It was the year that saw Bull Nakano get her retirement ceremony, despite her not being an active wrestler since 1996. This was also the year that saw Toshie Uematsu and Ran YuYu retire. This was the year that saw the debut matches of several rookies, including Yuhi and Kairi Hojo. The year we are analyzing here is the year 2012.

The most important thing that comes to mind when thinking of 2012 is Arisa Nakajima’s return to JWP. Nakajima had been away from pro wrestling for three years for personal reasons, but once she made her return to joshi puroresu, she became a gift that kept on giving. We’ll have a closer look at her most memorable matches of this year, but for now, let’s just say that her greatness resulted in quite an elevation of the overall product.

The top leagues delivered quality wrestling on a regular basis. JWP Joshi Puroresu was a league that was consistently interesting to watch. Especially with the addition of Arisa Nakajima, they delivered many matches that are recommended matches. Pro Wrestling WAVE is a league that those of you who followed 2010 and 2011 will remember was at the top, and in 2012, WAVE once again proved to be one of the best leagues. Kana’s greatness once again helped WAVE a lot, and whenever Kana wasn’t working in the regular leagues, she would occasionally have her own produced or co-produced shows (Kana Pro, Triple Tails.S and MakoKana Pro). One of the regular leagues Kana would occasionally visit occasionally was Ice Ribbon, a fun league featuring a bunch of young and inexperienced performers, and while this wasn’t a league that would normally have a lot of highly rated matches, they would occasionally have some top talent visit them and enhance the quality of their product. OZ Academy was a league that was surprisingly strong in 2010 and 2011, and while still a relevant league in 2012, they didn’t seem to keep that momentum going while other leagues kept evolving. In 2010 and 2011, they had a surprisingly strong and reliable tag team division, and it would make sense for them to keep doing what they were doing, but in typical OZ Academy fashion, they had to break something that wasn’t broken. World Wonder Ring STARDOM is a league many wrestling fans have heard of, but in 2012 this league was still trying its best to get past its early stages. The world was slowly getting ready for Io Shirai to reach her peak as a performer. This didn’t quite happen in 2012 yet, but watching her work in 2012, you could feel it coming.

Sendai Girls’ Pro Wrestling, World Woman Pro Wrestling Diana, REINA X World and Daijo were other joshi puroresu leagues that were around in 2012, but they weren’t top 5 leagues. SGPW is the best of those leagues that weren’t quite top 5 leagues in 2012, and they were a significantly better league than Diana, REINA and Daijo, as those three leagues all three weren’t even considered for the top 5. Of course, we could say that SGPW could have potentially been in the top 5 if there was more footage available, but realistically speaking, they probably would have been #6 regardless of the lack of footage.

Before we move on, Ayumi Kurihara is a worker that deserves to be mentioned, as she was usually one of the high points on the WAVE and OZ Academy cards she appeared on. Hikaru Shida is another name that stood out in 2012, as she was the most improved wrestler of the year, and she went from a promising worker to someone who was someone you would hunt down shows for. Syuri was another worker who showed a lot of improvement, and even took part in the Match of the Year. Her tremendous ability was known in 2011, but in 2012 she got to show it more and improve in the process. Some of the workers who had been around a few years longer also still played a big role. For instance, Leon, who had 12 years of experience by 2012, was a reliable worker who should be credited for once again being someone who would consistently add quality to the shows she worked at.

The overall in-ring product of 2012 was quite a bit better compared to 2010 and 2011. There were three 4-star matches in 2010 and four 4-star matches in 2011, but there were seven matches that were 4 stars or higher in 2012. Unlike the top 25 lists for 2010 and 2011, which included matches ranging ***¼ to ****¼, the top 25 matches of 2012 included matches ranging from ***½  to ****½.

For more detailed information about 2012, here are reviews of a selection of matches followed by some lists, including the lists of the top 25 wrestlers and the top 25 matches...

WAVE 1/4/12 Tokyo Shinjuku FACE: Ayumi Kurihara vs. Shu Shibutani 10:50 of 14:12. Kurihara and Shibutani, two of the top workers of the previous two years, had a very good match against each other on 1/4/10, exactly two years prior to this match. Just like their 1/4/10 match, this was a very good match featuring fast-paced action and a good amount of aggressiveness. Shibutani missed the majority of 2011 due to knee injury, but luckily, her knee didn’t seem to be much of an issue by January 2012. Perhaps she was still experiencing trouble, and if that was the case, she didn’t let it get in the way of her performance. Shibutani executed some great flying offense, including a tope suicida and a couple of top-rope dropkicks. Kurihara’s top-rope dropkick was just as great. On at least three occasions in the match, Kurihara ended up countering some of Shibutani’s offense with leg submission holds. Kurihara also executed her signature dropkick to the face while Shibutani was positioned next to the bottom rope. It’s a great looking move, and she executed it three times in a row here. Kurihara ended up winning the match via uranage. It truly was a hard-fought battle. Once again, it was a very good match between these two, and this one appeared to be slightly better than their match from two years prior, and they came really close to the achievement of having the excellent match you’d think they’d have against each other. ***¾   

Bull Nakano Produce 1/8/12 Tokyo Dome City Hall

Aja Kong vs. Ayako Hamada 15:14. This was the opening match of Bull Nakano’s retirement show. Bull’s retirement ceremony was long overdue, since Bull hadn’t been an active wrestler for 16 years. Aja Kong was one of Bull’s main rivals, so it was fitting she was on this show. Ayako Hamada was a wrestler Aja had faced semi-regularly since Ayako’s first year in 1998. I know the saying that “this could be a main event anywhere” is somewhat of a cliche in wrestling, but it is fitting here. That being said, I’m glad they decided to give the younger talent on this show the spotlight that day. It’s a show that paid tribute to the past, but also gave attention to the future. 2012 wasn’t necessarily one of the most memorable years for these two workers, but they both made sure to give extra effort on this show. Ayako scored the pinfall of Aja, and any pinfall win over Aja is always a big win. It was a pretty good match with a lot of big match type of spots. **¾ 

Kana vs. Kagetsu 11:23. The grappling was very good, as they were constantly trying to get the advantage over the other, and there were several good-looking reversals. Kana won the match via a crossface chickenwing. Both workers gave a strong performance, both in terms of offense and selling. Kagetsu once again showed progression, which she partially showed by being more resourceful and more confident than in previous years. Kana once again proved why she was arguably the best worker at the time, and she did this by combining skill and viciousness, while guiding her opponent to a really good match. ***¾   

Yuzuki Aikawa vs. Hikaru Shida 15:11. This main event was a unique match-up, because it’s the only time these two ever wrestled each other, and it’s a rare occurrence of Shida wrestling against a STARDOM worker. Shida executed some really good-looking moves, including a jumping knee. Whenever these two put each other in a hold, they really made it come across they were trying to make the other submit. In 2012, you could really tell Aikawa knew what she was doing, while in 2011 she would seem somewhat lost at times during her matches. Despite having Aikawa go over in this match was a bit of questionable result (even though it’s understandable that STARDOM didn’t want their Wonder of STARDOM Champion doing a job here), this was Aikawa’s best singles match up until that point in her career, which showed that she was slowly starting to live up to her push. This match also showed that Shida continued to grow more as a worker. It was a pretty good match, especially considering these two weren’t familiar opponents. ***

JWP 1/9/12 Tokyo Kinema Club

Leon & Ran YuYu & Toshie Uematsu vs. Command Bolshoi & Kaori Yoneyama & Rabbit Miu 14:33. Everyone tried their best in this match. Rabbit Miu was a lot less experienced than everyone else, but she did a pretty good job trying to keep up with the action, even though the match was slightly less interesting when she was in the ring (and at times the opposition treated her like a baby). Bolshoi was good, but this wasn’t necessarily a match where she was one of the most impressive workers. Ran YuYu wasn’t as impressive as I hoped she would be, but she still made pretty good contributions. It appears she slowed down quite a bit in 2012, but that’s not all that surprising when you consider it was the year she would retire. Uematsu, who is another worker who would retire in 2012, gave a good effort and was able to balance serious work with some silliness here and there. At some point, Uematsu and Ran botched a double-team move though, and Uematsu decided to knock Miu off the apron, which made it seem like she blamed Miu for the botch, even though Miu had nothing to do with the spot at all. Uematsu made up for it by bumping like a lucha ruda through the second and bottom rope when Yoneyama moved out of the way. Yoneyama, and especially Leon, stood out most in this match with their high-quality work, and it was fitting they were involved in the finish of the match, as it was Leon who pinned Yoneyama after a devastating Northern Lights Bomb. ***

JWP Tag League The Best 2012 Blue Zone: DASH Chisako & Sendai Sachiko vs. Tsubasa Kuragaki & Kayoko Haruyama 15:21. This was way better than the 6/26/11 match between these teams, mostly because the Jumonji Sisters (Chisako & Sachiko) were thankfully taken seriously this time. Haruyama worked harder than usual. Kuragaki was also in the mood to work hard, as she usually is, and she went flying quite a few times. Her work became gradually more spectacular and hard-hitting as the match went on. I like how Sachiko exchanged superkicks with Haruyama, because it’s something different from the usual forearm or elbow smash exchange. The match ended when Kuragaki pinned Sachiko. The Jumonji Sisters are one of the most fun tag teams to watch. Watching their career in chronological order makes it obvious that they really became more and more impressive as time went on. All four workers gave a strong effort for sure, which made this match tons of fun to watch, and it felt like it was one spectacular moment after another. ***¾

Daijo 1/15/12 Osaka Minami Move On Arena: Kagetsu vs. Toshie Uematsu 9:30. This was a match where Kagestu’s ability stole the show. Toshie Uematsu was solid in her role as an experienced veteran who was a good base for Kagetsu’s maneuvers. Uematsu was near the end of her career and was at times struggling to keep up with Kagetsu, but Uematsu at least made the effort to try to help make Kagetsu’s hard work meaningful. The final few minutes especially featured lots of back-and-forth action. Uematsu getting the win here felt a bit undeserving, but Kagetsu came across like a future star even in defeat by showing skill and determination. **¾ 

JWP 2/3/12 Itabashi Green Hall JWP Tag League The Best 2012 Red Zone: DASH Chisako & Sendai Sachiko vs. Ran YuYu & Toshie Uematsu 16:24. This match was mostly interesting because of the performance by the Jumonji Sisters, Chisako and Sachiko. Their moves were spectacular, and they gave a strong effort. Ran and Uematsu were solid opponents though. I like how the Jumonji Sisters showed a lot of enthusiasm and desire to win this match. Ran and Uematsu came across more like wily veterans who were trying to rely on their experience. The finish came after Uematsu dropkicked Sachiko, who then had to pretend that she accidentally knocked Chisako over, resulting in Ran pinning Chisako in a somewhat sloppy manner. It’s a shame that the finish looked sloppy, but it was a pretty good match overall. **¾ 

STARDOM 2/5/12 Tokyo Shinkiba 1st RING: Io Shirai & Arisa Hoshiki & Mayu Iwatani vs. Hiroyo Matsumoto & Kellie Skater & Eri Susa 14:23. Io Shirai stood out as the best performer. Her athleticism makes it a joy to watch her execute her moves. Matsumoto showed a lot of energy, and she was probably the second-best performer of the match. At one point, she executed a tope suicida that had a lot of force behind it. Hoshiki did well, especially considering she was very young and still inexperienced. Susa did a pretty good job of being the underdog in trouble. Mayu Iwatani and Kellie Skater didn’t do anything wrong, but they didn’t stand out in this particular match either. The Japan tours certainly helped Skater improve quite a bit. She was still mostly in comedy heel mode around this stage of her career, but she gradually got better throughout 2012, and it was eventually in 2013-2016 that her work was at its best. Io pinned Susa to win the match, and it was a pretty good match with lots of action. The match is particularly interesting for Io and Matsumoto fans. ***   

JWP 2/12/12 Tokyo Kinema Club: Natsuki*Taiyo vs. Kaori Yoneyama 9:48. These two workers were two of the best at the time, so the work was of high quality throughout this match. These two started at a lightning-quick pace. They slowed things down a bit in favor of a more hard-hitting approach. Yoneyama was more vicious and roughed Taiyo up. Taiyo used her speed to catch Yoneyama off guard. As quick as Yoneyama was back in those days, Taiyo was even quicker. There was plenty of back-and-forth action in this match. There were lots of good counters and both workers showed intensity. Despite the fact these two liked to go at a fast pace most of the time, they knew how to mix up the speed they worked at whenever it was appropriate, which resulted in them selling their offense well. Everything they did felt like it had an impact. The only thing this match lacked was time, as it was only nine minutes long, and it would have been nice to see them go at it a few minutes longer. The finish felt like it came out of nowhere, and it made it seem the match ended a bit abruptly when they were in the middle of having a lot of momentum. They were on their way to make this an excellent match, but without the extra minutes there to really reach the quality match they were capable of, it felt like this match didn’t quite reach its potential. This is not really their fault, though, and was overall a very good match for sure. ***½  

SMASH 2/19/12 Tokyo Dome City Hall SMASH Diva Title: Kana vs. Syuri 12:50. If you’re only going to remember one aspect about the SMASH league, the rivalry between these two is probably the most memorable thing about SMASH. Before this match, “kimigayo,” the national anthem of the great country of Japan was played to further emphasize the importance of this match. This was the fourth singles match between Kana and Syuri. The title that was on the line here, the SMASH Diva Title is only named that way because SMASH is a puroresu league with some sports-entertainment influences, but these two wonderful pro wrestlers should definitely be confused with sports-entertainment divas (even though Kana would ironically go on and become the most successful Japanese female performer in American sports-entertainment later that decade). If you look past the awkwardly named title and the bizarreness of SMASH in general, this match was a really good puroresu match. This match featured plenty of really good matwork, strikes, and drama. The only reason why it felt perhaps just slightly disappointing was because their 8/11/11 match saw them be a bit more vicious and energetic. ***¾ 

Joshi 4 Hope 2/22/12 Tokyo Shinkiba 1st RING SHIMMER Tag Title: Ayumi Kurihara & Ayako Hamada vs. Misaki Ohata & Hiroyo Matsumoto 14:37. This was the main event of the Joshi 4 Hope III event. Misaki Ohata’s selling was really good, almost to the point you’d start to feel sorry for her getting beat up. Kurihara was the most skilled worker in this match. Matsumoto had a lot of energy, as always, and she kept things moving when she was in the ring. Hamada’s performance wasn’t necessarily one of her least inspired ones, but she definitely wasn’t quite as motivated as she was at Bull Nakano’s retirement show on 1/8/12. Kurihara & Hamada retained the title when Hamada pinned Matsumoto to win the match. They would keep this title until the next SHIMMER tapings in March 2012 in Berwyn, Illinois where they would lose the belts to Sara Del Ray and Courtney Rush. This Joshi 4 Hope III main event was a good match, but it felt like there was something missing. It felt like these four were kinda going through the motions (at least for their usual high standards). ***

STARDOM 2/26/12 Tokyo Shinkiba 1st RING: Io Shirai & Mayu Iwatani vs. Arisa Hoshiki & Natsumi Shozuki 12:10. This was surprisingly good, considering Natsumi Shozuki only had a month of experience, and Iwatani and Hoshiki both had just a year of experience. The more experienced Io had nearly five years of experience. Io Shirai was the best worker in STARDOM, and she was obviously the best worker in this match, but the other girls did relatively well for themselves here. Shozuki, who had a background in shorinji kempo, was clearly a rookie, but it was fun to watch her learn. 2011 rookie of the year Arisa Hoshiki continued to impress, as always. In particular, Hoshiki’s kicks looked spectacular. Iwatani continued to slowly progress bit by bit, which was nice to see. Hoshiki & Shozuki showed some good teamwork, but in the end, Io won the match for her team by pinning Shozuki after a beautiful top-rope moonsault. This match was interesting because it gives a pretty good representation of what 2012 STARDOM was like, as we got Io showing why she was someone who really elevated STARDOM’s in-ring product, and we had three inexperienced workers trying their best, two of which would in the future become STARS (Iwatani and Hoshiki). **¾   

JWP 3/4/12 Tokyo Kinema Club Tag League The Best 2012 Blue Zone: Leon & Ray vs. Misaki Ohata & Hanako Nakamori 18:40. Just looking at this line-up on paper made it clear this was going to be a match worth seeking out. However, this match even ended up exceeding expectations. Hanako showed a lot of confidence during this tournament, and she seemed very focused on trying to contribute as well as she could. She hadn’t reached her peak yet, but she certainly had plenty of quality to offer, and she clearly knew what she was doing. Ohata delivered good stuff, as usual. This wasn’t necessarily a match where Ohata stood out a lot, but her contributions were very useful. Leon & Ray worked well as a team, as expected. Ray was a bit more vicious than usual, so that certainly was a bonus. Ray’s main strength is her athleticism, but when she also is able to combine it with viciousness, it’s like icing on the cake. While these three aforementioned workers were perfectly capable of making this match good, Leon’s excellence helped elevate this match even more. Leon knew when to take action, and also when not to take action. In the end, Nakamori’s efforts paid off as she was eventually able to get the pinfall win over Leon. These four workers gave a strong effort and put on an excellent display of wrestling. **** 

