In Tokyo Joshi Pro-Wrestling everyone’s story is intertwined, each wrestler’s narrative a vine that crosses over several others multiple times on its way up the tree bark. It’s a small world, one where a friend is often an enemy. Respect and wrath swirl together until they are indistinguishable.
We saw that all at play in a grand, most entertaining way at Summer Sun Princess in the Princess of Championship match between Mizuki and Maki Itoh.
On the surface, Mizuki and Maki Itoh delivered a stellar match, arguably the best TJPW has had to offer in 2023. Beyond that, though, this was a pivotal moment for both, a proving ground, a kairos.
Itoh entered the title bout the clear underdog.
Yet, she’s the more widely known of the two wrestlers. Yes, she’s so charismatic and unique that it’s long felt inevitable that TJPW would crown her, but we all knew this wasn’t her time.
For one, she hadn’t been around. Itoh spent much of the past two years traveling abroad, mixing it up on the American indie scene, appearing in AEW, carving her path outside the TJPW borders.
It seemed unlikely that the prodigal princess would win the top title so soon after her return, especially against Mizuki whose reign was only just getting going.
History didn’t favor Itoh, either.
Before this event, Itoh had beaten Mizuki just once in singles action, a semi-final win in the 2021 Tokyo Princess Cup. Prior to that result, Mizuki dominated The Cutest Wrestler in the World. She’d bested her three times dating all the way back to 2017.
And a key note to Maki’s story is her coming oh-so-close in the big moments only to fall just before victory.
The pigtailed powder keg entered this match 0-3 in Princess of Princess title bouts. She lost to Miyu Yamashita Wrestle Princess II, to Rika Tatsumi at Still Incomplete in 2021, and again to Yamashita in January of 2019.
On the flip side, TJPW has been presenting Mizuki as a powerful force, a gold-gathering warrior.
Heading into Summer Sun Princess, Mizuki was on a tear in singles action with a 16-2 record going back to the end of 2021. She knocked off Yuka Sakazaki in March to win her first Princess of Princess title. Just two weeks later, The Popping Sugar Rabbit and Yuka dethroned Maki Itoh and Miyu Yamashita to claim the TJPW tag belts.
Mizuki had moved into the promotion’s top tier; Maki was still crawling her way to that spot.
The middle-finger-waving loudmouth Itoh got her chance to change that, a shot at championship glory at the Ota City General Gymnasium in Tokyo in a main event with little build but plenty of history.
Itoh and Mizuki’s story stretches years back. Theirs is a fraught relationship, one built on admiration as much as aggression.
In 2017, Itoh was a raw prospect who lost again and again. Mizuki was among those to overpower her. But somewhere amid their one-on-one battle that year, Itoh earned Mizuki’s respect. They formed a tag team, Ito-Respect-gun.
They fought alongside each other, they sang together, they bonded, even if wins were not commonplace for them.
When Mizuki later found tag success with Sakazaki, Maki grew viciously jealous. Their alliance splintered; their rivalry was born.
Every meeting since has been wrought with emotion. Mizuki’s wins have left Maki tearful and angry.
And the post-match conversations have been just as entertaining as the in-ring side as they speak to each other like scorned lovers, hearts aching and conflicted.
At Summer Sun Princess, all that history and tension hung in the air as the two wrestlers stared each other down. Mizuki seemed unsettled. To remain champion, she’d have to again fight a friend, self-preservation over sisterhood.
Seconds into the battle, the amped up level of intensity was impossible to miss.
Mizuki and Maki traded fast fists. They went hard at each other. They rammed bone into post, flesh onto the cement floor.
Itoh has never been short on confidence, but she was churning with the stuff here. The dates in the U.S. have clearly boosted her. She was extra nasty too, perhaps taking lessons from her time in GCW and hanging out with Nick Gage.
At times she was dominant, toying with Mizuki, a sadist plucking wings off a fly. This is a far cry from their first battles where Itoh was simply out of her depth.
The quality of this match was further proof of Itoh’s growth, her ever-sharpening ring skills.
Mizuki had plenty to prove, too. She was fiery, bursting with heart, an engaging babyface throughout.
Her reign to this point featured good showings against Nao Kakuta and Sawyer Wreck, but neither was a marquee event. In this big fight, though, she performed on a whole new level, an ace level.
Whether she was snuffing out an angry Maki with a quick-as-a-blink dropkick or getting wrecked by Itoh’s boot and leaving us concerned as she writhed on the mat, this was top-tier material. The Popping Sugar Rabbit felt like a champ, a mighty queen.
All the rollups and near-falls, the adrenaline throughout, the strong chemistry between these two all made for a great match. What pushed it past that level and into classic territory, though, was the lingering intimacy between them.
At times, there would be a quiet, perhaps reflective moment, where Maki and Mizuki would eye each other knowingly, memories of their past rising to the surface before violence cut it short. A whirlwind of strikes would bring their focus back to their ultimate purpose.
The former tag partners threw each other on the floor with the worst of intentions. Mizuki nailed some pinpoint foot stomps, her boots like darting arrows. Itoh dished out an assortment of DDTs including a jaw-dropping avalanche version that absolutely rocked the champ.
“We have a goddamn war on our hands!” commentator Baliyan Akki shouted at one point.
They brawled until they were weary, until they collapsed, standing dead-eyed against each other. Maki gave everything of herself, but it was not enough. Mizuki survived her onslaught, her famed headbutt, and secured her third title defense with a gorgeous bridging pin.
For Mizuki, this was an emphatic statement to her doubters.
She clearly belongs here. Don’t be fooled by her lean frame and frilly dress, she’s a beast. And after years of Yamashita, Shoko Nakajima and Sakazaki at the helm of the promotion, Mizuki damn sure looks ready to be the face of TJPW.
Mizuki waved her strength and star power like a flag.
This bout wrote a different kind of chapter in Maki’s story. She, too, looked like a bona fide main eventer, but the loss added another disappointment to her tale.
In the aftermath of the championship collision, Maki was in a familiar spot; angry, crestfallen, having to congratulate the woman in the opposite corner. In the past, she’s clobbered Mizuki before a handshake or gave her the bird after one. This time, there were no tricks, no middle fingers, no defiance.
We saw a glimpse of a different Itoh. She used to be all character, a harlequin. In this match and in her travels abroad, she’s shown just how far she’s come.
The weight of her disenchantment has reshaped her. A darker, more dangerous, fanged and furious creature looks ready to emerge.
Unless Itoh leaves for the U.S. for good, Mizuki, Yamashita and all the fools who have wronged her best watch out. A great fury is on the horizon.
Wrestle Inn 