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

This is the final match in the 2015 Cinderella tournament.

Much like Mayu’s semi-final match beforehand, this is its fair share of disappointing. Unlike that match, though, it does not involve an all-time great wrestler but instead relies on two good, albeit relatively inexperienced ones, and demands them to put together a tournament final in only nine minutes.

Obviously, not the ocean this ship should be sailing on.

That isn’t to say there isn’t a world where this succeeded. A fast-paced, high-speed style match with a couple of bombs and Mayu’s new(ish?) finish at the end would’ve probably been something I’ve eaten up. Koguma and Mayu certainly have it in them to become human ragdolls, and contrian to most, I’ve found that in the young parts of their careers, they’ve been much more sympathetic than off-putting. But instead there’s some weird, off-putting grappling to start, a two-minute blip of what could’ve been, and then a jump into some big stuff that never crescendos to anything more. If anything, it feels like they’re checking all the boxes from matches that go three times as long, and while usually those matches are much more offensive, a shitty elbow exchange from the two certainly feels more frustrating than it does in the other scenario—only if that’s because sane people are checked out of the 30+ minute Bushiroad-style slop by the time they get there. Luckily, this only feels as long as nine minutes can. It comes and goes and isn’t dishonest on the way there. A moment in time, a small and unmemorable one, and something only frustrating simply because I had to think about what I wanted to write about it.

Anyway, Mayu wins with the 2-step, which gets the only genuine buzz from the crowd all match. Bless her heart too; she looks happy to put on the Cinderella-style dress and pose in the ring afterwards. Lord knows some future winners will look all kinds of uncomfortable.

Rating: Meh