Revisiting 90s Joshi #44

Megumi Kudo v Combat Toyoda (No Rope Exploding Barbed Wire Deathmatch) (FMW, 5/5/96)

I'm repeating what folk have been saying about this for years, repeating what I've said about it myself in the past, but this really is all about the way they build anticipation for the big barbed wire spots. I'm not shitting on your crazy deathmatches with gallons of blood and light tubes and psychotic barbed wire bumps or whatever. I don't think the great sport of professional wrestling is above such grody shenanigans and there have been plenty of those piss-and-guts deathmatches that I've gotten a kick out of. But this was less about the gratuitous violence and more about the THREAT of it; the obvious and inherent peril of wrestling a match surrounded by barbed wire, that threat always lurking in the background. The ambience from the start is quite remarkable, with the open air arena, Kudo's hair blowing in the wind like a slow-motion shot before a big battle scene, Toyoda just as menacing in the last match of her career as she was in her prime. They work this more like the Lawler/Mantel barbed wire match, or those early FMW matches with Onita and Goto against a pair of karatekas. Even being in proximity of the wire felt dangerous here, obviously because of how they sold it and brought that danger to life. Engaging in a collar-and-elbow tie-up close to the wire had the woman with her back to it wary. They made those tie-ups feel extra meaningful, gave jockeying for position a sense of GRAVITY and whatnot. I loved the way Kudo would immediately drop to the mat when Toyoda whipped her towards the wire. She was like a quarterback who's forced out the pocket having to slide before getting obliterated by a pass rusher, or in this case exploding barbed wire. They took hitting the ropes, something they'd do probably every day in training, something they'd do in every regular wrestling match, something almost second nature, and made of it a thing that had to be avoided at all costs. The way they sold the process of acclimatising to that was really cool, at one point with Kudo turning to gather momentum for a big strike only to realise she couldn't use the ropes to do it, the crowd responding with a gasp followed by a sense of relief. There were some other cool moments of hesitancy as well, like when Toyoda would drop Kudo with a slam or elbow but wouldn't really follow up because Kudo was so close to the ring edge, and by extension the barbed wire. To be honest a couple of those examples looked like they came from the wrestlers not being completely on the same page and it led to a brief pause, but intentional STORYTELLING~ or otherwise it worked. Then of course came the big exploding wire bumps themselves. The three individual bumps came off huge, even Kudo's second one despite the explosion not actually going off, the way she remained stuck to it for a few seconds longer, really letting the visual sink in. The shots of Onita in the crowd are all brilliant and then we get the double wire bump - which looked fucking insane - and Onita has his head in his hands completely beside himself. Even as they run through those final few powerbombs and suplexes they sell the toll of what the wire has done to them, and there's one close-up of Toyoda's arm with a nasty, nasty gash down her biceps. And then even after literal explosions, the craziest thing to happen is Kudo powerbombing Toyoda square on her head.