Event: Stardom 10th Anniversary ~Hinamatsuri All-Star Dream Cinderella~
Date: March 3rd, 2021
Location: Nippon Budokan in Tokyo, Japan
Announced Attendance: 3,318
Broadcast Information: Streamed Live on PPV and Samurai TV!

It is time for what will likely be the biggest Joshi event of the year! Since Bushiroad purchased Stardom, one of their goals was to have Stardom run in bigger buildings when the time was right, which leads them to Nippon Budokan for All-Star Dream Cinderella. They went all-out for the show, as SEAdLINNNG invades with big singles matches involving Nanae Takahashi and Yoshiko. Also, there is a Rumble with former wrestlers returning, and a total of five title matches. This review will be long so strap in, here is the full card:

• High Speed Championship: AZM vs. Natsupoi
• Goddesses Of Stardom Championship: Himeka and Maika vs. Natsuko Tora and Saki Kashima
• All-Star Rumble with Momoe Nakanishi, Mima Shimoda, Chigusa Nagayo, Kyoko Inoue, Kikutaro, Gokigen Death, Emi Sakura, Hiroyo Matsumoto, Miho Wakizawa, Yuzuki Aikawa, Yoko Bito, Yuuri Haruka, Koguma, Yuna Manase, Hiromi Mimura, Starlight Kid, Rin Kadokura, Bea Priestley, Ruaka, Mei Hoshizuki, Mina Shirakawa, Unagi Sayaka, Saya Iida, and Lady C
• Nanae Takahashi vs. Momo Watanabe
• SWA Undisputed World Women’s Championship: Syuri vs. Konami
• Mayu Iwatani vs. Yoshiko
• World Of Stardom Championship: Utami Hayashishita vs. Saya Kamitani
• Wonder Of Stardom Championship, Hair Vs. Hair Match: Giulia vs. Tam Nakano

I will be watching the live broadcast, so matches will be shown in full. All Joshi wrestlers on the event have profiles on Joshi City, you can click on their name above to go straight to it.

(c) AZM vs. Natsupoi
High Speed Championship

They charge each other and get right into a fast exchange, they avoid each others dropkicks and after some flash pins attempts they end up back on their feet. Kick by Natsupoi and she throws AZM into the corner, dropkicking her down to the floor. She goes up top but AZM quickly recovers and gets onto the apron before kicking Natsupoi in the head. Natsupoi falls to the floor, AZM gets on the second turnbuckle and dives out of the ring with a double footstomp. AZM rolls Natsupoi back in and hits a swandive dropkick, cover by AZM but it gets two. She applies the Fujiwara Armbar but Natsupoi quickly gets to the ropes, Natsupoi throws AZM into the corner but AZM avoids her charge. Kick to the chest by Natsupoi, she goes off the ropes and delivers a dropkick. Natsupoi goes up top and hits a diving crossbody, but AZM rolls through it and applies a submission.

Natsupoi quickly gets to the ropes again, AZM goes up top and nails a diving double footstomp for two. AZM goes off the ropes and hits La Mistica, but Natsupoi rolls out of it. Head kick by AZM, she goes off the ropes but AZM hits La Mistica again. Natsupoi gets to the ropes, AZM runs to the corner but when she goes for the triple jump attack, she is greeted by a dropkick from Natsupoi. AZM and Natsupoi trade elbows as they return to their feet, AZM goes off the ropes but Natsupoi catches her with a kick. Backlash by Natsupoi, but AZM kicks out. Waistlock by Natsupoi and she nails a German suplex hold, but that gets a two as well. Natsupoi goes up top and delivers the twisting body press, but the cover gets a two count. Natsupoi picks up AZM but AZM elbows her off, rolling inside cradle by AZM but it gets a two count. They trade flash pins with neither having any luck, so Natsupoi superkicks AZM in the face. Natsupoi drags up AZM and hits rolling German suplexes, but the third only gets a two count. Natsupoi picks up AZM and nails a Cross-Arm German Suplex, and she picks up the three count! Natsupoi wins and is the new champion!

A really fun way to kick off the show. Not everything was super smooth but the energy helped make up for that as it was just go-go-go from the opening bell. Fans that only watch Stardom may not been as familar with what Natsumi has been up to in recent years but she is fantastic, and she got a pretty dominating win here as by the end of the match she was firmly in control. AZM hit some killer footstomps and stayed in the match, but it almost felt like a coming-out party for Natsumi and I assume she’ll hold the title for awhile. A quality match to begin the big event.  Recommended

(c) Himeka and Maika vs. Natsuko Tora and Saki Kashima
Goddesses of Stardom Championship

Oedo Tai jump DDM before the match starts and isolate Maika, double teaming her. Saki stays in as the legal wrestler and kicks Himeka before tagging in Natsuko, bootscrapes by Natsuko but Himeka kicks her from the apron. This gives Maika time to recover and she tags Himeka, Himeka and Natsuko trade shoulderblocks with Himeka winning the battle. Saki runs in but Himeka stacks them both in the corner and hits a lariat. She puts both up on the turnbuckle and places them in an Argentine Backbreaker together before dropping them to the mat. Himeka picks up Natsuko and delivers a Jumping Knee, but Natsuko kicks out of the cover. Himeka tags Maika, Maika tosses Natsuko around the mat before hitting a STO for a two count. Stomps by Maika and she hits a lariat, but she didn’t notice that Saki blind tagged herself in. Saki jumps in the ring with a bulldog to Maika, Maika is thrown into the corner and Saki hits a running knee. Saki gets on the top turnbuckle and hits a headscissors into a cradle, picking up a two count.

Natsuko is tagged back in, she stacks both opponents in the corner and delivers a cannonball. Samoan Drop by Natsuko, she tags Saki and Saki hits a diving footstomp. She quickly tags Natsuko back in, diving body press by Natsuko but Maika kicks out of the cover. Swinging side slam by Natsuko, but that gets a two count as well. Natsuko picks up Maika but Himeka runs in to help, Saki kicks Himeka however and she falls out of the ring. Natsuko tags Saki, flying headscissors by Saki to Maika but Himeka cuts her off with a knee. Himeka and Maika charge Saki but accidentally lariat each other, scoop slam by Saki to Maika and she goes up top but Maika recovers and joins her. Superplex by Maika to Saki, she picks her back up and hits a STO but Natsuko breaks up the cover. Himeka comes in and with Maika they hit a lariat on Saki followed by a sliding lariat for a two count. Maika picks up Saki but Saki slides away and pins her down for a two count. Natsuko has found her way back in but she eats a double chokeslam, Maika picks up Saki and nails a Michinoku Driver II for the three count! Donna del Mondo win and retain the championship.

Normally I like title matches to be a little longer than this, but considering the participants and the fact this was a pre-show match, I don’t mind it as much here. This was pretty well-worked, nothing mind blowing but a good match within their limitations. Maika and Himeka are a bundle of fun, I could watch them all day as they bring something fresh and interesting to Stardom’s matches. Saki really brought her A game today which helped elevate the match, and Natsuko didn’t do much which is for the best. Oedo Tai wrestled the match oddly straight besides from the pre-bell jumping, with no cheating which surprised me. A solid match to keep the show rolling along, even if it was nothing special.

Stardom All-Star Rumble

Starlight Kid and Mei Hoshizuki are the first two in the match. They start pretty traditionally as they trade holds, armdrag by Starlight Kid, Mei catches her crossbody attempt but Starlight Kid spins it around into a cradle for two. Dropkick by Mei as Gokigen Death comes down, but she just poses while the other two keep fighting. They get tired of this and jump her, but Starlight Kid and Death end up double teaming Mei. Momoe Nakanishi is the next wrestler to enter the match, she goes up top but Death and Starlight Kid shake the ropes to knock her off. Irish whip to Momoe but she runs over all three opponents and poses on the mat with Death. The veterans stay in control and pose on Starlight Kid and Mei, as Koguma enters the match! First time we have seen Koguma wrestling in almost six years. Koguma hits a falling body press on Death and Starlight Kid before they all get into a fast exchange. Meanwhile the next wrestler is already on their way to the ring, Unagi Sayaka! Starlight Kid is attacked by everyone in the corner but is able to knock back Unagi, Unagi is stomped on by everyone while Saya Iida enters the match. Saya chops everyone, and while she is doing that Mina Shirakawa comes down as the next wrestler in the match.

By now there are too many people in the ring, a common issue in Battle Royal style matches. The Stardom wrestlers get into an exchange while Yuna Manase enters the match. Yuna and Saya exchange shots, Starlight Kid comes over to help but Yuna lariats both of them. Suddenly all of Gatoh Move appear on the ramp as Emi Sakura is the next wrestler down, Emi immediately goes after Momoe and hits a crossbody in the corner. Everyone watches as Emi and Momoe trade dropkick attempts before they hug, but we take a break as Lady C is wrestler #11 to join the match. Lady C snapmares Emi and puts her in a headscissors, and you know what is coming as this starts a giant headscissors chain with all the wrestlers (except Momoe, who runs over all of them instead of joining them). яндекс As it is broken up, Kyoko Inoue enters the ring but she is immediately attacked by everyone. She fights back but Lady C drops her with a chokeslam, everyone covers Kyoko but she kicks out. Lariat by Kyoko to Lady C, and she covers her for the three count! Lady C is eliminated.

Ruaka is the next wrestler, she shoulderblocks Kyoko to the mat and boots her, but Kyoko fires back with a lariat for the three count! Ruaka is eliminated. Rina Kadokura enters the match while Emi tricks Kyoko and gets everyone to cover her again, this time getting the three count! Kyoko Inoue is eliminated. We get some Random Chaos in the ring a Hiroyo Matsumoto is the next entry, she is in no rush to enter but eventually makes it into the ring. Miho Wakizawa is wrestler #16, while in the ring Hiroyo is beating everyone with a giant tawashi. Or something like one. Momoe is set up in the ropes to get a rubber band snapped in her face, but it accidentally gets sent back into Miho by mistake. Mima Shimoda comes into the match and dumps Yuna Manase over the top rope! Yuna Manase is eliminated. The legend Bea Priestley enters but Emi chops her in the chest and everyone tries to throw her out of the ring. She hangs on as Yuuri Haruka makes her entrance, meanwhile Mima is thrown over the top rope along with Bea in quick succession. Mima Shimoda and Bea Priestley are eliminated!

Yuuri applies an armbar to Death but it gets broken up, the camera pans to the stage and we see Hiromi Mimura is on her way down. Before she gets in the ring, Emi helps dump Yuuri over the top rope to the floor! Yuuri Haruka is eliminated. Hiromi winds up for an attack but is kicked by Miho, but Starlight Kid comes to the rescue. Hiroyo whacks Hiromi with a backpack, Miho puts Hiromi in the Backslide and she gets the three count! Hiromi Mimura is eliminated. Yoko Bito is the 21st entry, while Hiroyo dumps a box full of tawashis in the ring. Miho hits a Frankensteiner on Emi onto all the tawashis, and Emi is covered by multiple wrestlers for the three count. Emi Sakura is eliminated. Miho is slow to recover so everyone covers her as well, picking up another three count! Miho Wakizawa is eliminated. Not done yet, the mob rolls up Hiroyo, keeping her down for the three count! Hiroyo Matsumoto is eliminated. That clears the ring a little bit. Yuzuki Aikawa enters as the next wrestler, and she still looks the same as she did when she retired eight years ago. As she slowly walks down, Saya and Starlight Kid work together to throw Rin over the top rope. Rin Kadokura is eliminated. Not wasting time, Chigusa Nagayo quickly follows as she enters the match, Saya Iida greets her and the two trade blows. While they duke it out, the final wrestler enters the match – Kikutaro! 

Back in the ring (which most wrestlers aren’t even in anymore as they stand on the apron) Chigusa drops Saya with a Death Valley Bomb but Saya kicks out of the cover. Chigusa picks up Saya and drops her with a heel kick, but again Saya gets a shoulder up. Saya hulks up and knocks over Chigusa with a double chop, but her cover gets two as Chigusa puts Saya in an armlock. No one helps her and Saya submits! Saya Iida is eliminated. Yuzuki comes in the ring finally and challenges Chigusa, kicks by Yuzuki but Chigusa blocks the heel drop and punches her in the stomach. Yuzuki throws Chigusa into the corner and hits a body avalanche, as everyone else joins in attacking Chigusa in the corner. Yuzuki and Yoko both kick Chigusa, cover by Yuzuki but it gets a two count. She tries again with everyone else helping her, but that gets a two count as well. Chigusa gets back up but is schoolboyed from behind, and finally she is held down for the three count! Chigusa Nagayo is eliminated.

Kikutaro still hasn’t entered the ring but finally does so, he’s in full creeper mode as everyone runs away from him. He grabs Unagi but Mina attacks him, Kikutaro covers both of them but Starlight Kid breaks it up. Starlight Kid attacks at Kikutaro, he gets away but Chigusa jaws at him from the apron. Chigusa takes one for the team as Kikutaro grabs her… intimately, she gets back in the ring and hits him with an elbow. Everyone else joins in stomping down Kikutaro, Momo☆Latch by Momoe and she holds down Kikutaro for the three count! Kikutaro is eliminated. Moonsault by Momoe to Death, and she holds her down for the three count as well! Gokigen Death is eliminated. Starlight Kid and Momoe go after each other, Momoe jumps up to the top turnbuckle but Starlight Kid pushes her off before she can hit a move. She keeps hitting Momoe as she dangles on the top rope, dropkick by Starlight Kid and Momoe crashes to the floor. Momoe Nakanishi is eliminated. Snapmare by Yoko to Koguma, she picks her up but Koguma snaps off a DDT. Starlight Kid grabs Koguma and holds her for Yoko, but Koguma ducks and Yoko kicks Starlight Kid by accident. Yoko charges Kid but Kid holds down the top rope, sending Yoko to the apron. Koguma runs over and kicks Yoko, sending her to the floor! Yoko Bito is eliminated. 

We are down to five wrestlers! Cutter by Koguma on Starlight Kid and she nails a German Suplex Hold for the three count! Starlight Kid is eliminated. Koguma and Unagi trade flash pins, but Unagi gets help from Mina and Yuzuki as they hold down Koguma for the three count! Koguma is eliminated. We are down to three – Mina Shirakawa, Yuzuki Aikawa, and Unagi Sayaka. Yuzuki fights off both Cosmic Angels before getting into an elbow exchange with Mina, slap by Mina but Yuzuki slaps her back. Mina elbows Yuzuki against the ropes and charges her, but Yuzuki avoids the dropkick and hits a heel drop. Yuzuki goes for a tiger suplex but Unagi saves Mina, Mina then returns the favor but Yuzuki nails Mina with a heel kick and delivers the Tiger Suplex Hold for the three count! Mina Shirakawa is eliminated. Yuzuki charges Unagi but Unagi dumps her onto the apron, she goes for a kick but Yuzuki gets her out onto the apron with her. Kicks by Yuzuki as they both stand on the apron but Unagi catches one, heel drop to the back by Unagi and she hits another one to send Yuzuki to the floor. Yuzuki Aikawa is eliminated.  Unagi Sayaka is the last wrestler standing and is the winner!

Its always hard to ‘rate’ Battle Royals, and ones that take place in Japan tend to be even more difficult due to the more lighthearted atmosphere. There was a lot of wrestlers standing out of the way while the planned spots were going on, with some wrestlers such as Koguma disappearing for long periods of time. Some of the exchanges were really enjoyable though, such as Chigusa Nagayo/Saya Iida and the final threesome, and it was really nice of Chigusa Nagayo to “take one for the team” with Kikutaro as I can only imagine the Internet’s reaction if he had done that to Starlight Kid. It was great seeing Yuzuki again in particular, and none of the returning wrestlers looked too out of place. Its a long match with stretches of nothing, but still enough fun moments that long time Joshi fans will likely find something to enjoy.

Nanae Takahashi vs. Momo Watanabe

Momo and Nanae face off and trade slaps, Nanae pushes Momo into the corner and hits a series of elbows. Momo avoids one and kicks Nanae in the head, she hits her own elbows but Nanae gets her back and hits a German suplex. Nanae elbows Momo while she is against the ropes, snapmare by Nanae and she kicks Momo in the back. Momo returns the favor but Nanae catches the PK attempt and hits a dragon screw. Lariat by Nanae but Momo fires back with a dropkick, she dropkicks Nanae down in the corner and delivers a hard dropkick to the chest. More dropkicks by Momo and she kicks Nanae repeatedly in the chest. Nanae eventually catches one but Momo slaps her, headbutts by Nanae and she kicks Momo onto the apron. Nanae picks up Momo and hits a short range lariat, elbows by Nanae and she slams Momo to the mat for a two count cover. Nanae goes off the ropes but Momo nails a head kick, elbows by Momo and she kicks Nanae in the head. Momo goes off the ropes and hits the Somato, but Nanae kicks out of the cover.

Momo gets on the second turnbuckle and delivers the diving Somato, but again Nanae kicks out. Momo applies the crossface chickenwing but Nanae gets to the ropes for the break, Momo picks up Nanae and hits the B Driver, but Nanae rolls through it and hits one of her own for a two count. Both wrestlers slowly get up, jumping kick by Nanae and she goes to the top turnbuckle, but Momo avoids the Refrigerator Bomb and hits a knee to the back of the head. Momo goes to the top turnbuckle and delivers the diving Somato, but it gets two. Momo goes back up again but Nanae joins her and hits a superplex. Nanae goes to the top turnbuckle and this time nails the Refrigerator Bomb, but the cover only gets a two. Nanae picks up Momo but Momo slides away and delivers a Tequila Sunrise for two. Momo drags up Nanae but Nanae gets away and hits an elbow. Head kick by Momo, she goes off the ropes but Nanae catches her with a lariat. Nanae picks up Momo and drops her with the Nana☆Racka but Momo barely kicks out. Nanae picks Momo back up and nails the One Second EX, and she picks up the three count! Nanae Takahashi is the winner.

While this match was “good,” something felt like it was missing. Maybe due to the length or placement on the card, it didn’t have that pop I was expecting and never really felt like it elevated itself. If not for the history between Nanae and Stardom, it would have felt like a pretty standard veteran vs. young star match. Which probably isn’t fair, there was nothing “wrong” with the match at all, it just didn’t feel special either. Even with their limited time they seemed to run of out ideas, with lots of Somatos and elbows, and it makes you wonder if they just aren’t too familar with each other and decided to keep it simple. Hard hitting for sure, and Momo held her own, it just felt more like an introduction than an all out war. A decent enough match, but ultimately nothing that will leave a lasting impression once the show ends.  Mildly Recommended

(c) Syuri vs. Konami
SWA Undisputed World Women’s Championship

They circle each other to start before grappling for position on the mat, Syuri goes for the armbreaker but Konami easily blocks it and goes for one of her own. Syuri gets to the ropes to break the hold, sliding kick by Konami and Syuri falls out to the floor. Natsuko comes over but Konami pushes her away and slides Syuri back in, stomps by Konami and she delivers a dropkick for a two count. Konami quickly transitions to the Fujiwara Armbar, Syuri rolls out of it but Konami keeps a hold on the arm. Syuri rolls out again and gets a hold of Konami’s ankle, but Konami reverses it and applies her own ankle hold. Konami gets Syuri’s back in a crucifix before driving her to the mat, she gets a stretch hold locked in but Syuri gets to the ropes. Strike combination by Konami and she delivers a head kick, but Syuri fires back with a release German. Konami hits a suplex of her own and applies a sleeper, Syuri gets up but Konami plants her with a Sleeper Suplex for two. Konami goes for a Buzzsaw Kick but Syuri catches her leg and hits a double knee gutbuster.

Konami quickly connects with a head kick but is too hurt to capitalize, they slowly get to their knees and trade elbows. They trade kicks as they return to their feet, running knee by Syuri and she covers Konami for two. Syuri applies a guillotine before putting Konami’s feet on the top rope and dropping her with a DDT for a two count. Syuri picks up Konami but Konami slides away and applies a cross armbreaker. Syuri quickly gets out of it and applies a Stretch Muffler, but Konami gets to the ropes for the break. Syuri gets Konami on her shoulders and hits a modified Emerald Frosion, but Konami kicks out of the cover and quickly applies a modified armbar. Syuri muscles out of it and gets the Stretch Muffler re-applied, but modifies it to also tie up Konami’s arm (Stardom called this move the “White Tiger”). Konami struggles for a moment but is forced to submit! Syuri wins the match and retains the championship.

Konami shook Syuri’s hand after the match and gave her a hug, showing a level of post-match respect that is rare for a member of Oedo Tai. This definitely had a different feel than most matches in Stardom, as it was a very ground-based and submission focused match. It really did feel like a match these two would have had against each other in 2016, obviously Konami is more polished now than she was back then but the structure reminded me of the older days of Konami. As far as mat-based matches go, this was pretty fun to watch and very fluid, and you could tell they are very comfortable with each other as nothing looked forced. I wouldn’t have minded a little more excitement in the closing stretch as it ended with little warning, but still an enjoyable match that probably meant more to the wrestlers than it meant to anyone else.  Recommended

Mayu Iwatani vs. Yoshiko

They tie-up to start, Yoshiko pushes Mayu into the ropes and gives a clean break. Kick by Mayu but Yoshiko blocks the armdrag, hitting one of her own. Hard shoulderblock by Yoshiko, she picks up Mayu and throws her down by the hair. Bootscrapes by Yoshiko in the corner and she delivers a running boot, cover by Yoshiko but it gets two. Yoshiko quickly applies a headlock but Mayu gets into the ropes, Yoshiko picks up Mayu and kicks her in the back. Yoshiko keeps stomping on Mayu’s back before picking her up and applying a stretch hold. Mayu gets into the ropes for the break, Irish whip by Yoshiko but Mayu reverses it and hits a headscissors. Mayu goes off the ropes and drills Yoshiko with a dropkick, sending the SEAdLINNNG wrestler out of the ring. Mayu gets a running start and sails out onto Yoshiko (mostly missing) with a plancha suicida, she slowly recovers and slides Yoshiko back in the ring. Mayu goes up top and hits a missile dropkick, cover by Mayu but it gets a two count. Mayu picks up Yoshiko but Yoshiko blocks the suplex attempt, low kick by Mayu but Yoshiko catches her with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Crab hold by Yoshiko but Mayu crawls to the ropes and makes it for the break. Yoshiko quickly gets on the second turnbuckle and hits a diving senton onto Mayu’s back, she goes back up to the second turnbuckle and connects with a regular diving senton for a two count cover.

