As every August I will once again be away for 10 days this month starting on August 8th through August 19th. What this means is that all news and results may not be regularly covered during my absence. I have a couple people who may help out if time permits, but I do not expect anyone else to carry the load that I normally undertake. I will try and update anything if I have wifi access, but normally that is hard to come by in the locations where I will be. Thank you all for understanding and also for your continued support.
BASARA NEWS
~ Isami Kodaka versus Masashi Takeda was announced for the September 21st show at the Korakuen Hall.
BASARA, 9/21/2018 [Fri] @ Korakuen Hall in Tokyo
(-) Special Single Match: Isami Kodaka vs. Masashi Takeda
~ The full event card was announced for the August 12th show at the Korakuen Hall. The show will see the BJW Junior belt in defense in the main event as well as the first day of the 2018 Saikyo Tag League.
BJW, 8/12/2018 [Sun] 18:30 @ Korakuen Hall in Tokyo
(1) Ryuji Ito, Yuichi Taniguchi, Ryuichi Sekine & Yukihiro Mori vs. Yuya Aoki, Takuho Kato, Yuki Ishikawa & Akira Hyodo
(2) Saikyo Tag League Strong Block: Hideki Suzuki & Daisuke Sekimoto vs. Takuya Nomura & Fuminori Abe
(3) Saikyo Tag League Death Block ~ Concrete Block + Circular Saw Board Death Match: Takayuki Ueki & Toshiyuki Sakuda vs. Minoru Fujita & Kankuro Hoshino
(4) Saikyo Tag League Death Block ~ TLC Death Match: Yuko Miyamoto & Isami Kodaka vs. Masaya Takahashi & Kyu Mogami
(5) Saikyo Tag League Death Block ~ Fluorescent Light-tubes Death Match: Masashi Takeda & Takumi Tsukamoto vs. Abdullah Kobayashi & Yoshihisa Uto
(6) Saikyo Tag League Strong Block: Ryuichi Kawakami Kazumi Kikuta vs. Tatsuhiko Yoshino & Kota Sekifuda
(7) Saikyo Tag League Strong Block: Ryota Hama & Yasufumi Nakanoue vs. Daichi Hashimoto & Hideyoshi Kamitani
(8) BJW Junior Heavyweight Championship Match: [1st Champion] Shinobu vs. [Challenger] Kazuki Hashimoto
~ 7th title defense.
~ The full event card was announced for the August 18th show at the Culttz Kawasaki. Among the major additions is HAYATA & YO-HEY challenging Hi69 & Minoru Tanaka for the GHC Jr. Tag belts as well as a special 10 man elimination match.
Pro-Wrestling NOAH “Kawasaki City Sports Association 70th Anniversary ~ NOAH x Kawasaki Festival 2018”, 8/18/2018 [Sat] 15:30 @ Culttz Kawasaki in Kanagawa
() Yoshinari Ogawa & Seiya Morohashi vs. Ikuto Hidaka & Takuya Sugawara
() Maybach Taniguchi, Mitsuya Nagai, Cody Hall & KAZMA SAKAMOTO vs. Masao Inoue, Junta Miyawaki, El Hijo del Pantera & Alejandro (W-1)
() Daisuke Harada & Tadasuke vs. Hajime Ohara & Hitoshi Kumano
() Elimination Match: Naomichi Marufuji, Akitoshi Saito, Masato Tanaka, Muhammad Yone & Quiet Storm vs. Kenoh, Katsuhiko Nakajima, Masa Kitamiya, Atsushi Kotoge & Kaito Kiyomiya
() GHC Junior Tag Championship Match: [34th Champions] Hi69 & Minoru Tanaka vs. [Challengers] HAYATA & YO-HEY
~ 2nd title defense.
() GHC Heavyweight Championship Match: [31st Champion] Takashi Sugiura vs. [Challenger] Go Shiozaki
~ 4th title defense.
~ Matches were announced for Shinkiba 1stRING show on August 19th.
ZERO1, 8/19/2018 [Sun] @ Shinkiba 1stRING in Tokyo
() SUGI & Jiro “Ikemen” Kuroshio vs. Takuya Sugawara & Hartley Jackson
() Masato Tanaka vs. TARU
() Kohei Sato vs. Chris Vice
() Shogun Okamoto vs. Yuji Hino
() NWA International Light Tag Championship Match: [Champions] Ikuto Hidaka & Fuminori Abe vs. [Challengers] Shinjiro Otani & Hiroshi Yamato
~ Misaki Ohata announced that she will be retiring at the end of this year. This follows the previous news that she was engaged fellow wrestler Makoto Oishi earlier this Summer.
~ Also in regards to WAVE, Yumi Oka will be taking over duties of WAVE as of April of 2019. The promotion will be going on a couple month hiatus after their final show of this year on December 29th at the Korakuen Hall. Which Oka looks to bring the promotion back with a “new wave” in the form of a fresh start. It appears that GAMI will be staying with the promotion in direct support role.
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Thank you to all who participated in the voting of our second annual Joshi Year End Awards! The results were extremely close in all but a few categories, which just goes to show that this past year featured no shortage of excellent matches and shows in joshi wrestling. We’re thrilled to once again take a look back and highlight some the best of them. This year, in addition to the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners, we’ll show the percentage of votes for all nominees who received votes, including the write-ins, in order to ensure that everyone who was voted for is represented. And with that, here are the winners!
Wrestler of the Year: Hiroyo Matsumoto (40%)
2017 may have been a strong year for Joshi wrestling as a whole, but it was the also the year of “Lady Destroyer” Hiroyo Matsumoto. She dominated the voting in this category, amassing a whopping 40%, and it’s not hard to see why. Matsumoto began the year with her first successful defense of the OZ Academy Openweight Championship, and held onto the title all the way until late October. That reign lasted a grand total of 350 days, during which time she also captured the Sendai Girls World Championship, as well as the Goddesses of Stardom and Artist of Stardom Championships, and for a very brief period held all four of those titles simultaneously. Those who voted on these awards may have also noticed Matsumoto’s name appear quite a bit in the “Match of the Year” category. On top of her multiple title victories, she had a stellar year in terms of match quality. Matsumoto wrestled in 14 different promotions this past year, not including the many self-produced shows she made appearances on, and always left her mark. Many women had a great year in 2017, but it’s hard to argue that anyone stood out more than Hiroyo Matsumoto.
Match of the Year: Hiroyo Matsumoto vs Hikaru Shida – OZ Academy “Plum Hanasaku,” Aug 20 (17%)
The votes were extremely close for this category, though it should probably come as little surprise the Wrestler of the Year was part of the Match of the Year. Though the match happened in August, the story between these two began when Shida pinned Matsumoto in a tag match near the end of 2016. Shida repeatedly voiced her claim to contendership for the OZ Academy Openweight Championship, but one obstacle after another prevented her from challenging. Matsumoto had a scheduled defense against Kyoko Kimura. Shida & Syuri defended the tag titles against Matsumoto & Kagetsu, the latter of whom defeated Shida in a singles match to earn a title shot before her. Finally Shida earned her right to challenge after defeating Mayumi Ozaki in a match with the odds heavily stacked against her with Police as the special referee. Eight months of hurdles were overcome to bring about the climactic conclusion of this feud, and it lived up to the hype. The raw determination of Hikaru Shida taking on the power and stubbornness of Hiroyo Matsumoto was a tremendous and memorable battle of wills that left a lasting impression.
