TJPW: Tokyo Joshi Pro ’25

Well I resubbed to Wrestle-Universe to watch some year-end wrestling business and I decided I was going to watch some NOAH, and it was locked behind a paywall, so I decided I’d watch some Marigold, and it was locked behind a paywall, but TJPW isn’t, so that’s what I’m going to be watching. We got 1,483 in Korakuen Hall so it should be a loud crowd as I dive into a promotion I know very, very little about.

HIMAWARI & Mifu Ashida vs. Chika Nanase & Toga

Background: Okay I know NONE of these women. Chika is in bronze colored asymmetrical tights with bronze colored hair and is significantly shorter than Toga, who is in white gear with almost fight shorts on and has some white highlights in her hair, they both seem chipper, but Nanase is more hyper, running ahead. Toga apparently has gotten close to some tournament wins for rookies so I guess she’s a rising star. HIMAWARI is in yellow and black and has some almost harlequin-esque patterns on her with a sort of hair buns into braids styling, Mifu is apparently a refugee from Ice Ribbon and is wearing the classic white with feminine colored highlights basic-joshi gear, in this case, she has purple, she also has pom poms and apparently was a cheerleader, HIMAWARI is the shorter of this duo and the more hyper one as well.

The Match: Chika and Mifu start and they go to the mat to a standstill, back up and they do some wristlocks and they finally start doing some strikes and HIMAWARI tags in to…do some braid whips. They do an international into a comedic “run the ropes too long” spot before Chika just stops…and HIMAWARI rolls her up for 2. Mifu is back in and we get a double dropkick. Chika dodges more double teams though, and with Toga’s help manages to slam Ashida and brings in Toga is in for real now and does simple, big, offense, elbow drop, double-team shoulder, some corner charges and more shoulders, Toga then gets the chinlock on Mifu and works that for a while before bringing Chika back in with a jumping elbow drop. Mifu bumps around some more but blocks a whip and then cartwheels out of a second whip to bring in HIMAWARI who runs around, slams Nanase, and then goes for a single-leg crab and cranks it in pretty deep before Chika makes the ropes. HIMAWARI goes for a backbreaker but Chika floats out and gets a right hand to bring in Toga. A big shoulder knocks down HIMAWARI but she whiffs the rolling thunder and gets…pounced? Weird they’re having 4’10” HIMAWARI knock down the much bigger Toga. Mifu back in with a schoolgirl and then a dropkick and a splits leg drop to set up a German, but Toga is too big! Toga blocks a high kick and gets an elbow strike to knock down Mifu and now Toga gets the rolling thunder, but HIMAWARI breaks that up and Chika takes her out. Back to Toga and Mifu and they slug it out, with Toga easily winning and then she gets a leg-hook ura-nage for 3.

*½

So I think Toga has some potential here, a bigger wrestler who actually works her size. Mifu is absurdly green, HIMAWARI is competent and has some personality but her offense is illogical, and Chika I guess was there.

Ivy Steele, Kira Summer & Matcha vs. Kaya Toribami, Ryo Mizunami & Yoshiko Hasegawa

Background: Okay names I’m starting to recognize. The foreigners are Ivy Steele, black and white gear and has some size, trained by the Knight family and has wavy brown hair, Kira Summer is Australian and has pale blue gear and short blonde hair, Matcha seems to be Japanese and has darker blue gear and a spiffy robe. Yoshiko is out first and I know I’ve seen her before but she looks way different, with short, auburn hair now and big puffy shin guards (huss!) and black and lilac gear. Kaya has a mask and is wearing pretty plain black gear and Ryo is of course the bringer of the party, with lime green hair and a big, loud, shiny outfit, she dances with the crowd with her Jesse Ventura boa.

