#Ryo Mizunami

[blizzardsuplex]

Miu Watanabe doing Pink Titan things from Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling's Wrestle Princess IV, 10/09/2023

[I've never done a Teej GIFset before despite it being my second favorite promotion going right now (and my first by the metric of "people on the roster I like"), so have some of my favorite, not only in TJPW but in joshi as a whole: Miu Watanabe! I've always enjoyed the contrast between how cutesy she is in her entrance and the powerhouse vet role she's really grown into over the past year and a half. L-O-V-E both idol and purowres, indeed!]

[skullgrind]

Miu Watanabe vs Ryo Mizunami - TITLE MATCH (2024) (Music Video)

Featuring music by MEGALITH LEVIATHAN

[mostbelovedaewwrestlertournament]

Most Beloved AEW Wrestler Tournament

[killmurray603]

Mika Iwata with a rolling kick to Ryo Mizunami at Sendai Girls

[tew-blog]

Yes! Wonderland (Ryo Mizunami)

Favorite move: ホットリミット

ホットリミット: "Hot Limit" the internet says this is a "Fire Thunder Tombstone Piledriver". I think this is a slightly gentler version.

女子プロレス界の「アニキ」が��コロ以、４度目の参戦！

女子: Joshi プロレス界: professional wresting world (かい) アニキ: Aniki

4度目: 4th time (どめ)　[I'm noticing that the computer is smart enough to instantly convert "do me" to this when it appears after a numeral] 参戦: "visit" + "battle" -> (さんせん) taking part in a contest

This is Aniki's fourth time competing for TJPW since... whatever 有コロ is -- I think it's Ariake Colosseum, which is usually 有明コロ.

Edit: Can we talk about how much Aniki rules?

[questintheskies]

[tankhunmybeloved]

But I need to talk to you about the other parts of the situation

I don't watch Wrestling nor Japanese Wrestling but sometimes I come across photos and they do very specific things to my brain I can't identify

[wrestlingwiththoughts]

Miu Watanabe vs. Ryo Mizunami, TJPW Wrestle Princess 5, September 22, 2024

We've seen Miu Watanabe become the Princess of Princess champion by beating the ace of Tokyo Joshi Pro, Miyu Yamashita. We've seen Watanabe defend her title against another former Princess of Princess champion and her training partner, Shoko Nakajima. After both matches, I had noted that Watanabe was a compelling face and that she had show more confidence in the defense against Nakajima, but I was troubled by how flat the finishes seemed in both matches. I reached out to some TJPW fans to see if Watanabe's had a defense in this reign where the finishing stretch was a little stronger, and the common recommendation was Watanabe's match against Aniki, aka Ryo Mizunami.

Let's start with Watanabe's strengths. The opening lock-ups remain interesting because Watanabe shows determination and intensity in foundational headlocks and arm wringers. Her attitude works in synergy with her connection with the crowd, which remains impressive. Watanabe has a serious look on her face the moment the streamers have been cleared; while she is a part of the Up Up Girls idol group, she is also undoubtedly a wrestler who is proud of her championship, which is a curious line to straddle. All in all, it's impressive character work.

That attitude extends to later segments in the match when Watanabe is on the back foot under Mizunami's offense. She is able to emote pain, anger, and determination in her face acting as well as in her motions. You can feel the anger in her double handed chops and the crazed intensity in the avalanche Tear Drop. Watanabe leans a bit too much on twisting her face in shocked snarls when Mizunami kicks out, but I'd rather have more emotional acting here than less, and Watanabe doesn't tend to mine those emotional moments for too long. Instead, she goes back on the offense after expressing her shock, which I appreciate.

I paid particular attention to the closing stretch; the escalation here felt more natural. The combination of double headed chop to the back of Mizunami's head, chop to Mizunami's chest, and the Tear Drop felt like the right number of beats to the finish rather than just jumping to the Tear Drop, which we had seen in the other matches.

Watanabe deserves a lot of credit for the growth she's shown, but we would be remiss if we didn't also credit Mizunami, who provided a different structure to the match than either Yamashita and Nakajima. Yamashita is the head-hunting striker, and Nakajima is the skillful grappler. Mizunami works more in the power moves style, weakening Watanabe's neck using the leg drop. In the closing segment, it's because Mizunami stood up after a Tear Drop that Watanabe went for the double handed chop to the back of Mizunami's head.

Watanabe has three other defenses this year, and while it seems I've seen the cream of the current reign, I am curious how she meshes with an American independent wrestler like Vertvixen and her tag team partner, Rika Tatsumi. In particular, I'm curious whether Watanabe adds any variety to the opening lock-up, which was the same across the Yamashita, Nakajima, and Mizunami matches, and whether Watanabe can have a good match when her opponent isn't as skillful as those three women. Nonetheless, I didn't start this series thinking that I would become invested in Watanabe's reign, but I'm both interested in watching the other matches and in high anticipation for her match against Mizuki on January 4, 2025.

