Category: Wrestling

The New Year’s show at the Ice Ribbon Dojo was the last IR show I saw during my trip. My live thoughts can be read here. This dvd also contains a second show that took place a couple weeks after I left.

Vol 701: January 3, 2016 in Tokyo, Japan

Everyone comes out in turn for a few words to open the show (while IR’s standard music plays), ending with new Ice Cross Infinity Champion Hamuko Hoshi.

1) 235 vs Kyuri

I’d been previously impressed with Kyuri, but 235 hadn’t really been given much opportunity to shine on the previous shows I’d seen. Nice to see her in a singles match here. Stalemate on a lockup to start, then 235 starts a forearm exchange. Great energy from both to fire up the crowd right away. 235 gets the advantage, snapmares Kyuri over, then grabs a chinlock (almost a seated sleeper). She really cranks at it and adds a bodyscissors to keep it from losing the crowd. Kyuri makes the ropes to applause.

They fight over a scoop slam, which the diminutive Kyuri eventually gets. She hits the ropes a few times, stepping on 235 with each pass, then hits a cartwheel splash for 2. 235 tries to fight back but Kyuri maintains the advantage for a while, targeting 235’s arm with various submission holds. 235 fights off a fisherman buster attempt and hits three of her sequential running crossbodies for 2. Flying crossbody from the top for another 2. A trio of rolling vertical suplexes ends with a bridging pin for 2.

A nice judo throw from Kyuri gives her the advantage back, and another sets up a fisherman’s suplex with bridge for a close 2. 235 gets no breathing room as Kyuri immediately locks in a crossarm stranglehold variation (with her leg adding pressure) for the win. Very good little five minute match. They made the most of the time they were given.

2) Miyako Matsumoto and Tsukasa Fujimoto vs Azure Revolution (Risa Sera and Maya Yukihi)

Miyako immediately grabs a mic and seems to be complaining about her partner. I missed it live, but she points to a camera at ringside (that followed her around during and after the show) and her objection seems to have something to do with that. She then clearly insults a “shocked” Tsukka as the other team cracks up. Miyako then grabs Risa Sera and declares them teammates, leaving Maya to join the abandoned Tsukka. Highly amusing. Miyako’s a force of nature. It’s cool that this was easy to follow even without speaking Japanese / understanding Miyako’s statements. 

So our new match is:

2) Miyako Matsumoto and Risa Sera vs Tsukasa Fujimoto and Maya Yukihi

 The way the other three competitors sell bemusement at living in Miyako’s reality is fantastic, as is Tsukka’s expression when Miyako offers her the prematch handshake. Azure Revolution squares off to start with a test of strength, which is even until Risa breaks it to crank the arm and send Maya off the ropes. Shoulderblock collision and nobody budges. Second and the same. They both hit the ropes for the third, and Risa sends Maya down, but Maya back up quickly for another stalemate then Maya returns the favor and finally levels Risa. Crowd’s appreciative and they both tag out.

Tsukka looks ready to kill Miyako and the latter doesn’t help matters by repeatedly shoving Tsukka. They lock up and proceed to trade hammerlocks, taunting and jawing at each other the entire time. Tsukka ends that with a side headlock takeover, Miyako headscissor counter, Tsukka kips up out of that and they square off to applause. Miyako poses and nods, while Tsukka shoots her opponent a disbelieving look as if Miyako is trying the very limits of her patience and good nature. Indeed Tsukka foregoes the lockup to just kick Miyako in the midsection and whips her into the corner. Running forearm from Maya, then Tsukka directs her to cut off Risa and nails a running dropkick on Miyako in the corner.

The bell rings and the match’s stipulation takes effect, as a letter is announced and pinfalls can only be attempted after a move starting with that letter. Tsukka freezes as she pauses to think and Miyako runs out of the corner with a double chop for 2. Tsukka snapmares Miayko and hits a hard kick to her back, then locks in a camel clutch, aims Miyako at her cameraman on the outside, and pulls back Miyako’s nose to mock her. Miyako objects loudly. Tsukka just beats on Miyako for a bit, including choking her against the ropes. But it’s Miyako, and Miyako continues to whine as Tsukka does it, so the crowd cheers.

Miyako down in the corner and Tsukka sets up for a running move, but the bell sounds again and the momentary pause by Tsukka gives Miyako an opening to hit another running double chop for 2. Great spot as Miyako called out a different name for the exact same move used earlier to get it to count for the stipulation. Tsukka was in a similar match on the Risa Sera Produce show and showed the same trouble there for this type of improvising. It’s a nice character trait / minor weakness for the veteran and well established ring technician to have. 

Tag to Risa and Tsukka gets the better of a forearm exchange, then ties Risa up in the ropes for the pig face humiliation. She hits the far ropes and nails the still tied up Risa with a dropkick, but her cover doesn’t count. Tsukka calls for the next letter, and again thinks too long giving Risa a chance to get up and slam her. Risa hits her repeated running double knee drops to Tsukka’s back, but the ref doesn’t accept “Sera Risa” before the move name as qualifying for the letter and won’t count the pin. Risa calls for a side suplex, which Tsukka fights off and tries to steal as a valid move, but Risa counters in the air and falls on Tsukka for… a pin that doesn’t count. They continue in that vein a bit through another letter change until Tsukka gets a hurricanrana rollup for a valid 2, then tags out to Maya.

Maya comes in strong, but pauses on another letter change and gives Risa enough time to move out the way of a charging elbow. Hilarious bit follows as Risa again tries to convince the ref on something absurd, this time that messing Maya’s hair counts as a submission attempt. A pair of side kicks from Maya gets 2. She tries to lock something on Risa, and Tsukka cuts off Miyako on the save, but a letter change leads to tandem camel clutches instead. Nice work from the ref, who makes it clear he’s ignoring Tsukka’s hold on Miyako since they’re not legal and only checking Risa for submission. Tsukka eventually lets go, kicks Miyako out, then leaves the ring herself. Maya pauses, at a loss, then hits a few weak forearms as she ponders what to do next. Decided, she hits the far ropes but once again they’ve given Risa time to recover and Maya is nailed with a dropkick.

Miyako in and I’m dying of laughter as she decides the best qualifying move is to repeatedly kick Maya low. Tsukka comes in to swat at Miyako in protest and the ref refuses to count it anyway. Whip to ropes and Maya comes off with a hard shoulderblock to Miyako. Scoop slam and the letter changes to “ma.” The crowd murmurs in anticipation, and sure enough with Miyako down Tsukka and Maya eventually decide to do Miyako’s own Mama Mia posing routine.  Risa comes in to break up the pin at two after the finishing double splash. Tsukka knocks Risa back out, and the letter is changed to “su.”  No pause at all this time as Maya goes up for “Supa Mama Mia!” An irate Miyako gets up before Maya’s balanced on the top, and stops her to boos. However the crowd forgives her when it’s obvious she’s going to go for her own instead. The way she always makes the ref help her balance for the pose up there is fantastic. Sadly (and expectedly) the splash fails as Maya gets her boots up. Small package by Maya for an extremely close 2.

Miyako actually holds her own in a forearm exchange with Maya for a while, then pushes the ref into a shoulderblock on Maya when the latter hits the ropes (DQs are very rare in Japan, even when refs are assaulted). Letter change to “shi,” and knowing Miyako’s arsenal I can guess the awesomeness that awaiting. Sure enough, double knees in the corner from Risa sets up Maya for the Shining Wizard. Tsukka saves. Slam by Miyako (after another letter change) and Risa hits a brutal flying double knee drop from the top. Miyako up top (with more ref help) and hits “Happy New Year Mama Mia!” doublestomp for the win!

Miyako’s delight as she does victory laps as Dancing Queen plays (and ignoring both the ref and her partner who want to raise her arm) is fantastic, as are Tsukka’s attempts to trip Miyako on every pass. Tsukka eventually trips Miyako and the ref raises just Risa’s hand in victory as Miyako pulls herself off the mat. There was more live, with Miyako posing to celebrate and Tsukka losing her patience and dropkicking Miyako right out of the ring.

Total comedy match, and another example of how good IR in general and Miyako in particular are at it. Again the humor was wrestling based and related to trying to win, which keeps immersion in the show as a whole strong. Some of this played a little better live where the “thinking pauses” didn’t seem quite as long and sometimes awkward, but overall this was great fun.

In particular the individual proficiencies regarding the match style, with Miyako mostly getting it, Risa thinking quickly but often to poor effect, Maya thinking slowly but to good effect, and Tsukka just not being able to deal, were highly amusing.

3) Hamuko Hoshi, Yuuka, and Maruko Nagasaki vs. Aoi Kizuki, Akane Fujita, and Mochi Miyagi 

Hoshi is opposite both the former champion Aoi, and Hoshi’s regular partner Mochi (who was Hoshi’s upcoming challenger for the belt). Hoshi and partners ambush their opponents before the bell, and perform stereo buttblocks in three different corners, followed by stereo bulldogs. Apparently Hoshi and Mochi are legal, as that’s the pin the ref counts. Tower pose on top of Mochi, which Aoi breaks up.

Aoi’s team stacks up their opponents on the mat, then Mochi splashes them with Akane on her back, and Aoi finishes with her trademark pose with a foot on the whole pile. Akane trying to do the pose too while being part of the pile is amusing.

Everyone extra exits and we’re left with Mochi and Maruko in the ring. Mochi locks in a body scissors then repeated rolls back to bring Maruko off the mat and slams her back down. Roll to the side gets 2. Tag to Aoi for some hairmares, then an exchange of Maruko forearms vs Aoi’s windmill double chops.  Maruko eventually backs Aoi up with a flurry, but Aoi power poses while walking forward and absorbing more forearms to push Maruko back across the ring. More forearms, countered with a clothesline, but Maruko moves out of the way of Aoi’s senton. Maruko wins a fight over a scoop slam for 2. Whip by Maruko into the corner reversed, but Aoi’s charge misses. Dropkick for 2.

Yuuka in with repeated running dropkicks for 2. She forearms Aoi’s partners off the apron and calls her teammates in. Maruko with a running forearm to Aoi but stays in position, then Yuuka forearms MARUKO with Aoi still behind her. Yuuka then gets into the corner as well and calls for Hoshi to splash all three of them. Aoi is cracking up at the “strategy,” safely cushioned by her two opponents.

Hoshi ties up Aoi in the ropes and Yuuka lays in some forearms, but Aoi shakes them off, reverses position, and lands some of her own. Off the far rope but Yuuka gets free and levels the approaching Aoi with a forearm. Aoi right back up with a power pose, but clothesline ducked by Yuuka, but Aoi cartwheel’s out of being spun around and hits a dropkick. Fun sequence.

Aoi crossbody to Yuuka’s midsection in the corner. Tag to Mochi. Aoi slams Yuuka, then she alternates her running senton with Mochi’s Earthquake splashes in a nice spot. Aoi counts a super fast 3, but the ref only gets to 1. In annoyance the ref counts a super fast 4 on Aoi to get her out of the ring. Splash in the ropes by Mochi followed by a quick leg cradle for 2. Yuuka reverses a whip but misses a dropkick when Mochi holds on to the ropes. Maruko in and knocks Akane off the apron, but Aoi just shrugs off the forearm. Nice double dropkick on Mochi by Maruko and Yuuka. Twisting doubleteam suplex for 2.

Running dropkick in the corner by Yuuka followed by a tornado DDT for 2. Tag to Hoshi. Mochi fights out of a fireman’s carry, and we get a series of running shoulderblock stalemates, then an energetic forearm exchange. Good way to build Mochi a bit as Hoshi’s equal before her title shot. She wins the exchange and hits the ropes, but knocks Hoshi back into a rebounding shoulderblock of her own that wipes out Mochi. Running belly to the face attempt is countered with a shot from Mochi’s whip (in full view of ref, still getting used to that) and a rollup gets 2 on the champ. Slam in the corner and a Vaderbomb get 2 for Mochi.

Tag and Akane comes in for the first time. Running forearm to Hoshi in the corner, but when Akane goes back for speed Hoshi follows and nails Akane with a clothesline in the far corner. Splash from the middle from Hoshi, but Aoi stops her when she goes up top. Slam off the top and a Texas cloverleaf by Akane while Aoi and Mochi cut off Hoshi’s partners. After a rope break, Hoshi gets the better of Akane with a hard clothesline to the back and hits the running stomach to the face for 2. Tag to Maruko, who hits a series of running dropkicks for 2. Akane tries to reverse the smaller wrestler’s scoop slam attempt, but Maruko reverses the reversal into a small package for 2. Yuuka in with a top rope crossbody, Hoshi with a lariat, then Maruko hits an uranage. Aoi and Mochi get by Hoshi and Yuuka to break up the pin at 2.

Maruko calls for another uranage, but Aoi stops it and hits a flying clothesline. Mochi follows with a Vaderbomb that sets up a brainbuster by Akane, but Hoshi and Yuuka save. Deep single arm stranglehold by Akane is broken up by Hoshi. Mochi takes Hoshi out with a Thesz press and everyone spills outside to leave Akane and Maruko alone again. Akane seems to go for a powerslam, but Maruko fights to her back then drops down to roll her up for 2. Small package for another 2, sunset flip reversed by Akane for 2, but then completed by Maruko for 2. Maruko off the ropes but runs into a big shoulderblock. Akane picks her up for the powerslam for 2.999. Sitout version gets 3.

Not everything here was as smooth as they would have liked, but it was a lot of fun, featured several story threads, and had very good action overall.

Roundtable features Aoi’s “graduation” announcement that she will be leaving Ice Ribbon and going freelance after IR’s 1/9 show and a match against Maruko. Maruko is emotional charged up and crying throughout. Aoi slams her (and then Tsukka, who tries to interfere) and does her trademark pose to “cheer up” Maruko.   She then calls everyone else in for the “Happy Ice Ribbon” cheer while still standing on the pile of Tsukka and Maruko (who are cracking up).

Kurumi comes out with a cake for Akane as Happy Birthday plays. Akane says a few words, blows out the candles, blocks Risa from potentially slamming the cake in her face, then leads another “Happy Ice Ribbon” cheer to close the show.

A lot of wrestlers got a chance to shine here, and this show highlighted both the comedic and technical aspects of wrestling that IR is so good at.

Vol 703: January 16, 2016 in Tokyo, Japan

This show was after my trip, so this is my first time seeing it.

1) Maruko Nagasaki vs Maya Yukihi

Forearm exchange right away. Maya throws them hard and the crowd oohs at Maruko absorbing them. After taking Maya down with a dropkick Maruko’s a little lost for a second as she tries to figure out where Maya’s going to position herself, then goes for another, which Maya kind of absorbs to take over. Maya in control for a while with what in the US I’d call heel tactics (choking Maruko with her foot against the ropes, dismissive kicks to the face, etc) but in IR this seems a common form of taunting from nearly everyone when facing a younger or less experienced competitor.

