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Opening act: Yuki Lee (JWP) & Sachie Nishibori (IWA Japan) vs. The Goddess Chikako Shiratori (JWP) & ZAP Isozaki |
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This was one of the only pleasant surprises of the show. The match was definitely nothing special, but it didn't suck like I expected it to, and Shiratori's wrestling was the reason it didn't suck. She basically put on a one woman show. Of course, she's not all that great, so it's not like she singlehandedly made this a classic. Obviously she's not even at the level where she can make a match from the wrestling standpoint, but I'm more than happy if her match is decent. Shiratori played really arrogant heel. You got the idea that she really enjoyed embarrassing Nishibori, which showed her acting is getting better. She used her kendo stick on the opposition. Of course, she doesn't hit people with the stick as hard as Ito does, but the shots were more than acceptable, which is pretty much as good as you can expect to get from her. Shiratori is also relying on the uraken more and more these days. Obviously she doesn't hit people like Aja, but her version is adequate. Unfortunately, Shiratori was the only competent wrestler of the four, which is why this was wisely a short match. In one of AJW's "biggest" wins of the night, Isozaki pinnned IWA's Nishibori, who is almost like an AJW wrestler anyway, following the deadly sweet chin music, which they simply call a thrust kick. I think the reason I liked this match even though it wasn't anything special is that it was kind of innocent. It just went along in it's own merry little way and was better than expected. Even though it wasn't great or even good, we knew that going in, and there was nothing about what they did that would annoy you or make you want to complain. . Michael: You know you're in trouble when Chikako is the best worker in the match by a sizeable margin. I didn't think the work was too bad here, but they barely did anything, so the match wasn't good by any stretch of the imagination. Any Chikako match is at least watchable because she is The Goddess of joshi puroresu. However, aside from Shiratori showing some flashes of becoming a decent heel, this match was useless. Miko: A kinda cool match. Shiratori continued her heel reign, and looked pretty good doing it. Overall, the match was nothing special, but no one screwed up and everyone had at least a spot where they could show something. ZAP Isozaki even got to pick up a rare win. Special thanks to: Michael Smith & Miko Kubota - Michiku Pro 7:27
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