Welcome back guys as I try to mix it up even further with my Wrestle-Universe subscription and we have a Sendai Girls event for you. Yes, Sendai Girls, a promotion owned by the living legend, Meiko Satomura. Anyway we’re in Korakuen Hall for this one and we are star-studded tonight, including wrestlers from all-sorts of promotions so let’s get to it!
We start with a very well-dressed guy announcing stuff and then we get to ROCK YOUR LIFE AWAY and here’s Meiko and she’s smartly dressed in a red blazer and I think she announces the card.
YUNA vs Suzuki Yura
Background: So I know nothing about these ladies. Suzuki is in blue with a ponytail and is kinda jacked, looks like a powerlifter build. YUNA is skinnier and is smiling to the ring, she’s wearing purple gear that looks a bit more expensive than Suzuki and has pigtails.
The Match: Lockup to start and Suzuki wins but YUNA reverses into the ropes and gets some forearms that Yura doesn’t seem particularly bothered by, kinda giving up the point of a cheap shot. Immediately to the mat and a crab tease but that goes nowhere and Yura gets a shoulderblock and a kick to the back and the front. Yura gets a flash kneebar that YUNA fights out of and gets her knee attacked fiercely. But that doesn’t bother her as she spams dropkicks to take down Suzuki and we fight over a bodyslam for a bit before Yura…immediately hits a body slam out of a whip. Huh. A corner charge and a kick put over Yura’s power but YUNA fights back with a few rollups that are kinda sloppy. YUNA gets an easy body slam afterwards after struggling to them before but Yura sidesteps a dropkick and goes back with some kicks, ending with the buzzsaw and gets the pin.
*
YUNA is very bad but I think she’s super green, Suzuki has a bit of something but there’s clear logical breakdowns, Suzuki’s stuff looked crisp at least and she had moments of her using her size that were nice.
Shin Sakura Hirota vs Yuu
Background: Shin comes out to a nice City Pop track and if I remember correctly she was an old Zenjo comedy jobber who has stuck around. She’s wearing a pretty ridiculous pink and black outfit and has pink and black hair and she’s probably doing a parody of somebody or something that I don’t quite grasp. She does go for a mic before the match and talks a bit and the crowd is hot for her. Yuu is a mountain of a woman who has destroyed women across the globe, and I think still technically reps EVE as her home promotion. She’s wearing the skin of one of the Ice Climber Twins and has a blue sparkling leotard and crimped hair.
The Match: Terse hand slap to start the match and Yuu demolishes Shin with a shoulder to start but Hirota gets a rollup for a very close 2.9 out of the break. Shin goes for a springboard ropewalk thing but Yuu stops holding her hand to blow up the move and crowd boos. Sakura does very slow acrobatics on the ropes to set up an armdrag in a deliberately ridiculous spot as the crowd is banana over this. Sakura gets too clever doing the “jump to the bottom rope doing a rope walk and then jumping up” and crotches herself. Yuu sets up the rolling log tope but Sakura blocks the first one by pushing up the ring rope, but Yuu rolls back to the center and then rolls outside and lands it after the…rebound? Back inside and Yuu goes up and bounces on the top rope while flexing but Sakura cuts her off and asks Yuu to do a rope walk. Yuu feels nervous so she calls somebody to support her from the other side and we have Sakura in the ring, Yuu on the ropes, and somebody on the apron and Yuu makes the second turnbuckle…and now Suzuki Yura comes in to support her during the second stretch but Yuu falls and crotches herself, and Shin gets a cartwheel “shove your fingers up your opponents ass Japanese prank” (I forget the name) move. Yuu decides enough is enough and gets a corner cannonball though. Yuu goes for a powerbomb and gets the full Last Ride elevated deal for a solid 15 seconds before Sakura sunset flips out and then jabs Yuu’s ass again but Yuu just ends up falling on her for the pin anyway.
**¼
Well, it was a comedy match and some of the spots amused me, so yeah. Yuu walking the ropes is worth a quarter star.
