WhiteTail Wrestling

AJPW

AJPW continued their new year tradition of starting the year with two shows from Korakuen Hall. The first show on the 2nd January is usually the lesser of the two shows and this year was no different with not a single match of any real quality showing that the promotion despite its momentum still needs a lot of work particularly outside its main event scene.

The show kicked off with a six man encounter as Koji Iwamoto, Naruki Doi and Takahiro Katori teamed up to defeat Fuminori Abe, Rising HAYATO and Ryo Inoue. This was a typical undercard match with some nice athletic moves and enjoyable action but nothing particularly excellent. **+

Black Menso-re defeated Minoru Tanaka to become the Gaora TV champion in a solid **+ match. I’m generally not the biggest fan of Menso-re but he did pretty good here and the veteran Tanaka was his usual dependable self.

Ikemon Jiro has returned from the WWE and is now going by the name Kuroshio TOKYO Japan. Jiro or Japan or whatever other name he is going by teamed up with Seigo Tachibana and Shotaro Ashino to defeat Atsuki Aoyagi, Yuma Aoyagi and Kento Miyahara. Miyahara and the Aoyagi’s should not be wasting their time in the ring with a clown wrestler like Jiro and doing the job is even worse. The comedy and other nonsense meant this match was restricted to **.

AJPW has recently worked out a relationship with the wrestling/acting promotion AWG. As a result we got a performance from Misa Matsui, Natsumi Sumikawa, Asako Mia and Miku Aono and numerous other dancers. This was not advertised as a wrestling match by AJPW which left me completely confused. However according to Cagematch a match did apparently take place which I will award **. Some of the wrestling was pretty good however the girl with the red face paint was awful and put in a terrible performance dragging down the match. Another issue here was the complete lack if interest from the fans who treated this like a pandemic match or the intermission. With lots of empty seats clearly noticeable including in the first few rows. Not a good start for the AJPW and AWG relationship.

A ten man tag match as the team of Davey Boy Smith Jr, Hokuto Omori, Jun Saito, Rei Saito and Minoru Suzuki took on Mitsuya Nagai, Osamu Nishimura, Ren Ayabe, Ryuki Honda and Suwama. This was boring and went to a no contest **-. There has been some speculation that WWE and AJPW may have some sort of working agreement which given the history of WWE in destroying anyone that works with them this is obviously concerning. Charlie Dempsey is an NXT wrestler and the son of William Regal and he worked on this show prior to a title match with Katsuhiko Nakajima on the 3rd of January. Dempsey teamed with Yuma Anzai against Nakajima and Hideki Suzuki. There was some good work here but the crowd wasn’t too interested in seeing Dempsey being clearly louder when Anzai was in the ring with Nakajima a more interesting main event for a Japanese crowd that probably doesn’t watch a lot of NXT. Dempsey gets the flash pin on Nakajima which had to happen to show that he had a chance of defeating the holder of the Triple Crown **+.

Dan Tamura successfully defended his Junior Heavyweight championship against Hikaru Sato in a good ***- match. Some good work but lacked the drama and excitement that should occur in a semi main event title match. Finally the show ended with the annual new year battle royal. This was a dull and tedious match with a lot of the worst elements of a battle royal *+.

Recommended Matches – None

Wrestler Points

Black Menso-re – Bronze – 1 Point

Minoru Tanaka – Bronze – 1 Point

Charlie Dempsey – Bronze – 1 Point

Yuma Anzai – Bronze – 1 Point

Katsuhiko Nakajima – Bronze – 1 Point

Dan Tamura – Bronze – 1 Point

Hikaru Sato – Bronze – 1 Point

Promotion Points

AJPW – Bronze – 1 Point

NOAH

The last two years have seen Pro Wrestling NOAH kick off the new year with big shows at the Nippon Budokan. This year on the 2nd of January they kicked off the year at Ariake Arena in front of a decent crowd of 5,135. The show was a bit of a mixed bag with two excellent matches including the first contender for the match of the year but also a main event which was a complete disaster.

I often enjoy the NOAH openers as they tend to feature some quality young talent. This match was no exemption as Yu Owada defeated Taishi Ozawa in a short but fun ***- match. In the second and final dark match before the main card kicked off Atsushi Kotege, Mohammed Yone, Super Crazy and Terry Yaki defeated Akitoshi Saito, Hajime Ohara, Hi69 and Kai Fujimura. This was an average match completely deserving its place on the card **.