The Match: All the Japanese faces do a hot start and jump the foreigners, but Ivy is too big for that and knocks them all over and now the gaijin squad all beat on Hasegawa and cheer for HAPPY NEW YEAR while bludgeoning Yoshiko. Matcha does more slams and simple running stuff and then brings in Kira to get a jumping leg drop and a basic armbar as Yoshiko is our Yoppy in Peril (yeah her nickname is Yoppy). Hasegawa finally gets a flying forearm though and in comes Kaya with a dropkick and a victory roll out of the corner, second dropkick misses, but Kira misses a legdrop…but gets a slam anyway and brings in Matcha with a running crossbody and then Kaya gets an armdrag (weird looking spot) and then springboard off the ropes for a senton. But Matcha pops up and gets a rolling cutter (though spun the opposite direction of most of them), Kaya pops up with some kicks though but another leaping crossbody leads to a double down and a double-tag as we have the battle of the giants. Ryo flattens Ivy with her first shoulder in what had to be a screwup, and welp maybe not as Ryo (who is notably smaller than Ivy) flattens her again and then goes to work with some chops. Ivy tries some more stuff but Ryo gives her nothing, just clobbering her until a fluke enzuigiri lets the heels triple team Ryo. And Ivy gets one two count on Ryo before Mizunami pops up and lariats Steele down for 2.8. Babyfaces come in for backup and get some fancy stuff against the heels and it’s back to Ivy and Ryo who gets a spear and that’s it for Steele.

*¾

Everybody was a lot better in this match than last match (okay not Ivy) and there was a decent heat segment, but man, Ryo gave Ivy NOTHING. Which okay, Ivy isn’t any good, but she’s supposed to be the ‘big one’.

Aja Kong, Haruna Neko & Mahiro Kiryu vs. Pom Harajuku, Raku & Yuki Aino

Background: Okay I know some of these! Pom Harajuku has dirty blonde hair and a plaid schoolgirl-ish outfit (…) with some sorta title and is smiling and hyper. Raku seems to be wearing pajamas and has a pillow with her, and Yuki Aino has a big red coat and bright blonde hair. Aja Kong of course is Aja Kong. Haruna Neko is on the smaller side and is dressed like an evil catgirl French maid, meanwhile, Mahiro has some height and is dressed like an anime version of a French musketeer with white, blue, and gold gear. Oh and we got Bryce Remsburg as the ref? How weird.

The Match: So Yuki Aino starts the match by getting Aja over to the babyface squad, and then Haruna too and they all hug while Mahiro is left by herself and then everybody else in the match stomps her down. Okay, I laughed. And now Pom, Raku, and Yuki all try to pin Mahiro (while Haruna and Aja don’t…hrm) but Kiryu kicks out. And then Kiryu slams all the babyfaces and Aja and Haruna go back to the heel corner rather bashfully. And we get an extended bit with Mahiro talking to Aja while stomping on Pom and after some stuff I mostly missed, Haruna comes in and cause she’s a catgirl, she scratches Pom in the face and pounces on her, not like…The Pounce, but just pounces on her like a cat, and now Aja is in and Harujuku is begging off, and Aja just blasts her with an oilcan anyway. Mahiro tags in to do some actual wrestling moves with a running knee to the back and then an elbow drop, but Pom schoolgirls up and gets a dropkick and then Raku is in with a diving chop. Raku goes for the pillow shot but eats a sidewalk slam and Aja is back in, and Raku tries a pillow shot against Kong, and now Aja begs off and just flattens Raku with a strike and then goes for the backdrop driver but Yuki breaks that up and gets dropped with an Aja slap. And then Pom comes into lay on Raku’s pillow, and that lets them trip Kong into the ropes and the faces try to work her over but one clothesline and it’s Haruna vs. Yuki, and Neko gets a shoulder and then a seated abdominal stretch. Yuki makes the ropes and gets some speedy stuff and then a diving shoulder and a bulldog and the actual wrestling in this match is kinda lame and heatless, crowd clearly only wants goofy nonsense. Mahiro helps Haruna with some cheating but Pom breaks that up and then runs from Aja’s oilcan, and then Raku and Kong have an oilcan/pillow duel, and when Kong agrees to drop the weapons, Raku agrees, only to blast Kong anyway! Aja staggers, but blasts them anyway and helps Haruna do some stuff, and we’re back to Aino and Neko having their…match. Yuki gets a Karelin lift into a suplex and then Christian’s falling inverted DDT for 3.

**

Well, the comedy was pretty solid, the match was not outside of that. Still, I had some chuckles, and it’s crazy to watch how much more giving Aja is than Ryo despite never even taking a pin attempt.

