|
|
Ran Yu-Yu vs. Lioness Asuka
(free) From Battle Station JWP 5/19/99 Taped 4/29 Tokyo Korakuen Hall (1,500) |
|
|
A really disappointing match because Lan wasn't allowed to be any kind of a competition for Lioness. Lan got a little offense in, but the match was short and Lioness didn't have to pull out the heavy artillery to beat her. In other words, it was another instance of JWP having no clue when it came to getting people to take their young stars seriously. Lan jumped Lioness before the bell, but Lioness almost immediately cut her off, stopping her Thesz press off the apron with a kick. Lioness took control and kicked Lan down the stairs, although Lan doesn't take the bump nearly as well as Kyoko. Lan made a fiery comeback at about 4:30, but Lioness cut her off again within 45 seconds. Lioness used her brawling tactics to destroy Lan, including ramming her hard into the West sign. Lan made one more brief comeback, but Lioness avoided her diving kneedrop and did a Shimoda-like table drop move, except Lan was standing. Lan kicked out of a high angle powerbomb, but a regular powerbomb, high angle powerbomb, and high angle Ligerbomb did her in. To say this match did little for JWP would be a gross understatement.
Lioness looked good, but that doesn't help JWP any. They were trying
to build up Lioness vs. Kansai, but we know just how good Lioness is.
Even though she hadn't been wrestling in JWP, it's not like these fans
hadn't seen her in a long time. Most of the fans that watch JWP watch
GAEA and/or Jd' as well, maybe more than they watch JWP at this point.
JWP got a squash win for Kansai over Morimatsu in return for this, but
that also didn't prove anything. Whatever short term good either of
these matches were supposed to do means nothing in comparison to the
long term damage they did to Lan, who is very important to JWP, and
Morimatsu, who isn't good but serves some purpose in Jd' since they
do push her to some extent. It would be a lot more fun watching and
writing about JWP if they had 1/10 of a clue. The match itself was good
for a one-sided match, but the frustration of them allowing Lan to get
shut out after turning the ball over as soon as she got it on numerous
occassions just spoiled everything. 11:35
|
|
