Monday, May 19, 2008

Ichii upsets Shinashi in DEEP


A funny thing happened to DEEP Womens Flyweight Champion Satoko Shinashi on DEEP's May 19 Korakuen Hall show. The whole setup of her match against the much heavier pro wrestler Mai Ichii was presented by DEEP in a very lighthearted casual manner. It wasn't for the belt and was teated like an exhibition. For one thing, Ichii isn't much more than a midcard wrestler. She took a butt kicking from Takako Inoue on Sunday's Ito Dojo show. And she's not that experienced in MMA. But somebody told her that using her weight in this match could pay dividends.





The match was scheduled for two rounds. Shinashi's strategy was to get Ichii on the mat but that proved to be more difficult than anticipated. So Ichii starts hammering Shinashi with body shots. Ichii tries a leg takedown but is unsuccessful. By the end of round one, it's clear that the 10kg weight difference will make Shinashi's usual strategy ineffective.




Ichii continues this in round two but she also hammers Shinashi while she's down and that's against the rules in the DEEP womens division. It wasn't called. Finally Shinashi executes a couple of judo throws and follows up with a sleeper. But Ichii is able to punch her way out and stays away from Shinashi until the fight is over. The result was a 2-0 majority decsion for Ichii and the third judge called it a draw. You can tell by the look on Shinashi's face that she thought she won. It was close but Shinashi should have possibly used a different strategy in round one. And there may have been some questionable officiating. But a big win for Mai Ichii that will make joshi puroresu fans happy.

No comments:

Post a Comment