Hidden Perfection in 8 Minutes & 48 Seconds: On Suzume vs. Arisu Endo

The Case For a Rewatch

Front Matter

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Grand Princess week continues, with a case for the opening bout as match of the night. Before digging into this piece, why not check out Stuart’s comprehensive review of the show, or read some of Flupke’s longer-form thoughts, or knuckle down with WB’s vital interpretation of the main event as queer love story? And come back tomorrow, when George Twigg caps off the week with a deeply personal meditation on the meaning of losing!

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Suzume pins Arisu Endo in 8 minutes, 48 seconds with the Ring-A-Bell. 8 minutes and 48 seconds of overlooked pro wrestling perfection. For as short of a match as Suzume vs Arisu Endo was, it established the theme of the Grand Princess while secretly standing on its own as a Match Of The Year contender. If Grand Princess ‘23 had one central motif it was the bonds between tag team partners. Daydream pushing and pulling each other to new heights. 121000000 and their dysfunctional connection. MagiRabi with what could be read as sapphic love. Now the question is, why isn’t this Daisy Monkey match being talked about in the same breath as the Miu Watanabe vs Rika Tatsumi or Yuka Sakazaki vs Mizuki? Length, position & spotlight.

First to speak on this match on its own merits. There isn’t so much as a misplaced or wasted eye glance. The aggression from both Suzume & Endo is relentless. The two of them know each other so well that neither ever can seize control. In the team of Daisy Monkey, Arisu Endo clearly feels like she is the lead weight holding the team down. Full of promise and potential, Endo ultimately is the one who always takes the fall. Until recently Endo ended a two-year losing streak and currently holds three wins, all via submission. The same submission: the Camel Clutch. Suzume on the other hand has a two-year experience advantage, lots of success, and was a bit of a super rookie before Endo ever debuted. It was Suzume who beat Endo in her debut match. What Endo doesn’t realize is how much of that gap she has closed. This match is a match of equals but Arisu Endo doesn’t know it.

Suzume debuting a new cyberpunk-esque costume with eyes of confidence. Arisu Endo ready but with nerves behind her eyes. Locking up with weighty back-and-forth holds. The time spent on their feet is filled with rope work and crossovers that would confuse the best of sports defensemen. Neither gaining control for more than a few seconds. Every move or pinfall done with heavy intent. Suzume does have the slightest advantage, with a bit more aggression behind her strikes, but Endo has answers to prevent things from getting out of hand.

Approximately halfway through Endo blocks Suzume’s Ring-A-Bell, giving space for her pop-up top rope dropkick. Endo races over to lock in the only move to have brought her success thus far. In the center of the ring, Endo locks in the Camel Clutch. Suzume inching her way towards the ropes. Endo, re-centering herself, traps Suzume’s loose arm, locking her Camel Clutch in deep. Too deep. Endo slipping back, giving Suzume the slightest of opportunities to get her chin to the rope for the break. If not for this one mistake Arisu Endo would have beaten her partner, proving her worth to the team and to herself.

In a moment that shows how far Endo has come in closing the gap between them, she does not despair here. Without the slightest hesitation she dropkicks Suzume through the ropes and drives her beloved tag partner’s face into the apron with a rope-hung Tsuruga-Jo face crusher. What brings Suzume back is the slightest of mistakes in following up, and her skill in catching a kneeling Endo with a very low desperation Ring-A-Bell cutter. Both shaken, they climb to their feet. Locking eyes in the center of the ring they both let out that trademark joshi wrestler scream, racing to the ropes to see who can land a dropkick first. In another moment that shows her growth it’s Endo, not Suzume, who connects.

Now what is the moment that finally clinches the win for Suzume? Something unforeseen. Suzume finds a loose second to debut a run-up face crusher, setting her up for a locked-on Ring-A-Bell. Endo lost not because of a mistake on her end but something no one on the roster would have had scouted. Suzume had to debut a new move on her own partner to gain the pinfall because of how far Arisu Endo has caught up to her.

As high-paced as the action is, as full of aggression as the moves are, where this match really shines is in the wrestlers’ eyes. Endo and Suzume both have an ability that some of the biggest legends in wrestling never achieve. They are both so good at expressing their emotion, intent and dreams through their eyes. Before the bell we know where their heads are. Suzume is confident in her abilities and excited to see how far her partner has grown. Arisu’s stare fails to hide her nerves. In the final few seconds Suzume goes from worried her surprise counter isn’t enough, to seeing Endo glazed. Suzume’s eyes sharpen, taking aim as the bee stings for a final time. During the pinfall Suzume’s eye sharpen even farther, just in case, but knows she has everything won.

The bell rings and while there is some excitement for her win there is even more sympathy for her partner's frustration. The hug where both keep switching between love, frustration, empathy & support. It’s not until she walks to the back that Suzume can really express her own excitement. The smallest of moments scattered across the entire match could have years of meaning behind them, because you can read their intent so clearly.

I blame no one for not elevating this match in comparison to big spotlight matches later down the card. While watching live I thought it was just a great, fast paced opener with some solid aggression. It wasn’t until I rewatched it that I caught how much depth and detail Suzume and Arisu managed to fill in such a short space. In 8 minutes, 48 seconds, in the opening match, two young up-and-coming stars that are deeply linked together put more heart and soul into their performance than many long celebrated broadway classics.

But let’s go back to the three core reasons this match didn’t attract the same kind of attention as other bouts on the card. First, the length. I am a strong proponent for intense shorter matches, and feel very strongly that that longer does not mean better. Matches should fill the time for the story they have, and never the other way around. That said, 8 Minutes, 48 seconds is not a lot of time to breathe on one of the biggest shows of the year, but boy did they fill it.

Second, position. This was the opening match on a card with a lot of special matches later down the card. You have the crowning of the Grand Slam champion, Yuki Arai finally getting to stand alone with one of wrestling's biggest legends, Maki Itoh and Miyu Yamashita bringing home the tag titles, the Princess of Princess title match being emotionally so much bigger than the title itself. TJPW does something special on big shows by giving every match its own poster, but this match was never the marquee poster.

Which brings me to the third, and most important point: spotlight. By “spotlight”, I don’t mean to suggest that this match was overshadowed. What I mean is that in many ways this match marks the end of the first of many chapters. This match reads like a long-forgotten first tournament match between two legends that with hindsight means so much more. What Mizuki vs Yuka Sakazaki is now, Suzume vs Arisu Endo is tomorrow. The light of tomorrow is shining bright. If you enjoyed this match the first time around, what I recommend is to give it a rewatch. Don’t be afraid of the pause and rewind button, because you will find so much more there than initially meets the eye.