By: Jeff Brown

Photos courtesy of Actwres girl’Z

AWG was at Shin-kiba 1st Ring for Step 56; the main event saw another match in the ACT Game as Maru and Great Asako faced Kyoka Iwai and Haruka Ishikawa. The champions Sakura Mizushima and Marino Saihara squared off against some up-and-comers in Rio and Yukina Uehara; ACT set out to motivate Nagisa, and Rico built on her growing momentum.

To see this and more, go to AWG Nets, which you can subscribe to here for roughly 1,000 yen a month, or you can opt for the YouTube membership.

You can watch a recap video of the previous show narrated by King of Entertainment Sakura Mizushima.

Rico Fukunaga vs. Erisa Nagai

This match was a good opener that shows that both are continuing to improve. In Erisa’s case, it’s quite impressive how quickly she got to this level, and for Rico it was nice to see that she had such confidence as she led the match with her various kicks and submissions.

Rico was able to apply a modified STF for the submission victory.

Hinata Senya & Mari vs. ANRI & Natsuki

Natsuki and ANRI are very much from the same template in terms of size and fighting techniques.

Mari was wonderful as always as she got to be a bully as she had a significant size and strength advantage over ANRI, laughing off her early attempts in the match. Hinata is still a work in progress but is cleaning up some of the rough spots in her moveset. She never quits, and that is a victory, something she can build upon, the fact she returns to the ring and is a little better each show.

A lot of really cool kicks from ANRI and Natsuki; Mari’s power was even neutralized at times when they did tandem assault. Natsuki was a little shocked that Hinata kicked out of a double footstomp (another sign of growth) but dispatched her with the Cutie Special. A fun tag match.

ACT vs. Nagisa Shiotsuki

One of the strongest performances Nagisa has had since her August 2024 match against Mari.

Since returning from injury in 2023, Nagisa has been adding new moves to her repertoire and even formed the team Midsummer Sea Breeze (Manatsu no Shiokaze) with Natsuki. However, she has plateaued as a performer at times, and ACT herself said in her interview with RESURA that Nagisa needs to come out of her shell as a performer. This is something that Nagisa is capable of, as is evident from her theater performances; she can be versatile and very outgoing. For whatever reason, it has rarely translated to ACTwrestling; she has had more time on the microphone since ACT mentioned her reserved personality. Nagisa is a good babyface that chops hard; she has a methodical and calculating style but is often overshadowed by her tag partner, Natsuki.

ACT was the inverse of Nagisa; she was larger than life on day one and then figured out how to wrestle in a style that worked for her. Regardless, she knows about the struggles of finding your path and is a perfect authority figure to light a fire under Nagisa.

That was the story of this fight: ACT yelling at Nagisa to bring more in the ring and to try and advance herself. Nagisa is a favorite of the fans. She is a skilled wrestler, so this isn’t a knock against her; it’s a case of a very good performer who can become a great performer. ACT wore the wounds of the Nagisa chops but grabbed her to finish her off with the ACT special for the three-count.

These two will likely meet again in ACT Game, and the storyline will continue. 

Marino Saihara & Sakura Mizushima vs. Rio & Yukina Uehara

Both champions in a super team and rookies Rio and Uehara are once again partners. Marino is able to hold her own against the larger Rio, and there could be a rivalry quietly building between these two. It’s definitely a nice development that Marino is at a point in her career when she can be a person the younger roster can lean on to improve. Uehara is impressive with her kicks and overall energy; she feels on the verge of leveling up, which is a testament to the ACTwrestling system since she’s had only 15 matches. Mizushima had some nice exchanges with Uehara and had to figure out a way around the brute force of Rio. A tag match where everyone was clicking. Marino trapped Rio in an armbar for the tap-out win.

Afterwards, Rico challenged Mizushima to a King title match. Mizushima learned how uneasy the head that wears a crown is, as the King has challengers from all directions, even within her own Actwres 5 unit.

To see how exciting the super rookie Yukina Uehara is, check out this free match offered on AWG’s official YouTube channel here

MARU & The Great Asako vs. Haruka Ishikawa & Kyoka Iwai—ACT Game First Round Point Tag Team Match

A really fun brawl that gave everyone a chance to show off their skills. Asako brought a small ladder to the fight, and MARU had her trusty chain. Kyoka has struggled at times, like Nagsia, but she shines in tag situations, especially with Ishikawa. The duo has great chemistry, and everything clicks for Kyoka. If she could apply that to singles matches, then the sky would be the limit for her.

Asako climbing up the two steps of the ladder, teasing to jump off the stage onto Ishikawa but instead jumping to the side onto Kyoka, was classic Asako. MARU brought her veteran mind and skills to this match. MARU is an important piece of AWG, and she really helped keep the ship on course in 2024. She had some ups and downs this past year but never stopped being a mentor to this young crew. She has a special bond with talent like Kyoka, and that’s when we see the best of Kyoka in the ring, the same for Togi.

MARU’s importance to AWG and the entire entertainment industry can’t be stated enough; she has been a key point in many AWG moments for the past 4-5 years, and her theater group has been a pipeline for many roster members. Even the return of ACT was a result of Maru’s demanding that ACT put aside the fun Wild Bunny persona and return to the old ways. If you attend a live event, visit MARU’s merch table and thank her for everything.

This main event was a war, and MARU was shedding her ring gear near the end as Ishikawa hit her with everything she had. MARU would not stay down and fired back with a double-foot stomp and vicious Stretch Muffler to get the submission win. Fantastic match.

It was a good show that saw the tournament continue; Mizushima discovered her next challenger in Rico, and Nagisa was challenged to grab the brass ring.

There’s a lot left on the calendar over the next few weeks, and the crew is humming along. Having storylines for characters is great, and being a company of actresses, there is no group more qualified to make things interesting.