Joshi Spotlight: WWWA Queendom

THE QUEENDOM OF WWWA:
* This is a “big” Zenjo show from Ota Ward Gymnasium, with a stated draw of 4,502. Which is probably bullshit but is much better than they usually get. This is their biggest show since the Winter, with the huge WWWA Title match of Manami Toyota vs. Kaoru Ito! Ito is the former Champion and seeks to regain the belt.

At least compared to other shows this year, this one is pretty full! And the crowd is RAUCOUS.

The Matches We Miss:

AJW Junior Title Tournament:
Rena Takase (2) d. Ayako Sato (0) in (9:04)
Saki Maemura (2) d. Mako Ogawa (0) in (9:20)
Mika Nishio (2) d. Emi Tojo (0) in (11:41)
* A tournament for the vacant Junior Title sees the ones Zenjo seeks actual potential in defeat others. This tournament actually runs a fairly long time (2 months), and features rookies from multiple companies in a Round Robin- an example is MARU, who wrestles 7 matches in the tournament despite never appearing on a Zenjo card (she’s only in JD’). Rena Takase is an ARSION wrestler who is already pretty decent, and has one of the best records in this tournament. Mako Ogawa is an LLPW wrestler and actually got a win over Nishio at one point. Tojo is a JD’ wrestler- she takes a year off and joins AtoZ (the former ARSION) in 2004. Mika Nishio wins a Three-Way Match (!!- joshi puro HAS those?) to win the belt in September, losing to Miyuki Fujii a couple months later, then winning it back… and apparently quits Zenjo in 2003 to wrestle for AtoZ.

Japan Grand Prix 2002:
Rie Tamada (10) d. Miyuki Fujii (4) in (12:31).

JAPAN GRAND PRIX 2002:
KUMIKO MAEKAWA (9) vs. TOMOKO WATANABE (8):
* This is a short clipped one- Kumiko’s in white & Tomoko’s in orange.

We’re JIP with Kumiko hitting a monster head-kick for two- Tomoko gets a pop for barely grabbing the ropes at “3”. Tomoko counters a kick to the dragon screw and hits the Screwdriver (backdrop suplex to vertical ligerbomb) for two, just YANKING Kumiko’s hair to pull her around into position and she pulls off her anaconda vice-like hold, sending Kumiko scurrying to the ropes. Kumiko stuns her with an Ax Kick for two, Tomoko doing a great “falling tree” sell, and two more big head kicks get two. A dramatic nearfall sees Kumiko miss a rolling kick and get locked in that submission, nearly passing out, but flopping into pushing her leg all the way out into the ropes. Tomoko drags her to the middle to reapply but Kumiko keeps flopping out, and the one minute alert sounds. They slug it out while standing and Tomoko tries her submission one more time, but it’s too sloppy and no dice- a terrible Screwdriver has no chance, but Tomoko finally lands a good one… and time’s up as the ref slaps the mat twice at (3:23 of 30:00 shown). Man, they ran like 4-5 30-minute draws in ONE TOURNAMENT? That’s WAY too much. Especially funny since I know the final night is all quickies. The match looked like it was good and a hot contest, as the fans were REALLY loud for a lot of those nearfalls.

GAMI & noki-A (ARSION, w/ Rossy Ogawa) vs. YUMIKO HOTTA & KAYO NOUMI (AJW):
* This one pays off the long ARSION vs. AJW feud that has produced some of the worst joshi content of all time, with Rossy Ogawa clumsily interfering in matches, failing to bump or sell well, then walking slowly away from an “enraged” Hotta, making her look hesitant to actually fight him. Fittingly, Hotta brings out the New Hotness Zenjo’s been pushing all year, Kayo Noumi, to help represent the company against Rossy’s invaders. Team ARSION are in very flashy, elaborate gear compared to the usual ARSION cheap-o stuff- GAMI’s in black with lots of fancy swirls and bright markings, and noki-A’s gear is complex mask/two-piece stuff. The crowd is actually very loud and raucous for this, giving Noumi/Hotta wild cheers, and even booing the SHIT out of the ref, who appears taken aback by it (lol). It’s Shiro Abe, heel ref from the 1980s, but he appears to have ARSION affiliations as they baby him after Kayo swats him away from the pre-match pat-down. Naturally he just gives them a half a look and says they’re okay, drawing an incensed Hotta to point out the unfairness of it.