2nd place: Chihiro Hashimoto vs Meiko Satomura – Sendai Girls “Big Show in Sendai,” Sep 24 (15%) 3rd place: Io Shirai vs Toni Storm – Stardom “5★STAR GP 2017 Day 2,” Aug 20, Mayu Iwatani vs Kagetsu – Stardom “5★STAR GP 2017 Finals,” Sep 18, & Risa Sera 60-Minute Ironwoman Deathmatch Gauntlet – Ice Ribbon/Risa Sera 4th Produce “Last Death Match,” Nov 14 (tie, 9%)
6th: Yoko Bito vs Takumi Iroha – Oct 17 (8%); 7th: Hiroyo Matsumoto vs Chihiro Hashimoto – July 15 & Hiroyo Matsumoto vs Meiko Satomura – April 6 (tie, 6%); 9th: Best Friends vs Avid Rival III – Aug 27 (5%); 10th: Miyu Yamashita vs Meiko Satomura – Aug 26 (3%); 11th: Arisa Nakajima vs Nanae Takahashi – Jan 26, Io Shirai vs Shayna Baszler – Feb 23, Chihiro Hashimoto vs Rina Yamashita – March 20, Rina Yamashita vs Yoshiko – Aug 12, Avid Rival vs Best Friends II – Aug 24, Takumi Iroha vs Chihiro Hashimoto – Dec 25 (tie, 1%); Write-ins: Io Shirai vs Mayu Iwatani (June 21), Kotori vs Riho (Sep 22), Rina Yamashita vs Misaki Chata (Oct 9), Manami Toyota vs Tsukasa Fujimoto (Nov 3)
Rookie of the Year: Maki Ito (19%)
Though she technically did not debut in 2017, it was her first full year as a wrestler. And in that time she very quickly became a standout on the Tokyo Joshi Pro roster. Ito is hardly the first idol singer to jump into wrestling in Japan, but not all of them have the tools to make it really work. Although she’s lost far more matches than she’s won, Ito has an admirable level of spunk and fearlessness. Ito’s also a great fit for comedy matches, which further enhances her status within Tokyo Joshi Pro. It’s hard not to root for her when you couple her equally funny and tenacious attitude with the relatively surprising quality of her matches given her rookie status. She’s already off to a good start in 2018, and at her current rate it’s likely she will continue to be one to look out for in Tokyo Joshi.
2nd place: Manami (17%) 3rd place: Hana DATE (14%)
4th: Nao DATE (10%); 5th: Miyuki Takase (9%); 6th: Nori DATE (8%); 7th: Karen DATE (6%); 8th: Ami Sato (5%); 9th: Satsuki Totoro (4%); 10th: Miki Tanaka (3%); Write-ins: Hana Kimura, Maho Kurone, Aasa Maika & Starlight Kid
Tag Team of the Year: Oedo Tai (Kagetsu & Hana Kimura) (32%)
The year was a bit of a roller coaster ride for Oedo Tai. Kyoko Kimura retired early in 2017, making Kagetsu the faction’s new leader. The addition of Tam Nakano to the team was met with joyous celebration, while Kagetsu’s executive decision to bring in Sumire Natsu briefly brought them to the brink of civil war. But through it all Oedo Tai has maintained their position as one of the mainstay groups of Stardom. Kagetsu and Hana Kimura specifically have consistently been at the top of both the Goddesses of Stardom and Artist of Stardom title scenes for almost the entire year. And while their antics can at times be controversial, several of their tag title matches have been borderline show-stealers on Stardom’s shows. They have since lost Tam Nakano in their faction war with Queen’s Quest, but one can only assume Kagetsu & Hana will aim to lead Oedo Tai to as much success this year as they experienced in 2017.
Show of the Year: Sendai Girls “Big Show in Sendai” (September 24) (24%)
Sendai Girls put on several great shows in 2017, but the “Big Show in Sendai” is the one that takes this year’s Show of the Year award. The show featured several fun matches on the undercard, including a pair of “David vs Goliath” matchups with rookie Ami Sato vs Hiroyo Matsumoto and Rin Kadokura vs Heidi Katrina, an entertaining comedy match between Aiger and Sakura Hirota, and a tag match featuring legends Jaguar Yokota and Manami Toyota on opposite teams. But the what really makes this show special are the two headlining title matches. First the team of Strong Style Rush (Mika Shirahime & Alex Lee) took on DASH Chisako & KAORU in a physical battle for the vacant Sendai Girls Tag Team Championship, pitting the heart of the former against the experience of the latter. Then in the main event, Meiko Satomura challenged Chihiro Hashimoto for the Sendai Girls World Championship in a bout that very narrowly missed the 1st place spot in the Match of the Year voting. Any match involving Satomura and Hashimoto is always a treat, but they outdid themselves with this spectacular main event.
2nd place: Stardom “5★STAR GP Finals 2017” (Sep 18) (22%) 3rd place: Ice Ribbon/Risa Sera 4th Produce “Last Death Match” (Nov 14) (12%)
4th: Stardom “Cinderella Tournament 2017” (April 30) (8%); 5th: Sendai Girls “Big Show in Niigata 2017” (July 15) (6%); 6th: OZ Academy “Sakura Hanasaku” (April 12) & OZ Academy “Yokohama Undersea Unexplored Expedition” (Oct 29) (tie, 5%); 8th: Pro Wrestling WAVE “10th Anniversary ~Never Ending Story~” (Aug 12) & Tokyo Joshi Pro “Brand New Wrestling ~ The Beginning of a New Era ~” (Aug 26) (tie, 4%); 10th: Pro Wrestling WAVE “Joshi Pro Festival” (March 21) & SEAdLINNNG “Summer Blast” (Aug 24) (tie, 3%); 12th: Tokyo Joshi Pro “Tokyo Joshi Pro ’17” (Jan 4), Ice Ribbon “Ice in Wonderland 2017” (Aug 27), Gatoh Move 5th Anniversary (Sep 22; Write-in) & Ice Ribbon – Ribbon Mania 2017 (Dec 31; Write-in) (tie, 1%)
Most Improved: AZM (24%)
This category was yet another close race in the voting. Many wrestlers showed a significant amount of growth over the course of the year, but your winner for Most Improved is Stardom’s AZM. It’s hard to believe that at only 15-years-old she already has four years of in-ring experience. At times her youth can be a glaring factor, particularly when she’s in the ring with much older and experienced veterans. But her crafty mind and resourcefulness have often helped to accommodate for her shortcomings, and lately her in-ring work has become noticeably more fluid. AZM joined Queen’s Quest in early 2017, and later held the first title of her career when she, alongside faction teammates Io Shirai & HZK, won the Artist of Stardom Championship. Queen’s Quest is full of talented wrestlers, and there’s no doubt working closely with them is rubbing off on her. While it’s still far too early to speculate on what the future holds for AZM, it doesn’t seem like much of a stretch to say she’s on a very good path.
From the moment she debuted in Sendai Girls in late 2015, Chihiro Hashimoto’s unique style and impressive technique set her apart from everyone else. She calls her High-Angle German Suplex Hold the Albright, which could hardly be more fitting. Her devastating suplexes are a force to be reckoned with, and her grappling is on a level very few in Joshi can match, if any. Not every wrestler who has used the same kind of style can make it interesting or exciting. The fact that Hashimoto does so with apparent ease is just another testament to how great she is.
For the second consecutive year, Risa Sera is the winner of the Fighting Spirit award! Much of what earned her the nomination in last year’s awards was repeated this time around, including the return of her self-produced 60-Minute Ironwoman Deathmatch Gauntlet as a means to celebrate her birthday. Once again that match featured a large number of Deathmatch wrestlers from the BJW roster, and anyone crazy or brilliant enough to set something like that up for herself is more than deserving of this award. But what made this year different for Sera was that she spent the entire year as Ice Ribbon’s ICExInfinity Champion, amassing seven successful title defenses in 2017 against opponents of a variety of styles. Her reign lasted a full year exactly, beginning on New Year’s Eve at Ribbon Mania 2016, and ending on the very same show in 2017. It still may be debatable who is the real ace of Ice Ribbon between her and Tsukasa Fujimoto, but there’s no doubt Risa Sera perfectly embodied everything the Fighting Spirit award is about as she led the promotion’s main event scene throughout the year.
