[2021-06-29-WAVE] Mio Momono vs. Miyuki Takase vs. Sakura Hirota

[Kadaveri]

This match was part of the 2021 Catch The Wave tournament. The format is the wrestlers are split into four blocks of four in a round robin, and the top placed wrestlers make the semi finals > final. In this group, there was a three way tie between Momono, Takase and Hirota, so to decide the winner of the block they had to wrestle again in a series of singles matches, with the first wrestler to win two consecutive falls winning the block.

Fall 1 is Momono vs. Takase. Mio starts hot charging Takase right at the beginning with a flurry of kicks and forearms. She knocks Takase out of the ring and tries to go for a running dive from the top turnbuckle, but Takase gets back in the ring too quick and gives her a funny "I'm not that easy to beat" look. We get a really fast-paced 13 minute fall between these two and Momono gets the pin with a code red. Great start.

Fall 2 is Momono vs. Hirota. Mio just runs circles around Hirota hitting her with loads of dropkicks as fast as she can, but she makes a similar mistake as the previous fall where she tries to dropkick Hirota out of the ring, but the veteran just moves across the apron to dodge it, and then yanks Mio down to the floor to take the advantage. The mat then turns into a slow, surprisingly mat-based affair. I'm used to Hirota being 90% a comedy wrestler but she does perfectly fine here, that GAEA training is still there. Hirota wins with a strange submission that looks like a cross chicken wing applied to seated opponent from the side...?

Fall 3 is Hirota vs. Takase. Takase looks to be in a bad mood here from her previous loss and just starts stiffing the hell out of Hirota with her big lariats and chops. This doesn't last long as Hirota is too exhausted from the long fall with Momono to put up much of a fight.

Fall 4 is Takase vs. Momono. They both really fire up for this one now. It's different from Fall 1 as we know if Takase wins she wins the block, if Momono wins she just needs to beat a tired Hirota afterwards and she's through. Best part of the match and they work to a great climax.

This whole thing is 42 minutes long and it didn't feel that long at all. One of the best 'tiny show pandemic era' matches I've seen. According to CageMatch this show had 60 fans in attendance, they certainly got their money's worth!

****1/4