Category: Wrestling

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ROH War of the Worlds NYC Live Thoughts

May 14, 2016 in Manhattan, NY

Big show for ROH at Terminal 5 in NYC to wrap up the War of the Worlds tour, with a great number of NWJP stars in the US to face ROH regulars.

I was extremely excited for the pre-show autograph session and the chance to meet some of the stars of NJPW. I grew up watching Jushin Thunder Liger and he’s a big reason I became a lifelong wrestling fan. I’m also a huge fan of Hiroshi Tanahashi. I was beyond honored to meet them both and get a picture.

The show was nine matches long, and apparently had some last minute changes made due to injuries. Comparatively what we got looks better than the original matches.

reDragon (Fish and O’Reilly) vs ANX (Kenny King and Rhett Titus) was a decent opener. Honestly ANX’s currently heel run isn’t really working for me. The megaphone gimmick did nothing since they still couldn’t be heard, and they stall way too much. Really prefer their work when they’re faces. That said, they were still ok here against the red hot Fish and O’Reilly, who really got the crowd going to start the show.

Fish stayed at ringside to provide commentary for Lio Rush vs Michael Elgin vs Moose vs Dalton Castle, no doubt to scout future challengers for his TV Title including number one contender Castle.

I adore Dalton Castle and his antics, and the pre-match ritual was even more amusing then normal with Elgin kissing Castle’s hand in lieu of shaking for the Code of Honor. Rush followed suit and Castle even insisted on the ref doing so as well.

The match itself was great, perhaps my favorite of the night. All four wrestlers know how to use their strengths to build up the action appropriately, and with a high-flyer in Rush, two big power wrestlers in Elgin and Moose, and Castle somewhere in between there was a lot of potential for interesting pairings. Particularly awesome spots included a huge pop-up powerbomb by Elgin on Moose and Castle performing deadlift German suplexes on each of his opponents in succession.

Kushida vs Silas Young was like something out of a time warp, which I suppose is fitting for Kushida’s gimmick. 😉 Silas is 100% old school heel, from using the back rake to doing the Rick Rude mooning the crowd spot. I don’t think I’ve seen that in at least a decade. Slow for me, but not bad and the crowd was way into Kushida.

Gedo subbed for Rocky Romero and teamed with Trent Baretta to face the Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin). I like the Guns and it was nice to get to see them live again. Baretta and Gedo had decent chemistry and played off each other well. There was an awkward sequence where Gedo tied up the ref and Romero slid in to interfere while Sabin STOOD AND WATCHED from the apron without even trying to save his partner. Baretta then knocked Sabin off the apron after Romero left the ring and the ref turned back around. Would’ve made much more sense with the order reversed. Small point, but it really broke the immersion for me. Fun match otherwise. The heels got into a scuffle among themselves after the match, but made up with a triple hug to annoy the crowd.

The super-team of Jushin “Thunder” Liger & the Briscoes faced the Bullet Club (Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa & Adam Page) in the pre-intermission spot. Smart choice, as the face team was over enough to get cheered in equal measure to the heels by the sea of Bullet Club t-shirts that comprised the audience. The Briscoes came across as thrilled to be teaming with the legend, and it’s amazing what Liger can still do in the ring. Pure crowd pleaser here. Was surprised to see one of the current IWGP tag champions take the fall instead of Page, but I suppose it may be setting up a title shot for Dem Boys.

During intermission Mandy Leon came out to great the fans. Taylor Hendrix ambushed her after a few minutes and laid her out with a DDT on a chair.

Cedric Alexander got a strong reception from the crowd and “Please Don’t Go” chants for his last appearance in ROH. He and Donovan Dijak had a decent little match with Cedric putting Dijak over on his way out.

After The Addiction (Christopher Daniels & Kazarian) recently capturing the ROH World Tag Team Championship in an impromptu match the previous week, War Machine (Hanson & Raymond Rowe) got a rematch here. They dominated the champs for the majority of the match, forcing Daniels to resort to a blatant belt shot in front of the ref to get DQ’d and keep the titles. This was fine, but suffered a bit due to the crowd being lukewarm about War Machine’s quest for revenge. Daniels is never seriously booed in NYC.

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Matt Sydal was up with the four-way and the semi-main as my favorite matches of the show. Tanahashi carries himself like the star he is and it was wonderful to see him in singles action against someone who could keep up with him. Sydal’s in the best shape of his life and looked great here as well.

The semi-main of Tetsuya Naito vs ACH was a treat. Naito has incredible presence and charisma, and ACH was the perfect opponent to fly around trying to outdo NJPW’s Champion.

The revised main event was a three faction face off seeing Bullet Club (Adam Cole & Matt Jackson) vs Team NJPW (Kazuchika Okada & Tomohiro Ishii) vs Team ROH (ROH World Champion Jay Lethal & Roderick Strong). The Rainmaker felt the love in NYC. His mock bills were handed out throughout the evening to fans. The visual of them falling when he came to the ring was fantastic. The crowd was on fire for both the Bullet Club and NJPW’s duo, which made it a bit unfortunate that this was ROH’s big win of the tour. Personally I’m neither a fan of the heels Lethal and Strong as conquering heroes nor Cole and Jackson’s “cool heel” antics, so while the action was fine I wasn’t over the moon for this. Okada and Ishii were a lot of fun though.

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Overall

Good end to ROH’s War of the Worlds tour. Extremely predictable, especially NJPW sweeping all of their singles matches, but enjoyable regardless. Strong effort up and down the card and some definite in-ring highlights, on top of an amazing opportunity to meet numerous stars before the show.

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Reviews Wrestling

Shimmer 80 ippv Live Thoughts

April 2, 2016 in Dallas, TX

Big show for Shimmer as they crown their first Heart of Shimmer Champion, a secondary title being introduced on this show in a 12-woman tournament.

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First round match: Leva Bates vs Cheerleader Melissa. 

Leva out in Kingdom Hearts Sora cosplay. Leva calls the fans the true heart of Shimmer. This was fine, but they didn’t mesh particularly well and there were awkward exchanges. Leva also never felt like she really had a chance. On the plus side – Kudo Driver.

First round match: Candice LeRae vs. Cherry Bomb 

Nice to see Cherry back from injury. Candice on fire to start, and wakes the crowd up with a dive to the outside. Cherry takes over with a kick and screams at Candice to strong crowd reaction. Good back and forth match, with Candice advancing with a quick crucifix after Cherry hit her with a Death Valley Driver. This should have opened the show.

First round match: Lufisto vs Nicole Savoy.

