It feels like forever since we’ve had a big Tokyo Joshi Pro-Wrestling show. Sure, there have been trips to America, farewells to beloved ring announcers and Yoppy’s retirement in that time, but we haven’t had a bells and whistles Tokyo Joshi event since March, which might as well be last year. Thankfully, they have come back with a bang. The now former idol has the championship shot, the two best tag teams in the company are facing off and a giant panda has turned up to wreck havoc in the undercard. It had the potential to be special – let’s find out if it was.
The Up Up Girls (Puroresu) debuted a new sugary sweet pop banger to get us going (I think they might have played it at some of their shows, but I’m pretty sure this was its first TJPW airing). We’re at the point now where they have enough songs that they’ll probably never have to play Upper Kick more than once again. While I’m glad to see them expanding their musical repertoire, there is a part of me that is sad to leave those days behind. Not that my nostalgia stopped it from being a fun, summery number that got everyone in the right mood.
HIMAWARI & Ren Konatsu defeated Shino Suzuki & Uta Takami
We kicked things off with three of my favourite young wrestlers and one exciting rookie. Ren Konatsu and her wee sheep (who was adorably clutching a sunflower) have impressed me so far. Who knows what’s going on inside her head, but from the outside looking in, she’s appeared unflappable. She’s almost made the transition from trainee to rookie look easy, as even her mistakes have proven incapable of slowing her down. However, with this being her biggest show yet, I was intrigued to see how she would fare under the spotlight.
There was nothing to see. Ren is not a perfect wrestler, but there were no signs of nerves here. If anything, she hit the cleanest attempt at her front flip off the ropes so far, even if it still hasn’t been used as anything other than an impressive piece of acrobatics. She needs to work on her strikes, as they lacked the oomph to make an impact, but she’s a handful of matches in, so I’m not really interested in nitpicking her wrestling. At this point, I’m more interested in seeing how she deals with being thrown into various animal cages, and from what we can see, she’s unfazed by it all.
Elsewhere, these matches are never going to be the place to see the best of HIMAWARI, Uta and Shino. They didn’t have the time to get their teeth into anything, so it was mainly a parade of their big spots. Although, we did get to see HIMAWARI get herself entangled in streamers before she’d even been announced and Uta leap into a Koala Clutch while the Powerful Cheeky Chappy was crouched down, so it wasn’t a total waste of time. They’re exciting wrestlers, and they do pack a lot into these tight outings, but all three are at their best when they get to tangle with something a bit more robust. This was too light for it to provide anything of substance.
Still, that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a nice time, and while it won’t go down as one of the classic TJPW openers, it did what it needed to do. They set the joyful tone of the show well, had a few fun moments and got the rookie through her first experience in a big room. Job done!
Verdict: A Solid Start
Andreza the Giant Panda & Raku defeated Kyoko Inoue & Pom Harajuku
Max the Impaler was originally part of this match, but for reasons that I don’t think have been elaborated on, they were unable to return to Japan. Intriguingly, they called upon Kyoko Inoue to make her TJPW debut in their place. If history tells us anything, she’ll become best friends with Pom and Raku and be a regular before we know it. Pom sporting the face paint certainly won’t have hurt with that.
I can’t believe I managed to get through that whole paragraph without mentioning there was also a giant panda involved.
Anyway, this is one of those matches where I think trying to review it in any conventional way is a touch pointless. Raku teamed with a giant panda. It doesn’t matter if Kyoko Inoue is there or not – you had made up your mind about this the second it was announced. For some, it’s everything they want and expect from TJPW. For others, it’s a farce that they’ll either tut their way through or use as an excuse to make liberal use of the fast-forward button.
Anyone who has read my rambles before will know my feelings. If you can’t take any joy out of Andreza the Giant Panda’s atrocious Goodnight Express, then I think you’re at worst dead inside and at best a miserable cunt. It was glorious. Even better, though, was seeing Kyoko commit to the nonsense. As a general rule, other people tend to take the careers of these legendary figures more seriously than they do themselves, but it’s always nice to see them cut loose. Inoue not only went along with the panda, but she got involved in the magical lullabies and happily followed Pom into various antics. Sure, she tried to play it grumpy, but you could tell she was having a wonderful time. She even did her own version of the Den-Den Daiko!
