Mei Suruga has seemingly replaced Maki Itoh as the wrestler my kid is all in on so as of late we’ve been watching a lot of ChocoPro shows that have her featured in the YouTube thumbnail. So today here are words about ChocoPro #87. All I knew about this show going into it was that Mei Suruga was facing some lady named Saki at some point during it. So let’s see what else we have going on!
Opening
Baliyan Akki’s here to welcome us to the show and give us a rundown of the card. He explains that since Mei Suruga and Emi Sakura are both taking part in AEW’s Women’s World Championship Eliminator Tournament each of them will be in singles action today to warm up and show what they can do to AEW fans who might be tuning in to ChocoPro for the first time. Also on deck today we have Chie Koishikawa challenging her tag team partner Hagane Shinno I guess in an effort to prove to him that she’s worthy of being his partner.
Speaking of Chie Koishikawa, she then shows up holding a serving tray for some reason. She says some stuff but it’s mostly in Japanese so I have no idea what she’s talking about or why she has a serving tray.
Match 1: Chie Koishikawa vs. Hagane Shinno
Before the match begins Chie bounces up and down in Shinno’s face. I’m not sure if she’s trying to psyche him out or just has way too much energy and likes jumping. Regardless the match begins and Koishikawa and Shinno lock up. Shinno grabs a wristlock which leads to Koishikawa running in a circle before reversing the hold. Shinno then slowly strolls in a circle for a bit before getting out of the hold. From here the look to trade strikes with Koishikawa getting in a fencing stance and attempting to thrust her hand at Shinno and Shinno keeping her at a distance with kicks. They end up trading a few shots before Shinno decides he’s had enough goofing around and promptly takes Koishikawa to the mat and drives his knee into her spine.
Shinno gets her in an armbar and yanks on her hair a bit as he cranks on the submission hold. Eventually Koishikawa pulls his hair and gets Shinno to break the hold but Shinno quickly gets her back to the mat and slaps a grounded headlock on. Koishikawa escapes the hold and tries for a bow and arrow submission but can’t get Shinno up. Shinno lets her get up and run to try and get him in the bow and arrow but Koishikawa’s second attempt fails as well so she nails him with a rolling leg drop and then hurks him up in a bow and arrow. Shinno escapes and gets Koishikawa in an anklelock. Koishikawa, however, grabs the edge of the mat to force him to break the hold.
Shinno lays into Koishikawa with a series of kicks to the leg and then grabs her with a heel hook. Koishikawa manages to escape but ends up getting nailed with a basement dropkick and then booted in the hamstring after a failed slam attempt. Koishikawa then fires up and mounts a comeback, sending Shinno flying with an armdrag and then catching him with a dropkick. She trips Shinno up, sending him to the mat and then looks to karate chop him in the spine but he rolls away to avoid it. She keeps trying to chop him but Shinno avoids it a few times before Koishikawa climbs on his back and chops him in the spine.
Koishikawa then sent Shinno into the wall and went H.A.M. on him with a series of chops before nailing him with another dropkick and then catching him off guard with a flash roll up up against the wall. Shinno looks for another heel hook but again Koishikawa gets out of it. Shinno, who is starting to show signs of frustration then blasts Koishikawa with a brutal looking front kick. Koishikawa came back with a series of roll ups before getting Shinno in the stretch muffler. Shinno, however, countered into an ankle lock, tearing apart her already injured leg and ultimately forcing Koishikawa to tap out.
Chie Koishikawa looks disappointed that she didn’t win but after the match Shinno sits down with her and says some stuff to her in Japanese. I guess the gist of it was that she showed a lot of promise and that he might be willing to team with her again down the line.
Winner: Hagane Shinno
Most of the Gatoh Move matches I’ve seen have featured at least a little bit of goofy schtick but there really wasn’t any of that here aside maybe from the fact that Chie Koishikawa got in a fencing stance when attempting to do knife hand thrusts at Shinno at one point. This was a serious wrestling match with nothing that happened in it being played for laughs and it was kind of good. They told a decent story in which Shinno clearly wasn’t taking Chie Koishikawa seriously in the beginning but ultimately had to start taking her seriously because she was a threat. [***]
Match 2: Sayaka Obihiro vs. Emi Sakura
Sayaka Obihara comes out first and says some junk about her history with Emi Sakura but I don’t really remember any details since my kid was talking during it and it didn’t seem to be anything more than a pretty boilerplate promo anyway. Emi Sakura then comes out and more or less just introduces herself and says some stuff about the AEW Women’s World Championship Tournament and then thanks everyone for watching.
Obihara charges and catches Sakura with a glancing dropkick before the bell even rings and then takes Sakura over with a snapmare. Obihara sends Sakura into the wall and lays into her with chops that send her to the mat. She then gets Sakura in a leg hold but Sakura breaks free and stomps away on Obihara. She then sends Obihara into the wall and stomps on her some more before working her over with chops. Emi Sakura then hurls Sayaka Obihara across the mat by the head and start to work on her leg. She first bends Obihara’s ankle before transitioning to the Romero Special.