noki-A pounces on Hotta while she’s distracted, but she & GAMI openly double-team, leading to Hotta doing her double-facecrusher into a Tiger Driver… and Abe does the slowest count possible, drawing more ire. noki-A is able to pounce with a rana FOR THREE as Abe deliberately fast-counts AND ignores the kickout (0:49), drawing great heat as the fans are up in arms and Hotta whips him to the floor and chases him to the back. And then as Team ARSION are taking their boys, he returns with Hotta and is like “on second thought…” and they’re going to have a SECOND match. Commentary openly speculates that Hotta threatened him into submission, and it’s pretty clear that she’s smirking as he’s suddenly VERY polite, establishing how by-the-book he is when he restarts the match and counts “1” for GAMI’s STO, drawing HER ire now! GAMI no-sells a Rolling Kick (was it supposed to miss?) and a weak lariat puts her down instead. Hotta gets a regular Rolling Kick for a fast-count, and when GAMI grabs her ankle, Abe actually PULLS HER to the ropes! Ogawa yells at him and Abe tells him to fuck off, and the fans delight in this obvious cheating as Hotta powerbombs noki-A out of a rana and Tiger Drives her for a fast count. Ogawa then trips Hotta, but Abe now BANS HIM from ringside, and AJW’s girls start dragging him off to a great reaction. Team AJW rocket launches onto noki-A for two and she & Noumi get into a forearm fight, won by Kayo with repeater slaps to a big reaction.

Noumi hits her neckbreaker drop but runs into a dropkick, and a LONG fight up top sees her try her Super Armsault but get flung off, but she dodges a missile kick and sunset flips noki-A for a dozen counters in a row, exhausting Abe and drawing all manner of count types. noki-A finally hits a run-up crossbody to escape, but GAMI tries a ropewalk move and Abe actually shakes the ropes and crotches her, letting Noumi hit a bad headscissors! Noumi hits a big plancha to Team ARSION and missile kicks GAMI, then a Hotta eyepoke lets her German GAMI off the 2nd rope for two. Hotta’s kicks sets up the Double-Wrist Armsault, but GAMI rolls through a flying crossbody for two. Noumi noticeably stands around so noki-A can do a spot, then gets caught in a sleeper while Hotta is plancha’d, all of which Abe misses because he’s focused on the outside, even when Ogawa returns to yell at him. Noumi thus recovers and GAMI hits a big running lariat for two. GAMI tries to finish with her Pumphandle Powerbomb but Noumi rolls over her with a backslide for a quick three at (8:29), Team AJW winning! The super-biased fans act like this is a legitimate victory as a “take that” to the hated ARSION team, and Abe is chased away. Then Hotta calls out SHINOBU KANDORI, who enters the ring to applause and she starts trying to beat up Ogawa herself (paying off his first appearance in AJW, where they got into it), but after just shaking her fist for a good while while holding his collar, he’s pulled away by ARSION’s jobber squadron and he lives another day. Kandori’s appearance apparently goes absolutely nowhere because I see no ARSION-based stuff from her, nor another Hotta team-up this year.

What a stupid, fun mess, haha. It’s not like the match was going to be GREAT, so maximizing the shenanigans was a good call. The ref being biased for ARSION to start, then switching into being AJW’s loyal goon because of threats was funny and kept up interest in things, and let the fans revel in ARSION’s humiliation. Hotta only showed up for the first 5 minutes or so and then it was all Kayo, who looked kinda clumsy and flaily, especially compared to the slick, precise noki-A.