Ice Ribbon 3/20/12 ICEx60 Title: Hikaru Shida vs. Aoi Kizuki 16:35. Aoi Kizuki knows how to make people happy, but it’s rare for her to be featured in a big singles title main event at Korakuen Hall. I think the match started off perfectly, with Aoi Kizuki trying to give her strongest performance, and Hikaru Shida selling and bumping around to really put over Kizuki as a worthy challenger. I wish that what we saw from Kizuki here was a standard performance of hers, but it really felt like she had to give all her energy to give this decent performance here. Shida worked this match really smartly, and this match is a good example of Shida becoming a more mature worker in 2012. Whatever Kizuki lacked in skill, she made up for it in charisma and enthusiasm, and in this particular match, she understood that this was basically the biggest match of her career and made the most of it while still maintaining her bubbly personality. Shida was serious and all business, and that resulted in a nice contrast in styles. This was a joyous match to watch. Kizuki fans will love this match because of her overachieving performance, and Shida fans will enjoy Shida’s really strong work. ***¼ 

REINA 3/24/12 Tokyo Shinjuku FACE: Tsukasa Fujimoto vs. Neko Nitta 10:36. This was kind of an extended squash, since Tsukasa Fujimoto stole the show here, and Neko Nitta wasn’t able to come close to matching any of Tsukka’s spectacular work. Neko Nitta is a bit of a crazy cat with a tail on the backside of her wrestling gear, and even though any goofiness involving the tail kinda dragged things down a little bit, the silliness didn’t last long. Eventually, near the end of the match, just like the audience, Neko Nitta seemed to be really drawn into the match more thanks to Tsukka’s excellent work. Tsukka’s ability and athleticism was awesome to watch. **½   

JWP 3/25/12 Tokyo Itabashi Green Hall

Leon & Ray & Kayako Haruyama vs. Tsubasa Kuragaki & Hanako Nakamori & Manami Katsu 18:52. This was the second match of the second show JWP held at Itabashi Green Hall in Tokyo that day. The first part of this match saw Leon’s team being in firm control by staying on top of Manami Katsu, who played her role as an inexperienced underdog well. Once Katsu tagged in Hanako, it was Hanako who tried to stand up for her team, but the dynamic duo of Leon & Ray quickly put an end to Hanako’s aspirations. Ray’s chops sounded more thunderous than you’d expect her chops to sound. Haruyama wasn’t moving as quickly as Leon & Ray, and despite the power Haruyama showed when she was in the ring, it always felt she kinda dragged the match down because having her in the ring usually meant we didn’t have Leon and/or Ray in the ring. When Leon was in the ring, this match’s wrestling was at its best, and she showed once again what a graceful worker she could be. Hanako executed a beautiful dropkick off the top rope on Ray. Hanako and Ray had some strong moments together, making me wish there was a singles match between the two (but at least they were involved in a memorable tag team match on 3/4/12, which I would highly recommend watching if you haven’t already). At some point, Leon’s team decided to just seek & destroy Hanako. Somehow, Hanako didn’t seem to be too bothered by the attack and seemed to think she was able to fight back all by herself. However, the story of the finish was that Hanako’s naivety resulted in her lying down for Haruyama. It was a very good match, but I would have liked to see a bit more of Kuragaki trying to help Hanako in Hanako’s quest to fight off three opponents near the end of this match. Instead, Kuragaki didn’t seem to be up for the task of saving Hanako. The work was good, and this was fun to watch. Overall, it was a good match featuring some of the most enjoyable performers in JWP. The 18 minutes flew by, which is always a good sign. ***¼  

Tag League The Best 2012 Red Zone: DASH Chisako & Sendai Sachiko vs. Command Bolshoi & Rabbit Miu 13:05. The Jumonji Sisters were a joy to watch, as usual. Sachiko worked really hard, and she was the worker of the match. Chisako obviously also contributed a lot, as always, but this felt more like it was Sachiko’s match. Sachiko’s superkick is a thing of beauty. Rabbit Miu was good in her role as sympathetic underdog, which is pretty much her natural role due to her being smaller and younger than most workers on the roster. She may not be the greatest wrestler, but she definitely understands her role and plays it well. Bolshoi was very good, as expected, but she didn’t really do anything exceptional. Bolshoi let Miu do most of the work for her team, and Bolshoi was just there to kinda step in whenever the Jumonji Sisters were bullying her a bit too much. The Jumonji Sisters executed some spectacular moves, and one of them was a beautiful moonsault by Sachiko that got her the pinfall win over Miu. This was a pretty good match and fun to watch, but it seemed to be a relatively easy victory for the Jumonji Sisters. Even when Miu was temporarily in control against the Jumonji Sisters, and even when the sisters bumped like crazy for Miu, it was a bit hard to take Miu seriously as a serious threat. ***

STARDOM 3/25/12 Osaka Matsushita IMP Hall

Arisa Hoshiki & Mayu Iwatani vs. Kairi Hojo & Saki Kashima 6:00 of 6:27. Mayu Iwatani and Saki Kashima are the only two STARDOM originals who are still active on the STARDOM roster as of 2021. Iwatani would go on to become known as the STARDOM icon, while certainly showing lots of potential in 2011 and 2012, you wouldn’t really expect her to eventually become the future ace of STARDOM based on her work in those early years. Kashima was okay in 2011 and 2012, but she always kinda stayed okay, never progressing all that much. Kashima was fine here, but this match was more about the other three workers. I don’t know what Kairi Hojo did other than being a little bit obnoxious, but Iwatani and Hoshiki beat the crap out of her. Iwatani was more aggressive than usual, and hit Hojo really hard in the face with a really stiff elbow smash, which resulted in Hojo bleeding hardway. I bet Iwatani wanted to show Hojo who the future ace of STARDOM was going to be. Hojo would eventually become quite successful in pro wrestling, and she definitely showed decent potential and a drive to win throughout her career. However, unlike Iwatani, she never became the STARDOM icon. Hoshiki showed no remorse for the wounded Hojo and hit several stiff kicks. Perhaps the relentless Hoshiki thought she was 1981 Shodai Tiger Mask beating the living daylights out of Solar. Kashima ended Hojo’s suffering by pulling Hojo to her own corner, and Kashima made the tag. This didn’t stop the determined Hoshiki & Iwatani. After some more action, and another tremendous kick by Hoshiki, it was Hoshiki who got the pinfall over Kashima. This was a match that was quite intense and action-packed. They got quite a lot out of this 6-minute match, and they certainly didn’t waste any time. **¾   

High Speed Title: Natsuki*Taiyo vs. Io Shirai 12:29 of 15:19. This is the type of match the High Speed Title was created for, although a match-up of this magnitude between two great workers would have been for the main singles title if I was booker. Either way, this was the main event of the show and deservingly so. This started off at a lightning-quick pace, to emphasize that this was indeed a High Speed Title match. This was such a joy to watch, as these were two of the best workers in the world at the time. It wasn’t all fast-pace stuff, but even when they spent time on the mat, it was high quality work. As the match progressed, they did more and more spectacular high-risk moves. It certainly wasn’t just flashy either, because this was great high-impact puroresu. They both showed a lot of intensity. At some point in the match, Taiyo was bleeding from the mouth. In the end, it was Taiyo with the hard-fought victory. This match is definitely recommended for those who want to see top talent in action. They clearly were trying to have a great match, because they knew what the other was capable of, and they probably respected each other’s abilities a lot. When you watch the year 2012 in chronological order, you’ll notice that this match was quite a bit more impressive than anything that had happened up until that point in the year. ****¼ 

OZ Academy 3/25/12 Tokyo Korakuen Hall OZ Academy Tag Title: Aja Kong & Sonoko Kato vs. Ayumi Kurihara & AKINO 12:37 of 28:03 This was an exciting action-packed match. They ended up brawling in the crowd for a bit. Kurihara smashed Kato’s head into the “West” sign on the wall at Korakuen Hall. All four workers gave a strong performance, which really helped enhance the match quality. Kurihara almost always gives a strong effort anyway, but it was cool to see the others being motivated to have a good match too. Kurihara stood out most in this match, and she executed some great-looking offense. The final minutes had plenty of high-impact moves and near falls. ***½ 

JWP 4/8/12 Tokyo Kinema Club

Leon vs. Ray 16:25. Ray’s best matches always seem to be with Leon. This is no surprise, since these two were very familiar with each other. They teamed with each other, and they battled one another. Leon usually brings her A-game, but Ray always seems to turn things up a notch whenever she is in there with Leon. This match was carried very well by Leon. The majority of the match saw Leon in control. This was not a bad thing, because Ray is most effective in flashes of exciting offense. The way this match was worked actually had me really anticipating a flurry of offense, which I was sure would eventually happen. I turned out to be somewhat right, as Ray finally got her offense in, but way later than I expected and only very briefly. It was a pretty good match, but I thought it was a bit oddly worked with Leon being in control for basically the entire match and winning this evenly paced match, with Ray only getting very little offense in here and there. While not ideal, perhaps a more satisfying end result would have been Ray winning with a flash pin after selling for almost the entire match. As unsatisfying as that sounds, I don’t think it would have been much more disappointing than this one-sided affair between two of the main workers in the league. Instead what we got was something that vaguely resembled the 7/1/94 Bret Hart vs. 1-2-3 Kid in terms of layout, but without the champ vs. underdog challenger storyline to help make sense of it all. In the end, this was very underwhelming since I know these two were capable of a match better than this. It almost seemed like Leon had lost faith in Ray’s ability, which would be strange, since Leon should know better than anyone what Ray is capable of. This certainly wasn’t nearly as good as their excellent 5/8/11 match. If we take all expectations out of the equation, this was technically still a pretty good match overall, as the moves they did were executed quite well, and they sold the moves quite well. ***   

Kaori Yoneyama & Tsubasa Kuragaki vs. Command Bolshoi & Kayoko Haruyama 16:16. This was somewhat of a parejas increibles type match, since Kuragaki and Haruyama usually team together. All four worked hard in this match. Haruyama pinned Yoneyama to win the match. It’s hard to pick the worker of the match here, but Yoneyama was arguably the most impressive. These two teams kept going at each other non-stop, almost to the point where it felt like they were trying to set the bar high to make sure that the workers in the main event would have to try to top this. ***¼    

JWP Tag League The Best 2012 Final, JWP & Daily Sports Women’s Tag Title Decision Match: Misaki Ohata & Hanako Nakamori vs. Ran YuYu & Toshie Uematsu 20:19. Everyone gave a good effort, and they worked it like a final. In particular, Misaki Ohata stood out as the worker of the match. It’s a shame she didn’t play much of a role in the final minutes of the match. Nakamori got more fired up near the end of the match though. YuYu & Uematsu ended up winning this match, and thus the tournament and belts as well. Uematsu actually was able to work surprisingly well for someone who was about to retire. YuYu, on the other hand, was missing the physical energy she once had and that resulted in some sloppiness. ***¼  

WAVE 4/18/12 Tokyo Shinkiba 1st RING

Misaki Ohata vs. Toshie Uematsu 10:00. This was one of Toshie Uematsu’s final matches. This was a hard-fought battle, and they certainly weren’t taking it easy on each other. Ohata tried to attack Uematsu as much as she could, and she made sure Uematsu’s road to retirement wasn’t going to be an easy one. Perhaps Ohata’s goal was also to make sure Uemata’s final memories of wrestling Ohata were going to be etched in her memory for a while. Uematsu being in serious mode certainly helped as well. ***

Shu Shibutani & Mika Iida vs. Kana & Mio Shirai 9:38 of 10:54. This was very good whenever Shibutani and/or Kana was in. Kana’s kicks were great, and she seemed to enjoy roughing up Iida with submission holds and strikes. Shibutani brought a lot of energy, and she moved around the ring at a high pace and with great urgency. She even got the big pinfall win over Kana here. Mio’s contributions were decent. Mio was definitely useful to have on the roster, but she would almost never be the most memorable worker of the matches she was involved in. Although, later that year she seemed to be more impressive, and, in her defense, it’s obviously hard to be the most memorable worker in a match that involves Kana and Shibutani. Iida was pretty good in her role of underdog getting beat up. It was a match that featured good work overall, even though it wasn’t really a candidate for WAVE match of the year. *** 

WAVE 4/20/12 Osaka Minami Move On Arena: Kana & Shu Shibutani vs. Ayumi Kurihara & Mika Iida 13:47 of 17:55. It was interesting to see the dream team of Kana and Shibutani. Kana gave a strong performance. It’s always good to see Shibutani in action. There was probably a bit too much Iida, and not enough Kurihara in this match. It was pretty good, but it felt like this was more good by default considering Kana, Shibutani and Kurihara were involved in this match, and not so much because of the action resulting in a memorable match. Still, this was a pretty good match overall. ***

JWP 4/22/12 Tokyo Korakuen Hall

Arisa Nakajima & Sachie Abe vs. Misaki Ohata & Hanako Nakamori 11:35. This show celebrated the 20th anniversary of JWP Joshi Puroresu (and during the opening of this show, they showed some great footage of the golden days of JWP). What better way to celebrate this milestone than to have Arisa Nakajima return to a pro wrestling ring? Nakajima had been a wrestler in 2005-2009, and she spent most of her time in JWP during those years. She would make a big impact on the overall quality of joshi puroresu in years to come (in a very positive way). Nakajima certainly showed no signs of ring rust here in her first match back, and she outworked everyone else in this match. Nakajima’s facials, reactions, selling and overall work added a lot to the quality of the match. Hanako Nakamori hadn’t reached her peak as a worker yet, but she had been having a pretty good year and also clearly gave a strong effort here. Her kicks were definitely quite solid. Ohata did well, but she didn’t exceed expectations. Ohata would normally have stood out more if it wasn’t for the outstanding Nakajima being in this match. Abe was just kinda there, and she was easily the least impressive one here. She was a weak link and seemed lost at times, especially when she wasn’t able to keep up with what the others were doing. In her return match here, Nakajima generously did the job for Nakamori. Although, I guess Nakajima didn’t really have a choice since she had just returned (and I guess in the long run it makes for a better comeback story for her to lose in her return bout), but I’d like to think that she was being generous anyway. It was a good match, and it was a nice warming up for what was about to come for Nakajima. She would end up reaching even higher levels of awesomeness later in the year, and she would end up elevating the entire product. As we will find out later, it wasn’t just in the year 2012 that she was an outstanding worker, but that’s a story for another day. ***¼   

JWP Tag & Daily Sports Women’s Tag Title: Ran YuYu & Toshie Uematsu vs. Leon & Ray 12:43. This was one of those matches where Ray was really feeling it, and really giving a strong effort. This also meant that she was quite spectacular here. Leon was the most reliable and best worker in this match. Ran YuYu & Uematsu were quite the solid tag team unit, and their teamwork added a lot to this match. Ran’s 2012 wasn’t her best year by any means, and Uematsu was hit-and-miss. However, their combined efforts, and their cohesiveness overruled whatever opinions their individual efforts may have warranted. Uematsu eventually pinned Ray to win the match. This match had a lot of action, and it could have easily been the main event. As a matter of fact, it ended up outshining the main event, which was a decent match between Tsubasa Kuragaki and Kayako Haruyama. ***¾ 

Zero1 4/24/12 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Yuhi vs. Yuzuki Aikawa 8:48 of 10:08. The fans in attendance for this show held by Zero1, a men’s puroresu league, were treated with a special joshi puroresu match. This was the pro wrestling debut of Yuhi, trained by Zero1 junior heavyweight sensation Ikuto Hidaka. Her opponent was Yuzuki Aikawa, a relatively new wrestler who over the past 16 months or so had done well for herself, shown improvement and had quickly established herself as one of the top names in STARDOM. Despite being a rookie who was making her debut, Yuhi really took it to Aikawa and appeared to be very confident in her ability. Once she got to display some of her spectacular offense, it certainly was no surprise why Yuhi was so confident. Yuhi executed a front flip, a spinning back kick, a tiger feint kick, a swan dive dropkick and a quebrada among some of her other spectacular moves. Yuhi’s performance was so impressive that it made Aikawa’s work look pedestrian in comparison. Aikawa put Yuhi in an STF to try to stop Yuhi’s momentum. However, this attempt only temporarily halted Yuhi, as Yuhi quickly managed to fight back. Not only Yuhi’s offense looked good, also her selling resembled that of an experienced pro. Aikawa deserves credit too, for giving Yuhi an opportunity to really shine. Aikawa put her ego aside and was humble enough to realize she was being outworked by this rookie. This really was an impressive debut by Yuhi. Aikawa got the win, but Yuhi made a lasting impression on those who got to watch her debut performance. **¾  

