{"id":12499,"date":"2019-05-10T22:46:47","date_gmt":"2019-05-10T21:46:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/?p=12499"},"modified":"2019-05-10T23:16:45","modified_gmt":"2019-05-10T22:16:45","slug":"this-month-in-joshi-wrestling-april","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/2019\/05\/10\/this-month-in-joshi-wrestling-april\/","title":{"rendered":"This Month in Joshi Wrestling &#8211; April"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This time around I decided that I would try a different format to talk about joshi wrestling in April. Instead of doing a longer summary of each promotion, I thought I&#8217;d put together a list of matches that I watched in April and enjoyed. Honestly, the Sendai Girls&#8217; Pro Wrestling April 14th Korakuen Hall show and the OZ Academy April 14th show were both great and worth watching in their entirety, but these are some of my highlights of the shows that I watched from the past month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Hanako Nakamori vs.\nChikayo Nagashima<\/strong> \u2013 Pure-J Big Top, 3\/4<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Pure-J doesn&#8217;t get aired very often, so getting to see this\nshow was pretty special. Nakamori is the current ace of Pure-J (and now\nchampion since she beat Leon at a show later in April), and Nagashima is a hard\nveteran who wrestles a lot for Pure-J, Marvelous, and OZ Academy. This was a\nnasty match that started with Nakamori refusing to shake her opponent\u2019s hand\nthen getting a beat down for her rudeness. This match spilled to the outside at\none point, including a really hard looking suplex by Nagashima that dropped\nNakamori on the stage. It also broke down in the ring, with both competitors\nintroducing weapons when the referee was distracted. Nakamori spent most of\nthis match working from underneath, but came close to winning herself with a Requiem\nDriver, following a chair shot. Finally Nagashima won after spitting mist into\nNakamori\u2019s eyes and hitting a roll up pin from a hurricanrana.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Maki Itoh vs. Miyu\nYamashita<\/strong> \u2013 DDT Coming to America, 4\/4<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This was a rematch of the main event of Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling\u2019s January 4<sup>th<\/sup> show, and for me this didn\u2019t reach the same heights, but it was a really good showcase for the joshi promotion at the DDT New York show. Yamashita is one of the best wrestlers right now and Itoh\u2019s charisma is off the charts, and it translated very easily to the American crowd. Miyu picked up the win here despite Itoh\u2019s best efforts, and then went on to win the Shine championship from Allysin Kay a day later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ddtpro.com\/universe\/videos\/6477\">https:\/\/www.ddtpro.com\/universe\/videos\/6477<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Utami Hayashishita\nvs. Momo Watanabe<\/strong> \u2013 Stardom American Dream in the Big Apple 2019, 5\/4<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This was the most protected matchup in Stardom up until this\npoint \u2013 Momo had been on a record setting run as Wonder of Stardom champion and\nUtami picked up four title belts since her debut last August. Watching this\nmatch it felt like the two were holding something back for a rematch in the\nfuture, which must be coming at some point, but it was still a very solid match\nand it garnered high praise from the live crowd. Annoyingly the Fite stream died\njust before the end of this match, which soured the live viewing experience for\nthose of us at home. I expected this to go to a draw, but Momo managed to hit a\nPeach Sunrise on Utami to go over clean and retain her title.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Pipipipi Pinano\nRetirement Battle Royale <\/strong>\u2013 Pipipipi Pinano Graduation Special, 5\/4<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Pipipipi Pinano was a beloved member of the Up Up Girls, the wrestling idol quartet that debuted at the start of 2018, who announced that she was retiring from wrestling in April to move onto other things. This match was a really nice send off for Pinano as she battled pretty much the entire TJPW roster before her retirement. Things got very emotional by the end, especially when Pinano faced her fellow Up Up Girl Noa Hikari as the final entrant. Not one to watch when you\u2019re feeling down, but a fun match overall and a nice way for Pinano to end her time at TJPW.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ddtpro.com\/universe\/videos\/6291\">https:\/\/www.ddtpro.com\/universe\/videos\/6291<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Asuka vs. Kakeru\nSekiguchi<\/strong> \u2013 YMZ Gokigen April, 5\/4<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">YMZ is Kaori Yoneyama\u2019s promotion, and known for its comedy wrestling \u2013 including a human Pokemon battle and a tongue twister battle on this show \u2013 but in the middle of this card they had a really good, serious wrestling match between Asuka and Sekiguchi. The match was just over seven minutes long, but it had good grappling to start things off, and Sekiguchi had a strong hope spot before Asuka\u2019s superior strength and size proved overwhelming. Kakeru has become a very good wrestler, especially after her trial series in OZ Academy, and this was a top quality match.