donsem43

According to an interview she did with Yahoo Japan, she exchanged e-mails with WWE back in 2011 after the earthquake about coming in. She also said she would be interested in working with WWE more in the future, specifically stating a desire to work with Rhonda. I wouldn't be surprised if they try to bring her in for Evolution but Sendai Girls usually run a couple of big shows around that time of the year.

This was a solid first episode. The first two matches were fine. Rhea Ripley did a lot of good things but it seemed like she was trying too hard to play to the hard cam. Meiko/Kelly was very good. A great way to introduce Satomura to a sizable number of the audience that had never seen her before as she ran through all of her signature stuff. Killer Kelly looked strong in just being able to hang in there and trade. Lane/Kraven was fun. Lacey Lane looked rough but she did a bunch of different looking stuff and Vanessa Kraven did a nice job working as a base, bumping for here stuff while still coming off as a monster. Personally thought the commentary was bad. Between Cole's hard selling of Tegan Nox and Lacey Lane, Beth and Renee's constant shoehorning of "Did you know" type facts and weird talking points, they were interrupting each other so many times per match that I just tuned them out.

Mizuki really made this match with her performance. Nothing that she does is flashy, Mizuki is just very solid at everything technical but is easily the best woman in this promotion at drawing you in to her matches. Sakazaki wasn't bad here but her offense looked rough and that kept this from being something great. ***3/4

The storytelling here was really good. Not only did they get over that Kairi wasn't afraid of Shayna but she also had inventive ways to get out Shayna's submission, all of which played into the finish. I don't think the work was quite as good as their other two matches as the strikes weren't that crisp with Kairi in particular flailing around a bit. Still, this was a nice, compact title match that didn't over stay it's welcome. ***3/4

Big moment in joshi this weekend as ASUKA won the Regina di WAVE title becoming the first transgender to hold a title.

I kinda, sorta want Carmella to win just to see how long they are willing to go with this inexplicably long, Honky Tonk Man-style run.

Kairi's title reign is going to be interesting. The only heels for her to feud with are Bianca Belair and Lacey Evans while on the other end you have a similar type babyface with Candace LaRae and Dakota Kai. They could do a rematch with Shayna at Evolution but that would be tricky if she debuts as Rhonda's friend on the main roster. I guess start with a multi-woman match then try and build up someone who has some momentum coming out of the MYC.

That makes Jungle winning look more obvious but that probably the best decsion that Stardom could make. After losing to Kagetsu today, Mayu Iwatani's booking in this will be interesting. I wonder what the long term plan for her is, if there is any. A couple months ago, I thought they would use the 5*GP to reestablish her as the top star. Now, with her working the 8/8 Marvelous show, maybe she's thinking of going freelance.

I get pain in that area of my knee every once and a while and it hurts like hell. I don't even want to think about having a break happening there would feel like.

Given the biggest story of the night, good luck to anyone wanting to watch this spoiler-free.

So this will start airing weekly starting on September 5, no bulk drop like last year. There will be a Bracketology special on August 29.

I don't think so, but with the final being at Evolution I'd imagine that it would drop in early October.

It hasn't gotten anywhere near the level of hype than the Stardom match from earlier in the year, but the Yoshiko/Risa Sera vs. Nanae Takahashi/Akane Fujita Exploding Barbwire Bat Death Match on the 7/22 Zero1 show is pretty damn good. Much better structured, good brawling, and a bat shot actually leads to a finish. Well worth checking out.

Part of me wants to think that it was just a numbers game thing with Savoy. She's better than quite a few of the women who made it in, but several of those women were brought in to lose in the first round. She might be better off skipping this year assuming that the MYC is going to be an annual thing going forward. Granted, that's an optimistic view but didn't Dakota Kai have a tryout in 2014 and it took a while for her to get signed. Anyway, it's going to be extremely interesting to see how they book this. Who are the favourites? Io Shirai is the best in-ring worker under contract but would her winning be too samey after Kairi Sane winning last year? Does Toni Storm win because NXTUK is a legit thing now and they want to use this to kickstart building the woman's division around her? Or do they look at number of views that the highlight of Kavita Devi's match from last year got on YouTube and say"Screw it, let go!" giving her a Braun Strowman type push? They will most likely try to line up more high quality matches in the second and quarter-final rounds. Last year's tournament really lack those truly buzz-worthy matches that the CWC had. Probably will see something Io/Zeuxis, Meiko Satomura/Mia Yim, or Tegan Nox/Nicole Matthews. I do think we'll get a Toni/Meiko match with Toni winning because those two are going to have a singles match in September for EVE. Given typical political joshi booking, Meiko can get her win back there.

