TJPW Live In Los Angeles (31/3/23) Review
TJPW Finally Make Their Way To America
Front Matter
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Three years later than planned, TJPW finally got a chance to make their mark on the biggest wrestling weekend of the year. Would they pull it off? Spoiler, but yes, they would.
Upper Kick got quite the pop when Raku announced it. Unfortunately, the American commentary team (one of whom had already been revealed to be a prick beforehand because of his refusal to allow people to use non-binary pronouns in his wrestling publication) spoke over the Train of the Day, setting up one of the less enjoyable themes of the show. If you’re going to do commentary, you should at least know to shut up when the people in the ring are talking (I’ll refrain from spending too much time moaning about them). In better news, Miu spent part of the song wandering through the crowd, yelling at them to chant along, which was great.
Free WiFi (Hikari Noa & Nao Kakuta) defeated Daisy Monkey (Suzume & Arisu Endo)
The crowd were hot for everything, giving Free WiFi a rare chance to work in front of people who were happy to boo them for their heel antics. To say they revelled in it would be an understatement, grabbing every opportunity for a cheap shot before biting and pulling on Endo’s hair. It wasn’t a case of them reacting to the boos and playing off them, either. The match was built around Free WiFi bullying Daisy Monkey, suggesting they’d done their research.
And Free WiFi’s heel work set Daisy Monkey up to play the plucky underdogs, a role they relished. It felt like they were constantly chasing the action, which suited them perfectly. Endo has those explosive bursts of offense, while Suzume’s hot tag after an extended Free WiFi heat section was lovingly judged, getting a big reaction as she hit the ring with a flurry of activity.
It was also an ideal opener to serve up for a crowd where not everyone would be aware of them. This was fast-paced, hard-hitting and didn’t let up for a second. You’ll always have a few sceptics on the outskirts of these things, but I can’t imagine anyone would have come away from that anything other than impressed.
Verdict: A Great Start
Janai Kai defeated Yuki Kamifuku
When TJPW announced the card, Kamiyu vs Kai was the match that stood out to me. It’s not what I would consider a natural pairing, as it set up the potential for the hard-hitting Kai to lay into the more fun-loving Kamiyu. It’s not that Yuki can’t compete (few people boot someone in the head better than her), but she probably wouldn’t have been the first person on my list to throw to that particular wolf.
Thankfully, I was wrong to worry. This felt like a throwback to Kamiyu’s International title run. Back then, she stepped up to have a series of tight, hard-hitting matches, and in this one, she was out there spiking Kai on her head with a Brainbuster. I wouldn’t have blamed her if she’d shied away from trading blows (I certainly would have), but she did nothing of the sort, proving (not for the first time) that even though I think she’s a good wrestler, I probably still don’t give her enough credit.
The finish was sudden, much to the annoyance of the crowd, who were angry Kai won, but that’s the kind of decision I’m willing to forgive. If you’re going to be ‘The Kick Demon’, you should be able to knock fuckers out, and that’s exactly what Kai did. Plus, matches in this style often benefit from being short and sweet, and it probably gave us everything we needed.
Verdict: It Gave Me What I Wanted
Hyper Misao & Hyper Adora defeated Yuki Aino & Raku
Before the match, Misao bestowed a mask on Trish Adora, making her an honorary superhero and setting the tone for what was very much our fluffy TJPW midcard action. Raku brought her pillow! I’m choosing to believe that she carried it all the way from Japan.
There was a degree of playing the hits to this one, but with moments like the crowd going quiet for Raku’s lullaby, it was a lovely greatest hit set to watch. Plus, we got to see Aino and Adora hoss it out, a pairing that showed some potential in their moments together. I’ve no idea if there are any plans for Trish to return to Japan, but if there are, more of that, please. Equally as importantly, Raku and Misao got a little bit of time together to impress, meaning they showed off both the nonsense and the wrestling.
Hyper Misao’s cold spray got the assist for the win, and this was a lot of fun. Unlike the first two matches, it did feel like something you could find on any small TJPW show, but I love small TJPW shows, so I certainly don’t mean that as an insult.
Verdict: A Nice Time
Wasteland War Party (Max The Impaler & Heidi Howitzer) defeated Shoko Nakajima & Miu Watanabe
If you’re one of these people who think TJPW don’t know what they have with Miu or that Koda is desperate not to push her, I’m begging you to watch this match. Not only did Watanabe shine, but was she given every opportunity to do so, poor Shoko being thrown around the ring to set up Miu coming in and looking amazing. Credit also to Max and Heidi, who were incredibly generous as they bumped around for her, both taking slams before she managed an incredible Giant Swing on Howitzer.
