I Should've Known You Would AP Cross Me

Kana VS Ayako Hamada - SHIMMER 10/27/2012

JJZ: I definitely should be in bed right now. I need to be up in 5 hours. But! I'm feeling my drink as my grandmom would say and want to watch some wreslting! I'm picking Kana to give you a path out of Joshi if you'd like. The back and forth hold for hold start was very well done in my humble opinion. This was a nice 50/50 match with stiff strikes and tight spots. The crowd is super into this and I am jealous I wasn't there live for this one. I loved the finish because I wasn't expecting it. I thought it would go the other way! Hamada is really good. We both now how good Asuka is but Hamada can work. I was really left impressed with how well rounded she was.

CJD: First of all, my wife and daughter are away visiting family for the first time since she was born and I'm eating copious amounts of pizza drinking some beers and keeping one eye on our group message with our buds as they razz you about not being able to figure out where to watch Dark Side of the Ring online. So I very much feel like I'm in your living room right now watching this match. Second of all, I love this venue, it looks like somewhere you'd have a beef & beer at. Third of all, this match was paced beautifully! I agree complete that the early game of chess was perfect, really slick wrestling which built the foundation for a great finishing stretch. This match felt so big, like an irresistible force VS an immovable object. They could have easily pressed the tempo because of how hooked the crowd was but instead that kept that steady build and the big moments were all that much more rewarding as a result. We have been featuring so much great women's wrestling lately and this match still stands out as one of my favorites.

Let The Devil Step Right In, LuFisto's Your Only Friend

LuFisto (c) VS Ayako Hamada - NCW Femmes Fatale Championship 3/12/2011

CJD: Question for you John. Did you know Gran Hamada has two latina daughters who are both very accomplished pro wrestlers?? Well you do now my friend! And I've watched a bit of Ayako over the years and she's always impressed me but this is the damndest match of hers I've ever seen. This match went in directions I certainly didn't expect and it's a bit all over the map but I enjoyed the ride! We've featured LuFisto in a lot of different roles here now that she's a double crown PIF Champ but we hadn't seen her as the defending hometown Champion and she's great at it. She has such a mean streak but is also willing to go above and beyond to make her opponent look good. She strikes a good balance of looking strong while sympathetic here. Very curious to hear your thoughts on this one especially following up the insanity you played forward to me last week.

JJZ: I did not know that about Gran Hamada!!! It's funny because I read your comments after I watched the match and thought to myself that Hamada is a legendary name. But in wrestling you see a lot of names recycled, especially in Japan. Just recently we featured a female Nakajima! So I didn't even think about the possibility of her being related to the legend Gran Hamada. Well this was an ECW style title match if I've ever seen one. I know this wasn't even close to the match with Necro in regards to craziness but this was a hardcore piece of art. Nice little start in the ring then a pretty violent battle in the crowd. Some great stiff highspots topped off with a few close falsies! Just a great match. The crowd was super into this so I Ioved the lack of commentary to highlight that.