Hello again, I am back with part three of my reviews from Toryumon 2000 Project. This show is from June 6, 2002 at Korakuen Hall. There is more interaction between Toryumon Japan and T2P in between the time period of the prior review and this one. It specifically features on the battle between Toryumon Japan's Crazy MAX and T2P's Italian Collection. The main event features Milano Collection AT facing Don Fujii for Milano's NWA International Light Heavyweight Title under Lucha Libre Classica rules. These two factions started had a confrontation about a month earlier at a Toryumon Mexico show. Let’s get to the action because the review starts now:

Highlights of the March 3, 2002 T2P show aired. First, it was Milano Collection AT defeating Masato Yoshino for the NWA International Light Heavyweight Title. However, Milano got attacked by a masked man before that match. That masked man revealed himself as Don Fujii. Continuing his string of kleptomania, Fujii stole Milano's invisible dog. I’ll repeat that. HE STOLE AN INVISIBLE DOG! I hate putting a sentence in all capital letters, but I just felt the need to emphasize the awesomeness of that. Also, it was revealed that Milano formed a stable called the Italian Connection. The wrestlers who joined this stable changed their names to be more Italian. Masato Yoshino is now YOSSINO, Stevie Brother Tsujimoto is now brother YASSHI, Takayuki Yagi is now Pescatore Yagi, Shuji Kondo is now Condotti Shuji and a masked man named Berlinetta Boxer.

UWA Six-Man Titles under Lucha Libre Classica Rules: CIMA, Don Fujii & TARU © vs. Milano Collection AT, YOSSINO & brother YASSHI

This was from a Toryumon Mexico show on May 12, 2002. It took place at CMLL’s secondary building Arena Coliseo. It is weird seeing the T2P logo in a four-sided ring. With Don Fujii attacking and stealing Milano’s dog, it meant that the war between Crazy MAX and Italian Connection was on. This rivalry would also help kick start a T2P invasion of Toryumon Japan. This was clipped, but the action looked good and the crowd was hot. CIMA won the first fall when he used the Schwein on YASSHI. YOSSINO won the second fall when he used the Sol Naciente to make TARU submit. Crazy MAX won the third fall when Milano intentionally kicked Don Fujii in the groin for the disqualification. After the match, Milano continued to attack Fujii. There was also an argument backstage between Italian Connection and Crazy MAX.

Pescatore Yagi & Berlinetta Boxer vs. Jun Ogawauchi & Takuya Sugawara

This was a pretty solid opener. The crowd was really into the Italian Connection because they were responding when they went on offense. Everyone looked fine in there, but I will say that Boxer was the weak part of this match because all he did was live up to his name by throwing punches. There was some clipping in the beginning of the match. Ogawauchi and Sugawara had a nice double team submission on Boxer when Ogawauchi would put him in a reverse Indian Deathlock and Sugawara would put Boxer in more pain with a camel clutch. Yagi won the match when he made Sugawara submit to the Takotsubogatame.

Noriaki Kawabata vs. Junya Fukumasa

This was pretty much all Kawabata. Outside of Fukumasa locking in a figure-four variation, he did not have much chance of winning this match. I have to say that Kawabata has improved his striking since the last review. His kicks were crisper and that knee he hit Fukumasa with before locking in the Bukogatame 2 was pretty vicious.

Touru Owashi vs. Syachihoko Machine #1, #2 & #3

The match started out Owashi facing one of the Machines because the other suffered an injury. When Owashi was going to make short work of the sole Machine, another one shows up to make the match 2-on-1. When Owashi was going to finish off the two Machines with a double chokeslam, a third Machine shows up and the match becomes a 3-on-1 handicap match. Too bad the handicap was on the side of the three. It was pretty much like the match on the prior review with plenty of comedy involved. Despite having a little more success with that extra man, Owashi was again too strong and smart for them. He gave two of them a double chokeslam and the third Machine a running chokeslam. Owashi piled up the Machines and put a foot on them for the pin.

