Pro Wrestling WAVE “Topaz” on 11/26/17 Review

Event: Pro Wrestling WAVE “Topaz”
Date: November 26th, 2017
Location: Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan
Announced Attendance: 658

It is pretty rare for Pro Wrestling WAVE to upload a full event to their WAVE Network, so when they do I feel obligated to review it. This is a big show for WAVE, with multiple title matches, a hardcore match, and an appearance by Chihiro Hashimoto! I will only be reviewing the Joshi matches, here is the card:

• Hiroe Nagahama, Mika Iida, and Moeka Haruhi vs. Miyuki Takase, SAKI, and Tae Honma
• Fairy Nihonbashi and Kyusei Ninja Ranmaru vs. Miki Tanaka and Sakura Hirota
• ASUKA vs. Chihiro Hashimoto
• Hardcore Match: Ayako Hamada and Yuki Miyazaki vs. Ryo Mizunami and Rina Yamashita
• WAVE Tag Team Championship: Rin Kadokura and Takumi Iroha vs. Mio Momono and Yumi Ohka
• Regina Di WAVE Championship: Misaki Ohata vs. Nagisa Nozaki

All the wrestlers above have profiles on Joshi City, you can click on their name to go straight to it.

Hiroe Nagahama, Mika Iida, and Moeka Haruhi vs. Miyuki Takase, SAKI, and Tae Honma
We start off the event with Team WAVE vs. Team Outsiders. Hiroe Nagahama has the most potential of the WAVE team, as while she is still young she has shown flashes of talent and won her first title this year. On the other side, Miyuki and Tae are both young wrestlers from Actwres girl’Z while SAKI is a Freelancer that has made WAVE her home since leaving LLPW-X late last year. No real idea what to expect here, not a ton of natural talent in the match but hopefully they can put something fun together.

Mika and SAKI start the match and trade elbows, SAKI gets Mika to the mat first but Mika comes back with a side Russian leg sweep. Dropkick by Mika and she tags in Moeka, Hiroe comes in too and they both dropkick SAKI. Everyone poses on SAKI before Moeka gets on the second turnbuckle and hits a crossbody for two. SAKI sneaks in an atomic drop and tags in Tae, Tae pushes Moeka into her corner so Miyuki and SAKI can help attack her. Elbows by Tae but Moeka elbows her back and hits a running footstomp, she tags Mika back in and Mika hits a series of uppercuts. Tae avoids an elbow and applies a short armbar, but Mika quickly gets out of it. Irish whip by Mika but Tae hits a DDT, she picks up Mika but Mika rolls her to the mat and applies an ankle hold. Tae reverses it into an ankle hold of her own but Mika reverses it back, Miyuki eventually breaks things up and Tae drags Mika to the mat with a cross armbreaker takedown. That gets broken up as well, Tae tags in Miyuki and Miyuki dropkicks Mika a few times in the chest. Uppercut by Mika and she nails a sliding uppercut before making the tag to Hiroe. Dropkick by Hiroe and she hits a vertical suplex for a two count cover. Back up they trade strikes, Miyuki wins the exchange and Tae and SAKI both come in as they triple team Hiroe. Headbutt by Miyuki, she gets Hiroe on her shoulders and hits a rolling fireman’s carry for a two count. Miyuki gets on the second turnbuckle but Hiroe rolls out of the way of her dive, Moeka runs in and she hits a double wrist-clutch suplex. Dropkick by Mika to Moeka, and Hiroe follows with a missile dropkick for a two count. Hiroe picks up Miyuki and delivers a spear, but Miyuki barely kicks out of the cover. Backdrop suplex hold by Hiroe, and this time she gets the three count! Hiroe Nagahama, Mika Iida, and Moeka Haruhi win!

As much as a pleasure it is to see Hiroe Nagahama slowly grow into a solid wrestler, this match was a bit rough around the edges. Tae and Miyuki are still early enough in their careers that they could be great wrestlers one day, but they aren’t yet, and Moeka still has issues on some of the fundamentals. It was too short to be offensive, but a pretty skippable opener even though it was more painfully average than bad.

