2011 picked up where 2010 left off. Where 2010 was the end of the dark ages, 2011 signalled a new beginning for joshi puroresu. In 2011, we saw the emergence of a new Rossy Ogawa league, World Wonder Ring STARDOM, which would go on to become the best known joshi league in the world. While they weren’t even close to being the best league of 2011, they showed the potential of eventually becoming one of the most talked about joshi leagues of the decade. While rookie Yuzuki Aikawa, one of Japan's most famous gravure idols,who happened to also have a background in taekwondo was featured heavily, and was basically the face of the company, if not all of joshi puroresu given all her hype led to Tokyo Sports naming her women's wrestler of the year, the league had some of the most promising rookie talent around, including Arisa Hoshiki and Mayu Iwatani (both would end up becoming two of the best STARS later in the decade). While STARDOM mostly appeared to be about showcasing promising rookies, STARDOM relied a lot on Natsuki*Taiyo for good quality in-ring work. Taiyo was an experienced worker, and one of the very best in the world at the time. Perhaps most important for STARDOM was the acquisition of Io Shirai, who had been a good worker for a while, but had been in the shadow of Kana & mostly used in tag matches with her sister, Mio. This would end up being an important move that would help both STARDOM & Io elevate their level during subsequent years.

Let's not make the mistake of getting lost in the hype of STARDOM and neglect all the other interesting things that were going on in the joshi scene. Pro Wrestling WAVE continued delivering good quality joshi puroresu on a regular basis, usually when reliable workers like Kana, Ayumi Kurihara, Shu Shibutani, Tomoka Nakagawa, Misaki Ohata and some others were involved. JWP gave us several really good matches, usually when Leon was in there with other top talent. Ice Ribbon’s young workers were growing up, and the performances of Tsukasa Fujimoto and Hikaru Shida certainly improved a lot in 2011.Even though most Sendai Girls’ Pro Wrestling footage of 2011 is once again still missing, luckily we got to see matches of the Jumonji Sisters (DASH Chisako & Sendai Sachiko), two of SGPW’s top workers, when they appeared in leagues like Ice Ribbon and JWP. Just like many other young workers that year, the two sisters also were able to turn up their performances up a notch in 2011. SMASH featured mostly men’s puroresu (which wasn’t of the best quality, especially once KUSHIDA graduated to New Japan), but they had one or two women’s matches per show on average. Along with top women’s wrestler Kana, their women’s division featured Syuri, a promising worker who improved a great deal during the year.

OZ Academy gave us the best (tag) match of the year when the two best teams of the year faced each other on 1/9, Chikayo Nagashima & Sonoko Kato vs. Tomoka Nakagawa & Hiroyo Matsumoto. Other joshi puroresu matches from 2011 that I’d highly recommend if you’re even remotely interested in 2011 are WAVE 8/28/11 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Kana vs. Ayumi Kurihara, STARDOM 7/24/11 Tokyo Korakuen Hall, High Speed Title: Leon vs. Natsuki*Taiyo, & JWP 5/8/11 Tokyo Kinema Club, High Speed Title Match: Leon vs. Ray. You’ll find a more complete list of recommended matches below...

Ice Ribbon 1/4/11 Tokyo Shinkiba 1st RING

Io Shirai & Mio Shirai vs. Hamuko Hoshi & Sayaka Obihiro 12:21. Rookie Sayaka Obihiro was clearly the underdog in this match, which was basically an extended squash with the Shirai sisters dominating. Most of the match was Mio beating Obihiro up. Io was good when she was in, but she didn’t go out of her way to really do anything special. Hamuko Hoshi didn’t really play much of a role until she finally made the hot tag. Hamuko was on offense for a bit, but failed to come close to beating either Shirai sister. Obihiro entered the match again and started running the ropes like she had gone mad, which only resulted in Obihiro looking silly. The match wouldn’t last much longer though, as Io scored the expected Shirai sisters victory, though surprisingly over Hoshi. **¼  

Mima Shimoda vs. Makoto 10:09. The legendary Mima Shimoda wasn’t the wrestler she was in 1993-2003, but she still showed enthusiasm and passion even when she was no longer at her peak. Some spots looked rough because Makoto isn’t the most gracious performer, but overall this match was better than it looked on paper. Shimoda appeared to have fun, and Makoto was selling most of the match. Makoto gave a stronger performance than usual, but most of the credit should go to Shimoda for making Makoto give a stronger effort than usual. **½ 

Tsukasa Fujimoto & Hikaru Shida vs. Hikari Minami & Riho 15:08. The match started with Shida and Riho showing they’d be names to keep an eye on in the future. Tsukka entered the match, and Riho ended up selling a lot until she made the hot tag to Hikari Minami, who did a couple of exciting moves before she quickly tagged Riho back in again. Manami and Riho did some quick tags in and out in an attempt to keep the fresh worker in. This gave the impression they really wanted to try their best to beat their more powerful opponents. There was a little bit of action outside the ring until we were back with Shida & Riho in the ring again. Shida’s performance was pretty solid, and Riho was about as good as someone can be for a 13-year old. Once Minami was back in, Shida attempted to make heri submit to an armbar, but Minami reacted promptly and managed to reach the ropes. All four workers gave a strong effort in this match, and that played a big role in making this match good. Lots of action near the end with several near falls. Tsukka wasn’t in the match as much as Shida, which kinda made it feel like this was Shida’s match, and Shida’s chance to shine. Tsukka & Shida eventually managed to defeat their teenage opponents. After the match, while selling fatigue, all four workers seemed happy they worked a match this good. *** 

Oz Academy 1/9/11 Tokyo Shinjuku Face

Aja Kong & Toshie Uematsu vs. Manami Toyota & Carlos Amano 8:42 of 15:42. They worked hard, and the spots that appeared to be sold as comedy spots were actually almost funny. Aja Kong pinned Amano with la magistral. **¾ 

Ran YuYu vs. AKINO 11:10 of 18:53. It’s nice to see a singles match in OZ Academy featuring two top workers because it seemed we almost only got tag matches featuring the good workers in 2010. The execution in this match was solid, and both workers gave a pretty good effort overall. Selling and pacing was interesting, with especially Ran paying attention to detail. However, just when I really started to get in the match more and more, and they seemed to be ready to move up a gear, it was over. Ran Yu Yu pinned AKINO seemingly out of nowhere with the match not feeling anywhere near ready to finish. Maybe it’s because of poor editing that the match felt more incomplete that it should have been, but from what was shown, it felt like they never really took the match into the next gear, even towards the end of the match. It was a good and enjoyable match overall, but I was hoping for more. ***

OZ Academy Tag Team Title Match: Chikayo Nagashima & Sonoko Kato vs. Hiroyo Matsumoto & Tomoka Nakagawa 25:00 of 30:00.  This match really exceeded the reputation OZ Academy tag team matches had set previously as fun tag matches that are definitely worth seeking out if you’re into modern joshi puroresu. Chikayo Nagashima lived up to the relatively high expectations I had of her work, but Kato, in particular, was really feeling it on this day as she gave one of the best performances I have seen out of her in a long time, showing quite a lot of intensity. Matsumoto was her usual energetic self, hitting a nice tope suicida onto both opponents early to help set the tone of the match, while Tomoka Nakagawa played her role well and did a nice job taking the beating she was given early in the match. Once Nakagawa saw the opportunity to tag out, she wisely did so. Matsumoto had a rough time against Nagashima & Kato, who really showed why they were one of the top tag teams at the time. However, Matsumoto occasionally managed to fight back through her power moveset. All four workers kept moving at a fast pace and there never was a dull moment in this match. At some point, Nagashima leaped onto Kato’s shoulders with great ease (and with some help from Kato) and hit a footstomp onto Nakagawa. It was such a cool-looking spot that I caught myself saying “wow!” out loud. There were some good near fall moments and there was pretty strong crowd heat. The drama near the end of the match really felt like they were adding an exclamation mark to their work. Even though the match ended in a 30-minute time limit draw, it felt like a contest that was satisfying from start to finish. ****¼

STARDOM 1/23/11 Tokyo Shinkiba 1st RING

Yuzuki Aikawa & Natsuki*Taiyo vs. Nanae Takahashi & Iris 21:31. This was the first ever STARDOM match on the first ever STARDOM show. Yuzuki Aikawa, one of the most featured girls during the early days of STARDOM, continued to show potential (after her reasonable performance in her debut match in late 2010). Iris was a Mexican worker who gave a pretty decent showing here overall. She kinda lacked stiffness at times, but that was kinda to be expected from a luchadora. Very little appears to be known about her though. This obscure luchadora seemed to have kinda disappeared from the wrestling scene and probably didn’t stay in the wrestling business that long. Nanae Takahashi and Natsuki*Taiyo had a big elbow exchange during the first half of the match. Takahashi got the better of that exchange, but Taiyo’s agility allowed her to get the better of Takahashi through spectacular movements. Aikawa and Taiyo worked well as a team. Aikawa took quite a beating courtesy of Takahashi though. Iris’ lucha approach was interesting, even though her execution was that of an inexperienced worker, but at least she tried though. She got beat up by Aikawa and Taiyo, but still got some lucha style offense in. Taiyo was easily the best worker of the match. Takahashi was no-nonsense in her approach, and performance was decent, even though she was just kinda plowing her way through the match. Aikawa almost got the win over Takahashi via a fisherman suplex. The pace of the match started to go up and the amount of action increased. Aikawa once again came close to pinning Takahashi. Near the finish, Iris hit a cool-looking suicide dive through the ropes onto Taiyo. Aikawa and Takahashi slapped each other, but Takahashi hit a bridging suplex for the win. **

Mayu Iwatani vs. Arisa Hoshiki 7:04. This was the debut match for both. They showed a lot of potential already. It wasn’t a good match, but they tried, and it was fun to watch. Hoshiki threw a couple of good kicks that got quite a good reaction, and it got her the win. Not a bad start at all for these two future STARS. During the match, some fans were yelling “Mayu!” in support of Mayu and that’s something we would end up hearing many more times in this building and this promotion. *½ 

AJPW/DGPW 1/24/11 Tokyo JCB Hall: Chikayo Nagashima & Carlos Amano & Dynamite Kansai vs. Aja Kong & Mayumi Ozaki & Meiko Satomura 13:48. This was part of a special show that celebrated the 20th anniversary of GAORA TV. These six workers were some of the more well-known and experienced workers at the time. They basically did what you'd expect them to do, but everyone gave a pretty good effort. Chikayo Nakashima was a bit better than the rest though, and she stood out as the best worker in this match. Nagashima pinned Ozaki to win the match for her team. It was a pretty good match overall, and it was cool to see that this match took place at a non-joshi show, but there are plenty of matches from 2011 that took place in the joshi leagues that were better. **¾

Triple Tails 2/13/11 Osaka Azalea Taisho: Kana vs. Meiko Satomura 18:55. Satomura usually makes sure she delivers in big singles matches like this, and this one was no different. Kana gave a strong performance here, and I like how Kana knew that stiff strikes and some serious matwork here and there was the best way to approach a match with Satomura, especially since Satomura was motivated to have a very good match here. The action spilled outside for a bit early in the match. Kana hit many great kicks. Meiko Satomura hit some stiff kicks of her own though. The standup striking was good. They also took it to the mat for a while and the matwork was good as well. During the second half of the match, Kana hit Satomura with a stiff uraken. I like this match better than their 4/29/10 match because this match had more intensity and Satomura seemed more into it this time. Kana won via the crossface chickenwing. ***¾ 

WAVE 2/20/11 Tokyo Kinema Club

Io Shirai & Mio Shirai vs. Hanako Nakamori & Mika Iida 9:19 of 12:50. Io Shirai executed a nice standing moonsault. Mio Shirai hit Mika Iida with some stiff kicks. Mika was dominated until she finally managed to get some dropkicks in and make the tag. Hanako Nakamori hit some good-looking offense and the Shirai sisters bumped well for it. The sisters were quickly back in control again though after a well-executed springboard dropkick by Io. Hanako managed to get more offense in. Even Mika had some opportunities to show some stuff. Mika was clearly inexperienced and the least impressive worker in the match, but she tried. Even though this tag match wasn’t completely one-sided, it was still hard to believe there was a chance the Shirai sisters would lose. Mio won by making Mika tap. **½ 

Kana vs. Kagetsu 7:57 of 11:31. Kana carried this well, & Kagetsu showed fighting spirit. Kana‘s kicks looked good. Kagetsu went for a springboard move, but Kana caught her in an Ace crusher. Kana tried to put Kagetsu away with a German suplex and a neckbreaker, but Kagetsu kicked out. Kagetsu got frustrated when she couldn’t beat Kana. A spin kick almost got Kana the victory. Kana won the match via a crossface chickenwing. **¼ 

STARDOM 2/27/11 Tokyo Shinkiba 1st RING: Yuzuki Aikawa & Arisa Hoshiki vs. Natsuki*Taiyo & Yoshiko 14:11 of 17:45. Yuzuki Aikawa continued to show potential. Arisa Hoshiki showed a lot of enthusiasm. Natsuki*Taiyo was easily the best worker in the match. Yoshiko was still a rookie. She lacked skills, but she showed aggression, and that basically also sums up her entire career in one sentence. Early in the match, Aikawa’s opponents were a bit too focussed on attacking her chest area, although it’s hard to blame them for them being distracted. Taiyo jumped on Yoshiko’s back, which resulted in Yoshiko splashing Taiyo. Taiyo went for la magistral, but didn’t get the win. Aikawa’s kicks didn’t appear to be that well-executed, but at least she tried. There were some execution problems and some sloppiness in this match, but given the experience level of most of the workers involved in this match (other than Taiyo, of course), that was understandable. Taiyo hit a nice top-rope splash that almost got her the win over Hoshiki. A bit later on, Taiyo got the win over Hoshiki anyway after a beautifully executed moonsault. *¾ 

JWP 3/21/11 Tokyo Itabashi Green Hall

Tsukasa Fujimoto vs. Aoi Yagami 6:02. Aoi Yagami was decent, especially for a rookie. However, she really took the match quality down due to her inexperience. Several times during the match, she didn’t know how to react and her execution was clunky. Tsukka was still improving herself, but gave a pretty good performance here. Tsukka won the match by pinfall. *¾

High Speed Title: Leon vs. Misaki Ohata 20:29. The action was exciting, pretty much non-stop and it was a really good match overall. I think this match confirmed that Misaki Ohata had improved quite a bit by March 2011, compared to some of her work from earlier in her career. Leon was one of the top 7 joshi workers in 2010 and she continued to impress in 2011. Ohata hit a huge plancha off the top onto Leon on the outside. Ohata followed it up with a series of dropkicks off the top rope by climbing all four corners of the ring and hitting four missile dropkicks successfully. Leon bumped well for them. Leon hit a nice springboard dropkick, which turned the match around in Leon’s favor. Leon hit a tremendous springboard plancha to the outside. Leon rolled Ohata back into the ring and when Ohata made it to her feet, she was greeted by a tremendous missile dropkick from Leon, which Ohata sold well. This match featured lots of screaming by Ohata, arguably the best screamer in joshi puroresu since Lucy Kayama and Manami Toyota. Ohata really put across that this match was a struggle. Leon applied a Texas cloverleaf that had Ohata screaming in pain. ***¾ 

Ice Ribbon 3/21/11 Tokyo Korakuen Hall

Hikaru Shida vs. Syuri 11:25 of 16:31. Both workers only had a couple of years experience at the time, but they worked hard. Shida showed improvement over her work from the previous years. Shida’s selling was noteworthy, and the emotion she showed really added quality to her performance. Shida was pretty good at reacting promptly to whatever situation she was. Syuri’s kicks looked impressive and she showed a good amount of aggression. **¾  

ICEx60 Title: Tsukasa Fujimoto vs. Ray 14:25. Tsukka was one of the top stars of Ice Ribbon, but Ray was a tough challenger, and the story of the match early on seemed to be that they were equals. After introductions by Mr. Gannosuke, Ray quickly displayed her incredible athletic ability. They exchanged some nice, fast reversals early in the match. Tsukka didn’t want to be outdone and hit a top-rope plancha to the outside, followed up by a missile dropkick off the top rope into the ring. However, Ray continued to display amazing athletic skills. In joshi puroresu, there are many great talented athletes, but the way Ray moved around the ring was exceptional, and clearly a display of top level athleticism. Tsukka kept fighting back, and showed that she had all the makings of a really smart pro wrestler, even though this was still in the earlier stages of her career. In matches like these, it is where Tsukka learned to be resourceful and think beyond the standard Ice Ribbon matches. Tsukka even showed some good mat wrestling skills for a brief moment. The action never stopped, and they smoothly moved into the near falls stage of the match. Ray missed a sky twister press when Tsukka rolled away. Ray hit a superbly executed huracarrana for a near fall. Tsukka hit some superbly executed offense of her own in return. I like how they were both trying to outdo each other in this match and still were able to have a really well-worked match. In the end, it was Tsukka who got the pinfall victory. ***¾ 

