A Big Test For The Mizuki Era
Previewing TJPW WRESTLE PRINCESS IV
2023 has been the year of the rabbit. The “Popping Sugar Rabbit” Mizuki, to be exact.
Mizuki has been the face of Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling (TJPW) this year, both in storyline and in performances.
A big spotlight was put on Mizuki early this year when she started her first-ever reign as the TJPW Princess of Princess Champion. This was a big moment for her, as she finally achieved a title that many of her peers were already able to attain in previous years. It started her first major title run since joining TJPW in 2018.
The success in-ring that Mizuki has had this year matches the amount of success she has had in delivering quality matches. Anyone who follows the promotion knows that Mizuki has always been a consistent and strong talent, and that success has only carried on this year.
When Mizuki dethroned Yuka Sakazaki in March, their match was a 21-minute epic. After victories over Nao Kakuta and Sawyer Wreck, Mizuki arguably put together her best match of the year yet when she beat Maki Itoh at TJPW Summer Sun Princess ‘23.
Now, when she headlines WRESTLE PRINCESS IV on Monday, Mizuki has another match that can further cement her current reign as an era in TJPW’s history.
As part of the headlining card — which will take place on Sports Day, a public holiday in Japan — Mizuki will have the chance to face Miyu Yamashita. This match came together from the 2023 TJPW Tokyo Princess Cup, which Yamashita won.
Monday is certainly not a first-time matchup between Mizuki and Yamashita. In fact, the aforementioned tournament that Yamashita won included a victory over Mizuki in the opening round. When counting all of their singles matches since 2017, Yamashita leads the rivalry three matches to two.
A win on Monday for Mizuki would avenge the defeat she took against Yamashita in the summer, tie their head-to-head record, and give her the biggest on-paper victory since she claimed the belt numerous months back.
Yamashita is one of the most decorated wrestlers in TJPW history. She has held the TJPW Princess of Princess Championship three times, and those reigns are all among the four longest in the belt’s history (262 days, 319 days, and 484 days). A clean title win over her would signal that Mizuki is not just on a title reign, but is commanding her own era in the promotion.
If Mizuki drops the belt on Monday, her reign likely won’t be remembered as a large period of time in the promotion’s history that she took up. As it stands right now, her title run is only the seventh-longest out of all 12 championship reigns for the TJPW Princess of Princess Championship. She has defended her belt three times, which is only more than four champion’s runs with the belt. It has undoubtedly been an incredible year for Mizuki, but this win is needed to put her current campaign on the next level.
On the flip side of things, a victory for Yamashita will make her stand alone in the promotion’s history: Yamashita and Sakazaki are the only wrestlers who have ever attained three separate reigns with the TJPW Princess of Princess Championship. Obviously, a win for Yamashita on Monday would change that.
If I was in control of booking, the decision here feels like a no-brainer. Due to the stellar quality of matches from Mizuki this year — almost guaranteeing that she will have one or two candidates for “Match of the Year” in the promotion — it feels right to have her win here and walk into 2024 with the title still around her waist. Yamashita can always get the belt again later in her career, but right now it is best to use her star power to showcase how strong of a talent Mizuki is in her current form. Mizuki deserves to have her own era in TJPW’s history and now should be that time.
It is cliche to say that despite the result, this match is guaranteed to be good — but that’s truly the situation we are in here. We just spent a load of time discussing how one wrestler has a load of long-term accomplishments, and the other has been stellar while in the spotlight this year. Considering this, TJPW will likely have one of their best matches of their year on Monday. Or, just their best match of the year entirely. But no pressure of course.
Other things to watch for at TJPW Wrestle Princess IV
International Stars Max, Rose Return To TJPW Ring
A pair of international wrestling stars will return to TJPW this week for enticing matchups.
In the co-main event on Monday, Max The Impaler and Rika Tatsumi will face off in a double championship match. The winner will get to walk away with both the TJPW International Princess Championship and the NWA Women’s TV Championship.
The different flavor that Max brings to TJPW, being a tall wrestler with a hard-hitting style and the visuals of the main villain from a horror film, has played out perfectly in their previous appearances in the promotion. Their introduction last year through a program with Pom Harajuku, then their somewhat brief tag team championship reign with Heidi Howlizter, were both quite enjoyable.
