Gatoh Move Japan Tour #210 on January 31st, 2016 Review

Event: Gatoh Move Japan Tour #210 
Date: January 31st, 2016
Location: Ichigaya Chocolate Hiroba in Tokyo, Japan
Announced Attendance: Unknown

Occasionally I review a show that no one knows exists and no one really wants to read about. But I am a completist so I am reviewing everything! That includes this event that took place on a mat in a room with odd windows. Gatoh Move is a smaller promotion run by Emi Sakura, usually they do wrestle in an actual ring but sometimes they have shows like this too for a small audience. It is a very short card and on top of that only two matches were filmed. Here are the matches shown:

Time for my shortest review ever!

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DJ Nira vs. MIZUKI

An interesting way to kick things off. Nira is primarily a DDT wrestler and does a gimmick where he is very sick and weak. Yes it is an odd gimmick to pick, there is more to it than that but it is not really important. MIZUKI is technically affiliated with LLPW-X but they rarely run shows; she has been hanging out in Ice Ribbon lately teaming with SAKI. As you can see in the picture above, the match is basically taking place on a purple mat with fans just sitting around it, in front of a wall with a random window. I’m not sure what this match will even entail but we are about to find out.

gatoh1.31-1Nira attacks MIZUKI to start and sticks her finger in a moving fan! That’s just mean, he went right for blood off the start. Nira heals her finger however because deep down he is a nice guy, and MIZUKI shows off her healed finger. Nira punches MIZUKI, he climbs through the window and jumps off with an ax handle. Elbows by MIZUKI and she hits a dropkick, she gets up in the window frame and delivers a diving crossbody for two. Nira blocks the next dropkick and hits a slam of some sort before standing on her like a surfboard. I assume since it is off camera. MIZUKI comes back with a quick roll-up, but Nira blocks the crucifix roll-up. He holds her in the position too long however and gets weak, MIZUKI covers him and she gets the three count! MIZUKI wins!

I am not sure what to say. Nira is pure gimmick, whether you like him or not just depends on your tastes but I’m not his biggest fan as its a bit too bizarre for me. Obviously they are limited by the environment but this match probably wouldn’t have been much better in a real ring. I don’t think there is any good reason to watch this match.

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Antonio Honda, Riho, and Sayaka Obihiro vs. Emi Sakura, ‘Kotori’, and Masa Takanashi

It is main event time! Even though there are no ropes, we are still using tag rules here, just to further confuse things. Not that it won’t break down sooner than later. Honda and Takanashi both are joining us tonight from DDT, in fact Takanashi challenged for the KO-D Openweight Championship on the same day as this show. He is multi-talented. Sakura is the owner of Gatoh Move, Riho is the champion of Gatoh Move, and Kotori is their young future star. So there are some really solid players in this match, how it will work in this unique environment I have no idea.

Honda and Takanashi are the legal wrestlers to begin and they exchange holds on the mat. Armdrag by Takanashi but Honda returns to his feet and they tag out. Riho and Sakura come in,  scoop slam by Sakura and she hits a body press for a two count. Wristlock by Riho but Sakura reverses it, Riho gets Sakura by the hair but Sakura reverses that too. Cartwheel by Riho and she hits a dropkick before tagging in Obihiro. Honda “comes in the ring” too and they all hit rolling sentons on Sakura and they all pose over her as the lively crowd cheers. Sakura fights back and hits a cutter on Obihiro and Riho, she puts Kotori on her back and Kotori flips Sakura onto their opponents. Kotori stays in and applies a submission on Obihiro on the mat, front necklock by Kotori but Obihiro slams her into the wall. Obihiro is double teamed, Sakura chops Obihiro against the wall and hits a running crossbody. Sakura tags Takanashi and he slams Obihiro before hitting a body press for two. Takanashi goes for another slam but Obihiro gets out of it and hits a slam of her own.

gatoh1.31-2Obihiro tags Riho and she hits a series of jumping knees on Takanashi, Sakura comes in but Obihiro chops her in the throat. Takanashi comes in, Riho goes for a hurricanrana off the window but Takanashi catches her and Kotori dropkicks her. Kotori puts Riho in a grounded necklock but Riho gets out of it and they trade elbows. They trade quick pin attempts with no luck, Honda comes in and he hits a series of punches on Kotori. Sakura comes in but Honda puts her in a sleeper, Sakura gets out of it and they trade shots. Sakura hits a double underhook facebuster on Honda, she gets on the window sill but Honda grabs her and hits a shoulder breaker. Honda and company all punch their opponents, Riho gets on Honda’s shoulders but Sakura avoids the footstomp. Riho knees Sakura and goes for a crossbody, but Sakura reverses it and hits a diving body press off the window for a two count. Takanashi comes in and tries to superkick Riho, but Riho moves and she kicks Sakura by accident. Somato by Riho to Takanashi, she then hits one on Sakura also and she gets the three count! Honda, Riho, and Obihiro are your winners.

This was definitely interesting. I will say that there was no lack of effort here, it was a bit goofy at times but they were doing as well as one could ask for in that environment. It didn’t need all six of them, Honda didn’t do much and for a shorter match in a very confined area it just made everything a bit too busy. But there were certainly a few memorable parts and they kept the action up, I just don’t know if I would call it ‘good’ or not. Maybe worth a watch if you are into watching matches in unusual situations.

Final Thoughts:
0.5

 

There really isn’t any way that I can recommend this show. First of all the two matches shown are combined under 20 minutes long which obviously isn’t much. Also the wrestlers were, needless to say, restricted by the environment and while they tried it wasn’t quite there. I have no doubt this would be a blast to watch live, but as someone not emotionally invested in the promotion watching via a hard cam that misses some of the action, I wasn’t particularly impressed. A very limited audience for this one.