The main card kicked off with an exciting fast paced GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team championship match. We have new champions as Tadasuke & YO-HEY defeated holders Alpha Wolf & Dragon Bane as well as Alejandro & Ninja Mack. Lots of high flying moves and action ***. GLG the team of Anthony Greene, Jack Morris and Jake Lee defeated El Hijo del Dr Wagner Jr, Titus Alexander and Vinnie Massaro. This was a solid match but nothing spectacular **+.

Tomohiro Ishii defeated Masa Kitamiya in an awesome ****+ match. This was exactly the sort of match you would expect from these two. They beat the crap out of each other in an exciting and drama filled match which had the crowd right into it by the end. This was the first great match of the year and although it won’t be at the top of any lists by the end of the year this was a memorable match which brought a smile to my face after being disappointed by a lot of the matches I had seen previously.

Go Shiozaki defeated Satoshi Kojima in a good *** match. I think these two are capable of a better match but this was enjoyable with both men showcasing their abilities well. A bad women’s match followed as NOAH is trying to push a new gimmick with Great Sakuya being pushed as the adopted daughter of The Great Muta perhaps in the hope of her becoming a draw based of Muta’s fame. The mist spray is incredibly generic and Sakuya got herself disqualified in a really bad finish in a match where she teamed with Nagisa Nozaki against Haruka Umesaki & Miyuki Takase **-.

Takashi Sugiura defeated Ulka Sasaki in a solid match with Sasaki putting in a good performance against the veteran Sugiura ***-. Another match featuring NJPW talent as Zach Sabre Jr the NJPW World TV champion teamed up with Yoshinari Ogawa against ZSJ’s challenger and the new President of NJPW Hiroshi Tanahashi who teamed with HAYATA in a ***- match with the highlight being the preview of ZSJ vs Tanahashi. Daga defended his GHC Junior Heavyweight championship against Eita in a solid ***- match. The Junior Heavyweight championship in NOAH really needs to improve with too many matches in this division being perfectly serviceable but nothing special at all.

The NJPW presence on this show continued as the House of Torture (Dick Togo, EVIL, Ren Narita, SHO, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Yujiro Takahashi) took on a team lead by the NOAH ace Kaito Kiyomiya who has had an extended run in NJPW since the G1 kicked off in July 2023. Kiyomiya has been teaming with Young Lion Ryohei Oiwa who is currently on excursion to NOAH and another NJPW talent Shota Umino joined up with Kiyomiya here as well along with the NOAH trio Daiki Inaba, Junta Miyawaki and Shuji Kondo. Despite their being three NJPW wrestlers joining him in the match team Kiyomiya was the firm home town favorite. Despite the usual bullshit interference from HOT which makes their matches unwatchable I actually enjoyed this match. Kiyomiya looked like a superstar and gained the last two eliminations in an elimination match which also showcased Umino who was impressive here. The star of the match was definitely Kiyomiya who was brilliant here. I can only give this ***- though because HOT nonsense but this was one of the better matches they have had.

In what should have been the main event Kenoh defended his GHC Heavyweight Championship against Manabu Soya. This was a great **** match with plenty of tough physical hard hitting action. The second best match on the show and the second recommended match on the card. This was where they should have ended this event. Kota Ibushi is a member of the Wrestling Observer Hall of Fame and until recently was one of the best wrestlers in the world. After a career where he seemed to be blessed to avoid major injury despite putting his body through dangerous move after dangerous move his luck ended during 2021 where a combination of illness and injury ended his career at the top of New Japan Pro Wrestling. In 2023 he made a comeback in All Elite Wrestling but he clearly was not the same wrestler. Despite the diminished level of performance he was placed into this match in NOAH with another Japanese veteran and legend Naomichi Marufuji another wrestler reaching the end of his career at the top level.