WAVE 4/28/12 Tokyo Hamacho Studio: Misaki Ohata & Hanako Nakamori vs. Kana & Mio Shirai 8:48 of 11:48. Working with top talent is certainly beneficial for Hanako Nakamori, as 2012 was a year where she had been doing quite well for herself and showing signs of improvement. Misaki Ohata was top notch here and gave a strong performance. Kana was great, as expected. Mio Shirai made sure to contribute as much as she could to this fun match. Her offense was crisper than usual, and she sold well. In a funny spot while Mio was on offense, Mio’s hands were enjoying Ohata’s chest area a bit too much while applying a camel clutch on Ohata. We didn’t get to see as much Kana as I would have liked to see in the footage that was shown, but it was a good match either way. ***

WAVE 4/29/12 Tokyo Shinkiba 1st RING: Yumi Oka & Misaki Ohata & Hanako Nakamori vs. Kana & Mika Iida & Shu Shibutani 10:10 of 20:00 shown. It’s a shame we only got to see half the match, and I wonder if it was really necessary to go to a time limit draw here. They could have easily had a quick pin maybe like 30 seconds before the finish to make it more worthwhile. I’m not necessarily against time limit draws per se, because time limit draws certainly can be useful (in tournaments or big title matches, for example), but this somewhat random six-woman tag that was the semi-main event on the card probably should have had a more decisive finish. I can’t complain too much, because we got Kana, Shibutani and Ohata in the same match with three other workers that were quite capable of playing their role in this match well. It was fun watching Kana and Nakamori have a brief strike exchange. Kana moved around with great urgency whenever she was in the ring in this match. One of the highlights was Ohata executing a beautiful German suplex on Shibutani. The final minute was arguably the best minute of the match, because it had Shibutani and Ohata trading pinfall attempts, and they got near falls on each other, which resulted in exciting action. *** 

Diana 4/30/12 Kawasaki City Gym: DASH Chisako & Sendai Sachiko vs. Zap I & ZAP T 13:41. This is a rare opportunity to watch a show from the early years of the World Woman Pro Wrestling Diana league. This show marked the first anniversary of the league. For those of you who are familiar with late ‘90s joshi, you’ll probably remember Zap I & Zap T are Kaoru Ito & Tomoko Watanabe with some sort of evil masked wrestler gimmick. Regardless of the gimmicky stuff, these two wrestlers obviously weren’t the workers they were in the late ‘90s. However, their knowledge and experience still made them relevant names on this card. This is true in particular for this match, because they were facing one of the top young tag teams of 2012. The Jumonji Sisters, Chisako & Sachiko, were an exciting tag team who only seemed to get better and better around this time. This would have been a lot more interesting if the Jumonji Sisters were able to time travel back to the late ‘90s and face that version of the Ito & Watanabe tag team. However, what was interesting about this match was how the spots featuring the weapons, which were kendo sticks in this case, didn’t really detract too much of the match quality. One could even say that maybe it even added something to the match, especially considering that the masked Ito and Watanabe were many years removed from their peak, and weren’t able to move around like they used to. Zap I & Zap T are perhaps two of the best garbage wrestlers because of them not relying too much on the garbage, and only using the weapons to come across as more diabolical. There was a certain respect they commanded, and they abused that respect when ZAP T decided to hit the referee with a kendo stick, just to confirm their villainous status, in case there was still any doubt. The Jumonji Sisters showed a lot of fighting spirit in this match. It was DASH Chisako in particular who showed her never-say-die attitude until the very end. In the end, it was Ito who pinned Sachiko to win the match. This was a very good match, and it’s a “lost levels” type match, because not too many people are talking about obscure 2012 Diana footage. ***½

STARDOM 5/3/12 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Io Shirai vs. Yuhi 11:56. This was Yuhi’s first STARDOM match, and it was her fourth pro wrestling match. Yuhi had worked three matches in the Zero1 promotion; a match against Yuzuki Aikawa and a couple of matches against Hiroyo Matsumoto, all of which were 10-minute matches that saw Yuhi get defeated. This first STARDOM match, just like Yuhi’s first Zero1 match, took place at the famous Korakuen Hall in Tokyo. Io did a good job guiding Yuhi, and Yuhi got the chance to show what she had to offer. The sequences were exciting to watch, and both workers showed great athleticism. However, if there’s one thing I would critique the match on, I’d say that sometimes the match felt more like a collection of fancy-looking moments. Considering Io’s level of experience and status, it would possibly have been more interesting if Io would have shown more arrogance and roughness, and have Yuhi fighting more from underneath, which would put more emphasis on her impressive offense and fighting spirit. Instead, this match kinda felt like Io was just kinda there to have an exhibition with a new wrestler, and that in itself sounds something worth watching, but it leaves you wondering if there wasn’t more that could have been done with this match. Another point of criticism that could be given to this match is that it didn’t have the same fire that Yuhi’s first Zero1 match had, which actually made it feel that Yuhi’s Zero1 debut match did a better job of showcasing Yuhi as the next big thing than this match did. Perhaps there was a little bit too much pressure put on this first STARDOM match of Yuhi’s, which would be understandable, since the talented Yuhi showed all the signs of a future star. Overall, this was a decent match though. In the end, Io obviously got the pinfall victory, but regardless of the match result, Yuhi’s performance in this match certainly showed that she was a promising wrestler. **¾   

Ice Ribbon 5/5/12 Tokyo Korakuen Hall

Kana vs. Hikaru Shida 15:02. There is a certain level of confidence that Kana shows whenever she is wrestling that appears to be (much) higher than the level of confidence displayed by most of her opponents. Kana certainly had a great reputation, and she was arguably the best women’s wrestler in the world at the time. However, that didn’t seem to intimidate Hikaru Shida in any way. Shida showed plenty of confidence in her own ability, and was ready to counter Kana’s offense during the early stages of the match. Once Shida realized that things were going her way, she got even more aggressive and really took it to Kana. However, Kana showed why she was one of the very best, as she was able to make a strong comeback in the match. I like how both women really encouraged the other to fight back stronger. Kana, in particular, seemed to have her usual mentality of making her opponent fight harder. Shida, who was determined as always, really saw this as an opportunity to prove herself, and show at what level she was working at that point in her career. Shida had certainly improved a lot over the past year or so. As a matter of fact, she was possibly one of the most improved workers of the year. She always showed the potential and skills, but now she was delivering higher quality wrestling. The way Kana treated her also seemed to suggest that Shida’s stock had risen higher. The execution by both workers really stood out. Everything was executed with great conviction. Both workers showed more and more urgency as the match progressed. They both put over the fact that they were having more and more trouble trying to put away the other. Kana’s kicks got progressively stiffer, and she started executing holds more deliberately. Shida tried to change her approach a bit by relying a bit more on offense that involved her leaping at Kana and throwing bombs. This more flashy approach worked well to offset Kana’s strikes and submission attempts. In the end, Kana got the submission victory via a crossface chickenwing, but only after Shida tried to fight it off and had no choice but to tap. It was expected that this match was going to be at least very good, but it turned out to be even better than hoped for. It was an excellent match that is highly recommended for those who are even remotely curious about 2012 joshi puroresu and for those who already consider themselves fans of joshi puroresu. ****¼   

Intercontinental Ribbon Tag Title: Tsukasa Fujimoto & Tsukushi vs. Aoi Kizuki & Sayaka Obihiro 19:50. Despite Aoi Kizuki starring in some popular gravure videos, she never really seemed to star in pro wrestling matches that were outstanding, although her 3/20/12 match against Hikaru Shida was surprisingly good. Kizuki's tag team partner Sayaka Obihiro was almost treated like a jobber by the opposition, and this meant that this felt just as one-sided of a match as it appeared to be on paper. Tsukushi showed a lot of fire and energy, and despite not being the most credible worker, her determination was memorable. Tsukasa Fujimoto started becoming the heart and soul of this league by this point in time. Tsukka certainly was the worker of the match here. Despite the fact that Aoi Kizuki’s gravure video performances come highly recommended, and despite her being a somewhat adequate worker, the fact that her performance here doesn’t really make me look forward to watching too many more of her wrestling matches is not a good sign at all. If Obihiro was a bit better, I could kinda see her in a Ryusuke Taguchi-esque role. Obihiro probably heard me say that and took it as an insult though, because all of a sudden, she started throwing some wicked suplexes and started showing more fire. However, this seemed to motivate Tsukka and Tsukushi even more to go for the avengeful attack. Obihiro was in a lot of trouble, and Kizuki wasn’t really able to be of much help. Despite Tsukka and Tsukushi being so dominant, they couldn’t put their opposition away. After nearly 20 minutes of wrestling, just before the time limit expired, Obihiro’s unusual offense finally caught Tsukka off guard, and gave Obihiro the win. This was a pretty big upset win. It was unexpected enough to make me not get upset about Tsukka and Tsukushi losing. Plus, it’s hard for me to get upset about a victory when the likeable Kizuki is involved, even though it could be considered a lucky win for her. Overall, everything considered, this was actually a pretty darn good match, and all four workers gave a very good effort. ***¼ 

Triple Tails.S 5/6/12 Sendai: Kana & Shinobu vs. Syuri & Masamune 15:19. Mixed/intergender (tag team) matches usually don’t get included in these joshi puroresu “year in review” articles. However, this particular match certainly deserves to be mentioned. Kana and Syuri started off the match, which was a good thing, because it meant that they were able to set the bar high for this match. They wrestled in a serious manner, and somewhat surprisingly, this seriousness was maintained throughout the rest of this match, even when the male workers entered the ring. This means that this is one of few enjoyable mixed tag team matches. Of course, some mixed matches involving Michinoku Pro wrestlers back in the 1990s were enjoyable as well and those can be considered exceptions. In general, matches involving men’s wrestlers and women’s wrestlers in the same match tend to end up in a comedy style disappointment featuring sexist and silly moments. However, this particular match featuring Kana and Syuri was luckily wrestled like a serious wrestling match, and it was never emphasized that these were wrestlers of different genders in the same match, and all four workers were treated seriously. The women, Kana and Syuri, definitely stood out, but the guys did well for themselves and seemed to step up their work a notch because of the high quality work displayed by Kana and Syuri. It helped that the two guys in this match are of the smaller, fast-paced athletic type. Shinobu (Sugawara) and Masamune aren’t the largest guys out there, and that actually also made this match a relatively fair match-up when it comes to the size of the workers. As a matter of fact, Syuri’s kicks were so vicious that I could totally see her beat Shinobu in a real fight (especially considering Syuri’s MMA background). Shinobu didn’t really get much of a chance to get too gimmicky, and that was definitely a plus too. Shinobu ended up doing the job for Masamune. This match was surprisingly enjoyable, and it’s probably one of the better mixed tag team matches out there. ***¼

JWP 5/20/12 Yokohama Nigiwaiza

Arisa Nakajima & Manami Katsu vs. Leon & Rabbit Miu 14:16. Katsu and Miu had a surprisingly solid opening minute together. Later in the match, Katsu and Miu continued their solid performance, as they seemed to be inspired by the quality work provided by the other two workers in this match. Leon performed well, as always, and this time she had someone to work with that would actually outshine her, Arisa Nakajima. Everyone did well in this match, but Nakajima was truly a joy to watch due to her gracious work. Joshi puroresu and its fans were really blessed when Nakajima made her return to pro wrestling in 2012. While everyone tried hard, it was Nakajima who got the well-deserved pinfall victory over Miu. This was only Nakajima’s fourth match back since returning to pro wrestling less than a month prior to this match, but her performance here already made it clear that the course of joshi puroresu had changed for the better. ***½ 

Emi Sakura vs. Command Bolshoi 13:32. This was an interesting match-up between two of the more notable names of early 2010s joshi puroresu. They started off the match trying to get an advantage over the other. Bolshoi’s technique was more refined, and it was good to see her do some more technical wrestling, which is something she hadn’t always displayed in the tag team and trios matches we had seen her involved in so far in 2012. Sakura didn’t want to be outdone, and showed some good moves of her own. Bolshoi kept Sakura alert by trying to counter Sakura’s offense. As the match went on, it seemed they were struggling more and more, which made the match more interesting. Once the action moved away from the grappling into the more high-impact style, Sakura thought she had the advantage for a while, but Bolshoi once again was able to counter. It seemed Bolshoi had an answer to everything, no matter what direction the match ended up going in. Sakura clearly didn’t want to be outdone again and hit a top-rope huracarrana and a moonsault. Bolshoi then again replied with moves of her own, and the pace of the match had increased. In the end it was Bolshoi who managed to pin Sakura. This was a match that featured some good wrestling, and both workers showed a lot of passion. ***½   

STARDOM 5/20/12 Tokyo Shinkiba 1st RING: Arisa Hoshiki vs. Yuhi 15:00. This was a relatively long match for these two at this point in their respective careers, especially considering Yuhi having less than a month of experience as a pro wrestler. With that being said, they both deserve a lot of credit for working such a solid match. It was an interesting match because these two are more focussed on kicks than the rest of the roster, so their styles meshed quite well. They alternated between standup strikes, ground submissions and high-impact pro wrestling moves, so they definitely tried a bit of everything. They would always return to kicks though, and that seemed to be the preferred offensive weapon for both these fighters. It certainly appeared to be their most effective approach as well, since the groundwork didn’t seem to lead to anything special, and the more flashy pro wrestling moves appeared to be just thrown in for entertainment value. However, when they were kicking each other, that’s when it felt they were all business. This wasn’t the most graceful match, as the execution was a bit rough at times, but some of the kicks they landed looked really good, and of course, this was certainly a pretty good match for such inexperienced workers. **¾  

OZ Academy 6/10/12 Tokyo Shinjuku Face: OZ Academy Openweight Title Next Challenger Tournament Final: Ran YuYu vs. Hiroyo Matsumoto 10:53 of 16:37. Ran YuYu had defeated Manami Toyota and Nao Komatsu in this tournament. Hiroyo Matsumoto had defeated Mio Shirai and Tomoka Nakagawa to make her way into the final. Ran YuYu and Matsumoto were two workers who were pretty no-nonsense in their approach. They were not too worried about trying to make this fancy, and they stuck with moves that were effective. They both showed a will to win, as they weren’t going to back down from each other. This resulted in a back-and-forth match with plenty of clobbering action. In the end, Matsumoto fought a little bit harder and managed to score the win. It was good to see that the final match was the most memorable match of the tournament. ***

JWP 6/17/12 Tokyo Kinema Club

Misaki Ohata & Hanako Nakamori vs. Leon & Tsubasa Kuragaki 19:49. Misaki Ohata did a really good job selling. Hanako certainly added quality to the match as well, but it was mainly Ohata who did the majority of the work for her team. Leon & Kuragaki were in control for a big chunk of the match, but eventually it was Ohata who had a few minutes that had her executing some good offense. Ohata loves leaping towards her opponents with bodypresses and swinging DDTs. Ohata’s enthusiasm and determination eventually helped her get the pinfall over Kuragaki to win this match for her team. Hanako’s offense mainly consisted of kicks, and while her kicks aren’t exactly on the level of those of Kana and Syuri, she can get by here in JWP since it’s not a very kick-based league. Leon and Kuragaki both gave solid performances, but I’d say that Ohata was the worker of the match here. ***½ 

JWP Tag & Daily Sports Double Tag Title: Kaori Yoneyama & Emi Sakura vs. Arisa Nakajima & Manami Katsu 12:59. Arisa Nakajima showed a lot of intensity with every move. Nakajima has that unique quality where she is able to improve a match through her performance without it all being about her. As great as Arisa was, Manami Katsu deserves credit for being a reliable tag team partner who seemingly improved overnight. The last time we saw Katsu in action, she teamed with Nakajima, so maybe we shouldn’t think this improvement kinda came out of nowhere. After all, being around Arisa will instantly make wrestlers start finding enthusiasm and potential they didn’t know they had before. Katsu showed a lot of passion and had Nakajima-inspired gear. It almost seemed like she was trying to do her best Nakajima impersonation, and nobody would blame her if that was the case. Nakajima is a good role model. Yoneyama & Sakura wore Thai-esque gear, which probably was inspired by Sakura visiting Thailand and founding her new Gatoh Move league earlier that year. Yoneyama and Sakura, former opponents, worked hard and proved to be a strong tag team. Yoneyama won the match by pinning Nakajima. This was on its way to be an excellent match, but it unfortunately lasted only 13 minutes, and it felt like we didn’t get the finishing stretch that would have made this match even more impressive. Still, this was a really good match and it was arguably the best JWP match since 3/4/12. ***¾ 

