With Trapped in the Cagematch, Kim Wong combs through the highest-rated matches according to Cagematch’s voters in preparation for the annual FSM 50 and the year-end Match of the Year extravaganza.
Mizuki (c) vs. Miu Watanabe
TJPW Wrestle Princess VI
September 20, 2025
Cagematch ranking as of 12/18/25: 55
Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling first caught my attention in 2017 after Reika Saiki defeated Yuka Sakazaki to win the Princess of Princess title. Saiki’s combination of hard-hitting power offense, speed, and charisma left an impression on me. In particular, her intense title match in 2018 against another wrestler with explosive offense, Miyu Yamashita, elevated TJPW to a company that I needed to regularly monitor. Though Saiki would leave TJPW to focus on wrestling in the now defunct Wrestle-1 (and win the Actwres girl’Z Championship from Saori Anou in 2019) and eventually retire from wrestling in 2022, she and Yamashita had established that TJPW was a home for spirited wrestlers who could wrestle at a high level.
It’s probably no surprise that I prefer Miu Watanabe to Mizuki, so I wasn’t thrilled when Mizuki beat Miu Watanabe for the Princess of Princess title at Tokyo Joshi Pro ‘25 in January 2025. Nonetheless, I have to acknowledge that TJPW’s rise in popularity is in part due to the work that Mizuki and Yuka Sakazaki did as the Magical Sugar Rabbits. On Cagematch, eighteen of the top 100 tag team matches in TJPW’s matchguide involve the Magical Sugar Rabbits. They were three time Princess Tag Team Champions before Yuka Sakazaki “graduated” from TJPW in December 2023 to move to the United States and wrestle (in theory) for AEW full time. (Sakazaki wrestled 11 matches in Ring of Honor from 2023 to 2025 and 31 matches in AEW from 2019 to 2025. Her last match was on the 2025 Jericho Cruise in 2025. For comparison, since the Yuka Sakazaki Graduation Special, she wrestled six matches in TJPW.)
Sakazaki and Mizuki brought high energy and high enthusiasm to their matches as the Magical Sugar Rabbits, and Mizuki maintained that appealing dynamism to her singles matches. Mizuki might be best known for the still photos of her bonking Andreza Giant Panda from the top rope with a hammer at TJPW All Rise ‘24. Whether Mizuki is able to meld moe appeal and the senses of danger and artistic violence to make pro wrestling work is up to the viewer.
Mizuki’s victory over Watanabe felt like a fluke, but I might be underselling the in-story power of Mizuki’s Whirling Candy, which is admittedly an impressive athletic feat because it requires incredible body control. As a signature attack in Mizuki’s wrestling war crate, I would have to chalk up its power to the old idea that flips and spins are damage multipliers and that 88 pounds of Mizuki landing on your head or chest would still really hurt. The double stomp, her other signature weapon, looks like it hurts no matter who is delivering it, from the slight Mizuki to the lanky Hallowicked to the always professional Low Ki to Trevor Lee.
The story of this match was simple: Watanabe and Mizuki both had a mean streak, but Watanabe had a size and power advantage over Mizuki. Mizuki would need to nullify Watanabe’s power to retain her title, and she can spring the Whirling Candy and a double stomp on Watanabe to shock her long enough to pin her. As the smaller wrestler, Mizuki could also try to slow Watanabe down with submission holds; even if Mizuki isn’t able to force Watanabe to submit, she could at least sap her strength.
As expected, Watanabe won the initial grappling and controlled Mizuki with a cravate that she then changed into a tight headlock, using her power and size advantage over Mizuki to get an early lead. More than that, Watanabe also showed early on that she was able to switch directions on Mizuki and anticipate what Mizuki might do, as she stopped herself from charging into Mizuk’s raised boot.
So, it was a little odd to see Mizuki win a power struggle over Watanabe while Watanabe had bent her backward on her knee; even if Mizuki had incredible core strength, it tore the veil of verisimilitude back a little too far to show how cooperative Watanabe and Mizuki had to be to make that moment work.
That said, it was good to see Mizuki’s aggressive side when she decided to march past Watanabe’s raised boot and clobber Watanabe to stun her long enough to prop her across the middle turnbuckle and stomp her from the top turnbuckle. Unfortunately, that stomp looked light compared to some of the thudding stomps we’ve seen from, for example, KENTA, Mei Suruga, or Sareee.
That was still enough to put Watanabe on the back foot, and Mizuki pressed with another small double stomp and a twisting plancha from the top rope. Watanabe struck back with a double axe handle strike on a running Mizuki and a powerslam. A series of shoulder blocks, a spear into the corner, and a splash in the corner put Watanabe in the driver’s seat so she could set her ponytail. Recharged, Watanabe pressed the power advantage by blocking Mizuki from flipping Watanabe with an armdrag off of a cazadora and then hoisting her into a pop-up giant swing.
