Wednesday, January 1, 2020

Hagane Shinnou & Mitsuru Konno vs. Mei Suruga & Yuna Mizumori (Gatoh Move, 12/14/2019)

Gatoh Move - Gtmv #22 (12/14/2019)

Hagane Shinnou & Mitsuru Konno vs. Mei Suruga & Yuna Mizumori

This was a densely packed 12-minutes with a lot of exciting sequences, counters and some close near-falls. Yuna and Hagane exchanged hard hitting blows similar to their match from the previous month, while Mei and Konno prepared for their upcoming singles match in heated sessions.

****1/4

Sunday, December 29, 2019

Stardom - Year-End Climax 2019 (12/24/2019)

2. Artist of Stardom Championship: Queen's Quest (AZM, Momo Watanabe & Utami Hayashishita) (c) vs. STARS (Saki Kashima, Starlight Kid & Tam Nakano)

The usual fun Stardom style trios match, fast paced action with well paced shifts in momentum and tandem sequences. AZM and Starlight’s eternal rivalry always produces good results, and the finishing stretch between Momo and Kashima was hot.

***3/4

4. Giulia vs. Hana Kimura

A brutal match in the best possible way. This totally delivered on the hype. They worked a frenetic pacing, going at each other with blistering offense. Ground struggles, wild outside brawling, boots and stomps, headbutts, violent submissions, brutal head drops. This was a mesmerizing display of violence.

****1/2

5. Wonder of Stardom Championship: Arisa Hoshiki (c) vs. Konami

An excellent match, with simple and effective storytelling. This was a big improvement over their previous Korakuen match during the Cinderella tournament, both have made notable improvements in certain areas of their performance and the match composition overall was stronger. Konami was beaming confidence even during the closing segments as she continued to work the neck, looking for the Final Lancer. Arisa was bouncing back from adversity with compelling charisma and energy behind her counterattacks.

****1/4

6. World of Stardom Championship: Mayu Iwatani (c) vs. Kagetsu

The final chapter of the Mayu-Kagetsu feud, my personal favorite match between them. Even though this is the longest match of the rivalry at 22-minutes, they cut back on some of the excess that brought down the previous matches and wrestled a well paced epic with some very dramatic counters.

****