SEAdLINNNG 8th Anniversary (8/25/2023)
SEAdLINNNG Beyond the Sea Championship: Arisa Nakajima (c) vs. Sareee
In the pre-fight press conference, Sareee said she would break Arisa Nakajima's arm like Antonio Inoki did to Tiger Jeet Singh and possibly make her miss time out of the ring. They exchanged sharp verbal barbs in the media during the build-up, creating an unusually disturbing atmosphere. Words like "blood thirst" and the name "Antonio Inoki" were thrown around. So I was curious to see how the match would unfold. One of the most heated build ups in modern joshi pro-wrestling - and the match started with a routine lock up. From there it was a fairly orthodox development, the two wrestling in their usual style. They delivered the expected hard hits, but the match generally stayed within their familiar repertoire. While Sareee did keep her promise to target Arisa's arm, her attack didn't suggest a possible injury for Arisa. It was a technically sound main event with excellent pacing (it hardly felt like 27 minutes), but I was disappointed by how conventional it was given the uniquely intense build for modern joshi pro-wrestling. I was hoping for something more groundbreaking, but this was just the standard match that I have seen many times before from these two. ***1/2
