Tag: GatohMove

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.

Categories
Japan Wrestling

Joy in Pro-Wrestling and Kaho Hiromi

Everyone has their own preferences and favorites when it comes to wrestling. Style, presentation, and other factors vary greatly among the large number of wrestling companies in the world and are all a matter of taste among fans.

While in general I tend towards a more athletic event, intensely competitive style of wrestling what I care about most is enjoying what I’m watching. May seem like an obvious statement, but worth explicitly mentioning as in my case it means a wide range of wrestling genres appeal to me. Both nail biting intensity and well done comedic moments can really draw me in to a match when done well.

As I often say in reference to an old favorite, TJPW’s August 26 2017 show: sometimes I want to see my two favorite wrestlers in a promotion tearing the house down for a title…

…and sometimes I want to see Maki Itoh chasing idol lumberjacks around the ring with a squeaky toy hammer.

When any promotion can give me both in the same show and have it feel natural and cohesive I’m as happy as can be.

For me wrestling is at its best when its a mix of light heartedness and intense competition. I want my humorous elements woven into the general framework of wrestlers competing and trying to win, but can go for pretty absurd match premises and gimmicks when internally consistent and done well.

Ice Ribbon and ChocoPro (formerly Gatoh Move) have been always great places for this combination, which is a large reason why they’re two of my absolute favorite promotions.

This year’s Ribbonmania from just a couple weeks ago was a great example of a well paced, thoroughly enjoyable top to bottom show with a variety of aspects to it. ChocoPro’s holiday shows were likewise a blast with a little bit of everything sprinkled throughout.

All of which brings me around to what prompted this particular deep dive into the happy aspects of wrestling: ChocoPro’s most recent roster addition Kaho Hiromi.

Emi Sakura is excellent at developing wrestlers within their own ways to really highlight what they can do while letting them be wholly unique. I’d argue no other environment or trainer could have given us Lulu Pencil, the wonderfully goofy ninja Sayuri, etc.

Over her near 30 year career Sakura has trained a large number of children, including AEW’s first ever Women’s Champion Riho who started at age 9 and is a 18 year veteran at age 27.

Sakura’s most recent wrestling prodigy, reigning Super Asia Champion Mei Suruga, is following in her mentor’s training footsteps as well with similarly excellent results. With Sakura living in the US as part of her participation in AEW, Mei has been the primary teacher for several of the recent roster additions.

Mei runs their casual training program DareJyo in Sakura’s absence, with Sakura being heavily involved as well whenever she’s back in Japan. DareJyo recently shared one of its showcase events on YouTube. It’s a great watch and provides insight on how ChocoPro approaches introducing people to the world of wrestling.

DareJyo is open to women and girls of all ages. Several DareJyo participants have continued on into full training and later officially debuted as professional wrestlers, including Mei herself as well as the energetic and cheerful grade schooler Kaho Hiromi.

Kaho debuted on August 31, 2024 against Ryo Mizunami at Gatoh Move’s return to Korakuen Hall.

The imposing multi-time champion 20 year veteran powerhouse was a mismatch for Kaho is just about every way imaginable. But that was the point. The match was about Kaho’s effort, perseverance, and attitude. She showed all in spades. Her charisma and determination shined and the crowd was behind her even against the super popular Mizunami. The outcome was never in doubt, but I was invested in Kaho’s efforts all the same. She eventually fell to Mizunami’s leg drop, but Ryo carried the little warrior to the back on her shoulders in a show of respect.

Her matches in the months since them have been likewise engaging, but it was specifically her matches around the holidays that brought all this to the forefront in my mind and made me want to write this post. This year was rough for me and I was stuck home alone for the holidays. Being able to watch and enjoy various wrestling shows from my favorite promotions halfway around the world helped my mood a lot. And it struck me how often watching little Kaho do her best with a smile on her face against opponents bigger, stronger, and older than herself was bringing a smile to mine.

