80s Joshi on Wednesday: Masami! Tarantula! Jumbo! Yukari!

Volume 4   

12. Devil Masami & Tarantula vs. Jumbo Hori & Yukari Omori (WWWA Tag Team Titles Decision Match #2) - 5/7/83

K: This is a best of 3 series for the WWWA Tag Titles where all 3 matches are ⅔ falls. Yeah it does feel like they’re duplicating a gimmick but there you go. We get a recap of the 1st match so you know Dynamite Girls are 1-0 up on Devil Legion going into this one. 

The Dynamite Girls are wearing these little frilly dresses for their introductions, which looks especially weird on Yukari Omori. Also during the Devil/Tarantula’s entrance you can spot 15 year old Bull Nakano doing some crowd stewarding.

Babyfaces take control early and really go hard-hitting from the start. Devil Masami is selling well and fighting to get herself back into it. When she does Omori takes a hell of a bump off a Devil Masami cross chop. Proper hauls herself hard across the ring for it. There’s a really good superplex a bit later on due to Devil really milking the struggle she’s having to make of getting Omori up for it, but she eventually gets her up and gets a nearfall from it to a good crowd reaction. Omori’s too hurt to put up much of a fight though when Devil drags her up, and then I’m not sure what to call this move (Devil’s arsenal of offense is immense), but she gets Omori up from the apron and seems to hit her with a twisting brainbuster? Although it’s more on her face than her head. It’s really cool though and looked just as damaging as the superplex but more novel, so deservedly gets the 1st fall. So far, very good.
It also felt like the Dynamite Girls took most of the fall, and should really have extended the advantage they held from winning the first match, but they dropped a fall against the balance of play.

Again the babyfaces take control early in the 2nd fall. This time we get a little brawl on the outside when Jumbo Hori drags Devil Masami out and tries throwing her into chairs, but it doesn’t quite work as planned and they fight it out relatively evenly. By the time they’re getting back into the ring Devil is on top and Jumbo is doing a good sell job. I liked the pained expressions as she was on the mat. Once Tarantula gets tagged in though Jumbo is demolishing her again pretty quickly. She even throws her onto Devil at one point like she’s fighting both of them at once. Jumbo’s also utilising her size here a lot with big power moves like that, which is something I wish she’d done more often.

It’s a strange finish that you don’t see coming. The babyfaces look like they’re in control when they swing the heel team into each other. Then Tarantula gets thrown into the corner where Devil is, presumably to set up a spot where both heels are in the same corner and get hit with a running splash or something. But no. Devil darts out of the way and Tarantula she jumps up the turnbuckle, boomerangs back into Devil, who then fallaway slams her onto Jumbo Hori so it becomes like an assisted crossbody pin, and Tarantula actually wins it to take a 2-0 clean sweep. Again, against the run of play. You can’t really call it a fluke because it looked like a maneuver Devil & Tarantula had practiced hard in training to pull off in a situation like this, more of a very crafty sneaky win. Not sure if that’s really heelish or not.

The 1st match of the series was kinda just a going through the motions tag match. This was definitely not that. It felt like you were watching a crafty sports team with their backs against the wall coming in with a gameplan to steal a win and pulling it off, even if their tactics weren’t crowd-pleasing. Memorable stuff.

***1/2

MD: I don’t spend much time talking about gear here because I am ill-qualified to do so, but there was a real Mork and Mindy stripes with suspenders deal going on with Omori and Hori, with some odd color choices. They were the Dynamite Girls which I did not realize until after the fact. Devil and Tarantula had thematically (though not color) matching split colored deals with their names up the leg that were far cooler. I’m sure you’re glad you know that. Look, I have a whole spiel about how Mimi was full elf and Jaguar was half elf and Omori was half dwarf and Hori was some sort of giant race but I don't 100% know what D&D races exist and I don't want to call her a troll, so we'll  just move on.

