Emi Sakura

[Grimmas]

MichaelZ said:
 

Emi Sakura is effective at creating a connection with the crowd and getting across the story of the match in any environment. She is capable of having lengthy matches with a big-fight feel, such as her epic vs Yoneyama. But she makes the most out of whatever time she is given and gives you a little something to sink your teeth into regardless of placement on the card. 

vs Kaori Yoneyama (JWP, 9/19/2010)

w Kaori Yoneyama vs Arisa Nakajima and Command Bolshoi (JWP, 8/19/2012)

vs Shazza McKenzie (SPW, 12/18/2018)

vs Hikaru Shida (AEW, 8/24/2022)

[Jetlag]

I like her, but I never considered her more than "pretty good", so my instinctual answer is no. But on second thought, she has a pretty lengthy career and good matches dating way back to 97/98ish, and knowing that tiny Japanese indies can sometimes deliver stupidly good matches I'd be surprised if she didn't have some hidden gem performances working Ice Ribbon houseshows on a parking lot or something. The most interesting phase of her career is that late 2000s/early 2010s period where she suddenly became a VIP and faced top workers with the shaven head. I also want to know what she was up to in places like NEO or that Gatokunyan project. On the other hand, she is also way into that "clap your hands for half the match to engage the audience" thing which makes her and her ilk hard to watch for me. At the very least, she deserves credit for being a smart enough worker to collect AEW paychecks and make new fans in this day and age.

[Ma Stump Puller]

From what I seen of her prime (or of what little exists of it, anyway) she was a good but noticeably kinda reliant on being a dance partner to bigger and better acts with the occasional awesome match. Don't know if that has changed with the slow drip-feed of new Joshi shows from the Dark Ages but still. I absolutely can't stick her on any top 100 list though because her post-prime stuff for me has been pretty.....not great, and I categorically detest the style that she's passed down to all of her trainees, just the really silly antics with the consistent wiffed strikes and sequences is a instant no-go. Not to say all of them are bad (because they aren't, obviously) but the stuff she's popularised has been detrimental to my viewing experience. No idea about AEW stuff, from what I've heard it's pretty par of the course. No chance of a top 100 anything. 

On 2/2/2023 at 5:21 PM, Jetlag said:

I like her, but I never considered her more than "pretty good", so my instinctual answer is no. But on second thought, she has a pretty lengthy career and good matches dating way back to 97/98ish, and knowing that tiny Japanese indies can sometimes deliver stupidly good matches I'd be surprised if she didn't have some hidden gem performances working Ice Ribbon houseshows on a parking lot or something. The most interesting phase of her career is that late 2000s/early 2010s period where she suddenly became a VIP and faced top workers with the shaven head. I also want to know what she was up to in places like NEO or that Gatokunyan project. 

 There's a lot more NEO stuff out now that I think we can pass judgement on her stuff. Not a ton mind you, but a fair chunk.