The Princess Cup wrapped up at Korakuen last weekend, and as is fairly common these days, I was there in person. If you haven’t already, go check out my ramblings about some of my favourite matches from the earlier rounds, and then come back and read my thoughts on the final.
Shion Kanzaki defeated Momo Sato
TJPW have produced some great first wins over the years. Raku, Arisu Endo and Shino Suzuki all come to mind. This wasn’t one of those. Shion hasn’t faced the uphill climb one needs to make this moment feel special. However, that doesn’t mean it was a bad match. In fact, for the experience level of those involved, it was a good one.
And a big part of that was down to Shion. She was, somehow, the veteran here, and there were moments when it showed. At one point, Momo clearly had a brain freeze when she was supposed to feed for a Kanzaki elbow, so she just took matters into her own hands, charging forward and wiping out the rookie. It might not seem like a big thing, but how often have we seen wrestlers stand and stare each other blankly in that situation? Having the wherewithal (and the confidence) to do something about it is a good sign.
Sato also deserves some credit, though. She’s already come a long way from her debut. There’s a level of comfort in the ring that wasn’t there before, and her forearms have some surprising weight behind them. She’s not a super rookie, but for a 15-year-old making their first tentative steps into this world, she’s making a good impression. You’re never quite sure if these idol-types are going to stick around (for every Arai there’s a Juria Nagano), but on the evidence so far, I hope she does.
Verdict: It Wasn’t Special, But It Was Decent
Sakura Hattori defeated Haru Kazashiro
Koda has smartly figured out that you can throw Haru into an undercard singles match, and you’re pretty much guaranteed a decent outing. At just 18, she’s become as reliable as you could hope. Her work on the arm was, once again, a highlight. It’s not just the consistency, which is always impressive, but the variation in her offence. She’s figured out how to adapt moves she’s been doing since her debut to her new focus, and the day she gets a big win with that armbar is going to be great.
Hattori is in a similar place, where she’s a reliable hand for these kinds of matches, but I’m less sure about her future. She sold the arm well here, and while I think this gimmick is more a different shade of nerdy than a full transformation, it’s definitely a cooler kind. There is a tendency to overthink her offence, as she throws out five gestures when one would do, but hopefully that calms down over time. However, while I’m sure that Haru’s position is further up the card, I do wonder if this is where Hattori stays. Is she destined to be a safe pair of hands who occasionally challenges for one of the belts? That’s not a bad thing; every company needs those people. However, I still feel like she could be more. That Shoko match is hard to forget.
Anyway, that’s for the future, and in the here and now, this was perfect for its spot on the card. It was a solid, well-worked match between two interesting wrestlers with their own personalities. If you were watching TJPW for the first time, you would come out understanding who these two were, and if you were watching it for the 1000th time, like me, you’d come out satisfied with a really good match.
Verdict: Good Stuff
Yuki Aino, Pom Harajuku & Raku defeated Hyper Misao, Shino Suzuki & Mahiro Kiryu
Now that I’m a regular at these Korakuens, I’ve started to notice some of the stuff that perhaps doesn’t get picked up on camera. One of those things is that Pom is a huge fan of a wander. When she tags out, she regularly vanishes off to the corner of Korakuen, messing around with fans or even just having a seat. Of all the wrestlers on this card, I suspect she had the highest step count.
Anyway, there were two sides to this match. There was the fun, silly side, backed up by the decision to introduce Bon Odori rules where, in a move that reminded me of SEAd’s High Speed division, you had to do the traditional dance before pinning your opponent. It gave them a myriad of avenues for nonsense, and they wandered down most of them at one point.
The other side was Shino Suzuki, who I am delighted to have back. She committed to this throwaway comedy tag with every atom of her being. Shino is (a bit like Mahiro) a figure of constant tragedy, and she has figured out how to channel that into her wrestling. She’s heroic and pitiful in equal measure, and while everyone else around her engaged in the silliness, she made this feel important. Even a win prefaced by a dance would mean the world to her, and when it means that much to her, it means that much to me.