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/filmuy.com\/ymz\/video\/330339511\">https:\/\/filmuy.com\/ymz\/video\/330339511<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Isami Kodaka vs.\nMatsuzawa-san<\/strong>, YMZ Gokigen April, 5\/4<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This match came about since Matsuzawa-san kept interfering in Makoto\u2019s matches and hitting people with leeks. Isami Kodaka is a famous deathmatch wrestler, who just won the BJW Ikkitousen Death Match Survivor tournament. Matsuzawa-san is an older woman who apparently had no wrestling experience. And yet they made this match into a highly entertaining spectacle, as Matsuzawa attacked Kodaka with lots of weapons she had brought with her, and even hit a nice spear at one point. Ulimately however, Kodaka prevailed (as he was always going to,) but Kodaka and Yoneyama tried to convince Matsuzawa-san to keep wrestling, so they may have a rematch in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/filmuy.com\/ymz\/video\/330339511\">https:\/\/filmuy.com\/ymz\/video\/330339511<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Giulia vs. Rina\nYamashita<\/strong> \u2013 Ice Ribbon Skip City, 14\/4<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ice Ribbon held a two day show at Skip City in Saitama, although only one day was broadcast.\nRina Yamashita announced that she will be making regular appearances in Ice\nRibbon going forward, and this was her first match since that announcement.\nGiulia has been having some great matches recently, and this match was probably\na little below the level of her match against Miyuki Takase last month, but\nstill a very good match. Yamashita dominated most of the match with her power\nand hit some nasty chops and lariats, but Giulia had some good hope spots, and\ndid well fighting from underneath for pretty much the entire match. Yamashita\nwon the match with a Splash Mountain. I\u2019m looking forward to seeing what she\ndoes in Ice Ribbon going forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-twitter wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"hi\" dir=\"ltr\">R I N A  Y A M A S H I T A<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/wryyyyna66?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@wryyyyna66<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/b2S781hGW5\">pic.twitter.com\/b2S781hGW5<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Death by Arisa Nakajima (@twf87) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/twf87\/status\/1122394512314134528?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 28, 2019<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Azure Revolution\n(Maya Yukihi and Risa Sera) vs. Miyako Matsumoto and Makoto \u2013<\/strong> Ice Ribbon\nSkip City, 14\/4<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This was an Ice Ribbon tag team title match between Azure\nRevolution and MakokoMiyacoco. Miyako Matsumoto is either the heroine of Ice\nRibbon or incredibly annoying to everyone else there, including her tag team\npartner Makoto who blocked her on social media before this match. The challenge\nto Azure Revolution was thrown down by Miyako for this show specifically\nbecause Maya Yukihi had an appearance at OZ Academy on the same morning, so she\nwasn\u2019t there for the start of this match, which meant Risa Sera had to start in\na handicap match. This was a classic odd couple partners who don\u2019t get along\nmatch, with Miyako and Makoto clearly not on the same page, although they did\ncome close to winning the belts, especially after a Miyako Clutch late in the\nmatch. When Yukihi did arrive to even the numbers the tide turned in Azure\nRevolution\u2019s favour, and finally Sera pinned Miyako after a diving double knees\nto retain the tag titles. This was a really fun match to cap off another\nquality Ice Ribbon show and as the saying goes: when you are tired of Miyacoco,\nyou\u2019re tired of life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Mika Iwata vs. Sakura\nHirota <\/strong>\u2013 Pro-Wrestling Wave, Happy Birthday Wave Sakurasaku 14\/4<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This was the main event of the Yumi Ohka-Sakura Hirota birthday show. Hirota came to the ring with a green face from being misted in the earlier Yuki Miyazaki vs. Chihiro Hashimoto match, and started this match with some hard forearms in a challenge of the \u2018Wave style\u2019 against the \u2018Sendai style\u2019. Hirota\u2019s Wave style of course involved a lot of kancho attempts, and at one point \u2013 perhaps as a mind game \u2013 she invited Iwata to perform her Takada Junji move (her version of the people&#8217;s elbow) before catching her in the face with a boot. The Wave crowd was somewhat partisan, and when Chihiro Hashimoto tried to help her partner Iwata she received a chorus of boos. Iwata had to dig deep to survive Hirota\u2019s signature moves, and won after hitting a kancho of her own followed by a triangle