A few matches under 10 minutes

 Kengo Mashimo vs. Isami Kodaka, K-Dojo 9/30/2002

Hey... did you know skinny deathmatch wrestler Isami Kodaka was once a skinny shootfighter dressed like a SHOOTO guy throwing wild punches and trying to break arms with flash armbars? You'll be surprised! This was just a hair under 5 minutes and it was like a more primitive version of Ikeda/Ono, so it was still pretty great! Both guys look awesome here. Mashimo doesn't have the hair dye and ponytail yet but he looks like quite the Hashimoto-esque figure here being a karateka dressed in black and taking on a shooter. Kodaka throws wild punches and spin kicks just great. The crazy spill over the rope was awesome  and the way Mashimo just decimated Kodaka with some of the most brutal head kicks and knees ever was harrowing. Quite the sub-5 minute war.

No Rules Match: Shinya Hashimoto vs. Kensuke Sasaki, NJPW 4/9/2001

It’s Shinya Hashimoto vs Kensuke Sasaki in 2001 New Japan in a NO RULES match. So it’s pretty much exactly what you want: plenty violent, short, no filler, just raw straight forward brutality. I had no idea this match even happened until now and it has no ratings in Cagematch, so that tells you this era of New Japan is still kinda underrated. Hashimoto goes into this with MMA gloves and there are some CAPTURE-esque exchanges to start. Sasaki is best as a primitive crowbar and that’s what he does here, Hashimoto would make him eat some hands early on so Sasaki just nuked him with a huge suplex. No Rules means there’s no rope breaks so Sasaki came across like a savage trying to rip out Hashimotos arm when he went for the armbar. Hashimoto came back with one of the nastiest punch flurries I’ve ever seen. After almost knocking Sasaki out, Hashimoto took the gloves off and they agree to a pro wrestling lock up before throwing kesagiri chops which was pretty awesome. Sasaki snatching Hash for the northern lights bomb out of nowhere was also pretty amazing. The car crash violent bomb throwing last few minutes were fairly great. Hashimoto is a king at building long intense matches but this kind of violent outburst also suits him pretty well.

Akira Nogami vs Yuji Nagata, NJPW/AAA 11/16/1994

Great 7 minute match. Young Nagata was working like an aggressive BattlARTS guy here, throwing wild strikes constantly and fighting back against Nogami with shootstyle technique. Nogami, of course, would end up grabbing one of those kicks, twist him over with a Dragon Screw and then stomp the hell out of that leg. Wrestling can be so simple but effective sometimes. Nagatas hulk up was also surprisingly great actually. The finishing stretch while brief was all well timed cool moments, such as Nogami resisting hard against Nagatas belly to belly suplex and hitting a really precise enzuigiri or Nagata unleashing some explosive kicks. Give me two guys going all out for 7 minutes and really comitting even to basic stuff like this any day.

Volk Han vs. Masayuki Naruse, RINGS 10/23/1993

This match has been called a contender for the greatest wrestling match under 10 minutes. It’s certainly an interesting pick. Han is bigger than Naruse so he really ragdolls him. I mean we all know Han is a monster but he was really yanking him around with his signature insanely fast wristlocks and throws, and straight up slamming him here and there. Hans wristlocks certainly have more aura than any other wrestlers wristlocks. This is Han as usual – dominating on the ground and you get some of the wildest submissions and escapes you’ll see anywhere. This man was truly a genius at coming up with unique submissions without getting too cute. Naruse is pretty much overwhelmed, but he gives a gutsy performance. He already loves the spinning back open hand strike and just tries to barrage Han early, but Han would catch him constantly. He does come up with some counters here and there, and Volk lets him have a moment knocking him down with a liver shot. There’s a great nearfall from a cross heel hook with Naruse desperately trying to escape and coming up limping after barely making the rope. He gets one last hope moment throwing some more body shots but Han spins him around for an easy tag. This was a Volk Han special, and the fact that it was pretty much a midcard bout against a much lower ranked opponent speaks volumes to how good Han was that even such a throwaway match would end up feeling special.

Yoshiko Tamura vs. Aja Kong

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thSUqf6hgJo

Classic Aja trashing, if you like the Chaparita Asari match you will also like this. Tamura throws the kitchen sink at her to try and stop the monster. Tamura was putting major force even into her slightly goofy flying cross chops. The backfist that Aja nailed her with looked harder than many Kos in MMA fights. Check it out for a hard 2 minute fight.

Some early 90s AJW

   

Kyoko Inoue vs Takako Inoue, AJW 1/24/1993

Excellent match, which I’m afraid may be a bit of an overlooked minor classic. After some scrappy, quick exchanges, Kyoko was quite great taking over the match with varied submissions. Whenever Takako would try to come back, Kyoko would put her back down quite aggressively, and often still establish herself as the superior, graceful wrestler. Stuff like both of them fighting over a headlock leading to Kyoko kicking Takako in the face is so good and the kind of thing you basically never see anymore even though it’s so simple. Also, Inoues flying headscissor rolls and springboard moves rule. Takako ended up having to scout Kyokos spots, which she does well, there is a legbar spot where she catches Kyoko that ends up being really great. Eventually Takako capitalizes by taking chairs to Kyoko and suplexing her on the floor, which Kyoko sold like death. Really exciting ending run mostly due to Kyokos great selling of the floor sequence, which had a few big moves and some awesome drama. KO punch finish was quite unexpected but great.

