Current Joshi Talk

[squidlad]

Miu Watanabe and Shoko Nakajima had a terrific match at TJPW's Korakuen show today. I was expecting it to be really good since Shoko is TJPW's best worker in my opinion and Watanabe is trying to cement herself as the new top star. It ended up being a candidate for the best singles match in company history. Their grappling was off the charts good. Apparently they practically live at the dojo so it was like a public demonstration of the mat work they've been doing in private. It was super tight and purposeful with Shoko trying every which way to lock Miu in a hold or score a flash pin. Later she started working Miu's neck and Miu kept up the selling throughout. I have to periodically remind myself that Miu Watanabe wasn't a pro wrestling fan, didn't know what wrestling was and only got in through an idol tryout. She's a natural if I've ever seen one.

[El-P]

Stardom's roster and contacts are so ridiculously deep that they don't bat an eye even with the recent departures. That All Star Queedom show last April was really a blast from top to bottom, with interesting developments like Thekla joining Oedo-Tai, and Starlight Kid being booted out and saved by Tam Nakano. Pretty cool to see Aja & Itoh work in Stardom. And that damn Mayu vs Sareee match, holy hell. Stardom sure should try their best keeping Mayu, she's now their biggest star, all respect due to Maika, Tam and Kamitani.

[El-P]

Not watched it yet because I'm still WAY behind, but Willow vs Tam Nakano is exactly the kind of stuff the AEW/Stardom relationship should be about. 

[donsem43]

The main event of the first Marigold show is a fun watch just to see Bozilla become a star almost instantly even if the match itself was an absolute mess.

[El-P]

Hey, I see Zayda from MLW fame is booked on the card ! Court Bauer is soooo upstaging WWE on the Marigold partnership.

[donsem43]

Well, it's not rumour anymore:

 

[NintendoLogic]

Iyo/Utami is worth going out of your way to see. The best joshi match I've seen in quite some time.

[donsem43]

According to Tokyo Sports, Meiko Satomura will be announcing her plans to retire soon. Looks like she wants to focus more on promoting and coaching.

[WingedEagle]

I'll withhold judgment until actually seeing it, but the result of today's Stardom main event and accompanying angle reek of Evil/House of Torture nonsense.

[donsem43]

To me, it's more worrying that Stardom has blown through a year's worth of angles in about a month and a half. There's just too much happening all at once that when one thing happens it overshadows something else.

I wouldn't be surprised if the whole Natsuko push is fueled by Bushiroad wanting to capitalize on the Dump Matsumoto show coming out on Netflix. Heel Kamitani sounds about as milquetoast as heel Io Shirai/Iyo Sky.

I'm not going to say "Let it play out." because I bailed on New Japan after Omega and the Bucks took over Bullet Club and never looked back.

[donsem43]

The first entrance of the Phenex Queen was pretty awesome looking.

 

 

[El-P]

Well, after the Dream Queendom show, it appears that despite Rossy leaving with a bunch of talents and the formation of (the quite underwhelming thus far) Marigold, Stardom is doing just fine. Excellent attendance at Ryogoku and a damn great show capped off by two awesome title matches. SLK vs Natsupoi is easily a MOTYC and the crowning of SLK was quite a moment. That girl is so great. Only 23 years old too. Most charismatic masked wrestler since, I dunno, Rey ? Liger ? Main event was on par and a heel performance for the ages by Saya Kamitami. Undercard also had the expected Saori Anou banger against Mika Iwata and an excellent bloody brawl (that's certainly new in Stardom, I'm guessing the Netflix show about Dump played a big part) between Natsuko Tora and Maika. The depth of the roster is still incredible. Consider this, they got a stable with AZM, Mei Seira and Suzu Suzuki, all of them being only 22 to boot. It's ridiculous. So yeah, unless there's a bunch of people leaving with the renewal contract season, Stardom will probably be fine.

