Stardom - Golden Week Stars 2017 (5/6/2017)

3. The Craft (Jessicka Havok & Tessa Blanchard) vs. Jungle Kyona & Natsuko Tora

***1/4

4. Mayu Iwatani & Toni Storm vs. Oedo Tai (Hana Kimura & Kris Wolf)

***

5. Artist of Stardom Championship: Queen's Quest (AZM, HZK & Io Shirai) (c) vs. Hiromi Mimura, Kairi Hojo & Konami

***3/4

Aasa Maika vs. Jungle Kyona (Gatoh Move, 5/5/2017)

Gatoh Move - Japan Tour・288 ~ Golden Gatoh Move 2017 (5/5/2017)

Aasa Maika vs. Jungle Kyona

This caught me by surprise as someone who isn't the biggest fan of Jungle Kyona's work. The idea of her working on top was a no-go for me, but she put on a great show here; one of the most exuberant performances I have seen from her. It probably helps that she has a charisma-spark plug to work with. Aasa Maika is like a miniature Sayaka Obihiro with her tokusatsu poses and unorthdox offense.

****

Io Shirai vs. Sumie Sakai (ALIYA' the Final, 4/7/2017)

ALIYA' the Final ~ With countless appreciation and plenty of love ~ (4/7/2017)

Io Shirai vs. Sumie Sakai 

This was a simple and fun little match. Sumie puts the heat on Io with her Oedo Tai sidekick liberally interfering, building for the Queen Quest leader's valiant comeback. The highlights here are Io's bumping, and the spot where La Rosa Negra and Sakai spank a helpless Io as she's trapped under the ring apron.

***

Hikaru Sato vs. Takayuki Ueki (BJW, 11/29/2016)

BJW - D-RIZE vol.6 (11/29/2016)

Hikaru Sato vs. Takayuki Ueki

Ueki apparently has a background in taiho-jutsu, which is basically the art of arresting people, and he manages to out-grapple legit shooter Hikaru Sato a few times. They tumble around a bit before Sato starts throwing mount elbow strikes. They trade clunking headbutts. Ueki hits a big German, but Sato shifts into an armlock and Ueki submits with little struggle. It was fun to see Ueki work outside of his element, and Sato gives him a lot. Ueki is an idiot who likes to take hits to the head so the headbutts here are a doozy.

***1/2

Tokyo Joshi Pro - At This Time, Get Excited in Shinjuku! (6/4/2017)

1. Nodoka-oneesan vs. Marika Kobashi

This was remarkably bad. A match worthy of a billion DUDs.

2. Maki Ito vs. Azusa Takigawa

no

3. Miyu Yamashita vs. Mizuki

*1/2

4. Yuna Manase vs. Nonoko

Dug the boinmaker sequence where Yuna hits a boinmaker of her own, and the angry Nononko boob-onslaught was awesome; Nonoko was hammering Yuna into her boobs, and Yuna was selling the destruction well. I'd like to see more of that from Nonoko.

****

5. Shoko Nakajima vs. Reika Saiki

**1/4

6. Losing Unit Dissolution Match: SIN Biishiki-gun (Saki-sama & Masa) (w/ Dr. Hayashi) vs. Dragon Bombers (Rika Tatsumi & Maho Kurone)

***

7. TOKYO Princess of Princess Championship: Yuu (c) Vs Yuka Sakazaki

no

NOAH - Global Tag League 2017 (5/4/2017)

1. Kaito Kiyomiya vs. Takuya Nomura

Really awesome rookie opener. Bushiroad needs to get Takuya before he becomes another chest-chopping strong BJ zombie.

***3/4

2. Hajime Ohara & Rionne Fujiwara vs. RATEL'S (HAYATA & YO-HEY)

I thought Rionne Fujiwara fucked off for good when WRESTLE-1 got rid of him, but here he is in NOAH, ughh... Ohara was doing gnarly backwork, crushing these skinny pricks across his knee. HAYATA & YO-HEY are a pretty fun indie-riffic duo. 

***

5. Kenou & Takashi Sugiura vs. XX (Hi69 & Taiji Ishimori)

This was an awesome sprint, and these guys were hurling nukes. Kenou is supposed to be a big bad heavyweight bullying the crafty little guys alongside Sugiura, but he's still junior-sized himself. NOAH the Reborn, ya'll.

***1/2

6. Katsuhiko Nakajima & Masa Kitamiya vs. Akitoshi Saito & Mohammed Yone

Yone has this weird disco gimmick that he doesn't really commit to. He catches Katsuhiko with a big high kick and knocks him straight out! What an ending!

**1/4

7. Global Tag League 2017 Final: Atsushi Kotoge & Go Shiozaki vs. Maybach Taniguchi & Naomichi Marufuji

What a goddamn match! There was so much action I don't even know where to start. Maybach's new look is awesome and menacing, and he looks like a star. Marufuji and Shiozaki went back and forth with surly chop exchanges, Kotoge connected with his awesome kicks and counters -- everyone looked great and had their moment to shine, and the crowd was hot. This blew me away.

****1/2

Stardom - Golden Week Stars 2017 (5/3/2017)

1. Hanan vs. Konami

I like the way Hanan takes Konami's kicks.

**

2. Hetzza & Hiromi Mimura vs. Oedo Tai (Hana Kimura & Kris Wolf) vs. Queen's Quest (AZM & HZK)

HZK and Hana were just going back and forth in a great segment, and I really dug the Boston crab struggle between them. Hiromi tries to get involved and catches a double bicycle kick, and they're back at it. There's also a fun exchange of roll-ups towards the end, and HZK hitting her Bombs Away.

***1/4

3. Hiroyo Matsumoto, Jungle Kyona & Natsuko Tora vs. Rebel & The Craft (Jessicka Havok & Tessa Blanchard)

Hiroyo vs. Havok! Lady Destroyer vs. Death Machine! Godzilla vs. Gigan!

***

4. Kairi Hojo vs. Toni Storm

Hojo says she knows Storm's weakness in the pre-match promo. Storm is the unbreakable Kiwi of Steel, but every final boss has their weak spot, and so, Hojo goes to work on Storm's butt. There's rapid-fire chops, a running dropkick, an octopus hold with spanking; this is a stellar ass-targeting workover. Storm makes the comeback, hitting her spike piledriver, but her injured butt prevents her from making the cover and the match ends in a timeout draw.

***3/4

5. Black Tiger, Dragon Heat & Mayu Iwatani vs. Dr. Wagner Jr., El Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr. & Io Shirai

The Stardom girls were having fun, Dragon Heat acted like an asshole, the Wagner Family did in their thing; fun vibes all around!

***