White Dolphin

I'm sorry, how the hell is Lionnesses losing money when they've got sponsorships from Daljit and Daljit? Hell, that'd probably give them better cash flow than I had with 5SSW......

As someone who got reasonably far into a 5SSW diary, I've gotta say that its a good enough start, but some of these renders......eesh. The renders themselves aren't bad, but to me some of these new ones would suit characters more in the vein of generic young lions wearing singlets here to get their asses kicked, rather than the images in ones mind the game gives you about these characters through ratings and backstory. 5SSW to me comes off as going through a transition from the early 1990s Crush Gals-esque top babyfaces are all-heart tomboys taking on big tough and scary women era (which was Ogiwara and Thunder Hike vs Crusher Ichihara and June Butler to me), to more of a modern day pretty idol girls who give you pretty smiles as they spinkick your teeth down your throat, in the vein of Kairi Sane and Io Shirai today (and represented by girls like Yuma Maruya, Miwako Katsukawa, Gemmei Oonishi, etc.). Katsukawa's render for this is really egregious imo, her hair is barely even purple! Not a bad render for a CVerse gen really, hell I'll probably swipe it and add it to free pics, but Katsukawa's gotta look like the cool and spicy gal that schoolgirls nationwide would worship in secret from their strict authoritarian parents, yknow? Other than that, some pretty interesting decisions involving the titles. That Lady Lotus Triangle title win had me chuckling, because I had put together a running gag with her in my diary about how in multi-woman matches she would always turn on potential allies in 2-on-1 situations, even when it wasn't in her best interests to do so, because she simply couldn't help herself. She sees back, she applies dagger to it.

Never got the chance to finish this, partially due to writers block, partially due to a desire to branch out and try a web novel (which flamed out after 200 pages), partially due to burgeoning respiratory health problems, and partially due to me getting really fed up with the wrestling business for a variety of reasons. Its been nearly a year since last update, and I meant to post this earlier, but here's a summary of what was supposed to happen: ON-CAMERA STORY: -The JoshiMania cage match main event would conclude with Alicia Strong pinning Yuma Maruya, and then 9 gaijin rushing the ring. Paige Croft would climb into the cage with her chain wrapped around her, while the Uprising, Lilly and Rose, Anderson and Snyder, and Higgins & Sentinel would stand guard. Strong and Croft would beat the hell out of Maruya and leave her laying. Friends of Maruya's would run down to save and get beaten up by the weapon-wielding gaijin surrounding the cage. -Also on the card, Maki Yoshifumi would be assaulted by a lead pipe to the knee before her All-Asian title match by two masked attackers, leading to Christy Higgins upsetting her for the title. Simony Sentinel would win the Triangle title as well, giving the gaijin full control over the titles. -Next show Alicia Strong would reveal her master plan to invade 5 Star and conquer it with her gaijin friends, and would name her group the Black Fang. -Megumi Nakajima would then start forming a resistance group called 5-Star Defense, called out Shiori Jippensha for not coming out to help, and asked her and Fuyuko Higa for aid. Higa would come down with Jippensha in tow, and say Jippensha would no longer be loyal to Maruya any longer, for she has seen the light. Higa would declare herself leader of her own faction, BLAZE, a faction designed to burn 5-Star to cinders and rebuild from the ashes. So you have three-way stable warfare with the following teams 5-Star Defense Maruya+Nakajima Katsukawa+Sato MAYA+Matsuda Saitoh+Oonishi MAtsumara+Tagawa BLAZE Higa+Jippensha Yamato+Akutagawa Yoshifumi+Hashimoto Kita+Arihyoshi Lady Lotus+Tsuijmura Black Fang Strong+Croft Quinzel+Svelte Lilly+Rose Snyder+Anderson Higgins+Sentinel -Jesus Christ my tag division was awesome. Anyways, Black Fang are the heels, BLAZE is chaotic neutral at best and hate both rival stables, and 5-Star Defense are the de facto good gals. -Maruya rematches Strong, but is injured from the previous encounter and loses in the September show. Nakajima takes a shot, and loses in the October show. -November sees the tag team tournament, won by Strong and Croft. Maruya and Nakajima lose to Higa and Jippensha in the semifinals and serious question marks arise over whether 5-Star can handle these new big threats. -Jippensha challenges for the title in December, and loses. Higa gets the shot for January, and loses. -February's Big Crush battle royal sees the Black Fang showing the first signs of losing their grip on the company, when Pinky Perez and Miwako Katsukawa almost eliminate Alicia Strong. But Strong survives to fight another day. Strong defends successfully over Perez come March. -April sees the Fan Appreciation Week torunament, and the dam starts to crack. Strong, Croft, and Sentinel lose in the finals to Maruya, Nakajima, and Katsukawa when Katsukawa pins Croft. Katsukawa starts making serious noise for a challenge after going undefeated in 2021 sans the Big Crush loss. -Strong agrees to give Katsukawa the title shot, on one condition: Katsukawa submit to a series of tasks, concluding with Katsukawa taking 20 lashes from Strong, and if she quits from the pain, she doesn't get a title shot. (I ripped this off shamelessly from Cody/MJF). -Strong gets to 17 lashes with a leather belt on Katsukawa's back, before Croft hands her the chain, and Strong gives her three final lashes with the chain. Katsukawa doesn't quit, but is barely conscious and cut open badly on her back. This would be built as a big dramatic production, with 5SSW legends sitting ringside and looking with disgust at Strong. Even Higa would disapprove of the beating, and would mock Strong over it. Katsukawa would come off as a selfless, heroic babyface with some guts, and would be built right away as the next ace candidate. -Nonetheless, Strong exploits the back injury to beat Katsukawa via referee stoppage in May, after putting her in a Bow and Arrow hold to punish the whipped back. Katsukawa would give an upside down look of grim resignation towards the camera before passing out in the hold. -Strong defends in June in a four-way scramble against Higa, Oonishi, and Zofia Jankovic. With the departure of her tag partner Thea Davis, Jankovic becomes a thug-for-hire who plays all three factions off against one another, and the big storyline is who is she loyal to going into the title match. Turns out its no one and she tries to win, but Strong steals a couple pins and retains the title. -In July we get the J Grand Prix, which Katsukawa wins by defeating Jippensha/Nakajima/Saitoh/Perez in the group, Maruya in the semifinals, and Higa in the finals, to establish her as a main eventer once and for all. Saitoh takes the Triangle title from Sentinel in a big moment, marking the first title loss for the Black Fang. -Strong tries desperately to rally the troops ahead of JoshiMania, but berates Sentinel too hard for the loss and loses her support. Finally, at JoshiMania, one year after the Black Fang's reign starts, it all falls to pieces. Saitoh unifies the Triangle and All-Asian titles to form the Modern Japan title. The Uprising lose their nearly two year long tag title reign to Maruya/Nakajima. And finally, Katsukawa pins Strong in the cage match to become 5SSW World champion and break the Black Fang hold over the company for good. -Katsukawa would beat Strong in a September match where Strong puts her career on the line and thats that. The diary would end there, but there'd be a ton of directions to go in. I would've probably had Higa beat Katsukawa for the title within the year, and Katsukawa would chase to get it back. Higa would lead a heel faction with Black Fang remnants, or maybe a heel turned Kanto Express, while some Blaze members would form a stable with other Black Fang remnants as the 3rd "chaotic neutral" party. There were a couple ideas I always wanted to explore, like Yoshifumi teaming with Arihyoshi or a Nakajima heel turn, so who knows what could've happened from there. -With hindsight though, this story was flawed. The Katsukawa build was fine, but looking back I shouldn't have bothered putting Strong into the story at all, and should've just made Higa the big heel. I ran a similar Alicia Strong-centered story to this in TEW 2016, but in that game it made sense to keep Higa on the backburner, as Maruya was 3 years younger, DEVIL Karube was still around, Jippensha could actually learn how to cut a promo, etc. There were choices to push in 2016. In 2020? Not so much. I should've strapped Higa to the rocket and lit it up like Elon Musk. --- OFF-CAMERA STORY HAPPENINGS: -Erin and Simony Sentinel were set to become a couple. I was going to write a scene where they started kissing, Simony went to go have a shower, but then Erin had a "what are you doing kissing a girl your lesbian-hating dad is gonna kill you" moment of epiphany and would flee from Simony's hotel room. Later on Erin would bust open Simony hardway in a match and have an emotional breakdown, apologizing to Simony for potatoeing her and for walking out on possible sexy times. Erin would eventually become Simony's girlfriend, and start getting more comfortable with herself in this odd couple relationship. -Erin would be sent home briefly after the November tour, following an injury involving her knuckles fracturing on Fuyuko Higa's skull. She would miss December and spend the holidays with her father. During Christmas Erin would finally reveal the full extent of her relationship with Simony, and her dad Alexander would kick her out of the house in anger over being such a "degenerate". Alexander would also reveal that Erin only got the job because of Alexander's financial influence, which was something Erin never wanted to hear, as she wanted to work her way up the ladder with her own ability. An emotional Erin would flee to Montreal to live-in with Simony. -Meanwhile, Ted's girlfriend Layla would discover some damning documents in Alexander's work office, revealing that Alexander's investment firm was involved in some illegal activities. Layla would show these documents to Ted, who was considering quitting his job after making a bunch of money trading Cornellverse's version of GameStop stock (since this was a topical issue coming up in January of 2021). -Alexander would then call Ted to his office and explain he was cashing out his chips with 5SSW, and thus there'd be no need to send Ted overseas to Japan with his daughter Erin as her interpreter any longer. But then Ted throws down an Uno reverse card, revealing that he bought Alexander's 5SSW debt, giving him his $500,000 investment back in paper bills with 10% interest. Ted would then dramatically quit his job, after dressing down Alexander for hating his daughter being a lesbian, dressing him down for being a generally corrupt stockbroker leaving people in the poorhouse, and also rip into him for Alexander trying to turn Ted's girlfriend Layla into one of Alexander's "secretaries" (which really means mistresses), even though Alexander should've known that Ted was in a serious relationship with Layla. Ted then threatens Alexander with the documents Layla had obtained earlier, and tells him to leave Layla, Erin, and 5SSW alone. -Ted then becomes a freelance stockbroker of some repute, and becomes part-owner of 5SSW due to buying their debt. He's forgiving though and lets 5-Star play out without going broke, and prevents Erin from being controlled by her dad and left to rot in Canada. -5-Star repays Ted's investment by joining the Neo Modern Japan alliance, with Ogiwara acting as the mediator between BCG, WLW, EX2010, and SAISHO, and everyone sharing BCG's profits equally. Ogiwara would cast a vote for Razan Okamoto as the first True Japan champion. Modern Japan would be less about Kajahara's wacky anti-tour philosophy, and more about forming a coalition to share talent, and prevent the aggressive PGHW and BHOTWG from picking them totally clean. -Erin and Simony would date until September 2021 before moving to a long-distance relationship, as the diary would end with Erin moving to America to get a fresh start with QAW, in a bid to prove to herself she could get along without anyone's help. Story would then flash forward a decade to Erin visiting her father's grave (he would've went to prison and died), and reading a letter from her father where he apologized for being a scumbag and urged Erin not to repeat his mistakes. Erin would then fly to Japan for a title match in 5SSW against MAYA or Katsukawa or something, where she beats them to win her first ever belt, while an older Simony, Ted, and some Japanese superfans Erin met look on with joy. -Mixed in all of this would've been a second fight with Erin knocking down Higa. Higa would find out about 5SSW's circumstances after running to Ogiwara to complain, but would be promised the title within a year in exchange for not being such a bitch. Higa being Higa of course, she doesn't keep her end of the promise but gets her way anyways because talent. If anyone has any questions about other possible future events in this diary, drop me a line. Sorry to the followers who didn't get a true payoff the way I envisioned. I'm not sure I'll take another stab at a diary until WMMA6 comes out (if that ever becomes a thing), but I follow the occasional odd work from here and still enjoy GDS games, eve if I dislike the IRL sport behind them. Hope everyone's staying healthy through this damned pandemic, and I'll see you around sometime. Peace!

OOC SHOW NOTES: -Bit of a subdued start to the JoshiMania tour as I aim to shorten the matches a bit, plus I left off Strong, Maruya, and Higa from wrestling due to perceived fatigue (they aren't really tired in TEW-land of course, but in kayfabe Higa and Strong were in a gruelling tournament and Maruya fought two hard battles in the final two cards.) -Discovered earlier that Tagawa and Matsumara had chemistry as a team on preshows, and I was looking to offload Tsumura anyways, as she dipped to 21 overness and wouldn't be much use as a jobber going forward. Plus again she asked out in a test sim. Tagawa's gonna take a while to get good grades unfortunately, but its a decent team. Plus they look like a team, which is always important to me. Theres only a couple teams in all of 5-Star where it looks like neither person would hang out with each other. -Debbie gets the win over Erin to try and boost her overness up to Lilly's level, then I'll go from there. -That Higa/Strong promo was actually a Higa promo in-game, and I had forgotten about Strong on the show entirely. Whoops! So Strong gets retconned in despite not being in on the savefile itself. Also I fell I did a pretty good job on this promo, because Higa's character is a fountain of words and white noise. -MAYA can carry seven average workers to an above-average match, thus establishing her as NeoRicky Steamboat and the wrestling Goddess of all creation. Of course, she was only a 71 in the match and not like an 80 but whatever. I still think Katsukawa was the right choice for future ace, but MAYA's working better than she was a few months ago. -Higgins is gonna be like Sentinel where it'll take the crowd a while to really get it, but we're making progress, she's up another notch of overness from this bout, and theres more to come, hopefully. -SUB's match wasn't as good as MAYA's because I didn't use Open Match, even though it was sorta open in the match writeup. Team SUB fared so much better in TEW2016 for me, but then they started with the belts and thus a reason to push them by having them draw with the main event teams. I like Kita's render and swagger, but they're at such a crossroads, and I don't have affection for them like I do with the Hell Raisers, even if Arihyoshi is better than either Hell Raiser. Ah well, they'll still do okay for themselves. -Sentinel/Sato was actually a booking screwup that took place because I reshuffled this card from a test sim to include Team Sub, who were off the card (Their six woman tag instead involved Katsukawa and Sato teaming with someone else in a squash over Lilly/War Unit). Sentinel was facing someone else entirely, got Sato instead, and it actually screwed something up down the line. More on this later. -The main event was also changed, I think it was Higa and the Hell Raisers going over Nakajima and two others. I think it got changed when I realized I should rest some people on this first card, and then realized I should probably continue this Jippensha story. So we get the draw and additional credibility for Higa's minions, who didn't need Higa to force the draw. Plus I'm continuing to get the HEAD KICK over as one of the most effective moves in the company! I'd like to think I'm slowly bridging a credibility gap between my perceived main gals and my uppercard, to create an "anything can happen" sense on these shows for the fictional in-game fans, instead of "Former World champ wins lol" --- PREDICTION STANDINGS: ampulator: 21/25 KyTeran: 18/25 Anyone lurking along feel free to chime in with predictions! Always nice to know how my booking is perceived at a given time. NEXT CHARACTER UPDATE: Major happenings. Will take a few days for me to get mentally ready to write it. Love you all, stay safe!

