Dream Slam Weekly (vol. 5)!
By: Karen Peterson
It’s been a full month, and the more I am experiencing the depth and breadth of the Japanese women’s wrestling scene, the more hours in a day I wish I had! There is much wrestling and this is only one facet of the bigger fabric of the scene as a whole.
BIG EVENT/NEWS
Hana Kimura Memorial Show: BAGUS! (5/23) Korakuen Hall (Full Event Report)
With the second show in the books, it is possible that provided they’ve had consecutive successful shows. Next year, May 23rd is a Tuesday, which could be a challenge, especially if Best of the Super Juniors is running through Korakuen Hall again this time next year. It’ll likely be announced in the new year if there be a third show.
International Excursions & Adventures
This weekend!
- Rina Yamashita: Game Changer Wrestling
- Downward Spiral (Las Vegas, NV; (May 28th)
- Tournament of Survival VII (Atlantic City, NJ; June 4th-5th).
- Maki Itoh & Miyu Yamashita: Prestige Wrestling
- Roseland 3 (Portland, OR; May 28th-29th) Streaming will be available on IWTV. Event tag: #PrestigeRoseland
- Night 1: Itoh vs. Mia Yim (International Princess Championship Match) and Yamashita vs. Masha Slamovich
- Night 2: Itoh vs. Yamashita
Coming Soon!
- Miyuki Takase vs. Miyu Yamashita set for Deadlock Pro’s No Pressure (June 5th)
- Takumi Iroha: Pro-Wrestling EVE’s SHE-1 (June 18th-19th)
- Yuka Sakazaki vs. Masha Slamovich set for PWG’s NINETEEN (July 3rd)
- Miyu Yamashita: Garden State Pro-Wrestling’s Welcome to Eden (July 23rd)
Introductions & Round-up (alphabetical)
Happy Fourth Anniversary to Mei Suruga! Here are the results for her Fourth Anniversary Show (5/26)!
- Four Way Tag Team Match: Chon Shiryu & Sayuri defeated Antonio Honda & Tokiko Kirihara and Kaori Yoneyama & Sawasdee Kamen and Sayaka Obihiro & Shin Suzuki (7:21)
- Singles Match: Haruka Umesaki defeats Chie Koishikawa (8:43)
- Six-Person Tag Team Match: Baliyan Akki, SAKI & Yuna Mizumori defeated Hagane Shinnou, Makoto & Sayaka (13:00)
- Asia Dream Tag Team Title Match: Chris Brookes & Masahiro Takanashi © defeated MIKAMI & Thanomsak Toba (14:21)
- Main Event Singles Match: Mei Suruga defeated Suzume (16:40)
Mei Scheduled for TJPW’s Summer Sun Princess
Earlier this week, it was announced that Suruga would be participating in Tokyo Joshi Pro’s big summer event, Summer Sun Princess (on July 9th). She was announced as participating along with TJPW’s Juria Nagano and Yuki Arai (SKE48)
Ganbare☆Pro Wrestling
DDT/GP Thunder Road 22 (5/26) ShinKiba 1st Ring: Maika Ozaki, Yappy & Yuna Manase defeat HARUKAZE, Moeka Haruhi & YuuRI (12:17)
A Wild Unagi Sayaka Appears!!
Going back to her roots, Sayaka, showed up at Thunder Road, not only to pick a fight with her former mentor, Yuna Manase but to assess the quality of talent in GanPro. YuuRi would run interference, stepping up to Unagi, and she extends an invite for YuuRi to put her money where her mouth is at Stardom’s New Blood 3! Additionally, she’ll have a special singles match against Manase on 7/10 (Ota Ward Gymnasium) at GanPro’s Wrestle Sekigahara. Her former senior took umbrage with Unagi making fun of the promotion “simply doing their best” instead of excelling and taking over the industry.
