Back in the 1990's, joshi puroresu was always highly recommended for those who had an interest in great pro wrestling. During the early to mid-1990s, joshi puroresu was at its peak with plenty of great matches and great workers around. However, the joshi scene went on a decline from the late 1990's as the current generation got older & more banged up, but weren't replaced by a new generation of bright young stars. The decade of the 2000's were the dark ages of joshi (in particular the late 2000's). This had a lot to do with the decline of AJW, the main joshi promotion, which would eventually fold in 2005, but also too many new promotions forming in the late 1990's to dilute the talent, with every name who didn't have their own promotion seeming to at least run their own Produce show at some point. The story behind the causes of this decline will have to be saved for another time though.

2010 was the start of a new decade and the start of some hope for the joshi scene. Even though things would significantly get better from 2012 onward, and 2010 was in some ways still part of the dark ages since it was a relatively weak year compared to most of the 2010's, 2010 saw plenty of young talent showing their potential. Many of the names you'll be reading in the match reviews below will end up becoming big names in the joshi puroresu scene (and some even internationally) later in the decade. Io Shirai, Tsukasa Fujimoto, Hikaru Shida and DASH Chisako are some of the names that would end up being some of the brightest stars of joshi puroresu in the decade of the 2010's. Kana, Natsuki*Taiyo and Kaori Yoneyama were three of the names that climbed the ranks during the 2000's, and continued to impress in the 2010's. They were two of the best in 2010. It wasn't only the newer names who impressed in 2010 though. Aja Kong, the wily veteran, who had been one of the biggest names of the 1990's when joshi puroresu was at its peak, was still both one of the top names and top performers in 2010.

The joshi scene was really scattered at this point with no real dominant promotion. JWP probably delivered the best main event matches. OZ Academy usually delivered one good high workrate tag team match per show if Chikayo Nagashima was involved in a match with either Sonoko Kato, Ran Yu Yu, AKINO and occasionally others. Even though the footage of Pro Wrestling WAVE promotion is almost always clipped, if you look closer at WAVE's 2010 shows, it was an interesting promotion that featured some of the best workers at the time, including Shu Shibutani. Emi Sakura's Ice Ribbon promotion was a promotion that mostly showcased young wrestlers and they didn't really deliver any matches that would be candidates for a top 20 joshi puroresu matches of 2010. However, several of their matches were worth checking out, even if it was just to see future talent such as Tsukasa Fujimoto & Hikaru Shida in their earlier years. Sendai Girls Pro Wrestling saw Meiko Satomura and Aja Kong add another battle to their long-lasting feud. PASSION RED was a sort of promotion, born out of the PASSION RED stable that included Nanae Takahashi and Natsuki*Taiyo, that would only occasionally run shows. There were a lot of "Produce" type shows at the time, often run by younger stars such as Kana, Ayumi Kurihara, & Yuzuki Aikawa (who actually debuted on her own Produce show). These shows were basically like small supercards not part of a specific promotion.

A couple of promotions ended up folding in 2010. Mariko Yoshida's IBUKI promotion, which continued Yoshida's training of this generation in a more serious & credible style, and saw most of the bright young talent at least come through, folded in early 2010. NEO folded at the end of 2010. Even though NEO did relatively well for a joshi promotion at that time, the retiring or resigning of seemingly most wrestlers on their roster proved to be too much for NEO and there was no real future in sight for them. NEO founder Kyoko Inoue, who left her promotion in May, tried to regroup with a new promotion DIANA in 2011, but though still in existence, it's failed to capture even a fraction of the popularity of NEO.

Even though 2010 seemed the ending of an era in some ways, it was also the beginning of an era. While Fuka's retirement in March saw the end of her sporadic Fuka Matsuri shows, in September she teamed with former ARSION promoter Rossy Ogawa to announce a new promotion would be joining the scene in 2011. This promotion, STARDOM, would play a big role throughout the rest of the decade.

I decided to watch more than 60 joshi matches from 2010 to re-evaluate things, find out who the best workers were and what some of their best matches were. Many of these talented workers gave strong efforts in front of what were usually very small crowds. This shows the dedication these wrestlers have, and we'll follow their careers as we'll get to see their work from later years in the decade. But, for now, let's focus on 2010...

WAVE 1/4/10 Tokyo Korakuen Hall

Mayumi Ozaki vs. Yumi Oka 8:56 of 14:30. Mika Nishio was in Ozaki's corner and interfered occasionally. Luckily, Police wasn't there for this match though. This was better than most OZ Academy matches featuring Ozaki because she didn't overly rely on violence and interference. Instead, we got something that was more like a wrestling match than anything we've seen from Ozaki in a while. **½ 

Ayumi Kurihara vs. Shu Shibutani 9:37 of 17:47. This was a very good battle between two evenly matched wrestlers. Both workers showed a lot of energy. Shibutani hit a swinging DDT on Kurihara while they were brawling in the crowd. Shibutani ran across the ring, launched herself and hit an elbow smash in the corner. Shibutani went for a flying dropkick and Kurihara bumped for it in spectacular fashion. When Kurihara was back on offense, she sold her back. Kurihara hit a really well-executed jumping high knee in the corner. Shibutani hit a swinging DDT that was spectacular. Shibutani bumped nicely for Kurihara's flying dropkick. Shibutani hit a nice suicide dive, a flying dropkick, and a flying senton. Some very good back-and-forth action followed. Kurihara eventually won the match. The workrate was high and they kept the pace high (but, of course, we only got to see half of the match). It's a shame we didn't get to enjoy this match in full length. ***½

Ice Ribbon 1/4/2010 Tokyo Shinkiba 1st RING

Kaori Yoneyama & Makoto vs. Natsuki*Taiyo & Chii Tomiya 9:29. Natsuki*Taiyo was super quick. Whenever she was in the ring with Kaori Yoneyama, this match was at its most interesting. This is no surprise since they were the two best workers in the scene, but Yoneyama didn't actually do as much in this match as I hoped she would. This match mostly seemed about Makoto and Tomiya, who did well for themselves, and were quite decent. Makoto's strikes were weak, but her overall effort made up for it. Tomiya executed a nice dropkick off the top rope and Makoto bumped well for it. Tomiya seemed eager to prove herself and showed pretty good effort. **¼  

Hiroyo Matsumoto & Hamuko Hoshi vs. Nanae Takahahi & Mai Ichii 19:29. This was for the vacant International Ribbon Tag Team Championship. Ichii executed a dive off the top onto both her opponents. This was followed up by a tope suicida by Takahashi. The rest of the match featured a lot of action, but not necessarily a lot of skill. Matsumoto was the driving force in this match. She just kept going and her no-nonsense energy really set the tone for this match. Ichii was perhaps the most impressive though because she didn't really go along with the flow of the powerhouses and instead managed to impress through her selling. Also, Ichii leaped to the top rope with great ease a couple of times, and proved to be quite a skilled worker in general. Ichii went for a cover and the ref counted to three, but Hoshi forgot to kick out, and the ref had to embarrassingly pretend that Hoshi kicked out on time. Ichii and Takahashi showed some teamwork. They couldn't quite put Hoshi away though because Matsumoto kept breaking up the pin attempts. Even though Hoshi contributed the least to this match and was in trouble on numerous occasions, somehow she was able to make a quick comeback and score the pinfall on Ichii. **½  

Emi Sakura vs. Hikari Minami 11:46. This was for the ICEx60 Championship and it was a semi final match in the Super Ice-Cup tournament. Sakura, who defended the championship, did a pretty good job of carrying this to a decent match. Minami, who was decent for a worker of her young age, showed a lot of energy and fighting spirit. They worked at a good pace, and kept things going. Sakura's chops are some of the most thunderous chops in joshi puroresu. The crowd started getting more and more into the match as it became more heated, and there were several near-falls. A pretty cool moment was when Minami went for a bridged pinfall attempt, but Sakura saw it coming and countered it into an armbar. Sakura couldn't quite get the move properly executed though because Minami blocked it well. Sakura tried again soon after, but this time Minami was able to get her foot on the ropes. Sakura hit a nice moonsault for the win. A brave effort by Minami but Sakura was victorious. **½    

Tsukasa Fujimoto vs. Hikaru Shida 8:59. Super Ice-Cup semi final match. Tsukka tried to go for a quick win. Shida didn't allow herself to be put away that easily though. Shida fought back. Both women gave a strong effort. Tsukka was clearly getting better and better in the early 2010s. Shida also appeared to have improved significantly compared to previous years. Obviously they weren't quite at the level they would reach later that decade though. Shida hit a nice dropkick off the top rope. She attempted a second one, but Tsukka side-stepped it and quickly went to the top rope to hit a dropkick of her own. Tsukka never managed to keep the upper hand for long though. Shida proved to be a strong opponent and Shida was able to be in control for longer periods of time than Tsukka was. However, in the end, Tsukka got the flashy pinfall victory. **¾ 

Emi Sakura vs. Tsukasa Fujimoto 0:06. This was for the ICEx60 Championship and it was the final of the Super Ice-Cup. Tsukka pinned Emi in 6 seconds! A cheesy ending to a pretty good show overall.

OZ Academy 1/10/10 Tokyo Shinjuku FACE: Chikayo Nagashima & Ayumi Kurihara & Sonoko Kato vs. Ran Yu Yu & AKINO & Tomoka Nakagawa 12:55 of 22:53. Everyone worked hard in this match and everyone gave a strong effort. There was a cool triple-team spot where Tomoka smashed Kurihara's head into Ran's knees after AKINO had Kurhikara stuck in a hold. ***¼ 

NEO 1/17/10 Osaka Minami Move On Arena: Kana & Hiroyo Matsumoto vs. Natsuki*Taiyo & Ayumi Kurihara 15:22.  The fact that this was filmed with one camera from an awkward angle made it seem more like a house show match. It appeared as if they were drawing cards before the match to decide who was going to team with whom. As always, Taiyo displayed her tremendous quickness. Kurihara didn't really stand out much in this particular match, although she executed the stuff she did well enough. Kana and Taiyo had a brief quasi-shoot style interaction, which was cool while it lasted. They exchanged some kicks and Kana took Taiyo to the mat. Matsumoto was the powerhouse of the match. She picked Kana up and threw her onto Kurihara, who was on the outside. Taiyo hit a nice dive off the top rope to the outside. Kana hit some nice kicks when she was in the ring with Kurihara. Kana got a near-fall after a well-executed German suplex. Kana threw some nice kicks in this match. Taiyo was back in the ring with Kana, the two workers who stood out the most in this match. A nice slap exchange between the two followed. Taiyo ran the ropes incredibly fast. Kana hit a spinning backfist for a near-fall. The final minutes featured all kinds of action, but also a couple of sloppy moments, although nothing too annoying. Taiyo scored the pinfall victory over Matsumoto. ***¼ 

WAVE 1/20/10 Tokyo Shinkiba 1st RING 

Io Shirai vs. Misaki Ohata 6:27 of 8:44. This was a good high paced match. Io Shirai was a more advanced worker though, but Ohata did the best she could at the time. Io appeared to work with more urgency here than she did in any of her appearances in NEO. This match was somewhat similar to their 6/4/10 match in NEO, but this was about half the length and the pace was a bit higher. But, the problem here is that we only got to see half the match. However, what was shown definitely looked good. At some point in the match, Ohata went for a splash off the top, but Io raised her knees and Ohata came crashing down, which resulted in Ohata bouncing off. ***

Kana vs. Shu Shibutani 6:35 of 11:45. Kana focused on stiff kicks and had the upper hand early but Shibutani fought back and hit a beautiful flying dropkick off the top. Shibutani's movements were so swift. She hit a beautiful northern lights suplex when Kana came off the ropes and made it seem like it was an easy thing to do. There was a cool slap/strike exchange. Shibutani missed a flying senton. Kana ended up winning this match by submission. Kana's viciousness stood out and Kana was more vicious here in WAVE than she was in other leagues that year, largely due to the opposition being more conducive to the style she really wants to wrestle. ***½ 

WAVE 1/31/10 Nagoya Club Diamond Hall: Manami Toyota vs. Shu Shibutani 9:26 of 13:50. Manami Toyota was one of the best pure workers of the 1990s. However, by 2010, she was clearly past her prime. Shu Shibutani was excellent in 2010, and her bumping for Toyota's moves was spectacular. Toyota only did the most basic stuff that she was still able to execute and she wasn't bad or anything, but clearly not the Toyota we once knew. Shibutani gave a strong performance. Shibutani hit some beautiful top-rope dropkicks. Toyota was about to hit the JCO, but Shibutani escaped. Shibutani tumbled to the floor after Toyota hit her with a big boot. Toyota hit a plancha off the top to the outside. Toyota hit a big flying dropkick, went for the cover. Shibutani kicked out. Toyota hit the JCO for the win soon after that though. **¾  

