MotY List: 8 – Tsukasa Fujimoto vs Maya Yukihi 26th August 2018

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8 Tsukasa vs Maya

While only featuring twice in my Match of the Year list, Tsukasa Fujimoto is probably in my top 3 wrestlers of the year. Her output is consistently great, whether in the REAL Best Friends tag team of her and Arisa Nakajima (who is another member of the top 3 this year, alongside Utami Hayashishita), or in single matches. This match, at her 10th anniversary show, is probably her finest singles match this year, against a very good Maya Yukihi.

Some good chain wrestling to start, followed by the test of kick strength, some of which were really stiff. Fujimoto sells really well, and she has one of the most perfect bridging-out-of-pins manoeuvre you’ll see. There’s some outside brawling to put Maya back in control, and again Tsukasa plays babyface in peril so well, but she lays it in pretty hard too. The slap exchange is nasty, and neither one lets up. They build to the finish so well, each going for big moves, big hits, trying to finish the other one off. Fujimoto hits the octopus bomb, then the Venus Shoot but only gets two. Yukihi hits a trio of capture suplexes after taking some nasty kicks then dishes out kicks of her own. Crucifix driver! Misses a swanton bomb, and Tsukasa hits a tombstone for a very close two count. Sunset bomb, then an awesome looking Venus Shoot seals the win for your champion, Fujmoto.

Definitely the best single match from her this year, and Yukihi was great too, so this match had to make my top ten. Two very underrated wrestlers for this year, but both are can’t miss for me at the moment.

Show Review: Ice Ribbon Super Fireworks, Dec 2nd 2018

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Ice Ribbon Super FireworksBlue Chiba Field, Chiba, Japan. Attendance: 284

If you’ve followed Ice Ribbon at all this year, you’ll have watched Tsukasa Fujimoto and Risa Sera have a number of matches, both single and on the opposite sides of tag team matches. It hasn’t seemed the most heated rivalry, so why we’ve ended up at an exploding bat deathmatch I can’t be sure, but they have been fighting on the streets of Tokyo this year so…

The opener saw Hamuko Hoshi and Suzu go to a three minute draw. I guess Suzu is a rookie, and I haven’t watched a lot of Hoshi this year, but this was a pretty painless quick match. Suzu is learning ALL the young lion rollups she can remember. *1/2

Mochi Miyagi vs Akane Fujita: Miyagi is overflowing with personality, and lures Fujita into a pose off, then stomps on her. Why will no one in wrestling learn about these traps?! This is a pretty decent match, with Fujita being the powerhouse of the two but ultimately falling to a Styles Clash from Miyagi. **1/2

Matsuya Uno vs Miyako Matsumoto: Matsumoto LOVES standing on people. She even gets the ref in on the game, and she locks Uno in a number of interesting holds, including a top turnbuckle octopus that seems pointless but looks good. Mostly a lot of rolling around into flash pins, this wasn’t the greatest I’ve seen from either. Uno wins reversing a rollup. **

Kyuri /Maika Ozaki vs Maya Yuhiki/Giulia: Now this is more like it. Yuhiki snuck into my top ten matches of the year this year. Kyuri’s skirt is way too short, even for Japan. She needs to speak to her seamstress. Maya is clearly the best wrestler in the ring, and seems to be having a bit of fun at Ozaki’s expense. Ozaki has some good power spots, and I’d definitely be interested in her vs Yuhiki as a singles match. It got a little sloppy at points, but the final stretch had some decent moments, and that backcracker/senton double team looks legit. Ozaki and Kyuri win after Ozaki pins Giulia. Gentleman’s ***

Tsukas Fujimoto vs Risa Sera: This is why we’re here. Joshi deathmatches aren’t something you see every day, and for the Blast Queen title, why not have an exploding baseball bat?? Tsukasa on one side, resplendent in a massive collared robe. Risa on the other, looking like a killer from a bad Hong Kong action movie with the shades and the barbed wire kendo stick. This is ridiculous but I’m all in! Risa goes to the kendo stick early, and there’s a bit of crowd brawling. The single cam show really shows its limitations here, as you can’t really make out what’s going on.

You can really tell that Tsukasa was trained by the best here, as she is by far the best wrestler on this show. She goes for the bat first, but Risa ducks and turns it off. So, there’s a switch you have to turn it on with? That’s sensible I suppose, but surely the siren will let your opponent know its coming? I’m thinking about this too much. After three, em, twisting octopus bombs I’m going with, Fujimoto gets the bat and BOOM! What a bang it makes, and both sell it as a big deal. Taking the gimmick seriously makes it feel serious, an important lesson. More crowdbrawling, then some nice in ring work before Sera gets the bat and smashes Fujimoto in the ribs, BOOM! I love how the ref puts his goggles on when the klaxon goes. Big double knees off the top, then another bat shot puts Fujimoto away. Good match, better spectacle. ***1/2

Overall average show. Only really the main event is worth coming to see, but the rest was mostly inoffensive.

