OZ Academy - No End Taboo (12/3/2017)

2. Maya Yukihi vs. Rina Yamashita

**1/4

3. Aoi Kizuki, Kaori Yoneyama, Koharu Hinata & Yumiko Hotta vs. MK4 (AKINO, Kaho Kobayashi, Kakeru Sekiguchi & Sonoko Kato)

***

4. Aja Kong vs. Hiroyo Matsumoto

**

5. Sekigun (Alex Lee, Mayumi Ozaki & Yumi Ohka) vs. Hikaru Shida, Moeka Haruhi & Saori Anou

***

6. OZ Academy Openweight Championship: Yoshiko (c) vs. Tsubasa Kuragaki

***1/2

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

DDT - Uchikomi! Presents Road to Ryogoku 2017 (7/23/2017)

2. Makoto Oishi & Yoshiko vs. Masahiro Takanashi & Saki Akai

Good match, Saki looked great and I was into everything Yoshiko did.

**1/2

5. KO-D Tag Team Championship: YaroZ (Kazusada Higuchi & Shigehiro Irie) (c) vs. DAMNATION (Shuji Ishikawa & Mad Paulie)

This was packed with action, really great big boys clash.

***3/4

6. DDT Extreme Championship - Ladder Match: Daisuke Sasaki (c) vs. Joey Ryan

The dick spots were well played and I liked how they built around them, and the spike lollipop and LEGOs were a lot of fun. Joey's an underrated brawler, dude was throwing nice punches.

***1/4

7. KO-D Openweight Championship: Konosuke Takeshita (c) vs. Keisuke Ishii

Takeshita was holding his own, but this was Ishii's story, he was giving it all he had, zeroing in on the neck and answering almost everything Takeshita threw at him. The escalation in this match was amazing, it gets really heated and emotional towards the end. Terrific match.

****1/2

8. KO-D Openweight Championship: Konosuke Takeshita (c) vs. Naomi Yoshimura

After defending the belt, Takeshita has to deal with an orange steamroller named Naomi Yoshimura who has cashed in his Right-to-Challenge contract. This was good, they were throwing bombs and Takeshita gets powerbombed through a table. Really put Yoshimura over as a beast.

***1/4

Rina Yamashita vs. Yoshiko (WAVE, 8/12/2017)

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

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

Yoshiko vs. Miona Ishii (SEI☆ZA, 7/28/2017)

SEI☆ZA - Third Battle: ~ Stars of the Night of Summer ~ (7/28/2017)

Yoshiko vs. Miona Ishii 

This was OK. Yoshiko's reprisals could have been more punishing. You put Yoshiko in this type of match-up for her to destroy her opponent, not take it easy on them. The crowd sounded like they were anticipating a mauling, but it never came. Ishii looked good; I liked the fire she showed with the slap to the face.

**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

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

**

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

SEAdLINNNG - Fortissimo (5/24/2017)

1. High Speed: Maruko Nagasaki & Tsukasa Fujimoto vs. Mio Momono & Tsukushi

I love these matches. Very fun hai supido.

***1/2

2. Hiiragi Kurumi & Sareee vs. Rin Kadokura & Takumi Iroha

This wasn't connecting with me until the third half and felt like it went on forever. Always great to see Iroha make tape, though.

**1/4

3. Aja Kong & AKINO vs. Nanae Takahashi & Yuki Miyazaki

Nanae is lowkey one of my favorite joshi. I can always expect her to put on a compelling performance, and she takes one hell of a bump. This was a great match from hard-hitting obasan.

***3/4

4. Arisa Nakajima vs. Hiroyo Matsumoto

This was a back-and-forth where all of the moves and counters were well-placed, and it builds into a crushing finish. Arisa's desperation came across well in her facial expressions, and her suplexes were terrific.

****

5. Rina Yamashita vs. Yoshiko

These two are like alternate universe versions of each other, so they make for great rivals. The finish is a lariat war where they're just trading heavy smacks, knocking the bajeezus out of one another. The selling and execution made it one of the more compelling lariat exchanges I've seen in a while; the blood from Rina's mouth splashes across her face in a sweet visual.

****1/2

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

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

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

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

SEAdLINNNG - Integral-d (1/26/2017)

4. Hiroyo Matsumoto & Sareee vs. Aja Kong & Yoshiko

Sareee came into this thing looking for a fight with her sights set on Yoshiko, and they do some great feuding that builds up to an explosive climax. A dormant anger from Yoshiko provoked and unleashed! I loved the chaos of the finale; a commotion mowing through the crowd as talents come rushing in to break up the brawl. Easily one of the best non-finishes I've ever seen.

