donsem43
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Everything posted by donsem43
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This is a tag match where there are a few issues going on. First, Yamashita has been challenging Nanae for most of the year, while Yoshiko has been having issues with various veterans, Ayako being one of them. Add in the fact that Nanae and Ayako have been frenemies since their AJW days. The match itself is really great. It's surprising that with so many joshi groups and so many interpromotional angles being done over the years that matches like this can still get great crowd heat. Nanae and Yoshiko have become a great team. They work together so well that they are able to carry the action with a makeshift team like Ayako and Yamashita. Ayako continues her run of quality performances here. Yamashita reminds me a bit of a young Meiko Satomura. She's not a flashy but has great fire and ring presence for someone who hasn't worked for less than three years. Another quality joshi tag from this year. ****1/4 -
Neck injury. Looks like they're resting her so she can avoid surgery.
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Match Link Best Friends keep their great run going by having another high quality main event. The added bonus here is that Best Friends are teasing a break up angle and they do a terrific job of working that into their matches. While she's far from Akira Hokuto, Nakajima is the best women in the world at storytelling in the ring. Nakamori is quite good here, similar to Takako Inoue in tags from '93-'95. I generally hate watching Kyoko Kimura but she kept her annoying tendencies to a minimum and worked more as a straight up hard hitter. Just a great, under the radar, MOTYC. ****1/2
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[2016-04-03-WWE-Wrestlemania XXXII] Charlotte vs Sasha Banks vs Becky Lynch
donsem43 replied to GOTNW's topic in April 2016
I think Loss has asked a couple of times what happened to 90's joshi style, well here it is in seemingly the least likely place that you would ever find it. This is a really entertaining match but it's mostly about pace and action above all else. They don't try to work in story or worthwhile selling. They do manage to maintain the pace incredibly well, even managing to cover up any sort flub fairly well. The match was as structure did a good job of covering up the weakness that inherently come with a three-way. Not an classic like these three's NXT stuff but still an entertain showcase of what they can do. ***3/4 -
Watched a few more Best Friends tags last night. The 8/14 match where they lose the tag titles to Hanako Nakamori & )Kyoko Kimura was fantastic. Great selling from Nakajima and they kept Kyoko Kimura typical bullshit to a minimum. Also, on the same day, they managed to salvage a good match with Jun Kasai & Miyako Matsumoto after it looked like Matsumoto got her bell rung early on in the match. The match where they dropped the Ice Ribbon tag titles on 9/19 to Hiragi Kurumi & Tsukushi was really good too. They did a great job a carrying the two younger workers through a big title match. As for the SEAdLINNNG show, I thought that Nakajima/Mizunami was great but that Takahashi/Yamashita was even better. Was disappointed in Aja/Yoshiko on first watch but will try and watch it again. I do wonder if Yoshiko has "topped out" in her development. She was really good so early but hasn't really gotten much better since then. I question if she can really carry the weight of being a main event regular in singles matches.
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Pretty cool interview done by the BBC on Kris Wolf. Includes short clips with Io Shirai and Shanna. Also, if your in the L.A. area on 10/7, Kairi Hojo and Yoko Bito are working on a show for Sabotage Wrestling.
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Another 5*GP match. Here, Storm is in first place while Nikita is midpack after dominating the younger girls but coming up short against the top women. This was a nice, solid match. Nikita isn't a spectacular worker, she does a reverse rana that looks pedestrian, but she executes everything well while mixing in some good heel work. Storm is her usual shelf here. Nothing that will blow you away but still very entertaining. ***1/2
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This is another match between the top two women in Stardom, the third in 17 months. To be honest, I feel that this is the best match that these two have had so far, although I haven't been that high on their other matches. The main story of the match is Hojo working over Io's back like her other opponents had in earlier matches. Io decides to fire back with some big time offense, including the infamous piledriver/powerbomb to the floor. Hojo's strategy ends up working in the end as she hits all of her big moves while targeting Io's back, finishing her off with a cross-legged crab hold for the win. ****
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This is a 5*GP match between two UK workers. This match is put together really well. They start out doing some British style exchange of holds. Then naturally build to a modern New Japan style of finish with elaborate teases of finishers and nearfalls. The best showing for each woman in Stardom so far and it was nice to see both of them being over with the crowd. ****
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So the WWE is being very public with its current tryout. Lots of interesting names, and lots of women which probably means that they've started looking at who they are going to put in their tournament. The video on the page is something. You see Heidi Lovelace doing drills then who is next in line, Eddie Kingston!
