Tag: AEW

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Wrestling

AEW Match Review: Yuka Sakazaki vs Mercedes Monรฉ

AEW Dynamite January 29, 2025

Yuka Sakazaki is a longtime favorite wrestler of mine, and since her departure from TJPW in December of 2023 to move to the US and be a full time member of the AEW roster I’ve been waiting for her to be spotlighted properly.

She was out with injury for a while in the middle of 2024, but came back last Fall in a short feud with AEW Women’s Champion Mariah May. Her absence on AEW programming since is odd as it’s not due to lack of availability, but regardless it’s nice to see her back and in a high profile match that might allow her to really remind the AEW audience what she’s capable of.

Mercedes Monรฉ is of course the former Sasha Banks and has had a strangle hold on the TBS Championship since winning it last May.

Super excited for this matchup and glad it’s getting the main event slot it deserves. Going to try a live reaction, so away we go…

TBS Title Match: Mercedes Monรฉ (c) vs Yuka Sakazaki

No one going into this has any illusions that Yuka can win here (although I think she should – a surprise shakeup on that level could create a lot of interest). So it’ll be interesting to see if they can get the audience into things enough to bite on near falls. They’re both certainly capable of it if this gets proper time.

Not looking good for that off the bat though as AEW plays a seemingly endless stream of recaps and promos before finally starting the main event at 10 minutes to the hour. Then they recap Yuka’s contendership match victory over her entrance, really diminishing her status as a challenger.

Counter wrestling to start, which is completely talked over by commentary to hype a Death Rider match on Collision.

Mercedes does her CEO dance taunt after a shoulder tackle, so Yuka returns the favor on both counts. Her mimicking the dance was amusing got a nice pop.

Announcers convey a 20 min time limit and say they’ll stay with it past the show end time if need be.

Yuka does a truncated rolling cradle for two after just a couple spins. Mercedes seemed a little off and didn’t roll with it quite right.

Mercedes NAILED Yuka with a Meteora on the floor after moving out of the way of an intended Yuka dive. Nice sequence showing the champ’s intelligence, but they really should have Yuka hit her big dive at some point.

We go to a commercial break 4 minutes in, that lasts as long as the match had been so far. Lousy way to let the main event build.

After a solid strike exchange Yuka counters a powerbomb into a hurricanrana.

A Meteora in the corner is dodged, and just as they’re starting to heat up momentum stalls as it takes Yuka two tries to do her springboard. Looks like the ropes might have been looser than she expected. Mercedes sold being dazed well and Yuka recovered quickly and hit a nice springboard on try two.

Yuka nails a brainbuster and her sliding elbow for 2.

The announcers try to sell possible ring rust for Mercedes as she “doesn’t have ring reps in” since she hasn’t wrestled since January 5th, but Yuka only had one match in that same timeframe so it doesn’t really track.

Monรฉ hits the Three Amigos for 2. Then generates big time boos for walking back and forth across on Yuka. Yuka catches her on the turnbuckles with elbow strikes when she goes up though and hits a superplex for 2.

Magical Merry Go Round countered into a Moneymaker attempt, which is countered and Yuka level Monรฉ with a kick. Magical Merry Go Round gets 2.

Mercedes comes right back with a backstabber into the Statement Maker, but Yuka survives by countering into a rollup for 2.

Big rolling elbow from Yuka dazes the champ. Shortly afterwards she catches Mercedes in the full body rollup that beat Deonna in the 4-way. Mercedes escapes at 2.

Mercedes gets tied up in the ropes and Yuka nails a SPIDER GERMAN to make the crowd start to come alive. Magical Girl Splash eats the knees however and the champ gets 2.

Powerbomb followed by the Money Maker retains for Monรฉ.

Ends at 7 minutes past the hour (as per me watching on Max). Six minutes post commercials for about a 14 minute match total with 10 shown.

Solid if unremarkable match overall. Wasn’t bad and I was getting quite into it by the end, but it wasn’t what it could have and should have been. The highlights were fun and I always enjoy watching Yuka wrestle but it didn’t all quite feel properly connected. I’m harping on the time but a few more minutes to let things breath and allow for proper transitions between big moves would have made a huge difference. It ended up as glimmers of a great 20-25 minute outing shoved into 10 minutes of air time.

This was Yuka’s challenge to Mariah all over again where AEW didn’t do much to really get the crowd buying Yuka could win. And again a heel beat her squeaky clean. That said getting the main event spot at all does mean something. She did get a good reaction to her signature stuff too, so hopefully she earned a few more fans. I also hope AEW won’t forget she’s on the roster for four months again. Fingers crossed.

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.

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 Wrestling

Imagined Reality: The Art of Veronica O’Connell

Psylocke sketch card by Veronica O’Connell

I’ve had a surprisingly difficult time finding the proper words to open this look at the work of a truly special artist. There’s something indescribable that jumps out of Veronica O’Connell’s art and demands attention. So I decided to let the stunning depiction of Psylocke above make the first impression.

Ghost Spider, Spider-Woman, & Silk AP by Veronica O’Connell

I honestly don’t recall when I first saw Veronica’s work, but I do remember being blown away with her versions of Marvel characters and immediately putting her art on my collection list.

There is an incredible balance of realism and the fantastic in her illustrations. Her takes on comic characters simultaneously look like they could step right off into the real world while still feeling appropriately larger than life.

