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.
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.
Ribbonmania is Ice Ribbon’s big annual year end show, which I’ve been watching since I became a fan of the company in 2015 and haveattendedseveraltimes in the past (pre-pandemic when I could travel).
It’s been ages since I got to sit down and watch much wrestling and longer since I’ve written up thoughts on a show, so I’ve really been looking forward to this one. A lot of the wrestlers here are either new to me or I’ve only seen them a couple times.
In the wake of management changes this is the final show for a good portion of the roster before they move on to other things. I’ll be mentioning some specifics throughout the review (and will recap the remaining roster at the end).
Two roster members who are staying are not on this show: Ice Ribbon ace Tsukasa Fujimoto is on maternity leave, and Infinite Potential Girl Kaho Matsushita is out due to injury.
With all that said, away we go.
1) Kirari Wakana vs. Miria Koga
Miria, a rookie from SEAdLINNNG, has wrestled in Ice a few times but this is my first seeing her. She faced Kirari singles and tag action previously, with both matches ending in draws.
Kirari debuted last July (with an unusual debut win). I’ve seen a bit of her here and there, and she’s come across as a charismatic rookie with sound basics and excellent potential. She reminds me a bit of Asahi in both look and energy (which is of course bittersweet considering Asahi’s untimely passing in early 2024).
Kirari was sporting awesome new gear here.
This was pretty polished for a match between two wrestlers with under a year and a half combined experience. They made the most of what they were capable of and had several tense exchanges. Determination was absolutely dripping from both and the tangible feel that winning the match is important to them came across well. Was engrossed in this one for the duration.
To my delight Kirari won by rolling Koga up super tight following an extended series of attempts and reversals. Overall Ice Ribbon’s newest roster member showed the heart of a lion.
Great way to open the show. Kudos to both rookies. I’m becoming a huge fan of Kirari, and I also hope Koga keeps coming back.
The wrestlers in this match were the six participants of the Challenger: Ring of Hope series that made it through and ended up debuting as professional wrestlers. They all debuted on August 26, 2023 at Ice In Wonderland 2023.
Minami left Ice Ribbon to go to Marigold in early 2024 and was making a special appearance. This was the final Ice Ribbon roster appearance for the other five. Koike and Hanaya are retiring. Mifu, Grizzly & Nanae seem to plan on continuing elsewhere, with their destinations unknown at the time of the show. (Mifu has since announced she will be joining TJPW and debuted on their big annual January 4th show.)
It was nice to see Minami appear for this match, giving us one last trios contest with all of them involved. She’s had a complete look overhaul in her new company. This is the first time she’s wrestled here since leaving, and the first appearance of anyone from Marigold in Ice Ribbon.
Mifu is a former International Ribbon Tag Team Champion (with partner Kyuuri) and as such the most accomplished of the six thus far.
Nanae and the returning Minami got in slap fight right away with everything devolving into a brawl, nicely setting the tone of all six having something to prove.
After the hot start there was a little bit of a styles clash / roughness in this at times. Minami seemed to have a little readjusting to do after being retrained in a different company’s style, and they are all still relatively early in their careers. That said they all fought hard and made things work. Minami busted out an awesome, vicious looking arm trap guillotine choke at one point.
Grizzly vs Mifu was the backbone of the match and the two have good chemistry. Highlights included Mifu’s Cutie Special on Grizzly and Grizzly later absolutely wiping Mifu out with a short arm clothesline.
The match came to a surprising end as Nanae tied Mifu in absolute knots and got the submission win. As I mentioned Mifu’s the only former champ of the group and I wouldn’t have bet on her taking the loss.
Hanaya never tagged in, but was involved in multi person team moments, breaking up pinfalls, etc (including a wild spill to the outside when she took a shot on Grizzly from the apron and went flying from the recoil). Both she and the other retiree Koike only ever wrestled sporadically, with under ten matches each for their careers. It was nice to see them involved one last time and get a nice sendoff with the rest of their compatriots.
The match was somewhat rough around the edges at times but I’m really just mentioning it because I noticed it. Nothing detracted much from this fun outing with a lot of energy and some really awesome moments. Overall it clicked was a really good farewell for the Challengers in Ice Ribbon.
They all took a bow together afterwards. Wishing them the best in whatever’s next for each of them.
3) Kyuuri & Yuna Manase vs. Arisa Shinose & Kaori Yoneyama vs. Bad Butts (Yappy & Ancham)
Arisa will be going to Asuka Pro-Wrestling, but seems likely to continue appearing as a guest in Ice Ribbon.Yappy and reigning Triangle Ribbon Champion Kyuuri are staying.Yoneyama, Manase, and Ancham are guest participants.
Bad Butts coming out to Sir Mix A Lot had me dying of laughter. So great.
They brawled all over the place to start, highlighted by Yappy threatening people with the ever present Bad Butts warning sign, and things never really settled down from there. Having a proper, unapologetic, “we’re villains and proud of it” heel team is a nice addition to Ice Ribbon. Good contrast too as Kyuuri leans heel at times as Triangle Champ in more of an impish, faux innocent way. It all adds an extra dimension to things and additional depth to matches like these.
The other teams eventually had enough of Bad Butts and taped them to a ring post outside, neutralizing them for the rest of the match. Things got crazy at the end as Kyuuri accidentally took out her own partner with her attempted shortcuts, and Yoneyama intentionally rammed Kyuuri into Arisa to set up Yoneyama getting the win.