Maruko reverses a scoop slam at one point but Maya right back on offense with a running knee followed by a shoulderblock. Then she works variations on a Boston crab for a bit. After escaping Maruko takes over with running dropkicks (and does a nice jumping sunset flip out of the corner for 2 in the middle of them). Uranage gets a close 2, but a second is blocked for a chokeslam attempt, but Maruko reverse that into a rollup for 2. Schoolboy gets 2 for Maruko, but Maya kicks right out of that into a Rings of Saturn, which is then turned into a triangle choke for the submission. Short match that was almost all Maya and was very basic. Still fine though and had some nice sequences at the end.

2) Miyako Matsumoto vs Yuuka

Chain wrestling to open, which Yuuka continually gets the better of. She’s so smooth in the ring, especially for her experience. Miyako as normal works posing in at every opportunity, and as usual does it once too often and eats a dropkick during the stalemate. A fired up Yuuka tries to slam Miayko, but the latter reverses, forces Yuuka to pose, and gets a schoolboy for 2. Hairmare into the corner and Miyako chokes away at Yuuka while badmouthing her. Scoop slam gets 2.

Miyako goes for an abdominal stretch and Yuuka really tries to spin out of it/turn it around, which Miyako eventually stops with a flurry of back chops and secures the hold. In a great touch she grabs Yuuka’s left arm to further twist and prevent Yuuka from using it to get the ropes. Yuuka gets her foot to the bottom rope for the break, so Miyako rolls back into a cover for 2. Yuuka fights up and hits a couple running dropkicks into the corner for 2. Forearm exchange and I love the consistency with which Miyako’s shots always affect her opponent less than their’s does to her.

Yuuka backs Miyako up to the ropes with more forearms, hits a running one against the ropes, hits another to knock Miyako down in the center, then lands her sweet diving version. I love that sequence. Miyako reverses at 2 and eventually twists Yuuka into a Rings of Saturn. Miyako’s taunting and Yuuka’s screaming in pain really enhance the submission attempts. Yuuka uses her legs to power over towards the ropes, but Miyako again grabs the extended appendage and pulls Yuuka’s right leg back to further tie up the youngster. Yuuka desperately struggles and gets the rope break with her left leg. Another nice touch: Yuuka makes sure to sell pain in her arms after she escapes and as Miyako picks her up for a slam.

Ref assisted Super Mama Mia attempt, but Yuuka’s up and hits the far corner to shake the ropes and knock Miyako off balance. Running dropkick sends Miyako tumbling to the apron then the floor, gibing Yuuka a chance to recover her arms for a second. She pulls Miyako back in and to the center then goes up for a flying crossbody for 2. Slam and she goes up again for the top rope version of her diving forearm, but Miyako gets the boots up. Miayko then unwisely starts another forearm exchange, but catches Yuuka at the end of it off the ropes with the double chop for 2.

Yuuka tries to reverse a whip into her float over backslide, but Miyako rolls with and cradles for 2. Miyako then tries HER trademark rollup, but Yuuka reverses this time for another close 2. As Miyako is trying to get up from that Yuuka immediately rolls her up with the 120% rollup for the win. Miyako’s right shoulder was clearly up and Miyako rightly throws a fit complaining (though also falsely claiming she was in the ropes), but it was out of sight of the ref. Don’t know if that was a slight miscue or an angle, but given what the ref saw it was the right call to count the 3. Really enjoyed this, as both are favorites of mine and they had great chemistry as opponents. The little touches from both to enhance the match were excellent.

3) Kyuri and Hamuko Hoshi vs 235 and Mieko Tanaka

Interesting pairings. Opponents from Vol 701’s opener square off to start, with some nice back and forth chain wrestling including exchanging hammerlocks, waistlocks, side headlocks, etc.  Eventual stalemate leads to them both tagging out, and in contrast to their technical display Hamuko and Meiko come in charging each other. Meiko summersaults over the top to reverse a corner whip, shoulderblocks Hoshi to the midsection from the outside, then goes up top. Hamuko rushes in and Meiko leapfrogs from the top into the center of the ring. They duck each other’s clotheslines then Meiko drops down, only to have Hoshi drop down beside her for the “Seductive” posing routine. Meiko’s startled and stumbles back to her corner. She rushes Hoshi and gets tripped, and another pose by Hoshi, which 235 thankfully interrupts with a kick.

Some nice double teaming follows from Meiko and 235 to give them the advantage, but Hoshi takes back over with a bellybutt on Meiko after 235 leaves and traps Meiko in the corner for her rubbing belly on opponent’s face spot. Personally I can’t stand Hoshi’s gimmick and the associated moveset, so I spend these parts of her matches waiting for them to get on with itthe rest of the match Thankfully we get a tag to Kyuri once Meiko’s done being tortured and making retching noises. Wait, I spoke too soon as Meiko’s sent to the corner for doubleteam buttblocks. Bulldog by Hoshi followed by Kyuri’s cartwheel splash gets 2.

Hoshi leaves the ring and Meiko immediately gets the better of Kyuri, escaping a scoop slam attempt, nailing a dropkick in the corner, then getting a slam of her own for 2. Back and forth for a few moves then Meiko tags out after hitting a dropkick, putting us back to 235 vs Kyuri as in the beginning. They trade slams, then hard forearms, and 235 gets the better of it backing Kyuri up to the ropes and unloading with with about 20 in a row. 235 then hits her triple running crossbody sequence for 2.  Suplex attempt countered by Kyuri into an octopus stretch, then she converts into a crucifix for 2, countered by 235 into a cradle for 2, followed by a judo throw from Kyuri for 2. Very nice.

Tag to Hoshi and a big splash on 235 for a close 2. Trademark Boston crab follows as Kyuri keeps Meiko away. 235 makes the ropes. Up again and she ducks Hoshi’s clotheslines, mocking the latter with her own poses after each one. However Hoshi catches 235 on her shoulders after a crossbody attempt, but 235 struggles to Hoshi’s back and applies a sleeper. Hoshi drives 235 into the corner to break, but 235 goes right into a victory roll from that position for 2. Tag to Meiko and she UNLOADS on Hoshi with shoulderblocks in the corner. Kyuri stops her from going up top and Hoshi gets a fireman’s carry, but Meiko fights down to her feet. Hoshi chops prompt a flurry of headbutts from Meiko, which leads to a 235 top rope crossbody followed by a missile dropkick from Meiko for 2.

Meiko can’t get Hoshi up for a fireman’s carry, so resorts to a scoop slam instead and goes back up. Hoshi avoids the senton and almost a slingblade from Kyuri on Meiko sets up the running belly to the face for Hoshi. 235 gets by Kyuri and saves. Lariat ducked but the back one isn’t, but Meiko then counters a Hoshi charge with a spear for 2 (Kyuri saves). Some more back and forth then Hoshi finally lands the Samoan drop she’s been going for for 2.  Splash from the top rope (with Meiko halfway across the ring) gets the win for Hoshi.

Not everything clicked here, but great effort all around regardless and still a decent match with 235 and Meiko getting some nice offense on the champ before Hoshi put them away. Like I’ve said about Yuuka, Kyuri is also amazing for her age and experience.

4) Avid Rival (Misaki Ohata and Ryo Mizunami) vs Akane Fujita and Tsukushi

Always nice to see Avid Rival in IR. Good learning opportunity for Akane here, as both her opponents and partner all have much more experience than her. Misaki and Tsukushi start. Quick paced, high intensity counter wrestling for a couple minutes that gets nice applause when they stalemate. Misaki looks a little more wary of Tsukushi then when they started as they both tag out.

Mizunami holds her ground as Akane hits all four sides in succession trying to knock the former down with running shoulderblocks. Then they both hit the ropes and stalemate a couple times, until Ryo knocks down Akane on their third collision. Nice sequences from the power wrestlers. Mizunami keeps control for a bit, then Misaki comes in for a big double slap with Ryo holding Akane in the ropes. Mizunami’s developed incredible charisma to go with her excellent in ring skills and she and Misaki compliment each other so well as a tag team.

Tag to Misaki and the beatdown and mocking of Akane continues. Quick switch back to Mizunami and she grounds Akane with a side headlock, eventually transitioning into a camel clutch and calling Ohata in. After knocking Tsukushi off the apron, Misaki jits the ropes several times for momentum and ends with a dropkick to Akane’s face. Then they switch positions to Akane’s dismay (Misaki applying the camel clutch and Ryo running the ropes) for another dropkick to Akane’s face for 2. Mizunami with her crowd pleasing “firing up” posing into a corner clothesline spot for 2.

Akane fires back with forearms, but a scoop slam attempt is reversed by Mizunami. Akane recovers again though to catch Mizunami off the ropes with a double sledge, then rolls into her corner to tag Tsukushi. Tsukushi dropkicks Mizunami into a corner then recovers from Misaki swatting away a dropkick to headscissor Misaki into the same corner Ryo’s recovering in for a running dropkick. Scoop slam on Misaki, then she drop toeholds Ryo into splashing Misaki and doublestomps Mizunami in that position.

Misaki rolls out and Ryo’s had enough of Tsukushi, lifting the smaller wrestler over her shoulder and ramming her into Avid Rival’s corner. Tag brings Misaki in legally and she splashes Tsukushi then hits her crossbody to seated opponent in the corner after Tsukushi drops down. Misaki up for one of her gorgeous top rope crossbodies but Tsukushi moves and Misaki eats the canvas. Hard dropkick in the corner and now it’s time for Tsukushi’s version of the seated crossbody. Loving the back and forth nature of the match.

In a great bit, they going into what look like it would be a forearm exchange, but Tsukushi’s too quick so everytime Misaki tries to rear back for her shots Tsukushi lands another of her own instead before Misaki can strike. After the flurry Tsukushi hits a JUMPING KILLSWITCH (her variations on that move always drop my jaw, and kudos to Misaki for taking that) followed by a vicious dropkick to the face with Misaki laying against the ropes.

Tiger supex (or perhaps another killswitch) countered into  german attempt, countered into a snapmare to set up a seated dropkick off the ropes, but Misaki rolls back out of the way to try one of her own, but Tsukushi rolls back from THAT, and nails the seated dropkick to Misaki’s face for 2. Tremendous sequence. Tag to Akane and she further wears out Misaki with scoop slams. After Misaki fights one off Akane whips her into a dropkick by Tsukushi. Tsukushi then climbs the ropes to get into position crouching on Akane’s shoulders, then Akane walks her over to Misaki and Tsukushi hits a double stomp from Akane’s shoulders.

Misaki stuggles back up and tries to fight back with a spinning sledge but Akane ducks, and nails a forearm. However when she hits the far side of the ring Mizunami, who had crept into the ring moments earlier, wipes her out against the ropes with a clothesline then Misaki hits a seated Akane with a crossbody. Misaki up top and hits the diving crossbody this time for 2. Tag to Mizunami and the powerhouses trade forearms. Cheapshot kick to the back by Tsukushi when Mizunami hits the ropes followed by a jawbreaker across them turns the tide, and a Tsukushi dropkick followed by a shoulderblock by Akane sets up the powerslam for 2.

Mizunami fights off another slam and weathers some forearms, then catches Akane with a spear as Misaki comes in to simultaneously land a clothesline. Running legdrop gets 2, then Misaki nails the spinning sledge to send Akane into another Mizunami spear. Tsukushi breaks up the pin with a top rope doublestomp to Mizunami’s back (unfortunately not really doing her partner underneath Ryo any favors). Tsukushi tries to fight off both members of Avid Rival with forearms, but runs into a picture perfect 3D.

Misaki kicks Tsukushi out of the ring and Mizunami goes for a dragon suplex, but Akane fights out and hits a back body drop for 2. Scoop slam blocked once again by Mizunami, who then wears out Akane with elbows to the face. She’s caught off the ropes though with a powerslam that gets Akane 2 as Misaki makes the save. Akane calls for the end and hits the ropes, but is leveled with a Mizunami lariat.

Tsukushi saves, but pays the price as Misaki comes up behind her and hits a beautiful deadlift German to send her back outside. As Akane struggles to her feet Mizunami measures her and then hits a huge lariat for the win. Excellent main event. Akane held her own and we got the great tag match to be automatically expected from the other three.

As usual I couldn’t follow much of the roundtable, but it was interesting that Misaki and Ryo participated. With Tsukka missing Hoshi led the proceedings. Akane conducted the “Happy Ice Ribbon” cheer to close out.

Overall

Two really good shows here make this dvd an easy recommendation. It would actually be a good disc for newcomers to IR, as it showcases the various styles they feature as well as nearly all of their current stars.

December 28, 2015 in Tokyo, Japan

This was a special Ice Ribbon show produced by Risa Sera and with the title “Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter… Deathmatch.” It featured three matches with unique stipulations and heavy comedic overtones. My live thoughts can be read here.

In contrast to the other Ice Ribbon dvds I’ve reviewed, this one has commentary. It was done live by Hirotsugu Suyama and retired wrestler Mio Shirai on the house mics and was audible for the live audience. They banter a bit to open the show.

Then the titles run, showing “Risa Sera produce… Psychic phenomenon Deathmatch,” and a pre-recorded piece with Risa talking and interspersed images of her and other wrestlers fighting off some sort of apparition in a forest. Then a few highlights of Risa’s career play followed by her running down the card for this show (including a couple clips of season-related weapons being gathered).

We fade back to the venue and Risa comes to the ring to introduce the show.

1) Tsukasa Fujimoto, Maruko Nagasaki, and Tsukushi vs Akane Fujita, Maya Yukihi and Mochi Miyagi ***

As with the other IR releases I’ve seen, ring intros are not shown and instead we get a clip of Risa talking about this match and a “title card” shown for it. Even the wrestlers were laughing a bit at the running commentary. I believe the stipulation here was the pinfalls had to be related to the four seasons somehow to count. I was a bit lost live (though still liked it). Let’s see if it’s easier to follow now.

Tsukka and Mochi start. They trade wristlocks and hammerlocks and so far I’m finding the commentary more distracting than I did live. Tsukka with a snapmare into a seated position and a hard kick to Mochi’s back to get control. She tries to pick up Mochi for a slam (from suplex position) a couple times with little success as Tsukushi fires up the crowd in support. Mochi almost reverses it, but Tsukka fights out of it and finally gets Mochi up and slams her. Nice, simple sequence that gets a good crowd reaction. Execution is everything.

Tsukka covers but the ref and commentators inform her the slam doesn’t qualify. Tsukka sells being at a loss, then suddenly gets an idea. Maruko and Tsukushi rush the opposite corner to cut off Akane and Maya while Tsukka shockingly puts Mochi on the second turnbuckle facing outward and calls for a powerbomb. Great show of strength and she gets Mochi out to center of the ring in position, but Mochi ends up falling on her in Earthquake splash position instead. Tsukka quickly reverses a whip and then dropkicks Mochi to retake control, then tags in Maruko.

