Friday, May 02, 2008

Kayoko Haruyama is the new JWP Open Weight Champion


JWP had their MANIA-X show on Apr. 29 at Korakuen Hall in front of 964 fans. That's not too bad. The main event had Azumi Hyuga defending her JWP Open Weight Championship against Kayoko Haruyama. In her ten year career with JWP, Haruyama has never been the top dog. Normally I wouldn't pick her over Hyuga because Hyuga is a better wrestler. But Hyuga has been having serious problems with her left knee and is likely going to require surgery. One other note. Sachie Abe had eye surgery a couple of weeks ago and is resting at home. I haven't seen an indication of how long she'll be out. A few months perhaps.





The opener had JWP rookie Pinkie Mayuca vs Mio Shirai of Maheken. Pinkie? Yeah, they've given Mayuca Niizeki a new name and dressed her in a sailor costume. Maybe it's a Sailor Moon tribute. I don't know. Mayuca got Mio in a camel clutch. Mio controlled most of the match but Mayuca reversed a sunset flip into a backslide for her first singles win at 9:37. Next up was Tyrannosaurus Okuda & Ryo Mizunami vs Arisa Nakajima & Kana. Nakajima wore a new costume. It went back and forth as one would expect with equally ranked juniors. Mizunami & Nakajima began with an elbow battle. Okuda tagged in and applied an ankle lock. Kana tagged in and hit a dropkick and a couple of Jaguar style butt bumps. Mizunami tagged in and took over on Kana. Nakajima & Kana hit a double dropkick. Nakajima attempts a cross body from the top rope but Mizunami catches her and hits a power slam and the pin is broken up by Kana. After a guillotine leg drop, Okuda tags in and Nakajima hits a top rope plancha to the floor. This is followed by a missile dropkick and a Northern Lights suplex for two followed by a German suplex for two. Mizunami comes in to turn the tide and Okuda wins over Nakajima with a German suplex at 12:30.





Next up was an eight woman match with Jaguar Yokota, Manami Toyota, Fuuka & Yumi Ohka vs KAZUKI, Megumi Yabushita, Kei'to & Sonoko Kato. Generally speaking, this kind of match is too cluttered. It starts out calmly enough with Fuuka's monkey flip on Yabushita, Kato's face buster on Ohka and Toyota's moonsault on Kato. But the end is too chaotic until Toyota hits the Queen Bee Bomb on KAZUKI for the win at 20:30. Kaori Yoneyama defeated Atsuko Emoto with a US-ZOU at 12:05. This appears to be a variation on a sunset flip. Then another cluttered tag match with Tsubasa Kuragaki, Bolshoi Kid & Tojuki Leon vs Devil Masami, Toshie Uematsu & Ran YuYu. Because of her upcoming retirement, Devil is the focus here. But the end comes when Kuragaki hits a splash mountain followed by a lariat on Uematsu for the win at 11:43.





Now it's time for Azumi Hyuga to defend her JWP Open Weight Championship against Kayoko Haruyama. Hyuga starts with a running knee to the face but Haruyama comes back with a high kick. Hyuga hits a German suplex followed by a kick and a running knee to the corner. But when she attempts to take Haruyama to the top rope for a superplex, she gets her knee caught in the ropes. Hyuga gets loose and hits a plancha to the floor followed by a missile dropkick. But Haruyama trips up Hyuga and follows with a leg lariat. A missed move sends Hyuga to the floor and Haruyama hits a suicide dive. She nails Hyuga with a chair. Back in the ring, Haruyama gets a dragon sleeper but misses a knee drop from the top rope. Hyuga hits a German suplex for two. She goes to the top but Haruyama catches her and hits a superplex for two. Haruyama follows with a guillotine leg drop from the top rope. Hyuga gets a dragon sleeper but Haruyama goes to the top and Hyuga hits a power bomb from there for two. This is followed by running knees to the back of the head. Both wrestlers are very tired and Hyuga is favouring her knee. Hyuga hits her Michinoku Driver II finisher for two followed by a German suplex from the top rope. Hyuga misses a footstamp from the top rope and Haruyama comes back with a lariat followed by a leg drop on Hyuga's knee. Haruyama hits another top rope move but can't follow up. They exchange moves but Haruyama hits the Keene Hammer for the win at 23:51. Kayoko Haruyama is the JWP Open Weight Champion for the very first time. I've never thought of her as a main event wrestler. We'll see how she does. Azumi Hyuga is having arthoscopic knee surgery to determine what needs to be done. We don't know how long she'll be out but she usually handles the booking during her time off. She's a great performer so let's wish her a speedy recovery.

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