Cero Reviews TJPW Still Incomplete 2021

[cero2k]

TJPW Still Incomplete 2021
April 17, 2021
Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan

Namba Announcements - Tokyo Princess Cup is back, starting in July, with the finals on August. Yuki Arai, idol and member of SKE48, made her introduction, she's making her in-ring debut at the 5.4 show. Up Up Girls did their song. TJPW STATOOO.

Marika Kobashi & Sena Shiori vs Moka Miyamoto & Arisu Endo - 4.5/10
These are 4 of the newest member of TJPW, I don't think anyone by Marika, has their own victory, as in they've won, but never by their own hands. Marika is the only with more than a year's experience.

Match was ok, everyone is quite decent, Endo is really promisingAt the end, Shori got he win for her team on Miyamoto via armlock submission. Shiori debuted on January 2020, I was there, and she just now got her first win.

Miu Watanabe, Raku, & Pom Harajuku vs Yuna Manase, Mahiro Kiryu, & Haruna Neko - 5.5/10
Harajuku has new gear, it's an improvement. If they'd switch Neko for Watanabe, it be a team of women I really dislike versus a team of women I really like.

Match was, well, let's just say that I only enjoyed the Watanabe stuff, I just don't like Harajuku or Raku that much. Harajuku can sometimes look ok with someone that can be a base for the spotty moves, but otherwise, her offense just looks weak. I would had rather watched a Watabane vs Manase singles match, the stuff they did in this match was great. Having said all that, Watanabe and Manase carried the rest to a decent match that ended with Raku getting the win over Neko with a Slingblade and Swinging Neckbreaker.

Miyu Yamashita vs Hikari Noa - 8/10
This was freaking great. Yamashita is a striker, so Noa went all submission on her, trying to keep her off her feet where Yamashita can't kick Noa. As soon as Yamashita got herself an opening, she took down Noa, and showed that she could play with submissions too, locked in a sick looking Fujiwara modification.

As they went on, Noa kept pushing Yamashita with everything she had, she started reversing Yamashita's moves, dodging Yamashita's kicks,

Tornado Tag Rules
Magical Sugar Rabbits (Yuka Sakazaki & Mizuki) vs Shoko Nakajima & Hyper Misao vs BeeStar (Mirai Maiumi & Suzume) - 7/10
Sugar Rabbits have a new remix theme, new gear. Prior to the match, Misao tried to change the match to a 6-woman tag match, joining the Rabbits, but soon after, revealed it was a trick when Shoko and her tried to roll up the rest. It is tornado tag, so they just all got in the ring and wrestled afterwards.

For a tornado tag, they really didn't use the rule that much, they took a lot of turns, we saw Shoko vs Sakazaki, we saw Misao vs Mizuki, Mirai vs Sakazaki, and others, so I think they could had gone with Australian tag rules and make it work perfectly. The final minutes were great, all teams coming in and out for near falls, ending with Mirai pinning Nakajima, probably one of her biggest wins ever, over a former champion.

Mirai and Suzume worked really good as a team. Suzume is someone that tends to have really good chemistry with most in tag matches, so if they get more time and develop as a proper team, they could be great down the line.

International Princess Championship Match
Yuki Kamifuku (C) vs Nao Kakuta - 4.5/10
This feud revolves around respect. Kamiyu calls Kakuta 'normal' or 'average', mostly talking about looks and personality. Kakuta respects Kamiyu's effort to be different and glamorous, but says that doesn't matter inside the ring.

This match was a struggle, Kamiyu is just not that great in a lot of things she does. She's one of those wrestlers that needs to learn to throw themselves into the spot and sharpen her execution. Towards the end, when the pace picked up, the match did get better, Kamiyu locked in an Octopus Stretch, Kakuta returned with a Crossface, Kamiyu escaped and won with a Fameasser.

Post-match - Kamifuku offered Kakuta a handshake, so I guess they've earned each other's respect.

Princess Tag Team Championship Match
BAKURETSU Sisters (Nodoka Tenma & Yuki Aino) vs NEO Bi-Ishiki (Sakisama & Mei Saint-Michel) - 7.5/10
This is the title match that Sakisama and Mei earned by winning the Max Heart tag team tournament.

The match layout was like most BAKURETSU matches, with Tenma having some early offense, Aino getting cut off for a while until she makes a comeback, and Tenma comes in for the hot tag. Aino would end up having two different babyface in peril runs, the second shorter and less intense, but still the same formula as the previous.

Finish saw the Sisters hit a Doomsday Bulldog on the floor, taking out Sakisama for good. In the ring, Mei had to rely on her silver platter, but to no avail. She survived Tenma's plancha, got a couple of near falls, but at the end, when it seemed she was falling to the Unprettier, she rolled up Tenma and won the match. Mei freaking earned those titles, she carried this match.

Coming in, I was curious to see how these teams would work together, the Sisters are their best when they hit second gear, but Sakisama is not someone that tends to hit that second gear, even in their tag matches, it's usually Mei that does most of the end of match stuff. The match did have some slow spots towards the end because of Sakisama, but her offense is so explosive, that it does kinda work to sell for a while afterwards.

Post-match - Sakisama and Mei celebrated when BeeStar interrupted them. Mei froze out of BeeStar's rudeness for interrupting her. BeeStar challenged them for the titles, Sakisama accepted for the 5.4 show.

Princess of Princess Championship Match
"The White Dragon" Rika Tatsumi (C) vs Maki Itoh - 8.5/10
Story behind this match is that now that Itoh has traveled and wrestled to AEW, she wants to use her new recognition and popularity to take TJPW to a new level, she wants to be the one to take them to a sold out Tokyo Dome one day, and so she needs the title to become the face of the promotion. Tatsumi however, thinks that Itoh has lost her edge, now that she's popular, she no longer needs to hold that badass character she pretended to be, and in doing so, she no longer has that killer instinct.

This was great, better than I expected it. Just another strong defense from Tatsumi, I think she's proven that winning the title last year was the right decision. It was the Diamond Hip versus the Iron Head, a lot of offense revolving their hip and head attacks, but also, Tatsumi worked over Itoh's leg, while Itoh worked over Tatsumi's back, chasing the Boston Crab finish. As the match went on and Itoh couldn't submit Tatsumi, she started to go for Kokeshis for the pin, but that's when Tatsumi recovered, started hitting cutter after cutter, ending with a top rope Missile Hip attack for the win.

Not gonna lie, I was worried that TJPW would put the title on Itoh just to get it on AEW, but smart booking prevailed.

Post-match - Tatsumi told Itoh that she never acknowledged her, but tonight she had proven that she was great. She thanked her for the match. Itoh, in her most Itoh way, gave her the finger. I think that means she respects Rika back.

While Yamashita was helping Itoh to the back, Tatsumi called her to the ring and challenged her to a title match, she wants to be the ultimate champion, and she can't until she defeats Yamashita. They slapped each other a bit. Tatsumi closed the show. Yamashita vs Tatsumi NEEDS to be the CyberFight Fest, nothing can top it right now.

OVERALL THOUGHTS
Good show from TJPW. Some really good matches throughout the show, that went by fast. This was a show that I felt a lot of people were sleeping on, it didn't get the attention that others have had, but it ended up delivering.

[cero2k]

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