Command Bolshoi 7 Match Gauntlet

  

Command Bolshoi vs Kayoko Haruyama, JWP 4/13/2008

This was really great. It was very much a 25 minute epic where they kick out of everything, but for that it was about as good as these kinda matches can get. Early build was great and added to the match. We know Bolshoi is the submission queen, and she absolutely is that here, but Haruyama was able to rip out some awesome surprise Fujiwara armbars and go after the arm. Really enjoyed Haruyama modifying her signature corner fame asser to target Bolshois shoulder. Bolshois comeback was great as she hit a cool odd angle 619 and then a choice huracanrana to the floor that bowled Haruyama into the chairs. Bolshoi then hit one of the craziest flash submissions I’ve ever seen as she busted out this wild flying twisting bodyscissor into calf slicer thing. Haruyamas leg selling was also really great as she was constantly slowed down and it added some drama to her buildig to her big leg drop. Another neat moment Haruyama eating a leg kick but firing back with a spin kick and collapsing.Ending run had a ton of big moves but was peppered with great selling and tons of amazing counters especially from Bolshoi. Haruyama was a great base. The way Bolshoi would bust out flash pins, submissions and ranas was just peak level. They were also hitting really hard, Bolshoi with her palm strikes. Haruyamas lariat fury in the corner before collapsing was also an awesome moment. At one point Haruyama just kicked Bolshoi straight in the face. Just a ton of really intricate awesome stuff here, a lot of flash but also great substance, a rare combo when it comes to these kinda big matches in the late 2000s. But fuck are these two great.

Command Bolshoi vs. Nanae Takahashi, JWP 6/13/2010

Command Bolshoi has a great fucking match against somebody, are you really surprised?! Lots of really masterful wrestling from Bolshoi in this, holy shit she was just great from the late 2000s onward. The early chain wrestling reminded me a bit of Billy Robinson carrying Jumbo, Bolshoi would do all these cool touches even when doing basic holds against the taller, stronger Nanae, while Nanae was quite good here cinching in side headlocks and cravate holds. Nanae is slightly generic but she can totally drop bombs and clobber someone, very late 2000s-early 2010s flavoured bomb dropping like a twisted fisherman suplex into an ace crusher because why not. Her selling of the bad leg that Bolshoi kept chipping away at also gave the match some great hope spots. Really hot crowd for this that badly wanted to see their cult hero defeat the former AJW star, which combined with Bolshois Honda/Fujiwaraish counters and submissions makes for a really great big match. There was one moment where they did a Benoit/Angle sequence with crossfaces and ankle locks which is not my favourite thing in wrestling but Bolshoi was able to salvage even that by trying to lock in a nifty leg scissor move. Finishing run was 2.9 ville but the good kind thanks to Bolshois reversals and the big vs. little psychology remaining in tact.

Command Bolshoi vs. Kayoko Haruyama, JWP 7/11/2015

Alright, these two have had a few really great matches against each other. But, in 2015? Haruyama is on the verge of retiring and looks over the hill, while Bolshoi looks ridiculously yoked here, just totally shredded. No way it’s as good as their earlier matches, right..? But fuck it this is another great fucking match. It was a more deliberate and storytelling encounter than their other matches but for that it was great. Early goings Bolshoi was really good as an annoying bug outwrestling Haruyama, hanging on to submissions and staying out of reach of Haruyamas power. Top rope uranage was completely unexpected and immediately increased the tension after just a few minutes. The match seemed to be a piece of cake for Bolshoi, but Haruyama would show some hard and fight her way back into the match in compelling fashion. Haruyama has clearly slowed down, but she was still bringing it hard, clobbering Bolshoi and mule kicking her really hard. Her basing for Bolshois complicated highspots was also really great. I also dug her use of snapping Bolshoi down when she was draped on the ropes. Bolshoi also hits about the greatest jumping knees ever in this. It’s a great match, not just ‘for what it is’ but straight up great pro wrestling and these two rule.

Command Bolshoi vs. Tsubasa Kuragaki, JWP 7/31/2016

Great 10 minute match. It’s Bolshoi vs Kuragaki, so you know it’s gonna rule, but this was also a pretty smart match. Kuragaki is so fucking cool. Opening matwork felt very much like maestros stuff. I love how Bolshoi sells her wrists after Kuragaki throws her across the ring. There is passion in that kind of attention to detail. The match was pretty much their usual thing with Bolshois technique vs. Kuragakis power, but it was very well put together and as always they do some awesome stuff with Kuragaki being really great lifting Bolshoi from all kinds of positions and dropping her to the mat with some big bombs and suplexes. She even busts out a moonsault. I really hope her knees are fine now.

Command Bolshoi vs. Hikari Fukuoka, JWP 9/20/1997

Bolshois most famous 90s match. I hadn’t seen this one in forever so I decided to give it another look. Early goings of this were just brimming with intensity. Fukuoka seemed to be trying to punch through Bolshoi with her forearms, even with a move like her handspring elbow she just crashed into her. Bolshoi took a beating but wouldn’t back down and fight back with tenacity. Bolshoi didn’t do any of her signature submissions here, it was a bomb throwing war, but pretty smartly done as they put a ton of effort to create some meaningful struggle for control and unpredictable moments. Fukuoka looks great here, just absolutely nailing everything she did, even her dropkicks look like she’s just crushing Bolshoi. After she basically ran through Bolshoi early on, seeing her selling the damage and looking pushed to the limit towards the end made the match feel pretty epic. Of course you also have the famous spot where Bolshoi takes her mask off. There is some legwork that is done with intensity but ultimately is just filler, and there’s one kind of ugly no-sell, but other than that it’s an all-around great match.

Command Bolshoi vs. Toshie Uematsu, JWP 6/15/2006

Two wrestlers who can bring some serious goodness, bringing some serious goodness. While this was somewhat light-hearted the jokes were all done well, and they both do some ridiculously great pin-point accurate wrestling that it ends up being a really good undercard bout. Uematsu is great – her dropkicks are like something out of an unhinged Casas/Santo exchange, and she has no problem leaning into comical angles. Bolshoi decides to work like Volk Han for a bit, they do a thing where they both resist arm drags and it’s kinda comical but also cool, a ton of really good sprint action down the stretch with some sweet reversals and cool bits of creativity, especially from Uematsu. Yeah I love them both.

