TJPW
The biggest TJPW Show of the year called Wrestle Princess 3 happened on Sunday and it delivered! Before the Show, it got announced that two new Rookies will join TJPW next year. Their names are “Haru” and “Momo” and both are just 14 years old. With that, TJPW will debut three Rookies next year with the new Up Up Girl called Shino!
The Show opened with a Tag Team Match between four of the Wrestler with the least experience. It was a fun match where Juria Nagano picked up her first pinfall victory when she pinned Kaya Toribami. The Match shows what the future of TJPW has to offer and is a good way to open this big show. The 2nd Match was a TJPW vs. Ganbare special Six Woman Tag Team Match that the Ganbare Team of Yuna Manase, Yoshiko Hasegawa and Nao Kakuta won over Haruna Neko, Yuki Kamifuku and Mahiro Kiryu. Nao Kakuta, who seems now to be more in Ganbare with her trainer Yuna Manase, picked up the win here for her team after debuting a new look and gear.
The next bout was the first really great match. Ryo Mizunami made another trip to TJPW after her great match against Miu Watanabe at Summer Sun Princess. This time she faces another up-and-comer in the “Vivid Honey Mustard” Suzume. Ryo’s role is playing the veteran and putting the TJPW Roster Member over even in defeat and she plays that so well. She gives Suzume here a lot of offense and made her shine. If TJPW follows what they did with Miu Watanabe after the Aniki Match then Suzume seems to be scheduled for a bigger push in 2023 which she deserves for her outstanding performances this year.
Mizuki and Hyper Misao were scheduled to face each other in a straight-up singles match but Misao changed the rules in a pre-match Promo to a “TDC Rules” Match which is pretty much a normal hardcore match but in TJPW Style. A lot of comedy spots that were really entertaining and made this match great. Misao is one of the most inventive wrestlers in wrestling and this match shows it again.
You will find matches like the Six Woman Tag with Aja Kong, Pom and Raku vs. Max The Impaler, Rika and Yuki Aino only in TJPW. A hilarious comedy match where the wrestling didn’t matter at all. Max The Impaler are shining in the TJPW ring and they are the perfect fit for the promotion. Their interactions with Pom were hilarious to watch. The special Tag Team Match between Maki Itoh & Miyu Yamashita vs. Hikari Noa & Riho was really good and a tease to a possible Riho vs. Miyu Yamashita singles match down the line. The focus was on the Noa & Itoh interactions, who work really well together. Itoh made Noa tap out with the “Itoh Special” to win the Match for her team.
The International Princess Title Match was the first Title Match of the night. After losing her bag before her last appearance, this time Alex Windsor came out with her full gear to face Miu Watanabe, who had an incredible Summer beating Shoko Nakajima & Miyu Yamashita in the TPC. While everyone hoped Miu will win, she was the clear underdog in this match against one of the best UK Women’s wrestlers on the planet. It was a great 10-minute back-and-forth match where Miu Watanabe was able to drop Windsor with the Tear Drop to win the International Princess Title. She’s now the 9th Champion and made the next step of her career.
The Princess Tag Team Title was likely the worst Match of the night. It dragged on from the very moment and there was no interest in Saki Akai & Yuki Arai defending their belts against Wrestlers that not many knew. Rhia O’Reilly and Nightshade’s performance didn’t help here to make this an interesting match. They beat up Arai for 15 minutes and everyone was just waiting for the reigning Champions to make their comeback, which they did. Yuki Arai finished Nightshade then with the “Finally” to retain the Tag Titles.
The Main Event was between two of the pillars of TJPW. The reigning Champion Shoko Nakajima defended her title against the Magical Girl Yuka Sakazaki. This match was a step up from the Cyberfight Festival Match in June. This is a great example of what both can do in the ring against each other. Several great counters, high spots like the top rope Merry-Go-Round which looked fantastic and a close finishing stretch with Yuka Sakazaki pulling out the Magical Girl Chicken Dude for the victory and her winning the Princess Of Princess Title for a record tieing 3rd time. With that, the 204-day-long title reign of Shoko Nakajima is over and Yuka seems to be the last one of the pillars to hold the belt before the next generation will take over TJPW. After the Match, it got announced that Grand Princess 2023 will happen in the Ariake Coliseum.
Full Wrestle Princess 3 Results:
Moka Miyamoto & Juria Nagano defeat Kaya Toribami & Arisu Endo
Yoshiko Hasegawa, Yuna Manase & Nao Kakuta defeats Mahiro Kiryu, Yuki Kamufuku & Haruna Neko
Ryo Mizunami defeats Suzume
Mizuki defeats Hyper Misao
Max The Impaler, Rika Tatsumi & Yuki Aino defeats Aja Kong, Pom Harajuku & Raku
Miyu Yamashita & Maki Itoh defeat Riho & Hikari Noa
Miu Watanabe defeats Alex Windsor (c) to win the International Princess Championship
Saki Akai & Yuki Arai (c) defeat Rhia O’Reilly & Nightshade to retain the Princess Tag Team Championships:
Yuka Sakazaki defeats Shoko Nakajima (c) to win the Princess of Princess Championship
STARDOM
The aftermath of the 5STAR was pretty quiet and that won’t change till the Tag League starts in two weeks. STARDOM had two tour shows where they build up the Tag League and future title matches. The only bigger match that happened was the Artist Of STARDOM Title Match on Sunday in Nagoya. The Oedo Tai trio defended their Artist Belts against the top Queen’s Quest Trio. The Match ended in a 30-minute time limit draw, which means that SLK, Momo and Saki Kashima defend their titles for the 5th time.
Performer Of The Week
After winning her 3rd and record tieing Princess Of Princess Title, Yuka Sakazaki is this week’s Performer Of The Week. She won a great Main Event Match with a really good performance at Wrestle Princess. She’s on the top of TJPW once again and that is likely for one final time. It will be her first full reign that doesn’t have a covid break in it or a title loss at the first defense. The Magical Girl deserves this final run for the great contributions she did for TJPW from the very beginning of the promotion.
Match Of The Week
A fantastic Match can elevate a young talent while losing and that is what happened between this week’s Match of the Week Suzume vs. Ryo Mizunami. A great 11 minute match between the veteran and the future Main Eventer of TJPW. Suzume came close to winning multiple times in this match when she caught Aniki off guard with her quickness but Ryo Mizunami was the better performer in this match and ended the Bee with a brutal Lariat. This match elevated Suzume and it will likely lead to her push in the next year.
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