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[2000-07-29-JWP] Azumi Hyuga vs Ran Yu Yu


soup23

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A very strong match but I was hopeful for a MOTYC and it never reached that level so in that regard it is a victim of my hype. The opening was fantastic especially the ground work and Hyuga targeting the back of Yu Yu. I was thinking it would be a strict dueling limbwork contest with the back and arm of Yu Yu getting worked over and by contrast her going after the leg of Hyuga. The match takes a turn when they go outside for some brawling. This wasn't awful and actually featured a pretty brutal table spot performed by Yu Yu but it felt like a betrayal of the match they had laid out up to this point and while the narrative of them rushing into the ring at 19 to break up the countout is a good visual, it didn't fit. The remaining portion of the match was more back and forth with big moves and submission attempts. I did get the feeling that Hyuga wasn't quite there as a worker here to have a 25+ minute compelling match as her selling on stuff was spotty and she overall felt a little lost in the waning minutes. I did like the finality of the finish with Yu Yu delivering a big brainbuster for the win. Joshi is dying from the crowd support but I have enjoyed a lot of the 2000 immensely especially Yu Yu. If this was a MOTYC, I was ready to throw her hat into the ring for WOTY. Since this didn't reach that level, I cant in good conscience do that but I did think this was a very good match with some pretty big flaws that prevented it form reaching that next level. ***3/4 (7.5)

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I dunno, I thought they did everything right here. This style of match with it's generic matwork -> brawling -> nearfalls layout isn't popular anymore, but I thought every section was well executed. Opening matwork was quite good as both are fast and spry, and Hyuga is smart enough to know she has to prove that she's a class above, brawling outside had some nasty stiff kicks, table spot and really well done near countout spot. There were some minor hiccups in the last section, but they did a good job mixing up strikes and impact moves and keeping the match moving in a way that seemed closer to AJPW heavyweight stuff than your typical joshi bout. I thought the selling was spot on too, as Hyuga was pushed to her limit by a mid section injury. The biggest problem was that the match took place in a pale hall in front of an audience of rocks and thus didn't have great atmosphere.

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  • 3 months later...

I don't think these girls were capable of a MOTYC at this stage of their careers so what I was looking for was something good, and for the most part what they delivered was very good. As Jetlag mentioned, the biggest problem was that it was worked in front of a typically dead JWP crowd. That made the bout seem slow at times when in reality they were working at a steady clip. It was probably a bit long for the crowd they drew but there were some excellent transitions and the progression from matwork -> brawling -> nearfalls was solid. Ran Ran brings a different dynamic to Joshi with that right hand of hers. Striking is nothing new in Joshi. There was a wave of UWF inspired shooters from the 80s onward but Ran Ran is one of the few girls who can throw a decent punch. So while this wasn't spectacular, it ended up being a strong match that was the best match either girl has been in thus far and worth watching to see them try to deliver a great bout.

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  • GSR changed the title to [2000-07-29-JWP] Azumi Hyuga vs Ran Yu Yu

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