March 2017

This is for Storm's SWA title and is Kyona's forth title match this year. I really enjoyed the opening with Storm trying to use her British style matwork but Kyona countering it with her strength so Toni has to get inventive in order to counter back. Very good back and forth at the finish with Storm busting out some nice new offense. Another standout title match performance from Kyona and one of the better performances from Storm. ***3/4

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These two get in each others faces right at the start of the match and don't really let up the whole time. Anytime either one takes a moment to taut the other she would just rush over and clock the other. Even though this is only a ten minute match, they use the time effectively enough the during the closing moments as the crowd are buying the near falls at the end. Hopefully there will be a longer rematch in the future because these two had great chemistry together here. ***3/4

This was the opener of the Joshi Pro show that WAVE put on to feature younger wrestlers with all of the matches having 10 minute time limits. The match is pretty much what you would expect from these two at this point. It's super physical with a lot of power spots. That works out well as they manage to have the crowd fairly hot for the end of the time limit. Certainly hopeful that there will be a more meaningful rematch in the near future. ***3/4

Sumire Natsu vs. Takumi Iroha Sumire tries to offer Iroha an invitation to her Y-shirt match, but Iroha isn't having it and gives her a kick to the head! Iroha presses the advantage, but Sumire is able to make a sudden counter on the outside, tossing Iroha into the ring post. This went 3 minutes; Sumire did her sexy heel thing, perfecting the bronco buster, and Iroha made her 'no nonsense' comeback with a crushing Running Three. ***3/4

Given her experience in Ice Ribbon, it should come as no surprise that Fujimoto can have a good match with an inexperienced worker. Still, Kadokura looked pretty damn good here and shows that Chigusa Nagayo still can be a great trainer. While she doesn't do anything flashy, Kadokura is extremely good at taking advantage of any opportunities given to her plus is great at being the rookie looking to get the big upset. Can't wait to she how she does in the Catch the WAVE tourney. Tsukka is Tsukka here, just another great performance from one of the most underappreciated joshi talents. One of the better vet/rookie matches from this year. ***3/4

Was at the show last night at Mohegan Sun. Wicked fun! USOS vs American Alpha was bitchin! Easy ****1/4they killed it. Love AA as the Neo-Steiners just tossing muthafuckas around. It was so cool watching GRONK lose his mind for those nearfalls. That false hot tag sequence ruled! One of the best I have ever seen! I was biting on all sort of nearfalls because I didn't think they switch titles and then I thought they would. I became so absorbed in it. I thought escalation in this match was really good! The crowd was dead at beginning but they totally won them over. Hell they made me do something I thought never do...chant "This is awesome". They deserved it not just for…

Love me some awesome squash matches, and this sure was one of those. Watching Asuka on the offense is always a thing of beauty, her offense is just so fantastic, and I loved the cocky character work she showed here. ***1/2

Pro Wrestling fucking lives in North Carolina at the Mid-Atlantic Sportatorium! This match got unbelievable hype by those who attended the show & I was honestly afraid it wouldn't live up to my insanely high expectations, but who I am to doubt Chip Day & TREVOR F'N LEE? This lived up to all the hype. All of it. CWF Worldwide episodes drop at 9 PM, it's 4 AM my time & my plan was to watch this when I wake up - but I couldn't sleep & once I noticed that the episode had been uploaded, I just had to give it a watch right away. Was so hyped for this shit. Let's talk about how Trevor Lee is quite possibly the best wrestler in the world. He wrestles a pretty d…

Nothing like watching Virus earning himself a paycheck. You could probably stick him against any half competent dude and get a strong 20 minute match out of it. And that's pretty much what happens here. Prayer doesn't exactly leave a huge impression, occasionally Virus would feed him holds and he'd do rudimentary reversals or try a move of his own. But mostly he was there as the local guy for the fans to rally behind against the nationally recognized master, and get yanked around and stretched for the 20 minutes duration. Virus is skillful enough to sink into tricked out and painful looking submissions on any unsuspecting guy and there was plenty of that to behold. Prayer…

Akane Miura vs. Miyu Yamashita This was Akane Miura's 'graduation match' so she gave a lot of effort her to go out with a bang. Miyu's armwork here is great, she begins by catching Akane in a wrist-lock and picking apart the limb with knee thrusts and upward kicks; sold awesomely and consistently. Miyu explodes with a volley of strikes, but Akane absorbs the hits Ishii-style and roars back on the offensive. Brilliant stuff. I like how Miyu has evolved the Crash Rabbit Heat from a jumping PK to a jumping knee strike (a la Marufuji). An awesome clash of power and technique. ***3/4