Aja Kong, Hiroyo Matsumoto, and ZONES vs VENY, Millie McKenzie, and Miyuki Takase
Background: So I actually know these ladies. VENY is a former Sendai Girls champ and she’s super athletic and wearing pink. Millie was a British women’s wrestling prodigy that has slowed down her crazy rise recently but she’s still barely in her mid-20s so she has a ton of future, she’s a suplex machine wearing neon green and black. Miyuki is the Phoenix of Osaka and is a fun high-flyer vet with cool red and gold gear. ZONES has a fantastic perm and is wearing a pinstriped baseball style shirt with a purple/green top. Hiroyo is Lady Godzilla with crazy permed hair and wild gear with red and green tassels, and Aja Kong is goddamn AJA KONG. We all know who she is.
The Match: Hot start and we get ZONES and VENY to start. VENY gets the dropkick to knock ZONES outside and then quebradas everybody but Aja decides that she doesn’t like that and we’re onto the brawling. Millie and Hiroyo next doing headlock stuff before Millie fires off an armdrag and other technical stuff but her cazadora gets caught by Matsumoto and turned into a back suplex. Aja is in next to slap Millie around a bit and when Millie fires back…Kong just clotheslines her down to a huge pop. ZONES in now and she spams shoulders against the Brit and then plays to the crowd and gets an over-the-shoulder backbreaker rack and slams her into the turnbuckle. Hiroyo back in to continue the torture on Millie but she can’t get two bits of offense in a row until she gets a weird looking cutter (she jumps so she lands under Hiroyo’s body instead of in front of it) and in comes VENY with a missile dropkick and a kip-up and a flurry of kicks. Matsumoto dodges a rope-run though and lariats VENY down and we get Aja on Hiroyo’s back to deliver the assisted knee drop. That was cute. VENY fires back with a moonsault, Aja gets an uraken, but a rolling heel kick by VENY brings in Miyuki to use her speed and chops to take Aja down. Millie in and the babyfaces (huh) all triple team Aja. Moonsault by VENY! Diving legdrop by Miyuki! But Hiroyo comes in with a laiart but eats a spinning heel kick from VENY! ZONES gets a few lariats though and Aja counters the double suplex with her own double suplex and a backdrop driver almost finishes Miyuki…and the diving elbow (?!?) finishes the deal.
**¾
Well, that was a ‘party match’ (man I hate that phrase) but the all-sprint, a few sequences showcase match is fun to watch and they all hit their parts perfectly for it.
Nina Samuels & Lena Cross vs Sareee & Chi Chi
Background: Sareee is the Sun Goddess who is all covered in glory all over the world. Chi Chi is a blonde lady with a pink cowgirl outfit with like 50 career matches. Facing them is Nina Samuels, a purple and black clad British wrestler with some height and a tiny little hat who is a pretty classic arrogant jerk heel. I don’t know Lena Cross that well but I think she’s one of Nina’s many goons in the BritWres scene. Lena is even taller than Nina and has some violet hair and gray gear.
The Match: Handshakes start us off as we give respect, and we have Nina and Sareee in the ring as Samuels preens. Lockup to start but that goes nowhere as Sareee rips Nina apart with basic technical stuff as Nina begs off and oversells all the reversals as a classic heel does. Nina tanks a shoulderblock though and immediately plays up her superior size but Sareee just takes her down with a rollup into a deathlock into the Muta Lock and in comes Chi Chi. Dear god. Chi Chi comes in and immediately fails a slam and then the Brits double slam the Japanese girls when Lena cuts off Sareee. Stereo kicks from the Japanese ladies though and Chi Chi once again tries offense and Nina gets a massive tilt-a-whirl backbreaker to cut that off. Lena is in with some kicky punchy in the corner and Chi Chi comes across as a Maltese being mauled by two bulldogs here. Basic but nice looking double-teams from the Brits and Nina poses for the camera as she chokes Chi Chi in the ropes with some fishhooks. They do some run and gun as Nina whips Chi Chi across the ring to set up corner charges but Chi Chi reverses into a missile dropkick and that sets up a better missile dropkick from Sareee and then a German Suplex but Sareee’s tope is cut off and Nina gets an awkward backflip and Sareee just suplexes her anyway. Nina cuts off a cazadora for a facebuster to play up her size and Lena comes in for more kicky punchy in the corner. Lena gets a pretty monster German on Sareee next. A big boot continues the abuse but Sareee gets a cazadora into a stomp and in comes Chi Chi. She’s gonna die. Chi Chi gets two yakuza kicks against Lena and goes up with a missile dropkick but can’t get an octopus choke and Lena uses basic strikes to cut off the blonde. Saree helps with a double-team though and Chi Chi loads up a suplex on the much bigger Brit and goes nowhere. But oh no, heel miscommunication and Nina kicks Lena in the face! Sareee double-stomp! Assisted senton bomb! But Lena kicks out as Nina couldn’t come in. Lena gets a nice spinning sidewalk slam as she’s had enough of the yapping blonde dog (this is overly harsh to Chi Chi). Lena gets a sloppy gourdbuster, Nina gets a sloppy axe kick, and Cross gets a nice running knee to almost get Chi Chi. It breaks down a bit and Chi Chi almost gets a sunset flip pin on Lena but as she goes for the hot tag Nina pulls Sareee off the apron! Oh no! This lets Lena get a fireman’s carry neckbreaker and that’s 1-2-3.