The other side of what I was saying above is that I don’t ever want Pom and Raku to try and win over the miserable cunts. They are brilliant just the way they are, and matches like this are proof of why. It was a delight, and if you can’t understand why, well, I feel a little bit sorry for you.
Verdict: Delightful
Wakane Uehara, Toga, Mifu Ashida & Kira Summer defeated Yuna Manase, Mahiro Kiryu, Kaya Toribami & Chika Nanase
A get-everyone-on-the-card match with the added fun of TJPW’s eternal big sis Yuna Manase turning up. I love that she’s getting a chance to form a bond with the next wave of TJPW wrestlers, even if she’s never going to be as involved in their careers as those that came before. You can tell she means a lot to people like Mahiro, and she always brings chaotic fun to proceedings, as demonstrated by her sneaking off to scare Saki Akai on commentary before later dropping one of her title belts.
Much like the opener, these big show multi-person tags are always going to be limited with what you can do. They’ve got a lot of people and not so many minutes, so it’s usually a parade of wrestlers tagging in, doing a spot or two, and then heading out to let someone else do the same. There were a couple of fun moments, mostly involving Yuna. She took advantage of Ashida’s flexibility and teased a hoss showdown with Toga that I’d like to see played out somewhere down the line. We also got introduced to some new gear, with both Kaya and Nanase having upgraded their look.
My main takeaway from this, though, was that I’m a bit disappointed that Toribami has slotted back into her old slot after that brilliant match with Shoko Nakajima. Having nothing of note to do on this show and not even making it through the qualifiers for the Princess Cup feels like a bit of a raw deal for someone coming off the best performance of their career. I don’t expect her to be catapulted up the card, but at least let her try to build some momentum.
All that aside, this was a perfectly acceptable match that I’ll probably never think about again.
Verdict: More For Kaya, Please
Tokusatsu Club (Yuki Aino & Haru Kazashiro) defeated Venyu (Veny & Yuki Kamifuku) and Arisu Endo & Jada Stone in a three-way tag match
By their standards, the Venyu entrance was somewhat subdued. They only hit like a 7/10 on the horny scale. On the other side of the spectrum, The Tokusatsu Club came out sporting various props that I am not nerdy/cool (delete as appropriate) enough to recognise. It must be so exciting for Haru to be able to hang out and talk about the things she loves with wrestlers she used to idolise. I’ve said it before, but watching that lass grow in confidence has been a pleasure.
Anyway, this was the last of our matches that felt primarily designed to get people on the card. While you had the hook of Venyu turning up, which is always fun, they spent a decent chunk of the match happy to sit back and let everyone else wrestle. I have a lot of time for Veny, but I think even her biggest fan has to concede that she isn’t going to give her all unless someone prods her into life, and she was mainly content to hit a few high spots and pose for the crowd. That’s not always a bad thing. I enjoyed watching Haru throw herself at that unflinching wall and eventually chisel away a crack. It just puts a limiter on proceedings.
I sound very down on this, but I’m not at all. The reality was that there were a lot of wrestlers I liked, having a fun match that never had a chance to catch its breath. They threw a load at the wall in the final act, including an impressive double gutwrench suplex from Aino, and I was happy to see the nerds get the win. There was enough here to make it worth your time.
Verdict: It Was Fun
Chris Brookes & Emi Sakura defeated El Desperado & Maki Itoh
Okay, I’m going to get my griping out of the way early. This felt like a DDT match. As someone who likes DDT, that’s not the end of the world. However, I think it points to one of the issues with Itoh (and, to an extent, Yamashita) on these shows. Maki is still important to TJPW. She’s popular both in Japan and overseas. It makes sense to feature her. However, in a company where interpersonal relationships between the wrestlers are key to everything they do, she’s not around enough to be involved in anything important. So, they have to put together matches like this. Something that feels like it came to life to get a handful of people to watch the show rather than because of anything happening in TJPW.
All of that said, this was a line-up that was almost made for me. Anyone paying attention will know how strongly I feel about Emi Sakura; Brookes is one of the best in the world at this type of thing, and El Desperado is the last interesting wrestler in New Japan (probably not entirely true, but I haven’t watched any of the new lads). While I’m not as enamoured with modern-day Itoh, she’s the perfect person to drop into the middle of this cast of characters. (Actually, not quite perfect, Miyacoco would be better, but I can’t see that happening.) Maki and Despy even came out to ‘Setsunairo’, the best Itoh theme. And yes, he did the dance. I can’t imagine a world where this wasn’t at least fun.
