.:: T2P, 26th November 2001 ::.
Review by Jay, 25th July 2002

As you may have gathered from the last review, I’m something of a Toryumon mark. Other than it being the promotion that got me into puroresu (along with Michinoku Pro), it’s fast paced, high flying matches produce very good television. Whereas it had gone through a rocky patch last year, with no real direction or top level matches (bar the anniversary show), it has had a recent resurgence and things are on the up again. Funnily enough, this so happens to coincide with the arrival of Ultimo Dragon’s latest students, collectively known as T2P, who have breathed new life into the promotion and produced some very unique and entertaining matches. Whilst they are now appearing regularly on Toryumon shows, this review will cover the first T2P show in Japan, from November of last year.

The T2P class had previously been working in Mexico, and a couple of them (Masato Yoshino and Stevie Tsujimoto) had worked a few Michinoku Pro shows, but this show was to be their debut as a group. As of this stage, the current faction (The Italian Connection) was yet to be formed (although some of the members do team on this show), and the first show was basically a showcase for the talent involved. After a fairly interesting introduction, where the T2P mascot (a man in a large fluffy dragon suit, named Punch) reveals the 6-sided ring, plus the new students are introduced (featuring an appearance from The Great Sasuke!), we get into the action – and I proceed to struggle to convey to you just how awesome the style is!


Shuji Kondo (Condotti Shuji) vs. Takayuki Yagi (Pescatore Yagi)

Before we start, if the review seems completely confusing, hopefully it’ll be a testament to how confusing-yet-brilliant T2P’s style is! You’ll notice I’ve put the names of some people in brackets throughout the review. If they’ve had a name change since this show, their NEW name is in brackets. Anyway, it seems quite interesting having these two face each other at this stage, as within a couple of months, they would both be part of the heel ‘Italian Connection’ faction. As you would expect from an opening match from a new promotions (of sorts), this was very entertaining. Kondo seems to be the world’s biggest Goldberg mark, wearing a similar outfit and using the Jackhammer and the spear throughout the match. Although when I say he uses a spear, I should maybe stress that in fact it is an awesome looking running, lifting spear, almost more of a Mark Kerr style takedown (Shuji calls this the ‘Lanzarse’). The weird thing is though, whilst he looks like a power worker, and looks like he should just be throwing punches/kicks/lariats around, he intersperses some awesome power moves with the trademark unique submission style that everyone in T2P uses. One such moment of genius is his use of a front neck lock early on, which he keeps held on by spinning with the move, CIMA-style (hard to explain, but basically Yagi tries to twist out of the move, and Kondo just keeps rotating to keep it locked on). Sadly, we don’t get to see his great Gorilla Clutch (inverted Texas cloverleaf) until the next show, but he does use some other mind boggling submissions here. Yagi on the other hand, with his fisherman’s gimmick, intersperses the obligatory (in T2P) crazy lucha matwork (such as his rolling inverted WAR hold) with various sea related moves, such as fisherman’s suplexes/busters (including a spinning variation) and the ending, a ground Octopus hold. Yagi also shows incredible charisma during this match, which helps show why he was one of the men chosen to take part in T2P’s primary faction later on. Overall, it is a fantastic opening, as we see shades of lucharesu, lucha libre submissions, traditional puroresu, strong style, and even faux-shoot throughout, and instantly it helps establish just how different T2P is.


Raimu Mishima vs. TARUcito (4 count vs. 2 count match)

This match has the great concept of 4-foot-something tall TARUcito (yes, a mini TARU!) only needing a two count to win over Nagata-fanboy (and these days Toryumon whipping boy – a shame as he’s very good!) Mishima, who requires a four count. Sadly, this is one match on the tape that probably won’t require multiple viewings. The opening is basically an extended squash, with Mishima getting to bust out some of his move-set, including his leaping knee strikes and crossface hold (yes, there’s the Nagata-isms!). We do get to see some work from TARUcito, but it’s mainly in the Rey Jr vs. Kevin Nash sort of mould, hitting the odd quick armdrag or huracanrana only to get beaten down again. After we get a fairly amusing segment where Mishima thinks he’s won with a backdrop hold (like Nag… ah forget it), but gets called back to the ring, it eventually comes to a close following a TARU run in and a pretty sweet leaping small package hold from TARUcito. A shame really, as since this we have seen both to have fairly good movesets, yet neither got to really use them here. It’s fairly interesting to watch just to see a couple more of the T2P guys, but to be honest it’s fairly forgettable – a stark contrast to the rest of the tape.


