This was for both Io’s World of Stardom Title and Arisa’s JWP Openweight Title.
There’s a ton to like here. Io isn’t quite in her prime yet, but you can see all the hallmarks here. The striking is developing. T
Unfortunately, this went to a 30:00 draw for political reasons and neither was quite fit to work a half hour draw, let along to work the sort of politically prescient half-hour draw that this required. That being said, there’s fifteen to twenty great minutes here. Arisa is probably at her best in 2013. Hard strikes, great offense, decent selling. Io Shirai is a few years off from that point, but already feels special in a sort of frustratingly undefineable way. The big stuff is held back, you’re never really going to get it, but it’s a political time limit draw with a ton of fun stuff to offer in spirte of that.
All that being said, for someone wanting to see that Arisa vs. Io looks like, I can’t imagine you’d think that this is anywhere close to being bad, because it isn’t. It’s not all it can be, but for a match featuring two of the best womens wrestlers of the decade and one of the best of all time full stop, this is nowhere near disappointing enough for me to tell you not to watch it if you’re technologically savvy enough to find this one on the Free Internet.
HANDWERK 