I expected a Bad Butts win, but Yoneyama pinning Kyuuri and the winning partners arguing over who gets to challenge her for her singles belt makes sense too
Not much to say here, but I mean that extremely positively. This was just straightforward chaotic fun.
The live feed became unwatchable due to buffering here and I stopped watching live. Until this point it had frozen about once a match and refreshing quickly corrected things. Ice Ribbon PPVs are usual stable on this platform, so no idea what was going on. Watched the rest from here later on replay.
The semi-retired Mio Shirai and perpetual thorn in her side Unagi Sayaka have been feuding on and off for a bit. Unagi’s a freelance guest, Ibuki is staying with Ice Ribbon, and Mio and Saran are making their final appearance (future plans for both unknown). Extremely curious about where Saran ends up, as she’s really finding her style and has a huge upside for whatever company she works with.
This was the planned last show of a temporary return from maternity leave for Ibuki (although she’s now decided to wrestle for a bit more before returning to hiatus).
As usual for anything involving Unagi and Mio this was extremely antics heavy. Add in the mischievous Saran and hard hitting Ibuki to anchor things and this was exactly what it needed to be. Light and entertaining match with good pacing, amusing undertones, and wild action when they got down to it. Presented at the perfect place in the card to boot.
Saran fought tooth and nail, nearly stole the match a couple times, and kicked out of a lot of close calls. But Ibuki finally put her away with a great crucifix bomb.
Saran was visibly emotional after the match. Looking forward to cheering for her wherever she goes. Really glad Ibuki got to come back a little earlier than expected to be able to wrestle here.
Ice Ribbon vs T-Hearts tag match. Both members of the Ice team are staying on the roster (although Umino was unfortunately injured days later with a broken collarbone and will be out for a while).
Umino debuted in April 2021 as Shizuku Tsukata in Wave, went on hiatus around the end of that year, then redebuted as Umino in Ice Ribbon in December 2022. She’s grown a lot in the last couple years and is really finding her style and persona.
Totoro was sporting her annual year end rainbow braid extensions, which always look awesome.
Never saw Miku wrestle before. She’s really good and I hope to see her more in the future.
This was on formula in best way possible for a match with larger power based veterans teaming with outmatched but resilient less experienced partners. Umino and Miku both showed great fire, both against each other and when they were fighting uphill battles against the vets.
When Totoro and Hotta were in against each other the dynamic completely changed and it became the less experienced Totoro trying to prove something against Hotta in a good old fashion power fight. At one point Totoro hit an unbelievable Finlay Roll on Hotta.
Down the stretch this was all about Umino throwing everything she had at the imposing Hotta until she just couldn’t fight anymore. Hotta finished her with a palm strike after Totoro accidentally wiped her out with a clothesline.
I really dug this. Probably my favorite match on the card up to this point, and it’s all been extremely good.
6) Manami Katsu vs. YuuRI
Manami Katsu returned to wrestling to join Ice Ribbon a few months ago after a three year hiatus. She’s a 13 year veteran formerly of JWP/Pure-J. I never watched a ton of Pure-J but have been to a few shows and had seen her wrestle there. This is my first real look at her in Ice.
YuuRI is a regular guest wrestler from GanPro, and a former ICE Cross Infinity Champion.
Manami went straight at YuuRI from the jump and this was pretty much 12 minutes of them throwing bombs (and occasionally trying to squeeze the life out of each other) and suffering the effects. It fit well into increasing match intensity throughout the show, which of course is exactly what should happen.
Late match YuuRI survived a tombstone driver, but Manami finally kept her down with a gorgeous straightjacket German suplex for a big win. Respect shown with a big hug between the two afterward.
A hard hitting affair that made Manami look tough as hell to have defeated YuuRI. Completely different than anything else on the card, and all the better for it.
7) International Tag Ribbon Title Match: Hamuko Hoshi & Makoto (c) vs. Yuko Sakurai & Sumika Yanagawa
This is Hamuko & Makoto’s third reign with the tag titles, and both have also held them with other partners as well. Hamuko had an additional six reigns with other partners and Makoto had an additional two.
Sumika is a former International Ribbon tag champ with Misa Kagura, who we’ll see in the main event. She is also the reigning Queen of JTO champion.
Yuko just recently won her first championship and is half of theWave Tag Team Champions with Yuki Miyazaki. Thrilled for her as Yuko’s a wonderful, sometimes underrated wrestler who’s easy to cheer for.
Makoto is a freelance regular guest (who originally started her 18 year career in Ice Ribbon). Hamuko is staying on the Ice Ribbon roster. Yuko is from COLORS and Sumika from JTO.
The challengers jumped the champs in lieu of handshakes for another appropriate quick start.
Hamuko was in wrecking ball mode, which is when she’s at her most awesome. Makoto has become a fun bully type vet primarily focused on trying to kick her opponents face off.
Sumika’s developed into a great submission wrestler and busted out some wild holds here. Yuko applied one of the most vicious looking dragon sleepers I’ve seen as well. Yuko gave as good as she got throughout. She hit a beautiful bridging suplex and a nice sitout facebuster for close near falls late match.
The champs’ hard hitting double teams ended up being the difference maker. They eventually retained with Makoto nailing a firman’s carry Michinoku driver on Yuko followed by a big top rope splash from Hamuko for the pin.
Yuko & Sumika are a good team and fought with ferocity that had the crowd pumped. This was all about the champs weathering the storm from a team giving them more fight than they might have expected. Excellent semi-main.
The champs strapped each others’ belts on afterwards. It’s a little touch that shows their pride in retaining them and support as a team.
