Also the most important project that I work on. Please be sure to click that link.

July 30, 2009 – Warabi, Japan

CHANGO & Amigo Suzuki vs. Fujiso & Daisuke Sasaki
Sasaki and CHANGO start. The small crowd’s silence is literally deafening, as the white noise is driving my ears crazy. Things proceed in the dull and meaningless fashion they tend to in the beginning of these matches, as both men tag out and their partners do more of the same go-nowhere hold trading on the mat. Fujiso hits an armdrag. He hits another to gain control. Suzuki hits a dropkick after CHANGO hits a cheap shot. CHANGO hits a legdrop. Suzuki hits another dropkick and CHANGO follows suit for 2. CHANGO chokes Fujiso in the corner. He hits a back elbow for 2. Suzuki and Fujiso trade elbows until Fujiso falls to the mat and Suzuki gets 2. Fujiso hits a hurricanrana and a dropkick. Sasaki hits elbows and a dropkick. He hits CHANGO with a hurricanrana. Fujiso hits a plancha. Sasaki hits a very cool dropkick to Suzuki’s face. he hits an enziguiri and a twisting fisherman suplex for 2. Suzuki hits a backbreaker and a fall away slam for 2. CHANGO hits a missile dropkick. He kicks Fujiso’s face. He shrugs off a swinging DDT attempt and puts on the Iron Claw. Fujiso hits an insane DDT for 2. That really should have been the finish. CHANGO comes back with a monkey flip and Suzuki hits a dropkick. CHANGO hits a jumping palm strike. Suzuki powerbombs him onto Fujiso for 2. CHANGO hits a Samoan drop. He hits a legdrop as Suzuki hits a diving headbutt for 2. CHANGO packages Fujiso up and hits Welcome to the Jungle at 12:48. This was pretty disjointed and took much longer to get going than I’d have liked, but there was some exciting stuff sprinkled throughout.
Rating: **¾

Kamui vs. Spark Aoki
Aoki attacks Kamui during his entrance. In the ring Kamui takes over because Aoki is a joke. He hits a back kick on the floor. That gets 2 in the ring. He puts on a front facelock but Aoki gets to the ropes. He hits a knee kick for 2. He works the neck. He hits a Tree of Woe kick for 2. He works the arm but Aoki gets to the ropes. Aoki comes back with kicks. He hits a butterfly suplex for 2. Kamui hits a lariat for 2. He finally takes off his entrance shirt and hits a knee kick in the corner. He hits an Arabian press for 2. He hits the Blue Thunder Bomb for 2. He misses a moonsault and Aoki hits a leg lariat. Aoki hits a facebuster and puts on a triangle choke but Kamui gets to the ropes. Aoki goes for the move again but Kamui rolls forward for 2. He gets a roll up for 2. He puts on an armbar for the win at 8:21. I had to watch this at 2x speed so as to not fall asleep, and I knew it was going to be a short match going in. Just saying. Also saying that Aoki is the most awkward looking dude since the Giant Gonzales.
Rating: *½

Takeshi Minamino & Masa Takanashi vs. Masaki Okimoto & Yamada Man Pound
Pound and Takanashi start. Not unlike the opening tag match, this tag match also starts with useless hold trading. Okimoto thankfully puts an early end to that when he hits Minamino with a hurricanrana. He hits Takanashi with a dropkick. Pound forces Minamino to the ropes. He hits a shoulder tackle. He hits a bodyslam. Minamino dropkicks the knee. Takanashi tags in and goes after the leg. Pound gets to the ropes. Takanashi and Minamino slam Pound’s legs to the mat. Okimoto tries in vain to save his partner. Takanashi dropkicks Pound’s leg. He puts on a figure 4 leglock. Pound gets to the ropes. He and Minamino trade elbows until Minamino kicks out Pound’s knee. Takanashi dropkicks the knee. Okay, time to move onto something new. Minamino puts on a leglock. Pound gets to the ropes. Okimoto cleans house with dropkicks. Minamino hits Pound’s leg with Pound’s 止まれ sign. Takanashi puts on a leglock and Pound taps out at 13:06. This was painfully boring and one-dimensional. Pound was coming off of a leg injury, we didn’t need to see his leg getting picked apart with the same two moves for ten minutes to believe that he might tap out.
Rating: *

