Marvelous (17/1/23) Review
Marvelous's First Show In A Post-Rin World
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With the previous Marvelous show ending with the surprising news that Rin Kadokura was leaving to move to Canada, 2023 hasn’t gotten off to a quiet start for Chigusa Nagayo’s company. However, life goes on, and with Takumi’s return from injury on the horizon, there is hopefully still plenty to look forward to in 2023. Every exit leaves holes that need filling, and it’s time to see if everyone else can step up and take Rin’s place.
Maria defeated YuuRI
Maria’s swagger has always suggested that she had the potential to flourish as a veteran tasked with putting a youngster through hell, but it’s not something we’ve seen her do very often. So far, she’s usually been on the receiving end of those beatings. Not on this show, however, as she got an opportunity to channel her future self and see what YuuRI could do.
And it should be no surprise that Maria was impressive here, no-selling dropkicks, yanking on YuuRI’s hair, and doing all the things that have been done to her countless times before. It was a fantastic display of bastardy. You could tell she was relishing it, too, enjoying being the person to set the pace of the match and cut off YuuRI’s comebacks with a well-placed dropkick. Then, when it was time, she turned her attack to her legs, ripping them apart to pick up the submission victory.
Credit also has to go to YuuRI, who is a brilliant underdog. She has a real knack for drawing sympathy, even making sure to hobble around the ring after the bell, while all her offence still has a touch of rookie scrappiness to it. There’s real drama to how she leaps into a Sleeper, grabbing hold of Maria in mid-air and pulling her down to the mat. I never really bought that she’d win the match, but it was hard not to root for her, as you believe she’s giving it her heart and soul.
It all made for a stellar opener, as Maria got the chance to try something new alongside an impressive performance from YuuRI. As I mentioned above, this Marvelous roster is currently full of holes, meaning Maria will need to step up and put on matches like this more often. Judging by this one, she’s more than ready to do so.
Verdict: Impressive From Both
Chikayo Nagashima defeated Hibiscus Mii to win Takumi Iroha
Before the match, Hibiscus Mii demanded that they make it for the AAAW Title (something she technically earned by pinning Iroha before her injury). Sadly, Chikayo clearly hasn’t been paying attention to old results and refused her request, but did agree to put something much more important on the line, Takumi Iroha. It was a deal that Takumi seemed somewhat confused by (she was on Takumi Cam duty because Chig wasn’t around) but continued the long tradition of everyone thinking she is really cool and should only be friends with them.
With that setup, it’s probably not going to shock anyone to learn this was our nonsense match of the evening, as Iroha found herself stuck between her warring tag partners. When they weren’t beating each other over the head with slippers, they were trying to get her involved, putting her in something of a rough spot. In an attempt not to take sides, Takumi somehow ended up awkwardly perched on the turnbuckle for a chunk of the match, watching on and applauding as they battled over her.
In the end, she would play more of a part than she perhaps wanted, taking a blow from both of them, which in turn provided the distraction Chikayo needed to bundle Mii up and end an entertaining outing. Whether that officially concludes Mezzoforte remains to be seen, but Iroha gave Mii a whack over the head with a slipper in the aftermath, so things certainly aren’t perfect.
Verdict: Everyone Loves Takumi
Yuna Manase defeated Unagi Sayaka and Riko Kawahata in a three-way
There were a lot of big personalities in this match, aptly illustrated by Manase choosing to bump boobs with Unagi rather than shake hands. I have no idea what to say about that one. Thankfully, I am on firmer ground with the technical difficulties that plagued the first few minutes, which did cause the video to jump forward a bit, but luckily didn’t last long enough to have a major impact.
When we got going, Riko Kawahata proved a real standout. Perhaps she was annoyed at being excluded from the boob bumping, but she had some real venom behind her kicks, delivering some stiff blows to Manase. Of course, Yuna being Yuna, she promptly asked for more in the loudest, most over-the-top manner possible, and Kawahata was only too happy to oblige. It still wasn’t the most Manase moment on the show, though, as she decided to cut what sounded a lot like a show-closing promo after the match (despite it not being the end of the show) that mainly involved her repeatedly screaming the word Marvelous.
All of that silliness was a lot of fun and kinda made up for the fact the match itself was a bit formulaic. A lot of it had two people pairing up while someone hung around outside the ring, and then when they all got in there, it ended pretty quickly, Manase’s roll-up win coming a bit out of nowhere. It was all standard stuff, but it didn’t really matter, as when there is that much personality in the ring, the wrestling becomes a bit irrelevant. The match might not have been particularly remarkable, but it’s worth watching purely for the chaos surrounding it.
Verdict: The Silliness Was Better Than The Wrestling
Shoki Kitamura & Takumi Baba defeated Astroman & Ryo Hoshino
Leo pulled out of this show because of illness, so we had a token men’s match without Marvelous’s token man. I’ll be honest, I struggle to care about these when Leo is around, and I like him, so it was going to take something really special to get me invested in this one.
And I’d almost love to say they won me over, but it wasn’t to be. However, it was better than I expected. All four of these guys are from ZERO1, and they’re obviously decent wrestlers who know each other well, so they were able to put together a solid wee showing. There was also a nice tribute to Shinjiro Otani that got a good reaction from the fans, as Kitamura delivered a thorough face wash in the corner, followed by multiple boots. However, ultimately, there just wasn’t enough here to make me care about these four random men, so it goes down as a semi-decent diversion rather than anything worth going out of your way to see (unless you are a massive ZERO1 fan.
Verdict: The Lack Of Leo Hurt It
Mio Momono & Ai Houzan defeated Tomoko Watanabe & Itsuki Aoki
There was a style clash at the heart of this match, as two pests battled two powerhouses. It’s a pairing that always works, as Ai and Mio flew into dropkicks at every opportunity while their opponents worked hard to get them to stay still long enough to get their hands on them. There was nothing particularly new or complicated about it, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t effective.
It also worked because they did an impressive job of holding Mio back until the end. Ai worked a lot of this match, Tomoko and Itsuki making sure she couldn’t escape the ring, as Mio was limited to popping in to save her or try and inspire a comeback. That both gave Houzan a nice run out as the underdog in peril, during which she looked good, and built the anticipation for Mio coming in and evening the odds. It wasn’t quite an example of old-school tag wrestling (Mio’s eventual entry wasn’t really a traditional hot tag), but it toyed with similar ideas, giving us the satisfaction of Momono finally being unleashed.
It also meant we got a fantastic closing section between Mio and Tomoko. Watanabe is Marvelous’s secret weapon, as while she tends not to get a lot of attention these days, she is still more than capable of putting on a show when required. Here, she worked as a base for Mio, throwing her about and setting her up for all those roll-ups she so brilliantly deploys. It was one of those that would get the win, too, Mio bundling over Tomoko and making sure that the pests came out on top in an impressive main event. It was probably not up with the very best of Marvelous, but that’s a high bar, and it featured Mio Momono in top form, so it’s always going to be worth your time.
Verdict: 1-0 To The Pests
Overall Show
With Rin leaving, there are a lot of questions about where Marvelous goes next. Their roster is getting ever smaller, and they’ve had rotten luck over the last few years, but this show was a strong reminder of what they have to offer. We got an exciting match between younger wrestlers, some nonsense, a lot of personalities and a great Mio Momono performance in the main event. As long as Marvelous can deliver that, I reckon they’ll be alright.
Marvelous have a Nico channel where you can watch older shows and you can buy access to live streams here.