Thoughts on Yokota/Asuka '85?

[rzombie1988]

I watched this match and was a bit conflicted.

 

This is what I wrote on my review:

http://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2017/01/all-japan-womens-8221985-wwwa-title.html

 

Jaguar Yokota beat Lioness Asuka with knee clutch backdrop. This was something and must have been insane for 1985. The crowd was nuts for Asuka all match. They started out working the figure four and a leglock along with a keylock on the leg. Really good leg work and lots of awesome facial expressions as you can see above. They did it for a significant portion of time and it didn't get stale one bit. They started going into spots from there with less focus on the selling. That really pained me because they did so well in the first half and they mostly did the opposite in the second half. They had a string of really big moves/spots with a TTD, which is Tenzan's sitout tombstone, Asuka throwing Jaguar from the suplex position to the floor, Asuka diving and missing out on the floor onto her, a slingshot suplex then the finishing stretch. It was one of the fastest stretches of spots I've ever seen and unfortunately, while impressive, it was disappointing. They did both sell their legs on the bigger spots and they did involve the injured knees, but it really just wasn't enough for me. They could have cut most of it out and it would have been a much better match and that's where it broke for me. The finish did involve the knees though as Asuka missed a diving double knee and then Jaguar grabbed her by the injured knee and suplexed her for the win. The ending was a bit sudden and I thought they could have milked it more or let the crowd know "hey, this is it" to get them really into it. Jaguar got a huge trophy as you can see above for the win and I believe it was bigger than her. She had a heck of a time lifting it as Asuka watched on.

Now for the rating. It's a brutal one to judge, because the first half was great and the second half was good, but they just forgot the selling and opted for spots in the second half. This had all of the features of a 5 star match, but I wouldn't be true to myself if I gave it that due to the rush of spots in the second half that disregarded mostly everything minus the knee. This easily could have been my pick for the best match ever without that, but that wasn't the case. I can't give this 5 stars and 4.75 is too much for something that ignored basic logic. Rating:****1/2

 

 

What do you guys think?

[ohtani's jacket]

I think you share the same general reaction that the footage received when it first aired on Classics. The clipped version was long considered a five star match, but people wound up thinking that Chigusa vs. Devil had the better psychology and build and that Lioness vs. Jaguar was spotty. I haven't seen the match in years. I imagine it's the type of thing I'd go back and forward on depending on how much I could get into the rhythm.

[Tim Cooke]

I like the Chigusa vs. Devil Masami match better but Asuka vs. Jaguar is still really good. The lucha arm drag spot is state of the art for the time and they do everything well. But the Chigusa match has that extra edge in terms of heat and storytelling that makes it the better match in my eyes.

[Jetlag]

The "no selling" of limbwork is something almost all AJW matches from the time period have. It simply was not what they were going for. They would "sell" as in acknowledge that a leg was being weakened, but didn't do the Rude/Steamboat Beach Blast 1992 style constant selling.

[Tabe]

I had seen the clipped version a few times before the full version was shown on Classics. After seeing the match, and the Devil/Chigusa match from the same night, I came away concluding that Devil/Chigusa was a much better match. Both are great, one just more so.

[G. Badger]

One of the first tapes or DVDs I bought along with Jumbo-Tenryu tape. I think it is a pretty remarkable match from memory... I like it better than the Chigusa-Devil match because it had a finish. Other than that they are otherwise equal but, for different reasons. Thought the finish was smart as it played into the legwork...backdrop for the concussive effect but also a knee crusher type compression with the slam. Did the trick for me.

[rzombie1988]

I think you share the same general reaction that the footage received when it first aired on Classics. The clipped version was long considered a five star match, but people wound up thinking that Chigusa vs. Devil had the better psychology and build and that Lioness vs. Jaguar was spotty. I haven't seen the match in years. I imagine it's the type of thing I'd go back and forward on depending on how much I could get into the rhythm.

Chigusa vs Devil definitely was better. They really tried to make it look like a legit match and it felt like a heavyweight boxing match at times.

 

Asuka/Yokota was flashier though and had they took out some of the moves and sold a little, would have been the better match.

 

I thought this show was really a great example of the changing of the times and style in wrestling. Chigusa/Devil was pretty old school while Asuka/Yokota was the future.