Ice Ribbon 15th December 2007 Tokyo
My first Ice Ribbon DVD, and very strange and endearingly lo-fi it is too. The "ring" is a large blue mat and the "arena" is a large underground room with a white concrete wall facing the camera. It looks more like the site of an illegal rave than a wrestling card but lets go!
Makato vs Shimouma Kazumi
This is the first time i have seen Shimouma who appears late-20s/early-30s. I know some Ice Ribbon rookies are quite old. Makato of course has the gimmick of being an idiot. Both girls are very refreshing, Shimouma just gets on with the match and Makato stands out from the crowd of over-eager rookies. Amusingly though referee Tommy gets the biggest pop. 1.5/5
I put this match on YouTube, enjoy!
Kaori Yoneyama vs Seina
Ice Ribbon is best known for it's kids of course. Seina is an early teenager and amusingly is much taller than the older established wrestler Kaori. Its an exhibition match and has a rather clumsy ending. 1/5
Riho & Mr Gannosuke vs Emi Sakura & Masahiro Takahashi
Mixed-tag action with kids, Ice Ribbon rocks! The unlikely combination of a fat bearded old guy with a little kid must be the weirdest tag-team since the Colossal Connection. Good fun match including some fat grabs. 2/5
Aoi Kizuki & Mai Ichii vs Minoru Makiba & Aya Yuki
Our main event has a collection of rookies from Ice Ribbon and beyond. A nice tag-team match up. The wrestling is basic but energetic and one just hopes the girls can develop a personality beyond the usual. 1.5/5
Overall a very enjoyable card.
Showing posts with label DVD review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label DVD review. Show all posts
DVD Review : Sendai Girls 20/04/08
Sendai Girls 20/04/08 Zepp Sendai
Sendai Girls held the Jaja Uma Tournament for young wrestlers earlier in the year, this DVD shows the 1st round matches.
Ryo Mizunami vs Minori Makiba
Sendai's GAEA trained rookie Ryo starts us off against 15 year old Minori from Ice Ribbon. Its the first time i've seen Minori and she has a lot of bulk but carries it reasonably well. Also wrestles pretty well but Ryo is better. 1.5/5
Arisa Nakajima vs Hiren
I HEART Hiren but she is outclassed in this match which was pre-D-FIX i believe. The signs of her heelish future are there though as she is aggressive but Arisa is the much better wrestler. 1/5
Ayako Sato vs Misaki Ohata
Ayako Sato takes time out from her usual LLPW beatings to face Ibuki's Misaki Ohati. Decent enough match though nothing exceptional. 1/5
Sendai Sachiko vs Mio Shirai
TEAM MAKEHEN's sexy Mio Shirai struts to the ring, she looks good though her moveset is still pretty limited. Technique can be trained though, charisma is something you are born with so Mio will be a big star one day. I like Sachiko but she needs to develop her personality beyond the eager earnest rookie. 1/5
Hiroyo Matsumoto vs Mika Mizunuma (Mikado)
Though still only wrestling for a couple of years Hiroyo has accomplished quite a lot already and outclasses TEAM MAKEHEN's Mika Mizunuma. Mika is big like Minori but while the Ice Ribbon teen could get a big solid build with some gym work Mika is more bulk for the sake of it and needs to up her fitness. 1/5
Io Shirai vs Pinkie Mayuki
TEAM MAKEHEN's Io versus JWP's Pinkie. Io is probably the better of the Shirai sisters while Pinkie is damn good for a 16 year old. Decent match though the referee screws up the ending a bit. 1/5
Kana vs DASH Chisako
I love DASH, she is high energy and anger, Kana is the magical flying butt. Kana is much further along the rookie development trail and it shows here. Good match, i always enough DASH though, even when she is being killed in seconds by veterans. 1.5/5
Tyrannosaurus Okuda vs Hanako Kobayashi
Okuda was then the JWP/POP Jr champion. This match doesn't quite work, Okuda is the best of the Sendai rookies but not yet good enough to carry a main event. Still like all matches on this card its good to see reasonably evenly matched youngsters fight it out without veterans crushing them or hogging the limelight. 1/5
Sendai Girls held the Jaja Uma Tournament for young wrestlers earlier in the year, this DVD shows the 1st round matches.