Mototsugu Shimizu & Manjimaru vs. Go & Satoshi Kajiwara
Kajiwara and Manjimaru start. Kajiwara’s new gear looks slightly less like a garbage bag. Guess how he and Manjimaru get through the first few minutes? I fast forward through it. Go and Shimizu trade elbows. Shimizu hits armdrags and a dropkick. Go hits a shoulder tackle for 2. Kajiwara hits a back elbow for 2. He puts on a chinlock. He looks a lot like Kurt Angle in his mannerisms and style. Shimizu gets to the ropes. Kajiwara hits a bodyslam. Shimizu dropkicks his head. Manjimaru tags in and goes to work on Kajiwara on the floor. Secret Base needs to invest in a ringside camera if they want to have action on the floor. In the ring Manjimaru hits a dropkick for 2. Shimizu hits a dropkick in the corner. Shimizu hits a backbreaker. He puts on a camel clutch. Kajiwara gets to the ropes. He hits a dropkick. He hits a leaping elbow. Go tags in and hits Shimizu with a basement dropkick. He hits both opponents with a spear. He hits Shimizu with a back kick for 2. Shimizu hits a facebuster and a sloppy dropkick for 2. Go hits a spinebuster and puts on a crossface. Shimizu gets to the ropes. Kajiwara hits an enziguiri. Go hits a powerslam for 2. He hits an elevated facebuster. Kajiwara hits a moonsault for 2. He hits a pumphandle suplex for 2. Shimizu hits an inverted DDT. Manjimaru hits a chinbreaker. He hits a stiff thrust kick for 2. Shimizu hits the Rocker Dropper and Manjimaru hits a piledriver for 2. The referee stopped the count way before he was supposed to there. Shimizu drives Kajiwara’s head to the mat for 2. Again the referee telegraphed the kick out. Kajiwara gets a roll up for 2. He gets another for 2. Shimizu hits a spinebuster. He hits an implant DDT and rolls Kajiwara up for the win at 16:05, despite the fact that Kajiwara’s shoulders weren’t even close to being pinned. Shimizu really dropped the ball on this one. He’s usually the anchor for his team with Manjimaru, but he was all over the place here. This was easily the worst main event in the company’s short history thanks to Shimizu’s sloppiness.
Rating: *¾

The thread holding these shows together up until this point is that the main event winners get to stay in the main event, but since Shimizu and Manjimaru are more frienemies than friends they don’t make it as a team to the next show. In fact, Pound rejoins Shimizu after the match, reforming their tag team from earlier shows.

June 22, 2009 – Warabi, Japan

Takeshi Minamino {TX} vs. Fujiso {ED}
Minamino powers Fujiso to the ropes to start. Fujiso hits a head scissors takedown. He hits an armdrag and a plancha. He hits a DDT for 2. He hits a spinning Ace Crusher for 2. Minamino comes back with a powerbomb. He hits a headbutt. He hits a vertical suplex for 2. He hits a back suplex. He puts on a chinlock. Fujiso gets to the ropes. Minamino hits a back elbow. Fujiso comes back with elbows. Minamino puts on a leglock. Fujiso gets to the ropes. He hits an armdrag and a dropkick to the leg. He gets a small package for 2. Minamino hits a dropkick. He shoots Fujiso to the floor and jabs him with a chair. Back in the ring Minamino hits a bodyslam for 2. He hits another for 2. He hits a dragon screw. He hits two Death Valley Drivers for the win at 10:29. Minamino was actually the one dragging this match down. Stalling forever between hitting his moves and going for pins made this so slow. He was in control the entire time, which makes me wonder why they stretched this out to ten minutes. After the match he takes off Fujiso’s mask, but a ring boy (girl?) immediately throws a towel over his face.
Rating: ½*

Kinya Oyanagei {T2P} vs. Masahiro Takanashi {DDT} vs. Masaki Okimoto {TX}
Everyone is cautious to start. Okimoto and Takanashi control Oyanagei with headlocks. Takanashi hits Oyanagei with a head scissors takedown. He hits Okimoto with a dropkick. Oyanagei stretches him out on the mat. He hits Okimoto with a European uppercut. Takanashi puts on a chinlock and Okimoto grabs a half crab but Oyanagei won’t quit. Oyanagei comes back with a leg submission on both opponents. Okimoto hits an enziguiri. He and Takanashi hit a thrust kick sandwich. That gets 2 for Takanashi. He hits Okimoto with a superkick. Okimoto rolls up both opponents at the same time for the win at 10:38. Goofy ROH year-one stuff.
Rating: *

Mototsugu Shimizu {T2P} & Manjimaru {TX} vs. Spark Aoki {TX} & Kamui {WMF}
Aoki and Manjimaru start. Manjimaru looks like less of a Nazi with long hair. He and Aoki trade holds on the mat. Kamui hits Shimizu with armdrags. Shimizu throws Aoki to the floor where Manjimaru goes to work on him. In the ring Shimizu hits Kamui with a dropkick and puts on a chinlock. He puts on a surfboard stretch. Because Secret Base only has a hard camera they can’t really show the action on the floor at all, making Manjimaru’s presence in the company largely pointless. Shimizu hits Kamui with another dropkick. Manjimaru hits a knee kick. He hits a snap suplex and a kneedrop. Shimizu hits a legdrop for 2. Manjimaru hits a piledriver for 2. He puts on a Lion Tamer. Kamui makes the save. Aoki hits a wild DDT. Kamui comes off the top with a crossbody. He hits a leg lariat for 2. He hits a back kick. He hits a Death Valley Bomb and an Arabian press for 2. He and Aoki hit a knee kick sandwich for 2. Aoki hits a running knee for 2. Shimizu hits the Breakdown. Manjimaru hits a dragon suplex for 2. Shimizu hits the fisherman DDT and Manjimaru hits a thrust kick for 2. Shimizu hits a dropkick for 2. He and Manjimaru hit a double Darkness Buster for 2. Manjimaru hits a German suplex and the Manji Otoshi for the win at 10:23. Manji and Shimizu looked good as a team, and the other two functioned well as the jobbers they were meant to be.
Rating: **½

