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HYPER VISUAL FIGHTING TOURNAMENT
ZION '98 Ikkaisen Ayako Hamada vs. Mari Apache |
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One thing that really hurt this match was the ropes were too loose. It hurt other matches as well, but these two relied almost solely on acrobatics, so obviously they were more adversely effected. "You would think that loose ropes would be a MAJOR concern after that terrible accident with Yumi at ARS, but that does not appear to be the case," wrote Chris. That said, matches like these are the reason the Matsunagas only allow their rookies do very simple moves and maybe a couple of more difficult ones. This was like any number of US indy match where the inexperienced wrestlers use some of the best moves in the business to make it entertaining, but the match still stinks because the lack the fundamentals and they screw up more than their share of the spots. These two were kind of brash young punks there. Whether they knew it or not, they were in over their heads because they just don't have the experience to pull this match off. It's not all their fault because having Ayako work twice as long with Mari as she did with Gami is beyond dumb. I realize the point was to showcase the young talent, but they were under way too much pressure here. You have to stay within yourself to succeed in this business, or most others for that matter. Instead, these two tried a match that would be very good if everything worked even though that was a long shot because they are still learning. "The part about the incredible pressure being there is true. Even though I enjoy how ARSION pushes a lot of their girls compared with some other leagues (e.g. LLPW), I feel that they are over pushing them to the point where they're expected to do more than they can. Ayako's one night performance was no exception," wrote Keith. The beginning of the match was very rehearsed. It went well until Mari came up short on her no touch tope con hilo 45 seconds in. This was the weirdest dive because it had no trajectory at all. I mean, Mari cleared the top rope, but was lucky she didn't break her neck on the ring apron. "The problem you can see is that Mari was expected to do way too many things at once. First, she sent Ayako to the outside where Ayako didn't have much experience in selling damage to make an outside high spot look good. Second, Mari took a brief second to signal to the crowd that she was going to hit a high spot. Lastly, Mari did the dive but Ayako wasn't anywhere near the landing spot. It was like she was diving into a pool without water, and Ayako wasn't there to catch her. What was weirder was that Ayako actually sold the blow on the floor while Mari got up okay. The whole scene was very odd because the camera angle didn't do a good job illustrating this spot (or rather it did a better job hiding the mistake)," wrote Keith. Mari had all kinds of problems with her execution. She was finally able to get Ayako up in a reverse Gori special when Ayako helped her out with a big jump. Ayako soon countered this with a victory roll, which was a cool spot. Hamada did a quebrada, but her ankle hit the security rail. "This was another weird spot. It looked like that Ultimo Dragon spot where he does a feint as he prepares to hit some outside highspot, but instead does a reverse kick to set up hitting his quebrada. The problem is that Ayako looked like she was going for a tope con hilo of her own, jumped over the ropes, turned, and hit her quebrada while Mari had to wait and see what Hamada was going to do so she could prevent Ayako from killing herself crashing into the floor. That's an experience problem because Ayako seemed like she wanted to maintain the high momentum, but wasn't thinking about how this spot should look. The difference in execution is that Dragon knows that he has to create the link so the spot comes off more 'naturally.' The little kick he executes works very well, especially when it comes to credibly allowing his opponent to stand in the right spot to catch him, even though it's subtle. Also, it helps him slow the momentum down just enough so he can hit his quebrada perfectly," wrote Keith. Ayako tried to follow the quebrada with a plancha, but Mari cut her off with a great nadare shiki no brainbuster where she didn't release Hamada until after both of them bounced up from the mat. Hamada tried to revenge Mari's nadare shiki no Frankensteiner, but Mari didn't catch her right on the counter. This meant Hamada had to grab the ropes while she was upside down and do a sit up, so Mari could powerbomb her off the 2nd. Mari came up short on her moonsault. She tried a back body drop type move off the top, but Hamada turned it into a great sunset flip powerbomb for a near fall. The finish saw Hamada do a swinging DDT, which both sold, for a near fall. She followed with her La Ayakita for the submission. Both women showed a lot of potential if they could either learn the fundamentals or just become such good workers that it wouldn't matter. They are getting close to the later. "I agree about the potential these two have. Their spots were entertaining, demonstrating the tremendous potential both women have if they can get the knots out of their weaknesses. I liked the work involved in this match, but the selling was nonexistent. I think if they focused more on that aspect and built into their big spots, the match wouldn't have had as many flaws. The fast pace hurt both wrestlers because in trying to maintain it for the duration of the match, they didn't building to their moves. If they can work on those aspects, I think they both will have great potential in the future," wrote Keith. I agree with what you say, but to me that was the problem with this matchup. In a year or two, this same matchup could deliver good or better matches, but in August of 1998 there was really no chance for that. Going on first, they were expected to set the tone for this tournament and uphold the quality of the previous tournament (which actually wasn't that high of a standard), but they are too inexperienced to do this on their own or together. "After saying what I said about the Akino match, this does make a good counterpoint. If Hamada had been in with a veteran native it would have made a better match since Apache sure as hell couldn't help carry Hamada. On the other hand, having Hamada beat two veterans in one night would be a little too much to swallow. It's a double edged sword. She could credibly beat Apache in a poor match or she could beat one more veteran in a slightly better match that would make things even more far fetched," wrote Chris. I am of the opinion that Futagami should have beat Ayako in the second round because she just wasn't ready to work three matches in one night, especially under this kind of pressure. If they really wanted to push Ayako, they needed her to have good matches. I mean, if Ayako's matches on this show were good, we wouldn't even be having this discussion because even though she was carried, her push could be somewhat justified. This was a case where one or two quality workers needed to be sacrificed. Whether Ayako won or lost in the second round, she clearly needed to beat a better worker in the first round. Tamada & Fukawa were losing anyway, so you could have switched Mari with one of them, although how much Tamada could have helped Ayako is really questionable. The problem is Omukai beating Mari is even less of a big deal than Omukai beating Fukawa, and Gami vs. Mari is such an obvious result. Still, at least Fukawa may have been able to have a decent match with Ayako. Futagami's match with Ayako might also have been decent if they gave it any time. The other option was to have Mari vs. Ayako be half the length and less complex, so they might have had a chance to pull it off. Jerome: Interesting match because they tried to do a lot of things that obviously they weren't ready for. Mari could have killed herself with that tope con hilo. The strangest thing is that Ayako sold it. It came off really weird. The powerbomb countering the top rope Frankensteiner was also botched. Mari totally Sabued her moonsault and only her feet landed on her opponent. Ayako wasn't much better as she totally blew her swinging DDT. There were also some cool spots that showed both their potential. After all, it was one of Ayako's first matches and she did do some damn good things. The match was really too long for these two though. La Ayakita is a pretty flashy submission. On a side note, Mari's pink and black outfit is hideous. Special thanks to: Jerome Denis & Chris Martinez & Keith Watanabe - Manami Toyota Rules! 9:27
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