With the bulk of the Marvelous roster having just returned from America, you’d think they’d all want to stay close to home. However, there’s no rest for the talented, as they got straight back on the road, heading down to Osaka for the latest matches in the AAAW Tag Tournament. What went down? Let’s find out.
Before the show, everyone sang Sadie ‘Happy Birthday’ in a moment that she seemed touched and embarrassed by. Amusingly, they put Mio on translation duty for her thank you promo, which led to her accurately relaying that Gibbs mainly talked about how amazing Momono is. If she ever needs a day job, she might want to stay away from that particular field.
Riko Kawahata defeated Miyuki Takase and Maria in a three-way
On paper, you’d think this match would put Takase at a disadvantage, what with her opponents being the current tag team champions. You’d be right. Despite Miyuki’s attempts to keep that apart at the start (literally, she didn’t want them standing near each other), Magenta quickly found common ground, forcing Takase to go it alone against the two of them. Luckily for her, it didn’t last long, as Riko and Maria’s friendship has its foundations in their rivalry, so they were never too far away from trying to get one over on each other.
Unfortunately, when they were at odds, this match leaned too hard on some of the worst three-way tropes. If Takase has to roll backwards from a standing position so that you can all kip up simultaneously after a series of dropkicks, maybe that spot is a tad too contrived. That’s before we get into them all standing in a circle, taking turns hitting each other, although I guess that did end with a Miyuki boob joke that got a pop from the crowd. I love these three and think they’re supremely talented, so it was disappointing to see them put together something that all felt a bit too rehearsed. It was like they were hitting their spots rather than each other.
That’s not to say it was all bad, there was too much talent and charisma involved for them to totally shit the bad, and I did laugh a lot at Takase and Maria going back and forth between pins over Riko’s somewhat distressed body. It was at its best when the two partners were trying to catch each other out, deploying their knowledge to try and steal the win. That was how we got to the finish, Kawahata using a double team to catch Maria off-guard and bundle her up. Sadly, that wasn’t the norm for most of this, and while everyone involved seemed to have a good time, I came out of it a little cold.
Verdict: Some Good Moments, But Too Cooperative
Leo Isaka and Maori Kawashima fought to a time-limit draw
Maori Kawashima is a masked wrestler who is presumably Osaka-based, as this is at least the second time Marvelous have brought him in to wrestle Leo on one of their trips south.
This match was a great example of how one moment can potentially make something. It was ticking along at alright, the two of them working through some fairly perfunctory chain wrestling as (if I’m honest) my mind wandered. Then, after heading to the outside, Kawashima leapt up from the floor to dropkick Leo’s leg out from under him on the apron, causing his knee to come crashing down onto the part of the ring that we’re reliably informed is quite hard. It looked fantastic, Leo’s knee sickeningly crunching into the mat in a way you couldn’t help but wince at. To add to the drama, Maria and Tommy quickly gathered around to check on him, selling it as a potential game-changer.
Sadly, while that caught my attention, the rest of the action never quite lived up to it. Kawashima did the right thing, focusing in on the injury, but he was never mean enough to make it count. Meanwhile, Leo didn’t forget to sell the leg but did pull away from it at the big moments, hitting his springboard moonsault to the outside and moving around the ring unhindered. It’s one thing to grab your leg sometimes, but if I don’t believe it’s inhibiting your movement, the whole facade becomes pointless. Christ, one of his big nearfalls came from him driving that knee into Maori, which hardly screams, ‘I’m in agony.’
Still, that one spot ruled, even if they failed to take advantage of it, so at least we had that.
Verdict: One Great Moment
ChikaTak (Chikayo Nagashima & Takumi Iroha) defeated Itsuki Aoki & HIbiscus Mii
With Ninja Ranmaru in their corner and Mii’s deceleration that Itsuki Aoki and her were the funny team, it’s probably not a surprise to hear they dragged this match into the nonsense. ChikaTak tried, initially cutting Aoki off from her partner and laying into her, but the lure of the silliness could only be held at bay for too long, and this quickly became one that anyone who takes themselves a tad too seriously should avoid. Thankfully, I don’t think that’s something that can be said of me.
Besides, the big running gag worked. Poor Nagashima was cast as the grumpy old curmudgeon, unwilling to play along with everyone’s games. Even when she did join in, after being convinced to take a back bump from everyone lightly running into each other after initially refusing, the rest of them took it as an opportunity to suddenly not play ball, leaving her to throw herself backwards onto the mat alone amidst their laughter. If anything, that somewhat proved her point. These kids have no respect.