WAVE 2/2/10 Tokyo Shinkiba 1st Ring

THREE-GAMEs WAVE: Kana & Yumi Oka & Misaki Ohata vs. Mio Shirai & Io Shirai & GAMI 9:34 of 18:36 [16:04, 2:32]. Io and Ohata started off intense, and were ready to fight each other. Kana and Mio exchanged kicks. It was cool to see Kana and Io work against each other. The Shirai sisters worked well together, as expected. GAMI appeared to be less comedical than what we'd become used to seeing of her. Everyone gave a strong effort. Oka pinned GAMI to win the first fall. GAMI tried to get revenge in the second fall, but that didn't quite happen because Oka pinned GAMI to win the second fall and the match. ***

THREE-GAMEs WAVE: Shu Shibutani & Ayumi Kurihara & Cherry vs. Misaki Ohata & Moeka Haruhi & Tomoka Nakagawa 10:29 of 19:23 [3:38, 7:44, 8:01]. Shibutani gave a really strong performance here and she basically was the one most responsible for this match being good. Haruhi pinned Shibutani to win the first fall. Kurihara pinned Ohata to win the second fall. Kurihara played an important role in this match, and was the second-best worker. Shibutani got her revenge on Haruhi in the third fall by pinning Haruhi and winning the match. ***

OZ Academy 2/7/10 Osaka Azalea Taisho, OZ Academy Tag Team Title Match: Ran Yu Yu & AKINO vs. Chikayo Nagashima & Sonoko Kato 16:23 of 23:15. This was another good workrate style match featuring Chikayo Nagashima and Ran Yu Yu, who both stood out because of their hard work. Kato and AKINO also contributed, but didn't quite stand out as much as the other two. ***

IBUKI 2/11/10 Tokyo Shinkiba 1st RING

Natsuki*Taiyo vs. Ray 4:36 of 15:36. This appeared to be a good match that was unfortunately edited down a lot, so we only got to see about a third of the match. Ray's athleticism and flexibility were impressive. Natsuki is such a great pure worker. This appeared to be at least *** or ***¼, but who knows, maybe it was even better I guess we'll never know. 

Hiroyo Matsumoto & Shu Shibutani & Kyoko Kimura vs. Misaki Ohata & Ayami Kurihara & Atsuko Emoto 26:41. Matsumoto and Ohata started off this final match in IBUKI history. They would end up making quite a name for themselves in the 2010s. Shibutani and Kurihara were perhaps most impressive in this match. Everything they did was just a step crisper and better executed than what the others did here. Kyoko Kimura really seemed out of place in this match and she didn't really bring anything to the table. At some point, Ohata, Kurihara and Emoto all did dives to the outside. The main positive quality about this match was the effort. ***

WAVE 3/9/10 Tokyo Shinkiba 1st RING

Shu Shibutani & Fuka & Misaki Ohata vs. Io Shirai & Mio Shirai & GAMI 15:30 of 25:09 [9:52, 1:12, 14:05]. Shibutani showed the most urgency of everyone and the first fall was at its best when she was in. GAMI worked seriously and wasn't in comedy mode. Mio worked hard and did well in this match. Ohata was reliable, as always. Io and Fuka didn't really get to show much during the first fall. In the short second fall, Io pinned Shibutani. In the third fall, Fuka and Mio exchanged kicks. The exchange ended when Fuka hit a big kick in Mio's face. The entire roster ended up attacking Fuka, which is tradition when someone is about to retire. Io hit a springboard dropkick on Fuka. Shibutani wasn't really involved in the third fall as much as she was in the first fall, unfortunately. However, it did result in everyone else having to step up their game a bit more since Shibutani wasn't going to carry everyone this time. ***

Shu Shibutani vs. Fuka 3:31 of 5:00. This was one of Fuka's final matches of her career and it was her farewell match in WAVE. This felt more like an appropriate retirement match than her actual retirement match was. It was about as good as a match with a 5-minute time limit can get. Somehow the match was edited, even though it was only 5 minutes long. ***  

NEO 3/14/2010 Kawasaki City Gymnasium: Emi Sakura vs. Kana 9:12. Kana showed she was more advanced technically and fought rougher, but Sakura has the experience and showed a lot of determination. Most of Sakura's kicks looked pretty bad compared to Kana's kicks though. A really stiff kick by Kana kept Emi down for a bit. Kana slapped Emi, but Emi fired back with some pretty cool slaps of her own. Then there was a pretty rough slap exchange near the end of the match, followed by a couple of good near-falls. ***¼  

OZ Academy 3/14/10 Tokyo Shinjuku FACE

DASH Chisako vs. Nao Komatsu 9:10. DASH worked hard and this match was basically all DASH. She carried this to an okay match. Komatsu, who was a rookie, didn't really form any form of threat though. This was an extended squash but at least it was a fun one. **

AKINO & Hiroyo Matsumoto vs. Chikayo Nagashima & Sonoko Kato 19:01. AKINO and Kato were fine here, but didn't stand out. Matsumoto showed enthusiasm. Nagashima worked hard and was the best worker of the match. While there was a lot of action, they didn't really do anything to get the viewer really get invested in this and it was relatively slow-paced, even though Nagashima tried occasionally to speed the match up. **¾ 

PASSION RED 3/19/10 Tokyo Shinkiba 1st RING

Passion Ray vs. Emi Sakura 11:49. They exchanged chops early in the match. Ray was a great athlete and very flexible, but she botched what appeared to be a 619 attempt. However, that was partially Sakura's fault, as Sakura positioned herself way too close to the corner so there was almost no chance for Ray to hit the move (but I also wonder why Ray even went for the move given Sakura's proximity to the corner). Sakura won the match after hitting a 450 splash. This was a disappointing match. Perhaps these two simply don't bring out the best in each other, which would be kind of ironic since Ray trained under Emi Sakura when she first broke into this sport. **  

NEO High Speed Title Match: Natsuki*Taiyo vs. Tomoka Nakagawa 19:07. The opening minutes were enjoyable and it set the tone for more good things to come in this match. Natsuki is so quick. Not only the way she runs the ropes, but also runs up the ropes is very speedy. They did some nice lucharesu sequences early in the match, with in particular Taiyo once again displaying her explosive athleticism. They briefly brawled in the rampway. Tomoka went into the crowd to grab a weapon of her choice and almost robbed two girls in the crowd, but the two girls screamed and held on to their possessions. I'm not sure what Tomoka was going for, but perhaps she was looking for a purse to hit Natsuki with or perhaps a drink to spray in Natsuki's face. Taiyo jumped off a third row stage seat onto Nakagawa with a double footstomp. The workrate & effort in this match was high. It was very enjoyable watching these two give a strong effort. When I think of Tomoka Nakagawa's career, I tend to think mostly about her as a solid tag team wrestler, but it's great to see her have such a strong singles match. Taiyo was the one who really made this match as good as it was. Taiyo got to display her incredible ability. The final minutes got more and more heated. Tomoka ran the ropes and went for what looked like a big elbow smash while Taiyo was on the mat, but Taiyo saw it coming and countered it into a pinning combination, which resulted in a near-fall. There were several more near-fall moments. Taiyo got the win with a sunset flip powerbomb. ***¾   

WAVE 3/20/10 Osaka World Hall: Kana & Cherry vs. Shu Shibutani & Bullfight Sora 11:18 of 16:19. I usually don't watch Bullfight Sora matches, but this match has Kana and Shu Shibatani in it. Cherry is not that good, but Shibutani somehow made a brief matwork segment with Cherry seem interesting. Other than that, we barely got any Cherry in this footage (which is not necessarily a bad thing). Bullfight Sora was pretty ridiculous, acting like she was an actual bull. The WAVE editors love to edit matches, but maybe they really should have cut all of Sora's involvement in the match. Luckily, they didn't though because Kana slapped and kicked Sora real hard, which was worth watching. Obviously, the parts where Kana and Shibutani were in the ring together were the best parts of this match. **½ 

JWP 3/22/10 Osaka World Pavilion Yumi Oka vs. Sachie Abe 14:00. Both workers gave a pretty good effort. These two aren't the best technically, but at least they showed that they cared about what they are doing and that made me care about their match. Oka carried the match, but Abe was a bit better than expected here. Oka obviously hit her favorite move, the big boot, several times during this match. Abe almost pinned Oka after a top-rope huracarrana. Abe went for another move off the top, but Oka got her feet up. Abe had Oka stuck in a submission hold and Abe kept pulling Oka's right arm back while having Oka's left arm stuck between her legs. There was some pretty good back-and-forth action and near-falls near the finish. Oka kept trying to put Abe away with a big boot. In the end, Oka's constant relying on the big boot was perhaps what cost her the match as it was Sachie who won the match by pinfall with a cradle pin. **½

Io Shirai & Mio Shirai & Kayoko Haruyama vs. Kaori Yoneyama & Keito & Senri Kuroki 11:50. Senri Kuroki was terrible. Kayoko Haruyama luckily didn't sell much for her because it would have been ridiculous if she did. Keito showed some fire. Mio Shirai hit some pretty good kicks on Kuroki. Mio's did some overselling for Kuroki. Keito and Mio had some decent minutes together. Finally, Io Shirai entered the match. Io and Keito did some decent stuff together. Io didn't quite have the smooth execution she'd have in later years. Kaori Yoneyama entered the ring, and she was the best worker in the match. Yoneyama showed a lot of fire. She worked several minutes with Haruyama, who hit a big guillotine leg drop on her at some point before Haruyama pinned Yoneyama. **½ 

JWP & Daily Sports Tag Title Tournament Final: Command Bolshoi & Megumi Yabushita vs. Toshie Uematsu & KAZUKI 17:36. Megumi Yabushita started off with submission holds on Toshie Uematsu, who gave a valiant effort trying to escape them. The match was almost over early when Yabushita had an armbar applied on Uematsu, but KAZUKI came to the rescue. KAZUKI tried to apply an armbar of her own, but Yabushita escaped and tried to choke KAZUKI out. This time it was Uematsu who came to her partner's rescue. Yabushita kept going for submission holds and had KAZUKI in a lot of trouble. Uematsu had to come for the rescue once again. Command Bolshoi and Yabushita then started double-teaming KAZUKI for a bit. Bolshoi continued the momentum her team had by applying more holds on KAZUKI. Once KAZUKI got the opportunity, she tagged Uematsu in, who hit the Otani-esque face wash on Bolshoi. KAZUKI joined in on the fun. Bolshoi didn't think it was fun and tagged Yabushita in. Yabushita was briefly in some trouble. However, soon it was Uematsu and KAZUKI who were in a lot more trouble when they were double-teamed by Bolshoi and Yabushita as the legs of Uematsu & KAZUKI were tied up while Bolshoi & Yabushi stretched their arms. Bolshoi got beat up by her opponents for a bit, but her speed allowed her to avoid some of the offense. Bolshoi tied Uematsu up and Uematsu just barely managed to reach the ropes. Uematsu & KAZUKI kept showing good teamwork against Bolshoi, and they managed to keep Yabushita out of the match for a while. However, Bolshoi showed her technical skills by countering into a submission hold. The tag team of Uematsu & KAZUKI kept working well together and made the match more of a struggle for Bolshoi & Yabushita. There was a lot of back-and-forth action near the finish. Both teams showed their determination to win this match. Bolshoi & Yabushita showed some great teamwork near the end and KAZUKI was in a lot of trouble. Eventually, KAZUKI got lucky and scored the pin over Yabushita. ***¼  

Openweight Challenge League: Leon vs. Nanae Takahashi 21:24. Both workers showed good intensity early on. Leon executed some good reversals on the mat. Nanae hit a tope suicida when Leon was out of the ring. It had the potential to be a good match, but Nanae kinda ruined it. Nanae really wanted this match to be all about her. After an excessive period of Nanae's offense, Leon countered, but only to get stuck again in Nanae's offense. Leon got a bit of offense in, but then we got more of the Nanae show. Leon eventually hit the frog splash, but Nanae kicked out. Nanae's offense wasn't that great and she was on offense a lot. Near the end, Leon got more offense in. After some pretty good action during the finishing minutes, Nanae got the pinfall win. **¾  