Maruko perhaps unwisely goes for a slam, which Mochi reverses. Mochi then covers Maruko and puts her own arms out (sort of an “airplane” position), and after the ref considers it for a second and exchanges comments with Mio he decides to count it. Gets 2. Mochi calls Akane in, climbs on her back, then they splash Maruko together. The ref starts counting but Mochi is trying to get Akane out since she’s not legal. She calls in Maya and makes her do the same thing, which Maya barely accomplishes because of Mochi’s weight. Mochi forcibly rolls Maya off Maruko and covers for 2. Tag brings in Maya legally.

She hits Maruko with a pair of slams (a LOT of those so far this match) but Maruko reverses a third attempt into a small package, which apparently doesn’t qualify, so no count. Maya tags Akane once she gets free. Akane slams Maruko and the crowd laughs at the commentary. Akane ties up Maruko with her own arms and legs and sits on her, which is good enough for the ref to check for a submission. Akane now spanking Maruko. Ref still checking with Maruko as she tries to wriggle free. She finally does, then ducks a clothesline by Akane, hits a dropkick, and tags out to Tsukka.

Both Tsukka and Tsukushi come in, with Tsukka climbing a neutral corner and Tsukushi crouching under her. Missile dropkick to Akane by  Tsukka followed by a running crossbody to the now seated Akane by Tsukushi. Tsukushi puts Akane back up into a seated position for a Tsukka dropkick. Nice sequence. Tsukushi knocks her opponents off the apron and she and Tsukka hit a double suplex on Akane. Tsukka then hooks TSUKUSHI in a crossfire powerbomb position, and spins her up so fast she ends up clutched to Tsukka facing the other direction, and Tsukka comes down on Akane essentially using Tsukushi as a weapon.

There’s a fair bit said about that on commentary as Tsukka pauses for a second, then she lays into Akane’s back with a series of kicks. A vicious one to the chest… doesn’t qualify and no count is made on Tsukka’s cover. The gimmick of the excellent ring technician Tsukka instinctively going for covers after certain moves and thus getting thrown off by the stipulation is  amusing and fits nicely.

Her confusion gives Akane a chance to recover and reverse a whip, leveling Tsukka with a double axe handle which the ref counts after some words from Mio. Tag to Mochi and she hits her Earthquake splashes sequence (kind of – no real jumping this time and she looks like she’s stopping and sitting on Tsukka instead of splashing her). This also counts and she gets 2. Tsukka powers out and she looks as annoyed/surprised that those pins were counted as she does worn down.

Forearm exchange. Tsukka eventually ducks one of Mochi’s, hits the ropes, and lands a beautiful hurricanrana rollup… which isn’t counted. Tsukka releases it with a frustrated scream while grabbing her head and looks like she’s about to lose her mind. She’s now soliciting advice from the crowd on moves while shushing Mio. Tsukushi coaches her through an idea from the apron, only for Mochi to catch her off the ropes and just swing her away to crash on the mat. Mochi splashes Tsukka’s back against the ropes, then rolls Tsukka back and places her legs over Tsukka’s for 2. Ok, given my adoration of Tsukka and lack of understanding I’m just going to pretend the ref is biased.

Tsukka with her wheelbarrow rollup into a hard kick to the chest spot. And she’s finally had enough and tags out to Tsukushi. Crossbody off the top to Mochi, then Maruko comes in. They whip Mochi into the ropes but she runs through the double clothesline and takes them both down with a shoulderblock off the rebound. Tsukka eats a clothesline on her way in to help. Tsukushi and Tsukka are on their knees next to each other and simultaneously eat the running belly to the face. Tsukushi spinning around like a top and both selling it like molten death made that move look impressive to me for the very first time.

Powerbomb attempt by Mochi but Tsukushi drops behind her and rolls her up, but pulls Mochi all the way to standing, works her way into Code Red position, then follows it all the way through into a jackknife cover. Akane and Maya get by Maruko and Tsukka to save. Tsukushi made that complicated exchange look fluid and natural. Tsukushi with a flurry of stiff looking forearm shots and hits the ropes, but eats a huge Thez Press from Mochi followed by a side Russian leg sweep for 2. Mochi grabs Tsukushi’s head and falls backward to ram it into her belly as she falls (ugh) but Tsukushi shakes it off for a second and lands a double stomp before collapsing. Both roll to their corners and Maruko and Maya come running in off tags.

Maya swats away a dropkick and hits a running shoulderblock, then covers Maruko off a slam. I think this is the first time that team makes a cover without a count. Maruko fights back and we get another forearm exchange. Nice touch: Maruko’s so light Maya’s forearms always send her back to the ropes, but Maya only moves a little when hit at first then steps back more and more after each as Maruko gets fired up. Tsukka and Tsukushi catch Maruko at the ropes after one of Maya’s shots and push her off for momentum into a dropkick that takes Maya down. Cover without a count, and Tsukka runs in to slap some sense into the back of Maruko’s head. They whip Maya into a neutral corner, then Tsukka, Tsukushi, and Maruko hit running dropkicks on Maya in the corner in sequence.

Tsukka coaches Maruko on what to do and the crowd gasps, an a second later I understand why when Maruko hits a standing summersault onto Maya. Akane saves. Maruko looking for a uranage but Maya fights it off. Whip to the corner reversed but Maruko goes up and over into a sunset flip when Maya follows. 2 count.

Maya recovers and lays Maruko out with a chokeslam, then hits a running summersault for 2 as Tsukka and Tsukushi save. They rush Maya, but get caught with a double leg lariat and sent out of the ring. Akane in to help and hits a sitout slam on Maruko. Maya up top for a hard swanton onto Maruko and gets the win.

This played better live for me, where I got more caught up in the action and wasn’t as aware of the commentary or the billion scoop slams. And no doubt I would have gotten a lot more out of this if I understood Japanese and could have followed the stipulation. Outside of SUMMERsault splashes being acceptable the season related aspect was lost on me.

Still an enjoyable opener though, which blended a humorous concept into a competitive match nicely. Tsukka was fantastic conveying the basic idea of what was happening with her not quite getting the hang of the stip and her mounting frustration though facial expressions and body language, and it added a lot to the match (even if the pacing suffered a little when wrestlers had to stop and “think about” what to do next). The action in general was quite good too.

2) Cell Phone Destruction Tag Match: Miyako Matsumoto and Neko Nitta vs Yuuka and Hamuko Hoshi ***3/4

Talk about high stakes. 😉 The loser of the fall will have their cell phone destroyed. The phones are verified before all being turned over to the ref as Mio and Hirotsugu banter. Handshake between the teams and Miyako and Yuuka start, but Miyako grabs a mic.

A second stipulation was added shortly before the show that if the match went to any kind of no contest/draw Risa Sera’s phone would be destroyed instead of one of the participants’. I had been wondering why the four involved wouldn’t just agree to run out the clock or something to save their own phones at Risa’s expense, and to my delight that’s exactly what Miyako suggests. Everyone seems on board, as Yuuka practices summersaults, Hoshi does her pose routine, and Neko plays/lounges in the ropes. Miyako herself does handstands in the corner, then practices balancing on the top (and freaks out as Yuuka and Hoshi playfully shake the ropes to mess with her).

As they begin more stretching / playing around, Risa comes running out with a mic to plead her case. Hoshi then takes the mic from her and it seems they’re asking the crowd who’s phone they want to see destroyed. The crowd twice responds “Miyako” instead of “Risa” and the Dancing Queen freaks out as the match begins for real. Poor Miyako’s perfect plan ruined.

Yuuka hits a running dropkick on Miyako for 2, followed by a shoulderblock from Hoshi for the same. Then NEKO gets in on the Miyako bashing and hits her own running dropkick and covers, but the ref won’t count because they’re partners. Miyako’s suitably pissed and bullies Neko into a neutral corner where she throws a temper tantrum and stomps on Neko’s back a bit. The ref calms them down and Miyako goes to the apron, shoving Neko towards their opponents on the way out. Yuuka stays in for the other team and they reset.

Side headlock by Yuuka out of a collar and elbow tie up. She’s sent into the ropes but knocks Neko down off the rebound, then shows off the summersault rolls she was practicing earlier to avoid a biel (nice touch). Neko responds in kind, then swats away a dropkick, but Yuuka kips up and lands an armdrag. Neko sweeps her legs, Yuuka pushes her off, then the opposite in turn, and we have a momentary stalemate. Quick, smooth sequence of wrestling. Yuuka doesn’t delay much though in landing a dropkick to retake the advantage and tagging in Hoshi.

She summersaults under a right hand from Neko and it’s “seductive” posing time. Neko saves me by going full cat mode, rolling around Hoshi and swatting at her playfully until grabbing her leg. Hoshi responds with a double axe handle.  Neko fights up then forcibly sends Hoshi face first into the mat, and follows with ramming Hoshi’s head down several more times. Camel Clutch, broken by the ref when Neko decides to scratch Hoshi’s face.

Hoshi tied up in the ropes and Neko hits the far ropes for speed, but then comes to a stop, climbs up behind Hoshi, and scratches her face again. She calls Hoshi “busu” (roughly translates as ugly girl) then tags Miyako. Miyako’s comes in with energy, but immediately has Hoshi reverse a whip and send her into a neutral corner. Hoshi then applies the insult to Miyako, followed by a running splash and Hoshi’s butt blocks. Bulldog gets 2.

Miyako “fights back” with thrust chops to Hoshi’s chest, which are all ignored as Hoshi calmly stands there and takes them. However when she retaliates Miyako ducks behind her and forces her to do the Mama Mia pose, then sends her face first to the mat. Miyako hits the ropes and goes for a double stomp, but as her feet hit Hoshi’s belly Hoshi rolls away and Miyako falls backward and hits her head. The announcers are losing it on commentary laughing. Belly to the face, but Miyako responds with a double thrust to the belly, crawls to her corner and aggressively tags in Neko.

Running forearm in the corner, then Neko tries to side slam Hoshi, but she’s too big. Instead Neko ducks behind and pulls Hoshi across her back for an attempted submission. Yuuka comes in to break but gets cut off by Miyako, who puts her in an abdominal stretch (and pushes down on Yuuka’s head to make the hold look painful). The ref puts a count on Miyako since neither she nor Yuuka legal, and both holds are broken. Neko goes up to the second turnbuckle and hits a shotgun dropkick on a kneeling Hoshi and follows with a wheelbarrow rollup for 2. Hoshi catches her off the rope with a standing splash to regain control. Running belly to the head gets 2.

Tag to Yuuka an she comes in with a big running dropkick to Neko in the corner, but Neko claws her face. Yuuka ducks three tail shots and counters a fourth by clapping in front of Neko’s face, which knocks Neko cold (I’m definitely missing something there) and the match only continues because Miyako dodges past Hoshi and just barely connects with a kick on Yuuka to save Neko. Yuuka off the ropes but Neko lands the spinning tail shot this time (OUCH!) then side slams Yuuka for 2. Neko tags Miyako then climbs their corner for a top rope shotgun missile dropkick. Miyako covers for 2.

Miyako forearms Yuuka against the ropes, but of course eats a dropkick when she bounces off the far ropes to attack. Both up and Yuuka easily gets the better of a forearm exchange, then ties Miyako up in the ropes for a hard running one. Miyako stumbles to the center and gets knocked down by another, then Yuuka hits a sweet diving version to the prone Miyako for 2. Yuuka op top but Miyako dodges the crossbody attempt and Neko comes in for a running back elbow. Double Shining Wizard (from opposite directions) gets an incredibly close 2 on Yuuka.

Miyako drags Yuuka in position as Neko holds off Hoshi and goes up top. She has the ref steady her and gets the pose for the Super Mama Mia, but Hoshi breaks free and gets Miyako across her shoulders. Yuuka up and nails a dropkick to Miyako’s head as Hoshi falls into a Samoan Drop. Nice double team. Hoshi pulls Miyako up to standing and Yuuka hits a beautiful top rope crossbody. Neko gets by Hoshi to save the pinfall.

Miyako starting to recover and catches Yuuka off the ropes with an ankle dropkick, but Yuuka fights off the rollup Miyako usually follows with. Neko in and they whip Yuuka into the far ropes, but she ducks the double clothesline and shoves Miyako into Neko. As they’re still tangled she goes for a running dropkick, and Miyako shoves Neko into it to save herself. She then has Neko hold Yuuka for a running forearm, but Yuuka gets free and Neko takes it. Miyako doesn’t seem to care much. Yuuka and Miyako fight over a waistlock and Miyako seems to get control and holds Yuuka for a Neko forearm, but then decides just to shove Yuuka into Neko instead.

Yuuka goes for her bridging backslide on Miyako, but Miyako counters and hooks the leg deep for 2. Miyako then gets her signature rollup but Neko’s had enough of her and breaks up the pin at 2 (to cheers). Ever reasonable Miyako tries to reconcile by slapping Neko in the face. Neko directs Miyako out of the ring but the latter swings instead and Neko ducks behind her and hits a lungblower. The odds are not good for the Dancing Queen now. Hoshi comes in with a lariat and Yuuka hits a crosslegged Fisherman’s suplex, then everyone (including Neko) piles on Miyako for the pin. This is why you shouldn’t annoy your partner too much.

Afterward there is the cell phone destruction ceremony. Hoshi and Yuuka sit in one corner happily cradling their returned phones, as Miyako’s phone sits on a table in the center of the ring and Neko holds her in another corner as she dejectedly contemplates her phone’s fate. Kurumi comes out with hammers and Miyako loses it in the corner, desperately trying to crawl away from Neko. Yuuka, Hoshi and Mochi come over to block and help keep Miyako back. The phone gets a ten bell salute and I’m losing it as Yuuka and Hoshi use their returned phones to document the death of Miyako’s.

Miyako grabs a mic and pleads for mercy to boos and laughs, trying to pull Mochi with her towards the center of the ring. Kurumi and Mochi eventually hammer Miyako’s beloved phone into oblivion and as Dancing Queen plays and poor Miyako faints. There was more to the hammering than what was shown (including Yuuka getting a shot in) but the point was made.

Ice Ribbon continues to prove that they know how to do comedy right, and Miyako in particular is a master. The key is everything was still related to the match that was happening and the action was still great. The post match ceremony was hilarious, and this whole thing was entertaining from start to finish.

Pre recorded interview with clips talking about the first Risa Sera Produce show and the “Human Hair Death Match” Risa had against Maki Narumiya, as well as setting up tonight’s main event.

3) 60-minute Four Seasons Death Match featuring Risa Sera ****1/4

This is essentially an Ironman match for just Risa, with her opponent changing after each decision. Each will be bringing some sort of season related weapon with them to be used. Risa comes out with a ladder and props it in the corner to do her prematch playing to the crowd. She’s in awesome new gear for this, with black Aikido pants, a white tube top (with clear straps), and flower patterned forearm sleeves.

