[1993-01-15-JWP] Mayumi Ozaki & Dynamite Kansai vs Takako Inoue & Yumiko Hotta

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

The difference in 1993 and 1996 Joshi is pretty staggering. This match is already better than every single women's match on the 1996 set except possibly Kudo/Toyoda, and it's the first women's match of the year! I WANT A SINGLES MATCH BETWEEN HOTTA AND KANSAI. I guess it's a little late to request that. Believe it or not, this is the first time I have ever seen a Yumiko Hotta match, and I love the shooty stuff mixed in with pro stuff. Her kicks look great, and so does her spinning back elbow off the middle rope and even her chairshots! Is she already one of my favorite wrestlers? Kansai is so great in that she is perfectly capable of mixing it up with her in that style. Everyone kinda follows Hotta's lead in fact, as this is a pretty mat-based affair, although there's some great traditional stuff mixed in too, like Ozaki's DDT. I also all the leg submissions from everyone, and there is a more seamless and logical transition from move to move than there would be in most of the '96 stuff I saw. I LOVE the finish, as Takako has Ozaki in position for a German suplex, Kansai goes for a lariat to break it up, but Takako sees it coming and ducks, but then falls prey to what I think was a dragon suplex (hard to tell from the camera angle) from Ozaki. This whole match is an amazing combination of wrestling, brawling, heat, stiffness, matwork and execution.

[Ditch]

This is tremendous and I think is the kind of joshi match that ages well and should have broad appeal. I'd put it in the top 5 from '93 joshi and top 10 overall.

[benj]

Best match so far, just fucking fantastic from everyone. A match I can have repeat viewings and never get tired of it.

[El-P]

As I remember it, Hotta came close to ruining that one. The other three are so great she can't even do that, but still. Hotta sucked.

[Loss]

As I remember it, Hotta came close to ruining that one. The other three are so great she can't even do that, but still. Hotta sucked.

Hotta was great here. Everyone was, really, but I loved her working style. I also have to give Kansai and Ozaki tons of credit for working to her strengths and staying on the mat. What a great team.

[El-P]

There's not many joshi worker I actively can't stand, but Hotta sure became one of this very restricted club when I watched shiloads of early 90's joshi some time ago. I was never a big fan, but man this girl took a nosedive on my scale. My recollection of this match is "Thank god for Inoue, and thank god for Oz & Dyno, they are so good they can't get dragged down by Hotta who I thought sucked ass here". Hotta kicks hard, and usually with no notion of protecting her opponent, and that's about it. She's a terrible mat worker, she's mediocre at everything else, she's sloppy and dangerous, she's selfish, she acts like she's a big star and doesn't give shit to whomever she works with to protect her gimmick. I can't stand her. She was involved in a number of great matches because she was surrounded by the best of the best in a era where the level of work was ridiculously high, but that's about it. I'd be happy to never have to watch anything involving Hotta ever again, really.

[FLIK]

I WANT A SINGLES MATCH BETWEEN HOTTA AND KANSAI. I guess it's a little late to request that.

Wasn't something I felt strong enough to really fight for in the pimping thread over at Death Valley but their 4/2/93 singles match was really good.

 

The 60 minute draw re-match between these 2 teams on 6/3 is worth tracking down as well.

[Ditch]

I recently re-watched Hotta vs Kansai and thought it was a mess. Hotta isn't good with things like structure and holding a match together.

[MJH]

I'm not so keen on their singles match from Dream Slam as well, but this was one of the rare times I didn't find Hotta to be as annoying as usual. But everything else Jerome said, more or less, I'm in agreement with; I had to take a break from watching more 1993 Joshi after how sickened I was by her match with Fukuoka from July 4th.

 

This match, though, yes, I liked a lot. Their 60:00 is a bit too long for them, but I enjoyed it immensely, especially Ozaki down the stretch.

[El-P]

Wait a minute, now that I think of it, the match I'm refering too involves Fukuoka I think, and that's the one which Hotta really came close to ruining because she treated Fukuoka like a jobber. I guess Hotta had to be more cooperative here, I don't remember the specifics though. Still, that doesn't change one bit of what I said about Hotta.

[Ditch]

Wait a minute, now that I think of it, the match I'm refering too involves Fukuoka I think, and that's the one which Hotta really came close to ruining because she treated Fukuoka like a jobber. I guess Hotta had to be more cooperative here, I don't remember the specifics though. Still, that doesn't change one bit of what I said about Hotta.

You should re-watch this one. I'm no fan of lazy/uncooperative Hotta, so trust me when I say she isn't in this.

