Risa Sera vs. Akane Fujita, Stan Kobayashi (Abdullah Kobayashi), Daisuke Masaoka, Isami Kodaka, Takashi Sasaki, Takayuki Ueki, Yuko Miyamoto, Jun Kasai & Abdullah Kobayashi (Risa Sera Produce 4, 11/14/2017)

Risa Sera Produce 4 - Last Death Match (11/14/2017)

60 Minute Iron Woman Gauntlet Death Match: Risa Sera vs. Akane Fujita, Stan Kobayashi (Abdullah Kobayashi), Daisuke Masaoka, Isami Kodaka, Takashi Sasaki, Takayuki Ueki, Yuko Miyamoto, Jun Kasai & Abdullah Kobayashi

Sera takes her death match gauntlet to its biggest stage in Korakuen Hall. I thought the work was generally good, it breezes through those 60-minutes. I wasn't into the Akane segment, but it picks up when Kasai is in there, and Abby keeps that momentum going. I didn't feel this added anything fresh or new to the Risa Sera death match series, but it was still a lot of fun.

***

Ice Ribbon - #845 ~ Oktober Ice Ribbon Fest (10/29/2017)

1. Giulia & Takako Inoue vs. Nao DATE & Satsuki Totoro

**1/4

3. Kyuuri & Matsuya Uno vs. Natsumi Maki & Tae Honma

***

4. Arisa Nakajima & Manami Toyota vs. Hana DATE & Tsukasa Fujimoto

****

5. Regina Di WAVE Championship: Misaki Ohata (c) vs. Maruko Nagasaki

**

6. ICE×∞ Championship #1 Contendership Four Way: Akane Fujita vs. Hiiragi Kurumi vs. Maika Ozaki vs. Nori DATE

What a wild ride, I did not expect this from a joshi 4WAY. It was non-stop bomb throwing. Maika and Nori close the match after the other two are eliminated, and I thought they delivered big. I was so proud of Maika when she got the win, big moment for her career.

****

7. International Ribbon Tag Team Championship (vacant) Tournament - Finals: Azure Revolution (Maya Yukihi & Risa Sera) vs. Lovely Butchers (Hamuko Hoshi & Mochi Miyagi)

Great main event. They kept things moving and the action was hard-hitting and enjoyable. Maya-obachan no-selling a Styles Clash was ridiculous, but I didn't feel it hurt the match. Excellent work. Everyone worked hard.

****

Ice Ribbon - #832 ~ ICE in WONDERLAND 2017 (8/27/2017)

2. Asahi vs. Manami Toyota

This was Asahi's debut and she's against Manami Toyota! Asahi's peers were surrounding the ring, cheering her on, the crowd was super into it.

***1/2

5. Best Friends (Arisa Nakajima & Tsukasa Fujimoto) vs. Avid Rival (Misaki Ohata & Ryo Mizunami)

****3/4

6. Elimination: Maruko Nagasaki, Matsuya Uno, Satsuki Totoro & Tequila Saya vs. Team DATE (Hana DATE, Karen DATE, Nao DATE & Nori DATE)

There was a lot of action here and it didn't spiral out of control like the match in Yokohama. Hana DATE was injured so everyone swarmed her. The Maruko-Nori ending was had believable near-falls and proper escalation. Great match. 

****1/4

7. ICE×∞ Championship: Risa Sera (c) vs. Maya Yukihi

This caught me by surprise -- I didn't know Maya-obachan had it in her. Her leg work was great and she had all of these clever counters to Sera's offense. Sera's comebacks were kind of selling-free, but her offense looked strong and much better than it has looked in past defenses.

****1/2

Ice Ribbon - #805 ~ Ryogoku KFC Hall #2 (5/28/2017)

1. Maruko Nagasaki & Matsuya Uno vs. TeamDATE (Hana DATE & Nori DATE)

**1/4

2. 235 vs. Cherry

**1/2

3. Karen DATE vs. Miyako Matsumoto

*

4. Maya Yukihi & Nao DATE vs. Satsuki Totoro & Tequila Saya

**

5. Best Friends (Arisa Nakajima & Tsukasa Fujimoto) vs. GEKOKUJyou (Kyuuri & Maika Ozaki)

Oh man, GEKOKU were getting the shit beaten out of them in this one. Arisa was a stampede, elbowing and kneeing and suplexing everything in her path. Tsukasa and Kyuuri have this submission exchange that I liked. Maika took some good bumps. Great match.