Savoy gets right into Lufisto’s face during the intros, and kicks at her hand when offered a handshake. I adore Savoy. They light into each other with strikes and it’s a million miles an hour already. Savoy gets the advantage and is all over Lufisto. Lufisto responds in kind once she’s able to take over. Nicole eventual traps Lufisto… and makes her tap!!! Great match and a nice surprise. I was sure Lufisto would be in the finals. With Lufisto gone Savoy is the favorite to win I think, although not entirely sure a heel will take it.

First round match: Kimber Lee vs Jessica Havok. 

Rematch from the last set of tapings. Lee looking good finding ways to deal with Havok’s size. Continues throughout the match, as Havok uses her size and power to press the advantage, and Lee counters with strikes and holds. Havok gets the stretch muffler, but Cherry out for the distraction and Lee wins with a rollup. Interesting. Dave usually keeps the face/heel balance in matchups, but we’ve got Savoy/Lee in the second round. Good match.

First round match: Heidi Lovelace vs Veda Scott.

Veda cheating at every opportunity like a good heel should. Nice spot on the outside where Heidi pulls Veda off the barricade and kicks her in face. Split crowd. Started slow and basic but picked up a lot as the match went. Heidi wins with a big senton off the top. Veda gets an ovation after the match, but says she still hates the audience like a good heel should.

First round match:  Nicole Matthews vs Crazy Mary Dobson. 

Interesting match, as Mary upset former Shimmer champion Saraya Knight at the last taped show.  Was disappointed when this match was announced. A loss here and Mary’s momentum from upsetting Knight is gone. Yet back to back wins over former champs and she’d pretty much have to take the tourney. Decent match with Mary playing the underdog and Matthews getting the expected win. Bit of a waste.

 

Semi-final match: Candice Lerae vs Cheerleader Melissa. 

Candice dives onto Melissa during her entrance, skipping ring intros. Melissa takes over and destroys Candice with her signature wheelbarrow swing into the guardrail repeatedly. This got intense down the stretch, with Candice shaking off numerous double stomps to hits multiple of her signature “boxplexes” to upset Melissa. Hard hitting battle with a definitive finish over a two time Shimmer champ to really establish Candice as a contender.

Semi-final match: Kimber Lee vs Nicole Savoy.

Cherry Bomb’s sent to the back immediately, upsetting the tag champs. Both stay in character, leading to an interesting dynamic, but Savoy is the crowd favorite. Good showing for Lee, but Savoy is too much for her and wins with her second submission victory of the evening. Savoy’s looking like a world beater.

Semi-final match: Heidi Lovelace vs Nicole Matthews. 

Another good match with Heidi defeating the former champ and ending Matthews’ triple crown quest with the senton she beat Mary with. I like that all three finalists were made to look extremely strong going into the deciding match, and Heidi’s senton now already has credibility as a finish.

 

The interview segment with Shayna Baszler fell kind of flat. She was fine explaining her qualifications and talking about bringing catch wrestling style back to pro-wrestling, but she just kind of threw out the fact that she’ll be wrestling at Shimmer 81 as an aside at the end. Didn’t come across as the big announcement it should have been.

 

Final elimination match: Candice Lerae vs Nicole Savoy vs Heidi Lovelace.

Excellent final and a fitting end to the tournament. Heidi powered out of the ring early on and after some good exchanges Savoy eliminated Candice in pretty quick fashion. Heidi and Nicole have good chemistry, and the end portion of the match was exciting. Savoy kicked out Heidi’s new senton finish at one point in a big near fall.

One misstep as Savoy locked in the submission she beat Lufisto with and Heidi looked around for the ropes without selling pain at all. I understand she should be trying to escape, but scream or something while doing so when both arms are supposedly being pulled near out of their sockets. Savoy later locks in the cross arm breaker (which she beat Lee with) for the win and the championship. Dominating tournament for Savoy, much to my delight.

Overall

Great effort from all involved and good wrestling up and down the card. Savoy is the perfect choice to showcase the new title and it gives the spotlight to a deserving up and coming star.

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NXT Takeover Dallas IPPV Live Thoughts

April 1, 2016 in Dallas, TX

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Great looking card overall, but even more than Nakamura’s debut or Joe’s or American Alpha’s title opportunities I’m most looking forward to the Women’s Title match. Asuka has been my favorite wrestler for years (as Kana) and I’m beyond excited to see her first title shot in WWE against an equally excellent wrestler. Should be an incredible night all around.

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Starting out with one of the three huge title matches: The Revival (Dash Wilder and Scott Dawson) (c) vs American Alpha (Chad Gable and Jason Jordan) for the NXT Tag Team Championships. Unsurprisingly, the crowd is pumped for American Alpha. Disrespect from Dawson right away. He and Dash are great heels. Classic tag formula here. Alpha keep taking over with athleticism, and Revival cheats to reverse. Simple, effective storytelling. Alpha are so much fun to watch. They really need to be called up to the main roster while they’re still red-hot. Stereo German suplexes by Alpha pops the crowd huge. Blind tag and ambush by the champs and they finally establish some extended offense.

They keep Gamble grounded for a while, then he hits a double ddt for a hope spot. Jordan gets taken out by Dash to prevent the tag though. While Jordan objects Dash and Dawson unfortunately botch a double team, derailing the match for a bit. They get back on track once Gable gets the hot tag for real and Jordan destroys the Revival until he becomes the victim of a double team  and an illegal pin attempt. He survives though and keeps fighting through every dirty trick the champs have. Gable comes in and the near falls are fast and furious. He and Dawson are putting on a great display here. Jordan with an amazing blind tag leading to a spear on Dawson. Another tag and Alpha hit their finish for the titles!!!

Fantastic opener.

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Surreal to see Austin Aries on WWE tv. The result here will tell a lot about their plans for Aries. Baron Corbin could use the win, but if Aries is staying for a while no way he loses his debut. Aries charges right for Corbin to start, exactly the right move considering how Corbin attacked him previously. Good display of psychology as Aries finds ways to get the advantage despite Corbin’s size. It eventually backfires though as Corbin elevates him into a stun gun to take over. Corbin mauls Aries for a while, playing a cocky, bruising heel well. He’s improved by leaps and bounds during his time in NXT.

Though as I say that this has slowed down a little too much. Corbin is crossing the line from deliberate pace to stalling. Aries should be showing more in his debut. Aries takes back over and begins flying around, which is more like it. Corbin hits a big spinning belly to back (called Deep Six by the announcers) on the outside and Aries just makes it back into the ring before being counted out. Corbin beats Aries down after  a taunt and goes for the End of Days, but Aries counters and gets a tight roll up for the win. Feels like it could have been better, but still a good debut for Aries with a strong story of the veteran being a step ahead.

