Dramatic DDT

TOKYO JOSHI PRO “WRESTLE PRINCESS II”, 09/10/2021
Tokyo Ota Ward Gymnasium

1. Raku, Pom Harajuku & Ram Kaichow Vs Haruna Neko, Mahiro Kiryu & Kaya Toribami
2. 3 Way Match: Rika Tatsumi Vs Hyper Misao Vs Nodoka Tenma
3. Yuki Kamifuku & Asuka Vs Nao Kakuta & Marika Kobashi
4. Riho & Shoko Nakajima Vs Suzume & Arisu Endo
5. Special Tag Match: Aja Kong & Moka Miyamoto Vs Miu Watanabe & Yuki Arai
6. International Princess Title: Hikari Noa (c) Vs Yuki Aino
7. Princess Tag Team Titles: Sakisama & Mei Saint-Michel (c) Vs Yuka Sakazaki & Mizuki
8. Princess Of Princess Title: Miyu Yamashita (c) Vs Maki Itoh

Last year “WRESTLE PRINCESS” was put together to be Tokyo Joshi Pro’s biggest show of the year. The only direction to go from here is get bigger. So TJPW is moving from Tokyo Dome City Hall to the Ota Ward Gymnasium for “WRESTLE PRINCESS II”. The three championships are all on the line, some recognizable guests are joining in the fun and everyone on the roster is crammed into the card somewhere. The show is taking place on a very busy Saturday in Japan a with some heavy competition. But if you’re into joshi you have a lot to look forward to this weekend.

1. Raku, Pom Harajuku & Ram Kaichow Vs Haruna Neko, Mahiro Kiryu & Kaya Toribami

The opener is TJPW’s introduction to Ram Kaichow. The demon girl originally came from Triple Six and long time puroresu fans might recognize her from the “Undertaker Girl” clips that have done the rounds in every 2000s era wrestling message board you can think of. She had her debut match all the way back in 2005 but took a several year absence in the 2010s. It was only in the last few years she reemerged on the scene wrestling for her home promotion and also Ice Ribbon. For her TJPW debut she is teaming with Raku & Pom Harajuku. Raku earned her first ever singles win this year and developed the Hurricane Turn backslide pin, continuing her progression as a wrestler. If she thinks the lullabies and train trivia is working then more power to her. Harajuku always wants to join in the fun when other people are getting up to mischief. Their opponents are led by Haruna Neko who continues to scratch opponents and add the word Neko to her entire moveset. Mahiro Kiryu was absent for over a month to take care of a neck injury but returns in time to be added to the show. Kaya Toribami is the least experienced of the six after only debuting in June. The high flyer has yet to win a match by herself.

2. 3 Way Match: Rika Tatsumi Vs Hyper Misao Vs Nodoka Tenma

The card placement for Rika Tatsumi looks bad given what her 2021 has been like but recent circumstances meant this was probably the only spot available for her. She won the Princess Of Princess Title in January and held the belt as a “Dragon God” for four months. All of a sudden she took time off in September for personal reasons and was only confirmed to return at this show after the card was completed. The planned match was just meant to be Hyper Misao Vs Nodoka Tenma but Tatsumi joins in as a late addition. That’s not to say this is a throwaway match though. Tatsumi and Misao share a lot of history together. Just this year Misao tried to brainwash Tatsumi with technology and Tatsumi eliminated her from the Tokyo Princess Cup in unrelated incidents. Tenma also knows full well what kind of trouble Misao is capable of and may find an advantage in being the third wheel here.

3. Yuki Kamifuku & Asuka Vs Nao Kakuta & Marika Kobashi

A new glamourous duo are joining forces after years of friendship together. Yuki Kamifuku & Asuka will team up as VENYU (VENY + Kamiyu) and it will be the first time they will be in the ring together. They’ve actually been close friends since 2017 when a chance meeting at a restaurant led to them bonding together over their favourite liquor. Kamifuku had asked Asuka to team with her several times since then and only recently did she finally agree to do it. Asuka is a little worried that the TJPW audience won’t support her but Kamifuku is confident she will win them over. Their friendship going public also brings a sense of relief for both of them because they now no longer have to meet each other in private. How far VENYU can advance as a team depends on how their first match goes. It may fall apart at the starting line if it turns out they don’t like being in the ring together. They won’t know until the bell rings.