Jun Ogawauchi vs. Touru Owashi

Touru Owashi is the man who really has been slated by some on message boards and the like, mainly because he’s a big power worker, rather than the graceful luchadores we’re used to in Toryumon. For some reason, he reminds me of Mike Awesome. Don’t ask why. Jun Ogawauchi is another wrestler in the mould of Yagi/Kondo from earlier in the show, having a great unique moveset and range of freaky submissions. The basic story of the match is Jun using his speed to catch Owashi unawares, often leading to YET another bizarre submission. We do get to see two of his big trademark moves in this match, his Lucifer’s Hammer (death valley bomb with the attackers own arm around his head), and the Demon Murder (a STF of sorts with the opponent’s own arm wrapped around their head). Watching Ogawauchi makes me realise that despite everyone having such bizarre movesets, they are very easily distinguishable, for example a lot of Jun’s moves involve the opponents’ arm being wrapped around their own neck, like how Yagi uses a lot of ‘sea’ related moves. Getting back to Touru Owashi, I really don’t think he’s half as bad as people say. He hits some nice power moves, such as a regular nodowa otoshi (chokeslam) and a fantastic running version, plus again putting a twist on his moveset by using a STO. Despite his size, his finisher is another tangling submission, yet it fits his style very well, the Senshuuraku Gatame staying believable as it involves him wrapping his opponent up before using his power to pull back and make them submit, rather than it being an elaborate hold in the style of the juniors in T2P (i.e. involving a series of rolls/flips into a submission). Overall the match proves very entertaining again, and, like the two matches before it, is very unique, this time thanks Owashi’s size and surprising ability.


TARU vs. Kinya Oyanagei

Oh boy. We all know who TARU is (Crazy Max from Toryumon’s heavyweight assassin, and Stoker Ishikawa’s arch-rival), but believe me, you haven’t seen anything like Kinya Oyanagei. T2P’s equivalent of Stoker, he’s a comedy wrestler with a great amount of ability. Whereas his gimmick has recently changed, at this point he’s convinced that he’s a military trooper from the Philippines who somehow ended up in Mexico, and takes great pride in saluting whenever possible. This match is absolutely awesome, thanks to great chemistry between the straight faced TARU and the crazy Kinya.  It is genuinely funny stuff throughout, starting with Kinya stalling the match by saluting every single time TARU tries to lock up with him, leading to TARU complaining to the referee… only for Kinya to salute at him. He sells by saluting, salutes whilst in arm locks, salutes when throwing elbows, salutes when charging at TARU… you get the picture. It doesn’t sound funny, but it really is. There are however some ingenious saluting spots. One such moment sees Kinya apply a half nelson style hold on TARU, forcing TARU to salute himself (!!!), resulting in the usual fantastic facial expressions of disgust from TARU. We also get to see Kinya’s great looking saluting huracanrana, which sees him salute on the way down before rapidly readjusting his hands for the roll up, as well as the hilarious saluting Cobra Twist, where Kinya ‘forces’ his own hand into saluting position (in the way that submissions are sometimes applied by ‘forcing’ the opponents limbs into position - -easier explained when seen!). Perhaps best of all though is his saluting front cradle (bodyscissors into a cradle), where he salutes all the way up… then down. I can’t stress enough how genuinely entertaining it is, and credit has to go to TARU, who whilst he doesn’t get much offence, he performs his usual stellar job of keeping a straight face in amongst all the goings on unless he’s required to pull one of his looks of disgust/surprise/ridicule during a particularly crazy moment. The main thing is, however, that the match actually ruled in the ring as well. As funny as it was, the action was crisp, and Kinya seems as good a worker as the rest of the guys, especially as he had to concentrate on executing his moves AND saluting all the time :)