****

6. International Ribbon Tag Team Championship: This is Ice Ribbon (Hiiragi Kurumi & Tsukushi) (c) vs. Lovely Butchers (Hamuko Hoshi & Mochi Miyagi)

***3/4

7. ICE×∞ Championship - Hardcore Match: Risa Sera (c) vs. Akane Fujita

no

Ice Ribbon - Yokohama Ribbon 2017 GW II (5/5/2017)

1. Elimination: Maruko Nagasaki, Matsuya Uno, Satsuki Totoro & Tequila Saya vs. Team DATE (Hana DATE, Karen DATE, Nao DATE & Nori DATE)

**1/4

2. Eiger vs. Hamuko Hoshi

**3/4

3. 235, Maya Yukihi & Risa Sera vs. Akane Fujita, Mochi Miyagi & Rina Yamashita

***

4. Miyako Matsumoto vs. Yoshiko

This turned out to be surprisingly competitive with Miyako getting clever counters and near-falls. Yoshiko kept this thing tight, and shows off her Y-shaped balance.

***

5. Hiroyo Matsumoto vs. Tsukasa Fujimoto

This was a good and well-paced timeout draw, full of neat set-ups and counters.

***1/2

6. International Ribbon Tag Team Championship: This is Ice Ribbon (Hiiragi Kurumi & Tsukushi) (c) vs. GEKOKUJyou (Kyuuri & Maika Ozaki)

Maika Ozaki looked awesome here, running through her opponents as the bulldozer of GEKOKU, but Kurumi has power herself and was quick to remind her opponents of that! Kyuuri gave a great performance as well. Obviously Tsukushi threw her wicked strikes. This was great.

***3/4

Ice Ribbon - #798 ~ Ribbon Fiesta 2017 (4/24/2017)

1. Akane Fujita & Nori DATE vs. Nao DATE & Satsuki Totoro

Great opener. Team DATE are such a breath of fresh air and a welcomed addition to the roster.

***

4. Best Friends (Arisa Nakajima & Tsukasa Fujimoto) vs. Lovely Butchers (Hamuko Hoshi & Mochi Miyagi)

Nakajima was beating hell out of Hamuko Hoshi. Kicking her in the head, stomping her nose, slapping her across the face, KNEE STRIKES. I loved it. A fun and fast-paced tag.

***1/2

5. Kyuuri vs. Mayumi Ozaki

Kyuuri unfortunately doesn't bring the fire in her comeback sequences, but she does hit a crazy Cutie Special. Not exactly a semi-main event quality performance.

**1/2

6. International Ribbon Tag Team Championship: This is Ice Ribbon (Hiiragi Kurumi & Tsukushi) (c) vs. Azure Revolution (Maya Yukihi & Risa Sera)

Maya and Tsukushi had a fun dynamic going here, I liked what they were doing together. Sera and Kurumi were here too!

***3/4

Ice Ribbon - Yokohama Ribbon 2017 GW I (5/4/2017)

1. Hamuko Hoshi & Team DATE (Karen DATE & Nao DATE) vs. Team DATE (Hana DATE & Nori DATE) & Tsukasa Fujimoto

This was loads of fun, TeamDATE looked right at home.

****

2. Maya Yukihi & Rin Kadokura vs. Matsuya Uno & Miyako Matsumoto

***1/2

3. 235 vs. Risa Sera

***

4. Hardcore Match: Akane Fujita & Minoru Fujita vs. Mochi Miyagi & Takashi Sasaki

***1/2

5. Maruko Nagasaki & Satsuki Totoro vs. Rina Yamashita & Tequila Saya

***

6. GEKOKUJyou (Kyuuri & Maika Ozaki) vs. Mio Momono & Tsukushi

The Kyuuri/Tsukushi heat building  was great with awesome exchanges.

***3/4

Ice Ribbon - #796 Sendai Ribbon 2017 (4/15/2017)

2. Tequila Saya, Kyuuri & Akane Fujita vs. Matsuya Uno, Maruko Nagasaki & Hiiragi Kurumi

***1/2

4. Maya Yukihi vs. Misaki Ohata

***1/4

5. DASH Chisako & Manami Toyota vs. Tsukushi & Tsukasa Fujimoto

***3/4

6. ICE×∞ Championship: Risa Sera (c) vs. Mochi Miyagi

These two brought the heat. I like Sera's edge. She chokes Miyagi with her own whip and wrestles more aggressively. Miyagi herself had something of a transformation, more aggressive approach than usual as well. This was worked so differently than the Risa Sera we've seen recently.