Go {DG} & Satoshi Kajiwara {TM} vs. CHANGO {TX} & Amigo Suzuki {TM}
Suzuki and Go start. Go hits an armdrag. CHANGO hits Kajiwara with a shoulder tackle. He hits a trust kick. Kajiwara hits a dropkick. He puts on a chinlock. CHANGO hits a stunner to escape. Go hits a back kick for 2. Suzuki hits a headbutt. He and CHANGO hit dropkicks. Kajiwara puts Suzuki in a seated abdominal stretch. Suzuki gets to the ropes. Go chokes Suzuki in the corner. Kajiwara hits a bodyslam for 2. He hits a vertical suplex for 2. Go puts on a chinlock but Suzuki gets to the ropes. Suzuki comes back with a dropkick. CHANGO hits Go with an elbow. He hits a DDT. He hits Kajiwara with a facebuster on top of Go. He hits Kajiwara with another facebuster. He hits a double stomp and a dropkick. Kajiwara hits a dropkick. Hey hits a monkey flip. Suzuki hits a dropkick. He hits a spinebuster. He powerbombs CHANGO onto Kajiwara for 2. CHANGO hits a Samoan drop. He hits a legdrop while Suzuki hits a diving headbutt for 2. Kajiwara comes back with a Death Valley Bomb. He and Go hit a double spear. They hit a double vertical suplex. Kajiwara puts on a half crab. CHANGO gets to the ropes. Kajiwara hits an enziguiri. He and Go hit a big double-team facebuster for 2. Go hits a clothesline on Suzuki for 2. He puts on a sleeper hold. He hits a chest kick for 2. He hits another clothesline. He hits the Black Stone for the win at 15:39. This was solid stuff, but not as interesting as the main events from the last two shows. Still, as long as the mains can remain more interesting than the brutal undercards I’ll be able to keep from quitting Secret Base.
Rating: ***

Go and Kajiwara brag a bit after the match. Manjimaru and Shimizu come out and challenge them for a match in the main event of Volume 6. Go agrees.

Class Key
{TX} – Toryumon X
{T2P} – Toryumon 2000 Project
{TM} – Toryumon Mexico
{DDT} – Dramatic Dream Team
{ED} – El Dorado
{DG} – Dragon Gate
{WMF} – Wrestling’s Marvelous Future

May 25, 2009 – Warabi, Japan

Starting with the previous show an Ice Ribbon banner hung from the ring. It’s hanging here too despite the fact that no Ice Ribbon wrestlers are on this show.

Kinya Oyanagei {T2P} vs. Fujiso {ED}
They fight it out on the mat to start. Oyanagei puts on a wristlock. Fujiso comes back with armdrags. He hits a head scissors takedown. Oyanagei hits a knee to the gut. He hits a senton and puts on a chinlock. Fujiso gets to the ropes. Oyanagei hits European uppercuts. He hits a backbreaker and puts on a bow and arrow. He puts on an abdominal stretch. Fujiso gets to the ropes. He hits another head scissors takedown and a plancha. Back in the ring he hits a dropkick for 2. Oyanagei hits a pair of enziguiris for 2. Fujiso hits a DDT for 2. He hits a running dropkick. He hits a hurricanrana for 2. They trade roll ups awkwardly until Oyanagei hits a cradle piledriver for the win at 7:45. This was crap, like every Secret Base opener I’ve seen so far.
Rating: *

