I got back on track for watching this week and hammered out a lot of 2019! The Stardom pay-per-view dropped today, so I only got to watch the few biggest matches.

#16
Devil Masami & Mayumi Ozaki vs Hikari Fukuoka & KAORU
JWP
June 16, 1995

This was a really fun tag match with the team of Fukuoaka & KAORU bringing the flying, Devil bringing the power, and Ozaki bringing the violence. A lot of great nearfalls and the moment after Ozaki wins and Devil is just flipping off the losers is awesome!

Rating: 7.25/10

#15
AZM vs Mei Seira
“High Speed Championship”
Stardom Fukuoka Goddess Legend ~Sweet Stardom~
May 4, 2023

The first part of the match felt like a generic defense for AZM, but halfway through she started to focus on Mei’s arm and it got really good.The High Speed counters while someone is entering through the ropes always pop me. The finish worked really well for me and I am excited for the eventual rematch.

Rating: 7.25/10

#14
Shayna Baszler vs Bianca Belair vs Io Shirai vs Kairi Sane
“NXT Women’s Championship”
NXT TakeOver: New York
April 5, 2019

Although it has the usual problems of four-way matches, this was a lot of fun. All of the interactions between Shirai and KAIRI were awesome, from teaming up at the start to trying to win at the end. Belair was not quite the elite worker she is now, but she really showed her potential, and that double KOD she did was ridiculous! Baszler is such a great badass when booked so well! The finishing sequence ruled too.

Rating: 7.25/10

#13
Maya Yukihi vs Tsukasa Fujimoto
“ICExInfinity Championship Match”
Ice Ribbon New Ice Ribbon #974 ~ Osaka Ribbon 2019 III
August 3, 2019

I am generally not a fan of a 30-minute draw and for the first 3/4 this match was a fine solid match, but the last quarter was awesome and more than made up for it. I love Yukihi’s offense and Fujimoto just has a great way of working that I am not sure how to describe. She fits into matches.

Rating: 7.5/10

#12
Ayako Sato vs Haruka Umesaki
“World Woman Pro-Wrestling Diana World Championship”
Diana
April 29, 2019

A tremendous title match that felt like a big changing of the guard. The young underdog Umesaki did a great job fighting from underneath and getting in good hope spots, leading to their eventual comeback. Sato is great at working on top.

Rating: 7.5/10

#11
Command Bolshoi vs Hana Kimura
Command Bolshoi Produce Pure Princess
March 15, 2019

A really good battle with Bolshoi pulling out another new submission hold I had never seen before. Kimura looked like such a star, especially while working on top. Bolshoi is so giving and this was a great match to have a month before her retirement on a show she produced.

Rating: 7.5/10

#10
Miyuki Takase vs Tae Honma
“AWG Title Tournament Semi-Final”
AWG Act In Osaka
November 3, 2019

This is an awesome display of two wrestlers going all out to advance in a tournament for a title. The forearm exchanges were one of the stiffest and best I have ever seen. I like Honma’s strategy of trying to go for the arm since she can’t outstrike Takase. The finish was very well done.

Rating: 7.5/10

#9
Kyoko Inoue vs Unagi Sayaka
Diana
April 29, 2023

I may be biased on this one, but I thought this match was awesome. Unagi was really laying in her kicks, and Inoue fought back with some stiff lariats. They had two awesome segments in the crowd which really ramped up the heat. Down the stretch, there were some great near falls, which I bought on.

Rating: 7.5/10

#8
Sareee vs Tsukasa Fujimoto
Ice Ribbon New Ice Ribbon #992 ~ Yokohama Bunka Gymnasium III
September 14, 2019

This was everything you could want from these two. It was filled with stiff strikes and crushing suplexes. The match kept building up and had a lot of great nearfalls and vicious suplexes and it lead up to a good finish. A perfect undercard Joshi match to steal a show.