Obihara gets let out of the hold and comes back with some stiff chops but Sakura fires back with kicks. Sakura then looks for a double underhook suplex but Obihara blocks and dumps Sakura with a back body drop and then follows with a sliding chop. Obihara fires up and wrecks shop on Sakura with a series of chops before spamming headbutts into Sakura’s spine. Obihara is so fired up that she ends up accidentally running into pile of chair before nailing Sakura with a running dropkick. Obihara then went for a suplex but Sakura managed to reverse it into a twisting facebuster to turn things back around.
Chants of “We will! We will! Rock you!” fill Ichigaya Chocolate Square as Sakura runs and crushes Obihara with a crossbody as Obihara leans against the wall. Sakura then drapes Obihara over the window and charges for a running dropkick but Obihara drops down into the alleyway to avoid the kick only to get her eyes raked instead. She manages to shake that off and head up into the window. Obihara then comes flying off with a throat thrust to Sakura. She spikes Sakura in the throat a few more times before taking her to the mat and slapping on a sleeper hold.
Sakura gets out of the hold and she and Obihara trade strikes before Obihara scores a near fall with a briding headlock suplex. Sakura gets back to her feet and they trade chops and throat thrusts up against the wall. Obihara heads up to the window but Sakura chops her down and then pulls her and hits a draping backbreaker on Obihara. Sakura then heads up to the window and connects with a splash for a near fall. They go back and forth with pin attempts for a bit before they both get back to their feet. Obihara charges Sakura but ends up running straight into a karate chop that sends her crashing to the mat. Sakura then gets Obihara in the Lion Tamer and Obihara taps out.
Winner: Emi Sakura
This was another very good wrestling match. Obihara had a couple of good hope spots but ultimately wasn’t good enough to overcome her teacher’s wrestling acumen. [***]
Match 3: Mei Suruga vs. SAKI
It’s main event time! Mei Suruga comes out first and introduces herself in English for anyone that might be tuning in to see who she is ahead of the AEW tournament. SAKI then heads out clad in what appears to be a skinned Muppet that has been fashioned into a hoodie. She introduces herself briefly in Japanese. The bell then rings and the two women shake hands. CODE OF HONOR ALL UP IN THIS MUG!
The two of them lock up but the larger SAKI easily overpowers Mei and tosses her to the mat. Another headlock leads to Mei attempting a waistlock only for SAKI to grab a side headlock. Suruga escapes the hold and gets SAKI in a headlock of her own only to end up getting forced to the wall by SAKI. SAKI lets go of Mei and nails her with a double chop as she’s up against the wall. Suruga then runs and jumps at SAKI to frighten her and take over on offense. She grabs SAKI by the hand and runs up into the windowsill for an armdrag attempt but SAKI plants her feet and just pulls Mei down to the mat.
With Mei still on the mat and SAKI towering over her holding her arm they fight over a hold. Mei ends up escaping and then catching SAKI with a dropkick that sends her crashing to the mat. Suruga then locks on the dreaded body scissors but SAKI is close to the edge of the mat and easily reaches it for the break. Suruga ignores this and pulls SAKI’s hair in order to roll her around the ring while still in the body scissors. She then gets SAKI in a pin but SAKI counters out of it and picks Mei up in a pendulum submission hold. SAKI then drops Mei and gets her in the body scissors before returning the favor from eariler by yanking her hair and then getting her into a Dragon Sleeper. SAKI then rolls around on the mat, first rolling Mei Suruga into the wall and then rolling her into the same wacky pin that Mei had attempted on her moments earlier. Mei, however, kicks her feet into SAKI’s back to get out of the pin.
Both women get back to their feet and Mei promptly stomps on SAKI’s toes to take over on offense. Suruga then runs and leaps up into the window and proceeds to armdrag SAKI across the mat. Suruga then gets her in a bridging choke into the Deathlock but SAKI uses her strength to break free. Suruga then whips SAKI into the wall three times and looks for a body slam but SAKI blocks it and then hurks Mei Suruga up and slams her into the wall instead. SAKI follows up by slamming Mei to the mat and then stepping on her spine. SAKI then delivers a handstand into a splash that earns her a near fall. SAKi stretches Suruga and then slams her into the wall. SAKI continues to dish out the abuse, stomping away on Suruga and going for another pin that Mei kicks out of before SAKI slaps on a Boston Crab.
