WAVE - Topaz (11/26/2017)

4. ASUKA vs. Chihiro Hashimoto

Fine display of mat skills and athleticism from both performers. The opening sequence was so amazing, the way Chihiro maneuvers on the mat (!). It begins to lose steam as it goes on, unfortunately, and there are two timeout draws here.

**

5. Hardcore: Ayako Hamada & Yuki Miyazaki vs. Ryo Mizunami & Rina Yamashita

Miyazaki has started a hardcore match trend in WAVE. This was chaotic, there's a piledriver through a table in the first couple of minutes! Yamashita does a diving head butt while wearing a trash can, Mizunami hits a lariat with soda cans, I was entertained from start to finish by the glorious violence.

***3/4

6. WAVE Tag Team Championship: NEW-TRA (Rin Kadokura & Takumi Iroha) (c) vs. BOSS to Mammy (Mio Momono & Yumi Ohka)

The WAVE Tag Team division has been disappointing me lately, but this was really good, great teamwork and dramatic near-falls. Momono was the worst little troll in this match, it was satisfying to see Kadokura beat her.

***3/4

7. Regina di WAVE Championship: Misaki Ohata (c) vs. Nagisa Nozaki

Nozaki's sleeper hold has been built up as a powerful maneuver for the past couple of months, and right out the gate she suckers Ohata into it with a handshake. Ohata escapes, but Nozaki never let's up the pressure, she takes any opportunity to go for the sleeper. The suspense and sense of danger was incredible. Ohata gave a stronger ace performance in her bumping and rallies. Some of the best storytelling I've seen in joshi puroresu this year.

****1/2

DDT - New Year Lottery Special! Every Ticket 2000 Yen Show! 2017 (1/3/2017)

4. Shuten-doji (KUDO, Masahiro Takanashi & Yukio Sakaguchi) vs. Dick Togo, Guanchulo & Yoshihiro Takayama

I would have liked to have seen a more frantic pacing for this match-up, but it was slow moving and boring. Guanchulo for most obvious fallman of the year.

*

5. DDT Extreme Championship - IPPON Light Tube Death Match: Jun Kasai (c) vs. Akito

The stipulation here is that whoever breaks the light tube loses (this is why they didn't bash the tube on their opponent, 411mania!), and it is one of the most creative matches I've ever seen. There are a lot of tense moments. Kasai bringing out a fake light tube was brilliant. A battle of wrestling wits.

***1/2

6. Candice LeRae vs. Daisuke Sasaki

This was a solid showcase for Candice, and the storytelling was amusing.

**3/4

7. DAMNATION (Mad Paulie, Shuji Ishikawa & Tetsuya Endo) vs. Happy Motel (Antonio Honda & Konosuke Takeshita) & Kazusada Higuchi

An alright match, nothing exciting happening here. 

**

8. KO-D Openweight Championship: HARASHIMA (c) vs. Mike Bailey

HARASHIMA goes unmatched in DDT when it comes to gradually building towards a heated finish, my goodness. This was a great main event. HARASHIMA's legwork was marvelous, it's oppressive and he starts stomping all over the limb like he's throwing a temper tantrum. Bailey's performance was solid, his selling was good and the stiff kick exchanges were the highlight.

***3/4

Kazusada Higuchi vs. Konosuke Takeshita (DDT, 1/7/2017)

DDT - Saitama Slam! Vol. 18 (1/7/2017)

KO-D Openweight Championship #1 Contender Tournament - Semi Final: Kazusada Higuchi vs. Konosuke Takeshita

This was a battle of fighting spirits, sheer physicality from start to finish. Takeshita does a hellish workover of the neck, borrowing some methods that Omega unleashed Okada a couple of days prior. Higuchi is a hard-hitter, but he's also really good at selling -- I loved how he stumbled around whenever he took a big blow. The finishing run was straight out of 80s All Japan.

****1/4

Stardom - Goddesses of Stars 2017 (12/22/2017)

1. Konami vs. Shiki Shibusawa

Another solid Konami singles match. It feels like they are building her up for something, probably a High Speed title shot.

