Sendai Girls Pro-Wrestling Shin-Kiba 1st RING August 16th 2024

Welcome back as we’re taking a break from NOAH (I’ll finish it I swear) and are watching the monthly Sendai Girls show cause I looked at the card and it seemed good. They’re actually in Tokyo here but the venue is so dark I can’t tell anything about the crowd size.

Miyuki Takase vs. YUNA

Background: So Miyuki is the Phoenix of Osaka and a pretty credible singles wrestler who has cool red and gold gear and a gossamer robe, obviously she does a bit of high-flying. YUNA is the current Sendai rookie who is quite young and wearing purple gear, I don’t remember her being great but she’s green as heck.

The Match: Lockup to start and YUNA does some standing switches and wristlock reversals until Miyuki just stomps on her foot and reverses. Next come the strikes and YUNA’s lack a little horseradish. YUNA actually ducks the followup strike and unleashes more forearms but they still look weak. Takase sells them anyway for a bit but she blocks the suplex and reverses into a slam. After a little bit of maneuvering Miyuki sets up the rolling bodyscissors cradle and then chops the heck out of the poor rookies chest. YUNA fires back with some arm work and even reverses a slam into a cradle for a near fall before going back to the arm. MIyuki actually has to use the ropes to break and YUNA uses more terrible forearms to control the vet. Miyuki’s fireman’s carry is converted into a crucifix armbar and then a sleeper but Takase has enough of this and delivers a heavy dropkick but YUNA blocks the lariat with a kick and gets a La Magistral before being speared in half. Takase gets the rolling fireman’s carry though and a legdrop off the second rope for 3.

**

Much, MUCH better than the prior YUNA match I saw and she almost looks half-competent. Fun story with Miyuki showboating too much, getting caught with an armbar and having to work on her back foot and actually try to put the rookie down.

Hiroyo Matsumoto vs. Yura Suzuki

Background: So Yura was the rookie I had seen at Sendai before and she’s pretty solid with a solid, athletic build and some shoot fighting credentials. Matsumoto of course is Lady Godzilla and is going to put a beating on the kid. Suzuki is in blue with gold flaps on the side styled like armor and Matsumoto looks like she robbed a fabric store and just put it all on.

The Match: Matsumoto offered a handshake but Yura kicked it away. Uh oh. Matsumoto cranks in a headlock after this and we get an international and a shoulder from the vet though Yura makes sure to throw plenty of strikes in between getting demolished to show her FIGHTING SPIRIT! Camel Clutch from Matsumoto and Suzuki is selling big…and we get a hair pull from Lady Godzilla, boo! Hiroyo plants the kid in the corner and kills her with a running avalanche as Matsumoto poses and plays to the crowd throughout it all. Chops and some basic slams keep the vet in control, but Yura FINALLY gets an enzuigiri to stun the vet. Corner knee, shoot kicks, running knee and Hiroyo is down for a 2 count and Yura immediately rolls into an armbar. Hiroyo escapes and after some rope-running evasion spots, finally gets a lariat on the kid to get her some space. Gourdbuster and a sliding lariat get 2 and Matsumoto just laughs as this means she has more time to torment Yura. Suzuki actually gets a nice high kick and then a juji-gatame into a triangle…but Hiroyo transitions into a crab in a slick sequence. Suzuki makes the ropes but but Hiroyo gets an Argentine rack gutbuster and that’s 3.

**½

Almost tempted to go higher but the results was so not in doubt I have a ceiling on this. Really well done and a great showing for Yura who has incredible potential, or Matsumoto is so dope she made Suzuki look like she had incredible potential. Very good stuff here and I’d keep on eye on Yura.

DASH Chisako vs. Manami

Background: DASH is the Hardcore Queen, the tiny violent lunatic of Sendai, Manami isn’t somebody I know that well but she is dressed in a very blue fashion and she has a pretty pumping Eurohouse entrance. She also was in the Five Star and yes I’ll get around to it! C’mon stop harassing me! But she’s a bit of a high-flyer if I remember correctly.

