[1994-10-22-AJW-Tag League The Best] Manami Toyota vs Takako Inoue

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[ohtani's jacket]

This was okay, but it wasn't a very compelling performance from Takako and turned into just another Toyota match. Personally, I liked Takako's work from '93 better than this.

[Kevin Ridge]

Inoue uses a knee when she gets Toyota up for the tombstone. Seems like an obvious spot to do that but don’t see it often. We get another tombstone on the floor outside. Toyota gets slammed off the top rope and lands on her neck. Standard stuff from what I have been seeing of Toyota. Alright match in the end.

[Loss]

This match was solid, but didn't really make too much of an impression on me for the first half or so. Agreed with OJ that Takako - who controlled most of this - just didn't turn in a strong performance, at least at first, which is a shame, considering that she was the best worker in the tag match less than two weeks before this.

 

Takako seems to have an epiphany around the halfway point and amps up the aggression. Flipping off the crowd, throwing the rapid fire punches and all the other heel stuff was really well done, but it didn't have the heat it should have had because:

 

(1) Takako didn't really start heeling until halfway into the match. She was even rallying the crowd behind her offense early on.

 

(2) The first half of the match felt too disconnected from the second half.

 

Toyota gives Takako most of this match to strut her stuff. She sells a lot and does it really well. She gets angry and makes a big comeback after Takako's sudden heel onslaught, but again, the heat doesn't pick up as much as it should since Takako just flipped a switch randomly within the match. Too bad, because the work was really good and probably would have had the crowd rocking had it been preceded by better build.

 

The back half of this is good enough to consider this a good match, but it took them too long to get there.

[Exposer]

This didn't really do it for me. I don't like Toyota very much. It was okay and had some good stuff but there were a lot of dead spots in this for me. The finishing run was solid but this wasn't much to me.

[soup23]

Toyota was smooth again in this match and no big botches occurred. Inoue really disappointed me as I was hoping for significant heeling and didn't get it. Good match overall but underachieved.

[PeteF3]

Well, I'm the high vote on this it seems. This isn't a MOTY but I thought it was a hell of a match. The middle portion did drag a bit, but not as bad as the TC bout just before, and the opening and closing portions were stronger. I don't get the complaints about Takako not being aggressive enough. Dragging portions aside, she clobbers Manami before the bell and finds all sorts of innovative ways to abuse her, with a few moves that need to be stolen today: the chokeslam/backbreaker (perfect finisher for Reigns or one of the Wyatts), and picking Toyota up in a tombstone and repeatedly kneeing her in the face before doing the move, both of which were awesome. Also, accounting that the Masa Chono heel turn was around this time, she's the first puro worker since possibly Jumbo at his Kikuchi-abusing, Misawa-eye-gouging peak who's willing to come across as a thoroughly contemptible human being and not just grumpy and over-aggressive. Good near-falls toward the end that don't wear out their welcome and are all well-executed, and good build to the JOCS. No real issues here.

[Zenjo]

A fairly lengthy bout so the build was hold intensive. After taking 5m of solid back punishment Manami sold it not a jot. A bit your turn, my turn after that. I enjoyed Takako's heelishness, it increases her sex appeal as well. Toyota got angry with her at one point. There was definitely some spice after the tag bout. They went full out for the stretch but it didn't deliver as intended with the big moves and near falls. On another day it could've been a fair bit better. It wasn't one of Toyota's better performances. She wasn't adaptive enough. Doing move X at time Y no matter what. Despite the flaws it had a lively feel and entertainment value. Borderline top 100 for the year.