No category was a closer race than this one. Many Joshi promotions were on fire this past year, and only a single vote separated the first and second place spots, but the 2017 Joshi Promotion of the Year is Sendai Girls! Much of the story for this promotion revolved around their ace-in-the-making, Chihiro Hashimoto, trying to cement herself into that role. She struggled initially, losing the Sendai Girls World Championship on her first defense on two separate occasions, but finally found her footing after reclaiming it from Hiroyo Matsumoto mid-year. And beyond the story of Hashimoto herself, Sendai Girls once again produced a multitude of excellent shows across the calendar year. Both the singles and tag title scenes there gave us lots of memorable bouts in 2017, one of which came just a few votes away from winning the Match of the Year award. Their shows feature a variety of styles ranging from the always-enjoyable Aiger comedy matches to the epic, big match performers like Meiko Satomura and Chihiro Hashimoto. They also debuted two rookies, Manami and Ami Sato, both of whom already show signs of high potential despite their youth and inexperience. If the current rate with Sendai Girls is any indication, then we can likely expect another excellent year from them following their impressive 2017.
2nd place: Stardom (29%) 3rd place: Ice Ribbon (16%)
4th: OZ Academy (10%); 5th: Tokyo Joshi Pro (5%); 6th: SEAdLINNNG (4%); 7th: Gatoh Move & Pro Wrestling WAVE (tie; 3%)
Special Honor: Manami Toyota
Manami Toyota’s retirement show, also her 30th Anniversary show, was held on November 3, 2017. Her legendary career ended that day in grand fashion with a gauntlet match against more than 50 opponents, which featured an emotional passing of the torch to Tsukasa Fujimoto in the end. I couldn’t possibly hope to fully capture the enormity of her career accomplishments and the impact she’s had on the wrestling world in one paragraph. Many consider her to be one of the greatest, if not the greatest wrestler to ever step into a ring, and she’s entirely earned such a reputation. The amount of memorable matches and stories she’s given us, and how hard she worked for the enjoyment of the fans can’t be overstated. Manami Toyota is simply one of the best and brightest stars we have ever had the privilege of seeing in a wrestling ring, and we wish her all the best in her well-deserved retirement.
~ A couple matches changes have been made to the Osaka show on 6/18, namely with the placement of the Osaka/Doutonbori wrestlers. Of course this looks to reflect upon the upcoming Doutonbori vs BJW, WDW Tag title match as well.
~ Also Takayuki Ueki has put forth a formal challenge that he will have an open challenge deathmatch at the 7/24 show in Ryogoku.
BJW “Osaka Surprise 26”, 6/18/2016 [Sat] 17:00 @ Osaka City Nishinari Kumin Center
(0) Yuichi Taniguchi vs. Takuya Nomura
(1) Mixed 6 Tag Match: Bolshoi Kid, Takumi Tsukamoto & Takayuki Ueki vs. Kuishinbo Kamen, Kanjyuro Matsuyama & Kagetsu
(2) Hideyoshi Kamitani & Toshiyuki Sakuda vs. Tadasuke [Doubonbori] & Takoyakida [Osaka]
(3) Daisuke Sekimoto vs. TORU [Doutonbori]
(4) Fluorescent Light & Barbed-wire Board Tag Deathmatch: Ryuji Ito & Abdullah Kobayashi vs. Kankuro Hoshino & Masaya Takahashi
(5) Jaki Numazawa & Masashi Takeda vs. Orochi & Osamu Suganuma [both Dountonbori]
(6) Yuko Miyamoto & Isami Kodaka vs. Tsubasa & Billyken Kid
(7) Yuji Okabayashi, Hideki Suzuki [FREE] & Daichi Hashimoto vs. Magnitude Kishiwada, ZERO & The Bodyguard [all FREE]
~ The thirteenth day of the BOSJ took place today in Sendai.
~ The last day of the block matches took place with some last minute shuffling putting both of the finalists from the blocks into the final match at tomorrow’s show.
~ With all said and done, Ryusuke Taguchi will be moving on as the finalist of the A BLOCK and Will Ospreay will be moving on in the B BLOCK. Even though both were tied with points with others their wins throughout the course of the league set them above the rest.
~ The BOSJ final card was released as well and will look as follows…
New Japan Pro Wrestling “BEST OF THE SUPER Jr. XXIII”, 6/7/2016 [Tue] 18:30 @ Sendai Sun Plaza Hall in Miyagi
(1) Jay White vs. David Finlay
(2) Yoshitatsu & Captain New Japan vs. Yujiro Takahashi & Chase Owens
(3) Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi vs. Katsuyori Shibata & Juice Robinson
(4) Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Kyle O’Reilly & Bobby Fish vs. Tomohiro Ishii, Rocky Romero & Barreta
(5) KUSHIDA, Ricochet & Matt Sydal vs. Jushin Thunder Liger, Tiger Mask IV & Volador Jr.
(6) Satoshi Kojima & Michael Elgin vs. Kenny Omega & Bad Luck Fale
(7) Kazuchika Okada, Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI & Gedo vs. Tetsuya Naito, SANADA, EVIL & BUSHI
(8) BOSJ Final Match: [A BLOCK #1] Ryusuke Taguchi vs. [B BLOCK #1] Will Ospreay
~ Hikaru Sato & Ryo Kawamura versus Daisuke Ikeda & Takuya Kai for the Tokyo IC Tag belts was announced for the 8/25 show in Shinjuku FACE.
Tokyo Gurentai “TOKYO CARNIVAL”, 8/25/2016 [Thu] @ Shinjuku FACE in Tokyo
Newly announced…
(-) Tokyo IC Tag Championship Match: [Champions] Hikaru Sato & Ryo Kawamura vs. [5th Challengers] Daisuke Ikeda & Takuya Kai
~ 1st title defense.
Previously announced…
(-) Special Single Match PRECIOSO ~TEXAS BRONCO~: NOSAWA Rongai vs. Terry Funk
~ Stardom : Iwatani made her 7th defense of the High Speed belt over Kagetsu on 6/5 in Nagoya. Io Shirai will be taking on Meiko Satomura on 7/2 in Sendai Girls with the Sendai Championship on the line.
~ WAVE : Rina Yamashita vs. Dynamite Kansai, Ryo Mizunami vs. Nanae Takahashi, and Yu Yamagata vs Hikaru Shida was announced for 7/6 show at Korakuen. Then Kaori Yoneyama and Cherry will be challenging Ayako Hamada & Yamagata for the WAVE Tag betls on 7/10 in Sapporo.
~ I am currently looking for someone to cover DRAGON GATE and any joshi-related promotions respectively. If you believe this something that you could handle on a daily or even a weekly basis, or even if you wish for me to promote your own blog, feel free to send me a message.
If you enjoy these posts feel free to check out the Patreon to help support the further growth of the website. At least $1 a month will help cover the server costs and future plans to build a better site. This in term is aimed to help you all in return to keep up with numerous promotions throughout Japan. Thank you for helping keep the spirit alive.
~ The sixth day of the Champion Carnival was held today in Nagoya.
~ In the A BLOCK, Miyahara, Sekimoto, and Super Tiger claimed the points. Then in the B BLOCK, Yoshie automatically gained 2 points due to Kamitani being injured then Sai and Omori as well.
■ B BLOCK
~ Zeus [3 wins, 1 loss = 6 points]
~ Yoshie [2 win, 1 bye, 1 loss = 6 points]
~ Omori [2 wins, 1 bye, 2 losses = 6 points]
~ Aoki [2 wins, 1 bye, 2 losses = 6 points]
~ Sai [3 wins, 2 losses = 6 points]
~ Lee [1 win, 4 losses = 2 points]
~ Kamitani [1 win, 2 losses, 3 forfeits = 2 points] ~ Out with injury
[Discussion: It appears as if they finalls of the B BLOCK will come down to the Zeus and Aoki match. Though with that said the current 5 way split can leave Sai over Zeus if he beats Yoshie on the final day, though a loss to Aoki. Omori has a loss against Zeus, but a win over Aoki.
