donsem43

The Bellas vs. B.A.D. from Main Event was interesting. Both teams worked heel, but the Bellas had a noticeable face reaction from the women in the crowd. If they keep going with this they'll have 7 heels and 3 faces, with Natalya back. I don't know if this means they'll start cutting down the number of women that they feature or what. I really hope they don't break up B.A.D. since all 3 seem to really enjoy working together and its done a lot for Naomi's in-ring work. Coincidental fun fact: before getting into wrestling, Kana/Asuka was working in the video game industry, both as a designer and a magazine writer. Even had XBox 360 sponsorship for a few years in wrestling.

NXT is basically doing that angle with Dana Brooke and the backstage interview girl.

Horrible news... https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/3m3mpa/akira_hokuto_diagnosed_with_breast_cancer/

The most successful feud in the history of women's wrestling was a school bully picking on another girl.

This is a work in progress list, not a final one. I'll keeping adding stuff as I watch and bold the Tier 1 matches everything else is Tier 2/3. Yoshiko Tamura vs. Mariko Yoshida - NEO - 11/3/06 Meiko Satomura vs. Kyoko Kimura - Sendai Girls - 12/3/06 Meiko Satomura vs. Ayako Hamada - Sendai Girls - 7/22/07 Azumi Hyuga vs Kaori Yoneyama - JWP - 12/9/07 Azumi Hyuga vs Kayoko Haruyama - JWP - 4/29/08 Azumi Hyuga/Carlos Amano vs. Meiko Satomura/Chikayo Nagashima - JWP - 12/28/08 Meiko Satomura vs. Azumi Hyuga - Sendai Girls - 12/20/09 Kana vs. Syuri - SMASH - 6/25/10 Yoshiko Tamura/Ayumi Kurihara vs. Kana/Io Shirai - NEO - 8/1/10 Kana vs. Meiko Satomura - Triple Tails - 2/13/11 Yuzuki Aikawa vs. Ayumi Kurihara - Yuzupon Matsuri - 5/15/11 Kana vs Serena - SMASH - 5/3/11 Ayumi Kurihara vs Kana - WAVE - 8/28/11 Nanae Takahashi vs. Meiko Satomura - Stardom - 3/20/12 Emi Sakura/Kaori Yoneyama vs. Command Bolshoi/Arisa Nakajima - JWP - 8/19/12 Yuzuki Aikawa vs. Io Shirai - Stardom - 8/26/12 Tsukasa Fujimoto/Maki Narumiya vs. Kana/Mio Shirai - Ice Ribbon - 10/20/12 Kana/Mio Shirai vs. Ayako Hamada/Arisa Nakajima - Triple Tails S - 2/24/13 Arisa Nakajima/Nana Kawasa vs. Kana/Raideen Hagane - JWP - 5/5/13 Natsuki Taiyo vs. Kaori Yoneyama - Stardom - 6/2/13 Io Shirai vs. Yoshiko - Stardom - 6/2/13 Kana/Ayumi Kurihara vs. Meiko Satomura/Ayako Hamada - KanAyu - 6/15/13 Arisa Nakajima vs. Kana - JWP - 8/18/13 Io Shirai vs. Arisa Nakajima - Stardom - 12/29/13 Io Shirai vs. Natsuki Taiyo - Stardom - 1/26/14 Kana vs. Meiko Satomura - Kana Pro - 2/25/14 Meiko Satomura vs. Hiroyo Matsumoto - Fortune Dream - 6/8/14 Io Shirai vs. Meiko Satomura - Stardom - 7/10/14 Tsukasa Fujimoto vs. Arisa Nakajima - Ice Ribbon - 12/28/14 Arisa Nakajima vs. Tsukasa Fujimoto - JWP - 12/28/14

Oh for crying out loud they can't even do a cake spot right... What's on NXT? Sasha: Bayley, I respect you... Me: Really? At least a new Hojo match sneaked online.

Start off with Aja vs. Toyota at the Dome, Kyoko vs. Hokuto at Dream Rush, and Kyoko/Takako vs. Oz/ Cuty matches that gives you good sample of what to expect. Then look through the yearbook section to find stuff that might fit what your personal tastes a bit more then go from there. 90's is the best place to start because it has a clear listing of what out there for stuff to watch, unlike the 80's or even the '00.

