Notes
- As announced at Korakuen Hall on the 24th October, Chika Goto will be absent from Marigold shows for a month as she recovers from a sternum injury. This means that her current timetable for return is the end of November.
- Rea Seto has been withdrawn from the card. As a result, the scheduled three-way between her, Komomo Minami and Hummingbird will be contested as a straight singles match between the remaining competitors.
- 1st Marigold Superfly Champion Natsumi Showzuki has been champion for 112 days – in her first reign. This will be the third title defence of her reign.
- This will be Misa Matsui’s second chance at the Superfly Championship, having lost to Natsumi Showzuki in the vacant championship tournament final at Summer Destiny in Ryogoku Kokugikan.
- Attendance Notes: This is only the second show Marigold have run in Sapporo, with the first being the afternoon show. The announced attendance is 294 which is slightly up from the previous show, meaning it stands as the highest Marigold have drawn in the area. It also makes it the highest non-Korakuen Hall card Marigold have run since the Dream Star Grand Prix final on the 28th September in Nagoya.
Quick Results
- Singles Match: Victoria Yuzuki def.
Naho Yamadaw/ YuzuCrush (6:55) - Singles Match: Hummingbird def.
Komomo Minamiw/ Mad Splash (6:58) - Tag Team Match: Bozilla & Nagisa Nozaki def.
Myla Grace& Nao Ishikawa w/ Noir Lancer (7:46) - Tag Team Match: MiraiSaku (MIRAI & Mai Sakurai) def.
Kizuna Tanaka& Kouki Amarei w/ STF (11:47) - Tag Team Match: Sareee & Miku Aono vs. Utami Hayashishita & Nanae Takahashi Ended in a Time-Limit Draw (15:00)
- Marigold Superfly Championship Match: Natsumi Showzuki (c) def.
Misa Matsuiw/ Kido Clutch (13:04)
Undercard
Naho Yamada is that passionate about her entrance theme before the match that her voice actually breaks during the final note; it certainly sets the tempo for the show though! Her and Yuzuki have a really good back-and-forth, though it never really feels like Yamada – for all her endeavour – has a chance of really threatening the self-proclaimed Future Ace of Marigold, even in spite of Yamada crashing into her with a Diving Forearm Smash. One YuzuCrush later and it’s over, with Yuzuki registering another singles victory. (**3/4)
Thankfully, we are regaled with the Hummingbird’s music for this match after coming out to Showzuki’s in the afternoon show. This should have been a three-way, but Rea Seto was withdrawn from the card. It does however give us more of a chance to see Hummingbird in action, who has some real moments of quality in this match, the pick being her athletic escape from a Neckscissors. Yes she’s not the finished article yet, and her Mad Splash finishing move could do with a little refining, there is a lot of potential there for the masked wrestler! (***)
I doubt I will ever get sick of Bozilla man-handling people around the ring. Sure Myla puts up a courageous fight for the first couple of moments following a brief brawl on the outside, but Nao Ishikawa then takes a condescending pasting at the hands of Bozilla and then Nagisa Nozaki. There’s brief moments of light for Grace and Nao, but Bozilla and Nozaki are noticeably too powerful, and it’s only Grace’s resilience and Ishikawa’s well-timed breaking up of a pinfall that keeps the match going as long as it does. Eventually, with Ishikawa flattened courtesy of a double Big Boot from Nozaki and Bozilla, the former clatters into Grace with a Noir Lancer for the victory. (***)
It’s an interesting dynamic here, as former and future challengers for the Twinstar Championships team up against the current champions. There’s clearly a little residual anger on the part of both MiraiSaku and Kizuna Tanaka with the two teams charging at each other as the bell rings with not one thought of a lock-up. Speaking of Tanaka, she is tortured by the champions, with MIRAI bullying her around the ring, before her and Mai then take it in turns to twist Tanaka’s left arm around and jump off the second rope to hit Double Axe-Handles, playing the part of school-yard bullies really well. Kouki is the equaliser in this match, and she does just that despite the champion’s attempts at using their superior tag team chemistry on her. This imbues Tanaka with the fight she believes she needs to mount more of an offence this time round, and once she is tagged back in, she is able to utilise her vast array of Armbars, including a beautiful counter of the Miramare Shock. I mentioned it before however, the champions have significantly better tag team chemistry, which results in them neutralising Kouki with a Back Suplex, allowing Mai to lock in the STF on Tanaka for the submission victory in the centre of the ring. (***1/2)
Main Event Matches
Tag Team Match: Sareee & Miku Aono vs. Utami Hayashishita & Nanae Takahashi Ended in a Time-Limit Draw – Nanae is having absolutely none of Utami volunteering to go first in this match, and physically manhandles her to the corner so she can face of with Sareee. Rather interestingly, Sareee is the one who takes a considerable amount of heat in this match, both from Nanae in the beginning and Utami later on, with Miku Aono playing the role of relief. It’s not often we see Sareee dominated like this, but that doesn’t mean she lays down, far from it in fact. Trading Lariats and forearms with Nanae, and then trading increasingly-frantic German Suplexes with Utami, the match feels like it’s bubbling nicely as we get close to the finish. In their collective desire to face off with the Marigold World Champion however, the cohesion between Nanae and Utami begins to falter the further we get into the match, with blind tags and the pair getting in the way of each other’s pins as they both seek to get that important pinfall. Unfortunately, this pales a little into insignificance when Nanae takes an appalling bump from a Sareee Urunage, landing hellishly on her neck and causing immediate concern from Utami in particular. Luckily, the match is pretty much at it’s crescendo when this move happens. The moment the bell sounds though, Utami is straight in with an ice-pack, and you can see Sareee asking the referee if she is okay. Nanae doesn’t get to her feet during the post-match, responding to Sareee’s comments with a promo lying on her back, before flipping her off with two middle fingers like the absolute badass she is. In spite of that, it doesn’t look good, and the way Utami is crouching over Nanae as WRESTLEUNIVERSE cuts to the next match – without showing Utami and Nanae leaving the ring which is not a good omen in of itself – shows that there is considerable concern for her. Fingers crossed that it’s not as bad as it looks and that Nanae is going to be okay.