Masaki Okimoto {TX} & Masahiro Takanashi {DDT} vs. Mototsugu Shimizu {T2P} & Spark Aoki {TX}
Takanashi and Shimizu start. Shimizu puts on the Mark Nulty Special. Okimoto and Aoki trade chops. Okimoto hits a dropkick. Aoki hits an enziguiri. Shimizu dropkicks Aoki by mistake in one of the most poorly timed spots I’ve ever seen. Okimoto smacks Aoki. He hits a bodyslam for 2. He puts on a chinlock but Aoki gets to the ropes. Takanashi hits a dropkick for 2. Shimizu hits a back elbow. He dropkicks the leg and hits a facebuster. Takanashi bites his hand. Shimizu hits the Stroke and a Rocker Dropper for 2. I’d probably rip off late ‘90s WWF finishers if I were wrestler too. Okimoto hits a fisherman suplex for 2. He and Takanashi hit a double fisherman buster for 2. Shimizu hits a spinebuster. Aoki hits a back suplex for 2. Shimizu hits an inverted DDT and Aoki hits a Superfly Splash for 2. Aoki tries to get Shimizu to do his Spark pose, and ends up eating a double superkick. Okimoto hits a German suplex for 2. He hits a 450 splash for the win at 10:08. Okimoto’s selling is terrible. I don’t know how he disguised this when he was the Jumping Kid, but Secret Base has exposed him as being unable to convey pain. Aoki was awkward as ever here too. Shimizu can’t carry everything on his own.
Rating: *½

Bear Fukuda {TX} & Takeshi Minamino {TX} vs. Go {DG} & Satoshi Kajiwara {TM}
This match illustrates just how much of a “sparring promotion” Secret Base is, as Fukuda has switched to Minamino’s side for reasons unexplained. Kajiwara and Minamino start. They trade holds, displaying more intensity in one minute than the rest of the roster has to this point in the show. Minamino puts on a headlock. Go and Fukuda trade chops. Fukuda hits a shoulder tackle. Minamino stomps Go in the corner. Kajiwara tries to trade elbows with Fukuda and ends up on his back. Fukuda hits a bodyslam for 2. Minamino beats Kajiwara around ringside, getting 2 for Fukuda back in the ring. Minamino hits a bodyslam. He puts on a rear naked choke. Kajiwara gets to the ropes. They trade elbows in an exchange that Kajiwara wins. The crowd is completely behind Kajiwara now. Go hits both opponents with a spear. Kajiwara hits a vertical suplex for 2. Fukuda hits an enziguiri and Minamino hits a big boot. They hit Go with clotheslines in the corner. They hit a double vertical suplex for 2. Fukuda hits a dropkick for 2. Go hits a spinebuster. Kajiwara hits a missile dropkick. He hits a knee kick and a Tree of Woe corner to corner dropkick for 2. Minamino hits a low blow. Fukuda hits a clothesline and a DDT for 2. He hits his takedown. Kajiwara gets a roll up for 2. Fukuda hits a lariat. He hits a brainbuster for 2. He hits one on Go. Minamino hits Kajiwara with a DVD and Fukuda hits the Final Flash for the win at 13:33. This wasn’t anything special, but absolutely nothing embarrassing happened. That salvages this show from the dangerous waters it was treading. Kajiwara is starting look pretty impressive. I think I’ll check out his match against Ultimo Dragon in Kensuke Office.
Rating: **¾

CHANGO {TX} vs. Amigo Suzuki {TM}
This match was set up after the main event on Volume 3, which makes it the closest thing to an angle that Secret Base has had. They trade holds to start. Suzuki hits a shoulder tackle. They trade armdrags. CHANGO hits a dropkick and a legdrop. He hits another dropkick. He loosens the top turnbuckle. He dropkicks Suzuki’s knee. CHANGO goes to the eyes. He puts on a chinlock. Suzuki gets to the ropes. They trade chops until Suzuki takes over. Suzuki stomps CHANGO in the corner. They trade elbows. Suzuki stretches CHANGO’s neck for 2. He hits a jawbreaker. He swats away a dropkick. More elbows are exchanged, and this time Suzuki hits the mat. CHANGO hits a running elbow in the corner. He hits a facebuster and a double stomp. He hits a dropkick to the back. He hits headbutts that do more damage to himself than to Suzuki. Suzuki takes that as a cue to hit headbutts. CHANGO exposes the turnbuckle and baits Suzuki into hitting it with a headbutt. He rams Suzuki’s head into the turnbuckle. Great stuff there. It gets 2. He hits a spike facebuster for 2. Suzuki comes back with a fall away slam. He somersaults into a headbutt. He puts on a funky STF. CHANGO gets to the ropes. Suzuki hits rolling vertical suplexes. He misses a diving headbutt and CHANGO gets a roll up for 2. He gets a small package for 2. He gets a crucifix pin for 2. He hits a Finlay roll and a double stomp for 2. They trade elbows while shouting each other’s name. Suzuki hits a German suplex for 2. He hits a headbutt and a tiger suplex for the win at 15:35. The turnbuckle stuff put this on par with Volume 3’s solid main event. The rest of the match wasn’t half bad either, and had there been real crowd heat to go along with it I think they could have put on an excellent match.
Rating: ***¼

After the match CHANGO asks Suzuki if they can team up on Volume 5. Suzuki is all for it. Go and Kajiwara come out and challenge them to a tag team match. I very much dig that the main events flow naturally from show to show, but I think the Volume 5 main event would have meant more if Go and Kajiwara had beaten Fukuda and Minamino on this show. Shimizu and Aoki come out, but they’d end up on opposite ends of a tag team match on Volume 5. Does anyone know where I can get a CHANGO shirt?

