Dream Star Fighting Marigold “FIRST DREAM 2025 ~初夢~”, 1/3/2025
Ota City General Gymnasium – Tokyo, Japan
If you are a fan of Marigold like me, this show was highly anticipated. There definitely is room for improvement with much of the talent though it has been fun watching them grow and improve as a collective. There are quite a few rookies who made their debut in the past few weeks and a few more to come other than the highly anticipated Seri Yamaoka who debuts on this show.
New Year Dream Rumble: Flying Penguin, Naho Yamada, Rea Seto, Ryoko Sakimura, Nagisa Tachibana, Riara, Yuki Mashiro, Hoshi Hamuko, Minami Yuuki, Hummingbird, Misa Matsui, Momoka Hanazono, Nightshade
A fun way to open the show and probably what you would expect given some of these names. The match started out with Flying Penguin and Naho Yamada (who probably should have won the gimmick Rookie of the Year tournament to finish off 2024), and every 60 seconds a new joshi would enter, though the timing seemed random most of the time. Eliminations can happen via pinfall, submission and over the top rope. There was very little here in terms of redeeming qualities as the match involved a champagne bottle, a random group photo in the middle of the ring, Momoka Hanazono crying, Hoshi Hamuko literally moving in slow motion, and an elimination by tickling. Yes. Obviously this wasn’t something that was ever going to take itself seriously. Rea Seto and Misa Matsui debuted some sleek new ring gear, with the former being a much needed upgrade. All the Marigold rookies were in this match and it will be fun to see their progress throughout the year but they were not impressive here. Yuki Mashiro, the ICExInfinity champion, wins the match after eliminating Minami Yuuki over the top rope as the other Marigold girls try to save her from hitting the floor. 1/2*
Seri Yamaoka Debut Match: Seri Yamaoka vs. MIRAI
Yamaoka is being hyped as the chosen one, the super rookie, the wrestling prodigy. She is the first major debutant from the Marigold dojo having been introduced on 8/19/24 and training in the dojo since then. The match was definitely structured in a way to make Yamaoka look as strong as possible with the grappling style being the main focus. With Seri’s amateur wrestling background she obviously looks great doing that mat wrestling style and outclasses MIRAI with her movements on the mat. Some of her strikes looked extremely weak though part of that was her selling back damage and exhaustion. We start taking her seriously when she locks in a cross armbreaker and MIRAI urgently gets over to get her foot on the bottom rope. She sells that left arm continuously throughout the next segment of the match and they tease the armbreaker a few more times. MIRAI kept it simple for the most part, working around the Boston crab and single leg crab to weaken Seri’s back – as we have heard Seri has a plethora of suplexes in her arsenal. And for real, her German suplex hold is pretty beautiful. The bell rings for a time limit draw just as Seri lands her first German suplex. She goes full badass on the mic asking for more time and Rossy gives them the go ahead. The urgency picks up as Seri wants this victory so badly. She works MIRAI’s back and hits a gut wrench suplex and then one of the best looking high angle German suplexes I’ve seen in a long time, nearly dropping MIRAI on her head. MIRAI would end up getting the dominant finish with a huge lariat. A very promising debut match from Seri. We saw a lot of fighting spirit and good movement in the ring. Obviously there is a long way to go but that German suplex is something that must be seen. Seri with a ton of emotion after the match and MIRAI gives her a good old fashioned slap across the face before leaving the ring. Seri shows a lot of promise for the future and MIRAI was probably the best opponent for her. For a debut match to get this much time and be such the spectacle that it was – we are in for some good stuff in the future. **
Marigold SuperFly Title: Natsumi Showzuki (c) vs. Victoria Yuzuki
This is the third singles match between Showzuki and Yuzuki in Marigold and the second time Yuzuki challenges for the SuperFly championship. Both previous matches on 8/31 (Dream Star GP) and 10/7 (SuperFly Title match) went to a time limit draw. Definitely an underwhelming match on the big stage although there were some promising moments here for both. The opening sequence was intense, which is just what I was hoping to see. Great striking and great execution. Yuzuki is generally one of the better workers on the roster even though she is still so young. On the outside Natsumi showcases her double knee drop from the ring apron to the floor and then the running double knee on the outside. Her offense throughout the match ends up being just different variations of her double knee drop. The execution here though was better than in the majority of her matches – her strikes and kicks were more believable than normal, though on the other hand, Yuzuki had several slip ups on the ropes with the big one at the end really taking away from the finish as she slipped several times attempting to jump to the top rope after a series of moonsaults. The work in the ring was solid and Yuzuki does continue to show steady improvement – but the slip ups on the ropes really took a lot away for me. I do look forward to more from these two, though. Yuki Mashiro of Ice Ribbon, winner of the Dream Star rumble, comes out to challenge Yuzuki. *3/4