Marigold Superfly Championship Match: Natsumi Showzuki (c) def. Misa Matsui – Rather than the frenetic and speed-based battle we got a Summer Destiny, we get a cagey start with the pair trading thunderous forearms. Matsui, whose speed is almost unrivalled in Marigold, does initially attempt to go blow for blow Showzuki, which proves to be an early mistake from the challenger. Showzuki takes Matsui to tasks and takes her to the outside where she then rattles her against the first row of chairs. One area that Misa has improved though, is her resilience and after clinging on during the initial burst from Showzuki, she takes a different tack; targeting the leg! It’s a clever tactic, wiping out the champion’s ability to build a head of steam into her Running Double Knees, whilst also taking out her thunderous kicks – effectively negating two huge parts of her offensive arsenal. It also highlights a far more aggressive side to Matsui as she wrenches hard on a Stretch Muffler to make the champion scream in pain. Though it shows how much this title, and the chance to avenge Sumo Hall, matters to Matsui, it also makes her prone to making mistakes and being too over-zealous in the way that she attacks the match. One such error allows Showzuki back into the contest, but the damage done to her leg means that the champion can’t open up her usual volley of strikes as she normally would. Instead, Showzuki adapts her offence and wraps Matsui up out of nowhere in the Kido Clutch – a tribute to ‘Mr Sapporo’ himself, the late great Osamu Kido – to grab a snap victory out of nowhere. Matsui is distraught that she has lost, and continues to attack Showzuki post-match in a show of sheer frustration. Eventually, she is shepherded from the ring, clearly hurting, to allow Natsumi to take to the microphone. Interestingly enough, rather than receiving or extending a challenge for the Superfly Championship, Showzuki calls out Miku Aono and officially challenges her for the Marigold United National Championship. Is this better than Showzuki and Matsui’s match at Summer Destiny? No, it’s different. Rather than going all-out, balls to the wall speed, the pair embark on a game of chess that sees Showzuki outsmart her opponent at the final hurdle. It’s not a definitive win by any stretch of the imagination, and it also opens the door once more for one final match! (***3/4)
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
- Monday 4th November – Fantastic Adventure 2024 – Night 10, Nagoya Congress Center, Aichi (LIVE)
- Thursday 7th November – Fantastic Adventure 2024 – Night 11, Hodogaya Kokaido, Kanagawa (VIDEO ON DEMAND)
- Thursday 14th November – Winter Wonderful Fight 2024 – Night 1, Korakuen Hall, Tokyo (LIVE)
- Saturday 23rd November – Winter Wonderful Fight 2024 – Night 2, Tochigi Prefectural Cultural Center, Tochigi (VIDEO ON DEMAND)
- Thursday 28th November – Winter Wonderful Fight 2024 – Night 3, Edogawa-ku Higashibu Friend Hall, Tokyo (LIVE)
- Saturday 7th December – Winter Wonderful Fight 2024 – Night 4, Osaka 176BOX, Osaka (VIEDO ON DEMAND)
- Sunday 8th December – Winter Wonderful Fight 2024 – Night 5, Taharu City General Gymnasium, Aichi (VIDEO ON DEMAND)
- Friday 13th December – Winter Wonderful Fight 2024 – Night 6, Shinjuku FACE, Tokyo (LIVE)
- Friday 20th December – Winter Wonderful Fight 2024 – Night 7, Sendai PIT, Miyagi (VIDEO ON DEMAND)
- Saturday 21st December – Winter Wonderful Fight 2024 – Night 8, Yamagata Big Wing, Yamagata (VIDEO ON DEMAND)
- Thursday 26th December – Winter Wonderful Fight 2024 – Night 9, Korakuen Hall, Tokyo (LIVE)
- Thursday 31st December – Winter Wonderful Fight 2024 – Night 10, Shin-Kiba 1st RING, Tokyo (LIVE)
- Friday 3rd January – First Dream 2025, Ota-Ward City Gymnasium, Tokyo (PPV)
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