Miyu Yamashita vs. Miu Watanabe: The Match That Reminded Me What TJPW Can Be
When Wrestling Checks All The Boxes
If you follow me, you know my relationship with TJPW by now. It’s as love/hate as it can get. When TJPW is going right, they honestly feel untouchable at times. But when they make decisions that hurt the future, all I’m left with is asking why. It’s a fantastic game to play because you watch your belief and hope grow 10-times or completely die. Alright, maybe not completely but it hurts! I’ve experienced that pain a few times with TJPW with the brightest example being Maki Itoh coming up short at Wrestle Princess II, losing to Miyu Yamashita and not capturing the Princess of Princess Championship. Ever since then, I’ve had a problem with TJPW and refused to get my hopes up again (that’s a different article in waiting regarding Maki). But they got me again because they reminded me how incredible TJPW can be at the drop of a dime. Maybe the next day destroyed all my hopes and dreams once again but who cares. Miyu Yamashita vs. Miu Watanabe was a reminder of the power TJPW — an opportunity to be truly great.
I didn’t get to watch the match live but started it up unspoiled a couple of hours later. I was excited because going into it, I wanted Yamashita to win. I struggled to believe they’d have Watanabe beat the Princess of Princess Champion Shoko Nakajima and then the Ace Yamashita, but I also believed a Yamashita win could do a lot of things to get back on track with Itoh. Anyways, I went into this match rooting for a pillar but walked out of it wanting nothing more than Miu Watanabe to become Princess of Princes Champion and join that group of pillars as the main event players of TJPW. That’s how special this match is.
It’s rare that throughout a match you can be convinced to change your allegiance from one side to the other but perhaps that’s why this match has so much magic to it. Yamashita is the Ace. She’s the killer. She is either above or has done everything TJPW has to offer but she’s never won the Tokyo Princess Cup. Maybe this was her time. Then across from her was Watanabe. Someone who has had some chances to shine but none to the point where she could shine on her own. Watanabe’s tag team with Rika Tatsumi is one of the brightest spots in TJPW but Watanabe has always been the No. 2 of that team. Never No. 1. And that goes for her TJPW career so far.
Her Up Up Girls groupmate Hikari Noa has seen more singles success than her as a former International Princess Champion. For many fans going into this match (and tournament), it was Miu’s time to finally see the success she deserved. Beating Yamashita was all that stood in her way of going to the finals. Ha. Easy. Totally.
So we get to the intros and everything and you can just feel it. Yamashita had already entered her main event, killer mode while Watanabe felt both nervous and confident at the same time. You could see it as they stood across the ring from each other. It’s the idea that “yeah, I’m going to get hit. A lot. But I have the heart to survive.” L-O-V-E is one hell of a drug, too. And again, you could feel all of that.
In case you want to listen before continuing
Miu Watanabe is a special wrestler because she’s very simple in the ring. She only does a couple of moves including her amazing Big Swing that might even make Claudio Castagnoli jealous, but all those moves build up to great some awesome pro wrestling in the middle of the ring. But her charisma is what carries her more than anything. I already talked about how you could feel her emotions before the bell even rang and you could feel them all the more as the match went on. Yamashita destroyed her. Wrecked her. Made you feel the pain that Watanabe was feeling. But she kept getting up. And when she pulls the ponytail to say “it’s go time,” you felt that too.
I’m not sure how many people watch wrestling this way, but when a match builds up the way this one did, it’s difficult to sit/stand still. Personally, I was all amped up as Watanabe fought back time and time again. She showed resilience, heart, and that she was ready for the moment. Credit goes to Watanabe for the career-altering performance and also to Yamashita for being such a menacing, important figure to makes this work as well as it did. Makes me dream of the eventual Maki Itoh win over Yamashita that much more.
The finish of this match is perfection really. Watanabe is able to dodge the first head kick before Yamashita comes right around with another devastating blow. Going for the death blow, Yamashita draws up the Skull Kick but the spirit of Watanabe pushes her to dodge that one and hit the Tear Drop and get the shocking win. It’s almost as if you could hear the entire L-O-V-E fanbase who was watching jump in unison as she got the win that felt so out of reach midway through this match, let alone at the beginning of this tournament. I call it magic because really, that’s what wrestling feels like when it is perfect. This match, the moment, and the win was magical. Watanabe sitting there with tears in her eyes as she beat the 1-2-3 was all of us watching.
For those 30 or so minutes, TJPW gave me the feeling I look for in pro wrestling. The feeling of happiness. The feeling of joy. And just every other emotion of excitement and happiness you could think of. Oh, and maybe most importantly — a chance to believe. TJPW gave me the feelings I still await with Itoh and the feeling I will not await with Watanabe. The magic may have lasted for just 24 hours before “The Magical Girl” took all the magic away (pretty funny) but that’s okay. I’ve been down that road before but at the very least, we had this amazing match and career-defining moment for Watanabe. She’s one of the best wrestlers going and has the brightest of futures. Let’s just hope she reaches it someday.
If you haven’t seen this match yet, go watch it. If this is a match that made you feel the way I did with TJPW when it was over, thanks for agreeing. They checked all the boxes in this match. In-ring quality. Storytelling. Emotion. Making the viewer feel something as they watched. It’s what pro wrestling is at its best!
I can disagree with booking decisions and all the other BS that comes with being a wrestling fan but at the end of the day, this match and the performances by both competitors is what I will remember forever. I just hope we can complete the journey for Miu Watanabe sooner rather than later.
Until then, we have this and L-O-V-E. Sometimes that’s all you need.
Thanks for reading!