• Championships and Tournaments Won: This includes any championship won during 2021, or any championship that was held when 2021 began. The prestige of the championship or tournament will be taken into account.
• Match Quality: The most subjective criteria, extra consideration is given to wrestlers that had high quality matches throughout the year, especially if it was with a variety of opponents.
• Wrestler Popularity: Being able to connect with the crowd is important in wrestling, wrestlers that have success interacting with the crowd and getting reactions will get credit for that.
• Wrestler Status in a Promotion: Generally speaking, the Ace of one promotion will be ahead of the #3 wrestler in another promotion, since wrestling on top means bigger matches, longer matches, and more opportunities. There isn’t a direct correlation, but leading a promotion or being the ‘face’ of a promotion can help a wrestler’s rank as it increases the wrestler’s visibility and match importance.
• Match Frequency/Availability: How often a wrestler wrestled is taken into consideration. A wrestler with 100 matches is more likely to be on the list than a wrestler with 10 matches. Also, it is harder to ‘rate’ a wrestler if their matches rarely were distributed via TV or an online streaming service, so visibility is a factor.

One criteria I am not using is ‘drawing power.’ In the current wrestling landscape there are very few wrestlers that by themselves are draws (I could probably count them on one hand), usually it is more the benefit of a good storyline or a hot region that impacts the size of the crowd. While the larger Joshi promotions may have more wrestlers on the list due to the other criteria (visibility being a major one), the size of the crowds will not be taken in consideration. Also, it should be noted that this ranking is based only on a wrestler’s matches/participation in Japan. This is not a list of my personal favorite wrestlers or fun rookies that I enjoy watching, but rather my version of what a “real” ranking of Joshi wrestlers would look like based on their success and status in 2021.

2021 continued to be impacted by the pandemic, even as many promotions returned to a more normal schedule. The trend of “more Joshi” being available via streaming methods continued, which is great, but also made it harder to keep up with everything. I did my best to do so however, and attempted to come up with a Top 20 list that I feel best shows who in lead the Joshi landscape during these unusual times.

Onto the Top 20 Joshi Wrestlers of 2021!

1. Syuri (Stardom)

Championships Held: SWA Undisputed World Women’s Championship (365 days), Goddess of Stardom Championship (272 days), and the World of Stardom Championship (3 days)
Biggest Matches: with Giulia vs. Himeka and Maika on 4/4, vs. Utami Hayashishita on 6/12, vs. Momo Watanabe on 9/25, vs. Utami Hayashishita on 12/29
Best Match: vs. Utami Hayashishita in Stardom on June 12th, 2021

14 years after she debuted in professional wrestling, Syuri finally had the year that her fans always knew she was capable of. After years of being a Freelancer or focusing on her MMA career, Syuri finally got the chance to take over in Stardom and she did not disappoint. Syuri had a dominant year in both singles and tag matches, going 13-0-1 in title matches. She also won the Stardom FIVE STAR GP, the most prestigious annual tournament in Joshi. As far as match quality, she had one of the best matches of the year against Utami in June, and had five matches rated **** or higher by the Wrestling Observer (all singles matches). She capped off the year winning the World of Stardom Championship, as she goes into 2022 as the top wrestler in the promotion. A hell of a year for Syuri, and one that her fans have long been waiting for.

2. Utami Hayashishita (Stardom)

Championships Held: World of Stardom Championship (363 days)
Biggest Matches: vs. Bea Priestly on 4/4, vs. Syuri on 6/12, vs. Tam Nakano on 9/25, vs. Takumi Iroha on 10/9, vs. Syuri on 12/29
Best Match: vs. Syuri in Stardom on June 12th, 2021

Even though Utami Hayashishita only held one title in 2021, it happened to be the top title in Stardom and she held it for virtually the entire year. In her title reign she had a number of high-end defenses, including wins over Bea Priestley, Takumi Iroha, Hazuki, and Maika. She only stumbled when facing Syuri, as she went 0-2-2 against her in singles matches, which is the reason Syuri ranking over her was an easy decision. At only 23 years old, Utami is poised to lead Stardom for many years to come if that is the path she decides to take in her career.

3. Miyu Yamashita (Tokyo Joshi Pro)

Championships Held: Tokyo Joshi Pro Princess Of Princess Championship (242 days)
Biggest Matches: vs. Rika Tatsumi on 5/4, vs. Yuka Sakazaki on 6/6, vs. Sakisama on 6/26, vs. Mizuki on 7/31, vs. Maki Itoh on 10/9
Best Match: vs. Maki Itoh in Tokyo Joshi Pro on October 9th, 2021

What really puts Miyu Yamashita over the top isn’t just her success in Tokyo Joshi Pro, but her popularity and her ability to put on high-end matches against a variety of opponents. She had four successful title defenses in 2021, and over the course of the year she was 18-1 in singles matches, with her only loss being against Mizuki in the Tokyo Princess Cup. To show her level of popularity in Japan, she finished 4th in the Weekly Pro Magazine fan voting for Joshi MVP, the highest of any non-Stardom wrestler.

4. Tsukasa Fujimoto (Ice Ribbon)

Championships Held: ICExInfinity Championship (294 days) and the International Ribbon Tag Team Championship (16 days)
Biggest Matches: vs. Rina Yamashita on 2/20, with Tsukushi vs. Risa Sera and Suzu Suzuki on 2/21, vs. Maya Yukihi on 3/27, vs. Hiroyo Matsumoto on 8/9, vs. Tsukushi Haruka on 11/13
Best Match: vs. Tsukushi Haruka in Ice Ribbon on November 13th, 2021

With Ice Ribbon going through some turmoil in 2021, their long time Ace took back over as she won the ICExInfinity Championship for the first time since 2018 and held it for the bulk of the year. She was an extremely active champion, with 11 title defenses and wins over Hiroyo Matsumoto, Tsukushi Haruka, and Maya Yukihi along the way. She also had a brief run with the tag titles, although she had no successful defenses of the belt. Tsukasa Fujimoto was the undisputed leader of Ice Ribbon in 2021, showing that even at 38 years old she is one of the best in Joshi wrestling.

5. Tam Nakano (Stardom)

Championships Held: Wonder of Stardom Championship (301 days) and the Artist of Stardom Championship (276 days)
Biggest Matches: vs. Giulia on 3/3, with Cosmic Angels vs. STARS on 3/7, vs. Natsupoi on 4/4, with Cosmic Angels vs. Queen’s Quest on 7/6, vs. Starlight Kid on 7/21, vs. Mayu Iwatani on 10/9, vs. Saya Kamitani on 11/27
Best Match: vs. Giulia in Stardom on March 3rd, 2021

Tam Nakano had a hell of a year in 2021. She entered the year as one of the Artist of Stardom champions, but her big moment came when she finally defeated Giulia in a Title vs. Hair match in March to win the Wonder of Stardom Championship. She held the title for almost the rest of the year, with successful defenses against Natsupoi, Starlight Kid, and Mina Shirakawa before losing the belt to Saya Kamitani. As the leader of the Cosmic Angels, Tam was frequently in major storylines and was a constant focus of the promotion. Easily the biggest year of her career, Tam showed in 2021 she has what it takes to lead a promotion.

6. Maya Yukihi (Freelancer)

Championships Held: OZ Academy Openweight Championship (137 days) and the International Ribbon Tag Team Championship (257 days)
Biggest Matches: vs. Tsukasa Fujimoto on 3/27, with Maika Ozaki vs. Dropkicks on 4/11, vs. Kaori Yoneyama on 7/18, with Sera vs. Matsumoto and Fujimoto on 8/9, vs. Mayumi Ozaki vs. Saori Anou vs. Yumi Ohka on 8/18, with Sera vs. Saori Anou and Suzu Suzuki on 11/13, vs. Yuu on 12/30
Best Match: vs. Tsukasa Fujimoto in Ice Ribbon on March 27th, 2021

Maya Yukihi is a constant force in Joshi, as even though she is a Freelancer she has a regular home in both Ice Ribbon and OZ Academy. As a regular, that gives her more consistent opportunities in both promotions, and she took full advantage in 2021 as she found success in both places. In OZ Academy, she won the Openweight Championship in August and held it the rest of the year, with one successful defense against Yuu. Over in Ice Ribbon, her “nicer” persona won the tag titles twice, with nine successful defenses between her two reigns. Being one of the top wrestlers in two different promotions is quite a feat, and I expect that trend to continue in 2022.

7. Rina Yamashita (Freelancer)

Championships Held: Ice Ribbon FantastICE Championship (187 days), Daily Sports Tag Team Championship (241 days), King of FREEDOM Tag Team Championship (107 days), and the OZ Academy Tag Team Championship (2 days)
Biggest Matches: vs. Tsukasa Fujimoto on 2/20, vs. ASUKA on 3/17, vs. Risa Sera on 6/27, vs. Suzu Suzuki on 8/9, vs. with Nakamori vs. Cherry and Leon on 8/29, with Hiroyo Matsumoto vs. Aoki and Kuragaki on 12/30
Best Match: vs. Suzu Suzuki in Ice Ribbon on August 9th, 2021

I love Rina Yamashita. She is capable of wrestling such a diverse style, and is so well-respected by promotions that she held titles in 2021 in FOUR different promotions. OZ Academy and Ice Ribbon were her primary homes in 2021, as she won the hardcore-friendly FantastICE Championship in Ice Ribbon and ended the year winning the OZ Academy Tag Championship with Hiroyo Matsumoto. She also held titles in PURE-J and FREEDOMS, showing her versatility. More wild and unpredictable than your average Joshi wrestler, Yamashita brings a sense of danger to all her matches and is captivating to watch. Yamashita may not ever find a permanent home but she is doing quite well for herself as one of the most popular Freelancers on the Joshi market.

8. Giulia (Stardom)

Championships Held: Wonder of Stardom Championship (62 days) and the Goddesses of Stardom Championship (272 days)
Biggest Matches: vs. Starlight Kid on 2/13, vs. Tam Nakano on 3/3, with Syuri vs. Himeka and Maika on 4/4, with Syuri vs. Mayu and Starlight Kid on 5/15, vs. Mayu Iwatani on 8/1
Best Match: vs. Tam Nakano in Stardom on March 3rd, 2021

The only thing that held Giulia back in 2021 was an injury that kept her out for a few months, but she still stayed in the spotlight in Stardom as one of their most important wrestlers. She had a great match in March against Tam Nakano, in which she ended up losing her hair. Giulia had no issue rocking the “short hair” look however and never really missed a beat, as she held the tag titles with Syuri for the bulk of the year. As the leader of DDM she was the focus of multiple major storylines, and ended the year defeating Konami in Konami’s last match before going on a long-term break. Even a “down” year for Giulia is a damn good one, and she’ll look to rebound in 2022.

9. Mei Suruga (Gatoh Move)

Championships Held: Asia Dream Tag Championship (365 days) and the Princess Tag Team Championship (175 days)
Biggest Matches: with Akki vs. Emi Sakura and Fujita on 3/27, with Sakisama vs. Tenma and Aino on 4/17, with Sakisama vs. BeeStar on 5/4, vs. Minoru Fujita on 6/12, with Sakisama vs. Maki Itoh and Yamashita on 6/17, vs. Emi Sakura on 8/9/21, with Sakisama vs. Sugar Rabbits on 10/9
Best Match: vs. Emi Sakura in Gatoh Move on August 9th, 2021

When I was compiling the ranking, I really struggled with the rest of the list as almost every wrestler has a different justification for being ranked ahead of another. What put Mei over the the top for me (if I can be permitted to put kayfabe aside) is her run in Tokyo Joshi Pro. As Mei Saint-Michel, Mei won the tag titles with Sakisama and together they had two successful defenses during their 175 day run. It also helps that Mei’s matches are extremely accessible, which builds up her popularity and makes all her bigger matches available to watch. In Gatoh Move, Mei held the tag titles for the entire year, with nine successful defenses. Mei may have reached her ceiling if she remains primarily in Gatoh Move, but even though she is in a smaller promotion she still puts on great matches and has a wide fanbase that spans the globe.

10. Miyuki Takase (AgZ)

Championships Held: AgZ Championship (94 days) and the Diana Tag Team Championship (289 days)
Biggest Matches: vs. SAKI on 4/4, with Umesaki vs. 3A on 4/18, vs. Rin Kadokura on 7/1, vs. Leon on 12/13
Best Match: vs. Mio Momono in WAVE on June 1st, 2021

Miyuki Takase gained more visibility in 2021 due to wrestling in more promotions and AgZ regularly updating their streaming service, but she was hurt by missing a chunk of the year due to an injury. Miyuki only had 60 matches during the year but made the most of it, as she held titles in two different promotions. Miyuki’s epic run as AgZ Champion ended in 2021, but she continued to be the best wrestler in the promotion. In WAVE, she won the Catch the WAVE Tournament, which is still one of the most prestigious Joshi tournaments even though WAVE itself has dropped in popularity. In Diana, Miyuki had two runs with their tag team championship, although she had a lack of defenses due to missing so much time. As the year ended, AgZ folded their wrestling division so Miyuki officially became a Freelancer. Hopefully she can turn that into a successful 2022 as she is well regarded in several Joshi promotions from her work over the years.

11. Chihiro Hashimoto (Sendai Girls’) – Chihiro again fails to crack the Top 10 for the same reason as last year – visibility. Sendai Girls’ doesn’t run as many shows as other promotions, and not as many of their events “make air” as they don’t have a dedicated streaming service. Hopefully next year we will get to see more of Chihiro as the matches we have seen (vs. Mio Momono and vs. Takumi Iroha in particular) were great and she deserves more attention.

12. Arisa Nakajima (SEAdLINNNG) – The only thing holding back Arisa Nakajima is she continues to have a light schedule, with only 32 matches on the year. Seven of those matches were title matches however, so when Arisa did wrestle she wrestled with a purpose. Over the course of the year she held three titles (SEAdLINNNG singles, SEAdLINNNG tag, and PURE-J tag) and continued to put on high-end matches. I’d like to see more of Arisa, but she seems to be happy with her current situation and she has certainly earned the lighter workload after the long career she has had.

13. Starlight Kid (Stardom) – In regards to growth in 2021, few wrestlers had the success of Starlight Kid. Starlight Kid has been a great wrestler for years, but she stepped up her game in 2021 not only by winning the High Speed Championship but turning on her friends and joining Oedo Tai. Ever since she became more…. dark, she’s become one of the stars of the promotion as she was immediately thrust into several major storylines. She is still a little young and undersized to expect a climb to the top in 2022, but I’m not going to be the one to doubt her as she has shown she is capable of anything.

14. Maki Itoh (Tokyo Joshi Pro) – Like Starlight Kid, Maki Itoh is here on the list due to her growth in popularity. Arguably the most popular wrestler in Tokyo Joshi Pro, Itoh didn’t win any titles in 2021 but did win the Tokyo Princess Cup when she defeated Shoko Nakajima in the Finals. She challenged twice for the Princess of Princess Championship without success, so even though she didn’t win as many matches as she’d have liked, she stayed in the main event scene. Itoh’s career path is one of the harder ones to predict, but I don’t see her popularity waning anytime soon.

15. Leon (PURE-J) – Leon dominated PURE-J in 2021, holding both the Openweight Championship and the PURE-J Tag Team Championship. At 41 years old, Leon is still a very good wrestler but doesn’t put on the high end matches anymore that many others on this list do. Still, she provided the old school promotion with stability and due to their streaming services, virtually all of her big matches were available for fans to watch.

16. ASUKA/Veny (Freelancer) – ASUKA was everywhere in 2021, as they wrestled in over a dozen promotions over the course of the year. ASUKA’s main home was SEAdLINNNG, where they won both the singles and tag team championship. A very active Freelancer that puts on high end matches wherever they go, even though in some ways this was a down year for ASUKA I am sure they will rebound next year and find even more success.

17. Nagisa Nozaki (Pro Wrestling WAVE) – Nagisa continues to lead a promotion that no one watches, due to WAVE not having a regular streaming service and most of their events only being available via PPV. Nagisa won the Regina Di WAVE Championship in August and held it for the rest of the year, however she only had one successful defense in that time. She is a very solid wrestler, not spectacular but whenever her matches do become available they are generally entertaining. I hated to have a promotion with no representation and Nagisa is the best pick from WAVE, but if you haven’t seen any of her matches from 2021 I assure you that you are not alone.

18. Tsukushi Haruka (Ice Ribbon) – Now that Suzu Suzuki is gone from Ice Ribbon, Tsukushi becomes the wrestler most likely to take the role of Ace from Tsukasa Fujimoto. She started that process by winning the ICExInfinity Championship in November – she has held many titles in Ice Ribbon before but this time it feels more serious as Tsukushi is now an adult and has started using her last name. A spunky murder machine, Tsukushi is poised for a big 2022 if she can keep up her current momentum.

19. Rika Tatsumi (Tokyo Joshi Pro) – Rika started the year hot but cooled off a bit as it came to a close. She came into 2021 the Princess of Princess Champion but lost the title in May and did not even challenge for any other titles for the rest of the year. She is only ranked at all based on her being the top title holder for the first quarter, but by the end of the year she had been passed by several other Tokyo Joshi Pro wrestlers. Rika is going to have to re-find that magic in 2022 or she will likely drop off the list altogether.

20. Suzu Suzuki (Ice Ribbon/Prominence) – Suzu gets the final spot this year (there are a dozen wrestlers that could have a legitimate argument for being on this list that aren’t) mostly due to her love of being blown up. Suzu turned to hardcore wrestling in 2021, which apparently is her true love and she wrestled anyone she could find that didn’t mind some extra pain. Her love for deathmatches helped lead to her leaving Ice Ribbon and forming her own group, which needless to say was a major step for the young wrestler. It remains to be seen if her venture will be a success, but I respect her willingness to risk it all by giving up her comfy Ice Ribbon “future Ace” role for the less steady realm of Joshi hardcore wrestling.

The post Top 20 Joshi Wrestlers of 2021 appeared first on Joshi City.

Event: Marvelous at Shin-Kiba 1st RING
Date: May 19th, 2021
Location: Shin-Kiba 1st RING in Tokyo, Japan
Announced Attendance: Unknown
Broadcast: Streamed on Marvelous Nico Channel

As I dive back into recent Joshi wrestling events, this one really caught my attention. Marvelous is low-key one of my favorite Joshi promotions, as they have a handful of entertaining wrestlers and tend to put on shorter but quality events. Watching them generally isn’t free, but as long as the action is good I certainly don’t mind forking over a little money. This is my first time watching Hibiki since she started acting a little “crazy” so I am interested in seeing how that goes, and the main event is a banger. Here is the match line-up, I will only be reviewing the Joshi matches on the card:

• Maria vs. Ai Houzan
• Itsuki Aoki and Tomoko Watanabe vs. Mei Hoshizuki and Mikoto Shindo
• DASH Chisako vs. Hibiki vs. KAORU
• Chihiro Hashimoto and Mika Iwata vs. Mio Momono and Rin Kadokura

As this streamed on the Marvelous’ streaming service, all matches will be shown in full. All wrestlers have a profile on Joshi City, you can click on their name above to go straight to it.

Maria vs. Ai Houzan

Houzan asks for a handshake before the match, Maria turns her back on her so Houzan schoolboys Maria for two. A few more get the same result, elbows by Houzan but Maria runs her off the ropes and hits an armdrag. Houzan comes back with a dropkick and throws down Maria by the air, but Maria cartwheels out of it and kicks Houzan in the chest. Now it is Maria that twists the hair and throws Houzan into the corner, kick to the arm by Maria and she kicks her arm again while she is against the ropes. More arm-focused offense by Maria before she kicks Houzan in the face, Houzan tries to fight back but gets kicks in the face again. Fujiwara Armbar by Maria but Houzan quickly wiggles to the ropes to force the break. Maria picks up Houzan and Irish whips her, but Houzan hits a jumping crossbody.

Another crossbody by Houzan and a few more, she eventually keeps one on for a cover but it only gets two. Houzan goes for a slam but Maria blocks it, elbows by Houzan and she hits a dropkick. Another dropkick by Houzan and she covers Maria for two. Scoop slam by Houzan, but again her cover gets a two count. Houzan picks up Maria but Maria elbows her as the two trade strikes, dropkick by Maria and she covers Houzan for two. Maria quickly transitions to the Fujiwara Armbar, she traps Houzan’s leg as well but Houzan gets to the ropes for the break. Boot by Maria but Houzan quickly schoolboys her for two. Houzan goes for a few more flash pins with no luck, snapmare by Maria and she delivers a sliding kick, but Houzan again cradles her. Front dropkick by Maria, she quickly picks up Houzan and applies a cross armbreaker. Houzan struggles for a moment but has to tap out! Maria is the winner.

Maria is a bit of a mystery to me as whenever I watch Marvelous, she looks solid enough but doesn’t really seem to be focused on very often by the promotion like Mei and Mikoto are. She gave Houzan a fair amount of offense here, and even though limb-based offense is rare in a rookie opener it was nice to see some type of story being told. Houzan would sometimes shrug off offense too quickly to go to her flash pins, probably something she should work on, but she has time. Nothing too memorable but Houzan seems to have the basics down pat and Maria led her well enough, a decent opener.

Itsuki Aoki and Tomoko Watanabe vs. Mei Hoshizuki and Mikoto Shindo

Itsuki and Mei start the match, Itsuki talks a bit as she does and she eats a dropkick. Mikoto helps Mei as they double team Itsuki, she eventually leaves and Itsuki punches Mei in the stomach. Itsuki puts Mei in the ropes and applies a chinlock, she lets go and delivers a running double knee to Mei’s back. Mei stomps on Itsuki’s foot to regain the advantage, she gets Itsuki in the ropes and hits a dropkick. Mei picks up Itsuki, Irish whip and she hits another dropkick before tagging Mikoto. Itsuki pokes Mikoto in the eyes and hits a hard shoulderblock, she tags in Tomoko and they double team Mikoto in the corner. Scoop slam by Tomoko and she hits an elbow drop off the second rope for a two count cover. Tomoko picks up Mikoto, Mikoto fights back with elbows but Tomoko hits a short-range lariat. Irish whip by Tomoko but Mikoto connects with a dropkick, giving her time to tag Mei. Tomoko greets Mei with a boot but Mei ends up on the apron and dropkicks Tomoko through the ropes. Mei puts Tomoko in a submission hold but Tomoko gets to the ropes for the break. Irish whip by Mei but Itsuki kicks her from the apron, she holds Mei for Tomoko but Mei moves out of the way and dropkicks Tomoko into Itsuki.

