Since Shinobu Kandori announced the participants and brackets in LLPW's All Star Strongest Woman tournament, there has been a lot of criticism about who is and isn't in the tournament. Well, DUH. LLPW is Kandori's personal playpen and while I think her vision of the joshi business is filled with delusions of grandeur, it's not surprising and very consistent with her past behaviour. We can only hope that her stupidity will finally put LLPW out of business. But I wouldn't bet on it. LLPW's Nov. 12 Korakuen Hall show included two first round tournament matches. And one of the Glamour Girl Angels transvestite tag team retired. I can 't believe a gimmick like that has lasted for two years.
The show started with Obacchi Iizuka and her stupid grandmother gimmick over Hiroyo Muto in 8:37 with a brain buster. Tomoko Watanabe made her final LLPW appearance. She is retiring on Dec. 29. She teamed with Harley Saito vs Takako Inoue & Noriyo Tateno. Dump Matsumoto, Condor Saito & Kaoru Ito in her ZAP mask were in attendance. Watanabe pinned Tateno after a high kick at 14:06. Next was the retirement of one of the Glamour Girl Angels. The opponents were Eiger & Sayuri Okino. They won the match. It seems uncertain if the transvestite gimmick will continue. I guess they have to find a replacement at Cross Dressers R Us. Mika Nishio, Azumi Hyuga, Commando Bolshoi & Toshiyo Yamada all participated in the retirement ceremony. And they doffed their wigs. Don't they lose them a lot during the matches anyway?
A first round tournament match between Eagle Sawai & Dynamite Kansai was next. Sawai won with a lariat in 11:20. You can complain that Kansai is a better wrestler. But let's face it. They're both broken down old timers at this point and Sawai works for LLPW. This isn't 1996, you know. I'm one of the legion of fans who dislikes Sawai but I expect her to do well in this tournament. She's protected in LLPW. Sawai will face Mayumi Ozaki in the next round.
The main event was a first round tournament match between Shinobu Kandori & Yumiko Hotta. Again, this is the big problem with this tournament. Not only doesn't it look to the future, it's not even looking to the present. This is another 1996 dream match. But nobody cares in 2006. Hotta played the heel and busted Kandori open but of course Kandori came back and made Hotta submit with a cross arm breaker in 7:15. As many fans are aware, Kandori is a member of the Japanese government now. So the media made a big deal about the fact that she dies her hair black for her day job and then dies it blonde to wrestle. She should stick to her day job. Kandori's next tournament opponent is Amazing Kong and she came out to stare Kandori down. AK is very good at that sort of thing. LLPW's All Star Strongest Woman tournament will continue on the Jan. 5 Korakuen Hall show. Aja Kong vs Dump Matsomoto & Harley Saito vs Meiko Satomura will be the other two tournament matches.
No comments:
Post a Comment