Shogun TV Presents: 5SSW JoshiMania Tour Night 1 Saturday/Week 4/June/2020 Nekketsu High School Gymnasium Osaka, Japan --- To start the show, we get a video package narrated by 5SSW VP Kaiya Kuwahara breaking down the results of the Grand Prix, hyping the 25th JoshiMania, and showing highlights building up to its main event: Yuma Maruya making her 10th defense of the 5SSW World title against the legendary overseas champion Alicia Strong. The road to JoshiMania begins HERE! Rating: 70 --- vs. Yukiko Matsumara / Hoshiko Tagawa vs. Kuniko Matsura / Sakura Sada Hoshiko Tagawa makes her second 5SSW appearance after losing a tryout match, with Karube pointing out she's had 3 years in the business and enough experience to start fighting the veterans on even keel. And she does. Tagawa does a lot of the work for the new team, although her teamwork with Matsumara when showcased seems to be at a pretty high level, and the two seem to have instant chemistry together. It works out well for them, as Tagawa taps the veteran Sada with a surprise Rolling Kneebar out of nowhere for the submission win, in a decent first effort that gets polite applause from the audience. Result: Matsumara & Tagawa def. local competitors via submission (Tagawa taps Sada) at 7:31 Rating: 53 --- vs. Debbie Rose vs. Erin Marcelin The Rose part of Lilly and Rose gets a crack at singles action, and makes a good accounting of herself. Erin tries but gets nowhere for her efforts, a lot of punches cutting through air while Rose gracefully outmaneuvers her. Rose wins in fairly quick and decisive fashion with the Rose Cutter (Modified Rolling Cutter) for a 3 count. Result: Debbie Rose def. Erin Marcelin via pinfall at 7:33 Rating: 50 --- We then cut to a promo involving the finalists of the previous J Grand Prix talking themselves up. Alicia Strong says she's achieved a huge step in establishing a legacy for herself here in Japan that can't be ignored, but now she has to finish the job and take down Maruya inside a steel cage. Strong says she's prepared for the fight, and sincerely hopes Maruya is prepared for more than just a fight, she better prepare for war. Higa is close to tears, ranting at the camera about how yet another fluke loss has confirmed the fate she was setting out to change, and now the hell coming down on 5-Star will not be provided by Higa. Oh well, even if she's not the one doing it, the destruction of the company is actually something that can still work in Higa's favour, as long as Higa and her allies are in perfect position to conquer later amidst the chaos. Higa then says that she may not be champion this JoshiMania, and maybe not even by the next JoshiMania, but she WILL be champion sometime, and when she is, she'll accept the fan's apologies for booing and demeaning her plans for "perfection". Because remember, the alternative to Higa's perfection is something you may like NOW, but later on.......and Higa leaves it at that to cap off another cryptic and surely meaningless promo. Oh Higa, you so cray cray. Rating: 77 --- vs. MAYA / Machiko Matsuda / Lily Snyder / Ava Anderson vs. Lady Lotus / Rika Tsujimura / Kaede Sugiyama / Kinuye Mushashibo A pretty decent match, mostly due to MAYA, who in spite of her J Grand Prix losses and the loss to Simony Sentinel seems to still be credible amongst the 5SSW fans. Synchro Wave get a few turns to show their stuff (although it has to be said adding extra partners disrupts their teamwork), and the opposing faction do okay, but this match is a one-woman show of suplexes and quality catch as catch can from MAYA, who just overwhelms anyone opposing her. The Razor Petals get some heat on Matsuda later in the match, and land their headscissors into a kangaroo kick double team maneuver that gets a reaction from the crowd, but Matsuda manages to escape a Razor Knee (Running Kenka Knee), from Tsujimura and tags in MAYA, who runs wild on everyone as the match breaks down. Mushashibo somehow ends up being the legal woman, but gets caught by MAYA's Steel Tower Drop (Slingshot Spike DDT) for 3. Result: Team MAYA def. Team Lotus via pinfall at 11:45 (MAYA pins Mushashibo) Rating: 64 --- Post-match, MAYA says she needs to learn from every match she has from this point onwards, win, lose or draw, and intends to use each match to get back to the level she was at before, competing for a World title shot in a tournament with 5 Star's best. Rating: 52 --- vs. Christy Higgins vs. Toku Kijmuta Mediocre match here, as Higgins isn't quite catching on with the crowd despite some decent work thus far, and Kijmuta is going through the motions at this point without her superior partner to cover for her. Higgins dominates most of the match despite the size disadvantage, being too fast and too skilled for Kijmuta to cope with. However, Higgins cannot get Kijmuta up for the Florida Upswing (Spinning Vertical Reverse DDT), forcing Higgins to make an adjustment and land a regular DDT followed by a breathtaking Moonsault Back Elbow Drop for 3 that gets the only loud response of the match. Result: Christy Higgins def. Toku Kijmuta via pinfall at 7:44 Rating: 55 --- vs. Chiyeko Kita / Etsuko Arihyoshi / Romi Yamato vs. Kate Lilly / Kaori Takenouchi / Mio Takasu Kate Lilly's return does not go as well for her as her partner's did, as Team SUB is out to prove something in this match and just take it to their opponents constantly in this one. The Gamma War Unit and Lilly get in a fair bit of offense (Lilly's being noticeably crisper and more effective), but Arihyoshi, much like MAYA, is just a one-woman suplex hurricane in this one, throwing around her opponents, even the taller Takasu, with all sorts of suplexes, even busting off 7 in a row at one point before Lilly finally counters one by landing on her feet and dropkicking Arihyoshi in the teeth. Yamato and Kita do a good job picking up for Arihyoshi during these rare counters, and the match ultimately ends with Yamato clotheslining Lilly and Takasu over the top rope, sending all 3 to the ringside mats, while Kita and Arihyoshi hit the deadly Superkick/Tiger Suplex combo on Takenouchi that still hasn't been kicked out of yet for 3. Result: Team Arihyoshi def. Team Lilly via pinfall at 10:03 (Arihyoshi pins Takenouchi) Rating: 62 --- Post-match, Kita says that Team SUB in general have had a year below expectations, and they need to focus, re-think things, and attack in a different direction. So Team SUB is gunning for the Tag Team titles, and will use all their technical expertise to pry the belt from their grasping fingers. Kita taunts the Uprising some more before the camera feed cuts to the next match. Rating: 50 --- vs. Eri Sato vs. Simony Sentinel The kickboxer vs. the high flyer is a dynamic we've see fairly often in 5SSW over the past six months. It's a good dynamic, and this match is no exception. The violet-haired high flyer and the tall rangey striker go ait it in a match that seems to have title implications for both girls, who could be in line for a Triangle or All-Asian title shot. Sato takes control early with some vicious strikes, before clinching Sentinel and rocking her with short knee strikes, followed by a spinning belly to belly suplex. Sato beats on Sentinel some more, and almost gets an early win with the Buzzsaw Kick (Reverse Spin Roundhouse Kick), only for Sentinel to duck, retreat outside the ring, and think things over. Sato follows Sentinel out, but gets suckered into Sentinel using the environment to her advantage, as Sentinel swings around the ring post like a 90s martial arts movie to deliver a flying kick to Sato's face. Sentinel then takes control and works in her signature Octopus Stretch, playing air guitar on Sato's ribs in between short elbows. Sato fights free however and goes back to the kicks. A very even matchup continues to swing back and forth, and ends with Sentinel sweeping the leg during another Buzzsaw Kick attempt from Sato, before busting out a rebound Curb Stomp that drives Sato into the canvas, setting up the Sentinel Strike (Top Rope Twisting Splash) for 3 to cap off a good match! Result: Simony Sentinel def. Eri Sato via pinfall at 14:31 Rating: 68 --- We get a quick pre-match promo, with Shiori Jippensha talking about how disappointed she was with the last tour, and trails off while saying something about needing to change things, before walking off set. Saitoh and Nakajima are pumped to take it to anyone who calls themselves an ally of Higa. Akutagawa does the talking while Torment and Sorrow hit the mitts in the background, with Akutagawa promising pain and suffering, in that order, to their opponents in the main event this evening. Yoshifumi then gives a sound grip guy the classic fake strike followed by two punches for flinching to end the segment. Methinks Kuwahara might fine her for that...... Rating: 55 --- vs. Shiori Jippensha / Megumi Nakajima / HEART Saitoh vs. Maki Yoshifumi / Sae Akutagawa / Yu Hashimoto This match comes off fairly well, albeit not quite as good as a couple other TV main event tags over the past little while. There are some issues with consistency in this match, and some elements are devoted to telling a story for later rather than now, but it's still good overall. A running theme through the match is Shiori Jippensha alternating between being completely disinterested in the proceedings, motivated to win, and conflicted over helping her teammates, although she doesn't quite have the range of facial expressions that someone like a Higa or a Maruya can so it comes off weird. Nakajima and Saitoh do a lot of the heavy lifting early, clashing with Torment and Sorrow, and Tornment and Sorrow tag in Sae on occasion for suplexes and cheapshots when needed. HEART Saitoh again almost kills herself overshooting a dive, which causes Yu Hashimoto to laugh mirthfully at her expense before throwing her back in the ring and beating on her. A lengthy heat segment follows, and Saitoh kicks out of a couple painful-looking double teams. Yoshifumi and Hashimoto try to set her up for The Affliction (Thunder Valley), only for Saitoh to fight free and tag in Nakajima! Nakajima hits Yoshifumi with an Exploder Suplex, then somehow gets the tall Hashimoto up for one, then gets the tall Akutagawa up for one too! Nakajima Straight Jacket (Straitjacket Suplex) to Hashimoto! 1......2.....Yoshifumi saves! Yoshifumi kicks Nakajima down hard, only to have Jippensha intervene, suddenly motivated to fight. Jippensha and Yoshifumi fight to the outside, and Jippensha looks to suplex Yoshifumi onto the mat, only for Yoshifumi to flip out of it and- HEAD KICK! Jippensha goes down and out onto the mat (where she stays for the duration of the match). The match starts to break down, and the heel team gets a 3-on-1 advantage. Nakajima heroically fights her bigger opponents off long enough for Saitoh to splat on them with a Cannonball Body Attack that takes out all 4 girls! Nakajima and Hashimoto recover first, and Nakajima goes for a second Nakajima Straight Jacket, but Hashimoto spins free and grabs Nakajima's head for a vicious short-range Lariat! 1......2.....NO! Hashimoto then sets up Nakajima for the End Game (Spinning Backhand Blow to the jaw)! 1......2......Saitoh saves! Saitoh and Hashimoto have a borderline catfight and.......WE'RE DESPERATELY OUTTA TIME, AS THE MATCH IS RULED A DRAW! The show goes off the air with the start of a pullapart fight between the remnants of the two teams before the credits! Result: Team Jippensha drew with Team Yoshifumi at 20:00 when the time limit expired. Rating: 77 --- OVERALL SHOW GRADE: 75 ATTENDANCE: 416

Yeah that'll probably be the plan going forward. No idea when this show will be posted, I'll aim for Wednesday/Thursday but no promises. --- Shogun TV Presents: 5SSW JoshiMania Tour Night 1 Saturday/Week 4/June/2020 It's finally here! The final steps on the road to JoshiMania 25 take place starting tonight, as you'll get an awesome night of action from the best women's wrestlers in the world from the Nekketsu High School Gymnasium, airing ONLY on Shogun TV! In our opening match, a new team is formed, as Yukiko Matsumara teams up with a promising independent young lion graduate in Hoshiko Tagawa, taking on two local competitors. Debbie Rose along with her partner Kate Lilly have come back on a full-time basis for 5-Star, but she'll be in singles action tonight against young lion Erin Marcelin. Eight woman tag action follows this, with the Kanto Express temaing up with returnees Synchro Wave to take on the Razor Petals and the Stone Soldiers. Single actions is fourth on the card, with Christy Higgins taking on Toku Kijmuta. Team SUB is on the warpath, and they'll team with Romi Yamato to take on Kate Lilly and the Gamma War Unit in a six woman tag. In the semi-main, a high-potential singles match is on with possible title implications, as Eri Sato squares off against Simony Sentinel! Finally, our main event is a 3-on-3 confrontation, with Shiori Jippensha, Megumi Nakajima, and HEART Saitoh taking on Sae Akutagawa and Torment and Sorrow! This is sure to be a good one! --- PREDICTION KEY: (OOC: Thar be a draw in this here card.) Yukiko Matsumara / Hoshiko Tagawa vs. local competitors Debbie Rose vs. Erin Marcelin MAYA / Machiko Matsuda / Lily Snyder / Ava Anderson vs. Lady Lotus / Rika Tsujimura / Kaede Sugiyama / Kinuye Mushashibo Christy Higgins vs. Toku Kijmuta Romi Yamato / Chiyeko Kita / Etsuko Arihyoshi vs. Kate Lilly / Kaori Takenouchi / Mio Takasu Eri Sato vs. Simony Sentinel Shiori Jippensha / Megumi Nakajima / HEART Saitoh vs. Sae Akutagawa / Maki Yoshifumi / Yu Hashimoto

<p></p><div style="text-align:center;"><img alt="GYUe7nb.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/GYUe7nb.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /><p> </p><p> <strong><span style="text-decoration:underline;"><span style="font-size:12px;">PRE-JOSHIMANIA OVERVIEW:</span></span></strong></p></div><p></p><p></p><p> </p><p> </p><p> <strong><span style="text-decoration:underline;">OUT:</span></strong></p><p> Ochiyo Iijima</p><p> Otsune Tsumura</p><p> Thea Davis</p><p> </p><p> <strong><span style="text-decoration:underline;">IN:</span></strong></p><p> Lilly & Rose (long term deal)</p><p> Synchro Wave (Lily Snyder & Ava Anderson, long term deal)</p><p> Christy Higgins (long term deal)</p><p> Hoshiko Tagawa (long term deal)</p><p> Rika Tsujimura (long term deal)</p><p> Gamma War Unit (Kaori Takenouchi & Mio Takasu, touring deal)</p><p> </p><p> This leaves me 38 full-time wrestlers and 2 touring spots to work with, which will be filled by the War Unit for this tour. Roster MAY expand to 42 later, idk.</p><p> </p><p> <span style="font-size:12px;"><strong><span style="text-decoration:underline;">OVERNESS RANKS:</span></strong></span></p><p> <em>(Kansai overness only since I don't intend to run shows anywhere else)</em></p><p> </p><p> <strong><span style="text-decoration:underline;">Major Stars</span></strong></p><p> Yuma Maruya: 53</p><p> Alicia Strong: 52</p><p> Fuyuko Higa: 51</p><p> Gemmei Oonishi: 46</p><p> Shiori Jippensha: 44</p><p> Megumi Nakajima: 42</p><p> </p><p> -Well, one half-surprise here. Oonishi being Higa's accessory in feuds and cutting great promos really helps her, despite the fact shes lost to both Jippensha and Nakajima in matches.</p><p> </p><p> <strong><span style="text-decoration:underline;">Stars</span></strong></p><p> Miwako Katsukawa: 42</p><p> HEART Saitoh: 41</p><p> Talia Quinzel: 40</p><p> Selina Svelte: 37</p><p> Maki Yoshifumi: 38</p><p> Etsuko Arihyoshi: 36</p><p> </p><p> -Katsukawa didn't get as much out of her Oonishi win as before because I changed the finish to a flash pinfall to protect Oonishi. Still not totally sure why I did that. Uprising should've gotten more from the draw tbh, but considering their starting position they've come along very well. Maki has sorta progressed in her reign but hasn't had the opportunity to beat up high-overness targets.</p><p> </p><p> <strong><span style="text-decoration:underline;">Well Known</span></strong></p><p> Simony Sentinel: 35</p><p> Yu Hashimoto: 35</p><p> MAYA: 34</p><p> Sae Akutagawa: 32</p><p> Romi Yamato: 31</p><p> Zofia Jankovic: 31</p><p> Paige Croft: 30</p><p> Eri Sato: 30</p><p> Chiyeko Kita: 30</p><p> Pinky Perez: 30</p><p> </p><p> -Simony push coming along. Yu Hashimoto was in Star tier for quite a while but she's been treading water in the midcard soooooo. MAYA was luckily not deeply hurt by her loss to Sentinel. Hell Raisers coming along a bit.</p><p> </p><p> <strong><span style="text-decoration:underline;">Recognizable:</span></strong></p><p> Mystery Pink: 30</p><p> Lady Lotus: 30</p><p> Toku Kijmuta: 28</p><p> Kaede Sugiyama: 28</p><p> Machiko Matsuda: 27</p><p> Yukiko Matsumara: 26</p><p> Kinuye Mushashibo: 26</p><p> Hana Ajibana: 22</p><p> </p><p> Pink and Lotus don't make the above tier for reasons I'm not clear on. Expect a few people from this tier to dip in terms of win-loss ratio.</p><p> </p><p> <strong><span style="text-decoration:underline;">Main Character/New Hires:</span></strong></p><p> Erin Marcelin: 18</p><p> Kate Lilly: 17</p><p> Debbie Rose: 13 (ick)</p><p> Ava Anderson: 22</p><p> Lily Snyder: 22</p><p> Christy Higgins: 27</p><p> Rika Tsujimura: 28</p><p> Hoshiko Tagawa: 19</p><p> Kaori Takenouchi: 21</p><p> Mio Takasu: 22</p><p> </p><p> -Rose got hammered badly by the pre-patch mechanics that made it so damn hard to get over on TV. We'll be making an effort to rectify this in a hot minute. Higgins had a tremendous tour at least, thanks to me cheating and making the Semi-Finals a lesser event instead of a TV show. Tagawa got over a bit from her starting point as she's been used several times in dark matches.</p><p> </p><p> ---</p><p> </p><p> <strong>Will try to have a prediction key up for the first show of the JoshiMania tour sometime in the next couple days! </strong>Hopefully I can actually shorten the match writeups this time. If anyone wants other behind-the-scenes machinations that aren't story spoilers, feel free to ask!</p>

(OOC: My apologies for the lengthy delay. Ran into writer's block on this character update, and I've been busy getting myself established in a sim American football forum league I joined recently which requires some writing skills. That and I've been playing RimWorld. Yeah. Will update within a hopefully short timeframe with a full-roster overview before starting the JoshiMania tour. ALL OF THE THINGS will be happening on this tour, and if I have to take a hiatus I'll at least try to get off 5 shows and some character updates goddamnit.) --- Erin was at home, finishing unpacking from another Japan trip, getting ready to head outside and take in an excellent summer evening in Toronto. It was another good tour, with a fun Grand Prix with great matches to study and learn from later. Even her father was happy because he saw the photo of his daughter with the MMA icon Rickard Patterson, which Erin hoped went a ways towards convincing him that this wrestling venture was cool. Erin was going to be heading back to Japan in a few days for the big one, the biggest tour of the year, JoshiMania. The iconic women's wrestling show was planning on running its 25th ever iteration, and it was rumoured that the big angle being talked about for most of the year by dirtsheets and people backstage would be taking place. Erin still didn't know for sure what it was, but she had a feeling...... Meanwhile, 5SSW was releasing talent, with the rumour being that some new full-timers would be coming their way. From the Japanese side, they lost veterans Ochiyo Iijima and Otsune Tsumura, who were declining a bit anywyas and were being used as jobbers. Erin had heard Tsumura had asked out herself, which was a shame as she was a reasonably respected long-time vet, and probably should've gotten a sendoff show. From the foreigner side, Thea Davis had given her notice as well. Thea noticed that the company was wanting to use Jankovic more as a single, so she could sort of see the writing on the wall. Besides, she had been wanting to settle down a bit in Europe instead of globehopping, as she had been smitten by a guy in the EWA locker room. This was a source of endless questions and congratulations in the post-tour gaijin afterparty, and Thea had a picture of him to show. It was pretty disappointing to the girls, cause it was a plain-looking guy used as a jobber named Jason Dempsey, but Thea really liked him, so hey, more power to her. At least it wasn't as complex as Erin's relationship with Simony, where it seemed like Simony was subtly hitting on her more and more, and Erin wasn't really resisting. She obviously liked Simony, but at some point........ Erin had to put her foot down, right? Her dad would flip if she got into a relationship like this...... .....Erin shook her head. She didn't have time to be thinking about stuff like this. She needed to finish unpacking, take in a little time to relax, and then hit the gym and start training to get those stiff Rick Law punches down cold. There'd always be time for plain old love later like Thea had, right? --- "......When am I going to wake up......?" Ted pondered this question, standing near the glass balony door of his apartment in a white tank top and boxer shorts. An incredibly beautiful woman was sleeping in the bed behind him. It was his girlfriend, Layla Holmes, the office goddess, who he had just shared a few minutes of passion with. Furthermore, Ted was holding a cellphone in his hands, with account details telling him that he was now over a million and a half dollars in his investment funds. He was moving up so rapidly in the world compared to this time a year ago, as just a coffee-fetching flunkie at Strathcona-Fremont. So this begged the question: Was this all a dream? Was this atually reality? Was his fate being controlled by some hack writer? No, this had to be compensation for 24 odd years of being picked on, or something. He had racked up enough good karma that he was now seeing the fruits of it. He deserved this. Kinda. Ted did owe a lot to people he had been nice to. Simony was grateful to him for being around and knowing the language, and had playfully given Ted advice on romance-related matters. Ted thought the borderline aphrodisiac incense was a little much, but it was pleasant, and Layla seemed to like it too. Ted was a virgin, but him and his partner seemed to enjoy their first time. Or maybe she was faking? Hey, Ted would take it over being disregarded for being part of the rock-bottom social castes. Anything was better than that......right? He had a committed relationship, money in the bank, and now he was heading back to "work" watching the highlight tour of the women's wrestling calendar: JoshiMania. The 25th edition, the silver anniversary, and a hell of a card was planned if the backstage poker game intel was right. This was the life...... --- The woman they called Sensational Ogiwara shut her office door, slowly walked to her comfy chair, sat down, and exhaled. To say Ogiwara was stressed was an understatement. She had been through hour long ironman matches, she had been stiffed by Crusher Ichihara for what felt like centuries, she had to metaphorically and sometimes literally carry green youngsters move-by-move through a match while making it look good, and she had to run a company in the post-tsunami Japanese recession. None of that, however, compared to the ultimate bit of stress she just experienced. Contract negotiations with Fuyuko Higa. Ogiwara liked everything about Higa really, except her actual personality. She had wrestled her in a training match early in her dojo days, and it was like working with a more dynamic Thunder Hike. She was green, sure, but she was so competent for a trainee, and Ogiwara knew she'd be a big deal. What she didn't know was that Higa constantly hid her true self under a thin veneer, one that fooled her mentor Thunder Hike, and fooled the old 5SSW owner Kagawa, and one that had even fooled Ogiwara for a little while. However, that veneer cracked slowly over time, and then when Higa was told she was losing title matches to Tomoko Nagatsuka and HEART Saitoh in 2016 after winning the J Grand Prix, the veneer shattered. Ever since then, Higa had been an absolute bitch, and she didn't care who knew. Constantly trying to stir up trouble with people, always arrogant and thinking she was above it all, never willing to accept her own failings. Ogiwara and everyone else kept ignoring it, because that's how things were in Japan sometimes. It was a country that seemed built on respect and politeness, but anyone from the biggest corporation to the smallest high school baseball team knew that the rules didn't apply to the truly talented, the God-gifted, the best around that made everything run. Higa, for all her personal failings, could be tossed into anything and would make it look great with her sheer God-given talent at being a pro wrestler. But Ogiwara could not, in good faith, let her have the title belt that Ogiwara sweated blood to obtain so easily. Higa had had enough of being told this, and had reacted violently to being asked to draw with Shiori Jippensha, even if the storyline behind it was not going to hurt Higa in any way. Then Higa somehow found out the winner of the Grand Prix was not her, AND the fact she would be drawing Oonishi in the group stage too. So Higa dogged it on the Jippensha match and promo, and then had approached Ogiwara with an ultimatum, wanting......well........everything, or she would walk. Ogiwara couldn't afford this. Higa, for all her many faults, would be an important piece in the upcoming summer angle, the one that Ogiwara and her lieutenant Umeko Karube had been planning for months, dating back to 2019. Higa needed to stand down off this, or 5-Star would look really, really bad. So Ogiwara made the agreement. An ironclad promise, that if Higa stayed with 5SSW, she'd get the World title within a specific time period (roughly 18 months), and she would get a raise to become the top-paid wrestler in the company, enabling Higa to focus on wrestling full-time instead of having to pander to sponsors and work odd jobs. Higa was being paid as much as Alicia Strong, because thats how valuable she was. Plus Higa got a bonus of 10 thousand for her efforts, one Ogiwara could scarce afford to pay, but couldn't afford NOT to pay. This was paid before the match with Oonishi, and it had taken until now to hammer out the last details in the new agreement with Higa. Ogiwara had even wanted to make a call to Thunder Hike, thinking Higa's mentor being around as a backstage agent could keep her civil for a while. But there was too much between Ogiwara and Hike, too many shared experiences, some good, but a few of them being unpleasant ones........especially ones involving a Yakuza member and a love hotel...... Ogiwara shook her head to clear out that memory. Besides, Hike was happily retired and raising children now, and Ogiwara couldn't uproot her from that even if they were on perfect terms. No, Ogiwara would get through this. Even if the company bled out, Ogiwara would fight until its last breath to keep a fully talented roster together, in defiance of those in Burning Hammer or PGHW who looked down on the women and thought they were better wrestlers. Ogiwara had the best company in Japan. She just needed to get off this angle to try and bring back the glory days of 1000 people at a tour show and 5000, even 10000 people at a big show, and go from there. Even if it meant negotiating with the devil herself. Ogiwara then noticed an envelope on her desk. It must've been buried under some other paperwork. Ogiwara opened it up to reveal a letter in Japanese from Rickard Patterson, thanking her for the appearance fee......and returning it? Along with a cheque for 10 grand as an "gift" (unknowingly making up for the "bonus" she paid Higa), a round of thanks for letting him and his wife be involved in something as cool as this, and a subtle hint to pick up any future female graduates from his dojo for a tour sometime...... Ogiwara laughed out loud. There was a saying Ogiwara had heard amongst the more religious gaijin that had toured 5SSW in the past, and she had just seen it in action. When God closes a door, He opens a window.......