Hyper Misao vs. Shoko Nakajama – Lumber Snake Death Match with Poison Sawada JULIE as special guest Witness

Background: So Hyper Misao has a superhero gimmick and is pretty silly, Shoko has a kaiju gimmick and is a werewolf lady kinda. I have no idea what a Lumber Snake Death Match is, but it’s got Poison Sawada here to…witness it (I don’t know if that means referee it) Sawada is an old indie guy who looks like a 1970s kung fu movie villain. So, if I understand the story of this match through the video package played before hand, Somebody poisoned Shoko with a spiked energy drink before the match. Misao is in green and pink gear, a souped up bike, a short cape, short pink hair and a mask of course. Anyway, Shoko has furry gear and short reddish hair but also EVIL SNAKE FACEPAINT cause she’s been poisoned, and the lumberjacks all have the evil facepaint too and are doing arm shimmies like snakes! And Sawada is here too with a scaled cape and long hair and snake gear and this is gloriously silly. Lumberjacks are Hasegawa, HIMAWARI, and Toga.

The Match: Before the match Sawada leads the girls in an evil snake dance to some groovy 1970s tunes. Sadly, while Shoko and Sawada and HIMAWARI have some moves, Toga is absolutely hopeless. Anyway, Misao cuts a big promo while Shoko does snake moves in the background and I guess this match (?!) finally starts. Shoko is cracking me up because she keeps doing goofy snake poses while doing karate katas, and she even grabs Misao’s wrist for a hold…and makes her do the snake wiggle with it! Gasp! Anyway, Misao tries to appeal to her reason (in between hitting a crossbody) but alas Sawada has used his snake powers to infect Hyper Misao! Her arm is vulnerable to his sorceries and she goes flying. Luckily Misao’s cape has powers, and she wraps the poisoned hand in it, breaking Sawada’s control, redirecting it towards Shoko, who takes a bump, and Misao and Sawada engage in a magical duel for a while before Shoko ambushes her with a sleeper, and then Shoko steals the cape! Misao’s protection is gone! And Hyper is tossed outside where the lumberjacks maul her for a while before they send her back in the ring, where Shoko uses more snake fu and lands a liver shot and then a neckscissors with some face crushing. The crowd is willing Misao back into it though and she makes the ropes! But Shoko unleashes another snake strike and tosses Misao outside for more damage. But when they toss Misao back in, Hyper sprays them all in the face! Misao lowbridges Shoko out and gets a running crossbody from the apron! And Misao loads up her bike to charge into the group, but Sawada uses more snake magic to throw her off and she crashes into the barricade. Back in and Shoko loads up another snake-infused 619, but Misao catches it and gets an inverted DDT off the ropes, but Shoko snakes up and gets a cobra thrust to the neck! Cattle Mutilation! But Misao slips out and gets a crossface chickenwing, but Sawada once again breaks it up with magic…but the ref breaks that up! I guess like breaking up tags you can only do it a few times before the ref intervenes. And while Shoko and Hyper do an international, Sawada goes at the ref! He’s paralyzed and Shoko takes him out with a dropkick. And now the lumberjacks come inside the ring to stomp out Misao, now we get the 619 by Nakajima and the northern light’s suplex, but a very delayed count only gets 2.8 as the ref is still groggy. Shoko loads up a butterfly suplex, but Misao breaks with a knee and retrieves her cape from Shoko! Baseball slide to Sawada! Diving crossbody and Shoko is out, 1-2-Sawada pulls the ref outside of the ring and comes in to beat down Misao himself. Sawada grabs Hyper and Shoko loads up another cobra thrust…and we all know what’s coming, Misao ducks, Shoko hits Sawada in the throat with the strike and Misao wraps her cape over Shoko’s head, Sawada once again tries his magic against a now defenseless Hyper, but she hides behind Nakajima and shoves her into Poison Sawada, where he takes a pretty incredible bump through the ropes for a 60 year old. Inverted facelock elbow drop by Hyper Misao and she gets the 3 count on Shoko…and I think also frees her from the control of Poison Sawada.

****

Just amazing. Absolutely silly, but they set up various things (Sawada’s magical control being able to be countered by Misao’s cape) and they paid it off through the match at various points. Yes, there was magic and sorcery and mind control and snake dances but the psychology was absolutely present. If you’re cool with absurd overbooking and total silliness, hunt this match down.

Post-match, Sawada hands over the antidotes and Hyper Misao makes everybody drink them (even if she has to hit Toga to agree to it). But Sawada makes Shoko try to poison Hyper with another bottle, but Shoko has managed to fight off his control long enough for Hyper Misao to retrieve another antidote and I think Nakajima is now free for good. Poison Sawama I think effectively says “this isn’t the last time you’ve seen me!” and then he leaves while laughing like a lunatic. 10/10, no notes.

