#jungle kyona

[frentique]

[wrestlingmgc]

Jungle Kyona.

[questintheskies]

7/26/24 Jungle Kyona Instagram Story Update

[switchbladeclub]

[andjoshiforall]

👊👊👊👊

[stardomtrash]

Konami and Kyona have a moment

Mayu senses betrayal in the air

[nakanotamu]

[nickiehausen]

Arisa Hoshiki v. Jungle Kyona (STARDOM x STARDOM) 8/10/19

There’s a quote from the French painter Edgar Degas that I feel greatly applies to wrestling: “Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.” Wrestling is, though viewed as crude by others, an artform. In its best and worst forms, it is art; that cannot be denied. 

The goal of wrestling, like any other form of art, is to make people feel. The audience is meant to interpret what happens in the ring in a way that makes them feel emotion. Whether that be joy, sympathy, pity, pride, agony, hatred, compassion, distaste, or perhaps a blend of them all. These emotions can be accomplished through grand displays of triumph; or heartbreaking moments of failure. Big moments at big shows can create those feelings, but more often than not, these emotions are conveyed to the audience through simpler stories told in singular matches.

I’ve always felt that STARDOM, when it really tries to, is excellent at creating pure, raw emotion. The promotion often succeeds in creating situations that make the audience see more than just wrestling; they see stories, even in smaller matches. This brings us to Arisa Hoshiki v. Jungle Kyona, from August 10th, 2019. Hoshiki is probably my favorite female wrestler of all time, and she’d likely be on the list of my top ten favorites period. Past just her superb in-ring ability, her ability to tell stories and convey emotions was an underrated aspect of her talent. The Shining Star embodied what it means to have “charisma” in pro-wrestling, possessing a unique charm that elevated her matches beyond being just good wrestling. I haven't seen as much of Kyona's work as Arisa's, but based on what I've seen of her, she's very good in terms of both wrestling and presentation. Similarly to Arisa, she's always had the ability to capture the hearts of fans and get a crowd behind her. Both of these women ooze natural babyface energy; their facing is sort of like an unstoppable force meets an immovable object in terms of sheer likability. 

I like the way the match opens. Hoshiki opens with a flurry of offense, throwing kick after kick and trying to overwhelm Kyona early on. It’s sudden, fast, and I like it. I like it a lot. It sets the tone for the match that follows.

Kyona responds by targeting Hoshiki’s right leg, attempting to take away Arisa’s main form of offense. I’m typically a big fan of limb-targeting being the foundation of a match’s contained story, but in this instance I feel as if the damage done to Hoshiki’s leg is only a temporary thing and doesn’t remain throughout the rest of the match. It’s a short-lived blip in the match and afterwards both competitors more or less seem to just ignore it. I would’ve liked to see Kyona continue to go after Hoshiki’s damaged leg as the match went on, but that’s just a personal gripe. I thought it was a bit weird to only include that in the opening minutes just to drop it, but I was fine with the match instead following a traditional David v. Goliath type situation where Hoshiki attempts to find ways to counter Kyona’s size and strength advantage with her precise striking ability.

There are some great sports mixed in with the consistently good wrestling. Kyona catching Arisa’s attempt at a meteora on the outside and powerbombing her onto the apron looked brutally stiff, for example. Arisa locking in a sleeper hold in an attempt to wear down the stronger Kyona, and diving off the middle rope to lock the hold back in after being rammed into the turnbuckle, was a unique interpretation of an extremely common spot. There are a ton of near-falls too, many of which I’ll confess almost got me, including Arisa kicking out of a Jungle Buster and Kyona reaching the bottom rope after a barrage of roundhouse kicks and a devastating V-Trigger. The match really leaves viewers on the edge of their seat, with it being so tightly-contested that it makes it difficult to try and predict the outcome. Such a competitive bout is fitting for a clash of two stellar babyfaces, leaving the viewer on the edge of their seat. Will the valiant champion Arisa retain their gold? Will the eternally never-say-die Jungle Kyona finally claim the Wonder of Stardom championship? It’s truly hard to tell.

All in all, a very well put together contest. Both performers excel in their roles and come together to make another instant classic in the stacked resumes of both. Re-watching this truly makes me miss Hoshiki in Stardom. What I’d give to see her facing some of the company’s current best. Same applies to Kyona. I believe, as of now, she’s still out with injury, but I've seen some of her work in the American indies, namely DPW. It’s quite good, but I’d still kill to one day see her holding the Red Belt. Jungle Kyona continues to have so much potential that I’d love to see realized, whether that be in an eventual return to Stardom or perhaps in another run here in the States, maybe even on AEW TV (though that’s less than likely).

