Stardom American Dream in the Big Apple: Momo Watanabe vs. Utami Hayashishita
Loved the beginning back & forth which lead to Utami offering a handshake to Momo, but instead of actually shaking her hand, she SLAPS her, showing that she's going all out in this one. After that, Momo quickly gets the match back in control for her, and there's a very nice mentor vs. student feeling w/ her doing some work on top & Utami fighting from underneath. Eventually as they kick the match into it's finishing gear, it escalates into more back & forth, with both women busting out bombs w/ a very good sense of urgency - goddamn I LOVED Utami's judo throws & transitions. Very good match! Certainly one of the highlights of the Mania weekend. ***1/2
AJPW Champion Carnival - Day 1: Jake Lee vs. Naoya Nomura
I wasn't into this for the beginning portions of it, but as it went on with the Korakuen crowd getting hotter & hotter by the minute, I really got into it. Jake Lee's cutoffs of Nomura's comeback rallies got better & better too w/ them vicious knees & boots. Good match. ***
AJPW Champion Carnival - Day 1: Atsushi Aoki vs. Kento Miyahara
A veteran in Aoki, who the Korakuen was firmly behind, taking on the arrogant ace should've been a winning dynamic, but this was actually pretty dull for the most part. I did like Aoki's attempts of winning via countout - that suplex from the guardrail was an awesome & creative spot. Sadly didn't care for Kento's work at all in this; his over the top goofy & cocky act wasn't interesting, and neither was his work on top OR his work on the offense overall. Not a bad match, but could've been so much better given the whole setting. **
AJPW Champion Carnival - Day 1: Shuji Ishikawa vs. Yuji Okabayashi
As usual with these two fellas, they brought the BEEFY stuff & it was very enjoyable from start to finish. Most of the match saw Shuji do the work on top while Yuji busted out some hard hitting, explosive comebacks. Good stuff. ***1/4
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