This is part of the “Stardom’s Favorite Daughter—Icon or Illusion?” watch series, which you can find here.

This is a semi-final match in the 2015 Cinderella tournament, where the winner can be declared if they throw their opponent over the top rope, or by the more traditional means of pinfall and submission. That, and this is also the first time Io and Mayu have matched up in a singles match that hasn’t been trimmed down.

It’s not good.

Io starts by jumping Mayu with a dropkick and teasing a dive to the outside, which serves as a oppurtunity for commentary to remind us that would’ve eliminated her. They go for one of those fake-looking pin exchanges after Mayu rolls back in, which ends when both women kick each other in the shins while going for head kicks, and then both roll around on the mat screaming and grabbing their legs. It’s a gnarly-looking spot, and looks good in contrast with the overly coordinated rollups they were doing seconds earlier, and on top of that, it’s an idea that makes the match immediately interesting. That is, if Mayu and Io committed anything to selling their legs.

But they don’t.

At most, there’s a grab at the leg here and there, but it’s just a minute before Mayu and Io are bouncing off the ropes with ease. I must reiterate, I am not some self-proclaimed selling stickler, but the little gestures towards the limb after hitting all the offense are a bit too frustrating—it shows they know they’re aware of the importance of the spot they need to sell—and truthfully I’d rather see them ignore the little leg kick spot altogether. However, to their credit, an eight-minute match with silly rules for a tournament nobody has ever cared about hardly seems like the right place to set up something with potential, nor is it the place I’d expect either to go even as far as they did, as over the last half, Mayu and Io trade a bunch of bombs instead. In its own nutshell, it’s entertaining; you get flashes of some of the more signature stuff these two would put together later, like a big upkick on the moonsault and a pair of fairly nasty neck bumps from Mayu. That’s all fine and good, and it does show that even at this point these two can put something together that only they’re capable of, but once again on this project, I’m not a real big fan of having keys dangled in front of my face.

Oh, and the finish of the both women falling off the top rope and hitting the floor gets messed up too, as Mayu very cleary hits the floor first, and still wins. Whatever though, why not have your own take on ’05 rumble mishap in there? Maybe this would’ve been worth remebering had Rossy blown out his quads in a fit of rage too.

Rating: Meh