[2006-03-23-OZ Academy] Carlos Amano vs Mika Nishio

[Ma Stump Puller]

This was fine. Best Joshi of the 2000's? Absolutely not lol. This started off decently enough with a scrappy back and forth before slowing down with a long brawl on the outside. It had some cool bits (Amano enjoying a beer while Nishio was stuck in a chair, Nishio's running boot to Amano on a chair sitting on the apron) but it was mostly either weak chair shots or walking and/or the occasional strike or whatnot. Literally spend like 15 minutes on the outside just hitting each other with chairs over and over until Amano no-sold a chair to the head with a cool headbutt and took over with a sunset once on the inside. Both blade, Amano has a long entertaining control segment with head biting and dragging her around the place until Nishio bounces off after a move and no-sells. Now....we have to talk about the Tiger Suplex sequence here. Listen, I love big dumb movefests as much as the next person, but this was taking the piss. This was 3 WHOLE minutes of them exchanging Tiger Suplexes over and over and over, screaming after every near fall as the person taking them somehow had the energy to apply one back to the other right after. I get it, fighting spirit, blah blah. There's a limit to my suspension of disbelief when it comes to this kind of stuff. I can buy no-selling a big move to do one right after; you can explain it away as a mix of adrenaline and sheer will to continue. Multiple no-sells in a row is when you start losing me. Doing it for 3 minutes while some of the worst over dramatics and "ohhh I'm stumbling over" nonsense is going on? I've left the room lol.

It definitely doesn't help that Amano just starts running the ropes at one point with absolutely no issues before going back to the fatigue selling after a simple kick to the chest. I will say, however, that the big conclusive push being Amano just goofily running into her opponent for a loud ass stiff headbutt was really cool and almost saved this entire bit if it wasn't for the one-count pinfall right after burying that and the last couple of minutes. The last third is basically all the usual "big match" isms of the last 20 years, lots of near falls, random no-selling and big bombs over and over on the other. Granted they were good bombs but still. This also has a really jank finish as Amano lands a epic second rope headbutt for another near fall, for some reason this is the killer notion that somehow prevents either woman from meeting the 10-count so it leads to a draw. Then we get a match reset and the two are immediately back on their feet and doing more moves, running the ropes, etc. It seemed like a completely different match given the two were near-death just a minute earlier yet now are hurling themselves for roll-ups and dives to the outside. It didn't really make much sense by the logic of the match (these two being so evenly matched that they simply just bash together until exhaustion) but fuck it we got some cool stuff out of it so I wasn't that bothered. This finish is significantly improved as Nishio lands a pop-up powerbomb before getting caught in a triangle choke that eventually managed to bring her down for the submission loss.

What's great about this match is definitely the intensity; Amano is always fantastic when it comes to getting over these really high-stakes situations with plenty of screaming and big bumps when it matters. It doesn't feel contrived or put-on despite the extent of how much it happens here; you completely buy her both goofing off at the start with the brawling and her slowly realising, to her terror, that her opponent is much tougher than she thought going in. It's a good example of the snowball effect working here to get the intensity building despite the slowish start. Nishio I was significantly less sold on; her offence felt limited at points and she really felt like she was being dragged along by her opponent as opposed to pushing the pace herself. Given this whole match was a vehicle to get her over (the background being Amano essentially gatekeeping her opponent from the promotion because she felt they weren't good enough) it didn't sit well to basically see that be sorta realised. She's not bad by any means; just not at the point where I can imagine her no-selling minutes-worth of killer moves that have stumped and pinned Aja Kong, you know? That doesn't seem right lol. So yeah, I'd say this is definitely a polarising match for sure, there are elements that I just can't stand yet the actual core of the match (the wrestlers/general pace) is by itself sound and definitely worth checking out. If you can stomach some bad tendencies then this is definitely solid.