By Mark Worrall@hoohoowozza
Day three of five for the Tokyo Princess cup as this show emanates from Shin-Kiba 1st ring as the card is filled with six matches with only two of them actual second round matches. There is a tasty tag team title match that main events the show. My thoughts.
MIU WATANABE/MIRAI MAIUMI/POM HARAJUKU def. MIYU YAMASHITA/HIMAWARI UNAGI/MAHIRO KIRYU
Miyu Yamashita looked a little pissed as she made her entrance, in fact this is a rare occasion for the former Princess of princess champion to be in an opening match which in all fairness was really entertaining. Yamashita mixed it up with the TJPW newbie’s and took a lot of punishment which makes me wonder what direction her character will be taking as she willingly allowed her opposition the freedom to hit their best offence, only sometimes countering back, and when she did she really stood out as the ace of this promotion. Some excellent chemistry between Unagi and Watanabe as they became the centre of attention as this match played to a close with Unagi being somewhat entertaining throughout the whole match, showing plenty of personality as she had some nice exchanges with Watanabe who finally put Unagi away with her ‘Tear Drop’ finisher! Good opener with Watanabe getting the pin as she looks forward to her second round match with Yuka Sakazaki on the June 22nd show.
THREE WAY MATCH
NODOKA TENMA def. RAKU & YUKI KAMIFUKU
What Kamifuku lacks in wrestling, she makes up in personality! Crowd really into Kamifuku as she suggests that Tenma and Raku start the match as a singles as she plays referee, which works, the crowd get involved and watching Kamifuku asking if either Raku and Tenma want to ‘give up’ during submission manoeuvres is enjoyable until Kamifuku says something which gets a reaction from the crowd and Raku and Tenma turn their attentions to her! Enjoyable three way with Kamifuku’s best offence being her tremendous ‘shotgun’ drop kick which seems to be her only offence with Tenma looking strongest and getting back to winning ways after her somewhat surprise defeat in the Tokyo Princess cup first round by splashing poor Raku to victory.
SHOKO NAKAJIMA/YUKI AINO def. MINA SHIRAKAWA/HIKARI NOA
As the promotions champion, Nakajima showed some sloppiness during this tag team match, especially with her timing and some of her roll up attempts! Shirakawa however looked impressive throughout, great timing and some decent tag work with Noa as they completely cut off Aino for a generous portion of the match, working on her, and keeping her from making the tag. Shirakawa’s surfboard started the dominating offence on Aino, with a little bit of distraction for the ref to enable a little backhanded tactics at the same time. Aino’s desperate attempt to tag saw her lock a full nelson on Shirakawa, who escaped as Noa kept Nakajima out of the match, but only for a short time as Nakajima finally found a way in, unleashing on her opponents albeit a little sloppy. Shirakawa’s counter offence was really good as she and Nakajima showed good chemistry until, as the champion Nakajima did find her mojo, hitting a 619, her set up move for a winning Northern Lights suplex. Nice tag match, however Nakajima has to show a little more if she is to look a strong champion.
NATSUMI MAKI def. MAKI ITO
Somewhat of a rematch from the February 23rd show where Ito came out the winner on that occasion in a very heated match that spilled into this match too as both ladies share a heated rivalry that is so obvious when they wrestle each other. Ito’s middle finger once again at the customary handshake renewed the rivalry that had Natsumi knocking Ito out of the ring with a terrific superkick which followed with some ringside work as both Ito and Natsumi feeling the chairs as the match became nothing more than a scrap, and a terrific back and forth scrap as they told a story which was filled with resentment for one another. Natsumi finding an edge managed to lock Ito into a great looking Bow and Arrow with Ito barely escaping and the feeling that this could be Natsumi’s day was founded as Natsumi countered an ‘Itoh special’ attempt after barely surviving a diving headbutt, with the two exchanging roll up pin attempts until Natsumi took a breath, and rolled up Ito for the win. Great chemistry here as Natsumi Maki evens up the score and advances to the semi-final, still my pick for the tournament!
YUNA MANASE def. RIKA TATSUMI
Manase is tall, so Tatsumi had only one objective in mind if she was to proceed to the Semi’s, and that was to work the legs of her opponent! This was a well worked match that was easy to invest into as Tatsumi, in my opinion somewhat of the underdog cleverly went straight to both legs of Manase after they had exchanged elbows and that enabled Tatsumi to spend most of the match working both legs, switching at times to keep Manase down and the threat of her much prized high kicks out of the match! Crowd did seem to be behind Manase, who excited the on lookers at times, cart wheeling her way out of a hold that was sublime for a big girl, compared to most Joshi wrestlers. Tatsumi’s persistence, working the legs, locking a figure four on the ringpost which Manase sold really well unfortunately did not pay off as Manase hit a terrific lariat which she followed with the ‘Kakato drop’ (kick to the head). Manase advances to the Semi-Finals with Tatsumi putting a great showing, as Manase continues to prove she belongs in TJPW!
TOKYO PRINCESS TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP
NEO BIISHIKI-GUN(SAKISAMA & MISAO) def. MAGICAL SUGAR RABBITS(YUKA SAKAZAKI & MIZUKI)(c)
The rabbits have held the title for 288 days coming into this title match, such a long reign for a well organized team! Something told me the titles were about to change even before they actually did. The rabbits are still involved in the Tokyo Princess cup, where a story could even evolve there, and Neo Biishiki-gun are an evolving team that are made to take these titles on. If I am brutally honest, this was not the best title defence for the Rabbits, this was too back and forth for my liking and a little messy at times and a struggle to follow! With that said the wrestling was absolutely fine, just little continuity and no control which you would maybe consider an option considering the nature of Neo Biishiki-Gun. Misao and Sakisama did grab an ounce of control at times and worked well together. Sakisama’s use of her height is her strength with those high kicks the Rabbits never really seemed in this match, yet they still teamed well, hit those moves they do well in a tandem, but something was missing. So the longest tag title reign ended when Misao hit Mizuki with ‘Vanitas’ and Neo Biishiki-Gun enjoy a second title run, albeit this time Sakisama is with a new partner. Sakisami then went on to ask Mizuki to join her group, she rejected the offer! Yuka Sakizaki ended her second title reign with a combined run of 400 days as a tag team champion, only one place for her to go I think!
Another really enjoyable Tokyo Joshi Pro show with Natsumi Maki and Yuna Manase advancing to the Semi-Finals on July 7th! June 22nd will see the next two second round matches from Shin-Kiba 1st ring featuring Shoko Nakajima vs. Mizuki, and Yuka Sakazaki vs. Miu Watanabe.