Yoshiko picks up Mayu but Mayu gets her to the mat with a reverse hurricanrana. Dodonpa by Mayu, but it gets a two count. Mayu picks up Yoshiko but Yoshiko gets to the ropes to block the dragon suplex, Mayu pulls her off the ropes but Yoshiko elbows her off. Mayu ducks a lariat and drops Yoshiko with a release German, Yoshiko gets back up but Mayu delivers the dragon suplex hold for a two count. Mayu goes up top and goes for a moonsault, but Yoshiko gets her feet up to block the move. Both wrestlers are slow to recover, they trade strikes when they return to their feet until Yoshiko knocks Mayu back to the mat. Mayu gets back up but eats another hard elbow for her trouble, Mayu returns to her feet and temporarily knocks Yoshiko to her knees before eating two hard lariats. Yoshiko picks up Mayu and slams her to the mat from a fireman’s carry, but Mayu kicks out of the cover. Yoshiko positions Mayu and goes to the top turnbuckle, she nails the diving senton but Mayu barely kicks out of the cover. Yoshiko drags up Mayu but Mayu gets her back and applies a schoolboy for two. Superkick by Mayu and she kicks Yoshiko in the head, another superkick by Mayu and she covers Yoshiko for two. Mayu picks up Yoshiko and delivers the Two Stage Dragon Suplex Hold, but Yoshiko barely gets a shoulder up. Mayu quickly goes up to the top turnbuckle and nails the moonsault, cover by Mayu and she gets the three count! Mayu Iwatani is the winner.

There was a lot to enjoy here, a really entertaining match. Its kinda amazing these two still have such great chemistry after all these years, and everything they did here clicked. Yoshiko’s work on Mayu’s back was top notch, probably good enough it could have used a little more long term selling by Mayu but Mayu constantly looks in pain so it still worked out. I really loved the ending, with Mayu not wasting a second before going to the moonsault. No slow dramatic climb up the turnbuckles and pointing to the crowd, just quickly taking advantage of a hurt Yoshiko who is not the easiest wrestler to pin. The time just flew by and I wouldn’t have minded if it was a few more minutes, but they told their story and told it well. I don’t know where Stardom and SEAdLINNNG’s relationship is going from here, but this was a great hard hitting match that delivered on the expectations.  Highly Recommended

(c) Utami Hayashishita vs. Saya Kamitani
World of Stardom Championship

They tie-up to start, Utami pushes Saya into the ropes but she gives a clean break. Saya quickly kicks her and they lock-up before trading holds, they go through an exchange off the ropes ending with Utami dropkicking Saya in the chest. Utami picks up Saya and hits a scoop slam, another slam by Utami and she covers Saya for two. Utami puts Saya in the ropes and delivers a sliding kick to the back, double kneedrop to the back by Utami and she covers Saya for two. Utami applies a Camel Clutch but Saya inches to the ropes for the break. Utami stomps at Saya and boots her in the corner, Utami picks her up and hits a scoop slam for a two count. Saya fights back but Utami avoids her dropkick and kicks Saya in the back. Saya fires back with a dropkick of her own, hurricanrana by Saya and Utami falls out of the ring. Saya goes off the ropes and dives out onto Utami with a tope con hilo, she picks up Utami and tosses her back into the ring. Saya goes up top and hits a missile dropkick, cover by Saya but it gets a two count. Saya picks up Utami but Utami elbows her and the two trade shots. Utami wins the battle, she picks up Saya and goes off the ropes but Saya catches her with a dropkick. Another dropkick by Saya and she covers Utami for a two count. Saya picks up Utami but Utami slides away and delivers a sliding kick.

Utami picks up Saya but Saya snaps off a Canadian Destroyer, scoop slam by Saya and she goes up top but Utami hits her from behind and knocks her onto the apron. Saya comes back into the ring with a swandive hurricanrana, she picks up Utami and hits a Northern Lights Suplex Hold for two. Saya picks up Utami but Utami slides away and hits a release German. Utami gets Saya on her shoulders but Saya spins off and delivers a heel kick. Saya picks up Utami and drops her with a fisherman sitout slam, cover by Saya but it gets a two count. Saya picks up Utami and slams her in front of the corner, she goes to the top turnbuckle but Utami avoids the Phoenix Splash. Utami applies a sleeper but Saya drives her back into the corner to break it up, Saya charges Utami but Utami gets her on her shoulders and nails the Air Raid Crash. Utami gets the sleeper on but Saya gets a toe on the ropes for the break. Utami picks up Saya and gets her onto her shoulders, she spins Saya around and slams her to the mat for a two count. Utami picks up Saya and gets her up in a crucifix, but Saya hits a hurricanrana for a two count. Utami recovers first and picks up Saya, rocking her with a hard lariat. Another lariat by Utami, she picks up Saya and nails the Hijack Bomb (Spinning BT Bomb) for the three count! Utami Hayashishita wins and retains the championship.

While the last match was great, this one was even better. Even though Saya wasn’t an A+ challenger, she still brought everything she had and she has never looked better than she did here. Everything she hit was smooth as butter and her selling was top-notch, as she made everything Utami did look like death. She did so well in the match, I actually was buying into the nearfalls which is the biggest compliment I can give to a match that on paper had a clear winner. The dynamic between Utami’s power and Saya’s finesse created constantly entertaining back and forths, and I was on the edge of my seat the entire match as there was no telling what they were going to do. The ending was definitive as Utami threw Saya right through the ring, a fitting ending to an evenly contested match. These two are the future of Stardom if they stick with wrestling, easily the best match of Saya Kamitani’s career and a great showing from Utami as well.  Highly Recommended

(c) Giulia vs. Tam Nakano
Wonder of Stardom Championship

After circling each other they start tracking strikes, waistlock by Giulia and they trade holds. Tam gets Giulia to the mat but Giulia applies a headscissors, Tam slaps Giulia before returning to her feet. Tam goes for a cutter but Giulia applies a sleeper, snapmare by Tam and she kicks Giulia in the back. Giulia goes for a dropkick but Tam moves and applies a sleeper, Giulia tries to get out of it with a backdrop suplex but Tam lands on top of her. They trade elbows until Tam knocks Giulia to the mat, Giulia rolls out of the ring to recover while Tam waits for her in the ring. Giulia returns after a moment and picks up Tam, but Tam wiggles away. Release German by Giulia with Tam ending up on the apron, Giulia goes out to the apron as well and kicks Tam in the head. Giulia goes for a suplex but Tam blocks it, big boot by Giulia and she hits a cutter onto the apron. Tam falls out of the ring with Giulia going out after her, Giulia twists Tam in the guardrail and chokes her. Giulia stops choking her long enough to throw Tam into the railing, big boot by Giulia and she throws Tam into the rail again. Giulia gets a table and sets it up at ringside, she grabs Tam and pulls her up onto the table with her. Giulia gets Tam up and drops her onto the table with a piledriver, she returns to the ring while Tam slowly follows behind her. Giulia plants a sliding kick on Tam, cover by Giulia but it gets a two count.

Giulia gets on the top turnbuckle but Tam slowly gets up and joins her, Giulia grabs her head however and applies a guillotine choke while still on the turnbuckles. She lets go after a moment and Tam flops back to the mat, she goes for a missile dropkick but Tam avoids it. Tam goes for a knee but Giulia catches it, she gets Tam up in a Glorious position but Tam reverses it with Reverse DDT. Giulia recovers first and mounts Tam, slapping her in the face. Hard elbow by Giulia and she goes off the ropes, but Tam catches her with a heel kick. Giulia falls out of the ring, Tam goes up to the top turnbuckle and dives out onto her with a plancha. Tam slides Giulia back in, Tiger Suplex Hold by Tam but Giulia gets a shoulder up. Tam picks up Giulia but Giulia blocks her suplex attempt, getting to the ropes. Tam pulls her away and hits Giulia’s Glorious Driver, but it gets a two count. Tam drags up Giulia and kicks her repeatedly in the head, but Giulia ducks a kick and drops her with a backdrop suplex. Giulia picks up Tam but Tam pushes her away, headbutt by Giulia and she delivers a Glorious Driver for a two count cover. They both slowly get up and trade slaps, Tam connects with a series of slaps before knocking Giulia to the mat. Giulia gets back up and returns the favor, heel kick by Tam and she hits a second one. Giulia comes at Tam but Tam picks her up and drills Giulia with a Sitout Tam Screwdriver for a two count. Tam drags Giulia back up and nails the Twilight Dream, and she keeps Giulia down for the three count! Tam Nakano wins and is the new Wonder of Stardom Champion!

There is a lot to digest here. First, the emotion was certainly there and it just had a more urgent feeling than the last few matches. They weren’t really focused on trading bombs but having a real struggle, full of one-upmanship and emotion that was tangible. They still had a couple big moves but honestly they weren’t needed, the table spot was neat but added little to the match as that wasn’t what the match was about. Its harder to rate matches that are more about story and heart than smooth wrestling and big moments, but when considering all things this was a very captivating and memorable match. They didn’t fall into the ‘trading 2.999 nearfalls’ trap that many “epic” matches fall into, so each pinfall felt meaningful. Tam killed Giulia at the end, which was needed as a non-definitive ending just wouldn’t have worked to end this match and feud. A fitting way to end one of the best Joshi events in years, a very entertaining match that will be talked about in Stardom circles for years to come.  Highly Recommended

The post Stardom All-Star Dream Cinderella on 3/3/21 Review appeared first on Joshi City.

Event: CMLL/LADYS RING Ring Numero 2
Date: January 22nd, 2020
Location: Shin-Kiba 1st RING in Tokyo, Japan
Announced Attendance: 250

As any regular visitor to the site knows, sometimes I review really obscure events that may not be readily available to Western fans. This is one of those times, as I take a look at CMLL and LADYS RINGS Numero 2! This is a joint event between CMLL and the magazine LADYS RING, featuring wrestlers from CMLL in Mexico and Joshi wrestlers. Ice Ribbon has sent a couple participants for the fun, plus we have wrestlers from Actwres girl’Z, JTO, and various Freelancers as well. The main event sees Mina Shirakawa face off against Dalys la Caribena to crown the first CMLL-Japan Women’s champion! Here is the full card:

• Ayano Irie and Misa Matsui vs. Ayumi Hayashi and Mari
• Risa Sera vs. An Chamu
• Makoto and Mima Shimoda vs. Maika and Tae Honma
• La Jarochita vs. Tsukushi
• CMLL-Japan Women’s Championship: Dalys la Caribeña vs. Mina Shirakawa

As I am watching this event on DVD, all matches will be shown in full. Every wrestler on the card has a profile on Joshi City, you can click on their names above to go straight to it.

Ayano Irie and Misa Matsui vs. Ayumi Hayashi and Mari

Misa and Ayano try a few sneaky flash pins during the opening handshake but it doesn’t work, Ayano and Misa deliver dropkicks but Mari and Ayumi retain the advantage with armdrags. Ayano and Misa fall out of the ring, their opponents go to do a dive but do a pose instead. Things setting down with Ayano and Ayumi as the legal wrestlers, Ayumi tosses Ayano down by her mask and tags in Mari. Mari puts Ayano in the ropes, Ayumi returns and they double team her. Mari kicks Ayano in the back, cover by Mari but it gets two. Irish whip by Mari but Ayano catches her with a dropkick and makes the tag to Misa. Misa dropkicks Mari, Ayumi comes in but Misa dropkicks her as well. Misa hits a double crossbody but Mari catches her with a sidewalk slam. Mari wraps up Misa in a submission hold but Misa gets to the ropes for the break, Mari charges Misa in the corner but Misa moves out of the way. Mari kicks Misa back but Misa slides off her shoulders and hits a low crossbody for two. She tags Ayano, dropkick by Ayano and she puts Mari in a crab hold.

Mari quickly gets to the ropes for the break, snapmare by Ayano but Mari avoids her dropkick attempt. Mari puts Ayano in a Rocking Horse before dropping her back to the mat, Mari goes off the ropes but Misa kicks her from the apron. She comes in the ring and they drop Mari with a double dropkick, Ayano snapmares Mari and she eats another double dropkick. Ayano picks up Mari, scoop slam by Mari and she superkicks Ayano in the head for a two count cover. Mari tags Ayumi, snapmares my Ayumi but Ayano dropkicks her. Scoop slam by Ayano and she tags Misa, footstomp by Misa and she covers Ayumi for two. Dropkick by Misa, she goes off the ropes and hits a jumping crossbody for two. Misa and Ayumi trade elbows, dropkick by Ayumi and she rolls up Misa for a two count. They trade flash pins with neither having any luck, Ayano comes in and they both dropkick Ayumi in the corner. Misa picks up Ayumi and delivers the fisherman suplex hold, but Mari breaks it up. Mari stays in and helps out, Ayumi dropkicks Misa and she hits a back bodydrop. Misa hits a diving crossbody out of the corner, she goes up top  and hits a missile dropkick for two. Misa goes off the ropes but Mari runs in and superkicks her, Samoan Drop by Mari and Ayumi applies a jackknife hold for the three count! Ayumi Hayashi and Mari are the winners!

Skill-wise, these aren’t the best wrestlers but they gave it their all. Mari is pretty good, I always enjoy getting to watch her but the other three still have a ways to go and realistically at least a couple of them may have gone as far as they are going to go in wrestling. Still, they have the basics down for the most part and since they are familar with each other the action was pretty fluid. Seeing them in masks raised the fun of it all some, and they didn’t go too long. Good enough for an opener, but I don’t expect to see them moving up the card anytime soon.

Risa Sera vs. An Chamu

An Chamu gets Risa into the ropes to start but gives a clean break, while posing in the process. An Chamu rolls away from Risa and poses again, this time in the corner, and slides out onto the apron when Risa charges in. Elbow by An Chamu, she gets back in the ring and Risa drops down, but An Chamu jumps over her and does another cute pose. Risa gets tired of this and hits her from behind, Risa applies a crab hold before putting An Chamu in the Rocking Horse. Double kneedrop by Risa to An Chamu’s back, cover by Risa but it gets two. Giant Swing by Risa and she covers An Chamu for a two count once she drops her. Irish whip by Risa but An Chamu hits a spinning headscissors, she charges Risa but Risa moves and knocks her to the mat. Backbreaker by Risa and she throws An Chamu into the corner, An Chamu reverses the Irish whip and applies a headscissors in the corner. Double knee strike by An Chamu and she hits a few hip attacks for a two count cover. An Chamu sits down on Risa a few times but Risa finally avoids one, she goes for a slam but An Chamu blocks it. Irish whip by Risa but An Chamu blocks it and goes for a cross armbreaker. Risa keeps her from locking it in so An Chamu applies a cross kneelock instead before switching it to a modified STF. Risa gets into the ropes for the break, An Chamu goes to the top turnbuckle and hits a diving crossbody for two. An Chamu picks up Risa but Risa elbows her off and the two trade blows. Risa tosses An Chamu down and applies a high angle crab hold, she lets go after a moment and powerbombs An Chamu into the corner. Running double knee by Risa and she covers An Chamu for two. Risa gets An Chamu on her shoulders but An Chamu slides off and cradles her for two. An Chamu goes for a few schoolboys but each one gets a two count, An Chamu goes for an elbow but Risa blocks it and drops her with a Schwein. Risa applies the high angle crab hold and An Chamu quickly submits! Risa Sera is the winner.

This was probably a smidge better than I was expecting. An Chamu hasn’t been wrestling long but she has a lot of personality and connects well with the crowd. Risa wrestled a pretty basic match, which isn’t too surprising and it definitely felt like ‘just a midcard match’ at times. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but neither were really doing anything to elevate the match. Perfectly acceptable wrestling and not a bad match, but nothing particularly memorable about it either.

Makoto and Mima Shimoda vs. Maika and Tae Honma

Makoto and Maika start the match, they trade wristlocks and headlocks until Makoto locks on a hammerlock. Makoto goes back to the headlock, Maika Irish whips out of it and delivers an armdrag. Makoto armdrags her back and both wrestlers tag out, they lock knuckles but Shimoda pushes Tae’s hands to the mat and tries to stomp on them. Tae moves out of the way and hits an armdrag, she throws Shimoda to the mat a few more times and they trade leg trips before reaching a stalemate. Takedown by Shimoda and she puts Tae in a crab hold, she switches it to a stretch hold before hitting a neckbreaker. Shimoda picks up Tae and throws her back to the mat, stomps by Shimoda and she tags in Makoto. Makoto kicks Maika off the apron and throws Tae into the corner, putting her in the Tarantula. She lets go after a moment and stands on Tae’s back, she tags Shimoda back in and they both boot Tae. Cover by Shimoda, but it gets two. Snapmare by Shimoda and she elbows Tae in the head, she puts her in a modified seated armbar, she picks her up and tags in Makoto.

Makoto yanks on Tae’s arm and applies a Fujiwara Armbar, but Tae gets to the ropes to force the break. Scoop slam by Makoto and she covers Tae for two. Shimoda returns but Tae throws her into Makoto and hits a cross armbreaker takedown on Makoto, but Shimoda breaks it up. Maika runs in and dropkicks Shimoda while Tae gets the armbreaker back on Makoto, but Makoto gets to the ropes for the break. Double Irish whip to Makoto as she is double teamed, but Makoto avoids Tae’s lariat and boots Maika out of the ring. Double underhook suplex by Makoto to Tae, and she tags Shimoda. Makoto kicks at Tae repeatedly but Tae rolls her to the mat and delivers a dropkick. This gives her time to tag in Maika, Maika picks up Shimoda and the two trade blows. Elbow by Maika but Shimoda returns fire and hits a release German suplex. Heel drop by Shimoda, and she covers Maika for two. Shimoda picks up Maika and hits a side Russian leg sweep, she quickly puts her in a submission hold but Tae breaks it up. Shimoda elbows Tae but Maika catches her with a toss and tags in Tae. Shimoda throws Tae into the corner but Tae grabs her arm and applies a hanging armbar, she lets go and hits a missile dropkick for a two count.

Tae goes off the ropes but Makoto kicks her from the apron, Shimoda tags Makoto in and Makoto boots Tae in the corner. Makoto slams Tae to the mat, but Tae kicks out of the cover. Makoto picks up Tae but Tae rolls her up and delivers a dropkick. She tags in Maika, Maika tosses Makoto around the ring and applies a Fujiwara Armbar, but Makoto gets out of the hold. Maika applies a stretch hold but Makoto gets into the ropes for the break, Tae comes in but she is tripped from the floor. Spear by Makoto to Maika, but Tae breaks up the cover. Shimoda comes in to take care of Tae but Tae dropkicks her out of the ring, she goes to the apron and hits a crossbody down to the floor. Back in the ring,  Maika catches Makoto with a side slam and covers her for two. STO by Maika, but Makoto gets a shoulder up. Maika picks up Makoto but Makoto catches her with a boot to the face, she waits for Maika to get up and kicks her in the face again for a two count. Before she can do anything else, the bell expires as time has expired. The match is a Draw.

While I am generally against having a Draw in a random non-televised mid-card match, this was still entertaining. All four held their own and Maika continues to really improve less than a year into her career. Its easy to think of Makoto as just a pretty face since she does so many gravure videos, but she’s a solid wrestler that had no issues trading holds with her more technical opponents, and they kept the action going so things never slowed down. Both teams worked well together so it didn’t feel like they were just randomly created teams, as they were constantly helping each other out instead of just watching from the apron. A really solid match with four talented wrestlers, but I wish it had more of a conclusion.  Recommended

La Jarochita vs. Tsukushi

They lock-up to start, Jarochita pushes Tsukushi into the corner but she gives a clean break. They lock-up again but Jarochita pushes Tsukushi to the mat before taunting her, a third lock-up follows but this time Tsukushi gets Jarochita into the corner and gives a clean break as well. Jarochita asks for a Test of Strength but gets Tsukushi’s back instead, she flings Tsukushi to the mat and goes for a submission, but Tsukushi rolls out of it. Armdrag by Jarochita but Tsukushi returns the favor, as both wrestlers returned to their feet. Armdrag by Tsukushi and they trade leg trips, headscissors by Tsukushi and she dropkicks Jarochita. Jarochita kicks her against the ropes, snapmare by Jarochita and she kicks Tsukushi in the back. Jarochita bites on Tsukushi’s head before picking her up and throwing her out of the ring, she goes out after her and kicks Tsukushi into a row of chairs. Jarochita wraps Tsukushi around the ring post and pulls her into it. Jarochita slams Tsukushi into the apron before rolling her back into the ring, cover by Jarochita but it gets a two count. Jarochita throws Tsukushi into the corner and hits a lariat, running boot by Jarochita and she covers Tsukushi for a two count. Jarochita applies a STF but Tsukushi inches to the ropes to force the break. Irish whip by Jarochita but Tsukushi ducks the lariat attempt, she goes for a crossbody but Tsukushi catches her and hits a backbreaker. Running knee by Jarochita, and she covers Tsukushi for two. Irish whip by Jarochita but Tsukushi applies a tilt-a-whirl armbar, but Jarochita gets into the ropes.