Fairy Nihonbashi and Kyusei Ninja Ranmaru vs. Miki Tanaka and Sakura Hirota
So if you read my reviews you probably know I am not looking forward to this too much. The bright spot here is Ranmaru, she rarely wrestles in promotions that “make tape” so to speak so I enjoy seeing her when I can. She has overcome a lot of adversity to have such a long career, as she only has one eye (which you wouldn’t know from watching her wrestle). Fairy and Sakura are of course comedy wrestlers that both are kinda hit-and-miss with me, while Mika Tanaka is a rookie from Marvelous.

Now before the match starts, they switch teams, so it ends up being Ranmaru and Miki vs. Fairy and Sakura. I’m not sure how they officially handled this for their official results, but since it is a comedy match it doesn’t really matter. They end up switching again as Miki and and Fairy stand on the same side, but that also ends up backfiring and all four stare at each other again. They are taking “goofy” to a whole new level, I have no doubt this appeals to some people but I am not one of them. The teams go back to how we started, Fairy does Fairy things and Miki follows suit with a fairy dance of her own. Ranmaru comes in, shoulderblock by Miki to Ranmaru and Ranmaru does some slow motion comedy ala Kikutaro/Kamen. Fairy comes in with her wand and tries to toss Miki with it but Miki doesn’t go over. Sakura tags in and Fairy promptly throws her around with the wand, Sakura grabs Fairy’s arm and goes to walk the ropes, but Fairy breaks away and tries to wand her off the turnbuckle. Sakura ends up crotching herself on the top rope, she tags in Miki and Miki hits a few shoulderblocks onto Fairy. Ranmaru comes in but gets knocked to the mat as well, Sakura returns and Miki catapults her onto Ranmaru and Fairy. Miki and Sakura are thrown into each other, Miki chops all three of them in the head before pushing all three opponents to the mat. Miki covers all three with a single foot, and she picks up the three count! Miki Tanaka and Sakura Hirota win the match.

Even by Fairy and Sakura standards this seemed subpar, I wouldn’t recommend anyone to watch this match.

ASUKA vs. Chihiro Hashimoto
Now that we got that out of the way, the rest of the card looks pretty solid. ASUKA has had a great year so far, including getting the main event win at WAVE’s big event in the summer and a shot at the Regina di WAVE Championship just a couple months ago. Chihiro Hashimoto had an even better year however, as she holds the Sendai Girls’ World Championship and in 2017 had singles wins against Hiroyo Matsumoto, Meiko Satomura, and Aja Kong. This is the first match between the two rising stars, so while its not a current feud it may develop into one down the road.

They tie-up to start and jockey for position, but neither can get a clear advantage. They go at it again, both wrestlers end up on the mat switching positions until Chihiro applies a guillotine. ASUKA gets out of it and Chihiro goes for a fireman’s carry, but ASUKA lands on her feet. ASUKA goes for one on Chihiro but Chihiro returns the favor, Chihiro goes for a stretch hold but ASUKA gets a foot on the ropes for the break. Fireman’s carry takeover by ASUKA and she applies an armbar, but Chihiro gets to the ropes. Back up, waistlock by Chihiro and she applies a modified abdominal stretch, but ASUKA gets the break. Gutwrench suplex by Chihiro and she covers ASUKA, getting a two count. She goes for a second but ASUKA reverses it into a suplex of her own, she goes up top and she delivers a missile dropkick followed by the Space Rolling Elbow. Dropkick by ASUKA, and she covers Chihiro for two. Chihiro drives ASUKA into the corner and hits a few shoulderblocks, scoop slam by Chihiro and she delivers a couple sentons for a two count cover. Chihiro picks up ASUKA but ASUKA slides away and hits a superkick, dropkick by ASUKA and Chihiro rolls out of the ring. ASUKA goes off the ropes and sails out onto Chihiro with a tope con hilo, ASUKA slides Chihiro back in and hits a series of elbows. Boot by ASUKA but Chihiro flips her to the mat and applies a cross armbreaker, but the bell rings as the ten minute time limit has expired. The match is a Draw. They continue to fight after the bell until they are finally separated, ASUKA wants five more minutes and it is granted, so the match re-starts!

