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Fire Scramble 6 Woman: Cuty Suzuki & Hikari Fukuoka & Manami Toyota (AJW) vs. Tomoko Kuzumi & Nanae Takahashi (AJW) & Momoe Nakanishi (AJW) |
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Not surprisingly, this was a spotfest. Momoe was featured here because she was the one doing the job. Toyota & Kuzumi were the best of the six though. They both did unassisted springboard (actually called swandive, but that makes it impossible to differentiate whether they jump onto the top or sling themselves onto the top) tope con hilos. Hikari & Momoe had some trouble working together, once again due to lack of familiarity with one another. Other than that they were good. Toyota' selling of Momoe's figure 4 was pathetic. For that matter, the selling on a whole was pathetic. Takahashi was, not surprisingly, outclassed. She isn't made for this style, so that only made things worse for her. Cuty is also outclassed by the others, but she was smart enough to blend in. She didn't do anything outstanding, but she kept the pace up and didn't hurt the match. Toyota and Hikari did a choice double team finisher where Toyota held Momoe on her shoulders so Hikari could do her kaiten shiki no missile kick (somersault missile kick off the top). On impact, Toyota dropped Momoe into her Japanese Ocean Cyclone suplex hold for the win. After the match Kuzumi apparently quit JWP and stormed off to the locker room. Cuty tried in vain to calm her down, but Tomoko got away locked herself in a dressing room. This came off pretty well because this isn't something you'd expect to see in JWP. Everyone involved played their roles well; Kuzumi by acting genuinely pissed, Cuty in trying to console her, Devil and Kansai coming out of their rooms to see what was going on (Devil had a great look of bewilderment on her face), and even JWP representative Masatoshi Yamamoto in trying to downplay Kuzumi "quitting." This angle was quickly dropped, but they did a good job with it here. "I agree with your assessment of the way this angle originally played out. However, it was done at the right and wrong time. Doing it after an interpromotional match would surely make it an even bigger story, but doing it on the day show of a day/night doubleheader guaranteed that Kuzumi wasn't really quitting. Of course, you could explain it by saying they forced her into doing the match with Cuty, but realistically that would mean that either they chased her down outside of the blue building or she never left, the latter of which would totally kill the quitting part. What they should have done is have Kuzumi get in her car (assuming she has one) and just leave like Devil did in 1997 (though I don't know if that was another quickly dropped angle or a shoot). Yeah, that part made about as much sense as it does when Rock is practically maimed for life during the show, yet he shows up two hours later for his match in perfect condition. A character that is truly rebellious can get over anywhere, but you aren't truly rebellious if you just come back and do your scheduled match as if nothing happened. They first needed to show that Kuzumi was forced to return, perhaps they could have had Yamamoto with a lawyer explaining that she was breaching her contract if she didn't wrestle Cuty that night as advertised. Since this angle involved them not letting her go free agent, and you don't get paid unless you wrestle, they basically could have forced her to wrestle in JWP because the other option would be sitting out and not getting paid. I think in actuality, she could quit the promotion and either be a free agent or just join another league if she really wanted, but their angle was that they wouldn't let her out so this wouldn't be stretching things too much. Once they forced her to wrestle, she'd have to be really defiant. She'd need to get into an altercation with Yamamoto either before the match, after the match, or both. Also, she'd have to break the rules because she just didn't care. Most importantly, her rage would have to result in her walking all over Cuty. Sure, this isn't necessarily original, but it has worked elsewhere and it hasn't been done in JWP. Miko: I enjoyed this match a lot. They kept the action moving, and the younger wrestlers got to get some offense in, though it was not always sold that well. There were a few miscues, but they were minor. Momoe looked really good for someone who just turned 18 not long ago. Manami still can't sell submissions. Special Thanks to: Michael Smith & Miko Kubota - Michiku Pro 20:41 (17:29 aired)
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