Dream Star Fighting Marigold: Grand Opening Wars June 11th 2024

Hey we’re back with some more Marigold as they’re doing their second Korakuen Hall show, not a sellout but a hair under 1000 people is pretty good for a card without a ton of starpower on it.

MIRAI vs. Minami Komomo – Komomo Debut Match

Background: We know who MIRAI is, but Minami is finally debuting after darn near two years. Her rookie class partners are Aya Sakura and HANAKO but she apparently got hurt and hurt again and dropped out of the dojo before popping up in Marigold here. She’s got long black hair and black tights with gold stripes in an asymmetrical design on her gear. Apparently MIRAI is her trainer so this has the chance of being pretty solid.

The Match: Komomo kneels for a handshake with MIRAI pre-match and MIRAI yanks her up to stand on her feet. We get a nice crisp lockup and MIRAI backs her into the ropes and gives a clean break. Commentary (the ever useful Stu Fulton) talks about how Komomo doesn’t have a sports background but she wants to be a high-speed wrestler and she apparently does a flip she can switch. Well I won’t mind commentary just telling me random character traits I can pass along to my lovely readers. They trade wristlocks and Komomo is moving pretty well, even flipping out of a hold but MIRAI uses some veteran savvy (despite being like 23) to grab a headlock out of a dropdown. Komomo uses athleticism to counter out of it and even gets a nice springboard assisted headlock takeover. More technical stuff as this has remained chippy if not totally aggressive so far. More fun commentary facts tells us that MIRAI wanted to be a wrestler after watching Tiger Mask to a charity benefit show and how that made her want to be a heroic individual like him. MIRAI gets a chinlock on the rook as she’s bodying the younger, smaller talent. More Stu facts as we learn that Komomo’s favorite wrestler is Roman Reigns and she likes watching cooking shows despite not knowing how to cook. Minami finally gets a slam and some dropkicks as she’s ramping up her aggression against MIRAI who eggs her on. Komomo takes MIRAI down with a rolling armbar but gets cut off when she goes up. They slug it out with Komomo getting the worse end of it and Komomo eventually snaps, sunset flip, crucifix bomb, armbar! And it’s in tight but MIRAI eventually escapes. Minami dodges the MIRAI lariat and gets some very close pinning combinations. MIRAI gets the wheelbarrow slam and then the sasori-gatame, Minami ALMOST makes the ropes but she taps.

**¾

This uh…kinda ruled? Maybe way too high but Komomo looked really good and it told a really fun story and obviously she’s super comfortable and slick working with her mentor/trainer/sensei.

Post-match Rossy comes out and introduces a new wrestler, former Sendai Girls member Rea Marumori.

Nao Ishikawa vs. Nagisa Nozaki

Background: Nao is a little heel jerk who is jealous and mean and spiteful. Nagisa is a brawling vet who likes brutalizing people and doesn’t love selling very much. Nao is working through a knee injury and missed a few shows because of it.

The Match: Nagisa just dogwalks Nao, tossing her around, stomping on her, chopping her, and then chinlocking her as Nozaki just laughs through it all and sets up the deathlock surfboard stomp. A choke sleeper from Nagisa and the wind-up kick on the apron and this has been ALL Nozaki. And as I say that Nao finally gets something going with some clotheslines and an elbow drop but her fireman’s carry is back to the choke sleeper. A schoolgirl gets 2.99 for Nao and she goes up with a decent crossbody and then the fireman’s carry bomb gets 2 as Ishikawa is fired up. Nagisa gets the Eat Defeat and a suplex to do the low running kick to finish off Nao.

**

Nagisa eats the rookie alive and didn’t have to sell and Nao didn’t have to do offense so that’s good for both their skillsets.

Mai Sakurai & Misa Matsui vs. Natsumi Showzuki & CHIAKI

Background: Kind of a grab-bag of acts without much in common, but Mai did insult Natsumi and CHIAKI with “what do you even do?” so I guess Her Ladyship is the heel here. Also I’ve realized that the flaps on the back of Natsumi’s gear are wings. They look cool!