It wasn’t only the Miu show, though. Wasteland War Party continued their near-perfect record in TJPW with a hoss performance that made everything Shoko and Miu did feel big. Nakajima, meanwhile, took something of a backseat to Miu but was her usual reliable self and got a couple of cool moments of her own, including taking Max off their feet. In the end, though, she was the one to take the pin, a moment that both showed TJPW protecting Miu and had Max pin a former big champ, potentially setting them up to challenge in the future.
Every WrestleMania Weekend has a breakout star or two, and while Miu’s probably not been on enough shows to be the person to smash through here, she’s certainly made a hell of an impression. TJPW know it, too, and if you don’t think they have big plans for her, you’re not paying attention. However, this was one of those matches where the person who stole the show did so because everyone else let them, and while Miu had to pull it off, she got a helping hand in making this awesome.
Verdict: Fantastic Stuff
Rika Tatsumi defeated Billie Starkz to retain the International Princess Title
For her age, Billie Starkz is an impressive wrestler, but it’s safe to say that she’s still a tad erratic. I want to make it clear that’s not necessarily an insult, though. That erraticism makes watching her exciting because you’re never quite sure if what she’s got planned will come off. Everything is a little bit sloppy, which, while it nearly led to Rika taking a scary bump off a German when Billie caught her in mid-air (thankfully, they got her over okay), also meant that same German looked fucking awesome.
And while Billie had some big moments, this settled into a Tatsumi showcase. She got to show off that psychotic side we all love so much by throttling her opponent and going after her leg before effectively using her own bunny head against her. Rika is at her best as a disrupting agent of chaos, which is a slightly different style of chaos from Starkz. Tatsumi feels like she constantly has opponents on the back foot, as they’re never quite sure how to deal with this smiling demon who wants to throttle them.
Coming off her match-of-the-year contender with Miu, this was always going to be a step down for Tatsumi, but it was still a good battle. It felt like they left quite a lot on the table, as it was relatively short and never really got to play out Rika attacking the leg or Starkz trying to go big for the win, but that didn’t stop it from being fun. If we do ever get a rematch, though, I reckon they’ll top it easily.
Verdict: Good, But I Think They Could Do More
Magical Sugar Rabbits (Yuka Sakazkai & Mizuki) defeated 121000000 (Miyu Yamashita & Maki Itoh) to win the Princess Tag Titles
Coming into this show, I was living under the assumption that the titles wouldn’t change hands. They’d only just found their way to their current holders, so they were obviously going to stay there a bit longer, right? But then, as the match went on, I began to realise I was wrong. There wasn’t only no reason the belts couldn’t change hands, but it made perfect sense for them to do so, what with Miyu about to kick off a three-month tour of the US. And while that was a purely personal revelation, it was one of those moments that suddenly ramped everything about this main event up. It turned from a match I’d been enjoying into something I was fully hooked on, which happened just as they started racing up through the gears.
And look, this ruled. It’s a MagiRabbi main event, and they were facing Itoh and Miyu, so the chances of it being anything other than great were slim, and I think they even held back a little bit. It was a big show for TJPW, but it was not the biggest, and these two teams could easily headline a building in Japan, so it makes sense that they didn’t dive deep into their bag of tricks or pull out anything new. Thankfully, though, what they have on demand is pretty fucking great. Quite frankly, everyone involved was so over that they probably could have got away with doing a lot less, coasting to the finish on the pure enthusiasm of the crowd.
That’s not their style, though, and this ramped up beautifully, allowing both teams to show off some of their coolest tricks (Yuka and Mizuki’s tandem offence got over nicely) before ending in the big title switch, something that did seem to catch the fans off-guard. I think there was the potential of that going wrong in the building, what with Itoh’s overwhelming popularity in America, but by that point, the goodwill pouring off of those in attendance meant they were never going to turn on these wrestlers. They’d all had too good a time.
Which ultimately is what made this all work. TJPW didn’t go out and try to do anything particularly complex, they went out looking to impress, and that’s what they did. It was a hell of a main event, and now we’ve got a double champion on our hands. Let Mizuki’s reign of terror begin.
Verdict: Fantastic Stuff
Overall Show
The obvious comparison here is with DDT’s America show in 2019. In fact, this was booked very similarly, as it showcased everything TJPW is before ending on a huge moment. It also, much like that event, worked. The crowd was hot throughout, and from a quick scroll through Twitter (I’m never going to leave my bubble for long enough to do more than that), the overwhelming reaction was positive, and it’s hard to see how it could be anything else. From start to finish, this was a blast, and hopefully, a few more people came away knowing that there is a lot more to joshi wrestling than Stardom.
Watch Tokyo Joshi Pro: https://www.wrestle-universe.com/en/videos?labels=-tjpw.