ChocoPro’s approach with Kaho has been excellent. Again the company has a lot of experience over the years with wrestlers of vastly different ages, sizes, and experience levels and knows how to showcase people within their limitations as well as the proper tone to establish.

Kaho generally wrestles with veterans and/or her trainers in the matches. If you watch carefully you’ll notice she doesn’t take heavy strikes or generally anything high impact. But you have to watch carefully to notice, as her matches are just plain too much fun and enthralling to be thinking about stuff like that.

And that’s what matters. Sakura’s companies have always been built around the idea that wrestling should be fun for both the wrestlers and fans, and the fun Kaho has in her matches is both obvious and contagious. She’s a plucky underdog trying her best, and her matches are a lighthearted blast to watch. They’ve developed a moveset and strategy that suits her, such as crossing her arms in front of her and charging opponents as a strike instead of traditional chops that would have no impact at her size.

She’s doing great. She moves well, gets the crowd excited, and is naturally incredibly easy to get caught up cheering for. Emi Sakura is one of my top favorite wrestlers in the world, yet I still can’t help but to cheer against her as she smugly taunts Kaho.

While some people may instinctively recoil from the idea of a child in a wrestling match (and/or intergender wrestling, another cornerstone of ChocoPro), there are a lot of great in ring stories to be told involving an opponent completely out of the realm of what a veteran would normally expect. It doesn’t have to be everyone’s thing, there are plenty of other companies and styles to watch, but again it all speaks to me personally as a fan.

Kaho often confounds her opponents a bit with her quickness and size. She’ll counter holds by wrapping herself around their legs in ways others can’t. She can jump around, dodge, and generally frustrate them in ways only a kid can. Usually unfortunately she gets caught and someone like Sakura leverages Kaho’s own attempted holds to force a pin (the boos Sakura has gotten when she essentially sits on Kaho for a victory are huge).

Recent highlights include ChocoPro 314’s triple threat that saw her face Sakura & Sayaka and her participation in the Christmas show’s battle royal. The latter saw her first encounter with DDT’s Chris Brookes, which was a riot (and cemented Chris being evil). She’s also had several fun mixed tag matches recently giving people like Hagane Shinno a new challenge.

Kaho’s been a wonderful addition to the ChocPro roster, and I really just wanted to take the opportunity both to spotlight her and to reminder everyone how important it is just to straight up enjoy wrestling. Whether your thing is desperately wanting a heel vanquished, deathmatches, sports-like presentation, comedy, or like me a mix of several approaches find companies that do what you like well, and have fun experiencing them.

Some other great currently active young and/or rookie wrestlers to watch include, but aren’t limited to, Ice Ribbon’s Kirari Wakana, TJPW’s Uta Takami, SEAdLINNNG’s Miria Koga, and the recently freelance Saran. I hope to keep watching all of them and Kaho for however long wrestling continues to be viable and fun for them all.

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 girl’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
Japan Wrestling

Farewell Gatoh Move, Long Live ChocoPro

On August 31, 2024 Emi Sakura’s promotion Gatoh Move held a show at historic Korakuen Hall for the first time in eight years (full show available on YouTube). It was a great show and a huge milestone for the small company that fought tooth and nail to survive and evolve during difficult and turbulent times.

One of their evolutions was the creation of a second promotion/brand, named ChocoPro, during the pandemic. Once performing in front of crowds became possible again Gatoh Move and ChocoPro existed side by side.

After the Korakuen show, Sakura announced that her two brands would officially be merging, to be known only as ChocoPro going forward. As such I wanted to take a quick look back on the significance of the merge, and what separated the brands in the first place.

In 2012 Emi Sakura left a company that she founded called Ice Ribbon (that to this day still running and highly enjoyable), and founded a new joshi (girl/woman) promotion named Gatoh Move.

Likewise built around the idea that wrestling should be fun for both the wrestlers and fans, Gatoh’s general approach to wrestling wowed me when I initially saw them during my first trip to Japan both in ring and in the unique environment of Ichigaya Chocolate Square.

