Toryumon 7/1/01 Pay-Per-View Review
Genki Horiguchi & SAITO vs. Kenichiro Arai & Gran Apache
TARUltimo Dragon vs. Masahiro Stoker
Dragon Kid, Ricky Marvin, Ryo Saito vs. Yasushi Kanda, Susumu Mochizuki, Darkness Dragon
Dick Togo vs. Chocoflake K-ICHI
CIMA, SUWA, Sumo Fuji vs. Great Sasuke, Tiger Mask IV, Gran Hamada (UWA Trios Championship)
Maasaki Mochizuki vs. Magnum TOKYO (British Commonwealth Junior Championship)
Pretty damn good pay-per-view, I'm glad I got it for free (tape trade) as well. Everyone
worked at their level and no one can be accused of "mailing it in." Only one not-very-good
match, which was not a stinker by any stretch of the imagination. This pretty well illustates
why Toryumon may be the best promotion in the world right now. Though the run-ins in the top
two matches were kind of annoying they weren't WWF-level or as I call `em, "so bad, I hafta melt
a snowflake or two off the finally rating meaning most matches don't exceed two stars." The
Togo one did cost MPro the match, but made him a bonafide rudo and helped pop MPro with a
Sasuke-Togo feud. The M2K one was pretty pointless, but at least it didn't effect the outcome.
I'd say this is probably a four-star PPV and definately worth the price of admission, I hear
it was $9 US!
A very ecclectic, but appropriote opener. I like all these guys quite a bit, except Arai,
who I really don't like at all. SAITO is always interesting, Genki's a good lil' worker and
Apache's the only good thing I've seen on AAA's TV in the past year and he's always a treat to
see in action.
Three-part match here in classic tag fashion. First everybody feels out everybody, nothing
super exciting, just warming up the crowd. Then the rudos (Apache & Arai) gone on the offensive
on poor Genki with the highlights being a Rolling Rito Romero Special by Apache and nice
powerbomb-nearfall-half crab combo by Arai. Am I the only one that think Genki looks like Chris
Kattan? The technicos make the comeback with highspots, including Genki Sch-weet Tope Con
Hilo. Back inside, Apache does a cool cradled suplex that shows great power. Arai and SAITO
have a great sequence, but the rudos get it back and get the win.
Excellent opener with everyone looking at the top of their respective games. Handshakes all
around and Apache steals kisses from a girl in the front row. Apache looked exceptional
because he didn't have to carry three nobodies like so much Los Diabolicos in AAA. Genki played
his role beautifully and had some well-done offense. SAITO had some really great stuff up his
sleeve and even Arai in all his bizarreness (that I don't usually dig) was on the ball.
Rating: ***
How can you like puroresu and not love this feud or at least this part of it. I'm a big
mark for impersonations of other wrestlers, though it can be poorly done (nWo Horsemen) these
two are excellent comedy wrestlers. It's too bad there aren't more on this level, La Parka Jr.
is the only one I can think of off hand. They show a nice video package that makes this one
interesting to see who's next?
TARUltimo Dragon makes his return, but who will he face this time. The lights go down and
they play the Team 2000 theme and after the obvious flag (how could they not do that?) out comes
Masahiro Stoker. The mannerisms and outfit are so hilarious, but unless one knows their Chono,
it just isn't the same.
They do some great comedy throughout with Stoker evading a tie-up that catches the ref.
Stoker gets him all up in arms. A hip toss sequence turns into a mock dance. They do a mock
standoff that causes both men to "blow up." Stoker pulls out Chono's offense with Yakuza Kicks
and STFs. TARU can barely do Ultimo's headstand. Stoker looses his wind suit, but has a funny
muscle shirt thing on underneath. He plays with his huge ears, much to the dismay of Tanabe
again. Stoker does lots o' botched moves ropewalk lucha takeover (can't hold on), Asai
Moonsault (slips) and Springboard whatever (falls short). TARU ends up surviving all of his
goofs and getting the win.
This is as good as comedy wrestling can get. I'd give a ***** if I was rating it as such,
but can't in all fairness to the other matches I rate do that. Comedy aside these guys looked
really good, TARU can do better, but had to sit back and let Stoker do his thing. Stoker looked
as good as he can doing the cool reverse ropewalk with him sitting out and then jumping back to
regain his footing, which is certainly impressive. He also hit a nice Flipping Suicide Dive
that I haven't seen Kaz Hayashi do for years. An okay match wrapped in excellent comedy.
Rating: **1/2
M2K versus Toryumon Army and a top-notch luchador, you can't miss on this one. The M2K guys
are pretty much talented young punks, who can work the purolucha style well. Dragon Kid and
Ricky Marvin are hot youngsters who have quickly gone from spot artists to much more complete
flyers. Saito's really good as well, but much less exciting than his dynamic partners.
