[2005-05-06-IBUKI] Ayumi Kurihara & Kyoko Kimura vs Mariko Yoshida & Megumi Fujii

[Ma Stump Puller]

Megumi Fujii in action is always worth a long watch, even if this match was kinda messy in places. The main issue is that these are two of the greatest female mat-wrestlers to ever do it vs two gals who aren't really close to that level of skill: not bad, but not on that level either. That being said this was still REALLY good, the first fall coming after Fujii tripped Kimura up before rolling back into standing position into a super slick Triangle choke and winning in the first minute of the match was a amazing spot alongside Kimura just being shocked afterwards. The fact that they run it back with Fujii doing a slick Frankensteiner right after to try to get another flash submission only adds to proceedings. The pro-style duo try to use double-team antics to stop another fall but Fujii's so sick that she easily dodges a Kuri dropkick to go for a nasty-looking inverted toehold. Kuri's limpy stomps and dropkick aren't so hype, but then we get a absolutely amazing back and forth between Kuri's pro-style rollups and moves while Fujii just relentlessly keeps finding ways to transition into a armbreaker until she ends up tapping out! Crazy stuff. Yoshida comes in basically just to feed for the two as they use some dirty rudo-style antics to keep control. Of course this doesn't work for long as Yoshida escapes a attempted kneebar to go into lucha submissions. Her stomping on Kuri's back and raking her shoes on her shoulder while she's trying to reach for the ropes is just plain revolting; doesn't matter how many times I see the spot, it's always great. Kimura strikes are good, Fujii does a tornado DDT transition for a front guillotine until Kimura actually manages to overpower her for a Fujiwara armbar before trying to pin her off the threat of a double wrist lock.

The duo continue with Kimura just straight punching Fujii at one point to set up a Poetry in Motion-lite dropkick. Fujii escapes a powerbomb and instantly goes into a fast rolling toe-hold. The last third gets a bit weak in places as Kimura has to get over her no-selling shtick a bit too much for my liking, despite getting in some spirited offence and kick-outs before a Yoshida Air Raid firmly ends her run. This was more or less a squash and operated that way, with a lot of room made to show off Fujii as a complete killer. Mission accomplished there: she's pretty damn amazing for her second match ever, some occasional sloppiness, acceptable given it's her second match ever lol. Everyone else works fine.....well mostly. Kuri felt like a weak link and Kimura's gimmick gets old fast, even if Yoshida works with it well with some real stiff stuff to try to get her to crack. It just never really fully clicked and I have to put that onus on the quality of opponents here. Still a solid watch, could've been better though.