Tsukushi is the first opponent and comes to the ring with a couple bags full of balloons. She dumps them around the ring and it seems they’re filled with pollen (or maybe dust). The bell ring and Tsukushi immediately dropkicks Risa into a corner, then gathers a couple balloons and makes Risa hold them while seated in the corner. Running dropkick to the balloons pops them against Risa’s chest, releasing the contents into her face.

Tsukushi places some balloons on the mat and pulls a stunned Risa in front of them, but Risa has more than enough time to collect herself and catches Tsukushi off a crossbody attempt from the top, spins her around to Risa back, and slams her “on” the balloons. Unfortunately the balloons were kind of blown away as they fell and none popped. Tsukushi suffering the effects of the slam though, so Risa scoops her up and tries again, but again the slam fails to pop any balloons. Risa shows good natured frustration and the crowd is amused.

Risa sets up Tsukushi in the corner holding a couple balloons, and the double knees finally allow her to explode some (although one popped before Risa got there). Risa covers for 2. Forearm exchange gives way to charging each other with balloons, and they pop into both wrestler’s faces to trigger dual sneezing fits and they both tap out for a draw.

Risa’s still coughing and sneezing as Isami Kodaka comes out as her second opponent carrying a barbed wire baseball bat. Odd cut jumping from Isami coming out of the curtain to just as he was entering the ring. Couldn’t have been more than a few seconds. Not sure the purpose served or why anything would be cut at all from a match specifically advertised around the fact of being 60 minutes long.

He backs Risa into a corner and hits a shot with the bat to her midsection, then sends her into the ropes but Risa ducks a swing at her head and rebounds with a dropkick. Risa sends him to the corner instead of grabbing the bat and  her evades her subsequent charge, then run to the opposite corner and back for momentum to nail a running boot. Risa rolled out of the corner into a seated position and hit with a dropkick.

Isami retrieves the bat, hit Risa in the stomach, then rolls the barbed wire across her back. He hits her in the back then positions her sitting in the corner and does a batting warmup routine that the crowd gets into. He swings away from Risa but lets go on the backswing and the bat flies into Risa (which the crowd liked less). Parabola diving forearm in the corner and the ref declares him “safe” (guess he was running the bases). Risa kicks out at 2 then evades a top rope stomp, hits a dropkick, then hits a pair of her running double knee drops for 2.

She slowly powers Isami up onto her shoulders for a DVD in a great spot for 1. She rushes him against the ropes and doesn’t quite get backdropped over, but Isami recovers nicely and grabs Risa to finish powering her to the floor. Sliding dropkick and Isami’s out too. They trade several suplex attempts without breaking their hold on one another and Risa finally get Isami over in a great show of strength. They brawl into the bleachers and apparently falls count anywhere as Isami gets 2 off a kick. He goes to the top of the bleachers and dives on to Risa (at the botom) with a BRUTAL looking double knees for a 3 count. Risa’s looks to be out cold.

Hamuko Hoshi swims to the ring wearing a cap and goggles as Risa struggles to get up on the floor. She rolls Risa in, slams her in the center of the ring, and locks in her Boston Crab variation. Risa with a nice counter consisting of doing a pushup and then extending her legs to flip Hoshi off of her. Risa grabs Hoshi’s legs and locks in the same hold she was subjected to moments before. Hoshi attempts to swim towards the ropes using various strokes, then Risa grabs her arms an impressively lifts her into Risa’s standing Boston Crab with Hoshi suspended in midair. Hoshi holds out so Risa drops her, then tries a whip but Hoshi bounces back with a shoulder block. Ten minutes gone announcement and it already feels like Risa’s taken a lot of punishment.

Running belly to the face connects and Risa bails, then they brawl all the way out the door. I wasn’t one of the fans who followed so this is new to me. There’s a child’s swimming pool set up outside, and after some back and forth Hoshi slams Risa into it. Risa pops right back up, selling the cold of the water more than the slam, and she then forfeits to prevent Hoshi from doing it a second time. Given this was December and all the fans are in heavy coats I’d have done the same thing in Risa’s place. She splashes some of the wrestlers and fans standing around with the remaining water to convey how cold it is.

Back inside music hits for Risa’s next opponent, and we get another slight cut to Yuko Miyamoto entering the ring. Can just the men’s entrances not be shown or something?  Risa is soaking wet and has rolled back into the ring and is kneeling in a corner. Yuko has brought a mini garden rake and a pail full of something that not immediately obvious. He tosses out of the ring and takes her right back outside, slamming her face first into the pool this time and she comes up momentarily selling not being able to see. She clears her vision quick though and jumps back from Yuko dumping the pool towards her. He grabs a side headlock and drags her back inside, then rolls her into the ring.

Yuko grabs the pail and demonstrates that it has what appears to be sand inside. He swings it around like a shot put (without letting go) towards Risa but she ducks and runs to a safe corner. He tries it again but she escapes again. So he decides just to dump the pail on her instead, but Risa blocks and they struggle with the pail suspended between them above their heads. For a second they veer to the side and look like they’re going to dump it on the ref, but Risa ends the standoff with a kick to the midsection. The pail is down and Risa hits the ropes only to be hip tossed over the top rope to the entranceway (she holds on to Yuko’s arm though and he comes with her).

They fight over the pail again on the ramp, teasing it going dumping on the crowd, then Hirotsugu gets involved and it becomes a three-way standoff. They go down the stairs and into the crowd (ending up right behind me). Yuko kicks at Risa and shoulders Hirotsugu away, taking control of the bucket. He goes to throw the contents at Risa, but she moves and Hirotsugu takes the full hit. Risa bring Yuko with the now empty pail back to the ring. Risa hits the ropes but Yuko grabs the pail and nails her right in the head, then rolls her up with a bridge for the pin.

Another mini-cut and Neko Nitta’s out covered with sandpaper around her midsection and holding even more. Risa can barely stand and tries to beg off, but Neko whips her into a corner and hits a running splash with the sandpaper. Whip to the opposite corner for the same and a piece of it has stuck to Risa’s back, so Neko helpful removes it by dragging across Risa’s shoulder blades. Then across Risa’s sternum. Neko tries to back suplex Risa onto another piece, but Risa counters with a slam onto it instead. Risa grabs Neko’s extras and places them in the center of the ring while Neko makes an expression of “whatever you’re thinking of doing please don’t.”  Risa grabs Neko’s legs, drags her over, and applies a Boston Crab on top of the sandpaper as Neko freaks out.

Neko doesn’t give up, so Risa turns her over and drags her back over the sandpaper, then covers for 2. Neko gets to her feet and grabs a side headlock, then drags sandpaper across Risa’s face while in the hold. Risa reverses and gets her own side headlock on Neko, but Neko’s still holding the sandpaper and rubs it across Risa’s exposed midsection to force a break. Risa’s exhausted and down on her knees, so Neko grabs sandpaper in both hands and rakes them across Risa’s back a couple times. They struggle for control, but Neko eventually stretches Risa across her back (and the sandpaper there) for a submission win.

While Risa tries to recover in the corner Akane Fujita comes out next, and dumps a garbage bag full of igakuri all over the ring. Risa does not look pleased at this after just having dealt with the sandpaper. Akane starts throwing them at Risa, with the latter frantically trying to dodge. Amusing moment when one sails by her towards the crowd and Akane apologizes profusely. Risa very gingerly trying to navigate around the ring to avoid them, but Akane catches her and tries a slam. Risa fights it with every fiber of her being and tries to whip Akane, but it’s reversed, and Akane hits the rebounding Risa with a shoulder block to send her back first onto the igakuri.

Akane’s pleased with herself and an angry Risa dares her to try it again, so Akane hits the ropes, but Risa uses a drop toehold instead and Akane goes down headfirst. Risa tries to prepare for a igakuri throwing war, but Akane’s wearing gloves and she isn’t so she can’t pick any up and Akane gets a bunch of free shots. It keeps Risa at bay until she decides just to suffer through it and rushes Akane with a kick to take over. Risa calls for a slam but after a couple of unsuccessful tries Akane reverses into her own. Risa selling major pain and igakuri are stuck to her. Akane then hits a powerslam for 2. Risa tries to turn the tide with a dropkick, but of course she hits the igakuri covered mat as well and both wrestlers are selling the effects. Risa pulls Akane up though and hits a DVD for the pinfall.

Yuuka and Maruko come in as attendants and try to sweep up the igakuri, but the next competitor is already coming out. Amusingly it’s Tsukasa Fujimoto, carrying a much larger broom as her weapon. As Risa recovers in the corner, Tsukka kindly sweeps all the igakuri out of the ring herself. Mio and Hirotsugu keep the crowd laughing during this, and make several comments Tsukka responds to as she sweeps.

When she’s done Risa bows to her in thanks and respect, then Tsukka starts their portion of the match by switching to an overhand grip on the broom and swinging at Risa. Risa ducks, then jumps a low swing and steps on the broom to prevent further use. Tsukka goes for a enzugiri, but Risa ducks and Tsukka lands on the broom. Risa starts a forearm exchange and hits the ropes, but Tsukka gets the broom again and nails Risa with it off the rebound.

Snapmare into a hard kick on a seated Risa, then Tsukka decides to scratch at Risa’s already red back to boos. Hirotsugu has something to say about that that makes Tsukka pause and look to the commentary table in disbelief, then she responds to a “Se-ra! Se-ra!” crowd chant by grabbing the broom again. She ties Risa in the ropes and indicates she’s going to spear Risa from behind with the broom, but Risa moves and tries the same thing herself. This time Tsukka moves, but Risa still has the broom, and she levels Tsukka with it. Nice to see, as I was disappointed earlier when Risa never even tried to retaliate with the barbed wire bat.

Risa signals for the end and seems to want a back suplex on the broom, but Tsukka reverses, tries a regular suplex, then sends Risa into the corner when that fails. Running dropkick puts Risa down into seated position, then Tsukka backs up again and hits another. Cover gets 2 and Tsukka beautifully hangs on to the arm Risa kicks out with and turns it into a stranglehold. Risa powers out and flips Tsukka forward, but Tsukka rolls right back up and slams Risa near a corner. She grabs the broom and goes up top, straddling the broom witch-style to fly off onto Risa. So awesome. Risa moves but Tsukka recovers quickly and hits another broom shot to Risa’s chest. She then shoves Risa outside and all the way to the start of the entrance ramp, then goes back in the ring herself, gets a running start and launches the broom towards Risa.

Risa ducks to the side to avoid it, picks up the broom herself, then drops it for some reason and leaves it to rush the ring. The jockey for control until Risa hits a back slam for 2. Risa hits the ropes but is tripped by Kurumi, who then comes in the ring. Tsukka seems to explain that Kurumi (Walnut) is somehow a permitted season themed weapon. Enzugiri by Tsukka, German suplex by Kurumi, and a jackknife cradle gets 3 for Tsukka.

She celebrates with Kurumi on the outside while Maya brings Risa a drink and Mochi Miyagi’s music plays. Another mini-cut and I’m just going to ignore them from here on since no action is being lost. Mochi has brought mochi as her weapon. Cute, if likely ineffectual. Mochi kicks Risa as the latter gets distracted by the thirty minutes elapsed announcement, and then dumps the individually packaged mochi around the ring. Risa looks confused. Mochi places her on top of it, hits a light Earthquake splash, then does her airplane cover for 2.

She starts throwing the mochi at Risa, which the latter sells like getting hit with rocks. One misses Risa and nails the ref in the legs and he also sells serious pain for a moment. Risa grabs some herself and they throw at each other a bit (Risa’s aim being quite off though), then Mochi pushes Risa to the mat (kind of gently) in the corner and slaps her stomach. Then piles mochi on Risa and goes up for a Vader Bomb. Mochi sells like her own belly was also seriously damaged by landing on the snacks.  Risa tries to throw another one at Mochi but misses, then grabs a handful but essentially ends up just tossing them to Mochi. Mochi rushes Risa and beats her over the head with a mochi, then applies a sleeper while stuffing a still wrapped mochi into Risa’s mouth (which Risa had to remind her to do) for the tap out.

Yuko Miyamoto is back again, and takes the collected bag of igakuri swept up early and dumps it in the ring again. He then goes over to Risa corner where she still has a mochi in her mouth, pulls it out, unwraps it, then stuffs it back in and chokes Risa. She resists tapping out so he pulls her to the center and locks in a sleeper. He then turns her around and measures a chop, which comically hits only to make Risa spit the mochi at him, which knocks him back first onto the igakuri.

He rolls out and after taking a momment to recover Risa carefully picks up some igakuri and throws them at him. She then goes outside herself and hits Yuko across the back with a chair. He responds by throwing an igakuri into the audience. Risa indicates some of the crowd should move, then whips Yuko into the vacated chairs. Another chair shot to his back and another igkuri thrown into the crowd in frustration.  And one more of each for good measure. Risa starts throwing the igakuri at Yuko, but Isami has come out to the entrance ramp and is throwing some at Risa.

Risa is chasing Yuko with the chair, so he hides behind Hirotsugu. Risa hesitates and Yuko kicks her in the midsection, then grabs both her and Hirotsugu in headlocks and takes them down into the crowd. Hirotsugu hides behind Risa as Yuko gets another bucket of sand, but when he comes back around and throws it Risa dodges and Hirotsugu takes the full brunt again.

Risa’s back near the ring, and Yuko grabs a table from under it and hits Risa across the back.He then sets it up on the floor, puts Risa on it, and goes up to the top turnbuckle. However Risa meets him up there and a kick to the head sends him tumbling into the ring (and onto the igakuri). Risa dumps a box of seashells and looks to DVD Yuko onto them. He sets down and she can’t get him up onto her shoulders for a bit, but she eventually powers him up (to the crowd’s delight) and hits the move for 2. Risa hikes up her billowing pants to climb the turnbuckles, but Yuko moves and her double knee hits the seashells. Oklahoma Stampede on the seashells, but Risa shocks the crowd with a close kickout.

Moonsault attempt avoided, but Yuko lands on his feet. He catches Risa coming in and looks to powerbomb her through the table on the outside, but Risa escapes and dropkicks him to the apron. Risa follows and asks people to clear out, then sets up for a scoop slam through the table. Yuko blocks, nails a huge right hand to put Risa out on her feet, then hits a tombstone driver through the table for another win. Risa might need to be scraped up with a spatula for the next opponent.

Isami Kodaka’s is back again, and brought a snowboard this time. He rolls Risa into the ring and goes for an immediate cover. Smart given what she just went through. Kickout at 2. Isami takes exception to the igakuri and kicks large batches them out of the ring and Neko runs back and forth on the outside trying to block them from hitting the audience. Another cover for 2 on the worn out Risa, and now he gingerly picks an igakuri up and throws it at the announcers. Third cover for 2 without any offensive moves on Risa.