Girls’ Pro-Wrestling Unit COLOR’S
SAKI, Yuko Sakurai, and Hikari Shimizu will challenge Stardom’s Cosmic Angels on June 5th, with the losing unit being forced to become the winning unit’s rookies! All four members are also participating in Ice Ribbon’s doubleheader show in Yokohama on 5/28, including participating in the ICE x Infinity Championship Tournament.
- Next Solo Show: Yes, My Way 3 (7/15) ShinKiba 1st Ring
G Pro-Wrestling #26 (5/22; Naha, Okinawa) Madeline (DIANA) defeated Michiko Miyagi (GLEAT) (5:57)
ICE x Infinity Tournament Announced! With Tsukushi Haruka retired, she retired as the 33rd ICE (cross) Infinity Champion, which she would vacate afterward.
Tournament Rules
- Matches in the opening round through the semi-finals will have one fall with a 15-minute time limit
- In the event of a draw, the wrestler with the shorter career advances to the next round.
- The finals will be a championship match with one fall, no time limit and the winner will become the 34th ICE x Infinity Champion
May 28th – First Round Matches (Afternoon Show) Yokohama Radiant Hall
- Saori Anou vs. Hikari Shimizu (COLOR’S)
- Sumika Yanakawa (JTO) vs. Rina Amikura (COLOR’S)
- Tae Honma vs. Asahi
- Nao Ishikawa vs. Satsuki Totoro
May 28th – First Round Matches (Evening Show) Yokohama Radiant Hall
- Makoto vs. Yuko Sakura (COLOR’S)
- Yuki Mashiro vs. Kaho Matsushita
- Saran vs. Maika Ozaki
- Ibuki Hoshi vs. Misa Kagura (JTO)
Remaining Tournament Schedule
- Quarter-Finals (June 18th) – Yokohama Radiant Hall
- Semi-Finals (June 26th) – Korakuen Hall
- Finals (July 31st) – Korakuen Hall
First Round results will be posted in next week’s issue of Dream Slam Weekly!
Aoi and Tomoka Inaba’s self-produced show, AOTOMO (Aoi x Tomoka) was held at Basement Monster Hachioji on May 21st. AOTOMO Results (5/21)
- Bulldozer Amisa defeated Yura Suzuki (5:53)
- Rhythm defeated Misa Kagura (9:48)
- Prominence (Akane Fujita and Risa Sera) defeated JTO (Aoi and Sumika Yanagawa) (14:09)
- Suzu Suzuki (Prominence) and Tomoka Inaba (JTO) DRAW (15:00)
Next Event: Queen of JTO Tournament (Starts 5/29 – Seed rankings as of May 2022)
- First Round Bye: Yamagata Yu (Queen of JTO Champion; #1)
- First Round: Tomoka Inaba (#2) vs. rhythm (#5)
- First Round: Aoi (#3) vs. Bulldozer Amisa (Unranked)
- First Round: Sumika Yanagawa (#4) vs. Misa Kagura (#6)
Queen of JTO Tournament Dates
- Quarter-Finals (6/5) Yokohama
- Finals (7/9) Korakuen Hall
OZ Academy
District of Dystopia in Osaka (5/22)
- Singles Match: Aja Kong defeats Momoka Hanazono (10:45)
- Tag Team Match: Ozaki-gun (Mayumi Ozaki & Saori Anou) defeat Itsuki Aoki & Tsubasa Kuragaki (19:33)
- Singles Match: Yuu defeats Kyusei Yumi Ohka (Sakura Hirota) (8:18)
- Three-Way Match: Rina Yamashita defeats Kakeru Sekiguchi and Maya Yukihi (13:29)
- Tag Team Match: MISSION K4 (AKINO & Sonoko Kato) defeated Beast Friend (Hiroyo Matsumoto & Kaori Yoneyama) (18:43)
Kuen Ranbu (5/29) Match Card Announced
- Miyako Matumoto Produced 3-Way Match (1/20): Tsubasa Kuragaki (OZ) vs Miyako Matsumoto vs Itsuki Aoki
- Singles Match (1/30): Yuki Miyazaki (WAVE) vs. Mochi Natsumi
- Singles Match (1/30): Akane Fujita vs Dash Chisako
- Singles Match (1/30): Risa Sera vs. Suzu Suzuki
SEAdLINNNG {Tour Date Calendar}
Out of Office: SEAdLINNG goes to The Philippines!
