Saturday, November 11, 2017

Misaki Ohata vs. Yuki Miyazaki (WAVE, 9/10/2017)

WAVE - Kobe WAVE ~Revenge~ (9/10/2017)

Hardcore Match: Misaki Ohata vs. Yuki Miyazaki

I thought this was a well-orchestrated hardcore match. They knew how to make the spots feel organic, for the most part... towards the end it felt like they were just cramming in high spots that didn't need to be there. Both bled buckets and took shots to the head, this was as brutal as it gets.

***3/4

Friday, November 10, 2017

WAVE - Saint October (10/9/2017)

2. Moeka Haruhi vs. Yoshiko

Decent match, heatless, but Haruhi showed strong emotion.

**1/2

7. Nagisa Nozaki vs. Ryo Mizunami

Mizunami was overconfident and doing her thing, and Nagisa puts her to bed with a sleeper in under 2 minutes. I feel like this would have been so much better in front of a hot crowd, but I still got something out of it.

***

8. Regina di WAVE Championship: Rina Yamashita (c) vs. Misaki Ohata

This didn't feel much different than their previous matches, save for a couple of sequences. The Black Dahlia reversal from the Splash Mountain was amazing. Crowd was dead as usual which brought things down. 

***

Hikaru Shida vs. Kana (Hikaru Shida Produce, 9/6/2014)

Hikaru Shida Produce: Go Ass Train! ~ Azalea Taisho Wire Edition (9/6/2014)

Hikaru Shida vs. Kana

This was a fierce dogfight to determine who has the strongest ass in joshi puroresu. Hip attacks were in abundance. The match started to lose steam a bit towards the middle, and ending was the most basic of puroresu finishes, but there is still enjoyment to be found here -- it is ass-based offense at its finest.

***

Yuu Yamagata vs. Hikaru Shida (WAVE, 7/6/2016)

WAVE - Summer Games (7/6/2016)

Regina di WAVE Championship: Yuu Yamagata (c) vs. Hikaru Shida

Shida's targeting the midsection and Yamagata's zeroing in on the leg. The selling was excellent. Shida tries the Majo no Ichigeki (second rope fireman's carry drop onto the turnbuckle) on an unexposed turnbuckle and the WAVE roster is arguing for the referee to stop her. Excellent match.

***3/4

Thursday, November 9, 2017

Tokyo Joshi Pro - Smile YES Shinkiba (11/3/2017)

1. Shoko Nakajima vs. Yuki Kamifuku

Kamifuku is learning how to move around the ring better and is wearing smaller cutoff shorts, that's all I got from this. Not a good match.

*

2. Miyu Yamashita & Maki Ito vs. Yuu & Marika Kobashi

The sequence between Yuu and Ito was gripping. I thought Ito could pull it off.

**1/4

3. Azusa Takigawa vs. Nodoka-oneesan

*

4. Saki-sama vs. Mizuki

The struggle that Mizuki was facing was well-told, and Saki-sama's workovers are always compelling. That little interaction between Sama and Ito was great, they need a match together.

***

5. Yuka Sakazaki & Maho Kurone vs. Super Milk Combination (Nonoko & Yuna Manase)

Amazing debut for Super Milk Combination. Yuna looked really motivated, and Nonoko and Yuka were good as always. Maho is obviously the designated fall person, but she was fighting hard. That headscissors counter into the Oppai Driver from Nonoko was nuts. Good stuff.

***3/4

6. TOKYO Princess of Princess Championship: Reika Saiki (c) vs. Rika Tatsumi

Rika has been building the strength of her hip attacks and they were a serious threat to Saiki's title. There's a cool spot where Reika counters one with a kick and ends up hurting herself. This was fantastic; the crowd was hot and the action was engaging and full of emotion.

****1/2

Wednesday, November 8, 2017

WAVE - 10th Anniversary『CARNIVAL WAVE~NEVER ENDING STORY~』(8/12/2017)

1. WAVE Tag Team Championship: Gokigen BBA (Cherry & Kaori Yoneyama) (c) vs. Big Rice Field (Hiroe Nagahama & Kaho Kobayashi)

*1/4

3. Fairy Nipponbashi, Hibiscus Mii, Kyusei Ninja Ranmaru & Sakura Hirota vs. Hana Kimura, Hikaru Shida, Mio Momono & Rin Kadokura

**1/4

4. Aoi Kizuki & Nagisa Nozaki vs. Mika Iida & Yuki Miyazaki

**3/4

6. Ayako Hamada, Meiko Satomura & Nanae Takahashi vs. Chihiro Hashimoto, Satsuki Totoro & Takumi Iroha

Satomura and Nanae do a smashing job of bringing heat into this match. This is the best I have seen from Iroha all year; loved the back and forth slapping.

