TJPW Live in Las Vegas (4.16.26) review 

 

April 16, 2026 

 

WRESTLEMANIA WEEK REVIEW #21 

 

We’re in Las Vegas, Nevada at the Palm Theater, which is a great looking venue. Host is Veda Scott. The Up Up Girls open the show with cuteness. Four working microphones here, good job we’re not in the Horseshoe.  

 

Toga & Uta Takami vs. Wakana Uehara & Yuki Kamifuku 

This is clunky and they can’t get on the same page. It really needs someone to lean into a gimmick to cover for it. Takami tries hard to fight from underneath and she’s happy to take anything. The corner dropkick proves this. Takami eats heat for almost the entire match and then jobs to a Rocker Dropper. Not the best of starts. *¼  

 

Alexis Lee, HIMAWARI & Shino Suzuki vs. Pom Harujuku, Raku & Yuki Aino 

I think hijinks are incoming.  

Hijinks were indeed, incoming. This is my first time seeing HIMAWARI and the look, the presence and the stuff with the hair extensions is all very cool. She has potential to be the next breakout star for TJPW. Raku works over the braids.  

Pom has a huge dice and rolls it to determine how many forearms she does. She gets HIMAWARI to roll it, and she gets a six, but Pom then hits her with another six forearms. Is that gimmick specfically for Vegas? I like it. Venus DDT finishes Shino with Aino picking up the pin. This was mostly antics, but they were good antics. **½  

 

Mizuki vs. Miyu Yamashita vs. Miu Watanabe 

Yamashita is a wonderful talent, and she introduces her boots to some spines here. We take it to the stage so Yamashita can get more of a run up on punting some spine. The match is notably weaker when she’s not in there.  

Miu tries to get the giant swing, but shenannigans prevent it. In between the ‘bits’ we do get some very solid pro-wrestling. It’s to be expected with Yamashita involved. I like that they play on the three-way aspect as well. Yamashita lining up a strike and Mizuki just popping in and stealing a pin. Watanabe takes a little longer than the other two to get into position, which is unfortunate and probably stops this from being really good. Her giant swing is SWANK though, so I’ll let her off. 

 

Also, the double scoop slam. Fantastic stuff. Although a lot of that falls on Yamashita to time the jump and have Mizuki land on her. Yamashita murders Miu with a roundhouse in the best spot of the entire match. Running knee takes out Mizuki afterwards and Yamashita gets the win. This was both a fun and innovative contest but also hard hitting and impactful. Great stuff. ***½  

 

International Princess Championship 

Suzume (c) vs. Sakura Hattori 

Sakura’s gear includes a mask, which must be difficult to breathe in. The price you pay for looking cool, huh?  

Hattori flows around the ring, even onto the ropes, in pleasing fashion. When you get this comfortable in the ring, good things will follow. She has a nice mixture of lucha, strikes and mat work. Suzume works from underneath, but I like her moxy and sneaky roll ups. They do a very safe spider superplex. Mercedes Martinez just dumps people with that; this was more collaborative. Sakura gets onto the ropes and spends so long fucking around with a taunt that she falls off. Well, you had that coming. Trying to look cool at all times sometimes will come back to bite you. Suzume finishes with a cutter. **¾. Almost made it into the notebook. That slip on the ropes from Hattori cost it.  

 

Princess Tag Team Championship 

Cassie Lee & Jessie McKay (c) vs. Shoko Nakajima & Hyper Misao 

The champs are the former Iiconics. Now redubbed the Iinspiration.  

They have tremendous matching gear.  

They could probably get away with doing masked confusion. We lean into the comedy early doors as the Aussies can do that awkward, gobshite stuff in their sleep. Shoko tries very hard to turn this into an actual match. As with the Iiconics, I much prefer Cassie Lee’s work. Both her more subtle reaction stuff, compared to McKay’s over the top reactions, but also her in ring. The bumping and selling especially.  

 

Misao can’t get on the same page. Probably confused by some of the mistimed stuff she’s running into. Shoko has similiar issues but seems to deal better with it. When they all pile in there for the pre-planned stuff, the match improves dramatically. Jessie McKay still has weird selling. She looks like someone playing at wrestling. Shoko gets picked off for a double team and the Iinspiration retain. No riot from the cowards in the front row. ** 

 

Princess of Princess Championship  

Yuki Arai (c) vs. J-Rod 

J-Rod had a good weekend. She has a nice mix of strength, presence, and technique. I also appreciate she’s worked face and heel this weekend. She keeps it basic here while Arai has a flashier, more exciting offence. The size difference also plays into the psychology of the match, and Arai gets a big pop for slamming J-Rod.  

