Mayumi Ozaki vs. Mio Momono

[9.0] "I watched the wrong one first, in all senses. Someone suggested me to watch the match they had on 23' and I watched this one that happenned on 24'. Fixing that problem don't change my mind about any of those matches, however I do need to say that the violence here since the beggining was madly crazy. Besides the pollice one I really hated the sheninagans we had during this match but I do understand their existence and well, the ring action does deliver. Wow. Delivers so godly I can even forget about the stuff I hated. Momono is consider an woke wrestler but she fits so well with the old style that Ozaki brings up to this match. And Ozaki, the key heart and soul, impressive her knowledge about her own limitation and understood about which she should do and which she should not. Great match, unexpected pleasure ending."

[6.0] "[***1/4] The work in this match was really good and Mio Momono worked as a great babyface, working realistically from underneath. But the interference used to help Mayumi Ozaki ruined my enjoyment. Ideally, I don't like at all, especially blatantly in front of the referee and uncreatively, but here it was constant to the point of overkill. The finish of the match left me scratching my head too. Good performances ruined by overbooked heat spots. If you can look past this there is a good match here that is worth your time."

[7.0] "This was an interesting match, after some time Ozaki and Momono finally had their second encounter, this time for both companies titles, a title for title match. Ozaki defeated Momono in her company (Marvelous) and conquered the title at hostile territory, and later Momono also won the Oz Academy title against AKINO. Both women had their major titles swapped, why not a title for title match? After a long and excellent story being built, they had their match, but this didn't worked like that first bout, because there the psychology was much better overall, we had a veteran intruder beating the hell out of the underdog little princess, and that was freaking awesome, one of the best joshi matches I've ever watched, but right here, at Ozaki territory, it wasn't so good, because when she was demolishing Momono and getting external help, the crowd was actually cheering for her, and that's awkward. I'm not sure about the result as well, maybe Momono getting a super underdog win would be better, but now the veteran has the two titles and someone will have to take it from her and return the belt home to Marvelous. Even though this match was complex, hard to rate and left mixed feelings inside me, I can recognize that this was something that it's impossible not to be intrigued about it, and that's the huge merit here - {***1/4}"

[10.0] "Amazing. This was like a grotesque version of Mankind vs. The Rock where the heel was beloved, 55 years old, and won. No one felt cheated by interference - it was in enemy territory and always a rigged game."

[9.0] "the perfect kind of match for someone who has never seen anyone in it, just absolute chaos surrounded by incredibly brutal spots that make everyone involved look important and feel like a huge deal."

[10.0] "A very good big main-event style match, perhaps it could be overbooked for someone but it completely worked since the heavy babyface vs heel dynamic. The start was brutal but every Momono comeback was as good as it and as I said before the interferences from both sides really added drama and even a bigger Climax to the match. Anyway, I think that the finish wasn't at the level of the stuff before and it seemed they would have gone a bit longer toward the end. ****3/4"

[7.0] "It was brutal and exciting! Even though I prefer the first one for all the atmosphere and the way it refers to all the despair of Mio Momono, this one isn't far behind. Unlike the first, now this match takes place in the Oz Academy territory, naturally the public would support the person from the company and not someone from outside, and perhaps this is the biggest problem with the match for me as a spectator, the crowd creates the babyface dynamic and heel here being completely invalidated, even starting to hope that Ozaki will be able to beat that small and resistant babyface soon. Some interference in the match didn't need to happen, despite increasing the war atmosphere, it's even funny how at no point did the referee stop the match due to external interference, after all, it wouldn't go against the boss's orders, despite some interference being good, that sequence of whipping, codebreaker and shinning wizard from Ozaki-Gun just as Mio had a big moment and work on Mayumi's arm is pretty cool. There is blood and the repetition of some spots from the first match, such as carrying Momono around the arena on a leash, throwing her against chairs and humiliating her. The blows were hard, even if they were few and it was almost impossible to support Mio because her comebacks were very little or very short, her best moment was stopped by Police, who brutally threw her from one side to the other like a doll. cloth until being hit with a low blow by the babyface. Mio's selling and skill are surreal, she is one of Joshi's best babyfaces, not by chance, no moment of the match makes it seem like she could win, but until the third count, she also seemed like she couldn't be defeated. The finish is BRUTAL and scary, it even looks like Mio Momono got a real injury from the fall, amazing work! Really, it wasn't the best place or audience for Mio Momono to have her great revenge. [3.75*]"

[10.0] "Frankly I couldn't care much if the fans cheered for Ozaki's cheating and brutalizing Mio. Hell, I love Mio but I probably would have cheered too because it was crazy and awesome to watch. Bloody and wild, this was very much my speed. Great showing by both, especially if you don't mind some well done interference spots."

[9.0] "I love how this takes a few choices different from the first match, this time Mio is well aware of the shenanigans and don't move to the center of the ring before the ring bells like she did before, she understands who she is up against and fights with intensity from the word go! The interferences is also something that added a lot and made Mio's hope spots all the more engaging, and as some wise man once said, fuck the police! also hey yo this aguakun guy is such a clown, not the first time he purposely give the lowest of ratings to indy joshi matches, specially when mio Momono is on them and tries to justify them with some bizarre takes, clown shit."