The qualities that initially caught my eye are on full display in the above gorgeous Spider-Women triptych, which is mind boggling. All the art I’ll be showing in this blog is directly drawn on blank trading cards. So each of the three characters shown above (Spider-Gwen, Spider-Woman, and Silk) is drawn on a third of a 3.5″ x 2.5″ work area. The detail and impact she’s able to achieve under such conditions is phenomenal.

There is so much style infused into Veronica’s work. Her use of color and lighting is exquisite and a big part of what makes her art so eye catching. It also underlies her emphasis of mood and atmosphere, making the same subjects feel different in different pieces depending on what she’s chosen to convey while retaining their core essence.

I have multiple cards by her of some of my favorite comic heroines, including Psylocke, Emma Frost, and Spider-Gwen, and the contrast between equally captivating depictions of the same character is fascinating to see.

Spider-Gwen PSC by Veronica O’Connell

My discovery of Veronica’s art through her Marvel work eventually led to the great opportunity to get some Personal Sketch Cards (PSCs) done as part of another key subset of my card collection.

I have followed and enjoyed Japanese women’s professional wrestling (joshi wrestling) for over a decade and collect related art in a number of forms. Veronica is the third artist to create PSCs for this collection, along with Juri H. Chinchilla and  Miki Okazaki

Kairi Sane PSC by Veronica O’Connell

Veronica’s renditions of the wrestlers she’s drawn for me are absolutely stunning. She achieves an amazing level of detail, capturing the subtleties of her subjects expressions and doing an exceptional job representing their intricate wrestling gear.

Perhaps most impressive is her ability to create such incredible likenesses on such small workspaces. From a distance these precise works could be mistaken for photographs, while up close the aspects that make the depictions hyper realistic elevate them even further.

Over time I’ve gotten 24 wrestling PSCs from Veronica, featuring a total of 30 wrestlers. Only 8 of those wrestlers had been drawn for me before on PSCs by other artists, meaning 22 of the wrestlers she drew for me were first time subjects for my sketch card collection.

All of the repeats were drawn in different gear and/or with different partners than the other cards I have, and it was a treat to get Veronica’s take on recurring collection subjects like WWE’s Asuka, AEW’s Riho and Hikaru Shida, and Sendai Girl’s DASH Chisako. Likewise awesome was adding in wrestlers I’d been meaning to have drawn like Asuka’s tag partner Kairi Sane and Stardom’s Starlight Kid.

Juria Nagano PSC by Veronica O’Connell

The vast majority of the wrestlers I had drawn for the first time were a large number of roster members and regular guests from two of my favorite promotions.

From Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling (TJPW), Veronica did wonderful cards of now former roster members Juria Nagano and Sakisama (with Mei Saint-Michel), tag teams Miyu Yamashita & Maki Itoh (121000000) and Himawari & Wakana Uehara, long time roster members Mizuki and Yuki Kamifuku (Kamiyu), and the Up Up Girls Hikari Noa, Miu Watanabe, Raku, & Shino Suzuki.

Veronica’s encapsulation of that Up Up Girls lineup is a particularly nice memento for me given the recent departure of my favorite member, Hikari Noa, from both TJPW and the Up Up Girls.

The other big focus among the joshi wrestling cards Veronica’s done for me is a company called Ice Ribbon. One of my most watched promotions, it was a privilege to get Veronica to do related cards for me.

The core IR lineup I got includes brief former roster member Amu Yumesaki, and current roster members featuring second generation wrestler Ibuki Hoshi and impressive newer wrestlers like Tsukina Umino, Mifu Ashida, and Kaho Matsushita.

I was also happy to add former IR regular guests Ram Kaicho (from Triple Six), Saori Anou (now of Stardom), and Tae Honma & Maika Ozaki (SPiCEAP, both freelance), and reigning ICE Cross Infinity Champion YuuRI (from GanPro) to the collection.

As with the comic art, Veronica’s vivd colors, stunning lighting and shading, and delicate touches make all of her wrestler illustrations simply gorgeous. I could not be happier with how they all turned out.

Joshi PSC displays. Art by Veronica O’Connell, Juri Chinchilla, and Miki Okazaki.

I’m extremely thankful to Veronica for all the fantastic art she’s created for me. I hope to continue collecting more in the future.

Asahi PSC by Veronica O’Connell

To wrap up I’d like to talk about a particularly special card Veronica’s done for me, although there is unfortunately tragic news attached to it. Early this year Actwres girlโ€™Z reported a 21 year old member of their roster named Asahi had unexpectedly passed away. Asahi started her career in Ice Ribbon and was a personal favorite of mine. Nicknamed the Sunrise of Hope, she was always a joy to watch and is greatly missed. Veronica’s remembrance piece of Asahi is absolutely breathtaking and a cherished keepsake.

Rest in Peace Asahi.

Categories
Cards Japan Wrestling

Collecting Spotlight: BBM Women’s Wrestling 2024 Card Set

BBM releases yearly card sets for a variety of sports, and for over a decade I have been collecting their joshi wrestling sets. Here we’ll take a look at the details and differences in their most recent offering.

Known as True Heart until 2020 and simply Women’s Wrestling since then, these yearly sets focus on women wrestlers all across Japan. Most joshi wrestling companies and freelancers participate. The main exception is World Wonder Ring Stardom, whose roster members do not appear in these sets (Stardom has done occasional card based products on their own in the past).

There are also rare special sets released in addition to the yearly sets, such as the recent 2023 Ambitious. As opposed to the general random nature of packs and boxes, Ambitious 2023 was a box only release. Each box contained a complete 47 card base set, one of nine possible acrylic standee cards, and a small number of random chase inserts and signature cards.