Mei goes for a scoop slam but Tomoko blocks it, hard elbow by Mei but Tomoko kicks her in the shin. Kick to the leg by Tomoko but Mei blocks the Irish whip attempt, Mikoto runs in and kicks Tomoko but Tomoko hits a backwards jump springboard on both of them. She tags Itsuki, shoulderblock by Itsuki to Mei and she hits a face crusher followed by a double kneedrop for two. Mei fights back as they trade elbows until Itsuki elbows Mei hard to the mat, Itsuki picks up Mei but Mei slides off her shoulders and stomps on her foot. Lariat by Itsuki but Mei avoids the next one and dropkicks Itsuki from the apron. Running dropkick by Mei and she tags Mikoto, dropkicks by Mikoto to Itsuki and she covers her for two. Mikoto goes for a scoop slam but Itsuki blocks it and hits one of her own, Irish whip by Itsuki but Mei runs in and they both dropkick her for two. Running elbow by Mikoto to Itsuki and she dropkicks her in the corner, corner dropkick by Mikoto and she hits the scoop slam for a two count. Mikoto goes off the ropes but Itsuki catches her with a Samoan Drop, she tags in Tomoko who comes in the ring with a body press off the second turnbuckle.

Mikoto gets her feet up however so that backfires, Mei runs in and stomps Tomoko but Itsuki cuts her off. Itsuki stacks both opponents in the corner and hits a lariat followed by a Tomoko body avalanche, Mikoto and Mei stagger to the middle of the ring and both are bit with stereo body avalanches. Falling body press by Itsuki on both, they then stack Mikoto on top of Mei before Tomoko hits a body press of her own. Scoop slam by Tomoko to Mikoto, she gets on the second turnbuckle and hits a body press, but Mikoto barely kicks out. Tomoko picks up Mikoto but Mikoto get away and dropkicks her in the back, another dropkick by Mikoto and she cradles Tomoko for two. Mikoto picks up Tomoko and hits a springboard dropkick, Mei hits a dropkick as well before Mikoto delivers a swandive sunset flip for a two count. Itsuki runs in and lariats Mikoto, Tomoko follows with a lariat of her own but Mikoto reverses it into a flash pin. She goes off the ropes but Tomoko levels her with a lariat, cover by Tomoko and she gets the three count! Itsuki Aoki and Tomoko Watanabe are the winners.

This was a pretty by-the-numbers tag match but still had more good than bad. Tomoko played her role well as grumpy vet, as she mostly dominated while in the ring but did let Mikoto have quite a run on her before killing her with a lariat so it was far from lopsided. Mei’s offense isn’t overly interesting but both she and Mikoto are more than capable so everything was smooth both in the one on one match-ups and tag moves. Itsuki didn’t get too much of a chance to shine here but brought her usual energy. A perfectly fine mid-card tag match, but nothing more than that.

DASH Chisako vs. Hibiki vs. KAORU

Hibiki won’t even get in the ring to start the match, jawing at both KAORU and Chisako, so they start without her. Dropkick by Chisako but Hibiki trips her from the floor when she goes off the ropes, this gives KAORU time to kick Chisako and hit a vertical suplex for two. Hibiki gets in the ring but quickly bails, Chisako and KAORU trade elbows but turn their attention back to Hibiki as KAORU kicks her through the ropes. This stuns Hibiki, allowing Chisako to charge from in the ring and hit a dropkick through the ropes on her. KAORU and Chisako both leave the ring to get Hibiki but Hibiki runs away and into the back. Hibiki reemerges from the other side and gets in the ring, but Chisako catches her with a missile dropkick. She follows with another dropkick, KAORU comes in with a piece of table board and hits Hibiki in the head with it. Chisako and take turns striking Hibiki, double Irish whip and they hit a double boot followed by a double vertical suplex. Assisted footstomp by Chisako, they wait for Hibiki to get up and take turns booting her.

Chisako and KAORU go up to opposite corner, Hibiki avoids KAORU’s Valkyrie Splash but rolls right into a diving footstomp by Chisako. Cover by Chisako, KAORU tries to break it up with the board but Chisako moves and she hits Hibiki instead. Cover by KAORU, Chisako tries to break it up with a chair but she too ends up hitting Hibiki. KAORU goes back up top but Hibiki recovers and knocks her out of the ring down to the floor. Hard elbow by Hibiki to Chisako but she elbows her back as they trade blows, Chisako goes for a Northern Lights Suplex but Hibiki blocks it. Knees by Chisako but Hibiki catches her with a lariat, cover by Hibiki but KAORU is back and breaks it up. Double Irish whip to Hibiki but Hibiki hits a spear on both of them, she goes off the ropes again but is hit with both a chair and piece of board at the same time. Chisako goes up top while KAORU picks up Hibiki, but Hibiki slams KAORU and tosses Chisako back into the ring (and on top of KAORU). Hibiki goes to the top turnbuckle but both wrestlers avoids her diving senton, Hibiki gets a white powder and throws it into KAORU’s face. Chisako comes over to help with a chair but she hits KAORU by accident, Hibiki quickly dropkicks Chisako and schoolboys KAORU for the three count! Hibiki is the winner.

A short match but still fun to watch and it progressed Hibiki’s unique story. For a match that wasn’t very long, it had a lot of shenanigans and hard hits, as all three did their part to put over what they were doing. Hibiki out-maneuvering her opponents in what was essentially a 2 vs. 1 match was well done as it felt smart rather than cheap. Hibiki took a fair beating on her way to victory to earn it, and she is definitely not wrestling as a comedic gimmick but rather unhinged. For a short three way match, I thought they delivered what they were going for and I’m looking forward to seeing more of Hibiki in the future.  Mildly Recommended

Chihiro Hashimoto and Mika Iwata vs. Mio Momono and Rin Kadokura

Rin and Mika jaw before the match can even start and start trading blows, while their two teammates look on, letting them go at it. Rin temporarily wins but Mika battles back, dropkick by Rin and she covers Mika for two. Rin tags Mio, kicks by Mio in the corner and she delivers a dropkick. Mio gets Mika up and applies a rolling front necklock, but releases the hold so she can dropkick her in the back of the head. Mio tags Rin back in, scoop slam by Rin and she mushes Mika’s head. Enzuigiri by Mika and she kicks Rin against the ropes before tagging in Chihiro. Hard shoulderblock by Chihiro, she scoop slams Rin and hits a running somersault senton. Mika returns, kicks by Mika and she applies a headlock. She lets go after a moment and stomps on Rin, starting to focus on her arm. snapmare by Mika and she kicks Rin in the back, she tags in Chihiro who puts Rin in an abdominal stretch. Mio breaks it up with a dropkick, Chihiro picks up Rin but Rin fights back with elbows. Chihiro elbows her back to the mat and applies a cross armbreaker, but Mio breaks it up. Chihiro picks up Rin and yanks on her arm before tagging in Mika, Irish whip by Mika but Rin delivers a jumping lariat.

Quick kick by Rin and she makes it to her corner to tag Mio. Mio comes in the ring with a diving crossbody, sliding kick by Mio but Chihiro kicks her from the apron. Chihiro gets in to help but Mio throws Chihiro into Mika and then hurricanranas Chihiro onto Mika. Dropkick by Mio to Chihiro, she goes back to Mika and hits a sliding kick for a two count. Mika shakes Mio off and hits a high knee in the corner, snapmare by Mika and she kicks Mio in the back. Mio ducks the PK but Mika kicks her in the head anyway and tags in Chihiro. Lariat by Chihiro in the corner and she hits a delayed vertical suplex for a two count. Chihiro gets Mio on her shoulders before Mika comes in and delivers a head kick. Double Irish whip to Mio, Mio tries to get out of it but is slammed for her efforts. Mika then flips Chihiro onto Mio, picking up a two count. Chihiro gets on the second turnbuckle and nails a somersault senton, but Mio gets a shoulder up. Chihiro picks up Mio but Mio slides away, lariat by Chihiro but Mio fires back with a dropkick. Chihiro hits another lariat but Mio lands on her feet on the suplex attempt, hard elbow by Chihiro but Mio hits a twisting headscissors takedown for two. Mio makes the tag to Rin, Rin goes up top and connects with a missile dropkick. Elevated DDT by Rin and she hits a sliding kick for two. Rin goes off the ropes but Chihiro spears her, she tags in Mika and Mika kicks Rin into the corner.

More kicks by Mika and she applies the cross armbreaker, Rin wiggles out of it so Mika switches it to an armtrap crossface. Mio breaks that up but Chihiro throws her out of the ring, Mika picks up Rin but Rin kicks her in the head. Mika returns the favor, more kicks by Mika and she covers Rin for a two count. More kicks by Mika but Mio breaks up the next cover, Mika picks up Rin and goes to the turnbuckles but Mio grabs her from the apron. Rin pulls Mika back into the ring, missile dropkick by Mio and Rin hits a diving footstomp for two. Rin gets on the top turnbuckle but Mika avoids the somersault senton, they trade elbows as they get up until Chihiro runs in and hits a lariat. Jackknife cover by Mika, but Rin kicks out. Mika waits for Rin to get up but Rin ducks the high kick and goes for a few flash pins for two counts. Rin goes for another cradle but Mika blocks it, Mio dropkicks Mika in the head but Rin can still only get two. Strike combination by Mika and she covers Rin, but Mio breaks it up. Mio dropkicks Chihiro when she comes in too but Mika kicks Mio, high kick by Mika to Rin but Rin barely gets a shoulder up. Mika goes off the ropes but Rin kicks he, crucifix slam by Rin but Mika is too close to the ropes. She hits a second one, and this time she holds down Mika for the three count! Mio Momono and Rin Kadokura are the winners!

One could never accuse these four of not being hard hitting, they certainly were holding nothing back in this match. Lots and lots of kicks so if you like kicks, this is the match for you. I wish that Mio and Chihiro did more as they felt almost like the side attractions, particularly Chihiro who didn’t get to do much that was memorable as Mika was the focus. But they have to save something for GAEA. Mika and Rin did a good job conveying disdain for each other and even though the arm work was shrugged off, at least they did go back to it towards the end so it wasn’t a meaningless exercise. I don’t love a match like this having a “trading flash pins” part, which seems to now be a requirement in every Joshi match even if it doesn’t fit, but at least they got over it and didn’t end the match in that manner. Not long enough to wear out its welcome (I wouldn’t have minded if it was a few minutes longer), an entertaining match and a good prelude to their match next month.  Recommended

The post Marvelous at Shin-Kiba 1st RING on 5/19/21 Review appeared first on Joshi City.

Event: Hana Kimura Memorial “MATANE”
Date: May 23rd, 2021
Location: Tokyo Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan
Announced Attendance: 714
Broadcast: Streamed on FITE TV

Reviewing wrestling events can bring many different emotions, but an emotion you never want to have is sadness. I knew, like many others, that watching this event was going to be hard. A year ago today, Hana Kimura tragically passed away, and her death impacted people across the globe. Hana had everything – she was a great wrestler, charismatic, had a great look, and had fans invested in everything she did. But more importantly she was a great, loving, and incredible person that had her whole life in front of her. Having her Memorial show on the one year anniversary is fitting, as it brought new attention to the circumstances of her death and gave her friends a way to publicly celebrate her life, which I 100% support. But its going to be hard, the hardest wrestling event I’ve watched in 30 years of being a wrestling fan. Here is the card:

• HUB, Shisao, and Eisa8 vs. Shota, FUMA, and Mil Mongoose
• Battle Royal with Menso-re Oyaji, Tsutomu Oosugi, Hagane Shinnou, Yuko Miyamoto, Shotaro Ashino, Banana Senga, Gabai Ji-chan, Lingerie Muto, Yusuke Kodama, Super Delfin, Fuminori Abe, Miyuki Takase, Mika Iwata, DASH Chisako, Chihiro Hashimoto, Hanako Nakamori, Ram Kaicho, Cherry, Moeka Haruhi, Yuki Miyazaki, Eiger, Andras Miyagi, Kyusei Hana Kimura (Sakura Hirota), Jun Kasai, Masato Tanaka, Jinsei Shinzaki, and CIMA
• Kagetsu, Konami, Hazuki, and DEATH Yama-san vs. Natsupoi, Syuri, ASUKA, and Mio Momono
• ASUKA vs. Kagetsu

As you can see, a very interesting cast but it is filled with wrestlers that had a real life connection with Hana Kimura or her mother Kyoko Kimura (or both) as this memorial event is as much for them as it is for us, to say their final goodbyes. You’ll note only a few active Stardom wrestlers make an appearance, which is at least partly because Stardom opted to run an event on the same day, but that’s another topic for another time. I’m not going to do my typical review for this one as I’m probably going to be too emotionally into the event to be typing constantly, but I hope to not only discuss the matches but help newer fans that may not watch a lot of Joshi matches with who all the wrestlers are. As always, you can click on the Joshi wrestler’s name above to go straight to their profile on Joshi City.

After a musical and dance opening, the show began after a quick video montage of Hana Kimura.

HUB, Shisao, and Eisa8 vs. Shota, FUMA, and Mil Mongoose

I haven’t watched men’s promotions in Japan with any regularity in probably five or six years, so this was a fun throwback for me as I remember these guys from when I used to review every small underground indie promotion I could find. These six all are seasoned vets and know their way around the ring, and a six wrestler tag is a pretty straight-forward opener. Shota played the Face in Peril here which made sense – its not about the quality of wrestler but everyone loves wrestlers with masks and Shota probably had the least intimidating look of everyone in the match. So he got beaten for the first third of the match by HUB and Shisao in particular until the crowd finally spurred him to get out of the match.

They wrestled this under Lucha Tag Rules, meaning a wrestler didn’t have to make a tag to no longer be the legal wrestler, they just had to bail out of the ring and reach the floor. I wish the commentators had explained this as new fans were no doubt confused on why wrestlers weren’t always tagging, but in a laid back affair like this one I doubt anyone was too concerned. After five minutes they gave up with the “focus on one wrestler” plan which was for the best as all six of these guys have cool looking moves so no reason to not show off. HUB whipping everyone with his mask tail was entertaining as was HUB in general, Hana had good taste in wrestlers as HUB was always my favorite small-time indie wrestler. Great look, great wrestler. The match ended up being the HUB Show which was the way I would I gone too, honestly he at any point in his career could have been a player in a larger promotion. In the end, HUB planted Mil Mongoose into the mat and picked up the easy three count. The winners are HUB, Shisao, and Eisa8!

For an opener, I enjoyed it, but honestly they didn’t even need the first five minutes. The Shota beatdown segment was fine but was really just filler as once that was over, they just started quickly changing the legal wrestlers while everyone got a chance to hit their moves. That part of the match was quite enjoyable, the “lucharesu” style is entertaining with its quick speed and all six know the style well so there were no hiccups. HUB was and is great, so him being featured was a big plus not just for me personally but also considering his background with Hana Kimura. Overall a fun way to kick off the show.  Mildly Recommended

Battle Royal

A quick run-down of the Joshi wrestlers among the opening group:

• Miyuki Takase – The Ace of Actwres girl’Z, frequently wrestles in WAVE and Diana as well
• Mika Iwata – Young wrestler from Sendai Girls’, had a feud with Hana Kimura from 2017 to 2018 that led to several fun matches
• DASH Chisako – Veteran wrestler from Sendai Girls’
• Chihiro Hashimoto – The Ace of Sendai Girls’
• Ram Kaicho – Started as a child wrestler in Triple Six and went to school with Hana Kimura, she is still affiliated with Triple Six but also wrestles in Ice Ribbon
• Cherry – Long time veteran wrestler that wrestled most of her career in DDT, currently a Freelancer
• Yuki Miyazaki – Long time veteran wrestler from Pro Wrestling WAVE
• Hanako Nakamori – The Ace of PURE-J
• Moeka Haruhi – Long time Freelancer

With more wrestlers to come, it is assumed there would be some surprise entries from Hana and/or Kyoko’s past as the match progressed. In fact before the match could even start we got our first surprise, as Super Delfin makes his way down to the match. Super Delfin is a legend from indie wrestling’s past and also wrestled in New Japan, everyone knows and loves Super Delfin which I think is safe to assume includes Hana as well. The match starts pretty standard and playful, it should be noted that Battle Royals in Japan tend to be more lighthearted affairs than those in the US. But soon we get three new entries as Eiger, Andras Miyagi, and Yusuke Kodama come down! Quick recap of the Joshi wrestlers:

• Eiger (or Aiger) – A “ghost” wrestler who officially hails from LLPW-X but mostly wrestles in Sendai Girls’, likes to scare children
• Andras Miyagi – Also known as Cassandra Miyagi, current a Freelancer but known for her work in Sendai Girls’ and Stardom

They immediately go after Moeka, who is creeped out by the group and in short order is eliminated by them. Ram Kaicho appears to join them as they all pose together, they turn to Gabai Ji-chan but he outsmarts them and with help he pins Eiger and Yusuke Kodama, so they are eliminated as well. Ji-chan loses his cane and turns it on, as everyone in the match stands around and watches his brand of comedy. They help him eliminated Miyagi, and then hold down Ji-chan so that both are eliminated. Hana Kimura’s music starts playing as someone dressed as her comes down to the ring, and it turns out to be the cosplay legend Sakura Hirota! 

• Sakura Hirota – Veteran from WAVE, best known for being a comedy wrestler and sometimes cosplaying as her opponents

Once Sakura is in the ring, things settle down as we get the usual Battle Royal fare (big group moves, isolated strike-fests, and the like). We do get a Super Delfin Tornado DDT and Delfin Clutch though on Menso-re Oyaji to eliminate him, which is always a pleasure, before he is quickly pinned himself. Iwata and Hirota trade kicks which is fitting as Iwata is a wrestler that had a feud with Hana Kimura, but everyone breaks them up and Sakura is the next one eliminated (along with Lingerie Muto). While I definitely appreciate Sakura’s contribution to the match, eliminating her quickly was probably a good move as once she did her Hana tribute it may have felt a little too ‘off’ to have someone in Hana’s gear hanging around the match long term.

After Miyuki Takase is eliminated a minute later, some new music plays as Jun Kasai comes down to the ring! One of the biggest hardcore legends still active in Japan, Kasai comes in with his skewers (to jam in people’s heads) which leads to the ring clearing out. Mika Iwata returns first but asks him for an autograph, which he gives before he is attacked from behind. Chihiro Hashimoto and Shotaro Ashino pair up in a Hoss Battle, but the ring slowly fills back up as Chihiro and Shotaro slam everyone. Deadlift German by Chihiro but the blob covers both of them after the move, so both are eliminated! While this happens, more music plays as ZERO1 veteran Masato Tanaka comes down to the ring!

Tanaka cleans house a bit as he eliminates Shinnou and Kodama, Miyazaki puts him in the Shy Hold but it gets broken up. Cherry gets involved but she is covered by the wrestler blob and is eliminated. Music plays again, as another legend comes to the ring – Jinsei Shinzaki! Shinzaki is from Michinoku Pro but has wrestled in WWE and New Japan as well. He goes for one of his signature moves on the majority of the wrestlers at the same time, the rope walk, but gets pushed out of the ring for his trouble and is eliminated. No one appreciates Banana Senga and Tsutomu Oosugi eliminating Shinzaki so quickly everyone pins them, eliminating the tag team as well. We get music over the loudspeaker which means a new participant – CIMA!

That is all the wrestlers we are getting as CIMA goes after Abe and eliminates him. Miyazaki goes after CIMA but gets knocked out of the ring and eliminated, and then CIMA eliminates Nakamori. CIMA doing God’s work and clearing the ring a bit as we are down to seven wrestlers. Chisako appears with a chair but Miyamoto takes it from her, Tanaka then takes the chair from him but Kasai takes it from Tanaka. Chisako dropkicks the chair into Kasai but Mika Iwata saves him. Pearl Harbor Splash by Kasai to Chisako and he gets the three count! DASH Chisako is eliminated. Miyamoto hits Iwata and Kasai with the chair but Kasai takes it and hits Miyamoto in the head with it. Iwata cradles Miyamoto afterwards, and he is eliminated! Iwata high fives Kasai but then kicks him low and tosses him from the ring, as Jun Kasai is eliminated. CIMA and Tanaka dump Iwata out of the ring to eliminate her, leaving us with three wrestlers – CIMA, Masato Tanaka, and Ram Kaicho.

Kaicho steps right up to them while CIMA and Tanaka trade shoves, they push her out of the way and continue going at it. DDT by Tanaka but CIMA hits a Lung Blower, Tanaka gets CIMA onto the apron but Ram Kaicho pushes CIMA to the apron as well. Ram Kaicho gets a running start and she dropkicks them both to the floor! Ram Kaicho is the last woman standing and is the winner!

As I mentioned a few times, Battle Royals in Japan are not serious, as no one is really claiming that Ram Kaicho could beat CIMA or Masato Tanaka in a regular match. But there is no shame in being defeated in a Battle Royal, and giving Hana’s old childhood friend the win was a touching tribute. There were fun spots throughout the match (loved seeing Super Delfin and Jinsei Shinzaki), and the surprising Mika Iwata/Jun Kasai subplot was entertaining. These matches are a little too long for my taste considering the entertaining sections are so spread out, but there were many fun moments and for fans that are familar with the wrestlers I am sure there will be something here that fans will enjoy.