Rating: **1/2 (dumb fun)

WWWA WORLD TAG TEAM TITLES:
BLACK JOKER (Takako Inoue & Rumi Kazama) vs. NANAMOMO (Momoe Nakanishi & Nanae Takahashi):
* This is the payoff to a long-term angle that started in 2001 with Black Joker bullying the “idol team” of Miho Wakizawa & Kayo Noumi, and ended with them winning the WWWA Tag Titles in February, effectively acting as the “New LCO”- a pair of cheating, snotty, evil wrestlers who are SO MEAN to the beloved Zenjo core wrestlers. They defeated Tomoko Watanabe & Nanae Takahashi for the belts in a match that would force Tomoko to join their stable, which she did. Recently, however, Nanae has called forth her OLD partner, Momoe, to try and win the belts back from these invaders (Rumi & Eagle are from LLPW, Takako a Freelancer). NanaMomo are mentioned as having split up after a loss against LCO last year. They are literally called “NANA” and “MOMO” in the chyrons and by the announcer. Unfortunately Tomoko Watanabe isn’t on the BJ side as that would have produced the superior match. Rumi’s in black & purple like always, and Takako has a new, weird-looking “gold dress/skirt with sleeves” look. The challengers are in matching denim (Nanae with more tassels to keep her “style”). Commentary brings up this is Nanae’s 22nd birthday.

FALL ONE: NanaMomo get beat up to start, but Nanae quickly gets her “fallaway slam out of a crossbody” spot and NanaMomo theatrically set up a “Momoe runs and vaults off Nanae’s knee for a shining dropkick” spot and Nanae’s backbreaker into the Figure-Four/Flying Splash double-team. Poor Takako just sells and sells, eventually clawing her way out of the hold but being battered by dropkicks (bouncing around the ring like a CHAMP on that shit- check out that windmill selling). Takako FINALLY scores some offense with a DDT and Momoe climbs right into her Super Chokeslam, and a NASTY tombstone gets a struggling two. Rumi holds Momoe in place for the Destiny Hammer (flying knee to the head) and Nanae has to save. Rumi finally comes in and beats on Momoe with short lariats as Momoe thrashes around on every cover to build sympathy/comebacks and Nanae finally cheats with their German-into-Jacknife Pin spot, but a double DDT to Momoe gets two. Rumi with an inverted DDT into a shitty dragon sleeper and Momoe TAPS at (5:44). Oh right- these are always 3 falls lol. And now the challengers will have to win two in a row!

FALL TWO: Rumi casually beats down Momoe, even ignoring her getting fired up via a high kick to the base of the skull. Rumi locks on a hold & Takako slugs Nanae and boots Momoe around, then Rumi lariats her and Takako tombstones her for two! I love the heels casually ignoring Momoe’s limp punches, acting like she’s just DONE, and a DDT gets two. But once again, trying to work speed with Momoe is someone’s downfall, as she counters a whip and knocks Rumi down, allowing Nanae to run roughshod over her with shoulderblocks. But Eagle trips her up- Rumi gets a German off the distracting and goes for the dragon sleeper, Momoe breaking this one up but getting her ass beat by Eagle on the floor while Rumi spinkicks Nanae for two. Nanae overdoes it on a lariat and gets caught in a Straightjacket German- Momoe saves- then Takako misses the Destiny Hammer but drops Nanae with a high kick anyways. I love how they’re making this look IMPOSSIBLY hopeless, winning the first fall then totally dominating. And speaking of, Takako climbs to the top and gets passed the STUN-GUN, zapping Nanae to shit when she climbs up after her! Oh that was PERFECT- the quick pass-off from Eagle into the sleight-of-hand so Nanae was totally surprised.

