LLPW Blooming Ultra Legend 8/14/1994

 Watch

Michiko Nagashima vs Yamashita

Yamashita is, I am guessing, another rookie from the 90s joshi scene who didn’t have much of a career. So you can guess how this goes: Yamashita hits some dropkicks, but can’t really do anything that phases Nagashima, and Nagashima gives her a minor beating before vanquishing her quickly. Nagashima is pretty nice to Yamashita here, not doing anything psychotic and letting her get in some roll ups and such.

First Round: Harley Saito vs Mizuki Endo

We only get about 3 minutes out of 5 here, but you still want to watch this for Saito kicking Endo in the face. Basically Endo tries to be annoying, and Saito would have none of it, leading to all these amusing moments where a pouncing Endo would get blasted. I really enjoy watching Saito smack and kick the shit out of someone, and Endo has fun energy. I really would’ve liked to see another 150 seconds of this.

First Round: Noriyo Tateno vs Eagle Sawai

They clipped the first two matches, so we could get more of this! If you know my general opinion of the LLPW roster, you will know that I don’t like Noriyo Tateno much because she is horribly dull and never gives much beyond just hitting her moves. This match was no exception. In theory, Sawai at least provides a challenge, but not much interesting comes out of it. To make it perfect, at some point Kurenai and Nagashima do a run in on Sawai but Tateno takes them out with a suicide dive. That was about the only real highlight in this one.

Mikiko Futagami & Jenn Yukari vs Michiko Ohmukai & Carol Midori

Typical joshi tag 101. Fast moves, resthold, wrestlers tag out whenever they are thrown near their own corner. Ohmukai & Midori controlled most of the action here and they aren’t all that great, unless you really like front dropkicks. Futagami shows some cool touches once in a while – she has a particularily great thrust kick, and her pump handle release throw was amusingly reckless. Yukari got to do almost nothing. Everyone here doesn’t have much of a moveset yet, so they kept repeating moves. This was clipped, and should have been clipped more.

Semi-Finals: Harley Saito vs Miki Handa

Kinda cool little match. Saito is higher on the totem pole and she has the dangerous kicks and submissions to give her the edge. Handa tries rushing her, which backfires and Saito wrenches a tight kimura. When Saito goes for the arm again, Handa is able to scramble out and lock in a surprise armbar of her own, and then using that to capitalize and get in a nice run. I really liked how they used a simple armlock like that to give Handa an edge. Handa also has great suplexes and the flash finish ruled. Pretty good stuff.

Semi-Finals: Noriyo Tateno vs Yasha Kurenai

Kurenai waffles Tateno with chairs and those wooden sword things some to make this entertaining. Tateno throwing someone into chairs and getting whacked is marginally more interesting than the usual Tateno match. Not that she does much selling or anything. Tateno steals the win with a flash pin at 5 minutes so at least this was short.

Shinobu Kandori vs Rumi Kazama

Pretty fucking epic match. As straight forward as Hashimoto vs Fujiwara. Kazamas kicks were vicious and Kandori at this point is a charismatic dynamo. Kandori gets so much out of so little, down to her facial expression, every single submission she gets locked in, she was also awesome escalating the violence punching Kazama in the face and throwing the referee around. I would have liked Kazama to throw more kicks in the second half of the match since her opening onslaught was so awesome. Still, it builds to quite the epic ending with Kandori levelling Kazama and Kazama having a handful of great hope spots. Few wrestlers do the ‘biggest badass on act’ as good as Kandori.

Finals: Harley Saito vs Noriyo Tateno

Harley Saito is one of the great 90s unheralded 90s workers and I’m always happy to see her in a big match, even if it’s against Tateno. The opening minutes of this were pretty cool as Tateno grounded Saito and attacked the legs. Tateno is hit and miss but she actually had a nifty rolling legbar, and a really cool leg trap and arm stretch. Saito is one of the workers around who will actually sell the leg and for a couple moments it was really good pro wrestling. You never really get Harley throwing the kitchen sink at Tateno but she does kick her in the face once. Of course, selling goes out the window in the second half of the match and it’s 2.9999 city. For that kind of match it was pretty well done although Tatenos checked-out-ness is jarring. She will hit her moves but really expresses very little with her body language, even after barely kicking out of a move she just walks over, hits a weak kick and then a powerbomb, it’s like she’s physically there but not mentally. There were some cool transitions but also some questionable ones. Still, I love me a Harley Saito match and this was pretty fun for what it was.