A deep dive into the promotion is beyond the purpose of this post, but check out this retrospective I wrote for their 10 year anniversary highlighting a lot of what I adore about both Gatoh Move and ChocoPro.

As mentioned above ChocoPro was created as a direct response to the difficulties of operating during the pandemic. Sakura didn’t want to just proceed as if they were doing Gatoh Move shows without fans. She approached the idea of streaming empty venue shows as something completely new that should be tailored and targeted as such.

When ChocoPro started there were three key differences to Gatoh Move. First was the absence of an audience in attendance.

Second, all the shows would stream live, where Gatoh shows had been primarily for the attending audience with big shows released on dvd and nothin aired live. This also led to Sakura’s new No Pay Wall strategy of having all their shows and other content airing free on YouTube with a variety of optional support methods.

The third key difference was that while Gatoh Move had always incorporated a lot of guest male wrestlers into their shows and were known for great intergender wrestling, they were still a joshi promotion. The official Gatoh roster was all women, the titles were held by women or intergender teams, and outside of extremely unusual circumstances the main events would always feature a roster member.

While still based largely around the core Gatoh roster, ChocoPro immediately established itself as a fully intergender promotion with a main event of Baliyan Akki vs Minoru Suzuki on the first show. As ChocoPro went on the vacated Super Asia singles title would return as an intergender belt, and likewise the Asia Dream Tag Titles would become open to challenges by male teams.

As pandemic restrictions lifted and live crowds began to be allowed again, the delineation between Gatoh Move and ChocoPro changed.

ChocoPro started running “ChocoPro Peoples” shows, which were still aimed at the streaming audience but had live attendees as well.

When “Gatoh Move” officially returned it was specifically used for the ring shows, and ChocoPro essentially became the name for the Ichigaya shows. All other differences besides the official Gatoh Move roster still being all joshi wrestlers had fallen by the wayside.

So at this point the merge is mostly a symbolic action to make things more straightforward with a single name for the company. While I’m personally quite attached to the Gatoh Move name and sad to see it go ChocoPro is more reflective of what the company has become. The overall impact on the fans is minimal, as the same great people will be presenting the same great wrestling they have been for years.

2019 Gatoh Move roster PSC puzzle by Juri Chinchilla.

So that’s why Gatoh Move/ChocoPro had two names, what the differences originally were, and what they became. Wishing all the best going forward for the newly “combined” ChocoPro.

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
Japan Wrestling

Vanishing Ninja : Sayuri’s Retirement

In May of 2019 I was lucky enough to see a special showcase show of Emi Sakura’s casual training program DareJyo. It was a wonderfully fun display of training drills and exhibition matches. What no one knew at the time was five of the participants would go on to train as as full wrestlers and debut just a few months later as part of Gatoh Move’s Generation 4.

For many years in the early portion of Gatoh Move’s existence, Riho (now of AEW) was their ace and star. In Spring of 2019 it was announced that she would be leaving to go freelance in early July. The landscape of the promotion looked dramatically different after her departure and the subsequent debut of six rookies from DareJyo at Gatoh’s August show (the five previously mentioned that appeared on the 5/1/19 showcase show, plus Chie Koishikawa).

However as of the original announcement in July only four wrestlers would be debuting. The last trainee to decide to make the jump was the woman who eventually become Gatoh Move’s resident lovable ninja.

Sayuri’s DareJyo showcase exhibition match was against eventual fellow Gen 4 member Rin Rin (now the recently retired Yukari Hosokawa of Ganpro). Her debut match was against Mitsuru Konno.

Sayuri is the ultimate underdog and pitting her against the tough-as-nails, fierce Mitsuru in her first official match was perfect (the entire show was a masterclass in playing to their rookies’ strengths and presenting an incredibly entertaining slate of debuts). Even in this first match there were hints of the perseverance and personality that would draw fans to her.

