In the Dream Explosion series, Ryan Dilbert revisits and explores the best matches in All Japan Women’s Pro-Wrestling History.
Manami Toyota vs. Mima Shimoda
AJW Japan Grand Prix
July 23, 1995
An operatic clash of two greats. A tournament match filled with hate and hurt. A sadistic, erratic dance.
Manami Toyota vs. Mima Shimoda captivates even without historical context.
It’s a match Dave Meltzer awarded a once-rare five-star rating in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. It was one of the reasons I chose 1995 as Toyota’s best year for my Year of Years column and is generally considered to be Shimoda’s best singles outing. It’s a bout that inspired Alex Podgorski to write for TJR Wrestling: “Man, these women were crazy. They just tore into each other with absolute lunacy for thirty minutes straight.”
To set the scene, all you essentially have to know is that Toyota was the bigger, more accomplished star. While Shimoda had been AJW champ and won gold aplenty as one half of Las Cachorras Orientales alongside Etsuko Mita, she wasn’t on the same tier as Manami.
That shows in the numbers. Toyota had beaten her rival just about every time out to this point. Toyota and Toshiyo Yamada fended off Las Cachorras Orientales to keep the WWWA tag titles in 1994. Blizzard Yuki and Toyota defeated Mita and Shimoda in a WWWA Tag Team Championship tournament semi-final the following year. As for singles action, Toyota bested Mima time and time again, including eight straight wins in 1993 and a successful IWA World Championship defense at AJW Zenjo Queendom.
Heading into Korakuen Hall in the summer of ‘95, Shimoda had a hell of a lot to prove. She managed a draw against Toyota in the 1994 Grand Prix tournament, but she needed more this time around. She needed a true triumph.
And that showed in the frenzied energy that opened this Grand Prix showdown.
Shimoda and Toyota were scuffling at ringside before the streamers were even cleared from the mat. This began as a brawl where each wrestler looked for an early knockout blow. Toyota tried to splash through Shimoda and a table but got kicked in the ribs instead. They fought amid and with the chairs populating the front row. Shimoda nailed a piledriver outside the ring.
It looked as if this thing wouldn’t go longer than five minutes.
The chaotic pace evened out, however. But even when things settled into a more traditional match, the viciousness remained. The wrestlers yanked each other’s hair while grappling. They fired off slaps in between holds. They gave little space for their opponent to breathe. Bodies intertwined. Animosity ever-present.
When a defiant Toyota brushed off Shimoda’s Boston Crab, barking “no!” to the referee, Shimoda turned up the dial on the violence. She cranked that thing back with the nastiest of intentions.
This was the tone for much of the night.
The disdain they had for each other was clear. Every kick had extra hostility behind it. And Shimoda made it plain how much she enjoyed putting the hurt on her opponent with a sadistic smile slipping onto her face.
Then came the second act of this drama, the section that receives the most criticism.
Things slowed significantly. And while the malice did not waver, the pace and crispness did. The first time I watched the match, this is where my interest faded some.
Revisiting it, though, the shift in pace worked better. It felt fitting for the story being told. Two weary warriors had spent much of their energy early on, and now even as badly as they wanted to keep firing with full force, there was less behind each blow. The flames that crackled from the opening bell had lowered to a simmer.
Even the sloppiness that gets pointed out from this section made sense for that reason. Precision had given away to flailing.
Toyota tried to hit Shimoda with a Manami Roll but instead tumbled onto her head. This sums up the Toyota experience: big, bold moves that sometimes lead to crashing and burning. And that was right at home in the middle of this battle, one of a handful of errant attacks before the final stretch where the wrestlers had to lock in.
Mima folded the Manami Roll mistake nicely into the narrative, taking advantage of Toyota’s vulnerable position. Soon, she was taunting the woman she so longed to beat. She sat crosslegged as her foe recovered, looking down at her with a wry grin.
A simple pinfall would not be enough. Only a trouncing would truly satisfy.
The crowd could feel the intensity pick up in the final third. Fans made more noise as they watched Toyota and Shimoda trade resounding suplexes.
The bombs came next. Time was running out, and the two women knew they needed a killshot in a hurry.
Manami reversed an avalanche tiger suplex attempt. Shimoda flung Toyota outside. A straitjacket suplex. Flurry after flurry. None of it enough.
The bell rang with Mima lying on Toyota’s torso, and she stayed there, shaking, refusing to give up. Aching for a three-count that would not happen. Unable or unwilling to process that the battle was over.
Manami helped her rival up, in what looked like it was going to a moment of shared respect, but Mima slapped her in the face instead. She would not settle for a moral victory apparently.
The all-out energy of the beginning and end makes it easy to see why this match is so well regarded. The chaotic, unpolished middle will certainly have some folks dole out a few less stars come rating time. Either that part of it puts one off because moves don’t hit as exact or you can accept it as an element of the in-ring story, a stretch where two fighters’ aim was off thanks to fatigue, pushing too hard, emotions running high.
For me, additional viewings have only made me appreciate the artistry of it all, clumsy or not, even more.
It’s matches like these that have made me such a big Toyota fan. She and Shimoda employ a risky, brutal style. There is such a stirring energy at its high points, and when things slow, the wrestlers still manage to keep the animosity flowing, pawing at each other, claws missing flesh at times.
This surely won’t be the last time I travel back to ’95 and see all this unfold again.
Rating: 9/10
Recommended
RESURA 