The Match: CHIAKI and Misa start us off with a test of strength. CHIAKI tosses the Speed Star around and catches the fancy flying of Matsui and slams it down. Mai and Natsumi tag in and Sakurai dodges a kick and poses…and is floored with the second kick. Mai gets things quick though with an armdrag and a dropkick, but Showzuki gets her dropkick and tags in CHIAKI who gets the IRON CLAW! And then a running facewash. Sakurai comes back with a big boot and bulldog of her own to set up the STF, and then dodges CHIAKI’s comeback by bringing her into the ropes and biting her arm while stretching it. Paradise Lock and posing from Mai but Natsumi breaks it up and CHIAKI comes back with aggression. Cartwheel knee drop, torture rack, Argentina Crusher! Natsumi tags in and gets the springboard double knee drop and her own submission but Sakurai gets a DDT and missile dropkick. Slugfest from Mai and Showzuki but the jumping kick and wristclutch suplex lets Sakurai tag in the Speed Star. Misa gets a dropkick on CHIAKI and then a running crossbody to Natsumi and Mai comes in for the double-team. Back to Misa who keeps it fast with the roll-up spams but CHIAKI just picks her up and after some struggling gets the backbreaker. Showzuki with a brutal crab but Sakurai breaks THAT up. Natsumi gets the John Woo and the double knees to the corner but the suplex only gets 2. DIving Meteora from Shozuki is broken up by Sakurai and the second attempt is dodged and we get CHIAKI and Mai running in. Natsumi gets the double-knees again but Misa kicks out, gets her own knee and a draping DDT for 2. Cross-legged fisherman’s buster gets 3 for Misa.

**½

Well they kept it going at a high pace, definitely sloppy at moments but they all tried and they looked good. Really good showing from Mai who I think might have good wrestling instincts but her lack of athleticism hurts her in singles matches.

Post-match Natsumi wants Misa again and wants to do it in a tournament for the Super Flyweight Championship which I guess will be Marigold’s juniors division.

Miku Aono & Kouki Amarei & Chika Goto vs. Bozilla & Myla Grace & Zayda Steel

Background: So Miku, Kouki, and Chika are our fluffy babyface AWG members and I guess they’re facing the evil white ladies…and Myla is evil now? Anyway apparently Zayda is now the “Real Deal” Zayda Steal and Grace is Myzilla to back up Bozilla. Well…it’s a direction for these goobers.

The Match: Zayda and Grace do rock paper scissors to decide who goes first and they squabble…but Boz walks through and tells them to wait on the apron as she goes against Kouki. Bozilla destroys the Japanese girls and just throws them all around. Zayda comes in to pick the bones of Kouki but Amarei backs Steel into the corner and Miku whoops The Real Deal. Then Chika comes in and loads up the butt and delivers some brutal hip violence. Chika gets greedy going after too many of the other women and Zayda takes over with a DDT and her own hip attacks to boos from the crowd. Chika counters a guillotine attempt into a giant swing, but Boz comes in to catch Steel and use her against Chika. Bozilla then gets a giant swing on Goto to really ramp up the jerkitude. Myla comes in to hit some of her weak offense on Chika but she at least flexes between moves so we know she’s a jerk. Grace goes up though and gets brought down with an one-shoulder electric chair facebuster by Goto, and then the inverted giant swing. Chika then taunts Boz and tags in Kouki to keep the beating on Myla with a big boot. Kouki does some cartwheels and tries to do an agility sequence with Myla and they botch a headscissors takedown bad but at least nobody looks hurt. Myla gets a bad Molly-go-Round next and luckily Miku shows up to do moves successfully. More botched stuff between Kouki and Myla and please tag these ladies out. Boz comes in and Kouki tries to suplex her and just gets shut-down…until Kouki flips into a cutter on the German. Miku is in now as she manages to snapmare Boz and kick her…but Boz just tosses her down and gets a Samoan Driver. Myla grace in next as she botches more offense and gets a double-jump plancha. Zayda hits the tope on Miku and brings her in for a cutter off the top rope but Miku comes back with the spinning slam…and Boz just wrecks shop from the outside. Kouki gets the 180 Splash on Boz to get Miku go 1v1 with Zayda and the Styles Clash gets the win for Miku.

*¾

Once again the match was just mostly a mess, too much not great stuff to really like but they are putting Miku over strong.

