Makai Club #1

Fantastic match.Both men beating the piss out of each other with chops is my favourite kind of match. Brutal offence from both. Higuchi impressed a ton in his first outing and Shiozaki pulled off another great showing in 2018. Fantastic match. ****1/2

MS-1 bum-rushes Chicana in the entrance way, attacking him viciously, beating him up and down the aisle into a bloody pulp. MS-1 plays up his arrogance, taunting the crowd as he beats on Chicana who has the crowd on his side so much that the fans try and wipe of the blood after he loses the first fall in quick succession after the beating and a splash off the top rope. Don’t think Sangre Chicana got a single piece off offence. The second fall is the same with MS-1 unloading with nasty, stiff punches, making the woods of Chicana grow. Chicana starts mounting some offence, sending the crowd wild with a few punches (crazy that). Chicana’s selling is great here as he keeps flopping around the ring, not getting his balance even after he gets some offence. The second fall lasts even shorter than the first when Chicana hits a tope suicida to the outside, getting the count out win in the process. Both are now bloody as fuck going ham on each other in the third fall. The first fall is a just a thing of beauty. Fantastic gritty brawling with fantastic selling, violent offence and amazing visuals. An amazing match without a doubt and considering I barely heard of MS-1 and not even knowing who Sangre Chicana was, this was highly compelling, gripping and an easy watch. What a blood filled, hateful match. ****3/4

Centurion Negro’s UWA World Middleweight Title is on the line and he is defending against New Japan Pro Wrestling’s own Gran Hamada who is on tour with the promotion. Gran Hamada spent his excursion in UWA and he was established as a top player in the promotion, previously winning titles such as the UWA World Middleweight, World Junior Light Heavyweight and World Light Heavyweight Championships. The first fall is a mauling by Negro. A constant barrage of tight submissions, the double underhook hold in particular, wearing Gran Hamada down. Centurion Negro is ultra vicious and waste no time in putting Hamada away for the first fall with hardly any fight or rebuffal from Hamada. The second fall is way more competitive with Hamada throwing together a few crafter sequences, beginning to take a foothold in the match and getting the second fall, equalling his match up. The third fall was similar to the first fall but it was built around Hamada’s babyface fire and charisma with him fighting against Negro’s attacks, making his comebacks. There are loads more flashy moves in this fall like some nutty dives by both and a sunset flip which was the finish. The crowd goes nuts for Hamada’s comeback too. Great match overall with a great escalation of offence with more and more being added as the match went on. The match structure was very similar to current day CMLL with two short falls and a longer last fall so it wasn’t a tough transition from that to this. ****

Awesome match. I think I prefer their Strong Climb match better but this was very good, this had way more drama and the intensity to it. Loved Sekimoto in this match, he held his own technically against Hideki and was able to survive his onslaught, selling everything greatly throughout his comebacks too. Hideki was great as usual, his grappling was fun to watch and added to the match very well. ****

Oh yeah, the show looks like it will rock. Almost every match looks enjoyable in some way

Great match. Loved the different presentation that this match had. The pride style ring, the arena , the style. Excellent stuff. Added a lot. The grappling was really good, Suzuki held his won, being on the defensive but blocking Barnett's attacks well, mounting a few comebacks with some nasty forearm shots. Sent the crowd wild at times. ****1/2

The only thing I don't like about Hikaru Shida is her awful theme which gives me a headache every time. But yeah, she is pretty great. Not one of the most notable Joshi wrestlers but one of my favourites and she was awesome here. Aja Kong putting in an awesome performance here and the dominant bully. Doing some brutal damage to Shida's legs, using her weight by standing on it to inflict pain and limit movement. It was great to see Kong looking so great, even if it was less focused on her nasty strikes. Shida was incredible, I though. Really sold the leg very well. I think there was a only a few instances where I thought she could've sold the leg better but there was never a time where she no sold it completely. She did an awesome job making her comebacks and making Kong look like a beast. She pulled this match in for me. Great facial expressions of pain as well. An excellent bout. Seen other say it went a bit long but I never had that thought. ****1/4

I have little interest in Jericho in New Japan but he is clearly a hot commodity and whilst it's not the best thing for Naito to go back to the IC title (feels like a step back), him wanting to get his revenge on Jericho makes sense to me.