WAVE 6/17/12 Tokyo Shinkiba 1st RING

Misaki Ohata vs. Yumi Oka 13:28. This match was shown on Misaki Ohata’s gravure DVD from 2012, which is called Beauty Bloom. Ohata showed determination, but Oka’s boots caused Ohata plenty of trouble in this match. Oka appeared to be particularly motivated to give a strong performance, and she seemed more vicious than usual. Ohata worked hard, and found a nice balance by being somewhat flashy, yet effective at the same time. Ohata’s selling was stellar, as always. Ohata executed a beautiful German suplex that nearly got her the win. This was the start of several minutes of near-fall action. The near-falls near the end certainly added to the excitement of the match. Ohata also enhanced that excitement with her loud shrieks. ***¼  

WAVE Tag Title: Kana & Ayumi Kurihara vs. Tomoka Nakagawa & GAMI 10:08 of 16:17. Kurihara and Nakagawa had a great segment against each other. When Kana entered the match, Nakagawa continued to impress and was not intimidated by Kana’s greatness, which was understandable, because Nakagawa was an excellent wrestler herself. Kana was impressive, as usual. Wily veteran GAMI had to step up her game a bit, and she was smart enough to kinda stay out of the way in this match, since she was severely outclassed in the workrate department in this match featuring three workers who were at their respective peaks. GAMI kept things simple when she was on offense, and she didn’t hog the limelight. Tomoka & GAMI showed how strong of a tag team they were, and they managed to retain the title. ***¼ 

Kana Pro 6/17/12 Tokyo Shinkiba 1st RING: Kana & Kenichi Yamamoto vs. Syuri & Daisuke Ikeda 46:01. Since the 5/6/12 mixed match featuring Kana and Syuri proved to be enjoyable, I became curiouser and curiouser about this particular match-up from 6/17/12. This match certainly didn’t disappoint, and it’s a match that has the ability to draw the viewer in, and it is the type of match that makes you forget about time. This ended up being an unusually long match. Kana and Syuri started this match off against each other, and that’s always a good thing. Daisuke Ikeda and Kenichi Yamamoto are two very established, accomplished and respected male pro wrestlers with good reputations. Perhaps this gave Kana and Syuri even more motivation to show that women’s wrestling can be just as good as men’s wrestling (and often even better), which I’m sure is something that most people reading this will agree with, and if you’re not a joshi connoisseur yet, I hope these “year in review” articles are helping you to get there. Kenichi Yamamoto was wearing his UWFi kickpads, which I’m sure will make some people mark out. This mixed tag team match was very different from the 5/6/12 match, because in the 5/6/12 match, Kana and Syuri each respectively teamed with a fast-paced junior heavyweight style worker (Shinobu and Masamune), which made for a very even match. However, in this match, they were each paired with a no-nonsense tough shoot style worker. This meant that Kana and Syuri were going to really notice the fact that they were at a disadvantage physically, since there was a noticeable size and strength difference that couldn’t be overlooked. These four workers tried to make this a relatively realistic fight, at least within the context of quasi shoot style pro wrestling, but at times some suspension of disbelief was somewhat necessary in order to fully take this seriously (of course, that could be said for most pro wrestling). That’s okay though, because the match was overall like a beautiful piece of art and it is one of the best mixed tag team matches out there, because this was performed like a serious wrestling match. There were no comedy spots that involved making a joke out of the fact there were two women in a match that also involved two men (which is what often happens in mixed matches, unfortunately), and they deserve credit for working this match like a serious match. Whenever Kana and Syuri had to struggle a bit more in this match, it was only because of the physical difference in size compared to Ikeda and Yamamoto, but it was not because of their gender. If there’s one thing that could have made this match better, it’s probably that they could have reduced the length of this match a little bit. However, on the other hand, a rare match-up like this doesn’t come along often, so you could say it actually was worthwhile having these four going over 45 minutes. Despite its length, this match never really felt like it was dragging. While this probably didn’t necessarily need to be this long and it was worked at a relatively slow pace, the match featured work that was intriguing, and they were always doing something useful that added something to the match, so the time they were given wasn't wasted. I think that if they would have gone 60 minutes, it certainly would have been overkill, but I think they probably would have still been able to pull off a match of similar quality, based on how well they all worked together and how well they used their time. The wrestling was no-nonsense, and Kana and Syuri showed they were willing to play it rough. Kana and Syuri, while at times in plenty of trouble, showed a lot of fighting spirit and toughness that warranted respect from everyone. Regardless of this being a mixed/intergender tag team match, everything these workers did felt like a struggle and a war. It was a battle that saw these four show their toughness, and it felt there was a certain amount of pride on the line. Some of Ikeda’s moves on Kana looked devastating. Particularly the finishing minutes were definitely reminiscent of a war. Kana’s viciousness busted Ikeda open near the end of this match, and Kana followed this up by taking off her right kickpad to be able to deliver even more brutality with stiff kicks. Even though only Kana and Syuri represented joshi puroresu here, this match still deserves recommendation in this joshi puroresu “year in review” write-up, because it does really show Kana and Syuri in a very good light, and it helps getting a good idea of how good they really were in 2012. Plus, the fact that they were treated seriously by the male workers in this match helps establish this match as one of the best mixed tag team matches. The work was really good overall, but when you also add in the uniqueness factor too, it really stands out as a memorable and excellent pro wrestling match. **** 

JWP 7/8/12 Lazona Kawasaki Plaza Sol

Command Bolshoi & Hikari Minami vs. Tsubasa Kuragaki & Sachie Abe 13:08. Sachie Abe never was a great worker by any means, but she was often a likeable character. She tried her best here and worked hard. Perhaps she realized that this could be an opportunity for her to contribute something worthwhile to a potentially good match. Command Bolshoi and Kuragaki were the ones who had to really set the tone for this match, as they were the most reliable performers involved in this match. Luckily, they were feeling it and they were motivated to impress the audience. Hikari Minami is a bundle of energy who just had to get tagged in and was able to add positive energy to the match. Bolshoi brought finesse and technique. Kuragaki brought sheer power and brute force. Abe hit a top-rope dropkick, which further emphasized the point made earlier about her trying her best in this match. This certainly wasn’t the average Abe performance we usually get. Hikari Minami certainly lived up to her expectations. This match was good and fun to watch. The enthusiasm and hard work displayed by the participants really made this memorable. ***¼ 

Arisa Nakajima & Leon vs. Kagetsu & Manami Katsu 18:42. After we recently watched Arisa Nakajima and Manami Katsu team with each other, this time they were facing one another. Katsu, the least experienced worker in the match, gave a good effort. Leon, as is often the case in these JWP tag matches, was an important factor in the high energy of the match. When Nakajima was in the ring with Kagetsu, there was a cool spot where Nakajima went for an elbow smash, but was met with Kagetsu’s elbow smash instead. Kagetsu followed this up with a powerful dropkick. It was good to see Kagetsu make the most of the opportunity she had here, since working with Nakajima could help Kagetsu’s work reach a higher level. While these four kept the action going during the entire match, they didn’t rush things and made sure to have enough time for proper selling. Katsu tried to hang in there with Nakajima, but Nakajima reminded Katsu that you need to try harder if you want to even come close to Nakajima’s level of intensity. To Katsu’s credit, this didn’t stop Katsu and it seems she even learned from the lesson Nakajima was trying to teach her, as Katsu seemed encouraged to try to show up in a more intense way. The final minutes of the match saw several near falls with all four wrestlers contributing a lot. Nakajima eventually got the pin on Katsu to win the match. This was a very good match, and it had become clear that this was one of the better cards of the year and that JWP was on a roll. ***½ 

JWP Openweight Title: Kayako Haruyama vs. Misaki Ohata 15:38. Haruyama had won the championship on 4/22/12 by defeating Tsubasa Kuragaki. Misaki Ohata proved to be a worthy contender for the JWP Title, as she showed her fighting spirit. Ohata worked hard and gave the champion a rough time. Ohata executed an impressive German suplex on Haruyama, who outweighed Ohata by probably at least 40 lbs. Haruyama used her power and size to derail Ohata’s momentum, and Ohata was having a rough time trying to make a comeback. While Haruyama’s high impact moves were entertaining, it was Ohata’s never-say-die attitude and willpower that made the match. Ohata got a near fall on Haruyama that had me thinking Ohata had a chance of winning the title, even though I already knew the result of the match beforehand, and that shows how much they were able to draw the viewer into the match. The crowd in attendance echoed this sentiment by letting their screams echo around the venue. Ohata did the job, but by showing her heart and determination, she became the star of the match. ***

Ice Ribbon 7/11/12 Saitama Isami Wrestle Arena: Arisa Nakajima vs. Hikaru Shida 10:00. This was Arisa Nakajima’s first visit to Ice Ribbon since 2008, and this was the first time she was in the ring with Hikaru Shida. Nakajima showed an incredible amount of urgency and the desire to be as good as she could possibly be. This made the match truly fascinating to watch, and it also helped that she faced a very good opponent in Shida, who had continued to grow as a worker. Nakajima worked super hard, and the fact that she wrestled in front of only 79 fans here didn’t seem to make any difference to her. The only thing that kept this match from being excellent was the fact that this was scheduled for only 10 minutes. If they would have gone longer, it’s very likely that this would have been an excellent match. Nonetheless, this was really good overall, and it is a match that showcased Nakajima’s high workrate. ***¾ 

JWP 7/15/12 Osaka Minami Move On Arena: Arisa Nakajima vs. Hanako Nakamori 9:10. Arisa Nakajima brought out the best in Hanako Nakamori. Nakamori had been progressively more impressive in recent times, but her contribution in this match was even more smooth than usual. Everything they did was executed with excellent precision. Even the one time these two had a minor glitch in a sequence, they would cover it up very well. This was a competitive match in which both participants had to be on top of their game in order to stay ahead. Nakajima pinned Nakamori in a match that had these two make the most of the nine minutes they were given. ***¾   

JWP 7/20/12 Tokyo Itabashi Green Hall: Arisa Nakajima & Tsubasa Kuragaki vs. Command Bolshoi & Kayako Haruyama 15:00. This is a match-up that is worthy of being the main event, at least on paper. It appears some workers did double-duty on this show, so perhaps that’s the explanation for this star-studded match opening the show at this small venue. The fans in attendance for this show only got to watch the great Arisa Nakajima once though, but I suppose that is fair considering JWP probably didn’t want to charge the fans double the price of admission, which would have been warranted if Nakajima was working twice. Haruyama was more focused on mat-based offense than she usually is, which was interesting to see. Bolshoi also enjoyed stretching Nakajima on the canvas, and even though that was no real surprise, it was good to watch. Kuragaki kinda went against the flow and focused on her usual high-impact moves. Nakajima was energetic whenever she was able to get offense in, and she was a super solid base for her opponents’ offense. This match was good, but it kinda felt like they just kinda filled up time until the 15-minute time limit expired, which is not necessarily a bad thing, because these four can put on a good show, but it also kinda leaves the viewer slightly disappointed. I’m sure it would have been better if these four would have been given a few minutes more with a decisive finish. ***¼ 

Ice Ribbon 7/21/12 Saitama Isami Wrestle Arena: Arisa Nakajima & Hikaru Shida vs. Leon & Maki Narumiya 17:21. The team of Arsia Nakajima & Hikaru Shida was certainly an impressive tag team, and this was the first time they teamed up together. You couldn’t tell though, because the team functioned like a well-oiled machine. Maki Narumiya didn’t stand a chance against them. However, things got a lot more competitive once Leon got involved. Nakajima & Shida didn’t let this destroy their confidence though, as they remained focused and were determined to win this match. Narumiya seemed tired of being treated like a jobber, and after watching the other three workers steal the show, she found the inspiration to do things she probably didn’t even know she was capable of doing. The finishing minutes were certainly the climax of the match, and Nakajima eventually pinned Narumiya. This was a very enjoyable match, and it was admirable to see them give such a strong effort in front of a small crowd. ***¾ 

JWP 7/28/12 Yokohama Radiant Hall

JRIBBON Natsume Determination Tournament Semifinal: Arisa Nakajima & Hikaru Shida vs. Command Bolshoi & Hikari Minami 15:00. 1:55. The concept of this tag team tournament was a neat one, as it featured Ice Ribbon workers teaming with JWP workers. Arisa Nakajima is so good at putting over whatever emotion or story she wants to put over, and since a lot of that comes through in a subtle way, it all feels so organic whenever Nakajima tells a story in the ring. Her tag team partner was Hikaru Shida, which was good to see, since these two recently had proven to be somewhat of a dream team in Ice Ribbon. Command Bolshoi, the veteran, teamed with the young Hikari Minami. Nakajima & Shida took advantage of every moment Minami was in the ring, but Bolshoi was there to turn things around for her team. Shida was inspired by Nakajima’s intensity, as Shida worked like a vicious machine. Minami knew her role well, and did a good job of being the young worker in peril. Bolshoi was constantly there to turn the tide, and as Bolshoi’s work was more urgent than it had been for most of the first half of the year, it became clear that there was a lot of honor and pride at stake in this tournament. They went to a 15-minute time limit draw, but the match was restarted since it was decided there had to be a winner to decide who would advance to the final. They continued the match feeding off the momentum they had set before the time limit had expired. Nakajima was one step ahead of everyone, as usual, and she was able to pin Minami to win the match. This was a very good match that featured four workers that were able to tell a good story. ***½  

Tsubasa Kuragaki vs. Manami Katsu 11:45. This was basically just a match to give the wrestlers in the tournament a break, but these two underappreciated workers were able to draw the viewer into the match through their strong effort. Kuragaki pinned Katsu after a powerful moonsault. This was perhaps slightly better than you’d expect, and it turned out to be quite a good match. While these two had been giving good performances throughout the year, here they showed they were capable of having a good singles match that could be described as one that exceeded expectations. ***

JRIBBON Natsume Determination Tournament Final: Arisa Nakajima & Hikaru Shida vs. Hanako Nakamori & Maki Narumiya 12:04. This had the vibe of an important tournament final, because the wrestlers showed a lot of urgency from the start. Narumiya showed a lot of courage, as she was not completely intimidated by the dream team of Nakajima & Shida, who had been on a roll during their short run as tag team, in addition to their reputation as top singles wrestlers. To further emphasize that this match mattered and that this wasn’t just another tag match, Shida placed a chair on top of the shoulders of Narumiya, who was selling on the apron, as Nakajima came crashing down off the top rope onto the chair. This was perhaps somewhat uncharacteristic, but it showed that this was a battle where the winner would have to pull out all the stops. Hanako pinned Nakajima to win the match. This was really good, but I was ready for a few more minutes of action from these four. It kinda felt like Nakamori’s team scored a somewhat lucky win over the impressive tag team of Nakajima & Shida. ***¾  

STARDOM 8/5/12 Tokyo Korakuen Hall

Natsuki*Taiyo vs. Io Shirai 12:21. This was disappointing, and it feels disappointing just saying this, since these were two of the most talented workers around at the time. This should have been an excellent match, and this should have been the main event. Instead, neither was the case. These two fought once in 2009, twice in 2012 and twice in 2014. Their match on 7/25/09 was very good. Their match on 3/25/12 was excellent. This match from 8/5/12 was good, but not quite on the level of their 7/25/09 match and not even close to the level of their 3/25/12 match. I won’t get into their 2014 matches at this moment, as we’ll look at those matches another time. In this 8/5/12 match, they certainly showed their tremendous athletic ability and pro wrestling knowledge. However, it didn’t feel like they went all out for this one, especially when comparing it to the 3/25/12 match. Also, I think the position on the card hurt this match, as this should have been higher on the card. This being the first match of a 7-match card just feels wrong. I understand the need to start off with a bang and wanting to have a hot opener, but these two really should have been the main event or semi main event. The fans in attendance were probably bummed out as well, because they knew they could start thinking about catching their trains after this opening match, since this was the most promising match on the card. It’s kinda like arriving at a music festival having your favorite band play first, which leaves you with no real purpose of being there after their gig. Even more puzzling is the fact that Taiyo had another match on this very same show, as she battled the overrated Kyoko Kimura in the fifth match on the card in another 12-minute match. Even though the fact that this match against Kimura is positioned higher on the card than the match against Io is totally ridiculous, at least Taiyo didn’t have to do the job to Kimura. If we have a closer look at this match between Io and Taiyo, we can see they were going for a type of match that didn’t suit them very well. They worked this match like they were in a cruiserweight match opening a WCW PPV, which means they were extremely talented workers having a good match, but instead of going all out, they didn’t give us the match they would normally be capable of having in a different setting. I get they are not the type of workers who really stay on top of each other, but if they were just going to focus on big moves and athletic spots, you’d think they would treat the moves like they were meaningful. Perhaps the date August 5 makes me have expectations that are unrealistically high, since it was on 8/5/82 (exactly 30 years prior to this match) that Dynamite Kid and Shodai Tiger Mask worked one of the best matches in wrestling history. In the end, regardless of any of that, Taiyo randomly pinned Io to win this match, without there really being much of a build-up to the finish, and it felt like they had just started warming up. While this review may seem somewhat negative, it actually isn’t that negative, because it indirectly emphasizes that these two were so talented that they were having a good match without them really having prepared ingredients for having a good match. This was a  good pro wrestling match if you watch it as a stand alone match, but if you factor in all the elements described previously, it’s hard to not feel at least somewhat disappointed. ***¼   