Some thoughts from the first fall. The babyfaces tried for the first attack but they didn’t get far. The Devil Legion got them to the floor and took over. That said, their comeback was so good with so much of their signature stuff (Omori with a Russian Leg Sweep, a fireman’s carry throw, and her reverse bearhug drop down, which is what she took over with, Jumbo with these neat driving arm breakers, her fireman’s carry widowmakers, and a body block) that I thought it was going to lead to the finish with an Omori Vader bomb but Masami got her knees up. She followed it up with a brutal tapitia where she made Omori land on her face after the fact. Devil had some new tricks in the last few matches I’ve seen, including a throat cross chop (with Tarantula having these sweeping and overdramatic martial arts strikes), and a superplex from the second rope. That didn’t finish Omori off but a great outside in gourdbuster with a little half turn did.

Second fall had more of the same with the heels pulling them out to keep control. Wonderful visual of Devil revelling in it all as she hit a double underhook suplex from the outside in. Tarantula hit her rolls into dropkicks, which might be the best roll-into-a-move of all time. This time Jumbo came back with her twisting bearhug slam and they did a bunch more of their signature stuff. Jumbo hit the power bomb into throwing Jumbo suplex combo, Omori did her reverse tilt-a-whirl dropping Masami right on Tarantula. But Devil fought back out of a Jumbo full nelson and got her feet up as Omori charged in. After some nice tandem moves (double flying headbutts, double neckbreaker drop) by Devil and Tarantula, Omori and Jumbo came back, only to run right into a great finish as Devil hit a fall away slam on Tarantula so that she’d land in a body press and get the pin. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen that before and it caught both me and Hori/Omori by surprise. So they took it in two falls after only losing the first match because of the second fall DQ. It certainly put Omori and Hori behind the eightball for the third match (which thankfully we do have).

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What's Wrong with Being a Tengu? What's So Bad About Being a Tengu? Senka vs Chi Chi

Sareee-ISM ​Chapter XI 8/24/06

Senka Akatsuki vs Chi Chi

MD: It's Chi Chi's world. Everyone else just lives in it. She moves in lockstep with society and society follows her lead. Fashion, pop music, social media. We live in an increasingly digital existence where style rules over substance, where influencer is not just a profession but a college degree, where we're judged by likes, reposts, followers. Reality is getting overtaken by the slick, sticky veneer of AI slop and aggregated information and Chi Chi is perfectly positioned to profit.

She comes out to the ring with Aqua's Barbie Girl blaring over the loudspeaker. She carries with her a handbag. She blows kisses to the crowd. She's carved her niche and created her following and is a potent force poised to disinfect professional wrestling of everything out of place and recreate it in her image.

Yet Senka exists.

Senka is the outer dark to Chi Chi's outer light (though maybe the inner light to her inner dark). Senka wrestles in her singlet, carrying the weight of generations of tradition before her. She charges forward. She kicks out. She never quits. She never stops. She is unrelenting, incessant. She's a storm. Depending on her opponent, maybe she's just a squall, but she's a force of nature nonetheless.

So she exists. Should that bother Chi Chi? Plenty exist beneath her. The majority exists beneath her. That's the point of the majority. They need to exist in order to serve as contrast that highlights her all the more. 

But Senka does not exist quietly. She could wear grey or brown and might blend in, might fit her station in life. She does not. She wears red. She walks with pride. She moves with determination. She will not be pushed aside. She will not be hidden away. She will show the world her merit and make the world remember her name. 

There is no room in Chi Chi's world for a Senka Akatsuki who doesn't know her place. She is a blemish that cannot be tolerated, a burr that must be yanked out, a lump that has to be stomped down. She is not just an imperfection, but is instead a celebration of imperfection. Chi Chi has pride. Chi Chi has determination. Chi Chi is a force. 

But Senka represents another path to success, one wreathed in substance instead of style. She is the exception who demands the world see her as exceptional. 

In the press conference leading up to this match, Chi Chi bemoaned Senka's pride, admonished her brazenness to wrestle in red, suggested she might prune the world of her, and most of all, named her as a Tengu. 

Instead of being properly chastised at the insult, one of the worst possible in Chi Chi's reality, Senka dared to take pride in it. What's wrong about being a Tengu? What's so bad about being a Tengu? 