Konkatsu-gun (Azusa Takigawa & Nonoko) vs. Yuu & Syoko Nakajima Nonoko was the MVP of this match. She is a genius of the ring. How often do you see a wrestler block a 619 with their boobs? Yuu and Azusa's segment begins with a great codebreaker reversal that shows off Yuu's strength, but then they have some awkward transitions where they look lost. Nonoko hits a double Boinmaker. The Mega Milk Maiden has never look better. Azusa takes Yuu's John Woo kick at full-force and has a nasty bruise on her back to show for it. Yuu tosses Azusa around a bit and then effortlessly dispatches the #1 contender with a sleeper, which has me interested in how they'll work thei…

Arisa Nakajima vs. Tsukasa Fujimoto Training with Nanae has turned Arisa into a savage. She was decimating Fujimoto in truly wicked fashion; her offense looked so intense and raw, especially those vicious knees against the ropes. Fujimoto reciprocates with unruly kicks and stomps to the head. Arisa mocks Tsukasa's Ocean Cyclone, but instead of properly performing the move she just drops Tsukasa flat on her face, total disrespect. I thought they worked well towards the time limit draw, the pacing was red hot and they kept things fresh and dramatic up until that point. ****

International Ribbon Tag Team Championship: Avid Rival (Misaki Ohata & Ryo Mizunami) © vs. This is Ice Ribbon (Hiiragi Kurumi & Tsukushi) Avid Rival are such a destructive, hard-hitting duo. Some of the bumps that Tsukushi took here were truly frightening for someone so tiny. Kurumi's been looking especially good lately; I loved that segment she had with Mizunami, who was hot-blooded and stiff as always. Tsukushi's finisher set-ups looked way too contrived for my taste, which seems to be a theme in Ice Ribbon. ***3/4

ICE×∞ Championship: Risa Sera © vs. Rina Yamashita Risa Sera, Sera Risa, I don't know... she doesn't do it for me, especially when being booked at this level. I thought the strike battles in this were nice and heated; Sera was laying in those palm thrusts. Yamashita is one of my favorites and I'm glad she got to main event Korakuen Hall. She had nice moments like the suplex on the ramp and those awesome lariats. But then we get to the ugly... Sera's diving somato is particularly awful because her opponent has to stand there like a doofus while she hesitates to jump. There's nothing worse than a 'finisher set-up' that looks super phony and contrived and makes your oppo…

Two wrestlers w/ amazing looking offense beating each other up. I like it. They told a good story of Riddle being in constant trouble as WALTER got the size & experience advantage - every time Riddle made his awesome fiery comebacks, WALTER got something in his backpocket to bust out. WALTER was really great as the aggressor & Riddle was really great as the underdog working from underneath. This was great graps. ****1/4

Wonder of Stardom Championship: Kairi Hojo © vs. Konami Konami is such a fascinating character. Outside of the ring, she's a UFO enthusiast who vlogs about eating 'shit curry', but in-ring she is reserved, focused and rarely makes a sound. This was such an amazing sequel to their match at WILD HERO 2. Konami picks apart Hojo's limbs with hellish kicks and submission holds; arm, leg, whichever she can get access to. Hojo was in shambles by the end of this, she sold everything wonderfully, and her comebacks were hard-hitting and hard-fought. It's so nice to see that signing with WWE hasn't stopped her from taking crazy bumps like the neck-drop she takes on the German su…

Akiyama was an amateur wrestler and we rarely see that side of him, here he and Sato basically decide to work a shoot style match, and it's neat. Akiyama uses his amawres base to control Sato and manages to constantly feed him various leglocks and armbars and then escape from them. Even Akiyama's regular offence like the Exploder and the Necklock get a more shooty vibe, as he deadlifts Sato in a Armlock counter for the former and grabs a standing one before sweeping Sato's foot for the latter. The crowd buys into submission nearfalls, they put over their peril and it works. I also got a kick out of Sato using a Seoi Otoshi to take down Akiyama, which is totally what an ou…

This was a condensed version of their time limit draw from earlier in the month, with the same sense of struggle and sluggishness in the back half. Suzuki once again displays his awesome in-ring awareness. I love the way he manipulates Sekimoto's fingers in order to lock him in the stretch plum. Even when Sekimoto manages to escape, Suzuki stays on him with a cravate, holding onto it after Daisuke tries to slam his way out, and then working that into a neckbreaker. He does such a good job of staying on top Sekimoto, not giving him much room to breath if any. Sekimoto was pretty great here too, selling Suzuki's strikes so well. I really like how he uses a sleeper to distr…

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Well what the hell. This was such a spectacle - and I thought it was a legitimately great pro rasslin' match. Shoot stylish (as you would expect), with a real element of danger to it - Dan Severn, at 58 years old, worked this match with such sense of urgency. What a man. They just beat the crap out of each other & I friggin' loved it. ****

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Such a fun heavyweight bombfest. There wasn't any feeling out processes or anything - just straight full on big boy action from start to finish. Keith Lee continues to prove himself as one of the best wrestlers in the world & Donovan Dijak looked very impressive in defeat - one of those cases where even though he lost, he still won. Awesome, awesome match. ****