Up to this point, the event has been pretty lighthearted. We started with music and dancing, a lucharesu match, and a mostly comedic Battle Royal. The tone is going to change a bit, as while the next two matches won’t be ‘downers’ they will be more serious with wrestlers that have more of a recent connection with Hana Kimura. We knew going into the show that Kagetsu was making a one-time appearance after retiring over a year ago, but we didn’t know she was bringing a special friend with her to really honor Hana the best way they knew how.

Kagetsu, Konami, Hazuki, and DEATH vs. Natsupoi, Syuri, ASUKA, and Mio Momono

They are against four quality wrestlers with various connections to Hana. ASUKA was the closest to Hana, as they were also a tag team (when Hana wrestled outside of Stardom) and were friends. They are joined by Stardom wrestlers Natsupoi (formally Natsumi Maki) and Syuri, along with Mio Momono from Marvelous. All eight of these wrestlers are great and I am expecting a combination of tributes to Hana and the fast paced Joshi action that we are all accustomed to.

Kagetsu and Hazuki both have incorporated tie dye into their gear as a homage to Hana, giving them a fitting different look. One thing you should know about these wrestlers is that even though its a memorial match for Hana Kimura, and they are here for her, they are also incredibly competitive and no one was going to take it easy. While it is true that DEATH is more of a comedy gimmick and she did bring that to the table, at the end of the day she was far from the focus of the match as the others went in hard on each other. Seeing Hazuki again is such a treat as she was one of the most exciting wrestlers in Stardom, and the fact she seemed to have lost her passion for wrestling but still prepared for this event just really puts over how important it was to her to take part.

Kagetsu hasn’t missed a beat either and its kinda amazing that they are so good to not show an ounce of ring rust. If fans coming into the show didn’t know about the retirements, you’d have thought they were still active competitors. They didn’t go heavy with Hana-related spots, although Jungle Kyona did make a surprise appearance to pose with Konami and DEATH as she was in Tokyo Cyber Squad as well (she is currently unable to wrestle due to an injury). The fact they opted to not just make this a tribute match from bell to bell made the moments more special when they did honor Hana. Every segment was great – Kagetsu and Syuri had a quality exchange as did Mio Momono and Hazuki, and seeing Hazuki and Kagetsu do a final double tope suicida was an incredible moment. ASUKA being the wrestler that had to “overcome the odds” was a smart move due to their close connection to Hana Kimura, and their final exchange with Hazuki was well done. In the end, ASUKA took out everyone and made the cover on Hazuki, picking up the three count! Natsupoi, Syuri, ASUKA, and Mio Momono are the winners!

For fans of Stardom back in 2018, this really felt like an Oedo Tai throwback match with Kagetsu and Hazuki leading the way (with a little bit of cheating from Kyoko Kimura). I’ve said before that eight wrestler tags can make it hard for some wrestlers to shine and that was still the case here, as while Natsupoi and Syuri both hit their spots well and contributed, there are only so many opportunities and the match was simply laid out to make others shine. ASUKA, Hazuki, and Kagetsu all looked incredible and you’d have thought from watching this that these eight had wrestled many times before, due to the fluidity and pace they kept up. Mio Momono was the stealth star of the match, she not only is fierce but is sneakily charismatic and draws attention to whatever she is doing. While this may have been a bit better as a six wrestler tag due to the length of the match, the Oedo Tai/Tokyo Cyber Squad team needed four to really salute Hana Kimura so no complaints from me. This would have been an A+ match from me regardless just for the joy of seeing Kagetsu and Hazuki again, but when taking into account the meaning behind the match both for fans and the participants, its a no-breaker recommendation to watch.  Highly Recommended

On paper, that was the main event of the evening, but ASUKA had other plans. After the match, they challenged Kagetsu to a singles match, which needed approval from Kyoko Kimura and the crowd. All parties naturally agreed, so we are ending the show with a special first-time singles match between ASUKA and Kagetsu!

ASUKA vs. Kagetsu

ASUKA and Kagetsu clearly felt the best way to honor Hana Kimura was to put on a banger, and that is exactly what they did. Kagetsu was flying outside the ring like it was 2019 all over again, and ASUKA laid in the strikes hard. I have to respect their cardio as both were just in a match, then immediately jumped into a singles match without missing a beat. Kagetsu went out of her way to put over ASUKA, as ASUKA handled all of her offense while dishing out plenty in return. Which shows the level of unselfishness that Kagetsu has – she frequently put other wrestlers over even when she didn’t “have” to and knowing she is retired, she lost nothing by taking all of ASUKA’s offense. That’s not to say it was a one-side match as it was far from it – Kagetsu got to use the Oedo Tai board and nailed the Oedo Coaster for old time’s sake as they went back and forth, but once ASUKA got back in control the match was over. After a Blue Thunder Bomb, heel kick, chokeslam, and the Benibana Koromo, ASUKA was able to hold down Kagetsu for the three count. ASUKA is the winner!

A really entertaining sprint as they took their short time and did everything with it. ASUKA’s kiss to the sky before drilling Kagetsu with the Benibana Koromo was the perfect tribute, as they treated the match like a “regular” match but the meaning was always there – this was for Hana. Kagetsu returning from retirement to put on two great matches is pretty incredible, and she delivered everything in this match. The strikes, the pace, the heart, everything was there. And ASUKA was able to keep up, they have really been killing it the last couple years and hopefully this will give ASUKA more attention which is no doubt what Kagetsu wanted, and also what Hana Kimura would have wanted. A fantastic match to end a very memorable event.  Highly Recommended

After the main event, things got very emotional as Kagetsu spoke and a longer video package was shown with clips from Hana Kimura’s career. Once the video package was over, back to a live view of the ring, Kyoko Kimura was standing alone and holding a photo of Hana. Jungle Kyona performed the ten bell salute while the wrestlers stood at ringside, with their heads down as they no doubt were saying their own silent goodbyes. The video concluded with a video package with dozens of wrestlers from around the globe saying “Matane,” in memory of Hana.

The post Hana Kimura Memorial “MATANE” on 5/23/21 Review appeared first on Joshi City.

Event: Sendai Girls’ Spring Easter
Date: April 11th, 2021
Location: Kariya City Industrial Promotion Center in Kariya, Aichi, Japan
Announced Attendance: None
Broadcast: Streamed on Sendai Girls’ Youtube Channel

In the past year, Sendai Girls’ has not uploaded or aired a lot of their events, so when I saw one was fully added I had to watch it. This is not a big event for the promotion – just four matches and no titles in sight. But it does have some wrestlers that I really enjoy and haven’t seen much of lately, so I am sure it will be a fun watch. Here is the full card:

• Kanon vs. Mei Hoshizuki
• Mio Momono vs. Yurika Oka
• DASH Chisako vs. Kaho Kobayashi
• Chihiro Hashimoto and Yuu vs. Hiroyo Matsumoto and Manami

As this streamed on Youtube, all matches will be shown in full. For more information on the wrestlers on the event, you can click on their name above to go to their profile.

Kanon vs. Mei Hoshizuki

Kanon dropkicks Mei as she is getting in the ring, elbows by Kanon but Mei fights back and the two trade blows. Kanon goes for a suplex but Mei blocks it, dropkick by Kanon and she covers Mei for two. Kanon picks up Mei but Mei elbows her, Irish whip by Mei and she kicks Kanon into the ropes. Mei goes out to the apron and hits a dropkick under the middle rope back into the ring, cover by Mei but it gets two. Mei hits a series of snapmares before putting Kanon in a crab hold, she lets go after a moment and stomps on Kanon’s back. Mei throws Kanon in the ropes but Kanon returns with a dropkick, Mei hits a dropkick of her own followed by a second one for two. Ankle hold by Mei but Kanon gets into the ropes for the break, so Mei applies a grapevined ankle hold instead. Kanon gets to the ropes again, stomps by Mei but Kanon blocks the Irish whip.

Mei finally tosses Kanon to the rope and hits a dropkick, she back bodydrops Kanon onto the apron but Kanon quickly returns and hits a dropkick. Kanon continues hitting more dropkicks on Mei before covering her for a two count. Kanon picks up Mei but Mei elbows her as they go back and forth, Mei stomps on Kanon’s foot repeatedly but Kanon sneaks in a small package for two. A schoolboy for Kanon doesn’t work either, Jackhammer by Kanon and she covers Mei for a two count. Kanon keeps trying to pin Mei but Mei gets into the ropes, Kanon charges Mei but Mei catches her with a dropkick. Elbow by Mei, she goes out to the apron and kicks Kanon through the ropes. Figure four leglock by Mei, but Kanon gets to the ropes for the break. Kanon sneaks in a flash pin but Mei reverses it and the two trade covers until Mei holds down Kanon with a Schoolboy for the three count! Mei Hoshizuki is the winner.

Chigusa Nagayo does a good job with her wrestlers but I haven’t seen as much out of Mei as I have from Mikoto, Maria, or Mio. She’s solid, but her offense still hasn’t really developed and since she is 19 I’d have just expected a bit more out of her in this situation. Meanwhile Kanon is over there hitting Jackhammers, so she isn’t missing a beat. A really simply laid out match, fundamentally sound and good practice for Kanon but a pretty basic opener.

Mio Momono vs. Yurika Oka

Mio offers a handshake before the match but Yurika slaps her instead, Yurika goes for a dropkick but Mio swats her away and hits a series of elbows. Mio gets Yurika to the mat and elbows her some more as she is clearly remembering the slap from 20 seconds before, Yurika manages to get back up and fights back. Yurika goes off the ropes and hits a few dropkicks but Mio doesn’t go down and instead drops Yurika with a sliding kick. Headlock by Mio and she drives Yurika to the mat, Yurika Irish whips out of it but Mio knocks her back to the mat. Scoop slam by Mio and she covers Yurika for two. Mio throws Yurika into the corner and stomps her down before throwing Yurika around by her hair. Mio keeps Yurika on the mat and stomps on her, she throws Yurika into the ropes and chokes her until the referee tells her to stop. Mio hits a cutter before delivering a sliding dropkick while Yurika is hanging over the second rope, cover by Mio back in the ring but it gets two. Yurika tries to fight back but Mio kicks her in the head, dropkick by Mio but Yurika avoids the Murder Dropkick and hits a dropkick of her own. Headscissors by Yurika and she follows with a jumping crossbody for two. Yurika goes for a suplex but Mio blocks it, Yurika puts Mio in a submission hold but Mio gets to the ropes for the break.

Yurika twists Mio’s arm in the top rope before dropkicking her in the arm a few times, she goes off the ropes and dropkicks Mio again for a two count cover. Yurika gets on the second turnbuckle but Mio dropkicks her as she jumps off, Mio then goes to the top turnbuckle and hits a diving crossbody. Sliding kick by Mio and she hits the Murder Dropkick, she puts Yurika in an armtrap crossface but Yurika gets to the ropes. Vertical suplex by Mio, she goes to the top turnbuckle but Yurika avoids the diving body press. Hard elbow by Mio but Yurika elbows her back, they trade strikes until Yurika cradles Mio to the mat and goes for a cross armbreaker. Mio gets to the ropes before she can fully lock it in, stomps by Yurika and she hits a scoop slam. Yurika gets on the second turnbuckle and hits a diving body press, but Mio kicks out of the cover. Yurika goes off the ropes but Mio catches her with a hard elbow, Yurika rolls up Mio but it gets a two count. Elbows by Yurika, she goes off the ropes but so does Mio and she cradles Yurika to the mat before hitting a series of footstomps. Strike combination by Mio, she goes to the top turnbuckle and hits a missile dropkick. Cover by Mio, but Yurika gets a shoulder up. Mio quickly goes to the top turnbuckle and nails the diving body press, picking up the three count pinfall! Mio Momono is the winner.

The most interesting thing about this match to me was Mio wrestling as grumpy veteran instead of the happy bubbly persona she normally has, it was fun to see. Instead of being the undersized underdog, she was the dominate force while Yurika struggled to get the upper-hand. Yurika had plenty of offense however and her arm work was pretty good, she showed a lot for someone at her age and experience level. Hopefully once she turns 18 and presumably finishes school, she’ll get to move up the card a bit. A pretty good match, but made better just with the role reversal from what I am used to seeing from Mio Momono.  Mildly Recommended

DASH Chisako vs. Kaho Kobayashi

Tie-up to start, Kaho gets Chisako into the ropes but she gives a clean break. They tie-up again and this time Chisako gets Kaho in the ropes, she kicks Kaho however and goes for an Irish whip, but Kaho blocks it. Armdrag by Chisako and she boots Kaho in the face, Irish whip by Chisako but Kaho hits an armdrag of her own followed by a dropkick. Another dropkick by Kaho, and she covers Chisako for two. Kaho applies a stretch hold but Chisako gets out of it, elbow by Chisako but Kaho kicks her back. Kaho puts Chisako in the ropes and dropkicks her in the back, cover by Kaho but it gets a two count. Kaho throws Chisako in the corner, Irish whip by Kaho but Chisako avoids her charge and delivers a jumping kick. Chisako puts Kaho in the ropes and stretches her face, face crusher by Chisako and she applies an armtrap crossface. Kaho gets to the ropes for the break, stomps by Chisako but Kaho kicks her repeatedly in the shin. Kaho goes off the ropes but Chisako boots her in the face, Kaho kips back up but gets booted in the face again. Another kip up by Kaho but she collapses back to the mat, Chisako goes for a cover but Kaho rolls her up for two. Both go off the ropes with Kaho hitting a dropkick, another dropkick by Kaho but Chisako elbows her in the chest. Kaho avoids the sliding kick and knocks Chisako into the ropes, she gets on the top turnbuckle and delivers a missile dropkick for a two count. Fisherman suplex hold by Kaho, but it gets two.

Kaho positions Chisako and goes up top, but Chisako recovers and joins her. Superplex by Chisako, and she covers Kaho for two. Chisako drags up Kaho but Kaho elbows her off, Chisako hits a backdrop suplex anyway and goes to the top turnbuckle, but Kaho avoids the diving footstomp and applies a few flash pins for two counts. Kaho goes for an enzuigiri but Chisako catches her leg and applies an ankle hold. Kaho gets to the ropes, backdrop suplex by Chisako but Kaho returns with an enzuigiri and both wrestlers are down on the mat. Back up they trade elbows, Kaho goes off the ropes but Chisako boots her in the face. Northern Lights Suplex Hold by Chisako, but Kaho gets a shoulder up. Chisako goes to the turnbuckles but Kaho grabs her and hits a German suplex, shining enzuigiri by Kaho and she covers Chisako for two. Kaho picks up Chisako but Chisako slams her to the mat, she goes for the Harumaru but Kaho rolls through it. Kaho goes off the ropes but Chisako boots her in the head for a two count. Chisako goes to the top turnbuckle and nails a diving footstomp, cover by Chisako but Kaho barely kicks out. Chisako quickly goes back up top and she delivers the Hormone Splash for the three count! DASH Chisako wins!

These two could have a solid and entertaining match in their sleep, so there was no real way they could disappoint even if the match never reached that next level of excitement. Chisako has been around for awhile now but she hasn’t lost her speed and pace, and Kaho works fast too so a lot happened in a relatively short match. I enjoyed that every time it looked like Kaho was getting the upper hand, Chisako would just boot her in the face. She has a solid big boot and Kaho sells everything well as she is tiny, so it always came across as a definitive cut-off move. Kaho didn’t go down easy but this always felt like Chisako’s match to win, Kaho could have won via fluke but nothing else was going to work as Chisako was rarely damaged significantly. A pretty good match, the hard cam setup takes some of the impact out of their strikes but still an enjoyable encounter between two seasoned vets.  Mildly Recommended

Chihiro Hashimoto and Yuu vs. Matsumoto and Manami

Chihiro and Manami start the match, they quickly end up on the mat and Chihiro applies an ankle hold. She switches it to a headlock but Manami Irish whips out of it, hard shoulderblock by Chihiro and the two reach a stalemate. Kick by Manami and she goes for a monkey flip, but Chihiro catches her and applies a crab hold. Manami quickly gets to the ropes, Chihiro goes to charge her but Hiroyo knees Chihiro from the apron. Manami delivers the monkey flip followed by a dropkick, giving her time to tag in Hiroyo. Chihiro and Hiroyo lockup but break cleanly, Hiroyo gets Chihiro into the corner and stomps her in the stomach. Hiroyo boots Chihiro and goes for a shoulderblock, but Chihiro does’t go down. They trade elbows, lariat by Chihiro and she applies a side headlock. Hiroyo reverses it but Chihiro hits a scoop slam before making the tag to Yuu. Shoulderblock by Yuu to Hiroyo but she falls in her corner and tags Manami, Manami comes in and she dropkicks Yuu while Hiroyo stays in to help. Hiroyo leaves and Yuu ends up chopping Manami in the corner, Yuu goes for a cross armbreaker but Manami quickly gets to the ropes. Chihiro comes in and they both shoulderblock Manami, body press by Yuu and Chihiro hits one as well on top of both of them before they pose on Manami. Cover by Yuu, but it gets a two count. Yuu tags Chihiro, Manami tries to fight back but Chihiro throws her into the corner.

Snapmare by Chihiro and she covers Manami, but it gets two. She tags Yuu, Manami tries to fight back but Yuu absorbs her blows and delivers a chop. Yuu goes off the ropes but Manami avoids her senton attempt, cradle by Manami but it gets two. Dropkick by Manami but Yuu doesn’t budge, she tries again but Yuu stays up. Yuu swats aside the next one and hits the senton, picking up a two count. Yuu picks up Manami and throws her into the corner, chops by Yuu but Manami jumps up on the second turnbuckle and hits a missile dropkick. Manami tags Hiroyo, lariat by Hiroyo and she knocks Chihiro off the apron. Yuu elbows Hiroyo and delivers a series of chops, Hiroyo slides out to the apron and snaps Yuu’s neck over the top rope. Missile dropkick by Hiroyo and she covers Yuu for two, she goes for a powerbomb but Yuu back bodydrops out of it. Kick by Hiroyo but Yuu dropkicks her into the corner, cannonball by Yuu and she covers Hiroyo for a two count. Yuu gets to her corner and tags Chihiro, lariat by Chihiro to Hiroyo but Hiroyo blocks the suplex. Chihiro applies a stretch hold but Manami breaks it up with a dropkick, they double team Chihiro before Hiroyo hits a sliding elbow for a two count. Hiroyo goes to the second turnbuckle but Chihiro quickly recovers and grabs her, Hiroyo slides away and they trade lariat attempts. Vertical suplex by Hiroyo and she levels Chihiro with a lariat, giving her time to tag Manami. Manami stomps on Chihiro and hits a dropkick, more dropkicks by Manami and she hits a missile dropkick for a two count. Manami picks up Chihiro and the two trade elbows until Chihiro nails a lariat.

Chihiro goes off the ropes and hits a spear, Yuu runs in and hits a senton and Chihiro follows with a somersault senton for two. Chihiro positions Manami and hits a somersault senton off the second turnbuckle, but Hiroyo breaks it up. Yuu comes in to get Hiroyo while Chihiro picks up Manami, elbows by Chihiro and she covers Manami for two. Chihiro gets Manami on her shoulders but Manami slides down and puts Chihiro in an Octopus Hold, she gets Chihiro to the ground while Hiroyo comes in and hits a reverse double kneedrop. Seated armbar by Manami but Chihiro eventually gets a foot on the ropes to force a break. Manami goes off the ropes and nails a jumping knee, but Yuu breaks up the cover. Manami picks up Chihiro, Chihiro sits down on Manami but Hiroyo runs in with a sliding lariat. Cradle by Manami, but Chihiro barely kicks out. Manami goes off the ropes but Chihiro decks her with a lariat, but Hiroyo is there to break up the pin. Chihiro picks up Manami and hits the waterwheel drop, but Hiroyo breaks up that cover as well. Yuu gets rid of Hiroyo, she picks up Manami and both she and Chihiro hit body avalanches. Lariat by Chihiro, but Manami barely gets a shoulder up on the cover. Chihiro picks up Manami and plants her with a powerbomb, and she picks up the three count! Team 200kg are the winners!

The only thing that hurt this match was the one camera setup as we couldn’t really feel the impact of the moves, but otherwise this was great. Yuu and Chihiro Hashimoto are so good at hurt-y hoss violence and Manami took everything they had like a champ, God bless her. Hiroyo chipped in sometimes but this match was all about Team 200kg tossing Manami around the ring. Not that Manami didn’t get in some offense as she had Chihiro in trouble a few times towards the end so it wasn’t just a long squash. But this was mostly about Team 200kg looking awesome so in that regard the match was a big success. Its hard to give a super high recommendation to a match shot from so far from the ring but I can still easily recommend watching it, an entertaining match with some great wrestlers and a very game child wrestler.  Recommended

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• Championships and Tournaments Won: This includes any championship won during 2020, or any championship that was held when 2020 began. The prestige of the championship or tournament will be taken into account.
• Match Quality: The most subjective criteria, extra consideration is given to wrestlers that had high quality matches throughout the year, especially if it was with a variety of opponents.
• Wrestler Popularity: Being able to connect with the crowd is important in wrestling, wrestlers that have success interacting with the crowd and getting reactions will get credit for that.
• Wrestler Status in a Promotion: Generally speaking, the Ace of one promotion will be ahead of the #3 wrestler in another promotion, since wrestling on top means bigger matches, longer matches, and more opportunities. There isn’t a direct correlation, but leading a promotion or being the ‘face’ of a promotion can help a wrestler’s rank as it increases the wrestler’s visibility and match importance.
• Match Frequency/Availability: How often a wrestler wrestled is taken into consideration. A wrestler with 100 matches is more likely to be on the list than a wrestler with 10 matches. Also, it is harder to ‘rate’ a wrestler if their matches rarely were distributed via TV or an online streaming service, so visibility is a factor.

