[2019-05-29-SEAdLINNNG-Stay Tune] Nanae Takahashi vs Takumi Iroha

[Kadaveri]

This is the best match I've seen from either two this year. Takumi focuses all her offence on Nanae's neck in the first 10 minutes where she surprisingly dominates the match. Much stronger psychology than I'm used to in Joshi matches. Nanae gets a good fightback just before the halfway point. There is an unfortunate moment in the match where Nanae gets Takumi in the corner, stops selling anything and does her usual posing and chops like she's beating up some rookie. Didn't fit the context at all. But it's over within 30 seconds so only a minor complaint. Still I much prefered Takumi's performance here, she gets the level of selling just right pretty much the whole match. The best moment in the match has to be where Nanae's putting up this stubborn fightback with a strike exchange that isn't really working but she's so proud to just stay down, so Takumi absolutely clobbers her with a Misawa-style elbow. Oh my God. Takumi then hits Nanae with a running three (the finishing move Chigusa Nagayo passed onto her) where Nanae brutally lands on her already hurt neck, and she wins the title.

****1/4 MOTYC for Joshi.