Showa-ko vs. Super Uchu Power (DDT, 1/12/2004)

DDT - First Dream of the New Year (1/12/2004)

Showa-ko vs. Super Uchu Power

This was Showa-ko's debut match. She is a cute masked wrestler similar to Ofune or HARUKAZE. Uchu Power gives her a rough beating with hard kicks, multiple tombstones and stomps to the head, but Showa-ko shows a lot of guts.

***

Tokyo Joshi Pro - Let's Go! Go! If You Go! When You Go! If You Get Lost You Just Go To The Prince! (1/20/2018)

2. Hyper Misao vs. Mizuki

**

3. Dragon Bombers (Maho Kurone & Rika Tatsumi) & Yuki Kamifuki vs. Maki Ito, Nodoka-oneesan & Yuu

This was a great trios match, enjoyable smooth action. Kamifuku was actually really good here and showed off a new hold (leg drop bulldog).

**1/2

4. NEO Biishiki-gun (Saki-Sama & Azusa Christie) vs. Marika Kobashi & Yuka Sakazaki

Another good heat building match for Biishiki-gun. Solid stuff from everyone involved. Saki-sama was hitting some great kicks, and I loved the spot where she cheap shots Marika with the rose.

**3/4

5. Miyu Yamashita & Shoko Nakajima vs. Super Milk Combination (Nonoko & Yuna Manase)

Terrific main event. Yuna's probably the weakest performer in this match, but she was trying her best to keep up with Miyu. Nonoko's genius shined bright - amazing struggle against Miyu during the finishing run.

***1/2

REINA - Golden Week Wrestling Festival 2015 (5/5/2015)

3. Kana & La Comandante vs. Hitana & Kurumi

What a bizzarre match-up, unfortunately the match itself wasn't nearly as interesting as it looks on paper. Comandante was the MVP - great comedic act.

**

5. Makoto & Rina Yamashita vs. Syuri & Tsukushi

Slow at the start (and by the end you understand why - it's a time out draw), but it turned into a great match as they picked up the pace. Syuri and Tsukushi gave strong performances and good things happened when they were in the ring. Loved the struggle at the end where Yamashita has Syuri in the sleeper.

***

Gatoh Move - Japan Tour・233 - Gatoh Move in Korakuen Hall 2016: Riho 10th Anniversary ~ 10 Years Hanasaku (6/22/2016)

2. Aasa Maika vs. Hikaru Shida

Spectacular debut for Aasa. The opening sequence where Aasa hits a dropkick and Shida immediately rebounds off of the ropes with a hip attack was great. I also liked Shida's confused reaction to Aasa's weird body attacks. 

***

5. Emi Sakura &「Kotori」vs. Tsukasa Fujimoto & Yuuka 

This was one of my favorite matches of 2016, and on rewatch I still love it. The energy that these four brought to Korakuen Hall was tremendous. The exchanges between Yuuka and "Kotori" were heated and intense (Yuuka's bullet time dodge always gets a pop out of me), but the magical Emi-Tsukasa segments take the match to new heights.

****1/4

7. Asia Dream Tag Team Championship: Buribato♡ (SAKI & MIZUKI) (c) vs. Happy Makers 2 (Aoi Kizuki & Sayaka Obihiro)

Great match, both teams are creative and fun to watch. All of the double team spots were visually appealing.

***

8. IWA Triple Crown Championship: Kaori Yoneyama (c) vs. Riho

This was great. Yoneyama was working very hard, it's not often you see her headlining Korakuen in a title defense - she was really going all out. Riho was doing her best HARASHIMA impression with that mean streak she showed when she started stomping Yoneyama into the corner. All of the counters and near-falls and knee strikes during the final act were amazing.

****

Gatoh Move - Japan Tour・240 (7/31/2016)

1. Aasa Maika vs. Emi Sakura

Solid opener - the finish was sick.

**1/4

2. Cherry vs. Maki Onizuka

This was a nice rookie squash. Cherry rules in these types of matches, she's so good at bullying and oppressing juniors. Nice physicality here as well.

***

3. Hikaru Shida, Ryuichi Sekine & Sayaka Obihiro vs.「Kotori」, Kazuhiro Tamura & Riho

The Tamura-Shida and Tamura-Obihiro segments were too good, also liked the finish between Shida and 「Kotori」. Sekine's covered in scars and his body is damp with sweat - I liked how they played up his griminess here, one of the few times I found him interesting. Good match.

***1/2

Stardom - New Years Stars 2018 (1/13/2018)

1. Hanan vs. Miranda vs. Ruaka

This was a fun opener. You could tell that Miranda was struggling against her smoll opponents, but I thought she did a solid job. Hana and Ruaka are both really good.

**

2. Hiromi Mimura & Mari Apache vs. Team Jungle (Kaori Yoneyama & Natsuko Tora)

Solid match. This feud between Hiromi and Yoneyama is hilarious, some of the best stuff Yoneyama has done in many years.

**1/4

3. Kay Lee Ray, Nicole Savoy & Xia Brookside vs. Oedo Tai (Hana Kimura, Kagetsu & Sumire Natsu)

This was good, lots of energy and movement. I liked the workover on Xia from Hana and Sumire, and the stuff those two were doing in this match in general - they were really entertaining. Savoy is supposedly a suplex expert, but I didn't find that her suplexes were particularly good.

***1/4

4. Jungle Kyona, Konami & Shiki☆d (Shiki Shibusawa & Starlight Kid) vs. Queen's Quest (AZM, HZK, Momo Watanabe & Viper)

This match was awesome, so much great action taking place and everyone got their moment. The HZK-Kyona segment was especially great.

***1/2

5. Wonder of Stardom Championship: Io Shirai (c) vs. Rachael Ellering