Emi Sakura &「Kotori」vs. Tsukasa Fujimoto & Yuuka (Gatoh Move, 6/22/2016)

Gatoh Move - Japan Tour・170 (6/22/2016)

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

Ice Ribbon - #845 ~ Oktober Ice Ribbon Fest (10/29/2017)

1. Giulia & Takako Inoue vs. Nao DATE & Satsuki Totoro

**1/4

3. Kyuuri & Matsuya Uno vs. Natsumi Maki & Tae Honma

***

4. Arisa Nakajima & Manami Toyota vs. Hana DATE & Tsukasa Fujimoto

****

5. Regina Di WAVE Championship: Misaki Ohata (c) vs. Maruko Nagasaki

**

6. ICE×∞ Championship #1 Contendership Four Way: Akane Fujita vs. Hiiragi Kurumi vs. Maika Ozaki vs. Nori DATE

What a wild ride, I did not expect this from a joshi 4WAY. It was non-stop bomb throwing. Maika and Nori close the match after the other two are eliminated, and I thought they delivered big. I was so proud of Maika when she got the win, big moment for her career.

****

7. International Ribbon Tag Team Championship (vacant) Tournament - Finals: Azure Revolution (Maya Yukihi & Risa Sera) vs. Lovely Butchers (Hamuko Hoshi & Mochi Miyagi)

Great main event. They kept things moving and the action was hard-hitting and enjoyable. Maya-obachan no-selling a Styles Clash was ridiculous, but I didn't feel it hurt the match. Excellent work. Everyone worked hard.

****

SEAdLINNNG - d-Higher (10/18/2017)

4. Arisa Nakajima vs. La Rosa Negra

It's nice to see Arisa working singles again. I didn't feel Negra had any chance of winning, but she played her part as the sub-boss to whatever they have planned for Arisa in December. The way she sold Arisa's offense was great; she was getting demolished by those suplexes.

***

5. Ryo Mizunami, Saki Akai & Sareee vs. Kaho Kobayashi, Rina Yamashita & Yoshiko

This was Sareee's farewell from the D. Although she will still be working with them as an outsider. This had good energy, an upbeat pacing. Yoshiko's building heat with Saki Akai, but the highlight was her lariat battle with Mizunami. I loved their WAVE match last year, I hope they meet in singles again someday. Kaho was also a standout. Great main event.

***1/4

WAVE - 10th Anniversary『CARNIVAL WAVE～NEVER ENDING STORY～』(8/12/2017)

1. WAVE Tag Team Championship: Gokigen BBA (Cherry & Kaori Yoneyama) (c) vs. Big Rice Field (Hiroe Nagahama & Kaho Kobayashi)

*1/4

3. Fairy Nipponbashi, Hibiscus Mii, Kyusei Ninja Ranmaru & Sakura Hirota vs. Hana Kimura, Hikaru Shida, Mio Momono & Rin Kadokura

**1/4

4. Aoi Kizuki & Nagisa Nozaki vs. Mika Iida & Yuki Miyazaki

**3/4

6. Ayako Hamada, Meiko Satomura & Nanae Takahashi vs. Chihiro Hashimoto, Satsuki Totoro & Takumi Iroha

Satomura and Nanae do a smashing job of bringing heat into this match. This is the best I have seen from Iroha all year; loved the back and forth slapping.

***3/4

7. Best Friends (Arisa Nakajima & Tsukasa Fujimoto) vs. Avid Rival (Misaki Ohata & Ryo Mizunami)

Enjoyable, fast-moving spotfest; these two teams have amazing chemistry. There were some unique counters and the double Hot Limit was great.

***1/2

8. Regina di WAVE Championship: Rina Yamashita (c) vs. Yoshiko

It feels surreal to watch a joshi event that takes place in the same venue Okada and Tiger Mask W fought in. This borrowed a lot from the SEAdLINNNG match, but since this is Rina's turf she was the focus of this story. The action was intense and hard-hitting, and the closing lariat battle was epic.

****1/4

9. ASUKA vs. Yumi Ohka

This went a little longer than it needed to be, but it was good. There were fluid sequences and counters, and ASUKA showing her freakish athleticism. Ohka brought it in this match, I was very impressed by her since she can be mediocre a lot of the time. It felt like it peaked somewhere in the second act; could've used some trimming, but still a great main event.

