Jaki Numazawa, Masashi Takeda & Takumi Tsukamoto besiegen Kankuro Hoshino, Saburo Inematsu KAIENTAI DOJO & Masato Inaba (12:18) nach einem U Crash auf einen Barbed Wire Bat von Takeda gegen Inaba.

4. Big Japan vs. WRESTLE-1: Kaz Hayashi WRESTLE-1 & Shuji Kondo WRESTLE-1 besiegen MEN's Teioh & Shinobu (12:29) nach der King Kong Lariat von Kono gegen Shinobu.

5. BJW Death Match Heavyweight Title Skimrish - Iron Cage & Fluorescent Lighttubes Death Match: Isami Kodaka Union Pro & Yuko Miyamoto besiegen Ryuji Ito & Masaya Takahashi WNC (13:39) nach einem Diving Double Kneedrop vom Käfig von Kodaka gegen Takahashi.

6. Kohei Sato ZERO1 & Shuji Ishikawa Union Pro besiegen Daichi Hashimoto ZERO1 & Kazuki Hashimoto (14:25) nach einem German Suplex Hold von Sato gegen Kazuki.

7. BJW Strong World Heavyweight Title, Decision Match: Shinya Ishikawa besiegt Ryuichi Kawakami (18:03) mit einem Triskelion - Titelwechsel.

 

BJW, 27.03.2014 (Samurai! TV)

Tokyo Korakuen Hall

1,010 Fans

1. Tsutomu Oosugi, Hercules Senga & Madoka besiegen Brahman Shu, Brahman Kei & Shinobu (8:55) nach dem Hercules Bomber von Senga gegen Shinobu.

2. Kazuki Hashimoto & Daichi Hashimoto ZERO1 besiegen Ryuichi Sekine KAIENTAI DOJO & Takayuki Ueki (11:33) nach einem Ankle Hold von Kazuki gegen Ueki.

3. Shinya Ishikawa & Ryuichi Kawakami besiegen Manabu Soya & Hideyoshi Kamitani (14:19) nach einem Dropkick von Ishikawa gegen Kamitani.

4. Death Match in Bloom Bloody Cherry Blossoms in Full Bloom: Saburo Inematsu KAIENTAI DOJO, Masato Inaba & Masaya Takahashi WNC besiegen Jun Kasai, "Black Angel" Jaki Numazawa & Takumi Tsukamoto (13:42) nach einem Modified Exploder von Inaba gegen Tsukamoto.

5. Kohei Sato ZERO1 & Shuji Ishikawa Union Pro besiegen Ryuji Ito & Yuko Miyamoto (14:03) nach einem Splash Mountain von Ishikawa gegen Ito.

6. BJW Death Match Heavyweight Title, Fluorescent Lighttubes Free Weapons Korakuen Bangaichi ~Battle Sphere Requiem~: Isami Kodaka Union Pro © besiegt Kankuro Hoshino (21:24) nach dem Isamuashi Zan (3rd defense).

 

Now let's go back 8 years ago

 

BJW, 09.02.2008 (Samurai! TV) (Foto)

Tokyo Korakuen Hall

2,100 Fans - Super No Vacancy Full House

1. Kankuro Hoshino besiegt Atsushi Ohashi (5:57) mit einer Lariat.

2. Yusaka Obata, Plug Imai & Toshihiro Sueyoshi besiegen Keizo Matsuda IWA Japan, Keita Yano BattlARTS & Takuma Obe IWA Japan (11:40) nach einem Crab Hold von Obata gegen Obe.

3. Katsumasa Inoue & Hiroyuki Kondo besiegen Daikokubo Benkei & Yuichi Taniguchi (12:35) nach einem Arm Scorpion von Kondo gegen Taniguchi.

4. Men's World: MEN's Teioh, Makato Oishi KAIENTAI DOJO, Shinobu & Hercules Oosenga El Dorado besiegen Nurudullah Kobayashi, Michael Nakazawa Dramatic Dream Team, Tomomitsu Matsunaga Dramatic Dream Team & Onryo (16:43) als Teioh Nakazawa nach einem Union Miracle Ecstasy pinnte.