Moka Miyamoto & Yuka Sakazaki vs. Arisu Endo & Shino Suzuki

Background: So I’ve some of these names but don’t know the others. Shino Suzuki is in a very green outfit with black hair and Endo is in sorta…wannabe Asuka gear with the multiple patterns and the zebra print styles with multi-colored hair. Yuka of course has…The Theme, and has shown up in AEW and other places, the Magical Girl, she still has the genie pants. Moka has a traditional getup and lots of blonde hair.

The Match: Endo and Yuka start and they’re doing like…headlocks and stuff, anyway, stalemate and in come Moka and Shino for more headlocks. International but Moka cuts it off with a bodyshot and then works the arm before bringing in Yuka to keep on the arm. And Yuka does some armwrenches and then back to Moka to drop elbows on the arm, keeping it VERY simple so far. Shino starts her one-armed comeback and we get a double-down after a back elbow and in comes Endo with a dropkick and some running offense but Moka stuffs a suplex, and gets a very slow thrust kick and a judo-style hiptoss and then an abdominal stretch. Shino breaks it up for a pinfall, and then Yuka breaks that up. Moka and Arisu trend dropkicks and then its Yuka in to go for a fancy kick that whiffs, and then a kitchen sink knee that doesn’t, but Endo keeps it fast with a running crotch attack on the ropes, a calf branding (?!) and then a missile dropkick. Yuka doesn’t really pay that much mind though and gets a thrust kick…but Arisu doesn’t care and gets a suplex on Sakazaki and we get a double-down and in comes Shino with some dropkicks that Yuka totally shrugs off and then swats it out of the sky. Delayed brainbuster by Yuka for 2.8. Yuka is not dismayed and just continues slapping the life out of the rookie, but Shino breaks free and gets a dropkick that knocks Yuka down and then a running neckbreaker for 2.6. Sleeper attempt by Shino follows and Yuka looks annoyed and shrugs it off and gets a jackhammer/emerald flowsion thing, and Moka cuts off Arisus so Yuka can set up some fireman’s carry deal, but Arisu flies in to break that up but gets caught in a German suplex dropped into a side slam as Yuka is just murdering everybody now. Moka gets a spinning brainbuster on Shino and Yuka gets a springboard splash for 3.

**¼

Just kind of an extended squash with three kinda green wrestlers and then Yuka came in to murder everybody. Shino needs WAY more polish but the heart is in the right place, unsure about Arisu from this appearance and Moka’s execution is poor, but Sakazaki just murdering everybody at the end was pretty hilarious.

Rika Tatsumi & Wakana Uehara vs. Lei Ying Lee & Yuki Kamifuku

Background: More names I know or have heard before, and most of them I can actually detail. Wakana is in silver, white, gold, and red in a sort of asymmetrical mix of multiple different gear, Rika is the White Dragon and has a silver and white fluffy dress on, and some sort of metalhead leather vest with a ton of badges and pins in it, she’s actually won some major titles in the past in TJPW. Lei Ying Lee is the former Xia Li of WWE fame and has of course a Mortal Kombat-esque butt kicking martial artist gimmick, Yuki is an ex-model who works a ton of obscure Japanese and east Asian indies, I’ve seen a few of her matches before. Lei Ying is in blue and black gear with studs on it and has the tattoos and the hair and a nice tan going. Yuki is glammed up in dark blue robes with a robe with fur-fringe and a ton of jewels and glamor and a belt of some variety.

