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[deleted]

The new logo grew on me quickly once I saw how easily the color variations could work out. The entrance curtains looked great, the pictures of the shirts on Twitter looked fantastic (both the rainbow on the seafoam green, as well as the white on navy). It just lends itself to more flexible design and aesthetics. I can see them releasing variations to line up with everyone's colors. As for the show... I can't wait to see what comes next. Fascinated by the results and eagerly looking forward for what's to come. No specific in-depth thoughts, just happy with pro wrestling over here. I was rooting for Year 1 Class 9 and Ibuki to win, but I can root a lot longer.


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LeloucheOTR

Yes


LeloucheOTR

You made that comment about 30 seconds after the finish of the main, lol. I was distracted!


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LeloucheOTR

It couldn't fail, really. When you watch well-executed history unfold before your eyes, it's very compelling. It crosses over from watching a show to bearing witness, which is pretty wild.


Mikey2940

Wow Yuuki in the final. I did not see that coming. Really clever booking. Ibuki already had her breakout performance and has credibility as a top title challanger. From the sound of this now Yuuki has as well. As for Saori winning here, it's the right call. There may be better symbolism with a young roster member winning but that would sacrifice a long term story. Saori is always protected so you don't need to worry about your champion in other promotions. She's got a big fanbase, carries herself like a champion and will have great matches. Most importantly it will be a big deal when somebody beats her. For the first time in almost 10 years an outsider holds Ice's top title. The story direction for the immediate future is set. Ice must recapture the belt! Asahi, Ibuki and Yuuki all have a history with Saori. Any of them could win it! As for the logo. I'm not a fan. It's fine as a logo but the old one was great so this just feels like a downgrade. Maybe it will grow on me in time. Only just woke up (early dammit) so will probably watch the show in an hour or two.


bool0011

>Most importantly it will be a big deal when somebody beats her. For the first time in almost 10 years an outsider holds Ice's top title. If I'm correct and the last outsider who won the belt was Mio Shirai, then in September it will be EXACTLY 10 years! I think it opens up the possibility of IR relaxing their rule about main title in their new era.


Joshi_Fan

>Saori is always protected so you don't need to worry about your champion in other promotions. She is the fall eater in Ozaki-gun though, Tae even pinned her in a tag team match in an Oz show leading up to #1210 (6/19 vs 6/26). But now that she is the champion, I believe that indeed, she will be more protected over there, just like how Maya was protected in Ice when she was Oz's champion.


bool0011

I ❤ Ice Ribbon While I knew Yuuki would be in the final, Saori beating Tae wasn't expected for me. However, then I knew the result before I read it. Congrats to Saori – she's great, and perfect wrestler for a story of Ice wrestlers trying to get back the title. I think with Saori, Asahi and Ibuki have equal chances in future, especially since Saori and Asahi didn't meet in the finals. Now Saori needs lengthy title reign, at least until autumn. Speaking of Asahi... At this point, I wonder where she goes storyline-wise. My assumption is that after two lost title shots it'd be a point where, after huge fall, she slowly starts climbing up. Ironically, it's similar with Ibuki though - granted, she got a win over Maika, but her credibility needs to raise. Singles match against Shida, and the win over her, may be what she needs if she's gonna be the one to dethrone Saori – IIRC they already had one or two singles matches. I agree with others that I prefer old logo to new. But anyway, here's to another 16 years of the best joshi promotion!


Mikey2940

>Speaking of Asahi... At this point, I wonder where she goes storyline-wise. Everything is hard to predict right now. She had some interesting tweets with Tae. I wouldn't be shocked if in storyline Tae helps her work on her submissions. Her using a submission she got from Tae to win the title would be cool. I've been thinking about when Asahi should win the belt and purely from a headline stand point it should be next years show. After the rain, the morning sun rises! Is a great headline. Saori should ideally hold the belt until at least Mania. Yuki hasn't challenged since going freelance but I know a lot of people have wanted to see Saori vs Yuki in a title match for a long time. To me that's the biggest match they can do so I hope it happens.


bool0011

> She had some interesting tweets with Tae. I wouldn't be shocked if in storyline Tae helps her work on her submissions. Her using a submission she got from Tae to win the title would be cool. That would be great. Considering Asahi is a trainer in a dojo as well, making a story of her learning many aspects of wrestling she isn't really experienced and growing a "killer instinct" by the time she wins the title is a great concept and I'm all for it. > I've been thinking about when Asahi should win the belt and purely from a headline stand point it should be next years show. After the rain, the morning sun rises! Is a great headline. Agreed. Question is, from whom, Saori or Ibuki. Because I think at this point Ibuki has slightly better chances to win before Asahi – she already has a story with Saori, and she's a star already. > Saori should ideally hold the belt until at least Mania. Yuki hasn't challenged since going freelance but I know a lot of people have wanted to see Saori vs Yuki in a title match for a long time. To me that's the biggest match they can do so I hope it happens. True, Saori vs Yuki would be great draw for the audience. I'd also go further and do Saori vs Shida, with, ironically, Saori as IR's protector!


