Event: Marvelous 6th Anniversary
Date: May 1st, 2022
Location: Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan
Announced Attendance: Unknown
Broadcast: Streamed on Zaiko and Passmarket

I don’t get to watch a lot of Marvelous these days, which is a shame since they are a fun little promotion. Run by Chigusa Nagayo and led by Takumi Iroha, they have had a lot of issues the last few years with wrestlers leaving or getting injured, but they still plug along and put on entertaining events. This is a big show for them, as for their Anniversary event they are running Korakuen Hall. Its not a long event with only five matches (I’ll only be reviewing the Joshi matches, so four for our purposes), but that doesn’t mean it won’t deliver. Even though this is a Marvelous event, the titles for the revived GAEA Japan promotion will be defended, since Chigusa Nagayo is a big part of its occasional revival. Here is the Joshi portion of the card:

• An Chamu, Chikayo Nagashima, and Makoto vs. Ai Houzan, Miyako Matsumoto, and Yurika Oka
• Maria vs. Riko Kawahata
• AAAW Championship: Takumi Iroha vs. Yuu
• AAAW Tag Team Championship: Itsuki Aoki and Rin Kadokura vs. Kaoru Ito and Tomoko Watanabe

All wrestlers on the show have a profile on Joshi City, you can click on their name above to go straight to it. Onto the show!

An Chamu, Nagashima, and Makoto vs. Ai Houzan, Matsumoto, and Yurika Oka

Team Matsumoto attack their opponents from behind to start the match, Chamu is isolated and triple teamed in the corner. Makoto and Nagashima eventually return to even the odds, and eventually Houzan stays in the ring with Chamu to become the legal wrestlers. Kick to the check by Chamu, she picks up Houzan while Nagashima comes in the ring so they can double team her. Chamu tags Makoto, kick by Makoto to Houzan and she hits a hard shoulderblock. Another shoulderblock by Makoto, and she covers Houzan for two. Makoto works a headlock, Houzan pushes her back into the corner and Makoto tags Nagashima and Nagashima keeps up the assault on Houzan, but Houzan eventually delivers a dropkick and tags Matsumoto. Matsumoto throws Nagashima into the corner but when she charges in, Nagashima puts her in a hanging armbar. She lets go and steps on Matsumoto’s hands, running kick by Nagashima and she covers Matsumoto for two. Nagashima goes for another kick but it gets blocked, Nagashima knocks Matsumoto to the mat but Matsumoto bridges out of the pin. Nagashima returns to the dominate position anyway, Complete Shot by Nagashima and she tags Chamu.

Chamu dropkicks Matsumoto before hitting a DDT for a two count. Schoolboy by Chamu and she applies a figure four, but Matsumoto gets to the ropes for the break. Chamu goes for a hip attack but Matsumoto moves, kick by Matsumoto and she delivers a Stunner followed by a Shining Wizard for two. Matsumoto tags Oka, lots of dropkicks by Oka and she covers Chamu for two. Face crusher by Oka, she gets on the second turnbuckle but Nagashima grabs her from the apron. This gives Chamu time to recover and she throws Oka back to the mat, hair toss by Chamu and she hits a running double knee in the corner. Chamu picks up Oka, Oka gets away from her but Chamu kicks Oka in the head. Fisherman suplex by Chamu, and she covers Oka for two. Makoto is tagged in, Makoto boots Oka in the corner and hits an armdrag. Makoto applies an armbar but it gets broken up, scoop slam by Oka and everyone on her team runs over Makoto’s stomach. Nagashima and Chamu eventually get in the ring to help their partner, spinning headscissors by Oka to Makoto and she hits a dropkick. Oka charges Makoto but Makoto drop toeholds her into the ropes and delivers a big boot for two. Drop toehold by Oka and she cradles Makoto for two. Dropkick by Oka and she tags Houzan, dropkicks by Houzan to Makoto and she covers her for two. Houzan picks up Makoto and hits a series of elbows, dropkick by Houzan but Makoto boots her in the throat.

Double kneedrop by Makoto, but it gets two. Makoto picks up Houzan but Houzan slides away, and the two trade flash pins for two counts. Double underhook suplex by Makoto and she tags Nagashima, boots by Nagashima to Houzan but Houzan gets away and delivers a few quick dropkicks. Houzan picks up Nagashima but Nagashima blocks her slam and hits one of her own. She goes off the ropes but Oka cuts her off with a dropkick, double dropkicks to Nagashima and Matsumoto kicks Nagashima in the back. Houzan goes to the top turnbuckle and hits a missile dropkick, cover by Houzan but it gets two. Houzan goes back up top again with an assist from Oka, but Makoto boots Oka and tosses Houzan to the mat. Chamu kicks Houzan before Nagashima hits a suplex for two. Nagashima goes to the top turnbuckle but Houzan avoids the diving footstomp, Makoto tries to help but boots Nagashima by mistake. Cover by Houzan to Nagashima, but it gets a two count. Scoop slam by Nagashima but Houzan rolls her up for two. Houzan goes off the ropes but Nagashima boots her in the head, Nagashima picks up Houzan and nails a Fisherman Buster for the three count! Chikayo Nagashima, Makoto, and An Chamu are the winners!

A perfectly fine multi-wrestler tag match. I haven’t seen Oka in awhile, she looked really good and is coming along well, she flies under the radar due to Sendai Girls’ not being talked about much these days but she certainly has all the basics down. It is difficult in a sub-15 minutes six wrestler match for everyone to get some shine, but no one looked out of place as the veterans controlled things and the young wrestlers got their moments. Ultimately not a match that will stick in the brain but nothing wrong with it either, pretty solid work by all.

Maria vs. Riko Kawahata

They are making it obvious from the start that there is a ten minute time limit, which is an ominous sign. Maria immediately goes for a dropkick but Riko moves, boot by Maria and she kicks Riko into the ropes. Running boot by Maria, she goes to the apron and hits a slingshot footstomp. Kick to the ribs by Maria and she hits a heel drop, Riko recovers but Maria hits a dragon screw. Maria hits Riko in the knee before applying an ankle hold, she lets go after a moment and hits a sliding kick. Maria keeps on Riko’s knee and slams her into the mat, she puts Riko in an armtrap crossface but eventually lets go and picks Riko up. Riko snaps off an enzuigiri and delivers a sliding kick of her own, covering Maria for two. Maria quickly puts Riko in a kneelock but Riko gets to the ropes for the break, Maria charges Riko but Riko moves, sunset flip by Maria and the two trade cradle pin attempts. Maria gets Riko’s back and applies an Octopus Hold, they end up on the ground as Maria pulls on Riko’s arm but Riko doesn’t submit. Maria kicks at Riko but Riko nails her with a superkick, Northern Lights Suplex Hold by Riko but it gets two.

Riko picks up Maria and hits a high kick, knee by Riko and she puts Maria in a cross armbreaker. Maria wiggles to the ropes to get the break, Riko goes off the ropes but Maria hits a dropkick. Cross armbreaker takedown by Maria and she keeps it locked in, but Riko rolls out of it so Maria applies an ankle hold instead. She switches to a cross kneelock and then a figure four leglock, but Riko gets to the ropes. Maria goes off the ropes but Riko boots her, they trade strikes until Maria knocks Riko off her feet. Maria picks up Riko and hits a snap suplex, but Riko returns fire with a release German. Just one minute left in the match as they go into high gear, trading flash pins with no success. Kick by Maria and she goes for Riko’s arm, but Riko rolls away and kicks Maria in the stomach. Head kick by Riko, she goes to the top turnbuckle but Maria avoids the moonsault. Cradle by Maria, but Riko kicks out. Snap suplex by Maria, but the bell rings before she can do anything else as time expires. The match is a Draw.

For a match clearly designed to be a Draw (they kept the time up on the big screen and showed it throughout), this was really good. I’m a little behind in my Marvelous viewing but Maria is progressing really well, I don’t know why she isn’t getting more of a push somewhere but she has a lot of great moves and shows emotion. Her submission game is smooth, everything they did was fluid. Riko looked good as well but this felt more like a showcase for Maria, which makes sense as this is her home promotion. An entertaining match, would like to see these two get more time without a telegraphed end result.  Mildly Recommended

(c) Takumi Iroha vs. Yuu
AAAW Championship

They tie-up to start, Yuu pushes Takumi into the ropes but she allows Takumi to get back up. They end up on the mat and trade holds, Takumi spins away from Yuu and slaps her back before retreating. Side headlock by Takumi, Yuu Irish whips out of it and the two collide with neither going down. Takumi tries to shoulderblock Yuu over with no luck, she tries again but Yuu shoulderblocks her down. Scoop slam by Yuu but Takumi avoids her running senton, successful shoulderblock by Takumi and she kicks Yuu in the chest. Cover by Takumi, but Yuu pushes her off with ease and returns to her feet. Snapmare by Takumi and she kicks Yuu in the back, but Yuu gets up and chops Takumi in the chest. Spinning sidewalk slam by Yuu and she hits a senton, Takumi quickly rolls out of the ring and tries to recover. She eventually does so and gets on the apron, but Yuu knocks her back down to the floor. Yuu drops down in the ring and rolls out of it and over the apron, landing on top of Takumi. Yuu returns to the ring as Takumi slowly follows, cover by Yuu but it gets a two count. Yuu picks up Takumi but Takumi kicks her, she goes for a suplex but Yuu pushes her away. Kick combination by Takumi and she hits a PK followed by a sliding kick. Snap vertical suplex by Takumi, she picks up Yuu and applies a sleeper hold. Yuu inches to the ropes and makes it to force a break, Takumi kicks Yuu in the corner and delivers a dropkick.

Another kick by Takumi but Yuu eventually catches one and chops Takumi in the chest. They trade blows until Yuu knocks Takumi to the mat, she picks her back up and hits a crossbody for a two count. Yuu gets on the second turnbuckle but Takumi recovers and hits an elbow, she joins Yuu and hits a superplex down to the mat. Takumi positions Yuu and goes to the top turnbuckle, diving senton by Takumi and she covers Yuu for two. Takumi throws Yuu into the corner and tries to pick her up, but Yuu won’t budge. Takumi charges Yuu but Yuu knocks her to the mat, cannonball by Yuu and she covers Takumi for two. Yuu goes for a powerbomb but Takumi blocks it, slaps by Yuu but Takumi blocks the powerbomb again. Takumi charges Yuu but Yuu slams her to the mat, Yuu goes to the second turnbuckle and hits a Reverse Splash for a two count. Yuu goes up top but Takumi elbows her, Takumi joins Yuu but Yuu chops her back to the mat and hits a diving crossbody for two. Yuu picks up Takumi but Takumi hits a back bodydrop, Yuu quickly hits a running senton though to stay in control. Yuu picks up Takumi but Takumi hits a heel kick, chops by Yuu and she slaps Takumi to the mat. Another chop by Yuu but Takumi elbows her, kicks by Takumi and she covers Yuu for two. Kick combination by Takumi, she goes for a powerbomb but Yuu shrugs her off. More kicks by Takumi, she puts Yuu in the corner and positions her for the Running Three. Yuu blocks it so Takumi superkicks her in the face, she tries again and this time nails the Running Three for the three count! Takumi Iroha wins and retains the championship.

This was a really fun match, however it may have gone a few minutes longer than it needed to based on the setup. The story of the match was simple – Yuu was bigger and stronger than Takumi so Takumi slowly cut her down with strikes until she was weak enough to get up for the Running Three. Its a good story but a heavyweight hoss/strike battle doesn’t necessarily need to be 20+ minutes to tell it as it did get a little repetitive at times. Takumi’s kicks always deliver and the match felt like hers to lose from the start as Yuu didn’t really have any convincing nearfalls – the story was always about Takumi. A match I enjoyed for sure, a safe defense for Takumi but still a solid one.  Recommended

Itsuki Aoki and Rin Kadokura vs. Kaoru Ito and Tomoko Watanabe
AAAW Tag Team Championship

The kids attack the vets before the match starts, Watanabe is then isolated and double teamed. Rin stays in as legal and snapmares Watanabe, hitting a sliding knee for a two count. Watanabe comes back with a suplex and hits a scoop slam, leg drop by Watanabe and she puts Rin in a crab hold. Rin gets out of it so Watanabe puts her in a Scorpion Deathlock instead, Ito comes in and stands on Rin’s hands before stomping on them. Watanabe lets go of the hold so she and Ito can drive Rin’s knees into the mat, Watanabe tags Ito and Ito lariats Watanabe in the corner. Crab hold by Ito, Itsuki tries to break it up but is unable to do so. Ito pulls on Rin’s hair but eventually stops and applies a chinlock, Itsuki tries to help again and eventually Ito lets go. Ito stands on Rin and applies a single leg crab hold, but Rin gets to the ropes for the break. Rin finally hits a move as she delivers a jumping neck drop, giving her time to tag Itsuki. Itsuki elbows Ito but Ito elbows her to the mat, Itsuki gets back up but promptly is elbowed down again. She keeps trying with no luck, but does manage to get Ito off her feet with a face crusher. Body press by Itsuki, but it gets two. Itsuki tries to pick up Ito but Ito blocks it, Irish whip by Ito and Itsuki tries to shoulderblock Ito over with no success. Hard shoulderblock by Ito and she hits a footstomp, running senton by Ito and she covers Itsuki for a two count. Ito tags Watanabe, Watanabe goes for a suplex but Rin attacks her from behind.

Double Irish whip to Watanabe but she hits a double rebound crossbody on both of her opponents, Itsuki manages to get Watanabe down with a drop toehold (with some help) and hits a sliding kick. Itsuki sets up Watanabe in the ropes and chargers in, but Ito grabs Itsuki from the apron and Watanabe hits a lariat. Watanabe goes off the ropes but Itsuki catches her with a STO for two. Itsuki tags Rin, they pick up Watanabe but Ito runs in with a double lariat. Itsuki and Rin recover and hit a double superkick to Watanabe, diving body press by Itsuki from the second turnbuckle and Rin follows with a double footstomp for a two count. Rin picks up Watanabe but Ito returns again and hits a lariat. Ito tries again to help but she hits Watanabe by accident, release German by Rin to Watanabe but Watanabe returns to her feet. Rin plants her again, this time with a release Dragon Suplex, she hits a Northern Lights Suplex Hold but Watanabe kicks out. Rin gets Watanabe’s back, Itsuki superkicks Watanabe and Rin hits a crucifix drop for two. Double superkick to Ito, Rin tries to superkick Watanabe but she hits Itsuki by accident. Lariat by Watanabe to Rin and she tags Ito. Lariat by Ito, and she covers Rin for two. Ito picks up Rin and nails a powerbomb, Itsuki runs in but Ito drops her with a uranage.

