Dragon Bombers (Maho Kurone & Rika Tatsumi) & Maki Ito vs. Marika Kobashi, Miyu Yamashita & Reika Saiki (Tokyo Joshi Pro, 4/15/2018)

Tokyo Joshi Pro - Let's Go To Osaka In The Spring, Together With Your Friends! (4/15/2018)

Dragon Bombers (Maho Kurone & Rika Tatsumi) & Maki Ito vs. Marika Kobashi, Miyu Yamashita & Reika Saiki

This was an incredible trios match and one hell of a build to Miyu-Rika. The action was great with everyone getting their moment to shine, but the storytelling took it to the next level. Miyu's selling of Rika's Dragon Sleeper where she was thrashing around before her eyes rolled over was fantastic.

****1/2

Miyuki Takase vs. Ryo Mizunami (WAVE, 4/6/2018)

WAVE - Happy Birthday WAVE Sakurasaku 3.9 (4/6/2018)

Catch the WAVE 2018 Crazy Block: Miyuki Takase vs. Ryo Mizunami

Takase has been so much fun to watch in this tournament, she's new, but I enjoy a lot of what she does in the ring, and she brings spirit and strong emotion in her performances. This had stiff exchanges throughout, and they both favor lariats so naturally it built to a climactic lariat battle. Excellent stuff.

****

WAVE - Nagoya WAVE ~Kin Shachi~ Vol. 16 (3/25/2018)

4. Catch the WAVE 2018 Violence Block: Ayako Hamada vs. Mio Momono

Good match. Hamada has been surprisingly great in this tournament. Ideal Momono performance with her being a sneaky little shit, and she also had moments of dominance as well.

***3/4

5. Catch the WAVE 2018 Crazy Block: Ryo Mizunami vs. Yumi Ohka

Great. Mizunami is always a joy, she brings such amazing energy to her matches. Ohka has been stepping it up a lot this year, I love what she has been doing recently. This was another great singles match from her.

***3/4

GAMI & Kikutaro vs. Kana & Magnitude Kishiwada (WAVE, 9/15/2008)

WAVE - Crazy Wave Midnight (9/15/2008)

GAMI & Kikutaro vs. Kana & Magnitude Kishiwada

This was the main event and it went 21-minutes (clipped down to 13 on WAVE NETWORK). It was enjoyable, though. Within the comedy and the perverted spots there was also genuinely good wrestling.

***1/4

OZ Academy - Saturday Night Fever (3/17/2018)

2. Manami Katsu vs. Sonoko Kato

This is GAORA so a chunk of this match was cut out, but I don't feel they cut out anything vital, nothing that disrupted the flow, anyway, so I'll still rate it. Pretty straightforward bombfest. I liked when they hit each other hard.

***

6. OZ Academy Openweight Championship - Dress Up Wild Fight: Yoshiko (c) vs. Mayumi Ozaki

This was a spectacular fuckery-fest, the type that only OZ Academy can deliver. The control segments by Ozaki and her minions are grueling and sadistic, and it was satisfying to watch Yoshiko get her redemption after the hell she goes through. Loved everything about MIO here as well.

****

Arisa Nakajima & Kana vs. Yumi Ohka & Moeka Haruhi (WAVE, 7/19/2008)

WAVE - Weekday WAVE Vol. 3 (7/19/2008)

Arisa Nakajima & Kana vs. Yumi Ohka & Moeka Haruhi

Another fun match from Kana's 2008 WAVE catalog. Haruhi gave an ambitious performance, Ohka was putting in work, and Kana's Passion Red gear is one of my favorite things. Great stuff all around.

***1/2

Hiroyo Matsumoto & Shuu Shibutani vs. Kana & Yumi Ohka (WAVE, 2/12/2008)

WAVE - Weekday WAVE Vol. 3 (2/12/2008)

Hiroyo Matsumoto & Shuu Shibutani vs. Kana & Yumi Ohka 

Excellent match, fast and furious action with plenty of fire. Shuu was quite good here, I liked how she sold Ohka's triangle choke, rolling her eyes to the back of her head. Kana though, she shined brightest whenever she was involved in the action. Shuu gets destroyed in the finish, taking a chain of big moves.

