Carlos Amano 7 Match Gauntlet

     Carlos Amano vs Dynamite Kansai, GAEA 2/29/2004

I’m a fan of these two, so a match between them could never disappoint me – even that said, I thought this was really great, pretty much the perfect underdog vs monster undercard match with both of them bringing their unique styles to the table. Opening grapple was effective as you immediately had Kansai going for more power-based holds with Amano trying to lock in a shoot submission. As soon as Kansai started throwing kicks she started to look like a cat playing with her food. I also loved her use of the iron claw slam as it establishes that she can always snatch an opponent. In addition to the violent kicks there were also some pretty hard feeling slams with Amano getting rag dolled. Amano was pretty freaking godly here trying to take down a monster as basically everything she did was nifty shootstyle submission counters and several really well timed, really violent shoot headbutts. Her running face first into a Kansai kick was also pretty awe inspiring. Great match, clocking in at just a bit over 10 minutes but every second was worthwhile.

Carlos Amano vs. Aja Kong, GAEA 4/4/2004

Hem, let’s see… it’s Carlos vs. Aja. In Korakuen Hall. No filler, any move could be a finish type work. Of course this is great. Aja is good as usual being an unfuckwithable brickwall and crushing Amano with her superior size and hard hitting, though Amano is pretty much the one who raises this from a somewhat rote (but good) Aja performance to the next level. She comes up with all kinds of cool ways to stop Aja, mostly by trying to crack her skull with her own hard head. Lot of fun to be had just from Amano having so many different ways to smash her head into Aja, even cracking Ajas hand when she goes for the Uraken because Carlos skull is so damn hard, and there are a bunch of great moments in which Aja smacks her down like a fly. I love Carlos fire here, nobody has been so confident and spunky just to get swatted down. I’m not sure which is better – this or vs Kansai – but both matches were pretty different considering they had a similar set up with Carlos taking on a bigger powerhouse – but both were pretty great.

Carlos Amano vs Ayako Hamada, GAEA 12/14

More cool GAEA sprint action. This one’s from a one night tournament and for that I think it does a really nice job bringing lots to the table while still leaving something for the later round matches. We get some cool grappling that kind of forces Ayako to go back to her ARSION roots in testing herself against a slick grappler that is trying to armbar her. Ayako quickly goes to her kick variations that look insanely sharp – boy do I miss wrestlers actually having devastating looking worked kicks and cool ways to hit their worked kicks – the match seems to go to an early finish but Carlos keeps finding ways to go for the ankle lock. It culminates in Amano catching another kick and headbutting away at Ayakos knee, a really nice little bit of a continuous story. I really wish we had a bigger match between these two at their peak, talk about missed potential because the taste we got here was pretty sweet.

Carlos Amano vs Chigusa Nagayo, GAEA 6/29/2003

Carlos throws the god damn kitchen sink at Chigusa. There’s a neat moment early where Amano goes for a suicide dive, Nagayo sidestepping, and Amano sort of catching herself halfway in the ropes and then eating a hard european uppercut from Chiggy. But Carlos is a ball of fiery energy that won’t be contained. She keeps barraging Chigusa with elbows and her signature headbutts. Just when she’s raining forearms on Chigusa and I’m thinking “She looks like she’s about to bite her damn face off” Amanos headbutts start drawing hardway blood and Carlos starts biting the cut. Awesome. That’s the kind of ruggedness GAEA has along with the slick wrestling that made it pretty great. And Chigusa does hit her with the hardest god damn kick you’ve ever seen to come back. I wasn’t quite in love with Chigusa just kind of beating Carlos. Carlos does get to no sell a powerbomb but one lariat later she’s toast. It felt like a typical Chigusa thing, always keen to squish someone like this, even knowing that Carlos would go 18 minutes against Lioness Asuka next. Carlos looked so fantastic up to that point that it made me sad she was jobbing like this.

Carlos Amano vs Devil Masami, GAEA 6/14/2003

Devil Masami was embracing the Undertaker-isms lots around this time, so there were creepy glares and superhuman displays of strength in this. The match had a lot of great ideas and devastating offense, but it was kind of marred by both of them constantly popping up and no-selling everything. Also thought Masami spent a bit too much time lying in Amanos submissions, though she looked good otherwise. After spending like half the match surviving Carlos’ fully cranked armbars Masami takes the win with a basic figure 4 necklock. Shit just doesn’t make sense sometimes.

Carlos Amano vs Mayumi Ozaki, GAEA 5/25/2003

Very 2003 Mayumi Ozaki style match, so that means KAORU and Police interfer a bunch, there’s blood, weapons, lots of odd complexity. If you can get past all the shenanigans there’s some really sweet wrestling here, Ozaki looks great smacking Amano and she has a fun ragdoll-ish way of hitting jumping kicks, while Amanos slick submission counters look great. At one point Amano was just this juggernaut cracking Ozaki with one headbutt after another, landing a sick Honda-ish deadlift german and then going to eat her forehead, it was awe inspiring. She knew she was in a chaotic brawl and she had to work this like Kintaro Oki or Bobo Brazil, downtune the fancies and instead go to crush skulls. I do wish the shenanigans had been tuned back here or there but for this kind of chaotic attitude era style match it’s really good.