Class Key
{TX} – Toryumon X
{T2P} – Toryumon 2000 Project
{TM} – Toryumon Mexico
{DDT} – Dramatic Dream Team
{ED} – El Dorado
{DG} – Dragon Gate

April 22, 2009 – Warabi, Japan

Yamada Man Pound {ED} vs. Fujiso {ED}
This doesn’t look too promising. Pound overpowers Fujiso to start. He hits a shoulder tackle. Fujiso trips him to regain control. He hits an armdrag. He hits a head scissors takedown and goes for a suicide dive but gets nailed with the 止まれ sign. Pound hits a bodyslam. He puts on a nervehold. He hits a choke takedown. He hits an inverted vertical suplex for 2. Fujiso hits a DDT. He hits a head kick for 2. He puts on a cross armbreaker. Pound slams him into the corner to escape. He hits a 止まれ sign assisted charge in the corner. He hits a spinebuster for the win at 6:48. The finish was anticlimactic and the match was never exciting, but nothing was botched, which is more than I can say for Fujiso’s work on the last show.
Rating: *

Mototsugu Shimizu {T2P} & Emi Sakura vs. Spark Aoki {TX} & Hamuko Hoshi
Shimizu and Sakura attack before the bell. They hit a dropkick sandwich on Aoki. Hoshi makes the save. She uses Aoki as a tool to hit a couple of avalanches. She hits Sakura with a shoulder tackle and a splash. Some poorly executed stuff happens before Hoshi tags out. Aoki helps her hit a double elbowdrop on Shimizu. She hits a splash and he hits a legdrop for 2. Aoki hits a high kick for 2. Shimizu ducks an enziguiri and goes to work on Aoki’s leg. Sakura hits her very cool crossbody in the corner. She hits a double stomp. She slams Shimizu onto Aoki. She hits a splash. She hits Shimizu with a super hurricanrana, dumping him onto Aoki. She hits a moonsault for 2. That spot was more awesome than anything on Volume 2. Aoki comes back with a butterfly suplex. He slams Hoshi onto Shimizu for 2. Hoshi hits a splash. Aoki hits a frog splash for 2. Shimizu hits a dragon screw and puts on the figure 4 leglock. Sakura puts a sleeper hold on Hoshi, but Hoshi falls on top of Shimizu to break both holds. Shimizu hits the fisherman DDT. He dropkicks the knee and puts on the Marshmallow Hedgehog for the win at 7:15. Shimizu should be in the main events of these shows, since he’s putting more effort than anyone else into his Secret Base matches. Sakura held up her end here too. Hoshi is garbage.
Rating: **½

Masaki Okimoto {TX} vs. Amigo Suzuki {TM}
They lock up and Suzuki powers Okimoto to the ropes. He gets a roll up for 1. He hits a couple of armdrags and a dropkick. Okimoto comes back with a dropkick. He puts on a chinlock. He kicks Suzuki’s chest for 2. He goes after the arm but Suzuki gets to the ropes. Things slow way down as Okimoto controls by attacking the arm. He hits a dropkick to the arm. Suzuki comes back with a dropkick. He hits a pair of neckbreakers for 2. Okimoto hits an overhead suplex. He hits a facebuster for 2. He dropkicks the leg and hits a basement dropkick for 2. He hits an enziguiri. Suzuki hits a backbreaker. He hits a fall away slam. He hits a diving headbutt for 2. He hits a regular headbutt, but Okimoto is all about the nasty headbutts dating back to the Nanking Fuckin’ Wrestling Crew. Suzuki hits rolling brainbusters for 2. Okimoto blocks a tiger suplex and hits an enziguiri. He hits a superkick. He hits a headbutt and another superkick for 2. He hits a German suplex for 2. He hits the 450 splash for the win at 11:16. They kept it fairly simple here. I prefer Okimoto as a face, and he played heel here so this wasn’t everything I’d hoped for.
Rating: **