Sayuri has incredibly unique charisma that continually emerged and evolved as she gained experience. Sakura once jokingly gave her an award for there being nothing remotely unique or interesting about her, but Gatoh’s founder couldn’t be more wrong in this case. There was an endearing goofiness to her mixed with a fiery determination that made it impossible not to cheer for her.

One of her most memorable series of moments revolved around her stubborn insistence to complete a bodyslam despite failure after failure to do so. She turned the cry of “Let’s bodyslam!” into a beloved rallying point for her fans (whom she named “Sayurists”). They were thrilled when she finally hit one on the 5/4/21 show.

Sayuri eventually fully embraced a ninja role, using tactics and antics such a shuriken style chops, awesome wall run headlock takedowns, and ninja vanishing techniques (hiding behind numerous environmental elements in Ichigaya Chocolate Square to later surprise her opponent). A perfect mix of skill and silliness, Sayuri’s matches were always captivating.

Sayuri and Sayaka PSC by Juri Chinchilla.

Gatoh’s 12/29/19 show turned out to be the last time I was able to attend a show Sayuri wrestled on. I missed a number of Gatoh Move shows during the remainder of that trip due to coming down with the flu, and once I recovered and could attend again Sayuri herself was out sick (along with many other wrestlers, it was a rough season).

However, there is something quite fitting that my final live memory of seeing her wrestle ended up being a singles match against her trainer, Emi Sakura. The legend spent the early match trying to run through and bully the overmatched ninja. But as usual Sayuri’s persistence created openings and allowed her to give her opponent much more fight than expected, even in defeat.

Sayuri’s career spanned just under 90 matches, and she never won a singles contest. But she never gave up and her Sayurists were certain her moment would come.

In 2021 Sayuri formed a regular tag team with 17 year veteran Choun Shiryu called Dragon Ninja. They had fantastic chemistry as a team, and Sayuri clearly evolved as a wrestler under Choun’s influence.

Dragon Ninja was a successful team with several wins, but always with Choun gaining the decision. They fought and won as a team, but the elusive pin or submission that evaded Sayuri in singles competition continued to do so in tag matches.

Until ChocoPro 264 on 10/23/22. In an incredible culmination of her wrestling journey she pinned Chie Koishikawa to give Dragon Ninja a huge win over Chie & Masa Takanashi. Her moment had arrived.

The victory seemed to herald big things ahead for Dragon Ninja and Sayuri, but unfortunately it wasn’t meant to be. She would wrestle two more matches after that before going on hiatus due to chronic health issues. In late 2023 it was announced she was not returning and would be retiring from wrestling.

Sayuri had remained involved in Gatoh Move and Chocopro in non-wrestling capacities in the meantime and ChocoPro 347 was her farewell show. She accompanied Choun against Otoki, and while not officially part of the match she had some involvement including traditional retirement spots. It was a great way to say farewell within the confines of her not being able to return for a full retirement match.

She gave a goodbye speech after the show and was sent off with smiles.

Sayuri had unique presence and style and was a breath of fresh air in wrestling throughout her short career. Wishing all the best to her in whatever’s next for our darling ninja.

  • Full Gatoh Move 6 card PSC “puzzle” by Juri H. Chinchilla.
Categories
Japan Wrestling

Tropical Farewell For Now: Yuna Mizumori’s “Graduation” from Gatoh Move

During my first several trips to Japan, starting at the end of 2015, Gatoh Move became (and remains) one of my favorite promotions. It’s a wonderfully engaging experience built around a core roster of diverse wrestlers all fully embracing their own uniqueness.

And that’s been true throughout all the changes and transformations the company and roster has endured. Wrestlers that were there when I started watching like Kotori and Gatoh’s former ace Riho have retired and moved on to other opportunities (with occasional reappearances) respectively. In the wake of Riho leaving the company doubled in size with the debuts of Gatoh Move’s fourth generation. I’ve experienced the entire careers of Aasa Maika and Mitsuru Konno.

