As the AAAW Tag League came to an end, Marvelous made the trip to Kariya, where the final two matches would take place. It hasn’t all been smooth sailing, with injuries forcing two bouts to be declared a no-contest, but we entered the final day with three teams level on points, two of whom met in the main event. Who would make it to the final? Let’s find out.
Maria defeated Ai Houzan
As Maria posed on the ropes, the sight of Ai taking off behind her, flying forward to dropkick her to the floor, set the theme for this match. Houzan was bristling with a mix of energy and desperation, bringing an attitude that we perhaps haven’t seen enough of from her recently. She didn’t give Maria a second to breathe, peppering her with dropkicks, slapping her across the face, and even delivering a running headbutt. Houzan was at her scrappy, underdog best as, in classic Ai style, she responded to a challenge by throwing herself at it.
It caught Maria off guard but also brought her nasty streak out. Ai’s pest behaviour pissed her off, so when she got the opportunity to even things up, she went hard, aiming to put Houzan in her place. Maria has always excelled at being a bit of a dick, and when she crouched over Ai or twisted her up in submissions, you could tell she wanted to punish her younger opponent. On paper, this should have been a pleasant runout for her, a way to warm up ahead of having to defend the tag titles against the winner of the AAAW Tag League, but Houzan forced her to work for it, and she didn’t like that.
Those two performances placed this firmly in wee gem territory. The whole thing was under ten minutes, but they used their time brilliantly, packing the action with tight, well-worked wrestling that told a natural story. They know each other well, but they didn’t let that make them lazy, as they brought some tension into the action, ensuring that everything felt impactful. It was a damn good opener and one I’d recommend going out of your way to see.
Verdict: A Wee Gem
Shinya Ishida defeated Leo Isaka
Shinya Ishida is a Sportiva regular who has popped up in various smaller Japanese indies. I knew nothing about him coming into this match, but he had a cool entrance, which is always a good start.
And for the most part, I think he lived up to that initial impression. We know the formula of Leo matches by now, as they start slow before exploding into a flurry of moves, but Shinya seemed to curb some of the worst of those instincts. In the early grappling, he kept things interesting by dropping in little touches like a stamp on Isaka’s toe but was also smart enough to never focus too hard on a limb, making sure Leo didn’t have to commit to selling. Then, when the action sped up, he matched Leo beat-for-beat, keeping pace with him and throwing in some flashy moves himself.
Unfortunately, they didn’t quite get the time to make anything more of that, as the match ended just as it felt like they were pushing up to that next level. Said finish also felt abrupt, with Ishida almost looking like he expected Leo to kickout. Whether that was the case or not, I came out of this feeling like if we can get round two and three of this showdown, they could touch on something impressive. As it is, this was good but left a lot on the table.
Verdict: A Solid Foundation
Riko Kawahata, Unagi Sayaka and Itsuki Aoki fought to a draw
Up next was our serving of silliness, and if you don’t like it when wrestlers spend a lot of time yelling, then this one isn’t for you. Not only did you get Itsuki’s usual shtick, but Riko and Unagi were itching to join in, making sure this was easily the loudest match on the show. Look, you’ve got to be a bit weird to be a wrestler, and they get dropped on their heads a lot, so it’s no surprise they struggle with volume control.
Sadly, even with my love of the nonsense, I think this one has to go down as fine. It was a lot of stuff we’d seen before, and beyond the shouting, they never managed to find an enjoyably silly thread to follow. I’m never going to hate something like this, as I always appreciate wrestlers messing around, but there was a sense that they were coasting through it rather than trying to do anything particularly unique. On top of that, even with a few meaty Itsuki forearms, the wrestling around the nonsense never came together as anything worth writing home about.
However, there was one exception to those criticisms, which was the finish. It saw all three wrestlers come together, get themselves in a tangle and somehow end up being pinned at the same time. That alone was brilliantly done and got a big laugh out of me, but to add to the joy of it, as they argued about what happened afterwards, they contrived to do it all again, Tommy dutifully counting the fall once more. Finally, to add a little cherry on top, Riko turned to a tiny adorable child in the front row for arbitration, asking her who she thought won before peeling off in celebration when she was bestowed the youngster’s blessing. It was all delightful, and while the rest of the match is unlikely to stick with me, those final few minutes will.
Verdict: Alright Match, Great Finish
H2D (Sonoko Kato & Ryo Mizunami) (3-1) defeated ZONES & ChiChi (1-3) in the AAAW Tag League
Kato and Aniki had a simple task here, as they needed to win to guarantee themselves at least a play-off against the winners of the main event. ChiChi and ZONES, meanwhile, were out of the running, so they were wrestling purely for pride.
On the last show, I complained that ZONES and ChiChi vs Sadie Gibbs and Ai saw people played out of position. I wanted to see ZONES and Gibbs hoss it out, but instead, we got Sadie throwing all her fanciest shit out there, focusing on getting ‘wows’ rather than delivering us to the promised land. Thankfully, there were no such issues here. ZONES came tearing out of the blocks, hammering into Kato, and setting up a match that saw her let loose to bounce off her two veteran opponents at every opportunity. It was exactly what she needed.
