.:: T2P, 22nd January 2002 ::.
Review by Jay, 2nd August 2002

As promised for a while now, here is the review of T2P’s second show, which ran at the start of this year, having been taped on January 22nd. As you’ll know by now, T2P (Toryumon 2000 Project) is the latest class of wrestlers from Ultimo Dragon, following on from the original Toryumon class. They work a much more lucha submission based style, but work in elements of lucharesu, strong style and faux-shoot to create a completely breathtaking product. If you’re after more of an introduction, check out my review of the their first show here. So, without further ado, let’s get to the matches! We’re treated to a short highlight package of some of the stars, and then it’s onto the action!


Shuji Kondo (Shuji Condotti) vs. Jun Ogawauchi

Once again, I’ve put the current names of some of the guys who changed their titles when the Italian Connection was formed, in brackets. So, we kick off once again with Shuji Kondo, who had a tremendous match with Takayuki Yagi on the last show, against Jun Ogawauchi, who also impressed greatly against Touru Owashi. Almost straight away we get some of the hybrid style shining through, as once again Kondo uses his spinning front neck lock, Jun trying to rotate out of it. As usual it looks great. Jun Ogawauchi certainly seems to get more of a chance to shine here against an opponent who is more his size, early on using some great holds including a rolling takedown into a British figure four – which in the end sets up some later psychology. In fact, the match seems altogether more focused than some from the first show, Jun going for the legs (leading to Kondo not being able to lift him for the Jackhammer), and Shuji using his brute force to take control with some very brutal submissions and some great power moves – interspersed with lucharesu style armdrags! They also show some great strong style influences throughout, including a great exchange with Kondo hitting a stiff rolling chop only to be met with a kesa-gari chop to the neck. The pair go through their regular trademarks as well, including a new one from Jun Ogawauchi – a fantastic combination cross legged fisherman’s suplex and northern lights suplex! The ending is fantastic too, the Jackhammer and neck wrap DVD (Lucifer’s Hammer) being teased before Jun hits a beautiful Jean Claude Van Damme style spinning roundhouse, leading to his DVD, only for Kondo to come back, hit the Jackhammer and score the Gorilla Clutch for the win. Exactly what we’ve come to expect from the T2P guys, a fantastic opener, probably slightly better than the last one due to some great psychology on Kondo’s legs (I’m not really a psychology junkie but I dug this!). Oh, and be sure to watch the adverts in the ad break. Just wait for the cry of ‘Just Wait!’ during the advert for a kind of hoover contraption.


Noriaki Kawabata vs. Raimu Mishima

This is Kawabata’s T2P debut, having already faced SAITO in his retirement countdown in Toryumon. Trained by Chocoball KOBE/Chocoflake K-ICHI, he’s the ex Jd’ ring announcer, and enters to the theme from Police Story. How great! Mishima is the Nagata fanboy from the current Toryumon roster, who didn’t get to show much in the last show against TARUcito. The opening is really sloppy, with Kawabata double crossing Mishima on a handshake, then not really knowing what to do, eventually just covering after an elbow strike. Oh well, I guess it must be nerves. It must be mentioned that Kawabata straight away seems like a male Mima Shimoda, laughing away as he double crosses Mishima. There’s promise there at least. Things here seem to resemble more of a shoot style match early on, with the two throwing kicks – but with a dose of the usual Toryumon humour as Kawabata humiliates Mishima by forward rolling over him after a sweep kick and posing – drawing laughter from the crowd even though I expected Kawabata to be the heel. The work here is actually quite a contrast to the opener, being a bit slow and deliberate, at times the two struggling to transition between basic holds. Mishima does surprise however, proving he can work the T2P style better than expected with a few nice rolling takedown holds mid-way through the match. Kawabata also shows he has a fairly nice moveset, with some (albeit soft) unique strikes and an awesome Texas Cloverleaf giant swing! He eventually takes the match with a hammerlock/front neck lock combo, which I assume is one of the Bukoukatames. Without a doubt this was the worst T2P match yet. The submission work was far too slow and deliberate – a shame as the striking exchanges were really nice. Kawabata certainly has promise though. Afterwards, we’re treated to more great adverts – watch out for the Japanese Tarzan, and a Western music on K-1/baseball adverts (Slipknot and Ronan Keating respectively).


