Puroresu Show Reviews

Here’s the setup: 666 is Onryo’s little indy promotion in Japan who runs small shows every now and then with a weird theme of ghosts, demons etc, since Onryo himself is supposed to be a zombie. To that end, this little show is being held in a tent, with the ring announcer/time keeper wearing ghost make up and DDT referee Grace Asano dressed as a goth girl! And the announce team calling the action with live microphones so the whole arena can hear what they say, leading to awkward moments where the wrestlers in the ring and the fans in the audience react to what they say!

Shinobu & Lingerie Muto VS Yuko Miyamoto & ISAMI
ISAMI & Miyamoto were going for a badass entrance where they rode in on a big bike with Miyamoto waving the team banner, but with such a small area to move in, Miyamoto fell off a few times!
Match itself was a fun back and forth high-flyer match. Muto did the usual Muto impersonation spots as well as a few comedy ones like distracting referee Grace Asano by asking her to check out his brassiere and such! Shinobu reminds me of a young Magnum TOKYO, with the AV star gimmick, and the kid even looks like Magnum! He had some fun moves to, like the Sex Bomber lariat and the S.E.X (Shinobu EXtacy) shooting star press!
Miyamoto & ISAMI are a cool high-flying tandem who dress alike, something seriously missing from tag teams these days. There was this one cool spot where Miyamoto gave Muto a super kick as Muto tried for a shining wizard on ISAMI and he caught him in mid air! This was quickly followed up by a Shinobu hitting ISAMI with a shining wizard off Miyamoto’s back! Great fun stuff throughout.
Match Rating: **

Ojisan & Obasan VS Naoshi Sano
Ojisan is Big Japan’s resident chainsaw wielding madman, Jaki Numazawa, only he’s dressed as an old man! Obasan on the other hand is a little girl in ghost paint with a meat cleaver! She’s actually quite popular in 666 as she not only wrestles odd comedy matches, but also does guest commentary with hilarious little kid remarks!
This was a short oddball match with regular indy worker Sano trading holds with Ojisan, but there was this one funny break in the action when Ojisan had Sano in a single leg crab, and Obasan who joined the guest commentary team remarked that it was a joshi puro move! Sano immediately stood up and approached the announce table, bad mouthing Obasan’s call before going back to the ring and getting back in the single leg crab position!
The finish saw Obasan get back in the ring and hit Sano with the meat cleaver before delivering a 619, and Ojisan hit a diving headbutt off the top for the win! Just plain fun overall.
Match Rating: *

NG Battle Royal featuring HERO!, Baby-M, Mammoth Sasaki, The Great Takeru, Jet 666, Asian Panther & ???
Now the rules for this unique battle royal are that the wrestlers are each wearing a shirt, and written on the back of it is a move that they are NOT allowed to do during the match! If they do the move that’s listed on the back of they’re shirts, they are instantly eliminated! The problem here being that the moves are usually something they are known for, and since everyone can see what’s on your shirt except you, expect to see a lot of backstabbing as they try to bait each other into pulling out that move to get eliminated!
The match was clipped down a bit, but they showed all the fun eliminations and how everyone got baited in to pull off their NG move by each other. Another very fun match overall.
Match Rating: *1/2

Baka meets Baka VS Kamisama meets Otosama: The Crazy SKB & Jun Kasai VS Jesus & Buddha
Interesting to note that Jesus & Buddha’s names where bleeped out. Can’t say that they don’t have some standards here.
The match itself was wild as the ring was surrounded with holy sticks which were used as weapons throughout the match, and than you had SKB and his crazy fireworks fetish and the wild spots he’d pull, like dipping Buddha’s head in a pot of firecrackers before banging the pot with a baseball bat, and wearing a crash helmet of firecrackers as he dove off the top with a body press!
A wild, but fun match despite the live crowd being in a dangerous position every now and then due to the sparks from SKB’s fireworks.
Match Rating: **

A look back to MIKAMI at the Cruiser’s Game press conference announcing his offshoot promotion. A mysterious paper airplane than flies into the room and rams into MIKAMI (Actually, Onryo carried the plane in and threw it at him, but no one can see him since he’s a ghost!). MIKAMI unfolds the plane and it’s a flier for the 666 show! Under the main event, it lists Onryo as facing “X”, and MIKAMI decides to step up and be the “X” in the match since the two had a killer singles match at Korakuen Hall before. The press conference ends with MIKAMI posing in a faceoff with an imaginary Onryo, but he can’t see the real one standing right behind him, since well, he’s a ghost!

Onryo 10th Anniversary Match: Onryo VS MIKAMI
Now this was a really fun spot fest of a match that had MIKAMI dominate Onryo for most of the match with high flying offense and innovative ladder spots. So when Onryo finds himself being outgunned by the DDT ace, what does he do? He becomes INVISIBLE! But that was only for a split second before MIKAMI caught on to his location and took control again! That was nothing compared to his next trick though, as they brawled out to the floor and Onryo gave MIKAMI a suplex on the entrance stage. The two rushed to try to get back in the ring, and MIKAMI looked like he was going to beat Onryo to the ring when suddenly his right leg was clasped by a severed hand which pulled him back and prevented him from getting back in the ring! So the match ended in a double count out!
MIKAMI isn’t satisfied with the outcome and calls out Onryo to continue the match! Onryo himself rings the bell and dashes back to the ring to continue the madness, which included Onryo actually taking his shirt off to reveal a HUGE tattoo on his back and he went all the way up the ladder to miss a big swanton. MIKAMI would follow suit up the ladder and connect with the swanton, but only get a near fall! And out of nowhere, Onryo is able to lock the Onryo-clutch to get the flash pinfall!
This was a great match even if it was a bit one sided, and kudos to MIKAMI for putting over his buddy in the end.
Match Rating: ***

The surprises don’t end there, as after the match, Onryo picks up the microphone and actually SPEAKS! He thanks MIKAMI and gets a big hug from his friend. Onryo than thanks the fans and apologizes to his parents (?!?). The show ends with special guest MEN’S Teioh giving a speech on the history of Onryo’s 10 year career, in a less than serious manner judging from all the laughs, and even the dead man himself cracks a few smiles! Show finally ends with all the wrestlers tossing Onryo into the air and finally posing for the press to close out this really fun show.

Labels: Misc Indies