The standard packing numbers for the last several years of Women’s Wrestling releases have been 6 cards per pack, 20 packs per box. Each box had some chase cards in random packs, with the chase card replacing one of the base cards (so you’re always getting 6 cards in a pack).

This release dropped from 20 packs per box to 18, but increased the cards per pack to 7. The seventh card in each pack is a one of the 24 “Kira” chase cards, shiny cards which feature a facsimile auto of the depicted wrestler. It’s a solid move for BBM, as now each pack has something a little special in it.

The other chase subsets in the 2024 set are a 9 card foil subset, and 19 “secret” chase cards (18 base card secret variants plus a secret card for Nanashi (“no name”)). The base cards generally feature two images of the featured wrestler while the various inserts highlight a single pose, headshot, etc. There tends to be 3 foil and 3 secret cards per box.

An assortment of base cards from the 2024 set.

The yearly base set varies in size each year to reflect new wrestlers, retirements, occasional special cards for tag teams, and so on. There are a lot of joshi wrestlers active in Japan and these are not small sets. The 2024 base set consists of 156 cards, which is a little over a box and a half of base cards (if no duplicates were drawn).

One of the main draws of the sets are the special randomly included cards signed by the wrestlers. This year there are 3-4 sig cards per box.

Anecdotally, for several cases I’m aware of, there were exactly 3 boxes in the 12 box case that had 3 sig cards with the remainder having 4. So it seems like a pretty stable 75% of boxes have 4 sig cards and 25% have 3.

These autographed cards are numbered and there’s generally around 100 of each base version. The vast majority of the base sigs cards this year are on card signatures (with stickers only used for included wrestlers currently based overseas), which is great.

The base signature card design this year is very simple, but I personally like them a lot. The focus is firmly on the wrestler and their signature, and having a fair bit of white background on them makes the insert variants with fully colored backs contrast more.

The 2024 set has signed secret variant cards for the wrestlers who have secret base versions. These are limited/numbered to 90. The foil insert subset has associated signature cards numbered to 60 each.

There are also a small number of “super secret” signature cards. Aja Kong has one limited to 30 copies, while five other wrestlers have versions limited to 10.

Stickers were used for all of the insert autos, which isn’t ideal but is understandable as they’re going for a certain look with these and the stickers limit signatures to a confined area on the card. All of the various insert autos this year look stunning.

The last chase items to talk about 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), with a few wrestlers doing different outfits and having a total of 20 this year.

In past years chekis were generally extremely stable pull rate-wise at 3 per case (or 1 per 4 boxes). This year it has dropped to 2 per case (1 in 6 boxes). While they are among the most rare inserts to try to collect, they’re wonderfully unique and a focus of my personal collection.

So that’s it for my breakdown of this year’s BBM Women’s Wrestling release. I wish anyone who decides to collect some of this fun set good luck with their pulls and pickups.

Categories
Art Cards Comics Japan Wrestling

Monochrome Masterpieces: Collecting Printing Plates

Today I’d like to talk about one of the most unusual and unique trading card related collectibles: the printing plates used to generate the images on the cards.

Printing plates are thin metal sheets used in the printing process of the card they represent. Generally there are four plates for a card corresponding to four basic component colors: black, cyan, magenta and yellow. When distributed plates usually have a sticker affixed to the back with publisher, set, card, and copyright information.

Different colored variants of a card won’t have different plates (changing ink saturation levels produces these versions) but variants with different background patterns, text or logos, etc will. Whether these other versions, or any plates at all, are distributed depends on the manufacturer, set, and distribution method.

Printing plates are extremely unique as a collectible. While many of them are still in great shape, given their nature they are also often imperfect as they may contain smudges, printing lines, blurred images, scratches, or other after effects of the printing process. How much these imperfections affect someone’s desire to collect a particular plate generally depends on the extent and of course personal preferences.

Also certain ink colors may have been practically unused in creating an image and that corresponding plate could be largely blank or an otherwise incomplete image. While rare, this phenomenon is a risk and particularly pops up comic and other art based cards (as opposed to photo based cards, where underlying colors are generally present across the image).

In certain circumstances printing plates may also be distributed with autographs. Actors or athletes depicted, or creators or voice actors of shown characters, sometimes have their autographs on the front of the plates. Usually it’s done via affixing a signed sticker, but direct signatures aren’t unheard of. This is an added layer of collectability and reward for the person who draws the plate.

Peni Paker collection

In addition to printing plates being randomly inserted into packs of their card sets, they are also commonly used as special distribution prizes. Upper Deck often has certain plates set aside to be used as rewards for completing collection goals in their online buying and trading platform ePack.

Sometimes plates used for these purposes are grouped together as sets, occasionally even being collected in connecting booklets. This can be convenient for completionists, as trying to collect all four color plates for a particular card when the plates are separately randomly inserted is a daunting task.

Metal Universe X-men printing plate booklets in custom display cases by Hardball34.

My personal affinity for collecting plates evolved from getting several wonderful booklet collections from the Metal Universe X-men set, as well as drawing some for my favorite characters from Marvel Annual sets and my favorite wrestlers from WWE and AEW sets.

From there I started more proactively chasing/trading for/buying plates and they’ve become a cornerstone of my collections all around. I adore the way the underlying color images look, and there’s just something cool about having a piece of the process.

The lion’s share of my plates are Marvel related from Upper Deck (UD), featuring a dazzling array of comic book characters and MCU actors.

