4. Yuki Arai vs. Pom Harajuku
An entertaining and surprisingly smooth match. Pomu's wotagei and Yuki's solo live were too cute. Pom Harajuku is a completely unconventional wrestler. She's a clumsy craftsman like Naoya Ogawa, with a novel approach. She still hits the mat painfully stiff on bumps, seeming to lack a basic grasp of "ukemi". On the other hand, Yuki Arai exudes grace and style, and her tall, cute and beautiful appearance only adds to her already impressive abilities. I was especially impressed by her leaping dropkick here. It was wonderful to see her back in singles competition, and she did not disappoint. ***1/4
7. Futari wa Princess Max Heart Tournament - Finals: Hyper Misao & Shoko Nakajima vs. Maki Itoh & Miyu Yamashita
The way people were hyping this up, I had lofty expectations of a 90s AJPW-style tag team epic. It certainly started promising, but the match lost its focus as it progressed and the story became opaque. The concentrated attack on Yamashita's leg was well-sold, but it failed to lead to any moments of uncertainty towards the end. Despite Misao & Shoko's best efforts, they were unable to land any finishing moves, so I never felt that Yamashita & Itoh's victory was truly in peril. Having the underdog team score decisive moves seems like the most effective and obvious way to create excitement, but that is missing from this match. Nevertheless, it was still a great and action-packed main event. The four veterans share a deep chemistry and familiarity, acquired through years of battling each other. There were some contrived set-ups that were so blatant that they took me out of the match a bit, but the exchanges between Yamashita and Misao and Itoh and Shoko were intense. I couldn't help but wish that Shoko had shown this killer instinct as champion, or perhaps it was Itoh's taunts and provocations that pushed her to such lengths. ***1/2
