2023 Joshi Puroresu Discussion Thread

[Ace]

Lady C returns to the injured list with neck issues.

 

[Elsalvajeloco]

9 hours ago, Ace said:

Lady C returns to the injured list with neck issues.

 

On that note, Saya and Utami are back (for now).

[dragonzombie]

Tall Saya has new moves.

Utami has new gear, based on roses. Her costume may come in diff colors for the black parts if you look at the design sheets.

Spoiler

Suzu wants to become the face of Stardom.

Maika vs either HZK or Suzuki for the Red belt.

Anywayz, article on some changes for Stardom

https://www.tokyo-sports.co.jp/articles/-/284245

 

[Elsalvajeloco]

Always a good sign when you still have trouble hitting moves you already do that you just continue to add more moves you haven't mastered.

[lostinube]

Sayaka Unagi was toting her Kitsune Women's Wrestling belt when she filmed her promo for SASUKE (Ninja Warrior), which will air in December in Japan.

 

[onelegbrynn]

This might be totally the wrong thread but does anyone know how I can watch this Combat Princess USA show on December 14th from TJPW and Prestige Wrestling? The card looks great!

*Miyu Yamashita & Maki Itoh vs. Masha Slamovich & Killer Kelly
*Mizuki vs. Sandra Moone
*Miu Watanabe vs. Hyan
*Shoko Nakajima vs. Taya Valkyrie
*Hikari Noa & Nao Kakuta vs. Janai Kai & Johnnie Robbie
*Max the Impaler & Pom Harajuku vs. Rika Tatsumi & Amira
*Moka Miyamoto vs. Trish Adora

[Stefanie Sparkleface]

7 minutes ago, brynn9292 said:

This might be totally the wrong thread but does anyone know how I can watch this Combat Princess USA show on December 14th from TJPW and Prestige Wrestling? The card looks great!

*Miyu Yamashita & Maki Itoh vs. Masha Slamovich & Killer Kelly
*Mizuki vs. Sandra Moone
*Miu Watanabe vs. Hyan
*Shoko Nakajima vs. Taya Valkyrie
*Hikari Noa & Nao Kakuta vs. Janai Kai & Johnnie Robbie
*Max the Impaler & Pom Harajuku vs. Rika Tatsumi & Amira
*Moka Miyamoto vs. Trish Adora

If it's TJPW it'll end up on Wrestle Universe eventually, I can't think of any shows they've put on that don't wind up there at some point. As far as live streaming, it's not currently on either the Wrestle Universe schedule or IWTV (who usually streams Prestige), so it might not get a stream.

[Ace]

I bought an opera box seat for that show.

 

[Cleavy]

On 11/30/2023 at 10:37 AM, brynn9292 said:

This might be totally the wrong thread but does anyone know how I can watch this Combat Princess USA show on December 14th from TJPW and Prestige Wrestling? The card looks great!

*Miyu Yamashita & Maki Itoh vs. Masha Slamovich & Killer Kelly
*Mizuki vs. Sandra Moone
*Miu Watanabe vs. Hyan
*Shoko Nakajima vs. Taya Valkyrie
*Hikari Noa & Nao Kakuta vs. Janai Kai & Johnnie Robbie
*Max the Impaler & Pom Harajuku vs. Rika Tatsumi & Amira
*Moka Miyamoto vs. Trish Adora

they just announced on today's show, that it is available streaming live on PPV via WU.

 

Edited December 1, 2023 by Cleavy
added tweet

[Elsalvajeloco]

On 11/23/2023 at 1:49 PM, Octopus said:

Derp. What is everyone’s 5 favorite Joshi matches of all time?

I had about four or maybe all five already set, but the honorable mentions was much more tougher to trim down. I kept it at eight since that's a nice round number even honestly about though thirteen or fourteen came to mind instantly once I came up with the top five. It does help that some of my favorites have already been listed or mentioned so that makes feel less bad about not naming them.