Command Bolshoi vs. Manami Katsu, JWP 6/26/2016

Katsu was one of the last wrestler to debut in JWP. She is kind of like a worse version of Haruyama here, she did some good stuff attacking Bolshois back but also seemed a bit sloppy here or there and it seems she doesn’t sell very well. Still Bolshoi is really enjoyable to watch, even when she’s dominating on the mat early on she makes you feel that Katsu is bigger and stronger and thus caution is required, and she’s always really fun to just tear into someones arm with submissions and hitting palm strikes. Enjoyable Bolshoi performance as always even against someone who is rather mid.

Command Bolshoi Treasure Trove #8

 

Command Bolshoi vs Ran Yu Yu (JWP 11/11/2012)

This was right before Rans retirement. While she had slowed down a little, she could still bring the badass knee lifts and elbows. And Bolshoi had pretty much turned into a monster wrestler around this time period. Just such a well rounded wrestler who’s always doing something cool. Both these two have great offense, anytime YuYu hits a knee or elbow to stop Bolshoi it feels big, and everytime Bolshoi does something it feels like a cool trick to deal with her beastly opponent. Especially dug her 619s, the 619 is such a tired spot that few wrestlers pull off well but hers were great here, mostly because they came out of unexpected positions. Match also had some good matwork and well worked transitions. A nice late career highlight for Ran, and another entry in Bolshois resume of great matches around this time period.

Command Bolshoi vs Konami, GPS 12/19/2018

These two had already faced in 2017, now Bolshoi was just a year from retirement and Konami had advanced a little. As a result this is longer, and more stubborn. Loved how Bolshoi resisted the armbar over the ropes spot. At first it’s largely Bolshoi tearing Konami apart with her cool submissions and its really fun. Bolshoi makes even something like a basic stomp to the kneecap look outstanding which you have to love. Konami, however remains stubborn fighting back with her hard kicks and flash armbars. Bolshoi is up for a challenge against a shooter, but after some more hard fighting Konami is able to get Bolshoi in a great modified calf slicer. Bolshoi comes up limping, and what follows are some of the better minutes of pro wrestling I’ve seen in a while. A limping Bolshoi with her kneecap exposed desperately trying to avoid the killing blow and shutting down Konami with palm strikes, punching her in the face and sinking in a choke was pretty epic and exactly the kind of ‘wounding the veteran’ moment Konami needed. Finishing run had Bolshoi tying up Konami with more crazy submissions and palm strike maulings as well as more cool kicks and counter work. Really good stuff, Konami looked good engaging in this kind of stubborn submission-centric match and its just another great Bolshoi performance raising it to the next level with some great selling and character.

Command Bolshoi vs Ran Yu Yu, JWP 3/30/2006

Tremendous match, great in the same way as their 2012 encounter, but faster, scrappier, more tricked out, and bigger. This was really about Bolshoi evading Rans dangerous strikes and in the process busting out a ton of cool stuff. It really works because Ran is established that even a basic elbow or knee from her will fuck you up. Bolshoi was performing at peak level, hitting cool out of nowhere shotais and 619s, scrambling into triangle chokes, rolling her opponent up with ridiculous lucha pins or doing awesome submission counters into tying Ran up, and doing lots of cool blocking, dodging and evading with Ran eventually catching her. Ran has a bunch of awesome moments of her own, at this point she was a total a queen at these lengthy matches built around a few strikes, I mean I think you can count the ‘moves’ she hit in this on like 1 hand but she was incredibly compelling. So, smart match with a lot of great shit in it, no downtime, plenty unique and choice counters… yeah this pretty much ruled. One of the best of 2006.

Random Joshi

Yoshiko Tamura vs Emi Sakura, NEO 5/5/2009

Nearly perfect 15 minute war, I know both these two can be pretty great when they’re inspired, and they still surprised me with how great they were. A big part of why the match rocks is Emi Sakura, who brings a ton of spunk and clever spots outsmarting Tamura and doing damage to her higher ranked opponent. Tamura cutting off Sakura by viciously strangling her with a cobra clutch was pretty perfect. There isn’t a ton of groundwork but they do a few neat inventive holds that are well worked. Sakura working the back was brisk, pretty violent with Sakura dropping her body weight on Tamuras spine in nasty ways and sold very well by Tamura. Final minutes were really good high end workrate stuff with Sakura desperately trying to pull off a flash pin, some really good dodge and counter move stuff and Tamura just demolishing her with her awesome pummeling elbows, I think her spin kick also gave Sakura a bloody lip. Do yourself a favour and go out of your way to watch this match.

 

Dynamite Kansai vs Sonoko Kato, Oz Academy 9/11/2016

This is definitely something I should have checked out in 2016, because this was pretty awesome, hard hitting pro wrestling with no padding. It’s one of Kansais last singles matches, but she goes all out here and still has her moments where she looks like a monster and kicks her opponent in the face. Thought Kato was pretty great here, really giving Kansai a working over with badass kicks and staying on her with submissions. What was best about this was that they went out and delivered 20 minutes of straight up non-formulaic pro wrestling. Loved the opening second as Kato kept stubbornly going for a waistlock to hit the German Suplex on Kansai. Build to the big bombs was really good as there was plenty of facekicking and struggle. I loved how even with the bigger moves, a basic kick to the face from Kansai could be a near finish. Great match, made me think I should go back and watch like 200 Sonoko Kato matches.

