Categories
Japan Reviews Wrestling

Stephanie Vaquer in Ice Ribbon: debut, Ibuki Hoshi

I recently looked back at a couple of matches of WWE’s new US Champion Giulia in the company she started her career in, Ice Ribbon.

WWE’s other fastest rising superstar, who’s a longtime personal favorite of mine, has also appeared Ice Ribbon. So likewise I’d like to share a couple of her matches from those appearances.

Stephanie Vaquer was already a world traveled star with over a decade of experience when she first appeared for Ice Ribbon. I had heard a lot about her but hadn’t seen her wrestle prior.

These two matches were chosen by the rigorous process of being the only two of her matches in Ice Ribbon that I have on DVD. That said it’s a pretty good sample, as one is her first match for the company and the other is a singles against a rising star.

Both of these shows are available in the subscription archive portion (called ICE RIBBON LIVE plus) of Ice Ribbon’s ippv platform.

Dalys & Stephanie Vaquer vs Hikari Shimizu & Kaho Matsushita – Summer Jumbo Ribbon 7/31/22

This was Vaquer’s first match in Ice Ribbon. She had wrestled in Japan before years prior on a tour for Stardom.

Dalys is likewise a star from Mexico with a decade plus career at the time of this match making her Ice Ribbon debut.

Shimizu is from GPU COLOR’S, a freelance group that evolved out of Actwres girl’Z when Actwres transitioned into wrestling based acting instead of being a straight up wrestling company. She debuted in 2017, so had about five years of experience here.

Kaho was one of Ice Ribbon’s newest rookies at the time, with under a year of experience after her debut on November 13, 2021.

Handshakes before the bell. Matching red gear for Dalys & Vaquer.

Vaquer and Shimizu start. Vaquer quickly pushes out of a collar and elbow tie up and throws Shimzu to the mat out of a waistlock. Shimizu grabs her leg though and pulls Vaquer down. Leg lace is quickly countered by Vaquer into an arm bar, which is quickly countered by Shimizu into a rollup for just 1. Standoff and they circle each other into another collar and elbow in the middle of the ring.

Shimizu arm ringer into a wristlock right into a hammerlock. Nice bit of technical wrestling as she adjusted holds throughout what was essentially just twisting Vaquer’s arm more and more. Vaquer with a sweet break as she used her free arm to pull her leg up behind her, hooked her foot onto Shimizu’s arm, then kicked down to break the hold.

Vaquer grabs a wristlock and really torques it. Shimizu rolls forward out of the pressure, kips up with Vaquer still holding her arm, then drops back down to arm drag Vaquer over. The standard exchange of leg sweep counters for 1 counts (if you watch wrestling regularly you’ve seen this at some point) leads to another momentary face off. Big smile on Vaquer’s face at the fight she’s getting out of Shimizu.

Kick to the mid section by Shimizu. That’s the second time I was expecting a double tag out and they continued fighting instead. Side headlock by Shimizu. Vaquer pushes her off into the ropes, then drops down and leapfrogs Shimizu on subsequent rebounds. Shimizu dives over Vaquer as the later rolls backwards after one last rope bounce.

Both up. Shimizu motions Vaquer to come at her, leading to a trade of arm drags and then both going for dropkicks simultaneously. Third stalemate. NOW we get the change up. Really strong start to the match.

Dalys gets right in the rookie’s face and flexes at her.

They trade trips to put each other down, then Kaho hits several dropkicks as Dalys is on her knees trying to stand. Dalys absorbs them and roars in defiance for more. Eventually a single kick to the face in return knocks Kaho down.

Shimizu comes in as Dalys drags Kaho up, but gets caught with a boot to the midsection. Dalys puts them both into front facelocks and hits a double suplex. Off camera Vaquer had climbed to the top turnbuckle and comes down with a splash on both right after the suplex landing.

Vaquer goes back to her corner and Kaho rolls out of the ring. I don’t think there was a tag on the other side, but Shimizu now seems to be officially in with Dalys. Could be this is under lucha tag rules. Not that it probably matters much to Dalys which crumpled opponent remains in with her regardless.

Shimizu fights back though with a nice flying headscissors off the ropes after ducking a clothesline. She follows with a one leg sliding dropkick but Dalys is right back up and nails Shimizu with a chest kick to end the rally.

Tag to Vaquer. Double whip into the far corner is followed with a clothesline by Vaquer and a flying hip attack by Dalys. The vets are in firm control. Dalys grabs suplex position and hits a beautiful sitout facebuster.

Vaquer swarms the fallen Shimizu and hits Devil’s Kiss (headscissor repeated mat pounding: yeah that’s the best description I’ve got – look it up if unfamiliar as it really needs to be seen).

Shimizu rolls towards the ropes for a breather and Dalys kicks her to the outside. Lucha tag rules confirmed as Kaho comes in to fight with Vaquer. Under these rules it’s a legal switch to come in when your partner leaves the ring, in addition to the traditional hand slap tag.

Vaquer dodges a dropkick from Kaho, but the latter hits an enzuigiri after getting up and follows with a soccer kick for 2. Nice deep cover from the rookie folding Vaquer near in half.

Running dropkick to a seated Vaquer. Kaho picks Vaquer up and hits the ropes, but Dalys cheap shots her with a knee to the back and Vaquer runs over with a clubbing blow to the neck. Dalys reaches over the ropes to choke Kaho with a chinlock from the apron. She adds some shots to the head and a bit of biting while doing it until the ref makes her break.

Dalys comes in from the apron, as Vaquer left the ring so Dalys is now legal. She still has a hold of Kaho, and … tags right back out to Vaquer who was back in the corner. A little odd, but they go right into a double team so it makes some sense.

Dalys whips Kaho into a Vaquer drop toehold, which leaves Kaho draped across the far middle rope. Running dropkick to Kaho’s back by Dalys is followed by a 619 (Tiger Fight Kick) by Vaquer.

Dalys intercepts Shimizu, and Vaquer and Kaho exit the ring making the others the legal competitors. Hard overhand chop by Dalys. She absorbs two retaliatory forearms, but gets rocked by a high kick by Shimizu. Second kick is blocked though and Dalys levels Shimizu with a spinning side kick. Dalys applies a camel clutch style chinlock for all of two seconds before deciding to bite Shimizu’s forehead and pull her hair instead. She’s slowly gone into full bully heel mode as the match progresses and it’s pretty great.

An attempt to whip Shimizu into the corner is reversed, but when Shimizu charges and goes for a monkey flip the powerhouse catches her and spins around to put Shimizu on the turnbuckles. Shimizu jumps off the middle turnbuckle and wipes out Dalys. Literally just crashes into her and m maybe kind of hits a kneestrike. Could have been going for a dropkick or another kind of strike but her opponent was too close. It was effective enough though. Dalys stumbles back up and Kaho hits a top turnbuckle missile dropkick from a different corner.

Unfortunately it knocks Dalys all the way back into her own corner to tag Vaquer, who wipes out Kaho with a dropkick. But then Shimizu hits one on Vaquer. And the Dalys completes the dropkick party with one on Shimizu.

All four wrestlers are down on the mat. There are no covers, but the ref starts counting by slapping his hands against the mat as if there were. Must be another rule variant in play. Normally there’d be a (verbal only) ten count when all participants are down, but this was approached like a pinfall. Everyone gets up at 2.

Shimizu and Kaho’s rush at their opponents is ducked and they’re momentarily rolled up, but they get right back up and hit dropkicks. They try to whip Vaquer and Dalys into opposite corners but end up reversed into the corners themselves. Vaquer and Dalys run by each other across the ring and hit Kaho and Shimizu with a double knee strike and flying hip attack respectively.

Dalys applies a sharpshooter to Shimizu as Vaquer ties Kaho into a pretzel and viciously cranks back on her arm. Kaho immediately gives up and this one is over.

Dominant first impression from Vaquer and Dalys. They immediately came across as stars, while their less experienced opponents still looked good putting up what fight they could. The action they all packed into seven and a half minutes was crazy. Couple rough spots, but nothing too distracting and overall this was a really good, extremely faced paced tag match that was quite enjoyable.

———-

Stephanie Vaquer vs Ibuki Hoshi – Ice Ribbon 8/28/22

Ibuki Hoshi is a second generation wrestler, and her mother Hamuko Hoshi also wrestles for Ice Ribbon. The two have both fought on a number of occasions and been International Tag Ribbon Champions together.

Ibuki debuted on June 11, 2017 at the age of 14. At the time of this match she had been wrestling for 5 years and was 19, and was a rising star who would hold the company’s top title about a year after this.

Hype package seems to show Ibuki getting a big surprise pin on Vaquer then challenging her to this singles match. Looked it up and Ibuki & partner Maika Ozaki were victorious over Vaquer & Ibuki’s mother Hamuko in tag action with Ibuki pinning Vaquer just a couple weeks before this (pretty much right in the middle between the above match and this one). Should be quite interesting.

(Special guest appearance by this blog for this one, as I’d sponsored Yuuki Mashiro’s banner which is visible in the background.)

Ibuki starts hot with a running dropkick on Vaquer in the corner while the latter is removing her ring robe. Ref calls for the bell and we’re officially underway.

Still in the corner, Ibuki lays in several hard chops. Vaquer ducks under a double chop attempt and charges back towards Ibuki in the corner with a boot, but Ibuki dodges out.

We finally have some separation and the two stare each other down and jaw a bit in the center of the ring.

Ibuki grabs the hair for intimidation but Vaquer latches onto that arm into a top wristlock. She forces Ibuki down towards the mat with it but Ibuki uses her other arm to trip Vaquer and break the hold. Side headlock by Vaquer is transitioned into an arm wringer as they stand up. She yanks on Ibuki’s arm then settles into a standing wristlock.

