Gatoh Move - Japan Tour・264 ~ Christmas Eve (12/24/2016)

1. Kaori Yoneyama & Hikaru Sato vs. Hikaru Shida & Madoka

Very fun match, ultimate battle of Hikarus; Sato was perving it up and Shida tried to avoid hip attacking him. Also, Shida did a very unique submission hold that involved hip attacks. Even with the comedy stuff, the work was great.

***1/2

3. Gatoh Move vs. REINA - 3 out of 5 Falls Match: Emi Sakura, Aasa Maika & Mitsuru Konno vs. Makoto, Hirori & Mari Sakamoto

This was a great inter-promotional skirmish. They kept the action exciting and moving, everyone looked good and had their moment to shine (except for Hirori maybe, but she was a cute face-in-peril).

***3/4

5. Asia Dream Tag Team Championship: Happy Makers 2 (Aoi Kizuki & Sayaka Obihiro) (c) vs. Riho &「Kotori」

Spectacular match. The action moved fast and momentum shifts happened in an instant. Obihiro was doing a hell of a sell job, and Riho's counterwork was excellent -- loved everything about their closing segment together.「Kotori」's execution was rough, but she's got an energy that makes up for it. Aoi-chan's in-ring genius shined as always. Brilliant stuff all around.

****1/2

OZ Academy - Summer Soft Breeze (7/16/2017)

1. Aja Kong vs. Hikaru Shida

An uphill battle for Shida, and she had to use whatever openings she could find, and seize the opportunity with shinai strikes and knees to head. It didn't reach the violence of their past encounters, with the blood and what have you, and the double KO ending hurts, but I thought this was otherwise an awesome brawl.

***3/4

2. MK4 (Kaho Kobayashi & Sonoko Kato) vs. Kaori Yoneyama & Yoshiko

Awesome match; loved the double team maneuvers. Yoshiko and Yoneyama had a fun team dynamic, and Sonoko is just the best.

***1/2

3. Manami Toyota vs. Tsubasa Kuragaki

**

4. Sekigun (Alex Lee, Mayumi Ozaki & Yumi Ohka) vs. Aoi Kizuki, Hiroe Nagahama & Rina Yamashita

This was a perfectly fine houseshow trios match. The opening FIP segment was pure sadism; Hiroe is a great bumper. I'm warming up to Alex Lee in Ozakigun.

***

5. AKINO vs. Hiroyo Matsumoto

**

Aoi Kizuki vs. Ryo Mizunami (WAVE, 4/10/2016)

WAVE - P-Tech Presents "CATCH THE WAVE 2016 ~ Opening Battle ~" (4/10/2016)

Catch THE WAVE Chrome Yellow Block: Aoi Kizuki vs. Ryo Mizunami

This was a fun sprint that went just under 3 minutes. Mizunami unleashes her crazy lariats, but Kizuki has a couple of tricks up her sleeve.

***1/2

Aoi Kizuki vs. Meiko Tanaka (WAVE, 5/17/2016)

WAVE - Young Oh! Oh! 29 (5/17/2016)

Catch THE WAVE Chrome Yellow Block: Aoi Kizuki vs. Meiko Tanaka

Aoi Kizuki's work on top included biting and bashing Tanaka's face into turnbuckles from top to bottom, and a nice backwork session. She is also having to frequently pull out wedgies which made this 15-minute draw all the more engaging. Tanaka reminds me of a younger Ryo Mizunami. I miss her.

***1/4

Gatoh Move - High School Graduation (3/28/2017)

1. Aoi Kizuki vs. Mitsuru Konno

This was a decent showing for Konno. She's new, so errors are to be expected. Aoi Kizuki is obviously a joshi puroresu artisan so there is a lot to be learned from grappling with her.

**1/4

2. Emi Sakura W vs. Yako Fujigasaki

***

3. Hikaru Shida vs. SAKI

This was a match built up on who has the better brainbuster between these two via social media, so they're going back and forth with them.

***1/4

4. Cho-un Shiryu & Antonio Honda vs. Rocky Kawamura & Sayaka Obihiro

***1/2

5. Aasa Maika vs. Hiroyo Matsumoto

***

6. Asia Dream Tag Team Championship:「Kotori」& Riho (c) vs. Masahiro Takanashi & Emi Sakura

This is Chinese variety art in the form of a wrestling match, such a mesmerizing display of balance and timing, coupled with great storytelling.

****3/4

Aoi Kizuki vs. Yuuka (Ice Ribbon, 6/27/2015)

Ice Ribbon - #659 ~ 9th Anniversary in Sendai (6/27/2015)

Aoi Kizuki vs. Yuuka

This was an entertaining match. Yuuka tries to beat Kizuki in a battle Mongolian chops at one point and that is obviously a losing strategy. Yuuka's rallies were energetic and she hits a beautiful triangle cross body.

***1/2

JWP - Fly High in the 25th Anniversary Party ~ The Thanksgiving (4/2/2017)

4. Manami Katsu vs. Mayumi Ozaki

Ozaki always brings the heat, no matter who she's facing. Unfortunately Katsu wasn't very good at all here.

**3/4

5. Daily Sports Tag Team Championship & JWP Tag Team Championship: Command Bolshoi & Leon (c) vs. WANTED '14 (KAZUKI & Raideen Hagane)

Bolshoi and Leon are a fun team to behold, and KAZUKI & Raideen were like miniature bulldozers. Loved every second of this.

****

6. JWP Openweight Championship: Hanako Nakamori (c) vs. Tsubasa Kuragaki

This is the final JWP Openweight Championship match on the final JWP show ever, so of course it ends on a roll-up. This was actually going well until that puzzling finish, the final match in the company should have had a decisive finish.