Chihiro immediately tackles ASUKA and hits a rolling fireman’s carry, she gets on the second turnbuckle but ASUKA avoids the senton and dropkicks Chihiro into the corner. ASUKA goes for a moonsault out of the corner but Chihiro moves, ASUKA lands on her feet and she hits a dropkick followed by a springboard moonsault for a two count. ASUKA and Chihiro trade elbows, body block by Chihiro and she goes for a German suplex, but ASUKA lands on her feet and hits a suplex for two. ASUKA goes off the ropes but Chihiro hits a spear, she gets on the second turnbuckle and delivers the somersault senton for a two count. Chihiro scoops up ASUKA but ASUKA slides away, lariat by Chihiro but the cover gets two. Chihiro goes off the ropes but ASUKA dropkicks her, she goes off the ropes again but Chihiro lariats her and hits the waterwheel drop, but ASUKA barely gets a shoulder up. Chihiro goes up top and nails a diving somersault senton, but ASUKA applies a quick crucifix pin for two. Chihiro drags up ASUKA but ASUKA blocks the suplex and rolls up Chihiro for a two count. Boot by ASUKA and she slams Chihiro in front of the corner, she goes up top but Chihiro rolls out of the way of the moonsault attempt. Short range lariats by Chihiro but she can’t get the three count, another lariat by Chihiro but the bell rings before she can attempt another cover. The match is officially a Draw.

This match started slow and they made it too obvious they were going for a Draw, but once it picked up it really got going. The best part of the match was the five minute overrun, as they went from feeling each other out earlier in the match to just throwing bombs and trying everything to win. Both are still developing as wrestlers but they are getting there quickly, and in this case I don’t mind the Draw as it is a good starting point if they battle again later on. A quality midcard match, it had its flaws but overall it was entertaining.  Recommended

Ayako Hamada and Yuki Miyazaki vs. Ryo Mizunami and Rina Yamashita
Hardcore Match
Pro Wrestling WAVE has recently been having more hardcore matches, and while it is not typically my favorite match style, I appreciate the promotion doing something different from other Joshi promotions and it can be fun seeing wrestlers in a different environment. Hamada and Miyazaki are both seasoned veterans with multiple title reigns behind them, while Mizunami and Yamashita are more the “up and comers” in WAVE (even though neither are young and are established as well with multiple title reigns). There really is no weak link in this match, so anything could happen.

In the ring with the wrestlers is already a table and various other weapons, so they won’t be wasting any time. There appears to not be tag rules as immediately start battling on the floor, throwing various weapons at each other. Miyazaki puts a ladder in the ring while Hamada takes Mizunami up into the crowd and tosses her into a wall. Miyazaki sets up a table at ringside, she drags Yamashita onto the table with her and drills her with a piledriver through it. Mizunami fights back against Hamada but gets kicked in the head for her troubles, she sets up Mizunami on a chair and goes for a lariat, but Mizunami moves and drop toeholds Hamada onto it. Yamashita has regained the advantage on her end and gets the push cart, Mizunami grabs a tire and hits Hamada with it. They finally all end up back at ringside, Mizunami hits Hamada with a trash can lid but Hamada boots her in the face. They all get in the ring with Hamada and Miyazaki in control, they both sit their opponents into a chair before delivering dropkicks. Yamashita is bleeding pretty good at this point while Miyazaki throws a chair at Mizunami’s head, Hamada lays the ladder over the top rope, she tries to throw Mizunami into it but Mizunami slams on the breaks. Hamada gets a chair while Mizunami gets the trash can lid, Hamada throws the chair at Mizunami’s head again and throws Mizunami face-first into the ladder. Mizunami gets hit in the head again with a chair as she is bleeding also, she gets tossed out of the ring while Hamada stays in with Yamashita, but Yamashita throws Hamada into a chair. Miyazaki returns and DDTs Yamashita, she gets the ladder and pins Yamashita into the corner with it but slips when she tries to run up the ladder. She hits Yamashita anyway before setting up and climbing the ladder, but Yamashita recovers and joins her, hitting a superplex down to the mat. Knee to the back of the head by Yamashita, she gets a board and cracks Miyazaki repeatedly in the head with it.