Ice Ribbon 3/26/11 Warabi Isami Wrestle Arena

Tsukushi & Maki Narumiya vs. Miyako Matsumoto & Riho 7:01. These girls were still quite young and inexperienced at the time. They were learning and having fun at the same time. *¾   

International Ribbon Tag Title: Tsukasa Fujimoto & Hikaru Shida vs. Emi Sakura & Ray 17:02. The far more experienced Emi was the most intense worker in the match, and she was most consistent in her execution. Ray, of course, had some good-looking moves, and Emi & Ray worked together well as a team. Shida was clearly still quite green, but she tried and that was admirable. Tsukka worked hard. They kept Tsukka in their corner. Tsukka finally managed to bodyslam Emi and tag in Shida, who was a house of fire. Once Emi was able to slow Shida down, Ray was tagged in. There was some miscommunication between Shida and Ray twice in a row. There was a cool spot where Emi went for a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker and Shida countered it into a Fujiwara armbar. Tsukka & Shida both hit a double missile dropkick on Ray. The final minutes had some near-falls. Ray hit a couple of nice-looking German suplexes on her opponents. Ray hit a moonsault and almost pinned Tsukka. Some good double-team action by Emi and Ray almost put Tsukka away. Ray got the win after hitting a sky twister press on Tsukka. **¼ 

STARDOM 3/27/11 Tokyo Shinkiba 1st RING: Yuzuki Aikawa & Natsuki*Taiyo vs. Mayu Iwatani & Yoko Bito 17:25 of 18:17. Yoko Bito was a rookie who was the least noteworthy worker in this match, but she was okay. Mayu Iwatani was impressive for a rookie. She showed skill, athleticism and enthusiasm. She was still an unpolished worker though. Aikawa’s kicks still kinda seemed more like exhibition kicks. However, luckily, Aikawa’s ability to throw worked kicks would improve a lot during this year. Also, Aikawa showed potential as a worker in general once again, and she always had that starpower potential anyway. As usual, Natsuki*Taiyo was clearly the best worker in a STARDOM match (and on a STARDOM show) during the early days of STARDOM. Since she was working with inexperienced workers here, she didn’t quite have the great sequences and excellent matches she’s capable of, but her flashes of greatness were certainly a joy to watch, and some of the highlights of early STARDOM. There was a kick exchange between Aikawa and Bito that looked pretty weak. There was plenty of sloppiness as the match progressed, and perhaps going 18 minutes was a bit too long for them. Aikawa pinned Mayu for the win. *¾ 

Ice Ribbon 3/30/11 Warabi Isami Wrestle Arena: Tsukasa Fujimoto & Makoto vs. Lee Yoneyamakao & Hikari Minami 10:14. Minami was very energetic and hit some nice-looking moves. Yoneyama was solid. Makoto was kinda basic, but was able to hold up her end. Tsukka hit a stiff kick and threw several nice dropkicks. Tsukka was probably the most impressive worker in this match overall. Kaori Yoneyama performed under a different gimmick (with the only difference really being that she had her hair differently and wore different gear). The way Yoneyama was booked in her Ice Ribbon appearances, it seems like she’s mostly thrown into these matches to add some more experience into the mix. Her job here was mostly to help elevate the younger workers and not necessarily trying to put herself over. She won the match after pinning Makoto. ** 

JWP 4/3/11 Tokyo Korakuen Hall

Jaguar Yokota & Sachie Abe vs. Misaki Ohata & KAZUKI 13:15. This match celebrated the 15th anniversary of Sachie Abe’s pro wrestling career. She teamed with the legendary Jaguar Yokota. It was cool to see Misaki Ohata, one of my personal favorites, in the ring with a GOAT candidate like Jaguar. I remember thinking Abe’s 2002 work okay back in the day, but other than that she never really stood out that much as a worker, while still remaining a familiar name over the years. She was definitely more cute than good. Ohata did well for herself in this match. KAZUKI didn’t really do anything of note. Jaguar was in grumpy veteran mode, and was still quite an impressive worker when taken into consideration that she was 49 years old at the time. The match ended when Abe pinned KAZUKI. **

JWP Tag & Daily Sports Joshi Tag Title: Tsubasa Kuragaki & Kayoko Haruyama vs. Aja Kong & Hailey Hatred 16:46. This was a no-nonsense hoss fight type match. Aja Kong was in a foul mood, and beat the crap out of her opponents when the action spilled outside of the ring. Even when the action was back in the ring, Aja gave her opponents a tough time. Aja worked stiff, but she also gave her opponents plenty of time to shine. Tsubasa Kuragaki did some cool-looking moves, including a missile dropkick followed up by an Asai moonsault onto Aja. Kayako Haruyama wasn’t as impressive as her tag team partner, but she also did some big moves, such as a guillotine leg drop off the top onto Aja. Hailey Hatred was a worker from Ohio. She was able to hold up her end of the work, but the match was definitely at its best when Aja was in the match. Aja couldn’t resist using the trash can once Hailey passed her the object. The final minutes were decent as well. Kuragaki pinned Hailey to win the match. **½   

JWP & High Speed Double Title: Kaori Yoneyama vs. Leon 21:50. This match really showed that Yoneyama still had this type of big match performance in her after we’d seen her appear in random tag matches on small Ice Ribbon shows previously in 2011. Yoneyama’s execution was crisp and her selling was superb. The deliberant big match pacing with plenty of big moves made this an enjoyable and intriguing main event. What could have potentially turned into a horrendous botch was covered up well by Leon as she went for a springboard move (perhaps a springboard plancha) and slipped on the top rope… but she landed on the apron and dove onto Kaori. I thought that showed a lot of skills on Leon’s part to stay calm, maintain some sort of balance while reaching for the ropes and react in that split second. Leon actually slipped a second time (which is rare for Leon, to slip twice in a match). This time Kaori reacted by beating Leon up. A tremendous spear by Leon through the ropes to Kaori (who was standing on the apron) to the outside made me forgive Leon for her previous slipperiness in this match. The rest of the match was pretty solid and was really good, as was to be expected from these two in 2011. Leon won the match by pinfall. ***½   

STARDOM 4/10/11 Tokyo Shinkiba 1st RING: DASH Chisako vs. Eri Susa 11:12. I believe this was the first STARDOM appearance of DASH Chisako. DASH Chisako would appear irregularly in STARDOM over the next few years on maybe about only 20 more occasions in total during the rest of the decade. SGPW and JWP were her main promotions (and later Marvelous). This was a good opportunity for Eri Susa to be in the ring with someone who was a good worker and more experienced. Susa gave a decent rookie performance. *¾ 

OZ Academy 4/10/11 Tokyo Shinjuku Face

Io Shirai & Mio Shirai & Hiren vs. Manami Toyota & Carlos Amano & Nao Komatsu 10:34 of 15:29. Io Shirai already outperformed everyone as soon as she made her entrance as she executed a front flip off the top onto her feet as she entered the ring. During the match, Io literally walked all over Nao Komatsu. The Shirai sisters worked well together, as expected. Hiren worked hard. Manami Toyota was good considering this was the 2011 version of Toyota, and it was cool to see this legend in the same match as future all-time great Io. Carlos Amano just kinda did her usual thing, which was fine. Toyota pinned Mio with the Japanese Ocean Cyclone Suplex with an assist from Carlos Amano, who hit a headbutt off the top rope on Mio. **½  

Ran YuYu & AKINO vs. Ayumi Kurihara & Dynamite Kansai 8:39 of 19:22. Ayumi Kurihara did one of her signature dropkicks to the face while AKINO was down near the bottom rope. We only got less than half the match, so we don’t know how good this really was, but it appeared to be a pretty good match based on what aired. Ran YuYu was reliable, as always and everyone seemed to try their best. **¾  

OZ Academy Tag Team Title: Chikayo Nagashima & Sonoko Kato vs. Hiroyo Matsumoto & Tomoka Nakagawa 17:19. This was the re-match of their excellent 1/9/11 match, and was another memorable match between these two teams. Tomoka Nakagawa’s work with Nagashima was some of the best work of this match, and they both showed why they were two of the best performers in tag team competition. Hiroyo Matsumoto and Tomoka Nakagawa had returned from a recent tour to the United States. They didn’t team up together during that tour though, and they even wrestled each other in tag team competition. This was even brought up by the Japanese commentators on this GAORA broadcast. They mentioned that Hiroyo Matsumoto & Misaki Ohata (3S, the Seven Star Sisters) won the SHIMMER Tag Team Title from the Canadian NINJAs (Nicole Matthews & Portia Perez) in the United States. However, they lost the SHIMMER Tag Team Title later that tour to Tomoka Nakagawa & Daizee Haze. Matsumoto hit a tremendous suicide dive onto her opponents. Matsumoto showed a lot of enthusiasm. Chikayo Nagashima was excellent, as expected. Sonoko Kato played her part and was a reliable partner for Nagashima, as always. It was a really good match and while it wasn’t on the level of their excellent 1/9/11 match, it’s worth watching and it lived up to OZ Academy’s reputation at the time for having at least one good tag match on each show. Nakagawa pinned Nagashima. This meant Nakagawa was now a tag team champion on two different continents at the same time. Matsumoto & Nakagawa had become the new OZ Academy Tag Team Champions. ***¾ 

OZ Academy 4/29/11 Osaka IMP Hall

Manami Toyota & Hiren & Nao Komatsu vs. Io Shirai & Mio Shirai & Sonoko Kato 18:05. It was cool watching another match that had Manami Toyota and Io Shirai in the same match together. Manami Toyota didn’t approve Hiren’s heelish tactics as Hiren was getting help through outside interference from Mika Nishio. Hiren didn’t seem too interested in working together with Manami & Nao. Hiren eventually decided that she would just watch the match literally from ringside (w/ Nishio). That means that Manami, who was past her prime, and Nao, who was inexperienced, basically continued the rest of the match as a handicap match against three opponents that were all three in their respective primes. Sonoko Kato kinda seemed out of her element in this match though, randomly placed in a match with workers she hadn't been working with lately. Io was the best worker in the match. There was a cool spot near the end where Mio literally kicked Nao’s feet away from underneath her. Soon after that, Io hit a springboard dropkick on Nao. Mio pinned Nao to win the match. **¼  

Hiroyo Matsumoto & Tomoka Nakagawa vs. Ayumi Kurihara & Carlos Amano 12:34. Carlos Amano went for her usual headbutt, but Tomoka Nakagawa blocked it and spit water in her face. The OZ Academy Tag Team Champions (Matsumoto & Nakagawa) worked well together and continued to show they were one of the best tag teams of the year. Ayumi Kurihara carried her team through her hard work. Amano was okay, but mostly seemed interested in waiting for the right moment to give someone a headbutt. Nakagawa pinned Kurihara. **½  

~The Wizard of OZ~ OZ Academy Title Match: Aja Kong vs. Ran YuYu 19:22 This was even better than I initially expected. I liked the methodical approach to this match. It was relatively slow-paced. The selling was pretty good. I like that Ran YuYu actually sold Aja Kong’s brainbuster onto the trash can quite well (unlike Meiko Satomura in her 7/9/2006 match with Aja, for example). Ran pinned Aja to win this match. I’d say this was quite a big victory for Ran and it was good to see Aja get the opportunity to work a very good match. ***½ 

WAVE 5/2/11 Tokyo Shinjuku FACE Catch the WAVE Visual Block: Ayumi Kurihara vs. Misaki Ohata 9:54 of 10:37. They started the match off by biting each other’s arm. Misaki Ohata’s bumping was pretty wicked. Ohata was pretty vicious and her execution was spot on. Ayumi Kurihara executed a missile dropkick and Ohata’s bump was totally awesome. They were both certainly feeling it that day. The work was crisp. ***½ 

JWP 5/8/11 Tokyo Kinema Club

DASH Chisako vs. Tomoko Morii 17:21. DASH Chisako got the better of a nice slap exchange. This match was intriguing because they were into whatever they were doing. It was a match that was worked at a slow pace and with deliberation. They were never going through the motions and they tried to give meaning to everything they did, even if it was many times somewhat basic. The more spectacular moments obviously came whenever DASH saw an opening to go for some more high-risk moves. Tomoko Morii is the type of worker who is always just kinda there on these shows, but, while unspectacular, here she showed she could potentially be a solid performer at times. DASH showed that she was growing as a worker, and this was a good showcase for her in a singles match that got a decent amount of time against an opponent who would follow along with her. DASH sold well. DASH won the match with a frog splash. The finish kinda came as a progression of them trying to beat each other over the length of the match, without any real near-falls sequences. **½ 

High Speed Title Match: Leon vs. Ray 15:02. Leon and Ray together were a very good tag team whenever they would team up, but here they were very good opponents. Perhaps they were good friends, but better enemies. Their familiarity with each other’s work certainly seemed to play a role in the high quality of this match. They worked some quick sequences with some nice counters. Execution and selling was very good. It was a fast-paced match and Ray was having a good night here, hitting all her moves really well. Leon is one of the more underappreciated workers because she’s so good at what she does and I think many people seem to not realize it. The difficulty level was quite high, and that makes this match even more impressive. A well-executed frog splash got only a 2-count for Leon. There was a pretty wicked spinning kick where Ray charged into Ray in the corner and Ray kicked Leon in the face with her right and left foot. The finishing moments were tremendous, and pretty much everything was executed smoothly. It was a joy to watch this match. DASH Chisako, wearing a Hardy Boyz shirt and necklace, entered the ring after the match and cut a teary post-match promo. I’m not sure what the promo was about, but it probably had something to do with her upcoming match with Leon on the next show, which promised to be another very interesting match. ****

Triple Tails 5/8/11 Nagoya Aichi Zepp: Kana & Io Shirai & Mio Shirai vs. AKINO & Syuri & Kagetsu 22:21. Triple Tails headlined their show against AKINO & Syuri & Kagetsu, who worked together well as a team and they seemed pretty motivated. Mio was in trouble for a while, but she eventually tagged in her sister, Io. When Kana was in the ring, she showed a lot of confidence, almost to the point of arrogance. When Mio was back in the ring, Syuri saw this as an opportunity to show her stuff. AKINO, the most experienced worker in this match, gave a very good performance here. She realized she was in the ring with workers who were in their primes and hungry to show their stuff. I like how AKINO’s role was to be a leader for her team by allowing others to shine and not take the spotlight, yet at the same time, contribute to the match in a positive way. Kagetsu hit a springboard move, but Kana saw it coming and caught her in Ace crusher. Io went for a moonsault on Syuri, but Syuri got her feet up, resulting in Io bouncing off. Syuri’s kicks and knees looked technical, but they didn’t really look as stiff as I hoped they’d be. Her elbow smashes looked more powerful though. Io tried another moonsault on Syuri and this time she pinned Syuri and won the match. This was a good match, but I feel that it never lived up to its potential. I especially felt this way because it really had all the makings of a really good match, and that’s how it started off. But, considering how they worked this match, they probably would have needed a few more minutes to make it better because that would have enabled them to have a more dramatic ending and put a bit more storytelling into the final minutes. Instead, this was "just" a good and fun trios match. Good enough to watch for sure, but it felt like a bit of a disappointment when considering how good it potentially could have been if you look at the names involved. ***

Yuzupon Matsuri 5/15/11 Tokyo Shinkiba 1st RING: Yuzuki Aikawa vs. Ayumi Kurihara 20:00. Ayumi Kurihara was obviously carrying the match with her great work, but Yuzuki Aikawa understood enough of how to have a good match to make her part of the performance work without necessarily having the ability. Aikawa was still a rookie and she did well for herself considering that and considering the expectations people had of her. A particularly cool spot was when Aikawa went for a kick while Kurihara was sitting on the top turnbuckle and Kurihara caught Aikawa’s kick. Aikawa sold well enough and Kurihara carried this well enough, to the point this was actually decent overall. This was easily the best match featuring Aikawa up until that point in her career. Near the end, there was some more aggression shown in this match and Aikawa’s mouth even got stiffed up a bit (not sure when that happened, but it may have been a knee by Kurihara). **½  

JWP 5/22/11 Kitasenju Theater 1010 Mini Theater

Misaki Ohata vs. Hanako Nakamori 9:32. This was a match where the stipulation was that a 2-count would count as a win. They went for covers a bit more than they probably usually would and they obviously kept getting only a 1-count. It was a fun match. Nakamori got the pinfall victory after a 2-count. **¼  

