TJPW Stand Alone '23 (15/4/23) Review
Nao Gets Her Shot At The Big Belt
Front Matter
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TJPW’s latest trip to Korakuen arrived at a weird time. In the last month, they’ve had their biggest show ever and a jaunt to America which, while significantly smaller, was a huge deal for all involved. Coming after that, Stand Alone felt like a bit of an afterthought, despite having a match at the top of the card that I was very excited about. Still, anyone writing off a TJPW Korakuen hasn’t been paying attention, and sometimes the best ones are those you didn’t see coming.
Before the show, we got a few announcements, including that paper streamers will be allowed from the 5th of May. On top of that, we’re getting a one-day trios tournament and Misao’s first-ever produce show (which is called Hyper), both of which will be happening next month. I’m sure the trio thing will be fun, but I can’t think of anyone better suited to being let loose to book an event, so I am already very excited about Hyper. Finally, the Up Up Girls are doing a solo live event featuring singing and wrestling, which is almost a guaranteed good time.
Moka Miyamoto defeated Kaya Toribami
Kaya and Moka’s careers have almost mirrored each other. Miyamoto came in as someone who had a decent grasp of the basics but lacked flash, while Toribami instantly blew everyone away with some fancy moves but took a bit longer to put the rest of it together. Now, they’re both at the point where they’re starting to round out those edges, Moka finding ways to make her matches more exciting and Kaya getting better at the in-between.
Thankfully, during that rounding out, they haven’t ditched what brought them to the dance. Miyamoto spent the match looking to ground the bird, pulling her to the floor and setting up for Bishimon. On the flip side, Kaya was always trying to create space and build up the momentum that would allow her to string together a series of moves. Wrestlers should have strengths and weaknesses, and I thought this did a decent job of playing to both of theirs.
Sadly, it never did enough to break past decent. If you’d asked me to sit down and plot Toribami vs Miyamoto, it would have looked almost exactly like this, so it all felt a bit predictable. I don’t necessarily need them to pull out something I’ve never seen before, but it lacked the edge that Moka’s matches with people like Arisu and Arai have had, which prevented it from reaching the next level. Still, it was a solid opener, even if I can’t imagine watching it again.
Verdict: Decent, But Unspectacular
Arisu Endo, Suzume & Runa Ohkubo defeated Yuki Aino, Haruna Neko & Haru Kazashiro
For the first time, Haru and Runa found themselves on opposing sides of the ring, and while they kept their interactions short and sweet, it was fun to see them wrestle each other. As I’ve noted throughout my recent reviews, they seem to have gained a little bit of confidence every time I see them, and I imagine facing the person they trained alongside would only add to that. For Runa, it was certainly preferable to battling Aino, who seemed to be relishing the chance to play the mean veteran.
Away from the kids, Suzume and Endo have been brilliant recently. Whether battling each other in the opener at Ariake or Free WiFi in the same spot in America, they’ve consistently over-delivered. This match might not have had the stakes of either of those, but that didn’t stop them from being one of the best parts of it, as every time they entered the ring, the energy levels amped up. Fittingly, A piece of Daisy Monkey teamwork also led to the win, Endo pulling down the rope to take Aino out of the picture and leave Suzume free to finish Haru off.
It all made for a fun wee match that wasn’t mindblowing but passed the time nicely. When the kids are involved, things tend to be kept relatively simple because, well, they’re kids, but I have been enjoying watching them improve. Besides, with the wee cat, Aino and Daisy Monkey backing them up, there was enough to keep this interesting.
Verdict: Daisy Monkey Rule
Maki Itoh, Yuki Kamifuku, Wakana Uehara & Toga defeated The Up Up Girls (Miu Watanaba, Hikari Noa, Raku & Shino Suzuki)
Four Up Up Girls on the same team? What a world. The simple delight of seeing them all together, engaging in a full-strength Goodnight Express (complete with Hikari covering Wakana’s mouth, presumably hoping to see her off), was enough to make this an instant delight. How can you not love them?
