Puroresu Show Reviews

YUTAKA VS La Uchida
Don’t be fooled by the name, La Uchida is actually just a young lion given a name, kinda like YUJIRO in NJPW. He still wears the black tights and does the basics every newbie does in the ring. YUTAKA doesn’t do much to make the match all the more interesting either other than his spinning Kudo-driver finisher.
Match Rating: *1/2

Densen Man & Azteca VS Viewtiful Joe & Takaku Fuke
You could easily tell from his jaw-line that Viewtiful Joe is Gamma! And he was more of a heel than a super-hero in this match, using dirty tactics like low-blows and whacking opponents with his helmet! I couldn’t tell at first, but Densen Man is comedy worker Tortuga. He may have changed his look and gimmick, but his work style and movelist is still the same. Pancrase Mission’s Takaku Fuke was a bit of a surprise. He looked to be the serious MMA type fighter, and he is, but in the end he donned Joe’s helmet and was given magic powers! The match was pretty bland up to that point, as they tried to make it a comedy match, but of course nothing they do could match up to what Ebessan & Kuishinbo would pull off later.
Match Rating: **

2/3 Falls Handicap Match: Kendo Kobayashi & Hysteria VS Tiger’s Mask
Kobayashi is the commentator on Osaka Pro’s “Maido Pro-Wrestling” show, so you can guess he’s not a wrestler. He did do a good comedy bit when he was in the ring, but that’s all you get out of him. Hysteria on the other hand is a big disappointment compared to the luchadors I’ve seen in WCW or TNA. He just didn’t do anything really special other than a big belly slide plancha out of the ring, and I find it sad Tigers Mask was stuck with these two in an overall sloppy match.
Match Rating: *1/4

MWF Title: La Oriental VS Kabuto Daio Beetle
Japanese glam rock group King of Kings perform Beetle’s intro theme live in the ring as he makes his entrance. I like Beetle, but this sure wasn’t the best match for him to showcase his talents. For one thing, Oriental had his ribs taped, so he’s selling bad ribs, right? Well, for some reason he dominated most of the match! And doing planchas and dives out to the floor sure didn’t seem to effect him any, that is until the end of the match. It could have been a lot better cause it sort of lacked that big title match feel. Oriental had a lot of near falls on Beetle, which of course made Beetle look good, but I don’t feel that Oriental did enough to actually make Beetle look like championship material as the ending of the match just seemed to come out of nowhere.
Match Rating: ***

KVE/World’s No.1 Title: Kuishinbo Kamen (World’s No.1) VS Ebessan (World’s No.2)
They took their feud to the EXTRME with this one! The build up was EXTREME where they brawled like two girls in a cat fight! And the match itself was EXTREME! It was so EXTREME that the commissioner got attacked while making the title match proclamation! It was so EXTREME that Ebessan went on a rampage with a steel chair! It was so EXTREME that referee Matsui gave Ebessan a jumping knee attack!
I hope the Florida Brothers take notes when these two wrestle, cause without a doubt they are STILL the GODS OF COMEDY!!!
Match Rating: They don’t call them the Gods of Comedy for nothing!

Tsubasa & Jushin Thunder Liger VS The Tiger & Super Delfin
Ultimo Dragon’s new gimmick is just so LAME and BORING. He could have at least modified the look instead of blatantly ripping off the original Tiger Mask gimmick.
As for the match itself, it was all about putting Tsubasa over in his big return match, and he looked to be in good a shape as ever. Delfin giving him the rub at the end was a wise decision, and personally I think Delfin has to be the most unselfish guy in puro right now as he puts over more young guys to build new stars than any other company owner/ace in Japan. Hopefully a decent push for Tsubasa is in the works as he is one of my all time favorites in Osaka Pro.
Match Rating: ***

Osaka Pro Tag Titles: Black Buffalo & Daio QUALLT VS Perro & Billy Ken Kid
This was supposed to be Perro’s breaking out match, and he even had an image makeover to go with it where in DDT type fashion, he changed from being a loveable dog into a bad-ass wolf! But a new look can only do so much for you as they guy could hardly seem to link any offense together other than lariats, tackles and spears, and he looks like a cross between Kane and Tiger Mask! His partner Billy Ken Kid on the other hand has all the qualities of a puro star: Charisma, work-rate and a great move set. BKK practically carried his team to say the least and due to some bizarre travesty of justice, the fans were just dead silent for this one.
Match Rating: ***1/4

Osaka Pro Title: Big Boss MA-G-MA VS Super Dolphin
I’m really gonna miss MA-G-MA when he leaves Osaka Pro, and I really wished they had him lose the belt in a more convincing manner than he did here. He dominated most of the match as usual and got a ton of near falls off Dolfin, but I hated the one-hit-kill ending of the match which was similar to the Beetle/Oriental match earlier, as it made the win look more like a fluke than a guy breaking out and beating the monster champion, even if the Dolphin Special was an impressive finisher.
But this was still a good match overall and definitely recommend checking it out.
Match Rating: ***1/2

Overall: Not sure what was wrong with the Osaka crowd in attendance cause they were really quiet all night. I was thinking maybe the audience mic was turned down, but you could actually SEE the audience not really reacting other then the odd voice in the crowd. Still, it’s a good show overall and definitely worth checking out.

Labels: Osaka Pro