The build for this show wasn’t exactly ideal. First, Marvelous forgot to include Itsuki Aoki on the card, forcing them to sheepishly add her to one of the already-announced matches. Then, on the day, ZONES and Ai Houzan dropped out with injuries, so they had to cancel the two AAAW Tag League showdowns that were supposed to headline this thing and replace them with an all-star main event. It’s hardly ideal circumstances, but the show must go on, and often, these thrown-together cards are a lot of fun, so let’s see what went down.
Magenta (Maria & Riko Kawahata) defeated Unagi Sayaka & Chie Ozora
Unagi Sayaka and Chie Ozora are an unnatural pairing. Where Unagi is shiny and flashy, Chie is solid and reliable. I don’t necessarily think that’s an issue. If anything, it makes sense to pair people up who fill in the gaps in each other’s games, but sadly, in this match, there was a real lack of cohesion. You had Ozora start things off by seeming to target Maria’s arm, only for Unagi to come in and dismiss that, going straight into those dramatic exchanges of boots to the face that she loves so much. They were both working towards a vision – it just wasn’t one they shared.
Despite that, I thought when it was divorced from the team, Chie’s performance was a good one. She opened and closed this match strongly, using the early game to exchange submissions with Maria before getting a couple of close two-counts off Kawahata towards the end. The best came from an O’Connor Roll, as she executed it smoothly at a point in the match where it made sense for it to be the finish. She’s not someone I watch enough of, but her work with Magenta kept this from falling into the worst of Unagi’s excesses.
One unintended advantage of the AAAW Tag League is that Magenta not being in it means that they’re currently anchoring Marvelous’ undercards. Maria and Riko are at the point where the floor for their matches is good, as they’re so in sync that they can almost wrestle themselves. There were points in this match where they got dragged into going for faux epic stuff with Unagi, but they generally pulled it back, focusing on their work as a pairing, getting each other out of trouble and opening up opportunities through their teamwork. It’s the kind of solid tag team wrestling that I’ll never complain about, and alongside Chie’s performance, it made for an alright opener.
Verdict: A Good Start
Leo Isaka defeated Takumi Saito
Takumi Saito is a semi-regular Leo opponent, having popped up a couple of times over the last few years. He’s also a young’un, as he’s only 22 despite having been around since 2020.
Despite that familiarity, this took a bit to get going. The early grappling here was neither interesting nor aggressive enough to hold my interest, as it felt a bit like two people going through the motions. Leo does like to start slow before peppering in that fancier offence, but when his opponents fail to bring something different to the table, it does tend to get a bit dull.
Thankfully, towards the end, things picked up a bit. The striking could have used a bit of tightening up, as a few of the hits lacked some oomph, but they brought that explosiveness to the rest of their offence, and Leo hit a beautiful brainbuster, which I wish had been the finish. It wasn’t enough to turn this into something you can’t miss, but I enjoyed the last few minutes, as I got caught up in it more than I do most of Leo’s encounters.
Verdict: Solid
Itsuki Aoki defeated Maya Yukihi and Hibiscus Mii in a three-way
As I already mentioned, Marvelous initially forgot to put Aoki in a match, so they were keen to make it up to her. Not only did the entire roster hold the ropes open for her, but Chig gave her a rapturous welcome, leading the fans in chanting her name. Not that Aoki was unpopular before, but it seems that getting forgotten was what she needed to push her to that next level.
That also gave this match a hook to build off, as Mii and Yukihi’s jealousy at that response caused them to start heeling it up. It was simple stuff, but with the room having decided Itsuki was their hero, that was all it needed to be. They were getting responses from basic villainy, and for a good chunk of the action, they could lean on that, playing with the fans to create the kind of wrestling that wouldn’t look out of place in a holiday camp. It also meant that when they started to transition into Mii’s comedy, the fans were ready to laugh, cheering her on to attempt a splash despite her opponent being on the other side of the ring. It isn’t about to win any awards or start racking up the 10/10s on Cagematch, but it didn’t have to. They were reacting to the room, and in that room, it worked a charm.