He slams her in the center of the ring and the ladder Risa brought out at the start finally comes into play. He sets it up upside down leaning against the middle turnbuckle and forms a ramp. He kicks Risa a little farther away from it, and in a great touch Risa sells the igakuri she ends up rolling over. Isami grabs the snowboard and goes up to the top, but the snowboard catches as he tries to ride to down the ladder so he essentially jumps onto it then off of it immediately into a splash on Risa. Risa holds on and kicks out just before 3.

Isami repositions the ladder for another try, this time balancing it against the top turnbuckle. He rolls a still stunned Risa closer and goes back up with the snowboard. This time it catches at the top instead of bottom so he essentially runs down the ladder and splashes Risa. Not to be deterred, he goes up a third time and this time the snowboard cooperates, as Isami rides it down the ladder into a splash on Risa. I didn’t mind the repeated spot here as this is something that could believably go wrong for him within the in ring story and he was landing something on Risa each time which accounts for her staying down between attempts. Risa kicks out and he’s not done yet.

He puts the snowboard aside and stands the ladder right side up in another corner. Lots of time spent between his moves, but Risa’s been beaten on so long it makes sense he’d be confident and wouldn’t be in a rush. He powers her over into a vertical suplex then forearms her as she tries to get up and waits to see if she has anything left. Risa answers that with a strong forearm, but Isami responds with a hard one of his own. Risa stays on her feet and they exchange some more. This is a fantastic way to show Risa’s fortitude at this point.

After one to many from Risa Isami has had enough, ties her in the ropes, and grabs the snowboard. He tries to ride it into a move but gets no distance, ends up just standing in front of Risa, and they bow to each other. He tires again with the same result, then simply pushes the snowboard into an empty corner. Risa’s had enough of patiently waiting to be attacked, and boots him in the gut. He responds in kind though then drops her with a short windup punch. They fight for dominance in suplex position and Risa lifts him into a gorgeous Falcon Arrow. Cover gets 2 and Isami’s in real trouble for the first time.

Risa pulls him to center and sets up the ladder. The ring seconds steady it as she climbs all the way to the top using the turnbuckles. Isami kips up though, and runs up the other side of the ladder. She tries to knock him down with a trio of forearms, but he holds on and responds in kind. Risa ties again, and a slap across the face sends him down to the mat. Risa comes off the very top rung with the double knees. Isami kicks out just before 3. Risa up and shaking feeling back into her legs after that high risk move.

She picks Isami up and fights for a DVD, but he blocks and they go into a forearm exchange. The energy they’re still showing and the hard hits they’re giving each other is impressive, especially from Risa. Risa staggers after a running forearm and they exchange a pair of hard slaps.

Risa knocked to her knees but won’t stay down and hits four forearms in succession, but eats the windup punch and is taken down to the mat. Isami grabs her far arm and just cranks back on it with Risa screaming. He leans himself all the way back to the mat still holding Risa’s arm but she won’t give up. The crowd’s going nuts chanting for Risa. She brings her arms back together and rolls into a cover for 2. Isami up quick and nails Risa with a superkick while she’s still on her knees. Scoop slam and he places the ladder on the prone Risa before going up top.

He’s got the snowboard again and lands the double knees on the snowboard on the ladder on Risa. He pulls everything off top of her and covers… for 2. Big ovation and chant for that kickout. Both back to vertical and they fight over a scoop slam, which Risa ends up landing. Running double knee sequence for 2. Risa lays the ladder across Isami and hits another running double knee drop (ouch for Risa!). She pushes the ladder away and covers for 2. Risa pulls some of the seashells out of the corner and looks for a DVD, but it’s reversed into a brainbuster on the shells. The crowd screams for her to kickout and she just barely does.

Isami places her on the turnbuckles and hits a superplex on the shells. Another close escape for Risa as time is running out. Isami sprints up to the top turnbuckle and lands the diving double knees… as time expires! Risa holds him off and survives long enough for a draw to finish the match.

That was insane. The first half or so was heavy comedy, but still featured good wrestling spots among the silliness and started building up how resilient Risa is, which paid off in spades in the second half off the match when things got much more dramatic as she tried to fight off escalating threats. The finishing stretch as she held off Isami and even got some advantages on him was great.  Not everything hit or worked perfectly, but they held it together well, the action was nearly non-stop, and the story was Risa’s endurance. Her performance was amazing, particularly given the shape she was in at the end. As an American fan I had to get used to the idea of the results (1w-7l-2d) not really mattering as much as Risa’s journey. It worked though, and the whole thing was a treat to watch overall.

Risa bows to the mat as the crowd gives her a well deserved chant. She takes the mic and thanks everyone. She’s clearly choked up with emotion and fighting tears as she gives her post show speech. Her left cheek is massively swollen and her chest and back are bright red. Even without understanding the words the mutual appreciation between her and the fans comes clearly through. She invites the IR roster into the ring (and makes a point of including Miyako, who was remaining outside) and asks everyone to stand and participate in the “Happy Ice Ribbon” cheer to close the show.

The dvd fades to a credit sequence featuring various pics from Risa’s career to this point. Once that finishes a post show interview with Risa plays (as she ices her left cheek). Poor Risa has bruises everywhere. Wish I could understand this one.

Hell of a show here, and Risa in particular really went above and beyond. Her performance was as gutsy as it was incredible, and IR’s ability in general to mix comedy into their shows so flawlessly and still have intense wrestling at their core impresses me to no end. The variety of atmosphere, match types, and action across their shows is a testament to the great talent level of their roster.

December 26, 2015 in Tokyo, Japan

This is Neko Nitta’s Produced show,  and her last dojo show before her retirement. I had the opportunity to see this live during my trip to Japan, and my initial impressions of the show can be read here.

We start with an introduction consisting of Akane reading from prewritten notes and Neko emphasizing as needed with her standard “nyahs.” After introducing the card and other things I didn’t understand, the members of the first two matches are called out for some brief comments. The atmosphere here is light and fun, which makes it more intense when Pantera Rosa interrupts and starts waving her whip around.

She grabs Maya by the hair and uses her as a translator to cut a promo. Her first comments upset everyone, but she pushes away through their approach to a different corner and continues for a sentence or two, likely about the main event, then whips Neko a couple times and leaves when the other get in between them.

In the tense aftermath of Rosa’s appearance Neko shocks everyone by dropping the nyahs and responding directly to Pantera’s threats, to supportive applause from the fans. She leaves with Akane and Risa tentatively offers a “Nyah!” to break the tension and then finishes the pre-show announcements.   

1) Risa Sera vs Maya Yukihi vs Yuuka ***1/2

Interesting dynamic to this triple threat, as Risa and Maya team regularly as Azure Revolution. Sure enough the bell hits and they both rush Yuuka, whipping her to the far corner and hitting their running double elbow. They try to continue in the same vein but Yuuka uses nice speed and evasions to get them criss-crossing in parallel directions then hits each with a biel. She gets a little carried away though and biels the ref as well, then leads the other three in some sort of cheer. I was lost but it was amusing regardless.

Yuuka continues to play to the crowd and Risa simply kicks her in the midsection to reestablish control. Short lived however, as Yuka reverses a double whip into a shotgun dropkick that catches both members of AR. Risa and Maya up against the ropes on opposite side and Yuuka runs back and forth between them delivering forearms to their chests, then nails a double crossbody as they stumble back to the center of the ring.

Yuuka fires the crowd up for a suplex attempt on both opponents, but it unsurprisingly doesn’t work, so she goes back to the forearms. After nailing Maya however, Risa puts up her arms to stop Yuuka, and cuts a mini-promo that has the crowd laughing and results in Yuuka hiding behind Maya for a second, then Maya and Yuuka deciding to attack Risa together. That must have been some insult and/or bragging by Risa.

Double whip attempt, but Risa counters and sends her opponents to opposite corners, then hit Maya with the running elbow. She catches Yuuka coming, and ties her up in the tree of woe in the same corner  Maya’s now sitting in. Running double knees to the upside down Yuuka, absorbed as well by Maya sitting behind her.

Yuuka gets to her feet and lays in the forearms to Risa, ending with one that knocks her back into Maya, who’s still trying to recover in the corner. Risa returns the favor exactly, including knocking Yuuka into Maya. Yuuka’s turn again, and poor Maya is just a crash pad at this point. They start a one for one forearm exchange, but Maya’s recovered enough to take exception. Kick to Yuuka, forearm for Risa, then she grabs the both by the hair and drags them to the corner for a double blockbuster. Leg lariat/legdrop on both simultaneously for 2. Maya calls for a double chokeslam, but she can’t lift them. She pairs off with Yuuka, but when Yuuka’s whipped into the corner she runs up the turnbuckles and springs off into a beautiful crossbody on Risa for 2. Maya just sort of watches the cover (seemingly not being able to decide if she should walk around the ref), which is odd since it’s first fall wins.

Yuuka with some energetic forearms on Maya and then levels her with a running version for 2. Up top for a crossbody, but Maya ducks and Yuuka crashes. Maya up for a swanton, but Yuuka moves and now she crashes. In the adjacent corner to all this Risa quietly climbs herself and goes for diving double knees, but Maya rolls away to complete the circle of crashes. Risa rolls around trying to recover while staying off her hurt knees/shins to laughter. Everyone up to their knees and it’s a triangle of forearms for a minute, then AR reforms for a double chokeslam attempt on Yuuka. She escapes however and hits a crazy double version of her float over bridging backslide for 2. Yuuka continues with a double rollup attempt, but Risa gets free and as Yuuka floats over into the cover on Yuuka Risa hits her with double knees from the middle rope. Great spot.

Maya tries to take advantage with a cover but Risa isn’t having it, and picks her partner up for a DVD onto Yuuka. Yuuka moves, but Risa realizes that doesn’t matter much and covers Maya for 2. Rollup on Risa by Yuuka which Maya breaks with a kick right to Yuuka’s mouth. Yuuka rolls out of the ring and Maya tries an octopus hold, but Risa counters into a nice stretch muffler variation for the win as Maya screams in pain. Risa looks both happy and a touch remorseful as she celebrates her victory. Live they played this up even more, as both Yuuka and Maya walked out looking annoyed while Risa looked concerned.

I think this played a little better on dvd than live for some reason, as it’s even better than I recalled. A lot of clever uses of the format and impressive multi-person spots. Yuuka in particular has great energy in the ring and is phenomenal for her experience level.

2) 235 vs Kyuri vs Akane Fujita **1/2

More tentative start to this one, as the competitors circle one another. 235 proposed a triple test of strength, then breaks the connection with Akane once it’s locked in and they double team Kyuri. Double clothesline is followed by a whip to the corner and a running forearm by 235. But when she whips Kyuri out the latter ducks past Akane, then shoves Akane into a shoulder block on 235. Ever agreeable, Akane now follows Kyuri’s instructions to team up on 235. 235 tries to counter a double whip with a crossbody, but akane catches her, slams her, then catches Kyuri and slams her onto 235.

Akane follows with an Earthquake splash sort of on top of them both (Kyuri is half off 235 so her shoulders will be down and Akane lands on her knees) and stays there for a cover for 2.  Kyuri out and Akane with a slam and elbow drop for 2. Odd spot as Akane hits a shoulder block which 235 sells by dropping to her knees. Wonder if she was trying to hold her ground and legitimately got caught wrong and stunned for a second. She reverses a whip and locks in a sleeper on Akane, but Kyuri sneaks in and breaks it with a kick to 235’s back, then applies an armbar as Akane rolls out of the ring.

235 reaches the ropes to break, then reverses a suplex attempt and goes into to her multiple running crossbody sequence. She hits three and covers for 2. Kyuri reverses a whip into the corner, calls Akane back in, then whips her at 235, but 235 has jumped up onto the turnbuckles and catches Akane with a double boot followed by a tornado DDT. Kyuri tries a top rope crossbody, but eats canvas as 235 ducks. 235 goes up herself and hits a crossbody on both of her opponents for 2.

Kyuri now rolls out and 235 attempts a suplex, but Akane’s too big/strong. However Akane’s reversal into her own suplex is reversed again into a small package by 235 for 2. 235 hits the ropes and runs at Akane but is leveled by a shoulder block. Sitout slam and a cover but Kyuri saves 235 and crucifixes Akane for 2. Fujiwara attempt but Akane’s too close to the ropes.

Akane tries a tilt-a-whirl as Kyuri runs at her but loses her balance and tumbles over still holding Kyuri. She gets back up and hits a scoop slam, but as she goes for the cover Kyuri cradles her for an odd 2, where it didn’t look like Akane actually got her shoulder up. Another inside cradle and again the ref stops counting 2 without Akane escaping or raising a shoulder. A second after that she makes Kyuri break the cradle and I have no Earthly idea what is going on. Fisherman’s Suplex by Kyuri (during which Akane’s shoulder visibly DOES come off the canvas) for 3. The ref can be seen checking in on Akane for a moment before the fade out.

Well, something clearly went wrong at the end and things fell apart a bit, but otherwise this is better than it came across live. No idea if it was edited and I seem to remember more issues with the match outside of the finish, but what’s presented here isn’t bad overall. These three do have better chemistry as a team than as opponent though. Kyuri seems to be the most polished of the three.

3) Cats vs Dogs Captain’s Fall Elimination Match: Akane Fujita, Leon, Maruko Nagasaki and Neko vs HAYATE, Rabbit Miyu, Mochi Miyagi and Miyako Matsumoto ***

As far as I could tell it was elimination style, except that the match would end immediately if a captain was eliminated. Eliminations could be by pinfall/submission or over the top to the floor. Captains were chosen by rock, paper, scissors. The Dogs are dismayed and the Cats ecstatic as Miyako becomes the Dogs’ Captain. Miyako herself of course is thrilled. The Cats’ Captain turns out to be their smallest and least experience member, Maruko, leading to reversed reactions. Neko encourages Maruko however while the Dogs (and the crowd) mock/taunt Miyako.

Ever the sportswoman, Miyako kicks Neko’s hand as everyone else shakes so the Cats attack her as a group while her own team retreats to the apron. Miyako miraculously forearms them all away from her, but misses her swing at Neko and is rolled up for what’s nearly the end of the match as her team frantically storms in to break the count. They quickly drag her over to their corner and throw her out of the ring.

HAYATE comes in for the Dogs and Neko with a huge show of confidence as she tags in the Cats’ Captain Maruko. HAYATE mostly in control during a sequence of leg sweeps, etc but Maruko keeps him on guard with quick recoveries and a couple of arm drags mixed in. He ties her up with a leg applied hammerlock and grabs her other arm and legs, then turns her over for 2 as the rest of his team holds of the Cats.

