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| Cuty Suzuki vs. The Goddess Chikako Shiratori (Free) | |
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Shiratori made her JWP TV debut here (well, she'd actually been on WOWOW when she was a member of AJW, but that was two promotions ago, which is a ton for a Japanese wrestler that started out in the top promotion of their sex). I guess the main point of this match was shock value because it got off to a good start, but then logical booking was thrown out the window. No one expects, or probably wants, to see The Goddess or a highly attractive mere mortal like Cuty bleed, much less juice gushers, so that was the shock. The point of this match should have been to get Shiratori over as a heel because even though she's a free agent, she was basically only working in JWP, so it was almost like she was a member of the league. The match started off as it should, with Chikako dominating to get over in her new heel gimmick. The staple of her heel offense is beating her opponent with a kendo stick, which today was red so it would match her ring attire. Shiratori is better off as a heel because she can kind of get away with being overly deliberate. Still, there were points in this match where it was obvious that both women had to think about what they were going to do next. Shiratori has the heel facials down to some extent, but again you can tell she still has to think about making them. Overall, she appears to be enjoying herself and has definitely improved, but she needs to hit people harder and look meaner because she's too divine and too skinny to be convincing as a heel unless she's tougher, nastier, or more arrogant than the rest. Anyway, Shiratori was kicking Cuty's tail, and it was a good brawl as far as the pacing and selling went. If anything, the pacing was too slow, but Cuty was doing a really good job of putting over the beating, so I'm not going to complain. Shiratori used a metal object on Cuty by the bleachers, and Cuty did a blade job that would make the great Hiroshi Hase proud. Cuty was leaving a trail of blood as she slowly crawled back to the ring. After being dominated for the first 11 minutes, Cuty avoided two kendo stick shots, with the ref getting KO'd by the second. She came back with her Dragon suplex, but just like you've seen 10000 times too many in the US, for once in Japan outside of FMWWF there was no ref to count. Then came the part of the match I had a problem with. We know Cuty isn't too tough, so why have her beat Shiratori bloody? I know you are thinking here we go again with Lorefice complaining about how horrible it is to see Shiratori bleed, but this time it was uncalled for and bad booking. The problem with JWP booking as a whole is that they are too concerned with protecting the veterans and not concerned enough that their promotion is going to fold because the average fan doesn't see the Kuzumi's and Miyaguchi's of the world as stars. Here you have a woman who is retiring in two months, and instead of having Shiratori beat her and become the new Super Idol of JWP, or having Motoya beat Cuty since Shiratori is a heel, they not only keep having Cuty beat all the women she always beat, but here they have her beating Shiratori at her own game. If you look at any pro sport, it's generally true that it's acceptable to let a star go without signing another star to replace them if you have a prospect to take their place, but unacceptable if you don't. The fans won't expect the prospect to be as good as the star from day one, just to have the potential to be about as good if not better. JWP did the right thing by having AFKA Kuzumi beat Hikari for the title, even though it's not Hikari at 100%, because it's the passing of the torch. Still, JWP has failed to make the young wrestlers look credible, either by having the veterans still continually beat them or by having the veterans lose in an unconvincing, flukish fashion. There's the old saying you live by the sword, you die by the sword, but Shiratori is just in the beginning stages of being a heel, so she needs to have that life last a lot longer before she's killed off. I mean, this wasn't even 15 minutes of fame. Now, I don't really have a problem with Cuty winning here since this was their first match and Cuty is a bigger star that has been with the promotion from day one, but let her win the way she always does, through clean wrestling. Then have Shiratori come back and beat Cuty in December before she is gone forever (or as long as retirements in wrestling last). Instead, if you take a look at the JWP results for December, you'll find that Cuty was not pinned once during her last month in wrestling. The scene where Chikako was about to bleed was funny. Apparently Lee was going to be the one to cut her, and she kept going over to blade Shiratori, but Cuty wasn't finished with the attack that was "going to" leave Shiratori bloody. Thus, you had Lee preparing to cut Shiratori, but then Cuty would come in with a chair so Lee would hold off, then Lee would be ready again, but Cuty would use a metal object on Shiratori. Like I said, this whole sequence should never have happened because Shiratori should not have bled in this match. I mean, when was the last time Cuty made anyone bleed and what was the point of her starting now? Unlike Cuty's cut, at least Shiratori's cut was high on her forehead, so the chances of a visible scar are much slimmer (hey, I can't help but worry about these things...). The highlight of the match was Cuty avoiding Shiratori's kendo stick shot, and locking the kendo stick against Shiratori's neck on her Dragon suplex hold instead of locking the full nelson. This doesn't read well, but it was a cool spot that I've never seen before. Cuty was not the least bit happy that the referee wouldn't count the fall because the kendo stick was involved. The finish saw Lee pretty much hand the kendo stick to Cuty, who gave her a lame kick when she took it. Shiratori tried to cut Cuty off on the top, but Cuty pushed her off, so in the typical spot that for some reason always makes me think of the Otani vs. Ultimo J Crown semi, Shiratori got up and tried it again. Normally, the wrestler on the top rope doesn't have a kendo stick, but Cuty did so she Shiratori walked right into the stick then Cuty Destiny Hammered her for the pinfall. A good, solid, old fashioned brawl that WWF fans probably wouldn't like because they did things other than hit each other back and forth with objects for five minutes and they don't have any Spanish announcers in Japan, so neither woman could take the vaunted Nestea plunge through their table. Miko: This match was really a bloody brawl with wrestling moves thrown in, and was presumably designed to help get Shiratori over more as a heel. It was a weird match for JWP, since both bladed, and at one point the ref got hit with Chikako's kendo stick and could not make the count after Cuty Dragon suplexed Shiratori. Also, the ref was more involved than usual. She refused to count when someone would go for the pin after a hit with the kendo stick. In addition, when the two wrestlers were fighting over the stick, she got in there and took it away from them. I enjoyed this match. It was a nice change of pace, and Shiratori looked good. James: This was a good match, but I could tell in advance the moment when they were going to blade. Surely if you are going to bleed in a match you should do it at the right time and in the right place so that the marks think it's real. Perhaps Shiratori should have sliced herself because the camera being pointed at Yuki when you could see that she had something resembling a blade in her hand rather gave away that Shiratori would be bleeding in a few seconds. Special Thanks to: Miko Kubota - Michiku Pro & James Phillips- Japanese Women's Wrestling 15:55
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