(OOC: Sorry this was late, was busy with a sim football league. The character Rickard Patterson in this update as mentioned before was based off my old WMMA5 diary that got aborted in the face of writer's block and the distraction of a Soccer World Cup back in 2018. Twas fun though! Rickard might make an appearance later in the diary. And yes I'm using a Christian Faith alt for his render wanna fight about it? Also forgot to mention: Erin was in the pre-show losing a six woman tag alongside Red Ranger and Ochiyo Iijima to Yukiko Matsumara and the Gun Metal Gals. Will try to do another character update on New Years!) --- Erin was super-stoked to be backstage on this card. It was sudden because some last minute details needed to be worked out apparently, but they had gotten Rickard Patterson and Piper Evergood to attend the show. A pair of absolute legends. Erin kinda liked MMA, not as much as wrestling because some of the finishes were brutal and hard to watch, especially in the early days, but she liked it enough to watch if it was on. Anyone with even a passing interest in MMA though knew who Rickard Patterson was. The 50-0 legend, the king of the Middleweight and Light Heavyweight classes, top class skills in everything, only had two fighters ever go the distance against him, and the founder of the legendary Canadian Tough Team fight camp (Erin had taken classes in the Toronto branch of their camp briefly as a kid). Rickard was revered in Japan as an icon, even after things sorta fell apart for ALPHA-1 in 2006 and GAMMA became the big company in MMA again by signing away Rickard and the other top guys there. He had appeared ringside at a fair few Japanese shows before, but this was his first time at a 5SSW event, and he was full of praise for it, gabbing with Alicia Strong about the main event and praising her, even getting a picture together. (And boy, was that picture worth a thousand words, and probably thousands of dollars if autographed.) And then there was Piper Evergood who was a bit more involved with the card, just shaking her head at her husband's antics with a mixture of mild amusement and annoyance, an expression seen often whenever Piper was being filmed with Rickard and he was being Mr. Personality. Piper was a great fighter in her own right a former women's MMA P4P queen, and Erin had attended a couple of her later matches. She threw an atomic bomb of an overhand left, and just good punches in general, perfecting the Sprawl and Brawl style of resisting takedowns and keeping the fight on the feet so she could punch the opponent in the face. Even in her early forties after having a kid, she was still pretty dangerous....... --- Ted had noticed Erin being happy to go up and meet Rickard and Piper after the show, and he had to smile. He'd have liked to be there too, but there was quite a queue in there, and Ted wasn't a super-big MMA guy anyways. Still, it was cool to see one of the few Canadian legends in the world at, well, anything live and in the flesh. Half the nation knew of Rickard and his story. The undefeated MMA god, orphaned as a kid, went to Japan, became champion, headed to North America, became double champion and #1 pound-for-pound star. He was suitably wacky and charismatic and was one a massive draw in the MMAsphere before retiring at 50-0 with nothing left to prove. Now he spent his days as a trainer and Twitch personality and seemed perpetually happy and jazzed to be doing anything, including attending women's wrestling shows on another damn continent. Still, you could feel the passion radiating off of him, just sitting at ringside watching Alicia Strong spike Higa's head into the canvas. .........Well, a few people backstage would feel pleasure from watching that specifically........ Ted actually noticed Rickard chatting up Erin, and talking to her about something. Ted was just near enough to catch a bit about Rickard's wrestling school he had opened up. Ted had indeed heard of this one, the Queen City Wrestling School, the pro wrestling branch of the Canadian Tough Team. A couple rnadom Canadian indy guys had come out of there, but no one significant, yet. It would probably be a great place to train, but who knows if Erin would be able to, what with her constant tours here. --- Rickard and Piper reclined on the hotel armchair and looked over the city of Osaka from their hotel suite, a familiar site to a frequent visitor to Japan such as himself. Rickard was in the perpetual state of relaxed bliss that he'd been in for the past couple years whenever the cameras were off. He had seen a pretty damn good show tonight, and got to see his cute wife involved in a cool little wrestling bit. This was worth the trip, and worth spreading some of his hard-earned prestige around to give the girls a TV rating and a better chance at stardom. Plus he was planning to sight-see, as soon as he got a small haircut and a shave to throw off the paparazzi....... "So what did you think of the show tonight babe?" Piper shrugged. "It was alright, I've never really gotten wrestling like you do. The shootfight I reffed was fun, even if some of those ground reversals were ridiculous and they pulled a few phantom punches. I could hear Aidan howling from Canada in the background......" "Maki's legit though. If she were around in MMA in 05......." "You'd figure out a way for me to beat her. You always did." "Am I being praised by my awesome wife? Can you do it again please?" "Shut it....." Piper said, before laughing and kissing her husband. "Hey, what did you think of that Erin Marcelin girl?" Piper looked confused. "Which one is she?" "That girl with the pink white and black punk hair. She reminds me a lot of you ya know, I think I'd like to train her at the wrestling school sometime." "Oh her? She was in that pre-show match right? Yeah she was ok I guess........ Why does she remind you of me?" "Cause shes tough, she throws a good punch, and she's almost as pretty as you." "She's actually much prettier than me though." Rickard hugged his wife from behind. "No woman in the world is prettier than you babe." "SHUT UUUUUUUUPPPPP!!"

OOC SHOW NOTES: -Fairly good show here, some parts felt easy to write, others........didn't. For the 50th time I vow to myself to shorten the goddamn writeups. -BTW, this diary will be updating somewhat slower in January, as I am involved in a sim football league on a forum thats taking up my creative energy as of late (plus I've got a Steam backlog of RimWorld and two "Tales of" games to play aaaaaaah). I do want to get to the JoshiMania tour because ALL THE STUFF happens there, but it's hard writing three or four main event quality matches for these big shows. -In addition to Unstoppable Tai several other wrestlers hit the rail. Otsune Tsumura gave notice in a test sim, so I applied that to an actual sim because I discovered some tag chemistry for Yukiko Matsumara in a pre-show earlier and I'll be rolling with that. Tsumura had little to offer anyways, her Kansai overness was down to 21. Ochiyo Iijima's being let go by me, as well as Thea Davis. Thea will get a story exit rather than being outright fired, which we'll get into in a later character update. Expect new hires to fill their shoes come JoshiMania time. -Toku losing to Rika is going to be the start of her slide to the bottom of the ladder. Creative doesn't really have anything for her other than being big girl target practise for finishing moves. Toku will likely be teaming with Hana Ajibana going forward. Rika will be brought in full-time on the next tour to resume teaming with Lady Lotus, so I gave Rika the win here since she was a few points behind in terms of Kansai overness. -Christy gets the win to build her up for something, although shes really struggling to get over. Hopefully momentum and overness fixes this. She is kinda bland in ring but has some amazing star quality so you'd think she'd be doing better. I very nearly let go of Kaede and Kinuye (Kinuye would've stayed as a road agent but I would have manually retired her), but I've kept them as jobbers going forward. -Poor MAYA had to do a job to Sentinel after doing nothing but jobs in the GP, but I've got plans for Sentinel and MAYA was the only person in the right position to put Sentinel over (who I believe was at 31 overness before the match started). Since I didn't feel comfortable putting Sentinel over Saitoh or Hashimoto just yet, MAYA had to eat it.......I'll be giving the Kanto Express some shine come JoshiMania hopefully. -8 woman tag was pretty much an excuse to get people on the card in a decent match. It also helped the heel side get over too though, as they were all below Nakajima and Saitoh and probably got benefit from the draw. -I don't know how well the shoot fight came off, but I figured that 5SSW is the kind of fed that needs to be expressive and try something different, so a match like this (coming off the heels of the now internet famous destruction of Unstoppable Tai by Zofia Jankovic) wouldn't be too out there for joshi fans, especially because Maki is legit too. I decided to add the slapstick moment at the end though, with Thea stepping over Zofia's unconscious body to be like "Hey she can still totally fight!" only to get KTFOed by the shooter ref, which I bet has been done in the territories before when they'd bring boxing stars as guest refs. That moment made me laugh out loud when I thought it up, so I rolled with it. -BTW Piper and Rickard were characters from my WMMA5 diary, and they'll be appearing in a character update here shortly (Piper was a MMA CornellVerse character already and the primary love interest, while Rickard was the main character that I created pre-game, and is basically GSP crossed with Floyd Mayweather to CornellVerse fight fans. Diary didn't get to the part where Rickard went 50-0 and retired undefeated as a god of two weight classes sadly. ). Rickard is running a wrestling school that I edited into the DB before starting the save, and I'll be keeping an eye out for female graduates. -Triangle title was what it was, probably a match that I didn't do justice with the writeup. Hot take: Etsuko is really good and would be a World champion candidate if she had mic skills. -I get the feeling if I didn't tip off about the draws, no one would've guessed that the Uprising would retain and would've thought I'd give Maruya two belts. Not my style to do double champions personally, so instead this match served an important story purpose and was pretty solid to boot. Talia and Selina got a 1 point overness boost from the draw I believe so thats nice. The result is bothering me a bit less because the Uprising are starting to grow on me, even if half the team is flawed. They're starting to remind me a lot of my TEW2016 save where I had Murder One (Dragon Assassin and Huntress Makiko) as a lopsided team that was consistently protected, I think I had Assassin avoiding being pinned for about 8 months and that streak would've extended to like a year (as she would've gotten a World title shot and lost via flash pinfall or something). But yeah, this was very much a story-driven match, and we'll see what happens with the story later in the summer. -Miwako/Gemmei was meant to further establish Miwako as a bigger deal, although part of me wonders if this is like All Japan pushing Jun Akiyama in the 90s and the crowd being like "We respect him, but we still like Kobashi/Misawa/Taue/Kawada more sorry.". Gotta give me points for effort though, and hey, the core's all over 30 except Higa, so someone else has gotta step up to that main event level. In hindsight I should've just done a clean pin victory, but I protected Gemmei cause shes likeable and good too I guess. Also, I didn't originally have this match as the co-main, but I felt it gave a buffer between Higa's promo and the buildup for the GP Finals. -And then we have the GP Finals. Hoo boy! I did not consider Higa to win here for a minute if we're being honest. Had Alicia Strong not existed in the story, Higa still wouldn't have won it, because she'd be World champion instead and the GP win would go to like Oonishi or something. Higa has been doing great as a heel and is awesome now that she has a morale boost thanks to a cash bribe, but Strong is moving forward the story that I want to tell. Who knows how JoshiMania will turn out though, the GP seems to be cursed, and the winner hasn't yet gone on to win the World title in their first challenge to it......... --- PREDICTION STANDINGS: ampulator: 14/18 KyTeran: 11/18 J GRAND PRIX PREDICTION STANDINGS: Mokoa: 18/25 ampulator: 15/25 KyTeran: 15/25 MHero: 13/25 I think I added these up right, so Congrats Mokoa! I'll DM you around JoshiMania's 4th tour card to work out the specifics, it'll be picking the JoshiMania opening match between the womens champions of CILL/OLLIE/EWA/QAW for a 1v1, but I should wait until simming the 4th card to find out who the champions actually are. If Mokoa is inactive on forums by then, amp and Kyteran will split this prize and I'll float over Mokoa to the next tour to pick a dream match or something. THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO PREDICTED, LOVE YOU ALL! Next character update will be in a day or two!

