[7.0] "Im Vergleich zu New Explosion vom letzten Jahr fand ich diese Show doch deutlich ausgeglichener. Während man ein Jahr zuvor bei der Sumo Hall Show noch eine sehr leere Card vorfand mit den 2 großen Hauptmatches bekam man dieses Mal zwar qualitativ auch nicht unbedingt was Besseres, aber zumindest was Attraktiveres zu sehen. Wie auch schon letztes Jahr dauerte es doch eine Weile, bis es ordentliches Wrestling zu sehen gab. Vor allem das Legends-match ist hierbei für mich als ein Negativpunkt zu erwähnen. So bedeutend die Karrieren von Kabuki und Dory Funk auch waren, gehören die 2 schon lange nicht mehr in einen Ring und auch wenn es eine Respektsbekundung seitens der Promotion ist fällt es mir schwer so etwas anzuschauen. Das Niveau der Veranstaltung beginnt jedoch mit dem Caristico vs. Diamante Match zu steigen und findet mit dem Main Event ihren Höhepunkt. Hervorragend ist vor allem mal wieder das World Tag Match gewesen, aber auch Tajiri vs. Ultimo Dragon und Taichi vs. Yuma Aoyagi konnten gut unterhalten. Etwas enttäuschend hingegen fand ich das Match zwischen Kojima und Suwama, auch wenn das Booking rund um Joe Doering durchaus gelungen war. Der Main Event war wie zu erwarten das MOTN und eines der besten Matches von AJPW in diesem Jahr. Alles in allem gab es doch viel ordentliches zu sehen und vor allem mit dem Tag Title und dem Triple Crown Match hatte man 2 starke Matches, für 5 Stunden war die Show jedoch wie auch schon letztes Jahr zu schwach besetz, um eine höhere Bewertung zu rechtfertigen. Alles in allem aber eine gute Show mit einer unterhaltsamen 2. Phase."
[7.0] "This is such a hard show to rate. On pure wrestling it's rather poor, since more than half of the actual wrestling was of a bad to mediocre standard and only 2 "big" matches really delivered. However, as a show from a once great promotion that then crumbled but is now rebuilding itself this was quite a good show. The first half of the show was all fan service. Lots of quick tag team matches which some entertaining comedy, high flying, and fighting spirit. Even the Dory & Saito vs Fuchi & Kabuki and the BANG TV title battle royal, while not good matches, were entertaining and went over well with the crowd. These first half matches were in the 2 to 3 star range, but all had a unique charm. The worst match was definitely the 15 minute long borefest of Ultimo vs Tajiri. Bad booking and bland action. **. Taichi vs Aoyagi was the first good match. Taichi was his usual fantastic heel self and Aoyagi showed great underdog determination. ***1/4 The 8-man tag match and the Kojima vs Suwama match, though not necessarily bad, were major disappointments by being booked in the "sports entertainment" vein and not lasting long. Both were **1/2. Strong BJ vs Kai & Nomura was quite a good match. Lots of fun exchanges. Strong BJ looked great and Nomura noticeably stood out. ***1/2. Ishikawa vs Miyahara was just awesome, and ensured the showed finished strongly. So many great exchanges and spots, many believable near-falls, great selling, and simple but flawlessly executed psychology. ****1/4"
[5.0] "I think this was meant to be more of a spectacular than a really good wrestling show . They tried to provide a little bit of something for everyone . Most of the first part of the show was not very good . It took until the seventh match for me to find one I would consider to be good . It got better after that but still only two really good matches , The tag and heavy title matches . The main was excellent but his was a really long show it took way to long to heat up . KAI & Naoya Nomura vs. Strong BJ (Daisuke Sekimoto & Yuji Okabayashi) was great and my top match was Shuji Ishikawa (c) vs. Kento Miyahara which was excellent ."