So it’s perhaps a little odd to realize that for me a certain wrestler has become such a core part of what Gatoh Move is today that her imminent departure might have the greatest impact of any change thus far.

In spring of 2018 I was lucky enough to catch Gatoh’s annual Go Go Green Curry Koppun Cup mixed tag tourney show. In the (non-tournament) opening contest I’d get my only look that trip at their new rookie, as just two months into her career Yuna Mizumori faced visiting reigning Pure-J Champion Hanako Nakamori.

Yuna immediately impressed as a great addition to the Gatoh roster. She had such an exuberant personality that was already apparent and integrated in her rapidly developing wrestling style. Her particular blend of speed and power was already on display and to this day remains striking and distinctive. I couldn’t wait to see more of her in the future after her strong showing against another company’s top competitor so early in her career.

The tone set by that first impression would continue when I was back later in the year, particularly in a very special elimination match on SEAdLINNNG’s 12/28/18 show.

It was Gatoh Move’s Emi Sakura, Yuna, & fellow rookie Mei Suruga against freelancer Sae, the reigning Regina di Wave champion Ryo Mizunami, & SEAdLINNG’s own champion (and founder) Nanae Takahashi.

The match was a blast, and seemed headed to a perfectly acceptable formula finish of Gatoh’s powerhouse rookie putting up a good fight in defeat against overwhelming experience and odds.

Instead Yuna, still within her first year of wrestling, overcame a 2-on-1 disadvantage to eliminate BOTH of the opposing reigning champions to secure the win for Gatoh Move (an achievement that would earn her a title shot at Nanae a couple months later).

As I wrote at the time: “Yuna is a wrecking ball in the ring in the best possible way, and her digging deep and powering her way through the odds was captivating, as well as totally believable.”

Yuna became an absolute favorite of mine and was always a treat to see. She was put in important positions and given big opportunities to show what she could do and always delivered. Yuna & her TropiKawild partner Saki would hold and defend the Asia Dream Tag Team Championships for nearly a year during their second reign starting in March of 2019.

During Gatoh’s Golden Week shows that year she semi-main evented in great singles contests against TJPW’s Mizuki and visiting freelancer Hiroyo Matsumoto.

A couple of other matches of hers that stick out (among the many I was lucky enough to see live) that I particularly loved include her participation in a special  “Old Gatoh Move” vs “New Gatoh Move” variation on the the annual Gatoh roster 6-woman tag match they ran (available here), and a hard hitting battle she had against Yasu Urano.

The previously mentioned TropiKawild tag team title reigns meant that when Yuna hit her second wrestling anniversary she had been a reigning tag team champion for nearly half of her career. Between that, some of the things I’ve mentioned above, and other opportunities Yuna had a truly special start to her wrestling career.

Yet the dichotomy of Yuna being extremely strong and successful but still often seeming and feeling like the underdog would be a recurring theme and lead to some incredibly compelling stories and rivalries.

One place this is vividly apparent is in early ChocoPro.

ChocoPro is Gatoh Move’s twin promotion and arose out of Emi Sakura’s desire to do something specifically tailored to streaming when Covid hit and prevented them from continuing shows as normal in their small home base venue.

Yuna’s struggles, feelings, and insecurities explored and enflamed by her trainer, boss, and occasional partner Emi Sakura would be a driving force for the early seasons of ChocoPro. Yuna participated in the first ever intergender “ironman” match on ChocoPro 11  against Minoru Fujita (an incredible match itself well worth watching).

Sakura tore Yuna apart emotionally in an interview leading up to the match with Fujita, kicking off what I still believe is one of the greatest stories and feuds I’ve ever seen in wrestling (see The Ballad of Yuna and the Oni for full details).

One last thing that certainly has to be mentioned is Yuna’s camaraderie and rivalry with the only other member of her generation of Gatoh Move, Mei Suruga.

