I'm going in on the joshi this month, I guess. My good man Elliot from PWO and the GME board has been recommending me some 2010s stuff and I can't say 2010s joshi was ever something I wanted to jump into, but who am I to argue with him? I am also jumping into some Command Bolshoi, who's the girl in the clown costume that Yumiko Hotta punted up and down the place like a football that one time. Apparently she was a really fun mat worker and she has her own youtube channel where she's uploading new matches all the time. So it would be rude not to check her out.
We'll see where this takes me.
This was a real blast. Amano I already knew was a fun mat worker, but I wasn't quite sure what to expect from Bolshoi working holds and grappling. Based on this I guess she kind of fucking ruled? There was a bunch of neat and tricked out matwork here, really slick, often coming in warp speed bursts where they'd fight over a hold. They never lost that sense of struggle though. It felt gritty and uncooperative enough that the prettiness of those holds didn't make it teeter all the way into exhibition territory. In fact early on there was a real IWRG/lucha maestros vibe to this, where they'd work exchanges, reset, talk a little shit and then get back to it. As the match went on those exchanges grew longer and soon enough the resets were done away with completely, a real sense of escalation with them going for more unique and audacious stuff the deeper it went. I don't even know what my favourite parts were now but Bolshoi dropping out of a rolling armbar and spinning around on the mat like a Beyblade to give herself an opening was awesome. At one point Amano had Bolshoi in this chickenwing scarf hold thing, then later they came to a stalemate with Amano applying a standing cross armbreaker while Bolshoi used her own free arm to twist Amano's free arm into a modified choke. I love how they'd use the ropes as well, often as a launchpad into more rapid fast takedowns or counters. Give me all of the Bolshoi like this.
Kana v Arisa Nakajima (JWP, 8/18/13)
So this is the first time I've watched Arisa Nakajima. I think. Even as someone not particularly well-versed in whatever's been happening in joshi over the last 10-15 years I know she's one of the more heralded workers of the modern style. I already knew how good Kana is/was. With that said, I can't actually remember the last time I watched anything she'd done in Japan. She hits like a bastard, in case you were wondering. I don't really know what the story was coming into this, but from the pre-match package and the way they needed to be pulled apart in interview segments I can guess there was some ANIMOSITY. Kana was pretty much the Terminator here and she was great continually moving forward, unrelenting, cutting off Nakajima when the latter tried to match strikes. When Nakajima did create openings I thought Kana was really good at selling vulnerability and then she'd get more violent in response and that was the best part. She clonked Nakajima with a headbutt at one point and took the jaw off her with a backfist and then headbutted her again. Those parts were the best, basically. I have no real stance on Nakajima yet. She seemed fine, one goofy fighting spirit bit aside, but it's hard to draw conclusions from one match and this one felt like Kana's show anyway. Their rematch was recommended to me and it's been talked up by folks I'll listen to as being great, so I guess I'll watch that this week or...at some point in my mortal existence. Prolly.
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