Falcon's Joshi Blog

Thursday, July 7, 2011

NEO 14/2/10

Brutal match on Ayumi!

Youji's photos of WAVE midweek event

Yumi Ohka slams Mio Shirai

Mr. Youji Kawauchi took great photos from the recent WAVE event with some tantilizing matchups: Mio Shirai v Yumi Ohka, Tomoka Nakagawa v Kana, Cherry v Toshie Uematsu, and Ayumi Kurihara v Nagisa Nozaki.

Fanboy offered this summary of results:

This show featured the final matches of league play before the Catch the WAVE semifinals and finals at the July 24th show at Shinjuku FACE. The opener saw a 3S pardoy with the debut of Hiroyo Hirota.

The draw between Shimono and Iida resulted in Kagetsu winning the Young Block (Kagetsu 5, Shimono 4, Nao Komatsu 2, Iida 1). The Technical Block was won by Uematsu, who won all 4 matches (Uematsu 8, Nakagawa 5, Kana 3, Cherry 3, Ryo Mizunami 1).

Kana with an armbar on Tomoka

Misaki Ohata had 5 points but no match, so she needed help in the remaining Visual Block matches to win, and she got it. Ayumi Kurihara beat Nagisa Nozaki to ruin her chance, then Mio Shirai upset Yumi Ohka and Ohata's 5 points held up (Ohata 4, Kurihara 4, Ohka 4, Nozaki 4, Mio 3).

There will be a last chance battle royale for the 4th and final semifinals spot; that winner will join Kagetsu, Uematsu, and Ohata.

Nozaki announced that she will be going on indefinite hiatus from wrestling after the July 24th show, and Shu Shibutani announced her comeback from injury will be at WAVE's Korakuen Hall show on August 28th.

Hirota as Hiroyo takes on Moeka

WAVE "Weekday WAVE Vol. 38" July 6, 2011
Shin-Kiba 1st Ring
253 Fans

1. Sakura Hirota (as Hiroyo Matsumoto) & Misaki Ohata defeated GAMI & Moeka Haruhi (12:16) when Hirota used the Tokimeki Memorial on GAMI.
2. Catch the WAVE, Young Block: Sawako Shimono [4] vs Mika Iida [1] (10:00) went to a time-limit draw.
3. Catch the WAVE, Technical Block: Kana [3] vs Tomoka Nakagawa [5] (15:00) went to a time-limit draw.
4. Catch the WAVE, Technical Block: Toshie Uematsu [8] defeated Cherry [3] (12:40) with the Solarina.
5. Catch the WAVE, Visual Block: Ayumi Kurihara [4] defeated Nagisa Nozaki [4] (6:53) with the Marron Clutch.6. Catch the WAVE, Visual Block: Mio Shirai [3] defeated Yumi Ohka [4] (11:14) with a High Kick.

All Photos by Youji Kawauchi

Ayumi and Nagisa with a pre-match show of sportsmanship

Nozaki brings the high leg heat to Ayumi

Ayumi brings her devastating double knees to chest of Nozaki

Always loved Nozaki's athleticism

Cool (and deadly) kick from Nagisa

Wicked Marron Clutch by Ayumi

Ayumi gets the pin

Cherry's new gear

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Women's Wrestling Gear: What Colors Are "In"?

Cheerleader Melissa in basic black

An unofficial survey of women's wrestling gear reveals that black is the "color" of choice for most wrestlers. Let's admit that things can get boring at Manhattan cocktail parties if every girl is wearing her "little black dress" -- in that case it becomes a uniform and demonstrates conformity rather than originality. The next most popular colors for wrestlers are various shades of red/pink and various shades of blue. White shows the dirt, but continues to be a popular accent color and occasionally the dominant color in the gear -- as in Bambi's early 2000's gear, so reminiscent of Mimi Hagiwara's in the 1980's. Used far less frequently are colors like green, yellow, purple, brown. These colors then become freshing and interesting for gear choices. Hiroyo Matsumoto's orange gear colored gear is one of the most recognizable and unique in the business.

Mia Yim has some yellow themed gear arriving this week as she prepares to go two Japan for round two of her three tour visit in 2011. Daizee Haze is the gear maker and she goes excelent work -- in evidence on Mia's current green gear. Mia's fans are eager to see the new stuff.

Here are some wrestlers that have worn yellow well in recent years.

Case in Point: Cherry Bomb just unveiled new yellow; her opponents wear basic black

Kyoko Kimura in Rasta yellow

Athena has several variations of yellow gear

Teenager Hikari Minami of Ice Ribbon wears Flintstone themed yellow gear

Stardom idol Yuzuki Aikawa in her yellow with silver trim

Mercedes KV wearing yellow with black & pink accents

Alyssa Flash (above) aka Cheerleader Melissa (below)

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

REINA 8 more info

Here is the poster for the REINA 8 event on July 18. It seems the title of the event is Battle Royal and they do not seem to have a multile wrestler "Battle Royal" type match scheduled. Also the venue is used back-to-back with JWP. Hailey Hatred is not scheduled for REINA which may have something to do with her involvement in the JWP event.

Monday, July 4, 2011

REINA 8 Card for July 18

REINA does it again with another fascinating card. The event will be held two weeks from today, Monday, July 18, at Itabashi Green Hall in Tokyo at 5:00PM. Check out their website! http://reina.thnx.biz/card/

BATTLE ROYAL featuring a Mexican Team and a Japanese team of wrestlers (I'm not sure what the Americans are going to do during this time). I'm not sure if this match is before or after the main event.

