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donsem43

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Everything posted by donsem43

  1. donsem43
    This is the opener of Stardom's Cinderella Tournament, which is a one night, single elimination tournament. Each match, excluding the final, has a ten minute time limit and you can also win by throwing your opponent over the top rope. This was a really scrappy sprint as these two have started a spirited feud over the last few shows. They go right after each other from the start, including doing some nice nearfalls to get over the over the top rule. After that, it becomes a big rush of strike exchanges and bomb throwing. This definitely looks to be the rivalry to watch in the future for Stardom. ***3/4
  2. donsem43
    This match is for Storm's SWA title. I was really interested in seeing this as Negra has looked good this tour and this was a chance for her to have a long single's match, (unfortunately, she had to leave not long after this show so this was her last match for now.) She looked good here again, especially in the early going reacting/countering Storm's matwork. Also showed a lot of personality that got the fans into the match. Yet another quality performance from Toni Storm, which is a good sign if she is about to get a big push in Stardom. A below the radar match that everyone should watch. ***3/4
  3. donsem43
    Well, Shida worked the 4/29 WAVE show. The match was a six-man so maybe she was protected that way, still it's very worrisome that she would still be back that soon. The clip that was shown on Samurai of her getting knocked out didn't look that bad, but there will probably be a different angle when the show actually airs. Granted quite a few concussions are cause by hits that don't look like they would cause a head injury. Speaking of head injuries, I'm surprised that there wasn't much made of Kairi Hojo having to be helped to the back after her match on the 4/15 show. She got hit in the head with a gimmick chair but the chair didn't break right and it seemed to really jar her bad. She worked the show the next day and looked fine till Io Shirai did a boot scrape spot (don't know who thought that was a good idea), then she was holding her head again. Toni Storm won the Stardom Cinderella tournament beating Mayu Iwatani in the final. Storm will face Io Shirai for the World of Stardom title next month while Iwatani will take on Hojo for the Wonder of Stardom title. Note that Hojo is one defense short of tying the record of defenses of the White Belt and I'm sure Stardom wants to have each of the Three Daughters have a singles title record. Also, both Io and Hojo are on the tickets for the June Korakuen show but the July show just has all of the belts on it, no wrestlers. On top of that, there was talk after Mania that WWE was looking at Storm for WWEUK so it looks like it could be quite a while before the Stardom roster is settled.
  4. donsem43
    Given her experience in Ice Ribbon, it should come as no surprise that Fujimoto can have a good match with an inexperienced worker. Still, Kadokura looked pretty damn good here and shows that Chigusa Nagayo still can be a great trainer. While she doesn't do anything flashy, Kadokura is extremely good at taking advantage of any opportunities given to her plus is great at being the rookie looking to get the big upset. Can't wait to she how she does in the Catch the WAVE tourney. Tsukka is Tsukka here, just another great performance from one of the most underappreciated joshi talents. One of the better vet/rookie matches from this year. ***3/4
  5. donsem43
    Surprisingly, this match was built more around the budding Kyona/HZK rivalry than the two bigger names of Io and Hiroyo. In fact, the match seems to be an HZK showcase as she does most of the work for her team and comes off looking really good. Both her selling and offense were strong while she seems to have dropped a lot of the Yoshiko-lite stuff she was doing early on in her comeback. Kyona gave yet another quality title match performance. The only big knock that I have against the match was that while they tried some different, interesting spots they didn't come off as smoothly as they should have. Still, another very good title match featuring the younger talent in Stardom. ***3/4
  6. donsem43
    Looks like they moved it to the next SEAdLINNNG show.
  7. donsem43
    It was definitely different to seeing Hojo take things to the mat in the early going. The best thing about Konami being in Stardom is that she forces the big names to change things up a bit for the better with her matwork and submissions. Konami has quite a bit of success with her style in the early going but then gets baited into Hojo's game of striking and loses her advantage. She does eventually go after Hojo's right arm with the finish of the match being Hojo having to find an alternative offense or gut through the pain with her arm in order to defend her title. Very strong title match. ****
  8. donsem43
    Kairi Hojo has an awesome new Popeye shirt:
  9. donsem43
    This has a lot of one countering the other, because they are literally Best Friends, but also has the chippiness of a NHL playoff series. There are several nasty strikes to go along with all of the cheap shots and hair pulling. All of the big moves that are hit in this match have more impact because they come off as earned rather than just the two of them running through a sequence. You really bite on the nearfalls because of how hard the two of them have been going at one another. Really strong draw. ****
  10. donsem43
    This is a two out of three falls trios match that's designed to set up the OZ title match between Hiroyo and Kagetsu at the Korakuen show next month. I thought everyone in this match looked really good, even Katsu who has been a big disappointment since returning about a year ago. They kept the flow of the match going throughout more than likely because they didn't do the mandatory crowd brawling that happens in OZ Academy. Like the tag title match in January, this is another showcase of what OZ Academy should be. ****
  11. donsem43
    These two get in each others faces right at the start of the match and don't really let up the whole time. Anytime either one takes a moment to taut the other she would just rush over and clock the other. Even though this is only a ten minute match, they use the time effectively enough the during the closing moments as the crowd are buying the near falls at the end. Hopefully there will be a longer rematch in the future because these two had great chemistry together here. ***3/4
  12. donsem43
    Match Link Decided to rewatch this after seeing their recent Sendai Girls match and wow does it ever hold up. First off, it's great two see these two in front of a bigger crowd (Korakuen looks full) than usual and getting great reactions which makes them come off a legit stars. They don't mess around and go right at each other at the start. Meiko especially is going full bore laying in some really nasty shots. Hiroyo fires back with her own shots plus hits some big suplexes when she gets the opportunity to really knock Meiko for a loop. The match is short, just under twelve minutes, but they barely waste a second the entire way. The best match of Hiroyo's career so far and one that should be mentioned as one of Meiko's best too. ****1/2
  13. donsem43
    I loved how Aja controlled most of the match through cheapshots and brawling. Also, surprised at how little offense that Chihiro got in the whole match but what she did manage to get off were bombs and Aja did a wonderful job selling it. Aja running out of gas towards the end and going after Chihiro's leg in a desperate last attempt to stop her momentum was really nice. Personally preferred the January match because I thought the work there was much smoother but this one still did a good job a continuing the goal of turning Chihiro into a big star this early into her career. ***3/4
  14. donsem43
    I was pretty hyped for this when it was first announced since these two had an awesome match at the first Fortune Dream show back in 2014. Hiroyo counters Meiko's early technical approach with power so Meiko just decides to start kicking the crap out of her to take control. I felt that they did a good job of keeping the back and forth going throughout the match. The finish came off as a bit out of nowhere as the two had been working a slugfest but didn't really have many nearfalls up to that point. While this was pretty good, it was still kind of disappointing due to having seen them do much better before. ***3/4
  15. donsem43
    WAVE announced the lineup for this year's Catch the WAVE tournament. It's pretty underwhelming when you consider the lineup from the last two years although the final could be pretty good since it looks like it will be Sareee vs. either Misaki Ohata or Rina Yamashita. Also, the main event of the opening night of the tournament is Takumi Iroha (in a rare appearance on tape) vs. Ryo Mizunami. The last time Iroha had a big title match was vs. Kairi Hojo for the World of Stardom title back in 2015 and that match was really great. WAVE Network also uploaded every match from the last two tournaments. I really want to watch last years finals because the matchups for them look fantastic.
