Miyu Yamashita Vs Maki Itoh (TJPW 04/01/2021)

Hey look, It’s the best match to happen on January 4th. I’m sure that joke will get less funny as Wrestle Kingdoms get worse but oh well. It’s a true statement at the very least.

Before we start I’d just like to mention how weird I find the discourse that surrounds Maki Itoh. There are a lot of wrestlers whose most vocal critics don’t appear to have ever watched them. Bad faith takes like that are to be expected when it comes to discussions around fake fighting, However, It is very rarely the opposite. Some of Itoh's most vocal supporters appear to have never watched her or engaged in her story. Because there’s this massive outcry every time she loses a match, and half the time it wouldn’t make sense for her to win there. Like oh no the underdog doesn’t have a perfect record, how tragic.

That being said, a lot of this match sees Itoh on top. After taking some initial punishment from Yamashita she caught an opening by hitting a backbreaker. From there, she spent a lot of time on Yamashita’s back. Itoh did a good job of acting desperate and at points was very smooth, like when she rolled through a running attack into a half crab. Despite it being short, at points, I did find Itohs time on top dragged. Itoh is better fighting from underneath, so she spent a bit too much time on top for my taste.

Yamashita took control again, after a brief head butt exchange she caught Itoh with a germen and started the kicks. Itoh held on well through the kicks, showing great tenacity as she refused to fall to the onslaught. There’s a great moment here where Yamashita misdirects Itoh to hit a springboard Enziguri.

The ending here is killer, Itoh sticks up her middle finger to call back to the start of the match. But is then resoundingly put down by a spinning back kick, Giving Miyu the KO. Itoh screaming post-match. She came so close to being able to beat Yamashita. But she couldn’t quite put it all together. I love this narrative, to the point where I’m willing to forgive some of the lesser parts of this match. If you list everything that happens in this match out as bullet points, you’d think it was kinda dull. This is a match that only really works if you buy into Itoh's performance, and she’s so sympathetic here that it’s hard not to.

Yamashita plays her role well too. It’s a cliche in Joshi circles to call someone a final boss, but she truly feels like Maki Itoh’s end goal here. Even when Itoh spent a lot of the match on top it didn’t take much for Miyu to get back on top, which makes sense given the narrative at play here. Even someone new to TJPW like me understands the story right away.

This match has a goal and achieved it to a high level. It’s not as well wrestled as a Stardom or SEAd main event, but that’s not TJPW’s appeal. Character carries this match. That’s not to say that either is a bad wrestler, that is observably not the case. If you don’t buy in this isn’t for you, but I bought in and enjoyed myself. Holds up to a rewatch fairly well for my money.