Rin and Itsuki end up outside the ring and Ito drills them both with a dropkick through the ropes, Watanabe throws Rin back in and Ito delivers a sit-out powerbomb but Itsuki breaks up the pin. Watanabe gets on the top turnbuckle, Ito feeds Rin to her and Watanabe hits a diving lariat. The cover is broken up again, Ito gets on the second turnbuckle but Itsuki elbows her before she can jump off. Watanabe takes care of Itsuki which allows Ito to hit a diving footstomp, but her cover is broken up. Watanabe gets on the second turnbuckle and hits a body press to Rin, Ito goes all the way up but Itsuki grabs her from the apron. Itsuki distracts Ito until Rin can recover, Rin joins Ito and hits a Frankensteiner. Rin waits for Ito to get up and hits a jumping DDT, but she is too hurt to capitalize and Ito is up first. Ito picks up Rin as Watanabe runs in, but Watanabe lariats Ito by mistake. Itsuki gets Rin on her shoulders and helps her set up for the crucifix slam on Ito, Rin hits the move on Ito and holds her down for the three count! Rin Kadokura and Itsuki Aoki are the new champions!

Poorly done ending aside, with Ito not even willing to keep her shoulders on the mat for a big title win up for grabs, this was a VERY Veteran vs. Young Underdog match. The entire structure was just Itsuki and Rin doing their damnedest to just knock their opponents off their feet, let along get a nearfall. Its not necessarily a bad story, and with Ito and Watanabe definitely not a surprising one, as that has been their go-to match setup for probably the last 15 years. But it led to some problems, like some really iffy transitions (for example when Ito recovered first after being dropped by Rin’s DDT) and the win coming across as a fluke lucky win. Rin and Itsuki are both exciting young wrestlers, so giving them a tiny bit more of a rub wouldn’t have hurt anything, although its surprising enough that Watanabe and Ito lost so I guess we have to take what we can get. I give Itsuki and Rin credit for trying hard, and Ito/Watanabe for mostly rolling with the punches, but it still would be disingenuous to say the match was good even if they got the winners right. It wasn’t bad, and is perfectly watchable, but predictable in structure and for such a big match it would have been nice if they had gone a little outside the box to surprise us.

The post Marvelous 6th Anniversary on 5/1/22 Review appeared first on Joshi City.

Event: Pro Wrestling WAVE “Catch The Wave Final”
Date: July 1st, 2021
Location: Shinjuku FACE in Tokyo, Japan
Announced Attendance: 180
Broadcast: Streamed on Confetti Web

After a long break, I have finally grabbed a Pro Wrestling WAVE event to review! There are a few reasons I don’t watch WAVE often. A big one is as WAVE has no TV deal or regular streaming service, not as many of their shows are readily available. WAVE has been streaming off and on this year on a service called Confetti Web, but its expensive, ranging from $20 to $35 a show. Which I consider expensive due to the other reason I don’t watch much WAVE, which is that their base roster is lackluster so they depend on having quality wrestlers from other places to prop up their shows. Plus, some of their matches tend to be a bit too goofy for my personal taste. Luckily, for Catch the WAVE they did bring in quality outsiders, and this is a full event with six matches. So it could be fun. Here is the full card:

• Tomoko Watanabe vs. Shizuku Tsukata
• Catch The WAVE 2021 Semi Final: Nagisa Nozaki vs. Miyuki Takase
• Catch The WAVE 2021 Semi Final: Kaori Yoneyama vs. Rin Kadokura
• Itsuki Aoki, YAKO, and Yuu vs. SAKI, Yappy, and Yumi Ohka
• Ami Miura, Mio Momono, and Momo Kohgo vs. Hibiscus Mii, Sakura Hirota, and Yuki Miyazaki
• Catch The WAVE 2021 Final: Rin Kadokura vs. Miyuki Takase

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

Tomoko Watanabe vs. Shizuku Tsukata
We kick off the show with a very traditional veteran vs. rookie match. Tomoko Watanabe is on the Legend tier of veterans, as she has had over a dozen title reigns in a 30 year career. She comes in from Marvelous to take on WAVE’s newest wrestler, as Shizuku just debuted in April. She isn’t a kid, which will help her not get completely squashed, but this will likely still be a one-sided affair. But hopefully the rookie will learn a thing or two in defeat.

Shizuku offers a handshake to start but instead throws Watanabe into the corner, dropkick by Shizuku but Watanabe dropkicks her back. Scoop slam by Watanabe and she hits an elbow drop off the side ropes for a two count. Shizuku gets back up and elbows Watanabe to the ropes, dropkick by Watanabe but Watanabe stays up. Shizuku goes for a scoop slam but Watanabe blocks it, camel clutch by Watanabe but she lets go after a moment so she can apply a single leg crab hold. Shizuku crawls to the ropes to force the break, Watanabe picks up Shizuku and hits a vertical suplex. Watanabe puts the crab hold back on but Watanabe gets a foot on the ropes, Watanabe drags Shizuku back to the middle of the ring and puts her in a stretch hold. She switches to a bodyscissors but Shizuku rolls out of it and hits a series of mounted elbows. Shizuku picks up Watanabe but still can’t slam her, scoop slam by Watanabe and she knees Shizuku in the midsection. Watanabe picks up Shizuku, Shizuku fights back with elbows but again Watanabe slams her.

Shizuku returns to her feet quickly and hits more elbows, but gets slammed for her trouble. Shizuku slowly gets up and hits a few elbows, Watanabe goes for a slam but Shizuku lands on top of her. Dropkicks by Shizuku but Watanabe swats one away and puts her in a single leg crab hold. Shizuku gets to the ropes for the break, Watanabe pulls her back but Shizuku cradles her for two. Shizuku goes off the ropes and hits a dropkick, but Watanabe boots her to the mat for a two count. Irish whip by Watanabe to the corner but Shizuku dropkicks her, cover by Shizuku but it gets two. Shizuku hops up to the second turnbuckle but Watanabe catches her crossbody attempt and slams her to the mat. Watanabe goes to the second turnbuckle and hits a bodypress, cover by Watanabe but it only gets two. Watanabe picks up Shizuku but Shizuku sneaks in a backslide for two, lariat by Watanabe and she puts Shizuku in a Sharpshooter. Shizuku doesn’t struggle for long before tapping out! Tomoko Watanabe is the winner.

This was a very “by the numbers” veteran vs. rookie match. Which isn’t necessarily bad, this has been the trusted formula since the beginning of wrestling to help bring along new wrestlers. Watanabe dominated, Shizuku got in some hope spots, but ultimately Watanabe was too much for the young wrestler and put her away. A simple but logical story. Too soon to tell what Shizuku’s future in wrestling will be, but not a bad way to start the event.

Nagisa Nozaki vs. Miyuki Takase
Catch The WAVE 2021 Semi Final
The next two matches will determine who will wrestle in the tournament finals later tonight. Even though Miyuki Takase is affiliated with Actwres girl’Z, she has always been connected with WAVE too as she has wrestled a lot in WAVE since her debut in 2017. In fact she has wrestled in WAVE more than Actwres girl’Z in her career and did some training there as well, so WAVE is her home away from home. She is against Nagisa Nozaki, who is one of the top wrestlers in this “new” version of WAVE and she held their top title for almost the entirety of 2020. Both Nagisa and Miyuki are talented and would fit in well in the Finals of the tournament.

They charge each other to start as they get right into it, Nagisa boots back Miyuki repeatedly but Miyuki catches one and dropkicks Nagisa in the knee. Miyuki charges Nagisa but Nagisa moves, and she dumps Miyuki out onto the apron. Nagisa goes for a big boot but Miyuki moves, with Nagisa’s leg getting caught over the top rope. Miyuki takes advantage of this and starts working on Nagisa’s leg, Nagisa falls out of the ring after a moment and Miyuki goes after her. Kick by Nagisa and she boots Miyuki in the head, she waits for Miyuki to get up and charges her but Miyuki delivers a powerslam. Miyuki slams Nagisa’s knee into the floor before sliding her back into the ring, Miyuki drags Nagisa’s leg to the ring post and slams her knee repeatedly into it. Back in, Miyuki keeps up the leg work, cover by Miyuki but it gets two. Miyuki picks up Nagisa but Nagisa boots her away, elbow by Miyuki but Nagisa slaps on the sleeper. Miyuki drives Nagisa into the corner to break up the hold, dropkick by Miyuki off the second turnbuckle and she hits a lariat in the corner. Second turnbuckle elbow strike by Miyuki, and she covers Nagisa for two. Miyuki goes to the top turnbuckle but Nagisa elbows her and joins her, hitting a superplex down to the mat. Somato by Nagisa, but it gets a two count. A sliding kick by Nagisa follows, but that gets a two as well so Nagisa slaps on a sleeper hold. Miyuki struggles back up but Nagisa hits a STO before re-applying the hold. Miyuki is too close to the ropes however and makes it there for the break, kick to the ribs by Nagisa and she goes to the top turnbuckle.

Miyuki grabs her before she can jump off and climbs up as well, headbutt by Miyuki and she powerslams Nagisa back to the mat for a two count. Miyuki puts Nagisa in a submission but Nagisa is by the ropes and grabs the bottom one for the break. Miyuki charges Nagisa and hits a lariat, another lariat by Miyuki and she covers Nagisa for two. Miyuki picks up Nagisa and hits the Kamikaze, diving guillotine leg drop by Miyuki off the second turnbuckle but Nagisa barely kicks out. Vertical suplex by Miyuki, she drags up Nagisa but Nagisa fights her off. Miyuki charges Nagisa but Nagisa boots her in the face, Ripcord Boot by Nagisa and she hits another, but Miyuki blocks the third attempt and delivers a lariat. Both wrestlers are down on the mat and slowly get up at the same time, trading elbows in the process. Miyuki charges Nagisa but Nagisa blocks the lariat and rolls Miyuki to the mat, applying the sleeper. Miyuki almost goes out but gets a foot on the ropes right before doing so, Nagisa picks up Miyuki and nails a series of sliding kicks. Nagisa drags up Miyuki and hits a final sliding kick, but Miyuki barely kicks out. Nagisa waits for Miyuki to get up but Miyuki catches her with a Samoan Driver, lariat by Miyuki and she covers Nagisa for two. Miyuki drags Nagisa near the corner, she goes to the second turnbuckle and hits a guillotine legdrop, but Nagisa kicks out. Miyuki goes off the ropes but Nagisa boots her in the head, getting a two count of her own. Nagisa goes off the ropes but eats a lariat, Nagisa strikes back with another jumping kick but Miyuki returns fire with a lariat. Twister vertical suplex by Miyuki, she goes up to the top turnbuckle and nails the guillotine legdrop, picking up the three count! Miyuki Takase wins and advances to the Catch The WAVE 2021 Finale!

This match wasn’t without its issues but it was still entertaining. They went heavy into the move spam overkill, which is a little excessive for the second match on the card. I don’t mind overkill in the right situations but the repetitive moves and nearfalls is better suited for the main event. I also wish Nagisa had done a bit more to sell the leg with Miyuki’s work on it, but she didn’t seem phased a bit. That being said, this was a really fast paced and counter-full match and they have good chemistry together, so the action was smooth. Nagisa got a lot of very convincing nearfalls (and her sleeper is a legitimate finisher), so it felt like a very even match throughout that either wrestler could win. I think these two could do better, but still a solid match overall and a fitting Semi Final match for the tournament.  Mildly Recommended

Kaori Yoneyama vs. Rin Kadokura
Catch The WAVE 2021 Semi Final
Now the second match of the Catch the WAVE Semi Finals. These two are in very different phases of their careers. Kaori Yoneyama, better known to some fans as Fukigen Death in Stardom, is a respected veteran but has settled more into the “trainer” role that some vets opt for as she seems more interested in helping the next wave of wrestlers than going around and winning big matches. Which certainly is her choice to make, as she has been wrestling for over 20 years. Rin Kadokura is a young and far less experienced wrestler from Marvelous – she has had some injury issues in her career but has shown a lot of promise. Rin winning would make more sense, but its hard to count out someone with Yoneyama’s credentials.

Yoneyama quickly goes for a few flash pins as the bell rings, Irish whip by Yoneyama but Rin blocks it and hits an elbow. Jumping lariat by Rin and she charges Yoneyama, but Yoneyama holds down the top rope and Rin tumbles down to the floor. Yoneyama goes out to the apron and attacks Rin with a jumping knee, she slides Rin back in and knees her in the back of the head. Yoneyama goes to the second turnbuckle and delivers a diving senton, but it gets a two count. She then goes all the way up but Rin recovers and joins her, Yoneyama knocks her back but Rin charges in again and this time hits the Frankensteiner. Rin goes to the second turnbuckle and hits a diving footstomp, but it gets a two count. Rin picks up Yoneyama but Yoneyama blocks the suplex, superkick by Rin but Yoneyama connects with a jumping back kick for two. Rin shrugs off Yoneyama, schoolboy by Rin and the two trade cradle attempts until Rin holds down Yoneyama for the three count! Rin Kadokura wins and advances to the Catch The WAVE Finale!

Too short to get excited about, I wouldn’t have minded if they went a bit longer even if they were going to go the flash pin route. As its a fluky win, it doesn’t really do much to boost Rin, and Yoneyama isn’t generally a wrestler that cares too much about being protected. “Surprise” type wins are normal in tournaments but usually more so in the points round. Nothing wrong with it, but if you were looking for a long exciting match between these two, they opted not to go in that direction and basically gave Rin a free pass to the finals.

Itsuki Aoki, YAKO, and Yuu vs. SAKI, Yappy, and Ohka
WAVE is giving Miyuki Takase and Rin Kadokura a break before they have to wrestle again, so we are going to have two tag matches now as filler. Only Yumi Ohka here is affiliated with Pro Wrestling WAVE, as everyone else is a Freelancer or part of another promotion. This is really just a collection of wrestlers in the Catch The WAVE Tournament that didn’t reach the Semi Finals that they decided to throw together in a tag match. Which is a perfectly fine way to fill out a card, but I’m not expecting top level chemistry with teams that were randomly assigned using wrestlers from various places.

Ohka runs over and boots Itsuki before the match even starts, running boot by Ohka to Itsuki and she leaves the ring so Yappy can take over. Yappy attacks Itsuki in the corner before sitting on her for a two count cover. Yappy gets Itsuki on her shoulders but Itsuki gets away and hits a running elbow followed by a face crusher. Body press by Itsuki and she tags in Yuu. Yuu picks up Yappy and chops her repeatedly, but Yappy ducks one and hits an elbow as the two trade shots. Yuu throws Yappy into the corner but Yappy butts her in the face when she charges in, hip attacks by Yappy and she hits a running one of the corner. Seated senton by Yappy and she covers Yuu for a two count. Yappy tags in SAKI, SAKI hits a series of boots to the head but Yuu catches one and hits a chop. Yuu goes for a senton but SAKI moves, Itsuki and YAKO come in however and all three take turns attacking SAKI. YAKO is tagged in once she returns to the apron, hip attack by YAKO but SAKI avoids her charge in the corner and hits a series of knees. Vertical suplex by SAKI but YAKO blocks her kick attempt and hits a DDT. Hip attack by YAKO but SAKI avoids the next one and with Ohka they take turns booting YAKO in the head. SAKI picks up YAKO, double Irish whip but YAKO hits a hip attack on both of them.