Back to center, HAYATE locks up Maruko’s arm, but she slips a leg over his head and backflips to counter and goes right into an armdrag. Running dropkick by Maruko and she tags Neko. Big cheers for that sequence from Maruko. Back of forth into the ropes, then Neko lands a springboard armdrag and follows with another out of a double knuckle lock. HAYATE to the outside and Mochi comes in with a double axhandle from behind and hits her triple Earthquake splash for 2. Face rake by Neko but Mochi catches her off the ropes with a double clap and rolls Neko up for a close 2.

Neko goes to her corner and stuffs something into her tights. The next time Mochi runs at her she reveals it to be a bag of treats. Mochi excitedly begs for one like a dog, then “sits” and “shakes” at Neko’s command. Neko gives her the bag and Mochi digs in, only to be hit with a lungblower by Neko and pinned.

Neko’s music mistakenly starts, but it was an elimination, not the end of the match. Rabbit missile dropkicks Neko and Leon comes running in to counter her rival. Waistlock by Rabbit, which Leon tries to counter with elbows but Rabbit ducks them all. Rabbit gets the better of Leon for a while, including a nice stunner after another waistlock/ducking Leon’s counter elbows sequence. Leon finally catches her coming off the ropes and despoits her in the corner, where Neko launches off Leon’s back into a dropkick on Rabbit.

Neko picks up Rabbit as Leon goes up, but Rabbit fights off Neko and knocks Leon to the apron from the turnbuckles. Rabbit rushes and Leon pulls down the ropes, resulting in them facing off on the apron near the Dog corner. Rabbit gets a waistlock and Miyako tries to forearm Leon, but Leon ducks and Miyako knocks Rabbit off the apron and eliminates her. Cats with a 4 on 2 advantage.

Miyako in and Akane hits her with a double chop for 2, then picks her up for a slam. Miyako wriggles free though and pins Akane with a modified victory roll. Miyako is very proud of herself and celebrates excessively, so Neko comes in and starts whipping Miyako with her tail. Springboard back elbow gets 2, with HAYATE breaking up the pin with an elbow drop. Leon and Neko try to double team HAYATE, but he ducks a double clothesline and pushes Leon into Neko. Leon recovers quick however and catches HAYATE off the ropes with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Lungblower from Neko, then Leon alley-oops her into a splash. Miyako saves and whips Neko around the ring in a circle by her tail, knocking Neko into Leon, HAYATE, and the ref along the way.

Eventually Miyako seems to pull the tail right off, but it was in fact only a cover and Neko reveals a new tail that is actually a cat o’ nine tails. Cute. Neko whips eveything that moves, including Miyako, HAYATE, the ref, and her own partners. She celebrates on the turnbuckles and HAYATE nearly knocks her out from behind, but she lands on the apron and Leon attacks HAYATE. He reverses a corner whip and charges, only to be backdropped to the apron, where he and Neko (who both went over the top to get there) trade blows.

Miyako comes in and hits the far ropes intending to knock Neko of the apron for the elimination, but Neko ducks and Miyako eliminates another of her owns teammates by knocking HAYATE to the floor. Unfortunately for Maruko and Leon, Neko is a little too excited and nails the eliminated HAYATE with an Asai Moonsault to the floor without going back in the ring first, eliminating herself. Neko’s dramatic reaction upon realizing what she’s done is a nice touch.

Down to Maruko and Leon vs Miyako.  Miyako take a running dropkick by Maruko and a running spear by Leon in the corner, but reverses a whip into a crossbody on both of them for 2. Shining Wizard on Maruko nearly ends it, but Leon saves. Miyako dropkicks Leon’s knee then ties her up in a pinning predicament, but Maruko saves. No one’s leaving the ring so Miyako’s truly going two on one here. Maruko holds her for Leon, but Miyako moves, Maruko eats the spear, and Miyako rolls up Leon for a nearfall everyone bought as an elimination. Big ovation for Leon’s escape there.

Miyako and Leon trade rollups fighting for an advantage and Leon eventually gets Miyako down with a deep hook of the leg and gets the win. Nice little touch from Maruko, who was down with her back turned, where when she heard the count start she spun around and crawled toward the pin in case it was her partner in trouble. Miyako pouts in disappointment afterwards as Neko’s team celebrates. Unsurprisingly on Neko’s show, Cats beat Dogs. 😉

Fun for what it was. No real flow to the match, but the comedic overtones worked and there was decent wrestling mixed in. Miyako causing half her team’s eliminations was a great payoff to their horror at learning she was the captain.

4) Aoi Kizuki and Tsukasa Fujimoto vs Tsukushi and Hamuko Hoshi ****

ICE Cross Infinity Champion Aoi Kizuki is once again across the ring from her number one contender, Hamuko Hoshi. What’s interesting is Aoi’s partner on Vol. 698 is now Hoshi’s partner here. Tsukka and Aoi are two of my personal favorites, so it was awesome to see them team up.

The participants in Ribbonmania’s impending title match start us off, and aggressively fight over a collar and elbow tie-up until Hoshi powers into a side headlock. Aoi pushes her into the ropes and then shoot her off to break, but holds onto Hoshi and applies a side headlock of her own. Hoshi tries the same escape but Aoi holds on to the headlock and drives Hoshi down to the mat. Back to standing and Aoi cranks the hold repeatedly.

Show of strength as Hoshi lifts Aoi into the air, but Aoi gets back down to her feet and was supposed to armdrag Hoshi, but the latter didn’t roll with Aoi and Aoi had to pull her into a roll to complete the move after Aoi had already hit the mat. Aoi takes control with boots and double axhandles to Hoshi’s back, then hits a running forearm. Hoshi stands her ground and responds with a forearm of her own, then side headlocks Aoi over. Aoi counters out of it and both roll away from the other, and I guess it’s time for Hoshi’s seductive posing routine. Aoi awesomely responds to the come hither finger with a huge kick to the head of the kneeling Hoshi, then hair-mares her around the ring. Stomps to the head in the corner and Aoi is just mauling her future challenger at the moment. Back to her corner and we get the first tag of the match to bring in Tsukka.

Tsukka with a big slam to Hoshi, then she catches Tsukushi coming in and slams her on Hoshi. This is what Aoi usually does with her opponents to set up her signature pose where she places a foot on the pile  of opponents and joins her hands over her head. As Aoi came in the audience no doubt expected them to pose together, until Tsukka just kept going and slammed AOI on top of the pile. Tsukka then made a gesture as if to say “exactly what I wanted” and goes to complete Aoi’s usual routine, but Aoi trips her when she places her foot on Aoi, then Aoi slams Tsukka on top and shows her how it’s done while Tsukka freaks out “trying” to get up. Highly amusing. Aoi and Tsukka good-naturedly shove at each other a little more then Aoi exits, leaving Tsukka with Hoshi.

Tsukka with a hard forearm to back Hoshi up and a hard double slap to follow. Some more of each after a comment from Hoshi and Tsukka whips Hoshi to the far rope only to be leveled by shoulder block when Hoshi comes back off. Hoshi belly strikes her into the corner and climbs to the second for her signature “bend over corner opponent and rub belly into face” spot. Tsukka comes out of it retching, which the takes the spot even further out of my personally appreciation zone. Tsukushi comes in and takes Hoshi’s  place over Tsukka to copy the move herself as Hoshi holds off Aoi. Funny moment when Tsukushi hesitates for a second in fear when she sees the expression on Tsukka’s face, but then does it anyway. As Tsukushi really has no belly, it’s not very effective and Tsukka no sells the move when Tsukushi gets down and smacks her stomach.

Hoshi grabs Tsukka and sends her headfirst into Hoshi’s corner and a tag brings Tsukushi in legally for the first time. Tsukushi ties Tsukka up in the ropes and pulls back on her nose for embarrassment (posing her smiling face next to Tsukka for contrast), then bounces of the far rope for a running dropkick to Tsukka’s back. Tsukka bridges out of a cover and nails a dropkick, then ties Tsukushi up in the ropes for a taste of her own medicine, which the crowd actually boos. I guess picking on Tsukushi is off limits.

Tsukka finishes the spot with the running dropkick to Tsukushi’s back and tags in Aoi. Scoop slam by Aoi and a pair of running sentons followed by a running twist splash gets two. Tsukushi into the corner for an extended sequence of machine gun chops, but after she’s done Tsukushi reverses position for her own version (using both hands). Aoi no sells them and pushes out a bit while doing a double bicep pose to show strength then lands a few more strikes before tagging Tsukka.

Tsukushi gets the better of Tsukka with her rollup into a double stomp then tags Hoshi. Hoshi runs over for a shot at Aoi on the apron as Aoi is taking a drink of water, so Aoi squirts at her with the bottle. Scoop slam to Tsukka and Hoshi calls Tsukushi in for her running on an opponent’s back spot, and joins Tsukushi much to Tsukka’s pain and dismay. Cover when they’re done gets 2.

Tsukka reverses a whip into the corner and signals for Hoshi’s own buttblocks. She hits them but Hoshi’s unfazed and nails a dropkick to Tsukka’s back. She traps Tsukka in the opposite corner and kind of does knees to Tsukka’s head, then an ace crusher out of the corner for 2. Hoshi with her Boston Crab variation into a half crab. Tsukka makes the ropes to break, then fights off Hoshi’s shoulders, hits the ropes and lands her rollup into a hard kick to the chest sequence. Tsukka hits the ropes but Hoshi counters with her belly to put Tsukka on her knees and in position for Hoshi to hit her normal belly to the face strike.

Tag to Tsukushi and she also signals for the belly to the face, but Tsukka stops her with a dropkick. Now it’s Tsukka’s turn to try to steal the move but Tsukushi instead steals Tsukka counter and hits her with a dropkick. Crowd very into that whole sequence.

Tsukka up and firearms Tsukushi in annoyance. Tsukushi lands one of her own, which doesn’t impress Tsukka, so Tsukka hits another and Tsukushi crumples to the mat and sells it like death for a few seconds. She slaps the mat to fire herself up and hits another on Tsukka, who takes a step back this time but immediately responds and sends Tsukushi back into the ropes. Tsukushi with a flurry that puts Tsukka to a knee, and when Tsukka tries to respond Tsukushi ducks this time and hits another forearm herself. Tsukka showing effects so she puts an end to the exchange with a spinning kick to Tsukushi’s chest.

Tsukka pics up Tsukushi and says “I am Ayako Hamada” (that much Japanese I understand 😉 ) and goes for a powerbomb, but Tsukushi fights out of it and hits a TORNADO KILLSWITCH (!!!) and follows with her vicious dropkick with Tsukka laying against the bottom rope. She goes up top but Tsukka swats away her missile dropkick and sends her into the opposite corner. Aoi comes in and hits her crossbody on a standing Tsukushi in the corner, then Tsukka hits a dropkick. Tsukushi seated now and Tsukka with a hard running dropkick.

Back the the middle of the ring and Tsukushi reverses a scoop slam into one of her own then hits a shotgun dropkick to the seated Tsukka’s head. Tsukka rolls right back up and sends Tsukushi staggering back into her own corner with a dropkick. Hoshi tags herself in and clotheslines Tsukka back into her corner, where Aoi tags HERSELF in. I’m digging both the move swipe spots and all the parallel moments in this.

Hoshi and Aoi lay into each other with forearms until Aoi ducks one and spins Hoshi around into a stunner. She whips Hoshi into a corner and charges but Hoshi bounces right back out and floors her with a shoulder block. Aoi fights her off, hits the ropes, then lands a rolling grapevine takeover and transitions Hoshi into position for the STF. Hoshi crawls to rope to break and Aoi goes up the turnbuckles, but Tsukushi stops her with a handful of hair and Hoshi recovers to land a forearm and take over. She slams Aoi off the turnbuckles and goes up herself for a shotgun dropkick off the middle. Folding press gets 2 and now she puts Aoi into an STF.

Tsukka gets by Tsukushi and kicks Hoshi to break the hold. Tsukka’s sent out of the ring and a Samoan drop by Hoshi on Aoi is followed by a top rope  double stomp by Tsukushi. Tsukushi picks Aoi up to slam her in better position, then Hoshi hits a big splash from the top rope. Tsukka saves. Aoi struggles to her feat, then ducks a charging Hoshi which allows Tsukka to hit a step up enzugiri. Aoi off the ropes with a spinning forearm, then a Northern Lights Suplex for 2. Tsukka pulls Hoshi into position for Aoi’s Snow Blow. Pinfall interrupted by Tsukushi.

Straightjacket suplex attempt by Aoi countered into a nice rollup by Hoshi for 2. Hoshi hits the ropes but is followed by Aoi and small packaged the second she bounces off for 2. Aoi tries a rollup but Hoshi twists around and drops down for her own cover, and Aoi kicks out at 2 just as the bell ring signifying time has expired. The finish makes sense just a week away from Aoi’s defense against Hoshi.

I’m still not enamored with Hoshi’s gimmick and the awkward armdrag annoyed me from someone with her experience, but she has her strengths and this match was excellent overall once it got going. The constant reversals, one-upmanship displays and move stealing spots were all highly entertaining and there was some great wrestling at its center. Oh, and that’s the first time I’ve seen a tornado killswitch, and it’s insane.

5) Neko Nitta vs Pantera Rosa ****

Neko slowly walks across the ring with a determined look on her face once the bell rings as Pantera lounges dismissively in the corner. Neko slaps her twice while Rosa continues to shrug and look unconcerned. On the third attempt however Rosa blocks, hits a slap of her own, then gets her whip and whips the hell out of Neko as the latter tries to roll/crawl/scamper out of range. It goes on for a while, then Rosa escalates it even further by grabs Neko by the hair and just wearing out the whip across Neko’s back.

She pauses in apparent amusement for a second when Neko tries fighting back with a couple shots to the midsection, then kicks Neko back down and stands on her back while holding the ropes. THIS gets the ref to put a 5-count on Rosa to make her get Neko out of the ropes. Is the whip legal or something? Rosa rolls Neko out to the apron, then wraps the whip around her neck from inside the ring. She breaks before 5.

Mocking kick to Neko’s back pushes her off the apron, and Rosa goes out too for another ten or so whip shots to Neko’s back. Slap to Neko’s face and Rosa slams her face first into vacated audience seats. Rosa sends Neko farther down the aisle and more whipping occurs right in the middle of the crowd. Rosa claims someone’s chair and slams Neko’s head into in several times in rapid succession. And more whipping. I had forgotten that this was ALL Rosa for so long. She mocking rubs/rams the whip handle in to Neko’s forehead for a bit.

Whip by Rosa reversed as Neko tries to fight back, but Rosa reverses again immediately and Neko is rammed into the metal framing around the entrance. Rosa puts her whip over her shoulder and shrugs as Neko’s laid out, and turns her back to go back to the ring. Neko crawls back out from under the curtain, and is bleeding from the forehead. She crawls all the way back to the ring, refusing to give up, as Rosa arrogantly lounges across the ropes in a corner.