[fagcrisis]

using @thistledropkick's post as an excuse to also do the wrestling 2024 tag meme!

im gna go ahead n tag @maxbuck @jupiterjunebug @bang-bang-gang and @pujoshi if u feel inclined to do it :)

MVP/wrestler of the year

Match of the year

favorite feud

favorite tag team/faction

favorite show

breakout(ish) star

horniest moment

most anticipated in 2025

its long as hell so its going under a readmore lmao

wrestler of the year

this is a pretty tough question. i got into a lot of new promotions this year and fell in love with so many people i didnt even know existed before, but I think it has to be miu watanabe. her run as princess of princess champion has been fantastic, proving herself to be new pillar of the company. with yukas departure and miyu+maki doing a lot more work overseas there is definitely places at the top of the (very chillaxed) tjpw food chain and miu has been filling that role. watching her go from an underdog to the benchmark in a little over a year has been so satisfying amd every match she had during her run was great. i think losing to mizuki capped off her reign well and im excited to see what the future holds for the new ace of tjpw!

honorary mentions for: jacky kamei, who quickly became my favorite guy in the world this year, mika iwata who, despite being hampered by some confusing booking did a great job defending the senjo title against some fun opponents, and also saori anou about a hundred times, and chris brookes who makes my list every year

match of the year

honestly this was gonna be puro but something happened to me in august, so its swerve strickland vs bryan danielson. it is the live wrestling bias, and the fact that that show was so good it made me actually keep up with aew for a grand total of 2 weeks before i realized i hate that fucking company, but also its just a damn good match. theyre both guys who are willing to go the extra mile and some more for a spectacle, and anyway, its a good memory

honorary mentions: chris brookes vs daisuke sasaki (both of them), dragon dia vs junta miyawaki which is just, so fucking good. go watch it yall. and miu watanabe vs ryo mizunami

favorite feud

gold class vs z-brats! starting out with minoura losing his hair, and betraying riiita, and the whole thing leading to big hug disbanding somehow. it was a gut wrenching thing to watch, especially with big hug disbanding because of the whole situation. i almost stopped watcjing wrestlimg early in the year and dragongate really pulled me back. its just very effective storytelling and i felt like my life was at stake at points

honorary mentions: toni storm and mariah may, i dont watch aew but i salute lesbianism

breakout(ish) star

CHI CHI!!!!!!! i started watching sendai girls and evolution joshi this year just to put things on while working and i really fell in love with her. shes been great eith the revived senjo jr title, she has great kicks and she just had a great match against stardoms aya sakura which you should watch as well. shes been wrestling for something like a year and honestly, it doesnt show. im so excited to keep up with her career, she has great things ahead of her

favorite tag team/faction

big hug you will be sorely missed!! this is the category where i will not be able to pick a favorite, so let me list some good ones. i loved big hug. i loved that they loved each other so much, they worked so well together. finally mante was able to use kamei as a weapon with his permission. they were so fun. im still upset

not hug, also, were really good. their tah title run was fun as hell its the definition of Dudes Rock. their whole coworkers who hate each other shtick is really good and its incorporated into their moveset and teamwork really well, with doi being reluctant to help dk at points and moments of miscommunication, but they always manage to make it work

team 200kg had such a fantaszic year, two absolute powerhouses walking into the ring to a rock ballad with a comical amount of belts. chihiro hashimoto has always been a really great heavy hitter but this was the year when yuu really became her equal. the yuu roll is the most electrifying move in wrestlimg argue with the wall. their ajpw tv title run with shuji ishikawa was great, just 3 big strong people suplexing fools through the floor. one of those teams you would be insane to dislike

favorite show

so we got two shows tied here. dragongate's dead or alive 2024 show is what finally got me into the promotion after seeing 2 of my friends gush about it for over a year, and i was kicking myself for not getting in on it soomer to be honest. that show made me so invested in jacky kamei in about half an hour that i was clutching my knees and screaming and crying basically the entire time. greatest cage escape spot ever. im putting the entire show here and not just the cagematch because that show also had the twin gate match where not hug won the titles and that was also heaps of fun, and anyways its the worst dg show i ever watched it deserves the spot

tjpw x eve was not, i dont think, on a lot of peoples radars, but it was magical in a lot of ways. obviously tjpw had to kind of send the b team, but to us teej heads there is no such thing as the b team and everybody in that building who had to stand because they fucked up the seating tickets was absolutely Elated to see himawari. raku got a huge cheer, and a you sick fuck chant, i got to see aja kong live and in person which made me almost faint on the spot. i love eve as well and half the british wrestlers on that show had to go and wrestle a 4 woman hardcore match later that day on a revpro show i also attended, so massive props to them. miyu said in her promo closing the show that she wanted this crossover to happen for a very long time and she hoped she could do a much better one next time, which im also hoping for!

