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THE SIXTH ARSION World Free
Fighting: Reggie Bennett vs. Rojina Elina |
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This was a major match for Reggie, facing the winner of the U*TOP tournament or, in other words, the women who single-handedly ruined AJW's plans to make Yumiko Hotta a credible ass kicking champion by beating Hotta in both of their shoot matches. Reggie had tried her hand at shooting before, also appearing the the U*TOP tournament, where she lost to Elina in the semifinal. Reggie knew that avenging that loss was likely to be the best chance she'd have of increasing her stardom. Reggie worked her ass off in the gym to get into shape for this match. The problem is that dropping so much weight in such a short period of time isn't really healthy. Reggie didn't seem to have her normal power, which you might expect given the amount of weight she lost is probably about the same as Miho Watabe weighs in real life, but she also didn't have much stamina. Elina has never looked in shape for a shoot match in Japan, but she wasn't the one who was tiring. Reggie's strategy was to beat Elina in standup. I assume this strategy was derived from Reggie knowing she couldn't match Elina on the mat. Elina kind of went along with this strategy, using almost no energy in the standup portion. The point of this was for Reggie, who was working hard here bouncing and moving in hopes of landing a big strike, to just wear herself out. After about 1:30, Elina had the timing of Reggie's shoudas down and was able to score a big takedown. From here, Elina began overpowering Reggie. Reggie was able to get back to her feet, but we just saw more of the same lack of success from Reggie. The finish was really controversial. Elina was on top and had Reggie in a rather ineffective ude garame. The fact that she had all her girth on top of Reggie, basically smothering her, seemed to be more effective than the arm lock. I don't think this ude garame would be enough to make any fairly tough fighter tap. Reggie didn't appear to be trying to escape the hold or get Elina off of her, so considering she was being smothered, I can see where it might look like she was out. I took it as she was just tired and the arm wasn't in that much pain that it was desperation time, so she just laid there calmly trying to think of a way to get the load off of her. In any case, Daichi Murayama stopped the match and Reggie was both shocked and furious. You could just picture what was going through her head as she protested the finish, "I gave up all my sweets and trained as hard as I've ever trained only to have you go and stop it when I'm in a crummy arm lock that isn't even fully locked in." What she did say in her post match interview was that Dai-chan is a good pro wrestling referee and she knew he was just trying to protect her, but there was no catch. "My arm was not in danger." The moral of this story is if you are going to run a shoot match, get an experienced ref whose background is in shoot style matches. I know this costs more money, but it's safer for the performers and should result in the proper decision a lot more often. In a way, and I know this can't factor into the decision making process when refing, Murayama defeated much of the purpose of having the match by stopping it here because the hope was for Reggie to win. However, it was such a controversial finish that it gave Reggie an out in a match that she was basically overmatched in. I don't think Reggie would have won the match if Murayama let it go on, but we definitely should have found out. Miko: They start with clips of Reggie Bennett training with Keiichiro Yamamiya of Pancrase. Her strategy is to keep the match standing and try to score with palm strikes. We've seen enough of Elina to know she's going to work submissions on the ground, and that's how the fight goes. Bennett looks in great shape, probably the lightest I've seen her. I do wonder if she should have lost so much weight though, since she's obviously outpowered by the Russian. Bennett does get in some palm strikes, but never looks close to having the Russian in trouble. Rojina gets some slamming takedowns and pretty much dominates the ground, but Reggie is a lot more submission aware this time around and manages to prevent Elina from locking in any submissions. The end comes rather unexpectedly, especially to Bennett, as the ref stops the fight with Bennett trapped in a keylock. Bennett didn't tap out and seems prepared to outlast painlocks, which a keylock is. The fight should have been allowed to continue, though I doubt it would have made a difference. Reggie was locked firmly in the lock and getting smothered by Rojina as well. The match might not have ended with the keylock, but I think Rojina would have locked in a submission eventually. Jerome: The one thing that's striking is how much weight Reggie lost to prepare this match. She certainly lost some power also, but it's impressive to see her in that shape. She threw some palm strikes but with no result. Rojina soon took her down and from there, Reggie was on the defensive. Rojina could not lock any submission hold, but she was clearly controlling the match. After another standup exchange, the Russian took her down once again and put her in an arm lock. Reggie was not in pain at this point and the match should have continued. Reggie was pretty pissed at the referee, with good reason, however I don't think she could have won the match because Rojina was once step ahead and totally dominated on the ground. Special thanks to: Jerome Denis & Miko Kubota - Michiku Pro 6:49 |
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