[6.0] "A grand celebration of All Japan 45th Anniversary! With 14 matches on the card it felt more like bringing everyone to the party instead of giving time and focus on specific matches to make them special. Doesn’t stop this from being an entertaining event. Keiichi Sato -vs- Yusuke Okada [**], Saori Anno & Makiya Natsumi -vs- Tae Honma & Miyuki Takase [*], Yohei Nakajima & Fuminori Abe -vs- Takuya Nomura & Yuya Aoki [*], Ryouji Sai & Masakado & Ishikiri -vs- Sam Adonis & Massimo & Danny Jones [* 3/4], Dory Funk Jr. & Hiro Saito -vs- Masanobu Fuchi & Great Kabuki [*], ! BANG! TV Heavyweight Title, 16-Man Battle Royal [* 1/2], Caristico -vs- El Diamante [**], Atsushi Aoki & Hikaru Sato (c) -vs- Taka Michinoku & Black Tiger VII – (All Asia Tag Title) [**], Taichi -vs- Yuma Aoyagi [***], Jun Akiyama & Takao Omori & Minoru Tanaka & Koji Iwamoto -vs- Joe Doering & Zeus & The Bodyguard & Kotaro Suzuki [**], Tajiri (c) -vs- Ultimo Dragon – (AJPW Junior Title) [** 1/2], Daisuke Sekimoto & Yuji Okabayashi -vs- KAI & Naoya Nomura – (AJPW Tag Title Decision) [***], Satoshi Kojima -vs- Suwama [** 1/2], Shuji Ishikawa (c) -vs- Kento Miyahara – (Triple Crown Title) [*** 1/2]"
[10.0] "While not everything was spectacular, I still consider this one of the greatest shows I have ever watched live. The world tag team title and Triple Crown title matches were by far the best matches on the show (4. 75 and 5 stars, respectively). I think Strong BJ are the best heavyweight tag team in the world. And I believe that Kento Miyahara alone can restore AJPW to it's former glory. Not to take anything away from Shuji Ishikawa, who looked very good in defeat and will most likely remain a top contender in the company and I'm pretty sure that he will soon be champion again. I also enjoyed the tag matches, Taichi's impressive match, and the lucha libre match. One of the only things I did not like was the way the match between Kojima and Suwama played out. It was built like a huge grudge match with lots of real life tension that I feel lost momentum upon the interference of Joe Doering which didn't even really make a whole lot of sense."
[8.0] "Caristico/Diamante: ***. Good. Always interesting to see a location specific style worked in a foreign place. 8 man: ***. Not a ton to say. Seems like Doering is being groomed for big things. Tajiri/Dragon: ***1/4. Slow. Very slow. Good though. Tag title match: ****. Great match. Nomura looked really good. Suwama/Kojima: ***1/4. Not alot of heat for this. Main event: ****1/4. Fantastic. Nearly 4. 5. Great main event match that built up greatly. Great show."
[8.0] "AJPW 45th Anniversary Show Aoki & Nomura vs Yohei Nakajima & Abe: **3/4 , short but enjoyable. Danny Jones, Massimo & Sam Adonis vs. Ishikiri, Masakado & Ryouji Sai: **, it was okay. Dory Funk Jr. & Hiro Saito vs. Masanobu Fuchi & The Great Kabuki: *¾, it was better than expected until funk came in. ! BANG! TV World Heavyweight Title Battle Royal Osamu Nishimura (c) vs. Abdullah Kobayashi, Aisawa NO. 1, Akira Shinose, Atsushi Maruyama, Carbell Ito, Dinosaur Takuma, Great Kojika, Kazuhiro Tamura, Kotaro Yoshino, Naoshi Sano, Rey Paloma, Rikiya Fudo, Shota Nakagawa, Taishi Takizawa & Yutaka Yoshie: **¾, fun battle royal, very entertaining. Caristico vs. Diamante: ***, Good match with some nice spots, they showcased the CMLL guys brilliantly here. Atsushi Aoki & Hikaru Sato (c) vs. Black Tiger & Taka Michinoku: ***, I liked this, good tag match. Natsumi Maki & Saori Anou vs. Miyuki Takase & Tae Honma: **½ Taichi vs Yuma Aoyagi: ***½, Wow, this was a really good match, I like Taichi but not for his wrestling ability and he impressed me. Very heated match. Jun Akiyama, Koji Iwamoto, Minoru Tanaka & Takao Omori vs. The Big Guns (The Bodyguard & Zeus), Joe Doering & Kotaro Suzuki: Didn’t watch. AJPW World Junior Heavyweight Title Match TAJIRI (c) vs. Ultimo Dragon: ***½, this was a match that had some good mat based wrestling. AJPW World Tag Team Title Match KAI & Naoya Nomura vs. Strong BJ (Daisuke Sekimoto & Yuji Okabayashi): ****¼, wow this match is just so amazing. Great tag team wrestling, great single exchanges, just great. Satoshi Kojima vs. Suwama: ***¼, It was good but i was confused on the pre match antics. Triple Crown Title Match Shuji Ishikawa (c) vs. Kento Miyahara:*****, this match though, just wow, definitely MOTYC. Tremendous match and great use of teasing the finish all match. Overall a good show, the main event just made the entire show just t"
