Early into Sareee and Mio Momono’s fight, the two wrestlers had their fingers tangled in each other’s hair as they spun around, a storm of flesh and fury. How fitting an image. An illustration of pure ill will.
This is a story of the kind of animosity that spills out of you and this opening skirmish signals that to the audience. It’s our cue to strap and be ready for a grand symphony of violence.
Sareee and Momono had crossed paths several times over before this meeting at the August 8 Marvelous show at Korakuen Hall.
Their rivalry goes back to 2018 when Mio was just two years into her career. In February of that year, Sareee beat her at a Diana event in Kawasaki. The Sun God bested her again a month later at a Marvelous show. Then they fought to a draw in 2024 at ZERO1’s Happy New Year & Do Your Best! event.
She didn’t have many chances, admittedly, but Mio just couldn’t notch a win against her adversary.
Sareee’s pattern of success against the smaller, swift Momono held true for tag team action, too. Sareee (with Hibiki) defeated Momono (alongside Yurika Oka) in the Dual Shock WAVE Tournament final back in 2020. At the 2023 Hana Memorial show, Sareee and Aja Kong took down Mika Iwata and Mio Momono in the main event. Going by what’s listed on Cagematch, a Momono team hasn’t beaten a Sareee squad since 2020.
With that lopsided history, it’s not surprising how frustrated and testy Momono got when Spark Rush (Sareee and Takumi Iroha) battled Momono and Senka Akatsuki just recently. The usually peppy speedster pounced on Sareee after the bout, holding her down on the mat, her hand tight around strands of her hair. The dynamic had clearly shifted from competition to something more personal. Even further than it already had.
Sareee has had that effect on many a wrestler. She is unabashedly arrogant. She storms into promotion after promotion, trashing the roster, claiming she’s going to outdo everyone. A big-time superiority complex is her superpower.
This time out, Momono was the insulted party. She set out to defend her homebase of Marvelous, to prove herself against the former IWGP women’s champ.
Inside Korakuen Hall for the August 8 event, Momono ditched her peach hat and trademark grin. The happy-go-lucky dynamo was gone. In her place stood, a focused, glaring flagbearer for the Marvelous brand.
That intensity flowed through the veins of the match. It began with Sareee and Momono scowling at each other before the bell and then moved into one of the more aggressive tie-ups you will ever see.
There would be no feeling-out process. No preamble. Two animals sunk their claws into each other from the jump.
Sareee made it clear that she had no need for honor or respect. When the two women got caught up in the ring ropes, The Sun God opted for a nasty strike to the sternum rather than a clean break. She then wrenched at Momono’s hair like she was trying to yank a doll’s head out of its socket.
Mio matched her in hostility. She flew at Sareee, dropkicking her out of the ring. She wrenched on her opponent’s neck. She was a wasp swooping down with her stinger out.
There’s a compelling back-and-forth nature to this match. It’s not just that Mio and Sareee are trading moments of belligerence, they are doing so in a way where they mirror each other. Dropkick for dropkick. Neck crank for neck crank. Eye for an eye.
The ring couldn’t contain all of that.
The wrestlers brawled outside the ring and Sareee, teeming with anger, flung chair after chair at Mio. Momono paid Sareee back by throwing her through a doorway.
The stands. The stairwell. The cement at their feet. The whole of Korakuen Hall became their battlefield.
The use of their environment, including Momono leaping off the top of the stairwell, elevated the match. But regardless of whether they were slugging it out in the thick of the crowd or in the center of the ring, it was the pure force they put into everything that carried the bout.
Momono and Sareee hit each other with stinging slaps. They stomped on each other. Each woman’s offense was relentless.
At one point, Mio grabbed Sareee in a frenzy and hit her with a barrage of headbutts until she ran out of breath.
The severity of their blows are striking, beautiful, staggering. And both wrestlers sell the hell out of all it. They wobble on their knees. They are weary and distressed. Believably and emphatically.
Toward the end of the match, Momono did everything she can to keep the invader down. But even her biggest bombs weren’t enough. Her mouth widened and she howled in frustration. Her pangs of dejection are palpable.
Momono and Sareee grew more delirious as the action unfolded, spinning in disbelief at how their opposition kept standing up. There’s a sense of respect and awe simmering under the surface of all that bad blood between them.
The match ended with Sareee blasting Momono on her head several times including with one final arm-trap suplex. It’s a gnarly punctuation mark and what had been a contest full of carnage.
Sareee vs. Mio Momono show us two warriors determined to push past each other, whatever it may cost. It’s as if they don’t even need an audience. Their struggle for glory is personal, intimate, feral.
We get to be voyeurs, peeking our heads through the trees to see two animals venture into the depths of brutality. What a rousing view it is.
This is the match of the year thus far.
It is the most dramatic and captivating bout the joshi scene has produced in 2026. Not just because of how hard-hitting it is, but because of how stellar the performances are. Sareee and Mio are both so convincing in their animosity and in their suffering. They take the basics of wrestling storytelling, the violence and the cajones, and do it so profoundly well that the end product stands out among the crowded calendar of showdowns in the squared circle.
This is special. Art that deserves to be shared and treasured and stared at with a sense of awe.
Bless Sareee and Mio for putting their bodies through all that shit to create it.
RESURA 