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Showing results for tags 'Kagetsu'.
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Entrapped by the limitations of late-Toyota matches, but still pretty good. Shida/Kagetsu make a decent unit with their respective shtick and the vets do a good job conveying that all things considered, giving them enough time to cement themselves as threats despite their relative greeness. Toyota of course NEEDS to get all of her shit in so we have just a big chunk of her doing all of her usual wacky flips, once you get past that and you have Kage/Amano just beating the piss out of each other then this starts to pick up real well especially with that one spot where Kage tries doing Aja's escape out of a German suplex by falling down and throwing a kick only for Amano to hit a headbutt right when they flop down lol. There's some goofy comedy as Toyota tries to send Amano flying into Kage with a top rope dropkick but that naturally just causes her to flop over and get almost pinned instead, leading to the younger pair getting in a small bit of control work until the lead for the finish. That consisted mostly of Amano doing sick submission counters while Kage sold well and milked the drama of their struggle well all things considered. The finish being a combo of Toyota's heel kick + Amano pulling off some Bolshoi-tier tricked out reverse Fujiwara armbar to get the tap was especially nifty and played well on teamwork being a big factor here as a whole. All in all, surprisingly strong burst of action that played to everyone's strengths and a definite highlight of the Amano/Toyota duo as a unit. -
CurtainJerker said - She was Stardom's number one heel. Highly charismatic with great fan interactions. She did most of the heavy lifting to help carry the company with Io. She was the-on-the job trainer. Great body of work with rematches, tags, and feuds. Definitely a great and amazing worker who is danger of being lost to history. Won Stardom's official 2018 Best Match + 2017 Best Tag awards. Ranked #26 in Cagematch's Top Female Workers of All Time, under Aja Kong. She holds up compared to her contemporaries and today's batch of joshi. Sacrificed her body and career with high risk moves during her peak (2017-COVID). Mayu Iwatani vs. Kagetsu (12/24/2019) Io Shirai vs. Kagetsu Kagetsu vs. Jungle Kyona (1/14/2019) Kagetsu vs Mayu Iwatani (12/24/19) Kagetsu vs Hana Kimura (10/23/18) Kagetsu vs. Hiroyo Matsumoto (4/12/2017) Kagetsu vs Mei Suruga (2/09/2020) Kagetsu vs Stardom (Gauntlet Final) Kagetsu vs Meiko Satomura (Kagetsu's retirement match 2/24/20)
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This is a match for both the World of Stardom title and the Wonder of Stardom title with the winner taking both belts. This match gets off to a fairly methodical start but it never feels like its killing time as they always seem to keep things moving along. They do manage to slowly, but naturally, increase the pace along the way to point that you don't suddenly notice that they are in the finishing run. A very well laid out title match. ****
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This was Kagetsu's second title defense of the day as she takes on Shimmer champ Nicole Savoy. Savoy actually controls the opening part with a mix of matwork and power forcing Kagetsu to use more of her high-risk offense. I really liked the matwork here a lot. It's not smooth looking but the roughness of it made everything come off as earned. Savoy going back and forth between matwork and throws worked well because you felt like she was keeping Kagetsu off balance. The finish keeps this from being great as Kagetsu sprays mists in Savoy's face right in front of the ref leading to the end. Still, a entertaining match that will hopefully led to Savoy coming back to Stardom assuming that she doesn't sign some where. ***3/4
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This is the biggest challenge of Utami's short career as she takes on World of Stardom champion Kagetsu. Once again, this match is inexplicably great given Utami's inexperience. Kagetsu is fantastic here, quite possibly the best performance of her career. She more of a straight forward bitchy veteran heel who tries to goad Utami into losing her cool. Utami stays under control and actually manages to fire back using a sleeper and working over Kagetsu's back. A truly amazing match worked in the traditional veteran/rookie dynamic. ****1/4
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This is a big match in the Red Stars block as both of these women were at the top of the standing there. Kagetsu had another quality performance here mostly because she actually managed to play an effective heel. None of her shtick felt shoehorned in like it usually does. Jungle was Jungle here, a lot of fire, some nice power moves, and very good selling. They would have had something great if they had some better transitions during the finish but even still this was a really good match well worth watching. ***3/4