YAKO talks a bit but Itsuki and Yuu don’t like whatever she is saying and both attack her. YAKO is thrown into the corner, and all five of the other wrestlers in the match hit running strikes. SAKI ends it with a big boot on YAKO, she tags in Ohka who boots YAKO again for a two count cover. Ohka goes for a brainbuster but YAKO blocks it and hits a Stunner, she charges Ohka but Ohka drops her with the Snake Eyes. Running boot by Ohka and Yappy follows with a seated senton, backdrop suplex by Ohka and she covers YAKO for two. Ohka picks up YAKO but YAKO blocks the suplex, DDT by Ohka and she hits a heel drop. Big boot by Ohka, she covers YAKO but YAKO barely kicks out. Chokebomb by Ohka, but Yuu breaks up the cover with a low crossbody. Itsuki takes care of Yappy before turning to Ohka, running strike by Itsuki and Yuu follows with a cannonball. Diving body press by Itsuki to Ohka and she throws YAKO on top of Ohka for the cover. Yappy tries to break it up but YAKO moves, and she ends up hitting a body press on Ohka by mistake. SAKI tries to help but has the same issue, Yuu goes to the second turnbuckle and hits a diving body press onto Ohka. YAKO then goes all the way up and nails the swivel body press, and she gets the three count! Itsuki Aoki, YAKO, and Yuu are the winners.

This is one of those WAVE matches that just does little for me. Its a weird blend of goofy and serious, and admittedly since I don’t know Japanese I don’t know what caused the random YAKO attack in the middle but the whole situation is just too odd. YAKO took way too much offense while her teammates just watched, but then suddenly they wanted to win so they helped YAKO until she got the three count. These teams were random so they weren’t friends going in, but without a storyline I’d prefer just a solid six wrestler tag than one with sporadic shenanigans. The action was generally ok and a few of these wrestlers are quite good, but it was just meandering and didn’t really click as a cohesive match. Just midcard filler.

Ami Miura, Mio Momono, and Kohgo vs. Hibiscus Mii, Sakura Hirota, and Miyazaki
I am not really sure how we got this combination of wrestlers. While the last match had a small amount of shenanigans and silliness, I am assuming this one will have even more. Miyazaki is a long time vet that can wrestle serious, but tends to sprinkle in more playful moments. Hibiscus Mii is the same way, and everyone knows Sakura Hirota’s manner of business. The other team has more “traditional” wrestlers, with two wrestlers from Actwres girl’Z and the delightful Mio Momono. I wish this match was clipped, but its not, so lets see what they put together.

Mii apparently wrestles in regular clothing with a bag over her shoulder, so not a great start to my dream of this match not being completely goofy. Mii and Ami start the match and naturally Mii is in a chatty mood so it takes time to get to any action. They eventually get to it as Ami hits a shoulderblock, scoop slam by Ami and Mii’s bag finally falls off as Ami hits a second one. A third slam by Ami and Mii rolls out of the ring to re-group. Hirota takes her place, chops by Ami to Hirota but Hirota blocks the Irish whip and hits a face crusher. Ami and Hirota trade lariats and Oil Checks, dropkick by Ami but Hirota gets her deep with her fingers and the two rolls out of the ring together. Mii has her bag back on as she comes in with Miyazaki to double team Momo, Hirota eventually returns and she grabs Momo’s wrist to do the rope walk. Momo pushes her off before Hirota can even get her to the corner, kick by Momo and she is the one that gets Hirota by the wrist to do the rope walk. She gets to the middle of the ropes and goes for Hirota’s second rope bounce trick, but struggles to execute it. Hirota gets her back in the ring and tells her she did a good try (I assume), Hirota lays down and lets Momo do the Hirota Hop over her.

Momo goes for a second one but Hirota jumps up and kicks her, and they talk some more. Put me out of my misery please. Momo challenges Hirota to put her fingers up her butt but Ami cuts her off with a dropkick, Ami then drives Hirota’s face into Momo’s butt repeatedly. Ami stays in and they both dropkick Hirota, Ami picks up Hirota but Hirota does some goofy stuff as she runs around and slips on all the ropes. Hirota takes herself out of the match so Mii comes in, but she talks a bit when Ami tries to engage her. Ami finally hits a body avalanche in the corner, shoulderblock by Ami and she covers Mii for two. Ami tags in Mio, diving crossbody by Mio and she dropkicks Mii. Another dropkick by Mio and she elbows Mii repeatedly before putting her in a stretch hold. The seconds around the ring all beat on the mat, with the vibration eventually knocking over Mio, giving Mii a chance to tag in Miyazaki. Miyazaki is triple teamed in the corner, missile dropkick by Mio and she covers Miyazaki for two. Mio ducks under Miyazaki’s lariat and hits a spinning headscissors, dropkick by Mio and she knocks Hirota off the apron. Miyazaki kicks Mio and applies multiple cradles, but each on gets a two count.

Mio goes up top but Mii grabs her from the apron, Momo and Ami both run in to help but Miyazaki lariats both of them. She then joins Mio up top but Mio hits a sunset flip powerbomb for a two count. Mio goes off the ropes but Miyazaki shrugs her off, elbows by Mio but Miyazaki goes for the Shy Hold. Mio blocks it and gets away, but Miyazaki threatens to put the hold on Ami or Momo so Mio ends up letting her put the hold on to protect them. Ami and Momo try to break it up but are held back, Mii gets a microphone and starts singing until Ami and Momo finally break it up. Miyazaki positions Mio and goes to the top turnbuckle, but Mio avoids the moonsault attempt. She goes for the JK Bomb but Miyazaki prevents her from fulling hitting the move, Mii and Hirota both try to help Miyazaki but botch their way into the ring. This gives Mio a chance to hit the JK Bomb on Miyazaki, and she gets the three count! Ami Miura, Mio Momono and Momo Kohgo are the winners!

I had to read a guide online just to get some of the comedy spots, which is way too much trouble for a comedy match. I don’t mind some comedy in my wrestling viewing but 17 minutes was just too much of it, and at the end of the day I’d rather see the Mio team in a more serious match as all three are fun to watch. I realize this is more catered to WAVE’s dedicated fanbase, which I can respect, but its not really my cup of tea. A few funny spots but too much “wrestling comedy” for me.

Rin Kadokura vs. Miyuki Takase
Catch The WAVE 2021 Final
Time for the tournament final! As I mentioned above, even though Miyuki is technically an outsider, she wrestles in WAVE as much as she does AgZ so to fans she is seen as one of their regulars. Rin is a true outsider, but equally skilled as Miyuki and ready for a big win. I like how even they made the Final as even though Miyuki does have an edge, Rin is equally qualified which should lead to a close and entertaining match.

They shake hands before the match but Rin charges Miyuki before the bell can ring and knocks her down in the corner. Cannonball by Rin, she quickly goes to the top turnbuckle and hits a missile dropkick for a two count. Suplex by Rin and she hits a footstomp, but Miyuki levels her with a lariat. Rin gets back up and they trade elbows, chops by Miyuki but Rin hits a jumping strike followed by the Murder Dropkick. Cover by Rin, but it gets two. Rin goes up top but Miyuki recovers and joins her, hitting a superplex back to the mat. Miyuki waits for Rin to get up but Rin catches her lariat attempt and goes for an armbreaker. Miyuki slams her way out of the hold, elbows and chops by Miyuki followed by two lariats for a quick cover. Miyuki gets Rin on her shoulders but Rin slides away, sliding kick by Rin but Miyuki catches her with a powerslam. Miyuki goes up top and delivers a missile dropkick, Rin lands in the opposite corner and Miyuki connects with a lariat. Diving elbow strike by Miyuki, and she covers Rin for two. Miyuki picks up Rin and hits the Kamikaze, she then gets on the second turnbuckle and delivers the diving guillotine legdrop for two.

Miyuki picks up Rin but Rin hits a Northern Lights Suplex Hold for two. Rin goes up top and hits a missile dropkick, she quickly goes to the second turnbuckle and nails a diving footstomp for another two count. DDT by Rin, she picks up Miyuki and hits a vertical suplex, but Miyuki hulks up and hits a suplex of her own. Rin comes back with another suplex and both wrestlers are down on the mat, Miyuki is up first and hits a fourth vertical suplex of this suplex battle. Rin is naturally up first and returns with a suplex but Miyuki hits another one too, Rin tries to return with a suplex but Miyuki reverses it into her own suplex, seemingly ending the vertical suplex exchange. Jumping DDT by Rin, she picks up Miyuki and hits a vertical suplex (I was wrong) for a close two count cover. Rin tries to get to the turnbuckle but Miyuki keeps grabbing her leg, she finally makes it but Miyuki recovers and joins her. Rin pushes Miyuki back to the mat but Miyuki elbows her and climbs back up, hitting a powerslam down to the mat for a two count.

Miyuki and Rin both slowly get up, they charge into each other and Miyuki hits a hard elbow. Another elbow by Miyuki and she hits a lariat for a two count. Rin gets up quickly but eats a double chop, tornado vertical suplex but Miyuki but Rin kicks out. Miyuki goes off the ropes but Rin catches her with a superkick, another superkick by Rin and she covers Miyuki for barely two. Rin gets Miyuki’s back and hits a crucifix slam, but Miyuki kicks out of the pin. Rin drags up Miyuki and gets on her back again, but Miyuki spins her off and hits a lariat. Rin fires back with a lariat but Miyuki delivers a Samoan Driver for two. Miyuki picks up Rin and hits a vertical suplex, she goes to the top turnbuckle and nails the diving guillotine legdrop for the three count! Miyuki Takase wins the match and the Catch The WAVE 2021 Tournament!

A very good match, but didn’t quite reach the level I was hoping for. Rin and Miyuki are both very talented wrestlers and when they were just trading strikes or bombs, the match was really entertaining. Their cardio is not an issue so they kept the pace up, and it was an even match from start to finish. The part I didn’t like was the trading vertical suplexes in the middle. I am generally a fan of the ‘trading moves’ spot but the vertical suplex is just a slower move to set up and deliver, and it just killed the pace of the match for a couple minutes. Nothing before or after really lined up to it so it felt disjointed and without a real purpose, except to hurt the match flow. If I took out those few minutes, everything else delivered. Overall an entertaining match that could have been even better with just a few small changes.  Recommended

The post Pro Wrestling WAVE “Catch The Wave Final” on 7/1/21 Review appeared first on Joshi City.

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

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

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

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

Maria vs. Ai Houzan

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

DASH Chisako vs. Hibiki vs. KAORU

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Event: Marvelous at Shin-Kiba 1st RING
Date: August 24th, 2020
Location: Shin-Kiba 1st RING in Tokyo, Japan
Announced Attendance: Unknown

Sometimes I like to take a step back and review a smaller event to bring some eyeballs to promotions that may be off many fan’s radars. Marvelous is a promotion run by the legendary Chigusa Nagayo and they air the bulk of their events on their FRESH LIVE streaming service.  This event is more special than some of their shows as this is the first match by Mio Momono in the promotion since she suffered an injury last year. I will only be reviewing the Joshi matches on the card, here is the line-up:

• Masha Slamovich vs. Mikoto Shindo
• Hibiki, Maria, and Mei Hoshizuki vs. KAORU, Takumi Iroha, and Tomoko Watanabe
• HIRO’e vs. Mio Momono

As this aired on FRESH LIVE, all matches were 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. Let’s get to the matches!

Masha Slamovich vs. Mikoto Shindo

They tie-up to start and trade hammerlocks until Mikoto gets Masha to the mat and puts her in a headlock. Masha struggles back up and gets out of the hold, she gets Mikoto’s arm but Mikoto quickly gets to the ropes for the break. Back up, Masha applies a hammerlock but Mikoto elbows out of it, wristlock by Mikoto but Masha gets away and slams Mikoto to the mat. Mikoto returns to her feet as Masha asks for a knucklelock, Mikoto obliges as they go into a Test of Strength which Masha easily wins. Mikoto springs back up and armdrags Masha, Masha falls out of the ring and Mikoto dropkicks her as she tries to get back in. Mikoto goes out after her but Masha quickly rolls back in, Mikoto rolls in too but Masha kicks her as she does and hits a hard elbow. Scoop slam by Masha, she picks up Mikoto and elbows her in the chest for a two count.

Masha puts Mikoto in a stretch hold but Mikoto gets into the ropes for the break, Masha picks up Mikoto and hits a backdrop suplex, but that gets a two count as well. Masha puts Mikoto on the top turnbuckle and joins her, Masha clubs on Mikoto but Mikoto elbows her off and back to the mat. Mikoto boots Masha back and delivers a dropkick, more dropkicks by Mikoto and she covers Masha for two. Masha recovers and clubs Mikoto as they trade blows, hard elbow by Masha but Mikoto lands on her feet on the attempted backdrop suplex. Masha grabs Mikoto and hits a German suplex hold anyway, but it gets two. Masha picks up Mikoto but Mikoto sneaks in a cradle, elbows by Mikoto and she dropkicks Masha in the corner. Another dropkick by Mikoto, she picks up Masha and hits a scoop slam for two. Mikoto goes to the apron and springboards in, but Masha catches her on her shoulders. Mikoto slides away but Masha catches her with a dragon suplex hold for two. Masha puts Mikoto on an Argentine Backbreaker and drops her to the mat, sliding lariat by Masha but Mikoto kicks out of the cover. Masha picks up Mikoto and elbows her into the corner, but Mikoto avoids her charge and schoolboys Masha for the three count! Mikoto Shindo is the winner.

A fun opener, what I found most interesting was that Mikoto was kicking out of pretty much all of Masha’s big offense. I really thought the dragon suplex hold would be it, or the sliding lariat but instead Mikoto kicks out and gets a cradle win just a moment later. This was sold as an upset/surprise win, nothing wrong with having the underdog when by sneaky means of course, but it was a pretty one-sided affair and just as a fan I’d have liked to have seen more from Mikoto in general. A good way to kick off the show though, they have good chemistry together and they put on solid match.  Mildly Recommended

Hibiki, Maria, and Hoshizuki vs. KAORU, Takumi Iroha, and Watanabe

The young ones attack before the match starts but the veterans soon get the advantage as they stack their opponents in the corner and deliver running strikes. Maria is isolated and attacked by all three, KAORU stays in as the legal wrestler and continues working over Maria. Watanabe is tagged in and she keeps doing the same as she attacks Maria’s arm, dropkick by Watanabe and she tags in Takumi. More of the same from Takumi, scoop slam by Takumi and she tags KAORU back in. Slam by KAORU, she tags in Watanabe who slams Maria as well, followed by Takumi taking her turn. Takumi kicks Maria and encourages her to fight back, but Takumi avoids Maria’s dropkick and kicks her in the chest for a two count. Snapmare by Takumi and she kicks Maria in the back. Hibiki comes in but Takumi slams her on top of Maria, she then grabs Mei and does the same before covering Maria for two. Takumi kicks Maria in the arm but Maria connects with a front roll into a dropkick, which gives her time to tag out. Mei and Hibiki both come in as Takumi is triple teamed, Watanabe comes in too but it backfires as they slam her on top of Takumi. Mei stays in as the legal wrestler and dropkicks Takumi, she drop toeholds Takumi into the ropes before going out to the apron to hit a dropkick. Another dropkick by Mei and she covers Takumi for two. Mei goes for a scoop slam but Takumi blocks it, elbows by Mei but Takumi elbows her back.