One thing for sure is Kamifuku has been way more friendly to Asuka than she’s been to Nao Kakuta. They get along now but for the early part of 2021, Kamifuku kept insulting Kakuta for being so plain in looks and behavior. Kakuta lost that feud but at least taught Kamifuku a lesson about showing respect to others. Not sure if that lesson spread to Marika Kobashi because she is getting deeper into Gal/Gyaru culture and won’t stop talking about vibes. But never mind that, Kobashi has learned how to make the Front Neck Lock an effective weapon to win matches. Maybe that’s what the vibes are, all the colours that wash over your eyes when you get choked out.

4. Riho & Shoko Nakajima Vs Suzume & Arisu Endo

Two years after her last appearance in the company, Riho is back in TJPW! And she’s starting again where she left off, teaming with Shoko Nakajima as the Twin Cam Monsters. Both of them are having ups and downs this year. The pandemic inhibited Riho’s career in America for a while but she finally looks to be getting back on track. Nakajima briefly had to rename herself Shin Ultra Shoko after losing to Hyper Misao but did make it to the Tokyo Princess Cup final, continuing her excellent form in the tournament. But enough about them. The story of the match may be more about their opponents.

The last time the Twin Cam Monsters were together was to wrestle Suzume in her debut match. Unfortunately Suzume’s tag partner at the time isn’t in TJPW anymore so that means no more BeeStar for anybody. Instead Suzume will be teaming with Arisu Endo. The link for this team is Endo’s debut match at the start of this year was against Suzume. These two have nowhere near the amount of experience added together that Riho or Nakajima have on their own but they want to fight them as much as they can. TJPW management have told Riho about how much they have improved since their debuts. Nakajima sees the potential of both of them and thinks they can overtake herself and even Riho some day. Who knows what will happen from here on out? Riho has also said she is looking forward to watching the main event while she is here too.

5. Special Tag Match: Aja Kong & Moka Miyamoto Vs Miu Watanabe & Yuki Arai

Let’s not waste any time here. TJPW sees money in Yuki Arai. I mean it’s a big name idol from SKE48 who wants to be a wrestler and has the abilities to do so. She is making progress fairly quickly too. Not saying she’s a supernova in the ring or anything close to it but she’s putting in the effort and in five months is already on track to becoming one of the better trained wrestlers TJPW has. One of her recent advancements is forming an idol tag team with Miu Watanabe. The power member of The Up Up Girls (Pro Wrestling) has been wowing fans online with her variations of the Giant Swing. Both of these two have a massive task ahead of them.

Aja Kong has made a few appearances in TJPW this year already. Some of those times were to replace Arai when she was out sick with the Coronavirus. Kong thinks this booking is a reward for her helping the company out. She has fought in Ota Ward Gymnasium many times before but this will be her first match in the new version of the venue. Her previous appearances this year were all tag matches with Raku. That streak ends here because this time Kong is teaming with Moka Miyamoto. Kong is upset she won’t be able to do the Good Night Express again but she likes discovering new things. That is why she comes back to TJPW. Miyamoto is nervous to be put in this position because of her inexperience but having Kong as a partner is reassuring. Either way she thinks it will be fun to see how the match turns out.

Watanabe’s goal for the match is to put Kong in the Giant Swing. Kong warns that Lioness Asuka and Kyoko Inoue have never done it to her. Watanabe can swing two opponents at the same time but Kong is the size of three people! Kong also wants Arai to know their interactions in the ring won’t be like it was for Tofu Pro Wrestling. That was a TV show, this time it’s pro wrestling! Arai is excited because ever since she was a child when she thought of pro wrestling she thought of Aja Kong.

6. International Princess Title: Hikari Noa (c) Vs Yuki Aino

There is a trend I’ve noticed with a few championships in wrestling lately. Some title reigns have been fueled by the champion dying the belt in their own colours, so to speak. In some cases it is literal, see the TNT Title in AEW where the belt design has changed for every champion as each title reign is different from the one before. In other cases it is the champion using the championship as a symbol for their own personality. The International Princess Title is a fitting example of that in my opinion. Yuki Kamifuku established this story with her title reign, using it to show pride and individuality as a “Divas” style wrestler. The story passed on to Hikari Noa who is using her current title reign as a launching point to wrestle hardcore matches with the ultimate goal of becoming the Queen Of Death Matches! This is an identity the championship sorely needed after the original plan for global themed title defences went by the wayside because of the pandemic. The value of the “Tiffany Blue” belt is worth whatever the champion puts into it.