Takeshi Minamino {TX}, CHANGO {TX} & Masahiro Takanashi {DDT} vs. Bear Fukuda {TX}, Go {DG} & Satoshi Kajiwara {TM}
Go and Takanashi start. Go goes after the leg but Takanashi gets to the ropes. Go hits an armdrag. CHANGO and Kajiwara trade chops. CHANGO misses a dropkick but hits an armdrag. Kajiwara returns the favor. CHANGO hits a back elbow. He and Takanashi hit dropkicks for 2. Minamino tags in and hits a kneedrop for 2. He hits a back elbow for 2. He goes to the eyes. Takanashi hits a dropkick to the back for 2. He puts on a chinlock. CHANGO hits a double stomp and Minamino hits a senton for 2. Go hits CHANGO with a dropkick in the corner for 2. Fukuda tags in and beats CHANGO up. Go hits a DDT and Fukuda hits a splash for 2. Kajiwara hits a Tree of Woe dropkick. CHANGO fights off Go and Fukuda. His partners tag in and hit a double dropkick on Go. Takanashi hits a big boot on Kajiwara. Minamino hits Fukuda with a miracle back suplex. Fukuda gets a takedown. He hits a clothesline in the corner. He hits two more clotheslines. Minamino pops up and hits an enziguiri. Kajiwara hits Takanashi with a backbreaker. He hits the Complete Shot and puts on a crossface. Takanashi gets to the ropes. Kajiwara hits an enziguiri. He hits a moonsault for 2. Takanashi hits a dropkick and a hanging DDT for 2. He dropkicks the knee and hits the Shining Wizard. Go hits a spear. Minamino hits a back elbow. Fukuda hits a back suplex. CHANGO hits a missile dropkick. Kajiwara follows suit. He hits a Death Valley Bomb for 2. He hits a German suplex for 2. CHANGO hits a monkey flip and his partners hit a dropkick sandwich. Minamino hits a tiger driver for 2. CHANGO hits a Samoan Drop and a diving legdrop for 2. He hits a spike DDT for the win at 13:11. Everyone stepped up their game here. Kajiwara in particular looked like he wanted to leave an impression. This was almost shockingly entertaining, and gives me hope that at the very least the Secret Base main events can deliver fun matches.
Rating: ***¼

CHANGO gets the honor of closing the show on the microphone. He challenges Amigo Suzuki to a singles match on the next show before. He thanks the fans and says goodnight.

At 43 minutes it’s almost ludicrous that these events are released on home video one at a time. Everything was unclipped and the show was still shorter than some matches I’ve seen.

Class Key
{TX} – Toryumon X
{T2P} – Toryumon 2000 Project
{TM} – Toryumon Mexico
{DDT} – Dramatic Dream Team
{ED} – El Dorado
{DG} – Dragon Gate

To call Secret Base a stripped down version of the previous Live Door projects would be an understatement. El Dorado lost Aagan Iisou in late August 2008, and then sputtered along for the remainder of the year. KAGETORA moved on to Dragon Gate, leaving the rest of the Toryumon X and Mexico graduates with nobody of name value to keep El Dorado going. So they set up Secret Base, which at first ran shows only in the Warabi City Isami Wrestle Budokan. For those familiar with the American indy scene, the vibe is similar to early Full Impact Pro, in that the crowds are incredibly small and the building is dark. There is only the hard camera, nothing recorded from ringside. I’m assuming the Live Door financial backing is gone. There is no commentary in Secret Base, so the silence of the crowd is even more deafening. Since I’m OCD I’ll be noting what class each wrestler graduated from when relevant. They key can be found at the end of the review.

March 27, 2009 – Warabi, Japan

Amigo Suzuki {TM} & Satoshi Kajiwara {TM} vs. Spark Aoki {TX} & Go {DG}
Kajiwara and Aoki start. They avoid each other’s strikes. Aoki goes after the arm. Go tags in and gets a takedown. Kajiwara puts on a leglock. Suzuki tags in and puts on a headlock. Aoki tags in and gets abused. Kajiwara puts on a camel clutch. Suzuki hits a backbreaker. Kajiwara hits a Tree of Woe dropkick for 2. Go tags in and cleans house. He hits Suzuki with one of the ugliest spinebusters I’ve ever seen, and then repeats the spot for 2. Suzuki hits a dropkick and a plancha. Aoki hits Kajiwara with a missile dropkick for 2. Kajiwara hits a leg lariat. He and Suzuki hit a double back elbow and a double-team facebuster. They hit dropkicks. Kajiwara hits a moonsault for 2. He dropkicks Go’s knee and hits an enziguiri. Go comes back with a spear. Suzuki hits a dropkick. Aoki hits knees to the face. Suzuki dropkicks his back in a dumb looking spot. He hits a Dominator for 2. He puts on a crossface for the win at 11:04. This was total crap, and I don’t even know who to blame. Go was sloppy, but it looked like Suzuki was sandbagging him. Aoki was his usual awkward self. I’m not sure what to make out of Kajiwara yet.
Rating: ½*