***3/4

Ice Ribbon - #832 ~ ICE in WONDERLAND 2017 (8/27/2017)

2. Asahi vs. Manami Toyota

This was Asahi's debut and she's against Manami Toyota! Asahi's peers were surrounding the ring, cheering her on, the crowd was super into it.

***1/2

5. Best Friends (Arisa Nakajima & Tsukasa Fujimoto) vs. Avid Rival (Misaki Ohata & Ryo Mizunami)

****3/4

6. Elimination: Maruko Nagasaki, Matsuya Uno, Satsuki Totoro & Tequila Saya vs. Team DATE (Hana DATE, Karen DATE, Nao DATE & Nori DATE)

There was a lot of action here and it didn't spiral out of control like the match in Yokohama. Hana DATE was injured so everyone swarmed her. The Maruko-Nori ending was had believable near-falls and proper escalation. Great match. 

****1/4

7. ICE×∞ Championship: Risa Sera (c) vs. Maya Yukihi

This caught me by surprise -- I didn't know Maya-obachan had it in her. Her leg work was great and she had all of these clever counters to Sera's offense. Sera's comebacks were kind of selling-free, but her offense looked strong and much better than it has looked in past defenses.

****1/2

SEAdLINNNG - Summer Blast (8/24/2017)

1. High Speed: Kaho Kobayashi vs. Manami Toyota vs. Maruko Nagasaki

**

2. ULTRA U-7 Tournament Semi-Final: Mio Momono vs. Yoshiko

The work leading up to the sudden death was whatever... there was a lot of obvious filler, Yoshiko using her weight to crush Mio was interesting. When they get to the sudden death, 2-count for the win, is where things get hot and Korakuen was really into it. Great stuff.

**1/2

3. ULTRA U-7 Tournament Semi-Final: Sareee vs. Takumi Iroha

Great match, loved the strike exchanges, and Iroha destroys Sareee with her powerbombs.

***

4. TLC Rules Match: Nanae Takahashi vs. The Great Sasuke

This match was mostly about The Great Sasuke trying to cripple himself. He sets up traps that do not work out in his favor, time and time again. Nanae wasn't holding back, Sasuke was willing to take hideous punishment, and I thought the action generally flowed well into the high spots. This was a lot of fun.

****

5. Best Friends (Arisa Nakajima & Tsukasa Fujimoto) vs. Avid Rival (Misaki Ohata & Ryo Mizunami)

This was a 20-minute rollercoaster of double team moves and surly elbow strikes. Arisa/Ohata seems to be the end goal of this best of three series, and I dug the heat building segments. 

****1/4

6. ULTRA U-7 Tournament - Final: Takumi Iroha vs. Yoshiko

I wasn't really into this one. It starts to pick up when Iroha does a tremendous sell of Yoshiko's sleeper hold, she was foaming at the mouth, struggling to catch her breath.. but the work before it was dull. Definitely one of the weaker Yoshiko matches this year. 

***

SEAdLINNNG - YOKOHAMA FLASH! (8/11/2017)

1. ULTRA U-7 Tournament First Round: Hirori vs. Sareee

**

2. ULTRA U-7 Tournament First Round: Kyuuri vs. Takumi Iroha

**1/2

3. Arisa Nakajima & Mima Shimoda vs. Nanae Takahashi & Tsukasa Fujimoto

***1/2

4. ULTRA U-7 Tournament First Round: Kaho Kobayashi vs. Mio Momono

***1/2

5. ULTRA U-7 Tournament First Round: Rin Kadokura vs. Yoshiko

**3/4

Ice Ribbon - #817 ~ Yokohama Ribbon 2017 (7/17/2017)

1. Hiiragi Kurumi & Kyuuri vs. Matsuya Uno & Miyako Matsumoto

Amazing opener, where Matsumoto's awfulness was at a minimum. Kurumi is easily one of my favorites to watch on the Ice Ribbon roster, and Uno is too cute!

***1/2

2. Ibuki Hoshi vs. Karen DATE

Pretty good struggle between these youngins. I liked the urgency towards the finish, and the post-match heat.