I also tried my best to go across different eras. My prevailing thought was the matches you would come up with if you had to show someone who doesn't really care for women's wrestling or at best a casual viewer and implore them to seek out as soon as possible.

IN NO SPECIFIC ORDER EXCEPT CHRONOLOGICALLY 

Jaguar Yokota vs. Lioness Asuka (AJW Summer Night Festival In Budokan, 8/22/1985)

Man, it's hard to describe how special both of these women were at the time. I am a fan of the Crush Gals, but I think I like their singles matches a bit better cause honestly it's two great singles wrestlers thrown in tag team matches. In my mind, it was both Chigusa Nagayo and Lioness Asuka working two single matches at the same time. They had a crazy atmosphere usually and that's ultimately what made the matches. I would add that probably their best tag team match was against their seniors Devil Masami and Jaguar Yokota, who were basically working heel and were the glue of the match. Here, you see the dynamic of a phenomenal young athlete in Lioness Asuka who is the prototype of many of top female wrestlers today versus another phenomenal athlete in Jaguar who for my money was probably the most gifted female wrestler who understood storytelling. Sure, there have been wrestlers who had a better or more impressive movesets since Jaguar. However, I don't think there has been one who can do what prime Jaguar Yokota did in terms of building a match to the perfect crescendo. Maybe you could argue Meiko Satomura, Arisa Nakajima, Tsukasa Fujimoto, and a select few others come close. My point is Jaguar doesn't do the template of seven to ten minutes of trading random moves, a few minutes of down time, then big move, maybe a few dives, big move, big move, big move, trading nine false finishes, one more false finish that SHOULD HAVE been the finish, and then finally the actual finish. What Jaguar had working for is she was able to work outside that formula because she understood storytelling. That's not to say Jaguar carried Lioness in the match. However, Jaguar Yokota was the perfect conductor for this match cause she played towards Asuka's strength as an athlete and injects an emotion into the match beyond the responses that either of the Crush Gals got. Jaguar just amplified those responses.

Dynamite Kansai vs. Mayumi Ozaki (Dress Up Wild Fight, JWP Jazz & Soul, 3/17/1995)

Of the five matches I came up with, this probably contains the best individual performance. Goddamn, did Mayumi Ozaki bring it here. The raw visceral and guttural scream Ozaki lets go when she finally pins Kansai after basically losing to Kansai in every singles match since the new JWP was formed a few years earlier is stuff you cannot script. You can try but it won't work as well. It was like a three hundred pound weight had been lifted off her little shoulders. The first thing you think about first off is how the hell did these women not make it into AJW when they tried out? Second is why did JWP have a reverse David and Goliath theme going in their rivalry prior to this? Kansai's overall demeanor is babyface, but being the larger wrestler who is kicking the dog crap out of people doesn't work when you have a much smaller wrestler in Ozaki who knows how to work from underneath. Now it helps that Ozaki likes working as a more heelish grappler and also explains why OZ Academy (the promotion) for the longest had a bunch of Russo fetish booking involving her. However, she is an amazing fiery babyface if you put her in those situations. It was the same when she was working with Chigusa Nagayo when Chigusa would show up in JWP and Ozaki was bleeding gushers for the cause. They change it up a bit here cause after they brawl all over Hakata Starlanes, which is a very intimate venue and a perfect setting for this type of match, Ozaki gets a chain and proceeds to beat the absolute Iceman King Parsons "Have Mercy, Yall" shit out of Kansai. From the stiff shots to the face to the combat boots stomps to the noggin' to the insane color Ozaki gets on Kansai (she may have cut Kansai a little bit too deep). I believe the term we have in the black community is she "dogwalked" Kansai for a good stretch of the match. Sidenote: When Ozaki would do the chain spot in later years where she drags people across the ring or on the outside like a literal dog, she would scream something like "doggie doggie good doggie" and that makes the term fit adequately here figuratively and literally. Anyway, the story isn't she hates Kansai as much she HAS TO beat Kansai. She HAS TO. Overcoming Kansai is her white whale. Then, when it looks like she is on the road to doing that, Kansai fires up and returns the beating. The powerbomb on the table laying flat when EVERYONE has to do the powerbomb THROUGH the table is a cool spot. It looked so much more brutal probably cause (1) it likely was and (2) it's a Japanese table so good luck breaking it. They do much stuff here that I feel was missing from ECW in terms of innovation. Lack of innovation is probably what bedeviled latter era ECW. What they do here is little creative things that bolster the match. They also do a course correction by having Ozaki play the babyface in the final backstretch of the match cause the fans are way behind her and have Kansai play the big bully. Thus, when the finish actually happens, they go NUTS. However, their reaction SOMEHOW pales in comparison to Ozaki who goes through a wide range of emotions. It's unparallel in terms of booking to a create a star and makes me wish JWP's roster was bit deeper cause they could have went places with Ozaki and Fukuoka as their stars for the future.