On the other side of the ring, Toga made an instant fan out of Drew Parker when she started dishing out those forearms. I adore that she’s figured out this is her thing and is rolling with it, deploying those thudding blows as her big party piece. However, that wasn’t this match’s secret weapon. That came from the UUG’s teamwork, which was genuinely great. There were moments where they seemed to swarm their opponents, four bright colours charging into the action in a flurry of movement. It’s not often we see them unleashed together, but they’ve got good chemistry, and that rare delight made the match feel special.
The swarms of Up Up Girls also added to the slightly chaotic feel of it all. There were moments when everything felt on the verge of breaking apart, as even the always reliable Miu stumbled while delivering a headlock version of the swing to Kamiyu. However, much like the rest of the action, she recovered, keeping things on the rails and chugging along as they built towards a fantastic wee closing stretch from Itoh and Shino. I’m not sure the green Up Up Girl is the best wrestler of this rookie generation, but she might be the most naturally sympathetic, which she used to her advantage as Itoh tried to snap her with the Itoh Special. It was a satisfying finish to a match that benefitted from a touch of chaos and turned into a bit of a banger.
Verdict: If You Have An Infestation of Up Up Girls, Please Remove Them Humanely
Kyoraku Kyomei (Shoko Nakajima & Hyper Misao) defeated Yuki Arai & HIMAWARI
Shiori Aoki of SKE49 fame was the special guest referee for this match, as Arai called in a pal to try and make her job a bit easier. Then again, I don’t begrudge anyone having to try and keep Kyoraku Kyomei under control on their debut, and she quickly stumbled. Shoko and Misao had this match won within seconds (admittedly after they’d tricked poor Aoki into doing an extra stringent check on her opponents under accusations of bribery and used it as a distraction), but she had forgotten to call for the bell! The training TJPW puts their refs through can’t be as stringent as what the wrestlers get.
Thankfully, Misao and Shoko agreed to go again, and Aoki got a second chance to show them what she could do. It’s not often you get a match built around how a ref reacts to various infringements, but this was that rare exception, and it was surprisingly fun. If you need a rookie official tested, putting them through the Kyoraku Kyomei gauntlet is a pretty good way to do it, and she laid down the law, threatening to disqualify Misao if she kept choking people. Sure, accidentally spraying Arai with one of Misao’s spray cans was less professional, but it was her first time, and most wrestling referees are useless anyway.
Throw in a touch of good action, and this turned into something of a gem. Aoki was (unsurprisingly, considering her day job) an endearing and charismatic presence who showed good comic timing, particularly with the spot where she was so intent on showing the fans what the count was that she kept missing the follow-up pin. It’s probably not something you’d want on every show, but as an occasional treat, I would happily see them do it again.
Verdict: A Lot Of Fun
Max The Impaler & Pom Harajuku defeated Yuka Sakazaki & Mahiro Kiryu
Max’s feelings towards Pom are somewhat complicated. They’re still not against throwing her around a bit, but they don’t seem to like it when other people do. On top of that, there appeared to be a few genuine attempts to establish a connection, setting Yuka and Mahiro up for some of Pom’s signature moves. There has long been a hint that Max has taken a bit of a liking to their first TJPW opponent, but it seems things have gone even further than we thought.
And there were almost two halves to this match, the one where we got all the fun involving Pom and the one where Max and Yuka beat each other up. On paper, those two things perhaps don’t mesh, but the reality was that they both ruled. I am more than happy to see Max chase Pom around the ring before later trying Powerbomb Yuka to hell. It also let Sakazaki go all-out, safe in the knowledge that she could lay into her strikes against Max and not worry about accidentally decapitating them.
Max’s terrorising of Pom has been one of the highlights of the last year of TJPW, and they pulled off this next chapter without it feeling forced. I was invested in this pairing before the match started, but by the time Max hoisted Pom up for a Super Pom De Justice, I was ready to declare them my tag team of the year. If this is any indicator, their battle against the Sugar Rabbits has the potential to be something special, and I’m already excited to see it.