Ibuki quickly reverses into one of her own, which becomes a momentary hammerlock before Vaquer does the sweet counter from the above match to break out of it and go back to a wristlock of her own.

Ibuki carefully pulls her hand free then grabs a side headlock. Vaquer back her up into the ropes and then we’re off to the races as the pace considerably quickens for a few moments. Ibuki’s shot into the far ropes. Vaquer drops down on the rebound then charges at Ibuki off her second rebound, but Ibuki sidesteps and pushes Vaquer along into the ropes herself. Ibuki arm drag off the rebound, Vaquer holds on, kips up, and hits an arm drag of her own.

Ibuki kips up and there’s a momentary face off before Ibuki lands a kick to the midsection. She follows it up with several forearms to the kneeling Vaquer’s back. Once Vaquer drops to all fours Ibuki sits on her back and lands more forearms. Vicious.

Vaquer reverses an attempted whip and faceplants Ibuki out of the air when the latter tries a crossbody of the rebound. She angrily pulls Ibuki up by the hair then faceplants her right back down.

Vaquer stands behind a seated Ibuki for a moment, so I expected a Devil’s Kiss, but instead she pulls Ibuki up and sends her headfirst into the corner. She trips Ibuki down into seated position and steps onto Ibuki’s chest, hanging off the top rope and putting all her weight on her opponent. She breaks on 3 of the ref’s count.

Back into the center of the ring Ibuki kicks at Vaquer, but gets kneed in the midsection when she hits the ropes. Snapmare into the canter of the ring and NOW we get the Devil’s Kiss. A groggy Ibuki rolls right out of the ring to the floor afterwards.

Vaquer follows her out and throws her into the ringpost. She beats Ibuki around outside a bit. No barricades for Ice Ribbon shows so this is all happening inches from the front row crowd.

Vaquer rolls Ibuki back in, hits a nice snap suplex, and immediately goes into a rear chinlock. Ibuki makes the ropes with her foot, so Vaquer backs them up and applies a wicked dragon sleeper variant (she used her leg to immobilize Ibuki’s arm, and linked her hands behind her own back to apply more pressure). Ibuki struggles to the ropes again for another break.

Vaquer ties Ibuki up in the ropes, pulls on her trapped arms to keep her in place, and lifts her foot into choke position. Crazy flexibility. Breaks on the ref’s count of 3 and whips Ibuki off the far ropes but gets caught by a crossbody. Ibuki sends Vaquer into the corner, splashes her, then brings her out with a faceplant for 2.

Vaquer pushes away when Ibuki pulls her up and they go into a forearm exchange. After a few Ibuki lands a big one so Vaquer knocks her back into the ropes with a nasty headbutt. So Ibuki starts a chop exchange. The pace has slowed a little as the effects of the big hits are felt, which is great. Ibuki is giving as good as she’s getting and rocking Vaquer as much as vice versa. Eventually Ibuki blocks a big right hand coming in and just unloads on Vaquer with numerous slaps to the head.

Ibuki hits the ropes but gets tripped, and Vaquer applies a Japanese stranglehold with Ibuki stretched back across her knees. Ibuki floats over pretty quickly and reverses the hold. She can’t quite keep Vaquer across her knees so keeps rolling about with it looking for a definite advantage. Vaquer forces them up to their feet and twists around until she can kick out of it. Ibuki lands in the corner and Vaquer chokes her again for a second, then runs to the opposite corner to come back charging. Ibuki dodges but Vaquer stops herself before crashing into the corner and catches Ibuki in the midsection with a kick.

A few head slams into the corner and several headbutts later and Ibuki’s seated down in the corner again. Back to the opposite corner and Vaquer nails the running double knees this time. She drags Ibuki into the center and a deep cover gets 2.

Vaquer jumps up to the top rope and goes for a double stomp. Vaquer rolls through the miss after Ibuki got out of the way, but when she turns back around Ibuki hits a kick to the head. Thrust kick knocks Vaquer back against the ropes, and Ibuki hits the far ropes for a running facewash kick. Ibuki throws Vaquer back into the center of the ring and covers for 2.

Ibuki goes up to the top turnbuckle and needs a couple extra seconds to get her balance but then successfully hits a crossbody for 2. Vaquer hits a chin breaker as Ibuki pulls her up, but her followup kick is ducked and Ibuki double chops her back down. Samoan Drop gets 2. She sets up for what looks like a Lightning Spiral attempt, but Vaquer twists out and swings for a clothesline. Ibuki ducks it and levels Vaquer with a falling clothesline off the ropes. Lightning Spiral gets 2.

Ibuki tries an octopus hold but Vaquer elbows out. Vaquer sends Ibuki into the ropes and catches her on the rebound into a rolling takedown that ends up with Ibuki in a triangle choke variant. Ibuki refuses to give up but quickly passes out in the hold. Three arm drops later and Vaquer wins due to ref stoppage. Vaquer holds on a few extra seconds for emphasis before the ref pulls her off.

Great, hard hitting match with a ton of impressive technical wrestling to boot from both. Ibuki was very much up to the task of keeping pace with Vaquer. This was action packed and felt longer (in a good way) than the eleven minutes it went.

Stephanie Vaquer’s always a joy to watch, and these were a solid pair of matches. Fun stuff.

Thanks to everyone who’s given this a read. Derailments of Thought currently updates sporadically, but more regular posts will hopefully be on the way soon.

If you enjoy the blog any support is appreciated, including shares on social media and simply continuing to read. If you happened to be inclined and able to help out monetarily please see my  Ko-fi page. Every little bit helps.

Categories
Books Comics

Goodbye, Writer of Stuff

“There are no such things as happy endings. Never. They’re totally manufactured by fiction writers who choose to end the story on a high point.”

Peter David was self described a Writer of Stuff, and it’s really the perfect epithet. He was a mainstay in comics for decades, also a prolific writer of novels and short stories, and shared opinions of all sorts over the years in essays, blog posts, and his But I Digress column.

Peter was one of my favorite writers and I’ve read a ridiculous amount of his stuff, starting pretty early on in his career.

I was an avid comic reader when I was young, and I am one today. In between my interest and ability continue with them waned, except for Peter’s work. There was a period where his comic were pretty much all I was reading, remaining thoroughly engrossed in titles like Aquaman, Supergirl, X-Factor, and Young Justice.

While he did great work on a number of popular characters, one of the things Peter is known for was taking second string characters and making something special with the freedom such things involve.

One great example of this was his work on X-Factor, spanning three different conceptual iterations featuring different lineups of misfits over the course of years. During his first run on X-Factor, he’d write one one of the most interesting and beloved single issue stories of all time. X-Factor #87 portrayed his government sponsored X-Factor team going to mandated therapy sessions in the aftermath of an X-men crossover event. It was an unusual aspect of Earth shaking events in comics that was captivating to see explored. Peter dug deep into the characters and created an enduring, compelling tale will little more than 36 pages of characters talking to each other.

The Incredible Hulk itself, the comic Peter’s best known for, was a low selling title before he originally took it over leading to an award winning run. During that run he notably explored the concept of Hulk as an aspect of Banner’s fractured psyche, leading to his creation of the Banner Hulk combined version of Hulk that would eventually inspire MCU’s “Smart Hulk.”

One of my favorite stories of all time is David’s two part Future Imperfect from 1994, showing the Hulk faced with his own dark potential.

Echos of his work also reverberate through the stories that followed and adaptations, such as Miguel O’Hara’s appearance in Across the Spider-Verse. Peter co-created and was the primary writer of Spider-Man 2099.

Peter pushed boundaries in his work, willing to test limits of subject matter, creative direction, and format.

One of his early comic stories that groundbreaking at the time and helped establish Peter as a writer, The Death of Jean DeWolff, created waves off the bat by proclaiming its intention to kill a popular supporting character in the title of the story.

His work crossed and combined genres and styles. Sometimes his over the top humor with mountains of wordplay and puns inundated the reader. Sometimes drama and heavy topics anchored his stories. And often those elements are more combined in ways no one else would dare.

His approach and convictions sometimes led to controversy and conflict, and occasionally didn’t land in the stories themselves, but Peter always kept trying and overall things came together into an incredible catalog of writing that will endure.

Another of Peter’s strengths was fitting stories within past continuity without heavy reconning, attempts to add context and depth between existing stories. Several of his well loved Star Trek novels took this approach.

A lot of his later work also focused on this concept, including writing stories that fleshed out Spider-Man’s time unknowingly wearing the alien symbiotic costume that would later become Venom. Given Peter’s start as a comic writer was in the aftermath of the original symbiote comics (when Peter was wearing a cloth replica of the black suit), it was nice bookend to an incredible career.

Peter had been facing severe health issues for quite some time, and passed away on May 24, 2025.

Thank you for a lifetime of stories Peter. Rest in Peace.

 

Categories
Japan Reviews Wrestling

Giulia in Ice Ribbon: Maya Yukihi & Asahi

Pre-WWE, new Women’s US Champion Giulia is best known for her time in World Wonder Ring Stardom.

However I was originally familiar with her primarily from her time in the promotion she was trained and debuted in, Ice Ribbon. Her two years there coincided with when I was regularly making trips to Japan and attending a lot of wrestling shows. It’s always interesting to look back on someone’s early days, and in particular I’d like to focus on two specific matches of hers with personal significance to me.

I’ll be watching these off my DVD collection, as they pre-date Ice Ribbon’s currently maintained various streaming archives. So I’ll try to do as full play-by-play as possible in lieu of being able to direct readers to any easy way to view these.

