Yuna Mizumori: Finding ChocoPro’s Identity

One last Ichigaya photo.

It’s sometimes easy to forget that when ChocoPro began, there was no feeling (at least as a fan) that this would be a long-term thing. At the time, we thought COVID would be over sooner rather than later, and Emi Sakura throwing a live show on YouTube to highlight Baliyan Akki vs Minoru Suzuki felt like a fun way to pass the day. Those first few shows had no unique identity or distinguishing features but came across as Gatoh Move without the fans and with added squats. However, as it became clear COVID wasn’t going anywhere, ChocoPro began to search for what made it unique. And while they went through a few ideas (Mei Suruga’s arts and crafts period was a personal favourite), they eventually settled on the formula that exists to this day. And the key to finding that formula? Yuna Mizumori vs Emi Sakura.

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Nodoka Tenma: My Favourite

She got her Sumo Hall moment before she left. Credit: TJPW

I don’t trust people whose favourite wrestlers win all the time. I’m not saying you can’t like them. I love Miyu Yamashita and Takumi Iroha, but if they’re your absolute favourite? Nah, that’s sus. That leads me to also assume you’re the sort who decided late in life to support Man City, Real Madrid or Celtic because you believe football is about winning lots of trophies and not the pain and suffering of watching some useless bastards fail to kick a fucking ball around. We all know the type, right?

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The Listening Booth – HEALTH, At The Gates and Single Mothers

Hello my lovelies, welcome to The Listening Booth. After all the new releases last week, we’ve got a mixed bag this time around with one from the present and two from the past. Although, I have seen both of the bands from the past live in the last couple weeks, and can confirm that rumours of their demise are greatly exaggerated. The albums are from back yonder, but the bands themselves are not. Anyway, let’s stop wanging on about it and get on with, well, wanging on about it!

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The Listening Booth – Agnes Obel, Malfunkshun and Louise Distras

Hello friends, welcome to The Listening Booth. Pull up a chair, get comfy and grab a beer if you want one. Just don’t expect me to pay for it. This is my weekly dive into the music I’ve been listening to and, as I’m hoping will be the norm, it’s an eclectic mix of the old and the new, the loud and the quiet, the grungey and the clean. The only connecting factor? That I find it interesting (although not necessarily good). Right, let’s see what I’ve been up to.

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Wrestling Deserves A Chance To Tell Its Stories

 

At its best, wrestling is a perfect blend of physical excellence and inspired storytelling. It weaves two separate art forms together to create something that thrills and engages at the same time. It can survive with only one of them. PWG usually jettisons stories in the name of in-ring action while WWE is more focused on telling Vince’s tales than putting on five-star matches (even if it is often done poorly). However, at its peak, the two blend to create magic.

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New Japan And The Art Of Subtlety

Moments like this are as important as a hundred V-Triggers. Credit: NJPW

The world of wrestling is one that the phrase over the top isn’t quite big enough for. It’s bright, shiny and packed with characters that would be mocked if you wrote them into any other universe. Take a second and try to imagine explaining Juice Robinson to someone who isn’t in the know? More than one person has compared it to drag, and while I can’t claim to be an expert, on the surface, the similarities are evident.

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The Young Bucks – Are They The GOAT?

 

Has any tag team ever generated as much conversation as The Young Bucks? For some, they are an example of what wrestling can be. Two men who without the help of WWE have created an empire for themselves. An empire that allows them to live outside the machine while travelling the world putting on a show. To others, they are the worst of modern-day pro-wrestling. Spot monkeys who destroy a business that was once built on hard men doing hard things. If you’re looking for that take, then you’re reading the wrong article.

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