Masato Yoshino (YOSHINO) & Stevie ‘Brother’ Tsujimoto (Brother Yashiini) vs. KENtaro Mori (Anthony W. Mori) & Takamichi Iwasa

The first tag match in T2P sees future Italian Connection members Yoshino, who has a ‘Sexy Tarzan’ gimmick – although his Tarzan impression does kind of, well, suck - and Tsujimoto, who is ‘from’ Jamaica and wears a Scotty Too Hotty-esque outfit, teaming up to take on two very unique opponents. KENtaro Mori is your typical babyface, very innocent looking etc – except he’s supposedly a prince and enters to Britney Spears. Takamichi Iwasa’s gimmick is also a royal one – he’s the babyface ‘Prince of Hell’. Yes, I’m as lost as you are. If there wasn’t already enough of a reason to buy the tape, this is it. There really is too much to run through in such a short review, but I’ll try and give a bit of an opinion on each guy. Taking the faces first, both Mori and Iwasa show great promise, even if they don’t get much offence. Mori is exactly what I’d expected – he’s like Ryo Saito, the sort of ‘pretty boy’ face who gets a beating, gaining some sympathy cheers, before pulling out some incredibly graceful moves. One such example would be where he applies an armlock, before running the ropes and leaping out of the ring (literally tossing himself to the floor), executing an armbreaker over the ropes on his opponent. Imagine Mr Aguila/Essa Rios’ tornado DDT into a rope guillotine using an arm instead. He also AGAIN uses the obligatory lucha holds. His partner meanwhile seems to have endless potential. On top of a gimmick that rocks, Iwasa’s moveset really is very unique. His submission moves early on seem to revolve around stretching the opponent’s back, including his Devil Hold (stretch muffler with the opponents shoulder across his knee) and some basic moves such as an argentine backbreaker and an octopus hold. However, later on he does show some variation on this as well, showing he can fly (with a great assisted swinging DDT), brawl (with a super stiff lariat) and also work on more than just the back, using a dragon screw and his beautifully named Goliath Bird Eater to work on the legs. Individually, both himself and Mori look fantastic, and things just get better when they work together, including an awe-inspiring hold involving them forcing the rudos to apply an Indian deathlock to each other as Iwasa applies an octopus hold and Mori a camel clutch! So far so good, but I can guarantee that the stand-out in this match for any fan on first viewing will be the heels. They are completely off the charts. First of all let’s take Stevie Tsujimoto. When he’s not performing SUWA style groin attacks (which were actually few and far between, for someone who seems to be the most, erm, rudo-ish rudo in T2P), he’s flying through the air with slingshot 450 splashes, hitting standing Buff Blockbusters, applying ridiculously complicated rolling cradles or putting a twist on every little thing he does, such as a German suplex continued through into a modified Stretch Plum. As with many of the T2P guys, it is impossible to do him justice without giving elaborate descriptions of all his mind boggling holds or more importantly watching him yourself, but he really is fantastic. I didn’t think I’d take to him at first, as he does seem a bit of a SUWA clone (albeit a dancing SUWA clone), but my opinion changed mere minutes into the match. Then there’s Masato Yoshino. If you’ve ever seen Ric Blade from CZW and wondered how his over-elaborate opening sequences would look if they weren’t so contrived and actually looked like they’d confuse an opponent, just watch Yoshino. He is absolutely unbelievably quick. Again, it is impossible to describe, but he just twists and turns (props to Mori for following his every move and being in the right place at the right time) with absolute grace and precision, as if it comes second nature to him. One he starts wrestling though, the fun begins. Major standout spots include a tilt-a-whirl headscissors style spin into an octopus stretch, and a similar move into a kind of combination wakigatame/face crusher. Then there’s his Torbellino, a reverse tarantula (Masato facing the crowd) done at ridiculously high speeds. He also has a number of really good looking attacks involving wrapping the opponents’ arms around their neck, including a kind of modified Regal Cutter, and his finisher, Sol Naciente, which has quickly become my favourite submission hold in puroresu. After a rolling set up, he ends lying down with the opponent standing with their arms crossed in front of them, and wrapped around his legs, before driving his feet into their shoulder region and pulling back, extending the arms. Again, see it to believe it. In fact, stop reading this. Go and watch it now! In all seriousness, this match is a reason alone to buy the tape. As awesome as Yoshino and Tsujimoto are, you’ll look back and remember great moments from the faces too, even though they get slightly less offence. Don’t take my word for it, go and see for yourself.