ICE Cross Infinity Championship: Maya Yukihi (c) vs Giulia – Osaka Ribbon 5/28/19

Giulia’s a year and a half into her career here, having debuted on October 29, 2017. This is a main event challenge for company’s top title.

One fall, 30 min time limit. Time limits in Ice Ribbon title matches have extra weight due to a rule in place that means there’s no champion advantage for time limit draws. If a championship match goes to the time limit, the championship is vacated.

I was at this live and it was among my top matches of that trip (all the pictures here are from my live viewing). But I haven’t watched it in years, and I’m interested to see how it holds up.

Maya is draped in belts. In addition to the ICE Cross Infinity Championship she’s defending, she was reigning Triangle Ribbon Champion, International Tag Ribbon Champion (with Risa Sera as Azure Revolution), and Oz Academy Tag Team Champion (with Saori Anou as Ozaki-gun).

They just stare down each other without leaving their corners for several seconds after the bell starts the match. Crowd’s behind both, which is expected as it’s a rising star against a well loved champ in her second title defense.

Hard lockup as they come to the center. Maya pushes Giulia back into the ropes, but gives a clean break and they circle each other back into another collar and elbow tie up. Giulia gains a little ground but then Maya powers her back into the ropes again. Giulia reverses in the ropes and teases a clean break, but repeatedly forearms the hell out of Maya instead. Maya tries to reverse Giulia into the ropes but the latter spins Maya right back into position for more forearms. Maya tries to respond in kind again but AGAIN Giulia spins right through the reversal and puts Maya into the corer for more forearms. The challenger is being super aggressive to good effect.

Giulia fires up the crowd, then whips Maya into the opposite corner and follows with a running boot. She hits the ropes to try to sustain the offense as Maya stumbles out of the corner but the champ finally strikes back and levels Giulia in the center of the ring with a high kick.

Maya pulls Giulia up several times in a row for hair mares back down, then controls for a bit with a head vice into a Camel Clutch style chin lock. Giulia reaches back with her leg to get the ropes break.

Arm ringer into a Fujiwara arm bar takes Giulia back down. The challenger rolls out but Maya keeps ahold of the arm and tries for a different submission hold. Giulia fights it off and rolls Maya back into a sunset flip style pin for 2. Maya kicks out right into a seated waist lock and grabs Giulia’s arm again. Giulia’s on her back but forces a head scissors to fight off a hammerlock attempt. They keep grappling through reversals until Maya ends up on top of a face down Giulia with Giulia’s legs tied up and Maya pulling back on her arms. Maya transitions to another chin lock from behind and Giulia bites her way out of it. Phenomenal extended stretch of mat wrestling with the challenger finally getting tired of coming up a touch short and bending the rules to escape.

Both back to their feet, but Maya catches Giulia with a kick to the stomach and puts her back down to the mat with a snap mare. Seated position is never great to be in against Maya, and sure enough she lays into Giulia’s back with a stiff kick. Giulia roars in challenge so the next one is right to her chest. Another each to her back and chest and the challenger is in rough shape. Maya paintbrushes Giulia across the face with the bottom of her boot then kicks her challenger out of the ring.

She nails Giulia in the back with a double slap as she hops down from the apron, takes a drink of water from a nearby second, then kicks Giulia across the face again. Champ’s in firm control. They trade overhand chops and are really hammering each other.

After Maya lands a series of chops they separate a bit to different corners, all still on the outside. Giulia drops to her knees to recover and gets a drink of water of her own, then spits water in Maya’s face when the champ comes back over. An enraged Maya goes for a high kick but Giulia ducks and Maya nails the ring post. She crumples to the floor in pain and Giulia is instantly all over the …other leg, stomping away, stepping on the knee, and applying a heel hook. They’re still on the floor though so she has to break to drag Maya back into the ring.

Giulia then immediately drags Maya into the corner, goes back outside herself, and wraps Maya’s leg around the ring post. She pulls and grinds it into the post a bit as the ref yells at her to get back in the ring. When she does Maya is crumpled in a pile in the corner clutching her leg. Giulia pulls her up into a handstand and slams her leg into the mat in a unique bit of viciousness. Giulia slams Maya’s leg against the mat some more then ties her legs up and pulls back on her ponytail. I don’t think that an entirely legal hold. Ref counts to 4 and Giulia breaks.

Back up and Giulia does an elevated shin breaker to Maya’s right leg (the one that originally kicked the ring post). Giulia’s just destroying both legs now so we’re all good.

She ties Maya up in the ropes and instead of pounding on the mat to fire up the crowd she slaps Maya’s back for it. That’s cold. She hits the opposite ropes and comes charging back with a big boot to the back of Maya’s head. Cover gets 2.

Maya blocks a whip out of the corner temporarily, then reverses it when Giulia powers through. But when she charges Giulia in the other corner she eats another boot. Giulia hops up to the second rope into a crossbody for 2.

STF applied but Maya rolls out quickly into one of her own. Giulia counters that with her previously established go-to of biting Maya’s arm. Maya stays on top of Giulia though and fights for a seated Fujiawara (Becky Lynch’s Dis-arm-her). Giulia keeps her arm from extending, then rolls out into a leg lace. She adds a stretch muffler on the other leg and Maya’s in trouble. But Maya is able to grab Giulia’s weakened arm and transitions out into another Fujiwara variation. They been twisting each other in knots all match.

Giulia claws and scrapes to get her leg to the ropes for the break. Maya’s unsteady on her damaged legs but tries a suplex anyway. Giulia fights off, but eats a slap to the side of the head from Maya. Then another. And another. A series of knees put Giulia down against the ropes, but Maya’s a touch slow on the run to the opposite ropes and Giulia dodges the knee strike. Giulia tries a running boot with Maya against the ropes but it’s also dodged. Maya has Giulia’s leg tied in the ropes, and nails her in the face with a kick from the apron. Back in she unties Giulia and covers for 2.

Giulia fights off another suplex attempt and catches a kick. She drops into a leg lace and applies almost a seated cloverleaf variant. Maya fights to the ropes. Giulia breaks immediately and hits the far ropes to wipe Maya out with several big boots to the head as she tries to get up. Cover gets 2.

They fight back and forth over a reverse DDT attempt by Giulia with Maya repeatedly trying to counter into an STO. Giulia prevails and the reverse DDT gets 2. However back up Maya nails the STO for 2.

Maya hits the ropes and lands a hard kick to the face, but she kicked with her damaged foot from earlier so she collapses against the ropes nursing it. She hobbles out and forearms Giulia as the later stands, only to get hit with a forearm when she tries to reverse a Giulia whip attempt. Giulia off the far ropes… into a spin kick to the mid section. Knee lift keeps her stunned, and Maya follows up with a hard big boot. The champ looms over the fallen Giulia, then knees and kicks her head repeatedly when she tries to get up.

Giulia’s out against the bottom rope, and hers the running knee Maya wanted earlier. She goes right through the ropes with it absolutely leveling Giulia (like Sareee and Mizuki do with their against the ropes dropkicks for those familiar with them). Maya tries to shake some feeling back into her leg on the apron, then climbs up top. Missile dropkick folds Giulia in half and gets 2.

Maya hits the ropes for another knee strike but Giulia follows her in for a big boot. Maya returns the favor as Giulia hits the far ropes. Maya hits the opposite ropes again but runs into a big boot in the middle of the ring off the rebound. Cover gets 2 then Giulia goes up to the top turnbuckle.

Maya catches her with a palm strike then hair mares her down. Champ up top … and Giulia catches her with a palm strike. The back and forth in this match is just fantastic. Giulia climbs up and powers the champ into an avalanche power slam for close 2.

Giulia looked for a hammerlock slam but Maya floats out into an arm drag. Another high kick knocks Giulia down but the exhausted champ also collapses. Ref starts counting them both down, but they’re up before 5.

They go into a brutal forearm exchange where they are running at each other for more impact on them. Giulia eventually lands three in a row, then boots Maya when she runs at Giulia to try to return the shots. Maya approaches again and another boot. Third time Maya brushes the foot away, runs behind Giulia to hit the ropes, then runs right into another boot anyway for 2. Giulia’s putting up a hell of a fight.

Giulia up top and a missile dropkick gets 2. Maya’s kickouts at this point are just barely a roll of the shoulder. She’s been through a war and is spent. Giulia goes for the hammerlock spin slam again and hits it for 2. She stays on top of Maya and locks in an STF.

She cranks back on the champ repeatedly as the crowd screams for Maya to claw her way to the ropes. When she gets close Giulia releases and drags her back to the center of the ring. Hammerlock slam set up again, but this time Giulia drops Maya right onto her knees. Man that looked nasty. Back into the STF and she’s cranking the hell out of it. Maya powers to the ropes, but is wiped out.

Giulia pulls her up and reaches for the hammerlock again. Maya pushes away while still holding on to Giulia and just starts kicking her repeatedly in the head. She lets go after a few and backs up for a savate kick. She winds up and nails a side kick in the head for 2. Maya lifts Giulia but the latter floats out and grabs the hammerlock slam position again. This time she drops into a shoulder breaker. I forgot how many variant moves she does from that setup. Closest 2 yet on that cover.

Maya up and swings at Giulia but gets tied up in an octopus hold. Short lived though, as Maya drops into a slam and covers for… barely 1. Shocked awe from the crowd on that quick kickout. Maya just kicks her in the face though and covers again for 2.

Maya’s Crystal of Snow (Iconoclasm, sitout power slam) connects this time and gets 2. She lifts the challenger up one last time and destroys her with a butterfly package piledriver to finally get the 3 count.

