[1981-02-25-AJW] Yumi Ikeshita vs Mimi Hagiwara

[aaeo_]

Hagiwara is a very weird wrestler, she's a good babyface but all her offense looks incredibly unorthodox, like it's done wrong. My favorite one was the calf slicer she gets near the end, which I'd never seen but is a cool idea. That type of energy goes pretty well with how frantic Ikeshita is though. Hagiwara is in control for a lot of the match and she looks strong, starts the match throwing a wild flurry of punches and then applies the weirdest sleeper hold after some outside brawling. There's a brief section of armwork and then Ikeshita goes out the ring and her seconds pull her arm a bunch of times, as if it was dislocated and they were popping it back in. That's the type of thing that makes AJW from this era great to watch.Ikeshita gets a few breaks, she fights for a boston crab and a couple other submissions but she comes across as mostly trying to survive against Hagiwara. Hagiwara's selling in submissions is great. The finish is very botched or an angle, with Ikeshita getting pinned with one shoulder nowhere near the mat. The matches where Ikeshita brutalizes one of the faces all the way through are more fun but this is still good.