I adored Yuko & Sumika together and definitely need to revisit numerous matches of theirs as a team I’ve missed. Would love to see them have a reign with these titles someday.
8) ICE Cross Infinity Title Match: Yuki Mashiro (c) vs. Misa Kagura
Reigning champion Mashiro is participating as a freelancer (as of the end of October), and her challenger Kagura is from JTO.
Mashiro has had an incredible transformation over her career, and every stage has been something special. From the rookie who howled in pain when she chopped opponents, to the lovably goofy Gacha King, to the technical wizard who captured Ice Ribbon’s top prize she’s always been one to watch. Mashiro retired from wrestling in 2022 after a year and a half, but came out of retirement in early 2024.
I’ve always been a huge fan of Mashiro and was thrilled to see her return, and am equally thrilled she’s been continuing to appear in Ice Ribbon freelance. She’s also starting appearing in other companies such as Marigold.
Misa has been in tournaments for this title in the past, but this is her first time directly challenging for it. I haven’t seen her much, but remember her being solid from what I have seen of her. She’s one of those people with an infectious smile, and she came out with it beaming for this title match.
They went AT each other right away with a wild forearm exchange. All the matches have started hot without anything feeling repetitive, and the show has been an engaging breeze to stay invested in as a result.
A hilarious moment early on saw Mashiro try to double eye poke Misa, But the latter caught her arm and countered by stuffing Mashiro’s fingers back into her own mouth.
I hadn’t consciously noticed until a really cool shot in this match of Mashiro choking out Misa in the corner, but the camera work had some particularly good work all show. The mentioned low camera angle from the corner was great. They did occasionally cut to/away from it too quickly in succession making it overly noticeable and a bit distracting, but overall it was well done.
The challenger excelled when using her power and slight size advantage for devastating tackles and grinding away at the champ with leveraged submission holds. A brutal sitout spine buster delivered to Mashiro at one point looked absolutely devastating.
In contrast the champ used her explosiveness to create openings, and relied heavily on being tenacious and smart counter wrestling.
Either outcome felt possible, which I appreciate greatly in a main event. In the end Mashiro hit her cross legged suplex with a bridge to retain.
Happy Mashiro will apparently be sticking around.
Hell of a match that had a little bit of everything: heavy strike exchanges, submissions, power wrestling, brawling outside, and so on. Fantastic way to cap off the show.
Katsu came out post match and there’s Mashiro’s next challenger. That’ll work. Intense exchange and they have to be pulled apart. Match set for January 13th.
I see the post show crowd handshakes are back. Mixed feelings watching that from afar as someone dealing with chronic illnesses in a post-pandemic world. But it was always a fun thing and a cool way to show appreciation, and its absence was felt for the years they couldn’t do it.
Overall
This show was everything I like about Ice Ribbon and pro-wrestling in general. Well balanced and paced with a variety of styles done right and the lighter stuff in the undercard giving way to fraught battles for championships to end the show out. Everyone’s commitment and effort was plain to see, and this was an extremely enjoyable watch all around.
As promised here’s a list of the remaining ten woman post Ribbonmania Ice Ribbon roster: Tsukka, Hamuko and Ibuki Hoshi, Manami Katsu, Kyuuri, Totoro, Yappy, Tsukina Umino, Kaho Matsushita, and Kirari Wakana.
Looking forward to seeing what lies ahead.
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.
Among near uncountable incredibly talented favorites of mine, there’s perhaps no wrestler who better encapsulates my time as a joshi wrestling fan in Japan than Arisa Nakajima.
Arisa was already a huge star who’d been wrestling for nearly a decade when I traveled to Japan for the first time in late 2015. Though I hadn’t seen any of her matches I was well aware of her reputation. She was already a two-time JWP Openweight Champion (of four eventual total reigns), and her battles with the equally tough as nails Kana (now WWE’s Asuka) were legendary.
I was also familiar with, and a big fan of, her tag partner Tsukasa Fujimoto from Tsukka’s appearance in Shimmer in fall of 2014.
So of all the wrestlers I’d be lucky enough to see live for the first time during that trip, I was far and away most excited about Arisa. Needless to say, she certainly didn’t disappoint.
I saw her wrestle for the first time in the main event of my fifth show in Japan, JWP’s 12/23/15 event . She faced Kayoko Haruyama, and made an immediate and lasting impression against her more veteran, larger opponent.
Arisa exudes self confidence and determination every second she’s in the ring. They beat the hell out of each other in a tremendous battle that confirmed everything I’d heard about Arisa and made her an instant favorite of mine.
Speaking of instant favorites, the same show was also my first time seeing Dash Chisako & Sendai Sachiko (the Jumonji Sisters). They were fantastic and my anticipation levels for their tag title match against Arisa & Tsukka (Best Friends) a few days later at JWP’s Climax 12/27/15 shot through the roof. It was amazing, and remains one of my favorite matches of all time to this day.
All in all I saw 84 matches featuring 144 different wrestlers during that first trip. Arisa was in all 3 matches at the top of my list of favorites (more on the third of those matches to come).
The trend of top tiermatcheswouldcontinue, with Arisa’s intensity and skill making her appearances highlights of every trip.
As luck would have it my next opportunity to see Arisa would come relativity quickly. A few months later I attended her first and only Shimmer weekend. It was her US debut, and it was really cool to see her compete in a different atmosphere against a variety of opponents she’d be unlikely to face anywhere else.
She had four matches over the course of the weekend, and made an immediate splash defeating former Shimmer Champion Nicole Matthews in her first match with the company. She also faced solid Shimmer mainstays Shazza McKenzie and Rhea O’Reillyon later volumes.