***

3. Akane Fujita vs. Maika Ozaki

It's not often you see a heavyweight clash in Ice Ribbon. These two are chunkier than most of the roster, and they're capable of dishing out and taking impactful moves. Fujita displays as viciousness when she grabs Maika's hand away from the ropes while applying her new submission finisher, and the struggle looks brutal. Great match. 

****

4. Maya Yukihi & Takako Inoue vs. Risa Sera & Tsukushi

The sequences with Tsukushi were amazing, especially her strike exchange with Inoue. Sera had great moments as well, and clever counters. Yukihi probably has some of the best-looking strikes in all of Ice Ribbon. Everyone looked awesome.

***3/4

6. International Ribbon Tag Team Title #1 Contendership: Best Friends (Arisa Nakajima & Tsukasa Fujimoto) vs. Lovely Butchers (Hamuko Hoshi & Mochi Miyagi)

I feel like there has been too much Lovely Butchers at the top of Ice Ribbon cards lately; they're easily my least favorite joshi at the moment. But this fucking ruled. They brought an aggressive approach to this match, answering Arisa & Tsukasa's nastiness with some of their own. There's a backdrop here from Miyagi to Arisa that looked devastating, and Fujimoto executes one of the best Tsukadora's I've ever seen. The pacing is fast, and the heat keeps building.

****1/2

SEAdLINNNG - This Is Us! (7/14/2017)

1. Akane Fujita vs. Ryo Mizunami

Ryo's a hard-hitter, Akane is a wrestler who knows how to take hard hits. Good match-up and they deliver a solid performance. I love that Akane's been taking bookings outside of Ice Ribbon lately.

***1/2

3. Rumble Style 8-Man Tag Team Match: Arisa Nakajima, Nanae Takahashi, Sareee & Yoshiko vs. Manami Toyota, Rina Yamashita, Takumi Iroha & Tomoko Watanabe

***3/4

4. Mima Shimoda vs. Yoshiko

***1/4

5. Best Friends (Arisa Nakajima & Tsukasa Fujimoto) vs. Nanae Takahashi & Sareee

A sequel to the wild sprint these teams had in Yokohama, but on a bigger stage in Korakuen. It was good, but nothing I haven't seen from them already. It was nice to see Sareee getting her first big SEAdLINNNG win.

***3/4

Ice Ribbon - #805 ~ Ryogoku KFC Hall #2 (5/28/2017)

1. Maruko Nagasaki & Matsuya Uno vs. TeamDATE (Hana DATE & Nori DATE)

**1/4

2. 235 vs. Cherry

**1/2

3. Karen DATE vs. Miyako Matsumoto

*

4. Maya Yukihi & Nao DATE vs. Satsuki Totoro & Tequila Saya

**

5. Best Friends (Arisa Nakajima & Tsukasa Fujimoto) vs. GEKOKUJyou (Kyuuri & Maika Ozaki)

Oh man, GEKOKU were getting the shit beaten out of them in this one. Arisa was a stampede, elbowing and kneeing and suplexing everything in her path. Tsukasa and Kyuuri have this submission exchange that I liked. Maika took some good bumps. Great match.

****

6. International Ribbon Tag Team Championship: This is Ice Ribbon (Hiiragi Kurumi & Tsukushi) (c) vs. Lovely Butchers (Hamuko Hoshi & Mochi Miyagi)

***3/4

7. ICE×∞ Championship - Hardcore Match: Risa Sera (c) vs. Akane Fujita

no

Ice Ribbon - Yokohama Ribbon 2017 GW II (5/5/2017)

1. Elimination: Maruko Nagasaki, Matsuya Uno, Satsuki Totoro & Tequila Saya vs. Team DATE (Hana DATE, Karen DATE, Nao DATE & Nori DATE)

**1/4

2. Eiger vs. Hamuko Hoshi

**3/4

3. 235, Maya Yukihi & Risa Sera vs. Akane Fujita, Mochi Miyagi & Rina Yamashita

***

4. Miyako Matsumoto vs. Yoshiko

This turned out to be surprisingly competitive with Miyako getting clever counters and near-falls. Yoshiko kept this thing tight, and shows off her Y-shaped balance.

***

5. Hiroyo Matsumoto vs. Tsukasa Fujimoto

This was a good and well-paced timeout draw, full of neat set-ups and counters.