Definitely one to recommend, which is impressive considering this isn’t even Arisa Hoshiki’s best defense as White Belt champion - maybe not even here second best, either. But that’s all subjective, of course. I have it ranked as her third best, behind her match with Utami Hayashishita and of course, her clash with Tam Nakano.

⭐⭐⭐⭐. 25 stars out of 5.

[frentique]

[axel-mania]

I think one of the defining parts of Momo's character is that she has low distress tolerance. Taking responsibility and keeping up a certain appearance were both unfulfilling and boring. Her original appearance in Queen's Quest was the elevation of an immature if promising rookie into an assassin designed to humiliate everyone in Io's way. And then Io left. It was her turn now to make the decisions. I think it was fine for so long because of how successful she was as both a tag and singles wrestler. She could break the spirit of people like Jungle Kyona and do it while still being regarded as a babyface, because she never cheated.

It couldn't last forever. Soon she wasn't the future ace anymore but someone the fans lamented had been set aside and shafted by the company. Utami started to look like a more promising leader than she was, with Momo now losing every major challenge for a belt. So she simply stopped caring. She destroyed all her relationships and started fresh. She was never going to be that person tricked into boredom and embarrassment again. Why had she ever believed in those false words Queen's Quest repeated to themselves?

There were still people that had witnessed the old Momo intimately. All she could do was try to bully them into silence and submission. With her in Oedo Tai now she repeatedly chipped away at Queen's Quest, especially her old tag team partner, AZM. That made it much harder to take when at the Five Star press conference this year AZM told her to her face that she thought nothing of her. Momo wasn't scary, and barely warranted enough interest to be hated. Momo lashed out at her, telling AZM that she would show her that this was just a brave front she was putting on.

The beginning of their match was so one-sided it was almost funny. AZM was inside Momo's nightmare. Momo laughed every time AZM's attempts to get out merely resulted in putting her under Momo's boot again. AZM began to look desperate. As she had admitted on Twitter before the match, it wasn't entirely true that this didn't matter to her. She didn't want to lose like this. She hated Momo. Something awoke inside her. Now that she started to have some control over the match again she was the bully, she was the one taunting Momo, pulling her out of pins, shoving her face into the ground.

As much as Momo had once had innocent fun with AZM, AZM had also been a petty bully with her too. They hadn't been so different as people after all.

Without seeming to realize it Momo was desperate to win now too. The match became an intense struggle like the best of Momo's matches in the old days, near misses piling up one after another in the last five minutes. It was plain to see on Momo's face how she felt. How bad must it have felt when AZM beat her here, when there was no denying that Momo was trying her best? Now that Momo has lost so many matches and can't blame anyone but herself, I wonder if she's going to snap.

[questintheskies]

7/26/24 Jungle Kyona Instagram Update

[switchbladeclub]

[andjoshiforall]

🥰🥰🥰🥰

[stardomtrash]

this utami person looks like an absolute badass. any matches you'd recommend to someone unfamiliar with her work?

You’re damn right she’s an absolute badass :D And heck yeah I can give you some recommendations. I consulted with a few friends to make sure I didn’t forget anything. Some of these I haven’t seen but they came highly recommended. I’ll try and give a helpful rundown where possible :)

In no particular order…

So the unequivocal best match Utami has had is the 5.5* classic with Syuri. It’s LONG, and it may not be a good one to jump in with first, but definitely keep it in your back pocket. It’s 5.5* for a reason. (x)

Alternatively, Utami had a much shorter but all-killer-no-filler match with Syuri in the Gold Rush PPV last year. Really great match between two of the best to ever do it. (x)

Utami vs Mayu Iwatani for the IWGP semi finals. Again, it’s just two fantastic wrestlers giving it all they’ve got. (x)

Utami vs Tam Nakano in the 5 Star GP. Good thing about the 5 Star is the short time limits, so if you need good intro singles matches, they’re a great place to start. You'll also get to see Utami Nakano. (x)

Utami vs Saya Kamitani for the White Belt. I think this was better than the singles they had for the Red Belt, but I think that might be sentimentality for me. I’d only just gotten into Stardom and this was the first match I was HYPED for and watched live on PPV. It’s still a great match, and considering Saya and Utami are partners, coupled with Saya’s unrelenting desire to complete her one goal of besting Utami, it’s a great dynamic. (x)

