aguakun
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Everything posted by aguakun
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Wonder of Stardom Championship: Kairi Hojo © vs. Mayu Iwatani Hojo's year started off hot, but she's been cooling off lately. I dug what Mayu was doing with her armwork, like when she grinds her foot into Hojo's wrist, and I wish there was more of that before they went into the big moves. I also liked how the effects of the bodywork on both sides came into play during the finish, but the action felt disjointed to me and never quite found its rhythm. **3/4
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Kairi Hojo vs. Toni Storm Hojo says she knows Storm's weakness in the pre-match promo. Storm is the unbreakable Kiwi of Steel, but every final boss has their weak spot, and so, Hojo goes to work on Storm's butt. There's rapid-fire chops, a running dropkick, an octopus hold with spanking; this is a stellar ass-targeting workover. Storm makes the comeback, hitting her spike piledriver, but her injured butt prevents her from making the cover and the match ends in a timeout draw. ***3/4
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Cinderella Tournament 2017 First Round: HZK vs. Jungle Kyona The matches in this tournament are held under a 10-minute time limit and you can win via throwing your opponent over the top rope. This match had a good sense of urgency and selling, and HEAT! HZK really impressed me with the new moves she unveiled and how she applied them, and it was great to see her get the clean pin. That Bombs Away looked rough -- such a destructive finisher! ***3/4
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Cinderella Tournament 2017 Final: Mayu Iwatani vs. Toni Storm This didn't quite reach the hype levels of some of the previous matches with the crowd, and I probably wouldn't have liked this as much as I did if Toni was facing anyone else. Mayu was built to take these moves; her selling was superb, limbs flailing like spaghetti, and her facial expressions are great too. Storm was an absolute superwoman here and adsorbed everything that was thrown at her. It'll take another Blue Nikita to stop this Kiwi of Steel. ***3/4
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Cinderella Tournament 2017 First Round: Hana Kimura vs. Io Shirai No sexy pose from Io Shirai. What a shame. The atmosphere of this match feels different from the previous matches, the crowd is hot with anticipation. Hana-chan gains a ton of momentum behind her dropkicks and boots, and Io bumped good as usual. The dragon screws from Io were sold as viciously as they looked, and she starts to devastate the limb, turning an ankle lock into a vicious cradle pin. The close-calls were intense and the crowd was going bonkers at possibility of Hana eliminating Io. The panic of Hana when Io catches her injured leg for a dragon screw between the ropes was sheer awesomeness. ****
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Best Friends (Arisa Nakajima & Tsukasa Fujimoto) vs. Nanae Takahashi & Sareee This was fast, furious hard-hitting tag team action, and what the glorious sparkling D is all about! ****1/2 -
Best Friends (Arisa Nakajima & Tsukasa Fujimoto) vs. Lovely Butchers (Hamuko Hoshi & Mochi Miyagi) Nakajima was beating the shit out of the leopard-print glob of mediocre known as Hamuko Hoshi. Kicking her in the head, stomping her nose, slapping her across the face, KNEES -- good shit. I loved it. I love Arisa! Hamuko no-sells a Venus Shoot in a ridiculous sequence. Miyagi goes crazy with Thesz presses. I can't tell if Fujimoto genuinely struggled to lift Hamuko for the Japanese Ocean Cyclone in the finish or if that was part of the 'drama'.. either way, this was mostly fun and fast-paced. A solid restart for Best Friends. ***1/2
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International Ribbon Tag Team Championship: This is Ice Ribbon (Hiiragi Kurumi & Tsukushi) © vs. Azure Revolution (Maya Yukihi & Risa Sera) Tsukushi is one out of control youth, and Yukihi is a gramma whose patience is wearing thin. I really liked Maya-obachan's performance in this, she was heating it up with Tsukushi, jacking her jaw with knees and superkicks, and digging her claws into the mini-joshi's back. Tsukushi was a nasty little aggressor, with snug elbow strikes and a vicious low dropkick through the ropes. I gotta be honest, I thought her Japanese Ocean Suplex finisher looked ridiculous. Yukihi may have thrown herself into the move a bit too much. Kurumi and Sera were here too! ***3/4
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Momo suffered an ACL injury. She'll be out of action for the year, but she still shows up at ringside during shows.
