[1990-07-19-JWP] Shinobu Kandori vs Harley Saito

[Jetlag]

This is an amazing match; not just by far the best JWP match I've seen probably ever, but in the top 5-10 of the finest women's single matches I can remember. What made this outstanding was that what they did was stylistically state of the art, mixing 80s NJPW-like shootstyle/wrestling hybrid with something resembling a classic title match, and emotionally captivating: right from the get go there is a ton of disdain, uncooperativeness, and another fantastic underdog performance from Harley.

 

So this is like a joshi version of Fujinami/Maeda, without the blood and more outright hatred. Kandori is naturally really good at grabbing flash submissions and they use their holds really well, while Harley was bringing the violence with her kicks – there are a few moments where she is contorting her body to get out of Kandori's holds and then proceeds to kick Kandori in the face and ear repeatedly. It was awe inspiring. Kandori gives her back some raining angry shots down on her smaller opponent too, and with some of the uncooperative moves, stiff shots and flash subs here I was thinking I was watching some sort of Tenryu/Hashimoto/Fujiwara showdown.

 

Another cool thing is how they interweave their shootstyle stuff with more traditional wrestling, they were working shoot kicks and flash armbars one minute, and then neck bridges and small packages. The rollups make really good nearfalls because JWP was booking a lot of rollup finishes, and thanks to that they can build to big section of 2,99999s for the ending run that doesn't have that big move spam. Some incredibly well timed spots, and there is one false finish that is executed in a way I can't recall seeing in many other wrestling matches, which sets up another angry Kandori comeback to the keep the crowd behind Harley. I mean, watching what they did here felt like the stuff that is missing from so many wrestling matches, they had the folks at Korakuen hall flipping out for a small package or fall-on-top counter.

 

Really great match that delivered beyond expectations, considering this is Kandori years before coming into Superstardom and Saito who was almost completely under the radar (RIP, you magnificient gem). Mindblowing that you can still find shit as good as this in 2017 that has apparently never been talked about.

[Makai Club #1]

Had a hard time actually sitting down to watch this. Always had to do something when I planned to sit down and watch this, and an hour later, I can say that it was worth waiting. This was pretty great. This was a great hybrid of shoot style and pro-style. The early mat-work was awesome. The struggle just to get Kandori into a neck bridging position by Saito was incredible. Everything was contested and very uncooperative in a compelling way. Saito was great from working beneath, having to come up with different ways to defend herself against Kandori’s submissions and stiff strikes. The finishing stretch with all the nearfalls was really well done, too. Saito got some great nearfalls, even getting a pin at one point but the ref said Kandori got her shoulder up (I don’t think she did) but she ultimately fell to Kandori. ****1/4 
 

[ohtani's jacket]

Finally got around to watching this. Really good match. Harley took the fight to Kandori, which you had to do otherwise she'd eat you alive. Initially, I thought the false pin slowed things down a bit, but it was important in the finish. I loved how Kansai had a go at Kandori afterward.