donsem43
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAivOpmbCRc&t=133s This is a semi-final of the tournament for the ICEx Infinity title that was vacated after these two went to a draw at their last match on 11/3. They work at a very quick pace right off the start and get a couple of really nice nearfalls off of rollups. Other than a short crowd brawling section that they seemed to only do to setup a dive, the match stays in the ring with a steady back and forth. In fact, you could almost look at the entire match as an extended finishing run. While this has its pluses and minuses, this two can work a pretty exciting finishing run which leads to a highly entertaining match. ***3/4
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On paper, this looks like your typical vets vs. youngster match, but the big difference is Yamashita and Yoshiko work like a Hokuto/Kandori type team. The story is that they are competitive when they work together but the dislike for one another keeps that from happening as much as it should. Both Ayako and Nanae are pretty nasty with their working over of their opponents. I've enjoyed the bitchy vet version of Ayako that showed up earlier in the year. There are some slow spots here since they work a half hour draw, but when the match is really going it's some fantastic stuff. **** -
This is a rematch of the February title match that these two had. These two had been a bit disappointing when working together when you consider that you had one of the best joshi workers of 2015 taking on one of the best women on the indies but I thought this was easily their best match together. Santana had her best performance in Stardom. Most notably, she did a great job of holding the match together when Hojo messed up a couple of spots. Other than the miscues, I thought Hojo was pretty good. I like how she mixed in submissions when Santana was getting the advantage in order to try and slow her down. The finish was well worked as Hojo was able to survive all of Santana's finishers in a reasonable way as to make her own comeback for the win seem realistic. ****
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aVWwt59rns This is a special challenge match as it is one of the last matches that Nakajima will have while she is part of the JWP roster as she is going freelance in the new year. I have to say that the matwork in this match is amazing. Bolshoi is quite at the level of Mariko Yoshida but she's good enough at times to make you actually think that she might be. There are several points throughout the match where Bolshoi just seems to be one step, sometimes two, ahead of Arisa. There are a few moments where Nakajima's only option is to simply slug her way out of trouble. Nakajima's selling also really puts over the matwork to give it some value later on in the match. A great showing from Bolshoi while Arisa keeps her late year run of tremendous work going. ****
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If I had more confidence in my writing I wouldn't use star ratings but I think some of my reviews read like I have a learning disability. So I use ratings to give the reader a half decent chance at understand how much I enjoyed the match.
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Just finished a very preliminary list of the best joshi matches of 2016 in spreadsheet form. This is before any rewatching and there are still a few more matches that I need to watch. I thought I should still put something out here for people who are making MOTY lists and are interested in checking out stuff but have no idea what to check out.
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I like the story that they are trying to tell with Io/Mayu. Their '15 GP match showed that Iwatani could be competitive with Io. The match last May firmly established that Iwatani is a true threat to Io on top. Now this last match showed that Io still has just enough to stay on top making fans wonder if Iwatani can make that one last push to finally take her down. Of course there is the question of will there be another match between these two. If Io is successful in her next title match she will have tied the record that she set in her first run of ten defenses. It will be interesting to see who Stardom goes with in January as a challenger. Do they go with Hojo again or a foreigner? Both Viper and Kay Lee Ray have already had shots so maybe they go with Shayna Baszler? I'm getting the feeling that they are going to have a foreigner win and use her as a transitional champ like they used Alpha Female in '13 to move the title from Nanae to Io. If they do that though, you run the risk of not having that one last Io/Mayu match should Io decide to leave to the WWE. It will be interesting to see how it plays out. Fyi, Stardom World reuploaded the April and May Korakuen shows. The April show is the Cinderella tournament and the May show has the first Io/Mayu title match.
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This is the rematch of the close title match that these two had in May. The big difference here is that Io turned on her Thunder Rock partner Mayu and switched the competitive teacher/student rivalry into something more bitter. I really liked the approach that both took out of the gate. Iwatani tries to be the aggressor by trying to hit some big offense early. Io takes a more methodical approach, looking to try take Mayu down to grind on her in an effort to slow her down. Io's leg work was really good but unfortunately Iwatani was very selective on how she sold it. This does eventually turn into a bombfest, with Io always seeming to be either just smart or just tough enough to keep Iwatani from finishing her off. The finishing sequence was spectacular but I felt that some of the transitions during it were weak which lessen the effect of the moves being hit. Not quite the MOTYC that their May match was but still a great spectacle on its own. ****
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Some people are claiming that they offered a 50% discount on tickets to IR fan club members. Plus, they did have more outside help (Toyota, Nanae, Jun Kasai) than Stardom had. Although, Stardom ran as loaded a show as they could right now with their current roster and still drew under 1k. The 11/3 IR show had Tsukka/Tsukushi and Avid Rival/Azure title matches but only drew 285 to Shinkiba. You would think that lineup would at least be a sellout that smaller building. Beside the point, it looks like they featured the tournament matches above everything else. They did the right thing in getting their own stars out in front of a good crowd, irregardless of how they got that crowd. Ice Ribbon will be interesting to watch in 2017 for a variety of reasons.
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Oh wow, Ice Ribbon out drew Stardom at Korakuen. They also gave the matches in the ICEx Infinity title tournament a far amount of time so that should be a show to watch out for.
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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
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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.