The Match: Rika and Lei start with a lockup and Lee immediately takes Rika down, and then on a second attempt sends Tatsumi flying again. Another takedown and some flexing and I’m gathering that Lei is supposed to be strong…and Rika goes to a blatant choke but that gets broken but she tags in Yuki anyway, and Uehara follows. Yuki tags in and does some slow choking and then an eyepoke before Uehara does a cartwheel, Lei gets a kick from the apron though and the heels get to work. Lei gets some kicks in the corner when she’s tagged in and the sets up her fighting game poses before getting a corner elbow and then an exploder suplex, making sure to hit poses between EACH move. Yuki in…to run into a boot and Lei gets tossed to the apron, but she recovers and sets up Wakana for a hit…but gets booted off by Yuki instead. Kamifuku remains in control though with some terrible chops, but does some soft bumping to set up Wakana’s comeback, but Lei yanks Rika off the apron and Yuki remains in control with a pretty good dropkick and then we get some kicks…before she runs into a body slam and Wakana crawls to the corner to take in Rika who is a house a fire. Low dropkick, dragon screw, rope-assisted dropkick to the knee! Rika gets her own pose and singalong with the crowd before a powerdrive elbow gets 2. Yuki gets up, slaps her knee a bit (points for effort) and then gets another of her shockingly good dropkicks…but she once again fails on a suplex and Rika gets a hipcheck to break free and go up, but Yuki cuts her off with a boot and lands a superplex before tagging in Lei again. More corner strikes and a slingshot double knee into the corner for 2, and she gets frustrated and goes for a slam that Rika counters into a sleeper for a while before Lei falls back into the ropes. Lee tries to fire up some strikes but her kick gets caught for a dragonscrew and in comes Wakana to help Rika double-team…but Lei explodes out of the corner for a reverse crossbody on both of them, but Wakana gets some strikes and a high elbow, followed by a Muta elbow into the corner but her slam is stuffed with strikes by Lei. Lee then calls in Yuki to get a double-team brainbuster…but Yuki doesn’t want to help on the way down so she powders to fan herself and Lei finishes it solo. Okay, that cracked me up. Anyway, Rika flies in to break it up and Yuki lands the worlds ugliest springboard dropkick and then gets a famouser that’s just a terrible Rough Ryder. Anyway it’s back to Wakana and Lei and they slug it out, and then Lei flexes mid strike fest and drops Uehara for a STF, Wakana turns that into a rollup for 2 though, Lei gets a big kick, dodged and rolled up for two, Lei gets a side kick to the gut that Wakana doesn’t counter, and does an arrogant finger wag, and then loads up Uehara for a suplex…that Wakana DDTs Lei out of for 2. Good spot. Wakana goes for a whip to follow up, Lei reverses, gets an Argentine rack slam, and then Thunderstruck, her 540 roundhouse, gets 3.

**½

Shockingly fun! And mostly cause Lei is an awesome fit for TJPW. Her getting the booking a lot of big, American stiffs get there works for her skillset, where instead of doing stuff between moves she can just pose and roar and rely on her offense and size to make herself look like a total killer. RIka in particular sold like crazy and Wakana was…fine enough. Yuki has intense flaws as a performer but her character stuff is there and her hiding behind Lei could work really well down the line.

Yuki Arai (c) vs. Suzume – International Princess Championship

Background: So I definitely know I’ve seen these names before. Apparently Yuki Arai is a former (?) member of the SKE48 J-Pop idol group/brand (look I don’t know J-Pop very well) but is committed to wrestling now, from the pre-match reel she apparently uses an axe kick, Yuki has long, dark hair and is rocking a magical girl getup with stars and bows and her entrance video tells her she’s Genius Girl. Suzume is in bright green and black gear, has bleached blonde hair in pigtails, and is much, MUCH shorter. Apparently Suzume’s nickname is Vivid Honey Mustard and I don’t know if that refers to the gear or her personality or her favorite hotdog condiment.

The Match: Yuki rocks a headlock for a while and then gets a shoulder out of an international, Suzume speeds it up with some…weird shoulder tackles (she kinda slams the side of her body into Yuki) and then a dropkick sends Arai out of the ring, but they end up outside with Suzume’s trickiness and speed, and then just hammers away on the champ. But Yuki dodges a knee off the apron and slams Suzume on the mats, very slowly back in and Yuki works over Suzume’s legs and slaps her around. Suzume gets her own strikes and makes the ropes and tries slugging away, but her leg collapses and Yuki kicks her down and goes for another slam but Suzume gets a victory roll and a dropkick and tries to restore her leg. Suzume gets a running back elbow (?) and a running bulldog (?!) before going for a headscissors that Yuki easily breaks…but Arai opens herself up for a low cutter and then Suzume goes up but its too slow and Yuki cuts her off and gets the axe kick while Suzume is in the ropes, and then a sasori-gatame follows! Suzume makes the ropes again and crawls up them while Yuki goes at the back with body shots, but Arai gets lowbridged out and wrapped up with a crucifix choke in the ropes and then a dropkick to send her outside and follows with a plancha. Back in and Suzume lands a big diving crossbody for 2.7. Yuki is slow to her feet and Suzume goes for a running bulldog into the turnbuckle, but Yuki blocks and turns that into a full nelson…something and we have a double down into a kneeling slugfest Yuki wins and tries to stomp her down but Suzume remains defiant! Well until a bicycle kick by Yuki drops her. The axe kick is attempted but blocked for a while before Yuki gets…something and then a low boot gets 2.8. A full nelson is attempted once again by Yuki, but Suzume blocks and turns it into an absolutely hideous bulldog. Running cutter attempted, Yuki shoves her off and Suzume springboards off and gets the cutter, the pin, and the title.