Verdict: An Utter Delight
We got an announcement before the next match that the Golden Week Korakuen will feature Yuki Arai’s second-anniversary celebration. She’ll team up with Maki Itoh to take on the Miraclians’ pairing of Shoko Nakajima and Yuka Sakazaki, a match that has the potential to be very good.
Rika Tatsumi defeated Vert Vixen to retain the International Princess Title
In the depths of the pandemic, Yuki Kamifuku managed to establish the identity that the International Princess Title had been lacking, building it up with a series of tight, well-worked matches that played to her strengths. Under Miu, however, it returned to what it was originally intended to be, a belt designed to showcase TJPW to the world and allow their wrestlers to fight people from different backgrounds and styles. Miu battled the technical talent of Alex Windsor, the power of Trish Adora and the kicks of Janai Kai, so I was intrigued to see what Vixen brought to the table.
Sadly, I’m not sure I got what I wanted. That’s not to say this was a bad match, it wasn’t, but it was very much a Rika Tatsumi match. Now, I love Rika matches, they fucking rule, but when you’re bringing someone in, I’m hoping to see them put their stamp on the action. Unfortunately, I’m not sure Vixen ever managed to do so. She’s got a cool look (although if her nickname is a reference to the book Ready Player One, I need to point out that it’s fucking atrocious) and some nice offence, but this mainly felt like a chance for Rika to play the hits, from strangling to attacking the leg.
I don’t want to be too harsh on because I ultimately thought it was pretty good. While Vixen’s selling of the leg wasn’t perfect (there was some hobbling, but I never felt like it limited her offence), she did have me momentarily worried when she caught Rika in a submission towards the end, so she was doing something right. It just felt like it lacked the magic touch to take it from a good match to a great one, which is something we all know Tatsumi is more than capable of.
Verdict: Good, But Not Great
Afterwards, Suzume challenged Rika for the title, getting a bit emotional as she did so (Rika is the person who inspired her to become a wrestler). Now that’s a match which has the potential to be special.
Mizuki defeated Nao Kakuta to retain the Princess of Princess Title
Nao Kakuta is a perfect midcard wrestler. That’s not to suggest her ceiling isn’t potentially higher than that (it definitely is), but she excels at being slotted into a random tag and making it at least 10% better. She brings an edge to proceedings, mainly by booting people in the head and pushing them to work harder. That’s the role she’s primarily occupied since she came into TJPW, and it’s why (as potentially condescending as it sounds) she deserved this match. Kakuta has proven how good she is at that level. A main event with Mizuki was her chance to prove she could take the step up.
Unsurprisingly, it fucking ruled. Nao was an ideal first opponent for Mizuki as after some early stalling, she went straight to the violent basics, booting the champ off the apron and down to the floor. She followed that up by launching her into some chairs, making it clear that she wouldn’t be holding back. Thankfully, Mizuki happily followed her down that path. Everything in this match looked sore, be it Mizuki trying to stomp her way through Nao’s rib or Nao throwing Mizuki off the turnbuckle by her hair. These two have always been violent types, but when paired up, they inspire each other to go that little bit further.
And that violence is why Nao was a great choice to get Mizuki’s reign started. The result might have seemed like a foregone conclusion, but Kakuta hit hard enough that she still felt like a challenge for Mizuki to overcome, especially as she booted her attempt at a Whirling Candy out of the air. In turn, the fact that the champ was able to step up and meet that violence in kind, not just overcoming it but looking and feeling like a proper champion as she did so, felt like a rubber stamp of approval on her title reign. I don’t think it’s a surprise that Mizuki’s tough, but this was her chance to prove she could do it with the weight of that title on her shoulders.
Plus, on top of all that nonsense, it was just really fucking good. Who doesn’t want to see people boot and stomp their way through each other on a lovely spring day? I certainly do.
Verdict: Brilliant
Overall Show
Even with a few issues around the semi-main, we can count that as another TJPW success in Korakuen. We got the Up Up Girls pulling out bangers, the next step in Max and Pom’s relationship and a main event that delivered everything I wanted, plus a little extra. You will hear no complaints from me!
Watch Tokyo Joshi Pro: https://www.wrestle-universe.com/en/videos?labels=-tjpw.