Joshi Spotlight: Shinobu Kandori vs. Manami Toyota (WWWA Title)
By Jabroniville on 18 March 2024
It’s time for a two-match Spotlight review! But it’s a big one, as one of Zenjo’s top wrestlers tries to bring the title back from the LLPW interloper who took it! The other… is Manami Toyota vs. Emi Sakura back when the latter was rookie doofus Emi Motokawa, and that one ends up being Botchamania material. Read on!
WWWA TITLE MATCH:
SHINOBU KANDORI (LLPW) vs. MANAMI TOYOTA (AJW):
(23.08.1998)
* Kandori is now WWWA Champion, having defeated Yumiko Hotta earlier in the year, and two-time champ Manami has come to bring the title back to AJW! Oh hey, I’ve seen this arena before- it was home to a lot of those “House Show”-tier AJW matches… apparently it hosted a lot of former main events when it was darkened, but the house lights make it look cheaper. Manami’s now in her read gear, which showed up a lot more in the late ’90s & early 2000s, while Kandori has her hair bleached blonde and is wearing one of those ultra-garish, super-detailed LLPW singlets, this time all purple, orange, white & gold. Like, who PICKS these color schemes? In any case, the two get into it as soon as Kandori hits the ring, with their ultra-flashy robes still on. Always like to see that.
Manami goes for the handshake against an intense Kandori to start, but suckers her into a sleeper, which is normally Kandori’s game. She misses her dropkick, but counters a whip with the Running Springboard Cross-Body, only for Kandori to swat another dropkick away. But Manami hops up and actually knocks her flat with a flurry of palm strikes, blowing the crowd’s minds! Manami nearly ruins it by going all “woah yeah” and doing “Hi-yah” palm-strikes to the air like a complete dork (though that’s Kandori’s bit, from what I’ve seen in other matches around this time), but this actually gets a “KO” count going- Kandori flashes up at “8” acting like nothing happened. But Toyota slaps her, hits a Running Springboard Plancha, missile kicks her in the back of the head, and hits a Moonsault for two! She goes for the Cyclone Suplex, but Kandori drops down and uses Manami’s rolling cradle- it’s hideous, but the crowd is wowed by it, even as Manami escapes. Kandori’s armbar is reversed to a big deadlift German for two (jesus Manami is STRONG), and then the Spine Dropkick hits! Another German gets two, but Kandori wrestles her to the ground to counter a suplex.
Manami counters a headscissors to a figure-four and is doing MUCH better at grappling Kandori than I would have expected (having reviewed this ages ago, when Kandori was treated as a finisher-machine by Zenjo every time she got a hold of somebody- it’s less shocking now). Kandori makes the ropes and they square off with slaps and some pretty intense character bits, playing up that neither wants to make a mistake, and pretty soon they’re borderline catch-wrestling, just tangling around, getting in the ropes, etc. Kandori throws some straight punches to boos, then hits the Spinning Sleeper, dropping it quickly. Manami’s flattened with headbutts, but manages a rolling cradle to counter a backdrop- she tries a Moonsault again, but of course lands on Kandori’s feet- La Majistral of all things gets two for Kandori. An arm-thing stretches Manami, setting her up for the Folding Powerbomb for a near-fall. That and Kandori’s calm walk to follow-up gets the “To-Yo-Ta!” chants started, and sure enough, another Powerbomb is countered with a struggling Manami Roll for two. She charges in like a doofus and gets murdered with a lariat, doing the 1.2 Jannetty bump onto her front. That gets two, but another lariat is countered to the Japanese Ocean Suplex (double-hammerlock German) for two. Damn, Kandori hit head-first.
