Big Japan: August 28th 2009

Shinya Ishikawa vs. Ryuichi Kawakami was a completely non-offensive opener. It has solid matwork and both guys will throw a forearm with some force. Ishikawa now seems to be using the dropkick as a finisher, and it's pretty much his strong suit.

The MEN'S World match was skippable, as was Jun Kasai and Jaki Numazawa vs. Hoshino and Shimizu, which had loads of the former teams schtick (which I'm bored of). Shimizu does't really impose himself on the match, the focus seems to always been on Hoshino, who seems to be permanently matched up with these two. He does take a suplex from the top to a bunch of chairs outside, which was absolutely crazy perhaps unnecessary in an undercard match like this. It's lot like he made a glorious comeback and got over because of it. It's a Kasai and Numazawa match, and the crowd are apparently only interested in Kasa and Numazawa, not matter how much Hoshino risks death.

Shuji Ishikawa & Shinobu & Madoka vs. Daisuke Sekimoto & Yoshihito Sasaki & Yuji Okabayashi was the six-man tag match on this card I had low expectations going in, which turned out to be completely unjustified. Madoka and Shinobu are the two Men's Club juniors who seem comfortable in their with the heavyweights. I thought there offence looked credible, Madoka's kicks are more than equal to Sekimoto's chops, and don't do anything overly contrived. Speed of Sounds would have been dreadful in the same position. Shinobu is good in the face-in-peril, and the heavyweights don't go over the top with offence, almost toying with him with a series of stretches. Ishikawa makes the match-up seem even enough, and he's a fun hot tag - I liked him cutting off Sekimoto during his big lariat corner charge with a well placed knee. Still, it seemed like Sekimoto's team were taking the win, until Okabayashi fights for a german with Shinobu leading to the three man german spot - however, his team mates hold on, meaning that Sekimoto just suplexes his partner. Sekimoto even shows some rare theatrics when he realises what he's done. What I liked most about this was the sense that each of the teams were moving as one. You got the feeling that the underdogs got the win through their combined efforts. How pleasing.

Ryuji Ito & Takashi Sasaki & Abdullah Kobayashi vs. Yuko Miyamoto & Masashi Takeda & Isami Kodaka was the six-man tag on this show that I was looking forward to. And, well, it's kind of a bit rubbish. It had none of the intensity that some of the matches in the tag league had. Sasaki is a guy who spent much of that tournament becoming grumpy and surly at all these kids, so I have no idea who this was that showed up. Instead, it felt like an episode of Dirty Sanchez, with each team taking it in turns to do increasingly silly bumps on the tacks or the kenzans. By the end, I felt completely desensitized to it all, which is completely pointless in a deathmatch, which needs the anticipation of the big spots. For a match in 2009 which was all about taking dumb bumps, I liked that barefoot Kasai vs. Abby match way more, which at least had plenty of personality.