Revisiting 90s Joshi #16

Manami Toyota & Toshiyo Yamada v Dynamite Kansai & Mayumi Ozaki (AJW, 11/26/92)

I figured I'd like this more now than ever before. I've obviously talked a bunch lately about rhythm and pacing and transitions in joshi, and it sort of feels like the last few weeks have built up to me watching it through fully-fledged joshi eyes. If I started with this I probably would've been apathetic to it at best and DISGUSTED by it at worst. I mean it's not like I'd be expecting MX/RNRs, but still, this isn't the type of tag match I typically want to watch. Either way I thought it was really good and sure enough the most I've ever enjoyed it. If we're being honest, New Japan tags of the era weren't structurally too dissimilar. They had a fair amount of transitions and they were more likely to have a handful of smaller heat segments than one or two longer ones. The main difference of course was the pace at which they did everything. This pretty much never stopped, but I didn't think it was overbearing. Even if momentum shifted sort of abruptly at points and some of the selling was a bit spotty, the big moments resonated well and the build overall was exceptional. It probably helped knowing the backstory a bit more this time as well, so those big moments did resonate. Toyota and Yamada had been on a bit of a bad run leading up to this and Toyota was the one who'd been eating the pinfalls, so when she does it again at the end of the first fall you're wondering if they - and she in particular - can bounce back. Ozaki and Kansai are the JWP flag-bearers, but outside of that common ground they spent more time during their careers trying to kill each other than teaming. It made their performance as a team feel pretty special because for most of this they were the more functional unit. They also played to their setting and heeled it up, with a bit of subtlety at first but by the end they were full on about it. Ozaki stomping on Toyota's hand as she reached for the ropes to break the figure-four was probably my favourite moment of her entire career. Kansai was the buzzsaw you wanted her to be and the exchanges with Yamada were routinely awesome. There was one point as well where Ozaki had Toyota in a camel clutch and Kansai just strolled in and booted her in the throat. For all the shit I've given them in the past, I thought both Ozaki and Kansai were really good in this. Yamada was as well and Toyota was at least fine. The match and especially the third fall was paced in a way that I was worried Toyota might end up being too much, but it never really happened. She also took a couple maniac neck bumps and it made Kansai's powerbomb look absolutely lethal. By the end I was ready for it to be over and I suppose that's never a brilliant sign, but on the whole I can get on board with this being a great match. If nothing else it's probably must-watch for the style.