Emi Sakura & Chii Tomiya vs. Makoto & Hamuko Hoshi
As I watch no joshi whatsoever it took me an incredible amount of time to figure out who each girl here is. Sakura runs Ice Ribbon, and the rest of these girls are her students. Hoshi and Tomiya start. Ice Ribbon’s website says Tomiya was 19 during the time of this match, but I don’t buy it as she looks much younger. She puts on the body scissors. Hoshi rolls back for 2. Tomiya smacks her back. They trade awkward elbows. Tomiya gets a roll up for 2. Sakura tags in and hits a dropkick. She throws Hoshi across the ring by her pigtails. After a small battle she hits a shoulder tackle. She hits a bodyslam and a splash for 2. Hoshi comes back with an avalanche. She hits a bodyslam and a splash for 2. Makoto tags in and works the leg. Sakura returns the favor but Makoto gets to the ropes. Sakura puts on a Mexican surfboard. Tomiya tags in and gets caught with a crossbody. Hoshi tags in and hits a bodyslam and three butt splashes for 2. Tomiya gets a sunset flip for 2. He hits dropkicks that I hope made her feel ashamed of herself. She hits a few double stomps for 2. Hoshi slams her off the top rope. She hits a weird body block for 2. Makoto puts on a half crab. Tomiya comes back with a rear naked choke. Makoto counters to a cross armbreaker. Sakura makes the save. Tomiya gets a victory roll for 2. Makoto puts Sakura in a sleeper hold. She hits a crossbody in the corner. That was pretty cool. Makoto hits a snap suplex for 2. She hits a handspring kneedrop for 2. Hoshi hits a splash. She hits another off the second rope. Makoto hits a missile dropkick and Hoshi hits a third splash for 2. Sakura puts Hoshi in a heel hook but Hoshi gets to the ropes. Sakura puts on a figure 4 leglock. Makoto makes the save with a splash. She hits Hoshi by mistake. Tomiya botches a highspot and makes things far more dangerous than they needed to be. Sakura hits a splash for 2. She hits a senton for 2. She misses a moonsault. Hoshi gets a roll up for 2. She gets another for 2. She gets a backslide for 2. Sakura hits a weak superkick and a dropkick for 2. She hits a backbreaker for 2. She puts on the Gory Special for the win at 13:44. Tomiya doesn’t belong in the ring, plain and simple. The rest of the girls weren’t putting on an amazing match either. By the end any trace of pacing was thrown out the window in favor of everyone just hitting movez without any reason or rhyme.
Rating: ¼*

CHANGO {TX} vs. Masahiro Takanashi {DDT} vs. Fujiso {ED}
They all fight over a wristlock to start. The crowd seems more quiet than they have been so far, but that might just be because these three aren’t screaming like the Ice Ribbon girls were. Fujiso takes down both opponents. He and CHANGO clobber Takanashi. CHANGO hits a legdrop. He fakes a dropkick on Fujiso and then hits a facebuster on Takanashi. He hits a legdrop and then throws in some cute comedy. Takanashi puts on the Mark Nulty Special as Fujiso applies a figure 4 leglock. CHANGO rolls over, putting the pressure on the two of them. Takanashi switches to a cross armbreaker while Fujiso sticks to his figure 4. This is like watching three of my buddies pretend to wrestle, as they’re just doing stuff and not building on anything. CHANGO comes back with a DDT on Takanashi. He ties Fujiso and Takanashi together. Fujiso hits an armdrag. He hits a running kick. He hits a swinging DDT for 2. He hits a buzzsaw kick on Takanashi for 2. Takanashi uses Three Stooges offense on Fujiso. He hits a superkick for 2. CHANGO forces Fujiso to hit a reverse piledriver on Takanashi, then hits Fujiso with a dropkick and a DDT for the win at 11:16. These guys have no clue what they’re doing. I think CHANGO can put on a fun match, but apparently he needs someone to hold his hand while he does it. It looked like they were going for some hardcore lucha-style mat-based stuff but they failed miserably. Points only for CHANGO going over.
Rating: ¼*

Kinya Oyanagei {T2P} & Masaki Okimoto {TX} vs. Mototsugu Shimizu {T2P} & Yamada Man Pound {ED}
Pound is a Mad Man Pondo gimmick, and I’m fairly certain he appeared in some capacity during the ladder rumble on the El Dorado Wonder Years show. He and Oyanagei (who is now on the Michinoku Pro roster) start. They knuckle up and Oyanagei gets control of the arm. He puts on a bow and arrow lock. Shimizu and Okimoto trade armdrags. You know I hated on Okimoto’s outfit in El Dorado, but here he’s just wearing black pants and it makes him look totally generic. Not sure it’s an improvement. He hits a suicide dive. He hits a dropkick to the back for 2. He puts on a chinlock. Oyanagei keeps that going. Okimoto hits a splash to the back. He puts on a camel clutch and pulls Pound’s hair. Pound comes back with a shoulder tackle. Shimizu tags in and hits an inverted DDT. Oyanagei puts on an octopus stretch in the ropes. Shimizu comes back with a Rocker Dropper from the apron to the floor. Okimoto hits Pound with a superkick. Pound hits a pumphandle suplex. He hits Okimoto with a 止まれ sign. He hits a Miracle Exstacy Bomb (of sorts) for 2. Shimizu hits the spike DDT and a dropkick. Oyanagei hits an enziguiri. He hits a dropkick and another enziguiri for 2. Shimizu hits a spinebuster. Pound slams Oyanagei into the corner and hits an avalanche. Shimizu hits an elevated legdrop. He hits a stack facebuster for 2. Okimoto hits Pound with the 止まれ sign. He and Oyanagei put on submission holds but their opponents get to the ropes. Okimoto hits a superkick and Oyanagei hits a back suplex for 2. They hit a kick sandwich and a double fisherman buster for 2. Okimoto hits the 450 splash for the win at 13:57. At least nothing embarrassing happened in this match, which makes it the match of the night. Shimizu was actually busting his ass to make this feel like a main event, so when he was in the ring things were pretty fun.
Rating: **¾