So Nanae’s dead on the floor while Eagle makes Momoe watch them beat up her corpse, and Takako DDTs it on a table (soon as some dork gets pushed out of his chair so they have room, haha). Tomoko aids with some cheating and we’re clipped in-ring for the DESTINY HAMMER! A bloody Nanae is glass-eyed as Takako drills her in the temple with that one. And stumbles into another one! And a third- Momoe supermans in to save! Takako’s pissed that this didn’t get the pin, but raises her arm for one last move… and Momoe missile kicks her in the back. This buys Nanae time- she ducks the uraken twice and hits her short lariat for two, then aims for the NanaRakka– but Rumi sneaks up with a German and Takako urakens Nanae into a “dead” pose… for two! She thrashed out! Takako gets frustrated and aims for her killshot- the Stun-Gun… and dances in place and “zaps” it repeatedly to build anticipation and dread… and urakens it! Missing once! Twice! Three times and Rumi catches Nanae so Takako can REALLY get her… but Nanae moves and they tease Rumi getting zapped. But they get smashed into each other and NanaMomo hit their NanaMomo Driver (a double razor’s edge)… and TOMOKO RUNS IN OH FUCK’S SAKE! But Tomoko runs off all happy and they’re too late to break it up when Nanae hits the NanaRakka (falcon arrow) for three (7:58 shown of 14:45).

I always get nervous when the ledge of the balcony is below the wrestlers’ hip-line, haha.

FALL THREE: All tied up- and Momoe grabs Rumi so Nanae had hit another NanaRakka, but this time Rumi shoves past AND Eagle grabs the ref’s foot to stop it. Black Joker beats up the babyfaces on the floor and we’re clipped to them trying to dump Nanae over the upper balcony, friend Kayo Noumi charging in to stop it and teasing going over (wisely, the freshest person is the one who gets the “goes 70% over the edge” spot). Back to the ring and we’re just copying the “LCO Formula” ENTIRELY as Nanae is chokeslammed onto a mountain of chairs, then Momoe’s dragged in for one. A chairshot leads to both girls sat in chairs and tied together with a rope (with the shittiest tie-job I’ve ever seen, lol), Momoe selling it like it’s choking her, and commentary is saying the audience is moritfied and doesn’t know how to react to this. Yeah, or they spent too much time farting around in the final fall and killed the crowd! Takako hits another uraken to Nanae- Momoe saving- and we’re clipped to Nanae’s backdrop driver, but Takako counters to her old shoulder-mounted backdrop for a double-down. The “dramatic” double-tag gets no reaction and Momoe/Rumi sorta stumble around and appear to not know what to do, Momoe obviously going into the corner to set up her counter-moonsault dodge and Rumi sells shittily… but in comes the CHEATING! Eagle hits a thunderous attack, Takako Destiny Hammers Momoe, then Tomoko lariats Momoe & smacks Nanae off the apron, but they just sorta fuck around until Takako pulls Momoe off the top, seemingly stopping doing whatever double-team Black Joker was gonna do- like slamming one on the other…. OHHHHHHHHH they’re aiming for a Flying Splash from Eagle onto both, but had to get Momoe off the top, which meant Nanae had to be pulled out of the way and put back in place, haha. Except now Noumi hits the ring and shoves Eagle off and goes manic with stomps, fighting her to the floor!

So Rumi kinda just lariats Momoe for two, has a chat with her and does a German, but for the 900th time can’t hold a bridge on it (don’t tell me MOMOE’s too heavy!) and this at least leads to a FOUR WOMAN Black Joker charge into the corner, flattening Momoe. Nanae gets her ass beat too via a TRIPLE Assisted Powerbomb, and now Momoe takes a Double one- but Nanae bolts over for the save! And then she scores a short lariat to floor Eagle! And Tomoko charges in and eats a WICKED backdrop driver to a great pop! But Rumi gets a Tiger Suplex (FINALLY holding a bridge) on Momoe for two to spoil that. But Nanae tope suicidas both cheaters and Noumi sets up Momoe hitting a plancha to the legal wrestlers and then they use the rope to tie Eagle & Tomoko to the ringpost! Cub scouts they ain’t, because all their fighting puts a single line of rope under their chests, but I guess they’re done- Black Joker hits a shitty shoulder-mounted backdrop/2nd rope lariat for two on Momoe. Uraken/Tiger Suplex- two! Uraken/Flying Wheel Kick- two! They try a double-chokeslam to finish her off but in come Nanae & Kayo, and NanaRakka bombs hit both heels! NanaMomo Driver- three (10:02 of 22:01 shown)! NEW TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS!!

