Cero Reviews TJPW Style of my Love

[cero2k]

TJPW Style of my Love
November 20, 2020
Shinjuku FACE, Tokyo, Japan

Haruna Neko, Moka Miyamoto & Raku vs. BAKURETSU Sisters (Nodoka Tenma & Yuki Aino) - 4/10
Totally meh, it was three of the younger lower-tier roster members vs the newly crowned champions, so they kinda just ran over them, but not before they did bad cutesy comedy early on with Raku's sleeping gimmick. Finish saw Aino submit Miyamoto for the win.

Hikari Noa, Mahiro Kiryu, Pom Harajuku & Yuki Kamifuku vs. Mirai Maiumi, Miu Watanabe, Mizuki & Nao Kakuta - 6/10
This had hints of good and hints of rookie opener. I thought that Maiumi looked great, her wrestling is developing in a way that her movements in the ring don't look jumpy, but smooth and on purpose.

The other big takeaway from this match from what I saw was the pair up of Mizuki and Kamiyu, which could be a hint of the direction that Mizuki will follow after losing to Sakazaki. Mizuki vs Kamiyu for the International title could really help Kamiyu improve in the ring, while Mizuki gets to stay strong in an important feud.

That aside, the match was ok, stuff with Maiumi, Noa, Mizuki, Watanabe and such as all good, but then Harajuku and sometimes Kamifuku are a bit weak in the ring. Finish saw Noa pin Maiumi.

Mei Saint-Michel & Sakisama (w/Martha) vs. Sena Shiori & Suzume - 7/10
The big reveal of X. Sakisama introduced her new partner (or servant I guess), and it was no other than Gatoh Move's Mei Suruga, now going as Mei Saint-Michel. It's a bit weird seeing a heel Mei. Acting wise, she was great in the little things she did during the match. The kayfabe story is that Sakisama was walking around the woods one day and Mei started following her, so she took her in and trained her to be a maid. Mei is gonna have to work on her French delivery.

Match was a great showcase for Mei on all accounts, she was in the match most of the time and got to be on the offensive and defensive. She and Sakisama already showed some double team moves, and Mei already had some gimmick based spots since she has her silver tray and used it to trip her opponent. At the end, Mei won with a single leg crab, that I think she calls the Saint-Michel.

Post-match - Sakisama put over Mei, saying that she initially thought she was a clumsy, but it seemed like Martha had properly trained her. They asked for their next match, which takes place on December.

Five Way Elimination Match
Shoko Nakajima vs. Miyu Yamashita vs. Yuka Sakazaki vs. Rika Tatsumi vs. Maki Ito - 7.5/10
This went by pretty quick, it felt like a Survivor Series match where things usually go straight into someone looking great, but then getting immediately eliminated. In this case, the order was Maki Itoh first, who didn't want to mingle with the plebs, but the plebs turned on her and all went after her. She managed to drop them all with a quadruple DDT, probably a Guinness record, but after that, she was eliminated by a group pin.

Next up, Yamashita just kicked everyone's ass, she looked great, but was eliminated with a MarumeComians. Then, surprisnly, Yuka Sakazaki was eliminated next by being tossed over the top rope by a slight combo of Rika and Shoko, but it was Rika who threw he last kick. Finally, Rika pinned Shoko for the big win.

I was originally put off by how Itoh and Yamashita were eliminated so early on, but once Yuka went I totally understood the idea and story being told and was totally on board with it.

Post-match - Rika called out Sakazaki. She told her that she, Yamashita, and Shoko are all former champions and that Itoh is internationally famous, but that Rika was just thrown in there with them and defeat them all, and so she wants a championship match. Yuka accepted and said that the next best date for a championship match should be the big January 4th show.

Hyper Misao's announcement - Misao announced that she is retiring today, that she debuted in 2015 and ever since, she has lived this journey of discovery that had to end tonight, and thus, she wanted to wrestle someone she wanted to wrestle for the longest time -- Super Sasadango Machine.