Can safely say that this is one of the greatest matches of this style. I love me some RINGS but this was just on another level IMO. This was an exhilarating 30 minutes battle with some slick but tight submissions and some fantastic, pin point striking. The first ten minutes was pure grappling with no rest, it was non stop with the two constantly fighting to get one top and control the fight. Tamura used his experience and skills to keep on top and control the holds but Kohsaka held his own, defending well and constantly got some great submissions in. And then the seam transition into the striking was superfluous. The action is very explosive and it brought all sorts of intensity to the mix. Then a beautiful climax to the time limit draw. I'm struggling to put this into words tbh. This is fantastic. *****

Fantastic match. I heard great things and I had to wait a few weeks before I could get to watch it and I wasn’t disappointed. The entrances were electric, really got the heart pumping for this one. The storytelling was simple but the wrestling made it great. Zeuz was immense in this match, he showed tons of fire. He was focused, brutal in his offence and he came out looking like a star after it. Kento’s selling was key too. It wasn’t constantly feel your neck selling, it was a general slowing down of offence and limited mobility, he looked like he was thin ice making his comebacks. Fighting with desperation and doing anything he could. Great showing from both. The ending wasn’t as hot as it could’ve been, probably the only thing stopping me from giving the full 5 but this was fantastic. ****3/4

Pretty much all the tropes of last man standing matches. Tendency to no sell a bit too much but mostly this was a pretty good match with loads of nutty bumps. Loved the incorporation of the weapons, really added to the match and gave this feeling of brutality. Really enjoyed that match. Don't really like the stipulation but they made it work and turned out to be a very good match. I give Charlotte loads of grief but she took some nasty bumps so credit to her. ***½

This is why I love Maeda, he may have a different ideology than most about wrestling but he is able to blend it into other styles, that mixed with great selling and a molten crowd makes for an extremely compelling match. Maeda is very aggressive and unrelenting with his attack on the leg, locking in a nasty leg bar with Fujinami in agony refusing to give up; enduring the pain. Some nasty kicks thrown to by Maeda, one that swiftly catches Fujinami making him bleed. Fujinami selling it like death, even when making his comebacks, he had an anguished look on his face. I thought the ending was genius but that's just me. Tremendous performance by both. ****3/4

Vrij wasting no time here, going straight for Maeda and laying into him with strikes, getting a knockdown with Maeda hurting his knee which Vrij would target in the match. Loved Vrij’s constant hurrying, forcing Maeda into a corner where he would load with brutal kicks and knees to the body. It all finally paid off when Maeda suffered his fifth down which won Vrij the match. Maeda was overwhelmed from the start and despite the crowd getting behind him, he fell. Thought this was better than the first match which says a lot.

Maeda’s entrance gave me goosebumps. Everything from the delayed walk to the crowd made Maeda feel like a star and he was. Maeda dominated early on with some basic grappling but Vrij slow began gaining a foothold in the match, started throwing some nice strikes including a slap and started to taunt Maeda. Vrij through some nice kicks and looked to knock out Maeda a few times in the match first with knees in the corner to the body and again with one to the chin of Maeda. Maeda caught him eventually getting the tap with a single leg Boston crab. Awesome match

The atmosphere was off the charts for this match. Clear faces and heels in this match; girls screaming for R'n'R Express (and I do mean screaming) and everyone booing MNX when they do even the slightest thing. It's pretty incredible. You don't see this these days. The chemistry between the two was apparent. They bounced off each other, they knew what they could do to get the best from each other. Rock and Roll selling the entire match with Midnight Express cutting off the ring, attacking the arm, constantly using the rules to their advantage, cheating along the way. But that hot tag was pretty damn hot, loved how they teased Midnight Express getting control back when Gibson came in as well. Just a lovely touch I thought. ****1/4

