[2005-10-29-APW] Mariko Yoshida vs Mickie Knuckles

[Ma Stump Puller]

This was a really interesting match all things considered, Mariko Yoshida and Mickie Knuckles both look and act from different universes so seeing them meet up for their first (and only) encounter seemed like something worth watching. I'd say right off the bat that if you're going into this expecting hardcore grindhouse Mickie Knuckles then go elsewhere because this is well before she'd gain that reputation (she was only barely 2 years wrestling at this point! ) and is more so her working a gritty underdog babyface role to the dominant returning champ in Yoshida who had won the last literation of this a couple of months ago. The match is predictively structured very much around Yoshida's tendencies, so we get a lot of scrappy sprawling and grappling for the early sections.

I was shocked by how well Mickie held her own in these, granted, diminished grappling sequences, being able to push the agenda and defend reliably against any early pushes for submissions. Narrative early on frames Mickie as inexperienced but with a lot of heart, something that over time Yoshida gets increasingly more frustrated with by how she converts from straight grappling to throwing closed-fist punches to the head and stomach, though still goes back to the well of bullying her opponent with submissions. As expected Yoshida's work here is pretty solid, she throws out a variety of cool little holds here for the sake of variety, never feeling like she's losing interest and always making the holds themselves feel dynamic, well-worn with the two battling for control throughout. Mickie similarly in a different fashion excels here mostly at selling: she takes a DDT and does a cool little leg shake to showcase the trauma, or when her arm gets attacked with holds she keeps it straight and tucks it to the side like how you'd actually do if you broke or fractured something there.

There's a care for attention in those little moments that you would honestly seldom see from people far, far more physically capable than her, and it's most likely why she became as endearing as she did alongside the batshit hardcore stuff. Yoshida however clearly carries the weight of the actual physical work here as the bully of the match to bring that out of her, so all in all I think there's a good balance there between the two that makes this much better than it had any right to be. At one point Mickie even starts doing Kawada kicks to the head which is worth the watch alone I'd imagine. Last third is a lot of fun with Yoshida trying desperately to shut down her opponent's momentum with long drawn out submission chains while Mickie manages to Hulk up and start no-selling, with her throwing some rough offence (though she did have a fairly good lariat....) that still works in the context of the match itself.

Ultimately after a couple of signature Yoshida counter-for-counter exchanges with Mickie getting some near falls with rollups she gets caught one too many times and passes out in the Spider Twist, too tough to tap before it became cool to do so. This was a pretty sweet match for the reasons elaborated above, definitely another example of Yoshida carrying someone to perhaps a greater match than they'd be otherwise capable of doing but Mickie holds her own here and plays the role of the outmatched native well enough with the occasional flush move to boot. It's an oddity for sure, but one you'd actually come out thinking it was worth the venture for its contents rather than simply the wacky aesthetic, if that makes any sense.