Even though Mizuki found refuge in the ropes, Watanabe was able to keep Watanabe aloft and chain a swing into a backbreaker for pain. Mizuki was able to bridge out of Watanabe’s pin attempt, and pop Watanabe with a little dropkick. With a little space to work, Mizuki began to target Watanabe’s hand to nullify the Laser Beam chop and Watanabe’s ability to hold Mizuki for the giant swing. So, that meant that Watanabe was tasked with convincing us about her hurt hand, which is harder to do than selling a hurt knee. Mizuki helped by stomping on Watanabe’s hands.
And she helped some more by hitting an impactful running dropkick to Watanabe.
At this point, I became concerned that the match had slowed to a crawl because Watanabe was stalling for time so she could restore some feeling to her hands and Mizuki did nothing to hurry her back into the ring. So, I was pleasantly surprised when Mizuki and Watanabe then turned it around with Mizuki taunting Watanabe by holding out her hand to help her back into the ring and Watanabe responding by climbing to the apron, holding her own hand out to Mizuki, and starting an intense elbow strike battle on the apron.
This was different and unexpected, and I really appreciated how they turned my own expectations and preference for unrelenting action against me. It was dramatic without becoming parodic of the principles and rhythms of professional wrestling
I also appreciated Mizuki’s impressive body control and agility on powerslam on the apron that followed. Watanabe had caught Mizuki on a dive attempt and bashed her with her elbow on Mizuki’s back. Watanabe retreated to the corner to set up a running attack, and Mizuki responded by scooping Watanabe up into a powerslam where Mizuki spun between the top and middle ropes.
Mizuki then followed the slam with a double stomp from the top turnbuckle to the prone on the floor Watanabe, finally hitting a double stomp that looked violent.
Watanabe’s face told the tale by this point, and it said that Mizuki was well on her way to retaining the title.
Mizuki continued her attack with a double stomp to the back of Watanabe’s head and a series of submission moves that aimed to smother Watanabe. Watanabe survived and evened the score with a snap powerslam. From their knees, Mizuki and Watanabe challenged each other with forearm strikes to the chest, though Watanabe was at a disadvantage from the damage she had taken to her hand, arm, and core from Mizuki’s earlier stomps. Watanabe battled through the pain and backed Mizuki off with multiple double axe handle strikes. When Mizuki tried to use her speed to knock Watanabe down, Watanabe instead caught her and spun her around in a sideways swing. Watanabe tried to finish Mizuki with a backbreaker, but Mizuki was able to slip out and bring Watanabe with a chokehold. Watanabe used her power to her advantage again by standing up, twisting Watanabe around on her shoulders, climbing the ropes, and slamming her from the ropes. The ease with which Watanabe did this showed that she was fully in control of the match by this point; though Watanabe had once again hurt her hand and arm on the land, Mizuki appeared to be hyperventilating from the shock of the impact. That didn’t stop her from pushing off from Watanabe’s shoulders to counter Watanabe’s Tear Drop with a dropkick, from hitting the Whirling Candy on Watanabe, or from decking Watanabe with a double stomp to her shoulder. Since Mizuki unloaded everything but the Cutie Special, Watanabe responded with a modified Tear Drop where she lifted Mizuki over her head to drop her on the other side of her body. That still wasn’t enough, so Watanabe had to rear back for a strong Laser Beam overhand chop and gear up for a spinning Tear Drop to finally put Mizuki down.
I was pleased by how mean and snarky Mizuki was throughout the match; her invitation to Watanabe to rejoin her in the ring was a prelude to violence that kicked this match up a notch in intensity. I think her offense still often looks too light to be convincing, but Watanabe made it look painful enough to be convincing. And Watanabe and Mizuki deserve praise for making their exchanges look convincing. Even though Watanabe enjoyed such a huge power advantage that she was able to carry Mizuki around with little resistance despite all of the damage that she had sustained, Watanabe’s ability to convey how hurt she was by all of Mizuki’s attacks made the rest of it work. Watanabe is a special talent, and she’s become one of my favorites in the world..
I prefer Watanabe’s match against Nakajima, but there were some truly unique and memorable moments in this match. That makes this match an easy recommendation as well.
After reclaiming the title from Mizuki, Watanabe resumed her fighting champion ways, defending the title against Yuki Aino, J-Rod, Matcha, and most recently Suzume in a well regarded match from January 4, 2026. Mizuki, meanwhile, slid back to the undercard to help the next generation of Tokyo Joshi Pros ascend.
The match and the show can be seen on Wrestle Universe.
Next time: As we prepare to close out this column for now, let’s return to the key story in pro wrestling in 2025, Stardom’s and Saya Kamitani’s symbiotic rise. Kamitani’s vanquished her old frenemy, Tam Nakano. She’s fended off challenges for her World of Stardom title from Sayaka Kurara, Natsupoi, and Bea Priestly, but she must now face (the) AZM. First, let’s see how AZM got to face Kamitani by checking out the finals from this year’s 5STAR Grand Prix.