High Speed Title Match: Leon vs. DASH Chisako 17:27. It’s good to see DASH Chisako working singles matches in JWP that get a good amount of time against good opponents. DASH was on offense for the majority of the match. During the final minutes, Leon started to get more offense in. It was a pretty good match, but nothing really extraordinary. They kept the match going at a reasonable pace and it was enjoyable to watch though. The final minutes were most exciting, and represented a good exclamation mark to a good match. *** 

WAVE 5/29/11 Tokyo Shinkiba 1st RING Catch the WAVE Visual Block: Ayumi Kurihara vs. Yumi Oka 10:04 of 14:22. The match was at its best when Ayumi Kurihara was on the offensive, but Yumi Oka was on offense a bit too much. Kurihara hit a nice plancha off the top. Oka’s most spectacular move was a flying cross bodypress off the top. Kurihara sold Oka’s big boots well, and even went over the top rope onto the rampway for one of them. Oka’s selling and bumping wasn’t that good most of the time. Kurihara’s selling was really good. Kurihara came close to victory a couple of times. The final minutes were pretty exciting. **¼ 

STARDOM 6/12/11 Tokyo Shinkiba 1st RING: Natsuki*Taiyo vs. Arisa Hoshiki 14:28. Natsuki*Taiyo’s speed and agility was incredible, as always. She carried this match against Arisa Hoshiki well. Hoshiki showed a lot of potential. She had a good amount of athletic ability, and she reacted to things well. This match turned out more competitive than expected. Hoshiki was only 15 years old, but she almost beat Taiyo on a few occasions. Near the end of the match, Taiyo got a near-fall after a missile dropkick. Taiyo followed it up with a frog splash, but she couldn’t put Hoshiki away quite yet. Taiyo would eventually get the pinfall victory, but it wasn’t an easy victory. This match convinced me that Hoshiki was the best rookie of 2011. ***

JWP 6/12/11 Tokyo Kinema Club JWP Openweight Title: Leon vs. Hanako Nakamori 21:12. Leon was such a reliable worker for JWP during the early 2010s. Whenever she was in a big JWP match, you’d know that it would be worth watching. Hanako Nakamori really tried to step up her own game here in order to not disappoint. This was a good opportunity for her to show everyone what she was capable of. Hanako wasn’t quite at her peak here though. Hanako showed the fighting spirit, but she wasn’t quite able to back it up with top-notch skill. However, her effort was good and it got her a long way in this match. Leon hit a couple of big dropkicks in the corner. They exchanged forearm smashes. Once Hanako was on the floor, Leon hit a plancha off the top rope with great ease. A missile dropkick by Leon was followed up by a spear to Hanako’s back, while Hanako was hanging upside down in the corner. Hanako slapped Leon a few times, but then got slapped herself by Leon. When Leon went for a frog splash, Hanako saw it coming and got her feet up, resulting in Leon bouncing off. Hanako hit Leon with a dropkick off the apron when Leon was on the floor. Hanako went for a couple of dropkicks off the top rope into the ring, which Leon bumped well for. Hanako couldn’t get the victory though. The way this was worked, Hanako really seemed more like a threat than she perhaps should have been at this point in her career. This showed again how good Leon was. Leon then went for a frog splash and a Texas cloverleaf. Hanako reached the ropes though. Hanako’s kicks weren’t too powerful, but Leon kinda sold for them anyway. Hanako hit a northern lights buster. She then hit a powerful kick. Ironically, this time Leon’s kick on Hanako, who was on the top turnbuckle, wasn’t too powerful. Leon hit a released German suplex while seated on the top rope in the corner while having her legs hooked underneath the second rope, resulting in Leon being able to literally kind of hang around after the move. Hanako took the bump well. Leon executed a spinning kick that seemed to kinda miss, but Hanako sold it like it hit the mark anyway. She probably should have treated it like a missed move instead and followed up on it. But, then again, maybe it just looked worse than it was due to the camera angle (I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt). They continued the match with some near-falls until Leon got the pinfall victory. It was a pretty good match, but I felt Leon was trying hard to make Hanako seem like the challenger they were trying to make her seem while Hanako couldn’t really live up to it. After the match, Hailey Hatred entered the ring and cut a promo on Leon. She said she’ll win Leon’s belt in Osaka (and she actually did somehow). **¾ 

OZ Academy 6/12/11 Tokyo Kinema Club OZ Academy Tag Team Title: Tomoka Nakagawa & Hiroyo Matsumoto vs. Mariko Yoshida & Misaki Ohata 19:30. This show was held at the same venue as the JWP show from the same day. This was billed as a Jungle Jack 21 Produce show. Jungle Jack 21 was a stable that consisted of Aja Kong, AKINO, Hiroyo Matsumoto and Tomoka Nakagawa. The name of the stable is a tribute to Aja Kong’s former tag team with Bison Kimura from the early ‘90s, which was called Jungle Jack. This was a rare appearance for Mariko Yoshida, who only wrestled a handful of matches in 2011. Misaki Ohata started the match off with some fast-paced action. Yoshida was still good and she did well for herself, but you could tell there was some ring rust as she’d not been wrestling at least semi-regularly since 2008. Yoshida's mat wrestling skills were a nice chance of pace from the other three workers, who were mostly doing more fast-pace and flashy stuff. Ohata seemed inspired by her former trainer Yoshida though, and tried to focus on Nakagawa’s arm and when Yoshida was tagged in again, she continued doing damage on Nakagawa’s arm. Now that’s some good teamwork. Matsumoto wanted to show that her tag team was still the best tag team though, and she decided to come to Nakagawa’s aid. Matsumoto hit a tope suicida. Nakagawa hit a dropkick on Yoshida and then tagged Matsumoto in. Matsumoto started steamrolling over her competition while Nakagawa was selling the damage done to her arm. Yoshida executed leg submissions on Matsumoto whenever she saw the opportunity for it. That certainly disrupted Matsumoto’s momentum. Ohata was tagged in and hit a series of dropkicks. Ohata then started working over Matsumoto’s arm. Matsumoto now also had a damaged arm, just like her tag team partner. Ohata and Matsumoto got into a slap exchange. Matsumoto hit some high impact moves (a couple of them with assistance from Nakawaga), but Ohata survived. Ohata hit a couple of German suplexes. Matsumoto hit a big elbow smash. Ohata managed to get out of a powerbomb attempt by Matsumoto, perhaps partially because of Ohata’s loud scream. Nakagawa stopped Ohata from making the tag and continued hitting offense on Ohata. However, Ohata quickly made the tag to Yoshida once she saw the opportunity. All four workers were in the ring at the same time now. The action was pretty much non-stop and the selling was done really well. They sold enough to put over the moves, but they made sure to keep the action going. At some point Yoshida had a submission hold on Nakagawa while Ohata had a submission hold applied on Matsumoto at the same time. The tag team champions were not going to be defeated easily though, and they survived. Yoshida hit a big air raid crash on Nakagawa, but Nakagawa kicked out. The match eventually came to an end when Nakagawa got the pinfall victory via a rollup on Yoshida. ***¾  

WAVE 6/18/11 Hiroshima Catch the WAVE Visual Block: Ayumi Kurihara vs. Mio Shirai 8:15 of 12:02. Both workers gave a good effort. Even though the action appeared to be pretty much non-stop, it kinda felt like just another Catch the WAVE tournament match though. **¼ 

WAVE 6/19/11 Osaka Minami Move On Arena

Catch the WAVE Technical Block: Kana vs. Ryo Mizunami 6:54 of 15:00. This was fun because Kana beat the crap out of Ryo Mizunami. However, it actually ended up being more of a competitive match than I initially expected. **½ 

Catch the WAVE Visual Block: Misaki Ohata vs. Yumi Oka 9:28 of 11:52. Misaki Ohata hit some good-looking dropkicks. Yumi Oka was okay, but it was Ohata who made the match interesting. Oka executed a bodyslam on Ohata on the floor, and Ohata sold it well. Ohata hit some nice-looking offense during the final few minutes. Oka hit many big boots, but one of them looked particularly impactful when she hit the big boot as Ohata was about to rebound off the ropes. **¼ 

STARDOM 6/26/11 Tokyo Shinkiba 1st RING: Mayu Iwatani vs. Eri Susa. Mayu Iwatani and Eri Susa were rookies who made their debut on 1/23/11, and have yet to win a match. They both tried hard, and it was actually quite okay. It was clearly a rookies match, but they were better than the average rookie. Susa got the win. Mayu’s time will come. **

JWP 6/26/11 Osaka Matsushita IMP Hall JWP Tag & Daily Sports Women’s Tag Team Title: Tsubasa Kuragaki & Kayako Haruyama vs. DASH Chisako & Sendai Sachiko 19:54. DASH Chisako and her sister Sendai Sachiko challenged for the title. They mostly bumped and sold for their opponents during the early stages of the match. Once they finally started getting more offense in, the match got more interesting to watch. However, Tsubasa Kuragaki and Kayako Haruyama moved around slowly and totally lacked energy, which dragged the match down quite a bit. Chisako & Sachiko hadn’t quite established themselves fully yet at this point, so perhaps that partially explains why it felt like they weren’t really taken seriously in this match. It seemed the champs saved their energy for a couple of big moves near the finish. Haruyama hit a big guillotine leg drop. Kuragaki hit a moonsault. Kuragaki won the match after a big lariat that spinned Chisako upside down. **¼  

WAVE 7/6/11 Tokyo Shinkiba 1st RING Catch the WAVE Technical Block: Kana vs. Tomoka Nakagawa 7:06 of 15:00. This was easily the best match of the "technical" block ("technical" block isn’t really the most appropriate name because the rest of the block consists of Toshie Uematsu, Ryo Mizunami and Cherry, and they are not the first workers I’d think of when booking a block called technical block). Kana and Tomoka Nakagawa put on an exciting display of action. Kana focused on strikes and her overall performance was strong. Kana executed her moves with great conviction. Nakagawa worked hard and her workrate was high. The work was so smooth and it confirmed these were two of the best workers at the time. This was yet another 15-minute time limit draw for Kana. It appeared to be very good and it’s a shame we only got to see half of it, especially since this was possibly even better in full form. ***½   

WAVE 7/24 Tokyo Shinjuku FACE

Catch the WAVE Semi-Final: Misaki Ohata vs. Toshie Uematsu 9:10 of 13:38. Misaki Ohata gave a strong effort and her performance made this match interesting. Toshie Uematsu was okay. Ohata got the well-deserved victory and advanced to the final. **¼ 

Catch the WAVE Semi-Final: Kana vs. Kagetsu 7:10 of 9:48. Kagetsu tried her best and did well for herself. Kagetsu’s springboard dropkick looked impressive. Kagetsu showed that she could potentially be one to keep an eye on for in the future. Kagetsu got a lot of offense in, and that gave the impression that Kagetsu had a chance of winning (though in wrestling it usually means the opposite result). Kana’s performance was great in a subtle way. Kana’s timing and selling were great. Kana knew when it was the right time to change gears. **½

Catch the WAVE Final: Kana vs. Misaki Ohata 6:45 of 10:14. The fact that they didn’t show the final in complete form was kind of annoying. That’s obviously not the fault of the workers though. Kana and Misaki Ohata were worthy finalists. They were definitely two of the very best in this tournament. The only other workers that potentially would have deserved to be in this final were Tomoka Nakagawa and Ayumi Kurihara, who also gave memorable showings during this tournament. Kana and Ohata had worked previously that night, so the final was understandably kept relatively short. Kana’s offense was impressive and made her look vicious. This was emphasized even more by Ohata selling really well. Ohata was also impressive when she was on offense. Ohata showed a lot of passion and the will to win. Kana was more like a machine who was out to destroy whatever was on her path. It was a fun match, but I wish it was a bit longer, and I wish it was shown in full form. **¾ 

STARDOM 7/24/11 Tokyo Korakuen Hall

Mayu Iwatani & Arisa Hoshiki vs. Eri Susa & Saki Kashima 9:44. Four STARDOM rookies in one match. Eri Susa showed a lot of effort and wanted to show her potential. Mayu and especially Arisa were quite a bit better than their opponents. Saki Kashima has always been kinda basic even when she started hitting her prime, but especially in her rookie year here in 2011, she was just cute and not really that good as a worker. Mayu probably gave her best performance up until that point in her career and even got the pinfall victory over Susa. *¾ 

High Speed Title: Leon vs. Natsuki*Taiyo 21:41. Natsuki*Taiyo finally had the opportunity to face someone who she could potentially have a great match with. Taiyo was one of the very best women’s wrestlers on the planet at the time. Taiyo had mostly been facing the homegrown STARDOM rookie talent for the first half of 2011. Here on this big Korakuen Hall show, she faced Leon, who had been having a really good year in JWP. Both workers gave a really strong effort and displayed their skills, as you’d expect on a show of this magnitude. They also made sure to live up to the name of the title, they worked at a relatively high speed and kept the action going pretty much non-stop throughout this match. Taiyo was a more incredible athlete, but Leon once again proved she was a reliable performer you could count on. Leon was extra motivated here because she had a top caliber opponent. Pretty much all the moves were executed superbly. Even when there was maybe one miscommunication, they covered it up so well that it wasn’t an issue at all (especially considering the difficulty level was quite high). The workrate was incredibly high and they just kept going and going. After an incredible display of fast-paced action, Taiyo got the pinfall victory. The match was apparently also stiffer than it may have appeared because Taiyo’s left eye was shut. ****   

World of STARDOM Title Decision Tournament Final: Nanae Takahashi vs. Yoko Bito 13:17. This show celebrated the 15th anniversary of the pro wrestling career of Nanae Takahashi. She had been a key figure in STARDOM’s first year. However, no matter what would happen in this match, there was no way they could follow the previous match on this show (Leon vs. Natsuki*Taiyo, which was a MOTYC). Regardless of the difference in quality, the style of this match would be different anyway. This was a somewhat decent match, but compared to the previous match on this show, it felt pedestrian. At least Nanae Takahashi had made sure to wear her best looking gear for this big event. At some point there appeared to be some miscommunication of sorts that caused rookie Bito to be confused what to do next. Tanahashi tried to solve the problem by repeatedly slapping Bito in the face. After what seemed an eternity, Takahashi finally got the pinfall victory and predictably became the first ever World of STARDOM Champion. *¾ 

STARDOM 8/7/11 Osaka Minami Move On Arena

Natsuki*Taiyo vs. Saki Kashima 12:02. Natsuki*Taiyo carried Saki Kashima to the best match of Kashima’s young career up until that point in time. Taiyo used her athleticism to make things exciting and challenged Kashima to step up her game. Kashima tried her best. Taiyo won the match with a moonsault. **

Mayu Iwatani & Arisa Hoshiki vs. Yuzuki Aikawa & Yoko Bito 10:33. They worked hard and tried to impress. All four were still rookies, of course, but it’s interesting to keep seeing them progress. Arisa Hoshiki was probably the most skilled of these four at this point. Mayu Iwatani showed she wasn’t afraid to take risks and punishment. Yuzuki Aikawa was a bit better than during some of her previous matches in 2011. Yoko Bito was quite okay. *¾ 

SMASH 8/11/11 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Kana vs. Syuri 13:25. Syuri was a strong opponent for Kana because of her martial arts background, and actually seemed more vicious than Kana throughout most of this match, though Kana was smart and waited for the right moments to respond with suplexes. Syuri hit several kicks and Kana responded with kicks. When Kana caught one of Syuri’s kicks, she transitioned into an ankle lock, but Syuri reached the ropes. Syuri continued hitting more and more kicks. Kana worked over Syuri’s legs. Syuri now started hitting elbow smashes. After a dropkick to Kana’s left knee, Syuri applied a leg lock. After an elbow exchange, Syuri hit more kicks. Syuri’s kicks were powerful. Kana hit a reversed German suplex. Syuri hit a knee attack. More kicks from Syuri. She went for a cover, but Kana kicked out. They slapped each other in the face repeatedly. Syuri hit a big knee strike to Kana’s face. Kana responded with an uraken. Syuri managed to kick out at two. Kana started getting frustrated and kicked Syuri in the head. Syuri kicked out again. After Syuri managed to block some of Kana’s offense, she hit a tremendous jumping knee. Kana was able to kick out at two. Kana once again kicked out after a superkick by Syuri. Kana saw an opening to take Syuri down and apply an armbar. Syuri was now in a lot of trouble. When Syuri tried to escape, Kana transitioned into a seated Fujiwara armbar, which is a move Kana beat Syuri with on 7/24/10. However, Syuri managed to survive the hold. Kana stayed on top of Syuri though and applied a crossface chickenwing. Syuri stopped responding and the ref stopped the match. Kana was victorious. ***¾ 

