Loss Posted October 12, 2011 Report Share Posted October 12, 2011 Talk about it here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted November 16, 2011 Author Report Share Posted November 16, 2011 As gimmick matches go, this is one of the better ones I've ever seen. I think what makes it work is that despite the fact that it's a total brawl, it has all the same ebb and flow of a great wrestling match. It's a Come As You Are streetfight, with Kansai looking awesome in fatigues. It's a little uncomfortably violent at times, but it feels more like a movie fight scene than a wrestling match because they milk the drama so much. Weapons are used gratuitously -- check out Kansai wrapping a chain around her boot for a high kick or Ozaki putting a dog collar on Kansai and running around ringside and purposely crashing her into the guardrai repeatedly -- and Ozaki is mostly dominant throughout this. There are a few spells where Kansai makes a high-energy comeback that doesn't last long, which to me are the best points of the match. Kansai's face looks terrible. They actually brawl all the way to the arena entrance and even outside before making their way back. What separates this from the ECW stuff is the intensity associated with the spots. Powerbombs and piledrivers on tables are something you'd see in a garbage promotion for sure, but it seems far less hokey here because they aren't treated as routine signature spots. This is an outpouring of hatred. That said, the finish of Ozaki getting a flash pin off of a powerbomb attempt was very ECW in how out of nowhere it was. They probably did a few too many nearfalls toward the end, but they did a great job of putting Ozaki over. Time for a booking question: Is it likely the decision had already been made to move the WWWA title to Kansai by this time? And by the same token, did they likely already know Toyota would beat her in December? If so, I don't understand why Ozaki went over when they didn't have time to make her a challenger. I realize I'm crossing promotions, so maybe it's something that JWP wouldn't have needed to consider. Was this the climax of the feud these two had been having for years? Is this considered their best match? It's definitely the best of the ones I've seen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FLIK Posted November 16, 2011 Report Share Posted November 16, 2011 Glad you enjoyed this, it's pretty high up there among my favorite matches. Quote It's a Come As You Are streetfight, with Kansai looking awesome in fatigues. JWP called them "Wild Dress Up Fights", it was the promotion's big signature grudge match, similar to how AJW used the cage so you'll be seeing a lot more over the years (well a lot is stretching since they were still rare but there's several more to come). Quote Is it likely the decision had already been made to move the WWWA title to Kansai by this time? It's possible but I doubt it. I personally don't think they made that call until after Toyota allready won the belt but i'm basing that 100% on hunch. I mean, Kansai beating Toyota for it makes no sense given the story they'd had of Kansai chasing Aja all that time so I fig they just flash changed it back to Aja just so they could wrap that up. If the plan all along was to have Toyota over Kansai they didn't really need to delay that until the end of the year and could have just done Aja > Kansai > Toyota straight rather then Aja > Toyota > Aja > Kansai > Toyota. Quote If so, I don't understand why Ozaki went over when they didn't have time to make her a challenger. Not sure what you mean by didn't have time to make her a challenger. Either way, AJW wouldn't have gone for letting JWP do a JWP vs JWP 3WA match at that time I don't think. The money is in the home company chasing the outsider to get their belt back anyways. Course, AJW were only willing to sacrafice Takako for the cause but still Quote Was this the climax of the feud these two had been having for years? Heh, not even close. Just this year alone you've got 2 more street fights with them. Heck, they're still feuding today. They're kinda like Lawler/Dundee or Sting/Flair or whoever, on & off mortal enemies for all of eternity pretty much. Quote Is this considered their best match? It's definitely the best of the ones I've seen. Among a lot of people it is. Personally I think the July 95 match is the far superior one and that would be my pick. This one is on a comm release whear as July is from tv so this is the more famous, well known of their series however. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdw Posted November 16, 2011 Report Share Posted November 16, 2011 Aja --> Toyota --> Aja --> Kansai --> Toyota *wasn't* the plan at this moment. They were pushing Hokuto vs the winner (Toyota) for later in the year. That match got announced as the 9/2 Budokan, with PR and tickets (including the two signing autographs on the first day of ticket sales). Hokuto was working a very limited schedule, largely the big shows. It was pretty well assumed that it would be for Big Red. They changed their minds around the time of the title change, and also announced the Osaka card. Kansai challenged Kong after Kong got Big Red back and at the time it seemed like: Aja-Kansai Big Red winner vs Hokuto-Toyota winner at the year ending card. It struck me at time time that of course Kansai was going to win (0-3 vs Kong). I was happy to be right about that one... only wish I wrote for the Torch at the time because I would have tossed it into my recap of the second Toyota-Kong title change. There was some spec that Hokuto would beat Toyota and then beat Kansai to finally win Big Red... leaving them a big Hokotu defense for Queendom in 1996. Instead, Toyota beat Hokuto and won the Grand Prix to set her up for the year end card. Hokuto worked for AJW less than one would have thought. It was a strange year. John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FLIK Posted November 16, 2011 Report Share Posted November 16, 2011 at the time it seemed like: Aja-Kansai Big Red winner vs Hokuto-Toyota winner at the year ending card. There was some spec that Hokuto would beat Toyota and then beat Kansai to finally win Big Red... leaving them a big Hokotu defense for Queendom in 1996. JGP winner was who traditionally got the year end title shot. Would have been interesting if they'd had Hokuto just leap frog Toyota like that because what do you do then? Hokuto > Toyota 9/2, Toyota still wins JGP 9/3, Hokuto > Kansai for 3WA in Dec. Do you just not give the JGP winner their title shot? If not that kinda naturally would set up Toyota as Hokuto's 1st challenger and then you're faced with either Toyota loses to her again (which probably would have been pretty damaging to Toyota) or they hotshot the belt again with Toyota winning and cutting off the long awaited Hokuto title run. They probably made the better choice avoiding that whole mess Hokuto worked for AJW less than one would have thought. Well, after Bigg Egg she didn't really show up again until Arpil for the North Korea tour which is about a 5-6 month absense. Then after that she hooked up with Kensuke. Dunno if she was working house shows or not but by about late July-August she was back appearing pretty reg on the shows that made tape atleast with her & Shimoda getting the tag belts in Sept. Not sure when she officially left but in 96 she pretty much disapeared from AJW after they droped the belts back to W Inoue in Jan and didn't pop back up in Japan until she joined GAEA in Oct. Dunno if she worked any WCW/CMLL in the meantime and i'd assume somewhear in all of this she just wanted a break to spend more time with Kensuke. