TJPW Live Tour In Spring '23 (18/6/23) Review
The Rookies Are Picking Up Minutes, Pom's Self-Help Book & Aino Goes For The Back
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Things are still a bit hectic in TJPW-land, with people being out injured or spending most of their time on the other side of the world, but Summer Sun Princess is drawing ever closer, and we now have a full card. It’s a good one, too, with a lovely mix of potential bangers (Rika vs Aino), chaos (Max & Pom vs Kyoraku Kyomei vs Raku & Aja) and long-running storylines (Mizuki vs Itoh). All that’s left now is to put the finishing touches to the build, and while this show was lacking both sides of our main event, Rika Tatsumi and Yuki Aino were around to fill that gap.
Moka Miyamoto defeated Runa Okubo
Our opener went under five minutes and kept everything relatively simple, which is how it should be. You could tell Moka was going a tad slower and softer than usual, which isn’t something everyone would do but is in keeping with who she is as a wrestler (and, I suspect, a person, too). I buy that Moka Miyamoto doesn’t want to spend her weekends beating the shit out of a child. In a similar vein, I’m never going to be overly harsh or start nitpicking singles matches involving literal kids. I also don’t want to spend my weekends being mean to children.
In saying that, I thought this was a decent showing from Runa. She’s still a bit awkward in the ring but is slowly loosening up, and I was genuinely impressed by her getting Moka up for a slam. You can already see the steps she’s taking to improve, and considering the confidence she shows during her entrance (which she’s got down to a tee), I suspect everything else will follow soon enough. At the moment, it’s about getting her in that ring and letting her figure it all out, and a solid five minutes with Miyamoto is a pretty good way to do that.
Verdict: Be Nice To Children
Hikari Noa & Haru Kazashiro defeated Mahiro Kiryu & Shino Suzuki
In an inspired touch, Mahiro got Shino into the ring to introduce her apology spot like it was an attraction she was passing on a bus tour. I know I’ve gone on about it a lot, but Kiryu’s improvement in the last year or so is really something. She hasn’t become an elite worker, and I suspect she never will, but her character stuff is fantastic. Not that long ago, I don’t think she’d have had the confidence to put something like that together, but she’s finally figured out who she is.
Outside of that, this was another fairly basic match. The powers that be are trusting Haru to do a little bit more, and she’s repaying that trust, but it’s still nothing overly complicated. Shino, meanwhile, is a nice little match-up with Hikari, and I enjoyed her run of roll-ups towards the end. On the whole, though, this was what you’d expect it to be, and with it going less than nine minutes, it never had the space to become anything more.
Verdict: Perfectly Fine
Miu Watanabe defeated Toga
I usually focus on the rookies with these things, but some time has to be devoted to talking about slightly cocky and dismissive Miu. We’ve seen hints of it in the past, most notably in Shino’s debut, but she came into this match knowing she would dismantle Toga, and it was a lot of fun. The definitive moment was Toga trying to lift her off the mat, only for Miu to power straight up into a slam. You could argue that the one thing missing from her game is that streak of nastiness, as big matches have tended to see her play the underdog. However, this suggests that it is there, and when the time comes for Watanabe to dominate, she’ll be more than capable.
As for Toga’s performance, it was another solid rookie showing. Again, it was kept short and simple, with her spending most of the action selling, but she did everything she had to well. It wasn’t as impressive as the match against Kamiyu, but it was a very different situation, and I don’t think you can fault her for that. She was in there with a Miu who was in the mood, and very few people stand out when that’s happening.
Verdict: Miu So Strong
Hyper Misao & Yoshiko Hasegawa defeated Raku & Pom Harajuku
Pom seemed to be in a particularly Pom-ish mood. Early on, she pulled out a little shuffle, complete with some arse wiggling, that seemed to be purely for the delight of wiggling one’s arse. I’m not one for self-help books, but I would give Pom’s Guide To Finding Joy In The Little Things a go.
I’m starting to sound like a broken record, but this was another short and sweet affair. The only difference was that we substituted giving a rookie a runout with having a lovely time. It’s always nice to see Yoppy, who fits in nicely with the TJPW lot, but no one was bursting out of their comfort zone here. They went out, had some fun, wrapped it up in under ten minutes and were home in time for tea. Job done.
It made for an outing that I would never tell anyone to go out of their way to watch, but which I can’t imagine anyone not enjoying. Well, I can, but they’re all people who take themselves far too seriously and whose opinions I don’t give a damn about. If you’ve got a spare eight minutes, hanging out with Misao, Yoppy, Raku and Pom is far from the worst thing you can do.
