[2003-05-24-ARSION] Mariko Yosida vs Megumi Fujii

[Alex]

This is from ARSION's penultimate show and has a 3 five minute rounds.  It's also Fujii's pro wrestling debut.  Lots of mat wrestling to start off, and Fujii is legit badass, might be the greatest badass in women's wrestling history, so she has no problem doing wrestling.  Yoshida is the one doing the "pro wrestling" moves, she does a pedigree, stomps, Air Raid Crash attempts, while Fuji is doing sweeps, arm bars, triangle chokes, etc for most of the match until Fujii pulls out a huracanrana late in the second round.  Yoshida gets a Spider Twist at the end of the round, but Fujii gets saved by the bell.  Fujii gets this crazy submission hold attempt in the third round and gets a guillotine choke which Yoshida sells like death, before getting a suplex to break it.  A fast sequence of reversals from multiple Air Raid Crashes and pin attempts and Yoshida eventually gets on top to get the pin.  Really, really good match, it almost goes the distance but feels like 3 minutes to me.

After the match, Yumiko Hotta comes out and challenges Yoshida.  I guess this was to eventually build up the transition to AtoZ.

[Mr JMML]

Mariko Yoshida vs Megumi Fujii (ARSION, 2003-05-24)

I’m pretty familiar with Megumi Fuiji’s MMA career, in fact, against popular opinion I think she is the women’s MMA GOAT, his wrestling career on the other hand is a mystery to me, I didn’t know she had a stint in pro wrestling, not only in ARSION, her run in the more obscure japanese indie scene is also remarkable, Mariko Yoshida’s wrestling career started in 1988, the year she graduated in the AJW dojo, if you’ve heard of this promotion’s training habits you’ll know it was no easy task especially during the 1980’s considering just how many women competed for a few roster spots, her most acclaimed work came as a part of the ARSION roster from the late 1990’s to the early 2000’s, this match took place in 2003 so we can assume she was in her prime at that time, ARSION is a shoot style promotion but it wasn’t like RINGS, UWF-I or PWFG this one was a joshi promotion that adapted their style to the rules of women’s MMA at that time, this means that the matches consisted of 3 rounds each lasting 3 minutes, if you want to know what was the state of women’s MMA at that time I highly recommend Megumi Fuiji vs Erica Montoya, Megumi dominated her in a grappling masterclass but now let’s go to the wrestling match, Mariko Yoshida was the ace of the company while Fuiji was making her pro wrestling debut, it’s evident she was held at a high regard but it’s still surprising nonetheless, Mariko Yoshida was right, Fuiji looked like the real deal even with the annoying clipping involved (an annoying feature of many ARSION matches), that aside this match was a great experience, it was the kind of match whose predictable ending didn’t take away any enjoyment whatsoever.