Carlos Amano vs Chikayo Nagashima, GAEA 4/6/2003

Fuck did this rule. We’ve seen Amano against a gauntlet of old time veterans, playing underdog to monsters. Now she gets to face a peer that she can go toe to toe with, and they really use the chance to cook up something good. These two could easily just hit spots and please the crowds but they went far beyond that. This was a match that really felt like it was being crafted as it went. Lots of really cool wrestling and struggle early on, Nagashima hangs on to a headlock, Amano takes her over with a beautiful hip toss from there. Then Nagashima does this cool bit where she refuses to be moved, there’s also a bit with Nagashima working guard and doing crazy legs and hitting Amano with a nasty upkick, to which Amano responds by jumping on her and raining some angry strikes. Just really cool, creative wrestling. Later we get another moment where Nagashima goes for an upkick but Amano is wiser and they reset into a really intense lock up. There’s a great bit on the ramp that’s as well done as any ramp bit I can remember, really putting maximum struggle into a potential suplex on the ramp. Match had great grappling and some insanely nasty offense, Nagashimas double stomps and Amanos headbutts being hellish, Nagashima at one point just punching her straight in the face, but still keeping the nifty technical stuff important. Great shit, the kinda match that can not be replicated, they were both totally in their own world here and killed it.

Eternal GAEA

     Chigusa Nagayo vs Mayumi Ozaki, GAEA 12/9/2001

You know I should just sit down and watch GAEA all day long. This was a chaotic brawl with an insanely gory bladejob from Chigusa, so just what you expect. There’s comical amounts of outside interference from Police and KAORU, chairs are thrown, staffs broken, and Chiggy hits a full on Terry Funk style punch combo to comeback. Chigusa has the unique ability to make even mundane submissions like a sleeper or abdominal stretch look dangerous and they do get a ton of mileage out of that here, as of course Chigusa can drop Ozaki with some mad bombs but the focus was mostly on Nagayo doing nifty submission counters and trying to squeeze out a submission. Ozakis backhands and open hands looked good. Yes yes, they may overdo it a little on the outside interference and I maybe would’ve liked a moment where Chigusa goes full Stone Cold and beats the hell out of everyone, but what we got was pretty nifty, and felt unique, like a joshi take on a WWF Attitude Era brawl mixed with Villano III/Atlantis and a dose of Inokiism.

Ran YuYu & Toshie Uematsu vs Chigusa Nagayo & Toshiyo Yamada, GAEA 11/30/2003

Incredibly neat match where they basically packed as many nifty moments and transitions into a short match as they could. Nagayo has a bad leg and YuYu and Uematsu are like terriers trying to due further damage. An angry Chigusa would in turn try to snap their legs with some really fast dragon screws. There was also some brutality thanks to Yamada and YuYu, mostly. Uematsu and Ran are so mean here that it seems Uematsu busts out a foreign object, and YuYu keeps trying to strangle Yamada and throwing the refee around, which made for some unusual intensity. After the match Chigusa hits a downright criminal kick to YuYus face. A match where every second was interesting and nothing felt by the numbers. GAEA was wild.

Sakura Hirota & Carlos Amano vs Ayako Hamada & Ran YuYu, GAEA 10/25/2003

Pretty much the Sakura Hirota show. She was on fire here. Mind you, it was comedic, but the match still felt like competitive pro wrestling, and the jokes were funny, creative and displayed considerable skill especially the little lucha routine she did with Ayako, so it was fine by me. Basically Hirotas thing is that she’s a useless idiot, but she keeps on trying despite her failures and she is totally capable of putting someone down for the 3 with a roll up if she just gets things right, so that’s compelling. There’s like a 9 minute stretch or so in this that’s almost all Hirota antics and it’s exhilarating. When Amano is in there’s some pretty damn good straight up wrestling too. It all builds to a really good and quite intricate finishing stretch with Amano hitting flash armbars and Hirota upsetting people with her unique ways. Pretty damn fun and unique match that never missed a beat.

Mayumi Ozaki vs Ai Fujita, GAEA 4/4/2004

Ai Fujita in GAEA?! She was a really fun wrestler. Anyone who can do lucha exchanges and look athletic, bust out slick submissions and shoot punch people in the face has some real talent in my book. It’s a good showing from Ozaki too. Not everything she did landed perfectly but her palm strikes and backfists were pretty fun, really catching Fujita to the mush. She also busted out a cool rolling leglock. Match was going fun but really kicked into next gear once Fujita started punching Ozaki in the face. Her punch combo may be one of my favourite ever in wrestling, it was Takeshi Ono level. Match also had the GAEA-typical odd touches nifty moments. Good stuff, bit unfortunate Fujita retired just shortly after this, though I guess the joshi scene didn’t hold much more for types like her at this point.

Meiko Satomura & Chikayo Nagashima vs Dynamite Kansai & Toshiyo Yamada, GAEA 4/10/2004

Tons of fun, even for a tag that’s kind of on a smaller show. Early goings were basic but engaging, as they put a ton of struggle and vigor even into things as basic as a test of strength or struggling over a top wristlock, and with the people involved there’s always the factor that someone might get kicked really hard. Yamada in her later days may be physically over the hill but I always find her interesting to watch. This stuff rules not because it's hard hitting (it is) but also because they display lots of creativity. Things kick up a notch when Satomura started getting into kick battles with Kansai and Yamada. You know these 3 are GOATs and they are breathtaking to watch even compared to GOATs, every thing hitting snug and they have a bunch of different interesting ways to land their kicks and strikes. Especially dug Satomuras out of nowhere mule kick from the corner. The finishing run is Kansai vs Nagashima and it’s more about Nagashima trying to pull off a tricky pin combination to take down the juggernaut but it’s also pretty great. Kansai is so good even late in her career, her strikes land hard and she knows exactly how to be a monster, these two have a cool dynamic together like a more hard hitting Rey/Psicosis.