The true centerpiece of her weekend though was a Shimmer title match against reigning champion Madison Eagles. It can’t be overstated how special it was at the time to see the reigning JWP Openweight Champion coming into a US promotion and facing their top tile holder. It was a dream match for me, and they absolutely tore the house down.
Arisa’s intensity is ever-present. Her hard hitting style evokes a visceral response that draws fans into her struggles and battles.
Whether she’s displaying her deep technical prowess, breaking out the occasional high flying spectacle, or simply wearing her opponent down with a never-ending onslaught of brutal strikes, Arisa’s always captivating to watch.
Best Friends (Arisa Nakajima & Tsukasa Fujimoto) PSC by Juri H. Chinchilla.
I alluded to another top match from my first trip above, and it had long lasting influence on me in a number of ways. At Ribbonmania 2015 I saw Best Friends defend Ice Ribbon’s International Tag Ribbon titles against Misaki Ohata & Ryo Mizunami (Avid Rival). Misaki was another favorite of mine from her time in Shimmer, and seeing this particular group of wrestlers face off was such a treat. They’re two of the greatest tag teams of all time, and the chemistry they had was incredible.
The match was so special to me and made such an impression that when the teams were slated to wrestle a special three match series a year and a half after their initial encounter I made a specific trip to Japan planned largely around seeingtwo of the shows they were fighting on. The Ribbonmania match plus the best of three series were the only four times they faced each other, and they are all excellent contests well worth seeking out.
In addition, Misaki was an extremely similar wrestler to Arisa in terms of tenacity, style, and mastery of the German Suplex as a signature move. The rivalry the two had was enthralling, throughout interactions in both tag and singles matches over numerous years.
It’d be impossible to go through every single match of Arisa’s I adored. Just the small sliver of her career I was lucky enough to witness live is a treasure trove of impactful pro wrestling masterclasses.
A few more that are particularly fond memories for me include a war against cocky upstart Mio Momono (SEAdLINNNG 4/18/18), Best Friends against Kyuri & Maika Ozaki (Gekokujo, Ice Ribbon 12/24/17), and an underrated match of unusual pairings where Arisa teamed with Karen DATE against Misaki & Asahi (Ice Ribbon 10/8/18).
I haven’t been able to return to Japan since prior to the pandemic, so while I didn’t know it at the time Arisa’s main event against Yoshiko of SEAdLINNNG’s 1/24/2020 show would be the last time I saw her wrestle live. As far as an in person memory of her career, a big singles match against another major star of her current company is a good note to finish on.
Arisa’s retirement road has been as intense as the rest of her career. Tsukka made a temporary return from hiatus to properly send her partner off, and has been involved in several of Arisa’s last matches.
Getting to see Arisa cross paths with Mio Momono, Dash Chisako, and others one last time has been a blast. Best Friends also wrestled a number of dream matches on Arisa’s way out, including against Chihiro Hashimoto & Yuu (Team 200kg) and opposite Stardom’s ace Mayu Iwatani.
Arisa Nakajima’s final show will be SEAdLINNNG’s 8/23/24 event. She will wrestle twice and her last match is the main event teaming with Tsukka against Hiroyo Matsumoto & Hanako Nakamori.
While I wish Arisa could continue wrestling forever, she’s maintained an incredibly physical style for a long, wondrous 18 year career and no doubt has a long list of accumulated injuries to deal with. Stopping on her own terms is wise.
I’m grateful for all she’s done to entertain us fans and wish her all the best in life after wrestling.
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.
I’ve written a lot about art I collect of several of my favorite professional wrestlers from a variety of artists. A couple years ago, in Another Wonderful Way Pro-Wrestling is Art 3, I briefly talked about an unusual case: one of those wrestlers is a wonderful artist herself. Yappy has done a number of pieces of her coworkers (as well as self portraits) and today I’ll be spotlighting more of her work.
Yappy has been wrestling for a women’s wrestling company in Japan named Ice Ribbon for nearly five years. She has a naturally upbeat and energetic personality that translates into engaging ring charisma and fun matches. She’s a huge part of Ice Ribbon’s interactions with foreign fans, from explanatory videos to spearheading their international store, and has appropriately nicknamed herself Ice Ribbon’s Bridge to the World. Her soon to return Weekly Ribbon Unravel YouTube show highlights general happenings in Ice Ribbon in English for a foreign audience.
Ice Ribbon’s ace Tsukasa Fujimoto.
Yappy’s larger pieces are wonderfully dynamic, with a strong sense of style and motion to them that beautifully captures the personality of her subjects. The above rendition of Ice Ribbon’s ace Tsukasa Fujimoto is also carefully accentuated by metallic highlights that really bring it to life.
Yappy has also done pieces of (now former) regular guest participants such as former ICE Cross Infinity Champion Saori Anou and former multi-time International Tag Ribbon Champion Maika Ozaki.
I adore playing card style art, and Yappy’s Queen of Foxes illustration of Anou is so creatively done. The regal pose is perfect for the concept, and it’s finished with the same type of great shimmering metallic highlights as the Tsukka piece.
Maika’s piece is adorable and colorful, showing the cute side of one of joshi wrestling’s strongest powerhouses.
One of my favorite illustrations Yappy’s done is Ice Ribbon’s Totoro Satsuki with their mascot Ribbonne in a tribute to the wrestler’s namesake, Studio Ghibli’s animated classic My Neighbor Totoro.
Totoro Satsuki and Ribbonne.
