Tremendous fuckin wrestling match, one that basically solidified what I already knew about Meiko while also making me wonder if I don't need to do the full comprehensive of Io Shirai. She works part of this as a heel without fully being heel, not sniveling, not dastardly, doesn't really cheat or do anything underhanded, but she clearly had something to prove against the legend and she wasn't about to show deference. She doesn't shake Meiko's hand at the intros and ducks out the ring for an early breather, then goes head to head with Meiko, smiling with the hubris that a young challenger on the cusp of greatness might. She even slapped Meiko and of course she paid dearly for it. The opening five minutes were brilliant and they were all about Meiko establishing dominance. Outside of an early bit of tight grappling and one subsequent stand-off she mostly ragdolled Io. When Shirai got uppity Meiko literally kicked her out the ring and for every cannon Satomura threw Shirai matched it with her bump. Meiko wouldn't rise to any of Io's bait - she was the calm and assured champion and her portrayal of that was so good. She's seen all of this before, BEEN all of it before, and she'd never deviate, never get flustered, she'd stay on track with laser focus. Whenever she shut Io down it was with cool and vicious precision and it was spectacular to watch, like Misawa in his pomp. Shirai eventually makes her comeback and she does it with an awesome side-on tope that wipes out Meiko and whoever was unfortunate enough to be standing next to her. I loved that opening stretch but honestly, when Io grabbed Meiko by the head and waltzed her into the crowd I was worried it was for going off the rails in a hurry. If you're going to do the ropey crowd brawling though then at least make it look like you're dragging your opponent along and not going for a leisurely stroll, and in fairness Shirai had a tight enough grip on the headlock where it looked like Satomura didn't have a choice in the matter. It still nearly backfired on Shirai when Meiko kicked the crap out of her again and even went for the Death Valley Driver up in the bleachers. Io channeling her inner Puerto Rico and kicking Meiko down a flight of stairs was great, though. When she got up on the balcony I was like there's no way she'd actually jump off that would she and then she went and fucking moonsaulted off the thing. Both of them were really good at getting into position for things that might otherwise have a contrived setup. Things like Meiko getting her leg stuck between the ropes allowing Shirai to hit a dive off the turnbuckles, which in turn set up a Pele kick from the apron when Io climbed the buckles a second time. These were great looking spots but they actually felt like organic responses to what was going on around them. The longer it went the more the people rallied behind Io, and in turn she dropped the horse shit and went from cocky to determined. It was pretty endearing and not knowing the result I found a part of myself hoping she might pull it off as well. She kept bumping like crazy for all of Meiko's kicks so the beating she took certainly wouldn't have turned people against her. These were some truly Battlartsian shots too; roundhouse kicks to the head, the chest, the back, the hamstrings, the lot. Those strikes made it feel like Meiko could always halt Io's momentum quicker than the other way around. There was one exchange where Shirai actually won out with a kick of her own, but stumbled groggily into a return shot from Meiko as she lay on her back and just like that the tide was switched again. Satomura's offence had a real sense of escalation to it. She had the STF that she went to more than once, on the last occasion turning it onto her side that had Io twisted at about four ugly angles, then the choke late on where she used Shirai's own arm to apply the pressure that I fully bought as the finish. Io's bump off the missed moonsault was bonkers and when Meiko finally hit the DVD I'd have bet money on it being over. I didn't love how quickly Io reversed the third DVD attempt after eating the second one before that, especially because it led straight to the finish, but it's not a major complaint overall. Satomura was tremendous here, best in the world level, but she took a bit of a back seat character-wise to Shirai, who this was really all about. I don't know shit about shit when it comes to Stardom, but this was her second major title win in the promotion and without seeing the first one, it felt like she solidified herself as the true Ace. Other than a few spotty bits of transitional selling I thought she was excellent. One of the best matches of the decade.
No comments:
Post a Comment