It also allowed this to slip into a bit of old-school tag-team psychology. With ZONES as the powerhouse, ChiChi faced the H2D heat section, Aniki and Kato seemingly taking great pleasure in getting mean with their tormenting of the living Barbie doll. Aniki made sure those machine chops in the corner were particularly sore, ChiChi unable to stop herself from twisting her body away in an attempt to alleviate the pain. Then, later on, when ChiChi attempted to break a submission on ZONES, Aniki gave her nothing, refusing to budge until the rookie had earned it. To her credit, though, ChiChi stood up to all of it, taking her beating well and drawing the fans’ sympathy before finally unleashing ZONES to somewhat even the odds.
Even when it’s simple, tag-team wrestling this good is hard to quibble with. The Gibbs and Ai match I spoke about before felt like it was missing a veteran hand, someone to trim the fat and ensure they focused on what they were good at. With Aniki and Kato, that was never going to be a problem, and they funnelled the Evolution pair into the roles that suited them. I know they’re primarily a team because they come from the same company, but matches like this suggest they have a lot of potential in that regard, and I would love to see them have a proper run as a pairing. For now, though, they finished their tournament with their best showing, and you can’t ask for more.
Verdict: Great Tag Wrestling
Mio Momono & Tomoko Watanabe (2-1-1) fought ChikaTak (Takumi Iroha & Chikayo Nagashima) (2-1-1) to a time limit draw
We had two potential scenarios coming into the final match of the AAAW Tag League. As mentioned, if someone won this main event, they would go into a play-off with H2D. However, if it ended in a draw, Sonoko and Aniki would be crowned the winners.
Not that Mio seemed too bothered about any of that. Tensions have been simmering between her and Takumi recently, so after Chikayo refused to shake her hand, she chose to throw herself at ChikaTak. The problem? She hadn’t informed Tomoko of this plan, so she essentially leapt into a two-on-one situation that quickly saw her being overwhelmed. Part of what makes her and Watanabe a strong team is that the veteran Tomoko smooths off some of Mio’s more impulsive urges, but it’s hard for her to do that when she doesn’t consult her first. It meant it took them a while to get a foothold in this match, and that only came when Watanabe was able to brilliantly catch a Takumi kick from the apron, twisting it into a cool Dragon Screw instead.
Not that Tomoko’s work did anything to calm Mio down. If anything, the longer this went on, the more aggressive she and Iroha got. Every time Momono got a chance, she picked a fight with the Ace, and Takumi responded with the expected violence. There was almost a touch of sloppiness to their work with each other, but it was the right kind, as you felt like they were so intent on causing pain that they weren’t bothered about making everything kick or forearm perfect. All that mattered was that their blow connected with the other, not whether it looked good.
It all managed to turn the final act of this match into something exciting, even if I was almost 100% sure they were building towards the draw. Aided by the rest of the roster and Chigusa Nagayo going wild on the outside, the countdown to the time limit felt fraught with danger, both sides going all out in their attempt to push their way over the line. It always came back around to Takumi vs Mio, though, and while they both threw a lot at each other, neither was able to get that killer blow, and the time expired, with both teams falling short at the last hurdle.
However, this was still a hell of a match. As I said, I was confident they’d go to the draw, so I was a bit unenthused at the start, particularly as we saw this not too long ago. However, I couldn’t help being sucked in, as they kept the pace high throughout, and everyone came together to make sure those final minutes were as exciting as possible. Neither team came out victors, but this was a hell of a way to close the tournament and a reminder of just how good these wrestlers are.
Verdict: Outstanding
We had a lot going on in the aftermath, so I’ll run through it quickly. First, H2D came out to celebrate, facing off with Magenta in the ring to confirm their match at Korakuen. However, Unagi had other plans, dragging Itsuki into proceedings to demand they be included in the fun and setting up a three-way tag for the next Marvelous show (I really hope Unagi and Itsuki don’t get added to the Korakuen title match, as that undermines the entire tournament).
That wasn’t all, though. We also got the announcement that Marvelous have two new rookies preparing to debut (unless I missed something, they weren’t yet named) and that they will be returning to Nagoya for the first time in five years on October 27th. To make it even more exciting, they announced Mio vs Takumi as the main event of that show. Guess who was already considering going to Japan at that time? I’m giddy about that one.
Overall Show
After having a bunch of niggly issues with the last Marvelous show, this was a huge step up. We got a bit of a sneaky banger for the opener, a decent Leo match, a touch of light comedy and two great tournament closers to see us out. It was Marvelous at its best, and with lots of big news in the aftermath, the rest of 2024 is already shaping up to be an exciting one. Ai’s finally going to get some rookies to beat up!
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