donsem43
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Yoshida vs. Kyoko Kimura in IBUKI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqKFUsSH594
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This is a match from the block stage of WAVE's Catch the WAVE tournament that also builds off of the rivalry that the two have had in Ice Ribbon. This is quite the sprint. Also, it has a bit of a reverse on the vet/rookie dynamic in the early going, as it Yuuka who keeps hitting the big offense while Ohata is the one who has to keep going for rollups to survive. When Ohata does start getting her big moves in Yuuka doesn't have an answer for it, eventually getting the win with a unique tiger/pumphandle suplex for the win. A whirlwind of a match. ***3/4
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It was neat to see AKINO flashback to her Arsion roots here. Her matwork is still pretty good even though it isn't quite as crisp and quick as it use to be. Syuri looked pretty damn good here. Her strikes, matwork, and selling all looked terrific. I do wish they had kept up with the matwork throughout the match as towards the end it gets scaled down in favour of big moves. Still, this is a pretty good match and a nice change of pace for OZ Academy. ***1/2
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Hopefully sometime in the next week I'm going to try and put together a list of top joshi matches for 2016. Off the top of my head, I would say to check out the following: Meiko Satomura vs. Syuri (Sendai Girls 3/11) Nakajima/Fujimoto vs. Takahashi/Sakura (Ice Ribbon 5/4) Io Shirai vs. Mayu Iwatani (Stardom 5/15) Nakajima/Fujimoto vs. Takahashi/Yoshiko (JWP 7/24) Nakajima vs. Yoshiko (SEAdLINNG 10/16) There's threads for each in the Match Discussion Archive with hopefully a working link to the match. If not try a certain well known Google Drive.
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This match takes place on the final night of the Block stage of the 5*GP. Iwatani was already eliminated but Storm still had a chance if she won but would need a tie-breaker in order to advance. The opening of the match is great as you have the contrast of Iwatani's quick pace and flashy offense verses the matwork and strikes of Storm. The match eventually builds to an exchange of strikes and big moves. The finish is a bit weird as Storm hits Iwatani with an Air Raid Crash but Iwatani instantly gets up and hits her dragon suplex only for both women to not be able to answer the 10 count afterwards. Even with that this is still an entertaining match and hopefully we get to see a more fleshed out version in a rematch in 2017.***1/2
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This is another first round match in WAVE's Next tournament. Natsu has been quite the surprise while watching WAVE the last few months. She was completely unremarkable as a rookie but ever since she came back from Mexico she has improved a lot. She seems to be turning into a modern Takako Inoue, not just in look and attitude but also in ring work. Meanwhile, Yamashita is her typical, straight forward, powerhouse self. Here she quickly establishes her strength advantage by turning a Natsu small package into a vertical suplex. Natsu does an admirable standing toe-to-toe with Yamashita in strikes but ultimately Yamashita is just too tough for her and she ends up being mowed down by a Yamashita lariat. Super entertaining, and a surprisingly hard hitting, match between two young potential stars of the future. ***3/4 -
This is a first round match in WAVE's Next tournament to find a new number one contender for Yuu Yamagata's Regina di WAVE title. This match is super short, it goes less than three minutes, but they pack a ton of action into it. It's impressive that Iida manages to get two convincing near-finishes of an arm submission in that short time. Yoneyama spends the whole match going full speed, constantly trying for rollups till she actually manages to lock one in for the win. This match would have definitely fit in on a late 90's episode of WCW Worldwide.
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I know that Stardom has too many belts as is, but after watching this match it really made me wish that they a title specifically for their younger wrestlers. Unfortunately, this is just a match for pride as both Watanabe and Kyona were both out of contention at this point. Momo had one of her best performances of the year here. She puts in her usual quality technical performance but also showed a very strong emotional side. Inversely, Kyona's biggest strength has been her ring presence, but in this match she also showed some pretty solid work in terms of execution. Great to see the less experienced Stardom girls get a chance to show what they can do in a longer match. ***3/4
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This is a tag match were the woman that gets the winning fall becomes the number one contender to Sonoko Kato's OZ singles title. With that stipulation, one would assume that this match would probably turn into a messy but that doesn't happen here. Actually, all four women incorporate the stip into the story of the match. There are some of the typical 'feuding partners' moments, but they don't overwhelm the action. Everyone here turns in a really good performance allowing the match to be much better than expected. ***3/4
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This is Fujimoto's first title defense since winning the Infinity title a couple of weeks earlier. Tsukka has a really strong ace/veteran performance as she does a great job of selling Yukihi's offense to make her look like a threat, while also leading the way through the match to keep it from falling apart. Yukihi, who has only been wrestling for about a year and a half, does show her inexperience with some of her execution and selling but in other moments pulls off some impressive stuff. There is definitely a star quality about Yukihi, not just with her look but also with the way she carries herself and the ability that she shows in the ring. This isn't just a good match, but an interesting look at the future of Ice Ribbon. ***3/4
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On the 1/26/17 SEAdLINNNG show: Nanae Takahashi vs. Arisa Nakajima
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Considering the amount of women they've signed lately, or in the process of signing, they have to be doing something besides just a tournament. They have way too many women under contract now for their current structure but who knows what form a women's show would take. Maybe they move the women out of NXT and put them on a separate show.
