WOWOW
Special Match JWP Nintei Musabetsukyu Senshuken Jiai:
Dynamite Kansai vs.
Hikari Fukuoka
This was essentially Aja Kong vs. Manami Toyota. Kansai did a great job of holding the match together, and her performance was all the more impressive given the health problems she was going through. Hikari added a lot of excitement and generally did really well, although the match was hurt by some of her spots not working properly. There was also some weakness early, and a few lame spots along the way. However, it definitely was a very focused and dramatic match, which can be attributed to Kansai, that excelled in every aspect. Above everything else, what really made this a great match was that the spots were so well ordered. It was clear what big spot they were building to because they would tease that spot, often more than once. When the big spot was finally executed, you would think this could be it because they had made it such a focal point. Of course, it wouldn't be the end so they would move on to trying to win with a different finisher. That didn't mean they couldn't go back to a finisher that was already broken though, especially when it came to Kansai's splash mountain since it's her main finisher and it's rarely ever broken, it made sense to try to win with it even after it failed because it is usually such a sure thing. This match is the reason it's important to have a lot of finishers. If you only have one finisher, even if it's way over, that really limits what you can do. Every match has to be built around the same damn move, so it gets repetitive really fast, and almost no one can break or kick out of your finisher because you have to protect your one over move. The difference between this match and the match of a one move wrestler is the difference between driving on a windy road and driving on a highway. Each woman teased a big spot early, but overall the early portion was uneventful because they didn't do much to bridge to the high spots. Kansai's kicks were great as always though.
"This was definitely a slow building match. The early portion was largely Kansai working submissions that never give her a submission win.;^) The teases were effective because they planted the seeds without forcing them to give away the big spots before they could logically be hit," wrote Miko.
The
match picked up around 6:00. Kansai tried her backdrop driver again, but Hikari
countered it. Hikari tried her space rolling elbow, but Kansai dumped her over
the top to the floor. Kansai tried to backdrop Hikari on the floor, but Hikari
landed on her feet. Hikari's flying finally kicked in around 8:00, but she spent
too much time playing to the crowd, so Kansai was able to cut her moonsault
off with a Razor's, no Outsider's, how about Drunken Bumb's edge? Kansai threw
a series of incredibly stiff kicks for a knockdown, but Hikari staggered up
in fighting pose at the eight count only to have Kansai finally backdrop
driver her. Kansai then went for her splash mountain, but Hikari turned
it into a 2 kaiten ebigatame for a great near fall. Kansai tried to maintain
control with a jumping knee, but Hikari took her down with a spinning leg sweep.
Hikari got a series of near falls, including finally hitting her moonsault.
Kansai avoided Hikari's kaiten shiki missile
kick. Hikari was once again able to avoid Kansai's backdrop driver and she
thought she was going to come back, but when she ran off the ropes Kansai lariated
her out of her boots. Hikari took a great flip bump on this to make the spot all the
more impressive. Kansai even did a missile kick off the 2nd, but it still wasn't
enough to allow her to execute her splash mountain.
Kansai's backdrop driver did enough damage for her to finally execute the splash mountain. Kansai held three fingers out to the ref saying she won, but the ref only held 2 up and Kansai was just in disbelief. Kansai knew it was time to raise the steaks. She has one move that is more deadly than her splash mountain, the Die Hard, which is a splash mountain off the middle turnbuckle. The match fell apart here for a moment with a bad sequence where Hikari fought off the Die Hard, caught Kansai's kick, and feebly pushed Kansai to the floor. They got it back though, as Hikari hit a great Orihara moonsault and both sold huge. Hikari hit her kaiten shiki missile kick, and again both sold before Hikari covered for a near fall. Hikari finally went to her moonsault footstomp finisher, but Kansai avoided it and blasted her with a series of stiff kicks.
Both women were really doing a good job of putting over the toll of the match during this segment. Fukuoka finally couldn't get up, so the referee began a 10 count. Hikari staggered up in fighting pose all glazy eyed in time to beat the count, but only to be punted once again by Kansai, this time for a near fall. Even though the move had already been teased and successfully executed, the last Splash Mountain tease was the most effective in the match. When they had teased it early on, it would have been a surprise if Kansai could have got the pin even if she had hit it. This time it was so deep in the match that it would have been curtains for Hiichan. It looked like Hikari was past the point that she could counter it, but she "saved herself" by pulling out her typical huracanrana counter at the last second.
Hikari came back with a fisherman buster that was weak because she had a problem lifting Kansai. This spot probably would have looked fine with "Heyman editing," but they either chose the wrong camera to cut to or didn't have a better angle. Hikari finally hit her moonsault footstomp and the crowd counted 1-2, but Kansai kicked out at 2 1/2. Hikari was having trouble even standing, basically going on desire and adrenaline, but she found it in her to hit her moonsault footstomp to finally capture the title (4th overall champion).
Both women, especially Kansai, were selling huge after the match. Kansai somehow managed to hobble across the ring to give Hikari the trophy and hug her. Hikari, in tears, held up the belt then had to be helped to the locker room. Since this wasn't a major show that JWP had been building to for months, you could guarantee that if Michaels was Kansai he wouldn't have worked. Kansai certainly had good reason not to be in the ring. However, she was not only willing to drop the title, but was also very gracious about handing the company over to her younger rival. I have to ask, what does it say for wrestling when someone can still (wrongly) be considered a strong candidate for wrestler of the decade even though they desecrate titles by almost never dropping them in the ring and constantly put themselves in front of their company by acting unprofessional in and out of the ring? 20:26. ****1/2