BASARA - 35.5 (5/12/2017)

1. Heaven Summit Itadaki 2017 Block A: Best Stretchman V3 vs. Takato Nakano

DUD

2. Heaven Summit Itadaki 2017 Block B: Ryu Gouma vs. Trans-Am ★ Hiroshi

Gouma worked the leg a bit, Hiroshi promptly made his comeback, match over. Gouma pulling out an iPad was interesting, I guess.

**

3. Heaven Summit Itadaki 2017 Block B: FUMA vs. SAGAT

Decent back and forth.

**1/2

4. Ryuichi Sekine & Takumi Tsukamoto vs. Fuminori Abe & Tatsuhiko Yoshino

*1/2

5. Heaven Summit Itadaki 2017 Block A: Trans-Am ★ Ryuichi vs. Yusuke Kubo

Yusuke Kubo moves like he's suffered a stroke these days... Ryuichi wasn't giving anything either. Another lifeless match.

*

6. Heaven Summit Itadaki 2017 Block B: Isami Kodaka vs. Ryota Nakatsu

Kodaka is the only wrestler who gave a damn on this show and he brings out the best in Nakatsu, who wasn't giving off the strongest performance in the early going. The strike exchanges were crisp and enjoyable. Kodaka has been disappointing me lately, but this was good. He is great when he sticks to what he's good at. MOTN, for what its worth.

***1/2

BASARA - Vajra 35 ~ Osaka Club Spring ~ (5/4/2017)

1. Heaven Summit Itadaki 2017 Block A: Takato Nakano vs. Yusuke Kubo

Man, when did Yusuke Kubo decide to become the most boring wrestler in the world?... His control segments were totally empty. I liked the ending; Nakano showed some fire, and then got brutalized. 

*1/2

2. Ryota Nakatsu vs. Tatsuhiko Yoshino

Future ace Ryota Nakatsu gets his nipples twisted, his dick bitten, and then gets screwed over by a paid-off referee! What a burial!

***

3. Heaven Summit Itadaki 2017 Block A: Best Stretchman V3 vs. Ryuichi Sekine

Best Stretchman has not quite lived up to the hype.

**1/2

4. Buffalo & Tsubasa vs. SAGAT & Trans-Am ★ Hiroshi

**1/2

6. Isami Kodaka vs. Naoki Tanizaki

This was worked differently than I would have expected (or hoped for) from these two... It was methodical, gradually building into the flashy exchanges that the fans wanted. When you have a Dragon Gate guy booked, you want to see that fucker just go 100 miles per hour with crazy junior action.. aw well. Good for what it was.

***1/4

7. Heaven Summit Itadaki 2017 Block A: Takumi Tsukamoto vs. Trans-Am ★ Ryuichi

Wow... what was this? It was super slow and then suddenly ended just as things were getting good.

**

BASARA - Vajra 26 ~ Tettotetsubi ~ (1/6/2017)

1. IRON PRIEST (Madoka & Yusuke Kubo) vs. Fuminori Abe & Shinya Ishida

IRON PRIEST schooling literal whos on the art of metal.

***

3. Cavalry (Ryota Nakatsu & Ryuichi Sekine) vs. Hi69 & Takumi Tsukamoto

Cavalry bores me to tears. So many interesting gimmicks in BASARA and then you have these dudes dancing around with stick horses. That said, they are solid as wrestlers. Really great match.

***1/2

4. Daichi Kazato, Masamune & Tatsuhiko Yoshino vs. SAGAT, Trans-Am ★ Hiroshi & Trans-Am ★ Ryuichi

SAGAT is a stickler for abuse. Here he gets his nipples twisted (!), has his hair shampooed (?) and then gets humped Paradise Lock-style (!?).

***

5. Union Pro MAX Championship: Isami Kodaka (c) vs. FUMA

These two have had matches in the past, but not like this. Not while FUMA had a heart of heavy metal. Good, despite some flaws such as inconsistent leg selling. Lots of creative offense on display. FUMA's chops opening up the old scars on Kodaka's chest was wicked.

***1/2