TJPW All Rise '23 (27/10/23) Review
Yuka's Back, Arai Says Goodbye to Saki & Miyu Faces A Monster
Front Matter
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The Korakuen after a big show is a tough one. You’ve built to a peak, and as the old saying goes, the only way is down. However, TJPW worked hard to try and make this one worth watching as Yuka Sakazaki returned from injury to start her final run with the company, a young team challenged for the tag belts, and we had a foreign monster aiming to destroy our Ace. Would it be enough to get people excited? Let’s find out.
Wakana Uehara, HIMAWARI & Runa Okuba defeated Toga, Shino Suzuki & Haru Kazeshiro
We had all the rookies in the opener, as TJPW gave us a preview of the Nexgene Tournament, which will take place in November. It’s a single-elimination deal, with the first round seeing Haru vs HIMAWARI, Runa vs Toga and Shino and Wakana getting byes. With how this class is developing, it feels like the perfect time to give them this chance, and I’m excited to see how it plays out.
In this one, everyone gave a good account of themselves. With six people and not that many minutes, they were sticking to the hits, but those hits are already pretty damn solid. Plus, there were a few highlights scattered throughout, chief of which was Runa flexing her wee bruiser muscles by standing up and trading blows with Toga. Forearm exchanges are easily the most overused fallback in wrestling, but a moment like that means something because Runa couldn’t have done it a few months ago. We’re seeing her style change in real time, which will always be satisfying.
They also finished with a preview of that first round, as Haru and HIMAWARI woke Korakuen up with a good, competitive back and forth. It would end with the Powerful Cheeky Chappy winning, which I suspect will also be the case in the tournament, but Haru pushed her, forcing her to work for it. While she’ll need to go further if she wants to see the second round, HIMAWARI now knows she’s in for a fight.
Verdict: Good Rookie Action
Ryo Mizunami & Yuki Aino defeated Maki Itoh & Kaya Toribami
Ryo Mizunami was in the Halloween spirit as she entered wearing a pumpkin hat while the fans devotedly chanted her name. There aren’t many people in the scene as consistently over as Aniki. I’m sure some wrestlers get bigger pops or have sold more merch, but it doesn’t matter what company it is - when her music hits, the crowd get excited.
It helps that she also delivers in the ring. Here she set her eyes on Kaya, fighting to draw the fire out of the bird and doing a damn good job of it. Toribami sometimes lacks the emotion to draw you in, but her struggle as she tried desperately to chip away at the seemingly invulnerable Mizunami felt real and vulnerable. It’s a side of her that I’d like to see more of, and I’m not surprised Aniki was the one to get it out of her.
I wish I felt similarly about Itoh, but sadly, I’ve failed to connect with her recent work. She’s still incredibly over, but we all know the force of nature she can be, and I feel like she’s hitting all the easy beats right now. The only time we’ve seen her tap into the emotion that has fuelled the best parts of her career was against Mizuki at Summer Sun Princess, and while her interactions with Aniki were good, I couldn’t help thinking how much better they would have been with an Itoh at the top of her powers.
Still, even with that, this was a solid match, as the pairing of Aino and Aniki followed up their Wrestle Princess showing with another impressive performance. With Yuki pinning Kaya to get the win here, I would have zero issues with them building to a tag title shot, but I’ll equally take them becoming a more regular big show thing because they’re a team that makes a whole lot of sense.
Verdict: Decent Stuff
Shoko Nakajima won a delayed-entry battle royal to become the number one contender to the International Princess Title
Is getting to face Max a reward or a punishment? Either way, Shoko is going to have to do it.
As a general rule, I don’t love the whole battle royal to decide a new challenger thing. It always strikes me as a tad lazy, as it’s a way to generate an opponent without doing anything to earn it. Plus, while the Royal Rumble has occasionally struck gold, the truth is that most of these matches are rubbish, as the wrestlers spend most of the action blandly filling time until the next entrant.