Marigold Twin Star Tag Team Title: Nagisa Nozaki & CHIAKI (c) vs. Bozilla & TANK
Bozilla enters with a bane mask with smoke coming out of it and that’s about the best moment this match has to offer. TANK’s movements are stiff and robotic. She stands there waiting to get hit and then walks around in circles every time she actually does something. A lot of referee distraction and chair use here. TANK no-selling a chair shot and CHIAKI getting destroyed by Bozilla with a chair to the face and a Liger Bomb to capture her first championship. 3/4*
Nanae Takahashi & Nao Ishikawa vs. Meiko Satomura & YUNA
Marigold vs. Sendai Girls. Satomura continues her retirement tour and I guess you can say this is the start of Nanae’s. Solid stuff here mainly between Satomura and Nanae. Satomura can still go and the exchanges between those two were fun. **
GHC Women’s Title: Kouki Amarei (c) vs. Chika Goto
Like much of the roster, Kouki has improved quite a bit since the early days of Marigold last year. Her movements in the ring are much less awkward now and she has natural charisma. An unfortunate injury to Kouki’s left leg cuts this one short, and after a bit of downtime Kouki recovers and hits the Amethyst Butterfly and pinfall. After the match Goto gets on the mic and asks Marufuji (who is at ringside doing commentary) for a rematch. *
Marigold United National Title: Miku Aono (c) vs. Mai Sakurai
This was probably the best performance for both Miku and Sakurai in Marigold so far. Better than any of the Miku/MIRAI matches and any of Sakurai’s singles matches as well. They kept things moving for the most part and aside from one miscue on a kick and a suplex gone wrong towards the end of the match, the execution here was really good. Miku’s kicks were stiff and Mai worked with a sense of urgency that we don’t normally see from her. It was a back and forth struggle with big moves and counters and stiff believable strikes. Mai goes for a top rope hurricanrana but Miku counters into the Styles Clash from the middle rope in one of the coolest spots in the match. They worked around Mai’s elbow drop and STF really well, with several counters and reversals. This had a big match feel and for a 25 minute match it flowed well and didn’t seem forced – they threw enough out there and much of it stuck. Miku would eventually tap out to the STF for the second title change of the show. ***
Marigold World Title: Sareee (c) vs. Utami Hayashishita
It is apparent that Sareee carried this but Utami actually did something in this match other than sell, unlike in her overrated epic against IYO on 7/14/24. There were a few moments where Sareee was visibly guiding Utami into position for the next move or sequence like she was either out of position or just didn’t know what to do, though largely it still felt like she was actively trying to win the match – which is not always the case in Utami’s matches. The start had some nice aggression and urgency and Utami sold her back damage from Sareee’s lengthy single-leg crab and double foot stomps throughout the match really well. The middle portion was basically a Giulia main event with a lot of move trading and not much substance – a bunch of suplexes back and forth and then Sareee destroying Utami with a lariat and double foot stomp for a close near fall. Utami’s transition into offense at the end after taking a point blank headbutt was interesting and she locks in a sleeper hold teasing Sareee passing out. They near fall trade a bit and Utami hits the Torture Rack Bomb and the Hijack BT Bomb to become the second Marigold World Champion. This was a fun watch though lacked some elements of cohesion for me and definitely not the best that Sareee has to offer. **3/4
Final Thoughts: Sareee/Utami might have missed the mark a bit for me but I think Miku and Sakurai delivered – and was the best match on the show. I expected and wanted more out of Natsumi/Yuzuki. There is a good match between them but it was clear that big match nerves got to Yuzuki here. Seri still has a ways to go obviously but there is promise there. Aside from that – a ton of new ring gear and new looks and I love this company.
X: @ligersama
