Suzume is a great tournament wrestler. In real sports, that speaks to an ability to eke out victories, finding a way to win one-off games against teams that you might not be expecting to beat. In wrestling, I think it speaks more to someone’s versatility. Whether TJPW asks her to make a deep run, lose in the first round or land anywhere in between, you can always rely on Suzume to impress in the Princess Cup. Part of that is that she is incredibly talented, but it’s also because she finds a way to be so against a host of different people.
What impressed me in this match was that she found ways to be great against Yuki Arai that didn’t necessarily play to Arai’s strengths. She is a big-picture wrestler. I don’t mean that as an insult, as it’s working very well for her. However, presumably because of her idol background, she flourishes when asked to project herself to the world. From her facial expressions to how she’s perfected those big boots, she knows how to rally a room and reach those far-flung seats. Yet, against Suzume, Arai was forced into situations that called for more subtlety. Suzume loves to craft intricate setups, whether as a counter to a submission or a series of roll-ups to spin an opponent out for a Ring-a-Bell. It’s a style I wouldn’t typically associate Arai with, but she went with it, trusting the bee to lead her through.
And when those fast-paced, beautifully thought-out sequences landed, the big stuff that followed hit even harder. When Arai realised she was being outfoxed by Suzume in those smaller, technical exchanges, she went brute force, falling back on those boots to cut off the pest. She wrestled this like someone who knew she wasn’t the better wrestler but trusted in her physicality to bash through everything the bee threw in front of her. It was a route-one approach, and in a match that was going for something bigger than this, it might have been a bit too blunt. For a tight ten minutes, though? It’s perfect. It’s someone looking at Pep Guardiola and all his fantastically well-thought-out ideas and realising the best way to deal with it is to pump the ball over the top and run like hell. There are times when you should aim to meet someone on their level, but there are also those when you simply need to find a way to win.
As I’ve said before, I don’t need my wrestling to feel real in the strictest sense of the word. If I did, I’d watch MMA instead. What I like, though, is to believe the people involved have thought things through. They’ve looked at their opponent and concocted a plan to beat them. That’s what this match felt like. Suzume knew she could outfox Arai, twisting her up through superior skill, so the idol responded by brute forcing it, punching through and getting the win before the bee could react. It’s good, solid pro wrestling, and I enjoyed it a lot.
Watch Tokyo Joshi Pro: https://www.wrestle-universe.com/en/videos?labels=-tjpw.
Ramblings About Wrestling 
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