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Showing results for tags 'SEAdLINNNG'.
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We thought Sareee was gone for WWE, but the covid pandemic meant she couldn’t go to the US as planned so now she’s back for her “WWE Countdown” Japan run. The first half of the match meanders a bit, but turns into one of the best title matches of the year once Sareee loses it and starts viciously kicking the hell out of Yoshiko when she’s down on the mat. The unexpected 2020 Sareee & Yoshiko saga continues. ****
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This match was the prime example of fighting harder with your friends than you do anyone else. The Violence Princess duo started with competitive mat work, but neither was able to gain the advantage. Things quickly escalated and they ended up fighting on the apron. Normally, I’d not be a fan of them heading to the so-called hardest part of the ring so quickly, but this felt like a battle of wills. The match got suitably more violent, and Nakamori bounced Nakajima’s head off the ring post a few times, but she got too confident and ended up falling off the apron to eat a dropkick. This overconfidence would likewise cost Arisa as she came off the top rope, only to eat a gnarly-looking kick. From that point on, Nakamori honed in on Nakajima’s arm, snapping it across the ropes and yanking at it. Nakamori would wear her down with arm drags and later come back to the injured limb by applying a Fujiwara armbar. Arisa’s selling wasn’t great or anything, but a subtle reminder that Hanako may have a fighting chance at capturing SEAdLINNNG’s top prize. Hanako brutalized Arisa with knee-strikes. Nakamori dumped Arisa on her head with a driver, but went to the well once too many times and nearly got rolled up for her efforts. Some may view this as overkill, but I liked Hanako’s desperation as she willed herself on to win the title. The finish was a delightful callback to their previous title match. Nakajima got Nakamori in position for a dragon suplex. Nakamori went for a headbutt, but this time it was reversed into a dragon sleeper. I’d argue Nakamori got one too many kick-outs, as that would have been a suitable finish, but Nakajima put her down immediately with one more half-and-half suplex. Despite some qualms with the finish, this was a great match in its own right and properly visceral at times. -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rSFeCDmjhc This has been built up as the first big main event match in SEAdLINNNG, although it unfortunately didn't draw that well. For the most part this match is what you would expect between these two, a very in your face, hard hitting battle. My biggest knock against the match would be Arisa's legwork on Nanae. It starts out great with a terrific sell job from Nanae, but Arisa never goes back to it until a short counter towards the end of the match which makes it seem pointless. Other than that, this is a war of attrition. A contest in who can out last the fight of the other. While it doesn't quite reach the all time classic level that it had the potential to be, it is still quite the match and the first must see joshi match of the year. ****1/4
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This is the best match I've seen from either two this year. Takumi focuses all her offence on Nanae's neck in the first 10 minutes where she surprisingly dominates the match. Much stronger psychology than I'm used to in Joshi matches. Nanae gets a good fightback just before the halfway point. There is an unfortunate moment in the match where Nanae gets Takumi in the corner, stops selling anything and does her usual posing and chops like she's beating up some rookie. Didn't fit the context at all. But it's over within 30 seconds so only a minor complaint. Still I much prefered Takumi's performance here, she gets the level of selling just right pretty much the whole match. The best moment in the match has to be where Nanae's putting up this stubborn fightback with a strike exchange that isn't really working but she's so proud to just stay down, so Takumi absolutely clobbers her with a Misawa-style elbow. Oh my God. Takumi then hits Nanae with a running three (the finishing move Chigusa Nagayo passed onto her) where Nanae brutally lands on her already hurt neck, and she wins the title. ****1/4 MOTYC for Joshi. -
This match is for the Beyond the SEA tag titles held by BORDERLESS (Yoshiko and Yamashita.) I hadn't been impressed at all with BORDERLESS so far as a team but they really clicked here and this was by far their best match so far. It doesn't hurt that Arisa puts in a tremendous performance here as she is slowly starting to put together another run of top quality performances. Sasamura is a K-Dojo trainee that showed some promise. Hopefully, she starts making tape on a regular basis. This is just a great main-event tag. ****1/4 -
