Forever Forward Fridays

Kanako Motoya VS Jaguar Yokota - JWP 10/11/1998

CJD: I wanted to see Motoya with a bit more seasoning, but I didn't expect this amount of a level up in a little over a year. God damn! It's a shame her career was cut short, because she was blasting the fuck off in JWP in the late '90s. Taking a legend to the limit here, and veteran Jaguar Yokota isn't going to take kindly to that. I have only seen a handful of Jaguar after she came back from early retirement (as so many of her generation of joshi stars were forced to do), so I was excited when this match popped up immediately when I searched. It didn't disappoint in the slightest. Slam dunk pick from a beautiful no-look layup from my main man JJZ. I love when our Fridays get lost in a labyrinth on a joshi journey, and dare I say we are spelunking into some interesting territory my friend.

JJZ: Holy VHS tape Batman! Is it terrible that I loved all the tracking issues? Old school tapes will always hold a special place in my heart. It's sad to think that the last time we watched a VHS tape we didn't realize it would probably be the last time ever. Chris, this is a banger! The hot start from the young lion, the veteran taking control and slowing the pace down with violent attacks. Those suplexes were executed so well man. The frantic pin falls really make you think the match could end at any moment. But the finish. Fuck. That sell job. Damn.

Forever Forward Fridays

Tomoko Miyaguchi VS  Kanako Motoya - JWP 7/11/1997

JJZ: So we've watched a lot of wild ass Joshi matches. This ain't one of them. Before selecting this one to play forward I watched a few tag team bouts that would have been PIF worthy. But I thought I would like to go down a different road for this. Knowing little to nothing about Tomoko and Kanako, I very much got an established wrestler versus a young lion feel. With the exception of the screaming this was a thoughtful technical match. Mostly holds and striking. Very little bumping. But the energy still came through my screen. I really enjoyed that about this match. Now I got some major Daniel Bryan feels with those submission holds in the beginning but didn't think much about it until the finish. I wonder if DB was a big fan of these ladies. Enjoy baby.

CJD: If I have the date right, at the time of this match both of these women had only been wrestling for a handful of years. Although like you said, Miyaguchi (or Ran YuYu if you prefer) is definitely a bit more seasoned and playing the more veteran role. Still, the polish on this match from two wrestlers so inexperienced is remarkable. This was so fundamentally sound. I'm really glad you went in this direction too, I was in the mood for something that just played with the building blocks of pro wrestling without a ton of sizzle. Not that there wasn't a ton of fire and struggle here. I don't know the first thing about Kanako Motoya (or Kana Mizaki if you prefer!) but I'm very curious to see what she looked like a few years further into her career, considering she was this good this early!