By Mark Worrall@hoohoowozza
Fortune Dream is a series of events produced by legendry Japanese wrestler Kenta Kobashi that are held annually at Korakuen Hall and feature many top stars of Japanese puroresu, mostly Independent stars or freelancers although this event features a New Japan talent. The Fortune Dream name origins derive from Kobashi overcoming cancer. These are my thoughts on the show which aired on June 10th.
MASA KITAMIYA/YUYA AOKI def. TOWA IWASAKI/SHOKI KITAMURA
Iwasaki and his Junior partner Kitamura both representing ‘The Zero 1’ promotion opened the show facing the ‘Big Japan’ Junior Yuya Aoki and his partner, the slightly older Kitamiya, a former three time GHC tag team champion representing ‘Pro Wrestling Noah’. The Junior’s started the match tussling to begin with until Aoki flipped to the outside onto poor Kitamura which enabled the earlier portion of the match to be controlled By Aoki and Kitamiya who, in turn worked the left leg of Kitamura, using him as a wishbone in one spot and controlling the struggling Junior, and although he did finally make a tag to the only champion in the match in the form of Iwasaki, who rallied some offence until he himself felt a spear, followed by a brainbuster from Kitamiya, the Zero 1 pairing did not really match up and after eight minutes Aoki pinned Kitamura with a terrific looking Tiger suplex.
MEIKO SATOMURA AND NANAE TAKAHASHI – 20 MINUTE TIME LIMIT DRAW
At Fortune Dream 5 Satomura went to a twenty minute time limit draw in a match of the Mae Young combatants between herself, Hiroyo Matsumoto and Io Shirai! This year the Sendai Girls co-owner faced Nanae Takahashi, who is a twenty-two year veteran of the Japanese Joshi scene and until last month was the first ever SEAdLINNNG ‘beyond the sea’ champion in a match that also had a twenty minute time limit that was also used to its full extent. In my opinion, Meiko is the finest female wrestler on the planet at the moment, as for Takahashi, although I know of her, I have seen very little from her. However they both fought like veterans throughout what would become a time limit draw, with Satomura seemingly the more consistent as Takahashi at times looked a touch disjointed, missing a couple of spots and failing to lift Meiko at one attempt. This did not take much away from Takahashi who was great, especially towards the back end of the match after she had worked the legs of Meiko, preventing her from dishing the strong high kicks that her reputation carries and Satomura returned the favour by selling the work Takahashi had done. Great sprint towards the climax with Satomura nailing her patterned Death Valley Bomb on Takahashi, who kicked out and lost it with a barrage of headbutts, weakening Satomura enough to hit a superb Falcon Arrow that Meiko kicked out in one, gasping the crowd until Takahshi planted what looked like her finisher with a strong holding lariat as the time limit expired on the count of one!!!
YUJI OKABAYASHI/KAZUSADA HIGUCHI def. GO SHIAZAKI/YOSHIKI INAMURA
Okabayashi is the Big Japan Strong World champion, the crowd were chanting his name and he was an absolute powerhouse in this match! This was an absolute slap-fest from start to finish, big lads wrestling at its best, I loved it, and if you are a fan of this type of wrestling then all four of these men put on a masterclass. There seems to be genuine heat between Okabayashi and Shiazaki, it was Okabayashi demanding that Shiazaki start the match and from the bell the back hand slaps and the elbow strikes were the main form of offence with it taking minutes until Shiazaki’s already beaten chest saw crimson! Inamura and Higuchi also exchanged slaps as this match spilled ringside with a tale of two separate matches. Back and Forth there was barely a breath to be had before someone felt a back hand, also good to see Higuchi wrestling in a big man’s environment, serious style with him being outside the confines of the more entertainment based DDT promotion. Inamura’s inability to lift Okabayashi on several occasions left him open to Okabayashi’s fierce lariat which Inamura barely raised a shoulder only to succumb to a BIG splash from Okabayashi for the win! Crowd really into this, recommend this highly.
SATOSHI KOJIMA/SHINJIRO OTANI def. DAISUKE SEKIMOTO/HIDEYOSHI KAMITANI
Veterans Kojima and Otani took to working the BJW youngster Kamitani once everyone seemed to get their spots out of the way with Sekimoto watching on after mixing it up with Otani, who was not at all intimidated by the veteran freelancer Sekimoto’s upper body strength and refused to go down after taking Sekimoto’s barges and only succumbing after a test of strength that enabled Sekimoto to lock in a one legged crab. Kamitani struggled once being double teamed and showed a limited move-set to begin with! However, with Sekimoto assisting, Kamitani turned things round, and showed that he is a really good wrestler bringing himself back into the match and the BJW pairing actually enjoyed some teamwork themselves on Kojima. Onita’s favouritism with the crowd was a highlight, alongside Kojima’s repertoire of relentless chops which brought a smile to Kobayashi’s face in commentary! However, Kamitani is the youngster, and for all his good work in the closing stretch, he would fall victim to a Koji-cutter, followed by a brain buster, and although he kicked out of them, which showed guts on his part. Kojima’s strong right arm finally put Kamitani away, but on the second attempt after a one pin kick out on the first attempt from the gutsy youngster.
JAKE LEE/KOHEI SATO/SHUJI ISHIKAWA def. TAISHI TAKIZAWA/YUJI HINO/ZUES
Six-man main event that was fun and delivered with the crowd completely behind the match that started with various pairings slugging it out until they all spilled ringside, using all of Korakuen Hall to ply their trade with Kenta Kobashi enjoying Sato and Hino having an almighty slap-fest in front of him whilst he sat at commentary with both wrestlers respectively bowing to the legend both before and after the back hand exchange! Ishikawa excited the crowd with his running lariats as everyone got involved; hitting their trademark spots in what was a hard hitting pleasing match. Sato took a lot of punishment throughout the match, and almost comically would refrain from the amount of back handed slaps he would ensue during the bout! So somewhat befitting, and a nice touch when a piledriver on Takizawa just got a near fall, Sato nailed a superbly executed holding German to win the match.
Five match card in celebration of Japanese legend Kobashi, all matches a lot of fun, even if long! Satomura/Takahashi was good, although I have to say as Much as I love Satomura, there seems a reluctance to lose maybe? Another time limit draw two years in succession? This is an easy watch if you skip the interview segments, which I did as I do not speak Japanese! Well worth a watch