TARU & TARUcito vs. Takamichi Iwasa & Kinya Oyanagei

There was plenty of comedy in the early parts of this match. Oyanagei is still a student. He wants to get his reading done and a pro wrestling match is not going to stop him. He just improvises by wrestling while reading his book. He puts TARU in various submission positions to where he could get a few distraction free seconds of reading. Eventually, Oyanagei had to put his book down and concentrate on his wrestling. Once the initial comedy ended, the match got really fun. It was a good mix of serious action and comedy with Oyanagei doing his hand raising. Big and small TARU won the match when they used a Double Team TARU Driller onto Iwasa.

YOSSINO, brother YASSHI & Condotti Shuji vs. Anthony W. Mori, Ryo Saito & Second Doi

This was a really good sprint between these 6 men. It started out with an Italian Connection beat down of Doi. With Yagi and Boxer at ringside, they were able to get away with a lot of illegal tactics by distracting the referee. Once Doi was able to comeback from the beatdown, then it became an even match with many great moves and counters from the six men. For me, the highlight was an awesome double team YOSSINO and Shuji used on Ryo. YOSSINO was going for his reverse Tarantula on Ryo, but could not get it locked in fully. Showing his strength, Shuji entered the ring and lifted up Ryo for a Canadian Backbreaker. From there, YOSSINO was able to bend down from behind Shuji to do more damage to Ryo with the reverse Tarantula. As you can imagine, that was quickly broken up. In the end, the Italian Connection won when YOSSINO trapped Mori in the Sol Naciente for the submission victory.

NWA International Light Heavyweight Title under Lucha Libre Classica rules: Milano Collection AT © vs. Don Fujii

As far as match quality goes, I thought the six-man tag was a better match than this one. However, this match had a purpose of getting Milano over as the ace of T2P and eventually the equal of Magnum TOKYO, Masaaki Mochizuki and CIMA in Toryumon Japan. For that to happen, he needed to show dominance over a guy like Don Fujii. The first fall saw Milano take out Fujii rather quickly. The second fall saw Milano in serious trouble because Crazy MAX ran-in and gave Milano some of their best shots. Milano still kept fighting back. When they were done, Fujii gave Milano his best moves. Once again, Milano just kept kicking out or countering. In the end, Milano showed he was the top level by convincingly defeating Fujii yet again. I have to say that push worked for someone as talented as Milano Collection AT. This also teased the eventual showdown by Crazy MAX leader CIMA and T2P ace Milano. The second fall was nuts. Crazy MAX and Italian Connection were interfering throughout the fall and brawling all over ringside. Here is the play-by-play:

Before the match, Fujii is mocking Milano’s entrance. He does not have the female models. Fujii also brings to the ring a real dog instead of an imaginary dog. It was a Golden Retriever. Fujii offered the dog to Milano as apology. Milano refused because he wanted his imaginary dog and not a real dog. I could understand his view point. There is a lot less to clean up with an imaginary dog. Imaginary dogs are also a lot more disciplined than real dogs. Plus, I don’t think Milano would have a Golden Retriever if he did want to have a real dog. Fujii attacks Milano, and the match is underway.

Both men trade chops and Fujii wins the exchange. Fujii is beating down Milano with headbutts, stomps and eye rakes. He knocks Milano down with a shoulderblock. Fujii is not use to the 6-sided ring because he almost runs into the turnbuckle when he was trying to run off the ropes. Milano took advantage of Fujii’s mistake with armdrag takedowns. He locked him in the Tequila Sunrise, but Fujii escapes. Milano nails Fujii with a Shining Enzuigiri. He puts Fujii’s leg on his shoulders and slams him face first on the mat. Milano connects with the Asai Moonsault. He rolls Fujii in a ball and puts him in the Paradise Lock. Fujii has no choice, but to give up the first fall. Milano is already impressing with getting a fall in just under 90 seconds.

Milano refuses to release the hold, and Crazy MAX runs in to beat up Milano. Italian Connection runs in to save their leader and there is a wild brawl in the ring. Despite having the numbers disadvantage, Crazy MAX wins the brawl and pretty much KO Milano. Milano is rolled to the floor, and Fujii goes after him. That causes the Italian Connection to jump Fujii. Now, there is a brawl on the floor between Crazy MAX and Italian Connection. Fujii and Milano are back in the ring, and the second fall has officially begun.