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This was the main event to the opening night of the Stardom 5* Grand Prix. Konami put in a tremendous performance here as she takes this to the mat early and forces Kagetsu to remember that she was a Meiko Satomura trainee. Konami seems to have an answer for everything that Kagetsu throws at her in this match. If Kagetsu tries to go to mat, Konami outworks her there. If Kagetsu tries to outstrike her, Konami hits harder than her. Even when Kagetsu tries to out duel her with big moves, Konami beats her there to. Just a fantastic match to start the tournament. ****1/4
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This is Io Shirai's last match in Stardom before leaving to go to the WWE. This match is a bit hard to judge since while they work in some fun, lighthearted spots into the middle of the match that is mostly serious and competitive. When they are being serious no one lets up at all. Each one of them work really stiff. Io and Mayu do work in some old Thunder Rock spots in the finishing run. Overall, the match is a mixed bag but is still incredibly entertaining. ***3/4 -
This is for Toni's World of Stardom title. The pre-match for this is weird as both cut promo that are directed at English speaking critics rather than the match itself. The actual match does get off to a nice start as they do some quality matwork. Toni looked great here, especially in how she would mix in big moves in with her matwork. What her title run lacked in defenses it sure made up for in quality. Kagetsu's performance was a mixed bag, she was really spirited but her selling was lacking. Also, I really hope that every one of her title defenses doesn't have multiple ref bump/distraction spots in them. All in all, this was a very good title match. ***3/4
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Loser Leaves Unit - Gauntlet: Oedo Tai (Kris Wolf, Sumire Natsu, Kagetsu, Hana Kimura & Tam Nakano) vs. Queen's Quest (AZM, Io Shirai, Viper, HZK & Momo Watanabe) This was an amazing match, the stakes are high and you can feel the tension. Sumire's sleazy heel character has quickly become one of my favorite things in Stardom - she was so good in this. The Kagetsu-Viper segment had breathtaking spots, and Hana-HZK was a heated back and forth that ends with an insane bump. The final between Momo and Tamu was rough at times, but they fought with a lot of heart and the crowd was hot. ****1/4 -
Well, I think that match worked as a spectacle but that's pretty much it. The build to the first bat shot was well done. It was shocking when Kagetsu hit Io with the bat because I was expecting Io to avoid it at least one more time before it hit. I'm not death match expert, but I don't understand how the second bat shot didn't directly lead to the finish. Especially after Natsu sold it like she was done only for everyone else to just start working like it was a finish to a regular tag match. I don't know, I guess just find gifs of the bat shots and that's really all that you need to see.
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This is for Queen's Quest's Artists of Stardom titles. As someone who was never enjoyed this feud, I was surprised that I ended up liking this as much as I did. This was one of the rare times that Oedo Tai's heel shtick worked well within a match. They also manage to work some nice sequences and pulled off some nice double teams. QQ were also able to give their typical trios level performance because they weren't weighed down by Oedo Tai's antics. A much better match than the overrated elimination match from the week before. ***3/4
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AZM vs. Kagetsu What a great match, easily the best AZM singles performance so far. Kagetsu doesn't take AZM seriously, until AZM shows that she can be a threat. AZM's selling and offense were top notch - I didn't see that corner springboard coming! The juji gatame finish was unexpected too. Good stuff. ***
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New Chibis (Hiromi Mimura & Konami) & Team Jungle (Jungle Kyona & Natsuko Tora) vs. Oedo Tai (Hana Kimura, Kagetsu, Kris Wolf & Sumire Natsu) This was a fantastic debut for Sumire, she fits so well alongside the colorful characters in Oedo Tai. Hiromi is a perfect target for her, their heat-building was brilliant. Hana and Tamu are not getting along with the newest addition to the stable so there was also a relevos increibles element to this match that was amusing. Hot crowd, quality brawling and comedy. ***1/4
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Queen's Quest vs. Oedo Tai Challenge Series: HZK vs. Kagetsu HZK was going all out to put down the big bad wolf of Oedo Tai, but Kagetsu had a couple of tricks up her sleeve. This was great. HZK was roughhousing Kagetsu in grand fashion, and delivering one of the best singles performances I've ever seen from her. Hope she's able to maintain this momentum. ***1/2
