It’s time for a slight tangent in our run through Stardom’s history. Before the next show on Stardom World, they sent a team to Sendai Girl’s Flash Tournament. Featuring entrants from JWP, WAVE, Stardom, Ice Ribbon, Sendai Girls, Reina, Diana and a freelance team, it was the Assemble of its day, making it a fitting show to cover at the moment. Plus it gives us a chance to have a wee peek at what was going on in different companies.
Sadly, due to Stardom not having their entire back catalogue up on World, we’ve had to leap forward a couple of months in our trawl through their history. There were five shows in the period we’ve missed, with a few interesting results scattered throughout them. However, the biggest thing to happen was the debut of someone called Io Shirai? Can’t say I know much about her, but I guess we’ll see how she gets on.
On their fifth anniversary, SEAdLINNNG made the exciting decision to air the show live on YouTube, one that I like to imagine was inspired by Nanae’s recent ChocoTalk where she was stunned to discover people all over the world were tuning in. Whether that’s the case or not, any chance to watch SEAd live on an easily accessible platform is a good thing. Now, let’s see how they did.
The Korakuen returns continue as it’s SEAdLINNNG’s chance to step into that iconic room. Although it’s worth saying that this happened before the other Korakuens I’ve recently written about, it just aired later. Still, that’s not particularly important, and with a big title challenge on top, it promised to be a good show.
In light of what’s come out over the last few days, I want to kick this off by saying that I believe victims. I have nothing but respect for those who are brave enough to speak out against abusers in wrestling and will strive to do anything I can to help. In the past, I’ve described wrestling as my safety blanket, the thing that allows me to hide from the world and feel something. That anyone could have that feeling taken away from that at the hands of some sick fuck breaks my heart and makes me furious at the same time. Wrestling can and should be better. If we have to burn it down to make that a reality, then let’s grab the matches.
There is no good way to segue from that into my nonsense, so I’m not even going to try for smoothness.
As wrestling floods back into Japan, SEAdLINNNG is coming back hot, kicking things off right where they left them. Sure, there weren’t any fans there, but ASUKA and Arisa were still going to war, and that sounds like a shitload of fun.
If you thought yesterday’s Ice Ribbon review was a bit out of date, here’s a show from March. Normally, I wouldn’t bother with this over a month later, but SEAdLINNNG are unlikely to be running shows anytime soon, and they threw it up on YouTube so, why not? Plus, it’s nice to watch something relatively new where there are at least a handful of fans in attendance.
Well, this is going to be a different match of the month list, isn’t it? To say there hasn’t been much wrestling going on is somewhat underselling the point because there has been fuck all wrestling going on. Well, that’s not strictly true. Technically, WrestleMania happened this month, but we all know I didn’t watch that. However, I have managed to get together ten of my favourite matches and let’s just say that you might spot a theme.
The best friends give you a kick when you’re down. Credit: SEAdLINNNG
Yes, Japanese wrestling has ground to a halt outside of a handful of empty arena shows, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t still things for me to ramble on about! First up is SEAdLINNNG’s show from earlier this month, which took place in a time where crowds were still allowed. Quick reminder, this is only the second SEAdLINNNG review I’ve done, so if I make any mistakes/miss anything out, please let me know.
A quick reminder that this is only the second Ice Ribbon show I’ve reviewed, so I’m still not attuned to the promotion. If I make any unforgivable mistakes or miss out on anything major, please let me know in the comments as I am here to learn. That aside, let’s watch some wrestling!