This turned out to be the most surprisingly great matches in joshi this year. The lineup wasn't too inspiring mainly because Takase, while promising, is a rookie and Kizuki is pretty bad. It's seem like SEAdLINNNG has become the place where mediocre workers go to have good matches because Kizuki worked hard and stayed out of the way when she needed to. This actually turned out to be a traditional 1/4 vs 2/3 type of Japanese tag with everyone filling their specific role incredibly well. I hope Takase gets a chance to shine somewhere, whether it be Actwres girl'Z or somewhere else, because she can more than hang in there when paired up with veteran stars like Nanae and Mizunami. A fantastic tag that you should make sure not to skip over. ****
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This match is from the opening round of the ULTRA U-21 Tag Team Tournament. When you have 3/4th of the awesome Best Friends/Avid Rival fued, there is a strong chance that is going to be great. While Akane Fujita is a significant downgrade from Misaki Ohata, to her credit, she works her butt off here and doesn't drag down the match at all. The match is mostly just another example of Best Friends being the best tag team in the world while having Mizunami to play off of. The whole match is just a continuous flow of action while not sacrificing selling and meaning for pace. Just terrific stuff. ****1/4
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This is a rescheduled match from the Catch the WAVE tournament as Arisa suffered a concussion when this match was originally slated to happen. The match starts out exactly how you would expect a match between this two to go with Momono acting like a mosquito-level irritant while Arisa waves around trying to crush her. Eventually, Arisa is get enough shots in to finish off Momono but she puts up a good, entertaining fight on the way down. ***3/4
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After feuding for a few months, Best Friends have reunited again. This time they are taking on another reformed tag team, Seven Star Sisters (Ohata & Matsumoto.) This gets off till an intense start as 3S attack Best Friends just as they are finishing up their entrance. They manage to keep the intensity up for the entire match while keeping a steady pace. The double countout finish might be a letdown, but the match does a good enough job teasing losing control that it makes for a reasonable conclusion to the match. Still, this is one of the top joshi matches early on this year. ****1/2
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Arisa Nakajima vs. Misaki Ohata I was excited for this match-up after the Best Friends-Avid Rival trilogy, and it had some great counters and head-drop suplexes, but it's lacking in drama and the action was too by-the-numbers to be anything special. It's a solid back and forth with no emotional depth. Here's hoping the WAVE rematch is better. ***
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This match felt like it was the antithesis to a lot of the modern wrestling matches that have over-choreographed, sterile action. Everything in this match had a nasty, bitter edge to it. It's rare the there isn't a sequence where there is a brutal or cheap shot that one takes at the other. At the same time, they keep the action going as there isn't really a stretch of the thirty minutes where they slow things down in order to stall to kill time. Another awesome match in the continuing, on-again/off-again relationship of Best Friends. ****
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It would have been understandable if these for to treat this match as a throw away. It's your basic "Let's make a tag match out of the top two singles matches on our next show." Arisa and Tsukka don't treat this match like that at all as they spend any time that they are in the ring together trying to rip out the other's soul with her bare hands. Yoshiko and Mizunami don't match that intensity early of the former Best Friends but they do slowly ramp it up throughout. The finish is basically the four of them pairing off so that they can random beat the heck out of each other. Unexpectedly great match. ****
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This is Sareee's last match as a member of the SEAdLINNNG roster. You can tell how much she meant to the promotion by the fact that she comes out to no fanfare and jobs to a simple lariat from Yoshiko. Otherwise, this is a super fun joshi trios match. They keep up the pace of the match up the whole way with some nice double/triple teams included. The sequences between Sareee/Kobayashi and Mizunami/Yamashita were particularly impressive. ***3/4
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I'm starting to really enjoy La Rosa Negra. She was always improving during her runs in Stardom and consistently shows a lot of personality in the ring. Here, she's certainly capable of keeping up with Arisa in a long match. The match does get a bit flat at the finish because Rosa doesn't really get any good nearfalls so you have don't have any real belief that she is going to win in the end. This is still a good showing though and it's nice to see Arisa get to work a singles match again after spending the summer working tags. ***1/2