Openweight Challenge League: Ran Yu Yu vs. Tsubasa Kuragaki 27:58. Both workers approached this match methodically and had a no-nonsense mentality. It felt like a match of great importance. Both workers gave a good performance. Some of the early parts of the match took place on the mat. There was a lot of struggle on the part of both opponents. It was a very even contest. They would eventually go for bigger moves. Tsubasa Kuragaki hit an Asai moonsault about 9 minutes into the match. It was a relatively slow-paced match, but there was always some form of action and never really a dull moment. The winner of the match was Kuragaki when she scored the pinfall after a hard-fought battle that lasted nearly half an hour. ***¼  

WAVE 3/24/10 Tokyo Shinkiba 1st RING: Kana & Cherry vs. Io Shirai & Mio Shirai 9:30 of 12:12. Kana and Mio had a nice segment where they exchanged kicks. Mio went for a kick, but Kana caught the kick and transitioned into leg submission holds. Kana and Io had nice sequences where they worked at a fast pace. Io hit a well-executed standing moonsault. The Shirai sisters double-teamed Kana for a bit until Cherry made the save. The match was at its least interesting when Cherry was in; she was just there to make it a tag team match. Her offense and movements were significantly slower than those of the other three. Kana and Mio had a slap exchange, which Kana followed up with a bunch of strikes. Io hit a tiger feint kick on Kana. Io went for a springboard move, but Kana saw it coming and kicked her in mid-air. Io ended up dropkicking her own sister after Kana moved out of the way. **¾ 

Fuka Produce 3/28/2010 Fuka Matsuri 13, Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Fuka vs. Nanae Takahashi 16:33. This was Fuka's retirement match after a career that lasted six years. They worked at a fast pace. Takahashi took a good bump to the outside after she was kicked by Fuka, who followed it up with a top-rope plancha to the outside. It was non-stop action, but there wasn't really any rhyme or reason to it. It's almost like they tried hard to have a really good match, but weren't quite capable of doing so. Fuka showed a lot of enthusiasm and that was one of the main reasons this match was pretty good. ***

SGPW 4/9/10 Sendai Zepp Sendai

2nd Battlefield Tournament Round 1 Match: DASH Chisako vs. Sendai Sachiko 6:32 of 10:58. This battle of the Jumonji sisters was a first-round match in the Sendai Girls' 2nd Battlefield Tournament. They went back and forth with neither sister getting the upper hand for long. Sachiko hit a German suplex and then missed a moonsault because Chisako rolled out of the way. Sachiko would eventually hit a moonsault for a 2-count. Sachiko hit a released German suplex, but Chisako would be in control again soon. Chisako hit a frog splash for the pinfall victory. **½   

2nd Battlefield Tournament Round 1 Match: Aja Kong vs. Kagetsu 2:18. This was a squash. Kagetsu attacked Aja Kong immediately, but she couldn't move Aja. Kagetsu tried a few dropkicks, but those also wouldn't take Aja down. Kagetsu then hit a springboard dropkick and that finally took Aja down. Aja hit a clothesline for a 2-count. She followed this up with a big lariat for the 3-count.

2nd Battlefield Tournament Round 2 Match: Yoshiko Tamura vs. DASH Chisako 6:23. Chisako was all fired up and really took it to Tamura during the early minutes of the match. It didn't take long for Tamura to be able to fight back though and Tamura tried to put Chisako away quickly. Chisako hit a top-rope hurricanrana for a 2-count. She went for a splash off the top, but Tamura got her knees up. Tamura would eventually get the pinfall in a relatively short match. **½ 

2nd Battlefield Tournament Round 2 Match: Nanae Takahashi vs. Kaori Yoneyama. 7:58. Yoneyama showed a lot of urgency. She wanted to put Nanae away as soon as possible. Yoneyama had received a bye in the first round, while Nanae had defeated Hiren. Yoneyama took a big bump after Takahashi backdropped her to the outside. Takahashi followed it up with a suicide dive. Takahashi executed a crossface submission hold, but Yoneyama managed to counter it. Yoneyama hit a nice looking German suplex for a 2-count. She followed this up with a big senton off the top for another 2-count. Takahashi hit a superplex off the top rope but Yoneyama kicked out at 2. They went back and forth with neither getting a 3-count. I like how they were desperately trying to put each other away, they kept going for a cover. In the end, it was Takahashi who got the pinfall victory. **¾   

2nd Battlefield Tournament Round 2 Match: Meiko Satomura vs. Aja Kong 20:00. Satomura had received a bye in the first round, while Aja squashed her first-round opponent, Kagetsu, in 2 minutes. This time, Aja wouldn't have such an easy time. Kong was intense and worked stiff, using the trash cans early. She knew that Satomura wasn't going to be an easy opponent and that she had to be on top of her game. These two certainly were no strangers to each other as they had faced each other many times before. Satomura was the top star in SGPW so she certainly didn't want to lose this match and Aja wanted to prove that she can still beat Satomura. During the early stages of the match, Aja had the advantage and Satomura had a rough time. Aja worked this match with a lot of confidence. Satomura was in a lot of trouble, but she took all the punishment, waiting for an opening. Once Satomura saw that opening, she immediately fought back but she didn't stay in control long. Satomura climbed the ropes but Aja pushed her to the outside. Satomura's back hit the apron as she fell. Aja rammed Satomura's back into the ringpost for further damage. Aja had no remorse and hit a chair over Satomura's head. Aja threw Satomura into the crowd, which resulted in several chairs getting knocked over. They were back in the ring before the 20 count. Aja knew she had done a lot of damage, but she wasn't able to put Satomura away. Aja hit several moves, but Satomura kicked out at 2 on each pin attempt. Aja hit Satomura with a big slap, which resulted in a short slap exchange. Satomura hit an overhead kick and a spinning kick. She was slowly getting more moves in, but Aja was still very dominant. Aja went for an elbow drop off the second rope, but Satomura caught her in an armbar. Aja kept blocking it and fighting it off. There was a lot of resistance on Aja's part and Satomura transitioned it into a triangle submission hold. Finally, Aja was able to reach the ropes. Aja was in a lot of trouble. She knew this and grabbed one of hter trash cans but this ended up backfiring for her as Satomura made Aja bump on her own trash can. Satomura kept trying to make Aja submit, but Aja wouldn't quit. Aja was certainly in a lot of trouble and this only encouraged Satomura to keep going. Out of nowhere and out of desperation, Aja hit Satomura with a spinning back fist for a 2-count. Aja had the momentum, but then¦ the bell rang. The 20-minute time limit had expired. However, due to the stipulations of this tournament, Meiko Satomura advanced to the next round because she managed to get a draw out of a heavier opponent. It was a very good match, but it was basically Aja methodically working over Satomura for almost the entire match until the time limit expired. ***½  

WAVE 4/20/10 Tokyo Shinkiba 1st RING

Misaki Ohata & Io Shirai vs. Ryo Mizunami & Mio Shirai 10:40 of 15:00. Here we had the Shirai sisters battling each other in a tag team match and Misaki Ohata is always fun to watch in action. Mio got dropkicked by both opponents early in the match. Ohata really was good at some of the little things here. Her selling was good. When Mio reached the ropes after Ohata had her in a submission hold, Ohata would show her frustration. Mizunami was clearly the weak link of this match. She was very bland and basic, but she wasn't terrible. The good thing was that she seemed at least into what she was doing. There was a decent elbow smash exchange between Ohata and Mizunami. Io was the most spectacular worker. She tried to beat Mizunami, but Mizunami kept kicking out until the time limit expired. It was a pretty good match and it's worth watching, but in the end I felt there was a bit too much Mizunami, and having a bit more Mio probably would have made this match a bit better. **¾

Kana vs. Shu Shibutani 11:11 of 18:16. Shibutani showed her usual sense of urgency by immediately attacking Kana. She didn't want to wait any longer to try to take control of this match. Shibutani hit a plancha off the top to the outside. Some of the details were pretty cool, like Kana trying to push Shibutani's head into the corner pad and trying to Irish whip Shibutani out of the corner, but Shibutani was resisting and Kana hit a stiff kick. This all added to the sense of struggle. Kana hit a butt bump off the apron to Shibutani on the floor. They exchanged elbow smashes on the floor until Shibutani hit a DDT. Kana countered an Irish whip, hit more nice kicks and worked over Shibutani's right arm a bit. Kana briefly applied a Fujiwara armbar. Kana hit some more nice kicks. In an attempt to eliminate those kicks, Shibutani started kicking Kana's right leg. Shibutani then hit a nice swinging DDT on the floor and used the apron to her assistance. Shibutani hit a flying dropkick, which Kana bumped nicely for. Shibutani hit a swinging DDT after using the ropes to her assistance. Shibutani went for a German suplex, Kana showed resistance, but Shibutani was determined and hit the move. Kana kicked out and immediately transitioned into a submission hold by grabbing Shibutani's right arm and folding it behind Shibutani's back. Kana then transitioned into an armbar. Shibutani was in a lot of trouble, but kept resisting. Shibutani finally reached the ropes with her feet and as soon as Kana had to release the hold, Shibutani clinged on to the ropes, which added to the sense of Shibutani feeling relieved and safe for a few seconds. But, Kana didn't give Shibutani much chance to recover, as Kana immediately started kicking Shibutani while Shibutani was still on the mat near the ropes. Kana hit a nice spinning kick. Kana followed it up with some more strikes. Shibutani went down in the corner and received a huge kick in the face. The ref checked on Shibutani. Kana dragged Shibutani into the ring and went for the cover, but Shibutani kicked out. Shibutani hit a big flying dropkick to Kana's back/shoulder area. Shibutani hit another one of those really cool swinging DDTs where she uses the ropes to her assistance. I don't mind her doing another one of those since she executes them so well. I got my wish and she executed yet another one. Shibutani went for the cover, but Kana kicked out. Kana was in more trouble now than she had been at any point in this match, and Shibutani had things going her way. Shibutani climbed to the top and went for a senton, but Kana rolled out of the way. Kana immediately hit a sliding kick to Shibutani's back. In the end, Kana had Shibutani caught in a submission hold. There was no escape for Shibutani, and she tapped out. I like the selling in the match because they only did the essential selling to keep the match going. I really like how it felt like a fight and a struggle with a lot of urgency. It was an excellent blend of the respective styles of both workers. Shibutani added the exciting, fast-paced and explosive moves. Kana was like a predator, stalking her opponent and striking viciously. ****

Kana Pro 4/29/10 Tokyo Shinjuku FACE

Kana & Ayumi Kurihara vs. Toshie Uematsu & Shimono Sawako 12:09. KanAyu's opposition wasn't that good. Sawako only had a month of experience, and was paying her dues here. Kana hit some nice kicks and a couple of big slap, while Kurihara dropkicked Sawako in the face. ** 

Meiko Satomura vs. Kana 16:48. There was a sense of struggle from the start, with neither woman getting easy advantages or having the advantage for long. They both took each other down, briefly. Stiff kicks by Kana, but Satomura caught her leg and kept Kana grounded for a bit. I like how they had to really fight for control. They were both very focused. Satomura hit some strong kicks. Kana was in more trouble now, but whenever she saw an opening, she tried to grab Satomura's arm and take her down. This was a Satomura style big match similar to Satomura's big matches whenever she is inspired enough to deliver a really good match. Kana really added a lot to this match through her talent and skills. At some point in the match, there was a back kick by Satomura, followed by three uppercuts and a suplex for a near-fall. The selling and pacing was very good, and it enhanced the big match feel. Spinning back fist by Kana wouldn't keep Satomura down for more than a 2-count. The crowd was getting more and more into this match. A big kick to the head by Satomura. Kana kicked out at 2.5 for a near-fall. Soon after this, Satomura got the victory via submission. Even though she lost the match, Kana showed she really was able to give Satomura, who was at the time the more established name of the two, a run for her money. ***½ 

Team Vader, 4/29/2010, Tokyo Shinjuku FACE: Io Shirai vs. Mio Shirai 10:02. The battle of the Shirai sisters. The execution wasn't always very crisp, but this match was mostly interesting to see Io Shirai at this stage of her career. Io was the better worker of the two sisters here because Io had that extra bit of intensity, but hadn't reached the level of quality she would reach as a worker later that decade. **¾

Ice Ribbon 5/3/10 Tokyo Korakuen Hall

NEO High Speed Title Match: Natsuki*Taiyo vs. Tsukasa Fujimoto 16:44. They worked this at a fast pace. Taiyo gave a strong performance. Tsukka's execution wasn't always that good here, but as the match progressed, the work got more intense and the execution improved as well. They both went for big moves, but the other managed to block it. Tsukka worked over Taiyo's leg and Taiyo was stuck in a submission hold, but managed to grab the ropes. Tsukka went for a tiger feint kick, but Taiyo ducked. Taiyo almost scored the pinfall via la magistral, but Tsukka kicked out. Tsukka came very close to scoring a pinfall on a couple of occasions, but Taiyo kept kicking out. Taiyo knew she had to hit a really big move to put Tsukka away before it was too late. She hit a belly-to-belly superplex off the top for the victory. *** 

