WhiteTail Wrestling

Just Tap Out put on a show at Yoyogi National Gymnasium on the 19th of December 2022 in front of a crowd of 1,258 to celebrate the combined 50th anniversary for TAKA Michinoku and Taichi in the wrestling business.

The opening undercard match was an enjoyable 8 man encounter with the team of Akira Jumonji & Eagle Mask & Fire Katsumi & Ren Ayabe defeated Genta Yubari & Ichiha & Ryuya Takekura & Yoshitatsu. I was unfamiliar with most of the wrestlers here but I enjoyed the work on display. A lot of younger talent with a couple of older wrestlers thrown in. Had a lot of features common in these sort of matches with some good athletic physical action with the younger workers wanting to show off their fighting spirit. Some high flying as well towards the end although this looked perhaps a little too staged and the match finished with a Boston crab. **3/4

Another undercard match followed as Yuu Yamagata & Sumika Yanagawa & Misa Kagura took on Aoi & Rhythm & Hisoka. This was another good undercard encounter with some decent work although not everything looked convincing the pace of the match was good and they tried hard. **1/2

Tomoka Inaba defeated Suzu Suzuki in a great ****1/2 match. For what this was it was close to perfection lasting about 15 minutes and ending at exactly the right time. This featured great action from the opening bell with quality action far above the level shown in the previous matches on this card. Some great striking and evasion of striking and after a few minutes we began to see the first of some great sequences that this match had as Suzuki hits a pair of awesome German suplexes which was answered by a devastating kick to the head by Inaba. Suzuki gets a few near falls including a very close near fall after the tequilla shot. The momentum of the match changed again after a massive knee strike by Inaba this was followed by numerous penalty kicks with some near falls that Suzuki kicked out of but a massive jumping head kick by Inaba finally put Suzuki down for the three count.

Another great ****1/2 match followed as the team of Suzuki-gun (DOUKI & Minoru Suzuki) defeated UNCHAIN (Jun Kasai & Tomoaki Honma). This was a lovely beautiful bloodbath. It was announced just before the bell that the match was going to be no DQ and as a result the match began with Suzuki and Kasai wielding steel chairs. Suzuki was bloodied early and by the end of this match everyone involved was bloodied and bruised. We had forks, skewers and constant violence with Suzuki putting in a masterful display spending much of the match in the ring along with Kasai although DOUKI and Honma played their parts well. I loved the finish of the match as Honma and Suzuki beat each other with chops and headbutts as the blood flowed and it created a great visual scene with both men exhausted Suzuki locks in the choke and Honma goes to sleep. I usually don’t like deathmatches but this was such a great and fun match.

Suzuki-gun (El Desperado & Lance Archer) defeated Damnation T.A (Daisuke Sasaki & MJ Paul) by DQ. Slow start the first minutes were boring and failed completely to hold my interest. Some really good action as Desperado and Sasaki faced off this could have been an excellent match but then the interference and weapon spots began and really impacted the match and the DQ finish didn’t help either. ***

Hiromu Takahashi took on TAKA Michinoku in a two out of three falls match. TAKA offered to shake the hand of Takahashi who was reluctant to trust the 30 year veteran and wisely as well for when he shook his hand TAKA replies with the eye poke and a roll up for a near fall after an exchange of cradles Takahashi wins the first fall. Some really good action as we see more quick pinfall attempts and a kick out from the Michinoku Driver by Takahashi. Takahashi wins the the second fall and the match with the time bomb. ***

The main event was for the NJPW KOPW 2022 title as Shingo Takagi defended the title in what will likely be the final match of the KOPW trophy for 2022 against Taichi. The match was a Texas style last man standing match with a pinfall required before a 10 count to decide the match. The first couple of falls were rollups so weren’t going to end the match but after this the action picked up with some great sequences of violent action with lariats and suplexes and numerous falls before the match finished after half an hour. Takagi hits two made in Japan moves and gains a fall but Taichi rises before the 10. Taichi gains some falls of his own including with the last ride powerbomb but Takagi gets to feet in time. Takagi comes back towards the end with a pumping bomber giving him the momentum needed to hit the last of the dragon Taichi looks like he will rise up again but just as gets up he collapses again to end an awesome ****3/4 main event. After the match Suzuki-gun come to the ring with just days to go before they disband at the end of the year this will be one of the last times we see them all together in the ring. An emotional moment also at the end with Taichi and Miho Abe embracing as it seems like she will no longer be accompanying Taichi to the ring.

Show Thoughts

A brilliant show with multiple must watch matches with everything on the show being enjoyable in some way. If this truly is the last Taka/Taichi show and one of the last events we see Suzuki-gun in action this is a great way to go out.