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Hamilton’s Best of Meiko Satomura in PROGRESS Report (02.06.21)

April 19, 2021 | Posted by Ian Hamilton
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Hamilton’s Best of Meiko Satomura in PROGRESS Report (02.06.21)  

A reminder: these are old reviews, and while I’ve not updated any names from what they were announced as on the night, I’ve done my best to remove mentions of people here who are on that suspected persona non-grata list…

Meiko Satomura vs. Jordynne Grace – from PROGRESS Chapter 95: Still Chasing (September 15, 2019)
The pre-match video package saw Jordynne declare the entire field of prior challengers “shit” as she was thrust into a defence against a debuting-in-PROGRESS Meiko Satomura.

There’s a tentative start here as Meiko took Grace into the ropes, while Glen left it to Matt Richards to fill us in on her background and “why she gets an automatic title shot”. Rattling through her CV is background noise as Grace and Satomura grapple on the mat, before Grace found a way through with a shoulder tackle.

Meiko quickly kicks back, but she’s crotched on the top rope as Jordynne pushes the ref into the ropes. Hey, under Chris Roberts rules that’s a DQ, but thankfully we continue as Grace press slams Satomura to the mat, before stomping away on Satomura’s quads, which proved to be a set-up for Jordynne to wrap Meiko’s leg around the rope. A single leg crab forces Satomura into the ropes, but Meiko mounts a comeback with some kicks that took Jordynne down, before some back-and-forth forearms had Grace in the ropes.

A dropkick keeps Grace down, as Satomura continued to pepper the champion with kicks, but Grace fought back, again crotching Meiko on the top rope ahead of a muscle buster. That’s good for a quick two-count, as Meiko refused to stay down, popping up from slams before blasting Jordynne with a head kick, then a death valley driver for a near-fall.

A DDT spikes Jordynne again ahead of Satomura’s cartwheel kneedrop, but Grace quickly spikes Meiko with a Michinoku driver, almost taking victory with it. Satomura got taken into the corner again as Jordynne followed in with knees and elbows before a Vader Bomb missed… opening the door again as Meiko went back up top, only to miss a frog splash as a lariat from Grace led to a pumphandle driver for another near-fall.

Frustrated by not being able to finish Meiko, Jordynne hits another lariat, then another, before Meiko countered a second pumphandle driver with an overhead kick. Another death valley driver follows, planting Jordynne, before the Scorpio Rising step-up kick got the win!
Problem here was that while hardcores were fans of Meiko, it felt like a lot of the crowd weren’t familiar of much bar the finish, or at least, weren’t on board with her stuff. There was no build-up of crowd reactions for the finish… and there’s a second inherent issue. Unless Meiko’s moving to the UK, we’re going to be dry of title matches, you’d think. Good job that gives them time to build up multiple challengers, eh? ***¼

Meiko Satomura vs. Dani Luna – from PROGRESS Chapter 97: Sex Robots Will Eventually Be Capable Of Murder (October 27, 2019)
Dani earned this shot courtesy of a win over Toni Storm last time out in Manchester, and it’s a hell of an acid test for her. Jim wheels out his Japanese intro for Satomura, which is a nice reminder of his old foreign languages intros from back in the day.

Meiko started by taking Luna into the corner for a kick to the leg, before she restrained the Londoner with a side headlock as commentary told us Meiko’s been wrestling longer than Dani’s been living. God, I feel old. Restraining Luna by the arm, Meiko throws some kicks to help take Dani down for a knee drop, before a grounded version of the Cobra Twist kept Dani at bay.

Luna hit back with a back elbow, but it barely keeps Meiko on the mat, with Satomura’s spinning heel kick restoring the status quo. A cross armbar forces Dani into the ropes, but Meiko stayed on her with kicks before Dani got her feet up in the corner and hit a rebound splash out of the corner for a two-count. Satomura’s quickly back in control with a superplex though, before she had to kick out of a flash roll-up as a big punt had Dani back on the deck. A superkick sees Dani try her luck once more, as does a fallaway slam, before a frog splash landed for a near-fall… Dani tries to add to that momentum, but her suplex was delayed as Meiko locked in a guillotine choke.

Despite another flurry, Meiko’s back in though, hitting a DDT and the cartwheel knees, before a death valley bomb for the win. On paper, Dani was outclassed, and it led to this expected result. So, given PROGRESS had built up Dani, who’s next to challenge, given Meiko’ll be back in December… ***

Meiko Satomura vs. Jinny – from PROGRESS Chapter 99: With A Flake, Please (December 15, 2019)
After returning in Manchester a few months back, “Jinny Havoc” managed to earn a title shot by beating Toni Storm. It’s led to this match as Meiko was making her second defence of the PROGRESS Women’s title… and it’s a bigger test than her first challenge.

Meiko started by taking Jinny into the corner, complete with a clean break, before a drop toe hold led to some scrambling on the mat. A snap suplex gets Meiko a quick pinning attempt, before a high-angle Boston crab turned into an inverted bow-and-arrow, which Jinny countered out of with a roll-up. Meiko gets free and looked to grab the arm of Jinny, but headscissors get Jinny free… only for Meiko to land some knees as the pair stayed close. A running forearm in the corner traps Jinny, before Satomura rolled Jinny into a half crab, switching up into a camel clutch as Jinny looked to be getting to the ropes. This is all awfully one-sided… and you know what that means.

After a backbreaker, Jinny began to put on the brakes, and started to retaliate with forearms that sent Meiko outside. She follows her with a tope, which gets a delayed two-count, before a seated surfboard forced Satomura to survive as she eventually slipped out of the hold and into the ropes. Forearms from Jinny keep Meiko in the ropes, but Satomura responds in kind before a DDT lands. The cartwheel knees miss, as Jinny replies with a knee strike for a near-fall, before Satomura countered an Acid Rainmaker into a Fujiwara armbar… but Jinny gets to the ropes. Another DDT from Satomura leads to the cartwheel knee for a near-fall, and now Meiko’s starting to show some frustration… so she pulls up Jinny at two after a death valley driver.

From there, Satomura lands a forearm strike, then goes up top for a frog splash, but it still doesn’t put Jinny away… and from the kick-out she rolls up Meiko for the flash win! Jinny survived and stole the win there, and I guess there’s no dates in Europe in Meiko’s immediate future? Commentary painted this as Meiko underestimating Jinny, but this just felt underwhelming. **

6.0
The final score: review Average
The 411
Just three matches on this “best of” perhaps indicates a few things. One, Meiko’s run in PROGRESS was exceedingly short, especially when you consider how hyped up she’d been by figureheads in the promotion (oh, and the fact that there were parts of 2017 and 2018 where it felt like Meiko was almost living here, such was the number of shows she was on). May I be cynical and suggest this best-of was thrown together to build up the rushed NXT UK title challenge Meiko had?
legend

article topics :

PROGRESS Wrestling, Ian Hamilton