[2003-05-11-AJW-35th Anniversary The Future] Ayako Hamada vs Momoe Nakanishi

[ohtani's jacket]

A few years prior to this match, Hamada and Nakanishi had been rising stars in their promotions and the future of Joshi Puroresu. I'm not sure whether we should be glad we got this dream match or bummed that it took place in a dying promotion. I'm not clear on the backstory here, other than both AJW and ARSION were struggling and began co-promoting in late 2002. This was the 35th Anniversary Show for AJW, but the crowd was so poor that they kept the lights off. The match was pretty good. There was moments of sloppiness and unfamiliarity, but it had a decent amount of energy to it. It was weak in terms of transitions and selling, but Ayako, in particular, kept driving the match forward. It's a match that probably deserves a rewatch at some point. Momoe was pretty much done after this. She quit AJW a few months later and floundered about freelancing until her retirement. It's tempting to watch this match and presume that heart wasn't in it, but we can't know for sure. It's definitely more of an Ayako match, though that's the way she tended to wrestle. I'm glad I watched this even if it's not a major piece of the puzzle for 2003. In a way, it caps off that era of Joshi where Satomura, Hamada and Momoe were all making waves.