Aja Kong & Sakie Hasegawa vs Kyoko Inoue & Toshiyo Yamada, AJW 10/10/1993

It’s 1993, so much of this was brutally violent, exciting and heated pro wrestling. My god does Aja Kong consistently look like just the greatest monster ever. Pretty much anytime she tagged in she would punt the shit out of people all over the ring and just try to crush people. Yamada is also pretty consistent at bringing the violence with her insane kicks. Hasegawa is fun as a plucky sidekick that needs Ajas help, though I thought the match dipped a bit in quality when she and Kyoko were in the ring as there were some meandering portions. Still eventually Yamada tags in and tries to rearrange Hasegawas face with a serious of super violent kicks and from then on it turns into really edge of your seat stuff with people getting their heads caved in and breakneck suplexes being hit. Hasegawa redeems herself by hitting a deadly solebutt and not being an obvious lost cause in the battle, and Inoue was hitting some jaw cracking lariats. Really exciting stuff as they created a sense of a swinging pendulum with various tags and partner help spots to maintain a sense of unpredictability, and the bombs they were dropping were pretty damn big bombs. Another minor gem in the pile.

Sakie Hasegawa & Debbie Malenko vs Shark Tsuchiya & Crusher Maedomari, AJW 11/26/1992

This was from the Dream Rush show so obviously not the main attraction, and old joshi fans would tell you that Shark Tsuchiya sucked… but fuck all that, because this some awesome heated and highly uncooperative pro wrestling. Basically Tsuchiya and Maedomari are heat magnets, harkening back to the old Gokuaki Domei vibe that was mostly gone from AJW in 1992 with Bull and Aja turning quasi face. Tsuchiya goes at Malenko before the bell, and it’s just a heated fight from the go. There seem to be FMW fans in the building so the match had that kind of ridiculous heat. Hasegawa was like a rabid ferret in this, slapping the shit out of people, kicking her way out of holds, and absolutely looking like she was not willing to give an inch to these FMW punks. Even going over to kick people in the face when Debbie had them in a hold, or putting some extra meanness into some basic legwork. It was awe inspiringly uncooperative and evil and quite frankly, amazing. Her little exchange with Tsuchiya were Tsuchiya hit her with a tomoe nage on her face was great. Tsuchiya also has a bandaged arm/shoulder here (apparently from a legit injury) so anytime Debbie puts an armbar on her the crowd goes wild. Just a massive crowd of people going wild for Debbie snapping someones limb. A surprisingly amount of vulnerability from the brawling heels here as Team AJW keep taking them down and refusing to give them an inch, Tsuchiya even being unable to do much as she hurts herself applying a choke, until Maedomari was able to spike Hasegawa with a sick chokeslam. It continues to look like a blowout for the FMW team though until some chaos goes down and they are able to brawl on the floor for a bit. Back in the ring Hasegawa immediately double legs Maedomari and rains punches from mount on here because Sakie Hasegawa was a mean demon in this. The finish is is just Hasegawa finish Maedomari off with a series of kicks to the face and force pinning her with Maedomari struggling like she really 100% wanted to get out of the pin. Was this perfect? No, it probably was a little long, it may have been better with some blood and Team FMW getting a bit of more conventional heat, but fuck me, this was dripping intensity and heat and pretty unique, let alone for a midcard match. They absolutely do not make them like this anymore for that alone you should watch this.

Some more 80s AJW

 

Jaguar Yokota vs Devil Masami, AJW 9/7/1983

An amazing piece of new footage for the history, but also simply because it’s another Jaguar Yokota in her physical prime big match dropping on us out of nowhere. Watching this, it’s very much an early 80s AJW styled match. Serious, straight forward pro wrestling from before the Crush Gals melodrama took over. Starts with some fast paced moves, then they settle into hold-based groundwork before building up to another explosion. As much praise as Jaguar gets for being ahead of her time and insanely athletic, I always end up most impressed by the intensity of her basic wrestling. Just the fact she makes something like a schoolboy rollup look like an insanely forceful takedown or how she would pull back her opponent in the indian deathlock from the ropes. They work some momentum shifts that feel to happen at the drop of a coin but they still feel meaningful, loved how Jaguar immediately grounded the match again. Devil is as solid as you know her to be, hadn’t quite come into her character yet but her wrestling was credible and she made a fun powerful counterpart for the lighter Jaguar. However the big turning point was when Masami decided to hoist Yokota up and drop her straight on her head with probably the sickest ganso bomb I’ve ever seen. Yokota was able to slip out and hit Masami with a desperation suplex, and both of them looked like they had taken significant damage at that point. Something I miss about old school wrestling – the selling is not hyper-theatralic as it is now, but you can still tell damage was done and both of them were fighting for survival. This culminates in a brief but very memorable finishing run with some insanely intense pin attempts. Fairly modest compared to other AJW big matches, but memorable because they kept it intense and to the point. Jaguar looked liked a wrestling godess as she always does and the earnest challenger Devil Masami was really cool. A hell of a match to randomly drop on all of us.

Kazue Nagahori vs Yumi Ogura, AJW 3/20/1986

Another stellar match in the underrated careers of these two. This was both of them going hard for 30 minutes, with hardly a moment that dragged. No restholds or tentativeness, both of them go at it immediately, throwing explosive kicks and fighting like mad on the mat. Their kicks weren’t quite UWF-like yet either, so that made this pretty unique as you had the two of them spin kicking each other in the ribs and sometimes in the face. There is not a ton of overarching psychology, but there are some neat emphasized moves like the mirrored figure 4s throughout the match. Tons of cool moments of great struggle and some things that felt like a big deal. Heck, like 25 minutes into this match they would still scramble out of pinfalls before a 1 count like it was an amateur wrestling match, and that rules. Great last couple minutes with the repeated crashing and burning and both of them throwing the kitchen sink trying to win. Really unique to see a pure wrestling match in joshi like this and this ended up going down as one of the best bouts of the 80s.