5. Hardcore Match: Kintaro Kanemura, Tetsuhiro Kuroda & GENTARO besiegen "Black Angel" Jaki Numazawa, Bear Fukuda El Dorado & Mototsugu Shimizu El Dorado (16:14) nach einem Diving Elbow Drop von GENTARO gegen Shimizu.

6. WEW Heavyweight Title: Mammoth Sasaki © besiegt Daisuke Sekimoto (16:23) mit dem 29-Years-Old (3rd defense).

7. Fluorescent Lighttubes Death Match: Ryuji Ito & Shadow WX besiegen Takashi Sasaki & Yuko Miyamoto (20:45) nach einem Revolution-Style Brainbuster von WX gegen Miyamoto.

 

BJW, 24.03.2008 (Samurai! TV) (Foto)

Tokyo Korakuen Hall

1,900 Fans

1. Keizo Matsuda IWA Japan besiegt Shinya Ishikawa (9:52) mit einem Crab Hold.

2. Daikokubo Benkei & Yuichi Taniguchi besiegen Hakaru Imai & Atsushi Ohashi (11:34) nach einem Horizontal Cradle von Taniguchi gegen Ohashi.

3. Mammoth Sasaki, Tetsuhiro Kuroda & Yusaka Obata besiegen Takashi Sasaki, GENTARO & Kankuro Hoshino (13:24) nach dem 29-Years-Old von Sasaki gegen Hoshino.

4. Men's Club Eight Man Tag Match ~ Road to Real Men's Club: MEN's Teioh, Kota Ibushi Dramatic Dream Team, Madoka KAIENTAI DOJO & Onryo besiegen Shinobu, Shiori Asahi KAIENTAI DOJO, Hercules Oosenga El Dorado & Yuki Sato (11:13) nach einem Phoenix Splash von Ibushi gegen Sato.

5. Hardcore Match: NOSAWA, MAZADA & TAKEMURA besiegen Ryuji Ito, "Black Angel" Jaki Numazawa & Abdullah Kobayashi (18:18) nach einer Chair Attack von NOSAWA gegen Numazawa.

6. Osaka Pro Tag Team Title: Zero Osaka Pro & GAINA Osaka Pro © besiegen Daisuke Sekimoto & Katsumasa Inoue (20:08) nach dem World's Best Splash von Zero gegen Inoue (3rd defense).

7. BJW Death Match Heavyweight Title Contendership, Moonlight Darkness Fluorescent Lighttube Boards +α Death Match: Shadow WX besiegt Yuko Miyamoto (17:23) mit einer Lariat.

 

What's changed besides the fact that they drew a lot more back then?

 

A death match, a hardcore match, a big match with Sekimoto or whoever the main Strong BJW guy of the moment is, a midcard strong BJW style match, some random mid card tag, something with Teioh's crew of Jrs and a lower card match with Taniguchi or some rookies or some shit. That's ALL they ever do practically and this was a set formula that was allready wearing thin in 2008 as is. 

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"I'm all for doing it somewhere besides Yokohama but geez, atleast save it for K-hall or something, they had it booked 1 week later."

Ito vs. Kodaka probably wouldn't have drawn that great at Korakuen since it had just been done in March. The match wasn't about drawing a huge crowd. It was about getting the belt off Kodaka and back on Ito whether right or wrong that is why they went with Nagoya. The BJW Tag Team Title match and I am guessing the end to Miyamoto/Kodaka long title reign is probably a bigger draw at the moment anyway.

"I mean, ok, great, they showed a title can change hands at a tiny show, what's the benefit?"

Getting the belt off Kodaka and filling up a small building with the match instead of hurting yourself by promoting the match over something that could do better for Korakuen. It also means at a future Korakuen Hall show that it can be believable that the title change can happen outside of Yokohama. I know when I went to see Ishikawa vs. Takeda the main reason I knew Takeda wasn't going to win the match was because it was at Korakuen and not Yokohama and Ishikawa had even won that title at Korakuen. I still didn't buy Takeda was going to win even with how over he was.

