OZ Academy Puroresu King #197 1/10/09 OZ-THE WINNER |
OZ Openweight Title Next Challenger Decision League 11/24/08 digest
11/24/08 OZ Openweight Title Next Challenger Decision League Match: Mayumi Ozaki vs. Aja Kong 2:53. Ozaki & Aja were tied with 5 points, so the winner would surpass AKINO (6) to take this block. Ozakigun blitzed Kong as soon as she came through the entrance, pulling her to the ring and quintuple teaming her as much as Jungle Jack 21 would let them get away with, which surprisingly was quite a bit. Ozaki's cronies kept coming at Aja from all sides and angles, and all piled on top of her for the pin after Ozaki's Oz kick as if it were an All Japan battle royal. With the pool being decided by such a lengthy, hard fought, classic match, every fan undoubtedly vowed to buy tickets to every future league and tournament show.
Hiren vs. Tomoka Nakagawa 6:39 of 7:10. The performers were adequate, but it wasn't much of a match because Police interfered anytime Nakagawa threatened to get something going. Given what they were planning in the main event, it's ridiculous that they had Police deciding this meaningless opener. There, his interference was capable of angering and annoying the crowd, but a few more shows of him interfering in even the opening match, and he'll simply be disinteresting. Hiren used chairs to the right leg to set up the ankle lock, but the leg was quickly forgotten once Nakagawa made one of her brief comebacks. *
Manami Toyota & Takako Inoue vs. Aja Kong & Hiroyo Matsumoto 10:20 of 15:10. Toyota changed the kanji in her first name now that's she's a heel in Ozakigun. It still spells Manami, but the ma kanji is the one that means demon or evil spirit and the nami is wave. Toyota is essentially wrestling in street clothes now, and I'm not sure if she was uncomfortable with her new costume or weighs a bit too much to optimally perform her brand of wrestling or was simply moving slowly, but she was definitely having an off day. It should have been good since battered and bloodied Aja was selling for Toyota a lot, but Toyota was having more trouble than usual lifting Aja for her suplexes and bombs. Takako seemed much quicker than Toyota, but wasn't doing any real wrestling. *1/4
Ran Yu-Yu & AKINO vs. Sonoko Kato & Misae Genki 8:43 of 20:41. As this was one of the best OZ Academy matches of the year, they decided to air as little as possible. What we saw was mostly AKINO vs. Kato, which was a very good thing as they were doing really well developed, one counter after another, sequences. Kato is more or less back to peak form, and while not as good as AKINO or Ran or Chikayo, she's a great opponent for all of them because she can handle anything they throw at her without slowing them down. Too bad Genki decided to retired a few weeks after this show because she was one of the only active big women that could still work. The finish was a bit shaky with AKINO and Kato starting at each other trying to get back on the same page, but otherwise everything was impressive. Very good match.
Dynamite Kansai Return Match: Dynamite Kansai vs. KAORU 1:20. This was Kansai's first match back since losing her hair in a tag match against Ozaki & KAORU on 8/10/08. Ozaki designated KAORU to supply another embarrassment, but Kansai returned with a vengeance, whipping the floor with KAORU in 80 seconds.
OZ Openweight Title Next Challenger Decision League Final: Mayumi Ozaki vs. Chikayo Nagashima 13:42. After Ozaki “earned” her spot in the finals against Nagashima on 11/24/08, Nagashima challenged Ozaki to prove she could still actually wrestle by agreeing not to use weapons or have the Ozakigun interfere at every turn. Ozaki agreed so Nagashima would have nothing to bitch about when she didn't beat her. Ozaki had put a 2 million yen bounty on Carlos Amano's head at the beginning of the league which would go to the winner if they were able to take the title from Carlos, so the stakes were high. To help ensure the money stayed in her pocket, after setting aside her weapons and instructing her cronies to watch from the back, Ozaki mentioned that, oh by the way, Police is the special ref. Chikako dominated the match, but couldn't get a pin because a normal person could count to 15 by the time Police slow counted 2. Ozaki wasn't doing much on her own, but would take control after Police's cheap shots, and Police nearly counted to 3 by the time the audience realized Ozaki was even trying a pin. Nagashima knew what she had to do, and with two low blow kicks followed by her diving footstomp to the balls, Police had to be replaced by the regular, less crooked OZ ref Sachiko Ito. At this point, apart from Ozaki loosing her footing on a shining wizard, the match got really good because Oz can, in fact, still wrestle when she feels like it. Unfortunately, just as Nagashima was about to pin Ozaki following her rolling footstomp, Police returned with a shining wizard, but Nagashima kicked out of the world's fastest count and kicked Police. Nagashima went to her other finisher, the fisherman buster, but Ozaki countered into a small package for the fast count victory. ***