Shogun TV Presents: 5SSW J Grand Prix 2020 Finals Saturday/Week 3/June/2020 East Osaka Volleyball Center Osaka, Japan --- The show opens with a nice video package documenting the previous GP winners and the meaning their tournament win had to them, narrated by Kaiya Kuwahara in skillful fashion. We then cut to the announcers running down the show and letting us know that the legendary MMA couple of undefeated icon Rickard Patterson and women's MMA ace Piper Evergood are here for the evening, with Rickard mugging for the camera and Piper looking mildly amused by her husband's antics (and also looking surprisingly good for her age in a skintight referee tanktop and tight pants.) An acceptable start to the show. Rating: 69 --- vs. Rika Tsujimura vs. Toku Kijmuta This is not much of an opener, as its between two heel-ish wrestlers who aren't that great in the ring, plus Toku seems a bit distracted due to her ex-partner's shenanigans getting her fired and put down in infamy in 5SSW history. The two try to have a wild brawl, but Tsujimura is a bit too deliberate about things and lacks a bit of the it factor in-ring, just being competent rather than great, and Kijmuta gives her little to work with. Tsujimura puts the match out of its misery fairly quickly with the Razor Knee (Running Kenka Knee) to get a 3 count and a "thank Buddha its over" pop from the crowd. Result: Rika Tsujimura def. Toku Kijmuta via pinfall at 7:51 Rating: 52 --- vs. Christy Higgins vs. Kaede Sugiyama This match doesn't come off much better than the opener. Higgins is pretty solid but is struggling to get over with the audience on this tour, despite showing some charisma and being one of the sexiest gaijin 5SSW fans have seen in quite a while. There seems to be something missing, but perhaps its the lack of time for Higgins to show what she can really do. Higgins gets most of the offense in this match, and ends it fairly quickly, dodging a desperate Stone-Sault from the unlucky sugiyama and sinking her with the Florida Upswing (Spinning Vertical Reverse DDT) to win the match decisively. Result: Christy Higgins def. Kaede Sugiyama via pinfall at 8:04 Rating: 55 --- MAYA cuts a brief promo next, hoping for another victory to turn around her fortunes and get back into the swing of things. Rating: 55 --- vs. MAYA vs. Simony Sentinel This is a pretty decent little match, if a little slow paced. MAYA comes out fighting to prove herself after a rough J Grand Prix, but Simony Sentinel is a slippery customer with a full bag of tricks at her disposal, and makes life tough for the red-themed technician. The match is technique vs. speed the instant Sentinel realizes shes outgunned mat-wise against MAYA, which takes about three or four lockups and exchanges that end in Sentinel almost being ensnared by MAYA's signature Triangle Choke before scrabbling to the ropes and then to the outside to think things over. MAYA tries to pursue to avoid giving Sentinel a chance to breath, but Sentinel get the better of an outside exchange by whipping MAYA into the barricade and almost stealing the match by countout. MAYA gets back in the ring and takes back control on the athletic Sentinel, slowing the match down a bit. Sentinel speeds it up, but gets a bit botchy and overambitious on a handstand leap into a headscissors and almost breaks her own neck. The match almost falls apart for a bit, but MAYA's technique and Sentinel's veteranosity saves it, and slowly but surely Sentinel starts catching on with the audience after struggling a bit to get over to this point. Sentinel gets a bit of a pop from the audience later on by getting MAYA locked into a wacky Octopus Abdominal Stretch, playing air guitar on MAYA's ribs in between landing short elbows, but MAYA fights her way out of it and gets the ropes to break. The end comes after an extended back-and-forth with MAYA picking Sentinel up for the Steel Tower Drop (Slingshot Spike DDT), only for Sentinel to counter by overrotating herself and landing a nice flip neckbreaker of sorts. Sentinel then drops a leg on MAYA, and then goes up for the Sentinel Strike (Twisting Top Rope Splash) and hits it for the 3 count to take home a mild upset! Result: Simony Sentinel def. MAYA via pinfall at 14:31 Rating: 66 --- Before the next match we hear from several wrestlers on opposite sides of this upcoming 8 woman tag team match. Pinky Perez gets a live mic and does well with it, showing some command of the Japanese language and mixing in some very bad words in Spanish to describe her heel-ish opponents. Rating: 52 --- vs. Megumi Nakajima / HEART Saitoh / Eri Sato / Pinky Perez vs. Yu Hashimoto / Chiyeko Kita / Romi Yamato / Paige Croft This turns out to be a fun match, where all 8 wrestlers involved just work the crowd and take it easy while still being entertaining. The match is limited in how good it can be as a result, but is still functionally competent, and has a fairly hot crowd for it. Nakajima starts with Kita and the bad blood is still fresh between the two after Team SUB walked out on Nakajima during a six woman tag earlier in the summer. They wrestle a decent sequence stogether, ending with Kita trying a Superkick that gets caught by Nakajima, who whirls the leg around and blasts Kita with an impressive-looking Spinning Elbow. Kita gets sent back into her team's corner, and tags in Romi Yamato. Yamato tries to overpower Nakajima, and does so with some success, although she crash lands after a risky top rope Wheel Kick and Nakajima tags to Sato. Sato goes toe-to-toe with the tall Yamato and hits hard with her crisp kickboxing abilities, backing Yamato into a corner, but then Yamato blind tags Hashimoto off an irish whip, and Hashimoto ambushes Sato while she fights Yamato. The match continues in a vein of one girl on a team getting beaten down a bit before a tag brings in a fresh partner who takes advantage, until eventually HEART Saitoh is isolated and has to kick out of both a Running Ace Crusher from Croft and a Superkick from Kita. Eventually the match breaks down and we get a rapid-fire finisher exchange sequence! Flying Tiger Knee (Top Rope Busaiku Knee) to Yamato from Saitoh! Hashimoto hits Saitoh with the End Game (Spinning Backhand Blow to the jaw)! Sato nearly beheads Hashimoto with the Buzzsaw Kick (Reverse Spin Roundhouse Kick)! Croft reduces Sato to one knee and hits her with the Running Ace Crusher! Perez hits the Pink Butterfly Powerbomb (Spinning Double Underhook Powerbomb) on Croft! Kita Superkicks Perez! Nakajima gets an Exploder Suplex on Kita! 1......2......Yamato saves out of nowhere, AND WE ARE DESPERATELY OUTTA TIME, as the time limit expires and the match is ruled a draw! Result: Team Nakajima drew with Team BadGirls at 15:00 when the time limit expired Rating: 69 --- 5SSW All-Asian Championship V6 Defense Shoot Fight Rules Guest Referee: Piper Evergood vs. Maki Yoshifumi (champion) vs. Zofia Jankovic (challenger) Piper Evergood gets a reasonably big pop for her announcement as guest ref, as the fans know her well as a woman's MMA KO queen and as the wife of MMA legend Rickard Patterson, who cheers on his wife at ringside, while still mugging for the camera and looking pleased as punch to be here watching the matches. The Rules are as follows: 10 3 minute rounds, referee decision if the fight goes the distances, strikes and takedowns within the confines of standard Japanese MMA are allowed, 10 count for a knockdown, no followups ground and pound allowed unless from a takedown. To some members of the crowd, this match is a bit ridiculous and outside their scope of fandom, but there are some ringside photographers and diehard wrestling fans who dig this kind of stuff, as it comes off like the best of the defunct but still revered INSPIRE promotion. Round 1 sees a fairly energetic, sped-up version of the usual real fight feeling out process, as both girls throw a lot of quick leather that deals mostly minor damage. Round 2 sees Jankovic open up and be more aggressive, landing some crunching kicks and lighting up Yoshifumi a bit from the clinch with sharp knees and elbows, doing enough to possibly win the round on points. Round 3 Yoshifumi opens up a bit more, battering Jankovic with some body and leg kicks. Jankovic drops her guard a bit, but raises it in time to block a dangerous HEAD KICK midway through the round. Jankovic then changes course and does a trip takedown, before getting mount and raining down elbows. Yoshifumi sweeps her to draw a pop (and probably howls of laughter from any BJJ coaches watching at home.), and starts raining down blows from the top, but can't finish with a KO before the round ends. Round 4 sees Maki come out swinging, but Jankovic rocks her with a surprise cross counter and Maki goes down! Maki stares stupefied at Jankovic for a minute, before putting in her mouthpiece and beating the count at 8. Jankovic presses hard, and corners Maki with a barrage, but Maki cleanly gets out of it with a left hook and changes positions. Maki spends the last minute of the round blitzing Jankovic, before taking her down and almost securing the win with a back choke before Jankovic is saved by the bell. Round 5 proves to be the final round, as an early flurry from Jankovic leads to her getting knocked down by an overhand right that Piper visibly approves of. Jankovic makes it back to her feet at 8, and fights gamely, but Yoshifumi blasts her with a HEAD KICK that slips clean through Jankovic's guard and knocks her out right as the bell sounds. Evergood rules Jankovic unable to continue for Round 6 and declares Maki Yoshifumi the winner! Thea Davis, who was in Jankovic's corner for the fight, comes out to protest this decision for some reason (literally stepping over Jankovic's knocked out body to do so in a hilarious little bit.) and then ends up unconscious herself as Piper Evergood knocks Thea out with a overhand left. Both girls get carried out by medical personnel, as Maki re-establishes her credibility after a World title loss by taking out a dangerous shooter to retain her All-Asian title! Result: Maki Yoshifumi def. Zofia Jankovic via referee stoppage at 3:00 of Round 5 (15:00 total) Rating: 67 Maki Yoshifumi retains the 5SSW All-Asian Championship (V6 Defence) --- 5SSW Triangle Championship V2 Defense vs. vs. Sae Akutagawa (Champion) vs. Etsuko Arihyoshi (Challenger) vs. Mystery Pink (Challenger) A technically proficient 3-way here with great talent. Arihyoshi's win-loss record in the J Grand Prix wasn't necessarily the best, but her effort level has been great recently, including carrying a 6 woman Triangle title contender match by herself. Akutagawa and Pink both bring some respectable effort along too, and the result is a pretty good match. Akutagawa and Arihyoshi are aligned through Higa, but are still a bit wary of just giving a win to the other woman. After double-teaming Mystery Pink to get her out of the way, Akutagawa and Arihyoshi turn on each other to get the pin and the match goes from there. Akutagawa's size gives her an advantage to a point, but when the technical battles get down n' dirty, Arihyoshi manages to get an advantage by yanking any limb of Akutagawa's she can get her hands on. Akutagawa and Arihyoshi continue their dance, with Arihyoshi getting a flash pin for 2 until its broken up by Mystery Pink reviving and kicking her off. Pink tries desperately to keep both people down, but its hard to do so for long, and Akutagawa eventually catches a Twisting Crossbody from Pink and throws her out with a Fallaway Slam. Akutagawa and Arihyoshi work over Pink as a duo, but keep fighting over the pin, unlike other Triangle title matches where alliances are made an abandoned within minutes, this 2-on-1 persists, at least until one needs to get the pinfall. The match flows back and forth, and Mystery Pink does her best to try and steal wins out of nowhere. Eventually Mystery Pink manages to fight off Akutagawa and get Arihyoshi up top for a Back Superplex, but then Akutagaw revives and drags them down with the Tower of Doom spot, sending Arihyoshi and Pink crashing to the canvas! Cover on Pink! 1......2......NO! Cover on Arihyoshi! 1......2......NO! Akutagawa is frustrated at this, and hauls Pink up for a suplex, only for Pink to reverse to a desperation Sleeper, hanging onto Akutagawa's back for dear life! Akutagawa crushes Pink against the corner though, and picks her p for the finish...... Naraku Otoshi (Torture Rack spun into a Powerbomb)! 1......2....Arihyoshi can't revive in time to save....3! Akutagawa retains! Result: Sae Akutagawa def. Etsuko Arihyoshi and Mystery Pink via pinfall at 15:01 (Akutagawa pins Pink) Rating: 72 Sae Akutagawa retains the 5SSW Triangle Championship (V2 Defense) --- Before the next match we get a good little video package highlighting the Uprising's reign as tag champions, and the big matches that 5 Star Defense have fought in in the past to defend the company's honour. Will the two big stars unseat this uncommonly skillful tag team? We shall soon see...... Rating: 66 --- 5SSW Tag Team Championships V7 Defense vs. The Uprising (Talia Quinzel / Selina Svelte, champions vs. 5 Star Defense (Yuma Maruya / Shiori Jippensha, challengers) This match has got some hype behind it. The Uprising are on fire since the Dynamo Tag League and have not lost as a team in close to a year now. But they're up against the World champ, teaming with a former World champ, as a duo that has defended themselves in the past from legendary teams like The ANTI and All Business, even if they've never won a tag title together. The stakes are certainly high here, and these 4 go at it pretty hard in a bid to get a result. Talia starts the match against Shiori and completely overpowers her at first, throwing her around with reckless abandon, hitting her with a couple backbreakers, and then tossing Shiori into the corner like a lawn dart. Talia goes for the 1 minute kill with the Spinal Trauma (Overhead Press Front Slam Backbreaker), but Shiori slips out to the back and elbows Talia in the kidneys for her trouble. Shiori works over any body part of Talia's she can get a grip on in a bid to slow her down, and seems to be wrestling much better and more confidently than in the J Grand Prix now. The power vs technique battle goes back and forth for a bit, and things look pretty even....... Svelte and Maruya tag in eventually, and Maruya gains the upper hand with her stylish, graceful athletic moves and high flying, continually sending Svelte flopping into the corner through the power of leverage. Svelte realizes fighting her as is won't work, so she cheats with some well-timed fishhooking and eye gauging outside Referee Odaka's sightlines. These tactics get the better of Maruya at first, and Maruya tires under the weight of the damage she received in her title bout against Maki Yoshifumi. Eventually though Maruya wriggles her way out of some holds, breaks up an attempted Prawn Armlock with a few desperation headbutts, and hits a Split-Legged Moonsault on Svelte for 2. Maruya's firing up for a comeback, but takes a cheapshot from Talia while running back on an irish whip, enabling Svelte to tag Talia in on Maruya and introduce her to the pain. Talia throws around Maruya for a bit, and gets 2 off a Uranage Backbreaker. Talia slaps Maruya and turns her inside out with a big wind-up punch. Selina tags in and wears Maruya down with some heelish technique, but Maruya manages to get free when Svelte's cheating is noticed by the referee and in comes Jippensha! Jippensha runs wild on both members of the Uprising with a string of fierce chops and clotheslines, and even manages to get Quinzel off her feet with a huge Backdrop Driver! Jippensha keeps rolling on both members, but can't get Quinzel up for the Execution Day (Scoop Brainbuster). Svelte cheapshots Jippensha from behind, only for Maruya to come over and try to headscissor her out of the ring. However, Svelte somehow hangs on, and actually manages to dump Maruya to the outside, where she goes flying into the guardrail and hits her head hard, knocking her out cold at ringside! The Uprising take advantage of this to double-team Jippensha until the ref sends Quinzel back to her corner. German Suplex by Svelte! 1......2......NO! Blue Thunder Bomb by Svelte! 1......2......NO! Svelte beats on Jippensha some more before tagging in Quinzel for the big one. The Uprising set up for the Rising Tide (Modified Sky Lift Slam), but as they toss Jippensha in the air, she shifts weight, lands on Quinzel's shoulders, and applies a Triangle with Armbar on Quinzel! Svelte goes to break it up, but Jippensha hangs on tenaciously and Referee Odaka orders Svelte out of the ring! Quinzel is thrashing to get out of the hold, but she's fading a bit.......AND WE ARE DESPERATELY OUTTA TIME, as the 20 minute time limit expires and the Uprising 7th defence ends in a draw! Result: The Uprising drew with 5 Star Defence at 20:00 when the time limit expired. Rating: 82 The Uprising retain the 5SSW Tag Team Championship (V7 Defense) --- Post-match, Fuyuko Higa makes an unwelcome appearance, as the Uprising celebrate down the other ramp with their belts and Shiori Jippensha is left furious with herself in the ring. Higa then asks if people are starting to see the point now. Look at Maruya, out cold on the floor being tended to. Is that what Jippensha wants? Partners that can't really stand beside her when things like this happen? Of course Higa glosses over the fact Yoshifumi gave Maruya a hard match that weakened her a few days ago and Maruya seemed very effective as Jippensha's partner over the years but whatever. Higa then urges Jippensha to make the right decision and join up with her, because her future with 5-Star's fallen idol will be exactly what happened over the previous 20 minutes of action. Great change is coming to 5-Star soon, and Higa is offering a life preserver to Jippensha won't be "swallowed by the tide". Higa then drops the mic and leaves.....and for the first time Jippensha looks like she's considering Higa's point of view as Higa leaves the ringside area...... Rating: 79 --- vs. Gemmei Oonishi vs. Miwako Katsukawa 2020 J Grand Prix 3rd Place Match This is mostly a match for fun, really, and the two wrestlers involved shake each other's hand at the start and play it clean, running through a lot of their signature spots and working the crowd. Oonishi takes control early with some quick lucha-influenced chain wrestling, working over Katsukawa's right arm. Katsukawa uses some superior speed to get out of the jam, and uses some headscissors and arm drags to good effect, until Oonishi starts acrobatically landing on her feet and countering each one. The two have a fun exchange of athletic, high-flying moves, and the match spills to the outside, with Oonishi headscissoring Katsukawa into the apron and following with a running twisting body attack off the apron that flattens both of them. Oonishi beats the count at 13, Katsukawa at 18. Oonishi and Katsukawa start picking up the pace a bit with the chop battle and further displays of speed-based oneupsmanship. FLip Legdrop form Oonishi gets 2. Springboard Wheel Kick from Oonishi gets 2. Twisting Flip Clothesline off the rope rope from Katsukawa gets 2. Wacky Neckbreaker from Katsukawa gets 2. Katsukawa goes for the Ultraviolet Beam (Handspring Twisting Corner Forearm), but gets interrupted in mid-move by Oonishi dropkicking her in the ribs for a slightly awkward bump. Oonishi then puts Katsukawa back down with an Arm Wrap Neckbreaker, and goes up for the Flying Dagger Legdrop (Top Rope Front Flip Rough Ryder), but misses, lands on her feet, and gets rolled up from behind by Katsukawa! 1......2.......3! Katsukawa wins the 3rd place bout! Result: Miwako Katsukawa def. Gemmei Oonishi at 15:28 via pinfall Rating: 75 --- We then get a fairly well produced video package for the J Grand Prix, showing highlights of Higa's win in 2016 and her recent matches as a heel, before showing a montage of Angel Driver and Strong Arm Tactic victims of Alicia Strong's. Its the overseas champ versus the top villain in the company. Who will prevail? Good little video package that built up hype for the match! Rating: 74 --- 2020 J Grand Prix Finals vs. Fuyuko Higa vs. Alicia Strong This has a true prizefight feel to it. A great technical battle, backed up with the top heel in the company vs. the hot new challenger from another continent. The match is missing some heat at parts, due to the crowd not quite being sure what Strong is: the bad foreign invader, or a supporter of the 5 Star standard. This hurts the match a bit, but technically it's tremendous. A mat-wrestling feel out process starts this off. Higa seems cocky and confident going in, but Alicia actually outworks her a bit in the early mat sequences, holding her own with armbars and amateur-style takedowns and sending Higa to the outside frustrated. Second mat wrestling sequence, same result, and Higa is left shaking her head on the outside, wondering whats going on. Higa then turns to strikes and starts being countered less often, lighting up Strong with chops and stiff kicks. Strong's seen some of this before, but the ferocity of Higa's assault batters her to the outside, with Higa kicking her ribs and sending her out of the ring before roaring victoriously as Strong recovers on the outside. Higa keeps up the striking-based assault, hammering Strong into the corner with Kitozon Chops, before doing the Kitozon sumo pose and charging into the corner. Strong counters by twisting herself in the ropes in such a way that Higa runs headfirst into her knees, before coming off the ropes with a springboard dropkick that tags Higa hard. Strong takes over with technique, but slowly Higa actually manages to pattern out Strong's technique and starts getting the upper hand. Higa tries to threaten with the Anaconda Vice, but Strong makes the ropes. Higa drags Strong away, only for Strong to hook Higa's arms into an amateur-style pin! 1......2......NO! Higa really doesn't like that nearfall and starts getting super aggressive, mixing hard strikes with flashy slams, and for the first time in her 5SSW run Alicia Strong looks like she's in some serious trouble. Higa pounds Strong into the mat with Double Axehandles and stomps, and catches her with a wild spinkick when Strong gets back to her feet. Higa then lays in the quality badmouth, before picking Strong up for the Higa Green Driver (Emerald Flowsion Kai), only for Strong to fall back, keep a grip on Higa, then hauls her up for the Angel Driver (OwenDriver '97)! Alicia crawls over after a few seconds for the cover 1......2......NO! Higa kicks out! Strong is surprised. Strong keeps pressing the attack. Top Rope Legdrop gets 2. Strong attempts a middle-rope Powerslam, only for Higa to shove her off! Top Rope Leg Lariat from Higa, but its slapped down! Strong then picks Higa up for a 2nd Angel Driver, only for Higa to slip behind her and counter into the Perfection Sweep (Skull Crushing Finale) 1......2......NO! Higa can't believe it! Higa slaps Strong around, then hauls her up for the Higa Green Driver! 1......2......NO! Strong kicks out again! Higa is furious with referee Odaka, accusing him of rigging the match. Higa then starts viciously stomping the bejeesus out of Strong, and goes up for the Top Rope Leg Lariat, which connects this time! 1......2......NO! Higa pounds away on Strong in frustration, elbowing her intot he canvas and covering for 2. A series of quick pins gets 2. Running soccer kick to the head stuns Strong, and Higa decides to go up for a desperation option..... Phoenix Splash off the top, but Higa splats into the canvas! Strong rolls Higa up! 1......2......NO! Higa kicks out! Strong presses desperately now though, as this could be her best shot to win the match. Front Suplex gets 2! Higa tries to counter a 2nd Front Suplex with a Higa Green Driver, only for Strong to shove Higa face first into the corner, before rebounding off the ropes..... Strong Arm Tactic (High-Impact Running Elbow to the Temple) turns Higa inside-out! Strong covers......1......2.......3! Alicia Strong wins the J Grand Prix and punches her ticket to the main event of JoshiMania! Result: Alicia Strong def. Fuyuko Higa by pinfall at 21:22 Rating: 84 Alicia Strong wins the 2020 J Grand Prix! --- Post-match, a somewhat happy crowd cheers on Alicia Strong, as she gives Higa credit for a tough fight but says shes the better woman now. The next target is Yuma Maruya, and Alicia Strong vows to defeat her and take home the 5SSW title to add to her legacy. The show goes off the air with a few red white and blue streamers raining down, and Strong pointing at the camera with a serious expression that turns into a grin....... Rating: 73 --- OVERALL SHOW RATING: 81 ATTENDANCE: 1400

<p></p><div style="text-align:center;"><img alt="GYUe7nb.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/GYUe7nb.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /><p> </p><p> <strong><span style="font-size:12px;">Shogun TV Presents:</span></strong></p><p><strong><span style="font-size:12px;"> 5SSW J Grand Prix 2020 Finals</span></strong></p><p><strong><span style="font-size:12px;"> Saturday/Week 3/June/2020</span></strong></p><p> </p><p> ---</p></div><p></p><p></p><p> </p><p> Live on Shogun TV from the East Osaka Volleyball Centre, it's the climactic 5SSW 2020 J Grand Prix Finals! A great tournament with some memorable moments will be capped off by a star-packed final show!</p><p> </p><p> In our opening match, two tall, tough girls go at it as Toku Kijmuta takes on Rika Tsujimura.</p><p> </p><p> Christy Higgins aims to continue her winning streak, taking on veteran Kaede Sugiyama.</p><p> </p><p> MAYA aims to turn around her win-loss record after a rough showing in the J Grand Prix, and she'll take on a slippery opponent in Simony Sentinel.</p><p> </p><p> An 8 woman tag goes on 4th, with an eclectic collection of wrestlers. Megumi Nakajima, HEART Saitoh, Eri Sato, and Pinky Perez take on Yu Hashimoto, Chiyeko Kita, Romi Yamato, and Paige Croft!</p><p> </p><p> 5SSW All-Asian champion Maki Yoshifumi faces her toughest defence yet: Zofia Jankovic. The tough European destroyed Unstoppable Tai in controversial fashion, knocking her unconscious with a series of vicious blows, and she'll take on the champion under Shoot Fight Rules, with a special guest referee in woman's MMA legend Piper Evergood!</p><p> </p><p> Next up, the 5SSW Triangle title will be defended, as Triangle champ Sae Akutagawa taking on two good technicians in Etsuko Arihyoshi and Mystery Pink!</p><p> </p><p> Our third title match sees a massive bout, as The Uprising aim to make their biggest defense of the 5SSW Tag Team titles, taking on the 5SSW standard bearers themselves: 5 Star Defense! Will the Uprising retain, or will Yuma Maruya combine with her partner to become a double champion?</p><p> </p><p> Next up will be the 3rd place match in the J Grand Prix, as Gemmei Oonishi and Miwako Katsukawa square off. Both girls fell short in the semifinals, so who will be the first to bounce back right away?</p><p> </p><p> Finally, the 2020 J Grand Prix Finals are here in the main event, with a World title shot in a Steel Cage match at JoshiMania on the line. The destructive villain of 5SSW Fuyuko Higa aims to sink the momentum of former 9-time overseas champion Alicia Strong! These two are regarded as two of the msot technically proficient wrestlers ever seen in a 5SSW ring, but which one will prevail and claim their destiny in the main event of JoshiMania?</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><div style="text-align:center;"><p>---</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> <strong><span style="text-decoration:underline;">PREDICTION KEY</span></strong></p><p><strong> </strong><strong><em>(OOC: Draws be happenin' yo!)</em></strong></p><p> </p><p> Toku Kijmuta vs. Rika Tsujimura</p><p> </p><p> Christy Higgins vs. Kaede Sugiyama</p><p> </p><p> MAYA vs. Simony Sentinel</p><p> </p><p> Megumi Nakajima / HEART Saitoh / Eri Sato / Pinky Perez vs. Yu Hashimoto / Chiyeko Kita / Romi Yamato / Paige Croft</p><p> </p><p> <strong>5SSW All-Asian Title (V6 Defense), Shoot Fight Rules:</strong> Maki Yoshifumi © vs. Zofia Jankovic</p><p> </p><p> <strong>5SSW Triangle Title (V2 Defense):</strong> Sae Akutagawa © vs. Etsuko Arihyoshi vs. Mystery Pink</p><p> </p><p> <strong>5SSW Tag Team Titles (V7 Defense):</strong> Talia Quinzel / Selina Svelte © vs. Yuma Maruya / Shiori Jippensha</p><p> </p><p> <strong>5SSW 2020 J Grand Prix 3rd Place Match:</strong> Gemmei Oonishi vs. Miwako Katsukawa</p><p> </p><p> <strong>5SSW 2020 J Grand Prix Finals:</strong> Fuyuko Higa vs. Alicia Strong</p></div><p></p><p></p>

