Shuji Ishikawa & Kohei Sato vs. Daisuke Sekimoto & Yuji Okabayashi (BJW, 1/2/17)

Yay, the first Twin Towers/Strong BJ match of the New Year...and hopefully, the last for 2017. I love both of these teams and no doubt, they have great chemistry together and can produce awesome, hard-hitting tag matches but I don't want this to tread Strong BJ vs. Big Guns territory because these two teams clashing should feel like a special occasion. That being said, this was a perfectly enjoyable match, although I preferred their match from the Saikyou Tag League for its condensed and explosive violence. I loved the interactions between Ishikawa and Sekimoto throughout, and if I were a betting man, I'd wager that Ishikawa will challenge for the BJW World Strong Heavyweight title in the first half of 2017. Ishikawa busts out the headbutts against Sekimoto early on, which leads to Sekimoto playing the FIP to the elbow and knee bullying Twin Towers, trying to fight back with chops only to get pounded back down. We get plenty of double teams and a triple German suplex. On a side note, I'm always so amazed at how effortless Sato's Falcon Arrow looks on a big hoss like Okabayashi. I also enjoyed Okabayashi fighting off Twin Towers with alternating chops before he gets pummeled back into the corner with elbows and knees.

But let's be real, this match was forehead punishment for Sekimoto. When he's got Sato in a crab hold, Ishikawa comes in and headbutts him off. The Prison Lock with the arm-trap baby headbutts of doomed turned Sekimoto's forehead into ground beef but it wasn't until that final running shoot headbutt from Ishikawa that Sekimoto's forehead burst like a tick. Just a nasty, nasty spot. Sekimoto's draining blood as he finishes Ishikawa off with a lariat and the follow-up deadlift German suplex hold for the pin. Kind of your standard fun Strong BJ vs. Twin Towers match-up with some extra brutal headbutts from Ishikawa and great selling from Sekimoto. Best tag match of the year so far. Can't wait to see the inevitable match between Sekimoto and Ishikawa but for now, I think I'm satisfied with seeing these two teams try to kill each other.