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Mayumi Ozaki (Oz Academy)
& Rieko Amano vs. Dynamite Kansai & Tomoko Miyaguchi |
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This was really good because these four worked to their potential. Ozaki's inclusion made a striking difference because she is the only one that has worked in JWP this year who instilled story and psychology on a fairly consistent basis. Actually, no one else has even tried to instill story and psychology on an inconsistent basis. Anyway, Ozaki also added the edge that has been sorely lacking in JWP since she left. She did things to further the rivalry between her and Kansai and get heat, although once again there was no heat on the show. One thing that added to the rivalry and got the match started on a good note was Kansai offering Ozaki a handshake and Ozaki looking like she was going to accept it, but then offering to shake the hand of Miyaguchi, who she has no beef with, instead. Amano followed Ozaki's lead by also refusing to shake Kansai's hand. Unfortunately, Kansai doesn't innitiate storyline or psychology in tags this year, but she picked up on what Ozaki was doing here and played off of it. For instance, Kansai kept trying to punt Ozaki, but Ozaki would just stand there and block them, so Kansai had to come up with a different method to get her kicks in. Thus, she forearmed Amano off the apron and Miyaguchi put Ozaki in a camel clutch so Kansai could take free shots. Amano & Miyaguchi were just here to work, which was fine for this match because much of the story revolved around Ozaki vs. Kansai, but isn't fine overall because this is the case with all their matches from 1998 and 1999. Miyaguchi was probably as stiff as she has ever been, which is kind of ironic since she was with Kansai rather than against her. Amano really dominated the mat, and looked quite good in doing so. However, the coolest spot was Miyaguchi's counter to Amano's matwork where she stood up out of Amano's attempted udehishigigyakujujigatame and did an inverted airplane spin. Ozaki was the best of the four, but it would be unfair to call anyone the worst. The match built pretty well and had good pacing. This didn't have the glamourous spots, but the spots were well ordered, well executed, and well sold. Amano pushed Kansai a lot, but Miyaguchi didn't really push Ozaki. Kansai was lying on her stomach after the match was over as she was really spent. The Oz Academy had lost the war when Kansai Splash Mountained Amano, but this didn't stop Ozaki from standing on top of her rival Kansai and posing to keep the program alive. 21:48. **** Miko: I really liked this match. Ozaki and Dynamite were great, from the first snub during the handshakes to blocking each others moves early on. One thing I liked was Ozaki interacting with the crowd more. Kansai only really does that when she's getting ready for her finisher. It was annoying that Dynamite Kansai was in the jujigatame so long then didn't sell the arm after the rope break, but that's par for the course right now. I like Amano's jujigatame a lot because she gets the pressure around the wrist not the elbow. It's a little touch, but it makes it look a little more real. The finish was also very cool, with Ozaki so close to making the save. Jason: These four really worked great with each other. Amano and Miyaguchi were able to look good against one another because they are so familiar with one another. Since they are equals, they are able to sell for each other. Ozaki and Kansai had their whole rivalry to work off of to set a great story for the match. The work was great and like you said, they didn't need the spectacular spots to make this great. The only thing that stood out that didn't look good was Kansai's selling of Amano's submissions. Special Thanks to: Jason Higgs & Miko Kubota - Michiku Pro 21:48
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