horniest moment

this seems to be the year of kissing men so its not easy to pick but it is probably everything that happened in that despe/chris match. i can only dare hope that we can surpass ourselves next year

most anticipated im 2025

as opposed to last year, im excited about plenty of things! im excited to watch meiko satomuras retirement series as it draws to a close, im excited to see how chris brookes's championship reign goes. im very hyped for suzume as international princess champion and im just generally excited to see what dragongate has to offer me this year. im also tentatively hyped for some new japan stuff, the wk weekend shows were, not necessarily great but i think they set up some stuff that could be. and ofc im excited for wrestlimg to suprise me again this year!

[blizzardsuplex]

This is kinda random but Miu Watanabe might have my favorite move set in pro wrestling right now. Everything she does looks good but also has a practicality to it. She's definitely a wrestler I look out for whenever I hear about her having a big match

Hello there! Totally agree; everything she does--not just the big moves like the giant swing, but even the little details like squatting after every shoulder tackle or throwing people she has in a backbreaker submission off like a sack of potatoes--feeds into the character she is meant to be in the ring (the powerhouse of the promotion). In general, though, I find TJPW is excellent at crafting movesets to suit each of their wrestlers strengths and characters, which is what makes watching even the rookies so much fun (I pop every time they add a new move). Just so happens Miu is dedicated and talented at basically every other relevant aspect of pro wrestling so even there she stands out HAHA

Wrestle Princess V is actually in around two days or so, depending on the timezone--and is being headlined by the Miu/Ryo Mizunami rematch. If it's good, as I am almost certain it will be, you know I'm gonna GIF it to hell and back ;)

[farren-the-wanderer]

Aja Kong, Ryo Mizunami!

all my advice about using real athletes to learn drawing bodies beyond hard abs, and my particular pref being wrestlers, also applies to women btw. you can draw women who r strong and not an hourglass shape. fucking do it.

kris statlander, rhea ripley (look at her SHAPE), willow nightingale, ruby soho, these r just four off the top of my head that have obvious musculature and different body types. skye blue and julia hart have more slim cheerleader style bodies as well, i REALLY wanted to put emi sakura who is fucking STOUT (adoring) in this post but i couldn't find a good demonstrative pic, the list goes on

DRAW DIFFERENT BODIESSSSSSSS

[divacrave]

2019 AEW Results

May 25 - Britt Baker vs Kylie Rae vs Awesome Kong vs Nyla Rose (AEW Double or Nothing Kickoff)

May 25 - Riho, Hikaru Shida & Ryo Mizunami vs Aja Kong, Emi Sakura & Yuka Sakazaki (AEW Double or Nothing)

June 29 - Allie vs Leva Bates (Fyter Fest Kickoff)

June 29 - Riho vs Nyla Rose vs Yuka Sakazaki (Fyter Fest)

July 13 - Riho & Brit Baker vs Bea Priestly & Shoko Nakajima (Fight for the Fallen Kickoff)

July 13 - Brandi Rhodes vs Allie (Fight for the Fallen)

August 31 - Nyla Rose vs Leva Bates vs Priscilla Kelly vs Penelope Ford vs Sadie Gibbs vs Big Swole vs Britt Baker, vs Tenille Dashwood vs Ivelisse vs Bea Priestley vs Brandi Rhodes vs Awesome Kong vs Allie vs Nicole Savoy, ODB, Jazz, Mercedes Martinez vs Shalandra Royal vs Faby Apache vs Shazza McKenzie vs Teal Piper (All Out Kickoff) 

August 31 - Riho vs Hikaru Shida (All Out)

October 2 - Riho vs Nyla Rosa (AEW Dynamite)

October 8 - Allie & Britt Baker vs Penelope Ford & Bea Priestly (AEW Dark)

October 9 - Riho & Britt Baker vs Emi Sakura & Bea Priestly (AEW Dynamite)

October 16 - Riho vs Britt Baker (AEW Dynamite)

October 22 - Nyla Rose vs Leva Bates (AEW Dark)

October 23 - Britt Baker vs Jamie Hayter (AEW Dynamite)

October 29 - Emi Sakura vs Penelope Ford vs Allie vs Sadie Gibbs (AEW Dark)

October 30 - Hikaru Shida vs Shanna (AEW Dynamite)

November 5 - Allie & Sadie Gibbs vs Mercedes Martinez & Big Swole (AEW Dark)

