JWP Official Release 9/15/02 Tokyo |
Rising Generation League Match: Kaori Yoneyama vs. Mika Nishio 15:00. They worked hard, so even though the rookie style is a bit dull, they performed at least as well as could be asked. Yoneyama doesn't have a wide variety of offense, but she executes it well and is a good athlete and aggressive performer. Nishio had a good day, hanging with Yoneyama and more or less matching holds with her. *1/2
Haruka Matsuo vs. Erica Watanabe 12:18. They have the athleticism, but weren't able to use it. Match was fairly sloppy with little grace or timing. Matsuo has a lousy dropkick where she just kind of grazes the opponent on the way down. 1/2*
2 Fall Count Match: Carlos Amano vs. Command Bolshoi 10:27. I'm not a big fan of these rules, but they didn't just go for a bunch of cheap pins to milk the stipulations. In fact, the match was about as good as one could expect from a 10 minute midcard match between a two quasi main eventers. It was the rare match Bolshoi takes seriously and shows what a good technical wrestler she can be. They did a nice job of putting their quickness on display, performing a number of fancy counters that accentuated their excellent body control. ***1/4
Triangle Rising Generation League Final: Mika Nishio vs. Kaori Yoneyama vs. Rena Takase 0:35, 1:34, 3:32, 4:31. Spirited, urgent action. Everyone stepped it up for this all out sprint. Nishio was obviously the worst of the three, but she held up pretty well. The fact that it was a triangle match and everything was done so quickly allowed her to get away with relying almost solely on pin attempts. They gave everyone a quick fall then were back to the original pairings. What I didn't like is there was too much focus on finishing each other off given there was no particular reason for the girls to not be able to kick out of say a small package when they'd sustained little to no actual damage. **1/2
JWP Tag Title Match: Azumi Hyuga & Ran Yu-Yu vs. Tsubasa Kuragaki & Kayoko Haruyama 21:02. A consistently good match, but never anything more. It seemed kind of standard, but the work was strong and they kept the pace high. Hyuga & Ran worked at their typical high level, doing a nice job of carrying two opponents who are good enough to follow. There were some nice double team and mirror spots, particularly by the Hyuga team. Hyuga had an injured left elbow though a couple of times it seemed either elbow would do. Yuki Miyazaki & Tanny Mouse came in after the match and cracked jokes to set up the next title challenge. ***1/4
