BJW “BJ Winter Vacation 2017 ~ Day 1”, 01/17/17 @ Ueno Onshikoen Outdoor Stage, Mizukami Music House

The show starts off with a Q+A session, which is obviously lost on me, but what is funny is seeing Sekimoto wandering around trying to sell sweets to people out of a box as if it's the most ordinary thing in the world. Plus most people are just ignoring him.

The stage is also one of oddest set ups I've ever seen for a wrestling show. It looks like its an outdoor bandstand (think that is the right word), with the ring up on a stage and the audience only being able to sit on one side. There's a small semi circular moat separating the fans from the ring too, which i'm fairly positive is going to be used at some point. Only looks to be about 50 people in the audience too.

- Yuji Okabayashi vs. Yuya Aoki

Debut match for Aoki, and he's facing the beast that is Okabayashi! Knowing how they treat their rookies, I thought I was going to witness a murder. Aoki gave a good showing for himself but was mostly limited to running the ropes, strikes and drop kicks. Predictably Okabayashi gets the win over the rookie with an Argentine Backbreaker. I don't know if he was really hurt, or he is already very good at selling, but he looked to be in a tremendous amount of pain. [OK]

~ The new 20 year old rookie stated that he aims to climb to the top of the strong division.

- Tatsuhiko Yoshino vs. Masaya Takahashi (ASUKA)

Yoshino comes out with his selfie stick and what should be a ridiculous gimmick, is actually, bloody funny. I love him. As he gets to the stage he slips and rolls with it by making a big deal out of it. Takahashi gets in the ring and looks like he needs to piss, or he's really cold. He leans forwards and puts his hands in his pockets and does the 'i need to pee' dance. Either that or he's got a dicky tummy.

This was a quick comedy match with lots of nipple grabbing, and a spot with the world's longest rubber band. It also has a bit where Takahashi is locked out of the building so he could be counted out, but he magically returns in a silver cape with stars in his hands which he dutifully waves about. The cape also appears to make him invulnerable and he wins after a really good looking Jackhammer. This was hilarious, and turned what should have been an easily skipped match into a good one [Good]

- Barbed-wire Board Deathmatch: Ryuji Ito & Toshiyuki Sakuda vs. Jaki Numazawa & Kankuro Hoshino

This was actually a pretty good match, and mostly because of Sakuda. I always look at house show death matches as an excuse just to abuse the gimmick but keep the actual pain down to normal levels. For this one though, they decided they were going to work an actual pro-wrestling match, with the stipulations an afterthought. Sakuda was isolated throughout as Ito, being the veteran, was too strong an opponent. The match ends when Numazawa hits the Jumangoku Buster on Sakuda. [Good]

After the match, there is a small intermission where Numazawa and Hoshino go into the audience and try and sell sweets and programs (whilst bloody). Just like the Sekimoto section, its really strange.

- Daishi Hashimoto & Hideyoshi Kamitani vs. Ryuichi Kawakami & Takuya Nomura

Another OK match, nothing spectacular. Interesting at the start seeing the interplay between Kamitani and Kawakami as if he was trying to bring out his personality. Daichi pins Takuya following a Shining Wizard [OK]

- Daisuke Sekimoto, Yasufumi Nakanoue (FREE) & Kazumi Kikuta vs. Yoshihisa Uto, Ryota Hama (FREE) & Kazuki Hashimoto

This was the first match where I began to drift off. I might have been automatically down on it because Hama was in it. Uto pins Kikuta following a Reverse Tiger Driver on Kikuta. [meh]

Although a house show and not intended for TV there was a couple of matches worth your time, especially the first, second and third.