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Regina di WAVE Championship: Ryo Mizunami © vs. Takumi Iroha Iroha doesn't make tape very often so it's always interesting to see what new techinques she has learned in the untaped abyss. This didn't quite reach the level of Mizunami's title matches against Ohata and Haruhi on the epic scale, but the action was straight-forward and solid. One gripe I had was the moment when Mizunami's hits a desperation Hot Limit; Iroha had been dominating so much that Mizunami could barely stand and she's just lifted up and takes the reverse piledriver with no resistance. At least wiggle your feet or something! ***1/4
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Saki-sama vs. Rika Tatsumi Tatsumi has brought a doctor to prove that Saki-sama's maid Martha is actually a man in diguise and should not be allowed to compete in a women's wrestling promotion. Saki-sama was vicious here, knocking the wind out of the little vampire with hard kicks. The PK while Tatsumi was helplessly trapped in Paradise Lock-position was sadistic stuff. I loved it. Tatsumi's sympathetic selling and bumping is wonderful, although I thought her comebacks were on the soft side. Good match with a fun angle attached to it that led to a shocking twist ending. ***1/2
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Chihiro Hashimoto & DASH Chisako vs. Hikaru Shida & Rina Yamashita Shida-sama & Yamashita have a parejas increíbles-esque dynamic in this match, and that made things very interesting. They're attacking each other, making aggressive tags, Shida tries to use Yamashita as a weapon; but, they still prove to be a cohesive, well-oiled duo. The hard-hitting segments between Hash and Rina were awesome, and there's a shinai spot here that was topnotch slapstick. DASH reprises her role as Chihiro's designated FIP, but she gets the fall this time! And so continues the endless Shida/DASH feud. ***3/4
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Alex Lee vs. Yako Fujigasaki I don't know how this happened, but I liked an Alex Lee singles match! I mean, she is still boring as a personality (at least until she debuts in her Ozaki-gun gear!), but this was solid. I dig these types of short yet 'focused' singles matches. Lee connected a couple of snug kicks and knees, and generally put on a good show, and Yako gets better every time I see her. It has taken years, but Lee is showing signs of improvement! She should stick to joshi forever and become Bosnia's Debbie Malenko. ***1/4
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OZ Academy Openweight Championship: Hiroyo Matsumoto © vs. Kagetsu I thought Kagetsu did a great job conveying her panic as move after move failed to get the job done. There's some real dramatic escalation here, and Hiroyo throws a little curve ball, hitting a wheelbarrow Crash Thunder Buster. I like how she has stepped up her game since winning the Openweight belt, finding new approaches to her offense. This was a solid filler before the inevitable defense against Shida. ***1/2
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OZ Academy Tag Team Championship: Hikaru Shida & Syuri © vs. MK4 (AKINO & Kaho Kobayashi) This was a very well-worked tag match, where the abundance of spots were chained together rather smoothly. Kaho makes the most out of those dramatic near-falls, and the kick-heavy segments between Syuri and AKINO were amazing. Another very entertaining match from Shida & Syuri. The Shiri does it again! ****
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Yeah, it seems Mayu and Hana will form a team now that Kagetsu is gone and Kris Wolf's visa is expiring. Definitely looking forward to this.