Neko with a hard forearm to Rosa, but all it earns her is another round of the whip handle being rammed into her head repeatedly. Neko curled up in a ball on the mat, and Rosa begins the whipping again. After a few shots she throws it away and starts clubbing on Neko, and the latter’s face shows a glimmer of hope at a possible opening. Rosa sends her into the ropes and Neko bounces off the second for a back elbow, but Rosa simply steps out of the way and Neko’s down again. Half of Neko’s face is covered in blood at this point.

Rosa continues to toy with her with soft, mocking kicks to Neko’s head, just pushing her around the ring. Neko can’t get up so Rosa covers for 2. Whip to the ropes and Neko ducks a clothesline and hits the springboard back elbow for her first successful offensive move of the match. She’s getting her second wind now and is pissed off, hammering Rosa widown with double axhandles and then grabbling Rosa’s chain and punching her repeatedly with it. Unfortunately for Neko it doesn’t last, as Rosa turns them over, grabs the chain from Neko and unloads with chain shots of her own for a bit. But the Neko reverses gets some more chain assisted punches in.

Neko then ditches the chain and throws Rosa into a corner, but drops to a knee in exhaustion for a second before following up. Whip into the far corner and then a running forearm onto Rosa and Neko is firing up. She sends Rosa back to the other corner and hits another running forearm, but Rosa kicks out at 1. Neko grabs the whip to finally pay Rosa back a bit. Once she gets a few solid shots in she goes up top and hits a shotgun missile dropkick. She then gets the chain again and puts it in the center of the ring, positioning Rosa bent over above it, and goes up top. Another shotgun missile dropkick causes Rosa to land on the chain, and she comes up selling extreme pain in the back. So Neko does it again from another corner. Cover for 2. Both struggling to get up, as Neko’s selling exhaustion and Rosa’s selling her back being screwed.

Neko rolls under a right hand but is slow to get up, and Rosa takes the opportunity to get the whip again. Another ten plus hard shots to Neko’s back. Rosa picks her up for something but Neko starts a forearm exchange. Neko’s have nothing on them and Rosa starts preening again. After a couple of back and forth shots Rosa decides to rake the eyes instead. More whipping, but Neko counters by throwing powder in Rosa’s face (kind of – Rosa had turned away to run towards the ropes) and rocks her with some palm strikes. Rosa grabs the chain, but Neko keeps her at bay with more palm strikes, and gets 2.

She pulls Rosa into position and can barely stand up, but signals she’s going to the top rope. Slow climb and Rosa gets up and just throws the chain at her. She then positions the chain on the mat and dramatically signs that she’s going to drive Neko into it. Rosa climbs and hits a barrage of forearms to the side of Neko’s head, but Neko fights back and side slams Rosa of the middle turnbuckle onto the chain. It only gets 2, so Neko goes up again and nails the moonsault. Again only 2,shocking the crowd. Neko puts the chain on Rosa’s stomach and goes up for a final moonsault, but Rosa gets the knees up and cradles Neko for a very close 2. She doesn’t let up though, grabbing Neko’s arms then hooking Neko’s legs with her own and bridging herself up to keep Neko down for 3 this time.

Rosa walks towards Neko with the whip on her shoulder, and a kneeling Neko reaches out for Rosa’s arm. Rosa slaps her, then makes “what the hell” gestures as Neko grasps her hand and shakes it, but eventually returns the show of respect and then gets down on her knees as well to hug Neko.

This was a war. It’s unlike anything else I’ve seen in Ice Ribbon, and the atmosphere they kept up was amazing. It felt quite different live, as it was easier to get swept up in the mayhem and I didn’t realize that Neko went most of the match without ANY offense. It worked both live and on dvd though and got even more intense at the end. Wish I knew why weapons were legal but being in the ropes wasn’t and on disc the early whipping portions seem long, but those are small points. Great main event.

Neko and Rosa going to the back together isn’t shown, but we do get the entire post-show interview before the roundtable, with Mochi playing the role of interviewer and Neko (face still covered in dried blood from her match) coming back with Rosa’s mask and seems to explain that Rosa is gone. Neko then brings out 235, Akane, and Kyuri and reads something she brought out with her to them (with everyone visibly touched and fighting tears) and announces her retirement match for RibbonMania involving the three of them.

The rest of the show’s roster joins them in the ring and Neko speaks to the audience a bit. Tsukka interrupts her for a second to present some gifts from the roster (she gets very excited about the cake), then Neko finishes by thanking the crowd and having everyone else in the ring join her is a cry of “Happy Ice Ribbon Nyah!” The dvd then fades to a photo of them all (taken just a little later) for several seconds as Neko’s music plays.

Fun show and a great way for Neko to say goodbye to the IR Dojo.

December 19, 2015 in Tokyo, Japan

This was the first show I saw live during my Japan trip, and my first exposure to Ice Ribbon. My initial impression of the show can be read here. Will be interesting to revisit.

The dvd opens with a rundown of the entire card with a couple of highlights running in the background. Nice touch. Entrances are generally not shown for the participants before each match, but there’s a “title card” type listing that serves the purpose of breaking up things for pacing so it doesn’t feel too awkward not having them.

1) The Lovely Butchers (Hamuko Hoshi and Mochi Miyagi) and Pantera Rosa vs. Akane Fujita, 235 and Kyuri ***

I remember this being fun live. I was previously unfamiliar with all six wrestlers. Pantera Rosa clearly has some history with her opponents, as they jump her team in lieu of handshakes, knock the Butchers out of the ring, then take turns attacking Rosa. She plays them against each other with some quick dodges though and takes over in short order. Ice Ribbon doesn’t really have what I’d think of as traditional full blown heels in general (outside of Miyako, who plays it for comedy), so Pantera’s act stands out. The Butchers are kind of in between here, still playing to the crowd at points but utilizing heel tactics in conjunction with their partner. It’s odd but suits the match I guess. I’m personally not a big fan of the Butchers’ belly based offense or random “come hither” poses either.

Kyuri shows a lot of resiliency and fire fighting back against her larger opponents in the early going. Mochi seems quick for her size and I like her rapid repeated Earthquake splashes. After numerous attempts and reversals of offensive advantage Kyuri hits Mochi with a Fisherman’s Suplex, which looks crazy given Kyuri’s diminutive size. She’s a great underdog.

235 gets the tag and comes in angry, showing her strength by slamming Mochi then demanding Rosa comes in. Continuing the grating, dismissive attitude towards her opponents Rosa simply turns her back and drops from the apron. Mochi up and she fires back a bit, but 235 gets the better of a strike exchange and unloads with forearms until hitting a (slightly sloppy) step up legdrop to the back of Mochi’s head. TEN running crossbodies follow (with Mochi trying to stand between each and both showing building exertion as they go) to the crowd’s delight. 235 back to the corner and with a battle cry to psych herself up again, but her eleventh crossbody attempt is caught and Mochi spins her into a sideslam.

Pantera comes in to take advantage of the downed 235 and wastes no time mocking kicking her in the head then knocking her partners off the apron. She grabs her chain from her corner, wraps it around 235’s neck, then drags her around the ring with it while the ref argues with Akane and Kyuri. 235 thrown over the ropes and is now being hung by the chain. Ref turns around and catches Rosa, but simply applies a 5-count. From what I’ve been told automatic DQ’s are practically non-existent in Japan. Took some getting used to. 235 on the floor, still wrapped in the chain, as Rosa nonchalantly waits in the ring. 235 with a burst of adrenaline when she rolls in though and catches Rosa napping, charging in and laying into her with about twenty forearms. Akane comes in for a double suplex, then drags the spent 235 to the corner and tags herself in. I love that spot, as it shows the intelligence to help your partner out of trouble, rather than just attacking your opponent.

Akane takes her frustration out on Rosa with power moves until Rosa sneaks behind and shoves her into the ref. She grabs handcuffs this time, and uses them like brass knuckles to repeatedly punch Akane down. Ref revived by the seconds on the outside so she drops the cuffs and tries a hold, but when Kyuri and 235 come in to help Rosa just grabs the cuffs again and knocks them both out of the ring with them. Arm bar on Akane, but they’ve all finally had enough of Rosa and 235 grabs her own chain and nails her in the back. Arm drag by Kyuri, whip into a double boot in the corner by 235 that becomes a tornado DDT, then a power back body drop by Akane. Nice bit of revenge on Rosa.

Akane goes for the mask, but the Butcher come in to save. Rosa takes advantage of the confusion with a crucifix style rollup for a close 2, then tags out. Hammy in and Akane looks like a beast trading shoulder tackles and forearms with her. Butchers with a double splash then Hammy picks up Mochi and dumps her on Akane for 2. Hammy up top, but Kyuri saves. Akane throws Hammy down, 235 with a crossbody from the opposite turnbuckle, Kyuri with one of her own, then Akane powers Hammy up for a powerslam for 2. Great sequence. Mochi saves her partner from a single arm stranglehold, and Akane and Hammy trade strikes again. Akane with the advantage, but Rosa with a chain shot to the back from outside and the Butchers hit their running belly strikes to Akane’s face (as ridiculous as it sounds).

Everyone’s in and Rosa knocks 235 and Kyuri back out. X-Factor from Mochi sets up a top rope splash by Hammy for the win. This played just as well taped as live. Nice exchanges, a strong heel, some high points for the faces before they lost, and good effort all around. Akane was in a few different roles in here various matches I saw, and I liked her here best as a wrecking ball. I hope she keeps to this power wrestling in the future because it suits her well.

2) Miyako Matsumoto and Maruko Nagasaki vs Azure Revolution (Risa Sera and Maya Yukihi) ***1/2

This was also my first time seeing any of these wrestlers, although I had heard a lot about Risa ahead of time. She was as good as advertised, but Miyako stole my attention here. I adore her act. To me she’s the epitome of “comedy wrestling can be great when done well.” The humor is based in the wrestling and the match, as well as her wonderfully shameless heel character. More on that as we go through the match.

Maruko and Maya start, trading headlocks and until they back into the corner and Risa comes in to knock Miyako off the apron and help Maya with Maruko. In the US that would be an extremely heelish move, but seems to be played off as a normal part of the match, as Risa’s definitely a face here. Double running elbow in the corner to Maruko, THEN a tag to bring Risa in legally (why not reverse those?). Risa locks in a high angle Boston Crab and Maruko crawls all the way across the ring to reach the ropes, delighting the crowd with her fortitude. Miyako (who IS a heel and totally acts it) was awesomely using all her weight to push the rope inward for her partner to grab. An annoyed Risa chases her off the apron again.

Tag and Maya comes in. Couple of hard snapmares, some kicks and a cover for 2 then tag back out to Risa. Odd that AR has only double teamed illegally so far, and not after any of their actual tags. Boston Crab setup again, but this time Risa grabs the arms, lifts Maruko, and does her awesome hanging/shaking version. Dismissive/mocking “kicks” to the head of the beaten down Maruko and I’m beginning to wonder if I’ve missed a storyline reason for AR acting quasi-heelish here. Risa hits the ropes and Miyako cheap shots her with a kick to the back to cheers. Screw it, I’m accepting this as a Bizzaro World match and moving on.

Miyako in to help and her and Maruko whip Risa into the ropes only to eat a double shoulder block by Risa. Miyako rolls out, tag to Maya, and Maruko’s still in major trouble. She loses a forearm exchange, but then hits a running dropkick to a pop to turn the tide. After a second one she tags out and Miyako’s in legally for the first time. She fires her self up excessively and hits a running double chop, but Risa in to attack from behind. AR whips Miyako into the ropes, which she tries to counter with a cross body, but they catch her and the fun truly begins as Miyako decides this would be a good time to pose dramatically likes she’s winning (while still being held midair by her opponents). AR with a disbelieving look and they just unceremoniously drop her mid-pose. They hit the ropes but Miyako rolls towards them to trip them and hits a double faceplant.

Risa out and Miyako fires up the crowd and gets them clapping, then ties Maya up in the ropes for some forearms. When she hits the far rope however Maya frees herself and levels Miyako with a shoulder block. Miyako’s got a natural charisma to everything she does, no matter how ridiculous, that’s highly amusing and engages the crowd. Tag to Risa and she hits her running knees to Miyako’s back numerous times for 2. In the corner and Miyako makes some sort of whining comment that makes people laugh. Whip to the opposite corner and Risa follows with an elbow, then Miyako drops down, and Risa runs back to the far corner then back again with more double knees. Risa got impressive speed on both running moves and they looked great.

Risa attempts what looks like a belly-to-back suplex, but Miyako blocks midair for more posing, then swings around Risa to go into a crucifix-type rollup for 2. Capitalizing on the moment, she kicks Risa, knocks Maya off the apron and calls Maruko into the ring. They attempt a double whip on Risa again, with Miyako seeming like she has a plan. Risa comes off with the shoulder block again, but Miyako pushes Maruko in the way (to boos) and her expression indicates it worked perfectly because she wasn’t hit. She forces Risa to do Miyako’s trademark pose, then dumps her into a splash onto Maruko (which is supposed to hurt Risa too somehow?), and rolls Risa over for a cover while kicking her partner out of the way. I adore her shameless, self-serving antics.

She hits another running double chop then sells exhaustion and fatigue and crawls to her corner to tag Maruko (who is still selling from the damage Miyako caused her). But Maruko good naturedly takes the tag and comes in for the benefit of her team. The “face teaming with selfish heel” dynamic here reminds me of El Generico and Steen. Maruko and Risa trade some dropkicks then go into a forearm exchange, with Risa essentially laughing off Maruko’s attempts and showing her what real forearms are. Her confidence backfires though when Maruko reverses a whip into the corner and hits another running dropkick.

Miyako in and cuts off Maya, then excitedly gets Maruko to do the full Mama Mia pose procession. Risa is on the mat calmly (and obviously) watching them the whole time, and when they finally go for the double splash she raises her feet to kick both with a big smile on her face. Nice touch.

Miyako rolls out and Risa seems lost for a second, then fights over slam attempts with Maruko until Risa reverses one into a swinging side slam. Miyako saves and again pays the price of Risa beating her back out of the ring. Tag to Maya and she wears Maruko down with strikes and holds until Miyako saves again, and again Risa chases her away.

Maruko reverses a whip into a running dropkick and Miyako comes in to press the gained advantage. Double whip, and since it’s on Maya this time they successfully hit a running double chop/elbow combination. Miyako celebrates by kicking her partner to double her over then essentially hitting Angel’s Wings on Maruko onto Maya as an offensive move. She pulls the near dead Maruko onto Maya for 2. Maruko pulls herself together for an uranage that only gets 2 when Risa gets by Miyako and saves. Miyako chases her out and Maya fights off another uranage, only to suffer a close 2 when Maruko ducks a clothesline and applies a backslide.