Grizzly Iwamoto & Bison Kimura vs Akira Hokuto & Suzuka Minami, AJW 6/18/1989

Man checking out old AJW can be jarring. This was full-on in your face intensity, plenty of scrappy WAR-esque exchanges that would probably cause an uproar if they happened on US TV, borderline reckless brutality on display with girls slapping the shit out of each other, basic stomps and elbows executed with a real meanness, dropkicks landing flush in peoples face. First fall is pretty much an asskicking tour de force from Iwamoto and Kimura, who are in their badass military get up and there to stomp ass, with a few unpredictable babyface spots from Hokuto and Minami thrown in to keep things exciting. Minami getting punched in the face when she tried to go for a basic cover and then getting crushed by stomps and knee drops was another one of those basic but really violent moments that you seemingly don’t get in modern wrestling anymore. Minami and Hokuto won’t set your world on fire as a babyface team here, Hokuto is not yet Hokuto and Minami doesn’t have much personality at this point either, but they are energetic. Loved how Kimura and Iwamoto said ‘fuck this’ after the babyface started getting in some offense so they just grabbed some chairs and nightsticks to beat the shit out of their opponents some more. It does get a little meandering (30 minutes is long for an all out brawl) and there are some fuckups, though there is some more harrowing uncalled for kendo stick violence in the 3^rd fall, also blood because of course there’s blood. You really owe it to yourself to check this out just to see Iwamoto and Kimura kick ass.

Chigusa Nagayo vs Yukari Omori, AJW 1/5/1988

Insanely heated, bloody, clash of the titans match in Korakuen Hall, what else do I need to say to sell you on this? This was pretty fucking great, like the female version of Hash vs Tenryu but with more blood and bigger suplexes. I quite like Yukari Omori – she’s big, has a kind of understated charisma without trying to be dramatic, and her brain chops are a pretty fun different kind of weapon for joshi. She comes across like a force of nature, and Chigusa really feels that. Chiggy ends up getting chopped in the face which causes her to bounce out of the ring and bleed, which is awesomely old school. Chigusa hitting a desperation kick to Omoris face and then smashing her into a table was one hell of a comeback. After that both of them are gushing blood and it’s all desperation face kicks and shootstyle uncooperativeness. Omori is a great asskicker, and of course Nagayo is insanely good when its time to bleed and sell like you’re about to pass out. The finish was kind of beautiful as they are in kind of a stalemate and go into a test of strength – like they had done at the beginning of the match – only for Chigusa to hit a dirty headbutt and an angry Omori firing back with a swatting lariat. Kind of the pinnacle of Chigusas style, car crash violence, blood, drama, tinges of shootstyle, this may be one of my favourite 80s AJW matches I’ve seen because it doesn’t meander or waste your time. Just to the point, gory and awesome.

80s AJW

 Yumi Ogura & Kazue Nagahori vs Mika Komatsu & Kanako Nagatomo AJW 6/21/1986

Crazy match that was over 30 minutes of straight wrestling with a ton of intensity and hard-fought chew-em-up style matwork. Really unique from a modern perspective. The match followed a simple formula, they would alternate between matwork and explosive standing moves, but the intensity at which they fought in and out of the holds was great. In terms of moves there was nothing mindblowing happening, but its 80s AJW so it feels somewhat familiar but different, and the real selling point is the struggle. They sold the match like a sporting contest that would occasionally come to a boiling point. The pinfall attempts and the struggle over getting out of them was fantastic – really nailed that amateur wrestling-like feeling of when a guy feels he is about to get rolled in his shoulders and gets into that “oh shit” zone to desperately scramble out. I really liked Kanako Nagatomo here, she hit these cool Zidane headbutts and knew how to work some mean indian deathlocks. Ogura & Nagahori would throw these wild kicks and solebutts, often out of nowhere, and they weren’t afraid to get chippy. At one point you had Komatsu and I think Nagahori going into this almost Lawler/Mantell style strike exchange on their knees with both of them throwing open hands. So the chippiness was great, the matwork was great, and the flying moves were cool (at one point one of them hit this awesome jumping victory roll that looked like the most beautiful flash pin ever). The match didn’t have a ton of limb selling or build to the transitions but they sold the whole thing as an intense sporting contest where either team could take the lead at the drop of a hat, so I didn’t care. Even something like a takedown into an ankle lock felt important, and the way they would elaborate on that really drives the point home. Matches like this that eschew traditional US style ring psychology but still work in their own way are really interesting to me. Really unique, great match that everyone should give a shot.

Chigusa Nagayo vs Lioness Asuka, AJW 6/13/1987

The match begins with a jump start. In the first minute, there's a suplex on the floor and then Lioness misses a crazy dive. Nagayo goes for the kill locking in a sharpshooter, but Lioness scrambles for the ropes. Lioness comes back with a shootstyle armbar and attacking Chigusas arm for a bit. Is Lioness gonna work the arm? No, they reset to a neutral position, working a test of strength before Chigusa takes over. After that the match becomes more focussed on grinding matwork with occasional outbursts of Lioness' kicks, with Chigusa always grinding her back down with headlocks etc. A flick is switched when a tombstone attempt is reversed and they work a 50/50 nearfall run with a lot of big moves. Lioness giant swing as a nearfall is a really cool spot, Chigusas much less energetic version less so.

