JWP went to the Delfin Arena in Osaka for the Jan. 25 show. Most of the angles are leading to the big April Korakuen Hall show. But there was a title change in the main event. Yumiko Hotta & Kei'to won the JWP/Daily Sports Tag Team Titles from Toshie Uematsu & Ran YuYu. Though Hotta is perceived as the big star, it appears that Kei'to was the star of this match. I think this is her first title belt. She spent most of her career languishing at LLPW so this is probably a big deal for her. Hotta used her chain of course but the two seemed to work well together with plenty of kicks. Uematsu almost got the win over Kei'to with a couple of dragon suplexes. But Hotta broke things up and set up Uematsu for a couple of Kei'to's modified G Driver finisher for the win at 18:16. Afterwards, WANTED issued a challenge for the titles and Hotta accepted and Hotta continued to provoke Commando Bolshoi with Tojuki Leon & Arisa Nakajima getting upset about WANTED's quick acceptance as challengers. Hotta/Bolshoi will happen in April but for the Feb. 8 Cinema Club show, Bolshoi will team with Kayoko Haruyama & Ran YuYu vs Yumiko Hotta, Kei'to and a mystery partner (Takako Inoue maybe?). And there will be a #1 contender match for the tag titles with Sachie Abe & KAZUKI vs Tojuki Leon & Arisa Nakajima. I expect some Hotta interference in this match.
The other major angle advancement had JWP Junior & POP Champ Hiroyo Matsumoto teaming with Misaki Ohata vs Arisa Nakajima & Pinkie Mayuca. A lot of action as you would expect. The end came when Nakajima & Mayuca double teamed Matsumoto. Mayuca nailed her with a high kick while Nakajima hit a German suplex for the win at 11:10. Mayuca promptly challenged Matsumoto for the belts. Matsumoto agreed as long as she wins her first title defense against Sachiko Sendai at the Feb. 1 Ibuki show. That match will be on the Feb. 5 show. Speaking of the Ibuki show, Mariko Yoshida announced today that Ohata is ill and will be replaced by Ayako Sato. The main championship angle between Kayoko Haruyama & Azumi Hyuga was not advanced in a 6 girl tag with Haruyama teaming with Bolshoi & GAMI vs Hyuga, Abe & Yumi Ohka. Ohka seems out of place. Haruyama won over Abe with the Keene Hammer at 17:36. Other matches had Tojuki Leon over Kaori Yoneyama with the captured buster at 16:54 and KAZUKI over Ranmaru with a reverse cross arm breaker at 7:43. The slow build to Mania-X continues.
It wasn't Arisa who pinned Matsumoto, is was Mayuka. They're scheduled to face each other for the belts at the Feb. 5 show.
ReplyDeleteFixed. It was a typo. I didn't say who got the pin but I made an error on who made the challenge. And they haven't announced that it's for the title yet but they will on Monday. I think they're rushing it because they have to go slowly with the other stuff.
ReplyDeleteYeah, Pinkie got the pin, but Arisa did the main damage with a kick to Matsumoto's face. I'd be shocked if Pinkie actually wins the title at this point, but I'm not sure why they feel the need to do this match next week instead of in April.
ReplyDeleteI think the match is a test to see how Mayuca handles herself leading to a series of matches later. Bolshoi is doing this now because she can't really pull the trigger on any of the other angles until April. There's a thin line between a slow build and indecisive dithering and Bolshoi has earned criticism for crossing that line in the past. She waqnts to demonstrate some decisiveness even if it doesn't make much sense.
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