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This match is held in a pub in London and my favourite thing about this match is that they use the environment that they are in to great effect. It gives the match a different feel as it feels more like a movie/TV bar fight with pro wrestling highspots. The match isn't very long but the way that they both throw out quite a few big spots to make it action packed. ***1/2
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This is a very fun, U.S. style tag match. The Owens twins are both solid here and do a good job of playing heels. Both of the Stardom women play good babyfaces. Timing their comebacks well and doing a strong job of keeping the crowd into the match the whole time. Entertaining stuff. ***1/2
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I don't know if she was ever on it. I know Kyoko Inoue was on for a few years but fell off. Aja Kong was the last joshi wrestler voted in and generally considered the last serious candidate from that era. I don't think anyone ever seriously discussed Kansai. If Sendai Girls keeps growing, which is weird to say about a promotion with just 5 wrestlers on its roster, I could see Meiko Satomura possibly building a case. It would probably be similar to CIMA where it's build as much on training and influence as much as drawing and in ring work. It's something to keep an eye on going forward.
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Found a couple more pics from the Kansai show. One is a better pic of Kandori and her awesome Christmas sweater, the other is something for old school JWP fans.
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The thing that really stuck out to me was her continuously trying to use English throughout the night. While Stardom World does market the use of English as a selling point, nobody on the roster outside of Hojo and Io even try to speak English. If she does sign with WWE, Io doesn't have a big personality, even though she carries herself a star extremely well, so promo are going to be more important to her. Asuka has been able to get by with being very animated both in and out of the ring, as it's clear she doesn't have a good enough handle on English to cut promos on a regular basis. It was interesting that Io seems to really want to work with Asuka again and also wants to work so gimmick matches like TLC. With the Kansai retirement, it occurred to me that she's the first big 80's/90's star to have retired while still working regularly since Lioness Asuka in '05. Devil Masami was only working sparingly when she retired in '08. That's pretty surprising that a lot her peers are still going and might have added to the appeal of this show. Some pictures from the show in the spoilers: In Ice Ribbon news, they set the semi-finals in the tournament for the vacant ICExInfinity title on the 12/31 show. One semi is a rematch between Tsukasa Fujimoto and Tsukushi, while the other is Risa Sera vs. Hiragi Kurumi. All four are pretty good, if not great workers, so it should be a pretty good show.
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Probably depends on the opponent more than anything. Syuri has had three MMA fights this year. The first two were against women still in their teens and the third was against a thirty year old from the Philippines who was only had one fight previously.
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This is a big title match as Ice Ribbon's "Ace," Tsukasa Fujimoto, attempts to regain the belt from recently crowned champ, Risa Sera. The story that they work through the match is Fujimoto having issues dealing with Sera's size and power advantage. This forces Tsukka to use her experience and try to maximize any opening that she gets during the match. Sera does a nice job working over Fujimoto's back in order to try a slow her down. The match does go a little sideways at the finish but it doesn't completely throw out what they had been working to before it. ***3/4
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Dynamite Kansai's retirement match will be on the December 11 OZ Academy show. Fittingly, her opponent will be Mayumi Ozaki.
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This is a super fun, if throwaway, midcard tag match. Everybody is just on here even if they don't try anything to ambitious. Kurumi looked especially good here as pulls out some nice looking athletic stuff to go along with some impressive power spots. Watching Tsukushi try and go straight on with a bulldozer like Kurumi was entertaining. ***3/4
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Ever since she regained the ICE Infinity title back in July from Risa Sera, Fujimoto had been running through the Ice Ribbon roster. While Tsukushi is only 19, she has over 6 years experience and isn't that far off from being a player at the top of the promotion. The match gets off to a slow methodical start as they work strike exchanges in between the two of them applying submissions. In fact, they rely a bit too much on strike exchanges as transitions in the early going. The match really picks up around the halfway point and is just fantastic the rest of the way. There are so many fun sequences that they work while still managing to tie them together and not let the match get too spotty. This goes to a draw which results in the title being vacated. ****
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This is your typical throw four big names in a tag match where everyone just does their own thing. Aja showing no interest in Kenta Kobashi's offer of a handshake before the intro's was awesome. I was most impressed with Matsumoto because this was a match based on star power and she managed to project herself as good as anyone else in the match despite being the least known name. Satomura does a nice job of selling getting worked over by her opponents along with solid performances from both Aja and Ayako. Just an all around quality tag match. ***1/2
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Forgive me as the dates are fuzzy but they were both in a group together, along with Io's sister Mio, called Triple Tails. That ended in late 2011 when Io decided to join Stardom. The big problem there is the Asuka had a very public falling out with Nanae Takahashi a couple of years earlier, and Nanae was Stardom's top star at the time. In addition to that, Io was arrested for marijuana possession while coming back from a tour in Mexico which came pretty close to ruining her career, (she was later clear.) That, plus Io's relationship with Nosawa, (who was also arrested at the same time,) seemed to cause a deep split between Io and Mio/Asuka. The two sisters did work together during Mio's retirement run, but Asuka wasn't on any of those shows. Granted, this is probably around the time that Asuka started negotiating/signing with the WWE so that might have played a small part. Mio's actual retirement was right around the time Asuka moved to Orlando. As far as I know that's the story, although I apologize if I "Scott Keith'd" anything. For Ice Ribbon, I would start with the 10th Anniversary show and go on from there if you can. Nothing that will knock will knock you off your feet but they are solid, entertaining shows. I'm definitely taking a "wait and see" approach with this Stardom reshuffling. Any time they've tired it before either someone gets hurt or leaves the company. Rossy Ogawa tried it in Arsion to and it was a big dud back then, but that was before Dragon Gate so who knows if it will be different now. Also, for upcoming stuff, Sendai Girls has Meiko Satomura vs. Aja Kong on the 11/23 show in a #1 contender match. Haven't been able to find out if the show is being taped or not. WAVE is running the semi-finals of their NEXT tournament on 11/27 with one of the semis being Misaki Ohata vs. Ryo Mizunami, which should be something with both have great years. Hopefully that gets uploaded to the WAVE Network although they have become inconsistent in uploading stuff again.