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Speaking of surreal moments, here comes Shinsuke Nakamura to the WWE. Watching Sami Zahn bounce around like a pinball for the King of Strong Style should be incredible. Nakamura’s presence and charisma is off the charts. Crowd is electric. Dueling chants start as soon as Nakamura reaches the ring. Beautiful exchange of chain wrestling and agility early on. After Zayn starts to get ahead a bit with arm drags, Makamura pull outs the strikes and knocks Sami right down. Every time Sami tries to counter a hold or push back, boom another crazy kick. Sami finally gets the advantage with a big suplex and extends it with his own strikes. Then Nakamura goes outside and blindsides Zayn with more innovative kicks and knee strikes. Sami eventually goes to high flying antics to swing the momentum back his way. This is a total chess match: constant move and counter move in the most impactful ways possible.

Forearm strike exchange in the center of the ring and instead of “yay-boo” from the fans we get “yay-yay.” Glorious. Nakamura’s nose is bleeding, so he… keeps the forearm exchange going for another ten or so iterations. Nakamura gets the better of it and just beats Sami down against the ropes. King of Strong Style chant and Nakamura goes for running knee, but Sami hits a huge clothesline. They fight over a hold then Sami decides to deliver some of Shisuke’s own medicine and just kicks him down in brutal fashion. Koji clutch(!) by Zahn in center of the ring. Nakamura rolls back into a pin attempt and Zahn has to break. Nakamura with a big enzugiri and the crowd chants “fight forever.” Works for me.

Some more back and forth the Sami goes for the diving DDT through the turnbuckles outside and Nakamura counters with a kick to the face! My lord. Nakamura blocks the exploder in the corner, goes up top, and hits a knee to the back of the head. Bomb Ye and that’s it! As awesome as expected. Nakamura is here, emphatically. Show of respect after the match and well deserved chants for both men.

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And here we are. The undefeated streak against the title. Great video package emphasizing Bayley’s never quit attitude and ability to overcome the odds against Asuka’s path of destruction.

NXT Women’s Title: Bayley (c) vs Asuka

Big ovation for both. Asuka with a spin kick right away to make sure Bayley’s paying attention. Lockup and quick feeling out period of counter wrestling, but Asuka with a hard right hand to break. Bit of back and forth and Asuka misses taking her head off again by inches. Asuka starts to pull ahead with strikes and hits the hip attack, but misses a second and gets hung up in the ropes allowing Bayley’s first real advantage of the match. She presses the advantage a little, showing she can hang with the dominate challenger, until Asuka counters into a Fugiwara armbar out of nowhere. Bayley makes the ropes, then hangs Asuka up in the corner. Asuka fights out, but gets caught in another corner for a top rope hurricanrana. Bayley with a guillotine, but Asuka eventually counters with an anklelock. Bayley fights and fights and eventually rolls forward to send Asuka outside. Bayley dives outside feet first into another hurricanrana.

Back in and her forearms are just making Asuka mad. She takes over with a dropkick and begins unloading the strikes. Sliding kick gets two. Bayley catches Asuka out of a hip attack attempt, Asuka tries to fight out, but Bayley eventually hits the belly to back. Asuka with a kick to the head and they’re both down. Dual dropkick attempts leads to a strike exchange, Asuka gets the better of it but Bayley counters a kick into an ankle lock. Asuka selling AGONY until she gets the ropes. Bayley viciously going after the legs. Asuka with the flying armbar, into a cross armbreaker attempt, into a Fujiwara armbar, escaped by Bayley. Beautiful sequence.

Asuka lock countered. Sliding clothesline by Bayley for two. Baylay looking for the submission that beat Sasha. Asuka tries to fight out, so Bayley converts to a pin attempt for two. Kick to the head and Bayley’s out on her feet. Cross armbreaker, into the Asukalock!!! Bayley fights to her feet, but Asuka takes her back down… and Bayley passes out! NEW NXT WOMEN’S CHAMPION! YES!!! Great performance from both, and Bayley never gave up. Asuka stares at the fallen Bayley and then walks away. I have a feeling we’re not done with this…

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Well, if anyone was going to be able to follow that last match Joe and Balor are certainly the right choices to try.

NXT Championship: Finn Balor (c) vs Samoa Joe

Last time Jack the Ripper, this time the Demon is out with a chainsaw. RUN JOE RUN! Finn thankfully leaves it in the aisle. Joe looks like he’s ready to kill Finn during the introduction / stare down. Going straight at each other. Joe keeps tossing Balor out, but Balor returns the favor and then catches Joe with a dive. Joe bleeding profusely already. Looks like he was just caught wrong by one of Finn’s punches. He tosses Balor into the crowd hard, but Finn eventually comes back with a flying forearm off the railing. Ref tries to check on Joe, but Finn won’t let up, and their just laying into each other. Balor back outside, and here’s Joe with a dive through the ropes to wipe him out.

Dr trying to tend to Joe’s cut and Joe wants none of it. He finally lets them treat it for a minute then runs straight back to go after Balor. Big STO into a hold on Finn. He fights out, but gets caught with a big kick from Joe just as Finn tried to build momentum. And the refs are treating the cut again, to the crowds dismay. Balor up and taunting Joe. Drs out of ring and Joe resumes beating the tar out of Balor. Setting up for the Muscle Buster, Finn fights out, but gets caught diving from the turnbuckle and Joe wipes him out with a kick again.

Challenger is dominating at the moment, but Finn with a dropkick and both are down. Both up before ten and now the champ strings together a series of strikes to take over. Joe knocked outside, sliding dropkick from Balor, then the ring apron running kick to Joe’s face. Back in, but Joe counters the slingblade and the challenger is in firm control again. Joe swats away a dropkick and hits the senton in a great sequence.

Joe with the powerbomb, and transitions into his Boston Crab variation on the kickout. Transitions into a crossface, but Finn rolls out and hits a double stomp. Slingblade, dropkick into the corner, but Joe catches him when he goes up. Enzugiri, muscle buster, but Finn kicks out at two! And Joe is ANGRY. They fire away on each other, leading to the pele kick by Finn and both are down again. Slingblade and dropkick again. Coup de Grace connects, but the Bloody Sunday is countered into the Coquina Clutch. Finn with the Bret Hart sleeper counter … for three! Surprising loss for Joe in an excellent war. Great finishing sequence in particular.

 

Overall

This show looked insane on paper, and it was just as incredible as expected. WATCH IT!

