Jetlag Posted February 26, 2015 Report Share Posted February 26, 2015 This definitely exceeded expectations. Joshi is this weird style where two no-name workers can have a kickass match out of nowhere and rookie/vet matches tend to be better because of the difference in ranking, and that was the case here. Kagetsu is a butch looking rookie* in the vein of Toshiyo Yamada while Kuragaki is a powerhouse, with a cool moveset who throws these nasty Tenryu-ish "Fuck you, punk" lariats. This does a tremendous job avoiding all the usual pitfalls of joshi while building a match that gets better and better and leads to some real dramatic selling. Even the usual pesky little brawl on the outside wound up leading to a meaningful transition and set up some great (and neatly sold) armwork. Loved Kagetsu bouncing off the mat after taking the Yokota/Asuka superplex bump off the top, loved the reckless flying over the guardrail armbreaker, loved Kagetsu attempting to murder her opponent by landing repeated BattlARTSian rotten melon kicks to her head. Also worth pointing out that while Kagetsu got in a lot of offense on Kuragaki, it always felt like an uphill battle for her. This on first watch feels like a slam-dunk MOTY for japanese wrestling.*actually, she made her debut in 2008 but is 22. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donsem43 Posted March 8, 2015 Report Share Posted March 8, 2015 This was really good. I was surprised to see Kagetsu break out so many highspots as she usually sticks to the mat, but that double stomp to Kuragaki's arm was great. Kuragaki was pretty bullish with her power moves which lead to some nice looking bumps from Kagetsu. Just under MOTYC level for me but definitely something worth watching. ***3/4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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