A lot of cool wrestling on display here with both of them hitting some cool fireman carrys and suplexes. There was considerable struggle and a palpable sense of "grind her down". The UWF influence was really cool. Certainly made me wish this style would come back and be brought to its completion. This match felt a little random to be truely gripping for me but it was cool to watch.

Chigusa Nagayo & Lioness Asuka vs Lola Gonzalez & La Galactica, AJW 10/6/1984

Another really wild match from this era. What makes this stand out is the rudo tour de force from Gonzalez and Galactica. They both did a great job both bumping for their opponents and beating the hell out of them. Gonzalez especially stood out in a major way and I was surprised this match isn't more famous considering she doesn't exactly have a ton of matches on tape. Galactica was a bit more subdued but she got some good licks in. At one point she had this really awesome sugar hold on Chigusa tearing up her leg. Also, Dump Matsumoto and her gang is at ringside and she interfers liberally in this match, at one point jumping straight in the ring to beat on people with an iron rod. If you don't like liberal interferences you'll probably dislike this but I didn't mind it because the action still stayed in the ring and it was all part of the beatdown. In a way mid 80s AJW feels like this corrupt lawless land where all the referees are crooked and you might get stabbed by Dump Matsumoto at the drop of a hat. Of course the Crush Gals are generating molten heat by just existing in this match. There's a minute long Chigusa chant as she's exchanging basic knucklelocks. Any wrestler alive today would give their toe for these kind of reactions. They were super in the moment and feeding off the energy. Some things they did looked a little sloppy or blown, with Chigusas kicks not looking very good yet, and the comebacks felt pretty random (e.g. Chigusa gets her leg worked over and comes back just hitting a random tombstone piledriver), but it doesn't really matter when you have a pair of babyfaces this passionate. The escalating violence towards the end was really great with Asuka bleeding in a really grizzly way, and Gonzalez also getting bloodied with a bleeding Asuka hitting an amazing late match giant swing, fans pelting the ring with garbage in protest to the over the top heel antics etc. Both looked like they wanted to make the cover of an Apter mag. Great spectacle with the atmosphere being off the charts.

Assorted Joshi

 Some guy is uploading a bulk of old joshi to YouTube again, so that's a good chance to check out some forgotten gems.

Cutie Suzuki vs Chikako Shiratori, JWP 10/11/1998

Total out of nowhere bloodbath. Right away Shiratori blasts Suzuk with a big backfist and it's a hate filled brawl. I've never really noticed Shiratori as a worker, and I've never seen anyone talk about her aside from her looks, but she looked really impressive controlling the action here. When Suzuki resisted the hair toss, Shiratori make sure to shove her knee into her throat and then drive her face right into the mat. Pretty violent. The match also had plenty of face stomps, biting, hard slaps, and the right sense of escalating violence with chairs and a kendo stick being brought in. You don't expect these two to wrestle like Pirata Morgan vs Faraon but they totally rock it. Even something like a missile dropkick from Shiratori landed flush in Suzukis face. Kendo stick shots looked really grizzly and I dug how Shiratori would seemingly summon that thing out of nowhere. By the end Shiratori was bleeding too and getting dumped by Suzukis crazy suplexes, including one with the kendo stick behind her head, pretty insane. Both were on their way to retirement (Shiratori would quit joshi orgs and instead work Osaka Pro for a year) and this kinda had the feeling that they both didn't care about keeping their faces unscarred and decided to do something really grizzly.

Yumiko Hotta & Kumiko Maekawa vs Michiko Nagashima & Sayuri Okino, AJW 1/3/1998

Absolutely insane wild match. Eagle Sawai is with the LLPW girls in her awesome track pants and shirt, and right away she goes wild brawling before getting on the mic, apparently talking some trash to Shinobu Kandori who is sitting at ringside (looking amazing with her bleach blonde hair and suit). Kandori who has her arm in a sling gets attacked too, then Hotta jumps into the fray, chairs are thrown and this is crazy. Back in the ring the first thing Okino does is bite Hotta in the face, and sure you know the first chance Hotta gets she tries to kick peoples faces in. Okino and Nagashima are really good here brawling and doing chain punches. They handcuff Maekawa and Maekawa ends up taking a big beating, taking bumps with her hands cuffed on that ultra stiff AJW ring while Eagle and Hotta are brawling on the floor again. Hottas tag in and everything that came after building to her finally getting that big run of offense was pretty amazing. Hotta kicking the kendo stick is up there with the wildest kendo stick spots I've seen ever. The heat was super too with the crowd for some reason booing everything Hotta did, I guess LLPW fans must have done an invasion or something. Totally chaotic, violent and unpredictable fight, these kinda brawls are probably the most underrated part of mid-late 90s joshi.

Tomoko Miyaguchi & Kanako Motoya vs Tomoko Kuzumi & Dynamite Kansai, JWP 11/15/1998

I have to say, while some people say Kansai was largely done after 1997, I find she adds a lot to every match she's in simply by bringing a ton of violence and being a big menace. Not as hard as in 1993 but this is still a veritable great match largely thanks to Kansais presence. The match is fast action stuff when Hyuga is in, and focussed on young Miyaguchi & Motoya trying to take down Kansai when she's in. It leads to this really great sequence where they finally get her prone on the mat and start rushing her with all they've got, with Miyaguchi cracking Kansais jaw with probably the greatest elbow smash I've ever seen in a match. Hyugas all action stuff was good, Kansai as a hard to take down dangerous giant story was good, last couple minutes were pretty damn great with big bombs, Kansai kicking everyone in the face etc. Well worth checking out.

