ARSION That I Missed

 Mariko Yoshida vs. Mikiko Futagami, ARSION 8/9/1998

Here's a great match that I missed as it didn't make the Best of ARSION comp. It says a lot how loaded with great wrestling 1998 ARSION was that this was just one of 3 great matches that evening, but here we are. GAMI may have been the 2nd greatest act in the promotion after Yoshida. Like Yoshida is this monster submission artist, but GAMI is this tricky technician who can counter and catch her. Lots of great grappling exchanges as you expect, and Futagamais surprise abisegiris and palm strikes ruled. Great finish, too, and it was just under 8 minutes.

Aja Kong vs. Mikiko Futagami, ARSION 4/11/1998

Quality match built around GAMI chipping away at Ajas bad knee. That kind of layout could be trite especially on a houseshow match, but thanks to Aja constantly fighting back everything felt highly competitive. As soon as Futagami gained the upper hand, she started torturing Aja with nasty stomps and really stretching her leg out with legbars. There was one calf slicer that was more like an ankle slicer the way GAMI had it applied. Kongs agony selling is really convincing and the finishing stretch is really great. Futagami is a great tricky counter wrestler which naturally matches up well against a juggernaut like Aja, but Aja also busted out some slick reversals.

Mariko Yoshida vs. Yumi Fukawa, ARSION 5/8/1998

This match up is kind of an all timer. This was a really dominant performance from Yoshida, which is not a problem because she‘s a top 5 grappler of all time AND also pretty great and selling slight vulnerabilities even when she‘s totally owning her opponent. Right away Fukawa misses a flying armbar and from that point on Yoshida mostly counters Fukawas counter attempts. A few crazy submission attempts as usual such as Yoshida busting out an armbar from an indian deathlock position and then turns Fukawas counter attempt into a Fujiwaraesque leg stretch. Really nice sequence where Fukawa is able to get a leglock, Yoshida is able to reverse it but comes up with a slight limp which signals for Fukawa to start pouncing. Fukawa didn‘t have much chance but she gave it her all, and those couple seconds where she got something in felt important due to Yoshidas dominance. Sick finish. Another example of this crew being unable to do any wrong in 1998.