 

Azumi Hyuga & Command Bolshoi & Ran Yu Yu vs Misae Genki & Yoshiko Tamura & Carlos Amano, JWP 10/13/2002

Insane 45 minute iron woman match with everyone going insanely hard right from the start and never really letting up, just busting out one great exchange after another. The stiffness her was outstanding, they all decided to put some extra oomph and hatred into every blow, things like a headstomp or dropkick were really cracking people her. They mostly stuck to your classic match ups of Hyuga/Tamura, Genki/Ran and Bolshoi/Amano, although they cycle through here and there so you get a little bit of everything. Hyuga is a reliable tireless dynamo as always and her jumping knees and face kicks were sick, Tamura hits some of the hardest elbows as always and it seems she had gotten the hang out of how to work a more meaningful pace. Yu Yu vs Genki is always reliable and gritty, just two tanks with awesome offense barraging each other. Bolshoi/Amano is an all time great match up and they were going hard as fuck here. Tons of slick grappling, at one point they both were in a leg ride and twisting each others legs up in ridiculous ways. Their later exchange in the match was completely awesome with amazing submission counters, Amano hitting a Honda-style deadlift German with Bolshoi desperately trying to resist, incredible stuff. For a long match I think they did a great job mixing up the offense without repeating their moves too often, everything still felt meaningful, and because of the rules and the length of the match you buy something random like a dragon sleeper counter 40 minutes in as a potential finish. For that they did a great job, and like I said holy fuck did they go all out guns blazing in this, just ridiculous wrestling. Crazy this was done for 200 fans and a shitty one camera production. The business may have been nosediving but these women were still pushing the envelope when it comes to in-ring action. Great shit, really a bit of a hidden all timer in the rubble.

JWP Burning Summer 7/27/2008

Arisa Nakajima vs Pinky Mayuka

Short-ish opening match that had lots of dropkicks and some stretch holds. Shocking, I know! Pinky Mayuka is greenish and doesn’t throw very impressive dropkicks. Not a big surprise she quickly vanished out of the wrestling landscape. Nakajima is vicious and finishes her pretty fast. This very much a match to see and forget quickly.

KAZUKI vs. Hiroyo Muto

Joshi is always associated with super athletic car crash prints, but then you get two stocky workers like this. Muto wasn’t doing comedy at this point and instead worked more like a big bruiser with big chops and KAZUKI was trying to outmaneuver her. There are some fun odd spots, such as a moment where they both kept reversing Russian Leg Sweep attempts. Muto hit a really big cracking shoot headbutt at one point and KAZUKIS rolling takeover into a cool submission for the finish was pretty nice. That’s more than enough to get a match on my good side even though mostly everything else they did wasn’t much to write home about.

Toshie Uematsu vs. Tojuki Leon

This was more like what you associate with joshi. Car crash style match with a ton of no selling and blown spots. Disappointing since both these two are capable of having great matches with neat moments. There were some neat moments but overall the match never really got anything going due to the constant no selling and sloppy execution halting things. I‘ll admit the recovery of Leons blown dive attempt was remarkable and there were 2-3 nifty moments, especially Uematsus pin attempts and a cool reversal into a back stretch from Leon. But overall this was a mess.

Kaori Yoneyama vs. Command Bolshoi

This was kind of Bolshoi tour de force doing her thing with the cool submissions and neat 619 variations and hard shotais. Yoneyama is someone who can be quite great but also annoying, she was still finding herself at this point and kind of sloppy at times, I was also annoyed by her blatantly no-selling a dropkick to the face. This was solid but felt like it went longer than it needed to.

Ran Yu Yu vs. Tsubasa Kuragaki

Ran Yu Yu no longer had her super high end offense at this point, but damn she was still good. Her timing was still great, and she knew how to make something as basic as an elbow smash look killer. This was just a super cool veteran match up – they took things nice and slow which was a breath of fresh air after the hectic Bolshoi/Yoneyama match. Rans hit all these cool stiff kicks and knee drops to Kuragakis mid section. Kuragakis style mix of power and flying offense is cool as always, and it builds to a really neat end run full of cool lariats, elbows and neat counters from Yu Yu. The timing on everything was incredible. Really really cool stuff, both these two have good enough offense that they could just take turns hitting all their moves and it would be fine but they went out of their way to deliver a more thoughtful match.

Keito vs. Kayoko Haruyama

KEITO is one of those hidden badass wrestlers. Kickpadded and butch as hell, she’s a great 21^st century Toshiyo Yamada. This was quite the badass little war, just two tanks punting the hell out of each other. Keito was demolishing Haruyama with her kicks who fired back with awesome stiff lariats and cool spin kicks of her own. Match was pretty smart outside of the hard hitting too, I liked how Keito sold that she was loopy by a random sleeper attempt from Haruyama, so the followup Dragon Sleeper felt more intense. Keito is lower on the totem pole so early on Haruyama was outgunning her, before Keito was able to kick her in the face and then she just started trying to kick her head off. I also loved her crazy submission hold. Really fun intense stuff that doesn’t go long.

 

The Library

JWP THE FIGHT 5/10/1997

 Watch (Really good card from top to bottom, check it out=

Mayumi Ozaki vs. Sari Osumi

I mostly remember Osumi for dressing in a nazi uniform later. She played the role of anxious rookie here who's terrified of Ozaki. Probably for good reason. The match was just a silly little splash but it had one or two nice moments. Ozaki had a really nasty cutoff where she double stomped Osumi and there was a funny moment where Osumi teased diving from the top but decided against it.

Tomoko Miyaguchi vs. Carlos Amano

I really like the later work of both these two, and they had a really really good basic rookie match here. Some really nice tight holds and scrambles on the ground, not really shootstyle matwork but just cool nifty exeuction on pro style headlocks and headscissors, Amano also had a really crafty escape twisting Miyaguchis ankle with her leg. Standup sections were fast and intense and they built to the few big spots they had at this stage really well. Amano already had her great flying armbars and there was a cool sequence where Amano hit a splash right into Miyaguchis outstretched legs and then Miyaguchi worked her over with Kitchen Sinks. I love a worker who makes use of the kitchen sink. Really good stuff.

 Dynamite Kansai & Sari Osumi & Emi Sakura vs. Tomoko Miyaguchi & Candy Okutsu & Command Bolshoi

 A 3 vs. 3 tag that had some really slick wrestling and good character work. Initially they focused on beating down Miyaguchi who had just done a match, but then they shifted to putting Sakura and Osumi and their silly ways in the focus. It made for some good underdog wrestling though, I especially liked Sakuras armbars and Magistral cradles. Kansai didn't do much but when she was in she was a monster, crushing people with her kicks. Bolshoi, Okutsu and Miyaguchi teaming up to take her down and hitting a huge 3 on 1 missile dropkick was impressive. Osumis hip attack stuff is funny and charming and Bolshoi basically palm striking her face off was one hell of a finish. One of those matches that won't win workrate awards but if wrestling didn't have character matches like this it would be a whole lot less fun.