However I also heavily collect joshi wrestling cards, and plates of certain wrestlers from UD’s AEW sets as well as Topps WWE sets form an additional, smaller centerpiece of my collection.

AEW’s Riho, Hikaru Shia, Nyla Rose, and William Regal and WWE’s Asuka and Iyo Sky.
Riho plate displayed with AEW 1/1s in a custom frame by Dion Divens.

Chasing plate “rainbows” (a complete color collection of plates for a given card) is a case by case basis for me. For certain images, characters, and wrestlers I collect everything of theirs I can find. In other cases a particular color plate for a particular card jumps out at me and I’m happy just to have that.

Occasionally a plate I’d otherwise want to keep just doesn’t look great to me in that color and/or with its particular imperfections. And of course as with any card related collectible rarity, availability, popularity with other collectors, and luck all greatly influence what actually ends up in the collection.

These little pieces of metal have become some of my favorite collectibles. I love monochrome art in the first place, and the fact that these are essentially art and photos broken down into that format appeals to me greatly. I’m sure I’ll be expanding their numbers for a long time to come.

I hope everyone’s enjoyed the look at my collection of these unusual inserts. Best of luck with wherever your personal collecting tendencies take you.

Categories
Art Cards Comics Japan Wrestling

Captivating Color: The Art of Miki Okazaki

It’s always exciting for me to discover new artists whose work jumps out and appeals to my personal artistic preferences. Today I’d like to highlight the striking art of Miki Okazaki.

Ghost Spider and Gwen Stacy sketch cards from Upper Deck’s Into the Spider-Verse set, and a recently pulled Rokurokubi sketch card from Iconic Creations’ Yokai Parade set. All by Miki Okazaki.

The first time I saw any of Miki’s art was on sketch cards for Upper Deck’s Into the Spider-Verse card set. It made an immediate impression and had an air of whimsy, and when I followed her on Instagram and found out she was open for commission at the time I jumped at the chance to add more of her work to my collection.

Among the various subjects I collect art of, two of the biggest are joshi pro-wrestlers and Marvel’s Mystique mid-transformation. In my first batch of commissions from Miki I was able to add wonderful pieces to both collections.

For the incredible Mystique as Silk sketch cover she did for me I specified only the subject. The composition and other specifics were left up to Miki, and she knocked it out of the park with a great dynamic pose and overall awesome general feel.

Miki’s Mystique/Silk cover on display with Silk sketch cards by Effix, Fred Ian, Marcia Dye, and Ash Gonzales in a custom light up frame by Dion Divens.

It’s a great example of her general style with coloring that really pops and a bunch of cool small details, like the exact way things are split between Mystique and Silk around the face and hair, that enhance the overall effect.

I am a huge fan of Japanese women’s professional wrestling, and have an extensive collection of personal sketch cards (PSCs) I’ve commissioned of many of my favorites, including quite a number from Juri H. Chinchilla (whose art I’ve discussed extensively in Beautiful Dreams, Beautiful Dreams 2,Beautiful Dreams 3, and Beautiful Dreams 4).

I was thrilled that Miki was open to doing some of these for me, and my first requests were a combination of wrestlers I’d planned on having done for quite a while in Ice Ribbon’s Kyuri & Maika Ozaki, AEW’s Hikaru Shida, and Marvelous’ Mio Momono & Maria, a perennial favorite in WWE’s Asuka, and even a brilliant up and coming rookie in Gatoh Move’s Miya Yotsuba.

She did an outstanding job with the unfamiliar subjects, and this became just the first of several batches of joshi PSCs I would get from her over the course of 2023. The joshi cards really illustrate Miki’s ability to apply her personal style to her art while still really capturing the essence of the subject.

The next batch included Yappy & Banny from Ice Ribbon, Momo Watanabe from Stardom, Emi Sakura and Best Bros (Mei Suruga & Balliyan Akki) from Gatoh Move, and TJPW’s announcer Sayuri Namba. These are all excellent and the coloring and highlighting really stand out in this group. The backgrounds are masterfully vibrant in a complementary way that doesn’t overwhelm the wonderful depictions of the wrestlers.

Finally around the end of the year I had cards done of TJPW’s Free Wi-Fi (Hikari Noa & Nao Kakuta), and Daisy Monkey (Suzume & Arisu Endo), another up and coming Gatoh Move rookie Nonoka Seto, WWE’s reigning Women’s Champion Iyo Sky (formerly Io Shirai), Stardom’s Yuna Mizumori (formerly of Gatoh Move), and freelancer Momoka Hanazono.

The detail on these is particularly fantastic, and it’s was really cool to see how Miki’s style evolved over such a short period. I know I’m repeating myself to the point of sounding like a broken record, but once again the coloring is impeccable and perfectly spotlights the subjects.

The Nonoka Seto card is particularly special from a few reasons, from the awesome way Miki captured her pointed finger pose in shadow even though the arm is out of frame to the fact that it’s a companion piece to the card Miki did for me of her sister, fellow Gatoh Move wrestler Miya Yotsuba.

I greatly appreciate all the art Miki has created for me and I hope to continue collecting her work in the future.

More information about Miki’s wonderful art can be found on her social media pages.

Categories
Wrestling

AEW Eliminator Joshi Bracket Round 1 Live Thoughts

AEW’s sixteen woman Eliminator Tournament to determine the next contender for Hikaru Shida’s AEW Women’s Championship is underway. Half of the tournament is taking place in Japan, and the winner of that portion will eventually travel to the US to face the winner of the US bracket to determine the tournament winner. That winner will face Shida at AEW’s Revolution PPV on March 7, 2021.

