Gatoh Move Mei Suruga Debut 5th Anniversary ~ Under The Big Apple Tree (29/5/23) Review
A New Rookie, Miya Impresses and Mei vs Momoka Gets Nasty
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Somehow, Mei Suruga has been wrestling for five years, which is only slightly terrifying. Thankfully, she wisely appeared to skip worrying about her mortality and instead made the much more sensible choice to head to Shinjuku Face for a celebration. She even invited everyone else to come along and watch! What a kind apple.
Mei Suruga defeated Nonoka 1-0 in an exhibition match
Nonoka, Gatoh Move’s newest rookie, started her first-ever exhibition match by grabbing Mei’s arm, putting her in an arm wringer and yelling at her to give up. It was the kind of pure rookie enthusiasm that will instantly make you one of my favourites.
Look, this was a five-minute exhibition, so there is only so much you can say about it, but the fact that Mei got booed, on her anniversary show, for celebrating Nonoka tapping out summed up how quickly the crowd took to the newbie. She seems to have a lot of personality, backed up by a solid technical grounding, as she showed off some nifty work on the mat. We also got her trying to continue the fight after the bell, wrenching Mei off the second rope with a neck crank into a snapmare, which looked beautifully brutal.
It all made for a hell of a first appearance, as Mei seems to have inherited the magic touch as a trainer from Emi Sakura. I’ve no idea when we can expect to see Nonoka’s debut or if she’ll even be full-time, but this suggested she could be another in the long line of exciting Gatoh Move rookies.
Verdict: A Good First Impression
Before the show proper got going, Mei treated us to the debut of her new song, as she’s expanded the silly little tune she often sings at the start of ChocoPro shows. While I’m not going to pretend it will make many of my playlists, you can’t deny its catchiness, and I do admire her commitment to this bit.
Ryo Mizunami defeated Miya Yotsuba
It always catches me off-guard how over Aniki is. It shouldn’t, she deserves it, but whether it’s her AEW connection, or simply a reward for working her arse off over the years, she only seems to be getting more popular. When Pitbull hits, people get ready to have a good time.
And this match was a spiritual sibling to her TJPW appearances, as she was tasked with putting a younger wrestler through their paces. For all the good times she brings, when that bell rings, Aniki is an impressive physical presence and the perfect person to beat Miya up. In saying that, this match found Mizunami in a generous mood. She did all her usual stuff, overpowering Yotsuba and firing away with machine gun chops, but she also gave up a lot of offence. When it came to Miya’s time to start laying down heavy forearms, the veteran sold them and even showed a moment of vulnerability when caught in the Cloverleaf. Aniki isn’t someone I could imagine making a rookie look bad, but she seemed particularly intent on giving Miya some shine.
Credit also has to go to Yotsuba for taking that opportunity, as she continues to step up at every chance she gets. There was a hint of grit to her performance, as she even got a fighting spirit spot in after being slammed (although it ended with Aniki putting her right back down). On a show when Mei’s next rookie had already made an impression, this was Yotsuba reminding everyone that she is having a strong first year and isn’t ready to sit back and be usurped by the new face.
Verdict: A Generous Aniki
Chie Koishikawa, Sayaka Obihiro, Sayaka & Tokiko Kirihara defeated Kaori Yoneyama, Antonio Honda, SAKI & Sawasdee Kamen
Is it a Gatoh Move in-ring show if it doesn’t have a big multi-person tag packed with lots of silliness? I’m going to say no. These are always a blast of fresh air with little to no pretensions of grandeur. If you’re a work rate obsessive, you’re probably in the wrong place, but step on up if seven frantic minutes of fun sounds like your kind of thing.
Those seven minutes meant that we weren’t even averaging a minute per wrestler, and I could have definitely used a bit more Kaori Yoneyama, but hey, she works hard. Who can blame her for taking it easy? What we did get included a couple of fun pairings in Honda vs Otoki and SAKI vs Obi before Chie picked up something of an upset win by rolling up Sawasdee Kamen. It was an easy watch, and while it was no more than that, it also didn’t have to be.
Verdict: It Did What It Aimed To Do
Chon Shiryu & Shin Suzuki defeated CDK (Chris Brookes & Masa Takanashi) by the referee’s decision to win the Asia Dream Tag Titles
Sadly, about ten minutes into this match, Ref Kiso was forced to call for the bell after Chris Brookes dislocated his shoulder. To my untrained eye, it appeared to be an unfortunate accident as he came down from what looked like a routine bump and instantly responded like something was wrong. Credit then has to go to those around him, with Masa quickly realising things were awry and Kiso not hesitating to stop the match. It’s pretty horrid timing for Brookes, as it forced the conclusion of an impressive title reign and happened just after his big King of DDT victory. However, he’s already confirmed his intention to return on the 7th of July, so at least we know he won’t be out too long. Plus, while Chris is a hat-stealing bastard, he’s also incredibly talented, so he’ll get that momentum back.
