ChocoPro Roundup: #310 & #311
Great Moments, An Impressive Ichigaya Performance And The Adult In The Room
Front Matter
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After the back-to-back busyness of DPW’s visit to Japan and Golden Week, the last few weeks have been a chance for Gatoh Move to take things a little bit easier. However, we’re talking about Ichigaya Chocolate Square here, so even when things are chill, there is always the chance for chaos. With that in mind, here’s what I think is worth checking out from the last two shows.
ChocoPro #310 (6/5/23), Gatoh Move
There is nothing I would consider essential on ChocoPro #310. That’s not to suggest it sucked, it didn’t, but it was a straightforward show without much in the way of standout matches. However, there were still moments of magic there. In fact, there were plenty, which is why I can’t move on from it without at least a mention. Whether it was the ingenious finish to the opener (I don’t want to spoil it, but it was cool as hell), Sayaka’s declaration beforehand that she needed to beat Black Comaneci because they take up too much shelf space in the office or Miya having Minoru Fujita firmly under her thumb, this show had a lot to enjoy.
And I appreciate that not everyone has the time to watch hour after hour of wrestling in the hope that they get one wee gem of a moment to savour, but it’s also why committing to a promotion is such a joy. Whether it’s Stardom, AWG or Gatoh Move, when you watch every minute of every show, it allows you to appreciate those delightful quirks that come from most wrestlers being massive weirdos. They’re moments that probably won’t be brought up ten or fifteen years from now (I don’t think Meltzer is about to slap five stars on any of this stuff), but they will stick in your mind regardless, a wee treat that perhaps only you care about. Sometimes, it comes to mean more than the great matches, and while Sayaka’s quest for shelf space will be forgotten by most, I’m glad I got to experience it.
Antonio Honda & Balliyan Akki vs Hagane Shinnou & Ender Kara, ChocoPro #311 (14/5/23), Gatoh Move
Impressing in Ichigaya Chocolate Square is deceptively difficult. For all that it slants towards silliness and fun, Ichigaya is a cruel venue for those not used to it. With the camera and fans right on top of you, the slightest mistake is obvious, and when things go wrong, they tend to spiral. All of which made Ender Kara’s performance in this match (only his second Gatoh Move appearance), particularly impressive. Not only did he end up playing a surprising straight-man, reacting to Hagane’s (who usually occupies that role) complex relationship with his Daisetz bandmate Antonio Honda, but everything he did looked crisp as hell. Whether he was leaping into a Guillotine Choke on Akki or dishing out stiff kicks, it was the kind of performance that makes you sit up and pay attention.
Outside of that, this match did a fantastic job of intertwining the already-mentioned silliness between Honda and Hagane with some hard-hitting wrestling. They veered from heavy blows to Anton playing a song for the Super Asia champion on his guitar, both of which managed to feel at home in the same space. Akki summed it up best when he got into the ring with Kara for the first time, shrugging his shoulders and declaring ‘this is ChocoPro’. It certainly is, and I wouldn’t change it for the world.
Warm Caterpillars (Mei Suruga & Chie Koishikawa) vs Tokiko Kirihara & Miya Yotsuba, ChocoPro #311 (14/5/23), Gatoh Move
I don’t know if this is a controversial opinion, but Warm Caterpillars are my favourite of Mei’s many Gatoh Move tag teams (I make the Gatoh distinction because MeiMei and MomoRingo exist). She and Chie are wonderful foils for each other’s antics, stringing their sugar-fuelled bursts of offence together in a way that leaves me grinning from ear to ear. It’s a style that plays much closer to my taste than any of Best Bros’ epic main events (as good as those can be), and one of their matches always feels like a particularly sweet treat.
However, it wasn’t Warm Caterpillars that stood out this time around. The MVP was actually Tokiko Kirihara, who (in her non-Comaneci form) felt an awful lot like the adult tasked with dealing with these unruly children. It’s not just that Otoki is significantly older than everyone else involved, but that there were moments where she was literally banging Mei and Chie’s heads together or hoisting them up onto her shoulders, ready to dish out the punishment they deserve for being bloody pests. Goblin behaviour is the best, but it’s also a lot of fun to see what happens when someone has had enough of their shit.
On top of that, it’s a great reminder of why having wrestlers from a wide range of backgrounds is a boon to any company. Otoki lived a whole life before coming into wrestling, one that is incredibly different to Mei and Chie’s, and while I’m not about to claim that was some underlying theme in this match, it gives her a natural authority that comes to the fore in moments like these. Sometimes, you need an adult in the room, and while Otoki has proven she is just as open to nonsense as anyone else in that company (if not more), she was the perfect person for that role.