Gatoh Move Japan Tour #229 on 5/20/16 Review

Event: Gatoh Move Japan Tour #229
Date: May 20th, 2016
Location: Ichigaya Chocolate Hiroba in Tokyo, Japan
Announced Attendance: Unknown

If you thought my review of the Shida Produce event was obscure, you haven’t seen anything yet. We are back to Gatoh Move, where they have wrestling events in a little room with odd windows. Gatoh Move is owned by Emi Sakura, I am not really sure what the point of the promotion is but she seems to be having a good time and she does have a few good young wrestlers under her watch. Here is the full match list:

• “Kotori” vs. SAKI
• GENTARO vs. Sayaka Obihiro
• Emi Sakura and Kaori Yoneyama vs. MIZUKI and Riho

So there are a few names there you should know, but if not feel free to click on their names to go to the wrestler’s profile. A short event, let’s hop to it.

“Kotori” vs. SAKI
Even though Kotori is wrestling in a small room on a mat, she is actually a pretty solid young wrestler. Trained by Emi Sakura, Kotori is only 17 years old but has wrestled for three years and shows a lot of potential if she sticks with it (and branches out of Gatoh Move a bit more). SAKI is affiliated with LLPW-X and is a lower level indy wrestler, but she has been wrestling quite a bit in JWP this year as she wrestles with her tag partner MIZUKI.

Kotori immediately goes for a few quick pins but SAKI kicks out, she jumps up onto the window sill but Kotori pushes her through it to the other side. Back on the mat, Kotori applies a backslide but it gets a two count. Stomps by Kotori but SAKI picks her up by the waist and swings her around before slamming her to the mat. SAKI starts working over Kotori on the mat, Rocking Horse by SAKI but Kotori blocks the suplex. Kotori pushes off the wall with an elbow and rolls up SAKI for a two count. SAKI blocks the STO but Kotori reverses the pump handle slam into a crossbody. Shoulderblocks by SAKI and she Irish whips Kotori into the wall, handstand body press by SAKI but Kotori kicks out of the cover. SAKI gets on the window sill and hits a reverse splash, pump handle slam by SAKI but Kotori barely gets a shoulder up. SAKI goes for a suplex but Kotori blocks it and throws the referee into her. Kotori jumps off the referee’s back with a crossbody, Kotori gets on SAKI’s back and applies a sunset flip for a two count. Kotori charges SAKI but SAKI catches her with a powerbomb for the three count! SAKI wins.

I really like Kotori and think the sky is the limit with her, she plays the undersized underdog role really well and has some smooth moves. Course this isn’t the greatest opportunity, wrestling in a room against SAKI. There were some cute spots here using the wall and window but that was about it. I enjoyed it just because I got to see Kotori but not a great match.

GENTARO vs. Sayaka Obihiro
GENTARO being on the card isn’t as random as it may sound, as he is an old friend of Emi Sakura from the Ice Ribbon days and is frequently on Gatoh Move cards. Obihiro is a Freelancer that bounces around, she had a few matches in the last month over in JWP but generally stays active in smaller indies. She was also trained by Emi Sakura so is a frequent participant in Gatoh Move as well.

GENTARO jumps through the window onto Obihiro before the match starts, giving us a unique visual since matches doesn’t usually have uh windows next to the mat. GENTARO tries to keep it on the mat, Obihiro returns to her feet but GENTARO hits a side Russian leg sweep. GENTARO stretches Obihiro on the mat, he picks her up but Obihiro fights back. GENTARO slaps her but Obihiro takes him to the mat and applies a headlock. GENTARO gains control as they return to their feet, Obihiro takes GENTARO down and puts him in a leg submission hold. GENTARO gets out of it and puts Obihiro in a sleeper, but Obihiro gets to the edge of the mat to force a break. Snapmare by GENTARO but Obihiro bridges out of the pin. GENTARO throws Obihiro into the wall but she moves when he charges in, chops by Obihiro and she jumps up onto the window sill to hit a sunset flip for a two count. Obihiro goes for a sunset flip but GENTARO sits down on her, he goes for a sunset flip but Obihiro lands on top of him, dropkick by Obihiro but the cover gets two. Bridging vertical suplex by Obihiro but GENTARO blocks the German suplex and drops her with a backdrop suplex. She blocks the next one but GENTARO puts her in the Dojime Sleeper Hold and she goes unconscious! GENTARO is your winner.