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Reviews Wrestling

Evolve 58 ippv Live Thoughts

April 1, 2016 in Dallas, TX

Given the sheer amount of wrestling going on this weekend I’m going to try to write thoughts as/shortly after I watch live instead of the more detailed reviews I do when I have time to rewatch ippvs on demand.

A lot of interesting things on this card, including Ospreay’s debut, the return of Heroes Eventually Die, and a huge rematch for the Evolve Title.

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Gargano and Galloway are out first to fire up the crowd big time. Guessing an interview, and indeed that’s what we get. Strong, energetic promo from Galloway. “This is wrestling week!” Gargano takes over and introduces their special corner man: KOTA IBUSHI! Nice surprise to use him in a non-wrestling role tonight. And it looks like we’re going right into their match to start.

Evolve Tag Team Title Match: Johnny Gargano & Drew Galloway (c) The PAB (Anthony Nese & Caleb Konley). PAB can’t team again if these lose. Big match to start out with. SoCal Val and Andrea are in the PAB’s corner. Champs beating the PAB all over ringside early. PAB a bit too methodical when on offense, but good double teams and showing shades of their performance in their match against Team Tremendous at Evolve 56.

… and the feed goes out until this match is over. Announcers don’t even recap for those who missed it. Read from live report that champs retained and PAB is done. This ippv live thoughts experiment isn’t off to the greatest start.

Riddle’s out to interrupt the introductions for the next match and the Evolve Title match is on second?! Well this won’t end decisively. Timothy Thatcher (c) vs Matt Riddle starts with Thatcher dominating, showing the promised aggression he said he owed Riddle after their last encounter. I was at that one live and it was fantastic until the abrupt finish. Same deal here, as they trade vicious holds and reversals until Riddle violently wrenches back on Thatcher’s elbow at five instead of breaking with Thatcher in the ropes. Ref throws it out. Great while it lasted. These two have great chemistry as opponents, and I hope this is all building to a definitive battle between the two.

Marty Scurll vs. Fred Yehi picked things up nicely after the previous flat finish. This is my first time seeing Scurll, and he makes an immediate impression with great charisma and presence. Yehi looked better here to me than in previous outings, and this was a fun match providing a strong debut for Scurll.

Another wrestler who keeps getting better is “All Ego” Ethan Page. He looked quite good trading blows with Sami Callihan, even in defeat. Needed win for Callihan going into his title match with Thatcher tomorrow.

The difference in Ricochet between the early Evolve volumes and now is incredible, and it was wonderful to see him back against TJ Perkins. Perkins isn’t a favorite of mine, but he can rise to the level of his opponents when motivated and they had a good match here. Perkins remembered to act like a heel about halfway through the match, which helped. Crowd was crazy for Ricochet. The People’s Moonsault needs to be a permanent part of his arsenal. Perkins with a rather shocking upset, singling big plans for him. The post match new manager just for him yet still in Catch Point was confusing, but we’ll see where it goes.

Best In The World Challenge Series – The Flyer: Will Ospreay vs Zack Sabre Jr. was the semi-main, surprisingly. Ospreay’s another debut tonight and another new to me wrestler, so I was interested to see what all the hype was about. Neither my memory nor words will do this justice. Sabre is on the roll of his life and Ospreay is everything advertised and more. Amazing stuff from start to finish and this really should have gone on last.

 

Hero comes out for the main event before Zach leaves, and congratulates him on his victories so far. But then reminds him Hero is the Greatest of All Time. “That changes tomorrow.” Great line that very simply builds up tension for their match.

 

I didn’t envy Heroes Eventually Die (Chris Hero & Tommy End) and Catch Point (Drew Gullak &Tracy Williams) having to follow Sabre vs Ospreay, but they did a good job of reviving the crowd by the end. It went a little long, but built well and all four men are experts at their respective styles. Extremely happy to see End back. His strikes look absolutely BRUTAL. HED’s double team knee strike into the release suplex was insane. HED is my favorite team in wrestling right now, but Catch Point’s victory was the right call going into their title match tomorrow. Hero goes to the back without End. Wonder if that might be foreshadowing. TJP taunts End in the ring about their match tomorrow.

 

Overall

There were a couple of hiccups (including the technical problems and the mind boggling decision not to put Sabre vs Ospreay last), but this show provided the usual high quality wrestling Evolve is known for and overall started off WWN’s weekend on a high note. Definitely catch the replay.

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Reviews Wrestling

Evolve 56 Live Thoughts

March 19, 2016 in Queens, NY

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Evolve was back in Queens with a big show headlined by the undefeated Matt Riddle challenging Timothy Thatcher for the Evolve title. Shortly before the event a special appearance by William Regal was added for the live crowd. Regal is a long time favorite of mine and it was an honor to meet him. He opened the show announcing that the US qualifiers for WWE’s upcoming cruiserweight tournament would happen in Evolve. Good news and a nice moment / appearance from Regal.

La Boom is a great little venue and it was absolutely packed, with I think the largest crowd I’ve seen them draw. Sami Callihan vs. TJ Perkins was a decent opener that started strong then fell off a bit when both wrestlers ignored major leg work their opponent had been doing all match. TJP in particular often forgets to sell at certain points which takes me out of his matches. Good otherwise though. Odd booking, as Callihan really shouldn’t be dropping matches given his building feud with Thatcher.

Unfortunately “Speedball” Mike Bailey couldn’t make it this weekend, so Jack Gallow took his place against “All Ego” Ethan Page. Bailey was impressive in previous appearances so his absence was disappointing, but Gallow was fine and Page looked good in what was almost a squash to establish Page’s new outlook is starting to work.

 

Drew Gulak vs. Fred Yehi felt a bit slow to me, but was well worked overall. I’m not sold on Yehi yet. He’s not bad but there just seems to be something missing from his matches. Nothing wrong here, but nothing great either.

The show picked up in a big way with Chris Hero vs Tracy Williams. Hero quite honestly came out looking huge, but he’s lost none of his speed or mobility so all it really did was make his sentons and William’s power moves look more impressive.

Hero is crazy over and Williams desperately trying to prove he could hang made for a great in ring story (although perhaps not the best position to put a heel in). They built this into a frenzy and topped it all off with and insane exchange of piledrivers. This was neck and neck for best match of the night with Sabre vs Gargano.

Next up was The PAB (Anthony Nese & Caleb Konley) vs Team Tremendous (Dan Barry & Bill Car). Nese and Konley looked better than they have in a while, clicking on all cylinders and keeping the pace brisk without sacrificing their heel heat. Andrea was great in SoCal Val’s usual role on the outside cheering them on and objecting to everything the faces did.

