Notes
- Rea Seto will return to in-ring action for the first time since suffering a fractured rib on the 4th August.
- 2point5 Joshi Pro-Wrestling’s Flying Penguin will make her Marigold debut on this show.
Quick Results
- Singles Match: Kizuna Tanaka def. Flying Penguin w/ Re:Dream (8:42)
- 4-on-1 Handicap Match: Bozilla def. Myla Grace, Nao Ishikawa, Komomo Minami & Minami Yuki w/ Powerbomb (5:55)
- Tag Team Match: Nagisa Nozaki & CHIAKI def. Misa Matsui & Rea Seto w/ Stalling Fisherman’s Suplex (10:52)
- Singles Match: Mai Sakurai def. Chika Goto w/ STF (9:32)
- 6-Woman Tag Team Match: Utami Hayashishita, MIRAI & Victoria Yuzuki vs. Miku Aono, Natsumi Showzuki & Kouki Amarei Ended in a Time Limit Draw (30:00)
Undercard
I don’t quite know what I was expecting from a wrestler called Flying Penguin, but it wasn’t that they would come out belting their opening theme! It sets an incredibly relaxed and fun tone for the rest of the show though if nothing else! In terms of the match itself, there isn’t a great deal to discuss. Penguin dominates the strength aspect, working Tanaka’s back and leg but the super rookie rallies and overcomes some miscommunication to hit the Re:Dream at the second time of asking for the win. (**1/4)
It’s a nice touch that Grace, Ishikawa, Minami and Yuki all come to the ring with matching hairstyles, unified as they are undoubtedly staring down the barrel of a massacre. With Bozilla being primed for the Crimson Red Belt show, it’s unsurprising that all four of her opponents are battered for the entirety of the near-six minute run time, with the only breaks being for Nao Ishikawa getting the biggest reaction so far, and Myla trying – and failing – to rekindle her team with the German Powerhouse. Other than that, the only surprise is that it takes Bozilla that long to stack all four of her opponents on top of each other and pin them with a single foot. (**1/2)
Considering this is Rea Seto’s first match back – not counting Giulia’s farewell gauntlet – in two months, she moves remarkably well during this match, and the closing stretch between her and CHIAKI that sees her transition beautifully into both a Fireman’s Carry Takedown pin and a brief Cattle Mutilation show flashes of something very exciting. However, in spite of Misa Matsui’s typically energetic and electrifying display, this is all about CHIAKI and Nagisa Nozaki with an inevitable challenge for the Marigold Twinstar Championships on the horizon. Capitalising on a strong start to the match, CHIAKI is able to neutralise Rea’s threat by hitting a Spinning Powerslam, followed by an Argentine Buster and an impressively lengthy Stalling Fisherman’s Suplex for what is – most notably – a clean pinfall victory for the team. (***)
Main Event Matches
Mai Sakurai def. Chika Goto – There’s no pre-match indulgences from Gochika here, and she has a face like thunder as she storms to the ring, possibly in response to Mai and MIRAI questioning the commitment of the tWin toWers ahead of their Twinstar Championships match at Korakuen Hall.
Either way, Goto doesn’t wait until Sakurai has finished her entrance before erupting into a barrage of forearms. The resultant brawl takes us to the outside where both women end up in the front row, Goto even utilising a chair in a show of rare aggression. As fired up as she evidently is, the ‘lack of stamina’ that was brought up at multiple points during the Dream Star Grand Prix appears to rear its ugly head for Goto once again, and Sakurai begins grinding her down.
In spite of this, and the tables obviously turning, Goto still gives a good account of herself, kicking out of a Back Suplex at one and connecting with a pair of Lariats that had the bite that so many of her others have lacked. Though Goto does manage to scrabble to the ropes in order to avoid the first STF, the second sees her trapped agonisingly close to the ropes with no choice but to tap out. (***1/2)
Utami Hayashishita, MIRAI & Victoria Yuzuki vs. Miku Aono, Natsumi Showzuki & Kouki Amarei Ended in a Time Limit Draw – There is an aura around both teams as they make their entrances, but seeing the trio of Utami, MIRAI and Victoria Yuzuki together just feels like it hits differently.
With MIRAI and Kouki part of the aforementioned Twinstar Championship match at Korakuen, and following their fantastic singles match in Sendai, it’s unsurprising that these two open up. Yuzuki and Showzuki will also be in championship action, competing for the latter’s Superfly Championship, and their explosive exchange sets the tone for the rest of the match. Immediately following this, we see Showzuki’s team completely isolate Yuzuki for a period, before she then sees the tables flipped on her. Utami and Miku Aono get an all-too brief chance to remind everyone why this is a singles match that we must get sooner rather than later, before the pairings of MIRAI and Kouki, and Showzuki and Yuzuki close things out.
My only gripe about what was otherwise an entertaining main event – aside from it looking like Showzuki might tweak her ankle in the early goings – is that it’s too long. A five-match card was always going to force the need for one of the matches to go long, and while I agree this is the one that needed to do that, it’s an excellent twenty minute match stretched to fill the full thirty, and there are times when it really begins to feel like that. All six-women looked very good in their exchanges, the renewed aggression of Kouki and MIRAI coupled with the speed of Yuzuki and Showzuki make for excellent exchanges, but shave between five to ten minutes off of this match, and add two or three to each of the tag match and semi-main, and we would be waxing lyrical about a truly excellent main event. (***3/4)
You can check out the Marigold roster win/loss records for 2024 right here; https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/11_PWxd5BDxeHIfKqtQ2YtiwhGteRrVUZ3B5L4yrDQE0/edit?gid=517287206#gid=517287206
You can check out a comprehensive run down of the Marigold Championship Histories here; https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/18MJ2Cebe36Nvfcpj8uVs1AtMbAV1chn-lG7t-xn44DY/edit?gid=0#gid=0
Upcoming Shows
- Monday 7th October – Fantastic Adventure 2024 – Night 2, Korakuen Hall, Tokyo (LIVE)
- Saturday 12th October – Fantastic Adventure 2024 – Night 3, KBS Hall, Kyoto (VIDEO ON DEMAND)
- Sunday 13th October – Fantastic Adventure 2024 – Night 4, Act City Hamamatsu, Hamamatsu (VIDEO ON DEMAND)
- Monday 14th October – Fantastic Adventure 2024 – Night 5, Shibuya Ward Sports Center, Tokyo (LIVE)
- Sunday 20th October – Fantastic Adventure 2024 – Night 6, ARCS Hall, Nagano (VIDEO ON DEMAND)
- Thursday 24th October – Fantastic Adventure 2024 – Night 7, Korakuen Hall, Tokyo (LIVE)
- Sunday 27th October – Fantastic Adventure 2024 – Night 8 ~Afternoon Show~, Shin-Kiba 1st RING, Tokyo (LIVE)
- Sunday 27th October – Fantastic Adventure 2024 – Night 8 ~Evening Show~, Shin-Kiba 1st RING, Tokyo (LIVE)
- Saturday 2nd November – Fantastic Adventure 2024 – Night 9 ~Afternoon Show~, Sapporo Gateau Kingdom, Hokkaido (VIDEO ON DEMAND)
- Saturday 2nd November – Fantastic Adventure 2024 – Night 9 ~Evening Show~, Sapporo Gateau Kingdom, Hokkaido (VIDEO ON DEMAND)
- Monday 4th November – Fantastic Adventure 2024 – Night 10, Nagoya Congress Center, Aichi (VIDEO ON DEMAND)
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