NEO finally closes

Ayumi Kurihara, Yoshiko Tamura

NEO finally closed after yesterday's finale at Korakuen Hall in front of a packed crowd. And of course Yoshiko Tamura, Tanny Mouse and Yuki Miyazaki all retired. And that's the main reason NEO is closing. With all the retirements over the last couple of years and an inability to attract new talent, NEO president Tetsuyo Koda threw in the towel. Certainly the writing was on the wall when Haruka Matsuo retired two years ago after Koda bungled her title run. Booking especially at the big Korakuen Hall shows was always a problem for NEO. They kept shooting themselves in the foot with questionable booking. And that legacy continues today. The big news at this show is that Ayumi Kurihara won the NEO Singles and NWA Pacific Titles from Yoshiko Tamura and got to hold them for five minutes before the titles were retired. It's meaningless now because it should have been done two months ago. When Azumi Hyuga retired a couple of years ago, she probably put every joshi wrestler over at least once. That's what you're supposed to do. You give back to the business. That's what Tamura should have done. Obviously she doesn't care if selfishness is her legacy. So finally dropping the title to Kurihara now when she should have done it a couple of months ago is an empty gesture designed to deflect criticism. It doesn't matter as much with Tanny Mouse and Yuki Miyazaki because they're a comedy act. Of course they had the big ceremony afterwards and everyone cried which is normal. NEO may be gone but companies will spring up to replace them. Whether STARDOM or the to be named company rumoured to be started by Kyoko Inoue and Kaoru Ito will be any good remains to be seen. When I see JWP trying to turn a pop singer into a wrestler, that's pure desperation. It's not a good sign for the future.