Stardom - New Years Stars 2018 (1/28/2018)

1. Hanan & Xia Brookside vs. Kaori Yoneyama & Ruaka

Good stuff - Hanan & Xia made for a wonderful team. 

**1/2

2. Queen's Quest (AZM & Momo Watanabe) vs. Shiki☆d (Starlight Kid & Shiki Shibusawa)

Great match, Queen's Quest are just dominating the junior team, and Shikid were amazing working underneath. Shiki's endurance was put to the test with those stiff kicks she took from Momo.

***1/2

4. Mayu Iwatani & Tam Nakano vs. Team Jungle (Jungle Kyona & Natsuko Tora)

Mayu & Tamu already have great chemistry and an interesting team dynamic, really looking forward to what they'll do next.

***

5. Artist of Stardom Championship: Queen's Quest (HZK, Io Shirai & Viper) (c) vs. Oedo Tai (Hana Kimura, Kagetsu & Sumire Natsu)

This was a good mixture of comedy and action. The way Viper was treated as a huge threat that no one wanted to deal with was fun. Sumire was brilliant and the crowd was rallying behind her against Viper, she needs to be pushed stronger.

***

YMZ (1/1/2018)

4. Isami Kodaka vs. ASUKA

This was solid. Isami's workover was good, his offense is fun to watch. The pacing didn't really play to ASUKA's strengths, but she had moments to shine. 

**3/4

5. Fumiko Hamada, Kaori Yoneyama & Best Stretchman V3 vs. Hikaru Shida, Hikaru Sato & Atsushi Aoki

It was cool to see Shida wrestling in Chun-Li cosplay. No one was giving an effort which allowed BSM to steal the show with his star-making performance.

***

DDT - Sweet Dreams! 2017 (1/29/2017)

4. Danshoku Dino & Makoto Oishi vs. Dick Togo & Yoshihiro Takayama

This was lots of fun. It's a Dino match, so you know what you're getting out of it, but I thought everything was done well. Dick Togo's transformation into Danshoku Dick was incredible.

***1/2

5. AJPW World Junior Heavyweight Championship: Keisuke Ishii (c) vs. Yasu Urano

Great match, moved quickly and the action was exciting.

***3/4

6. KO-D Openweight Championship #1 Contender Tournament - Finals: Konosuke Takeshita vs. KUDO

This was one hell of a clash - Takeshita makes full use of his freakish strength and athleticism. Loved the opener where KUDO knocks Takeshita out with a spin kick to the head, and the tree of woe diving double knees onto the apron was nuts.

****

7. KO-D Openweight Championship: HARASHIMA (c) vs. Daisuke Sasaki

This was a solid match. Sasaki's being a bastard, HARASHIMA gives him a punishing beating. I didn't feel the work came together all that strongly, especially from Sasaki who was all over the place, but it was still very enjoyable despite the flaws. HARASHIMA's selling of the cross facelock was chilling stuff.

***1/2

Chii Tomiya vs. Hikaru Shida (Ice Ribbon, 6/24/2011)

Ice Ribbon - 19'O Clock Girls Pro Wrestling #77 (6/24/2011)

IW19 Championship: Chii Tomiya (c) vs. Hikaru Shida

These IW19 matches are the best. Chii quickly takes the match to the outside where she throws tatami macarons at Shida and hits her with a chair. Shida begins to dominate with power moves and knees and armbars, and the tiny Chii fights her way back with clever counters. This was a fun 8 minutes. Awesome counterwork and Chii did a swell job of selling the arm.

***1/4

Riho vs. Sawasdee Kamen (Gatoh Move, 10/17/2015)

Gatoh Move - Japan Tour・192 (10/17/2015)

Riho vs. Sawasdee Kamen

Sawasdee Kamen is one of PSYCHO's many gimmicks. This was an enjoyable match - it's mostly Sawasdee targeting Riho's leg with cool offense. Riho's comeback was brief, I feel she could have fought more for it, but her selling was pretty good and Sawasdee isn't exactly a strong opponent. Solid stuff.

**3/4

Tokyo Joshi Pro - Let's Go! Go! If You Go! When You Go! If You Get Lost Just Go To Nerima! (2/3/2018)

4. Yuu & Nodoka-oneesan vs. Maho Kurone & Samara

The first good match on the card. Samara seemed decent, I think she is cute, and she takes the fall to Nodoka so that's good.

**1/4

5. Nonoko Graduation Match: Nonoko vs. Maki Ito

Not the quality that I expected, but this was a enjoyable. It told a cohesive story, centered around the power of Nonoko's boobs and Ito's skull. The Nonoko graduation ceremony was touching, especially Azusa Christie coming in at the end and giving Nonoko flowers.

**1/2

6. TOKYO Princess Tag Team Championship: MiraClians (Yuka Sakazaki & Shoko Nakajima) (c) vs. NEO Biishiki-gun (Saki-Sama & Azusa Christie) 

Saki-sama's presence is on another level, you can sense the trouble Yuka is in when she's facing her during the closer. Yuka put up one hell of a fight, but Saki-sama was too strong. I thought everyone did great here, even Shoko, who can be hit-or-miss; she took a good beating from Biishiki-gun. Good match.

***3/4

SEAdLINNNG - Now or Never (1/14/2018)

2. High Speed: ASUKA vs. Mika Iida vs. SUGI

This was one of the better high speed matches the D has had in recent memory. The action was crisp, everyone looked great.

***

3. Captain's Fall: Mio Momono (c), Akane Fujita, Hiroe Nagahama & Ryo Mizunami vs. Saki Akai (c), Hiragi Kurumi, Takumi Iroha & Tsukasa Fujimoto

The moment Saki Akai was announced as the captain of her team I knew they weren't losing this. She doesn't take falls outside of DDT. Great, explosive multi-man tag match - Iroha, Mizunami and Mio were great.

***3/4

4. Arisa Nakajima vs. Misaki Ohata

 I was excited for this match-up after the Best Friends-Avid Rival trilogy, and it had some great counters and head-drop suplexes, but it's lacking in drama and the action was too by-the-numbers to be anything special. It's a solid back and forth with no emotional depth. Here's hoping the WAVE rematch is better.

***

5. Ayako Hamada vs. Yoshiko

**1/4

Tsukushi vs. Emi Sakura (Ice Ribbon, 4/10/2011)

Ice Ribbon - 19'O Clock Girls Pro Wrestling #67 (4/10/2011)

IW19 Championship: Tsukushi (c) vs. Emi Sakura

Emi Sakura's genius shines bright once again! This was incredible, it has some of the best building I've ever seen, and the sense of urgency and escalation during the second half is out of this world. There's so many great moments, I don't even know where to begin. Tsukushi leading a stampede of children over Sakura, the slap exchange, Emi's violent body slams, Tsukushi trying to hit the Harukaze from a chair; brilliant stuff all over. This is a masterpiece.

*****