Back to GAEA

 

Meiko Satomura & Chikayo Nagashima vs Ran Yu yu & Ayako Hamada, GAEA 10/13/2003

Not as good as the August tag with all the youngguns, but still pretty damn good pro wrestling. After a good opening exchange from Satomura and Hamada, Nagashima and Ran kinda flub something and Nagashima puts the pointless Figure 4 of doom on Ran. The match gets back on track fast though when Ran starts beating the shit out of Nagashima. Nagashimas headscissors and ranas give a different vibe to everyone else, some of her stuff looked a little clunky but its fun, and I liked when Ayako just chucked her to the mat like a piece of trash. Match gets awesome really quickly again when Satomura tags back in and everybody just starts teeing off on each other. Satomura vs Ran is especially great, just two badass wrestlers who hit like a truck squaring off. Rans elbows once again ruled and there were a handful of cool experimental moments. Really liked how there was a sense of going for the kill constantly, all killer no filler, and the finish is freaking sweet.

No Rules Streetfight Handicap Match: Chigusa Nagayo & Lioness Asuka vs Mayumi Ozaki & KAORU & Takako Inoue, GAEA 10/13/2003

No Rules Streetight, yeah! Takako had done a run in on a previous show, costing the Crush Gals a win with her goofy cattle prod. They had all kinds of props for this – barbedwire boards, a ladder, various weapons and that damn cattle prod, and they really got the most mileage out of it all. This could easily have been a total geek show if it was just a bunch of deathmatch guys but these are all talented enough to get serious drama out of everything. Chigusa in 2003 is so good that she makes even something like tugging on a chain compelling, and of course her crowd connection is just unreal. Asuka is good as you need a sidekick to be, being stoic, dropping bombs, spin kicking people in the head, bringing out her goofy tribal design table that she really likes. Right at the go Inoue - who's in a Playboy shirt - has her cattle prod but gets headkicked into dropping it. Later she ends up getting it back but seems to shock herself somehow when she touches the barbedwire. Awesome. And these legends are all not afraid to roll around in the barbedwire. Frantic pace, super heat, lots of chaos and fun unique spots and drama, all leading to a satisfying ending where they all get bowled into the wire, GAEA was on a roll with these crazy spectacle brawls in 2003.

Dynamite Kansai vs Chikayo Nagashima, GAEA 10/24/2003

If I had to name a perfect big vs little sprint, I think this would be pretty close to it. Tremendous match which delivered hard all the way through. The more I watch late career Dynamite Kansai, the more I appreciate her. She is clearly marred by her health, but still totally works as a monster and can still pull off great stuff. Lot of great cat and mouse chases here with Nagashima being like an airplane trying to take down King Kong. Nagashimas offense being a mix of lucha rollups and really violent double stomps was pretty perfect. Of course, Kansai still has those violent kicks and can drop bombs, but she uses everything sparringly, which makes her one of the smarter wrestlers around IMO. A few mind blowing counters here especially the finish. Just a great 10 minute match.

Toshiyo Yamada vs KAORU, GAEA 10/25/2003

Frantic brawl with a lot of raw chaotic energy. This was all action, but they weren’t just doing moves, they were constantly creating moments, so it was intrigueing all the way through. Right away KAORU starts brawling. She goes for a moonsault off the top to the floor, missing but landing on her feet, which is pretty crazy. Yamada ends up kicking the guardrail, and there’s a lot of hard banging on metal in this match. KAORU proceeds to clobber her knee with a steel chair. Ozaki is also at ringside, interferring in a few ways including just tossing a steel chain at Yamada here and there. It could get grating but it doesn’t and I appreciate the referee for not counting a pin after Ozaki had just done a blatant run in to hit a 3D with KAORU in Yamada. Yamadas selling of the leg is just fine – acknowleding that damage had been done, limping a little, but not going too over the top with it and just working her way back into the match and moving on. She starts kicking the shit out of KAORU and there’s real heat here and it’s great. They just keep going relentlessly, and keep creating moments. KAORUs athleticism is really good, I also liked how she pretended that her bad knee gave out, and she has a lot of cool ways to get out of Yamadas finisher. Yamada still has badass kicks in 2003 and shows fire here. Selling in the last minutes wasn’t super important but I thought for this kind of hit and run brawl it works. Good stuff, and these two seem underappreciated.