Kanako Motoya vs. Tomoko Kuzumi

One of those 90s joshi matches that is best summed up as "two extremely athletic lunatics trying to crush each other". It was good though. Nobody brings up Kanako Motoya anymore, but she could go. Really dug all the rope climbing and springboard moves, really impressive stuff that they knew to time extremely well. Motoya also had the most god awful crushing senton in history ever in this, it looked like it just took 10 years off of Kuzumis life. Kuzumi took another absolutely lunatic face bump into Motoyas outstretched legs. There was some repetitiveness, for example Motoya hit like 7 flipping sentons at one point followed by Kuzumi hitting 5 butterfly suplexes in a row. And there wasn't much of a story. That said there was enough struggle and chippiness to keep this from being a trained monkey show so I just enjoyed the carnage. 

Cuty Suzuki & Plum Mariko vs. Devil Masami & Hikari Fukuoka

This is a really great match, but man it is hard to watch Plum get powerbombed and clutching her head.  There was a fantastic underdog vs. overdog story here, Masami and Fukuoka are basically a pair of monsters and Masami especially was killing everyone here, with Suzuki and Plum trying to work a smart match to beat them. Cuty is kind of a weirdly good wrestler, like imagine if Torrie Wilson threw absolutely sick suplexes and stiff open hands, the opening where she tries to step up to Fukuoka is really great already. I loved all the submission work and arm attack stuff by Suzuki and Mariko and they have a bunch of great big vs. little comeback spots. Fukuoka isn't as charismatic but she will absolutely kick right through you with her dropkicks and she always has that Moonsault Double Stomp which is one of the most menacing moves in wrestling ever, you don't even want her to hit that on anyone. The finishing run was a bit too much with Masami hitting the nastiest powerbomb series I've ever seen on Plum and a spot where Plum gets thrown headfirst into the guardrail. I try not to safety police matches normally but it's rough when you know the wrestler in the match died from head injuries.

The Library

Command Bolshoi Treasure Trove #7

 Command Bolshoi vs. Azumi Hyuga, JWP 4/23/2006

These two have wrestled each other a lot and they have really special chemistry together. Starts out really solid with some smooth exchanges but gets really great towards the middle and end. These two pull off some great struggling for control sequences with insanely tight executen. There was also no random offense from Hyuga like she often likes to do. Finishing run was brief but really good and Bolshois surprise submissions and incredible counters kept the match interesting. This went pretty short which I appreciate a lot in a sea of bloated joshi singles. Very good match.

Command Bolshoi vs. Kayoko Haruyama, JWP 8/21/2005

These two had a really great match in 2010, and this was likewise pretty great. Less strikes were thrown, but the match was chock full of fantastic sequences and nifty surprise counters by Bolshoi. Haruyama had gotten quite good at this point and she kicked Bolshoi in the face hard a couple times. Good stuff that even the dark joshi period wasn't all so dark.

Command Bolshoi vs. Meiko Satomura DX, JWP 10/19/2014

It's 6 minutes of Bolshoi vs. Satomura with some weird interference from a bunch of masked characters in the middle. Still, any wrestling between these two is gonna be great, and damn do I need a singles match between these two. Not the greatest match when it comes to sprints, but it was a nice taste of what could be if they got together and had a real main event.

2002 MOTY Project Update #20

 

Yuji Nagata vs. Manabu Nakanishi, NJPW 2/1/2002

Surprisingly a really good match. It was all about Nagatas technique and precision vs. Nakanishis hulk strength. You forgot that Nagata can be a really good wrestler. I mean, this felt like a great midcard match rather than a great main event, but his wrestling skill is not to be denied here. Nagata shooting in an hitting a shoot exploder on an uncooperative Nakanishi was pretty great. Then, you get Nakanishi slowly falling apart while trying to shrug off Nagatas offense. They worked really stiff and Nakanishi is the kind of guy who‘s basic power moves feel like they will destroy you. Nagata desperately trying to avoid the Torture Rack was also really good, so was Nagata escaping only fro Nakanishi to judo throw him immediately. Nagata never came close to being another Hashimoto, but damn he tried the way he was braining Nakanishi with his kicks. Very NJPW-style match meaning it felt like it could end anytime due to the crossover with martial arts, and both guys real skill being a factor. No macho exchanges, just two guys trying to break eachother. I miss this kind of Japanese wrestling.

Command Bolshoi & GAMI vs. Azumi Hyuga & Ran Yu-Yu, JWP 4/14/2002

Bolshoi and GAMI make one hell of a team, and they had their working boots on here. Imagine how dull you have to be to not acknowledge the greatness of GAMI. The paper fan was used sparringly here, in funny ways, and later in the match it even felt pretty mean. The rest of this was chock full of highly intricate wrestling, just both Bolshoi and GAMI rolling out all their technical skill to be competitive with Hyuga and Ran. Just what these tricky, eccentric veterans do best. Ran and Hyuga are the workate queens of JWP and meant to be a higher rank, so Bolshoi and GAMI had to use all their ability. I really liked how Hyuga initially refused to tag out but her situation got increasingly desperate as GAMI and Bolshoi kept isolating and making dents in her. Then, she kind of botched a comeback move so Ran refused to let her tag out, as if she was saying „that was luck, go make a real comeback.“ The switch from GAMI and Bolshoi dominating to Hyuga and Yu-Yu standing tall and running over their opponents with their high end suplexes and strikes was really good and we got a fantastic ending run built around underdog GAMI and Bolshoi. Says a lot about how good two wrestlers are that they can rock two entirely different roles in the same match and make it believable and really good. Excellent match overall, very joshi flavoured, but it totally hit the right spots.

2002 MOTY Project Master List

Command Bolshoi Treasure Trove #6

Command Bolshoi vs. Kayoko Haruyama, JWP 10/10/2010

Epic match that was just an amazing struggle from the first lockup. First half was built around Bolshoi controling Haruyama using her slickness and amazing submisisons and inventiveness, and Bolshoi looked like the slickest of all time here. Haruyama also had a great performance always barraging Bolshoi with her hard hitting and quick hands, while selling really well for Bolshois submission attacks. Haruyama slowly gaining control was done really well and the second half with Haruyama trying to put the nail in the coffin was just out of this world. Bolshoi has so many different ways to slip out of her opponents moves and lock in a crazy submission or pin that she can credibly roll out even against a beastly opponent, and they all look fantastic here. Build to the finish was amazing as well. Best non-FUTEN singles to happen in Japan in 2010?