Yuki has great timing on grabbing the ropes on the pin after the Ultimate Spear. She just reaches out and grabs them on the two count. I’m not convinced she kicks out along the cadence of the counts on other occasions. Yuki manages to retain with her axe kick. This was a bit flat for a main event. **¼  

 

The 411: 

A solid show from TJPW. Obviously highlighted by the three-way dance. That was a clear ‘best match’. The Suzume/Hattori match was very close to also making the grade. The opener wasn’t very good, but everything else was passable.  

 

 

Show Ranking:   

Effy’s Big Gay Brunch 8.0  

WWE Wrestlemania N2 7.8  

NJPW Death Vegas 7.5  

TJPW 6.5  

Wrestlecon Supershow 6.3   

HOG Culture Clash 6.1 

MLP Multiverse 5.9  

Dragon Gate USA: Gate of Sin City 5.8   

Progress 5.6   

Bloodsport 5.5  

Spring Break 5.2  

Gringo Loco’s WRLD on Lucha 5.0  

Clusterfuck 4.6  

Ladies Night Out 16 4.5   

Hybrid x PWU Midnight Xpress 4.1   

MDK Fight Club 4.0   

Wrestlemania N1 3.8  

CCW High Rollers 3.4   

Podermania~! 3.1  

FSW ID Showcase 2.8  

Juggalos 2.2   

  

Best Matches:   

Tremont & Gage vs. Takeda & Yamashita vs. Desperado & Kasai (NJPW Death Vegas) ****¼   

Roman Reigns vs. CM Punk (Wrestlemania N2) ****¼  

Brick Savage vs. Mad Dog Connelly (Effys Big Gay Brunch) **** 

Bandido vs. Amazing Red (HOG Culture Clash) **** 

Zack Sabre Jr vs. Fuminori Abe (NJPW Death Vegas) ***¾   

Mark Davis vs. Masato Tanaka (Wrestlecon Supershow) ***¾   

Miyu Yamashita vs. Miu Watanabe vs. Mizuki (TJPW) ***½  

Man Like Dereiss vs. Michael Oku (Progress) ***½   

Tim Thatcher vs. Charlie Dempsey (Bloodsport) ***½  

Gisele Shaw vs. Persephone vs. Killer Kelly vs. Shotzi Blackheart (MLP) ***¼  

Gunther vs. Seth Rollins (Wrestlemania N1) ***¼  

Manders vs. Thomas Shire (Hybrid/PWU) ***¼   

Zack Sabre Jr vs. Effy (Effys Big Gay Brunch) ***¼  

IC ladder match (Wrestlemania N2) ***¼  

Jacob Fatu vs. Drew McIntyre (Wrestlemania N1) *** 

Bandido vs. Galeno del Mal (Wrestlecon Supershow) ***  

Hechicero vs. Jonathan Gresham (MLP) *** 

Perry & Stunt vs. Stackhouse & Orso (Spring Break) *** 

Charles Mason vs. Michael Oku (HOG Culture Clash) *** 

Ben K & Hyo vs. Aero Panther & Fight Panther Jr vs. Jordan Oliver & Alec Price (DGUSA) ***  

Fuminori Abe vs. Erick Stevens (Bloodsport) *** 

Thunder Rosa vs. Julissa Mexa (WRLD on Lucha) *** 

Dark Sheik vs. Nyla Rose (Effys Big Gay Brunch) *** 

10 person tag (Effys Big Gay Brunch) *** 

 

Sandman vs. Invisible Man (Spring Break) 

  

Matches watched: 160 

Number of coffees drunk; 13 

Number of Geoguessr seeds played as a welcoming distraction: 11 

Number of motivational/tactical Irn Bru’s drunk: 8 

 

Plan: 

Wednesday – TJPW, CMLL, Stardom 

Thursday – New Texas Pro, St Louis Anarchy, ACTION  

Mop up – Future Stars, 2 Killer Kross shows