7/14/06
Natsuki*Head vs. Ayumi Kurihara 12:45
Dreamcatchers vs. REM Series
Allison Corino (Allison Danger) vs. Saki Maemura 13:32
Hikaru vs. Panther Crow 11:11
Amazing Kong vs. Nanae Takahashi 21:39
7/16/06
NEO Tag Title Match: Kyoko Inoue & Etsuko Mita vs. Amazing Kong & Kyoko Kimura 22:43
NWA Women’s Pacific & NEO Singles Double Title Match: Yoshiko Tamura vs. Kayoko Haruyama 23:56
Yuka Nakamura Retirement Match: Yuka Nakamura vs. Mima Shimoda 15:58
Hiroyo Matsumoto vs. Kana 15:00
Emi Sakura vs. Arisa Nakajima 6:42
Yumiko Hotta & Natsuki*Taiyo vs. Toshie Uematsu & Io Shirai 11:44
Fuka vs. Ray 13:02
Nanae Takahashi & Natsuki*Taiyo & Kana vs. Meiko Satomura & Ryo Mizunami & DASH Chisako 20:04. Zenjo workrate style tag, with more striking and less flying. The action was nonstop, and the enthusiasm was there throughout. There were a lot of young, inexperienced workers here, but they made up for it by wrestling a frantic, energetic, high effort style. Taiyo was in her prime, and was the standout when given the opportunity, exciting with her speed and energy. That wasn't enough to keep Satomura from beating her down with her precision striking though. Satomura was also excellent, and I wanted to see more of this pairing, as what little we saw was really strong. DASH was the Senjo counterpart to Taiyo, speedy and endlessly energetic, although being inexperienced, her skill and technique were still developing. Mizunami was fine here. She was never fluid or graceful, but in the days under Satomura's tutelage, she took things seriously and tried hard. She was like the young version of Nanae, but since she didn't have any standing, her segments were back and forth and more interesting than Nanae's. Taiyo is so good that she actually managed to have exciting sequences with Mizunami. Kana was very good even though she isn't nearly as fast, crisp, and precise with her kick and submission game as she would become the next year. She had the tools to compete with Satomura, and this was the best stuff in the match that didn't involve Taiyo, as Satomura had to apply herself here, and they went back and forth with strikes in a much more interesting and technical manner than Satomura vs. Nanae. Nanae did some telegraphed strikes, and only Satomura had enough clout to do generic exchanges with her, rather than just get run over to feed Nanae's ego. Satomura didn't sell a lot either, but she made everything her and the other opponents did look good, while Nanae typically mostly just put herself over, looking painfully average in the process. Nanae was energetic like everyone else at least, but the failing of the match was not having another veteran who had something beyond the passion of the younger girls, some of whom were more reasonably getting by on heart and desire. Nanae wasn't in much until later on, which was good, but the whole climax putting Nanae over until she finally pinned poor DASH after the Nana rocker took some of the shine off what started out as a really fun match. ***1/2
Kana vs. Ayumi Kurihara 15:00. A good match that didn't live up to the reputation these women would build over the next few years. The enthusiasm was there, but they weren't as sharp, and didn't put things together as well as in their prime. This was a mix of both women's styles, combining Lucha Libre and submission grappling. Those aren't the best styles to combine, but they did both well enough individually, and that helped them fill 15 minutes. Still, it was more an eager match than a truly accomplished one. There was some good struggle here, and they were able to apply their athleticism to the technical wrestling as well. Some of the best stuff was when they were able to counter an athletic move into a submission or flash pin. Kana once again worked hard for this opener despite having to wrestle a 6 woman later in the night, that was somewhat disappointing after how good the Senjo vs. Passion Red 6 woman on 1Passion was. ***
Kayoko Haruyama vs. Kazumi Shimouma
Yumiko Hotta & Io Shirai vs. Haruka Matsuo & Toshie Uematsu
Meiko Satomura & DASH Chisako & Sendai Sachiko vs. Kana & Natsuki*Taiyo & Chihiro Oikawa
NEO & NWA Pacific Title Match: Nanae Takahashi vs. Emi Sakura
Emi Sakura vs. Passion Ray
Ikuto Hidaka & Passion Hotty (Yumiko Hotta) vs. Munenori Sawa & Toshie Uematsu
Nanae Takahashi & Fuka & Kazumi Shimouma vs. Aja Kong & Yoshiko Tamura & Ryo Mizunami
NEO High Speed Title Match: Natsuki*Taiyo vs. Tomoka Nakagawa 19:07. A well executed, very action packed match with a lot of impressive running sequences and athletic counters. Taiyo was clearly one of the best and most exciting wrestlers of this period, and this was a great showcase for her talents. It got off to an excellent start with Lucha sequences that were fast and complex, but also contained some struggle and resistance. Unfortunately, the resistance didn't last long, and it largely became just an impressive display of explosive athleticism. Nakagawa was an underrated athlete who didn't always get a chance to show what she could do, but Taiyo was probably the fastest woman at this point, and enjoyed well developed sequences. Taiyo seemed to get faster and faster the longer these running sequences went. Taiyo was clearly the star, but Nakagawa was able to hang with her, and this was one of the best singles matches of Nakagawa's career. ***3/4
Yuki Miyazaki vs. Kagetsu 10:22
Passion Hotty & Toshie Uematsu vs. Kayoko Haruyama & Tsukasa Fujimoto 11:30
NEO High Speed Title Match: Natsuki Taiyo vs. Leon 21:40
Emi Sakura & Yoshiko Tamura vs. Kazumi Shimouma & Nanae Takahashi 23:15
Nanae Takahashi vs. Yoshiko Tamura 5:00
Yuzuki Aikawa training for debut
Hailey Hatred vs. Basara
Stardom Presents Exhibition Match: Yoko Bito vs. Eri Susa
3WAY Match: Tomoka Nakagawa vs. Hiroyo Matsumoto vs. Natsuki*Taiyo
Yuzuki Aikawa Puroresu Debut Match: Nanae Takahashi vs. Yuzuki Aikawa 13:51. Aikawa is the type of performer that joshi needs, a famous entertainer who has something of an athletic (she played volleyball, swam, and trained in classic ballet until her 100cm breasts got in the way) and fighting background (she's a blue belt in Taekwondo) who will take wrestling seriously. Granted I'm basing this on one match, but she appears to be someone who is passionate, competitive, and willing to hand out and withstand punishment. This wasn't a super basic AJW rookie match, Aikawa tried to do a main event. She looked nervous at the outset, and she's not exactly what you'd call fluid, but she was more than willing to mix it up with Takahashi. Takahashi will always be a brute, and she wasn't holding back because she was wrestling a rookie who is best known for swimsuit modeling. Aikawa's strength is her kicking, so the strike exchanges were the best part. The rest of her offense needs reps, but she looks like someone who will be having legitimately good matches if she sticks with it. *3/4
Yuzuki Aikawa performance of The Doala dance
TKG48 Offer Match: Sanshiro Takagi & Munenori Sawa vs. Dansyoku Deeno & Michael Nakazawa 10:14
Stardom Offer Match Special 3Way Match: Nanae Takahashi vs. Arisa Hoshiki vs. Eri Susa 11:41
Yuzuki Aikawa vs. Ayumi Kurihara 20:00
Yuzupon Matsuri Poster Shoot (Yuzuki Aikawa modeling at the beach)