Tokyo Joshi Pro ran their summer blowout event, SUMMER SUN PRINCESS ’22, today, featuring All Elite Wrestling participation and, more significantly, a lifting of the ban on vocal cheering by fans for the first time in over 2 years. All 3 titles were on the line to headline the event.
Today’s event was held at Ota City General Gym in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE in Japanese and English.
The announced paid attendance was 1130. With the vocal ban lifted, that meant 50% capacity max, so this represented about 70-75% of that reduced limit. Your Japanese hosts are Haruo Murata, Kagehiro Osano, Sayoko Mita and special guest Mikie Hara, a former longtime idol/pinup model who is now an actress & entertainer. Your English hosts are Chris Brookes & Baliyan Akki.
Match 1; Moka Miyamoto beat Juria Nagano by submission.
Match 2: Aja Kong, Yuki Aino, Raku & Pom Harajuku beat Hyper Misao, Nao Kakuta, Neko Haruna & Kaya Toribami. Aino pinned Toribami after Venus DDT.
Match 3: Ryo Mizunami beat Miu Watanabe. This was to have been Willow Nightingale vs. Watanabe but Nightingale missed the event due to visa issues.
Match 4: Hikaru Shida & Hikari Noa beat Yuki Kamifuku & Mahiro Kiryu. Shida pinned Kiryu after Arawashi Driver.
Match 5: Mei Suruga & Suzume beat Riho & Arisu Endo. Suzume pinned Endo after Rong A Bell.
Match 6: Alex Windsor beat International Princess Champion Maki Itoh to win the title. Windsor becomes the 8th International Princess Champion. Hahaha. And even better, Windsor won after reportedly having her luggage lost by her airline. This suggests title will now continue to be defended outside Japan, the original intent for the title.
Match 7: Miyu Yamashita beat Thunder Rosa. OOOOOOOOH…this is not only a big upset, but based on pre-event presser commebts could set up a rematch for Rosa’s AEW Women’s World Championship.
Match 8: Saki Akai & Yuki Arai beat Princess Tag Team Champions Yuka Sakazaki & Mizuki to win the titles. Akai & Arai become the 10th Princess Tag Team Champions. Akai pinned Mizuki after Double Rookie Award. To steal the former champs’ catchphrase after wind, HAPPY HAPPY! Not only has SKE48 member Arai won her first championship now, but even better is that bratty Mizuki was pinned. I love it. AA Eye Candy Champions.
Main Event: Princess Of Princess Champion Shoko Nakajima beat Rika Tatsumi to retain the title. V4 for Nakajima.
The next event is 7/16 at Ryogoku KFC Hall, the start of the 9th Tokyo Princess Cup Tournament. Live streaming on WRESTLE UNIVERSE will begin Friday at 9 PM PT/midnight ET.
Some post-event thoughts having just watched the replay, which runs just over 4 hours:
First hearing the cheers and seeing the streamers in the first match was instant goosebumps. They’re such a big part of Japanese wrestling and some of these wrestlers were experiencing this for the first time in their careers. Everyone really soaked it all in and to see the emotions on their faces was something special. This is Japanese wrestling.
Because Yamashita beat Rosa, there almost certainly is going to be a rematch in All Elite Wrestling for the title. The question likely is when. That was per a challenge Rosa made in a pre-event press conference just before the event.
No challengers immediately emerged after any title match so who knows what’s next. Next up for Nakajima likely is the Tokyo Princess Cup winner, unless Nakajima wins. Itoh won last year.
The next big event will be GO GIRL 3 in mid-late August after the Cup.
US Independent wrestler Max The Impaler, who has recently appeared in AEW, was advertised for the 8/13 & 8/14 events. As the name would suggest, despite a male name she’s a woman and she physically is HUGE.
