Super Golden is a new recurring column highlighting standout performances from joshi wrestlers. It will feature shining stars from all around the joshi scene—STARDOM, Sendai Girls, and beyond. The nominees could be big names or up-and-comers. Whoever puts their mark on the month.
Unagi Sayaka (Freelance)
Wrestling nomad Unagi Sayaka fought all across the joshi landscape.
The highlight of her month came at SEAdLINNNG Jump Up!, one of the better all-around shows of the year, where Unagi teamed with Honori Hana in a fierce battle with VENY and Selena Misora to defend the Beyond the Sea Tag Team Championship. The Eel isn’t exactly known for bloody brawls like this one, but she looked right at home amid all the chaos, particularly when she was tagging Misora in the jaw near the front row.
Earlier in the month, she had a silly comedy match against Momoka Hanazono and Sakura Hirota at a Pro Wrestling WAVE show. Unagi and Hanazono switched bodies after kissing.
She also wrestled in Saki Kashima’s retirement match, a light-hearted sendoff where Unagi was a menace to the departing star.
Sayaka wrestled in a variety of other places including GLEAT, JTO, OZ Academy, and Diana. In very Eel fashion, she played a variety of roles: tagging with Minoru Suzuki, wresting in trios matches, and besting the likes of Saori Anou and Azusa Inaba.
Unagi gave us a bit of everything just about everywhere which has very much become her M.O. during her time as a freelancer.
Recommended matches:
Unagi Sayaka & Mei Seira & Maika vs. Hazuki, Koguma & Saki Kashima, STARDOM (April 11)
Unagi Sayaka & Honori Hana vs. VENY & Selene Misora, SEAdLINNNG (April 17)
Miyu Yamashita (Tokyo Joshi Pro-Wrestling)
The Pink Striker was everywhere in April. Yamashita wrestled in England, in Vegas, in Canada, in addition to her native Japan. She competed for everyone from Pro Wrestling NOAH to GCW.
And Yamashita showed up big in a lot of that action.
She had two matches with over an 8.0 rating on CageMatch.net, as well as two bouts over the 7.0 mark.
In the main event of TJPW’s Fukuoka show on April 5, Yamashita teamed with Shoko Nakajima to take on Toga and Yuki Arai. Their was surprisingly good chemistry on display here, plus Yamashita getting to play the hero in her hometown.
Then when TJPW traveled to Vancouver for the first time, Yamashita delivered the standout match against Nicole Matthews. This was a grounded, intense battle with good mix of slugfest style and mat wrestling.
In Vegas, Yamashita took on both Mizuki and Miu Watanabe in a three-way clash that outdid the top two title matches.
Toward the end of the month, Yamashita headed to London for the EVE x TJPW show where she outlasted Shoko Nakajima in the finals of a no. 1 contender’s tournament. That sets up a highly anticipated championship showdown with Kris Statlander in June.
That’s a busy, productive week for the TJPW star, and one where she sure must have racked up the frequent-flyer miles.
Recommended matches:
Miyu Yamashita vs. Nicole Matthews, TJPW (April 12)
Miyu Yamashita vs. Mizuki vs. Miu Watanabe, TJPW (April 16)
Komomo Minami (Marigold)
Minami delivered a string of entertaining matches alongside Victoria Yuzuki. That duo stole the show on Marigold’s April 7 show in Niigata against Seri Yamaoka and Yuuka Yamazaki. Mimani and Yuzuki also shone in their clash with Megaton and Shinno a few days before that.
Minami sure seemed to be having a good time in that one as she yanked on Megaton’s hair or darted around the ring. She wore that big, trademark smile while kicking ass left and right.
Her top performance of the month, though, came against Marigold world champ Miku Aono on April 14. Minami took an absolute beating here, and it was in her suffering where she shined. She crumpled and cried and sold Aono’s kicks as if they’d burst a kidney.
Minami would then fire back with bursts of fiery, underdog offense. She continues to thrive as a likeable, believable underdog.
With Victoria Yuzuki now out with an ACL Injury, Minami won’t have her around to tag with. That’s a shame as they were really clicking together. Maybe that means more wrestling alongside Mayu Iwatani or perhaps Marigold shifts Minami into more of a singles-heavy role.
Recommended matches:
Komomo Minami & Victoria Yuzuki vs. Seri Yamaoka & Yuuka Yamazaki, Marigold (April 4)
Komomo Minami vs. Miku Aono, Marigold (April 14)
Chihiro Hashimoto (Sendai GIrls)
Hashimoto’s Joshi Wrestler of the Year campaign continued in earnest this month. She was whooping ass every which way.
The Sendai Girls world champ an intriguing match against her Syuri at the Senjo Korakuen Hall show on April 12. It was a bout heavy on mat wrestling and a worthy continuation of their rivalry.
Big Hash also excelled against Yurika Oka at the Sendai Girls 20th anniversary show. The champ put on a masterful display of mat wrestling early in the bout: floating over, twisting limbs, clinging tight to control. After that, the match morphed into an intense battle where both Hashimoto and Oka deftly played their roles of powerhouse and underdog.
To top things off, at the Shinya Aoki Produce show on the 20th, Hashimoto and Manami teamed up against Seri Yamaoka and Yuuka Yamazaki in a certified banger. Of course. all four women deserve credit for making that so fun, but Hashimoto sure did her part. Whether she was deadlifting Seri or stretching out Yamazaki, the powerhouse put her handprint on the action in a big way.
It’s months like this that has Hashimoto’s name firmly in the end-of-year award conversation.
Recommended matches:
Chihiro Hashimoto vs. Syuri, Sendai Girls (April 12)
Chihiro Hashimoto & Manami vs. Seri Yamaoka & Yuuka Yamazaki, Shinya Aoki Produce (April 20)
Chihiro Hashimoto vs. Yurika Oka, Sendai Girls (April 25)
RESURA 