ugh, this was going so well and was looking to be ****+ and then the last fall was just “how much shit can we put into this match?” which ended up being too much wrestling AND too little wrestling all at once, as they flooded it with wild spots, but also meandered around as they were either forgetting shit or didn’t have plans to transition spots. The layout was interesting- the first fall was all Takako taking a beating, then she scored a comeback and Momoe sold and sold to build “maybe she could lose” and then she even TAPS OUT, which is fairly unexpected given the whole hype of this is NanaMomo finally reuniting with a big-time partner for Nanae. And then, as always, the kids get their asses BEAT in the second fall to make things look extra-hopeless. And this got TREMENDOUS, as they piled up big move after big move to Nanae, having Momoe save most of the time but Nanae getting one heroic kickout from an uraken (which was built to by two misses). And then the challengers come roaring back by undoing all their cheating into an OBVIOUS fall… but TOMOKO runs in and breaks their hearts at the perfect peak moment. Sadly they didn’t really have any better idea than “Nanae hits her solo finisher right after”.

Sadly the third fall was a lot of clipping and wandering around- by this point they were well into the “LCO Formula” match, but with Temu LCO, so this kind of meandered and seemed to kill the crowd off, as their “evil” spots weren’t as gleeful and felt a bit “off” after the very intricate, dramatic second fall. This was such a shame, as I was like “OMG this is LCO-tier!” and about to go **** for the whole thing, and then the third fall succkkkkkkkkkkkkkked assssssssssssssss. So shitty. Just like… too much standing around going “What’s next again?” or not knowing how to lead to the next thing, to the point where Eagle & Tomoko’s run-ins were drawing the only good reactions. And you could really see why this killed off the crowd, as the last fall was TWENTY-TWO MINUTES LONG, after such a fast-paced middle fall- it was just too much walking around and setting things up for the crowd, who can’t reasonably be expected to keep the peak of the heat for 43 minutes of a match like this. Also it’s amusing how much better and more important Takako was than Rumi, here- Takako was CONSTANTLY in the ring and got all the big spots, intricate counters and sequences, and more, while Rumi added almost nothing and was in may be 1/6 as long.

Rating: ***1/4 (this was looking to be an amazing Joshi Match of the Year contender but fuuuuuuuuuuuck that last fall- they only barely got the fans back into it before it ended)

WWWA WORLD TITLE:
MANAMI TOYOTA vs. KAORU ITO:
* This one is weird, as Toyota won the belt in February, but hasn’t defended it at all, and has spent most of the past five months largely messing around in tag team main events with random partners and opponents. The result here seems obvious- last year was “Ito is the champ, and easily beats Momoe”. But Ito had been the champ for so long that they just gave it to Toyota, who started showing a lot of effort for the first time in a year. But now Momoe’s been built up and it’s probably time to slay Ito and win the title… but the belt’s on Toyota, who also beat Momoe earlier in the year but has no big “angle” with her. Also there’s another reason to get the belt off Toyota, which we’ll find out later. Surprisingly, given the status of both in the fans’ eyes over the past couple years, Toyota gets a noticeably louder reaction than Ito. FICKLE FICKLE FICKLE. Where were you people when she was defending against Hotta, Kyoko and others, lol?

