Yusuke Okada VS Omori Hokuto - 6.5/10

A really well wrestled young Jr. Heavyweight guys match, hard hitting, good selling, and nice submission work. I really liked the stuff they did when Okada would go to lock in the Boston Crab on Hokuto, how the latter would try to escape and crawl the to the ropes. Okada worked the back, Hokuto worked the arm, and at the end, Hokuto tapped out to the third Boston Crab attempt. I think the match was about to go long, but they ended it right at the edge.



Atsuki Aoyagi & Dan Tamura vs. Atsushi Aoki & Hikaru Sato - 6.5/0

The match was extremely technical until Aoki and Aoyagi got in the ring and started striking each other. Aoki and Sato cut the ring in half on Aoyagi, who had a good comeback and tagged in Tamura for a decent hot tag. There were some good near falls between Tamura and Aoki, but rightly so, now that he's going into the Carnival, Aoki pinned Tamura after a DDT and a High Angle Backdrop.



Atsushi Maruyama, Jun Akiyama, & KAI vs. Black Menso-re, Takao Omori, & Yutaka Yoshie - 6/10

KAI and Omori started the match with the old timer showing he could still hang with KAI. Yoshie vs Maruyama was next with the former having the size advantage and using it to push Maruyama around and block most of the offense. Finally, Black Menso-re came in and quickly got taken down as he walked the ropes, at which point he got worked on for a while. Akiyama was particularly brutal. After a good showing for Yoshie against Akiyama, Yoshie pinned Maruyama with a top rope splash. Ok match, nothing special. I'm kinda surprised how much Yoshie was protected here.



Akira Francesco & Koji Iwamoto vs. Kazumi Kikuta & Ryuichi Kawakami - 5/10

Iwamoto and Kawakami start the match, lots of grappling and reversals. Akira and Kikuta came in, but the big dudes quickly cut the ring in half on the small white tender boy. Iwamoto came in and kinda got his ass kicked too, it wasn't until Akira's second tag that we had something close to a hot tag. Kikuta had some near falls on Akira before finally taking him out with a kick for the win. Meh match, the stuff with Kawakami and Iwamoto had potential, but not in this match.



Post-match - Kawakami cut a promo challenging Iwamoto for the All-Asia Tag Titles, Iwamoto accepted. Kawakami and Kikuta went to attack Iwamoto, but Kojika came to stop them and make it official for the 5.5 Dainippon Wrestling "Endless Survivor ~ 2019" show. Didn't even ask Jake Lee, but then again, he also didn't come out to back up his hommie, even tho we next have...



The Road to 2019 Champion Carnival B Block Special tag match

Jake Lee & Yoshitatsu vs. Naoya Nomura & Suwama - 5.5/10

I have an irrational hate for Yoshitatsu's spider-man mask. Nomura and Lee went at it first, they did a series of reversals and counters, pretty much coming to a stalemate. Suwama and Yoshitatsu were in next, everyone but one lady chanted to Suwama and Yoshitatsu tried to get the people to chant for him and I just felt bad. He makes YOSHI-HASHI look like a legend.



The only good thing about this match was the stuff with Nomura and Lee, who at one point were just brawling outside while Suwama worked over Yoshitatsu in the ring. Unfortunately, we didn't get much Suwama vs Lee. There was a near fall when Yoshitatsu locked in Suwama in a submission, but couldn't seal the deal. Finish saw Suwama choke out that geek instead. Suwama and Yoshitatsu face each other on the April 10th CC date, I really hope this finish isn't opposite momentum law for that match.



Post-match - Suwama cut a promo saying Yoshitatsu is a geek. Nomura and Lee are facing each other on the first night of the CC, so they said nice things to each other.



The Road to 2019 Champion Carnival A Block Special 6 Man tag Team match

Kento Miyahara, Shuji Ishikawa & Zeus vs. Dylan James, Yuji Okabayashi & Yuma Aoyagi - 7.5/10

I think we all need to take a moment to appreciate how awesome Zeus' music is. This match was really fun, if you're a fan of hoss fights or if you're a fan of chops, you'll enjoy this a lot. Okabayashi was the MVP of the match, he paired up with both Ishikawa and Zeus on different occasions. Miyahara did a lot of work with Aoyagi, with the latter actually getting the better of the champ a lot. Ishikawa pinned Dylan James after a good short hoss battle.



Something fun too was the interaction between Miyahara with Ishikawa and Zeus, as they kept tagging him in the hard way with chops.



Post-Match - Ishikawa got the rub cutting a promo about the Champion's Carnival.



OVERALL THOUGHTS

This was the Road to Champion's Carnival, I was supposed to get excited, but I didn't. The players are good, the one-on-one matches could be really good, but the matches tonight did just not hype me that much. Having said that, my body is ready.