**

Well…there was some semblance of a story there, but Yuki just doesn’t have the execution and Suzume just forgot to sell for most of the match. Still, there was a build and development and something of a hot finale so it was fine.

121000000 (Maki Itoh & Miyu Yamashita) (c) vs. Masha Slamovich & Zara Zakher – Princess Tag Team Championships

Background: So I know all these people! Maki is Maki, she’s the idol that swears and all that stuff, she’s small and has the hair and the outfit, Miyu is the Pink Striker, the karateka and most prominent TJPW wrestler outside the promotion, her and Maki and their annoying to type tag-team are pretty well established teaming for 4+ years and winning oodles of gold. They’re facing two foreigners, well kinda. Masha is an American who has shed her evil Russian gimmick (for obvious reasons) and is the top women’s champ in TNA and has done a lot of work in Japan, including facing Miyu last year at this very event, she’s got the crazy biker hair and the leather jacket and the studs and the skull designs and Zara is smaller and seems to have a fair amount of experience in TJPW despite being a rookie, she’s also a WWE ID pickup, so this is a big showcase for her. Masha is in white and silver with red and black braided mohawk thing and Zara is a black singlet with red braids.

The Match: Hot start as the outsiders jump them during the entrance and isolate on Maki, double-teaming her in the ropes but Miyu saves and they get double boots to send Masha and Zakher outside and then double tornado DDTs off the apron. The Americans gets some brawling though, and after Miyu misses a knee and smashes the apron, Masha gets her in an electric chair and they hit a doomsday device with a tope that takes everybody out. Maki is rolled back in for Zara to beat on her, but Masha wants the tag and gets some snapmares and shoot kicks to wear Itoh out. But when Zara comes in to get a double-team, Maki gets another tornado DDT and takes both of them out and brings in Miyu. Kicks to Zara and some ducking have the Pink Striker ripping Zara apart. But Zara kips up and gets a rolling elbow and brings in Masha so they can duke it out with kicks, they standstill and Miyu brings in Maki to get some running stuff and then a rope-hung DDT onto the apron…but only for 2 after a delayed cover. Another tornado DDT out of the corner is foiled though, and Masha gets a double-leg slam and then a stomp for 2.5. They trade standing switches and then Masha does a sunset flip before getting kicked, more counters until Maki gets ANOTHER draping DDT and we get a double-tag and Zara dodges a few Miyu kicks before getting clocked and then taken out with the springboard roundhouse out of the corner, Attitude Adjustment attempt follows but Zara slips out, enzuigiri, jumping knee and bridging German follow! Only a 2 count but Zara isn’t discouraged and rushes to the top, Miyu cuts her off with a kick, but Masha stops that, and Maki’s interference and we get a convoluted superplex spot that ends with Masha eating a super DDT and then Zara taking an avalanche Attitude Adjustment. The challengers are basically dead and they try a double strike…but of course Masha and Zara slip away and Miyu knee collides with Maki’s headbutt. Challengers get stereo shining wizards for 2, but 12000000 pop up, get some running strikes into the corner, and another Maki Itoh DDT (does she know ANY other move?) on Zara opens her up for a punt, Maki blocks Masha and it’s 1-2-kickout! Skull Kick by Miyu but Zara handsprings to dodge it and gets a cutter! Maki breaks THAT up and I guess Maki heard me as she gets a stunner to set up Miyu’s German suplex and then a Skull Kick on Zara…for 2 as Masha slide tackles to break it up. Now Masha tries to take out Maki with a strike combo, but Maki blocks the last kick and headbutts the Russian Dynamite down. Maki with a crab on Masha to block her from breaking it up and Masha gets a running knee to Zara’s head for 3 to retain.

***

There were definitely bits that were awkward and chunky, and I still am unimpressed by Maki as anything, but Zara seems promising, Masha is really good, and I always like Miyu. Overall though, a tag-match where the more established team wins is always cool with me.