 

Team Tremendous looked good too put on a fun match with the PAB. More questionable booking though. Team Tremendous are around 50-50 in their short stay in Evolve and don’t seem like a credible threat to Gargano and Galloway going into their title match tomorrow. If they do upset the champs it will feel like a fluke. On top of that the last time we saw Konley he said tag matches don’t matter and he was focused on the Evolve singles title. More on that later. Just weird all around. Sometimes the obvious result is the right one.

Best In The World Challenge Series – The WWN Icon: Johnny Gargano vs Zack Sabre Jr.

The more I talk with other fans the more I notice a divide on Sabre’s work. Most like it, but there are a fair number within that who don’t quite “get” the style and are waiting for his matches to “hit another gear.” They don’t always build into a frenzy of high impact moves like others (Hero’s for example). They get more intense in brutality of the holds being applied and the single minded will to win on display. Personally I love it and Sabre vs Thatcher was one of my favorite matches last year.

This match had similar qualities, and the story revolved around Zach RELENTLESSLY going after Gargano’s arm until the centerpiece of Evolve just couldn’t escape and couldn’t take anymore pain. The counter wrestling on display was glorious, and I loved every minute of this. The crowd was pretty loud and into it, but again I think some fans are still adjusting to Sabre’s style. Huge win for him to start out his “challenge series.”

After the match Sabre left and Gargano was attacked by the PAB during a promo. It was “just a reminder that we’re still coming for the tag titles.”  With Galloway absent Ethan Page made the save with a chair to continue his redemption / unasked for aid to Gargano story.

The Page part works fine, but after building Konley’s frustration up regarding it taking so long for his singles title shot, having him previously state he doesn’t care about tag victories, and with his Evolve Title shot the NEXT NIGHT,  him taking a night off from his obsession to suddenly care about tag team wrestling again knocks a lot of steam out of his quest.

Evolve Title Match: Timothy Thatcher (c) vs Matt Riddle

I adore Timothy Thatcher’s style and was looking forward to this battle with the undefeated Matt Riddle. Riddle is extremely over as a heel and the crowd was chomping at the bit to see Thatcher finally get his hands on the upstart in a one-on-one environment.

This was incredible while it lasted. Riddle kept countering Thatcher’s grappling enough to get on top and then pounded away with forearms and elbows until Thatcher could turn things around again. He’d then suddenly switch to suplexes and throws to try to wear Thatcher out. Thatcher in turn just kept going straight at Riddle like a pit bull.

The drawback here was just as they really seemed to get going the match ended. The finish was so abrupt several fans around me (including myself) thought Riddle had legitimately been knocked loopy off the headbutt Thatcher delivered. Reading results from people watching it on ippv it seems there was actually some sort of (inadvertent?) low blow involved in the finish, which would better explain Gulak getting in Thatcher’s face and calling him a disgrace after the match. No one in my general area caught the low blow so there was a lot of confusion about the finish. Likely (and understandably) done to protect Riddle, but something clearer and more of a match before that ending would have been appreciated.

While Catch Point was arguing with Thatcher after the match Sami Callihan came in for another attack on the champ from behind. Williams then returned the favor on Callihan sending a message for their match the next day. I like the competitive spirit aspect, and I understand the crowd will always cheer for their favorites, but the mix of heel mannerisms and “face me like a man” sportsmanship ramblings several roster members use makes it hard to get into the overarching angles.

 

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Honored to meet one of the best in the business.

 

Overall

Evolve consistently puts on some the best displays of professional wrestling available anywhere in the world. Nothing is ever outright bad and the highs of each card are always raising the bar. The various stories are interesting, but there are issues with the booking that make it hard to get caught up in those stories sometimes. Still I always feel like I get my money’s worth (an often more) from Evolve’s shows, and I highly recommend checking this one out for a pair of excellent matches and an unique if short main event.

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Japan Reviews Wrestling

Marvelous USA 2/13/16 Live Thoughts

February 13, 2015 in Queens, NY

Marvelous Puroresu USA had a thoroughly enjoyable first event at the Queensboro Elk’s Lodge last August and followed up with an equally good second show (despite the lack of core roster members). The third show lineup looked great, with the return of Takumi Iroha, debut of Mio Momono, East Coast debut of Kyoko Kimura, and dream match of Rocky Romero vs Amazing Red.

The show opened with a “ceremony” featuring Chigusa Nagayo addressing the crowd (via translator). She apologized for not being able to wrestle due to her recent surgery, and promised to be back in action next time.

As with both previous shows before the proper card started there was a short MMA demonstration. I still question the inclusion of light sparring on a pro-wrestling show, but they were good and kept the phantom punches to a minimum this time, focusing more on grappling.

The fist match featured the returning Lio Rush against Will Ferrara in his Marvelous USA debut. Great choice for an opener. Rush is a high energy wrestler and between this and his previous semi-main against Amazing Red is fast becoming an integral part of the roster. Ferrara also was quite impressive and I hope to see him return.

Marvelous USA did something interesting this time out that paid great dividends. The day before this show they had a tryout/seminar and reserved several spots throughout the card for wrestlers who participated. Some obviously need more experience and polish, but it will come with time. Overall this was a solid success.

Anthony Gangone was the first of them to appear as he faced Sonny Kiss. While he’ll need to fine tune the act a bit, Gangone was fully committed to playing the heel and provided a good foil for Kiss’s flamboyant and flashy character. Good action here too.

Nyla Rose and Jessika Black vs. Ashley Vox and Sonya Strong was next, and all included wrestlers were from the tryout. Good match with great effort from all four. Rose in particular is already showing fantastic heel instincts and mannerisms.

Flawless And Lawless, Willow Nightingale, and Rad Brad Benson vs. The Hounds Of Hatred (Stockade, Boo And Bam Sullivan, and Mouse) w/ The Devil Doll was a hard hitting war with a lot of intensity and some insane highspots (including a superplex to the outside!). Willow Nightingale was fearless against her dismissive opponents in sequences that highlighted what good intergender wrestling looks like. I’ve enjoyed Lawless on the previous shows and it was great to see him back with his partner.

 

Mio Momono made her wrestling debut teaming with Rene Michelle against Davienne and Kyoko Kimura. The crowd was crazy behind  the 17 year old Mio and super hot for the whole match. I’m assuming Kyoko wrestled in the spots on the card Chigusa would have if she were healthy, as the veteran was opposite Marvelous’ young Japanese stars in both her matches. Here she was also working with two of the foreign wrestlers who have been to Japan to train with Chigusa. Great approach, as her experience can only help the younger talents.