Mei debuted almost exactly three months after Yuna and the interplay between the two has always been interesting. Yuna has achieved more faster in traditionally measured ways and has been more successful overall in their singles encounters. She’s held the tag titles twice to Mei’s once, won them earlier on in her career, and holds a 6-3 victory advantage in their singles encounters.

But Mei has more unusual or intangible edges. She holds singles victories over high profile opponents like Hikaru Shida and Emi Sakura herself, she’s wrestled internationally, and her victories over Yuna came when it mattered most. She won a number one contendership tournament by beating Yuna in the finals and is up 2-1 when they faced each other in tag team title matches.

This is best encapsulated in Yuna’s comments after she defeated Mei in a fantastic 30-minute “ironman” match and wondered why she still felt like she lost.

The mutual respect, parallel yet wildly different careers they’ve had and the rivalry that goes with it, and captivating chemistry they have together all built to an absolutely phenomenal encounter they had headlining Gatoh Move’s 10th Anniversary show. As the last singles match they’ll have against one another in the foreseeable future, they went out on a hell of a high note.

In a few short hours Yuna will wrestle Emi Sakura 1-on-1 one last time in her final match before “graduating” from Gatoh Move (the term used in Japan when someone leaves a company to move on, whether it’s for retirement or a case like this). Can Yuna finally topple the Oni as she bids Gatoh farewell?

Yuna, Mei, Kotori, and Aasa by Shining Wizard Designs

I’ve barely scratched the surface of everything Yuna has meant to Gatoh Move and ChocoPro. She’s an amazing performer and though it seems like she’s been around forever her career is incredibly still under 5 years old. While her absence will be noticeable I wish her all the best and look forward to seeing what’s next for her in wrestling elsewhere.

Tropical thanks for everything.

Categories
Japan Reviews Wrestling

A Bit of Happiness in a Crazy Decade: 10 Years of Gatoh Move

Emi Sakura is one of the most incredibly multifaceted people in professional wrestling. The 27 year veteran can wrestle nearly any style, has trained a ridiculous number of other excellent wrestlers, and founded two different still running joshi promotions on the common idea that wrestling should be fun for both fans and wrestlers.

Gatoh Move, the promotion Sakura currently runs, is an absolute joy. In anticipation of their big 10th anniversary show this week (entitled Phoenix Rises) I wanted to take this opportunity to talk about one of my absolute favorite wrestling promotions.

Of course 10 years is a lot to cover and this won’t be complete nor an attempt at a proper history of the promotion for various reasons (starting with the fact that I was introduced to it a few years in). Rather I hope to provide a personal look back at some of what’s made Gatoh Move so special to me while also highlighting a few key moments and points of interest in depth.

At the end of 2015 I was lucky enough to make my first trip to Japan. I was already a big fan of women’s wrestling in general and was familiar with several joshi via their appearances in Shimmer (including several who had been trained by Emi Sakura, although I had no idea of that at the time). I was extremely excited to see as much wrestling as I could, and my schedule was packed with shows by a variety of promotions.

Due to strong recommendation of a good friend who was already a big Emi Sakura fan at the time, on the third day of my trip my fourth overall show introduced me to Gatoh Move. The four shows at four different venues from four different promotions were all wonderfully unique, interesting, and fun. Gatoh Move however was perhaps the most different from any show I’d seen before, and this was one of their ring shows in Itabashi Green Hall.

From the opening song and dance numbers, to the intergender tag match, to marveling at the skill of the younger wrestlers (although I’d later discover one of them already had nearly a decade of experience and was the company’s ace apparent), and so on it was a unique and enthralling experience.

And course the wrestling itself was extremely good. I only knew three of the wrestlers going in (Hiroyo Matsumoto, Hikaru Shida, and Makoto) but nearly all the rest would become familiar faces as time went on both in and out of Gatoh Move. Looking back at the main event in particular of Emi Sakura & Nanae Takahashi vs SAKI & Mizuki is kind of mind blowing.