Yamashita goes up top while Mizunami feeds her a trash can, Yamashita puts on the trash can but Miyazaki moves when she goes for a dive. Miyazaki goes up top and tries to hit Yamashita with a sign, but she hits Hamada by accident. Mizunami finally gets back into the ring and helps double team Hamada, elbows by Mizunami to Hamada and Yamashita delivers a superkick. Lariat by Mizunami and she covers Hamada, but it gets a two count. Mizunami and Yamashita set up a table and a ladder in opposite corners, Hamada charges Mizunami but Mizunami suplexes her onto the ladder. Miyazaki returns with a chair and knocks down both her opponents, Miyazaki picks up Yamashita but Yamashita suplexes her onto a chair. Mizunami goes up top and tries to catapult the ladder into Miyazaki, which misses. Yamashita hits a backdrop suplex anyway for a two count, Mizunami puts the table across the corner and goes up top while Yamashita feeds her Miyazaki, but Miyazaki recovers and elbows Mizunami. Miyazaki gets Mizunami on her shoulders while standing on the table and hits an avalanche Samoan Driver, but Yamashita breaks up the cover. Miyazaki goes up top but Mizunami avoids the moonsault, Miyazaki blocks her lariat attempts with a chair until Mizunami punches through it, nailing Miyazaki in the head. She goes for a dragon suplex but Hamada runs in and breaks it up, lariat by Mizunami to Miyazaki and Yamashita follows with one of her own. Dragon suplex by Mizunami, but Hamada breaks it up. Mizunami picks up Miyazaki but Hamada tosses Yamashita into her, Miyazaki picks up Mizunami but Hamada kicks Miyazaki in the head by accident. Lariat by Yamashita to Miyazaki, Mizunami picks her up but Miyazaki sneaks in a kiss/cradle for two. Gedo Clutch by Miyazaki, and she picks up the three count! Ayako Hamada and Yuki Miyazaki are the winners.

While I do appreciate some variety on my wrestling cards, this one really didn’t hit the mark. It had some good spots in it, but also had some very noticeable mistakes and wrestlers would just disappear for long chunks of time. The ending was also really anti-climatic for a hardcore match, while it was a typical way for Miyazaki to win, I wouldn’t have minded something a bit more memorable to fit the match stipulation. It wasn’t necessarily bad, just random carnage with little purpose.

(c) Rin Kadokura and Takumi Iroha vs. Mio Momono and Yumi Ohka
WAVE Tag Team Championship
Rin Kadokura and Takumi Iroha won the tag team championship against Kaho Kobayashi and Hiroe Nagahama on September 17th, and this is their first defense of the title. Both of them hail from Marvelous, a promotion run by Chigusa Nagayo, and they have been semi-regulars in WAVE in 2017. Yumi Ohka is one of the leading veterans in WAVE, while Mio Momono is from Marvelous as well. NEW-TRA (Kadokura and Iroha) have been one of the top tag teams the last few months and with a win here will go into the new year with titles around their waists.