ICEx60 Title Match: Riho vs. Emi Sakura 15:49. Despite being only twelve years old, Riho was the champion, having defeated Miyako Matsumoto to win the title on 4/3/10. Emi Sakura is Riho's mentor, and they worked this as a serious title match, which really helped Riho seem more credible. Riho's strikes were pretty weak, as usual, but her effort was really strong. She's arguably one of the best of the teenage wrestlers ever. Riho's movements were so fast and she knew what she was doing. Sakura did a very good job carrying this and the psychology was good. Riho probably gave the best performance of her career up until that point in time, and she proved she was a name to keep in mind for in the future. She wasn't one of those really young workers who were just going to stay around for a little while, she was here to stay and make a name for herself. In the end, Sakura just proved to be too much for Riho and won the match, putting an end to Riho's 30-day title reign. After the match, they shook hands. Sakura was clearly proud of her young protege. This wasn't a great match, but it was surprisingly good considering Riho's age. **¾  

OZ Academy 5/16/10 Tokyo Shinjuku FACE The 15th Anniversary: Meiko Satomura & Ran Yu Yu & Toshie Uematsu vs. Chikayo Nagashima & Sonoko Kato & Carlos Amano 19:41. This match celebrated the 15-year careers of these workers. Nagashima showed why she's the best worker in OZ Academy. During the early stages of the match, she showed her quickness against Uematsu. Satomura and Kato worked against each other next. Kato showed plenty of enthusiasm and actually turned out to be arguably the most outstanding worker of this match. Ran Yu Yu tried to outsmart Amano and jumped over Amano, who was on the mat, but Amano managed to grab Ran Yu Yu's arm and almost made Ran Yu Yu tap out early in the match. Ran Yu Yu got triple-teamed by her opponents. Her tag partners didn't seem interested in saving her, which was kind of telling since Ran Yu Yu seemed to carry the majority of the workload for her team, early in the match at least. Later in the match, Uematsu showed she was motivated for this match. Nagashima & Kato, the best tag team in OZ Academy, showed their teamwork and did some cool-looking double-team moves. ***

NEO 6/5/10 Tokyo Itabashi Green Hall

Hiroyo Matsumoto vs. Basara 9:31. Basara was formerly known as Shuri Okuda in the Sendai Girls' promotion. I enjoyed this match to a certain extent, but that was mostly because I like both. I can't say it was better than adequate. What they did was fine and the moves they did were well-executed, but they didn't really do anything really advanced, compared to what the rest of the scene was doing at the time. It was quite a decent opening match though. **½  

Io Shirai vs. Misaki Ohata 15:00. This was an interesting match-up. Ohata would become arguably one of the best joshi workers of the 2010s and Io would become one of the all-time great joshi workers later that decade. But let's not jump ahead too far and let's focus on June 2010 for now. Both still hadn't reached their peaks yet but showed the potential. There were some nice lucha arm drags by Io early in the match. After Ohata had been in control for most of the match, Io finally got the upper hand. Because of her tremendous athleticism, she was able to hit some very effective moves real fast. After being put in a hold for a while, Ohata would cough as part of her selling. Io jumped off the top rope to the floor and in the process dropped Ohata's neck onto the top rope. Io followed it up with a springboard dropkick and then a tiger feint kick. Io hit a nice quebrada. Io executed a crossface that put Ohata in a lot of trouble. Ohata managed to make a final comeback, and almost got a pinfall victory, but Io kicked out. In the end, to take it to the next level, I think they needed five more minutes because the time limit expired in the middle of some great near-fall action. Still, this was good overall and quite enjoyable. ***¼   

JWP 6/13/10 Tokyo Shinjuku FACE

Leon 10th Anniversary Match: Tojuki Leon & Kaori Yoneyama vs. Aja Kong & AKINO 18:46. Yoneyama and Aja were yelling at each other and it made people laugh during the early stages of the match. Aja was Aja and that was a good thing. At this stage of her career, Aja had found the right balance between being funny whenever the time was right and being her usual menacing self the rest of the time. Yoneyama worked hard and combined her ability to make people laugh with some more serious wrestling as the match progressed. AKINO did a cool move where she ran the ropes into a springboard crossbody press, but other than that, she didn't do much of note. When AKINO was positioned on the turnbuckle, Leon hit a beautiful springboard dropkick that sent AKINO to the outside. Leon followed it up with a springboard frog splash to the outside. Leon gave a strong effort, in general, which was a good thing since this was one of the matches that celebrated the fact that the year 2010 marked her 10th anniversary as a pro wrestler. ***½  

Endless ambition: Yoshiko Tamura & Ran Yu Yu & Sachie Abe vs. Kayoko Haruyama & Tsubasa Kuragaki & Keito 18:28. Tsubasa Kuragaki gave a good effort and tried to keep the match interesting whenever she was in. Tamura made good contributions as well, but this wasn't her match. Ran Yu Yu played her role well and her contributions to the match were pretty good. Sometimes it's easy to overlook how good she is because of how subtle she can be. Haruyama was okay here, but she seemed a step too slow for what the others were trying to do. Abe and Keito didn't do much at all to the point that this might as well have been a six-woman tag instead of an eight-woman tag. It was a decent match overall, but not quite a good one. For an 18-minute match, they didn't quite accomplish enough. **½  

JWP Openweight Title Match: Nanae Takahashi vs. Command Bolshoi 20:24. As with most Command Bolshoi matches, her opponent had a big size advantage. However, Bolshoi's speed and technique were good enough to make up for it and still be credible. But, of course, Takahashi wasn't nearly as quick or good technically anyway. The crowd was firmly behind Bolshoi. Even though Bolshoi was the one who made this match as good as it was, Takahashi at least knows how to play her part in a big match setting, and somehow seems to always be part of big matches against very good workers. Bolshoi hit a beautiful Asai moonsault. There was a series of near-falls that really had me thinking it was over. In the end, Takahashi managed to retain the title, but, even though Bolshoi lost the match, her performance really made the match as good as it was. ***½    

WAVE 7/4/10 Tokyo Kinema Club

Catch the WAVE Visual Technical Block Match: Kana vs. Mio Shirai 5:54 of 9:22. After a bit of striking, Kana did some serious matwork here against an opponent that was willing to go along with quasi-shoot style stuff. Most of the match consisted of kicks. The work was very good and the match was good while it lasted. Mio did a pretty good job trying to match Kana hold for hold and move for move, but Kana was a more advanced fighter. The finish came out of nowhere when Mio tapped out as soon as Kana applied a crossface chickenwing. ***¼ 

Catch the WAVE Rival Block Match: Asami Kawasaki vs. Shu Shibutani 8:03 of 12:26. Shibutani worked with a lot of urgency and that really made it fun to watch. Kawasaki gave quite a solid performance, especially considering she was more of a part-time wrestler (next to her acting career). Shibutani hit a nice flying dropkick. Kawasaki executed an enzuigiri. Shibutani stood on the apron, leaped over the top rope and hit a DDT. Shibutani missed a flying senton when Kawasaki rolled away. Kawasaki tried to pin Shibutani with a northern lights suplex, but Shibutani kicked out. In the end, Kawasaki got the win. ***¼ 

NEO 7/4/10 Osaka Minami Move On Arena

Hiroyo Matsumoto vs. Hanako Kobayashi 9:25. Hanako Kobayashi would later become known as Hanako Nakamori. She was okay, but she hadn't quite reached the stage of her career where she would be able to contribute more. Matsumoto was in control for a big chunk of the match. At some point, she decided to bite Hanako's leg. Hanako fought back briefly, but wasn't able to take control. Matsumoto executed a nice top-rope dropkick. Hanako got a bit more aggressive near the end, but Matsumoto was always one step ahead of her. **½ 

Kana vs. Mai Ichii 11:59. They worked a quasi-shoot style match here. It was an interesting match and I think it complimented the styles of both these workers. The finish was a bit disappointing as Ichii tapped out immediately as soon as Kana applied an ankle lock. **¾    

NEO Tag Title Match: Yoshiko Tamura & Ayumi Kurihara vs. Mio Shirai & Io Shirai 17:18. Yoshiko Tamura & Ayumi Kurihara were the champions and arguably the best joshi tag team of 2010. They immediately attacked the champions and they brawled on the outside. This backfired as they were both thrown into rows of chairs by the champions. The match went back into the ring and the champs were in control. All four worked hard. The execution wasn't always very crisp, but the effort they gave made up for it. Kana, who was at ringside and was part of the Triple Tails stable with the Shirai sisters, helped her stablemates out by kicking Tamura in the back when the action spilled on the floor. Io hit a moonsault off the top rope to the outside. The finish saw Tamura pin Mio. ***¼ 

SGPW 7/9/10 Miyagi Zepp Sendai

JWP & Daily Sports Double Tag Title Match: KAZUKI & Toshie Uematsu vs. DASH Chisako & Sendai Sachiko 8:08 of 17:32. The Jumonji sisters, Chisako and Sachiko, gave a good showing. Only less than half the match aired though. Sachiko appeared to be very motivated. **½  

2nd Battle Field Tournament Final Match: Meiko Satomura vs. Yoshiko Tamura 17:21. Tamura gave Satomura a run for her money. Satomura gave her typical big match performance, but Tamura helped bring a different dynamic to it. The action was good, but they didn't really get the viewer to fully invest in the match and they weren't able to take it to the next level. The finish lacked heat, and it felt like an underwhelming finish to an underwhelming tournament. **¾ 

OZ Academy 7/11/10 Tokyo Shinjuku FACE: Chikayo Nagashima & Sonoko Kato vs. Tomoka Nakagawa & Hiroyo Matsumoto 12:13. Both teams seemed to have fun working this match. Nagashima was once again the most impressive worker, which seems to be the norm in these good OZ Academy tag team matches. The fast and athletic styles of Nagashima and Nakagawa meshed well together, but they weren't in the ring together that much. It felt like Nakagawa didn't get as much match time as Matsumoto, who added a lot of energy and enthusiasm to the match while playing the role of the powerhouse. Kato was solid in her role as Nagashima's tag team partner, but she probably added the least to this match. ***¼

JWP 7/18/2010 Tokyo Korakuen Hall

Command Bolshoi vs. Emi Sakura 8:31. They didn't work this as seriously as I hoped. There were a bit too many comedy spots for my liking, and they could have had a better match in general. There were some good moments too though. Sakura executed some big chops. Sakura went for a moonsault, but Bolshoi moved away on time. Sakura went for la magistral a few times but Bolshoi managed to escape or counter each time. Bolshoi went for la magistral herself and it got her the pinfall win. **¾  

Aja Kong vs. Leon 12:05. Aja worked hard and showed that she still had it in her to work a more workrate and spot-oriented match. Yet at the same time, Aja made sure to sell really well. Leon hit a springboard frog splash onto Aja on the outside. Leon walked the top rope and hit a dropkick. She then hit a regular frog splash for a 2-count. Aja hit a dropkick off the second rope. Leon hit a German suplex on Aja who was positioned on the top turnbuckle. Leon hit a springboard spin kick for a 2-count. Leon kept trying to put Aja away. Aja hit a devastating brainbuster, but Leon kicked out. Aja with a huge elbow drop off the ropes. Even this wouldn't put Leon away. Aja hit a huge spinning backfist, but Leon somehow managed to survive and hit a rollup for a near-fall. However, Aja hit another spinning backfist and this time it was the end of the match. ***¾ 

JWP Openweight Title Match: Nanae Takahashi vs. Kaori Yoneyama 20:54. This was the main event of yet another interesting JWP show. What really made the match was Yoneyama being the energetic worker that she is. What kept this match from being excellent was Takahashi's execution lacking smoothness, but Yoneyama's work and effort made up for Takahashi's limitations as a worker. The action spilled outside the ring, where Yoneyama buried Takahashi underneath a pile of chairs. Takahashi fought back, and threw a chair at Yoneyama. There was a cool spot where Yoneyama jumped off a seat and hit Takahashi with a jumping knee. Yoneyama executed a nice German suplex soon after they returned to the ring. Yoneyama hit a series of senton bombs, but couldn't put Takahashi away. The final minutes of the match were several near-falls and the crowd hoped to see a title change. Yoneyama hit a big sunsetflip off the ropes and got the big victory. ***¾ 