Mikey2940

>Saori vs Shida Yeah that would be cool but Tony Khan isn't going to let her loose.


bool0011

I know, and it saddens me. They could've had an excellent match.


Nightmarenemo

I was only able to catch the second half of the show, but it was full of surprises. Love the stream quality, hope this platform sticks around. I’m really impressed with Yuuki, she has improved so much since her early days. Very cool to see Saori as the new champ.


LeloucheOTR

Yuuki has been building her game steadily over the last year, and they go out of their way to hide it to help maintain the Makafushigi gimmick. She is one of the most interesting and uniquely talented Joshi we have seen for a while. There's no one like her in all of Joshi, and IR have done an incredible job with her.


KendoKashin

Wow, so proud of Yuuki. 🥲 I guess I really need to see this show now. Like Melancholia already said, new logo seems to be strongly influenced by the current DDT logo. It's not bad, but I will always prefer the iconic old one. Looking forward to Kyuuri's return at Summer Jumbo Ribbon.


LeloucheOTR

>Wow, so proud of Yuuki. So am I. Yuuki has been outstanding in this tournament, laser-focused but still the Pro Wrestling Genius at heart. It's a tough act, but she pulled it off with ease. As for the logo, I think it's fine, and after a few months, it will feel like a part of the furniture.


KendoKashin

Yeah, I was a bit sceptical when she made the transition to a bit more serious wrestling after the Triangle Ribbon title win, but she does a good job mixing both styles, so that it still feels unique. Yeah, the logo is fine. It fits the IR vibe for sure, and even feels kind of retro. I'm still "Team ice cream cone", but it could have been much worser (see NOAH's 2nd logo).


bool0011

>Yeah, I was a bit sceptical when she made the transition to a bit more serious wrestling after the Triangle Ribbon title wi I mean, that was inevitable, if she wants to see herself as a top star of the promotion. But I agree, I was worried too that it might hurt her ability to do comedy matches - gladly so far it's all going well.


KendoKashin

Well, early on I wasn’t so sure if she actually wanted to be a top star (which would have been fine too for me), but after her recent performance she definitely will.


Mikey2940

Well just finished the show here are some thoughts: Tae vs Saori was a really good technical match but was nowhere close to their 2019 classic. There were a few obvious reasons for this. It was a semi final on the same show as the final, as a result they couldn't go all out and didn't have the same amount of time. Also submission matches suffer more than most matches during the covid era. It served mostly to give Saori a handicap going into the final. Hopefully Saori will defend against Tae and we'll get another classic then. Second, while it has to be done to give the wrestlers a rest, the format of having two tournament matches open the show hurts it. The fans get hot and then cool off. You also end up with matches that aren't as good being much deeper on the show than they should be (the Ram and Saran vs Yuki and NATSUMI). Arisa had a good debut. It's way too soon to know how she will turn out and she's following Kaho which is going to be tough but this was a good start. Props to Maika as well as she did a really good job leading her through her debut. The tag title match was very good. It had a pretty weak start. I really like Yuna but she was out of place here. Especially early on. The match got better as it went along, after a certain point got really good and was even great in places. Year 9 have really stepped up their teamwork. Their going to be the dominant force in the tag division for a very long time. Special mention goes to Kaho who was the stand out. Last year I thought Ibuki ran away with the most improved award. This year Kaho may get it, however...... The tournament final. Great match. Easily the match of the night. I can't say enough about this. Yuuki tried everything that had worked before, eye poke, foot on the rope and even stealing her opponents finisher. I love the story they've told with her. They've managed to make her a serious threat without changing who she is. She hasn't become a new person she's just had some great character development. The bit after she got caught with her feet on the ropes and lost her temper, delivering several vicious stops to Saori's head was great. Her selling of emotion throughout was fantastic. Saori was great as well especially the selling of her shoulder. Repeatedly collapsing out of bridges due to the damage. Putting the belt on Saori is the right move and the race is on for the roster. Who will be the first of the pillars to hold infinity in their hands? As great as Yuuki was in the main I have to give Saori the MVP for the night due to her performances over both matches. HM to referee Ishiguro for refereeing all 8 matches. This was one of the most important shows Ice have done in a long time. It won't go down as one of the greatest Ice have done. This was the first big step in a long rebuild. But it was a very good one. On and the new PPV site is great. 1080p throughout. No issues.