NEXTREAM VS VIOLENT GIANTS (AJPW New Year Wars 2021 - Tag 1 02/01/2021)

All Japan kicked off the year with a bang here.

This match between the Nextream team of Yuma Aoyagi & Kento Miyahara and the Violent Giants of Shuji Ishikawa & Triple Crown Champion Suwama had to juggle being a Tag Team title match and a preview the next day, as Yuma was set to face Suwama for the Triple Crown.

I find this to be a simple and logical booking, bringing more interest to this match than there already was. This wasn’t ignored during the match either, as a bulk of this match focused on Suwama and Aoyagi, especially in the back half as the 2 exchanged bombs for the victory. For the most part, it’s the bomb exchanges you expect in modern All Japan main events. This isn’t to downplay the quality here as a lot of the bombs thrown felt like conceivable match enders and there were some cool counters thrown in there, like Yuma countering a backdrop driver into a guillotine that lead to the finish. The end here felt desperate and earned. Yuma hanging on to his submission for dear life as Suwama slowly fades.

Their teammates played supporting roles here. Interjecting to save the match but for the most part, interacting with each other. Shuji Ishikawa is someone I can be very hot and cold on, he’s either putting on something great or boring me to tears. He’s good here though, playing a great giant bully in the middle parts of this match. He also had some cool spots in the back half, including a fire thunder driver on the apron. Kento is Kento, he’s charismatic and crowd-pleasing here without being a distraction from the main story. His main role is saving Yuma from losing.

This match isn’t perfect, at 26 minutes there are points where it drags for me. A fair bit of the first half is pedestrian, which is an issue not unique to this match in All Japan. This hurts the match upon rewatch.

That being said, I still have no issue recommending it though, the back half is kind of worth the wait. If you’re actively not a fan of these four this will do little to convince you of any of them (aside from maybe Yuma), but I had a good time with this one.

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