Sendai Girls (16/7/23) Review
The Rare Sendai Girls' Show That We Can Actually Watch
The image used in these reviews are linked to the Twitter account responsible for them: simply click through to bring up the original post. If you are a photographer whose image I have used here, and you do not grant me permission to reproduce your work, please let me know (Twitter: @FlupkeDiFlupke) and I will remove it. Thanks!
写真家さん、ここにイメージが写すことが許可しなければ聞いて下さって私は大至急除きます (ツイターの @FlupkeDiFlupke です)。ありがとうございます！
Subscribe now!
Subscribe to Marshmallow Bomb for free to receive all our posts direct to your inbox, or donate $5 a month to access the full archive. A portion of every subscription supports Amazon Frontlines, an organisation dedicated to working with Indigenous peoples to defend their way of life, the Amazon rainforest, and our climate future.
Being able to watch a Sendai Girls’ show feels like a rare treat at the moment, as they haven’t been doing the best job at making them available over the last six months or so. With the YouTube uploads also drying up, I have little to no idea what’s been going on over there, but I guess a trip to Korakuen is as good a time as any to dive back in and see.
Yurika Oka defeated Yura Suzuki
Whenever I watch Yura Suzuki, I’m caught off-guard by her still being a teenager. Suzuki holds herself like someone much older, and it’s only when you see her close-up that it becomes apparent how young she is. She also seems to be everywhere right now. Being a teen and having only debuted at the end of 2020, you would expect her to stay close to home, but she has already built up an impressive CV of companies. It’s paying off, as she’s honing a solid foundational base of stiff kicks and submissions that could take her far.
As for this match, it was all a bit go-go-go as Oka and Yura tried to fit as much into their four and a half minutes as possible, meaning they never got a chance to do anything interesting with any of it. Still, there were hints of tension and chemistry (mainly in the stinging slaps they delivered), so I wouldn’t mind seeing this again with the time and space to let them come up with something a bit more developed.
Verdict: Not Much To It
Eiger defeated Sakura Hirota
It’s been easy to take these Eiger vs Hirota matches for granted over the years, but now that we draw close to the end for one half of this infamous pairing, it feels necessary to appreciate every second of them. Who knows how many times they’ve wrestled, Cagematch certainly isn’t accurate in that regard, but we do know there won’t be many more. Hirota even cut an emotional promo beforehand (during which Eiger handed her a tissue, which made sense, and a banana, which didn’t) that seemed to be saying as much.
And if you’re reading this, you probably know the deal. One’s a ghost, one is the greatest comedy wrestler of all time, put them together, and hijinks occur. However, for all the emotion surrounding this feud coming to an end, I’m not going to sit here and claim this was some unique example of the form. It was another Eiger vs Hirota match, which means it was funny (although, unless your Japanese is better than mine, some of it will fly over your head) and hit most of the beats you’d expect. They’re not going to change up the formula now.
Nor should they. In its own way, this pairing has earned its place in the puroresu pantheon. Eiger and Hirota have been doing this for years, and while I can’t claim to have watched every single one of them, I’ve never turned away from one, either. They’re the kind of matches you can rely on, a little spot of feel-good nonsense, and I’ll miss them when they’re gone. Thankfully, we are getting at least one more, as they announced they’ll do it all again on September 2nd, for what I presume will be the last time. I can’t be the only one secretly hoping they decide to go out with twenty minutes of intense grappling, can I?
Verdict: I’ll Miss This
Ryo Mizunami, Yuu & Manami defeated Akari, Nina Samuels & Lena Kross
Wrestling is a complex thing at the best of times, so when you don’t speak the same language as the people you’re working with, it feels like it should be impossible. While Nina Samuels and Lena Kross have wrestled in Japan before, you could tell they weren’t as in tune with their opponents as Akari (who has been living out there for years and does speak Japanese). That’s not to say they were awful, they were solid enough (Samuels’ heel shtick is a bit annoying, although you could probably argue that’s the point), but there was always a feeling that both sides were being forced to adapt to accommodate the other.
It meant that despite the talent in this match, it was capped at alright. You’ll never have an awful time watching that Japanese trio while Akari’s interactions with Aniki were fun, but most of this was simply there. Bobbing along, being watchable enough, but never inspiring any great emotion. I don’t want to put that entirely down to Kross and Samuels, they are the rare wrestlers able to match Yuu and Aniki for strength, and they didn’t stink the place out. It just lacked that indefinable spark of chemistry, which stopped it from ever becoming something worth going out of your way to see.
Verdict: Fine
Sareee & Saori Anou fought to a time-limit draw with Red Energy (Mika Iwata & Miyuki Takase)
All the natural chemistry missing from the last match was here in abundance. The second Iwata and Anou grabbed each other by the hair, you knew where this was going, and it delivered on that promise. As far as I know, there was nothing between these four to inspire any nastiness (although, as mentioned, it’s been impossible to watch Sendai this year), but they couldn’t help themselves. Things were always going to end in violence.
And even if this had just been a fun exhibition, each brings a piece of brilliance that would have shone through regardless. You have the pure hard-hitting heart of Takase, Anou bumping around like a slinky, the still lingering excitement of Sareee being back in Japan, smacking seven shades of shit out of everyone, and Iwata, the coolest person in every room she’s ever been in. You want to see these people fight, and as the tensions boiled over and the hits got harder, it was impossible not to have a lovely time.