The participants in the Japan bracket are an incredible mix of styles, personalities, and experience levels. See my preview of the first round for more information on the wrestlers as well as some thoughts on all four of these first time ever singles matches.

Now it’s time to see how they all turn out.

Yuka Sakazaki vs Mei Suruga

All four of these matches are one fall with a twenty minute time limit.

The matches are taking place in Ice Ribbon’s home base, a venue I’m very familiar with (Ice Ribbon rents their dojo out for other events, and are not involved in this tournament).

This was one of the dream matches of the tournament and it’s great to see it happen. We’ve got two extremely quick and deceptively powerful wrestlers here. Yuka is one of the best high flyers in all of wrestling, and the former TJPW Princess of Princess champion has four and a half years experience over Gatoh Move’s prodigy.

Though Mei had been wrestling for TJPW the last few months, this is the first time she and Yuka are crossing paths in the ring at all. *

This was honestly not the match I expected them to have as a first time encounter to be seen by a lot of first time viewers. It was wrestled at a very fast pace and featured a ton of counters and dodges. It’s the type of match viewers like me who are familiar with the maneuvers of both competitors and can fully process every feint and counter-move love, and I adored it. But I wonder if fans unfamiliar with their moves got the same depth from it, especially when even commentary missed big things like Mei attempting but not completing her finishing submission Lucifer.

Both also have very unique and creative movesets, which led to a couple small moments of awkwardness as they got used to each other. It was noticeable enough to mention, particularly when Mei kind of fell off Yuka’s shoulders going for her trademark rollup out of victory roll position when Yuka turned the opposite way Mei expected, but the recoveries were spot on and overall they were just small blips.

Yuka took control late and broke out the jaw-dropping Magical Girl Chicken Dude (450 from the middle of the top rope) to put Mei away. The match was extremely good and served as a nice introduction for Mei before she was overwhelmed and defeated by who I believe is the Japan side favorite. As mentioned above, for me this hit all the right notes. Would love to see a rematch sometime.

* Japan has a strong, strange kind of quasi-kayfabe/willing suspension of disbelief that makes it a little difficult to discuss certain things sometimes. Wrestlers occasionally play different characters/personas in different companies, without masks and with no attempt to hide their identity, that they and fans will ham-fistedly pretend are unrelated. So when “Mei Saint-Michel,” the lost child found in a forest in France taken in by Saki-sama who’s clearly Mei in a maid outfit, appears in TJPW and Mei Suruga posts on Twitter wondering why people are tagging her in posts about “someone who isn’t me,” that’s what’s going on. Regardless, “neither” Mei has previous wrestled Yuka.

Emi Sakura vs Veny

Of note is that while she still came to the ring with cape, crown, and microphone, the Queen obsessed Emi Sakura wished to show more of the base of who she is and for the first time in AEW was not wearing her Freddie Mercury inspired gear. Big opportunity for Veny** to make a big impression on the international stage against the twenty-five year veteran, so both are coming in with something to prove.

This was the consensus best match of the first round, and opinion I’m in complete agreement with. Sakura lost a bit of weight in preparation for this match and showed off the resulting increase in speed and agility throughout. This had a bit of everything, with both wrestlers showing proficiency in strikes, submission holds, and anything else they could throw at each other. Short of full play-by-play I’m at a loss to convey the scope of this, so my best advice is simple to go watch.

After a lot of back and forth and fighting off each other’s signatures, Sakura was able to wear Veny down with a vicious looking under the arm dragon sleeper, then is finally able to nail the Tiger Driver to advance.

I expected (and wanted) Sakura to win, but a Veny upset was likely enough that this was particularly gripping down the stretch. Great showing by both, and it’s particularly nice to see AEW get a glimpse of what Sakura is truly capable of.

**Veny is known as Asuka in Japan (not to be confused with the former Kana who changed her name to Asuka when she joined WWE, who uses a different Japanese spelling of the name).

Ryo Mizunami vs Maki Itoh

The battle between two of the most charismatic wrestlers anywhere in the world was lighter fare than the rest of the opening round, but still featured two determined competitors due all they could to advance. Highlights included Itoh suckering Ryo in with fake crying to get an advantage only to blow it by charging the unmovable object and wiping herself herself out when Ryo didn’t budge, and Mizunami learning first hand that it’s unwise to underestimate how hard Itoh’s head is.

They wrestled a smart match and their styles worked well together. Ryo really can adjust to just about anything and is extremely underrated. Despite Itoh giving it her all, the veteran stayed one step ahead and after Itoh barely kicked out after a brutal spear Ryo used the momentum of Itoh’s kickout to apply an anaconda vice for the tapout victory.

While many newer fans expected Itoh’s immediate appeal with the unfamiliar fanbase to lead to a win here, this was the only way this was ever going to end. Even ignoring that the matches were likely taped before Itoh’s cheerful, curse filled introductory tweet went viral, her entire identity is the crass, defiant underdog continuing to be herself despite setbacks. Her immediately beating a stronger wrestler with 10+ more years experience is not the right story to tell with her. It’s the fight and doing things her way that matter with Itoh, and her battle here with the powerhouse was as good as a first impression as she could make.

Aja Kong vs Rin Kodakura

“This will be a mauling, and the question is what Rin will do to endure it and how hard she will be able to fight back.”