 

The Library

Yumiko Hotta Matches

 Mariko Yoshida vs Yumiko Hotta, AtoZ 11/9/2003

Really great match which delivers exactly what you want. Early grappling was very cool, as Hotta is slower and less skilled but bigger. Yoshida was moving around her pretty fast but you get the sense that it’s hard to move Hotta, and when Hotta gets a hold of you it really sucks to get out. When Hotta tried to be more aggressive Yoshida would instantly reverse her, but then run into a wall due to Hottas stubbornness. There is one cool moment where Hotta has Yoshida cinched so tight Yoshida has to get a rope break because her bad arm is bothering her. The bad arm doesn’t even come up again but it’s just one of those random cool bits of sellings Yoshida does because Yoshida is a fucking great wrestler. Second half had some absolutely disgusting violence that was up there with any BattlARTS match, insane kicks, bare knuckle punches, Yoshida taking some absolutely insane punishment to make Hotta look like a total monster. It was still a very well worked match with some awesome submission counters to add to the violence. I also really dug Yoshidas “My soul is leaving my body” selling whenever Hotta would hit a particularily brutal shot. When Yoshida took her glove off to punch Hotta bare knuckle in the face it really felt like one of the most epic things you’ve ever seen. The finish was kind of genius too, as it seems like the one way to take out a tough lunatic like that. Sick ass match that felt as violent and cutting edge as the best of BattlARTS, Yoshida was clearly one of the best in the world still in 2003.

Yumiko Hotta vs. GAMI, AtoZ 2/29/2004

Seedy rotten bloodbath with both women bringing some serious violence. Brawling is often forgettable in joshi, that wasn’t the case here as GAMI immediately started busting Hotta open with Necro-level punches, headbutts and biting. Didn’t know GAMI was such a great brawler as she did a great job working over a bleeding Hotta. Her stoic demenaour also makes her look like a psycho. Hitting Hotta in the face with the paper fan was delightfully deranged. Hottas bladejob was also grizzly as her eye and mouth were full of blood, she looked like she got shot in the face. As soon as Hotta got control she also amped up the reckless violence by smashing GAMIs face with chairs. I also didn’t mind Kumiko Maekawa interferring in the match as it adds to the chaotic “anything can happen” feeling and GAMI looked like an even bigger badass when she was beating up two opponents. There was also the crazy moment where all the ring girls had enough of Maekawa and start jumping on her. They keep the crazy moments coming (big suplex into pile of chairs, GAMI randomly getting a table smashed in her face) and working a fast pace with out any letdown. The re-start may have been a bit unnecessary but I really liked the final 5 minutes with both of them pulling out all the stops with crazy out of nowhere strikes, big bombs, green mist being used, really good spectacle ending run. GAMI hitting a surprise rolling kick to a bloody Hottas head is about as good as pro wrestling gets. Early 2000s joshi has a bit of a bad rep but this was just great and belongs up there with the better brawls of the classic era.

Yumiko Hotta vs Manami Toyota, AJW 6/6/1999

Great match because it was free of the usual Toyota bullshit and Hotta was going after her with a vengeance. Basically Hotta would not allow Toyota to do her usual stuff so Toyota gets pissed and Hotta just tries to crush her. Hotta trying to crack Toyotas skull early reminded me of a rampaging Hansen. Even a basic back elbow almost seemed to take Toyotas head off. Toyota trying to stiff Hotta and tightening up her act by going for armbars etc. was really good. Even Toyotas dive came across as reckless. Last few minutes were pretty great and different from the usual joshi bombfest. I loved how Hotta would pull Toyota into armbars whenever she tried to go for her signature moves. Toyota figuring out a better way to hit her convoluted finisher was really cool. Even that one Toyota no sell kind of worked because she's supposed to be this indestructable icon who goes harder than everyone else and Hotta had clearly cracked her pride. Hotta destroying a stubborn Toyota with reckless headdrops and insane kicks made for quite the finish, too. Loved that face stomp as well. Not shootstyle but felt very uncooperative and like there was legit bad blood.

Yumiko Hotta vs Manami Toyota, AJW 1/22/1996

Savage violent car crash match, maybe the most brutal I've ever seen. Basically Hotta is a psycho monster and out to kill Toyota from the get go throwing full force kicks to her head and mouth. Toyota can't do her usual stuff so she is forced to fire back. Loved Toyotas violent retaliations, stomping on Hottas face, kneeing her, headbutting her bloody etc. Even her dropkicks seemed to land flush in Hottas face. I also loved her using that huge trophy to beat on a bloody Hotta and standing on her, surprised you didn't see that kind of thing more often in the 90s. Toyota trying to survive and catch Hotta with her crazy flying moves kept the middle interesting. Floor dropkick was certifiably insane. Finishing stretch was a bit the usual stuff though Hotta finding violent counters to Toyotas finisher attempts was pretty entertaining, not to mention her tendency to just go berserk with the kicks again. Probably concussed Toyota just barely pulling off the finish suited the chaotic nature of the match, I thought. Hotta isn't very good at selling but she kind of worked like a monster here so it worked and Toyota didn't do any no selling (to be honest she was probably legit damaged by Hottas psychotic onslaught). Not as interesting as the 1999 match but must watch for the sheer brutality alone, I thought.

