August 2017

Pulled the conclusion from my longer review on the Usos thread in Microscope because I think this match deserves some attention. That was incredible. The first few minutes were relatively routine but well worked tag procedure. The Usos had good strikes as always and have a perfect heel demeanour. Once the hot tag came then shit got real. I've said that the Usos have great ending sequences but here they esentially did three in a row, culminating in a huge nearfall for themselves, a huge nearfall for New Day and then the victory. The crowd were popping huge for the big spots and, although all four workers had excellent performances, I want to particularly shout out X…

Talk about it here.

Talk about it here.

Talk about it here.

Zack's work over Lethal is brutal all the way through the match. In the early stages Lethal tries to match his mat game, but then he realizes that you shouldn't try that with ZSJ, so he is in big trouble until he starts busting out those high impact comeback flurries of his. ZSJ was great as always with his work on top & Lethal was great fighting from underneath. Great stuff. ****

Best Friends (Arisa Nakajima & Tsukasa Fujimoto) vs. Avid Rival (Misaki Ohata & Ryo Mizunami) This was a 20-minute rollercoaster of double team moves and surly elbow strikes. Arisa/Ohata seems to be the end goal of this best of three series, and I dug the heat building segments between them. ****1/4

TLC Rules Match: Nanae Takahashi vs. The Great Sasuke This match was mostly about The Great Sasuke trying to cripple himself. He sets up traps that do not work out in his favor, time and time again. Nanae wasn't holding back, Sasuke was willing to take hideous punishment, and I thought the action generally flowed well into the high spots. This was a lot of fun. ****

This is a semi-final of the Ultra U-7 tournament. Iroha does a good job of controlling the early going with her matwork. Sareee does manage to get some momentum back when she is able to pick up the pace. Iroha keeps baiting her into strike exchange though, and while Sareee does hit hard, she doesn't hit as hard as Iroha. Iroha has looked fantastic in this tournament so far. ****

ULTRA U-7 Tournament - Final: Takumi Iroha vs. Yoshiko I wasn't really into this one. It starts to pick up when Iroha does a tremendous sell of Yoshiko's sleeper hold, she was foaming at the mouth, struggling to catch her breath.. but the work before it was dull. Definitely one of the weaker Yoshiko matches this year. ***

A pretty classic apuestas match with a lot of intrigue and pagentry. For one, it was up in the air who was losing. Secondly, the crowd really bit on every near fall and had a nervous energy that was impressive to watch. As far as the actual work of the men, I didn't think Psycho was up to snuff but Wagner gave a splendid performance. His crowd brawling was excellent and the way he ripped the mask of Psycho and went for the cut was vicious. Psycho did provide some good nearfalls down the stretch and I liked the match ending on his big Code Red finisher. Wagner is a silver fox and looks like a cartel leader so he will be fine without the mask. ****1/2

Look-this is modern wrestling-things aren’t perfect. You’re going to get Edwards popping up and doing an enzuigiri at a time where the match would’ve benefited form some patience and a later transition. You’re going to see some predictable irish whip transitions, and counters (though only one really stood out in this match) where long-term selling is ignored for the immediate pop. But, all things considered, I think they did a very good job of building a match around classic NOAH tropes, sticking to their strengths in striking (Edwards’ chops really have improved significantly) and kicking and letting the match play out and gradually increasing the intensity, adding bigge…

5★STAR GP Red Stars Block: Hana Kimura vs. Hiromi Mimura I really enjoyed Hana's control segment in this. She attacks Hiromi with the Oedo Tai sign, she makes Fuka (reluctantly) pull Hiromi's other leg around the post, and then she uses an old guy from the crowd as leverage. There's also a spot where she strangles Hiromi with her sash that looked vicious. The heel work was amazing, and she was very aggressive throughout, really laying in those strikes. Hiromi's the perfect target for bullying. ***

5★STAR GP Blue Stars Block: Io Shirai vs. Jungle Kyona Io's injured neck is the MVP of this tournament! I'm liking the matches being built around it so far. Kyona brought her wild energy as the aggressor. Io was bumping hard, and there were nifty spots, like the tombstone counters and Io's springboard dropkick sequence. ***3/4

I didn't know what to expect here as these two had a very good draw last year but their title match in July was a dud. Surprisingly, Bito was a standout here. She worked at a near BattlArts level here, just drilling Iwatani with her strikes and stretching her out with her submission. It forced Iwatani to have to go big on offense to have a chance and she manages to steal the win with a reverse rana. Best match of the 5*GP after three nights. ***3/4