Manami tries a wrist-clutch backdrop, but Kandori does her palm-flurry and wipes Manami out, mocking her stance too- hah! Manami gets up at “9”, right into a cross-armbreaker, but stuffs the hold twice. Kandori whips her, but Manami actually hits a real Running No-Hands Springboard, but Kandori’s so far away she just SPLATS onto her while she’s bent over (that was supposed to be a sunset flip), so Kandori rolls her into a cross-armbreaker, segueing to a triangle choke! But Manami rolls out, dumps her, and hits a MONSTER missile dropkick to the floor, plastering Kandori! Kandori ends up on a table, and Manami charges over the ropes- Springboard Tope Con Hilo! But she practically trips over the rope so her smooth flip is kind of a miracle- still, the table won’t break so that looks like it HURT. Like a flipping ass-slam to the gut. Back in, Manami looks to finish- Japanese Ocean Cyclone Suplex- 2.8! She tries the corner version to finish, but Kandori punches out and hits a triangle choke- but Manami floats over for 2.9! Wrist-Clutch Backdrop Suplex Hold… 2.9 again! Toyota, exhausted, is ready for one last thing, but tries the JOCS again, but Kandori victory rolls forwards and segues it right into an arm & leghold! Manami struggles, but her arm is strapped between hers & Kandori’s legs! She’s completely spidered here, and she can’t go anywhere- she taps out at (18:08). Kandori retains!
Manami looks absolutely devastated at her loss, forehead furrowed and squinting in agony and shame. Yumiko Hotta, the dethroned champion, is right there to console her and to stand up to Kandori- oh yeah, they’re gonna go again.
Verrrrrrry interesting match-up, as it wasn’t this “submission blowout while Toyota flies” match like it would have been in 1993-95, but is instead more Toyota dominating in the early bit before Kandori muscles her down, using dirty tactics, refusing to break in the ropes, and more to wear her down. There was also a lot of catch-wrestling type stuff, with them doing some very ugly “grab whatever limb you can” stuff that makes a match look more “real”- something puro does, but not part of Manami’s usual forte, which is what makes it so surprising. Them struggling into a Manami Roll would look like a botch in most matches, but here fit the style they kept using (though it was probably just a botch, looking back).
The botching of the two Springboards is kinda too bad, but at least the moves still completed (just splatting onto someone’s back when they’re bent over would HURT). But it also kind of showed how there athleticism was faltering even a couple years removed from their primes. But overall, I liked it- it was a scrappy, angry match, full of stuff you didn’t normally see, and Manami controlled the beginning (where her speed excels) and the end (where her never-ending list of big moves helps her score near-falls), but ultimately it was like those Kobashi vs. Hansen matches where you throw everything you can at the best but all they need is one move and you’re done- Manami goes to that well one too many times and is caught in a dangerous submission and has nowhere to go.
Rating: ****1/4 (not the best I’ve seen from either, but still very good with a great ending surge)
MANAMI TOYOTA (AJW) vs. EMI MOTOKAWA (IWA Japan):
(All Japan Women’s, Oct. 10th 1998)
* It’s one of the few AJW matches on YouTube for 1998! Here, it’s Toyota the RookieSlayer against the future Emi Sakura, a very young (and short!) Emi Motokawa, who is dwarfed by the red-clad Toyota. Emi’s in white with long sleeves. The Zenjo ring is positively HORRIFYING at this point, with the logo almost entirely rubbed off.
Emi tries to start fast, but Manami just squares her shoulders and dominates her physically to scare her back, then dropkicks the hell out of her, but Emi gets a pop just for a drop-toehold and a kick to the forehead. They counter Irish whips on each other, then get into a screaming contest as the both no-sell headbutts and Emi draws a pop for some slaps, but whips Toyota to the ropes and eats the Running No-Hands Springboard Cross-Body. Hey, she can still hit that! Toyota decides to waste the advantage by slapping Emi repeatedly for humiliation purposes, but Emi keeps staying defiant and Manami actually pulls out the weird double-arm submission with her legs tying up Emi’s. Wow I haven’t seen her do that in years. Emi catches her napping with a backdrop suplex, but Manami stuffs her second attempt and… Emi tries some kinda rana that sees her smack her head HARD against the mat and complete the “move” for two. Manami allows her to hit a missile kick and no-sells triumphantly to a pop, and gets a Bridging German for two. Manami gets cocky and is dumped to the floor, where a plancha nails her, but she gets up when Emi climbs the corner and swats her. She nearly eats a sunset flip bomb but stuffs it, only to get Super DDT’d (!) for two, but quickly pops up and gets another German, showing her raw strength as she just wheelbarrows Emi and deadlifts her.
