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[1999-04-16-ARSION] Mariko Yoshida vs Mikiko Futagami


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Another piece in Yoshida's great 1999. Futagami is much lower on the totem pole, so Yoshida makes it clear she wants to finish this in 30 seconds. Futagami doesn't much but she has a handful of spectacular counters for Yoshida's signature moves. Futagami has a kind of miserable charisma, like a female Masao Inoue, but manages to give Yoshida a lot more than she expected. Didn't like the double finisher pop up before the finish, altough it was fairly well done. Yoshida continues to look like a female Negro Navarro crossed with Tamon Honda, clutching her opponent out of nowhere for the Air Raid Crash and locking in unique chokes out of thin air. A few variations on her Spider Twist submission in this match.Great selling from both girls throughout.

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  • 5 months later...

This was pretty excellent. I've watched a lot of Yoshida over the last few days and one thing about her matches from this period that is always great is the struggle over submission nearfalls down the stretch. They really milk the drama in this towards the end, but it's just on the right side of dramatic without ever feeling like it's overstepped that line. This was the first Yoshida match of many I watched yesterday morning, so my memory of specifics isn't great, but there was one Futagami submission that Yoshida found herself in for about two minutes straight and it never felt like overkill ala the ankle lock in Angle/Shawn from Wrestlemania. To be fair to Futagami she really worked to keep hold of Yoshida and force the submission, always trying to hook another limb or shift weight to take advantage of potential openings, but Yoshida's utter desperation in trying to make the ropes certainly kept Futagami honest. It's a staple I've noticed in a lot of those Yoshida matches, and it was especially impressive in this. I'd never seen nor heard of Futagami before this, but I'm not surprised she made her home lower down the card. She was relentless at points, though, and that seemed to force Yoshida to up her game in return. I never cared much for the fighting spirit pop up either, but it did at least lead directly into the finish, so it's whatever.

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  • 2 weeks later...

This was taped 4/14/99.

 

Given my feelings about Gami I wasn't filled with optimism going in. She was an obscure LLPW undercard wrestler in the years before Arsion, and became an extremely annoying semi-comedy worker in the 00's. If you've never witnessed her hitting someone with a paper cone, count yourself lucky. This turned out to be a really good match that wasn't just a Yoshida carry job either. Futagami held her end up in what was a career highlight. During the build it was looking good but no more. The crowd wouldn't have popped for a beheading. Then it transformed during a couple of lengthy submissions, where the end looked nigh. Both women fought through the pain barrier and the tension kept escalating. As did the quality until a couple of silly no sells near the end. It snuck up on me and became a fine title bout. Yoshida was outstanding.

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  • 9 months later...

Jesus CHRIST! The next match that really grows in my estimation through the power of context. So we saw Yoshida destroy all comers. Futagami has no chance, right? Unlike Yagi or Bennett Futagami really doesn't have any overwelming advantage. But Futagami is like this mad wrestling improvisation artist. Crafty and unpredictable! And she ends up giving Yoshida a run for her money. There was not a ton of matwork (who would want to go to the mat with Yoshida at this point), but every single exchange here felt unique and special. Yoshida just goes to kill Mikiko the whole time and Mikiko keeps making up exit doors from nothing like she is a cartoon mouse being chased by at cartoon lawn mower. Not only was the wrestling great, but the timing and selling was brilliantly tricked out. I mean, that is not an easy thing to do when you have these lengthy submission attempts, and the teases and nearfalls were among the best I've ever seen, including one of the hardest struggles for a rope break ever caught on film. They also told the story through their facial expressions, perhaps moreso than in any other match before. By the end Futagami looks mentally scarred, she has made up all this shit and nothing is working, while Yoshida just has a pissed off look on her face and goes for the Air Raid Crash in frustration. It even makes me want to forgive some of the no selling. Brilliant, swanky, unique match. ARSION is on fire.

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  • GSR changed the title to [1999-04-16-ARSION] Mariko Yoshida vs Mikiko Futagami

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