Verdict: A Nice Time Was Had
Yuki Kamifuku defeated Wakana Uehara
I found it hard to concentrate on this match, but it wasn’t the fault of the wrestlers. The problem was the man in the crowd who appeared to like Wakana slightly too much. All the way through, he was yelling her name in a way that suggested he was either incredibly excited or in quite a lot of pain. Perhaps even both. It got to the point where when he wasn’t yelling, I was still distracted because I was stuck wondering when it would happen again.
Anyway, when I did manage to pay attention to the wrestling, this was another strong bullying performance from Yuki Kamifuku. I praised Miu for bringing a bit of edge to her match, but in comparison to Kamiyu, she’s the friendliest person on the planet. Everything Kamiyu does drips with arrogance, and she’s clearly in her element when handed a rookie to dismantle.
Of course, any great bully needs a strong babyface to bounce off, and Wakana filled the role nicely. Her selling was strong throughout, as she did a solid job battling uphill against tough odds. In contrast, her offence didn’t quite land with me, as I don’t think there was enough rookie fire behind it, but she was starting to figure it out towards the end. I also adored her feeble attempt to kick out of the winning pin, a spasm of the limbs that was never going to work but suggested a tiny part of her still wanted to fight.
So yea, good wrestling, weird fans. I guess there’s nothing new there.
Verdict: Kamiyu’s A Great Bully
Shoko Nakajima defeated Arisu Endo and Kaya Toribami in a three-way
Our penultimate match was the rare TJPW three-way that didn’t trend towards the silly. Instead, it aimed to be a fast-paced wee banger where every second was packed with action. That also meant it continued the theme of the show by going under ten minutes, but you certainly can’t accuse it of being light on stuff.
And honestly, I don’t have much to say about it. Three-ways tend not to lend themselves to narrative heft, so it was more a collection of cool moments, and there are only so many ways to convey that. However, I will shout out Kaya. The Bird is on the most consistently impressive run of her career, and it’s a joy to see. In a recent review, I mentioned that I’d perhaps slept on her improvement, and I’m now convinced that was the case, as she’s really stepped up with the connective tissue that links all her fancy moves together. I’m not quite at the point where I want to see her push up the card, but that moment is drawing closer.
That aside, this was simply a load of fun, with some inventive wee spots and Shoko Nakajima holding it all together. Like most of this card, it’s far from a must-see, but that doesn’t mean you won’t enjoy it.
Verdict: The Fast And The Fun
Rika Tatsumi & Suzume defeated Yuki Aino & HIMAWARI
You get the impression HIMAWARI loves wrestling in TJPW. Sure, part of that is her character, and she seems a naturally enthusiastic person, but there’s a real sense that she is delighted to be there. That then plays into everything else she does, as shown in her pure joy when her dropdown spot succeeded in tripping Rika. She paid for it later via throttling, but I suspect she was more than willing to make that trade.
Away from HIMAWARI, this was all about Rika and Aino facing off ahead of their title match, and what we got was intriguing. As expected, it’s setting up to be a battle of Aino’s power vs Rika’s leg work, but the story here was that while Rika won the match, it was Yuki who came out on top of their interactions. There was even a suggestion that she might focus that power on Tatsumi’s back, as she dumped her on the apron before following up with a senton in the same place. That’s a battle with a lot of potential, and I came out of this even more excited for their showdown than before.
The rest of it was as strong as you’d imagine, with Suzume also struggling to overcome Aino’s power, as she found most of her go-to offence thwarted. It was a solid piece of match construction, as we all know what to expect from Rika, so focusing on what Aino will bring to proceedings made perfect sense. Judging by this (and the battle with Endo), she’s ready to step up to the plate, and those two could easily steal the show.
Verdict: It Set The Scene Nicely
Overall Show
Only one match on this show (the main event) went over ten minutes, which is perfect for a house show with a limited roster. TJPW are going through a bit of a weird time thanks to injuries and people pissing off to America, but the upside of that is the rookies getting the chance to put some miles under their feet. In the long-term, that will all be vital experience, and with it feeling like some of those America trips are likely to turn into more permanent stays, a few of them might be asked to step up sooner rather than later.
Watch Tokyo Joshi Pro: https://www.wrestle-universe.com/en/videos?labels=-tjpw.