(OOC: Forgot to mention this in my previous notes: The Jankovic/Tai confrontation was based off of the legendary shoot between Antonio Inoki and The Great Antonio, so use that as a bit of a visual reference for how things went down there. Also, prediction key Tuesday, card will be up on Christmas! Not sure if Eve or Day. Happy holidays!) --- The backstage area was absolute chaos, to the point where Erin was half expecting a Simpsons fire drill to break out with people running in circles panicking. In a way, people expected Tai vs Jankovic to go down the way it did, after that first minute when everyone realized something was wrong with what Tai was doing. But to actually SEE it happen? That was something else. They had just witnessed an attempted homicide in the center of the ring, and while a few people were popping off like celebrities witnessing a hype KO on a boxing or MMA match, a lot of people, both Japanese and gaijin, were greatly disturbed by what they saw. Zofia had come back and almost immediately engaged in a one-sided shouting match with Kinuye Mushashibo and Kit Hatoyama (who was the road agent for the match). Zofia was thinking she was set up, and Kinuye and Kit were trying to assure her that wasn't the case. Zofia then proclaimed in loud, heavily accented English that if she ever saw Tai again she'd break Tai's jaw and feed it to her, and there wasn't a person in the building who doubted that threat. Erin and the rest of the gaijin made themselves scarce when Tai came back, and after checking with doctors and meeting with Ogiwara, Tai stormed out of the building, shaking with rage. Erin didn't know what had happened, but she had suspicions...... Alicia Strong had gotten into a brief fight with Tai a month or so earlier, but Alicia was really disconcerted by what she saw take place, and it got in her head in her match against Gemmei Oonishi. Alicia had said that she understood why Zofia did it, but there had to be a better way to handle things than do it in front of the cameras. Talia (who was completely okay with Tai being dunked on.) thought she didn't understand the situation. Erin thought they were both right and wrong at the same time. Erin wouldn't hesitate to defend herself in a real fight. Stones wouldn't back down from a shooter wanting to try their luck, and neither should Stone trainees. On the other hand, there had to be a more professional way to handle this? It was 2020, not 1970, and the days of people settling grudges for real in the ring should've been past. Settle it behind closed doors and keep the marks out of it, right? In the end though, no one would be particularly sad to see Tai go. She was a stiff bully who people hated working with because she sold mostly when she felt like it, which was very rare. Plus she had been going on and on in recent weeks about how she should get the title because who could possibly beat her in a real fight? She had wanted Maki Yoshifumi to prove this, but Jankovic took care of that. **** with the tiger, you get bit......... --- As Ted had a tendency to do by accident, he had overheard some more 5SSW business. It's not like he went snooping for it. Well......sometimes he did, but once again, he had just happened to be hanging out near Ogiwara's office, checking his cell phone and confirming some things about his stock portfolio. He needed some quiet away from all the hubbub that was building up over the shocking Jankovic/Tai match. Unfortunately, he didn't get it, as Tai had come to Ogiwara's office and they had it out. Tai claimed that somehow Zofia had started it, and Ogiwara wasn't buying it. Tai protested the fact she was even booked to lose the match in the first place, because she deserved to be pushed. Ogiwara chastized her for her arrogance, Tai said why shouldn't she be arrogant, it was working for NEOS in Burning Hammer, and it worked for Higa, and it worked in America. Ogiwara said she had taken a chance on Tai and hoped she could learn how to conduct herself professionally, and over the past few years, but especially recently, she had failed at that. Ogiwara was firing her, effective immediately. Tai didn't protest, but instead swore and left the building in a rage. Good riddance, was what Ted thought. Unlike a few of the others Ted didn't feel bad for Tai at all. In fact, it felt therapeutic. Ted had been bullied by people who had about as much of a size advantage over him as Tai did to Jankovic, and seeing Jankovic kick the everloving crap out of Tai felt like Ted watching his bully getting beaten up by a lightweight boxing champion. Ted could understand how some people could feel disconcerted by this though. After all, they were guests in a foreign country. Ted knew a lot of the Japanese workers would hold no sympathy for Tai, but they might feel wronged by a gaijin doing to the damage and making threats afterward. Especially if their surname was "Higa", as Ted knew that Higa found Tai pretty hilarious sometimes. It was a wild night, and Ted thought that some of the hardcores online on places like Reddit and Twitter were gonna be ALL OVER this match once any video leaked. Hopefully 5SSW could handle the blowback........

Dirty Frank and Whippy the Clown running a wrestling company? What could possibly go wrong? Besides all those things we can immediately think of.

OOC SHOW NOTES: -First things first, Puppets Dance is back up for DOTM, so toss over a vote if you feel it deserves to be featured again! -Good little card with obviously a major talking point coming out of it. Needless to say there will be a backstage update on Friday/Saturday talking about this. -Opener was not much to speak of. Isako is green as hell and consistently gets below 35 ratings. I really want her to be good to shine her personality as something like Higa's lieutenant or another role that suits her, but Isako really lacks the talent to be a main roster gal. -Christy Higgins is struggling a little bit to get over and do the working gud. She's not bad, but its a Simony Sentinel type thing. Might do a couple minor boosts in the editor to mitigate this. She's gotten really lost in the shuffle unfortunately due to the GP in terms of plot, but look out for Higgins later on. -MAYA gets a makeup victory for having her eat the 0-4 in the GP. Expect the Kanto Express to team together more regularly going forward. -Tai vs Jankovic........yeah, theres some context to this. For the record, I haven't had a single in-game incident backstage ever in 5SSW, because a backstage rating of 100% means troublemakers don't tend to crop up at all, which kinda sucks for a narrative honestly but what can ya do. (I've even tried resetting to get Higa to crap on someone's gym bags, but nothing happens except wrestler's court and MAYA hosting Cooking Mama for the DS tournaments.) So I've been making up the Tai and Higa stuff. Tai got squashed by Jankovic and will be fired for reasons I can't get into until the tour after JoshiMania. Remind me and I'll cover it then. -I tried so hard to make the Triangle title eliminator a bad match after this but Etsuko Arihyoshi wasn't having any of it. Arihyoshi with mic skills and star quality would be main eventing easy by now. -Oonishi/Strong I sabotaged ratings-wise on purpose because I was worried the main events would be overshadowed. Strong's been getting nice grades now that shes got momentum and a gimmick cooking. -Higa/Katsukawa I felt was a good shot at making the fans take Katsukawa seriously as a future champion. I don't know if this is the direction with the purple haired phenom that everyone would take, but I feel like the main event scene is getting a little old and probably pretty stale. I can imagine the Nagatsuka/Saitoh feud being on top right as the tsunami hit probably led to Ogiwara and Karube just deciding to stick with Maruya/Jippensha/Nakajima as champions, and not risk pushing the Birds of Prey or Yu Hashimoto to that level because what if it tanks business. Now that we have a different narrative, some money, and an aggressive, gambling attitude though, its time to start injecting fresh blood into the scene, see what you've got in your uppercard talents. Katsukawa isn't as good as Maruya at a lot of things, but shes getting over and isn't just letting the side down, and I like her look, and I'm slowly working on giving her a little more backstory than "Cheer me because i personify Japanese values pls". So I'm going with Katsukawa and damn the consequences. -Maruya/Yoshifumi was another thing I tried. This is probably Yoshifumi's first ever title shot, and I wanted a 9th defense for Maruya while getting in the tag team bit, so let's try something different. Why not? I can imagine this match being a mess IRL, like I don't know if any luchador WWE would hire could have a good match with a legitimate guy like a Matt Riddle or a Timothy Thatcher, because its two completely different styles. The psychology felt a bit off, but Big Match Maki stepped up and Maruya was good so I guess in-universe they made it work. Or its a match the 5-Star fandom would just approve of warts and all. -So the J Grand Prix comes down to Higa vs. Strong, and we've got a surprise tag team title match going on. Finals should be a good card but they might take a while unfortunately, I've got some non-holiday stuff coming up over the holidays. I hope everyone stays safe and has all their shopping done! --- PREDICTION STANDINGS: ampulator: 9/9 KyTeran: 6/9

Shogun TV Presents: 5SSW J Grand Prix 2020 Semi-Finals Sunday/Week 2/July/2020 Doshisha Athletic Center Kobe, Japan --- The show opens with a good little package narrated by Kaiya Kuwahara building up the good matches for tonight, with a bit of a checkered flag motif going on. Competent stuff as usual. Rating: 67 --- vs. Gun Metal Gals (Emiko Miyoshi / Nami Genda) vs. Seeing Red (Erin Marcelin / Red Ranger) A basic tag match to open the show between some pretty green wrestlers. Genda looks pretty good at spots, Miyoshi is pretty cute, Marcelin throws hard punches, and Red Ranger......is present in the match in some form, although the mysterious masked wrestler is pretty raw and mostly ineffectual beyond a few strikes. The Gun Metal Gals pick up a win when they isolate Red Ranger enough to crush her with the Steel Ball Run (Corner Cannonball by Genda / Springboard Leaping Face Crusher by Miyoshi) for a 3 count. Result: The Gun Metal Gals def. Seeing Red by pinfall at 8:31 (Genda pins Ranger) Rating: 48 --- vs. Christy Higgins vs. Thea Davis Higgins has built up a winning streak of sorts in pre-show matches, and Davis proves to not be much of a step up in competition for her. Davis does try hard and gets off a few back suplexes, but her attempted Flying Elbow results in her eating shoe leather and then taking a Neckbreaker for her troubles. Higgins keeps control of the match after that, finsihing Davis off eventually with the Florida Upswing (Spinning Vertical Reverse DDT) for the 3 count to keep her streak going. Result: Christy Higgins def. Thea Davis by pinfall at 9:31 Rating: 52 --- The Kanto Express are backstage cutting a quick little promo. MAYA seems to be disappointed over her J Grand Prix performance, and resolves to start turning things around right here. Rating: 49 --- vs. The Kanto Express (MAYA / Machiko Matsuda) vs. The Stone Soliders (Kaede Sugiyama / Kinuye Mushashibo) Well a turnaround does indeed start for MAYA, as the Express have a good bout here. The match is as good as it is only because of MAYA's crowd support, as the audience does seem to think she made a good accounting of herself against tough competition and are appreciative of her offense. MAYA does a good job throwing her opponents around, and the other three workers involved chip in when necessary, but Matsuda is a bit spotty at times, while the Stone Soliders have been going backward since their earlier title shot in 2020. The Express maintain control of the match after a brief late flurry by the Soldiers, and eventually combine to land the Last Stop (Magic Killer) for the first time in a while, planting Mushashibo for 3. Result: Kanto Express def. Stone Soliders via pinfall at 10:34 Rating: 63 --- vs. All-Asian Title Eliminator Unstoppable Tai vs. Zofia Jankovic This innocuous seeming match on the card becomes a talking point online about 5SSW for years, and goes down as one of the most controversial matches in the history of wrestling. Ostensibly, this is supposed to be just a simple title eliminator between two tough girls to prep a worthy challenger for Maki Yoshifumi's title. What ends up happening is entirely different from anything planned. Tai starts the match with some really, really stiff slaps and punches and some harsh-sounding language for Jankovic in the corner. Clubbing blows to the back of the neck follow. Jankovic tries fighting back and Tai no-sells her and knocks her down with some slaps, before kicking Jankovic like a sack of garbage to the outside. Jankovic is on the outside, clearly heard on camera asking Referee Tanemura what the **** is going on, before heading back in the ring. After another minute of physical abuse from Tai, during which Jankovic gets busted open hardway, something clicks in Jankovic's head that shes no longer in a working match and appears to be in a shoot. So Jankovic starts punching Tai for real, who no sells at first until one lands clean on the jaw and wobbles her a bit. Tai throws a weak, looping slap, and Jankovic slips under her flailing attempt and hits her with a left to the solar plexus that could put a women's boxing champion down for 10. Tai crumples to the mat, and Jankovic starts laying in soccer kicks and stomps that go from stiff to attempted murder in a hurry. Referee Takemura is trying to break things up, but Jankovic rushes past him and starts destroying Tai with more stomps until shes a non-moving, bloody mess. Referee Takemura finally pulls Jankovic away and the match is called off, ruled a win by injury stoppage for Jankovic, who walks off to the locker room in a rage while people come out to tend to Tai. Tai eventually recovers after some smelling salts are found by a young lion, and a couple medics eventually lead Tai away with her arms draped over her shoulders. Tai is capable of walking, but not much else based on garbled talk heard from the camera mics, before the TV feed cuts to the announcers at ringside, with Chishu and Shunsen looking like deer in the headlights while Karube is holding her head in her hands. As a match, this was nothing, but as a spectacle this was.......something? Result: Zofia Jankovic def. Unstoppable Tai via referee stoppage due to injury at 4:31 Rating: 47 --- The announcers quickly get a cue that they're on air, and they cut hurriedly to a random promo sequence with Eri Sato, Lady Lotus, and Chiyeko Kita (on behalf of her partner Etsuko Arihyoshi) cutting a promo on the upcoming Triangle eliminator. No one cared, and in fact the promo re-ran briefly before cutting to dead air and a wide shot, as backstage personnel were mopping the ring with what appeared to be squirtbottles and wet towels. The show has crashed to a screeching halt at this point, as the crowd processes what they just saw, whatever the hell it was. Rating: 46 --- vs. vs. vs. vs. vs. Triangle Title Eliminator 6-Way Match Etsuko Arihyoshi vs. Paige Croft vs. Lady Lotus vs. Toku Kijmuta vs. Eri Sato vs. Mystery Pink So the crowd is still buzzing over what happened in the last match, and there's certainly some distracted workers here. Toku Kijmuta in particular is staring hard at her tag team partners blood stained on the mat to start the match. Things meander around at the start, with Kijmuta obviously distressed. Kimuta then eventually drags Lotus to the corner and seems to communicate with her for a while, which leads to Sato and Lotus taking out Kijmuta with a quick chop block/flying cross chop combo followed by a double stack pin to eliminate Kijmuta, who no-sells it, rolls out of the ring after the 3 count, and heads to the back. ELIMINATION #1: Toku Kijmuta The match picks up a little after that, with Arihyoshi doing her part to make the match interesting with some fine technical work. Lady Lotus stupidly tries to turn on Arihyoshi too soon on a 2-on-1, with a predictable result. Arihyoshi manages to outwrestle Lotus and pins her with a German Suplex followed by a Tiger Suplex. ELIMINATION #2: Lady Lotus From there, things pair off, with Arihyoshi fighting Sato and Croft fighting Pink. Pink battles Croft to the outside, takes her out with a risky cannonball off the apron, and whips her into the guardrail. While Pink fights Croft, Arihyoshi is having a good little mini-match with Sato eating some shots and exchanging holds until she ducks the Sato Tornado (Spinkick to a cornered opponent), and then O'Connor Rolls her for a 3 count. ELIMINATION #3: Eri Sato Pink and Croft's mini match spills back into the ring, with Arihyoshi hanging back and taking shots, eventually going after Croft just as she starts to get an upper hand on Mystery Pink. Arihyoshi hits several nice suplexes, and is about to haul Croft up for a Backdrop Driver before instead choosing to shove her into the path of an oncoming Twisting Crossbody from a revived Mystery Pink, and that gets 3! ELIMINATION #4: Paige Croft Match recovered from a bit of a sloppy start due to Arihyoshi's skills, and it'll be her and Mystery Pink advancing to face Sae Akutagawa for the Triangle title at the J Grand Prix Finals! Result: Etsuko Arihyoshi and Mystery Pink survive after 13:51 Rating: 67 --- We then get a video package hyping up Alicia Strong vs. Gemmei Oonishi, hyping up the reasons for both women to want victory here, as well as the path both took to make it here, with Strong sweeping her group while Oonishi had to rebound from a loss. Rating: 73 --- vs. 2020 J Grand Prix Semi-Finals Alicia Strong (1 seed, Group A) vs. Gemmei Oonishi (2 seed, Group B) Theres some serious buzz for this match now that the crowds recovered a bit from the shocking events of the All-Asian title eliminator, but unfortunately the match doesn't live up to it. Oonishi is a bit botchy in a big match for her to showcase why she could be a top babyface, and Strong is a little methodical and slow today. The match also runs a little short...... The match starts with Oonishi trying to use her lucha-inspired chain wrestling and athletic moves to take the pace early. Strong works out the counters eventually, and goes to the legs, trying to slow Oonishi down with submission holds and leg crushers galore. Oonishi tries battling out of it, but Strong blankets her and keeps control up until the middle of the match, where Strong starts turning to more athletic moves. Oonishi does manage to counter a Powerslam with a swinging DDT, and proceeds to no-sell the leg work as she revs up with a series of athletic lucha moves and dropkicks, before slightly overshooting Strong on a dive and almost impaling herself on the ringside barricade. Oonishi's okay enough though to make the count back in at 18 along with Strong and continue the match. The match continues to slow down with Strong on offense and speeds up with Oonishi on the attack, and Strong isn't patterning out her counters as well as she normally does. The pace finally starts picking up as the crowd get into it. Oonishi rocks Strong with a Headscissors sending Strong skull-first into the corner, followed by a Reverse DDT! Standing Flip Legdrop! 1......2.....NO! Oonishi keeps on the attack, stuns Strong with a Rebound Cross Chop off the middle rope, and goes up for the finish...... Flying Dagger Legdrop (Top Rop Front Flip Rough Ryder), but Strong rolls through on the move, manages to haul Oonishi onto her shoulders with one fliud motion and...... Angel Driver (OwenDriver '97)! 1......2.......3! Alicia Strong punches her ticket to the J Grand Prix finals! Result: Alicia Strong def. Gemmei Oonishi via pinfall at 15:22 Rating: 76 Alicia Strong advances to the 2020 J Grand Prix Finals --- Next up is a video package hyping the other semifinal match between Fuyuko Higa and Miwako Katsukawa. Both girls cut excellent promos for this, with Higa clearly indicating that Katsukawa is below her, how dare this younger peasant waste my time, while Katsukawa hates this unnamed faction Higa is putting together, and plans to decapitate the snake by going after its head. Rating: 77 --- vs. 2020 J Grand Prix Semi-Finals Fuyuko Higa (1 seed, Group B) vs. Miwako Katsukawa (2 seed, Group A) The second semi-final has a ton of heat behind it, and the stakes are high. Higa is a heat magnet, and Katsukawa is a scrappy younger underdog who gets 100% of the crowd support here, as fans badly want to see Higa pinned. Higa goes straight to old-school heel tactics, using dirty grappling on the inside, offering Katsukawa a clean break, then slapping the bejesus out of her. Higa and Katsukawa goes into a sequence again, Higa goes to slap Katsukawa again, and Katsukawa grabs Higa's arm and tags her badly with a headbutt that gets the crowd's approval. Higa wipes her face off an starts getting pissed, taking control of the match with vicious strikes and superior technique. Higa batters Katsukawa around the ring, backing her into the corner with rapid fire Kitozon Chops. Higa then oes the Kitozon sumo pose, and does a big corner charge, only for Katsukawa to smoothly dodge and roll up a staggered Higa! 1......2.....NO! Katsukawa grins at Higa, who isn't pleased by this lowly youngster giving her trouble instead of lying down meekly. Higa goes back to more strikes, hitting harder this time, but Katsukawa starts using some fast chain wrestling and good technique to evade and fight back. Higa, however proves to be the superior technician and outwrestles her, so Katsukawa turns to speed, running the ropes at impossible angles, hitting Higa with quick chops, strikes, and dropkicks before backing off. Katsukawa darts in and out of range, eventually knocking Higa to the outside, and following her out with the big running no hands cannonball plancha to take her out! Higa makes it back into the ring before the count, only for Katsukawa to headscissors her out again, and follow with big double knees off the apron. The two fight outside, and Katsukawa goes for the countout victory a few times before Higa makes it back in and starts turning it up on the youngster. STO into an Anaconda Vice threatens, Katsukawa's fading......fading.....but makes the ropes! Higa doesn't let the purple-haired youngster recover though! Perfection Sweep (Skull Crushing Finale)! 1......2.......NO! Katsukawa kicks out! Higa gets even more pissed, and beats down Katsukawa some more with hard chops and violent slams. A Half Nelson Suplex is followed by Higa playing to the crowd as she hooks Katsukawa's arm into position....... Higa Green Driver (Emerald Flowsion Kai)! 1......2......NO! Katsukawa kicks out again! Higa's livid at this and starts fighting even harder, only for Katsukawa to counter and make a big comeback! Corkscrew Forearms! Single Foot Dropkick! Springboard Wheel Kick! Katsukawa whips Higa hard into the corner, and crushes her with the Ultraviolet Beam (Handspring Twisting Forearm to a cornered opponent)! Katsukawa Bomb (Sunset Flip Powerbomb) looks to finish, but Higa manages to summon a last burst of will to stop Katsukawa's forward momentum, hooking her legs and rolling her forward into a modified jackknife pin! 1......2.......3! Higa advances to the finals, but it was a close fight, and Katsukawa made a good accounting of herself here....... Result: Fuyuko Higa def. Miwako Katsukawa via pinfall at 15:12 Rating: 79 Fuyuko Higa advances to the 2020 J Grand Prix Finals --- Next up we get a brief video package for the title match, emphasizing the dangerous Yoshifumi's striking, and Maruya's heartfelt promise to defend the title against such a dangerous and worthy opponent. As highlights of Yoshifumi's various HEAD KICK victims in and out of wrestling pile up, the question on everyone's lips is, will the idol of 5 Star fall tonight? Will the champion falter at the 9th hurdle? Rating: 69 (nice) --- 5SSW World Championship V9 Defense Champion vs. Champion vs. Yuma Maruya (5SSW World Champion) vs. Maki Yoshifumi (5SSW All-Asian Champion, World Title Challenger) Despite having almost no build, there's a bit of an intriguing big fight feel to this one. Yoshifumi has some shootfight fans in attendance, and theres some photographers at ringside here from various magazines. Yoshifumi looks dead serious for this one, and Maruya looks up for the challenge. Maruya offers a handshake before the start of the match, and Yoshifumi, despite being a part of this growing Higa faction, accepts it, and gives Maruya a short bow which Maruya returns. Karube notes that Yoshifumi may be on the wrong side, but she conducts herself like a warrior and has respect for anyone talented. Yoshifumi certainly fights like a warrior to start, battering Maruya with some low kicks to start. Maruya takes Yoshifumi down with a quick arm drag and then starts working Yoshifumi's legs to neutralize her kickboxing. The ground proves to be a bad place to take Yoshifumi though, who is improving technically and has some holds of her own to show off, forcing a break. Yoshifumi kicks Maruya hard after Maruya gets the break, battering her around the lower body, taking her time, letting it sink in. HEAD KICK-misses! and Maruya counters with a dropkick to the face. Maruya keeps working over Yoshifumi with technique and speed, but Yoshifumi's MMA training is super dangerous. Maruya is threatened by a behind the back keylock, but breaks free with a desperation headbutt and tries to trap Yoshifumi in several quick pins. Yoshifumi keeps kicking out at 2, and drags Maruya up to her feet and into a clinch, violently kneeing and elbowing her hard. One elbow knocks Maruya down and sends her out of the ring, where Yoshifumi goes outside and......HEAD KIC-blocked with a cross arm block, but Maruya gets blown backward hard into the apron! Yoshifumi heads in the ring and relaxes in the corner, perching herself on the top rope like a hammock. Maruya struggles to her feet, and makes it back in at 18, only to be pounded away on by Yoshifumi. Yoshifumi hammers Maruya into the corner with kicks, stands her up, elbows her hard, and hits a spinning backfist. Maruya is rocked and staggers around the ring. HEAD KICK-barely misses! Second HEAD KIC-ducked, and Maruya times a legsweep perfectly while Yoshifumi's on one leg to take her out! Maruya summons all her will power to make a big comeback! Headscissors! Running Dropkick to the back! Snapdragon Suplex! Maruya goes up for the big one.....YUMA Special (Sky Twister Press) connects! 1......2......NO! Yoshifumi kicks out! Maruya can't believe it! Maruya then gets off another Snapdragon Suplex, and puts Yoshifumi up, looking for a Back Superplex, only for Yoshifumi to elbow her way out of it and sends Maruya back to the canvas. Yoshifumi then.......stays on the top rope? Maruya gets dizzily to her feet, and Yoshifumi comes off with a desperation Top Rope Enzuigiri-ducked by Maruya! Yoshifumi crashes into the canvas, and Maruya comes from behind with a three-quarter nelson rollup! 1......2.......3! Maruya takes a close, close victory over the deadly MMA striker and retains her title for the 9th time! Result: Yuma Maruya def. Maki Yoshifumi via pinfall at 19:31 Rating: 82 Yuma Maruya retains the 5SSW World Championship! (V9 Defense) --- Post-match, Maruya thanks the fans for their support and praises Yoshifumi as a true fighter worthy of respect, but announces she's not done pushing herself to be better on this tour. Maruya goes into praise for The Uprising, and notes that the two of them have tasted very few, if any, defeats since winning the Dynamo Tag League in November. Maruya says there are journalists talking them up as the best woman's tag team in the world. Maruya wants to test that theory, and she'll test it at the finals. she's gotten approval from VP Kaiya Kuwahara and it's official: The Uprising will defend against Yuma Maruya and Shiori Jippensha, the team of 5 Star Defense! Maruya says she'll do her best to take the tag titles and be one of the few double titleholders in 5SSW history! Rating: 75 --- OVERALL SHOW RATING: 79 ATTENDANCE: 1000 SRO

