This match was in the Japanese Battle Royal format and featured many newcomers to WIP and existing roster members who were not involved in any other matches. This felt like a cool down/bathroom break match after the insanity that came before it. There wasn’t a lot of excitement in this contest until Sato Akari made her appearance and got the push as an unstoppable monster destroying anything in her path.
Otherwise, there wasn’t much to this match. It served its purpose as filler, and it got Jumbo Sato over and enhanced a couple of familiar characters, such as Ikemen Momoka and the eventual winner Blackberry Mukaichi.
Another batch of newcomers to WIP featuring some members that some would probably consider less than athletic. Yet there were some impressive early exchanges between Kawamoto and Oda and again between Komiyama and Taniguchi. They seemed to at least get the idea of basic chain wrestling to a standoff down and popped the crowd a bit.
This was similar to match #3, where there was an attempt to make this look high-level using real tag team tactics. What made this different was the lack of high spots. Much of the content here was more ground-based, with Kawamoto busting out a decent-looking Romero Special and Taniguchi using a Wil Osperay-looking twisting kick to the back of a grounded opponent. It wasn’t smooth, but you must be impressed that an idol would even try this move with only a few months of training.
Oda Erina also had moments on the ground trying to submit Komiyama with a series of Zack Sabre Jr.-styled submission holds. As the action picked up, Komiyama got a chance to show off a few familiar moves to wrestling fans, such as the Black Widow and a couple of Sling Blades, one of which picked up the win.
While not as thrilling as match #3 regarding action, this was still very solid in its own right. As a side note, Taniguchi wins for the best ring gear.
The co-main event match featured the tag team of Matsumura and Shimada against two foreign women from the fictional WWZ organization. They look like professional wrestlers, but unfortunately, I have no idea who these women are or what their ring names might be in the world of professional wrestling. Suffice it to say they were the default heels and carried the match for the most part with the beat down of their smaller idol opponents.
This was not a display of technical proficiency or daredevil high-flying moves. Instead, viewers got a simple story of the smaller underdogs trying to overcome their much larger and physically imposing foes. And the audience bought into it hard even though there wasn’t a lot of content here that had a lot of “wow” factor.
Highlights of the match were Shimada’s super face comeback ending with her putting a heel hold on both of her larger opponents. Also, all the members of the faction Matsumura and Shimada are a part of (the name of I still can’t pronounce or discern) got involved in running interference and taking a few safe bumps for the sake of the spectacle.
In the end, the team of Matsumura and Shimada overcame the odds and pulled out the win in what turned out to be the most drama-filled match of the night.