In the beginning God created heaven and GAEA

Meiko Satomura vs Ran Yu Yu, GAEA 9/15/2003

Once again GAEAism delivers the goods. Ran Yu Yu is one of my favourites of all time, Satomura is obviously one of the greatest too, I had no idea this total dream match was filmed or that it even happened, and here GAEAism delivers it to us, for free. It’s not what we deserve but what we sorely need. This is not in Korakuen Hall, so the the match is not uber-heated or anything like that, but it’s exciting. Both these two are strong on the mat and can deliver some hellish strikes, so at baseline it will be a good match, and this had a few cool flourishes to elevate to the extra level. Really enjoyed the early build here, I wasn’t sure at their rankings at this point since Meiko has gone toe to toe with the biggest names in the company and Yu Yu is an outsider, but Yu Yu does a nice job working overdog and outclassing Meiko, until she takes a nasty spill which allows Meiko to capitalize and attack her weak spot. I enjoyed the little section where Meiko landed awkwardly on a backdrop and Yu Yu tried to capitalize locking in some cool spinning leglocks. There’s a pretty great palm strike exchange and some cool bits of dodging and outstriking. Rans selling was really good and her offense is so classy and cool, I loved her comeback with the nasty strangle into the perfect setup for her jumping enzuigir, and young Meiko while kinda overzealous and landing awkwardly on a few of her spots is a ton of fun as always. Really good match, says a lot how good this was considering they put it on for a quite crowd on a tour spot.

Chigusa Nagayo & Lioness Asuka & Dynamite Kansai vs Mayumi Ozaki & KAORU & POLICE, GAEA 9/15/2003

An excellent, heated, exciting, blood-drenched match that is largely built around Policeman getting his scrawny ass kicked. Stone Cold Chigusa once again rules hard in this punching Police in his ratty face. The match is great because they stay in the ring, and they create just the right amount of chaos but also a lot of fast paced, cool exchanges thanks to KAORU, Oz and Kansai. Of course Kansai/Nagayo/Asuka is one might trio of asskickers and they all kick ass a lot in this. There’s also blood, biting, lots of clunky weapon hits with chairs and tables etc without over indulging. A few cool ECW style chair spots as well. And well the bits where Policeman gets his is some of the best comeuppance you’ll see in a wrestling match, I can’t overexaggerate how good this was. I mean, Kaoru getting her head shoved into POLICEs crotch got one of the biggest pops of the match, and if that isn’t pro wrestling done right I don’t know what is.

Meiko Satomura & Chikayo Nagashima vs Devil Masami & Aja Kong, GAEA 9/23/2003

It’s JIP : ( Doing that to a 2003 GAEA Korakuen Hall main event feels almost criminal. What we get is really good, though. Masami was questionable at this point but she could still engage in some great big vs little exchanges, especially against the ultra talented likes of Nagashima and Satomura. And the Satomura vs Aja finishing run was just tremendous stuff again. 2003 GAEA really feels peak level with creativity, fast pace, high effort and heat that the matches have going on, without getting too cute, there’s a lot of cool shit but everything still feels scrappy. Nagashima had also gotten quite great at this point with her cool agility and destroying people with those crazy rolling double stomps she’d do. Sick stuff, although some annoying no-selling was there.

Meiko Satomura vs Toshie Uematsu, GAEA 10/5/2003

A lot of wildly good shit juxtaposed in a frantic and sometimes overdone way, GAEA style. For example, Uematsu hit a big dive right into a kick from Meiko, which is barely acknowledged seconds later. Some silliness ensues with Uematsu teasing blowing a spitwave at the audience, then they both take turns throwing a bucket back and forth. Uematsu, whose spiked hair may have been at peak level here, hits a great dropkick and throws some sick punches. There are a few great submissions and counters and Satomura throws some great combos of her own. Worth checking out for the cool shit they do, although the layout could’ve been improved.

Toshie Uematsu vs Devil Masami, GAEA 10/13/2003

Way too fun. I’ll admit: This is almost a comedy match, and will probably mainly appeal to people who are already fans of the too. That said, I thought this was a great big vs little match that had a ton of uniqueness going for it. Masami tends to overdo her ‘invisible monster’ act and Uematsu while insanely talented didn’t quite seem to have it all together at this point. Against each other, I think they reeled each other in just about perfectly. Masami does an almost Fujiwara-ish amount of carny jokes and not taking Uematsu seriously here, and it pays dividends for the story of the match. Lots of unique spots, Uematsus stuff looks great, Masami is great shutting her down and doing all those ‘I’m a comically unstoppable force’ spots, the hair throw into the guardrail being the perfect example. Builds pretty well thanks to Uematsus intense selling. It works really well and makes for a super entertaining match. Ridiculous finish. Pretty great overall if you ask me.

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.

The Dynamite Kansai vs Meiko Satomura Match Series

 

Meiko Satomura vs Dynamite Kansai, GAEA 1/27/2001

Obviously the Satomura vs Aja feud is more legendary, but the matches between Kansai and Satomura are also really good. Case in point: this match. The dynamic is different from Meiko/Aja because Kansai doesn’t put on extended beatings on anyone, any kick or lariat from her can KO. This was pretty great as it was Satomura desperately chopping down Kansai and throwing the kitchen sink. After some nifty, unpredictable exchanges early on Meiko was able to catch Kansai with a surprise death valley bomb, which immediately amped up the intensity as now both of them were going for the kill. Meikos Pele Kicks were spectacular and Kansai, while over the hill is still cool as fuck in 2001. Dug all of Meikos arm attacks and Kansais kicks and bombs still look lethal. Great shit.