STARDOM 8/14/11 Tokyo Shinkiba 1st RING

Natsuki*Taiyo vs. Eri Susa 8:50. This was tons of fun. Eri Susa was really good at taking a beating. Natsui*Taiyo was really testing Susa and trying to push Susa to the limit. Susa almost got a win over Taiyo. Near the finish, Taiyo uncharacteristically slipped off the top rope. She made up for it with an incredible finishing sequence that led to her pinfall victory over Susa. **¾  

Mayu Iwatani vs. Arisa Hoshiki 12:27. There was certainly progression noticeable. Both Mayu Iwatani and Arisa Hoshiki showed more confidence here than in their debut match against each other that took place on 1/23/11, which was STARDOM’s first show. You could tell from this match that these two were going to play a big role in the future of this company. Hoshiki pinned Mayu.  **½ 

Io Shirai & Nanae Takahashi vs. Yoko Bito & Yuzuki Aikawa 17:52. This was Io Shirai’s first match in STARDOM. She teamed with Nanae Takahashi against Yuzuki Aikawa & Yoko Bito. That match was frustrating though because Nanae and Io botched a double-team spot twice in a row real badly. It almost soured me on the whole match, especially considering this was Io’s STARDOM debut. However, the rest of the match was pretty good for the most part. Aikawa’s strikes and Bito’s strikes were actually a bit stiffer than normal, so that was good. Nanae didn’t really do anything of note. Most of Io’s moves looked good. Io hit a tremendous tope suicida on Bito. Io eventually got the pinfall victory over Aikawa. **¼ 

REINA 8/27/11 Tokyo Shinkiba 1st RING

Tomoka Nakagawa & Hiroyo Matsumoto vs. Bolshoi Kid & Tomoko Morii 12:21. Tomoka Nakagawa & Hiroyo Matsumoto were one of the best tag teams in the world at the time. Tomoko Morii was a JWP wrestler who could be a reasonable worker at times, especially with the right workers. For this event, Command Bolshoi unfortunately decided to wrestle under her old gimmick, Bolshoi Kid. That meant that there would be more comedy than necessary. Nakagawa and Matsumo gave a good performance. Morii mostly sold and bumped. Inspired by Bolshoi, Morii also resorted to some comedy tactics. After a bunch of nonsense by their opposition (Bolshoi Kid in particular), Matsumoto & Nakagawa at least made an attempt to have somewhat of a serious match. However, Bolshoi Kid seemingly had to turn everything into a joke. The final minutes featured a little bit more wrestling. Finally, the torture ended when Nakagawa pinned Morii. It’s a shame a great tag team like Nakagawa and Matsumoto had to be in a comedy match like this, especially knowing that Command Bolshoi could have done so much better than this. ¾*

Sendai Sachiko vs. Zeuxis 9:24. It’s always interesting to see Sendai Sachiko in a singles match because it seems she’s usually associated with her Jumonji Sisters tag team together with her sister DASH Chisako. Sachiko worked many matches for Super Delfin’s Okinawa Pro Wrestling, a splinter promotion of Osaka Pro Wrestling. Zeuxis is a luchadora from Puerto Rico who spent most of her career wrestling in Mexico and would become one of the more successful wrestlers in the CMLL women’s division later that decade. Zeuxis was an average worker, but at least she was able to contribute something to the match. Sachiko’s performance featured some exciting and athletic moves. They kept the action going pretty much all the time. A flying headscissors by Sachiko sent Zeuxis to the floor. Sachiko hit a nice top rope dropkick and a superkick. Sachiko also hit a well-executed moonsault, however Zeuxis rolled out of the way. The action went back-and-forth. Zeuxis went for a moonsault and this time it was Sachiko who rolled out of the way. Zeuxis defeated Sachiko after they performed the Spanish Fly together. **

WAVE 8/28/11 Tokyo Korakuen Hall

Kana vs. Ayumi Kurihara 13:00 of 15:04. You could tell that both Kana and Ayumi Kurihara knew this was a really good match-up and an opportunity to have an excellent match. They were both very focused and on top of their game. Kana was kinda like a predator stalking her prey. Kurihara tried to work as smartly as she could. Her reactions and decisions were right for this match. Kana continued her vicious assault on Kurihara when the action spilled on the outside. Kana kicked Kurihara repeatedly, but Kurihara moved out of the way and Kana kicked the ringpost. This gave Kurihara the opportunity to hit a tremendous missile dropkick off the top rope to Kana on the floor. Kurihara threw Kana into several rows of chairs. Once the action was back in the ring, the action continued in an aggressive manner. After a lot of great action, Kana hit the uraken, but Kurihara survived. The action was fast-paced. They stayed on top of each other most of the time and the execution was excellent. In the end, Kana defeated Kurihara. After the match, Kurihara asked Kana to become her tag team partner. **** 

Shu Shibutani vs. AKINO 13:00 of 15:15. Finally, Shu Shibutani was back in action again after being sidelined for over a year. She was one of the best workers of the year 2010. Shibutani’s work was excellent here. Her offense, her enthusiasm, and her selling was excellent. Luckily, AKINO also was in the mood to try to work hard, and she gave a good effort. After a few minutes of some feeling out and a couple of lucha arm drags, Shibutani almost killed herself by hitting a huge tope suicida where she made a hard landing onto the floor. Not sure what happened there, but AKINO looked puzzled. Shibutani was still alive and continued working hard. AKINO hit a dropkick that slowed Shibutani down. While AKINO was on offense, the pace was slower. AKINO hit a nice leg drop. AKINO facewashed Shibutani in the corner, Otani-style. Eventually, Shibutani was back on offense again with her awesome swinging DDT and a beautiful German suplex. Shibutani hit a diamond cutter and AKINO hit a superplex. The action went back-and-forth for a bit. Shibutani tried to pin AKINO a few times. Shibutani tried to accelerate the pace, but AKINO couldn’t quite keep up. AKINO hit a few nice-looking suplexes and a kick to Shibutani’s head, but Shibutani survived. Not for long though as AKINO got the pin after a wrist clutch exploder suplex. ***½  

STARDOM 8/28/11 Tokyo Shinkiba 1st RING: Io Shirai vs. Yoko Bito 20:00. This was Io Shirai’s first singles match in STARDOM. Io was still officially a freelancer at this time. Yoko Bito did reasonably well for a rookie, but there were some execution flaws in her performance. Io was obviously the more impressive of the two. Io’s great athleticism enhanced the match quite a bit. While this wasn’t Io at her peak yet, this match did give a pretty good indication of the fact that Io would have an interesting time in STARDOM ahead of her. Io hit a lot of spectacular moves and should have won the match, really. But, somehow this was a time limit draw. **½ 

SMASH 9/8/11 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Ayumi Kurihara & Ray vs. Syuri & Makoto 12:31 of 17:48. SMASH was the main league Syuri was competing in at the time and she had a feud with the visiting Ayumi Kurihara, who had been working for a wide variety of promotions in different countries in 2011. Syuri and Kurihara started the match off because Syuri was determined to beat Kurihara. It was tense, and it made this match feel serious even though SMASH isn’t necessarily a serious league. Ray and Makoto briefly worked, but it didn’t take long for Kurihara and Syuri to go at it again. This time it was Kurihara who ran towards Syuri and just nailed her. Kurihara then worked with Makoto for a bit. Makoto looked good in her new gear and she tagged Syuri back in. Syuri was very intense and really took it to Kurihara. Syuri then kicked Kurihara in the head real hard with a tremendous kick. Syuri briefly worked with Ray and Syuri kept being impressive. Whenever Makoto was in, the work wasn’t too sophisticated, but Makoto was energetic and gave a good effort. Kurihara hit a missile dropkick on Makoto. The crowd was into this interesting joshi match, which was understandable since this match was quite a bit better than the usual stuff they get to see their average shows. Kurihara hit a tremendous dropkick on Makoto, who almost got dropkicked out of the ring. Makoto was obviously the weak link of the match, but the good thing was that she knew it and she sold well, actually playing her role so well that she somehow took part in enhancing the match by just being Makoto. The main story of the match was the feud between Syuri and Kurihara though. Syuri was overly aggressive to the point she knocked the ref down and Syuri was disqualified. Ray never really got to show her stuff and/or her work was kinda edited out since she wasn’t the main focus and/or SMASH only cares about her when she’s in her Lin Byron role. Either way, this was a good match and worth watching. ***

REINA 9/10/11 Tokyo Edogawa-ku Tobu Friend Hall CMLL-REINA International Junior Title Tournament Final: Ray vs. Zeuxis 6:21; 3:40; 10:39. This was a 2-out-of-3 falls match between Ray from Hong Kong and Zeuxis from Puerto Rico in a tournament final to decide the first champion for a title that was created by a Mexican promotion (CMLL) and a Japanese promotion (REINA). Ray’s incredible athleticism became quite clearly apparent, as it usually does in her matches. Both workers seemed quite motivated, as they should be since this was a tournament final for a championship. Zeuxis gave a good effort within the context of her experience level and lucha libre background. Ray won the first fall relatively easily by submission. Zeuxis submitting so quickly kinda made sense since Ray was a more skilled opponent, so Zeuxis should want to save strength for the second and third falls and it is also very common to just submit to somewhat random submissions in lucha libre. The second fall was the shortest fall, which is another thing that’s very common in lucha libre. Zeuxis won the second fall when the Spanish Fly was performed. The third fall was all action. Zeuxis tried to give the best performance she could. She hit a pretty impressive tope suicida. Zeuxis threw Ray into some chairs at ringside. Zeuxis performed an obscure lucha hold and then transitioned into a half Boston crab. Ray managed to reach the ropes after some struggling. Ray tried to go for an armbar, but couldn’t get it locked fully. Zeuxis tried to power her way out. Ray got some damage done though and kept working on Zeuxis’ right arm. Zeuxis tried to make a comeback, but never could quite get Ray in enough trouble. Zeuxis went for a moonsault and Ray rolled away. Ray now had the momentum going her way and hit a moonsault, but Zeuxis kicked out at the count of two. Zeuxis then went for a twisting moonsault and got the pinfall victory. **¼ 

STARDOM 9/10/11 Tokyo Shinkiba 1st RING

Eri Susa vs. Yu Yamagata 7:47. Yu Yamagata was kinda toying around with Eri Susa for a bit. Susa started fighting back, but knew how to play her role as underdog to perfection to the point that Susa was actually the more impressive performer in this match, despite Yamagata being a lot more experienced. Yamagata gave a decent performance, but seemed to have trouble knowing how much to sell for the young Susa while still be convincing as the more experienced performer. Either way, this was a fun match, but not essential viewing by any means. Yamagata won via submission. ** 

Tomoka Nakagawa vs. Saki Kashima 9:17. Saki Kashima was more enthusiastic and more resourceful than usual. Tomoka Nakagawa continued being impressive as she had been for quite a while now. Kashima was trying all kinds of submission holds and rollups into submission holds. Nakagawa was a great base for Kashima’s enthusiastic offense and Nakagawa’s selling was steady. Kashima was able to summon more ability through the momentum she had built up, and started doing moves she’d normally never do. Nakagawa probably felt that was a good time to stop selling and start punishing Kashima. It took Nakagawa only a few moves to put Kashima away. I wish the finishing minutes were a bit more competitive, but the real story was that Kashima was surprisingly decent here. Nakagawa obviously deserves credit for helping elevate Kashima’s performance. **½  

Saki Kashima vs. Eri Susa 10:00. After giving a surprisingly decent performance, Kashima grabbed the microphone and it appeared she challenged Eri Susa (perhaps she wanted to prove that she’s better than Susa, also a rookie at the time). Rossy Ogawa then seemingly gave the okay for the match, and the match started. Kashima continued to give an inspiring performance. She may not be the most athletically gifted and she may not be the most technical performer, but she definitely seems to care about what she’s doing. That certainly translated into yet another interesting match here against Susa, who once again continued to play the underdog role to perfection, even though she was here against someone who could  also certainly be categorized as another underdog. This was a fun match between two young workers who tried their best to give the best match they were capable of at the time. **½  

Goddesses of STARDOM Special Scramble Tag War: Io Shirai & Nanae Takahashi vs. Mayu Iwatani & Arisa Hoshiki vs. Natsuki*Taiyo & Yoshiko vs. Yuzuki Aikawa & Yoko Bito 21:26. Nanae Takahashi and Io Shirai went for the move where Io is on top of Nanae’s shoulders and they were about to botch it again, but Yoko Bito covered it up by kicking Nanae, giving them a reason for not hitting the move. Io was quite impressive in this match though. At some point, she was kicked by all opponents at the same time. Natsuki*Taiyo showed tons of energy, as usual. She was the most outstanding performer in this match. The best part was probably when Taiyo and Io worked with each other at a lightning pace. Arisa Hoshiki was fun to watch whenever she was in. Yuzuki Aikawa’s kicks were pretty good. Bito was quite decent. Mayu Iwatani threw some nice dropkicks. This was a fun match overall with lots of action. Io (and Nanae) won the match when Io pinned Mayu via La Magistral. *** 

WAVE 9/14/11 Tokyo Shinkiba 1st RING

Kana & Io Shirai & Mio Shirai vs. Shu Shibutani & Cherry & Moeka Haruhi 9:15 of 13:21. Tthe match was at its most interesting when Shu Shibutani was in the ring. Triple Tails (Kana & Io Shirai & Mio Shirai) were like a rabid pack of wolves. Io hit a big splash on Shibutani and Kana followed it up with a vicious kick. Io and Kana were the most impressive performers in this match. Shibutani didn’t appear to be able to go at 100% speed here. Perhaps her right knee was bothering her again. Cherry and Moeka Haruhi didn’t do anything memorable. **½ 

Misaki Ohata vs. Hiren 9:46 of 15:00 shown. Hiren gave a pretty decent performance. Misaki Ohata showed a lot of determination. Hiren’s big boot was perhaps more powerful than most of Yumi Oka’s big boots. At the finish, Hiren went for a submission hold on Ohata’s right ankle, but the time limit expired. **¼ 

STARDOM 9/20/11 Akita Odate Shimin Taiikukan

Yuzuki Aikawa vs. Saki Kashima 7:08. Yuzuka Aikawa’s kicks appeared to have more power behind them than we’d normally been seeing from her. Her overall execution of her moves seemed to have improved as well over the past few weeks. Saki Kashima also tried her best here. It wasn’t a good match, but it was interesting to see these two at this stage of their careers and see what they would do. Aikawa got the pinfall victory. **

Io Shirai & Nanae Takahashi vs. Natsuki*Taiyo & Yu Yamagata 16:41. Yu Yamagata was okay and at least she was a better tag team partner for Natsuki*Taiyo then Yoshiko was. Nanae Takahashi beat Yamagata up a bit, then tagged in Io Shirai. The parts I most looked forward to were obviously when Io and Taiyo were in the ring together. Those two saved the best stuff for a bit later in the match though. Yamagata hit some stiff slaps when she was in the ring with Io, and she even seemed to hurt her own hand a bit. After Io spent a decent amount of time in the ring, she tagged in Nanae, who was able to take on both opponents at once for a little while. Io was tagged back in and took a few big boots to the face courtesy of Yamagata. Taiyo was tagged in, and this time she seemed to go at full speed against Io, who also was now ready for the fast sequences. Io hit a tiger feint kick, but Taiyo kicked out. Io hit a standing moonsault, but Taiyo kicked out again. Io tagged Nanae back in while Io sold. Nanae and Io went for the move where Io is on top of Nanae’s shoulders and they were about to mess it up again, but Yamagata covered it up by kicking Nanae, giving them an excuse for not hitting the double-team move once again (by now at least the fourth attempt since Nanae & Io started teaming together, you’d think they’d give up on trying). The final minutes were decent, and the match was decent overall, but I was hoping for more Io and Taiyo interactions. Io hit a nice tope suicide on Yamagata. Nanae pinned Taiyo in the middle of the ring. **½  

OZ Academy 9/23/11 Tokyo Shinjuku FACE: Ayumi Kurihara & Kaori Yoneyama vs. Tomoka Nakagawa & AKINO 14:31. It’s interesting to see a different match-up and even different team formations here for the mandatory good OZ Academy tag team match of the card. Kaori Yoneyama and AKINO started the match off for their respective teams, and showed us some good stuff. Tomoka Nakagawa entered the ring and showed her great speed. Ayumi Kurihara’s offense was graceful, and her selling was solid. Nakagawa & AKINO showed good teamwork, but Yoneyama made sure to be there for Kurihara whenever she needed help. After Kurihara gave a strong performance, she tagged in Yoneyama, who did well for herself until the tag team of Nakagawa & AKINO became more dominant in the match. Kurihara eventually made it back into the ring and tried to take care of business, but Nakagawa & AKINO were on top of their game here. Kurihara hit a couple of beautiful dropkicks, and tried to turn the match around. Despite Nakagawa’s resourcefulness, Kurihara managed to score a pinfall victory over Nakagawa to win the match for her team. ***¼ 

