Rimi Yokota vs Chino Sato (AJW - 1/4/1980)

Second


The start of this match is so awesome. Sato doing those rolling headbutts was fantastic. When she just tossed Yokota head over heels into the second row and then nailed the headbutt as she tried to get back in the ring I clapped like a toddler playing peek-a-boo. The come in really hot, slow it down just a touch and then build toward what looks like the joshi version of a tough man match. You remember tough man competitions? Where amateurs would box each other at the local high school or VFW? Those were often two big dudes throwing punches until someone went down. The joshi version is two women launching their bodies and heads at one another, grabbing limbs and just pulling and twisting, punching, kicking, and just strait up picking each other up and dropping one another on domes... all with reckless abandon. It isn't the neatest match, but everything from about the half way point on feels like frantic and mean. This is pretty great start to finish, but something that I suspect wont translate for every fan. I love the urgency, escalation, energy, and how rough around the edges are in this. There is a bit of unevenness, some sort of walking to the next spot, and some start-stop in terms of momentum. All of it kind of fits in the logic of the time to me, so it doesn't hurt the match, but it does sort of cap it. Despite all I have said, this is high level, expert wrestling, but it is just not overly polished (I mean that in a good way for me).