Manami Toyota is one of the greatest wrestlers of all time. Her work during the early 90s feature some of the greatest matches you will see; ones that revolutionised the industry with a style that would influence future generations of wrestlers. Toyota championed work-rate above all else; pulling off strings of moves and sequences with blinding speed but, she was also a great Face In Peril seller who knew how to layout a match and really show off her ability while also being able to draw a crowd into the story that she was trying to tell. Despite this Toyota gets a lot of flak from some, with people criticising her lack of long-term selling and forsaking the story in order to get some of her moves in. In this I’ll be going through some of her career highlights that show why so many consider her among the best that this sport has ever seen.

Manami Toyota vs Bull Nakano – WWWA Title (21/07/1990)

In this, Manami Toyota is tasked with slaying the beast Bull Nakano who was a year into her reign as WWWA champion. The match goes less than ten minutes as Nakano dominates but, already we see flashes of what would make Toyota one of the most popular Joshi wrestlers of the 90s; her selling from Nakano’s work on top is top-notch and really draws sympathy from the crowd, and her comeback spots are brilliantly timed and fast paced, hitting Bull with everything she can before going down. A sign of things to come.

Manami Toyota vs Toshiyo Yamada – Hair vs Hair, IWA Title (15/08/1992)

Toyota and Yoshida were successful tag team partners, but a loss to Yamada earlier in the year in the Grand Prix lead to Toyota asking for one more match and putting her hair and IWA title on the line. This was very much a template for how Toyota matches would go in the future, with the opening ten minutes being dominated by Yamada on the mat, with Toyota selling all the way, before exploding into life. Yamada tries to take out the leg of Toyota with a few submission moves, but once Toyota finds an opening it’s an all action back and forth. Counters, escapes, nearfalls, big moves, this had it all and it led to a frantic second half in which Toyota manages to escape the Gori Special Bomb and hit the Japanese Ocean Cyclone Suplex for the win. The post match might be even better than the match itself, with Toyota realising what she had done, and doing anything to prevent Yamada from cutting her own hair, even trying to cut her own hair off. But in the end Yamada shaves her head and the two end up reuniting.

Manami Toyota vs Kyoko Inoue (24/08/1994)

Toyota vs Inoue is among the more famous rivalries of 90s Joshi. These two had very similar styles where work-rate and big moves were emphasised and this lead to quite a few entertaining match ups. This match is a lot more back and forth than your standard Toyota match and they get to hitting big moves and going through big sequences early on in the match, and the pace does not let up, it’s fantastic. About the only thing to criticise from this match is the botch by Toyota near the end, which almost derailed the final two minutes. This is perhaps one of the few problems with Toyota; her high risk style leads to more than one occasion of slipping off the ropes or not hitting a move very cleanly. Either way this remains a classic bout and is among the best these two have done.

Manami Toyota vs Aja Kong (20/11/1994)

As mentioned before, Toyota matches rely on letting her opponent control the first half, before staging a comeback and upping the ante in the second half. The strength of these matches were reliant on two things – the opponent’s offence, and Toyota’s selling. This match is her best match under this formula, as Aja Kong is absolutely brutal in her attacks on Toyota, and Toyota’s selling is other-worldly good, and the second half of this match in when the match explodes into life is phenomenal, with Toyota and Kong going back and forth before Aja finally manages to put Toyota away.

Manami Toyota vs Kyoko Inoue – WWWA Title (07/05/1995)

When talking about Manami Toyota this is often the most mentioned match of hers, and possibly the most controversial. Winning the Wrestling Observer MOTY, Toyota and Inoue work one of the fast matches you will ever see for an entire hour with both women being absolutely exhausted by the end. They did a 60 minute broadway and it was wonderful every step of the way. Critics deride the lack of long-term selling and the move heavy style of the match but, this is such a brilliant athletic feat that it’s hard not to love it.

Manami Toyota vs Mima Shimoda (23/07/1995)

This is my favourite Toyota match. Toyota rightfully gets criticism for her lack of long-term selling and her instinct to just go-go-go, but in this match she seems to reign it all in and really take her time with everything, letting each moment breathe and taking the time to sell everything. Of course Shimoda more than holds her own with great offence and great selling of her own. The match layout is perfect; the build up to the big moves and cool sequences is done perfectly, making people go absolutely rabid at every nearfall.

Manami Toyota vs Akira Hokuto (02/09/1995)

Our final match is between two of Joshi’s most legendary figures. While a great match, this had some of both women’s worst tendencies, with them focusing on big moves, table spots, with a lack of selling. Still very much deserving of its legendary reputation, but my least favourite match of this list.

What makes Manami Toyota so great? To me it’s her ability to draw in any crowd to what she’s trying to do, her ridiculous speed in the ring, her insane creativity in matches, and her fantastic underdog selling. She was an expert in laying out a match that would get the best out of her and her opponent and pioneered a style of wrestling that would get very popular in the indies during the 00s, with their emphasis on work-rate. Criticisms about her lack of limb selling and a bit too much reliance on a formula can be levied against her but, in the end I consider Manami Toyota to be among the five greatest professional wrestlers to have ever lived.

Other Matches To Watch:

– Vs Kyoko Inoue (25/04/1992); their best match together

– w/Toshiyo Yamada vs Dynamite Kansai and Mayumi Ozaki (06/12/1993); one of the greatest tag matches of all time

– w/Akira Hokuto vs Kyoko Inoue and Toshiyo Yamada (10/12/1993); two matches, one after the other, both utterly fantastic

-w/Mike Quackenbush vs Sara Del Ray and Claudio Castignoli (19/09/2010); surreal but fantastic match from CHIKARA.