One of the coolest things about Yappy’s art is her willingness to experiment and the resulting variety of styles she can work in. Her joyous black and white illustration of Saran feels quite different from her colored work, but is just as engaging.
Another great example of this is her playful, comic strip style depictions of her interactions with former Ice Ribbon wrestler Nao Ishikawa.
Yappy and Nao Ishikawa.Tequila Saya illustration by Yappy for Charles Short’s second Ice Ribbon book.
Yappy did a series of illustrations for Charles Short’s second book about Ice Ribbon, titled Wonderland. These portrayals show off her range, as the chibi influenced versions still capture the essence of the wrestlers’ likenesses and charisma.
Tsukina UminoKaho Matsushita
The last batch of art I’ll spotlight here is Yappy’s art nouveau pieces. Three pieces in total (more on that to come), they are extremely striking and pop with color to make an immediate impression.
Yappy incorporated wonderful detail into these. Ice Ribbon’s Mugendai (“infinite potential”) Girl Kaho Matsushita’s has an infinity motif, and Tsukina Umino’s other job as a murder mystery game GM heavily inspired the theme for her piece.
——-
More information about both Yappy’s art and her wrestling can be found on her social media.
There’s one more wonderful art nouveau piece to discuss, left to last because there’s unfortunately some sad news that now goes along with it. In early February 2024 Actwres girl’Z reported a 21 year old wrestler named Asahi had unexpectedly passed away. Asahi started her career in Ice Ribbon and was a dear coworker and friend to Yappy. She was also a personal favorite of mine, being a joy to watch in the ring and an inspiring presence in general. Yappy’s incredible rendition of the Sunrise of Hope that originally started her art nouveau series is cherished momento of someone gone far too soon.
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 socialmedia pages.
Disclosure: The author of this book is a friend of mine and introduced me to Ice Ribbon years ago. This has had no influence on the opinions in this review, although obviously my status as a fan of the promotion does affect my appreciation of the subject matter.
This is Charles Short’s second book about Ice Ribbon. Please also check out my review of the first, Be Happy.
Ice Ribbon is a women’s professional wrestling company based in Tokyo, Japan that approaches wrestling in an accessible way to be fun for both the audience and performers.
Wonderland opens with a foreword from Ice Ribbon’s ace Tsukasa Fujimoto herself and a solid section of bios with pictures for all of the Ice Ribbon roster members during the covered time period, before heading into the results section that comprises the majority of the book.
The results section is an incredibly detailed chronicle of match outcomes that picks up immediately after last book and goes 5 years and change through Ice Ribbon’s 15th Anniversary show in early August 2021. It not only covers results for all Ice Ribbon events, but also every match members of their roster participated in for other companies.
The amount of specific information provided and the meticulous record keeping it entails is incredibly impressive. Extensive context is included from match times to attendance figures and even things like when originally scheduled matches were changed (due to injury/illness/etc).
The time period covered in Wonderland is particularly interesting to me as I was attending a lot of Ice Ribbon shows live during this period. It’s really cool to revisit a snapshot of this particular time in the company’s existence.
A number of major moments in Ice Ribbon’s history are covered, including Tsukushi’s re-debut and Giulia’s departure. Short approaches everything without sensationalism or rumor, covering things in detail but appropriately keeping to the factual happenings known to the public.
The book features a number of wrestlers who have gone on to wrestle for other companies, which may be of particular interest to those familiar with their later work and wanting to learn about those wrestlers’ history.
Ease of reference and reading is incredibly important when presenting the sheer amount of data contained a volume like this. Like with Be Happy, and perhaps to an even greater extent, the careful formatting, interesting ancillary information, and inclusion of a variety of pictures keep everything accessible and engaging.
There are also several wonderful little touches that make the book special. One of the coolest is stylized section illustrations by Yappy, who is a talented artist in addition to being one of Ice Ribbon’s own wrestlers.
Tsukasa Fujimoto illustration by Yappy.
ThoughWonderland covers five years of the company compared to the first book’s ten, it ended up being longer (including over 150 more pages of content after the results section, compared to Be Happy’s 40). This is due to more context and detail added to returning information sections like title histories, as well as greatly expanded pictorial sections.
A huge variety of event posters, banners, wrestling gear, and merchandise is displayed with explanatory context notes as appropriate. As with Be Happy all of the pictures are in black and white, but that does not diminish the treasure trove of stuff to look through.
The book wraps up with a section featuring career summaries for wrestlers and staff that retired during the subject time period. Like the rest of the book, these are thorough, well presented, and quite informative.
At its heart Wonderland and its predecessor are reference books, and milage will vary with an individual’s interest in this unique little joshi wrestling company. But for anyone with even the smallest bit of curiosity about Ice Ribbon or the wrestlers who worked for it during this time the book is so well done and so overflowing with carefully assembled and interesting information it’s really a must have.
Heartbreaking news is not how I intended to return to blogging (and my previously planned posts will be coming soon). But tragedies are all too often completely unexpected, and I feel compelled to share some words of personal remembrance of a wrestler who meant a great deal to me as a fan.
Actwres girl’Z has shared that one of their performers, 21 year old Asahi, has unexpectedly passed away (no other details have been shared: please respect the privacy of her grieving family, friends, and colleagues).
Asahi debuted for a promotion named Ice Ribbon in August 2017. The then 14 year old faced wrestling legend Manami Toyota in her debut match. I was lucky enough to attend that show live, and was impressed with the sense of determination and resiliency Asahi showed.
