Ice Ribbon #1039 took a break from the IW19 tournament, instead choosing to highlight the debut of Nao Ishikawa. We saw her in an exhibition match recently, but this has been a long time coming as it’s been cancelled or postponed a few times before. Sadly, she’ll have to do it in front of an empty dojo, but at least she gets the joy of being in the main event.
Yappy defeated Ibuki Hoshi
This is one of those weird match-ups where despite one of the wrestlers being forty and the other seventeen, the seventeen-year-old is the one with the most in-ring experience. Hoshi has two years to Yappy’s one as joshi is going to joshi.
Experience gap aside, Yappy has been looking good recently, and that continued here. She used her power well, gaining an edge over her opponent. That led to a fun little contest where Hoshi was trying to sneak out with the win, only for Yappy to leap out of a flash pin and come crashing down on her chest, earning herself the three.
Afterwards, Ibuki was upset about the loss, which inspired her Mum to give her a talking to in front of everyone. What was said, I’m not sure, but it didn’t sound like a friendly pat on the back.
Verdict: Nice Stuff
Satsuki Totoro and Risa Sera defeated Maya Yukihi and Thekla
With Yukihi’s recent heel turn, a wedge has been driven between her and Azure Revolution teammate Risa Sera, giving this match a bit of personal spice. It was a fight that would see Risa get the last laugh, her and Totoro combining to Press Slam Yukihi from the ring, a move which had to hurt.
Their focus on each other meant we also got plenty of Thekla vs Totoro, which proved to be a fun combination. We even saw a logical use of the Excorist-style Spider Walk, Thekla using it to dodge a Lariat before twisting around and hitting a cool Spear. Sadly, it might have also inspired the finish as Totoro came off the top, squashing Thekla like old Itsy Wincy.
It added up to a match where everyone worked together well, giving us something that flew by. With the tournament on a break, it was also nice to have Sera and Yukihi face-off, providing the emotional hook that a lot of these matches are missing.
Verdict: The Fun Continues!
Mochi Miyagi defeated Matsuya Uno
Uno and Mochi put together a match based around Mochi’s knee as it took some damage early on. That made it the perfect target for Uno to attack, using that Joint Army style to hone in on it and cause as much damage as possible.
Mochi, though, was unwilling to go down without a fight. She took all the twisting and grabbing, and fought through it, refusing to die. At one point, she made it to the ropes through pure desperation, screaming and thrashing her body around in a way that landed her in a spot to grab them.
That determination would eventually get the win, a very, em, booby Thesz Press turning the tide and a Styles Clash seeing Uno off. Mochi was left grasping her knee, unable to stand comfortably in her post-match interview, but she’d got the win in another nice little match.
Verdict: More Good Stuff
Dropkickers (Tsukasa Fujimoto and Tsukushi) defeated Suzu Suzuki and Nao Ishikawa
As mentioned above, this was Nao Ishikawa’s official debut, as Ice Ribbon threw her into the deep end with an all-star tag. So, while I could talk about how great the other three are, it would seem a bit pointless, and I’d rather focus in on the newbie.
It would be a tough first run out for the rookie, Tsukasa and Tsukushi not giving her an inch. Whether it was Fujimoto throwing her across the ring or Tsukushi stamping on her fingers, we got to see how she reacts to a beating. Thankfully, she stood up to it well and her selling of the finger stomp was fantastic.
Having taken her licks, she was given a chance to briefly shine later in the match, showing some good fire before unsurprisingly eating the pin. Of course, there were moments where she looked a bit awkward, but that’s no surprise. As debuts go, it was a good one, and Nao has earned the right to have many an eye kept on her to see what happens next.
Outside of the rookie, it was a damn good tag because, well, look who was in it. Would you expect anything less?
Verdict: Hello, Nao!
Overall Show
A lot of people online have been complaining about behind closed doors wrestling, claiming it’s rubbish, but I can only assume they’re all watching the wrong stuff because most of what I’ve had on has been great. This was another fast, breezy watch and very deserving of your minutes.
Watch Ice Ribbon on niconico: https://ch.nicovideo.jp/iceribbon
Ramblings About Wrestling 
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