I liked the finish in a general sense. Nikki needed the record to stay relevant because, for better or worse, they need the Bellas in the picture for now. Also thought that both Nikki and Charlotte were great acting through the finish, Nikki getting on to the apron then making the ref get the belt and Charlotte being too distraught to react to getting a rematch. I could go all Jim Cornette on how they could have made it better with details but at least they kinda got it right. Sasha/Paige was kinda disappointing. After their Smackdown was hoping for more of a brawl so it was a let down to see them work a straight match. Was also hoping that they would get a match on NoC but with Sasha going over clean I doubt that's going to happen now. Also worried about Sasha health. She's taking NXT special type bumps on every show and if she keeps going like that she'll end up like someone like Ayumi Kurihara or Mio Shirai, having to retire in her prime due to neck/back injuries.

If they want to actually make this work, they need to more segments like the ones on the last Smackdown. Somehow, Nikki and Charlotte had an effective promo that actually made you want to see them face off. Somehow, they've got Sasha and Paige on the verge of a blood feud after their match turned into a nasty little brawl the lead to a GAEA style pull apart. Hopefully after tomorrow night they'll have focused on two single's feuds that will finally start moving this forward.

I didn't really start following joshi again until a couple of years ago. Even then it was more out of the curiosity of what it had become that led me to checking it out. I'll work on a list next week, but the match that convinced me to check out recent joshi was the 12/9/07 Azumi Hyuga vs. Karoi Yoneyama JWP title match. Played out the "Company Ace vs. Young Star" storyline perfectly. Clear Tier 1 match for me. Part 1 - http://dai.ly/xe2q6f Part 2 - http://dai.ly/xe2qjv

http://joshicity.com/top-five-joshi-matches-of-the-year/ Link has both of the Hojo/Satomura title matches. They are both private videos so you have to play them on that page, not Dailymotion itself. The Kana tag and Nakajima vs. Shida are worth checking out too. Didn't really care for Ayako vs. Shida. Edit: Both matches back up on Youtube 6/14 - https://youtu.be/QZwS5Vs_MJs 7/26 - https://youtu.be/pysE-txkQGk

She's always claimed that she was a fan of UWF and didn't care much for traditional joshi.

Would have preferred 2/3 falls, because that's kind of NXT's gimmick plus they could have work long in a more organic fashion.

That's the same name of the transgender trainee with Pro Wrestling Wave. Wouldn't be surprised if that she picked that as a tribute.

Mystique? You know she's done dozens of comedy matches based around her breasts. When she was with Smash/WNC she did lots of promos and was in plenty of angles. English is a concern there's no evidence as to how much she knows. She never spoke in Shimmer, her Twitter/Youtube pages uses very little English but I'm sure she's creative enough to work around that if they let her. At least she knows what to do with a cake - https://youtu.be/SR8P9fntntE

So Triple H made this official yesterday. That English interview she did was weird. Nice to see she's already preparing for her arrival at the performance center:

Paige needs new friends, Devil Masami and the JBA wouldn't have put up with the crap B.A.D. were pulling. Hell if they're signing joshi talent, get Police and put him with a heel Paige, that would be fantastic. In all honesty, I want to see Sasha and Paige go 15 mins on a PPV. I really think those two could pull off something special.

If there is a sliver lining for the women this week the Paige/Becky vs Sasha/Naomi tag from Main Event was good. I think Naomi has actually improved since the start of this angle and seem to really enjoy working heel. On Smackdown, they teased Charlotte trying to get her title shot before Nikki breaks the record. I wonder if they try and build a Raw around it which would be an all or nothing move for this angle.

What about Savage and Hogan? Wasn't this a temporary deal since Hogan was filming a movie. Savage was going to 'stand in' as top face because they already had his heel turn planned out when they first paired them up right?

That's probably more business driven then booking (i.e. copyrights.)

I assume Nicki Minaj is who every WWE writer thinks of when they write a Divas segment.

In Canada, Genie Bouchard is basically '97 Bret Hart.

You forgot about Eva Marie and all of the hard work that's she put in. If only she had worked on kicking out before 3.

Rey Mysterio's Terminator mask

Io Shirai vs. Mayu Iwantani (8/23/15) Stardom - 5 Star Grand Prix If I did a standard play by play description of this match it would come of as the same as a thousand other joshi matches, but what really makes this match work better is the strikes and the big bumps that they take. They start off with a pretty standard lucha sequence but then Iwantani just boots Shirai in the head Hotta-style and they don't really lay off each other for the rest of the match. It also seems like they watched some of the bumps that Sasha Banks took a few hours earlier and thought "Hey, we can top that!" Mayu takes a nasty slam on the apron, then later tries to destroy her kidneys on the apron after getting dropkicked from the top rope. Meanwhile, Io tops that by taking Iwantani's dragon suplex on the floor, which given the way she does the move is a nutty bump in general. Overall, while not quite up there with the high-end women matches this year, it's still well worth going out of your way to see.