More 2000s Mariko Yoshida

Mariko Yoshida v Atsuko Emoto (IBUKI, 1/28/07)

It's a shame that most of these matches are clipped up a bit. Even if I'm not always into the idea of watching a 30-minute draw this had some truly awesome stuff in it and I'd like to see it in full. We get about 17 minutes overall though, so more than enough time to get a handle on what they were doing. It's another duelling limb work match, with Yoshida going after Emoto's arm and Emoto basically going after Yoshida's entire torso. I suppose it's hard to tell how consistent they were with the selling, but even with the editing it sure LOOKED like they were drawing constant attention to what ailed them. Sometimes it would be as simple as Emoto grabbing her arm after slamming or suplexing Yoshida, sometimes it would be something really cool like Yoshida grabbing her lower back WHILE being whipped into the turnbuckle. The actual offence was great all the way through and largely stayed focused. Emoto hitting a front suplex on the ring apron looked brutal, her Billy Robinson backbreaker looked brutal, that one release back suplex looked reckless AND brutal, and Yoshida was amazing at grabbing all sorts of submissions from unnatural positions. Loved the bit where Emoto applied a Boston crab and really leaned back at a nasty angle, then had to transition to a single-leg version because the bad arm couldn't keep hold of Yoshida's leg. Emoto was more than capable rolling around on the mat as well so there were a few sequences that were honestly breathtaking, not just because of how smooth they looked but because they felt appropriately desperate at the same time. I mean Emoto reversing a kimura into a stretch muffler was fucking badass. The last few minutes made up what was probably my least favourite part of the match, but Emoto's arm remained a factor right until the end. I don't even mind her gritting her teeth and going for a lariat with the bad arm - I'd assume it's one of her big moves and she'd approach it like a "this'll hurt me but it'll hurt you more" type of thing. They just ran out of ideas a little and you pretty much knew it was going to the time limit. Joshi feels dead as dirt in the mid-late 2000s but there was probably a decent amount of worthwhile stuff going on (never thought I'd be one of the folk going to bat for Kwame Brown/Laron Profit era joshi yet here we are. 2020 be wild as hell, boys).