Kick combination by Takumi and she hits a sliding kick, Takumi picks up Mei but Hibiki comes in to help. Takumi isn’t phased and hits a double vertical suplex on both of them, vertical suplex by Takumi and she tags Watanabe. Watanabe comes in the ring with a diving body press off the second turnbuckle, picking up a two count. Watanabe picks up Mei but Mei reverses the backdrop suplex, Hibiki and Maria both run in and they all dropkick Watanabe. Mei goes for a scoop slam but Watanabe blocks it, Hibiki comes in and scoop slams Watanabe before helping Mei hit a footstomp on her. Mei succeeds on the scoop slam on her next try and dropkicks Watanabe in the head, she charges Watanabe but Watanabe dumps her onto the apron. Mei dropkicks Watanabe through the ropes and applies a jackknife cover for two. Mei tags in Hibiki, Hibiki drives Watanabe into the corner and hits a series of shoulder tackles. Hibiki goes up top and hits a missile dropkick, cover by Hibiki but Watanabe kicks out. Hibiki picks up Watanabe and hits the Kamikaze, she goes up top but Watanabe recovers and tosses her back to the mat. Watanabe picks up Hibiki and she hits a hard lariat, cover by Watanabe but it gets a two count. Mei and Maria run in and stomp on Watanabe, Irish whip to Watanabe but Watanabe hits a springboard crossbody on all three of them and tags in KAORU. KAORU comes in with her piece of board and hits all three of her opponents.

KAORU goes to the second turnbuckle but Mei cuts her off, Hibiki headbutts KAORU but KAORU headbutts her back. Another headbutt by Hibiki and she hits the spear, picking up a two count. Hibiki tags Maria, Mei also comes in and they both dropkick KAORU. More dropkicks to KAORU before Hibiki hits a shoulder tackle, cover by Maria but it gets a two count. Maria picks up KAORU but KAORU blocks the scoop slam, she also goes for one but Maria blocks her as well and finally hits her own scoop slam. She covers KAORU but KAORU bridges out of it, KAORU gets her board but she hits Watanabe by accident. Takumi then holds Maria for KAORU but KAORU hits Takumi with it by accident as well, Mei takes the board from KAORU and Maria dropkicks her. Mei and Maria both hit dropkicks on KAORU, cover by Maria but it gets a two count. Mei grabs KAORU and hits a scoop slam while Hibiki goes up top, but Watanabe grabs her from the apron. KAORU hits at Hibiki while Watanabe slams Maria on top of Mei, KAORU then goes up top with Hibiki and superplexes her onto both Mei and Maria. Takumi comes in and superkicks Maria, lariat by Watanabe and KAORU picks up Maria, but Maria quickly applies a cross armbreaker takedown and hits the hold applied for the quick tap out! Maria, Mei Hoshizuki, and Hibiki are the winners!

Even though the ending move was a little clunky in execution, which is unfortunate, it is still a big moment for Maria to tap out one of the veteran wrestlers like KAORU. The first half of the match was pretty slow going, with the beatdown on Maria, but once the younger wrestlers got in control it was a lot more fast paced and interesting. The young team constantly was cooperating and working together, which they had to do, which set them apart from their opponents who weren’t helping each other near as much. For a six wrestler midcard tag match this was probably a bit better than I was expecting, as the veteran team gave the young team quite a bit of offense once we got to the second half of the match. I wouldn’t have minded a few minutes trimmed from the Maria Beatdown portion but I understand what they were going for and overall it was pretty good. Mildly Recommended

HIRO’e vs. Mio Momono

They tie-up to start, HIRO’e pushes Mio into the ropes and she gives a clean break. Wristlock by HIRO’e but Mio reverses it as they trade holds until they reach a stalemate. Kick by HIRO’e and an Irish whip, but Mio flips over her and hits an armdrag. Spinning headscissors by Mio and she hits a dropkick before kipping back up to her feet. She goes for another dropkick by HIRO’e moves, stomp by HIRO’e and she throws down Mio by her hair. Snapmare by HIRO’e and she puts Mio in a stretch hold, she then switches it to a Camel Clutch but Mio bites her hand to get out of it. HIRO’e throws Mio into the corner and rams her head into the turnbuckle, but Mio sneaks in a cradle for two. Sliding kick by Mio, she picks up HIRO’e and applies a waistlock but lets go and hits an elbow. HIRO’e punches Mio in the gut in return, Irish whip by HIRO’e but Mio hits a spinning crossbody for two. Mio applies a Fujiwara Armbar into a double armbar but HIRO’e gets into the ropes for the break. Mio twists HIRO’e’s arm in the ropes and yanks on it, dropkick to the arm by Mio and she goes up top to hit a diving crossbody for two.

Mio goes back to HIRO’e’s arm and applies a modified armbar, she lets go after a moment and goes for the JK Bomb, but HIRO’e blocks it and slams Mio into the mat. Running shoulder tackle by HIRO’e in the corner, spear by HIRO’e and she covers Mio for a two count. Mio ends up against the ropes but HIRO’e dropkicks her in the face, she does it two more times before Mio tumbles out of the ring to the floor. HIRO’e goes up top but Mio gets back on the apron and back into the ring before HIRO’e can do a move. Mio goes for a powerbomb while HIRO’e is still up top but HIRO’e blocks it, hitting a Codebreaker. Vertical suplex by HIRO’e and she covers Mio for a two count. HIRO’e goes for a Northern Lights Suplex but Mio blocks it, elbows by Mio but HIRO’e hits a shoulder tackle. Backbreaker by HIRO’e and she puts Mio in a crab hold, but after Mio never submits HIRO’e lets go to figure out something else to do. HIRO’e stomps on Mio and goes to the second turnbuckle, hitting a missile dropkick. HIRO’e picks up Mio and delivers the Northern Lights Suplex, but Mio kicks out at two.

HIRO’e goes for a backdrop suplex but Mio blocks it, Mio goes for a cradle but HIRO’e reverses it into a German suplex hold for a two count. HIRO’e goes to the second turnbuckle but Mio gets up and grabs her, slamming HIRO’e back to the mat. Mio goes off the ropes and applies a flying cradle into a footstomp, she keeps footstomping HIRO’e but HIRO’e kicks out of the cover. Mio goes off the ropes but HIRO’e catches her with a spear, release German by HIRO’e but she is too hurt to immediately capitalize. They trade elbows as they return to their knees, HIRO’e elbows Mio repeatedly in the back of the head but Mio ducks her lariat attempt. Spear by HIRO’e, but Mio gets a shoulder up on the cover. Another spear by HIRO’e for a two count, HIRO’e goes for a flash pin but Mio reverses it and the two go back and forth. HIRO’e goes off the ropes but Mio cradles her again for two, Mio goes off the ropes and nails the JK Bomb for the three count! Mio Momono is the winner!

A pretty good match between two motivated wrestlers. One thing about Mio is even though she has a lot of fans she is still an unpolished singles wrestler. In four years (less experience than that due to injuries) she has never won a singles title and doesn’t really have a lot of impactful offense, making her better suited for tag team wrestling with a partner that provides the “boom” so to speak. That was on display here, as HIRO’e was doing much of the painful looking moves while Mio was sneaking in cradles and other flash pins to try to win. Its not that she *has* to expand her moveset but she probably won’t be seen as a serious singles contender until she does. Anyway, this was probably stretched a little longer than it needed to be but it never slowed down as they kept the action moving. HIRO’e isn’t great but she did everything well here, and seemed to have some extra fire to her. The end stretch was well done and smooth, and while it didn’t feel like the “right” wrestler won its understandable that Mio would win in her home promotion. A fitting ending for a small streaming-only show, pretty entertaining match.  Recommended

The post Marvelous at Shin-Kiba 1st RING on 8/24/20 Review appeared first on Joshi City.

Event: Diana at Shin-Kiba
Date: February 22nd, 2020
Location: Shin-Kiba 1st RING in Tokyo, Japan
Announced Attendance: Unknown

Sareee didn’t have many matches left in Japan after this one before joining the WWE, and this will likely be her last Joshi match released to the public. So, obviously I had to watch it as we bid her farewell. Diana cards aren’t very deep, and this one is even less-so as Kyoko Inoue missed the event due to an injury, but there are a lot of little things I am looking forward to on this event. The opener has a shot at being a lot of fun, and Sareee vs. Yoshiko should be amazing. I am really interested in the main event as well, as the super veterans take on a young team from PURE-J. Its great to see Diana events finally ‘making tape’ so I am not going to complain either way. Here is the full card:

• Haruka Umesaki vs. Miyuki Takase
• Ayako Sato, Jaguar Yokota, and Madeline vs. HIROe, Nanami, and Yumi Ohka
• Sareee vs. Yoshiko
• World Woman Pro-Wrestling Diana Tag Team Championship: Kaoru Ito and Tomoko Watanabe vs. Manami Katsu and Mari Manji

As this aired on NicoPro, all matches will be shown in full. As always, all the wrestlers on the show have profiles on Joshi City, you can click on their name above to go straight to it. Onto the matches!

Haruka Umesaki vs. Miyuki Takase

Haruka and Miyuki tie-up to start, Miyuki pushes Haruka into the ropes and she gives a clean break. Haruka elbows her as she backs off however and they start trading strikes, Miyuki chops Haruka against the ropes and then into the corner. Rapid fire chops by Miyuki and she tries to toss Haruka by the hair, but Haruka cartwheels out of it and dropkicks Miyuki into the corner. Chops by Haruka and she hits a scoop slam, snapmare by Haruka and she applies a bodyscissors. Miyuki quickly gets out of it and puts Haruka in a stretch hold, she picks up Haruka while having her in a headlock but Haruka spins out of it and applies a guillotine. Miyuki reverses that into a wristlock as they trade holds, Miyuki gets Haruka to the mat but Haruka gets into the ropes for the break. Scoop slam by Miyuki and she applies a crab hold, but Haruka gets into the ropes for the break. Stomps by Miyuki, she picks up Haruka and puts her upside down in the corner. Miyuki gets a running start and dropkicks Haruka in the back, she puts Haruka back into the crab hold but Haruka quickly gets to the ropes again. Miyuki puts Haruka in the corner, Irish whip by Miyuki but Haruka reverses it. Miyuki rebounds out of the corner with a missile dropkick, she charges Haruka but Haruka avoids her charge and connects with a series of dropkicks.

Haruka goes for a crossbody but Miyuki catches her and hits a backbreaker, single leg crab hold by Miyuki but Haruka manages to get a break as she crawls to the ropes. Miyuki goes up top but Haruka hits her before she can jump off and tosses Miyuki back to the mat. Haruka gets on the second turnbuckle and hits a missile dropkick, cover by Haruka but it gets two. Scoop slam by Haruka, she gets on the top turnbuckle and nails the missile dropkick, but Miyuki kicks out of the cover. Haruka goes off the ropes but Miyuki catches her with a lariat, Miyuki gets Haruka on her shoulders and his a rolling fireman’s carry slam. Guillotine leg drop by Miyuki off the second turnbuckle, but Haruka barely gets a shoulder up. Miyuki picks up Haruka but Haruka gets away, she goes off the ropes but Miyuki hits a powerslam. Miyuki goes off the ropes and delivers a lariat, but the cover only gets two. Miyuki picks up Haruka but Haruka sneaks in an inside cradle for two. Haruka tries a few more flash pins with no luck, Haruka goes off the ropes but Miyuki takes off her head with a lariat. Miyuki picks up Haruka and hits the brainbuster, cover by Miyuki and she gets the three count! Miyuki Takase is the winner.

This didn’t reach the level I was hoping it would, but for an opener it was decent enough. Haruka’s hope spots were all well done and helped elevate the match, but Miyuki’s offense was just more repetitive than I’d have liked. Crab holds are a traditional way to beat young wrestlers but she kept going for it with little effort to set up Haruka for it, and by the third one I had had enough of the hold. And then she won with a brainbuster, which has nothing to do with anything a crab hold weakens, rendering the work meaningless. There was really no long-term selling in general as they were going from spot to spot, and there was a tiny botch in the middle. I am still impressed by Haruka’s poise as she has no issue standing up to wrestlers above her in the pecking order, but they didn’t do enough here to make it memorable in any way.

Ayako Sato, Yokota, and Madeline vs. HIROe, Nanami, and Yumi Ohka

Yokota and friends attack before the match starts as the action quickly spills outside the ring, with Yokota and HIROe closest to the camera as the legend pummels the young WAVE wrestler. Yokota and HIROe return to the ring, elbow by Yokota and she rakes HIROe’s face over the top rope. She tags in Sato, Sato tosses HIROe down by the hair and boots her in the corner. Back bodydrop by Sato and she covers HIROe for a two count. She throws HIROe into the corner so that Madeline can help, Sato tags in Madeline and Madeline puts HIROe in a Fujiwara Armbar. HIROe quickly gets to the ropes for the break, Irish whip by Madeline to the corner but HIROe rebounds out of it with a crossbody. Madeline and HIROe trade elbows, hard shoulderblock by HIROe and she tags Ohka. Ohka throws Madeline into the corner and delivers a big boot, she pushes her boot into Madeline’s face while taunting Madeline’s teammates. More boots by Ohka and she stands on Madeline’s back, cover by Ohka but it gets two. Ohka tags Nanami as HIROe comes in too, as all three attack Madeline in the corner. Dropkick by Nanami, she snapmares Madeline and applies a bodyscissors. Nanami rolls Madeline around the ring while maintaining the hold, she stops to hold down Madeline for the cover but it gets two.

Madeline finally fights back against the kid and hits a scoop slam, but Nanami elbows her and the two trade strikes. Nanami connects with a series of dropkicks, cover by Nanami but it gets two. Nanami goes off the ropes again but Madeline catches her with an elbow, kick by Nanami and she scoop slams Madeline for a two count. Nanami tags HIROe, HIROe throws Madeline into the corner but Madeline avoids her charge and connects with some elbows. Dropkick by Madeline and she goes for the armbar, but HIROe rolls out of it. Madeline stays in a dominate position as she goes for a choke, but HIROe wiggles to the ropes to force the break. Irish whip by Madeline but HIROe hits a hard shoulderblock, shoulder tackles by HIROe in the corner and she hits a vertical suplex for two. HIROe picks up Madeline but Madeline gets away and rolls up HIROe for two. Irish whip by HIROe but Madeline cartwheels out of the way and hits a crossbody. This gives her time to tag in Sato, dropkick by Sato and she hits a jumping kick in the corner. HIROe retorts with a shoulder tackle, she goes off the ropes and delivers a spear for a two count. HIROe goes up top but Sato recovers and joins her, HIROe jumps back to the mat and hits a German suplex. HIROe picks up Sato but Sato snaps off a double wrist armsault for a two count. Sato goes off the ropes but HIROe hits a quick suplex, she goes up top and delivers a missile dropkick. Northern Lights Suplex Hold by HIROe, but Sato gets a shoulder up. HIROe tags in Ohka, running boot by Ohka and she hits a backdrop suplex. Ohka picks up Sato and boots her, she goes off the ropes but Sato hits her with a trash can lid.