It lived up to that expectation. Brookes and Emi scowled and heeled their way through it, being dicks at every turn. Sakura’s nose getting busted up and blood trickling down her face could have caused some sympathy, but she never leaned into it, instead focusing on bossing Chris around and hitting her leisurely take on the Whirling Candy. Would I have liked to see her get into the nitty-gritty of it all with Despy? Of course, but at least we got a touch of that. It wasn’t the right match to give us more. On the whole, this was wrestling with the entertainment turned up to 11. So, I’ll have to be content with the fact it happened at all.
And despite my complaints, which I do stand by, I am glad this happened. Desperado is one of those rare New Japan wrestlers who has managed to retain some personality in his wrestling, and I want to see him mix it up with as many people as possible. If I were fantasy booking, I’d be using a Chris and Emi appearance for a match with Daydream, but they had other plans on this show, and this wasn’t the worst choice in the world. Once I got over the feeling that it had been teleported in from another company, it gave me most of what I wanted.
Verdict: It Won Me Over
Miyu Yamashita defeated Billie Starkz
You see all that stuff I said about Itoh above? Go back and read that again, but replace her name with Yamashita’s and DDT with the US indies. Then add that I don’t give a shit about Billie Starkz. I’m sorry, I’m sure I should, but apart from that time she was daft enough (complimentary) to leap from the top to the floor with only Mei Saint-Michel to catch her, she’s never done a whole lot for me. She’s got the stink of those American indies on her.
Then again, so does Miyu these days, so maybe they’re a perfect pairing. I’m going to be a touch unfair and compare this to a match from a totally different show, but I think it illustrates my point. Miu vs Shoko from the American tour was fantastic (more on it coming up in my matches of the month), and was also everything this wasn’t. They played it slow, Watanabe presenting a brute force wall for Shoko to try and find a way around. In turn, everything they did felt like it meant something, from a simple Miu slam to Shoko finally managing to hit a 619 as Watanabe entered the ring. In contrast, this was go-go-go. There was a moment when Billie hit a hellish Alabama Slam onto the ring apron. The kind of thing that I would believe legitimately knocked Miyu loopy. Yet, it meant nothing. There was no lasting effect of it, and the next time Miyu got an opening, she took control back and looked absolutely fine.
Of course, that’s hardly a new thing in Yamashita’s wrestling. You can go back and find a million examples of me praising her for performances that probably had similar moments. However, in those, she was wrestling people who could temper those instincts in matches built on years of emotion. Against a Yuka, Rika or Shoko, there is so much more beneath the surface. Against Billie? It’s all surface. And that can be fun! I’ve enjoyed plenty of shallow wrestling that amounted to little more than two people doing cool shit to each other (and the apron spot was fucking cool), but it’s not why I come to TJPW.
Maybe I’m being a grump, maybe my feelings coming in soured me towards this, and maybe I should just enjoy the big spots. I haven’t looked yet, but I suspect there will be a lot of people who think this was the best match on the show, and fair play to them. They don’t annoy me as much as the Pom and Raku haters because I’m not as emotionally invested in it all. Truthfully, I wish I loved it. I wish I could still get that thrill from this style of wrestling. Sadly, I can’t, and everything about it rang hollow in the exact way I suspected it would.
Verdict: Not For Me
Moka Miyamoto defeated Suzume to win the International Princess Title
That’s more like it!
Five years into her career, on her third challenge for the International Princess Title, Moka Miyamoto finally smashed through that wall. There were times when I thought she’d never get here. Go back and you’ll find reviews where I ask whether she just doesn’t have it. I openly questioned if she had the ability to step up to the level needed to be a success. I was wrong. She’s taken the slow and steady route, chipping away, becoming a better wrestler and forcing herself into the conversation by becoming someone TJPW can trust. While taking that road, Moka has fallen short and had tag partners retire, but most importantly, has kept going, figuring out who she is in that ring and earning this spot. It’s been a hell of a journey, and judging by her face when that bell finally rang, I suspect that even she can’t believe she’s made it this far.
