Marvelous in Chiba (12/2/23)
Mio Momono's Homecoming
Front Matter
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Marvelous’s trip to Chiba was a special one for Mio Momono, as not only was it her homecoming, but she was marking the 7th anniversary of her debut as a wrestler. Before the show, she went on an intensive postering campaign, doing everything in her power to fill that room, and judging by what we could see on the screen, she did a good job. Her prize? A chance to test herself against Kaoru Ito in the main event.
Chikayo Nagashima & Ayame Sasamura defeated Tomoko Watanabe & YuuRI
Watching people beat YuuRI up is fun. That sounds mean, but it comes from a place of love, as she’s such a naturally likeable figure that you can’t help but react to seeing her in distress. Her over-the-top, expressive nature makes every second of the beating feel important and leaves you desperate to see her stage her comeback. A good chunk of this match revolved around her getting worked over, and she did a fantastic job carrying that load.
Elsewhere, we got a smidge of Tomoko vs Chikayo, with Watanabe mainly coming out on top. While I think you can ask a couple of questions about Tomoko being on the losing side after definitive wins over Ai and Mio on the last two shows, she looked dominant whenever she was in the ring, particularly when she was casually tossing Chikayo about the place. I’ll be honest, I came into this expecting Watanabe to pick up the win and challenge for the title, so my prediction took a bit of a kicking, but I still wouldn’t be surprised to see them go that way. She certainly felt like a threat when she paired off with Nagashima.
Finally, Ayame Sasamura is sitting just behind your Itsuki Aoki and Riko Kawahata types as a wrestler who works for loads of companies and impresses in all of them. I’m not sure she ever gets the credit she deserves, but you’ll rarely see her have a bad match, and this certainly wasn’t the exception to the rule. What keeps her behind an Aoki or Riko is that you never feel like she’s desperate to steal the spotlight, as she appears content to play a supporting role. I’d be very intrigued to see her get a chance to be front and centre, as I suspect she has even more to give. She certainly played her part in what was an entertaining opener.
Verdict: A Strong Start
Leo Isaka defeated Raimu Imai
It’s hard to say this without sounding dismissive, but there is very little to say about this match. That’s not because it was bad (it wasn’t), but it was good in a very ordinary way. Leo and Raimu went out and had a solid back and forth where they both did everything they wanted to do, but at no point did anything particularly remarkable, either positively or negatively. It was simple, decent wrestling.
And while it’s hard to get excited about that, I definitely don’t want to give it a kicking. There is a lot of wrestling, and most of it is bad, so in the grand scheme of things, being good is impressive. At the very least, it puts you in the top 10%. If they had this same match on any number of cards, it would be one of the best things on the show, but most cards don’t have wrestlers like Mio Momono. As it is, this one did, so Leo and Raimu will have to be content with being simply good.
Verdict: Fine
Magenta (Maria & Riko Kawahata) defeated Dokupe Kabuki (Unagi Sayaka & Aoi)
Aoi is in the intriguing position of being one of the few people who views getting caught up in the swirl of chaos that has surrounded Unagi Sayaka since she’s gone freelance as a positive thing. Unagi’s tendency to turn up in various promotions demanding to assess people hasn’t endeared her to most, but Aoi appears to appreciate her more, em, out-there personality traits. It hasn’t done her any harm either, as being able to put up with The Eel presumably led to her making her Marvelous debut.
The match itself hit some classic tag beats, as Magenta, the more established team, always felt like they were a step ahead of their less experienced opponents. Aoi and Unagi both had moments individually, but Maria and Riko were a more fluid unit, tagging in and out and sticking to their plan plan. Right from the start, they zeroed in on Aoi’s arm, doing a fantastic job of working it over. That teamwork stopped Dokupe Kabuki from ever really building up momentum, as they were forced to try and create magic out of scraps.
However, while Maria and Riko were the more impressive tag team, Aoi still gave a good account of herself. Her selling of the arm was fantastic, as even during her comebacks, she never forgot to hold it uselessly at her side or show the agony when she pushed through the pain to use it for a move. It was all doubly important as it played into the win, Riko wrenching her over into an armbar and giving her no choice but to tap out. That made the finish feel particularly satisfying and was a nice throughline for what was an enjoyable match. Let’s hope this isn’t the last time we see Aoi in Marvelous.
Verdict: A Good Debut And A Good Magenta Performance
Before the intermission, Takumi Iroha announced that her return match, on March 10th, will be her and Leo Isaka vs Chikayo Nagashima and Daisuke Sekimoto. That’s not what I would have predicted, but it’s certainly intriguing.
Kaoru Ito defeated Mio Momono
For the first match in Mio’s five-match trial series, Chigusa Nagayo put a brick wall in front of her and dared her to break it down. Kaoru Ito might not be as quick on her feet as she once was, but she’s a hell of a physical presence, and you only had to see her stand across the ring from Momono to see the challenge facing the hometown girl. If she wanted to win this match, she would have to do something special.
And god damn it, she came close. Early on, Mio couldn’t break through, hammering away at Ito with blows that barely made the veteran flinch. However, as the match went on, she only grew more insistent, throwing herself at Kaoru to take her off her feet and even pulling out a fucking German at one point. She was a determined force of nature, refusing to back down even as everything suggested she should turn and run.
Credit also has to go to Ito, as while I don’t think I was lying when I said she struggles to do everything she used to, she worked her arse off to make Momono look good in defeat. Not only was she an intimidating force, twisting Mio up in submissions, but when it was time to start bumping around, she was more than happy to do so, throwing herself all over the place. Ito could have easily stood in the centre of the ring and left Momono to wrestle herself, but that wasn’t what happened here.
Those two great performances came together to make sure this was a match that massively over-delivered. I rarely anticipate anything less than brilliance from something involving Mio, but Ito is 33 years into her career, and you can never expect too much from someone with that many miles on the clock. Thankfully, Momono is only getting better with every show right now, and Kaoru made sure that her homecoming delivered a main event to remember. Then, to add the cherry to an already delicious cake, Chigusa announced that Momono’s next opponent will be one Arisa Nakajima. Fuck, that’s going to be special.
Verdict: It Massively Overdelivered
Overall Show
Mio worked her arse off to make sure her homecoming was a success, and it was worth it, as this was a great show. The one flaw was an unremarkably good match, which, as negatives go, is not too shabby. Elsewhere, we got another strong Magenta performance (including a good Marvelous debut), YuuRI getting beat up, and Mio being her usual brilliant self. You can’t ask for more than that!
Marvelous have a Nico channel where you can watch older shows and you can buy access to live streams here.