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Tag League The Best '98 Koshikisen:
Yumiko Hotta & Manami Toyota vs. Momoe Nakanishi & Nanae Takahashi From AJW Satellite TV 3/3/99 Taped 11/22/98 Tokyo Korakuen Hall (1,620/1,300) |
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This was the final match in the annual tag league. NanaMomo were ahead of Hotta & Toyota 9 points to 8, so all they needed to do to win the league was hold the top stars to a draw. Even though they came in ahead, they were huge underdogs because nothing had been done to elevate them to the level of the only remaining dominant forces in league. Momoe's work here was excellent. Toyota was very good when working with Momoe, but had problems doing some of her spots to Takahashi. Takahashi tries hard, but she just doesn't have much natural ability. "Takahashi really seems out of place when she works with the 'older' workers and better young wrestlers. She seemed to be getting a push because she teamed with Nakanishi, who is really the one getting the push in this Tag League," wrote Jason. I disagree that Nakanishi was really the one being pushed. I think AJW was pushing Takahashi fairly hard at this point. The problem was she had nothing beyond a large frame, so she wasn't credible, a problem exacerbated by matches like this where the veterans did nothing to put her ove. The end result was that she couldn't get over, so their misguided push was basically a waste. NanaMomo attacked Hotta before the bell, but she didn't really put them over. I really didn't like Hotta's attitude in this match, not that I was surprised by it. Her gimmick is to act indestructable, but after all these years she's still not a draw so it's beyond pointless for her to kill off the credibility of opponents like this who need credibility. The idea of this league was to elevate NanaMomo, but Hotta did less than nothing to help accomplish this goal, staying so much in her gimmick resulted in the opposite effect. "Hotta is like all the other veterans, they can't seem to get it through their head that they will lose heat and, most importantly, money if they don't make the young workers who are getting pushed look like they deserve the push," wrote Jason. The forced retirements were ridiculous, but the result of not forcing them has been equally ridiculous. Even though management never really phases any star down or out because of age these days, the older women still look out for themselves and not their company. Most of them won't do anything that could even lead to the younger wrestlers gaining on them, much less taking their spots. The result is the companies are stagnant because it's the same old wrestlers only a year older and a bit worse. I never got the idea that NanaMomo would win this match, and that was mainly due to the way the opposition acted. NanaMomo got the draw, and it was enough to win the tournament, but the final match ending in a draw is a big letdown and the way it was worked made it seem like Hotta & Toyota were several steps above the actual winners. Basically the match was based on ring work, like nearly all of Toyota's matches are, but it wasn't very fast paced because they were going so long. The show had no heat at all, and it was downright depressing to hear how dead the fans were for this final match. It just didn't have anything close to the aura it needed. The lack of heat made it seem boring even though the work was good. "Due to Hotta & Toyota never really looking like they were going to put Nakanish & /Takahashi over, the crowd was not going to believe in any way that the youngsters were going to win this match. The work was good, but it's very frustrating watching any league where wrestlers are having a good match and the crowd looks like they don't care," wrote Jason. Pushing Momoe was the right thing to do, but this match was really unfulfilling. You just didn't feel like Momoe had accomplished much or that anyone cared about what she had accomplished. A good match shouldn't leave a bad taste in your mouth, but this one did. Special thanks to: Jason Higgs 30:00 (26:52 aired)
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