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TWF Sekai Single Senshuken
Jiai: Jaguar Yokota vs. Lioness Asuka |
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These two really cut loose here. This match was a lot of fun because they set out to top their previous match by making this one a little wilder and adding some fresh spots. It was a traditional style match, but it was steeped in work and high spots to the point that the traditional storyline that Jaguar has done in big matches against heels going back to her days as the top star in AJW could almost be overlooked. We have come to expect that Jaguar will get largely dominated and probably bloodied to put the heel over big before making her comeback win, but we don't come into her match expecting to see her hung off a balcony! You have to give a ton of credit to Jaguar & Lioness when it comes to work and spots (and pretty much anything else for that matter) because they were way ahead of their time in these aspects in the early to mid 1980's, and even here at 37 and 35 respectively, they were still among the best workers in the world and had move sets that would be more than viable well into the 2000's (of course, Yokota chose to retire before that point). They are capable of doing a better all around match than they did here, but the more I watch this match the less problem I have with it. I wasn't all that thrilled with the selling and comebacks initially, but the match played off their previous match, which helped this make sense. When Jaguar won the title on 10/22/97, Lioness pretty much dragged her all around and destroyed her the whole match, but, as always, Jaguar refused to lose. She would counter some of Lioness' big moves, and one of these counters, a huracan rana off the top rope for Lioness' diving Liger bomb, was enough to take the title. This match followed the same basic pattern, but Lioness raised the bar with her high spots. She knew Jaguar would never give up, so she initially tried to use her shooting knowledge (she had recently won a match on the Octagon Challenge show) to put her to sleep. However, it's way too early, so she changed her focus to trying to incapacitate Jaguar so she can no longer resist the choke. Jaguar made some big comebacks because that was the only way she could
get any offense in. One of these was a quick come back that really annoyed
me because she knows much better than to not put over the previous damage
at all. Still, the basis of the match was that Lioness was knocking
a couple bricks off Jaguar's wall with every big move, and Jaguar's
recovery time became progressively slower to show this. It was obvious
that it was going to come down to whether Jaguar could get a win with
a big counter for one of Lioness' spots. It should have been better
established that Lioness really wanted to put Jaguar out with the choke.
They planted the seed early, but then they totally left it and focused
all their energy on Lioness trying to incapacitate Jaguar. This was
done to give Jaguar her out because like their previous match, even
though this had the opposite outcome, it once again established that
she was someone who refused to lose. The selling and comebacks would
have been very strong if it wasn't for the one sequence. The finish
would have come off a lot better if Lioness had thrown one or two failed
attempts at the choke in during the body of the match. The match would
have come off better if the crowd didn't sit on their hands the whole
night. Other than that, it was a hell of a match that continued Lioness'
streak of topping the best match in Jd' history and the best TWF Title
match with each new TWF Title match that was televised or released on
commercial tape (by Neo). "The match had the effective storyline of just how much punishment Yokota could take before she had nothing left to give and dropped the title? It worked because you knew Jaguar was capable of reversing one of Lioness' big moves like she did for the sweet finish of their 10/22/97 match. The more I think about what they did in this match, or failed to do, the more sure I am that the finish should have been the towerhacker bomb off the top," wrote Michael. After failing to put Jaguar away with the choke sleeper, Lioness began
brawling, including choking Jaguar with a chair. Jaguar eventually came
back, twarting Lioness' chair shot by dropkicking the chair into her.
Jaguar didn't sell the previous damage at all, although it was very
early so I can't kill her for that. They immediately blew a spot where
Jaguar jumped off the second like she was going to do a hip attack,
but she never really did anything while she was in the air and Lioness
never countered it. On the positive side, there might not be a wrestler
who is less bothered/affected by a blown spot than Lioness. As usual,
she was on to the next spot so fast that you could almost believe the
previous spot had went as planned. "The balcony spot wasn't as effective as it could've been. The problem with the spot was that Jaguar was slowly lowered to the bleachers in a manner that removed most of the aura of danger from the spot, and thereby killed its effectiveness. Obviously I don't want or expect her to leap off the balcony or do anything that could/would injure her legitimately, but the way this was done, it didn't appear to injure her in the worked sense. I give a lot of credit to Jaguar for even doing the spot because an incredibly small number of wrestlers have ever gone completely over the balcony to the floor. Jaguar certainly showed she had the guts to do the spot, but the way it was done it took too long and really added nothing to the match as far as doing damage to Jaguar and furthering Lioness' chances of regaining the title," wrote Michael. To top it off, Lioness dragged Jaguar back to the ring and did a jumping piledriver off the apron throught a table! Jaguar was down a while after this one because she was blading. At this point, she should have been on her death bed, but she was still a long way away from being pinned. "How the hell does no one react to the piledriver off the apron through the table? This spot isn't even something that's been done to death by ECW, much less done often in any of the Japanese leagues. Lioness was throwing out all these big moves, but other than the ten or fifteen fans who weren't "sleeping," the hall was silent. Even when Lioness got back in the ring and tried to drum up a response she got nothing. I respect the Japanese fans a lot, but sometimes I wonder what the hell it takes to get them into a match or even to get them to pop for anything. Tommy acting outraged at the move was a nice touch at least," wrote Michael. The match became truly excellent as Jaguar remembered how to sell with
the best of them and began putting every move over huge and acting like
she indeed was one step away from her death bed. It started with her
selling of the kicks Lioness was knocking her down with and continued
with a hope spot where Jaguar slipped out of Lioness' towerhacker bomb
and went into a schoolboy for a 2 count. Lioness got right back up because
she was in much better condition and threw a chain in the face of Jaguar,
who was still down selling all the previous damage. This was more like
it! Lioness again tried for her towerhacker bomb, but Jaguar turned
it into a huracan rana for a near fall. Once again Jaguar in the worse
condition of the two by far, so Lioness got up first, pulled Jaguar
up, and delivered her excellent high angle version of the Liger bombed
her for a near fall. Lioness pulled Jaguar up by the hair, and Jaguar
did a really good job her of acting limp, and Liger bombed her once
again for a near fall. Jaguar's weak kickout on this spot was excellent.
She turned a little bit to one side and her momentum just kind started
slowly rolling her limp carcass over. To make Jaguar's chances of retaining
the title look even slimmer, Ryuna began interjecting herself. Michael wrote, "I agree with what Miko had to say in Quebrada #48 about the dangerous moves needing to be finishers. I can understand that Jaguar losing to the sleeper establishes it as a finisher, but how does the towerhawker bomb maintain any kind of aura when even the Super towerhawker bomb can't put away an incredibly worn down Jaguar who had already taken a Liger bomb on the floor, as well as several other big moves?" Lioness captured the TWF Title for the second time (4th overall champion), regaining it from the woman she lost it to on 10/22/97. That match had the better heat, selling, and comebacks. It also had a much better finish that made more sense based on what had been done in the match. Both matches were fairly similar in style with Jaguar getting destroyed, but I feel this match warrants and extra 1/4* because the work and moves were a few notches better and there was more back and forth. There still wasn't much back and forth, but there was more than in their previous match, which was one of the reasons I found this match to be more compelling. Special Thanks to: Michael Smith 17:11 (15:29 aired)
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