Phrederic Reviews Marigold

So this is the final night of the show (I apologize for the delay) and we’re back in Korakuen Hall with a respectable 1250 people here. Once again I’m just covering block matches, also apparently Rea Seto is out so Seri gets a forfeit win and ends with 8 points, good for her. Oh and we have English comms for this show.

Chika Goto [5] vs. Kizuna Tanaka [2] – Star League

Background: Not a super impressive showing from either lady, though Kizuna at least is super green…that said Chika is green too. Both are out, fighting for pride. As far as in-ring, Chika is tall, Kizuna is a high-flyer/technician of sorts.

The Match: Big lockup to start and then a headlock by Chika, Kizuna gets a dropkick and an armbar out of that. Chika breaks, and after countering some corner offense by Tanaka she gets a running hip attack into the turnbuckle. Goto calls for a giant swing but Kizuna gets a victory roll and then tries for a suplex, can’t get it and goes back to the arm and then teases some rollups before trying a juji-gatame and then a Dis-Arm-Her. Goto makes the ropes and then gets a shoulderblock to setup a giant swing, but settles for a crab, and with a bad arm she then transitions to a single-leg. Tanaka makes the ropes, but Goto gets a hip check into the ropes, a boot across then, and then goes for the giant swing with 13 rotations. Goto almost gets rolled up though as Tanaka stays on the hunt. A buzzsaw kick follows and then a fisherman’s suplex by Kizuna gets 2.9. Goto gets a pair of lariats though for 2.8. Chokeslam follows and that’s 3.

Okay, finally back! We’re in Shinjuku FACE for the show on the 2nd with about 390 in the crowd. Oh and if you don’t remember, I’m JUST doing tournament matches. I’ve watched enough Rossy-booked meaningless six-woman tags in my life.

Chanyota [4] vs. Chika Goto [3] – Star League

Background: So a battle of sorta body wrestlers trying to prove their credibility. Chanyota and Chika have both had eclectic pasts but now they seem to be settling in as goliath (of a sort) faces. Chanyota getting the flexing and posing while Chika has her catchphrases and emphasis on height.

So we’re back with more Marigold and we got almost 600 people in Tokyo’s Sunpearl Arakawa and it is dark here, but we have a stage setup with the ring on the stage, some people beside them, and more folks in the actual stands. It is not…overly full.

Kouki Amarei [2] vs. Victoria Yuzuki [6] – Dream League

Background: Kouki and Victoria are both rising babyfaces, Kouki is taller, more glamorous, and more successful (GHC Woman’s Champion in the past!) but Victoria definitely has more wrestler cred and is presented as the big rising star of the future and is undefeated so far.

Dream Star Fighting Marigold: Dream Star Grand Prix August 16th and 17th

Hello and back for more Dream Star Fighting Marigold’s Dream Star Grand Prix! We are in lovely Ichikawa in the Ichikawa City Bunka Hall which seems to be theater style so there are fans in the stands and fans to the side of the ring on the stage in an unique setup. There’s 400 of them and yet again, I’m just going to review the Block matches here.

Nagisa Nozaki [4] vs. MIRAI [3] – Star League

Alright back to Marigold’s Dream Star. So they have had a couple small shows with a few tournament matches on them, but I’m not going to review the whole thing, the matches were fine! Misa Matsui beat Chanyota in the Star League in a solid match, Utami beat CHIAKI in a good match, CHIAKI finally got a win over Kouki in a middling match, and Mai showed out a bit over a struggling Chika Goto with a win. Anyway we’re in Sendai in the PIT and we got about 300 people in the crowd but it’s a cool venue, very club-y.

Oh, and as a note, I’m not reviewing undercard matches on tournament shows unless I want to, but uh…I don’t need to watch these super green tag acts go at it or the generic triple threats, so…there.

Nagisa Nozaki [2] vs. Chanyota [4] – Star League

Background: Nagisa is sort of a gatekeeping bully heel vet who viciously clobbers young girls and leads the Darkness Revolution stable. Chanyota is a big jacked up ex-fitness model who is kind of getting pushed a a power threat. Nagisa is in her furby raver gear and Chanyota has the basic lavender top and bottom deal to show off a lot of her (chiseled!) physique. IIRC Chanyota was also an ex-cop too?