MotY List: 9 – Meiko Satomura vs Io Shirai vs Hiroyo Matsumoto 11th June 2018

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9 Io vs Hiroyo vs Meiko

Number 9 on my match of the Year list is a dream match three way between possibly three of the greatest Joshi working today. Part of Kenta Kobashi’s Fortune Dream 5 event, these three had a dramatic and awesome triple threat.

I hate triple threats normally, but this proved that they are a good match type if you get the right people in the ring. Shirai is probably the best female wrestler in the world, Meiko might be THE best in the world, and Hiroyo is a beast who always impresses. Put them all together and you’ve got a recipe for greatness.

There’s barely any of the ‘one wrestler goes outside while two others fight’ nonsense that a lot of triple threats fall victim to. Meiko lays it in pretty hard on Hiroyo in the corner, and Hiroyo made sure that Io headed off to America with a sore chest as well. Io flew all over the place and cements her place as the best high flier in the genre, and probably one of the best in the whole business. The powerbomb of Io onto Meiko was a great spot, and the final stretch was great with no one getting a clear advantage.

My only real gripe with this match was the time limit draw result. Would it really have hurt for Io to take a fall, if she was off to the Fed? I suppose all three were taking part in the Mae Young Classic but Hiroyo and Meiko aren’t signed, so they would be back. Hiroyo pinning Shirai would’ve been a great boost to her reputation. It’s a minor quibble, and the match quality was not affected by the result.

MotY List: 10 – Chihiro Hashimoto vs DASH Chisako 24th June 2018

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10 - Chihiro vs DASH

Number 10 on my match of the year list is actually from Michinoku Pro, and their Jinsei Shinzaki 25th anniversary show. This saw Chihiro Hashimoto take on DASH Chisako for the vacant Sendai Girls World title. Vacated by Ayako Hamada after her drug issues, these two have been on the opposite side of some pretty fiery tag team exchanges in the few months beforehand, so this always looked like it could be great on paper.

Hashimoto feels different from a lot of joshi because of her amateur background, while DASH and her chair swinging has been a guilty pleasure of mine for a while. But she can wrestle with the best of them when she needs to. There was a bit of feeling each other out, with some hard hits and then a bit of crowd brawling, including a big splash from the top to the outside from DASH. Chihiro throwing wrestlers around is always great to watch, while DASH scrapping away from underneath makes a great contrast of style. A HUGE cutter from the top rope, then a great looking frog splash led DASH to two near falls.

A massive German suplex gets Hashimoto back in it, and DASH slapping herself in the face to wake herself up after it was a cool touch. They’re throwing forearms at each other, giving it their all. Chihiro can barely get DASH up for a powerbomb, but it feels like the effects of the match, rather than a botch. The following top rope senton bomb looks brutal, but DASH just gets out. Hashimoto powers out of a rollup attempt with two suplexes, then plants DASH with a bridging German to win the match and the title.

While a quieter year for both of these wrestlers in terms of big single matches, this match was fast paced and hard hitting, with a cool closing stretch and ultimately it just squeezes out some others to make it into my top ten. This is the only appearance of these two in my top 10 this year, but hopefully we’ll see a lot more next year.

Match of the Year List

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This year’s joshi match of the year list comes from a number of different promotions, although you’ll notice some familiar faces cropping up in more than one match here. It has been a tremendous year for joshi in ring, and I will be releasing these top 10 one at a time, with a breakdown of the match and the year as a whole for those wrestlers in it.

Look for number 10 coming this evening!

Welcome to Joshi’s Valley

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This is Joshi’s Valley, a new site featuring the best of Joshi wrestling, starting with 2019. I’m going to mainly focus on the lesser appreciated promotions like Ice Ribbon, SEAdLINNNG, Sendai Girls, OZ Academy etc, as well as keep up to date with the bigger Stardom matches and news too.

I’ve really become more interested in joshi as a fan this year, while watching the work of Tsukasa Fujimoto, Arisa Nakajima, Hiroyo Matsumoto, Hikaru Shida, DASH Chisako and more. Joshi is inspiring me to write about wrestling, more than most other promotions do, simply because of the contrast in beauty and brutality.

I hopoe that this gets more fans to watch the products, particularly if you are drawn by Io, Meiko or Hiroyo competing in this year’s Mae Young Classic. Those are three of the best, but there are other incredible joshis just waiting for you to discover them.