Loved this live and love it now. Giulia looked great, especially for so early in her career, and fought like mad for twenty five minutes until the champ was finally able to batter her down. This totally holds up and was a hard hitting war laden with a ton of great grappling to boot.

———-

Giulia vs Asahi – Yokohama Ribbon 9/24/18

This one’s a bit different and significant for a mix of reasons, some admittedly heavy.

Asahi was a wrestler who debuted in Ice Ribbon on August 27, 2017 at the age of 14. She worked for Ice Ribbon until early 2023, then spent the remainder of her career in Actwres girl’Z. Asahi sadly passed away in early 2024 at the age of 21.

She was a personal favorite of mine, as I really enjoyed her style of wrestling and cheering her on. I was at her debut match against the legendary Manami Toyota and was lucky enough to have met Asahi and seen her wrestle numerous times over the years. She is missed.

Asahi was a key rival of Giulia’s in their early careers, as they had debuted just a couple months apart. They had a lot of great encounters and interactions, including during a really unique trios match they were partners in I attended in early 2019 .

So for the second match of this entry I’d like to take a look at a singles encounter between the two from September 2018.

Somehow I’ve never watched this particular match before, so in contrast to the above this’ll be a completely new experience. This is right around a year into the career of both competitors, and roughly six months before Giulia would challenge Maya for the title in the above match. This match was the “semi-final” (second to last match) of the show.

These two had crossed paths in tag matches several times prior to this, mostly as opponents but a couple times as partners. They had also faced in one prior singles contest, that went to a draw.

Hot start to this as Giulia only poses briefly during her entrance, then hurries out of the ring to run up the other path and ambush Asahi behind the curtain before the latter can even be announced or come out. She drags Asahi to the ring by her hair and the match is officially underway.

Asahi gets in Giulia’s face and screams in defiance as they enter the ring but Giulia just tosses her down, kicks her into the corner, and steps on her head. Asahi might have the tiniest bit more experience, but the smaller, younger competitor is being overwhelmed and is definitely the underdog here.

Giulia drags Asahi to the center for a snap mare, then hits the ropes and runs right through her seated opponent with a kick to the head for 2. She then throws Asahi into the corner and chokes Asahi with her foot. That turns into standing face washes with the soles of her boots.

Back to the center and a hair mare puts Asahi down again. Asahi grimaces in pain as Giulia applies a rear chinlock. In short order Giulia opts to release it so she can just mockingly slap Asahi over the head a few times. Slap to the back and a cover for 2. She’s in straight up bully mode.

Dragon sleeper applied and Asahi keeps struggling to repeatedly bridge up until she’s able to inch to the ropes for a break. Giulia drags her up by the hair again and ties her in the ropes. Another slap to the head then more embracing facewashes and slaps to the back follow.

Giulia hits the far ropes and comes running for a boot but Asahi quickly jumps out to the apron and ducks the kick. Asahi pushes Giulia’s leg away, then catches Giulia’s attempted wild punch in an armbar over the rope. After a few seconds she has to break due to the ref’s count and does so by dropping off the apron and snapping Giulia’s arm over the rope. First offense by Asahi of the match.

Asahi goes up top. Giulia catches her and throws her down, but Asahi lands in a roll and quickly gets up, turns around, and dropkicks Giulia back into the corner.

Whip attempt reversed in Giulia’s hammerlock slam position, but Asahi floats out and slaps Giulia across the face. She had that coming at this point. It’s not well received though and Giulia hit Asahi upside the head again, hairmares her down again, and steps on her head again.

Asahi’s had enough and as the ref tries to count to make Giulia get off Asahi the latter speeds up the process by biting Giulia’s leg. Well, her boot at least, but close enough. She finally gives back the abuse she’s been enduring in kind and stomps and steps on Giulia’s face a bit. Although Giulia’s a fast learner and copies Asahi’s counter technique, sinking her teeth into Asahi’s leg.

Once that’s caused some separation, she boots Asahi into the ropes. Off the far ropes and she gets the boot to the back she tried for earlier. Asahi is stretched across the bottom rope and takes more kicks to the face and choking.

Asahi catches Giulia with a faceplant though and stomps on her arm several times. Giulia tries to kick at Asahi from the mat, so Asahi drops into a cover. Giulia immediately kicks out at 1, but the motion swings her arm that Asahi had been working over straight into an armbar. Asahi transitions into a seated Fujiwara, then twists Giulia wrist to apply more pressure.

As Giulia gets closer to the ropes, Asahi suddenly changes her grip and falls backwards still holding Giulia’s arm to switch into a cross arm breaker. Giulia manages to get a foot on the ropes to escape though.

They trade several scoop slams, while slapping, kicking, and shouting at each other in defiance in between them.

After three each Giulia tries to block and counter Asahi’s fourth, but Asahi fights back out and powers through to complete the slam and covers for 2. Back up they lay into each other with forearms. Both give good shots, but the size difference means Giulia’s are more effective and knocking back Asahi more. They proceed to simultaneous forearm shots and Asahi’s eventually laid out while Giulia is affected but able to get up.

She goes over to Asahi and drags Asahi up by her hair, but Asahi drops into a surprise small package for a close 2 count. Asahi hits the ropes with a burst of energy and hits a dropkick, then jumps into a rollup for 2. Deep schoolboy rollup gets another 2.

Asahi goes up top. Giulia runs over and tries to slam her down, but Asahi climbs onto Giulia shoulder. Back towards the center she twists into kind of a crossbody from above. Cover gets 2, but Asahi keeps at repeating the cover several times without letting Giulia up for a series of successively closer 2 counts. I adore when wrestlers fight for a pin like that.

Asahi climbs to the middle turnbuckle and hits a missile dropkick, then repeats it in the opposite turnbuckle and covers for 2. The she kick and slaps at Giulia trying to pull Giulia up, but when Giulia gets to her feet she gathers herself and boots Asahi in the face.

They grab hands and keep swinging at each other with their other arms, but after several mutual blocks Giulia spins Asahi into reverse DDT position and hits a stepover drop. She ties Asahi up tight and the latter barely rolls backwards out of the pin to kickout.

She applies an STF and cranks away until Asahi’s able to drag herself to the ropes for a break. Giulia immediately goes for the hammerlock sideslam and connects, but Asahi kicks out just in time to the crowd’s delight.

Asahi knows she’s in trouble and desperately wraps her arms around the top and middle ropes, struggling to hold on as Giulia tries to pry her away with a waist lock. Some knee strikes and leveraging her bodyweight back eventually rolls Asahi way from the ropes into a facedown position in the middle of the ring. Giulia wraps her legs around the head and shoulder of her screaming, struggling opponent, then pulls back with an armbar and Asahi is forced to tap.

This was thirteen intense minutes of two rookies completely conveying that they had had quite enough of each other. They used their basics well while giving glimpses of the great potential everyone already knew they both had. A little rough around edges at times, which was not only understandable at their level but also completely appropriate for the type of raw battle they were having. There was a good deal of innovation too, and it all came together in a really compelling match. Asahi rocked as the overwhelmed underdog determined to keep clawing and scraping until the end, and after a brutal start fought back to the point of having Giulia in danger. Giulia made the perfect bully who kept at it until she got the win.

It was a treat to be reminded of how much emotion Asahi put into her matches. I’m really glad I watched this, and that’s exactly what the point of wrestling should be.

Overall these were two thoroughly captivating matches and an interesting look back into the early career of today’s Beautiful Madness.

Thanks to everyone who’s given this a read. Derailments of Thought currently updates sporadically, but more regular posts will hopefully be on the way soon.

If you enjoy the blog any support is appreciated, including shares on social media and simply continuing to read. If you happened to be inclined and able to help out monetarily please see my  Ko-fi page. Every little bit helps.

Categories
Japan Wrestling

Final Boss: Meiko Satomura’s Retirement

Recently we all said goodbye to who was in my opinion simply the best wrestler in the world.

Meiko Satomura debuted April 15, 1995, and was already a 20 year veteran when I was first fortunate enough to see her wrestle live at the end of 2015. I had of course heard of her, as she was already well on her way to being a legend, but I hadn’t seen her wrestle until then. I was in for a treat.

As it happens that show was one of the first shows I ever saw live in Japan at all, Stardom Year End Climax 2015. It was headlined by Meiko defending the Wonder of Stardom title as an outsider champion against company ace Io Shirai (now WWE’s Iyo Sky). It was a hell of an introduction to two truly incredible wrestlers.

Meiko wrestled Io 1-on-1 a total of five times (twice each before and after the above match). As luck would have I managed to attend another of their battles at Senjo’s April 2018 show. It was another excellent, engrossing encounter and it was fascinating to see how two already extremely accomplished wrestlers kept evolving in the couple years that had passed.

In retrospect it also ended up being their final singles encounter. Rather surprising given their overlap time in WWE, and the fact WWE never ran the match is insane.

Everything Meiko did in the ring had meaning, with great attention paid to the little details of her craft. So every match felt special, and battles against opponents with skill levels like Io’s were always jaw dropping.

Meiko’s intensity was always on full display. She dismantled her opponents with hard hits and unmatched mastery of wrestling fundamentals. She brought out the best in her everyone she fought and forced them to rise to her level. Japan’s “Final Boss” was the wrestler everyone wanted to test themselves against.

Some of my personal favorite matches of Meiko’s involved her facing up and coming stars. These were almost never about whether or not Meiko’s opponent could win. It was about the fight they put up.

Throughout my trips to Japan I saw a total of eight of Meiko’s matches. Her promotion, Sendai Girls (Senjo), had a schedule that didn’t always match up with when I was there. But I did see her four times in Senjo and as many in other promotions.