Meiko Satomura vs Dynamite Kansai, GAEA 9/2/2001

This is from one of those High Spurt tournaments so it’s a sprint with both of them going for the kill the whole time, desperately trying to avoid finisher and busting out more nifty counters in this. GAEA is weird, you’d have your chaotic messy main events, Sakura Hirota comedy matches and then some great straight forward hard hitting pro wrestling like this. Some great counters and nifty spots. Once again Meiko was trying to crush Kansais head with those pele kicks, they also do some things that reference their previous matches. Really good 6 minute sprint or so.

Meiko Satomura vs Dynamite Kansai, GAEA 4/22/2001

First couple minutes of this are fairly great in the same vein as the 2 matches above. Hard hitting, unpredictable, some neat moments. Satomura ends up barraging Kansai with DVBs and Pele Kicks for the win to prove that she’s the real deal now. Still pretty fun!

GAEAISM continues

 

Dynamite Kansai & Toshiyo Yamada vs Mayumi Ozaki & KAORU, GAEA 8/17/2003

Another banger upload from GAEAISM, that channel is on a tear. This was just great as you had your high concept chaotic Ozaki brawl that stays in the ring + plenty of vicious kicks from the monster duo of Kansai & Yamada. Kansai especially was amazing here blasting people with brutal kicks and being a menace. Ozakis execution has worsend throughout the years, but she was pretty fun here with her backhands, cool jumping kicks and occasionally just hurling a chain at people. Police gets involved briefly but he gets his ass kicked pretty fast. And KAORU is as precise and on point as always. Badass finish and there were a number of unpredictable moments and everyone going for the kill from the start with nearly no downtime. I especially enjoyed all the work around Kansais splash mountain. 

Meiko Satomura & Chikayo Nagashima vs Carlos Amano & Ran Yu Yu, GAEA 8/17/2003

All-star match up that delivers. Just a blindingly great match with one awesome exchange after another and a lot of violent strikes, everyone here matches up insanely well. Just the first Satomura vs Ran YuYu is exchange is really intense as they start with a hard-fought lock up and then go into open handed kickboxing exchanges like a PANCRASE fight. I’m used to seeing later years Satomura sticking to her usual stuff, so the more unpredictable younger version is always a blast. Ran Yu Yu was awesome in this and may have been the best woman in the match. She was great with everyone and her elbow smash is one of the most awesome strikes ever. Amano was really coming into full bloom at this point too, really revelling in all her glory with the crazy headbutts and flash armbars and the occasionally cheeky eye rake. Nagashima doesn’t quite stand out as in-your-face spectacular as the other three, but she can go hard and she does have a few sick moments including her forward rolling double stomp that had to be the sickest move in the match. The finishing run is Nagsahima vs Amano and it’s really good nimble high end workrate stuff with relentless suplexes and submissions, some fantastic counters and Amanos reliable hard head. Breathless, exciting stuff, just what you hope for when you see 4 of the most talented wrestler in the world at the time in a match.

 

Chigusa Nagayo & Sakura Hirota vs Mayumi Ozaki & KAORU, GAEA 4/14/2002

Chigusa Nagayo & Sakura Hirota vs Mayumi Ozaki & KAORU, GAEA 6/2/2002

Early 2000s were an interesting time. Sakura Hirota had started to find her calling as a comedy wrestler, and in this case she had started teaming with Chigusa Nagayo as ECCENTRIC. I am not going to pretend I understand the gimmick fully, but from what I can tell Hirota got really obsessed with WWF Attitude Era catchphrases and this somehow also infected Chigusa and they both started dressing really early 2000s Nu Metal fashionable, hitting bronco busters on people and Nagayo covering for Hirotas oddball tactics and overall ambitiousness. The first match is probably the quintessence of this. Semi-serious match where Hirota is in her full glory, all oddball tactics and antics that sometimes hit and largely backfire. It works because everybody else is treating this as a serious wrestling match, with Ozaki & KAORU being as befuddled by Hirota as everyone else and then walking over to kick her in the face. There’s some quite good wrestling, and all the jokes are extremely well timed and hit. Great comedy match, and culminates in probably the greatest finish ever that left everyone astounded, must see stuff really. However, the 2^nd match might be even greater. Basically here OZ and KAORU make it clear they have no interest in being foils for Hirotas antics, and the match quickly turns from an asskicking into a blood drenched massacre. There’s something about the fact that Hirota is basically a feel good comedy character at this point that makes the sadistic bloody beatdown OZ and KAORU put on her that much more evil, and it really drives the intensity up to the maximum when a bloody Hirota gets fired up and starts kicking ass in return. Really the kind of stuff you can only get in pro wrestling. Nagayo also looked really great here working as the protective big sister stomping mudholes in Policemans ratty ass and launching people around with powerbombs. The moment where she started to shrug off the blows and give people the death stare for hurting Hirota has to be Top 10 in wrestling ever. Ozaki and KAORU are also quite impeccable here with their knack for both bloody beatdowns and nifty cutoffs and transition spots, the intricate finishing run in this match was among the best in this genre. Truely kino stuff, nothing quite like this thanks to the unique character of Sakura Hirota.

Dynamite Kansai vs Mayumi Ozaki, GAEA 8/30/2002

It’s too bad this is JIP, because the couple minutes we get are really badass. I’m always impressed with how Ozaki is able to put in a beating on a larger opponent, in this case both using the chain and hitting some badass palm strikes. Kansai was a monster as usual here, all face kicks and freakish Splash Mountain setups, the last one with the multiple backbreakers was some Brock Lesnar stuff. Also dug Ozakis odd twisty rollups.

