The Joshi wrestling scene (Japanese Women’s Wrestling) is a deep scene full of insanely talented performers and every month there are dozens of fantastic matches from promotions from Stardom to Pure-J and everywhere in between.
Due to the sheer volume of shows, Stardom will feature heavily for May as Golden Week saw them run four faction produce shows and a Korakuen Hall show during a period where they were firing on all cylinders.
Important Note (Due to some matches not airing as of the time of writing presumably great matches like Nanae Takahashi vs Takumi Iroha can’t be ranked)
10. Momo Watanabe vs Toni Storm
All the excellence we’ve come to expect from Momo Watanabe. Hard kicks and some extremely fluid transitions. Toni, to her credit, took everything in her stride and more than kept up with Watanabe. The match did peak about 5 minutes early otherwise this would be much higher
9. Akane Fujita & Rina Yamashita vs Hiragi Kurumi & Mochi Miyagi
This almost felt like two matches rolled into one. Yamashita and Fujita went at it alone whenever they could in their own way. Whenever Yamashita was legal she was taking the fight to her opponents like the freight train that she is, while Fujita was willing to just trade strikes and use her fighting spirit to survive an onslaught. Miyagi and Kurumi worked together and made life as difficult as possible for their opponents with Kurumi especially being very impressive down the stretch.
8.Tokyo Cyber Squad vs Oedo Tai vs STARS
Very enjoyable match with almost non stop action. The match would often focus on certain trios interacting which led to the match having a different flow and showed off every performer. Very fun match and exactly what we should expect from Stardom
7. Toni Storm vs Kagetsu
These two have really good chemistry together and this match was built to be an epic with tonnes of big moves and some perfectly timed no-sells. Storm’s matches always start out the same before peaking at just the right time and workers like Kagetsu helps add some juice to that formula
6. Yuka Sakazaki, Aja Kong & Emi Sakura vs Hikaru Shida, Ryo Mizunami & Riho
Given the occasion, every woman in this match went out there aiming to make their mark. They put together a match that showcased everyone and their strengths. Mizunami and Kong got to look like hard-hitting killers, Shida got to look badass, Sakazaki was the high flier who mastered the ropes and Riho and Emi got to show off their unique array of offense. A very fun match that played to everyone’s strengths but unfortunately had production issues towards the end
5. Sareee & Takumi Iroha vs Rin Kadokura & Kaori Ito
Sareee and Iroha are two of the best wrestlers on the joshi scene today and they were excellent in this match. They aren’t a regular tag team but have teamed together on quite a few occassions since the beginning of 2018 and they have some really good tag team offence. Rin carried the workload for her team and was her usual solid self while Kaoru picked her spots well to pull off a cool spot.
4. Hana Kimura, Hungle Kyona & Konami vs Mayu Iwatani, Saki Kashima & Tam Nakano
Credit where it’s due Mayu Iwatani was fantastic in this match. She sold her knee really well and made every comeback spot seem like the most important moment of the match. The knee work really helped to anchor this match as Artist matches are usually really fun spotfests but this one told a great story before kicking it up a gear to the nonstop action. Tokyo Cyber Squad get their first big win as a group since the faction’s formation they have been getting a big push with Konami especially being made to look like a killer both in the Cinderella Tournament last month and in this match by getting the win. TCS has become what JAN never could and that’s a viable threat, they have just taken on and beaten three of STARS’ best and one of the best in Stardom’s history in Mayu Iwatani. Things are on the up for Kimura’s ragtag group and as they continue to gel and get better they will only get more dangerous
3. Meiko Satomura, Chihiro Hashimoto & DASH Chisako vs Saki Akai, Hikaru Shida & ASUKA
With the talent involved in this one, it’s no surprise that it was great. Trios matches in DDT aren’t as balls to the wall as other places but there is an emphasis on attacking as a unit that leads to killer combo offense. Team Sendai were standouts as usual as the dynamics of all three team members gels together really well with Hashimoto providing the power, DASH providing a wildcard and Meiko holding everything together.
2. ASUKA, Yoshiko & Makoto vs Nanae Takahashi, Rina Yamashita & Sae
This RULED. Whenever Yoshiko and Rina Yamashita paired up or ASUKA and Nanae Takahashi paired up you knew you were in for a treat. Yamashita and Yoshiko had the hoss battles while Nanae and ASUKA brought the vitriol. In between, we had the usual great pace and nonstop action to expect from Joshi multi-person tag matches
1. Arisa Hoshiki vs Momo Watanabe
Awesome match between Stardom’s absolute ruler and her plucky babyface challenger. This was a battle of kicks as these two went to town on each other’s chest before going in for the kill. It took two Brazilian Kicks to the head for Hoshiki to put away the dominant Watanabe after withstanding everything Watanabe could throw at her.
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