Written by Matt https://twitter.com/mattsdl
On August 25 Tokyo Joshi Pro will have its third and last Korakuen Hall show of the year. BRANDNEW WRESTLING 3 will air live on DDT UNIVERSE at 11:30 am JST / 4:30 am CET / 10:30 pm EDT. DDT English Update on Twitter is live translating the show and has been an invaluable resource in the lead-up of the show and for this preview, as always, many thanks!
The show features not only multiple international wrestlers but also a new title whose champion will be crowned for the first time. Not only that, there’s another big show just one week afterwards on September 1 in Osaka which will have Shoko Nakajima’s second defense of the Princess of Princess Championship against the Tokyo Princess Cup Mizuki! There’s going to be a preview for the Osaka show early next week but let’s go through the card for Sunday’s show match by match:
Yuki Aino vs Hikari Noa
Hikari Noa going from the semi-main event of May’s Korakuen Hall show to the opening match this Sunday just goes to show how stacked this card and how good the whole TJPW roster is right now.
They two had debuts close to each other and there was talk about thinking of each other as rivals because of that. They’ve promised to give it their all and treat the match like a main event.
Himawari Unagi & Pom Harajuku vs YUMI & Mahiro Kiryu
Speaking debuts close to each other, all 4 wrestlers of this match were in the same wrestling class, it’s High Specs vs High Specs. The meaning of the name is “last class of the Heisei era that hopes to become high spec wrestlers” and the fifth member of it is Haruna Neko who is still out with an injury.
My favorite wrestler Pom Harajuku has been teaming with Himawari Unagi a couple of times now and produced some very entertaining results. Pom also had her best technical match ever just a couple of weeks ago against Yuka Sakazaki. All four had good years but Himawari Unagi especially stood out. She’ll most likely get the win for her team.
Yuna Manase & Yuki Kamifuku & Mina Shirakawa vs THE YELLOW SALMON DRAGON (Rika Tatsumi & Nodoka Tenma & Raku)
It’s the gravure team vs the rest of the roster that’s not on the card which dubbed themselves “THE YELLOW SALMON DRAGON”. This should be a fun match without any real stakes. Another sign of how big the improvement of everyone has been this year is that all four of the less experienced wrestlers had their best matches just recently.
Special Singles Match:
Yuka Sakazaki vs Su Yung
Su Yung is back in TJPW after 15 months! Just like the last time she was in Korakuen Hall she’s facing Yuka Sakazaki but this time in a singles match.
The “Bloody Undead Bride” and Yuka should have good chemistry and Yuka’s comedic talent is going to be a big plus.
Special Singles Match:
Maki Itoh vs Mizuki
One week before Mizuki challenges Shoko Nakajima for the Princess of Princess Championship she has to face her former teammate Maki Itoh.
Mizuki used to be the first member of the Itoh Respect Army but since Mizuki began her tag team title reign with Yuka Sakazaki as the Magical Sugar Rabbits Maki Itoh has been nearly completely out of the picture. When they finally teamed up again last month Itoh used this as part of the reasoning for disbanding the Itoh Respect Army. Mizuki has all of the spotlight, Maki Itoh just can’t see her as anything other than a rival anymore and wants to focus all of her hatred into the ring in Korakuen Hall.
It should be noted that hey had a singles match one year ago that ended in a time limit draw and they made up afterwards but the way Maki Itoh talked about it this won’t happen again. She did however establish the NEO Itoh Respect Army already for the international market whose first member is Chris Brookes.
Suzume Debut Match:
Mirai Maiumi & Suzume vs Twin Cam Monsters (Shoko Nakajima & Riho)
Suzume is having her debut as a professional wrestling teaming up Mirai Maiumi who debuted at the May Korakuen Hall show and they are taking on no other than Twin Cam Monsters: the Princess of Princess Champion Shoko Nakajima and Stardom’s High Speed Champion as well as SPW’s Queen of Asia Champion Riho!
Riho and Nakajima only teamed up once before at the January TJPW Korakuen Hall show when they challenged for the tag titles. Recently they faced each other in a tag team match at AEW’s Fight for the Fallen.
Mirai has been doing well since her debut and the company must think highly of Suzume that they put her against two of the best wrestlers available.
Suzume is also the first wrestler that actually decided to become a wrestler by watching TJPW and became a trainee shortly before Mirai. While suzume translates to sparrow her outfit makes it obvious it’s a play on suzumebachi which means hornet.
International Princess Championship Match:
Natsumi Maki vs Gisele Shaw
The International Princess Championship was introduced because more and more members of the roster are wrestling outside Japan. Gisele Shaw was chosen as the international representative for the first ever match for the title. Gisele had an excellent match against Miyu Yamashita in Frontline Wrestling in the UK in June, she should have no problem fitting in.
Natsumi Maki won a 4-way elimination match against Yuna Manase, Yuki Kamifuku and Rika Tatsumi to earn her spot. She also made it to the semi-finals of the Tokyo Princess Cup where she lost against Mizuki.
This seems like the perfect time for Natsumi Maki to get her first title win after joining the company at the beginning of the year and having a lot of memorable matches and one of the best tag teams with Hikari Noa. This has the potential to be the best match of the show.
Princess Tag Team Championship Match:
NEO Biishiki-gun (Sakisama & Misao) (c) vs Momoiro Sparkling (Miyu Yamashita & Miu Watanabe)
Since Misao gave up her superhero identity and joined Sakisama’s beauty oriented NEO Biishiki-gun they have been running through everyone in TJPW. In June they even ended Yuka Sakazaki & Mizuki’s record-setting tag team title reign.
Throughout they faced Miu Watanabe several times who finally had enough after another loss and demanded a tag team titles shot to prove to them that what they are doing has nothing to do with beauty and hard work is something that pays off eventually.
Miyu Yamashita nominated herself as Miu Watanabe’s partner not only because she feels the same way but also because she lost to Sakisama in a singles match at Korakuen Hall in January 2017.
I loved the Hyper Misao character but the Misao storyline has been very well executed. If they lose the tag titles now, will we see the return of Hyper Misao? Is Misao staying with NEO Biishiki-gun even if Momoiro Sparkling proves that nothing they do is beautiful?
They could run with NEO Biishiki-gun for a while longer but I’m thinking they are losing the tag titles here.
Puroresu Gate 