Fujii is stomping on the grounded Milano. Fujii picks up Milano just chop him back down. Fujii uses a big elbowdrop that gets him a two count. More brawling is shown between Crazy MAX and Italian Connection on the floor. The first few rows of ringside are cleared, and they are throwing chairs at each other. While that is going on, Fujii is choking Milano in the ring. He connects with a dropkick on a grounded Milano. Fujii slams Milano on the mat and goes for the Boston crab. Milano counters with a bodyscissors takedown. Fujii quickly gets back up and nails Milano with a double-ax handle to the back. Fujii uses a side suplex and covers. Milano is out 2 and rolls up Fuji in a pinning position. However, Fujii kicks out at 2 as well.

Fujii goes for a shoulderblock, but accidentally hits the referee. Milano catches him with another Shining Enzuigiri and locks in the Octopus Hold. It looked like the shoulderblock did not do that much damage because the referee is back up. CIMA breaks it up with a glancing superkick. Fujii recovers and runs off the ropes only to be caught with a spear from Shuji. The Italian Connection blatantly run-in the ring to attack Fujii and give him corner charge attacks. Fujii escapes Milano’s attack. Now it is Crazy MAX doing the corner charge attacks. Milano gets the boot up with Fujii’s attack and YOSSINO catches him in the Reverse Tarantula. The referee is giving a ton of leeway to both men by allowing their factions to just blatantly interfere. He had plenty of reasons to throw this match out and call it a no contest. Milano catches Fujii with a dropkick to the chest, and gets a near fall from an Asai Moonsault.

Milano climbs the top turnbuckle, but TARU blocks his progress. CIMA takes him down with the Iconoclasm. SUWA jumps off another turnbuckle with diving elbowdrop. Fujii waits for Milano to get up and nails him with a lariat. Fujii covers, but Milano barely kicks out. Fujii goes for another lariat, but Milano dropkicks his knees. Milano goes for the Paradise Lock, but Fuji fights out of it. Milano ducks a Fujii lariat, and Fujii ducks a Milano enzuigiri. Fujii goes for a German Suplex, but Milano escapes. Milano gets caught with a Fujii lariat and planted with a big time powerbomb. Fujii covers, but Milano again barely escapes at 2.

Fujii goes for a chokeslam, but Milano escapes. They slap each other at the same time. Fujii connects with sumo slaps in the corner. He goes for the choke slam again, and succeeds. However, Milano was able to quick recover and lock Fujii in a triangle choke. Fujii was fighting hard to not get choked out, and reaches the ropes at the very last second. Milano goes for the AT Lock, but Fujii low blows out of it and gets a 2 count with a small package. Milano catches him with a double-arm scissors. Crazy MAX tries to break it up, but Italian Connection is holding them back. Milano lets go and attempts a pin. He gets a 2 count.

Milano connects with his beautiful Asai Moonsault and then his Asai Moonsault into a twisting somersault sent. Milano succeeds in locking the AT Lock. Fujii fights hard and it looked like he was about to reach the ropes. However, Milano drags him back to the center of the ring and reapply the AT Lock. Fujii had no choice, but to submit. Once again, Milano has impressed everyone by winning in two straight falls. This was him having to deal with Crazy MAX’s interference throughout the match. After the match, there was more brawling from Crazy MAX and Italian Connection. Ultimo Dragon had to run-in and slaps both sides around to make sure they stop fighting. Milano got his invisible dog back, but Fujii attacked him and stole the invisible dog again.

Final Thoughts: Although it was the weakest show, in regards to quality of wrestling, that I have reviewed so far. However, this was another good showing from T2P and continue the raise bar of action in Toryumon. The Italian Connection vs. Crazy MAX six-man match in Mexico looked good from the clips shown. Yagi & Boxer vs. Sugawara & Ogawauchi was a solid opener. Owashi vs. Machine's kept the comedy fresh because of the extra man. TARU's vs. Kinya & Iwasa started out with some comedy, but turned into a good serious match. The six-man semi-main event was very good. I thought the main event was the weakest so far because of all of the interference. However, it was still a real good match and succeeded in future establishing Milano as the man. Another recommended episode from me.

Final Score: 7.0 [Good]

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