Tsukushi charges Jarochita but Jarochita hits a dropkick, Jarochita puts Tsukushi on the top turnbuckle but Tsukushi hits a diving hurricanrana followed by the Murder Dropkick. Tsukushi takes Jarochita out of the ring, she goes to the top turnbuckle and dives out with a plancha suicida onto Jarochita. Tsukushi rolls Jarochita back in and covers her, but it only gets two. Tsukushi sets up Jarochita in the ropes and dropkicks her in the back, she goes up top but Jarochita recovers and joins her. Tsukushi gets on Jarochita’s back and applies a stretch submission while perched on the top turnbuckle, she lets go after a moment and they trade elbows back in the middle of the ring. Tsukushi charges Jarochita in the corner but Jarochita drop toeholds her into the turnbuckle and hits a running double knee to Tsukushi’s back. Jarochita picks up Tsukushi but Tsukushi sneaks in a cradle for two, she goes off the ropes but Jarochita delivers a lariat for her own two count. Gory Special by Jarochita, but Tsukushi barely kicks out of the cover. Jarochita goes off the ropes but Tsukushi does as well and hits a hurricanrana, but Jarochita rolls through it and the two trade flash pins. Tsukushi gets Jarochita’s back and cradles her with a jackknife, but Jarochita kicks out. Tsukushi runs to the ropes and delivers the Harukaze, but Jarochita kicks out again. Tsukushi goes up top and nails the diving footstomp, but Jarochita gets a shoulder up on the cover. The bell rings in the middle of the pin attempt anyway, as time has expired. The match is a Draw.

This is part of the issue with doing a Draw in the last match, as with this one it may have a storyline reason but it just feels a bit deflating to have a Draw in two straight matches. Anyway, this was fun. Tsukushi is only 22 years old but is so good (I mean, she is a ten year vet so I guess it makes some sense), all her moves are really smooth and they played off each other well. Jarochita was solid too, nothing looked awkward and she matched Tsukushi’s intensity. Too short and inconclusive to get excited about (it was just a ten minute time limit), but still a really good match that is worth a casual watch.  Mildly Recommended

Dalys la Caribeña vs. Mina Shirakawa
CMLL-Japan Women’s Championship, Two out of Three Falls

They jockey for position to start, armdrag by Mina and she puts Dalys in an armbar. Dalys quickly rolls out of it and tries to slam Mina to the mat, but Mina blocks it and remains on her feet. They lock knuckles with Mina applying a wristlock, but Dalys quickly reverses it and gets Mina to the mat. Dalys applies a stretch hold and then gets Mina into the Rocking Horse, but Mina reverses it and goes for the Romero Special, but Dalys gets into the ropes before she can apply the move. Mina goes off the ropes but Dalys dropkicks her, she throws Mina into the corner and kicks her in the leg. Mina fires back with her own dropkick and sits on Dalys in the corner, Irish whip by Mina and she gets Dalys down before applying a cross armbreaker. Dalys quickly submits, and Mina wins the first fall! Mina Shirakawa is up 1-0.

After a brief pause the second fall begins, armdrag by Mina but Dalys kicks her in the gut. Dalys puts Mina in the ropes and kicks her in the back, she bullies the referee a bit before snapmaring Mina and kicking her in the back. Dalys yells at the referee some more, she goes back to Mina and pulls her by the hair in the corner. Hair toss by Dalys, and she covers Mina for two. Mina sneaks in a few flash pins for two counts of her own, Irish whip by Mina but Dalys grabs her when she charges in and puts Mina on the top turnbuckle. Mina pushes Dalys away and dives off, but Dalys catches her and delivers a swinging side slam for the three count cover! They are now tied 1-1.

Time for the final fall. Mina and Dalys face off and trade blows, Irish whip by Mina and she hits an arm drag of sorts for a two count cover. Mina throws Dalys into the corner but Dalys flips out to the apron and pulls down Mina by the hair. Slingshot body press by Dalys, but Mina gets a hand on the ropes when Dalys goes for the cover. Dalys picks up Mina and goes to slam Mina, but Mina blocks it and rolls up Dalys for two. Dalys and Mina trade chops while on their knees, elbows by Mina and she knees Dalys in the stomach. Running double chops by Mina but Dalys rolls out of the ring to prevent a cover attempt. Mina kicks Dalys from the apron and jumps down with a seated senton, she slides Dalys back into the ring and hits a dropkick while Dalys is against the ropes. Cover by Mina, but Dalys kicks out. Mina picks up Dalys and delivers a spinning chop, she goes off the ropes and hits a Lou Thesz Press. Both wrestlers go for flash pins before Mina hits a dropkick, Irish whip by Mina to the corner but Dalys throws her out to the apron when she charges in. Mina knocks Dalys back and goes up top, but Dalys catches her when she goes for a crossbody. Dalys avoids Mina’s dropkick attempt before picking her up and delivers a sit-down powerbomb for the three count! Dalys la Caribeña wins and is the first CMLL-Japan Women’s Champion!

They tried but this just didn’t work on several levels. Their lack of chemistry was noticeable, as there were several awkward spots during the match. The match was too short for a three falls match, as there were constant breaks in the action but no real long run of wrestling to give them a chance to get rolling again. The finish was rough as well, as Mina went from in control to being defeated quickly, and the final move wasn’t hit smoothly. Add in Dalys’ randomly yelling at the referee for no reason and it just came across as a match not planned out very well. I appreciate the effort, but for a main event and title match, a disappointing way to end the show.

The post CMLL/LADYS RING Numero 2 on 1/22/20 Review appeared first on Joshi City.

Event: SEAdLINNNG New Leaf!
Date: March 10th, 2020
Location: Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan
Announced Attendance: 360

For a brief period in March, a few wrestling promotions in Japan held events in front of fans, and this was one of those shows. The crowd is small for a Korakuen Hall show but its still a nice break from watching events with empty stands. For the special occasion, SEAdLINNNG is putting on a big five match card, with a championship match and tag matches with some of the best Joshi Freelancers current available. Here is the full card:

• Honori Hana vs. Tsukasa Fujimoto
• Leon vs. Misa Matsui vs. Tsukushi
• Hiroyo Matsumoto and Syuri vs. Miyuki Takase and Ryo Mizunami
• ASUKA, Makoto, and Mima Shimoda vs. Kaho Kobayashi, Yoshiko, and Yuu
• SEAdLINNNG Beyond The Sea Championship: Arisa Nakajima vs. Rina Yamashita

As this aired on NicoPro, all matches will be shown in full. All wrestlers on the show have profiles on Joshi City, you can click on their names above to go straight to it. This show has the annoying commentary box in the corner that I hate, but I will get through it the best I can.

Honori Hana vs. Tsukasa Fujimoto

They go to shake hands to start, Honori goes for a headbutt but Tsukasa quickly ducks out of the way. Tsukasa starts on Honori’s arm but Honori reverses it a the two trade holds, they go off the ropes and Tsukasa takes down Honori with a side headlock but Honori gets out of it and the two return to their feet. Tsukasa boots Honori and hits a snapmare before kicking her in the back, Tsukasa applies a sleeper before switching it into a Camel Clutch. She lets go after a moment and stomps on Honori’s back, she tosses down Honori by the hair before ramming her into the corner a couple times. Honori finally has enough and elbows Tsukasa in the chest, but Tsukasa returns fire. Tsukasa charges Honori in the corner but Honori moves and schoolboys Tsukasa for two. Dropkicks by Honori, and she covers Tsukasa for two. Honori goes for a scoop slam but Tsukasa blocks it and puts Honori in an Octopus Hold. Honori gets into the ropes for the break but Tsukasa ties her up in the ropes and pulls on her nose. Dropkick to the back by Tsukasa, and she covers Honori for two.

Tsukasa throws Honori into the corner and dropkicks her in the chest, she charges Honori but Honori levels her with a shoulderblock. Honori pushes Tsukasa into the corner but Tsukasa avoids the headbutt, elbows by Honori but Tsukasa elbows her back as they trade shots. Tsukasa goes off the ropes but Honori dropkicks her, cover by Honori but it gets two. They trade waistlocks until Tsukasa rolls up Honori for two, Tsukasa quickly puts Honori in a crab hold but Honori makes it to the ropes for the break. Tsukasa stomps on Honori and drills her with a dropkick, she goes up top but Honori avoids the missile dropkick and goes for a few flash pins for two counts. Headbutt by Honori and she hits a scoop slam, cover by Honori but it gets two. Honori picks up Tsukasa and goes off the ropes, but Tsukasa connects with a dropkick. Tsukasa kicks Honori repeatedly in the back before hitting a PK, but Honori gets a shoulder up on the corner. Tsukasa goes up top and hits a missile dropkick, but again her cover gets two. Tsukasa puts Honori in the Gokuraku Hold, and Honori has to submit! Tsukasa Fujimoto is the winner.

Pretty basic as one would assume but decent enough. Honori got in more offense than I expected, she has more size than the average Joshi wrestler so that is likely why could hang better with Tsukasa even with her low experience. Building up to the headbutt spot was a unique aspect of a rookie match and they seem to be already putting that over as her big move, since headbutts are still seen as a bit risky I am curious to see if she sticks with that. I probably would have liked it better if Tsukasa has taken it to her a bit more, but not a bad opener.

Leon vs. Misa Matsui vs. Tsukushi

Tsukushi and Taiyo are goofing around in the corner as the match starts, Leon goes over to get them to stop and Misa dropkicks her from behind. Leon is briefly double teamed but it doesn’t last one, they all go for lariats but none are able to connect. Tsukushi dropkicks both of her opponents but Misa kicks her and applies a side headlock. Hard shoulderblock by Misa but Tsukushi kips up and hits an armdrag. She goes off the ropes and tries for the cover, but Misa kicks out. Tsukushi applies a submission but Leon breaks it up, Leon picks up Tsukushi but Tsukushi gets away. Tilt-a-whirl backbreaker by Leon but schoolboys her for two, Leon throws Tsukushi into the corner and then does the same with Misa. Leon charges in, Misa moves but Tsukushi eats the shoulder tackle. Leon and Misa Irish whip Tsukushi and Leon helps Misa boot her before they both take turns running over Tsukushi. Leon applies a crab hold to Tsukushi while Misa puts her in a chinlock, but Taiyo breaks it up. This makes Leon made and she elbows Taiyo, Irish whip by Leon but Taiyo applies the Momo Latch. Tsukushi runs in and dropkicks Taiyo, Misa goes for a cover on Leon but Leon reverses it into a kneelock. Tsukushi puts Leon in a headscissors at the same time while Taiyo is too hurt to do anything, but Misa makes it to the ropes to get the break.

Tsukushi and Leon trade elbow, Leon gets Tsukushi up but Tsukushi gets away with a side headlock takedown (she takes out Taiyo at the same time with a headscissors), Tsukushi dropkicks Leon while she is against the ropes before going up top and hitting a missile dropkick. Tsukushi applies a figure four leglock but Misa goes up top and debates who to dive down onto to. She eventually decides on hitting a diving footstomp onto Leon, they both stomp on Leon before squaring off against each other. Dropkicks by Misa, she goes off the ropes and hits a low crossbody. She goes off the ropes a few times and covers Tsukushi, but it gets a two count. Misa picks up Tsukushi but Tsukushi sneaks in an inside cradle for two. Misa applies a pin of her own but Leon breaks it up, Irish whip by ll to Misa but Misa puts Leon in an Octopus Hold. Tsukushi comes over and schoolboys both of them, but it only gets two. Leon goes for a suplex but Misa schoolboys her while she is in the middle of the move, Leon elbows Misa and hits a tilt-a-whirl slam on Tsukushi. Leon hits a spear on both opponents, she goes up top but Taiyo armdrags her back down to the mat. Dropkick by Taiyo to Leon, Misa and Tsukushi both go off the ropes but Tsukushi avoids Misa’s dropkick and applies La Magistral for the three count! Tsukushi is the winner! She jumps into Taiyo’s arms after the match so possible this was a rigged result.

Natsuki Taiyo has gotten more and more out of control in these matches, at some point she may as well just become an actual participant. This was what you’d expect, some people really enjoy these high speed matches and if you fall in that category you’ll probably enjoy this one too. Tsukushi is pretty great so anytime she is in a match I won’t complain too loudly, but there really isn’t a lot of substance to these matches. Perfectly fine for what it is and where it is on the card, just mindless fun.

Hiroyo Matsumoto and Syuri vs. Miyuki Takase and Ryo Mizunami

Syuri tries to prove to Hiroyo that she is committed to their team by stomping on a MAX VOLTAGE shirt after dancing around with them, but Hiroyo isn’t convinced as Miyuki and Ryo both attack Syuri. Syuri gets stomped down while Hiroyo watches, double Irish whip to Syuri and she gets hit with a double shoulderblock. Syuri is chopped into the corner by Miyuki and Ryo but take a break to dance some before Ryo hits a lariat. Ryo tags in Miyuki, lariat by Miyuki to Syuri and Ryo hits a scoop slam. Leg drop by Miyuki and she covers Syuri for two. Miyuki picks up Syuri but Syuri kicks her, snapmare by Syuri and she kicks Miyuki in the back. Syuri tries to tag in Hiroyo and Hiroyo relents, shoulderblock by Hiroyo to Miyuki and she chops her in the chest. Hiroyo goes off the ropes, Ryo tries to help but Miyuki hits her by accident. Miyuki then gets Hiroyo up on her shoulders and tosses her out of the ring down onto Ryo on the floor. Syuri comes over too and helps Hiroyo beat up MAX VOLTAGE, Hiroyo rolls Miyuki back in the ring and covers her for two. Hiroyo tags in Syuri, Syuri stomps down Miyuki in the corner, she brings Miyuki back to the middle of the ring and puts her in a stretch hold. Miyuki gets to the ropes so Syuri tags in Hiroyo, knee by Hiroyo to Miyuki and she covers her for two, Syuri backs back in and she jumps on Hiroyo’s back before Hiroyo hits a double kneedrop, cover by Hiroyo but it gets two.

Crab hold by Hiroyo but Miyuki crawls to the corner and makes it for the break. Hiroyo picks up Miyuki and hits a vertical suplex, she tags in Syuri and Syuri takes Miyuki to the mat. Syuri picks up Miyuki and Irish whips her, Miyuki goes for a dropkick but Syuri swats it aside. Miyuki grabs Syuri’s leg and elbows her, more elbows by Miyuki but Syuri knees her in the midsection. Syuri knees Miyuki into the corner, Irish whip by Syuri but Miyuki rebounds out of the corner with a missile dropkick. This gives her time to tag in Ryo, shoulderblock by Ryo to Syuri and she plans her with a powerslam. She goes off the ropes but Syuri delivers a knee, kicks by Syuri and she covers Ryo for two. Syuri tags Hiroyo, lariat by Hiroyo to Ryo but Ryo lariats her back. Vertical suplex by Hiroyo, she picks up Ryo but Ryo elbows her and they trade shots. Ryo finally knocks Hiroyo over with a spear, cover by Ryo but it gets a two count. She tags in Miyuki, dropkick by Miyuki and she chops Hiroyo into the corner. Irish whip by Miyuki and she hits a lariat in the corner, but Hiroyo knocks her back. Elbows by Miyuki and she delivers a tilt-a-whirl DDT for two. Miyuki tries to go off the ropes but Hiroyo grabs her, Miyuki frees herself but Hiroyo drops her with a backdrop suplex. Hiroyo tags Syuri, Syuri kicks Miyuki into the corner and hits a jumping knee, double underhook suplex by Syuri and she covers Miyuki for two. Syuri applies a crab hold with Hiroyo’s protection, but Ryo gets free and breaks up the hold. Hiroyo gets back to Ryo and puts her in a stretch hold while Syuri stays on Miyuki’s leg, but Ryo breaks free and clubs Syuri.

Double Irish whip to Ryo but Ryo hits a double spear, Miyuki picks up Syuri and both she and Ryo hit lariats. Spear by Ryo to Syuri, Miyuki picks her up and hits a vertical suplex, but Hiroyo breaks up the cover. Miyuki gets on the second turnbuckle and hits a diving leg drop, but Syuri barely kicks out of the cover. Miyuki drags Syuri to her feet and hits another lariat, but Syuri ducks the next one and delivers a head kick. Both wrestlers crawl to their corners and tag out, hard lariat by Ryo and she covers Hiroyo for two. Ryo grabs Hiroyo but Hiroyo elbows her off, they trade lariat attempts but neither wrestler goes down. The struggle continues until Hiroyo finally knocks Ryo to the mat, cover by Hiroyo but it gets two. Hiroyo picks up Ryo and lariats her again, she goes for a powerbomb bur Ryo blocks it and Miyuki hits a missile dropkick. Hiroyo drops them both with a backdrop suplex, Syuri runs in and she knees Ryo in the corner. Hiroyo hits a reverse double kneedrop, running knee by Syuri and Hiroyo follows with a lariat, but Ryo barely kicks out of the cover. Hiroyo picks up Ryo and goes for the backdrop suplex, but Ryo blocks it. Hard elbow by Hiroyo but Ryo blocks it again, Syuri comes in but Ryo catches her with a Uranage. She hits one on Hiroyo as well, cover by Ryo but it gets two. Ryo goes off the ropes but Hiroyo catches her with a back elbow, they get up and both hit a lariat on the other, which sends both crashing to the mat. While they are lying there, the bell rings as time has expired. The match is a Draw.

Even without a winner, this was a quality match. They kept it simple which worked well – no outside the ring brawling, very little in the way of submission holds, they just took turns hitting each other for twenty minutes. For a non-title midcard tag match, that’s all that was needed here and they executed it. Miyuki can more than hold her own with these three wrestlers and it shows how much and how quickly she has grown, she’s certainly ready to break out and get higher on the Joshi Wrestler pecking order. Very few wrestlers hit as hard as Syuri, Hiroyo, and Ryo and none mind getting hit either, so I am sure that all were sore the next day. The commentary box in the corner of the screen will always be annoying, but still an entertaining match with hard hitting action.  Recommended

ASUKA, Makoto, and Mima Shimoda vs. Kaho Kobayashi, Yoshiko, and Yuu

Yuu and Shimoda start the match, Yuu pushes Shimoda into the ropes and goes for a lariat, but Shimoda ducks it. Yuu knocks her over with a shoulderblock anyway, they trade chops until Yuu hits another lariat, hard shoulderblock by Yuu and she tags in Kaho. Shimoda tags ASUKA, ASUKA and Kaho go into a fast exchange as Kaho goes for a spinning headscissors, but ASUKA lands on her feet. Yoshiko tags herself in but ASUKA bails out of the ring, Makoto comes in as the legal wrestler but Yoshiko knocks her down with a hard shoulderblock. Yoshiko tosses down Makoto by her hair and hits some bootscrapes followed by a running boot. Yoshiko goes for another one but ASUKA trips her from the floor, she gets in the ring with Shimoda and they all boot Yoshiko in the face. Makoto takes control of the match before tagging in Shimoda, Shimoda throws Yoshiko to the mat and pulls back on her hair. Shimoda steps on Yoshiko’s hands and tags in ASUKA, ASUKA goes up top and hits an ax handle onto Yoshiko’s arm. Snapmare by ASUKA and she delivers a sliding kick to Yoshiko’s face, picking up a two count cover. ASUKA and Yoshiko trade strikes, ASUKA throws Yoshiko into the corner but Yoshiko rebounds out with a lariat and makes the tag to Yuu.

Yuu clears the ring with shoulderblocks, Makoto and Shimoda try to help but Kaho gets in too and Las Fresa de Egoistas are all attacked in the corner. Yuu stays in and covers ASUKA, but it gets a two count. Irish whip by Yuu and she hits a sidewalk slam, running senton by Yuu and she covers ASUKA for two. Yuu chops ASUKA repeatedly in the chest but ASUKA hits a jumping kick and makes the tag to Makoto. Makoto boots Yuu in the corner and goes for a suplex, but Yuu drives her back into the corner. Diving crossbody by Makoto and she hits a double kneedrop for a two count. Yuu dropkicks Makoto back into the corner and nails the Cannonball, cover by Yuu but Makoto gets a shoulder up. Yuu tags in Kaho, Kaho picks up Makoto and trips her before hitting a dropkick. Kaho puts Makoto in an arm submission hold while her team protects her, but Makoto gets a foot on the ropes for the break. Irish whip by Kaho but Makoto reverses it and hits a double underhook suplex. Cartwheel kneedrop by Makoto, and she covers Kaho for two. Makoto tags Shimoda, they throw Kaho into the corner but Kaho gets away and armdrags Shimoda. Dropkick by Kaho to Makoto, she goes back to Shimoda but Shimoda traps her for a two count cover. Kaho kicks Shimoda in the leg and delivers a DDT, she picks up Shimoda but Shimoda blocks the fisherman suplex attempt and boots her. Yuu runs in and lariats Shimoda, dropkick by Kaho and she hits the fisherman suplex hold for a two count. Kaho tags in Yoshiko, boot by Yoshiko and she hits a senton on Shimoda for two. Yoshiko picks up Shimoda but Shimoda wiggles away, Yoshiko goes for a stretch hold but ASUKA comes in and breaks it up.

Yoshiko throws Shimoda into the corner but ASUKA cuts her off with a kick and Shimoda delivers a missile dropkick. Shimoda tags ASUKA, running boot by ASUKA and she hits a dropkick. Yoshiko goes after ASUKA but ASUKA punches her, moonsault off the ropes by ASUKA and her teammates come in so they can all hit running strikes in the corner. German suplex by ASUKA to Yoshiko, and she covers her for two. ASUKA picks up Yoshiko and goes for the chokeslam, but Yoshiko blocks it and they trade elbows. ASUKA goes off the ropes but Yuu runs in and tosses her, Yoshiko slams ASUKA to the mat but ASUKA kicks out of the cover. Yoshiko goes to the second turnbuckle and hits the diving senton, but the cover gets broken up. Shimoda and Makoto stay in but Yoshiko lariats both of them, lariat by Yoshiko to ASUKA and she covers her for two. Senton by Yoshiko, but again ASUKA kicks out of the pin attempt. Yoshiko goes for another lariat but ASUKA ducks it, superkick by ASUKA and she nails a spinning heel kick. Chokeslam by ASUKA in front of the corner, she goes up top but Yoshiko avoids the moonsault. Yoshiko goes for a lariat but ASUKA ducks it, ASUKA goes for the Asuka Fantasy but Yoshiko cuts it back into a cover and gets the three count! Yoshiko, Kaho Kobayashi, and Yuu are the winners.