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This is a semi-final of the Ultra U-7 tournament. Iroha does a good job of controlling the early going with her matwork. Sareee does manage to get some momentum back when she is able to pick up the pace. Iroha keeps baiting her into strike exchange though, and while Sareee does hit hard, she doesn't hit as hard as Iroha. Iroha has looked fantastic in this tournament so far. ****
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This is an opening round match for SEAdLINNNG's Ultra U-7 tournament which mainly featured younger wrestlers. This was the best performance from Iroha since her World of Stardom title match versus Kairi Hojo a couple of years ago as she hits a lot of nasty looking, high impact offense. Kyuri has potential but usually has some rough patches in her matches. This might be the best performance of her career though as she survives Iroha's nasty shots and is able to chip away at her with some leg work. Pretty damn good ten minute match. ***3/4
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This is a rematch from a show that happened in early May. This gets off to a hot start and keeps the action going through most of the match. There are some iffy moments as they go a little too fast in a sequence or get a bit too ambitious with a move. Sareee is a standout here as she comes off strong against both members of Best Friends. The Nanae/Tsukka sequences looked strong too as they keep building up their personal feud. The match does lose momentum toward the finish as they go a little too long. Still, this is yet another quality match from the best joshi group out there right now. ***3/4
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ULTRA U-7 Tournament - Final: Takumi Iroha vs. Yoshiko I wasn't really into this one. It starts to pick up when Iroha does a tremendous sell of Yoshiko's sleeper hold, she was foaming at the mouth, struggling to catch her breath.. but the work before it was dull. Definitely one of the weaker Yoshiko matches this year. ***
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TLC Rules Match: Nanae Takahashi vs. The Great Sasuke This match was mostly about The Great Sasuke trying to cripple himself. He sets up traps that do not work out in his favor, time and time again. Nanae wasn't holding back, Sasuke was willing to take hideous punishment, and I thought the action generally flowed well into the high spots. This was a lot of fun. ****
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Akane Fujita vs. Ryo Mizunami Ryo's a hard-hitter, Akane is a wrestler who knows how to take hard hits. This is a fine match-up, and they deliver a solid performance. I love that Akane's been taking bookings outside of Ice Ribbon lately. ***1/2
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Mima Shimoda vs. Yoshiko Yoshiko is a true pro, who can put on an entertaining match against just about anyone. Shimoda is not the performer she used to be, but she is in great shape and I thought she did a fine job here, albeit some awkwardness. There's outside brawling, chair shots to the head; Yoshiko drives Shimoda through one of the venue doors at full speed. This was a fun match. ***1/4
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Rina Yamashita vs. Yoshiko These two are like alternate universe versions of each other, so they make for great rivals. The finish is a lariat war where they're just trading heavy smacks, knocking the bajeezus out of one another. The selling and execution made it one of the more compelling lariat exchanges I've seen in a while; the blood from Rina's mouth splashes across her face in a sweet visual. ****1/2
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Best Friends (Arisa Nakajima & Tsukasa Fujimoto) vs. Nanae Takahashi & Sareee This was fast, furious hard-hitting tag team action, and what the glorious sparkling D is all about! ****1/2 -
Nanae Takahashi & Arisa Nakajima vs. Hiroyo Matsumoto & Ryo Mizunami I have to agree with Dedy, this is the best Nanae has ever looked. Her segments with Hiroyo and Mizunami were spectacular, and some of the bumps she took were so hard they bounced her off of the canvas! Nakajima prays before delivering a double foot stomp, which is a cute reference to her misogi training. Everyone looked great in this match; Mizunami was hot-blooded as always, and Hiroyo busts out a Styles Clash powerbomb (!). This has that Zenjo-sprint pacing where they go non-stop and momentum shifts can happen in an instant. ****1/2
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pglPdQ7_H2o This one almost snuck by me as I didn't know that it had happened until I read the results of the show. The match itself is what you would hope it would be, a contrast between the technical striking/submissions of Syuri versus the straight forward bulldozer style of Yamashita. The whole story of the match is Syuri trying to avoid and counter Yamashita's power. This is a damn good match that you don't want to skip out on if you don't watch the undercards of joshi shows. ****