Ito Dojo - Kaoru Ito Debut 20th Anniversary 10/25/2009

     Ayumi Kurihara vs Ayako Sato

Really fun, scrappy joshi opening match. No choreographed sequences or waiting for the other person to get in position which is always refreshing to see, they both just went for dropkicks and armbars. There was also some matwork that actually felt like two people fighting rather than going through the motions. Sato was really straightforwardly solid with her quick dropkicks, while Kurihara was obviously set to be a big prospect in the joshi scene. There was one really fast sequence of pin attempts that they pull off insanely well. True to joshi form, the finish is Sato kicking out of one Uranage suplex, so Kurihara would hit her with 4 in a row and then force the pin like an olympic match. Miss these kinda joshi undercard matches.

Manami Toyota & Jaguar Yokota vs Aki Kambayashi & Shu Shibutani

Can you believe Jaguar Yokota was 48 years old and a 32 year vet here? She was still moving pretty smooth. Toyota is like in any other match of hers that you’ve seen, just hitting her spots. Front dropkick, armdrag from the ropes, rolling cradle, you know the deal. She could still fly around but it’s less impressive when she’s teaming with Yokota who moves better and can actually work while being much older. Shibutani got popped by an elbow in the mouth early on, causing her to bleed and it made her powering through the rest of the match a bit more interesting. Shu and Aki (who is Miss Mongol of all people) were outmatched early on but they had a few fun ways to get in some offense on the legends, and it made the match more interesting than had it been even steven. Aki looked energetic but then her big spot was a bronco buster. They actually end up losing to one of those double submissions and now that’s damning.

Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda vs ZAP-I & ZAP-T

The ZAPs feel rather bizarre looking back. My guess is they were an attempt of AJW to recapture the spark of Gokuaku Domei, but obviously that wasn’t going to work. They both seem like they could be folklore creatures, like urban monsters or something. Anyways this was pretty fun and kinda delivered more than you’d expect. Action was solid with lots of brawling and weapon shots but also enough in-ring stuff to not feel lazy. Shimoda still has her working boots on busting some cool axe kicks and a big flip dive that was pretty crazy from someone who was basically semi-retired at this point. I think one of the ZAPs is a Kaoru Ito because she hits a sick double stomp and the other one only hits Blue Thunder Drivers. 

Takako Inoue & Tomoko Mori & Yumiko Hotta vs. Cherry & Hanako Kobayashi & Noriyo Tateno

Craptastic match unfortunately. The previous match actually did well as a brawl, here they tried to have all action but nothing looked good or had gravitas. Mori and Kobayashi tried to have a section in the middle with Kobayashi bleeding but they looked painfully mediocre. Hotta looked pretty immobile and checked out as she tends to do in her late career matches. Not good, not good at all.

 

Aja Kong vs Kaoru Ito, Ito Dojo

Pretty insane, violent and gory match. Pretty much just two tough middle aged ladies out to destroy each other and it was glorious. Ito has such violent offense that fits perfectly in a kind of reckless brawl. Her double stomps – including double stomping Ajas arm – were downright insane. Her bladejob was also amazing as she looked like she got shot in the eye. Kong was freakin gold here – as we all know her. She looked great both beating on a bleeding Ito, shoving her elbow into the cut, hitting her with the point of umbrellas, as well as taking some downright insane punishment from Ito. Her selling was fantastic as she really looked like she was falling apart. It wasn’t exactly Baba vs Destroyer but there was a bit of strategy at play with Ito trying to take out the arm. Loved Aja desperation kneecapping Ito and locking in a submission to regenerate a little. This will probably mainly be appealing to fans of violent bloody matches but for that it was pretty A+.

