WingedEagle

Apologies if I'm doubling up on anything Jmare already highlighted. I tried not to dig for too many B-side tracks but can certainly provide a bunch of those if people want as well. There's more than enough here to get a sense of just who Big Yuji he is and how he works. If he's not for you, you're wrong! Hope folks enjoy. Daisuke Sekimoto & Yuji Okabayashi vs. Manabu Soya & Seiya Sanada (AJPW 2/6/2011) Daisuke Sekimoto & Yuji Okabayashi vs. Manabu Soya & Ryota Hama (AJPW 4/28/2011) Daisuke Sekimoto & Yuji Okabayashi vs. Manabu Soya & Seiya Sanada (AJPW 6/19/2011) Daisuke Sekimoto vs. Yuji Okabayashi (BJW 2/26/2012) Shuji Ishikawa & Kohei Sato vs. Daisuke Sekimoto & Yuji Okabayashi (BJW 5/28/2015) Yuji Okabayashi vs. Hideyoshi Kamitani (BJW 12/20/2015) Yuji Okabayashi vs. Ryota Hama (BJW 1/24/2016) Yuji Okabayashi vs. Shuji Ishikawa (BJW 3/6/2016) Yuji Okabayashi vs. Shuji Ishikawa (BJW 5/5/2016) Yuji Okabayashi & Go Shiozaki vs. Daisuke Sekimoto & Yuji Hino (Fortune Dream 3 6/14/2016) Yuji Okabayashi & Shuji Ishikawa & Kohei Sato vs. Hideyoshi Kamitani & Daisuke Sekimoto & Ryota Hama (BJW 6/29/2016) Yuji Okabayashi vs. Hideyoshi Kamitani (BJW Ryogokutan 7/24/2016) Yuji Okabayashi & Daisuke Sekimoto vs. Shuji Ishikawa & Kohei Sato (BJW 10/31/2016) Yuji Okabayashi & Shingo Takagi vs. Daisuke Sekimoto & Kohei Sato (BJW 9/20/2017) Yuji Okabayashi & Daisuke Sekimoto vs. Hideki Suzuki & Takuya Nomura (BJW 9/22/2016) Shuji Ishikawa & Kohei Sato vs. Daisuke Sekimoto & Yuji Okabayashi (BJW 1/2/2017) Hideki Suzuki vs. Yuji Okabayashi (BJW 5/5/2017) Daisuke Sekimoto & Yuji Okabayashi vs. Kai & Naoya Nomura (AJPW 8/27/2017) Shuji Ishikawa & Suwama vs. Daisuke Sekimoto & Yuji Okabayashi (BJW 1/13/2019) Daisuke Sekimoto & Yuji Okabayashi vs. Shuji Ishikawa & Suwama (AJPW 3/19/2019) Shuji Ishikawa vs. Yuji Okabayashi (AJPW 4/4/2019) Yuji Okabayashi vs. Daichi Hashimoto (BJW 4/14/2019) Yuji Okabayashi vs. Dylan James (AJPW 4/20/2019) Yuji Okabayashi vs. Zeus (AJPW 4/21/2019) Yuji Okabayashi vs. Kento Miyahara (AJPW 4/25/2019) Yuji Okabayashi & Kazumi Kikuta vs. Daisuke Sekimoto & Takuya Nomura (BJW 6/30/2019) Yuji Okabayashi vs. Takuya Nomura (BJW 7/21/2019) Yuji Okabayashi & Hideyoshi Kamitani & Daichi Hashimoto vs. Takuya Nomura & Kohei Sato & Fuminori Abe (BJW 7/30/2019) Yuji Okabayashi & Shigehiro Irie vs. Takuya Nomura & Fuminori Abe (BJW 9/25/2019) Yuji Okabayashi vs. Daichi Hashimoto (BJW 1/2/2020) Yuji Okabayashi vs. Chris Dickinson (GCW 2/4/2020)

This week I'll get you a list at least a couple dozen matches long to check out.

He's one half of more than a few of the greatest matches I've ever seen. All-time five star classics against Tanahashi, Omega, Naito and Shibata. Top 30 feels like the floor for him.