[8.0] "Die ersten 2 Matches waren okay (je **). Funk und Saito vs Fuchi und Kabuki war genau das was man sich erwartet hatte (**), TV Battle Royal war da (** 1/4), Caristico vs Diamante war dann das erste wirklich solide Match (***), All Asia Tag Title Match war richtig richtig gut (*** 3/4), Taichi vs Yuma Aoyagi war unerwartet stark (*** 1/4), Eight Man Tag war wirklich schön. 8 wirklich starke Worker die den Japanischen Strong Style vertreten. Hätte mir hier nur etwas zeit gewünscht (** 3/4). Dragon vs Tajiri war ein ansehnliches und Methodisch geführtes Match der beiden Veteranen (*** 1/2). Das AJPW World Tag Title Match war dann der erste Kracher am Abend! Mit Strong BJ macht man generell nichts falsch, aber ich hätte nicht gedacht das sie mit KAI und Nomura ein so grandioses Match auf die Beine stellen können (**** 1/4). Kojima vs Suwama war okay. War ganz nett Kojima bei All Japan zu sehen (***). Main Event war fantastisch und auf einem ähnlichen Niveau wie ihr letztes aufeinander treffen (*****). Insgesamt eine tolle Show. Hat man die Matches bis zum All Asia Tag Title Match überwunden, starten ab eben diesem Match dann die richtig guten Matches. Insgesamt bot die Card keinen Let Down, sondern 2 Exzellente Matches mit einem (New Japan außen vorgelassen) MOTY Contender. Ein Problem bleibt für mich jedoch weiterhin bei solchen Big Shows: Sie sind einfach immer sehr lange. Dies ist aber eine persönliche Präferenz und gilt nicht nur für diese All Japan show sondern für alle langen Wrestling Shows wie die Big 4 WWE Shows, die Big NJPW Shows oder PWG Shows."
[8.0] "Absolutely great show, with a fantastic Main Event. The opener was short and fun (**1/4); Ishikiri, Masakado & Sai vs. Gaijins (**3/4); The legends match I can't rate. But it was fun, as always. BANG! TV Title (**); Caristico vs. Diamante (***); All Asia Tag Title (***1/4); Taichi vs. Ayoagi was a super heated match. Really fun (***1/2); The Eight Man Tag (***1/4); The Junior match was slow and grounded based match between the two vets (***1/2); The Tag Title Match was fantastic. Nomura was a star in it (****1/2); Kojima vs. Suwama let it down. It was a super grudge match, but the Joe interference really make it nothing (***); And the Main Event was out this world. A top-tier MOTYC without a doubt. (*****). Another really strong show for All Japan, with another fantastic Main Event."
[9.0] "a really great show from the best promotion in the world. Joshi tag **1/4 Missing from this database. Okada vs sato was really good and very heated ***1/4 best i have ever seen from okada. opening jr tag was a fun opener to the main show **1/4 gaijin vs lands end was good simple 6 man *** old man tag was um intersting not as great as last year but still really fun. battle royal was just silly comedy fun with nishimura wondering what the fuck he got himself into. cmll match wasjust a showcase match where they heat a million moves and do cool looking things, fine for what it was ***. asia tag titles was really good taka was wearing blue so you are going to get a good match and nosawa was actully good. they left plenty on the table for a future rematch ***1/2. Ayoagi vs taichi was just great best non schtick match of taichis career ***3/4. 6 man was a bomb contest followed by an angle rather than a match set up a bunch of future programmes ***1/2 (rating includes angle) tajiri vs dragon could have done with loosing 5 mins as they got tired **3/4 tag titles was amazing with a real comming out party for nomura he was great ****1/4. suwama vs kojima was a let down as doreing attacked before the bell and the crowd was out of it the result made it worse as it made suwama and ajpw look bad loosing to kojima ***. the main event is my new moty a great bout between the two best wretlers in the world in front of a great crowd what more could you want? ****3/4 (very very close to 5)"