Takumi and Mio start the match, Takumi takes Mio to the mat and applies a side headlock before pushing her into the ropes. Rin comes in and they both elbow Mio, drop toehold/dropkick combination by NEW-TRA and Takumi hits a scoop slam. Snap vertical by Takumi, and she covers Mio for two. Takumi tags in Rin, Rin twists up Mio in the ropes and delivers a dropkick to the back. Another dropkick by Rin, Takumi comes in but Mio avoids a double dropkick and sends both her opponents to the mat. This gives her time to tag in Ohka, Ohka boots Rin a few times in the face but Rin snaps off a DDT before dropkicking Ohka. Ohka comes back and boots Rin again in the corner, Ohka tags in Mio and Mio scoop slams Rin. Rin blocks the next one and hits a slam of her own, but Mio grabs her and hits another scoop slam before applying a short armbar. Cross armbreaker by Mio but Takumi breaks it up, Mio tags in Ohka and Ohka puts Rin in a camel clutch. Mio runs in and dropkicks Rin, cover by Ohka but it gets two. Ohka tags Mio back in, assisted dropkick to Rin and Ohka slams Mio onto Rin for a two count cover. The beatdown of Rin continues until Mio accidentally dropkicks Ohka (twice), cannonball by Rin to Ohka and she covers the veteran for two. Rin tags Takumi, shoulderblock by Takumi to Ohka but Mio comes in to try to help. She doesn’t and Takumi handles both of them, kicks and elbows by Takumi to Ohka until a superkick sends Ohka to the mat.

Takumi picks up Ohka but Ohka switches positions with her and hits a DDT. Heel drop by Ohka and she boots Takumi in the face for two. Ohka tags in Mio, Mio goes up top and she hits a diving crossbody onto Takumi. Running crossbody by Mio, but Takumi kicks out of the cover. Takumi gets Mio on her shoulders and hits a helicopter slam, she goes for a powerbomb but Mio gets out of it. Superkick by Takumi and she goes for another powerbomb, but Mio slides down her back with a cradle for two. Mio goes off the ropes and applies the bodyscissors cradle, but Rin breaks it up. Mio charges Takumi and goes for the Code Red, but Takumi blocks it and drops Mio with the B Driver. Takumi tags in Rin, jumping DDT by Rin and she delivers a missile dropkick for a two count. Ohka comes in and boots Rin, Mio goes for another Code Red but Rin blocks it and slams Mio onto Ohka. Takumi comes in and they hit a catapult Fameasser, cover by Rin but Mio gets a shoulder up. Rin goes off the ropes and cradles Mio, but Ohka breaks it up. Hurricanrana by Rin, but that gets broken up as well. Mio sneaks in a cradle of her own for two, Takumi tries to kick Mio but she hits Rin by accident. Chokebomb by Ohka to Rin, Mio applies a jackknife but Takumi breaks it up. Ohka gets Rin up and hits a delayed vertical suplex, Code Red by Mio but Takumi breaks it up again. Mio jumps on Ohka’s shoulders but Rin avoids it when Ohka tosses Mio down onto her, Mio goes off the ropes but Rin pops her up so that Takumi can hit a superkick. Rin grabs Mio and delivers a standing crucifix bomb for the three count! Rin Kadokura and Takumi Ohka are still the champions!

A decent match but I think they over-played the Mio/Ohka miscommunications to the point it was almost comical. Not all the spots were timed well so it looked like Mio was intentionally hitting her own partner, and there was just a lack of chemistry in general between Mio and Ohka. NEW-TRA looked good as they tend to however, and when they were in control the match was solid. Rin continues to improve and I think she has quite a future if she keeps at it as her moveset is really fun. Certainly more good than bad, the Mio/Ohka dynamic just took me out of the match a few times with how over-the-top or awkward some of their interactions were.  Mildly Recommended

(c) Misaki Ohata vs. Nagisa Nozaki
Regina Di WAVE Championship
The quick rise of Nagisa Nozaki in Pro Wrestling WAVE has peaked, as she gets her title shot against Misaki Ohata. Since returning to wrestling last summer after a long layoff, Nagisa first defeated Ryo Mizunami in under three minutes before winning a tournament for a title shot by beating Miyuki Takase, Rina Yamashita, and Mio Momono. Misaki Ohata won the title from Rina Yamashita on October 9th and since that time has been an active champion, with successful defenses against Hiroe Nagahama and Maruko Nagasaki. Nagisa Nozaki isn’t her greatest challenge but is perhaps the biggest wildcard, as while Nozaki has never won a title in her career, she has come on strong in Pro Wrestling WAVE so far.