The Library

Ran YuYu 7 Match Gauntlet

     Ran YuYu vs. Azumi Hyuga, JWP 12/3/2005

These two have fought each other a bunch in the past, in matches where they threw everything imaginable at each other. This was shorter (at 20 minutes), more focused and quite great if I may say so. It was basically an amalgamation of their rivalry but put together very well. Everything here felt like it mattered and they were always doing something cool, even making things like a figure 4 or german suplex that are often just thrown out in joshi matches look like a struggle and putting some fresh spins into everything. There are some great missed moves and reversals and cool touches like Hyuga sidestepping YuYus kitchen sink and making her fall through the ropes that nobody else would really think of working into a match. The body of the match was really good and the finishing run was next level with both of them trying to crack each others heads and YuYu going crazy trying to topple the eternal ace. Hyuga did pretty much her thing, which is not bad as she has such great offense, she did bust out one Honda-ish deadlift german suplex that was really sweet. YuYu showed the fire and charisma and some great strikes as she always does. It goes without saying these two have great offense but their creativity is what really brings it to the next level, just some amazing ideas here without becoming too cute, they would always maintain that gritty vibe. It feels like a bit of a putdown to say a match is ‘just what you expect’ but from these two you expect a great match, and this may have been a bit better because they went above and beyond.

Ran YuYu vs. Tsubasa Kuragaki, JWP 3/22/2010

JWP may actually be my favourite non-shootstyle promotion going in this period, at least when it comes to these kinda big move slinging main events they do them better than everyone else as far as I’m concerned. Kuragaki is a badass wrestler in her own right, and these two could’ve just had a generic match and I would’ve liked it, but they decided to make things a bit more interesting. Basically Ran is a total prick with her kicks and knees that were stinging Kuragaki like needles to the face, while Kuragaki is working like the more valiant clean wrestler, almost a bit like Hash/Tenryu in 1993. Kuragaki is pretty great at that and Ran is a really great prick. I just love her use of the elbows and knees, there was also some cool leg selling from her as Kuragaki is too valiant to outright attack her bandaged leg but she does sell that it’s bothering her in some cool moments. Really good build here the finish was great with both of them going for the KO.

Ran YuYu vs. Azumi Hyuga, JWP 6/16/2002

This was a 2/3 Falls match. Like I said, in 2002 these two had a bunch of matches where they really went all out in ways few other wrestlers have. It was sometimes ill-fated but this one really distillates what these two stood for. This had the special rule that the first fall was 2 count pinfalls, 2^nd was submissions, and 3^rd a regular match. They go way past 30 minute so it’s not for the faint of the heart but there is a ton of damn great wrestling here. 1^st fall was already worked at a sprint pace as they both did a mix of insanely fast pin combos and trying to knock each other out with some really hard strikes. It’s brisk, creative wrestling that few others could pull off. 2^nd fall gets all gritty and dirty as they get on the mat and try to tap each other out. It could feel like a bunch of performative time killing, but these two do so much cool stuff to remind you that they are a class above when it comes to skill. There are cool moments such as Ran looking in a great rolling crucifix hold during a shootstyle exchange and there’s some really good arm and leg submission work. Hyuga hitting a missile dropkick to Rans bad shoulder, or Ran locking in a great rolling cross kneebar, all straight up high end wrestling.Again these two are really creative to make that stuff as interesting as they do here. And they just keep bringing the hard hitting, almost everything these two has insane force, down to their signature knee strikes and elbows but also other things like their dropkicks, slaps and even shoot headbutts. Hyuga even hits a gritty out of nowhere lariat to mix things up. The 3^rd fall retains that vibe nicely though it does go a bit long they never lost me. These two were insanely ambitious but with the kind of talent they had you can’t fault them for flexing their skills like this. Even though it was a long match they always managed to do something interesting so it never feels pointlessly long, just super impressive wrestling.

