Wave 8/30/17 Live Thoughts

August 30, 2017 in Tokyo, Japan

The final show of my week long trip I caught was “Weekday Wave” at Shinjuku Face.

 

 

The opener was a bit of a pleasant surprise for me. I was glad to see a favorite of mine, Aoi Kizuki, added to this show a few days before as I wouldn’t have seen her otherwise. I was even more excited to see her put in the ring opposite my favorite tag team (whose matches with Best Friends were the reason I made this trip) as So on Flower (Aoi & Moeka Haruhi) faced Avid Rival (Misaki Ohata & Ryo Mizunami).

 

 

This was a short but great opener with strong structure and story. Moeka and Aoi jumped their decorated and certainly favored opponents during their entrance pose and never let up, going full throttle trying to prove themselves in Avid Rival’s league. Misaki and Ryo fought back of course but couldn’t ever quite get full control of their opponents nor stop the underdogs’ onslaught. Aoi and Moeka essentially overwhelmed AR and Moeka eventually pinned Mizunami for the upset. This was action packed and really well worked to the point it was satisfying despite (and felt longer than) the literal few minutes it actually ran.

 

 

 

Kaori Yoneyama & Cherry were the obvious heels in mannerisms and anctics in their match with Yuki Miyazaki & Nagisa Nozaki, but were too amusing for crowd to boo. This wasn’t bad per se, but there was nothing to it really. As opposed to the opener this felt every bit it’s short length (under three minutes).

 

 

 

The next match was another surprise for me, and another extremely pleasant one. I knew Yumi Ohka would be on the show (and was happy I’d get to see her), but didn’t have any idea Mio Momono would be. What a great pairing. Mio’s the hottest rookie there is right now (as I’ve mentioned many times), and Yumi’s a consummate veteran and the perfect opponent for her.

 

 

I’m noticing Mio working in nice touches of humor into her matches lately too. For example she has one “playing mind games” spot where she goes outside and under the ring, then appears on the opposite side to mock her opponent (who of course was looking for her on the original side). The key is she does it a second time, and “smartly” Yumi decides to ambush the youngster on the far side instead of following. So Mio goes out the side instead and again gets into the ring and mercilessly mocks the vet.

 

 

It’s silly but amusing and adds a nice bit of cleverness and attitude to Mio’s act. I’ve seen her do it in two matches so far and it will get old eventually, but I trust she’ll find a way to mix things up and keep it entertaining. Best of all, Mio does this to annoy her opponent into leaving an opening for Mio to attack, making a logical part of the match that enhances rather than derails the action.

 

 

They got a decent bit of time here (a little under ten minutes I think) to tell the story of upstart Mio giving Yumi all she could handle until the more experienced wrestler could only just keep leveling Mio with kicks until she stayed down. This was exactly what I hoped for from them and tied with the opener for my favorite of the show. The tension and hostility between the two continued after the match.

 

 

 

Sometimes comedy in wrestling can be overdone, and honestly that’s how I generally feel about both Fairy Nipponbashi’s and her partner Sakura Hirota’s ring styles. Their match here, with Fairy’s magic malfunctioning due to not having her regular wand and Hirota’s usual offense based around striking at her opponents’ backsides, did little to change my mind (though admittedly the rest of the audience seemed entertained).

 

 

What was amusing however was Hirota’s impersonation of her opponent Saki’s usual partner Mizuki, which led to great impatience from Saki’s partner here Rin Kadokura at Saki’s hesitance to attack “Mizuki.” Both Saki and Rin are quite good in the ring, so this did have periods of solid action when they went on offense and things got more serious.

 

 

Afterwards the announcer had a rather lengthy statement to deliver to Fairy and then someone came out afterwards who had Fairy’s wand and tossed her around with her own magic before making his escape. Sure whatever.

 

 

 

This probably goes without saying in a Wave review, but this semi main event features Wave’s Asuka, not the former Kana who’s using the name “Asuka” in WWE. Here she faced Hikaru Shida in a decent contest that served as good way to build up Asuka as a threat. She’ really hitting her stride and kept up with the more experience and polished Shida nicely, and they wrestled to a draw that made both look good.

 

 

The main event was and interesting tag title match featuring champions Kaho Kobayashi & Hiroe Nagahama defending against Wave’s singles champion Rina Yamishita and her partner Natsu Sumire. Kaho is another extremely good wrestler that just keeps improving, and it’s wonderful to see her in the spotlight and a champion in several companies. I’m also a big fan of Rina and it’s a joy to see her come out with the Regina di Wave belt. 

 

 

Sumire’s still a bit awkward at times (including not completely tucking her head when taking a Northern Lights suplex and coming within inch of being spiked in a scary moment), but she has has improved and played a fine role in what ended up being a solid match. This was rightfully the longest match of the show and suitable both as a main event and a title contest.

 

 

To close the show there was announcement of the Dual Shock Wave tag team tournament with various teams from the show excitedly volunteering for spots. The tag champions were involved too and the titles were announced as on the line. In addition to established teams, Yumi Ohka wanted to be involved and begged her earlier opponent Mio Momono to team with her.

 

 

Mio was initially have none of it, and as far as I could tell she essentially called Yumi washed up and old enough to be her mother (to the howling amusement of everyone else in the ring as Yumi crumpled to the mat in shock at the scathing words). She eventually agreed, but only if she was the “the boss.” Yumi’s exaggerated delight and trying to placate Mio with nods and flattery was amusing. The gist of it all was pretty easy to follow even without understanding Japanese, which is a testament to the wrestlers’ delivery and reactions.

 

 

There was also a promo clearly setting up Asuka as Rina’s next challenger, building off the spotlight match she had with Shida earlier in the night.

 

 

Fun show overall, although it did feel like they tried to cram a little too much in. Shorter promo segments and slightly longer undercard matches would have been nice. But they used the format they chose well, with generally engaging angles integrated with the matches. Even the super short early tag matches ended up having important significance in setting the stage for Dual Shock Wave. Add in good effort and a pair of matches I adored and this was a nice way to wrap up my trip.