***¼
Sareee is much, much more interesting as a babyface to me, but man, Chi Chi showed out. She’s almost got that Cutie Suzuki thing where she’ll get monster heat whenever big girls just stomp on her, and add into that they’re foreigners? Forget about it. Nina is not the most athletic wrestler in the world but she’s a smart heel and she did her part very well. Lena…still clearly very rough but they laid the match out well to play up she’s huge and strong and they all played into that well. Good match with a great ending and I assume we get a Nina vs. Sareee singles later on.
DASH Chisako vs Watanabe Momo – Hardcore Match
Background: So Momo is the Black Peach, the Queen’s Quest star student who became an Oedo Tai grimy heel. She kicks people, she doesn’t care, and she’ll break any rule to do it. She’s a Stardom talent who has been around forever and is still only 24. She’s dressed in her purple and yellow outfit with the blonde hair. DASH is a Sendai standby and she’s the Hardcore Queen, a vicious brawler and daredevil who is a huge babyface cause she’s tiny and crazy. She wears the ripped up tights and her own shirt to the match. No idea of any particular beef here but they’re both combustible personalities.
The Match: Crowd is hot as the ring is strewn with weapons and they immediately duel with chairs where Momo loses. They throw each other into ladders where Momo is once again the loser of the deal. We get a kneeling con-chair-to as this has been all DASH so far. They roll outside and DASH sets up one of those Japanese tables. But Oedo Tai stablemate Natsuoko Tora runs out to beat up DASH! And Ruaka is here too. We get Chisako being tossed through chairs. After a bit of cheating they get back into the ring and we get a trash can on DASH and Momo unloads with a barbed wire bat. And then suplexes DASH through the can. Yeowch. DASH gets Momo with a chairshot when the Peach climbs the ropes and then immediately creates some vile contraption with a chair and some ladders and then Momo goes through it. Good lord. DASH goes up but Oedo Tai immediately cut her off again and I like that this match establishes that using friends is bad but hitting people with chairs is honorable. Anyway we pay off the table Chekov’s Gun when Momo gets a ura-nage off the apron through it. Back inside and Momo does some heeling to slap DASH around but we reset to a slugfest as the Hardcore Queen fires back up. Momo gets DASH down with kicks but lollygags too much and DASH gets a big dropkick to get some space before Momo get a chairshot to the head, a buzzsaw kick and a punt…for 2.9. B-Driver by Momo also gets 2.8 but DASH is basically dead. Dash blocks the Reverse B-Driver though and flings a chair at Momo. DASH sets up a huge ladder and lays some chairs in the ring, and after slamming Momo they climb but Momo fires up and climbs the ladder where they headbutt each on top of it because we have not had enough brain damage in this match. Momo then gets a superplex off the ladder on DASH. And I just noticed that the back of Momo’s hair is soaked red and I think that’s some blood. They go outside and brawl a bit and DASH gets Momo on the OTHER table, climbs a ladder in the ring and splashes her through it in a crazy spot. Absolutely gorgeous splash and visual if that’s your thing. Momo yet lives though and DASH brings her back in the ring. Another ladder, more chairs piled on Momo, and DASH’s frog splash gets the dub.
