Category: Wrestling

Categories
Japan Reviews Wrestling

Ice Ribbon Vol. 698 DVD Review

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.

IMG_4546_trim

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.

Categories
Reviews Wrestling

Evolve 57 ippv Review

March 20, 2016 in Brooklyn, NY

evolve57

1) “All Ego” Ethan Page vs Fred Yehi **

On the short side, basically establishing Yehi as a threat to the larger opponent for a while then moving into endgame. Page’s moral journey continues as he offers a handshake several times mid-match to cops in response. Another win though for Page with the package piledriver as his quest for redemption starts to get some traction. Respect show after the match but Nese attacks Page (and then gets cheered for his crack about Page’s weight). He does turn up the heel heat after that. Konley out to send Nese home and with Andrea not there Konley will apparently be going alone later tonight in his title match.

 

2) TJ Perkins vs Tomaso Ciampa ***1/2

Tomaso Ciampa is replacing “Speedball” Mike Bailey, who had travel issues that ended up with him barred from the US for 5 years. Nice reception for Ciampa. Perkins is in his normal gear, with nothing tying himself to Catch Point. He gets big cheers and chants to open. Lenny does a good job of trying to smooth it over on commentary, but Perkins (and really all of Catch Point) needs to play the heel better. On the subject, the whole angle / stable would benefit from being more consistent about supporting each other as a ringside entourage. TJP (and later Riddle) being out alone is odd given the gimmick.

Ciampa knows how to work and pop a crowd. His sequence of destroying TJP’s cap was great. Just the right amount of comedy then back then back to action. Good back and forth as the match goes on, and it’s nice to see some extended offense from Ciampa. These two have good chemistry and I enjoyed this much more than other recent TJP matches.  Insane spot from Ciampa where he catches TJP on his back with one arm, climbs the turnbuckles, and hits an Air Raid Crash. Project Ciampa near the end for two, which seemed unnecessary and undercuts his finisher. TJ Clutch for the submission win as TJP’s push continues. He gets a hero’s ovation for the win. Ugh. Good match though.

 

3) Matt Riddle vs Chris Hero ****1/2

Odd this is on so early – could have easily been the semi-main. Crowd’s firmly on Hero’s side. Show of respect to start. Double ugh. Why the hell is the cocky, back-stabbing, detested Riddle shaking hands?

Like the previous night night the crowd is completely obsessed  with Riddle’s lack of footwear. Hero eventually attacks the exposed foot and makes it the focus of his offense to the crowd’s delight. Riddle’s coming along extremely well in a short period of time and does a great job looking like a legitimate threat to the larger man.

That said, as the match goes on Hero puts him in the most trouble he’s seen so far in Evolve. Hero’s strikes are incredible and look absolutely brutal. It makes Riddle get more and more serious as they progress, including pulling out a sweet fisherman buster. Riddle’s lip is bloody from Hero’s elbows. Hero regains control and Riddle looks to be out after a pile driver, but Hero goes for Death by Elbow. Riddle kicks out, shocking the crowd. Gotch Piledriver attempt is beautifully countered into a triangle, then converted into a vicious arm bar for the victory! Riddle still needs to work on late match selling of early legwork, but overall he’s great from his experience level. Excellent match, and a big win for Riddle that’s properly driven home by the commentary.

Galloway’s delayed this time, so the tag title match will be on later. Konley jumps Gargano then demands Thatcher comes out immediately for his championship match. As Thatcher complies, Callihan lays him out from behind. Way too few actual faces in this promotion.

 

4) Evolve Title Match: Timothy Thatcher (c) vs Caleb Konley ***1/4

Konley tries a quick pin to steal the title after Callihan’s attack. Thatcher fights back despite the cheap shot and we go back and forth for a while. Konley tries to go toe to toe with Thatcher in holds, leading to several great, innovative counters from Thatcher. He escapes the O-Face with kicks to the head. “Take it home” chants from a few unappreciative fans. I adore Thatcher style personally, but he is polarizing and has trouble engaging portions of the fanbase.

Late in the match Thatcher’s shoved into the ref after they fight on the top rope. Surprising no one, Andrea is indeed here and runs out to help. She hits a kick and Konley follows with a double jump moonsault, teasing the finish that worked the night before. Thatcher kicks out and is PISSED. Konley distracts the ref and Andrea slaps Thatcher, only to eat a headbutt. Fujiwara armbar, goodnight Konley. Fine match with an awesome show of fortitude from Thatcher, but the shenanigans detracted a bit.

Riddle’s out to challenge Thatcher to a rematch in Dallas. “You’re trash bro, just like the rest of these people.” Thatcher accepts, then after claiming to be upstanding and above cheap shots, nails Thatcher with one in the form of a jumping knee, knocking him out. NOW he’s acting like a heel. Bravo.