Over on SEAd’s YouTube channel, several travel videos have cropped up, looking like a couple of the roster members took a well-earned, post-Golden Week vacation! They packed up their bags and headed to The Philippines!
Next Big Match (6/10) – ShinKiba 1st Ring
- Tag Match (1/30): Arisa Nakajima & Rico Kaiju vs. SAKI (COLOR’S) & Riko Kawahata (T-HEARTS)
- Rest of the card TBD
~Early Summer Games~ (6/30) – Korakuen Hall
- BEYOND THE SEA Tag Championship (1/30): ASUKA/MAKOTO vs. Amazon/Rina Yamashita
- Rest of the card TBD
Sendai Girls {@SendaiGlobal|@senjo2006 |#仙女 #sendaigirlspro }
Shinjiro Otani Special Show (June 4th)
Chihiro Hashimoto will represent SenJo at the Shinjiro Otani Special Show (via ZERO-1) on June 4th. She will team with Jaguar Yokota (DIANA) and ASUKA (VENY) in a 6-woman tag match against Aja Kong (OZ Academy), Yuna Manase (Ganbare Pro), and NATSUMI (Cho Hanabi Pro). The show is scheduled to have a ten-match card. No details on the availability of live stream at this time.
Next Big Show (6/16) ~The Sky is The Limit~ ShinKiba 1st Ring
- Hardcore Rules Tag Match (1/30): Reiwa ULTEMA Powers (Dash Chisako/Hiroyo Matsumoto) vs. Prominence (Risa Sera/Mochi Natsumi)
- SG World Tag Championship (1/30): Team 200KG (Chihiro Hashimoto & Yuu) © vs. Red Energy (Mika Iwata & Miyuki Takase)
Stardom {@We_Are_Stardom | @WWR_Stardom | #STARDOM #スターダム}
Rina & Syuri participated in the second Hana Kimura Memorial Show: BAGUS! (May 23rd) Along with Referee Barb Sasaki, Starlight Kid (as Rina’s second), and Kaori Yoneyama (rumored to look suspiciously like Death Yama-san, Gokigen Death & Fukigen Death). Full event report here.
Flashing Champions Card (5/28) – Full event report with results will be available later today!
- 6-Woman Tag Match: Cosmic Angels (Mina Shirakawa, Unagi Sayaka & Waka Tsukiyama) vs. Prominence (Suzu Suzuki, Akane Fujita & Mochi Natsumi
- 6-Woman Battle: Ami Sorei (God’s Eye), Lady C (Queen’s Quest), Hina (Queen’s Quest), Saya Iida (STARS), Momo Kohgo (STARS) & Rina (OedoTai)
- Special Tag Match: Queen’s Quest (Utami Hayashishita & Miyu Amasaki) vs. Tam Nakano (Cosmic Angels) & KAIRI
- Future of Stardom Championship: Hanan (STARS) © vs. Ruaka (OET)
- Artists of Stardom Championships (1/30): Donna del Mondo (Maika, Himeka, & Natsupoi) vs. OedoTai (Saki Kashima, Starlight Kid & Momo Watanabe)
- SWA World Championship (1/30): Mayu Iwatani (STARS; Japan) vs. Fukigen Death (OedoTai; Space Alien)
- High Speed Championship (1/30): AZM © (Queen’s Quest) vs. Thekla (DDM)
- Goddesses of Stardom Championship (1/30): Fukuoka Double Crazy © (FWC; Hazuki/Koguma) vs. Donna del Mondo (Giulia & Mai Sakurai)
- Wonder of Stardom Championship (1/30): Saya Kamitani © (Queen’s Quest) vs. MIRAI (God’s Eye)
- World of Stardom Championship (1/30): Syuri © (God’s Eye) vs. Risa Sera (Prominence) – Knock Out (KO) or Submission ONLY. No Count Outs.