There is no wrong result in this matchup. If Max wins, then they will continue to appear in TJPW with the promotion’s second-most important title, which would be a win for the promotion. If Tatsumi walks away with a victory, she will likely appear in the U.S. at NWA shows, which would be big for a wrestler who only competed in America for the first time this year.
Also on the card, former AEW Women’s World Champion Nyla Rose will return to face Maki Itoh in a special attraction singles match. In July, Rose appeared in TJPW to face Miu Watanabe. In a disappointing testament to how under-used she is by AEW, she has only appeared on TV four times since then.
The clash between Rose and Watanabe at Summer Sun Princess ‘23 was short and not too thrilling, leaving something to be desired. But expectations will be high once again this weekend, as Rose is facing Itoh, who is riding the momentum of a widely praised main event against Yamashita from that same July event.
Saki-sama And Co. Say Au Revoir
DDT talent Saki Akai will retire from professional wrestling next month, putting an end to a decade-long career that mainly took place in one of Japan’s top promotions. Along with her departure will also be the end of her alter ego Saki-sama and the faction she led, NEO Biishiki-gun.
NEO Biishiki-gun appeared frequently in TJPW in 2018, 2019 and 2021, and have made sporadic appearances in other years. This week, Saki-sama will team with factionmates Mei Saint-Michel (Mei Suruga), Yukio Saint Laurent (Yukio Sakaguchi), and Martha (Masahiro Takanashi). The absolute aura that this faction always brought has been a fun attraction to have on TJPW cards, and it will be bittersweet to see it for the last time on this show.
When they face the four-wrestler team of Shoko Nakajima, Suzume, Pom Harajuku & DDT’s Antonio Honda, it will be interesting to see if or how the faction will be written off TJPW on Monday.
Some other quick thoughts on the card: Ganbare Pro talents HARUKAZE, Yoshiko Hasegawa and Riara will appear on Monday’s undercard in a tag match against Arisu Endo, Kaya Toribami and HIMAWARI. I am interested to see how these names do, and I’m always looking forward to Endo and HIMAWARI matches, as I believe they both have big potential. In a first-time singles matchup, rookies Haru Kazeshiro and Runa Okubo will meet. It will both be their first time working a singles match on a major TJPW card. Also, after more than 120 days of the TJPW Princess Tag Team Championships being vacant, a new team will be crowned champions when the duos of Yuki Kamifuku and Mahiro Kiryu and Hikari Noa and Nao Kakuta meet. The belts were vacated in June after Yuka Sakazaki, who held the belts along with Mizuki, suffered an injury.
TJPW WRESTLE PRINCESS IV Card
Haru Kazeshiro vs. Runa Okubo
Arisu Endo, Kaya Toribami & HIMAWARI vs. HARUKAZE, Yoshiko Hasegara & Riara
Moka Miyamoto vs. Juria Nagano
Aja Kong, Raku & Shino Suzuki vs. Hyper Misao, Wakana Uehara & Toga
Ryo Mizunami & Yuki Aino vs. Miu Watanabe & Yuki Arai
Saki-sama, Mei Saint-Michel, Martha & Yukio Saint Laurent vs. Shoko Nakajima, Suzume, Pom Harajuku & Antonio Honda
Nyla Rose vs. Maki Itoh
Yuki Kamifuku & Mahiro Kiryu vs. Hikari Noa & Nao Kakuta (Vacant TJPW Princess Tag Team Championships)
Rika Tatsumi vs. Max The Impaler (TJPW International Princess Championship & NWA Women’s TV Championship Match)
Mizuki vs. Miyu Yamashita (TJPW Princess of Princess Championship)
Sunday Notebook
I was going to also write a NJPW column for today’s issue, but then I reached over 1,000 words on my TJPW piece and realized another article would be a little much. If you want a primer for NJPW’s Monday show and haven’t read my October preview, I highly suggest you check that out!
Here’s how it’s going to work regarding coverage of this week’s big events:
On Monday, I’m going to have a column on either NJPW or TJPW. Whichever feels more urgently needing to be addressed will get that spot. Whichever promotion I don’t write about Monday, I’ll make sure to talk about it in a post on Tuesday. I hope you are looking forward to it!