JWP 9/23/11 Tokyo Shinjuku FACE

Lion Hole vs. Sendai: Leon & Misaki Ohata & Hanako Nakamori vs. DASH Chisako & Sendai Sachiko & Hiren 15:20. Team Sendai immediately attacked their opposition, but Team Lion Hole quickly were able to turn things in their favor. Misaki Ohata and Sendai Sachiko worked a nice segment together. DASH Chisako worked hard, and continued giving Ohata the beating Sachiko had started. Ohata finally managed to fight back, and hit a flying cross body block. The Jumonji sisters, Chisako and Sachiko, managed to stop Hanako’s momentum after briefly struggling against Hanako. Their tag team partner in this match, Hiren, was pretty good in her role of the third person on the team and gave an adequate performance. The Jumonji sisters sold well for Leon, but Leon missed a frog splash when Sachiko rolled out of the way. Chisako hit an amazing missile dropkick on Leon and Sachiko followed it up with a German suplex. Leon managed to kick out at the two count though. Sachiko went for a moonsault, but Leon got her knees up. Sachiko attempted another moonsault about a minute later, and this time she hit it, but Leon kicked out at two. While Leon hit a senton bomb on Sachiko, all other participants in this match were brawling with each other. Leon couldn’t quite get the win though. Sachiko almost pinned Leon after an inside cradle. Leon hit a spear that almost got her the victory. Leon then hit a tremendous fisherman’s buster for the win. It was a fun match. Leon and the Jumonji sisters stood out the most in this match. ***

Kaori Yoneyama vs. Emi Sakura 14:19. Their hair vs. hair match on 9/19/10 was excellent and the third best joshi puroresu match of 2010. Though there was no hair or title on the line this time, they both gave a good effort here. However, it ultimately lacked the drama of the 2010 match, and the drama was what made that 2010 match so special. Still, this was a very good match overall, especially for more a random match in the middle of a normal JWP show. The workrate was actually higher overall today, pretty much non-stop action and it was relatively smooth. Emi Sakura gave arguably her best performance of the year here, probably because she knew this was a big JWP match for her and she had an opponent she could have a good match with (while she’s usually involved in matches with her young trainees in Ice Ribbon). Kaori Yoneyama’s workrate was still high in 2011. She was an energetic worker that was fun to watch back in those days. Sakura showed that her knife edge chops were still one of the most thunderous in joshi puroresu. There was a pretty good amount of crowd heat as well. That means that once again, these two had a memorable match. This time, however, Sakura managed to get the win after hitting a 450 splash. ***¾  

JWP Openweight & TLW World Women’s & IMW Hybrid Fighting Triple Title Match: Hailey Hatred vs. Tsubasa Kuragaki 20:15. There were some execution problems here and there in the match, but overall, it was quite an okay match. Kuragaki gave a strong performance, and this may have been the best singles match of Hailey Hatred’s career that I’ve watched so far.Tsubasa Kuragaki hit an impressive Asai moonsault. After a bunch of brawling on the floor, Hailey Hatred kicked the ringpost when Kuragaki moved out of the way. Kuragaki executed a Texas cloverleaf and continued working over Hailey’s leg. When Hailey would strike with a kick, she’d sell being hurt for a while. Kuragaki hit a couple of big clotheslines in the corner. Hailey’s execution wasn’t as smooth as that of the Japanese girls, but she definitely deserves credit for clearly trying her best and caring. Hailey also appeared to be quite over with the Japanese crowd. Kuragaki hit a big dropkick off the top rope, but Hailey kicked out at two. Hailey hit a big Stan Hansen-esque lariat that sent Kuragaki on the apron. This match worked particularly well because these two workers are both of similar size and both considered powerful workers. They hit all kinds of big moves during the long finishing stretch. In the end, Hailey got the pinfall victory. **¾    

Ice Ribbon 9/24/11

International Ribbon Tag Team Title Tournament Round 1

Tsukasa Fujimoto & Hikaru Shida vs. Kaori Yoneyama & Sayaka Obihiro 9:11. Kaori Yoneyama was the veteran in this match and she added to this match in a subtle way, never trying to outshine anyone. She seems quite consistent in that role whenever she appears in Ice Ribbon. Hikaru Shida showed a lot of enthusiasm and her work confirmed that she had improved quite a bit in 2011 compared to what we’ve seen of her 2010 work. Tsukasa Fujimoto, who also became a better worker in 2011, was perhaps the most fun to watch in this match because she was being so passionate and clearly wanted to impress. Sayaka Obihiro was the odd one out. Not only because of her jobber gear, but also because she didn’t quite have the skills the other three workers possessed. Tsukka and Shida hit a double dropkick off the top rope onto Obihiro. Tsukka went for the cover and won the match for her team. **½  

Manami Toyota & Tsukushi vs. Ray & Kurumi 12:35. Tsukushi started the match off and tried to impress everyone with quick movements on the mat and she made sure to dominate Kurumi early on. Kurumi quickly cowered out and tagged Ray in. Ray didn’t have too much trouble handling Tsukushi until Tsukushi got some help from the legendary Manami Toyota. Up next was a segment where Ray worked with Toyota. This would have been incredibly spectacular if this was 1990s Toyota, unfortunately, this was 2011 Toyota, and Ray was running circles around Toyota here. Tsukushi tried to bend Kurumi in half, but Ray decided to end Kurumi’s suffering by kicking Tsukushi and breaking the hold. Tsukushi hit a couple of nice dropkicks, and eventually got the pinfall victory over Kurumi. ** 

DASH Chisako & Sendai Sachiko vs. Hikari Minami & Riho 9:40. Hikari Minami and Riho worked well together as a tag team against the Jumonji sisters. Riho showed a lot of aggression for a 14-year old, and was surprisingly impressive in this match. She’d showed tons of potential before, but here she was actually competitive against a strong up-and-coming tag team. Minami showed a lot of enthusiasm, but wasn’t quite able to put her stamp on the match. Chisako was clearly getting more and more resourceful as her career progressed. Chisako’s sister, Sachiko, also displayed a high level of confidence and skill. Sachiko hit a beautiful German suplex, but Riho kicked out. Sachiko got the victory over Riho after a beautiful moonsault. An impressive performance by the Jumonji sisters. **¾ 

International Ribbon Tag Team Tournament Round 2

Tsukasa Fujimoto & Hikaru Shida vs. Manami Toyota & Tsukushi 15:42. Everyone threw well executed dropkicks in the first minute. As the match progressed, everyone not named Manami Toyota gave surprisingly good performances. Everyone gave a strong effort. Even Toyota, who obviously was years past her prime, tried to at least be a solid base for all the action going on around her. Toyota must have had some flashbacks to her younger years while this was all going on. Tsukka and Tsukushi had a pretty intense slapping exchange that ended in Tsukushi throwing aggressive forearms and slaps into Tsukka’s face. The two then exchanged a dropkick each. Then they tried to outyell each other, but everyone in attendance probably lost their hearing so we don’t have records of who won the yelling contest (on a more "serious" note, I’m pretty sure Tsukushi yelled louder, in case anyone wondered). Just as I was about to get worried that the match was about to fall apart, they picked things up again and the final minute or two were pretty exciting. Tsukushi got a pinfall victory over Tsukka. Pretty good match overall. *** 

DASH Chisako & Sendai Sachiko vs. Mochi Miyagi & Hamuko Hoshi 9:36. Mochi Miyagi & Hamuko Hoshi had defeated a tag team called Human Gum & Young Kappa, two weird creatures, in a match that lasted less than five minutes and wasn’t worth reviewing. Miyagi & Hoshi faced much tougher competition here as they faced the Jumonji Sisters, Chisako & Sachiko. The match wasn’t that special because Miyagi and Hoshi aren’t particularly good workers. Miyagi almost pinned Sachiko at some point, but not too long after that, Sachiko got the pinfall victory over Miyagi after a moonsault. **

International Ribbon Tag Team Tournament Final: DASH Chisako & Sendai Sachiko vs. Manami Toyota & Tsukushi 11:03. The Jumonji sisters wrestled Tsukushi for a while. But, at some point, Manami Toyota entered the ring and hit her spots. Toyota and Tsukushi worked really well as a team. Perhaps the biggest highlight was Toyota & Tsukushi perfectly nailing the double-team spot Nanae Takahashi & Io Shirai had failed to hit on four occasions in STARDOM in the previous weeks, when Tsukushi was on top of Toyota’s shoulders and hit a senton bomb off of Toyota’s shoulders. The Jumonji sister made a big comeback in the match, which culminated in Chisako pinning Tsukushi. If anything, I felt the Jumonji sister victory came a bit too easily after a relatively short comeback in the match. However, it was a pretty good match overall and a fun tournament from start to finish. **¾ 

STARDOM 9/25/11 Tokyo Shinkiba 1st RING

Eri Susa vs. Saki Kashima 13:00. After these two had a surprisingly decent match on 9/10, it was interesting to see these two against each other again. This time they were given a few minutes more. The opening few minutes were a bit disappointing because the work was quite loose, and it missed the energy they had when they wrestled each other the previous time. They went for a slap exchange and forearm exchange, but there was barely any power behind most of it. Kashima tried some submission holds, but Susa wouldn’t give up. Susa started fighting back. Susa lacked the energy that made her previous matches so much fun to watch. Kashima also seemed to have an off day. In the end, Susa got the pinfall victory. *¾ 

Wonder of STARDOM Title Match: Yuzuki Aikawa vs. Io Shirai 15:05. Yuzuki Aikawa started the match off well. She once again showed more confidence at this stage of her career, and seemed to know better what she’s doing than during her first few months. Io Shirai was in control for a while in this match. The match was relatively slow-paced during the early stages. Aikawa managed to fight back with some strong kicks. Io was acting a bit cocky and was quite methodical in her approach, slowly punishing Aikawa more and more. Aikawa showed passion. Io hit a handspring elbow. After some more kicks by Aikawa, Io became more aggressive and started hitting harder. Io fought back with forearm strikes and a dropkick. Io hit a beautiful top-rope dropkick. Io went for a crossface submission, but Aikawa managed to reach the ropes. Io went for a tiger feint kick, but Aikawa blocked it. Io decided it was time for a bigger move and went for a top-rope plancha, but Aikawa moved away and Io came crashing down to the floor. Once Io made it back into the ring, Aikawa hit stif kicks and tried to beat Io with a fisherman’s buster. Io managed to fight back for a bit. Aikawa kicked Io in the face. The action got more heated. There were some execution problems during the setup and execution of a tiger feint kick by Io. But, the action picked up again when Io went for a moonsault and Aikawa got her feet up. Aikawa hit a stunner, a kick and a shining wizard, but Io kicked out. Aikawa then went for her big kick and got the pinfall victory. Aikawa retained STARDOM’s version of the White Belt. **¾ 

JWP 10/10/11 Tokyo Kinema Club

Misaki Ohata & Rabbit Miu vs. Command Bolshoi & masu-me 14:13. The two rookies, Rabbit Miu and masu-me started the match off. They did some basic stuff. Miu was the rookie that was the slightly more impressive performer of the two. This was partially because masu-me, who was a passable worker, appears to be so fragile and it’s almost hard to take her seriously as a threat. When Misaki Ohata and Command Bolshoi worked together, they were showing how it’s done in the ring. Bolshoi encouraged Miu to dropkick harder. Miu was able to work some sequences with Bolshoi reasonably well. The final minutes had some pretty good action, and saw Miu score a pinfall over masu-me to win the match. **¼ 

Lion’s Hole Tremors Leon Nomination Single Match: Leon vs. Hanako Nakamori 19:53. Hanako Nakamori attacked Leon right away, and started beating her up on the floor. Once the action returned to the ring, Hanako continued the attack and really seemed to want to prove herself, and most importantly, she really seemed to want to win this match. This was probably Hanako’s best performance up until that point in her career, and she showed constant improvement around that time. Not necessarily huge improvements, but improvements nonetheless. Leon did a great job making sure Hanako’s work looked as good as possible by selling well and by giving her plenty of offense. Leon’s kick to Hanako’s back sounded like thunder. There was a slap exchange that sounded and looked good. Hanako hit a dropkick off the top rope. Leon hit a springboard plancha to the outside that took down Hanako and also Misaki Ohata, who happened to be at ringside. Leon got a nearfall after a senton bomb in the ring. Leon got the win after a Northern Lights Bomb. It was a pretty good match and a little bit better than their match from 6/12/11. *** 

Oz Academy 10/16/11 Tokyo Shinjuku FACE

Nao Komatsu vs. Manami Katsu 3:49 of 5:49. These two opening match workers tried their best in giving the best match they could possibly give against each other. *¾ 

Aja Kong & Carlos Amano vs. Ran YuYu & Yumi Oka 4:33 of 17:46. They showed about a quarter of the match, so it’s hard to say how good it was. Yumi Oka did a bunch of big boots, as always. Mika Nishio and Police interfered. Aja Kong slapped Police around. Aja got the win over Oka via the uraken.

Chikayo Nagashima vs. Hiren 6:13 of 15:49. Chikayo Nagashima worked hard and Hiren is really starting to grow on me as a worker as she’s been proving herself as a solid worker in 2011. It was nice to see Nagashima in singles action because we usually see her in tag team action, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing since Nagashima is a great tag team wrestler. There was a heated slap exchange. Nagashima hit a fisherman’s buster for the win. **¾ 

Mayumi Ozaki & Hiroyo Matsumoto vs. Tomoka Nakagawa & AKINO 5:35 of 19:47. This match-up was interesting because finally we had a 2011 match featuring Mayumi Ozaki that looked potentially good on paper. Unfortunately, Police, Mika Nishio and even Yumi Oka all had to interfere in this match. It was kinda odd seeing Hiroyo Matsumoto and Tomoka Nakagawa against each other while they had been the top tag team of 2011 so far. It appears that Hiroyo Matsumoto had joined Ozaki-gun. The worst thing about this match was that they only showed about a third of the match. 

Ice Ribbon 10/22/11 Warabi Isami Wrestle Arena

Tsukasa Fujimoto & Hikaru Shida vs. Emi Sakura & Hikari Minami 12:36. Tsukasa Fujimoto and Hikaru Shida are becoming more and more reliable as workers. Emi Sakura was good in her role as the veteran trainer fighting her own students. Her execution in this match was particularly crisp. Hikari Minami showed a lot of enthusiasm. Tsukka & Shida hit a double dropkick off the top rope on Sakura. Shida executed an armbar on Sakura, but Sakura reached the ropes. Everyone tried hard. In the end, Sakura got the win over Shida via la magistral. **¾   

30-Minute Marathon Match: Emi Sakura & Tsukasa Fujimoto & Hikaru Shida & Tsukushi & Hikari Minami vs. Kurumi & Mochi Miyagi & Maki Narumiya & Sayaka Obihiro & Dorami Nogami 30:00. This was fun, and there was lots of action from start to finish. Emi Sakura’s team really brought the good offense, and the match quality depending on which opponent was in the ring with them. Sakura had beaten Kurumi in a 3-minute squash just prior to this match, which meant this was Sakura’s third match that show. Mochi Miyagi really took a beating, and she took it well. Dorami Nogami was a somewhat limited worker. Sakura’s team executed a tremendous quintuple suplex that was well-executed. Hikaru Shida scored the first fall after she pinned Sayaka Obihiro at the 17:17 mark. Sakura executed a thrust kick and a moonsault to win the second fall over Obihiro at the 19:20 mark. Minami pinned Obihiro a few minutes later to score the 3-0 at the 22:18 mark. Kurumi managed to pin Hikari Minami to at least score one fall for the losing team at the 26:12 mark. Nogami somehow scored the shocking pin over Tsukka at the 29:00 mark. But, there was only 1 minute remaining and it was too late for either team to score another fall. Sakura’s "red corner" team won 3-2 over the "blue corner" team. It was a fun match, but it was a bit too obvious that the team featuring the top stars of Ice Ribbon would win the match over the undercard workers. **½ 