One criteria I am not using is ‘drawing power.’ In the current wrestling landscape there are very few wrestlers that by themselves are draws (I could probably count them on one hand), usually it is more the benefit of a good storyline or a hot region that impacts the size of the crowd. While the larger Joshi promotions may have more wrestlers on the list due to the other criteria (visibility being a major one), the size of the crowds will not be taken in consideration. Also, it should be noted that this ranking is based only on a wrestler’s matches/participation in Japan. This is not a list of my personal favorite wrestlers or fun rookies that I enjoy watching, but rather my version of what a “real” ranking of Joshi wrestlers would look like based on their success and status in 2020.

2020 was a very unusual year, not just for Joshi wrestling but for the world as the pandemic raged from March to December. This lead to some promotions trying new things to stay active, with other promotions drastically cutting down on events. OZ Academy, for example, only had 15 events for the entire year while Ice Ribbon had 102, just showing the different paths that promotions took. Due to that, the wrestlers in promotions with more visibility will do better in the ranking, even if in a normal year that may not have been the case. That makes this year’s list perhaps even more subjective than usual, and the bigger promotions that ran frequent events (particularly Stardom and Ice Ribbon) may be over-represented compared to prior (and hopefully future) years.

Onto the Top 20 Joshi Wrestlers of 2020!

1. Giulia (Stardom)

Championships Held: Wonder of Stardom Championship (159 days) and the Artist of Stardom Championship (280 days)
Biggest Matches: with Syuri and Maika vs. AZM, Watanabe, and Hayashishita on 2/8, vs. Tam Nakano on 7/26, vs. Tam Nakano on 10/3, vs. Konami on 11/15, vs. Syuri on 12/20
Best Match: vs. Tam Nakano in Stardom on October 3rd, 2020

There was no other wrestler I could have justified putting in this spot, 2020 was the Year of Giulia. She ticks all the boxes – a major championship, high end matches, popularity, recognition from Japanese media, major storylines – everything a wrestler could hope for was achieved by Giulia in 2020. Giulia also successfully led a new stable, Donna del Mondo, and had memorable feuds against Hana Kimura and Tam Nakano. All in all, a banner year for Giulia, and she will likely be a force to be reckoned with in Stardom for many years to come.

2. Yuka Sakazaki (Tokyo Joshi Pro)

Championship Held: Princess of Princess Championship (365 days)
Biggest Matches: vs. Miyu Yamashita on 1/4, vs. Yuki Aino on 7/23, vs. Hyper Misao on 8/10, vs. Mizuki on 11/7
Best Match: vs. Mizuki in Tokyo Joshi Pro on November 7th, 2020

After years of being on the cusp of being the top wrestler in Tokyo Joshi Pro, Yuka Sakazaki finally ascended to the top in 2020 and once she was there she never left. Yuka won the Princess of Princess Championship in late 2019 and held it for the entire year, and even during the pandemic she was an active champion with four successful defenses. Two of those defenses were highly rated matches, against Miyu Yamashita and Mizuki. The fact she became known to more American fans from wrestling in AEW wasn’t considered for this ranking, but it still worth mentioning. A great year for Yuka, as she cemented her place in Tokyo Joshi Pro as she dominated in one of the top Joshi promotions.

3. Yoshiko (SEAdLINNNG)

Championships Held: SEAdLINNNG Beyond The Sea Championship (172 days) and the SEAdLINNNG Beyond the Sea Tag Team Championship (312 days)
Biggest Matches: vs. Arisa Nakajima on 7/13, vs. Sareee on 9/24, with Hiroyo Matsumoto vs. Best Friends on 10/3, vs. Aja Kong on 11/4, with Sareee vs. Best Friends on 11/27
Best Match: vs. Arisa Nakajima in SEAdLINNNG on July 13th, 2020

Most of the wrestlers in the Top 10 had a fair number of matches in 2020, all things considered. Yoshiko had less than the rest, as SEAdLINNNG did not run very often, but she did a lot with the opportunities she had. Yoshiko dominated SEAdLINNNG in 2020, as she held both the singles and tag team championship. Not only did Yoshiko hold the singles title the last half of the year but she did it against very stiff competition as she defeated Arisa Nakajima, Sareee, and Aja Kong. Teaming with Sareee, Yoshiko ended the year with her new partner beating Best Friends and MAX VOLTAGE, two of the top Joshi tag teams. On top of all that, she appeared in Stardom, as she plots to invade the promotion where she began her career. Even with the pandemic raging, it was a very successful year for Yoshiko.

4. Mayu Iwatani (Stardom)

Championships Held: World of Stardom Championship (320 days)
Biggest Matches: vs. Momo Watanabe on 1/19, with Kagetsu vs. Jungle Kyona and Momo Watanabe on 1/26, vs. Takumi Iroha on 2/8, vs. Jungle Kyona on 7/24, vs. Syuri on 10/3, vs. Takumi Iroha on 10/18, vs. Utami Hayashishita on 11/15
Best Match: vs. Takumi Iroha in Stardom on February 8th, 2020

The Icon may have been overshadowed in 2020 by Giulia, but she still had a great year and stayed a focal part of Stardom. She held one of the top titles in the promotion for the vast majority of the year, and had four successful defenses. She also had a great mini-feud with Takumi Iroha, as they put on two of the best Joshi matches of the year. Beyond her title success, Mayu also led the STARS faction and dealt with various comings and goings in the stable, keeping her in the spotlight. A high-end and popular wrestler, Mayu will likely maintain her high status in 2021, even though she goes into the year with no titles.

5. Suzu Suzuki (Ice Ribbon)

Championship Held: ICExInfinity Championship (145 days)
Biggest Matches: vs. Tsukasa Fujimoto on 3/14, vs. Maya Yukihi on 6/13, vs. Maya Yukihi on 8/9, vs. Tsukushi on 9/20, vs. Saori Anou on 12/31
Best Match: vs. Maya Yukihi in Ice Ribbon on August 9th, 2020

For the past few years Ice Ribbon has been slow to elevate talented young wrestlers, but they did not make the same mistake with Suzu Suzuki as at age 17 she won the ICExInfinity Championship. When 2020 started she immediately signaled she was ready for a bigger spotlight, as she defeated Tsukasa Fujimoto on March 14th. Unlike other promotions, Ice Ribbon did not take as long of a pause as they continued running events from their Dojo, giving Suzu a chance to tally more wins. After failing to win the ICExInfinity Championship in June, she came back in August and defeated Maya Yukihi for the championship. She had three successful defenses before the year closed, as she was an active champion. Between her age and skill set, if Ice Ribbon keeps her on the path she will likely be an Ace for the promotion for many years to come.

6. Utami Hayashishita (Stardom)

Championships Held: SWA Undisputed World Women’s Championship (26 days), Artist Of Stardom Championship (39 days), Future Of Stardom Championship (47 days), Goddesses Of Stardom Championship (154 days), and the World Of Stardom Championship (47 days)
Biggest Matches: vs. Arisa Hoshiki on 1/19, with Saya Kamitani vs. Jungle Kyona and Konami on 7/26, with Saya Kamitani vs. AZM and Momo Watanabe on 11/14, vs. Mayu Iwatani on 11/15, vs. Momo Watanabe on 12/20, with Saya Kamitani vs. Bea Priestley and Konami on 12/26
Best Match: vs. Mayu Iwatani in Stardom on November 15th, 2020

As is her tradition, Utami Hayashishita was a Title Collector in 2020. At some point during the year, Utami held five different championships, and ended the year with one of the top titles in Stardom. She also put on a series of high end matches, including memorable fights against Momo Watanabe and Mayu Iwatani. On top of that, she also won the FIVE STAR GP, one of the biggest Joshi tournaments every year. Just a couple years into her career, Utami continues to gain more and more steam which is a trend that will likely continue.

7. Mayu Yukihi (Ice Ribbon)

Championships Held: ICExInfinity Championship (222 days) and the International Ribbon Tag Team Championship (one day)
Biggest Matches: vs. Hamuko Hoshi on 5/31, vs. Suzu Suzuki on 6/13, vs. Suzu Suzuki on 8/9, vs. Risa Sera on 10/31, with Maika Ozaki vs. Frank Sisters on 12/31
Best Match: vs. Suzu Suzuki in Ice Ribbon on August 9th, 2020

Even though Maya in 2020 was (perhaps temporarily) passed in the promotion by Suzu Suzuki, she still had a great year. Maya held the main singles title for the majority of 2020, with successful defenses over Akane Fujita, Hiragi Kurumi, Suzu Suzuki, and Hamuko Hoshi. After losing the title in August, Maya then failed to win the FantastICE Championship from Risa Sera but rebounded by winning the tag titles on the last day of the year. Maya may start 2021 focused on the tag scene but will no doubt be back trying to regain the ICExInfinity Championship before long.

8. Miyuki Takase (Actwres girl’Z)

Championships Held: Actwres girl’Z Championship (365 days) and the Diana Tag Team Championship (124 days)
Biggest Matches: vs. Nagisa Nozaki on 3/15, vs. Nagisa Nozaki on 3/21, vs. Sareee on 10/5, vs. Andras Miyagi on 11/1, vs. Akane Fujita on 11/16
Best Match: vs. Sareee in Actwres girl’Z on October 5th, 2020

A sleeper pick to be this high, but I think well deserved. Even though Miyuki is based out of AgZ, she wrestled in many other promotions in 2020 to help build her visibility and put on quality matches against a variety of opponents. During the year she had five successful defenses of the AgZ Championship, including wins over Nagisa Nozaki and Andras Miyagi. In other promotions, she challenged for the Regina di WAVE Championship and successfully won the tag team titles in Diana. Miyuki is AgZ’s undisputed Ace, and since in the past they have had trouble hanging onto wrestlers with Miyuki’s popularity, it remains to be seen how much longer she will stay in the smaller promotion.

9. Tsukasa Fujimoto (Ice Ribbon)

Championships Held: International Ribbon Tag Team Championship (222 days) and the SEAdLINNNG Beyond The Sea Tag Team Championship (56 days)
Biggest Matches: with Tsukushi vs. Ram Kaicho and Rina Yamashita on 2/24, with Tsukushi vs. Hiragi Kurumi and Mochi Miyagi on 8/9, with Arisa Nakajima vs. Hiroyo Matsumoto and Yoshiko on 8/26, with Arisa Nakajima vs. Hiroyo Matsumoto and Yoshiko on 10/3, with Arisa Nakajima vs. Sareee and Yoshiko on 11/27
Best Match: with Arisa Nakajima vs. Hiroyo Matsumoto and Yoshiko in SEAdLINNNG on August 26th, 2020

Tsukasa Fujimoto stayed out of the main title scene in Ice Ribbon for 2020, but she still was very active and had a successful year. Most of her notable victories and big matches were in the tag division, as she teamed with Tsukushi in Ice Ribbon and Arisa Nakajima in SEAdLINNNG to find title success. Particularly in her run for SEAdLINNNG, Best Friends had a number of high end matches against Hiroyo Matsumoto and Yoshiko, with the feud ending when Best Friends took the belts. Even at 37 years old, Tsukasa hasn’t lost a step as she continues to be an important part of Ice Ribbon.

10. Nagisa Nozaki (Pro Wrestling WAVE)

Championship Held: Regina Di WAVE Championship (362 days)
Biggest Matches: vs. Miyuki Takase on 3/15, vs. Miyuki Takase on 3/21, vs. Yuki Miyazaki on 7/7, vs. Sareee on 8/30, vs. Sakura Hirota on 9/6, vs. Sakura Hirota on 12/27
Best Match:  vs. Miyuki Takase in Actwres girl’Z on March 15th, 2020

Pro Wrestling WAVE flies under the radar more often than not, but Nagisa Nozaki’s dominance of the promotion deserves attention. Nagisa held the Regina di WAVE Championship for almost the entire year, and had wins over Miyuki Takase, Sakura Hirota, and Rina Shingaki in defense of it. Her matches with Miyuki Takase were highly rated, and she had a special attraction match with WWE-bound Sareee over the summer. Nagisa was very loyal to WAVE in 2020 which impacted her visibility, hopefully in 2021 she is able to branch out more to other promotions.

11. Risa Sera (Ice Ribbon) – Risa continued in 2020 to not have success at the very top of the card in Ice Ribbon, but she really increased her overall impact in the promotion with the birth of the FantastICE Championship. Risa won the title in August and had seven defenses, with all the matches having a fair amount of violence attached to them. Risa is making the most of her opportunities and goes into 2021 still the FantastICE Champion.

12. Mei Suruga (Gatoh Move) – It is hard to really describe Mei Suruga and the impact she has on her fans. Gatoh Move became a popular niche promotion in the West due to their ease to watch as they started regular Youtube shows during the pandemic. While most of the action is just fun casual viewing, Mei set herself apart by not only having a ton of charisma but being entertaining and talented to boot. She didn’t win any titles in 2020 until the last day, but her impact went beyond that and under the right circumstances she could become a real force in Joshi in a very short period of time.

13. Rika Tatsumi (Tokyo Joshi Pro) – While Yuka Sakazaki dominated Tokyo Joshi Pro, Rika Tatsumi had a good year as well. She was one half of the Princess Tag Team Champions for the bulk of the year and continued to be one of the most popular wrestlers in the promotion. Aside from losing in the Tokyo Princess Cup, Rika didn’t lose any singles matches in 2020, setting herself up for a big 2021.

14. Arisa Nakajima (SEAdLINNNG) – Arisa wasn’t super active in 2020, with only 27 total matches, but when she did wrestle she made sure to make it memorable. Six of her 27 matches were title matches, as she had two runs with the SEAdLINNNG Beyond The Sea Tag Team Championship with Tsukasa Fujimoto. She also came into the year with the Beyond The Sea Championship until losing it to Yoshiko in July. Arisa continues to wrestle at a very high level as she goes into her 15th year as a wrestler, which boosted her some in this ranking as she is still one of the best in the world.

15. Syuri (Stardom) – Syuri started the year as a Freelancer and had big matches against Chihiro Hashimoto, Saori Anou, and Tsukasa Fujimoto before joining Stardom full time later in the year. In Stardom, she won the Trios titles and challenged for the World of Stardom Championship before winning the SWA Undisputed Championship in November. With her unique offense and infectious smile, it will be fun to see where Syuri’s career in Stardom takes her.

16. Rina Yamashita (Freelancer) – In a year as crazy as 2020, I have to give some love to the Broken Dumptruck. Rina Yamashita stayed very active in 2020, with almost 100 matches, and held the PURE-J tag title for half the year. She had several other memorable title challenges, including against Arisa Nakajima and Risa Sera. Rina was everywhere in 2020 and was entertaining wherever she went, showing that not even a pandemic could stop her from leaving a lasting impression with fans.

17. Mizuki (Tokyo Joshi Pro) – Mizuki didn’t hold any titles in Joshi promotions during 2020, but she still had a solid year in Tokyo Joshi Pro. She won the Tokyo Princess Cup in the summer, defeating Shoko Nakajima in the Finals. She also had what many consider one of the best Joshi matches of the year against Yuka Sakazaki on November 7th. A popular wrestler with the Tokyo Joshi Pro fandom, Mizuki will look to build on a good 2020 to have an even better 2021.

18. Takumi Iroha (Marvelous) – Before her injury in October, Takumi was having a solid year. She didn’t hold any titles, but continued to lead Marvelous and had two really great matches against Stardom wrestler Mayu Iwatani. Takumi will be on the shelf for awhile, but hopefully she can fully recover and continue being one of the most entertaining wrestlers in Japan.

19. Tam Nakano (Stardom) – Tam Nakano didn’t have a lot of success in the title scene in 2020, but she still had a big impact in Stardom as she was regularly involved in the promotion’s biggest storylines. Between her feud with Giulia and her splitting away from STARS, Tam was hard not to notice as she was one of the most visible wrestlers in the promotion. Tam may never be the “Ace” of Stardom but she will be an important part of the promotion for the foreseeable future.

20. Chihiro Hashimoto (Sendai Girls’) – Chihiro is one of wrestlers hardest to place, due to the impact of COVID. Sendai Girls’ ran less shows than most other Joshi promotions, and even though Chihiro held the championship all year she only had one defense (which was back in March). Her ranking here isn’t a statement for her future in Joshi, and I expect her to rebound once the world returns to normal.

The post Top 20 Joshi Wrestlers of 2020 appeared first on Joshi City.

Event: Diana at Shin-Kiba
Date: February 9th, 2020
Location: Shin-Kiba 1st RING in Tokyo, Japan
Announced Attendance: Unknown

Well it must be my birthday, as Diana has released a full show! This is their first televised/streamed event in many years, and their first event released at all since a DVD was sold for an event in October of 2018. Hopefully this is not just a one off appearance. While Diana doesn’t have the best roster, I still like to watch all the different Joshi promotions so the more that make it to air, the better! Here is the full card:

• Banny Oikawa vs. Nanami
• Ayako Sato vs. Sakura Hirota
• Jaguar Yokota and Madeline vs. Mikoto Shindo and Tomoko Watanabe
• Chihiro Hashimoto, DASH Chisako, and Meiko Satomura vs. Haruka Umesaki, Kaoru Ito, and Kyoko Inoue

Short show! Originally Sareee was on the event as well, but sadly she was out due to illness. All the wrestlers have a profile on Joshi City, you can click on their name above to go straight to it. We will have to put up the NicoPro Commentary Box during this event, which sucks, but we will deal with it the best we can.

Banny Oikawa vs. Nanami

Banny and Nanami circle each other to start and tie-up, the larger Nanami pushes Banny into the ropes and gives a clean break. They lock-up again and trade wristlocks, headlock by Nanami but Banny reverses it. Snapmare by Banny and she goes for a PK, but Nanami ducks it and schoolboys Banny for two. Dropkick by Banny and she throws Nanami into the corner, cartwheel by Banny and she hits a mule kick for two. Banny goes for Nanami’s arm but she quickly gets into the ropes, Irish whip by Banny but Nanami dropkicks her. Three more dropkicks by Nanami, she picks up Banny but Banny blocks the scoop slam. Banny goes off the ropes and his a dropkick, but Nanami applies a bodyscissors. Nanami stretches Banny before goes for a schoolboy, but Banny rolls through it and applies an armtrap crossface. Nanami rolls into the ropes for the break, Banny picks her up and the two trade elbows. Jumping crossbody by Nanami, but Banny kicks out of the cover. Nanami picks up Banny and hits the scoop slam, she picks up Banny but Banny sneaks in a backslide for two. Kicks to the chest by Banny, she goes off the ropes and hits a jumping crossbody for a two count. Banny goes off the ropes and applies a sunset flip, but she can’t get Nanami’s shoulders down. Camel Clutch by Banny but she lets go after a moment, she goes off the ropes and hits the sunset flip, but Nanami reverses it and the two trade flash pins. Backslide by Banny, and she picks up the three count! Banny Oikawa is the winner!

Even by rookie standards, this was rough. I mean, really rough. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a sunset flip botched before so that was impressive, but the bulk of it was disjointed in a non-entertaining way. From what I’ve seen of Banny I don’t see a big future in wrestling for her, Nanami is too young to really evaluate but she certainly isn’t a natural at it. Possibly the most poorly executed match from a technical standpoint that I’ve watched in the last decade, please keep them as far apart as possible in the future.

Ayako Sato vs. Sakura Hirota

One of Sakura’s kids seems unwilling to leave the ring, so he starts in the corner clinging to the ropes. This seems safe. They tie-up, Sakura pushes Ayako into the ropes and gives a clean break, but Ayako kicks her to the mat. She gets a server tray and hits Sakura with it a few times, Irish whip by Ayako and she delivers a dropkick for a two count. Kid is still in the ring. Sakura throws Ayako into the corner and hits a face crusher, wristlock by Sakura and she runs to the corner to walk the ropes. Which she does, until she misses her hop and crotches herself on the top rope. Ayako goes off the ropes but Sakura drop toeholds her into the second rope, the referee holds the kid while Sakura gives Ayako an Oil Check. Sakura hops over Ayako with theatrics but Ayako kicks her before she can complete her move, Sato brings her kicks in the ring (so now three kids are in the ring) and the kids jump over Sakura before hitting a poor version of Sakura’s signature move. Another one of Sakura’s kids gets in so we are up to four children now, but they finally get all the kids out of the ring.

Sakura throws Ayako into the corner but Ayako hits a dropkick, another dropkick by Ayako and she hits a double underhook suplex for a two count. Ayako goes up top but Sakura recovers and elbows her before she can jump off. Sakura grabs Ayako as if to powerbomb her but instead just places her on the opposite turnbuckle, Ayako kicks her away and delivers a missile dropkick for two. Ayako picks up Sakura but Sakura snaps off a DDT, she goes off the ropes and hits the Oil Check. Tiger Feint Kick by Sakura, she goes for the Shining Wizard but Ayako blocks it and hits a Double Wrist Armsault for two. Sakura gets Ayako’s back and hits another Oil Check, she goes for a few cradles but Ayako kicks out of each. Ayako gets the server tray and hits Sakura with it, they struggle over the tray until the referee takes it from them. Sakura Oil Checks the referee by accident, Ayako hits Sakura with the tray but Sakura delivers a hurricanrana. The referee is too hurt to make the count, Ayako dropkicks the tray into Sakura’s face and nails a dragon suplex hold for the three count! Ayako Sato is the winner.

So this was a pretty normal Sakura match, for better or worse. Not really my cup of tea, although it was nice to see Ayako Sato in action. She seems pretty solid, when she got a chance to do some actual wrestling she looked good. Better than the first match for sure, but still so-so even for a comedy match.

