I Finally Know What I Like!

Wrestling Amino Believers!

The Phenomenal One!

Camach!

It’s crazy to think, that after almost 20 years of watching professional wrestling, after watching multiple companies, wrestlers and matches I finally have figured out what type of professional wrestling I like. Therefore I needed to dedicate an entire blog just for me to explain the promotion that has made me realize this and of course just to simply express myself and let this out into the world even if it’s the void. Which it’ll most likely land because Amino sucks lol. Let’s get this party started.

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For those who’ve been living under a rock or have just not given a damn about my blogs should know that for the past year that I’ve been back on Wrestling Amino, the majority of what I talk about is Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling. The only real other time I talked about a promotion the way I have with TJPW is Lucha Underground. Both of those promotions brought back the feeling despite both being completely different in how each company is run/booked. Let’s also give some credit to NJPW & AEW because for a few years they both brought back that feeling.

TJPW has brought me so much joy. Granted watching those first heck, 15 shows? I was very lost. I was struggling with names, trying to recognize theme songs, figure out who’s a heel or a face and I wasn’t completely invested due to the fact I had no idea what the history was between all these wrestlers. Also them having a singing group to open the show most definitely threw me off big time. For most people they would’ve quickly given up on trying to figure out all that nonsense but not me. Unlike those trolls online who don’t want to google shit, I did more than simply google, I went to YouTube and watch multiple videos on certain wrestlers to get their full history with the promotion.

My goodness let me tell you that was exactly what I needed. I needed that context, I needed to learn the history between certain wrestling or more importantly the origin story of each wrestler. Wrestlers like Rika Tatsumi, Mizuki, Maki Itoh, Kamiyu, Yamashita, Sakazaki, Nakajima, Yuki Arai, Saki Sama & Hyper Misao. That’s been some of the most fun I had while getting into Thai promotion. Discovering new sides to these characters. What their motivations are, the relationship with one another, the history between each other. It felt like a One Piece Revelation when I would find something new with one of these girls. My mind would be blown sometimes. Even if it’s a simple compilation videos of the wrestlers trying to cut a promo in English or some trying to sing anime song. Such a blast researching all that.

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In the world of professional wrestling there’s always Bad Guys & Good Guys. That’s something that’s never going to change in pro wrestling. It’s something you can’t really get rid of, it’s a staple as they say. You need that. Until… earlier in the blog I said I tried to figure out who the Faces & Heels were in Tokyo Joshi Pro. The twist is, there’s really no traditional Heel in the promotion. It’s more along the lines of wrestlers just being cheeky of just a bully in a fun way. Like minor biting, messing with someone’s hair, using a spray can or maybe getting a bit too aggressive and you start to choke not just your opponents but your teammates as well I mean idk just an hypothetical sure. TJPW made me realize maybe you don’t need Heels & Faces. Not in the sense of getting rid of that tradition but if you run a promotion it’s been proven you can run a successful enough company without a real definitive heels to cause havoc.

Just get a great crop of wrestlers who understand their characters to a t and let them lose and tell them have fun. Someone like Hyoe Misao, a superhero who’s the protector of Love & Peace in TJPW. The gag is that the way she seems to be doing her hero work isn’t all that heroic like maybe a cheeky sneak attack, spray can, tricking your opponent by giving them a gift but then takes the gift back right after a minor ambush but don’t worry according to Misao it’s all in the name of justice. Pom Harajuku… who’s just a 3 year old girl in a 25ish year old body causing havoc. Mizuki, a sugar rabbit who’s just a straight up menace. Always with various shenanigans Stay away please. Rika Tatsumi who is an individual who inside the is so smooth but is also a comedic genius. It’s hard to explain into words, you just gotta watch her man. Again, in TJPW there’s no traditional heel, maybe besides Maki Itoh in a sense but even she’s a bit goofy. It all just depends on the situation at the time of the match will determine who’ll be more cheeky than the others. But you wanna talk about a real Heel here’s God Raku trying to kill my poor Shino with a pillow AAAHHHHH!!!!

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The Matches in TJPW, many online I’ve seen say that the company does have any “real” wrestlers. The only 2 that give them credibility is Miyu Yamashita & Miu Watanabe. I first saw that not long while getting Into the promotion and even I knew that was completely wrong. All the main shows and semi main shows have awesome wrestling. Not mind blowing 5 stars across the board but a lot of the matches will surprise you, you will have moments where you gasp & the matches are all very enjoyable. Saying joshi by the likes of Mizuki, Itoh, Arai, Nakajima, Tatsumi, Suzume, Endo, Wakana & Himawari can’t go in the ring are out of their mind straight up. The girls I just named have all had incredible matches in 2024. Even those I didn’t mention are amazing as well and put on super enjoyable matches that I always walk away happy with.

A lot of the undercard have their comedy spots, much like how you’d see on the indies or maybe even PWG but not that insane mind you. Comedy that fits the culture of Japan or that kinda minor goofy sense of humor. It works really well with all these joshi and they pull it off greatly. Talk about psychology because these girls man, all they do in the ring flows and makes sense. They put American TV wrestling to shame sometimes let me tell ya. Once again history, depending on who you put together in the ring you’ll be able to tell who will have an awesome match. Recently Suzume & Yuki Arai had a banger. Tag Team Daisy Monkey are such an incredible team who work together perfectly. Don’t even ask about Watanabe or Yamashita because if you’ve heard about any one of those two or seen their work you know exactly how great they are. Someone of my favorite matches of 2023/2024 have had matches from Tokyo Joshi. TJPW may not be a workhorse company like Stardome but they do their own thing and they do it extremely well and it’s working most importantly. Plus it doesn’t need to be workhorse heavy because you always got your Stardome, Your Sendai Girls, your Marigold. Tokyo Joshi just needs to be themselves & everything else will fall into place.

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Yes, I now very much prefer the lack of heels, some goofy-ness in matches and some killer matches near the top of the card. Does that mean that I don’t like the American, Stardom, DPW, or even NJPW styles of wrestling anymore? Of course not! Swerve/Hangaman is one of the best feuds in the past few years. Punk/McIntyre, Mariah/Storm you name it. I like my serious Heel vs Babyface programs. But that’s not longer what I love to or prefer to watch now. It’s Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling, where the wrestlers are clear as day best friend backstage and when they’re in the ring or doing backstage interviews/conferences they transform in their characters sailor moon style and let those personas take over. I simply love the shenanigans, the goofy joshi, the serious matches near the top of the card, the rookie class, the way they interact with the crowd, Big Panda’s , the wacky spots they come up with it’s all just so brilliant. TJPW is the happiest promotion in the world and I’m eating all that up. For almost 2 years I’ve been watching the company and I just keep falling in love with it. Not to mention toon all the cute joshi. I mean that’s a plus for sure haha.

I didn’t even touch upon Tokyo Joshi having their very own Idol Group. At first I thought it was very strange, I had absolutely no idea what was going on and why there were singing. The confusion on my face was unlike any other. Flash forward a few months and of course research. I grew to love the of the Up Up Girls and I grew to love many of their songs which are straight up bangers I kid you not. I get super excited when I know I’m about to watch TJPW because 1, you get greeted by the best ring announcer Sayuri Namba and through her wizard like powers summons the Up Up Girls to give us a magical performance of one of their hit songs.