If you’re not interested in the comedy, watch this for Shino Suzuki. If you’re not interested in Shino, well, we can’t be friends.
Verdict: Shino Suzuki
Ober Eats (Yuki Kamifuku & Wakana Uehara) defeated Sumire Natsu & Mifu Ashida
I feel like I’m going to be saying this a lot during Kamiyu’s retirement road, but these matches are for her. It was an opportunity for her to mess around with Natsu in the ring for the first time. It’s funny, I grouped those two in my head even before it became clear they were friends. They’re the two wrestlers who seem to have the most connections across the scene, thanks to their apparent ability to make friends with anyone, and it just makes sense that they would also be pals with each other.
The action was what you’d expect. Natsu’s shtick got plenty of airing, Wakana earnestly buzzed away, and Ashida hit her spots well. Do you need to watch it? No, but that doesn’t mean it was bad. It was an enjoyable ten minutes of action, and there is definitely something amusing about Natsu being unleashed on the innocence of TJPW.
Verdict: Exactly What You’d Imagine
HIMAWARI & Toga defeated Chika Nanase & Kira Summer
Perhaps it was because my back was giving me issues after spending the entire day before on my feet at Fucked Up Fest, but this match failed to inspire me. Everything before this had something interesting about it – whether it was a first win, an unusual pairing or some nonsense. Yes, I suppose you could argue this marked the return of Kira Summer, and I’m happy to see her back, but she was only gone a month. That’s not really long enough to miss her.
There was some decent stuff in there. HIMAWARI is always entertaining, Chika is improving, and I like Kira and Toga as a hoss pairing. However, writing about this a few days after the show, I’m struggling to remember any particular moments. My main memories are of it being sweet to see how happy Kira and Chika were to be back in the ring together, which is nice and all, but it hardly makes for a classic.
It was fine. I came out the other side feeling neither up nor down, and while that’s not exciting, I suppose it could have been a lot worse.
Verdict: It Happened
Mizuki, Mei Suruga & Uta Takami defeated Miu Watanabe, Arisu Endo & Ren Konatsu
Now, here’s a match I won’t forget. The Goblin Sisters becoming a regular addition to TJPW is something I can get on board with. Someone needs to keep Uta on the bendy and wide.
The star attraction was a first meeting between Mei Suruga and Miu Watanabe. In the build-up to the match, Mei had taken to referring to Miu as Muscly Pink-chan, and there was a lot of fun to be had from watching those two face off. Miu’s power and Mei’s ingenuity feel like a match made in heaven. From Suruga’s frantic attempts to avoid the giant swing to Watanabe powering out of Apple Mutilation, this was a perfect appetiser. If TJPW and ChocoPro have any sense at all, they’ll be figuring out a way to get them in the ring together again.
Elsewhere, a lot of this was great in the ways you’d expect. Mizuki is always a menace in these matches, but it was Uta going after Ren’s toy sheep that got the biggest reaction. She’s learning all the right lessons from her big sisters. It was the kind of wrestling that I never really get tired of. Fast-paced, inventive and always feeling like it exists purely in the moment. There was no sense of anyone striving for a great match. Everyone in that ring felt like they were simply being themselves, and if being themselves included a lot of menacing, well, that’s just a bonus.
It’s probably my favourite kind of wrestling, and we really need to get Uta into Ichigaya. Although if she can bring Miu along, too, that would be a lovely bonus.
Verdict: A Delight
Miyu Yamashita & Yuki Arai defeated Shoko Nakajima & Hiroyo Matsumoto
Let’s get the grumbling out of the way first. I really don’t like Shoko evening up the record with Arai before the Princess Cup has even ended. It’s not just that Shoko is one of my favourite wrestlers, and someone who I’m desperate to see get another run with the belt, but it feels like it devalues one of the central tenets of a wrestling tournament. If the champ loses, that sets the path for a future title defence. It’s a really simple, straightforward piece of booking, and this result undermines that. Even if you’re not planning on doing it any time soon, you might as well keep it in your pocket! It’s alright to have someone have the upper hand on the golden girl.