Utami vs Momo Watanabe in the Oedo Tai/Queen’s Quest best of 5. This is DEFINITELY just me but it’s one of my all-time favourite matches. It presents Utami as an underdog against a heel that she bitterly hates. It’s only short (it's only the first 20 mins, don’t let the 1hr video length scare you) but it’s great if you want to see Utami fighting uphill. (x)

Utami vs Mayu Iwatani for the Red Belt. I haven’t seen this match (I keep meaning to) but I have it on good authority it’s a banger. Annoyingly this match doesn't exist in isolation, just a part of a whole PPV, so skip to 1:56:08 to get to it. (x)

Utami vs Maika for the Red Belt. Maika has been determined to make Utami her rival and these two put on a killer showdown if you like the power fighter vs power fighter style. (x)

Queen’s Quest vs Oedo Tai cage match. This is a massive storyline match that is the culmination of the increasing drama between Saya and Utami. I wouldn’t recommend it until you’ve seen at least some Saya/Utami stuff before (heck, just take a look at the tags on my blog as a crash course lmao) otherwise you’ll miss out on The Feels lol. (x)

Following on from that, when making this list people said I should include Aphrodite matches (that’s the team name for Utami and Saya), but from the matches I’ve seen personally I couldn’t think of One Match that stands out. I got a vote for their match against Konami and Jungle Kyona for the Goddess Belts, which I haven’t seen but really should, so I’ll put that one forward. (x)

Alternatively, since I haven’t included any Goofball Utami moments in this list (except Utami Nakano), the match between Utami and Saya vs Gokigen Death and Riho is a vibe. Utami is madly crushing on Riho at this point and Saya (who has been in love with Utami since Day Dot) is smarting about it. (x)

Last but not least, her debut match against Jungle Kyona is one I haven’t watched but heard good things about. A way to show you she’s been kickass from the start :D (x)

Thank you to everyone who helped me craft this list!

[nakanotamu]

[unityversehq]

UnityVerse Year-End Awards 2022 Results!

(Bolded nomination is the winner)

Male Citizen of the Year:

Jon Moxley - 40.8%

Cody Rhodes - 13%

CM Punk - 14.3%

Hangman Page - 10.9%

Rudy Pankow - 10.1%

Jay White - 10.9%

Female Citizen of the Year:

Syuri - 30.3%

Thunder Rosa - 16.4%

Bianca Belair - 25.4%

Rhea Ripley - 8.4%

Becky Lynch - 8.4%

Giulia - 11.3%

Couple of the Year:

Jon Moxley & Bryan Danielson - 30.3%

Tam Nakano & Rhea Ripley - 20.2%

Seth Rollins & Becky Lynch - 12.6%

Jay White & Jamie Hayter - 13%

CM Punk & AJ Lee - 13%

Miles Heizer & Kyle O'Reilly - 10.9%

Competition of the Year:

Survivor 2022 - 28.2%

Big Brother 2022 - 58%

The Challenge 2022 - 13.9%

Breakout Star of the Year:

Eddie Kingston - 32.8%

Kota Ibushi - 18.9%

Ricky Starks - 16.2%

Thekla - 8.4%

Jungle Kyona - 11.8%

Daniel Garcia - 11.8%

Future Star of the Year:

Roxanne Perez - 37%

Wheeler Yuta - 18.1%

Powerhouse Hobbs - 13%

Konosuke Takeshita - 19.3%

Steph De Lander - 8.4%

Kris Statlander - 4.2%

Funniest Citizen of the Year:

Jay White - 12.2%

Hook - 13.4%

Ross Butler - 11.8%

Orange Cassidy - 12.2%

Sami Zayn - 39.1%

Jamie Hayter - 10.9%

Most Shocking Moment of the Year:

CM Punk at the All Out Media Scrum - 34%

MJF's Return to AEW - 9.7%

Cody Rhodes' Return to WWE - 12.6%

Jamie Hayter Wins AEW Women's World Title - 9.7%

Natsupoi Joins Cosmic Angels - 13%

Kenny Omega Challenges Will Ospreay at WK 17 - 21%

MVP of the Year:

Bayley - 8.8%

Seth Rollins - 8.8%

Tam Nakano - 10.1%

Mercedes Moné - 14.7%

John Cena - 16%

Young Bucks - 41.6%

THANK YOU!

For your valuable input and for a wonderful 2022! Let's make the most out of 2023!

-UnityVerse Leaders