[1991-09-07-AJW] Bull Nakano vs Kyoko Inoue

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[FLIK]

(3WA Title) Bull Nakano © vs Kyoko Inoue

Not sure what to exspect going in, i've had seen these 2 have really great matches (94) and really boring ones (95). This one was easily my fav of them all and by far one of the better matches of the year. Bull starts out strong as usual before Kyoko gets the advantage. There's very few people in the world that were gonna stand up to Bull in a fight but she can be outwrestled, either by really speedy girls who hit & run and or on the ground, taking it to the mat. Course, the problem with either strategy is Bull will eventually catch you if you run around and Bull will eventually get back up if you take her down. Here, Kyoko uses her speed to her advantage and is lucky enough to bust Bull open really early off a post shot, making her a bloody mess for the rest of the match, then she goes into a long section of trying to wear down Bull with diffrent holds which she's pretty succesful at actually. Like I said, Bull eventually came back and regained controll but she was clearly weakened by then. Bull decided to return the favor and really tortures Inoue with diffrent stuff, stretching her to hell. Ending sequence sees both really fatigued, desperat to pick up the win. In funny moment, Kyoko tries to go for a german while Bull is holding onto the ropes and if you look in the back ground the ref is just shaking his head like "nope, don't even try girl". Bull has to dig DEEP into her move set to try and win this, again, busting out a lot of stuff i've never seen or atleast rarely seen her do. In a true holy shit moment, Bull counters being whiped into the ropes but doing a fucking picture perfect cartwheel out of it and in one motion, the second she lands on her feet grabing Kyoko for a belly to belly suplex. So the coolest thing EVER. Still, this looks like it's gonna be Kyoko's night, she's able to keep coming with the high speed attacks & get Bull up for a lot of her power moves as well. Things finally go bad for her when she makes the mistake of trying to do Bull's own flying leg drop on her and because Kyoko was still super skinny back then she didn't have enough ass cushion so she hurts her own butt doing it. This allows Bull to grab her in a reverse DDT and hit a giant moonsault to retain her title in what actually felt like a lucky win for her. This truely was Kyoko's year though as far as star making performances and she gets a huge ovation anyways post match.

[MJH]

One of my all-time favourites... seriously, I bought this show thinking Yamada/Toyota, Hotta/Hokuto, and this would be interesting to see, being completely ignorant of AJW between Chigusa's retirement and I guess mid-92 (though I had seen the 1/4/92 show). Just loved this match and triggered me then collecting all the tapes between, which is one of my fondest "quests" (or whatever) that I've done with wrestling tape collecting.

[Loss]

I thought this was really good also. I really like Bull as top dog taking on a capable up-and-comer, especially one that she herself has had under her wing. The cartwheel surprised me too! Kyoko does come out of this looking better, even in losing. One of those top wrestler vs young wrestler with surprise performance matches that I love so much.

[PeteF3]

Well, this is Bull obviously at her most giving, as Kyoko controls the bulk of the match, trying to immobilize her at the start with matwork and then playing hit-and-run with all the springboard moves. Bull eventually reasserts herself--yes, I liked the cartwheel too--and they build up nicely to her finally hitting the Guillotine Drop. Which gets two. Uh-oh. Kyoko makes another furious comeback when Bull goes for another one, but even with another great dive to the floor (and do I ever love Bull getting offered a swig of water after just getting plastered against the guardrail and taking it) it's not enough. A moonsault, which really comes off as a desperation move on Bull's part, gets her the win. Best Bull match since the big cage bout with Aja, naturally. But this really felt like a star-making performance from Inoue.

[Zenjo]

Kyoko gets her reward for winning the JGP, well kind of. After a few minutes she has this great facial expression saying 'what have I got myself in for?' Going in there was the problem of how to make Kyoko look like a credible threat. They solved this problem by having Bull bleed almost immediately. Unfortunately the blade job was highly visible. Really poor post match editing to show that.

 

As the match wore on the champion began to take control, but had suffered a lot of damage in the early stages. In a good closing stretch Kyoko was threatening the win but didn't have the artillery to pull it off. Which was a relief as she clearly wasn't ready. At times in 1991 Kyoko looked like a star and at others seemed out of her depth in the main event picture. She'd become a great wrestler from '92 but was up and down this year. This match was a carry job from the excellent Nakano, clearly guiding her opponent. I know they were partners but Inoue totally ignored Bull's head wound. You've got to show some killer instinct, the world title is on the line. If you're going to have blood in her matches then make sure Kyoko is the one bleeding.

[soup23]

Glad to see everyone dug this as it was one of my favorite matches of the year so far. Kyoko and Bull have matched up well in the matches I have seen so far and this was no exception. Bull is a great bully but can also show some vulnerability. A classic champion. Her being busted open so soon here really added to the intrigue. She comes firing back and this match features one of my favorite sleeper spots of all time with it looking insanely tightly applied. Kyoko is always good for a comeback and she had me biting on some nearfalls in the ending stretch. Not to be outdone, Bull does the cartwheel spot and a moonsault to close it out. Great stuff.

[garretta]

Just a tremendous back-and-forth match, as Bull looks to be ripe for the picking right up until the moment she hits the moonsault for the win. Now that Zenjo's mentioned it, I'm surprised myself that Kyoko didn't try to work over the cut, though what she did was very effective in its own right.

 

Bull looks to be on the verge of passing out many times in the first half of the bout, even off of relatively simple moves that didn't involve her head. Could the post shot that she took early in the bout have given her a legit concussion (which might also explain why Kyoko took care not to hit Bull in the head for the rest of the bout)?

 

I'd forgotten about them being partners, but it seems like Bull was trying her hardest to let Kyoko shine, and shine she did. It was only Bull's sheer size behind the finishing moonsault that allowed her to get the three-count. Kyoko also absorbed a brutal beating from Bull and never took a backward step, which should serve her in good stead when it comes time for the inevitable rematch When I look at her overall performance, even in defeat it's close to being the best I've seen by a female wrestler. There are definitely better times ahead for her. As for Bull, whoever's next on her docket's going to get a champion who's ready to go down if they can just find a way to take advantage.

[dawho5]

Kyoko really shines here. She doesn't have a snowball's chance in Hell of winning this, but she puts up enough fight for any two challengers. I loved Bull breaking out the cartwheel, 180 roundouse off the second rope and the moonsault. Really puts Kyoko over for having the toughness and skill to threaten her enough to warrant those risks. Even if I never once believed Kyoko was going to win, it's more like the Kobashi vs. Jumbo matches. One of the better joshi matches I've ever seen and I'd say both contributed a lot to that.