Hyper Misao's Retirement Match
Hyper Misao vs Super Sasadango Machine - No rating.
Dango came out and said that he was honored to be chosen for a retirement match, but that they barely knew each other and it was a bit too much for him. Nonetheless, he has come up with the best stipulation, as he was going to explain with his Powerpoint presentation. The presentation said a couple of things about Hyper Misao and said he had prepared a Yamelorette for Misao.

Yamelorette JAPAN - Technically Retirelorette in English, a Bachelorette like approach at finding the best retirement opponent for Hyper Misao. For the sake of promptness and time, there are only two challenges that each participant must do and Misao must judge. The participants are Miyu Yamashita, Shoko Nakajima, Miu Watanabe, BAKURETSU Sisters, Rika Natsumi, and Sasandago Machine.

First thing was the red carpet, where everyone walked out and gave something to Misao and said some words, the only one I'd say was relevant was Rika, who came straight and slapped Misao right on the face and told her that she couldn't retire and that she wouldn't allow it.

Second thing was that everyone had composed a Haiku for Misao. Some were DQ for not following the 5-7-5-7-7 structure, some where good, some were ok, but at the end, Misao finally made her decision. It came down to Sasadango and Rika, but Misao went with Rika.

Hyper Misao's Retirement Match
Hyper Misao vs. Rika Tatsumi - 6.5/10
Not much to the match. Rika, who had already wrestled tonight, dominated most of the match, worked over Misao's legs, and at the end, got pinned by Rika.

Post-match - Misao had a big speech. She explained that this retirement was a year in the making, she had joined not only TJPW, but wrestling, quite later in life than the usual rookie, and to add to add, she wasn't an idol or a athlete like most. All she had to offer was hard work, but after her injury, she started to consider things, and yet, it wasn't physical pain that made her think about her place in the promotion. During her time off, she started to think that she wasn't bringing anything to the promotion, she wasn't pretty like an idol or an amazing wrestler, and that she was holding TJPW back. But even if some didn't like her style and some didn't want her in the promotion, she would selfishly stay all of 2020 and make the best of her last year, meet tons of people, travel, and have fun. But then COVID happened and all those hopes went to shit.

Not knowing what would happened, she felt that she could retire after Wrestle Princess, but after her match with Sakisama and some other experiences since then, she loved wrestling, she loved TJPW, and she just couldn't let it go. She quit quitting. She did say that another thing that had brought upon her decision, and something that she had already planned for tonight, and that was that she was going to propose to the love of her life. She had planned to do so as her final act.

Utashiro-san, from the DDT media team is her fiancé, who came down to the ring. Misao said that he had proposed to her a year ago, but she had asked him to wait for her so she could be done with wrestling, and she wanted to propose to him tonight as a way of telling him that she was ready. Except, she was torn, she loved him and she loved wrestling and she didn't have to choose between the two.

Super Sasadango interrupted them and told her that she couldn't just un-retire like nothing, but Utashiro hit him with his laptop and told Misao that she didn't need to choose, he had already posted on the website that Hyper Misao wasn't retiring just yet, she was instead going to become TJPW's first ever married roster member. He once again proposed to Hyper Misao while all the roster ladies went crazy. Everyone celebrated afterwards.

This was a crazy whole thing, starting from what should had been Misao vs Dango, to the Yamelorette, to the actual match, to the retirement speech, to the engagement. I don't know how much of this was planned ahead, a lot of it felt improvised, but a lot was totally planned, and so I do wonder what was the real story with Misao's retirement and decision to stay. Nonetheless, for a wrestling engagement, this felt heartfelt and nice.

OVERALL THOUGHTS
This show was a rollercoaster of emotions, from Mei's proper and surprise debut, to Rika's rise, to the Misao retirement unretirement engagement celebration. Wrestling wise, it wasn't anything important, but it was a show that will be memorable for TJPW down the line.