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

This was good. Kyona had success working over Io's neck and back but couldn't hit any of her big moves in order to finish her because Io's survival instincts would save her in the end. It was the opposite for Io, as she was able to hit her big moves when she needed to but Kyona was able to kick out of them. As a result, Io had to resort to a deeper cut of her moveset, a Texas Cloverleaf, to put Kyona away. ***1/2