Puroresu Show Reviews

2006 SHINING SERIES 10/29/2006

AHII, Ryuji Hijikata & Katsuhiko Nakajima VS Suwama, Buchanan & “brother” YASSHI
They clip this down so all the emphasis is on AHII flipping around all over the place and YASSHI taking a beating. The heels get a short advantage and triple team AHII, but some help from the chili-headed superhero’s partners, and he’s able to hit an ultra-hurricanrana on YASSHI for the win.
Match Rating: *

MAZADA VS Akira Raijin
The good thing about Raijin is he seems to add more to his arsenal each time I see him. I just wonder when the heck he’ll be elevated to more than being a job boy for so long. Even against a junior heavyweight like MAZADA, there wasn’t much he could do that MAZADA could make a quick comeback. MAZADA finishes Raijin with what looks like a fisherman’s gourdbuster.
Match Rating: *

Masanobu Fuchi & Nobukazu Hirai VS Nobutaka Araya & Kikutaro
The usual comedic miscommunications between the Baka Kyoudai, but Araya added a diving two handed butt-poke to his arsenal and used it to break up the count when Hirai had Kikutaro pinned after an Exploder. Araya accidentally butt-pokes Kikutaro, and Fuchi gives him his trademark backdrop suplex before Hirai pins him with a crucifix out of a Hirai-End (Rock Bottom).
Match Rating: *

Taiyo Kea & TAKA Michinoku VS TARU & D-Lo Brown
They clipped this one down to the point that it was all action, which is a good thing considering some of the guys involved. Seems like a lot of emphasis was put on TAKA in this one, and him being able to apply the Michinoku Driver on D-Lo was a nice highlight before TARU whacked the referee with a pipe and got his team disqualified.
Match Rating: *

A look back at the 8/27 MUTA VS TAJIRI match, and the highlights made it look better than it really was, but it did lead to the odd teaming of MUTA and TAJIRI as the ultimate heel team to take on the super babyface team of Satoshi Kojima and Kaz Hayashi, which is up next.

Great MUTA & TAJIRI VS Satoshi Kojima & Kaz Hayashi
I heard the hype behind this match, but watching it myself I didn’t think it was really all that good. It was OK for what it was, with MUTA and TAJIRI heeling it up by busting Kaz open and working him over, and MUTA scaring the kids and young ladies in the crowd while TAJIRI shrieked and taunted Kaz. Kojima gets the hot tag and over powers the opposition, but gets outsmarted by multiple mist attacks! There was also a cool double Tarantula spot with both MUTA and TAJIRI applying the moves to the face team. Unfortunately, I felt that the ending was rather anti-climatic with MUTA hitting Kaz with the Shining Wizards followed by TAJIRI getting the pin with the Buzzsaw Kick. A few near falls instead of the instant finish would have been good to make the climax more exciting.
Match Rating: ***

Labels: AJPW