Misaki Ohata Matches

 Misaki Ohata vs. Mio Momono, WAVE 3/18/2018

This match reminded me of late 90s GAEA, which is very high praise if you know me. Really good little scrap. Momono is an underdog who tries to go for flash pins and annoying Ohata. She also has some great arm attack stuff. The match had some really snug strikes, boots to the face, Ohata throws these great looking double handed blows to the face… some really nice inventive spots in this and the underdog story with Momono trying to topple Ohata while surviving some nasty submissions and suplexes makes this compelling. Selling wasn’t very deep and I was a bit iffy at Ohata hitting three curb stomps in a row but joshi is like that sometimes. At 11 minutes they hit just the sweet spot. Super enjoyable stuff.

Misaki Ohata vs. Hiroe Nagahama, WAVE 3/11/2018

This was more good stuff from Ohata. No doubt if more than a handful of people paid attention she would be regarded as one of the better workers of the later 2010s. Here stuff was just vicious, trying to break her opponent in half with Fuchi-ish submissions and bending her spine against the ropes in nasty ways. Her boots, stomps etc. are all really good looking. Nagahama is just solid but this was a great showcase from Ohata. Nagahama does get it together hitting some slick flash pins and the build to the finish is really good.

Misaki Ohata vs. Ayako Hamada, WAVE 4/21/2018

I was thinking Ohata keeps facing these underdogs who can only win by rollup, so here is Ohata against an offensive monster in Ayako Hamada. This honestly ruled really hard. They basically go all out dropping bombs and doing all these awesome standing exchanges and counter work. They do a nice job tricking you into thinking that it could end in the first 5 minutes and then they go the rest of the match in style without just hitting move after move. Hamada rules, her offense is so sharp and she has no problem doing the slick stuff. Really liked how Ohata would time her stiff strikes. Best sprint of 2018?

Misaki Ohata vs. Ryo Mizunami, WAVE 2/11/2017

A really good slow building big match. Opening matwork was nice to see knowing that Ohata is a Mariko Yoshida trainee so she can really slip into leg and arm popping submissions nicely. After that, they just had a really good hard hitting contest with some excellent transitions and a general hard fought feeling. This was one of the better Mizunami performances I’ve seen, she was putting it all together here whipping Ohata with hard clotheslines and doing cool power moves. She also does the Olympic Hell which is always cool. Ohata was really good once again, less off a domineering stretching machine and more trying to survive Mizunami and try to take out her out by landing quick blows. The build to Mizunamis crazy finisher was impeccable. Strong recommendation if you like the Japanese big match formula. These matches made me want to check out what Ohata has been up to lately and… oh, she retired in 2018. Oh well, I guess I’ll watch some more of her matches on the WAVE Netwo- that’s dead too. Oh, okay I guess.