***
This is probably going to vary a LOT on how you feel about hardcore matches, but this was very creative, very crazy, and also told a very good story. DASH is absolutely crazy and Momo is just a vicious jerk so she was undone by swimming in deeper waters than she knows about. That said…I absolutely hate unprotected chairshots to the head and this match was uncomfortable to watch. If you go * star or **** for it I wouldn’t fight you.
Post-match Momo is still angry and kicks at DASH, so maybe more is yet to come.
Chihiro Hashimoto vs Jordynne Grace – Special Singles Match
Background: Jordynne is the top dog in TNA’s Knockouts Division, a jacked up bodybuilder with a ton of babyface fire and power offense and dressed in all white. Hash is the ace of Sendai and has a black and yellow singlet that looks like it’s a cartoon brick wall.
The Match: Respect handshake to start and we get a lockup that Hash wins. Repeat and Hash wins again but Grace reverses and goes for a cheapshot that Chihiro dodges. Headlock sequence is won by Hash, and then a shoulderblock sequence as Hash is winning all the power battles. They fight over a suplex too and same story and Grace is selling it big. Grace gets some back elbow in the corner but Hash cuts that off quick with an abdominal stretch. Grace finally counters that into a fireman’s carry slam and we have something from the American as they go to the apron and they fight over more stuff. Hash gets a slick diving neckbreaker on the apron but when she sets up a powerbomb there Grace gets a desperation B-Driver and now Grace is in control? That was the world’s LONGEST shine segment ever. Grace gets some stomps and then loads up the Juggernaut Driver but Hash fights out and Grace just gets a falling slam and the Vader Bomb. Hash has taken 3 bits of offense though so she comes back and we get a slugfest she wins and then a lariat, a German, and a powerbomb. Hash goes for another German but Grace worms out and gets Chihiro on the top buckle and we get a super backdrop driver and a double-down. Hash hammers down Grace. Jordynne loads up a Kudome Valentine but Hash slips out and gets two powerbombs. Grace cuts off the lariat with a back elbow and gets the Kudome Valentine into a Juggernaut Driver for 3.
**½
Man this was disappointing. I get there’s political stuff going on, but Hashimoto taking 85% of the match and Grace getting the Randy Savage win makes everybody involved look bad. Hash sold basically nothing and just ate up all of Grace’s stuff, so she looks like the better wrestler, but Grace tanked all of Hashimoto’s offense and won out of the blue, so..yeah, dunno what to think about that. They’re both very, very good, but the politics/egos hurt it massively.
Manami & Ryo Mizunami (c) vs Bob Bob Momo Banana (Oka Yurika & Momono Mio) – Sendai Girls Tag Team Championship
Background: So Oka and Momomo are both dressed like fruits I guess. The champions are Manami in blue with long hair and Ryo Mizunami who has bright green short hair and a bodysuit that is awash with color. The Banana Girls have Mavelous on their back so I guess that’s their home promotion. Oka has blonde hair and shorts and Mio has red hair and a skirt but both their gear is…garrish. Argh Oka is a banana with the yellow hair and Mio has pink-red hair and is a peach. That’s so stupid.
The Match: Banana Ladies jump start the match but get foiled immediately and get some double-teams. Manami goes high but the Fruit Medley do some quick double-teams in response and Oka spams dropkicks to take out Manami. Manami gets dropkicks in response though and I guess it’s Ryo’s turn and she gets a legdrop on Yurika and then a chinlock, and then weak corner chops. But Ryo showboats too much and the Fruit Ladies weakly double her and she cuts it off and then it’s all a mess but Mio frankensteiners Ryo onto Manami in a nice spot. Mio gets some weak heat on Ryo who just casually scoop powerslams her and lariats her and goes for a choke. Ryo takes more of the brawl, Mio gets one German, and then Ryo decides to Ura-Nage the socks off of her. Manami and Oka in and Manami immediately just destroys the banana lady with a backstabber and a missile dropkick. Fruit ladies eventually double Manami with a flurry of flying moves. And I guess we just saw…a fruit fly. Thank you, thank you. Ryo breaks it up but Oka jumps on her back and is immediately thrown down. Ryo eats the double dropkick and double spears and then Manami gets a 2 count on the meteora on Oka and the flying splash gets the same. Really either of those should have finished it. Oka gets a whacky roll-up for 2.9 and they can end this match. Oka survives Manami’s jumping knee but it all breaks down and we get a double-team plancha/headscissors and that’s a 3 count on Manami and we get a title change.