Command Bolshoi & Rabbit Miu vs. Tsubasa Kuragaki & Kaoyko Haruyama, JWP 3/4/2012

Pretty fun tag built around Bolshoi tagging with a much lower ranked partner to take on a couple powerhouses. I‘ve never seen Miu before, but she was fun slipping underneath for weird pins and taking beatings. And Bolshoi is a great Misawa dragging her through the match. As always, Bolshois chemistry with Kuragaki is all time level. The Atlantida squence early on where Kuragaki kept pulling her up was incredible. I‘ve no idea how these two aren‘t dropped more commonly among the best pairings in pro wrestling history, because they always do outstanding stuff.

Command Bolshoi vs. Arisa Nakajima, JWP 7/28/2013

Best post-comeback Nakajima match I‘ve seen by far. Well, they had a few matches that I haven't seen, so one of them may have been better. That doesn‘t say a ton because Nakajimas a pretty terrible worker at that point, but Bolshoi brings the absolute best out of her. The match was a slow building epic that stayed in the ring, and Bolshoi was working underdog and timing her comebacks against Nakajimas constant barrage of offense hiding Nakajimas lack of selling, so that fixes a lot of the usual problems. Opening matwork was good hybrid grappling and they mix in some impressive sequences. Bolshoi was a master grappler as usual, I really dug her little tricks such as changing an armbar into a shoulder lock, it adds some nice nuance to big move ladden match. Nakajimas offense was fine here, I liked her crowbar knees, other than that she just did dropkicks and suplexes. There was some Angle/Benoit ish exchanges and no selling in the match which left me with a slightly bad feeling in my stomach and Nakajimas winning move felt random. It‘s good to know Bolshoi could do this kind of high endurance workrate match no problem but choose to be a smarter worker most of the time. Good stuff that is worth watching overall and blows a lot of RoH matches in the same vein away.

JWP 9/3/2000

 

Yuki Miyazaki vs. Acute Sa

Fun JIP opening match. Miyazaki is game and Sae is a cull mulleted grappler with fun throws and nasty double stomps. The start working the mat and move on to work some pretty cool standing exchanges before ending the match early. I really liked Miyazakis tight neckbreaker drop, such a cool move that a lot of girls don‘t make look good.

Capture International 5 Minute Exhibition Match: Nihao vs. Yuki Kubota

Kubota is a female MMA fighter who trained with Koki Kitahara a bit. This was a cool bonus match to have, Kubota is in a gi and she basically spars grappling with Nihao for 5 minutes. Some nice sweeps and such and probably the only pro wrestling footage of Kubota on film until we steal Kitaharas hard drive which we really need to do.

Misae Genki vs. Tanny Mouse

Another JIP match, they clip the pro style matches but show the grappling exhibition in full? Tanny Mouse has a rep as a terrible worker but she is actually pretty cool when she‘s serious. This was about Genki trying to finish off the little Mouse fast and Genki reversing her chokeslams into cool armbars which is a story I can get into. I loved the reversel of the top rope chokeslam into the Fujiwara armbar and Tannys flying armbar, does anyone even do tope rope chokeslams anymore? Really fun stuff and Genkis emerald frosion was nasty as fuck.

JWP Jr. Title Match: Kayoko Haruyama vs. Tsubasa Kuragaki

There was a pitiful small crowd at this show, but everyone here is working hard. This was an exciting match between two workers who should have gone on to become stars but just ended up cult favourites. Really stiffing each other up with nasty elbows and open palms. Kuragaki was a monster here, bruising Haruyama with shoot headbutts including one to the back of her head, and trying to break her back. Really great finish. This is the kinda shit why joshi undercards are often better than the main events.

Azumi Hyuga & Command Bolshoi vs. Reggie Bennett & Kana Mizaki

Workrate main event with the addition of Bennett and Bolshoi to spice things up. It‘s a shame Bennett didn‘t have much of a career because she always looks pretty great whenever I see her. She meshes really well with the workrate queens while retaining her swagger and looking like a monster. There‘s something a bout a beast who can grapple and drop bombs and strike funny taunts and she could do all that. Mizaki is also someone people never bring up who is pretty good. This didn‘t have some kind of epic story or selling but they worked a bunch of rad exchanges and it was all high energy and cool.

THE LIBRARY

Command Bolshoi Treasure Trove #5

 

Command Bolshoi vs. Kaori Yoneyama, JWP 3/12/2006

 

Another pretty high end workrate match. Opening had some really fun, fast lucharesu exchanges and Bolshoi constantly getting the better of Yoneyama on the mat. These two bust out slick counters and exchanges like it‘s nothing. There wasn‘t some kind of epic story but the action was fast and good and everything makes sense. Yoneyama matches up really well with Bolshoi, she bases extremely well for Bolshois more complicated moves, and her high spots look hurty. Once again, Yoneyama flipping out and beating the soul out of Bolshoi with a brutal barrage of elbows, double axe handles and knees was the highlight of the match. They spent good amount of time building to Yoneyamas Code Red and it was the most I‘ve cared about a Code Red in a match in a while. And Bolshoi was great as usual with her submissions and open hand attacks which she times great.

Command Bolshoi vs. GAMI, JWP 8/18/2013

This would‘ve been a super dream match in 1998, it was a pretty fun veterans contest in 2013. GAMI will bust out the paper fan and hit you upside the head, she‘s a bit slower but still a smart worker as evidenced by her excellently timed eye pokes and boot scrapes, you can kinda see here as a more credible Giant Baba. Bolshoi matches up really well against GAMIs trickery and busts out lots of neat submissions and out of nowhere stiff palm strikes. I really liked the dueling Stretch Plums, and also this was 2 count rules and that can be really fun as almost everything produces a credible nearfall.

