Command Bolshoi Treasure Trove #6

Command Bolshoi vs. Kayoko Haruyama, JWP 10/10/2010

Epic match that was just an amazing struggle from the first lockup. First half was built around Bolshoi controling Haruyama using her slickness and amazing submisisons and inventiveness, and Bolshoi looked like the slickest of all time here. Haruyama also had a great performance always barraging Bolshoi with her hard hitting and quick hands, while selling really well for Bolshois submission attacks. Haruyama slowly gaining control was done really well and the second half with Haruyama trying to put the nail in the coffin was just out of this world. Bolshoi has so many different ways to slip out of her opponents moves and lock in a crazy submission or pin that she can credibly roll out even against a beastly opponent, and they all look fantastic here. Build to the finish was amazing as well. Best non-FUTEN singles to happen in Japan in 2010?

Command Bolshoi & Rabbit Miu vs. Tsubasa Kuragaki & Kaoyko Haruyama, JWP 3/4/2012

Pretty fun tag built around Bolshoi tagging with a much lower ranked partner to take on a couple powerhouses. I‘ve never seen Miu before, but she was fun slipping underneath for weird pins and taking beatings. And Bolshoi is a great Misawa dragging her through the match. As always, Bolshois chemistry with Kuragaki is all time level. The Atlantida squence early on where Kuragaki kept pulling her up was incredible. I‘ve no idea how these two aren‘t dropped more commonly among the best pairings in pro wrestling history, because they always do outstanding stuff.

Command Bolshoi vs. Arisa Nakajima, JWP 7/28/2013

Best post-comeback Nakajima match I‘ve seen by far. Well, they had a few matches that I haven't seen, so one of them may have been better. That doesn‘t say a ton because Nakajimas a pretty terrible worker at that point, but Bolshoi brings the absolute best out of her. The match was a slow building epic that stayed in the ring, and Bolshoi was working underdog and timing her comebacks against Nakajimas constant barrage of offense hiding Nakajimas lack of selling, so that fixes a lot of the usual problems. Opening matwork was good hybrid grappling and they mix in some impressive sequences. Bolshoi was a master grappler as usual, I really dug her little tricks such as changing an armbar into a shoulder lock, it adds some nice nuance to big move ladden match. Nakajimas offense was fine here, I liked her crowbar knees, other than that she just did dropkicks and suplexes. There was some Angle/Benoit ish exchanges and no selling in the match which left me with a slightly bad feeling in my stomach and Nakajimas winning move felt random. It‘s good to know Bolshoi could do this kind of high endurance workrate match no problem but choose to be a smarter worker most of the time. Good stuff that is worth watching overall and blows a lot of RoH matches in the same vein away.