TARU vs. Kinya Oyanagei

The rematch is on! TARU’s biggest rival since Stoker Ichikawa today is… a schoolboy! Kinya makes his way to ringside seemingly revising, and this time, the salutes have been replaced with hand raises! I’ve just realised how great TARUcito is, as his TARU mannerisms are spot on before the match. Beforehand, the ref tries to take Kinya’s glasses – so Kinya pretends he can’t see without them. Eventually he gives them up…  and the hand raising madness begins. He raises his hand when he’s announced, raises his hand when TARU tries to attack, you get the idea. Same as last time. However, this time we get ingenious BOOK spots. Kinya uses his BOOK as a weapon, trapping TARU’s hand inside and crushing it and hitting a top rope BOOK ATTACK, before applying numerous holds which wrap up TARU so Kinya can revise from his BOOK! He even forces TARU to read the BOOK! The greatest foreign object since the blue box, the BOOK. Once they start wrestling, it gets even better, as Kinya is so, so good in the ring! He may be a comedy wrestler, but he is absolutely superb. Highlights include his comedy monkey walk on the ropes into a huracanrana, the hand raising roaring elbow, and the hand raising cobra twist. TARU and TARUcito are a riot as well, working together behind the ref’s back to score some baseball bat shots to Kinya, and a hilarious looking axe kick low blow from TARUcito. The ending is suitably amusing, Kinya trying the regular TARU Driller only for TARU to counter and hit his Fire Thunder version (as he used against MAKOTO back before MAKOTO became Darkness Dragon) to take the win. Like last time, absolutely stellar stuff. No ad break this time, as we get straight into…


Jorge Rivera vs. TARUcito

This isn’t actually a match, rather an exhibition, with Rivera schooling TARUcito in a number of lucha holds all in some really crisp and flowing chain wrestling. It’s all pretty interesting stuff, Rivera using a lot of the T2P guys’ holds before eventually TARUcito gives up to the same hold Kawabata used earlier in the show. Eventually Ultimo Dragon comes out and orders in one of the ring boys (I didn’t recognise him, but I’m assuming he’s one of the T2P guys not on the show already), who gets forced to tap out to the AT Lock, before Dragon lectures the crowd for a bit. They go at it again, Rivera now winning with Mori’s bow and arrow hold. Then with the Sol Naciente. You get the idea. Fairly interesting, but not really a match as such. So after that little side distraction, we get an advert warning us that the Syachihoko Machines are coming, followed by more crazy Japanese adverts! This time to the tune of Robbie Williams we seen an advert for Dutch football, I assume due to Shinji Ono’s popularity over in Japan (he plays in Holland).


Touru Owashi vs. Syachihoko Machines

The Machines are T2P’s latest comedy act. At this stage there are only two, but they’re joined by two more later in the year. Owashi is the big, Mike Awesome-like guy off the first show. I didn’t really know what to expect from the Machines, but they’re pretty funny, in more of a Stoker Ichikawa kind of way. First of all they both raise their hands when Machine #1 is announced, both thinking they’re number one (and looking bewildered when #2 is announced), before neither one will enter the ring, both thinking they’re going to be the tag partner. Owashi works surprisingly well in this comedy environment, powering over the smaller opponents with some comical looking moves, such as double tests of strength, and double knifedge chops. It’s the Machines who make the match however, at times bordering on hilarious. One such moment is where Owashi sends them both into the corner, then goes to chop them. One hides behind the other, only for the other to ‘reverse’ and get behind him. They then go into a huge chain wrestling sequence with each other, the crowd bursting out laughing as Owashi looks on un-amused. The funny spots continue, including one rolling out of the ring so the other one can come in and take a top rope attempt from Owashi, and an amusing parody of the WWE, with Syachihoko doing some deliberately terrible looking Bubba Ray Dudley style punches to Owashi, which he just shrugs off. Like Kinya Oyanagei however, the Machines can wrestle as well, hitting some fantastic double team moves such as the Syachihoko clutch, a stereo Gedo clutch (on speed) and jacknife hold! Eventually, the match ends with double (!!!) Senshuuraku Gatame, and I’m left very impressed by the Machines! Yet another very entertaining T2P match, any fears that the product may be repetitive being quashed on this second show. Sadly, we get no amusing adverts this break, instead a company trying to sell wildlife videos. Oh well, at least the main event will make up for it…


Milano Collection AT, Stevie ‘Brother’ Tsujimoto (Brother Yashini), and Masato Yoshino (YOSHINO) vs. Anthony W. Mori, Ryo Saito, and Takayuki Yagi (Pescatore Yagi) (2 out of 3 falls)