In regards to the A BLOCK, Miyahara vs Sekimoto is now clearly positioned to set up the winner of that block. Though I expect they might toy with Akiyama having a chance.]
~ Big Japan held a show today at the Shinkiba 1stRING.
~ The main event would see Masaya Takahashi claim the win after he gave Kankuro Hoshino a Jackhammer onto his weapon of choice being the Kenzans (Pinholders). Masaya declared that he will bring out a new side of himself in the upcoming title match against Ito on 5/5.
~ The full event card for the DEAD OR ALIVE show on 5/5 is as follows…
DRAGON GATE “DEAD OR ALIVE 2016”, 5/5/2016 [Thu] @ Nagoya City Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium
() El Rindaman, Takehiro Yamamura & Kaito Ishida vs. Genki Horaguchi Horaiguchi H.A.GeeMee!!, Jimmy K-ness. & U-T
() CIMA vs. Gamma
() Masaaki Mochizuki vs. Kzy
() Don Fujii vs. Ryo “Jimmy” Saito
() Masato Yoshino vs. Akira Tozawa
() “Hollywood” Stalker Ichikawa vs. Jimmy Susumu
() Punch Tominaga vs. Jimmy Kanda
(-) Open The Brave Gate Championship Match: [Champion] Yosuke Santa Maria vs. [Challenger] Mondai Ryu
(-) Open The Twin Gate Championship Match: [Champions] T-Hawk & Big R Shimizu vs. [Challengers] Dragon Kid & Eita
(-) Mascara Contra Cabellera Steel Cage 6WAY Match: Shingo Takagi vs. Naruki Doi vs. YAMATO vs. Cyber Kong vs. Naoki Tanizaki vs. Kotoka
~ Whoever loses will lose either their mask of hair for one year.
~ The full event card was released for the upcoming show on 4/27 at Korakuen. Among the additions is W-1’s KAI being added to the Hayabusa Memorial Tag match.
FMW 1st Year Resurrection Anniversary Series ~ Hayabusa Honoring Charity Show, 4/27/2016 [Wed] 18:30 @ Korakuen Hall in Tokyo
(1) Battle Royal: Kikutaro, Katsunari Toi, Raiden, Wild Seven, Pandita, Naoshi Sano, Kisarazu Piero, Leatherface & KENSO
(2) W★ING Monster Army Tag Match: W★ING Kanemura & Tomohiko Hashimoto vs. Buffalo & Onryo
(3) Joshi Offer Match Mongul Army vs Gokuaku Domei Tag Match: Miss Mongul & Miss Koharu vs. Dump Matsumoto & ZAP T
(4) Hayabusa Memorial Tag Match: Ricky Fuji, Koji Nakagawa & Gosaku Goshogawara vs. Flying Kid Ichihara, Kenichiro Arai & KAI
~ Hayabusa 10 Count Gong Honoring Ceremony
(5) FMW Alliance vs UWF Alliance Tag Match: [FMW Alliance] Katsuhiko Matsuzaki & Kotaro Nasu vs. [UWF Alliance] Takuma Sano & Takafumi Ito
(6) FMW Alliance vs UWF Alliance Tag Match: [FMW Alliance] Masato Tanaka & Katsuji Ueda vs. [UWF Alliance] Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Mitsuya Nagai
(7) FMW Alliance vs UWF Alliance 8 Man Tag Match: [FMW & W★ING Alliance] Atsushi Onita, Raijin Yaguchi, NOSAWA Rongai & Hideki Hosaka vs. [UWF Alliance] Masakatsu Funaki, Yoshihiro Takayama, Takaku Fuke & Alexander Otsuka
~ It was formally announced that Jun Kasai will be competing after all on the upcoming Korakuen Hall show on 5/2, though his call of relinquishing the belt will still stand. The winner of the match will become the rightful become the rightful champion.
The full event card will be as follows.
FREEDOMS “We love FREEDOMS! We are FREEDOMS!”, 5/2/2016 [Mon] 19:00 @ Korakuen Hall in Tokyo
() Special Opening Match: Mitsuo Momota vs. Kenichiro Arai
() Masked Trainee Debut Match: (Trainee X) vs. FREEDOMS to be announced
() Luke KamuiWalker & Darth Chikara vs. Shu & Kei Brahman w/ Karate Brahman
() Takashi Sasaki, Mammoth Sasaki & Tatsuhito Takaiwa [FREE] vs. Yuya Susumu, Minoru Tanaka [W-1] & MIKAMI [FREE]
() KING of FREEDOM WORLD TAG CHAMPIONSHIP Match: [10th Champions] GENTARO & The Winger vs. [Challengers] Masashi Takeda & Kenji Fukimoto
~ 4th title defense.
() KING of FREEDOM WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP Match: [5th Champion] Jun Kasai vs. [Challenger] Daisuke Masaoka
~ 3rd title defense.
It was officially announced that the GHC Junior Tag belts will be in defense on 4/30 as Harada and Kotoge defend against the Suzuki-gun team of TAKA Michinoku and El Desperado.
TAKA claimed a direct pin-fall win over Kotoge at yesterday’s opening show of the GTL at the Korakuen Hall and thus made the challenge. With the champion team accepting the match it was thus made official by the GHC title committee to take place at the end of this month. In regards to their standings, the champion team current stands 3-0 winning streak against TAKA & Despe. Stemming back in the Junior Tag League and then two previous title matches.
The event card has been changed for the 4/30 show to reflect upon the addition of the title match. It is as follows…
NOAH “Global Tag League War 2016”, 4/30/2016 [Sat] 18:00 @ Niigata City Gymnasium
(4) GHC Junior Tag Championship Match: [27th Champions] Daisuke Harada & Atsushi Kotoge vs. [Challengers] TAKA Michinoku & El Desperado
~ 1st title defense.
(5) Global Tag League War Match: Minoru Suzuki & Takashi Iizuka vs. Muhammad Yone & Quiet Storm
(6) Global Tag League War Match: Katsuhiko Nakajima & Masa Kitamiya vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima
(7) Global Tag League War Match: Lance Archer & Davey Boy Smith Jr. vs. Go Shiozaki & Maybach Taniguchi
(8) Global Tag League War Match: Takashi Sugiura & Shelton X Benjamin vs. Naomichi Marufuji & Toru Yano
~ The full event card was announced for the upcoming Korakuen Hall show on 5/6.
ZERO1, 5/6/2016 [Fri] 18:30 @ Korakuen Hall in Tokyo
() Kengo Return 6WAY Match: Ikuto Hidaka vs. Buffa vs. Sean Guinness vs. Takuya Sugawara vs. Takafumi Ito vs. Kengo
() TARU vs. Yoshikazu Yokoyama
() Hideki Suzuki vs. Toshiki Iwaki
() KAMIKAZE vs. Yusaku Obata
() NWA UN Heavyweight Championship Match: [Champion] Masakado vs. [Challenger] Shogun Okamoto
() NWA World Jr & International Jr Championship Match: [Champion] Shinjiro Otani vs. [Challenger] Tatsuhito Takaiwa
() NWA Intercontinental Tag Championship Match: [Champions] Kohei Sato & Daisuke Sekimoto vs. [Challengers] Masato Tanaka & James Raideen
~ WAVE : Leon will miss the upcoming “CATCH THE WAVE” due to her previously announced neck injury. The rest of her scheduled matches in the league will be forfeited to her opponents.
If you enjoy these posts feel free to check out the Patreon to help support the further growth of the website. At least $1 a month will help cover the server costs and future plans to build a better site. This in term is aimed to help you all in return to keep up with numerous promotions throughout Japan. Thank you for helping keep the spirit alive.
~ The fourth day of the Champion Carnival was held in Niigata.
