If there's one thing this little deep dive has done it's raise the stock of literally every wrestler I've watched for it. Had never heard of Yasha Kurenai but she was in that tag with Kandori the other day and so her stock goes up. I dreaded watching Takako Inoue for years there and she's been borderline great in everything I've watched recently. I can't really be bothered with Toshiyo Yamada and yet she's been fun in the couple matches I've watched with her in them. Kandori was already a favourite and at this point I'm all the way in on her being truly elite. Even Ozaki hasn't sucked. But all told, I think the person who's shot up most in my estimation is Bull Nakano. I've watched a solid chunk of her over the last couple weeks and I'm starting to see where her biggest fans are coming from when they talk about her as an all-timer. Ageing, post-ace or even late-ace run Nakano is the Bull I enjoy most and this was everything good about her. I guess I'd still need to watch more from around this period to say for sure, but it felt like after dropping the belt she almost did a Tenryu, where she dialed back the workrate and let her star power and charisma and acting take over some. She wasn't lazy or anything, she just didn't seem to do as much STUFF. And that's by no means a criticism and by all means a compliment because wrestlers prolonging their career by working smarter (or however you want to put it) is a very awesome thing. And this whole match was a very awesome thing. It's AJW walking into LLPW's house - or gymnasium - which means it's got the interpromotional edge to it, which means you can't really go wrong because interpromotional wrestling, as we've established, is the best. As we've also established, joshi is a style that usually has a whole lot going on and sometimes it'll be too much for me to get into. There'll be constant momentum shifts and the rhythm will be up and down and it'll sometimes feel like they're rushing through stuff (I also acknowledge that joshi fans are generally okay with that so what I think doesn't really matter). This had a whole lot going on, but in the best way possible because it had nothing to do with them cramming stuff in and more to do with roles and little sub-plots built around hierarchies.
Bull v Kandori is the obvious centrepiece and I loved everything they did, not just together but with the other's lower-ranked partner as well. It may be an easy comparison to make as it's 1993 and interpromotional wrestling in Japan was a big thing, but it felt like a WAR v New Japan match and if you know me then you know that's about as glowing as any praise I could give. Kandori was in full Fujiwara mode, flipping Bull the bird, mugging, throwing headbutts, catching people in armbars from everywhere. For her first involvement she just paintbrushes Takako out the road and waltzes over to demand Bull gets in there. A visibly annoyed Takako responds by ramming her head into the turnbuckle and Takako's look of "oh shit what have I done" before Kandori headbutts her into oblivion was incredible. Bull's first involvement was also amazing. Hozumi is obviously the runt of this particular litter but she has SPUNK and goes straight at Bull. Bull is almost apologetic as she grabs her in a clinch, looks across at Kandori, and then lariats the jaw clean off Hozumi. I loved Bull's whole demeanor, how she was thoroughly unimpressed with Kandori's shit-talking and wouldn't rise to any of it. LLPW is beneath her; she's certainly not about to rock up and engage in a street brawl with thugs. She powerbombs Hozumi in the middle of the ring, cradles her, then when the ref counts two she just rolls her aside because that would be too easy. She looks dead at Kandori when she does it as well. A little later Kandori does the exact same to Takako, pins her with the exact same cradle, then as the ref counts two she rolls her aside and you know where Kandori's attention is. Of course we finally get Bull/Kandori and for a minute there it was everything you could want. Maybe Kandori got under her skin after all because that first exchange ends with them throwing each other into the seats with fifty referees and ring girls having to contain it. Like the best WAR v New Japan tags they only gave us a taste of the main pairing, but it was a spectacular taste and by the end you're already forking out money for the singles match. I guess Takako Inoue is tailor-made for this kind of thing. Or maybe she just ups her game whenever she's opposite Kandori. Either way belligerent Takako is a real hoot. She'll bully Hozumi and step to Kandori, yet she'll dial it back and let the former get her licks in while knowing when to sell like death for the latter. It was Takako's selling in the last couple minutes that made the finishing stretch so dramatic, or at worst it played a major part. And those last few minutes were sensational. The spot where Kandori finally has Takako in the cross-armbreaker only for Bull to crush her with the guillotine legdrop was unreal. Hozumi gaining some small measure of revenge by containing Bull long enough for Kandori to go back and apply an even nastier armbar was great as well, and Takako's selling during that end sequence made Kandori feel like the baddest person in the room. This was awesome and I'm now very hyped for the Bull/Kandori chain match.
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