Isami Kodaka vs. HARASHIMA (DDT, 3/21/2016)

DDT - Judgement 2016 ~ DDT 19th Anniversary Show (3/21/2016)

KO-D Openweight Championship: Isami Kodaka (c) vs. HARASHIMA

I remember being disappointed in this match when I first saw it, and it does have its flaws (HARASHIMA's spotty leg selling, Kodaka's awkwardness), but it's also a lot of fun. They were trading stiff strikes, there were clever counterattacks -- it felt like a match where two guys just went out there and experimented. The ending sequence with the sweep into the Somato was fucking wicked.

***1/4

DNA - FIGHTING GIG 34 ~ Starting Over ~ (7/4/2017)

1. Diego & Rekka vs. Cody Hall & Mike Bailey

***3/4

2. Gran MilliMeters (Daiki Shimomura & Nobuhiro Shimatani) vs. Kotaro Suzuki & Shiro Koshinaka

***1/4

4. MAO vs. Tetsuya Endo

ＭＡＯ

***1/2

7. Shunma Katsumata vs. Yuki Ueno

Shunma with his new and improved look has potential to be a future top guy. He's a maniac bumper as well. Showcasing Yuki was the story of the match.

***1/2

DDT - Who's Gonna Top? DDT Dramatic General Election 2017 ~ Last Request Special! (9/24/2017)

6. HARASHIMA vs. KUDO

Thank God Yasu Urano was booked on this show. He's the best HARASHIMA cheerleader. This was a 'Greatest Hits' kind of match where they were hitting their signature sequences and spots. I didn't feel there was a strong narrative hook to make this stand out from their most recent matches, but the physicality was there -- they were beating the shit out of each other. Cute match.

***3/4

7. KO-D Openweight Championship / DDT Extreme Championship / Independent World Junior Heavyweight Championship: Daisuke Sasaki (c) [DDT] vs. Ken Ohka (c) [Independent] vs. Konosuke Takeshita (c) [KO-D]

This is a bizarre match-up, I didn't know what to expect from it, but it turned out to be a wild fucking ride. Takeshita looked like a fucking wrecking machine in this match, his offense had a ton of velocity behind it. Sasaki is a maestro, and Ohka looked great whenever he got his time to shine. Fun all around.

***3/4

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

Aasa Maika vs. Emi Sakura (Gatoh Move, 4/9/2017)

Gatoh Move - Japan Tour・283 (4/9/2017)

Aasa Maika vs. Emi Sakura

Always thrilled to watch an Aasa singles. This was another good one. The way Emi was punishing Aasa, oh man, just excellent work. Great match.

***1/4

Queen's Quest (HZK & Io Shirai) vs. Bambi & ERINA (K-DOJO, 9/4/2017)

K-DOJO - TAKA Michinoku 25th Anniversary ~ Simple Is Best (9/4/2017)

Queen's Quest (HZK & Io Shirai) vs. Bambi & ERINA

Once Bami & ERINA started to make their comebacks things got interesting. Bambi's offense was strong -- she knocks Io out of the ring with a hip attack, and fucking plants HZK with an STO. QQ did their thing with cut-offs and a workover..

***1/4

Gatoh Move - Japan Tour・294 ~ Riho 20th Birthday Produce: I Am 20 Years Old! (6/5/2017)

3. Cho-un Shiryu, Emi Sakura & Masahiro Takanashi vs. Sayaka Obihiro, Rocky Kawamura & Hikaru Shida

This was an M-Pro style roller coaster ride; it had comedy and great wrestling. Wow, Shida looked too cute in this.

***3/4

4. Aasa Maika vs. Ryo Mizunami

Mizunami's a wrecking ball of an aggressor; Aasa's all fighting spirit, and her counterwork and rallies were top notch. These two are both charismatic and know how to put on a compelling performance. Crowd reaction said it all.

****

Stardom - 5★STAR GP2017 (9/18/2017)

4. 5★STAR GP Red Stars Block: Hana Kimura vs. Kris Wolf

Hana used a variety of meats to distract Kris, and things got heated between them. Fun little match, loved the aggression Hana-chan showed.

**3/4

5. 5★STAR GP Blue Stars Block: Jungle Kyona vs. Tam Nakano

The crowd was lively for this one. Tam is green, but she makes up for that with her charisma. Kyona's leg gives out when she lifts Tam for her powerbomb finisher and the move falls apart. She doesn't know how to lift. She needs to work on lifting!

***

7. 5★STAR GP Blue Stars Block: HZK vs. Io Shirai

Good! The best of HZK's tournament (for what that is worth). She went toe-to-toe with Io in counters and kicked out of the moonsault.

***

8. 5★STAR GP Red Stars Block: Viper vs. Yoko Bito

Viper ambushes Bito, and they're just going back and forth with big moves. Viper's offense could have looked better... I wasn't really into this until Bito's comeback.

**1/4

9. 5★STAR GP Red Stars Block: Kagetsu vs. Mayu Iwatani

Kagetsu tries to murder Mayu by pushing the entrance gate on top of her. Mayu's neck ends up sandwiched between the structure and a guardrail, it looked horrific. This was good, these two obviously have amazing chemistry and they put on a fresh installment to their feud.

***3/4

10. 5★STAR GP - Finals: Toni Storm vs. Yoko Bito

bad

Mayu Iwatani vs. Momo Watanabe (Stardom, 3/12/2016)

Stardom - Stardom Grows Up Stars 2016 (3/12/2016)

High Speed Championship: Mayu Iwatani (c) vs. Momo Watanabe

This was magic. Momo puts on a spectacular performance in her first title match. Mayu wrestled like she had some place else to be until Momo shows that she is to be taken seriously. Everything just falls into place here, it is mesmerizing.

****3/4