Yamato Arena in Osaka plays host to an A Block show tonight. It’s perhaps not the sexiest A Block card, but there should be some interesting matchups, at the very least. Let’s get into it.

A Block: Boltin Oleg (4 points) vs. Jake Lee [United Empire] (4 points)

Lee said in an interview that he has no chance of winning this match, so I guess that is the story here.

Lee is once again not wearing any face paint, for whatever that’s worth. Lee takes a fairly significant portion of the early match, targeting Boltin’s injured arm, but Boltin fights back with his usual offense, including the Boltin Shake and the Boltin Bomb. Lee battles back and tries to put it away with arm submissions, and while Lee’s technical wrestling perhaps is not as refined as others’, the effort is appreciated. Lee tries for the Face Break Shot in the corner, but Boltin ducks it and picks him up for a power bomb, then maintains the clutch and hits another one for two. (Walker Stewart refers to it as a “power bomb symphony,” which sends chills down my spine and reminds me that Wardlow exists.) Then, Boltin puts it away with the Kamikaze. Questionable technical wrestling aside, this wasn’t bad – Lee really is trying very hard and has significantly picked up his pace, and Boltin was his usual very good self.

What’s next? Boltin (6 points) wrestles SANADA on Night 10, which takes place on Saturday in Hiroshima, while Lee (4 points) wrestles Yuto-Ice on the same show.

A Block: Ryohei Oiwa [TMDK] (4 points) vs. SANADA [HOUSE OF TORTURE] (4 points)

Drilla Moloney joins Stewart on commentary. Moloney is chattier than usual, and this – along with other recent good showings by OSKAR and HENARE – suggests that perhaps the English commentary is finally being produced to a degree, whether it’s by Stewart or someone else, and that’s a step in the right direction.

Oiwa works on SANADA’s neck with numerous side headlocks, while SANADA goes after Oiwa’s knee. Oiwa gets the best of it early, but SANADA turns the tables with a knee drop onto the guardrail on the outside. SANADA attacks the knee for a while, and then both guys start trying for their signature moves, including a Chaos Theory attempt by Oiwa that was noticeably a mighty struggle – Moloney mentions that it’s very hot in the building, and both guys are pouring sweat, so that may have had something to do with it. After avoiding a moonsault from SANADA, Oiwa grabs the side headlock once again and keeps going back to it after numerous counter attempts until SANADA finally taps out. This was good; their styles clashed to a degree, and it certainly wasn’t the smoothest match of the tournament, but they managed to put on an entertaining show.

What’s next? Oiwa (6 points) wrestles Yota Tsuji on Saturday, while SANADA (4 points) wrestles Boltin on the same show.

A Block: Konosuke Takeshita (6 points) vs. Great-O-Khan [United Empire] (4 points)

This starts with Great-O-Khan dragging Takeshita to the ring with a broken chair, implying that he jumped him backstage. Ref Marty Asami decides to ring the bell, but won’t count Great-O-Khan’s pinfall attempt. Great-O-Khan beats on Takeshita outside the ring for several minutes, and then hits Takeshita’s arm with an elaborately set up chairshot. Takeshita eventually turns the tables with a hurricanrana and a tope con hilo, but his advantage is short-lived, as Great-O-Khan goes back to work on the arm. Takeshita comes back again, but Asami gets bumped while Takeshita is going for Raging Fire, and Great-O-Khan hits him with a low blow. (Moloney points out, “The sheer amount of bullshit going on speaks to how formidable a wrestler Takeshita is.”) Takeshita fights out of another elaborate chairshot spot and battles out of a few other attempts by Great-O-Khan to win by nefarious means, and then eventually wins with Raging Fire. This match definitely got across the story it wanted to tell – essentially, that Takeshita is a superhero – but it was basically a HOUSE OF TORTURE clown car short of an EVIL match, which is not a positive development.

What’s next? Takeshita (8 points) wrestles Hirooki Goto on Saturday, while Great-O-Khan (4 points) wrestles Shingo Takagi on the same show.

A Block: Hirooki Goto (4 points) vs. Shingo Takagi [Unbound Co.] (2 points)

These two are the oldest wrestlers in the tournament by a fair margin – the next-oldest behind Takagi, who is 43, is Zack Sabre Jr., who is 39. As I am wont to think about these things, the combined age of Hulk Hogan and Roddy Piper at their infamous “Age in the Cage” match was 87, while the combined age of Goto and Takagi tonight is 90. And you know what? I’m willing to bet that this match will be better than that one. Bold, I know.

This is a rematch of last year’s Dominion main event, and during the run-up to that match, Goto kind of dickishly pointed out that he had the advantage over Takagi because he had a family to fight for and Takagi did not; of course, that’s no longer the case, and that’s framed by Stewart and Moloney (Takagi’s tag partner, of course) as the story of the match. Goto controls to start, and Takagi gets frustrated, rolling outside and throwing a chair into the ring. Takagi manages to swing the momentum in his favor, however, hits several high-impact moves and tries to put it away early. Goto fights back, though, and once it gets going toward the finish, both guys are just throwing bombs, stiff lariats and power moves, and it is great. Eventually, Takagi wins with Last of the Dragon, getting a measure of revenge for the loss at Dominion. This was terrific and was, in fact, better than Hogan vs. Piper at Halloween Havoc ‘97.

What’s next? Takagi (4 points) wrestles Great-O-Khan on Saturday, while Goto (4 points) wrestles Takeshita on the same show.

A Block: Yota Tsuji [Unbound Co.] (4 points) vs. Yuto-Ice [Unbound Co.] (4 points)

This one starts off with Yuto demanding hard chops from Tsuji and Tsuji obliging for several minutes. Yuto eventually fights back, and the two end up outside the ring in the crowd for an extended period of time, with Tsuji taking most of that time lighting Yuto up with more chops. A lot more chops. This culminates with Tsuji doing the Satoshi Kojima machine-gun chops to Yuto on the apron, at which point Tsuji starts to show some signs of fatigue. All this lasts a full 10 minutes. Back in the ring, Yuto starts to fight back and hits the Bomboclaat knee for two. (Moloney: “Never in my life did I think I would hear a room full of Japanese people say “bomboclaat.”) Tsuji responds with more chops, and the camerapeople know how to shoot it so that the light catches all the sweat flying off – it’s just a great visual. They spend several more minutes exchanging strikes, with Tsuji doing most of the striking, but Yuto finally pulls the ripcord on the rope-a-dope about 18 minutes into the match, landing an Ice High knee and some strikes. Yuto takes too long taunting Tsuji, however, and Tsuji hits a couple of stiff knees of his own. However, he’s still gassed, and Yuto is able to recover enough to win a striking battle and hit the buzzsaw kick and the Ambition punch. Tsuji counters Cruella with a Gene Blaster and then hits another one, but Yuto kicks out at one. Tsuji tries it again but eats the Takayama knee and then Cruella for a near fall. The crowd is going nuts at this point. Tsuji hits the Fire Blaster but can’t make the pin; however, Red Shoes starts counting both guys out, and Tsuji makes it to his feet before the count reaches 10 to get the knockout win at about 26 minutes. After Tsuji’s promo, he helps Yuto up and they go to the back together. This was spectacular – a must-see. This could end up being a match people talk about for years to come as Yuto’s coming-out party if he can maintain the trajectory he seems to be on.

What’s next? Tsuji (6 points) wrestles Oiwa on Saturday, while Yuto (4 points) wrestles Lee on the same show.

Next up is a B Block show on Friday in Takamatsu. See you then!