That quote from my preview pretty much sums it all up. Kong dominated the youngster, but Rin took everything and kept fighting, earning her the immediate respect of everyone watching. At one point Kong spiked her with a particularly vicious piledriver, and Rin’s kickout had the chat going wild. Hanging in with Kong as long as she did made Rin look super tough, and she even got the monster down with a flurry of offense long enough to attempt the Ultra Rin (twisting senton).

Kong moved however, and absolutely planted Rin with a backdrop driver … for 2.999. I expected that to end it, and Rin looks super human for surviving it. Rin fights off the brain buster but gets leveled with a clothesline after a vicious right for another close 2, and the legend has had enough and finishes the upstart off with a monstrous top rope elbow drop. Exactly what this should have been.

——-

Expected strong showing all around from these intriguing, well chosen matchups showcasing several different styles. While I’d like to see a touch more research done, and things like getting the referee’s gender wrong are rather embarrassing mistakes, overall Excalibur did a decent job on commentary and sounded reasonably knowledgeable about and (most importantly) interested in the matches taking place.

No surprises in the results but that’s perfectly fine, especially with the awesome matchups that will result in the next round. Really good stuff, and a nice introduction to the new wrestlers regardless of their losses, who will all hopefully be brought back in the future. These matches are still available on their YouTube channel.

For more information on how to officially watch the home promotions of these wrestlers and a number of other Joshi companies see this thread.

The next round of the Japan bracket will air with two first round matches from the US side:

Emi Sakura vs Yuka Sakazaki
Ryo Mizunami vs Aja Kong
Nyla Rose vs Tay Conti
Britt Baker vs Madi Wrenkowski (subbing for the injured Anna Jay)

Check it out on AEW’s YouTube channel tonight at 7pm EST.

Categories
Wrestling

AEW Eliminator Joshi Bracket Preview

AEW has begun a sixteen woman Eliminator Tournament to determine the next contender for Hikaru Shida’s AEW Women’s Championship. Half of the tournament is taking place in Japan, and the winner of that portion will eventually travel to the US to face the winner of the US bracket to determine the tournament winner.

The participants in the Japan bracket are an incredible mix of styles, personalities, and experience levels. Four of the eight (Emi Sakura, Yuka Sakazaki, Ryo Mizunami, and Aja Kong) have competed in AEW in the past. The other four (Mei Suruga, Veny, Maki Itoh, and Rin Kadokura) are making their AEW debuts.

The champion herself has gone to Japan to oversee the matches, and the first round is absolutely stacked with four really interesting matchups. Furthermore, all four are first time ever singles encounters.

(Shida appeared as a special referee ChocoPro 89 which featured matches involving half of the Japan bracket participants, and also had a sit down talk with Emi Sakura after the show.)

Here is some more information on all eight participants, and a quick look at the first round contests:

Yuka Sakazaki vs Mei Suruga




Nickname
Company
Debut
Height
Age
Signature Finishing Moves






Twitter

Yuka Sakazaki
(ๅ‚ๅดŽใƒฆใ‚ซ)

Magical Girl
Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling
December 1, 2013
5’2″
24
Magical Girl Splash (middle of the top rope splash)
Magical Magical Girl Splash (MGS with horizontal rotation)
Magical Girl Chicken Dude (middle of the top rope 450)

YukaSakazaki

Mei Suruga
(้งฟๆฒณใƒก)

Apple Girl
Gatoh Move/ChocoPro
May 27, 2018
4’10”
21
Propeller Clutch
Lucifer (chicken wing Cattle Mutilation)




Mei_gtmv

Yuka Sakazaki is one of the best high flyers in all of wrestling, but also deceptively strong and more than capable of going strike for strike or hold for hold as well. The seven year pro has been Princess of Princess Champion twice (TJPW’s top singles title) and held their tag team titles with two different partners.

But for those unfamiliar with Mei Suruga: the term wrestling prodigy has perhaps never been more apt. She debuted in just twenty-one days of full training and wrestles with confidence and skill far beyond her two and a half years of experience. Mei’s had major upsets already in her short career, including singles victories over both Emi Sakura and Hikaru Shida. She recently won her first championship, Gatoh Move’s Asia Dream Tag Titles (with partner Baliyan Akki) and will no doubt be looking to ride that wave of momentum to victory here.

While I personally expect Yuka to win not only this match but perhaps the entire bracket, Mei’s the dark horse of the tournament and her adding Yuka’s name to her increasing list of upsets is not impossible. Either way this is a match between two extremely quick, skilled, and exciting competitors and is the first round match I’m most excited for.

Emi Sakura vs Veny




Nickname/Tagline
Company
Debut
Height
Age
Signature Finishing Moves




Twitter

Emi Sakura
(ใ•ใใ‚‰ใˆใฟ)

“She will chop you.”
AEW, Gatoh Move/ChocoPro
August 17, 1995
5’1″
44
La Magistral
Nyan Nyan Press (450 Splash)
Tiger Driver
and many, many more

sakuraemi

Veny
(ๆœฑๅด‡่Šฑ, Asuka)*

The Genderless Pro Wrestler
Freelance
August 9, 2015
5’9″
22
Moonsault
Shooting Star Press
Sitout Chokeslam


asuka10272140

The Queen obsessed eccentric wrestler who AEW audiences are most familiar with is only one facet of the incredible twenty-five year veteran Emi Sakura. Capable of matching nearly any style and adapting to any challenge, the sole AEW contracted wrestler on this side of the bracket is one of the clear favorites. Beyond her significant wrestling prowess, Sakura is also a well renowned and highly respected trainer, having trained an incredibly long list of wrestlers including not only possible tournament opponents Mei Suruga and Riho, but the reigning AEW Women’s Champion Hikaru Shida as well.