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 OZ Academy

 

Carlos Amano vs Kaoru Ito, OZ Academy 1/22/2006

Fun match where they both show off their awesome offense. You’re not going to get a ton of psychology in Kaoru Ito matches, but there was some semblance of her selling the arm, and she will absolutely murder someone with double stomps. Amano was a dynamo in this match, here constant arm attacks and headbutt variations were great. I dug all the counters she had to the uranage slam, and the finish was the kind of nifty touch she is so good at pulling off. It’s always nice to get a match where Amano shines.

Dynamite Kansai & Jaguar Yokota vs. Aja Kong & Misae Genki, OZ Academy 1/22/2006

Very cool match. All these legends aren’t going to work super hard in a mid card match on a small show, but you will still get plenty of neat touches. Loved all the little things Aja did in the match, such as blocking a Yokota footsweep and stomping on her leg. Kansai looked spry, throwing good kicks and never slowing down. Her exchanges with Aja weren’t 1993 level but they were still good and would look good on anyone elses resume. Lots of cool offense from the bigger girls in this match, and Yokotas out of nowhere rolling kicks were awesome.

Carlos Amano vs. Amazing Kong, Oz Academy 8/8/2004

 

Cracking little under 5 minute match that is built around Amano basically trying to crack Kongs skull with running headbutts and chairshots. Kong definitely moved like a star at this point and gave back pretty good. The finish is pretty crazy as Kong takes a belly first bump through a Japanese table before getting clocked with another jumping headbutt off the apron. Gnarly.

JWP LIFE IN THE BATTLE 4/8/1997

Watch

Cutie Suzuki vs. Kanako Motoya

Oddly ornery technical match. Suzuki stretches Motoya a bunch, and then Motoya stretches Suzuki and hits these cool headbutts that felt like something a bald european technician would do. Motoya once again had really nasty sentons. The match didn’t seem to come together as a whole but it there were some fun bits.

Mayumi Ozaki & Carlos Amano vs. Megumi Kudo & RIE

This was a street fight with everyone dressed up in their grungy street clothes and it was just an absolute house of fire as they went full throttle over like 25 minutes. Amano and RIE bled like crazy and Oz and Kudo held up looking like absolute superstars throughout this match. They could’ve just done brawling and weapon shots and it would have been good as they worked in some really cool key transitions, but then they went all out in the second half delivering so much cool stuff and false finishes out the ass. They convince you that Oz and Kudo could end the match, then they introduce the more plausible possibility of one of the underlings getting pinned, then it’s underling vs. underling, then suddenly Oz and Kudo again… they did a great job mixing the weapons and chains with the 90s style puro big moves and something like a tiger bomb or half nelson suplex looks double cool in a bloody brawl with weapons strewn about the ring. Amano looked brave as fuck diving in to save Ozaki and while RIE had a shitty moment where she blew a move, she also had a really cool moment where she taped a bat to her knee and delivered a gross looking jumping knee to the head. The chain stuff was engrossing, remember chain chokes often end brawls in Japan either by ref stop or submission. Ozakis out of nowhere backfists were really cool. Tremendous stuff at a crazy pace that would light a fire if you ran it anywhere today.

Dynamite Kansai vs. Hikari Fukuoka

This was compared to Aja vs. Toyota, but honestly, I thought this was probably better. Fukuoka is so much better than Toyota it’s not even funny, her offense and comebacks are varied and way more interesting, and she actually sold her ass off, was struggling to get back on offense and milking things for drama, plus she can pull out some damn graceful moves and the moonsault stomp and rider kick are also cool than anything in a Toyota match. This was just a really good big vs. little match, with Kansai mostly controlling and Fukuoka making some great comebacks with Kansai then cutting her off in brutal fashion. Needless to say Kansais kicks were absolutely vicious. I loved Fukuokas desperation legsweep after Kansai started kicking the shit out of her in the ring. After Kansai hit the splash mountain, Fukuoka seemed extremely done, struggling to move or get to her feet, that’s how you sell after a big move. The final stanza with Kansai hitting super violent punt kicks and Fukuoka trying to pull out desperate counters was really great. Hell of a match, one of the best big matches of 1997.

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

GWE watching: Shinobu Kandori

 

Jackie Sato & Miss A vs. Harley Saito & Shinobu Kandori, JWP ?/1987

Super cool find from the mysterious 80s JWP era. This was just a year into the company so everyone besides Jackie was green here, but they could all bring it. Saito was quite fiery here, lighting everyone up with stiff kicks and shoot submissions. I‘d love to see more Jackie Sato from this time period as she seems to have reinvented herself completely doing slick grappling sections against Kandori and Saito. Kandori wasn‘t quite herself yet, but engaged in some stiff exchanges with Miss A. A also looked green, but was already quite the crowbar having some brutal exchanges against both opponents. Her hot tag looked too easy but it lead to a heated Sato/Kandori exchange. The finish isn‘t what you want, but the action was good and most of all really interesting in this.