If you don’t enjoy a bit of silliness, you’ll get nothing out of this, but it was my favourite match on the show so far. There was a thread of decent wrestling to hold it together, but it was primarily focused on getting laughs and providing a touch of levity on a mainly serious card. It’s fun to see people like Takumi and Chikayo being dragged into this, especially when they resist, and while it’s not what I want them to do every time they team, the occasional foray into nonsense is good for the soul.
Verdict: Some Light Fun
ZONES & ChiChi (1-2) defeated Sadie Gibbs & Ai Houzan (1-2) in the AAAW Tag League
Watching Sadie Gibbs throw a random Buckshot Lariat into this match with no build or reason hit on what it is about her that means she’s potential rather than the finished product. Before they got going, she and ZONES were flexing at each other, teeing us up for what should have been two hosses colliding. Except, that never came. Instead, Gibbs spent most of the match exhibiting what I think of as Ospreay syndrome, seemingly more focused on showing off the cool shit she can do than playing to the talents of everyone else involved. With three younger wrestlers around her, it felt like they lacked someone to rein her in, and while you could argue she’s getting good reactions for it all, it often leaves the action feeling disjointed.
It meant that, perhaps surprisingly, the highlight of this was the two scrappier partners getting to face off, as Ai and ChiChi had some fun interactions. As they peppered each other with dropkicks and threw some decent strikes, there was a sense that things could go either way, and it brought a tinge of excitement to everything they did. I went into this expecting to come out wanting to see ZONES vs Sadie, but it was those two who intrigued me more, especially when ChiChi got the win with a fucking backdrop driver, of all things, a move I did not realise she’d made part of her repertoire. If Marvelous are looking for a singles match for Ai at the next Korakuen, they could have found it here.
Sadly, it wasn’t enough to stop this from falling short of my expectations. While it still had a couple of wow moments from Gibbs (although she came up short on the Sasuke Special), I was left wanting more of what ZONES and her were teasing. As I said, I suspect a veteran brain to tweak and hone all the ideas in one direction was sorely missing, even if I still managed to have fun with the battle of the smaller members of the teams.
Verdict: Ai vs ChiChi, Please
Mio Momono & Tomoko Watanabe (1-2) defeated Ryo Mizunami & Sonoko Kato (1-2)
Sonoko Kato was not a happy bunny. While Mio and Tomoko were doing their entrance dance, she was already lashing out at people at ringside, and once they were done, she quickly got in Momono’s face. One got the impression she was not a fan of seeing Mio with that Oz Academy title in her hands, and it brought a delicious touch of tension to a match that already had some good stakes.
It also played nicely into the structure of the action, as the hoss pairing of Aniki and Kato looked to bully Momono. They knew fine well they could overpower her at every turn, so they tried to cut her off, hammering away at her with strikes and preventing her from building any momentum. Unfortunately for them, Mio wasn’t willing to play along. They got in plenty of big hits, but she kept coming, ducking and diving to create the opportunities she needed. Then, when that wasn’t working, she had her own powerhouse to fall back on, unleashing Tomoko to match their opponents blow for blow. Watanabe doesn’t have the stamina to keep up that kind of gruelling battle for the whole match these days, but when she’s called upon at the right moment, she’s a perfect choice to flip the momentum.
All of which meant this match almost felt like it was answering my issues with the one before. In that, we had people miscasting themselves, trying things that didn’t fit with the way the narrative wanted to go. Here, everyone knew their role, be it Kato looking to knock Mio from her perch or Tomoko providing the muscle to her speedy nuisance of a partner. They slotted together perfectly, building to a final section where Watanabe and Aniki battled it out, the two crashing into each other until Tomoko, through sheer power, managed to pin a still-wriggling Mizunami to the mat.
If I were picking flaws, I’d say that the Kato stuff didn’t quite pay off, as I’d have liked to see her and Mio get a section to tear at each other, but as her first Oz title defence isn’t actually against Sonoko, I don’t think it’s a huge issue. It could have pushed this from very good to great, but you can’t complain about tag team wrestling that works this well.
Verdict: The Best Match On The Show
Overall Show
I hope it didn’t come across like I hated this show, as my issues with most of the matches were more of the niggling variety rather than outright disdain. They all had something to offer, but if you’re picking and choosing, you only really need to see the main event. It won’t go down as one of Marvelous’s best shows this year, but I still had a decent time, so while I have complaints, they remain muted.
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