January 29, 201213 yr Author comment_5493546 I'm guessing Combat's retirement tour had started by this time, if the video package before the match is any indication. This was really good. I didn't get the feeling that they were trying to deliver a classic -- more that they were out there to have fun, keep things going and give all four a chance to show off their best stuff. And they succeeded. Kudo was as good as or better than so many of the Joshi wrestlers that are far more praised. She reminds me of Steve Austin in some ways -- in that she works really hard, but she's not overly flashy. She has some high end stuff, but mostly sticks to basics and just executes really well. Her sense of when to speed things up, slow things down and building drama within a match is also excellent. I don't remember much about the Toyoda/Kong singles match a few weeks later, but this seems about on par with that.
January 30, 201213 yr comment_5493572 Yeah, this was part of her retirement road, one of the better AJW class of 86 reunion matches they did. Combat vs Kaoru from the next night is worth tracking down as well
January 30, 201213 yr comment_5493575 And they succeeded. Kudo was as good as or better than so many of the Joshi wrestlers that are far more praised. She reminds me of Steve Austin in some ways -- in that she works really hard, but she's not overly flashy. She has some high end stuff, but mostly sticks to basics and just executes really well. Her sense of when to speed things up, slow things down and building drama within a match is also excellent. Agreed. But Kudo was praised heavily by some. To me at her peak she was one of the best wrestler in the world. And I would be remiss if I didn't mentionned while I get the occasion, which doesn't happen much, how much I loved Bison Kimura and her stiff brawling style. And I always thought was sexy as hell too.
December 14, 201410 yr comment_5645065 No matter how much makeup and hair dye she covers herself up, as long as that lipstick is on, Combat will never not look like a demonic Japanese Betty Boop, and that's not much of an intimidation factor. It was nice to see Bison again but otherwise I saw nothing special in this at all. The first half of the match is just meandering, I didn't get what the story was, they couldn't make me care about the story even if I did, and there are like 4 different points where two women are fighting it out on the turnbuckles and all of them look awkward and terrible. It gets better down the stretch, but I got taken out of it again by a sudden and anticlimactic finish.
February 1, 20187 yr comment_5830814 It was cool to see the AJW class of 1986 reunite. See Green Day were wrong. There was a return from 86! All 4 wrestlers had taken different roads to this destination. A full length bout with solid action all the way. At times it threatened more, but it needed more intensity to reach the next level. Borderline top 100.
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