A solid tag team match, with lots of teamwork from both sides so it didn’t feel like two random teams thrown together. This was really just done to further the ASUKA/Yoshiko feud and it was effective in that regard, with the two having several entertaining exchanges throughout the match. Its easy for wrestlers to get lost in six wrestler tags that don’t get a lot of time, as Yuu and Shimoda didn’t leave a strong impression, but neither held the match back either. There just wasn’t enough time for everyone since Yoshiko and Asuka were the focus. Fast paced and well worked, an entertaining match but ultimately nothing overly memorable.  Mildly Recommended

(c) Arisa Nakajima vs. Rina Yamashita
SEAdLINNNG Beyond the SEA Singles Championship

Rina attacks Arisa before the match starts while she still has her robe on, Rina elbows Arisa against the ropes but Arisa reverses an Irish whip and hits a snap dragon suplex. She finally gets her robe off and boots Rina while she is against the ropes. Arisa gets a bottle of water but Rina takes it from her and pours the water over Arisa’s head before spitting water in her face. Rina boots Arisa and elbows her in the corner, lariats by Rina and she covers Arisa with her boot for a one count. Scorpion Deathlock by Rina but Arisa makes it to the ropes for the break, Rina goes off the ropes and knees Arisa in the back. Cover by Rina, but it gets a two count. Rina kicks Arisa but Arisa fight back, scoop slam by Rina and she walks over Arisa. Rina goes for a backdrop suplex but Arisa lands on her feet and hits the Sling Blade. Arisa kicks Rina and boots her in the head, she goes to the top turnbuckle and hits a missile dropkick. She goes up top again and hits another missile dropkick, German suplex hold by Arisa and she gets a two count. Arisa goes up top but Rina recovers and joins her, Arisa jumps off the turnbuckle however to the floor, snapping Rina’s neck on the ropes in the process. Arisa goes back up top and delivers a diving footstomp, cover by Arisa but it gets two. Arisa kicks Rina around the ring and knees her against the ropes, she picks up Rina but Rina fires off a strike combination. Rina picks up Arisa and elbows her, but Arisa elbows her back and they trade blows.

After a minute they both end up sending the other to the mat, and the referee begins the ten count. Both make the count and go back to trading blows, with Rina switching to lariats now and Arisa hitting boots. Arisa wins the battle and gets on the top turnbuckle, but Rina grabs her from behind and throws her into the turnbuckles. Rina waits for Arisa to get up but Arisa kicks away her lariat attempt, Rina nails one anyway but Arisa blocks the sliding lariat attempt. Arisa goes off the ropes but Rina hits another lariat, she follows with a short-range lariat but her cover gets two. Rina picks up Arisa but Arisa slides away from the Splash Mountain attempt and hits a trapped German suplex for two. Arisa kicks Rina in the chest and delivers a dragon suplex hold, but Rina barely gets a shoulder up. Arisa positions Rina and goes up top, moonsault by Arisa but it gets two. Arisa drags Rina to her feet, she traps her leg but Rina elbows out of the suplex attempt. Arisa goes for a hurricanrana but Rina reverses it with a powerbomb, sliding lariat by Rina but Arisa kicks out of the cover. Rina waits for Arisa to get up and delivers a lariat, but again Arisa kicks out. Rina picks up Arisa and goes for Splash Mountain, but Arisa reverses it into a cradle for two. Arisa quickly picks up Rina, traps her leg and delivers a German suplex hold for the three count pinfall! Arisa Nakajima wins and retains the championship.

I think the real impact of matches like these is lost some due to the one camera set up and the NicoPro box, but its still a really damn good match. These two just beat the hell out of each other, it is just hard to really appreciate it with the circumstances, which isn’t their fault of course but diminishes some of the enjoyment. The story was simple but well told, with Rina using lariats to set up the Splash Mountain that she was never able to hit, while Arisa finally wore down Rina enough to get the win with her version of the German suplex. With a different presentation this may have been one of the best Joshi matches of the year, but as it is, its still an enjoyable match that is worth your time.  Recommended

The post SEAdLINNNG New Leaf! on 3/10/20 Review appeared first on Joshi City.

Anyone that has followed me on Twitter for any length of time may remember that I have talked about this DVD for awhile. The only place that sells it is Diana’s official shop, but its 6,000 yen and they don’t ship to the US so it takes extra money to get it ordered/delivered. Right when I was about to pull the trigger on getting it last fall, their shop was down for about four months, but luckily it came back so I finally purchased it. Diana very rarely releases their shows and hasn’t had one of their own produced full events air on TV since 2011. This event was only available on DVD and showcases one of the biggest events in their history. In the main event we get a cage match, which is the most recent cage match in Joshi as there hasn’t been one since. Here is the full card:

• Lylah Lodge vs. Rabbit Miyu
• Crazy Mary Dobson vs. Eiger
• Arisa Nakajima, Yuiga, and Hamuko Hoshi vs. Cherry, Jessica James, and Raideen Hagane
• Dump Matsumoto and Keiko Aono vs. Megumi Yabushita and KAZUKI
• Kaoru Ito, Command Bolshoi, and Meiko Satomura vs. Sareee, Kagetsu, and Kaho Kobayashi
• Jaguar Yokota and Manami Toyota vs. Mima Shimoda and Takako Inoue
• Cage Death Match: Kyoko Inoue and Tomoko Watanabe vs. Yumiko Hotta and Mask de Sun

All the wrestlers on the show have a profile on the website, you can click on their name to go straight to it. Since we are watching this on DVD, all matches are shown in full.

Lylah Lodge vs. Rabbit Miyu

Lylah trash talks Miyu so Miyu pushes her, but Lylah pushes Miyu down in the corner. Miyu avoids Lylah and dropkicks her in the knee, another dropkick by Miyu but Lylah blocks the scoop slam. Lylah hits a slam of her own, another one by Lylah and she covers Miyu for two. Miyu bridges out of the pin and boots Lylah repeatedly in the head, she applies a waistlock but Lylah turns out of it. Elbows by Miyu and she hits a DDT, running boot by Miyu and she goes up top, hitting a missile dropkick. She goes up top again and goes for another one, but Lylah absorbs the blow. Miyu goes off the ropes but Lylah hits a hard shoulderblock, another one by Lylah and she covers Miyu for a two count. Leg drop by Lylah and she hits a running hip attack in the corner, she hits a second one but Miyu gets out of the corner and they trade elbows. Scoop slam by Lylah and she connects with the running senton, bur Miyu kicks out of the cover. Lylah picks up Miyu and drops her with a running powerslam, she goes up top to the second turnbuckle and nails the diving senton for the three count! Lylah Lodge is the winner.

So I wasn’t completely right about the match layout. They did do a lot of big vs. little spots but Miyu had a lot of offense in this match, it was just about 50/50. I was expecting her just to get a few hope spots but then lose in convincing fashion. Too short to be offensive but nothing memorable to kick off the show.

Crazy Mary Dobson vs. Eiger

Eiger starts fast as she tries to catch Mary, but Mary generally is able to avoid all her charges. Eiger gets her back however, Mary spins around but Eiger screams and scares Mary out of the ring to the floor. Eiger goes out after her and plays with the crowd, they return to the ring but Mary has her Jason Mask and uses it to scare Eiger. She gets a staple gun but Eiger takes it from her, but the referee gets it before she gets to use it. Mary grabs Eiger from behind and hits a release German, Irish whip by Mary and she elbows Eiger in the chest. Eiger gets back in control and twists on Mary’s hair, Irish whip by Eiger but Mary flips herself out to the apron and hits a diving crossbody from the top for two. Knee by Mary, she argues with the referee for a bit which gives Eiger time to recover. Kneedrop by Eiger, she waits for Mary to get up but Mary kicks her in the head when she charges in. Eiger rolls out of the ring but Mary goes out after her and throws her into the ring post. Back in the ring, Eiger headbutts Mary and goes up top, but Mary uppercuts her before she can jump off. Eiger starts acting freaky so Mary gets her mask and staple gun to even the odds. Eiger kicks the referee and throws him out of the ring, she spits dust at Mary and kicks her down in the corner. She gets the staple gun and staples Mary’s face, Mary bails out of the ring but Eiger follows her out and throws her around in the crowd. They finally return to the ring, Eiger gets Mary by the throat and hits a chokeslam, but Mary kicks out of the cover. Eiger gets on the second turnbuckle but Mary elbows her and joins her, hitting a Frankensteiner. Mary grabs Eiger and hits a headbutt, powerslam by Mary and she goes for a moonsault, but Eiger moves out of the way. Eiger grabs Mary but Mary applies a schoolboy for the three count! Crazy Mary Dobson wins!

I wouldn’t say that long Eiger matches is my thing, but it was fun to see Mary Dobson against someone equally crazy. They played it pretty well and there were fun spots throughout the match, I wouldn’t have minded a few less minutes but I can’t say it ever was boring as they did their best to keep it interesting. A change of pace is rarely a bad thing, I wouldn’t want a card full of bizarre comedy matches but no complaints here since Eiger in particular is good at what she does.  Mildly Recommended

Arisa Nakajima, Yuiga, and Hamuko Hoshi vs. Cherry, Jessica James, and Raideen Hagane

Raideen and Yuiga start off, hard shoulderblock by Hamuko and she tags  in Jessica. Jessica and Raideen trade holds until they end up on the mat, Raideen tags in Arisa and they double team Jessica in the corner. Dropkick by Arisa and she hits a side slam before covering lll for a two count. Arisa tags in Hamuko, belly bump by Hamuko to Jessica and she puts Jessica in a crab hold. Jessica gets to the ropes for the break, Hamuko tags in Yuiga and she suplexes Jessica. Jessica gets triple teamed in the ropes, kicks by Yuiga and she knees Jessica in the face. Hamuko returns but Jessica hits her with a hurricanrana and dropkick, giving her time to tag in Raideen. Hard shoulderblocks by Raideen to everyone, she picks up Hamuko and puts her in a backbreaker. Raideen goes up top but Arisa grabs her from the apron, giving Hamuko time to recover and toss Raideen to the mat. Hamuko pushes Raideen to the mat and nails a running belly bump, but Raideen kicks out of the cover. Hamuko tags in Arisa, kicks to the face by Arisa but Arisa gets a chair and kicks it into Raideen. Hamuko and Yuiga both come in and help Arisa dropkick a chair into Raideen’s head, cover by Arisa but it gets a two count.

Raideen drives Arisa back into the corner and hits a series of lariats, cover by Raideen but it gets two. Raideen tags in Cherry, lariat by Cherry and she hits a double wrist clutch armsault for a two count. Arisa elbows Cherry back and hits a release German, Cutie Special by Arisa and she makes the tag to Hamuko. Hamuko gets Cherry up but Cherry wiggles away, palm strikes by Hamuko and she hits a body avalanche. Cutter by Hamuko, and she covers Cherry for two. Hamuko goes up top but Cherry avoids her diving body press, cradle by Cherry but the cover is broken up. Back chop by Cherry but Hamuko roars back with a lariat, and she makes the tag to Yuiga while Jessica is tagged in as well. Jessica dropkicks Yuiga in the knee and hits a hurricanrana, kick to the head by Jessica and she covers Yuiga for two. Yuiga kicks Jessica in the head and hits a cyclone suplex, Hamuko comes in and she hits a lariat onto Jessica. Big boot by Arisa, Yuiga grabs Jessica and she delivers a German suplex hold for two. Raideen and Cherry end up in the ring with everyone else, moonsault by Raideen to Yuiga and Cherry nails the Cherry Bomb. Jessica then goes up top and hits a moonsault, cover by Jessica and she gets the three count! Cherry, Jessica James, and Raideen Hagane are the winners.

This is one of those matches that its hard to even have a strong opinion on. It was a perfectly fine and watchable midcard match, everyone got a bit of a chance to shine and everyone looked good, aside from a few small miscues from Jessica James. A good shortish tag match but nothing too special.

Dump Matsumoto and Keiko Aono vs. Megumi Yabushita and KAZUKI

Dump and Megumi kick things off, Dump bumps Megumi to the mat and the action spills out onto the floor with Team Dump dominating. They return into the ring after a moment, Megumi tries to elbow Dump but Dump elbows her back and flings Megumi by the hair. Keiko returns just to give Dump assistance that she didn’t need, Keiko stays in as legal and gets a chain, choking Megumi with it. Dump comes in with a kendo stick to jab Megumi with it, KAZUKI things of coming in to help but Dump hits her with the stick to knock her back to the floor. Scoop slam by Keiko to Megumi and she chokes her, Irish whip by Dump and she lariats Megumi for a two count. Dump returns, Megumi avoids her kendo stick accounts and she applies a hanging armbar over the top rope. Megumi goes up top but Dump avoids her dive, German suplex by Dump and she covers Megumi for two. Dump tags in Keiko, but Megumi cradles her and hits a double knee off the ropes. That gives her time to tag in KAZUKI, she tags in too as they double team Keiko. KAZUKI putts Keiko in the corner and hits a reverse double knee, cover by KAZUKI but Dump hits her with the kendo stick. Keiko comes back with a face crusher and tags in Dump, who never left the ring in the first place, so Keiko keeps kicking KAZUKI. Keiko covers KAZUKI even though Dump is still standing there, KAZUKI tags Megumi and Megumi hits a hip toss onto Keiko.

Megumi slams Keiko near the corner, she charges Dump but Dump moves and Megumi falls out of the ring. They end up on the floor again as Dump tosses Megumi onto a table and into some chairs, Keiko and Megumi return to the ring and Keiko hits a tornado DDT. Kick to the head by Keiko but Megumi catches her next kick attempt, Dump comes in and hits her with a kendo stick however and Keiko kicks Megumi in the chest. Heel drop by Keiko but Megumi puts her in a cross armbreaker, that gets broken up pretty quickly as Dump mostly roams the ring hitting random people with kendo sticks. Megumi gets away and tags KAZUKI, cutter by KAZUKI to Keiko but the referee is too busy with Dump to make the count. KAZUKI picks up Keiko again and hits a backdrop suplex, diving body press by Megumi and KAZUKI follows up with a diving kneedrop for two. Megumi and KAZUKI go to Dump and try to suplex her but she blocks it and hits a double lariat. Shining Wizard by Keiko to KAZUKI, but Megumi breaks up her cover. Dump starts whacking people with the kendo stick again, high kick by Keiko to KAZUKI and she delivers the Falcon Arrow for the three count! Dump Matsumoto and Keiko Aono win!

I’m not sure if Dump took any bumps in this match, so a pretty normal Dump match. Look, I don’t pretend these are impressive matches in the technical sense, particularly considering Dump wouldn’t even go out to the apron, but these types of matches are still a guilty pleasure since they are so random. Like the Eiger match, I wouldn’t watch an event full of matches like this but everyone was trying hard (Dump in her own special way) and I enjoyed it despite its flaws.  Mildly Recommended

Kaoru Ito, Command Bolshoi, and Meiko Satomura vs. Sareee, Kagetsu, and Kaho Kobayashi

Sareee and Bolshoi start, but Kaho quickly runs in to help along with Kagetsu and they triple team Bolshoi in the corner. Ito and Meiko even the odds as the veterans stack their opponents in the corner and Ito hits a running body avalanche. Bolshoi grabs Sareee’s wrist and she walks the ropes, armdrag by Bolshoi and she chokes Sareee with her boot. Meiko comes in and Sareee eats a double shoulderblock, cover by Bolshoi but Sareee bridges out of it and tags in Kaho. Bolshoi elbows Kaho in the head and tags in Ito, Ito lariats Kaho in the corner and she puts Kaho in a crab hold. Camel clutch by Ito but Kaho avoids her charge in the corner and she hits a series of dropkicks. Elbows by Kaho but Ito doesn’t go down, Kaho finally dropkicks Ito to the mat and she covers Ito for two. Lariat by Ito and she tags in Bolshoi, Bolshoi picks up Kaho and she kicks her to the mat. Kagetsu grabs Bolshoi from the apron to help, elbows by Kaho and she dropkicks Bolshoi. Sareee runs in and dropkicks Bolshoi, sunset flip by Kaho to Bolshoi and she tags in Kagetsu. Bolshoi grabs Kagetsu to the ground and puts her in an armbar, but Kagetsu muscles out of it and spins around Bolshoi in an airplane spin. Running elbows by Kagetsu in the corner but Bolshoi hits a palm strike, Tiger Feint Kick by Bolshoi and she hits a running palm strike for a two count. Meiko comes in and kicks Kagetsu in the chest, Sareee and Kaho both come in and dropkick Meiko but Meiko fights them all off, kick to the head by Meiko to Kagetsu and she slams Sareee on top of Kagetsu. Bolshoi then hits a footstomp on the pair, Meiko stacks Kaho on top of both Kagetsu and Sareee and Ito follows with a running footstomp of her own. Meiko knees Kagetsu and hits a suplex, cover by Meiko but it gets two. Meiko goes up top but Kagetsu quickly joins her and hits a superplex. Kagetsu tags in Sareee, dropkicks by Sareee to Meiko and she cradles Meiko for a two count.

Sareee goes off the ropes but Meiko kicks her in the head, cartwheel kneedrop by Meiko and she tags in Ito. Footstomp and a senton by Ito, she picks up Sareee and drops her with a uranage. Kaho and Kagetsu run in and dropkick Ito, but Ito lariats both of them. Everyone but Ito goes outside the ring, emphatic baseball slide by Ito to her opponents and Sareee is slid back into the ring. Bolshoi and Meiko get in the ring too but they are tripped from the floor by Kaho and Kagetsu, the young rising stars team all hit dropkicks and go up top, with both Kaho and Kagetsu hitting missile dropkicks. Sareee follows with a missile dropkick onto Ito, then she and Kaho go to opposite corners while Kagetsu goes on the apron and all three hit simultaneous missile dropkicks onto Ito. Sareee picks up Ito but Ito blocks the suplex attempt, she tries again but still can’t get her over. Ito drives Sareee back into the corner Kaho comes off the top with a diving Somato. Swandive missile dropkick by Kagetsu and Sareee finally gets Ito over with the German suplex, but Bolshoi breaks up the cover. Sareee picks up Ito and tries again but Bolshoi grabs her from behind, Meiko kicks Sareee in the head and Bolshoi delivers her own German suplex. Sit-down powerbomb by Ito to Sareee, but the cover gets broken up. Ito quickly picks up Sareee and hits a spinning sit-down powerbomb this time, but again her cover is broken up by Sareee’s friends. Meiko and Bolshoi come in and drop Kagetsu and Kaho with suplexes so they’ll stop interfering, Ito picks up Sareee but this time Sareee blocks the powerbomb attempt. Sareee spins down Ito’s back and rolls her up with a cradle, but Ito barely kicks out. Back up, hard lariat by Ito and she goes up top, palm strike by Bolshoi to Sareee and Meiko kicks Sareee in the chest. Diving footstomp by Ito to Sareee, and she covers her for the three count! Kaoru Ito, Command Bolshoi, and Meiko Satomura are the winners!

While the story they were telling was simple, it was still told very well. The whole match revolved around the “feisty young wrestlers vs. grumpy veterans” storyline, and all six did a great job telling it. Ito always delivers in these types of matches and put over Sareee pretty well (before beating her of course), and even in defeat the young wrestlers came out looking strong. Really enjoyable match, its no surprise from watching this this Kaho, Kagetsu, and Sareee have continued to be three of the best young wrestlers on the scene.  Recommended

Jaguar Yokota and Manami Toyota vs. Mima Shimoda and Takako Inoue

Shimoda and Yokota begin the match for their teams, hard shoulderblock by Shimoda but Yokota armdrags Shimoda out of the ring and hits a cannonball off the apron. Yokota returns with Shimoda slowly following as well, Inoue comes in to help and they both lariat Yokota. Shimoda officially tags in Inoue, Inoue works Yokota’s arm but Yokota puts her in a wristlock and tags in Toyota. Armdrag by Toyota, Yokota comes in and headbutts Inoue while Toyota puts Inoue in a leg lock. Toyota applies the Muta Lock on Inoue but Inoue gets into the ropes for the break, Toyota steps on Inoue’s hand in return but Inoue knocks Toyota to the mat and tags in Shimoda. Shimoda bounces Toyota off the ropes and boots her, jumping neck drop by Shimoda and she covers Toyota for two. Bodyscissors by Shimoda but Toyota gets out of it and goes up top, hitting a missile dropkick for a two count. Toyota tags in Yokota and Yokota puts Shimoda into an Octopus Hold, cradle by Yokota and she puts Shimoda in a figure four leglock. Toyota comes off the top with a body press while Shimoda is still in the hold, but Shimoda eventually makes it to the ropes. Yokota jumps down on Shimoda’s leg before tagging in Toyota, Shimoda boots Toyota back and makes the hot tag to Inoue. Inoue boots Toyota repeatedly in the head, DDT by Inoue and she puts Toyota in a STF. Toyota crawls to the ropes to force the break, Inoue Irish whips Toyota but Toyota reverses it and rolls up Inoue for two. Toyota tags in Yokota, Yokota kicks back Inoue but Inoue hits a backdrop suplex hold. Yokota tackles Inoue and kicks her in the leg, piledriver by Yokota and she covers Inoue, but Inoue barely kicks out. Yokota picks up Inoue and puts her in the Cobra Twist, Irish whip by Yokota but Inoue hits an armdrag. Shimoda comes in but Yokota hits a headlock/headscissors takedown on both of them, double DDT by Yokota and she hits a somersault legdrop onto both of them.