***1/4

Ice Ribbon - 19 O'Clock Girls Pro Wrestling #108 ~ 19 O'Clock Girl's Tournament (3/10/2012)

1. Tsukushi & Aoi Kizuki vs. Hikaru Shida & Sayaka Obihiro

Sayaka Obihiro has come a long way for sure. This was a fun match; the finish between Shida and Kizuki was exciting with Kizuki pulling off the upset.

***

2. 19 O'Clock Girls Tournament Final: Dorami Nagano vs. Kurumi

I'm not familiar with Dorami's moveset, but this match lets you know which move of hers Kurumi needs to look out for. Right out the gate, Dorami rushes Kurumi into an electric chair, but Kurumi is able to counter out of it. This is a 6-minute match wrestled with a sense of urgency, the action is flashy and flows well.

****

Gatoh Move - From the Prince Games (2/11/2017)

1. Mitsuru Konno vs. Riho

Mitsuru is Gatoh Move's newest trainee. She's tall. Decent opener where they trade cool submission holds.

**1/4

3. Aasa Maika vs. Kaori Yoneyama

Fun match with heat and rookie fire. I dig Aasa's body attacks. I really liked Yoneyama working on top, bullying Aasa with hair pulling and knee strikes.

***

4. Antonio Honda & Trans-Am ★ Hiroshi vs. Happy Makers 2 (Aoi Kizuki & Sayaka Obihiro)

This was a very good match. The overselling of Hiroshi & Honda was funny. Obihiro was exploding with energy as usual, her tag team with Kizuki is a fun.

***1/2

5. IWA Triple Crown Championship: Makoto (c) vs.「Kotori」

「Kotori」did a lot of neat things here. The size dynamic was well played and this builds to a heated climax. Makoto's Death Valley Bomb is beautiful.

***1/2

Stardom - Io Shirai 10th Anniversary Show ～ＩＯＩＯ～ (3/9/2017)

2. HZK vs. Kagetsu vs. Kris Wolf

This was proper high speed; an improvement over the similar Nagoya trio. This turns into a de facto handicap match with HZK looking strong fending for herself.

***

3. Midnight Angel & Minoru Suzuki vs Black Midnight Devil & KAI

This was a fun mesh of wacky gimmicks.

***

4. Toni Storm vs. Hiroyo Matsumoto

There were some bombs thrown at the end, including a nice German suplex from Storm, but overall I didn't get much from this.

**1/4

5. Kairi Hojo, Yoko Bito & Konami vs. Hiromi Mimura, Aoi Kizuki & Jungle Kyona

Fun trios. The draw here is obviously Aoi Kizuki making her Stardom debut. She looked good and fit in well with the rest of the girls.

***

6. Io Shirai & Meiko Satomura vs. Mayu Iwatani & Chihiro Hashimoto

My God, this was an excellent main event. Chihiro was looking very strong against Io, Mayu gets mauled by gruesome kicks and suplexes. The energy, the sequences and the drama here are absolutely grand.

****3/4

Gatoh Move - One Night in Prince Basement (11/19/2016)

1.「Kotori」& Aasa Maika vs. Madoka & Mitsuru Konno

There's a great heated moment where Aasa and Konno are trading kicks while applying kneebars on each other. Aasa knows how to bring the drama in the ring. Madoka held nothing back against these girls. This match ruled.

****

2. DJ Nira vs. Hikaru Shida

The Ass God goes on a shinai-swinging rampage.

**1/2

3. IWA Triple Crown Championship: Riho (c) vs. Makoto

I like Makoto as this overconfident heel who is holding GM's top singles belt captive and fighting against the roster. Riho shows great fire, and I dig how she makes use of the somato as both an offensive and defensive maneuver.

***3/4

4. Asia Dream Tag Team Championship: Happy Makers 2 (Aoi Kizuki & Sayaka Obihiro) (c) vs. Heart Move Kei Reform (Emi Sakura & Kaori Yoneyama)

A whirlwind of innovative tag maneuvers and counters with plenty of character from the performers. The workrate was mesmerizing; a near-perfect tag match.

****3/4

WAVE - HAPPY NEW YEAR WAVE ‘17 (1/8/2017)

1. Battle Royal: Aoi Kizuki vs. Cherry vs. Fairy Nihonbashi vs. Hiroe Nagahama vs. Manami Toyota vs. Moeka Haruhi vs. Rina Yamashita vs. SAKI vs. Tsubasa Kuragaki vs. Tsukasa Fujimoto

Aoi Kizuki cosplayed as a chicken in this match. It was nice to see SAKI of the former Buribato make her return. Yamashita goes over Fujimoto in a dramatic finish. All is well.

**1/2

3. Yukihi Maya & Sumire Natsu vs. Syuri & Tsukushi

Definition of a fan-service match. Water guns, FEET, Maya-obachan, Sumire Natsu, Yuki Miyazaki's embarrassment hold.

*

4. Best 2/3 Falls: Hikaru Shida, Mika Iida, Yuki Miyazaki & Yumi Ohka vs. Las Aventureras (ASUKA, Kaori Yoneyama, Sawako Shimono & Yuu Yamagata)

his was an enjoyable match chock-full of comedy and neat double team spots.

***

5. WAVE Tag Team Championship: Avid Rival (Misaki Ohata & Ryo Mizunami) (c) vs. "Oedo Tai" (Kyoko Kimura & Kagetsu)

At 24 minutes, this is long, and there is definitely a sluggishness to it, but I liked a lot of what they did here and they build to a satisfying finish between Ohata and Kyoko. Avid Rival has some of the most devastating double team moves you will see in joshi puroresu. That counter Ohata did of Kyoko's Gory Bomb into the Blue Dhalia was wonderful. Lots of heat and big boots being throw.

***3/4