Sorry, that’s probably unfair to Arai, as I’m always more impressed with her in this style of match. Her rise came through tagging with more experienced partners, and she’s good at it. Her offence is suited to bursts of action, and with three veterans around her, she was able to focus on what she’s best at. Hiroyo never exactly busts a gut in these cameo appearances, but she’s a very solid hand, and there was still a thrill to seeing her face off with Yamashita. Plus, the wild attempt to have Nakajima step over Arai in a Torture Rack position before going for a head-scissors on Miyu was impressive. It didn’t quite work, but it was ambitious enough for me not to be bothered about it being slightly off.
As salty as I am about the result, I did like the match. It was kind of what you want from an all-star tag. They threw some fireworks out there, but were restrained enough not to steal the spotlight from the main event. Unlike the trios tag, it’s not my favourite kind of wrestling, but I can appreciate its place in the world. On a show with only one marquee outing, they did their job.
Verdict: Dodgy Result, Good Performance
Suzume defeated Rika Tatsumi to win the Princess Cup
Argh, I hate to go on about booking again, but I really wanted this to be Tatsumi’s year. Rika still feels like she’s missing that defining title run. Shoko, Miyu, Yuka and Mizuki had theirs, but Rika’s was a smidge short for my liking. I loved her time with the belt, and the win over Yuka at Ittenyon is in the running for my favourite TJPW main event ever, but she has more to give. Line up some interesting challengers and let her loose for 6 months. She’d smash it. Sadly, if that is to happen, it won’t be any time soon.
This match serves as proof of why I feel like that. In some ways, it played to type. You know how Rika and Suzume are going to approach things. Tatsumi will attack the leg, do some strangling and generally try to bully her smaller and less experienced opponent. Suzume, meanwhile, is sitting back, waiting for the distance and the moment to counter. She excels at those bursts of offence, and it’s just a case of finding the space.
However, formula isn’t a bad thing. Great wrestlers, and I do think these two are great, know how to make a formula feel fresh. This was about Suzume overcoming her idol. She was stepping in the ring with the person who inspired her to do this, and she had to find the courage to meet Rika on her level. It feels wrong to call it a coming-of-age (I think the bee has already buzzed past that), but when she wrapped her hands around Rika’s throat, giving her a taste of her own medicine, there was definitely a sense of her bursting out from under her hero. Rika aims to overwhelm you. The strangling, the attacks on the leg, the barrage of hip attacks. It’s all designed to leave you off-kilter. Suzume didn’t let that happen. She stood her ground, and when the time came, she got the win.
And it wasn’t quite perfect. Suzume’s leg selling was too light for my taste, and I think they probably dragged the ending out a minute or two longer than they needed to. They had hit their crescendo, and while they didn’t lose all momentum afterwards, I think there was a touch of fatigue by the end. Sometimes you just need to take it home. However, this is nitpicking. Ultimately, despite the result, this was a really good match. It was also further proof that TJPW have committed to their changing of the guard. I hope Rika’s time (and Shoko and Miyu’s) isn’t completely over, but it’s clear that they are now sharing the top of the card with the next generation. Thankfully, in people like Suzume, they’ve found some wrestlers who are ready to be on that level.
Verdict: Dodgy Result, Very Good Performance
Overall Show
These Princess Cup shows have traditionally not sold amazingly at Korakuen, but this one outstripped their previous efforts by a fair number. I don’t want to start sounding like an attendance guy – I’m very much not that – but it’s hard not to notice these things when you’re in the room. More importantly, it was a fun show. Even without any titles to play with, TJPW created an undercard that was full of interesting stuff, and while I had a few grumbles, I don’t think this will be the show that scuppers their current momentum.
Watch Tokyo Joshi: https://www.wrestle-universe.com/en/videos?labels=-tjpw.
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