[8.0] "This was wild, vicious and absolutely brimming with shithousery. Ozaki is incredibly light on her feet for 55 and still takes plenty of bumps, spills and stiff strikes. Her fanbase is full of miscreants and scumbags, which made for a memorably offbeat atmosphere during Momono's sympathetic beatdown and hi-octane comebacks ****"

[7.0] "This was nowhere near as enjoyable as the first match, the layout and the amount of blood and heat that that match had was much, much higher. But damn am I getting annoyed at the lack of actual resolution and story here with the repeated amount of geeking Mio Momono goes through against this 55 year old woman. Also just watching Oz fans cheering the dastardly heel against one of the best babyfaces is so damn stupid and ass backwards of pro wrestling that it makes the match weaker, too. Mio quite frankly doesn't get to do anything interesting befitting her skill level because she has been so absorbed in this Oz Academy feud against again an elderly woman who just beats the shit outta her every time they are together and it's such a waste. Jesus. ***3/4"

[9.0] "It's the Ozaki-verse, so you have to go in accepting that Mayumi Ozaki will cheat a LOT, the ref will see everything but will do nothing since Ozaki is his boss, and Ozaki will eventually win the belt back. It's the story of every other title change in this promotion, and it's usually tiresome. But this time it ended up working, as the OZ Academy fans who showed up for this match clearly wanted to see exactly that story, even cheering Ozaki to bring the belt back to the promotion. The match itself was excellent, as Mio Momono put on yet another outstanding babyface performance. ****1/4"

[0.0] "The Marvelous match worked because Mayumi Ozaki was an invading heel against Mio Momono on her home turf. This rematch on Mayumi Ozaki's turf felt totally out of whack. The belt flowed to an outsider and the native brings it back home via all sorts of cheating and outside interference? Mio Momono is the outsider so I am not supposed to support her, but she's also the tiny wrestler fighting against a cheating opponent with an ever-present stable disrupting the match.. The role reversal seemed like an opportunity to do something interesting, maybe Momono fighting dirty and Ozaki fighting clean. But they largely retraced the Marvelous match, with a less engaging story dynamic. Mayumi Ozaki is "playing a heel" so the audience cheers and applauds her as she brutalizes her opponent and relies on outside interference. The whole thing was overly self-indulgent and pretentious."

[8.0] "Great match! The crowd was so excited for Ozaki playing heel added an interesting dynamic. Mio showed is the better wrestler, in the wrestling portions what she was in control or near control even in 2 on 1 situations. Ozaki and her lackeys used weapons to get the advantage. I also like the storytelling of Mio Momono not willing her morals and her wrestling in the face adversity."

[10.0] "There's maybe nobody in wrestling as good at taking a beating and making it look devastating as Mio Momono right now. That's exactly what she does here against one of the best bullies on the joshi scene. A perfect dynamic played out in an artful and emotional way. Fun use of interference/weapons/chaos/etc. A thriller."

[9.0] "A beautifully raw and hate-filled match. This has a very different atmosphere to any other match you could find today, with its partisan crowd behind the scumbag heel and her even scummier friends (credit is due for Police. I havent genuinely hated a wrestler more in years until the few dozen seconds he was beating on Momono until he got kicked in the nuts). Momono put in a great babyface shift, helped all the more by Ozakis unparalleled heel work. I havent watched OZ or even Marvelous before this match, but between this match and the post-match angle, with Momonos crew getting into it with Sekigun and even a group of Ozaki fans, Im left wanting more, which is really the true sign of a great wrestling match."

[8.0] "An incredible spectacle of a match that arguably was even greater than their first encounter. Even the pre-match with the insanely hot crowd made it feel immediately like a big-time affair. As a match this kept itself real simple, the usual kind of extended Ozaki control sequences that she's fairly infamous for doing. What really made it stand out was just how scrappy and earned very encounter felt like; the first initial minutes didn't even really have many "moves" to speak of, it was more about the two beating the shit out of the other with whatever they could throw up. The match really picks up in tempo as soon as we get the first big exchange and Police interference, having Mio get tied up in the chain and literally ragdolled all over Korakuen, throwing herself into stacks of chairs and taking stair bumps off punches via chain with some terrific selling out of her. Oz just thrives off being this uber-bitchy brawler who takes very opportunity to essentially torment her opponent here with all of the shtick you could imagine and then some, really taking in the energy that this got from the get-go and running with it. I thought they really made Mio strong as well whenever she'd get in offence, knocking Oz and co around with some really high-speed spots. It was made very clear that without the goofy layers of interference that Ozaki just didn't have anything in the tank to handle Mio, getting her arm dismantled with some painful looking lucha holds and only getting back the match after having all of her goons get involved. I was interested to see how different this crowd was from the first match; the Marvelous audience were clearly pro-Mio there, but here they were actually cheering Ozaki on aplenty, even booing when opposing interference got involved! It made for a fascinating contrast in roles as Ozaki was the one having to really do a ton to put Mio down with what felt like hundreds of backfists and some really clever cut-offs that got the crowd a couple of times, especially near the end when we just went into overdrive with the amount of wacky interference. Of course the winner might sour some people's expectations but I didn't really mind all things considered because it was clear that the two aren't yet done with each other given the post-match scrums. For her age Ozaki is still pretty solid at what she brings to the table and Mio is one of the modern greats of Joshi Puro easily. The way she simply bumps and emotes is light-years above many of her older peers and she totally understands how to organise a match like this where every big move/cut-off is supposed to matter. It wasn't "clean" or full of big movez but it totally should be considered one of the MOTY's at the end of the day for how well built this was as a match."