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TO 1999 Bout Part 3 TWF Sekai
Single Senshuken Jiai: Kyoko Inoue vs. Misae Genki |
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Neo finally did something right! Kyoko FINALLY realized that she couldn't squash the younger Neo wrestlers for the rest of her life. Genki still lost this match, but really there was no loser. Genki pushed Kyoko to the match and it actually looked like she had her beat on a couple of occasions. She gave the best performance of her career, exceeding everyone's expectations en route to the best match of her life. She opened people's eyes and gained some of their respect. When you take all that into account and then factor in the extent Kyoko went to put her over as opposed to the extent she normally goes to that buries the fledglings, it's hard to believe anyone watching would not have been impressed by Genki. "One thing I really liked about this match was that it went both ways, it wasn't just like Kyoko beat on Genki and gave her two or three hope spots. Kyoko took a beating and was lucky to win as opposed to Genki just getting hot at the end before eventually succumbing to one or two big moves. Kyoko also had a lot of legitimate pin attempts on Genki that she got out of on her own instead of having Kyoko pull her up from them like you see a lot of times in these kind of matches (which maybe a subtle or unimportant thing to some but when the purpose of the match is to elevate someone it looks a lot better if that person actually kicks out of a pin as opposed to them being helped out of it)," wrote Michael. These women don't have many moves, but they wrestled a smart match so they got the most out of them and it didn't seem repetitive. What they did was simple, they teased the big moves first then varied between hitting the big moves, countering the big moves and countering a big move with a big move of their own. Before they worried about the big moves, they had to wear the opponent down, a logical but one that seems foreign because the psychology in most of today's matches is steadily withering down to nothing. One good basic spot was fighting over a vertical suplex, which showed you couldn't just do any move you wanted, even a basic one, without doing some damage first. Generally, the first seven minutes were uneventful though, and this is what stopped this from being one of the top women's matches of the year. It got good when Genki slipped out of Kyoko's Niagara driver and Kyoko slipped out of Genki's piggyback drop. Kyoko tried something off the middle rope, but Genki pulled her off into a powerbomb for a near fall then used her nodowa otoshi (chokeslam) for a near fall. Genki tried a nadare shiki no nodowa otoshi, but Kyoko stopped it so Genki knocked her to the floor and used a table and chair like Shimoda. "Overall this was an excellent match for a few reasons. First of all, it was a natural progression from their match at First Kiss. The important difference was in Genki's demeanor. She went for the win instead of acting like a young punk and concerning herself with showing Kyoko up (as opposed to beating Kyoko) as she did in the first match. This match showed that not only had she grown up but that she had expanded her arsenal as well, and as a result was more able to push Kyoko and give her a very competitive match. It also showed that she wasn't afraid of Kyoko, which is important in the sense that a lot of times the younger girls seem to hold back against the veterans," wrote Michael Back in the ring, Kyoko was blocking Genki's backdrop, but Genki was eventually able to do two in a row for a near fall. Genki then tried her Gdriver twice, but Kyoko avoided it. You can see that they were logically progressing through the big moves, which was key. Suddenly, Genki pulled this climb up plancha out of nowhere, which was pretty shocking considering the Genki we knew from AJW relied solely on arcane moves like the atomic drop to do in her foes. Genki nodowa otoshi'd Kyoko into the top turnbuckle then pulled the mats back and did a nodowa otoshi off the apron. For those of you that aren't All Japan fans, Genki is lifting a lot of moves from Akira Taue these days and this is his most deadly often teased but rarely used move. "The chokeslams Genki delivered into the corner and from the apron to the floor were brutal, but it showed how much she wanted to win and also gave Kyoko a boost for being able to sustain those moves and still win. The problem I had with those two spots (more the chokeslam to the floor then in the corner) was it again showed that Kyoko is willing to take dangerous bumps to compensate for her ever eroding ability and agility. It's more evident in her matches vs. Aska (and the photos of their 60:00 draw look pretty rough on Kyoko) and one day taking all these hard bumps are going to catch up to her," wrote Michael. The thing with Kyoko is that she made her name on fast-paced all action matches and now that she can't do them anymore, I think she feels she has to do something to compensate. I'd rather see her go more toward stiffness, building to the moves and putting them over, but most of these women seem to keep trying to do the same things they did in the glory days so it's not like I expect to see it happen (this match was closer to the exception than the rule, but still outside of Genki's offense wasn't exactly drawing comparisons to All Japan). The pace got hyper, and Genki soon hit her Gdriver. However, Kyoko kicked out and avoided a second Gdriver, making a fast comeback with a pumphandle suplex. Kyoko then sold the previous damage while Genki was down, lariating her for a near fall when she got up. Kyoko repeated the same process, but Genki still kicked out. Kyoko set up another running lariat, but Genki was not going to be caught with three of these in a row, so she turned it into a Gdriver for a near fall. Genki did another Gdriver for a near fall, but they were both too tired to continue. They fought over a vertical suplex again, with Genki winning by fisherman bustering Kyoko into the ring. Kyoko cut Genki off on the top with her arm drag and tried a Niagara driver, but Genki blocked it. Genki also blocked two lariats, but Kyoko enzui lariated her then did the Niagara driver. This looked like the finish, but Genki managed a dramatic last fraction of a second kick out. Genki didn't have enough left to fend of Kyoko's Niagara driver though, so it finally did her in. "The only faults I guess I could find in the match were that Kyoko kicked out of Genki's Gdriver finisher too many times. Once or twice is ok, but I feel three or four times is too much. Also, the match being for the TWF Title gave away that Kyoko was going to win it. Had it not been for the title, you'd be more inclined to think Genki may have won it. It was a great match though that did nothing but help Genki. And while Kyoko is not what she once was, nobody is better then her at doing these types of matches and she proved it again with this one," wrote Michael. I agree that it being a title match gave away the result, not that there was probably much doubt aside from what they created during the match (which was your point), but I think it was important that Genki made such a good showing with the title on the line. The title made Genki seem like a bigger deal than she had previously, but since it was her first title match and she'd never beaten Kyoko in singles before, you figured she'd get some offense in but wind up going down easily. Instead, Kyoko not only let Genki throw everything at her, but she also allowed her to get some important kickouts so it looked like she truly was on the verge of major things. The problem was the booking wasn't consistent enough in pushing her after this match, as they didn't keep her away from the women that have been established as nothings (everyone but Kyoko and LCO) and they didn't have her run over the nothings when she wrestled them. Also, an abysmal attendance for the rematch against Kyoko that was truly sad given how much her stock should have risen due to this match didn't help her cause any. Jason: This match surprised the hell out of me when I first watched it. I was expecting this to be the normal Kyoko vs. younger girl match, but instead Kyoko decided that before entering '99 they needed to elevate someone, and I think they accomplished that with Genki in this match. Genki showed off some "All Japan" style offense which looks very credible because Kyoko was willing to take the "All Japan" style dangerous bumps like the nodowa otoshi off the apron. With the near falls toward the end, it looked like Genki could beat Kyoko. I think if the TWF title wasn't on the line Genki could have won and it wouldn't have hurt Kyoko's rep in the least because of the way the match was built. I think that Genki was the only choice to elevate at this point because of her size. ASARI and Tamura need to change their style to something like a submission based style if they want to compete with the bigger girls. Special Thanks to: Michael Smith & Jason Higgs 19:39 (18:39 aired)
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