*NEW* New Blood 3 Announced (July 8th) Shinagawa Intercity Hall
Tokyo Joshi Pro-Wrestling (TJPW) {@tjpw2013}
*UPDATED* Pro-wrestling EVE’s RHIO’s First Trip to Japan! She will participate in the shows on May 28th (Otemachi) in a singles match against Yuki Aino and June 4th (Hamamatsu). This is RHIO’s first trip to Japan, and the first time TJPW has had foreign wrestlers in two and a half years.
- Next Big Solo Show: Summer Sun Princess (7/9) at Ota Ward Gymnasium – TJPW seems to have only three large-scale events throughout the year: Grand Princess (spring), Summer Sun Princess (summer) and Wrestle Princess (autumn).
- Next Tournament: The Tokyo Princess Cup 2022 Tournament returns in July, starting on 15th (after Summer Sun Princess) through August 13th (seven dates total).
I truly hope by next year, I’ll understand all the intricacies of the CATCH THE WAVE Tournament, but I can best describe it as a multi-genre wrestling tournament, covering the various styles of wrestling available to discover the most well-balanced wrestler!
WAVE Osaka Rhapsody vol. 54 Results (5/22)
- OSAKA Comical WAVE: LUMINOUS (Miyuki Takase & Haruka Umesaki) defeat Kyusei Sakura Hirota/Hikari Shimizu (COLOR’S) (15:03)
- OSAKA Scramble WAVE: Nagisa Nozaki & Risa Sera vs. Hanako Nakamori & Kohaku (15:56)
- Comical Block: Hibiscus Mii [2] and Kaori Yoneyama [2] (8:52) – Double Countout
- Hardcore Block: Yuki Miyazaki [5] vs. SAKI (COLOR’S) [2] (12:33)
- Strong Arm Block: Itsuki Aoki [4] defeated Yuu [0] (8:41)
Detras de Lazona vol. 4 (5/29) Kawasaki (POST di AMISTAD)
- Scramble Wave (1/20): Nagisa Nozaki vs. SAKI (COLOR’S) vs. Yuu vs. Sae*
- Kicking Block: Hanako Nakamori vs. Hikari Shimizu (COLOR’S)
- Future Block: Haruka Umesaki (DIANA) vs. Chie Ozora
- Future Block: ??? vs. Riko Kawahata (T-HEARTS)
Phase 2 Reboot: NAMI☆1 (6/1) ShinKiba 1st Ring
- Kicking Block: Nagisa Nozaki vs. Hanako Nakamori
- Strong Arm Block: Yuu vs. Ayame Sasamura (2AW)
- Comical Block: Kaori Yoneyama vs. Miyako Matsumoto
- Future Block: Suzu Suzuki (Prominence) vs. Chie Ozora
- Future Block: Riko Kawahata (T-HEARTS) vs. Haruka Umesaki (DIANA)
Detras de Lazona vol. 5 (6/11) Kawasaki (POST di AMISTAD)
- Kicking Block: Miyuki Takase vs. Yuu
- Future Block: Suzu Suzuki (Prominence) vs. Haruka Umesaki (DIANA)
CHIBA WAVE vol. 1 (6/18)
- Hardcore Block: SAKI (COLOR’S) vs. Risa Sera (Prominence)
- Strong Arm Block: Itsuki Aoki vs. Ayame Sasamura (2AW)
- Future Block: Suzu Suzuki (Prominence) vs. Riko Kawahata (T-HEARTS)
- Kicking Block: Hanako Nakamori vs. Sae*
Weekday WAVE vol. 125 (6/22) – Shinjuku FACE
- Strong Arm Block: Miyuki Takase vs. Ayame Sasamura (2AW)
- Comical Block: Kyusei Sakura Hirota vs. Hibiscus Mii
Meanwhile in North America…
WWE Results/Updates
- Becky Defeats Asuka (WWE RAW; May 23rd) Becky wins and wedges herself into the RAW Women’s Championship at Hell in a Cell (11:25)