A more mat-based match but they worked it well under the circumstances. There was a clear size and strength mismatch but Obihiro had a few decent nearfalls, they did a good job not making it look goofy even though they were in a goofy environment. Nothing that will change your life but it was too short to be offensive, even though overall it was forgettable.

Emi Sakura and Kaori Yoneyama vs. MIZUKI and Riho
It is main event time! Emi Sakura as I have mentioned is the owner and trainer in Gatoh Move, with Riho (on the other team) being one of her star pupils. Yoneyama is affiliated with YMZ but also wrestles frequently in Stardom, and it isn’t unusual for her to swing by Gatoh Move from time to time. MIZUKI is from LLPW-X and wrestles regularly in JWP with her partner SAKI. The tag rules are enforced like they are in any match, even though there are no ropes.

Riho and Yoneyama are the first two in and Yoneyama throws the youngster around the mat until Riho fires back with a crossbody. MIZUKI runs in but Yoneyama hits a crossbody on both of them, the young wrestlers bridge out of the pin attempt and both dropkick Yoneyama to the mat. Sakura comes in to break up the situation and Riho tags in MIZUKI, snapmare by MIZUKI to Yoneyama and she is hit with a double footstomp from MIZUKI and Riho. Riho is tagged back in but Yoneyama blocks the slam and hits one of her own. Yoneyama tags in Sakura and Sakura throws down Riho by her hair. Sakura stretches Riho, she tags Yoneyama back in and she hits Riho with Mongolian Chops before dropkicking her to the mat. Sakura returns, she puts Riho on the window sill and hits a body avalanche. Sakura and Yoneyama take turns on Riho, until Riho hits a headscissors and a dropkick on Yoneyama. She makes the hot tag to MIZUKI and MIZUKI kicks Yoneyama against the wall. Yoneyama knees MIZUKI in the back but MIZUKI comes back with a jumping knee off the window sill. Northern Lights Suplex by Yoneyama to MIZUKI, and she tags Sakura. Sakura kicks MIZUKI repeatedly and slams her, she gets in the window but Riho runs in and grabs her.

MIZUKI tosses Sakura off the window sill and puts her in a crossface, she gets out of it as Yoneyama comes in too, but MIZUKI hits Sakura with a crossbody off the sill. Bridging suplex by MIZUKI, but Sakura kicks out at two. MIZUKI tags in Riho, dropkick by Riho and she gets on the sill, but Sakura smacks her. Riho jumps on her back with a sleeper and MIZUKI slams Sakura into the wall, Riho and MIZUKI both get on the sill and hit their own crossbodies on Sakura. Sakura throws MIZUKI and Riho into each other and then into the wall, low crossbody by Sakura but Riho blocks the backbreaker. Riho gets away from Sakura and goes for the step-up sunset flip but Sakura blocks it and applies her own roll-up. Double underhook backbreaker by Sakura but Riho catches her with a bridging fallaway slam. Sakura comes back with another backbreaker, both wrestlers crawl to their corners and tag their teammates. MIZUKI and Yoneyama trade elbows, which Yoneyama gets the better of and she hits a senton. Riho comes in to help, MIZUKI gets on the window sill and hits a diving footstomp for two. Crossface by MIZUKI but Yoneyama gets out of it, she goes for the Somato but Yoneyama moves and she hits the wall. Crossbody by Sakura, cover by Yoneyama to MIZUKI but she kicks out. MIZUKI gets back in control but Yoneyama avoids the Somato again, superkick by Sakura and Yoneyama hits a diving senton off the window sill for two. MIZUKI reverses Yoneyama’s roll-up and knees Yoneyama in the back, but again Yoneyama avoids the Somato and rolls up MIZUKI. The bell rings at this point, and the match is a Draw!

This match was probably better than it had any right to be, but that is what happens when you have four talented wrestlers in a 15 minute match. The odd environment actually helped here as they used the wall and window sill quite a bit, taking full advantage of their surroundings. It was fast paced and well executed, the match was oddly smooth considering the tight area that they had to work in. I enjoyed it quite a bit, Riho and MIZUKI are really good young wrestlers and Sakura/Yoneyama are seasoned veterans, which was the right combination to have an entertaining match. Good stuff between these four.  Recommended