Eri Susa & Yuri Haruka vs. Mayu Iwatani & Natsumi Shozuki 10:06. These four were enthusiastically working a hard-fought battle. All four seemed eager to perform as well as they could. Eri Susa’s new gimmick that has her portray herself as being overly enthusiastic is quite obnoxious and a big step down from her knockoff version of Tsukushi’s school girl gimmick, which was perfectly fine. Yuri Haruka was quite basic, but sometimes it’s better to stick to the basic stuff when you’re a rookie. You may know her as Haruka Kato or HARUKAZE these days. Natsumi Shozuki was very likeable, which makes it easier to forgive her for her unconventional and unpolished style, and I truly believe she tried her best. I’d say she had quite a pretty good year overall for rookie standards. Unfortunately, she didn’t stay around for that long. Mayu Iwatani stood out most, and she was the worker of the match. While the action certainly was rough around the edges at times, this match was enjoyable to watch. This was probably the best match these four could have together at that moment in time. **¾ 

Wonder of STARDOM Title: Yuzuki Aikawa vs. Yoko Bito 12:29. I think these two would possibly have been able to have a better match if they focused more on strike exchanges. Bito’s kicks were powerful, but Aikawa seemed to try to focus more on trying to tell a story through drama and selling. Aikawa eventually showed some pretty strong strikes of her own though. As the match progressed, they were able to draw the fans more into their story of a main event title match. To their credit, they did quite a good job here, especially considering the stage of their respective careers. **¾ 

JWP 8/12/12 Tokyo Kinema Club: Arisa Nakajima vs. Emi Sakura 7:57. This match started off with great urgency. Emi Sakura hit her thunderous chops throughout this match, and Arisa Nakajima kept fighting like the true savior of joshi puroresu that she was. These two would have a more epic battle towards the end of this year, but this 8/12/12 match served as a good summer appetizer to prepare us for that excellent Christmas meal these two would deliver on Christmas Eve. Nakajima’s execution was so crisp and so effective, but she also acknowledged Sakura’s contribution by selling Sakura’s offense more than appropriately. The main drawback of this match is that it’s less than eight minutes long, but, this was basically only a teaser for their big match later that year. Also, Sakura isn’t the type to have a really good match based purely on workrate, and that’s why the 12/24/12 match made her look better as an in-ring performer, because that was a far more lengthy match with more drama, while this short match from 8/12/12 was pretty much all about fast-paced in-ring action. Sakura got a flashy pinfall win here, which kinda feels wrong, since Nakajima was, of course, the more impressive performer, but when you look at the big picture of things, this was a good setup for their match later this year. In the end, this was a good match overall, and it’s certainly worth a view or two, and Nakajima once again showed her awesomeness. ***¼ 

JWP 8/19/12 Tokyo Korakuen Hall JWP & Daily Sports Women’s Double Tag Title: Kaori Yoneyama & Emi Sakura vs. Arisa Nakajima & Command Bolshoi 13:09. Command Bolshoi was particularly motivated, and she probably felt she had to be, to prove that she still was one of the main workers. These four were among the most established names in JWP at that moment in time. Arisa Nakajima really enhanced the match by being the one who really took this match to the next level by turning things up a notch during the final minutes through her hard work. Throughout the match, Nakajima was able to put over that she doesn’t give up and keeps trying. Kaori Yoneyama & Emi Sakura were a strong tag team, and their teamwork stood out, but they were beaten here when Nakajima pinned Yoneyama. Overall, this was a really good match that is certainly among the better matches of the year 2012. ***¾  

OZ Academy 8/19/12 Tokyo Korakuen Hall

OZ Academy Tag Title: Aja Kong & Sonoko Kato vs. Ayumi Kurihara & AKINO 16:05 of 30:00 + 5:20 of 5:52. It was good to see Aja Kong in a match featuring three workers who were willing and able to deliver a very good match, because that meant we got to see the Aja Kong who remembered who she was back in the old days. This meant Aja was acting a bit more vicious, and even a bit more cocky than she had been lately. The match went to a 30-minute time limit draw, but they decided to continue the match past the time limit. Kurihara took a lot of punishment, and her toughness really stood out in the final minutes. ***¼   

OZ Academy Openweight Title: Chikayo Nagashima vs. Hiroyo Matsumoto 17:58 of 22:33. Hiroyo Matsumoto worked hard and really showed us that she took this title match very seriously. She was able to put over the drama of her desperation of trying to win the title, and she even juiced. Chikayo Nagashima was the confident and sneaky champion, who wasn’t afraid to use some dirty tactics, since she was the one who had the belt, and she let Matsumoto chase her. Nagashima had been the champion since 3/25/12 when she beat Mayumi Ozaki to win this title. When Nagashima was on the offense, she made sure the impact delivered was as devastating as possible (which usually meant it included illegal objects) to make it harder for Matsumoto to find the strength to carry on. Once Matsumoto was able to fight back, she wasn’t afraid to give Nagashima a taste of her own medicine. However, Nagashima would always try to make Matsumoto’s comebacks as brief as possible, in order to not lose too much control over the match. In the end, Nagashima was the clear winner, and while Matsumoto proved her status as strong challenger, it never really felt like Nagashima had to worry too much about losing the match and the title. ***½  

WAVE 8/26/12 Tokyo Shinkiba 1st RING

Kana vs. Shu Shibutani 8:06. What better way to celebrate the WAVE 5th Anniversary than with this match-up? This was a particularly good show overall, but this was easily the best match. Shu Shibutani wore different gear than we were used to seeing her in previously. This new gear was slightly less inviting and idol-esque than her previous one, and it was more the gear you’d expect from a serious worker. However, I’m certainly not claiming one was necessarily better than the other, as both her gear styles were cool. Kana impressed through her excellent technique, and Shibutani impressed through her tremendous selling and display of determination. Shibutani’s willpower was even more clear when she was on offense. However, Kana’s ability was such that even the skilled Shibutani could not escape the clutches of Kana. ***½ 

Tomoka Nakagawa & GAMI vs. Tsukasa Fujimoto & Hikaru Shida 20:00. The tag team of Tomoka Nakagawa & GAMI showed their ability to work as a team, and this resulted in the team dominating the early parts of the match. Tsukka and Shida were perhaps not as strong as a unit, but they were certainly strong as individuals, and that seemed to work for them here. There was a cool spot where GAMI tried her Jinsei Shinzaki rope walk, but Tsukka then did it way faster, and when the two met while both walking on the top rope, Tsukka dropkicked GAMI, who landed on top of the ropes crotch-first. The in-ring work obviously picked up significantly whenever Nakagawa was in the ring, as her speed and explosiveness really enhanced the match quality. Shida showed a lot of intensity, in particular during the sequences she worked with Nakagawa. Nakagawa, who is known for being quick, certainly had to rely on that quickness when she faced Tsukka in some fast-paced moments. This was a good match, but it never really felt like we got a satisfying ending, and we just had 20 minutes of some fun and some hard work. Of course, there’s not necessarily anything wrong with that, but it leaves you wondering how much better this would have been with a decisive finish and maybe less GAMI time. **¾  

Ayumi Kurihara vs. Ayako Hamada 16:06. Ayako Hamada’s work was actually quite solid here, and she appeared to be slightly more motivated than when these two faced each other in tag team competition in February at the Joshi 4 Hope show. However, it was certainly mostly due to Ayumi Kurihara’s fighting spirit that this match was good. **¾ 

Misaki Ohata vs. Yumi Oka 22:44. Yumi Oka used ther long legs to get the advantage. In between all the big boots and kicks, she would occasionally try something different. Misaki Ohata’s offense was certainly more diverse and more exciting to watch. This seemed to inspire Oka to try to throw some more flavor into her offense. The pacing of the match was perfect for the type of match they were going for, a relatively long match with some of the key spots spread out over the length of the match, with quite a lot of emphasis on selling. Also, the fact they were familiar with each other’s work made it easier for them to make everything look smooth and organic. Overall, this was a solid match, and both workers gave a pretty strong performance in this match that lasted a bit longer than what you’d probably expect from a singles match between these two. ***  

Ice Ribbon 9/1/12 Saitama Isami Wrestle Arena: Tsukasa Fujimoto vs. Riho 12:42. Riho was only 15 years old, but she gave a strong effort. She clearly wanted to show that she was not just an ordinary teenage girl, but someone who understood how to participate in a good match. Despite being 14 years younger than Tsukasa Fujimoto, Riho actually had two years more pro wrestling experience than Tsukka. While Tsukka was definitely significantly more mature as a personality, Riho didn’t necessarily come across much less of a mature worker than Tsukka, and these two almost appeared to be equally good if you’d just judge their work based on this match. However, if you look at the bigger picture, this match really proves that Tsukka was a strong worker who was able to get the most out of Riho here, because if you look at other matches these two had in 2012, it’s clear that Riho didn’t always look as impressive as she did here, while Tsukka had a pretty consistent 2012. This speaks volumes about Tsukka’s ability to make others look better, even though Riho certainly also deserves credit for her part. The way these two were able to work interesting counters and make this look more important than the average Ice Ribbon match definitely made this match stand out. The sequences were executed smoothly, and this was a pretty good match overall. ***

JWP 9/9/12 Tokyo Kinema Club

Kaori Yoneyama & Emi Sakura vs. Hanako Nakamori & Morii 12:58. The former tag team champions, Yoneyama & Sakura, were in trouble early on against a tag team of two workers who were trying to prove themselves. Morii was probably happy she was WANTED by someone other than KAZUKI, and she seemed very pleased teaming with Nakamori here. Morii is not the most skilled wrestler, but when she’s in there with good workers, she usually does a pretty good job of trying to fit in. Nakamori was a bit more vicious than usual, which was a good thing, because that’s the one thing she had been lacking a bit earlier this year. Yoneyama & Sakura were such a cohesive unit that they didn’t necessarily stand out as individual workers here, but their tag team performance was really strong. These four probably wanted to set the bar high for the big main event, which on paper looked like a top-notch match. The match came to an end when Yoneyama pinned Morii. This match was worked at a fast pace and all four participants tried their best, which made it fun to watch. ***½ 

JWP Tag & Daily Sports Tag Double Title: Arisa Nakajima & Command Bolshoi vs. Leon & Ray 17:02. This was a tag team match featuring the two best tag teams of 2012. All four workers showed why they are four recognizable names in joshi puroresu. There were plenty of big moves, and a lot of exciting moments. Command Bolshoi was there to back up Arisa Nakajima as much as she could. Nakajima really put it over that she tried her best to help her team survive this battle against the spectacular tag team of Leon & Ray. Leon hit several cool-looking moves, and her tag team partner Ray moved around the ring elegantly. The final minutes featured several pinfall attempts. These two teams were so evenly matched, but in the end, it was Bolshoi pinning Ray that ended the match. This was really good, and definitely one of the better matches of the year. It’s certainly a memorable match and recommended in particular for those who want to see the two best tag teams of 2012 battle it out against each other. ***¾ 

OZ Academy 9/22/12 Tokyo Shinjuku Face: Chikayo Nagashima & Mayumi Ozaki vs. Ayumi Kurihara & AKINO 24:40 of 26:34. OZ Academy has the reputation of featuring a lot of interference and garbage wrestling, and both of those aspects were certainly incorporated into this match. However, the way the violence was introduced into the match was done in a more meaningful way than is the norm, and this made it more shocking and effective. Certainly, the match started off like a regular OZ brawl, but eventually it seemed the focus was more on wrestling. Then, at some point, Kurihara juiced and was the victim in a violent scene that involved her getting beat up and choked with a chain. It was nice to see Mayumi Ozaki involved in a really good match again, even though her part in this play mostly involved bringing more violence whileNagashima did most of the actual wrestling for her team. AKINO was pretty good when she was in, and she worked a big chunk of the match, but Kurihara was the star of the match for being able to put over a beating so well and for showing her never-say-die attitude. ***½

WAVE 9/30/12 Nagoya Club Diamond Hall DUAL SHOCK WAVE 2012 Tag League B Block: Hikaru Shida & Yumi Oka vs. Ayumi Kurihara & Mika Iida 8:50 of 14:54. When a tag team pays attention to their wrestling gear matching colors, it’s always a neat thing, and in this case, both teams paid attention to it. Ayumi Kurihara showed her excellence, and seemed to inspire Mika Iida to strive to attempt to become a poor woman’s version of Kurihara. Hikaru Shida was the worker of her team, and she was feeling particularly dominant on this day. Yumi Oka showed interest in making sure her contributions were timed right and executed right though. This appeared to be a pretty good match, but we only got to see a little over half the match. It would have been nice to have seen more interactions between Kurihara and Shida, but when they did work against each other, it was lots of fun. **¾   

SGPW 9/30/12 Osaka Matsushita IMP Hall: Aja Kong vs. Meiko Satomura 6:00 of 18:40. Only a third of this match was shown, but it appeared to be good. These two were obviously very familiar with each other, as they’ve had famous battles in the past. They clearly gave a strong effort to try to relive the glory of their past battles. ***¼

WAVE 10/5/12 Osaka Minami Move On Arena DUAL SHOCK WAVE 2012 Tag League B Block: Ayumi Kurihara & Mika Iida vs. Shu Shibutani & Syuri 9:14 of 15:51. Syuri’s offense was the most intense it's looked thus far in this tournament. Shibutani was so good at taking moves and punishment. It was nice to see her execute a tope suicida, as it felt like we hadn’t seen a Shibutani tope suicida in a while. Kurihara gave an excellent performance, as everything she did looked so smooth. Mika Iida was the obvious weak link, but she really deserves credit for being able to hang in there with top talent. Iida even got the pinfall over Shibutani. This was the first good match in this tournament. ***

OZ Academy 10/14/12 Tokyo Shinjuku Face

Tsubasa Kuragaki vs. Sonoko Kato 13:54 of 16:27. This was a high-effort match between two no-nonsense workers. Their styles meshed really well, and it felt like they both brought out that extra little effort that made this match so enjoyable. Kato showed her fighting spirit, and Kuragaki brought her high-impact moves. ***¼ 

Aja Kong vs. Ran YuYu 18:19 of 23:19. Even though Ran YuYu’s 2012, her final year as a pro wrestler, was her weakest year in a long time, this match showed us that whenever she faces Aja Kong in a singles match, it is a special occasion. They worked at a relatively slow pace with a deliberate approach. There was some brawling. There was high-impact offense with a focus on selling and timing. Basically, these two gave us a memorable match by using their experience, and they didn’t have to rely on pure workrate. Some of the execution was a bit rough at times, and certainly not as smooth as what they would have been capable of in previous years, however their intentions were good, and this helped them in managing to command a certain amount of respect from everyone watching. This was a good match overall, and it was almost on the level of their very good 4/29/11 match. ***

Ayumi Kurihara vs. Mayumi Ozaki 14:57 of 15:41. Ayumi Kurihara started the match off in a big way, hitting a plancha off the top onto Ozaki, who was on the floor. Later in the match, Kurihara became the victim of a lot of violence, which somewhat resembled the punishment she went through in the 9/22/12 tag match. Kurihara juiced again, but she wasn’t bleeding as profusely as she was on 9/22/12. It was certainly Kurihara who deserves most of the credit for making this match worth watching, by showing energy and working hard. Kurihara also showed us here that her versatility should not be underestimated. Ozaki relied way too much on garbage wrestling and interference for her performance to be considered an actual good performance. However, no matter how much Ozaki relies on garbage, the fact that she’s forgotten more about puroresu than most people will ever know about puroresu makes her still a worker who can be effective by understanding how drama and selling can add quality to a match. Aja Kong had enough of Ozaki’s cheating and decided to give Kurihara a hand. This match was decent overall, but I would only recommend it to hardcore fans of Ozaki and OZ Academy, and to people who are curious about seeing Kurihara be on the receiving-end of a lot of violence. Not sure what kind of audience now really feels compelled to watch this though. **¾  