BONUS MATCH - 

Command Bolshoi vs. Tsukasa Fujimoto, Ice Ribbon 12/26/2010

Tsukasa ain‘t much special, but she has some neat pin variations and is over with her Ice Ribbon crowd as an underdog. I can‘t imagine wanting to watch Tsukasa against mostly everyone else, but Bolshoi is a master grappler and this is her match. Really resembled a prime Yoshida the way she pulled Fujimoto into one submission after another. Her rolling calf slicer was awesome, and she just sets her stuff up incredibly well. Fujimoto also took some harder than usual open hand strikes from Bolshoi and timed her comebacks well. Quite great 9 minute match and Bolshoi was pretty unreal at this point.

Command Bolshoi Treasure Trove #4

 Command Bolshoi & Megumi Yabushita vs. KAZUKI & Sachie Abe, JWP 1/11/2009

Pretty much a monster showing from Bolshoi and Yabushita, who spent pretty much the whole match armbaring their opponents left and right. Abe and Kazuki couldn‘t get in any offense unless they used double teams. That dynamic made this match really entertaining. I always love Yabushita as her „throw and armbar“ style pretty much sends opponents into survival mode right from the start. Bolshoi was just ridiculous here. Abe looked like a decent worker doing Jaguar Yokota moves. KAZUKI was a bit indyriffic here or there, but I liked how she tried to counter Yabushita with judo moves of her own and I loved her tomoe nage into a pin. Really good little match due to how they worked the dynamic.

Command Bolshoi vs. Konami, Pure-J 8/11/2017

Really cool Velocity shootstyle match which should have been on my radar in 2017. Konami is one of the few promising modern day joshi workers. The wrestling in this was like a cross between BattlARTS and ARSION. All slick legbars and the occasional high kick from Konami. It‘s probably no coincidence Konami has one of her best showings I‘ve seen against Bolshoi. The calf slicer sequence in this was incredible. It was just a 7 minute match, but backed with cool matwork and peppered with a few great sequences. Reminded me of those 7 minute Ishikawa/Otsuka matches which is high high praise.

Command Bolshoi vs. KAZUKI, JWP 10/13/2013

Another really good match. I wasn‘t sure about KAZUKI before, but she was convincing here. This was almost all on the mat and just a duel of arm- and leglocks. KAZUKI busted out another cool tomoe nage into an armbar, and her selling after she got caught in Bolshois leg stretches was great. Basically Bolshoi doing a Virus style mat contest, and it was cool as hell.

Command Bolshoi vs. Hanako Nakamori, PURE-J 1/14/2018

Another excellent match, which felt like one of the best joshi matches in years. I haven‘t seen Nakamori before, but she was this big lady who liked to throw stiff kicks, and she was pretty good. As usual with Bolshoi matches there was some great, tricked out matwork, with Nakamori also bringing stuff to the table such as locking in a cool Takogatame. There was an absolutely sick Volk Han-like sleeper from Bolshoi that left Nakamoris face turning blue. The later goings of the match were exciting with Nakamori landing some FUTEN level kicks in Bolshois face, and Bolshoi firing back with her trademark shotais. The most impressive thing was how well the match flowed, there were sections were one of them was focussing on attacking an arm or a leg but it never went long and never felt like filler, and all the transitions fell into place naturally. Just a tremendous pace for a 20 minute match without feeling go-go.

Command Bolshoi Treasure Trove #3

 

Command Bolshoi vs. Saori Anou, PURE-J 9/13/2017

GREAT 4 minute sprint! I‘ve never seen Anou before, and while she was a bit of a generic joshi worker she was a perfectly good dance partner for Bolshoi. This was the Bolshoi show, though. She packed the match with neat pins, badass submissions and open palm strikes. Her timing was fantastic and her turning Anous aggression against herself was really cool. Loved the carny BJJ moves and the finish.

Command Bolshoi vs. Erika Watanabe, JWP 11/14/2004

Have never noticed Erika Watanabe before, but she was quite good here. She does some neat submission work and has cool judo throw offense and that makes a nice match up against Bolshoi. This was just 8 minutes of cool exchanges with no down time.

Command Bolshoi vs. Tsubasa Kuragaki, JWP 12/7/2003

These two have some truely great chemistry together, and it‘s cool to get an early match up between them. Kuragaki was a bit less thick here so this was less of a big vs. Little match, and more of a straight up 50/50 no thrills encounter. Some really good lucharesu exchanges here, at this point I don‘t need to establish both of them have really good offense, and Kuragaki has really pretty flying moves and armdrags along with her intricate power moves and holds. Finishing run was great with Kuragaki busting out some huge suplexes and some great spots centered around headbutts and lariats before a highly complicated technical move decides the match. The match could‘ve used a bit more of a story but the action was very good and these two really know how to accentuate their stuff. These shoot headbutts were awesome, and not just due to being violent but also do to being timed perfectly.

 

Command Bolshoi & Dynamite Kansai vs. Cutie Suzuki & Plum Mariko, JWP 7/10/1994

Great match – which was mostly about Kansai being an unstoppable juggernaut, and Suzuki and Mariko trying to find ways to deal with her. There were a couple really good, intense exchanges – loved Kansais opening barrage punting Suzuki around the ring. Mariko catching a Kansai high kick and turning it into an Achilles Hold forcing Kansai to scramble for the ropes was such a small, simple moment executed just tight enough to make everything look so much more real. I‘m also always amazed about what mean stomps and elbows Suzuki throws. Then she tried ripping out Kansais nose. Their interactions throughout were pretty great. Bolshoi was pretty early in her stage of being Bolshoi, when she came in she was working at a more generic joshi pace, but doing some cool spots including one awesome tricky leg grab and throwing big suplexes. The finishing run was great with Kansai constantly being put over as a monster while Bolshoi was trying to itch out a win.