The Match: Manami flies across the ring with a dropkick to start and keeps it up with speed. Manami cranks on a headlock though and DASH takes her down with a hairpull and a stomp. C’mon kid remember what brought you to the dance. More stomps as DASH brings the mean. A hard whip to the corner sets up a sliding dropkick and a crossface and Manami is getting mollywhopped. Manami makes the ropes before her back is broken in half by the crossface and then eats an X-Factor and more stomps from the vet. Manami reverses a whip and gets a few strikes in the ropes but they’re a bit tentative and Dash just crushes her with a kick. Manami gets a low-bridge but can’t get a dropkick and DASH drags her outside to murder in the crowd. But as she has no barricade to bounce Manami’s head off of, she settles by throwing her at the chairs of the crowd. And DASH has enough of this and decides to throw a chair at Manami as well but uh, no DQ. Manami trips up DASH upon re-entry to the ring though and gets a nice missile dropkick off the apron and she’s stumbling around as she tosses the vet back inside. Fun spot as Manami gets a hanging headscissors choke…off the second rope as DASH is too short to use the top rope. A couple more dropkicks follow by Manami but DASH cuts her off with a forearm and they slug it out a bit. They do some run and gun stuff and Manami gets a nice knee but DASH gets a jumping boot and goes up…but misses the stomp and we get Manami with the Japanese rolling clutch for a near fall and then a half-meteora/half-shining wizard deal. And then we get the absolute greatest flying nothing dive ever as Manami lands on DASH’s boot…excep Manami actually dives into the boot with the same form as a splash, absolutely BRUTAL. And now DASH gets the diving stomp…and then another one for good measure and Manami KICKS OUT!!! DASH gets caught leaving the ring for another stomp and eats a backstabber for her troubles. Manami with a few chops and another knee, but DASH gets the jumping boot, a German, and another jumping boot and Manami just won’t die. DASH gets the diving stomp and then the frog splash and that’s the 3.

***½

Hrm, I do think that the double stomp probably could have finished but they did a lot to put over Manami’s grit and determination and that she actually had the advantage when the match was mobile, but Chisako is just crazier and will crush you if you end up in a brawl. Really fun, and a lot more fun than DASH doing crazy stuff with chairs and ladders, she’s violent enough just by herself.

Team 200kg (Chihiro Hashimoto & Yuu) vs. Jessy Jackson & Ryo Mizunami

Background: So Team 200kg are the two giant monster faces of Sendai. Hash is the ace and the medium sized joshi, and Yuu is definitely the big joshi. They’re kind of ludicrously overpowered as a duo but that’s the point. Jessy is a white lady who doesn’t even have a cagematch profile but she’s in blue gear and looks painfully nervous. Ryo does her routine and dances with the crowd with the lime green hair and the bodysuit and the sunglasses and goes around to every single audience member it feels like to do her routine with them. She kind of feels like if Nanae Takahashi had a younger sister who was really into raves. Also Team 200kg come out to It’s My Life by Bon Jovi which is just delightful.

The Match: Before the match starts, there’s a bug flying into the ring and Yuu takes a pretty hilarious bump out of fear as she runs away from it and then one of the ring girls catches it getting a huge cheer. Yuu and Ryo start and they preen and pose for cheers before we get a giant lockup that is a draw, and then the shoulders start flying and Yuu finally wins but Ryo puts up a good fight. Chihiro comes in for a double, but Ryo puts on the breaks out of a whip and Jessy eventually flies in for a double-clothesline. Ryo and Jessy isolate Yuu in the corner with some chops. Now it’s Jessy’s turn but she immediately gets crushed with a spinning sidewalk slam and then Yuu hits the log roll tope. Yuu stomps on Jessy a bit and in comes Hash with an abdominal stretch and then a gutwrench before its back to Yuu who chops and Jessy is flying around for them but she gets a desperate codebreaker and a few strikes and Yuu actually is bumping around here a little bit. Ryo run in with a clothesline but Chihiro pops in and we get a lariat-off and some trash talk and Hash decapitates her. Corner avalanche next but Ryo reverses a brainbuster and gets a can-opener for a little bit and Ryo is in control until Chihiro stuffs a spear attempt and gets the brainbuster, but Ryo gets an ura-nage and we have a double-down into a double-tag. Big boot from Jessy, chop from Yuu, with Jessy taking some absolutely spine-wrecking bumps on each chop while Yuu just stumbles around a bit. Team 200kg take down Jessy with Hash adding her running flip senton but Ryo runs interference and knocks the bigger girls into each other and spears Yuu to set up some running corner knees from Jessy. Frog splash and a running elbow drop has Yuu in trouble but Yuu reverses a whip into a double crossbody and Hash adding a splash on top. Yuu goes up and we get the bounce and fles and the diving splash destroys Jessy.

