Thoughts on my favorite match of the decade

[Guest wolverine]

Kaoru Ito vs. Momoe Nakanishi, AJW WWWA World Singles Championship, September 16, 2001

 

The look on Momoe Nakanishi’s face at the end of this match—one that is wretched in pain and agony—in a lot of ways symbolizes the struggles that young wrestlers face in climbing the very real ladder of success in this industry.

 

Nakanishi, the 21-year-old phenom who had just won her promotion’s annual Japan Grand Prix tournament in August, was out to prove herself against mentor and equally confident WWWA World Champion, Kaoru Ito. The two had previously gone to a 30-minute draw in a JGP match in July; but while that match was significant in terms of the eventual outcome of the tournament, this match was for something far more valuable and prestigious to both workers—the WWWA title.

 

There have been several matches that showcased a great deal of intensity during the pre-match intros, but I’m not sure I’ve ever seen one where it was so clear that both wrestlers respected each other, yet also wanted to tear each other apart at the same time. It’s an interesting contrast of emotions as the camera pans from Ito to Nakanishi, and back, where you see such determination and fire in Momoe’s eyes, while at the same time there’s a tremendous air of confidence in the eyes of the champion.

 

This match starts extremely fast, as right out of the gate, Momoe charges Ito, ducks a clothesline, then hits a perfectly executed moonsault for a near-fall out of nowhere, which would set the tone for Momoe’s strategy late in the match. Ito would constantly capitalize on the youngster’s mistakes, such as when Momoe tried to match elbow strikes with the champ, only for Momoe to meet cold hard reality in the form of canvas.

 

As the match wore on, Momoe continued to withstand a great deal of punishment, with the only window of hope at that point being some sort of flash pin. The Momo*latch (her signature move) is a twisting headscissors rana turned into a victory roll. She used this to defeat nemesis Kumiko Maekawa in the JGP Final, and was now something that was going to attempt to win her a world championship. And if that didn’t work, she would sure as hell die trying.

 

For a few split seconds, it looked like it would work. Just when it seemed like the end was near for Momoe, she’d catch Ito off guard with a Momo*latch from every angle imaginable, mixed in with a great suplex variation here and there, trying to get that elusive pinfall. But unfortunately for her, Ito possessed something far more deadly in her repertoire—the Double Foot Stomp. Momoe knew it—it was obvious when Ito was about to unleash it, where we saw a beaten down Nakanishi scramble for her life to get away. She knew that any glimmer of hope that she had of winning that title would be all but lost if she were to get hit with that move—a move that had been done off of balconies and cages in the past, so for Ito, this was child’s play.

 

The end result was inevitable, but that wasn’t the issue any longer. What I saw in Momoe was a courageous fighter, who despite her size and weight, portrayed an insatiable appetite and burning desire to be the best that she could be on that night. In the storyline, it wasn’t enough to win. But winning and losing play second fiddle to putting on a performance that drew me in to a match far more than anything I had seen in years. I consider myself a fan of professional wrestling for several reasons; this match contains many of the thematic elements as to why.

[Guest RickyChosyu]

Great to read your thoughts, Wolverine. I'm really enjoying the portions of Momoe's work that I've seen and hopefully I can get ahold of this and the JGP match as well.

[Guest Lord of The Curry]

Damn son. Reading stuff like that actually wants to make me start watching joshi, though I really wouldn't have a clue to begin.