SEAdLINNNG 4/18/18 Live Thoughts

April 18, 2018 in Tokyo, Japan

I was pleasantly surprised to discover that I’d have just enough time on the day I arrived in Japan for my Spring trip to catch this SEAdLINNNG show featuring numerous favorites of mine and headlined by Best Friends. Then a bit of rescheduling happened due to Arisa missing some shows because of a concussion (which thankfully wasn’t severe and she recovered quickly from), and my anticipation for this event shot even further through the roof.

 

1- Catch the WAVE Tournament Match: Arisa Nakajima vs Mio Momono

 

 

As referenced above, I was beyond thrilled when I found out this matchup from Wave’s annual Catch the Wave tournament was rescheduled to this show, and that I would make it to Tokyo just in time to see it. Mio’s incredible for her experience and, in my opinion, the brightest star among any rookies in the business (in an extremely strong field to boot). Arisa is simply one of the best wrestlers in the world. 

 

 

With Arisa also scheduled for the main event I suspected this might be kept on the shorter side, resulting in a good back and forth match under 10 minutes. Instead these two waged war for just under 15. This had overtones of the dismissive veteran dealing with a cocky upstart who was perhaps more of a fight than expected. Both played their roles perfectly, and the action itself was the excellent affair expected from these two. One of my favorite matches of the entire trip.

 

2- Sae Nomura & Saki Akai vs Rina Yamashita & Kaori Yoneyama 

 

 

There were a couple of cute spots in this based around Sakai’s height advantage, and watching Rina pound on people is always fun, but otherwise this was pretty much an inconsequential filler tag match. Nothing particularly great or bad here, and a bit long for what it was.

 

3- Misaki Ohata, Aoi Kizuki, & Hiroyo Matsumoto vs Makoto, Nagisa Nozaki, & Ryo Mizunami 

 

 

So every 3 minutes the rules of this 6-woman tag switched from a regular match to high speed rules, where pinfalls could only be attempted after hitting the ropes or specific kinds of quick rollups and high speed referee Natsuki counted such pin attempts super-fast. It initially sounded overly complicated, but they went long enough for several switches to really get across the format and take full advantage of it leading to a wonderfully enjoyable contest that was absurd in all the best possible ways. The level of talent involved was key in making everything click together smoothly. Avid Rival is perhaps the greatest pair in all of wrestling right now, either as partners or opponents, and Misaki’s trio here was somewhat of a dream team of favorites of mine. To be honest Nagisa and Makoto were slightly overshadowed by the others, but still fit in reasonably well and contributed to some highlights such as Nagisa regularly trying to kick peoples’ heads off.

 

 

Natuski’s tradition of getting involved in the matches she refs continued, with Hiroyo her frequent victim this time. The Lady Destroyer did a great job with selling resentment and annoyance at Natsuki’s antics, right up through the post match celebration with her partners accepting Natsuki raising their arms and Hiroyo eyeing her with distrust instead and threatening to strike her. Following through with little details like that is so important for achieving maximum potential and impact.

The action was excellent, including a particularly fantastic spot where 3 rollups were happening simultaneously and constantly being reversed during a high speed section with Natsuki counting everything, leading to all 6 wrestlers plus her eventually being wiped out on the mat with exhaustion.

 

 

After the show I spoke briefly with four of the six wrestlers in this match. Amusingly all commented about being especially tired and a couple expressed a desire to never do high speed rules again. I made sure to thank them for their effort and express my sympathy for their sacrifice and appreciation for the match. 🙂 Loved this all around.

 

 

Main Event- Best Friends (Arisa Nakajima & Tsukasa Fujimoto) vs YOSHIKO & Command Bolshoi

 

 

Earlier I called Avid Rival perhaps the best pair in wrestling, and it’s “perhaps” because if it’s not them it’s Best Friends. Tsukka and Arisa are both masters of their craft and make a truly incredible team that’s always a joy to watch. With their opponents here consisting of Arisa’s current rival as well as the head of the promotion she left to join Seadlinnng there’s a lot of added depth and tension.

As I’ve discussed before Yoshiko’s often hard to watch for personal reasons, but man she’s admittedly fantastic in certain roles. Everyone was great here in an aggressive, hard hitting match where the storyline issues and action were seamlessly integrated.

 

 

Phenomenal show overall, with numerous excellent talents from outside promotions shoring up Seadlinnng’s solid but minimal roster. First show of this trip, and was one of the best.