By the end, it had been stripped back to Iwata’s story, as she threw everything into trying to break through Sareee, aided by Takase popping in and out to provide assists. Whether she would have done it or not is impossible to say, as the time ran out, but my god, those two spark together. I’ll get onto Iwata’s future later in the review, but if it doesn’t include another match with Sareee, then Sendai is doing this wrong.
To put it simply, this ruled. It was a proper old-fashioned humdinger of a match in which everyone smacked each other hard in a way that is pretty undeniable. There wasn’t enough of an emotional core to quite push it up to that match-of-the-year level, but who cares? It was cool as hell, and that will do for now.
Verdict: A Proper Lovely Time
Chihiro Hashimoto defeated Natsupoi
I like Poi, I really do, but she’s got this bratty arrogance that makes her intensely unlikeable at times. Some of it is in character, some of it is that she’s (let’s face it) a massive dumbass, but all of it makes it incredibly satisfying to watch her eat shit. And who better to dish out a big bowl of shit than Chihiro Hashimoto?
That’s not to suggest this was a squash. Poi had her moments, as early on, she used her speed to hit and run before building up to an incredible late flurry of strikes. However, whether because of that arrogance or dumbassery, it was like she couldn’t resist trying to get close and fight Big Hash at her own game. Poi is never going to out-wrestle or out-hit Hashimoto, but she kept trying to do it, and it ended exactly how you’d expect, with her being hoyed across the ring.
Despite everything I’ve said, Poi does deserve credit. A lot of it, in fact. While Hash was the one doing the throwing, Poi was the one doing the landing, and fair fucks to her for agreeing to take some of those bumps. Not many people are willing to be military-pressed over the top rope with no one to catch them, but she did it, and it ruled. Satisfying wrestling beatings happen because the person taking them is willing to do so, and she took it like a champ.
It all added up to a brilliantly narratively satisfying match in which Poi got her moments in the sun but where we always knew the beating was coming. Poi and Hash played their roles wonderfully, and while I can’t imagine we’re about to see Natsupoi regularly nipping out of Stardom for trips elsewhere, this reminded me that it is something I would very much like to see.
Verdict: So Satisfying
Hiroyo Matsumoto defeated DASH Chisako
I described Iwata as the coolest person in the room earlier, but if there is one person who can match her for that, it’s DASH. Some of the impact of her being injured since December has been lessened by the aforementioned inability to watch Sendai, but that doesn’t make it any less exciting to see her back. A world where DASH Chisako is wrestling will always be a better one.
And this match hit a lot of the expected beats of a comeback, as Matsumoto put her returning pal through the wringer to see how she held up. However, with it being DASH on the other side of it, things quickly escalated past that. It wasn’t long until the chops turned to headbutts, and Chisako was leaping off a ladder in the ring to splash Hiroyo through a table on the floor. Any assumptions that she would take it easy were quickly proven to be nonsense.
Of course, having just come back after seven months out, DASH eventually hit the wall, and Hiroyo took over to put her away, but this was a strong return. Chisako got her big moments in, and she looked good, but it was always going to come around to Matsumoto in the end. That prevented it from pushing through and hitting that next level, but it was still an enjoyable watch. Now that she’s back, DASH will go on to have better matches than this one, but it doesn’t mean this wasn’t good.
Verdict: A Strong Return
Millie McKenzie defeated ASUKA to win the Sendai Girls’ Title
It’s not something I say often, but this match needed more time. As it was, it felt like ASUKA and Millie were trying to cram everything into the twelve minutes they had, leading to McKenzie stumbling around on the outside, nearly failing to beat a twenty-count after less than five minutes as I struggled to remember what ASUKA had done to merit such an over the top sell. It didn’t seem to fit in with what had happened, like I’d dozed off and missed a chunk of the match.
And there was good stuff in here. All the strikes were crisp, and the suplexes looked great. The problems were all in the construction. It felt as if they were setting up to go much longer, like they’d planned out twenty minutes, only to be informed halfway through that it was time to wrap it up. On top of that, nothing Millie did felt like it should have been enough to beat someone of ASUKA’s calibre. She won that title by beating Big Hash and followed up that up by demolishing Iwata. Of course, in classic Sendai style, she then didn’t defend it for five months and has only beaten Manami since, but she’s still ASUKA, so having her lose the title to a flash roll-up in a twelve-minute match after she’d dropped Millie on her head just felt bizarre. I have no issue with someone getting bundled up, it’s one of my favourite finishes, but it never felt earned. The match hadn’t done the work to justify ASUKA being caught off-guard like that.
The problem isn’t Millie winning the belt. Sendai rolling the dice and trying something new is cool, but the whole thing felt like a fluke. Perhaps that’s the point, and with Iwata coming out afterwards, McKenzie might lose it on her first defence. However, Iwata challenging a new champion and losing is hardly a new idea, and I had to stop myself from groaning in recognition when it happened. That issue (or, just maybe, delight) is for the future, though, and right now, this felt like a fairly subdued way to end ASUKA’s reign and begin Millie’s. Perhaps it will all come together, but it’s a rough start.
Verdict: Some Decent Stuff, But It Didn’t Come Together
Overall Show
There was some great stuff on this show. The tag match, Poi vs Hash and DASH’s return are all definitely worth seeking out, and I’ll always recommend Hirota vs Eiger. However, the main event left me feeling grumpy. Your mileage may vary, and I’ve seen plenty of people praise it, so it might be worth a go, but I’m not convinced. Either way, it was lovely to watch a Sendai show, so if they could keep making that possible, I would be much obliged.