Jaguar Yokota and Madeline vs. Mikoto Shindo and Tomoko Watanabe

Yokota and Mikoto start off, Yokota pushes Mikoto into the ropes and she elbows her in the chest instead of giving a clean break. Mikoto elbows Yokota back but Yokota pushes her into the corner, Irish whip by Yokota but Mikoto reverses it and hits a series of dropkicks. Mikoto picks up Yokota but Yokota blocks the slam attempt and hits one of her own, back elbow by Yokota and she steps on Mikoto’s chest before tagging Madeline. Madeline stomps Mikoto and applies a chinlock, she switches it to an ankle hold but Mikoto gets to the ropes. Back up, elbows by Mikoto and she hits a hard dropkick, giving her time to tag Watanabe. Madeline tries to tackle Watanabe but Watanabe just looks at her funny, dropkicks by Madeline but Watanabe absorbs the blows. Vertical suplex by Watanabe and she puts Madeline in a Scorpion Deathlock, but Yokota gets a chair and hits Watanabe repeatedly in the head with it to break up the hold. Yokota puts Watanabe in the chair, dropkick by Madeline and she puts Watanabe in an armbar, but Watanabe quickly reverses it. Madeline ends up in the ropes to get a break, Watanabe tags Mikoto and Mikoto delivers a a pair of dropkicks. Scoop slam by Mikoto but Madeline kicks out of the cover. Mikoto puts Madeline in a stretch hold, she lets her go after a moment and Irish whips her, but Madeline hits a dropkick and tags Yokota. Yokota tosses Mikoto around the ring before putting her in an Octopus Hold, but Watanabe breaks it up.

Yokota tags Madeline, Madeline applies a modified armbar while biting Mikoto repeatedly, as the referee tries to get her to stop. Cross armbreaker by Madeline but Mikoto gets into the ropes for the break. Madeline kicks Mikoto in the leg but Mikoto dropkicks her and tags Watanabe. Watanabe throws Madeline into the corner and hits a body avalanche, Mikoto returns and she dropkicks Madeline. Madeline sneaks in an inside cradle to Watanabe, it only gets two but it gives her time to tag Yokota. DDT by Yokota to Watanabe, she throws her to the ropes but Watanabe reverses it. Yokota blocks Watanabe’s lariat and goes for the Octopus Hold, but Watanabe pushes her off and hits a lariat for a two count. Watanabe picks up Yokota but Yokota hits a DDT, somersault legdrop by Yokota and she tags Madeline. Double Irish whip to Watanabe and they hit her with a metal stick, Madeline gets too excited however which gives Watanabe time to recover and hits a lariat. Mikoto comes in and Watanabe picks her up to kick Madeline, scoop slam by Watanabe and she hits an elbow drop off the second rope. Mikoto comes in again, Watanabe picks her up and drops her onto Madeline. Cover by Watanabe, but Yokota kicks the referee to break it up. Watanabe gets on the second turnbuckle but Yokota tosses her to the mat, Mikoto throws Yokota in the corner and with Watanabe they hit a double vertical suplex on Madeline. Watanabe tags in Mikoto, dropkicks by Mikoto to Madeline and she covers her for two.

Scoop slam by Mikoto and a second one, but Madeline kicks out of the cover again. Mikoto applies a crab hold but Yokota breaks it up, Mikoto picks up Madeline and throws her into the corner before hitting a dropkick. Irish whip by Mikoto but Madeline reverses it and kicks her. Mikoto elbows Madeline in the corner before hitting a dropkick, but Yokota knees Mikoto from the apron. Madeline applies an armbar but Watanabe breaks it up, Mikoto and Madeline trade elbows until Madeline kicks Mikoto to the mat. Madeline goes for the armbar but Mikoto is too close to the ropes, Watanabe comes in and she slams Madeline before hitting a diving body press off the second turnbuckle. Cover by Mikoto, but Yokota breaks it up. Mikoto picks up Madeline but Madeline applies the Fujiwara Armbar, but Mikoto gets to the ropes. Madeline tags Yokota, vertical suplex by Yokota and she covers Mikoto for two. Backdrop suplex by Yokota, but Watanabe breaks up her cover. Yokota picks up Mikoto and drops her with the Fisherman Buster, she drags Mikoto up again but Watanabe runs in and hits a lariat. Sunset flip by Mikoto, but Yokota kicks out. Madeline runs in and dropkicks Mikoto, Watanabe lariats Madeline but she also accidentally lariats Mikoto. La Magistral by Yokota to Mikoto, and she picks up the three count! Jaguar Yokota and Madeline win!

While at times it was disjointed and dragged too much, I still couldn’t help but enjoy this. Yokota is such a treasure, she isn’t just going through the motions even 40 years into her career as she was actively involved in the match. Watanabe did her part too and when Yokota or Watanabe was in the ring, I had a great time watching it, they just know how to do all the small things right. The match only suffered when Madeline and Mikoto were paired up, they didn’t seem to have talked it out before the match and don’t have the experience to freestyle something cohesive. Madeline in particular is a charming personality with lots of charisma, but still needs to be led in the ring. A fun and unique match, but the parts with Watanabe or Yokota were certainly the highlight.  Mildly Recommended

Hashimoto, DASH Chisako, and Satomura vs. Umesaki, Kaoru Ito, and Inoue

Haruka and Chihiro start the match, Haruka dropkicks Chihiro but Chihiro doesn’t go down. Haruka elbows Chihiro but Chihiro elbows her to the mat, Haruka goes for a crossbody but Chihiro catches her and slams her to the mat. Chihiro gets Haruka around the waist and suplexes her to the mat, scoop slam by Chihiro and she covers Haruka for two. Chihiro tags Chisako, Chisako stomps on Haruka and the two trade elbows, which Chisako naturally gets the better of. Irish whip by Chisako but Haruka dropkicks her and tags in Inoue. Chisako hits a Stunner on Inoue and tags Satomura, Satomura and Inoue don’t rush into locking up but eventually do as Inoue pushes Satomura into the corner. Inoue throws down Satomura by the hair and butt smushes her in the corner, snap vertical suplex by Inoue and she tags Ito. Ito throws Satomura into the corner, Irish whip by Ito and she hits a lariat. Single leg crab hold by Ito, but Satomura inches to the ropes to force the break. Ito stomps on Satomura’s back, Haruka comes in the ring and they both slam Satomura’s knees into the mat. Ito tags in Haruka and Haruka keeps at Satomura’s leg, Satomura blocks the crab hold for a moment but Haruka eventually locks it in. Satomura gets into the ropes again, Haruka picks her up but Satomura hits a hard elbow followed by a scoop slam. Elbow drop by Satomura and she tags Chihiro, snapmare by Chihiro and she cranks on Haruka’s neck.

Chihiro applies a cross armbreaker but Haruka quickly gets to the ropes for the break, Chihiro picks her up and yanks on Haruka’s arm. Chihiro tags Chisako, who keeps working on Haruka’s arm with wristlocks and stomps. Chisako applies a Fujiwara Armbar but Ito breaks it up, Chisako wraps Haruka’s arm in the ropes and twists it. Chihiro is tagged back in to continue the arm work, then Satomura comes in and kicks Haruka repeatedly in the chest. Irish whip by Satomura to the corner and she hits a jumping elbow, but Haruka ducks the next one and hits a neck drop. Missile dropkick by Haruka and she makes the hot tag to Inoue. Lariats by Inoue to everyone, Satomura fights back with kicks but Inoue elbows her. A spinning heel kick sends Inoue to the mat, Satomura tags Chihiro and Chihiro hits a somersault senton for two. Waistlock by Chihiro and she applies a stretch hold, but Inoue gets to the ropes for the break. Irish whip by Chihiro but Inoue reverses it, she goes for a lariat but Inoue stays up. Chihiro tries a few more times and finally knocks over Inoue with a lariat, but Inoue gets back up and sends Chihiro to the mat with a lariat of her own. Inoue tags Ito and Ito immediately hits a running footstomp followed by a senton for a two count. Ito picks up Chihiro but Chihiro elbows her off and the two trade blows. Chihiro goes off the ropes but Ito knocks her down with a lariat, Ito picks up Chihiro but Chihiro hits a back bodydrop. Spear by Chihiro and she makes the tag to Chisako.

Chisako goes up top and hits a missile dropkick, sliding kick by Chisako and she covers Ito for two. Chisako picks up Ito and goes for a crucifix, but Ito falls back and lands on top of her. A side suplex by Ito sends Chisako out of the ring, Chihiro and Satomura are knocked out also and Ito connects with a baseball slide on all of them. Chisako is rolled back in the ring as Inoue gets in as well, and she hits a double lariat with Ito. Powerbomb by Ito and she tags in Haruka. Haruka goes off the ropes and hits a dropkick, two more dropkicks by Haruka but Chisako avoids the next one and boots her in the face. Satomura and Chihiro both come in the ring as they all hit running strikes on Haruka in the corner, cannonball by Chisako and she covers Haruka for two. Chisako goes up top but Inoue strolls in the ring and joins her, hitting a superplex. Ito gets on the second turnbuckle and connects with a diving footstomp, jackknife hold by Haruka but the cover is broken up. Haruka goes for another flash pin with no luck, she picks up Chisako and they trade elbows. Dropkick by Haruka, Ito comes in but Chisako pushes Haruka into Ito and dropkicks her. Satomura comes in and kicks Ito, meanwhile Haruka hits a jumping crossbody on Chisako. Chihiro lariats Haruka and hits a waterwheel drop, diving footstomp by Chisako but Ito breaks up the cover. Chisako picks up Haruka and hits the Northern Lights Suplex, but Haruka gets the shoulder up. Chisako positions Haruka and goes to the top turnbuckle, Hormone Splash by Chisako and she picks up the three count! Chihiro Hashimoto, DASH Chisako, and Meiko Satomura are the winners.

Even though they followed the pattern you’d expect with a rookie in the match, it was just fun to get to see Kaoru Ito and Kyoko Inoue again. Their interactions with Chihiro and Chisako were solid, but they weren’t as giving as Satomura was to Haruka. Shocking, I know. Ito in particular wasn’t overly helpful to Chihiro or Chisako, but cranky old veterans being cranky is entertaining in its own way so I’m not really complaining. The end stretch was fast paced and entertaining, and unlike the last match it didn’t feel like it dragged at any point. While the limb work naturally didn’t go anywhere, the rest of it made sense and the teams worked together well. For a smaller Diana show, a fitting way to end things but I wish that Sareee wasn’t sick as she would have been a fun inclusion in the match.  Mildly Recommended

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• Championships and Tournaments Won: This includes any championship won during 2019, or any championship that was held when 2019 began. The prestige of the championship or tournament will be taken into account.
• Match Quality: The most subjective criteria, extra consideration is given to wrestlers that had high quality matches throughout the year, especially if it was with a variety of opponents.
• Wrestler Popularity: Being able to connect with the crowd is important in wrestling, wrestlers that have success interacting with the crowd and getting reactions will get credit for that.
• Wrestler Status in a Promotion: Generally speaking, the Ace of one promotion will be ahead of the #3 wrestler in another promotion, since wrestling on top means bigger matches, longer matches, and more opportunities. There isn’t a direct correlation, but leading a promotion or being the ‘face’ of a promotion can help a wrestler’s rank as it increases the wrestler’s visibility and match importance.
• Match Frequency/Availability: How often a wrestler wrestled is taken into consideration. A wrestler with 100 matches is more likely to be on the list than a wrestler with 10 matches. Also, it is harder to ‘rate’ a wrestler if their matches rarely were distributed via TV or an online streaming service, so visibility is a factor.

One criteria I am not using is ‘drawing power.’ In the current wrestling landscape there are very few wrestlers that by themselves are draws (I could probably count them on one hand), usually it is more the benefit of a good storyline or a hot region that impacts the size of the crowd. While the larger Joshi promotions may have more wrestlers on the list due to the other criteria (visibility being a major one), the size of the crowds will not be taken in consideration. Also, it should be noted that this ranking is based only on a wrestler’s matches/participation in Japan. This is not a list of my personal favorite wrestlers or fun rookies that I enjoy watching, but rather my version of what a “real” ranking of Joshi wrestlers would look like based on their success and status in 2019.

Before we get into it, a couple very established veterans that normally would make this kind of list I wasn’t able to justify including this year – Tsukasa Fujimoto and Meiko Satomura. I realize this opens the list to easy criticism but keep in mind this list isn’t a “best wrestler” list and isn’t influenced by past success – it is based solely on what happened in 2019. Both Fujimoto and Satomura largely took a back seat in their respective promotions last year, allowing the younger wrestlers to take the lead. Which is great! But it makes it harder to rank them with only twenty spots available. So before anyone asks, I didn’t forget them, they just didn’t have enough in regards to in-ring accomplishments or visibility in Japan during the year to make the Top 20. So save any vitriol for a more worthwhile cause.

Without further ado and procrastinating, onto the Top 20 Joshi Wrestlers of 2019!

1. Sareee (Diana)

Championships Held: Diana World Championship (233 days) and the Sendai Girls’ World Championship (127 days)
Biggest Matches: vs. Chihiro Hashimoto on 1/6, vs. Aja Kong on 2/11, vs. Meiko Satomura on 4/16, vs. Aja Kong on 5/12, vs. Chihiro Hashimoto on 6/18, vs. DASH Chisako on 7/7, and vs. Chihiro Hashimoto on 10/13
Best Match: vs. Chihiro Hashimoto in Sendai Girls’ on June 8th, 2019

To say it is difficult to be the top Joshi wrestler of the year when your home promotion literally had zero events available to watch would be an understatement, but Sareee managed to pull it off. What set Sareee apart from others wasn’t just her title success in Sendai Girls’, but the high quality of her matches throughout the year in a variety of promotions. Her matches against Meiko Satomura and against Chihiro Hashimoto (in June) were two of the best Joshi matches of the year, as she went from relative unknown to many newer Joshi fans to one of the most popular wrestlers on the scene. Depending on where her career goes in 2020 she may just be a “one year wonder” in regards to being this high on fans’ Wrestler of the Year list, but what a year it was.

2. Maya Yukihi (Ice Ribbon)

Championships Held: ICExInfinity Championship (322 days), International Ribbon Tag Team Championship (161 days), OZ Academy Tag Team Championship (105 days), and the Triangle Ribbon Championship (52 days)
Biggest Matches: with Risa Sera vs. Kyuri and Ozaki on 3/17, vs. Tsukushi on 3/31, with Saori Anou vs. Beast Friend on 5/12, vs. Giulia on 5/25, vs. Tsukasa Fujimoto on 8/3, vs. Risa Sera on 9/14, and with Risa Sera vs. Giulia and Tequila Saya on 9/23
Best Match: vs. Tsukasa Fujimoto in Ice Ribbon on August 3rd, 2019

It is hard not to respect a wrestler with as many title wins in one year as Maya Yukihi had, as it just shows an enormous amount of faith that the promotion has in her. Few wrestlers dominated their promotion in 2019 as Maya did, not just with her success with the ICExInfinity Championship but with her constant main event presence in some capacity. The focus remained so strongly on her that it was difficult for any other Ice Ribbon wrestlers to really get noticed in 2019. She also continued to have success in OZ Academy as well with her more ‘evil’ side, as she changed her personality depending on which promotion she was in. While consistent match quality wouldn’t land her in the Top 5 for the year, her success just can’t be ignored as she seems poised to be the Ice Ribbon Ace for the foreseeable future.

3. Arisa Hoshiki (Stardom)

Championships Held: Wonder of Stardom Championship (229 days)
Biggest Matches: vs. Konami on 4/29, vs. Tam Nakano on 6/16, vs. Hazuki on 7/24, vs. Jungle Kyona on 8/10, vs. Kagetsu on 10/14, with Tam Nakano vs. Bea Priestley and Jamie Hayter on 11/15, and vs. Konami on 12/24
Best Match: vs. Tam Nakano in Stardom on June 16th, 2019

Sometimes, the number of titles a wrestler held doesn’t tell the whole story. 2019 in Stardom was all about Arisa Hoshiki’s rise from “surprise return wrestler” to being one of the top wrestlers in the promotion. She won the Cinderella Tournament in April and went on to win the Wonder of Stardom Championship. She held the title for the rest of the year with eight defenses, making her one of the most active champions on the Joshi scene. She also was involved in one of the more memorable Joshi storylines of 2019, as she slowly converted her enemy Tam Nakano into her friend over a seven month period, ending in a touching scene after they won the Stardom Goddesses of Tag League together. On top of that, her in-ring quality greatly improved as the year progressed as by the end she was putting together some high end matches. Arisa will have some stiff competition from Mayu in 2020, so we’ll see if she can keep up her momentum.

4. Chihiro Hashimoto (Sendai Girls’)

Championships Held: Sendai Girls’ World Championship (229 days), Sendai Girls’ Tag Team Championship (146 days), and the KO-D Six Man Tag Team Championship (95 days)
Biggest Matches: vs. Sareee on 1/6, with Mika Iwata vs. Hiroyo Matsumoto and Sareee on 2/3, vs. Sareee on 6/8, vs. Yoshiko on 7/7, and vs. Sareee on 10/13
Best Match: vs. Sareee in Sendai Girls’ on June 8th, 2019

For the third straight year, Chihiro Hashimoto was the main force in Sendai Girls’, as their smaller roster doesn’t give them a lot of options. Just four years into her career she is already on her fifth title reign, as Meiko Satomura takes a lesser role and no other younger wrestler is ready to step up. She had a great series of matches against Sareee in 2019, and just for variety sake also had success in DDT as well. Combined with her tag title run, its hard to deny that Chihiro had a great year and further cemented her place as one of the best young wrestlers on the Joshi scene, but hopefully Sendai Girls’ can find a way to mix it up a bit in 2020.

5. Takumi Iroha (Marvelous)

Championships Held: SEAdLINNNG Beyond The Sea Championship (112 days) and the Regina Di WAVE Championship (167 days)
Biggest Matches: vs. Nanae Takahashi on 5/29, vs. Nagisa Nozaki vs. Ryo Mizunami on 7/15, vs. Arisa Nakajima on 9/18, vs. Ryo Mizunami on 10/5, vs. Chigusa Nagayo on 12/8, and vs. Nagisa Nozaki on 12/29
Best Match: vs. Nanae Takahashi in SEAdLINNNG on May 29th, 2019

Another solid year by the young Ace of Marvelous – Takumi Iroha. Even though Marvelous doesn’t really have its own titles, Takumi still won two titles anyway in 2019 as she visited other promotions. She won the SEAdLINNNG Beyond the Sea Championship from Nanae Takahashi in May and won the Regina Di WAVE Championship against Nagisa Nozaki and Ryo Mizunami in July. She capped off her year by defeating Chigusa Nagayo in a singles match, the first time she has faced off against her mentor in a one vs. one match. Takumi’s future is hard to determine due to her situation in Marvelous, but she will continue to be their Ace as well as traveling to other promotions to take their belts.

6. Mayu Iwatani (Stardom)

Championships Held: ROH Women of Honor Word Championship (55 days), Artist of Stardom Championship, (162 days) and the World of Stardom Championship (57 days)
Biggest Matches: vs. Konami on 2/24, with Saki Kashima and Tam Nakano vs. Hana Kimura, Jungle Kyona, and Konami on 6/23, vs. Tam Nakano on 9/7, vs. Momo Watanabe on 9/22, vs. Bea Priestley on 11/4, and vs. Kagetsu on 12/24
Best Match: vs. Kagetsu in Stardom on December 24th, 2019

Mayu Iwatani won the Tokyo Sports Award Women’s Award in 2019, which was well deserved but that doesn’t mean she had the best year. This ranking is influenced by my own personal biases, not Joshi politics. Still, she did have a great year. She started the year as part of the Artist of Stardom Championship, a title she held for almost half the year total. Even though technically I am not considering matches outside of Japan, I still have to mention that she had a title match at Madison Square Garden, a massive achievement in any wrestler’s career. She ended the year hot, as she won the World of Stardom Championship in November and still held the belt as the year concluded. When considering how she closed the year and the number of high end matches she had, Mayu is easily a Top 10 wrestler for the year, and judging from how it ended I imagine she will be even higher next year.

7. Arisa Nakajima (SEAdLINNNG)

Championships Held: SEAdLINNNG Beyond The Sea Championship (104 days) and the SEAdLINNNG Beyond the Sea Tag Team Championship (115 days)
Biggest Matches: with Sae vs. Himeka Arita and Miyuki Takase on 3/20, vs. Nanae Takahashi on 4/28, vs. Takumi Iroha on 9/18, and vs. Nanae Takahashi on 11/2
Best Match: vs. Nanae Takahashi in SEAdLINNNG on November 2nd, 2019

After a quiet 2018, Arisa Nakajima came back with a bang in 2019 as she took over SEAdLINNNG. Arisa had two tag title reigns during the year, although both were short, and won the Beyond The Sea Championship in September before holding it for the rest of the year. She also had one of the best Joshi matches of 2019 against Nanae Takahashi in November 2nd. Arisa only had 45 matches in 2019 which hurt her a bit, otherwise she would have been higher, but she is still one of the best in-ring competitors in Japan. If she wrestles more outside of SEAdLINNNG in 2020, she could easily be a Top 5 wrestler next year.

8. Hiroyo Matsumoto (Freelancer)

Championships Held: Sendai Girls’ Tag Team Championship (79 days), SEAdLINNNG Beyond The Sea Tag Team Championship (186 days), OZ Tag Team Championship (131 days), and the Blast Queen Championship (7 days)
Biggest Matches: with Kaori Yoneyama vs. Maya Yukihi and Saori Anou on 5/12, with Yoshiko vs. Himeka Arita and Miyuki Takase on 6/28, vs. Nanae Takahashi on 8/18, vs. Mayumi Ozaki on 8/25, vs. Hanako Nakamori on 9/29, and with DASH Chisako vs. Charli Evans and Millie McKenzie on 10/13
Best Match: vs. Mayumi Ozaki in OZ Academy on August 25th, 2019

Like Arisa Nakajima, Hiroyo Matsumoto didn’t have a great 2018 but had a much better year in 2019. She found her most success in the tag team division, as she ended the year holding two tag team championships. She was very active with 120 matches in twelve different Japanese promotions, so even though she didn’t get any long runs at the top of a promotion this year she stayed visible. Hiroyo didn’t have any noted MOTYC type matches but was very consistent in-ring, and considering she is a Freelancer it was a very solid year overall.

