SHOW REPORT: Marigold Fantastic Adventure 2024 – Night 7 (Thursday, 24th October 2024)

Notes

• 1st Marigold World Champion Sareee has been champion for 103 days – in her first reign. This will be the first title defence of her reign.
• 1st Marigold United National Champion Miku Aono has been champion for 103 days – in her first reign. This will be the second title defence of her reign.
• 1st Marigold Twin Star Champions MiraiSaku (MIRAI (1) & Mai Sakura (1)) have been champion for 86 days – in their first reign. This will be the third title defence of their reign.
• 1st Marigold Super Fly Champion Natsumi Showzuki has been champion for 103 days – in her first reign. This will be the second title defence of her reign.
• This show marks the Marigold debuts of Naho Yamada and Hummingbird. It will be Hummingbird’s first match since April of 2024, and Naho Yamada’s first since May.
• Attendance Notes: This is Marigold’s 8th show to run from Korakuen Hall, with the announced attendance of 866 being the largest since Giulia’s final Marigold show back in June. This attendance marks a 39% increase on their previous Korakuen Hall show, and sits as the company’s fourth highest attendance at Korakuen, and fifth highest ever.

Quick Results

• Tag Team Match: Myla Grace & CHIAKI def. Komomo Minami & Minami Yuki w/ Skytwister Press (7:01)
• Singles Match: Misa Matsui def. Naho Yamada w/ Matsui Kawaii Driver (11:29)
• Tag Team Match: Utami Hayashishita & Kouki Amarei def. Chika Goto & Rea Seto w/ Amethyst Butterfly (11:48)
• Passion Injection Match: Nanae Takahashi def. Nao Ishikawa w/ Lariat (11:50)
• Marigold Superfly Championship Match: Natsumi Showzuki (c) def. Hummingbird w/ Diving Double Knee Drop (9:33)
• Marigold Twinstar Championships Match: MiraiSaku (MIRAI & Mai Sakurai) (c) def. Selene Flora (Victoria Yuzuki & Kizuna Tanaka) w/ STF (15:25)
• Marigold United National Championship Match: Miku Aono (c) def. Nagisa Nozaki w/ (15:28)
• Marigold World Championship Match: Sareee (c) def. Bozilla w/ Armbar (18:47)

Undercard

All the credit in the world goes to Myla Grace in this match, with her revealing on social media that as she was about to step out to the ring, she got a message to her grandfather had passed away. She puts on an incredibly professional performance given the circumstances, even breaking out a brand-new dance routine with CHIAKI – who appears to be having the time of her life. Though there is competitive tension between the two rookies, Minami and Yuki are solid in their offence, especially the former, before Grace plants Yuki with a Michinoku Driver and lands the Skytwister Press for the win. Immediately following the final bell, she is understandably completely awash with emotion and is led away by CHIAKI. Our thoughts and prayers are with Myla and her family at this time. (**1/2)

It’s Naho Yamada’s Marigold debut, and she makes quite the impact as she comes out belting her own theme song. From the very off in this match, two things become readily apparent. Firstly, with her and Misa having a close personal relationship through their former-AWG stable Teppen, the match is incredibly well worked and the two clearly know each other very well. Secondly, it’s clear that Yamada is a very competent wrestler. Not only does she get given a fair amount of offence by Matsui, but she also has plenty of opportunities to display her resilience, repeatedly kicking out of Misa’s offence – right up until the final Misa Kawii Driver. A very promising debut for Naho and, with her relationship to Matsui, could we see potential future Twinstar Championship challengers? (***1/4)

Chika Goto appears to have taken it personally that the tWin towers have been split up in this match, and you can take by the thunderous slap she delivers to Kouki that she is not going to be taking it easy against her. Rea Seto seems to be of the same mindset, and gets an enormous groundswell of support for her resilience and determination to face off with Utami Hayashishita. It’s easily Seto’s best performance in a Marigold ring, and the crowd are incredibly receptive to her, but it’s the passionate strike exchanges between Goto and Amarei that serve to be the highlight of the match. Unfortunately for Seto, she is the one to eat the deciding pinfall, being crushed with the Amethyst Butterfly. Following the bell, Chika Goto took to the microphone to announce that she will be taking a leave of absence from Marigold in order to allow time to heal from a sternum injury. She will be out of action for a month, and told Kouki – rather condescendingly in my humble opinion – to go and do as she pleased for that month. (***1/2)