~ In the A BLOCK, Akiyama would claim a win over the Triple Crown Champion Miyahara, which in turn gave Akiyama his first points in the league. Sekimoto claimed a win over rookie Nomura and Bodyguard took out Super Tiger to claim the first points of his own.
~ In the B BLOCK, Sai picked up the win over Kamitani, rookie Jake Lee with an upset win over the veteran Omori, and then Yoshie’s size proved effective as he took out the junior Aoki.
~ The next round of league matches will be tomorrow. This will also mark the second half of matches which is make or break time.
~ The full event card was announced for the next show on 4/28 in Yokohama. The event will feature special matches before the upcoming singles league that will be taking place through May and June.
BASARA, 4/28/2016 [Thu] 19:00 @ Yokohama Nigiwaiza Noge Share Ko Hall in Kanagawa
() Itadaki ~ Exhibition Match: Isami Kodaka vs. Goma Ryu
()Itadaki ~ Exhibition Match: Hiroshi Fukuda vs SAGAT
() Itadaki ~ Exhibition Match: Daichi Kazato & Ryuichi Sekine
() FUMA & Yusuke Kubo vs. Tsutomu Osugi & Hercules Senga
() Hi69 & Takumi Tsukmoto vs. Koji Iwamoto & Ryota Nakatsu
~ Team DNA, Kazusada Higuchi, Shunma Katsumata & Kouki Iwasaki, defended the KO-D 6 Tag belts against the “Smile Squash” combination of HARASHIMA, Akito, and Yasu Urano today in Niigata. Higuchi claimed the direct fall over the KO-D Openweight Champion HARASHIMA before their scheduled match which has been set to take place on 4/24.
~ Yukio Sakaguchi also claimed the anytime, anywhere challenge rights with a win over Makoto Oishi. Sakaguchi made it known that he would call out either HARASHIMA or Higuchi on 5/8 in Sapporo.
DDT “MAX BUMP 2016”, 4/24/2016 [Sun] 12:00 @ Korakuen Hall in Tokyo
(0) King of Dark Championship 3WAY Match: [Champion] Hoshitango vs. [Challenger] Gota Ihashi vs. [Challenger] Tomomitsu Matsunaga
(-) Danshoku Dino, Soma Takao & Kota Umeda vs. Antonio Honda, Hiroshi Fukuda & Heddi French
(-) Sanshiro Takagi, Toru Owashi & X vs. Shunma Katsumata, Kouki Iwasaki & Guanchulo
(-) Akai Saki & Makoto Oishi vs. LiLiCo & Mizuki Watase
(-) KO-D Tag Contedership 3WAY Match: Keisuke Ishii & Shigehiro Irie vs. Akito & Yasu Urano vs. Yukio Sakaguchi & Masa Takanashi
(-) DDT EXTREME Championship Match: [Champion] Super Sasadango Machine vs. [Challenger] Kazuki Hirata
(-) KO-D Tag Championship Match: [54th Champions] Daisuke Sasaki & Shuji Ishikawa vs. [Challengers] Konosuke Takeshita & Tetsuya Endo
~ 2nd title defense.
(-) KO-D Openweight Championship Match: [Champion] HARASHIMA vs. [Challenger] Kazusada Higuchi
~ 2nd title defense.
~ K-DOJO held the “14th Anniversary ~ CLUB-K SUPER evolution 14” show at the Korakuen Hall.
~ The main event would see Tank Nagai retain the CHAMPION OF STRONGEST-K belt over the original champion Hi69. Hi69 looked to have had the match won on multiple instances, but Tank’s fellow “Magatsuki” group namely Yuma halted the referee from signalling the 3 count.
Tank received boo’s, even after the defense, while Hi69 was clearly the favorite.
~ Tank declared that there is no one left to challenge him especially those left of the old K-DOJO.
~ This led to the newly crowned S-K Tag Champion Kotaro Yoshino to challenge him after the match.
~ Taishi Takizawa & Kotaro Yoshino became the 31st generation S-K TAG champions with a win over Kengo Mashimo & Yuki Sato. Tonai came out to join his fellow Sekitoba members in celebrating the big win.
~ Shiori Asahi defended the Independent World Junior belt against MIKAMI. TAKA Michinoku threw out the UWA Middleweight Champions MEN’S Teioh’s name as the next contender for the belt, but Asahi refused the offer at this time. Asahi made it known that he wishes to face more up and coming talent and to give them chances than more veterans getting all the opportunities.
~ Then lastly for title matches, Kunio Toshima and Yuma managed to capture the WEW Hardcore Tag belts in the 7 team hardcore rumble match.
~ Then Tonai celebrated his final match, for now, as a full-time K-DOJO wrestler as he will now be moving to Osaka as he plans to get married. He will remain under the K-DOJO banner, but his active participation will be limited due to travel/location.
~ Kotaro Suzuki also appeared as he stated his intentions of competing for K-DOJO’s next bigger show on 6/19.
~ New Japan kicked off the “Road to Wrestling Dontaku” today in Yamanashi.
~ SANADA (formerly Seiya Sanada) made his presence known as a member of L.I.J, with his renamed “Skull End” finisher, originally the THiS iS iT (Guillotine Dragon Sleeper). As the group once more showing their control over CHAOS and New Japan. Naito once more tossed the belt as he continues to show that it means nothing to him.
~ Makabe and Honma start of the tour with a win as they head into their rematch for the IWGP Tag belts.
~ Nagata kicks off the tour with a win over Shibata’s team.
~ Liger also confronted KUSHIDA.
~ Yoshitatsu claimed a win as his road to recovery continues. His main goal with his return is to take on BULLET CLUB with his New Japan dubbed the HUNTER CLUB.
~ K.E.S. made yet another defense of the GHC Tag belts while in the USA this weekend. This time with a win over Chris Hero and Colt Cabana on 4/16 at the House of Hardcore in Philadelphia, PA. They are now sitting at a record of 10 total defenses as champions. Smith (14:34) following the Killer Bomb on Hero.
~ The previously announced UWA 6 Tag match was held as it was originally scheduled. TAJIRI would capture the win for the champions as “REAL DESPERADO”‘s plan to hold all the belts has been thwarted at this time.
~ JWP : Arisa Nakajima & Tsukasa Fujimoto defended the JWP & Daily Sports Tag belts against KAZUKI & Rydeen Hagane. Arisa (16:18) with a Dragon Suplex Hold on Hagane.
~ Stardom : Io Shirai, Mayu Iwatani & Kairi Hojo made their first defense of the Artist belts today in Shinkiba. Kairi (17:57) following a Diving Elbow Drop on Mimura.
~ WAVE : Ayako Hamada & Yuu Yamagata made their second successful defense of WAVE Tag belts today in Hakata. Yamagata (21:01) with the Las Aventureras on Aoi Kizuki.
Sadism – “The tendency to derive pleasure, especially sexual gratification, from inflicting pain, suffering, or humiliation on others.
(in general use) deliberate cruelty.”
This week starts a very special edition of the series, as obviously Asuka will be getting a chance to accomplish a dream of hers, wrestling in America and on the biggest stage of her career in WWE, as she goes for the NXT Women’s Title in a match against Bayley on their NXT Dallas Takeover special. I wanted to give props to not only one of the best women in wrestling, but truly one of the best wrestlers going for some time now going into her big match. This marks the second time I delve into the Joshi ranks after one of my very first pieces on Kairi Hojo (http://puroresuspirit.net/2015/10/pirate-princess-a-week-of-kairi-hojo-matches-and-history/ ) that I was very happy to do, though admittedly Kana is a much different style of wrestler. As a wrestler Kairi is a much more traditional Joshi archetype, while Kana was a fan of shooters and the style used by the greats like Akira Maeda and Volk Han and was trained by reviewee, legendary wrestler, and friend Yuki Ishikawa. (The first time we had a conversation on here he was very proud of Kana and showed me some of her matches in Queen Bee, BattlArts’ women’s side group) Her style was an antithesis of modern Joshi style in a lot of ways, though later on she’d undergo a drastic character change to something akin to a Zombie Clown General? She gained much popularity as a wrestler and character even before going to WWE, and was arguably Joshi’s top star despite always being freelance. Another great thing and different about this edition is that this is the first subject in depth that has never been fully a solo member of a single promotion, so instead of the typical “timeline” style, this will simply be talk of her in various promotions and times of her career, though it will begin at the start and end with the aforementioned match vs. Bayley.