Shinobu Kandori & Harley Saito vs. Choi So Ra & Lee Hye Ran, LLPW 10/31/2004

Choi and Lee are a pair of Korean girls. I have no idea what their backstory is, did they come from the Korean wrestling scene or where they just a pair of Korean idols who ended up doing Japanese pro wrestling for a bit? Lee Hye Ran had really nice kicks and she had a really cool kick battle with Harley Saito. Choi So Ra didn‘t look bad either. She mostly just got ripped apart by Kandoris submissions but was able to lock in an impressively smooth Fujiwara armbar of her own. She also took some Tenryu level violent kicks to the face from Saito. Kandori was not really in top shape here anymore but she was still quite charismatic and produced some good moments. This was short and neat.

Harley Saito & Mizuki Endo vs. Shinobu Kandori & Noriyo Tateno, LLPW 6/21/1998

More Kandori being a charismatic badass grapppler. This was all about Endo trying to step up to big bad Kandori, and Saito trying to help her in the process. Kandori was trying to snap limbs and not taking shit. There were also some brief, good Saito/Kandori exchanges for old times sake (where is their big nostalgia singles?) including an awesome moment where Endo gets a nice nearfall after Saito landed an Ikeda esque kick to Kandoris face. Endo is a fun plucky grappler, and probably would‘ve been a minor legend if she had joined ARSION or something.

Shinobu Kandori vs. Noriyo Tateno, LLPW 10/30/1992

I can‘t decide whether or not Tateno sucks. Her moveset is so generic, she really has no charisma and she doesn‘t sell on a deeper level, but this ended up being solid due to Kandori being Kandori. Kandori is just a beast who will pummel you with open hands and throws and submissions that force anyone to the rope fast, and that makes for a an entertaining match against nearly anyone. Tateno just kind of barrages her with offense – I liked the two diving knees – and I gained a bit of respect for her when she gutted it tthrough Kandoris brutal subs and slams in the finishing run. She also took a pretty big bump. She was no Itsuki Yamazaki as a singles wrestler, but few are. And Kandori is Kandori.

Going through Shodates Best Matches of the 90s List Part 5

 The List

231. Tatsuhito Takaiwa & Shinjiro Ohtani vs. Koji Kanemoto & Minoru Tanaka, NJPW 10/11/1999 

This has to be among the stiffest matches I‘ve ever seen the NJPW juniors division produce. Seriously, they went out of their way to make every second of this as unpleasant as possible. Kicks, smacks, Otani facescrapes, Takaiwas level, everything was executed at maximum violence. Even something like a Takaiwa elbow drop landed with a smack. Loved the pissed off exchanges involving Otani and Kanemoto. Everyone here was catching hands, though. You know it‘s great when even Tanaka is laying it in and taking beatings. The match didn‘t have some kind of arc or story, it was just one violent exchange after another. It builds to some huge sequences before the finish, though. Takaiwa looked great pounding dudes into paste with his multiple powerbombs and death valley drivers. Greatest junior match in the Dome ever? It was certainly the loudest.

 

234. Mayumi Ozaki & Cutie Suzuki vs. Dynamite Kansai & Sumiko Saito, JWP 8/9/1992

Ah let‘s see… fast pace, hot crowd, insanely stiff, simple moves…? It‘s the early 90s baby~! Seriously pro wrestling just doesn‘t feel like this anymore and it‘s sad. This was hard working and exciting. Sumiko Saito was a rookie who didn‘t stay around for long, but she looked tenacious here. She was paired with Kansai who as usual acted as a super asskicker, so you got a match built around Kansai kicking ass when she was tagged in, and Saito getting her ass kicked when she was tagged out. As usual Ozaki looks good working against Kansai, and Cutie throws some beautiful suplexes. The stretching holds actually felt meaningful in this due to Saito fighting hard and trying to evade the rookie beatdown. Couple really good moments here. Notice how epic the superplex reversal felt due to both womens selling. This was 2 Count Rules for some reason and while it didn‘t really factor into the psychology much it made their athleticism more impressive I guess.

 

31. Yoshihisa Yamamoto vs. Georgi Kandarahki, RINGS 7/13/1993

Young Yoshihisa Yamamoto takes on Georgi Kandarahki… Kandealaki… Keandelaki..?? Ahh to hell with it! Kandarahki has boxing gloves, a singlet and boxer trunks. He looks like a basketball player decided to be a boxer. Yamamoto doesn‘t have gloves. If you can get over the silliness of that, this was pretty fun. Kandarahki throws lots of nice combinations and this had some heated moments where he came close to punching out Yamamoto who fired back with spirit. Obviously Yamamoto was gonna dominate on the ground but they do a pretty decent job making it not too obvious or drab. This went 5 rounds (OF COURSE!!!) and didn‘t drag and was pretty fun overall. So… the 31.th best match of all of the 90s? Probably not but I enjoyed discovering this for Yamamotos fire and Kandarahkis cool punches.

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.

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.

JWP 3/4/1987

 

Plum Mariko vs. Maiko Tsurugi

Oscal Tomo & Smiley Mami vs. Ilia Yonemoto & Eden Mabuchi

Cuty Suzuki & Yu Yamazaki vs. La Venus & Dirty Yamato

Eagle Sawai vs. Xochitl Hamada

Diosa de Plata & India Azteca vs. Esther Moreno & Mayumi Ozaki

Miss A & Rumi Kazama vs. Yuki Ito & Harley Saito

Jackie Sato vs. Nancy Kumi

This was the earliest JWP I've seen so far. There are a few more handhelds from 1987, but most of them don't even have a date. Jackie Sato era JWP is an interesting obscurity to check out. Most of the wrestlers here were really green and much of the undercard felt very basic with wrestlers just trying to string moves together and not have the match break down. There were like a dozen back elbows thrown. Structurally, the matches were pretty lacking.

