Here's some more video from Golden Week. Ibuki's May 4 show is designed to lead up to next month's fourth anniversary show at Korakuen Hall. It looks like it's going to be an Ibuki vs Sendai Girls show and that's what this was too. The clip is from main event between Ryo Mizunami & Sendai Sachiko vs Hiroyo Matsumoto & Esui. It's pretty much what you would expect as Matsumoto accidently nailed Esui and Mizunami used a diving guillotine leg drop for the win at 21:22. Mizunami cut a promo on Matsumoto afterwards which would lead me to think that she will get a shot at Matsumoto's JWP/POP Junior Titles next month. Still no Mariko Yoshida and there has been no indication of anything. You'd think she would be on next month's show but I dunno.
NEO ran a lot of shows this week but the main show we're all interested in is the May 5 Korakuen Hall show. I have two videos for that one. The first one begins with the High Speed Title match between Natsuki*Taiyo and Ray. The match doesn't look like anything special. Those two are spot monkeys so that's what you get. Natsuki wins with what she called a Taiyo-Chan Spanish Fly at 14:58. It's a Japanese arm drag superplex. Next we have Haruka Matsuo's retirement match. She teams with Aya Yuki vs Tanny Mouse & Yuki Miyazaki. Of course it's played for comedy. Tanny applies the Shame On You on Matsuo. Yuka Shiina briefly helps Matsuo but then all the other NEO wrestlers beat up on Matsuo until Miyazaki wins with a moonsault press at 14:29. This is followed by the retirement ceremony. Somehow I think NEO will miss Matsuo more than she'll miss them.
The second video begins with a brief look at a hardcore rules match with Kyoko Kimura, Atsuko Emoto & Tomoka Nakagawa vs Kyoko Inoue, Hiroyo Matsumoto & Etsuko Mita. This kind of match is a Revolution Amandora specialty so they win after they tie Matsumoto to the corner post and hang Mita with a chain for the win at 25:42. Afterwards, Kimura calls out Mima Shimoda. The main event has Sakura Emi defending the NEO Singles & NWA Pacific Titles against Yoshiko Tamura. Based on the clips, the match looks OK but nothing special. Emi was bleeding from the mouth after a Tamura spin kick. Tamura wins with a Mt. Cook at 14:29. That looks like a variation on the Michinoku Driver. So Emi only had the belts for two days. So what's Nanae Takahashi doing? Well, she can't be hurt that badly. She's been blogging. She apologized for cancelling appearances and mentioned the first anniversary of the formation of Passion Red. I don't believe she was injured. She just didn't want to job to Tamura and it makes Tamura's victory anti-climactic.
Finally we have footage from a Cherry produced show May 5 at Itabashi Green Hall. It's mostly silly comedy with DDT guys in drag featuring the DDT Iron Man Heavy Metal Championship. It's a three way match with Kyoko Kimura, Bullfight Sora & Danshoku Dino with bananas pretending to be barbed wire. Dino wins the match and then the title. But after the show, Cherry hits him over the head and a doll pins him for the title. Cherry & Bullfight Sora fight over the doll until Aja Kong gets it, wins the title and then loses it back to the doll. It's pretty goofy stuff if you like that sort of thing.
Hmm, they were saying the Chisako vs Ohata was the #1 contender's match. I thought they were gonna turn it into a threeway, but I guess they're just having someone else challenge for it.
ReplyDeleteI don't think Ibuki ever said they were going to do a three way or that Chisako vs Ohata was a #1 contender's match. Maybe someone assumed that but the video says different.
ReplyDeleteI've seen conflicting info about whether DASH and Misaki was a #1 Contender's Match.
ReplyDeleteI did just see on Yoshida's blog that there will be a rematch between those two at the Korakuen Hall show. I guess Yoshida wants to see someone finally show that they can win.
As far as Yoshida, she's been on her hiatus all year. Not sure of the accuracy, but I've seen rumors on forums that she's pretty beat up from the 20 years and is considering retirement. Also, I saw a claim that she's trying to have a baby. That wouldn't be a shock as she is married and she's getting close to 40 and if she wants to have a kid, she should probably do it now.
The speculation about both topics has been fan speculation. Yoshida has said nothing and usually keeps things pretty close to the vest. As for Ohata, I understand some like her. I try to be more objective and she's a midcarder at best because of her lack of athletic ability. Recent booking decisions indicate that Yoshida knows that.
ReplyDeleteWell one person who knows japanese said that in one of the S-Arena videos, that Chisako said she wanted a title shot, and that Ohata said "You suck, I haven't even gotten a title shot, so why should you?" I guess we assumed that meant #1 Contenders match, when really it was just a feud with no title implications.
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