Ryo Mizunami vs Minori Makiba
Sendai's GAEA trained rookie Ryo starts us off against 15 year old Minori from Ice Ribbon. Its the first time i've seen Minori and she has a lot of bulk but carries it reasonably well. Also wrestles pretty well but Ryo is better. 1.5/5
Arisa Nakajima vs Hiren
I HEART Hiren but she is outclassed in this match which was pre-D-FIX i believe. The signs of her heelish future are there though as she is aggressive but Arisa is the much better wrestler. 1/5
Ayako Sato vs Misaki Ohata
Ayako Sato takes time out from her usual LLPW beatings to face Ibuki's Misaki Ohati. Decent enough match though nothing exceptional. 1/5
Sendai Sachiko vs Mio Shirai
TEAM MAKEHEN's sexy Mio Shirai struts to the ring, she looks good though her moveset is still pretty limited. Technique can be trained though, charisma is something you are born with so Mio will be a big star one day. I like Sachiko but she needs to develop her personality beyond the eager earnest rookie. 1/5
Hiroyo Matsumoto vs Mika Mizunuma (Mikado)
Though still only wrestling for a couple of years Hiroyo has accomplished quite a lot already and outclasses TEAM MAKEHEN's Mika Mizunuma. Mika is big like Minori but while the Ice Ribbon teen could get a big solid build with some gym work Mika is more bulk for the sake of it and needs to up her fitness. 1/5
Io Shirai vs Pinkie Mayuki
TEAM MAKEHEN's Io versus JWP's Pinkie. Io is probably the better of the Shirai sisters while Pinkie is damn good for a 16 year old. Decent match though the referee screws up the ending a bit. 1/5
Kana vs DASH Chisako
I love DASH, she is high energy and anger, Kana is the magical flying butt. Kana is much further along the rookie development trail and it shows here. Good match, i always enough DASH though, even when she is being killed in seconds by veterans. 1.5/5
Tyrannosaurus Okuda vs Hanako Kobayashi
Okuda was then the JWP/POP Jr champion. This match doesn't quite work, Okuda is the best of the Sendai rookies but not yet good enough to carry a main event. Still like all matches on this card its good to see reasonably evenly matched youngsters fight it out without veterans crushing them or hogging the limelight. 1/5
DVD Review : OZ Academy 10/02/08
OZ Academy 10/02/08 Shinjuku
Akino vs Devil Masami
Part of Devil Masami's retirement tour, she is doing the job on a lot of these. Tough action but a bit slow and quite frankly a bit dull but lets be nice to the old lady. 1/5
Devil Masami
Kaoru vs Ran Yu-Yu
Or Ran Yu-Yu versus D-FIX as Mika Nishio and Police interfere openly. Good fun but slightly pointless, as if you have this much interference why bother having a referee if rules arn't enforced. 1.5/5
Tsubasa Kuragaki & Kayuko Haruyama vs Chikayo Nagashima & Sonoko Kato
JWP Tag-team title action as the JWP tag-champions take on the OZ girls. Good and exciting if typical joshi tag-team match : high-impact moves, near falls, top rope action et cetera. 2/5
Carlos Amano vs Mayumi Ozaki
Ozaki came to the ring with an injured arm for a gauntlet match, if she loses against Amano, Aja Kong and Dynamite Kansai then the winner becomes the Principle of OZ Academy (i assume the name doesn't change) but if Ozaki wins then her opponent has to leave.
Ozaki chooses Amano for the first match and is immediately in trouble with her bust-up arm. However even referee Ito takes a fall Ozaki's arm miraculously is suddenly healed. This is great, if standard, heel fare and its a pity younger joshi wrestlers can't try and learn some of this craft instead of their usual overly earnest face personas. Its playing safe, anyone can be a face but only the truly talented can be a heel. Ozaki is a heel, and of course D-FIX are right there with her. 3/5
Carlos Amano, Aja Kong & Dynamite Kansai vs Mayumi Ozaki, Kaoru & Police
Following that we have an extra 6-person tag match between Amano, Aja & Kansai against the mighty forces of D-FIX. The usual OZ mayhem as you can imagine with more taking place outside the ring than inside. A highlight is Mika Nishio handcuffing Aja Kong to a strut then teasing her with the keys... however she is so busy tormenting Aja she doesn't notice Kansai who punches her out and then gets the keys back. 2/5
To me D-FIX and Ozaki action will never go old. Great show.
Akino vs Devil Masami
Part of Devil Masami's retirement tour, she is doing the job on a lot of these. Tough action but a bit slow and quite frankly a bit dull but lets be nice to the old lady. 1/5
Devil Masami
Kaoru vs Ran Yu-Yu
Or Ran Yu-Yu versus D-FIX as Mika Nishio and Police interfere openly. Good fun but slightly pointless, as if you have this much interference why bother having a referee if rules arn't enforced. 1.5/5
Tsubasa Kuragaki & Kayuko Haruyama vs Chikayo Nagashima & Sonoko Kato
JWP Tag-team title action as the JWP tag-champions take on the OZ girls. Good and exciting if typical joshi tag-team match : high-impact moves, near falls, top rope action et cetera. 2/5
Carlos Amano vs Mayumi Ozaki
Ozaki came to the ring with an injured arm for a gauntlet match, if she loses against Amano, Aja Kong and Dynamite Kansai then the winner becomes the Principle of OZ Academy (i assume the name doesn't change) but if Ozaki wins then her opponent has to leave.
