It’s time for another At Odds homework assignment. Every week there’s not a pay per view, or a major shopping holiday, Joe and Adam trade off assigning wrestling shows to each other. I’m a mark for the show so I get in on the action.

This show can be found on IWTV along with hundreds of other wrestling events. This was also suggested by fellow podcasters and friends, Pod Van Dam. I’m still not sure why nor what the joke is that I feel like I’m missing. Other than one and a half matches, this show hurt to watch. It was only an hour and a half or so but it still took me two weeks to watch.

Of course, I only got to watch ¾ of the show. Because one entire corner of the ring never appears on camera. The set up for this show is so bad it hurts my head. One person. It would only take one person to look through the camera and rearrange it. One corner never appears. Half of another corner is cut off. Can’t see the floor, sometimes feet are cut off, and any time a wrestler gets near or on top of the top rope they disappear. It’s possible the announcers explained this set up, but there weren’t any! Not that I speak Japanese, but there was no commentary throughout the show. Ring introductions happened, but again, I had no idea what was being said. Which means I was unsure of everyone’s name and had to make up names on the spot so I could tell the wrestlers apart in my notes.

This seems like a good company though because from the looks of it they let the wrestlers’ families sit front row. There may have been other people at the show, but there’s no way to see the other three sides of the ring floor. There could have been thousands, or just the ten people across from the hard/only camera. We’ll never know.

Match 1: Yu Iizuka vs Konaka.

As I was watching, I named Yu “half pants” and Konaka “Knuckleball” because he made me think of the baseball gimmick. Half Pants grinds on the referee. I lose a lot of action in the blind corner. Rolling pin attempts are a good spot, but take place in the wrong corner. There’s a tapout/submission I think giving Half Trunks the win.

Match 2: Shinya Ishida vs Tetsuya Izuchi.

Again, to keep track, I called Shinya “Ember Mood” and Tetsuya “Shiruken”. The untucked referee shirts are driving me nuts.Shiruken has some good speed. Lot of action in the wrong corner again. I can’t see you! This is the John Cena of wrestling rings. Good chops by Ember. Paint brush slaps by Ember. Springboard coast to coast by Ember barely connects. He has charisma though. Big slip into the ropes. Ember comes back with… flipping neck breaker? Ember gets the pin.

Match 3: Keizo Matsuda & YUJI KITO vs Hiroshi Watanabe & Yoshihiro Horaguchi.

Oh good, a tag match when there are corners I can’t see. Yuji is Shorts. Keizo is Tokyo Taz because of his towel work. And I’m not sure which is which but the opposing team is Al O’Pecia and Pants. Taz cuts a promo. The families in the front row laugh. Everyone claps along with his chant. Taz towels away evil spirits or something. Shorts vs Pants start off. I can’t see either of their partners. There’s an exchange, followed by polite claps. Tag. Taz and Al are in. Taz suckers Al in. Kick and headlock. Taz won’t shut up. Everyone to the outside. I see nothing. Taz gets beat up in every corner. Pants can’t slam Taz?! Taz easily slams Pants. Taz’s partner is in. Taz no sells Pants’s offense. Pants with a spinning heel kick to Taz’s nipple. Al in with a fury. Al with a headscissors and head lock take over on both opponents. Now into the blind corner. Al with a knee off one of the ropes. Which one? Don’t know. Blind corner. Yuji is in to punish Al. Pants and Al both lock on submissions against Shorts and Taz. Sloppy neck breaker by Pants. Taz assists with a swinging neck breaker. Shorts pins Pants.

These four hug in the ring for the next hour.

Match 4: Daisuke Kanehira vs Shunsuke Sayama.

Daisuke is Kenny and Shunsuke is Swagger. Finally, we get to see some wrestling! Stiff kicks, good chain wrestling, so much better than the previous matches. Stiff chops in the blind corner. Kenny with the half crab. Someone slaps the mat to rally Swagger. Both men run the ropes and get knocked down with explosive moves by their opponent. Kenny with two great suplexes. Swagger hits an insiguri and was that supposed to be a shining wizard? Or just a kick? Swagger has all the kicks. Kenny comes back with a running knee and another good suplex. Kenny hits some sort of driver and gets the pin.

Did Swagger get spray painted after the match? What was that?

Match 5: TAMURA vs Osamu Namiguchi.

Tamura is Red Satin. Osamu is Cesaro. Cesaro immediately attacks Red Satin. Post to post. Satin still has his jacket on. Cesaro off the top for a two count. Cesaro starts to get cocky. Satin chops Cesaro. Satin gets control for a moment but Cesaro grounds him. Cesaro with a second rope diving headbutt to Satin’s back as Satin is trying to get up. Good but odd move. Cesaro misses a dive, but at least he had the right corner to do it in. Satin hits a hurracanrana on Cesaro off the top. Cesaro and Satin exchange slaps on the top turnbuckle. Superplex by Cesaro only gets a two. Cesaro with a Boston crab and Satin is able to get the rope break. Cesaro fights through Satin’s offense. Satin with a HUGE clothesline for a two. Another clothesline, kicks in the blind corner, only for a two. Satin his a brain buster suplex and follows it up with a kick to the head for the pin. Satin wins.

What is this spray? It’s used again here.

Satin cuts a promo. Someone else cuts a promo off camera. I’m sure this was very good and dramatic for the live crowd who could see everything and understand what was being said.

I think I’m so used to watching big shows from Japan that seeing a small independent one like this threw me off. This could be young talent, home grown stars. Much like there’s a difference in US wrestling state by state there could be variances in what crowds respond to across Japan. The show wasn’t awful, I’ve definitely watched much worse. The set up is garbage. My own unfamiliarity didn’t help any. But if I was in Japan and wanted to see and indie show for 10 bucks, I would be happy with this show.