They’re pulling each other’s hair defiantly before the bell, so this will be an ugly one- Toyota tries her corner dropkick but is dunked to the floor, but literally runs away from Ito back into the ring so Ito’s momentum is ruined and they’re back to square one. But Ito quickly powers her against the ropes and plasters her with lariats. But Toyota ducks one and they stall out a sec before Ito hits an uranage. Toyota quickly escapes the half-crab and dropkick-counters Ito, but slips off the top trying a missile kick, quickly switching to a punch and doing her “dropkick to the spine” spot in the ropes. Manami flips off the fans for some reason and hits her series of weardown holds like the Muta Lock and assorted leg stuff, but Ito defiantly won’t show pain. Ito uses running attacks to come back and attacks Toyota’s leg while commentary does a long thing about how they’re only two years apart in age & debut and blah blah blah about facing the challenges of the up & comers, then mentions that Momoe was like “I think Ito has improved since losing the belt, and I have doubts if Toyota compares to the previous champion”, then states that Manami’s “brilliance after becoming champion is somewhat duller”, subtly burying Manami (this is kinda “polite Japanese” for “lol Ito is better and Toyota is old news and undeserving”). A long series of crab-holds stretch this out as they’re obviously going LONG (the YouTube video is 37 minutes!), and after 5 straight minutes Toyota’s back is fuuuuuuuucked.

Ito is merciless as she stomps the back between weardown/rest holds and hits a clutch, then a sleeper as the crowd chants for Manami. Naturally after 6 minutes of backwork Toyota immediately springs to the corner for a dropkick, BUT she sells the back so much that Ito easily pounces and brutally dropkicks her in the spine! Poor Toyota gets another chant from the fans and her selling here is way beyond her normal standards, almost sobbing with pain and crumpling off of every shot as Ito is merciless and just killing her. She tries to escape to the floor for a respite (*WHAP!*) and Ito just follows her out and smashes her back into the guardrail and hits ANOTHER half-crab, but out there- but Toyota gets a Manami Roll in the ring! But Ito’s in the ropes, then swats Manami for trying to build her SmackDown! meter right in front of her while facing the other direction (hah!), then judo flips the SHIT out of her when she tries a rolling cradle. Jesus her poor back. But when Ito picks her up, she gets a slap and Toyota finishes the cradle for two. Ito takes over right away but Toyota sits on her from a powerbomb and counters another, but tries a running dropkick and Mulkey Bumps right through the ropes! Ito follows with a big dive and absolutely TRUCKS a poor rookie who eats a flying ass to the face and gets landed on. Oh that was Nishio, who gets tended to while Ito lariats Manami over the guardrail and they fight in the crowd and Manami decides to do the ROLLING CRADLE out there, lol. Toyota revs herself up and hits a Moonsault in the ring for two, but tweaks her back, yet is able to counter a whip to the Japanese Ocean (double-hammerlock) Suplex for two! Our first big two-count! But Manami foolishly tries the Ocean Cyclone mid-ring and Ito victory rolls and immediately slaps on a nasty jujigatame like in past matches.

Toyota barely gets a toe on the ropes and resists a powerbomb but another Manami Roll sees Ito counter to just that, jacknifing for two. Toyota counters another, but Ito just folds her into another one and does that into the turnbuckles! Poor Toyota just crumples again and her back is FUCKED, and the crowd chants for her as Ito does the “throat-slit” gesture and hauls her up into a Canadian backbreaker, then a Torture Rack and a HIGH-angle Ligerbomb for two. Toyota’s put up top and lures Ito into her sunset flip powerbomb counter for two, but immediately Moonsaults onto feet and is toast again, so Ito slaps on another half-crab (which gets the crowd WELL into Toyota) and hits a Super Fisherman’s Buster for two. Jesus. A funny bit has Ito put her up top again but Toyota just punches her in the head to shitcan her to the floor and BOOOOOOOOM- Missile Dropkick Suicida! Well that’ll certainly help that sore back. She recovers well enough and hits a tope con hilo off the top, and then they meander over to the stage at the arena’s edge so Toyota can be like “hey everyone! Look at me!” and hit a running crossbody off of it, lol. Like two minutes of time spent just to do that. But in-ring she gets the Japanese Ocean Cyclone Suplex for two! Japanese Ocean Backdrop Hold (pumphandle german)! Two! Toyota has one move left, but the Queen Bee Bomb (pumphandle northern lights bomb) is countered with a backdrop, then an armbar into a jujigatame. The fans chant Toyota’s name, but she gets clobbered down and Ito zaps up to the top for the Flying Stomp! But Toyota triumphantly NO-SELLS and hits the Queen Bee Bomb for a double-down! The delay causes a two-count only, and Manami tries it again, but Ito hits a backdrop into a one-armed powerbomb and bolts up again for another Flying Stomp! For THREE (29:08)! New WWWA Champion! What a heartbreaker after Manami got her big storm of offense!