Command Bolshoi vs. Hikari Fukuoka, JWP 9/23/1993

Another pretty great match, which I have no problem calling a minor classic. These two definitely felt like rookies here, but they built a big match, and they did it well, and told a tremendous story. They start slow with some cool hold for hold work and basic arm drags which they do very well, then build to some big suplexes and flying moves and finally a really effective dueling limbwork story. Bolshoi in her early days was a different creature, she did more flying moves, she had these cool one legged dropkicks, and her submission work was more basic, but incredibly tight, and she reminded me a bit of Otani. Fukuoka has a bandage on her shoulder and that shoulder comes into play in a really natural way. Bolshoi doesn‘t attack it initially but after a couple moves Fukuoka starts favouring it, and when Bolshoi doesn‘t get the pin with her regular offense she starts going after that shoulder. Fukuoka in turn attacks Bolshois back, which also makes a ton of sense, I am wounded so I‘m gonna wound you to, and her back slams and stretches and nasty dropkicks were cool. It‘s strange that Fukuoka was a Manami Toyota worshipper at this point but she sold that shoulder better than anything I‘ve ever seen Toyota sell. The finishing stretch was really great with Fukuoka going for back stretches and suplexes and Bolshoi going for Uranages and all kinds of arm submissions, there were a few moments of tremendous struggle plus some nice desperation. At one point Bolshoi went for a Tiger Feint dive fake and Fukuoka just grabs her and yanks her outside only for Bolshoi to brutalize her further with a chair. Epic last pinfall too.

Command Bolshoi Treasure Trove #2

 Command Bolshoi vs. Kaori Yoneyama, JWP 2/11/2008

Another excellent late 2000s Bolshoi singles. Yoneyama had yet to find her personality (give her a year or so to max out her afro), but she could go hard at it with a tough veteran. Early going was really good with slick mat movements and neat standing exchanges. Bolshoi countering the Muta look into a freaky sambo choke was such a master grappler moment, and I love her mixing up the Tiger Feint Kick by turning it into a foot stomp, she‘s just the queen of cool offense. Second half was the kind of rush of big suplexes and fast movements you expect from joshi, but it had the Bolshoi touch of added swank technical moves and neat counters, plus some well timed open hand blows. Yoneyama freaking out and just demolishing Bolshoi with brutal elbows and knees was completely unexpected and awesome, and the build to the eventual ending was great with both girls busting out some crazy top rope move reversals. I‘m pretty desensitized to pretty reversals but Bolshoi turning Yoneyamas avalanche Shiranui into a huge Uranage had me freaking out. Yoneyama was a little sloppy here or there and I can‘t really see her having a match this good against anyone else, similiar to the Nakajima match. Was Bolshoi actually Top 5 in the world in 2008?

Command Bolshoi vs. Kagetsu, JWP 1/29/2017

I‘ve quite enjoyed Kagetsu here and there and she has a fanbase with the joshi crowd, so this is a hot matchup that eluded me. To be honest Kagetsu annoyed me early on, she kept going for those weak chops in the ropes, and her spear and handspring elbow looked laughably weak. That said Bolshoi had her working boots on and pretty much carried the first half of this with some great groundwork. Her sprawling armlock and ultraslick leglock were just incredible, such a great grappler. Second half was really good with Kagetsu pulling herself together and busting out some cool flying armbars of her own before a great ending sequence. They weren‘t exactly going for EPIC here, but it ended up being a solid workday.

 

Command Bolshoi & Azumi Hyuga vs. Tsubasa Kuragaki & ECO, JWP 2/4/2007 (Body Slam Only)

This is a Body Slam Only match which means you can only pin your opponent after hitting a body slam. I am a sucker for weird rulesets and this came out really great. The body slam thing really adds a ton to all the exchanges, as everyone is now building to a bodyslam, and everyone has their own unique ways to get out of attempted bodyslams. Size difference is also at play, as Kuragaki can bodyslam people at will, but everyone struggles to body slam her. Of course these are also 4 workers who can just go hard at each other and produce some great exchanges. ECO (masked kickpadded lady wrestler) was cool, Hyuga was going hard, and Bolshoi and Kuragaki were such stars here. Kuragaki is pretty much Bolshois greatest dance partner, these two always do some mind blowing shit, and Kuragaki looks great in her own right here. Loved the big bodyslam teases. Pretty great match for what I assume was a funny idea for a dojo match.

A Treasure Trove of Command Bolshoi

 

Command Bolshoi & Yumi Ohka vs. Kaori Yoneyama & Megumi Yabushita, JWP 8/24/2008

Command Bolshoi is dropping unseen matches on us on her YouTube channel, which is something more Japanese indy wrestler who have been working most of the 2000s without making tape should do. Bolshoi and Yabushita just rule the show here. Yabushita is really underrated and may be close to Yoshida levels when it comes to forcing opponents to the mat and pulling them into submissions. She is just grabbing crazy armbars left and right and her flying armbar may be the best in history. Most wrestlers doing flying armbars still look like they are doing a spot, she looks like she is actively pulling and spinning wrestlers around and its great. The section where she and Bolshoi tried tapping each other out was awesome. Bolshoi has a few crazy submissions of her own, including one where she does this flying bodyscissor and slides into a rolling calf slicer, its flashy but it makes so much sense. I love any match where two master grapplers are in the focus, but Yoneyama and Ohka were pretty fun here too. Ohka is a different kind of wrestler, tall girl who will boot you in the face, and Yoneyama is such an energetic wrestler and honestly the modern day Kyoko Inoue. The finishing run is Yoneyama trying to put Bolshoi out after she got softened up by Yabushitas armbars and its really good edge of your seat stuff. Those kinda reversal ladden junior ending stretchs can get hokey but that wasn‘t the case here, Yoneyama went for the kill, and Bolshoi was worn down but clearly still able to catch her in a tricky move. The finish was totally awesome with some great partner spots (especially loved Yabushita pushing Yoneyama out of the way while connecting a shotai to Bolshois face) leading up to Yoneyama landing this nasty solebutt to Bolshois face before going for her finisher only for Bolshoi to slip out and lock in a crazy Volk Han submission for the tap. No filler, no overkill, everyone sticks to what they do well, and a bunch of unique wrestlers get showcased, this is everything you want from a joshi match.