The wrestler who would eventually be nicknamed The Sunrise of Hope became an absolute favorite of mine, and it was a joy to see her evolve and grow as her career progressed. She put her heart into her matches, was technically skilled, and most importantly was just flat out fun to watch.
One of my favorite memories of the emotion she put behind everything is a bit of an odd inclusion here, as it never really made tape. But it’s such a vivid memory to this day I’d like to share it.
At a show in early 2019 Asahi was part of a P’s Party themed team, alongside fellow rookies Tequila Saya and Giulia, going against then Ice Ribbon veterans Risa Sera, Maya Yukihi, and Akane Fujita. It was an elimination match with special stipulations, and by the end P’s Party had the unlikely advantage as it was down to Asahi and Giulia against Akane. Asahi had Akane on the verge of elimination and was slowly grounding her senior down, only to be shoved away at the last second by a partner who wanted the glory for herself. P’s Party won, but Asahi was betrayed all the same. What followed was intense, and only a tiny snippet made it to the video of the event.
“Asahi stares a HOLE through her so called partner, and then goes CRAZY trying to claw and scrape her way to attack Giulia requiring three others to hold her back until finally Tsukka comes in to calm her down. Fantastic fire from Asahi here, and there was more story and character conveyed in these 30 seconds than I’ve seen in entire shows.”
No matter what type of moment, Asahi always vividly conveyed her emotions with captivating charisma.
Another special memory for me was getting to see her wrestle another of my favorites, Misaki Ohata, at a P’s Party show in a great match seeing Asahi throw everything she could at her vastly more experienced opponent.
I have not been able to return to Japan since before the pandemic, so the final times I was able to see Asahi wrestle live were Ribbonmania 2019 and one dojo show a couple weeks later. Her being victorious in the tag team gauntlet and then later part of Tequilia Saya’s retirement match in the main event are happy memories.
In Spring of 2023 Asahi left Ice Ribbon to go to Actwres girl’Z, a company with a more theatrical based approach to wrestling related entertainment. She was a good fit and I recommend checking out her work there as well.
It’s heart wrenching to try to process the loss of someone so young, with a seemingly bright future ahead of her. Farewell, our dear Sunrise. You will be remembered, and missed.
P’s League 2021 started off with some nice surprises, and has continued in fine form. On tap for this show were three more matches in the round robin tournament, plus a big 6-woman tag in the main event.
Each match will have a 19 count on the floor (as per IW-19 rules) and a 10 minute time limit. A win is worth 2 points, a draw 1, and a loss 0.
The winner of each block will face in the finals (no time limit), with the winner of that match receiving an IW-19 title match at Yokohama Party on May 4, 2021. In case of a score tie in a block, a tie breaker match will be held to determine who advances to the finals.
P’s Party 68
Nao Ishikawa addressed the audience during the opening. She has to pull out of P’s League due to injury, and her remaining opponents (Momo, Yappy, and Yuuki) will each receive 2 points for her forfeits.
Shame to see her have to deal with another setback. I’m really glad she got the early surprise draw in what became her only P’s League match and her first victory at a recent Ice Ribbon show before her hiatus. Wishing her a speedy recovery.
1) P’s League A Block: Yappy vs Yuuki Mashiro
Yappy has the size and experience advantage, but Mashiro’s way of approaching things tends to befuddle her opponents. They both need the win to stay alive in the tournament, so this is pretty hard to call. Normally the more senior wrestler would be the safer bet, but Mashiro has had a significant upset or two and is in the spotlight after receiving her Rookie of the Year award. Flip a coin.
Speaking of unique approaches, Mashiro initiated a test of strength to start the match, which went about as we’ll as expected against a power wrestler.
Yappy played the bratty senior to the hilt, including the almost traditional choke in the corner. Yappy offense is quite unique as well and she’s slowly developing a deep moveset that works well together.
Despite Mashiro’s character and experience level, strong fundamentals shine through. One thing that stood out was an excellent arm drag off the second rope transitioned into a triangle armlock.
In an incredibly fun sequence Mashiro countered Yappy’s against the rope splash and bounced Yappy on the mat a few times while she was tied in the ropes. But she tried to cover with Yappy still in ropes, then had to use all her strength to drag Yappy out for a proper cover… for 1. Later Mashiro countered the choke bomb with a … body scissors face hug? It worked and fit well enough with Mashiro’s general style whatever it was.
Late in the match Mashiro finally hit the second rope crossbody for 2, but then got caught off the ropes into a fireman carry. Mashiro countered into a sunset rollup. Which Yappy reversed. Which Mashiro reversed. Which Yappy reversed. At which point Yappy carelessly ran her eye into Mashiro’s finger allowing Mashiro to reverse one final time and get the win! Yappy’s claiming it was an eye poke and has been tormenting Mashiro since, but we all know what really happened.
Fun match with an interesting result that could lead to a lot of different things.
In one last awesome little touch, Yuuki didn’t realize she won until Suzu came in and told her it was 3.
All hail the Gacha King.
2) P’s League B Block: Banny Oikawa vs Honori Hana
Banny’s been training with Cherry, has seriously upped her ground game. I didn’t get a chance to write them up, but I saw some of the other P’s League matches and her match with Maddie was quite good and surprisingly even. It was a different type of match for P’s Party as someone went straight at Maddie with her own game, and the strategy was good enough at it to force a draw.
Likewise here Banny tried to focus on grappling. It’s a good approach for her and was cool to see how she adjusted to use it against a larger opponent. It also gave Honori the opportunity to show off her grappling skills a bit too.