DASH Chisako & Sendai Sachiko vs. Tsukasa Fujimoto & Hikaru Shida 12:36. The Jumonji sisters, DASH Chisako & Sendai Sachiko, showed up after the big marathon match and seemed to have made a challenge. Tsukusa Fujimoto & Hikaru Shida were the chosen ones to face the Jumonji sisters. In their third match of the show, Tsukka & Shida once again showed why they were the future of Ice Ribbon. Shida initially sold fatigue, but then got her second wind and fought back. Jumonji sisters were fresh, however, and they were able to control Shida for a bit longer until Shida made the tag. Tsukka hit spectacular dropkicks on both sisters. The entire Ice Ribbon roster then attacked Sachiko. I guess that was somewhat fair considering Tsukka & Shida worked two decent matches prior to this match, so they deserved a little bit of help against the sisters. Chisako became a little bit overconfident against Tsukka, and Tsukka managed to escape Chisako’s onslaught and tagged Shida back in. Shida tried to make Chisako submit to quite an aggressively executed side headlock. Sachiko executed an extremely beautiful thrust kick on Shida. The Jumonji sisters showed their great teamwork. Chisako hit a frog splash on Shida. Things were looking good for the sisters. However, Shida just won’t give up and kept fighting back. Shida hit a Jumbo Tsuruta-esque high knee on Sachiko and almost pinned Sachiko. However, Sachiko then hit another one of her greatly-executed thrust kicks. Sachiko hit a beautiful moonsault for the win over Shida. This match was such a joy to watch. ***½  

WAVE 10/24/11 Tokyo Shinkiba 1st RING

Kana & Shu Shibutani vs. Toshie Uematsu & Moeka Haruhi 12:55 of 18:38. Moeka Haruhi started attacking Shu Shibutani in an attempt to get some kind of advantage over her early in the match. Shibutani wasn’t too troubled by Haruhi’s weak offense though. Kana and Toshie Uematsu were in the ring next. They worked a fun little sequence that ended in kicks by Kana and then an armbar by Kana. Haruhi was obviously the weak link in this match. After everyone else was nice enough to let Haruhi at least feel somewhat accepted in this match, Uematsu, Shibutani and Kana went back to more serious work. Uematsu gave a better performance than usual, perhaps partially because she knew she had to carry her tag team partner in order to not lose face against the dream tag team of Kana & Shibutani. I think Shibutani was still kinda bothered by her right knee as she didn’t quite give the performance she’d normally be capable of. Still, Shibutani at 79% is still better than most pro wrestlers in all of history. Kana & Shibutani were very modest by trying to make Haruhi look like somewhat of a threat and at the same time, they were so smart by knowing exactly what to do to turn this into somewhat of a well-worked competitive match overall. The finish was a surprise flash cradle pin by Haruhi over Shibutani. While I was initially somewhat annoyed that Haruhi had pinned Shibutani, an instant later I realized that Kana & Shibutani had given such a smart performance that this was somehow still a somewhat acceptable outcome due to the way they worked this match. **¾ 

Hiren vs. Yumi Oka 10:02 of 17:22. Hiren and Yumi Oka were part of the same stable in OZ Academy (Ozaki-gun) and they were even part of the same stable here in WAVE (Misaki Ohata’s Black Dahlia). They kinda channeled that OZ Academy energy here for a little while when Hiren beat the crap out of Oka with a chair. This was probably way more fun than it should have been. They both worked hard and they had a surprisingly decent singles match against each other here, based on what was shown. **½ 

SGPW 10/27/11 Tokyo Korakuen Hall

Joshi Puroresu Dantai Taikou Flash Tournament Round 1:

Command Bolshoi & Kaori Yoneyama & Leon & Hanako Nakamori & Kayako Haruyama vs. Shu Shibutani & Yumi Oka & Toshie Uematsu & GAMI & Moeka Haruhi 13:28. JWP vs. WAVE. I really like the idea of this tournament with teams representing different leagues. This was fun to watch. Everyone gave a good effort in this 10-woman tag team match. Shu Shibutani is so great that she even managed to stand out in a match like this where everyone took this seriously and tried to make this good. Her spectacular tope suicida was one of the highlights of this match. It’s a shame Shibutani only really got to show her stuff early in the match, but I feel her contributions during the early part of the match helped kick this off in an exciting way. Command Bolshoi, Kaori Yoneyama and Leon also played an important role in making this good. The final minutes mostly had Kayako Haruyama and GAMI battling it out until Haruyama pinned GAMI. ***¼ 

Meiko Satomura & DASH Chisako & Sendai Sachiko & Kagetsu & Miyako Morino vs. Emi Sakura & Tsukasa Fujimoto & Hikaru Shida & Tsukushi & Hikari Minami 12:45. SGPW vs. Ice Ribbon. There was such a great atmosphere in the crowd for this tournament with so many fans being really into this show. Emi Sakura almost pinned Meiko Satomura early in the match. Hikari Minami’s execution seemed a bit off. Kagetsu worked hard. Misako Ohata worked under her alter ego Miyako Morino. Tsukasa Fujimoto didn’t get as much time to show her skills. They did a big quintuple suplex spot where the Sendai Girls’ team managed to suplex the IR team. The Jumonji sisters, DASH Chisako & Sendai Sachiko, really gave a strong performance on behalf of SGPW. There were several hot near falls. The match got quite heated and Ice Ribbon was at times close to victory, but DASH pinned Tsukushi to win the match for the home promotion. ***¼  

Natsuki*Taiyo & Mayu Iwatani & Saki Kashima & Yoko Bito & Yoshiko vs. Yumiko Hotta & Aoi Ishibashi & Zeuxis & La Comandante & Aki Kanbayashi 13:12. STARDOM vs. REINA. After two good and really fun matches, the show goes downhill from this point onward. Team REINA was not very impressive. Yumiko Hotta was years past her prime. Aoi Ishibashi is a basic worker, but she seemed to try. Aki Kanbayashi is pretty terrible. La Comandante is mediocre. Zeuxis is average and definitely wasn’t able to carry the entire team. Zeuxis hit a nice tope suicida, but she executed it on one of her own team members (La Comandante) when Natsuki*Taiyo moved out of the way. Taiyo was easily the best worker in this match. Her spectacular offense really enhanced the quality of this match. Taiyo teamed with four STARDOM rookies. Mayu Iwatani and Saki Kashima did relatively well for themselves in this match. Yoshiko didn’t do anything interesting. Yoko Bito liked to kick a lot, but not all of them were very convincing. Yoshiko pinned Ishibashi to win the match for STARDOM. ** 

Jaguar Yokota & Manami Toyota & Mio Shirai & Nancy Mari & Sakura Hirota vs. Kyoko Inoue & Kaoru Ito & Keiko Aono & Jenny Rose & Annie Social 14:29. Freelancers vs. Diana. Jaguar Yokota was easily the most impressive worker in this match, and she was 50 years old at the time. Sakura Hirota only contributed in a negative way, as usual. The first few minutes were quite embarrassing because Sakuro Hirota started the match and the main focus was Annie Social’s large breasts. Mio Shirai didn’t really get to put her stamp on the match. Kaoru Ito and Manami Toyota were years past their respective primes. That didn’t stop Ito from trying to work hard though. Nancy Mari took a lot of punishment from Ito. Toyota and Kyoko Inoue worked against each other for a bit, but it was nothing like their 1995 or 1996 work, of course. Keiko Aono and Jenny Rose were okay, but they didn’t really get enough time to show much anyway. The finish was pretty cool though because Ito destroyed Hirota with a huge double footstomp off the top for the pinfall victory. *¾ 

Joshi Puroresu Dantai Taikou Flash Tournament Semi Finals:

Meiko Satomura & Hiren & Ryo Mizunami vs. Tsubasa Kuragaki & Kayako Haruyama & Nana Kawasa 7:26. SGPW vs. JWP.  This was the second round/semi finals of the tournament and instead of the 10-woman tags we had in the first round, we got 6-woman tags here in the second round. Meiko Satomura & Kayako Haruyama returned with two fresh tag team partners. The winning league would advance to the finals. It is almost like JWP wanted to lose this match because they sent Nana Kawasa,  a rookie with two months experience, to work this semi final match. Although, I guess Ryo Mizunami being part of SGPW’s semi final team was almost equally puzzling, at least Mizunami has won some matches in her brief career. Kayako Haruyama was okay. Meiko Satomura and Hiren worked hard for the SGPW team. Tsubasa Kuragaki stood out on the JWP side. Hiren pinned Kawasa in this relatively short match. **

Natsuki*Taiyo & Nanae Takahashi & Yoko Bito vs. Kyoko Inoue & Sareee & Keiko Aono 14:30. STARDOM vs. Diana. Natsuki*Taiyo was really the MVP of this tournament, as she was the most impressive performer in the matches she was part of. Everyone else did okay. Kyoko Inoue had a fun little sequence with Taiyo that made me wonder about what would happen if Taiyo were able to time travel to the 90’s. Yoko Bito kept doing kicks again. My problem with that is that if you want that to be your gimmick, you’d better make it look more vicious. Bito appeared to be somewhat inconsistent in her rookie year. Keiko Aono never impressed me in any way, but she didn’t take too much away from the match either. Sareee was still a rookie with only six months experience, but she showed pretty good potential already. Nanae Takahashi was being Nanae and pinned Sareee to win the match for her team. **¼  

Joshi Puroresu Dantai Taikou Flash Tournament Final: Meiko Satomura & Kagetsu vs. Nanae Takahashi & Yoshiko 16:30. SGPW vs. STARDOM. What a disappointing match-up for a tournament that started out so promising with two very good first-round matches. STARDOM’s team for the final was particularly disappointing. Of all the possible teams, we get Nanae Takahashi hogging the limelight and teaming with her favorite trainee, the unskilled Yoshiko. SGPW sent a more formidable team as Meiko Satomura teamed with Kagetsu. Satomura did her thing. Kagetsu did relatively well for herself, especially considering this was still the SGPW trainee generic red gear wearing Kagetsu era of her career. Yoshiko never contributed anything good to this match. Nanae saw this as an opportunity to stroke her ego, especially when a large portion of the crowd started chanting her name. She made sure that she could get her way, and that this match was all about her. Satomura threw some nice kicks in this match. The end result was at least somewhat interesting as we got to see Kagetsu’s hard work get paid off as she got the pin over Yoshiko. ** 

WAVE 10/30/11 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan

Shu Shibutani vs. Moeka Haruhi 7:52 of 8:56. Shu Shibutani’s execution was spectacular. Her tope suicida was like a human torpedo flying through the ropes. Her top-rope dropkick was executed with great intensity. Other than Shibutani’s great skills, it was interesting to see how well Shibutani was able to carry Haruhi. Shibutani’s selling and the way she would react to situations really made this interesting. Haruhi somehow got a pinfall victory over Shibutani. Haruhi showed more emotion in her post-match promo than in her match. **½ 

Command Bolshoi & Tomoka Nakagawa & Kagetsu vs. Hiroyo Matsumo & Aya Yuki & Ryo Mizunami 9:31 of 12:04. There was a lot of action, but nothing really stood out.  Perhaps the poor lighting of this show was now too distracting and/or made everything seem less memorable. Command Bolshoi worked well. Kagetsu worked hard and hit a nice springboard dropkick at some point in the match. Hiroyo Matsumoto was pretty good. Aya Yuki wasn’t too bad. Ryo Mizunami was not too impressive. Tomoka Nakagawa sold well and worked very well in general. Nakagawa got the pin over Yuki via a move called the 120% schoolboy. **½ 

Aja Kong vs. Sawako Shimono 5:26 of 7:01 Aja Kong hit a brainbuster on Sawako Shimono before the bell started. The referee reluctantly rang the bell when Shimono was on her knees and indicated she was ready to fight while still selling the brainbuster. Aja continued her assault on Shimono, and Shimono fought hard to survive. It really felt like Shimono was fighting to just survive this match. Aja was like a stalking predator who showed no remorse. Shimono certainly wasn’t graceful when she was on offense, but Aja sold it well and made it work. Aja hit a brainbuster, the same move that the match started with. Shimono just barely kicked out. Aja hit a trash can over Shimono’s head, and Shimono kicked out again. Aja hit a massive falling elbow, and got the pinfall win. They really made the most of the seven minutes, and I think this match is a great reminder of how smart Aja still was as a worker and how she was still able to elevate matches and opponents. **½ 

Kaori Yoneyama vs. Ayako Hamada 12:56 of 17:04 . Kaori Yoneyama worked hard, while Ayako Hamada didn’t do much during the first few minutes. However, all of a sudden, Hamada executed an insane huracarrana off the top to the outside on Yoneyama. Hamada followed it up with an Asai moonsault off the top turnbuckle, but Yoneyama had moved out of the way. Yoneyama hit a moonsault in the ring on Hamada. The match turned out to be pretty good and the action during the final minutes was pretty consistent. I don’t know what happened to Hamada in this match, but it was almost like she was trying to channel her old self here. This was probably one of Hamada’s best performances in a long time. **¾ 

WAVE 1st Tag Team Champions Title Decision Match: Kana & Ayumi Kurihara vs. Ran YuYu & Toshie Uematsu 18:24 of 23:03. Kana & Ayumi Kurihara were a strong tag team. Kurihara had recently returned to Japan after being gone for a couple of weeks for a tour in Mexico, where she worked a few matches for CMLL. Ran YuYu & Toshie Uematsu gave a solid performance. Kana was the one who gave the most effort in this match. It was a match that got a good amount of time. They were pretty much working this at a methodical pace and even pace, giving the impression both teams were just out there to make the other team struggle until there was one winning team. Kurihara pinned Uematsu to win the match. The dream team of Kana & Ayumi Kurihara were the WAVE Tag Team Champions. ***¼ 

OZ Academy 11/3/11 Tokyo Shinjuku FACE

Mio Shirai vs. Nao Komatsu 3:46 of 10:59. Judging from what was shown, this appeared to be an easy victory for Mio Shirai.

Hiren vs. Sakura Hirota 9:09. Sakura Hirota was dressed up as Meiko Satomura. Hiren tried to work a decent match, but Hirota was obviously in comedy mode, as always. I’ll never get why they had to clip interesting matches and show this terrible Hirota comedy stuff in full version. ½*

Hiren & Mayumi Ozaki & Chikayo Nagashima vs. Carlos Amano & Manami Toyota & GAMI 20:56 of 25:32. Hiren gave an adequate performance, and tried to make her final performance in OZ Academy somewhat memorable. Hiren would have one more match in SGPW (the promotion she first worked for) after this OZ Academy show, and then she’d retire because of her back injury. Chikayo Nagashima worked hard, and stood out the most in this match. Other than that, nothing really noteworthy happened and it was basically a very standard 6-woman tag. Ozaki beat Toyota up with a chain. The interaction between Ozaki and Toyota in this match certainly didn’t resemble anything Ozaki and Toyota did in 1993 against each other. GAMI was in comedy/gimmick mode. Carlos Amano was just kinda there, and spent most of the match on the apron. In general, she was even less impressive in 2011 compared to her decent contributions in 2010. Injury probably played a role. Toyota hit the Japanese Ocean Cyclone suplex, but Hiren kicked out! Toyota then hit the queen bee on Hiren and got the pinfall victory over Hiren. After the match, Hiren received hugs and flowers. However, the biggest gift she received was during the match when Toyota allowed her to kick out of the JOC suplex. ** 

Hiroyo Matsumoto vs. AKINO 8:38 of 30:00 shown. It appears that what we got to see here were the final eight minutes. Matsumoto and AKINO clearly were selling the way you’d expect workers to sell after 20+ minutes. What was shown was good,and it probably was in the 3-star range or so, but less than a third of the match was shown. Hiroyo Matsumoto hit a tremendous tope suicida on AKINO.

Aja Kong & Tomoka Nakagawa vs. Ran YuYu & Yumi Oka 10:11 of 16:44. Police, Mika Nishio and Hiren interfered against Aja Kong. However, it didn’t stop Aja from pinning Ran YuYu after the uraken. **¼   

SGPW 11/8/11 Sendai Zepp Sendai: Hiren & Mayumi Ozaki vs. Meiko Satomura & Ryo Mizunami 2:57 of 18:11. This was Hiren’s final match of her career. Hiren ended her career in a humble way as she did the job here to Ryo Mizunami. It’s a shame Hiren had to retire due to injury because she had quite a decent year, and the potential to become better if she would have been able to stay around longer.