It was a good match, too. Moka struggled to get into it, trying to control the pace early on, only for Suzume to stay a step ahead. When she wasn’t going up through the gears, she was unleashing some twisty submissions of her own, keeping control of the bout. However, much like with her career, Moka was just taking her time to settle. She slowly relaxed into the match, and while the champ caught her off guard, particularly with the rope walk version of her face buster, Miyamoto had the answers to all the big questions when it mattered. The only version of the Ring-A-Bell Suzume hit was the kneeling one, as Miyamoto had a counter to every other attempt, including the springboard variation that kicked off the finish. It was a match where Miyamoto might have never fully wrestled control away from the bee, apart from some arm work that never got vicious enough to stick around, but still managed to craft enough space to get the win.
Credit also has to go to the now former champ. I was pretty sure Miyamoto was going to win coming in (it felt like time), but Suzume had me questioning it. Like Moka, she had answers to a lot of the questions thrown at her, blocking early attempts at the Korokan and surviving Rashomon. I already mentioned the rope walk variation of the facebuster, but Suzume has become so much more adept at working in control. She’s not reliant on buzzing around opponents, as she can take things to the mat and slow things down herself. It used to be that she felt like an easy opponent to bully, and while that’s not entirely gone, there is a sense that she is now comfortable being the person on the front foot.
There were also some issues. I actually don’t think Moka and Suzume have amazing chemistry, as there were a couple of moments when things weren’t quite lining up. I’d also happily jettison the whole forearm exchange, with neither being a strong enough striker to justify it. We already had Miyamoto punching the bee out of the air on a crossbody for our big hit of the evening. We didn’t need them to also fill space by aimlessly throwing blows at each other. However, on the whole, this was what I wanted this match to be. It might have lacked the oohs and ahhs of Billie vs Miyu, but it had the emotion. The feeling of someone finally figuring it out and getting over a hurdle that had, not that long ago, seemed insurmountable. Suzume’s frustration and Moka’s delight at the end sold how much this meant to them both, and as I had a wee cry myself, I have to admit it meant a lot to me too.
Verdict: Congratulations, Moka!
Kyoraku Kyomei (Shoko Nakajima & Hyper Misao) defeated Daydream (Miu Watanabe & Rika Tatsumi) to retain the Princess Tag Team Titles
As emotional as Kyoraku Kyomei finally winning the tag team titles was, they’ve admitted that there was one thing missing. Until they beat Daydream, those belts would never truly feel like they belonged to them. Rika Tatsumi and Miu Watanabe have been the constant thorn in their side, not only defeating them twice in the Max Heart tournament (although Kyoraku Kyomei do have one win of their own), but also dominating them in singles action, with Rika holding a 5-0 record Misao and Miu having beaten Shoko in their last three meetings. Beating 121000000 might have been the flashy result, but this is the one Misao and Shoko wanted.
The problem is that for long stretches of this match, it felt like Daydream had their number. Even in the early nonsense, with the spray cans, bikes and sasumatas, it was Rika and Miu who were getting the upper hand. That is supposed to be Misao’s bread and butter, but as Miu paraded around ringside, holding Shoko aloft on the end of her sasumata like some bizarre kaiju flag, it felt like even that territory had been lost. As the match moved back into the ring, following the Kyoraku Kyomei formula of getting the silliness (affectionate) out of the way early before moving into the meat of the action, it felt like they were already on the back foot.
And Daydream were fantastic here. They were focused and aggressive, going after Shoko’s leg and cutting off any of Misao’s attempts to switch momentum back in their favour. Much like the Watanabe vs Nakajima match in America that I’ve already referenced above, it felt like they were laying down a fiendishly difficult puzzle, and challenging the champs to figure out how to solve it. Every time that it looked like Kyoraku Kyomei had found a way to start putting it together, they were there to cut them off. At one point, Rika dropkicked Shoko’s leg out from under as she perched on the top rope before following up with a Dragon Screw, ending any comeback before it could begin.