Dropkick with the lid by Sato, she covers Ohka but it gets two. Sato goes off the ropes and goes for a bodyscissors, but Ohka catches her and hits a German suplex. Big boot by Ohka, but Sato kicks out of the cover. Ohka goes for the Tiger Suplex but Sato blocks it, Madeline comes in and they hit a double vertical suplex on Ohka followed by a double dropkick. Sato goes up top and hits a missile dropkick, cover by Sato but it gets two. Yokota comes in with a chair and hits the child Nanami with it, she stays in as the legal wrestler and hits Ohka in the head with the chair. Sato gets her trash can lid and hits Ohka as well, Yokota sits down Ohka in the chair while Madeline hits her with a metal stick. Yokota gets on the second turnbuckle and hits a somersault kick, cover by Yokota but the pin is broken up. Yokota goes off the ropes but HIROe stops her with a shoulder tackle, DDT by Ohka to Yokota and she hits a heel drop. Ohka goes off the ropes and delivers the big boot, cover by Ohka but Yokota gets a shoulder up. Yokota tags Nanami, Nanami gets on the second turnbuckle and hits a diving body press for two. Nanami goes off the ropes but Sato kicks her from the apron, HIROe does the same to Yokota and Nanami cradles Yokota for two. Swinging neckbreaker by Nanami, she gets on the second turnbuckle but Yokota recovers and joins her. Superplex by Yokota, but Ohka breaks up the cover. Yokota picks up Nanami but HIROe runs in and elbows her, Ohka clears the ring and hits a chokebomb on Yokota. Nanami goes for another swinging neckbreaker but Yokota reverses it into a Backslide for the three count! Jaguar Yokota, Madeline, and Ayako Sato win!

This match was quite a combination of good, bad, and ugly. Yokota was great in this match. She didn’t do much but she uses weapons, which I like, and she gave quite a bit of offense to a 13 year old which is admirable. Unfortunately, the 13 year old isn’t good. I know, she’s a child, but she’s a child I have to watch wrestle and bad is bad. Her strikes are laughable, she is sometimes out of position and she doesn’t show the fire that we just saw from Haruka in the match before. I was surprised Madeline was the Ricky Morton in this match, she’s a new-ish wrestler but to see her getting thrown around by Nanami of all wrestlers was quite something. The match dragged at times in the middle, and the few fun parts were too spread out to get a good run going. A watchable midcard tag match, but nothing here I could really recommend.

Sareee vs. Yoshiko

They tie-up to start, Sareee gets Yoshiko into the ropes and gives her a hard elbow. Yoshiko returns fire as they trade shots, Yoshiko throws down Sareee by the hair but Sareee returns the favor. They trade strikes again before ending up in the ropes, with the referee finally getting them to separate. Sareee asks for a knuckle lock and Yoshiko obliges, they go into a Test of Strength which Yoshiko gets the better of, but Sareee hits an armdrag. Yoshiko swats away the dropkick and kicks Sareee in the ribs, Sareee goes for another armdrag but Yoshiko blocks it and hits one of her hard. Hard shoulderblock by Yoshiko, she snapmares Sareee and puts her in a chinlock. Yoshiko lets go before Sareee gets to the ropes and kicks her, but Sareee returns the favor and kicks Yoshiko in the back repeatedly. Irish whip by Sareee but Yoshiko hits a hard elbow, Sareee goes for a crossbody but Yoshiko catches her and slams Sareee to the mat. Cover by Yoshiko, but Sareee bridges out of it and dropkicks Yoshiko. Irish whip by Sareee but Yoshiko hits a hard shoulderblock and puts Sareee in a stretch hold. She lets go after a moment and kick Sareee out of the ring, she goes out after her and throws Sareee into the chairs at ringside. Yoshiko takes Sareee up high in the bleachers and slams her into the wall, which we can at least somewhat see since they are on the hard cam side.

They return to the ring after a couple minutes as Yoshiko sits down on Sareee for a two count. She quickly applies a choke hold but Sareee gets a toe on the ropes to force the break. Sareee rolls out of the ring but Yoshiko goes out to the apron and jumps down onto Sareee with what I assume was a footstomp. Slightly off camera. Yoshiko returns to the ring with Sareee following, Yoshiko goes back to the choke but Sareee quickly rolls to the ropes for the break. Yoshiko picks up Sareee, Sareee chargers her in the corner but Yoshiko moves and smacks her over the ropes. Yoshiko sets up Sareee in the ropes and kicks her in the head repeatedly, but Sareee avoids one and elbows Yoshiko in the chest. Sareee elbows Yoshiko off the apron to the floor, she goes out to the apron and hits a crossbody down to the floor. Sareee throws Yoshiko into the chairs at ringside and fights her up into the crowd, she gets back in the ring after a moment and goes up top as Yoshiko returns as well, hitting a missile dropkick for two. Sareee picks up Yoshiko and hits a fisherman suplex hold, but that gets a two as well. Sareee trips Yoshiko and puts her in the STF, but Yoshiko gets to the ropes for the break. Sareee knees Yoshiko in the back and goes for a German suplex, but Yoshiko blocks it. Roll-up by Sareee into a double footstomp, she goes off the ropes and goes for a dropkick but Yoshiko moves and kicks her in the head.

Yoshiko picks up Sareee but Sareee elbows her and they trade shots. Dropkick by Sareee, she goes off the ropes and dropkicks Yoshiko again while she is leaning against the ropes. She goes for the Uranage but Yoshiko blocks it, she goes off the ropes but Yoshiko hits a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker before applying a sleeper hold. She lets go after a moment and picks up Sareee, but Sareee cradles her for two. Sareee goes off the ropes and applies a tilt-a-whirl roll-up, but that gets a two as well. She goes off the ropes yet again but this time eats a lariat, they trade headbutts and Yoshiko hits another lariat for two. Sliding lariat by Yoshiko, but Sareee kicks out of the cover. Yoshiko gets up on the second turnbuckle and delivers a diving senton, but Sareee gets a shoulder up. Yoshiko picks up Sareee but Sareee nails her with a jumping back kick, she goes off the ropes and delivers a hurricanrana for two. Uranage by Sareee, but Yoshiko kicks out of the cover. Back up, headbutt by Sareee and she hits another Uranage, but Yoshiko lands too close to the ropes and gets a foot on the bottom one. Wrist-clutch Uranage by Sareee, she crawls to Yoshiko and covers her, but Yoshiko gets a shoulder up. Sareee picks up Yoshiko and goes for another one, but Yoshiko elbows her off. Big lariat by Yoshiko, she goes off the ropes and hits a sliding lariat for a two count. The bell rings before she can do anything else, as time has expired. The match is a Draw.

A pretty fitting final televised match for Sareee. I really loved the first portion and final portion of the match. They came out on fire with the hard strikes and passion, which you’d expect from these two, and it had that rough style that has been a staple of Yoshiko’s matches since soon after she debuted. The middle portion lost me a bit as they did a lot of crowd brawling, which not only was hard to see with the single cam setup but felt more like wasting time to reach the time limit. Once they returned to the ring though I went back to loving it, with both just throwing bombs to try to pick up the win before time expired. Overall I really enjoyed it, a few adjustments here and there would have made it a true MOTYC, but even as it is its a pretty damn good match.  Recommended

(c) Kaoru Ito and Tomoko Watanabe vs. Katsu and Mari Manji
World Woman Pro-Wrestling Diana Tag Team Championship

The PURE-J team attacks before the bell rings as they kick the champions out of the ring. The veterans take control on the floor before Watanabe and Mari return to the ring, vertical suplex by Watanabe and she hits a scoop slam followed by an elbow drop off the ropes. She tags in Ito, Ito throws Mari in the corner and hits a lariat. Single leg crab hold by Ito but Mari makes it to the ropes to force the break. Watanabe strolls in and they double team Mari, cover by Ito but it gets a two count. Watanabe throws Mari into the corner, Mari elbows her but Watanabe lariats Mari to the mat. Scorpion Deathlock by Watanabe, Manami tries to break it up but Watanabe just ignores her kicks and keeps the hold applied. Mari eventually makes it to the ropes for the break, Watanabe tags in Ito and hits a footstomp on Mari’s leg. Ito applies a single leg crab hold, Manami has the same lack of luck in getting the hold broken but Mari makes the ropes again. Ito applies a Camel Clutch while taunting Manami, she lets go just so she can put Mari in a crab hold. Mari gets to the ropes again, Watanabe comes in and Ito tries to catapult Mari to her, but Mari splats to the mat instead. Watanabe picks up Mari and hits a lariat anyway, Ito tags in Watanabe as Mari fights back with elbows. Watanabe absorbs the blows, Mari schoolboys Watanabe but they land in the rope. Watanabe grabs Mari by the leg and applies a STF, but Mari gets a foot on the ropes for the break.

Ito is tagged back in and she goes back to the crab hold (this match isn’t very interesting so far), but once again Mari makes it to the ropes. Watanabe returns and they drop Mari with a double vertical suplex, Watanabe applies a crab hold over by her own corner this time while Ito steps on her hands. Mari gets to the ropes, Watanabe picks her up but Mari sneaks in a schoolboy for two. Mari finally makes the tag to Manami, Ito comes in as well but Manami hits a face crusher on both of them. Knees by Manami to Watanabe and she throws her into the corner, Mari returns and elbows Watanabe but Manami hits a superkick. They continue to double team Watanabe before Mari leaves the ring, Manami picks up Watanabe but Watanabe hits a back bodydrop. They take turns trying to lariat each other over until Manami finally sends Watanabe to the mat, Watanabe returns the favor however and tags in Ito. Running footstomp by Ito and she hits a senton, cover by Ito but Manami kicks out. Ito grabs Manami but Manami gets into the ropes, Mari comes in and they both attack Ito while she is against the ropes. Running boots by Manami and she delivers a sliding kick to Ito, Manami gets on the second turnbuckle and hits a reverse splash for two. Manami tags Mari, Mari tries to shoulderblock Ito over but Ito doesn’t budge. Hard elbow by Ito and she sends Mari to the mat with a lariat, but Manami kicks Ito from the apron and Mari finally manages to shoulderblock Ito down. Mari hits a side Russian leg sweep and puts Ito in a submission hold. Cover by Mari but Ito can reach the ropes for the break.

Mari goes for a backdrop suplex but Ito blocks it, Uranage by Ito and she tags in Watanabe. Watanabe picks up Mari but Manami comes in, Watanabe goes for a springboard move but Mari and Manami push her out of the ring. Ito takes the opportunity to hit a crossbody on both of them, Manami and Mari both fall out of the ring and Ito sends them down to the floor with a baseball slide. Mari is brought back into the ring and is hit with a double lariat, Watanabe slams Mari in front of the corner but Manami runs in as Watanabe gets on the second turnbuckle. Watanabe hits a diving body press anyway, but Manami breaks up the cover. Watanabe goes all the way up top but Mari elbows her before she can jump off. Mari joins Watanabe but Ito grabs Mari from behind to help Watanabe hit a seated senton. Cover by Watanabe, but Mari barely gets a shoulder up. Manami runs in but she lariats Mari by accident, Ito comes in but she hits Watanabe by mistake, allowing Mari to put Watanabe in a modified Dragon Sleeper. Ito breaks it up, she goes to pick up Mari but Manami lariats her. Watanabe had gone up top but Manami joins her and hits a superplex, Mari puts Watanabe in the modified Dragon Sleeper while Manami goes up top. Mari lets go so that Manami can hit a diving elbow drop, cover by Mari but Ito breaks it up. Mari goes for another quick pin, but Watanabe kicks out. Ito comes off the second turnbuckle with a diving footstomp to Mari, Screwdriver by Watanabe to Mari, but Manami breaks up the cover. Watanabe picks up Mari and nails the Cannonball Buster, cover by Watanabe and she picks up the three count! Tomoko Watanabe and Kaoru Ito win and retain the championship.

I really wanted to enjoy this match, but I could not. While it is logical that Watanabe and Ito go at a slower pace than they did in their heyday, the first half of the match just wasn’t fun to watch. It needed someone super sympathetic or charismatic to be taking the beating and Mari is neither of those things, so it was just dull. Manami tried to be the veteran of her team but was overwhelmed by Watanabe and Ito, so it just came across as a mismatch with the PURE-J team never being a believable force against their seniors. The end stretch was better, almost by default, but didn’t last long enough to justify the wait to get there. I still love Ito but this wasn’t the best performance from any of them, and ultimately it was just disappointing.

The post Diana at Shin-Kiba on 2/22/20 Review appeared first on Joshi City.

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

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

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

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

Banny Oikawa vs. Nanami

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

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

Ayako Sato vs. Sakura Hirota

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

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

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

Jaguar Yokota and Madeline vs. Mikoto Shindo and Tomoko Watanabe

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The post Diana at Shin-Kiba 1st RING on 2/9/20 Review appeared first on Joshi City.

Like most people with a soul, I adore Mio Momono. Not only is she a talented wrestler but she also has an over-abundance of joy and playfulness to her that one can’t help but love and respect. Unfortunately, Mio tore her ACL in December and will be out of action for awhile, however she still shows up a Marvelous events when she is able to. To keep her active, Mio Momono was given a chance to produce her own show, and to show my support I am going to review it as I try to get the word out about special young wrestlers. Here is the full card:

• Chikayo Nagashima and Yuu Yamagata vs. DASH Chisako and Megumi Yabushita
• Mikoto Shindo and Mei Hoshizuki vs. Tae Honma and Miyuki Takase
• KAORU vs. Ray Lyn, Maria, and Rin Kadokura
• “Tomoko Watanabe” vs. ZAP
• Bryan Idol, Takumi Iroha, and Leo Isaka vs. Yuki Miyazaki, Nene D.a.i., and Batten BlaBla

That is quite an assortment of wrestlers. It should be noted this will mostly be a playful affair as Mio is a playful person, so this isn’t an event aiming for your traditional Five Stars Classic matches. All Joshi wrestlers listed above have profiles on Joshi City, you can click on their name to go straight to it. Lets get rolling.

