
.:: 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! ::.

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