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2023 Joshi Puroresu Discussion Thread

RIPPA

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Stefanie Sparkleface

Stefanie Sparkleface

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Yappy did a stream to discuss the changes for Ice Ribbon, the big parts of which are as follows:

- Ice Ribbon has been purchased by Rebellions from Neoplus; Hot Shushu was not part of this purchase, and they are still owned by Neoplus
- Neoplus will continue to produce Ice Ribbon's media, like their DVDs, posters, and portraits
- Neoplus retained ownership of the Ice Ribbon dojo, but Ice Ribbon will continue to lease the dojo and Ice Ribbon employees will help run the venue when Neoplus rents it to other companies
- Rebellions has already been in charge for at least a month, if not longer. The new manager of Ice Ribbon is a woman (whose name I did not catch), who is also fluent in English
- The wrestler contracts have been restructured so that their training time is included in their full-time schedule (her specific situation wasn't addressed on the stream, but this would explain why Ibuki Hoshi quit university a few weeks ago to focus on wrestling full-time). Yappy mentioned that a lot of things that were being done unpaid would be included in this, and specifically brought up the English language recap show that she was doing but had to discontinue. Rebellions is apparently interested in reviving that, but with a production crew to help her out so she doesn't have to do everything by herself
- Foreign wrestlers had apparently been brought in under tourist visas before; this will now change and the company is getting proper entertainer visas for foreign wrestlers (with an unnamed wrestler apparently coming in January)

Yappy mentioned that the first photoshoots with Rebellions in charge (the pictures of which are already up on Ice Ribbon's site) are the first ones she's experienced with professional hair and makeup artists. She joked that the makeup artist said that she was already familiar with her, but made her up to look like a heel, complete with Akira Hokuto-esque contouring of her nose.

She confirmed Mio Shirai is once again in charge of the dojo (as expected) and that nobody works on an Ice Ribbon show without Mio's personal approval. She also said that after a fairly scary moment where Saori Anou and Totoro Satsuki fell off the top rope to the floor during their Infinity title match back in March, the wrestlers were told by Tsukasa Fujimoto that "no crowd reaction is worth your life" and that it was okay to be safer in the ring. Apparently if a wrestler is hurt, even with a minor injury, they are being encouraged not to work through it anymore and to take time off to rest.

All in all, a pretty major change, but it does sound fairly positive. Yappy mentioned that it's a little sad that Banny Oikawa and Nao Ishikawa left the company earlier this year over things like compensation and labor concerns, and this purchase would have addressed those concerns, but they had already left months prior to the purchase.

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lostinube

lostinube

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https://rebellions.jp/

The thing that caught my eye is that their Project R, which includes Ice Ribbon, a pro handball team and Earthfriends Tokyo Z, which is a pro basketball team who got demoted to the B3 league for this season. They'll be coming to my neck of the woods to play our Yamaguchi Patsfive in January (they used to be called the Patriots - it's a whole thing).

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Cleavy

Cleavy

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On 12/8/2023 at 9:28 AM, 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.

wasn't this somewhat an announcement that she was going to AEW?

Edited by Cleavy
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Ace

Ace

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Most notable news from TJPW/Prestige Combat Princess USA:

Spoiler

MK Ultra defeated 12000000 when Masha Slamovich pinned Miyu Yamashita. Masha is challenging Miyu for the Princess of Princess title on 1/4)

 

 

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Stefanie Sparkleface

Stefanie Sparkleface

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4 hours ago, lostinube said:

https://rebellions.jp/

The thing that caught my eye is that their Project R, which includes Ice Ribbon, a pro handball team and Earthfriends Tokyo Z, which is a pro basketball team who got demoted to the B3 league for this season. They'll be coming to my neck of the woods to play our Yamaguchi Patsfive in January (they used to be called the Patriots - it's a whole thing).

Oh, thank you for that! That site refreshed my memory because it had the name of the new manager, Haruka Furukawa. At least I assume she's the new manager, Yappy mentioned a "Furukawa" a couple of times during the stream and I don't assume they promoted Nanae Furukawa from rookie to organization manager.

The only thing I really know about Japanese basketball is that Slam Dunk had a movie out last year that apparently did really well, so I'm interested in finding out more. (About Japanese basketball, I mean, not Slam Dunk. Slam Dunk's not really my thing!)