***1/2

6. International Ribbon Tag Team Championship: This is Ice Ribbon (Hiiragi Kurumi & Tsukushi) (c) vs. GEKOKUJyou (Kyuuri & Maika Ozaki)

Maika Ozaki looked awesome here, running through her opponents as the bulldozer of GEKOKU, but Kurumi has power herself and was quick to remind her opponents of that! Kyuuri gave a great performance as well. Obviously Tsukushi threw her wicked strikes. This was great.

***3/4

Ice Ribbon - #798 ~ Ribbon Fiesta 2017 (4/24/2017)

1. Akane Fujita & Nori DATE vs. Nao DATE & Satsuki Totoro

Great opener. Team DATE are such a breath of fresh air and a welcomed addition to the roster.

***

4. Best Friends (Arisa Nakajima & Tsukasa Fujimoto) vs. Lovely Butchers (Hamuko Hoshi & Mochi Miyagi)

Nakajima was beating hell out of Hamuko Hoshi. Kicking her in the head, stomping her nose, slapping her across the face, KNEE STRIKES. I loved it. A fun and fast-paced tag.

***1/2

5. Kyuuri vs. Mayumi Ozaki

Kyuuri unfortunately doesn't bring the fire in her comeback sequences, but she does hit a crazy Cutie Special. Not exactly a semi-main event quality performance.

**1/2

6. International Ribbon Tag Team Championship: This is Ice Ribbon (Hiiragi Kurumi & Tsukushi) (c) vs. Azure Revolution (Maya Yukihi & Risa Sera)

Maya and Tsukushi had a fun dynamic going here, I liked what they were doing together. Sera and Kurumi were here too!

***3/4

SEAdLINNNG - GOLDEN GO!GO! (5/14/2017)

1. Kaori Yoneyama vs. Rin Kadokura

***

2. Highspeed: Maruko Nagasaki vs. Mio Momono

****

3. Hamuko Hoshi & Yoshiko vs. Hiroyo Matsumoto & Rina Yamashita

***3/4

4. Best Friends (Arisa Nakajima & Tsukasa Fujimoto) vs. Nanae Takahashi & Sareee

This was fast, furious hard-hitting tag team action, and what the glorious sparkling D is all about!

****1/2

Neko Nitta vs. Tsukasa Fujimoto (Ice Ribbon, 10/18/2015)

Ice Ribbon - #687 ~ Gifu Ribbon Neko Nitta's Last Arc (10/18/2015)

Neko Nitta vs. Tsukasa Fujimoto

Neko Nitta! This match was basically a showcase for her, she got a lot, including a spot where does a sidewalk slam onto the apron (!). Her hometown was loving her performance. Fujimoto's comeback seemed too sudden.

***1/4

WAVE - JOSHIPRO Festival ~ Love and Kindness and Strong Heart ~ (3/21/2017)

1. Hiroyo Matsumoto vs. Ryo Mizunami

***1/4

2. 48 Count Match: Cherry vs. Maya Yukihi

**1/4

3. ERINA vs. Kagetsu

**1/2

4. Hiroe Nagahama vs. Natsumi Maki

**

5. Fairy Nipponbashi vs. Mika Shirahime

**1/4

6. SAKI vs. Sareee

***

7. Rin Kadokura vs. Tsukasa Fujimoto

***

8. Misaki Ohata vs. Yoshiko

****

9. Sumire Natsu vs. Takumi Iroha

***3/4

10. Chihiro Hashimoto vs. Rina Yamashita

***3/4

Ice Ribbon - #796 Sendai Ribbon 2017 (4/15/2017)

2. Tequila Saya, Kyuuri & Akane Fujita vs. Matsuya Uno, Maruko Nagasaki & Hiiragi Kurumi

***1/2

4. Maya Yukihi vs. Misaki Ohata

***1/4

5. DASH Chisako & Manami Toyota vs. Tsukushi & Tsukasa Fujimoto

***3/4

6. ICE×∞ Championship: Risa Sera (c) vs. Mochi Miyagi

These two brought the heat. I like Sera's edge. She chokes Miyagi with her own whip and wrestles more aggressively. Miyagi herself had something of a transformation, more aggressive approach than usual as well. This was worked so differently than the Risa Sera we've seen recently.