Now as I said Kana/Asuka was trained by the great Yuki Ishikawa in the art of shoot style wrestling, and at the ripe age of 23, made her debut in the fledgling AtoZ promotion, wrestling lowkey but picking up valuable experience. (I’ve attached a video of young and strikingly different Kana goofing around and having fun in the AtoZ dojo, it’s hard to believe, but here Kana was very childlike in enthusiasm and dare I say…cute)
AtoZ closed down and in 2006, Kana retired suddenly, opening up her hair salon and pursuing her other passions in life such as video games, writing for XBox magazine, doing motion capture for fighting game Virtua Fighter 5, dabbling in design, and even getting XBox 360 to sponsor her and wearing the logo on her tights. (Why not Sony, Kana-sama?) But she returned in 2007, already showing herself as a top Joshi talent and wrestling with promotions like Zero1, NEO, & Ice Ribbon, already gaining a reputation for her hard hitting and technical style.
Today I’d like to look at the epitome of that as in 2008 after her return she joined up with her trainer Ishikawa to establish Queen Bee, bringing her style as an alternative to the more prevalent high speed or “go go” style, bringing in a shoot edge to women’s wrestling that Shinobu Kandori was once famous for. Check out in many ways the “pure” Kana/Asuka in style as she takes on Chihiro Oikawa from BattlArts, my favorite promotion held under B-Rules on February 15th, 2009.
A different way to start off and still early in her career, Kana also had wrestled in NEO earlier in this night apart of her Passion Red team. (hint I may be getting to that later) It’s amazing how much Kana’s changed over the years. I wish the pink clad Oikawa was still around, like a female Munenori Sawa she had so much potential. As in regular B-Rules matches the focus was on realistic grappling and a test of submissionry, with any and all striking prohibited, and Kana was extremely skilled, along with Oikawa at these traits. My take on this is Kana had an advantage standing while things are more level on the ground though Kana does have a nifty transition into a move made famous by one of her idols, the Fujiwara Armbar. Oikawa largely fights to gain a chokehold but Kana always fights her way out, Things pick up and get spirited halfway through with the grappling and submission exchanges gradually pick up the pace until Kana gets a wraparound neck crank armbar against the ropes, as Oikawa was out of rope breaks and was forced to tap. I adore these matches as not only is it unique, with BattlArts and B-Rules gone it’s unlikely she will never have this style of match ever again. Take heed of young Kana’s grappling chops and awesome technical wrestling abilities as we start this journey of this amazing and versatile wrestler.
At this early portion of her career, in addition to her various freelance work and her incredible BattlArts skillset, she took to a group with more established stars quickly, making small promotion NEO her home base and helping to form the stable Passion Red with stars Ray, Natsuki☆Taiyo, & led by Joshi veteran Nanae Takahashi. They held strong for the promotion at a questionable time for Joshi wrestling and the association with a name the quality of Nanae helped during that time, particularly Kana as she was still relatively new. Things weren’t all bubblegum and rainbows though, as Kana’s stiff wrestling earned her a reputation among many wrestlers as dangerous and her outspokenness for a younger star likely didn’t help curb her heat among fellow wrestlers much. Today’s match is from near the very end of Passion Red, coincidentally with the 4 members going against each other as Kana & Nanae had just won the NEO tag titles a month prior, and their first defense was decided against the other two members, and on November 21st 2009, we got this bangin’ matchup between Natsuki☆Taiyo & Ray vs. Nanae Takahashi & Kana, Passion Red implodes!
First off I specifically wanted a Ray match (and not the one from SMASH where Kana pervs out on her…) as as many of you know she is in the middle of her fight against brain cancer. On top of that on a personal note Ray was the first wrestler I ever connected with in Joshi, and to me especially around here was one of the top talents in the world. It’s not a stretch to say she’s one of my favorite wrestlers, in fact my nickname Zero comes directly from her! (Ray = Rei = Zero in Japanese) Regardless, she’s a great woman and any prayers or even direct well wishes her way would be appreciated. Here Kana started off like a house of fire in the match, still rocking her long hair here and the “Joshis who yell a lot” stereotype was in full effect here, and early on Ray hits a smooth Cartwheel Dive from the apron, with Taiyo hitting a less smooth step up Plancha. Thought Passion Red A-squad both threw nice Dropkicks, and both teams utilized some high speed double teams. Kana was in her element doing submissions and hitting hard, while utilizing her butt-based offense she still uses today. Personally, shoot stylin’ Kana will always be my favorite, but you can’t say she didn’t have creativity even at this early stage. The finishing stretch was pretty hot, with Kana absolutely nailing Nanae with a Roundhouse Kick on a miscommunication, which led to Natsuki locking in the Momo☆Latch which I thought was always a great move, but Nanae broke up the pin. I thought the finish was really cool on Nanae’s part as Natsuki attempt a Sunset Bomb on Kana, Nanae came in with a flying kick to the chest knocking her backwards, then Kana put it away with another stiff Roundhouse to Natsuki, then a Spinning Back Kick for the win.
This was more or less the last stand for Kana in the group as she’d quit after the start of the new year as Kana’s stiffness and attitude made everyone, particularly Nanae very angry after an incident especially with Shuu Shibutani where Kana legit injured her face with a hard kick, the heat in the Joshi wrestlers boiled over with a Nanae and Kana promo turning into a shoot argument and ending with Nanae slapping her then Kana quitting Passion Red right after. To my knowledge, Kana and Nanae have yet to work together since that day. Still, Passion Red is truly where Kana got her start and much of her popularity from early on, and also when she got to show off her pro wrestling abilities greatly, so it will always be a valuable time of her career and apart of her ascension up the ranks.
After leaving Passion Red, and alienating many with her attitude, she still held on with NEO until the very end, at which point she continued her run as a freelancer, even running her first self produced event of which she would run many more in her career, a staple of “The World Famous” Kana as she would become known as, also wrestling in groups like Pro Wrestling WAVE more. A lot of what got her heat with many Joshi wrestlers was not only her stiffness, but her non-apologetic attitude towards it, often saying that certain elements of Joshi (Namely sex appeal and the abundance of young kids wrestling) was ruining it and that Joshis should wrestle more stiff like guys. Though she said many agreeable things, it is worth noting her future appearances in companies that largely presented those elements (namely SMASH/WNC & Ice Ribbon) would not help her credibility much. That said, those views and style of wrestling led to a rivalry and friendship with someone who certainly has had no problems hitting hard, especially if pushed, “Mini-Kawada” Ayumi Kurihara, and this is where we go now with one of Kana’s most renowned WAVE matches from August 28th, 2011 vs. friend and partner (they’d go on a run as WAVE Tag Team Champions 2 months after this match.
