wrestling / TV Reports
Pantoja’s Marigold New Year’s Golden Garden 2026 Review 1.12.26
Image Credit: Marigold
Loading...Marigold New Year’s Golden Garden 2026
January 12th, 2026 | Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan | Attendance: 705
While waiting for Marigold’s First Dream PPV to become available, I’m covering this show they ran at Korakuen with a notable card.
Hummingbird vs. Megaton vs. Nagisa Tachibana
Clearly a classic three-way undercard match on a Joshi show. Megaton is a comedy character so she brought that to this, while Hummingbird and Tachibana are both still pretty green. Megaton mostly did her usual schtick, while the other two ladies tried to get their stuff in, with a fair bit of it looking pretty awkward. While Megaton climbed up top for a spot, Hummingbird and Tachibana battled over a pinning combination. Hummingbird won out, getting the three count in 4:47. Of all the matches I’ve seen, that was certainly one of them. [*½]
Erina Yamanaka vs. Nao Ishikawa
A battle between two veterans. They opened with a handshake but quickly went into the action, complete with a Bronco Buster from Erina. From there, we got some solid back and forth wrestling. There was nothing about it that felt must see or anything like that, yet it was the kind of match you expect from two experienced wrestlers. Some of the strikes they threw looked pretty weak though. For example, Erina hit a late knee that barely grazed Nao. That said, her Northern Lights Suplex was pretty and that’s a move I always pop for. Erina got the win with an impressive twisting splash off the top in 7:42. Seriously, that was really good, especially for someone who is 39. Solid little match here. [**¾]
Mai Sakurai vs. Rea Seto
I’m intrigued by this on paper. Mai Sakurai has been stellar in Marigold, while Rea Seto looked rough at times last year. That said, she was improving as the year went on, so I’m intrigued by how this turns out. It feels like Mai was testing her in this one. She brought it from the opening bell, throwing some vicious forearms and adding a little something to her strikes and kicks. She was seemingly out there to try and bring out the best in Rea. It worked like Nanae Takahashi’s matches in Marigold’s first year. Rea was sure to give it right back to her, including whipping her into the seats and tossing a steel chair on her back. Rea put a target on Mai’s knee for a bit, though it didn’t go all that far. Rea came close a few times before Mai put her down with the Glorious Driver in 11:31. Very good match here and one of the best efforts I’ve seen from Seto. [***¼]
Kizuna Tanaka and Komomo Minami vs. Seri Yamaoka and Yuuka Yamazaki
I haven’t seen a ton of Komomo or Yuuka but Kizuna has shown impressive potential and Seri is ridiculously good for someone who is just 19. This had the energy of a Young Lion tag from New Japan. Just four wrestlers going out there with a lot of fire and looking to prove themselves. Seri might not be the most experienced wrestler out there but she feels a step or two ahead of the other three. Her stuff looks smoother than most people her age and she gets a lot of the little things right. While the focus was clearly on Seri, I thought they gave a lot of shine to Komomo and she looked good out there. Yuuka got isolated for a bit to set up the Seri hot tag. She did her thing, which led to her Kizuna with a German Suplex after 9:51. Solid wrestling here, showing that there is some solid depth developing in this roster. [***]
CHIAKI, Misa Matsui and Nagisa Nozaki vs. Chika Goto, Natsumi Showzuki and Syoko Koshino
We’ve got a babyface contingent taking on Darkness Revolution (CHIAKI, Misa, and Nagisa). It seems to be the case with most heel factions in Japan these days but you go into these matches kind of knowing what to expect. A lot of Darkness Revolution tags that I’ve seen have follows a similar formula and this was more of that. The heels were the bullies, we got some brawling outside the ring, Once we got past that, the in-ring stuff was decent but I think it was a bit too much of CHIAKI. She’s the least interesting member of the trio to me and the one I want to watch in the ring the least, so too much of her took something away from this. The other team had solid babyface fire that helped offset some of that. Chika Goto was trading shots with Nagisa late, which was pretty good. Things broke down before Misa got the win with a diving double stomp in 14:07. Pretty good, though it dragged at a few points. [**¾]
Mayu Iwatani and Victoria Yuzuki vs. Miku Aono and Utami Hayashishita
This is a pretty big main event. The three singles champions and Utami, who was the top champion until last October. Ah, I forgot that Mayu is a double champion now that she won the GHC Title. Also of note, Mayu beat Yuzuki to win one of her titles and Miku beat Utami to win hers, so that’s an interesting wrinkle. The early stages of this were what you’d expect from a big tag like this. Intriguing interactions, everyone getting some time to strut their stuff, and a solid pace that keeps the crowd engaged. It gave off house show vibes but that’s to be expected and the pace picked up after a bit. Mayu and Utami have a match coming up I believe, so they went at it, while it was also cool to see the World and United National Champions face off. It’s telling of how good Yuzuki already is because she didn’t really look out of place at all in there. Yuzuki and Mayu timed their stereo dives very well. They worked together seamlessly for most of this. Although things really got going down the stretch, I was worried about the finish. I’ve seen enough Rossy booking to know that he likes time limit draws in cases like this. So, it was a nice surprise to get an actual finish as Utami pinned Mayu after hitting Crusade in 28:24. A great main event. It did drag some early as they knew they were going long. The back half or so is fantastic. [****]
