[2016-01-17-Stardom] Io Shirai vs Kairi Hojo

[donsem43]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efiCL-ZrQ_U

 

This is a rematch of their match from last March for the then vacant World of Stardom Title. These two don't waste time going as they go right at each other right at the bell exchanging nasty strikes and holds. The middle portion of the match is really well done with focused offense from both women as well as some solid transitions to keep the action going back and forth. The match does go a bit long, (and that with some slight editing done to the TV version) as your left kind of waiting for them to pick it up toward the end. The finish itself leans away from the main part of the match as it turns into more a standard pro wrestling finish which is something they didn't really work earlier on. Still, this highly entertaining even while it overextends itself a bit. *** 3/4

[Bierschwale]

I'd agree. It definitely ran just a few minutes too long and those few minutes didn't seem to fit the seeming story of the match, which I thought would have been Hojo getting the draw.

[donsem43]

In the press conference for the show they announced that it was no-time limit, so I had a feeling that they were going to go around 30 minutes as that's the standard time limit for Stardom title matches. I imagine they were trying to protect Hojo in having them work that long so that it looked like it would have been a draw under normal circumstances.

[JAC]

This match was a happy revelation for me. I enjoyed joshi back in the day, but hadn't really kept up or watched any since about 2002. I have enjoyed Japanese men's wrestling since the turn of the century significantly less than in the nineties, and I had assumed that joshi puroresu had undergone a similar decline in quality commensurate with the decrease in attendance. Reading some of these reviews here (thanks donsem43!) prompted me to seek out the 1/17/2016 show and figuratively dip my toe back into the water. I was a bit underwhelmed by the undercard, but I really, REALLY enjoyed this match.

 

It's hard for me to put this match in context having been checked out from joshi for so long. My natural instinct is to compare it to joshi from the nineties, but I honestly don't know how the style has evolved since then. To my eyes, this looked closer to an All Japan main event from the mid-nineties, with Shirai as Misawa and Hojo as Kawada. Shirai clearly came across as the ace--if you couldn't tell from watching her wrestle, she reminds you by having “ACE” written on her left kneepad. Hojo appeared to be her near-equal rival, trying to get over-the-hump and better Shirai.

 

The match got off to a hot start, with the competitors exchanging hard elbows and slaps. Well, that escalated quickly! After showing some familiarity by each escaping one of the other's signature manoeuvers, there's a great double slap spot where Hojo sells getting smacked in the ear and Shirai sells hurting her hand on Hojo's head. So far, so good.

 

For me, the only obvious flubs come when they go outside. Shirai sticks the landing on an Asai moonsault, but doesn't appear to make much contact with Hojo in the process. Shortly thereafter, Hojo hurts her shoulder when she misses a spear on Shirai when Shirai moves and Hojo instead hits the ring post. The bump looks great, but when Shirai follows up by bodyslamming Hojo onto the ring apron, Hojo stops selling the shoulder and starts selling the lower back. So much for the hurt shoulder--it never again factors into the match. But this is pretty much it for my criticism. For me, it's all good from here on in.

 

Shirai takes control and it's fun to watch. I love how Shirai misses a missile dropkick to let Hojo take control, but Hojo can only maintain control for a brief moment--she puts Shirai in a Boston crab and leans back so far that she winds up on her back with Shirai on top of her. Shirai cuffs her in the ear to regain control. Nice!

 

The actions soon spills out of the ring for a brawl through the crowd. I usually hate these kind of spots, where the wrestlers roam through the crowd--a favourite of old joshi matches and Steve Austin main events. This one gets a pass from me for what they do. Shirai sets up to dive onto Hojo from the balcony over the passage to the concourse, but after mugging for the crowd, she can't find Hojo. Hojo has crawled up the stairs and hits Shirai, then sends her head-over-heels tumbling down the stairs. Hojo them performs her own balcony dive, a mighty looking take on the Superman punch or phenomenal forearm (I think it was a punch, but it may have been a forearm). She then hits Shirai with the mother of all running spears, which Shirai takes like a champ. She looked like she got hit by a tank shell, and folded in half when Hojo the projectile slammed into her. Hojo's spear looks far better than any other spear I've ever seen, and Shirai seems to know how to make it look absolutely lethal. Wow.

 

From here until the end, the match is quite heated and quite thrilling. A couple of sequences I really enjoyed were as follows:

1. Hojo missing a wild hook and Shirai using Hojo's momentum to wrap her into a crossface. When Hojo makes it to the ropes, Shirai breaks. When Hojo tries to use the ropes to pull herself up, Shirai hits her with a 619, followed by a springboard dropkick. I must confess, I've always hated the 619; not because of the move itself, but because of the hokey setups leading into it. I'm tired of seeing someone thrown face-first into the ropes with a wrestling-physics-defying huracanrrana. This sequence was really pleasing because the setup looked entirely organic and uncontrived.
2. Hojo tries for a Rainmaker but Shirai ducks and clocks Hojo with a nasty looking uppercut. Having recently rewatched Hokuto v. Kandori from St. Battle Final in 1993, I appreciate that it's hard to pull off a convincing looking uppercut—there's a flubbed one at the end of that match that completely misses. No such issue her. Shirai tries for a facebuster but loses Hojo and falls on her backside. Hojo quickly executes a diving forearm smash onto the seated Shirai to regain control. The whole thing came together quite fluidly and was a joy to watch.

 

As a fan of Candy Okutsu, I very much enjoyed Shirai's rolling German suplexes. Her deadlifting Hojo from the mat brought to mind the great suplexes that Jumbo Tsuruta would execute back in the seventies.

 

Having read the reviews of this match, I expected the match to wear out its welcome somewhat. I made a point of noting the point when I though the match should have ended, which was the tombstone followed by the capture German suplex. Happily though, while Hojo kicked out of that, the very next sequence put her away. Ultimately, if they went too long, I don't think it was by very much. At the end of the match, each of the competitors seemed to view the shortest path to victory as being by breaking her rival with a big bomb, and both seemed intent on hitting their most lethal offence to put the other one away. I can't complain about that.

 

This came across to me like a big-time main event. Shirai looked every bit the part of an ace and Hojo appeared to be a worthy peer and rival. I intend to seek out a lot more from both women. This was honestly the most fun I've had in years when it comes to watching new-to-me talent.

[ShittyLittleBoots]

Really good, borderline great match. Shirai, once again, with a super strong ace performance - she really is just so damn good. Hojo was absolutely great as well. These 2 have such good chemistry. ***3/4