Miu Watanabe (c) vs. Mizuki – Princess of Princess Championship

Background: So I’ve seen them both before! Miu is tiny (okay not spectacular in this promotion) but she has a strongwoman gimmick and a pink getup. Mizuki is the Sugar Rabbit and is much more of a rapid highflying type, she’s rocking white.

The Match: Miu dominates in power and Mizuki dances around, Mizuki tries to speed it up, Miu cranks in a headlock to slow it down. Hiptoss and shoulderblock by the champ and then Miu drives her shoulder into Mizuki’s back in the corner. Mizuki finally manages to speed things up with a headscissors, dropkicks Watanabe to the outside, and then gets a plancha to follow. Back inside and Mizuki gets her own corner abuse but tries a a cazadora and Miu turns that into a powerslam. Bearhug follows, and then an over-the-knee backbreaker as Miu is just wearing her smaller (even though both are like…5’1”) opponent out, quick cover for nothing, but Miu shoulders her down and down some taunting as she’s somehow working as an impossible physical mountain despite being maybe 110 pounds. Side slam backbreaker by Miu but Mizuki slips out of the cover and gets a dropkick as she continues to sell the back. Inside-out dropkick by Mizuki is followed by a diving crossbody (perhaps an overused spot this show) for 2. Miu however blocks a whip with one arm but gets twisted into a straightjacket neckbreaker, but whiffs a diving stomp. Mizuki keeps it mobile and tries to stick and move, but gets caught in the corner and Miu forearms her out of the ring and we get some apron shenanigans. Miu tries a giant swing on the apron (it makes slightly more sense if you watch it) and Mizuki catches herself on the ropes (okay that seems an obvious counter) and slips back inside to deliver a crossbody through the ropes, sending Miu spilling outside, and then Mizuki hits an INSANE diving stomp off the turnbuckle that looks like it murders Miu. Back inside again and Mizuki gets another diving stomp after propping up Miu in the corner…for a 2, and then slips into a crossface while calling spots. Mizuki gets the arm for the full…uh…Pegasus Kid crossface lets say, and Miu picks her up for a fireman’s carry but gets shifted back into the hold. Miu busts out her power again to get up, but Mizuki gets a sleeper…but Miu climbs the turnbuckle as they get to the top rope in an only slightly contrived spot. Miu turns that into an avalanche Teardrop (basically the Big Ending but the opponent is looking behind, not in front) but Watanabe can’t cover. Instead of going for the super delayed cover, when Miu recovers she just goes for a few axehandles to the chest as Mizuki just flops around for these softball shots. Mizuki crawls into the ropes to try to escape but Miu gets the lockup position and goes for a modified giant swing to a huge pop. Canadian backbreaker follows, but Mizuki recovers and suplexes Miu into the corner to get a breather. Mizuki finally climbs the turnbuckles, and when Miu interrupts the challenger tries to boot her away but Miu keeps getting up until she gets thrown from the top rope, and then eats a double stomp to the back of the neck. Miu is selling the neck big now as Mizuki’s strategy has changed. Mizuki sells her back as the two of them slug it out from their knees, they eventually rise up but Mizuki eats a pop-up double axehandle and we get a double down. Back up and Miu turns a Mizuki crossbody into a powerslam, then gets the Canadian backbreaker again and drops it into a slam. Miu gets a two off of that and then goes for her Teardrop again, but Mizuki gets a victory roll for 2.5, and Miu puts her down with another strike to the spine. A spinning crossbody by Mizuki drops Miu though and then a Cave In double stomp sets up a Cutie Special for 3.

***½

Well this was very good. Miu was the real star, and her tiny powerhouse deal worked superbly. Tiny as she is, the selling, presence, and presentation all worked. Also just a really solid power vs. speed story told throughout. I am…less certain about my confidence in Mizuki. Lots of kinda sloppy stuff for the gimmick, and with few exceptions, her offense looked really bad. They had some nice counter spots, but I’m just not sold on Mizuki as being a tippy-toppy talent. Still, very fun and not stupid long.

Overall, okay, this was TJPW, I think I had a decent enough time and there was some variety on the card, overall though, I don’t love the super frilly princess aesthetic myself, and I also noticed they don’t really have heels. It’s just sorta people doing stuff and maybe they’ll get the heat but they can also hit a heroic comeback later on. That’s just a preference thing, but I don’t think I personally prefer it. That said, try this out, it’s not that long a watch and you’ll have a good time with something at least, well unless you’re Jim Cornette.