kick from the corner. As an added bonus Hirota\u2019s children were on the Nico Pro commentary broadcast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Bolshoi Kid &amp;\nSakura Hirota vs. Aja Kong &amp; Gabai Jichan <\/strong>\u2013 OZ Academy, It Is The Dawn\nOf The Era, 14\/4<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This was Command Bolshoi\u2019s last OZ Academy event before her retirement, so while she appeared as Bolshoi Kid her partner Sakura Hirota appeared as Command Bolshoi. Aja Kong came to the ring doing the same gimmick as Gabai Jichan, which is essentially an old man who moves very slowly and uses a walking stick. This match was absolutely hilarious, as both Gabai and Kong moved so slowly, and Bolshoi Kid was having fun doing tricks, which left Sakura Hirota to actually be the serious one and try to have a wrestling match. This all lasted until Aja Kong took off her Jichan mask and reverted to her usual self. Hirota took the fall after an Aja Kong brainbuster. This match was really fun, and a good send off for Bolshoi ahead of her retirement ceremony later in the month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Hikaru Shida vs.\nMayumi Ozaki \u2013 <\/strong>OZ Academy, It Is The Dawn Of The Era, 14\/4<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This match was for Shida\u2019s OZ Openweight Title, and came\nabout after Ozaki won a number one contender\u2019s tournament earlier this year. This\nmatch also came in the wake of the announcement that Shida is joining AEW and\nwill be moving to the US later in the year. As such, the result here was\ninteresting, and probably not surprising that Shida dropped the title to Ozaki.\nThis followed the general format of Ozaki matches, in that Shida started off\nhot and then there was interference from Police and Yumi Ohka. Interestingly\nShida said that she wanted to fight Ozaki-gun on her own, but her former tag team\npartner Syuri came to help her when the numbers got too uneven, although Shida\nseemed to be ambivalent about accepting her help. Shida survived the interference,\nand Ozaki\u2019s poison mist, before she hit Ozaki with her own mist and a running knee\nstrike. However, Ozaki managed to steal a win with a quick roll up pin and walk\nout the new OZ Academy Champion. Recommended since this will probably be Shida\u2019s\nlast title defence before she leaves Japan for AEW.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Sareee vs. Meiko\nSatomura<\/strong> \u2013 Sendai Girls\u2019 Pro Wrestling, 16\/4<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sareee faced Meiko\nSatomura in her debut match 8 years ago, and this rematch was one of the best\nmatches of the year. Sareee wrestles for Pro Wrestling Diana so a lot of her\nmatches never make tape, although this year she\u2019s made quite a lot of\nappearances for Sendai Girls\u2019 which is a blessing since we get to see those\nmatches. This was a vicious match, with both wrestlers giving each other no\nquarter from hard strikes, hard kicks, and submissions. Sareee might have the\nhardest forearm strikes in all of wrestling right now, and she never holds\nback. She also hits a nasty looking dropkick to the face when her opponent is\non the bottom rope. Satomura came close to putting Sareee away with a Death\nValley Bomb, but Sareee managed to survive and hit two big uranages to pin\nSatomura. This was a huge win for Sareee, and shows the confidence that Sendai\nhas in giving her a push. This match is absolutely a must-see, and honestly the\nentire Sendai Girls\u2019 April 16<sup>th<\/sup> Korakuen Hall show is worth watching\nif you have the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"696\" height=\"392\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/vU8A-qTMNeI?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent&#038;enablejsapi=1\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Sakai Akai and Yukio\nSakaguchi vs. Rina Yamashita and Keisuke Okuda <\/strong>\u2013 DDT Yokohama Twilight,\n20\/4<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Really good, hard hitting mixed tag team match that featured some hard strikes and gave Yamashita and Akai the chance to show off in a stiff match. The opening couple of minutes was excellent \u2013 the crowd was nearly silent watching the wrestlers trade kicks and palm strikes. Yamashita hasn\u2019t been around much in 2019 outside of OZ Academy but hopefully DDT bring her back for more matches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ddtpro.com\/universe\/videos\/6136\">https:\/\/www.ddtpro.com\/universe\/videos\/6136<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Kris Wolf Retirement\nBattle Royal<\/strong> \u2013 Pro Wrestling Eve, 26\/4<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The third major retirement in April (after Pipipipi Pinano and Command Bolshoi) was Kirs Wolf, who got a great send off from Pro Wrestling Eve (as opposed to Stardom who were conspicuously silent about it). This was the traditional joshi retirement gauntlet match where Kris faced everyone else on the show \u2013 Laura di Matteo, Erin Angel, Rhia O\u2019Reilly, Jetta as Charlie Morgan, Rebel Kinny, Killer Kelly, Viper, Kay Lee Ray, Session Moth Martina, Nina Samuels, Jinny, Jamie