Ice Ribbon 10/20/12 Saitama Isami Wrestle Arena: Kana & Mio Shirai vs. Tsukasa Fujimoto & Maki Narumiya 13:15. Earlier on this show, future Ice Ribbon superstar Risa Sera made her first appearance under the name Risa Okuda in an exhibition match against Tsukasa Fujimoto. That was more like a warming up session for Tsukka, of course, and this was a main event that required her to be warmed up and ready, because Kana made a rare appearance at the Ice Ribbon dojo. Kana enjoyed torturing Maki Narumiya, and Kana let Mio Shirai be part of the fun too. The sadistic duo continued to keep Narumiya in their corner as much as possible, as they realized Narumiya was the obvious weak link of Tsukka’s team. However, the gutsy Narumiya survived and made the tag to Tsukka. While all four were enthusiastic, Kana and Tsukka’s performances stood out because of the crispness of their work. While this was very good, in the end, it was Kana who ended up looking like the superior fighter and got a deserving victory for her team. ***½ 

STARDOM 10/21/12 Osaka IMP Hall  High Speed Title: Natsuki*Taiyo vs. Saki Kashima 6:28 of 10:12. This match is noteworthy particularly because Taiyo once again proved that she was able to bring the best out of Kashima and get Kashima to step up her game. These two had a decent match against each other on 5/20/12 (and they were in an okay three-way with Yoko Bito on 2/5/12), but this one from 10/21/12 is even better and has more action. ***   

JWP 10/21/12 Hakata Starlanes: Arisa Nakajima & Command Bolshoi & Maki Narumiya vs. Leon & Sendai Sachiko & Tsubasa Kuragaki 16:55. Arisa Nakajima and Sendai Sachiko stole the show. Kuragaki brought her power and was a good addition to her team. Narumiya did well, especially considering she was the odd one out. Bolshoi and Leon had several nice moments together, but they didn’t stand out as much as Arisa and Sachiko. It’s a very good match that gave a good indication of why JWP was such a strong league at the time, because it’s an exciting trios match featuring notable wrestlers and a strong performance by Arisa. ***½ 

SGPW 10/21/12 Hakata Starlanes: Aja Kong vs. Kagetsu 4:40 of 12:15. Kagetsu fought hard and proved herself to be a gutsy wrestler. Aja Kong roughed Kagetsu up quite a bit, and Kagetsu even started bleeding from the mouth. Aja Kong was in badass stiff monster mode, but Kagetsu never backed down and kept fighting back. Despite being in her 26th year as a pro wrestler, Aja Kong showed that she was still capable of working hard and giving a strong performance, especially when in there against a worker that’s worth it. ***

WAVE 10/23/12 Tokyo Shinkiba 1st RING

Leon vs. Mio Shirai 10:40 of 15:00. This was lots of fun to watch, and they seemed to have fun working this match. There were some good counters, and both workers appeared to be in the mood to try to make this good. Mio was a bit more vicious and serious than we are used to from her earlier in 2012. Leon was her reliable self, as per usual. All you Mio fans out there should check this match out. **¾ 

DUAL SHOCK WAVE 2012 Tag League A Block: Tsukasa Fujimoto & Misaki Ohata vs. Tomoka Nakagawa & GAMI 8:15 of 18:09. Tsukasa Fujimoto showed a lot of fire and athleticism. It was good to see Tomoka Nakagawa in action again, and she obviously carried the workload for her team, as GAMI was just being GAMI. GAMI did work this match smartly when it came to her stepping up her game when necessary, and realizing that Nakagawa was the one carrying her team. Misaki Ohata always seemed to be extra motivated whenever she was working against Nakagawa. Tsukka got the pin over GAMI, which gave the really cool tag team of Tsukka & the Blue Fairy the victory. This appeared to be a pretty good match overall, but I wonder what happened in the ten minutes that weren’t shown. **¾

WNC 10/26/12 Tokyo Korakuen Hall WNC Women’s Title Tournament First Round: Syuri vs. Lin Byron 8:12. Lin Byron is the unmasked persona of Ray, the masked joshi worker from Hong Kong. Byron moved around the ring with great finesse, while Syuri focused on stiff kicks. Byron threw a pretty stiff kick here and there too. Syuri hit a devastating released German suplex, showing that while Byron’s offense may look more fancy, Syuri’s offense was more impactful. This was a very good match, especially because these two really made the most of the eight minutes they were given. Syuri would eventually win this tournament by beating Nagisa Nozaki in the final on 12/27/12, in an average match that was basically an easy victory for Syuri. ***½  

JWP 10/28/12 Tokyo Shinjuku FACE

Leon vs. Kaori Yoneyama 11:57. This could have been the main event, but instead it was the opening match. It was nice to see these two in singles competition against each other, because these workers had mostly been involved in tag team competition recently. Yoneyama’s execution was spot on here on this particular day. Leon’s smoothness certainly added a lot to this match, but it felt like Yoneyama was the worker of the match. Either way, this was a very good match featuring two very good workers, and certainly a strong way to kick off this show. ***½ 

JWP Tag & Daily Sports Tag Double Title: Arisa Nakajima & Command Bolshoi vs. Hanako Nakamori & Morii 16:13. Arisa Nakajima and Hanako Nakamori were really laying it into each other. Their hard work and enthusiasm really made this match, even when they weren’t facing each other. Bolshoi Kid was reliable, as always. Morii continued to exceed expectations by not giving in on the label of being the default weak link, as she did give a strong effort. However, it was certainly because of the other three workers that Morii had a rare opportunity to be part of an excellent match. Nakajima gave a superb performance, showing her status as a super worker. Nakamori deserves credit for being the second-best worker in the match, even surpassing Bolshoi in the quality and effort department. **** 

JWP Openweight Title: Kayako Haruyama vs. Emi Sakura 16:18. Emi Sakura deserves credit for stepping out of her comfort zone and hitting two tope suicidas in a row. Sakura didn’t stop there, as it seemed she felt that she should carry her overrated opponent to a surprisingly good match. There was a segment where they executed a series of suplexed on each other, and they sold it well. In the end, the winner of this match was certainly the well-deserved victor. ***

WAVE 11/4/12 Tokyo: Misaki Ohata vs. Mio Shirai 8:00 of 9:07. Mio proudly displayed the Ice Ribbon ICEx60 Title as she entered the ring for her ring introduction. Once again we get to enjoy Mio in a match where she’s competing seriously and giving quite a strong effort. Perhaps it is that Ice Ribbon title that has given Mio extra motivation to try to work good matches. The Blue Fairy was certainly a good opponent for Mio here, as the two had an entertaining and well-worked battle. This wasn’t Misaki Ohata’s best performance by any means, but even when she isn’t having her finest day, she’s still there to provide quality to the match she’s in. Perhaps a little bit surprisingly, it was actually Mio who came away looking like the better of the two in the end here. **¾ 

MakoKana Pro 11/9/12 Tokyo Shinjuku FACE: Arisa Nakajima & Syuri vs. Kana & Kagetsu 30:00. This was the main event of a show produced by Kana and Makoto. Just looking at the four names involved in this main event match makes this a match true joshi puroresu aficionados should be seeking out. Syuri’s kicks were impressive throughout this match, and that seemed to make Kana show everyone that her kicks were super impressive as well. Syuri, who has a kickboxing background, brought some stiff looking no-nonsense strikes to this match, and some of Syuri’s most interesting moments obviously featured her interactions with Kana, since those two were quite familiar with each other and had been having a competitive feud. Kana was able to display her tremendous skill level, in particular her ability to perform tremendous escapes, counters and viciousness. Arisa Nakajima showed her versatility here, as she was able to fit in very well, and not just fit in, but also add quality to this match through her hard work and ability. Nakajima also was not afraid to make this more of a regular puroresu style match, even though Kana and Syuri had been setting a quasi shoot style vibe. Kagetsu kinda felt like the odd one out here, but she deserves credit for hanging in there and commanding respect through her effort and energy. In particular, it was cool to see her battling Syuri, as Kagetsu appeared to be seeing it as an interesting challenge to try to grapple with Syuri and bring as much to the table as she could. Nakajima and Kagetsu battling it out was arguably even cooler though, because Nakajima allowed Kagetsu to really try to take things to a new level. Whenever Nakajima and Kana battled each other, we were privileged to watch the two best in the world taking it to one another. Kana was viciously brutal and strong technically. Nakajima was so great at everything and showed she had such a great eye for detail. Near the finish, Kana attempted to make Syuri submit, but luckily for Syuri, the time limit expired. This was a joy to watch, and this match is recommended for anyone who is interested in seeing some of 2012 joshi puroresu’s top talent in action. This was arguably the best match of 2012. ****½  

JWP 11/11/12 Tokyo Kinema Club

JWP Openweight Title #1 Contendership Tournament Semifinal: Arisa Nakajima vs. Morii 7:43. Morii showed a lot of fighting spirit. Arisa Nakajima gave a strong performance, as she worked hard and enabled Morii to look like a better worker than usual. This is not one of the best matches of the year by any means, but it was worth mentioning this match, because there’s no such a thing as watching too many Arisa Nakajima matches. **¾ 

JWP Openweight Title #1 Contendership Tournament Semifinal: Leon vs. Hanako Nakamori 10:07. These two showed lots of urgency, and they showed that making it to the final is a big deal. Hanako eventually got the win in a match that featured lots of hard work from both participants. ***

Command Bolshoi vs. Ran YuYu 15:00. Ran YuYu would retire less than a month later. This was also a celebration of JWP’s 20th anniversary. Command Bolshoi was the only wrestler left in JWP who was actually there when they started in 1992. This was one of Ran YuYu’s final twenty matches of her career, and she clearly tried to give a good effort here. Bolshoi fought back until the very last second. When Ran YuYu possibly was about to win this match, the time limit expired just a second before either the referee would count to three or Bolshoi would kick out… I guess we’ll never know what would have happened. The result was a draw, and a decent match worth giving a view. **¾  

JWP Openweight Title #1 Contendership Tournament Final: Arisa Nakajima vs. Hanako Nakamori 8:27. This felt like a big deal from the start, because they were beating the crap out of each other outside of the ring even before they got to start batting in the ring. As this match took place as we were approaching the end of 2012, this match is a really good indicator of how much Nakamori had progressed in 2012, as Nakamori showed more confidence and aggression here than she had done ever before. Nakajima was able to hang in there and fight back, always making sure that every move felt like it was part of her quest to survive this war. In the end, Nakajima got the pinfall victory. The workrate was high and these two played a big part in making this tournament feel super important. ***¼ 

STARDOM 11/11/12 Tokyo Shinkiba 1st RING Goddesses of STARDOM Red Block: Yuhi & Yuzuki Aikawa vs. Io Shirai & Mayu Iwatani 12:42. It’s amazing how mature of a worker Yuhi comes across in this match, further solidifying her position as the rookie of the year (as if there was really any doubt). Yuhi really comes across as a better version of Yuzuki Aikawa here. Yuhi just scores just a little bit higher than Aikawa in every category you can think of. While Aikawa has shown progression as a worker, I think at the same time, as time went on, her previous status as being “the chosen one” as the face of STARDOM kinda started diminishing and started feeling outdated (that status started feeling ‘so early 2011’ real quickly). Not only did we have a rookie in Yuhi who scored higher than her in every category, we also had the opposing team here that just exudes STARDOMness (Io Shirai & Mayu Iwatani, the tag team who would later become known as Thunder Rock). This was a good match, but it was a bit too disjointed to be considered very good. ***  

WAVE 11/16/12 Tokyo Tokyo Shinkiba 1st RING

DUAL SHOCK WAVE 2012 Tag League B Block Play-Off: Shu Shibutani & Syuri vs. Hikaru Shida & Yumi Oka 8:19 of 10:35. Yumi Oka was really feeling it on this day, and it seemed working this tag team tournament really made her go look deep inside and unlock abilities she didn’t know she had before. Of course, teaming with Hikaru Shida probably played a huge role in Oka’s newfound enthusiasm. Hikaru Shida was arguably the worker of the match, despite Shu Shibutani and Syuri being involved. This match really is a strong example of how much Shida had grown as a worker in 2012. Shibutani arguably was the second best here, because of her resourcefulness. Syuri was certainly valuable as well, not only through her swagger, but also through her ability. However, it really seemed that Shibutani was the one who worked the majority of the match for her team. This was a good match, because everyone involved really brought a lot of energy and appeared to be enthusiastic about really making this a good match. ***¼ 

DUAL SHOCK WAVE 2012 Tag League Final: Tsukasa Fujimoto & Misaki Ohata vs. Shu Shibutani & Syuri 10:13 of 19:27. This was certainly worthy of being a tournament final, because both teams featured top 25 workers. Syuri seemed to have saved some extra fire for the final. Tsukasa Fujimoto had been really impressive in this tournament, and it has been very useful seeing her in action outside of her home league Ice Ribbon, as her performances in this tournament really confirm her excellence even more. In Ice Ribbon, she had been clearly one of the best in that league, but here in this tournament hosted by the WAVE league, which featured some of the best joshi workers around, we really got to see what Tsukka was truly capable of in 2012. Shu Shibutani gave a strong performance, and her work was a big part in this match being this good. Finally we got to see Misaki Ohata turning up her work up a notch. She always shows interest and enthusiasm to some degree, but here in this final, she showed that she really tried a bit harder than usual. This was a really good match, and while all four made strong contributions, extra credit should go to Shibutani and Tsukka. This possibly would have been a four-star match if we would have been able to watch the full match, but instead we only got to see half the match, which means that even in 2012, the WAVE editor remained the top heel. ***¾ 

WAVE 11/27/12 Tokyo Korakuen Hall

Ayumi Kurihara vs. Syuri 7:49 of 12:22. This show featured a bunch of mediocre AAA workers, but it was some of the more regular WAVE workers who showed they were some of the best women’s wrestlers in the world at the time. Two of them faced each other here. Kurihara and Syuri didn’t wait for the bell, starting to attack each other when the fans were still throwing streamers. These two were quite evenly matched, and were able to deliver an exciting battle. Syuri’s jumping high knee attacks were well placed. Kurihara brought a lot of intensity to fight off Syuri’s deliberate attacks. Kurihara seemed to believe that if she would stay on top of Syuri with fast-paced joshi puroresu type offense, she could keep Syuri from unleashing her strike-based offense. Kurihara’s approach seemed to work, as Kurihara unleashed a fury of offense that didn’t give Syuri much of a chance to hit her stiff kicks. Kurihara gave a superb effort, but Syuri stayed in the fight and was able to eventually hit a devastating kick that took Kurihara out. This match is definitely worth watching. ***¾ 

Kana vs. Yumi Oka 8:33 of 12:05. Kana was so good at having intriguing matches with a wide range of opponents. In this match, she made Oka look like a serious threat, despite Oka having quite a limited and unspectacular repertoire. Oka is good enough to know her role, play it well and be humble whenever she faces a superior worker like Kana. This worked particularly well when it came to this match, since Kana is more of the dominant type. In the end, despite Oka’s efforts, Kana’s victory, while it didn’t come super easily, was certainly expected, and Kana was never really too close to losing this pretty good match. ***

WAVE Tag Title Match: Tsukasa Fujimoto & Misaki Ohata vs. Tomoka Nakagawa & GAMI 9:38 of 19:45. Despite GAMI’s unorthodox style, this still turned out to be a match that was worth watching, mostly because of the quality work provided by Tsukasa Fujimoto and Tomoka Nakagawa. Misaki Ohata’s best moments happened when she was in the ring with Nakagawa, but even her work against GAMI kept the flow of the match going. What was shown looked pretty good, but we didn’t see half of the match, so maybe it was better or worse than it seemed. Let’s hope for the viewers in attendance that the ten minutes that didn’t air didn’t feature too many of GAMI’s shenanigans. **¾  

JWP 12/2/12 Tokyo Kinema Club Captain’s Fall: Arisa Nakajima & Command Bolshoi & Leon & Kayoko Haruyama vs. Emi Sakura & Kaori Yoneyama & Hanako Nakamori & Morii 17:26. The stipulation of this match was that the team captain, Arisa or Emi, would have to get pinned. This was a fast-paced match that was never dull, even though it felt a bit chaotic sometimes. It was a very good match, but I think they overdid the pinfall attempts. Near falls and pinfall attempts are cool, but when they’re done excessively, they kinda start to lose meaning, which can cause the viewer to lose interest. The overall work was really good though, as everyone worked really hard and tried to make this a spectacular main event. The final seven minutes or so were particularly intriguing to watch. After lots of action, Arisa Nakajima did the job, resulting in her team losing after Kaori Yoneyama pinned her. Everyone gave at least a good effort, but in terms of quality, the performances of Arisa Nakajima, Command Bolshoi, and Kaori Yoneyama stood out most. ***¾  

