Marvelous (15/3/23) Review
Big Hash vs Mio, Chikayo vs Tomoko and Iroha Dishing Out Lessons
Front Matter
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Marvelous’s shows are coming thick and fast this year, but so far, there hasn’t been any skimping on the quality. Not only did their latest trip to Shinkiba have Chikayo Nagashima defending the AAAW Title against Tomoko Watanabe, but Mio Momono and Chihiro Hashimoto were continuing the best feud of 2021, and Takumi was in a three-way match with Magenta. If that’s not a recipe for a good time, what is?
Leo Isaka defeated Gabai Ji-chan
Let’s go out on a limb and assume most people will already know whether this match is for them. Gabai Ji-chan has his shtick (that of being a decrepit old man), and if you’ve watched and hated him before, then nothing here will convince you of the error of your ways. However, if the idea of an elderly gent with a walking stick wrestling makes you giggle, you can join me in having a lovely old time.
And the joy of a Gabai Ji-chan match isn’t really in the in-ring work. It’s in Maria gently guiding him through his entrance, reminding him of what he was doing when he tries to head backstage. It’s also in him ‘accidentally’ whacking Mio in the back of the legs with his cane as she held the ropes open for him. Finally, it’s in the crowd booing the usually popular Leo when he dared to put his hands on this doddering old fool, fully committing to the bit. I can take or leave the wrestling, as I’ve seen all the beats before, but I love everything else. To be more accurate, I love everyone else’s reaction to everything else. They treat these matches like someone’s grandad has genuinely wandered into the ring, which couldn’t be more up my street if it tried.
Ji-chan would eventually tweak his knee off a Moonsault, allowing Leo to lock on a Figure Four and avenge his defeat in December, but none of that is important. It’s a Gabai Ji-chan match, and whether you enjoy it or not will have nothing to do with Moonsaults or winners. It’s all down to whether you think watching an old man faceplant into a turnbuckle pad is funny or not. I happen to do so, but if you don’t, there is no reason for you to watch this.
Verdict: Some Will Love It, Some Will Hate It
Itsuki Aoki & Ayame Sasamura defeated Unagi Sayaka & Ai Houzan
I was somewhat critical of Unagi in my last Marvelous review, so obviously, she was one of the more over people on this show, proving that no one should ever let me book wrestling. While I stand by my criticisms, it’s safe to say that Unagi has a devoted fanbase, and people will pay to see her. I understand why, too! She’s great. I just prefer it when she’s not trying too hard to do the ‘serious’ wrestler thing.
Now I’m done trying to justify my opinions, let’s double down on them. A lot of the flaws of that last match were still present here, as Unagi seemed determined to go out and match Itsuki. It’s not that I think she’s some awful wrestler who could never pull it off, but it’s not what she’s best at, and it’s doing her a disservice. What makes it doubly frustrating is that we did see more of what she is good at here. Ayame and Itsuki slipped into the roles of dominant bullies, turning Unagi and Ai into struggling underdogs, and if Unagi isn’t engaging in nonsense, that’s her at her best. She’s got a talent for battling from underneath, garnering sympathy and finding little moments to let that flashy offence shine. All her best moments in this match were born of that, not her attempts to go toe-to-toe with anyone.
It meant I enjoyed this more than the match I criticised, but I still felt it was flawed. However, if that crowd reaction is anything to go by, it’s a flaw I should probably accept. Unagi’s made a home for herself in Marvelous, and it seems to be working well for both parties, so I can’t see her getting turfed out. Besides, for all my griping, I wouldn’t want her to be. She’s a wrestler I have a lot of time for, and I can take the occasional mediocre attempt at a forearm exchange if we get all the good stuff too.
Verdict: Flawed, But An Improvement
Takumi Iroha defeated Maria and Riko Kawahata in a three-way
At the end of the last show, Magenta threw their name into the hat to challenge for the tag titles, setting up this three-way where, in theory, they had the advantage over Takumi Iroha. Except, that’s not quite how things went down. On her second match back from injury, Iroha set out to remind Magenta who they were picking a fight with, and she did it by kicking the shit out of these kids.
It fucking ruled, too. These two snotty youngsters had convinced themselves in Iroha’s absence that they could try to take her place, so she beat them black and blue until they remembered their spot in the pecking order. Sure, they managed to get their shit together and team up on her now and then, Maria even coming close to getting the win on a couple of occasions, but they weren’t ready. They couldn’t stay focused, their natural competitiveness enticing them into fighting each other, and Takumi took advantage of every one of those mistakes. All it took was the slightest opening, and she was back dropping bombs on them, kicking them around the ring and reminding them of who was in charge.