Ozaki chooses Amano for the first match and is immediately in trouble with her bust-up arm. However even referee Ito takes a fall Ozaki's arm miraculously is suddenly healed. This is great, if standard, heel fare and its a pity younger joshi wrestlers can't try and learn some of this craft instead of their usual overly earnest face personas. Its playing safe, anyone can be a face but only the truly talented can be a heel. Ozaki is a heel, and of course D-FIX are right there with her. 3/5
Carlos Amano, Aja Kong & Dynamite Kansai vs Mayumi Ozaki, Kaoru & Police
Following that we have an extra 6-person tag match between Amano, Aja & Kansai against the mighty forces of D-FIX. The usual OZ mayhem as you can imagine with more taking place outside the ring than inside. A highlight is Mika Nishio handcuffing Aja Kong to a strut then teasing her with the keys... however she is so busy tormenting Aja she doesn't notice Kansai who punches her out and then gets the keys back. 2/5
To me D-FIX and Ozaki action will never go old. Great show.
DVD Review : LLPW 28/03/08
LLPW 28/03/08 - Obacchi Iizuka 10th Anniversary
Noriyo Tateno & Harley Saito vs Kaoru Ito & Ayako Sato
LLPW vs Ito Dojo to start things off, of course you know which team is going to lose this match and who will get pinned (no its not Noriyo) but its a reasonably good match to start things off. The veterans get to show off their moves and Ayako takes a few whacks and gives a few dropkicks. 1.5/5
The TV match follows. FF quick!
Jaguar Yokota vs Obacchi Iizuka
Obacchi celebrates her 10th anniversary in wrestling by fighting her old mentor. So we have the tights over the head, plastic hand and daikon of doom and Jaguar does her usual mixture of playing along and looking furious in a match like this. 2/5
Sayuri Okino vs Jumbo Hori
A fairly short but high-impact match, it includes the use of a sumo wrestler as a foreign object. I've put this match on YouTube in fact, its good fun though you suspect Okino doesn't really like fun. 2/5
Yumiko Hotta & Blue Wolf vs Takaco Inoue & Mizuki Endo
The latest instalment of the Hotta/Blue Wolf vs LLPW war. The match does actually spend some of it's time in the ring but soon spills to the outside for a Hotta brawl. Chains, chairs, heads thrown against walls et cetera. 2/5
Takaco Inoue
Typical LLPW card, you either love it or you hate it. LLPW is the marmite of the joshi world perhaps, well i love marmite and LLPW!
Noriyo Tateno & Harley Saito vs Kaoru Ito & Ayako Sato
LLPW vs Ito Dojo to start things off, of course you know which team is going to lose this match and who will get pinned (no its not Noriyo) but its a reasonably good match to start things off. The veterans get to show off their moves and Ayako takes a few whacks and gives a few dropkicks. 1.5/5
The TV match follows. FF quick!
Jaguar Yokota vs Obacchi Iizuka
Obacchi celebrates her 10th anniversary in wrestling by fighting her old mentor. So we have the tights over the head, plastic hand and daikon of doom and Jaguar does her usual mixture of playing along and looking furious in a match like this. 2/5
Sayuri Okino vs Jumbo Hori
A fairly short but high-impact match, it includes the use of a sumo wrestler as a foreign object. I've put this match on YouTube in fact, its good fun though you suspect Okino doesn't really like fun. 2/5
Yumiko Hotta & Blue Wolf vs Takaco Inoue & Mizuki Endo
The latest instalment of the Hotta/Blue Wolf vs LLPW war. The match does actually spend some of it's time in the ring but soon spills to the outside for a Hotta brawl. Chains, chairs, heads thrown against walls et cetera. 2/5
Takaco Inoue
Typical LLPW card, you either love it or you hate it. LLPW is the marmite of the joshi world perhaps, well i love marmite and LLPW!
DVD Review : LLPW 14/12/07
Time to start reviewing some of these DVDs i've been accumulating. Match ratings in the traditional "out of 5" format rating from 1 for OK to 5 for ultra-awesome. Expect controversy as i don't follow the herd...
