Ayako Hamada vs. Ayumi Kuihara, SHIMMER Volume 38 (3/26/2011)

A somewhat big deal, as it’s the first time two Japanese women are main eventing a SHIMMER show fighting each other. I imagine y’all know Hamada. Had herself a great little run in TNA in 2009-10 and spent a little time in CHIKARA in 2011 too. A familiar name to a lot of people reading this blog. Kurihara feels like a Sareee prototype in that she’s in shiny red gear, hits p hard, and throws a lot of Uranage suplexes. They make improvements on the model for the roll out, but Kurihara’s not so bad herself.

It’s an easy match up. This starts slow and gradually gets more and more interesting. They don’t bring a lot to it besides doing cool moves to each other, and not everything that’s cool in 2011 is so cool in 2020. However, they also hit each other really hard, and that’s always going to be cool. When I say the match got more interesting, what I actually mean is that they stopped fucking about and began slapping and kicking each other very hard and then began even throwing some good elbows too. Nothing like some audible violence to get me off the bench and into the game, so to speak. Kurihara isn’t so sensational here outside of the bigger moments, but Hamada is talented enough at match construction that she plug in her stuff very well and it absolutely doesn’t matter. Hamada wins with two version of her sheer drop Michinoku Driver II, the AP Cross, in a row.

Not a complicated match, but a joyous little showcase that won me over in the end. Textbook little three girl.

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