The rapid disintegration of the Passion Sisters has been alarming. Nanae believing Nao isn’t showing enough passion and enough heart because of her awful win/loss record. The match itself is an aggressive brawl fraught with hard slaps and thumping Lariats from Nanae, punctuated with screams for Nao to show more, to be more. In fact, the more Nanae dominates, the more she screams, falling into cocky pins as the fight is slowly but surely driven out of Ishikawa. In spite of all this though, Nao continues to kick out and continues to survive, the commentary team illustrating that her heart and fighting spirit are the two biggest strengths for her. Not only that, but the more Nao fights, the more Nanae dominates, the more the Korakuen crowd get behind her, willing her to continue. It doesn’t come though, and after a barrage of bruising Lariats, Nanae is able to sit into the decisive pinfall. Not that the exchanges end with the bell though, Nanae standing over Nao and screaming at her. This imbues Nao with a real tangible anger and she gets to her feet and begins throwing significantly stiffer slaps than she was in the match. Though not exactly ‘satisfied’ Nanae scoops Nao into a Headlock, forcing her into a bow to the audience, before dragging her by her head through the curtain to the backstage area. Something tells me we are far from seeing the end of this… (***1/2)

Main Event Matches

Marigold Superfly Championship Match: Natsumi Showzuki (c) def. Hummingbird – You can immediately see from the outset that Hummingbird is getting under Natsumi’s skin, bailing on the handshake and showcasing a whole series of athletic reversals that keep her just out of reach of the champion. The looks on Showzuki’s face tells you everything you need to know to know, but the kicks she leathers into Hummingbird’s chest leave you with absolutely no doubt how she feels. The match itself looks to be progressing well, but unfortunately a mis-timed spot on the outside is likely to overshadow that in the eyes of many fans. Going for a Flying Headscissors off the raised seating on the outside, something goes wrong and both women land hard on the unprotected wooden floor. There’s immediate concern for both women, but both manage to get back into the ring, though they look incredibly shaky in truth. The match never truly recovers, even in spite of Hummingbird’s series of cool pinning attempts, and if anything, concern only increases when Showzuki falls from the top rope when looking to execute the Diving Double Knee Drop. She does land it successfully at the second time of asking, but it’s undoubtedly a scary moment. Showzuki retains, though that doesn’t ultimately matter as we wait on word that both competitors are okay, especially as Showzuki seems to allude to the fact post-match that she lost consciousness briefly after the spot. We do however set up Misa Matsui as the official next challenger for the Superfly Championship for the 2nd November in Hokkaido. (Not Rated)

Marigold Twinstar Championships Match: MiraiSaku (MIRAI & Mai Sakurai) (c) def. Selene Flora (Victoria Yuzuki & Kizuna Tanaka) – There’s quite a lot to prove for both teams, which is quite the statement when you consider the talent involved. For Kizuna Tanaka, it’s about proving Sakurai wrong after comments made that she is only in the position she is because of her parents, while the champions are looking to disprove Yuzuki’s observations that they are not quite as ‘in-sync’ as they would have everyone believe. Yuzuki’s tactic of nurturing dissent seems to have worked as well, as a miscommunication about ring gear in Nagano on Monday led to Sakurai and MIRAI storming out of the post-match interview. Things don’t exactly start well, with the champions music cutting out half-way through before Tanaka and Yuzuki – wearing matching entrance gear and now known collectively Selene Flora – look to capitalise in the unrest. Even though MIRAI dominates Tanaka, she seems to want to do it all on her own, and this allows the latter to transition beautifully out of an attempted Miramare Shock into an Armbar. Tanaka continues to target MIRAI’s heavily-taped right shoulder before Selene Flora look to rub their own synergy in the champions faces with Yuzuki performing a Moonsault off of a crouched-over Tanaka. Things don’t get much better initially with Mai in the ring, especially when MIRAI accidentally hits Mai when attempting to come in and help. This ultimately leads to the pair hitting each other hard with a Lariat and a kick. Far from causing the complete destruction of the team, this instead seems to galvanise the champions, and the champions begin hitting harder and utilising their own tag team chemistry. After Yuzuki is able to break up Sakurai’s first STF attempt, the champions begin performing stereo offence as though to signify that they are once again on the same page, reaching a crescendo with MIRAI locking Yuzuki in a Boston Crab and Sakurai locking in the STF on Tanaka. With nowhere to go, Tanaka taps out and gives MiraiSaku their third successful title defence. With the champions now back on the same page, laughing about hitting each other and the sweat in the middle of the ring, new challengers emerge in the form of Kouki Amarei and Utami Hayashishita, the former taking Chika Goto’s words to ‘do as she wants’ in her absence very, very literally. The next tile match is confirmed, and one has the feeling that MiraiSaku will have to be completely in-sync to fend off this challenge! (***3/4)