NEO 7/19/10 Tokyo Itabashi Green Hall

Hiroyo Matsumoto & Misaki Ohata vs. Kagetsu & Ryo Mizunami 16:00. Hiroyo and Misaki, the Seven Star Sisters (3S), were a good tag team. Kagetsu showed potential. Mizunami was okay here. Kagetsu went for a springboard move, but Ohata pushed Mizunami into the ropes, sending Kagetsu to the floor. Later in the match, Kagetsu came close to defeating Matsumoto , but Ohata made sure the match wasn't over by entering the ring. Mizunami accidentally hit the spear on her own partner when Matsumoto side-stepped. There were several near-falls during the final minutes. Matsumoto hit a backdrop driver for the pinfall victory over Kagetsu. **¼ 

Kana & Io Shirai & Mio Shirai vs. Yoshiko Tamura & Hikaru Shida & Asami Kawasaki 15:01. Triple Tails worked as heels, but Io overdid her heel act a bit. Kana gave a good performance. Shida worked hard. Tamura was solid. Mio and Kawasaki were okay, but seemed more like extra bodies here. It was a decent and kinda fun match, but it felt like it just ended up putting Triple Tails over and it wasn't really a good or competitive match with good flow to it. **¾

SMASH 7/24/10 Shinjuku FACE: Kana vs. Syuri 3:06. This was pretty much a squash match, but it was enjoyable. Syuri had been wrestling since late 2008 when she made her debut in HUSTLE as KG (Karate Girl). Here in this match with Kana, she managed to get a couple of good kicks in, but was dominated by Kana throughout the rest of the match. Kana was relentless and won with a seated Fujiwara armbar, which had Syuri screaming in pain. It was a short match, but it was pretty good while it lasted. The reason it was so short was probably because Syuri had beaten Kana in somewhat of an upset victory four weeks prior, so this was Kana’s way of getting revenge. 2010 was the first year that people would really get to hear the name Syuri, but Syuri would eventually become a well-known name in joshi puroresu. **

NEO 8/1/10 Tokyo Korakuen Hall

Manami Toyota & Makoto & Miyako Matsumoto vs. Mima Shimoda & Hikaru Shida & Tsukasa Fujimoto 17:20. Etsuko Mita was in the crowd. Perhaps that's why her former tag team partner Mima Shimoda was extra motivated. Tsukka stood out the most in this match through her exciting moves. Miyako did a good job of being cute, but she clowned around a bit too much to be taken seriously as a wrestler in this match. Toyota was what you'd expect from her in 2010. Shida gave a pretty solid performance. Makoto felt like she was just an extra body. They tried to do the spot where Toyota, Makoto and Miyako were supposed to hit a triple suplex on all three opponents, but they messed it up. Eventually, the finish saw Toyota pinning Shida to win the match. **¼

NEO Tag Title Match: Yoshiko Tamura & Ayumi Kurihara vs. Kana & Io Shirai 22:37. The story of the match would be Kurihara's hurt right leg. She hit a plancha early on, but as soon as she hit the floor, she was screaming in pain. Kurihara hobbled around the rest of the match, while Kana and Io viciously attacked her right leg. Kana had Kurihara's leg in a submission, but Tamura aggressively tried to rescue her tag team partner. Kana and Tamura traded stiff strikes. All four workers were very intense. Kana had Kurihara in a single boston crab. Io hit a tremendous Asai moonsault onto Tamura and Kurihara. Io ran the ropes, executed a cartwheel and then attempted to hit Kurihara with a dropkick but Io completely missed. Kana laughed and pointed her finger at Io in an attempt to see the funny side of Io's botch. Finally, Kurihara made the tag and Tamura was in the ring. Kana hit some nice kicks. After resting on the apron, Kurihara re-entered the ring. While Kana was sitting on the top turnbuckle, Io hit a tremendous splash off of Kana's shoulders onto Kurihara. Io went for the cover, but Tamura broke up the pin. A little while later, Kurihara hit some nice dropkicks. Kurihara hit some wicked suplexes and eventually got the pinfall victory by pinning Io. ***¾

OZ Academy 8/22/2010 Tokyo Korakuen Hall

Hiroyo Matsumoto & Tomoka Nakagawa vs. DASH Chisako & Sendai Sachiko 9:49. Strong performance by DASH. Nice top-rope dropkick by Matsumoto on both Jumonji Sisters. Sachiko took quite some punishment near the end of the match. A thunderous lariat by Tomoka almost made Sachiko spin upside down. ***

Manami Toyota & Carlos Amano vs. Aja Kong & Yoshiko Tamura 13:56 shown. Amano hit a German suplex on Aja, but Aja was soon able to take control of the match by clotheslining both Toyota and Amano. Aja hit a big dropkick off the second ropes. There was an elbow exchange by Tamura and Amano, but Amano ended up headbutting Tamura. Amano used a lot of headbutts. Toyota hit a top-rope dropkick against Tamura. Aja tried to get involved while on the apron, but Tamura knocked Aja off the apron, which sent Aja to the floor and she knocked over a fan in the process. Amano hit a nice suicide dive. Toyota hit a nice plancha off the top to the outside. Tamura got a near-fall on Toyota after a double-underhook DDT. Toyota hit a big boot, but wasn't able to stay in control. Toyota avoided a big falling back elbow drop off the ropes by Aja. Toyota ran into Aja's arm and spinned upside down. Aja went for a big falling back elbow drop off the ropes and this time she hit it. Toyota hit her JCO finisher on Aja with the assistance of the ropes, but Aja kicked out at 2. Amano hit a moonsault onto Aja then Toyota followed it up with a moonsault of her own. Toyota and Amano went for moonsaults on Aja and Tamura respectively, but the moonsaults were avoided. Aja got the pinfall after a spinning backfist. *** 

OZ Academy Tag Team Title Match: AKINO & Ran Yu Yu vs. Chikayo Nagashima & Sonoko Kato 22:39. Nagashima, the best worker in OZ Academy, gave a really good performance. AKINO, who hadn't always given her best effort this year, made sure to give a strong effort in this match. AKINO's kicks were pretty stiff. Nagashima & Kato, the best tag team in OZ Academy, worked together very well as a team. However, AKINO & Ran Yu Yu, the OZ Academy Tag Team Title holders, were a strong team as well and gave the challengers a run for their money. There was a cool double-team move where Nagashima, with some assistance from Kato, leaped on top of AKINO's shoulders and hit a foot stomp on Ran Yu Yu. Nagashima followed this up with a top-rope foot stomp onto Ran Yu Yu. Kato hit a big leg drop off the top rope, went for the cover, but Ran Yu Yu kicked out at 2. Ran Yu Yu managed to fight back with a series of left and right elbow smashes. Even though they were still relatively early into the match, there were several covers. I like this because it shows they are trying to beat each other and they're not just having a contest for the sake of it. Even when there was a little bit of sloppiness, it never bothered me because it felt like it was part of the struggle. There was a great double-team move where Kato assisted Nagashima in leaping to the top rope for a hurricanrana off the top onto AKINO. Nagashima went for the cover in an urgent manner, as if she really wanted to beat her opponent then and there. Even though there was a good amount of action, I like how it felt they were building things up more and it never felt like they were just doing spots or rushing things. One of the things that sets this match apart from the other OZ Academy matches is that this match felt particularly important, which subsequently helped reminding everyone that the OZ Academy Tag Team Title is important, a good thing because the tag team matches featuring these workers are usually the best part of the OZ Academy shows. In the end, it was Nagashima with the pinfall victory over AKINO to win the championship for her team, which resulted in a nice pop from the crowd. The 22 minutes flew by. OZ Academy had quite some good tag team matches in 2010, but this was the best one. ***½

~THE WIZARD of OZ~ OZ Academy Championship, Dress Up Wild Last Woman Standing Match: KAORU vs. Mayumi Ozaki 26:21. There were several pinfalls because a 10 count after a pinfall would be needed in order to win this match. There was lots of violence, as was to be expected in a battle between these two. Lots of chaos and interference, but in this case it only added more to this spectacle of violence. A powerbomb through a table was almost the end, but KAORU managed to get back up before the 10 count. Aja Kong was handcuffed far away from the ring and she screamed out of frustration because all she could do was look on. Ozaki's stable dished out a lot of punishment, but the faces showed up and fought off Ozaki's stablemates. Aja's handcuffs were finally removed. There was a sick shoulder-first bump by KAORU where she came crashing into the ringpost and bumped all the way to the outside of the ring. I wish KAORU would be selling a bit more at this point of the match after taking all that punishment. Instead she was typically walking around like nothing special had happened. I guess it is kinda like a walk in the park for this hardcore queen. She ended up bleeding from the mouth near the end of the match though. Ozaki was selling a lot more and was walking around like a broken woman. Ozaki's stablemates once again emerged and gave Ozaki a hand. Ozaki suplexed KAORU off the top of a ladder through a barbed wire board that was balancing on two chairs. KAORU made it back up after a 9-count. The match got even more dramatic near the end. Ozaki bled after getting light tubes broken over her head. This hardcore match was decent, considering it was garbage wrestling. **½

JWP 9/19/2010 Tokyo Shinjuku FACE

Hiren & Sawako Shimono vs. Misaki Ohata & Moon Mizuki 11:50. Misaki Ohata was graceful and she added a lot to this match. Moon Mizuki worked like a very basic and standard rookie here, nothing fancy. Her top-rope dropkicks were pretty good though. Shimono Sawako was okay in her role as secondary undercard tag worker and assisted Hiren when needed. Sawako wasn't bad for a rookie. Hiren was good at getting heat. **

Kayoko Haruyama vs. Keito 6:48. Keito repeatedly kicked Haruyama's leg. Haruyama responded with elbows and eventually kicks of her own. **

Nanae Takahashi & Natsuki*Taiyo & Kazumi Shimoma vs. Command Bolshoi & Leon & Basara 15:49. This started off with all six in the ring. Eventually, it turned into a traditional tag. Leon and Natsuki worked together at a lightning pace, yet their work was really smooth at the same time. Nanae and Leon exchanged slaps and forearms. There was a pretty cool 45-second headlock sequence. I like how Nanae kept holding on to a headlock with Bolshoi desperately trying to escape. It wasn't quite like 3/9/88 Tsuruta vs. Misawa, but it was pretty cool. With a six-person tag you don't always know what you're going to get, but they all brought their A game here. Kazumi didn't do anything really noteworthy though. Basara was decent. Nanae was solid for the most part, though a bit sloppy at times. Bolshoi gave a pretty strong showing and didn't allow herself to get bullied around by Nanae. Natsumi and Leon stood out the most in this match with their speedy and athletic moves. ***½

JWP Openweight Title Hair vs. Hair Match: Kaori Yoneyama vs. Emi Sakura 20:18. The crowd was divided, some cheering for Sakura, while more were yelling for Yoneyama. There was a sense of urgency even during the early portion, which helped give this a big match feel. Sakura gave a stronger effort than usual and Yoneyama was on top of her game. They brawled in the crowd for a bit. It was quite the heated battle. The wrestlers at ringside were also really into it. I think what made this match so enjoyable was not necessarily the wrestling moves but mostly everything else, the selling, the drama, the crowd heat, etc. The overall work was really good though, especially during the second half of the match. This match gradually became more intense and dramatic. These 20 minutes flew by. Sakura may not be the best pure worker, but she knows how to get emotion across. I like that these two workers, who are both known to participate in comedy and silliness during wrestling matches, knew that this was a match they had to wrestle 100% seriously without shenanigans. This really helped put across the importance of this smartly worked match. The post-match was your typical dramatic situation, as is tradition with women's hair matches. It wasn't quite the drama on the level of Chigusa vs. Dump, but it was still filled with emotion and plenty of crying. In particular, Emi Sakura trainee Sayaka Obihiro showed her uncontrollable emotion during the post-match ceremony. ****

Ice Ribbon 9/23/10 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Emi Sakura vs. Meiko Satomura 20:45. They basically did the most standard match possible where they went through the motions. The match was decent, but it really felt underwhelming. It took about 13 minutes before the crowd showed any real interest. The last four minutes, the action started picking up more but by that point it was a bit too late to turn this into an actual good match. **¾  