Command Bolshoi vs. Tsubasa Kuragaki, JWP 8/2/2009

Kuragaki is one of those insanely talented wrestlers who just ended up not quite having the career they should‘ve had due to the industry tanking in the 2000s. So a match like this ending up on my internet is very pleasant. This is the kinda stuff that really bums you when it doesn‘t make tape so bless Bolshoi for granting us the watch. And well this was really really good too. These are two wrestlers who can do a ton of cool shit, and they do a ton of cool shit, and really work together in almost a Rey/Psicosis fashion. Kuragaki is just great basing for Bolshois crazy lucha moves, there was Mysterio Rana into a rolling legbar which just looked insane, 10/10 in execution really. Kuragakis power offense mixed with swank backbreaker holds and hard lariats, as well as the bits of athleticism she sprinkles in all make for a really compelling match. And Bolshoi is a great Rey. Her flash submissions rule as usual, and she also laid in really hard with the kicks to Kuragakis leg and back area, way harder than you expect from a match that would go unseen for over 10 years. It builds to this really sweet finishing stretch with Kuragaki selling the leg while trying to take Bolshoi out with lariats and powermoves. Really liked the spot where they tease Kuragaki reversing Bolshois leglock into a Scorpion Hold but then it just doesn‘t happen. The spot where she lifts Bolshoi from her leglock into this gigantic suplex was also out of this world, and the sequence of nearfalls as the time limit ran out was excellent stuff. I absolutely lost it for Bolshois kido clutch. Just a super well executed match, which had enough cool shit in it that 3 wrestlers could steal all the stuff in it and each one would be considered really fresh and unique in 2021.

Command Bolshoi vs. Arisa Nakajima, JWP 3/16/2008

Bolshoi gets up and carries young Nakajima to her career match, and this is just another gem right here. I liked Nakajima a lot better here than later in her career, but she is very much a hyperactive young girl wrestler here and Bolshoi is running the show carrying that hyperactive wrestler to something really good. Bolshoi is unusually overdog here, really working in a very Regal-esque manner controlling Nakajima through armholds, and countering Nakajimas hyperactivity with some great Fujiwara-esque counters and as usual ripping out awesome holds left and right. So yeah, picture a more lithe, clown-like Regal working like Fujiwara in a military getup and you have Bolshoi in this. That is an awesome way to work a match. And Nakajima is totally fine here doing a good job selling that armwork, hitting her suplexes and showing good aggression. Really liked the struggle over the german suplex outside the ring, as well as Nakajima taking a splash into Bolshois outstretched legs. And all that makes a really good match.

Command Bolshoi vs. Tiger Honey, (2 Count Match) JWP 8/12/2005

This is something you normally only see as clips on Occupation of the Indies. Tiger Honey is apparently Azumi Hyuga, and she is kind of more effective doing a masked technician gimmick than as herself. She has a really pretty Tiger Suplex. This was mostly a slick technical exhibition and really fun. Hyuga integrates the Tiger spots really well into a joshi pace match and Bolshoi is just a spectacle doing wonky pin combos and submissions and generally just being her fabulous lucharesu sambo clown technician self.

2002 MOTY #13

 Carlos Amano vs. Command Bolshoi (JWP 9/23/2002)

WELL!! These are two of my favourite female workers, and really two of the more unique wrestlers in wrestling history, despite the fact you have to kind of scour the earth to find their good matches. Due to the special makeup of japanese womens wrestling these two are rarely in a matchup that allows them to shine. And for some reason, their matches over the years have never been quite white they should be. The 1998 encounter went far too long, the 2000 ones ranged between solid and fun exhibtions... fortunately, they finally delivered what the matchup promises on this one. This is a submission match and really worked like Negro Navarro vs. Solar in Coliseo Coacalco. It even had the kind of playing to the crowd and jokes that sort of match would have. 90% of this was grappling, and it was good. What makes these two so cool is not just their submissions but the cool unique trips and transitions they will come up with to get them. Plenty of unique spots and submissions to keep you entertained, and the finish was decided on the mat in an intense scramble as it should be. Really this felt like a Virus match and that's exactly what their strength is. No idea what took them so long to figure it out, but this was worth seeking out.

 

Great Sasuke vs. Dick Togo (Michinoku Pro 8/15/2002)

The 90s are over, all your junior heroes are broken down and old, and instead of highspots they work gritty technical matches now. This was centered around Togos pretty great selling performance, he comes in with a bandaged mid section and Sasuke spends most of this match torturing him with kidney punches and ab stretches. Ultra simple match but with plenty of cool moments. I really liked Togo desperately preventing Sasukes dive by clutching his leg and pretty much dragging him down then just throwing a chair at him („Fuck you, here's a chair“ is always a favourite of mine), really liked his nifty pin combo and desperate crossface attempts etc. A ladder gets brought into play and this as usual spells Sasukes downfall.  

Meiko Satomura vs. Chikayo Nagashima, GAEA 4/14/2002

Even though there was one obnoxious fighting spirit spot, this had more than enough solid, inventive pro wrestling to keep you entertained. Good opening matwork with both girls aggressively trying to dislocate eachothers shoulder. Nagashimas double stomps actually lead to a damn good Satomura selling performance with her looking vulnerable and struggling to reach deep and hit that Death Valley Bomb. The spot with Satomura trying to catch a flying Nagashima only to collapse was damn good. Satomura was also absolutely walloping Nagashima with nasty kicks left and right. There was a brief moment of struggle in the second half with Nagashima clinging to Satomuras leg and trying to prevent a flying move, only for her to eat an absolutely disgusting axe kick. It's these kind of moments that set matches like this apart from your average bombfest. Nagashima looked sharp, not blowing anything, whipping out cool submissions and rollups. Her use of the Cavernaria felt damn epic thanks to Satomuras selling. The ending run was 2,99999ville, but they never went overboard. Not a MOTYC, but a fun little war.

 Bas Rutten vs. Manabu Nakanishi (NJPW 5/2/2002)

  Rutten has been quite the consistent worker in NJPW. His strikes are so crazy that you buy him just caving in Nakanishis face any second. Rutten has such an aura that anytime Nakanishi can get a move in on him is impressive. There are a few spots that they pull off much better than you'd think, and Rutten gets thrown around. Nakanishis selling in the last couple seconds was shockingly good, not something I thought he had in him. Also loved him trying to power out of the flying armbar a split second after getting caught.

Manabu Sato (Manabu Hara/Suruga) vs. Hiroshi Shimada, Rainbow Promotion 3/21/2002

Really fun big vs. little grappling match. Shimada looked awesome here twisting up his opponent with amateur sugar holes. He also had some great violent looking knees on the ground. Talk about a guy who missed his calling as a shootstylist. Young Manabu, who seemingly could never decide on a last name, is more than solid here as a bantamweight grappler fighting a beast. 

 2002 MOTY MASTER LIST