Another lock even if you only look at his work in WXW and Progress. Haven't given him enough though to consider where'd place but he'll be there. Some recs: Walter vs. Ilja Dragunov (16 Carat Gold Finals, WXW 16 Carat Gold Night 3 3/12/2017) Walter vs. Daisuke Sekimoto (WXW 3/3/2012) Walter vs. Will Ospreay (OTT 10/13/2018) Walter vs. Zack Sabre Jr. (Progress 10/28/2018) Walter vs. Timothy Thatcher (Progress Chapter 62 1/28/2018) Big Van Walter & Robert Dreissker vs. Axel Dieter Jr. & Da Mack (WXW 11/16/2013) Matt Riddle vs. Walter (Progress Chapter 46 3/26/2017) Jordan Devlin vs. Walter (OTT Wrestlerama 2 8/18/2018) Walter vs. David Starr (WXW 10/28/2017) Walter vs. Matt Riddle (WXW 16 Carat Gold Night 3 3/12/2017) Big Daddy Walter & Zack Sabre Jr. vs. reDRagon (WXW 10/4/2015) Matt Riddle vs. Walter (Progress Chapter 51 7/9/2017) Walter vs. Pete Dunne (WXW 7/22/2018) Walter & Timothy Thatcher vs. Ilja Dragunov & David Starr (WXW 8/31/2018) Walter vs. Tyler Bate (Progress 9/30/2018) Walter & Timothy Thatcher vs. The Briscoes (WXW Tag Team League Night 1 10/6/2017) Walter & Timothy Thatcher vs. Jurn Simmons & David Starr (Tag Team League Finals, WXW Tag Team League Night 3 10/8/2017) Walter & Timothy Thatcher vs. Shingo Takagi & Ilja Dragunov (PWG BOLA Night 1 9/14/2018) Walter vs. Adam Cole (EVOLVE 107 6/24/2018)

Stone cold lock for my list. No clue where, but he's been one of the best wrestlers in Japan for nearly a decade. Have always preferred him to Sekimoto.

My #1 last time. Won't fall too far if he falls at all.

I've got the first two matches at ** and **1/2 and given what those matches were it feels like this show is very much overdelivering.

A few thoughts on the opener: Bray's entrance was great. Much better than what I expected. The match was not at all what I expected, not a complete embarrassment or inoffensive until the finish. And arguably worse because of it. That finish is very much what people pay Jeffrey Epstein for. Anyways, I can't stand Nia Jax but have enjoyed her trash talking Tamina. This has been better than my incredibly low expectations.

One of the standouts of this past decade that I never got. I'll revisit him again at some point but I always saw a very good wrestler that wouldn't necessarily rise to even a bubble candidate in my book. Those who like him like him do so such a passion that I feel he deserves further consideration but he's someone who has yet to click with me in the ring.

I can't pinpoint exactly when it seemed to take place, but Kento Miyahara has become a caricature of himself. His matches are now exaggerated showcases of his personality and working the crowd rather than working any kind of actual match. He's definitely at a loss for quality opponents with Shuji Ishikawa & Suwama past their expiration dates, Naoya Nomura on the shelf having to go to the well one too many times with Zeus and Jake Lee/Shotaro Ashino not delivering as expected/hoped for. Bottom line is that whereas a couple years ago I looked forward to his big matches as potential MOTYCs now I almost dread them. Hopefully AJPW can find some fresh opponents and he can find his working shoes again rather than coasting.

Yep, if not for the weather delay this show would've ended at a reasonable hour and not burned anyone out.

"We tell stories." Drug riddled stories.

2.

Tomorrow. Even Vince isn't too far gone to book both of those travesties on the same night.

Okay, Braun opening the cage was a cool spot. An absolute waste in a match like this, but cool nonetheless.

Orton/Bray will be better than this, right? At least more amusing?

This match has me wishing the women's tag gauntlet went broadway.

This company doesn't do much right but they can protect and elevate someone like Omos whenever they want to.

Swing time. I can't wait to check out the lucha 6 man from last night but that'll have to wait until tomorrow morning.

That Old Spice commercial was great.

Nice to see some of these teams with matching gear. I expect nothing from this match but am glad we're not getting full blown entrances for all. Inoffensive filler thus far.

WOW. There is no scenario where I envisioned that finish.

It is great to see wrestling with a live, hot crowd again. And not a polite, respectful, Japanese clap crowd. Even if this match isn't quite living up to expectations.

Got my 2nd Pfizer yesterday and felt like someone slipped me half a dozen sleeping pills today. No complaints but man was I beat. Up and ready FOR GO TIME. Rain delay a big help in getting the little man to bed in time for the show as well.

I didn't have any issues watching either night of Takeover live nor have I encountered any problems watching anything on demand on Peacock thus far. On the Network, any time I ran into a problem it generally arose from my internet at home crapping out momentarily and came back right away.