Onita Pro 5/4/2002

 Gentaro vs. Ichiro Yaguchi vs. Fake Onita

This is one of those matches where you look at it and know it probably won’t be good but you still want to watch, at least if you are deranged like I am. This was kind of fun, there was some amusing bullshit with Fake Onita in Great Nitta getup threatening to use a sickle and misting people a bunch. Yaguchi also got to show off his offense, hitting a cool spinning wheel kick and crucifix bomb, and eating the mist like a champ. Gentaro had a really pretty springboard splash. So that was pretty enjoyable for a bullshit 5 minute opening match.

GAMI & noki-A vs. Kaori Nakayama & Shark Tsuchiya

JIP match where I actually would’ve liked to see more because they stayed in the ring and didn’t do any walk and brawl stuff. Or maybe they clipped that out. Tsuchiya can throw bombs and it was cool to see brawler Nakayama trying to hold her own in straight wrestling exchanges against a pair of top flight wrestlers. Yeah GAMI is a top flight wrestler to me, I love her and she’s awesome. She had a really great trust kick in this. Nakayama isn’t as smooth but he had some good stuff so I enjoyed this fine.

Chocoball Mukai vs. Katsuji Ueda

Now we are getting the compelling matchups with this card. Different style fight where Mukai kind of does well for himself taking the boxer down but then gets punched in the face. Ueda soon gets Dqd for low blowing Mukai repeatedly. Actually would have liked to see a real finish for this. Face punches looked good, why not give tough old man Ueda a win over the pornstar?

ONRYO & Sun Paul vs. The Shooter #1 & The Shooter #2

I am pretty sure one of the Shooters is Masaru Toi. He hits a nice spinkick, and then his crazy double stomp to the floor. Why put a mask on him, he’s motherfucking Toi?! Sun Paul is some white guy who for some reason worked a few 20 minute draws in his few matches in Japan, those must have been something to see. He executed basic stuff fine but there was nothing spectacular or impressive about him. The match was fun when Toi was doing stuff such as throwing a cool punch combo or hitting a slick Fujiwara Armbar. Other than that the biggest curiosity here was seeing a mystery name like Sun Paul do stuff.

Masanobu Kurisu vs. Shoji Nakamaki

Hell yeah. Kurisu mauls Nakamaki with some sick headbutts. Kurisu then grabs a chair and beats the fuck out of some ring boys. He then headbutts Nakamaki some more. Nakamaki tries to mount of offense but Kurisu headbutts him in the face and keeps brutalizing him with the chair. There is a bump into a barbedwire board which looks nowhere near as violent as those chairshots and headbutts. Nakamaki tries throwing powder at Kurisu but Kurisu completely no sells it and instead throws the powder in Nakamakis face. Kurisu is a force that can’t be contained and he wins with a sloppy pin combo after a 7 minute extremely one sided but perversely brutal match. After the match Nakamaki throws himself into the barbedwire to show he’s tough, or an idiot. I don’t know. Who doesn’t love a violent Kurisu asskicking though.

Mr. Pogo vs. Ricky Fuji

Genuinely a pretty fun Pogo match. Fuji is faster so he wins the race into the ring to get the barbedwire bat, but one of Pogos seconds hits him so he drops the bat. We get Fuji swinging chairs into Pogos barbedwire bat, before Fuji takes a good beating taking some nasty bat swings, kicks to the face and Pogos knifes and sickles while things keep moving. Pogo hits his “I’m crippled” bulldog where he kinds of lands on his side which I always get a kick out of, and a pretty nasty rope hanging DDT onto the chain and sickle. There is a crazy moment where Fuji kicks the knife out of Pogos hand and it just flies into the crowd. Fuji needs better punches but he is so excitable and bleeds well so I like him. Fun match where both guys played their role well.