I had a lot of fun, and was eager to see more of the promotion. As the saying goes, I hadn’t seen anything yet. The following week I went to my first (and second) show at Ichigaya Chocolate Square.

The venue has no ring and just barely holds a mat to wrestle on and a packed in audience (at the time) of about 70 people maximum including some watching through two large windows while standing in a side alley. The crowd is effectively the out of bounds marker and the wrestlers will often use the windowsill to jump off of. It’s a unique format and a great atmosphere.

The quality of matches they’re able to perform in such an environment speaks volumes of the talent of all involved, and I was instantly hooked. The wrestling Gatoh Move presents is unlike anything I’ve seen before or since, and the live experience is something special. I attended at least one Ichigaya show, as well Gatoh ring shows when they happened to coincide with my trip dates, every time I went back.

Signboard won in an audience-wide janken tournament.

Gatoh Move was about three years old at the time, and it already had a sense of identity and a lot of the same elements that persist to this day. Which is incredibly interesting since one of the promotions’ greatest strengths is Sakura’s willingness to innovate and try new things.

But the central concept and feel of a small core roster of joshi wrestlers supplemented by both men and women guests from other promotions putting on fun shows has remained throughout the years I’ve watched, and among the many things that gives Gatoh Move it’s appeal.

I’ve (rightfully) mentioned Emi Sakura often as the shaping force of Gatoh Move, but part of that is also her wonderful ability as a trainer to identify and accentuate her trainee’s personal charisma and skill strengths.

The resulting vast differences in personalities and styles of the roster determine what Gatoh looked and felt like in any given time period. Sakura’s genuine appreciation of fan support also carries through and everyone in Gatoh has always been an absolute pleasure to meet.

When I started watching Sakura, Riho, Sayaka Obihiro, and Kotori were Gatoh Move. A year later the addition of Mitsuru Konno and Aasa Maika and regular appearances of freelancer (and former Sakura trainee) Aoi Kizuki brought a different dynamic.

And so on through the debuts of Yuna Mizumori and Mei Suruga, the eventual retirements of Kotori, Aasa, Aoi, and Mitsuru, and Riho’s departure  and the resulting debut of Gatoh Move Generation 4 (Chie Koishikawa, Sayuri, Sayaka, Tokiko Kirihara, Lulu Pencil, and Rin Rin (now Yukari Hosokawa of GLEAT)).

Each person/roster had a distinct effect on the promotion and matches and stories emerged from each group that both felt unique to them and at the same time like it fit perfectly into what Gatoh Move was.

A (very) short highlight list of some of my favorite matches and moments include:
– Riho vs Masahiro Takanashi (4/27/19 ),
– Sakura, Mei, and Aoi all having singles matches against each other during the week before before Aoi Kizuki’s retirement show,
– the annual Gatoh roster 6-woman tag (like Sakura, Obi, & Riho vs Mitsuru, Mei, & Yuna from  12/31/18),
– Mei vs Mitsuru (12/26/19),
– Yuna and Sakura’s feud, and
– Lulu’s quest to regain her hat.

The ability to change and innovate drastically while still maintaining a core identity is a recurring theme over the years I’ve watched Gatoh Move. A couple years ago it became more important than ever.

To me Gatoh Move’s intergender matches were always intergender done right. From the very first match I ever saw of theirs to the wonderfully fun annual  Go Go Green Curry Koppun Cup annual intergender tag team tournament to the previously mentioned Riho vs Masa and so much more Gatoh has always known how to capture the proper feel of everyone in the match just being wrestlers competing.

This ended up playing a big part in one of most daring innovations Sakura had ever tried.

When Covid changed the world in 2020 Sakura’s small promotion with a home base unable to properly handle distancing requirements for an attending crowd was faced with a real question of how to survive.

Sakura embraced a rather crazy direction that could only have worked with her particular sense of innovation and risk taking, as well as an adaptable roster that was more than game for the challenges that would arise. Thus Gatoh Move’s twin promotion ChocoPro was born.