Inoue boots Yokota back and hits a double underhook suplex, but Yokota hits a dragon screw leg whip and tags Toyota. Toyota picks up Inoue but Inoue hits a boot and a DDT. Toyota gets back up and applies the rolling cradle for two. Toyota goes up top but Inoue avoids the moonsault, she then goes up top but Toyota smacks her and joins her on the turnbuckle. Inoue chokeslams Toyota to the mat, she goes up top but Toyota avoids the Takako Panic. Spinning backfist by Inoue followed by a head kick, but Toyota barely kicks out of the cover. Inoue tags in Shimoda, she picks up Toyota and she hits a jumping neck drop. Shimoda goes up top but Toyota joins her, Shimoda pushes Toyota back down however and delivers the missile dropkick. Boot by Toyota and she gets Shimoda on her shoulders, Shimoda wiggles away but Toyota hits a German suplex. Toyota goes up top and nails the moonsault, but Shimoda kicks out. Yokota gets on the second turnbuckle before she is tagged in, hitting a somersault legdrop for two. Toyota boots Shimoda, fisherman buster by Yokota and she covers Shimoda for a two count. Yokota picks up Shimoda, Shimoda slides away and she cradles for two. Inoue runs in and boots Yokota, Toyota takes care of her but Shimoda hits a German suplex onto Toyota. Tiger suplex hold by Shimoda to Yokota, she drags her up but Toyota boots Shimoda again. Yokota and Shimoda trade flash pins, until Yokota holds down Shimoda long enough for the three count! Jaguar Yokota and Manami Toyota win!

What stood out the most about this match is that Jaguar Yokota is still a beast. At 52 years old she was still doing cannonballs off the apron, somersault leg drops, and everything else. All four were giving maximum effort, as I mentioned above even though none are spring chickens anymore they still wrestle with the same amount of energy as they always have and clearly love to do it. The ending being off a flash pin wasn’t a big deal since both teams hit some of their big moves prior, and all four got a chance to show off a bit. A fun legends tag team match, these four are probably all in the Top 50 Joshi Wrestlers of All Time list and its great they still are able to bring it.  Recommended

Kyoko Inoue and Tomoko Watanabe vs. Yumiko Hotta and Mask de Sun
Cage Death Match

The match is under typical Joshi cage rules, meaning in order to win both members of the team must climb over the top of the cage and hit the floor. If they return for some reason (which happens), they then must re-exit the cage again to count as escaped. There are no tag rules of course since they are in a cage, and there are other weapons in the ring including a table and a ladder. I am going to buck my usual tradition of referring to wrestlers by their name in the match and refer to Mask de Sun going forward as Kyoko Kimura, because it is easier to type and will probably be easier to read. Since this match will be pure chaos the play by play will be less precise than usual, I’m just going to make sure I hit the big stuff.

Inoue and Watanabe get the first advantage in the match and quickly try to escape the cage, but they get grabbed before they can successfully make it out. Kimura gets a chain and starts beating Watanabe with it, busting her open in the process. So we get our first blood approximately 30 seconds into the match. Hotta gets a board and whacks both opponents with it, Kimura and Hotta then rake their opponent’s faces into the cage. The weapons focused beat down by Hotta and Kimura continues as Hotta gets a chain as well, Watanabe is bleeding everywhere as her partner Inoue begins to fight back.  Inoue finally gets the upper hand on Hotta while Watanabe rams Kimura’s head into the cage, Watanabe tries to bail out of the ring but Kimura pulls her back to the apron. Inoue gets the board and hits Hotta with it (Inoue naturally is bleeding as well by now), Watanabe then does the same to Kimura until the board breaks. Hotta and Kimura get chains to take back over, Hotta then gets the ladder and props it up in the corner. Inoue tries to leave again and gets to the top of the cage, but Kimura joins her as they straddle the top and trade punches.

Hotta drags Inoue back down, Kimura returns too but Watanabe recovers and both she and Inoue lariat Hotta in the corner. Kimura is next getting a series of lariats, double suplexes by Watanabe and Inoue and Watanabe hits a splash from the top rope. Inoue and Watanabe decide its time to leave and start climbing, but immediately are grabbed from behind and tosses back in the ring. Hotta starts throwing chairs at Inoue and Watanabe while Kimura wrapping them in chains, she then gets the ladder and slams it down onto them. Hotta and Kimura go to leave but Watanabe and Inoue quickly recover and stop them, Hotta gets a ladder and wraps a chain around it while the chains are still attached to Inoue and Watanabe, pulling them both to the mat. This gives Kimura time to escape, leaving Hotta alone with Watanabe and Inoue. Watanabe and Inoue immediately jump on Hotta and double team her, Watanabe and Inoue both go to escape the cage with Watanabe making it over. From the outside, Kimura prevents Inoue from getting over the top, which for the moment leaves Hotta and Inoue alone in the ring. Inoue and Hotta grab different ends of the chain, but end up hitting each other at the same time, leaving both on the mat. Inoue is up first but Hotta punches her in the face, Hotta goes to escape but Inoue joins her and suplexes Hotta down to the mat.

It should be noted that at some point, someone has propped up a ladder leaving against the cage outside the ring, to make it easier for one of the two to climb out. Hotta throws a ladder at Inoue, Hotta starts to climb the ladder but Inoue pushes her backwards, with the ladder landing on Hotta. Hotta is out of commission from that so Kimura climbs back up to stop Inoue from escaping, Hotta miraculously recovers and suplexes Inoue to the mat. Hotta sets up a table near the corner and puts Inoue on it, Kimura is perched on the top of the cage and she dives back into the ring with a diving footstomp onto Inoue. Which doesn’t break the table so Inoue just rolls to the mat. Hotta goes to escape but Inoue already is back up and grabs her leg, Watanabe climbs the ladder from outside the ring to further block Hotta from escaping. Kimura has re-escaped in the meantime while Hotta pushes Inoue back down to the mat, Hotta climbs over the top of the cage and onto the ladder but Inoue grabs her from inside the ring before she can hit the floor. Hotta spits green mist at Inoue to get her to let go, and Hotta hits the floor! Yumiko Hotta and Mask de Sun are the winners.

It probably goes without saying that this match had an insane amount of violence. Everyone not wearing a mask was bleeding, and some of the spots were brutal, particularly Hotta falling with the ladder on top of her from the turnbuckles. I loved the carnage and the chaos, not a lot of promotions do matches like this anymore so it felt like a breath of fresh air. The main issue of the match is a common one in Joshi cage matches – wrestlers recover way too quickly from some of the bigger moves. I am not sure how Hotta could still stand after her ladder bump but she was up very quickly with no side effects, as was Inoue after the table footstomp. It makes the matches more exciting since that way we don’t sit through minutes of the wrestlers just lying on the mat, or climbing the cage in super silly slow motion, but it does defy logic that they can recover that quickly. Aside from that critique I loved it, maybe partially because it felt so different from what I’ve been watching recently but it was about all I could have hoped for. If you like cage carnage like I do, I couldn’t recommend it enough.  Highly Recommended

The post Diana 3rd Anniversary Show ~ Danger Zone on 4/29/14 Review appeared first on Joshi City.

It has been a long time since I reviewed a really random event, so here we go! CRYSIS is a faction led by Jaguar Yokota, one of the greatest wrestlers in Joshi history. It is a large stable, with wrestlers ranging from Chikayo Nagashima to TARU being part of the group.  Chigusa Nagayo also has a match, a rare televised appearance of the former AJW great and current owner of Marvelous. Also on the show, we get a wrestler debut (!) along with participation from Diana and WAVE. Here is the full card:

• ASUKA and Tsukasa Fujimoto vs. Ryo Mizunami and Megumi Yabushita
• Battle Royal with: Gabai-jichan, Hiroyo Matsumoto, KAORU, Kyusei Ninja Ranmaru, Mariko Yoshida, Mima Shimoda, Mochi Miyagi, and Yamada Man Pondo
• Choun Shiryu and Madoka vs. Kyoko Inoue and Kaoru Ito
• Street Fight: Chikayo Nagashima and KAZUKI vs. Jun Kasai and Buffalo
• Chigusa Nagayo, AKIRA, and Shiro Koshinaka vs. Seiji Miyane, Jaguar Yokota, and TARU

All of the Joshi wrestlers above have profiles on Joshi City, you can click on their name to go straight to it. As this aired on Nico Pro, the show is unclipped. For better or worse.

ASUKA and Tsukasa Fujimoto vs. Ryo Mizunami and Megumi Yabushita

Ryo and Tsukasa start things off, they trade wristlocks until Ryo pounds Tsukasa to the mat. Hard shoulderblock by Ryo but Tsukasa comes back with a dropkick, scoop slam by Ryo but Tsukasa bridges out of the cover and hits a dropkick. Jumping elbow by Ryo in the corner, Megumi comes over and holds Tsukasa so that Ryo can hit a lariat. Ryo tags in Megumi, Megumi has a belt with her and hits Tsukasa repeatedly with it. Megumi chokes Tsukasa with it, scoop slam by Megumi and she covers Tsukasa for two. Megumi applies a leg submission and then a chinlock, but Tsukasa gets to the ropes for the break. Megumi picks up Tsukasa and hits a scoop slam, double kneedrop by Megumi and she applies a crab hold. ASUKA breaks it up, Megumi picks up Tsukasa but Tsukasa hits a hurricanrana for two. Tsukasa tags in ASUKA, ASUKA boots Megumi repeatedly in the head before throwing her in the corner. ASUKA moonsaults over Megumi and dropkicks her, Space Rolling Elbow by ASUKA and she dropkicks Megumi in the head for a two count. Megumi quickly applies a cross armbreaker takedown but ASUKA gets a foot on the ropes, ASUKA goes off the ropes and hits a rebound crossbody for two. ASUKA tags in Tsukasa, Tsukasa kicks Megumi in the back but Megumi ducks the PK. Twisting bodypress by Tsukasa but Megumi puts her in a submission, Tsukasa wiggles to the ropes and manages to force the break. Tsukasa throws Megumi in the corner but Megumi applies a hanging armbar, Megumi goes up top and hits a missile dropkick to Tsukasa’s arm.

Tsukasa fires back with a dropkick but Ryo hits her from the apron and Megumi drops her with a judo throw. She tags in Ryo, spear by Ryo to Tsukasa but Tsukasa blocks the uranage. German suplex by Ryo and she hits a legdrop for a two count. Ryo goes off the ropes but ASUKA dives off the top turnbuckle with a crossbody, double Irish whip to Ryo and ASUKA dropkicks her. Tsukasa dropkicks Ryo too, she goes up top and hits a missile dropkick for a two count cover. Tsukasa picks up Ryo but Ryo gets Tsukasa on her shoulders, Tsukasa flips off and rolls Megumi to the mat before hitting a PK. She tags in ASUKA, ASUKA goes up top and delivers a missile dropkick for two. Fireman’s carry takeover by ASUKA and she goes for Megumi’s arm, Megumi gets back up and hits a series of elbows. ASUKA charges Ryo but Ryo hits an overhead belly to belly, lariat by Ryo and she nails a uranage for a two count. Ryo drags up ASUKA but ASUKA blocks the full nelson, hard lariat by Ryo but ASUKA kicks out of the cover. Megumi comes in but ASUKA knocks them both down with a springboard moonsault, Tsukasa comes in and they both kick Ryo in the head. Gutwrench suplex by ASUKA, and she covers Ryo for two. Chokeslam by ASUKA, but Megumi breaks up the cover. ASUKA goes up top but Ryo rolls out of the way of the moonsault, superkick by ASUKA but Ryo knocks her down with a lariat. Megumi hits a German suplex onto Tsukasa while Ryo hits a lariat onto ASUKA, but ASUKA kicks out of the cover. Ryo picks up ASUKA and nails the Hot Limit, and she picks up the three count! Ryo Mizunami and Megumi Yabushita get the win.

Another good thing about wrestler produced shows is there tends to be very little fluff. This is a midcard-caliber match under normal circumstances, so the show really starts off with a bang as everyone here has the experience to put on a fun match. ASUKA continues to improve, and both Tsukasa and Ryo have main-event level skills so it didn’t feel like an opener at all. Solid match all the way around.  Mildly Recommended

Battle Royal
With Gabai-jichan, Hiroyo Matsumoto, KAORU, Kyusei Ninja Ranmaru, Mariko Yoshida, Shimoda, Mochi Miyagi, & Yamada Man Pondo

Yoshida targets Hiroyo right off the bat, but all the wrestlers end up in a giant headscissors chain, Gabai-jichan strolls in the ring and tries to roll them into a crab hold but he is too old and weak to do so. Miyagi does it instead but they roll into the ropes, Pondo and Ranmaru go after Miyagi but Miyagi rolls under then and poses. Pondo hits Ranmaru with a Stop Sign and poses as well, but Miyagi whips him and with everyone else covers Pondo for the three count! Yamada Man Pondo is eliminated. Ranmaru immediately schoolboys Miyagi, everyone else joins in and she is held down for three! Mochi Miyagi is eliminated. KAORU gets her board and starts hitting people with it, she tries to drop it onto Shimoda but Shimoda moves out of the way. KAORU tries to to the same with Yoshida with the same result, Hiroyo is up next but she also rolls out of the way. They hold down Ranmaru and KAORU drops it on her (or slightly misses, the camera couldn’t really see it), Gabai-jichan comes in but he tosses his cane to KAORU which makes her act old herself.

She tosses it to Hiroyo, Shimoda gets the cane next and Gabai-jichan knocks over both KAORU and Shimoda. KAORU and Shimoda are covered by the other participants, and both are counted down for three! Mima Shimoda and KAORU are eliminated. Hiroyo and Yoshida target Ranmaru but she avoids their attack, Gabai-jichan pushes Hiroyo over but everyone attacks him. Gabai-jichan schoolboys Ranmaru, and he gets the three count! Kyusei Ninja Ranmaru is eliminated! Gabai-jichan pokes Hiroyo with his cane, Yoshida tries to boot Gabai-jichan but Gabai-jichan moves and she kicks Hiroyo by accident. Hiroyo snaps Gabai-jichan’s cane and throws it to the mat, Irish whip to Gabai-jichan but he speeds up and lariats both of them. Vertical suplex by Gabai-jichan to Hiroyo, he goes to Yoshida but he hurts his back going for a powerbomb. Yoshida holds Gabai-jichan but Hiroyo lariats her by accident, Gabai-jichan slams Hiroyo on top of Yoshida and covers her for the three count pinfall! Mariko Yoshida is eliminated. Just Gabai-jichan and Hiroyo are left now, lariat by Gabai-jichan to Hiroyo and she goes for a powerbomb but Hiroyo lands on hop of him for the three count! Hiroyo Matsumoto wins the Battle Royal!

As I mentioned above, Battle Royals in Japan are generally more humorous affairs. A few funny moments but overall not a whole lot to it, even if it is always nice to see Mariko Yoshida.

Choun Shiryu and Hagane Shinnou vs. Kyoko Inoue and Kaoru Ito

Inoue and Shiryu start the match and tie-up, Inoue pushes Shiryu into the ropes and she gives a clean break. They lock knuckles, Shiryu goes off the ropes but Inoue hits a hard shoulderblock. Shiryu stomps on Inoue’s foot and tags in Shinnou, kicks to the chest by Madoka but Inoue pushes him into the corner. Inoue tags in Ito, lariat by Ito in the corner but Shinnou dropkicks her back. Ito doesn’t go down, Shinnou goes for a suplex but Ito reverses it into a suplex of her own. Shinnou tries to lariat Ito but fails, and Ito gives Shinnou a hard lariat instead. Ito puts Shinnou in a crab hold, but Shinnou gets into the ropes for a break. Ito stomps down on Shinnou’s back before tagging in Inoue, Ito stays in and they both suplex Shinnou. Inoue tosses Shinnou by his head and hits a vertical suplex, elbow drop by Inoue and she tags Ito back in. Camel Clutch by Ito but Shiryu breaks it up, Ito picks up Shinnou but Shinnou flips out to the apron and hits a swandive dropkick. This gives him time to tag in Shiryu, Shiryu throws Ito into the corner and hits a running elbow followed by a pair of kicks and a diving thrust kick for a two count cover.

Ito knocks down Shiryu with a lariat and hits a footstomp, running splash by Ito and she covers Shiryu for two. Ito picks up Shiryu but Shiryu elbows her off, he goes off the ropes but Ito catches him with an uranage. Ito tags in Inoue, elbow by Inoue but Shiryu chops her back and they trade blows. Drop toehold by Shiryu and he goes for a Tiger Feint Kick, but Inoue catches him and drops Shiryu to the mat. Lariat by Inoue, and she covers Shiryu for a two count. Ito comes in to help but both she and Inoue run into each other by accident, dropkick dropkick to Inoue and Ito but Inoue hits a lariat on both Shiryu and Shinnou. They call out of the ring, Inoue goes out after them while Ito goes for a baseball slide, but she kicks Inoue by mistake. Shiryu gets in the ring and catapults off the referee and delivers a diving kick to Ito’s face. Inoue is slid back in and double teamed, cover by Shiryu but Ito breaks it up. Shiryu goes up top but Ito hits him before he can jump off, Inoue joins Shiryu and delivers a superplex. Diving footstomp by Ito, cover by Inoue but Shinnou breaks up the cover. Inoue picks up Shiryu and nails the Niagara Driver, cover by Inoue and she gets the three count! Kyoko Inoue and Kaoru Ito are the winners.

I enjoyed this match way more than I should have. Ito and Inoue are the ‘old school’ Joshi stars that don’t always feel the need to do things like sell for their opponents, and so few wrestlers do that these days it comes across as fresh and interesting. I don’t mean they are being jerks, its just the style, eventually Shinnou was able to knock over Ito which just made it a bigger moment. But for the most part Ito and Inoue were tossing around the male indie wrestlers so it had the opposite dynamic that you may think if you didn’t know the wrestlers. No complaints, Inoue and Ito can still go, an entertaining little match.  Mildly Recommended

Chikayo Nagashima and KAZUKI vs. Jun Kasai and Buffalo

Chikayo and KAZUKI attack before the match starts with chairs, Buffalo is isolated in the ring and double teamed with chair shots. KAZUKI puts a bucket over Buffalo’s head and kicks it, Kasai comes in the ring and trades strikes with Chikayo. KAZUKI attacks Kasai from behind with a chain but Kasai headbutts her, and the action spills out of the ring. Buffalo and Kasai take over on the floor, KAZUKI is put on a table while Kasai goes up to the top turnbuckle and hits a diving splash onto KAZUKI. Kasai gets a barbed wire bat and pushes it into Chikayo’s head, Buffalo rolls Chikayo back into the ring and hits her with a back elbow. Buffalo stomps Chikayo and elbows her into the corner, running elbow by Buffalo and he tags in Kasai. Big boot by Kasai and he slices Chikayo’s face with… a board of some sort, leg drop by Buffalo from the apron and he kicks Chikayo in the head. Cover by Kasai, but it gets a two count. Kasai picks up Chikayo and bites her head, piledriver by Kasai and he covers Chikayo for two. Kasai brings a ladder into the ring but Chikayo kicks him low and hits both Kasai and Buffalo with the metal bucket. Chikayo goes up top and hits a diving footstomp to Kasai’s groin, KAZUKI hits Kasai repeatedly with a chain before hanging him over the top rope with it. KAZUKI pulls Kasai back into the ring and hits a couple reverse double kneedrops for a two count.

KAZUKI brings the ladder to the middle of the ring but Kasai suplexes her on it, he tags in Buffalo but KAZUKI drops him with a Codebreaker. Chikayo comes in but Buffalo lariats both of them, he puts the ladder on his neck and helicopters it into both opponents. Buffalo tries to push Chikayo with the ladder but KAZUKI helps push Buffalo into the corner, kicks by Chikayo and she hits Buffalo with a chair. KAZUKI goes up top and slams the ladder down onto Buffalo, then Chikayo goes up to the top turnbuckle and hits a diving footstomp onto Buffalo and the pile of chairs/ladder. Chikayo grabs Buffalo but Buffalo kicks her in the stomach, Buffalo throws the ladder at Chikayo and makes the tag to Kasai. Kasai lariats Chikayo in the back of the head, another lariat by Kasai but KAZUKI breaks up the cover. Kasai picks up Chikayo and hits a scoop slam, he sets up the ladder and climbs it, but Chikayo joins him and spits red mist into his face. Kasai falls to the mat and Chikayo dives off the ladder with a footstomp. Cover, but Buffalo breaks it up. Fisherman Buster by Chikayo to Kasai, but Kasai kicks out. Chikayo gets a chair but Kasai blocks it and hits Chikayo with the chair instead. Kasai runs off the ropes repeatedly and hits a lariat, but the cover gets two. Kasai picks up Chikayo and delivers the double underhook facebuster, he scoop slams Chikayo in front of the ladder before climbing up and nailing the Pearl Harbor Splash. Cover by Kasai, and he gets the three count! Jun Kasai and Buffalo are the winners.