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Sumire Natsu vs. Takumi Iroha Sumire tries to offer Iroha an invitation to her Y-shirt match, but Iroha isn't having it and gives her a kick to the head! Iroha presses the advantage, but Sumire is able to make a sudden counter on the outside, tossing Iroha into the ring post. This went 3 minutes; Sumire did her sexy heel thing, perfecting the bronco buster, and Iroha made her 'no nonsense' comeback with a crushing Running Three. ***3/4
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Regina di WAVE Championship: Ryo Mizunami © vs. Moeka Haruhi Mizunami plays the role of a hot-blooded drill sergeant, trying to get Haruhi to step her game up and hit harder. She does a top notch job of making Haruhi look like a threat -- this is some seriously amazing leading. Moeka is a wrestler, so she is obviously tough, but her tender body looks like it offers little resistance to Mizunami's destructive offense. When she gets knock over, it looks like a mauling, which made her comebacks feel that much more hard-fought. The sequence where Mizunami counters the Christo into a sidewalk slam, but Haruhi absorbs the impact and reapplies the hold was so amazing. Really, really great match. ****1/2
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It's just a really bad picture!
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Wonder of Stardom Championship: Kairi Hojo © vs. Hana Kimura This was Hojo's homecoming so the crowd is extremely pro-Hojo, so much so that they boo Hana-chan's dancing! This was 20 minutes and a good chunk of that is Hana dominating. She takes Hojo on a tour around the arena, kicking her down a long flight of stairs and choking her in front of school students. A lot of stomping and foot-choking and lewd dancing. It gets tedious after a while, but Hana draws a ton of hate, and the crowd wants the Hojo comeback badly. I liked the slap exchange, although Hana had some timing issues, she caught Hojo with a couple of stiff ones. Hikari was really soaking this in -- it's not often that a modern joshi crowd gets this riled up by heel work -- but the action was nothing special, and rough around the edges at times. ***
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Sendai Girls World Championship: Aja Kong © vs. Chihiro Hashimoto Aja is chewing gum while wrestling in a main event title match, I already want her to lose. She is a mammoth who can adsorb all damage, including wheel barrel slams to the floor and hip attacks from 635mm thighs. The German suplex is the key to victory and C-Hash can't hit it. This was structured like their first encounter this year, but on a much grander and epic scale. Aja has to use her craftiness because she cannot beat C-Hash's matwork, no matter how hard she tries. Outside of the ring is the danger zone, it is where Aja feels most at home, where she batters C-Hash with chair shots to the head and back. This is the worst beating Chihiro has ever taken. This builds so well into that first German suplex. When Aja is broken down, she senses it coming and shifts her strategy to targeting the leg, which is sold tremendously, but this desperation proves futile. An Aja this vulnerable is just not something you see very often, and it puts Chihiro over HUGE. Phenomenal match in front of hot Korakuen crowd. ****3/4
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Hiroyo Matsumoto vs. Meiko Satomura Breakneck sprint where they throw bombs all the way. ****
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Tag Team Championship Challenger Decision Tournament, Final: Hana Kimura vs. Mika Shirahime This was an even stronger version of the match they had last month, I felt like they worked harder. Shirahime gets this scary death stare and her wacky hair is all over the place as she hammers into Hana with elbow strikes. She has an excellent understanding of escalation and building towards a heated finish. Hana-chan has already established her signature stuff and where to place them and when, and I can't say enough about her new attire (!) and high-impact missile dropkick. She sends Shirahime bouncing inside out! This was a great clash between underdog rookie and (justifiably) super-pushed super rookie. ****
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Artist of Stardom Championship Tournament, Semi Final: Queen's Quest (Io Shirai, HZK & AZM) vs. Hiroyo Matsumoto, Jungle Kyona & Tora Natsuko AZM calls out Hiroyo! Holy shit! This was another really good Queen's Quest trio in a line of really good Queen's Quest trios. Jungle Friends were a very energetic team, and I thought Tora was fun. HZK's feud with Kyona is really starting to heat up, I can't wait for their Cinderella Tournament match. Io is the ace, but she kind of lays low in these matches and let's her teammates get the spotlight. It is generous of her. Tora gets squashed so hard under HZK's diving raiden drop that I think it may have caused her head to whiplash against the mat. Bomb's Away may be the most destructive finisher in modern joshi. ***3/4
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The Best Friends restart match was changed and they're now against Lovely Butchers. I wonder what went wrong.