But she misses the moonsault and Emi tries a weird la majistral/armbar that Toyota doesn’t know what to do with. Emi cranks on that arm and dropkicks her while she’s tied up in the ropes, but eats shit trying Toyota’s “tied in the ropes dropkick”, going headfirst to the floor when Manami moves, and a Running Springboard Plancha sets up the Moonsault for two. Toyota aims for the Japanese Ocean Cyclone Suplex, but Emi rolls her into a sloppy armbar, and an armbreaker is reversed to a sleeper. Manami missile kicks her in the spine for two, but Emi’s persistence pays off with a Super Frankensteiner, and they reverse the pin on each other a while, Emi dropkicking her into La Majistral, Emi plunks herself on her head AGAIN trying a rana (Manami seemed to think that was gonna be a powerbomb spot and Emi definitely lead-assed), then puts her up for another Super Frankensteiner and DOES IT AGAIN, smashing herself head-first from the top rope. Toyota, who was probably supposed to roll through (as she maintained a grip when she landed, bouncing off her ass), recovers super-quickly and just turns around, then SPLATS Emi with the Japanese Ocean Cyclone Suplex for the pin (10:37). Emi is super pissed after the match and takes some swings, but then cries and does a promo, so Manami is like “All’s forgiven!” and pats her.
WHO TAUGHT EMI TO DO RANAS? Like, you’re supposed to get lifted and end up high on your opponent’s chest to form a “base” and roll off in a smooth motion, but Emi’s jumping up barely high enough and then falling straight down backwards like a crazy person, so she smashes her head three times during the course of the match, only doing the move right ONCE. There was no way Toyota was gonna be able to stop her vertical drops in half of these. I’m not even sure what the actual plan for some of them was.
This was SO WEIRD, too. It was your typical “amused Toyota takes on a rookie with no chance” match, with Manami talking shit and using her weird anti-charisma (her taunts always feel mis-timed, somehow) to somewhat amuse the crowd as she cheers at random points and swats Emi in the face. The fans are reacting, at least. But her random stops & starts, suddenly popping up and standing there triumphantly, etc.- it’s all very weird and it seems to prevent anything from flowing. Emi being REALLY small and not that great isn’t helping, as she puts on pretty sloppy stuff that someone so much bigger than her is gonna have a hard time with. But it’s heading to ** generic match territory until Emi starts just flinging herself at the ground in ranas, Toyota having to pretend they hit right, and then that messed up last one where Manami completes the move to “roll through” even though it just looks like a standard rana (like Manami takes the full bump only “it didn’t hit right” so doesn’t count as painful), only Emi has just spiked herself, then finishes.
Rating: *1/2 (basic “disinterested Toyota doing comedy bits with a rookie who is beneath her and no-selling stuff” until Emi starts trying to murder herself again and again)
So Toyota vs. Kandori is somewhat important in that it shows Toyota isn’t TOTALLY washed, as she has one of the year’s best joshi matches (not that it’s a particularly… CROWDED field at this point) against a real star. It’s important because Toyota of course has this disaster with Emi and there’s ANOTHER one against a big star coming up that’s also notorious. And I swear she has very good matches a couple years from now, too! But uhhhhh unmotivated Toyota is not a pretty sight. Maybe getting an actual contract from Zenjo in return for sticking around has made her do that “athlete with a big contract” thing and just slack now that the money is made no matter what, I dunno. But half her matches just seem to be Manami amusing herself and going “Lol didn’t HURRRRRRRRT!” against rookies and the other half are her legit trying against top stars.