Five of those were singles matches, and in addition to the pair of Io matches I was lucky enough to have been at two matches of Meiko’s at TJPW (Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling) shows where a couple of that company’s top stars got to test their mettle against the legend.

The first was in August of 2017, against TJPW’s ace in waiting Miyu Yamashita. It was exactly the breakout performance I’d been waiting for from Miyu at that time, and it’s no surprise it came against someone the caliber of Satomura.

From my review of that show:
“Miyu wrestled like someone with something to prove from the very first second and really took it to Meiko, believably smothering the veteran at points with relentless offense, but just couldn’t put the larger, more experienced wrestler. Meiko of course is an artist in the ring and always a joy to watch.”

That same show was headlined by my two favorite TJPW roster members battling it out for the Princess of Princess Championship. A couple years later a personal dream match happened as the victor of that match, Reika Saiki, got her own one on one encounter with Meiko on TJPW’s 1/4/2019 show. As always with my highly anticipated matches of Meiko’s, it was exactly what I expected and hoped for.  

The fifth singles match of Meiko’s I saw live left to talk about was legend vs legend. On my first Senjo show she wrestled Ayako Hamada in a #1 contender ship match for the Sendai Girls World Title that was simply phenomenal. The two beat the hell out of each other and it was my top match of the entire trip.

Outside of the matches of hers I was lucky enough to see live, one particularly cool experience I had was the opportunity to attend was a Sendai Girls New Year’s Party fan event in early 2019. It was a fun chance to meet and hang out with Senjo wrestlers and other fans, and of course an honor to meet Satomura.

Meiko, DASH Chisako, and Millie McKenzie

Meiko could do it all, and never shied away from a fight. Moving on from stuff I personally saw live, I want to specifically point out her intergender matches. She waged war against a number of male opponents over the years, including wrestlers who would go on to appear for WWE or AEW and may be quite familiar to foreign fans such as Pete Dunne and Konosuke Takeshita. The entire feud she had alongside fellow Sendai Girls wrestlers Chihiro Hashimoto and DASH Chisako against DDT Pro’s faction All Out was wild and well worth seeking out.

Speaking of WWE, as I alluded to above Meiko regularly appeared for WWE for a while later in her career. She appeared in the Mae Young Classic 2018, making it to the semi finals with victories over Killer Kelly, Mercedes Martinez, and Lacey Lane before being eliminated by Toni Storm.

She returned in 2021 and made most of her appearances as part of the roster on NXT UK, and was NXT UK Women’s champion from 6/2021 to 9/2022.

She made a few NXT appearances early 2023 after NXT UK was wound down, and last appeared for WWE during their Japan tour in July 2024. While I lamented that WWE never ran an Iyo vs Meiko singles, they did cross paths in a WWE ring during this tour.

Meiko teamed with Bayley, Bianca Belair, and Jade Cargill to face Damage Control (Iyo, Asuka, Kairi Sane, and Dakota Kai) on two shows. On the final show of the tour Meiko challenged her previous teammate Bayley for the WWE’s Women’s Title.

Her April 2025 retirement had been announced right before that title match. Going into 2025 I wondered if one final appearance might happen at the Royal Rumble or possibly during Wrestlemania weekend (which was shortly before her final show). There were also rumors of her being in attendance of NXT Roadblock in NYC. But as it turns out the match against Bayley was her final WWE appearance in retrospect, and a championship match isn’t a bad bookend for her time there.

Meiko’s retirement tour was a gauntlet of tough opponents and challenging contests as she bid farewell to the ring. She faced DASH, Chihiro, Saori Anou, Minoru Suzuki, Yuki Arai, Nanae Takahashi, Takumi Iroha, Sareee, and a great number of other significant opponents in emotional matches. Sadly a challenge from Emi Sakura never materialized into a match, but otherwise it was a series of great farewell matches featuring near everyone fans could have hoped to see challenge the Final Boss one last time.

Meiko’s final show was on April 29, 2025 at Korakuen Hall. In the main event she teamed with Manami against Senjo ace Chihiro and another legend, Aja Kong.

Manami’s inclusion in this match was special and significant. Trained by Meiko and having debuted at the age of 13, she’s now 20 and a 7 year veteran charismatic rising star in Senjo. I saw her wrestle live early on in her career and her potential was immediately obvious.

I’d also seen her and Meiko team opposite Kong once before. On Senjo’s 1/6/2019 show The Senjo roster team of Meiko, Manami, Mika Iwata, & Cassandra Miyagi face Aja, Hiroyo Matsumoto, Alex Lee, & Mikoto Shindo. Manami was fed to the wolves, with Meiko at one point refusing a tag and demanding the relative rookie get back to the center of the ring and put up more of a fight against the monstrous Kong. She was pushed to her limits, rose to the occasion, and the audience went nuts when she eventually secured the victory for her team.

Meiko & Manami would prove successful one last time, winning Meiko’s retirement match when Meiko pinned Kong with Scorpion Rising.

But that wasn’t quite the end. Post match Aja wanted to fight alongside Meiko one last time and throws out a challenge. Five wrestlers argued about who was going to accept but the vets don’t care about the handicap. So Meiko Satomura’s true final match ended up being a five minute time limit draw in which she and Kong fended off Chihiro, Iwata, Iroha, YUNA & Senka Akatsuki (and Sakura Hirota doing Sakura Hirota things). All told Meiko’s final show was a fitting an appropriate goodbye.

Farewell Final Boss. Thanks for an incredible 30 years and best wishes in whatever comes after wrestling.

Thanks to everyone who’s given this a read. Derailments of Thought currently updates sporadically, but more regular posts should be on the way soon.

If you enjoy the blog any support is appreciated, including shares on social media and simply continuing to read. If you happened to be inclined and able to help out monetarily please see my  Ko-fi page. Every little bit helps.

Categories
Comics Film Reviews

Avengerz with a Z

SPOILER WARNING – In depth discussion of certain plot details from the Thunderbolts movie ahead. Please see my spoiler free review of it HERE instead for those who haven’t seen the movie yet.

Last chance to bail before the spoiler wall is fully breached.

With a few weeks passed since its opening and a second viewing under my belt, I wanted to revisit the Thunderbolts movie to share a few specific thoughts on its approach and execution.

Going into Thunderbolts there were a number of things I anticipated. The early movie casualty was no big surprise, both due to expected meta narrative reasons of needing to establish the stakes when such dangerous people were thrown into proximity and from a certain character’s notable absence in key trailer scenes.

But it was well executed and while the deceased character might have had some untapped potential Ghost was shown to be on the threat level of her other more well established teammates-to-be by taking out the Taskmaster. Something being predictable doesn’t necessarily take away from the impact (also I’m sure not everyone saw it coming).

“You’re not alone.”

What I wasn’t expecting however were some of the most prominent undertones and themes of the film. I was ready for an action movie anchored by intersecting quests for redemption. What floored me was how it was equally about loss, depression, and dealing with the Void within (lame pun intended). The writers and actors dug into the emotional core of where each character was at this point in time in a compellingly realistic manner, and the movie shines because of it.

The entire cast, from main stars to all the supporting roles, was fantastic. Florence Plugh and Lewis Pullman in particular were incredible as Yelena and Bob. Yelena is in an extremely vulnerable mental state, which Plugh brilliantly conveys through body language, a disheveled appearance, and superb acting. Thunderbolts is both an ensemble piece and entirely her story simultaneously, and the dichotomy wouldn’t work with a lesser performance.

Bob isn’t fully aware nor in control of himself, and is constantly switching between charmingly docile and effortlessly threatening. Pullman nailed the intricacies of the role. In the pivotal establishing scene for Sentry when he first fights the team the nonchalance with which he wiped them out was terrifying.

One of the most gut wrenching scenes of the movie involves Yelena and Bob simply looking at each other as a couple of overheard sentences from a mostly obscured memory lay bare the trauma of Bob’s past. All Yelena can say is “I’m sorry,” but that simply gesture of sympathy is more than Bob had before and was desperately needed. It was impressive handling of heavy subject matter with the movie’s ultimate lesson that it’s ok and often necessary to open up to and rely on others beginning to take form.

While more connected to the external world happenings, Julia Louis-Dreyfus’s great performance as Valentina Allegra de Fontaine was also crucial. There were a surprising number of important moments that hinged on her non verbal reactions to events and information. If she’d been less than genuine in any the multitude of times the camera lingered on her close up to convey the import of developments the movie’s atmosphere would’ve been completely destroyed.

Wyatt Russell’s John Walker was both an insufferable jerk and a well meaning professional deep down. David Harbour’s Red Guardian had to be an entertaining but not obnoxious buffoon 90% of the time and still believably heartfelt and wise when it’s time to have real conversations with his daughter. And so on.

The movie had more nuance and depth than other MCU movies, contributing to it easily being one of my all time favorites.

In a great touch the post credit scene ties it all together by jumping ahead and showing a short, simple glimpse at the everyday status quo of the New Avengers. A little bit of banter shows how comfortable they’ve become with each other and sets up several threads for future movies in a lighthearted manner. Great stuff.

“We’re just disposable delinquents.”

Changing gears a bit to finish this up, I’d like to present a little history lesson. I’m about to dig into spoilers within spoilers, so consider warning given. That said the concept to be discussed is the punchline to issue #1 of a 25 plus year old comic so is certainly fair game.

Like the vast majority of MCU movies, Thunderbolts adapts elements from a number of stories and eras to present something that both honors the source material while fitting in to a new continuity. Practically nothing is a slavish, direct adaptation from any single comic.

The origin of the Thunderbolts name in the movie is a throwaway joke, but it didn’t bother me. However it came up, and however brief it was, the name felt appropriate and it’s inclusion meant something to me.