So we’re in the same building as the prior show with somehow less people and it’s overall a pretty gray and dour experience as these erstwhile superstars walk out in front of a pretty meagre group. Regardless we have dropped even more pomp and circumstance and we’re ready to finish this night out.

Chanyota [2] vs. Kizuna Tanaka [0] – Star League

Background: Chanyota has had an interesting life but most notably she’s a former fitness model that is busting out into wrestling (and kind of never got a chance in Stardom due to some of her spicy work) but Rossy don’t care about that so she’s this new hosette (I do wonder if these matches she’s getting were earmarked for Bozilla before she slipped free), she’s wearing the purple and blue getup. Kizuna is so far a second-gen super goober who is here to look sympathetic and get clobbered. She’s wearing white and blue in a skirt deal that’s very frilly and oh boy she looks like red meat here.

Welcome to the Marigold’s Dream Star Grand Prix, this is a round robin tournament that is obviously influenced by the G-1 and Stardom’s Five Star Grand Prix. If you are new to these, a round robin tournament has multiple blocks (this one has the Dream League and the Star League) where each wrestler faces every other wrestler, the one with the most points (believe this one is doing 2 for a win, 1 for a draw, 0 for a loss) does a tournament finals and the winner gets the shot and the glory. I’ll explain the wrestlers as we go on! We’re starting in the EDION Arena #2 in Osaka (not Korakuen?!??!) with 615 in the building which…y’know for a show outside Tokyo that’s solid. The Arena looks like every other multi-use space in Japan and a basketball hoop on the wall will always make me think it looks rinkadink, sorry. Anyway we get a weirdly house-show vibe as this is the morning show.

We get all the participants coming out and posing and they got a trophy, it does not look as pomp and circumstance-y as you’d imagine, anyway.

Well it’s been a while since I’ve done Marigold but I’m a bit All Japan’d out at the moment so I figure I’ll do a Marigold show just to justify my Wrestle Universe subscription. I joke but honestly WU is a fantastic deal, the Yen is still weak, so for 10 bucks American you get access to NOAH, Marigold, DDT, TJPW, Marvelous Michinoku Pro, Sendai Girls, and other promotions nobody cares about as well. We got 1000 people in Korakuen for this one, as we seem to be getting a show built around Marigold talent facing off against Marvelous talent. To speak on Marvelous a little bit, their full name is Marvelous That’s Women Pro Wrestling and it was founded by living legend Chigusa Nagayo (of the Crush Gals and basically the Hogan of joshi) and while they haven’t been a star factory they do have some notable folks to come through their doors.

We get some of Marigold’s always good production work as they run down the card.

Erina Yamanaka, Kizuna Tanaka, Kouki Amarei & Miku Aono vs. Chika Goto, Hummingbird, Minami Yuuki & Nao Ishikawa

So they finally removed the delay on the show and I can watch it with my basic Wrestle Universe subscription, so that’s what I’m going to do. This is the big show for Marigold and we got 1800 people here in Ota City General Gymnasium. We have pretty slick video production and we’re off.

Hamuko Hoshi vs. Nightshade vs. Misa Matsui vs. Momoka Hanazono vs. Yuuki Mashiro vs. Naho Yamada vs. Hummingbird vs. Rea Seto vs. Riara vs. Minami Yuuki vs. Flying Penguin vs. Nagisa Tachibana vs. Ryoko Sakimura – New Year’s Dream Rumble

Background: It’s a rumble with random people in it, just gonna sorta explain them as they come out.

So I’m a bit sick of Stardom right now so I’m going to catch up with what Marigold has been doing, this is the last official singles match of Giulia I think as she faces her protege/BFF Mai Sakurai in the main-event. We’re in Korakuen Hall and we got 1450 apparently for it so…woo-hoo! I’m not totally following what’s happening here in every storyline but my keen deductive skills will be able to solve that.

As this show starts I will say that the production values of Marigold absolutely smoke Stardom, we get this big entrance thing with all the talent’s pictures and music and a video and it’s just…it makes it seem like a big deal. We have a video of Giulia and Mai walking along the shore and I assume they’re talking about her departure and we see pictures of them together in earlier times, then an interview where Mai is crying and Giulia seems less sad but still a bit emotional.

