[1991-06-03-JWP] The Scorpion vs Utako Hozumi

[Jetlag]

The motherfucking Scorpion. This was a really cool match and most of that was thanks to the lady in the mask, who was seriously ahead of the curve with her junior/shootstyle hybrid wrestling, bringing both the flips and the kicks and the kimuras, but this match is good due to STORY~ and not due to style. Utako is on the blander side, as she is Japanese Prettygirl #1245 which is the joshi equivalent to being a hairless kickpadded indy junior. Her offense is not as high end as Scorpion, but she redeems herself with some excellent selling. These two could go braindead and just do some athetic moves, lotsa filler holds and then bust out a bunch of 2,9999s and call it a day, but we get so much more than that here. There is some really cool battle for control stuff including Scorpion working almost a full guard before Hozumi digs her elbow into the thigh and locks in an achilles hold. Hozumi cannot seem to get the upper hand but pulls out a well executed control segment before Scorpion gets her again. A BACK SUPLEX is turned into a nearfall and Scorpion has it all over Hozumi here. Scorpion targets the back and really clever injury spot ensues to increase the tension further. I really liked how while Scorpion was in control so much there was a palpable tension about Hozumi eventually pulling out the victory because JWP is flukey, and Hozumi actually looked strong despite getting in little offense. Really entertaining stuff, this is why JWP was gold.