CAZAI (AKINO & Ayako Hamada) vs. Las Cachorras Orientales (Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda)(ARSION Carnival ARSION 1999, 12/11/1999)

I would like to make the argument that in terms of overall consistency (save for when it was the Tokyo Sweethearts instead before Mita and Shimoda came back together full time), LCO was probably a top ten tag team regardless of gender in the 90s. They could be used to work heel against any team cause Shimoda was a charismatic ultra cocky heel and Mita was the big nasty, merciless bruiser. In my mind, they were one of the bright spots of AJW after the interpromotional period. They also did a bunch of great work when they were basically freelance and sort of hired guns.

In this match, LCO were basically the Midnight Express or probably Rose & Somers to CAZAI's the Fantastics or Midnight Rockers. LCO dominated about 80 percent of the match especially any and everything that takes place outside the ring. It isn't that squash match domination though. It's that "we KNOW we are the superior tag team and you're on life support cause we allow you to be". They were basically Chinese water torturing Hamada and AKINO. Speaking of cutting someone too deep, the ref does a similar job Ozaki did on Kansai on Ayako Hamada here. It flows like water, my friend. Even the producers of the original Carrie would be like, "yeah, that's a bit too much." It becomes like a boxing match in one way cause you can tell Ayako is legit having a hard time seeing cause the blood is going directly into her eyes and it never clots really. In a more unedited version of the aftermath you can find, when Ayako climbs to the top rope in celebration, you can see she is about lose her cookies because she likely swallowed a bunch of blood as well. 

The domination and that grisly aspect of the match specifically only enhances the match cause there isn't one specific move or moment that gets CAZAI back into the match and it resets the entire match. Everytime they sort of fire up, LCO immediately cuts them off and continues whooping that ass in humiliating fashion. CAZAI slowly but surely works themselves back into the match. It's like a team that is down by thirty at halftime, you click over to another game that's way more competitive, you turn back to watch the final three or four minutes of the game you were watching, and you see they're only down ten points and driving down the field swiftly to score again. The drama is CAN they get that go ahead score and is there enough time to do that. LCO can win at any time same as a team can seal a game with getting a defensive turnover on a final possession. However, CAZAI refuses to lose simply. Ayako Hamada doesn't have the same type of individual performance Ozaki has in the Kansai match, but she comes off as a star nonetheless cause of the gusher and also being the clear leader of her tag team. She gets turned into the weak link cause she's losing so much blood, and it feels like AKINO is helpless to save her. However, her sheer determination and resiliency is what makes the match work when they get to the finish. You buy into Ayako's grittiness as she seems to be fighting for not only her titles (CAZAI came in as tag champs of ARSION even if the match doesn't feel like it), but her and her tag partner's very lives. Ayako has a moment similar to when Sting was becoming a star in JCP where she fires up, and you can tell she means by gawd business. I believe the kids on the street call it FAFO. At that very moment, LCO is fucked. LCO has to make a goal line stand in a game they spent the majority of putting a hurting on their opponents, and the odds are ever increasingly not in their favor. CAZAI still has to do something to win it, but the score is essentially zero zero now. That's the drama you look for in pro wrestling.