Meanwhile, Marigold has its first big show of the year counter-programing Stardom on the 3rd, running Hayashishita vs Sareee, by far their biggest match (well, their only big match at this point, really), which on paper sounds awesome. Undercards have been very hit and miss from what Ive seen, and the company totally comes off like "Stardom with a yellow logo and lesser talents" thus far.

[WingedEagle]

6 hours ago, El-P said:

Well, after the Dream Queendom show, it appears that despite Rossy leaving with a bunch of talents and the formation of (the quite underwhelming thus far) Marigold, Stardom is doing just fine. Excellent attendance at Ryogoku and a damn great show capped off by two awesome title matches. SLK vs Natsupoi is easily a MOTYC and the crowning of SLK was quite a moment. That girl is so great. Only 23 years old too. Most charismatic masked wrestler since, I dunno, Rey ? Liger ? Main event was on par and a heel performance for the ages by Saya Kamitami. Undercard also had the expected Saori Anou banger against Mika Iwata and an excellent bloody brawl (that's certainly new in Stardom, I'm guessing the Netflix show about Dump played a big part) between Natsuko Tora and Maika. The depth of the roster is still incredible. Consider this, they got a stable with AZM, Mei Seira and Suzu Suzuki, all of them being only 22 to boot. It's ridiculous. So yeah, unless there's a bunch of people leaving with the renewal contract season, Stardom will probably be fine.

Meanwhile, Marigold has its first big show of the year counter-programing Stardom on the 3rd, running Hayashishita vs Sareee, by far their biggest match (well, their only big match at this point, really), which on paper sounds awesome. Undercards have been very hit and miss from what Ive seen, and the company totally comes off like "Stardom with a yellow logo and lesser talents" thus far.

It seemed like early chatter suggested Tam/Kamitani was underwhelming so I'm glad to see the match and Kamitani get their due praise. She's elevated herself as a performer and character while adjusting her look and already excellent work to perfectly suit the top heel role. Hopefully this isn't a transitional reign and she can get some reps on top before a run on top as a babyface.

Between that and SLK's elevation it feels like they're serious about establishing some new and deserving faces at the top of the card. Hopefully AZM joins them soon enough as we're somehow approaching nearly a decade of her as an underrated and excellent worker.

Maika/Natsuko was certainly bloody and a fun break from the company's typical style, although I wasn't the biggest fan as it was plagued by the same killing time between spots that such matches usually are. But kudos to Maika for bleeding so much for the cause. I was very surprised to see Tora get the win.

I agree to some extent about Marigold's undercards. Early card action is often very skippable but given that a lot of the named filling the midcard were true unkowns to me at the start some of them have shown a lot of promise, particularly the crew that's been working around the tag titles (outside of Mirai).

[El-P]

On 12/31/2024 at 9:06 PM, WingedEagle said:

I agree to some extent about Marigold's undercards. Early card action is often very skippable but given that a lot of the named filling the midcard were true unkowns to me at the start some of them have shown a lot of promise, particularly the crew that's been working around the tag titles (outside of Mirai).

I would not be surprised at all if Mayu lost the IWGP title at the Dome then moved on to Marigold once her contract is up, considering how close she was/is with Rossy. If that's the case, then the top of the card certainly looks different (plus Sareee is still a freelancer, so there is that). 

The fact that Yumi Fukawa's daughter and I think Michiko Ohmukai's daughter too are on the roster makes me feel old as hell, as I was a huge ARSION fan back in the days. It's kinda cool at the same time. (although nepotism is running rampant everywhere, it seems like it's been less of a case in japanese wrestling. Well, maybe not the best time to say that when Shota Umino is getting that Dome Show main event, but oh well)

[donsem43]

I've been a fan long enough to remember when Mayu was going to SEAdLINNNG after Yoshiko came back because of their friendship. People also thought she was going to retire multiple times. Who knows, Mayu is Mayu and everyone should just sit back and enjoy her work while we can.