donsem43
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Everything posted by donsem43
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That this match is happening at Korakuen rather than a bigger building lends some credence to this. Both are on a poster for shows later on in March too. Apparently, the match is not a title match nor a retirement match just loser leaves the promotion. It is a shame that this is completely overshadowing a terrific performance from Rina in the main event vs. Starlight Kid.
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Got the Stardom Korakuen show because it was cheap and on in the evening for me. The place looked legit packed, about the only other Stardom show that had this many people in Korakuen would be the last Io Shirai show in 2018. Greatly enjoyed both of the title matches. The Artists titles match was the flat out trios match that you would expect. Meanwhile, I thought the world title match would be more of a crowd brawl with entranceway/balcony. Instead they started with a nifty stalling spot, did a short bit of crowd brawling, then proceeded to do straight up bomb throwing for the rest of the match. The bomb throwing was pretty well paced out with the Star Crusher starting to be a legit finisher. Don't know what to make of the Sayaka Kurara stuff. Not crazy about the prospect of a Saya/Tam rematch at Yokohama Arena but it's too early to turn Kurara, especially since H.A.T.E. already has a large number of members. This has been a really well done angle that I wish was getting more attention. I guess people outside of joshi fandom are sick of seeing joshi fans overrate pretty much everything the last few years. I'll say this, I had serious doubts at the start but now I'm completely sold on the Phenex Queen gimmick. Honestly think Kamitani has the chance to be a Naito type star for Stardom.
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If you haven't watched Mercedes vs. Hazuki, or just wanted to rewatched it with an old hand-held vibe, someone recorded it with their phone and uploaded it to YouTube.
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So, is Mayu Iwatani vs. AZM for the IWGP Women's title a show stealing match or a show saving match?
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To me, it's more worrying that Stardom has blown through a year's worth of angles in about a month and a half. There's just too much happening all at once that when one thing happens it overshadows something else. I wouldn't be surprised if the whole Natsuko push is fueled by Bushiroad wanting to capitalize on the Dump Matsumoto show coming out on Netflix. Heel Kamitani sounds about as milquetoast as heel Io Shirai/Iyo Sky. I'm not going to say "Let it play out." because I bailed on New Japan after Omega and the Bucks took over Bullet Club and never looked back.
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Bayley vs. Meiko Satomura for the WWE Women's title at Sumo Hall:
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If you live in Canada, this is now available to stream for Amazon Prime Video subscribers. A Google search says that it is now available in the U.S. on Max.
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Sad but not surprising given that she suffered two major injuries in a little more than a year. Her announcement feels similar to Azumi Hyuga in that either one of them could have kept going but at this moment in their life it just felt like it was time. On the Omega/Rossy stuff, it's probably going to blow over because the people who are most upset are ones that weren't going to follow, much less pay to watch, Marigold anyway. Out of all of the promotions entering a "New Era", TJPW at least feels like it's legitimately entering one:
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He's the Mary Sue of pro wrestling to a fault.
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This has been happening on the regular happening since the mid-90's, since GAEA and Jd' started up. Look at how many companies sprung up when both AJW and GAEA shut down. I just roll my eyes when I see other people proclaiming something like "This is a new era in joshi wrestling!" Karen Peterson of Post Wrestling did a good job explaining the mentality behind this on the Pollock & Thurston podcast. She also did a thread on her twitter feed linking the articles she used as reference material. I would also highly recommend watching the documentary "Tokyo Idols" if you have trouble wrapping your head around how in Japan it's accepted to market young women, even in their early teens, to middle-aged men or older.
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Quick and dirty about Rossy Ogawa's new promotion Marigold. It's Stardom before it was sold to Bushiroad but with a yellorangey aesthetic. As more time passes, the more it looks like Rossy just pulled a Bert Prentice. Also, six wrestlers from Actwres girl'Z, which still exists somehow, have jumped along with Fuka, who was helping run the company. So now Marigold reunites the original management team of Stardom (Rossy, Fuka and Nanae Takahashi) because that ended so well last time. Don't ever let anyone tell you the joshi wrestling isn't as carny as any other part of pro wrestling. Rossy was asked about more talent joining, he replied that there might be a couple more joining but that's it so don't wait around expecting another wave of Stardom defections in the near future. First show is on May 20th with the main event being a tag match Giulia and a mystery partner vs. Sareee and a mystery partner.
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Over the last week or so, there have been Japanese fans tweeting publicity shots of the Stardom roster to Starlight Kid asking her why she's not in them. There is a poster for All-Star Grand Queendom that doesn't feature either SLK, Koguma or Ami Sohrei. So, were any of them on their way out only to be talked into staying in the last few weeks. It's weird that advertising for one of the companies biggest shows of the year doesn't have arguably the most marketable wrestler in SLK or the woman who just got a push to the Cinderella final in Sohrei. It's possible that either of contracts are expiring at a later date but at the moment this comes off as a weird coincidence.
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So, Tokyo Sports is reporting that five members of the Stardom roster will be leaving at the end of March. Following the previously reported Giulia are Utami Hayashishita, MIRAI, Mai Sakurai and rookie Yuzuki. All are expected to join Rossy Ogawa's new group, with Giulia eventually moving on to WWE. Earlier this week, Stardom announced that they had signed Saori Anou to a one year "exclusive" contract, although she will still be able to take some outside bookings. Edit: Stardom has officially confirmed the departures.