 

5) Sami Callihan vs Tracy Williams ***

Aggressive start for Williams, which sets the stage nicely. Callihan tries to slow things down, but Williams gets the better of the grappling. Williams begins to get on a roll so Callihan bailing to stall makes sense, but he does it too much and really disrupts the flow of his matches. Once things settle down Williams gets a long offensive advantage targeting Callihan’s arm. Williams has looked great recently and I enjoy his work.

Nearing the end, and the Cuerno Killer gets one(?!). I understand this makes Williams look like a beast, but I have an issue with using any sort of “spike” tombstone piledriver for a nearfall. It’s a move that should be treated like a career threatening experience. Williams with a nice counter to the stretch muffler for a nearfall, but Callihan hits the Cinder Block for the victory. He needed the win desperately given his building feud with Thatcher, but I was pulling for Williams.

 

6) Best in the World Challenge Series: Zack Sabre Jr. vs Drew Gulak ****

“This is awesome” chant from the crowd in anticipation of the lockup. Evenly matched in the early going, fluidly trading fantastic holds and counters. As I mentioned before, one thing I love about Sabre’s style (and Thatcher’s) is that he’s ALWAYS fighting and gives the impression he’s trying to win every second he’s in there. Gulak matches that feel well here and it’s impressive to watch them go hold for hold throughout the match, peppered with equally impressive strikes and throws.

Sabre’s ankle in trouble later on and Gulak completely picks it apart. One simply but incredibly effective sequence saw Gulak slam Sabre repeatedly making sure his injured ankle hit the ropes each time. Sabre trying to keep Gulak at bay and away from the ankle with palm strikes. They go into a series of rollups and reversals, which ends with Gulak in a seat position with Sabre essentially sitting on his neck facing the opposite direction. Zach gets a wild look, grabs Gulak’s arms and leans back into a crazy submission hold for the win. I find Gulak hit or miss, but he was totally on tonight and had a great contest with Sabre here.

Hero comes out to taunt Sabre. He name drops several people who’ve been called the Best in the World, and says he beat them all. Says he’s beyond that, and is instead the Greatest of All Time. “You haven’t beat me.” “You’re right. But I’ll see you in Dallas.” Gulak gets in Hero’s face after Sabre leaves and tells him he should be more worried about his unfinished business with Catch Point. Face promo from Gulak and the crowd chants for him appropriately. Forgive my harping, but CATCH POINT ARE HEELS. Sigh.

 

7) Evolve Tag Team Title Match: Johnny Gargano and Drew Galloway (c) vs Team Tremendous (Dan Barry and Bill Carr) ***1/4

Heel tendencies showing from Galloway, as he ends a pre-match promo joking about just making it on time and changing in the back of the cab with a cheap shot on Dan Barry to jumpstart the match. Team Tremendous won the Second Chance portion of the tag title tournament, resulting in this opportunity. Odd choice, as they aren’t Evolve regulars, lost their match the previous night, and weren’t scheduled for the subsequent Wrestlemania weekend shows in Dallas. They’re a good team that are well loved by the crowd, and Evolve at least tried to cover by stating they be added to the Dallas shows if they won the titles, but this has a total foregone conclusion feel. Shame Galloway’s delay made it the main event.

That said they put up a nice fight against the super-team of Gargano and Galloway. They have great chemistry as a team and displayed some innovative double teams. Things wrap up when Galloway nails Barry with a kick to interrupt a springboard moonsault in midair then scoops him up for the Futureshock DDT. Decent main event, but Team Tremendous never felt like serious threats to Gargano and Galloway’s reign and it never quite reached the levels it felt like it could have.

 

Overall

I’m growing increasingly frustrated with the lack of good face/heel definition in Evolve, leading to muddled angles and very few people to really get behind to cheer. But the ideas behind the rivalries are good and the action is top-notch as always. This show was great despite its missteps and Hero vs Riddle is easily Riddle’s best match so far and well worth seeking out.

Categories
Reviews Wrestling

WWE Extreme Rules 2016 Live Thoughts

May 22, 2016 in Newark, NJ

WWE came to the Prudential Center in Newark for Extreme Rules this year, and while I haven’t been enamored with their direction recently, I like enough of the roster individually to give it a shot and attend my first live WWE pay-per-view (strange as that seems). I unfortunately ended up having to leave a bit early and missed the last two matches. Of course I will only be talking about what I saw. Shame missing Styles, but I have seen him live before and I had no illusions that he would be winning anyway.

IMG_9809

Decent view of the ring for not having a floor seat, but there was no indication when I got the ticket that I was behind the set and wouldn’t be able to see the entrances (and because of the “entrance videos” playing wrestler entrances aren’t shown on the screens either). A bit disappointing considering how much time is devoted to them. I’ve never been to any type of event before where there was an obstructed view of part of the show and it wasn’t marked when purchasing the ticket. They get away with it by claiming only the ring matters, but it’s still sketchy. Oh well. As I said I could see the ring fine, so good enough I suppose, and I’ll know better next time.

