[1988-07-14-JWP] Shinobu Kandori vs Devil Masami

[Jetlag]

The original JWP is painfully underexplored. This is probably it's most prolific match, and it's more interesting than a great match. You may theorize that this is Kandori, the dangerous shooter putting the pro wrestler under fire and setting the blueprints for Kandori/Hokuto... which is a good formula, but in reality it was Devil dragging a green Kandori by the nose through a long match. Kandori looks good on the mat, and not very good doing anything else. Devil is as mean as you can want a hardened veteran to be carrying this and brings the goods, downing Kandori with a huge punch, almost ripping her in half with a surfboard, dishing out clubbing blows to make up for Kandori's weak kicks and so on. The biggest problem with the match is that it's needlessly long, as the iconic moment - where they both start bleeding all over the ring - only comes about 30 minutes into the match, and before that, there's a lot of meandering. It felt a bit like Devil redoing the Chigusa match against a far lesser Chigusa with nice submissions. The actual bloodbath was kind of underwhelming too, honestly. There's always charm to watching a rookie and a veteran going along for a lengthy match and this had enough good moments and nearfalls to keep you satisfied, but I gotta say this wasn't as good as I've seen it hyped up. Also, I'll never understand what was up with that restart/overtime they did.

[Cap]

I actually just rewatched this for a blog I am finishing up about Kandori. I'll just copy and paste what I wrote up about it. In short, I love this match. I think it really shows how diverse Kandori could be, even early on and how she brought something somewhat unique to matches that can make them stand out. It also really is a top resume line for Devil. She was the glue that held it together and made sure the match was much better than it probably had any business being.

 

If Kandori is my favorite female wrestler ever (and she is), Masami is probably number two. Here, you get to see a lot of what makes both these women great. Masami performs big with her selling, facial expressions, and her offense. She works for the cheap seats in a way. Kandori is younger and bit unpolished, so even in this context, I must credit Devil with keeping everything together here. Kandori is a more stoic performer. She is a shooter and early on she comes forward like a machine, only being stalled momentarily. Later, as fatigue and Masami’s offense wears heavier, Kandori slows and her selling becomes more pronounced, her attacks more desperate. I hadn’t noticed until I rewatched this match, and here we get only the earliest flashes of it, but Kandori is not unlike Misawa in how she balances selling, composure, and stoicism. While she might not be the most animated or flashy, her nuance adds so much to a big epic match like this. Early on they played Masami’s size vs Kandori’s speed and shoot grappling ability. Devil was never safe from Kandori dropping down or scooting out of the way and locking on a submission. It took them a minute to gain their momentum, but this slowly gave way to bigger, more high impact moves and near falls, which slowly gave way to this becoming a knock-down drag out, bloodbath. After a double pin and a restart The Devil and Kandori had played enough games. The intensity level gets taken up a notch, everything with a little more teeth to it. Devil puts Kandori up in a surf board and, as Devil is wont to do, she elevates the violence by pulling her hair back, nearly snapping her in half, before whipping her the other way and slamming her face in the mat. Things devolve quickly as they move to the outside and we see perhaps my favorite Kandori, the brawler. It's a fucking horror show out there. They both come back in a bloody mess after destroying every guardrail in the building familiarizing each other’s faces with every ring pole. To me, this match shows how versatile Kandori was – even early on – and how her style brought something that could really push a match to the next level. I have seen this match a few times and every time I get caught off guard by how wrapped up in the match I am. This is a classic gritty wrestling match that evolves into a knock-down-drag-out fight and I absolutely love it.

[Clayton Jones]

Cap nailed everything I came here to say. I'm not quite as high on it but this was a real revelation to me for where both were at in their careers. I'd expect Devil to be able to run a match close to this but the way she took this over and made a statement out of it turned it into a career moment. Kandori showing flashes of what she'd become and even just being malleable enough to let Masami sculpt this match is impressive in its own right. A great moment in wrestling history and a very good match.