Sendai Girls (5/11/23) Review
Iwata's Position As Champ Is Questioned
Front Matter
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Sendai Girls have crowned a new champion, and her first big show with the belt sees her not defend it against Sareee. Hmm, that’s probably not what I would have predicted, but hey, we’re here now, and Mika Iwata vs Sareee sounds like it has the potential to be incredible whether the title is on the line or not. Throw in Aja Kong lining up against DASH in her semi-traditional big show hardcore match, and the top of this card looks like a great time. Let’s find out if it was.
Mio Momono defeated Yurika Oka
Watching Yurika Oka stubbornly refuse to be shoved away from hammering Mio’s chest with forearms - it suddenly struck me why these two are so good together. Mio may have entered this match as the veteran, dominating the early grappling and trying to slow down her blustering rookie opponent, but at heart, she and Oka are very alike. They’re pests, the kind of wrestlers who won’t leave you alone. Once upon a time, Mio was Oka, throwing herself at bigger-and-badder opponents, and it turns out that it was just as frustrating for her as it was for everyone she faced.
Oka was so persistent that it forced Mio to change tactics. In those early stages, she was all business, dancing ahead of Yurika as she put the youngster through her paces. By the end, she’d been dragged into what I typically think of as a Mio Momono match, the two slipping between flash pins as everything took on a level of frantic energy that the veteran must have been keen to avoid. Any hopes of a relaxing afternoon at the office were long gone. Oka just kept coming, throwing herself at Mio in the hopes she could force a mistake and, with it, the upset.
Of course, in some ways, that was actually Oka’s biggest mistake. Mio may have moved on from her pest-rookie days, but she’s still a menace, and if you challenge her in that arena, you’ll probably lose. Eventually, she was the one who forced the win, bundling Yurika up for the three and proving that the rookie still has a long way to go if she wants to stand toe-to-toe with the master. However, Oka still made her mark on this match, and while it’s going to be a while until she can place herself alongside a Mio Momono, she’s already proven to be a natural foe.
Verdict: More Of These Two, Please
ZONES & Chi Chi defeated Rea Marumori & YUNA
Rea Marumori and YUNA debuted in August, but this was my first time watching them. Until now, they’ve primarily wrestled each other (although Rea did have a match with Yura Suzuki), so this was an opportunity to make a splash against the already well-travelled Evolution pairing of Chi Chi and ZONES.
And I came away quietly impressed by the Sendai pair. Rea and Yuna are still in that early stage where 98% of their offence is dropkicks and forearms, so they’re leaning on bluster and the most rudimentary tools. However, they’re avoiding making the typical rookie mistake of being so focused on getting the moves right that they forget everything else. There were flashes of personality throughout this match, and while a lot of it was broad, it’s a promising start for people this young in their careers.
Talking of which, it’s easy to forget that Chi Chi and ZONES aren’t old hands themselves. It would be easier to count the shows they haven’t been on in the last couple of months, and it is showing in their development. They’re still rookies, but where Rea and YUNA showed flashes of who they are, these two have it figured out. Be it Chi Chi being drawn into a surprisingly spiteful strike exchange with YUNA or ZONES demanding people tag in so she can out-muscle them, they’re fleshed-out, intriguing characters who show a lot of potential. This match wasn’t anything special, but we got glimpses of what it could become, and that’s good enough for now.
Verdict: A Solid Start
Miyuki Takase defeated Sakura Hirota
Miyuki Takase might be the platonic ideal of a Hirota opponent. She straddles a line between serious and goofy, having proven the ability to battle for titles on the big stage while also being able to flip it all and be incredibly silly. You only need to watch the opening of this match to see it, as, in a nice twist on the formula, she contrived to lose twice to Hirota in mere seconds, forcing her to beg for another shot. Even as someone who couldn’t understand everything she was saying, her cajoling Hirota into returning to the ring was obviously funny, as she couldn’t help but treat it like one of the most important things she would ever do.
The other thing that makes her a perfect Hirota opponent is somewhat simpler but of no less importance. It’s her selling of the kanchos. I keep threatening to make a scale of kancho selling, and if I ever do, it will be Takase and Mio who sit at the top of it. The crown jewel of this match was Miyuki hitting a leg drop, only to instantly realise her mistake, as her already-tender arse paid the price. It might be some route-one comedy, but damn it, it’s funny, and I could watch her wandering around selling Hirota prodding her in the buttocks all day.
Plus, you know, these two are brilliant. The wrestling that links it all together will never let you down because (alongside being hilarious) Hirota and Takase are ridiculously talented. When they finally got around to the actual match, it went a smidge under 6 minutes, and every second of it was gold. They’re a pairing you can trust, and if we get a million more of these, I’ll still be left wanting more.
Verdict: One Of My Favourite Pairings
Hiroyo Matsumoto & Lena Kross defeated Ryo Mizunami & Manami
Lena Kross has become a semi-regular in Sendai over the last year or so, but I have to admit, beyond being taller than everyone else, she’s never really stood out to me. However, I did enjoy her performance in this match. Pairing her up with Manami allowed her to go out and be a big old bully, which was a role she was suited to, throwing some nice knees and generally terrorising the much smaller wrestler. I’m still not going to be rushing out to watch all her matches, but it gave me an insight as to why Sendai keep bringing her over.
She wasn’t the only one to outpower Manami here, as the youngster was lost in a forest of hosses. Despite that, I thought she gave a good account of herself, showing some spirit as she battled to delay the inevitable. I know trying to get Sendai to elevate people who aren’t Big Hash is a famously fruitless mission (more on that later), but I’d like to see her pushed up to the next level, as she’s got a lot of personality alongside her in-ring talent.