Post-match Boz blames Zayda for the loss and powerbombs her. Miku also drops herself into the tournament for the White Belt and MIRAI comes out to announce herself. And after some time…Bozilla is in cause she’s gonna kill everybody and take the belt because size does matter. Well okay.

Sareee vs. Victoria Yuzuki – True Ace vs. New Ace

Background: So from the match descriptor, this is Sareee who thinks she’s the current ace of Marigold facing Yuzuki who think that she is the future ace of Marigold. Them’s fighting words, let’s fight.

The Match: Hot start with Yuzuki trying to jump Sareee but one dropkick from the Sun Goddess knocks Yuzuki flat and the abuse starts. Stretching her on the mat, letting her up to smack her around, stretching her on the mat as Yuzuki is just crying and screaming in torment. Eventually Yuzuki reverses a bodyscissors and gets some ground and pound and Sareee cuts that off with a slap. Victoria gets a series of judo throws but only gets a 1 count off of it. Bodyslam from Yuzuki and the springboard ropewalk faceplant follow that up but Sareee just starts forearming her. Suplex from Sareee gets the double-stomp off the top but a power bridge out from Victoria keeps her alive. Second stomp misses and Yuzuki gets a suplex, a nice schoolgirl roll up and some loose forearms. But Sareee gets the running dropkick into the ropes, and a missile dropkick a fisherman’s suplex…for 2. Yuzuki’s whacky roll-up almost gets 3 out of Sareee’s ura-nage but a second ura-nage gets 3.

**¼

I still don’t love Sareee or Yuzuki as much as Marigold wants me to but this was perfectly cromulent for what it was.

Post-match Mai Sakurai challenges Sareee to a singles.

Nanae Takahashi vs. Utami Hayashishita – Passion Injection Match

Background: So Nanae is going around testing the passion of younger wrestlers, which uh, is a bit comical since Utami is tremendously established as a main-eventer and a singles stud. This is their second singles match but the first match was a draw.

The Match: They dance around doing some technical stuff with trading wristlocks. Nanae eventually controls with shoulderblocks and veteran savvy after dodging a dropkick and stomps on Utami in the corner. They go to the mat and trade positions with Nanae getting an armbar and Utami breaking on the rope. Nanae starts with power stuff and slams the younger wrestler around. Nanae then challenges Utami to a strike off and they get a pretty unique seated lariat battle. They go to their feet as they continue to trade blows with some sickening sounding forearms shaking Utami up and a running lariat from Nanae dropping the Red Queen. Utami catches a kick though and comes back with strikes and stomps and the Samoan Drop. Slugfest and Nanae asks Utami to keep it going with slaps. Nanae’s back suplex slam gets 2.9 and Utami’s Air Raid Crash gets the same. Superplex from Nanae then a Utami gets a super Air Raid Crash. Utami’s powerbomb is reversed into a B-Driver though and Nanae goes for the Refrigerator Bomb…and it lands for 2.99. Rack bomb from Utami gets 2.9. Utami can’t get the Crucifix Bomb and they collapse in a way that didn’t look…intentional and they slug it out more, trading forearms, lariats, and headbutts as they are going for that war of attrition vibe. Utami slips out of the One Second EX and gets a northern lariat for 2.9 as they’re both dripping sweat and the Hijack Bomb finally puts Nanae away.

***

This should have been better, but the early portions of the match where Nanae was kind of treating Utami like a rookie didn’t work for me. It wasn’t even Utami getting big-timed and Nanae paying for it cause Utami just…played the role of those spots. But when it became more of Utami’s match and the physical chess match/war of guts and nerve I think it got a lot better and it was a very physical bout but not close to Utami’s best in that category.

Post-match Utami says that the future is in safe hands and thanks Nanae for pushing her to that point and it’s very babyface-y. Nanae is upset about the loss, says she’s not done and wants to keep winning and asks Utami to help her keep the dream of injecting passion into wrestlers and they slap each other for good measure, as one does.

But we’re not done and Rossy has an announcement and it’s going to be Iyo Sky vs. Utami at the July 13th show and Utami is completely choked up with emotion at this.

Well, looks like Rossy broke that “ask Hunter for a favor” glass and world’s are colliding. That’s a twist for sure.