Yoshiko Tamura vs. Azumi Hyuga (JWP Climax 2006, 12/24/2006)

This one for me was a no brainer. I can go on for days about my love of Yoshiko Tamura in this era cause she OWNED every big match she was in. I said it before that if I had a time machine and be able to transport a wrestler from a bygone era to now so they can wrestle the new generation of female wrestlers, Tamura would be number one on the list. IMO she's nonpareil in terms of brutality and intensity. I could have listed other matches she had, but in this one, she's going against someone in Hyuga that was one of her established rivals in multiple promotions and also criminally underrated. When she was under her real name Tomoko Kuzumi, she was pretty damn good. This is her at her best and several years more experience. It's the perfect recipe for an excellent match.

However, it's not an excellent match. That would be insulting. They had a couple other prior matches that fall into the excellent category. This here folks is nothing short of a masterpiece. Why? Cause Hyuga dares to match the brutality and intensity of Tamura and even more ballsy, try to one up her at every turn. FOR SIXTY MINUTES! It's a war for an hour. It's the stuff of legends. Like how older people use to talk about the wars between Carmen Basilio and Tony DeMarco and the wars between the original "Rock" Rocky Graziano and "The Man of Steel" Tony Zale which inspired Paul Newman's first starring role "Somebody Up There Likes Me" or the bloodletting at times between "Sugar" Ray Robinson and Jake LaMotta, this is on that level when it comes to pro wrestling. And I am not being hyperbolic. There is a moment early on that sets the tone and tempo roughly five minutes into the match where you can tell Hyuga may legit had her eye socket or cheek bone (probably both) cracked and she's fighting through the pain. She wrestled another fifty plus minutes enduring that pain. That reason alone I have to give flowers to both Tamura AND Hyuga because they could easily have done Tamura's type of epic match or recycled what they had been doing to play it safe. They don't do that. 

They wrestle like two women who are fighting for the livelihood of women's wrestling in their country. Unfortunately, they probably were IRL cause it definitely wasn't in a good place at the time. There was definite promise and potential it would get better. However, promise and potential just means it ain't happened yet. You cannot live off of that. These two women don't do that. They put their hearts and souls into this, and you can feel every bit of that once the sixty minute mark elapses.

Best Friends (Arisa Nakajima & Tsukasa Fujimoto) vs. Nanae Takahashi & Emi Sakura (Ice Ribbon 10th Anniversary Show, 5/4/2016)

Last and certainly not least, there is a reason I picked this one over any of my honorable mentions which could have easily been in the top five. There might be two or three more additional reasons. The main one is that the same respect I give LCO for being a tremendous tag team, I have to give maybe double the amount of respect for Nakajima and Fujimoto just cause they're stellar singles wrestlers who make being a tag team somehow work as good if not better than their individual singles career. They are both dynamic to the point where everything they do is in harmony and fits seamlessly into the match. It's just not random double tag moves they worked out, which everyone feels like they're compelled to do. You can tell they love teaming together and know how to lay out a match where nothing feels forced. Just like the Masami and Yokota example I laid out earlier, they can work more face when they need to or work heel when they have to. So you put them up against anyone be it the smaller or younger plucky underdog tag team or the more abrasive, rugged, and meaner teams, they know what to do it and how to make each match feel a little different. You look at Arisa's style and don't really see her wrestling as a babyface most of the time. You look at Tsukka's face and consider her overall attitude alone and don't see how she can play heel. However, together, they can switch it up and do it in sync.

