This review was commissioned by BeenThrifty over on my Ko-fi account.
It’s often easy to break wrestling down into patterns and tropes. Part of my function as a critic is to identify those patterns and contextualize them across history when evaluating wrestling. But every now and then, it’s important to remember that the overall effect of a thing often stands beyond the individual elements that make it up. Specifically, in a match as great as this street fight between Shinobu Kandori and Megumi Kudo, it’s how well everything functions in harmony that makes it a delight.
In this match, for example, the production adds so much. Kandori and Kudo work without care for cameramen and placement—a lost sense of recklessness especially today when all wrestlers are grilled into knowing where every single camera is at every time. And this shapes the production quality around the wrestling instead of vice versa. Here, cameramen get lost in the chaos in Korakuen Hall, struggling to even get a clear view of the havoc both the wrestlers wreak. This aids moments such as the long climb to the Korakuen Hall balcony or the lengthy set up to the frightening finish. The frantic chase of the cameras, the shifting angles looking for the right view, all these things help create a sense of frenzied action that hides potential lulls.
It’s also of matter of how we receive this footage in 2024. Glorious 240p grain always lends matches like this an added layer of grit and grime.
Then, the wrestling. My god, the wrestling!
This rivalry has spilled over from Kudo’s home territory of FMW to now being on Kandori’s home turf. As such, there’s this delightful dynamic at play where Kudo is filled with a lot of heart and determination but still gets cast in the role of outsider. Kandori’s always been more of the brute and bully, but that’s able to manifest here as being a badass ace hero. Just look at the figure she cuts here in her black suit, imposing and threatening at every moment. Her comeback about halfway through the match is one of the sickest I’ve ever seen. The way she poses in the middle of the ring as she bumps Kudo with big punches, that powerful wind up of the chain around her arm as she prepares go on the attack. It’s astonishing stuff, really wins over the heart when Kudo typically plays a much more sympathetic persona.
Kudo’s no slouch though. She delivers big in an early control segment here, dropping Kandori on her head over and over with disgusting Tiger Drivers and big backdrops. Even cast as an invader though, there’s room to admire her in the back half. Kandori nearly murders this woman in one of the grossest hangman spots in wrestling history, and the look on Kudo’s face speaks to a close brush with death. From there, all of Kudo’s comebacks are brief—short moments of hope instead of powerful bursts of offense.
Both wrestlers do a fantastic job of maintaining the sense of hatred and animosity throughout the whole match. Big swinging punches, Memphis-style as is befitting a student of Onita, blood dripping right from the hairline, and this general lack of regard for anybody’s safety whether that be the opponent’s or the crowd’s. Small touches go a long way here, such as when Kandori props up a table metal frame up so that Kudo’s landing on it has just a little more oomph that compensates for the table itself not breaking.
It’s the spirit of it though more than any one thing. That real sense of hatred and heat permeates the whole thing. Actual attempted murder at multiple points, with the two big hanging spots standing out. That choke on the ropes really does look like it might end Kudo and though they don’t go all the way it, there’s just enough peril in the final balcony hanging to make the anticipation for it worthwhile as well.
Pro wrestling at its best is always greater than the sum of its parts.
Rating: ****1/4
