DDT’s second trip to Korakuen of 2020 brought with it a hell of a card. We’ve got our first big title defence of the year, the dishing out of some Anytime Anywhere contracts and a tag title showdown featuring an odd couple. Throw in Marufuji in singles action and the debut of a new faction, and I can’t imagine not having a lovely time. Let’s find out if I’m right, shall we?
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It’s 2020, and a new year always brings with it a chance to dive into some new and exciting wrestling. I’ve made it a bit of a tradition to pick a new company to try out every January, and while this year’s attempts are a bit delayed thanks to my trip to Japan, it’s a tradition that shall continue. So, welcome to my first ever Ice Ribbon review. In fact, it’s not only my first review but the first show I’ve ever watched. That means I don’t have a clue what I’m talking about, so if you’re a hardcore fan, please keep that in mind and be nice to me. Although, do feel free to point out any mistakes I make in the comments as I’m always happy to be educated.
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On their 9th birthday Stardom did something they’d never done before and packed Korkauen Hall right up to the balcony. That famous old venue was bursting at the seams, and it was a beautiful sight. Yes, you can point to the advertising power of Bushiroad, but a card headlined by Mayu vs Momo is one of the biggest Stardom can deliver, and it had the crowd it deserved. Now, it was down to the wrestlers to impress.
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The ladder match has become not so much a WWE staple, as a crutch. They love nothing more than to shove a bunch of wrestlers into one ring, give them a load of ladders and make them damn near kill each other in an attempt to one-up the last group of people who were placed in the same spot. However, once upon a time, the ladder match was a fresh and exciting idea that still presumably hurt like hell, but hadn’t been sucked dry of every squirt of uniqueness it had. Back then, Shawn Michaels and Razor Ramon walked into Madison Square Garden at WrestleMania X and started a love affair that would continue in WWE to this day.
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Stardom has decided to blow away the January blues with a little tournament. The High Speed Grand Prix is a five-person round-robin where the two people with the most points will face-off in the final with the winner challenging for Riho’s title. It seemed like the perfect slab of wrestling to follow along with, and the three matches reviewed below came from the two Osaka shows on January 11th plus the Shizuoka show from the 12th.
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On January 6th, New Japan said goodbye to Jushin Thunder Liger. By wrestling at the Tokyo Dome on both the 4th and 5th Liger had made sure that during his thirty-five-year career (and he wasn’t far off hitting thirty-six) he’d wrestled in five decades. According to Cagematch, those five decades included 4205 matches (and let’s be honest, they’ll have missed a few) 113 of which took place in 2019. During that time, he arguably redefined the role of the Junior Heavyweight, becoming a star recognisable to anyone who has ever shared even a passing interest in the world of pro-wrestling.
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When you strip it down to its bare bones, Maki Itoh’s journey through the world of wrestling has been a desperate quest for acceptance. She entered this weird and wonderful form of entertainment feeling like idol had rejected her, chewing her up and spitting her out. To recover, she sought to prove herself in a different medium, one that bore similarities but allowed Itoh to be a lot more, well, Itoh.
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While most of the wrestling world’s attention was on the Tokyo Dome, or at the very least the NOAH show next door, there was a small group of around a hundred who were swimming against the current. For just a twenty-minute train ride away in Itabashi Green Hall, Miyako Matsumoto and Chris Brookes were taking part in a one-match card which was, well, a little bit different from what was going on in the echoey confines of the Dome.
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A quick note before I get started, I am going to be cutting down on the number of shows I review this year. I’ll still be doing a decent amount, but I want to write about some other things, and it’s hard to do that when you’re trying to keep up to date on multiple promotions. With companies like Stardom, I’ll pick and choose the exciting or noteworthy events while I wouldn’t expect in-depth reviews of every New Japan tournament (cheerio, Tag League). It’s a small change, but one I thought was worth mentioning.
Anyway, today I am going to have a look at Stardom’s second show of the year, which ended on an angle that saw them give the hornet’s nest a boot before 2020 had properly woken up.
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It’s the day after Wrestle Kingdom, and all through the house, everyone is stirring because New Japan had another fucking show. I didn’t go to this one because I nipped over to Osaka instead, but New Year Dash always throws a few curveballs our way and had a certain Jushin Thunder Liger’s retirement ceremony, so I was going to watch it one way or another.
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