***3/4

Ice Ribbon - MARCH 2017 (3/26/2017)

2. Command Bolshoi & Leon vs. Kyuuri & Maika Ozaki

Fun, energetic tag match. Bolshoi & Leon rule. Dug the Bolshoi-Kyuuri sequence where they traded submission counters. Kyuuri hits a gnarly Cutie Special.

***

4. Akane Fujita & Jaguar Yokota vs. 385 Myankie's (Jun Kasai & Miyako Matsumoto)

Fujita's return match from injury, so naturally she takes a table bump and a superplex from a ladder. This was decent, albeit slow-paced.

**

5. Arisa Nakajima vs. Tsukasa Fujimoto

This was a brutal match. There's hair puling, strike exchanges, headbutts, kicks to the face, knees to the face, and plenty of surliness and disrespect. They work well towards the time limit, keeping the action fresh and dynamic, and the pacing hot. A level of ultra-violence that is rare in the Ice Ribbon ring.

****

6. International Ribbon Tag Team Championship: Avid Rival (Misaki Ohata & Ryo Mizunami) (c) vs. This is Ice Ribbon (Hiiragi Kurumi & Tsukushi)

Avid Rival are such a destructive, hard-hitting duo. Some of the bumps that Tsukushi took here were frightening. Kurumi's been looking especially good lately; loved that segment she had with Mizunami.

***3/4

7. ICE×∞ Championship: Risa Sera (c) vs. Rina Yamashita

Risa's weak offense and contrived set ups hurt this, but there's still some nice bumps and sequences to enjoy. An average match.

**1/2

Ice Ribbon - New Ice Ribbon #783 ~ Ryogoku KFC Hall (1/29/2017)

4. Triangle Ribbon Championship: Manami Toyota (c) vs. Kyuuri vs. Mochi Miyagi

Manami Toyota's renaissance continues.

***1/2

5. Aja Kong vs. Maya Yukihi

Aja Kong bullied Maya to bring out the fire and then extinguished it through sheer destruction.

***

6. Hamuko Hoshi & Hiroyo Matsumoto vs. This is Ice Ribbon (Hiiragi Kurumi & Tsukushi)

An awesome main event. Hiroyo and Kurumi's segment was out of this world; two burly joshi being snug as hell with each other. And then Tsukushi and Hamuko had their moment to close the match with counters and near-falls.

****1/2

Maki Narumiya Produce (3/16/2016)

1. Maki Narumiya vs. Risa Sera

This was a one-match show. The first half was all about friendly one-upmanship, then things get heated towards the middle with brawling and folding chairs, then it becomes a war of attrition in the third act. Both of them really went the extra mile to create a special match for Maki's retirement road.

****1/4

Ice Ribbon - New Ice Ribbon #779 ~ New Year Yokohama Ribbon 2017 (1/9/2017)

1. Maika Ozaki & Tequila Saya vs. Maruko Nagasaki & Matsuya Uno

Maruko started incorporating an evasive roll into her moveset and it has reshaped her as a performer, she's finding creative ways to implement it.

***

3. Manami Toyota vs. Tsukasa Fujimoto vs. Tsukushi

Cute match, you could tell that they were enjoying themselves and each other out there. Fujimoto takes a scary fall during an Ocean Cyclone-device dropkick. God bless this tiny woman.

**3/4

4. Hiiragi Kurumi vs. Kyuuri

This match was all Kurumi, she murders Kyuuri with a barrage of power moves. I don't think I've ever seen her hit the Go Flasher before so that was a first.

***1/4

Ice Ribbon - YOKOHAMA RIBBON ~AUTUMN~ (9/19/2016)

4. Hardcore Ribbon: Abdullah Kobayashi vs. Risa Sera

This was a fun match. You could tell that Sera was having fun even as Abdullah ripped the skin off of her forehead with a fork. A good time.

***1/4

5. Triangle Ribbon Championship: Ai Shimizu (c) vs. Maruko Nagasaki vs. Miyako Matsumoto

Fun as these Triangle Ribbon matches usually are. Shimizu fits well in Ice Ribbon ring, and Maruko is rapidly improving.

**1/2

6. International Ribbon Tag Team Championship: Best Friends (Tsukasa Fujimoto & Arisa Nakajima) (c) vs. This is Ice Ribbon (Tsukushi & Hiiragi Kurumi)

Best Friends have been on a killer run since their formation. That said, this match wasn't my favorite match from them and certainly did not live up to my expectations, but it did have its moments. The finishing stretch between Fujimoto and Tsukushi was hot and rad.

***