donsem43

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.

I think he's talking about your Manzerman type of fan.

Better booking so that they can get over, instead of being put in shitty situations. That's a problem for everyone on the main roster. Even the one's who are over are actually over in ways that don't really fit their roles the way they should: New Day aren't stooging heels, Sasha Banks isn't "The Boss", John Cena isn't the ultimate babyface.

Have you watched the first 2 matches vs. Sami Zayn in NXT. The first one especially since its worked as a near squash with him rolling through all of his offense in as nasty a fashion as possible. His work looks very Brock-like but he definitely lacks that aura that Brock has.

They bombed going long last week, so what did you expect this week?

Any tag with Mimi Hagiwara on one side and Devil Masami on the other. I don't think a singles match ever showed up anywhere (Classic, Lorefice's, & Ginnetty's tapes.)

I'm more shocked they hired a woman with that many tattoos then that they hired a racist. Tattoos don't seem to be a Vince thing. I don't think I'll ever stop being baffled by people who post insulting, insensitive stuff up on social media and then have that cost them his/her job.

About the only thing you can realistically expect from Triple H is a smoother transition for talent from NXT to the main roster. Anything other than that is expecting too much. Wasn't Stephanie the one who pushed to get TV writers in the first place. Anyway, after listening Paige on Austin's podcast I went and watch some of her NXT matches again. Holy crap, what the hell happen to her? In NXT she looked like the strong face that they need going forward. She wasn't a potential best in the world like Sasha but still looked really good in ring while playing up her character, which for anyone in the WWE, is going to make you stand out.