TJPW Live Tour In Spring (8/4/23) Review
A Glimpse Of A Beautiful World
Front Matter
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.
There’s no rest for the not-that-wicked (well, most of them aren’t, Rika definitely has a bit of wickedness going on). After flying halfway around the world for WrestleMania weekend (and doing a bit more than that on the way back thanks to cancelled flights), TJPW returned to Japan happy with a job well done. Savouring their success wasn’t an option, though, as there is a Korakuen just around the corner. Back to the grind they go!
Hikari Noa defeated Shino Suzuki
You get the impression Hikari enjoys having a younger Up Up Girl to bully. She was grinning away as she grabbed the first of many fistfuls of Shino’s hair, relishing the chance to be a bit of a dick. When the rookie was brave enough to return the favour, it only spurred Noa on, as she slapped her around the head in response before doing it again. Still, you’ve got to commend Shino’s moxie. That was only ever going to make things worse.
And I enjoyed how hard this all seemed to be for Suzuki. While Hikari was having a lovely time, she was struggling to keep her head above water, thrashing around as she desperately tried to keep up. Now, there is a chance that she wasn’t acting, and the match was genuinely quite difficult for her, but that doesn’t alter the effect. It still felt like she was out there giving her all, doing everything she could to try and overcome her malevolent senpai.
Things fell apart a bit towards the end, Shino seeming to lose where she was as it got a tad clunky, but it was all forgivable. It was the fourth match of her career, and, much like the first three, there was more than enough in there to hint at a promising future.
Verdict: Shino’s Struggling, But In A Good Way
Arisu Endo, Runa Okuba & Haru Kazeshiro defeated Mahiro Kiryu, Wakana Uehara & Toga
Assemble your rookies!
I’m enjoying watching Haru and Runa’s steady improvement. Yes, of all the rookies that TJPW have debuted recently, they’re the ones who feel the most rookie-ish, but they’re literal children, so anyone having a go is a dick. Plus, with them coming in at a lower level than the others, their development is easier to track. While what they’re doing in the ring is still entirely built around the basics, they’re starting to relax and loosen up, which is already helping them improve.
They were also on the winning side for the first time, as cool big sister Arisu tried to snap poor Wakana with a Camel Clutch. It was a visually impressive finish to a match which hit the level you’d expect. Toga threw a few hard strikes, Wakana continued to look strong for her experience level and Arisu and Mahiro did a solid job of holding it all together. There is nothing you need to see, but watching the rookies figure stuff out is never a waste of time.
Verdict: Solid Rookie Action
Suzume defeated HIMAWARI
Suzume is adapting well to her shifting position in the card. Going from the plucky underdog to controlling matches is a big change, but the bee has quickly settled into her new role. Mean isn’t a word I’d typically associate with her, but she has developed an edge, perfecting her steely gaze as she throws an extra kick or pulls back that bit harder on a submission.
The Powerful Cheeky Chap, meanwhile, has quickly become one of my favourites. HIMAWARI has a natural charisma that makes watching her wrestle feel like a constant treat, and she’s getting to grips with how to deploy the “powerful” part of her nickname effectively. There was a moment in this match where she plucked Suzume off the top rope, spinning her around before tossing her away, which looked fantastic. As Miu Watanabe has already proven, charisma plus muscles is a powerful combo.
This was basically a perfect undercard match. There wasn’t anything complex about it, and it followed the rookie formula almost to the tee, but everything was executed crisply by two wrestlers who I find endlessly charming. Sometimes that’s all you need.
Verdict: Great Undercard Action
Yuki Kamifuku defeated Haruna Neko
Neko repeatedly scratching the eyes of noted dog lover Kamiyu while giggling to herself is my kind of wrestling. To make it even better, it came after an extended period of the wee cat scurrying around the ring, using her diminutive stature to stay out of the reach of the much taller Kamiyu. It’s like these two were born to wrestle each other.
It was one of the moments that led to this match massively over-delivering. I was anticipating a quick, light-hearted affair, but Kamiyu and Neko filled their time nicely, and, well, listen to the sound of that chop and tell me it was light-hearted. That simple hook of Kamiyu being tall and Neko short doesn’t seem like a lot to build a match around, but it makes them a natural fit, as they’re both adept at using their height to their advantage. Plus, it meant we got to see Kamiyu put a manji-gatame on Haruna, a moment that rivalled her putting it on Mei Saint-Michel for delightful ridiculousness.
No one is about to declare this an instant classic, but it was a compact and fun midcard battle between two quietly talented wrestlers. I don’t think they ever convinced me that Neko had a chance of winning, but I was having too much fun to care about that nonsense.
Verdict: Good Stuff
Daydream (Rika Tatsumi & Miu Watanabe) defeated Shoko Nakajima & Kaya Toribami
Anyone hoping that a trip to America would have helped mellow Rika out was to be disappointed. There were a couple of moments in this match where even Miu (a woman I am convinced could slam a truck) looked scared of her partner and the cruelty she was dishing out. Did Tatsumi need to slap Kaya as hard as she could on the back? Probably not. Did she want to? Of course.
And this was all fairly standard but in an entertaining way. If you put Shoko, Miu and Rika together and ask them to bounce off each other, they’ll come up with some good stuff, whether it’s Miu throwing Shoko around or Rika being a dick (said with love). Kaya, meanwhile, is developing into a strong fourth option for these matches, as she was clearly there to take the pin but executed her bits well. She’s not quite at the Moka or Arisu level, where you almost expect them to steal the match away, but she’s not being bulldozed, either.
It’s probably not a match you need to see, but if you’ve been tempted to TJPW by Miu’s performances over Mania Weekend, I suspect you’ll get what you want from it.
Verdict: Fun, But Inconsequential
Nao Kakuta & Pom Harajuku defeated Mizuki & Moka Miyamoto
Before the match, Pom took it upon herself to perform the usual checks on Mizuki, leading to the beautiful moment where she ended up with both titles and got all bouncy with glee. I’m not saying that would be a better world than the one we’re in right now, but I am also definitely not not saying that. Of course, with her and Max about to challenge for those tag belts, at least half of that beautiful dream could come true.
This was a nicely balanced main event as you had Nao and Mizuki at each other’s throats before their title match, Pom floating around doing Pom stuff and Moka there to fill in the gaps. Obviously, my focus was on the second of those things, but I guess the important action was between Mizuki and Kakuta. They warmed up for Korakuen by getting violent: there were boots to the face, a lot of hair pulling and a vicious exchange while perched on the turnbuckle that ended with Mizuki being thrown off by, you guessed it, her hair. I don’t think anyone is going into that match expecting anything other than a Mizuki win, but damn, it has the potential to be a banger.
Throw in a strong closing stretch between Kakuta and Moka (which included Pom taking the champ out of the picture with a Pom de Justice, proving she deserves those belts), and this was an impressive main event. It provided a hint of what is to come without giving away too much, and most importantly, we got a glimpse of a world where Pom holds all the gold.
Verdict: Make Pom Champ
Overall Show
That was a good show, especially when you consider Miyu Yamashita, Maki Itoh and Raku (get well soon) were all missing. We had some fun rookie matches, a sneaky banger in the middle and a main event that hyped up Korakuen nicely. Like most smaller TJPW events, I’m not sure there were any matches you desperately need to see, but if you are picking and choosing, go for Suzume vs HIMAWARI, Kamiyu vs Neko and the main event.
Watch Tokyo Joshi Pro: https://www.wrestle-universe.com/en/videos?labels=-tjpw.