[1996-05-11-AJW-Wrestlemarinepiad] Kyoko Inoue & Takako Inoue vs Manami Toyota & Mima Shimoda

[PeteF3]

Thought this was a really great match, not perfect but the good outweighs the bad. Started to drag a little 30 mins in or so for a bit and the near fall section could have come a little earlier but I was never bored and they kept my full attention for all 52 mins with lots of cool little moments and mini stories though out, never felt like they were just killing time and didn't feel un-natural for them to go this long, as if they were doing it just for the sake of doing it.

[PeteF3]

This never felt like they were killing time, no...but they never seemed to raise their game a whole lot throughout the match either. It'd be oversimplifying to say that this was a 45-minute feeling out process, but while the "opening" type stuff was better than the Bret-Shawn ironman, Bret and HBK did a better job of taking us through ups and downs over the course of an hour, while this struggles to get going--the crowd's never "dead," but 45 minutes in they're still politely applauding the big spots and kickouts rather than having been worked into a sustained frenzy. The work hasn't suffered, but I can't help but notice that 1996 joshi has a decided lack of "big" matches. This is a tag title match main eventing Wrestlemarinepad that has about 1/4 of the heat that a major joshi tag match would have had from 1992-95. The scene as a whole seems stagnant. The final payoff is effective, as Kyoko clobbers Manami with a lariat that turns her inside out for the victory, and presumably keeps alive their rivalry for the 3WA title.