***3/4

Maki Narumiya & Sayaka Obihiro vs. Tsukasa Fujimoto & Tsukushi (Ice Ribbon, 2/3/2013)

Ice Ribbon - 19'O Clock Girls Pro Wrestling #103 (2/3/2012)

Maki Narumiya & Sayaka Obihiro vs. Tsukasa Fujimoto & Tsukushi

This was a sweet match, lots of interesting offense on display. Narumiya is always one of my favorites to watch, I like how she pays attention to detail.

***1/2

Ice Ribbon - 19'O Clock Girls Pro Wrestling #74 ~ 1st Anniversary Show (6/1/2011)

1. International Ribbon Tag Team Championship: Emi Sakura & Ray (c) vs. Lovely Butchers (Hamuko Hoshi & Mochi Miyagi)

Man, this was such an awesome match and then Mochi botched her top rope Styles Clash and things got horribly messy from there. YIKES.

***1/2

2. Exhibition: Hikaru Shida & Saki Akai vs. Makoto & Tsukasa Fujimoto

Saki Akai's one and only match in Ice Ribbon. She's portraying her character from Muscle Girl. I thought they worked a fun match, nice chemistry and heel work.

***3/4

3. IW19 Championship: Hikari Minami (c) vs. Chii Tomiya

I love this match, it's creative and high speed. Chii hitting a tornado DDT from the guardrail onto the timekeeper's bell and sounding the ring bell into Hikari's ear was super fun. I also liked the spot where Hikari is applying a surfboard and launches Chii into the air like a Chinese acrobat routine.

****

Ice Ribbon - MARCH 2017 (3/26/2017)

2. Command Bolshoi & Leon vs. Kyuuri & Maika Ozaki

Fun, energetic tag match. Bolshoi & Leon rule. Dug the Bolshoi-Kyuuri sequence where they traded submission counters. Kyuuri hits a gnarly Cutie Special.

***

4. Akane Fujita & Jaguar Yokota vs. 385 Myankie's (Jun Kasai & Miyako Matsumoto)

Fujita's return match from injury, so naturally she takes a table bump and a superplex from a ladder. This was decent, albeit slow-paced.

**

5. Arisa Nakajima vs. Tsukasa Fujimoto

This was a brutal match. There's hair puling, strike exchanges, headbutts, kicks to the face, knees to the face, and plenty of surliness and disrespect. They work well towards the time limit, keeping the action fresh and dynamic, and the pacing hot. A level of ultra-violence that is rare in the Ice Ribbon ring.

****

6. International Ribbon Tag Team Championship: Avid Rival (Misaki Ohata & Ryo Mizunami) (c) vs. This is Ice Ribbon (Hiiragi Kurumi & Tsukushi)

Avid Rival are such a destructive, hard-hitting duo. Some of the bumps that Tsukushi took here were frightening. Kurumi's been looking especially good lately; loved that segment she had with Mizunami.

***3/4

7. ICE×∞ Championship: Risa Sera (c) vs. Rina Yamashita

Risa's weak offense and contrived set ups hurt this, but there's still some nice bumps and sequences to enjoy. An average match.

**1/2

SEAdLINNNG - LUCKIEST777 (3/16/2017)

1. Hiroe Nagahama vs. Kagetsu

Solid opener. Nagahama's always a fun squash.

**1/2

2. Rina Yamashita vs. Syuri

These two developed a nice flow, which was surprisingly because they're absolute opposites in wrestling style. Time out draw matches aren't easy to work, pacing issues, etc, but this was great.  Yamashita's SEAdLINNNG build continues.

***

3. Highspeed: Kaori Yoneyama vs. Maruko Nagasaki vs. Tsukasa Fujimoto

*1/4

4. Nanae Takahashi & Arisa Nakajima vs. Hiroyo Matsumoto & Ryo Mizunami

Nanae's segments with Hiroyo and Mizunami were spectacular, and some of the bumps she took were so hard they bounced her off of the canvas! The pacing was non-stop and momentum shifts felt like they could happen in an instant.

****1/2

5. Sareee vs. Yoshiko

This was Sareee's debut as an official member of SEAdLINNNG. The layout was simple, it's a competitive 50/50 type of match, but these two are bursting with charisma and fire. They definitely belong in the main event of Korakuen Hall. The flow is captivating and all of the moves looked great.

****3/4