By: Jeff Brown

Photos courtesy of Actwres girl’Z

AWG was at the brand new venue Tokyo Square in Itabashi, and they brought the KING of Ring Entertainment to christen the arena. Actress 5 continued to be the glue for this group throughout the card; new matchups were shown to be on the horizon, and Yufa had some news for everyone in attendance.

This show will be available on AWG Nets, which you can subscribe to here for roughly 1,000 yen a month, or you can opt for the YouTube membership. Here are impressions from the show.

Chii Aoba vs. Yui Tensho

A nasty forearm exchange to begin, and these two are deceptively heavy hitters. Aoba had to fight for her Cattle Mutilation, which is a nice touch and adds a layer of realism to a match. Yui walked around the ring while carrying Aoboa to show off her strength, and she played to the crowd; she didn’t just perform moves in a vacuum.

After repeated bodyslams and a big lariat, Yui gets the three-count on Aoba.

ACT, Nene Arahata vs. Nagisa Shiotsuki, Naru

BE∀STZ REBELLION reunited again, and Naru had gifts for the duo, who promptly threw them into the crowd.

ACT and Nene are always a mean unit, and today was no different, with Nene choking Nare and ACT standing on Nagisa’s hand to prevent any more chops. ACT has been the target of those vicious Nagisa chops lately, so she blasted Nagisa with one of her own as payback. BE∀STZ continued to isolate Nagsia and targeted her hand, but she got into a forearm exchange with ACT that ended with a signature chop that ACT instantly recoiled from. Naru had a flashy submission exchange with ACT as her ankle got countered into a heel hook. ACT then did her headlock guillotine swing and ended it with a wild release. Nagisa returned and was fired up with her Scorpion Deathlock; Nene showed off her strength with a neck-hanging tree slam and 3 amigos suplexes. Nagisa pulls out a butterfly suplex; Naru was holding ACT, so she was a half-count too late, and Nagisa pinned Nene as good prevailed in this fight.

A lot was squeezed into roughly 10 minutes, and everyone brought it. 

Marino Saihara, Riko Fukunaga vs. Sakura Mizushima, Yukina Uehara

Mizushima had her Actress 5 cloak for her entrance, which is a nice way to unify the team. The tag was essentially the Actress 5 with the super rookie Yukina added to the mix.

Rico targeted Yukina’s leg in an effort to take away her vertical base. Very good submissions from both Rico and Marino; AWG is developing a lot of mat-based fundamentals in the new era. Mizushima was in and was high energy; she was someone very good on day one but now is fantastic on her three-year anniversary. Rico with an armbar continued the display of submissions before she had a very good high-speed sequence with Mizushima. Yukina is very impressive with most of her moves and adding to her repertoire very early in her career. Marino locked in the chicken wing and turned it into a pin on Yukina to get the win.

Ayano Irie, Yufa vs. Asako Mia, Natsuki

Asako wanted to start and scared Ayano by streaming and changing directions while running the ropes. The ever-inventive Asako then gets a near fall with a music distraction, further adding to her resume of unpredictability.

Natsuki tags in and uses Asako as a weapon; Yufa responds with pico hammer terror on everyone before arrogantly trying to pin the champ, Natsuki. The champ gets a near fall with a Cutey Special, and then Asako demands to be tagged in.

Yufa vs. Asako; not even they knew what was going to happen. Yufa, in her own way, is unpredictable, so her being in the ring with Asako is dangerous. Yufa’s charisma has always carried her through matches, and the crowd loves her. She also has a mean streak, so she is a threat while being funny. The match, while silly, was more serious than on paper; Yufa lands a running knee drop and gets the win over Asako.

Yufa then announced she would be retiring at the 3/16 Korakuen Hall show. A colorful and mischievous addition to every show, Yufa is also loved by the roster, so she will be greatly missed. This was used as leverage by Asako when she asked for a title shot against Natsuki.

Mari vs. Kyoka Iwai—AWG KING Of Ring Entertainment Title Match

Mari continues to face Killer’Z unit members for her belt. Kyoka refuses a handshake and then jumps Mari with the umbrella. Brawl outside of the ring, then Kyoka chokes Mari with the umbrella. Mari briefly gets control, but Kyoka goes for the eyes; however, Mari answers back by grounding her with various submissions.

Done playing nice, Mari reminds everyone how ruthless she is when she begins to strangle Kyoka, who is now in a world of trouble. Returning the favor, Mari yanks Kyoka to the floor and slams her head into the Killer’Z banner hanging on the wall. Kyoka posts Mari to turn the tide and gets a near fall with a powerslam out of the corner. She hits a Brody knee drop off the top rope, and Mari barely kicks out. Seeing the champ in trouble, Kyoka tries for a submission, but Mari counters before collapsing, unable to capitalize. Mari becomes enraged and gets back up, arm trapped, stomping Kyoka repeatedly, followed by a thunderous Gory Bomb. Kyoka plays possum and gets a few roll-ups but takes some big shots from Mari.

The arena went quiet as Mari hit one last measured kick to the head; she hoisted her up for the Crucifix Bomb to get the victory and retain the title. 

A fantastic match. Kyoka has had a great year with the Miyuki Takase Korakuen match and now this main event. There are few at Mari’s level in AWG, or even outside in pro wrestling. Call her an entertainer, Actwrestler, or pro wrestler; she is without a doubt one of the best. Post-match, Yui interrupts to challenge Mari, who is a bit taken aback by the brashness of the young Actress 5 member. Kyoka and Mari embrace after the all-out assault on one another. Yui lays out Kyoka with her lariat. Everyone gathers in the ring for pinkies up, and the first show in Tokyo Square is in the books.

2025 is the year AWG is reminding everyone how good they can be, doing it with high-level production and huge personalities. Natsuki and Mari are the perfect champs, as they both seem out to prove something to the fans, themselves, and the entire roster with every performance they have. This show had strong matches across the board and is another event that new fans can look back on and realize what they were missing out on.

New fans should be going to AWG on X and checking out their fun videos on TikTok.