  16. donsem43
    This was the opener of the Joshi Pro show that WAVE put on to feature younger wrestlers with all of the matches having 10 minute time limits. The match is pretty much what you would expect from these two at this point. It's super physical with a lot of power spots. That works out well as they manage to have the crowd fairly hot for the end of the time limit. Certainly hopeful that there will be a more meaningful rematch in the near future. ***3/4
  17. donsem43
    This is for Storm's SWA title and is Kyona's forth title match this year. I really enjoyed the opening with Storm trying to use her British style matwork but Kyona countering it with her strength so Toni has to get inventive in order to counter back. Very good back and forth at the finish with Storm busting out some nice new offense. Another standout title match performance from Kyona and one of the better performances from Storm. ***3/4
  18. donsem43
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNVX-InSWEM This is a rematch from the November show as it seems that they are trying to build a rivalry between these two. I really enjoyed Hana's work here. It seems that ever since she came back from her wrist injury that she has been able to incorporate more of her personality into her work. While Chihiro Hashimoto gets a lot of hype, I think Shirahime is just as good if not slightly better in some areas. She does a terrific job of selling the drama of the match as she slowly builds her comeback. Very enjoyable match between two young stars. ***1/2
  19. donsem43
    Finished watching the 3/21 WAVE/Joshi Pro show. Even with all of the matches having a ten minute time limit the show still produce some really good bouts and also had some faces that don't usually make tape like Takumi Iroha. Overall, March was a damn good month for joshi. After checking my spreadsheet, almost half of the matches on it are from March and that is still with the Ice Ribbon, OZ Academy, and two Stardom shows to watch. Kagetsu announced that she will be leaving wrestling for the time being after April 23. Personally, I've found her work this year to be disappointing. Hopefully this will give her an opportunity to refocus and improve some things for the future.
  20. donsem43
    Listening to the Emiko Kado story is pretty chilling after what happened with Shibata this week.
  21. donsem43
    This is for Mizunami's Regina Di WAVE title. To be honest, I avoided watching this match because I think that Haruhi is one of the worst workers in joshi, but got curious because I saw a couple of other people recommend it. To her credit, Haruhi works her butt of here and the crowd gets behind her as a result. The story of this match is more of a traditional Japanese wrestling storyline as it's Mizunami challenging the toughness of Haruhi. Mizunami does such a great job in her selling and pacing in the match that her being off on either one of those things would have greatly effected the quality of the match. Easily the most surprisingly great matches of the year so far and a credit to how great of a wrestler that Mizunami has become. ****
  22. donsem43
    This is a competitive squash but it's a damn fun one. SAKI works for LLPW-X which doesn't even get its results reported so she is a real unknown. She looks good in the offense that she does get in but never really pushes Ohata to the point to where she might get the win. Ohata is great here, as while she doesn't have the flashiest offense she definitely knows how to use it effectively. ***1/2
  23. donsem43
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhqD2iTZs9w This popped up in my YouTube suggestions and I thought some people here would want to see it. Someone did English subtitles for the video package that Samurai did for the last Shirai sister tag match back in 2015. It pretty much explains the relationship between the two of them from Io's perspective at least, Mio wasn't interviewed.
  24. donsem43
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHZI7OYklb8 Neat visual during the entrance of Matsumoto and Mizunami where they each have a single and tag title belts, but each one is from a different promotion. This is similar to the Io Shirai anniversary match from a few days earlier in that it feels like a bunch of main-eventers pairing of to have a match. While this match didn't reach the high points of that match, this one was much more physical. The strike exchanges between Arisa and Hiroyo were particularly nasty. More or less what you would expect from these four. ****
  25. donsem43
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pglPdQ7_H2o This one almost snuck by me as I didn't know that it had happened until I read the results of the show. The match itself is what you would hope it would be, a contrast between the technical striking/submissions of Syuri versus the straight forward bulldozer style of Yamashita. The whole story of the match is Syuri trying to avoid and counter Yamashita's power. This is a damn good match that you don't want to skip out on if you don't watch the undercards of joshi shows. ****
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