In this particular match, since you have the storied history of all the participants on a big show and I believe this was originally suppose to be Best Friends vs. Thunder Rock, they feel free to just go for the gusto. Nanae doesn't likely inspire people to go out and seek out of her matches, but in this environment, she excels much like she did during NANA*MOMO against LCO. It isn't so much Emi Sakura: Super Worker (now Miracle Worker in AEW) so much as Emi Sakura: Super Tag Partner. She picks up the slack here in a big way and probably cause this is her return to Ice Ribbon. Sakura absolutely puts on in this match. She also doesn't do it in a way that leaves Nanae out in the cold cause Nanae is always in the right spots. The one thing I love about this match is you don't see people waffling or anticipating or just waiting to break up a spot or pinfall. Everything feels spontaneous even though you definitely know they probably laid this out well in advance or at least key parts of it. I am not a big "you have to hide the magic from me" person, but I certainly ain't complaining when you do. Get me invested in the damn match, and I will watch every moment of it. Here you have the components of what should be your average great match, and they elevate it to one of the finest pieces of wrestling you will ever see. 

For the listamania portion, I will give you the Honorable Mentions also in chronological order: 

1987 Team Gold Combo (Manami Toyota & Toshiyo Yamada) vs. Dynamite Kansai & Mayumi Ozaki I (2 Out of 3 Falls, AJW Dream Rush In Kawasaki, 11/26/1992)

Dynamite Kansai & Mayumi Ozaki vs. 1987 Team Gold Combo II (Manami Toyota & Toshiyo Yamada) (2 Out of 3 Falls, AJW Dream Slam 2, 4/11/1993)

Akira Hokuto vs. Shinobu Kandori II (AJW St. Battle Final 1993, 12/6/1993)

1987 Team Gold Combo (Manami Toyota & Toshiyo Yamada) vs. Double Inoue (Takako Inoue & Kyoko Inoue) (2 Out of 3 Falls, AJW Wrestlemarinepiad 1994, 10/9/1994)

Combat Toyoda vs. Megumi Kudo (No Ropes Barbed Wire Current Blast Death Match, FMW Fighting Creation '96 - 7th Anniversary Show, 5/5/1996)

Kaoru Ito, Momoe Nakanishi & Nanae Takahashi vs. Kumiko Maekawa & Las Cachorras Orientales (Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda) (Steel Cage Death Match, AJW Women's Wrestling Festival W FUSION 2000, 11/23/2000)
    
Giulia vs. Maya Yukihi (Ice Ribbon Osaka Ribbon 2019 II, 5/25/2019)
    
Utami Hayashishita vs. Syuri (Stardom Tokyo Dream Cinderella Special Edition, 6/12/2021)

[Stefanie Sparkleface]

6 hours ago, Elsalvajeloco said:

Best Friends (Arisa Nakajima & Tsukasa Fujimoto) vs. Nanae Takahashi & Emi Sakura (Ice Ribbon 10th Anniversary Show, 5/4/2016)

Gonna co-sign this one as an absolute must-see. Probably the greatest tag team match in Ice Ribbon's history (though I personally think Tsukushi's retirement match, teaming with Tsukka against Nanae and Hamuko Hoshi, comes close).

[Ace]

I've only gotten into joshi the past couple years, so my list is limited and is likely mostly Stardom

In no order:

Giulia vs Konami - Stardom Dream Queendom 2021

The match that ended Konami's full-time wrestling career ends up being less about her and all about the late Hana Kimura.

Maika vs Himeka - Stardom All-Star Grand Queendom 2023

The final face-off of the "wives" of MaiHime. Including Maika begging Himeka to kick out at the end, because she doesn't want it to end.

Cosmic Angels (Tam Nakano & Waka Tsukiyama) vs. KAIRI & Nanae Takahashi - Stardom New Blood Premium

Stardom's lovable loser,  Waka finally gets her first win in her entire career.

