We’re taking a look over to Japan, and some familiar faces (of varying degrees) from Sendai Girls’ Big Show earlier this month.
As part of Pro Wrestling EVE’s ties with the Japanese scene, Millie McKenzie and Rhia O’Reilly recently spent some time out in Japan – mostly as a tag team, with dates for Sendai Girls and the Marvelous promotion. No, that’s it’s name, not a recommendation! We’re taking a look at their Japanese debut for Sendai Girls, on a rather straight-forwardly named show: Joshi Puroresu Big Show 2018 In Sendai. Bet you can’t guess where this show was being held… the Sun Plaza in Sendai! We’re skipping over most of the show since we’re cherry picking the one match.
DASH Chisako & Hiroyo Matsumoto vs. Rhia O’Reilly & Millie McKenzie
Thanks to the Mae Young Classic (and DASH’s trip to Europe earlier this year), I’m not as unfamiliar as I would have been about a year ago with this match!
We skip entrances on the Samurai TV feed, and for some reason Millie’s name is entirely capitalised. From what I remember of Japanese wrestling from back in the day, doesn’t that mean they’re a bad guy?
Anyway, we start with DASH and MILLIE, with the opening tie-up ending in the ropes as MILLIE swung and missed as she went for a cheapshot. DASH grabs a headlock, and eventually takes MILLIE down to the mat before the pair reached a stalemate. There’s a jump cut as DASH hit the ropes – and got kneed in the back by Rhia – who’s quickly tagged in as the visitors looked to assert themselves.
Rhia whips DASH into the corner, then snapmares her out of it ahead of an old school surfboard stretch, before she mockingly offered out DASH’s hand for a tag out. That wasn’t forthcoming, as the crowd… applauded the villainy. DASH brings a chair in… and it’s used on her as Rhia throws the chair her way, then scores with a drop toe hold and a curb stomp onto the hardware, as Chisako’s game was being used against her.
MILLIE tags back in as Rhia prepped for a Finlay roll, while MILLIE opted for a more sedate elbow drop for a near-fall, as the visiting pair were all over this. A chinlock from MILLIE keeps DASH down… but she gets to the ropes as we jump cut into MILLIE laying out Hiroyo Matsumoto with a spear. Matsumoto tries to fight back, catching MILLIE in the ropes before she blocked a wheelbarrow roll through and turned it into a back suplex. DASH is back with a missile dropkick and a low dropkick for a near-fall on MILLIE as the “home team” turned it back around. There’s a palm strike from the apron ahead of another missile dropkick from DASH, before MILLIE returns fire with a forearm and a diving European uppercut for a near-fall.
Rhia’s brought back in as DASH gets cornered, before she’s lifted into an Electric Chair drop, with a MILLIE cutter on the way down. Dangerous, but effective – that could be a pretty cool finish for a regular tag team. SUPLEX MILLIE rears her head as DASH is thrown around the ring, with a superkick nearly putting Chisako away, before one last German suplex was countered with a wheelbarrow roll-up.
DASH keeps countering those Germans, but it’s a prat-fall from MILLIE that led to the finish as a Stunner helped Chisako get a near-fall, before she went up top for a massive double-stomp for another two-count. Chisako’s heading up again… but so was Rhia, who’s caught and brought down with a powerbomb as DASH frog splashed MILLIE for the win. Even in edited form this was enjoyable, although the video did not last the 13:13 that the match was quoted as being, so take this rating with whatever pinch of salt you feel. ***¼
Now, until her name appears all capitalised again, that’s the last time I’ll be shouting at MILLIE during reviews!