Marigold United National Championship Match: Miku Aono (c) def. Nagisa Nozaki – Nagisa Nozaki comes to the ring replete in a shirt that proclaims her to be the Angel of Death and quite honestly, it is a little hard to disagree with that assessment. It’s even harder to disagree with it when you look at how she utterly dominates Miku for the opening portion of this match, kicking her repeatedly in the chest and back before looking to squeeze the life out of her with a Rear-Naked Choke. She continues in this way until changing tack in order to collide with Miku and hit the first of what will be many Noir Lancers, one of which hits so hard it causes Aono’s mouth to fill with blood. This seems to wake Miku up somewhat, as she is able to stop Nagisa Superplexing her into the front row from the top rope and follows up by running and kicking her hard in the chest from the apron. Nozaki responds with a Snap Suplex on the floor, but is caught by Aono on the apron as she hits a Styles Clash. The back and forth intensifies in the ring, with both competitors falling back on their vast array of kicks, Nozaki trying to grind down the champion by going back to the Rear-Naked Choke. Aono won’t quit though, and gets two nearfalls following a Tiger Bomb and a second Styles Clash. Both women are understandably exhausted, but it’s Aono who is able to find just that little bit more, muscling Nozaki into a third Styles Clash to finally put her away for the victory, her second successful defence of the Marigold United National Championship! (****)

Marigold World Championship Match: Sareee (c) def. Bozilla – There are more than a few comparisons to be made between Bozilla and the late, great Big Van Vader, and the way she way toys with Sareee and manhandles her around the ring only serve to strengthen those comparisons. In spite of Bozilla’s significant power advantage, Sareee is champion for a reason though and clearly has a plan; target the arm with relentless ferocity! It’s the first time we’ve seen Bozilla in any real strife, and it’s a really humanising moment, especially the look of abject shock and pain in her eyes when Sareee hits three consecutive Double Footstomps. However, the moment the match moves to the outside, Bozilla immediately takes the ascendency, launching Sareee into the chairs and the east wall of Korakeun, throwing so many chairs at the champion that a deep laceration opens on her head. Nothing keeps the champion down though, not a Drill-A-Hole Piledriver, not the Powerbomb that had seen Bozilla to victory in the Dream Star Grand Prix and not the Moonsault. Seemingly running out of options, Bozilla gets a table and sets it up in the ring, only to then be put through it herself with a Sunset Flip Powerbomb. The moment Bozilla is down, a bloodied Sareee hits a Running Double Footstomp right into the chest of Bozilla and wrenches back on the arm in an Armbar. The visual of blood cascading down the champion’s face, emulating the move that Antonio Inoki had used to submit Andre The Giant is insanely powerful and, just like Andre, Bozilla submits, to the absolute shock of everyone in Korakuen. Post-match, Sareee and Bozilla shake hands, with the champion calling the German Powerhouse her rival, before Nanae Takahashi arrives and declares herself the next challenger to Sareee’s championship, courtesy of their time-limit draw in the Dream Star Grand Prix! There is a debate to be had about who is the ‘best in the world’ between Mayu Iwatani and Sareee and, though I couldn’t possibly decide between these two generational talents, I don’t think there is a wrong answer; we are just lucky as wrestling fans to be living in this time! (****1/2)

You can check out the Marigold roster win/loss records for 2024 right here; https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/11_PWxd5BDxeHIfKqtQ2YtiwhGteRrVUZ3B5L4yrDQE0/edit?gid=517287206#gid=517287206

You can check out a comprehensive run down of the Marigold Championship Histories here; https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/18MJ2Cebe36Nvfcpj8uVs1AtMbAV1chn-lG7t-xn44DY/edit?gid=0#gid=0

Upcoming Shows

• Sunday 27th October – Fantastic Adventure 2024 – Night 8 ~Afternoon Show~, Shin-Kiba 1st RING, Tokyo (LIVE)
• Sunday 27th October – Fantastic Adventure 2024 – Night 8 ~Evening Show~, Shin-Kiba 1st RING, Tokyo (LIVE)
• Saturday 2nd November – Fantastic Adventure 2024 – Night 9 ~Afternoon Show~, Sapporo Gateau Kingdom, Hokkaido (VIDEO ON DEMAND)
• Saturday 2nd November – Fantastic Adventure 2024 – Night 9 ~Evening Show~, Sapporo Gateau Kingdom, Hokkaido (VIDEO ON DEMAND)
• Monday 4th November – Fantastic Adventure 2024 – Night 10, Nagoya Congress Center, Aichi (VIDEO ON DEMAND)