That made for a match where I can almost understand someone being frustrated by it. Magenta are a fantastic young team, and I want them to win those belts eventually, so having them be dispatched single-handedly by one-half of the champs could be portrayed as a mistake. However, this was a piece of a puzzle. It was Takumi showing Magenta the bar and daring them to find it in themselves to leap over it. Do they have what it takes? Only time will tell, but until we get there, watching Iroha beat the shit out of them was a lotta fun.
Verdict: Over To You, Magenta
Chihiro Hashimoto defeated Mio Momono
In 2021, Mio Momono and Chihiro Hashimoto established themselves as one of the great wrestling pairings. It felt like they were born to fight each other, Big Hash as an unbreakable wall and Mio as the pest who was determined to try and smash it down regardless. All of which is to say that Marvelous returning to this match in 2023 was very exciting.
However, I think it’s somewhat important to temper expectations for this showdown. Mio’s trial series isn’t just a chance for her to put on a series of great performances (although it has definitely been that) but is a way for Marvelous to tell a story. A story that, right now, is more important to them than putting on matches of the year. We weren’t getting Mio vs Hashimoto in a main event where they had the freedom to go all out. They had an end goal that they were working towards, which had to take precedence. So, rather than giving us the best match of the year, it was simply really fucking close to being so. Holy shit, was it good.
There was a perfect moment towards the end which summed up what makes these two so brilliant. A hard strike exchange followed by a burst of pace that ended with Hash behind Mio, setting up for a German. However, Momono was having none of it, frantically trying to scramble away, grabbing onto Hashimoto’s leg, and doing everything in her power to escape. She couldn’t, but it did buy her the time to prepare, allowing her to backflip out when Hash finally hoisted her over. It went on from there, Mio reversing another two German attempts before hitting a pair of her own, a wild flurry of action, but in which nothing ever stopped being important. Momono knows from painful experience that a single German from Hash is all it takes, so she gave her heart and soul to avoid them, clawing and scraping. I genuinely think it’s impossible to watch that and not get caught up in the moment, becoming desperate for her to survive as she struggles against this tank of a woman.
As has been the theme of Momono’s trial series, though, surviving wasn’t something she could do. Mio has shown in all three matches that she can go out and trade blows with the best, doing incredible things, but she’s struggling to get the job done. When they’ve hit the final act, she’s failed to put away Ito, Arisa and Big Hash, despite having opportunities, and when they’ve had their own chances, they’ve all seen her off. If she is to win the AAA Title, that’s what has to change. Thankfully, we’re all getting to watch her journey to figuring that out, and this put her 3/3 in incredible performances even as she goes 0/3 in results. Please never let this feud end.
Verdict: Outstanding
Chikayo Nagashima defeated Tomoko Watanabe to retain the AAAW World Title
Coming into this match, Tomoko Watanabe was pretty clear that she saw it as her last chance. She hasn’t announced her retirement, but there has been an acceptance that she’s climbed up to this level one too many times, and if she didn’t win, it wasn’t a journey she’d be making again. With that in mind, I was kind of worried for these two. I think Tomoko is incredible, and I desperately wanted this to be brilliant, but following Mio vs Hash was never going to be easy.
Thankfully, I needn’t have worried. Chikayo and Tomoko aren’t stupid, they knew they had no chance of besting Mio and Hash at their own game, so they didn’t even try. Instead, they went out and had a completely different style of match. Where the semi-main felt like a desperate struggle, this was more controlled, with Chikayo targeting Watanabe’s arm early on and establishing the flow of action. Could she do enough damage to it before Tomoko flattened her with power moves?
And that control allowed this match to build brilliantly, slowly unfurling as they unleashed everything they had on each other. The escalation felt so natural and earned that it almost snuck up on me as we hit the point where Nagashima was hitting Sunset Flip Powerbombs from the second turnbuckle. Watanabe, meanwhile, always felt like a threat, that ability to power through Chikayo’s offence and drop her on her head capable of turning the match at any moment.
Sadly, the finish didn’t quite go to plan, forcing them to improvise, but honestly, who gives a shit? In my opinion, two exhausted people not executing a move perfectly isn’t a botch but realism, so while it took some of the urgency out of the final seconds, it didn’t hurt my enjoyment of a damn good showing. These two have a combined age of 98, but for over twenty minutes, they rolled back the clock, and if this is the last time Tomoko graces this stage, she went out in style.
Verdict: They Pulled It Off
Overall Show
Marvelous have had some great shows this year, but that was probably the best of the bunch. We got some strong comedy in the opener, a decent tag and then a run of matches that were all brilliant in their own way. With the whole roster fit (admittedly, there aren’t many of them, but it hasn’t happened much recently), it feels like Marvelous is in a position to start building up some serious momentum heading into the summer. I, for one, can’t wait.
Marvelous have a Nico channel where you can watch older shows and you can buy access to live streams here.