Chikayo Nagashima and Yuu Yamagata vs. DASH Chisako and Megumi Yabushita

Chisako and Megumi attack from behind before the match officially starts and they start double teaming Chikayo. They do a moment to imitate Mio Momono’s pose and Chikayo takes advantage, kicking both of them and leaving just Megumi in the ring with her. Megumi runs the ropes but Chikayo trips her, kicks by Chikayo but Megumi rolls her up for a two count. Megumi runs the ropes again but Chikayo does too until Megumi sneaks away to tag in Chisako. Chikayo and Chisako lock knuckles, wristlock by Chikayo but Chisako gets out of it. Yuu and Megumi both come in the ring, Yuu leaves after a moment and Megumi runs the ropes with Chisako and Chikayo. Now Chikayo runs the ropes and hits a vertical suplex, cover by Chikayo but it gets a two count. Chikayo and Chisako both grab chairs, Chikayo knocks away Chisako’s chair but Chisako dropkicks Chikayo’s own chair into her. Facebuster by Chisako to Chikayo, she goes off the ropes and hits a footstomp. Chisako tags Megumi and Megumi whips Chikayo in the back with a belt. Chikayo eventually slides away from Megumi’s belt and hits a tilt-a-whirl headscissors, dropkick by Chikayo but Chisako comes in to help her partner. Yuu tries to help Chikayo also but it backfires and Megumi puts Chikayo in a submission hold, but she needs to run the ropes before winning. She does as Chikayo gets up, both both of them get tired from the rope running.

Chikayo jumps up in the corner and applies a hanging headscissors, Chikayo goes off the ropes and puts Megumi in a Stretch Muffler, but there wasn’t enough rope running so the referee doesn’t react. Megumi gets up, runs the ropes a few times and lets Chikayo put the move back on, but Chisako breaks it up. KAORU comes in the ring and runs the ropes before leaving, as Yuu is finally tagged in. Yuu puts Megumi in a leg lock and grabs Chisako when she comes in, hitting a vertical suplex. Megumi gets away from Yuu and tags Chisako, Chisako goes to the top turnbuckle and connects with the missile dropkick. Dropkick in the corner by Chisako and she kicks Yuu down near the corner, she goes up top again but Chikayo runs over and prevents her from jumping off. Megumi goes over and gets rid of Chikayo, Hormone Splash by Chisako but Chikayo trips her when she goes off the ropes. Chisako goes for a German suplex, Chikayo tosses Yuu a belt to try to guide her to the ropes but the idea doesn’t work. Yuu gets mad so Chikayo whips her, Chikayo hits a diving footstomp on her own partner and Chisako follows up with an assisted splash. All three of them run off the ropes and do Mio’s pose, Chisako goes off the ropes again and she attempts to cradle Yuu, but Yuu reverses the cradle into her own three count victory! Yuu Yamagata (and technically Chikayo Nagashima) are the winners.

This was an interesting idea as in a way its a parody of a comedic wrestling match, taking it to the next level of ridiculousness. The wrestlers didn’t really want to be in the match but they made the best of their situation, and the mixed teams almost made it through the match before things broke down. So clearly this was a silly match, your mileage will vary on if it was good but it was definitely unique to see them try to pull off a High Speed match with some success but mostly awkwardness and confusion. Perfectly fine for an opener.

Mikoto Shindo and Mei Hoshizuki vs. Tae Honma and Miyuki Takase

Miyuki and Tae kick their opponents before the match starts, Mikoto is knocked out of the ring and Miyuki stays in to focus on Mei. Scoop slam by Miyuki and she starts on Mei’s back, she tags in Tae and Tae continues where she left off. Mikoto comes in to help by making loud noises with a spoon and pan, giving Mei time to tag her in, and together they dropkick Tae. Mikoto puts Tae in the ropes but Miyuki runs in to help. Miyuki gets put in the ropes too by both rookies and they rub washcloths into their face for reasons I’m unsure of. But it doesn’t look pleasant anyway. Mei and Mikoto both deliver dropkicks, cover by Mikoto but Tae kicks out. Scoop slam by Mikoto and she puts Tae in a camel clutch before Mei comes in and puts a frying pan on her head before hitting the pan with a ladle. Mikoto tags Mei, Mei hits a series of dropkicks on Tae for a two count. Tae flips Mei onto the apron but Mei lands on her feet and slides under the bottom rope, dropkick by Mei but Tae has had enough and hits a series of elbows. Running elbow by Tae in the corner, Miyuki tosses Tae a hand brush and she uses it on Mei’s face. Tae gets a marker and draws on Mei’s face as well. Snapmare by Tae and she dropkicks Mei for a two count.

Armbar by Tae but Mei gets a foot on the ropes for the break, dropkick to the back by Tae and she tags in Miyuki. Miyuki goes out to the apron and chops Mei repeatedly in the chest, back in the ring she hits a scoop slam before covering her for two. Miyuki goes off the ropes but gets tripped, Mei gets the frying pan but Miyuki blocks her from slamming her onto it. Miyuki picks up Mei and slams her onto the pan, she picks it up and tries to bend it, but can’t. She tries to hit Mei but Mei steals it from her and hits Miyuki in the head. Mei gets the marker and draws on Miyuki’s face, dropkicks by Mei and Mikoto to Miyuki and Mikoto covers her for a two count. Mikoto grabs the ladle and hits Miyuki in the leg with it, Miyuki elbows Mikoto into the corner but Mikoto schoolboys her for two. She goes for a few more flash pins with no luck, she goes off the ropes but Miyuki levels her with a lariat. Miyuki picks up Mikoto and hits a rolling fireman’s carry slam, she gets on the second turnbuckle and nails the guillotine leg drop, but Mei barely breaks up the cover. Miyuki picks up Mikoto and deliver the spinning Samoan Driver, and she picks up the three count! Tae Honma and Miyuki Takase win!

While I can’t explain the meaning behind the various “weapons” used in this match, when they were focused on the wrestling itself you can tell that all four have a lot of potential. They are all young and early in their careers but their timing is on-point and they show an ability to entertain both with their in-ring work and playing with the crowd. In a normal situation I wouldn’t have minded a bit more “substance” so they could show off a bit more, but on a show booked by Mio Momono its going to be more carefree just be default. Decent enough, although nothing overly memorable.

KAORU vs. Ray Lyn, Maria, and Rin Kadokura

KAORU is jumped by all three before the match starts but they miss a triple dropkick which gives KAORU time to get her board. Rin dropkicks the board back into her before Maria and Ray hit dropkicks as well, Maria and Ray leave the ring to leave Rin as the legal wrestler. Rin tags in Maria but KAORU boots her in the chest, vertical suplex by KAORU and she covers Maria, but Rin breaks it up. KAORU and the rest of W-FIX pose with Maria in the ropes, but Rin and Ray come over and break things up. Maria dropkicks KAORU in the back as does Ray, Rin follows with her own dropkick and Maria covers KAORU for two. Ray is tagged in, kick combination by Ray and she hits a seated senton for two. Ray gets KAORU in the corner and hits a running knee, she goes up top and hits a missile dropkick for another two count. Ray goes off the ropes but is tripped from the floor, KAORU knocks Rin and Maria off the apron and W-FIX attacks all three around the ring while KAORU rests inside. They eventually all get back into the ring as the W-FIX assault continues, they finally leave the ring and KAORU suplexes all three of her opponents on the mat near the corner. KAORU then goes up top and nails the Valkyrie Splash on all three of them, cover on Ray but she kicks out at two.

Ray recovers and kicks KAORU in the head, she tags in Rin and Rin comes in the ring with a missile dropkick. Northern Lights Suplex by Rin, but Chikayo Nagashima breaks it up by throwing a chair at her. Rin is sat down in the chair and kicked by Nagashima, Chisako, and Yabushita, delayed brainbuster by KAORU but Ray breaks up the cover. KAORU puts Rin on the top turnbuckle and tries to join her, but Maria and Ray pull her back to the mat, allowing Rin to hit a missile dropkick. Chisako hits a missile dropkick to Rin’s back, Ray and Maria try to help but Chisako dropkicks them as well. Maria tags herself in, double vertical suplex to Maria, and KAORU covers her for two. Irish whip by KAORU to Maria but Rin grabs her from the apron, allowing Maria to hit a dropkick. More dropkicks by Maria and she hits a body slam, she goes off the ropes but Yabushita whips her from the floor. Ray and Rin come in, KAORU eats a double superkick and Rin goes up top, hitting a missile dropkick onto KAORU. Maria goes for flash pins but KAORU kicks out of each one, Chisako and Nagashima both return and suplex Rin and Ray from behind. Maria grabs KAORU and hits a scoop slam, but KAORU bridges out of the pin and rolls up Maria for the three count! KAORU is the winner.

I have to give them credit as this was more entertaining than I was expecting. I have no issue with W-FIX interfering a lot since it was a 3 vs. 1 match in the first place, leaving KAORU alone the bulk of the time. They gave Maria a lot more offense than I was expecting and most of the exchanges were pretty even all thing considered. The ending was great as KAORU won with just a cradle on a child rookie, showing she had to grab the win whenever she could since Rin and Ray were always lurking around to break up pins. Overall one of better laid-out 3 vs. 1 handicap matches I’ve seen in recent memory, really fun match.  Recommended

Tomoko Watanabe vs. ZAP

I will say I have respect for wrestlers that don’t mind wrestling Sakura Hirota wearing a fat suit making fun of them. They talk for a bit before ZAP gets mad and starts tossing “Watanabe” around, but “Watanabe” comes back with a face crusher and does the Mutoh pose. Irish whip to the corner by “Watanabe” but she takes too long to do a move and ZAP kicks her. Scoop slam by ZAP but “Watanabe” avoids the leg drop and runs the ropes over her, she goes to fall onto ZAP but ZAP gets her feet up. “Watanabe” stays on the mat and encourage ZAP to go off the ropes and jump over her, which she finally does, but “Watanabe” gives her a quick Oil Check and rolls up ZAP for two. Face crusher by “Watanabe” and she grabs ZAP’s arm, she goes and walks the ropes but eventually slips and crotches them. ZAP goes off the ropes but “Watanabe” drop toeholds her into them, “Watanabe” sets up ZAP in the ropes and delivers a running Oil Check. ZAP rolls out of the ring and “Watanabe” goes off the ropes, but she gets stuck in the ropes while going for a dive. ZAP takes “Watanabe” up into the stands and beats her up, she finally rolls her back into the ring but “Watanabe” pushes her off and hits few headbutts. She knocks herself out doing this, ZAP picks up “Watanabe” and throws her to the ropes, “Watanabe” goes for a springboard move but ZAP moves. “Watanabe” goes for an Oil Check but “Watanabe” flips her off of her, Lariat by ZAP but “Watanabe” kicks out. ZAP picks up “Watanabe” and goes for a powerbomb, but “Watanabe” is too fat and falls on top of her. “Watanabe” kisses ZAP, she goes off the ropes but ZAP falls on top of her due to the kiss and “Watanabe” gets pinned for the three count! ZAP wins!

For what it was, this was fine. I’m not the biggest fan of Sakura Hirota but her cosplay matches are pretty harmless. They all follow the same pattern and have the same spots but the live crowd always enjoys it so it has its place. A bit interesting just to see Tomoko Watanabe playing along but that’s about it for me.

Bryan Idol, Takumi Iroha, and Leo Isaka vs. Yuki Miyazaki, Nene D.a.i., and Batten BlaBla

Takumi and Batten start the match, Takumi throws down Batten by the hair and kicks him in the corner. They trade holds, Takumi gets the better of it as Batten wiggles around on the mat, which Takumi has no time for as she throws Batten in the corner so her team can all hit running elbow strikes. Cover by Takumi, but it gets two. Takumi tags Leo, Batten chops Leo in the throat and stomps on his chest. Batten tags Nene, Nene and Leo trade elbows and armdrags before reaching a stalemate. Idol and Yuki are tagged in, Yuki kicks Idol in the shin and puts Idol in the crotch stretcher, Idol gets out of it and Yuki quickly tags in Batten. Batten and Idol mess around a bit until Batten throws Idol in the corner and delivers a running chop to the throat. Batten goes off the ropes and hits a lariat, cover by Batten but it gets two. Batten tags Nene, Nene gives Idol a kiss which leads to Idol chopping him to the mat. Nene goes for an inside cradle but Idol blocks it and hits a suplex, knees by Idol and he hits a double underhook suplex.

Idol tags Leo, Idol picks up Leo and tosses him down onto Nene. Leg sweep by Leo and he connects with a running knee, he goes for a springboard move but Nene catches him with a cutter. Scoop slam by Nene, he goes up top and hits a slingshot crossbody for two. Nene tags Yuki, sliding kick by Yuki but Leo gets Yuki’s back. Yuki gets away but Leo connects with a step-up enzuigiri and tags in Takumi. Yuki suplexes Takumi and drives her face repeatedly into her rear, Leo comes in but he gets the same treatment. Idol felt left out and comes in, he gets on the mat and gets it as well. Yuki goes out and gets Mio Momono, she brings her into the ring and grabs her by the end with her legs, driving her head into her rear end as well. Mio is unconscious and is rolled nicely back out of the ring, Takumi kicks Yuki in the leg but Yuki goes for a kiss, which is blocked. She blocks it a second time and punches Yuki in the face, kick combination by Takumi and she goes off the ropes, but Yuki catches her with a Samoan Driver.

Leo runs in and hits a sliding kick on Yuki as things break down, Idol comes in too and he spears Batten off the apron. Leo gets on the top turnbuckle and dives out of the ring with a moonsault, Idol rolls in Batten and he covers him for two. Not sure how they are legal but we have loose rules here. Batten chops Idol in the throat but Idol catches him with a tombstone piledriver. Idol runs to the corner and goes for a moonsault, but Batten rolls out of the way. Takumi tags back in and hits a head kick, missile dropkick by Leo to Batten and Takumi hits a vertical suplex. Takumi goes up top but Yuki comes in and joins her, Yuki kisses Takumi before hitting a superplex. Nene comes in and picks up Takumi, scoop slam by Nene and he hits a somersault senton for two. Headscissors by Nene, Batten and Yuki both come in and go for elbow drops but Takumi kicks them both back. Takumi hits a low blow on all three of her opponents, buzzsaw kick to Batten but Batten barely kicks out of the cover. Takumi goes up top and nails the Swanton Bomb, and she picks up the three count! Bryan Idol, Takumi Iroha, and Leo Isaka are the winners.

There is a lot to unpack here. First, its an absolutely bizarre combination of wrestlers, which is part of the charm but will also leave most Western fans confused as these are not wrestlers most people are even familiar with. I don’t know the real life connection or how they ended up here but it definitely gave the match a unique feel. I wouldn’t say most of the in-ring work was crisp, although Idol hit all his spots well and left a positive impression. I also liked Mio getting involved, even if not necessarily by choice, since it was her show after all. Much of this match was pretty uneventful however as aside from a few memorable spots not a lot was happening that sticks in your brain. There was no rhyme or reason to it whatsoever and tags meant nothing, it was more like Mio Momono’s brain just exploded in the ring and this is what hopped out of it for reasons unknown. A unique spectacle but not something I could ever put a rating on.

The post Marvelous “Mio Momono Produce” on 3/18/19 Review appeared first on Joshi City.