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lostinube

lostinube

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There are currently three tiers of men's pro basketball in Japan - the B-League, B2 and B3 born out of the ashes of two competing leagues, the National Basketball League and the Basketball Japan League. There are over 50 teams between the three leagues and currently it works on a soccer-esque relegation/promotion system. University basketball in Japan is not really a thing although most of the players in the leagues played at their schools. So teams have youth teams - again, similar to soccer. There's a limit to how many foreign players a team can have and how many they can play on the floor at one time although there are ways around that. The level of foreign players coming over is not super high - they aren't throwing around money like teams in China and the Phillipines were doing to get actual former NBA players on their rosters.

I don't actually know all that much about the upper leagues since I only really follow my local team though. B3 is sort of it's own thing with a separate website and no streaming of games on DAZN. Instead, they have a cheap streaming service (500 yen for the basic plan) that usually uses a stationary cam with no commentary. Although as wrestling fans, we should be used to that.

As for the name - while in English, calling something the B-League is probably not ideal, it's taken from how the pro soccer league in Japan is called the J-League and was in fact named by the same person. Other sports have followed. Pro volleyball is the V Premier League. The breakdancing league (coming to the Paris Olympics!) is the D League.

https://www.bleague.jp/

https://www.b3league.jp/

 

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Stefanie Sparkleface

Stefanie Sparkleface

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QUEEN VALKYRIE managed to defend the International Ribbon Tag Titles today at SKIP City against Totoro Satsuki and Asuka Fujitaki, although it was touch and go as Ancham actually started the match by herself. YuuRI apparently forgot her costume and had to leave the building to go retrieve it, and returned as the match was ongoing. Yuko Sakurai had this happen to her last year, but she opted to wrestle wearing Tsukina Umino's warmup outfit instead.

QV also have their challenger for Ribbonmania, as Mifu Ashida vowed revenge for her fellow rookie, challenging QV while partnering with Kyuuri. Mifu teamed with Kyuuri and Kaho Matsushita to beat Ibuki Hoshi, Hamuko Hoshi, and Arisa Shinose in the semifinal, with Mifu pinning Arisa with the blockbuster suplex. It should be noted that Kyuuri, being Kyuuri, is being a bit of a troll here, as she protested her selection as Mifu's tag partner immediately and said she didn't say no to teaming with Mifu, but she didn't say yes either. She'll have to get over it, though - the match was made official a few hours later.

Hamuko Hoshi also put out a challenge to her tag team partner Makoto, asking her for a singles match at Ribbonmania. She said that Makoto was very important to her starting out, and remains important to her, so she wants to challenge her and see where she stands.

No word on Tsukasa Fujimoto's status re: a full-time in-ring return, but she was at SKIP City today, and there was a point during the match when Kaho took Tsukka's daughter for a ride in her stroller. Not to put rampant speculation out there, but Hikaru Shida is booked for GLEAT on 12/30, so if Tsukka IS coming back at Ribbonmania, there's a slim chance at Muscle Venus involvement. Keep expectations tempered. (I'm saying this mostly for myself.)

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dragonzombie

dragonzombie

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From reading Shupro, Rossy doesn't blame the schedule but the lack of practise and professionalism from some of the players.

He talked about Mirai's push. And Suzu's ascendance. 



Not from the interview, but aside from shrinking the Triangle Derby into one day and maybe no more big shows during the leagues, no other changes to the schedule may arise.

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Stefanie Sparkleface

Stefanie Sparkleface

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Ice Ribbon had their Christmas dojo show, featuring a tag match where Totoro Satsuki & Nanae Furukawa went against Kaho Matsushita & Sumika Yanagawa. Christmas presents were allowed to be used as weapons, in the true spirit of the holiday. Here's Sumika trying to wallop Totoro. Really makes one want to sit by a fire with a warm beverage, doesn't it?

 

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Stefanie Sparkleface

Stefanie Sparkleface

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The full Ribbonmania lineup is out!

1. Momo Tani, Saran, Nanae Furukawa vs. Yuko Sakura, Mayuka Koike, Yuu Hanaya (elimination match)
2. Arisa Shinose vs. Yuuki Minami
3. Yappy & AKARI vs. Tsukina Umino & Crea
4. Sumika Yanagawa & Misa Kagura vs. Totoro Satsuki & Asuka Fujitaki
5. Makoto vs. Hamuko Hoshi
6. Ancham & YuuRI vs. Kyuuri & Mifu Ashida (International Ribbon Tag Titles)
7. Ibuki Hoshi vs. Kaho Matsushita (ICExInfinity Title)

It's the first time all six of the Challengers have appeared since their debut back in August (though Yuu Hanaya's been the holdout; she hasn't wrestled since the debut). It's also Momo Tani's first Ice Ribbon appearance since April.