Shogun TV Presents: 5SSW J Grand Prix Semi-Finals 2020 Sunday/Week 2/July/2020 --- This is it, the J Grand Prix Semi Finals! No one wants to lose having come this far! In our opening match, two young teams with some promise go at it, as the Gun Metal Gals take on Seeing Red. (OOC: Seeing Red is Erin Marcelin and Spider Isako under a mask as the Red Ranger) Christy Higgins has been on a tear in pre-shows, and today she takes on the veteran from Britain, Thea Davis. Tag action goes on third, as the Kanto Express team together for the first time in a while, taking on the Stone Soldiers. An All-Asian title eliminator bout follows this, with two tough ladies duking it out as Unstoppable Tai takes on Zofia Jankovic! A Triangle title eliminator follows this as the lead-in tot he triple main event. 6 women enter the match and the last 2 remaining with no falls against them compete for the title at the J Grand Prix Finals show. The battle will be waged between Etsuko Arihyoshi, Paige Croft, Lady Lotus, Toku Kijmuta, Eri Sato, and Mystery Pink! Finally, our triple main event leads off with the first semifinal match of the J Grand Prix, with former overseas queen Alicia Strong taking on the 2018 J Grand Prix winner Gemmei Oonishi! Then our second semifinal follows, with 2016 J Grapd Prix winner Fuyuko Higa taking on the rising younger star Miwako Katsukawa! Finally, our main event sees a champion versus champion showdown, as 5SSW World champion takes on 5SSW All-Asian champion Maki Yoshifumi! the 5SSW World title will be on the line in this match, but not the All-Asian. Will Yoshifumi continue her impressive run in singles and take down the cchampion to claim both belts, or will Yuma Maruya fend off another deadly challenger to her title? --- PREDICTION KEY: Emiko Miyoshi / Nami Genda vs. Erin Marcelin / Red Ranger Christy Higgins vs. Thea Davis MAYA / Machiko Matsuda vs. Kaede Sugiyama / Kinuye Mushashibo All-Asian Title Eliminator: Unstoppable Tai vs. Zofia Jankovic Triangle Title Eliminator (pick 2 winners): Etsuko Arihyoshi vs. Paige Croft vs. Lady Lotus vs. Toku Kijmuta vs. Eri Sato vs. Mystery Pink 2020 J Grand Prix Semifinal A: Alicia Strong vs. Gemmei Oonishi 2020 J Grand Prix Semifinal B: Fuyuko Higa vs. Miwako Katsukawa 5SSW World Title Bout (V9 Defense): Yuma Maruya © vs. Maki Yoshifumi

(OOC: Prediction key up on Monday. did some test sims of JoshiMania and things look promising!) --- Erin was pumped up. She had achieved something she never thought she'd achieve in a million years, she had teamed with Yuma Maruya, her idol. For some reason they put Yuma Maruya in with the lowest tag team on the roster, I guess to prove how awesome she could be carrying two jobbers to victory. Fine by Erin! She got another rare win and some more experience watching from the apron while an ace worked the crowd properly. Erin would've liked to have known Japanese so she could understand the advice Yuma was shouting from the apron. Ted had been teaching classes on and off, but it was a hard language to learn. There were some phrases she could pick up from watching subtitled video games and stuff like that, but it was still tough sledding to learn such a complicated language. It wasn't like French which shared a few commonalities with English...... Meanwhile, Erin and Simony continued to travel the three city circuit 5SSW ran in search of entertainment. It was good times as usual, but...... Erin was noticing Simony getting a bit more flirty with her lately. Erin didn't.......mind it. Erin thought Simony was cool and pretty, but....... Erin knew that one fear her dad probably had when Erin wanted to enter the wrestling business was that she'd end up in a serious romantic relationship with a woman. Dad had tried to set her up a couple times with co-worker's kids to head things off at the pass, but those people were awful, selfish trust fund ****heads who only gave a damn about themselves and just wanted a pretty girl on their arm. And it wasn't like Erin didn't think they were unattractive, or that she didn't like guys. She did like guys. She had crushed on Champagne Lover hard when she saw her first lucha matches on YouTube, and turned into a bit of a giggling, babbling mess when she got an autograph and a picture taken with Mainstream Hernandez during a rare SWF Canadian tour a few years ago. But Erin had come to terms over time with the fact that she liked girls too, and hell......it was 2020, times were changing! There was nothing wrong with it, right? Hell, maybe there were girls on the roster checking Erin out too while she changed, just as she'd check them out. If Simony wanted to date her and get more serious than just friends hanging out and playing games....... was there really anything wrong with that? ......Erin felt sure her dad wouldn't approve though. He probably wanted Erin to be married in her mid-20s and in a "healthy" relationship with a kid just like Dad and Mom. And she knew that the people at Dad's workplace Strathcona-Fremont were the crustiest of the upper-crust, the bluest of blue bloods, and they were probably stuck in the 1960s mindset of "Anyone who isn't normal like us are degenerates of society and should be suppressed. Preferably via water cannon and riot police." Dad probably shared that attitude too, even though he tried to hide it...... Ah well, Erin would cross that bridge when she'd come to it. At least love was the only thing close to a problem she had with 5SSW right now....... --- Ted had to admit, this Grand Prix was kicking ass so far. There were about 5 matches better than anything done on USPW TV in recent months by their women, and probably for most of all-time. Fuyuko Higa was rebounding a bit from two title losses and was still on fire as a top heel, Alicia Strong added a new element and a main-event opponent for anyone. Miwako Katsukawa was starting to shine as a future ace, and Miwako looked hotter than a two dollar pistol to boot. Gemmei Oonishi was even challenging for number one babyface for crying out loud. Of course, there was some weird stuff with Shiori Jippensha, who seemed to be getting lost in the shuffle a bit and was involved with some weird storyline with Higa. Ted suspected it had something to do with the big summer angle 5SSW had planned that no one knew anything about yet. Not even Chishu fully knew, and he was on the booking team. But they suspected. Everyone suspected. Meanwhile, Ted could hear Unstoppable Tai laughing about something in the back and had his mood chill 10 degrees immediately. Ted had heard a theory from psychiatrists that people you dislike can do absolutely nothing out of the ordinary and it just seems like the worst thing in the world. Jokes they tell would be annoying to you, but funny from the mouths of other people. Tai laughing, even if it was about nothing bad, just GRATED on Ted. Tai had been going around the locker room throught the J Grand Prix, crowing about how she was the toughest person around, and that if the World title was based on shootfights she'd be champion forever (which she felt she should be anyways cause come on look at her). Tai had also done some of this crowing around Maki Yoshifumi, which Ted thought was a bad idea based on Maki winning a legit MMA fight with a highlight reel head kick KO. But hey, if Tai wanted to take her up on it, maybe she'd figure out that size and her muscular physique wouldn't matter against formal fighting training. However, Maki seemed to just keep focused to herself and tuned out a lot of the locker room talk. Ted sorta wanted Tai to push Maki's buttons, but then that would require hearing Tai talk some more......

OOC SHOW NOTES: -And so the round robin comes to an end, with a bevy of people going "What the hell?" at a fair chunk of these results, especially Group B which was a mess. -MAYA/Arihyoshi was what it was. Feel kinda badly for MAYA, who got used as a punching bag throughout and didn't get a fair chance to establish herself. Better days may be ahead for her once a few people on the pecking order retire. -Jippensha/Saitoh may probably be seen as straight up bad booking by some. To be fair, it's not a decision I'd agree with either as an outsider. Jippensha is above Saitoh on my pecking order. But the important thing to note is Saitoh won a world title before, and she had to have defended against SOMEONE to get over, so Jippensha was probably one of them. Saitoh could beat anyone on her day if she connects her knee cleanly, and Jippensha was having an off night, so the victory makes sense there. -On that note a tangent: I think a basic-level smart mark might do booking based only on a perceived "tier list" of how they see talent. This game sorta encourages you to pick a group of stars and hammer them over by any means necessary to be fair, but sometimes you gotta do jobs that don't make total sense to advance a story. Daniel Bryan is better than John Cena in my eyes, but Bryan should not win every match in a feud against Cena, plus Cena has other qualities that require him to get protected somewhat. Bryan should still WIN the feud, but it shouldn't be all about Bryan Bryan Bryan and just one guy eating up the other. Unless, of course, you get a much crappier wrestler whos over that you need to siphon off (I'd have a lot of the world go over Baron Corbin because lmao he sucks. He can get heat yes, but he sucks.). -So on that note, even though Jippensha should win over Saitoh and I assess Jippensha as being better and more important, Saitoh needed to win this because I'm telling a story and Jippensha holding a high card disrupts it. Maybe it'd be different if Jippensha had 70+ in entertainment skills, I dunno. And it was different for Jippensha and Saitoh in 2016, because Jippensha had a higher ceiling and Saitoh had no reason to be protected at all because this was before her world title reign and I had 5 girls who could do what she did better. Now in 2020, things be different. :shrug: -Katsukawa gets the W! This is supposed to be a fairly good star-making performance that establishes her as a future ace, with the future maybe being soon-ish. Of course she has the Japanese babyface problem I suspect, and people will find her less interesting because shes not Higa, but I might try to give her something to establish herself. I suspect she'll be a lot like Harry Allen in Self's Frontier Combat Kingdom diary if any board veterans here are reading this. -Higa is her usual reliable scene-chewing self. Now that she has her morale back, you can give her anything and she'll knock it out of the park, an indispensable part of the roster who can talk them into the building, give people a reason to care about her opponent, and wrestle to a high, world-class standard. Too bad she's a lousy person. --- 2020 J GRAND PRIX STANDINGS GROUP A: Strong 4W-0D-0L-8Points Katsukawa 3W-0D-1L-6Points CUTOFF LINE------------------------------------CUTOFF LINE Nakajima 2W-0D-2L-4Points Arihyoshi 1W-0D-3L-2Points MAYA 0W-0D-4L-0Points GROUP B: Higa 2W-2D-0L-6Points Oonishi 2W-1D-1L-5Points CUTOFF LINE------------------------------------CUTOFF LINE Jippensha 1W-2D-1L-4Points Saitoh 1W-1D-2L-3Points Hashimoto 0W-2D-2L-2Points SEMIFINAL MATCHUPS: Higa vs. Katsukawa / Strong vs. Oonishi --- NEXT TIME ON DRAGON BALL Z: Backstage updates for the first time in a while! Remember those? Event prediction key (Remember those as well? Expect the key on Monday and card on Wed/Thurs/Fri) More backstage updates! Then the finals! Then JoshiMania!