Ran YuYu Produce 12/2/12 Tokyo Kinema Club Survival: Aja Kong & AKINO & Ran YuYu & Tomoka Nakagawa & Hiroyo Matsumoto vs. Meiko Satomura & Carlos Amano & Sonoko Kato & Tsubasa Kuragaki & Chikayo Nagashima 41:10 of 62:54. In front of 192 fans, these workers had the unenviable task of trying to live up to the expectations that came along when it was decided they would pay homage to the greatness of JWP’s legendary “First Attack” 8-women survival tag match which took place at JWP’s 7/31/93 Thunder Queen Battle. Aja Kong was the only worker of the 7/31/93 match that was also in this match. I guess celebrating the career of Ran YuYu was big enough of a deal to have this somewhat preposterous match. Aja Kong vs. Meiko Satomura was the first pairing here. As expected, they meshed well, since they were very familiar with each other, and it was a good way to start off this match since they were arguably the two biggest stars in this match. They went five minutes, which meant they were allowed to tag someone else. AKINO vs. Carlos Amano was the next pairing. This was another interesting pairing, since they were both very familiar with each other, especially in tag team competition. Their action was fun to watch for sure. The next pairing was Ran YuYu vs. Sonoko Kato. The action was pretty good, but nothing to write home about. The next pairing was Tomoka Nakagawa vs. Tsubasa Kuragaki. This was such a cool combination of two somewhat underrated workers. They worked a fast-paced style, and it was fun to watch. The next pairing was Hiroyo Matsumoto vs. Chikayo Nagashima. These two were two of the top tag team workers OZ Academy had been seeing in the past few recent years. Both worked hard and showed why it was worth waiting for them to enter the match last. Nagashima showed her excellence, and Matsumoto’s enthusiasm, power and happiness was evident here. After these five pairings didn’t lead to any pinfalls, everyone was allowed to enter the match, and it turned into a 10-woman tag with survival rules. These ten women worked super hard in front of a small audience in a match that didn’t even make it in full form on any commercial release (well, at least we got to see most of it). However, near the end, things kinda seem to fall apart a bit. Instead of things getting more exciting and interesting, at times it felt more like everyone was tired and just waiting for the end to come. Which is kinda like the opposite of the 7/31/93 match, because in that match, they really made the most out of each of the 60 minutes. Still, to work a really good match of this length is something we didn’t expect to see in 2012. Plus, to even think of seriously comparing this match to the 7/31/93 match, apart from having similar stipulations (and it’s the similar stipulations that make it hard to not draw comparisons of any kind), seems kinda ridiculous to begin with. Ran YuYu got her big spotlight moment when she scored the pinfall over Kuragaki, in what was the only and winning pinfall of this match that went a couple of minutes into overtime. Aja Kong was the MVP of the match for being super badass, and for being the one to try to attempt bringing some of that excitement the original match from Thunder Queen Battle match had, despite there being no chance whatsoever that this match could come even close to the greatness of the work and storytelling of the 7/31/93 match. AKINO also stood out, and even though she didn’t necessarily do something super exceptional, her consistency throughout this match was noticeable. In the end, all ten deserve credit for working this match and contributing to this match. ***½   

WAVE 12/5/12 Tokyo: Tsukasa Fujimoto & Misaki Ohata vs. Shu Shibutani & Cherry 12:43 of 14:23 Tsukasa Fujimoto and Misaki Ohata had a good time working over Shu Shibutani, who sold everything well. Cherry occasionally entered the ring to attempt to contribute something to this match as well. Cherry took the match quality down a bit whenever she was in the ring, because her offense is a bit pedestrian compared to the more advanced type quality offense of the other three workers in this match (in Cherry’s defense, the other three are top 20 workers). Cherry’s bubbly personality and her ability to have fun in what she’s doing helped her to not take the quality of the match down too badly though. Shibutani showed why they gave the tope suicida that name, as she performed the move in a spectacular but somewhat reckless way. Overall, this was pretty good, and in particular Shibutani and Tsukka stood out as top workers here. *** 

JWP 12/6/12 Saitama Isami Wrestling Arena: Arisa Nakajima vs. Ran YuYu 15:00. This match took place just a little over 18 years after Ran YuYu made her pro wrestling debut in JWP, and it was Ran YuYu’s final single match for JWP, and one of the final five matches of her career. Since this was Ran YuYu’s final show for JWP, a promotion she spent the majority of her career working for, she was visibly in the mood to make this special. However, since she was no longer at her physical peak and three days away from retirement, Ran YuYu worked at a slow and deliberate pace. Whenever Arisa Nakajima was on offense, action started picking up. Whenever Nakajima wasn’t on offense, Nakajima sold and put things over extremely well. This was a good pro wrestling match, and it was a strong way to open this show. It also turned out to be the best match of this show. ***

STARDOM 12/9/12 Tokyo Shinkiba 1st RING Rookie of STARDOM 2012 Final: Yuhi vs. Act Yasukawa 11:12. It was fitting that Yuhi would be in the final of this rookie tournament, since she was easily the most impressive rookie of the year, and one could go far as saying that she was the most impressive rookie of the decade. If there’s one thing Yuhi could be criticized for, the only thing that comes to mind is that Yuhi seemed to partially botch one spot per match almost consistently in her rookie year, but it’s easy to forgive her for that, because she went for more difficult moves than most rookies, and she somehow always managed to land on her feet and come across as a brave fighter. She would usually manage to proceed to cover the botched up part quite well by thinking and reacting quickly. In this match, she showed that she was able to attempt to guide another rookie to a pretty good rookie match. Act Yasukawa was unrefined as a worker, but her passion is what helped her to get people’s attention. She had great character work, but was not so great in-ring work, since her work was generally a bit sloppy. Yasukawa showed she was at least somewhat worthy of being in this final (although Natsumi Shozuki or Kairi Hojo, who also were in this tournament, would possibly have been better choices). Yuri Haruka wasn’t part of this tournament, perhaps because she technically made her debut at the end of 2011 and/or it would have been harder to have a tournament with five participants. Yuhi’s kicks, selling and agility stood out in this match. Yuhi even executed a very impressive Asai moonsault. Yuhi also executed a bridging German suplex into a pinning combination excellently. However, perhaps her most impressive move was the 450 splash, the move that got her the deserving victory here. If there was still any doubt in anyone’s mind, Yuhi had now officially become the rookie of the year. **¾ 

OZ Academy 12/9/12 Tokyo Korakuen Hall Elimination: Tomoka Nakagawa & Hiroyo Matsumoto & Mio Shirai & Yumi Oka vs. Chikayo Nagashima & Sonoko Kato & Tsubasa Kuragaki & Carlos Amano 20:30. Elimination matches are usually really disappointing or actually good, and this one was actually good. Chikayo Nagashima pinned Yumi Oka really early in the match at 0:22. Despite Oka being eliminated early, she would still return to interfere in the match occasionally. Tomoka Nakagawa pinned Carlos Amano at 4:40, after Amano tried her best to contribute as much as she could in the few minutes she was in. Everyone seemingly worked as hard as they could. Mio Shirai, in particular, really stepped up her game once again. In a bit of an upset, it was Mio Shirai who pinned Nagashima at 7:54, while it was cool to see Mio step up her game, it was disappointing to see Nagashima eliminated, since she was one of the best workers in the match, at least in theory. Tsubasa Kuragaki pinned Mio at 8:03. Nakagawa pinned Kuragaki at 10:48, after Kuragaki gave a pretty good contribution. Hiroyo Matsumoto and Sonoko Kato didn’t get involved too much until the second half of the match. Nakagawa was probably the worker of the match for constantly being there whenever needed and things were flowing whenever she was in.  She eventually got pinned by Kato, who was arguably the second most impressive worker in the match, at 14:09. This meant that Matsumoto and Kato were the final two. This resulted in some no-nonsense type action for the viewers. In the end, Matsumoto won the match by KO over Kato when Matsumoto was the sole survivor when Kato couldn’t get up before the count of ten. The only way this match would have been better, if it was Nakagawa and Nagashima facing each other at the end, but other than that, this was actually really good. ***¾

SGPW 12/15/12 Sendai Sun Plaza Hall

Mayumi Ozaki vs. Carlos Amano 10:49. Mayumi Ozaki fans, I would like to direct your attention to this match. It is a significant match, because it featured Mayumi Ozaki working a singles match without excessive use of violence. As much as I’m a mark for Ozaki, even I wouldn’t try to claim that in 2012 she was one of the top 25 workers in joshi puroresu. After all, the 44-year old Ozaki, at the time a 26-year veteran in joshi puroresu, had spent most of the prior years replacing wrestling moves for violence and garbage. Carlos Amano had a pretty uninspiring 2012, a year in which it seemed Amano just went through the motions most of the time. This was a decent match, but I’m only recommending it for die-hard Ozaki fans who are curious to see Ozaki wrestle an almost clean puroresu match in 2012. A match like this makes me wonder… what if Ozaki wouldn’t have focussed so much on garbage and violence in the previous six years or so, and instead tried to work a different type of veteran style? **¾   

DASH Chisako & Sendai Sachiko vs. Leon & Tsubasa Kuragaki 17:28. DASH Chisako gave a strong performance. Sendai Sachiko worked hard, and her subtly excellent performance shouldn’t be overlooked and solidifies the fact that she’s an underrated performer. Tsubasa Kuragaki showed her power and strength. Leon was a reliable worker, as always. Overall, this was a very good match featuring four of the more notable workers of 2012. ***½ 

WAVE 12/16/12 Tokyo Shinkiba 1st RING

Kana & Mio Shirai vs. Hikaru Shida & Yumi Oka 11:15 of 12:32 Yumi Oka relied on her boots for offense, as usual. While her offense was simple, her overall performance was effective due to her timing, selling and her showing passion. Mio Shirai was a good tag team partner for Kana, and Mio seemed to work the majority for her team in this particular match, which meant that Mio’s work played a big part in this match flowing well. Despite sounding like this was a lot of pressure on Mio’s shoulders, Mio was focused and gave a good performance. We didn’t get to see Kana in the ring that much, which meant that this match didn’t really have Kana impacting the match as much as she’d normally would have been able to. Hikaru Shida was good whenever she was in the ring, but it felt this match was designed to be more Oka’s type of match. It was kind of ironic that the best worker of each team was not the featured worker of their respective tag team. It was a pretty good match, but considering Kana and Shida were involved, I think they could have done more with this if this wasn’t a random match in the middle of the card. With that in mind, realizing this card had the somewhat average tag team of Makoto & Moeka Haruhi in the main event makes you wonder if they should have decided to have this tag match as the main event instead. **¾ 

Shu Shibutani vs. Tomoka Nakagawa 6:41 of 9:30. These two were two of the most talented workers at the time, and while that was evident when you watch this match, as they had fast-paced and exciting wrestling sequences that flowed well, it never felt like this match was the big deal it could have been, and the match lasting less than 10 minutes didn’t help either. Also, perhaps most importantly, the WAVE editor deserves a great deal of the blame, because editing a 9-minute match between two top 15 workers down to 6-minute footage is an idea that is ridiculous. *** 

STARDOM 12/24/12 Tokyo Korakuen Hall Goddesses of STARDOM Title: Natsuki*Taiyo & Yoshiko vs. Hiroyo Matsumoto & Yuhi 13:04. Whenever Taiyo and Yuhi were in the ring together, it was very intriguing to watch. Matsumoto also made a pretty good contribution, of course, through her power and energy. The match was at its least interesting whenever Yoshiko was in the ring, although it was a joy watching rookie Yuhi do so well in her segments against the unskilled Yoshiko, which resulted in Yoshiko not being able to drag things down too much in this match. Yoshiko stayed out of the way most of the match, which also helped a lot. Taiyo was super fired up whenever she was in the ring with Yuhi, which has to count as a big compliment for the super rookie. In the end, it was Taiyo who got the pinfall over Yuhi to win this match. This match particularly showed how good Taiyo and Yuhi were. *** 

JWP 12/24/12 Tokyo Korakuen Hall

DASH Chisako & Sendai Sachiko vs. Leon & Kay Lee Ray 10:49. Despite being a gaijin worker, Scottish wrestler Kay Lee Ray fit in quite well here. So much so, that I’d go as far as saying that she’s one of the best gaijin workers to ever compete at a joshi puroresu show. She was fearless and confident in her ability, and she showed that she had indeed the ability to hang in there without looking out of place. The Jumonji sisters, Chisako & Sachiko, were arguably the top tag team of the year, and they proved it here. Of course, being a sister tag team helped them really come across as a unit, but it wasn’t only their teamwork that made them stand out as a tag team, it was also the fact that their work was really good in general, and their matches seemed to get increasingly more interesting as their careers progressed and their careers seemed to be headed towards their peak years. Leon did a very good job, despite coming across a little bit as a lite version of the 2010/2011 version of herself. She would still hit some high quality moves here and there, but it didn’t feel like she was the star of the match. The Jumonji sisters stood out most here. ***

Command Bolshoi vs. Kaori Yoneyama 8:34. Kaori Yoneyama immediately attacked Command Bolshoi, even before the bell had rang, emphasizing the fact that this was a match of importance, and it’s true that these two were definitely top names in joshi puroresu at the time. These two were so good and so experienced that they had a very good match here in a very natural way. I’m not saying they weren’t trying, because they certainly gave a strong effort on this big show, but they were so good that it almost felt like this was just a natural piece for them to give to us. The action was fast-paced and the moves looked good. Both workers showed a lot of urgency and determination in this battle. They really made the most out of the eight minutes this match lasted. ***½  

JWP Openweight Title: Emi Sakura vs. Arisa Nakajima 21:05. This was a big match for the prestigious JWP Openweight Title, previously held by names such as Dynamite Kansai, Devil Masami, Hikari Fukuoka, Azumi Hyuga, Ran YuYu, Command Bolshoi, Tsubasa Kuragaki, Kaori Yoneyama and Leon. Emi Sakura had been the title holder since taking the belt away from Kayako Huruyama on 10/28/12. Arisa Nakajima had established herself as a top name in 2012, and she deservingly got a shot at this prestigious title on the year end show. Sakura’s thunderous chops were a main part of her dominating offense early in the match. Once Nakajima had the chance, she fought back as hard as she could. Sakura seemed pretty confident early in the match. However, Nakajima was always able to fight back, and never backed down. The best thing about this match is that these two really put over the fact that this was a big match. This was a big match indeed, since this was the main event of the biggest show of the year for JWP, which unofficially also meant this was the biggest show of the year for joshi puroresu, since JWP was the promotion of the year. Nakajima was arguably the best worker in the world at that time, and Sakura was arguably a top 15 worker at the time, when she wanted to be. This had all the makings of a match of the year candidate, and they certainly lived up to that expectation. Sakura’s offense wasn’t fancy, but it worked. The pacing of the match was deliberate, making every move feel meaningful. Nakajima’s selling was superb, and is one of the main reasons this match was so great. Nakajima’s fighting spirit was the true story of this match, as it was so intriguing to see her keep fighting and not give up. Sakura showed she was a smart veteran by being able to work a match this great, which is noteworthy since she usually isn’t involved in matches of this quality. Sakura acting arrogant and overconfident only helped Nakajima come across as even more of a sympathetic hero, as if that wasn’t already established. About 25 seconds before the finish, Nakajima delivered a brutal headbutt and started bleeding. A couple of moves later, Nakajima was able to win the match. Nakajima beat Sakura via a Dragon suplex, and Nakajima became the JWP Openweight Champion. This was arguably Sakura’s greatest performance ever, and this match was the beginning of a streak of several match of the year candidates Nakajima would have throughout the remainder of the decade, and beyond. Both these workers clearly wanted to make this special, and they succeeded for sure. This was one of the best matches of 2012. Nakajima proved in 2012 that the biggest gift joshi puroresu received that decade was her return to pro wrestling. ****¼   

(Pro wrestling debut dates in parenthesis) [Top 30 ranks of previous years in brackets]

1. Arisa Nakajima (debut: 1/3/06) [2010: NR; 2011: NR] - Arisa surprisingly returned after a 3 year early retirement, amazingly all the way to the top of the sport. She was so good at telling stories in the ring through her display of courage and strong willpower. She stands out for being better at almost everything than almost everyone from her generation. If someone wants to know what a great joshi puroresu worker works like, they should watch her matches. Nakajima excels in virtually all aspects, including selling, timing, facials, details, the hard work, etc etc. One of her strongest qualities is to help the people who are involved in her matches find their best qualities, thus enhancing the quality of the matches she’s involved in, and the overall product. Nakajima wasn’t active during the first few months of the year, but she still gets the #1 position because of her work being of superb quality. Kana came very close to be ranked #1 for a third year in a row this year, but Nakajima ending Kana’s streak as #1 speaks volumes about Nakajima’s greatness.

2. Kana (debut: 6/16/04) [2010 rank: #1; 2011: #1] - Kana once again showed she was an incredibly skilled performer who thrives in a competitive setting. It seemed like she was always able to counter and outdo her opponents, but not in an egotistical way, more in a way to challenge her opponents to step up their game whenever they faced Kana. If it wasn’t for Arisa Nakajima making her return, Kana would have been #1.

