"Pro-Wrestling Love in Yokohama" 7/01/2007Kikutaro VS "brother" YASSHIClipped down, but fun for what they managed to show, with Kikutaro using some of YASSHI's own tricks against him, including the testicular claw and testicular dragon screw! The resident comedy king couldn't put YASSHI away though, and was pinned with a quick la majistral cradle.
Match Rating: N/ARyuji Hijikata & AKIRA VS T28 & Katsuhiko NakajimaClipped down to just T28 (pronounced "Tetsuya") dropping a big diving elbow, and then Hijikata hitting him with his leg lariat finisher followed by a brainbuster and the Mususubi Press from AKIRA for the win.
Match Rating: N/AJoe Doering & Hawaiian Lion VS Nobutaka Araya & Nobukazu HiraiAnother clipped down to the ending match. Not enough shown to give you an idea of what Doering and Lion are like in the ring if you've never seen them before. Doering hits a lariat on Hirai for the win, and the cry continues for Araya to get a serious push.
Match Rating: N/AMiguel Hayashi Jr., Pepe Michinoku & El NOSAWA Mendoza VS Dick Togo, MAZADA & Phil AtlasClipped down, and I don't think we even got to see Togo get into the match! They did show the Mexican Amigos again tease a break up only to reconcile, and they showed some nice multi-person dives. NOSAWA hits a move that looks like Ricky Marvin's Santa Maria before pinning Atlas with a cradle. Whole point of this match was for MAZADA to bring out YAMADA to challenge the Amigos for another match down the line.
Match Rating: N/AAJPW Triple Crown: Minoru Suzuki [C] VS Keiji MutohI usually enjoy seeing Suzuki get his butt whooped, but I actually found myself supporting him here. Maybe because Mutoh again didn't sell as much as he should have, my main case being Suzuki puts him in an armbar and Mutoh doesn't even struggle! He instead just gets up to his feet to break the hold and immediately transitions into the figure four! Bare in mind this is after he actually did sell the move the first time Suzuki went for it.
The match was mostly built aroung Mutoh attacking Suzuki's knees, like in most Mutoh matches, only the cocky Pancrase Mission star laughed off the pain rather than show Mutoh any signs of weakness. To his credit, Mutoh gave Suzuki the biggest rub he could by actually letting the champion kick out of his trademark moonsault press! And it was after multiple Shining Wizards to boot, so kudos to Mutoh for that.
Needless to say, Suzuki managed a comeback and attacked Mutoh's bad knees. He then clamps on a heel-hold, and Mutoh fights it for as long as he can before eventually tapping out for the champion to retain in a hard-fought war.
Match Rating: ****Labels: AJPW