Wonder of Stardom Championship: Mayu Iwatani © vs. Hana Kimura

 

This starts off lighthearted with Hana's sexy dance spot, but then she starts to work over the legs, until she decides to single out the leg wrapped in blue with one of the best ankle locks I have ever seen; Mayu is caught when she tries for a superkick and she is frantically trying to escape the hold, and her lankiness makes it look extremely painful. This was an intense and focused match with brilliant selling. Hana was throwing surly boots to the head. Mayu takes a diving dropkick like a car crash, and her comebacks feel like genuine struggle. Great work... up until Kagetsu comes in and the match ends on a DQ. Ah well. ***1/2

It was nice seeing Hana in a featured singles match and she does a good job being smothering on top in the heel role. She does still have some developing to do in creating and overall story with a focal point but between her looks and charisma, she has vaulted herself as someone for me to watch in the second half of the year. For a shit finish, this did a good job of reintroducing Kagetsu and her and Hana in the faction create a cool dynamic. ***