As for the two veterans, I think it’s safe to say they delivered a mid-card tag performance. They did a bit of hossing, and Aniki is generally the most over person in every room she’s in, but they weren’t looking to pull out all the stops. It meant this was never really able to push past alright, but that’s okay. Not every match can be a banger, and this was still far from offensive.
Verdict: Manami Looked Good
Team 200kg (Chihiro Hashimoto & Yuu) defeated Takumi Iroha & Riko Kawahata
Riko followed in Manami’s footsteps by being plonked in the middle of a group of people who outpower her in every way. You would have to shit rainbows of joy to have the slightest hope that Riko wouldn’t be taking the fall here, and even then you would have probably realised your mistake when Yuu barrelled through her the first time they both tagged in. Still, Kawahata made sure to go down fighting, throwing some of those kicks around and at least pretending her fate wasn’t sealed.
Away from Riko, Takumi getting to square up with Hash and Yuu felt like an event. She’s one of the few people around who you can imagine beating them, and every time they get in the ring together there is a sense that something exciting could happen. Even in this match, where the three of them were relatively restrained, those interactions sparked with life as Iroha used her speed and kicking prowess to find a way around the tanks.
Not that she managed it, but it’s hard to begrudge Team 200kg beating anyone. They’re a joyous pairing, as it’s not often you see two big lasses go out and throw their weight around while also looking like they’re having a lovely old time. I joked above about Sendai protecting Hash at all costs, but if they held the tag titles forever, could there be any justifiable complaints? It’s the kind of thing that feels right.
Anyway, this was a solid-to-good match, which was probably only about half of what these four could do together. Everyone was playing to their spot on the card, putting on a good time, but not a mind-blowing one. With what was to come, that was fair enough, and this was still an enjoyable wee tag between some brilliant wrestlers.
Verdict: Good, But It Could Be Even Better
Aja Kong defeated DASH Chisako in a hardcore match
In the filing system that is my brain, I often differentiate between a great match and a cool one. It’s a distinction that has nothing to do with quality and everything to do with vibes. A great match is technically outstanding, put together with a degree of mastery and should have some sort of narrative throughline. A cool match doesn’t require any of that. It can be a mess, but as long as enough shit happens that makes me sit up and cheer, then I don’t give a flying fuck. DASH vs Aja was a cool match.
It’s vital to remember that Aja Kong is 53, has been wrestling for 37 years and has had who knows what done to her body. She does not need to be going through tables, yet when you put her in that ring with someone she respects, she will do all of that and more. DASH hammered her with countless chairs, yanked her off the apron to go through table number one, and, in the spot of the match, leapt from a ladder in the ring to go crashing through Aja and table number two on the outside. No one would begrudge Kong sleepwalking through shows like this, but that’s not Aja Kong, and when she decides she wants to, she’s still got so much to give.
And yes, it was sometimes a bit messy and all over the place, but who gives a fuck? Where else can you see Aja Kong snap, leaping back up to her feet to start laying a beating on DASH that involved her charging through a tower of bins? She might not move like she used to, but there was no hesitation when it was time to fire up, giving it all back twice as hard. No one puts a younger wrestler in their place quite like Aja, and when it was DASH’s turn to end shit, she did so in dramatic fashion.
In the aftermath, a laughing Aja grabbed the mic to put DASH over, and if I hadn’t already decided this match was cool as hell, that would have confirmed it. Kong has said that she plans to wrestle until she dies, and if she’s still laughing with joy after going through this, you’ve got to believe she means it. I certainly hope it’s true because a world where Aja Kong isn’t in that ring is a sadder place.
Verdict: So Cool
Sareee defeated Mika Iwata in a non-title match
There was a lot to love about this match. Iwata and Sareee are a natural pairing, both stiff as hell but in very different ways. Sareee is a killer, the kind of person who will stamp on your head to make her point. Iwata, meanwhile, seems fuelled by a deep-seated desire to prove herself to the world. She’s pure heart, ready to throw herself at the largest person in the room to show she can take them. Right now, Sareee is close to being exactly that, and you could feel Iwata’s desperation to make a point.
The problem is that, in the narrative of this match, Sareee is better than her. Iwata had her moments, but you never believed the Sun God was in trouble. She was free to tee off with vicious, petty kicks throughout, and just as it felt like everything was building up to that final act, she put Mika away with relative ease. It felt like she had been tasked with putting Iwata in her place, which, as her post-match promo made clear, is pretty much what she was doing, as she turned her gaze straight to Big Hash, ignoring the champ in favour of the Ace.
And I don’t actually have a problem with Sareee winning. I don’t even have a problem with her turning her eye towards Hashimoto. At this point, Iwata is in that classic place of having won the belt without beating the Ace, and until she does, there will always be a question mark over her reign. If anything, I think the title probably should have been on the line, sending Iwata back to square one and demanding she fight back to the top instead of being in this weird spot where she’s now champion but has been positioned as the second most important thing on the card. She’s been put in an awkward place, and I’m not sure how she escapes it (especially as I secretly suspect she’ll probably just lose the title to Big Hash before any of this story stuff can reach its conclusion).
Right now though, that’s all speculation. What’s important here is that this was a good match, but one that hinted at something that could be even better. Sareee humbled Iwata, which removed the struggle I wanted to see between these two, and now the champ needs to find a way to get on that level. If Sendai let that story play out, building back to this and giving them the freedom to go out there and kill it, I have no doubt it will be incredible. As it is, this was impressive without ever quite pushing over the line into greatness.
Verdict: Very Good, But Could Be Even Better
Overall Show
I ended that on a bit of a downer, but this was a good show. Sendai Korakuens will often have their storytelling issues, but you’re rarely going to come out the other end complaining about the quality of matches, and that was the case here. Plus, they let Takase and Hirota loose to mess around on the undercard, so I’m happy.