Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling
TJPW held its Summer Sun Princess show at Korakuen Hall in front of 873 fans, which is a good number for Tokyo Joshi at Korakuen, but given it’s one of the biggest shows of the year, it’s a disappointing number as SSP drew over 1,200 fans in Ota Ward last year and this time around had the biggest Princess of Princess Championship defense for Miu Watanabe as she faced Rika Tatsumi.
The Princess Tag Team Title Championships were on the line as Arisu Endo & Suzume retained against Moka Miyamoto & Yuki Arai in a match between the new generation of Tokyo Joshi Pro. This was maybe the best match of Moka Miyamoto’s career, who had a great performance here, especially in the closing stretch against Arisu Endo. Daisy Monkey have been great as champions and continue to do so with another good title defence.
Miu Watanabe retained her Princess of Princess Championship against Rika Tatsumi in the show’s main event. It was the long-awaited championship defence for Miu, who needed the major win over her Hakuchumu tag team partner to be fully established on top of TJPW. The two had faced off three times before, with Tatsumi winning all three matches, including their last match-up at Grand Princess ’23, where Rika was able to win the International Princess Title from Watanabe.
The match itself was good, but a bit underwhelming, as the middle portion especially wasn’t interesting and focused too much on the comedy aspects, which hurt the flow of the match as they wasted time on the outside, including Rika rolling around Miu on a trolley. Once it got into the hot phase, it got great as it showed the chemistry the two have. Watanabe overcame Tatsumi with the Tear Drop to retain for the third time. Overall, it was a good match that could have been much better.
Marigold
Marigold had shows in both Shin-Kiba and a Nagoya this past weekend that centred around the fallout to Summer Destiny. The promotion continued to introduce their championships with the start of the tournament for the Marigold Twin Star Championship, and several matches were set up for the upcoming shows.
This weekend, the main focus was on the Marigold Twin Star Championship as the tournament’s first round occurred on July 20th and 21st. In the first round match-ups on the 20th, MIRAI & Mai Sakurai defeated Zayda Steel & Myla Grace in a fun little match, while Kouki Amarei & Chika Goto advanced over Nanae Takahashi & Nao Ishikawa via forfeit due to Nao being ill. On July 21st, CHIAKI & Nagisa Nozaki advanced against the rookie duo of Rea Seto & Komomo Minami, while Miku Aono & Natsumi Showzuki defeated the team of Victoria Yuzuki & Kizuna Tanaka.
With that, the final four are set as the semifinals and finals will both take place on July 30th at Korakuen Hall.
- Miku Aono & Natsumi Showzuki vs. Kouki Amarei & Chika Goto
- MIRAI & Mai Sakurai vs. CHIAKI & Nagisa Nozaki
After a six-woman tag team match at the Shin-Kiba show, Kizuna Tanaka & Yuzuki picked a fight with Sareee & Giulia about who would be the Ace of Marigold, and a tag team match seemed to be brewing between the four. That was until Rea Seto came out and threw her word in and sided with Giulia and Sareee, while Yuzuki called out Utami to set up a six-woman tag team match at the upcoming Korakuen Hall show with Sareee, Giulia, & Rea Seto teaming against Kizuna Tanaka, Victoria Yuzuki, & Utami Hayashishita. Yuzuki looked great in the promo segment as she was bossing Giulia around at points and had the crowd invested. She has been getting better with every show. Marigold is using the established stars to elevate its future quickly, and it will work out well for the new company.
The show wasn’t over with that as Kouki Amarei & Chika Goto came out and announced that they want to face Miku Aono for the Marigold United National Championship in the future and it seems like the two matches for the Pure White Belt will be happening sooner or later.
JTO
Maika defended the World of Stardom Championship on the 5th Anniversary show of JTO against her rival Tomoka Inaba at Korakuen Hall. The two TAKA Michinoku trainees started together in 2019 at JTO. They’ve both developed into stars, with Maika leaving JTO to join STARDOM in 2019, while Inaba stayed and became the top name of the promotion.
The match was really good and another good defence for Maika! She played a more bully-like role and controlled most of the match, with Tomoka being the one that started the comebacks to a JTO crowd that wanted to see her get the upset win. Maika’s bumping was fantastic as she made Tomoka’s moves and kicks look vicious. The finishing stretch between the two was incredible as Maika survived a fight against Tomoka and proved she was the better of the two on the day. She retained the Red Belt for the sixth time and will defend the belt next against Natsuko Tora on July 28th in Sapporo.
Sendai Girls
On July 13th, Sendai Girls held a show at Korakuen Hall that seemingly had a good attendance as the ranks were filled with fans who wanted to see the stacked card. Aside from the main event, which was for the Sendai Girls World & Wonder Of Stardom Title, the event featured a Sendai Girls Tag Team Championship match and two major special singles matches.
The first of the two was a hardcore match between DASH Chisako & Momo Watanabe. The match was a typical Chisako hardcore match with the same insane spots that we’ve seen from her in previous hardcore matches, including the big splash from the ladder through a table and more. It was still one of the better ones as Watanabe introduced a good mix of hard-hitting moves next to DASH’s plunder, who was able to win the match and pick up a huge win over the former Wonder of Stardom Champion.
TNA Knockouts Champion Jordynne Grace made her return to SENJO to collide with Chihiro Hashimoto in a rematch from their match back in 2019. It went exactly how fans expected it as both just collided with each other and built up an entertaining match with many powerhouse moves. Grace picked up the win with the Juggernaut Driver and continued the momentum that she has been gaining in the United States. It may not have reached the high expectations, but it was a good hoss fight between two talented women.
In a rematch from a recent Shinjuku-FACE match, Mio Momono & Yurika Oka won the Sendai Girls Tag Team Titles from Manami & Ryo Mizunami in a fun match. In the 10 minutes, they went crazy at a ridiculously fast pace. It was a short bout but achieved its goal of making all four wrestlers look great, especially Manami & Oka, who continued their rivalry in this match. They have great chemistry and showed off some really fun sequences. Momono & Oka as new champions is the right choice as it helps Oka to get to the next level in her career.
The rematch between Mika Iwata & Saori Anou was the main event of the show as the two collided with not only the Wonder of Stardom Championship, but also the Sendai Girls World Championship on the line in a match where the winner walks out as a double champion. This match came about after Iwata won the White Belt from Anou at STARDOM THE CONVERSION at the end of June, which led to Anou going into a downward spiral. During a tag team match a week later, Anou showed more emotion than ever, especially in her interactions with Iwata as they fought until the bell ended the match. With that, the double championship match was set.
The emotions and stakes were high from the moment the bell rang as Saori Anou & Mika Iwata locked eyes with the Wonder of Stardom & Sendai Girls World title on the line. The match had what the STARDOM match lacked – emotional investment, as there was a compelling backstory with a good build-up that got the fans hooked. The downside here was that the in-ring was slightly worse as it wasn’t as compelling as the match in Yoyogi. It was built up well, but something was missing in the performance of both. Regardless, Saori Anou’s comeback story was complete with her hitting Natsupoi’s Fairial Gift and the Japanese Ocean Suplex. It’s still a really good match and a great moment for Anou, who not only captured the White Belt but also the Sendai Girls World title.
Anou is now the fifth wrestler in STARDOM history to hold the Wonder of Stardom Championship twice, joining Mayu Iwatani, Io Shirai, Act Yasukawa, and Tam Nakano. A huge success for Anou, who will defend her Championship next against the Wonder of Stardom Championship on July 27th at STARDOM WONDER RENDEVOUS against Natsupoi.