 

[Curt McGirt]

I'm not as well-versed in joshi as everybody else here but I think I've got a top three. And because I'm me, they're all gorefests.

3. Hokuto vs. Kandori

2. Kudo vs. Combat retirement match

and #1 with a bullet...

1. Aja vs. KAORU.

[Curt McGirt]

This, btw, was my introduction to Kudo/Combat...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WN-8rdiVuWg&ab_channel=Rongaryen

I bought the tape at I think a Camelot Music or something.

...I still think it's funny.

[Stefanie Sparkleface]

QUEEN VALKYRIE have their first International Ribbon Tag Title challengers, with Totoro Satsuki and Asuka Fujitaki stepping up at today's dojo show, where they went to a 15 minute draw. They'll match up at Ice Ribbon's next SKIP City show on 12/17.

With a defense at SKIP City, be on the lookout for whoever wins to get another challenger in time for Ribbonmania on 12/31.

[quackhell]

On 12/1/2023 at 11:45 PM, Curt McGirt said:

I'm not as well-versed in joshi as everybody else here but I think I've got a top three. And because I'm me, they're all gorefests.

3. Hokuto vs. Kandori

2. Kudo vs. Combat retirement match

and #1 with a bullet...

1. Aja vs. KAORU.

I recall picking up bootleg copy of the FMW 5 5 1996 tape at an IWA MS show and my friends and watched it after we drove back late into the wee hours. They were doubtful about how good a women's death match would be. Those doubts were erased very quickly.

Edited December 4, 2023 by quackhell

[dragonzombie]

Stardom

Spoiler

Suzu won. So it's her vs Maika for the Red belt. Suzu has her own very special briefcase like NJPW used to do.

Saya and Utami won the tag belts.

Giulia retained her Strong Belt. 

 

[Elsalvajeloco]

13 hours ago, Kang said:

Stardom

  Reveal hidden contents

Suzu won. So it's her vs Maika for the Red belt. Suzu has her own very special briefcase like NJPW used to do.

Saya and Utami won the tag belts.

Giulia retained her Strong Belt. 

 

It should be noted that all the matches (even the title matches and title shot contract match) were under 15 minutes, which (1) means they're trying to curve the injury bug and (2) know that you cannot continue to allow performers to abuse their bodies on that type of schedule.

[J.H.]

My Favorite Joshi matches... yikes...

1. Kandori v. Hokuto from Dream Slam

Just the gutsiest performance from the gutsiest wrestler AJW ever produced in Akira Hokuto. Faking a dislocated shoulder in the beginning of a match and selling it for the entirety of the match while having to deal with an insane amount of blood loss that would make Dracula say "You know what? I'm good for now" is just nuts. That's not to diminish Kandori's part in this as a legit badass who just comes up short to Hokuto's sheer desire to keep going when stopping the match would've been sensible

2. JWP Openweight Title 12/9/2007 Azumi Hyuga v. Kaori Yoneyama

This was Kaori Yoneyama's coming out party. She'd been slowly building up her way up the JWP ladder for 6 years to get to this point. The fact that she wasn't supposed to be in this match originally just shows how much she put into the match to prove she was a worthy challenger and was to be taken seriously.

Azumi Hyuga, on the other hand, had been looking forward to facing Meiko Satomura but an unfortunate knee connecting with Satomura's orbital bone nixed that match (and kinda killed the JWP v. Sendai feud with it). Azumi finds herself giving Kaori this title match after Kaori pinned her in a tag match a few weeks before.

It was supposed to be Satomura. It's what Hyuga needed to cement her status as one of the joshi elite in her generation. Instead she gets Kaori Yoneyama and so her frustration has to be vented on the challenger.

There was no doubt Hyuga was winning this match but it doesn't stop Kaori Yoneyama from throwing everything she's got at the champ. It's the match that made me a Kaori Yoneyama fan. Not in a simple "Let's go Kaori!" kinda way but a legit believer that she might pull it off against the Ace of the company. Every nearfall she scores as the match builds to its end put me on the edge of my seat. It made me a believer! It, after kinda giving up on Joshi around 03, made me a beiever again! Kaori Yoneyama and Azumi Hyuga brought me back to the fold!

