[2019-01-13-BJW] Violent Giants (Shuji Ishikawa & Suwama) vs Strong BJ (Daisuke Sekimoto & Yuji Okabayashi)

[Jmare007]

Violent Giants (Shuji Ishikawa & Suwama) defend the AJPW World Tag Team Titles against the BJW team of Daisuke Sekimoto & Yuji Okabayashi

One of those matches were your expectations are sky high and they are fully met and even surpassed. 26 minutes of a fucking war between four dudes that do not care one bit about the other team. This was worked like an interpromotional match should be, with the home team from a smaller promotion having to fight from underneath all night and having to reach deep just to reset the action to a leveled playing field. Suwama and Shuji are perfect as the dominant champs, it's not easy to make Strong BJ look like underdogs, specially on a long match, but they dominated them for 3/4 of the match and not only it made sense, but it was compelling to watch. Daisuke - the man who's celebrating his 20th anniversary on this show - is the face in peril, and as his matches from the previous week against Sato and Hama showed. he's awesome at selling the beating with his facial expressions and body language. With Sekimoto only trying to survive the onslaught, Yuji is left as the savior of the team and boy does he show up, we get EXTRA FIRED UP YUJI, the strikes, the suplexes, the lariats are all done with such passion and intensity that you can't help but love this dude. Still, Violent Giants are not to be fucked with so Okabayashi's hot tag doesn't have a lasting effect, the timing of their cut offs were perfect every single time, to the point Korakuen was booing Suwama every time he was on top because he was spoiling their fun. At some point to whole crowd boos them because they want Strong BJ to comeback so bad but Shuji and Suwama are just too damn good. Strong BJ's struggle to stay in the fight is so well done by both team that when they reach the "double German suplex" spot you are rooting for it like a little kid. The ending is so satisfying you legit feel like

There's excess in this match but I had zero problem with it. The two times there's blatant no selling because of a fighting spirit spot was either still sold (Yuji acting on instinct, barely standing) or was a set up for a comeback (Shuji getting crushed by Daisuke's lariat). And all the nearfalls were fitting for an interpromotional title match, besides almost all of them were credible and well done, Korakuen was going nuts at some of them. And even with all of that, they find the time to do do little things like Suwama's desperate attempt to avoid Yuji to gain momentum on the ropes, or Shuji refusing to get suplexed, and Strong BJ's selling of the beating and moment.

Yes it's only January but this is match of the fucking year by far, and best the thing I've seen in like 7 months and probably more.

[Richeyedwards]

This was Outstanding

This was Sekimotos 20th anniversary show and they did a BIG main event for it, both in terms of the size of the people involved and the matchup. AJPW giving BJW such a major world tag title match was a big deal.

As you would expect given that this took place in BJW the crowd were all behind Strong BJ and the Violence Giants playing as heels throughout. They took 75% of the match after SUWAMA threw Okabyashi into the wall of Korakuen they took over and worked over Seki for a while. The selling was very well done by sekimoto and he got some great sympathy. The hot tag when it came was great and from there in turned into a back and forth bombfest full of stiff strikes and some big throws. The crowd was really hot for the whole 26 minutes and the fact that they were able to get some serious sympathy on strong bj two massive roided up guys and made them look like underdogs was very impressive.

They did a pop up spot on a suplex but was one that was done well as Yuji was staggering and looked out of it like he got up on instinct but really was not all there. When strong BJ did get some of their signature spots in the crowd exploded and it really was a great pay off to all their struggle throughout the match.

The result is interesting and sets up Yuji being in the CC and potentially Lee and sai challenging soon. As well as a possible big guns match a rematch from sumo hall in 2016.

Current MOTY dethroning Kenoh Vs Kaito ****1/2

[nivvad]

Sekimoto needed something big for his 20th anniversary match, and a big challenge he and Yuji received. It's been over a year since Ishikawa stepped into a BJW ring, so it was kind of odd seeing him return as an outsider. That didn't stop him from beating the shit out of Strong BJ like it was 2015. He wasn't teaming with his fellow Twin Tower, but Suwama is more than a worthy partner. Suwama is a beloved figure in All Japan, so I liked him heeling it up to make BJ's comebacks feel so incredible. The match went almost 30 minutes and not a single minute dragged. In the end it wasn't just a feel good moment because of Sekimoto winning a title on his anniversary, but also because BJ are finally major tag champions again, ****3/4.

