Arisa Nakajima vs. Misaki Ohata tells you what kind of match it is before the bell rings.
There is no chance for pageantry or posing. No streamers. No feeling out process. It charges right toward the brutality.
Nakajima kicks the Regina Di WAVE champ off the apron before she can step between the ropes, and soon the two rivals brawl in the stands, flinging folding chairs at each other’s heads.
The 2018 match from Pro Wrestling WAVE’s Valentine WAVE event in Korakuen Hall is straightforward enough that you can enjoy it with no backstory. Two hard-hitting killers wrecking each other is plenty entertaining.
The experience is richer, however, knowing how we got here.
Ohata was a dominant force in WAVE for much of the 2010s. The Sendai native toppled opponents like Yumi Ohka, Ryo Mizunami, Hikari Shida, and Konami. She claimed the company’s tag team titles three times with three different partners. After winning the Catch the WAVE tournament in 2013, she fought her way to the finals in both 2014 and 2017.
She remained a ruthless force through all of it.
She entered this bout opposite Arisa in her second reign as Regina Di WAVE champion. Nakajima, meanwhile, had not yet become the Queen of SEAdLINNNG.
In early 2018, though, The Violence Queen had already collected her own stockpile of championships: the JWP Openweight Championship four times over, Pure-J’s Princess of Pro Wrestling Championship (twice), and Ice Ribbon’s tag titles (alongside the great Tsukasa Fujimoto).
Both women had claimed these accolades through unrelenting violence. Nakajima kicked her opponents into oblivion; Ohata overwhelmed her opponents with merciless suplexes.
And when they met over the years, those styles merged beautifully. Two monsters clawing into each other’s flesh.
Their long rivalry saw Nakajima raise her hand in victory time and time again. While Ohata knocked off Nakajima in the Catch the WAVE finals in 2013, Arisa had beaten her in a JWP Junior Championship match back in 2009, won a match against her in SEAdLINNNG in Korakuen hall January of 2018, and when they met in tag team action, Nakajima reigned.
Best Friends (Nakajima and Tsukasa Fujimoto) bested Avid Rival (Ohata and Ryo Mizunami) four times over.
But this was Ohata’s home promotion, her kingdom. She was fresh off winning the Regina Di WAVE title, determined, in the thick of her prime. The narrative was poised to change.
Even when Nakajima struck first in their 2018 title bout, Ohata held strong. She welcomed the free-for-all. She matched Nakajima’s aggression, clanging chairs off her rival’s head seconds into the action.
Ohata then yanked Arisa’s head down to the mat and pulled at her limbs with disregard, disrespect, disgust. Her offense was constant and full force, perhaps hoping that if she didn’t stop swinging, she might be able to snuff out Nakajima before she had to chance to issue her own assault.
Nakajima, as expected, survived that flurry, and responded in kind. We got to see her trademark knees and kicks to the side of the head, the 5’3” bulldog an artist in attack mode.
These blows were precise, slick, gorgeous. As always.
The match compelled in part because it did not breathe. It is a steady song of boots hammering the body, of angry combatants steamrolling ahead. And every impact was met with an equal impact.
Nakajima and Ohata traded delayed German suplexes, each woman shaking off the pain and vertigo, standing up and delivering more punishment, more vengeance.
In one of the most striking moments of the match, Arisa doesn’t leap off the top rope, she sort of falls in cold-blooded fashion boots-out onto Ohata’s chest. If this was an action movie, the camera would have zoomed in on her face just before she stepped forward and she’d said a one-liner like “These boots were made for stomping, motherfucker.”
Champion and challenger struggle on past this, continuing to match each other’s intensity. When they fire off forearm shots, one of them sounds as loud as a baseball coming off a bat. They trade blows from their knees. They hold tight to each other’s wrist and throw punches like they are trying to smash holes into a concrete wall.
It’s near falls they trade soon after when they hit suplex after suplex. High impact for high impact. Big shot for big shot. That is the crux of this match, this violent one-upmanship, this testing of toughness.
It feels as if it could go on forever, but a Ohata nails a Sky Blue Suplex Hold and the ref hits three.
It’s a startling moment. It did not feel as if either warrior would fall. Ohata’s win feels more as if she caught Arisa, not conquered her. If they ignored the bell, they could push on, smashing and hurting forever.
But for now, Ohata can walk away with the gold still in hand, adorned with bruises, filled with pride.
Ohata would only wrestle until December of that year before retiring. Nakajima will now join her, wrapping up her own in-ring career in 2024.
And as fans reflect on the SEAdLINNNG legend’s resume, there are sure to stop and admire her match against Kana in 2013, her banger against Sareee in 2013, the classic hair-versus-hair match against Nanae Takahashi, and that long list of classics she had with Fujimoto at her side. This clash begs to be treasured, too.
Ohata matched Nakajima in savagery to claim the win. The wrestlers crashed into each other again and again to create a slugfest exquisite and moving.
The bout is a piece of art in Nakajima’s impressive gallery. Take a moment to stop and admire her brushstrokes, her vision, her shared agony with Ohata.
RESURA 