Issue 52C - 9/24/99 JWP on WOWOW 8/23/97

WOWOW Special Match Candy Okutsu Intai JWP Musabetsukyu Senshuken Jiai: Hikari Fukuoka vs. Candy Okutsu

This is not the match to show someone who isn't a fan of women's wrestling. Anyone who comes into this match without an understanding of the situation will tell you it's crap, and from a wrestling standpoint they would be correct. I mean, Candy, who had been laboring through her matches for at least the three months prior to this, actually outworked the supposedly great worker, Hikari, in this match. This was more a story than a wrestling match. We know the "real" fans don't want to be insulted by arcane things like faces and heels, but like mature, well thought out storylines like will a wrestler actually do his job instead of taking a night with the whores or which near 40 looking freak with 100 pounds of makeup and $500,000 worth of surgery can rip each others clothes off first. This story isn't as "exciting and stimulating" as those, but it is based on "boring" real life things that aren't damaging or embarrassing enough to be brought up in those vaunted "shoot" interviews to entertain, and perhaps fool, the smarks. Anyway, this is the story of two best friends that are so close they are said to be like sisters. They expected to be together for the vast majority of their careers, but life can be cruel and at the tender age of 22, one is too injured to continue. Now, anyone on the outside can easily say it's too bad, but they can still be friends. While this is true, I think that kind of misses the loss part that goes beyond a career. Sure they will still see each other, but wrestling in a league that runs regularly like JWP isn't a job, it's a life. Whether you like it or not, you are going to be spending a great deal of your time with the other members of your league. It's not just showing up at 7:00, wrestling your match, and being home by 11:00. It's constantly being on the road, training, making appearances, getting there early to set everything up, and so on. Thus, it makes a huge difference to have someone you like as much as these two liked each other to spend most of your time with. You would think Candy would have had a lot harder time dealing with her upcoming retirement than Hikari would. Based on how much Candy appears to love wrestling, I'm sure she did overall, which is probably why she came out of retirement in absence of a miracle cure. However, Candy was able to control her emotions during her retirement match and save the busting up for when it was over, but Hikari couldn't even come close to following suite.. This wasn't scheduled to be a title match, but Hikari came out wearing her belt and said she was defending it. That's what friends are for, right? Of course, Hikari knew she was going over and I'm sure this was planned in advance, but at least Candy could say she had one shot at JWP's top title in her career. This was a big deal because before ARSION, Candy was considered too small, so she wasn't a main event singles wrestler and would never beat the large women like Kansai & Devil. Hikari turned her back before the match started, so Candy attacked her and got off to a hot start. Candy was trying to put friendship aside during the match, which is what you have to do in a real fight although this obviously wasn't one. Hikari was unable to put friendship aside, and was soon overcome by the emotions she felt about Candy retiring to the point she burst out in tears and just lied on the mat. Candy got on top of her and tried to slap some sense into her. I mean, here is the holder of the #2 women's belt in the world and instead of defending her title, she's lying defenseless on the mat weeping. Hikari just let Candy do things to her, kind of going with the moves like she normally would, but kind of too sad to even be paying attention to what was going on. Eventually Candy got tired of Hikari lying on the mat with her arm(s) covering her teary eyes, so she got on the house mic and said, "Fukuoka! Why do you cry? Aren't you a champion? Isn't this a championship? If you think you're the champ, do it right!" This drew the fight out of Hikari, so the match improved from here. They did all their spots back and forth. Candy's mom and brother were in attendance, and her mom was looking on with her hands over her mouth as her daughter was getting the worst of it. Candy made one last comeback, but Hikari dropped her on her bad back with a Tigerdriver twice in a row. Hikari refused to pin Candy though. Hikari walked around the ring to put off the inevitable then Tigerdrivered Candy again, letting her go at 2. Hikari certainly wasn't giving up the pin to inflict more punishment like a US heel. It was clear that the reason she wouldn't cover Candy was pinning her meant that was it for her career. Hikari was really dreading that moment, but she had to do something or the match would become a farce. Certainly she wasn't doing Candy any favors by planting her on her back over and over, so Hikari finally collapsed on Candy for the win after the fourth consecutive Tigerdriver. Hikari didn't get up and celebrate her title defense or anything like that, she just lied there in the ring crying next to Candy. Candy cried a lot during her retirement ceremony, as did her mom. Candy's ceremony was really nice, although all of it (like Saburo presenting her flowers) didn't make it to TV. What was seen on TV was Candy getting showered in yellow streamers and the wrestlers throwing her up in the air. They actually didn't drop her in the end, probably because of her back problems. Candy cried heavily in her "final" interview then got up and hugged Hikari, who was still weeping heavily. Hikari's second title defense was far from her best, but probably her most memorable because the emotion was genuine. 10:42. In light of the circumstances, I don't feel it's fair to rate this match.