Marvelous hasn’t added this event to their streaming service yet (and maybe never will) but it was too big of an event for me to neglect so I tracked it down anyway. Marvelous is a smaller Joshi promotion run by Chigusa Nagayo, they have no TV deal but most of their roster is recognizable to fans as they wrestle in other promotions such as WAVE and SEAdLINNNG. This is the first Korakuen Hall event for Marvelous so they went all out to put on not only the best show they could but a show that exhibits everything that Marvelous stands for. Mayu Iwatani from Stardom has shown up to aid in the main event, here is the full card (I will only be reviewing the Joshi matches):

• Chikayo Nagashima, DASH Chisako, KAORU, and Megumi Yabushita vs. Natsumi Maki, Sahara Seven, Tomoko Watanabe, and Yuu Yamagata
• Jaguar Yokota vs. Sakura Hirota
• Mikoto Shindo vs. Yoshiko
• Kyuri, Mio Momono, and Nyla Rose vs. Rina Yamashita, Rin Kadokura, and Sareee
• Mayu Iwatani vs. Takumi Iroha

As this was released on a double DVD set, matches are shown unclipped. All wrestlers have profiles on Joshi City, you can click on their name above to go straight to it. Let’s get to the show!

Chikayo Nagashima, Chisako, KAORU, and Yabushita vs. Natsumi Maki, Sahara Seven, Watanabe, and Yamagata

The factions start to brawl before the bell rings with LEVEL5 getting the early advantage, they stack W-FIX in the corners as they take turns hitting running strikes. W-FIX gets back at them by all applying hanging armbars over the top rope, Sahara Seven stays in the ring as level as she is kicked by all four members of W-FIX. Things settle down with Chikayo and Sahara Seven in the ring, Sahara Seven knocks down Chikayo in the corner and hits a running hip attack. Sahara Seven tags in Natsumi, Natsumi knocks Chikayo out of the ring and tries to dive out onto W-FIX, but W-FIX moves and she lands on her own partners instead. KAORU gets on the second turnbuckle and hits a moonsault down onto LEVEL5, both teams then battle around the ring with W-FIX staying in control. Chikayo and Natsumi return to the ring, vertical suplex by Chikayo and she puts Natsumi onto a stack of chairs. Chikayo goes up top but Yuu smacks her and throws her down onto the chairs, dropkicks by Natsumi to Chikayo and she hits a German suplex hold for a two count. Natsumi goes up top but KAORU grabs her from the apron, Chikayo joins Natsumi but Tomoko grabs her from behind and pulls her back to the ring. Natsumi goes for a crossbody but Chikayo ducks, and in the process hits a hurricanrana onto Tomoko. Chikayo tags Chisako, Chisako comes in with a chair but Natsumi avoids her swing and dropkicks it out of her hand. Chisako throws Natsumi in the corner but Natsumi avoids her charge and kicks her with Yuu. Sahara Seven kicks Chisako as well before Natsumi hits a cyclone neckbreaker with a bridge for a two count. Natsumi tags Yuu, Yuu goes up top and hits a missile dropkick. Chikayo and Megumi come in but Yuu hits a Codebreaker on both of them. KAORU hits Yuu with a piece of board, she boots Yuu in the corner before helping Chisako hit a catapult dropkick.

Megumi is tagged in and she dropkicks Yuu, she gets on the second turnbuckle but Yuu dropkicks her as she dives off. Natsumi runs in and hits a neckbreaker, double superkick to Megumi and Yuu covers her for two. Yuu kicks Megumi in the head but her cover again gets two as it gets broken up, Tomoko picks up Megumi but Megumi avoids the suplex attempt. Tomoko hits a lariat anyway and hits a dragon screw onto Chikayo, but Megumi quickly applies a cross armbreaker. Natsumi breaks that up, KAORU comes in with a board and hits everyone moving with it. Megumi sets up two chairs in the ring, they sit Tomoko and Sahara Seven in the chairs and all four W-FIX members hit superkicks. Chisako and Megumi grab Tomoko and both hit her with chairs, KAORU goes up top but Tomoko quickly recovers and joins her. KAORU slides away, Chisako gets on top with Tomoko and she hits a Frankensteiner. Diving Footstomp by Chikayo, cover by KAORU but it gets broken up. All four W-FIX members go up top to hit diving moves on different members of LEVEL5, three of which connect but Yuu avoids Chikayo and superkicks her. This allows her to break up KAORU’s cover onto Tomoko, KAORU picks up Tomoko but Tomoko snaps off a Screwdriver for two. KAORU gets up and drops Tomoko with the Excalibur, but that gets a two as well. Lariat by Tomoko, KAORU bridges out of the pin and she hits a hurricanrana, but Tomoko rolls KAORU over into a two count. Chisako goes up top and hits Tomoko with a missile dropkick, Chikayo cracks her with a chair and KAORU follows by breaking the board over Tomoko’s head. Tomoko shrugs it off and lariats KAORU, Screwdriver by Tomoko but KAORU kicks out of the pin. Tomoko picks up KAORU and delivers a Fire Thunder Driver for the three count! LEVEL5 are your winners.

This was a fun way to kick off the show. Normally I’d complain about having eight wrestlers in a 12 minute match, as it didn’t give all the wrestlers a chance to shine, but in a chaotic match like this it works out a bit better. Tomoko was the beast here, since she is an old school legend I have no issue her just shrugging off moves and crushing everyone. The lack of structure really worked well with these two teams, and while its not the type of match that will stick in your brain long term its still quite entertaining and a good way to get the crowd fired up to start the event.  Mildly Recommended

Jaguar Yokota vs. Sakura Hirota

They circle each other to start, Hirota goes for leg kicks but Yokota just shrugs them off. Yokota elbows Hirota into the corner but Hirota hits a face crusher and does the Mutoh Pose (she can’t help herself). Hirota grabs Yokota’s arm and goes up to the turnbuckle to walk the ropes, she successfully does her ropes hop the first time but fails on try number two and falls back into the ring. Yokota charges Hirota but Hirota drop toeholds her into the middle rope, she sets up Yokota and goes for the Oil Check, but Yokota moves out of the way. Uppercuts by Hirota, she goes off the ropes but Yokota ignores her attempt at a heel kick. Yokota lays down on the mat to try to help Hirota, Hirota goes off the ropes a few times but Yokota gets her feet up before she can hit a move. Hirota tells Yokota to do the same thing, so Hirota lays down on the mat and Yokota hops over her back and forth before also missing the move as Hirota rolls out of the way. Hirota goes for the Scorpion Deathlock but she has no idea how to do the move, so she asks the real Chigusa Nagayo to get into the ring. Nagayo does and she puts Yokota in the Scorpion Deathlock (after apologizing to her), Hirota goes off the ropes repeatedly but tires herself out before she does a move. Nagayo lets go of Yokota, they both Irish whip her and punch Yokota in the stomach. Nagayo tries to catapult Hirota onto Yokota but Yokota gets her feet up and pushes Hirota back. Now it is Nagayo and Yokota that Irish whip Hirota and punch her in the stomach, but they celebrate too long and get hit with a double Oil Check. They roll out of the ring and invite Hirota to do a dive, but Hirota gets caught on the ropes and bounces back into the ring. Yokota re-joins her and hits a front flip double legdrop, she picks up Hirota but Hirota gets away and goes for the Oil Check. Yokota catches her uh fingers and flings her to the mat, Yokota then kisses Hirota and puts her in the Octopus Hold. Hirota struggles for just a second but quickly submits! Jaguar Yokota is the winner!

I think its impossible to “rate” comedy matches with a traditional scoring system, but I will say this one was good for some laughs. Chigusa Nagayo getting in the ring and playing along was a nice surprise, and Yokota has no issues being an active participant in this style of match. The crowd loved it, which is the most important thing, and I don’t have any complaints. Sakura Hirota wrestling as Chigusa Nagayo was the right way to go for this event, and it achieved its goal of providing some comic relief before the bigger matches on the show happen.

Mikoto Shindo vs. Yoshiko

They tie-up to start, Yoshiko pushes Mikoto to the mat repeatedly but Mikoto keeps getting back up. Yoshiko pushes Mikoto into the ropes and gives a clean break, elbows by Mikoto but Yoshiko easily elbows Mikoto to the mat. Mikoto gets up and elbows her some more with the same result, snapmare by Yoshiko and she kicks Mikoto in the back. Knees by Yoshiko, Mikoto applies a side headlock but Yoshiko gets out of it and hits a hard shoulderblock. Two more shoulderblocks by Yoshiko, and she covers Mikoto for two. Crab hold by Yoshiko but Mikoto eventually makes it to the ropes for the break, Yoshiko stomps Mikoto and throws her hard into the corner. Yoshiko tosses down Mikoto by the hair and hits bootscrapes in the corner, cover by Yoshiko but Mikoto barely kicks out. More stomps by Yoshiko, she picks up Mikoto and hits a scoop slam. She goes for the senton but Mikoto rolls out of the way, dropkicks by Mikoto and she knocks Yoshiko off her feet. Cover by Mikoto, but Yoshiko kicks out. Mikoto goes for a crossbody but Yoshiko catches her, Mikoto reverses it into a cover and then a backslide, but each pin attempt gets two. Mikoto goes off the ropes but Yoshiko hits a body avalanche followed by a kick right to the head, cover by Yoshiko but Mikoto gets a shoulder up. Yoshiko picks up Mikoto and hits a Samoan Drop, running senton by Yoshiko and she covers Mikoto for the three count! Yoshiko wins the match.

No result on this card was more obvious than this one. In a way you could tell the match was kinda thrown together, I think that Yoshiko was having some issues coming up with offense that wouldn’t look like it would immediately beat a tiny rookie, so the middle potion of the match had a lot of stomps just to stretch out the match. I liked Mikoto’s run on offense towards the end, even though we all knew it wouldn’t work, as at least that stopped it from just being a squash match and Yoshiko was pretty giving in making sure the rookie didn’t look completely out of her element. For a debut match it was fine, but a pretty random match to have on such a major event.

Kyuri, Mio Momono, and Nyla Rose vs. Rina Yamashita, Rin Kadokura, and Sareee

Rina Yamashita’s team attacks as the match starts and get an early advantage, until Nyla clears out all three of them by herself. Nyla tags in Mio, Kyuri comes in too as they double team Rina. One Kyuri leaves, Rina gets back in control of Mio and hits a knee to the back of the head. Elbows by Mio and she hits a swinging headscissors, dropkick by Mio and she tags in Nyla. Scoop slam by Nyla to Rina but Rina blocks the suplex attempt and hits one of her own. She tags in Sareee, dropkick by Sareee to Nyla but Nyla blocks the German suplex attempt. Nyla grabs Sareee and hits a wheelbarrow suplex, running kick by Nyla and she covers Sareee for two. Sareee gets back up and the two trade elbows, Kyuri pulls down the rope to send Sareee out to the floor while Rina and Rin get in the ring just to be hit by Nyla with a lariat. Nyla goes outside the ring with their opponents, first Kyuri dives out of the ring onto them from the top turnbuckle and Mio follows behind her. Nyla then gets up to the top turnbuckle but everyone bails before she can jump off, they get back in the ring as Kyuri and Mio drape Sareee over the top rope. Nyla is still waiting on the top turnbuckle so she dives off with a kneedrop to Sareee, and Nyla tags in Kyuri. Cyclone neckbreaker by Kyuri and she goes for a cross armbreaker, but Sareee quickly gets into the ropes. Codebreaker by Kyuri to Sareee, but Sareee bridges out of the pin and hits a dropkick.

Fisherman suplex hold by Sareee and she tags in Rin, missile dropkick by Rin but Kyuri lands on her corner and tags Mio. Diving crossbody by Mio, Nyla comes in too and she helps Mio hit a diving footstomp before tossing Mio down onto Rin for a two count cover. Mio goes for the Yoshi Tonic but Rin blocks it, Rin and Mio trade elbows until Mio kicks Rin in the head. Rina and Sareee run in to help as they double team Mio, dropkick by Rin to Mio and she covers her for two. Rin goes up top but Nyla comes in and tosses Rin from the top turnbuckle, Kyuri then goes up top and with Nyla she hits an assisted senton. Mio gets on Nyla’s shoulders and hits a senton as well, cover by Mio but it gets broken up. Mio charges Rin but Rin quickly schoolboys her for two, rolling schoolboy by Rin but Mio kicks out again. Rin goes off the ropes and hits the hurricanrana, Mio reverses it but Sareee dropkicks Mio in the head. Nyla comes in but Sareee drops her with a German suplex, Rina comes in too with Sareee and they clear the ring out to leave just Rin and Mio. Mio cradles Rin for a quick two count, she picks her back up and goes for the Yoshi Tonic, but Rina lariats her from behind. Elevated DDT by Rin, Rina then hits a lariat and Sareee follows with a diving footstomp. Jackknife cover by Rin, but Mio kicks out. Rin jumps on Mio’s shoulders and nails the standing crucifix bomb, and she picks up the three count! Rin Kadokura, Rina Yamashita, and Sareee are the winners!

My only complaint here is the match was way too short. When you have six wrestlers as good as these six are, with no weak links so the action is always entertaining, ten minutes simply isn’t enough. Especially when its so high up the card, just one from the top. So I am not sure what led to that decision, if they were running out of time as they had a lot of non-wrestling segments as well, but it was still a bit of a disappointment. That being said, everything they did was really fun and oddly cohesive for a hectic match, Mabutachi 2 Manjimanji work great together with a variety of double and triple team moves and they feel like a real unit and not something just thrown together. An entertaining match, it just didn’t get the time that it deserved.  Mildly Recommended

Mayu Iwatani vs. Takumi Iroha

They tie-up to start, Takumi pushes Mayu into the ropes and she gives a clean break. They lock knuckles again as they go into a Test of Strength, Takumi gets Mayu’s back and they jockey for control. Takumi works a side headlock but Mayu gets into the ropes, Irish whip by Takumi and she hits a hard shoulderblock. Springboard armdrag by Mayu but Takumi hits an armdrag of her own and they end up at a stalemate again. Takumi picks up Mayu but Mayu gets away and kicks her, headscissors by Mayu and she dropkicks Takumi while she is against the ropes. Takumi falls out of the ring, Mayu goes up top but Takumi rolls back in and tosses Mayu to the mat. Takumi picks up Mayu and hits a snap vertical suplex before twisting her neck, Takumi tosses Mayu into the corner and delivers a dropkick. Takumi goes for a submission but Mayu quickly gets to the ropes, kicks to the back by Takumi and she applies a crossface. She lets go after a moment and stomps on Mayu, she goes off the ropes but Mayu catches her with a Sling Blade. Takumi goes for a kick but Mayu catches it and hits a dragon screw, Mayu charges Takumi in the corner but Takumi moves out of the way. Mayu rolls Takumi out of the corner and delivers a kick, Northern Lights Suplex by Mayu but she lands on her own head and is too hurt to cover Takumi. They both slowly get up, Mayu goes for a standing crucifix bomb but Takumi blocks it. Mayu applies an ankle hold but Takumi makes it to the ropes for the break. Mayu twists Takumi’s leg in the ropes and dropkicks it, Takumi rolls out of the ring but Mayu goes after her and takes her up into the crowd. They end up near the balcony (naturally) as Takumi hits a hard elbow, she slams Mayu at the bottom of the balcony before climbing up onto the ledge and hitting a Senton Bomb down onto Mayu (which the camera didn’t get a great shot of).

