OZ Academy Puroresu King #40 2/15/06 |
Chikayo Nagashima vs. Kumiko Maekawa 12:42. Chikayo Nagashima is OZ Academy's version of Maekawa's greatest rival, Momoe Nakanishi, so even if Maekawa was nearly at the end of the line, this still had every reason to be an interesting match. Unfortunately, it was merely an annoying one, as Maekawa was given the star treatment over a peer who is a far superior in essentially every way. Nagashima sold all Maekawa's kicks, which by her standards were only average, as if she was clubbed by a baseball bat. As Maekawa was “too tough” for Nagashima to do any real damage to, she resigned herself to going for flash pins. All of this didn't ruin the match so much as the simple fact that Maekawa was just lethargic, showing no explosion at all. Nagashima took the pace down several notches, to the point her normally jaw dropping quick sequences were verging on deliberate. *1/2
Carlos Amano vs. Kaoru Ito 10:02 of 15:57. Ito apparently didn't get the memo that no one expects much from the undercard because she was bringing it from start to finish. Ito isn't as graceful as she used to be, but she can still go. I was hoping the former U*TOPS member would take better advantage of a rare opponent who can actually work on the mat, but alas Ito didn't deviate from her typical offense. She was more than willing to sell for Amano, so her knowledge of matwork and submission did come in handy, but on the other hand, her body control leaving something to be desired was the major downside of the entertaining match. Even if this victory was slightly flukish due to it coming on a small package, it was nonetheless a nice feather in Carlos' cap. **3/4
Mayumi Ozaki vs. Tomoko Watanabe 11:44 of 13:32. I don't mind that this wasn't a completely straight wrestling match as the previous two were, but I would have liked it to at least resemble wrestling or a match. Okay, maybe that's a bit harsh and overexaggerated, but while a bit of well timed interference can certainly add a dimension to a match, one shouldn't need a scorecard to keep track of who is hopping in and out. Whenever Ozaki and Watanabe were in the ring, another OZ Academy member or Ito or Maekawa or the entire brood were also in the ring. The rest of the time, they just fought outside the ring. Normally a match with countless saves would be dramatic, but, in addition to killing killed any flow the match could possibly have developed, the constant run-ins rendered me numb. It was never a question of if there would be a save, but rather how many milliseconds before the next in line could get out of the block and into the ring. *
Aja Kong & Misae Genki vs. Jaguar Yokota & Dynamite Kansai 12:44. I haven't seen much of Yokota lately, but I hope this match is no indication of her current state. She wasn't looking quick or athletic enough for her style of wrestling, and as a consequence she probably had more miscues than in the entire decade of the 1990's. The other three weren't exactly picking Jaguar up either. Kansai was fairly good, all things considered, but in general the match was in slow motion and the offense was far too light. It's hard function solely in power wrestler mode when the opposition is as huge as you are, but they seemed to try because they didn't feel like getting beat up. 3/4*
Mayumi Ozaki & Chikayo Nagashima & Carlos Amano vs. Manami Toyota & Meiko Satomura & Nanae Takahashi 23:27. It doesn't help to do a long match if you aren't going to take the early portion seriously. It wound up coming off as an exhibition because they were having too much fun, killing time with poster poses. The wrestling was eventually good, but the athletes have to play with intensity in order for the fans to observe with intensity. This was more like an all star game where even though they really stepped it up toward the end to try to win, by that point you couldn't forget that they were just out there to entertain. **1/4