Ran YuYu vs. Sawako Shimono, Ayumi Kurihara Produce 12/12/2010

We go from Ran going over 30 against arguably the top womans wrestler of the 2000s, to Ran taking on a stocky underdog on the second match of a random produce show. Matches like that can be totally mailed in and by the numbers, but this was insanely entertaining to watch and imaginative. Basically Ran is all ornery and evil, stomping on Shimonos face and not taking her seriously, but Shimono could overpower her with her thrusty offense, even crashing into her with body checks in positions that no other wrestler has taken a body check in. It’s really well done and you can see Ran is a) really nice to sell for Shimono this much and let her get in a lot of offense and not making her look like a total jobber and b) making the effort to make even a throwaway match like this memorable. Rans offense did look great – that low angle sideways jumping knee thing she does is an amazing piece of offense, and all her knees were really knocking the wind out of Shimono. I also appreciate her making the effort to make basic things, like the lift for a firemans carry, or getting out of a pinfall, or any of the basic knees she throws etc, look important.

Ran YuYu vs. Yuka Shiina, NEO 5/3/2002

Shiina is a pretty unique wrestler. She’s not exactly a shootstyle grappler, but she’s quite stubborn in going for submissions, in a way that makes her holds actually feel like a big deal. Of course Ran is no slouch on the mat either so you’ve got a rad match up here. Shiina has some awesome twisting ways to lock in sleepers and armbars, and YuYu is a good overdog here smacking her around and kicking her in the ribs really hard. She does let Shiina look great even in losing, and I love her use of the double armbar.

Ran YuYu vs. Mima Shimoda NEO 5/4/2002

Mima Shimoda rules in this. YuYus arm took a beating from Shiina the night before, so Shimoda goes right at it, and constantly goes back to it, with YuYu looking like she really did not want Shimoda to keep attacking her arm. Shimoda would also look Tenryu-ish kicking and booting Ran in the face with her gravel voice. It’s some really good compelling work that unfortunately isn’t paid off well as Ran seems to not really give a shit about the armwork once it’s done. Her stuff still looks great and she times it very well, still I would’ve liked her to take the ball and roll with Shimoda a bit more. The finish is some bullshit run in so maybe that explains that. Still, it’s nice to see Ran against someone who’s not one of her JWP peers, even if the match ended up being more simplistic.

Ran YuYu & Toshie Uematsu vs. Kaori Yoneyama & Leon, JWP 9/18/2006

I want to focus more on singles matches with these but Rans team with Uematsu was a major part of her career. This is pretty much what you associate with joshi, it’s a totally insane movezfest where they try to cram everything they can think of and more into a span of about 20 minutes and never really slowing down. It wasn’t the most substantial or consequential but when it comes to pure action they pulled off some face melting intensity here. There’s some learned spot across the 2/3 falls format for some semblance of psychology, and I enjoyed the hell out of Ran and Uematsu here as they understood you have to mix in some really hard shots in between the moves to pepper everything up a little. Not that Leon and Yoneyama were bad. Lots of nifty unique move combos that you won’t ever see attempted by saner wrestlers, and the finish is just Ran knocking someone the fuck out with an elbow to the face and I love that.

Assorted NEO

 

Kyoko Inoue vs Shinobu Kandori, NEO 4/3/2003

Kyoko was pretty much a clown at this point, but Kandori is so dangerous that she gets a serious match out of her. It's too bad there's not much Kandori footage from this time period because she was still an absolute beast through and through. Initially Kyoko wasn't being serious, so Kandori quickly starts beating her around the ring with awesome headbutts, stomps and palm strikes. Inoue gets serious  and starts giving it back to Kandori with cool out of nowhere crowbar lariats. All of Kandoris submissions still feel dangerous and they are extremely well timed. There was this amazing bit where Inoue tried to put an armbar on Kandori and Kandori reversed out of it, then gave Inoue this scolding bitchslap to teach her a lesson. Inoues reckless powerbombs also work for this kind of match. They worked this in a dingy little club and it's a testament to Kandori that she was able to make this feel like a big fight.

