DDT - Judgement 2018 ~ DDT 21st Anniversary Box Office (3/23/2018)

2. Joey Ryan vs. Colt Cabana

I was surprised that the crowd responded so well to this match, they even chanted for Cabana's bionic elbow. A solid semi-comedy match. I thought they did a good job building up to and around Joey's dick spots. Ryogoku's reaction to Joey having three lolipops in his trunks was pretty great.

***

3. Miyu Yamashita & Ito Respect Army (Maki Ito & Mizuki) vs. NEO Biishiki-gun (Saki-sama, Yoshiko-sama & Azusa Christie)

This was good. Yoshiko-sama and Miyu really came across as stars in Ryogoku. The others not so much, but I thought they all still performed solidly. Plus I love Azusa. Highlight was easily the short exchange between Yoshiko and Miyu.

***

4. Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship: Super Sasadango Machine (c) vs. Jiro Kuroshio

DUD

5. KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Titles: Shuten-doji (KUDO, Yukio Sakaguchi & Masahiro Takanashi) (c) vs. Kota Umeda, Yuki Ueno & Koju Takeda

Good generational struggle. Always get a kick out of watching the Mad Dog Kota Umeda perform. Shuten-doji were great controlling the ring, KUDO was esp. working hard in the early portions. I thought all of the pairings were good, favorite being the finish between Umeda and Yukio.

***3/4

8. KO-D Tag Team Championship: HARASHIMA & Naomichi Marufuji (c) vs. Daisuke Sekimoto & Kazusada Higuchi

Solid stuff, not exactly Ryogoku semi main-tier, but a good tag match. Marufuji didn't really try to do anything special, which has become the norm in his DDT run, but the other three were good. Higuchi's bumping was tremendous.

***

9. KO-D Openweight Championship: Konosuke Takeshita (c) vs. Shuji Ishikawa

Spectacular main event, and one of Takeshita's best singles performances yet. Ishikawa is one of those guys, for me, personally, that I feel relies on the same tropes too much, but in his big matches like this one he always busts out something fresh and interesting. The crowd reaction for this show wasn't great, especially for a Ryogoku event, but they were loud for this match.

****1/4

Stardom - Grows Up Stars 2018 (3/21/2018)

1. Nao Yamaguchi vs. Hiromi Mimura

Nao seems to be coming along fine, the crowd popped for her Ax Bomber.

**

2. Bea Priestley vs. Xia Brookside vs. Shiki Shibusawa

This was a lot better than I expected. Great action and pacing. Bea was putting a beating on her opponents, her offense looks very convincing!

**3/4

3. Team Jungle (Jungle Kyona & Natsuko Tora) & Konami vs Queen's Quest (Viper, Momo Watanabe & AZM)

Nice, action-packed trios match. I dug the exchange between Konami and Momo, and AZM did a cool springboard stomp on the apron.

***

4. Mary Apache & Faby Apache vs. Io Shirai & HZK

This was a spectacular debut for the Apache Sisters. Faby looked better here than from what I've seen of her in AAA. She took this match to the next level with her energy and ferocity. Mari seemed motivated by her sister's presence, and Io & HZK were great as usual.

***3/4

5. Oedo Tai (Kagetsu, Hana Kimura & Sumire Natsu) vs. Mayu Iwatani, Tam Nakano & Toni Storm

This was highly entertaining, a great houseshow main event.

***1/4

Heart Move Kei Reform (Emi Sakura & Kaori Yoneyama) vs. Makoto & MIZUKI (Gatoh Move, 6/28/2015)

Gatoh Move - Japan Tour・173 (6/28/2015)

Heart Move Kei Reform (Emi Sakura & Kaori Yoneyama) vs. Makoto & MIZUKI

Great match, I was especially into Makoto's performance, she was explosive and satisfying to watch, and had an enjoyable segment with Yoneyama. Per usual with GM, this had clever and visually stunning counters and tandem moves. 

***1/2

Riho vs. Tsukushi (Ice Ribbon, 4/24/2011)

Ice Ribbon - Riho & Hikari Minami Produce 10 Sponsored Entertainment Teens Opening Commemoration (4/24/2011)

Riho vs. Tsukushi

Bit of a letdown seeing these names together and watching them wrestle such an unremarkable main event, but it wasn't an offensive match, by any means. The action moved quickly, and I thought some of the counters and cut-offs were interesting. Couple of timing errors, but nothing that hurt the match. 

**1/2

Ice Ribbon/K-DOJO - K-RIBBON (2/11/2011)

1. Bambi & Aoi Ishibashi vs. ichinisanshidan!!! (Hikaru Shida & Tsukasa Fujimoto)

OK match. It was mostly bland as they stuck to the basics.

**

3. 3 on 1 Handicap Match: Hikari Minami, Tsukushi & Kurumi vs. Taishi Takizawa

This was a great match. Taishi is a big dude so the IR girls had to fight smart against him. Hikari is the tallest of the girls (5'6!) so Taishi feels most comfortable attacking her, which made for some funny moments.

***

4. Kaji Tomato & Riho vs. Saburo Inematsu & Miyako Matsumoto

Decent match, I guess. Kaji Tomato is always fun to watch. Saburo is not.

**

5. Marines Mask #2 vs. Sayaka Obihiro

This was a gimmick match where they threw baseballs at a board. The only thing I have to say about this is that Obihiro looked cute in her baseball uniform.

N/A

6. Kengo Mashimo & Chii Tomiya vs. Emi Sakura & Ryuichi Sekine

I thought this was good, even with the likes of Ryuichi Sekine being involved. The match shined brightest when Chii and Emi were in the ring.

**1/2

Ice Ribbon - Teens 2 ~ Intermediate Test ~ (5/22/2011)

1. Kurumi vs. Mika Iida

This was a match. Back and forth action where they were going hold-for-hold and none of it was particularly interesting.

*

2. Handicap Match: Shigehiro Irie vs. Riho & Kazuyo Tamura 

Kazuyo Tamura is Kazuhiro Tamura in drag. Riho didn't do much of anything in this match other than dropkicks so that was a disappointment. There's a ridiculous spot where Riho dropkicks Irie as he's holding Tamura on his shoulders and that causes him to backflip, spiking Tamura into the mat. 

**1/2

3. Hikari Minami vs. Tsukushi

This was great. It was rough at times, but I think it came together really well - they were working hard to put together a quality main event. The heated slap exchange in the third act took this to new heights, that was great.

***1/4