2300 Arena sees stunning action
The US version of the All Star Junior Festival on August 19 in Philadelphia saw stunning action up and down the card as the Philly crowd was treated to a unique night of action.
Perhaps the most hotly anticipated bout of the evening saw El Desperado teaming with DDT’s MAO opposite GCW’s East West Express, Nick Wayne and Jordan Oliver. Despite MAO and Desperado’s experience advantage, the East West Express had the advantage when it came to tag cohesion, and innovative double team offense saw Oliver and Wayne with the early edge; at least until a pair of spectacular dives from their opposition.
MAO and Despe would take advantage of their spectacular break to take control in the matchup, and the Japanese pair proved a very effective combination. Oliver’s resilience wasn’t to be denied though, and a combination of strikes led to a much needed tag to Wayne. MAO’s unique stylings put Wayne in trouble, but the Prodigy caught the DDT star with a snap half Nelson suplex, MAO firing back with his version of the Michinoku Driver at the 15 minute mark. Desperado would almost pick up a submission win on Oliver, but it was a Pinche Loco that ended the tale.
A wild five way battle saw competitors from CMLL, Warrior Wrestling, IMPACT and DRAGONGATE in the same match, KC Navarro facing Soberano Jr., Fugaz, Lio Rush and Dragon Kid. Fans expected a high pace, and got exactly that, X Division Champion Rush dictating that high pace for the most part and managing the crowd before Final Hour missed at the five minute mark, all five men down and reeling. Navarro would find himself in the plus position, but was dropped with a Soberano Driver as the CMLL star came out on top.
The Lucky Dip Tag Match would see two teams of four formed via random drawing. That drawing saw TMDK partners Robbie Eagles and Kosei Fujita together, but BULLET CLUB ABC partners Ace Austin and Chris Bey parted. Bey, Fujita, Eagles and Alex Shelley would face TJP, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Cheeseburger and Austin.
A sportsmanlike opening to the bout saw the participants each showing their skills early, but things quickly turned into an intense brawl on the floor. The match continued to swing between effective in ring tag work, and some ill feeling salty shots; the only ones not actively involved were Bey and Austin, reluctant to make contact until blind tags saw them face off. Fujita ensured there was no finger poke of doom shenanigans as he tagged himself in and landed a stunning stalling German suplex on Cheeseburger for the win.
Six man action saw Jack Cartwheel, Starboy Charlie and the obnoxious Real1 take on The DKC, Rich Swann and Ryusuke Taguchi. The offense was spectacular all round, both inside and out of the ring; as Taguchi started to gel with his team things looked good for DKC, but a shooting star press from Cartwheel stopped a surefire win for the LA Dojo graduate. After Swann took care of Real1 with a midair superkick though, a second rope 450 sealed the deal.
The main card would kick off with YOH and Matt Sydal, who teamed with an uncomfortable alliance for BUSHI and Shun Skywalker. Still, after Sydal was cleared from the apron, the masked duo took advantage on YOH. Sydal was stewing on the apr