It's good to see so much Pure-J involvement, plus all the Challengers back! It would've been nice to see Tsukasa Fujimoto come back, but I am fine with waiting; no sense in rushing her comeback on a one week build.

Ibuki/Kaho should be great, and I'm interested to see what comes out of the Tag Title match. Kyuuri and Mifu got a team name, Cheerbell, which is interesting since Kyuuri still is resisting Mifu as her partner. I'd expect the show to be streamed like most Korakuens, so I'll be getting it. I'm not expecting any title changes (the most likely title to switch would be the Tag Titles), but we'll see what happens! A great performance by Kaho would solidify her role as a top line wrestler, and Ibuki could use another strong defense.

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dragonzombie

dragonzombie

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Two rookies debuted at New Blood 12, Sayaka Kurara and Ranna Yagami.

Syuri is going to do some kinda Inoki thing for the IWGP Women's title. If she wins it.

Chanyota wrestled.

Next year's Tokyo Dome City Hall card is on Purolove. The main event is IWGP Women's championship, Mayu Iwatani (c) vs. Syuri.

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Stefanie Sparkleface

Stefanie Sparkleface

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19 hours ago, Sparkleface said:

I'd expect the show to be streamed like most Korakuens, so I'll be getting it.

So uh, speaking of that...

A deal on Ribbonmania! This new service just covers their non-dojo shows, so if you want everything you'd still need Club Ice Ribbon, but this is a pretty nice little way to dig in on the bigger shows to see what they're like. I just signed up and will put the archive through its paces soon.

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Ace

Ace

Posted
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Stardom Dream Queendom spoilers

Spoiler

Tam Nakano came out early in the show to say she will be coming back.

Miyu Amasaki, Azusa Inaba and Yuzuki defeated Hanako, Kurara Sayaka and Ranna Yagami

God's Eye (Ami Sohrei and Saki Kashima) defeated Queen's Quest (Hina and Lady C), Baribari Bombers (Mai Sakurai and Thekla) and Tropikawild (Yuna Mizumori and Saki)

Stars (Eye Contact (Mayu Iwatani and Hanan) and Classmates (Hazuki and Saya Iida)) defeated Oedo Tai (YoungOED (Starlight Kid, Ruaka and Rina) and Fukigen Death)

7Upp (Nanae Takahashi and Yuu) and AZM defeated Syuri, Mina Shirakawa and Mei Seira

AphrOditE (Utami Hayashishita and Saya Kamitani) (c) defeated XL (Natsuko Tora and Momo Watanabe)

Giulia (c) defeated Megan Bayne

Saori Anou defeated Mirai (c)

Maika defeated Suzu Suzuki

 

Mirai vs Anou was the best match on the show.

Trish Adora sent in a video challenging Giulia for Battle in the Valley.

Maika named Tam, Giulia, Utami, and Tall Saya as future challengers.

Due to streaming difficulties interrupting the feed, Stardom uploaded the main event to Youtube,

 

Edited by Ace
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Elsalvajeloco

Elsalvajeloco

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2 hours ago, Eivion said:

How was the show? 

From the sounds of it the other night, pretty good although everything regarding the title match outcomes was a bit predictable. However, they all delivered though YMMV on the white belt title match.

For those interested:

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Stefanie Sparkleface

Stefanie Sparkleface

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I'd be willing to bet that the problems were with the payment processor/authenticator crashing with people trying to access the show towards the bigger matches, since the stream problems started near the semifinal and main. That's pretty common for authentication to fail as viewership spikes towards an anticipated larger portion of their show.

For example, you may triple or quadruple your audience from your opening trios match/battle royale to your main event title match, and if your authentication service isn't expecting that amount of spike, crash. And the worst part is, you have no control over it, but you still get the blame.

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Elsalvajeloco

Elsalvajeloco

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I wonder why folks for their biggest shows aren't able to stress test their website/app prior to the show. The very last thing you want to happen is a debacle with sign ups and then watching the actual show.

 

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