***3/4

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

Enjoyable, fast-moving spotfest; these two teams have amazing chemistry. There were some unique counters and the double Hot Limit was great.

***1/2

8. Regina di WAVE Championship: Rina Yamashita (c) vs. Yoshiko

It feels surreal to watch a joshi event that takes place in the same venue Okada and Tiger Mask W fought in. This borrowed a lot from the SEAdLINNNG match, but since this is Rina's turf she was the focus of this story. The action was intense and hard-hitting, and the closing lariat battle was epic.


9. ASUKA vs. Yumi Ohka

This went a little longer than it needed to be, but it was good. There were fluid sequences and counters, and ASUKA showing her freakish athleticism. Ohka brought it in this match, I was very impressed by her since she can be mediocre a lot of the time. It felt like it peaked somewhere in the second act; could've used some trimming, but still a great main event.

***3/4

WAVE - Be Exciting! (7/2/2017)

6. WAVE Tag Team Championship: Over Sun (Yuki Miyazaki & Yumi Ohka) (c) vs. Gokigen BBA (Cherry & Kaori Yoneyama)

For some reason BBA really want to be put in Miyazaki's Embarrassment Hold, and there was a creative moment where Yoneyama tries to force herself into it. Miyaki also does an inverted version of the move on Cherry, which looked cool as fuck. Probably making this match sound better than it actually was... it was very, very boring other than Miyazaki.

*

7. Regina di WAVE Championship: Ryo Mizunami (c) vs. Rina Yamashita

This was mostly action with almost no emotional depth, and there is nothing wrong with that when the action is fresh... but this was nothing I haven't seen from these two before. Still a solid enough slugfest, though, they were trading bombs, and Yamashita's cracks herself open with a headbutt.

***

Tuesday, November 7, 2017

WAVE - Weekday WAVE Vol. 108 (6/22/2017)

1. ASUKA vs. Mika Iida

Damn, this was good. IIda was either legimately hurting or doing a great job selling -- in any case, she did a fantastic job putting over ASUKA. They were roughhousing and stiffing the hell out of each other.

***3/4

2. Aoi Kizuki, Hiroe Nagahama & Moeka Haruhi vs. Cherry, Kaori Yoneyama & Misaki Ohata

**3/4

3. Isami Kodaka vs. Keisuke Goto

Goto's turning into a solid wrestler, and he seems easy to work off of. He actually had Kodaka's number towards the end, but the veteran caught him lacking.

***

5. Chihiro Hashimoto vs. Rina Yamashita

Solid heavyweight showdown. I didn't think it reached that 'next level', but they were trading some hard smacks.

***

6. 2 out of 3 Falls: Kyuuri & Mio Momono vs. Over Sun (Yuki Miyazaki & Yumi Ohka)

Enjoyed this a lot, Over Sun are such a fun team.

***1/4

7. Hikaru Shida vs. Ryo Mizunami

What an awesome match, it breezes through those 20 minutes. Shida was working over Mizunami in brutal fashion -- seriously, the outside brawl was one of the best I've seen this year. Those chair-punts to the face of Mizunami were wicked. I really like how Shida has been utilizing those knee strikes lately, they look and sound amazing. Mizunami was struggling to survive, picking her spots when she could and making it count. Fantastic match.

****1/2

Monday, November 6, 2017

Stardom - Mask Fiesta 2017 (10/29/2017)

1. Bear Cat (Hanan) vs. Kikimaru (Ruaka) vs. Starlight Kid

**

2. Nightmare Demon (Bea Priestley) & Lady Punk (Kelly Klein) vs. Sweet and Spicy (Chardonnay) & Spindra (Scarlett)

This match was fun, it helped that they were playing wacky characters.

**1/4

3. Fairy God Jungle (Jungle Kyona), Shiki Melody (Shiki Shibusawa) & Viola Tiger (Natsuko Tora) vs. Gakirou (Kris Wolf), Gekkimaru (Kagetsu) & Kikahime (Hana Kimura)

Jungle Kyona is doing a Fairy Nipponbashi gimmick where she has a magic wand that flips people and stops time -- she was fucking amazing here. It gives you a sense of just how charismatic she is. There's a hilarious moment where she beats the hell out of P-Chan and Tamu's too busy distracting the official to notice.

***

4. Aloha Bito (Yoko Bito), Masked Wan-chan (Konami) & Shout Woman (Hiromi Mimura) vs. Chupa Panda (HZK), IOTICA (Io Shirai) & Mini IOTICA (AZM)

Good and fun vibes everywhere, I loved every second.

****