*½
This had moments of competence that put it over the first match, but this was overall very, very bad. Maybe I’m missing some story stuff but it was a lot of what everybody stereotypes joshi wrestling as with featherlight junior sequences and no-contact strikes between brightly-colored idiots who scream all the time. Add into that a vet who wasn’t selling anything and I was not entertained. The timing on the finish was nice at least.
Post-match fruit ladies cut a promo and are crying.
Mika Iwata (c) vs Saori Anou – Sendai Girls World Championship and Wonder of Stardom Championship
Background: So I haven’t followed Stardom in months but from what I understand Mika is both Sendai Girls top champ and she beat Saori for the Wonder of Stardom Championship and this is a rematch with both belts on the line. Saori has a short pop and gray feathery gear, Mika has black pants and a light top with fire design on it and looks serious, kinda giving me sea captain vibes with her bright red coat and deep tan.
The Match: Saori tries to sell intensity but I can’t help but think she’s trying out Blue Steel for a runway. They stare each other down. Lockup and Mika wins and gives a clean break…until she kicks Saori who doesn’t bother acting bothered by any of it. Saori finally fires up a bit with some ground and pound and then a leg choke. Mika gets some nice coughing to sell and Anou knees her in the ropes. Saori flubs a floatover though and Mika takes over with some kicks. Mika gets a brainbuster and goes up but Saori cuts her off but Mika reverses that and kicks Saori to the outside where they slug it out on the apron where Anou gets a brainbuster and now it’s Mika selling on the outside. Back in and Saori gets a missile dropkick but Mika gets a flying armbar out of a rope-run. Saori sells the arm a bit as Mika takes her out with more big kicks. A big armwringer follows but Saori gets an enzuigiri and a flurry of kicks before Mika’s thrust kick cuts that off. Saori gets a German but Mika stops that with a running knee and it’s a double-down. Slugfest follows and Saori’s sloppy slaps are curtailed by another Iwata thrust kick and we tease a countdown…and then when Saori gets to her feet we get a flurry of Mika kicks for…2.9. Disaster kick from Mika and we have color as her cheek is bleeding. Mika loads up a cut-throat Emerald Flowsion but Saori slips out and gets the bridging backslide, and a brainbuster to set up some loose kicks as now Mika is fighting from underneath with defiance. Saori gets some rolling Germans and then the front-flip neckbreaker. And then Saori goes up, hits Natsuopi’s Fairial Gift splash and then Nakano’s Tiger Suplex and that gets 3.
**
Man this was…not much to write home about. I admittedly hate Saori Anou, but Mika really impressed me here with her tough girl mannerisms even if her offensive kit is not exactly unique. Still, Saori’s bored stoic demeanor isn’t enough to entertain me when her in-ring execution is so characterless and sloppy. She’s not a wrestling robot, she’s not a charisma demon, she’s just…there, winning titles she shouldn’t win and getting pushes that leave me completely cold. Whatever, can’t wait for the next big Stardom Show to be in front of 800 people. The work was competent enough to not totally hate and it played the numbers alright, but there was no real feeling to it.
Post-match Saori wins and reacts like you told her that they only had 18 packs of the eggs she liked and they were out of 12 packs and then Saori talks a bit and says something to Mika and now DASH is here in a pretty cool red jumpsuit and I assume she’s challenging Saori.
Well if nothing else this show was 2.5 hours long so I can’t be too angry at it, even if both main-events disappointed me quite a bit. Well I wouldn’t say I was disappointed I didn’t like a Saori Anou match, but still.
Anyway see y’all another time, even if it probably won’t be for a Sendai Girls show.
