Mio Momono's Crazy Halloween Night (26/10/23) Review
They Gave Mio A Whistle
Front Matter
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Sadly, Mio Momono’s career has, once again, been ruined by the villainous Mayumi Ozaki, leaving her a hollow shell of a human being. However, Marvelous were kind enough to toss her one final bone before she’s thrown on the scrap heap, letting her run her own Halloween produce show, an event that sounds like a hell of a lot of fun. It’s no secret that Momono is a bit of a weirdo, so if you put her in charge, there’s the potential for all sorts to happen. What exactly does that mean? Well, let’s find out.
Kaori Yoneyama and Yuu defeated Chikayo Nagashima & Ai Houzan
Mio’s whims meant that if anyone was caught speaking English during the opener, their team was forced to run the ropes as punishment. She was on hand to enforce it, too, sitting on the outside armed with a whistle to help her call anyone on their bullshit. Oh, and Yuu and Yone wrestled while dressed up as ducks because why not?
With all of those things on the table, this is not one for those seeking great wrestling. These four could have done that, but Mio was a stickler for the rules and loved having a whistle and some power. The slightest infringement had her demanding they get running, and there were moments in the match where you could hear her laughing away to herself at ringside. It consequently meant the whole thing was very stop-start, and that’s before you even get to the fact that Yuu had to bail out halfway through to take off her giant duck feet.
What it also was, however, was hilarious. It’s a match you have to embrace for what it is, leaning into the chaos of the constant stoppages and everyone’s failed attempts to build up even the slightest bit of momentum. The joy here wasn’t in the wrestling but in Mio getting the chance to menace her peers, forcing them to dance to her whistle. By the end, they were exhausted and looked like they’d quite happily ram it where the sun doesn’t shine, but Mio was grinning from ear to ear, which was the real joy of it all.
Verdict: No One Will Call It Great Wrestling, But I Had A Lovely Time
Itsuki Aoki defeated Ayame Sasamura and Leo Isaka
Match number two continued the stipulation trend. This time, everyone was asked to declare something that they love about Mio before being allowed to make a cover. If you didn’t already know that this was a Mio Momono produce show, you could have figured it out after that. It was a task that Sasamura and Itsuki approached with glee, practically lining up to shout their favourite things about Momono, but Leo was a bit less sure of himself. I don’t think it was that he didn’t know what to say, but that when the time came around, he suddenly found himself getting all bashful, reverting to a wee boy being forced to say something nice about a girl.
It was also a step back towards ‘normal’ wrestling, at least in comparison to the opener. This stipulation didn’t get in the way quite as much. They were still playing for laughs, but there was a touch more nuance to those laughs, particularly when Ayame and Itsuki forced Leo into repeatedly pinning them and, consequently, having to repeatedly and awkwardly praise Momono. The gimmick allowed them to fold everything into the action more naturally than the opener, as they didn’t have Mio’s whistle forcing them to stop every few minutes.
It meant that, as much as I enjoyed the previous chaos, this was the better wrestling match. They still managed to get a good dollop of nonsense in there, and Mio loved every compliment, but it also didn’t have to stop every five seconds because someone had yelled ‘punch’. If you want a bit more structure with your laughs, this is probably the match you want to see.
Verdict: More Structure, But Still Funny
Nanashi defeated Tomoko Watanabe
There were two fantastic moments in this match. One was the reveal of Tomoko’s makeup (I think the joke might have been that Mio did it for her, but I’m not sure), which saw her face slathered in a thick white layer before being completed with a pair of very prominent eyebrows. She’d come to the ring masked, and when she removed it, you could hear Momono roaring with laughter at ringside. The other was when Nanashi wandered through the crowd, attempting to hunt Tomoko down and, in the process, finding a whole cast of motley characters, all of whom reacted brilliantly to her unsettling presence.
Sadly, while I loved those slices of comedy, the rest fell weirdly flat. It feels like it should have been right up my street, but there was a spark of invention missing from the action. Most of it relied on fairly standard ideas around Nanashi being scary, which, while fun enough, was something we’ve all seen a million times before (including in her much better match with Takumi Iroha). We know these two are hilarious, and I wanted to see them bounce off each other a bit more, but they tended to fall back on Watanabe running away.
Still, two big laughs are better than nothing, and I wouldn’t call this a failure. For one thing, it seemed likely it would have worked a lot better in the room as Nanashi charged about the place, making her way through the fans and forcing them to scatter out of the way. I imagine if you were there, you had a blast, and hey, it wasn’t awful for those of us at home. It just fell short of my admittedly lofty expectations.
Verdict: A Touch Of Greatness, But I Wanted More
Mabudachi Chuunibyo Ora Ora (Mio Momono & Kyuuri) defeated Magenta (Maria & Riko Kawahata)
The ability to convincingly escalate a match is an art that separates the alright wrestlers from the great ones. Many people can put together exciting strings of offence, but the number of wrestlers that can build up to the big bombs in a way that feels authentic is a lot smaller. Most wrestling doesn’t exist in a three-act structure as much as a two-act one, opening with some perfunctory grappling and running through the expected basics before wildly accelerating into the moves they actually want to use.
That’s not true of matches involving Mio Momono. Of all the wrestlers I watch regularly, there aren’t many, if any, who are better at starting light and frothy and ending by repeatedly kneeing someone in the head. This was the first Marvelous reunion of Mabudachi Chuunibyo Ora Ora (there was an Ice Ribbon match too, but I’m not sure it ever aired) since Kyuuri’s return, and they wasted little time in getting to goblic mode. Magenta spent the opening act in a state of confusion, chasing them around Shinkiba and trying everything to get these pests to stay fucking still. Then, almost imperceptibly, that silliness escalated until Mio was trading headbutts with Riko and going all out in the closing stretch with Maria. Mio has a gift for this kind of switch, turning from a giggling menace running through the crowd to a killer ruthlessly trying to knock her opponent.
Of course, it helps when she has a partner who makes a habit of suffocating people and two foes who are fantastic wrestlers in their own right. Kyuuri took a back seat in that final act, but she was brilliant fun throughout, while Magenta more than held their own when battling it out with Momono. Some of Riko’s kicks looked particularly vicious, and while there’s an argument to be made that they shouldn’t be losing ahead of their challenge for the tag titles, it’s one that I hope I’m not boring enough to make. This match ruled, and on a show that saw Mio encourage the ridiculous, she capped it off by reminding everyone that she is equally capable of the sublime.
Verdict: Outstanding
Overall Show
That show had something for everyone. If you’re looking for great wrestling, go straight to the main event, while the undercard had a little bit of every kind of comedy you could hope for (even if the semi-main didn’t quite click with me). We already knew Mio was one of the best wrestlers in the world, but she might also be one of the best bookers, and let’s hope that Ozaki ruining her career doesn’t stop Marvelous from letting her do one of these now and then.
Marvelous have a Nico channel where you can watch older shows and a YouTube Membership where they upload videos. You can also buy access to live streams here.