**1/4

2. AZM vs. Hiromi Mimura vs. Mari Apache

Great high speed match, probably one of the best of the year. Mari may not be the most exciting performer, but she is technically savvy, AZM's hit-and-run tactics were great, and of course you have Hiromi's shout.

***

3. Oedo Tai (Hana Kimura, Kagetsu & Natsu Sumire) vs. Team Jungle (Hiroyo Matsumoto, Kaori Yoneyama & Natsuko Tora)

**

4. AWS Women's Championship: Kris Wolf (c) vs. Scarlett

This was actually fairly cohesive. It drags a bit towards the finish and I thought Wolf kicking out of two of Scarlett's finishers was unnecessary, but this was surprisingly solid.

**1/4

5. HZK & Jungle Kyona vs. Io Shirai & Yoko Bito

This is the first time that Io & Bito are teaming up as a duo (they've teamed in multi-mans in the past), and they made this team-up feel special with a great main event. Io and HZK are feuding for the white belt, but Kyona and Bito also have their own feud going on, both pairings were great.

***1/2

Daisuke Sasaki vs. Yuko Miyamoto (DAMNATION, 12/30/2017)

DAMNATION - Unlawful Assembly Vol. 2 (12/30/2017)

DDT Extreme Championship - 2 Out of 3 Falls Hardcore Match: Daisuke Sasaki (c) vs. Yuko Miyamoto

This was good, but I didn't feel it reached a high level. They had 30 minutes to work with and yet it feels like they were trying to do too much, it was all over the place. The groin attack spot was a great callback.

***

Tokyo Joshi Pro - Thanks, Merry Christmas (12/23/2017)

1. Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship: Miyu Yamashita (c) vs. Marika Kobashi

A solid opener. Marika used a couple of new techniques and you get a sense of her growth as a wrestler. Yamashita's workover and kicks were good, liked the backbreaker counter to Marika's springboard bulldog.

**1/4

2. Nonoko vs. Yuki Kamifuku vs. Yuna Manase

This match had a couple of really good moments, the Nonoko-Yuna segments were topnotch. I actually felt Kamifuku gave one of her best performances yet in this match, the finishing run with Nonoko was good.

***

3. Nodoka-oneesan vs. Rika Tatsumi

The crowd rallies strongly behind Nodoka, she is a wonderful underdog. Dig the narratives that Rika is building around the power of her ass and hip attacks. Good match, the crowd support added a lot.

***

4. Maki Ito vs. Yuu

This was a solid match. Maki Ito's limitations in the ring become apparent in singles competition, but I was still compelled by her performance. Yuu's offense looked fucking killer as always.

**1/4

5. Hyper Misao & Maho Kurone vs. NEO Biishiki-gun (Azusa Christie & Saki-sama)

**1/2

6. Mizuki vs. Shoko Nakajima

Didn't feel strongly about this. I did like Mizuki's facelock during the finish, Shoko's flexibility made the move look really brutal.

**

7. Reika Saiki vs. Yuka Sakazaki

Another great timeout draw involving Yuka. Miyu might be positioned as the ace, but I think Yuka is the full package. I like the way Reika carries herself, and she knows how to make those big moments count. The first half of this is pure gold, the outside segment has to be one of the best I've seen all year, and all of the cut-offs from Reika were great.

***1/4

Kagetsu Produce - Thank You For Everything (10/28/2017)

1. Hana Kimura & Konami vs Sumire Natsu & Aoi Kizuki

**

2. Dyna Mido vs. Jungle Kyona vs. Yako Fujigasaki

*1/2

3. Kaho Kobayashi vs. Kris Wolf

**3/4

4. Hiroyo Matsumoto & HUB vs. Hikaru Shida & Kohei Sato

***

5. Io Shirai vs. Kagetsu

It's not often you see Kagetsu as the sympathetic figure, but this is her show in her hometown so the crowd rallies behind her. Io has an aggressive workover session where she hits a neckbreaker dragon screw that looked brutal. The second half starts to become paint-by-numbers, especially in the finishing run, but the overall match was strong. Great main event.

***1/4