[Phil Austin]

My favourite thing on the set to this point. I LOVED this. Just a tremendous match and one I could rewatch forever (although the kicking that Inoue took was really uncomfortable viewing at points!)

[NintendoLogic]

The main problem I had with the match was the blown spots. I don't demand robotically precise execution in my matches, and the botches didn't detract from my enjoyment of Punk/Cena at all. But there have to be some standards, especially when they're this egregious. Like the spot where Takako starts to go for a suicide dive, stops in her tracks, walks up to the ropes, and does a weak little double axehandle off the apron. And the Jackie Gayda-level bad blown armdrag. And Kansai nearly dropping Takako on her head during the first Splash Mountain attempt. On that note, I did like Hotta trying to salvage it by running in and trying to make it look like she broke it up. Match was fine otherwise.

[FLIK]

I don't know much about any of the participants. Sadly, but I could still really feel emotion. Could anybody tell me about the girls involved?

Heh, what do you wanna know?

 

Random background info for this match atleast.

 

It's a follow up to the OZ/Fukuoka vs Hotta/Takako match from December 92

http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?showtopic=14007

 

AJW = Largest & #1 joshi promotion at the time.

 

Hotta = Upper mid carder in AJW, spent most of 92 doing diddly squat but the company decided to give her another push in the latter part of the year. Pretty polarizing figure due to the style she works (very stiff), some like her, some think she's the worst ever. I fall somewhear in between, she has her flaws but has been in a ton of great matches over the years.

 

Takako = Mid carder at the time in AJW. Was mostly known as as a technical wrestler up until this point. Spent most of 92 having competitve matches with anyone on her level and getting the dog crap kicked out of her by anyone above her level. Only started developing her trademark more agressive, tougher, bitchy side in very late 92/early 93.

 

Takako & Hotta as a team, not regular partners at the time but they'd become that way as 93 went on. This was very early on in the interpromotional feud so they were sent off to JWP as scraficial lambs pretty much. 2 girls with just enough of a name that you buy them going toe to toe with the top girls from the other promotion but not enough of a name that it's really a big deal they lost.

 

JWP = The distant #2 women's promotion at the time. The WCW to AJW's WWF.

 

Kansai = Ace of the promotion, had just been crowned the companies first singles champion a few months earlier.

 

Ozaki = #3 on the JWP pecking order behind Kansai & Devil Masami. Wasn't full on heel back then in the traditional way we think but was close. Went full heel a few years later and is one of the best ever. 1/2 of the JWP tag champions with Cuty Suzuki at the time, wasn't a reg partner of Kansai and infact was a big rival of hers but they'd team up to fight for the honor of the company.

 

20 years later all 4 are still active to varying degrees.

Ozaki runs her own promotion now called OZ Academy which Kansai and Takako work for, they run about 1 to 3 shows per month and ocasionally take outside bookings. Hotta freelances around but mainly works for the smaller Reina promotion though I think she's out injured at the moment.

[FLIK]

Got around to re-watching this today.

I've seen it several times in the past, the action is great and speaks for itself. Just a notch below Dream Rush in that department. What I picked up more on this time was the little things and how well booked the story was. This was absolutely 100% designed to get you hyped for a Hotta/Kansai singles match, they went at it just enough to leave you satisfied and get you excited for it but held back enough as to not blow their wad. They also did a good job of setting up more OZ/Takako fun down the line. Also dug how well they kept to the heirarchy of things with Takako working as weak link of the match. It was subtle but they did a lot to further that aspect. Tak got a lot of offense in but almost none of it came by herself, almost every time it was because Hotta took down OZ or Kansai first ad then Tak came in and continued the beat down until. Also great job of keeping Kansai strong too with very few moments whear she was in significant trouble. After the events of the Fukuoka match last month Kansai was brought in to be the heavy hitter and that's pretty much what she did.

 

The main problem I had with the match was the blown spots. I don't demand robotically precise execution in my matches, and the botches didn't detract from my enjoyment of Punk/Cena at all. But there have to be some standards, especially when they're this egregious.

Really think this is overblowing things. Aside from the mistimed arm drag nothing was that horrible looking and out of a 30 minute match the sloppy action probably amounted to like 30 seconds worth.

[Matt Franklin]

This was a tremendous match, and really sets the tone for the awesome year in Joshi that 93 would become. Takako takes a hellacious beating in this match but keeps on fighting despite being over matched. As stated earlier, Kansai and Hotta give just enough to make you really want to see a singles match between the two ass kickers. Ozaki was great as always, with tremendous facials and intensity. They really make 30 minutes fly by, and never once does the match drag. The perts that weren't executed very well were very minor in the grand scheme of things and did not effect my enjoyment of the match whatsoever.