AEW Results/Updates
- Emi Sakura & Nyla Rose (with Vicki Guerrero) defeated Skye Blue and Yuka Sakazaki (AEW Dark Elevation Ep 64; May 24th) (6:17)
May 2022 Big Event Calendar
- Stardom: Flashing Champions 2022 (5/28)
- ICE Ribbon: Back to Back Yokohama Shows (5/28)
- JTO: Queen of JTO Tournament Starts! (5/29)
- Prominence: Kuen Ranbu! (5/29)
- WAVE: Detras de Lazona (5/29)
June 2022 Events
- TJPW: CyberFight Festival 2022 (6/12) – Saitama Super Arena (a DDT, NOAH, & Ganbare Pro supershow)
- SenJo: The Sky is the Limit (6/16: ShinKiba 1st Ring;6/19: Miyagino Ward Cultural Center)
- Stardom: Fight in the Top 2022 – (June 26, 2022) Nagoya International Conference Center
July-October 2022 Events
-
- WAVE: NAMI☆1 July ‘22 (July 1, 2022) – Shinjuku FACE
- WAVE: Osaka Rhapsody vol. 55 (July 2, 2022) – Azarea Taisho, Osaka
- WAVE: Nagoya WAVE vol. 23 (July 3, 2022) – Nagoya Naka Sports Center
- TJPW: Summer Sun Princess (July 9, 2022; 2:00 PM) – Ota Ward Gymnasium
- TJPW: 9th Annual TJPW Princess Cup 2022 (July 16-August 14, 2022) – The series has seven scheduled event dates throughout this period.
- WAVE: CATCH THE WAVE 2022 FINALS (July 17, 2022) – Korakuen Hall
- Stardom: Five Star Grand Prix (5★GP) 2022 Opening Weekend – (July 30-31, 2022) Ota Ward Gymnasium & Five Star Grand Prix (5★GP) 2022 Finals – (October 1, 2022) Musashino Forest Sun Plaza’s Main Arena (Chofu Ward, Tokyo)
Weekly Match Selection
You know I could not NOT pick a match that featured Hana Kimura this week. This is one of my favorite women’s matches that I’ve ever witnessed live. As Mania Week was so stacked, I missed the opportunity to go to Stardom’s stand-alone show earlier in the weekend, so I was happy to experience even just a little bit of Stardom live. To this day, I still feel very privileged that I was able to get inside the arena in time to watch this match. After the success of the Women of Honor Tournament, which would see Stardom actively participate via talent exchange in Ring of Honor.
I worried that much like Hana’s match with Giulia, Mayu Iwatani, and Arisa Hoshiki, this match would not be readily available, but the wonderful people at ROH made sure that it was an obvious part of Hana’s legacy by releasing it for free on their channel. ROH’s lovingly delicate handling and homages paid to Hana in the wake of her passing, especially during its immediacy, were some of the most heartfelt, inspiring, and respectful displays out there. I can’t thank ROH enough for making this match, one of Hana’s rare international appearances, readily available.
Ring of Honor Wrestling Official YouTube
- Promotion: ROH
- Show: G1 Supercard Dark Match (April )
- Competitors: Hana Kimura, Stella Grey, and Sumie Sakai vs. Jenny Rose, FKA Kagetsu (now Yu Ishino), and Hazuki
- Venue: Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
Thanks for reading! Have a great week!