Minami Yuuki vs. Komomo Minami

Background: So I know Komomo who was in the Stardom dojo but I think got injured and never debuted, she’s MIRAI’s protege and is pale, has dark hair, and a pretty cool black and gold outfit. Minami is from Ice Ribbon and I’m unsure if I’ve seen her before. Yuuki has a ponytail and is wearing black gear with a yellow and green hex pattern on it.

Hey, so it’s been a while but I’ve felt the urge to do the next big Marigold show. It’s uh…definitely not a sellout at Korakuen Hall this time but there’s some people in the crowd. The big thing is that this is the crowning of the Twin Star Championship, i.e. tag team titles. We’ve had a bit of a tournament and we’re doing the finals tonight, with us establishing who the semi-finalists are and the finals will be happening in what I think is the main-event. Anyway, Marigold is uh…well the bloom might be coming off the rose but they’ve also established a bit of a pecking order on the card at least, let’s get to it!

Nao Ishikawa vs. Rea Seto

Background: Both rookies, Nao is a bit more established and is super tan and has the bum knee and bum everything as she keeps getting hurt and has orange gear that is very busy and patterned, almost like her mentor Nanae Takahashi’s, so that’s a neat touch. Rea is an incredibly nervous looking young woman with a hime cut and giant, doll-like eyes, she’s wearing white gear.

Well, at long last we’ve finally gotten to it, Dream Star Fighting Marigold’s Summer Destiny PPV, the big shaboozle, the thing we’ve been waiting for, and you’ve uh…waiting a week for me to review (okay I’ve been busy, I’m sorry). And here it is, in front of a reported 3,058 people in Ryogoku Kokugikan we have three title matches and a ton of hoopla. Let’s get to it.

Kouki Amarei and Chika Goto vs. Victoria Yuzuki and Kizuna Tanaka

Background: Victoria is in her yellow gear and has a nice rainbow fringe to her blonde hair. Tanaka is in white with long black hair in the hime cut. Kouki and Chika are taller, with Amarei having shorter hair and a purple outfit and Goto having red highlights and white gear.

The Match: Kouki and Kizuna start and they do some wristlock stuff before they got to the mat and run through some stuff pretty slowly while trading headlocks. They are working the headlocks quite nicely. Kizuna gets a flying…forearm I think and Yuzuki comes in for dropkicks and Kouki just flops all over for them. The smaller girls do some fast doubles but Victoria hotdogs too much on a charge and gets cut off with a Kouki boot and then the taller girls do some double-teams and Chika gets the giant swing and then some hip checks. Goto can’t get the powerslam and we get a slugfest with her and Yuzuki that…Victoria wins? Anyway a nice doubleteam facebuster from Victoria and Kizuna and that brings Tanaka in with dropkicks but Goto does a “I’m too big” no sell and lands the powerslam and the inverted giant swing into a wheelbarrow facebuster and Kouki is in with…a big boot. And more big boots. And more big boots. Amarei can’t get the dominator and now we have her and Tanaka slugging it out and Kouki wins with a dropkick and finally lands the Dominator…for 2.9. But Tanaka gets Fujiwara armbar on Amarei and when Chika runs in Yuzuki gets her canopener hold and we do the “stereo submission” spot. The smaller girls double-team Kouki and missile dropkick her, and then Kizuna gets a flurry of kicks and time expires?

Welcome back to the final Grand Opening Wars tour before we the next tour, Summer Gold Shine (aren’t these names fun?) I’ll be honest these shows are starting to drag for me but I’m stubborn or stupid and I’m going to see this through to the end. We somehow have 676 people in the crowd for this one and I am legitimately impressed.

We start with an Appointment Ceremony and we got four crusty dudes in suits in the ring and out comes MIRAI and she’s very smiley but that’s normal for her. And I just realized that this is in MIRAI’s hometown and this is her getting the keys from the city or something from some old politician dudes. Very cool, especially since MIRAI was apparently motivated to become a pro wrestler by seeing a wrestler do charity work, so this sort of civic feedback is very cool for her I’d imagine. Anyway they hand her a little piece of paper and a letter and she shakes some hands and she seems absolutely geeked to be getting…whatever this is.

