[1994-11-20-AJW-Big Egg Universe] Yumiko Hotta vs Combat Toyoda

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[FLIK]

Heh, so did this make it on based purely on past rep or did someone actually go to bat for it?

[Loss]

Rep.

[MJH]

I'll watch Big Egg again sometime soon... but, yeah, don't recall liking this much. Not quite the disaster that Yoshida/Sakie was, but Grade A shit for Hotta haters.

[FLIK]

Rep.

Ah, figured. There's a few ppl who went gaga over it back in the day like Quebrada Mike but I don't know anyone anymore who actually agrees with that assesment. I actually do like Hotta vs Combat a lot myself but there's a billion matches in 94 I thought were better & or more historically significant that could have made it in it's place.

[Loss]

Even if it doesn't hold up, Lorefice giving a match ****3/4 makes it a lock.

 

That said, I think we did an excellent job representing Joshi on this set. We made less cuts than we have on any set so far.

[Kevin Ridge]

My only experience with this show was the clip of the Women’s title change on WWF TV. I’ve heard it was an insanly long show with tons of matches. Hotta and Toyoda do a lot of chatter back and forth while in a submission move. Hotta botches spinning heel kick really bad off the top rope. She goes up and does same move again. Ugh, why bother. Hotta gets all annoyed at the referee and pushes him down. She ends up getting suplexed and pinned. After the match, she tries to beat up the referee. This was just okay but not close to five stars.

[Loss]

This really didn't make an impression on me. It was a fine, but not anything really memorable. It is interesting that for Hotta's reputation as this no-selling bitch, I keep finding match after match after match that is pretty evenly contested.

[Exposer]

This was okay. I was bored for the first half and the second half was solid but didn't blow me away. Hotta didn't seem too terrible but didn't impress me at all here.

[soup23]

I thought this was very good and stiff. It is not something that will make my top 100 or anything but as far as execution of a match, I thought for example it was much more sucessful than the Hart tag on Raw. Hotta has been really good this year and is featured in 3 of my top 50 matches.

[Badlittlekitten]

After watching this for the first time I'm surprised by the slightly negative views on this match. I'm slogging my way through Big Egg at the moment and this has easily been the best match so far. Loved Combat repaying Hotta's stiff strikes with the STARE OF DEATH and, in one of the match highlights, spitting in Hotta's face. There's hate in the air. Glorious hate. Hotta doesn't always bother with the 'looking vulnerable' thing in wrestling but she does it pretty well during this match, and I got a kick out of her puffed out cheeks and the "I'm about to puke!" face during the figure four spot. There was a nice little bit where Combat lifted her into the firemens carry position but Hotta escapes, but before you can say "swift boot to the mush" Toyoda shows that she was ready all along with a boot of her own to shove her away and lays her out with a clothesline. I really didn't mind the high impact stuff filling out a large portion of the match. I guess the sight of relatively large girls doing forceful looking powerbombs and germans off the turnbuckle was enough to impress me. Simple lad. I didn't even mind Yumiko's botch at the end, it kinda played into her losing her shit at the end. Well, if you want it to it could anyway. What was up with that by the way? Odd. It sorta worked though cuz the stroppy cow got her comeuppance in the end which is ultimately why I enjoyed it like I did. Definitely one of the better Hotta performances I've seen.

 

Kong v Toyota is next up

[PeteF3]

For two workers I don't overly care for this was pretty decent. They both hit some nice moves and while I can see people losing their shit over Hotta's reaction to the figure four, I was amused by its unintentional callback to Ronnie Garvin at the 1990 Royal Rumble. Too bad this didn't built to a battle over shinguards. Also, Combat in this match does a scoop powerslam off the ropes, a figure four, and a reverse elbow off the turnbuckle. Combat Toyoda or Ted DiBiase in disguise? You make the call. Combat is almost rendered unconscious by a flurry of Hotta strikes, but sneaks in a German suplex while Yumiko is badgering the referee to get a fluke upset win. That's interpromotional booking for you. Lorefice's rating is loony--his review goes gaga over how stiff and brutal these two were and I didn't see that at all. This was hardly Lauren Davenport vs. Miss Texas but there are probably 50 early-'90s Dynamite Kansai matches stiffer than this. But these two executed things well and had me guessing to the end who was going to win. It's hard to ask for more out of Combat than that.

[Zenjo]

My 2nd favourite match from the 23 on offer this show. The matchup between the power wrestler and the striker was an intriguing one. Toyoda is sloppy at times and lacks polish, but she is credible and can take a beating. Hotta took out all her frustrations on her. Well maybe not all, but enough for today. She seemed surprised at how tough the match had become in a lengthy and eventful closing stretch. Lots of powerful moves and near falls as the momentum swung both ways. Hotta got frustrated and pushed the referee, who then screwed her over. Screwy, but logical. It was quite sad seeing how frustrated and upset Hotta was afterwards, as this was a once in a lifetime opportunity gone by. It added to her ongoing career narrative of being a choker when the stakes were high. Whilst the selling here wasn't always the best, this way exceeded expectations overall.