70s Joshi on Wednesday: Jumbo! Jaguar! Victoria! Gomez! Rios! Ikeshita!

73. 1979.11.XX2 - 01 Ayumi Hori, Rimi Yokota & Victoria Fujimi vs. Norma Gomez, Raquel Rios & Yumi Ikeshita

K: This didn't go anywhere I didn't expect from the start, but still, it felt like it overachieved somewhat considering it included two unfamiliar Mexican wrestlers and a very green Ayumi Hori, who actually got more focus than anyone.

The first half of the match was mostly a drawn out face-in-peril segment for Hori, who is so outmatched that she never really even attempts to make a comeback so much as just try to make it to her her corner to tag back out. It makes you wonder why her partners let her tag in in the first place. There's an interesting moment when she almost makes it to her corner but Ikeshita just covers her. Not a pin attempt, they're clearly in the ropes, but it just stops Hori from making a tag. She's looked pretty weak on offense in previous matches (which really is a drawback when you're the biggest wrestler on the roster) so at least this role avoids that. She at least does a decent job of repeatedly reaching out her hand to signal she needs to tag out, although in one moment she reaches out her hand to the wrong corner. Maybe Ikeshita’s face-targetting offense disoriented her.

When Victoria Fujimi gets to tag in she's immediately on the receiving end of more offence, these tags are almost always very heel dominating. She is established as being a bit above Hori in the hierarchy though by letting to fight back a bit and things spill out to the outside for some rudimentary chaos.

Things pick up when Ikeshita is back in the ring and is taking everyone out with a metal bucket. After that's taken off her though she more than holds her own with the slickest moves of anyone, and finishes things with a fantastic looked-like-a-deadlift pile-driver that the second she hit it I thought had better be the finish as I don't remember seeing her hitting a better one. It's just a bit of a shame that Yokota had so little to do here when she already looks like the best wrestler on her team and is started to get hyped up on commentary. Solid showing though.

**3/4

MD: Some interesting commentary notes I picked up on. They indicated that Fujimi was probably the leader of her team since she was most seasoned. And they likened the future Jaguar to Mariko Akagi and said that she was following her path. 

No big surprises for this one. It’s interesting to see Hori work from underneath because other than people having to punch up at her, they treat her just like anyone else. Rios had some size and they had a brief beatdown but it wasn’t really a Clash of the Titans. When Hori’s on offense, she just crashes into people though. I liked Gomez more here, even if she just choked and shoved a finger into someone’s throat for the most part. 

Primarily and unsurprisingly, this was an Ikeshita showcase. They always are unless Kumano’s there to share the load. A headbutt to take over, dragging a face over the mat, the obtuse angled slams. Things broke down and the babyfaces had more luck after that (after a brief series of bucket shots), but only so much, as Ikeshita reversed a tombstone attempt and absolutely planted Yokota with a sit down pile driver for the win. Not as much substance to this than if it went longer but you may not have gotten that substance in the first place, so I’m not complaining too much. It was solid for how long it went.

Read more!

70s Joshi on Wednesday: Jackie! Lucy! Ikeshita! Gomez!

72. 1979.11.XX1 - 03 Jackie Sato & Lucy Kayama vs. Norma Gomez & Yumi Ikeshita (2/3 Falls)

We start in the middle of the 1st fall. I found it a little hard to get into being dropped into it with Jackie getting double teamed by the Ikeshita and her Mexican ally, lots of choking for several minutes, and when Lucy got tagged in she just got more of the same. Then, in a blink and you’ll miss it transition, the babyface suddenly started steamrolling and were 1-0 up. 

But ok things pick up when we start the 2nd fall and Jackie is in a mean mood now. The fall starts with Jackie Irish Whipping Norma Gomez straight into Ikeshita on the apron, knocking her to the ground and drawing out a ‘woah’ from the crowd. Ikeshita is pissed and wants to fight on the outside and looks determined to get her vengeance. I thought it was interesting how she wins with the hurricanrana pin (after some very cool over the head backdrops), and even though Jackie makes contact jumping in to break up the pin, it still counts because she wasn’t able to actually break it up and Lucy’s shoulders stay down. I don’t know when it became a rule (or if it even officially is one) in wrestling that the referee stops counting the pin in a tag match if someone so much as taps the pinning wrestler on the back, but I don’t think that was a good change.

There isn’t much of a 3rd fall. Jackie does a cool backbreaker and looks like she’s going to really take charge, then a chair is being swung around, they’re fighting on the outside and the result is a countout. Oh well. I guess they just weren’t going to give away anything tonight. 2nd fall was good though.

**

MD: We come in JIP here. I didn’t really get a great sense of Norma except for that she was credible. She kept the pressure on, mainly with choking and mean shots and that was all that was needed because Ikeshita was going to come in with all the cool stuff. Also a picked up choke hiding. Eventually Lucy took out Norma on the apron and ran right to Jackie and they just mowed through their opponents like it was nothing. 

We had another transition in the second fall, but that was after some chaos on the outside. Again Ikeshita looked like a million bucks. Her delaying power slam off the ropes were brutal and the way she won the second fall with that elaborate over the top escape into the ‘rana was top notch. There were a couple of moments here where they said the crowd was going up big for Jackie and I just didn’t see or hear it. You watch the crowd and there aren’t those shots of wincing or screaming girls. Everything seems less hot than back during the Ripper feud and before, and I don’t know if it’s how things were mic’d or if they were just cooling down in general.

But that didn’t make Jackie any less of an Ace. When she took over in the last fall, it was brutal and without mercy or doubt. But then the chairs come in and everything breaks down and that was that.

Read more!