This is part of the “Stardom’s Favorite Daughter—Icon or Illusion?” watch series, which you can find here.

Unlike last time, this isn’t a glimpse into a close future but a further one.

This was a rematch for Mayu Iwatani’s World of Stardom Championship.

Now, I actually haven’t seen the initial win; as far as I can tell, the only available footage is from the little video package that plays prior to this match. Turns out too, Miho Wakizawa isn’t actually all that bad when she isn’t saddled with a comedy routine.

Unfortunately, we’re already on the road, where it’s only the last couple minutes that count.

Don’t get me wrong, all the backslide attempts with the leg kicking and screaming are all neat—the right kind of desperation that so much of wrestling misses out on. The finish too, a pretty nasty head kick into a snappy dragon suplex, is maybe the meanest Mayu’s ever looked in an isolated moment. But before that? Just moves, counters on top of counters, no real emotion behind anything. My opinions on that approach are thin, and in the off chance something so maximalist does work, it at least requires an inhuman amount of risk and/or some sort of attempt to establish a dynamic between wrestlers. It’s all smooth, don’t get me wrong. Mayu looks all kinds of comfortable attempting stuff most wrestlers can’t do on their best days, but that’s not the point. I’m given no reason to care, and even if they do fool you with some of those near falls towards the end, the prospect of Wakizawa overcoming Mayu—and overcoming someone like Mayu is a ridiculous idea at this point in her career—is never a likeable concept, whether it comes true or not.

V1 in the books for Mayu, I guess.

Rating: Meh