9. Momo Watanabe (Stardom)

Championships Held: Wonder of Stardom Championship (135 days), Goddesses of Stardom Championship (195 days), and the Artist of Stardom Championship (38 days)
Biggest Matches: vs. Tam Nakano on 1/14, vs. Jungle Kyona on 3/3, vs. Arisa Hoshiki on 5/16, with Utami Hayashishita vs. Jungle Kyona and Konami on 7/15, vs. Tam Nakano on 9/1, vs. Mayu Iwatani on 9/22, and with AZM and Utami Hayashishita vs. Andras Miyagi, Kagetsu, and Natsu Sumire on 11/23
Best Match: vs. Jungle Kyona in Stardom on March 3rd, 2019

Momo did the opposite of Arisa and Mayu in 2019, which always impacts one’s impression of a wrestler – she started the year hot but disappeared for the last half of the year as she faded more into the second tier. As 2019 began she held both the Wonder of Stardom and Goddesses of Stardom Championship, but both titles were gone by the summer. She didn’t win any tournaments but did win the Artist of Stardom Championship in November so at least she didn’t end the year with no titles at all. That being said, in the first half of the year she had some great title defenses, and even though she wasn’t always winning she had some really quality matches in the fall as well so her in-ring performances stayed at a high level. Momo may have been passed by both Arisa and Mayu in 2019, with with wrestlers like Utami, Hana Kimura, and Giulia in the wings she may have trouble climbing back to the top.

10. Miyu Yamashita (Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling)

Championships Held: Tokyo Princess of Princess Championship (122 days) and the SHINE Championship (31 days)
Biggest Matches: vs. Maki Itoh on 1/4, vs. Yuka Sakazaki on 3/31, vs. Shoko Nakajima on 5/3, vs. Allysin Kay on 5/6, and with Miu Watanabe vs. Misao and Sakisama on 8/25
Best Match: vs. Shoko Nakajima in Tokyo Joshi Pro on May 3rd, 2019

Tokyo Joshi Pro didn’t have one dominate wrestler in 2019 as their main title was divided between three wrestlers through the year, but Miyu Yamashita still felt like their superstar. She entered the year the Princess of Princess Champion and kept it until May, oddly enough she did not get a rematch for the rest of the year and even lost in the first round of the Tokyo Princess Cup. She did get one tag title shot, but her team lost. Still, she did hold the title for 25% of the year with three successful defenses and continued putting on high quality matches as she always does which helped her sneak into the Top 10 and over her fellow Tokyo Joshi Pro wrestlers.

   11. Saori Anou (Actwres girl’Z) – The undisputed Ace of Actwres girl’Z in 2019, Saori also saw title success outside the promotion for the first time as she held the OZ Academy Tag Team Championship for over 100 days. She lost the AgZ Championship and OZ Academy Tag Team Championship in August however and was more under the radar the rest of the year, as her future went into limbo as she announced she was leaving AgZ in December. As of the time of this review, we still don’t know what her future holds, and that will be the determining factor on where she is on this list next year. If she is on it at all.

12. Hanako Nakamori (PURE-J) – Like last year, Hanako took control of being the Ace of the seldom seen PURE-J promotion. More of her matches seemed to “make tape” in 2019 than 2018 however, her main issue this year is that due to the retirement of Command Bolshoi she wasn’t really the focus the first quarter of the year. Once she won the PURE-J Openweight Championship in April she held it to the conclusion of 2019, with five successful defenses. Hopefully more PURE-J is available to watch in 2020.

13. Mayumi Ozaki (OZ Academy) – Even though I find Mayumi Ozaki’s match style to be predictable and not overly entertaining, I can’t deny her success in 2019 as she led OZ Academy. She held the OZ Academy Openweight Championship from April until the end of the year, and won the Blast Queen Championship as well. She wasn’t as active as most wrestlers on this list with only 46 matches however, which isn’t a surprise considering her age, and none of her matches were highly ranked. She deserves being on the list just due the stranglehold she held on OZ Academy, but hopefully in 2020 a younger wrestler with a different wrestling style will take over.

14. Riho (Gatoh Move/Stardom) – Riho found a good deal of success in AEW in 2019, but even beyond that she had a good year in Japan. She was the Ace of Gatoh Move for the first half of the year, holding both the Super Asia Championship and the Asia Dream Tag Team Championship. After joining AEW in late summer, Riho still wrestled in Japan and won the High Speed Championship in Stardom. Riho may be focusing more on AEW in 2020, but for 2019 she still did enough in Japan to make the top 20 Joshi wrestlers of the year.

15. Kagetsu (Stardom) – In her final full year as a professional wrestler, Kagetsu continued to put out great matches in 2019. She opened the year as World of Stardom Champion, holding the title for four months. From then on her championship success was more limited, with just a short Artist of Stardom run, but she was constantly involved in the title scene and had great matches with Hazuki, Toni Storm, Konami, Jungle Kyona, Arisa Hoshiki, and Mayu Iwatani. In a promotion where it is easy to fade in the background, Kagetsu never did and stayed a visible and popular wrestler for the entire year.

16. Shoko Nakajima (Tokyo Joshi Pro) – Shoko had the longest Princess of Princess title reign of 2019, holding the title for over 180 days. She didn’t have the same level of matches as Miyu Yamashita, and was also often overshadowed by other fan favorites like Maki Itoh and Yuka Sakazaki. Still, she did have four successful defenses and stayed in bigger matches even outside her title reign, so even though she was sometimes overlooked she still had a really solid year for the promotion.

17. ASUKA (Freelancer) – ASUKA had an interesting year, as even though she did not win any major titles she was a force to be reckoned with wrestling in the male-dominated promotions DDT and ZERO1. She took part in the Fire Festival in 2019, and even though she didn’t do great in the tournament she did have a big win over Masato Tanaka. She also battled Akito in DDT for the DDT Extreme Championship, considered by many to be a stealth MOTYC candidate. ASUKA set her own path in 2019, one not many Joshi wrestlers have attempted, and came away with a very memorable year. As a Freelancer, its always hard to predict her future, but being a regular in DDT made her in 2019 one of the most visible Joshi wrestlers in Japan and the quality of her matches proved that she belongs in the big leagues.

18. Utami Hayashishita (Stardom) – Utami dealt with some injury issues in 2019 but still collected titles like few others can. She held five championships during the year, four in Stardom and one from EVE, and for the year she had a total of 21 title matches. She ended the year still holding three belts, as she seems poised to move up the ladder further if she can stay healthy.

19. Risa Sera (Ice Ribbon) – I really didn’t want to only have one Ice Ribbon wrestler on the list, and Risa Sera seemed like the most deserving to also be included. Risa had two tag title reigns in 2019, plus she held the Blast Queen Championship for the first month and a half of the year. She had one shot at the ICExInfinity Championship, but lost, and ended the year with no titles. Her match quality continued to be high however, making it easier to justify placing her on this list.

20. Hikaru Shida (Freelancer) – Hikaru Shida held the OZ Academy Openweight Championship until April of 2019, but did not win any other titles the rest of the year. To many she was still considered one of the best in-ring wrestlers in Japan, however, and she had over 90 matches in Japan for the year even though she left in October to join AEW. Hikaru may not be eligible for this list for awhile if things go well in AEW, but she earned her spot this year with her versatility in the ring and general popularity.

The post Top 20 Joshi Wrestlers of 2019 appeared first on Joshi City.

Event: Sendai Girls’
Date: January 12th, 2020
Location: Miyagino Ward Bunka Center in Sendai, Miyagi, Japan
Announced Attendance: Unknown

Last year I tried to not review house shows, but this year I am turning over a new leaf so here we are at Sendai Girls’! This was a smaller show but some of these matches look intriguing. Any opportunity to see Sareee wrestle should be taken, plus the Jr. Championship features two young wrestlers that could have long and successful careers in Joshi if they stick with it. Here is the full card:

• Ayame Sasamura vs. Sakura Hirota
• Chihiro Hashimoto and Mikoto Shindo vs. Nanami and Sareee
• Dalys la Caribeña and Queen Aminata vs. DASH Chisako and KAORU
• Sendai Girls’ Jr. Championship: Manami vs. Yurika Oka
• Battle Royal with KAORU, DASH Chisako, Sakura Hirota, Dalys la Caribeña, Sareee, Chihiro Hashimoto, Manami, Ayame Sasamura, Mikoto Shindo, Yurika Oka, Nanami, and Queen Aminata

Sendai Girls’ uploaded this event on their Youtube Channel for free, so all matches are shown in full. Wrestlers on the card have a profile on Joshi City, you can click on their names above to go straight to it.

Ayame Sasamura vs. Sakura Hirota

They circle each other to start before locking up, waistlock by Ayame and the two trade holds. They reach a stalemate and return to their feet, kick by Sakura and she grabs Ayame’s wrist as she goes to walk the ropes, but she eventually crotches herself on them. Sakura throws Ayame into the corner and hits the face crusher, she hops over Ayame a few times but Ayame gets her feet up on the falling headbutt attempt. Sakura lays down and challenges Ayame to do the same to her but she won’t, Sakura gets back up but Ayame kicks her and elbows Sakura in the corner. Sakura falls in the middle of the ring but Ayame still won’t hop over her, Sakura gets up and complains loudly as they all (with the referee) have a chat. Ayame does a little dance instead, they ask the crowd which they like better and they cheer louder for Ayame. This makes Sakura mad, Irish whip by Ayame and she hits a hard shoulderblock, sliding kick by Ayame and she covers Sakura for two.

Sakura slides behind Ayame but Ayame catches her with a slam for another two count. Ayame goes up top, Sakura runs over before she can jump off but Ayame grabs her wrist and walks the ropes. Ayame does Sakura’s trick right the first time but messes up the second. Sakura sets up Ayame in the ropes and hits the Oil Check, Sakura goes off the ropes and yells in Ayame’s ear. Sakura goes off the ropes but Ayame catches her with an armdrag and applies a sleeper. Sakura manages to get to the ropes to force the break, Ayame goes off the ropes but Sakura drop toeholds her into the second rope and hits the Tiger Feint Kick. Sakura goes for the Shining Wizard but Ayame blocks it, Ayame goes for a few flash pins but Sakura kicks out. Sakura goes off the ropes but Ayame catches her with a STO, but Sakura reverses the cover. Sakura goes off the ropes but Ayame applies the Dumpling for the three count! Ayame Sasamura wins!

So I am on record of having two very different opinions of Sakura Hirota – I love it when she does cosplay of other wrestlers, but hate it when she just wrestles as her ‘normal’ comedy self. I’m just over wrestlers doing the exact same shtick for a decade, having a new opponent doesn’t really change it for me and no real effort was done to make it different. Now I get it, the crowd likes it and I’m not the target audience, that’s fine. But that doesn’t mean I am going to find the match good for my own taste. Ayame looked solid so there is that though, she is growing into a quality wrestler, hopefully next time they will put her in a better match.

Chihiro Hashimoto and Mikoto Shindo vs. Nanami and Sareee

Sareee and Chihiro start as the veterans go first, Chihiro pushes Sareee into the ropes but Sareee switches positions with her and hits a hard elbow before backing off. They lock knuckles and go into a Test of Strength, which Chihiro wins without too much issue. Irish whip by Chihiro but Sareee reverses it and hits an armdrag, hard shoulderblock by Chihiro and she gets Sareee to the mat, but Sareee quickly gets away and the two return to their feet. They tag in the kiddos, dropkicks immediately by Mikoto to Nanami but Nanami elbows her and the two trade blows. Irish whip by Nanami but Mikoto dropkicks her to the mat, cover by Mikoto but it gets two Mikoto tags in Chihiro, Chihiro chops Nanami in the corner and she covers Nanami for two. Chihiro stretches Nanami before deadlift suplexing her, she tags Mikoto back in and Mikoto tosses down Nanami by the hair. Dropkick by Mikoto in the corner and she hits a scoop slam, cover by Mikoto but she only gets two. Chihiro returns as the legal wrestler, Nanami elbows her but Chihiro clubs her to the mat. Camel Clutch by Chihiro, she lets go after a moment and and puts Nanami in a headlock.

Chihiro picks up Nanami, snapmare by Chihiro and she twists on Nanami’s neck. Nanami gets into the ropes for the break, Irish whip by Chihiro but Nanami reverses it and applies a backslide for two. Dropkicks by Nanami and she tags in Sareee, Sareee and Chihiro both elbow each other until Sareee connects with a dropkick. She dropkicks Mikoto too before hitting a tilt-a-whirl schoolboy on Chihiro for two. Another dropkick by Sareee but Chihiro blocks the fisherman suplex and hits a vertical suplex of her own followed by a somersault senton for two. Chihiro tags Mikoto, dropkicks by Mikoto and she covers Sareee for a two count. Mikoto picks up Sareee, she avoids Sareee’s charge and dropkicks her in the corner. Mikoto trips Sareee in the corner and dropkicks her again, cover by Mikoto but Sareee is too close to the ropes and forces the break. Mikoto hits a few elbows but Sareee dropkicks her, scoop slam by Sareee and she puts Mikoto in a modified Muta Lock. Chihiro breaks it up, Sareee picks up Mikoto and delivers a fisherman suplex hold for two. Sareee tags Nanami, Nanami goes off the ropes and she dropkicks Mikoto. Nanami goes for a slam but Mikoto blocks it, knees by Mikoto but Nanami schoolboys her for a two count.

A backslide and small package by Nanami get the same result, she picks up Mikoto but Mikoto blocks the scoop slam. Nanami eventually is able to hit it, she charges Mikoto but Mikoto dropkicks her and covers Nanami for two. Mikoto tags Chihiro, big spear by Chihiro but Sareee breaks up the cover. Sareee and Chihiro trade elbows, dropkicks by Sareee but Chihiro lariats her. Chihiro goes for a suplex but Sareee blocks it and stomps on her stomach, diving footstomp by Sareee and Nanami hits a diving body press off the second turnbuckle for two. Mikoto runs in and dropkicks Nanami, double Irish whip to Nanami but Sareee comes off the top with a crossbody to both opponents. They try to double team Chihiro but Chihiro lariats both of them, Mikoto goes up top and Chihiro helps her hit a somersault senton on Sareee and Nanami. Chihiro goes back to Nanami, Nanami elbows Chihiro but Chihiro elbows her down. Chihiro picks up Nanami, Nanami gets away as Sareee comes in but Chihiro slams Sareee onto Nanami. Somersault senton by Chihiro, and she covers Nanami for two. Chihiro picks up Nanami and delivers the Modified Waterwheel Drop for the three count! Chihiro Hashimoto and Mikoto Shindo are the winners.

I had set a pretty high bar for this match in my mind, and happily they met it. Even though Nanami was at an age and experience disadvantage, she still held her own in this match and it wasn’t a situation where she was just beaten up the whole time. Everyone got their shots in and it was a pretty 50/50 match, with the pairs switching out regularly so the action stayed refresh. I really liked how well both teams worked together, they aren’t regular partners but still had plenty of saves/double teams/etc. so it didn’t feel like a series of singles matches. Chihiro and Sareee didn’t hold back (not sure if they know how to) and made it feel like a bigger match than it was. For what it was, about as good as it could have been, both Mikoto and Nanami came out of the match looking great which is the main goal for this style of match. Really fun.  Recommended

Dalys la Caribeña and Queen Aminata vs. DASH Chisako and KAORU

Aminata and Chisako start the match, Aminata asks for a knucklelock but Chisako isn’t tall enough to reach. Chisako headbutts her instead, Irish whip by Chisako but Aminata applies a choke before swinging Chisako around. Chisako gets Aminata’s back but Aminata hip attacks her to the mat, dropkick by Chisako but Aminata returns to her feet and offers a handshake. Its a ruse though as Aminata kicks Chisako and connects with a couple hip attacks while Chisako is sitting on the mat. Aminata picks up Chisako but Chisako knees her in the midsection and slams her down. She tags in KAORU, Dalys comes in too and the Gaijin stack their opponents in the corner. Stinkface by Aminata, she picks up KAORU and tags in Dalys, but KAORU throws Dalys in the corner and delivers a boot. Kicks by KAORU and she brings Aminata into the ring, she puts both Dalys and Aminata in the same corner and and delivers a dropkick. KAORU and Chisako return the favor and give them both a Stinkface, KAORU picks up Aminata but Aminata kicks her.

Aminata elbows KAORU to the mat, she tags in Dalys (who I though was legal anyway) and Dalys rolls up KAORU for two. Dalys goes for a kick but KAORU ducks it, Dalys gets KAORU in the ropes and delivers a dropkick. KAORU inches to her corner and tags Chisako, Chisako goes to the top turnbuckle and hits a missile dropkick.. Chisako elbows Dalys, armdrag by Dalys but Chisako moves when she goes for a swandive move and delivers a running knee. Chisako goes up top but Aminata pushes her off, Dalys grabs Chisako and pulls her repeatedly by the hair. Irish whip by Dalys but Chisako reverses it, Dalys slides out to the apron and hits a slingshot body press for two. Dalys puts Chisako on the turnbuckle and tags Aminata, Aminata and Dalys both take turns kicking Chisako until Dalys delivers a dropkick. Aminata and Chisako chop Dalys, Chisako finally rings the ring as Aminata goes for a cover, but KAORU breaks it up. Chisako gets away from Aminata and hits a cutter, giving her time to tag KAORU. KAORU has her board and hits both Aminata and Dalys with it, she puts it on the mat but Aminata reverses the suplex attempt. Cover by Aminata but KAORU bridges out of it, Dalys runs in but she lariats Aminata by accident.

Chisako strolls in the ring and they double team Aminata, cover by KAORU but it gets two. Chisako goes up top and hits an assisted somersault senton, but Aminata kicks out of the cover. KAORU goes up top but Dalys pulls her back into the ring, double Irish whip to KAORU but she cartwheels through them as Chisako runs in. Dalys takes care of Chisako but runs into Aminata by accident, KAORU gets a board while Chisako gets a chair and they both use their weapons. Dalys floors them both with a double lariat, Samoan driver by Aminata to KAORU but Chisako breaks it up. Aminata picks up KAORU and hits the swinging fisherman neckbreaker, but again Chisako breaks up the cover. KAORU quickly cradles Aminata for two, she grabs Aminata but Aminata delivers a superkick. Swinging fisherman neckbreaker to KAORU, Dalys runs in and goes for a lariat but KAORU ducks it. This gives Aminata time to schoolboy KAORU from behind and she picks up the three count! Dalys la Caribeña and Queen Aminata win the match.

The effort was there, but you could tell that these two teams were not very familiar wrestling against each other (or even with each other, in the case of Aminata and Dalys). A fair amount of awkward moments, very little structure to it, and the ending felt out of nowhere. The execution of the moves themselves was generally fine, they didn’t come across as untrained or anything, just like they were working out the kinks in real time. Not much here to really recommend, I am sure they could have a better match if they had more time together in the ring first.

(c) Manami vs. Yurika Oka
Sendai Girls’ Jr. Championship

Yurika runs over and dropkicks Manami as soon as the bell rings, more dropkicks by Yurika but Manami avoids one and hits a dropkick of her own. Manami gets Yurika’s back and tosses her to the mat. They jockey for position, Yurika applies a hammerlock but Manami returns to her feet. Side headlock takedown by Yurika but Manami reverses it, Yurika inches to the ropes and makes it there for the break. They end up on the mat again and trade mounted elbows, Yurika goes for a cross armbreaker bu Manami quickly gets a foot on the ropes. Stomps by Yurika and she applies a wristlock, but Manami gets Yurika o the mat and applies a side headlock. Yurika struggles back up and Irish whips out of the hold, hard shoulderblock by Manami but Yurika comes back with a dropkick for two. Yurika pushes Manami into the corner, Irish whip by Yurika but Manami reverses it and hits a monkey flip out of the corner. Dropkick by Manami and she goes for a crab hold, but Yurika quickly gets into the ropes. Manami picks up Yurika and they trade elbows, Manami knocks Yurika down first and goes for a scoop slam, but Yurika reverses it into one of her own.

Yurika picks up Manami and hits a dropkick, Irish whip by Yurika and she schoolboys Manami for two. Manami goes off the ropes and hits a dropkick, two more dropkicks by Manami and she covers Yurika for two. Crab hold by Manami but Yurika inches to the ropes and makes it there for the break. Manami picks up Yurika but Yurika blocks the slam attempt, backslide by Manami and she puts Yurika in the Cattle Mutilation. Manami picks up Yurika while still holding her arms and cradles her for two, Yurika quickly goes for a few flash pins of her own but she gets two counts as well. Yurika goes off the ropes but Manami rolls through it and applies a small package for two. Yurika goes off the ropes but Manami catches her with a dropkick, she gets on the second turnbuckle and hits a missile dropkick for another two count. Manami quickly puts Yurika in a crab hold, she switches it to a single leg crab hold and Yurika has no choice but to submit! Manami wins and retains the championship.

With wrestlers of this age, there are really only two things I am looking for – if they have the basics down pat and if they show any fire. These two succeeded in both of those areas, which is particularly impressive in Yurika’s case since she has only been wrestling for a few months. Even though they didn’t do anything overly complicated, everything was smooth and they never felt lost or confused at any point. The dropkicks had pretty good elevation and Manami’s submissions are snug. Obviously you can’t really compare this to a match with veterans (and adults), but considering their experience levels I thought they did a really solid job.  Mildly Recommended

Battle Royal
with KAORU, DASH Chisako, Sakura Hirota, Dalys la Caribeña, Sareee, Chihiro Hashimoto, Manami, Ayame Sasamura, Mikoto Shindo, Yurika Oka, Nanami, and Queen Aminata

Hirota is cosplaying as Meiko Satomura for the Battle Royal, since she is not around for the show. Since everyone starts in the ring, needless to say it starts pretty slow, with Hirota being targeted first. KAORU gets on the second turnbuckle to hit Hirota but falls out of the ring (for reasons I am not sure of). KAORU is eliminated. Yurika and Manami start to elbow each other since they are still fired up, but they are interrupted by Aminata and Dalys. They get rid of them and go back at it, Manami pins Yurika and everyone helps her hold down the rookie for the three count, but then they flip it over and hold down Manami as well for three. Manami and Yurika Oka are eliminated. Chihiro turns her attention back to Hirota, they create a wristlock chain while Hirota grabs Sareee’s wrist at the end of the chain while she tries to walk the ropes. They send a wave down the line to knock Hirota off the ropes, Sareee and Nanami go after Ayame but DASH Chisako helps her out while everyone else watches. Nanami tries to pin Sareee from behind which does not amuse her senior, Sareee smacks Nanami in the head and all eight wrestlers hit running strikes on Nanami in the corner. Sareee covers Nanami (with some help) and she gets the three count. Nanami is eliminated.

