1st Round
1) Kana/ Ayumi Kurihara v. Kyoko Inoue/ Hiroyo Matsumoto- 4
2) Yoshiko Tamura/ Fuka v. Minori Makiba/ Aya Yuki- 2
3) RA v. Neo Machine Guns- 5
4) Emi Sakura/ Nanae Takahashi v. Ray & Taiyo - 5
Semi Finals
5) Kana/ Ayumi Kurihara v. Minori Makiba/ Aya Yuki- 5
6) Neo Machine Guns v. Emi Sakura/ Nanae Takahashi- 1
7) Etsuko Mita v. Makoto- 3
Finals
8) Minori Makiba/ Aya Yuki v. Emi Sakura/ Nanae Takahashi- 5
Our opener was performed well it just didn't know what kind of match it wanted to be. It went from fun heel showcase, to easy squash, to Japanese kick fest to completely muddled near the end. Inoue was the vet and easily put on 4 kids worth of baby weight. But she knew how to use her size and make her performance feel real not letting anything weak take her down. 2nd bout was quick and not much of note besides Yuki's really cool jumping front kick and one of the faces hideous yellow plastine overalls. Ending with all the weak kicks was even sad for girls (as sexist as that statement is.) 3rd bout had the most heat and felt like two solid teams that knew each other and didn't like each other. Started with a crowd brawl and the match utilized chains, chairs, tables and garbage cans but wasn't the junkfest you would think. Both teams had some fun double teams they used on each other and all the high spots leading to the end completely satisfied. Our final 1st round match was the most astetheically pleasing, not that these were the babes of the show, just all the crazy spots they were trying, such as Ray (a masked woman) doing a 360 degree flip to hit a powerbomb standing and taking the Mistico spot of getting booted in the face on a Asai (which busted her open.) Some cool rollups accentuated what was a fun and fast paced closer to the opening round.
2nd round started out stiffer than anything Tamon Honda's produced, with a slap exchange that would likely make Kobashi wince. Loved the kick battle between Yuki and hot number Kurihara. Someone breaks out a Matt Hardy spot after a nasty elbow exchange. This match didn't go near as long as I thought, but was as enjoyable as anything else on this show. 2nd Semi was a flash pin match where the Neos came out of the gate running, Churchill Downs style, but I think they got confused with the other team's washing machine/Red Rover maneuver. Disappointing as given time, I think that would have been a great match.
We get a singles grudge match to break up the tourney featuring Mita, whom I've seen her really great work back in AJW (of course, who didn't have great work there). Makoto gets a really hot spree including a German suplex near fall from the word "start" but Mita seems to lose faith in her as the match progresses and there's just not that much animosity after 3 minutes so this ends early and uncreatively.
Our finals pits my favorite team in this tourney, Xena ripoff Makiba & Berry Gordy's last student Yuki. Sakura has changed her outfit during every match, for the finals choosing something akin to the High Energy tights and some Steven Tyler frill. Makiba has a tendency to be lazy, with her strikes or with transitions, and I don't like it. Nothing's hotter than a girl kicking your ass in a mini skirt as Yuki pulls off so well here. I really have to take back what i just said, Makiba was lethal on her elbows and pushing the pace to win, Faces had some silly double teams, at times they looked like Care Bears dancing around in syncronization. Match didn't really exceed the other 3 "5's" which was surprising considering this had more time than any match besides the opener. Would def. like to see more NEO (please, just no Matrix films)
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