Like the last match, while I wouldn’t call this a MOTYC it was certainly really entertaining. Lots of brutal moves in this match, from the table splash to the footstomp to Kasai’s groin, as no one was holding back. Fast paced with never a dull moment, its one of those matches you can’t look away from. A nice change of pace from the type of action I usually see on Joshi shows, an enjoyable match overall if you’re into this sort of thing (crazy weapon-filled brawls).  Recommended

Chigusa Nagayo, AKIRA, and Shiro Koshinaka vs. Seiji Miyane, Jaguar Yokota, and TARU

Yokota and Nagayo start the match, Nagayo pushes Yokota against the ropes and she gives a clean break. Irish whip by Nagayo but Yokota ducks the heel kick, scoop slam by Yokota and she covers Nagayo for two. They tag out as TARU and Koshinaka come in, TARU tries to shoulderblock Koshinaka over but Koshinaka delivers a hip attack. Chinlock by Koshinaka but TARU kicks him in the stomach and both wrestlers tag out as AKIRA and Miyane become the legal wrestlers. AKIRA and Miyane trade holds, they end up on the mat but Miyane gets away from AKIRA and they face off again. AKIRA goes for a suplex but Miyane blocks it and hits a vertical suplex of his own, Octopus Hold by Miyane but Nagayo breaks it up. AKIRA tags in Koshinaka, hip attacks by Koshinaka to Miyane and he tags in Nagayo. Chops by Nagayo, Miyane returns fire but Nagayo chops him to the mat and kicks him against the ropes. Nagayo tags AKIRA but TARU comes in to help Miyane, they both suplex AKIRA before Miyane makes the tag to Yokota. Nagayo tags in too but TARU hits Nagayo from the apron, Yokota hits Nagayo in the stomach with a rod before choking her with it. TARU stays in as the legal wrestler and starts on Nagayo’s arm, he takes Nagayo out of the ring and tosses her around in the crowd. Back in the ring, kicks by TARU to Nagayo but Nagayo fights back and the two trade shots. TARU tags in Yokota, Miyane comes in too and they triple team Nagayo in the corner.

Kicks by TARU but Nagayo catches him with a backdrop suplex and tags in Koshinaka. Hip attack by TARU, Yokota and Miyane come in but they get hip attacks as well. Koshinaka goes up top and hits a diving hip attack onto TARU, cover by Koshinaka but TARU kicks out. Koshinaka tags AKIRA, AKIRA goes up top and hits a diving body press, but Miyane breaks up the cover. AKIRA goes off the ropes but TARU catches him with a chokebomb and tags in Yokota, AKIRA kicks Yokota however and tags in Nagayo. Nagayo grabs Yokota and hits a vertical suplex, waistlock by Nagayo but Yokota gets out of it with a roll-up for two. Nagayo tosses Yokota into the corner but Yokota catches her coming in and kicks her in the head. Nagayo pulls Yokota back to the middle of the ring and puts her in the Scorpion Deathlock, but TARU quickly breaks it up. Nagayo catches Yokota with a sidewalk slam, but TARU breaks up the cover. TARU and Yokota both suplex Nagayo, Miyane goes up top and hits Nagayo with a diving crossbody for a two count. Yokota then goes up top but Nagayo avoids her somersault senton, Koshinaka and AKIRA both come in and clear the ring so that just Nagayo and Miyane are left. Backdrop suplex by Nagayo to Miyane and she drops him with a snap piledriver, but Miyane gets a shoulder up. Scorpion Deathlock by Nagayo, and Miyane has no choice but to submit! Chigusa Nagayo, AKIRA, and Shiro Koshinaka win!

Unlike the other matches on this show with long-time veterans, this one was a bit too slow for my liking. It was just really by the numbers, the match was almost 20 minutes and the only interesting parts were when Chigusa Nagayo and Jaguar Yokota squared off. I am not sure of Miyane’s backstory but (obviously) he isn’t very good yet and negatively impacted the match during several of his segments. Its always a pleasure to see veteran wrestlers like Shiro Koshinaka or AKIRA, but the match was just a bit too long and listless. This would have worked better in the midcard, but as the main event it was a bit disappointing.

The post CRYSIS Produce on 7/23/17 Review appeared first on Joshi City.

NEO Ladies was a Joshi promotion that had many re-starts but was running in some form from 1998 to 2010. Originally it was a break-off promotion from All Japan Women, and the name was supposed to be Nippon Women’s Wrestling but they had a trademark issue with New Japan Pro Wrestling.  So they went with NEO Ladies instead as the promotion name. Kyoko Inoue was the Ace of the promotion, but over the years many wrestlers made their name in NEO including Natsuki Taiyo, Nanae Takahashi, Hiroyo Matsumoto, Ayako Hamada, and others.

This show was condensed down to one hour on Samurai TV, but luckily instead of showing all the matches heavily clipped, they opted to just show the three main matches. This was a big event for NEO, as it featured a defense of both of their major titles as well as the Retirement Match of Yuka Nakamura. Here are the matches we’ll be watching:

• NEO Tag Team Championship: Kyoko Inoue and Etsuko Mita vs. Amazing Kong and Kyoko Kimura
• NWA Women’s Pacific Championship and NEO Singles Championship: Yoshiko Tamura vs. Kayoko Haruyama
• Yuka Nakamura Retirement Match: Yuka Nakamura vs. Mima Shimoda

This wasn’t the match order on the show live, but was re-arranged on the broadcast so that the retirement match went last.

(c) Kyoko Inoue and Etsuko Mita vs. Amazing Kong and Kyoko Kimura
NEO Tag Team Championship

Kimura and Kong attack Mita and Inoue from behind before the match starts and both hit running strikes in the corner before pulling their opponents out of the ring. Kong and Kimura throw Mita and Inoue into the chairs at ringside, Kimura gets a chain and she chokes Inoue with it while Mita manages to fight back against Kong with chair shots. Kimura drags around Inoue with the chain before choking her with it from the apron, they finally get back into the ring as Kimura goes up top and hits a missile dropkick on Inoue. Kimura hits Inoue with the chain some more, Inoue finally fights back and goes for a powerbomb but Kimura gets out of it by repeatedly hitting her in the head with the chain. We jump ahead in the match to Mita and Kimura trading strikes, sunset flip by Kimura but it gets two. Kong comes in and kicks Mita, Inoue then comes in too and hits a German suplex onto Kimura while Mita applies a jackknife for a two count. Mita picks up Kimura and hits the Death Valley Bomb, but the cover only gets a two. Mita drags up Kimura, Kong comes in but she accidentally hits Kimura with a Uraken. Mita picks up Kimura but Kimura whips off a backdrop suplex, backfist by Kong and Kimura hits another backdrop suplex but Inoue breaks up the cover. Kimura goes up top, Kong picks up Mita but Mita gets away from her and joins Kimura. Avalanche Electric Chair by Mita, but Kong breaks up the cover by kicking the referee. Inoue runs in but she lariats Mita by accident, Big Boot by Kimura but Mita barely gets a shoulder up. Kimura goes off the ropes, Mita blocks the Big Boot and goes for a Death Valley Bomb, but Kong pushes them over. Kimura gets her chain and hits Mita in the face with it, Big Boot by Kimura and she gets the three count! Amazing Kong and Kyoko Kimura are your new champions!

This was way too clipped to get excited about as only about 6 minutes of 23 were shown, but I liked what I saw. I mean there would be no excuse to show anything that wasn’t entertaining when the match is condensed by that much, but it seems like they kept the entire beginning and end uncut so it didn’t just feel like a highlights collection. Kimura was one of the baddest wrestlers in Joshi for a decade, whether it was diving off of balconies or hitting people with chains, she didn’t mess around. Everyone played their role well and none came out of the match looking weak (although we didn’t see much from Kong). A fun condensed match but too clipped to recommend.

(c) Yoshiko Tamura vs. Kayoko Haruyama
NWA Women’s Pacific Championship and NEO Singles Championship

We join this match well in progress, with Haruyama dragging Tamura to her feet off the mat. Tamura elbows Haruyama and hits an Alabama Slam, cover by Tamura but it gets a two count. Tamura picks up Haruyama but Haruyama blocks a suplex and hits a trio of STOs. Haruyama picks up Tamura but Tamura hits a quick DDT, backdrop suplex by Tamura and she covers Haruyama for two. Tamura picks up Haruyama but Haruyama avoids her charge and clubs her repeatedly in the corner. Haruyama puts Tamura on the top turnbuckle before joining her, but Tamura elbows Haruyama off. Haruyama re-joins her but Tamura hits an avalanche side slam, Tamura quickly goes back up top and she hits a somersault senton for a two count. Tamura picks up Haruyama, elbows by Tamura but Haruyama ducks one and kicks Tamura in the head. Haruyama goes up top but Tamura elbows her before she can jump off and joins her. Knees by Haruyama while they are still up top and Haruyama jumps off with Orange☆Tomahawk. A diving leg drop follows, cover by Haruyama but it gets a two count. Haruyama goes up top once again but Tamura kicks her in the head and goes up as well, avalanche backdrop suplex by Tamura and she slowly covers Haruyama for two. The referee checks on Haruyama as she seems out of it but Tamura kicks him out of the way and hits a series of elbows. Cocky cover by Tamura, and Haruyama barely gets a shoulder up. Haruyama ducks Tamura’s high kick and hits the Keene Hammer, but Tamura kicks out. Haruyama drags Tamura to her feet and goes for another one, but Tamura gets out of it and rolls up Haruyama for a two count. Heel kicks by Tamura but Haruyama lariats her in the back of the head, she goes off the ropes but Tamura nails an elbow smash. Tamura picks up Haruyama and delivers a cobra clutch suplex, another cobra clutch suplex by Tamura and she hits a third, but Haruyama kicks out of the pin. Tamura picks up Haruyama and connects with elbows, she takes off her elbow pad and hits one final elbow smash, picking up the three count! Yoshiko Tamura is still the champion.

On one hand, I liked that they just cut the match in half and showed the last ten minutes in its entirety, as I hate it when clipped matches just do clip-clip-clip so its hard to get into a match. The downside is that we joined them after both were already hurt/exhausted but without seeing anything that made them hurt which took some of the fun out of it. Tamura is one of the better Joshi wrestlers from the 2000s that many fans don’t know much about, she was a great striker and had an aura to her that either a wrestler has or they don’t. They went to the top turnbuckle a bit more often than seemed necessary, it felt like every 30 seconds someone was going up top for some reason or another, but this was the main event of the show and the title match so you can understand both wrestlers going “all out” to pick up the win. I liked it as I enjoy the head-drop suplexes and snug elbows, but I do wish I could have seen the match in full instead of just the long home stretch.  Mildly Recommended

Yuka Nakamura vs. Mima Shimoda
Yuka Nakamura Retirement Match

After a feeling out process and basic limb work, Shimoda boots Nakamura in the chest and puts her in a camel clutch. Shimoda gets Nakamura into the corner and chokes her with her boot, Shimoda throws Nakamura to the mat but Nakamura catches her with a jumping lariat. Shimoda returns the favor, she picks up Nakamura but Nakamura knocks her down with a jumping knee. Nakamura picks up Shimoda and throws her into the corner, jumping knee by Nakamura but Shimoda boots her in the chest. Shimoda gets on the second turnbuckle but Nakamura kicks her out of the ring, Nakamura goes up top and dives onto Shimoda with a diving crossbody to the floor. Face crusher by Nakamura and she puts Shimoda in a camel clutch with a bit of hair pulling, she lets go after a moment and stretches out Shimoda’s back. Stomps by Nakamura and she hits running boots to the head, cover by Nakamura but it gets a two count. Shimoda slaps Nakamura and they get into a slap battle, which Nakamura wins as she sends Shimoda crashing to the mat.

Nakamura picks up Shimoda but Shimoda elbows her off, Nakamura gets on the second turnbuckle and she delivers a Tornado DDT for a two count cover. Heel drop by Nakamura but Shimoda hits one of her own, another one by Nakamura and she hits a release German suplex. Seven more heel drops by Nakamura, she goes up top and she nails the diving footstomp for a two count cover. Nakamura goes up top but Shimoda joins her, Nakamura knocks Shimoda off but Shimoda avoids her dive and applies a folding backslide for two. Shimoda picks up Nakamura but Nakamura blocks the suplex attempt, Nakamura applies a couple flash pins but both get a two. Running knees by Nakamura, she covers Shimoda but Shimoda barely gets a shoulder up. Nakamura goes up top but Shimoda recovers and approaches the corner, Nakamura hits a modified Calf Branding and Shimoda falls out to the floor. Nakamura goes back to the top turnbuckle jumps out of the ring with a diving footstomp to the floor, she gets back in the ring and patiently waits for Shimoda to recover. She finally drags her back in, Nakamura goes to the top and hits another diving footstomp, but Shimoda kicks out of the cover. Nakamura picks up Shimoda but Shimoda whips out a backdrop suplex, they trade elbows until Nakamura crumples to the mat. Heel drop by Shimoda, and she covers Nakamura for two. Shimoda puts Nakamura on the top turnbuckle and joins her, but Nakamura elbows her off. Shimoda moves when Nakamura jumps off the top, but Nakamura delivers a running knee and applies the Romantic Clutch for the three count! Yuka Nakamura wins the match.

The post-match ceremony was condensed since they had to squeeze it onto a one hour show, but included wrestlers saying farewell to Nakamura, a bell salute, and of course lots of streamers. This was a unique retirement match as Nakamura not only won, but controlled the bulk of the action. Not that Shimoda needed the win but most of the time a retiring wrestler loses their last match. Nakamura hit all of her signature moves, including the always fun diving footstomp out to the floor, and held nothing back in her final wrestling match. An entertaining match and a fitting end to Nakamura’s career.  Recommended

The post NEO Summer Stampede 2006 on 7/17/06 Review appeared first on Joshi City.

Time to review a new promotion! Major Girl’s Fighting AtoZ (short for “ARISON to Zenjo”) was a short-lived wrestling promotion that ran shows from 2003 to 2006. ARISON was a popular Joshi promotion that went out of business in 2003, it was taken over by Yumiko Hotta who changed the name to AtoZ. “Zenjo” was a nickname for AJW, which is where Hotta originally wrestled, hence the name. Anyway, Hotta led the promotion with Mariko Yoshida, and current Stardom boss Rossy Ogawa was involved backstage as well. The promotion did not have a lot of its own contracted wrestlers but did have a world title, and also was the starting place for many future stars including Arisa Nakajima and Kana/Asuka. Finding information on the shows is difficult as they were one of many smaller Joshi promotions at the time, but I’ll do the best I can to gather the information available.

I picked this event to review for two reasons. First, it is the earliest recorded match I could find in Kana’s career, as she just debuted the month prior in AtoZ. Second, this was a major show for the promotion as it had a number of big singles matches, a retirement road match, and what may be a classic main event. Here is the full card:

• Bullfighter Sora vs. Ofune
• Flesh Girl’s Fighting: Kana vs. Natsumi Mizushima
• Battle of J-Connection: Sachie Abe and Teruko Kagawa vs. The Bloody and Maru
• Rie Tamada Retirement Road 3rd: Rie Tamada, GAMI, and PIKO vs. Azumi Hyuga, Yoshiko Tamura, and Misae Genki
• Future Manifest: Mirai vs. Saki Maemura
• Revive Violence: Amazing Kong vs. Mima Shimoda
• Battle of A-Connection: Leona vs. Mariko Yoshida
• Battle of Z-Connection: Mika Nishio vs. Takako Inoue
• CLIMAX: Momoe Nakanishi and Nanae Takahashi vs. Yumiko Hotta and Kumiko Maekawa

They somehow squeezed all this into a two hour show, so I think it is safe to assume there will be clipping. Hopefully not in the matches I want to see the most.

Bullfighter Sora vs. Ofune

The match is Joined in Progress with Sora body blocking Ofune, but Ofune kicks out of the cover. Sora goes up top but Ofune shakes the ropes and Sora falls out of the ring. She returns after a moment, tornado DDT by Ofune but the cover gets two. Ofune chops Sora but Sora headbutts her, vertical suplex by Sora and she covers Ofune for another two count. Sora runs up the corner and goes for a diving elbow but Ofune moves, Ofune goes up top and hits a diving knee strike for two. Ofune picks up Sora but Sora hits a backdrop suplex, Ofune quickly rolls up Sora and she gets the three count! Ofune wins the match.

As I figured, pretty clipped, but at least the ending stretch was all shown in full instead of just doing random cuts. Ofune was a rather beloved wrestler the few years she was around so its always fun to see her, but not enough was shown to be memorable.

Kana vs. Natsumi Mizushima

Kana and Mizushima get right into it as the bell rings, trading elbows until Mizushima throws down Kana by the hair. Kana boots Mizushima and dropkicks her, snapmares by Kana and she starts working on Mizushima’s arm. Mizushima gets away and dropkicks Kana, knees by Mizushima but Kana hits mounted elbows. Mizushima returns fire and headbutts Kana before throwing her down by the hair, modified Camel Clutch by Mizushima  but Kana applies a backslide for two. Dropkick by Kana, she picks up Mizushima and dropkicks her into the corner before dropkicking her some more. Mizushima finally is tired of being dropkicked and headbutts Kana in the gut, she goes up top but Kana pulls her back into the ring. Hip attack by Kana and she hits another one, they trade chops until Mizushima hits a scoop slam. Mizushima gets on the second turnbuckle and hits a diving headbutt, cover by Mizushima but it gets a two count. Mizushima picks up Kana but Kana sneaks in a schoolboy for two, Irish whip by Kana but Mizushima applies a backslide. Mizushima goes up top but Kana joins her, Mizushima headbutts Kana back to the mat and hits a diving headbutt for the three count! Natsumi Mizushima is the winner.

They actually showed the bulk of this match as only a couple minutes were clipped. This was a really solid match considering both were rookies, both showed fire with their strikes and the action was pretty smooth. I won’t say the obnoxious “from watching this match it is no surprise both turned out to be big stars” as that would be silly, but I will say that both showed a natural ability early in their careers. A fun match.  Mildly Recommended

Sachie Abe and Teruko Kagawa vs. The Bloody and Maru

Bloody and Abe start the match for their teams and quickly end up in a strike battle, Abe elbows Bloody into the corner but Bloody kicks her in the head. Abe gets back in control and hits mounted elbows on Bloody, but Bloody hits a release German suplex. Abe dropkicks Bloody and throws her into the corner, Bloody jumps up onto the second turnbuckle but Abe joins her. Bloody stretches Abe on the top turnbuckle, she lets go after a moment and Abe hits a springboard elbow followed by a missile dropkick for a two count. Abe gets on the top turnbuckle but Bloody avoids the diving body press, Bloody boots Abe but Abe flips her out to the apron before kicking her out of the ring. Abe goes out after her while Kagawa gets on the top turnbuckle and dives out of the ring onto Bloody. Abe then goes up top and dives out onto Bloody and Maru, Bloody is slid back into the ring and Abe hits a diving victory roll for a two count. Snap dragon suplexes by Bloody to Abe, she kicks Abe in the head before tagging in Maru. This quickly backfires as Abe applies quick flash pins for two, Abe puts Maru in the Victory A Clutch and Maru has no choice but to submit! Abe and Kagawa are the winners.

While I love me some Bloody, the match was too short and random. I am assuming the end was clipped and Maru wasn’t literally pinned 30 seconds after getting into the ring, I’ll forgive the oddness of the layout if it wasn’t the wrestlers’ fault. Abe and Bloody both looked good with their high spots, but we didn’t get to see much from Kagawa and Maru. Just too clipped to be good.

Rie Tamada, GAMI, and PIKO vs. Azumi Hyuga, Yoshiko Tamura, and Misae Genki

Tamada and Hyuga are the first two in, after some shenanigans dealing with GAMI things settle down with Hyuga being triple beamed in a comedic way. For a ‘Retirement Road” match this one didn’t start overly serious. GAMI puts Tamura in a crab hold, they do the thing where someone at ringside grabs GAMI’s arm to provide extra pressure but they do it in a chain all the way into the crowd and up into the balcony. GAMI eventually lets go, PIKO goes for a dive out of the ring but Misae and Tamura catch her before sliding her back into the ring. Tamada and Hyuga end up in the ring, tornado DDT by Tamada and she tags in PIKO. PIKO applies an armbar before rolling up Hyuga, and we clip ahead to Tamada being in the ring with Misae. Release German by Tamada, and we clip ahead again to Tamada and GAMI double teaming Hyuga. PIKO comes in too and they triple team Misae in the corner, Frankensteiner by GAMI and PIKO hits a diving hurricanrana. German suplex hold by Tamada, but the cover gets broken up. Tamada goes for another suplex but Misae blocks it, Tamada goes off the rope but Misae catches her with a chokeslam. Tamura runs in and elbows Tamada, G-Driver by Misae and she covers Tamada for a two count. Misae picks up Tamada but Tamada ducks the discus lariat and hits a German suplex hold for two. GAMI tries to help but it backfires, another G-Driver by Misae and she gets the three count! Azumi Hyuga, Yoshiko Tamura, and Misae Genki are the winners.

Too odd of a match for my personal tastes, when matches try to be a hybrid of comedy and straight up wrestling it tends to not really work out. The clipping didn’t help of course, as if there was any type of structure to it we wouldn’t know from the way the match aired. I liked Misae Genki a lot and appreciated she took the match back to a more serious level, but I was hoping for a bit more in one of Rie Tamada’s last wrestling matches.

Mirai vs. Saki Maemura

They lock knuckles which the much taller Mirai easily gets the better of, Mirai takes down Maemura with a headlock but Maemura quickly reverses it. Mirai gets in the mount and rains down elbows while Maemura applies a bodyscissors, Mirai chokes Maemura to get her to release the hold before hitting a pair of jumping lariats. Back up they trade strikes, atomic drop by Mirai and she hits the Giant Swing on her smaller opponent. Bridging scoop suplex by Mirai, she goes up top but Maemura ducks the diving crossbody. Maemura dropkicks Mirai out of the ring, she gets out on the apron and hits a missile dropkick. She then goes up to the top turnbuckle and delivers a diving plancha, she slides Mirai back in before going back up top and hitting a missile dropkick. Diving body press by Maemura, but Mirai kicks out of the cover. Mirai elbows out of the German and chops Maemura, Maemura slaps her however and hits a release fisherman suplex. Hard chop to the chest by Mirai and she applies an Octopus Hold before rolling Maemura to the mat while keeping it applied, but Maemura gets a foot onto the ropes. Mirai quick re-applies it, she lets go after a moment and goes for a scoop slam, but Maemura reverses it into a roll-up. Mirai chops Maemura into the corner but Maemura ducks one and hits a release German suplex, fisherman suplex hold by Maemura and she picks up the three count! Saki Maemura wins the match.