For all their brilliance, though, this match was never really about them. The story of Kyoraku Kyomei is that for all their individual genius, which they both have in spades, they’re stronger together. Christ, as silly as it sounds, that was even the story of their lumbersnake match at Ittenyon this year. Shoko was tempted by evil, but drawn back because she knows she’s meant to be beside Misao, pushing each other on and getting tougher as they do so. For years, our favourite superhero saw herself as the weak link in the team, but then she found it in her to get past Miyu Yamashita and win the belts, and this match was rooted in them finally being equals. It wasn’t one saving the other, but both being where they needed to be whenever it was time, and it was no coincidence that while Shoko got the win, it came after they’d synched up, working through their big moves together. I’ve said it before, but the best tag teams don’t only do flashy moves. They make each other better, hiding weaknesses and filling in the gaps. With Shoko’s brilliance and Misao’s brain, Kyoraku Kyomei are near untouchable.
Coming in, I was happy for either of these teams to win this match. I had been desperate for the Kyoraku Kyomei run, but every big show having a Daydream match? That doesn’t sound too shabby. By the end, that was no longer the case. The beats of this match pushed me towards Misao and Shoko, and as Nakajima climbed the ropes for that final big senton, which also saw her overcome Miu for the first time in years, I was willing her to come crashing down. They’d caught me, wrapped me up in the emotion, and deposited me where I needed to be. I love them all, and if there is any justice in the world, we’ll get another twenty of these before any of them hang up their boots.
Verdict: Outstanding
Mizuki defeated Yuki Arai to retain the Princess of Princess Title
It’s probably not fair to continue to describe matches involving Yuki Arai as a test. While the idol is still technically young in her career, it’s safe to say she skipped a few steps. When most TJPW rookies are building up to being on the winning side of a tag match for the first time, she was being pushed up the card, taking advantage of her fame outside of wrestling to draw in as many people in as possible. Is the Genius Girl moniker they presented her with unearned? Perhaps, she’s hardly some great technician, but on the whole, Arai has done more with her chances than many would have. She deserved to be in this main event.
The problem is that being worthy of the spot and succeeding in it are two different things. I get what they were going for here. Arai might not be a technical master, but she’s bigger and stronger than Mizuki, so she was able to muscle through the champ and take control. The opening segment of this match was all the former idol, as with a combination of power moves and some leg work that never went anywhere (they were trying to build to the Sharpshooter, but Mizuki needs her legs for basically all her moves, so it never really worked), she controlled the action. The problem is that Arai is just not interesting enough to fulfil that role yet. It was all a touch plodding as she was struggling to find a way to fill the time in this match.
That was all thrown into even starker relief by the best parts of the action being when Mizuki took over. Not only did the pace pick up, but the fans did with it, as they wanted to cheer Arai on as an underdog. As I said, I get why they structured it the way they did it, it makes sense on a physical level if nothing else, but I think there’s a version of this match with Mizuki going full devil child against a sympathetic Arai that works ten times better. Instead, we ended up with a chunk of meandering before we got into the meat of the action.
In saying all that, I don’t think this was a disaster. When the switch came and the fans woke up a bit, the match went with them. Arai’s comeback was also a lot better than her work in control. Her grasping hold of Mizuki’s hand to prevent her reaching the ropes while locked in the Sharpshooter was a great moment, forcing the rabbit to struggle for her escape. Similarly, as frustrating as Mizuki’s lack of leg selling can be (as much as I enjoyed the Tatsumi match, it was an issue there, too), her offence looks amazing. When she’s pulling off those stomps and dives, not to mention the Whirling Candy, it’s hard not to get dragged along behind her.
It meant I came out of this not of the opinion it was a disaster, but frustrated at a structural issue that hampered its potential. If you cut that start, opening with Mizuki being in control and building to that Arai comeback, I suspect I would have been with it the whole way. Instead, they had to win me back, as at the end of a long show, following an emotional tag match, my mind couldn’t help wandering. Still, this was Arai’s first chance in a spot this big, and I think ultimately it goes down as a success, even if there were a few things I might have changed.
Verdict: Flawed, But It Got Where It Needed To
Overall Show
That might be the most up-and-down I’ve been on a big TJPW show for a while. Truthfully, there was nothing on here that was actively bad, and a lot of my issues are down to taste/nit-picking. However, even with those, the highs were very high. Between Raku and Pom pissing about with a legend and a panda, Moka finally getting her moment, and Daydream and Kyoraku Kyomei being Daydream and Kyoraku Kyomei, it was a show that gave me what I wanted.
Watch Tokyo Joshi Pro: https://www.wrestle-universe.com/en/videos?labels=-tjpw.
Ramblings About Wrestling 