Match-of-the-Day: GAMI v Sawako Shimono

GAMI swats at Sawako

GAMI has been a comic heel ever since she shortened her name, Mekiko Futagami, to simply GAMI.  In the early days of ARSION she was one of the most feared wrestlers in the promotion.  Later she seemed to lose her athletic edge or just wanted to explore the comic possibilities in wrestling.  Unlike Shirota, GAMI does not wear many costumes or impersonate her opponents, but she does have exquisite comic timing and strong emotional intelligence.  With her now stock props like the collapsable mimi-megaphone (used to smack opponents' heads), or her rope walking routine where she falls on her womanhood.  All along she is conscious of the crowd's responses and anticipates the shocking or self-depricating moment and executes it with perfect timing.

One of the joys of Joshimania was seeing the iconic veteran work a 10:00+ minute match with a fresh young star.  The quality of these matches has much to say about the Joshi Sorority and the professionalism of dedicated wrestlers, young and veteran, who understand the same style, appreciate the abilities each brings to the ring, and regularly plans and paces out these remarkable longer matches.  The matches on night one were strong whether the women knew each other well (Uematsu v Toyota) or were working together less frequently, like GAMI and Shimono (though Shimono has trained under GAMI recently).  The CHIKARA bookings were thoughtful and very successful -- it pays to listen carefully to your consultants and the guest wrestlers themselves.

All Photos by David Falcon

Rising star Sawako Shimono with two belts:  JWP Jr. and POP

Match-of-the-Day: December 5

Competitors: GAMI v Sawako Shimono

Card: 2nd match, Night #1

Time: 10:03

Finisher: Diving Elbow Drop

Highlight: GAMI's comic playing to the crowd as well as Shimono's power and quickness.

Pitched battle in center of ring

High-wire GAMI

. . . but it did not end well for GAMI

Shimono puts the choke on GAMI

GAMI drops the elbow

This looks painful!

GAMI's favorite weapon -- her elbow

Sawako with a mega seat drop!

GAMI's gonna lose her lunch . . .

Sawako is strong as a bull

Now an arm submission by Sawako

GAMI has a plan . . .

but it backfires!

The finishing elbow drop

"Your winner is . . . GAMI!"

"Found" Photos: Details and Impressions

A wrestling show, like any live event, has moments that are scripted and unscripted.  I wasn't really focused on the unscripted last Friday night in Philadelphia for JOSHIMANIA Night 1.  But here are a few photos that may capture some of the beautiful strangeness -- something perhaps poignant and poetic . . . perhaps . . .

All Photos by David Falcon

Archibald Peck's drum major hat, casually tossed aside

Mayumi Ozaki and Cherry's merchandise table

Joshimania electronic poster art

Signage

My friends, Michael and Oliver

Cherry with a fan

No wonder GAMI is smiling; that's my $5 bill she's clutching in her hand!

Toshie Uematsu at merchandise table with former Joshi great,

Itsuki Yamazaki, of the Jumping Bomb Angels

Los Ice Creams behind bars

Respendant Manami Toyota

with her Diva Dirt Legacy Award

Bathed in stage light from Broadway's WICKED,

Toshie makes her crazed entrance

Manami off the top to the outside!

Kaori Yoneyama only weeks from retirement

Toshie dejected amid the Manami victory festooned ribbons

Damn! Sara's gonna have a headache!

Sara strikes back!

Toshie tries to awaken an unconscious ref

JOSHIMANIA (PA) Match of the Day: JWP Girls v Archibald Peck and Los Ice Creams

Team JWP:  Tsubasa, Kaori, and Hanako

All Photos by David Falcon

The opening match of the evening featured an intergender tag-team between Archibald Peck and Los Ice Creams taking on the women of JWP.  Kaori is well known to most joshi fans in the USA and she stood out with amazing athleticism, charisma, and showmanship.  She sold the arm tortures extremely well and also worked the comedy angles of this match effortlessly.  Revelations to me were Tsubasa Kuragaki and Hanako Nakamori -- both were fantastic.  Tsubasa is a tank and as strong as a bull.  She shocked the crowd by winning this match with a double rack-of-torture submission hold on Peck and one of the Ice Creams -- remarkable strength!  Hanako, on the other hand, impressed with her nimble acrobatics and her high-flying panache!  She looked cute in her all yellow gear and worked with effortless fluidity throughout the match.  Peck and the Ice Creams were their usual goofy and unpredictable selves.  The match was an excellent opener.