NEO 9/26/10 Tokyo Itabashi Green Hall: Yoshiko Tamura vs. Tsukasa Fujimoto 14:45. Tsukka was fired up from the start, and gave one of her strongest performances of the year. Her execution was also better than in the other 2010 matches I watched of hers. Tsukka was considerably smaller than Tamura, but she made up for it with determination. Tamura was a seasoned pro and remained calm and trusted in her own ability. Tsukka hit all kinds of good-looking offense, including a plancha off the top rope to the outside and a top rope dropkick when the action moved back into the ring. Tsukka's elbow smashes had almost no impact on Tamura. When Tamura was in control, the pace slowed down. Tsukka tried to make comebacks. Tsukka slapped Tamura in the face. It was quite a good slap. A little later on in the match, Tsukka grabbed Tamura's leg and tried to go for a leg submission, but Tamura countered it into a sasorigatame. Tsukka hit some more of her exciting offense, including a nice headscissors. She ran up the ropes and hit a flying cross body block off the top. She hit several kicks to the back while Tamura was seated on the canvas. These kicks actually had more power behind them than any of Tsukka's other kicks that year. Tsukka really showed that she wanted to beat Tamura. Tamura hit the double-underhook DDT for a cover, but Tsukka kicked out at 2. Tsukka fought back and was able to get a few near-falls. Tamura tried to put Tsukka away, but Tsukka wouldn't stay down for a 3-count. In the end, Tamura did get the pinfall victory but Tsukka put up a strong fight. ***¼  

WAVE 10/3/10 Tokyo Korakuen Hall NEXT Challenge WAVE: Kayoko Haruyama vs. Misaki Ohata 8:24. Ohata tried to pin Haruyama several times early in the match, but Haruyama was able to kick out quite easily since there wasn't enough damage done yet. Haruyama hit several big moves and tried to pin Ohata, but Ohata kept fighting back. The entire match was basically just these two workers trying to pin each other. Haruyama executed a big guillotine leg drop, but Ohata found enough strength to kick out. However, soon after Haruyama was able to pin Ohata. **½ 

Kamen Fiesta 10/11/10 Tokyo Shinkiba 1st RING: Natsuki*Taiyo vs. Leon 15:00. For this “mask fest," Natsuki*Taiyo was wearing a leopard-esque mask during her match. This was an action-packed match with plenty of cool spots. They did a good job of speeding things up whenever the time was right. The match gradually became more exciting. It wasn’t all spectacle though, as they also sold really well, putting each other’s offense over as effective and not just flashiness. One of the most exciting moves was Leon’s signature springboard frog splash plancha to the floor. There wasn’t much groundwork, but when they went to the mat, it was good, for instance when Taiyo went for a leglock on Leon. Overall, this was a very good match, but not quite on the level of their 11/27/10 match, which was an excellent match that had a bit more urgency, and some more time. Still, this 10/11/10 match was enjoyable to watch, especially for a joshi match on a non-joshi show. Both workers showed why they were top 10 joshi workers at the time through their excellent work. ***½

Yuzuki Aikawa Produce 10/31/2010 Tokyo Shinkiba 1st RING

Natsuki*Taiyo vs. Hiroyo Matsumoto vs. Tomoka Nakagawa 12:46. I'm usually not a fan of 3-way matches, and I think, once again the gimmick took away from the match quality. The match never really got to flow as well as it would have if this was a tag team match with a fourth worker thrown into the mix or if they just picked two and had a singles match. Still, it was a fun match overall, particularly watching Taiyo overcome the odds whenever she had to fight off both of her Jungle Jack 21 opponents at once. It seemed like Nakagawa and Matsumoto were going to work together but Nakagawa sneaked up from behind and scored the win. **½  

Yuzuki Aikawa vs. Nanae Takahashi 13:51. This was Yuzuki Aikawa's highly anticipated debut match. Already, the entire show was basically all about her. Her trainer, Fuka, was in her corner. Yuzuki would be one of the main stars of STARDOM during the promotion's early days. This match really wasn't bad at all, especially considering it was Yuzuki's debut. Nanae did a decent job carrying her. Yuzuki threw some good kicks. *¾ 

DDT/Union Pro 11/3/2010 Tokyo Shinkiba 1st RING, JWP Openweight Title: Kaori Yoneyama vs. Cherry 16:41. Yoneyama was one of the best workers in 2010, so this was an opportunity for Cherry to have a better match than she would usually have. Cherry clearly tried her best here. The match itself was pretty good overall, but what stood out most was certainly Cherry's effort. Going into this match, you'd expect excellent work from Yoneyama, but what Cherry would be bringing to the table in a big title match like this against a top-level opponent was the most intriguing part because Cherry usually isn't in a situation like this. Cherry certainly didn't disappoint. She showed fighting spirit, and tried some more exciting moves than usual. It certainly appeared Cherry could really feel this was a big match for her. Yoneyama did an excellent job making things work for the overall picture of the match. Yoneyama was there to provide top-notch selling, along with excellent reaction and timing. I think both workers did a very good job of getting people behind the idea that Cherry, the underdog in this match, had a chance of winning, and the audience seemed to get behind that idea. A couple of the nearfalls almost had me believing for a split second that Cherry was actually going to win, even though I already knew the result in advance. Cherry's facials were quite good, especially near the end when she was selling desperation. Yoneyama was unselfish and made Cherry look like a very good wrestler, even though Cherry usually just comes across as decent. In the end, Yoneyama proved to be too strong of an opponent, and it was Yoneyama who won the match via pinfall. ***

PASSION RED 11/27/10 Kawasaki Lazona Kawasaki Sol,  NEO High Speed Title Match: Natsuki*Taiyo vs. Leon 21:44. It didn't take long for Taiyo to be able to display her incredible speed and agility. She hit a plancha off the top to the outside. Once Leon was back into the ring, Taiyo hit a flying dropkick. Leon was able to stop Taiyo's momentum, and tried to keep Taiyo grounded, but Taiyo was so energetic that it never lasted long. Taiyo's movements were sometimes so quick they were almost literally too fast to keep up with. Leon also has plenty of exciting moves in her arsenal though. While Taiyo was about to hit another top-rope move, Leon saw it coming and quickly hit a springboard dropkick, which sent Taiyo to the floor. Leon followed it up with a springboard dropkick to the outside. They worked at a high pace and there were many times where they were able to avoid each other's moves. Taiyo isn't only about high flying, and she proved that when she had Leon in a lot of trouble on the mat. Taiyo executed a few submission holds, which Leon barely escaped thanks to the ropes. Leon sold her right arm a bit after this, and Taiyo worked over the arm some more. Later in the match, Leon hit a frog splash, but she couldn't put Taiyo away. Once back on offense, Taiyo armdragged Leon off the top rope, hit a footstomp off the second rope and hit a moonsault. Taiyo went for a sunset flip powerbomb, one of her finishers, but Leon blocked it. Leon hit a released German suplex. Leon hit a big kick to the face. Both women were down and this was the first time in the match, which had been non-stop action up until that point, that there was a moment for the wrestlers and fans to catch their breath. Not for long though because the action continued countering each other's moves and trying to pin each other. They ducked each other's clotheslines and Leon hit a spear, but couldn't keep Taiyo down. Taiyo hit the sunset flip powerbomb in the corner, but Taiyo couldn't keep Leon down. Leon hit a northern lights bomb, but she still couldn't put Taiyo away. Leon hit a springboard spinning kick. Plenty of great back-and-forth action. The pace was still very high and you could sense a finish could happen at any time now. They worked with incredible urgency and there were several near-falls. Leon hit the northern lights bomb again, but this time it gave her the victory. This was a high speed title match and not only did they live up the high speed claim, they also managed to maintain their incredible high speed for basically the entire match. Not only did these two workers have the talent, but they also gave a really strong effort. They clearly wanted to have an excellent match and they succeeded. ****

Ayumi Kurihara Produce 12/12/10 Tokyo Shinjuku FACE: AKINO & Ayako Hamada vs. Ayumi Kurihara & Tomoka Nakagawa 30:07. The pace of the match was slow and deliberate, which was not surprising since they would end up going 30 minutes. Whenever Nakagawa and Kurihara were on offense, the pace quickened and the action was more exciting. This basically forced AKINO to step up her game a bit too. Unfortunately, Kurihara got hurt again. Hamada seemed to move around in slow-motion during the entire match and even the injured Kurihara had more spark in her performance than Hamada did. Ayumi started this match against AKINO. Neither worker got the upper hand and they tagged out. Ayako and Nakagawa were against each other next. Ayumi entered to help Nagakawa, but without much success. Hamada and AKINO were in control. Once Nakagawa saw an opportunity to crawl over to Ayumi, AKINO stopped her. AKINO got a bit overconfident after Otani-style facewashing Ayumi in the corner. Ayumi managed to get the tag after avoiding more punishment. Nakagawa entered the ring with excitement, but was soon double-teamed by AKINO and Hamada. Nakagawa accidentally knocked Ayumi off the apron after AKINO ducked. AKINO hit a top-rope dive to the outside onto Ayumi. Hamada followed this up with a top-rope moonsault to the outside, which appeared to result in Ayumi's right foot getting hurt. AKINO brawled a bit in the crowd while Ayumi's boot got taped up. When Nakagawa was back in the ring, she got double-teamed by AKINO and Hamada. A chair was used. There was a cool double-team spot where Hamada lifted AKINO onto her shoulders and AKINO hit a swinging DDT on Nakagawa. Hamada hit a moonsault but couldn't get the pinfall because Ayumi broke the pin up. Hamada continued to attempt to beat Nakagawa but wasn't able to. Ayumi was limping around, and was clearly injured. Kurihara continued to wrestle and tried the best she could. AKINO eventually got the pinfall over Kurihara. **½

NEO 12/15/10 Tokyo Kitazawa Town Hall: Mima Shimoda vs. Misaki Ohata 7:47 of 12:54. I watched the version that was on the Misaki Ohata 5th Anniversary Best Bout 10 DVD. Ohata hit a nice plancha off the top to the outside onto Shimoda. When Shimoda was back in the ring, she was greeted with a dropkick off the top rope by Ohata. Shimoda won the match by pinfall. **¼ 

SMASH 12/24/10 Tokyo Shinjuku FACE, JWP Openweight Title: Kaori Yoneyama vs. Syuri 12:47. I like that this was the main event of the show and it was treated like a big title match. Syuri hit a big kick that sent Yoneyama to the floor. She did well for herself early in the match, and she must have realized this was a big opportunity for her, challenging for a major joshi championship against an experienced champion. Syuri landed some kicks, a jumping knee, a double underhook suplex and a dropkick. She couldn't put Yoneyama away, but didn't let this discourage her. Yoneyama would occasionally get some offense in during Syuri's early flurries, and came on during the later stages of the match. Syuri hit more kicks, and a knee in the corner. She still wasn't able to put Yoneyama away. Yoneyama fought back and even hit the referee during her comeback in the match. Yoneyama hit a dropkick off the top rope and a senton off the top. This certainly slowed Syuri down, but Syuri was able to hit a big jumping knee and a heel kick. The fans of Syuri's home promotion, SMASH, were behind her and believed Syuri had a chance of winning this. Syuri landed a big, well-placed kick that took Yoneyama down, but she went down also. While Syuri was trying to get up, SMASH leader TAJIRI, who was at ringside, tried to encourage the fatigue selling Syuri to go for the cover. This all helped adding more drama to the final minutes. However, the match came to an end when Yoneyama won with a German suplex. Yoneyama did a good job making Syuri look like a credible challenger, and Syuri gave a good effort. **¾

Ice Ribbon 12/26/10 Tokyo Korakuen Hall

ICEx60 Title Match: Command Bolshoi vs. Tsukasa Fujimoto 9:37. Tsukka greeted Bolshoi with a dropkick instead of a handshake. Both workers showed their athletic skills, but Bolshoi showed more technical skills. Also, Bolshoi (who had 19 years experience as a pro) was obviously a way more experienced pro wrestler than Tsukka (who had 2 years experience as a pro). Tsukka hit a 619. Tsukka tried to climb the ropes, but wasn't able to climb to the top because she got her leg kicked by Bolshoi via a 619. Bolshoi decided to display her mat skills, and had Tsukka's legs stuck in a hold. Tsukka screamed in pain, but was able to reach the ropes. Bolshoi attempted a 619 and Tsukka avoided the move, but Bolshoi quickly rolled backwards, grabbed Tsukka's leg, and had Tsukka stuck in a leg scissors. Tsukka finally escaped, but was greeted with a 619. Bolshoi invited Tsukka to trade strikes, but Bolshoi didn't seem fazed by Tsukka's elbows and kicks. It was almost like Bolshoi was trying to challenge Tsukka to try to be more stiff. Bolshoi hit a tiger suplex, but Tsukka kicked out at 2. Bolshoi hit a shotei for a 2-count. Tsukka then cradled Bolshoi out of nowhere for the flashy pinfall victory. Other than Bolshoi's submission holds, which looked good, I felt that the execution of the moves in this match lacked some extra spice. It was a fun match overall though and I like what Bolshoi did here with the young and relatively inexperienced Tsukka. **¾ 