Mima Shimoda vs Azumi Hyuga, NEO 4/9/2003

Shimoda was drifting into irrelevancy at this point, but she could still go when she wanted to, and she was willing it here. Obviously credit goes to Hyuga too who was really pushing her opponent, but Shimoda made the match by adding a healthy dose of violence and pissed-offness to it. Hyuga did her usual stuff, but they made it insanely scrappy with tons of nasty face stomps and kicks. Even the usual stretching portion looked brutal and hate filled as they both tried to bend each other in half. Shimodas offense is great, her axe kicks land flush in Hyugas face and the rolling kicks were amazing. I also loved her just hurling a chair at Hyugas head in frustration. That chair/brawling stuff can often come across as rote in late period LCO matches but here it felt like Shimoda meant it. Hyugas jumping knees were plenty brutal as always and thanks to her the pace never slowed down. Loved her stomping on Shimodas face. It's weird how Hyugas act is kind of predictable but she keeps having great matches. Real sleeper match considering it's dark period joshi, but the sheer hatred makes this.

 

Momoe Nakanishi vs Misae Genki, NEO 8/14/2004

Very fun big vs little match. Genki is often sloppy but does a pretty great job here being a lumbering monster swinging at her faster opponent. Nakanishi was such a talented wrestler, she does a great job trying to outmaneuver her bigger opponent and coming from odd and unexpected angles. She was also quite hard hitting when it came to kicking some ass. Dug all her slick pin combos. Also lots of Genki absolutely ragdolling Nakanishi with suplexes and throws. Finishing run was all kinds of tricked out and fun, Nakanishi always makes things a bit more complex than your standard joshi match. Her suplexes on Genki were also amazing.

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 Blooming Ultra Wild Dance 8/29/1993

 Watch

 Semi Finals: Eagle Sawai vs. Noriyo Tateno

This was very ground based and alright. Tateno struggling to lock holds in on Sawai due to her large frame added some interest. Tateno worked this as the veteran star grounding and containing her beastly opponent. It was no Itsuki Yamazaki in JWP performance, but it was decent enough and I was into Sawai overcoming her. The spot where Sawai crushed Tatenos bridge looked downright murderous.

Semi Finals: Shinobu Kandori vs. Harley Saito

This went 11 minutes and we got about 7:30 of it. We get pretty much the opening , and then the ending section, both of which are really great. Starts like a Choshu/Hashimoto match with Saito trying to blow Kandori away with her kicks and Kandori just being an impossible badass. I like while Saito is good enough to not get tapped out right away by Kandori, she still pretty much got her leg mangled. Also check out Saito selling her shoulder earlier. Ending had Kandori busting out several really great Fujiwaraish counters and Saito doing her best outmatched fighter trying to pull of an upset performance. I‘m salty about this missing 3 and a half minutes.

Bull Nakano & Mima Shimoda vs. Rumi Kazama & Yasha Kurenai

Opening minutes of this was the kind of hot interpromotional warfare your brain craves. Nakano is as good of a monster as you need shrugging people off and blasting them with lariats, Kazama kicks the crap out of her, Kurenai is an eye-stabbing trouble making fiend, and there‘s brawling and a staff and nunchakus getting brought in. Middle portion was a bit middling as I was annoyed by Bull and Mima kind of no selling their opponents, but the ending made up for it as we get Rumi and Yasha unloading their big moves on Mima, more staff-bashing and Yasha dramatically trying to survive Bull. This was plenty enjoyable.

Finals: Shinobu Kandori vs. Eagle Sawai

This starts out great right away with Sawai going for the powerbomb and then spiking Kandori with a Randleman-esque slam. Pretty much every 1993 Kandori match is gonna be scrappy and full of bone breaking submission work and this had plenty of face kicks, smacks and nasty knee bars. Sawai isn‘t someone people rate highly but I enjoyed her as a big monster throwing Kandori around which is different from her usual opponents. Ending was great as Sawai seemed to be crumbling from Kandoris submission onslaught until Sawai started throwing her with those big uranages. Kandori can‘t put her away with powermoves so she has to come up with a Fujiwara-ish counter. Scrappy and good.

