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THE THIRD STARLET: Yumi Fukawa vs. Mariko Yoshida |
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Yoshida carried this submission oriented match, pretty much dominating Yumi. The match itself wasn't close to as good as what Yumi has done with Candy & Omukai because it had less spots and the matwork was slower. However, it wasn't intended to be. Yoshida is the trainer, and she pretty much forced this match to be a learning experience for Fukawa. She purposely kept the pace slow as a way to get Yumi to explore her matwork. This match was Yoshida trying to turn Yumi into a better and more diverse wrestler. "Yoshida did carry the match, and it was slow, more to the style
that Yoshida is developing. Since this wasn't a big show, I don't think
she really cared about putting on a great match. I think Yoshida's purpose
in dominating was to make Yumi learn and/or utilize counters in a pressured
situation. She spent the match trying to get Yumi to figure out ways
to move in and out of her holds. When Jessie told me that she was going
to wrestle Yoshida, she mentioned that, 'That means I'll get to try
some of my stuff out.' This statement kinda clued me in that perhaps
Yoshida allows some sort of experimentation to take place in the ring
with her. Since supposedly she knows the most holds as the trainer,
I'd imagine that Yoshida would also be the person to develop your style
with. The segment from this match that really stood was when Yoshida
had Yumi in some kind of ankle lock and Yumi tried to go for the ropes,
but Yoshida pulled Yumi back and said, 'No!' then applied a different
submission. Thus, Yumi was forced to reverse it. I'm assuming that this
was one way Yoshida achieved her goal of getting Yumi to utilize her
counterhold knowledge instead of relying on the ropes," wrote Keith.
Chris wrote, "I love this spot, but it is only new to puroresu. The basis for this is tomoenage, a judo/jujitsu throw. I have seen Gracie Jui Jitsu guys use a similar move to take the opponent into the guard. If you really know your martial arts, this is a nice touch and it really helps Yoshida with the image she has now. If you don't, it still looks darn good!" Fukawa then tried to take Yoshida down into an udehishigigyakujujigatame, but Yoshida was in perfect condition so she would have none of it. Yoshida seemed to be waiting for Fukawa to do something, but the match was about five minutes old before Yumi really tried. They went back and forth with submissions, with neither being able to lock in a finisher. Yoshida would counter most of Fukawa's offense, forcing Fukawa to counter her back. Yumi wasn't all that successful at this until Yoshida had her in a standing ankle lock and Yumi rolled forward, catching Yoshida in a hizaujigatame. Yumi seemed to gain some confidence from this even though she was forced to rope escape when Yoshida turned it into the Volk Han cross heel hold. "I think this is a key point. Yumi really needs to build confidence in her ability on the mat in order to beat a Yoshida. In the other leagues you had your place depending on your tenure. When Yumi was in AJW, she was only allowed to do certain moves. Jessie explained to me that Yumi showed some fear in AJW, especially when she was in with the veterans. When she wrestled these veterans, Yoshida, Kong, Reggie, and the others, for the most part she only got to do her basic spots like versions of the dropkick before getting squashed in 5 minutes. Since the ARSION environment allows someone with a stature like Yumi to credibly take on anyone in the league, she doesn't have those restrictions and she must do more than get squashed. Thus, sometimes she might feel unsure about what she is supposed to do or awkward applying certain holds to the veterans. You can see that she has some confidence in certain spots, for instance her rolling neckbreaker drop (Buff blockbuster) and her top rope cross arm scissors, but she has to really begin to explore her full ability in ARSION. Constantly grabbing the ropes to escape a submission looks like it might be nothing more than an old habit she developed in the non-submission oriented AJW, but here she needs to develop counters because that is the ARSION way," wrote Keith. Fukawa tried a flying move, but Yoshida cut her off. However, Fukawa grabbed Yoshida's arm and rolled off the ropes into an udehishigigyakujujigatame, which forced Yoshida to rope escape. Yoshida had her henkei sleeper locked in the center of the ring, and Fukawa was in it too long before making it to the ropes. I think Yoshida may have wanted her to submit here because she was holding Yumi back instead of sliding with her to allow Fukawa to get to the ropes. Fukawa came right back, rolling Yoshida into a hiza jujigatame, but Yoshida twisted out of it and put Fukawa in the henkei sleeper again. Fukawa snuck out of this sleeper, but Yoshida still had her in a bodyscissors so she couldn't go too far. Yoshida then brought one leg up behind Fukawa's head and locked it with her arm so it was a choke. This is another move they called a henkei sleeper, and it was enough to beat Fukawa. Fukawa was basically outclassed in this match. Neither really gave each other too many openings, but Yoshida is the superior mat wrestler, so she created her own openings to counter Fukawa's submissions. I think she might have done this to Yumi to show her how a more realistic style can be worked in hopes that Yumi will begin utilizing this technique herself. "I agree with this statement. Yumi knows several styles, but she still needs to learn when and how to incorporate them into her matches. Yoshida is in a similar situation, but she has the experience to have a better idea of when and how to utilize them. For Yumi to beat Yoshida, she will have to develop more counterholds and learn to adjust her style. She'll have to begin controlling the tempo of the match, rather than depending on a Yoshida or Okutsu to maintain the pace," wrote Keith. After the match Yoshida let Yumi know just how superior she is, taunting Fukawa by stepping on her face and raising one hand in the air. She also stood right in front of Fukawa with both arms up in the air when Fukawa was finally getting up. Of course, this led to what would become the typical rather contrived looking post match brawl. "That sleeper is one of Yoshida's primary submissions, so I imagine that she wanted to end it there. Yoshida had outclassed Yumi, and demonstrated this by getting in her face immediately after the match," wrote Keith. The problem with Yoshida's style at this point was that none of these girls were good enough to do almost all matwork with her. Yoshida's matwork at this point wasn't incredibly exciting, and this match had no heat. Perhaps the fans didn't really know what to make of it. There were too many high spots for anyone to consider this a worked shoot, but too few for it to be a regular pro wrestling match. Maybe this doesn't make the most sense in the world, but this is a match where you are awed on occassion, but most of the time just sit there and go okay... Special thanks to: Keith Watanabe - Manami Toyota Rules! 11:11
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