Jordynne Grace not being in was a surprise for me. She seems to be doing everything they want from someone coming up from the indies. She travels, works against a variety of people, and is super consistent in ring. I can't see an obvious reason for them to pass on her. It's disappointing that neither Nicole Savoy or Shazza Mackenzie didn't make the cut. In cases like those, I wish ROH and Impact would be a more favourable option. I don't think anyone was upset when Viper and Kay Lee Ray signed with World of Sport.

You guys missed counting Toni Storm.

The blocks were announced for the Stardom 5* Grand Prix Red Block: ⚫︎Kagetsu ⚫︎Jungle Kyona ⚫︎Tam Nakano ⚫︎Konami ⚫︎Natsuko Tora ⚫︎Rachael Ellering ⚫︎Kimber Lee ⚫︎TBA Blue Block: ⚫︎Mayu Iwatani ⚫︎Saki Kashima ⚫︎Momo Watanabe ⚫︎Hazuki ⚫︎Natsu Sumire ⚫︎Kelly Klein ⚫︎Nicole Savoy ⚫︎Jamie Hayter Given that the final looks like it's going to be held in Nagoya, I would expect Jungle Kyona to make it out of the Red Block probably pushed by Kagetsu and Rachael Ellering. The Blue Block is more open. Sumire Natsu and Jamie Hayter are the only ones who don't seem to have much of a chance to win. It will be interesting to see what happens with the title match between Kagetsu and Mayu Iwatani on 8/12. Before that match was announce I thought that Iwatani would be the favourite to win.

Cubs fan wrote up a nice little intro to Zeuxis here. She has always been someone I've should check out but never got around to. Same thing with Karen Q. Meanwhile, WWE took care of the obvious today by announcing Toni Storm is participating. People have dumped on Toni because of her World of Stardom reign but I feel she's had a great year. She was great in both of her short runs in Stardom and her wXw stuff has been really good as well.

Four more names announced today. Zeuxis, Isla Dawn, Lacey Lane, and Karen Q.

Four more names were announced yesterday. Both Mercedes Martinez and Mia Yim are returning this year. Martinez fit her role very well last year. Yim's two match were both really good and she's probably the most consistent woman on the indies. Kavita Devi is also back after an impressive debut last year. It will be interesting to see how she has developed since she has hardly worked any house shows since she signed. Killer Kelly from Portugal is the one newcomer from this group. She's been a regular in wXw for the last while and worked the last NXT UK taping. I've only seen her wXw women's title against Toni Storm and while she looked a bit rough she did look like she had some potential. Also, add Sienna and Britt Baker to the rumored list. Sienna announced that she has left Impact. Baker popped up as another new follow on Renee Young's Twitter account.

I believe Tegan is suppose to be at the next NXT UK tapings to. They probably just decided to sit her for a bit as a precaution. I'm also guessing that Io isn't going to have a name change since they announced her as Io Shirai. It looks like Renee Young's Twitter account may have spilled a bunch of names after her account started following a bunch of non-contracted women. Two women who aren't listed in that article that are most likely locks are Taynara Conti and Xia Lee. Wouldn't be surprised if Jessamyn Duke or Shadia Bseiso made their debuts here too. Casey Michael from Squared Circle Sirens also noted the WWE was interested in Hiroyo Matsumoto.

For me, if I go into any thread that I started and put my cursor over title a box pops up that says (Click and hold to edit.) If I do that, it turns the title into a text box to edit. I discovered it be accident but it works because I screwed up on a date and was able to fix it.

Just put your mouse cursor over the title, then click and hold. You don't need to go into edit post.