Milano Collection AT vs. Ryo Saito (2/3 Falls Match)

Before we start, if you go into this match expecting the four star classic some people claimed it to be, you’ll be disappointed. The match is basically an extended squash… but if you can find a better squash, let me know! At the time Ryo Saito was NWA Welterweight Champion, and this match is basically to prove the ace of T2P is really that great, by having him squash one of the Toryumon home army’s top names. I’m a huge Ryo Saito fan, so I was a bit disgusted with quite how little offence he gets (although supposedly some was cut at the start of the first fall), but you will be in awe of Milano’s submissions. This match is basically one submission after another, featuring many more elaborate holds than the other matches on the tape. There really is no point in me listing every single one here, it’d take me all day, but perhaps I should give a few examples of what you can expect to see. Well firstly, Milano is rather fond of a hold called the ‘Paradise Lock’, where basically he wraps the opponent’s limbs up in front of them then turns it into a submissions, with the opponent in a little ball. Yes, it is as comical yet as fantastic as it sounds. Here we see numerous variations, including an elevated one, one around the ropes (Milano simply rubs his foot into Ryo’s arm to inflict pain – so cocky), and the regular Boston crab style variation (sitting on Ryo and pulling back). Not everything revolves around this however, as we do see plenty of Milano’s other trademarks. There’s the STF – the F is for full nelson/fashion. Then there’s the move which ends the second fall, the AT Lock, a chickenwing armlock with a headscissors. In between, theirs is pretty much every submission known to man. Well, not entirely true as scarily, on the second T2P show, Milano brings out ANOTHER load of moves he didn’t use in this match! Just when it looks like he’s an (albeit spectacular) one trick submission pony, he surprises us all with a beautiful shining enziguri (with Saito pretty much stood up, making it even more spectacular) and two of his most gorgeous trademarks – the Emporio Armani Shoe (a high, high in ring quebrada) and the other variation, the Armani Shoe Exchange (a quebrada twisted mid air into a senton splash, which again looks incredible). So, having hopefully given some indication of just how many awesome holds are involved in this extended squash, how does it sit as a match? It almost feels more of an exhibition, due to the one sidedness of the contest. It is amazing to see, and it is very obvious why Milano is the ace of T2P, but the way he was protected by not taking many moves does seem quite scary, as he was made to seem holier than thou in this match.


To finish the show we get a short speech from Milano… which I don’t understand a word of. I’m guessing he basically laid waste to Toryumon verbally, as it brought out SUWA (who angle-wise had left Toryumon at this point, due to disputes with Crazy Max), who rather than defending the promotion shakes hands with Milano. This didn’t head anywhere, as SUWA soon rejoined Crazy Max and returned to Toryumon full time. Oh well. We close with some highlights of a Saito/Mori/Iwasa vs. Milano/Yoshino/Tsujimoto tag match, hinting at the future Italian Connection, and a rematch between Oyanagei and TARU, both matches looking pretty darn good. So, onto the conclusion…


CONCLUSION:


The review probably made no sense, due to the fact that, as anyone who has seen T2P will say, the style is so, so hard to convey in words. So maybe I’d better sum it up here… GO! WATCH! NOW! The style really is incredible, and even if you’re not a lucharesu fan, there will be something here for you. There’s shades of strong style, faux shoot, even sports entertainment style comedy, on top of the obvious lucha libre influence. It really is unlike anything before it, and is something everybody should see at least one in his or her lifetime! The only gripe I have is that the second show had slightly better matches, but as an introduction, you can’t go wrong with this. Compromise, and buy both shows :-)

ENTERTAINMENT – 10 – A no brainer

WORKRATE – 8 – Tough to say. Some people complain it’s a spotfest with submissions, but as far as I’m concerned, who’s complaining? The selling is good, execution crisp, and the work on different limbs makes sense.


.:: FINAL RECOMMENADTION – Guess I may as well write it once more… BUY IT! ::.