Ibushi was in terrible shape and was obviously injured this resulted in a depressing slow match which lasted 33 minutes and was potentially 33 minutes too long. Ibushi struggle to complete any moves and despite the efforts of Marufuji at this stage of his career he is unable to carry a match of this magnitude. There were some ok moments but this match can only be considered a disaster. A negligent decision by NOAH to place Ibushi in the ring in his condition which is rightfully being criticized. No doubt this match had an impact in getting the crowd above 5,000 but was it really worth it. NOAH attendances declined rapidly after the retirement of Kenji Mutoh it has to be questioned whether putting two veterans including one so banged up that he can hardly walk in addition to not even being a part of the promotion is a wise decision. Ibushi and Marufuji popping one reasonable crowd is not going to increase crowds at house shows and at Korakuen Hall. If NOAH truly wants to be the number two promotion below NJPW they will need to make significant changes to their booking approach and push some new stars which given NOAH’s history is very unlikely. *

Recommended Matches

Tomohiro Ishii vs Masa Kitamiya – ****+

Kenoh vs Manabu Soya – ****

Wrestler Awards

Tomohiro Ishiii – Gold – 5 Points

Masa Kitamiya – Gold – 5 Points

Kenoh – Gold - 5 Points

Manabu Soya – Gold – 5 Points

Kaito Kiyomiya – Silver – 2 Points

Go Shiozaki – Silver – 2 Points

Satoshi Kojima – Silver – 2 Points

Shota Umino – Bronze – 1 Point

Daga – Bronze – 1 Point

Eita – Bronze – 1 Point

Zach Sabre Jr – Bronze – 1 Point

Hiroshi Tanahashi – Bronze – 1 Point

Takashi Sugiura – Bronze – 1 Point

Ulka Sasaki – Bronze – 1 Point

Tadasuke – Bronze – 1 Point

YO-HEY – Bronze – 1 Point

Alpha Wolf - Bronze – 1 Point

Dragon Bane – Bronze – 1 Point

Alejandro – Bronze – 1 Point

Ninja Mack – Bronze – 1 Point

Yu Owada – Bronze – 1 Point

Taishi Ozawa – Bronze – 1 Point

Promotion Awards

NOAH – Silver - 2 Points

WWE NXT

The first episode of NXT for 2024 and well it was an episode of NXT. A mixed bag in terms of the wrestling and with some awful lame segments that mean nothing and are forgotten 30 seconds after they’ve been viewed. It is an easier show to watch than RAW but that is probably only because it is not three hours.

The opening match was for the NXT Women’s title as Lyra Valkyria defended her title against Blair Devenport. A solid ***- match this was not at the level of what a title match should be but was perfectly fine with decent enough in ring action. The next match was the best on the card as the LWO (Carlito, Cruz Del Toro, Joaquin Wilde) defeated No Quarter Catch Crew (Damon Kemp, Drew Gulak, Myles Bourne) in a *** all action match. This type of match should be a feature of this product rather than lame illogical backstage segments which make the talent look like morons.

Arianna Grace defeated Roxanne Perez in a bad * match. The match itself was perfectly average with Perez controlling most of the action and winning the encounter. But Grace had bullied Perez the entire match causing Perez to lose her control and attack Grace after the match. The referee reverses the decision awarding the match to the bully Grace demonstrating to the audience that bullying pays off. Fallon Henley defeated Tiffany Stratton in a solid **+ match with an awful storyline. The loser of this match would have to be the servant for a day of the winner. Henley the country girl wins which means the posh stuck up Stratton will have to be her stable hand for the day. I have seen the segment online at the time of writing and yes the segment is as awful, lame and pathetic as it sounds.

Oba Femi defeated Riley Osborne in the final of the NXT Breakout Tournament. This was a well worked well paced ***- match which showed the potential of both of these wrestlers. I am looking forward to seeing how both men improve as time goes on. The main event featured Trick Williams defeating Grayson Waller to become the NXT Championship number 1 contender. A good ***- match but hardly main event level. memorable finish as Waller tried to cheat to win but is stymied by the appearance of Kevin Owens to the delight of the crowd.

Recommended Matches – None

Wrestler Awards

Lyra Valkyria – Bronze – 1 Point

Blair Davenport – Bronze – 1 Point

Carlito – Bronze – 1 Point

Cruz Del Toro – Bronze – 1 Point

Joaquin Wilde – Bronze – 1 Point

Damon Kemp – Bronze – 1 Point

Drew Gulak – Bronze – 1 Point

Myles Borne – Bronze – 1 Point

Fallon Henley – Bronze – 1 Point

Tiffany Stratton – Bronze – 1 Point

Oba Femi – Bronze – 1 Point

Riley Osborne – Bronze – 1 Point

Trick Williams – Bronze – 1 Point

Grayson Waller – Bronze – 1 Point

Promotion Awards

WWE – Bronze – 1 Point