[2002-07-06-AJW] Manami Toyota vs Kaoru Ito

[ohtani's jacket]

This was Manami Toyota's final match in AJW. It's fitting that it was against Ito as she was Toyota's last major rival. It's not the best or most exciting match the two had, but it more less delivered down the stretch. The match layout was a bit funny with Ito dominating the majority of the bout and Toyota trying to work heel against a crowd that was clearly in her corner. Since she was leaving, it might have been better for her to drop the heel façade and embrace the crowd reaction more. Ito had this really ugly colour scheme going on, which I personally found off-putting, and basically large chunks of the match felt awkward until they hit the stretch run. After the match, Toyota cut a promo telling the crowd she was leaving, which was a shock for the folks in attendance. Then she limped to the back in what was an unceremonious end to one of the great AJW careers. I don't know how management or the other wrestlers felt about Toyota leaving, but Ito and Toyota did not acknowledge each other at all after the bout, which I thought was odd. It makes me wonder if the match was off because of conflicting emotions.