The less experienced duo obviously wasn’t perfect. There were several times when Rene had to effectively ignore an in peril Mio who was close enough to tag, and when Mio was ready to make the hot tag Rene didn’t reach out, leading to a very anticlimactic exchange. But these are small miscues overall in otherwise strong performances for their experience level. Mio made a big impression in her debut and the crowd loved her.

Ace Austin v Ken Broadway vs. Missile Assault Man was the second contest to exclusively feature wrestlers from the tryout. This honestly didn’t fair as well as the other one. No one was outright bad, but it was a bit sloppy and didn’t click the way they wanted. Missile Assault Man came across the best wrestling-wise and was amusing, but his gimmick is a one note joke that I can see getting stale quickly. Ace has a good gimmick and will get better with experience.

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Broadway carries himself like a star and has the entourage to match, but his gimmick turned my stomach. To me turning your back, getting down on your knees and putting your hands behind your head when the ref comes over to check you and then calling the ref racist when he reluctantly checks your boots crosses the line from heel heat and “I want to see someone defeat you” to “I just don’t want to see you on shows.”

Takumi Iroha and Cheeseburger vs. Kyoko Kimura and Brian Fury started with a lot of amusement. First Kyoko grabbed a fan’s phone as he tried to take her picture and took some of her partner instead. Then once in the ring for introductions she tried to convince Cheeseburger to give her his hat. He wisely decided to decline and put it on his partner’s head instead.

This match was another great example of intergender wrestling done right. I was thrilled to see Iroha back and she got a chance to shine here and show her strength against her larger opponents. A nice, subtle related moment happened when she was trying to push past the ref to help Cheeseburger and after a few back and forth attempts to get her back to her corner the out of breath ref remarked “you’re… deceptively… strong.”

Fury was fantastic and I hope to see him back. Cheeseburger isn’t a personal favorite of mine, but he’s good in his role and was perfect here as Kimura’s punching bag. Great work from all four.

Smiley certainly made the most of his opportunity via the tryout, looking impressive as he and Donovan Dijak had a great back and forth match. Smiley’s gimmick is highly amusing and he’s pitch perfect as the underdog. Dijak was allowed to stretch here and looked much better than anytime I’ve seen him in ROH. He matched Smiley’s high flying, which was awesome to see from the big man.

The co-main event of Amazing Red vs. Rocky Romero was heavily hyped before the show, and rightfully so. Romero has come so far since I first saw him years ago, and has true star presence. He had the crowd in the palm of his hand as he and Red tore the house down. Fun post match exchange too that sowed the seeds of an eventual rematch.

The main event saw Takumi Iroha’s second appearance of the show teaming with Kimber Lee to take on Sumie Sakai and Heidi Lovelace. Once again a nice opportunity for her to both shine and learn being in the ring with excellent and experienced opponents (and partner).

Nice to see Heidi in Marvelous and she was a great partner for Sumie, showing heel mannerisms I hadn’t seen from her before. During intros Heidi “kindly” pointed out that I was saying her name wrong when I chanted “Takumi.” 😉

Takumi and Kimber made a great team and sent the fans home happy with a big victory in a phenomenal main event. Perfect way to end the show.

 

 

 

Marvelous Puroresu USA is on quite a roll. The tryout paid immediate dividends, and the undercard was again nicely varied with a high level of effort. Mio’s debut was done perfectly and well received by an enthusiastic audience. Using Kyoko and Takumi in two matches apiece emphasizes the Japanese talent that is a big draw here and a unique aspect of Marvelous. Another pair of great co-main events topped off an incredibly fun event.

Can’t wait for the next one. 🙂

Categories
Japan Reviews Wrestling

Japan Trip 2015: Top 5 Matches (Live)

I was lucky enough to spend two and a half weeks in Tokyo to close out 2015 / start 2016, during which I saw 17 shows from 8 promotions with 84 matches featuring 144 wrestlers. The vast majority of it was extremely good, so it was VERY difficult to cull down to 5 or so matches. There are a lot of worthy wrestlers and matches that won’t be mentioned here.

Match reviews copied from my show specific blogs when possible.

Honorable mentions:

Paksa and Riho vs Emi Sakura and Masa Takanashi

This was another great main event in a series of them from Gatoh Move. What helped set this one apart is that it was at their Ichigaya location. I’m incredibly impressed with what they can accomplish wrestling-wise in such a small space with no ring. This held its own with some of the best matches I saw my entire trip.

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Miyako Matsumoto and Risa Sera vs Tsukasa Fujimoto and Maya Yuhiki

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This match was scheduled to be Miyako Matsumoto and Tsukasa Fujimoto vs Azure Revolution (Risa Sera and Maya Yukihi). I was looking forward to seeing two of my favorites team against an established duo, but it wasn’t to be (and I have no complaints about how things turned out). As the match started Miyako got the mic and apparently had some complaints about teaming with Tsukka. She grabbed Risa and rebooked the match herself through force of will and it became Miyako Matsumoto and Risa Sera vs Tsukasa Fujimoto and Maya Yukihi. Classic Miyako and it led to a ton of amusing moments. Tsukasa’s face when Miyako offered her the traditional pre-match handshake after ditching her was priceless. Tsukka’s incredible in every aspect of pro-wrestling and it was a treat to see her so many times during my trip.

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There was an ongoing stipulation where the ring announcer would state a letter, and pinfalls could only be attempted after a move starting with it. One of the highlights of it was Tsukasa and Maya pulling out Miyako’s own Mama Mia on her, then an irate Miyako retaliating with Super Mama Mia once the letter changed. Miyako was easily one of the most entertaining parts of my trip, as she knows exactly how to work her gimmick for maximum effect and amusement. Her running laps around the ring in excitement as a victory celebration (with Tsukasa trying to trip her on each pass until successful) was magnificent.

 

Top 5:

 

5. Stardom Title: Meiko Satomura (c) vs Io Shirai

This was fantastic, with highlights that included Io performing an INSANE moonsault off of a staircase overhang, and of course the end which saw Stardom’s biggest star capturing their main title from an outsider.

 

4. REINA World Women’s Title Match between Tsukasa Fujimoto (c) and Maki Narumiya

This was originally advertised as the main event of its show, and honestly should have been. Even the ring announcer seemed to be going off old notes, as it was announced as the main instead of the semi-final. Tsukasa Fujimoto is incredible, and easily one of my favorite wrestlers in the world. She can do comedy, but is at her best when going all out in no-nonsense competitive wrestling.