Assorted Joshi

 

Akira Hokuto & Chigusa Nagayo & Hiromi Kato vs. Meiko Satomura & Toshie Uematsu & Sakura Hirota GAEA 2/22/1997

I think this may have been a GAEA match that didn't seem to air on TV, although I may be misremembering. Another really good upload, whoever is curating this channel is really doing a good job. Loved the opening, where first Satomura et all try triple teaming Kato, then Hokuto runs in to save her but they end up triple teaming her, which backfires to Hokuto and her team trying to reverse the numbers game only for it to backfire and Team Satomura triple teaming Kato anyways. The match plays out nice and story driven, as Kato takes a beating but whenever Hokuto or Nagayo tagged in the would destroy the rookies and send them into desperation mode. Hokuto almost kicked Satomuras head off with her big spin kick. I loved all the Satomura/Nagayo interactions, Nagayo blew off her strikes so Satomura later went for a bunch of great desperation armbars at her. As usual with peak GAEA the match had a few fantastic moments. Great finish aswell. Another piece in the fantastic year this company had.

Mariko Yoshida vs. KAORU, AJW 8/28/1994

Yoshida had been injured and out of the ring for over 20 months. This was her return singles match, and it‘s one hell of a show. Even though this was not spider lady Yoshida, she was at her a-game. The match resembled a MUGA match, with both girls doing some intense grappling and stretching, and the few strikes they threw were hard as all hell. There were also a few neat spots and smart counters and learned spots. KAORU came across as quite the killer in this, focussing on Yoshidas neck, either elbowing her or applying painful looking bends, with Yoshida doing a great job selling the increasing trauma. Yoshida came across as giving her all in the match. It made the last couple minutes feel even greater as Yoshida seemed on the verge of securing the win before KAORU nailed a tombstone piledriver out of nowhere, followed with a wiping out quebrada and then just crushed Yoshida with 3 moonsaults in a row before getting the victory. After such a competitive match such a non-even finish felt like a real exclamation mark and Yoshida was pretty emotional in her post-match promo. Such a unique match that really stands out against the usual AJW midcard stuff and an absolute banger. It foreshadowed how these two would go on to make other promotions so much more exciting than AJW.

 

Azumi Hyuga vs. Kaori Yoneyama, JWP 2/20/2005

Really great match that crosses the high-impact go-go style of these two with plenty of vicious rookie-veteran cut off spots. Plenty of Yoneyama smacking the shit out of Hyuga, and Hyuga in turn punishing her with mean stomps on her head and face. Hyuga can be questionable in lengthy workrate sprints but she was impeccable here cranking up the viciousness and doing some very tight wrestling, while knowing when to sell in order to put her opponent over as pushing her to the limit. Yoneyama looked great here, tremendous energy and working really stiff, elbowing Hyuga in the head, spin kicking her in the face etc. Plenty of cool details, such as Yoneyama starting to run when Hyuga was on the top rope only to eat a really fast missile dropkick. Yoneyamas blown Yoshitonic may have actually added to the match as it came across as a desperation move gone awry that knocked both of them loopy. Yoneyamas constant nastiness throughout the match kept building and building until she just exploded with an insane flury of elbows to a grounded Hyuga, by the far the highlight of the match. The ending run was pretty grandiose but really well executed with plenty of neat finisher teases and counters. By far one of the best singles matches of 2005.

Even more AJW

 

Toshiyo Yamada vs. Sakie Hasegawa, AJW 3/3/1994

ANOTHER incredibly sick UWF rules match from AJW in 1994. This was an absolute monster match and I honestly thought it was up there with the very best of Futen/BattlARTS singles. Once again, they did some Irish Whips here, but because they kept the action so intense I didn’t mind. The violence was certified insane with a ton of sick kicks and suplexes, but a big part of why the match is so great is how hard they were going for such a long match. They basically started going hard at about 5 minutes into this – with Hasegawa going nearly KO on a Yamada choke and Yamada then trying to turn her lights out – and I was thinking “They are doing too much too early, there is no way they can keep this up”. But they keep it up! Holy fuck did they ever. There was a stretch in the middle of this that I thought was as good as any violent FUTEN end run, and they escalated the violence even more towards the end. And it wasn’t just moves-moves-moves stuff, they worked so many compelling transitions, teases, control segments etc into this, with a constant sense of going for the kill.

Hasegawa is once again the story in this. She’s not quite a shooter type but man does she ever establish herself here. She did a nice job stretching Yamadas leg in interesting ways, and her suplexes and kicks would have done anyone from the BattlARTS roster proud. The build to her uranages was great and when she finally got one on Yamada she absolutely spiked her. I also thought it was remarkable how they kept destroying each other and finding believable ways to comeback but also cut each other off. Like Yamada was getting killed until she was able to slip underneath and brain Hasegawa with one of her crazy jumping kicks, then she tried building up to her big kick off the top with Hasegawa desperately trying to prevent her, really great sense of struggle. I also really liked the bit where Yamada started suplexing Hasegawa, with Hasegawa barely preventing another suplex and Hasegawa then doing this “I don’t know where I am or what’s going” selling. Just a really good back and forth and despite all the violent exchanges they had me to the point where I was flipping out when Hasegawa locked in a sleeper. At that point I was already thinking that this match was on an insanely high level, and then they went even harder for an incredible last 5 minutes that saw Yamada trying to punt Hasegawas life out, a crazy palm strike exchange that was straight out of the best Tamura/Yamamoto RINGS matches, Hasegawa taking maybe the sickest bump on a suplex I’ve ever seen etc. There is some repetiveness and the referee was weirdly hesitant to start KO counts sometimes, but other than that I thought this was up there with any Misawa/Kawada, Ikeda/Ishikawa, Fujiwara/Maeda or whatever other incredibly great and violent match up in wrestling history you wanna come up with.