****3/4

5. Arisa Nakajima vs. Nanae Takahashi

This was a big match, one that gradually builds over close to 30 minutes. Arisa was working hard, her execution was pristine and she showed a lot of heart. This was billed as her rebirth and it felt like it. I look forward to what she'll do as a member of SEAdLINNNG.

****

Yuzuki Aikawa: Wonder of Stardom Championship (Stardom, 7/24/2011~2/26/2012)

Stardom - Stardom X Stardom 2011 ~ Nanae Takahashi 15th Anniversary (7/24/2011)

Wonder of Stardom Championship (decision): Yuzuki Aikawa vs. Yoshiko

A match of high-end boob punishment. Something about women getting their boob abused gets Korakuen Hall fired up. The heat and the sheer disrespect on display was wonderful. Awesome stuff.

****

Stardom - Wonderful Stars 2011 (9/25/2011)

Wonder of Stardom Championship: Yuzuki Aikawa (c) vs. Io Shirai

A clash between ace and future ace. Io was such a nasty bully during her control segments, stomping and belittling Yuzuki, and how she shrugged off Yuzupon's initial offense. Ponpon's comeback segments were just as great; smoothly executed kicks to violent results.

***3/4

Stardom - Year End Stars 2011 (12/23/2011)

Wonder of Stardom Championship: Yuzuki Aikawa (c) vs.  Arisa Hoshiki

This was a bit on the lighthearted side for a championship match. I would have liked to have seen something more violent, but nonetheless fun.

**

Stardom - New Year Stars 2012 (2/26/2012)

Wonder of Stardom Championship: Yuzuki Aikawa (c) vs. Miho Wakizawa

The Shining Wizard Wakizawa takes in this match, good lord! There's not a whole lot here to be honest, but that finishing sequence was sheer brutality.

**1/2

Stardom - Stardom X Stardom 2014 (8/10/2014) (Io Shirai/Yoshiko)

Stardom X Stardom 2014 (8/10/2014)

World of Stardom Championship: Io Shirai (c) vs. Yoshiko

This match was all about Yoshiko and her growth as a wrestler. She was on a different level than when she challenged Io for the belt back in 2013; bigger, stronger, wilder. Io had to breakout new tricks and go back to the drawing board to keep the monster guessing because Yoshiko had the champion well-scouted. It was sheer dominance from Yoshiko through brute force.

***1/2

Stardom - Year-End Climax 2012 (12/24/2012)

5. Goddesses of Stardom Championship: Kawasaki Katsushika Saikyou Densetsu (Natsuki☆Taiyo & Yoshiko) (c) vs. Hiroyo Matsumoto & Yuhi

Yoshiko bears the Rising Sun flag on her gear. What a radical. There was significant heat here since Yoshiko and Natsuki like to dish it out as hard as they like to take it. This was good all around.

***3/4

6. World of Stardom Championship: Nanae Takahashi (c) vs. Yuzuki Aikawa

Classic Nanae big match-style sprint, nonstop hard-hits and hard bumps. Yuzupon was all raw emotion and fighting spirit, selling the dramatic kickouts like they took everything out of her, wearing a shell-shocked expression. Especially loved the moment where she tries to turn Nanae's head into mush with axe kicks.

****3/4

Stardom - Queen Tradition 2014 (12/14/2014)

2. Kellie Skater vs. Makoto vs. Miyako Matsumoto

**

3. Kinya Oyanagi & Lin Byron vs Yoshihiro Takayama & Koharu Hinata

I don't know how or why this match was booked on a Stardom card, but I thought everyone did good here, even Kinya Oyanagi, whose gimmick seems to be 'most boring wrestler in the world', with Hinata being the standout. Lin Byron a cute.

**1/2

4. Act Yasukawa & Syuri vs. Takumi Iroha & Reo Hazuki

This is Act's homecoming match and she's brought along Syuri as her special tag partner. Kind of a basic tag match other than the novelty of Syuri wrestling in a Stardom ring. Hazuki running double foot stomping Yasukawa for almost a minute straight was fun.

**

5. Io Shirai, Mayu Iwatani & Yoshiko vs.  Nanae Takahashi, Kairi Hojo & Koguma

Watching this has made me nostalgic for the old Yoshiko. She was a wild beast. Really fun spotfest. The bear cub in blue shorts looked especially impressive.

****