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Post by jetlag on Jun 24, 2022 9:09:10 GMT -5
Suzuka Minami & Bat Yoshinaga vs. Rumi Kazama & Yukari Osawa
HOLY SHIT!! I LOVE PRO WRESTLING!!! This was absolutely awesome. Why nobody ever talks about how LLPW was the promotion that ran all these crazy heated, stiff main event brawls? This was the joshi equivalent to something like WAR vs. New Japan, really violent crazy match with a relentless pace where nobody holds back. Bat Yoshinaga is this scuzzy AJW undercarder with a karate gimmick and she has the night of her life here, holy lord she was awesome squaring off with the LLPW wrestlers and throwing kicks. She was getting massive face heat too so everyone in that arena that night knew she was awesome! 3 out of the 4 workers here throw kicks and they were all landing, there are a number of really violent saves where someone was going for a pin or submission and then got blindsided with a kick to the back of the head. Minami is the one worker who doesn‘t have much strike based offense but she does a good job tightening her stuff up and there are a few moments where she also kicked the shit out of her opponent. Kazama likes to play shooter so Minami frantically kicking her way out of her leglock was really cool. Most of the match was violent, scrappy standup interspersed with Minami and Kazama doing some cool wrestling and awesome Bat Yoshinaga character moments. There was one moment where Yukari tried breaking up one of Yoshinagas holds with kicks and Yoshinaga just give her this amazing disdainful look, totally not giving a damn about how hard Osawa was kicking her in the head. Later in the match it‘s Osawa who‘s putting a half crab on someone and the camera does a really nice job catching her glare over at Yoshinaga, who struts into the ring and pops Osawa with a single blow. That moment may have made the whole match, but I will also give credit to Yoshinaga putting on the single greatest iron claw in history on Kazama. The match builds to a flurry of big moves as many joshi matches do but they retain the aura of a crazy fight. I really liked how Minami and Yoshinaga initially dominated, but the match slowly began to slip away from their control. Kazama and Osawa seemed to have it in the bag until Yoshinaga made an awesome rally spin kicking everyone in the face. Everyone here fought hard but it was Yoshinagas night, and the ending really underlines that nicely. What a gem of a match.
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Post by club on Jun 25, 2022 7:34:20 GMT -5
This sounds very much up my street, do you have a link?
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Post by club on Jun 27, 2022 16:00:10 GMT -5
Seconded. Co-sign all the above. Bat was outstanding here. Kazama failing to break up Bat's submission by dint of her being too damn hard was so great.
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Post by jetlag on Aug 24, 2022 15:39:12 GMT -5
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Post by KB8 on Aug 30, 2022 16:33:21 GMT -5
Third.
This was the Bat Yoshinaga experience. I legitimately don't know if I've seen another match with her in it. I mean I probably have, but I don't remember any specifically and if she was running around acting like this on the regular then that feels like something I'd remember. She was a bit Hotta-ish here, maybe because of the occasion - AJW v LLPW - or maybe because she just kicks people in the face as a rule. Either way it worked! She was absolutely blitzing Kazama and Osawa with kicks and I've honest to god never seen a person as stocky as her throw a high kick with this much speed. It was rapid and also about took Kazama's jaw off so it had the sizzle AND the steak. When the LLPW girls would try and hit her she'd just stare them down before cutting them in half. There was one point where she had Kazama in a half crab, and as Osawa was kicking her in the chest and back and head to break it Bat would simply look at her stone-faced until Osawa was removed from the ring. That led to an incredible moment later, where Osawa had Minami in a half crab while glaring across the ring at Bat and Bat waltzed in and fucking erased her with a roundhouse to the face. The half crab was actually used really well throughout this. Both teams went to it pretty often in the body of the match, but it never felt time-killy like those holds sometimes will in joshi. There was some clear one-upmanship with it and the best part is that every time someone applied it they made it look as ugly as possible, all side on with the recipient's hip being cranked at uncomfortable angles, wrenching back on the knee, the lower back bent to oblivion, just the complete opposite of your garden variety half crab. As time goes on Bat starts to feel a little more vulnerable, but before she loses an exchange emphatically she still has time to counter a pin attempt with an iron claw, which was quite frankly amazing. Some of the exchanges towards the end were a wee bit haphazard, a few spotty transitions here and there, then Bat reels me back in again by throwing brutal wheel kicks right to the ear and temple. If this is her career performance then she has a real jewel in her crown.
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Post by lemming on Sept 4, 2022 6:11:59 GMT -5
This was great and now something I'd have watched without this recommendation, so thanks!
I loved how the camera would sometimes zoom in very close up to a submission being applied, so you didn't get any warning that it was going to be broken up until suddenly Osawa was being kicked halfway across the ring by Bat.
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