I haven’t really had a lot of chance to watch Sendai Girls this year, but I definitely couldn’t miss this show with the matches announced!
Mei Suruga/Ryo Mizunami vs KAORU /Mikoto Shindo: Mei and Ryo have the potential to be the most fun team in joshi history. The assisted superman punch, the machine gun chops and the tandem poses are all great fun, and this is exactly what this was, a fun fiery opener to get you hyped up. With the personality fountains of Mei and Ryo, it doesn;t matter who they are wrestling, but Shindo and KAORU aren’t totally forgettable. KAORU lays in the big boots and misses an insane top rope move that would kill me at 33, let alone her at 50. Goddamn joshis are timeless. Ryo taps out Mikoto with a Boston Crab to win. ***1/4
Alex Lee/Bolshoi Kid vs Sakura Hirota/AIGER: Oh man, not AIGER. I learned to love Hirota but I don’t know if I’ll ever manage with Aiger. Although the Bolshoi Kid might be even creepier… A long and complex comedy match of varying quality, with Hirota losing after the punch to the arsehole and then being rolled up by the Bolshoi Kid. **
Millie McKenzie vs Manami: how many tiny awesome rookies does joshi possess now? I really like Millie too, I think she brings something different and this match was good if a little short. You never thought Manami was going to win, but as a junior challenger she is great. She feels totally different from the other rookies, much bigger and more technical. She’s scary good for 14 (Yeah, I know, FOURTEEN!) years old, I mean she even breaks out a Cattle Decapitation! Millie successfully defends with a spear, and I want to see more of her in longer bouts in Japan. ***1/2
Mika Iwata vs Yuu: Now this is going to be fire. I’m not as familiar with Yuu as I feel I should be, and Mika recently stunned the world by getting a legible Twitter handle so this is all kinds of strange for me! Yuu reminds me a lot of Iwata’s Beauty Bear tag partner Chihiro, and therefore Mika should have a bit of an advantage here.
Yuu is stocky and powerful, throwing shoulderblocks and lariats, while Mika attacks with precise kicks and knees. These two are trying to kill each other with chops and kicks, and that snap judo throw into the sleeper was so fast I had to rewind it to see it again. Yuu is awesome. Mika is also awesome, reversing a powerbomb into an armbar, which is then reversed back into a powerbomb. She dominates Yuu with kicks to the head, then gets the three count after a version of the Venus Shoot from the top. Loved every second, just wanted a little longer. ***3/4
Sareee vs Meiko Satomura: the newest darling of joshi twitter since her legendary match with Aja that no one has seen yet, Sareee had a great match against Hashimoto earlier this year, and Meiko is Meiko. This should be a killer. There is nothing held back here, with a lot of really stiff shots. Sareee is doing her best to come off as a legit challenge to the more experienced Meiko, and she has some fight in here.
Some of these dropkicks are stiff as hell, but there’s plenty of receipts from Meiko. Saree screams with fighting raging spirit, and there are some disgusting head drops, one after another. Jesus this match is stiff. Sareee wins with one of those devastating uranages, dropping Satomura on her head twice. She then shows a bit of respect at the end, but Meiko says something that riles her up and there’s a bit of shoving. This feud will continue, and holy shit thank God for that. That was awesome. ****3/4
Hiroyo Matsumoto/DASH Chisako vs Killer Kelly/Hikaru Shida: This was another good match, although not quite as good as I was hoping. The team of DASH and Hiroyo is a dream come true for me, as I love them both. Kelly is actually not bad either, I guess here as a trade off for Meiko being in MYC. Let’s get DASH into the next MYC, her killing bitches with chairs would be amazing.
You can see why Shida was snapped up by AEW as well, every time she’s in there she exudes charisma and style. But this match seems to be all about DASH and Killer Kelly, who spend the majority of the match trading shots. DASH is 151cm of death on legs, smashing stiff forearms and hard slaps, while Kelly shows that she’s still pretty green at time, but has a good look and hits nice moves. Kelly falls victim to the double stomp then the frog splash from DASH to lose. This was a really fun match, and even though Killer Kelly looked to be the weak link, she really impressed me by the end. ****
Chihiro Hashimoto vs Jordynne Grace: Grace is a natural for Sendai Girls, being the archetypal power joshi. Hashimoto vs Grace will be one of those big hoss battles that you get rarely in joshi but are almost always excellent.
There’s a lot of tests of strength to start, and then the match picks up with big lariats. Grace controls a lot of the match, and works it a bit more western style as you’d expect. I think this is her first Japanese tour, but she fits in well. There’s some great spots here, including Grace coming within an inch of winning with a big powerbomb, a hard powerbomb from Chihiro and some great suplexes. Hashimoto wins with a perfect German and there’s a nice moment of respect afterwards. I reckon Jordynne has made a good few fans with that performance over there. Afterwards, big balls Sareee comes out and challenges Hashimoto, and even slaps her. if it is like their first one, that’ll be a banger too. ****1/4
Final Thoughts: A really solid show with at least three great matches and a number of fun others. Meiko vs Sareee was essential viewing, and the main event was really good too. Add Yuu and Iwata and the tag team match and you’ve got a excellent show.
Joshi's Valley 