Pro-Wrestling BASARA, 01/06/17 @ Shinkiba 1stRING, Tokyo

Basara is booked by the awesome Isami Kodaka, underneath the DDT umbrella. With knowing his background in BJW, I did expect this to be full of deathmatches (or at least one) along the lines of FREEDOMS but looking at the card, I've no idea who or what is coming up or what separates it from DDT.

- Madoka & Yusuke Kubo vs. Shinya Ishida & Fuminori Abe (both Sportiva)

Kubo comes to the ring with a proper guitar (not a shitty double J version) and Madoka has a Maiden shirt on so by default, they're my favourites. For one spot, Kubo ties up Abe in a hold where they roll him over with his arms tucked in so he can't escape (think Gallagher and Tozawa) and then the pair of them drop kick him in the head, which was pretty cool.

This had some really nice exchanges without descending too much into a spot fest. I was mostly impressed with Madoka, and he looks like a lanky version of Sanada. Kubo gets the win with the Hakata Ipponshime (looked like a crossface style hold) on Abe.

- Gyakuten Pro-Wrestling Saiban: Goma Ryu vs. Atsushi Matuyama (FREE) vs. Koji Iwamoto (AJPW)

This is set up like a court with the ref being the judge. I've no idea what the charges are, who the defender is but there's a lot of talking/shouting before the match starts. Ends with the announcer being pinned. No idea. [Meh]

- Ryuichi Sekine & Ryota Nakatsu vs. Takumi Tsukamoto & Hi69 (FREE)

Tsukamoto has a massive hammer/mace thing and Sekine has a hobby horse. Hi69 still looks like CIMAs scummier uncle. I'd describe this as a steady match. Nothing crazy happened but it ticked over. Started to drag towards the end and could have easily shaved off about 5 minutes. Tsukamoto gets the pin after a Tiger Suplex Hold on Sekine.

- USA-Japan New Year Battle ~ New Year! Trans Am: Trans Am ★ Hiroshi, Trans Am ★ Ryuichi & SAGAT vs. Daichi Kazato, Masamune & Tatsuhiko Yoshino

My boy Yoshino is here. He's got his selfie stick while Masamune has a blow up gym ball. The other guy on their team has a samurai sword and isn't impressed with their antics. The Trans Am team come out to the star spangled banner and are all wearing lovely USA themed outfits, except SAGAT who has a massive axe. Seriously, it's Final Fantasy size huge. Ryuichi is Kawakami from BJW.

This match fits with the ddt world. There's simulated buggery, a gym ball used in a move, nipple tweaks, bad dancing in the ring, someone gets their hair gelled etc Kawakami does a rope walk, but instead of on the top rope he does it on the apron, and teases falling off. Hiroshi hits a Perfect Plex on Kazato for the win. This was OK, but a 16 minute slow comedy match was pretty rough. [OK]

- Union MAX Championship Match: Isami Kodaka vs. FUMA

FUMA works the arm for the start of the match until Kodaka makes his comeback. FUMA starts kicking Kodaka in the chest and Kodaka does the quickest dragon screw I've ever seen, its amazing in its delivery. After that Kodaka then starts working over FUMAs leg.

This match is OK. I think that is the best I can say about it. FUMA is a rocker and in a stable with Madoka & Yusuke Kubo. I spent most of the match looking at Kodakas scars which seem to be opening and bleeding more and more throughout the match (and in the post match interview).

Match goes quite long at nearly 20 minutes when FUMA wins following the Jawbreaker. Pretty disappointed with this [OK]

~ Isami falls on his 1st title defense. FUMA becomes the 7th generation champion.
~ FUMA and his group “IRON PRIEST”, Kubo and Madoka, celebrated the win.
~ Isami called out for an inevitable rematch against the new champion. 

Not a brilliant show and I wouldn't go out of my way to watch it. Even Yoshino couldn't rescue it.