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdw Posted November 17, 2011 Report Share Posted November 17, 2011 Traditionally, but it wasn't always a lock. 1988: Bull didn't get a title shot. Instead Lioness faced Chigusa. 1989: Mitsuko Nishiwaki didn't get a title shot. Lioness retired before the tourney ended. This one had an easy out built in. Toyota would have lost to Hokuto the day before winning the tourney. Hokuto "earned" the right to face Dynamite, while Toyota would want to face her when she beat Dynamite. Hokuto was around enough to be in the Tag League. She wasn't on Monday Night Sensation, nor was Shimoda... which was rather odd. They teamed in the Tag Leauge... injury? John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FLIK Posted November 17, 2011 Report Share Posted November 17, 2011 Hokuto was around enough to be in the Tag League. She wasn't on Monday Night Sensation, nor was Shimoda... Yeah they were, dunno why but it got left off some results sites that list the card. Hokuto & Shimoda fought Lioness in a handicap match followed by Hokuto & Shimoda vs each other. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdw Posted November 17, 2011 Report Share Posted November 17, 2011 Yeah... looked at a results page rather than the WON. John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Evans Posted March 14, 2012 Report Share Posted March 14, 2012 This match sucked until Kansai hit a gusher and they decided to go into the ring. The "lets drag each other by the hair through the audience and choke each other with chains" got old about a minute in. Once they got in the ring, it got good even though I hate the finish. I get piledrivers are sold like a dropkick in Japan but god damn. Ozaki is piledriven through a table and no sells it 2 minutes later? Like what the hell? I'm not expecting her to sell it like death but still. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeteF3 Posted September 3, 2014 Report Share Posted September 3, 2014 MOTY (to this point) as far as I'm concerned. It's not a perfect match--as already mentioned, the ending is pretty wonky. I mean, it's not a bad finish in a vacuum, but it seems out of place here. But for as long as it was this never really wore out its welcome, and these two know how to lay a match out in addition to showing violent intense hatred. Each lady is in control for extended periods and the other has to make a more gradual comeback before they can sustain offense of their own, and they incorporate wrestling moves into the garbage brawling pretty effectively. And some great creative use for the chain all throughout the match. The brawl outside was crazy as well, including the "found footage" handheld camcorder stuff. I only knew these two as an outsider tag team facing the AJW girls, so what caused the fallout? Or were they already enemies who were just aligning for promotional pride reasons? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohtani's jacket Posted May 17, 2016 Report Share Posted May 17, 2016 I never much cared for the Kansai vs. Ozaki street fights, but after watching the GAEA main event I thought I'd check them out again. The 3/95 one has some good moments, but it's incredibly violent and I wasn't cool with the horrific blade job Kansai did. I know there's no relation but all I could think about was how she got sick a few years later. Don't think I needed to see that shit. Haven't watched the second fight yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohtani's jacket Posted May 17, 2016 Report Share Posted May 17, 2016 I only knew these two as an outsider tag team facing the AJW girls, so what caused the fallout? Or were they already enemies who were just aligning for promotional pride reasons? JWP was such a small promotion with such a thin roster that all the girls wound up being rivals who sometimes tagged, sometimes beat the living shit out of each other. The original JWP had a deeper roster and was more faction based. Once they split and Kansai was positioned as the "ace" of JWP Project (if such a promotion can have an ace), she needed challengers and Devil, Ozaki and Cuty became their main rivals as they looked to build Fukuoka up as the heir apparent. The Ozaki/Kansai feud began in earnest prior to Dream Rush with two singles matches in I think May and July of '92 and grew from there. Even when they were tagging together against AJW, they were feuding in their home promotion. During the window between the first Dream Rush tag and the Dream Slam rematch, Ozaki and Cuty fought with Devil and Kansai over the JWP tag belts. Later on when JWP got a few more young girls there was less shuffling about and more Kansai & young partner vs. Ozaki & young partner type stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zenjo Posted May 6, 2017 Report Share Posted May 6, 2017 A Street Fight that quite literally lived up to its billing at one point. The fighting began during the entrances and they had me on board all the way. The high intensity was maintained and they had a strong rivalry to build off. The hardcore environment proved to be a great leveller as Ozaki could go toe to toe with the more powerful Kansai. A chain was frequently used along with other plunder, including the dismantled ring ropes. Dyno bled profusely. All over the ring and floor. There was one sick moment when Oz sucked up some of her opponents blood and spat it at the ref! She bladed herself but nowhere near as heavily. Only high impact moves were utilised along with the brawling offence. That's a sound approach for hardcore matches. I'd have preferred a more conclusive ending than Ozaki winning with a flash pin. Aside from that this had all the right ingredients. Excellent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calvin Posted March 27, 2023 Report Share Posted March 27, 2023 Ozaki winning this with a flash pin after no-selling a piledriver through the table took some wind out of this match's sails, but this is otherwise a great, sprawling brawl that really cements how violent and vicious Ozaki can be despite her dainty appearance. ***3/4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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