Aja Kong & Reggie Bennett vs. Lioness Asuka & Bison Kimura, AJW 5/7/1995

Badass match. This easily could have been throwaway mid card stuff, but leave it to Aja to make things ultra heated and unpredictable. Basically Kimura is out for Ajas blood here due to their history together, and Aja just doesn’t care for her and mauls her. Also, Asuka wasn’t super settled into her routine yet, so she makes a good opponent for Aja in a shooter vs. monster way. I was also surprised by how fun Reggie was in this, I mean Reggie is always cool but her power moves were just great and she also did a pretty good job stretching Bison. Bison getting frustrated and going for Reggies leg was great. I also loved her busting out the nightstick. So yeah, violence escalating in interesting ways, fun big vs. little spots, Aja mauling people, fast pace, this was really sweet.

AJW 1/4/1994

 Bull Nakano vs. Kaoru Ito

This easily could have been a bullshit rookie squash but instead we get Kaoru Ito throwing the motherfucking kitchen sink at Nakano, dropkicking her in the face and landing her trademark ultraviolent double stomps and throwing chairs like a lunatic. Nakano gets fired up and in turn tries to lariat Itos brains out. Fun, painful match. I liked that they worked this at such a length that it just broke out of squash territory but you couldn’t quite tell when it would end. Props to Nakano for making Ito look great.

Mima Shimoda & Etsuko Mita vs. Saeki Hasegawa & Yumiko Hotta

What we saw of this was great. That said, they only showed 12 out of 22 minutes, so you have to wonder if there was some serious cutting magic at play here. But what we saw was pretty great. When Hasegawa is in the ring, the match is solid LCO heel stuff. When Hotta steps in, the match basically turns into a fight to the death. A wrestler like 1994 Yumiko Hotta could not exist in this modern world and that’s awfully sad. Loved Shimoda desperately trying to hit her in the face. I loved LCO plausibly putting Hotta away, with Shimoda hitting a huge and spectacular dive, and LCO unloading their neck crunching finishers on Hasegawa. Blessed.

Aja Kong vs. Suzuka Minami

I thought Minami was on her way out here and that’s why Aja destroys her, but apparently she kept wrestling until the following year. Holy LORD Aja absolutely destroys her, this was a Necro level asskicking. Aja punches her in the face, drops tables and steel barricades on her head, some hellish kicks. Minami has some neat technical moves but this was almost all a hellacious asskicking with Minami getting a few well chosen token moves at the end. Proof of Minamis toughness, I guess?

Manami Toyota & Toshiyo Yamada vs. Kyoko Inoue & Takako Inoue

I enjoyed this fine, but then, I didn’t expect much selling or a story. They actually worked some neat stuff into this, at this point these 4 were well familiar with each other so they could bust out some cool transitions like Manami going for the Manami Roll on Inoue only to be caught in a Thunder Fire Bomb etc. At one point Toyota botched her springboard dive so they improvized Toyota hitting a big splash to the floor on both Inoues, only in 90s AJW. I liked Takako punching Toyota and then kneeing her in the face before dumping her with nasty piledrivers. Yamada kicked ass as she usually does but I wanted more of her. There was no point where Toyota went on a rampage hitting 400 dropkicks or suplexes, so that was good too, and the match went under 20 minutes so they could work a strong pace without down parts.. That said, there was so little selling it all felt inconsequential, so you know what you are getting into.

The Library

A random GOAT contender

 

Aja Kong & Toshiyo Yamada vs. Yumiko Hotta & Sakie Hasegawa, AJW 4/13/1994

It’s weird how 90s Joshi in general and AJW especially is considered the peak of womens wrestling yet you can pull up a ton of random matches that nobody talks about yet they are really great. This was UWF rules and a strong match on paper, but they just kicked it up so many notches. Stylistically it wasn’t exactly shootstyle, there is some rope running etc., but in general they keep it really grounded. This match was up there with the absolute most violent BattlARTS/FUTEN matches, all 4 threw strikes and suplexes on an absolutely hellish level, with several hits that were as violent as anything I’ve ever seen in a wrestling match. They go really long (30ish minutes) and you’d think there is no way they can keep it up, but they keep it up. 

Hasegawa is kind of the odd one here, she isn’t quite a shooter type, although I liked her face dropkicks. She was giving her all and the disparity between her and the two kickpadded beasts on the other team kind of carried the match, because it means Hotta has to fight and uphill battle and Hasegawa has to dig deep in order to not get blown away. There was a really nice mat section where Hasegawa honest to god grappled it out with Aja which was impressive considering what a beast Aja is. I also liked Hasegawas leg selling, she had a bandaged leg, and she did a pretty real job selling it even when there was never a section where it got worked over, she was cautious to avoid an early leg submission and later there is a really tense nearfall where Aja catches her in a leg hold. 