It’s also the stuff that distinguishes a wrestler from someone who can have a good wrestling match. I have no idea what these three had planned, but that opening felt like they were playing along with the mood of the fans. If you’re athletic enough, you can learn and perform a ‘great’ match, but the second something takes a turn you’re not expecting, you’re left scrabbling. A pro, which all of these three are, can adjust and adapt, twisting the vision they have in their head to fit the circumstances, and this whole thing felt like getting the most out of a crowd response that they probably knew Chig was going to try to draw, but couldn’t rely on happening. In other words, it was good pro wrestling.
By the end, Mii’s comedy took centre stage, and I suspect that was the plan from the start, as Yukihi and Itsuki (plus the rest of the Marvelous roster) teamed up to give her a beating. It was a lovely time for all involved and, rightly, ended with Itsuki winning on a day when she was perhaps as over as she’s ever been. I hope it somehow ends up sticking, but whether it does or not, this was good fun.
Verdict: A Load Of Fun
Mio Momono, Tomoko Watanabe & ChiChi fought Takumi Iroha, Chikayo Nagashima & Sadie Gibbs to a time-limit draw
For two-thirds of this match, I was all set to build this review around ChiChi and Sadie Gibbs. However, Mio and Takumi had other ideas. Whenever you put that pairing together, you’ll get something good, but this time, it got nasty. When Mio slapped Takumi across the face, it opened them up to laying into each other, and what was, on paper, an all-star main event that could have easily turned into a piss-around became the promotion’s two top guns pushing each other for a reaction. There was a sense that scrappy underdog Mio had spotted an opportunity to bloody Takumi’s nose, and while she probably regretted it when Iroha started laying it in, she was never going to back down from that fight. Their showdown took up almost the entire final act, and they wrestled like it was a Korakuen main event, serving up a reminder of just how incredible that match will be when Marvelous decides to pull the trigger on it.
To return to my original plan, ChiChi was also impressive here. If the last act was Takumi and Mio’s, the first belonged to her being thrown to the wolves, and she filled that role nicely. Sure, she got beat up a lot, but she was feisty from underneath, taking that beating well and desperately trying to battle back. With the star power in this match, it would have been easy for her to be overwhelmed, unable to make a mark in the face of some of the best around, but she carved herself a niche, leaning into the plucky underdog role as Gibbs, Iroha and Chikayo worked her over. It’s what has made her such a perfect partner for powerhouse ZONES, and it’s nice to see she’s equally capable of adapting it to an all-star main event as she is to a first-on-the-card showcase.
As for Gibbs, I find her increasingly fascinating. There is so much raw potential there. She’s powerful and athletic, capable of doing things no one else on the roster could, but there is also a sense that things could fall apart at any moment. I don’t know if I’m putting that on her, and this never actually went off the rails to any real degree, but watching her throw Mio around, I always feel like we’re on the cusp of someone landing on their head. Still, I can’t deny that she’s cool as hell, and I do generally push for a bit of chaos in my ‘movez’ wrestlers, so I’d be a hypocrite to complain too much. Mio certainly isn’t daunted (the English promo she cut indicating as such after the match was very funny), as she’s still holding a grudge over the defeat she suffered on Gibbs’ debut.
Sadly, this did suffer from some of the issues that any thirty-minute draw will, especially as I’d predicted it would go that way before the bell even rang. There was a lot of filler, and someone like Tomoko was mainly tasked with passing the time, her primary role being to bounce off Sadie a few times. However, when you can finish up with a pairing as electric as Mio and Takumi, it’s easy to forgive that stuff. Perhaps they felt the need to deliver after the card was shuffled around, but they turned it on, ensuring that even if it stumbled along the way, this ended on a hell of a high.
Verdict: You Might Not Know This, But Mio And Takumi Are Quite Good
Overall show
Make sure to watch that main event for the Mio and Takumi stuff. It was special. The rest of this card felt a bit lightweight in comparison, but I think that was mainly down to the way it had to be shifted around at the last minute. Considering all of that, I think the Marvelous roster and pals did a good job of putting on a decent show, and while it’s a shame we didn’t get any Tag League matches, I went away happy.
Marvelous have a Nico channel where you can watch older shows and a YouTube Membership where they upload videos. You can also buy access to live streams here.
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