Thankfully, that wasn’t true here. In fact, this was a whole load of fun. From Mahiro accidentally knocking everyone out with a perfectly timed duck through the various tag-teams coming together (and sometimes apart) right to the fantastic choice to have Kamiyu and Shoko finish things up (or so I thought), playing off Kamiyu recently pinning Nakajima. It was all painstakingly put together to make sure it never dragged, and multiple little sections left me wanting to see them expanded out into a full match.
Plus, we got the treat of Raku pulling a Santino Marella and popping up at the end to nearly steal the victory away from Shoko. Maybe it’s because I watched this on a Friday night with a beer, but I had completely forgotten about her, so when she reappeared, ready to try and ruin Nakajima’s day, I was delighted. They nailed that little burst of wrestling, too, Shoko timing her kick outs to perfection as Raku threw everything at her as quickly as possible, only to fall agonisingly short. It was a great end to a thrilling match that blew my expectations away. Oh, and Shoko vs Max has the potential to be a banger.
Verdict: So Much Fun
The Magical Sugar Rabbits (Yuka Sakazaki & Mizuki) defeated Hyper Misao & Pom Harajuku
She’s back! We don’t have much time left with Yuka Sakazaki (eight shows to be precise), but damn, it’s good to see her. While there are a lot of fantastic wrestlers on the TJPW roster, few fill me with the joy that the Magical Girl does, and matches like this are a big reason for it. Because yes, Yuka can go out and do those massive main events, but she’s equally adept at being dragged into Pom and Misao’s nonsense as the cake they claimed was to celebrate her return got smeared into her face.
And while the killer, all-conquering version of MagiRabbi is great, I think the going-out-and-having-a-laugh-version of this team is my favourite. While they’re still ludicrously overpowered, and poor Misao and Pom never really stood a chance, they at least got to mess around before that superiority revealed itself. Admittedly, some of that messing around did come close to bullying, as MagiRabbi gleefully covered Pom and Misao in silly-string before Yuka pinned Misao while casually holding her hand over her mouth and nose, but to be fair to them, Pom and Misao did throw the first cake.
It also meant that even if Sakazaki didn’t get to eat said cake, there was a celebratory mood to it all. The wrestling was good because it always is when MagiRabbi are involved, but that was almost secondary to everyone having a lovely old time, and if we have to say goodbye to Yuka, I want as many of these encounters as possible. The kind of matches where it feels like you’ve got to hang out with her for fifteen minutes, pissing about and laughing. Her return gave me that, and the only downside is that we know there are only so many of these left before the end.
Verdict: A Lovely Time Was Had
Saki Akai defeated Yuki Arai
There are too many goodbyes at the moment.
Since teaming up, Yuki Arai and Saki Akai have developed an almost sisterly bond, with Akai taking the younger and less experienced Arai under her wing. It was a relationship that, both in and out of kayfabe, seemed to play a significant part in Yuki’s development over the last year or so, which makes it only fitting that she got the chance to test how far she’d come before her mentor called it a day.
And early on, the answer seemed like it might have disappointed her. The Akai we see in TJPW is different from the one we get in DDT. She’s more confident, verging on arrogant, displaying the calm precision of a veteran as she booted the idol around the ring. There was no rush or attempts to impress, but instead, a detached, almost spiteful, aggression that saw her stamping on Arai’s head as she tried to recover. It all left Yuki struggling to get a foothold in the action.
Of course, it would eventually come, and when it did, this exploded in the right ways. Arai never really felt like she would win here, but she did make a dent, firing away with those big boots and making Akai work to escape the Scorpion Deathlock. This was always going to be about testing how close she could get, and there were moments where Saki was sent scrambling, forcing her to realise that if she wanted to win this, she would have to go up the gears. Ultimately, it still ended the way you’d expect, but Arai is at the start of her career, and Akai is at the end of hers, so there is still a lot to learn. If she does go on to pick it all up, Saki will have played a bigger part in helping her get there than most.
