Sendai Girls World Championship: Chihiro Hashimoto © vs. Hiroyo Matsumoto

 

Hiroyo works over Chihiro's neck throughout, hitting a gruesome Gin and Tonic, and it leads to an amazing finishing stretch where the champion can't maintain the bridge of her German suplex due to the damage done to her neck. The selling was good; the pacing of the match feels smooth with an organic escalation, and Chihiro is just a sight to behold! This was an awesome clash of titans! ****1/2

I liked this match but was left disappointed as I thought in particular HIroyo didn't really give as good of a performance as I would have hoped for. The neck work was there but there was also some moments without urgency and the finish seemed to take everyone by surprise. ***1/4

I liked this quite a bit, as expected. Hiroyo really shows off her unique size/speed combo early on, and I love when a wrestler seems to have a plan that pays off. Her nice, long (for a modern Japanese match) control segment in the first half was great, and Chihiro's comebacks, which even in battles for vertical suplexes and superplexes take advantage of her wrestling ability to effectively shift and use her center of gravity, were solid. The failed bridge on the German Suplex was indeed a terrific spot. Soup is right that the crowd seemed to be a little shocked at that last backdrop being the finish, but it made a ton of sense to me and a little less heat there didn't really kill it for me. ****1/4

Hiroyo's performance was smart tactically, if unspectacular. She learned that your best chance to beat Chihiro is to keep her from getting a snowball effect going because if that happens, good luck trying to stop her. Her attack on the neck ended up saving her at the finish, which was also a nice way to protect Chihiro as she was still able to get a nearfall off of it despite not being able to hold the bridge. It was a nice change of pace from the typical hard hitting, power move filled matches you get with these type of wrestlers. ***3/4