Meiko comes back to Niigata

This past week saw the end of the Golden Week and Meiko Satomura's return to her hometown of Niigata.

On the 4th, the Sendai Girls clashed with Ibuki at Itabashi Green Hall. Meiko was on the sidelines, as well as Mariko Yoshida, who is on indefinite hiatus. Misaki Ohata and DASH Chisako were wrestling for a JWP Junior/P.O.P. title shot against Hiroyo Matsumoto. After twenty-five minutes, including overtime, nothing had been settled and they will try again at Ibuki's 4th anniversary show at the end of the month. Ryo Mizunami & Sendai Sachiko claimed a victory in the main event over Hiroyo & Esui, as Esui lost to Miz's guillotine drop.

NEO's May History show on the 5th drew 1300 to Korakuen Hall, which is about as good as joshi is drawing these days. Natsuki*Taiyo became the first NEO High speed Champion, beating Ray with the Taiyo-Chan Spanish Fly (i.e. an arm drag superplex). Haruka Matsuo had her retirement match & ceremony, Revolucion Amandola beat Kyoko Inoue, Hiroyo Matsumoto, and Etsuko Mita when Kyoko Kimura hung Mita from the top rope with a chain and forced a referee stop. Kimura & Atsuko Emoto will face the re-reunited LCO (Mita & Mima Shimoda) in Sapporo later this month. A few days later, Tomoka Nakagawa broke a bone in her hand and is out for a bit.

Emi Sakura's accidental (?) reign as NEO/NWA Pacific champion, which she one after knocking out Nanae Takahashi on May 3rd, ended after just two days as Yoshiko Tamura won the dual titles for the 7th time. Tamura used a move called the Mt. Cook, which starts as an Alabama Slam, but then turns into a piledriver. Ice Ribbon (Emi's weird group) is going to run Korakuen Hall in August. Yes, the group that got their start wrestling in front of a couple dozen of people in a little room with no ring is running Korakuen Hall. I suspect a Tamura-Emi rematch will happen, as they'll need something that is a reasonable draw.

Cherry, who works for DDT offshoot Union and does a lot of freelancing in joshi, ran a strange show called "Fantasy Illusion 2", also on the 5th. DDT's hearthrob Kota Ibushi matched against skinny silly girl Makoto. Ibushi won in 19 seconds, then a restart where he needed a four count and her but a two count resulted in another quick Ibushi win. The third fall required a five count from Kota and a one count from Makoto, and she got that! Danshoku Dino won the DDT Iron Man Heavy Metal title from Bullfight Sora, then backstage shenanigans resulted in first a Jun Kasai doll, then Aja Kong, and then the doll again winning the title. Cherry & Shuji Ishikawa won the main event, beating Aja and Toshie Uematsu. I'll let you guess which one got pinned by Cherry.

BattlARTS for gurlz (i.e. Queen Bee) had its third show on the 6th. Kyoko Kimura, Megumi Yabushita, and AKINO all won singles matches before a thirty-minute draw between Chihiro Oikawa & Ayako Sato vs Kana & Natsuki*Taiyo.

If Kaori Yoneyama's constant jobbing upsets you, she won a match at JWP's Mother's Day cosplay match on the 10th by using a water gun attack on Sachie Abe. LLPW ran a show at Korakuen Hall for 788 people. In a mild surprise, Ayako Sato & Hanako Kobayashi won a match, with Sato pinning Ito Dojo colleague Tomoko Morii, teaming with their boss Kaoru Ito. In no surprise, Shinobu Kandori & Jaguar Yokota didn't lose to Toshie Uematsu & Misaki Ohata. Young Misaki got to let Senator Kandori rip her arm off. In a big surprise (if anyone cares), Mizuki Endo announced that she is resigning as LLPW's president, which made Shinobu furious.

Finally, Sendai Girls brought Meiko Satomura home to Niigata, Meiko hadn't worked Niigata since a GAEA show in 2003. A nice crowd of 1280 showed up at the Toki Messe venue. Yukari Ishino & Minori Makiba continued their curtain-jerking feud, as the teenagers had a short time-limit draw. Chikayo Nagashima pinned the traitorous Hiren with the Tequila Sunrise. Hey, that's Mayumi Ozaki's move! OZ champ Dynamite Kansai stepped on Ryo Mizunami, Ozaki & KAORU beat the sister sister team of DASH Chisako & Sendai Sachiko, but Meiko sent the fans home happy by beating Aja Kong by Death Valley Bomb in their 10th singles meeting. Meiko's now 4-6 against Kong and it's much easier to win at home when you have the book!