Hayter, and Charlie Evans. The highlight of the match came when Kris was being beaten up by Jinny, Hayter, and Evans at the same time, and her old Oedo Tai stablemate Act Yasukawa came to the ring to make the save. It was an emotional night for everyone, and nice to see Eve give Kris a proper send off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/eveondemand.pivotshare.com\/media\/eve-%22we're-all-gonna-die-the-kris-wolf-retirement-show%22-april-26%2C-2019-\/86983\">https:\/\/eveondemand.pivotshare.com\/media\/eve-%22we&#8217;re-all-gonna-die-the-kris-wolf-retirement-show%22-april-26%2C-2019-\/86983<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Sareee vs. DASH Chisako<\/strong> \u2013 Sendai Girl\u2019s Pro Wrestling, 27\/4<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sareee continued to make her way through the Sendai Girls\u2019\nroster with a really good match against DASH Chisako. DASH has been wrestling\nfor a long time but it still feels like she goes under the radar when it comes\nto singles matches. Her current tag team with Hiroyo Matsumoto (Reiwa Ultimate\nPowers) is great, but I\u2019d like to see her get a singles push too. This match\nwas almost on par with the Sareee vs. Satomura match from earlier in the month,\nand DASH and Sareee just brutalised each other. Sareee probably has the edge in\npower, but DASH is so fast and her foot stomps look absolutely brutal. Sareee survived\nthis match and picked up the win again with an uranage, which makes sense given\nher challenge to Hashimoto.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"696\" height=\"392\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/JjMCObaw1Gs?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;start=1612&#038;wmode=transparent&#038;enablejsapi=1\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Arisa Nakajima &amp;\nSae vs. Miyuki Takase &amp; Himeka Arita \u2013 <\/strong>Seadlinnng, 28\/4<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This was the opening match of the Arisa Nakajima Produce\nshow that took place at the start of Golden Week. Nakajima and Sae beat Takase\nand Arita to win the Beyond the Sea tag team titles at Korakuen Hall in March, but\nin this rematch their opponents came in determined to avenge their loss. Arita\nin particular was fired up, since in the previous match she had accidentally\nknocked herself out when taking a German suplex from Nakajima, which led to the\nloss. Sae took the brunt of the damage in this match, which is unsurprising\nsince this was the first of three matches Nakajima was wrestling on this show,\nbut it was a good match and an emotional win for Takase and Arita, who\nannounced their tag team name as The Beginning after this show. Also notable\nfor Arisa Nakajima on commentary complaining about some obnoxious foreign fans\nin the audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Arisa Nakajima &amp;\nTsukasa Fujimoto &amp; Takumi Iroha vs. Hamuko Hoshi &amp; Mochi Miyagi &amp; Yoshiko\n<\/strong>\u2013 Seadlinnng, 28\/4<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The second match of the night for Arisa Nakajima, as she teamed up with Tsukasa Fujimoto, her Best Friends tag team partner, and Takumi Iroha to take on the Lovely Butchers and Yoshiko. The lead up to this match was full of questions about whether Takumi Iroha would join in singing the Best Friends&#8217; entrance theme (something that Tsukasa and Arisa do on their way to the ring). Iroha was initially very reluctant, but by the time the match came around she joined in with enthusiasm. Yoshiko also joined in the Lovely Butchers&#8217; pre-match dance number, and generally seeing Yoshiko copying the Lovely Butchers&#8217; antics was excellent. This match featured lots of fun spots, including Yoshiko doing Hamuko Hoshi&#8217;s special move, the Ham Roll. Tsukasa Fujimoto picked up the win for her team to end the Heisei era with a Best Friends&#8217; victory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Konami vs. Arisa\nHoshiki<\/strong> \u2013 Stardom, 29\/4<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This was the final of the Cinderella Tournament, a one day tournament that Stardom holds annually and allows the winner to have a wish granted. Konami made it through her side of the bracket by beating most of her former Queen\u2019s Quest stablemates, while Arisa beat fellow Stars member Tam Nakano and Natsuko Tora to get to the final. This was a good match, particularly in light of the fact that it was the fourth match both women had wrestled in one day. Konami targeted Arisa\u2019s legs with her submissions in an attempt to neutralise Hoshiki\u2019s Brazilian Kick finisher, which worked to an extent, although Arisa was still able to catch Konami with some strong kicks. Arisa also broke out some of her new moves, including a knee strike to the face and a sort of corkscrew splash from the top rope. Ultimately Arisa was victorious after a Brazilian Kick connected with Konami, and following her victory she challenged Momo Watanabe to a match for the Wonder of Stardom title.