 

For my personal tastes, I have this slightly below the Clash tag, but I think the Clash match was absolutely brilliant so that is still quite high praise. I look forward to seeing more from Ozaki and Kansai through the year, as I know Dynamite especially has a killer 93.

[BackToBionic]

First time I've seen this match. Great stuff. The last few minutes are especially crazy.

[Kevin Ridge]

Ozaki is one of my fave Joshi wrestlers. Some fantastic action in the last few minutes. Much more interesting than the Joshi been watching in 90-91. Audience is much different going from the screeching female fans to a more heavily vocal male fanbase in this match.

[Zenjo]

Damn this was hot. A ***** crowd and parts of the match were also at that level. The stiffness and intensity of the Hotta vs Kansai rivalry was off the scale. Dyno was out for revenge for Fukuoka's beating and the two losses that her promotion had suffered. They both brutalised each other but it wasn't just that. Both partners absorbed a horrendous beating as the two badasses goaded each other. Amazing stuff. Despite the focus being on the two kickers Ozaki managed to make herself a factor in the match. Early on Takako was only required to have her ass kicked. Unfortunately the head kicks must have left her groggy as later on she messed up some moves and dragged it down a little. Had she been at her best this would've been one of my favourite matches of all time. It was still a classic with two great performances.

[slabinski611]

[quote

 

The 60 minute draw re-match between these 2 teams on 6/3 is worth tracking down as well.

 

 

Is the 60 minute match online anywhere ?

[PeteF3]

Another interpromotional war--obviously this couldn't live up to the Dream Rush match but it was a hell of a war. I can't believe Kansai didn't die on that crossed-arms piledriver thing, and of course the kicks were borderline uncomfortable to watch, both from Kansai and Hotta. Inoue is sort of portrayed as the weak link here and she does the predictable job, though the ending itself is kind of nifty. As intense as the action was this still meandered a bit and the blown spots were quite noticeable--namely that awful armdrag and one of the worst pin saves ever--Hotta just brushes one of the JWP girls who makes no attempt to move off Inoue, who makes no attempt to kick out or lift her shoulder. That's picking nits because this is the best match of January so far, but I don't really see this holding up as a MOTY. Perhaps for joshi.

[WingedEagle]

I came into this without any hype or notion of what to expect. Wow. Talk about pleasant surprises.

 

We get a tense handshake to start and a crowd that is super hot right away. Quick, intense trading of strikes between Hotta & Kansai early and this would continue throughout. Kansai destroys Takako with kicks and a sleeper before Hotta kicks her brains in. We then get a reverse chinlock, but this is not Rick Rude or Randy Orton style. This is wrenched and worked as a legitimate impact hold. Oz gets a turn to have her face kicked in but roars back with a sick DDT on Hotta, who continues what has to be her career performance with an inverted gutwrench and absolutely sick piledriver / power bomb on Oz. The heat for AJW as heels here is just off the chats, and continues with chair shots and brawling outside.

 

Yeah, the Takako armdrag spot is completely blown but turn your attention to Hotta taunting the crowd and ladies kicking each other's heads in and you'll move right past it. Hot sequence with Hotta laying out Oz with a lariat, then eating a Kansai lariat, who goes down for a Takako dropkick. Hotta hits a *disgusting* piledriver on Kansai, but Oz breaks it up. The finishing stretch is great with rapid bombs, saves, stiffness and hate. Oz finally pins Takako with a dragon suplex after a strong run ton of counters at 29:44. What an incredible match. Big JWP celebration afterwards with crowd chanting Ozaki. They bring a picture of someone into the ring and it seems like a hell of a joyous scene.

 

I have the Hotta/Kansai match from Dream Slam on another comp and definitely need to give it another look, although I know it never reached anything like this level.

 

At this point its certainly my MOTY through the first 3 months.

 

****1/2

[soup23]

Great , great stuff just behind Flair vs. Hart for me. Kansai is probably my favorite joshi worker at this point and she was super in this acting like the ace of the little brother promotion and going toe to toe with Hotta. Inoue being the clear #4 here was also a neat dynamic. I am not justifying a few of the blown spots she had and that prevents this from being a sure fire MOTYC for me, but it kind of makes sense from a META level as Inoue was over her head in this particular match. The kicks, and intertwining stories made this draining to watch and I can't wait to consume all of the 1993 joshi. (****1/2)

[WingedEagle]

I will always love the love for this generally unheralded bit of greatness. There are better matches both within and and without joshi on the year, but this held up as a personal favorite because of just how far it went above and beyond expectations.