Chihiro still seems annoyed about Hirota but Hirota directs her attention to Aminata, the wrestlers pair up and everyone takes part in a submission hold on the mat (either doing the hold or being in one). They all let go after a moment, Dalys and Aminata go for Hirota as they both go up on different turnbuckles, but they are knocked out to the apron. Double Oil Check by Hirota, and both wrestlers fall down to the floor. Dalys and Aminata are eliminated. Ayame slaps Hirota in the head but Hirota knocks her to the mat, she goes for the cartwheel kneedrop but misses. Cover by Ayame, but everyone breaks it up. Ayame dropkicks Chisako and Chihiro, but Chihiro levels her with a lariat and everyone covers her for the three count. Ayame Sasamura is eliminated. Sareee and Chihiro start trading elbows but Hirota tells them to stop, so they both take turns doing Chihiro’s pose instead. Things get heated so Chisako interrupts them, they both kick Chisako but are tripped from the floor by KAORU. Double dropkick by Chisako, Hirota tries to pick up Chihiro but gets flattened instead. Somersault senton by Chihiro but Mikoto jackknifes over her and Sareee helps hold Chihiro down for the three count! Chihiro Hashimoto is eliminated. We are down to Sareee, Mikoto Shindo, Hirota (as Meiko Satomura), and DASH Chisako. Hirota offers here hand to Sareee and they go after their opponents, Sareee then starts working with Chisako (so she isn’t picky who her friend is) but Hirota catches them with a double DDT and double face crusher. She goes for a Shining Wizard on Sareee but she crotches herself on Sareee’s knee, sunset flip by Mikoto to Hirota and she gets the three count! Sakura Hirota is eliminated.

Chisako and Sareee go after Mikoto until Chisako dropkicks both of them, Chisako goes up top but misses everyone when she goes for a missile dropkick. Double dropkick to Chisako, Mikoto goes up top and Sareee helps her hit a somersault senton. Chisako reverses her cover attempt however, and she holds down Mikoto for the three count! Mikoto Shindo is eliminated. That leaves just Sareee and DASH Chisako. Sareee and Chisako trade elbows, Northern Lights Suplex by Chisako but it gets a two count. Chisako goes up top but Sareee smacks her before she can jump off and tosses her back into the ring. Release German by Chisako but Sareee quickly returns to her feet, release German by Sareee but Chisako gets back up as well. Sareee goes off the ropes but Chisako schoolboys her for two, Frankensteiner by Chisako but the referee only counts to two even though Sareee didn’t kick out. Chisako quickly cradles Sareee again, and this time she gets the three count! DASH Chisako is the winner!

The fact the referee messed up the ending on a goofy Battle Royal match is pretty funny. This accomplished its goal, it had some comedy, some real action, and most importantly it didn’t drag out as they kept the eliminations coming. A fun way to end the show, nothing beyond the norm but they don’t do Battle Royals like this in Joshi very often so its a nice change of pace. Even if they did botch the final elimination.

The post Sendai Girls’ on 1/12/20 Review appeared first on Joshi City.

Event: Sendai Girls’ Big Show In Niigata
Date: June 8th, 2019
Location: Niigata City Gymnasium in Niigata, Japan
Announced Attendance: Unknown

Sometimes a show happens in Japan that I know I have to watch the minute it releases. This is one of those events. Sendai Girls’ tends to really go all out for their big events, and there are several matches on this show I really wanted to see. Sareee is one of my favorite wrestlers but a lot of her matches don’t ‘make TV’ so I’m excited to get to see her again, this is a huge match for her as she has a rare title vs. title match against Chihiro Hashimoto. Here is the full card:

• Sendai Girls’ Jr. Championship: Manami vs. Mikoto Shindo
• Aiger vs. Sakura Hirota
• Alex Lee, Heidi Katrina, and KAORU vs. Hikaru Shida, Hyan, and Mei Suruga
• Aja Kong and Yuu vs. Meiko Satomura and Mika Iwata
• Sendai Girls’ Tag Team Championship: Charli Evans and Millie McKenzie vs. DASH Chisako and Hiroyo Matsumoto
• Sendai Girls’ World Championship/World Woman Pro-Wrestling Diana Championship: Chihiro Hashimoto vs. Sareee

As we are watching the Samurai TV! airing of the event, some matches may be clipped. All wrestlers have a profile on the website, you can click on their names above to go straight to it.

Manami vs. Mikoto Shindo
Sendai Girls’ Jr. Championship

They circle to start before and lockup, they trade holds until Manami gets Mikoto to the mat. Leg submission by Manami and she rolls it into a headlock, Mikoto reverses it but Manami gets away. She goes for a dropkick by Mikoto swats her down, Mikoto goes off the ropes but Manami catches her with a dropkick. Another dropkick by Manami but Mikoto avoids the next and applies a camel clutch crossface, she lets go after a moment and elbows Manami into the corner. Irish whip by Mikoto and she hits a dropkick, four more dropkicks by Mikoto and she covers Manami for two. Crab hold by Mikoto but Manami inches to the ropes to get the break, she puts Manami right back in the crab hold but Manami gets to the ropes again. Mikoto picks up Manami but Manami blocks the slam attempt, they trade elbows until Mikoto drops Manami with a dropkick. Cover by Mikoto, but it gets a two count. Mikoto goes for another crab hold but Manami reverses it into a cradle, schoolboy by Manami but that gets a two as well. Back up they trade elbows, Mikoto knocks Manami to the mat and hits more mounted elbows. Mikoto goes off the ropes but Manami elbows her and applies an inside cradle for two. Dropkick by Manami but Mikoto hits a back bodydrop, she picks up Manami but Manami hits a sunset flip for two. She goes for a jackknife cover but Mikoto blocks it, she holds down Manami and picks up the three count! Mikoto Shindo wins and is the new champion!

Pretty basic, as expected. I will say that Mikoto Shindo is a bundle of fun, she has a bit of a mean streak to her and wrestlers like she has a chip on her shoulder, which probably wasn’t necessary since she was wrestling a child but at least it shows she cared. I wouldn’t have minded if the ending was a bit more conclusive, not that cradle wins aren’t legitimate wins but for a title match something with more substance would have been nice. For an opener with younger wrestlers, nothing wrong with it but it didn’t do much to elevate itself to title match status.

Aiger vs. Sakura Hirota
Bamboo Dumpling Scramble Match

We start with Hirota feeding Aiger what I am assuming is a Bamboo Dumpling, which are strung up over the ring in a X. They both go to opposite corners to try to reach them but can’t, and while I don’t really know what is going on I don’t think with these two that it really matters. Both fail to reach it, they go into the regular Aiger zombie spots before they collide and knock each other out. Hirota is up first and tries to jump off of Aiger’s knee to reach the dumplings, but fails. Aiger tries too with the same result, suplex by Hirota but Aiger delivers a release German suplex. Both wrestlers are down on the mat, they lower the dumplings but raise them before the wrestlers can return to their feet. More comedy spots, this time running through Hirota’s bits until Aiger hits a lariat for a two count. Aiger goes up top and scares Hirota, but Hirota kisses her to even the odds. Hirota goes for a powerbomb but Aiger lands on top of her, picking up the three count! Aiger wins! After the match is over, Aiger throws the referee on top of Hirota, stands on top of them and finally gets some dumplings before leaving the ring.

Slightly clipped, but not enough. The crowd enjoys this so I’m not suggesting it shouldn’t exist, it just isn’t for me. Its literally the same three or four spots every time repeated. I enjoy Sakura Hirota when she is doing cosplay as that can be entertaining, but this is just skippable affair. Unless you are really into one of these two wrestlers (or have never seen either before), nothing worth seeing here.

Hikaru Shida, Hyan, and Mei Suruga vs. Alex Lee, Heidi Katrina, and KAORU

We join this one in progress, with Katrina beating up Mei. Vertical suplex by Katrina, and she covers Mei for two. Katrina picks up Mei, Mei goes for a crossbody but Katrina catches her and hits a fallaway slam. Giant Swing by Katrina and she hits a leg drop, but Shida breaks up her cover. Irish whip by Katrina but Mei jumps on her back, Katrina drives her back into the corner to get her off but Mei avoids her charge and hits a dropkick. Cradle by Mei, but Katrina kicks out. Mei tags in Hyan, dropkick by Katrina and she tags Lee. Lee kicks Hyan into the corner and nails a high knee, release German by Lee and she kicks Hyan in the face. Another kick by Lee but Hyan blocks the slam, springboard armdrag by Hyan and she hits a side Russian leg sweep. Northern Lights Suplex Hold by Hyan, but it only gets a two count. Hyan tags in Shida, Shida trades elbows with Lee but Mei and Hyan both run in to attack Lee in the corner. Jumping knee by Shida, she sets up Lee in the corner before grabbing KAORU and suplexing her into Lee. Shida grabs Lee but Katrina hits her from behind, KAORU runs in and boots Shida before Lee delivers a Buzzsaw Kick. Lee picks up Shida and slams her to the mat, she gets on the top turnbuckle but Shida avoids the footstomp. Dropkick by Mei, both teams run in and trade strikes with each other, ending with a Lee high kick to Shida for a two count. Lee picks up Shida and knees her, but Shida blocks the chokebomb. KAORU tries to hit Shida with a board but hits Lee by accident, Michinoku Driver by Shida to Lee but Lee kicks out. Tamashii no Three Count by Shida, and she picks up the three count pinfall! Hikaru Shida, Hyan, and Mei Suruga win!

This was clipped up, and what they showed us was hit and miss. Lee and Hyan are probably the least familiar wrestlers with each other in the match and it showed during their segment, just really clunky. I would have liked to see more of KAORU, she never got tagged in at all during what was shown, and focusing on Lee and Katrina impacted some of the match quality. Mei just randomly running in to attack people was fun and Shida was great, it was just too inconsistent to recommend hunting it down.

Meiko Satomura and Mika Iwata vs. Aja Kong and Yuu

Iwata and Yuu kick things off, Iwata gets Yuu into the ropes and she gives a clean break. Headlock by Iwata but Yuu Irish whips out of it and hits a hard shoulderblock. Iwata kips up and kicks Yuu in the arm, snapmare by Iwata and she kicks Yuu in the back before hitting a PK. Iwata tags in Satomura, Satomura trips Yuu and applies an armbar into a headlock but Yuu struggles back to her feet. Snapmare by Satomura and she applies a stretch hold, Yuu inches to the ropes and she makes it to force the break. Satomura tags Iwata back in who arrives and with ax handle to Yuu’s arm, elbows by Iwata but Yuu catches her with a hard chop. More chops by Yuu, she scoops up Iwata and hits a powerslam for a two count. Yuu tags Kong, chops by Kong to Iwata’s chest and she chops Iwata to the mat. Elbow drop by Kong, and she covers Iwata for two. Armtrap crossface by Kong, she lets go after a moment and kicks Iwata in the back. Kong tags Yuu in, Yuu chops Iwata into the corner with Kong and they both knock Iwata to the mat. Cover by Yuu, but Satomura breaks it up. Kong returns as the legal wrestler, piledriver by Kong but Iwata gets a shoulder up on the pin attempt.

Iwata tries to fight back but Kong slaps her in the face, Kong picks up Iwata but Iwata delivers a strike combination. She rolls to her corner and tags Satomura, Satomura knocks Yuu off the apron but Kong slaps her in the face. Heel kick by Satomura and she goes for a cartwheel kneedrop, but Kong moves out of the way. Kong tags Yuu, sidewalk slam by Yuu and she hits a running senton on Satomura for two. Yuu goes off the ropes but Satomura delivers a high kick, another head kick by Satomura and she tags Iwata. Kicks to the chest by Iwata and she hits a Codebreaker, superkick by Iwata and she covers Yuu for two. Iwata goes for a jumping knee but Yuu catches her and tosses her to the mat, front dropkick by Yuu to the corner and she hits the cannonball. Yuu applies a choke but Iwata elbows out of it, high kick by Iwata but Yuu hits a judo toss. This gives her time to tag Kong while Satomura is tagged in as well, Satomura and Kong trade elbows until Kong sends Satomura to the mat.

Irish whip by Kong but Satomura blocks it and hits an uppercut, cartwheel kneedrop by Satomura, she goes for a kick but Kong catches it and slaps Satomura. Iwata runs in and kicks Kong in the chest, Satomura joins in but Kong lariats both of them. Kong gets her paint can and hits both Iwata and Satomura in the head with it, backdrop suplex by Kong to Satomura and she covers her for two. Kong picks up Satomura but Satomura ducks he Uraken, Pele Kick by Satomura and she tries to get Kong on her shoulders, but Kong blocks it. Yuu comes in to try to help but shoulderblocks Kong by accident, Satomura grabs Kong again and this time hits the Death Valley Bomb for two. Elbow drop by Satomura, she goes up top and goes for a diving body press, but Kong gets both feet up. Scoop slam by Kong, she goes to the top turnbuckle and hits the elbow drop, but Satomura gets a shoulder up. Kong picks up Satomura but Iwata comes in and kicks her, Death Valley Bomb by Satomura but Kong hulks up and returns to her feet. Pele Kick by Satomura, she waits for Kong to get to one knee and nails the Scorpion Rising for the three count! Meiko Satomura and Mika Iwata are the winners.

As expected, this was a really fun match. Even though it was a midcard match, Satomura and Kong have no chill regardless and were really laying it into each other. Not everything landed perfectly and the ending felt a bit sudden in that Yuu kinda disappeared for the final stretch, but I’m not complaining too much as I didn’t expect Kong to be the one to take the pin so it caught me off guard in a good way. Yuu fit right in here and I hope she becomes a semi-regular in Sendai Girls’, her and Iwata had good chemistry and the match never slowed down as all of them were going 100%. The ending could have been tighter but still an enjoyable match between four quality wrestlers.  Recommended

(c) Charli Evans and Millie McKenzie vs. DASH Chisako and Hiroyo Matsumoto
Sendai Girls’ Tag Team Championship

McKenzie and Chisako start the match, Chisako gets McKenzie in the ropes and she gives a mostly clean break. They lock up again and Chisako gives another clean break which just seems to annoy McKenzie, they trade elbows and flash pins before reaching a stalemate. Matsumoto and Evans tag in, they immediately run into each other and take turns attempting to shoulderblock each other over until Evans pulls down Matsumoto by the hair and hits a low crossbody. Body Avalanche by Matsumoto in the corner and she hits a hard shoulderblock for a two count cover. Matsumoto picks up Evans but Evans rakes her eyes, Chisako runs in however and they double team Evans. Matsumoto tags Chisako, Chisako kicks down Evans in the corner and hits a front dropkick. Chisako drags up Evans, Chisako drops Evans on the apron and then dropkicks her off of it to the floor. Chisako gets on the apron but Evans catches her PK attempt and slams Chisako into the apron. McKenzie then gets in the ring and dives out with a tope suicida, they toss Chisako back in and Evans covers her for two. Evans tosses down Chisako by the hair and tags McKenzie, Chisako fights back but McKenzie hits a hard elbow and slaps her on the mat. McKenzie elbows Chisako into the corner and tags Evans, chops by Evans and she snapmares Chisako before kicking her in the back.

Evans applies a stretch hold, she lets go after a moment and elbows Matsumoto on the apron. Chisako elbows Evans and hits a dropkick, she goes to make a tag but McKenzie runs in and knocks Matsumoto off the apron. Evans stomps Chisako in the back and tags McKenzie, superkick by Evans and McKenzie covers Chisako for two. McKenzie picks up Chisako and applies a headlock, but Chisako gets a foot on the ropes to get a break. Chisako snaps off a cutter and finally tags in Matsumoto, Matsumoto shoulderblocks both her opponents but McKenzie blocks the backdrop suplex attempt. Matsumoto is whipped into the corner but stacks both Evans and McKenzie in the turnbuckles before hitting a Body Avalanche. Evans and McKenzie both roll out of the ring, Chisako gets in the ring so that Matsumoto can pick her up and toss her down onto both of them. Chisako rolls McKenzie back in, Matsumoto suplexes McKenzie and covers her for two. McKenzie fights back with elbows but Matsumoto blocks the spear attempt, McKenzie blocks Matsumoto’s vertical suplex and hits a swinging neckbreaker for two. She tags in Evans, kicks by Evans to Matsumoto but Matsumoto blocks the PK and elbows Evans in the face. Matsumoto knees Evans as they trade blows back and forth, superkicks by Evans but Matsumoto levels her with a lariat. Matsumoto crawls to her corner and tags Chisako while McKenzie is tagged as well, they trade elbows until Chisako delivers a dropkick. McKenzie throws Chisako in the corner but Chisako slides out to the apron and goes up top, hitting a missile dropkick. Sliding kick by Chisako and she covers McKenzie for two.

Chisako picks up McKenzie but McKenzie gets her back, they trade waistlocks until Matsumoto runs in and helps Chisako. Backdrop suplex/cutter combination to McKenzie, but she kicks out of the cover. Chisako goes up top but Evans grabs her from the apron, Matsumoto elbows Evans off the apron but McKenzie avoids Chisako’s diving footstomp. McKenzie dropkicks Chisako in the leg and hits a sliding uppercut, cover by McKenzie but it gets a two count. Chisako gets back up as they exchange strikes, hard elbows by Chisako but McKenzie superkicks her when she goes off the ropes. McKenzie picks up Chisako but Matsumoto runs in and elbows her, Evans goes up top and hits a diving crossbody onto Matsumoto. Spear by McKenzie to Matsumoto, she goes back to Chisako and drops her with a double underhook facebuster for a two count. McKenzie picks up Chisako but Chisako rolls her up for two, Matsumoto comes in and lariats McKenzie before she catapults Chisako at McKenzie for a dropkick. Northern Lights Suplex by Chisako followed by a Matsumoto reverse double kneedrop, Chisako goes up top but Evans joins her. Matsumoto powerbombs Evans onto McKenzie, diving footstomp by Chisako but McKenzie barely kicks out of the cover. Chisako goes up top and nails the Hormone Splash, but McKenzie reverses her cover into a cradle for the three count! Medusa Complex remain the champions.

It took a few minutes to get going, but once they did this was pretty fantastic. Chisako and Matsumoto are so so good, I can’t put enough emphasis on how they carried (I mean that in a good way) two less experienced wrestlers through a smooth and well-worked match. Chisako just is so vicious, often times for no reason, and I love her strikes. Evans was the least involved of the four but hit her spots well, and the end stretch was fire as it was just constant action. My only real critique is I didn’t love the ending – I never like it when a wrestler just blows off another wrestler doing their finisher to reverse it into a pin, even though McKenzie sold it after she did basically no-sell the Hormone Splash and all the other offense just done to her. I get they wanted a kinda fluky win since Chisako out-ranks McKenzie but I’d preferred just a traditional cradle if that was the direction they were going, or off some other type of sneaky deception. Still, a hard hitting and entertaining match, it makes me want to hunt down more of McKenzie as she really held her own against two of the best wrestlers in Joshi.  Recommended

(c) Chihiro Hashimoto vs. (c) Sareee
Diana World Championship and Sendai Girls’ World Championship

After sizing each other up they tie-up, Chihiro pushes Sareee into the ropes but she gives a clean break. Knuckle lock by Chihiro and they go into a Test of Strength, Chihiro pushes Sareee to the mat but Sareee gets out of it and hits an armdrag. Hard lariat by Chihiro but Sareee quickly kicks out of the cover and they are back on their feet. They struggle for position, Chihiro gets Sareee down and goes for an armbreaker, but Sareee quickly gets out of it. Rolling headlock by Sareee but they end up in the ropes, Chihiro lets up Sareee as the match resets. Chihiro applies a cross-arm submission before picking up Sareee and applying a guillotine. Delayed vertical suplex by Chihiro, and she covers Sareee for a two count. Sareee elbows Chihiro but Chihiro elbows her back as they trade blows, Sareee rebounds off the ropes with an armdrag before dropkicking Chihiro. Sareee goes off the ropes but Chihiro drives her into the corner, Irish whip by Chihiro but Sareee jumps on the second turnbuckle and hits a dropkick. Chihiro puts Sareee in a Cobra Twist before tossing her to the mat, deadlift by Chihiro and she hits a scoop slam followed by a somersault senton for two.

Chihiro slams Sareee in front of the corner, she gets on the second turnbuckle but Sareee avoids the senton and kicks her repeatedly in the back. She goes for a PK but Chihiro catches it, crab hold by Chihiro but she lets go as Sareee gets close to the ropes. Chihiro stretches Sareee before stomping her in the back, she goes off the ropes but Sareee rolls her to the mat before hitting a footstomp. Footstomp from the second turnbuckle by Sareee, she then goes all the way up and hits a second diving footstomp, picking up a two count cover. Elbows by Sareee, she goes off the ropes but Chihiro hits a lariat. Sareee charges Chihiro but Chihiro hits a spear, waterwheel drop by Chihiro but Sareee kicks out of the cover. Chihiro goes off the ropes but Sareee hits her with a dropkick, a second dropkick sends Chihiro out of the ring and Sareee goes up top to dive out onto Chihiro. She then gets on the apron and hits a diving footstomp to the floor, she goes to return to the ring but Chihiro grabs her and powerbombs her onto the floor. Chihiro returns to the ring while Sareee tries to recover, she eventually gets back in and Chihiro covers her for two. Chihiro picks up Sareee and hits a series of hard lariats, she gets on the second turnbuckle and hits a somersault senton for a two count. Chihiro goes up top but Sareee recovers and joins her, Chihiro knocks her back down but Sareee snaps back up and headbutts Chihiro.