Los Ice Creams make their flambouyant entrance

Nakamori tangles with an Ice Cream

Nimble and lithe, Nakamori scales the corner ropes with ease

And squishes one of the ice creams

Hanako loves to fly!

Tsubasa tosses Peck around

Los Ice Creams torture Kaori Yoneyama

The Leader of the Band jaws with the Joshimania crowd

Hanako is back in

Los Ice Cream team up on Hanako

Archibald Peck takes Tsubasa to the top

but things get crowded in a hurry

Tsubasa emerges and rolls off the pile

Tsubasa with a double rack-of-torture submission -- incredible strength!

Winners from JWP!!

An Ice Cream -- melting --

And Peck is not feeling too well either . . .

December is Joshimania Month!

Joshimania Entrance Tunnel at Asylum Arena, South Philly

Over the next two weeks I will be unpacking Night #1 of CHIKARA's Joshimania in stories and pictures on this blog.  I would love to hear your stories and comments.  Here are a few photos to whet your appetite.

All Photos by David Falcon

JWP Team:  Tsubasa Kuragaki, Kaori Yoneyama, and Hanako Nakamori

Sawako Shimono with a seat drop on GAMI

Cherry with an arm bar on Mio Shirai

Ozaki gives Cherry hell!

Manami Toyota with Diva Dirt's Lifetime Achievement Award

Toshie with her water spray entrance

Toshie Uematsu spitting furious and in pain

Sara Del Rey getting upper hand on Aja Kong

Sara works the right arm of Aja Kong

Much More To Come . . . !!

JOSHIMANIA: Night One (PA)

Aja doesn't like Referee Bryce Remsburg's restrictions

Photo: David Falcon

Some Result Highlights:

Ayako Hamada and Cherry defeated Mayumi Ozaki and Mio Shirai when Hamada power slammed Mio.  This was an amazingly entertaining match.  cherry took a ton of punishment at the hands of the heels (Mio, working with the quintessential Heel Ozaki, proved a fine and nasty heel herself).  Hamada strapped on her cape and flew to the rescue in the end. Great way to lead up to the Intermission.

Manami Toyota defeated Toshie Uematsu (15:07) Fun match between two great pros.  Toyota having received the award from Diva Dirt for Lifetime Acheivement brought her A-game against the sly and skilled Toshie Uematsu.  We saw all the highlights:  Manami roll, missile drop kick off top, and her Japanese Ocean Cyclone suplex finisher.

Sara Del Rey defeated Aja Kong (11:50) by a surprising school boy roll up after a pounding match.  Great heat in this match, plus Aja's tin canister was put to use.  An awesome evening of wrestling.  More later on Yoneyama, Shimono, Kuragaki, and others . . .

Fun Fact for the Day

Challenger, Ref, and Champ

Photo:  Steven Csollak

Random Fun Fact of the Day:  Three People in the ring at last Friday's Absolute Intense Wrestling's women's title match.  Here's how they are followed on Twitter (as of 11:11PM on 12/1/11):

Champ Mickie Knuckles:  no Twitter account

Challenger Mia Yim:  4,233 followers (19,012 tweets) @MiaYim

http://twitter.com/#!/MiaYim

Ref Gail Kim:  64,176 followers (3,724 tweets) @gailkimITSME

http://twitter.com/#!/gailkimITSME

Hmmmm . . . I didn't know wrestling fans had such respect for the "Law"!