Nozaki asks for a handshake but pulls in Ohata in the process to go for a choke, Ohata rolls out of it however and goes for a lariat, but Nozaki ducks it and goes for the choke again. Ohata bounces off the ropes to break out of the hold and hits a hard elbow, cover by Ohata but Nozaki applies the sleeper. Ohata manages to slide out of the ring to get out of it, Ohata snaps Nozaki’s neck over the top rope as she gets back in the ring but Nozaki applies a choke while Ohata is still on the apron. The referee forces her to break the hold, back in the ring Nozaki slaps Ohata in the chest but Ohata chokes her before slamming Nozaki’s head into the mat. Nozaki takes back over and puts Ohata in an abdominal stretch, single leg crab hold by Nozaki but Ohata gets to the ropes for the break. Kicks by Nozaki and she puts Ohata in a modified camel clutch, she lets go after biting Ohata’s arm but Ohata blocks her elbow attempt and stomps on Nozaki’s foot. Nozaki avoids Ohata’s dropkick attempts and applies a sleeper, but Ohata quickly gets into the ropes. Running boot by Nozaki, she goes onto the apron and tries to kick Ohata in the back of the head, but Ohata catches her leg and applies an ankle hold through the ropes. The referee eventually gets her to let go and she knocks Nozaki down to the floor, Ohata goes up top and dives down onto Nozaki with a plancha suicida. Back in the ring, Ohata goes up top and delivers a missile dropkick, picking up a two count cover.

Ohata gets on the second turnbuckle but Nozaki recovers and joins her, Ohata slides under her and delivers a powerbomb for two. Ohata quickly goes back up top and hits a diving body press, but Nozaki kicks out of the cover again. Stunner by Ohata and she hits a low crossbody against the ropes, she charges Nozaki again but Nozaki hits her with a big boot. Another boot by Nozaki and she snaps off an underhook suplex for a two count. Nozaki goes up top and hits a missile dropkick, she goes for a suplex but Ohata pushes her off and the two trade strikes. Nozaki finally wins the battle with a big boot, she kicks Ohata in the back of the head before applying a roll into the sleeper hold. Ohata appears to go limp, Nozaki covers her but Ohata gets a shoulder up. Somato by Nozaki, but that gets a two count as well. She goes for the sleeper again but Ohata kicks her in the head and hits a release German, Nozaki pops up but Ohata drops her with a second release German suplex. Back fist by Ohata but Nozaki blocks the suplex attempt and slaps on the sleeper. Ohata rolls out of it this time and holds down Nozaki for a two count, boot to the face by Nozaki but Ohata kicks out of the cover. Nozaki goes off the ropes but Ohata avoids the boot and hits a back fist, Fisherman Buster by Ohata and she covers Nozaki for two. Ohata picks up Nozaki but Nozaki slides away, Ohata catches her with the Schwein however before nailing the Sky Blue Suplex Hold for the three count! Misaki Ohata is still the champion.

First, the good stuff. Misaki Ohata is a treat to watch and I’m happy she finally got a run of big matches in WAVE as she has deserved it for awhile. She has a variety of ways to beat down an opponent and her arsenal keeps her matches interesting. The pair have pretty good chemistry and there weren’t any noticeable miscommunications or issues. Now the not so good stuff – while I think it is cool that Nagisa Nozaki came back to Joshi, she really isn’t good enough for this level of match. Her offense is extremely one dimensional as the bulk of her moves are either boots or sleeper attempts. I hate when wrestlers release their submission holds for no reason, she beat Mizunami with the sleeper so why would she let go of it against Ohata? It just got a bit repetitive with her continually going for the same move, and because of that the match felt a bit too long (even though it wasn’t a long match). Overall I enjoyed it as it was pretty well-worked and exciting, I just hope that Nozaki grows her arsenal a bit before she has more high level matches.  Mildly Recommended