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Thankfully that’s what we got here, as she and Maki went to war for the REINA title (after some early mind game attempts by the challenger). This was my first (and likely only) time seeing Narumiya, who definitely impressed. She kept up with Fujimoto brilliantly and it’s a shame she’ll be retiring soon.

 

3. Arisa Nakajima vs Kayoko Haruyama

Simply phenomenal. They beat the high holy hell out of each other, with forearm shots that thundered through the crowd. Haruyama’s guillotine leg drop from the top rope with Arisa standing on the second is one of the most brutal looking moves I’ve seen, and I was totally marking out for every German suplex variation they threw at each other. Was extremely lucky to have seen a few of Haruyama’s last matches, and Arisa was everything I’d heard and more.

 

 

1 (tie). JWP Tag Title Match: Jumonji Sisters (c) (Dash Chisako and Sendai Sachiko) vs Best Friends (Tsukasa Fujimoto and Arisa Nakajima)

This was perhaps the most anticipated match of my trip, and it did not disappoint.

I’d only seen the Jumonjis and Arisa once before, but that was enough to know how good they are and what they’re capable of. As I’ve mentioned incessantly, Tsukasa Fujimoto is one of the most consistently incredible wrestlers on the planet. Put the four of them together and you get magic.

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They threw everything they could at each other for fifteen action packed minutes, including a variety of innovative and impressive double teams. This was exactly the fantastically worked, logical, and wowing spectacle I wanted, ending in a huge title change to boot. Would have easily been alone on top as my favorite match of the trip, if not for Best Friends tearing it up in another title match on a later show.

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1 (tie). Ice Ribbon Tag Title Match: Best Friends (c) (Tsukasa Fujimoto and Arisa Nakajima) vs Avid Rival (Misaki Ohata and Ryo Mizunami)

In addition to my adoration of Best Friends I am likewise a huge fan of Misaki Ohata, so was VERY excited for this tag title match at Ribbonmania.  It was as excellent as expected, and is neck and neck with Best Friends vs Jumonji Sisters as my favorite match of my trip.

 I hadn’t seen Mizunami much before, but she fit in perfectly and this was just fantastic. Neither my memory nor words can do this proper justice. See it yourself if you get a chance.

 

 

——-

I  was blessed to have such a great opportunity to visit Japan and see so much phenomenal wrestling. I hope you’ve enjoyed my look at the best of the best.

Categories
Japan Reviews Wrestling

Tokyo Joshi Pro 1/4/16 Live Thoughts

January 4, 2016 in Tokyo, Japan

The last show I saw before returning to the US was by Tokyo Joshi Pro. It wasn’t exactly my ideal way to end the trip.

I will start by admitting I am definitely not their target audience. The show was generally more about extra curricular activities and angles than the wrestling, and a good chunk of the action was extremely basic. The rest of the crowd was quite into the show, but even judging it on what it’s meant to be I personally felt they could have done better in a lot of respects. That said, there were also highlights and sparks of potential.

After a lengthy period of announcements, introductions, and angle advancement, the show started with Yu vs Nodoka Onesan. Well, after singing and dancing ring entrances that is. The match itself was kept very short, which probably wasn’t a bad idea for a double debut. They did ok, but did obviously miss a couple of spots.

I’m going to be brutally honest here – the second match felt like the longest 10 minutes of my life. The 3-Way Match between Nonoko, Hyper Misao, and MIZUHO went 9:45 minutes in match time, but the first third of it consisted of Misao on the mic seeming to stress heroic virtues while her opponents flaunted their respective chosen best features (Nonoko’s breasts and MIZUHO’s rear) behind her back. It just went on and on and on.

When she noticed and got angry the “wrestling” started, which consisted of offense exclusively based around ramming people’s heads into the aforementioned body parts. I don’t mind fanservice or sexual overtones when used well and sparingly, but by the third or forth variation each with little else it lost any humor and/or effect it had. Misao swinging Nonoko headfirst into MIZUHO from behind with MIZUHO on all fours and making aroused faces upon impact also goes a bit too far for me. Their audience enjoyed it, but I feel they could have chopped this whole thing in half without disappointing the fans who liked it and spared fans like me some eye rolling repetitiveness.

Rika Tatsumi and Marika Kobashi vs Erin and Azusa Takigawa was up next, and featured an array of easily identifiable stereotypical characters. We break again in the middle of the match for Azusa Takigawa to get a mic and decide to do running commentary from the apron. At least it fit her reporter character and seemed somewhat amusing. Action was good, if generally basic, but again as I was getting into things a spot would be noticeably blown taking me right back out. Rest of the crowd didn’t mind though. They reacted to a sequence of weak machine gun chops in the corner like they were watching Kobashi.

NOTE: at this point we were closing in on an hour and a half into the show with less than 25 minutes of match time (and keep in mind “match time” included lengthy impromptu promos and posing). Felt like I was suffering through a RAW taping.

Candice LeRae and Yuka Sakazaki took things up a bit during their match. There was still some goofiness, and a somewhat clever spot on the stage involving a string of balloons took them WAY too long to set up, but this was decent. Candice is solid and it was nice to see her in Japan, and Yuka did well and showed potential.

KANNA looked good in a short match against Ai Shimizu. It was my first time seeing either and I’d like to see what they could do with more time.

The semi-main was Saki Akai vs Poison Akane Miura, and it was easily the match of the night. This was a perfect example of how to do unrealistic elements and goofiness right, while still having great action. Muira’s manager, Poison Julie, has incredible presence and charisma and makes the absurdity of him using MAGICAL POWERS to distract / hinder Muira’s opponent enjoyable. Intense battle and good work from all parties, and a glimpse of what the whole show could have conceivably been with tightening and tweaking. Akai in particular was excellent, and I’d love to see more of her work.

In the main event Miyu Yamashita faced Shoko Nakajima to determine TJP’s first Tokyo Princess of Princess Champion. The video package shown hyping the match seemed to decently build up both contenders, but it was longer than any match outside of the one it was promoting. Simply ridiculous. Also, given the idol presentation and nature of the promotion, I thought only having one of the two participants sing and dance during her entrance pretty blatantly gave away the winner.

I’m glad they gave proper time to the main event, but I found the early part boring. They were trying hard but the sense of competition was missing and it felt like a sequence of moves rather than a match. It picked up significantly about halfway through though and ended up a suitable way to crown their inaugural champion.

 

This is a hard show to review. Their audience LOVED it. They were hot throughout, throwing steamers for nearly everyone, and excited. However I think that all could have been preserved while improving the show dramatically by addressing pacing issues. And some of the wrestlers just need more polish, which they’ll get with time.