After the tremendous tag match on the last show, how can this be topped? Easy! Take the heel team from that match and add the ace, Milano Collection A.T, and put them against Ryo Saito, Anthony W. Mori and one of the standouts (for me) from the last show, Taka Yagi, one of the most charismatic guys in the fed. The only way this could fail is if the same spots were recycled over and over again. No chance at all! Like the tag match on the last show, there is simply too much action to cover in such a short space. So once again, I’ll take them team-by-team. First of all, the faces. Ryo Saito really mails in a stellar performance here. He gets a lot more offence in, starting out with Milano and working some sweet chain wrestling. It is instantly obvious why these two are always paired up, as they work so well together. He also, like Mori on the last show, does a great job of being the face in distress, selling everything fantastically. In addition to this, he has one of my favourite spots of the match, where he very slowly, as if he’s trying for the first time, locks on a T2P style submission on Milano, rather than using his usual matwork. It looks great, very hard to describe why though. Yagi meanwhile once again is a standout for me. His charisma is completely off the charts, a great example being in the old shoulderblock exchange early on, where he really riles the crowd up. It adds so much to the match. He’s just as good in the ring, once again bringing out his sea related moves and mixing in a good dose of strong style with some fantastic Kawada-esque running high kicks. His finisher is also once again a joy to watch – a beautiful rolling takedown into an inverted WAR hold. Anthony W. Mori is once again mainly used here to work with YOSHINO, as he pulls of the chain wrestling sequences fantastically with him. Like the last match, he does a great job in adding to the match – he takes the moves as required, before busting out some graceful trademarks later on, once again bringing out the rope walk into an armbreaker, and his forward roll bow and arrow hold. So far, so good. The heels, well, it’s exactly what we’d expect from arguably the three best competitors in T2P. Starting with Stevie Tsujimoto, once again he is exemplary, doing everything very crisply. His matwork is once again incredibly fluid, as exemplified by some exchanges with Anthony W. Mori, yet he still manages to do it all at great pace. Very impressive also is that his big moves don’t get overkill, as he doesn’t use the slingshot 450 (perhaps his most spectacular move) in this match, instead relying on the likes of his rolling cradles. Yoshino is, as always, spectacular. His opening sequence with Anthony W. Mori is just as slick as on the last show, once again ending with the reverse tarantula (Torbellino), even if he does follow it up with the worst Tarzan impression ever. Ah well, guess you can’t be an amazing athlete, good looking, popular AND do a good Tarzan impression! On top of the ballerina-esque graceful twisting and turning chain sequences (which still seem second nature to him), he brings out the usual trademark spots, including his tilt-a-whirl wakigatame face buster, Sol Naciente, cross arm neckbreaker drop, and the tilt-a-whirl Octopus stretch – which unbelievably, looks slightly sloppy this time, although that may partly be due to Yagi dropping him slightly too low on the move. So then there’s Milano Collection A.T, the man who knows too many submission holds for his own good. As I said in the last review, he uses even MORE submissions in this one, using hardly any from the first match other than his trademarks! In addition to the Paradise Lock (two versions, the regular one and one around the ropes), the STF (F is for fashion and full nelson!) and A.T. Lock, he brings out another million submissions, including some amazing elevated ones (evidently his flavour of the day). These include a move similar to Iwasa’s Devil Hold, except slightly more elevated, and an awesome suspended piledriver submission! He’s also got his requisite non-submission moves, such as the shining enzugiri and the Emporio Armani Shoe/Armani Shoe Exchange combo. What really mails this match in though, is the teamwork between all six men. They’re all fantastic when working one on one with somebody, but when any sort of teamwork starts, it becomes out of this world. Even simple stuff such as the faces beating down Milano Collection A.T. (haha, he’s not invincible after all!!!) looks great just because of how well it fits into the match. There are some ridiculously complex double/triple team moments however. One such example is a great 3D variation from the heels, Yoshino and Tsujimoto press slamming Yagi so A.T. can deliver a sick ace crusher. Another would be the ending, with Yoshino/Tsujimoto giving Saito a sidewalk slam lift sort of flipped over backwards so he lands stomach first, followed by both the Emporio Armani Shoe (HIGH quebrada) and the Armani Shoe Exchange (quebrada twisted into a senton) from Milano, finally followed by the Paradise Lock. It’s just all so smooth. Best of all however, comes halfway through the match, where the heels force their opponents back into three of the corners in the ring, before Irish whipping and following with a bounce off the ropes and a strike into the opposite corner… followed by another bounce and strike, everything so perfectly timed that no-one collides! And just when it looks like it can’t get any better, they do it again, this time Tsujimoto and Yoshino grabbing each other and whipping themselves into a leg lariat and elbow strike, Milano this time hitting a SPACE ROLLING ELBOW through it all! It really is breathtaking. On the last tape, I said the tag action was worth the money for the tape again, and on reflection, the same is UNDOUBTEDLY true here. It is fantastic stuff, everyone on the same wavelength, and turning the sport into an art form. It is THE perfect end to a fantastic tape, and one which is undoubtedly worth your money!


CONCLUSION

Again, the review probably wasn’t much help, due to the near impossible-to-describe nature of T2P. But this was near enough equally as good as the first tape, if not maybe slightly better. The opener, the two comedy matches and in particular the main event were exemplary, once again showing off the awesome T2P style. Perhaps dragging it down slightly however was the fairly cold Mishima/Kawabata match, and the Rivera/TARUcito affair, which wasn’t really a match at all, more of an exhibition. It’s hard really to recommend one of the T2P shows over the other. Arguably, there were better matches on this one, but thanks to the two average ones, it wasn’t as consistent as the first show. The main event really was off the charts though, a lot better than the last main event match and arguably better than Yoshino/Tsujimoto vs. Mori/Iwasa, thanks to Milano, Saito and Yagi’s involvement (not saying Iwasa isn’t good, he’s fantastic, but it benefited from having 6 men). Just compromise, and buy this and the first show. Definitely well worth your money!

ENTERTAINMENT – 10 – No explanation needed really

WORKRATE – 8 – Let down by Mishima/Kawabata, but on the whole it was fantastic. The selling and psychology was a lot more crisp in the opener than on the whole of the last show, whereas the rest was as good as you’d expect.

.:: FINAL RECOMMENDATION – Like the first show, a must see! Go. Buy. Now! ::.