May 2016

TOKYO Princess of Princess Championship: Miyu Yamashita © vs. Yuka Sakazaki Yuka begins with tactical espionage magic as a form of psychological warfare. She's a crafty genie, but Miyu has a dangerous repertoire of strike-combinations as an extensive as her jaw. This was loads of fun. Sakazaki's execution is silky-smooth, especially her hurricanrana. I kinda felt like Miyu was holding back on her kicks a bit, usually lays them in more, but good performance otherwise. The crowd was 'on-board', buying into the submission struggles and near-falls. ***1/2

These two have another hate filled brawl, but this time inside a steel cage match! Puerto Rican wrestling really feels like a cartoon that's come to life-but more in the vein of Hellsing than Scooby Doo. Basically-there's a lot of ridiculous stuff that ask you to suspend your disbelief, but they do a good job of consitently following through on the logic of the universe they're in. Like I'm not sure whether they were using a taser or a stapler, but the weapon choices can get pretty goofy. Still-they surround it with enough violence you can just immerse yourself into it and enjoy it for what it is-and you get some really cool spots like an Alabama Slam into a side of a cag…

It's Chelsea Diamond's first match back in Stardom in 2016, as well as Haruka Kato's last match for a while, continuing the sad trend of Stardom retirements and semiretirements. Haruka acts like a face with the prematch handshakes, but Hiroyo shrugs them off. The match starts with her and Kairi, who have a singles match coming up. Hiroyo establishes her physical dominance, but Kairi is able to keep up with everything and they have a superhero staredown before they tag out to Chelsea and Haruka. There's continued taunting from Hiroyo throughout the match, and Kairi goes out of her way to pay it off by attacking Hiroyo. A double elbow drop from Candy Crush leads into bi…

It's Kris Wolf's return after a few months absence. This is established as a comedy match from the beginning, as Kris Wolf acts traumatized when the ref inspects her tail. There's a pre-match hand-tail shake between the two competitors. They work the usual opening armwrench exchange, which Kris ends by biting Kid's arm. Oedo Tai distracts the ref and Kris bites the ear of Starlight Kid's tiger mask. This is probably the comedic peak of the match. There's a nice bit of continuity later as Kris traps Starlight Kid's head with a hold and pulls on the part of the mask she bit. They have a lot of counters and reversals, including a transition from a giant swing into a Boston c…

It's the debut of another gaijin in Stardom, this time Shanna from Portugal. She's going up against the rookie Hiromi Mimura, who has recently had some good outings in tag matches. Hiromi brings the chops at the beginning of the match, with little effect to Shanna. Shanna throws Hiromi into the opposite corner, which leads to an awkward looking dropkick from Hiromi and a poor wind-up punch from Shanna. In the middle of the match it looks like Shanna is just moving from point A to point B to set up for the next spot. Shanna looks a lot better when she's on offense near the end. She milks the crowd a lot longer than most wrestlers do in Stardom, but she gets a decent reacti…

I LOVE PRO WRESTLING. If you're looking for transcendent violence and WAR-esque matches filled with actual hate instead of just lame and tired tropes that have clouded modern japanese wrestling this is your best bet. Just an amazing match with Hideki Suzuki and Nakanoue murdering each other and unleashing shoot headbutts and Futen head kicks and stomps on each other. The match gets thrown out and then restarted, Suzuki'spartner tries to hold him back and then Suzuki loses him temper and beats the hell out of him and all the young boys.......honestly if you like violence in pro wrestling I cannot imagine you not loving this match. The only complaint I could see is that it …

Marty Scurll on commentary for this one. This is Strong Style Wrestling at its best in this match , if your not a fan then you won't like this match at all , but if you like Strong Style Wrestling then you will love this match , as I did! Hero and Tommy lay into each other with massive chops to start , both guys obsorbing and taking the fulllbrunt of each shot. "Idiot on Idiot violence" - Marty Scurll Both wrestlers take it to the outside and continue the violence into the crowd , the roundhouse kicks that both guys are delivering are loud and very impactful. Spinning elbows , spinning jumping roundhouse kicks to the face and head! This match becomes so …

Super Strong Style 16 Tournament in London England. Match starts off with intense stare down from both competitors across the ring from each other. They rush towards each other both looking for the early kill. Tommy End lands a roundhouse kick that takes Callihan's head off! Sami is out! Its over already , or so it seems , Sami kicks out on two. Two!....Sami gets outside the ring , Tommy follows , Callihan manages to shake the kick off and starts to get his wits about him , he starts fighting back and manages to get the upper hand outside of the ring , they are brawling and throwing each other into chairs and fighting through the crowd. Its intense fighting from Calli…