[1995-09-03-AJW-Grand Prix] Manami Toyota vs Yumiko Hotta

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Hotta with long hair instead of a crewcut?? I'm stunned.

 

Early in the match, Toyota ties her arms up in the ropes and starts kicking her in face, which I'm sure makes Hotta haters happy.

 

Toyota has had quite the rollercoaster over the previous few days, but I think I like this match the best of the three because she's so sympathetic. Hotta stomps a mudhole in her and she sells it very well. She seems desperate for the match to end and keeps trying everything she can think of just to cut Hotta off so she can leave the match alive, and nothing works. She doesn't do much in terms of offense, and when she does, it's focused on just ending this damn match. Hotta gets exhausted over time from trying to take her out and beats herself. She realizes this and starts just trying to end the match too, but Toyota keeps kicking out. Awesome match!

 

I wish Toyota would just drop the table stuff all together, but at least Hotta kicked her in the stomach on the way down, so maybe she will learn her lesson. Other than that, this is the bees knees.

[Tim Evans]

Kick Kick Kick Kick. Most of the match was just that. I didn't like this too much. Hotta was kinda boring and 1995 Toyota isn't impressing me like 1996 Toyota did.

[PeteF3]

Interesting stylistic match-up here, between two ladies who tend to want to impose their will on their opponent and the match. This was pretty awesome--Toyota's greatest psychological strength is the ability to project sympathy, as Loss says. She takes great bumps and is so flexible that submission holds have an added effect when applied to her. And she's not afraid to let Hotta kick the shit out of her. When on offense, she has to play hit-and-run to avoid Hotta's strikes, which adds a bit of a psychological edge to Toyota's usual go-go-go style. Tons of hot near-falls down the stretch--maybe a few too many, but this isn't nearly as bloated as many other joshi 2.9-fests. Plus the ladies continue to sell after kicking out, instead of popping right back up. Toyota not being able to properly execute the JOCS was a great touch to add to one of Hotta's kickouts, whether that was intentional or not--if it wasn't, it was one of those blown spots that enhances a match rather than detracts. Toyota has too much taken out of her to apply her finisher, but manages to sucker Hotta into putting herself in a vulnerable position on the turnbuckles, using the corner as leverage to apply the move for the win. Really great, clever finish to a fine match. I think I liked this better than Hotta/Kong--Kong simply overpowered and smothered Hotta in that one, while Toyota finds a way to work around Hotta's worst tendencies and uses them to add to the match.

[ohtani's jacket]

Kick, kick, kick, single leg Boston... this was a match that highlighted the crappiness of Yumiko Hotta. Manami tried her best to make this memorable but unfortunately that meant her lying around selling a lot while Hotta bored the crap out of me. Fairly standard stretch run, and a botched finish which Hotta clearly affected by raising her shoulders off the mat. Really poor compared to the Kandori bout.

[Microstatistics]

Toyota gets way too much flak for her selling. It might have been lacking during a few spotfests in her career but she can be really great at it in other situations. In fact, her selling held together Hotta's control segment here. She was awesome here: making Hotta look badass while working really well from underneath. The nearfalls near the end were really well done and convincing (though they did 1-2 too many I feel). Really good/borderline great match. *** 3/4

[Zenjo]

A strong start as Toyota lays in some vicious kicks. She would usually increase the stiffness level when facing the tough girls. However she'd been through 2 brutal matches during golden week and Hotta was soon able to establish control. The Assault Machine dished out no end of punishment, looking powerful and in command. Combined with Toyota's excellent selling the fans were as firmly behind the golden girl as they ever were. I should think most of the crowd at Korakuen had also been rocking the Ryogoku the previous night. Manami survived all that was thrown at her (and that was a lot) before coming back to win.

 

Not everything was done right. The execution was generally good, but some of the near falls weren't great. Agree on there being a couple too many. Whilst the details weren't perfect, the match as a whole was very satisfying. A full out showcase as you'd expect from a big tournament final. The psychology and layout were sound. Toyota had established herself as the #1 contender and the woman to bring the title back home to AJW. So they accomplished the storyline objective and sent the fans home happy.