[2000-02-11-AJW] Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda vs Tomoko Watanabe & Nanae Takahashi

[soup23]

LCO getting jumped before the bell was a nice taste of their own medicine as they wont be able to bully their way through this entire match. Unfortunately, Nanae has a bandage on her shoulder and as soon as the slightest opportunity presents itself, LCO attacks. Tomoko gets worked over a good bit too when she comes in. However, I think this match really presents showing her and Nanae as stronger than the girls we saw get decimated the month before. The match breaks down at the end with a big brawl around ringside with chairs being thrown with reckless abandon. I liked that sequence as it felt like a natural progression of LCO being frustrated and the match just breaking down. Back inside the ring Watanabe gets a close nearfall on Mita from a powerbomb. They pair off again and into the crowd we go. I really enjoyed even in the brawling segment LCO targeted Nanae’s shoulder. Mima takes Tomoko up to the balcony area and teases throwing her over as the match gets thrown out from being completely broken down. Maekawa gets heavily involved and it looks like we have a lot of challenges thrown out as the segment ends. I really enjoyed this as a vehicle of things to come and a pretty kick ass segment and brawl as a standalone. ***3/4

[Loss]

This whole match really is kind of bizarro world with Watanabe and Takahashi wrestling like the LCO and the LCO wrestling like typical LCO opponents. Mita and Shimoda get jumped before the bell, react to chaos with focused wrestling and finally realize their only survival option is to fight fire with fire. It's fun seeing them play defense and reacting to the circumstances around them instead of being catalysts for a change. There were moments when their usual selves peaked out, but only moments. When I hit the 18-minute mark or so, I realized this will be GREAT if Watanabe and Nanae win because they've cracked some type of code by outqueening the queens. But if they lose, I would feel like this cool idea was wasted for no reason, even if it was still a good match. Shimoda ends up draping Watanabe over the balcony, which reminds me of Megumi Kudo's retirement tour match against Kandori, and ultimately the match ends in a double countout before a post-match brawl with the bell ringing every half-minute or so to signify mayhem. What is this, 80s All Japan? I would have preferred any finish to that, but this feud rages on, and it at least builds to bigger matches, so I can forgive it. I will accept that I wanted this to be something it just wasn't intended to be and be happy that I got a good match. ***1/2

[cramerjason87]

The actual work in the ring was fun, the problem was how bloated the brawling through the crowd made the match feel. Inside the ring was a fast paced and well worked match with a few good near falls.

 

Not as good as the LCO match from January.

[ohtani's jacket]

This was all right. It's 2000 and LCO still hate Tomoko Watanabe in case you didn't know. I didn't mind the finish since the entire match was build for the LCO match against Watanabe and Maekawa, and Maekawa was heavily involved as a second. The hatred never built to the point where Shimoda was actually going to push another human being off a balcony, but it wasn't that wild a brawl and I suppose much of what went on was posturing.