[1985-08-22-AJW] Jaguar Yokota vs Lioness Asuka

[rzombie1988]

AJW 8/22/1985 - WWWA Title - Jaguar Yokota vs Lioness Asuka

 

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

 

Some shots from the match:

 

My review of it:

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 even on the finish, 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. They wrestled so smart yet so dumb at the same time. 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

[Timbo Slice]

So I'm going the other way and think this is better than the first match based solely on Jaguar's performance here. When she's in control, it's one of the best things ever, just absolutely systematically going after Lioness in a way that's rare for the timeframe. The stretch run was crazy, I thought the selling was great, and the opportunism of Jaguar winning right away based on the Lioness mistake while playing up the leg work was perfect. The first match is one of the best 50/50 matches I've ever seen, really built well, but the finish has always fallen flat with me because I really think they should have put Chig over leading up to the hair match with Dump six days later to have her go in strong. It's definitely a bit of nitpick regardless of where you fall because those two matches back to back is one of the best 1-2 punches ever, and even 30 years later, it's still going strong.

[GSR]

Completely different to the Masami/Nagayo match as they start out quick, slow it right down and then build to an action packed, near fall laden finish.  At one point Asuka reverses a tombstone, hits the ropes and comes off them with the nastiest looking sit out tombstone ever that Yokota just about kicks out of.  Jaguar’s cross armed German is a thing of beauty, and the finish is incredible as both women are on the turnbuckles with Asuka having Yokota up, as though she is going to give her a superplex to the floor, but then drops her face first into the ring.  She then comes off the top rope with a double knee drop, Yokota moves, and then pins her with a belly to back suplex variation.  Another awesome match.

[cactus]

They spent the first half of this trading holds, which I don't have a problem with as they created a sense of struggle and the holds looked good. The second half is where they go all out with the big spots. Some of the moves these women do are shocking to 2020 eyes, especially that running sitout tombstone. The selling gets somewhat neglected in the final moments, but with action this exciting, I can give them a pass. I can't imagine what it would of been like seeing this in 1985!

★★★★¼

[Makai Club #1]

I began watching the top  three matches of this show in April 2021 and 11 months later, I finally finished it. I always forget how cool Jaguar Yokota is. But when she makes her way to the ring, I find myself remembering. She was one hell of a wrestler as well, driving this match to a great standard with both quality submission wrestling and innovative high spots. I thoroughly recommend Catch Wrestling U’s thread on this as it highlights the knowledge and skill displayed. Yokota and Asuka were able to transition from a knuckle lock into a straightjacket suplex masterfully and get a big nearfall out of it, and there were many other good examples of flowing spots put together to create a nearfall. Great main event that could get outshadowed by the semi main event if watched together, so I’m glad it took me nearly a year to actually watch it. ****1/4