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All Pacific Senshuken: Akira Hokuto vs. Yumiko Hotta |
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This was one of the many great subtle performances by Hokuto. Well, subtle and Hokuto don't go hand in hand in a way because she is more the type that makes sure things are blown a little out of proportion so everyone understands and reacts accordingly, but this was subtle in that I don't think people would realize how great her performance here was if they weren't familiar with how mediocre Hotta's ability is and her singles matches against other opponents are. I mean, Hotta has had some excellent singles matches, but they are few and far between. Once in a great while she has an excellent performance, but no one gets more out of her than Hokuto, and Hotta's simply not capable of having an excellent performance by getting a lot out of her opponent (she might kick a lot out, but that's a different story). "Hotta's matches are good if she has someone like Hokuto, Toyota or any other opponent that is willing to get their ass kicked for 90% of the match," wrote James. "Hotta vs. Hokuto was great because of Hokuto. Her moves were well placed, and she did a good job of leading Hotta. Everytime I see Hokuto, I gain more respect for her," wrote Keith. Hokuto's performance had nothing to do with the spots. In fact, she didn't do many moves and didn't take any great bumps. What she did do was get Hotta to beat the hell out of her with a focused attack. Hotta blistered Hokuto's leg with kicks, and Hokuto took it like a queen. This not only gave some meaning to Hotta's offense, but it allowed Hokuto to play the injured up underdog role that Hokuto would go on to become famous for. Basically, what Hokuto did was make Hotta happy by letting her do her thing, except Hokuto figured out how to turn Hotta's thing into a logical match that highlighted the strengths of both performers. This match actually had a lot of mat wrestling, but that was alright due to Hotta's quasi-shooter gimmick. Hokuto controlled the match early, attacking Hotta's leg. Hotta didn't do much of a job of selling this until the match was three minutes old. From there, she did a lot of screaming and grimacing as she struggled to make the ropes. On the other hand, Hokuto's selling was always great, and she got plenty of opportunity to prove that in this match. Hotta's kicks to the back of Hokuto's knee were brutal. She should
have stuck to those instead of giving us the whole variety though because
it would have strengthened the psychology of the match. The spot I really liked saw Hokuto going for her northern lights bomb, but her knee gave out so Hotta was able to come back. It's a simple spot, but it's a great transition spot for a number of reasons. They all come down to one thing though, that it's logical because of what was established earlier in the match with Hotta debilitating the knee. Now, Hotta could have countered the move in a different way, but that wouldn't make any sense because it wouldn't fit what they set up earlier in the match. However, whether you care about logic or not, the thing that makes it stand out is they make it the pivotal moment by placing it deep enough into the match. If Hokuto hits her finisher here, I believe there's a very strong chance that she'll win. I mean, beyond the fact that Hokuto is the favorite, it's the northern lights bomb for god's sake. If she doesn't hit it, then her chances of losing go way up. Once Hokuto's knee gives out, there's no questioning Hotta's comeback because Hokuto could get away with selling this for five minutes if she felt she needed to. Thus, this side of stupidity from both parties, which isn't going to happen since one of them was Hokuto, there's almost no way Hotta can make a quick comeback here. Now that we know the match isn't over quite yet, the main question switches from will this northern lights bomb be it to will the knee injury cost Hokuto her belt? We also have a secondary question, if Hokuto still has some fight left in her, what can she still use to beat Hotta? The main thing that hurt the match was that the secondary question wasn't handled well. I wanted to see Hokuto come up with something new or at least different for her to beat Hotta with. Having her knee not give out trying the northern lights bomb didn't make any sense to me because of the timing. If there was time for some actual "healing," it would have been okay. What they did though is have Hotta on offense until Hokuto avoided her diving wheel kick. Hokuto then did the sloppiest victory roll of her career before winning with her northern lights bomb. How did the knee improve to the point that Hokuto could now hit the move during a period that Hokuto was only taking more punishment? "This was a very good match, but ****1/4 is somewhat generous. Hotta spent the a long time attacking Hokuto's knee, but just as quickly Hokuto made a comeback with a tope con hilo, surely a move that she wouldn't have been able to hit if her knee was in bad shape. The same could be said about her hitting the northern lights bomb so quickly for the finish. To me, this is a pair of big flaws in the match," wrote James. The bulk of the match, which was choice, should hold more weight than a couple of weak points. Those points you mentioned didn't psych me, but what they showed was that, in spite of her best efforts, Hotta wasn't able to debilitate the knee to the point that Hokuto couldn't use it. I would have preferred a different finish, but basically Hotta lost this match because she couldn't quite get the job done. Jason: Hotta was on offense for the the majority of the match. For the first 10 minutes, she worked over Hokuto's knee with her kicks that didn't really look that good, but Hokuto sold it well enough to make it look credible. Hokuto's offense consisted of short comebacks that weren't effective because she had to sell Hotta's offense to make the match look good. Hokuto took a lot of punishment before the finish were she just hit a sloppy victory roll that went into the ropes and then hit a northern lights bomb for the win. Not much of a match because Hotta not being a great seller forced Hokuto to put Hotta over by taking most of the punishment before she pinned Hotta. Special thanks to: Jason Higgs & Keith Watanabe - Manami Toyota Rules! & James Phillips- Japanese Women's Wrestling 16:16
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