The pace was deliberate (in a good way) when Banny controlled, and the brilliance of how things have been booked in the tournament so far is that a little bit of doubt crept in about who would win at points. Banny controlled more of this than I expected and looked really good. One particular series of brutal low kicks really illustrated how much improvement she’s making and how much more comfortable she’s getting in the ring and with her style the more she wrestles.
When the pace quickened, Honori took over. That type of back and forth dynamic always make for a compelling match. Eventually, after a (admittedly awkward) spear, Honori hit a belly to back suplex for the victory.
3) P’s League B Block: Totoro Satsuki vs Madeline
In an amusing touch Maddy’s in tiger print here to match her opponent.
Like the previous match this was the battle of a grappler against a larger opponent, but the dynamics were quite different. Maddy has an advantage in technique over Totoro, but didn’t have the strength to properly take advantage of it. This created an interesting dynamic as Maddy repeatedly tried to outwrestle her standing opponent but ran into trouble as Totoro’s size and power advantage kept saving her.
Early on she yelled at Totoro to give up to wrist lock, while the latter looked more annoyed than in pain. Even when Maddy got Totoro down later and was stomping on her back, Totoro just pushed up to stop it.
But Maddy kept fighting tooth and nail which made this into a fairly even contest. At one point Totoro’s weight blocked a rolling arm bar attempt, so Maddy went into a Fujiwara instead. She also nailed a beautiful split sunset flip out of the corner for a close fall late in the match.
However Totoro weathered everything Maddy threw at her and a nice cross body counter laid out Maddy for the second rope senton, which gave Totoro the win. Really enjoyed this.
4) Tsukushi, Itsuki Aoki, & Momo Kohgo vs Suzu Suzuki, Uno Matsuya & Rina Shingaki
I was running out of time to finish watching the show before the archive period ended, so only got to watch the last third of this fifteen minute encounter.
Momo looked particularly good, which I believe was the point as almost the entire portion of the match I saw was an extended showdown between her and Uno. Late she was saved from the Mattsuya special by her partners, who then leveled Uno with successive running strikes to allow Momo to cover and get the win.
Really well done. Momo put up a strong enough fight that the win elevates her and didn’t look underserved, while the help from two of P’s Party’s strongest wrestlers means Uno doesn’t lose much from the defeat.
——-
So with the results of the above and Ishikawa’s unfortunate withdrawal, things stand as follows in P’s League:
*As mentioned above Nao’s remaining opponents received 2 points each. I am reflecting this as forfeits in the records.
If either Aoki or Momo win out they take the block. Beyond that nearly everything hinges on this week’s Aoki vs Mashiro match.
Yappy’s maximum points is now at 4 (if she defeats Momo when they face), so she’s out of contention for the block since no matter the result in Aoki vs Mashiro one of them will end up at 5 or more.
A Mashiro upset eliminates Aoki, but Mashiro would still need Momo to at best get a loss and a draw in her remaining matches to win outright. Momo winning one and losing one or tying both would force a tiebreaker match.
Mashiro and Aoki going to a draw is the most complex. Mashiro would need Aoki vs Momo to also go to a draw, AND Momo to lose to Yappy to force a 3-way tiebreaker match for the block.
Aoki defeating Mashiro is the most straightforward scenario. Only Aoki and Momo would be left in contention, and a clear winner in their match would take the block. If they go to a draw Momo’s success (or lack thereof) against Yappy would determine the block winner.
Too much of B Block is left to get into scenarios, but both Maddy and Banny are in dire straights and must win out to be in contention. Honori’s looking a like a huge dark horse, although smart money still says the winner of Rina vs Totoro wins the block.
Although I do kind of hope something unexpected happens, so that both blocks don’t end up coming down to whoever wins the match between the two most experienced members of the block takes it. A playoff match in either block would be really interesting.
Shows like this continue to show the true value of P’s Party. Lesser experienced wrestlers get both more of a spotlight and an environment where they can try new things and learn without as much pressure on them. A little awkwardness is to be expected but they all cover so well in general it’s never a big deal anyway. Everyone gives it their all and the shows are always a lot of fun.
In addition P’s League has been great both in the matchups it provides and the interesting story choices being made (both in ring and results-wise). All the matches have felt different and there’s a real sense of progress throughout the tournament as wrestlers adjust based on their previous matches. Really hope this becomes a yearly tradition.
Show was great. Definitely want to revisit this one when it hits the general archive in a couple months (on Ice Ribbon’s Nico Nico channel).
With Tequila Saya’s departure from Ice Ribbon and pro wrestling altogether last month, P’s Party has been under the new management of Tsukushi Haruka.
After a recent chorus of volunteers among the roster wanting to be in line for a shot at Tsukushi’s IW-19 Championship, a tournament was set up to decide who will get that opportunity.
P’s League 2021 is a round robin tournament with two five wrestler blocks. Each match will have a 19 count on the floor (as per IW-19 rules) and a 10 minute time limit. A win is worth 2 points, a draw 1, and a loss 0.
The winner of each block will face in the finals (no time limit), with the winner of that match receiving an IW-19 title match at Yokohama Party on May 4, 2021. In case of a score tie in a block, a tie breaker match will be held to determine who advances to the finals.
The field is a great mix of the P’s roster, both Ice Ribbon members, regulars, and guests.
Tequila Saya made a special appearance to open to promote her new endeavor as part of the idol group Otonatic Romance.