So what direction could the championship go if Yuki Aino defeats Noa? Aino has been on fire at a time when people did not expect her to be, scoring pinfall wins over major players on the roster Noa included. In fact Aino has beaten Noa in both of their previous singles encounters. For this match the challenger is going to fight with everything from the bottom of her heart. Noa is happy to provide the craziest matches in order to defend the cutest of title belts. She has a bad history of losing tag partners but if she stays strong, the IP Title will never leave her.

7. Princess Tag Team Titles: Sakisama & Mei Saint-Michel (c) Vs Yuka Sakazaki & Mizuki

In June 2019 a previous version of NEO Biishiki-gun won the Princess Tag Team Titles from The Magical Sugar Rabbits. Since then neither Yuka Sakazaki nor Mizuki have challenged for the belts. During this period Sakisama would show interest in convincing Mizuki to join her unit because she seems to be the only person on the roster Sakisama thinks is somewhat graceful, pretty and beautiful. Mizuki would always turn her down because there is nothing beautiful about NEO Biishiki-gun! The only thing attractive about them is the Princess Tag Titles. MagiRabi now want to win back the belts and in doing so make the world a more peaceful place in the process.

The challengers have had a busy 12 months leading up to this point. Sakazaki defeated Mizuki in the main event of the first “WRESTLE PRINCESS”. Since then Sakazaki had several AEW matches in Japan and America. First she reached the final in the Japan Bracket of the AEW Women’s World Title Eliminator Tournament. Then she spent all of July wrestling in America undefeated, including winning a match on Dynamite. Mizuki’s big focus was attempting a three-peat in the Tokyo Princess Cup but she was eliminated in the semi-final. Getting to wrestle in Ota Ward makes them feel like they are entering a new stage to have fun in TJPW. All they need now is to become champions again.

That’s the hard part. Sakisama and NEO Biishiki-gun are a constant presence surrounding this championship. Mei Saint-Michel is but the third partner to hold these belts with Sakisama. It was recently Saint-Michel’s birthday and she would like nothing more but to successfully defend the titles in Ota Ward Gymnasium for her birthday gift. Sakisama is going to enjoy the match too because she gets to hunt a Cockatiel (Sakazaki) and a Pink Rabbit (Mizuki). Sakazaki has never wrestled Saint-Michel before but she reminds her of someone else. Somebody more pure, with a good personality and also very fast. That gives MagiRabi the idea to use speed in order to catch their opponents off guard and win.

8. Princess Of Princess Title: Miyu Yamashita (c) Vs Maki Itoh

It feels like Miyu Yamashita has done it all with the Princess Title. Most title reigns, most title defences, won it in Korakuen Hall, defended it in New York, defended it in Saitama Super Arena. Now she gets to defend it in Ota Ward Gymnasium for TJPW’s biggest show yet. You’d think she would have her fill but she continues aiming to make the company bigger with herself at the helm. On paper this title defence shouldn’t be any different from the previous bouts against the challenger. But something is different this time…

Until this summer Maki Itoh never got the happy ending to her story. There would be flashes of success and brief moments of glory in the ring that would vanish as quickly as they came. Growing support overseas didn’t make up for a lack of support in her home country. No matter how hard she tried it would eventually end in pain.

Then 2021 happened. And holy fucking shit I did not see this coming.

In January Yamashita knocked out Itoh, winning their most recent singles match together. How do you bounce back from that? With the tweet heard around the world. “HELLO MOTHER FUCKERS!” Itoh introduces herself to AEW and the wrestling world was never the same. Yamashita & Itoh then start teaming together as 121000000 (One To Million). In March, Itoh surprises everyone again by travelling to America so she could wrestle for AEW in Florida. She returns to Japan in April ready to win the Princess Title from Rika Tatsumi but fails once again. May comes along and Itoh gets put on the cover of Pro Wrestling Illustrated, which at this point is now just a blip on what has become the craziest year in wrestling since 2001. Then summer comes along and Itoh begins the journey to finally end her fairytale on a happy note.

The 2021 Tokyo Princess Cup was built around three people. Mizuki aiming for the three-peat, Yamashita aiming to finally win the one prize she never could and Itoh aiming to reach and beat both. Yamashita fell to Mizuki in the quarter-final. There waiting for Mizuki in the semi-final was Itoh. The next 48 hours saw Itoh submit her former Itoh Respect Army ally and then submit Shoko Nakajima in the grand final to win the Princess Cup! Now Itoh is running on a 10 single match winning streak. All the pressure and pain Itoh lived through has been worth it. All she has to say now is Ota Ward will see the best version of Maki Itoh.