Stardom - Bright Summer ~ RISE vs. Stardom (Day) (7/14/2018)

3. STARS (Hanan, Mayu Iwatani, Saki Kashima & Starlight Kid) vs. JAN (Jungle Kyona, Kaori Yoneyama, Leo Onozaki & Ruaka)

This is the first time Hanan has been in a match of this magnitude and I thought she looked good. This was a fun match with charming moments such as Kyona taking out the enemy corner with shouting.

***1/4

4. Dream Come True Tournament - First Round: Britt Baker vs. Natsuko Tora

Britt has an fascinating moveset, but she is poor at pacing and her strikes look like utter crap. The good points of this match were Tora's comeback sequence and the strong crowd support for her.

bad

5. Oedo Tai (Hazuki, Kagetsu & Natsu Sumire) vs. Queen's Quest (Konami, Momo Watanabe & Viper)

Great trios match with compelling previews of Kagetsu/Viper and Momo/Hazuki. Konami's heated flurry on Hazuki was my favorite moment of the match.

***3/4

Keisuke Ishii vs. Tetsuya Endo (DDT, 8/31/2014)

DDT - Memories of Summer Vacation 2014 (8/31/2014)

KO-D Openweight Title #1 Contendership Tournament - Finals: Keisuke Ishii vs. Tetsuya Endo

Fantastic clash with Tetsuya giving a strong effort against the veteran Ishii. They gradually build into an exciting finishing stretch that had the crowd invested, Endo's graceful high-flying and Ishii's rapid kicks and knee strikes.

****3/4

SAKI & Yuna Mizumori vs. Cho-un Shiryu & Masahiro Takanashi (Gatoh Move, 6/9/2018)

Gatoh Move - Japan Tour・360 (6/9/2018)

SAKI & Yuna Mizumori vs. Cho-un Shiryu & Masahiro Takanashi

Second time seeing Yuna in action. She gave a stronger impression this time around as she showed off more of what she can do. As usual with GM, there were interesting and fun set-ups and sequences.

***1/2

Hiroyo Matsumoto vs. Saori Anou (OZ Academy, 7/8/2018)

OZ Academy - Love Each Other (7/8/2018)

OZ Academy Openweight Championship #1 Contendership Tournament - First Round: Hiroyo Matsumoto vs. Saori Anou

Rematch of their 2016 Stardom bout. This was a sprint with a strong sense of urgency and a very cool counter to set up the finish.

***1/2

ALL OUT (Akito, Konosuke Takeshita & Shunma Katsumata) vs. Cassandra Miyagi, DASH Chisako & Meiko Satomura (DDT, 7/24/2018)

DDT - Live! Maji Manji 卍 #12 (7/24/2018)

KO-D Six Man Tag Team Championship: ALL OUT (Akito, Konosuke Takeshita & Shunma Katsumata) (c) vs. Cassandra Miyagi, DASH Chisako & Meiko Satomura

This was an exciting trios with interesting pairings. It was packed with action and everyone had their moment to shine, especially DASH Chisako who put in an impressive performance and did a huge dive off of the entrance gate. There's good heat between Takeshita and Satomura as well.

***3/4

Ice Ribbon - #891 ~ Osaka Ribbon 2018 II (6/16/2018)

2. Arisa Nakajima, Asahi & Tsukushi vs. Giulia, Rina Yamashita & Yoshiko

Fun fast-moving trios with great exchanges between Tsukushi and Yoshiko.

***3/4

5. Six Woman Tag Team Tournament - Finals: Akane Fujita, Hiiragi Kurumi & Mochi Miyagi vs. Maika Ozaki, Saori Anou & Tae Honma

This was an absolute doozy of a trios to close the six-man tournament, with one exciting sequence flowing into the next. Maika Ozaki shined bright.

****1/4

Tokyo Joshi Pro - Go Ahead, Hot Guys In Osaka! (7/21/2018)

4. Shoko Nakajima vs. Yuki Aino

Another fun match between these two. Yuki is obviously limited in the ring so that allowed Shoko to do all sorts of fun stuff as she was working on top for much of this. There's also a full nelson struggle that I liked.

***3/4

5. Miyu Yamashita & Ito Respect Army (Ito Maki & Mizuki) vs. NEO Bishiiki-gun (Sakisama, Azusa Christie & Martha)

This match was a lot of fun. Mizuki and Masa have a great sequence in the opening and the Bii-gun infighting was entertaining.

***

DDT - SUMMER VACATION 2018 (7/22/2018)

5. KO-D Tag Team Championship: DAMNATION (Tetsuya Endo & Mad Paulie) (c) vs. Mike Bailey & MAO

Thought Endo & Paulie were really on point together compared to the match where they won the belts. MAO & Bailey were great as well with their visually stunning high flying and double team maneuvers.

****

6. KO-D Openweight Championship: Shigehiro Irie (c) vs. HARASHIMA

Spectacular bout. The defending champion Irie is winless against HARASHIMA in singles so tensions were high during the wild finishing run. There were clever counters and spots throughout the match that makes this a standout in their series.

****1/4

Daisuke Sasaki vs. Shuji Ishikawa (DDT, 1/11/2018)

DDT - D-Ou Grand Prix 2018 In Yokohama (1/11/2018)

D-Ou Grand Prix 2018 Block B: Daisuke Sasaki vs. Shuji Ishikawa

I couldn't buy into Sasaki kicking out of a superplex at 1, but this was otherwise a great match and the story of two stablemates going at it was told well. Ishikawa hit some gnarly knee strikes and there's fun involving lots of folding chairs. 

****