If you follow me on some form of social media, you might be aware that I moved to Japan this month. If you don’t, well, I did. It would be a weird thing to lie about.
It’s relevant here because it means a lot of my wrestling viewing is going to change. I’m living in Tokyo, so now when an event like Grand Princess rolls around, I’m probably going to be in the building. That’s obviously a lovely thing for me, but it does mean having to rethink how I approach writing about this stuff. Being there live doesn’t really lend itself to a match-by-match review. Maybe, once I’m settled in, I will figure out a way to do it, but not having easy access to a pause button and enjoying a lemon sour or four makes picking apart the action in intimate detail difficult. I could, of course, rewatch when I’m home, and I may do that with shows down the line, but I’m quite busy at the moment, and this was a long one.
So, instead of going over individual matches, I’ve picked out a few big talking points to dive into. Let me know if you love, like or hate this format because I’ll inevitably be tweaking it as we go.
TJPW Know What They’re Doing
I recently saw some chatter on social media about wrestling always being behind the mainstream. To be clear, that’s not something I disagree with. Even at its peak, WWE was never cool. It has stumbled into relevancy over the years, usually thanks to someone like Bad Bunny being desperate to work with them, but that’s about it. However, as is often the case, it’s a very mainstream American take on proceedings. TJPW are great at tapping into things that get non-wrestling fans into the building. On this show, you had a famous voice actor, numerous idols, a mascot and some Power Rangers, all of whom had their supporters in the room. Can I pretend I’m an expert on any of it? Of course not. However, I can still take pleasure in seeing the nerd squad get to live out their dreams.
It extends beyond who they bring in, too. Mizuki vs Andreza Giant Panda was a match booked with the intention of going viral. And you know what? It already has. Plus, it was a load of fun. As I tweeted during the show, I think I sometimes take Mizuki for granted. Her opening against the big bear by doing knuckle lock spots is a reminder that she was shaped by most of the things I love. Yes, the whole thing was building to her bopping it on the head with her hammer, but she made sure that wasn’t all there was. She, and the company as a whole, are really good at this stuff, and the fact that WWE isn’t shouldn’t hide that.
Of course, when I say TJPW, what I really mean is the DDT Group. It’s clearly something Takagi believes in, and a lot of their growth comes from tapping into unusual markets. Christ, I’m going to talk about her below, but I don’t think it was a coincidence that it was the idol turned wrestler who was pushing the Tokyo Dome button at the end of this show. Someone like Yuki Arai, and the fans she brings in, is vital if they are ever to make that dream a reality. Will they? Who knows, but I’m excited to watch them, and everyone who gets pulled into their orbit, shoot for it.
Arisu Endo Stands Out For All The Right Reasons
I know I said I wasn’t going to focus on individual matches, but what a performance from Arisu Endo. She pulled off the old Moka Miyamoto special, being placed in the ring with three giants, and making sure that a decent chunk of the audience would have come out talking about her. This show put a lot of emphasis on the younger side of the TJPW roster. The opener was given to Uta and Shion, Haru was in a prominent spot, and even Bumping gRitters, Ren and Toga were left alone to do their thing. They are in the midst of a youth movement, and it’s a successful one, but it was Arisu who I came out of wanting to see capitalise on the momentum.
That came from her refusing to be overawed by Spark Rush. They’re not my favourite team in the world. It clicked for me during this show that Sareee and Iroha are two Asukas, and that’s always going to be an issue for a Nagayo-lover like me, but they’re at their best when they’ve got an underdog to bully. The stuff with Yamashita was good, at times verging on great, but it was when Endo was refusing to be blown away that they really clicked in. From the start, Spark Rush’s attention was on the Ace, but Arisu kept nipping at their heels, daring to throw strikes at them and making sure she couldn’t be forgotten. It was an outstanding bit of underdog wrestling.
She was so good that I’d argue it was her bringing the best out of Iroha. I’ve written a lot about my frustrations with Takumi, but her wrestling soulmate has always been Mio Momono. She’s a great protagonist when given the right pest to kick. Endo provided that here. There aren’t many people I can compare positively to Momono, but she brought that same sparky energy, plugging away as Iroha tried to blow past her. When it came time, she caught Marvelous’s Ace off guard, and suddenly it was no longer possible for her to be staring down Miyu in the corner. She had a brightly coloured spark biting at her ankles to deal with instead.
I don’t think Arisu needed a match like this to reach the top of TJPW. She’s proven she can get there. However, it’s still a feather in her cap. She went in there with three huge names and yelled loudly enough that they were forced to pay attention to her. That’s the kind of thing that people have to pay attention to, and if TJPW are going to return the favour and send a face or two over to Marvelous, I really hope she’s at the top of the list.
Going Big While Keeping Your Identity
In some ways, these big TJPW shows aren’t really for me. It’s the Korakuens where I’m most comfortable. On those, TJPW still deliver great matches, but don’t necessarily have to surround them with all all the trappings. I’m always going to have time for Pom leading an evil gang against the nerd squad and their Power Rangers buddies, but I don’t really need to see Konosuke Takeshita. It doesn’t really matter how many people claim he’s the best wrestler in the world; I know he’s not for me. He wasn’t when I was a regular DDT watcher, and he’s not now.
