https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gJ5UCcVtSw
I wonder how this Pioneer Senshi/JWP joint show came to be. Was it a case of Ryuma Go not having enough wrestlers to run a show of his own, so he asked JWP to borrow their ring and some wrestlers? Then again, JWP was running some wrestler vs. martial artist matches on their own shows during this time period, so maybe there was more Pioneer Senshi inspiration than usual in JWP. Maybe there was a Rumi Kazama vs. a korean taekwondo artist main event on this show that went unfilled. As far as this Devil Masami/Harley Saito match goes, joshi matches that serve as undercard to mens matches tend to be filler, and that was the case here, although there was a nice Devil Masami control segment where she worked over Saitos wrist, and an especially nice Harley Saito control segment where she started by kicking Devil in the back of the head and then working over her back with more thudding kicks. Devils comeback is kinda lame as she catches a kick for a leglock, briefly acknowledging the work on her back before hitting some lariats and powerbombs for the win. I was surprised how easily Saito was defeated here as she was on her way to the JWP main event in 1990, but maybe they didn’t expect JWP fans to pay attention to this show.
Hiroshi Itakura vs. Hideki Kawauchi
These two had a fantastic match the previous year. This was more of a hybrid junior match than the shootstyle of their first match. There are lockups, side headlocks, hammerlocks and tope rope moves, but the stylistic marks of their first match – crunching suplexes, ultra tight submissions and some brutal strikes where still there. If you ask me, this is the style that should’ve dominated 90s junior wrestling. In this match, Itakura was pushing the pace by giving Kawauchi a nasty hiding, who kept coming back using his grappling and occasionally a big kick of his own. Itakuras spin kicks were absolutely brutal as he came close to crushing Kawauchis face. There was also a crazy stiff baseball slide that launched Kawauchi to the outside. Kawauchi for his own had a really beautiful belly to belly suplex into a bridging pin. Some crazy deep, joint popping arm submission nearfalls. The match was a bit clunky in some parts as I felt these guys are better when they are just doing straight shootstyle, but overall this was everything you can ask for from a grimy 90s indy undercard wrestling.
Miss A (Dynamite Kansai) vs. Eagle Sawai
This was a bit better than the opening Saito/Masami match. It was also filler, but Miss As kicks are just sickeningly violent even for Pioneer Senshi match and the match develops around Sawai trying to not get kicked to death. Some fun big girl fighting ensues and both hit some nice elbows drops, body checks and lariats. These two had a very good match on a proper JWP show and while this was by no means essential viewing it was a cool piece in Miss As work during the time period.
Ryuma
Go vs. Masashi Aoyagi (Rounds)
Love these two, but there was absolutely no reason for this to go 30 minutes. I guess they were trying to one up the Onita/Aoyagi feud by going broadway, but matches like this really don’t work like that. As a result of the length there wasn’t much going on and Gos submission attempts felt like restholds. Once both guys were bleeding, things got pretty intense, but it took them about 10 rounds to get there, and then the match went another 10 minutes or so. Still love the variety of strikes Aoyagi threw, though. Also the crowd got super into this so who am I to judge.
No comments:
Post a Comment