AKINO's 10th Anniversary show

AKINO's 10th Anniversary show Happy Birthday To Me was held July 26 at Shinjuku FACE. She's in almost every match on the show so some fans are comparing it to Manami Toyota's 20th anniversary show. Except Toyota made sure she had quality matches and it appears AKINO went a little overboard with noki-A silliness. The "nudge nudge wink wink" of noki-A was over a long time ago. She should retire the character. But there are a couple of decent matches on the show. The show led off with a debut of four of her students at her training program at the U-File dojo. Ayumi Kurihara was the guest ref. The names and result is irrelevant at this point. I'm just glad to see AKINO make a renewed committment to joshi especially after she quit the business a couple of years ago to go golfing.

Next up was a commemorative battle royal called From ARSION To The Present. Participants are Carlos Amano, Commando Bolshoi, Atsuko Emoto, Fuuka, GAMI, Hikaru, Dynamite Kansai, Sonoko Kato, Kyoko Kimura, Chikayo Nagashima, Ranmaru & Manami Toyota. Though I'm tired of battle royals, I don't mind it in this kind of show. It's the usual stuff, a lot of standing around. Kansai attempts a Splash Mountain on Bolshoi but Toyota breaks it up. GAMI does something goofy that cracks everyone up. They do a test of strength chain. Maybe they should chant Kumbaya. Fuuka & Hikaru try to toss Emoto over the top rope. Ranmaru does a warrior pose which results in a group beatdown. GAMI goes after Hikaru with a kiss lock. Hikaru tries to escape but GAMI does kiss her and Hikaru is distracted and pinned by Fuuka. Nagashima & Kato double team Fuuka but GAMI breaks it up with her megaphone. Everyone takes turns bodyslamming Fuuka followed by a beatdown. This morphs into a beatdown of Toyota. But Toyota gets that back by tying up wrestlers in the ropes and doing her dropkick in the back spot. Then they do a dance but Fuuka spots Amano going to the top rope and Toyota eliminates her with a dropkick. So it's down to Fuuka, GAMI & Toyota. GAMI offers Fuuka a sushi lunch if she helps her gang up on Toyota. Cake would have worked better. It backfires when Toyota hits a cross body on them. Then Toyota & Fuuka tie up GAMI in the ropes. Toyota hits a dropkick followed by a Fuuka 619. Toyota gets an Indian deathlock on GAMI but Fuuka breaks it up. GAMI wants Fuuka to team up with her again. But GAMI nails her with an elbow and the result is Fuuka is eliminated. GAMI pins Toyota with a German suplex and starts celebrating her victory. But Bullfight Sora sneaks into the ring and rolls up GAMI for the win. Is that goofy enough for you?

Next AKINO teams with Tojuki Leon vs Tsubasa Kuragaki & Fake noki-A. The fake noki-A has appeared in the past. I don't know who it is. Kuragaki hits Leon with a shoulder block but Leon comes back with a missile dropkick. AKINO & Leon hit noki-A with a double dropkick and AKINO gets her in a camel clutch followed by a Boston crab. Leon tags in and continues to pound her but Leon misses a shoulder block into the corner and noki-A traps her in the corner. AKINO breaks it up. Leon dropkicks her in the corner. Kuragaki breaks it up and gets AKINO in an Argentine backbreaker. Meanwhile Tojuki Leon nails noki-A with a missile dropkick. Both AKINO & Tojuki Leon hit dives to the floor. Back in the ring, Leon hits a spear on noki-A followed by an attempted airplane spin. Kuragaki breaks it up. After a hip attack, she attempts a second one and Leon rolls her up for two. Then a moonsault press for two. AKINO tags in and after some switches, Kuragaki hits a suplex but misses a moonsault press. noki-A breaks it up. Kuragaki chokeslams AKINO and tags noki-A. noki-A rolls up AKINO for two followed by a surfboard and elbow smashes. Leon superplexes AKINO onto both of them. Then Kuragaki does her double backbreaker spot and everyone tries backbreakers. Kuragaki powerslams AKINO for two. The end comes with an AKINO hurricanrana on Fake noki-A and AKINO & Tojuki Leon win.

Next is a Team noki-A mixed match. It's noki-A & Men's noki-A vs Aja Kong & Mohammed Yone. Yone & men's noki-A start with a test of strength. noki-A tags in and Yone takes her to his corner and tags Aja. Aja gets noki-A in a neck wringer. Yone comes in and kicks her and Aja kicks her in the back. Aja applies an armbar and holds her arm out to tease men's noki-A. Aja follows this with a flying elbow drop. Aja & Yone double team her outside the ring. Aja piledrives her and tags Yone. Yone continues to punish her until men's noki-A breaks it up. noki-A applies a cross arm breaker but Aja breaks it up and tags in. Aja hits a lariat to the corner, picks her up in an inverted body vice and slams her into the corner and gets a two count. Yone tags in and noki-A applies an armbar. He escapes but men's noki-A traps him in the corner and climbs to the second rope and throws several punches. Aja breaks it up with a facebuster. noki-A dives off the top onto both of them. Yone hits men's noki-A with a lariat to the corner followed by a leg drop. noki-A tags in and takes Aja down. But Aja comes back with a vertical suplex and an elbow drop. men's noki-A breaks it up with a dropkick. All four are in the ring and Aja & Yone miss a double lariat and noki-A wins over Yone with a hurricanrana.

Of course AKINO's career is defined by her very popular tag team with Ayako Hamada. So it's appropriate that the two are opponents in the main event of AKINO's 10th anniversary show. Ayako's 10th anniversary show is coming in September. They begin by exchanging armbars. They stand there and look at each other for a moment. Ayako kicks AKINO and applies a half boston crab. Ayako forces AKINO into the ropes and hits a high kick followed by an arm stretcher. AKINO excapes and traps Ayako in the corner with a facewash. AKINO hits a mule kick but Ayako turns it into a sunset flip for two. AKINO hits a missile dropkick and applies an arm scissor over the top rope. She has to break that and Ayako hits a power bomb for two. Ayako hits a cross body off the top rope then tries a moonsault press but AKINO gets her knees up. AKINO gets a two. They're both tired and AKINO tries to cover Ayako for two. They exchange blows but Ayako gets the best of the exchange and hits a spin kick. AKINO ducks a second spin kick and rolls up Ayako for two. AKINO comes off the ropes and Ayako catches her in a power slam for two. They exchange blows again and AKINO finally gets the win with the Tornado A.

AKINO & Ayako Hamada embrace and shake hands after the match. Chikayo Nagashima & Sonoko Kato come to ringside. Nagashima says it's good to see the two shaking hands. Kato says they're still looking for opponents for the Aug. 10 OZ Academy show. What about you two? AKINO says sure but Kato asks Ayako if she's still in Japan that day. Ayako says yes. She usually goes home to Mexico in September. I think she's going at the end of August this year. So it will be AKINO & Ayako Hamada reuniting to face Chikayo Nagashima & Sonoko Kato on the Aug. 10 OZ Academy show. They have a celebration in the ring with flowers and a cake. I think someone dropped the cake and Fuuka was checking it out. See, I told you GAMI should have offered her cake. AKINO rubs the cake in Ayako's face. A fun time had by all.