However among the favorites Sakura has perhaps the toughest draw of the round. It’s easy to forget how young Veny is, as at 22 and with just five years in she fits right in going toe-to-toe with the veterans and has already held the top singles title in two different promotions. With Veny’s strength and fiery offense a victory is not impossible, and if she does shock Sakura in round one she could become a good bet to continue on quite far.

*Veny is known as Asuka in Japan (not to be confused with the former Kana who changed her name to Asuka when she joined WWE, who uses a different Japanese spelling of the name).

Ryo Mizunami vs Maki Itoh




Nickname

Company
Debut
Height
Age
Signature Finishing Moves




Twitter

Ryo Mizunami
(ๆฐดๆณข็ถพ)

Aniki

Freelance
November 3, 2004
5’4″
32
Hot Limit (fireman’s carry into kneeling tombstone piledriver)
Running Lariat
Diving Guillotine Leg Drop

mizunami0324

Maki Itoh
(ไผŠ่—ค้บปๅธŒ)

The Cutest in the World,
The Fired Idol
Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling
December 11, 2016
5’3″
25
Falling Headbutt
Itoh Special (Texas Cloverleaf)



maki_itoh

TJPW’s lovable misfit immediately captured the imagination of a whole slew of new fans when she happily cursed out a welcome message when retweeting AEW’s announcement of her participation in the tournament. Itoh doesn’t do much the way one is “supposed” to and everyone adores her for it. She is who she is unapologetically and is always ready to take on the world, which she often has to. Itoh’s a straight ahead brawler who uses her hard head for a good portion of her offense, and while she has more in her arsenal then some give her credit for she is generally overmatched in technique against wrestlers with similar or greater levels of experience. But she’s defiant to the last and will fight tooth and nail trying to defeat her opponents through shear strength of will.

Which she’ll need to do to have any chance against the sixteen year veteran Mizunami. This will be Mizunami’s first appearance for AEW since their first pay-per-view, where she teamed with Riho & Shida to defeat Aja Kong, Emi Sakura, & Yuka Sakazaki. The powerhouse is capable of, and perhaps used to, running right over her opponents and will be a real test of Itoh’s fortitude. Mizunami is also the only one in the tournament who even comes close to matching Itoh in terms of raw charisma, so this match should be a really fun spectacle.

Itoh winning is not inconceivable, but make no mistake it would be a BIG upset. She has wrestled Aja Kong before though, and the possibility of a rematch in the second round here is intriguing.

Aja Kong vs Rin Kodakura




Nickname

Company
Debut
Height
Age
Signature Finishing Moves


Twitter

Aja Kong
(ใ‚ขใ‚ธใƒฃใ‚ณใƒณใ‚ฐ)

N/A – the name “Aja Kong” speaks volumes all on it’s own
Oz Academy
1986
5’5″
50
Uraken (spinning back fist)
Brainbuster

ajakonguraken

Rin Kodakura
(้–€ๅ€‰ๅ‡›)

Cool Needlefish

Marvelous
May 3, 2016
5’1″
27
Ultra Rin (twisting senton)


Kazu_Marvelous

Aja Kong is a legendary thirty-four year veteran who is still going strong and still impressive and intimidating in the ring. Taking her out is going to be a tall task for anyone, and perhaps a near impossible one for Rin. Although I fully expect the talented, defiant spitfire from Marvelous to make the legend work for it, and Kong may find herself risking a disqualification if tempted to tee off on Rin with her ever present metal mini garbage can. This will be a mauling, and the question is what Rin will do to endure it and how hard she will be able to fight back.

——-

That wraps it up for now. AEW is premiering these first round matches on their YouTube channel Monday February 15 at 7pm EST.

For the first time ever I actually find myself rooting for all the favorites, as second round matches of Sakazaki vs Sakura and Mizunami vs Kong would be incredible and are legit dream matches. However as mentioned above nothing’s 100% here, and absolutely all of the possible second round matches look great. Really excited to see how this all plays out.

Categories
Art Cards Comics Japan Manga Video Games Wrestling

Beautiful Dreams 4: More Art of Juri the Dreamer

It’s been almost two years (wow 2020 threw off my sense of time) since my last spotlight on the work of my favorite artist, and I’d like to share and talk about more of her incredible work and some of the inspirations behind the pieces. See Beautiful Dreams, Beautiful Dreams 2, and Beautiful Dream 3 for more about Juri H. Chinchilla’s art, including past pieces I’ll be mentioning in this write up.

Jenny Rose and Sareee PSC by Juri H. Chinchilla.
Tequila Saya PSC by Juri H. Chinchilla.

Juri’s Personal Sketch Cards (PSCs) have been a great opportunity to request particular subjects and design elements. One of the more unique requests I’ve made was a card featuring one of my favorite professional wrestlers, and I adored it so much that I’ve followed up with several more since. Juri’s done an AMAZING job depicting these previously unfamiliar to her subjects and these are in many ways the pride of my entire art collection. See Another Wonderful Way Pro-Wrestling is Art 3 for more about the above works featuring Jenny Rose & Sareee and retired Ice Ribbon wrestler Tequila Saya.

Gatoh Move 6-PSC puzzle by Juri H. Chinchilla.

