Date:  January 24th, 2015
Location:  Tokorozawa Citizen Gymnasium Sub Arena in Saitama, Japan
Announced Attendance:  500

This is an itty bitty WRESTLE-1 event that kinda goes under the category of “why was this taped?”.  But it was, so here we are.  No big matches on the event, but a few do have potential to be entertaining so we’ll see how it goes.  Here is the full card:

- Hiroki Murase vs. Rionne Fujiwara
- Andy Wu and El Hijo del Pantera vs. Minoru Tanaka and Seiki Yoshioka
- Daiki Inaba vs. TAJIRI
- Masakatsu Funaki and Jiro Kuroshio vs. NOSAWA Rongai and MAZADA
- Manabu Soya, AKIRA, and Hiroshi Yamato vs. Ryota Hama, Nakanoue, and Yusuke Kodama
- KAI, Kaz Hayashi, and Shuji Kondo vs. Masayuki Kono, KAZMA SAKAMOTO, and Koji Doi

Let’s get it started!

Hiroki Murase vs. Rionne Fujiwara
They tussle around to start and Murase dropkicks Fujiwara out of the ring.  Fujiwara trips Murase on the apron and applies an armbar, and he throws Murase into the ring post.  Back in the ring Fujiwara applies a camel clutch.  Fujiwara throws Murase in the corner and hits a jumping knee followed by a face crusher.  Hiptoss by Murase and he hits an elbow drop.  Swandive missile dropkick by Murase but Fujiwara applies an armbar.  Murase reverses it into a cross armbreaker, but Fujiwara gets out of it and drops Murase on his head with a German suplex.  I know it leads to concussions and death but head dropping moves just really catch my attention, I like them.  Twisting neckbreaker by Fujiwara but Murase hits a backdrop suplex hold for two.  Murase applies a Texas Cloverleaf and Fujiwara taps out.  This was a perfectly fine opening match, no wasted time or dull moments, they kept at each other.  Good way to start the show.  Score:  6.0

Andy Wu and El Hijo del Pantera vs. Minoru Tanaka and Seiki Yoshioka
Tanaka and Pantera start things off.  They flip around to start and Pantera hits a dropkick as Tanaka bails out of the ring.  Both wrestlers tag out and Wu armdrags Yoshioka.  Wu kicks Yoshioka and he delivers a dropkick.  Yoshioka is double teamed, ending with a knee by Wu.  Snapmare by Pantera and he tags in Wu.  Yoshioka fights back and hits a tornado DDT on Wu.  Yoshioka tags in Tanaka and Tanaka kicks Wu into the corner.  Missile dropkick by Tanaka, leg sweep and he covers Wu for two.  Wu hits a bulldog and he tags in Pantera.  Dropkick by Pantera and he hits a heel kick.  Eye rake by Pantera but Tanaka dropkicks him.  Tanaka tags in Yoshioka and Yoshioka hits a knee in the corner.  Enzigieri by Yoshioka and he hits a heel kick.  Pantera is double teamed, Michinoku Driver by Yoshioka but it gets a two.  Dropkick by Pantera and he hits a vertical suplex.  Sunset flip by Yoshioka, Wu dropkicks Yoshioka but Tanaka dropkicks Wu.  La Magistral by Yoshioka and he picks up the three count.  A fun affair, I really enjoy Yoshioka in these types of matches and it was entertaining from start to finish.  Nothing earth shattering but a fun mid-card tag.  Score:  6.0

Daiki Inaba vs. TAJIRI
They trade waistlocks  and TAJIRI gets Inaba to the mat.  Inaba gets the advantage  but TAJIRI slides out of the ring to re-group.  He returns after a moment and they struggle on the mat, hiptoss by Inaba but TAJIRI drops him neck-first on the top rope.  TAJIRI applies a reverse chinlock, they return to their feet and trade chops.  TAJIRI re-applies the reverse chinlock but Inaba gets into the ropes.  TAJIRI twists Inaba in the ropes but Inaba elbows TAJIRI and hits a jumping shoulderblock.  Elbow by Inaba and he hits a vertical suplex.  Diving headbutt by Inaba but it gets a two count.  Inaba goes up top but TAJIRI kicks him in the head.  Inaba knocks TAJIRI back and hits a diving elbow strike for two.  Handspring elbow strike by TAJIRI but Inaba hits a Fisherman Buster for a two count.  Inaba goes up top but TAJIRI avoids the diving headbutt.  Inaba applies an Octopus Hold and he applies a backslide for two.  High kick by TAJIRI and he hits the Buzzsaw Kick for the three count.  This was a bit too slow for my taste, it was a lot of mat work that didn’t go anywhere.  Then TAJIRI quickly won the match with a couple of moves that were unrelated to everything else they had done up to that point.  I like Inaba and his spunk, but this match wasn’t very good.  Score:  3.5