NEO & NWA Pacific Double Title Match: Yoshiko Tamura vs. Hikaru Shida 17:20. The young and inexperienced Shida didn't quite show the confidence and ability she would show later in the decade. However, it was interesting to watch her at this stage of her career in a title match against the experienced Tamura, who was about to retire. I guess the story here was that it would be a major upset if Shida would be able to take the title away from Tamura just 5 days before Tamura's retirement. They went into the crowd to brawl a bit. Tamura smashed Shida's head into the East sign on the Korakuen Hall wall. Once Shida recovered from the beating she took during the brawling, she seemed more fired up and ready to fight back. Shida's execution wasn't graceful by any means, but she showed effort. Tamura was calm, cool and calculated. She had been in much bigger wars before and she took her time. Occasionally, Shida would surprise her and hit some offense. Shida hit a big superplex. Shida started working over Tamura's right arm for a little while. Shida got roughed up by a series of left and right elbow smashes. Tamura thought for a minute she was Stan Hansen, took off her elbow pad and was about to hit a big lariat, but Shida managed to avoid it. Shida worked over the arm some more. Shida had the upper hand now, and the crowd was hopeful that Shida would win. However, in the end it was Tamura who got the pinfall victory and remained the champ. **½ 

NEO 12/31/10 Tokyo Korakuen Hall

Io Shirai & Mio Shirai vs. Makoto & Aya Yuki 7:15 of 8:37. Io Shirai was the best worker in this match. She had progressed quite a lot over the past few years and she was on her way to become even better. Mio did a good job of supporting her sister. The Shirai sisters worked together really well as a tag team. They really outclassed their opponents here. Io hit a beautiful Asai moonsault and other impressive moves. The Shirai sisters won this match quite easily. Io pinned Makoto in what was essentially an extended squash match. It was fun to watch though. **½

NWA Pacific & NEO Title Match: Yoshiko Tamura vs. Ayumi Kurihara 27:14. There were reportedly 1,750 people in attendance for Yoshiko Tamura's final match on NEO's final show. This wasn't the first time in 2010 that Ayumi Kurihara faced a retiring wrestler. Kurihara had been part of Noriyo Tateno's retirement match on 10/10/10. The significance of this match between Tamura and Kurihara is that they had been regular tag team partners. I liked this match more than I initially thought I would. After a plancha to the outside by Kurihara, the action continued outside the ring. Ayumi smashed Tamura's head a couple of times into the East sign on the wall at Korakuen Hall. This is a longstanding tradition for when matches spill into the crowd at Korakuen Hall. The match went back into the ring. Tamura slapped Kurihara a few times. Tamura hit the Ace crusher. There was a big spot when Tamura hit a somersault plancha off the top to the outside onto Kurihara through a table. Later on, it was Ayumi who hit a big spot when she hit a nice-looking top-rope missile dropkick to the outside. One of the things I like best about Kurihara are her dropkicks. It was a relatively slow-paced match, but still featured plenty of action. The selling was pretty good. They really made this come across as a hard-fought battle. Tamura ran over Kurihara with a big forearm smash that Kurihara bumped well for. Tamura continued to hit high-impact moves, but Kurihara would continue to kick out. Kurihara hit her impressive uranage several times. Eventually, Kurihara scored the big pinfall victory. ***½ 

Yoshiko Tamura & Yuki Miyazaki & Tanny Mouse vs. Nagisa Nozaki & Aya Yuki & Mika Iida 10:00. This was the final match in the history of NEO. Founder Kyoko Inoue, who left the promotion earlier in the year, was at ringside, as was Etsuko Mita, one of the promotion's top stars who retired the previous year. This was not a good match, but at this point I think that was the least of anyone's concerns. It was entertaining enough and it was more about the post-match ceremony. The careers of the retiring Tamura, Miyazaki and Mouse were honored. After the closing ceremony, an enormous amount of streamers were thrown into the ring. It was the end of an era. *¾

Great:

1. Kana (debut: 6/16/04) - Kana was arguably the most skilled and most talented overall performer in joshi puroresu of 2010 on paper. She has the shoot style skills, and the incredible kicks that gave her the ability to work viciously. She’s good on the mat too. She has been involved in a large number of the top 25 best joshi matches of 2010. Her match against Shu Shibutani on 4/20/10 was the Match of the Year. Her work in NEO was good for sure, but it’s recommended to check out her work in WAVE from that year to fully get to understand why she was the best. It’s also her WAVE work that proves that she wasn’t only the best on paper, but also in actuality.

2. Natsuki*Taiyo (debut: 1/3/04) - Natsuki*Taiyo is an explosive athlete who is incredibly exciting to watch. It’s so easy to get into her matches because she moves around the ring at an incredible speed and gives a great effort. If this was a list purely based on the most exciting work, she’d probably be on top of the list. Her timing and precision are great. I don’t think she gets enough credit for being the great worker that she generally is because her career was brief & before STARDOM's popularity really took off. Her match against Tomoko Nagakawa on 3/19/10 is recommended viewing.

Excellent:

3. Shu Shibutani (debut: 9/19/04) - Shibutani was the biggest discovery of this project for me. Her name had been on my radar in the past, but only after really watching her WAVE matches from 2010 did I realize just how good of an in-ring performer she really was. It feels like she never got her due. Her urgency and intensity really adds a lot to the matches whenever she works. The way she bumps, the way she executes moves… She makes everything she does look like it really matters. You really can’t go wrong with any of her 2010 WAVE matches, if you want to watch her work.

4. Ayumi Kurihara (debut: 4/24/05) - Kurihara seems to be another forgotten excellent worker. Back in 2010, I do remember she did have quite a buzz around her work, and later when she came to America. But, now that she's been retired a while, people seem to have forgotten just how good she really was back then. If you look at the list of the best joshi matches of 2010, it becomes clear how big of a role Kurihara played in joshi puroresu that year. She didn’t just have good matches in one promotion, she had top 25 matches in 3 promotions, and her work consists of 1/4 of the list. She was involved in good singles and tag team matches. She knew how to play her role well. Sometimes she was the featured performer and other times, she knew how to be the extra person on the team. She was a great athlete and her work was exciting to watch.

5. Kaori Yoneyama (debut: 11/29/99) - For those of you who only know Kaori Yoneyama as the comedy style performer she became by the late 2010s, you might think ranking Kaori Yoneyama as the best of the wrestlers who debuted in the 1990's is the joke. However, back in the year 2010, Kaori Yoneyama was one of the best pure workers around. Maybe she isn’t the most skilled worker and maybe not the most consistent either. However, whenever there was a big JWP match she was featured in, she could really go and enhance the match quality through her hard work. Her work was the main reason that her matches against Emi Sakura and Nanae Takahashi were among the best matches of 2010.

Very good:

6. Aja Kong (debut: 9/16/86) - Aja Kong is the only worker who started in the 1980s that was still a top 25 performer in 2010, much less top 10. That’s quite an accomplishment if you consider that most of the top workers in joshi puroresu all started around 2004 or 2005. The reason why she’s not in the top 5 is because she’s not always in big match mode. This is understandable since she’s a wily veteran who was around when joshi puroresu was at its peak in the mid 1990s, but maybe moreso because she no longer had a promotion that set her up to succeed. She wasn’t the youngest nor the quickest, that’s for sure, but she can still do her thing a lot better than the rest of her generation. Her knowledge and psychology, her understanding of joshi puroresu really added to many of the matches she was involved in. Sometimes it was little things she did, other times, she basically carried the match. Aja Kong deserves credit for still trying and caring in the 2010's. This not only gives her this high ranking for 2010, this also strengthens her case as one of the top GOAT candidates.

7. Leon (debut: 3/16/00) - 2010 marked the 10th year of Leon as a pro wrestler. Leon’s most notable performances took place in JWP. Her 7/18/10 match against Aja Kong was really good, and among the best matches of the year. Leon worked hard and I think she’s underrated in general. She was a reliable performer who tried to give a strong performance almost every time she was in the ring that year. It feels like she’s an overachiever.

8. Chikayo Nagashima (debut: 4/15/95) - Nagashima was the best worker in OZ Academy of 2010. For many years, Nagashima has been the most reliable tag team performer in OZ Academy, a promotion that didn’t necessarily deliver good shows from top to bottom. However, OZ Academy would seemingly have at least one good tag team match every show in 2010 and for the most part, Nagashima played a big part in those matches. She works hard and her high effort was the key to her success. I don’t think she gets enough credit from most critics for the important hard work she’s done over the many years she’s been active.

9. Io Shirai (debut: 3/4/07) - In 2010, Io Shirai was a 20-year old worker who had yet reached her full potential. She would eventually become one of the best workers in the world, but right now she mostly stood out through her great athletic moves and spectacular style. She wasn’t always the most consistent and she didn’t quite know how to put things together as well as she would eventually learn to do, but she was still one of the top 10 joshi workers of 2010. Her main strength in 2010 was adding her athletic moves to tag team matches to make them (even) more spectacular. She was a great tag team worker, especially when she teamed with her sister, Mio.

10. Tomoka Nakagawa (debut: 9/19/04) - Nakagawa is someone who is often overlooked as a worker. She is such a strong tag team worker who knows really well how to add something significant to tag team matches. As the year progressed, her role in enhancing the match quality of matches in OZ Academy became more important. Even though she mostly excels as a tag team wrestler, her PASSION RED 3/19/10 match against Natsumi*Taiyo shows she had the potential to have really good singles matches too.

11. Command Bolshoi (debut: 11/26/91) - Back in the 1990s, when Bolshoi was a clown costumed rookie called Bolshoi Kid, she was viewed as a bad comedy worker. However, by 2010, things had changed quite a bit. She not only had become more experienced, but also more skilled. This is quite remarkable as most workers tend to have their careers the other way around or, in some extreme cases, they just never seem to grow beyond the comedy worker stage. Bolshoi’s main strengths in 2010 were her technical skills. Even though she’s small in stature at 4’10”, she commanded respect through her ability and determination. She carried Nanae Takahashi to a very good match on 6/13/10, which is a very good example of what Bolshoi was capable of at the time.

12. Ran Yu Yu (debut: 12/4/94) - Ran Yu Yu was a reliable worker whose strengths were more of the subtle kind. Even though she is known to be able to hang in there in the pure workrate department, sometimes she manages to enhance matches by just being part of the match, in particular tag team matches. She was notable as being one of the top 5 workers in OZ Academy in 2010.

13. AKINO (debut: 7/21/98) - AKINO had always been one of the most promising workers ever since she started in ARSION in 1998. By 2010, she was obviously a lot more experienced and an established name. There were some matches in 2010 where I felt she didn’t give a good effort. However, whenever she did give the effort expected from her, she managed to deliver high quality work in the ring. She was one of the key workers in OZ Academy that year and she was involved in a number of good tag team matches.

14. Sonoko Kato (debut: 4/15/95) - Kato is one of those workers who you know are good, but they don’t always come to mind when thinking of strong performers. However, if you watch enough OZ Academy, you realize how incredibly important she is to the company. If it wasn’t for Kato, there would be a lot less quality work in the promotion. Even though her regular tag team partner Chikayo Nagashima is the best in OZ Academy, we can’t forget that it takes two to tango and four to have a tag match.

15. Yoshiko Tamura (debut: 9/15/94) - 2010 was Tamura’s final year as a pro wrestler. Understandably, she had slowed down a bit after a career that lasted more than 15 years. However, she made sure her final year was a memorable one. She played a huge role in NEO and participated in several of the best NEO matches of 2010. She was a strong tag team partner for Ayumi Kurihara in NEO and the two tag team partners faced off against each other in a very good match, which was Tamura’s retirement match.

Good:

16. Mio Shirai (debut: 3/4/07) - Mio is the older sister of Io. Mio was a good worker, but never stood out as much as Io because Io was more athletic and spectacular. However, Mio deserves credit for doing well in a different style as her sister, and complementing her sister well in tag team action. Mio is one of the workers who were willing and able to face Kana in a more serious quasi-shoot style contest on 7/4/10 in WAVE. Mio gave good performances in NEO when she teamed with Io, but to really get to understand how good Mio was in 2010, you should watch her work in WAVE from that year.

17. Hiroyo Matsumoto (debut: 7/16/06) - Matsumoto is seemingly always happy and always has a smile on her face. Just for that she deserves a spot in top 20. But, seriously, her enthusiasm and energy add a lot to the matches. I can’t say she’s very gifted technically, but her effort makes up for it. She’s usually in the role of the powerhouse in the matches she’s involved in, but she’s also able to work more pure workrate-oriented sequences. She excels at tag team wrestling, and has formed several successful tag team combinations in various promotions, particularly with Tomoka Nakagawa.