Rating: 8/10

#7
Brock Lesnar vs Cody Rhodes
WWE Backlash
May 6, 2023

A fascinating match very laid out. It was a tremendous brawl with a really great finish. Brock was very bloody. 8 minutes is the perfect length of time for a Brock match.

Rating: 8/10

#6
Mio Momono vs Takumi Iroha
Marvelous
November 3, 2019

I loved the story of this match where it seemed like Iroha wasn’t taking Momono seriously, until too late. The crowd was wild and Momono was on fire to prove herself against Iroha who was just killing her with her offense. The powerbomb Iroha hit right before the time expired was so nasty!

Rating: 8.5/10

#5
Candice LeRae vs Io Shirai
NXT TakeOver: Toronto 2019
August 10, 2019

This was tremendous with Shirai as the vicious heel in her more cocky Stardom but more evil form. Candice was a worthy underdog, who took all of Shirai’s vicious offense from her moonsault to an Avalanche Spanish Fly. LeRae brought her own ridiculous offense with a tope DDT and a reverse hurrancanrana. It built to a good finish with everyone playing their roles till the end.

Rating: 8.5/10

#4
Arisa Nakajima vs Nanae Takahashi
“SEAdLINNNG Beyond The Sea Title Hair vs Hair Match”
SEAdLINNNG Dynamic Show Case! ~ Kawasaki Monogatari
November 2, 2019

A great match that weirdly didn’t hit my expectations. I did love Nakajima going after Takahashi’s arm and that limiting Takahashi’s offense throughout the match. The intensity and the violence were there and it was dramatic on the nearfalls with the title and hair on the line. The issue was the kick outs felt like they were going into the epic territory too much, they didn’t fit well into the match. Outside of that, really great and hard to deny.

Raring: 8.75/10

#3
Mina Shirakawa vs Natsupoi
“Wonder of Stardom Championship”
Stardom Fukuoka Goddess Legend ~Sweet Stardom~
May 4, 2023

“Mina is not the White Belt Champion that we wanted, but Mina is the White Belt Champion that we needed.”

What a great change of pace from Kamitani’s title reign, as Mina brings the psychology, emotion, and drama back to the White Belt! Natsupoi upped her game too, bringing pure violence in her strikes and her selling of Mina’s leg attacks was awesome. Mina’s leg attacking legs every big match is great and she does it with such great variety that I love it. Mina mixes in the big moves and nearfalls to put this over the top.

Rating: 8.75/10

#2
Bianca Belair vs IYO SKY
“WWE Raw Women’s Championship”
WWE Backlash
May 6, 2023

These two have had awesome chemistry in the past and that continues here. I loved Shirai’s work on Belair’s arm and Belair’s selling of it throughout especially the one-armed gorilla press of all things. Both played their strengths so well and the crowd was so into it on Shirai’s side! From the finish tease of the finisher to the outside interference is all-time territory. The finish is good and this is an easy MOTY contender. They better do a rematch.

Rating: 8.75/10

“Match of the Week”
Chigusa Nagayo vs Dynamite Kansai
JWP
June 16, 1995

This was a smartly worked war! The first segment was Nagayo and Kasnai trying for a knockout or a submission to really prove who was tougher. When they couldn’t do that, we got a lot of great nearfalls. The teases of the Aavalance Niagra Driver were great, and well thrown into this match. Everything in this was a great struggle to prove who was more badass.

Rating: 8.75/10

Watch Party!

I’ll be back next week with whatever I’m watching. Remember to join the discord for Sunday at 4pm EST for this great Joshi Night lineup:

1. Double Inoue vs Rie Tamada & Yumiko Hotta, AJW, 1995-06-27
2. Akira Hokuto & LCO vs Kaoru Ito, Mariko Yoshida, & Reggie Bennett, AJW, 1995-06-27
3. Aja Kong vs Manami Toyota, WWWA Singles Title, AJW, 1995-06-27
4. Dynamite Kansai vs Mayumi Ozaki, Dress Up Wild Fight, JWP, 1995-07-09

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