The main event featured the team of Power Stones v 2.0 (Matsui & Shiroma) against Miyawaki and Yokoyama, competing for the WIP tag team championships. Yuji Nagata is even brought in as the person who will present the titles to the winners. This is where the lines between idols and professional wrestling blurred a little as the stare-down between the two teams led to an in-ring song performance of the b-side Give Up wa Shinai from AKB48’s 49th single #SukiNanda. Yes, it was just like the music video for the song.
This deflated the wrestling portion of the show until the performance ended. Once the actual match started, things slowly picked up. The opening exchange between Yokoyama and Shiroma involved light chain wrestling and many sexy pose taunts. That led to Sakura and Jurina being tagged in, each going for their finisher early. Once the Power Stones took over the offence, Shiroma made liberal use of several hip attacks to wear down Yokoyama. She certainly has her character down to a science, even if it isn’t that different from her idol persona.
When Sakura gets the hot tag, she fires with rather weak-looking attacks. Luckily Shiroma and Matsui sold for her like champs. The ending sequence had a flurry of action that culminated with Yokoyama and Matsui in the showdown. Matsui blocks a super kick attempt and counters with a Rainmaker for a near fall. She then ends the match with a rather sloppy-looking Destino for the win.
After the match, Nagata presents Shiroma and Matsui with the white shiny belts that are the tag titles, and some promos are cut. Then all the members involved in the show gather to sing Shoot Sign to mark the end of the program. Or so one would think.
When Shoot Sign ends, the Dasu Vaders attack Jurina and steal her championship belts. Shiroma cowers away by just giving her belt away and leaving the ring. This likely points to a second season of Tofu Pro Wrestling to follow up this change in the storyline and/or another live wrestling event somewhere down the line.
Final Verdict
Given that the bar for this wrestling event was set incredibly low, I was entertained by the entire thing. A few members looked like they had practiced hard enough to have some technical aptitude in the ring. Others were not so good, but they looked like they tried hard. The girls involved in this event were well protected, and thankfully no one got seriously injured doing these highly scripted matches for real in front of people.
Regardless of what you think of professional wrestling, you must admire the members who participated for going all-in on whatever they were asked to do. The result of their efforts isn’t a bad way to kill a few hours. Just remember these are idols and not full-time pro wrestlers. If you can try not to critique them too badly, you may find this to be some harmless and somewhat campy fun.