Gatoh Move is one of my favorite wrestling companies, and it’s so wonderful to see the roster represented in absolutely stunning form on the above six card PSC puzzle by Juri. The top row of cards feature Sayaka Obihiro & Mitsuru Konno, Emi Sakura & Riho, and Chie Koishikawa & Tokiko Kirihara. The bottom row has Yuna Mizumori & Mei Suruga, Sayuri & Sayaka, and Lulu Pencil & Rin Rin.

The timing on these cards ended up being suitable in many ways. They were completed shortly after Sakura’s 25th Anniversary in wrestling and shortly before a personal favorite of mine, and the wrestler I’ve requested Juri draw the most, Mitsuru Konno retired.

Riho is Gatoh Move’s former ace, and shortly after she left to go freelance the company the core roster doubled in size with the debut of six rookies (Chie, Tokiko, Sayuri, Sayaka, Lulu, & Rin Rin). I love the encapsulation of the company’s past, present, and future around that time on this batch of cards and Juri knocked this out of the park. As usual I only specified the subjects and an occasional small detail like particular gear. The layout, poses, and incredible way these all fit together into a larger scene is all Juri and I couldn’t possibly be happier with how it all came together.  

Lilith by Juri H. Chinchilla.
Lilith & Morrigan PSC by Juri H. Chinchilla.
Morrigan by Juri H. Chinchilla.

One of the first PSCs I got from Juri was an incredible depiction of the Darkstalkers “sisters” Morrigan and Lilith, two of my favorite fighting game characters to play. In the last Beautiful Dreams feature I showed a larger, equally amazingly done drawing of the former. Later on Juri revisited and completed a wonderful Lilith companion piece I am very happy to add to my collection.

Juri’s range in styles and subjects is highlighted in striking renditions of video game, comic, and movie characters such as Nakoruru from Samurai Showdown, X-men’s Psylocke & Emma Frost, and DC’s Enchantress.

I discovered Perna Studios‘ high quality card sets through Juri’s art, and her work for them continues to be incredibly perfect for the subject matter. Her hauntingly beautiful black and white ghost from the Hallow-Ink set and fantastically playful Alice in Wonderland Artist Proof (AP) from Classic Fairy Tales 2.

Iconic Creations (which I hope to write about in more detail soon) has been releasing incredible card sets based around literature and legends. Juri’s sketch cards for the sets have been wonderfully evocative of the subject matter, particularly the stunning Snow Queen and swordswoman APs I got from the Christmas Literature and Way of the Sword sets.

Iconic’s sets feature a variety of way to showcase the stunning art they include, including special cards like wood sketch cards and other inventive variants. The prize centerpieces of their sets are the oversized wooden “box toppers.” I was lucky enough to have an opportunity to get Juri’s box topper AP from the Christmas set, and pull her box topper sketch card from Treasure Hunters. Both my requested Ghosts of Christmas AP and Juri’s mermaid are absolutely breathtaking.

Best Friends (Arisa Nakajima & Tsukasa Fujimoto) PSC by Juri H. Chinchilla.
Jumonji Sisters (Sendai Sachiko & Dash Chisako) PSC by Juri H. Chinchilla.

I mentioned another favorite company of mine, Ice Ribbon, above in relation to Tequila Saya. Their ace is featured on one of the newest PSCs I’ve gotten from Juri. It’s part of a duo of cards I’ve had planned for a while. During my first trip to Japan I saw a match between two phenomenal teams that remains one of my favorites of all time, and Juri’s renditions of the two pairs are simply incredible.

SEAdLINNNG’s Arisa Nakajima & Ice Ribbon’s Tsukasa Fujimoto, known as Best Friends, are two top tier singles competitors who are even more fearsome as a team. I adore Juri’s illustration of the pair with Ice Ribbon’s International Tag Ribbon Championship Belt.

The Jumonji Sisters, consisting of the since retired Sendai Sachiko & her sister Dash Chisako, were the epitome of poetry in motion. It was a privilege to get to see them in action live a couple of times before Sachiko retired, and the casual confidence and closeness Juri captured in their card is absolutely perfect.

Dash still wrestles for Sendai Girls and is simply incredible. She was previously featured in a solo PSC by Juri mid flight of her jaw dropping Hormone Splash (top rope frog splash).

Hikari Noa PSC by Juri H. Chinchilla.
Yuka Sakazaki PSC by Juri H. Chinchilla.

Tokyo Joshi Pro is an incredibly fun promotion filled with a wide variety of characters and styles. I’m a huge fan of Hikari Noa, and Juri captured both her idol and wrestler aspects showing off the wonderfully cute side of the deathmatch loving Up Up Girl.

Yuka Sakazaki is arguably the best high flyer in all of wrestling, and always a joy to watch. I love the sense of motion Juri achieved in her beautifully detailed depiction of TJPW’s Magical Girl.

Hana Kimura PSC by Juri H. Chinchilla.

The last card I’ll talk about here card is special, as well as sad. Hana Kimura was an incredible young wrestler who tragically passed away last year due to suicide amid a myriad of online harassment and other factors. Hana was one of my favorite performers in her home promotion and had striking charisma. She was always fun to watch in the ring and always seemed to go out of her way to be friendly to fans and make sure everyone was having a good time

Juri wonderfully captured Hana in a gorgeous card that is a great remembrance to someone dearly missed.

Rest in Peace Hana.

More information about Juri’s art can be found on her artist page. I hope to continue to follow and collect her wonderous creations for a long time to come. ๐Ÿ™‚