Sunday, April 22, 2012

My Fourth Japan Trip

Just got back from Japan. Here are some thoughts on some of the shows I went to:

LLPW's 12/25 1 yen show at Ginza: Not a good show, but it was free. Being so close, you really see how hard the girls land from all the missle dropkicks. I did get to meet Shinobu Kandori so it was worth it to me. She's a pretty nice lady and still tough.

K-Dojo 12/25 - The M-Pro tag was just a tribute and wasn't as long as it should have been. The main event was all chops and was really boring for me so I left early. It wasn't a bad show though. K-Dojo is usually fun. I got to meet Super Delfin, so that's one more off the list.

12/26 Ito Dojo - This was the best show I went to, and it was their last show. Every match was good and Toyota/Kato vs Takako/Hamada was the best match I saw on the trip. Lots of hard kicks and everyone did some dives. They really worked hard. Tomoko Watanabe had a good match with Ito and the main was fun too. They showed highlights of all the Ito Dojo shows prior since this was their last, and every clip featured Ito winning in some form. Of course Ito constantly going over and never pushing anyone new couldn't have led to their demise...

12/28 Osaka Pro - This was just a house show style card, but it was fun. Nothing too big but everyone enjoyed it including my gf who hadn't been to wrestling before. I got to chat with Aussie Osbone after show. He's a great guy and I hope it works out for him.

12/31 NEO - Their final show as well, but it was a good show overall. NEO finally gave someone new a push with Ayumi Kurihara winning the belt, but it was way too late. Ayumi hit the nastiest headbutt ever and had a huge red lump coming out of her forehead. Yuki Miyazaki was the star of the show though as she was in 3 different matches and really went all out. Afterwards, they signed stuff in a totally seperate building a few blocks away. NEO in their constant genius only gave out 100 tickets for pictures with Tamura and in the process lost a ton of people's money including myself and another's. Another brainy moment in NEO that night featured the 3 remaining younger girls still not being able to beat the 3 retiring girls. I'm sure Tamura/NEO MG's losing would have just killed their merchandise for that... Fuka was at the show but she didn't appear in any way at all.

I chose to head home on the 1st. Alot of stuff in Japan shuts down from the 1st-4th and it gets a little boring. I used to stay until the 5th, but I ended up wasting money trying to find things to do. In what is becoming a yearly tradition, I also got sick during the trip(over it now) and didn't sleep much for the first half of the trip.

Probably my last japan trip for now, as in 2012 I'll make the permanent move there and need to save up for that. I have handhelds of all the shows I listed, but I am missing the first few minutes and half of the main of K-Dojo.

No comments :

Post a Comment