This was a really fun match, I enjoy watching two young wrestlers that have passion for wrestling going non-stop with a variety of strikes and suplexes. Mirai used her height and size advantage well, winning a few exchanges with it, but Maemura was too slick to keep down and her high flying moves helped make the difference. A bit clipped but a good percentage of it was shown, no real complaints as it was an entertaining match bell to bell.  Mildly Recommended

Amazing Kong vs. Mima Shimoda

Shimoda attacks Kong before the match starts and the streamers fly, pink streamers are literally everywhere as Kong and Shimoda battle at ringside. Kong takes Shimoda into the crowd and throws her around before they return to the ring, she goes for a powerbomb but Shimoda reverses it with a back bodydrop. Kong fires back with a lariat, Shimoda drives Kong into the corner but Kong avoids he charge and nails a Buckle Bomb. Shimoda takes back over with kicks to the back of Kong’s head, Shimoda stomps down Kong in the corner and takes her out of the ring before assaulting her with chairs. Shimoda slides some chairs in the ring and brings Kong in with her, Shimoda throws Kong onto the chair pile and goes up top, hitting a diving footstomp onto Kong. Kong blocks the slam attempt and lands on top of Shimoda, and we get a good shot of Shimoda’s face which at some point got busted up all the hell. Shimoda goes up top but Kong pushes her out of the ring to the floor, Kong goes out after her and takes her up onto the balcony (Joshi promotions during this time period loved the balcony at Yokohama Cultural Gymnasium), she tries to throw Shimoda off of it but Shimoda hangs on by the railing.

Kong goes back down to the floor to try to pull Shimoda off the railing, but Shimoda kicks Kong away and with help drops down to the floor unscathed. Kong isn’t on the defense for long and she rolls Shimoda into the ring before going to get a table, she sets up the table at ringside before continuing to toss Shimoda around the floor. Kong brings Shimoda up onto the apron and tries to powerbomb her through the table, but she partially misses it and Shimoda barely touches it before going straight down to the floor. Somehow she isn’t injured, she gets on the apron but Kong lariats her from inside the ring. Double underhook facebuster by Kong, Kong get on the second turnbuckle but Shimoda avoids the body press. Lariat by Kong, she goes for a powerbomb but Shimoda reverses it with a hurricanrana. Kong hits another lariat, she goes up top but Shimoda hits her before she can jump off. Shimoda joins Kong and tosses her to the mat, somersault legdrop to the back of the head by Shimoda but Kong kicks out of the cover. Shimoda picks up Kong but Kong pushes her off, both wrestlers connect with punches but Kong connects better as Shimoda is knocked out. She barely makes the referee’s count, Kong promptly lariats her before hitting a Uraken. Powerbomb by Kong, she goes up top and she nails the diving body press for the three count cover! Your winner is Amazing Kong!

Well I enjoyed the hell out of this match. Kong at the time was still pretty raw, she was a solid wrestler but was mostly a brawler as she wasn’t always super smooth with her moves. Shimoda being the underdog was fun as normally she is the one using weapons and being the heel, here she was outdone by Kong in both of those departments. These types of matches work well as a change of pace, lots of brawling and chair shots and general chaos. Kong almost killed Shimoda with the missed powerbomb and the balcony spots always add a degree of excitement since you never know what will happen. An entertaining crowd brawling match, with a convincing win by Amazing Kong.  Recommended

Leona vs. Mariko Yoshida

Yoshida quickly takes Leona to the mat but Leona repeatedly wiggles away from her, Yoshida generally stays in control but she can’t get a hold locked in. Yoshida finally gets a kneelock applied while also kicking Leona in the back, but Leona gets a hand in the ropes to force a break. Yoshida takes Leona back down and kicks her in the back, Irish whip by Yoshida but Leona reverses it before Yoshida flips Leona out to the apron. Diving armdrag by Leona, Yoshida falls out of the ring and Leona dropkicks her when Yoshida gets on the apron. Leona charges the ropes, she jumps straight to the top rope and springboards out onto Yoshida with a Plancha. Back in the ring, diving somersault senton by Leona but it gets a two count. We jump ahead to Yoshida being back in control, Air Raid Crash by Yoshida but Leona barely gets a shoulder up on the somewhat cocky cover. Yoshida goes to pick up Leona but Leona puts her in the Spider Twist, which is one of Yoshida’s finishing moves. Yoshida gets a toe on the ropes, back up Yoshida kicks Leona in the chest but Leona hits a spear for a two count. German suplex hold by Leona, she goes off the ropes but Yoshida boots her hard in the chest. Yoshida picks up Leona in a vertical suplex position before dropping her with a kneeling tombstone piledriver, picking up the three count! Mariko Yoshida wins!

Since I have not seen Yoshida finish a match with that move, I will assume that was her way of sticking it to Leona for trying to take her finishing move. Leona put up more of a fight than I was expecting, which made the match a lot more fun to watch as she is a really solid high speed wrestler. The match was too short/clipped to make it worth seeking out, but it was a fun back and forth match and Yoshida’s reaction when Leona put on the Spider Twist showed that she realized Leona wasn’t going to be as easy to beat as she may have originally thought. Overall entertaining, I just wish more was shown.  Mildly Recommended

Mika Nishio vs. Takako Inoue

Takako and Nishio circle to start, armdrag by Takako and she attacks Nishio in the corner. Kicks by Takako from the apron and she hits a double underhook suplex, picking up a two count. DDT by Takako but Nishio fires back with elbows, they trade slaps until Takako sends Nishio to the mat. Backdrop suplex by Takako but Nishio ducks the spinning backfist, Takako connects with the next one and goes for the Takako Panic, but Nishio ducks it and hits a jumping heel kick. Nishio picks up Takako but Takako blocks the suplex, another jumping heel kick by Nishio and she gets another two count. German suplex hold by Nishio and she picks up Takako, but Takako rolls her to the mat and covers her for two. Back up, tiger suplex hold by Nishio but Takako gets a shoulder up. She goes for another one and hits it, but again it gets a two count. Nishio goes off the ropes but Takako nails her with a spinning backfist, she hits a second one and covers Nishio for the three count! Takako Inoue is the winner.

A step down from the last few matches but still not a bad one. It was just a bit disjointed, the transitions were shaky at best as they seemed to mostly take turns hitting moves on each other with little rhyme or reason. Nishio must not have had a deep pool of moves as she kept going for the same two or three during the last half of the match, and without a ‘bigger’ finishing move it was hard to believe she would beat Takako. Some solid parts and its always good to see Takako, but overall a bit underwhelming.

Momoe Nakanishi and Nanae Takahashi vs. Yumiko Hotta and Kumiko Maekawa

Nanae and Momo have no time for streamers and attack Hotta and Maekawa before the match starts, as the battle spills out of the ring. Nanae and Momo control the action on the floor and into the crowd, eventually they bring Hotta back into the ring but Hotta hits a double face crusher on them. Hotta gets her chain but Momo dropkicks her in the knee, elbow drop by Nanae and they both attack Hotta in the corner. Momo stays in but Maekawa gives Hotta her chain again and she hits Momo in the head with it. More chain shots by Hotta, she wraps it around Momo’s neck and applies a choke with it while Maekawa kicks Momo in the chest. Maekawa is tagged in and she kicks Momo in the face, but Nanae comes in and they both dropkick Maekawa. Missile dropkick by Nanae but Maekawa kicks her into the corner and tags in Hotta. Nanae greets Hotta with elbows but Hotta applies a sleeper until Momo breaks it up. Well she tries anyway but Hotta keeps it locked in while Maekawa grabs Momo, Momo gets away from Maekawa and chokes Hotta with her own chain until she lets go of Nanae. Nanae elbows Hotta against the ropes but Hotta comes back with a spinning heel kick, she hits a second one before Maekawa chokes Nanae in the corner with the chain. Hotta Irish whips Nanae but instead of bouncing off the ropes she sails out of the ring with a tope suicida onto Maekawa. Momo comes in the ring with a missile dropkick, she goes up top again and dives out onto Maekawa while Nanae hits a backdrop suplex onto Hotta. Dropkick by Nanae to Hotta, she goes for the Reverse Splash but Hotta moves and kicks her in the head. Tiger Driver by Hotta, but Nanae kicks out at two. Maekawa comes in but Nanae gets away from her and they trade strikes, big boot by Maekawa but Nanae fires back with a shoulderblock. A superkick sends Nanae to the mat but she pops back up and hits a lariat for a two count cover. Hotta comes in and kicks Nanae, they both boot Nanae in the stomach but she avoids Maekawa’s rolling kick. Maekawa hits a high kick anyway, Nanae finally hits the Reverse Splash but Maekawa bridges out of the pin and kicks Nanae out of the ring. Momo lays out Maekawa on the floor, she slides her back in and Nanae hits a reverse double footstomp for a two count.

Momo stays in and dropkicks Maekawa in the head, but Maekawa comes back with a high kick. Jumping kick by Maekawa, and she covers Momo for two. Rolling kick by Maekawa, but this time Nanae breaks up the cover. Drop down kick by Maekawa and she hits a running boot in the corner, she goes up top but Momo joins her, Nanae comes in and she superplexes Maekawa. Diving body press by Momo, Nanae picks up Maekawa and delivers a backdrop suplex. Lariat by Nanae, German suplex hold by Momo but Maekawa kicks out. Mom picks up Maekawa but Hotta runs in and slaps her, kick by Maekawa and she tags in Hotta. Hotta comes in with her chain and shoves down the referee, but Momo sneaks in a victory roll for two. Maekawa returns but Nanae does too and they dropkick Hotta and Maekawa. Momo goes up top and goes for a diving body press, but Hotta gets her feet up. Hotta picks up Momo but Momo slides away and hits a German suplex hold for a two count. Momo picks up Hotta again and dumps her out of the ring, but Maekawa runs in and hoots Momo out of the ring as well. Maekawa then kicks Nanae out of the ring and follows her out, as all four brawl on the floor. Maekawa grabs she chairs and throws them in the ring for Hotta, Momo is slid back in and Hotta puts her on the second turnbuckle. Hotta joins her and hits a German suplex down onto the pile of chairs, cover by Hotta but the referee is not interested in counting due to all the cheating. Nanae runs in and lariats Hotta, Momo and Hotta trade elbows until Hotta punches her in the face and hits a Liger Bomb for a two count. Hotta picks up Momo but Momo gets away, punch by Hotta as Maekawa runs in but Maekawa boots Hotta by accident. German suplex by Nanae to Hotta, Momo jackknifes over Hotta as she picks up a two count. Momo☆OK by Momo and she hits a second one, but Hotta kicks out of the cover. Momo☆Latch by Momo, but Hotta barely gets a shoulder up. Momo picks up Hotta she is hit by a fireball from Hotta’s help at ringside, Hotta picks up Momo and drops her with the Pyramid Driver. Momo comes back with another Momo☆OK but Hotta hits her with the chain. Pyramid Driver by Hotta, but Momo gets a shoulder up on the pin attempt. Hotta picks up Momo but Momo elbows her, Nanae tries to help but Hotta swats her away. A Momo☆Latch gets a two count, Hotta gets Momo up on her shoulder and she nails a Pyramid Driver EX for the three count! Hotta and Maekawa are the winners!

I don’t even know where to begin for a match like this. It had an old school feel, lots of being stubborn and generally not selling things nearly long enough considering what they were doing to each other. Hotta has a reputation as being a selfish worker, likely deserved, and its just odd watching her as its like a relic from the old days where wrestlers didn’t want to ever look weak. She wasn’t uncooperative, she just wasn’t putting a lot of effort into making her opponents look good. Momo and Nanae were the better team as they were putting a lot more effort into making the match entertaining, Maekawa was fine but was mostly just doing kicks and otherwise letting Hotta do the heavy lifting. I enjoyed parts of it, rolled my eyes during other parts and scratched my head more than once, just an oddly put together match. More good than bad for sure but not exactly a classic, watching Hotta is a bit of a chore in of itself unless she is in the ring with someone that doesn’t put up with her shit, which wasn’t really an option for Momo and Nanae. Maybe worth a watch but mostly for Momo and Nanae.  Mildly Recommended

The post AtoZ “1st Anniversary Mainstream” on 7/19/04 Review appeared first on Joshi City.

NEO Ladies was a Joshi promotion that had many re-starts but was running in some form from 1998 to 2010. Originally it was a break-off promotion from All Japan Women, and the name was supposed to be Nippon Women’s Wrestling but they had a trademark issue with New Japan Pro Wrestling.  So they went with NEO Ladies instead. Kyoko Inoue was the Ace of the promotion, but over the years other wrestlers made their name in NEO including Natsuki Taiyo, Nanae Takahashi, Hiroyo Matsumoto, Ayako Hamada, and many others.

This show took place towards the end of NEO’s run, but they still had a great roster. A bit of everything is here, including a title match, some comedy, some legends, a debut, and Kenny Omega in an Intergender Match. Here is the card:

• Aya Yuki vs. Natsumi Kawano
• Fuka and Asami Kawasaki vs. Hikaru Shida and Tsukasa Fujimoto
• Dump Matsumoto vs. Hiroyo Matsumoto vs. Miyako Matsumoto
• Kenny Omega vs. Natsuki*Taiyo
• Mima Shimoda, Kyoko Kimura, Atsuko Emoto, and Tomoka Nakagawa vs. Makoto, Mio Shirai, Io Shirai, and Yukari Ishino
• Emi Sakura vs. Kyoko Inoue
• NEO Tag Team Championship: Nanae Takahashi and Kana vs. Yoshiko Tamura and Ayumi Kurihara

I am skipping one match since it is a battle royal against West Gate Pro Wrestling, a promotion I am not overly familiar with and it was more of a comedy match anyway. Since the event was squeezed down to two hours, some matches will be clipped.

Aya Yuuki vs. Natsumi Kawano

Yuuki pushes Kawano to the ropes to start, Kawano fires back with an elbow but Yuuki throws her around by her hair. Kawano sneaks in a schoolboy but it doesn’t work, dropkicks by Kawano and she covers Yuuki for two. Scoop slam by Yuuki, she picks up Kawano and boots her in the chest before posing to the crowd. Shoulderblock by Yuuki and she hits a second one, a third shoulderblock by Yuuki and she covers the rookie for a two count. Running elbow drop by Yuuki, but again Kawano kicks out of the cover. Yuuki chokes Kawano and throws her to the mat, rolling fireman’s carry slam by Yuuki and she gets the three count! Aya Yuuki wins!

Even though it was short it was actually more even at the beginning than I was expecting. Either Yuuki is ranked even lower than I thought or they had some hopes for Kawano, as the veteran took it pretty easy on her. Kawano didn’t show anything here to make you think she’d be a star, her dropkicks wouldn’t have passed the Meiko Satomura Test, but it was only her first match after all. Nothing much to it.

Fuka and Asami Kawasaki vs. Hikaru Shida and Tsukasa Fujimoto
Super Dimension Encounter ~ Athtress vs. Muscle Venus

Kawasaki and Shida start off the match but both are promptly jumped from behind, Shida and Fujimoto isolate Fuka but Kawasaki returns to help her partner out. Fuka and Kawasaki both hit knees to the chest but things settle back down, judo throw by Shida to Kawasaki and she hits a second one. Kawasaki kicks Shida in the back but Shida ducks the PK, another judo throw by Shida and she tags in Fujimoto. Fujimoto hits a rebound crossbody on Kawasaki but Kawasaki levels her with a boot to the face. Northern Lights Suplex by Kawasaki, but it gets a two count. Fujimoto sends Kawasaki into the ropes but Fuka kicks her from the apron, giving Kawasaki time to recover. Kawasaki tags in Fuka, kicks by Fuka to Fujimoto but Fujimoto hits a tilt-a-whirl headscissors. Sunset flip by Fujimoto but Fuka reverses it and they go back and forth with quick pins. Tiger Feint Kick by Fujimoto, she covers Fujimoto but Fujimoto bridges out of the pin. We clip ahead to Shida being in the ring with Fuka, lariat by Shida and Fujimoto hits Fuka with a Tiger Feint Kick. Shida picks up Fuka but Fuka kicks her, Kawasaki comes in but Kawasaki kicks Fuka in the head by accident. Shida picks up Fuka and hits a delayed vertical suplex, but Fuka kicks out of the cover. Kawasaki walks over and hits Shida with a heel drop, Fuka picks up Shida and she delivers the Fisherman Suplex Hold, but Fujimoto breaks up the cover. Fuka picks up Shida and hits the F Crash for the three count! Fuka and Kawasaki are the winners.

I am not sure if this is a sacrilegious thing to say but I have never been really impressed with Fuka in-ring. Very attractive, apparently a solid trainer, but her strikes never had a lot of impact and the F Crash is not a good finisher since it looks weaker than what we expect from wrestlers in Japan. Its a WWE-looking finisher if you will. I am not too familar with Kawasaki but she looked good here, solid kicks, and Shida is always a treat. A short match made shorter by clipping, a few fun moments but that is about it.

Dump Matsumoto vs. Hiroyo Matsumoto vs. Miyako Matsumoto
Matsumoto #1 Decision Match

Dump goes right after Miyako and levels her with a lariat, body press by Dump and she kicks Miyako out of the ring. She turns to Hiroyo, Hiroyo tries to knock over Dump but Dump absorbs her blows. Hiroyo tries to pick up Dump but can’t, Miyako returns and tries to help Dump but Dump shoulderblocks Miyako back to the mat. Dump flings Miyako by her hair and Hiroyo dropkicks Miyako, Miyako keeps sliding to the apron to escape but Dump pulls her back in so that Hiroyo can hit another dropkick. Hiroyo dropkicks Dump but it has no impact, release German by Dump to Hiroyo but Miyako has returned and tries to elbow Dump. Meanwhile Hiroyo goes up top and hits a missile dropkick on Dump, finally knocking her to the mat. Miyako dances around while Hiroyo holds down Dump, Dump eventually gets up and gets her kendo stick, hitting both Hiroyo and Miyako. Miyako rolls out of the ring but Dump goes out after her and throws her into the stands. Miyako runs away from Dump and returns to the ring, she celebrates but Hiroyo grabs Miyako from behind and hits the backbreaker into a gutbuster for the three count! Hiroyo Matsumoto wins and is the best Matsumoto.

As I mentioned this was more goofy filler than anything else, Dump Matsumoto does a lot of ‘comedy matches while still killing people with weapons’, it is almost one of her things these days. I always enjoy seeing Dump and Hiroyo is great, but just a short match with limited valuable aside from a few possible laughs.

Kenny Omega vs. Natsuki*Taiyo
High Speed Alternate World

Omega tosses Taiyo to the mat after the bell rings and poses, Omega applies a wristlock but Taiyo reverses it before Omega throws her to the mat again. Armdrag by Taiyo and she hits another one, Omega applies a front necklock but Taiyo gets onto the ropes to force a break. The referee tries to step in but Taiyo pushes him away, armdrag by Taiyo and she hits a dropkick. Taiyo kicks Omega into the corner, Irish whip but Omega flips away from her. Omega goes for a hurricanrana but Taiyo reverses it into a powerbomb for a two count. Kicks and slaps by Taiyo but Omega comes back with a jumping kick of his own, Aoi Shoudou by Omega but Taiyo kicks out of the cover. Headbutts and another jumping kick by Omega, he goes to the apron and hits a swandive dropkick to Taiyo’s back. Snap dragon suplex hold by Omega, but Taiyo gets a shoulder up. Omega picks up Taiyo, slaps by Taiyo but Omega hits a release snap dragon suplex. The referee starts a ten count, Taiyo tries to get up but he can’t, and she gets counted down. Kenny Omega wins by KO.

This was too clipped down to recommend, since the match went almost ten minutes I assume that Taiyo got in a bit more offense than this. As it was, the point was for Taiyo to show how tough she is and she did, kicking out of several of Omega’s moves and almost making the ten count at the end. Omega has never minded selling for much smaller wrestlers since he is one of the few that understands it helps everyone to make your opponent look good, and everything they showed was crisp. In full this may have been a match worth hunting down, but not so much in this abridged form.

Mima Shimoda, Kimura, Emoto, and Nakagawa vs. Makoto, Mio Shirai, Io Shirai, and Ishino
Shimoda and Amandora Blitz Union

Shimoda and company attack before the match starts and there are still streamers everywhere, Shimoda stays in with Io and she kicks her in the chest. Shimoda chokes Io in the ropes and throws her down by the hair, her teammates come in the ring and they all post on Io. We clip ahead to Io hitting a missile dropkick on Shimoda, giving her time to tag in Makoto. Armdrag by Makoto and she kicks Shimoda in the chest, jumping kick by Makoto and she covers Shimoda for two. Makoto goes for a double underhook but Shimoda gets out of it, roll-up by Makoto but it gets two. Shimoda’s teammates keep trying to help but it backfires each time, Io sails in with a missile dropkick on Shimoda and Nakagawa and they all stomp on Shimoda. The young underdogs take turns attacking Shimoda in the corner, handstand kneedrop by Makoto and she hits a second one for a two count. Makoto picks up Shimoda and nails the cross arm fisherman suplex hold, but Shimoda barely gets a shoulder up. Makoto’s friends return but they all miss dropkicks, then Shimoda kicks each one of them in the head. German suplex by Shimoda to Makoto and she hits a heel drop for a two count. Shimoda picks up Makoto and hits a tiger suplex hold, but Io breaks up the cover. Shimoda’s friends clear the ring while she puts Makoto on the top turnbuckle, avalanche suplex by Shimoda and she gets the three count! Shimoda and friends win the match.

As is a recurring theme on this show, it was just too clipped to get a real feel of the action. The only legal wrestlers we saw the entire match were Shimoda, Io, and Makoto, which is disappointing when there were five other wrestlers around (I am assuming in a 15 minute match that there were more tags than that). It was fun to watch, a few things were silly like everyone waiting for Shimoda’s heel drops and not everything was smooth, but I always enjoy seeing Joshi babies. Not great since Shimoda was the focus but not bad either.