"More people show up to the tiny buildings? Are things that bad they can't sell out 350 seat buildings anymore without hot shoting a title change 2 weeks after Yokohama and 1 week before K-Hall?"

They didn't sell out the building last time they went for Ito vs. Takeda. It's not something that is going to matter long term but again the main reason it happened was to get the belt off Kodaka.

"Those 2 buildings are down significantly from where they were a few years ago. Used to claim 3 to 4000 at Yokohama and full sell outs at K-Hall now except for I think their most recent 1, they hadn't cracked 2000 at Yokohama in years and they're lucky to crack 1000 at Korakuen. All the more reason i'd think you'd want to save your best stuff for those buildings."

Kodaka vs. Ito wasn't your best stuff. They had done the match already in Fukuoka and did a little over 600. It's not like they burned money putting that match on in Nagoya. As far as the numbers being down that comes down to the roster being stale because you can only go so far for years with the same guys and the company like every medium and above promotion in Japan besides New Japan (which did its own suffering for years nosediving) and probably Dragon Gate being down.

"In the age before monthly PPV's that's exactly what happened in the WWF for like a decade plus, things worked out well enough. Lot of other big companies have been booked like that."

They did that for 3 years as the title didn't go to someone new until WrestleMania 1988. By year four (and again Big Japan has been doing this for 6) the title changed at Survivor Series, This Tuesday in Texas, a houseshow, and a Coliseum Home Video exclusive. I mean I don't think the title value was hurt because of what shows Bret Hart and Ric Flair won it at. Losing the title at a house show or a RAW (which I would consider the Nagoya shows to be the equivalent for BJW to WWE) after 6 years isn't the worst booking decision ever especially when the match is made not for the draw but for the outcome.

"Unless i'm missing someone, he only defended against 4 people.Tsukamoto, Hoshino, Miyamoto & a previous defense against Ito in March. The division can't possibly be that depleted can it?"

There is no one else besides Numazawa and Takeda and Takeda going for the title if it does happen would be a bigger deal at a Yokohama show against Ito than Kodaka as it would hurt Takeda's moment because Takeda/Kodaka/Miyamoto have a lot of the same fan base. It's why they can defend the title against one another and draw pretty good but you're never going to see one of them beat one another for the title.

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"Just looked at the 5/31 lineup......Kohei Sato tag title challenge main eventing........sigh....."

 

 Seems unfair to complain about when you admit you haven't seen anything in years. Sato has been one of the most enjoyable monster heels in the company and has been consistently getting good performances out of people. He even just had a really good tag match against Ito of all people and Miyamoto. And doesn't that exemplify that the company has changed the booking? There is now a singles title for the non deathmatch guys, and they headline Korakuen with Strong title matches now. Plus non-deathmatch tournaments, like what's currently going on. Booking formulas always stay the same in Japan, it seems weird to call it exclusively a Big Japan thing. But they've definitely changed and though it's plagued by some injuries, the undercards are as strong as ever. 6 mans and tags leading into a title match are always how it's done in any company, and Big Japan is an indy company that isn't just going to drop someone from the roster if they're loyal. So what else do they do with Teioh, Numazawa, Ohashi, etc?

 

"Those 2 buildings are down significantly from where they were a few years ago. Used to claim 3 to 4000 at Yokohama and full sell outs at K-Hall now except for I think their most recent 1, they hadn't cracked 2000 at Yokohama in years and they're lucky to crack 1000 at Korakuen. All the more reason i'd think you'd want to save your best stuff for those buildings. "

 

Business is down everywhere except New Japan. Don't think it's a booking thing. They just ran Miyamoto vs. Isami and Sekimoto vs. Ishikawa which are two really storied matches and it only drew 2000. And actually they were drawing worse at Korakuen in 2008.