Then Yuuki Mashiro and Tsukasa Fujimoto are brought out. Yuuki receives her ShuPro (Weekly Pro-Wrestling Magazine) Rookie of the Year Award. This is a big deal and a well deserved honor for our quirky, determined Gacha King. Tsukka is presented with the new issue of ShuPro that features her on the cover. Both give some thoughts and then Yuuki leads a “P’s Party Yay!” call to start off the show.
Suzu is not happy about the absence of her recently lost title belt, and seemingly takes a lot of her frustrations out on the Gacha King early on. Straightforward, decent tag match with a lot of amusing highlights. At one point Yuuki attempts to do a repeated sit attack on Yappy’s back but has no weight behind it so Yappy just relaxes on the mat. Yappy’s hip/butt attacks are now named / punctuated with a call of “Big Ass!” by Mio on commentary, which is always going to make me chuckle. Yuuki & Banny’s less than effective double team attempts were also a nice touch, and Suzu hit a wild sliding apron kick at one point.
In the end Suzu finished Banny with a great looking Tequila Shot (rollup slam from the side).
2) P’s League A Block: Itsuki Aoki vs Nao Ishikawa
This match was supposed to be Nao vs Momo Kohgo, but the latter was injured in practice and is temporarily out. With Aoki having a shot at a different singles title in Ice Ribbon impending, she’s the one to beat in Block A. Nothing would make me happier than a strong showing for Nao in this tournament, but the rookie with no wins’ chances don’t look good here.
This was even early, but shortly settled into Aoki slowly picking Nao apart while the latter remained defiant.
Around the halfway point Nao rallied, including a hard fought for scoop slam and sweet crossbody. I love the spamming of repeated pin attempts spot and it made a lot of sense as Nao tried to keep the monster down.
Aoki fought back late and had Nao in trouble with a crazy looking half crab. There was a really good story with Aoki being extremely confident, and Nao just flat out being tougher than she expected.
With under a minute left Nao dodged top double stomp and went for a bunch of rollups in the last minute, not keeping Aoki down but eating time. She laid in increasingly weaker forearms, and Aoki LEVELD her with a lariat with ten seconds left… for 2.999! Aoki went for a German but clearly wasn’t moving fast enough and time expires as she starts to lift Nao.
NAO DIDN’T LOSE! Definite shock here, but a well done and believable one. As mentioned I’m a huge fan of Nao, and starting the tourney with a surprise is an awesome choice. Aoki looking around as if wondering what just happened was great too. Aoki goes over to Nao after but gets slapped in the face for her trouble, as a draw clearly wasn’t satisfactory enough for the fiery rookie. I pretty much adored every thing about this.
3) Tsukushi Haruka & Madeline vs Thekla & Tsukasa Fujimoto
With the previously mentioned change to the card due to Kohgo’s absence, newly crowned ICE Cross Infinity Champion Tsukka is taking Aoki’s place in this tag match.
Maddie’s the greatest, and her cheerfully brandishing Fairy’s wand is highly amusing. Tsukushi showed little tolerance for her partner here even during the entrances.
Thekla has a title shot against Tsukushi coming up, so there’s additional tension between the teams.
Maddie vs Tsukka to start! Tsukka hit the reverse pedigree pretty early (love the move although I wish someone else had inherited from Saya that as it’s finisher worthy and Tsukka already has somewhere around 7).
The match continued at a great, fast pace. Tsukka and Tsukushi went full bore whenever they were in against each other, and one particularly amazing spot saw Tsukka kip up out of a wheelbarrow rollup. In the middle of the match there was also a lot of great grappling on the mat with Thekla and Maddie. Maddie’s unique holds and rollups are amazing.
Late in the match Maddie was way too amused to be doing Tsukka’s back kicks to Tsukka. Tsukka absorbed them, then kicked Maddie in counter when soccer kick and showed the poor rookie how they were really to be done.
Maddie hung in with the champ well, but eventually Tsukka used Maddie’s own kickout momentum to pull her into the stranglehold for the win (I always love transitions/reversals like that).
Really good match with a lot of interesting action.
4) P’s League B Block: Totoro Satsuki vs Honori Hana
We have a direct parallel of the Block A match here, with the most experienced wrestler in Block B facing a rookie with little success in singles matches.
Perhaps learning the lessons of the earlier P’s League match, this started off fast with the two just flat out charging at each other.
A bit in there was a really imaginative spot to highlight the tournament rules that saw them brawl to back area where Totoro locked Honori in and went back to the ring. After a couple of futile attempts to open the door, Honori realized she could go outside then enter back in through the audience door and she just beat the count reentering the ring at 18.
Totoro was relentless and pretty much in control all match until Honori took over with a great extended series of shoulder tackles. She later hit a spear and spammed pin attempts to wear Totoro down. Totoro fired back with several sentons for close counts, then went up to the second rope.
Totoro missed the second rope senton, but got up and charged Honori in the corner. Honori dodged and rolled Totoro into a deep schoolboy… for 3!
Another brilliant in ring story as Honori disrupted Totoro’s dominance with a flurry leading a rattled to over rely on her strongest move, and it led to an opportunity for the big upset.
——-
Can’t compliment the way things unfolded here enough. There were two very different upsets to kick off P’s League and make everything feel unpredictable. In one match the confident favorite wasn’t quite wrestling with the needed urgency to put her opponent away in time, and the other favorite couldn’t recover from having her well built momentum thrown off. Both Itsuki and Totoro still looked crazy strong without either upset feeling like a fluke. Well done all around.
Add in a pair of good tag matches and this was a really strong show. P’s Party continues to be a great showcase and playground for lesser experienced wrestlers and a ton of fun.
Derailments of Thought 