This looks to be another really fun match as many people, myself included thought Ayumi was even better than Kana and one of, if not the top modern Joshi talents. Ayumi gets a tremendous amount of streamers, Kana gets very few. An interesting note about Ayumi is also her other nickname, “Mrs. Loose Explosion”. That’s right, YOSHI-HASHI, making myself and all of his supporters worldwide proud, marrying well beyond his status. No doubt Ayumi helping the Loose One’s recent improvement in the ring with her great talents. Anyway, they start off pretty basic, but that doesn’t last long before, in the words of the legendary Vader “the pain game” starts and these two play it as well as anybody, delivering hard shoot kicks and forearms all around mixing in the occasional submission and counter sequence, including a pretty sweet rollthrough into an Ankle Hold from Ayumi that gets countered into an equally cool rolling leg lock then a Bow & Arrow submission. But make no mistake, the story around this match was two women who hit hard. I loved a sequence after a Kana Buzzsaw how Ayumi struggled so hard in the pin, but in the end no amount of fighting spirit would stop the deadly Kana, as after Ayumi fired up and ducked a Roundhouse Kick, then managed to hit a sickening shoot headbutt after a failed Uranage, Kana hit a Reverse Spin Kick and then finally a Brutal Buzzsaw Kick to win. These two were a match made in Heaven, and it’s such a shame Ayumi had to retire. My last subject fancied himself as the King of “Strong Style” and this felt more like the Strong Style of old than we’ve seen in some time. Breaking news: Kana rocks, people.
One of Kana’s most important and memorable storylines was with the longtime top star of Joshi’s oldest promotion (Japanese Women Pro-Wrestling Project or JWP), Arisa Nakajima. In 2013 Kana entered JWP as a villainous outsider, treating the company and it’s wrestlers as inferior, the oldest company the embodiement of the Joshi style she publicly rallied against years prior. She got into it with the JWP Openweight Champion and things quickly turned heated, with the score to be settled at one of JWP’s biggest shows of the year in Korakuen Hall, Pure Slam (“Pure” is kind of symbolic for the company as it’s logo famously states “Pure Heart, Pure Wrestling”.) and in this case it would symbolize even bigger things as this was also the annual memorial show for one of JWP’s earliest stars, Plum Mariko, who tragically died in the ring after a Sitout Powerbomb triggered a preexisting condition in her brain. Arisa set to defend the honor of JWP against Kana, who at this point had started to take on more of her wild clown style face painted persona she’d become known for here, obviously not exactly the greatest representative of “Pure Wrestling” here. But alas on August 18th, 2013 it was Kana vs Arisa Nakajima for the JWP Openweight Title.
They start off with some EXTREMELY impressive mat wrestling though brief, followed by a really great strike exchange with Arisa showing all sorts of fire when she unloads on this slap exchange. 40 seconds in and this match already felt awesome, these two showing exactly what a main event of an aggressive blood feud should be. Kana, regardless of whether she plays her look straight or looks like a clown, Kana is an absolutely vicious pro wrestler as shown in the Ayumi match and this. And with Ayumi I knew receipts would be thrown, Arisa doesn’t quite have the reputation as a heavy hitter, more of a pure (no pun intended) Joshi wrestler, but she had no issues here, and really sold her pain and emotion well. Kana systematically took apart Arisa, her arm in particular, but just when you think Kana’s got it on lock, Arisa fires up and hits a flurry of over a dozen headbutts, then 4 straight Rolling German Suplexes. This was another brilliant sequence. I also really enjoyed Kana chaining submissions together, from an Armbar to a Triangle to an Omaplata, this was straight fire and showed good focus on the arm. But when Arisa had her chance to win, Kana took it away, delivering a rush of Spinning Backfists and a sickening straight punch, Arisa showed spirit but after a barrage of head kicks, Arisa was out. Kana decided to get a definitive win with the Kana Lock, the ref stopping the match quickly. Afterwards Kana humiliated the JWP Ace by painting her with whiskers and kicking her in the head again. Their feud went in a strange direction as Kana started an obsession angle with the Ace, going on about how Arisa was the best and I vaguely remember a match where Kana ended up handcuffing herself to Arisa and it was rather amusing. But eventually they made up and all was well, with Kana working with JWP all the way until her signing with WWE. Regardless, I enjoyed this match even more than the Ayumi match and that says a lot, but this didn’t just rock the house, it brought the whole house down. A match of the year caliber fight and a highlight for Kana’s career winning Joshi’s most prestigious title.
In addition to Kana’s work in various promotions all around the world (Hence her “World Famous” label), starting in 2010 she also started running her own shows independently, usually under her Kana Pro label and often times bringing in top male talent in addition to Joshi players and with Kana’s star power, in the modern day Joshi landscape she was generally successful, showing just another feather in the Sadistic Princess’ cap, in this avenue as a promoter, with over 10 shows in her career under Kana Produce and her Triple Tails imprint. Today I specifically wanted to take a look at this match where Kana takes on one of my personal favorite wrestlers of all time from the Triple Tails produce show from February, 13th, 2011, Kana takes on Meiko Satomura.
They start off quick, getting some heavy shots in and quickly getting into each other’s faces, but Satomura locks in 3 different Armbars in seconds through transitions, tearing up her arm and forcing Kana to the outside, to which Satomura responds by blasting her foe with hard kicks to the arm on the outside, just killing it. At one point Satomura grabs a headlock and starts to drag her around the outside and she just has this great smile on her face. She didn’t get to enjoy her favorite pasttime of hurting people forever though, as it turns out if you didn’t know by now, Kana can kick pretty hard too, and she has no problem dishing out her own punishment. It goes without saying, but this was an excellent exhibition of hard strikes, with Satomura bringing the pain with submissions as well. The offense all had purpose and vigor behind them in addition to Kana getting to showcase some of her cool counters, even at one point locking in a grounded Octopus Stretch that looked sweet. Even the finish of Kana locking in the Kana lock looked extra synched in with probably not a lot of “selling” being overly necessary, as it probably went with most of the moves of this match. And what happened when Kana broke Meiko down and finally got the Kana Lock? Well, if you’ve been keeping up with reading all this, you’d have a bit of an idea. Satomura taps out! …Just kidding. Once Kana gets you in the Crossface Chickenwing, it’s like Streets of Rage: NEVER RETURN ALIVE. Satomura passes out with the ref calling for the bell. Afterwards Kana gets super emotional and rightfully so with a win over the Joshi icon. Another great match for this cold woman, and another chokeout. If you can’t like her style by now, you’ve got to start asking yourself some questions about yourself I’d say. I’m just saying.
Kana’s last big run before her “retirement” and relocation to America came in the form of her debut to the REINA Joshi Puroresu promotion in 2014, working as a wrestler as well as an authority figure for the company, originally brought in as a consultant, but later elevated to “General Producer” with the goal of remodelling REINA in her own image, which included starting her own group Piero-gun (or Clown Army) with all of her members adorning her famous facepaint, as well as interfering with title affairs and getting things such as the tag titles placed on her and Arisa Nakajima at one point. After dropping her GP duties in a Trios match won by Hikaru Shida, Kana won the REINA World Women’s Title, with REINA and WAVE in 2015. After 8 long months as champion, after officially announcing her signing to WWE, Kana announced she would be relinquishing the World Title, with Tsukasa Fujimoto proving to be Kana’s successor. Today though we look at one of Kana’s last matches in Japan in her farewell to REINA in a tag match featuring arguably her greatest rival, one of the more popular future Joshi stars, and the girl that Kana herself trained. Syuri & Kana have feuded on and off for years, starting off in SMASH and in REINA Syuri is who Kana defeated for the REINA World Title, but I think after all these fights they’ve had against each other there’s nobody Kana would rather team with, the one she respects most. Konami is Kana’s protege, still 19 years old and not even a year into her career yet, but being the sole trainee of Kana definitely helps your Q Rating in the Joshi world. Makoto is as known for her costumes as much as much as her wrestling, but is a premier star and currently holds the REINA World Title.
Things start off with Konami & Kana, student and teacher. Really, the first few minutes kind of summed up the whole match…Kana & Syuri beat the crap out of their opponents and it seemed from the start that the point of this match was to give Kana not just a win in her farewell, but a dominant win at that. Not to say that the young ‘uns didn’t get any shine as they showed very much fighting spirit, Konami at one point even hitting a Tiger Feint Kick at one point and Makoto did some pretty nice suplexes at times, but this was definitely more a showcase of the greatness of the hyper skilled Kana/Syuri combo. In particular the Kana/Konami matchup. At one point we see Konami go for a Rear Naked Choke but Kana easily reverses it into a Cross Kneebar. Really good stuff and maybe not one of Kana’s all time greatest matches, but a good sendoff facing her pupil and a fun match in its own right.
