AJW 1/4/1994

 Bull Nakano vs. Kaoru Ito

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

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

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

Aja Kong vs. Suzuka Minami

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

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

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

The Library

LLPW Battle Winter 2/13/1992

 

Michiko Nagashima vs. Mizuki Endo

Rookie match with some basic moves and lots of stretches. Really nothing match here. Both these two turned into good wrestlers later but they had nothing going for them at this poitn.

Yukari Osawa & Mikiko Futagami vs. Utako Hozumi & Leo Kitamura

16 out of 22 minutes where shown. Pretty dull match without much heat until they started doing nearfalls. Hozumi and Kitamura controlled most of the action until Futagami pulled out a surprise win. Good for GAMI.

Kurenai Yasha vs. Midori Saito

Kurenai seems like a fairly underrated worker. She dominated most of this and she knew how to beat on Saito for 10 minutes and make it not boring. She did cool things like drop elbows on her face, bust out a bottle or throw a row of chairs at Saito out of nowhere. She also made some nice cutoffs and it was a cool seasoned rudo performance which was impressive considering she was still pretty early in her career. Saito had one nasty boot to Yashas chin but didn‘t impress me much otherwise. Yasha takes it with the chokeslam and this came across as almost a squash.

Rumi Kazama & Noriyo Tateno vs. Eagle Sawai & Miki Handa

 Pretty decent match worked at a medium pace. Kazama, Handa and Sawai all looked good. Tateno is usually pretty boring but Sawai was fired up, just running over her with body checks and lariats, and that got Tateno to show a bit of fire of her own. Kazama had her working boots on and was working stiff as usual. And Handa did some pretty good work too working over Tatenos spine with nasty looking knees and elbows. The finish was really good - Handa rolled up Tateno into a boston crab. Kazama landed a kick to make the save, but the resulting force pushed Handa further into the hold and actually forced a submission. Nice win for Handa and felt like something that should happen more often.

Shinobu Kandori & Harley Saito vs. Suzuka Minami & Etsuko Mita

Okay, wow. The opening of this was like a bomb going off. Super heat, intensity to the max, scrappy fights breaking out, everyone trying to kill each other. They had a bunch of AJW fans attending this cheering for Minami and Mita so this had the kind of insane heat these interpromotional matches have. The first 10 or so minutes were pretty damn amazing and up there with any WAR/NJ tag. Kandori is such a damn superstar, outgrappling everyone while making jokes and then snapping, buckling people against the ropes and mauling them with nasty lariats and elbows. And Mita and Minami brought the heat. The sequence where Kandori choked Mita out and Minami cleared house to safe her was another level of urgent and badass. Makes you wonder why that kinda stuff doesn‘t happen more often. Harley Saito is also quite the effective plucky sidekick to Kandori. The second half this was more of a typical joshi match but still, it was a damn hot ending run that the crowd went crazy over. And all I want from a match with a hot ending run is a hot opening that gets me into it, and they did that here. Real gem, and another piece in Kandoris amazing string of 1993 performances.

The Library

NEO 9/16/2002

 

Kaori Yoneyama vs. Haruka Matsuo

Joshi undercard match which means it’s two workers doing some holds and trying to hit their spots. I’ve never seen or heard of Matsuo before. Her shit mostly looked weak. Yoneyama even at this stage is very good and she probably was one of the last really talented joshi workers to debut. She hits all of her dropkicks etc. with a real thud and never looks lost. That is enough for me not mind this kind of 8 minute match.

Yuka Nakamura & Tetsuya Koda vs. Yuka Shiina & Ayako Ishida

Weird 5 minute comedy match involving two non-wrestlers. Apparently Ishida is a ring announcer. Tetsuya Koda was some skinny guy who I’m assuming is a comedian or radio personality or something. Nakamura worked a few actual wrestling segments but this was basically a “let your buddy get in the ring for a laugh as he slips off the ropes and breaks his ankle” match. Ishida takes the win with the iron claw over Koda.

Captains Fall Match: Kyoko Inoue & Chaparita ASARI & Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda vs. Yoshiko Tamura & Misae Genki & Yuka Nakamura and Haruko Matsuo

Long match where I basically only liked the 3 minutes or so where Kyoko was in the ring. She quickly eliminated Nakamura and Matsuo early, which could’ve set up an interesting match, but then it just wasn’t. Tamura and Genki should’ve either ended up working in peril and making comebacks or destroying their opponents. Instead the match ended up being a mishmash of things that was neither here nor there. Also, Genki sucked. She’s a crowbar powerhouse so has the potential to be fun, but she kept blowing spots and no-selling. LCO did their thing, basically working on autopilot. I liked ASARIs ranas. The match built to this dramatic showdown of Genki facing 4 opponents and then eliminating 3 out of 4 in a really phony way before a stiff face off with Kyoko. Kyoko tagged out after her first segment and basically didn’t tag in for the next 15 minutes. She hits really great lariats which was enough for me to like that last segment. Still, you probably don't want this.

Tanny Mouse & Yuki Miyazaki vs. Ran Yu-Yu & Azumi Hyuga

Really fun main event that was way better than it looks on paper. Tanny Mouse has a reputation as a dreadful comedy worker, but she had her working boots on here. She came across as this tenacious grappler with a hard head, which is kind of my favourite Japanese wrestler gimmick. There were also multiple moments during the rest of the match where she looked very good, particularily during a segment where she tried kicking Hyugas head in. Tanny & Miyazaki are the NEO Machineguns and they are huge underdogs against the JWP ace team of Ran and Hyuga. The match was smartly laid out allowing them to take control using smart tactics and double teams. Lots of elaborate sequences that worked. When Yu-Yu and Hyuga got to comeback, they dished out some series punishment with their usual mix of suplexes and precise strikes. It built to a pretty hot run of nearfalls that actually felt earned, with the finish feeling like a fucking finish. Most importantly, the match was laid out in such a way that the selling weaknesses of Ran Yu-Yu and Azumi Hyuga were never exposed. I am not overly familiar with Yuki Miyazaki, but she looked solid, booting Hyuga in the face and taking some big bumps down the stretch.

 

Note: Main event added to 2002 MOTY project at #37