Shinobu Kandori v Harley Saito (JWP, 7/19/90)
Maybe it's because I haven't watched any JWP in ages, but stylistically this felt quite a bit different to what Ozaki and Kansai and the rest would be doing a few years later. It wasn't worked the same as Ohtani/Samurai from 1/96 so it's not a perfect analogy, but it reminded me of that if for no reason other than how there was a template there for juniors matches going forward, yet ultimately they decided to take the division in a different direction and it wound up being less interesting (well, to me it did). There aren't all that many joshi matches I'd compare to this in style and that's a shame, because it was pretty great. It was hard not to pick up some shoot style vibes just from the way they worked holds and treated the strikes. There was also the underlying dynamic of Kandori being this badass grappler and Saito being the underdog striker. It was almost the inverse of Ishikawa/Ikeda with the grappler being the dominant mauler. Saito is a little treasure and she took it straight to Kandori like she knew it was her only means of survival. Offence was her best defence and there's one part where she literally punts Kandori out the ring. It was brutal, and yet you knew it was necessary. Kandori obviously had a bunch of killer takedowns and ways of yanking Saito into submission attempts, and once or twice she unloaded with a few big strikes of her own. They do a roll-up reversal bit about two thirds in that I wasn't initially digging, but then they give it a cool twist and use it for a dramatic false finish. Last few minutes were great as you felt it slipping away from Saito as Kandori was just dropping her with bombs, but there was always life left in Harley with those cradles. I think I'm about ready to revisit the famous Kandori/Hokuto match. I've been on a bit of a joshi kick lately so if it's ever going to truly resonate with me I'm guessing it'll be now.
Shinobu Kandori & Mizuki Endo v Yumiko Hotta & Kimiko Maekawa (LLPW, 8/15/97)
How in the name of Christ did Kandori ever get a shitty rep as a worker? This was fucking wild. It's largely strikers (Hotta/Maekawa) v grapplers (Kandori/Endo), but the wrinkle is that Endo can't really hang and so it feels like Kandori often has to go it alone. It didn't help that Endo charged Hotta before the bell and I guess got punched or stabbed in the guts for her trouble, so she started the match even more handicapped than usual. Hotta and Maekawa were an unbelievable pair of thugs in this. About six seconds in Hotta punts Endo's teeth through the back of her head and from that point forward she and Maekawa throw a staggering amount of vicious kicks. Some of these were truly vile and they came in multiple shapes and sizes. Maekawa would fold Endo in half with a camel clutch while Hotta would blast her in the chest, then they'd switch over and try to outdo each other. Hotta was swinging for the fences like she always did, but her partner on the night had her beat. Maekawa was always stiff as a bastard, like Murakami only with kicks and even more reckless into the bargain. She was hitting ax kicks to the forehead and neck, pump kicks to the face, roundhouses, Wanderlei punts, penalty kicks, the whole repertoire of gratuitous violence. Kandori as walking tall badass was amazing, though. The first time she gets in there's a palpable sense of shit getting real and those moments where she was launching folk with judo throws and snapping into submissions were awesome. There were parts where Endo was lying half dead somewhere so she'd have to weather the storm by herself, taking one opponent down only to be kicked ridiculously hard in the face by the other, which more than once led to her being kicked ridiculously hard in the face by both of them. She's usually a great seller of strikes anyway, maybe my favourite in all of joshi, and there was one shot from Maekawa that was near Fujiwara level. All of the exchanges with Hotta ruled as well. You can sort of understand how it isn't really mentioned as a classic feud in the joshi pantheon, but every time they match up it's nuclear. The slow circling, the mugging, the shit-talking, Hotta's strikes v Kandori's wrestling, those highlights like Kandori spearing her out her boots and raining down elbows. How has this gone so far under the radar? Finish is awesome as well. Endo's been taken out for the umpteenth time and Kandori is trying to finish Maekawa, but Hotta won't give her a second's peace and is constantly breaking up submission attempts. Kandori clearly tells her to fuck off out the ring, and as she goes to leave Kandori jumps her and chokes her out. Kandori finally has Maekawa one on one and now she has until Hotta regains consciousness to put her away. The armbar at the end is grotesque and Endo managing to hold off the reawakening Hotta was a great little slice of revenge. I thought this was incredible and one of the best joshi matches of the decade.
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