This was a decent match but a bit heatless and too short to leave its mark in the annals of pro-wrestling history. Ayako had spent her entire 2000 year chasing glory and now she was in the position of having to defend what she'd won, and as we all know it can be a difficult transition from the underdog role to the champion's mentality. A transition which is full of growing pains. Ayako was okay in this but not a dominant force. In fairness to her, it was too short for her to have to dig deep and show her mettle. The match and her opponent never pushed her to any of those places. That said, she didn't really show an edge in any of the little things she did either. I guess not every match can make a statement even if we'd like them to. There were some decent passages of action and never boring. 

A very strong match to start out for ARSION in 2001. Hamada is able to show grace as well as brutality and I liked the story of AKINO refusing the handshake at the beginning of the match and wanting to show that she can go toe to toe with Hamada and gradually realizing over the course of the match, she is our of her league at least on this night.  ***3/4 (7.5)