OZ Academy Puroresu King #6 7/9/05 The 11th OZ Academy |
Ran Yu-Yu & Toshie Uematsu vs. Azumi Hyuga & AKINO 3:36 of 12:05. Surely worth seeing in its entirety, but hard to get too excited about in this butchered form. They picked the match up with some excellent high flying action, but things quickly degenerated into chasing each other around the ring to telegraph the cheesy ringout finish.
Jaguar Yokota vs. The Bloody 1:17 of 8:01
Sugar Sato Flashback
Sugar Sato & Aky vs. Misae Genki & Kyoko Ichiki 2:45 of 8:14. I can't honestly say whether this was supposed to be a comedy match, or was simply too deliberate and contrived to take seriously. I guess it was for football fans because they did little beyond block and “tackle”?
Super Heel Devil Masami vs. Sugar Sato 2:55 of 3:10. I know Sato isn't going to beat anyone important at this point, but if the show is all about honoring her, why not provide an opponent she can have a competitive match with rather than a foe everyone knows will squash her? The fans didn't seem to take this seriously, or care, and Devil's ring entrance was probably longer than the actual match.
Ayako Hamada vs. Mirai 1:57 of 15:31.
Mixed Gender Match: Macho*Pump & Dynamite Kansai & Manami Toyota vs. Gran Hamada & Aja Kong & Kaoru Ito 1:53 of 20:23
Sugar Sato Retirement Match: Mayumi Ozaki & Carlos Amano vs. Sugar Sato & Chikayo Nagashima 21:27. The original OZ Academy members got together for one last time, delivering the sort of high quality match you'd expect from these four in 1997 when Ozaki was still at her peak and Sato was one of the most promising young women. The quality of work was certainly increased by their familiarity with one another, general good chemistry, and the desire to do something above the ordinary for Sato's farewell. While initially it was kind of an odd match due to Nagashima, Ozaki, & Amano stepping up the workrate while Sato, knowing she's too slow and heavy to take part in the high paced counter-laden style Nagashima was instilling, did comedy such as exchanging footstomps with her Iron Sheik curled-toe boots, even Sato was involved in some good wrestling segments by the end. Ozaki was at her 2005 peak and did an excellent job of carrying Sugar. She definitely seemed to benefit from having not worked earlier in the show as she was moving more freely, controlling her body better, and had more snap on her urakens. Probably more than anything though, wrestling her understudies transported her back to her mid 1990's JWP self when she was one of the couple best women in the world because she put the effort into her all around game to be that good. Ozaki pinned Sato in her tequila sunrise, but Nagashima continued wrestling so Sato could score the goodwill pin on Ozaki & Amano when she powerbombed Nagashima on top of both. Sato's retirement ceremony was the longest I can remember, some 13 minutes on the DVD and that was with editing out the time it took everyone on the card as well as the GAEA faithful such as Chigusa, Lioness, & Yamada to get in the ring to greet her. Finally, the original OZ Academy four did a final Bonzai pose and carried Sato off on their shoulders. ***1/4
Sugar Sato career retrospective