Excellent:

3. Ayumi Kurihara (debut: 4/24/05) [2010: #4; 2011: #4] - Her effort and explosiveness really stood out this year. She worked hard, but at the same time, it seemed she really enjoyed what she was doing, which kinda made it seem like it was so easy for her to do the things she did.

4. Syuri (debut: 10/26/08) [2010: #28; 2011: #16] - Syuri’s stock keeps rising. She even participated in the Match of the Year, a tag team match with Arisa Nakajima vs. Kana & Kagetsu on 11/9/12.

5. Leon (debut: 3/16/00) [2010: #7; 2011: #6] - Leon kept proving to be reliable. Her excellence is so subtle, that sometimes it’s easy to forget how often her matches and performances are worth watching.

6. Hikaru Shida (debut: 7/20/08) [2010: #26; 2011: #15] - The most improved wrestler of the year. It’s incredible to see how well she did in 2012. She even appeared in the third-best match of the year, an excellent match against Kana on 5/5/12.

7. Io Shirai (debut: 3/4/07) [2010: #9; 2011: #8] - Io Shirai is slowly climbing the ranks. She hadn’t quite reached her peak yet in 2012, but her match vs. Natsuki*Taiyo on 3/25/12 was truly excellent. 

8. Natsuki*Taiyo (debut: 1/3/04) [2010: #2; 2011: #2] - Natsuki*Taiyo was able to fly like a graceful bird in the sky. She wasn’t involved in too many high profile matches, but she delivered several fun performances against inexperienced workers in STARDOM.

Very good:

9. Kaori Yoneyama (debut: 11/29/99) [2010: #5; 2011: #12] - Kaori Yoneyama had some strong tag team and singles match performances in 2012, a year that saw her still be among the best workers.

10. Shu Shibutani (debut: 9/19/04) [2010: #3; 2011: #7] - Shu Shibutani nearly dropped out of the top 10. It’s not necessarily that she became less impressive, it’s more that a few other workers really stepped up their game a lot, while WAVE didn’t have as much talent around her or do as much with her as in the two previous years. Shibutani’s performances and matches were usually still quite interesting to watch.

11. Kagetsu (debut: 8/24/08) [2010: NR; 2011: #24] - Kagetsu was surprisingly good in 2012. The best thing about Kagetsu was that she was put in a difficult spot, she showed that she could handle the challenge well and exceed expectations. She even participated in the Match of the Year, with Kana vs. Arisa Nakajima & Syuri on 11/9/12.

12. Misaki Ohata (debut: 12/10/06) [2010: #21; 2011: #10] - She also competed under the names Misaki Glico and Miyako Morino. She was a very likeable wrestler, and she participated in a bunch of matches that were pretty good or better.

13. Hanako Nakamori (debut: 7/16/06) [2010: NR; 2011: #29] -  She participated in a surprisingly decent amount of matches that are recommended. By the end of 2012, it was clear that she made the most of the opportunities she was given and had improved quite a bit.

14. Command Bolshoi (debut: 11/26/91) [2010: #11; 2011: #24] - Command Bolshoi was still a reliable worker, and she was one of the key people in JWP, the promotion of the year.

15. Ray (debut: 9/15/03) [2010: #20; 2011: #9] - She also competed under the name Lin Byron. Her athletic ability always makes her stand out, and she was one half of the tag team of the year with Leon.

16. DASH Chisako (debut: 7/9/06) [2010: #22; 2011: #11] - The Jumonji Sisters had some memorable matches despite the perpetual lack of Sendai footage, and they were always names to look out for whenever they were on a card. DASH Chisako was usually the more impressive wrestler of the two sisters.

17. Sendai Sachiko (debut: 7/9/06) [2010: #24; 2011: #13] - Sendai Sachiko was almost as good as her sister DASH Chisako, and I would listen to an argument to place her over her sister for this particular year, because there were times Sachiko seemed slightly more impressive.

18. Tsukasa Fujimoto (debut: 8/23/08) [2010: #23; 2011: #14] - She didn’t have the most consistent year, but when in the right setting with the right people, she was able to display her ability quite well.

19. Emi Sakura (debut: 8/17/95) [2010: #18; 2011: #21] - Sakura has a big match performance, but isn't the most consistently good or serious performer, preferring to devote her efforts to having fun with her students. Her role in the 12/24/12 match vs. Arisa Nakajima places her back within the top 20.

20. Tomoka Nakagawa (debut: 9/19/04) [2010: #10; 2011: #3] - She definitely deserves a spot in the top 20, but it doesn’t feel like she’s a top 10 worker anymore. Getting stuck with GAMI in a tag team in WAVE didn’t help, and OZ Academy putting less importance on her was a big chance from her role in their tag team division in the previous couple of years. 

21. Chikayo Nagashima (debut: 4/15/95) [2010: #8; 2011: #5] - A huge drop for Chikayo Nagashima. She was in the top 5 last year, but this year she ended up falling out of the top 20. It’s not necessarily her fault, because it really seemed like her role in OZ Academy changed a bit. In the previous couple of years, she was the best worker in a surprisingly good tag team division. However, in 2012, despite getting the OZ Academy Openweight Title at some point, she wasn’t put in a position to have memorable matches as much as in previous years. Her opponents and tag team partners were oftentimes okay, but they didn’t excel in a singles match setting and/or there was interference to ruin her matches. She worked hard and was usually one of the main reasons the singles, tag and trios matches she was involved in were decent, but there are twenty workers who had a better 2012.

Good:

22. Tsubasa Kuragaki (debut: 1/8/95) [2010: #27; 2011: #28] - She didn’t have the most consistent year, but a couple of her best performances really made her worthy of a top 25 spot. 

23. Aja Kong (debut: 9/16/86) [2010: #6; 2011: #19] - Aja Kong is slowly moving away from her peak more and more, but she’s still Aja Kong.

24. Hiroyo Matsumoto (debut: 7/16/06) [2010: #17; 2011: #17] - She brought a lot of energy, as always.

25. Sonoko Kato (debut: 4/15/95) [2010: #14; 2011: #18] - Still an enjoyable worker to watch in general, but she wasn’t involved in too many matches that could really be considered recommended.

Honorable mentions:

26. AKINO

27. Yumi Oka

28. Mio Shirai

29. Meiko Satomura

30. Manami Katsu

Pretty Good:

31. Yuhi

32. Kayoko Haruyama

33. Toshie Uematsu

34. Carlos Amano

35. Ran YuYu

36. Mayumi Ozaki

37. Arisa Hoshiki

38. Tsukushi

39. Mayu Iwatani

40. Yuzuki Aikawa

41. Rabbit Miu

42. Saki Kashima

43. Riho

44. Mima Shimoda

Average:

45. Morii

46. Aoi Yagami

47. Aoi Kizuki

48. Sayaka Obihiro

49. Ayako Hamada

50. Yoko Bito

51. Jaguar Yokota

52. Hikari Minami

53. Micro

54. Cherry

55. Megumi Yabushita

56. Mika Iida

57. Nao Komatsu

58. Maki Narumiya

59. Sareee

60. GAMI

Mediocre:

61. Kairi Hojo

62. Natsumi Shozuki

63. Yu Yamagata

64. Apple Miyuki

65. Bambi

66. Nanae Takahashi

67. Keiko Aono

68. Makoto

Below Average:

69. Yuri Haruka

70. Act Yasukawa

71. Manami Toyota

72. Kurumi

73. KAZUKI

74. Sachie Abe

75. Moeka Haruhi

76. Neko Nitta

77. Tomoko Watanabe/ZAP T

78. Kaoru Ito/ZAP I

79. Takako Inoue

80. NOZOMI

81. Aoi Ishibashi

82. Eri Susa

83. Mochi Miyagi

84. Miyako Matsumoto

85. Policewoman

86. Kyoko Inoue

Pretty Bad:

87. Nagisa Nozaki

88. Yoshiko

89. Ryo Mizunami

90. Nana Kawasa

91. Hamuko Hoshi

92. Dorami Nagano

93. Aki Shizuku

94. Hailey Hatred

95. Sawako Shimono

96. Aya Yuki

97. Benten Musume

98. Shinobu Kandori

99. Yumiko Hotta

The Worst:

100. Kyoko Kimura (a.k.a. Mask de Sun)

101. Miho Wakizawa

102. Raideen Hagane

103. Aki Kanbayashi (a.k.a. La Malcriada)

104. Saya

105. Meari Naito

106. Anna

107. Moon Mizuki

108. Aiger

109. Ranmaru

110. Sakura Hirota

1. Leon & Ray

2. Arisa Nakajima & Command Bolshoi

3. Arisa Nakajima & Hikaru Shida

4. DASH Chisako & Sendai Sachiko (Jumonji Sisters) [2011: #3]

5. Kaori Yoneyama & Emi Sakura (Reset)

1. MakoKana Pro 11/9/12 Tokyo Shinjuku FACE: Arisa Nakajima & Syuri vs. Kana & Kagetsu 30:00 ****½ 

2. JWP 12/24/12 Tokyo Korakuen Hall, JWP Openweight Title: Emi Sakura vs. Arisa Nakajima 21:05 ****¼    

3. Ice Ribbon 5/5/12 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Kana vs. Hikaru Shida 15:02 ****¼ 

4. STARDOM 3/25/12 Osaka Matsushita IMP Hall, High Speed Title: Natsuki*Taiyo vs. Io Shirai 12:29 of 15:19 ****¼ 

5. JWP 3/4/12 Tag League The Best 2012 Blue Zone: Leon & Ray vs. Misaki Ohata & Hanako Nakamori 18:40 ****

6. JWP 10/28/12 Tokyo Shinjuku FACE: JWP Tag & Daily Sports Tag Double Title: Arisa Nakajima & Command Bolshoi vs. Hanako Nakamori & Morii 16:13. ****

7. Kana Pro 6/17/12 Tokyo Shinkiba 1st RING: Kana & Kenichi Yamamoto vs. Syuri & Daisuke Ikeda 46:01 ****

8. SMASH 2/19/12 Tokyo Dome City Hall: SMASH Diva Title: Kana vs. Syuri 12:50 ***¾ 

9. Bull Nakano Produce 1/8/12 Tokyo Dome City Hall: Kana vs. Kagetsu 11:23. ***¾

10. Ice Ribbon 7/11/12 Saitama Isami Wrestle Arena: Arisa Nakajima vs. Hikaru Shida 10:00 ***¾ 

11. JWP 7/15/12 Osaka Minami Move On Arena: Arisa Nakajima vs. Hanako Nakamori 9:10 ***¾ 

12. Ice Ribbon 7/21/12 Saitama Isami Wrestle Arena: Arisa Nakajima & Hikaru Shida vs. Leon & Maki Narumiya 17:21 ***¾ 

13. JWP 1/9/12 Tokyo Kinema Club: JWP Tag League The Best 2012 Blue Zone: DASH Chisako & Sendai Sachiko vs. Tsubasa Kuragaki & Kayoko Haruyama 15:21 ***¾

14. WAVE 11/27/12 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Ayumi Kurihara vs. Syuri 7:49 of 12:22 ***¾ 

15. JWP 7/28/12 Yokohama Radiant Hall: JRIBBON Natsume Determination Tournament Final: Arisa Nakajima & Hikaru Shida vs. Hanako Nakamori & Maki Narumiya 12:04 ***¾

16. JWP 9/9/12 Tokyo Kinema Club: JWP Tag & Daily Sports Tag Double Title: Arisa Nakajima & Command Bolshoi vs. Leon & Ray 17:02 ***¾

17. WAVE 1/4/12 Tokyo Shinjuku FACE: Ayumi Kurihara vs. Shu Shibutani 10:50 of 14:12 ***¾   

18. OZ Academy 12/9/12 Tokyo Korakuen Hall, Elimination: Tomoka Nakagawa & Hiroyo Matsumoto & Mio Shirai & Yumi Oka vs. Chikayo Nagashima & Sonoko Kato & Tsubasa Kuragaki & Carlos Amano 20:30 ***¾ 

19. WAVE 11/16/12 Tokyo Shinkiba 1st RING, DUAL SHOCK WAVE 2012 Tag League Final: Tsukasa Fujimoto & Misaki Ohata vs. Shu Shibutani & Syuri 10:13 of 19:27 ***¾

20. JWP 12/2/12 Tokyo Kinema Club, Captain’s Fall: Arisa Nakajima & Command Bolshoi & Leon & Kayoko Haruyama vs. Emi Sakura & Kaori Yoneyama & Hanako Nakamori & Morii 17:26 ***¾ 

21. JWP 8/19/12 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: JWP & Daily Sports Women’s Double Tag Title: Kaori Yoneyama & Emi Sakura vs. Arisa Nakajima & Command Bolshoi 13:09 ***¾ 

22. JWP 6/17/12 Tokyo Kinema Club: JWP Tag & Daily Sports Double Tag Title: Kaori Yoneyama & Emi Sakura vs. Arisa Nakajima & Manami Katsu 12:59 ***¾ 

23. JWP 4/22/12 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: JWP Tag & Daily Sports Women’s Tag Title: Ran YuYu & Toshie Uematsu vs. Leon & Ray 12:43 ***¾

24. OZ Academy 9/22/12 Tokyo Shinjuku Face: Chikayo Nagashima & Mayumi Ozaki vs. Ayumi Kurihara & AKINO 24:40 of 26:34 ***½ 

25. JWP 12/24/12 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Command Bolshoi vs. Kaori Yoneyama 8:34 ***½  

1. JWP Joshi Puroresu [2010: #2; 2011: #2]. JWP is the clear winner of the best league of 2012. They dominated the list of top 25 matches of the year. A major reason they were able to achieve this is the fact that Arisa Nakajima made her return. Nakajima’s return was a big boost for JWP and for joshi puroresu in general. The future certainly looked bright for JWP.

2. Pro Wrestling WAVE [2010: #1; 2011: #1]. This league was still a league one should follow closely in order to get to watch some of the best joshi puroresu action of 2012, as WAVE presented a good amount of interesting matches and shows, but they weren’t quite as interesting as JWP overall. Of course, Kana, Shu Shibutani, Ayumi Kurihara and several others were enjoyable to watch in action, but after a couple of years of being the #1 league, they have now been dethroned by JWP.

3. Ice Ribbon [2010: NR; 2011: #4]. Ice Ribbon gave us a few surprisingly good matches this year, even though it was usually due to workers from other leagues being brought in that helped elevate the match quality. For example, when Kana and Arisa Nakajima made appearances, they obviously made a big impact. However, two of Ice Ribbon’s most talented performers, Tsukasa Fujimoto and Hikaru Shida, both showed a lot of improvement, and they were excellent representatives of Ice Ribbon whenever they worked at Ice Ribbon shows and at shows of different leagues.

4. OZ Academy [2010: #3; 2011: #3]. The best action in OZ Academy usually involved Ayumi Kurihara, Chikayo Nagashima and Tomoka Nakagawa. What hurt OZ Academy in 2012 was their lack of consistency regarding their tag team division. In the previous couple of years, we were usually still able to rely on watching at least one memorable tag team match on each show, but in 2012, it was a bit hit-and-miss in that regard. Also, the over-reliance on garbage wrestling and interference in matches that were promising on paper didn’t help either. They did give us a really good elimination match on 12/9/12, and let’s hope that December momentum will carry over into 2013.

5. World Wonder Ring STARDOM [2010: NR; 2011: #5]. It’s a bit ironic that they gave us one of the best matches of the year, because other than the match between Natsuki*Taiyo and Io Shirai on 3/25/12, STARDOM wasn’t the type of league to give us matches that were that memorable. A large number of their workers were still too young and inexperienced to really present us with matches of the quality leagues like JWP and WAVE were giving us on a regular basis. However, it's more that STARDOM's booking was frustrating. Rossy Ogawa continued to promote Yuzuki Aikawa, who succeeded in getting a lot of publicity for the promotion, as his new Ayako Hamada super rookie, which could have worked a lot better if STARDOM had the great veterans that ARSION had such as Aja Kong & Mariko Yoshida & LCO to help the incredibly inexperienced worker pull it off in between the ropes. Unfortunately, the promotion was otherwise built around Nanae Takahashi, with Kyoko Kimura being the new acquisition who rose the most in the rankings, defeating Io Shirai on the year end show to earn the first World Of Stardom challenge against Nanae in 2013. These two were far less talented performers than their top workers, who puzzlingly even got booked in the opening match of one of the big shows. Of course, Natsuki*Taiyo and Io Shirai were two important reasons to keep an eye on this league. Also, their best rookie, Yuhi, was the best rookie of the year. STARDOM was still a league that was growing, and it will be interesting to see how they will do in the next few years.

1. Yuhi

2. Kairi Hojo

3. Natsumi Shozuki

4. Yuri Haruka

5. Act Yasukawa