Shimizu closes out the show with a speech thanking the fans. Given he put forth the best effort in the main event it’s probably best that he be the mouthpiece of the company. That said they’re going to have to put on more than one watchable match per show if they want people to buy their DVDs.

Class Key
{TX} – Toryumon X
{T2P} – Toryumon 2000 Project
{TM} – Toryumon Mexico
{DDT} – Dramatic Dream Team
{ED} – El Dorado
{DG} – Dragon Gate

December 15, 2008 – Tokyo, Japan

Indy no Oshigoto is an hour-long digest of Japanese indies. It’s hosted by a puppet bird and a professional looking lady. This episode featured clips of the final El Dorado show ever. I believe this is the most comprehensive version of the show that ever aired.

The show starts with a speech from KAGETORA. He’d go on to hook up with Dragon Gate a couple weeks later.

They show clips of the Speed of Sound vs. Ken45 & Manjimaru match. Manjimaru hits Oosenga with a cane. He hits Osuga and the referee as well, drawing a disqualification.

KAGETORA and Masato Inaba lost to Jumpin Kid Okimoto and Bear Fukuda when Fukuda hit Inaba with the Final Flash.

Brahman Shu and Kei squared off against each other. As usual I have no idea who is who, but they go crazy with kicks. I guess since they’re brothers they can trust each other to hug it out after the match no matter what. Speaking of the end of the match, there’s no finish as the Brahmans get drunk and mess with the referee instead.

Then they teamed up with Ken45, Manjimaru and Go to take on KAGETORA, Okimoto, Kinya Oyanagei, Osugi and Oosenga in the main event. The entire roster interferes to help KAGETORA’s team. KAGETORA gets the win after hitting the Ikkitousen on Kei. He thanks the fans for everything after the match. Kind of funny that he’s the biggest name left in the company.

And with that El Dorado is laid to rest. They’d resurface two months later as Secret Base, but with the lesser Toryumon X wrestlers as their top draws they’d draw pitiful crowds for the rest of their existence. Still, I’ll be taking a look at the company, for completion’s sake.

November 25, 2008 – Tokyo, Japan

Indy no Oshigoto is an hour-long digest of Japanese indies. It’s hosted by a puppet bird and a professional looking lady. This episode featured clips of the second to last El Dorado show. In fact, the only clips shown in the digest are from the main event.

KAGETORA and Jumping Kid Okimoto fought the Speed of Sound to decide who would win the vacant UWA Tag Team Championships. The titles were vacant because KAGETORA and his partner Kota Ibushi never defended the belts when they were champs. It’s stuff like this that caused El Dorado to fail. The Speed of Sound win after their double-team PICTURE finisher on Okimoto. After the match the Brahmans come out, presumably to challenge for the titles. They’d win the belts on December 3rd, though I have no idea where that title change occurred.

As far as I know no other footage of this show ever aired.

November 6, 2008 – Tokyo, Japan

Indy no Oshigoto is an hour-long digest of Japanese indies. It’s hosted by a puppet (sometimes a bird, sometimes a gopher) and a professional looking lady. This episode featured clips of one of the last El Dorado shows.

KAGETORA defeated Jumping Kid Okimoto (now unmasked and all business), after taking all of Okimoto’s signature offense and hitting the Hangetsu and Ikkitousen. The match went over twenty minutes but we only saw about thirty seconds of it.

October 27, 2008 – Tokyo, Japan

Indy no Oshigoto is an hour-long digest of Japanese indies. It’s hosted by a puppet (sometimes a bird, sometimes a gopher) and a professional looking lady. This episode featured clips of one of the last El Dorado shows.

Ken45 and Jumping Kid Okimoto squared off in a hair vs. hair match. Both had pretty terrible hair at the time, so it was win/win for fans. Ken45 ripped off Okimoto’s mask during the match. Okimoto missed the 450 splash. Ken45 hits his low blow and clothesline before finishing Okimoto off with the BARONESS in about twenty three minutes (of which about one minute was shown. The HELL DEMONS shave Okimoto’s head to end the show. Okimoto started his more serious gimmick on the very next show.