Opposing forces, opposite poles. Neither could possibly suffer the existence of the other.

Fate (and very likely mirth, whether it be Sareee's or Chigusa's) put the two of them together, forced them to associate as a team against Spark Rush. At first opportunity, Senka kicked Chi Chi in the gut and slammed her onto their opponents. When Senka went to tag out, Chi Chi took the tag and then threw a punch for good measure. They were handedly defeated. A house divided can't stand against Spark Rush.

But that just positioned them, one week later, here against one another. 

At the bell, Chi Chi hung back in the corner, refusing to come meet Senka in the center. This was about pride. It was about a difference of lifestyles, of world views, of what the world should be. She'd hold her nose up and not give an inch. She demanded Senka come to her instead. Chi Chi might be bullheaded, but you can't outstubborn Senka. Senka dropped to the mat, sat cross-legged, and Chi Chi was forced to come to her. The first skirmish went to Senka.

After scrambling on the mat, Senka got the first real advantage as well, surviving a double wristlock to hit a few slams and lock in a crab. Her face, as always, was the portrait of effort and strain, but for a split second, it seemed like the tiniest of smiles flashed across it, a brief hint of joy for the damage she was doing to her opposite. 

Chi Chi honed in on the arm, turning a Senka fireman's carry into a flying Octopus Hold and then really sinking it in on a second attempt off the ropes. Senka survived it but came out damaged, clutching her arm and her side. With almost any other wrestler, you would want to see their offense hindered there. She shouldn't have been throwing a lariat with that arm, shouldn't have tried to use both arms to lock in a choke, or to hit multiple suplexes in a row. But, of course, that's exactly what she did. 

Unlike every other wrestler in the world, however, she made it work. It wasn't about fighting spirit or adrenaline. She emoted pain. She radiated pain. You could feel her pain burst from the screen, just as you had when she recoiled in the corner like a wounded animal. It was still there when she was on offense as well. It was pure stubbornness that made her use that arm despite the pain. How dare Chi Chi attack it? How dare Chi Chi think that it would stop her? That it would slow her down? There was a clear cost to Senka's offense, but it was a cost that she bore as opposed a cost that she ignored. 

Since she didn't ignore it, we could not ignore it either. Likely Chi Chi could not as well. Likely she was all the more frustrated and aggrieved because of it. Why couldn't Senka just stay down? Why couldn't Senka just shut up? Why couldn't Senka just go away? 

Of course, Chi Chi didn't go away either. She endured the choke and rolled to the floor putting them at another impasse. This time, she wouldn't give Senka what she wanted. This time she found it in herself to be the more stubborn of the two and forced an increasingly irate Senka to come after her. She was ready and fought her way back into the match by eating a headbutt and hitting an exploder off the apron to the floor. 

She couldn't put away Senka however. She couldn't keep up the pace, not with Senka constantly dragging her back down to her level. She threw kicks into Senka's face. Senka came back with lariats. Things devolved into wrestling's most basic form, headlocks. Senka strained to hang on while Chi Chi fought for a Saito Suplex. Chi Chi hit it but to no avail. Then when she tried to contain Senka with a headlock of her own, the strain was mirrored back the other direction. As time ticked down, Senka finally powered her over to hit a huge suplex, but the bell rang before she could full capitalize on it. 

The last minute of the match saw the two as truly mirrored images, two very different sides of what looked increasingly like the same coin. Chi Chi grabbed the mic post-match, spent, exhausted, and noted how disappointing and unsatisfying that was. Yet when Senka demanded more, Chi Chi slipped out of the ring and headed to the back. They traded insults one last time and our last image of the match was that of Senka rushing after her.

The world is a complicated place full of competing pressures. A wrestling ring has traditionally served  as a wonderful canvas on which to paint the clash of social and cultural differences. While on this night, the clash between these two primal forces proved woefully inconclusive, we were left with the promise of more battles to come. After all, the world simply isn't big enough for the two of them. 

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