To re-emphasize, this match was absolutely hideously violent with Hasegawa taking some Misawa level crazy suplex bumps and Hotta, Yamada and Aja basically trying to cave heads in with their kicks. Aja was as much of a monster as you expect, mauling people with her hands and feet, while Yamada has the flashier kicks and she was also killing people. Hotta was a lunatic as you expect kneeing and kicking people in the face, there was a moment where she kicked Aja in the back of the head that sounded and looked absolutely abhorrent, and I honestly thought this was just as violent as the famous Hotta/Kong singles, it wasn’t a blood bath but Hotta was spitting blood after getting her face busted by a kick and the grueling onslaught of this 30 minute war was downright psychotic. They also did a really great job working saves and retaliations based around saves, there is a sequence where Hotta is trying to joke out Yamada and you just know what’s coming next. Later Hotta would get up and paste Aja on the apron with a sick thudding blow in retaliation. 

They go really long but they just keep going and going and there is so much fight and grittiness in this and then they really pick it up for the last few minutes where we get multiple epic faceoffs with great edge of your seat near KOs. Hasegawa unleashing her inner ass kicker, kicking people in the face and hitting these winded desperation spin kicks was truly awesome and her big slap that knocked over Aja may have been the highlight in a match full of insane highlights simply because it paid off the story. Then we also get the Aja vs. Hotta finale which is as criminal as you expect and yet they somehow manage to not overdo it!!! Granted this match isn’t flawless, some parts were slightly repetitive, but god damn it the sheer fight in this, the grit, the violence, it even had a great underdog story and somehow it left me wanting more. It’s been a long time since I felt a match I was watching for the first time might be the greatest of all time but this gave me the feeling.

Assorted Joshi

 

Kaoru Ito vs. Junko Yagi, AJW/LLPW 7/2/1999

Cool, scrappy, unique match. Opening judo grappling was pretty cool, Yagi kept getting the better of Ito early on and there were some cool throws, until Ito absolutely spiked Yagi with a huge back suplex. Frustrated Yagi started hammering away at Itos head with fists, causing them both to take the jackets off. Ito comes across as such a murder machine that when she gave Yagi the death stare and threw her jacket and belt away it felt like a real „oh shit“ moment. Last few minutes were gritty with Ito hitting some lariats and dropkicks on Yagi that made me feel Yagi did something to piss her off. Nasty nasty double stomp finish too, but that‘s pretty much a given with Ito matches.

Takako Inoue vs. Kyoko Inoue, NEO 5/5/1999

This was the kind of insane and great spectacle that you pretty much only get with joshi. Takako has MMA gloves and she gave the kind of „kicks the shit out of you“ performance that gets you over with me as a badass. Kyoko starts right away trying to take Takakos head off with lariats but Inoue is able to get her with a taser. The taser stuff may seem goofy but they didn‘t waste much time with it and Kyoko sold the fuck out of that taster, and they got right back to Takako stomping on Kyokos face, throwing body shots and landing some insane solebutts. What I loved about the match was how they really worked this like a big time arena brawl, a lot of stiff matches feel seedy and back alley, which is cool, but this was clearly worked for the huge crowd they had and that‘s a pretty unique thing for this kind of violent brawl. And they just succeeded in giving everything the right amount of space. Second half had some psycho bumps, more fantastic striking from Takako and at one point Takako takes her gloves off to hit a punch that may have been one of the most insane punches I‘ve ever seen in a wrestling match. I didn‘t love Kyokos superheroine comeback but it was the kind of frenzied insane ending a frenzied insane match needs.

Assorted AJW Handhelds

 

Aja Kong vs. Mariko Yoshida, AJW 2/7/1995

This was before Yoshida was the master grappler and instead a highflyer. Individual parts of this match were pretty great, just needed slightly better selling and transitions to make a classic. Opening has Aja crushing Yoshida with fat kicks and elbow drops, really says a lot about Ajas status as an all time great monster that she is destroying people on house shows. Yoshida works Ajas leg, and while Aja doesn‘t really sell it the section didn‘t go long and I loved Yoshida going to town on Ajas leg with Ajas trashcan. Kong going to toss Yoshida around outside the ring (camera guy misses most of that part but from what we hear it sounds like Yoshida took a bunch of nasty bumps into metal) was cool and the finish was pretty great with Yoshida throwing hands and both fighting fierce. Yoshida even kicking out of Kongs basic moves got big reactions and her graceful flying is still really cool. The thud when Yoshida flew right into a kick had to be one of the sickest I‘ve heard. Nasty, well-timed face crushing backfist finish too. This really feels like a match they should‘ve run on a bigger stage even in 1995.

Manami Toyota & Yumiko Hotta vs. Aja Kong & Kaoru Ito, AJW 1/25/1995

Pretty great, fired up house show main event tag. Kong always beats the fuck out of Toyota, and there are one or 2 badass exchanges between her and Hotta in this. It was all about how young Kaoru Ito would hold in a main event with the big players, and she does pretty fine as the plucky sidekick to juggernaut Aja. Opening with Ito setting up her higher ranked opponents to be pulverized by Ajas crushing moves was really great, and Toyota and Hotta are really good at cutting off and isolating their opponents. It picks up strong for the ending phase as Ito stands stronger than you expect against her opponents. I was ready to complain about Toyota making an easy comeback, but then Ito just tried to stomp her guts out. Incredible vicious double stomps that girl had. Finish with Toyota & Hotta turning Itos and Kongs double teams against them was surprisingly smart. Trickier match than you‘d expect.

GWE Watching #2: Devil Masami

 

Devil Masami vs. Lioness Asuka, AJW 4/5/1986

This was just a bomb throwing war all the way through. Bombs looked good, but I was hoping for a bit more depth. Most of this was just Asuka taking a move, then getting up and doing a move of her own. At least Devil did some reversals. There was a badass punch exchange at one point, but I was hoping for more depth. Heat was tremendous, at least. They do stupid double countout and then a lame restart into time limit draw.