Main Event (60 minute time limit):
Japan Team of Ray and Ayumi Kurihara v Mexico Team of Siluetta and La Dama

Special Revenge Match (20 minute time limit):
Hiroyo Matsumoto (who won REINA 2 match) v Mia Yim (happy to be back in Japan)

Tag Team Match (30 minute time limit):
Aki Kambayashi/Kuroki v Tomoka Nakagawa/Zeuxis

　

Opening Match (20 minute time limit):
Mika Iida v Luscious Latasha

Saturday, July 2, 2011

Nanae Takahashi v Mercedes Martinez: Stardom July 24

Nanae Takahashi (Stardom)

Exciting news coming out of Japan! Stardom's big Korakuen Hall show on July 24 will feature Nanae's 15th anniversary show, the introduction of the new Stardom championship belts, and a great international battle, in keeping with the commitment of REINA and Diana to bring in international stars to challenge Japanese talent. The high-profile match will feature Nanae, clearly the best wrestler in the Stardom stable, versus WSU champion and SHIMMER contender, Waterbury CT native, Mercedes Martinez! Mercedes and Nanae are worthy opponents of each other. They will be in one semi-final and The other semi-final has not been announced. Great booking job by Stardom!

Mercedes Martinez (WSU)

photo by David Falcon

Alright, more details on STARDOM's new titles and the Korakuen show. They will be having one lead up show, on July 10th at Chiba Blue Field. The main event of that show is a royal rumble type match with 10 wrestlers. They haven't announced the wrestlers or the details, but it appears likely that the winner of this rumble gets a spot in the 4 woman tournament for the World of STARDOM, or new "red belt". Already in the tournament are Nanae Takahashi, Yoko Bito, and "Latina Sensation" Mercedes Martinez. It's Nanae vs Mercedes and Yoko vs X in the semis. I guess Nanae will face X in the final, and I think it will end up being Ayumi Kurihara.

STARDOM July 10, 2011
Chiba Blue Field

1. Arisa Hoshiki vs Saki Kashima
2. Exhibition: Haruka vs Mayu Iwatani
3. Nanae Takahashi, Yoko Bito, & Eri Susa vs Natsuki*Taiyo, Yoshiko, & Yuu Yamagata
4. STARDOM Royal Rumble: 10 wrestlers; details TBA

Yuzuki Aikawa absent: rib injury

STARDOM "STARDOM X STARDOM 2011" July 24, 2011
Korakuen Hall
Nanae Takahashi 15th Anniversary

1. Arisa Hoshiki & Mayu Iwatani vs Eri Susa & Saki Kashima
2. Exhibition: Haruka vs Kenny Omega
3. World of STARDOM Championship Tournament, Semifinal: Yoko Bito vs X
4. World of STARDOM Championship Tournament, Semifinal: Nanae Takahashi vs "Latina Sensation" Mercedes Martinez
5. Wonder of STARDOM Championship, Decision Match: Yuzuki Aikawa vs Yoshiko
6. High Speed Championship: Leon (c) vs Natsuki*Taiyo
7. World of STARDOM Championship Tournament Final: Takahashi/Martinez vs Bito/X

At this point I have no idea whether Mercedes will have any other matches in Japan. Her stay will nt be a long one because she must be back in New Jersey on August 6 to defend her WSU championship at ACE Arena in Union City, NJ. I do not know if Mercedes has ever traveled to Japan before. If she has, I have not heard about it. She did not spend months there the way Sara del Rey and Cheerleader Melissa did with ARSION back in the early 2000's. I look forward to hearing more news about this from Stardom in the days to come.

It seems appropriate that Stardom will introduce it's new World Title Belt -- the premiere belt in the promotion -- that is to be defended against the best challengers in Japan and the world (Red Belt). They will also introduce a their internal promotion belt (White belt) presumably for the younger girls in the promotion to contend (it seems like WSU's Championship belt and Spirit Champion belt).

Stardom's Goddess of Fight World title belt

The Wonder of STARDOM, or "white belt", will have Yuzuki Aikawa vs Yoshiko to decide the first champion. Aikawa will miss the July 10th event due to a minor injury-probably just to make sure she doesn't miss the bigger show. As already announced, Natsuki*Taiyo will challenge Leon for the High Speed title.

Friday, July 1, 2011

10 Reasons to Love Hotta's REINA

Yumiko Hotta at REINA 1 Opening Ceremony

I must admit, I have been more than pleasantly surprised by the success of Stardom, Diana, and REINA -- the newest promotions in Joshi Puroresu. Yumiko Hotta, not very popular as a stiff-ass striker with AJW, nor did she win friends as a booker with A to Z and other promotions. With REINA, she has found a new synergy of veteran, current star, and fresh gaijin faces to fill arenas and put together memorable cards and popular shows. Exciting new matchups seem to surface each week and Hotta finds them. It undoubtedly helps that, with her knee injury, she does ot have to book herself (something she has never gotten quite right in the past). Instead she finds a new exciting possibilities with names like Manami, Takako, Kyoko Kimura, Mima Shimoda [veterans]; Hiroyo Matsumoto, Tomoka Nakagawa, Hailey Hatred, Aki Kambayashi [current stars]; Zeuxis, Silueta, Mia Yim, Luscious Latasha, Simply Luscious, Roxie Cotton, and Kellie Skater [gaijin].

Photos by Takehisa Kashima

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