Another headbutt by Sareee and she drops Chihiro with a release German, Chihiro gets back up but Sareee hits another German suplex for a two count. Chihiro gets Sareee’s back and hits a German suplex of her own, and both wrestlers are down on the mat. They both slowly get up and trade elbows, they then trade slaps until Chihiro floors Sareee with a lariat. Chihiro picks up Sareee but Sareee reverses the powerbomb attempt into a hurricanrana for two. Tilt-a-whirl schoolboy by Sareee, but that gets a two as well. She goes off the ropes but Chihiro catches her and hits a release German, lariat by Chihiro and she gets a two count cover. Chihiro picks up Sareee and hits a belly to belly suplex, she drags her back up and drops her with a powerbomb. Chihiro gets Sareee around the waist but Sareee elbows away, Chihiro goes off the ropes but Chihiro nails a uranage. Sareee picks up Chihiro and hits a second uranage, cover by Sareee but Chihiro barely gets a shoulder up. Sareee goes for a third but Chihiro grabs the ropes to block it, she rolls up Chihiro but it gets a two count. Chihiro rams Sareee down and hits a series of short-range lariats, but Sareee nails another uranage for two. Sareee picks up Chihiro and kicks her in the jaw, hammerlock uranage by Sareee and she picks up the three count! Sareee is now a double champion!

My gut reaction after watching this match was that this is my favorite match of 2019, period. To say I loved it would be an understatement, and it went beyond just Sareee being great as Chihiro Hashimoto matched her step for step. Chihiro isn’t flashy but she does so many little things right – just for two examples, I loved that she let go of a submission before Sareee could get a break to pull her out so she could apply another submission, and her cutting off the “trading running strikes” spot with a spear was a nice change of pace from the norm. She is an incredibly smart worker and her strength is impressive, she just isn’t like most other Joshi wrestlers. Sareee delivered too of course, her strikes are so on point and I love her uranages. It says a lot that this wasn’t a short match but it left me wanting more, they could have gone another ten minutes and I wouldn’t have complained, but sometimes less is more which is a lesson I think more wrestlers could learn. It felt like a real struggle with tangible urgency and it kept me captivated, they were just throwing bombs and I was loving every minute of it. I know “must see” is thrown around a lot but this is legitimately a must-see match, even for wrestling fans that aren’t normally into Joshi. Its that damn good. I’d give this ***** without blinking an eye, I don’t see how any match will top this in my end-of-year ranking, an instant classic.  Highly Recommended

The post Sendai Girls’ Big Show In Niigata on 6/8/19 Review appeared first on Joshi City.

Event: Hikaru Shida Produce “10th Anniversary ~ REvenge”
Date: October 9th, 2018
Location: Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan
Announced Attendance: 550

From time to time I review something that is special and difficult to find, and this is one of those times. Last fall, Hikaru Shida produced her own event which took place at the famed Korakuen Hall. The event was released (obviously, since I am reviewing it), but only on DVD and was only sold by Hikaru Shida at live events. I’ve kept my eye out online for the last six months hoping to find it with no luck, however a friend recently went to Japan and he picked up the DVD for me. So I finally get to watch it! As with most wrestler produce events, it has a very unique line-up with unusual pairings. Here is the full card:

• Kaori Yoneyama and Koharu Hinata vs. Mio Momono and Rina Yamashita
• Buffalo, Hiroyo Matsumoto, and Misaki Ohata vs. Gabai Ji-chan, Toru Owashi, and Yako Fujigasaki
• Chihiro Hashimoto vs. Maika Ozaki
• Aja Kong and TARU vs. Hagane Shinnou and Risa Sera
• Hikaru Shida vs. Naomichi Marufuji

All the Joshi wrestlers have profiles on the website, you can click on their names above to go straight to it. As this was released on DVD, all matches will be shown in full.

Kaori Yoneyama and Koharu Hinata vs. Mio Momono and Rina Yamashita

Mio and Kaori start the match, kick by Mio as they go into a fast exchange as they trade armdrags and trips before reaching a stalemate. Koharu and Rina are tagged in, Koharu asks for a knucklelock but then can’t reach Rina’s hands. Kaori comes in and puts Koharu on her shoulders, so Mio comes in also and gets on Rina’s shoulders as well to make things even. Koharu slides off Kaori’s back and they attack Rina, double Irish whip to Rina and they hit a double dropkick. Rina is put into the ropes and slapped in the chest by both of them, Koharu returns to the ring with Rina and grabs her wrist so she can walk the ropes. She walks over halfway around the ring before hitting an armdrag, tilt-a-whirl headscissors by Koharu and she goes for a slam, but Rina blocks it and hits a scoop slam of her own. Rina gives Koharu the Giant Swing, Mio comes in and ‘jumps rope’ with Koharu’s body as she swings around until she finally trips on her. Rina snapmares Koharu and puts her in a chinlock, Mio comes in and pulls on Rina’s hair to give her more torque, which Rina didn’t overly appreciate. Mio goes off the ropes before dropkicking Koharu, Rina tags in Mio and Mio throws Koharu into the corner.

Mio throws down Koharu by the hair and dropkicks her, she does it again before Rina comes over and helps her step down on Koharu’s face. Rina gets in the ring, she kicks Mio and throws her at Koharu but Koharu moves out of the way. Mio and Rina keep messing with each other as they hurt the other with Koharu taking the brunt of whatever they are doing, Mio picks up Koharu but Koharu dropkicks her and tags in Kaori. Kaori goes for a senton but Mio moves, Rina comes in but Kaori avoids their charges and throws Mio into Rina before hitting a senton/dropkick combination. Kaori drop toeholds Rina onto Koharu, running senton by Kaori and she picks up Mio so she can chop her. Mio rolls away and hits a spinning headscissors followed by a dropkick, she goes up top but Koharu runs over and grabs her from the apron. Rina comes in too and gets rid of Koharu, she helps Mio go for a senton but Kaori moves out of the way. Mio cradles Kaori and hits a footstomp, she elbows Rina to tag her in and Rina lariats Kaori in the corner. Cover by Rina, but it gets a two count.

Rina picks up Kaori but Kaori lands on her feet on the backdrop suplex attempt, Kaori goes for a crossbody but Rina catches her. Koharu dropkicks them over, Northern Lights Suplex by Kaori but it gets a two count. Kaori tags Koharu, dropkick by Koharu and she applies a hanging armbar over the top rope. She lets go after a moment and hits a diving bodypress, Kaori then hits a diving senton before Koharu goes up top and delivers a diving footstomp but Mio breaks up the cover. Koharu dropkicks Rina into the corner but Mio dropkicks her, vertical suplex by Rina to Koharu but Koharu kicks out of the cover. She goes for another one but Koharu blocks it, backslide by Koharu but Mio breaks it up. Double Irish whip to Mio but she hits a headscissors/side headlock takedown combination, double lariat by Rina and she kicks Koharu in the face. Rina goes off the ropes and nails Koharu with a lariat, and she picks up the three count! Rina Yamashita and Mio Momono win!

Humor in wrestling is pretty hard to hit with me, but Mio Momono is one of the few that does it right. Her interactions with Rina were amusing throughout, but she can also back it up with the wrestling as well which is more important. The match alternated between being funny and serious but the bulk of the humor was between teammates, not between teams so it never brought down the premise that both teams were trying to win at all times. A good way to kick off the event, its sure to be a quirky show but Mio does “quirky” right and is a pleasure to watch.  Mildly Recommended

Buffalo, Hiroyo Matsumoto, and Misaki Ohata vs. Gabai Ji-chan, Toru Owashi, and Fujigasaki

They talk on the microphone for awhile to start, whatever they said must have pissed off Ohata as she mounts Yako and elbows the hell out of her. Yako returns the favor as they go back and forth, Toru separates them however and they end up doing a six wrestler chain. Gabai Ji-chan grabs Hiroyo’s butt which makes her mad so she suplexes him, curb stomp by Misaki to Yako as she is still mad about whatever she said before. Things settle down with Buffalo staying in the ring with Yako as the legal wrestlers, elbow by Buffalo and he applies a chinlock while ripping at Yako’s face. Buffalo stomps Yako and puts her in the ropes so he can stretch her some more, Irish whip by Buffalo and he hits a back elbow before covering her for two. Buffalo tags in Hiroyo, he stays in the ring and they hold Yako so that Misaki can run in and pull on her nose. Yako fights Hiroyo off with elbows but Misaki hits her from the apron, she comes in and Hiroyo picks up Misaki to assist her in kicking Yako. Buffalo jumps on Hiroyo’s back, then Misaki jumps on too before Hiroyo hits a double kneedrop onto Hiroyo. Hiroyo picks up Yako and clubs her, she goes for a powerbomb but Yako blocks it and hits a back bodydrop. Hip attack by Yako, and she makes the hot tag to Toru. Toru fights off everyone by himself, he chops Hiroyo but Hiroyo chops her back. They trade chops back and forth and then take turns trying to shoulderblock the other over until Hiroyo sends Toru to the mat.

Hiroyo tags in Buffalo while Gabai Ji-chan is also tagged in, Gabai Ji-chan hits Buffalo with his cane but Buffalo hits a vertical suplex. Cover by Buffalo, but it gets two. Misaki and Hiroyo come in and hit running strikes on Gabai Ji-chan in the corner, Buffalo goes to do one but Gabai Ji-chan collapses before he can hit a move. Toru and Yako come in and double team Buffalo, Gabai Ji-chan goes for a powerbomb but is too weak to pick up Buffalo. Buffalo tags Misaki, Misaki goes up top and hits a missile dropkick onto Gabai Ji-chan. She goes for a suplex but Gabai Ji-chan grabs the ropes with his cane to prevent himself from going over. Gabai Ji-chan trips Misaki and hits her in the butt with the cane, Toru jumps in with Yako but Buffalo and Misaki also come in. Yako hits a super oil check (with a mini drill of some sort) on both of them, Misaki drops Yako with a Stunner and gets the oil drill but Toru puts on a mask of Makoto Oishi (Misaki’s husband) and jumps in the way of Gabai Ji-chan. Misaki gives him an oil check anyway, she does the same to Gabai Ji-chan but Gabai Ji-chan drops his cane in the process and runs off the ropes, hitting a dropkick. He grabs the hand drill and gives Misaki an oil check, but Misaki blocks it and hits a standing crucifix bomb for the three count!  Buffalo, Hiroyo Matsumoto, and Misaki Ohata win.

While the last match was the type of comedy I can handle, this one landed with me far less. It was 75% comedy and some of it got a chuckle out of me, but most of it just seemed overly silly and I’d have rather seen Hiroyo Matsumoto and Misaki Ohata do something more serious. Maybe a few laughs if this is your type of thing, but pretty skippable fare for me.

Chihiro Hashimoto vs. Maika Ozaki

They lockup to start but break cleanly, takedown by Chihiro and she applies an ankle lock. She switches to a side headlock, Maika Irish whips out of it and the two collide with neither going down. They take turns trying to shoulderblock each other over until Chihiro succeeds, she picks up Maika and puts her in a Fujiwara Armbar. She changes the hold to an armbreaker but Maika inches to the ropes and makes it to force the break. Chihiro applies an armlock and tosses Maika to the mat, cover by Chihiro but it gets a two count. Wristlock by Chihiro and she goes back to the armbar but Maika reaches the ropes. Chihiro throws Maika to the corner and hits a body avalanche, scoop slam by Chihiro and she hits a somersault senton. Another senton by Chihiro, and she covers Maika for two. Maika tries to get Chihiro on her shoulders but Chihiro blocks it and applies a Cobra Twist, but Maika gets out of it and hits a fireman’s carry slam.

Elbow drops by Maika and she hits a senton, picking up a two count. Maika picks up Chihiro and both wrestlers go for lariats, but both stay on their feet. They trade lariat attempts until Chihiro knocks down Maika, she goes off the ropes but Maika fires up with a lariat of her own for a two count. Maika gets Chihiro on her shoulders and applies an Argentine Backbreaker, she spins Chihiro to the mat and covers her for two. Maika goes up to the second turnbuckle and hits a diving senton, but Chihiro kicks out of the pin. Maika goes all the way up but Chihiro avoids the diving senton, spear by Chihiro and she covers Maika for a two count. Chihiro picks up Maika and they trade elbows, big release German by Chihiro and she positions Maika in front of the corner. Diving somersault senton by Chihiro, but Maika barely kicks out of the pin. Chihiro picks up Maika and hits the waterwheel drop, cover by Chihiro and she gets the three count! Chihiro Hashimoto wins!

A basic but fundamentally sound match. This was an odd one for this show, as neither have a real connection with Hikaru Shida or each other so I am not sure how it came about. Even though Chihiro was clearly winning, she did give Maika a few spots before putting her away. The German suplex was beautiful and painful, easily the highlight of the match. There was nothing wrong with this at all, they worked together well and everything was smooth, it just felt a bit like an exhibition for the bulk of it before business picked up in the last two minutes. Perfectly watchable but nothing memorable.

Aja Kong and TARU vs. Hagane Shinnou and Risa Sera

Things immediately break down with Hagane and Risa in control, they have a ladder and they hit TARU with it. Risa puts the ladder on TARU and hits a running kneedrop, Risa grabs TARU’s leg and puts him in the ropes while Hagane gets a giant sword, but TARU avoids the sword strike. Hagane drops the sword and gets in the ring, but Kong trips him the floor and throws Hagane into chairs at ringside. TARU goes outside the ring with Risa and stabs her in the head with I think some scissors, while Kong hits Hagane with a chair. Risa is naturally bleeding as TARU stabs her with what I have now decided is a carving fork, meanwhile Kong takes Hagane into the crowd and slams him into a wall. TARU and Risa have returned to the ring as TARU beats her with a stick before choking her with it. They exit the ring again and battle up into the crowd, Hagane finally gets the better of Kong and hits her with a chair. TARU and Risa are up by the balcony now as Mio Momono tries to shield the crowd from a rumbling TARU, as we go back to ringside where Kong is beating up Hagane. Risa and TARU return to the ring, he gets a kendo stick with barbed wire wrapped around it and pushes it into Risa’s head, Risa gets back to her feet and elbows TARU but TARU snapmares her and digs at her wounds.

Hagane come in the ring but so does Kong and she hits him with a paint can. She hits Risa with it too for good measure, Kong and TARU start to argue on who should beat up Risa with TARU finally picking her up. Risa fires up and elbows both of them but she eats a double vertical suplex for her trouble, Kong grabs Risa and bites her on the forehead. Kong hits Risa with the paint can again, cover by Kong but Risa kicks out. Risa elbows Kong but Kong absorbs the blows and smacks Risa back to the mat. Hagane comes in the ring but Kong rakes him in the eyes, she tags in TARU (guess we are doing tags now) and TARU strikes Risa in the corner. TARU chokes Risa with some wrist tape while Kong knocks Hagane off the apron for no reason, TARU goes for a suplex but Risa lands on her feet and schoolboys TARU for two. She gets the barbed wire kendo stick and hits TARU with it before tagging in Hagane, Hagane cleans house and hits a swandive dropkick onto TARU. He gets the giant sword and uses it to drive TARU into the corner. He launches off the sword and kicks TARU in the head, Hagane puts TARU on the mat and stacks a few chairs on top of him. He put the giant sword in the corner so he can stand on it up top, but Kong grabs him from the apron before he can jump off. TARU joins Hagane and hits a superplex onto the chairs, he picks up Hagane and hits a chokebomb for a two count. TARU tags in Kong, Kong picks up Hagane and drops him with a backdrop suplex for a two count.

She picks up Hagane again and hits a brainbuster, but Hagane gets a shoulder up. Kong calls for the Uraken but Hagane ducks it and hits a lariat, Kong doesn’t go down as they trade lariat attempts until Hagane finally sends Kong to the mat. This gives him time to tag in Risa, Risa throws Kong into the corner and hits a running elbow strike. She chucks a chair at Kong and then hits a running double knee into it, Risa puts a chair on Kong’s chest and hits a reverse kneedrop for two. She gets the ladder and props it in the corner, she gets a surfboard out and gets on the ladder with it, riding the surfboard down the ladder and hitting a splash of sorts. Risa picks up Kong but Kong slaps her, Kong grabs the surfboard and cracks Risa in the head with it. TARU returns and lariats Risa in the corner, Kong follows with her own lariat and gets her paint can, but Risa ducks and she accidentally hits TARU. Risa puts a few chairs on the mat while Hagane sets up a table at ringside, Risa suplexes Kong onto the chairs and covers her for two. TARU is put on the table while Risa sets up the ladder in the ring, Hagane gets on the top turnbuckle and dives out of the ring with a splash through the table to TARU while Risa jumps off the ladder with a double kneedrop to Kong. Cover by Risa, but Kong kicks out. Risa grabs Kong but Kong snaps off a brainbuster, but before she can cover Risa the bell rings as time expires. The match is a Draw.

This was an experience. First of all, I don’t love the Draw here. Its useful and necessary sometimes but this was a non-televised produce show, no real reason that someone couldn’t have been pinned as no one needed protecting. Anyway, this was one of those chaotic hardcore matches where you aren’t sure if they really had a plan going into it as the violence was prevalent but random. Neither team really worked together much, as predicted, and the match mostly focused on Aja Kong and TARU beating people up. Some of the spots worked and some didn’t, but I will say it was rather captivating and Risa Sera is great. Certainly not a traditional match, but worth a watch as long as you go in with the right expectations.  Mildly Recommended

Hikaru Shida vs. Naomichi Marufuji

Tie-up to start, Marufuji pushes Shida into the ropes and gives a clean break, but Shida chops him in the chest. Marufuji gets Shida in the corner and chops her hard in the chest, Shida gets back up and fires off a few elbows while avoiding Marufuji as he goes for knee strikes. Headlock by Marufuji, Shida eventually gets out of it but Marufuji shoulderblocks her down. Kip-up by Shida and she hits a hurricanrana followed by a knee while Marufuji is against the ropes. Shida drags Marufuji’s head over the apron, she goes out to the floor and delivers a kneelift. Shida throws Marufuji into the ring post, she set up a chair at ringside and jumps off of it to hit a jumping knee to Marufuji. Shida slides Marufuji back in, she goes for a vertical suplex but Marufuji blocks it and chops her in the chest. More chops by Marufuji, he kicks Shida in the head before covering her for two. Marufuji dumps Shida out of the ring and goes out after her, hard chops by Marufuji around the ring and he goes back in to wait for Shida. Shida rolls in too, Irish whip by Marufuji but Shida hits a step-up enzuigiri.

She goes off the ropes but Marufuji boots her in the face, chinlock by Marufuji but Shida gets a foot on the ropes. Shida fights back with elbows but Marufuji knocks her down with a lariat, he puts Shida in the corner and chops her in the chest some more. Jumping elbow by Marufuji but Shida blocks the suplex attempt and hits a vertical suplex of her own. Shida charges Marufuji but Marufuji moves, Shida tosses Marufuji out to the apron and hits a kneelift. Marufuji falls out of the ring, Shida goes to the top turnbuckle and dives out with a crossbody. Shida rolls Marufuji back in, she goes to the top turnbuckle and hits a missile dropkick. She goes up again and hits another missile dropkick before hitting a third, she climbs the turnbuckles one last time and hits a final missile dropkick for a two count cover. Shida goes for the Falcon Arrow but Marufuji blocks it, chop by Marufuji but Shida slaps him and hits a high knee. Falcon Arrow by Shida, but Marufuji kicks out of the pin. Shida goes off the ropes but Marufuji blocks the knee, strike combination by Marufuji and Shida falls hard to the mat.

The referee starts a count but Shida returns to her feet, knee by Marufuji and he goes up top but Shida recovers and joins him. Marufuji headbutts Shida back down but Shida joins him again, superplex by Shida and she covers Marufuji for two. Marufuji chops Shida but Shida fires back with elbows as they trade blows, Marufuji goes off the ropes but Shida nails him with a jumping knee for two. Three Count by Shida, but again Marufuji kicks out. Shida picks up Marufuji and hits more knees, she goes off the ropes and hits the Tamashii no Three Count but Marufuji barely gets a shoulder up. Shida goes up top and his a Diving Somato, but the pin gets another two. She goes off the ropes but Marufuji kicks her back, jumping knee by Marufuji and he covers Shida for a two count. Another knee by Marufuji, he gets Shida to her knees and knees her in the back of the head. Marufuji waits for Shida to get up and plants her with the Ko-oh, cover by Marufuji and he gets the three count! Naomichi Marufuji is the winner.

Matches like this are going to get a wide range of reactions. Due to Marufuji’s status in wrestling (he has had competitive matches against the likes of Misawa, Kobashi, Akiyama, Okada, Tanahashi, etc.), he was going to be the dominating wrestler in the match one way or the other. So a fair chunk of the match was Marufuji in control, turning Shida’s chest into hamburger and shrugging off Shida’s attempts to fight back. Its not a different dynamic than we saw earlier with Risa Sera and Aja Kong, but since they are different genders it will make some people squirm anyway. But that doesn’t mean it was just an extended squash as it clearly was not, Shida got in a fair amount of offense and several nearfalls, it was just a constant battle for her to get one over on Marufuji. Shida played a very sympathetic wrestler here, trying to win against someone who humiliated her a year ago at her own produced show, and the crowd was behind her attempts to right that wrong. A hard hitting affair but nothing that crossed the line to feeling inappropriate or excessive, overall an entertaining match even if the end result was never in question.  Recommended

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