taped at Korakuen Hall, 01/22/2011
recap: here
file: part 1, part 2, part 3
(large gifs, after the break)
Gedo & Jado b Danshoku Dino & Máximo – exactly the silliness the match promised. Amusing how a casita got one of the bigger reactions of this match.
Gigante Bernard, Jushin Liger, Karl Anderson b Atlantis, Dragón Rojo Jr., Taichi – Lyger needs to recruit Bernard as a permanent henchmen, so he can continue to hide behind him and call him “MISTER FLYING MAN!” Big dive was great.
La Máscara, La Sombra, Máscara Dorada b Shigeo Okumura, Tetsuya Naito, Yujiro Takahashi [CMLL TRIOS] – a good match, but a run of the mill title defense due to Dorada not beind Dorada and Mascara fighting a war against himself. Mascara getting the campana is the usual finish for this team and a wacky lucha hold for a win on a lucha show in Japan makes total sense, but I wondered if maybe they made sure to give him something to try to make up for everything else.
Tiger Mask IV b Tomohiro Ishii [hair] – not a very good match. Not a fan of hair matches where the guy/lady doesn’t get their hair cut in front of the crowd.
Místico b Averno – full circle. Of the 25 Mistico/Averno known singles matches with results in the last 5+ years, this was Mistico’s 18th win. This was as good as any of them. They went all out for an audience that doesn’t see them much, and they probably did it knowing it might be the last time they have this match for a very long time. Nice match to remember this rivalary. They made progress with Sombra, but Mistico was clearly the biggest show on the year.
Prince Devitt & Ryusuke Taguchi b Kenny Omega & Kota Ibushi [IWGP JR TAG] – a very good match. I do wonder how this show is going to do next year. It seems a safe bet they’re doing it agian, but they’ll be doing it with Mistico, without this feud (which featured hot names to the local audience and had been built up over a number of months), and without the novelty of this being the first one in a long time. I think they’ll still do okay, but it’ll be a little more work.
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