The one standout in the undercard was Suzuku/Yamazaki vs. Yamato/Venus. It had a clear face/heel structure with Venus engaging in some cool luchariffic exchanges. Dirty Yamato also did her dust powder attack and Yu Yamazaki looked good doing some heated exchanges with Venus and trying to unmask her. The other tag featuring Mexican ladies was also a bit more advanced although sloppy. Esther Moreno decided to do a dozen flips.

The best match before the main event was Miss A/Kazama vs. Ito/Saito. They were also green, but they really kicked the shit out of each other. They really made the right decision putting all the kickpadded girls in the semi main event. Miss A, even though she was a baby here, was already a serious bruiser, but Kazama may have been even more vicious and may have been the best girl in the match. Saito also looked good here and this was a foreshadowing of the cool tags JWP would be doing in the early 90s.

THE MAIN EVENT: Just getting to see Jackie Sato vs. Nancy Kumi in 1987 in JWP is something in itself. These two were great in AJW before the Crush Gals hype took over. These two were very technical wrestlers then, but this match really dialed up on their connection to the crowd. You can tell they were still major stars. The wrestling felt simplistic, certainly not on the level of what they were doing in 1980, but the heat they were garnering was far greater than everything they did in those days. They were working a bunch of tight submissions and scrambling takedowns. Kumi was the aggressor attacking Sato in the ropes and eventually bloodying her and punching her in the face a bunch. That alone should tell you how on fire this crowd ended up getting for the match. The wrestling in this match wasn't as important as their personalities, which may be underwhelming if you were hoping for a purists dream match, but if a heated 80s match between two legends with blood and a bunch of tight wrestling sounds good to you, this was a very good match.

Pioneer Senshi / JWP Joint Show 4/28/1990

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gJ5UCcVtSw

Devil Masami vs. Harley Saito

I wonder how this Pioneer Senshi/JWP joint show came to be. Was it a case of Ryuma Go not having enough wrestlers to run a show of his own, so he asked JWP to borrow their ring and some wrestlers? Then again, JWP was running some wrestler vs. martial artist matches on their own shows during this time period, so maybe there was more Pioneer Senshi inspiration than usual in JWP. Maybe there was a Rumi Kazama vs. a korean taekwondo artist main event on this show that went unfilled. As far as this Devil Masami/Harley Saito match goes, joshi matches that serve as undercard to mens matches tend to be filler, and that was the case here, although there was a nice Devil Masami control segment where she worked over Saitos wrist, and an especially nice Harley Saito control segment where she started by kicking Devil in the back of the head and then working over her back with more thudding kicks. Devils comeback is kinda lame as she catches a kick for a leglock, briefly acknowledging the work on her back before hitting some lariats and powerbombs for the win. I was surprised how easily Saito was defeated here as she was on her way to the JWP main event in 1990, but maybe they didn’t expect JWP fans to pay attention to this show.

Hiroshi Itakura vs. Hideki Kawauchi 

These two had a fantastic match the previous year. This was more of a hybrid junior match than the shootstyle of their first match. There are lockups, side headlocks, hammerlocks and tope rope moves, but the stylistic marks of their first match – crunching suplexes, ultra tight submissions and some brutal strikes where still there. If you ask me, this is the style that should’ve dominated 90s junior wrestling. In this match, Itakura was pushing the pace by giving Kawauchi a nasty hiding, who kept coming back using his grappling and occasionally a big kick of his own. Itakuras spin kicks were absolutely brutal as he came close to crushing Kawauchis face. There was also a crazy stiff baseball slide that launched Kawauchi to the outside. Kawauchi for his own had a really beautiful belly to belly suplex into a bridging pin. Some crazy deep, joint popping arm submission nearfalls. The match was a bit clunky in some parts as I felt these guys are better when they are just doing straight shootstyle, but overall this was everything you can ask for from a grimy 90s indy undercard wrestling.

Miss A (Dynamite Kansai) vs. Eagle Sawai

This was a bit better than the opening Saito/Masami match. It was also filler, but Miss As kicks are just sickeningly violent even for Pioneer Senshi match and the match develops around Sawai trying to not get kicked to death. Some fun big girl fighting ensues and both hit some nice elbows drops, body checks and lariats. These two had a very good match on a proper JWP show and while this was by no means essential viewing it was a cool piece in Miss As work during the time period.

Ryuma Go vs. Masashi Aoyagi (Rounds)

Love these two, but there was absolutely no reason for this to go 30 minutes. I guess they were trying to one up the Onita/Aoyagi feud by going broadway, but matches like this really don’t work like that. As a result of the length there wasn’t much going on and Gos submission attempts felt like restholds. Once both guys were bleeding, things got pretty intense, but it took them about 10 rounds to get there, and then the match went another 10 minutes or so. Still love the variety of strikes Aoyagi threw, though. Also the crowd got super into this so who am I to judge.