LLPW 14/12/07 Korakuen Hall
Sayuri Okino & Eiger vs Jumbo Hori & Obacchi Iizuka
4 of my favourite wrestlers in 1 match! Jumbo Hori is a real Grandma and Obacchi's gimmick is that of a Grandma, a fairly unique tag-team then. Okino and Eiger are the most awesome tag-team in wrestling today.
This match is largely how you would expect from the personnel involved, humour and gimmicks galore from Obacchi and Eiger plus some stick action from Okino. Jumbo Hori's ring outfit is rather weird and she looks like a giant mushroom. Despite the wrestlers in this match though it lacks a bit of sparkle, Obacchi seemed a bit off and Jumbo is still very rusty. Okino and Eiger phone it in a bit. Oh well. 1.5/5
Sayuri Okino
The traditional LLPW transvestite match followed, i always fast forward through that, indeed i heard the DVD fast-forward function was invented because of these matches. Onwards...
Jaguar Yokota vs Francoise
Francoise is the young rookie on the LLPW books, well she was anyway, she hasn't been around much this year. Her ring work isn't that great but she at least does have some different facial expressions and a model persona compared to the usual overly earnest and super determined rookie persona. Jaguar puts her away without that much trouble. 1/1
Takako Inoue & Harley Saito vs Shinobu Kandori & Ayako Sato
Ayako Sato has appeared on a lot of LLPW cards over the last year, admittedly jobbing on most of them. Here she adds plenty of energy to this meeting of the LLPW top table. This is quite a good match with Ayako's enthusiasm backfiring but her putting on a good show.
Thats what people miss when they moan about the youngsters jobbing, for a young wrestler's development and image build-up she gets much more out of a hard fought loss to a veteran than a barely known about win against another rookie. 2/5
Yumiko Hotta, Blue Wolf I & Blue Wolf II vs Noriyo Tateno & Mizuki Endo
A typical Hotta brawl, Endo gets cut up pretty bad and takes some hard chair shots. Its a shapeless match that takes place mostly out of the ring, some of the audience getting Noriyo on their laps (not the worst thing to happen in the world...) and probably no actual wrestling in the match but good fun if you like joshi brawls. I do. 2/5
A typical LLPW show, they have the highest production values of any current promotion in joshi and the right mix of story lines, comedy, wrestling and star names to elevate them over other promotions like NEO which can be a bit dull sometimes.
LLPW 14/12/07 Korakuen Hall
Sayuri Okino & Eiger vs Jumbo Hori & Obacchi Iizuka
4 of my favourite wrestlers in 1 match! Jumbo Hori is a real Grandma and Obacchi's gimmick is that of a Grandma, a fairly unique tag-team then. Okino and Eiger are the most awesome tag-team in wrestling today.
This match is largely how you would expect from the personnel involved, humour and gimmicks galore from Obacchi and Eiger plus some stick action from Okino. Jumbo Hori's ring outfit is rather weird and she looks like a giant mushroom. Despite the wrestlers in this match though it lacks a bit of sparkle, Obacchi seemed a bit off and Jumbo is still very rusty. Okino and Eiger phone it in a bit. Oh well. 1.5/5
Sayuri Okino
The traditional LLPW transvestite match followed, i always fast forward through that, indeed i heard the DVD fast-forward function was invented because of these matches. Onwards...
Jaguar Yokota vs Francoise
Francoise is the young rookie on the LLPW books, well she was anyway, she hasn't been around much this year. Her ring work isn't that great but she at least does have some different facial expressions and a model persona compared to the usual overly earnest and super determined rookie persona. Jaguar puts her away without that much trouble. 1/1
Takako Inoue & Harley Saito vs Shinobu Kandori & Ayako Sato
Ayako Sato has appeared on a lot of LLPW cards over the last year, admittedly jobbing on most of them. Here she adds plenty of energy to this meeting of the LLPW top table. This is quite a good match with Ayako's enthusiasm backfiring but her putting on a good show.
Thats what people miss when they moan about the youngsters jobbing, for a young wrestler's development and image build-up she gets much more out of a hard fought loss to a veteran than a barely known about win against another rookie. 2/5
Yumiko Hotta, Blue Wolf I & Blue Wolf II vs Noriyo Tateno & Mizuki Endo
A typical Hotta brawl, Endo gets cut up pretty bad and takes some hard chair shots. Its a shapeless match that takes place mostly out of the ring, some of the audience getting Noriyo on their laps (not the worst thing to happen in the world...) and probably no actual wrestling in the match but good fun if you like joshi brawls. I do. 2/5
A typical LLPW show, they have the highest production values of any current promotion in joshi and the right mix of story lines, comedy, wrestling and star names to elevate them over other promotions like NEO which can be a bit dull sometimes.
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