Shogun TV Presents: 5SSW J Grand Prix 2020 Night 5 Tuesday/Week 2/July/2020 Kyoto Center for Sports and Motion Kyoto, Japan --- The show opens with the usual big video package recapping the final matches of the group stage and the spots still up for grabs. Kaiya Kuwahara is great as always in these. Announcers then welcome us to the show and throw to the pre-show highlights. Rating: 68 --- --- vs. Etsuko Arihyoshi vs. MAYA Both girls at 0-3 are seeing out their tournament with a final match. With neither girl having a hope of advancing, this is for nothing but pride and avoiding the 0-4, and the two women fight tooth and nail to get the win and some pride back. Arihyoshi has the advantage early, being a step ahead of MAYA on all counts. MAYA tries fighting back but gets tied into tighter and tighter knots for her troubles. Arihyoshi works in several armbars and bodylocks, forcing MAYA to burn energy to make the ropes. Arihyoshi keeps up the submission attack, and strats mixing in suplexes, but this gives MAYA an opening, as she athletically counters a few suplexes and responds with some catch wrestling throws and suplexes of her own. Arihyoshi tries to keep holding and wearing down MAYA, working in some excellent SMALL JOINT MANIPULATION~! More armbars and a painful looking bent finger lock of some sort follow. MAYA keeps battling and fires off some suplexes. Spinning Belly to Belly gets 2. German Suplex gets 2. Half-Nelson Suplex gets countered by Arihyoshi into an STO followed up by a modified kimura lock, but MAYA makes the ropes and keeps battling. MAYA goes for the Steel Tower Drop (Slingshot Spike DDT), but her arm is too hurt and she can't get Arihyoshi up for it! Arihyoshi then hooks a leg.....Fisherman's Suplex! 1......2.....NO! Arihyoshi keeps on the attack, and pounds away on MAYA from full guard looking for an opening, but MAYA recovers with one last burst to pull Arihyoshi into the Triangle Choke! Arihyoshi thrashes and battles madly to get out of it, and finally manages to counter into a desperate Jackknife pin! 1......2......NO! MAYA kicks out and releases the hold, but its a fatal error as Arihyoshi takes her back! Arihyoshi Lockdown (Seated Abdominal Stretch Dragon Sleeper)! MAYA is trying to fight out, then trying to hold on.......but passes out and referee Odaka waves off the match. Good victory for Arihyoshi to sign off on! Result: Etsuko Arihyoshi def. MAYA by referee stoppage due to a submission at 14:40 Rating: 75 --- Post-match we don't hear from either wrestler in the opener, and instead the announcers tell us that Yuma Maruya has something important to say. Maruya congratulates everyone in the J Grand Prix for showing good fihgt first of all, and awaits the winner at JoshiMania. However, Maruya feels that she needs a title defense to prepare herself for JoshiMania, and wants to highlight the effort put in by the other 5SSW champions. So Maruya is laying out a formal challenge to 5SSW All-Asian champion Maki Yoshifumi for a match at the J Grand Prix Semi-Finals, and Maki has accepted. The match is on, and Yuma's ready to push herself. This will be her 9th defence, and then Yuma will aim to win it and then make a milestone 10th defense of her title at JoshiMania. Yuma thanks the fans for their support and promises them more victories to come. Rating: 71 --- vs. Shiori Jippensha vs. HEART Saitoh Jippensha is once again hot and bothered in this match, being needlessly aggressive and going away from her usual style of calm technique. Saitoh is fired up for this and gets quite a bit of the crowd on her side, but the match is a bit of a mess, and a weird one to be at the back of a group stage like this. Jippensha starts strongly by throwing Saitoh around with suplexes, working submissions, and pounding Saitoh with strikes, but Saitoh manages to weather the storm with heart and determination. Saitoh starts into a flurry of joshi lucha-based offense, taking Jippensha down with complicated arm drags and headscissors. Jippensha tries to match Saitoh's offensive, but lucha style offense isn't her strong suit. Jippensha goes to fierce striking instead, but that doesn't unsettle Saitoh much either. Saitoh starts making a comeback, taking Jippensha to the outside with a headscissors and then following with a big flip dive, but then this is where the match falls apart, as Saitoh badly overshoots the dive and seems to rock herself a bit. Saitoh is in lalaland as Jippensha hauls her back in the ring and leads Saitoh through the match with restholds until Saitoh gets her legs back under her, as the match comes to a screeching halt. Eventually though, Saitoh's head clears and she goes into a comeback, although Jippensha counters a complex neckbreaker with one of her own.......and goes up top? Jippensha goes for a moonsault, but misses and splats on the canvas. Saitoh then rocks Jippensha with Back Brain Kicks, lands her complex neckbreaker this time, and then goes up top......Flying Tiger Knee(Top Rope Busaiku Knee) connects squarely on the jaw of Jippensha! 1......2.......3! Saitoh takes a huge win, and now Jippensha's ability to get out of this group is in question! Result: HEART Saitoh def. Shiori Jippensha via pinfall at 14:51 Rating: 72 --- Post-match, Jippensha lambasts herself for her failures and says shes been fighting this tournament distracted and unable to properly concentrate and do what she wants to do. Jippensha says she needs to take a look at things and see what she needs to do next. Saitoh is battered but happy with the win, saying that while she was disappointed to not make it to the semifinals of the J Grand Prix, she's happy to end it on a high note, and intends to someday get back into title contention soon. Neither is a great talker so this kinda fell flat. Rating: 52 --- vs. Megumi Nakajima vs. Miwako Katsukawa Theres a bit of a big fight feel for this one, as people have a feeling that maybe Katsukawa could pull the upset. The veteran Nakajima has been getting supporters back since a slow-burn face turn that's been going on since the retirement of partner DEVIL Karube. Still, the crowd is a bit more behind the purple-haired wonder Katsukawa, and they get a strong effort for their support. Katsukawa starts the match strongly, running the ropes quickly, hitting Nakajima from awkward angles, and generally taking the pace from the veteran. Nakajima weathers the storm and seems to be scouting out Katsukawa for opportunities, eventually taking down Katsukawa by slapping down a jumping backspin kick to the face and working a legbar off of that. Katsukawa frees herself and transitions to her own holds, but Nakajima breaks through them easily and sends Katsukawa to the outside, following with a big spaceman plancha to the outside. Nakajima keeps up the assault after the dive, and the two fight in and around the ring, with Nakajima getting the best of things due to superior striking. Katsukawa then fights back with more speed, hitting Nakajima from wilder angles, and sending her down with a hammerlock reverse suplex, followed by a baseball slide, followed by a dangerous flipping body attack from the top rope to the floor that lays Nakajima out. Katsukawa beats the count at 15, but Nakajima makes it in at 19. Theo two slug it out with chops and then go for big moves to get the win. Reverse Tornado DDT to Nakajima! 1......2.....NO! Exploder Suplex to Katsukawa! 1......2......NO! Nakajima tries to control Katsukawa's arms for the Nakajima Straight Jacket (Straitjacket Suplex), only for Katsukawa to spin free and try to counter with a ripcord elbow, only for Nakajima to block and go right back tot he Straitjacket, only for Katsukawa to counter with mulekicks to Nakajima's knees until she lets go. Flipover Reverse DDT! Katsukawa's fired up and drives Nakajima into the corner, looking for the Ultraviolet Beam (Handspring Twisting Forearm to a cornered opponent), but Nakajima moves away, only for Katsukawa to adjust mid-air and grab the ropes instead of following through with the forearm. Katskuawa then leaps off the middle rope and almost caves in Nakajima's skull with a Dropkick! Nakajima's in trouble..... Katsukawa Bomb (Sunset Flip Powerbomb) connects! 1......2.......3! Katsukawa gets a big upset and punches her ticket to the J Grand Prix semifinals! Result: Miwako Katsukawa def. Megumi Nakajima via pinfall at 14:43 Rating: 76 --- Post-match, Katsukawa celebrates around the ring, basking in the glory of her biggest win yet. As Nakajima recovers, she grabs a mic and praises Katsukawa for the effort, wishing her luck in winning the J Grand Prix and taking the big step up to a World title level competitor. Nakajima raises Katsukawa's hand, and then Katsukawa takes the mic, thanks Nakajima for the match, and then thanks the fans for their support in the match, saying it helped her win and shes very appreciative. Rating: 66 --- vs. Fuyuko Higa vs. Gemmei Oonishi The crowd is hyped up for this one, and Higa, if possible, is even more jazzed up, loudly bragging to any fan who will listen that this will be an easy nights work as she'll beat her "nameless former partner" badly and end her career. Oonishi is certainly under no illusions of having a career ended here, and comes out to a huge pop and nearly unanimous crowd support. The commentators remind us Oonishi needs to win or draw to place 2nd in the group and make it out, as a loss would put her at 4 points level with Jippensha and give Jippensha the tiebreaker due to Jippensha beating Oonishi earlier in the GP. Oonishi starts fast, coming at Higa, who treats her offense with almost sneering indifference at first, even as moves connect. A neckbreaker and running dropkick puts Higa down, only for Higa to do the Skull DeBones zombie situp and shout at Oonishi "Is that the best you can do?!?". Oonishi does try to do better, but Higa just casually starts countering her and slapping her like shes a young lion, and then takes her down and starts stretching Oonishi in some painful directions. One of the common styles of a Higa singles match ensues, of her beating the holy hell out of her opponent, getting too sucked in by taunting the crowd or thinking she's above it all, and then the opponent makes comebacks that keep getting shut down. Higa starts blasting Oonishi with a sequence of kicks and chops at some point, just getting fed up with her and wanting to finish it. Higa then postures for the crowd quite a bit before hauling Oonishi up for the Higa Green Driver (Emerald Flowsion Kai), only for Oonishi to counter into a Small Package! 1......2......NO! "THAT WON'T WORK AGAIN!" screams Higa as she proceeds to slap Oonishi around a bit. Higa blasts Oonishi with rapid fire Kitozon Chops, preening for the crowd, but then Oonishi catches Higa taking too long after a corner whip and counters by lifting herself up into a hurricanrana on Higa! Dropkicks! Headscissors! Jawbreaker! Dragon Screw! Knee Crusher! Standing Flip Legdrop! 1......2.....NO! Oonishi keeps on the attack, downing Higa with a Rebound Cross Chop off the middle rope and then goes up..... Flying Dagger Legdrop (Top Rope Front Flip Rough Ryder)! 1......2......NO! Higa kicks out at 2.9! Oonishi sticks with it despite being shocked at the kickout, and does that weird Joshi suplex bodyslam before going up for the Hail Mary option......Phoenix Splas-Higa moves at the last minute and Oonishi crashes and burns! Higa and Oonishi slowly rises to their feet, slug it out, and Higa takes control..... Perfection Sweep (Skull Crushing Finale)! 1......2......NO! Higa is furious, but keeps on the attack as the time limit runs out. Big kicks! STO! Anaconda Vice locked in! Oonishi fights it, but shes fading......fading......fading......AND WE ARE DESPERATELY OUTTA TIME, as the 15 minute time limit expires! Oonishi gets a draw and punches her ticket to the J Grand Prix Semi-Finals! Result: Fuyuko Higa drew with Gemmei Oonishi at 15:00 when the time limit expired. Rating: 80 --- Post-match, Higa kicks a barely conscious Oonishi in the ribs several times, and grabs a mic. Higa says that she could be frustrated over drawing to Oonishi again in a result that won't be interpreted as a total win for Higa, but she won't be. She could be frustrated about Jippensha's judgement being so clouded over an obvious decision to make, that led to Jippensha losing to an ironing board, but she isn't. She could be frustrated that the same group of Kansai idiots who buy tickets to be yell and holler keep thinking that Higa is a villain and not the actual saviour of this company, but she won't be. The reason is, Higa still won her group, so she's still in a position to achieve her dream of burning this company down to replace it with something better that acknowledges her existence. Torment and Sorrow have seen the light, Team SUB have seen the light, and the Hell Raisers have seen the light. Eventually, everyone will, because Judgement Day is coming to 5SSW, and Higa will save this pathetic wreck of a company long enough to prevent it from being destroyed and rebuilt before it can be destroyed and rebuilt properly. In the menatime, Higa says shes about to do something that's easier for the Kansai morons to understand, and decides she'll take another crack at crippling Oonishi, just so that she doesn't have to look at her again. Higa goes to get a chair, but before she can even bring it to the ring Miwako Katsukawa is all over her, spearing Higa through the ropes and to the outside and raining down punches! The Hell Raisers come out to interrupt, but HEART Saitoh, Eri Sato and Yuma Maruya cut them off, only for Torment And Sorrow to come out, only for the Kanto Express to come out, only for Team SUB to come out! Its a melee with over a dozen people fighting outside the ring, but Alicia Strong appears out of nowhere, and takes out the entire brawl with a massive running flip dive over the ropes! The camera pans on a legion of sprawled out bodies as the show goes off the air! Rating: 77 --- OVERALL SHOW RATING: 78 ATTENDANCE: 478

Thank you, and thank you to everyone who voted! Good to have that nice little tag improving the look of things around here! To those of you deciding to tune in as a result of this winning an award and are wondering whats going on, Puppets Dance is a story set in the CornellVerse of a created young female wrestler named Erin Marcelin. Erin makes her debut in the wrestling world in the Canadian independent scene, which gets her noticed for a job with 5 Star Supreme Wrestling, Japan's stalwart women's wrestling fed. Its a slice of life story thats covered 6 months of gameplay so far, showing the viewpoint of the wrestling world from a jobber at the bottom of the ladder, the backroom business and happenings of a women's fed adrift in a sea of men, the machinations behind how Erin got hired, and the existence of the talented but egotistical scenery chewer that is Fuyuko Higa. I've included some brief character profiles in the 2nd post of the diary to flesh out backstories fro those unfamiliar with the Cornellverse (or my headcanon within it), and may work up a few more profiles plus a Table of Contents soon, idk. --- OOC SHOW NOTES: -Pre-show was pretty damn bad except for the great 6 woman tag. Dark matches have been pretty great too, but I don't generally mention those, and they end up basically being "Yuma Maruya and friends go to 15 minute draw with Higa and friends." -Nakajima/MAYA could've been a torch-passing moment, but as mentioned before I made my choice between pushing Katsukawa and pushing MAYA as my future ace so not yet folks. Nakajima/Katsukawa could go either way at this point though, who knows. -Can you tell I really didn't want to write Oonishi/Saitoh? Such an awkward dynamic of two pretty similar babyfaces. I could give this match poor chemistry, but Oonishi as the fashionista heel could probably work well with Saitoh from a face-heel dynamic. I assume these matches happen a lot in IRL Japan torunies like the G1 Climax, where its similar tag partners having to fight each other and it produces a weird dynamic. Good promo at the end though! -Jippensha/Hashimoto is no doubt the what the **** bracket buster of the show here, but it had to be done to further along the storyline. Jippensha at this point is getting shaken badly off her usual rhythm, and something's gotta give between her and Higa. I readily admit to having a hard time figuring out what to do with Jippensha because I can't magic her to 70 mic and charisma in this game like I could in TEW 2016 via spamming pre-show promos. Just being a wrestler isn't an appealing character to me, yknow? Even Daniel Bryan and that guy we now longer talk about cause he killed his family had personas beyond just being a technician. I had this viewpoint reinforced even further after watching the Marky D vid on Kevin Nash with the X Division and his bid to give them all more personality, which was interesting. -Strong vs. Arihyoshi was what it was, and boy does Arihyoshi have Jippensha's problems. In hindsight I should've left her off this bracket, but she was booked strongly early cause I needed a filler challenger to feed to Maruya and she could work. -Next card is the big time, fellas. This is where we separate the kids from the ladies. Arihyoshi/MAYA, Jippensha/Saitoh, Nakajima/Katsukawa, Higa/Oonishi. Pay-per-view stuff in some of these, and the stakes are high! Card will be up hopefully before next Friday! --- 2020 J GRAND PRIX STANDINGS GROUP A: Strong 4W-0D-0L-8Points Nakajima 2W-0D-1L-4Points Katsukawa 2W-0D-1L-4Points Arihyoshi 0W-0D-3L-0Points MAYA 0W-0D-3L-0Points GROUP B: Higa 2W-1D-0L-5Points Jippensha 1W-2D-0L-4Points Oonishi 2W-0D-1L-4Points Hashimoto 0W-2D-2L-2Points Saitoh 0W-1D-2L-1Points