[Makai Club #1]

When Strong BJ vs Violent Giants was announced for this show, I was like gaaaah, and I thought this was very good match. Loved the little start by Sekimoto and Suwama, exchanging some grappling, trying to feel each other out, countering each other then standing off. That was good. Then the finishing stretch was pretty awesome. Sekimoto was fantastic here with his energetic, fiery offence whilst also selling all the damage of the match too. Ishikawa's knees were brutal as hell and he hit some big moves that got me off my seat. Him and Ishikawa going off was my favourite parts of the match; some great exchanges between the two. Hoping for a one on one match between them soon. Now for the disappointing parts. The middle section was kinda just there, some nice back and forth exchanges but it all seemed really basic and it didn't reach the level I wanted from it. Overall this felt like a very good battle between four big men, it just didn't reach that level of being a great match for me. ***1/2

[Boss Rock]

What I wrote in the MOTY tracker thread:

Well that was quick. Already have a new MOTY and January isn't even over yet! An epic clash of the titans as these four behemoths just annihilate each other for 25+ minutes. Suwama and Shuji are great "heels" in controlling the pace and overwhelming their smaller, yet still very strong opponents. Sekimoto and Okabayashi are also born babyfaces. Sekimoto is an excellent face in peril while Okabayashi cleans up as the mother of all hot tags. There wasn't just a lot of big bomb throwing, but some great long-term selling as well. All four guys looked exhausted near the end of the match and their strikes moved just a little bit slower and they couldn't get quite as much elevations as they usually do on their suplexes. That's a great attention to detail that's often overlooked these days. I also loved how in the end when Sekimoto hit the assisted German suplex on Okabayashi to lift Suwama, Okabayashi dragged Suwama out of the ring as he rolled out to ensure he couldn't interfere.

Even if this doesn't end up being the MOTY when all is said and done, it's going to be extremely tough to top, at least when it comes to tag matches.

****3/4

[superkix]

Echoing the love for this match. Strong BJ are such good babyfaces and Sekimoto has so far solidified his spot as the top wrestler of 2019. I loved the first part of this match, with Suwama heeling it up and Ishikawa being especially brutal. While Suwama and Sekimoto are busy on the outside, Ishikawa goes nuts on Okabayashi in the ring, slapping and headbutting him out. His elbows to Sekimoto in the corner = Sekimoto dead. They definitely milk the finishing comeback stretch but I didn't mind it. Strong BJ are great working from underneath, and Violent Giants know how to dish out the offense. Love Ishikawa's dragon suplex>giant knee combo. Okayabashi tries to save Sekimoto and gets backdrop suplexed to hell by Suwama. The big ass double German spot looked great here, and Sekimoto's finishing suplex was impressive. This ruled. This whole show ruled. A super fun Korakuen show where everyone is working hard. 

 

[SmartMark15]

Amazing, honestly truly amazing. From someone who knows the bare minimum about these four guys, they completely sucked me in with a simple babyface-heel story told on an elite level. Perfectly paced to draw the maximum heat for the finishing stretch. Sekimoto's selling, Okabayashi as a hot tag, Ishikawa and Suwama being monsters, everything worked at its peak here. Absolutely fantastic.

****1/2+ 

[ShittyLittleBoots]

Daisuke's FIP work was solid - Suwama & Big Shuji were pretty damn glorious working over him, truly living up to their tag name there. Yuji's hot tag was good, and I loved the commentator chuckling at the double clothesline he delivered to the GIANTS. I do think that the match started to drag a bit when they essentially kicked it into it's bomb section - that went a tad bit too long, but it still wasn't bad or anything. Just kinda drifted into the generic zone. Overall I am sadly not quite feeling the MOTYC hype on this one, but it's four large men doing violent things to one another, so I can't help but to really like it. ***1/2

[Tenese Sarwieh]

A fantastic tough man battle between those four throwing bombs. The forearms and chops in this match was ridiculous and Sekimoto playing FIP was great. Violent Giants was also great in their invader heel role. This is definitely a MOTYC.