Dream Dragon Bombers (Rika Tatsumi, Maho Kurone & Shiro Koshinaka) vs. NEO Biishiki-gun (Saki-sama, Martha & Yukio Saint Laurent) This was a lot of fun. Koshinaka was the most over performer in the building. I'm liking Yukio in this doctor gimmick, he is measured and calculates his movements; silky smooth! Rika getting her big win over Saki-sama was a nice moment. ***3/4

Miyu Yamashita vs. Meiko Satomura These two had a heated post-match when they met at DDT's big show in Saitama, so I liked how they skipped the 'feeling out process' and went right at it. Satomura was mowing down Miyu with kicks, but Miyu manages to cut Satomura off and rallies with head stomps. I really liked her aggression in that sequence, and when she locks in a cobra clutch. Satomura gave Miyu more than I expected, so kudos to that. ****

TOKYO Princess of Princess Championship: Yuka Sakazaki © vs. Reika Saiki This is one of those matches that has a gradual build up to a fucking wild finishing run, and it makes everything that happened leading up to it worth it. Reika rolls out of the way of Yuka's Magic Splash and connects with a shining wizard to the back, followed by another before a jackhammer -- such an awesome comeback sequence, delivered with finality from Muscle Waifu! ****

Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship: Yuu © vs. Nodoka-oneesan vs. Marika Kobashi Kobashi's my least favorite joshi ever -- not a fan! But this was the best match of her career; working in a 3way hid her weaknesses well, and I was totally into the chop battle she has with Yuu. Also, YUU! Her new attire is incredible!! ***1/2

On par with their BOSJ '17 match. Ricochet dominated most of it, doing great work at that, Ospreay was really damn good selling for him - loved his rag doll selling of Ricochet's kicks while he was on the ground. His comebacks were really good as well + that finish was very neat. Even the annoying 'we're equals' flippy sequence they always do looked pretty cool because they were still wearing their entrance gear, looking like goddamn superheroes. Really good match. ***3/4

Welp, they did it again. This was the Nomura showcase in a Strong BJ formula match, and of course it works like a charm. Fun shine segment with Naoya and KAI getting the upperhand over the two beasts before the young kid gets pummeled by Daisuke, from then on we got the always awesome "small team tries to come back against Sekimoto & Okabayashi" comeback story, with Nomura being the stand out, showing great fire and good offense while a really good Sumo Hall crowd rallies behind him. This had dope spots and nearfalls and kept building drama until the end. Fucking awesome tag match, what a year for Strong BJ, best fucking tag team in the world.

This was a really good match that had the potential to be fantastic had Miyahara deviated from his go-to formulaic approach. I mean, you had all the Kento "ace" tropes here: the hard in-the-moment selling but convenient bouts of amnesia to shoe in his signature spots and then the final minute comeback barrage of endless knees. But it was a brutally fought match and for the most part, the conveyed struggle, fatigue and desperation on Miyahara's part was great, coupled with the relentless Ishikawa trying to destroy any chance Miyahara has of beating him. I liked all the grunty neckwork building to the gnarly Fire Thunder Driver on the apron that was sold like absolute death…

Asahi vs. Manami Toyota This was Asahi's debut and she's against Manami Toyota! Asahi's peers were surrounding the ring, cheering her on, the crowd was super into; this was lots of fun. ***1/2

Best Friends (Arisa Nakajima & Tsukasa Fujimoto) vs. Avid Rival (Misaki Ohata & Ryo Mizunami) Stupendous spotfest. Absolutely phenomenal. ****3/4

ICE×∞ Championship: Risa Sera © vs. Maya Yukihi This caught me by surprise -- I didn't know Maya-obachan had it in her. Her leg work was great and she had all of these clever counters to Sera's offense, and those kicks and knees to the head were brutal. Sera's comebacks were kind of selling-free, but her offense looked strong and much better than it has looked in past defenses. Can't say enough about Maya's control segments. She needs the belt immediately! ****1/2

5★STAR GP Red Stars Block: Hana Kimura vs. Xia Brookside Very surprised that this turned out to be a good match. The pacing was there, the counters were neat and well-timed. It was interesting to see Hana try to out-grapple Xia as that isn't her usual style of wrestling, and I'm liking the brutality of her octopus hold. ***