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.stardom-world.com\/set\/343\/contents\/342?fcid=1\">https:\/\/www.stardom-world.com\/set\/343\/contents\/342?fcid=1<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Recap of the Month<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There were three major\nretirements in the world of joshi wrestling in April \u2013 Command Bolshoi of Pure-J,\nPipipipi Pinano of TJPW, and Kris Wolf, formerly of Stardom. Bolshoi\u2019s retirement\nshow hasn&#8217;t aired yet, but it looks to have been an excellent Korakuen Hall\nshow to bring an end to her 27 year career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>OZ Academy <\/strong>crowned a new Openweight champion as Mayumi Ozaki defeated Hikaru Shida to\nwin the title for the third time. The Seikigun team of Maya Yukihi and Saori\nAnou challenged Beast Friends for the tag team titles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Pro Wrestling Wave <\/strong>returned from their hiatus on April 1<sup>st<\/sup>,\nand announced their participants for Catch the Wave that starts on May 5<sup>th<\/sup>.&nbsp; There will be four blocks: Technical, Power,\nVisual, and Young. The Technical block is Mika Iwata, Sakura Hirota, Takumi\nIroha, and Rin Kadokura. The Power block is Yuki Miyazaki, Yuu, Takase Miyuki,\nand Ryo Mizunami. The Visual block is Yumi Ohka, Nagisa Nozaki, Himeka Arita,\nand Hikaru Shida. The Young block is HIRO\u2019e, Ibuki Hoshi, Haruka Umesaki, and Maria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Stardom<\/strong> held their annual draft in April, which led to the tragic dissolution of\nJungle Assault Nation. Jungle Kyona was drafted to Hana Kimura\u2019s Tokyo Cyber\nSquad unit, as was Konami, while Natsuko Tora went to Oedo Tai. Despite the\ndeath of JAN, mixing up the units during the draft and the subsequent push for\nKonami and Arisa Hoshiki in the Cinderella Tournament is an interesting development.\nArisa Hoshiki challenged Momo Watanabe for a Wonder of Stardom title shot after\nher Cinderella Tournament win, and Bea Priestley challenged Kagetsu for the\nWorld of Stardom title.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling<\/strong> set up a Princess of Princess title match\nbetween Miyu Yamashita and Shoko Nakajima for their Korakuen Hall show at the\nstart of May, as well as a challenge by Maki Itoh to Aja Kong and a tag team\ntitle match between Magical Sugar Rabbits and Pandemic Boo Boo (Natsumi Maki\nand Noa Hikari).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sareee challenged\nChihiro Hashimoto for the <strong>Sendai Girls\u2019\nPro Wrestling <\/strong>World Championship. Hashimoto said that she would accept\nSareee\u2019s challenge if she wins the WWWD World Championship at the upcoming <strong>Diana<\/strong> Korakuen Hall show.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Ice Ribbon<\/strong> announced the debut of their former referee and current Triangle Ribbon\nChampion Bunny Oikawa for the beginning of May. Her first match will be a title\nmatch against Maya Yukihi and Tsukasa Fujimoto. After losing their tag team\ntitle challenge, Miyako Matsumoto challenged Makoto to a \u201closer leaves Ice\nRibbon\u201d match in May.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Marvelous <\/strong>have their third anniversary show on May 12<sup>th<\/sup>, and they spent April\ndoing promotional work ahead of that show. The headline match is Takumi Iroha\nvs. Yoshiko, and the three Marvelous rookies have singles matches \u2013 Mikoto Shindo\nvs. Ryo Mizunami, Mei Hoshizuki vs. Arisa Nakajima, and Maria vs. Chihiro\nHashimoto.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Quick Hits<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Wrestler of the Month: <\/strong>Sareee<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Match of the Month: <\/strong>Sareee vs. Meiko Satomura<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Show of the Month: <\/strong>Sendai Girl\u2019s Pro Wrestling Korakuen Hall 14\/4<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Tag Team of the Month: <\/strong>Takase Miyuki and Himeka Arita (The Beginning)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Favourite New Unit: <\/strong>Tokyo Cyber Squad<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This time around I decided that I would try a different format to talk about joshi wrestling in April. Instead of doing a longer summary of each promotion, I thought [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":11159,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2,881,880,22,640,377],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12499","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-featured","category-joshi-reviews","category-joshi-wrestling","category-reviews","category-stardom-reviews","category-tokyo-joshi-pro"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9jnWd-3fB","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Screenshot-2019-02-06-at-17.11.51-e1549512435862.png?fit=450%2C73&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12499","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12499"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12499\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12733,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12499\/revisions\/12733"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}