However, I do think TJPW has a knack for doing this stuff without losing what makes them TJPW. Most companies, if they were able to get their hands on Yuka Sakazaki’s husband, would be aiming to draw in his crowd. They’d want all those AEW and NJPW types to see him put on the match he puts on with everyone else. Not TJPW. They paired him with his wife (making sure she got top billing), and had them go up against two nonsense merchants in a twenty-plus-minute match that has already pissed so many people off.
And did I love it? No. I think it’s a hard match to love when your Japanese is imperfect, especially since I was in the room and didn’t have the advantage of Mr Haku on English comms. I understood enough of Misao’s emotional speech for the final act to hit, but a whole lot of it flew over my head. However, I love that this is what TJPW did with them. I love that they, and, to his credit, Takeshita, know what their fans want. His growing fanbase might forget it occasionally, but he is a DDT wrestler to his core, and when he’s given the chance to play in the nonsense pool, he’s not going to turn it down. For everyone I saw on Twitter who despised this, there were a lot of people in the building having a lovely old time, and that’s the crowd TJPW were playing to. They weren’t trying to attract AEW fans. It was the DDT lot they were pulling over.
And I think that was true throughout. It was there in Aja Kong and Veny fighting the nerd squad, MIRAI returning to her TJPW past, and Rika being let loose to slap the corpse paint on for the battle royal. They might be trying to get more people through the door, but they’re doing it without losing their identity, and that, more than anything, is important to me.
Two Contrasting Title Changes
I have nothing against The IInspiration. There’s a chance I’ve seen them wrestle before this TJPW run, but if I have, it was long enough ago that I can’t remember anything about it. Are they the kind of foreigners I would ideally like Tokyo Joshi to bring in? No. I think everyone who was forged in that WWE system has proven to be more flawed than good, but I’m not furious at the idea. It’s largely something I’m ambivalent about. Or at least I was. Sadly, I thought they kinda sucked.
And there are things I like about the act. They’re clearly funny, which is rare in American wrestling, and I buy them as a tag team. I’ve spoken a lot about not believing in Ober Eats, and I think The IInspiration kind of showed them up for that. Where Wakana and Kamiyu never feel like one, Lee and McKay are such a perfect pairing that I honestly couldn’t tell you who is who. The problem is that they’re not very good wrestlers. If they’d been out there with Daisy Monkey or Kyoraku Kyomei, who could either buzz around them or introduce enough nonsense to paper over the flaws, it might have worked. However, neither Wakana nor Kamiyu are capable of that. They’re not at the stage where they can drag up unconvincing talent.
On the flipside, the International Princess showdown had very few flaws to hide. Mirai vs Suzume was exactly what I wanted it to be. The powerhouse vs the buzzing bee. It was lovely to see that their chemistry hasn’t been watered down by time. Suzume, as she proved on Ittenyon, has become the perfect contrast to these powerhouse badasses. Like against Miu, she was great at finding her way into the cracks, opening up avenues for her to dart down and deliver a sting. Mirai always had an advantage. She needed two hits for every five of her opponent’s, but she couldn’t keep her old friend in place. Even when she did fire off a big lariat or a suplex, Suzume was already preparing to find the next counter, to make sure that the momentum never swung too wildly away from her.
When you added the emotional backing of their history and Mirai’s time away, it made it an easy match to love. These two were so clearly meant to grow up next each other. Mirai made her decision, and I don’t resent it, especially as Suzume has gone on to do so much cool stuff, but I wish we’d got to see them develop side-by-side. To be the two who were constantly pushing each other to improve. I don’t know if they would have been better for it or merely different, but I am at least glad we got here eventually. To Suzume vs Mirai on a huge stage, showing the world how great they are. Fingers crossed it’s not the last time they do this.
Arai Is Maybe Ready?
They did it. With Miu Watanabe having proved herself near-unbeatable at the top of the card, Koda gave the nod to Yuki Arai, and a year after she switched full-time to wrestling, she won the big one. I’m still not sure if she’s ready.
However, I’m a lot more sure than I was a couple of months ago. This feud has been great for Arai. Up against the titan that is Miu Watanabe, she’s been forced to mix it up. Smiles and big boots were no longer enough. We started to see the meaner side of Arai, and it’s looked good on her. She’s been hitting harder, locking in those submissions a bit tighter, and proving that when she’s pushed, she will push back. I was a bit worried that no longer being the golden girl who parachuted in was causing her to coast, but the last few months were proof that I was wrong. She worked her arse off in the build to this match, and when the time came, delivered something worthy of a huge event. Miu has had a very particular set of weapons in this title reign, but she couldn’t get them away here. Arai had done the work and came in prepared.
However, this is still a big role to fill. Doing it against Miu is one thing, but I think the next title match is the real challenge. I haven’t loved J-Rod in singles action, and even Watanabe struggled to get something interesting out of her, so how will Arai do? I hope it doesn’t, but I wouldn’t be at all shocked to see that match fall apart. They’ll be in front of an easy crowd, which should let them play it safe, but if they get too ambitious, it could be ugly. I’m not sure either of them has the experience (or the ability) to drag things back on track if it starts to go wrong.
Still, that’s tomorrow’s issue, and I don’t want to be too down on this. Arai was not my choice for dethroning Miu (that was obviously Shoko), but we’re here now, and she’s proven she deserves the opportunity. If nothing else, being in Sumo Hall for it only highlighted how popular she is. The fans wanted this, and TJPW gave it to them. In her first test, Arai proved they were right to do so.
Watch Tokyo Joshi Pro: https://www.wrestle-universe.com/en/videos?labels=-tjpw.
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