Shogun TV Presents: 5SSW J Grand Prix 2020 Night 4 Thursday/Week 1/July/2020 Seishuu Academy Gymnasium Osaka, Japan --- The show starts with the usual video package breaking down the match, narrated by Kaiya Kuwahara, breaking down the upcoming GP matches. The announcers then chime in with highlights and results from the pre-show. Decent as usual. Rating: 69 --- --- vs. Megumi Nakajima vs. MAYA A story of veteranosity versus youth here. MAYA is just coming into her prime, while Nakajima is at a crossroads after some recent losses to Alicia Strong and Fuyuko Higa. MAYA wants a win for pride pretty much as its unlikely she'd get into the race after 2 losses, while Nakajima needs the win to go into a crucial final showdown with Miwako Katsukawa for the last available spot. MAYA goes hard early on, trying to outwrestle Nakajima, but Nakajima reads ahead and has all the counters to MAYA's european catch-style offensive. Nakajima tries a couple suplexes of her own, but MAYA somehow manages to land on her feet each time. The dance proceeds with MAYA barely hanging on and Nakajima well in control due to her experience. Nakajima launches MAYA through the ropes, but takes a little too long revving up for a dive, giving MAYA time to recover and evade a Spaceman Plancha dive over the top. MAYA uses this to try desperately to turn the match around. German Suplex gets 2. Saito Suplex gets 2. Leg-hook Backdrop driver gets countered out of nowhere by Nakajima flipping onto her feet and dropkicking MAYA down! The two rises slowly to their feet after that and exchange chops, with Nakajima countering a spinning chop by ducking and grabbing MAYA..... Exploder Suplex! 1.....2.....NO! MAYA kicks out! Nakajima goes for the Nakajima Straight Jacket (Straitjacket Suplex), only for MAYA to counter into a ripcord elbow that knocks Nakajima down! MAYA picks up Nakajima, looking for the Steel Tower Drop (Slingshot Spike DDT), only for Nakajima to front flip onto her feet and land a stylish neckbreaker! Nakajima then wraps up MAYA into..... a successful Nakajima Straight Jacket! 1......2......3! Nakajima gets the big win to stay within striking distance of making it out of the group! Result: Megumi Nakajima def. MAYA via pinfall at 14:42 Rating: 73 --- Post-match, Nakajima does a fairly good, emotional promo backstage, being all happy over her victory but full of praise for MAYA's performance. Nakajima tells MAYA to take heart from her losses and wishes her luck against Etsuko Arihyoshi later, and says MAYA has potential to make it to the main events soon. As does Miwako Katsukawa, who Nakajima says she's ready to do battle with. Nakajima intends to teach the purple-haired young ace a lesson about how much farther she still needs to go yet...... Rating: 66 --- vs. Gemmei Oonishi vs. HEART Saitoh This isn't a bad match per se, just rather underwhelming. Matches like these tend to crop up in Japanese round robin style tournies: the similar babyface tag team partners paired against each other. Saitoh needs heels to overcome, while Oonishi is a shade better than her partner but seems to be sorta exposed as a B-plus player in this tourney so far. Still, nothing's botched and there aren't any timing issues or anything, its just a fairly basic match thats a shade below other matches we've seen in this event with less over talent. The match goes back and forth, with neither girl willing to play subtle heel and the crowd either split between the two or indifferent. Oonishi gets 2 off of a brainbuster, then 2 off a slingshot senton. Oonishi goes up for the Flying Dagger Legdrop (Top Rope Front Flip Rough Ryder), but Saitoh dodges and Oonishi lands on her feet awkwardly. Saitoh makes her big comeback with jumping clotheslies, a Rude Goldberg Neckbreaker, and a series of Back Brain Kicks, before going up top for the Flying Tiger Knee (Top Rope Busaiku Knee), only for Oonishi to dodge it. O'Connor Roll with a bridge from Oonishi! 1......2.......3! Oonishi gets 2 big points! Result: Gemmei Oonishi def. HEART Saitoh via pinfall at 14:31 Rating: 70 --- Post-match, we see Oonishi backstage hugging her tag team partner and thanking her for the match, before cutting a spirited and passionate promo about her next match, where Higa awaits to end the group stage. Oonishi still can't believe that things became this way between her and Higa, and she still doesn't know what happened to make her friend such a jerk, but she intends to do something about it. The Higa she knew as her best friend is dead, but now she has a new best friend in Saitoh, and a new target to take down in this asshole version Higa that no one likes, not even her so called friends Team SUB and the Hell Raisers. Oonishi resolves herself to beat Higa, take her out of the Grand Prix, and prevent her from ever getting another crack at that World title ever again. Rating: 83 --- vs. Shiori Jippensha vs. Yu Hashimoto With Oonishi at 5 points, Jippensha badly needs a win here to keep a margin on Oonishi. However, something goes completely off-kilter for Jippensha in this match. The match is fine, and entertaining, and pretty well-worked. Jippensha seems to have really broken away from her conventional, machine-like technical style though, and into a more aggressive one. It suits her for entertaining the fans, but the commentators note it seems to be leaving a lot of openings...... Jippensha starts aggressively and strongly, targeting Hashimoto's leg and working it over with some ferocity. Hashimoto responds in kind by kicking and punching Jippensha hard, taking advantage of her aggression leaving openings to exploit. Jippensha tries to trade hands, but its not her strong suit. Hashimoto takes control, pummeling Jippensha around the ring and throwing her around with big suplexes and slams. Jippensha tries a few suplexes of her own, but struggles to get Hashimoto up for them. Eventually, Jippensha finds success doing hit-and-run tactics, taking a powder and ambushing Hashimoto when she goes out to chase. Jippensha whips Hashimoto into ringside and works the leg hard, but Hashimoto beats a count back in a couple times. Jippensha keeps dropkicking the leg, and eventually sinks in the Jippensha Leglock (Grapevine Ankle Lock)! Hashimoto battles hard though, and powers her way to the ropes! Jippensha goes to follow up, but is interrupted by Fuyuko Higa and the Hell Raisers making an unwelcome cameo at ringside. Jippensha is distracted by the mere presence of Higa, and shouts "LEAVE ME ALONE!" at her. Meanwhile, Hashimoto is recovered, notices Higa ringside, and gets fired up! Uh oh! Hashimoto busts out some big moves as time starts running out on the match. Double Underhook Suplex into a Backbreaker! 1......2.....NO! Spinning Powerslam! 1......2......NO! Bus Driver Uppercut! 1......2......NO! Hashimoto goes for the End Game (Spinning Backhand Blow to the jaw), but Jippensha grabs the arm and counters into a flying armbar! Hashimoto fights...... fights....., and makes the ropes! Jippensha goes for the Execution Day (Scoop Brainbuster), but Hashimoto counters into a falling DDT! 1......2......NO! Hashimoto picks up Jippensha and smacks her around a bi-Surprise takedown into a Jippensha Leglock!...... but before Hashimoto can tap or make the ropes, WE ARE DESPERATELY OUTTA TIME, as the 15 minute time limit expires! Result: Shiori Jippensha drew Yu Hashimoto at 15:00 when the time limit expired Rating: 76 --- Post-match, a furious Shiori Jippensha almost starts a fight with Fuyuko Higa on the outside before the Hell Raisers intervene. We then cut backstage to Jippensha storming away from the cameras and refusing the post-match interview. Hashimoto takes one and cuts a subdued, philosophical promo on the loss, saying it doesn't bug her as much to lose to Jippensha. Hashimoto then urges Jippensha to take Higa up on her offer of friendship before its too late...... Rating: 52 --- vs. Alicia Strong vs. Etsuko Arihyoshi Arihyoshi's had a rough 0-2 start to the J Grand Prix and seems to be fighting mostly for pride at this point, but she certainly has some, and goes right after Strong in the early going. Strong responds well, and a cracking main event match happens as a result. Strong has real trouble with Arihyoshi's technique at first, having to frantically scrabble for the ropes multiple times when Arihyoshi puts her in early submissions. Arihyoshi also busts out a weird hold that almost ties Strong into a literal pretzel, until Strong frantically summons every ounce of her veteranosity and ring awareness to make the ropes. Arihyoshi keeps taking Strong down with throws and suplexes, working over an armbar for a lengthy amount of time in a bid to possibly neutralize the Strong Arm Tactic. Strong eventually manages to start getting the reads on Arihyoshi, winning out on some mat wrestling sequences and landing some suplexes of her own. Hammerlock suplex into an armbar threatens, with Arihyoshi making the ropes, and Strong pulling her away, until Arihyoshi finally reverses to a back choke that Strong desperately fights out of. Strong then goes to speed, working quickly in the chain wrestling sequences and trying to take Arihyoshi by surprise with her movement. It works enough to get control back, and Strong starts to press for the win. Powerslam gets 2. Front Suplex gets 2. Strong goes for the Angel Driver (OwenDriver '97), but Arihyoshi slips out the back! German Suplex! 1......2......NO! Arihyoshi tries to keep on top of things with a Tiger Suplex, but Strong keeps fighting and mulekicks Arihyoshi's legs to break. Arihyoshi grabs the arms once again looking for it, Strong slips free, but then Arihyoshi changes course and waistlock takedowns Strong into the Arihyoshi Lockdown (Seated Abdominal Stretch Dragon Sleeper)! Strong however, knows the counter and manages to fight out of the hold before its locked in, managing to take Arihyoshi's back and transition into a Bow and Arrow Hold! Arihyoshi refuses to give in but can't escape, so with time winding down and Arihyoshi's consciousness not fading fast enough, Strong transitions the Bow and Arrow Hold into a pinning predicament! 1......2.......3! Strong caps off a perfect group stage with a close win! Result: Alicia Strong def. Etsuko Arihyoshi via pinfall at 14:54 Rating: 77 --- Post-match, Alicia Strong cuts a promo saying that her 4 wins have laid the marker down for this tournament, so if anyone wants to topple the new favourite to win, step up. Strong drops the mic and does a couple Sam Strong poses as the show goes off the air...... Rating: 68 --- OVERALL SHOW RATING: 76 ATTENDANCE: 473

2020 J GRAND PRIX STANDINGS GROUP A: Strong 3W-0D-0L-6Points Katsukawa 2W-0D-1L-4Points Nakajima 1W-0D-1L-2Points Arihyoshi 0W-0D-2L-0Points MAYA 0W-0D-2L-0Points GROUP B: Higa 2W-1D-0L-5Points Jippensha 1W-1D-0L-3Points Oonishi 1W-0D-1L-2Points Saitoh 0W-1D-1L-1Points Hashimoto 0W-1D-2L-1Points --- BRIEF OOC SHOW NOTES: -Had a bit of a tough time writing this card again. Went back to the well though with the old standby of write whatever heelish thing you can think of and pin it on Higa. At least the ratings are great! -Higa's ratings have a noticeable upward spike because she was paid 10 large backstage to not leave the company. We'll address the story reason (different from the in-game reason) behind Higa's rise in morale later. First backstage update will be after Night 5. -Another big win for Katsukawa to move her up. She's above Arihyoshi in popularity at this point, but its important in terms of storyline because Arihyoshi has contended for a title before, and is regarded as right underneath the elite tier of competitors. So Katsukawa doing that after a draw to a previous World champion in HEART Saitoh, and shes set up nicely for an any result can happen scenario with Megumi Nakajima. In Kansai Higa has Jippensha beat 52 > 44. Jippensha has not gotten a lot of shine in the big events, while Higa's getting herself over super hard with stuff like the Nakajima win and regular draws and great promos and etc. In-universe logic for this is that Hashimoto is big, therefore shes a threat to beat just about anyone, and Saitoh is a World champion who rarely, rarely gets pinned by an impact move because shes so tough and full of determination. A draw was just about right, and I think I did an okay finish to it? Out of universe logic was I didn't want Hashimoto to come off as a total punk doing nothing in this tournament, and I don't really like Saitoh that much but shes credible and needs to be slightly protected so a draw is fair. Can totally understand why anyone would predict otherwise though. -Night 4 will be posted sometime on Fri/Sat/Sun. The matches on tap: Strong/Arihyoshi, Jippensha/Hashimoto, Oonishi/Saitoh, Nakajima/MAYA. Probably the weakest night of the tournament from a narrative standpoint. Night 5 though, that'll be kinda interesting.

Shogun TV Presents: 5SSW J Grand Prix 2020 Night 3 Sunday/Week 4/June/2020 Nekketsu High School Gymnasium Osaka, Japan --- The show opens up with another video package for the 5SSW J Grand Prix matches tonight, with the usual fine job from the music department and 5SSW VP Kaiya Kuwahara. The announcers then chime in with a recap of the pre-show. Rating: 68 --- --- vs. Etsuko Arihyoshi vs. Miwako Katsukawa A pleasant surprise for the opener. Arihyoshi seems off her game and unready throughout for the youngster, who is getting more popular every month and takes the fight aggressively to the veteran in the bid to get the 2 points. Arihyoshi starts the match out okay, outwrestling Katsukawa early, taking her down to the mat, and threatening a few submission holds before Katsukawa scrabbles to the ropes. Arihyoshi continues to outwrestle Katsukawa, so Katsukawa changes it up by using speed, nailing Arihyoshi with dropkicks, enzuigiris, and legsweeps that disorients the veteran with the sheer volume and pace of the attack. Katsukawa keeps pressing, headscissors Arihyoshi outside, and goes for a big no-hands cannonball dive over the ropes, only for Arihyoshi to avoid it just enough to have Katsukawa take the brunt of the damage. Arihyoshi takes back over in the ring and hits a few crisp suplexes. German Suplex gets 2. Tiger Suplex gets 2. Arihyoshi then changes course, and starts working over various body parts in a bid to neutralize the athleticism of Katsukawa. A legbar threatens, but Katsukawa makes the ropes, only to be pulled into an attempted Arihyoshi Lockdown (Seated Abdominal Stretch Dragon Sleeper)! Katsukawa fights desperately to get out of it, and manages to stun Arihyoshi with a desperation headbutt to break free from her clutches. Katsukawa then makes a big comeback of dropkicks, headscissors, a spinning back suplex, and a flip kick that drives Arihyoshi into the corner, where Katsukawa crushes her with the Ultraviolet Beam (Handspring Twisting Forearm to a cornered opponent)! Arihyoshi's in trouble! Katsukawa Bomb (Sunset Flip Powerbomb) connects! 1......2.......3! Katsukawa takes home a mild upset over a veteran for 2 crucial points! Result: Miwako Katsukawa def. Etsuko Arihyoshi via pinfall at 14:50 Rating: 75 --- Post-match, Katsukawa cuts a promo praising Arihyoshi for her technical expertise, and says that she'll take a couple days to rest up before preparing for the big match: A potentially decisive tilt against Megumi Nakajima to determine who gets out of the group. Katsukawa is looking forward to the challenge. Rating: 70 --- vs. Gemmei Oonishi vs. Yu Hashimoto Oonishi is focused hard in this match, knowing that she needs a win in order to get back into contention. Yu Hashimoto has been frustrated with her recent efforts though, and is willing to do whatever it takes to get back on winning form. Like the last tour though, this has two more over wrestlers than the previous match having a lesser match that make them look a step short of being elite-level performers in the ring. Hashimoto controls early with some hard-hitting offense, battering Oonishi into the corner with hard left and right hands. Hashimoto throws Oonishi around like a rag doll with some suplexes, and set for the The End Game (Spinning Backhand Blow to the jaw), only for Oonishi to evade it and roll outside. Hashimoto chases down Oonishi and eats a creative swing around the post Shining Wizard from Oonishi, followed by a running headscissors off the apron that sends Hashimoto into the rail hard. Hashimoto recovers though, and beats the count back in despite Oonishi trying to knock her off the apron. Hashimoto and Oonishi do the classic speed vs power confrontation familiar to many 5SSW fans, with Oonishi absorbing several beatings while looking for opportunities to fight back. Front Suplex from Hashimoto gets 2. Super Hurricanrana from Oonishi gets 2. Bus Driver Uppercut from Hashimoto gets 2. Hashimoto continues pummelling and throwing around Oonishi at her leisure, capping off with a nice T-Bone Suplex into the corner. Hashimoto has Oonishi set up for a second End Game attempt, but this one misses too, and HAshimoto spins out of control and lands in the corner! Running Corner Dropkick! Springboard Enzuigiri! Hashimoto is stunned as Oonishi goes up for the finish...... Flying Dagger Legdrop (Top Rope Front Flip Rough Ryder) 1......2.......3! Oonishi is on the board in the J Grand Prix! Result: Gemmei Oonishi def. Yu Hashimoto via pinfall at 14:40 Rating: 71 --- Post-match, a battered but happy Oonishi cuts a fired up promo celebrating her victory, and says she coming for Higa to get revenge and make it out of the group. Oonishi also wishes her friend Saitoh good luck tonight, and hopes she breaks Higa's jaw. Rating: 70 --- vs. Alicia Strong vs. MAYA This one seems to be a foregone conclusion from the outset, but things turn out a bit differently over the course of the match. MAYA is a bit nervy, but Alicia Strong puts on her working boots (not that Alicia Strong without working boots is bad at all.), and does her best to bring MAYA up to her level. The match starts out with Strong having a surprisingly tough time handling the technical abilities of MAYA, failing to read a couple of the mat exchanges and getting tied up by MAYA several times. MAYA fights desperately knowing that a win here would give her a non-zero chance of making it through. Eventually though, the relatively inexperienced technician makes a mistake working the arm and allows Strong to take over. Strong works several suplexes for 2 counts, works over an armbar that MAYA escapes, but MAYA's attempted comeback is countered with a Belly to Belly Suplex that sends MAYA rolloing to the outside, followed up by a huge Asai Moonsault to the outside! Strong takes over in the ring again looking for the finish. Powerslam! 1......2......NO! Front Suplex! 1......2......NO! Rebound Dropkick! 1......2......NO! Strong throws MAYA into the corner and beats on her, then places her up for a Superplex, only for MAYA to counter by somehow shoving Strong off! MAYA comes off the top with a headscissors into her signature Triangle Choke! Strong is in trouble, but summons a huge effort and powerbombs MAYA into the turnbuckles! And then a second one, and that breaks the hold! MAYA is stunned in the corner as Strong readies for the finish...... Angel Driver (OwenDriver '97) connects! 1......2.......3! Strong moves to 3-0! Result: Alicia Strong def. MAYA via pinfall at 14:48 Rating: 77 --- Post-match, Strong praises MAYA's spirit, but says she's still looking for more in this tournament. Japan surely has more to offer, and Strong's eager to see what's next. Rating: 68 --- vs. Fuyuko Higa vs. HEART Saitoh In stark contrast to the slightly unmotivated Higa we got last week, this Higa comes out strutting with a confident entrance, Hell Raisers at her side (although thye play no part in this match), and jamming out to her own entrance music. Higa flips a nice double bird at the crowd as well, revving them up to cheer for Saitoh's entrance to shut this fool up. Saitoh is accompanied by Gemmei Oonishi, who the Hell Raisers keep a close eye on throughout. Saitoh comes out guns blazing against Higa, but the guns seem to misfire badly. Higa reads Saitoh's high-intensity offense and works her down to the mat, throwing greco roman knees to the skull and kicking her in the ribs. Higa stretches the limits of legality on more than one occasion, and pops off on referee Odaka with regularity every time he comes over to actually enforce the rules. Saitoh gets brief pockets of offense, but gets mostly swallowed up by Higa, who takes up all the air and most of the offense in the arena, beating down Saitoh mercilessly while laughing. Saitoh is no stranger to this type of match, and eventually finds the opening to make her big signature comeback! Jumping clotheslines! Rube Goldberg Neckbreaker! Running Back Brain Kicks! Saitoh goes up for the Flying Tiger Knee (Top Rope Busaiku Knee) to finish, but Higa dodges at the last possible second, with the camera catching a look of total fright in her face as she scrabbles to the corner. It is however replaced with a look of glee, as Higa goes after a downed Saitoh. Perfection Sweep (Skull Crushing Finale) to Saitoh! 1......2......NO! Higa is up in arms about the kickout, loudly accusing referee Odaka of slow-counting her, before picking up Saitoh for the Higa Green Driver (Emerald Flowsion Kai). Higa hauls Saitoh up-Small Package from Saitoh! 1......2......Higa reverses to her own small package....1......2.......3! Higa takes the win! Result: Fuyuko Higa def. HEART Saitoh via pinfall at 14:33 Rating: 78 --- Post-match, as Saitoh gets consoled by Oonishi on the outside, Higa thanks her loyal fans in the audience for their support, blowing exaggerated kisses at them. The fact that literally none of the contrarian heel fans of Higa's showed up tonight doesn't seem to dissuade her, as Higa talks about how awesome she is before running down Saitoh. Higa mocks Saitoh for thinking she had a chance, and also mocks her for her chest size, saying she's so flat that Higa thought she was wrestling an ironing board. Higa feels sorry for Saitoh's husband for having nothing to cherish and worship at night, and that gets Saitoh's dander up. Higa of course immediately hides behind the Hell Raisers, but tells Saitoh to look on the bright side: she's still more pretty and talented than the mascaraed up geisha girl beside her. Higa tells Oonishi to go work at a hostess club instead of wrestling, assuming she of course wears a paper bag to avoid scaring the customers. Oonishi and Saitoh are held back from physical violence by the Hell Raisers in the ring while Higa quickly retreats to the outside. Higa's just unstoppable though on a coked-up rant, barely even pausing to take a breath while running down All Heart again, the organization of 5-Star, and the Kansai region of Japan for even existing, before finally being interrupted by half the locker room coming out to beat the hell out of her. Higa screams "EXIT STAGE RIGHT" into the mic before fleeing up the opposite entranceway. This was spectacular stuff from Higa, and had the entire audience wanting to see Oonishi beat Higa in the final group match. Rating: 82 --- OVERALL SHOW RATING: 77 ATTENDANCE: 460

2020 J GRAND PRIX STANDINGS GROUP A: Strong 2W-0D-0L-4Points Nakajima 1W-0D-1L-2Points Katsukawa 1W-0D-1L-2Points Arihyoshi 0W-0D-1L-0Points MAYA 0W-0D-1L-0Points GROUP B: Jippensha 1W-1D-0L-3Points Higa 1W-1D-0L-3Points Saitoh 0W-1D-0L-1Points Hashimoto 0W-1D-1L-1Points Oonishi 0W-0D-1L-0Points --- BRIEF OOC SHOW NOTES: -Had a hard time writing this up. Looking back through some matches I've written previously it seems like I haven't given some higher level people a defined moveset yet, particularly Nakajima. Ah well. -Higa was not pleased about the draw to Jippensha and her morale's getting savaged. More on this later when I get to backstage updates again. -Katsukawa's been turning it up on these sims lately, both in the test and in this one. -Erin's off-screen pre-show bit was getting squashed with Red Ranger by Team SUB. That could happen, but hey, maybe 5SSW will turn it around financially soon. Or maybe they'll be part of the resurrection of an aborted Japanese promotional alliance that practises profit-sharing. Who knows? -Next card will hopefully be out by Monday, but maybe it'll be up on the weekend. We'll see Strong/MAYA, Katsukawa/Arihyoshi, Higa/Saitoh, and Oonishi/Hashimoto!