[1996-06-16-JWP-Extreme J Night] Dynamite Kansai & Kanako Motoya vs Mayumi Ozaki & Reiko Amano

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

They waste no time getting started, with Ozaki and Amano jumping their opponents mid-ring entrance, which isn't something I've seen that many times in Japan. Has the feeling of a grudge match that settles into a wrestling match. JWP is so much easier to watch than AJW because there's a much bigger emphasis on getting the match over as opposed to the wrestlers in it. It's reminiscent of the old Benoit/Guerrero "make you care about a match" versus "make you care about a wrestler" argument. In the context of a yearbook, especially in a promotion without a ton fo week-to-week stuff, the "make you care about a match" approach works better. There's also more emphasis on matwork, selling and grudges. Part of that may just be that Toyota is on top during AJW at this time and had the biggest influence on the style. But the way this is wrestled really has more in common with a typical All Japan tag match than a typical All Japan Women tag match.

 

Another parallel to All Japan is how they call back to older styles with modern offense mixed in. Maybe you could argue that Reiko Amano doing the Moolah snapmares here is JWP's version of Kobashi doing the rolling cradle in a big match.

 

Anyway, after the initial flurry when things calm down, this settles into a very matwork-heavy match, with lots of surfboards, Fujiwara armbars, sharpshooters, etc. It's not a perfect analogy because there are quite a few things out of sync, but chalk it up to style differences. Great match, super even, and one that feels like a bit of a lost classic in a year where no one really talks about Joshi at all.

[FLIK]

They waste no time getting started, with Ozaki and Amano jumping their opponents mid-ring entrance, which isn't something I've seen that many times in Japan. Has the feeling of a grudge match that settles into a wrestling match. JWP is so much easier to watch than AJW because there's a much bigger emphasis on getting the match over as opposed to the wrestlers in it. It's reminiscent of the old Benoit/Guerrero "make you care about a match" versus "make you care about a wrestler" argument. In the context of a yearbook, especially in a promotion without a ton fo week-to-week stuff, the "make you care about a match" approach works better. There's also more emphasis on matwork, selling and grudges. Part of that may just be that Toyota is on top during AJW at this time and had the biggest influence on the style. But the way this is wrestled really has more in common with a typical All Japan tag match than a typical All Japan Women tag match.

Re the grudge aspect - OZ & Kansai were always long term rivals on & off. Even the Toyota/Yamada tags were more about them teaming up out of company pride then friendship as they weren't ever a regular team. They'd been heavily feuding for much of 95 as well including 3 really great street fights that year (2 singles & opposite sides with Chigusa & Devil in the main event of the 1st GAEA show).

 

Re being more mat work heavy then AJW - that was always more JWP's style but it was mostly born out of necesity then anything as they had a very thin roster & couldn't put on as many matches per show so they'd regularly stretch things out by doing long ass main events.

[El-P]

The two things I remember about Kanako Motoya (or Kana Mizaki), is that she was a good matworker, and that was she hot as hell. JWP was such a great little promotion.

[ohtani's jacket]

I really dug not only this but everything about OZ Academy that year, from the Amano pledging angle to all their matches in GAEA. 1996 was the high point of Ozaki's career, IMO.

[rzombie1988]

Another parallel to All Japan is how they call back to older styles with modern offense mixed in. Maybe you could argue that Reiko Amano doing the Moolah snapmares here is JWP's version of Kobashi doing the rolling cradle in a big match.

No.

[El-P]

I really dug not only this but everything about OZ Academy that year, from the Amano pledging angle to all their matches in GAEA. 1996 was the high point of Ozaki's career, IMO.

Whaou. For once I agree with Dan on joshi. Oz was never more fun that in 96, and I loved the Amano angle.

[Tim Evans]

JWP is so much easier to watch than AJW because there's a much bigger emphasis on getting the match over as opposed to the wrestlers in it.

I gotta disagree. To a Joshi novice like myself, JWP is much harder to watch. Maybe it's because I don't know who these women are or the stories but this just felt like a bunch of overkill. At the end of the match, not only did I not care about any of the four, I had trouble even remembering anything. And the way they do Irish Whips and drop kicks 90% of the match still bothers me.

[Zenjo]

The Yearbook debuts of two of the JWP class of '94. Montoya was such a sweetheart outside of the ring. But put a Joshi wrestler inside the ropes and the transformation usually occurs. She really stood up to Ozaki, showing fire and determination. Carlos was an eager young lad. She and her teacher concentrated on Dyno's knee to cut her down to size. Kansai's selling was excellent. I liked how all four individual matchups had strong dynamics. With fine workrate allied to the psychology I enjoyed this a lot. The vets did such a great job in guiding the youngsters and putting them over within reason. JWP and GAEA did this so much better in the mid 90's than AJW did.

[PeteF3]

Really good stuff here, as Oz and Kansai sort of move to the background and let the junior team members shine. Of course having said that, Kansai's buggered leg is the overarching story of the match. This is a JWP-style matwork-based match worked at an AJW pace, if that makes sense. Poor Montoya practically gets her arm ripped out of joint, but pulls a sunset flip out of her rear end to score a (controversial) 3-count. I think you've got a strong argument that your shoulder was in fact up, Reiko.

[soup23]

Pretty fab match overall. We get a nice brawl at the start and this did a really good job much like the previous New Japan tag of showcasing the lesser members of the team without them feeling insignificant. Here they played into the finish and really cranked some nasty submissions on each other. Ozaki and Kansai being two of my favorite joshi workers ever provide great hate and purpose to everything going on. Finish is indecisive in a way but made me want to seek out more from the feud overall. ****

[tim]

Alright, a rare good 1996 joshi match! Ozaki and Kansai were the big names but I really thought Motoya and Amano were the stars of this match. Both turned in really spirited performances. They brawl to start and Ozaki attacks Kansai's leg, a theme that dominates the rest of the match. Ozaki and Amano just zero in on that leg and direct almost all their offense against Kansai on it; Amano is especially vulture-like going after the leg and it's great. Kansai becomes increasingly debilitated leaving Motoya to take lots of damage. Kansai is briefly able to overcome and fire off some big offense. Ending is awesome -- Amano scores a Fujiwara armbar on Motoya coming off the top rope and really wrenches back on it while Ozaki have Kansai restrained on the outside. But Motoya gets to the ropes and on her way back to her feet catching Amano in a roll-up for the win. Awesome ending to a great match.