WAVE 11/16/11 Tokyo Shinkiba 1st RING: Kana & Mio Shirai vs. Ayumi Kurihara & Shu Shibutani 12:20 of 17:58. The match was at its best when Kana worked with Ayumi Kurihara and Shu Shibutani. Kana once again proved she was one of the best,and her work was high-quality joshi puroresu. Kana’s strikes were vicious. Ayumi Kurihara’s athletic ability was a joy to watch. Shu Shibutani’s performance was excellent. Mio Shirai was clearly the weakest worker of the match, but she was able to be useful. The match ended when Mio pinned Shibutani. ***¼ 

Daijo 11/23/11 Osaka Minami Move On Arena One Day Tag Tournament Final: Kana & Mio Shirai vs. Shu Shibutani & Ayako Hamada 21:03. This Osaka-based joshi puroresu league isn’t the most well-known of the joshi leagues by any means, however, they have been able to give us a nice surprise such as this match once in a while. These two tag teams ended up facing each other as a result of both teams making it to the finals of a one-day tag team tournament. When looking at the participants of this tournament, it is clear that these two tag teams were worthy finalists. Kana & Mio Shirai had defeated Apple Miyuki & Cherry in the first round, and then had gone on to easily eliminate GAMI & Sakura Hirota from the tournament. Shu Shibutani & Ayako Hamada had defeated Misaki Ohata & Aya Yuki in the first round, and then had gotten a bye into the final, because the other first round match, Kagetsu & Sawako Shimono vs. Tomoka Nakagawa & Benten Musume, went to a draw. Kana and Shu Shibutani were top workers, and they had been two of the main reasons the WAVE league was so worthwhilr in 2011, so it was very interesting to see these two facing each other here. Their tag team partners, Mio Shirai and Ayako Hamada respectively, were solid hands that were reliable backups when needed. It seemed Mio understood that she had to show a good amount of aggression in order to be able to contribute to this match sufficiently. Mio’s contributions mainly took place during the early stages of this match, as Kana mostly carried the second half of the match. Ayako, who had a relatively weak year overall, tried her best to find the energy she used to have in her prime years, and also knew that her role here was to actually help and not just stand by and watch, and she hit some cool looking moves in this match. The help Mio and Ayako provided helped in the match being enjoyable, regardless of who was in the ring. Even when Mio and Ayako were facing each other, it was interesting, especially since these two showed the intensity you’d expect to see in a tournament final. Kana’s selling was superb, really making the effort of her opponents even more worthwhile. Kana’s technique was outstanding, which she put on display in particular whenever she was able to counter the offense that was being thrown at her. The action was at its best when Kana was in the ring, not only because of her technical ability, but also because of the match getting more intense when she battled it out with Shibutani and Ayako. Shibutani’s passion and dedication stood out, and also her moves off the top rope. The match possibly could have been a little bit better if Shibutani was in this match a bit more often. It wasn’t worked at a high pace, but had moves that were executed smoothly. 21 fun minutes seemed to fly by, culminating when Shibutani could no longer fight back against Kana’s viciousness. This was a very enjoyable match, and a nice surprise, not because of the participants, because we knew these workers could potentially deliver a match of this quality, but it was the league this match took place in that was the surprise. Well done, Daijo, for making this good match possible. ***¼ 

Ice Ribbon 11/23/11 Warabi Isami Wrestle Arena: Emi Sakura & Hikaru Shida vs. Tsukasa Fujimoto & Tsukushi 20:00. This was a pretty good match featuring four of the top featured performers in Ice Ribbon, and they had an entertaining match. Emi Sakura and Tsukushi had a pretty good opening segment. The match quality picked up even more when Fujimoto entered. Hikaru Shida showed passion, and her performance certainly played a big part in this match. I thought it was interesting that Shida would treat Tsukushi more like an underdog and sell adequately for her, but she understood that she shouldn’t sell more for Tsukushi than she did, establishing Tsukushi in the underdog role she should be in due to her small stature. Sakura was outworked by Tsukka and Shida in this match, which is a good thing because they are Sakura trainees that are meant to represent the future of Ice Ribbon and joshi puroresu in general. This wasn’t a perfectly smooth match, but it was pretty good and very interesting. I don’t want to make it sound like Tsukushi wasn’t impressive because her dropkicks were tremendous, and she made pretty good and pretty important contributions. Tsukushi had Shida trapped in a pretty cool looking submission hold for a bit. Tsukka & Tsukushi hit a couple of great looking dropkicks on their mentor Sakura. Sakura hit a brutal Boston crab on Tsukka, but Tsukushi broke it by slapping Sakura. Tsukushi got brutalized by Sakura via a thunderous chop, thrust kick and Vader bomb. Sakura followed it up with a Gory special. Tsukushi barely survived all of this, but Tsukushi kept fighting. During the final minutes, Tsukka and Shida showed some very good stuff until the time limit expired. The crowd applauded in appreciation. This wasn’t one of those time limit draws that felt annoying, it actually felt like it was impressive that they worked a 20-minute time limit draw this well. *** 

Ice Ribbon 11/27/11 Warabi Isami Wrestle Arena: DASH Chisako vs. Tsukushi 13:33. DASH Chisako started brutalizing Tsukushi early in the match. Chisako was very dominant, and Tsukushi was on the receiving end of all kinds of punishment. Chisako’s offense was crisp, and Tsukushi’s selling was good. Tsukushi finally found an opportunity to fight back, and she started attacking Chisako as much as possible before Chisako could do anything back. Chisako eventually fought back, and continued her assault on Tsukushi. The difference of the two when they were on offense was quite noticeable. When Tsukushi was on offense, she kinda sold the idea that she was desperately trying to fight from underneath as an underdog. It’s something that is not uncommon for Tsukushi matches because Tsukushi is smaller than pretty much everyone she faces. Chisako’s offense was more impactful, but she sold well for Tsukushi at the right times, giving the impression that Tsukushi could potentially score an upset win. Yet, in the end Chisako managed to be the more dominant one and still show signs of struggle in her victory. Chisako won the match by pinfall. ***

OZ Academy 11/27/11 Osaka IMP Hall

Ayumi Kurihara vs. Mio Shirai 4:40 of 8:06. Ayumi Kurihara’s selling was spot on, and her performance in general was really smooth. Mio Shirai gave a strong effort. Kurihara won the match. Only half the match was shown unfortunately, but watching these against each other was worth watching. **½

Kagetsu & Nao Komatsu vs. Sawako Shimono & Aya Yuki 9:00 of 17:00. Nao Komatsu is very good in the underdog role, and that’s a good thing because she’s basically always in the undercard matches. Aya Yuki is a very generic worker, but she’s not bad. It’s good to see Kagetsu in action. Even though she wasn’t at her peak yet, she has shown improvement in 2011. Sawako Shimono was a worker who had the energy and enthusiasm, but she lacked the skill and technique to really make it much higher on the card. This match was kinda fun to watch because everyone clearly cared. However, other than Kagetsu, it was clear that the other three workers weren’t going to be much higher on the card any time soon. I’m a little surprised that this match was given 17 minutes, but judging from the 9 minutes that were shown, this was at least okay overall. *¾ 

Tomoka Nakagawa vs. Takako Inoue 3:33 of 10:16. We only got to see about a third of the match, but what was shown looked like a fun match. Tomoka got the pinfall victory.

Manami Toyota & Carlos Amano vs. Hiroyo Matsumoto & Yumi Oka 19:39 of 21:36. Hiroyo Matsumoto worked hard, and even inspired Manami Toyota to give a stronger effort than she’d usually give in 2011. Carlos Amano appeared to have some knee problems, and wasn’t quite her energetic former self. Yumi Oka made Carlos Amano submit. **¼ 

Chikayo Nagashima & Mayumi Ozaki & Ran YuYu vs. Aja Kong & AKINO & Sonoko Kato 17:45 of 18:15 shown. There was a lot of action in this match, and everyone gave a serious effort. When Mayumi Ozaki was in the ring against Aja Kong, she actually attempted to wrestle and didn’t rely on weapons. Those two veterans didn’t necessarily add too much to this match, but they certainly didn’t take away anything either. Ran YuYu and AKINO particularly worked well together. Chikayo Nagashima obviously was very good whenever she was in, and while this wasn’t a match where she had to carry everything, her performance certainly helped making this match good. It was nice to see Sonoko Kato in action again. Mika Nishio, Yumi Oka and Hiroyo Matsumoto briefly interfered on Ozaki-gun’s behalf, but they didn’t really take away anything from the match quality. It appears Police wasn’t at ringside for this match, which was another good thing about this match. Nagashima got the win after pinning her former tag team partner Kato. *** 

WAVE 11/29/11 Tokyo Shinkiba 1st RING

Misaki Ohata & Mio Shirai vs. Ran YuYu & Toshie Uematsu 11:57 of 16:50. Misaki Ohata was actually the most outstanding performer in this match. Mio Shirai and Toshie Uematsu seemed to try to give a decent performance. It’s always a good thing when Uematsu is in serious mode. Ran YuYu was solid. Whatever these four workers did in this match, it was always interesting and it was worth watching. Ohata hit a plancha off the top to both opponents on the floor. **¾ 

Kana & Ayumi Kurihara & Shu Shibutani vs. Tomoka Nakagawa & GAMI & Moeka Haruhi 15:35 of 22:26. Kana & Ayumi Kurihara & Shu Shibutani was an interesting team because it had my three favorite WAVE regulars in one team. The opposing team was only really interesting because of Tomoka Nakagawa. Shibutani tried to make Moeka Haruhi’s work look good. Kana saw this as a challenge to make Haruhi look competitive. The match was at its best when Nakagawa was in the ring, because that meant her opponents had someone to work better sequences with. Shibutani was back to her normal self again, as she moved around just as smoothly as she did prior to her time off. Ayumi Kurinara’s selling was great and whenever she worked with Nakagawa, it was exciting to watch. GAMI didn’t contribute much and was nice enough to stay on the apron most of the time, but she did throw a nice released German suplex when she was in there with Kana. I’ll give GAMI credit for actually working most of this match seriously. She didn’t really resort to comedy here, apart from the fact she was somehow able to pin Kana and win the match. ***¼  

WAVE 12/11/11 Tokyo Shinkiba 1st RING

Shu Shibutani vs. Yumi Oka 10:25 of 13:32. Yumi Oka’s offense is not very interesting. She likes to do big boots all the time. While it was interesting to see Shibutani sell in an attempt to get a good match out of Oka, I felt like I was just waiting for Shibutani to get her offense in. Oka can be solid in tag team matches, but in a singles match, it is obvious that her lack of interesting offense makes it hard to buy her as someone Shibutani would have a hard time against. There just aren't many surprises coming from Oka. After selling for most the match for Oka, Shibutani seemed to have convinced people into believing she had just scored an "upset" victory of some kind. That’s impressive in itself. **¾ 

Kana & Ayumi Kurihara vs. Misako Ohata & Mio Shirai 7:40 of 14:06. It’s a shame we only got half the match. Either way, this match had to be at least pretty good when you consider the participants. Mio Shirai was the weak link in this match though. Her execution wasn’t quite as impactful as that of the other three, but she gives at least a pretty good effort. Kana & Ayumi Kurihara were great representatives for the WAVE Tag Team Championship. Misaki Ohata continued to show that 2011 was a good year for her, and a year where she showed growth as a worker. Her offense looked good and her sequences with Kurihara and Kana were smooth. Her fisherman’s buster looked very good. Kana was the serious no-nonsense fighter she always is. Kurihara gave a strong performance. She threw some wicked suplexes and one of them gave her the pinfall win over Ohata. ***

STARDOM 12/23/11 Osaka Minami Move On Arena

Io Shirai & Mayu Iwatani vs. Nanae Takahashi & Saki Kashima 3:31 of 16:58. This was the first time that Io Shirai & Mayu Iwatani ever teamed up. Io Shirai stood out most in the few minutes that are available of this match. Io hit a tremendous moonsault for a pinfall victory over Saki Kashima.

Natsuki*Taiyo vs. Yoko Bito 6:00 of 15:00. Yoko Bito tried her best, and I think working with someone as great as Natsuki*Taiyo, who was very impressive here, appeared to help Bito step up her game quite a bit here. This appeared to be decent. **½  

Wonder of STARDOM Title: Yuzuki Aikawa vs. Arisa Hoshiki 7:14 of 10:33. This was a match that was fun to watch between two relatively inexperienced workers who really have made the most of their first year as pro wrestlers. They tried hard and it was entertaining to watch. **½ 

WAVE 12/25/11 WAVE Tag Team Title: Kana & Ayumi Kurihara vs. Tomoka Nakagawa & GAMI 11:08 of 19:56. Both teams really felt like tag teams because of their matching colors. I like that GAMI, the weak link of the match, realized that she had to step up her game and work this match seriously in order to not ruin this match. Credit to GAMI for that. Kana & Ayumi Kurihara are such an excellent team and whenever they team, it’s interesting to watch. This is not a surprise since they were two of the very best workers in the world at the time. I wish we would have gotten to see more of Tomoka Nakagawa’s contribution to this match. Kana made GAMI submit to a seated Fujiwara armbar to win the match. The WAVE dream team of Kana & Kurihara retained the tag team title. ***¼  

Ice Ribbon 12/25/11 Tokyo Korakuen Hall

Riho vs. Seina 8:18. This was a battle between two sisters. Riho and Seina were 14 and 17 respectively. Despite their young age, they had more than five years experience each at the time. Former Ice Ribbon worker Minori Makiba was the guest referee. This wasn’t bad for a kids fight. They weren’t always very convincing in what they did, but they at least tried to work as smoothly as they could. Riho won the match via pinfall. *¾ 

Hikari Minami vs. Seina 2:55. This was Seina’s last match. Hikari Minami was 16 at the time. Riho was the guest referee. Lots of crying, especially by Hikari Minami, who cried uncontrollably to the point she broke the Hayabusa scale with her crying.

International Ribbon Tag Team Title Decision Match: Emi Sakura & Tsukushi vs. Meiko Satomura & Sendai Sachiko 20:33. Ice Ribbon vs. SGPW. 14-year old Tsukushi was on the side of her mentor Emi Sakura, representing the Ice Ribbon company. Tsukushi showed a lot of determination, but she had a rough time against Meiko Satomura, who tried to keep her on the mat, and would viciously kick Tsukushi when they were standing. Satomura showed no mercy, and this probably was a valuable experience for Tsukushi, who had the support and sympathy from the crowd on her side. Tsukushi had improved a lot in 2011. Sachiko’s 2011 has also been quite impressive, and she’s probably one of the most improved workers of 2011. Sakura’s work wasn’t as crisp as it normally should have been. Satomura’s work wasn’t too interesting when she wasn’t torturing Tsukushi, and she seemed almost bored when she worked against Sakura, even though the battle between these two company leaders should have been a much bigger deal. Still, this was a fun match and they had my attention from start to finish with whatever they were doing. Tsukushi wasn’t a great worker by any means and she was still a kid, but she gave a strong effort and that’s something that can be more fun to watch than the work of a better overall worker who is going through the motions. Sakura hit a big 450 splash on Satomura during the final minutes. Sachiko almost pinned Tsukushi with a German suplex, but Tsukushi kicked out. Sachiko hit a thrust kick on both opponents. When Tsukushi recovered, she managed to score the pinfall over Sachiko. This got a big pop from the crowd. **½ 

ICEx60 Title Match: Tsukasa Fujimoto vs. Hikaru Shida 15:52. Two of the brightest stars of Ice Ribbon battled it out in the main event of this Korakuen Hall show. Both workers had a pretty good 2011. These two really elevated the expectations of what a quality Ice Ribbon main event could be like. After the feeling out process, they brawled outside for a bit. Hikaru Shida was hungry for victory, and she really took it to Tsukasa Fujimoto, who sold the punishment well. Shida was more aggressive, but Tsukka was more graceful and smooth. Tsukka’s kicks were impressive most of the time. Tsukka hit a beautiful missile dropkick. The action was fascinating, and things kept getting more intense as the match progressed. These two did a really good job here, and they showed that 2011 was a year they had improved significantly as workers. The fact they were able to work a match this good says a lot about their ability. It feels like this match was a culmination of what these two had been working for in their respective careers up until that point in time. After a hard-fought battle, Shida won the match via pinfall after a superplex. ***½

Great:

1. Kana (debut: 6/16/04) [2010 rank: #1] - Once again it was Kana who reigned supreme as the #1 wrestler in joshi puroresu. Her overall contributions to joshi puroresu in 2011 made her a worthy pick for the top position in this list. Her technique and skill made her a joy to watch. Also, no matter in which promotion she appeared in, she made it work. When she was in WAVE, she performed at a high level and helped establish the promotion as the #1 league to watch. When she was in the men’s puroresu league SMASH, she went along with the angles that were emphasizing the more sports-entertainment aspects of the league (perhaps a foreshadowing of things to come for her career) and she made it work convincingly. This showed her tremendous versatility, ability and drive to succeed at everything she did. She also had matches here and there in other Japanese leagues. In October 2011, Kana made a trip to the United States where she appeared in SHIMMER.

2. Natsuki*Taiyo (debut: 1/3/04) [2010 rank: #2] - She could possibly have been #1 if it wasn’t for the fact that she was mainly carrying young rookies in STARDOM, and didn’t often have someone to have really good matches with. When she faced a top caliber opponent, she showed that she deserved a lot of praise. Her match with Leon on 7/24/11 was excellent, and a fine example of the type of match she was capable of delivering. Her speed and agility were amazing as always.