But wait! Speaking of heartbreak, after the match Manami gets on the mic and announces… “There is no home for me here. There is nothing left for me to do”. She’s QUITTING ZENJO! This was her last match in the company! Commentary calls it “a dialogue” and “she’s not retiring, but perhaps she’s leaving?” and the crowd chants her name as she bows and takes her leave. The reasons I’ve heard are largely based around “they owe her money” and “they lost TV, so the writing was on the wall”, as well as a general sense that Manami had done EVERYTHING there was to do in a place she’d been wrestling for fifteen years. She came up as a rookie, won the tag belts, won the world belt 4 times, beat everyone, turned heel last year (and hated it, half-assing it too), turned babyface again to do the “Old Toyota” stuff, and more. There was just… nowhere else to go. Unfortunately for Zenjo, this cuts out another main eventer (and one who has yet to do prominent jobs for Momoe/Kumiko/Nanae/etc.), but at least clears the field for more wrestlers to come up. So Kaoru Ito, now repositioned as a merciless, sorta heelish ass-kicker, is World Champion yet again, and is once again the dragon for Momoe to slay.

A hell of a match for Toyota to have a send-off- taking a hellacious shit-kicking for 3/4 of it and then hitting a miracle comeback, doing some death-defying crazy shit (that missile kick suicida is INSANE as always), getting the fans into her comeback, hitting her Finisher Series and failing, then being executed by Ito’s precision stomping. While six straight minutes of “sitting on butts” is a lot even for Ito, it’s in the first 1/3 of the match and it’s LONG, so it’s fine and importantly, is just good strategy. When facing a frenetic high-flier with lots of suplexes and a tendency to take the lead every time the pace quickens, take your time and wear down the back. You have sixty minutes- what’s the hurry? The match took on a very “Aja vs. Manami” bent with Ito being merciless and methodical, tearing Manami apart with stuff and allowing only micro-comebacks before killing her with another thing, and Manami was good to sell, even drawing great sympathy chants (which were typically not something she was capable of getting, even in her prime- she was a screamer but didn’t really engender audience pity). And it’s kinda funny, because Toyota was LOSING and still let Ito take 80% of the match, which is normally unexpected (I usually see the “X is winning so Y gets to dominate most of the match to make up for it”), but she & Ito seem to be buds and she usually goes all-out in Ito matches. AND this conveniently builds this incredible groundswell of support for Manami just as she is quitting (ie. right when she needs it). One funny thing is they didn’t do Finisher Spam, which was very common for a couple years- Manami badly damaged her Ocean Cyclone by using it 2-3 times in big matches and Ito did the same by hitting 900 Stomps a match, so this felt a little more focused and precise because 2001-02 seems to have slowed that down. But this came off like Ito was inevitable, and Toyota could only hit everything she had to stop the tidal wave… but was too beaten down to capitalize after her super-finisher (the Queen Bee Bomb) and so Ito was able to escape her next move and kill her off.

Rating: **** (one of the best women’s matches of the year from these two, yet again)

So overall, this felt like a successful show for the company, albeit it suffered from the “absurdly long match syndrome” that’s long-afflicted the company- the first 5 matches are 10-12 minutes each, then it’s a 30 minute draw, almost an hour for the tag match, and 30 minutes for the main. It’s CRAZY and a miracle the fans were so into the finale (especially in what seemed like a VERY hot building), but Zenjo gonna Zenjo. And like… this had a BIG CROWD! Looked like a sellout! Which is miraculous given how shittily the company’s been doing for 2002 and a big selling point. Buuuuuuuuuuut now they’ve lost one of their top wrestlers. At least Momoe is properly situated as a contender and Ito is a dominant Champion again.