The movie draws from later incarnations of the titular team, with members from those eras. I haven’t read a lot from those versions, but the movie concept always felt more like Dark Avengers or New Avengers to me so the end twist was no real shock. But again it was done well and served as a perfect payoff to the journey our unlikely heroes went through.

Being as I was an avid reader and huge fan of the original comic by Kurt Busiek and Mark Bagley, I thought it might be interesting to highlight the difference for those who are unfamiliar. Because in a certain sense the movie skipped some steps.

The concept of the original Thunderbolts comic wasn’t about thrown together villains and anti-heroes overcoming their pasts to be better. It became that in a way, and certain incarnations over the years embodied that more, but there was a fundamental difference in their original concept.

The Thunderbolts started as a team of villains running a con. At the end of the first issue of their comic it was revealed that the new superhero team that came out of nowhere were full on bad guys pretending to be heroes under fake identities to provide cover for their schemes. They were headed up by Baron Zemo (disguised as Citizen V), whose nefarious plan slowly went up in smoke as a majority of his assembled villains decided that there might be something to the thought of being heroes for real after all.

This kind of duplicitous beginning wouldn’t have worked with the chosen movie lineup, and the direction they went made much more sense given what had come before. A bunch of adrift operatives with questionable pasts but no real malice in their motivations coming together after being betrayed allowed for the above mentioned emotional undertones to be featured in a way that wouldn’t have landed if they started as villains trying to bamboozle the public.

Zemo was rumored to be originally planned for the movie, and Daniel Brühl’s been great in his appearances, but his role would have had to be totally rethought. He’s a callback to a version of the team that this incarnation had no resemblance to, and he wouldn’t have fit particularly well with this concept. Especially with them landing as the New Avengers at the end. Given how well it all went I’m personally fine with them not trying to not trying to shoehorn him in, even if having him involved would have been a nod to the original comics.

That’s it for today’s installment of Avengers with a Z. Remember disposable delinquents, “maybe we can be the ones that are coming.”

Thanks to everyone who’s given this a read. Derailments of Thought currently updates sporadically, but more regular posts should be on the way soon.

If you enjoy the blog any support is appreciated, including shares on social media and simply continuing to read. If you happened to be inclined and able to help out monetarily please see my  Ko-fi page. Every little bit helps.

Categories
Cards Japan Wrestling

Collecting Spotlight: BBM Women’s Wrestling 2025 Card Set

BBM releases yearly card sets for a variety of sports, and for a great many years I’ve been collecting their joshi wrestling sets. Here we’ll take a look at the details and differences in their 2025 set.

Known as True Heart until 2020 and simply Women’s Wrestling since then, these yearly sets focus on women wrestlers from all across Japan.

Historically most joshi wrestling companies and freelancers participated, with the main exception being World Wonder Ring Stardom. Stardom roster members have not appeared in these sets for over a decade (Stardom has done occasional card based products on their own in the past). Actwres girl’Z also stopped participating a few years back with their classification switch from a wrestling company to an entertainment company.

This year however there seems to be quite a few more wrestlers absent. The T-Hearts roster as well as some notable freelancers are missing from the set. Also Dream Star Fighting Marigold, the new company run by the founder and former owner of Stardom, isn’t included.

BBM did put out a statement talking about production constraints, and that this year scheduling issues led to some regional wrestlers not making it into the set.

However the base set still features 154 wrestlers with an additional 2 tag team and 3 announcer cards. It’s wild that the set is still pretty massive even with the absences, and while having some favorites missing is less than ideal there being around 200 active women’s wrestlers in Japan and the depth it brings to wrestling is a good problem to have.

Assortment of Kira insert cards.

Keeping with the packing distribution changes made last year, there are 7 cards per pack and 18 packs per box. One of the cards in each pack is one of the 24 “Kira” chase cards, shiny cards which feature a gold facsimile auto of the depicted wrestler.

When there are chase cards in a pack other than the Kira cards, they replace one of the base cards that would otherwise be in the pack. So there are still 7 cards per pack total.

Assortment of SP insert cards.
Assortment of “secret” cards.

The other chase subsets in the 2025 set are a 9 card foil subset (SP1-SP9), and 13 “secret” chase cards. Secret versions have the same numbering as the base card of whoever is depicted. So for example TJPW’s Mifu Ashida (formerly of Ice Ribbon) is card number 008 in the base set. So her secret card is also numbered 008. Only 13 wrestlers have secret variants so the numbering on them jumps around.

The secret subset this year features “plain clothes” photos of certain wrestlers in everyday attire. The base cards and other subsets of course feature them wearing their wrestling gear.

I’m happy to see the return of the plain clothes cards. The last several years of secret inserts have mostly been alternate poses/backgrounds of the wrestlers in their gear. Those cards are nice themselves, but this subset stands out more and seems more fitting for the alternate/secret subset theme. The selection of wrestlers was a nice mix and they got to show off their personal style and personalities.

In my anecdotal experience this year there tends to be 3 SP foil and 2-3 secret cards per box.

Yuki Arai base cards.

There also is a special, unusual “secret base card” variant showcasing a second set of Yuki Arai’s gear. Her signature cards (more on those to come) are split between the two outfits. She’s the only person with a variant base card. This is an attempt to do something a little different/special within the set, and if it’s well received it may be done in future sets as well.

I’m a little mixed on it personally. I don’t mind having a second card for her, and can get behind the idea of having a couple special base cards that aren’t rare chase cards. That said I’d lose the secret numbering for it. Having them both be card 012 is unnecessary complicated for sorting and collecting (the plain clothes cards are a different matter in how distinct they are). Label them 12A and 12B at least if not just giving them separate number in the set. All that said about a minor technical point, both her base cards look cool. Giving them two different background colors to stand out was a nice touch.

The yearly base set varies in size each year to reflect new wrestlers, retirements, cards for tag teams, and so on. As mentioned are a lot of joshi wrestlers active in Japan and these are not small sets. The 2025 base set consists of 159 cards (plus the Arai variant), which is about a box and a half of base cards (if no duplicates are drawn).

Sayuri Namba and Shino Suzuki

One of the most sought after aspects of these sets are the randomly inserted signature cards autographed by the wrestlers. The last couple years these cards have been designed with colored borders down the sides on an otherwise white background likely to draw attention to the wrestlers and the signatures (and to make them distinct from insert autos). Personally I like the simplicity and the look of them, but some collectors prefer the colorful backgrounds of past sets.

The odds seem to be just a touch lower than last year (last year was itself a bit down from previous years). I’ve generally seen 3 autographs per box, with the secret sig cards I drew being a 4th auto in the box. The boxes I’ve seen with a cheki only had 2 base sig cards with it.

Tsukka and Yappy
Kyuri and Kirari Wakana
Totoro Satsuki and Manami Katsu

The signature cards are numbered and there are usually 100 each corresponding to the base set for the wrestlers who did autographs. A majority of the wrestlers in the set do signature cards, but not everyone.

Like last year nearly all of the base signature cards this year are on card autographs. The only stickers I’ve noticed so far were for Hikaru Shida, who is based on the US, and on the Magenta tag team dual auto card where proper spacing is paramount. As usual the insert autos use stickers, presumably for design reasons. The stickers are transparent and barely noticeable, even if you know to look for them.

Wakana Uehara secret version signature card.

As implied above both the secret and SP foil subsets have associated signature cards. Unlike past years, the foil autos are not short printed compared with the base autos.

Base, secret, and foil autos are all generally /100 now. A couple wrestlers have slightly lower base autos numbers, and Yuki Arai and Haruka Umesaki’s foil autos are a bit lower at /85 and /74 respectively.

The insert autos have fully colored backgrounds, which nicely sets them apart from the white backed secret insert subset those correspond to as well as the white with colored borders designs on the base autos.

There are also a few super rare /5 signature cards featuring Suzume, Mizuki, Yuki Arai, Sareee, and Ram Kaicho.

One of my absolute favorite signature cards ever is in this set. Maika Ozaki is a powerhouse and has a cool tag team entrance pose she does where she lifts her partner (and sometimes partners plural) up onto her shoulder. She’s done it most often with her Gekokujo partner Kyuri and her SPiCEAP partner Tae Honma.

This year SPiCEAP got a dual auto signature card, and BBM oriented it vertically and designed it almost as if it was two stacked up horizontal sig cards so that their pose could be featured. It’s stunning and easily one of the coolest cards they’ve done.

Kirari Wakana

Some of the most distinctive chase items in these sets are chekis: mini polaroids of the wrestlers signed and sometimes decorated by them. There are generally 10 for each wrestler who does them (not everyone in the base set does). A few wrestlers are featured in different outfits and have two distinct /10 versions this year.

These are unique collectibles, and some of the harder hits to pull at roughly 2 per case (1 in 6 boxes). They’re a fun additional and some of the centerpieces of my personal collection.

Emi Sakura and Kaho Hiromi

So that’s it for this year’s BBM Women’s Wrestling release. I wish everyone good luck with their pulls and pickups.

Sayaka

Thanks to everyone who’s given this a read. Derailments of Thought currently updates sporadically, but more regular posts should be on the way soon.

If you enjoy the blog any support is appreciated, including shares on social media and simply continuing to read. If you happened to be inclined and able to help out monetarily please see my  Ko-fi page. Every little bit helps.

Categories
Japan Reviews Video Games Wrestling

ChocoPro Happy Festival Video Game Review

ChocoPro, formerly Gatoh Move, is a Japanese pro-wrestling company based in Ichigaya Japan. Founded by near 30 year wrestling veteran Emi Sakura, ChocoPro embraces and embodies Sakura’s core belief that wrestling should be fun for both the audience and the wrestlers.