Verdict: Two Good Performances
Free Wifi (Hikari Noa & Nao Kakuta) defeated Shinken Kusho (Moka Miyamoto & Juria Nagano) to retain the Princess Tag Titles
I was a bit unsure of how the newly named Shinken Kusho would deal with stepping up to a title shot. Moka is a promising young wrestler, and Juria has her moments, but as a pairing, they’ve never really blown me away, and this seemed like a huge leap forward. Thankfully, they calmed any nerves within the opening seconds. When Free WiFi tried to get the jump on Moka, Nagano responded by evening the odds and proving that they weren’t going to sit back and be bullied by the cool kids. It was a tiny little thing, but it showed a willingness to put their stamp on the match that set up the rest of it perfectly.
It was doubly important because, like Arai, I don’t think anyone expected them to win. Free WiFi just got their hands on those belts, and while they’re beatable champions, it would have been a massive shock to see them drop them already. The match almost seemed to accept that, never relying on near falls and instead simply letting Juria and Moka show what they can do. Not all of it works (karate chops are cool in theory, but sadly lack some oomph), but when they click into the groove, you can see a team that could one day feel like a real challenger for these belts.
On top of that, it was a strong primer for what to expect from Free WiFi. Unlike a MagiRabbi or even a Daydream, they are beatable champions. I might not have expected them to stumble on this defence, but a team like Daisy Monkey taking the titles from them doesn’t feel impossible. Plus, I think they are a strong candidate to step into the workhorse role that was vacated when Rika lost her International Princess Title. Nao and Noa have chemistry with 95% of the roster, and there aren’t many pairings that I could picture them having a bad match with. As this proved, give them ten to fifteen minutes, and they’ll deliver something worth your time.
Verdict: A Good Showing
Miyu Yamashita defeated Regina to retain the Princess of Princess Title
I feel a bit sorry for Regina. She’s a throwback, and while I’m very over evil heels licking people, there’s a world in which her coming in as a monster of the month to challenge Miyu could be a lot of fun. The problem is that TJPW currently has Max the Impaler regularly turning up in the company, and I’m firmly of the opinion that they might be one of the best monsters around. It’s perhaps unfair, but I’m comparing everything Regina does to Max, and it’s a comparison she can’t win.
This match played the monster hits. Regina was bigger and stronger than Miyu, launching her through some chairs early on. She also has a touch of pace that adds some oomph to her offence, making that domination feel right. Unfortunately, it’s then somewhat undermined by a tendency towards amateur dramatics, as every facial expression and evil laugh is turned up to eleven. She was doing some solid work to Miyu’s leg, but whenever the camera focused on her face, she was gurning away in a style that, more often or not, made me laugh.
And yet, you can’t deny that there were parts of it that worked. Korakuen started quiet, but they were slowly drawn into Miyu battling from underneath, and there was a hint of anxiety in the room when Regina connected with a Piledriver. I don’t think asking Miyu to sell the leg is the best idea as she’s too reliant on kicks to ever fully commit, but she did make an effort, at one point collapsing as she ran across the ring. For all my complaints, there is a simple beauty to the Ace coming up against a physically imposing outsider trying to steal away their belt, and whatever flaws might be there, it’s an easy concept to buy into. So, while it won’t go down as a Yamashita classic or even come close to making the top 10 TJPW title defences this year, it was enjoyable for what it was.
Verdict: Good, But Not Special
Overall Show
All Rise massively over-delivered. On paper, there wasn’t a whole lot that leapt out at me, but several matches smashed through my expectations, and, most importantly, a lot of it was really fun. None of it will be troubling my end-of-year lists, but as a whole show, it was well worth the three hours I gave it, and TJPW continue to be one of the most reliable Korakuen tickets you can find.
Watch Tokyo Joshi Pro: https://www.wrestle-universe.com/en/videos?labels=-tjpw.