TJPW Inspiration #1 Live Stream Thoughts

April 1, 2011 in Tokyo, Japan

Tokyo Joshi Pro has several interesting, new initiatives coming to expand the type of content they offer. In a couple weeks they will be starting airing single matches specials with English commentary semiweekly. This is the start of another project: TJPW Inspiration.

Inspiration is an experiment in doing shorter than usual shows (three matches, around an hour) that can include things outside of TJPW’s normal purview. This premiere event looks like a great proof of concept, with all three Up Up Girls getting spotlight singles opportunities against major opponents including the Deathmatch loving Hikari having her (and TJPW’s) first ever hardcore match in the main event.

Namba announced that Inspiration will run every few months, with the next event set for July 1.

1) Miu Watanabe vs Mizuki

Mizuki recently had another unusual appearance wrestling in the unique confines of Ichigaya Chocolate Square  against Mei Suruga for ChocoPro 100.

There was a lot of grappling and matwork early that set the tone for this as a struggle, and it continued all the way through. Whenever they were vertical it became the perhaps expected battle of Miu’s power vs Mizuki’s speed, but even then no one ever had a sustained advantage and it felt like a war of attrition.

It felt different to me than the other matches I’ve seen of Miu’s in a great way. She pushed Mizuki to the limit and the Sugar Rabbit needed to rely on the ropes to break holds and pins at a few points.

Eventually though Mizuki busted out her incredible Whirling Candy (spinning crossbody) to set up the top rope double stomp to win with just a couple minutes left. Great opener.

2) Raku vs Rika Tatsumi

Rika is the reigning Princess of Princess Champion, so this is a huge chance for Raku to make a statement.

Raku disappeared under the ring during Rika’s entrance leaving a confused Rika behind. Rika couldn’t find her and went to the back at which point Raku emerged and quietly followed her around back to the ring. There she ambushed Rika and taped her pillow to Rika’s backside to blunt Rika’s signature attacks. It largely worked as Rina threw a few jumping hip attacks at Raku to little effect, but the pillow fell off pretty quickly.

Once the match proper got underway it was a story of Rika working the leg interspersed with strike exchanges and Raku’s signature offense. Down the stretch Rika hit the top rope hip attack for the expected win.

Pretty standard match from both, which is perfectly fine for the position they were in. Decent but nothing particularly memorable (which to be honest is how I generally find Rika’s matches, so your milage may vary).

3) Hardcore Match: Hikari Noa vs Rina Yamashita

So excited for Hikari to get this opportunity. Rina is an incredible wrestler an opponent for her to face in the first place, on top of being known for the style of wrestling Hikari adores.

The ring was pre-loaded with plunder including chairs, a ladder, and a glow stick adored board. Hikari has special hardcore/deathmatch gear, wisely including long pants. Pinfall, submission, KO, or TKO all in effect with no rope breaks or countouts. Everything is legal unless the referee finds it particularly life threatening (good thing to make clear I suppose).

This was the story of the Deathmatch Fangirl Idol reveling in taking a new step on her journey while simultaneously proving she was tough enough to deserve to be there. The structure and little details were PERFECT, including a brilliant spot where Hikari put the ladder on her hand and shoulder and spun to try to attack but the hardcore match veteran simply backed out of range and then hit the spinning ladder with a chair to make Hikari pay.

Early on Hikari ended a short feeling out period by upending a box of glow sticks and Up Up Girls CDs on herself to start the chaos, and Rina shortly thereafter broke a couple of the CDs with her bare hands.

Hikari’s full welcome to the hardcore style would come as the culmination of a well built sequence. Rina set Hikari on a table outside and went to the apron but Hikari got up and they had a tense extended fight for the advantage. It ended when Rina managed to hoist Hikari up and hit a FIRE THUNDER DRIVER (over the shoulder sitout tombstone piledriver) through the table. Insane.

From there Rina controlled most of the match and Hikari endured a multitude of punishment like being slammed on slam the on ladder and having Rina stack chairs on her then hit them with another chair. Hikari remained resilient and defiant though, and even kicked out at 1 after eating Rina’s lariat in an awesome moment. When she later swung the momentum around in her favor with some vicious use of chairs, the “fan of the style tries things she’s seen done” vibe continued when she got a huge near fall off using Jun Kasai’s Pearl Harbor Splash (complete with goggles).

Eventually the larger, more experienced Rina pulled ahead, but Hikari made her fight for every inch and successively kicked out of two lariats late (albeit barely). She made Rina resort to Splash Mountain (sitout poweromb from Razor’s Edge position) ONTO THE CHAIRS to win.

Phenomenal first hardcore match for Hikari against the Deathmatch Queen, and further validation that Hikari can totally hang in a main event position. True deathmatches are not my style, but I’m thrilled that Hikari (as well as Ice Ribbon’s Suzu Suzuki) is getting the opportunity to proceed towards her dream of participating in the type of match that inspired her personal love for wrestling.

Afterwards Hikari says she hurts but it was fun, and she wants to do it again tomorrow. Rina says she’s booked tomorrow but they’ll do it again someday and she thinks that Hikari will be welcomed into the deathmatch/hardcore world. Hikari ends the show saying hardcore isn’t enough, she wants a deathmatch! This was all done so well.

This show was everything it promised and extremely smartly put together. I adore the chances TJPW is taking and the new things they are trying and this one was definitely a huge success.

Inspiration and TJPW’s other shows can be viewed with a Wrestle Universe subscription (which includes other promotions as well and is a great value at 900 yen a month).