Devil Masami & Akira Hokuto vs. Lioness Asuka & Chigusa Nagayo, GAEA 5/14/2000

Really good beginning here with some unpredictable lariats being thrown and Hokuto running in to brain people with weapon shots at surprise moments. Asuka and Nagayo end up bleeding and we get a really good segment built around Hokuto stomping on them and Masami dropping bombs. Masami was acting like a monster in this and really solid. Of course, eventually it was time for the Crush gals to make their comeback, and after Hokuto got hit by a measly clothesline they took over. After that it was all bomb throwing as they rolled out random double teams and finishers by the moment. That was maybe a 10 minute stretch of nothing but 2.999999s. Even things like Devil Masamis Fire Valley felt like throwaway nearfalls. I was gateful when Masami hit a basic leg drop to give some breathing space between the bomb throwing. I mean, it was good bomb throwing, but completely ridiculous. Everyone entered the ring at will and then there was a spot where we were supposed to care for an attempted tag? Hokuto, to her credit, sold really well, even though she wasn‘t the one bleeding. Fun match but a reminder of how ridiculous joshi can get.

Devil Masami & Mayumi Ozaki vs. Dynamite Kansai & Cutie Suzuki, JWP 8/16/1992

Excellent tag, in which everyone played their role and rank really well. Masami and Ozaki controlled the opening portions of this being a vicious heel team, and the Cutie/Dynamite largely relied on Dynamites juggernaut kicks and Cuties agility to make comebacks. There wasn‘t much of a story or epic transitions, but every section was good and it built to a really good, complex finishing stretch. Kansais kicks were brutal, Ozaki looked vicious booting people in the face and Masami gorilla pressing Suzuki around and working over her mid section was pretty sick. Ozaki also took an insane guardrail bump. Ending run was great with lots of well timed reversals. Pretty exciting stuff and everyone added to the match.

Devil Masami & Bull Nakano vs. Sakie Hasegawa & Hikari Fukuoka, JWP 5/22/1994

The first 5 minutes of this were amazing and made me think this was gonna turn out to be a hidden classic. Great opening exchange, followed by Sakie being really fired up, Masami looking great controlling her opponents and Nakano being just a bulldozer. Unfortunately, Fukuoka and Hasegawa mounted a weak comeback followed by a lengthy filler hold section and some botches crept in. Still, this was pretty great when Masami and Nakano were acting like the twin towers steamrolling their opponents. I thought Masami looked significantly better than Nakano, but it may have been due to Fukuokas and Hasegawas choices. Masami just destroyed these poor women. After Masamis epic rampage, Fukuoka making an easy comeback by connecting a weak crossbody followed by a sleeper hold that the crowd didn‘t care for was very weak. Hasegawas comeback felt more earned and I loved her running wild with the solebutts. Last moments of bomb throwing were spectacular. Give this a watch.

GWE Watching #1: Jaguar Yokota

 

Jaguar Yokota & Yoko Kosugi vs. Lioness Asuka & The Bloody, JD‘ 2/2/1998

Joshi companies were on a roll with bloody, heated tags in the late 90s. This was, like so many of these great matches, about an extremely dominant heel performance from Asuka and THE BLOODY. They both isolate Jaguar and Kosugi in the opening minutes, with Jaguar and Kosugi mounting some comebacks, with Kosugi retaliating with some really violent double stomps and Jaguar having a great looking comeback outside hitting ranas and dives, before they settle into a lengthy FIP section where a bleeding Kosugi got the worst of it with chain shots and table pieces flung at her head. It was a smart layout where you couldn‘t tell when the match was going to end. It builds to Stone Cold Jaguar Yokota coming in wasting everyone with chairs and a pretty exciting bomb throwing end run with Asuka suddenly getting bloodied and the match suddenly swinging to whether or not The Bloody could outlast her opponent. Also, as usual, Asukas minions interferred, but not in a way that detracted from the match. Neat moment where Asuka and The Bloody seemingly had the match won but Ran wouldn‘t count the fall as she was busy with their entourage outside the ring. Really good stuff and example of something that really elevated these young workers to go toe to toe with the legends in an intense fight.

 

Jaguar Yokota vs. Lioness Asuka, JD‘ 1/11/1998

Another crazy sprint with some absolutely psycho bumps. Jaguars bumping and athleticism kept this entertaining. Asuka has nice kicks, but she really loves lazily brawling around the arena. There also is a world of difference between Yokotas and Asukas selling, even in a go-go sprint like this. Yokota nailed Asuka with her double arm ganso bomb onto the apron about 5 minutes into this and Asuka was acting unphased moments later. Keep that in mind when you go into this. There were also one or two goofy moments, one in which Asukas posse all jumped into the ring at once to pile on Jaguar. That kind of thing just breaks the logic of a match because you wonder why they don‘t just do that all time? Still, Jaguar looked excellent. Also loved the opening sprint portion built around a sleeper hold.

Jaguar Yokota vs. Jumbo Hori, AJW 3/1982

Really good little match. This was a classic Jaguar performance where she outskills a bigger opponent by taking her down over and over and grinding here down with holds. Very much a wrestlers wrestler performance. Hori doesn‘t sell on the level to make this an epic match (there is a nice build to a figure 4 which sadly remains inconsequential), but her big slams were a lot of fun. Jaguar also takes a wild bump over the announce table at one point. Last couple moments saw Jaguar trying to cradle Hori over and over and reminded me of an intense amateur wrestling match.