Last week’s attempt to review Tokyo Joshi turned into a more general ramble about why I love it so, making this our first look at TJPW since the fans returned. If you haven’t guessed, I am very happy to have them back, so let’s see what went down.
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.
Ice Ribbon 1043 aired on Samurai, so while it was still behind closed doors, it was a longer show that broke the formula they’ve recently been working to. I’ve generally been in favour of these short, pacey efforts, so I was intrigued to see how this would go down without a crowd.
There was a moment in the main event of Tokyo Joshi’s first show back in front of fans where Nodoka Tenma, having locked on a submission, shyly announced that Suzume’s hair smelled nice. In response, Yuka Sakazaki yelled hentai before storming the ring with Mizuki to kick Nodoka away. It might sound strange, but that silly little moment, sums up everything I love about TJPW.
Unless things take a turn for the worse in Japan, this will be the last DDT TV Show to take place in an empty arena. It’s the end of an era, but probably not one that deserves much in the way of celebration. We can say that I think DDT have dealt with it all rather brilliantly, and it will be interesting to see if any of the tricks they’ve picked up along the way will continue to be of use in front of fans.
With wrestling slowly coming back to life, the Throwback reviews have gone on the backburner, but I don’t intend to leave them alone entirely. Plus, I’m inching nearer to Stardom hitting an exciting period, so I need to get to that!
After pulling off a successful first day of Peter Pan action, DDT were back for round two. Sadly, this one didn’t end in a boneyard, but I have no doubt that there will be plenty of nonsense for us to get our teeth into.
The doors might be locked, but DDT is still going to give us a Peter Pan, and, in a totally original idea, it’s too big for one day. Our first slice of that cake was the more, em, over the top one? I think that’s fair to say when you take the main event into account. However, if you’re not down for that, you’re probably watching the wrong company.