So a few days ago I was in here saying Ruby Riott isnt a good worker, that shes not at all exciting. I should probably have explained a little more at the time why I think that. But instead, this post came to mind while I was starting to watch some of the matches in 2019 that people had suggested were in the top 10 Joshi matches of the year.
This was the very first match I watched that had been suggested. And the reason I went straight to this match is because in 2018 they had their previous big one on one match and that was my womens match of the year. So I knew they wouldnt disappoint. Since its on youtube and I was looking at it in detail anyway, I thought it was a perfect example of what I think a very good womens wrestling match looks like.
Nanae Vs Arisa
1) They look like they’re having something of a fight. The level of intensity and physicality on everything they do gives that feeling and the approach also makes it feel a bit more like a real sport than WWE main roster womens matches. Referring back to someone like Ruby Riott, her finish is literally an arm wrench into a scissor kick (she isnt going full over the top like AJ or Finn's overhead kicks) so she's meant to be something of a striker. I don't think her scissor kick looks like it'll hurt very much. What else does she have to offer?
2) Exciting fast, technical exchanges during pace changes in the match. Does someone like Ruby Riott have the technical grappling skill to do that in the ring?
I've actually seen her matches since she was in the very first incarnation of Oedo Tai in Stardom, when she was known as Heidi Lovelace. So shes been to Japan and wrestled Japanese women and the answer is no, she didnt have better technique back then and isnt up to that kind of grappling.
3) A story was told inside the ring. You can see that the wrestlers are putting a lot on the line and are very passionate giving pretty much everything they have. I'd actually say 2018s match gave me more of this feeling than this one. Compared to a WWE womens match featuring someone like Ruby Riott? Its night and day in my opinion.
The match isn’t perfect, I see at least 1 part that looks like it might have been unintended however it didn’t take away from the match. You can suspend your disbelief very easily to make sense of what happened. Some people might not even notice it.
And after the match is done your two main eventers look like tough psychos and athletes that could hang with anyone else in the world. I feel like some of this stuff is missing from the vast majority of the western womens wrestling matches. Like the things that are expected in mens matches arent expected in womens matches.
This is a match that is recommended as perhaps the best match in Japan’s 4th “best” Joshi company after Stardom, Sendai Girls, Ice Ribbon and maybe then comes Seaddlingg or Marvelous. So not the best womens wrestling promotion in Japan.
And this is one of the things I disagree with Dave Melzter on. He used to be a fan of Joshi wrestling back in the 80s and 90s, he would travel to Japan to watch the likes of Manami Toyota and rate those matches (5 stars several times)
Now he barely looks at a joshi match and he suggests the likes of Charlotte Flair and Tessa Blanchard are 2 of the best womens wrestlers in the world. I think hes extremely wrong. I dont think they'd be in the top 10 in the world.
He just no longer pays attention to the place thats always been doing it the best. They arent as good as Manami Toyota was but they're still better than the rest working today. And the only ones who challenge that are the women who came through Joshi wrestling and are now in western wrestling, Io Shirai, Asuka and Kairi Sane.
Out of the WWE main roster women I'd say Sasha Banks is the best btw. She normally executes what shes trying to do well and shes a good bumper making it look like she really got hurt. Charlotte looks quite awkward moving in the ring, half the times she goes for a big boot her opponent falls over and she kicks the air. Shes obviously very impressive flying off the top rope but other than that I don't think shes that good.
I hope thats a decent enough explanation of why I think Joshi match standards are usually much better than WWE main roster women and why I dont think many of them meet the standard of being a good wrestler.
NXT does a better job than the main roster for sure, but I still feel like it misses some of the things I mentioned above even though they've been heavy on the gimmicks like ladders and tables in recent months. I dont think they come away from their matches looking as gritty and tough as Arisa and Nanae here for example, other than maybe Mia Yim who seemed to want to injure herself with the bumps she was taking.
And AEW has some of those things but pretty much only when a joshi wrestler is in the ring, certainly not when its Britt Baker and Allie or something like that. Those matches are tough. Shida and Riho can do it, Emi Sakura can do it in a serious match like in the title match against Riho... But other than that is not there either.