After that they run down the card and then Giulia shows up in probably the worst outfit I’ve ever seen her in. High-waisted black slacks with a pencil-thin belt and a neon yellow baggy t-shirt with some writing across it that’s awkwardly tucked in and like a tiny novelty purse, or just tiny stuffed animals slung over her shoulder. Just an awful look but she’s super jazzed to be there and shakes babies and kisses hands and all that sorta thing. Anyway she cuts a promo or just talks and I kinda suspect this is just a sort of “hey we’re giving the fans Giulia even if she ain’t wrestling” deal.

Welcome back for some more splendid Dream Star Fighting Marigold and I’ll be honest I wish I could keep up this enthusiasm but these house shows are not exactly ideal. Anyway we got about 300 people in Sendai as they’re in a venue that could be very politely described as ‘intimate.’

We got the announcer lady running down the card and now Giulia out there and she looks absolutely jazzed up and talks a bit and the crowd plays along and she notably does not have a wrist brace on.

CHIAKI vs. Komomo Minami

Background: CHIAKI is our wolf-themed tough girl street brawler with her chains and tattoos and grungy clothes, Komomo is our very new rookie who I don’t have a bead on but she’s got a killer look with her black and gold gear.

We’re back with some more Marigold action as we’re in the final stretch of building up to their first mega-huge big PPV in July so time to fill out the rest of the card. We start with a run-down of the matches and then Giulia comes out and she’s fired up and fires the crowd up. I think Giulia is talking about her cute her new hair is and I’m not getting the vibe this is a particularly important promo but the crowd is loving it!

Misa Matsui vs. Komomo Minami

Background: Misa is the speed star and in the finals for the Flyweight championship, Komomo is brand spanking new and is trying to find her place after being a trainee for like 2-3 years or something. Minami is in black and gold and looks scared to be out there. Misa is in turquoise and white with a bunch of frills and shiny bits.

Welcome back to more stupendous Dream Star Fighting Marigold action as we’ve got some tournaments cooking and actual stakes to some of these matches now. We have almost 700 people here for this show in Nagoya and they’re in that big conference hall I’ve seen a lot of wrestling shows in cause I have lived a weird life.

Giulia comes out with the wrist brace and she seems to be having an absolute blast interacting with the crowd and she’s her usual charisma explosion as she cuts a loud enthusiastic promo but I don’t understand Japanese so if she said anything actually important I wouldn’t know. Crowd is hyped though.

CHIAKI & Misa Matsui vs. Myla Grace & Zayda Steel

Background: We have a reunion of my favorite team that isn’t a team, DarkStar or SpeedWolf as we get the power brawler CHIAKI with the junior technician Misa Matsui against my least favorite team that isn’t a team, Two Annoying White Ladies. Both Myla and Zayda lost their Superfly Championship tournament matches and Misa even beat Myla so there is some heat here.

Welcome back for some more fantastic Marigold action with a card that I’m not going to say is anemic but you might want to consider getting some iron supplements just to be safe. They are in the always beautiful KBS Hall in Kyoto and I can’t be mad about that.

The show starts with MIRAI walking some lady in traditional Japanese dress to the ring and I am going to sound like a darn fool if I try to explain what’s going on but it seems significant and the crowd is respectful about it. I think wrestling might have destroyed my brain cause I expect somebody to come out with a chair and demolish this dancing lady. It’s very beautiful at least and classy in a way that makes me regret being a knuckledragging American.

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.

Hey we got some more of Marigold here as the promotion is trying to find its legs as a weekly, touring product. Let’s see if they surprise us.

Myla Grace vs. Chika Goto

Background: These are our lowest on the totem pole girls, with Chika being tall and Myla being ‘fast’. Haven’t been super impressed with either of them but hopefully they change my mind.

Welcome back for some more Marigold action. We got hopefully a good one today. I think it’s fair to say that there is no longer a new car smell to Marigold so it’s time to see what they are as a week to week promotion.

Chika Goto vs. Victoria Yuzuki

Background: Well these are two rookies and I think two babyfaces, I’ve liked what I’ve seen of both of them but generally they’ve needed their hands held. Chika is big and Yuzuki is quick, let’s get it.