Miyu Yamashita vs. Yuu (Tokyo Joshi Pro, 8/25/2018)

Tokyo Joshi Pro - Brand New Wrestling 2 ~Now It's Time to Attack~ (8/25/2018)

TOKYO Princess of Princess Championship: Miyu Yamashita (c) vs. Yuu

Yuu takes her vile chops to the next level when she starts chopping Miyu on the back and hitting double arm chops! This was a vicious back and forth where the hits got harder and the beatdowns more violent as the match progressed. Pure barbarism on display from the two best wrestlers in the promotion.

****3/4

Tokyo Joshi Pro - Go Ahead, Hot Guys of Nagoya (8/18/2018)

2. Maki Ito, Miu & Reika Saiki vs. magical sugar rabbits (Yuka Sakazaki & Mizuki) & Yuki Aino

I thought this was great, you're seeing the best of what all six performers can do, and to cap it off Reika goes King's Road on Aino and spikes her on the head (!!!). 

***3/4

5. Hikari vs. Saki-sama

I liked the brawling segment on the outside leading up to the PK on the apron. Sama does her usual great work on top and character work, and Hikari makes good use of her Cobra twist with a ground variation of the move.

***1/2

6. Azusa Takigawa & Miyu Yamashita vs. Nodoka-Oneesan & Yuu

The spot where Yuu used Azusa as a human weapon to batter Miyu was neat.

***1/2

Stardom - Stardom X Stardom 2018 (8/16/2018)

3. Jungle Kyona vs. Utami Hayashishita

Great performance from Utami in her debut, she has a great look and she oozes confidence, and looked like a killer when she started unleashing her Judo throws. Once again, Kyona was amazing at putting across her emotions.

***3/4

4. Wonder of Stardom Championship: Momo Watanabe (c) vs. Saki Kashima

This started off interesting with Momo kicking the hell out of Saki and Saki firing back by targeting the leg, but then it devolved into a rather formulaic back and forth. The lack of heat didn't help either. The pacing seemed off, too.

bad

5. World of Stardom Championship: Kagetsu (c) vs. Mayu Iwatani

There were great moments here, such as Kagetsu countering with a Kimura lock out of nowhere, but this goes beyond overkill with the dramatic finisher kickouts. There's a good atmosphere to this match and the crowd was into it, and they were laying into each other, but that final act brought it down.

***1/2

Stardom - Bright Summer Stardom (8/5/2018)

1. AZM vs. Hanan

AZM has been on a nice run of singles lately, this was another good one. This was rather intense with AZM heeling it up and Hanan showing edge in response.

***3/4

4. STARS (Mayu Iwatani, Saki Kashima, & Stephanie Vaquer) vs. Oedo Tai (Hazuki, Kagetsu & Sumire Natsu)

Vaquer hasn't done anything to impress me during her tour, but this was quite a splendid farewell match for her with a nice preview for the upcoming Kagetsu/Mayu match. Hazuki potatoed Vaquer with a nasty boot to the side of the head, yeesh.

***1/2

5. Artist of Stardom Championship: JAN (Jungle Kyona, Kaori Yoneyama & Natsuko Tora) (c) vs. STARS (Shiki Shibusawa, Starlight Kid & Tam Nakano)

Stardom has been having an awesome year in trios and multi-man tags and I am happy to see the trios belt being given shine again. This was very good, it was filled with exciting sequences and double teams. Tora and Shiki were the focus and they both worked hard. 

***3/4

Stardom (7/29/2018)

4. AZM vs. Mayu Iwatani

Mayu was acting like a jerk and AZM was giving her more of a fight than she anticipated. They matched up well during the opening high-speed sequence despite the exp. gap. AZM targets the arm, culminating with an awesome La Mistica. Mayu hits savage kicks throughout.

***1/2

5. Kagetsu vs. Starlight Kid

Solid back and forth with some cool moments built for Starlight Kid. Kagetsu spiked herself into the mat for one of Kid's DDTs which looked brutal. Kind of wish Kagetsu had changed up her offense a little instead of doing the usual standard routine, still a fine main event regardless.

***1/4

El Barbaro Cavernario vs. King Phoenix (CMLL, 6/29/2018)

CMLL - Super Viernes (6/29/2018)

El Barbaro Cavernario vs. King Phoenix 

It's been a while since I've watched lucha libre, I read good things about this match and Fenix and Cavenario are two of my favorites so I decided to give it a spin. I think what I liked most about this match was how smoothly it was worked, the high spot transitions are seamless. Even with some of the intricate set-ups for Fenix's flashier offense, they hardly miss a beat.

****1/2

STARS (Mayu Iwatani, Starlight Kid & Tam Nakano) vs. Queen's Quest (AZM, Konami & Momo Watanabe) (Stardom, 8/4/2018)

Stardom - Bright Summer Stardom (8/4/2018)

STARS (Mayu Iwatani, Starlight Kid & Tam Nakano) vs. Queen's Quest (AZM, Konami & Momo Watanabe)

This was a really good high-action trios match, the pairings were enjoyable and there were cool multi-man sequences. One of the highlights was Starlight Kid's impressive bridging suplex that had a nice bridge.

***3/4