Pro Wrestling WAVE had their 1st Anniversary show Aug. 16 at Shinjuku FACE. It also marked Yumi Ohka's 7th anniversary. So you might ask am I surprised that WAVE made it to their first anniversary. No, I said it's a company that never should have opened. But once it did, they'll last as long as the money mark is willing to pour money down a black hole. It might take a couple more years for him to come to his senses. WAVE has been a disaster from day one. Weekday shows should have killed them but attendance has been a little better since they've gone mostly to weekends. GAMI's scattershot booking hasn't got any better since THE WOMAN. The bad comedy makes for poor wrestling. Of course they're depending a lot on Yumi Ohka to draw but she's not enough of a draw to support the company. They hired Moeka Haruhi but she's terrible even for an idol wrestler. And they're using the same freelamcers that everyone uses. Why should anyone go to a WAVE show? There's no attraction but you could say that about the entire industry. WAVE doesn't need to exist. Maybe they have the occasional decent match but there's nothing unique about them that will draw.
WAVE did a brief tribute to Plum Mariko before the show. The opener was Moeka Haruhi vs JWP rookie Pinkie Mayuca. It's basic light action as one would expect. Mayuca bodyslams Haruhi. Haruhi is whipped into the ropes and hits a cross body. Mayuca hits a dropkick. Haruhi gets a cross arm breaker. Mayuca gets to the ropes and hits a missile dropkick. As a tribute to Plum Mariko, Haruhi applies a Stretch Plum but Mayuca escapes and wins with her own version of the hold at 5:39. Afterwards, Toshie Uematsu recruits Haruhi to her army. I guess that means she's turning heel though Haruhi is the kind of wrestler who is difficult to turn heel. Next is a mixed match with Cherry & Manabu Hara vs Chiharo Oikawa & Yuki Ishikawa. Cherry has been doing a lot of mixed matches lately. Nothing much to it. Oikawa got an ankle lock and Cheery got to the ropes and then won with a cross arm breaker at 8:29.
Next was Kyoko Kimura vs Kana. This one got out of control. They exchange blows and Kimura mounts Kana and pounds her. They wind up on the floor and at some point, Kimura busts Kana open. It looks like this wasn't planned. Kimura continues to pound on her and rips at her face. Kana comes back with a lariat and applies an ankle lock. Kimura reverses that. Kana hits a German suplex for two and then applies an arm bar. Kimura chokes Kana from behind and again rips at her face. Kana gets angry and it deteriorates into a fist fight. The ref declares the match a no contest at 11:55. Next was GAMI, Ayako Sato & Bullfight Sora vs Sayuri Okino, Saki Maemura & Yuu Yamagata. Okino is triple teamed before the bell. Yamagata grabbed Sora's horns. It's mainly comedy spots. Okino hits GAMI with a kendo stick. GAMI does her rope walking with the megaphone.GAMI goes to the top but Okino & Maemura toss her off for two. Maemura hits a German suplex for two. The end comes when Toshie Uematsu distracts Yamagata and GAMI wins with the eye poke of doom at 13:49.
So they had this tag team tournament which amounted to a match with the Jumping Bomb Angels. The lucky team was Toshie Uematsu & Ran YuYu. This is JBA's final appearance of their tour. JBA hits a double lariat on Uematsu. They missed another one on Ran and Uematsu hit a double dropkick. A lot of running around. Ran is hit with a double shoulder block. Noriyo Tateno gets a Romero special on Ran. Tateno does the bulk of the match but Itsuki Yamazaki tags in with a missile dropkick on Uematsu. But Uematsu wins with a dragon suplex at 10:57. The main event had Yumi Ohka vs Hikaru. They begin with a test of stregth. Ohka hits a neck throw followed by forearms and elbows. Ohka gets Hikaru in a camel clutch. Hikaru escapes and hits a low dropkick followed by a body slam. Ohka goes to the top but Hikaru knocks her to the floor. They fight outside and then it continues inside. Hikaru hits a missile dropkick. Ohka hits a superplex for two. Hikaru hits a backdrop suplex and then wins with the Lanakiller-H at 24:13. I'm sure it was an OK match but these two are not main event wrestlers. They belong at the midcard. But that's a big problem with WAVE. Ohka is important to them but doesn't have that kind of status in the industry. So she's a conflicted star in the company. How are they going to resolve that?
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