Takumi returns to the ring with Mayu very slowly following, Takumi greets her with kicks but Mayu catches one and delivers a superkick when Takumi goes off the ropes. Mayu dropkicks Takumi in the knee and applies the figure four leglock, but Takumi gets to the rope for the break. Standing crucifix bomb by Mayu, but Takumi gets a shoulder up on the cover. Mayu picks up Takumi and goes for the dragon suplex, but Takumi blocks it and delivers a heel kick. Buzzsaw Kick by Takumi, she picks up Mayu and puts her in the Sleeper Hold. Mayu quickly gets to the ropes to break it up, Takumi grabs Mayu but Mayu snaps off a hurricanrana for a two count. Question Mark kick by Takumi and she nails a German suplex hold, but Mayu kicks out. Takumi goes up top but Mayu recovers and joins her and goes for a Frankensteiner. Takumi blocks it and powerbombs Mayu from the top turnbuckle to the mat, but her cover gets two. Takumi goes back up top but Mayu rolls out of the way of the Senton Bomb, Mayu recovers first and hits a double jump reverses hurricanrana for a two count. Mayu picks up Takumi and hits the dragon suplex hold, but again Takumi barely kicks out. Mayu goes for her special version of the dragon suplex but Takumi blocks it, Doctor Bomb by Takumi but it gets two. Takumi quickly picks up Mayu and nails the Running Three, but Mayu gets a shoulder up. Takumi slowly drags Mayu up but the bell rings before she can hit another move, as time has expired. The match is a Draw.

The result was never in question, especially with only 20 minutes allotted to them, but the journey to get there was still entertaining. Mayu continues to be the craziest bumper on the Joshi scene, everything she took here looked deadly, even simple things like climbing over the guard rail she made look dangerous. Which may not be good for long term health but it is entertaining to watch. The leg work felt meaningful as Takumi would at least occasionally indicate it was bothering her throughout the match, and they did a lot of big spots to make the match memorable. Since the event was in Marvelous I think it was the right move to have Takumi so close to getting the win, and when Mayu wins the big belt in Stardom I assume there will be a rematch down the road. I would have preferred the show to end with a match with a more conclusive ending since this was a bit predictable, but still a thoroughly enjoyable match with great selling by both and constant excitement from bell to bell.  Highly Recommended  

The post Marvelous at Korakuen Hall on 8/8/18 Entire Show Review appeared first on Joshi City.

I realize I should be reviewing something from Stardom, and maybe I will later, but first…. Marvelous! Marvelous is a smaller indie promotion that is run by Joshi legend Chigusa Nagayo. They show all their events on Fresh! TV for a small fee, and I try to catch up with them from time to time as they have some great young wrestlers and the events aren’t long so they are an easy watch Here is the full card:

• Natsumi Maki vs. Sakura Hirota
• Mio Momono and Sahara Seven vs. Tomoko Watanabe and Yuu Yamagata
• Chikayo Nagashima vs. Nyla Rose
• KAORU, Megumi Yabushita, and Pandita vs. Rin Kadokura, Takumi Iroha, and Leo Isaka

All Joshi wrestlers above have profiles on Joshi City, you can click on their names to go straight to it. All matches are shown in full.

Natsumi Maki vs. Sakura Hirota

They start with wristlocks, Natsumi flips out of Sakura’s but when Hirota tries to do a handstand she flops to the mat with an injured shoulder. She recovers after a moment, dropkicks by Natsumi and she covers Sakura for two. Sakura comes back with her own dropkicks but has issues knocking Natsumi over, Sakura slaps Natsumi and they discuss things for a bit. Course I can’t understand Japanese so no idea what they are discussing, but the crowd seems to enjoy it. Sakura talks Natsumi into doing a few bumps on her own, but it was all a nefarious trap as she quickly covers Natsumi for a two count. Delayed scoop slam by Sakura, she bounces off the ropes a few times but instead of doing a normal move she screams in Natsumi’s ear. Natsumi cartwheels away from Sakura and hits an armdrag, snapmare by Natsumi and she puts Sakura in a bodyscissors. Natsumi picks up Sakura  and dropkicks her in the corner, but Sakura comes back with a face crusher.

Wristlock by Sakura and she gets on the top turnbuckle to walk the ropes, but after one successful trick move on the ropes she accidentally crotches herself on them. Natsumi charges Sakura but Sakura drops her into the second rope and pulls on her nose. Snapmare by Sakura, but Natsumi kicks out of the cover. Sakura goes off the ropes and gives Natsumi the Oil Check, dropkick by Natsumi but Sakura hits a second delayed scoop slam. Sakura gets on the second rope but Natsumi recovers and hits a scoop slam. Front flip slam by Natsumi, but Sakura gets a shoulder up. Natsumi gets on the top turnbuckle but Sakura grabs her and puts Natsumi on top of a different turnbuckle instead. Diving crossbody by Natsumi, but Sakura kicks out. Dropkick by Natsumi but Sakura quickly applies La Magistral for two. Natsumi goes for a superkick but Sakura ducks it and kisses her, Natsumi delivers the superkick on the second try but Sakura falls on top of her and gets the three count cover! Sakura Hirota is the winner!

I’m not necessarily the target audience for these types of matches, but its always a pleasure to see Natsumi Maki. Some funny bits and fine for a casual watch, but nothing really special or outside of the ordinary. Decent enough for an opener but I wish I could have seen Natsumi in a match that showed off more of her skills.

Mio Momono and Sahara Seven vs. Tomoko Watanabe and Yuu Yamagata

Mio and Yuu kick things off, Mio gets an early advantage before bailing out of the ring when Yuu recovers. Yuu runs out after her and finally catches Mio, she brings Mio back into the ring but Mio greets her with elbows. Yuu pushes Mio into the corner and slaps her hard in the chest, she tags in Tomoko and Tomoko hits a scoop slam. Springboard elbow drop by Tomoko and she follows that with a leg drop for two. Tomoko puts Mio in a camel clutch before letting her go to tag in Yuu, Yuu slaps Mio in the belly but Mio dropkicks her in the leg. A few more dropkicks by Mio and she makes the hot tag to Sahara, Sahara and Yuu trade chops until Sahara rams Yuu’s head into her knees. Mio runs in and dropkicks Yuu, running hip attack by Sahara but Yuu tosses her down and hits a footstomp. She tags Tomoko but Mio re-enters the ring, Mio and Sahara try to kick Tomoko but she doesn’t budge. Mio dropkicks Tomoko off her feet, Sahara drives Tomoko’s head into the mat with her leg, but the cover is broken up. Mio dropkicks Tomoko out of the ring but Tomoko crawls under it to get away from Mio. Mio goes under the ring with her, eventually they both emerge with Tomoko in control.

Mio somehow got black marks on her face from being under the mat, which Tomoko proudly shows the crowd until they return to the ring. Lariats by Tomoko, she covers Mio but Mio kicks out. Tomoko picks up Mio but Mio slides away and hits a pair of spinning crossbodies for a two. Mio picks up Tomoko and hits a scoop slam, she goes up top but Yuu kicks Mio in the head. Tomoko grabs Mio but Mio cradles her for a two count. A schoolboy by Mio also gets two as does her next cradle attempt, Sahara comes in but Tomoko hits a springboard move on both of them and tags in Yuu. Yuu elbows Mio in the corner and hits a reverse double knee drop, Mio slides away from Yuu and hits a diving crossbody off the top turnbuckle. She goes back up top but Tomoko grabs her from the apron, Yuu joins Mio but Sahara attacks her from behind. Sahara helps Mio hits a senton, but her cover is broken up. Mio goes off the ropes but Tomoko catches her with a lariat, kick to the head by Yuu but Mio barely kicks out. Yuu goes off the ropes but Mio rolls her up before hitting a footstomp. Another footstomp by Mio and she holds down Yuu, but it only gets two. Mio goes for another cradle but Tomoko comes in to break things up, Sahara holds back Tomoko but lets her go and Mio trips over Tomoko. Yuu quickly grabs Mio and applies a modified cradle, keeping Mio down for the three count! Tomoko Watanabe and Yuu Yamagata are the winners!

After the match, Sahara joined LEVEL 5 so I am not sure if they are implying she intentionally let Tomoko go or if it was just a happy coincidence. Anyway, this one had a fair amount of miscommunications or just little blips, nothing major happened but you could tell there were some chemistry issues. Mio’s new gear is solid and she’s a bundle of fun, she still needs some fine-tuning but the potential is there. A decent enough match, nothing offensive but it didn’t click enough for me to recommend you go out of your way to see.

Chikayo Nagashima vs. Nyla Rose

They lock-up to start with Nyla pushing Chikayo to the mat, Chikayo avoids Nyla’s boot however and delivers a spinning headscissors. Chikayo jumps on the second turnbuckle to get away from Nyla, but Nyla sits her on the top before press slamming her to the mat for a two count. Nyla picks up Chikayo and press slams her again, Chikayo rolls out of the ring but Nyla goes out after her. Chikayo returns to the ring but Nyla hits an ax handle before delivering a third press slam for a two count cover. Nyla throws Chikayo into the corner and hits a lariat, another lariat by Nyla and she goes up top, but Chikayo recovers and smacks Nyla. Nyla kicks Chikayo back however and hits a diving shoulderblock, Nyla picks up Chikayo but Chikayo slides down her back and applies a waistlock. Nyla elbows out of it but Chikayo applies a hanging armbar over the top rope. Chikayo goes up up but Nyla tosses her down to the mat and hits a body press for two. Nyla goes for a powerbomb but Chikayo reverses it into a facebuster, running kicks by Chikayo and she nails a German suplex hold for a two count.

Chikayo goes up top and hits the diving footstomp, but again her cover gets two. Chikayo picks up Nyla but Nyla hits a belly to belly suplex, she puts Chikayo over the top rope and goes up top to deliver a diving knee to Chikayo’s back. Cover by Nyla, but Chikayo kicks out. Nyla quickly applies an armtrap crossface, but Chikayo gets out of the hold. Dragon screw by Chikayo and she applies a figure four leglock, but Nyla grabs the ropes for the break. Nyla catches Chikayo with a backbreaker, she gets on the second turnbuckle but Chikayo joins her and hits a Frankensteiner. They both slowly get up, uranage by Chikayo and she covers Nyla, but Nyla gets a shoulder up. Chikayo goes for a fisherman suplex but Nyla blocks it and hits a series of short-arm lariats. Nyla goes up top but Chikayo avoids the Senton Bomb, now it is Chikayo that goes up but Nyla grabs her from behind and goes for a powerbomb. Chikayo blocks it at first but Nyla delivers the powerbomb anyway, cover by Nyla but Chikayo kicks out at one. Nyla goes for another powerbomb but Chikayo reverses it into a roll-up, she goes off the ropes but Nyla catches her with a superkick. Sit-down powerbomb by Nyla, and she picks up the three count! Nyla Rose wins!

I like that Marvelous is pushing Nyla, she brings something different to the table and they all seem to have a good deal of respect for her. This match wasn’t perfect but it still worked, Chikayo can still go at 42 years old and Nyla hits her power moves very well. I wouldn’t have minded if it was a bit longer but everything they did was logical and they worked well together. Overall an entertaining match, and a bit different from what we see in most Joshi matches due to Nyla’s strength.  Mildly Recommended

KAORU, Megumi Yabushita, and Pandita vs. Rin Kadokura, Iroha, and Leo Isaka

They start brawling as the bell rings and all six wrestlers end up out on the floor. They battle around the stands until Megumi and kkk return to the ring with Leo as he gets triple teamed near the ropes. Megumi stays in with Leo and whips him in the chest before tagging in Pandita, headlock by Pandita and he lets go to tag in KAORU. KAORU works over Leo’s arm until Takumi breaks things up, KAORU grabs Leo and makes the tag to Pandita. Enzuigiri by Leo and he hits a running elbow smash, giving him time to tag in Rin. Rin and Leo double team Pandita, Rin picks up Pandita and she drops him with a DDT. Lariat by Rin, and she covers Pandita for two. Rin throws Pandita into the corner but Pandita avoids her charge and grabs Rin’s wrist before walking the ropes. Pandita jumps off and clubs on Rin’s arm and tags in Megumi, Megumi whips Rin but Rin dropkicks Megumi in the leg. Another dropkick by Rin and she delivers a third, Rin picks up Megumi and drops her with a scoop slam for a two count. Rin picks up Megumi but Megumi grabs her arm and applies a hanging armbar over the top rope. She lets go after a moment, Rin escapes and she makes the tag to Leo. Elbow by Leo to Megumi and he hits a slingshot senton, but Megumi gets her foot on the ropes to break up the pin. Leo goes for a chokeslam but Megumi reverses it into a cross armbreaker, she tags in KAORU and KAORU hits Leo repeatedly with a board. Vertical suplex by KAORU to Leo, but the referee won’t count since KAORU used a weapon. Back up they trade strikes until KAORU hits a hurricanrana, she goes back to her board and cracks Leo in the head with it.

KAORU goes up top but Takumi kicks her from the apron to knock her back down, running Shooting Star Press by Leo and he makes the tag to Takumi. Kick by Takumi and she knocks over KAORU with a sliding kick, Takumi picks up KAORU and she hits a snap vertical suplex. Rin comes in but KAORU flips away from them and with Megumi they both hit boots to their opponents. Nagashima comes in with a belt and they choke Takumi while KAORU hits her in the head with the board. Brainbuster by KAORU to Takumi, but she barely gets a shoulder up. Megumi comes in as does Pandita as they all attack Takumi in the corner, but Takumi knocks over KAORU with a heel kick. KAORU bridges out of the pin but Takumi hits a powerbomb, Takumi picks up KAORU and nails the Last Ride Powerbomb, but Megumi breaks up the pin. Rin goes up top and hits a missile dropkick before Takumi hits a release German, but KAORU lands in her corner and Pandita tags himself in. Pandita lariats Takumi and drops her with a backdrop suplex, but Rin breaks up the cover. Leo comes in to help and ends up sailing out of the ring onto KAORU and Megumi with a somersault plancha, back in the ring Rin hits a tornado DDT onto Pandita before Pandita eats a triple superkick. Takumi goes up top and delivers the Frog Splash, but the referee is pulled out of the ring as she makes the count. Takumi drops Pandita with a high kick, KAORU comes in to try to hit Takumi with the board but she hits Pandita by accident. Takumi goes back up top and nails the Swanton Bomb, and she picks up the three count! Your winners are Rin Kadokura, Takumi Iroha, and Leo Isaka.

In my ideal world, Pandita and Leo would have been cut from the match as it wasn’t really long enough to allow all six to do much anyway, but it was still an entertaining match. Takumi and Rin are the two of the better Joshi wrestlers that no one talks about, due to them being affiliated with a smaller Joshi promotion, and they are always a joy to watch. KAORU though is a beast, she is so over-the-top violent and I love it, a real old school wrestler that brings something different to the table. The action kept up from bell to bell, which is one of the benefits of a six wrestler match, and everything was fluid as they have good chemistry together. A solid way to end a smaller Marvelous event.  Recommended

The post Marvelous on 5/13/18 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

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