After a lengthy time in the hold, Suruga finally managed to get to the edge of the mat for the break after which she nearly managed to win the match with a flash roll up. SAKI then goes for a clothesline but Mei Suruga ducks and leaps off the wall for a crossbody. Mei then looks for the Apple-Cut Multilation but SAKI reverses it into a pin attempt before transitioning to the European Clutch. SAKI then plants Mei with another slam and looks to follow up with a Vader Bomb but Mei rolls out of harms way. Suruga then slams SAKI into the windowsill and closes the window on her, trapping her there. The referee admonishes her but Mei doesn’t give a shit and grabs a sign with one of Gatoh Move’s Patreons off the wall and leaps up and smashes it onto SAKI’s back.
SAKI gets the sign off her back and crumples it up as Mei Suruga fires up. Suruga then charges at SAKI only to catch a boot to the mug. She tries to charge at SAKI a second time but catches a big boot in the mush again. Baliyan Akki who is on commentary at this point tells his tag team partner that he doesn’t think whatever she’s attempting is working but Mei Suruga will not be denied and tries to charge SAKI for a third time. This time she manages to duck the big boot and bounce SAKI off the wall before nailing her with a dropkick.
Mei Suruga then gets SAKI in a full nelson and looks for the Apple-Cut Mutilation but SAKI fights it off and crushes Suruga. Suruga tries again for the Apple-Cut Mutilation and gets it on but they’re already near the wall so she is forced to break the hold. Both women get to their feet and lock up again and SAKI quickly turns things back around by planting Suruga with a gutwrench suplex. SAKI gets Suruga in the pendulum submission again but eventually lets go of it. Suruga then goes for a crossbody but SAKI catches her and plants her with a Michinoku Driver. SAKI covers but Suruga manages to roll through into a pin that gets her a near fall and stuns SAKI.
SAKI comes back with an Atomic Drop into a suplex. She then comes off the window with a Vader Bomb which connects this go ’round. SAKI then wears Suruga down with a hanging Sharpshooter. SAKI looks for a suplex but Mei Suruga blocks it and gets SAKI in the Gedo Clutch. Suruga then looks for the Propeller but SAKI reverses it only to end up getting tripped up and sent into the wall. Suruga then leaps off the wall and nails SAKI with a Superman Punch. Mei then climbs onto a sink in the ringside kitchette and comes leaping off with a double stomp. She covers but SAKI manages to kick out at two.
Both women are spent as they get to their knees and start exchanging forearm shots. We then get a series of pins and reversals before SAKI gets Suruga in the Boston Crab again. With a minute left, Suruga escapes the hold. She looks for the Propeller again but after it’s blocked gets SAKI in Lucifer. She tries to keep the hold on but SAKI keeps managing to roll free. Suruga pins SAKI again but the bell rings. We’ve reached the 20 minute time limit and have ourselves a draw.
After the match SAKI offers Suruga her hand but once Suruga gives it to her SAKI pulls it and then stomps on her hand, furious over her lack of victory. She puts the boots to Suruga for a bit before the referee separates them.
Winner: Time Limit Draw
This was another very good match, and again, one that was far removed from the regular goofy bullshit that we get from ChocoPro. Both women looked very good here. [***]
Rock Scissors Paper Tournament
This is, according to Baliyan Akki, “what it’s all about,” a rock-scissors-paper tournament for a piece of chocolate. Again, I didn’t keep track of the individual matches but at some point they upped the ante and starting kicking the person that lost in the leg. SAKI took it too far though and just blasted Chie Koshikawa with a push kick to the gut that sent her crashing into the kitchette’s sink and causing a bunch of mops and brooms to fall on her which was pretty great. The finals came down to SAKI and Hagane Shinno and Shinno managed to walk away with a piece of chocolate when all was said and done.
Afterwards we got a rundown of the matches that will be happening on tomorrow’s show. I can’t remember what any of them are except for Baliyan Akki & Mei Suruga taking on Emi Sakura & Cherry in a tag team bout. As is the norm with ChocoPro we then get everyone singing and dancing around to wrap things up only they’re not wrapped up…
Promo!
Everyone else leaves and Baliyan Akki then crouches down near the ChocoPro banner and cuts a promo. In addition to his ChocoPro match tomorrow he will also be wrestling Konosuke Takeshita in DDT. He says that Takeshita might have more experience than him because he’s one day older but Akki has been waiting for this moment his entire life. He talks about how he is still amazed by things that Konosuke takes for granted and how that’s going to give him an advantage when the square off tomorrow.
Final Thoughts
This was a lot more straightforward and serious than a lot of the Gatoh Move stuff I’ve seen has been but honestly that kind of makes sense. As Baliyan Akki said in the opening bit, Mei and Emi just got announced for the AEW Women’s World Championship Eliminator Tournament so the likelihood of new viewers checking the show out was high so if you know a new audience of workrate fans are checking your show out it makes sense to downplay the slapstick and weird theater kid nonsense and focus on grappling and in-ring (on-mat) action. Good show but honestly I prefer a bit more zaniness when I check out ChocoPro.
Atomic Drop 