18. Emi Sakura (debut: 8/17/95) - Sakura was basically the “mother” of Ice Ribbon. Apart from her work in Ice Ribbon, she also appeared in promotions like NEO and JWP. It was in JWP where she had arguably the best match of her career up until that point in time against Kaori Yoneyama on 9/19/10. Her “stock” went down a bit for me though because I realized that while she is good at what she does, there are at least 17 workers who are generally more skilled and have a better output.

19. Meiko Satomura (debut: 4/15/95) - Satomura is someone who is considered an all-time great. However, when you look back at a year like 2010, a year where she should have been one of the key veterans, it becomes clear she’s not quite the all-time great people claim she is. Don’t get me wrong, she’s good and she can surely have a good match with the right opponents, and usually even guide them through her predictable big match. Much of the hype around her centers on matches where Aja Kong carryied her, first when she represented the new generation finally breaking through in GAEA, and then as the only star of her small regional promotion, SGPW. I watched her in matches against top stars like Aja Kong and Kana. In those matches, it became painfully obvious that Satomura would rather go through the motions and work her typical big match than try something new and spontaneous. Aja carried Satomura, as always, and Kana had better matches in WAVE than she had against Satomura. Anyway, I don’t want to turn this into the burial of Satomura. I just wanted to point out that there are 18 workers that I believe deserve more attention than Satomura does, when it comes to 2010 work, which should still be her prime. With that being said, Satomura still deserves a place in the top 20. She’s an experienced worker who can deliver good matches when she wants to.

20. Ray (debut: 9/15/03) - Ray (a.k.a. Lin Byron) was a pro wrestler from Hong Kong who was incredibly agile and spectacular. However, in 2010 it seems she was a little bit too often in the role of Lin Byron, a character that relied more on gimmick than ability. The Ray character was the opposite, and Ray certainly delivered almost every time she was in the ring. She deserves to be mentioned as one of the best high flyers in the business.

21. Misaki Ohata (debut: 12/10/06) - Ohata would become a top 10 worker later in her career, but in 2010, she wasn’t quite at that stage yet. Despite her relatively simple move set at the time, she managed to be someone who was a very useful worker.

22. DASH Chisako (debut: 7/9/06) - Chisako worked hard and showed lots of potential, but her best years were yet to come. She was able to add her good effort to tag team matches, and she even was able to carry a rookie to a match that was okay. There's not much Sendai footage available from this year, but from what I can tell, it certainly wasn't a bad year for young DASH, just nowhere near the level she'd reach in the mid and late 2010's.

23. Tsukasa Fujimoto (debut: 8/23/08) - Tsukka was one of the least experienced workers in the top 25. However, in 2010, she was already a good worker, and occasionally would have matches where she would give an impressive performance. That being said, there were also times where her execution was somewhat disappointing.

24. Sendai Sachiko (debut: 7/9/06) - Sachiko, Chisako’s little sister, worked hard, and especially whenever she was extra motivated, was able to add a lot to the (tag) matches she was involved in.

25. Asami Kawasaki (debut: 11/22/03) - Kawasaki was a part-time wrestler because she was also focusing on her acting career. She took a few breaks over the years, and I think she didn’t really work a full schedule most of the time, but considering all of that, she did quite well. In 2010, she had a final run of sorts and in WAVE, she had some good performances that resulted in memorable matches. Her most notable match in 2010 was on 7/4/10 against Shu Shibutani.

Honorable mentions:

Hikaru Shida (debut: 7/20/08) - Shida was still in the early stages of her career. She wasn’t quite the solid worker she’d become later, but she definitely showed potential.

Tsubasa Kuragaki (debut: 1/8/95) - Kuragaki’s placement suffers from lack of her JWP work being available for review, almost all of their self released DVDs are still missing. In the footage we have available, it’s clear that she can really elevate a match through her hard work.

Syuri (debut: 10/26/08) - It was in 2010 that Syuri’s career really started taking off in SMASH, which sort of rose out of HUSTLE's ashes though they were a lot more serious of a promotion, after this TAJIRI trainee initially made her debut in HUSTLE. Syuri showed a lot of potential in 2010 and showed that she’s someone to keep an eye on. From 2011 onward, she’d start making more appearances in a wider variety of promotions.

Mai Ichii (debut: 4/10/04) - Mai Ichii is a pro wrestler who also has experience as a MMA fighter and kickboxer. She’s not the most crisp worker, but I think she deserves to be mentioned because of her effort. She showed some decent work in Ice Ribbon and NEO. If nothing else, she deserves to be mentioned for the way she’s able to leap to the top rope with great ease.

Atsuko Emoto (debut: 2/11/03) - I’m not a fan of her work as Bullfight Sora, which I think is a silly gimmick where she gores opponents with the fake bull horns that are part of her mask. But, as Emoto, she’s a decent well rounded worker that deserves to be mentioned.

Nanae Takahashi (debut: 7/14/96) - Takahashi arguably was the most overrated wrestler of 2010. Not only was her push higher than her skills warrant, but also most fans/critics seem to think she’s very good based on being carried in "high profile" main events. When looking closer to her 2010 matches, it becomes clear that she’s not the one making her matches good. She’s not bad and she clearly tries, but just lacks talent and skill. This is unfortunate, but that simply means there are at least 30 wrestlers that I would place ahead of her in a ranking of 2010.

Basara (debut: 7/9/06) - Basara was one of the original trainees of SGPW. She’s a decent worker and gives an effort, but she’s unfortunately not good enough to make it to the top 30. I think she’s cool though, and I guess I’m mentioning her here as some sort of “guilty pleasure” pick of mine.

1. Chikayo Nagashima & Sonoko Kato

2. Ayumi Kurihara & Yoshiko Tamura

3. Ran Yu Yu & AKINO

4. Tomoka Nakagawa & Hiroyo Matsumoto

5. Io Shirai & Mio Shirai

1. WAVE 4/20/10 Tokyo Shinkiba 1st RING: Kana vs. Shu Shibutani 11:11 of 18:16 ****

2. PASSION RED 11/27/10 Kawasaki Lazona Kawasaki Sol, NEO High Speed Title Match: Natsuki*Taiyo vs. Leon 21:44 ****

3. JWP 9/19/10 Tokyo Shinjuku FACE, JWP Openweight Title Hair vs. Hair Match: Kaori Yoneyama vs. Emi Sakura 20:18 ****

4. JWP 7/18/10 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Aja Kong vs. Leon 12:05 ***¾

5. NEO 8/1/10 Tokyo Korakuen Hall, NEO Tag Title Match: Yoshiko Tamura & Ayumi Kurihara vs. Kana & Io Shirai 22:37 ***¾

6. PASSION RED 3/19/10 Tokyo Shinkiba 1st RING, NEO High Speed Title Match: Natsuki*Taiyo vs. Tomoka Nakagawa 19:07 ***¾

7. JWP 7/18/10 Tokyo Korakuen Hall, JWP Openweight Title Match: Nanae Takahashi vs. Kaori Yoneyama 20:54 ***¾

8. WAVE 1/20/10 Tokyo Shinkiba 1st RING: Kana vs. Shu Shibutani 6:35 of 11:45 ***½

9. WAVE 1/4/10 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Ayumi Kurihara vs. Shu Shibutani 9:37 of 17:47 ***½

10. NEO 12/31/10 Tokyo Korakuen Hall, NWA Pacific & NEO Title Match: Yoshiko Tamura vs. Ayumi Kurihara 27:14 ***½

11. OZ Academy 8/22/10 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: OZ Academy Tag Team Title Match: AKINO & Ran Yu Yu vs. Chikayo Nagashima & Sonoko Kato 22:39 ***½

12. JWP 6/13/10 Tokyo Shinjuku FACE, Leon 10th Anniversary Match: Tojuki Leon & Kaori Yoneyama vs. Aja Kong & AKINO 18:46 ***½

13. Kana Pro 4/29/10 Tokyo Shinjuku FACE: Meiko Satomura vs. Kana 16:48 ***½

14. SGPW 4/9/10 Sendai Zepp Sendai, 2nd Battlefield Tournament Round 2 Match: Meiko Satomura vs. Aja Kong 20:00 ***½

15. Kamen Fiesta 10/11/10 Tokyo Shinkiba 1st RING: Natsuki*Taiyo vs. Leon 15:00 ***½ 

16. JWP 6/13/10 Tokyo Shinjuku FACE, JWP Openweight Title Match: Nanae Takahashi vs. Command Bolshoi 20:24 ***½

17. JWP 9/19/10 Tokyo Shinjuku FACE: Nanae Takahashi & Natsuki*Taiyo & Kazumi Shimoma vs. Command Bolshoi & Leon & Basara 15:49 ***½

18. WAVE 7/4/10 Tokyo Kinema Club, Catch the WAVE Visual Technical Block Match: Kana vs. Mio Shirai 5:54 of 9:22 ***¼

19. WAVE 7/4/10 Tokyo Kinema Club, Catch the WAVE Rival Block Match: Asami Kawasaki vs. Shu Shibutani 8:03 of 12:26 ***¼

20. OZ Academy 7/11/10 Tokyo Shinjuku FACE: Chikayo Nagashima & Sonoko Kato vs. Tomoka Nakagawa & Hiroyo Matsumoto 12:13 ***¼

21. OZ Academy 1/10/10 Tokyo Shinjuku FACE: Chikayo Nagashima & Ayumi Kurihara & Sonoko Kato vs. Ran Yu Yu & AKINO & Tomoka Nakagawa 12:55 of 22:53 ***¼

22. NEO 1/17/10 Osaka Minami Move On Arena: Kana & Hiroyo Matsumoto vs. Natsuki*Taiyo & Ayumi Kurihara 15:22 ***¼

23. NEO 7/4/10 Osaka Minami Move On Arena, NEO Tag Title Match: Yoshiko Tamura & Ayumi Kurihara vs. Mio Shirai & Io Shirai 17:18 ***¼

24. NEO 3/14/10 Kawasaki City Gymnasium: Emi Sakura vs. Kana 9:12 ***¼

25. NEO 6/5/10 Tokyo Itabashi Green Hall: Io Shirai vs. Misaki Ohata 15:00 ***¼

Honorable mention: NEO 9/26/10 Tokyo Itabashi Green Hall: Yoshiko Tamura vs. Tsukasa Fujimoto 14:45 ***¼

1. Pro Wrestling WAVE - This league featured some of the best workers of the year: Kana, Shu Shibutani, Io Shirai, Ayumi Kurihara, etc. Also, it featured the up-and-comer Misaki Ohata. Just like all the other promotions at the time, none of the cards were stacked from top to bottom. However, after watching a WAVE DVD from 2010, you would feel like you had seen something worthwhile. The best match of the year took place in WAVE when Kana and Shu Shibutani wrestled each other on 4/20/10. The league is not perfect by any means, and there are always some comedy matches that can be frustrating, but there's always a strong effort by the top workers. Some of the top talent of 2010 actually seemed to give their strongest efforts in WAVE. The main reason why I used to stay away from WAVE was because their clipped matches would always frustrate me, especially since most matches probably would really be worth watching in full-length. But, once I got past my frustration for the self important WAVE editor, WAVE really became my favorite league of 2010.

2. JWP Joshi Puroresu - JWP Joshi Puroresu was one of the strongest promotions of the time. They almost made it to the #1 spot. However, what keeps them from the #1 spot is that watching a full 2010 JWP is sometimes disappointing. In general, the key matches of JWP felt disappointing more often than WAVE's key matches did. Also, I feel that the general pecking order of the workers in WAVE feels more satisfying than in JWP.

3. OZ Academy - OZ Academy has never been a promotion with a strong top to bottom card. However, in 2010, they had at least one good tag match, which usually featured Chikayo Nagashima and several other good workers. These good tag matches were good enough to pay attention to OZ Academy.

4. NEO Women's Wrestling - NEO is a league that on paper had many good matches, and in actuality still delivered well enough. However, their future was doomed since most of their roster either quit or retired. NEO didn't appear to be the high-effort league that WAVE, JWP and PASSION RED were. Sometimes that resulted in some of the best workers of the year not delivering their best performances in NEO, which could result in getting a wrong impression of 2010 if you don't balance out your NEO watching with the viewing of all the other leagues.

5. PASSION RED - Natsuki*Taiyo was one of the top workers of 2010, and made PASSION RED's two shows worth checking out. If they had more shows in 2010, they probably would have been higher on the list, even if only for Taiyo's matches.