1998 Match of the Year

Shinobu Kandori v. Yumiko Hotta LLPW 3/21/98

PAS: This was a KO or submission match for the WWWA title, and merciful fuck was this a war. Kandori opens up by tackling Hotta to the floor, after they get back into the ring, they scramble and it ends up with Hotta field goal kicking Kandori right in the head. Hell of a way to open a match and it really lets you know you are watching something special. This match has the greatest guard work I have ever seen in a pro-wrestling match, Kandori is basically a distaff worked Demien Maia. There is this great section early in the match where Kandori is in rubber guard and Hotta, frustrated with her inability to pass, just rains down headbutts splitting her own head open. For the rest of the match Hotta has blood streaming down her head which totally adds to the crazed aura. Of course with these two quasi unprofessional ladies everything is thrown with reckless abandon. Hotta is just unloading KO shots with every kick, Kandori is trying to crack jaws with every slap. Finish was great, Hotta lands two big bombs, a double underhook piledriver, and a nasty liger bomb, but clearly weak from blood loss, she forgets the rules and goes for a pin. This allows Kandori to catch her from the bottom with a great tight triangle choke for the tap out. It was basically a worked version of the Chael Sonnen v. Anderson Silva finish 12 years before that fight. Such a masterful piece of violence and a Segunda Caida match through and through

ER: There's nothing quite like a big wrestling title or stips match, the best ones just have an aura of something bigger. Hotta punts a prone Kandori in the head less than a minute into this, so you just knew what kind of scrap this was going to be from go. Hotta is a total savage here and Kandori leans into one of my favorite roles, underdog who is nasty herself and also resilient. Kandori can take a beating and keep her eye out for openings, like Fujiwara or Ishikawa. Hotta is mean and her face looks like she wants nothing more than to keep her title. She's the one going for less dignified attacks first, the one immediately trying to put Kandori away. She throws in that punt, locks in a quick sleeper choke, and starts jamming headbutts from mount, busting herself open immediately. Blood will always ramp things up, and Hotta's blood-covered face makes her look simultaneously more savage and more desperate. There's a moment where Kandori goes for a pin, looks up at the ref whwn she realizes the ref isn't counting (due to the KO/Submission stips) and while she's looking Hotta grabs her arm for a sub attempt. I loved that as it came into play on the finish, with Kandori getting that same benefit of Hotta waiting for a pin count, allowing her to lock on the finishing triangle. While Kandori is going for submissions as a way to victory, Hotta is going for knockouts. At one point Kandori is seated, and Hotta walks up behind her and just wraps a kick around her face. The callback finish was great, with Hotta hitting a nasty snap piledriver and then rolling through to deliver a vertically spiking tiger driver; she waits for a pin, and a loopy Kandori locks on a triangle that the exhausted Hotta can't escape. This will be a fun inaugural champ for a year with no obvious champs or challengers.


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