Excellent:

3. Tomoka Nakagawa (debut: 9/19/04) [2010 rank: #10] - She showed signs of her excellence in 2010, where she was already a top 10 worker, but in the year 2011, she became even more important to the overall joshi puroresu scene, and one of the most enjoyable workers to watch. Whenever she was in a match, you’d know it would be at least worth watching her performance, especially if it was a tag team match because that’s her specialty.

4. Ayumi Kurihara (debut: 4/24/05) [2010 rank: #4] - Just like in 2010, Ayumi Kurihara had an outstanding year in 2011. Her athletic skills are amazing, and the way she executes moves seemingly effortlessly is incredible. Her match against Kana on 8/28/11 in WAVE was one of the best matches of the year. She wrestled in Japan, Mexico and the United States in 2011.

5. Chikayo Nagashima (debut: 4/15/95) [2010 rank: #8] - Chikayo Nagashima was once again one of the most outstanding performers in OZ Academy. Her ability to enhance tag team matches and excel in the best OZ Academy tag team matches is an art she’s truly perfected. Her strong performance in the 1/9/11 match was one of the reasons it was the best (tag) match of the year.

6. Leon (debut: 3/16/00) [2010 rank: #7] - Leon kept being impressive, and moved up a spot in the top 25. 2011 was a strong year for her, and it feels like she was the most important performer of JWP in 2011. Working really good matches is something she was doing on seemingly a regular basis.

7. Shu Shibutani (debut: 9/19/04) [2010 rank: #3] - Shu Shibutani was out due to injury for the majority of the year. However, when she returned in August, she helped turn up the overall quality of WAVE’s matches a few notches. While it initially seemed she was back at full speed again, it appeared that her right knee was occasionally bothering her again on some occasions later in the year. Also, it felt she was booked as a more important part of WAVE in 2010. All of these factors play a role in Shibutani moving down a few spots compared to her ranking in 2010. However, her 2010 was fantastic, so it’s not necessarily that she did something wrong. Either way, it was certainly good to see her back in action.

Very good:

8. Io Shirai (debut: 3/4/07) [2010 rank: #9] - Io Shirai moved up a spot in the top 25. She still hadn’t quite reached her peak yet, but she continued showing she had the potential of being an all-time great one day. When she joined STARDOM, it really was a boost STARDOM needed. It’s a shame she had to tag with Nanae Takahashi a lot though.

9. Ray (debut: 9/15/03) [2010 rank: #20] - Ray was a spectacular athlete who was capable of having really good matches when she wasn’t working under her alter ego Lin Byron. 2011 was a significantly more impressive year for her than 2010.

10. Misaki Ohata (debut: 12/10/06) [2010 rank: #21] - Misaki Ohata had an impressive 2011, and it seemed almost every match of hers was interesting and noteworthy. She improved a great deal in 2011. On occasion, she’d perform under her alter ego, Miyako Morino.

11. DASH Chisako (debut: 7/9/06) [2010 rank: #22] - DASH Chisako showed potential previously, but in 2011 she clearly became someone to seek out pretty much all matches of. 

12. Kaori Yoneyama (debut: 11/29/99) [2010 rank: #5] - Kaori Yoneyama’s workrate was high, and her performances were especially spectacular whenever she faced someone she was capable of having good matches with. Even when that wasn’t the case, she was able to elevate overall match quality through her ability.

13. Sendai Sachiko (debut: 7/9/06) [2010 rank: #24] - Sendai’s Sachiko’s top-rope dropkicks were awesome and a thing of beauty. Her thrust kicks were awesome too. Her athletic skills allowed her to move around gracefully in the ring. You could also tell that she became more confident as a worker and was able to work at a higher level compared to the previous year. 

14. Tsukasa Fujimoto (debut: 8/23/08) [2010 rank: #23] - Tsukasa Fujimoto improved quite a bit in 2011 and she became more of a smooth performer who understood more about how to improve her matches.

15. Hikaru Shida (debut: 7/20/08) [2010 rank: #26] - Hikaru Shida improved quite a lot in 2011. She was still a bit green, but really helped elevate the overall level of Ice Ribbon’s shows through her own improvement as a worker.

16. Syuri (debut: 10/26/08) [2010 rank: #28] - Syuri kept being impressive. Her matches were interesting to watch, and her explosiveness makes her matches fun to watch. She was one of the main reasons to even bother watching some SMASH matches.

17. Hiroyo Matsumoto (debut: 7/16/06) [2010 rank: #17] - Hiroyo Matsumoto was a hard worker and someone who had a ton of energy. She’s not the most technically refined performer, but she contributed to matches in a positive manner through her positive attitude and determination.

18. Sonoko Kato (debut: 4/15/95) [2010 rank: #14] - Sonoko Kato was a reliable tag team partner of Chikayo Nagashima. Considering that, and also considering that she was in the best (tag) match of 2011, she deserves a place in the top 20. She went down in the top 25 a few spots. This not necessarily because she started deteriorating or anything because it was more a case of so many young workers in the joshi scene showing vast improvement. The fact that OZ Academy made the puzzling decision of breaking up its two best tag teams (the two teams that were responsible for the best joshi tag match of 2011) really didn’t help, of course.

Good:

19. Aja Kong (debut: 9/16/86) [2010 rank: #6] - Overall, Aja’s 2011 was far less impressive than her 2010. Aja remained a reliable name on joshi cards, but it appears she wasn’t quite given the opportunity to have many good matches in 2011 due to the way she was booked. Maybe that also gave her a reason to slightly care less in 2011. At least she was in the title picture in OZ Academy. Her most memorable match in 2011 was a very good match against Ran YuYu on 4/29/11. Her best 2010 work took place in JWP and SGPW, but she was booked only once in JWP in 2011. This played a big role in her going down the rankings in the top 25 for 2011. Aja only worked a few times in whatever other promotions she appeared in. She wasn’t really put in a match that would warrant a high-end performance from her, and it seems she was just kinda booked to have a name on the card. Also, her 2011 DIANA matches, which may or may not have been fun to watch, are not available.

20. Meiko Satomura (debut: 4/15/95) [2010 rank: #19] - When she wants to, Meiko Satomura can have a really good match with a top worker. However, most of the time, she was just going through the motions.

21. Emi Sakura (debut: 8/17/95) [2010 rank: #18] - Emi Sakura had a good year in 2011. Whenever she was wrestling her trainees in Ice Ribbon, she’d push them to try to elevate their performances and it seemed to work in some cases. When Sakura performed in other leagues, she showed that she was capable of having very good performances against the right opponents.

22. Ran YuYu (debut: 12/4/94) [2010 rank: #12] - Ran YuYu was good, but didn’t really stand out as much as she did in 2010. She didn’t quite give the effort she used to give. She did have that very good match with Aja Kong on 4/29/11 though.

23. Kagetsu (debut: 8/24/08) [2010 rank: NR] - Kagetsu is a new entry into the top 25 best wrestlers list. This obviously means she showed a significant amount of improvement in 2011. The best thing about her performances in 2011 is that she worked hard and gave a strong effort.

24. Command Bolshoi (debut: 11/26/91) [2010 rank: 11] - Command Bolshoi was disappointing in 2011. Perhaps this was partially because she wasn’t in top matches often, and mostly seemed to work tags or six-woman tags. Maybe Bolshoi just felt less impressive since 2011 was all about younger wrestlers vastly improving and climbing the ranks. Or maybe I just felt like moving her down the list after her crappy comedy performance in REINA under her old persona Bolshoi Kid.

25. AKINO (debut: 7/21/98) [2010 rank: #13] - AKINO was good, and contributed to matches whenever she tried to work hard. Sometimes she’d slow the pace down, even when she gave an effort though. However, when looking at her 2011 work overall, I felt she was less of an important player in terms of being part of good matches and contributing to them.

Honorable mentions:

26. Mio Shirai (debut: 3/4/07) [2010 rank: #16] - Mio Shirai wasn’t quite as impressive as a worker in 2011 as she was in 2010. Perhaps one of the reasons is that she didn’t team with her sister Io as often. Also, in 2010, she was one of the more interesting performers to appear in the now-defunct NEO league.

27. Hiren (debut: 7/9/06) [2010 rank: NR] - Hiren improved a lot in 2011, and that’s why she deserves to be mentioned. She showed the will to get better as a wrestler. Unfortunately, 2011 was the year she retired because of injury.

28. Tsubasa Kuragaki (debut: 1/8/95) [2010 rank: #27] - Tsubasa Kuragaki was a noteworthy performer most of the time. She usually tends to elevate match quality through her performance. However, I felt she wasn’t consistent enough in 2011, and there were many more interesting workers than her.

29. Hanako Nakamori (debut: 7/16/06) [2010 rank: NR] - Hanako Nakamori improved quite a bit in 2011, and she became a somewhat noteworthy name in JWP. But, better things were yet to come for her.

30. Toshie Uematsu (debut: 4/15/95) [2010 rank: NR] - Toshie Uematsu was just okay in 2010, but in 2011, this experienced performer was slightly more than just okay and showed that she can still go sometimes. She’s been inconsistent over the years though and even though she surprisingly contributed in a positive way occasionally, she doesn’t quite make it to the top 25 for 2011.

31. GAMI (debut: 11/1/90) [2010 rank: NR] - I didn’t expect to write her name here, but GAMI actually gave a serious effort more often than expected. While she clearly wasn’t anywhere near the worker she used to be, she did participate in some noteworthy matches and didn’t drag the match down too much. She deserved credit for that.

32. Ayako Hamada (debut: 8/9/98) [2010 rank: NR] - 2011 wasn't her best year, but she was a solid hand who was useful, and her work could still be enjoyable from time to time.

1. Tomoka Nakagawa & Hiroyo Matsumoto

2. Chikayo Nagashima & Sonoko Kato

3. DASH Chisako & Sendai Sachiko

4. Kana & Ayumi Kurihara

5. Tsukasa Fujimoto & Hikaru Shida

1. OZ Academy 1/9/11 Tokyo Shinjuku FACE, OZ Academy Tag Team Title Match: Chikayo Nagashima & Sonoko Kato vs. Hiroyo Matsumoto & Tomoka Nakagawa 25:00 of 30:00 ****¼ 

2. WAVE 8/28/11 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Kana vs. Ayumi Kurihara 13:00 of 15:04 ****

3. STARDOM 7/24/11 Tokyo Korakuen Hall, High Speed Title: Leon vs. Natsuki*Taiyo 21:41 **** 

4. JWP 5/8/11 Tokyo Kinema Club, High Speed Title Match: Leon vs. Ray 15:02 **** 

5. Triple Tails 2/13/11 Osaka Azalea Taisho: Kana vs. Meiko Satomura 18:55 ***¾ 

6. Ice Ribbon 3/21/11 Tokyo Korakuen Hall, ICEx60 Title: Tsukasa Fujimoto vs. Ray 14:25 ***¾ 

7. OZ Academy 4/10/11 Tokyo Shinjuku FACE, OZ Academy Tag Team Title: Chikayo Nagashima & Sonoko Kato vs. Hiroyo Matsumoto & Tomoka Nakagawa 17:19 ***¾ 

8. SMASH 8/11/11 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Kana vs. Syuri 13:25 ***¾

9. JWP 3/21/11 Tokyo Itabashi Green Hall, High Speed Title: Leon vs. Misaki Ohata 20:29 ***¾

10. JWP 9/23/11 Tokyo Shinjuku FACE: Kaori Yoneyama vs. Emi Sakura 14:19 ***¾ 

11. OZ Academy 6/12/11 Tokyo Kinema Club, OZ Academy Tag Team Title: Tomoka Nakagawa & Hiroyo Matsumoto vs. Mariko Yoshida & Misaki Ohata 19:30 ***¾ 

12. JWP 4/3/11 Tokyo Korakuen Hall, JWP & High Speed Double Title: Kaori Yoneyama vs. Leon 21:50 ***½  

13. WAVE 7/6/11 Tokyo Shinkiba 1st RING, Catch the WAVE Technical Block: Kana vs. Tomoka Nakagawa 7:06 of 15:00 ***½

14. WAVE 5/2/11 Tokyo Shinjuku FACE, Catch the WAVE Visual Block: Ayumi Kurihara vs. Misaki Ohata 9:54 of 10:37 ***½ 

15. Ice Ribbon 12/25/11 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: ICEx60 Title Match: Tsukasa Fujimoto vs. Hikaru Shida 15:52 ***½ 

16. OZ Academy 4/29/11 Osaka IMP Hall, ~The Wizard of OZ~ OZ Academy Title Match: Aja Kong vs. Ran YuYu 19:22 ***½ 

17. Ice Ribbon 10/22/11 Warabi Isami Wrestle Arena: DASH Chisako & Sendai Sachiko vs. Tsukasa Fujimoto & Hikaru Shida 12:36 ***½ 

18. WAVE 8/28/11 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Shu Shibutani vs. AKINO 13:00 of 15:15 ***½  

19. WAVE 11/29/11 Tokyo Shinkiba 1st RING: Kana & Ayumi Kurihara & Shu Shibutani vs. Tomoka Nakagawa & GAMI & Moeka Haruhi 15:35 of 22:26 ***¼  

20. WAVE 11/16/11 Tokyo Shinkiba 1st RING: Kana & Mio Shirai vs. Ayumi Kurihara & Shu Shibutani 12:20 of 17:58 ***¼ 

21. OZ Academy 9/23/11 Tokyo Shinjuku FACE: Ayumi Kurihara & Kaori Yoneyama vs. Tomoka Nakagawa & AKINO 14:31 ***¼ 

22. Daijo 11/23/11 Osaka Minami Move On Arena, One Day Tag Tournament Final: Kana & Mio Shirai vs. Shu Shibutani & Ayako Hamada 21:03 ***¼

23. WAVE 12/25/11, WAVE Tag Team Title: Kana & Ayumi Kurihara vs. Tomoka Nakagawa & GAMI 11:08 of 19:56 ***¼  

24. SGPW 10/27/11 Tokyo Korakuen Hall, Joshi Puroresu Dantai Taikou Flash Tournament Round 1: Meiko Satomura & DASH Chisako & Sendai Sachiko & Kagetsu & Miyako Morino vs. Emi Sakura & Tsukasa Fujimoto & Hikaru Shida & Tsukushi & Hikari Minami 12:45 ***¼  

25. WAVE 10/30/11 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan: WAVE 1st Tag Team Champions Title Decision Match: Kana & Ayumi Kurihara vs. Ran YuYu & Toshie Uematsu 18:24 of 23:03 ***¼

1. Pro Wrestling WAVE - Even though arguably slightly less impressive than in the previous year, WAVE retained its position as the best joshi league in 2011. Performers like Kana, Ayumi Kurihara, Tomoka Nakagawa and Misaki Ohata played a huge role in the quality of WAVE’s shows in 2011. Also, it was great to see Shu Shibutani back later in the year, and her return also helped a lot. One of the best matches of the year took place in WAVE on 8/28/11 when Kana and Kurihara faced each other one-on-one.

2. JWP Joshi Puroresu - JWP remained a consistently interesting league. They usually had at least some matches on their shows that were worth watching. Some of their matches were even some of the best of the year. However, some of their shows are missing, and watching their entire shows that we have feels slightly less enjoyable than watching entire WAVE shows.

3. OZ Academy - OZ Academy’s high ranking has a lot to do with their two best tag teams, the team of Tomoka Nakagawa & Hiroyo Matsumoto and the team of Chikayo Nagashima & Sonoko Kato. Without those two tag teams, OZ Academy would have been ranked lower. 2011 started off really well because of matches featuring the two best teams in OZ Academy, however, later in the year, somehow OZ Academy thought it was a good idea to break up those two tag teams and change around the members of the stables in their promotion. We’ll see how this will impact OZ Academy’s quality in 2012.

4. Ice Ribbon - Ice Ribbon didn’t make it to the top 5 leagues of 2010, but just like its performers, the promotion seems to have grown in overall quality. Workers like Tsukasa Fujimoto, Hikaru Shida and even Tsukushi showed significant improvement in 2011, compared to their 2010 work.

5. World Wonder Ring STARDOM - Despite having the honor of one of the best joshi matches having taken place on a STARDOM show (7/24 Leon vs. Natsuki*Taiyo), which was a match that featured two wrestlers who had prior to the existence of STARDOM already proven to be outstanding performers, STARDOM was only the fifth best league of 2011. The reason for this is simple, most of the league’s featured workers were still rookies during 2011, which was also the rookie year of STARDOM itself. STARDOM certainly showed the potential of being a league to keep your eyes on though.

1. Arisa Hoshiki

2. Yuzuki Aikawa

3. Mayu Iwatani

4. Yoko Bito

5. Eri Susa

6. Saki Kashima

7. Sareee

8. Rabbit Miu

9. Manami Katsu

10. Aoi Yagami