Risa Sera vs. Akane Fujita, Stan Kobayashi (Abdullah Kobayashi), Daisuke Masaoka, Isami Kodaka, Takashi Sasaki, Takayuki Ueki, Yuko Miyamoto, Jun Kasai & Abdullah Kobayashi (Risa Sera Produce 4, 11/14/2017)

Risa Sera Produce 4 - Last Death Match (11/14/2017)

60 Minute Iron Woman Gauntlet Death Match: Risa Sera vs. Akane Fujita, Stan Kobayashi (Abdullah Kobayashi), Daisuke Masaoka, Isami Kodaka, Takashi Sasaki, Takayuki Ueki, Yuko Miyamoto, Jun Kasai & Abdullah Kobayashi

Sera takes her death match gauntlet to its biggest stage in Korakuen Hall. I thought the work was generally good, it breezes through those 60-minutes. I wasn't into the Akane segment, but it picks up when Kasai is in there, and Abby keeps that momentum going. I didn't feel this added anything fresh or new to the Risa Sera death match series, but it was still a lot of fun.

***

BASARA - VAJRA 25 ~SHIPPUJINRAI~ (12/25/2016)

3. Takumi Tsukamoto vs. Trans-Am ★ Ryuichi

I never thought much of Ryuichi Kawakami in Big Japan, he was another hard-hitting dude amongst hard-hitting dudes, but here in BASARA he's been allowed to show range and he's great. Match itself was mediocre.

**

4. IRON PRIEST (FUMA, Madoka & Yusuke Kubo) vs. Jun Kasai, MIKAMI & Tanomusaku Toba

Toba looks like something that blew in off the highway, but he throws gnarly punches. FUMA was getting nailed with hard hits left and right and selling amazingly. The veterans did a great job building up heat for the home team to make the comeback. FUMA's heavy metal heart refused to give in!

****

5. Jun Akiyama vs. SAGAT

SAGAT's selling was awesome in this, he's a freak show but the fans rallied behind him as bald, mean bully Akiyama had his way with him. I liked SAGAT reverting back to his crotch-chewing persona during the final sequence... only to get rocked by a big knee from Jun.

***

7. Union Pro MAX Championship (vacant): Isami Kodaka vs. Trans-Am ★ Hiroshi

There was great legwork here that was neglected in the final act which is always a pet peeve of mine, but this was pretty good. Both guys were throwing meaty slugs, especially Trans-Am's lariats.

***1/4

TAKA & Taichi Produce - 3rd Anniversary Convention (12/30/2016)

1. NEX4 (Ayato Yoshida, Dinosaur Takuma, GO Asakawa & Kyu Mogami) vs. SFU (Kaji Tomato & Shiori Asahi) & Sekitoba (Kotaro Yoshino & Taishi Takizawa)

Decent opener. You can always count on Shiori to do interesting stuff.

**1/2

2. Bambi vs. ERINA vs. Koharu Hinata

This is my first time ever seeing ERINA in action. She didn't do a whole lot here. K-DOJO is the company that also trained Apple Miyuki and Tomoka Nakagawa and molded Yuu Yamagata, so ideally she grows into something good.

*

3. Hardcore Match: Jun Kasai vs. Takashi Iizuka

Boring.

no

4. Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Yuki Sato

Classic Big Yen Yoshinobu, dull and heatless. Where is Despy on this card?

*

5. TAKA Michinoku vs. Yoshitatsu

TAKA tries to make Yoshitatsu look good, but it didn't work that way for me. Tatsu was boring, but whenever TAKA was on the offensive this match was awesome. The wrong former WWE guy went over.

**1/2

6. Minoru Suzuki vs. Taichi

This was structured like a fiery young lion vs. established veteran match, but with the interesting dynamic of both of them being heels. Two bad guys doing bad things to each other, and that's just what the people paid to see.

***3/4