Friday, April 30, 2021

Forever Forward Fridays

Arisa Nakajima/Azumi Hyuga VS Meiko Satomura/Tyrannosaurus Okuda - Sendai Girls 10/5/2007

CJD: This match covers a lot of ground that I'm trying to learn about modern joshi. Azumi Hyuga (in the bluish purple... royal blue?) is one of the best of her generation but I've seen nowhere near enough of her work. Arisa Nakajima is considered by many to be the best women's wrestler in Japan today but I've never seen a single match of hers I don't believe. She's only been wrestling for a year here but it at least gives me a starting point. Tyrannosaurus I have no idea, but she was an awesome young lion in this. Very classic mentor/mentee team dynamics here with Satomura feeling like one of the best wrestlers ever once again. There's a lot of talent in this match is what I'm saying. And other than one slip up they recover from with some real brutality, this was packed with good wrestling. The type of match that looks daunting if you don't know the names but watching it you won't need any backstory whatsoever. We've been making a lot of comparisons to buying DVDs when that was more of a thing. Well this is a show you throw in at the very end of an IVP order to add something different on a whim and end up with an absolute slam dunk main event.

JJZ: Fuck that intro music made me sit up in my seat!!! Thought Chris Hero was coming out for a minute baby, love that song. So I'm only familiar with Meiko in this match but I did recall Azumi when you mentioned that you've shared a match of her's before at our all night hang outs. These four ladies hit all the check boxes that I love about Joshi. High energy, stiff strikes, lots of intensity, and my favorite thing about Joshi, speed speed speed. I'm all about the rapid pace of this match. I think everyone looked great. I didn't realize until I read your comments Chris that there was a vet/rookie dynamic going on. I really couldn't tell which I think says alot about the quality performance these women put out there. Mix in a few rewindable high spots and you got match I'd love to share with a room full our friends at one of those hang outside. What hell let's call in one of the gang, our resident joshi enthusiast Phil Bryer!

PB: There's an emotional and kinetic element to Joshi that is unlike anything else in professional wrestling. The pacing and aggression make for a much more visceral experience, which speaks to my inner 15 year-old the same way Minor Threat did in my adolescence (and still does). Not only does this match meet the archetypal standard for the genre, but the "experience vs youth" relationship of each team added an interesting additional layer of story. The finish caught me by surprise, which speaks to the unpredictability that I love from this style.

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