Incredible match. MNX at their best here, with their excellent bumping, selling and great offence. MNX being on the defensive for most of the match, getting their asses kicked unless they cheated. Southern boys showed loads of emotion and passion which was good to see. Loved the karate spot. Marked out. Great match. ****3/4

Awesome match with some really great striking by both. Nakajima mostly though. The section where Nakajima dominating Suzuki in the early parts of the match was awesome as was his comeback. The last few minutes where they were throwing bombs at each other was amazing. Few scary moments though. ****1/2

Excellent match. CIMA is a great heel, aggressively attacking the leg of Takeshita with his smug facial expression. He dominated the entire match with Takeshita being helpless because of the injured leg. Takeshita selling was a spotty in the middle parts of the match but generally good and they incorporated it at the end which is good to see. Shocked at the result but great match. ****1/4

On paper this was a good match but it lacked something. The dual limb attacks from both was a good idea on paper but it was so dull. There was no drama in the holds other than when Hansen held on after a rope break or something like that, you never bought them and considering the match was mostly full off them, it made the match disinterested. I liked the finish but that's really it. **1/4

Marufuji comes into this as the heel outsider that happens to be champion, getting booed straight away against the babyface veteran defending his company. The story is fairly typical in Japan but they pull it off in a special way. They were non stop for 30+ minutes with some breathtaking sequences, some great limb work from both Marufuji and Kanemoto early on with Marufuji pulling out a funky submission and Kamemoto going to town with kicks and submissions. They moved past it quickly though but it’s for the best with Marufuji in the match. Kanemoto constantly switches from face to heel with his attitude but it comes off so well with his great facial expressions being coming off as both smug and sympathetic. He was able to get the crowd to boo him so soon after cheering him and getting them back in his side like it was nothing. Marufuji was excellent with his counter wrestler offence, his incredibly fast movements followed up by his signature knees or drop kicks looked great against the more calculated Kanemoto. The whole tease of the face wash by Kanemoto was great. Another great example of crowd control. The closing stretch was great as well. The initial hard slaps into the shiranui was a great near fall. And the fight for the ankle lock/teasing off the tap was awesome. The crowd going crazy for it helped the drama a ton. In the end Marufuji put Kanemoto away with a brutal Spanish fly and then the Tiger Flowsion. I was exhausted after this match which shows how good it is. The only thing flaw I have with this match is Marufuji's selling after the leg work. Even if the leg work didn’t factor into the match later on, a little show of pain afterwards would’ve been fine. However, I think there are far more elements of greatness, which far outweigh the flaws of the match. Kanemoto gave one of the best career performances in the match. For someone who was in his old man stage of his career, he looked great. Marufuji bounced of Kanemoto really well and give the match a great sense of urgency in his attacks. Honestly, this is one of my favourite matches and I always love watching it. *****

The first ARSION match ever was certainly an interesting one. One thing that was very clear is that this is a testing which styles blend together best, trying to figure out a style that the company can go with by using a mix of different styles like tradition joshi as well as shoot style. Candy Okutsu does a great job with making everything look impactful, using her size to hit some nasty suplexes and laying in some big bombs to control the match. Yumi Fukawa being on step behind for a lot of the match, tries to attack the leg early on the match before transitioning into attacking the arm later on in the match. Fukawa’s submissions looked very tight and gnarly, including one particular leg lock in the middle part of the match. Eventually Fukawa’s persistence pays off as she injured Okustsu’s arm and looks to be getting the win before the bell rings for the time limit. Whilst the match wasn’t an all time classic, this was definitely a very good match and did a great job at blending the styles creating a well paced, brutal match with some well executed submissions. Great start for the promotion. ***¾

So like RVD not going to the troops show in the mid 00's?

I believe Cornette addressed this already. It wasn't an official account but it was endorsed by Cornette and he (and Last) basically allowed the YT channel to exist since the owner of the YT account asked for permission.

Even if it's a close, trusted friend, it's wise to fact check before releasing info like this.

Meltzer getting stuff wrong when it comes to Japan isn't surprising at all.