For the last couple of years a ChocoPro themed mobile game has been in development, and today the anticipation came to an end with its release.

Having evolved from a joshi (women’s) wrestling company ChocoPro’s core roster is primarily women, but they are a fully intergender company featuring a number of both men and women wrestlers on every show. As such the ChocoPro wrestlers in this game include both women and men.

ChocoPro Happy Festival is a collection of 9 mini-games each featuring one of ChocoPro’s wrestlers. Wrestlers featured include reigning Super Asia Champion Mei Suruga, Sayaka, Chie Koishikawa, Tokiko Kirihara (Otoki), Sayaka Obihiro (Obi), Emi Sakura, Miya Yotsuba, Baliyan Akki, and DDT Pro’s Masahiro Takahashi (Masa)*. There might also be a special guest appearance lurking about.

Adorable chibi versions of the wrestlers are used on the games. The visuals are gorgeous. The chibis capture the essence of the wrestlers, the backgrounds and details are great, and everything is colorful and vibrant.

The games are straight forward, as expected and appropriate for mini-games, but still amusing and addictive. There’s a nice variety of game types included. Three are side scrollers, two are stop the gauge games, one’s a matching game, two are reaction games, and the last a speed puzzle.

Thematically they’re fantastic. From Mei running along jumping around collecting apples to Sayaka elbowing dummies out of the ring for distance to feeding Her Highness cake and so on each game was clearly carefully designed with great knowledge and respect for the subjects.

Instrumental versions of familiar songs from Gatoh Move and ChocoPro through the years have been adapted to be used for the various menu screens, and each wrestler’s stage features their entrance music. Music is so closely intertwined with a wrestler/promotion’s presentation that it’s inclusion in something like this feels necessary, and was done excellently.

There’s effort and care visible in every aspect of the game. Wonderful little details, like glasses piling up around Masa as you serve him more and more beer during his game or the various levels of happiness or disappointment the wrestler has after the game depending on how you did are great touches. The loading screens during installation are cool profiles of the included wrestlers (which I wish there was a way to view on demand – there’s thankfully no loading screens needed during play after the game’s installed).

Speaking of Masa’s game, it’s likely the reason for the 17+ years old rating this has in the Apple App Store. There’s really nothing else in here beside the alcohol inclusion that would push this above an all ages rating.

The other half of the package here is the rewards system. Choco Points earned in the mini-games can be redeemed for icons and photo tickets. Photo tickets will randomly unlock one of 300 photos. Unlocked photos can be viewed in the photo album, as well as chosen to be featured on home screen. Photos include action and posed shots of ChocoPro wrestlers.

To be honest I’m mostly a console gamer and don’t play/buy mobile games often. So I don’t have much frame of reference on the $12 price point for a mini-game collection of this type. I will say that this is well made and is a wonderful pickup for fans of the company, and for me was definitely worth getting.

It’s really cool to see this game go from concept to fully released, and it turned out great. ChocoPro Happy Festival is a love letter to the company, and an easy recommendation.

——-

*It would feel like an omission to talk about Masa in this post without mentioning that he is currently out with a major neck injury. He recently was released from ICU and is starting rehabilitation. Wishing him a speedy and complete recovery.

Thanks to everyone who’s given this a read. 2024 was a sporadic return for this blog and I hope to sustain more regular updates going forward in 2025. Derailments of Thought currently updates once to twice a week.

If you enjoy the blog any support is appreciated, including shares on social media and simply continuing to read. If you happened to be inclined and able to help out monetarily please see my  Ko-fi page. Every little bit helps.

Categories
Comics Film Reviews

Justice, Like Lightning: Thunderbolts Review

So the tagline I used in the title has nothing to do with the version of the Thunderbolts in the movie. But I read the original Thunderbolts comics by Kurt Busiek and Mark Bagley as they came out so have a soft spot for the original concept and couldn’t resist the callback.

I enjoy the idea of taking secondary, often flawed characters from various stories and putting them together to see how they play off each other in general. And the entire lineup here were interesting in their previous MCU appearances with a lot of potential for fleshing out. Pretty much everyone in the movie was someone I was excited to see more of.

So I went into Thunderbolts with high levels of anticipation. I’m inclined to say it was everything I hoped for, but in actuality it was a good deal more than that.

I expected to love it, and I did. I also got the fun interactions and solid action I wanted. On top of all that though, I got a compelling, character driven story that was engaging from start to finish and made this movie an instant favorite.

No spoilers here but I had figured some things out ahead of time. Both in concept and in plot details. But there were also a couple surprises, as well as some things I expected done in unexpected ways. I really have no complaints about how anything played out.

A couple characters were a touch under utilized, but they still made the most of their roles and in an ensemble movie centered by a few key character journeys a few people were going to have to be supporting cast.

As a big comic reader going back decades I’ve been mostly at least peripherally aware of the characters we’ve seen and the big story beats in play for the previous MCU movies. The way things have been adapted to build naturally from how prior movies went nothing is ever slavish to the source material, but I often have the gist of some important points before I see the movie.

In contrast this was one of the first Marvel movies that prominently featured a character I know next to nothing about. It was interesting having no frame of reference for a change. While I can’t speak on how faithful it was to the source, I liked what the movie did with them.

There are SO many interesting implications of the end credits. Won’t say more, but I’m psyched as to where things go from here.

I ended up seeing this in 3D based on availability as to when I could see the movie. Last 3D movie for me was probably pre-pandemic. It was well done. It didn’t feel like the 3D was constantly calling attention to itself, but at the same time there were moments where the 3D made certain shots breathtaking.

Thunderbolts was fantastic. Well acted, looked great, strong plot, and on and on. If at all interested go see it as soon as you can.

Thanks to everyone who’s given this a read. 2024 was a sporadic return for this blog and I hope to sustain more regular updates going forward in 2025. Derailments of Thought currently updates once to twice a week.

If you enjoy the blog any support is appreciated, including shares on social media and simply continuing to read. If you happened to be inclined and able to help out monetarily please see my  Ko-fi page. Every little bit helps.

Categories
Art Cards Comics Japan TV Wrestling

Collecting Spotlight: Metal Trading Cards

Cabinet of Curiosities Treasure metal variant by Yuriko Shirou.

When thinking of trading cards, small collectible pieces of cardboard/card stock immediately spring to mind. But in modern collecting there are a variety of cards that break the mold a bit and are made from other materials.

Let’s take a look at the interesting case of trading cards made from metal.

Last month I wrote about printing plates, thin metal relics from the card creation process turned into collectables. In contrast here I’m highlighting actual cards made for various sets that are themselves made of metal.

One other side note before delving too deep: there are card sets and subsets that use “metal” as a descriptor, such as the Skybox Metal Universe series. It’s a theming/branding thing and the vast majority of cards in those sets are still card stock. Those are different from what I’m featuring here, which again are cards made of metal.

Morrigan metal AP from Classic Mythology III by Juri H. Chinchilla.

There are two main types of metal cards I’d like to showcase, with some subcategories. Then at the end of this post I’ll share a few tangentially related cards.

First up are the straightforward case of printed metal cards. These are exactly what one would think of as trading cards, simply printed on metal instead of card stock. They are at a minimum a bit thicker than both standard cards and the thin metal printing plates previously referenced.

While metal cards are inherently more sturdy than standard cardboard cards, proper storage and protection can have some additional things to be wary of. For example stacking regular cards is usually fine for temporary sorting, etc. But metal cards can easily scratch each other if care isn’t taken and as such while it may seem counter intuitive it’s even more important to get them immediately sleeved and protected than normal.

Like other special inserts metal cards can be variants of base cards or their own unique subsets, and vary greatly in terms of rarity and design.

A great example of straight up base set variants are the metal cards featured in Iconic Creations’ sets. These cards are identical to their base set counterparts outside of the material they’re printed on. There’s more gloss to the finish on these than Iconic Creations’ base cards, and the hues end up a touch more subdued.

Perna Studios also does some great metal chase subset versions of their base, chase, and promo cards.

By Juri H. Chinchilla.

While some metal cards have both the front and back printed like their cardboard counterparts, like those done by Perna Studios, Iconic Creations and some other publishers use stickers for the backs on metal cards.

The metallurgy subsets from Marvel Masterpieces are fantastic versions of the base cards from the same sets. The designs on these vary slightly from the base, as the border is more filled in on these and as such the images are slightly cropped compared to the base and other variants.

Planet Metal subsets from the previously mentioned SkyBox Metal Universe series (made nowadays by Upper Deck) are an unusual case. In some sets, such as the pictured cards above from Spider-Man Metal and X-Men Metal, they are a metal card chase subset. In others, such as AEW Metal, they are die cut cardboard.

There have been metal AEW cards from Upper Deck in other sets, such as the Full Gear and Chair Shots subsets from AEW Spectrum.

Metal cards can themselves have variants within a set. For example the die cut oval shaped metal cards from Upper Deck’s Shang-Chi set had rarer gold versions, and their logo shaped die cut metal cards had rarer blue variants.

Like “regular” trading cards, special subsets of metal cards are elevated with autographs. Cards may be signed by the athletes or actors featured, by the artist for art based cards, or creators related to the characters or stories referenced for comic related cards.

Often signed metal cards are specific, unique subsets. Although they can also be direct variations on non-autographed metal cards within the same set.

Pictured below is a Black Metal Logo Die Cut card from Upper Deck’s Shang-Chi set featuring Meng’er Zhang as Xialing next to the autographed version featuring the same design and image. Both were available exclusively as achievements via Upper Deck online purchasing and trading platform e-Pack.