Maruko with another duck into a close rollup, but then Maya kind of hits a leg lariat for 2 of her own. Risa in and a double whip on Maruko into the corner. Maya with a running elbow, then drops down so Risa can launch off her into a flying double knee. Chokeslam by Maya but Miyako saves. Superkick for a very close 2 and the crowd applauds Maruko’s tenacity. Maya signals for the end, and hits her Snow Tone Bomb (sitout slam) for 3 while Risa holds off Miyako. Unfortunately the post-match where Miyako attacks Maruko for having the nerve to lose is cut from the dvd. Likely just some added amusement/character antics for the live crowd.

This played a little better live, where I didn’t have time to notice things like double teaming never taking place off of actual tags or slight heel mannerisms from AR, but those are likely just differences between Joshi wrestling norms and those in the US that I need to get used to and this was still a ton of fun taped once it got going. Maruko is another great babyface underdog and her pairing with the selfish Miyako was fantastic. The latter became an instant favorite of mine here. She’s not a technical wizard in the ring, but she’s solid and her act is pitch perfect. Her antics flow from the wrestling and her character and thus add humor to the match without detracting from it.

3) Aoi Kizuki and Tsukushi vs Yuuka and Hamuko Hoshi ***1/2

This is Hoshi’s second match of the night, this time opposite her opponent for her upcoming title match against champion Aoi Kazuki. Tsukushi and Yuuka start.  Interesting match up: while the wrestlers are around the same age (18 and 17, respectively), Tsukushi has three times the amount of experience of her slightly larger opponent (6 yrs vs 2 yrs). A little bit of nice chain wrestling and counters to start leads to a stalemate, and fairly quick tags to bring in the champ and her impending challenger, who waste no time rushing at each other with some shoulder blocks. Neither goes down, which spotlights Aoi since Hoshi has a lot of size on her. Aoi with a flurry of double windmill chops then hits another running shoulder block, but Hoshi bounces off the ropes with one of her own and finally takes Aoi down. Aoi rolls outside and Hoshi’s left in the ring to do her ridiculous poses.

She ambushes Aoi on the way back in and it’s belly based offense time. I really hate this gimmick. Yuuka in but Aoi cartwheels through a double clothesline attempt and hits a double crossbody. She slams Yuuka onto Hoshi and calls Tsukushi in for Aoi’s trademark pose while standing on their opponents. Hoshi rolls out and leaves Aoi with Yuuka. No actual tag there, which Aoi confirms with the ref. Hoshi now on the apron and Aoi goes for her. Yuuka tries a surprise rollup, but Aoi holds her ground, stays standing, and goes back to a forearm exchange with Hoshi as the ref explains to Yuuka that she’s not legal.

Yuuka clues in, gives up the rollup attempt and goes outside, indicating to Hoshi that she needs to either get in the ring or tag. Awkward sequence, particularly from Hoshi who took far too long to figure out what was going on, but nice focus from Aoi and the ref to fix it. Tsukushi had a completely deadpan expression on for the whole thing in the opposite corner.

Aoi with some machine gun chops on Hoshi in the corner to get us back on track, then Hoshi responds with a slam and splash for 1. NOW we get a tag to Yuuka. She comes in pumped up, but Aoi easliy blocks her suplex attempt with clubbing blows to the back then single-legs Yuuka into a toehold. Yuuka escapes and tries to block a Boston Crab attempt, but Aoi calmly points out that her shoulders are down, then finishes the Boston Crab when Yuuka’s forced to kick out of the refs count. Yuuka’s screaming and really selling well as Tsukushi comes out of the corner slightly to watch for a possible Hoshi save. Aoi transitions into a facelock combination, then rolls out and hits double knees to Yuuka’s back followed by a pair of running sentons then a twist splash for 2.

Tag to Tsukushi, who knocks Hoshi off the apron and then Aoi and Tsukushi take turns doing Tsukushi’s “run on opponent’s back repeatedly” spot until Tsukushi tires of Aoi’s contribution and pushes her away to finish Yuuka’s abuse herself. She directs the champ out of the ring, to which Aoi complies smiling. Tsukushi fires up the crowd and fights for a surfboard, finally applying it by rolling FORWARD in a cool variation. She releases it after a few seconds and ties Yuuka up in the ropes and pulls back on her nose for some mocking.

Tsukushi then signals for a running strike, but behind her Yuuka is nearly free and has an awesome “I’m one step ahead” expression on as she follows Tsukushi in and nails her with a forearm as soon as Tsukushi bounces off the far rope. Nice running forearm, but as she goes for another Tsukushi stays down and kicks up at Yuuka with both feet (looked a little awkward since Yuuka couldn’t possibly have hit anything herself from her position once Tsukushi didn’t get up). Yuuka seated in the corner and Tsukushi hits a beautiful crossbody in the corner a la Misaki Ohata.

Yuuka showing fire and comes out for a forearm exchange, which looks great as both are laying it in. Tsukushi gets the advantage but Yuuka counters a whip into the corner with a great step up crossbody. Tag to Hoshi, who tries to ambush Aoi but the champ avoids the charge by moving behind the ringpost. Shows of intelligence make me happy. Running splash on Tsukushi, butt blocks (imagine a kind of shoulder block done turned around with one’s posterior), and a bulldog for 2. Boston Crab by Hoshi and she turns so she can taunt Aoi while applying the hold. Aoi yelling in her face as Tsukushi struggles, then comes in and slaps at Hoshi until she releases. Hoshi knocks her out of the ring with a forearm and turns to Tsukushi.

After a little back and forth Tsukushi hits her forward rollup into a double stomp, knocks Yuuka down, and WAYLAYS a seated Hoshi with a dropkick against the ropes. Up top for a missile dropkick for 2. Tag and Aoi with a crossbody from the top, followed by one to Hoshi’s midsection with Hoshi standing in the corner. Fires up the crowd, trips Hoshi, then goes up, but Hoshi stops Aoi and gets her on Hoshi’s shoulders. Aoi escapes and they go into another intense forearm exchange. Aoi tries to end it with an STO, but Hoshi’s too strong, reverses the position and pushes Aoi down across her knee for a brief submission hold. Running belly to the face for 2.

Aoi reverses a whip into a German suplex (!!!), but sends Hoshi right into her corner for a tag. Yuuka comes in hot and hits a running dropkick in the corner and a tornado DDT for 2. They jockey for control and Aoi applies a STF. Can’t help but think about how awful Cena’s looks every time I see anyone else do one. Aoi taunting Yuuka to give up while the latter screams and struggles until Hoshi gets by Tsukushi and breaks the hold. Northern Lights suplex by Aoi countered into a backslide attempt which is countered into a whip and a flying clothesline.

Single leg by Aoi sets up a top rope double stomp by Tsukushi followed by Aoi’s Snow Blow (horizontal half turn in the air into a spalsh) for 2 after a Hoshi save. Hoshi nails both her opponents with clotheslines, then brawls with Aoi allowing Yuuka to sneak in with her bridging backslide. It’s like I’ve seen Amber O’Neal do, but Yuuka releases her opponents arms as she bridges, and as a result gets a better bridge and actually has her opponent’s shoulders on the mat. Aoi escapes at 2 but Yuuka pushes her into a missle dropkick from Hoshi. Crosslegged cradle suplex for 2 on the champ.

Aoi reverses a whip into a stunner and Northen Lights suplex for 2. They kind of whiff a crucifix bomb as Yuuka doesn’t go backward enough and comes down on Aoi. Aoi holds on and pulls her over into a cover. Save by Hoshi. Tsukushi takes Hoshi out with a dropkick and Aoi plants Yuuka with a slam. She then goes up and hits her awesome spinning splash (Happiness Splash)  for the win.

This was great when it was in gear, with numerous saves and nearfalls emphasizing the will of both teams to win. A few miscues here and there hurt a little, but everyone was good about keeping it all together and minimizing the effects.

Yuuka’s excellent for her experience level, and Tsukushi was smooth in everything and makes herself a believable threat despite her small size. I adore Aoi. She does little things that enhance her matches a lot and I find her offense (particularly the top rope stuff) unique and exciting. Hoshi isn’t bad, but she was a bit outshone by the others and made some mistakes I wouldn’t expect from someone of her experience (beyond “everyone has off moments” stuff). I also personally don’t enjoy her gimmick or trademark moves. On the other hand the most important thing is that her effort (as well as everyone else’s) was good, and she did make her opponent’s offense look impressive.

4) Triangle Ribbon Title Match:  Neko Nitta (c) vs Tsukasa Fujimoto vs Kyuri ****

This was shortly before Neko’s retirement, and it was a privilege to get to see her last matches live. This was stated as the final time she would defend her Triangle Championship, so it seemed likely that it could change hands. Tsukka is the ace of the company and could conceivably add it to her list of accolades, and Kyuri is the plucky up and comer, seemingly groomed for this belt. Fantastic choice of challengers. I’d seen Tsukka wrestle before in Shimmer and am convinced she’s one of the best there is.

Kyuri will have the uphill battle here, being not only the least experienced of the three but also the only one to have wrestled earlier on the card. Show of respect all around, although the handshake was tentative between Neko and Tsukka. All guarded as they do a three-way lockup, then Tsukka immediately steps over to break her connection with Neko and puts an arm wringer on Kyuri. Neko let’s go of Kyuri and goes over to grab Tsukka’s arm, which frees Kyuri to put a headlock on Neko. Tsukka rolls out of Neko’s grip and applies her own headlock on Kyuri (who’s still holding Neko). They take a couple turns escaping the end of the chain and applying new headlocks to the beginning, then Tsukka and Kyuri transition into simultaneous arm wringers on Neko. Long sequence of simple moves done in ways unique to the three person format to get things going nicely.

Neko rolls out, tossing both her opponents forward, but then runs into a double dropkick as they recover. They team on the champ a bit, including alternating kicks to her back and a simultaneous figure four by Kyuri and double chicken wing by Tsukka, followed by tying her up in the ropes and taking turns raking her back and dropkicking her. From what I understand Neko’s been a strong champ in this format so this strategy makes sense.

Boston Crab by Tsukka is transitioned into a half crab while Kyuri applies a Camel Clutch and they’ve been in complete control of the champ for quite a while. Neko turns the tide by reversing a whip and sends both into a corner, but Tsukka slides outside when she cahrges, so only Kyuri is hit by Neko’s running forearm. Tsukka takes advantage with a crossbody off the top, then trips Neko while she’s trying to whip Kyuri to essentially force Neko to armdrag Kyuri. She then capitalizes with a flash rollup for a close two on the champ. Great showcase of Tsukka’s speed, ring awareness, and veteran instincts.

Dropkick to Neko in the corner seems to set up a running version, but Kyuri intercepts and knocks Tsukka down. She then slams Neko in the center and hits a cartwheel splash for 2, wonderfully holding on to Neko’s arm for a Fujiwara attempt as Neko kicks out. Neko rolls out but Kyuri holds on again for a cross armbreaker. Tsukka tries to kick Kyuri in the head to break, but Kyuri ducks without losing the hold, grabs Tsukka, and puts them BOTH in the cross armbreaker simultaneously. Wonderful sequence. Neko and Tsukka sell like their arms are being ripped out once it’s fully locked and quickly get their feet on the bottom rope to break.

Neko regains the advantage with a side slam on Kyuri, then when Tsukka swipes at her she ducks and hits a lungblower on Tsukka so that she lands on Kyuri. Middle rope shotgun dropkick to Tsukka, followed by a missile variation for 2. Up for a moonsault in the opposite corner, but Kyuri grabs her leg. Tsukka gets up, knocks Kyuri off the apron, and sets up the Ocean Cyclone Suplex, but Kyuri small packages them both from that position for 2. The constant interceptions/reversals and unique uses of having three competitors in the match are great.

Tsukka has clearly had enough, as she snapmares both her opponents into seated positions and just brutalizes their backs with kicks for a while. Slam to Kyuri and she goes up top, hitting a missile dropkick on Neko while splashing Kyuri. I love that type of spot. Kyuri kicks out at 2 and Tsukka turns to a seated Neko with a running dropkick in the corner, followed by a hard slam for 2 then a Japanese stranglehold. Kyuri comes back in for some revenge with a vicious kick of her own to Tsukka’s exposed back, then hooks everyone’s arms with her feet and flips them both over for another double 2 count.

Kyuri ties them both up in suplex position (under the same arm), looking for a double Fisherman’s suplex. She gets them off the ground to the crowd’s awe, but can’t convert. However after she releases them they rush her in sequence and each get a snap version for their trouble. She holds on to Neko after hitting it for 2. Whip to the rope and Neko jumps up to hit a springboard elblow, catching both opponents then rolling them up in a double crucifix for a double 2 count.

Flurry of strikes by Tsukka on Neko, countered with a palm strike, but Kyuri then catches Neko with a small package for 2. Spinning tail shot to Kyuri’s face only seems to anger her, as she responds with a big right hand and the Fisherman’s suplex again. Neko kicks out at 1 however, and hits an Asai moonsault. She pulls Kyuri in position for the top rope moonsault, but Tsukka attacks. Neko knocks her down with a headbutt, then catches a recovered and charging Kyuri and side slams her off the middle rope. Pinfall is interrupted when Tsukka hits a dropkick right to Neko’s face. Ouch.

Another Ocean Cyclone Suplex attempt on Neko is countered into a rollup for a very close 2, then Tsukka gets one of her own off a hurricarana. The crowd is electric for these nearfalls. Neko ducks a kick to the head and catches Tsukka’s foot, then grabs Tsukka’s arms as well for a modified backslide (pumping her legs for all she was worth for leverage)… for the win! Great, unexpected finish, with Neko retiring the championship she’s known for and pinning the more experienced (and thus seemingly less like to take the fall) opponent. Kyuri put up a good fight and is set up to be a part of reintroducing the belt after Neko leaves.

The “roundtable” interviews where the roster comes out to the ring after the show and take turns speaking about the show and what comes next are included. Not speaking Japanese I obviously didn’t get much out of this, but it is a nice way for them to emphasize the stories and set up future events, and it feels appropriate for the promotion and its overall presentation. Neko writing down her comments and gesturing and having Mochi read/relate them (since Neko only speaks in “Nyahs”) was amusing.

While some things play better live and I heartily recommend seeing IR in person if at all possible, even on dvd this was a fun show with lots of fantastic wrestling. The dojo shows like this one run an hour (not counting the roundtable), which may seem short compared to US shows. But these are the small, shorter shows for the company, and as my ridiculously long recap (don’t know if I’ll be able to keep up play-by-play for these) illustrates, that hour is all ring time and completely action packed. These shows are also often two to a dvd. I’m guessing Neko’s last title defense might be the reason for this getting its own release. No complaints here as long as the quality of the show is high, which it is. I loved this show live as my introduction to Ice Ribbon and it was awesome to rewatch. Great stuff.