The first pre-show happenings featured The Dudleys came out to fire up the crowd by playing off ECW nostalgia then turn them on a dime with insults. I have to say, from about 30 ft away and without being able to see the entrance and thus having no warning, their pyro was INSANELY loud and startling. As the Dudleys run down the crowd Enzo and Cass’s music hit and the everyone goes nuts for Big Cass. He does a strong promo overall where he mixes admittedly hokey insults with Enzo’s usual intro for them. The Dudleys jump him but he gets the better of them and does his sing-a-long to finish the segment. Fine to rile the crowd up, although I don’t know why this couldn’t have resulted in a match between Cass and one of them instead and accomplished all the same things (and more) in a more logical way.

Baron Corbin vs Dolph Ziggler suffered a bit from the stipulation, as they did NOTHING no-DQ until the finish. So the audience was just waiting for the ballshot all match. Big win for Corbin regardless, hopefully he’s on to other things now.

Still surreal seeing Anderson and Gallows as The Club in WWE. They faced the Usos in the opener for the PPV proper. Not sure these teams have the chemistry against each other they need for this extended feud, but there were a couple nice spots and the right team went over.

US Champion Kalisto has been booked extremely weak since winning the belt, and his challenger Rusev is one of the only wrestler in recent memory to have a dominant reign, so the cheering dynamic was quite “backwards” here. Rusev dominated and took back his  US Title with a nasty new Accolade variation to a hero’s ovation from the crowd. Accomplished what it needed to.

 

Man, Newark loves itself some New Day. They get crazy cheers for any and every thing they do. Xavier and Big E defended against The Vaudvillains in a fairly straightforward victory for the champs. The Vaudvillains still haven’t gotten much heat with the crowd, and given New Day gets cheered for heel tactics it’s hard to establish heels against them. I adore the shining wizard though, so Xavier’s finish gets bonus points.

Miz defending his Intercontinental Championship against Sami Zayn, Kevin Owens, and Cesaro was the match I went to see. Miz has gotten a lot better recently and is really finding the right character now, but the draw was the three challengers. I’ve watched them all before WWE, have been thrilled to see them continue to evolve and improve, and it was a treat seeing them go all out against each other for a title on a WWE PPV.

The crowd was super-hot throughout this match. As far as we were concerned Owens was as much a face as Zayn and Claudio. Although he did get some massive heat for interrupting a tower-of-doom spot. They all used the 4-way format to its fullest, with several great multi-person spots and believable near-falls. The latter was particularly impressive – there were numerous places where the match could have ended and felt natural that were broken up by another of the participants. It really worked the crowd into a frenzy.

While I understand the storyline advantages of Miz stealing a win and retaining, the crowd was ready for a face victory and Cesaro is eating far too many pins after his white-hot return. Minor point in the grand scheme of things though, as the match was fantastic regardless.

Tough spot for these Dean Ambrose and Chris Jericho having to follow that with their Asylum match. Not just because of the quality of the proceeding match topped with the Miz’s victory punching the wind out of the crowd a bit, but given the Asylum format no one believed the match would end before they cycled through all the weapons. So everyone sat on their hands for half the match.

I enjoyed parts of the match, such as a visually awesome fire extinguisher spot and their use of the thumbtacks, but this really dragged as they claimed the weapons one by one. The attempted straightjacket strapping also broke up the flow of the match. And I have no idea why the ONLY weapon not used was the one they centered the buildup around and that everyone was waiting to see used.

 

Overall

The IC match knocking it out of the park, nothing being actively bad, and some nice highlights throughout the night made my evening enjoyable despite not seeing the whole show. But as usual lately with the WWE, this could have been a LOT better with just some minor tweaks, which is a bit frustrating.

Categories
Reviews Wrestling

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.

IMG_9768

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.

Categories
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.

shimmer80

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.

Categories
Reviews Wrestling

NXT Takeover Dallas IPPV Live Thoughts

April 1, 2016 in Dallas, TX

NXT_Takeover_Dallas

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.

alpharevival

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.

corbinaries

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.

zaynnakamura

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.

bayleyasuka

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…

balorjoe

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!

Categories
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.

evolve58

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.

Categories
Reviews Wrestling

Evolve 56 Live Thoughts

March 19, 2016 in Queens, NY

IMG_9230

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.

 

IMG_9229_trim
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.

Categories
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.

IMG_8947

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.

IMG_7055

Miyako Matsumoto and Risa Sera vs Tsukasa Fujimoto and Maya Yuhiki

IMG_8022

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.

IMG_8025

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.

IMG_6224

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.

IMG_6605

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.

IMG_6654

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.