For most of her wrestling career to date, Atsuko Emoto has been perceived as a comedy wrestler because of her Bullfight Sora gimmick. It's still difficult to take her seriously when she wrestles without the mask. So Ibuki owner Mariko Yoshida gave her a main event slot against the boss on the Jan. 28 Shin-kiba 1st Ring show. The only special guest on this show was Ran YuYu. The rest was unremarkable. She's better have big plans for the May Korakuen Hall show.
The opener had Ran YuYu against rookie Hiroyo Matsumoto. Matsumoto has been very impressive against veterans. She's a good athlete and she works hard. All she has to do is continue to improve and learn from veterans like Ran. Matsumoto gave Ran a good match but Ran won with an elbow smash at 13:10. Next was Cherry vs Mai Ichii. Ichii seems to be improving since leaving Gtkn for Kaoru Ito Professional Wrestling Classroom. Cherry won with the Cherry Bomb at 10:01.
Sakura Emi returned to Ibuki and teamed with her trainee Aoi Kizuki against Ayako Sato & Leon. Of course with Sakura Emi you get a lot of comedy but Leon won with the Mad Splash on Emi at 16:13. The masked wrestler Rei is another one who has improved since leaving Gtkn. She likes to fly but needs to be more consistent. Her opponent was Ayumi Kurihara. Kurihara controlled the start of the match but Rei came back and won with a version of a moonsault drop called the Bright Red Angel at 13:10.
The main event had Atsuko Emoto against Mariko Yoshida. Yoshida said on her website that she felt Emoto was trying not to lose instead of win. This is probably because Kyoko Kimura drew with Yoshida at the last Ibuki show. Emoto wants to be taken more seriously. Yoshida says Emoto is very strong and she was not able to beat her. It was a thirty minute draw. It appears that what Emoto is really after is a match with Kimura. Yoshida said Emoto did well and she would think about it. The next Ibuki show will be March 18 at Shin-kiba 1st Ring.
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