November 6 - Emi Sakura & Jamie Hayter vs Riho & Shanna (AEW Dynamite)

November 9 - Britt Baker vs Bea Priestly (Full Gear Kickoff)

November 9 - Riho vs Emi Sakura (Full Gear)

November 12 - Big Swole vs Hikaru Shida (AEW Dark)

November 13 - Nyla Rose vs Danny Jordan (AEW Dynamite)

November 19 - Britt Baker & Riho vs Big Swole & Kris Statlander (AEW Dark)

November 20 - Hikaru Shida vs Britt Baker (AEW Dynamite)

November 26 - Big Swole vs Shanna (AEW Dark)

November 26 - Awesome Kong vs Leva Bates (AEW Dark)

Novemebr 27 - Bea Priestly & Emi Sakura vs Hikaru Shida & Kris Statlander (AEW Dynamite)

December 4 - Nyla Rosa vs Leva Bates (AEW Dynamite)

December 4 - Kris Statlander vs Hikaru Shida (AEW Dynamite)

December 11 - Big Swole vs Emi Sakura (AEW Dynamite)

December 17 - Britt Baker vs Machiko (AEW Dark)

December 17 - Kris Statlander vs Bea Priestly (AEW Dark)

December 18 - Awesome Kong vs ? (AEW Dynamite)

December 18 - Britt Baker vs Kris Statlander (AEW Dynamite)

[mostbelovedaewwrestlertournament]

Most Beloved AEW Wrestler Tournament: Day 10

Jeff Cobb VS Rohit Raju

Jon Moxley VS Delmi Exo

Billy Gunn VS Leyla Hirsch

Megan Bayne VS Diamante

Ivelisse VS Swerve Strickland

Marq Quen VS Hikaru Shida

Dante Martin VS Dasha Gonzalez

The Blade VS Joey Janela

Ryo Mizunami VS Sonny Kiss

Willow Nightingale VS Kenny Omega

[killmurray603]

Tokyo Joshi Pro next event "Grand Princess 23" takes place this Saturday at the legendary Ariake Coliseum (first joshi event they've held in 20 years)

Suzume vs Arisu Endo

Momo, Haru, Toga & Kaya Toribami vs Shino, Mahiro Kiryu, HIMAWARI & Wakana Uehara

Raku, Yuki Aino & Pom Harajuku vs Hikari Noa, Ram Kaicho & Nao Kakuta

Moka Miyamoto vs Ryo Mizunami

Shoko Nakajima & Hyper Misao vs Haruna Neko & Andre the Giant Panda

Sakisama & Mei Saint Michel vs Billie Starkz & Yuki Kamifuku

Aja Kong vs Yuki Arai

* Miu Watanabe (c) vs Rika Tatsumi – International Princess Championship

* Wasteland War Party (Heidi Howitzer & Max The Impaler) (c) vs 121000000 (Maki Itoh & Miyu Yamashita) – Princess Tag Team Championship

*Yuka Sakazaki (c) vs Mizuki – Princess Of Princess Title

Watch it on WRESTLE UNIVERSE

[lightningspiral]

Detail that I think is worth talking about: this match has been used to justify death threats to Kenny Omega that continue to this day.

Wrestling fandom has an especially nasty minority of masculinity-worshiping assholes who balk at...well, a lot of things about Kenny. One of those things is that Kenny has a lot of respect for Japanese women in the industry, with badass butch goofball Ryo Mizunami being his biggest influence. The other is his interest in the artistic possibilities of wrestling, trying to expand what wrestling can be. Both of those things are on display here.

Omega himself has never expressed anything but pride in it.

This is so cute I love it when athletes pretend to be equally matched to a little kid

Background: this is stage fighting! No one was seriously hurt. The girls name is Hakura, a child wrestler who is now retired.

[allelitewrestling1]

AEW DARK: ELEVATION - EPISODE 8

Taped: April 22, 2021 Aired: May 3, 2021

Jacksonville, FL - Daily’s Place

Commentary: Tony Schiavone, Paul Wight

-Miro d. Will Allday

-Abadon d. Ryo Mizunami

-Jon Moxley d. Andrew Palace

-10 d. D3

-Orange Cassidy d. VSK

-FTR d. Terrence & Terrell Hughes

-Nyla Rose d. Madi Wrenkowski

-Nick Comoroto d. Baron Black

-Red Velvet d. Reka Tehaka

-Private Party d. Duke Davis & Ganon Jones

-Thunder Rosa d. Willow Nightingale

-QT Marshall d. Dillon McQueen

-Austin & Colten Gunn d. Chaos Project

-Matt Hardy & The Blade d. Colt Cabana & Alan “5” Angels