After her appearance at Catch the WAVE 2015 Kana announced she would be taking an indefinite hiatus after her independently produced KanaMania event two months later, with many rumors abound as to why. At the NXT Takeover Brooklyn event in August she made a surprise appearance in the crowd seated next to WWE legends Sgt. Slaughter and Ric Flair with the key infamously tagging her as Kanna, leading to many questions sent to Joshi wrestler Kanna from misguided NXT fans. After finishing up her run on the Joshi scene in September, she traveled to the West, and much like future NXT signee Shinsuke Nakamura, Kana was an avid fan of American culture to begin with so it was a hand in glove fit. Upon her debut she was introduced under her new ring name of Asuka, in tribute to Joshi legend and one half of arguably the most popular Joshi act in history, the Crush Gals with Chigusa Nagayo. (Though I would have preferred Kana tribute Chigusa’s alter-ego Lady Zero personally) Her first in-ring rivalry was with the villainous duo of Emma and Dana Brooke, with Asuka being presented as largely unstoppable, often showing a borderline crazed smirk at any sign of conflict, and getting dominant wins left and right in the ring. After a tag team with vs Eva Marie & Nia Jax with the beloved NXT women’s champion Bayley, Asuka’s gaze fell on the Title, and a potential dream match to NXT fans. It’s important to note at this point Asuka has received large popularity without the Empress of Tomorrow saying really anything of note in English, merely her in ring charisma and strength of wrestling ability proving popular with fans. So let’s talk about her first Title match since joining NXT, vs. Bayley from April 1st, 2016.
Some stalling as duet chants of “Asuka’s gonna kill you” and “Bayley’s gonna hug you” (and “Women’s wrestling”) Things continue as a bit of feeling out process and we saw some nifty counters like Asuka catching a reverse elbow into a Fujiwara Armbar, and Bayley hitting a Hurricanrana from the Top Rope and then her cool Guillotine Choke that Asuka countered into an Ankle Lock, channeling Arisa Nakajima there. They seemed to be focussing on a story of the normally light hearted Bayley getting more angry as the match went on. Actually there were a lot of callbacks to that Nakajima match. Coincidence that I just talked about it a day before? I’m just saying. Most importantly, Bayley used that armbar that Nakajima used (that Bayley also used to win her Ironman match vs Sasha Banks as well) and obviously the finish of Asuka locking in the Asuka Lock and the ref stopping the match as Bayley wouldn’t tap. It’s rough for two reasons, as not only is drawing comparisons to that Nakajima match a recipe to come up short, the women were put in a tough spot following Nakamura/Zayn, the most anticipated match of the show. Regardless of all that though, Tomorrow Brings Danger for NXT and congratulations to Asuka on her historic Title win and representation of Joshi in America.
Overall on Kana, I would guess most people have seen enough of her to make their own judgements, but to me she’s one of the more impressive Joshi stars of the last decade at her purest, and also exceptionally skilled at character work, though mileage may vary on her…unique mind. Check out some of her older matches for peak Kana (especially the one versus Arisa Nakajima) but I look forward to her future and I’m very certain I’m not alone in looking towards tomorrow for Kana…even if Tomorrow Brings Danger.
~ All Japan held a show in Okinawa, Japan. In which the main event saw Kento Miyahara making his first successful defense as the reigning Triple Crown champion following a win over the veteran Takao Omori.
~ Atsushi Aoki would also defend the World Junior belt against the Australian/Okinawa wrestler Dingo, who namely competes Ryukyu Dragon and previously in Okinawa Pro.
~ The next scheduled All Japan show will be on the 26th in Kawaguchi, Saitama.
~ Big Japan continued with fifth day the “Ikkitosen ~ strong climb ~”. B BLOCK sanctioned matches would take place on today’s show as Hideki Suzuki claimed an upset win over the reigning World Strong Champion Yuji Okabayashi. Then Shinobu also claimed a win over the rookie Yoshihisa Uto.
~ The next Ikkitosen event will be on 3/25 in Kagawa.
~ Also on the show, Ryuji Ito defended the Deathmatch Heavyweight belt against K-DOJO’s Saburo Inematsu in the main event. Inematsu celebrated his 12th anniversary as a pro-wrestling, but regardless the veteran Ito manages to maintain his run as champion.
~ DDT held their 19th anniversary show at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo. The whole show would see a night of title changes as HARASHIMA once more reclaimed the KO-D Openweight belt after a near solid 20 min. match against Isami Kodaka in the main event. The KO-D Tag belts would also find a new home after Daisuke Sasaki & Shuji Ishikawa captured the win over Konosuke Takeshita & Tetsuya Endo. Then Super Sasadango Machine would capture the DDT EXTREME belt from Kendo Kashin after a match with plenty of rules and comedy spots that DDT is known for at this point in time.
~ Sanshiro Takagi then announced the promotions return to the Saitama Super Arena for next year, 3/20/2017. In which this will be mark the promotions official 20th anniversary show.
~ Kota Ibushi has appeared to have competed in his last DDT match for the time being. Following his return to the DDT ring, he was in tears as he said that he plans on seeing more of world as a professional wrestler. Ibushi is scheduled to compete for “Kaiju Big Battle” on April 1 and “EVOLVE” on April 2 in the USA.
Which something to add here, though high speculation, is that Ibushi is scheduled to take part in WWE’s upcoming “cruiserweight tournament” later this Summer. Ibushi being involved with EVOLVE will surely mean that WWE/NXT officials should be aware of him. Let alone that he will be in that area for Wrestlemania weekend. [BushidoRX]
~ MEN’S Teioh defeated Hiro Tonai to become the new UWA World Middleweight Champion. The belt has normally been contested among the young and up-and-coming talent
~ Hi69 claimed a decisive win over Daigoro Kashiwa and is now on set to take on Tank Nagai for the CHAMPION OF STRONGEST-K on 4/17 at the Korakuen.
KAIENTAI DOJO “14th Anniversary ~ CLUB-K SUPER evolution 14”, 4/17/2016 @ Korakuen Hall in Tokyo
(-) Independent World Junior Heavyweight Championship: [Champion] Shiori Asahi vs. [Challenger] MIKAMI
(-) CHAMPION OF STRONGEST-K TAG Championship: [Champions] Kengo Mashimo & Yuki Sato vs. [Challengers] Taishi Takizawa & Kotaro Yoshino
(-) CHAMPION OF STRONGEST-K Championship: [Champion] Tank Nagai vs. [Challenger] Hi69
~ Ice Ribbon : Risa Sera managed to overcome Homuko Hoshi to become the new ICEx∞ Champion. Yuka came forward to challenge the new champion following the match.
~ Osaka Joshi : Yuu Yamagata defended the Regina de WAVE belt against Sawako Shimono at today’s Osaka Joshi show.
~ Stardom : Io Shirai & Mayu Iwatani defended the Goddess of Stardom Tag belts against Meiko Satomura & Kairi Hojo. Io (24:21) with a Moonsault Press on Hojo.
~ Team DNA, Kazusada Higuchi, Shunma Katsumata & Kouki Iwasaki, defended the KO-D 6 Tag belts against the “Smile Squash” combination of HARASHIMA, Akito, and Yasu Urano today in Niigata. Higuchi claimed the direct fall over the KO-D Openweight Champion HARASHIMA before their scheduled match which has been set to take place on 4/24.
~ Nagata kicks off the tour with a win over Shibata’s team.
~ Yoshitatsu claimed a win as his road to recovery continues. His main goal with his return is to take on BULLET CLUB with his New Japan dubbed the HUNTER CLUB.
Puroresu Spirit 
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