****

Triple Tails (Kana, Mio Shirai & Io Shirai) vs. GAMI, Ran YuYu & Kyoko Kimura (WAVE, 9/21/2008)

WAVE - Osaka Rhapsody Vol. 4 (9/21/2008)

Triple Tails (Kana, Mio Shirai & Io Shirai) vs. GAMI, Ran YuYu & Kyoko Kimura

This was a fantastic trios, everything was spot-on and they kept up a brilliant pacing throughout. Hip attacks galore from Kana.

****3/4

Kana vs. Yumi Ohka (WAVE, 2/23/2008)

WAVE - Climax Wave Feb. (2/23/2008)

Kana vs. Yumi Ohka

Great match, went a bit overkill with the near-falls during the closer, but great overall. I liked the trash talking and hair pulling during that Boston crab. Good use of hip attacks by Kana, she hits one between the ropes, one from the apron, but my favorite has to be when she and Ohka are on the turnbuckle and she uses hip attacks to set up a top rope DDT. Likewise, Ohka hit some gnarly big boots.

***3/4

Stardom - Dream Slam in Osaka (3/31/2018)

4. Mayu Iwatani & Tam Nakano vs. Toni Storm & Xia Brookside

Solid prelude to Mayu-Toni. Some of the execution was sloppy (mostly on Mayu and Tamu's end), but the match was enjoyable overall.

***

5. Wonder of Stardom Championship: Io Shirai (c) vs. Bea Priestley

The structure of this match didn't play to Bea's strengths. Her appeal is how stiff and aggressive she can be in the ring, so I would have liked to have seen her in a more aggressive role, but unfortunately we only saw glimpses of that.

***

6. Goddesses of Stardom Championship: Oedo Tai (Hana Kimura & Kagetsu) (c) vs. The Apache Sisters (Faby Apache & Mary Apache)

Great main event. This was in Kagetsu's hometown of Osaka so the crowd is rallying behind Oedos and Faby & Mari are the defacto heels. Strong defense for the Oedo Tai duo, the doomsday device dropkick was cool.

***1/2

Kana vs. Kyoko Kimura (WAVE, 1/16/2008)

WAVE - Weekly Wave Vol. 1 (1/16/2008)

Kana vs. Kyoko Kimura

This show only drew 71 people in 1stRING! It was a violent encounter as you would expect from these two, pure struggle and heavy strikes. Kimura headbutting Kana's hip attack was the highlight of the match for me, easily.

****

Konami vs. Mika Iida (WAVE, 4/6/2018)

WAVE - Happy Birthday WAVE Sakurasaku 3.9 (4/6/2018)

Konami vs. Mika Iida

This was a technical sprint with great submission exchanges and selling. They managed to build up to exciting moments despite the match only being 6-minutes long and everything felt like it served a purpose. Brilliant stuff.

***3/4

WAVE - Suddenly Friday Fight Night (3/23/2018)

2. Mika Iida vs. Sonoko Kato

No idea why Sonoko Kato is part of Iida's retirement road, but here we are. These two are such different performers that I would have never expected them to have such good chemistry. I loved every second of this. Great back and forth with plenty of stiff uppercuts to go around.

****

3. Catch the WAVE 2018 Crazy Block: Miyuki Takase vs. Rina Yamashita

This was a great match. Newcomer Miyuki Takase is quickly becoming one of my favorites, she has a great look and she gets better every time I see her. Hot finishing stretch in this match with some gnarly lariats.

***1/2

4. Catch the WAVE 2018 Violence Block: Hikaru Shida vs. Misaki Ohata

Reassuring to know that Shida had at least one good match in this tournament before injury. Exciting sprint with twists and turns.

***3/4

6. Catch The WAVE 2018 Violence Block: Ayako Hamada vs. Hiroe Nagahama

This match defied my expectations completely - a timeout draw match featuring Nagahama sounds frightening on paper, but they did their main event slot justice. Great action with Hamada using everything in her arsenal and Nagahama refusing to give in.

***3/4