November 2017

I actually liked this better than anything on the Takeover card. I still find it so awesome that before he got a job in the WWE, Gargano was one of my least favorite guys around in the indies & now he really is one of the best babyfaces WWE got. And that was on display here as expected - he was excellent with his hope spots, emotion & selling. Dunne was great as well with his work over him - loved the arm targeting. Great match. ****

The best match of the show, in my opinion, and one of the better tag matches of the year. Terrific chemistry between all four guys, and while the double team stuff looked a little off, the one-on-one interactions were the bread-and-butter. I really liked the opening exchanges, especially the back-and-forth on the mat between Akito and HARASHIMA. I'm a big fan of Akito's legwork as he's always finding creative ways to keep it fresh, and the set-up to it here was great, with him pestering HARASHIMA to the point he gets caught up in the ropes. The exchanges between Takeshita and Marufuji felt special, and for once, Marufuji was out-chopped. Good build to the home stretch wit…

This was the most notable matchup of the first round of the Young Ice tournament. Both of these women are part of the growing group of talented young workers on the Ice Ribbon roster. This match is a good example of where both of these are at this point of there careers. Nagasaki is a technical wrestler who has started to mix in some flashy highspots with more of an aggressive attitude. Nori DATE is the most promising of the Team DATE girls although she definitely has a couple of sloppy moments in each of her matches. Another nice look at the future of Ice Ribbon. ***1/2

This is Maika's title shot that she earned after winning the four way elimination match at the last Korakuen show back in October. Like that four way, this was another strong performance for Maika. She gets early control of the match by using her power effective, catching Sera off guard since she almost always has a size advantage over her opponents. Sera had a very good performance here too as she has to change tactics and starts busting out some big moves in order to even the score. Even though the it's a bit on the short side, this is still a quality title match. ***3/4

TOKYO Princess Tag Team Championship: Miracle Apricots (Yuka Sakazaki & Syoko Nakajima) © vs. Super Milk Combination (Nonoko & Yuna Manase) Fun match between two fun teams. I thought the boob double teams were clever. I didn't feel strongly about the closer between Syoko and Nonoko, would've been much better if Yuka was there. I think she could have put together a more compelling finishing run. Good match, still. ***

TOKYO Princess of Princess Championship Next Challenger & Iron Man Heavymetalweight Championship: Yuu © vs. Miyu Yamashita Yuu is on another level when it comes to making her offense look legit. I was wincing at some of the things she was doing to her opponent. Miyu went through hell, her chest reddened from Yuu's chops. She fought hard for the comeback and it felt earned. What a match. ****1/2

Regina di WAVE Championship: Misaki Ohata © vs. Nagisa Nozaki Nozaki's sleeper hold has been built up as a powerful maneuver for the past couple of months, and right out the gate she suckers Ohata into it with a handshake. Ohata escapes, but Nozaki never let's up the pressure, she takes any opportunity to go for the sleeper. The suspense and sense of danger was incredible. Ohata gave a stronger ace performance in her bumping and rallies. Some of the best storytelling I've seen in joshi puroresu this year. ****1/2

This was exactly the kind of insanity you expect from Gage, only amplified by the fact that he's in there with one of the absolute best wrestlers in the world working a match well out of his comfort zone. David Starr's performance in this match is absolutely fantastic and visceral. He doesn't shy from taking bumps into tacks and wire, and takes a shitload of staples to the head too. The highspots in this aren't the craziest you'll see in a Gage match this year, but they're incredibly well positioned in the structure of the match and the violence escalates gradually at a great pace. The closing minutes have some awkwardness as Starr tries to cut some barbed wire off of…