For what it’s worth, the ten minutes we did get were shaping up nicely, as Shin and Choun pulled out some flashy double-team offence, and CDK were their reliably impressive selves. However, it’s not fair to review part of a match, so we’ll have to hope that when Chris is ready, they can run this back.
Verdict: Get Well Soon, Chris!
Shinnou Hagane defeated Baliyan Akki and Minoru Fujita in a three-way to retain the Super Asia Title
The Super Asia Title match was fighting an uphill battle to get a good review out of me. I think this belt has often been the weakest part of Gatoh Move’s big shows in recent times, as it’s too often allowed people to indulge their worst instincts. On top of that, I generally believe that multi-person matches are better suited to silliness than main events. They make it much harder to string together a coherent, well-structured piece of action and too often fall apart into bitty nothingness.
However, as is often the case, the rules I create in my head don’t work for every situation. This was great. Importantly, though, that was because they didn’t bother trying to make it coherent. Fujita, Akki and Hagane went out there and did a load of cool shit, and sometimes, that’s all you need. Whether it was Akki flying across the ring, Fujita’s power moves or Shinnou’s stiff kicks, this was packed with impressive moments, each connecting with the part of me that occasionally likes to indulge in big dumb wrestling.
So yea, if you’re coming here looking for match-long storytelling, you’re in the wrong place. Instead, we got a bizarre forearm exchange where they all took off an item of clothing, which was very funny, but fuck knows what the thinking behind it was. Sometimes you don’t need to know why things happen, though. It’s much better to sit back and enjoy the silliness of it all, which is a mindset this match suited perfectly.
Verdict: Big Dumb Fun
Mei Suruga defeated Momoka Hanazono
If I were putting together Mei vs Momoka, it would be twelve minutes long, fuelled entirely by antics, and probably occur in the Oz Academy midcard. I adore both of them and have faith in their ability to do pretty much anything, but that’s their spiritual home and where they do most of their best work. That’s not to say I came into this match concerned about how they would handle a big main event, but I was intrigued by what direction they would take it in. Thankfully, I needn’t have worried.
Partly because Mei and Momoka were smart enough to give us that match, packing the first half of this with all the shenanigans they could muster. It was a kaleidoscope of Mei Jumps, bubble wands, wings and party poppers, brought together in a beautiful, chaotic clusterfuck of nonsense. Then, however, Momoka made a mistake. She decided to steal one of Mei’s antics, leaping from the ropes to set up an arm drag, and while she failed miserably, Suruga took it as a challenge. When she went to show Hanazono how to do it, she clambered to the top rope and came down with a double stomp on her arm.
From there, this match got nasty, the kind of nasty that led to Momoka standing in the centre of the ring, raising a two-fingered salute to the booing Gatoh Move fans. These two might be all smiles 90% of the time, but when that switch goes, both can be right wee shites, and they laid into everything in the latter half of this match. They even pulled out a half-decent forearm exchange, kicked off by Mei seemingly lashing out in anger with probably the hardest strike she’s thrown in her career. It all felt like the kind of fight you occasionally get between two friends when one of them has crossed an invisible line and accidentally caused both to unleash years of pent-up petty frustrations and anger. In other words, it fucking ruled.
If you were nit-picking, you could moan that both attacked the other’s arm quite brutally, only for the selling to be non-existent, but it was one of those matches where I don’t care. It was a slither of the action that didn’t really play into the narrative, and while they could have jettisoned it, there wasn’t enough to take me out of the match. It was too good to be ruined by something as inconsequential as that, and while I still want a 12-minute Oz Academy match, I’m going to need a bunch of main events to go with it.
Verdict: Fuck Yea!
In the aftermath, Aoi Kizuki turned up to give Mei flowers, and she subsequently got so excited that she managed to destroy them. Suruga then declared her intention to take Gatoh Move back to Korakuen Hall, a venue they’ve run twice but not since Riho’s 10th-anniversary show back in 2016. I wouldn’t bet against her pulling it off.
Overall Show
Even with Chris Brookes’ injury curtailing the tag-title match, that was a cracking show. Truthfully, the main event is the only thing I’d say you need to see, but it’s so good that it elevates everything around it, and the undercard was a lot of fun. Five years into her career, Mei is only getting better, so who knows where she’ll be another five years from now.