They're Good at What They Do

Stardom 2015/12/23

World of Stardom Championship: Io Shirai vs. Meiko Satomura ©

Not on the levels of the two Meiko vs. Kairi Hojo clashes, but that particular bar was set just too damn high, lol, however this match still kicked some major ass. This is a big year-ending show from Korakuen, also Io is surely a very capable and believable challenger, so anything is possible in this Christmas time. Plethora of great shit happened in this match: nifty counters, violent strikes, great storytelling with all the subplots and drama, etc. However, the match did have certain problems, such as a clunker here and there (that semi-stupid moonsault from the wall) and kinda directionless pacing in the middle. But because there was so much good shit that occurred, those flaws totally seem so minor in comparison. Another superb joshi gem from 2015, all hail MEIKO!

****1/2

Three Smashing Joshi Clashes

Sendai Girls 2015/07/30

Arisa Nakajima vs. Meiko Satomura

Completely straight-forward and brutal match, it’s almost like Finlay and Low-Ki turned female and charged at each other because of some long time beef over dick size or something. This was basically a slugfest sprint as they were kicking the shit out of each other almost right off the bat. Nakajima’s devastating suplexes and stomps were awesome. Satomura’s hellish strikes and nasty counters and cutoffs were even better. Satomura took an insane ring apron DDT bump. She’s like joshi Daniels of mad veteran bumping. This match also contains one of the very greatest high kick counter attacks I’ve ever seen in my life. Also the selling was detailed and careful, exactly what you’d expect from Meiko.

****1/2

Satomura/Hojo II

Stardom 2015/07/26

World of Stardom Championship: Meiko Satomura vs. Kairi Hojo ©

By golly, what a rematch! It’s absolutely stunning they worked a match so different, and yet so similar to the first one. The layout was clearly different, but the shadow of the first encounter was still there, lurking and reminding us of what’s the story out there. You barely get that with Nakamura, Goto, Makabe and other New Japan top guys. These ladies are less formulaic and way more organic, raw and natural. What a vicious smackfest this was, shit man, they really beat bajesus out of each other, it was gnarly and highly punishing. Just a good old joshi brawl, everything was purposeful and rough. And then the selling, fuuuck me, they sold everything down to a T, I’m not going to bother you with all the details and technicalities, you need to see it, plain and simple. There were so many careful and thoughtful selling components that put Nakamura to shame. For example, Hojo does a flying elbow-drop which Satomura brilliantly counters into a fancy armlock. Now, almost everywhere else it would lead to a highly dramatic nearfall with Hojo trying to reach the ropes, but here it only served as pure counter attack for Satomura to buy some time, she couldn’t hold the champ in the hold too long because she had all the previous beatdowns to sell. That’s just pure brilliance, that’s genius, that’s what happens when your pro-graps IQ is enormous.

What a goddamn match!

****3/4

Random Joshi

WAVE 2015/2/11

Regina Di WAVE Championship: Ayako Hamada vs. Hikaru Shida ©

Really good smackfest, but unfortunately they clipped 7 minutes out of it, they only aired 10 out of 17 minutes. However, I feel like they showed the most important parts therefore I’m gonna rate it. I really like how they created lots of drama just by exchanging mean death stares, with the only (key) difference Hamada actually materializing those stares into something concrete. I don’t feel like writing about the technical stuff here, I just want you to know the match is really good and worth checking out.

***3/4

Stardom Goodies

Stardom 2015/5/17

Wonder of Stardom Championship (vacant): Nikki Storm vs. Io Shirai

First time watching Nikki Storm and I’m impressed. Imagine if Fit Finlay was a female from Scotland. Yep, that! This match was so simple in its structure and everything was executed down to a T, and Nikki was a major part of it, she was controlling the pace throughout the match, she was kicking Io’s ass all over the ring and ringside. There were two big, prolonged beatdowns on Io, both very brutal and punishing as Nikki was like a relentless honey badger going after a snake, everything she did felt “real” and painful, all the neckbreakers, slams, nasty holds, etc. She was cutting her off like a badass bitch, plus all the trash talk was neat. Io’s first comeback was kind of selling-free, but fortunately it didn’t last too long, because Nikki regained control very soon and this time she was even more vicious on offense. Naturally, it made Io’s second comeback way more ferocious, deserved and fighting spirit-heavy, it was finally her time to dish out some smackdown. And of course, it was great, it also led directly to the finish, which is not something I was expecting, and I love it. Totally great match right here!

****1/2

Based Joshi!

Stardom 2015/6/14

World of Stardom Championship: Meiko Satomura vs. Kairi Hojo ©

Goddamn it, what a match! For some irrational reasons I cannot really explain, I was never really into Joshi, despite being super aware of their awesomeness and hard-boiled work ethics. I just never found enough free time to watch and cover them consistently, hence why they stayed under my viewing radar. This match got so much praise I simply had to watch it, plus Satomura is in there, and she kind of owns, so yeah, this was a must-watch by all accounts.

Phenomenal clash, it starts super intensely with Hojo throwing a super stiff backfist at Satomura during a regular “lock-up-leading-to-clean-break” sequence. It was a beautiful “making a statement” moment that set the tone for the rest of the fight. It was an immediate early wake up call for Satomura, because Hojo might look very feminine and semi-fragile, but she can also fuck you up truly hard, hence why we got Satomura simply boosting her level of stiffness a level or three every time Hojo tried something strike-heavy later in the match. Great storytelling. Sweet thing about this match is you wouldn’t expect it to go long based on the vivid opening minutes, but they just kept going and going, without the match losing its rhythm and organic nature, the overall pacing was mostly excellent.

Basically and TLDR, this was glorious, it had big drama, logical nearfalls, rough smacks thrown all over the place, wonderful selling and two babes scrapping and grappling really hard to call it a day. Amazing match, right up there with Becky/Sasha, like 1A and 1B, I just can’t decide yet which one deserves the A.

****3/4