[2000-09-17-ARSION ZION 2000] Mariko Yoshida vs PIKO

[Ma Stump Puller]

The few times we ever saw Command Bolshoi against someone better at grappling at her....and it's a random tournament, 7 minutes long and the only time these two will meet in a singles contest. And it's cut to 4 minutes because ARSION's editors were dicks who couldn't be arsed. That said, this had signs of being solid at the start. Yoshida doesn't take Bolshoi seriously at first given the getup and everything else but after a couple of flash submissions she starts to realise she's in way deeper than she taught. Crowd are dead until Yoshida does her classic "pretend to play dead for a submission" bit for a side triangle choke before she gets a rope break to barely escape. They work this like a sprint, which is fine, however there are a good few moments of sloppiness because of that fact which is quite annoying, some material isn't the most well thought-out and seems a bit all over the place at points.

The crowd are never convinced that Bolshoi's a threat at any point (not helped by the way this is structured) and the match basically just ends as soon as it starts due to Yoshida escaping a abdominal stretch to hit a flash Air Raid as the finish. If these two were only given actual tangible time to work stuff I think they'd knock it out of the park, however due to the size and height difference alongside Yoshida's status, there was zero tension and you never ever believed Bolshoi was winning despite Yoshida trying to sell good for her holds and putting her over about as much as reasonably possible. All this needed was time and we don't get it, so it's really just depressing as a watch. It's telling of the state ARSION was in that they couldn't just let the talent cook. They'd get the chance four years later though....