**¾

Really, really fun, I hate the ‘party match’ name but I think this applied. Two huge stars goofing around and beating people up, probably sold a bit TOO much for these two but I gather Ryo is somehow pretty over. Jessy was pretty game, but if she wants a long career she’s gotta stop flat-backing off of every single strike.

Mio Momono & Yurika Oka vs. Chi Chi & VENY

Background: So Mio and Yurika are the tag-champs and they have a comedy style banana and peach thing going on, don’t totally get it but the crowd finds it hilarious. Chi Chi is a human punching bag that’s dressed like a pink cowgirl and has a lot of gumption, VENY is a former Sendai girls champ and very athletic. I have no idea if this will be a real match or comedy nonsense, so let’s find out! Amazingly enough, Chi Chi and VENY are coming out to Barbie Girl and it’s absolutely perfect for them. Chi CHi has an ushanka for some reason as well. Mio is in pink and Yurika is in yellow.

The Match: We get excessive cheering from the fruit girls before the match and Chi Chi shakes their hand and VENY refrains. We get a lockup with VENY and Yurika and it goes nowhere for Oka who gets taken into the ropes and slapped. But the match immediately breaks down and the fruit ladies do some doubles and isolate Chi Chi. We get hair pulling, and then rope-assisted hair-pulling, and then some stomps in the corner. Poor Chi Chi. She even shook their hands. The champs do some double dropkicks and quick tags as they keep up the speed with pretty basic stuff as they attack Chi Chi’s hair and just never shut up, ever, it’s just constant yammering. Chi gets a brief hope spot with a bridge reversal but she’s just dropkicked to hades afterwards. We even get a delayed suplex (kinda) from Yurika and then Mio comes in with more stuff. Funny spot (maybe even intentional) as Mio wipes out Chi Chi and runs to the corner to take VENY out and VENY doesn’t even blink from a super weak strike. Mio gets a few other funny moments with a fake out running strike and then a foot stomp as she’s at least playing up obnoxious weasel well. Chi Chi finally reverses a corner whip into a boot and a missile dropkick and in comes VENY to move approximately 10 thousand times better than everybody else and wipe out the fruit patrol by herself. VENY misses a moonsault and has a slam reversed into a DDT though and Mio gets some heat with a huracanrana driver and some strikes that down the much bigger VENY. But when MIo goes up, VENY kips up and does the Trish headscissors handstand off the top rope but she misses another moonsault…but Mio’s springboard is cut off by a VENY dropkick as VENY is not giving the fruit squad anything. Mio ducks a kick by being literally too short for it and gets a German, but a second VENY kick knocks her head off and we get a Yurika tag as she hits her one move repeatedly on VENY. After fifty dropkicks Chi Chi holds her on the apron but VENY misses a kick and wipes Chi Chi out, but that’s no matter as VENY gets a superkick and tags in Chi Chi anyway. And the blonde warrior gets a sick running boot and goes up but gets cut off by the fruit circus but the rookie recovers into a manji-gatame but Yurika makes the ropes. Some boots from the faces (I think) keep Yurika in trouble. Chi Chi goes for an exploder and with VENY’s help lands it but Mio squirms in to break it up. We reset to Chi Chi and Yurika and the fruit team keeps spamming doubles and rollups. A headscissors takes VENY outside, and then a plancha on VENY by Mio and a 180 splash on Chi CHi gets the dub.

*½

Man I just…hate the fruit ladies team, they’re the exact sort of obnoxious that I feels is a stereotype of joshi and it drives me up a wall. Maybe they’re supposed to be this bad and irritating but I was just not having it. Chi Chi remains a solid prospect and VENY is talented even if clearly they had no interest in this comedy crap and didn’t sell NOTHING. Mio might be tolerable in a different gimmick but this was just…annoying to watch.

Post-match Team 200kg come out and dear god I want them to murder these geeks.

