NEO held their Summer Stampede show at Korakuen Hall on July 13 featuring the return of the Mid Summer Tag Team Tournament. Kyoko Inoue & Hiroyo Matsumoto won the fan poll on the NEO website and we all know that Kyoko loves to put herself over. But the big news was that Misae Genki announced her retirement at the end of this year. Coincidence? I dunno. When asked, Genki said that she's 35 years old and it's time to go while she's still healthy. I'm not a big fan but her departure leaves a big hole at the top of your average NEO card. She won't be easy to replace. NEO also announced that they will work with Ice Ribbon on a joshi themed film called Three Count. And NEO debuted 16 year old Nozomi Dai in the opening match against Toshie Uematsu. Dai bodyslams Uematsu. Uematsu applies a headlock but Dai reverses into a front facelock and takes her down. Uematsu eventually reverses it and chokes Dai. The ref pulls her off. Uematsu applies a Boston crab and traps her in the corner. Dai comes back with forearm smashes, a dropkick and a backslide for two. Uematsu attacks with dropkicks and a diving body press for the win at 8:23. It looks like Uematsu was charitable to the rookie.
The first of the tournament quarterfinals had Fuuka & Haruka Matsuo vs Misae Genki & Aya Yuki. Matsuo & Yuki begin with a test of strength. Genki & Yuki get the edge but wind up outside the ring and Fuuka hits a dive from the top rope. Back in the ring, Fuuka tags in and Yuki hits an Atomic Drop. Genki tags in and Fuuka attempts a jumping cross arm breaker. Genki choke slams her for two. Matsuo tags in and gets a Victory Roll for two. Yuki tags in and Matsuo hits a Northern Lights suplex for two. Genki breaks up another pin. Matsuo hits a double dropkick. Genki takes Fuuka to the top turnbuckle and drops her on her face. She does the same to Matsuo. Yuki hits Matsuo with a German suplex for the win at 7:56. The second semi final was Kyoko Kimura & Atsuko Emoto vs Etsuko Mita & Makoto. Amandora wisely focused on Makoto. Emoto bullies Makoto in the corner. Mita comes in and bodypresses Makoto onto Emoto. Kimura tags in and ties her up in the ropes. Then Emoto bodyslams her. Mita tags in and cleans house but Kimura stops her with a kick to the chin. Mita hits a Death Valley Driver and they all go outside and Makoto dives from the top rope. The end comes when Mita tries bodypressing Makoto onto Kimura and misses. Kimura suplexes Makoto and a head butt gets the win at 10:47.
The third quarter final was Nanae Takahashi & Natsuki*Taiyo vs NEO Tag Team Champs Tanny Mouse & Yuki Miyazaki. Takahashi & Natsuki attack the NEO Machine Gunz but they come back with a double roll up. Miyazaki hits a missile dropkick on Takahashi followed by a sidwalk slam, a vertical suplex, a German suplex and a cross body. Natsuki lifts Yamazaki and Takahashi hits a clothesline from the top. Natsuki follows with a suplex. She goes to the top but Yamazaki catches her in a suplex followed by a neckbreaker. Miyazaki goes to the top but Natsuki catches her with a German suplex followed by the Peach*Latch for the win at 11:53. NEO wants fans to read too much into this loss for the champs. Try to resist that. Tournaments don't usually transfer to angles. Next was Kyoko Inoue & Hiroyo Matsumoto vs Yoshiko Tamura & Arisa Nakajima. Inoue begins by throwing her weight around but Tamura comes back with a flying knee to the corner followed by a double suplex. Inoue & Matsumoto apply a double Argentinian backbreaker. Well, you knew they were going to do that. Matsumoto goes back to it two more times but Nakajima rolls out of one and Nakajima breaks up the other while Inoue is outside the ring and Tamura gets a two count. Inoue comes back and shoulderblocks Tamura but Tamura fights back and traps her in the corner followed by a swinging DDT for two. Nakajima tags in and attempts to suplex Inoue. That fails and Inoue turns that into a power bomb for the win at 13:13.
Next was Kana vs Misaki Ohata. Kana starts with a hip attack. She applies a sharpshooter and turns it into a double toehold. Ohata escapes and stomps on Kana's hand. Ohata goes to the top and Kana hits a superplex. They exchange blows but Kana hits a German suplex followed by a hip attack for the win at 10:57. The first semi final had Misae Genki & Aya Yuki vs Nanae Takahashi & Natsuki*Taiyo. Takahashi hits Genki with a backdrop suplex. Natsuki tags in and Genki hits a backdrop suplex followed by a chokeslam. Takahashi controls Yuki but Genki distracts her and Yuki hits a German suplex. Genki & Takahashi exchange power moves but Genki gets the win with the G Driver at 12:21. Next was Kyoko Inoue & Hiroyo Matsumoto vs Kyoko Kimura & Atsuko Emoto. Matsumoto gets Emoto in the Argentinian backbreaker and tags Inoue. Emoto hits a flying elbow drop from the top rope. Inoue comes back and hits a double lariat. While Matsumoto cuts Emoto off, Inoue hits Kimura with a power bomb for two. Then they do the double Argentinian backbreaker. Kimura & Emoto takes things out of the ring and use chairs. They bring chairs into the ring to double suplex Inoue. But Inoue will win with a superplex and a lariat on Kimura at 9:08.
There was a comedy match with Masako Takanashi & Choun-ko over Sakura Emi & Cherry at 6:47. The final of the tournament was Kyoko Inoue & Hiroyo Matsumoto vs Misae Genki & Aya Yuki. Genki & Yuki hit a double choke slam on Matsumoto. Genki follows with a high kick. Matsumoto hits a shoulder block off the ropes followed by a backdrop suplex and a neckbreaker. Inoue tags in and they both hit lariats and both no sell. Inoue hits a lariat followed by a superplex. Yuki tags in and tries to lift Inoue. They all wind up outside the ring. They go back and forth out there. Back in the ring, Inoue hits Yuki with a lariat for two. Matsumoto tags in and lariats Yuki. She applies the Argentinian backbreaker followed by a stomachbreaker on her knee. Yuki comes back with Genki's help and hits a German suplex for two. They exchange blows and Yuki gets a Victory Roll for two followed by two more German suplexes for near falls. Matsumoto ends it with a backdrop suplex at 11:50. Kyoko Inoue & Hiroyo Matsumoto win the NEO Mid Summer Tag Team Tournament. I can understand why some fans might be annoyed by this result. But considering that Inoue & Matsumoto were the favourites and even won the poll on the NEO website, I don't think anyone should be surprised that they won.
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