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[1990-07-21-AJW] Manami Toyota vs Bull Nakano


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  • 1 month later...

- (3WA Title) Bull Nakano © vs Manami Toyota

A total power vs speed match. At the begining none of Toyota's attacks work. She runs at Bull, eats a lariat, runs at Bull, gets tossed asside like garbage, runs at Bull, gets slamed down. She tries a new strategy of trying to take it to the mat but that doesn't work so well either as Bull stretches her to hell instead. Like at the JGP last month the crowd is again split but this time it's around 70/30 in favor of Toyota so whenever a Bull chant breaks out it's quickly drowned by the larger Manami cheer squad. Toyota makes her come back and goes back to spazzing out like a mad woman, this time to more success. She's able to hit a lot of fast moving dives and other attacks and escapes a lot of Bull's power stuff either moving out of the way to hit a move of her own or countering into a roll up or cradle for a near fall. Crowds going nuts at this stage hoping for a title change but as is often when people try & play the speed game with Bull it ends badly because eventually she will catch you and all it takes is one monster lariat or flying leg drop or in case of the finish a nasty looking power bomb droping Toyota on her head for the win. Entire match only goes like 9 minutes but it's one of the best sub 10 matches i've ever seen and a damn great match period. Proving it's not always how much time you get but what you do with it that counts.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I really think Young Manami Toyota is outstanding. It's not fair to say she regressed, but she did change her style when she became a star. I like her a lot in the 1990 matches I've seen so far. She does her highspots, but she also allows breathing room between them to give people time to react and she makes everything fit her character. I realize this is true for a lot of her "peak" stuff as well, but I really like her in 1990 quite a bit. This is an excellent short match. Toyota takes a pretty jawdropping outside-in bump off a lariat just before the finish. I mentioned Toyota, but Bull is reliably great in her role, and carries herself really well as the champ. They do a lot with the little time they had. Do they have other singles matches?

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  • 2 weeks later...

Yeah, this was a really drawn out squash. But a well-done one. There really is build to Toyota finally getting something in on Bull, as she has to back off and re-strategize, and then finally gets some offense in by diving at her from the top. Manami never really does get a "run," though, as she's constantly getting cut off including on a plancha to the floor just when it looked like she had something going. Toyota gets absolutely destroyed at the finish, taking a second sick lariat bump and then getting dropped on her head for the closing powerbomb. This is as monstrous as I've seen Bull look (which isn't exactly a ton) but she threw in other stuff like the Northern Lights and attempted diving legdrop without compromising any of that.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Holy fuck that lariat bump. I don't know how anyone could kick of that shit. I really liked this match and thought it was a great title opportunity for Toyota at this stage in her career and showed her as pretty resourceful in the amount of strategy she put in into trying to take down the monster bull. Didn't see this as a squash more as a way to show explicitly that it will take another physical force like Aja to compete with Bull.

 

Complete shame this is really it between these two and singles matches.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Toyota’s multiple dropkicks are not working Bull. Nakano shrugs off the earlier offense from Toyota. Couple times it looked like Toyota could have got her neck really screwed up on suplexes. Seemed like Bull was doing a nothern lights suplex but Toyota took it the wrong way. And she just got clotheslined on top of her head! Oh my! And powerbombed too! Crap. Bull looked like such an ass kicker. Heck of a short match.

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  • 3 months later...
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  • 1 year later...

Toyota didn't stand a chance here. It was as though her reward for winning the Japan Grand Prix was a firm reality check. it was interesting that they went for a realistic approach here instead of Bull putting over Toyota's challenge, but I guess they were still building Bull up as a monster. This period was a transition for everyone. In retrospect it's amazing that Toyota developed so quickly. She has real difficulty with sunset flip moves in 1990, but you wouldn't know it in 1991. She was also terribly shy in her pre-match promo. Bull was a bit forced and awkward as well.

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  • 2 months later...

This was a semi-squash; AJW obviously had plans of some sort for Toyota, so it makes no sense to have her destroyed, but Bull also has to be portrayed as a monster, so what we get is Toyota exhausting her arsenal, but just not having enough to put Bull away.. Credit to Toyota for taking some of the bumps she did, as they could have caused a serious concussion and/or major neck damage.

 

I love Bull's blue hair; it's a nice way to tell the audience that this isn't your average wrestler for the schoolgirls to squeal over. I also found it telling that she wrestled in a T-shirt. Looks and sex appeal are definitely not what AJW is going for here.

 

All in all, an interesting debut for Bull on the set. Like most of the fans back then, I'm wondering just who'll stop her. I guess we'll find out in the months ahead.

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  • 1 year later...
  • GSR changed the title to [1990-07-21-AJW] Manami Toyota vs Bull Nakano
  • 2 years later...

Toyota looked scared before the match.  The interviewer really sold Bull's punch!  

Toyota pinballing in a match can be really fun, so to have a monster ace vs young future ace is a great situation to have a fun match.  Aside from typical Toyota sloppiness, this match was a really good squash main event.

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