Takumi Iroha vs. Mika Iwata

Background: So I am unaware of any particular heat to this match, but Iroha is a big freelance star and a tall, kick-happy babyface who is all tasseled up and goes to the air on occasion. Mika is an act I’ve only seen so many times before but she dresses like a space pirate and is also fond of the kicks. I’m pretty hyped for this one as I really like Iroha and was impressed by what Iwata I saw. Iroha definitely has the size advantage in this match.

The Match: Handshake of respect to start and we get going. They dance around and throw thigh kicks and block them. We get some go-behinds and standing switches before taking to the mat and they jostle for position and Iroha gets into a full-mount and then a facelock as they return to a standing position…and Iroha uses this to get a series of kicks and a legseep before Mika fires off a dropkick to take the outsider to the floor. More kicks and Mika gains a measure of control here. Takumi has enough though and gets a spin kick and a brainbuster on the floor. Takumi tosses Mika back in the ring with flourish but Iwata immediately gets a kick when she’s in the ring and Iroha is staggered but gets inside…only to run into a knee against the ropes. More shoot kicks but Iroha gets the spinning savate kick and a brainbuster as the dynamic of the match is clear. Iroha has a lot more flourish, but her hotdogging lets the smaller but no-nonsense Iwata get her licks in. Iroha catches a kick for an ankle lock and works that as the Sendai native goes for the ropes but gets picked up for a gut kick as Takumi is styling. Iwata is cornered and gets hit with a chop and another spinning savate kick and she slides to the ground and wretches in a pretty fun sell, Iwata tries to reverse a whip but Takumi slips through the ropes and gets a gamengiri and then cranks in a sasori-gatame. Mika makes the ropes but eats another heavy shoot kick but Iwata finally gets something going with a flying armbar transitioned into an omoplata crossface. Iroha makes the ropes and she’s selling the arm as Iwata takes her apart with precise kicks, a corner knee, a bulldog and a low thrust kick in a flurry. Another knee is missed though and Iroha gets a German, a superkick, and a spinning wheel kick before running into a thrust kick from Mika for a double-down. They slug it out from their knees and Iwata gets the advantage with a sliding kick, but she runs into Iroha’s roaring elbow and gets stomped out as Takumi starts dropping knees and being way more aggressive. Mika cuts her off with an axe kick but her buzzsaw is caught into a spinning powerbomb by Iroha. Takumi goes up but gets met at the top by Mika who throws some chickenwing elbows and hammers home the superplex. A buzzsaw kick follows but it only gets 2 for Iwata, but her springboard kick is broken up and Iroha attempts the Running Three but Iwata slips out and gets a bicycle knee for 2 and then a reverse heel kick lets her get the springboard flipping roundhouse out of the corner. Gorgeous move there. Takumi barely gets a shoulder up and Mika smells blood and loads up an…Emerald Flowsion? Iroha slips out though and after evading a cazadora she gets a 540 roundhouse, a hook kick, and then a bicycle knee of her own…for 2. Takumi gets a Pumphandle spun into a knee strike but that only gets 2, the Running Three (running release crucifix powerbomb) finishes the job however.

****

Look, if you don’t like kicks, you won’t like this match, but both wrestlers were very different with their kicks. Mika was precise, technical, and skillful, Takumi had more power, but she was also wilder, less predictable with them, and often got caught showboating. Iroha also had a superior power game due to her size, but Iwata was capable of using her speed and skill to get some slick pin attempts for nearfalls. I also realized that due to her crispy tan, serious personality, and kick-based offense, Mika Iwata reminds me a LOT of Toshiyo Yamada. And while she mostly played heel, Takumi Iroha worked as Dynamite Kansai in this comparison (bodysuit, bright colors, kicks but also powerbombs, superior physical size, hear me out on this one!). It was a lot of fun, but yeah, if you don’t like kicks, you won’t like this.

Post-match Takumi cuts a promo and she says something big to get a reaction but I think it’s mostly just her complimenting people, or not as I do not speak a single word of Japanese and know nothing of the language.

Well, once again Sendai put together a fun, short, varied show. Not my favorite promotion but two hour shows that have a bevy of good workers on them aren’t going to break your heart. Plus this main is absolutely worth hunting down if y’know, you like kicks.