Given the nature of the material metal card autos generally feature autographs affixed via sticker. But occasionally there can be direct autographs if done carefully with the right type of markers. The Stainless Stars subsets from Panini’s WWE Impeccable sets are great examples of autos done directly on metal cards.

Meiko Satomura and Io Shirai (now Iyo Sky) blue Stainless Stars cards.

The other major type of metal cards I’d like to spotlight is metal sketch cards.

Metal APs from Perna Studios’ Elementals and Hallowe’en Witchcraft sets by Stacey Kardash.
Metal sketch cards/APs by Achilleas Kokkinakis from Classic Mythology III.

Like sketch cards done on card stock these are individualized pieces of art created on the cards. One side of the metal card is prepared with a surface meant for drawing directly on it.

Metal AP from Hallowe’en Witchcraft by Tony Perna.

In past sets Perna Studios had a small number of these metal sketch cards inserted in packs. For those sets artists often had a metal AP (Artist Proof) or two (in addition to their card stock ones) that they could accept commissions for within the content guidelines of the set.

Metal sketch cards/APs by Alexis Sarah Hill and Craig Yeung.

The combination of unique creations on unusual card material made these truly stunning pieces of art.

To wrap up here are a few metal related cards that aren’t exactly either of the types highlighted above, but do involve metal, are all pretty awesome, and are worth a look.

One subset that’s both cool and kind of hilarious is the silver bar cards from Panini Impeccable. There’s just straight up a 1 troy ounce mini silver bar in the card. The card itself is card stock surrounding the bar, but this definitely fits in this feature on metal use in trading cards.

All of the cards in this section are thicker than what most people think of for trading cards. In this case considerably so, as these monsters are 3/8 inch thick.

A really nice looking way to incorporate metal are framed cards. The card itself is still card stock, but it’s encased in a metal border (almost always gold colored in the versions I’ve seen).

Finally here’s an example of a metal card where an image is cast on it rather than printed. The below bronze Psylocke card is a tribute to Joe Jusko’s work on Marvel Masterpieces ’92 and was a reward as part of a Kickstarter for an art book featuring Joe’s images from that set.

That does it for this spotlight on a small sample of the interesting ways metal is used in trading cards. Best of luck with wherever your personal collecting tendencies take you.

Thanks to everyone who’s given this a read. 2024 was a sporadic return for this blog and I hope to sustain more regular updates going forward in 2025. Derailments of Thought currently updates once to twice a week.

If you enjoy the blog any support is appreciated, including shares on social media and simply continuing to read. If you happened to be inclined and able to help out monetarily please see my  Ko-fi page. Every little bit helps.

Categories
Japan Wrestling

Gatoh Move Match Review: Mei Suruga vs Yoshiko

Gatoh Move: The Last Heisei Shin-Kiba Gatoh
March 22, 2019

An interesting match recently popped up in my YouTube recommendations that I forgot existed and was somehow completely unaware it was ever aired.

In 2019, current reigning Super Asia Champion Mei Suruga was a rookie with under a year in wrestling. She was a prodigy who only trained a few months before debuting in Gatoh Move (now ChocoPro), and was already showing skills far beyond her limited experience.

Fair or not, Yoshiko will always be best known for the incident with Act Yasukawa. But a lot has changed in a decade. Act has publicly forgiven Yoshiko and has amazingly returned to wrestling related activities. By 2019 Yoshiko was fully back in wrestling and had been working with a number of companies who all trusted her enough to often be wrestling their rookies and up and coming stars. See this post from a couple years back for a look at my personal thoughts on the more recent state of things and how my opinion on Yoshiko changed over time.

I’d seen excellent matches of hers in the couple years before this match against the likes of Mio Momono and the dearly missed Asahi. She was the perfect imposing monster to test one’s mettle against. Yoshiko is currently on hiatus and hasn’t wrestled in a couple years, but to my knowledge still intends to return someday.

So with the stage set for Gatoh’s super rookie against SEAdLINNNG’s gatekeeper, away we go.

Mei Suruga vs Yoshiko

First (and thus far only) singles contest between these two.

This is early in Gatoh Move’s YouTube offerings, featuring commentary by Pumi Boonytud.

Mei was trained by Emi Sakura and a protege of Aoi Kizuki. Mei’s 20 here but as usual looks younger.

Yoshiko is one of the pillars of SEAdLINNNG, and was in-between tag title reigns and a year and change away from her Beyond the Sea championship reign.

Single camera angle for this video, as it’s all hard cam footage.

Yoshiko doesn’t come out of the corner for Mei’s handshake offer. Mei responds by getting the fans to cheer for Yoshiko. The stoic one is unamused.

Lockup to start. Yoshiko easily overpowers Mei into the ropes, but the Apple Girl switches positions and lays in forearms. Yoshiko ends that in short order by grabbing Mei’s hair and pulling her out to the center of the ring.

The pace quickens as Mei ducks a lariat but then has her dropkick dodged. Mei locks hands with Yoshiko and goes for her rope jump assisted arm drag, but Yoshiko’s too solid and doesn’t budge. She pulls Mei up and just tosses her away.

A Mei Irish whip attempt does nothing, and is reversed. Mei tries a running crossbody off the ropes, but is caught and dropped into a hard back breaker.

With Mei face down near the ropes, Yoshiko simply stands on her. Yoshiko’s considerable size advantage is making quite a difference so far. Jumping double knees to Mei’s back. More standing on Mei then another knee drop leads to a 2 count.

Mei’s unceremoniously thrown into the corner, then hair tossed out. Prone in the opposite corner she’s on the receiving end of numerous face wash kicks. Yoshiko sprints to the opposite ropes and hits a hard running version.

Yoshiko hairmares Mei into the center, then lands a huge kick to Mei’s back followed by one to front for a 2 count. I winced at these.

Yoshiko controls with a hold pulling back on Mei’s arms with her feet planted in Mei’s back. She shifts into body scissors, which gives Mei an opening to do an awesome counter roll backward over Yoshiko into her own body scissors.

Mei tries her signature rolling pinning combination, but Yoshiko spreads her legs to remain stable. So the clever Apple starts a Yoshiko chant again and forces Yoshiko to move her arms in time with the audience chanting her name. The distraction causes just enough of a lapse on Yoshiko’s part for Mei to get her roll for 2. But Mei pays for it when Yoshiko lands an Earthquake splash to Mei’s back. A brief Camel Clutch is abandoned after Yoshiko pulls on Mei’s face, then Yoshiko adds some dismissive kicks for insult to injury.

With both back up Mei tries to start a strike exchange but Yoshiko counters with an overwhelming flurry instead and sweeps Mei back down. Mei gets her arms up to block a running kick but Yoshiko just kicks right through the block. This is a masterful matchup of technique and speed against size and raw power.

Mei dodges the senton, then hits a flurry of five dropkicks. She grabs Yoshiko’s head and calls for her Totsugeki (battering ram), but is shrugged off and sent towards the corner. Undeterred Mei kicks off the middle turnbuckle for momentum into a dropkick.

With Yoshiko down Mei turns her over and goes for a bow and arrow. It doesn’t work too well on her larger opponent so she switches sides. Still no go. Mei stomps on Yoshiko’s back, then hits ropes and rolls… into her “cute on purpose” taunt right in front of Yoshiko’s face. That’s a bold move.

Yoshiko is predictably annoyed, and takes a shot at Mei but the latter is too quick and avoids the wild swing. Both up to their feet and Mei baits her into a charge then ducks into a drop toehold. With Yoshiko down and stunned Mei is now able to complete the bow and arrow.

Mei releases after a few seconds though, shaking her legs out from the strain on her knees from supporting a much larger opponent. Totsugeki to the turnbuckle connects this time.

Perhaps a tad too confident after some sustained offense Mei attempts to slam Yoshiko. Yeah not so much. Yoshiko counters into a slam attempt of her own, but Mei pushes off while in the air and lands on feet. Mei hits the ropes but runs right into a beautiful tilt a whirl backbreaker by Yoshiko.

Boston crab by Yoshiko is quickly transitioned into a deep half crab. Yoshiko holds on to it for a while as Mei tries to fight to the ropes. When she gets close Yoshiko tries to stop her by twisting Mei around and grabbing her arm, but Mei makes it with other arm. Mei fought for every inch there.

Yoshiko hits a hard lariat against the ropes on Mei, followed by a senton for 2.

Apparent choke bomb is countered into a slick forward cradle for 2. Scissor rollup gets another 2. Mei’s hanging in there and forcing some close kickouts.

Off the ropes Mei gets caught in samoan drop position, but fights down to try a schoolboy. Yoshiko tries to counter with another Earthquake splash, but Mei scurries out of the way. A dropkick leads to the propellor clutch for 2.

Mei hits ropes, and ducks a lariat, but is DESTROYED by a second attempt coming back the other way. And just like that it’s over. Yoshiko pins Mei for the victory.

Excellent match that was more competitive than I might have expected if I wasn’t previously familiar with both super rookie Mei and how good Yoshiko is in this role against smaller underdogs. This match was exactly what I expected, and I mean that as a huge compliment.

Watching older Mei matches is a reminder of how quickly and intuitively she got pro-wrestling. She looked fantastic here for under a year experience. Yoshiko makes great imposing opponent and their competitive chemistry was unreal. Great stuff.

This match is available to watch for free on ChocoPro’s YouTube Channel.

Thanks to everyone who’s given this a read. 2024 was a sporadic return for this blog and I hope to have more regular updates going forward in 2025. Derailments of Thought currently updates on Wednesday and Saturday.

If you enjoy the blog any support is appreciated, including shares on social media and simply continuing to read. If you happened to be inclined and able to help out monetarily please see my  Ko-fi page. Every little bit helps.