Issue 64A - 1/29/00 ARSION Starlet '98 5/8/98

ARSION STARLET '98 Pro Shot Handheld 5/8/98 Aichi Toyohashi Shi Sogo Taiikukan (850) THE FIRST STARLET: Rie Tamada vs. Jessie Bennett

Rie isn't on the level where she can carry a green wrestler to close to a good match. Her performance was good work wise, but after 7 years as a pro she needed to start wrestling like a veteran. I can really see why Jessie decided to try to lose weight because she was using her size to her disadvantage. Several things they did here worked, but several others didn't. The mat worked because, while they aren't going to put on a clinic like Volk Han, there was nothing wrong with what they did here. At least the match looked like the style ARSION was shooting for. Rie catching Jessie in submissions when Jessie was very close to the ropes worked because Jessie could just immediately grab the rope, which hid what was a problem on 4/17/98 show, that she isn't the greatest at selling while she's trying to make her way to the ropes. Any power move that Jessie did where she didn't have to lift Rie worked really well, as they looked like killer moves. Jessie's short lariat counter for Rie's Irish whip worked really well because Jessie got her weight into a move. She followed through by falling on top of Rie, which made the move look all the move effective. Some of Jessie's spots really didn't work. She doesn't get off the ground enough to do an impressive wheel kick. At this point, she would have been better off trying a spinning kick where she just put her weight into it instead of jumping. Jessie's fisherman suplex didn't work because her weight prevented her from being able to do the bridge. Her powerbomb, which she tends to have problems with, could have worked, but they aren't used to working with each other and they got crossed up as Jessie wanted to do the move, but Rie wanted to turn it into a huracanana. The finish saw Jessie put Rie on the top, but Rie knocked her away and delivered a missile kick. When Jessie kicked out of the missile kick, Rie went into udehishigigyakujujigatame for the win. 8:07