Big Bad Blog Video Theater-Kana vs Serena

OK joshi fans. Here's the match video you've been waiting for. It's Kana vs Serena for the SMASH Diva Championship on the Sept. 8 Korakuen Hall show. The thing I have noticed about SMASH is sometimes the angles are better than the matches. I wasn't as crazy about Kana and the sword as some of the other angles she has done. But she certainly delivered in the match. Remember Kana was almost blackballed by the joshi business a year and a half ago after her dispute with Nanae Takahashi. By winning this title, now she's at the top of the mountain. And she's headed for the US in a couple of weeks to work for SHIMMER. Her ringwork has improved tremendously over the last couple of years. I think a light bulb went on in her head when she worked the BATTLARTS shoot wrestling style. Before that, she was nothing special. She has sex appeal and she's willing to be a heel. That's a big deal. A lot of these idol wrestlers don't want to be heels as they think it will affect their merch sales. Kana proves that this is nonsense. A distinctive character will increase in popularity even as a heel. She approached this match with the appropriate intensity. Full disclosure. I'm not as big a fan of Serena Deeb as others. And in SMASH, they tried to portray her as arrogant with a constant smirk on her face. You even saw it here when she was introduced. That's TAJIRI's fault. He told her to do that. It makes her look like she's not taking Kana seriously though the truth is she respects Kana a lot. And as we saw in this match, the spear can be countered. That was the turning point in the match. I'm not a fan of her using the spear as a finisher. I would have liked to see her use something else. I think both wrestlers had great facial expressions throughout the match. The end comes when Kana kicks Serena into oblivion and applies her chicken wing sleeper. But it looks like Serena messed up the finish and Kana just pinned her. Congratulations to Kana for being the first SMASH Divas Champion. Afterwards, Syuri, Ray, Makoto and Tomoka Nakagawa enter the ring to issue challenges. It's interesting that Ayumi Kurihara wasn't there. And that brings me to today's bonus match. It's Ayumi Kurihara & Ray vs Syuri & Makoto from the same show. SMASH is going to have Syuri feud with Ayumi. When it was announced that Ayumi was coming to SMASH, she declared herself as the number one idol wrestler which was bestowed upon her by the Japanese media. The SMASH fans booed this in loyalty to Syuri. So of course TAJIRI is going to run with that. So in this match, Syuri goes into fighter mode and delivers stiffness to Ayumi. No, Syuri never fought MMA. She did one Shoot Boxing match against a soon to retire Fuuka last year. Shoot Boxing is not MMA. But like a lot of dancers, she has trained in martial arts to help her with flexibility. As far as I know, Ayumi has no martial arts training. So her response to this attack is WTF. What's she upset about? Later on as Ayumi and Ray are putting the finishing touches on Makoto, Syuri goes nuts and attacks Ayumi and then attacks the ref when he tries to break it up. Ayumi & Ray win by DQ. Ayumi doesn't respond to all this but the fans chant Syuri's name. So will Ayumi turn heel? That would be interesting as I don't think she has ever been a heel. And what would it take for the Syuri loyalists to turn on her? We may find out. Enjoy the videos!