Tokyo Joshi Pro knows it niche and plays to them extremely well, but there’s a lot of untapped potential they could also capitalize on if they wanted. I would certainly enjoy their shows more as a whole if they did.

Categories
Japan Reviews Wrestling

Wave 1/3/16 Live Thoughts

January 3, 2016 in Tokyo, Japan

My sole show at Shinjuku Face was also the only main roster Wave show I managed to see: Happy New Year Wave 2016. It felt somewhere in between REINA and JWP in tone and approach. Like the Wave Young Oh! show, the lighter antics were confined to the undercard and the main event remained an intense, competitive match.

The opener, ASUKA vs Hiroe Nagahama, was mostly fine on a technical level but seemed to be lacking something. Could just be a matter of experience.  ASUKA does stand out a bit against the rest of the roster, despite efforts to blend in.

Aoi Kizuki made her first Wave appearance teaming with Moeka Haruhi against Akane Fujita and Natsu Sumire in what could have been a hint to her announcement later the same day of going freelance. She had a good showing in a decent tag match, although is capable of more than she was able to show. There was a promo after the match that may have laid ground work for her future appearances.

Sumire’s gimmick is fine for her, but I’m not digging the pairing of her and Fujita. Akane was much more impressing in wrecking ball mode in the first match I saw her in than as Sumire’s twin.

Ryo Mizunami and Sawako Shimono vs Kaho Kobayashi and Rina Yamashita was a nice showcase for the younger team, who got a decisive and surprising upset victory. Both Rina and Kaho have been extremely impressive in every match I’ve seen them in. It was also interesting to see Mizunami in a tag match without her Avid Rival partner. The dynamic was quite different, which made sense and is a nice touch.

Given what an incredible technical wrestler Tsukasa Fujimoto is, it was different to see her in what was essentially a comedy / angle match against Yuki Miyazaki. She proved as adaptable as expected and as adept at this as everything else.

I couldn’t understand the mid-match promos, but the gist of what embarrassment Tsukka was trying to avoid was conveyed, and the match ended in a double countout when her “fears” were realized. Fine for what it was.

Fairy Nipponbashi, Hikaru Shida and Mika Iida vs Ayako Hamada, Yumi Oka and Yuu Yamagata was a well booked 6 woman tag, with the younger team dominated and overmatched but making the most of their openings and opportunities. Hamada seemed limited (possibly her shoulder injury lingering) and the heel edge didn’t really suit Yamagata’s style, but it was a good semi-main none-the-less.

The main event saw one of my personal favorites, Misaki Ohata, go one on one with the legendary Nanae Takahashi, who left Stardom, went freelance, and started her own promotion (Seadlinnng) summer 2015.

This was an excellent, hard hitting main event. Avid Rival’s tag title shot at Ribbon Mania was perhaps my favorite match of my trip, but it was also great to see Misaki in a high profile singles match. She went toe-to-toe with Nanae for an action packed 15 minutes.

After the match Ryo Mizunami came out, presumably to challenge the opponent her partner couldn’t defeat. Misaki had some things to say about that and there appeared to be Avid Rival’s usual banter going on. The show ended with a birthday celebration for Misaki, Akane, and Gami, including the traditional cake to their faces.

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A fun show featuring several wrestlers I didn’t get to see elsewhere with spotlights on several great performers. Didn’t quite achieve its full potential, but that’s mild criticism at best.

Categories
Japan Reviews Wrestling

Ice Ribbon 1/3/16 Live Thoughts

January 3, 2016 in Tokyo, Japan

I saw more Ice Ribbon than any other company during my trip, and their New Year’s show at the Ice Ribbon Dojo was a great way to wind down my visit (I only had one more show after this).

I love the atmosphere of Ice Ribbon’s dojo shows. It’s a unique venue that lends itself to fun shows. More details on that in my review of the first show I attended there. 

I was unclear at first about whether pictures were allowed during this show, so didn’t get any during the opening match between 235 and Kyuri. This was short but very good, with both competitors looking the best I’d seen without having a veteran in there to hold things together.

The second match was scheduled to be Miyako Matsumoto and Tsukasa Fujimoto vs Azure Revolution (Risa Sera and Maya Yukihi). I was looking forward to seeing two of my favorites team against an established duo, but it wasn’t to be (and I have no complaints about how things turned out). As the match started Miyako got the mic and apparently had some complaints about teaming with Tsukka. She grabbed Risa and rebooked the match herself through force of will and it became Miyako Matsumoto and Risa Sera vs Tsukasa Fujimoto and Maya Yukihi. Classic Miyako and it led to a ton of amusing moments. Tsukasa’s face when Miyako offered her the traditional pre-match handshake after ditching her was priceless. Tsukka’s incredible in every aspect of pro-wrestling and it was a treat to see her so many times during my trip.

This match had an ongoing stipulation where the ring announcer would state a letter, and pinfalls could only be attempted after a move starting with it. One of the highlights of it was Tsukasa and Maya pulling out Miyako’s own Mama Mia on her, then an irate Miyako retaliating with Super Mama Mia once the letter changed. Miyako was easily one of the most entertaining parts of my trip, as she knows exactly how to work her gimmick for maximum effect and amusement. Her running laps around the ring in excitement as a victory celebration (with Tsukasa trying to trip her on each pass until successful) was magnificent.

The main event was a six-woman tag featuring Hamuko Hoshi, Yuuka, and Maruko Nagasaki vs. Aoi Kizuki, Akane Fujita, and Mochi Miyagi. This was fun, serving to further set up the Butchers’ impending match for Hamuko’s title while allowing the other wrestlers to shine too. It was also a nice spotlight on former champion Aoi Kizuki, which made even more sense looking back after the roundtable.

In addition to the normal discussion of the show and the wrestlers’ upcoming appearances, Aoi Kizuki obviously made some sort of big announcement during the roundtable. I got a translation from Aoi herself after the show that it was her “graduation” from Ice Ribbon and she was going freelance after the 1/9 show. In retrospect there were a lot of little hints, such as her first appearance on a Wave show earlier in the day. Aoi is a favorite of mine and I wish her all the best in this next phase of her career.

I had heard a lot about Ice Ribbon from friends before my trip and it certainly lived up to my expectations. It has a phenomenal roster featuring a mix of veterans and up-and-comers that perform a great variety of match styles.

Happy New Year!

 

I enjoyed every Ice Ribbon show I attended and the opportunities to meet and support the wrestlers were much appreciated. The photo op with the whole roster is awesome and something I haven’t seen done elsewhere. I highly recommend IR in general, and even more so the opportunity to see them at their home base.