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Mayumi Ozaki & Hikari Fukuoka vs. Yumiko Hotta & Takako Inoue (AJW team) From JWP I know you Commercial Tape 12/1/92 Tokyo Ota-ku Taiikukan |
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| This match was totally different from anything you would see within JWP during this time period. The reason was that it was one of the first JWP vs. AJW matches, and they wanted to make it special. Everyone turned it up a few notches, and the match was very heated and intense. The pacing was several times faster than the typical JWP matches of the era, as the match was wrestled AJW style. "The match build was totally AJW in style, with high paced action, a slow middle, launching into fast covers and sharp break ups in the pins. On the other hand, the real story being told was in the roles that everyone had, and I think they did an excellent job with that. Hotta was the brutal machine here, and Takako was her bitchy self. Ozaki was the glue holding her side of the team together, and Hikari was the babyface. The initial half of Hotta and Takako double teaming and brutalizing Hikari was used to establish Hikari as the primary babyface in this match; everyone knew that Hikari was the cute, green girl receiving attention in the main event, so by having Hotta and Takako concentrated on Hikari, the audience felt sympathy towards her," wrote Keith Watanabe. In turn, it set the "road team," AJW, up as the "heels" because their entire game plan was to gain victory through exploiting the opposition’s weakness, Hikari. This strategy didn’t garner full JWP support, but at this time AJW was like the Dallas Cowboys, the most popular and famous in their game, so fans, particularly the infamous front runners, will support them wherever they go. Beyond that, all the women’s leagues run shows in the same basic places, and Tokyo is every leagues "home town," so the league running an interpromotional show is more the host than the home team. "Ozaki in the first half was sparingly used, mainly to generate heat between herself and Takako (which the audience seemed to like), and to prevent Hotta and Takako from completely bulldozing Hikari. What was weird was hearing the crowd response since the match was, indeed, heated, but completely split between JWP and AJW. One of the funnier spots in the match was Ozaki taking Hotta into the audience and slamming Hotta's head into a table. The fans around her began chanting ‘Ozaki! Ozaki! Ozaki!’ and this in turn encouraged her to slam Hotta's head into the table two more times while looking completely serious! Overall, Ozaki, Hotta, and Takako's breaks got good heat, but towards the end Hikari's breaks were given good pops and it was JWP who was over," wrote Keith. The effort was great from all parties, but everything didn’t work to perfection, particularly where Hikari was concerned. Hikari really took a hell of a beating from Hotta. She was the worst in the match, but Hotta did a really good job of carrying her. Hotta had a really strong performance overall, wrestling a smart match and adding to the intensity. "I think everyone played their role to perfection, even though Hikari didn't fare that well overall. However, I will insist that the point of having Hikari in a match like this was to show the direction of her within JWP as well as on the interpromotional scene; three years into a person's wrestling career, you can't expect instant greatness, especially when the person is placed into a main event, high caliber match like Hikari was here. Instead, what you can demonstrate is how good she will be. With that in mind, I think Hikari did excellent in this high pressure situation. She performed well, and demonstrated that she had the potential to work against the then top notch style of AJW by lasting 20+ minutes in an environment she wasn't immediately familiar with," wrote Keith. Keith has hit on a key point here. For JWP, the match served the dual purpose of validating Hikari's potential and showing Ozaki was on the level of the AJW stars. Takako was not out of Hikari's league experience wise, having debuted only one year earlier, but was pushed on a higher level and was much more solid as a worker. However, Hikari could compare favorably to her because, while their level of attractiveness was similar, her style was much more exciting and glamorous. Still, Hikari was clearly the weak link due to her inexperience, and probably would have fallen flat if it wasn’t for the great job Hotta & Ozaki did of hiding her limitations and giving her the opportunities to excel. This meant that Ozaki was severely handicapped, being the smallest girl in the match, and working for the lesser league with the lesser partner to boot. This allowed Ozaki to play the role she would become famous for, the underdog visually that manages to come off as the giant due to sheer heart, determination, and self confidence. Beyond that, having the young weak link partner allowed Ozaki to play the den mother role that she often plays these days when teaming with her Oz Academy understudies. She knows that her partner needs the opportunity to excel on her own, but is alert and understanding enough to know just when to jump in to make the save or aid her failing partner. The star of this match was clearly Ozaki, who had one of her most impressive performances to date, really stepping up and taking control here. The main way she took control was what I alluded to in the last paragraph, that she would always know when she needed to do something to save her partner, who usually was in some kind of trouble. First, she kicked Hotta to break a Boston crab, which resulted in an angry Hotta chasing after her, but Ozaki made it to the floor without suffering much damage. Later, Ozaki came in and saved her from Takako’s Boston crab, which led to a big slap fight with Takako. Hotta returned the favor from earlier in the match, kicking Ozaki when she had Takako in a half crab. Ozaki sold the kick, 1 but instead of making her break the hold, it just made her angrier. On another occasion where Hikari was in trouble, Ozaki reached over the ropes and Dragon sleepered Hotta. Ozaki truly did an incredible job of making her presence felt without distracting from the other parts of the story that were taking place simultaneously. A drugged out idiot would tell you the idea is to be "the show," but the sign of a true great (and at this point Ozaki was only showing signs) is someone who raises the level of those around them to a level that’s as close as possibly to their own top level. "I completely agree with Mike on Ozaki’s performance, and how she stepped up for her side. She was instrumental in aiding Hikari set up her spots, allowing Hikari to look good in those moments such as Hikari's nadare shiki no powerslam, moonsault press, and rolling cradle. The problem with Hikari in this match was that she would blow a spot, seemingly because she herself was barely able to keep up. In turn, Ozaki saw this and would provide the transition point so Hotta or Takako wouldn't look silly setting themselves up for Hikari's spots. Even Takako and Hotta were excellent in helping. Hikari recover in her spots. At one point, Hotta threw Hikari into the corner, but Hikari slipped. Rather than wait for Hikari to recover and make the spot look weak, Hotta took charge, slapped Hikari and gave her a reverse powerbomb! This helped cover up Hikari's slip up, so, indeed, Hotta did an excellent job carrying Hikari here," wrote Keith. Hotta actually tried a plancha in this match, but Ozaki avoided it. Back in the ring, the JWP team had a couple good chances to win. The first of which was when Hotta missed a flying elbow and Ozaki tequila sunrised her for 2 3/4. The second immediately followed the first, as Hikari moonsaulted Hotta, but Takako made the save. Hikari tried to whip Hotta at Ozaki, who was on the second, but Hotta stopped it and delivered her pyramid driver. Takako took care of Ozaki, and Hotta used her Caribbean splash for the win. This made Ozaki 0-2 against AJW, as she had teamed with Kansai to lose an incredible, off the charts, ***** match to Yamada & Toyota just five days earlier. 22:05. "Overall, I really enjoyed this match because of how it worked, the time frame, the heat, the work involved, and the story it was able to tell and set up for future events. I think the few missed spots can be ignored for what the match was intended to accomplish: setting up the AJW vs. JWP rivalry. The direction the match took made the roles of the performers and the storyline points work, and is the reason I think the match is excellent," wrote Keith. Special thanks to: Keith Watanabe — Manami Toyota Rules! Club
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