Emi Sakura vs. Kyoko Inoue
Joshi Puroresu MVP

Sakura dropkicks Inoue right as the bell rings which sends Inoue to the floor, Sakura gets on the top turnbuckle and sails out onto her with a plancha suicida before sliding back into the ring and hitting a tope suicida. Sakura gets on the top turnbuckle and hits a moonsault down to the floor, making three dives by Sakura in the first 20 seconds of the match. Sakura puts Inoue on a table at ringside and goes up to the top turnbuckle, she hits the Nyan Nyan Press but the table doesn’t break, probably making it even more painful for both. Sakura doesn’t care and gets back in the ring, Inoue joins her and Sakura hits a somersault senton for a two count. Sakura goes up top again but Inoue has had enough and clubs her in the head, Inoue joins Sakura but Sakura hits a sunset flip powerbomb for a two count. Sakura goes up top again but again Inoue joins her, and this time Inoue delivers a superplex. Lariat by Inoue, she picks up Sakura but Sakura chops her in the chest. Inoue absorbs the blows and floors Sakura with a hard elbow, Sakura gets back up but Inoue hits a lariat. Big powerbomb by Inoue, but Sakura kicks out of the cover. Inoue picks up Sakura but Sakura slides away and applies La Magistral for a two count. Lariat by Inoue, she waits for Sakura to get up but Sakura ducks the lariat attempt and hits a low flying crossbody for the three count! Emi Sakura wins!

This match wasn’t clipped, it was just a short match. Sakura sure knows how to get the most out of a match that goes less than five minutes, hitting half a dozen high spots within the first 30 seconds of action. It was an entertaining heavyweight sprint, a spotfest for sure but it came across as a special attraction match between two veterans. Inoue getting beaten like this shows the respect she had for Sakura, since technically she was the founder of a rival promotion. I actually enjoyed it for what it was, as I like seeing Sakura fly around the ring, but not long enough to get too excited about.  Mildly Recommended

(c) Nanae Takahashi and Kana vs. Yoshiko Tamura and Ayumi Kurihara
NEO Tag Team Championship Match

Kana and Kurihara begin the match and immediately trade strikes, Kana jumps on the second turnbuckle but Kurihara dropkicks her out of the ring. Kurihara goes up top and dives out of the ring onto both Kana and Takahashi, she slides Kana back in where Tamura is waiting and they both attack Kana in the corner. Double cutter to Kana but Kana avoids the double vertical suplex only to eat a STO. Takahashi has also come in the ring, they are tied together on the mat and both are dropkicked in the head. Tamura stays in with Kana and hits a bridging vertical suplex, picking up a two count. Kana fights back with elbows and kicks but Tamura blocks one and hits a DDT. Suplex by Tamura, she picks up Kana but Kana slaps her in the face and kicks her in the chest. Kick to the head by Kana, and she covers Tamura for two. Kana tags in Takahashi, lariat by Takahashi in the corner but Tamura avoids the next one and delivers a high kick. Kurihara runs in and dropkicks Takahashi, Takahashi lariats out of the ring while Kana knocks Tamura out as well. Kana hits a hip attack off the apron onto Tamura, Takahashi gets a running start in the ring and sails out onto both of her opponents with a tope suicida. Kana waits while Tamura is slid back in and hits a diving hip attack onto Tamura off the top. Takahashi then goes up top and hits the Refrigerator Bomb, but Tamura gets a shoulder up. Takahashi goes for a backdrop suplex but Tamura lands on top of her and then hits a backdrop suplex of her own. Takahashi quickly comes back with a backdrop suplex but Tamura then hits another one. A final backdrop suplex by Takahashi ends the series as both are slow to get up, both wrestlers elbow each other until Takahashi hits a lariat for a two count. Tamura blocks the next lariat attempt and rolls Takahashi to the mat, fancy inside cradle by Tamura but it gets a two count. Tamura picks up Takahashi but Takahashi drives her back into the corner, neckbreaker by Tamura and she goes up top, but Takahashi joins her. Avalanche side slam by Tamura, Kurihara goes up top and Tamura helps her hit a somersault senton. Cobra Clutch Suplex by Tamura and she covers Takahashi, but Kana breaks it up.

Tamura tags in Kurihara, Kurihara goes up top and she hits a missile dropkick. Double knee by Kurihara in the corner and she slaps Takahashi to the mat, dropkick by Kurihara but Takahashi kicks her back and slaps her hard in the face. Cutter by Takahashi, but Kurihara kicks out. Takahashi goes for the reverse splash but Kurihara gets her knees up and hits a Codebreaker. Dropkick by Kurihara while Takahashi is against the ropes, Kana runs in to kick Kurihara and she trips Kurihara while Takahashi hits a lariat. Takahashi goes off the ropes but Kurihara sneaks in an inside cradle for two. Kana comes in but she kicks Takahashi by accident, Tamura then comes in and she elbows Takahashi. Dropkick by Kurihara to Takahashi, but the cover gets two. Kurihara goes off the ropes but Takahashi levels her with a lariat, Takahashi kicks Kurihara in the head but Tamura breaks up the cover. Takahashi tags in Kana, Kana picks up Kurihara and kicks her into the corner. Kana kicks the shit out of Kurihara for a bit but Kurihara catches one and slaps Kana in the face. German suplex hold by Kana, but Kurihara gets a shoulder up. Takahashi comes in and they both hit running kicks to Kurihara, punt kick by Kana and she hits a second one, but Tamura breaks up the cover. Kana goes off the ropes but Tamura intercepts her with an elbow, Takahashi tries to help but she lariats Kana by accident. Uranage by Kurihara, but Takahashi breaks up the pin. Jumping kick to the back of the head by Takahashi to Kurihara, then she hits a Blue Thunder Driver on Tamura. Spinning backfist by Kana to Kurihara, but Kurihara barely kicks out of the cover. Kana goes for a high kick but Kurihara ducks it and hits a uranage, she then drops Takahashi with one as well. Kurihara picks up Kana and hits another uranage, Tamura comes in and they nail the Tamashii wo Hitotsu Ni (Kudo Driver/Back to Belly Piledriver) that I’ve never seen done in my life. Cover on Kana, but Takahashi breaks it up. Kurihara waits for Kana to get up and nails an elevated running double knee strike, and she picks up the three count pinfall! Your winners and new champions are Yoshiko Tamura and Ayumi Kurihara

I mentioned this match had to deliver, and God did they. This was just as stiff as you may imagine, but what was more impressive was that they just went non-stop from bell to bell while keeping the action smooth. I loved that the younger/less experienced wrestlers got the chance to shine by leading the final stretch of the match, and while Tamura was towards the end of her career here her skills had not diminished. The match had everything I could ask for – high flying, Kana kicks, suplexes, “Holy Shit” moments, and suspense. A high end tag match for sure, it is no surprise that Kurihara and Kana’s success and popularity continued to grow after this, both were great in this match. Definitely worth tracking down.  Highly Recommended

The post NEO Women’s Wrestling Carnival 2009 on 12/31/09 Review appeared first on Joshi City.

As I continue my journey of experiencing new wrestlers and new promotions, next up is Joshi promotion ARSION. ARSION was founded by Aja Kong in 1998 with Rossy Ogawa acting as President, a name many will recognize as the owner of Stardom. By 2001 things had changed a bit, as Aja Kong left the promotion after disagreements with management and Lioness Asuka took over the book. This lead to new wrestlers being pushed and a change in the overall feel of the promotion, which we are jumping right in the middle of with this review. The promotion had three titles, two of which will be defended on this show. Here is the full card:

• Ai Fujita vs. Yuu Yamagata
• Chaparita ASARI and Faby Apache vs. Rie Tamada and Rena Takase
• Bionic J vs. GAMI
• TWINSTAR OF ARSION Championship: Etsuko Mita and Mima Shimoda vs. PIKA and POKO
• Lioness Asuka vs. Mariko Yoshida
• QUEEN OF ARSION Championship: Ayako Hamada vs. Michiko Omukai

Since this was shown on TV in a two hour block, a few of the matches will be clipped.

Ai Fujita vs. Yuu Yamagata

We join in progress as Fujita scoop slams Yamagata before putting her in a crab hold. Yamagata makes it to the ropes, Irish whip by Fujita and she delivers a dropkick for a two count. Fujita keeps it on the mat as she applies a sleeper, but Yamagata gets a foot on the ropes. Yamagata fights back with a pair of dropkicks but Fujita rocks her with an elbow and ducks Yamagata’s crossbody attempt. Fujita throws Yamagata in the corner and hits a Space Rolling Avalanche, standing moonsault by Fujita but it only gets two. Jumping lariat by Fujita, she picks up Yamagata but Yamagata rebounds out of the corner with a triple jump crossbody. Fujita levels her with another elbow, she goes up top and hits a missile dropkick for two. Fujita picks up Yamagata and hits a release German, she goes up to the top turnbuckle and nails the moonsault for the three count! Fujita is your winner.

A short match clipped shorter, but not a bad opener. Yamagata showed flashes of ability, just from this I wouldn’t have known she’d be as good as she ended up being but I am not surprised either. Fujita was known for her high flying offense, she mostly stayed grounded here however she did hit a nice looking moonsault. Decent showcase for both wrestlers.

Chaparita ASARI and Faby Apache vs. Rie Tamada and Rena Takase

This match is also joined in progress, with Tamada in the ring with Faby. Takase randomly runs in and spears Faby but Faby avoids Tamada’s missile dropkick. Faby tags in ASARI but Tamada catches her with a Stunner, Tamada goes off the ropes but ASARI pushes her out of the ring. ASARI then goes up top and sails out of the ring down onto both Tamada and Takase, they return to the ring and both ASARI and Faby hit missile dropkicks. Tamada blocks a Northern Lights Suplex but Faby lariats Tamada, helping ASARI hit the move. Frankensteiner by ASARI to Tamada, but the cover gets two. ASARI goes up top but Tamada grabs her from behind and throws ASARI to the mat. German suplex by ASARI but Tamada is back up and hits a roaring elbow. That gives her time to tag in Takase while Faby is tagged in as well, and Faby puts Takase in a Mexican Surfboard. Tamada helps from the apron which allows Takase to apply a quick cross armbreaker, but Faby gets a toe on the ropes.

Takase knocks Faby out of the ring, she then goes up top and dives out of the ring onto ASARI and Faby. Takase gets a chair but the referee tries to get it from her, while the referee is distracted Tamada grabs another chair and whacks Faby with it. Tamada then sets up Faby near the ropes and props the chair against her before hitting a dropkick into the chair from the top turnbuckle. Takase grabs Faby and hits a German suplex hold, but Faby barely kicks out. Takase goes up top but hits a crossbody on Tamada on accident, Faby goes off the ropes but Tamada trips her from the apron. Faby recovers and hits a jumping heel kick on Takase, she goes up top but Takase avoids the diving headbutt. Missile dropkick by Tamada, Takase goes up top and hits a diving crossbody for two. Takase goes off the ropes but Faby levels her with a lariat, Takase sneaks in a backslide but Faby hits another heel kick. Liger Bomb by Faby, and she gets the three count! ASARI and Faby Apache win the match.

What an odd match. Now about four minutes were clipped which can hurt a match in regards to flow and it making sense, but even without that it was probably all over the place. Faby played such an odd role, she really didn’t sell anything long term and each time she hit a big move she would do the ‘cocky’ cover as if she had been winning the whole match. When Faby wasn’t driving me nuts, everything else was great though. Love Takase, she showed a lot of promise and ability for such a young wrestler, and Tamada was on point. ASARI must have been clipped out, as she wasn’t shown as much and played a bit role. Overall I still enjoyed it, lots of solid action, I just wish it was a bit tighter in presentation.  Mildly Recommended

Bionic J vs. GAMI

As we join the match, Bionic J is kneeing GAMI, Irish whip by Bionic J and she hits GAMI in the stomach with a nunchuck. GAMI takes it from her but Bionic J delivers a superkick, she goes for a shoulder tackle but GAMI catches her with a guillotine. GAMI gets Bionic J to the mat but she gets into the ropes, GAMI puts Bionic J on the top turnbuckle and she hits a Frankensteiner, but Bionic jumps to her feet and hits a lariat. Cutter by Bionic J but GAMI bounces up from that and hits a lariat followed by a STO. GAMI goes up top and hits a diving elbow drop, picking up a two count. Chokeslam by Bionic J and she applies a Texas Cloverleaf, but GAMI gets into the ropes. Bionic J throws GAMI into the corner but GAMI drop toeholds her when she charges in and kicks her in the face. GAMI goes for a pump handle but Bionic J blocks it and hits a double underhook facebuster. Bionic J gets on the second turnbuckle but GAMI avoids the diving leg drop and hits a lariat. Pump handle sitout slam by GAMI, but Bionic J kicks out of the cover. GAMI punches Bionic J in the face and puts her in a cross necklock, forcing Bionic J to submit! GAMI is your winner.

Not a whole lot to this one, some good power moves by both but also some random no-selling that didn’t really add anything to the match. It wasn’t a bad watch, as long as you don’t mind some of the more silly aspects of ‘fighting spirit’ cropping up.

(c) Etsuko Mita and Mima Shimoda vs. PIKA and POKO

PIKA and POKO start off with the advantage as they hit dives out of the ring, but one backfires as one of the clowns takes out the other clowns. Shimoda stays in the ring with with, we’ll say PIKA, and pokes her in the eyes, but the other two clowns come in the ring and confuse Shimoda on which one she had really poked in the eyes. Frankensteiner by POKO, then PIKA hits a sunset flip for a two count. PIKA goes for lariats and finally knocks Shimoda over, sunset flip by PIKA and she rolls her around the ring for a two count. Shimoda gets on the top turnbuckle but PIKA avoids her somersault and applies La Magistral for a two count. PIKA goes up top but Shimoda avoids the moonsault, kick by Shimoda and she covers PIKA for two. Shimoda tags in Mita but PIKA rolls her up for two. She gets on the top turnbuckle and hits a cannonball, picking up two again. She goes for another dive but Mita gets her feet up. POKO comes in the ring and distracts Mita, missile dropkick by… PIKA we will say but Mita hits a double chop to the chest. All three clowns pick up Mita but Mita gets out of it, La Magistral by… POKO but it gets a two count. Shimoda comes off the top with a double missile dropkick, Mita picks up POKO and hits a folding powerbomb for two. Mita goes for a powerbomb but she gets hit in the head with a fan, POKO goes for a hurricanrana but Mita blocks it and hits a Death Valley Bomb for the three count! LCO retain their championship.

This was a really odd way to use LCO. LCO are known for being brutal (they were generally heels) but here they are doing shtick. Not being overly cooperative but they still had to take part in it. A few cute spots but I can’t say I enjoyed it as I’d much rather see LCO in a real tag match and keep the clowning around more towards the bottom of the card. Not a good match at all.

Lioness Asuka vs. Mariko Yoshida

They jockey for position to start and end up on the mat, but after a moment they return to their feet. They return to the mat with Asuka on top, Yoshida goes for a triangle choke but Asuka gets out of it and they end up in the ropes. Yoshida goes for a cross armbreaker but Asuka blocks it and gets back up before kicking Yoshida. Asuka baseball slides Yoshida in the leg and drags her out of the ring, throwing Yoshida into a row of chairs forcefully. She goes for a suplex on the floor but Yoshida lands her her feet, snapmare by Asuka and she kicks Yoshida in the back. Asuka slides a table in the ring and then slides Yoshida back in as well, kicks by Asuka and she slaps Yoshida in the face. Asuka slams Yoshida into the table, she then puts the table across Yoshida’s chest and hits a footstomp off the top turnbuckle onto it. Liger Bomb by Asuka, but Yoshida barely gets her shoulder up. Asuka goes for a high kick but Yoshida catches her foot and applies an ankle hold, she then grabs Asuka around the neck before applying a cross armbreaker.

Asuka gets into the ropes, Yoshida picks her up but Asuka hits a lariat. Yoshida comes back with a German suplex but Asuka blocks the Spider Twist, Yoshida gets the triangle choke locked in but Asuka powerbombs out of it. Asuka gets on the top turnbuckle but jumps back off and stomps Yoshida, she goes up again but Yoshida punches her and joins Asuka up top. Superplex by Yoshida but Asuka hits a quick Blue Thunder Driver. Yoshida comes back and drops Asuka with the Air Raid Crash, but Asuka kicks out of the pin attempt. Cross armbreaker by Yoshida but Asuka gets a foot on the ropes, Yoshida hits another Air Raid Crash but again it gets a two count. Yoshida goes off the ropes but Asuka delivers a high kick, Asuka goes to pick up Yoshida but Yoshida slaps her in an armtrap crossface. La Magistral by Yoshida into the Spider Twist, but Asuka inches to the ropes to force the break. Yoshida goes for another Air Raid Crash but Asuka blocks it and hits the Towerhacker Bomb for a two count. Asuka slides Yoshida out of the ring and throws her into the crowd, she removes the mat at ringside and sets up her table. Asuka puts Yoshida on the table and goes up top, hitting a footstomp down to the floor and through the table. Yoshida is quickly slid back into the ring, Liger Bomb by Asuka but Yoshida barely gets a shoulder up. Heel kick by Asuka, she picks up Yoshida and drops her with the LSD II for the three count! Lioness Asuka is the winner!

It is hard to be mad about a match this entertaining but it certainly had its issues. First of all, the result is what it had to be if Asuka was going to be taken seriously, but she has a reputation as being a selfish worker for a reason as she survived every one of Yoshida’s normal signature moves and then sprinted around the ring like nothing happened to win the match. Asuka was feeling no ill effects during the home stretch, which is classic Asuka but made Yoshida look weak in the process. That being said I liked it anyway, Yoshida is so slick with her submissions and Asuka’s style is a bit different as it mixes in fast pace with brutality very effectively. Definitely worth the watch but better if you know what you are getting into, long-term selling is not Asuka’s strong suit.  Recommended

(c) Ayako Hamada vs. Michiko Omukai

Omukai dropkicks Hamada instead of shaking hands as they start with a bang, Hamada tosses Omukai out of the ring and then sails out onto her with an Asai Moonsault, but Omukai hits her with a chair as she jumps out. Hamada gets the chair from Omukai and hits her with it, Hamada slides Omukai back in the ring and she hits a swandive missile dropkick. Springboard crossbody by Hamada but Omukai rocks her with an elbow, Hamada elbows Omukai back and they exchange hard strikes. They finally slow down as Hamada hits a vertical suplex and she puts Omukai in a modified cloverleaf, but Omukai gets out of it and hits an armdrag. She applies a submission but Hamada gets to the ropes, kicks by Omukai to the head of Hamada and she hits a palm thrust to send Hamada to the mat. Omukai pounds on Hamada’s face in the mount position, busting open Hamada in the process. Omukai focuses on Hamada’s bleeding head, she goes for a powerbomb but Hamada pushes her off.

Suplex by Omukai but Hamada headbutts her, more headbutts by Hamada and she hits mounted headbutts until Omukai is bleeding too. Omukai is bleeding everywhere as they trade headbutts, hard elbow by Omukai and she covers Hamada for two. Hamada puts Omukai in an Octopus Hold, she takes it to the mat but Omukai gets a foot on the ropes. Bodyscissors into a submission by Hamada and they trade submissions until Omukai gets to the ropes. Hamada goes for a powerbomb, Omukai blocks it and goes for a cross armbreaker, but Hamada blocks that and puts Omukai on the top turnbuckle. Hamada then joins her and hits a face crusher to the mat, cover by Hamada but it gets two. Hamada charges Omukai but Omukai catches her in a triangle choke, Hamada struggles but manages to make it to the ropes. Omukai picks up Hamada but Hamada slides away and hits a palm strike. Shining Kick by Omukai, she covers Hamada but Hamada gets a foot on the ropes. Spinning backfists by Omukai but Hamada ducks one and slaps her. Spiral Bomb by Hamada, but Omukai barely gets a shoulder up on the cover. Jumping heel kick by Hamada, and she picks up the three count! Your winner and still champion: Ayako Hamada!

Now this was a great match, I loved it. Omukai has great looking and convincing submissions, while Hamada brought lots of fire. The blood loss worked here as both wrestlers snapped a bit once they were busted open, particularly Hamada, and it helped the match go from trading spots to two trying to kill each other. The time went by quickly and nothing felt excessive or out of place. Considering how early Hamada was into her career, she clearly “got it” at a young age, if you are a Hamada fan you really need to track this match down. Perfect way to end the card, it started slow but definitely ended with a bang.  Highly Recommended

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Championships Held: AJW Championship, JWP Tag Team Championship, NWA Women’s Pacific & NEO Championship, Queen Of ARSION Championship, REINA X World Tag Team Championship, Twin Stars Of ARSION Championship, WWWA Tag Team Championship (7x)
Tournaments Won: AJW Tag League the Best (2000)
Awards Won: Tokyo Sports Joshi Puroresu Grand Prize (2000)

Notable Matches:

• October 8th, 1989 vs. Asayo Obata
• November 14th, 1990 with Mita vs. The Honey Wings
• September 18th, 1993 vs. Bat Yoshinaga
• March 30th, 1994 with Mita vs. Inoue and Hotta
• September 2nd, 1995 with Mita vs. Yokota and Asuka
• July 10th, 1999 with Mita vs. Zap I and Zap T
• January 3rd, 2003 with Inoue vs. LCO
• June 22nd, 2003 vs. Mariko Yoshida
• July 17th, 2006 vs. Yuka Nakamura

Signature Moves:

• Axe Kick
• Bridging Tiger Suplex
• Death Lake Driver
• Tiger Suplex Hold

AtoZ Career:

• Joined AtoZ in 2003 when the promotion was created
• Retired in late 2003, however she remained part of AtoZ behind the scenes
• Returned to the ring in 2004, before leaving AtoZ altogether in 2005

In Action:

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