Masakatsu Funaki and Jiro Kuroshio vs. NOSAWA Rongai and MAZADA
Funaki and MAZADA start off, kicks by Funaki standing, then he kicks MAZADA in the chest after a snapmare.  Funaki tags in Kuroshio but MAZADA gets away and tags in NOSAWA.  Armdrag by Kuroshio, MAZADA comes in but Kuroshio throws him out of the ring.  Funaki comes in and he kicks NOSAWA.  Quebrada by Kuroshio but it gets two.  NOSAWA kicks Kuroshio and he applies a reverse chinlock.  MAZADA is tagged in and he chops down Kuroshio.  MAZADA works over Kuroshio and tags in NOSAWA.  MAZADA is tagged back in but Kuroshio finally gets away and tags in Funaki.  Funaki kicks MAZADA but MAZADA rakes his eyes.  MAZADA tags in NOSAWA, double Irish whip to Funaki and he eats a double dropkick.  DDT by MAZADA and NOSAWA hits a Shining Wizard for two.  Double flapjack to Kuroshio but Funaki kicks both of them.  Backdrop suplex by Funaki to NOSAWA but MAZADA breaks up the pin.  Kuroshio takes care of him, and Funaki hits a PK on NOSAWA. Hybrid Buster by Funaki, and he gets a three count.  The beatdown segment on Kuroshio in the middle of the match took too long and wasn’t interesting.  This match needed more Funaki, but they had to keep him on the apron since he is in a different class than everyone else.  Not the ideal match style for NOSAWA and MAZADA, just not a great match.  Score:  4.0

Manabu Soya, AKIRA, and Yamato vs. Ryota Hama, Nakanoue, and Yusuke Kodama
AKIRA and Nakanoue begin the match and they trade holds on the mat.  They trade elbows until AKIRA hits a dropkick.  Nakanoue comes back with a hard elbow and he tags in Kodama.  Yamato tags in too and Kodama hits a pair of hiptosses.  Yamato springboards off the ropes and collides heads with Kodama.  Yamato tags in Soya, and Soya elbows Kodama in the back.  Soya swings Kodama around and tags in Yamato.  Dropkick by Kodama to Yamato and he hits a scoop slam.  Senton by Yamato and he tags in AKIRA.  AKIRA applies a submission to Kodama but Kodama gets to the ropes.  Soya is tagged in and he lariats Kodama, but Kodama sneaks in a schoolboy for two.  Suplex by Kodama but he can’t make the hot tag.  Soya tags in AKIRA and everyone hits Kodama in the corner.  Vertical suplex by Yamato and Soya hits a lariat.  Nakanoue comes into to help, Kodama dropkicks AKIRA and he makes the hot tag to the big man.  Hama hits a body avalanche on AKIRA in the corner and he hits the running butt smash.  AKIRA tags in Yamato and Yamato hits a missile dropkick.  AKIRA and Soya come in to help but they can’t knock Hama down.  Them making Hama some monster that can’t be knocked down is ridiculous.  Finally Yamato knock s over Hama but the pin is broken up.  The ring is cleared and Hama levels Yamato with a lariat.  Elbow drop by Hama and he hits the Ookido Press for a three count.  I dunno how Hama can go from comedy matches to it taking three men a full minute to actually knock him over.  He is fat, he isn’t strong, or at least that is how he has been portrayed in W1 since day 1.  Kodama was really good here but it didn’t need to be a six man.  Some bright moments but overall just not very exciting or memorable.  Score:  5.0

KAI, Kaz Hayashi, and Shuji Kondo vs. Kono, KAZMA SAKAMOTO, and Koji Doi
Kono and company attack their opponents to kick things off and they battle around the ring.  Kono and Kondo get in the ring but Kono throws Kondo back out of it and he is attacked out on the floor.  KAI comes over to help and trades strikes with Kono, and Doi eventually gets back in the ring with Kondo.  Doi throws Kondo in the corner and tags in Kono.  Kono elbows Kondo and tags in SAKAMOTO.  SAKAMOTO chokes Kondo against the ropes and tags in Doi.  Doi works over Kondo’s leg and tags in Kono.  Kono applies a single leg crab hold, SAKAMOTO comes in to help but Kondo hits a lariat/bulldog combo on them and tags in KAI.  KAI dropkicks Kono and SAKAMOTO before booting them both in the corner.  Vertical suplex by KAI and he trades elbows with Kono.  KAI boots Kono and hits a thrust kick, but Kono hits a jumping knee.  Doi and Hayashi tag in and they trade eye rakes.  Spinebuster by Doi but Hayashi returns the favor and hits a quebrada for a two count.  Kondo comes in the ring and lariats Doi, then KAI hits the LAT.  Superkick by Hayashi but it gets a two count.  KAI hits a tope suicida out onto Kono while Hayashi hits a Final Cut on Doi.  TAJIRI comes in the ring but KAI kicks him back.  Chokebomb by Kono to KAI but SAKAMOTO comes in with the kendo stick.  Kondo takes it from him and hits SAKAMOTO with it, but SAKAMOTO knees Kondo in the head.  Kondo comes back with a King Kong Lariat, Hayashi picks up SAKAMOTO but SAKAMOTO gets away and Doi hits Hayashi with a chair.  Punches by Doi, he picks up Hayashi and hits a poor Motherfucker for the three count.  Hayashi didn’t seem interested in taking that move correctly, but he is old.  The ending stretch was fun but the beatdown segment on Kondo just took a bit too long in comparison to the match length.  If the action towards the end had latest longer it would have helped but it just didn’t feel like a main event.   Better than the last match though.   Score:  5.5

Final Thoughts:

This was basically a house show, just an mid-tour event in front of a small crowd before the ‘big’ show a week later.  No match went beyond 13 minutes and there wasn’t a single memorable moment or important development.  That being said, there were definitely some solid matches on the card and nothing was actively bad.  It was just very pedestrian and nothing here needs to be sought out.

Grade:  D

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review completed on 2/13/15