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The matches are clipped but they seem to only clip out dead time, people sitting in holds or weak brawling on the outside. Other than the first Catch the WAVE show, I haven't seen anything that I felt was too clipped to know how good the match was. A lot of their TV from the last couple of years is up on YouTube and there are a couple of Nico tapings that have been up loaded from this year.
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On their 9/22 show, JWP reran the Chikara King of Trios final as a series of singles matches plus had a Best Friends tag as the main event. Which more than likely means that this show was better than the 5*GP final show that Stardom ran the same day. I wish that the WAVE Network uploaded more consistently because they have uploaded some really good stuff. Just from their August shows, Avid Rival/Las Aventureras, Ayako/Fujimoto, Avid Rival/Kurumi & Tsukushi, and Ayako & Yamashita/Nanae & Yoshiko were all pretty good if not great matches.
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Wrapped up Stardom 9/3 show, night four of the 5*GP. The undercard was all short matches. Blue Nikita/Hiromi Mimura was a squash. Both Momo Watanabe/Courtney Stewart and Tessa Blanchard/Kris Wolf were both perfectly fine matches. Did enjoy Yoko Bito/Natsumi Maki because they did a great job of teasing the upset with Maki before Bito put her down with a flash high kick for the win. The top two matches carried the show. Toni Storm/Kay Lee Ray was a really good draw. It started out with some nice British counter wrestling then turned into more of a modern New Japan match towards the end with long, counter filled sequences at the end. Io Shirai/Kairi Hojo was great. Io is working the typical injured ace storyline that you get in these tournaments in Japan since she had surgery just before the tournament. Hojo worked over the back throughout the match and came through with a clutch win in the last minute after hitting some nasty shots to Io's back then applying a really nasty looking version of crosslegged Boston Crab hold to get the win. Unfortunately, it looks like the concussion that Hojo suffered in that match was worse than first thought. She was reevaluated later this week and will now miss both shows this weekend. Also, Courtney Stewart had to leave due to family circumstances. Meanwhile SEAdLINNNG announced a really awesome card for their 9/28 show: Nanae Takahashi vs. Rina Yamashita Arisa Nakajima vs. Ryo Mizunami Yoshiko vs. Aja Kong Tsukasa Fujimoto/Kaho Kobayashi vs. Leon/Tsukushi Nakajima/Mizunami could be really awesome.
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This is the main event of the first night of the 5*GP and also a rematch of their High Speed title match from back in January. This gets off to a great start as Ray attacks right at the start and things quickly spill to the outside. Ray takes nasty bumps on the outsides allowing Iwatani to take over. In general, I really liked Ray's performance outside of some selling issues. She was aggressive the whole match and stayed on Iwatani the whole match. Very entertaining main event. ***3/4
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This is Bito's biggest match since her return back in June against Kairi Hojo. Bito takes control after the opening exchanges with a great looking headkick that Iwatani sells like death, even teasing a count out loss just a few minutes into the match. Bito offense while in control isn't all that compelling but the selling from Iwatani is so good that it keeps you interested in the match. The action does pick up towards the finish with the two of them doing a good job of working convincing false finishes before time is up for a draw. ***1/2
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It's not the Last Battle of Atlanta but the Io Shirai/Kairi Hojo match from this weekend is now up on Stardom world.
