Big Japan: 12th March 2009

I watched the outdoor show from the previous month, but was quite uninspired by it. The main event did an old school Big Japan (pre-2003) style deathmatch, with glass, bricks, boards, barbed wire and eventually a bunch of fire spots. This was fitting, giving the participants were Abby, WX Winger and (less relevantly) MASADA, who fitted right in as the main aggressor role. Not a good match by any means, as a lot of it was sloppily executed, the big spots (especially the Emerald Froison to the outside burning table) took a long time to set up and in the end, the whole things just felt like an exhibition of nasty bumps rather than a wrestling match. The final fire spot (blown right into Abby's face, like the old days) is really quite insane, but then even managed the less the drama of that with some weak WX lariats before the pin. I did appreciate Winger's heel act though - biting a bleeding man's head and spitting into the crowd should get so much more of a reaction than crowd laughter. Let's move back indoors.

There was a bunch of stuff from this show that others had recommended, and I didn't go for any of it. In particular, the Kasai vs. Numazawa was the big deathmatch main event, playing off their very bloody history of matches with a lot of gimmickry. The opening segment has the two of them sat around a table with a sketch of what they wanted for the match, as if you didn't know it was going to be an exhibition anyway. No mistake, I enjoyed the lunacy of this, but its a badly put together match. I mean, the first emerald froison off the scaffold through the table was a massive spot, but a minute later they are up doing more stuff. The second dive was even crazier, the height of that dive was bordering on that where you have to think that even with precautions, there's a real chance of serious injury. I'm writing this up two days later, and I can't remember the finish. I have no memory of it. That how much this was just a stunt show.

Takeda and Kodaka vs. Inoue and Hoshino was the worthwhile match from this show. Firstly, its nice to have a deathmatch with guys who are more than capable of starting off with mat exchanges and simple feeling out, without it looking forced, weak or like when Tommy Dreamer tries to wrestle. Hoshino's roaring elbow was nice. All four guys are underdog guys usually, so when put together its interesting to see them looking to assert dominance from a roughly equal footing, no-one backing down in strike exchanges. The first barbed wire board spot is used by Inoue to achieve the first definite period of control, the second one used by Isami to make the tag, both of which are smart uses of the gimmick. Takeda's exploider on Hoshino looked great as a small guy throwing a larger guy on his head - Hoshino takes a great bump here.

What makes this match is the final stretch. You have Inoue taking just piles of violence. The chair shots into the barbed wire board was pretty crazy and, with the increase in intensity at that moment, one of the most exciting things I've seen this year. I loved the recklessness with which the board was later used, thrown back and forth between Inoue and Takeda. This is Inoue's best performance in forever - really top-notch selling all the way down the stretch. Takeda's scrambling legs during the winning pin was a nice touch - this is the first stage of them becoming the underdog team who pulls out wins, and the sense that they need to fight hard for every victory is made clear with little things like that.