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This match came about after Oedo Tai win over Queen's Quest at the last Stardom Korakuen Hall show and is the main event of Kagetsu's self-produced show. This really felt like a touring champion taking on the local star type match. Io controls most of the match by working over Kagetsu's neck, forcing Kagetsu to go all in with big moves in order to stay in the match. They do a great job of ramping things up during the stretch run to provide an exciting finish. Easily Io's best match since her return in August. ****
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Goddesses of Stardom Tag League 2017: Oedo Tai (Kagetsu & Hana Kimura) vs. Natsuko Tora & Shiki Shibusawa Kagetsu's first match as a member of the Stardom roster. The crowd is very into Oedo Tai, they are riding a wave of momentum and it creates a special feel to their matches. Shibusawa gave one heck of an underdog performance in the closer, scoring a near-fall on Kagetsu. Good stuff. ***1/2
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I didn't have any real expectations for this because I was expecting a ton of interference because of the whole Oedo Tai/Queen's Quest feud. Fortunately, the two group cancelled each other out and this match ended up being pretty good. Kagetsu had a really nice performance mixing her heel tactics with some high flying and a few impressive power spots. Viper had one of her best performances in Stardom. She brought her typical squishy offense, (personally I don't get why some people think she works too light,) and did a solid job bumping and selling Kagetsu's offense in the early going. One of the top matches of the 5*GP so far. ***3/4
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World of Stardom Championship: Mayu Iwatani © vs. Kagetsu Mayu and Kagetsu had a great High Speed match last year, but this was horrendous. It wasn't connecting with me, and by the end of it I stopped caring. The action was dull, the pacing felt very off, and of course they have to shoehorn a stairwell spot in every single Stardom Korakuen main event. This was no good! bad
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Goddesses of Stardom Championship: Oedo Tai (Hana Kimura & Kagetsu) © vs. Queen's Quest (Io Shirai & Viper) Oedo Tai's heel tactics™, Io's peril session, Viper's hot tag and chemistry with Kagetsu -- all solid. I still don't like Viper as a member of QQ. She's the same Viper! She's made little effort to fit in with the group. ***1/2
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5★STAR GP Red Stars Block: Kagetsu vs. Mayu Iwatani Kagetsu tries to murder Mayu by pushing the entrance gate on top of her. Mayu's neck ends up sandwiched between the structure and a guardrail, it looked horrific. This was good, these two obviously have amazing chemistry and they put on a fresh installment to their feud. ***3/4
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Konami, Michiko Ohmukai & Yoko Bito vs. Oedo Tai (Hana Kimura, Kagetsu & Kris Wolf) So Oedo Tai are breakdancing ninjas now. Alright. At least they've gotten a new and better entrance theme. Konami was amazing. Mommy Michiko is in incredible shape, and showed no signs of rust. Bito pinned Wolf with a Splash Mountain, which was interesting. This was a fun match! ***3/4
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OZ Academy Openweight Championship: Hiroyo Matsumoto © vs. Kagetsu I thought Kagetsu did a great job conveying her panic as move after move failed to get the job done. There's some real dramatic escalation here, and Hiroyo throws a little curve ball, hitting a wheelbarrow Crash Thunder Buster. I like how she has stepped up her game since winning the Openweight belt, finding new approaches to her offense. This was a solid filler before the inevitable defense against Shida. ***1/2
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This is a two out of three falls trios match that's designed to set up the OZ title match between Hiroyo and Kagetsu at the Korakuen show next month. I thought everyone in this match looked really good, even Katsu who has been a big disappointment since returning about a year ago. They kept the flow of the match going throughout more than likely because they didn't do the mandatory crowd brawling that happens in OZ Academy. Like the tag title match in January, this is another showcase of what OZ Academy should be. ****
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Big Match Io strikes again! This was a great match which saw great struggle in it - Kagetsu looked damn good during her control segments and Io on the offense during her shine & comebacks is always a blast. Really good selling on her part, too. ****
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