 

"Unless i'm missing someone, he only defended against 4 people.Tsukamoto, Hoshino, Miyamoto & a previous defense against Ito in March. The division can't possibly be that depleted can it?"

 

Sasaki and Kasai can't, Inaba and Takahashi aren't ready, Takeda doesn't need to lose, WX is injured and maybe done, no one needs to see Numazawa. So yeah.

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Are any of the Kohei Sato matches nomination worthy? Any you'd even recommend to me  to check out? He rarely gets me excited in Z1, but I'm wondering if the change of scenery would change that.

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Holy shit. Keita Yano...what happened?

 

He went from that this back in his BattlArts days....profile_keitayano.jpg

 

 

To this (the fella in the green)

 

 

I mean, I can't remember the last dude I saw get consumed with the indy sleaze makeover like that. 

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He's been a sleazy weirdo for a long time now and he got fired from DDT as well, so he can embrace it even further.

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Damn. How do you get fired from DDT? They seem so happy go lucky and easy going.

This revelation has fucked up my day. Now I'm watching him in a barbedwire bat match with a gaijin named One Man Kru. I don't even...

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I'll dig up why. He did something to piss them off with running his own shows or something. I'm sure there's more to it than this.

 

From 2012 via Wikipedia:
 

On July 1, Yano used his "Performance Rights Anytime, Anywhere" contract to book a co-promoted event between DDT and Pro Wrestling Wallabee.[60][61] The following day, DDT announced that the promotion and Yano had agreed to terminate his DDT contract due to "ideological differences".[62]

 

 

WALLABY X DDT, 01/07/2012
Saitama Cerberus Dojo

1. JOM Vs Gota Ihashi
2. Hero Amon Vs Takao Soma
3. Survival Tobita Vs Michael Nakazawa
4. KEITA in THE House, Batten Tamagawa & Naoshi Sano Vs HARASHIMA, Masa Takanashi & Gota Ihashi

Keita Yano has cashed in his “Performance Rights Anytime, Anywhere” contract to hold a joint event between DDT and his own Wallaby promotion. Yano, going under his other moniker KEITA in THE House, is using the event to gather together his Wallaby Army and challenge DDT to see who comes out on top. He admits that it will be a struggle for his team to win but he vowed his team will be victorious. Tsurumi Amon swore that DDT will go through the entire show undefeated.

 

Speaking of Crying Wolf, they are now down one man with the announcement that Keita Yano is no longer affiliated with DDT. After the cross promoted DDT and WALLABY show took place on Sunday, DDT and Yano had a discussion about their ideas about pro wrestling. Due to the differences in opinion, it was decided that Yano’s contract would be cancelled as of today.

 

If you're curious about that amazing looking card.

1 JOM vs. Shigehiro Irie ended without a winner as a double countout (6:07 minutes)
2 Amon Yusha vs. Takao Soma ended without a winner as a double disqualification (2:54 minutes)
3 Michael Nakazawa defeated Survival Tobita by disqualification (8:24 minutes)
4 Naoshi Sano, Batten Tamagawa and KEITA in THE House* defeated HARASHIMA, Gota Ihashi and Masa Takanashi (20:45 minutes)
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Are any of the Kohei Sato matches nomination worthy? Any you'd even recommend to me  to check out? He rarely gets me excited in Z1, but I'm wondering if the change of scenery would change that.

 

Spoiler'd for the links

 

This leading into his title challenge, stiff, establishes Sato as a monster

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5aUUL22f0PQ

 

Then his title match against Sekimoto, where Sekimoto injures his knee

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=759-pnPEwLs

 

Similarly enjoyable to the November tag

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNfjvL0nVo8

 

Brutal singles match vs. Hashimoto

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBjD04MGzS4

 

Fun tag against Miyamoto and Ito, weird to see Ito in this kind of situation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIRv8nOZZas

 

I'll totally agree he's nothing great in Zero-One, but he's become a highlight in Big Japan lately as the invader heel.

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