Mitsuhiro Matsunaga vs. HIDO

Demented spectacle deathmatch that had thumbtacks, barbedwire and live scorpions. They pour the tacks all over the mat right at the beginning and we get a bunch of side headlock takeovers and suplexes into the tacks. Craziest spot comes soon when HIDO puts a bunch of scorpions into a baseball cap, puts the cap on Matsunagas head and crushes them with a chairshot. Poor scorps :( I was rooting the most for the one scorpion that was scurrying away to safety. The match was plenty sick and violent but definitely felt like an exhibition. At several points Matsunaga was just sitting there watching Hido build up the next spot. The psychology of the match is that both guys keep hurting themselves. At the end they take off their boots to wrestle barefoot in the thumbtacks, I guess to show that they are tough. Matsunaga puts a torture rack on Hido and walks barefoot into the barbedwire, but surprisingly enough he can’t handle the pain and submits, making Hido the winner. All-time level finish for sure.

Atsushi Onita & Masato Tanaka vs. Kintaro Kanemura & Tetsuhiro Kuroda

A surprising amount of fire makes this a pretty fun main event. Onita was brutalizing people with weapons and hitting sharp DDTs. He didn’t overexercise himself but it was a good performance. Kanemura and Tanaka had their working puts on and brought a lot to the table without being too doozy-doo. It helps that Tanakas normal offense – elbows, spears etc. - looks really violent and they have no problem moving through the tables and chairs stuff fast. Even Tetsu didn’t annoy me too much. Fun main event with a sick punch out finish that didn’t overstay its welcome.

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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

ARSION That I Missed

 Mariko Yoshida vs. Mikiko Futagami, ARSION 8/9/1998

Here's a great match that I missed as it didn't make the Best of ARSION comp. It says a lot how loaded with great wrestling 1998 ARSION was that this was just one of 3 great matches that evening, but here we are. GAMI may have been the 2nd greatest act in the promotion after Yoshida. Like Yoshida is this monster submission artist, but GAMI is this tricky technician who can counter and catch her. Lots of great grappling exchanges as you expect, and Futagamais surprise abisegiris and palm strikes ruled. Great finish, too, and it was just under 8 minutes.

Aja Kong vs. Mikiko Futagami, ARSION 4/11/1998

Quality match built around GAMI chipping away at Ajas bad knee. That kind of layout could be trite especially on a houseshow match, but thanks to Aja constantly fighting back everything felt highly competitive. As soon as Futagami gained the upper hand, she started torturing Aja with nasty stomps and really stretching her leg out with legbars. There was one calf slicer that was more like an ankle slicer the way GAMI had it applied. Kongs agony selling is really convincing and the finishing stretch is really great. Futagami is a great tricky counter wrestler which naturally matches up well against a juggernaut like Aja, but Aja also busted out some slick reversals.

Mariko Yoshida vs. Yumi Fukawa, ARSION 5/8/1998

This match up is kind of an all timer. This was a really dominant performance from Yoshida, which is not a problem because she‘s a top 5 grappler of all time AND also pretty great and selling slight vulnerabilities even when she‘s totally owning her opponent. Right away Fukawa misses a flying armbar and from that point on Yoshida mostly counters Fukawas counter attempts. A few crazy submission attempts as usual such as Yoshida busting out an armbar from an indian deathlock position and then turns Fukawas counter attempt into a Fujiwaraesque leg stretch. Really nice sequence where Fukawa is able to get a leglock, Yoshida is able to reverse it but comes up with a slight limp which signals for Fukawa to start pouncing. Fukawa didn‘t have much chance but she gave it her all, and those couple seconds where she got something in felt important due to Yoshidas dominance. Sick finish. Another example of this crew being unable to do any wrong in 1998.

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.

LLPW Ichi Mouda Jin 10/9/1994

 

Shinobu Kandori vs. Mikiko Futagami

This was totally awesome. It easily could‘ve been a bullshit squash, but we get little Futagami stepping up to Kandori, and Kandori letting her shine while retaining her on status as the ultimate badass. Starts out great with Futagami fucking slapping and spitting on Kandori. Obviously there were gonna be beatings in this match, but both girls also hit the mat and Kandori allows Futagami to look on her level. GAMI is such a cool stoic grappler, and Kandori really sets herself up as a foil for that stoic charisma by amping up her own presence, she‘s like The Rock reacting to Futagami trying to blindside her. The grappling was super cool with Kandori using her shoot submissions and Futagami mixing in lucha holds and pins in seamless fashion. Along with that there were some serious beatings in the match, Futagami tries to cut down Kandori with some vicious running boots and Kandori pays her back with some super gnarly boot scrapes (the kind of simple thing which Kandori has a knack for making it look really violent). Fantastic finish too. I was shocked when this ended and the graphic showed it only went 9 minutes, it felt like a much bigger match with a ton of content to it.