M2K dominate early on with rudo brawling, but the technicos come back in classic lucha
flash fashion. If it was a true lucha match (2/3 falls) the technicos would've gone up by one
here. The rudos return fire with double/triple teaming and of course more brawling. This time
Ryo Saito plays the hapless victim. The technicos try to match them, but are outclassed and
hit with a cool triple DDT into triple submissions spot. The rudos would've evened up the falls
here.
Then as the rudos controlled the last part of the of the match, the technicos rebounds with
again their superior technique, including triple inside-to-outside highspots. Then they go into
one-on-ones inside, where they probably would've split falls, eliminating Marvin and Kanda and
having the two captains (Dragons) go at it. Then it ends up with Dragon trying to beat
Mochizuki, but it ends with Marvin doing it.
I liked the lucha-isms in this match as I'm a big fan of the setup of the matches with the
three-falls et al. It all worked well, except Marvin getting the win, Saito should have been
"eliminated" in his stead by Susumu. But this match didn't have the falls, but the same idea.
The early work was pretty typical with a break-neck speed that boggles the mind. I preferred
the later fast work, but it was all good. Saito seemed underused, but did an excellent job
selling the rudos' second advantage. Luckily Marvin's weaknesses were well-hidden as he did
little more than his exciting spots, which is fine. All in all this was a pretty basic
lucharesu six-man with awesome hieghts and one brief low.
Rating: ***1/2
Kind of a filler match to get both these guys on the show. Togo is a world class junior
rudo, who practically made Kaientai in MPro with his tactics. After leaving Osaka Pro, he
jumped right into the thick of things best he could as we'll see later on.
This one starts off explosively with Togo getting a big lariat and 2 3/4 count on
Chocoflake. He procedes to kick his ass for the next five minutes with Chocoflake coming across
as the technico, since Togo is trying to reinstate himself as a super-rudo (he was not yet in
MPro, where he'd been competing most recently). The youngster got a little offense in by the
Senton got the relatively quick win for the veteran. Nothing too exciting, but it did serve a
perhaps to an extent.
Rating: *1/2
Six guys who are all excellent in their own ways. Crazy Max is well represented by CIMA and
SUWA who are uncannily awesome and Fuji who's very good at what he does. Sasuke and Hamada
are obviously past their primes, but are still at an incredible level considering their
physical condition and age respectively. Tiger Mask is just awesome and could be a big star if
he was given a big stage to preform on.
The rudos show instant disrespect by flipping the bird, talkin' shit and finally CIMA
throwing his bauquet and they jump on the MPro challengers. Hamada plays the weak link, which
is accurate (though he's no slouch). The two captians have an awesome sequence, which CIMA
winning. SUWA does a segudora spot and he a TM4 do som good stuff. Finally the fat man and the
old man go at it. Then things start mixing up and CIMA plays the victim of the MPro boys.
CMax finally cheat and get back the advantage with a cool cornered attack on Tiger Mask,
which is rarely used, but favorite of mine. A little see-saw, but CMax cuts off Hamada again
for some exciting double/triple-teaming. The technicos make their comeback and things pick up
considerably with lots of highspots, nearfalls and constant mixing and matching. It ends up
with CIMA and the Great Sasuke. After a ref bump (dammit), Dick Togo jumps Sasuke and CIMA
hits the Mad Splash for a huge win.
Very good match, pretty much average considering those involved, but solid action. They
used a more purolucha trios style then pure lucha, which we already soon so that was fine. All
the boys looked good, especially TM4, who's one of my favs and the MVP of this match. I'd say
this is worth checking out, but if you've seen a lot of Toryumon it won't really wow you. I
preferred the early six-man because those involved seemed to look as good as they ever have and
I've seen everyone of these guys in much better matches.
Rating: ***
What's not to love about TOKYO? Maybe if he did the stripper thing and stunk in the ring,
but he's main eventing this PPV for a good reason. Mochizuki's pretty cool two even using
pre-sellout Metallica ("Trapped Under Ice") as his theme like so many luchadors before him,
though that scooter is pretty uncool.
There was a lot of good strikes and psychology early on with Mochizuki attacking the
stomach(?), which was strange, but it worked. Magnum sold it all well and countered with some
focus on Maasaki's arm. The latter part was Magnum continually summoning his fighting spirit as
Mochizuki and his M2K buddies refused to let up on him. Finally he was able to hit his Adult
Video Star Press perfectly for the win and the B.C. Jr. strap.
Kind of short for a main event, but action-packed, so it didn't matter much. A few
imperfections, but nothing so bad you'd really remember them, so again they take little away
from things overall. The ref-bump, weapon use, and interference are the real big detractors in
this one. At least the bump was cool with Magnum ducking an enzugiri. The weapon was the
stupid plastic blue box, which no one can take seriously. Lastly the M2K boys got involved and
so did Okumura, but in defense they didn't cost anyone the match like so much WWF. Faults
aside, this was a well-done match and fitting of the top spot on this big show.
Rating: ***1/2