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This match gets off to a really weak start, bottoming out when Io seems to have hurt herself doing a moonsault to the floor. They pretty much stop the match to check on her. She's okay to continue but takes it as a sign that they need to pick it up so she ramps up the intensity with Kyona, a true rookie, being able to respond. After getting knocked around for a bit, Jungle gets a shot in at Io's back and starts to work it over with her power offense. The finish has Io trying to gut her way through her injured back in order to put the rookie away. A very good match with a quality "Ace" performance from Io. ***1/2
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When Stardom announced the line-up for the 5*GP a lot of western joshi fans groused about the no-names, especially the foreign ones. The problem is that you don't know how good no-names are until you actually watch them. I didn't know anything about Courtney Stewart before she was announced but that didn't stop me from watching her great performance here. The match itself starts with some good heeling from Stewart as she attacks Hojo before the bell and steals her mask. After that they go about establishing Stewart's size advantage over Hojo while showing that Hojo can stay competitive with her strikes. To Stewart's credit, she lays in her shots and does her best to hang in there to take Hojo's brutal shots. She ends up costing herself the match as she's unable to focus her offense on either beating Hojo down or taking out her arm, which allows Hojo to just straight up mow her down at the finish. Really well worked, physical match. ****
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Stardom's 8/28 show, night three of the 5*GP, was a very good top to bottom show. Another good opener between Kris Wolf and Momo Watanabe. A standard squash by Toni Storm on Hiromi Mimura. Mimura is really good at using her size and inexperience to play the underdog. Kay Lee Ray/Blue Nikita had worked together before in Europe, so while their match was good it did come off as a standard touring match. Courtney Stewart really impressed in her match with Kairi Hojo. She must have seen the match as an opportunity to make a name for herself and she came through with a quality performance. Jungle Kyona/Io Shirai came to a dead stop in the middle of the match when Io banged her shin into a chair after doing a moonsault to the floor. They made up for it by ramping up the intensity and ended up doing some great work in the back half of the match. The main was a draw between Yoko Bito and Mayu Iwatani. Great selling by Iwatani really carried the match.
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This is Io Shirai's first match back from having surgery on her tailbone after her SWA title loss to Toni Storm last month. Io controls early on playing the arrogant veteran. Eventually, she leaves herself open allowing Watanabe to work over her lower back. Io's selling is good her as you believe that Momo always has a chance to take back the momentum due to Io's one soft spot. This allows for the finish to have some good back and forth with some good near falls for Watanabe before taking the loss. ***1/2
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Just finished watching night two of the 5*GP, which turned out to be a good show. The Jungle Kyona/Kris Wolf opener was a nice surprise with good performances from both. Also enjoyed Iwantani/Blue Nikita. I thought Nikita might struggle because she moves a bit slow but she kept up well enough and did some fun heeling throughout. The main event of Io Shirai/Momo Watanabe was the best match of the night and the tournament so far. According to Stardom's twitter account, Kairi Hojo suffered a concussion in her match with Io Shirai. She's sitting out tomorrow's show to get a doctor's evaluation and has already forfeited her match with Jungle Kyona. UPDATE: Doctor says Hojo is fine but still sat out today's show. A couple of upcoming matches to watch out for: Kaori Yoneyama & Tsubasa Kuragaki vs. Hikaru Shida & Syuri (OZ Academy, 9/11) Arisa Nakajima & Tsukasa Fujimoto vs. Hiragi Kurumi & Tsukushi (Ice Ribbon, 9/19)
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This is a fun draw. I really like Ayako playing the angry vet, even though she's actually only a few years older than Tsukka. Both of them were pretty vicious with their strikes even though they worked the match in a standard, fast-paced, action style. I've been down on Ayako for about the last year but she's looked really good the last few matches that I've seen her in. Fujimoto continues to be one of, if not the, most underappreciated women in joshi. ***3/4
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That match is awesome although I can see some people having an issue with some of the sloppy moments in that match. Still the great way, way outweigh the bad in that match. Honestly, there are a lot of great tag teams in joshi right now. One of my personal favourites are Avid Rival (Misaki Ohata and Ryo Mizunami.) They've teamed regularly for almost year and have been pretty great together with the both of them having great years in general. I really liked the Nanae Takahashi/Yoshiko team. Kaho Kobayashi has developed into a great tag wrestler while having two regular teammates, (Kagetsu in OZ Academy and Rina Yamashita in WAVE.) It's too bad Sendai Sachiko retired because seeing the Jumonji Sisters go up against these teams would be awesome.
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Nominating Ayako Hamada & Yuu Yamagata vs. Misaki Ohata & Ryo Mizunami (WAVE 8/7)