Mizuki Endo vs. Michiko Ohmukai

Hey look, it‘s Michiko Ohmukai. This was fun due to how into it the crowd was. As a match it was just two young workers running through their offense – with Endo having little high impact offense and mostly grounding Ohmukai with holds. Ohmukai had some cool knees to the back of the head and some really cool bridging. Endo picks up the win with a cool double stomp, though, which surprised me.

Miki Handa vs. Carol Midori

Extremely generic match between two generic workers. Surprise suplex to start, then half crab a bunch to kill time before somebody hits a random move. Add a bunch of pointless legwork and you have yourself a bonafide nothing match! The finishing sequences were well executed, but again, nothing that will stick in your mind.

Harley Saito vs. Rumi Kazama

Kazama doesn‘t have much of a rep, but time and time again she proves that she could go. I was surprised they started this out with a bunch of lucha armdrags and counters. It felt like two veterans trying to prove they were on a different skill level, and it was cool. Harley though soon reminded everyone who she was by blindsiding Kazama with an absolutely rotten kick to the face in the middle of an exchange. The following kick battle as awesome. Kazama fired back with some ringers of her own and Saito just wasted her with high kicks in the corner. After that series of BattlARTS level near Kos they settle down into a pro-style finishing run which was a bit disappointing but still cool. Kazama does some cool Dragon Sleeper work and whips out a spinning wheel kick from the top. I like that Harleys tiger suplex was protected. Really good little match overall.

Noriyo Tateno & Kurenai Yasha & Michiko Nagashima vs. Eagle Sawai & Jenn Yukari & Jun Yamashita

This is not something people would seek out on paper, but it ended up being pretty fun. Basically an escalating violent tag. Jenn Yukari is Yukari Osawa who I didn‘t like much but she was fun here kicking people hard. Yamashita is some rookie who debuted just 2 months before and played the underdog taking a beating. Kurenai was super cool as usual. It‘s remarkable how she doesn‘t do martial arts kicks or anything but stays vicious looking and interesting on offense. Sawai played the Tenryu role having staredons and always looking like a big deal when she stepped into the ring simply by running people over with her size, and she‘s fun in that role. I expected more brawling and blood and the finish was a bit sudden (although cool) but this was a good main event overall.

THE LIBRARY

LLPW The Kageki Renaissance! Grand Opening 8/29/1992

 Leo Kitamura vs. Mizuki Endo

Clipped down match which looked like solid rookie action. Kitamura attempted some more elaborate moves and slipped up. Endo looks nearly unrecognizable. Really liked when Endo powered out of a full nelson and Kitamura hit this neat jumping headbutt to her shoulder. It‘s little moments like that which really get me even into a brief rookie match.

Midori Saito & Rumi Yasuda vs. Mikiko Futagami & Yukari Osawa

Osawa is a JWP veteran from the original class of 1986. This was pretty much your typical joshi undercard action, lots of moves done in quick succession. Futagami looked spunky. Things got heated for a minute when Osawa got busted open and ate some elbows to her cut, but it didn‘t build much further.

Eagle Sawai vs. Michiko Nagashima

Pretty much a clipped down squash with neither of them looking all that impressive.

Noriyo Tateno & Harley Saito vs. Miki Handa & Utako Hozumi

They went 36 minutes here, full bore. I enjoyed the opening going a lot with Saito and Tateno working together to cut off and isolate their opponents. A bunch of limb work happens that doesn‘t go anywhere and they lose me a bit in the middle, since nobody except Saito here is very interesting, really. Saito was fun running in to kick people hard. There was a section where she just destroyed Hozumi with kicks. Hozumis big comeback was supposed to be a dive but she got caught on the rope and landed on her face. Tateno doesn‘t do much interesting on offense but she was in he position to bring some character to the match and for someone who really doesn‘t have much charisma or character she did a fine job. Handa and Hozumi doing everything to edge out the win towards the end was really fun and the crowd reactions to the nearfalls were amazing. I could see people enjoying this because it‘s a slower paced, different type of joshi match, but temper your expectations.

Shinobu Kandori vs. Rumi Kazama

Badass match. Basically what you want from two wrestlers trying to establish their new promotion, just two ladies swinging for the fences, working cool grappling exchanges and mauling eaching other in violent fashion. Kandori looked like the baddest woman on the planet as usual, and Kazama was quite the fine Hotta stand in throwing absolutely rotten kicks to Kandoris face. I like how Kazama challenged the grappler Kandori to a wrestling exchange and Kandori just punted her. Middle portion was slightly meandering although the work was good and everything made sense. Ending was just a brutal onslaught with Kandori surviving several suplexes, then mauling Kazama on the ground before clocking her with a sick lariat, it was straight out of the BattlARTS playbook. 

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