Not convinced that just doing Gatoh Move with no audience would be the right approach, Sakura envisioned a new presentation directly designed for streaming to bring live wrestling to fans all over the world in a way specifically tailored to the unique opportunities of wrestling without an audience in Ichigaya Chocolate Square.

While some might consider this philosophical premise a bit thin to differentiate a brand on, ChocoPro shows have developed their own feel and characteristics that make them distinct from Gatoh Move despite sharing a roster, creative forces, etc. One difference is that ChocoPro is a fully intergender brand, while Gatoh Move is technically a joshi company that has men wrestlers as guests (again a subtle but noticeable distinction).

But perhaps the biggest change to come from the creation of ChocoPro was the No Pay Wall philosophy. Every type of viewable content ChocoPro creates is put up on their YouTube channel for free, supported by optional sponsorship purchases, YouTube and Patreon memberships, etc as people choose and are able to contribute.

The commitment to make it work from everyone involved was incredible, and ChocoPro is as much a creation of Akki and Mei joining with or in place of Sakura on the live streams they started doing as added content to Gen 4 who all had to adapt to an extremely challenging situation in their rookie year to regular participants Masa, Choun Shiryu, Antonio Honda, Chris Brookes, and many more as it was Sakura’s. Seeing it succeed was both amazing and wonderful, as it really doesn’t seem like something anyone else could have pulled off.

Yet here we are two and a half years later with ChocoPro firmly established as a beloved sub brand of Gatoh Move to the point where it has and will continue even once Gatoh Move shows were able to start up again. Here’s hoping it will continue to prosper for a long time to come.

One last thing I’d like to talk about that I think perfectly underscores what Gatoh Move brings to the wrestling world is their casual trading program, Darejyo.

Darejyo is short for “Daredemo Joshi Puroresu” or Anyone’s Women’s Professional Wrestling. Started by Sakura and currently run by Mei (herself a former participant), the idea is to offer a suitable environment for any woman, regardless of age, experience, etc, to learn the basics of pro wrestling in a casual manner within a professional, safe environment. There are limits on the types of things they learn and try (avoiding more difficult and potentially dangerous aspects like certain types of strikes, etc) while still giving a strong introduction and base to build off of.

Darejyo’s had participants ranging from under 10 years old to women in their forties, and several participants have gone on to train and debut as full wrestlers including Mei herself and Gen 4 in Gatoh Move and even some in other promotions such as Diana’s Haruka Umesaki and Madeline.

There’s a ton more details that could be shared and praises to be sung about Gatoh Move, but I hope what’s here has been interesting and enjoyable. Here are the details on the 10th anniversary show, and it’s an extremely exciting and suitable card for such an event.

Phoenix Rises:
(7pm JST on 9/15/22, to be aired on YouTube at a later date)

  1. Toru Owashi & Sayuri vs Tokio Kirihara & Antonio Honda vs Sayaka Obihiro & Sawasdee Kamen
  2. Emi Sakura vs Miya Yotsuba (pro-wrestling debut)
  3. Riho, SAKI, & Baliyan Akki vs Minoru Fujita, Kid Lykos, & Kaori Yoneyama
  4. Orange Panna Cotta (Sayaka & Chie Koishikawa) vs Daisy Monkey (TJPW’s Suzume & Arisa Endo)
  5. Asia Dream Tag Title match: CDK (Chris Brookes & Masahiro Takanashi) (c) vs Isami Kodaka & Yuko Miyamoto
  6. Yuna Mizumori vs Mei Suruga

Visit Gatoh Move’s YouTube channel to check out all of their content. As previously mentioned everything they are doing goes up for free under Sakura’s “No Pay Wall” initiative, so if you do enjoy and are able / would like to support please see their patreon, join as a member of their YouTube channel, visit their store and/or donate directly via their PayPal.

Thanks to everyone in Gatoh Move for a wonderful 10 years and I wish them all the best for many more.