Finally, Azumi Hyuga had enough and avenged her pinfall loss. Kaori wasn't winning on her first challenge for that Openweight belt. Reality has to set in at some point and Azumi Hyuga reminds you why she was chosen to be JWP's Ace. Kaori Yoneyama has to be put down to prove it. Kaori Yoneyama wasn't supposed to be in this spot, not yet. Azumi Hyuga NEEDS to put Kaori Yoneyama in her place!

It comes to an end, Azumi Hyuga proves why she's the champ. Kaori Yoneyama however, has proven she is no longer just the plucky youngster she was coming into this match. No, Kaori Yoneyama is a credible threat who can make a jaded wrestling fan a believer once again!

Am I saying this is 5 Star classic?

No, but it is a match that reminded me why I love Joshi Puro and in turn I love this match with all my heart!

(My 3-5 picks will be another post)

James

 

Edited December 3, 2023 by J.H.

[Stefanie Sparkleface]

Rina Amikura tore her ACL and meniscus, so she'll be out for quite a while. This comes just as Yuna Manase appears to be close to coming back from her own ACL/meniscus tear, and Rina had been wrestling as Ami Manase in Ganbare to fill the void while Yuna was out.

Rina is an enjoyable addition to any card so I'm sad that she's injured.

[dragonzombie]

Yuka Sakazaki graduated from TJPW. Goodbye Yuka.

Insert pictures here bye.

[Kevin Wilson]

Wonder where Yuka will end up since she will be 'based' in the US next year. I doubt she'd leave TJPW just to hope for some indie bookings here and there so my guess would be she is going to be at least a regular in one of the larger promotions. AEW/ROH is the easy guess since she's wrestled there before but without any announcement its hard to know for sure.

[Stefanie Sparkleface]

15 hours ago, Kevin Wilson said:

Wonder where Yuka will end up since she will be 'based' in the US next year. I doubt she'd leave TJPW just to hope for some indie bookings here and there so my guess would be she is going to be at least a regular in one of the larger promotions. AEW/ROH is the easy guess since she's wrestled there before but without any announcement its hard to know for sure.

She's never come off of AEW's roster page, and they've been pretty diligent about taking people off of there that are no longer under contract. That seems like the smartest bet.

[Stefanie Sparkleface]

Ice Ribbon held matches at the Tokyo Comic-Con today. Ibuki Hoshi had a little more fun than poor Kaho Matsushita did.

 

[Stefanie Sparkleface]

Riko Kaiju has abruptly retired, vacating the Beyond the Sea Tag Team Titles that she held with Ayame Sasamura. She was very close with Yuuki Mashiro, who retired last year (and was notably the only non-Ice Ribbon member allowed to participate in the retirement ceremony that didn't also compete on the card), so I wonder how much Mashiro's retirement made her want to step away. She had her last match a month ago and has been reportedly injured ever since, missing her Sukeban booking in Miami and being replaced by Rina Yamashita.

Also, Ice Ribbon announced they are part of something called "Project R", a sports marketing and management project led by a company called Rebellions, along with pro basketball team Earth Friends Tokyo Z and handball team Earth Friends BM. It appears this has led to a reorganization of the company, as nearly all of the roster has transferred to a new organization called Ice Ribbon Inc., apparently managed by Rebellions instead of Neoplus. Neoplus is still managing the dojo and Ice Ribbon's sibling promotion Hot Shushu. The reorganization took place last month (which might explain the recent uptick in Hot Shushu shows at the dojo that started last month). Hajime Sato, the president of Neoplus, was present at the press conference, so I don't think this was a total reorganization or a sale to Rebellions, but there are still more details to come.