The Library

LLPW Burning Gaze ~Gateway of Passion~ 5/11/1993

Miki Handa vs. Mima Shimoda

Hey look, it‘s an interpromotional match! These matches are always super heated and everyone works urgent, so this ended up being fun. Both blocked each others basic moves to begin and that‘s totally enough to get me into a match. Shimoda looked good directing the action, and even Miki Handa can bring the heat given the circumstances. It was pretty clipped, but I think we got a good idea of the match.

Noriyo Tateno & Kurenai Yasha vs. Shinobu Kandori & Mizuki Endo

Really great opening minute here as Tateno suicide dives into nothing. Kandori gets on the mic to shit talk her but Kurenai elbows her in the back of the head! Yasha follows up by trying to take Kandoris eye out, to which Kandori responds by getting up and punching Yasha in the face. Awesome stuff. Yasha was pretty great here in general, booting people in the face and really knowing how to be a pest at the right time. Kandoris shoot submissions were great and sent people into a frenzy to get to the ropes. The action was much more basic when Endo was in, although Tateno and Kurenai knew to put the heat on her. I‘ve been shitting on Tateno a lot but she was good here just flying into people with knees. It was a 14 minute match clipped in half and I really would‘ve liked to see the whole thing because what we saw was great.

Suzuka Minami & Bat Yoshinaga vs. Rumi Kazama & Yukari Osawa 

HOLY SHIT!! I LOVE PRO WRESTLING!!! This was absolutely awesome. Why nobody ever talks about how LLPW was the promotion that ran all these crazy heated, stiff main event brawls? This was the joshi equivalent to something like WAR vs. New Japan, really violent crazy match with a relentless pace where nobody holds back. Bat Yoshinaga is this scuzzy AJW undercarder with a karate gimmick and she has the night of her life here, holy lord she was awesome squaring off with the LLPW wrestlers and throwing kicks. She was getting massive face heat too so everyone in that arena that night knew she was awesome! 3 out of the 4 workers here throw kicks and they were all landing, there are a number of really violent saves where someone was going for a pin or submission and then got blindsided with a kick to the back of the head. Minami is the one worker who doesn‘t have much strike based offense but she does a good job tightening her stuff up and there are a few moments where she also kicked the shit out of her opponent. Kazama likes to play shooter so Minami frantically kicking her way out of her leglock was really cool. Most of the match was violent, scrappy standup interspersed with Minami and Kazama doing some cool wrestling and awesome Bat Yoshinaga character moments. There was one moment where Yukari tried breaking up one of Yoshinagas holds with kicks and Yoshinaga just give her this amazing disdainful look, totally not giving a damn about how hard Osawa was kicking her in the head. Later in the match it‘s Osawa who‘s putting a half crab on someone and the camera does a really nice job catching her glare over at Yoshinaga, who struts into the ring and pops Osawa with a single blow. That moment may have made the whole match, but I will also give credit to Yoshinaga putting on the single greatest iron claw in history on Kazama. The match builds to a flurry of big moves as many joshi matches do but they retain the aura of a crazy fight. I really liked how Minami and Yoshinaga initially dominated, but the match slowly began to slip away from their control. Kazama and Osawa seemed to have it in the bag until Yoshinaga made an awesome rally spin kicking everyone in the face. Everyone here fought hard but it was Yoshinagas night, and the ending really underlines that nicely. What a gem of a match.

THE LIBRARY

IWA Japan 3/3/1997

Emi Motokawa vs. Mima Shimoda

Rookie vs. Veteran match that exceeded expectations, considering it could’ve been just a worthless squash. But they actually managed to construct a logical match that was highly entertaining. I watched a ton of shitty Shimoda matches in ARSION, but this was a nice reminder that she was really good at one point. She really gives Motokawa the business here booting her in the face and waffling her with chairs. Motokawa looks spunky and gets a big rub going 15 minutes against Shimoda in a match with hardly any let down.

Metal Face & Katsumi Hirano vs. Crusher Takahashi & Shigeo Okamura

Metal Face is just a skinnier version of Leatherface with some tinfoil on his mask. Was he a young Japanese guy, or just a boy from the States getting a small break in Japan? His wrestling was quite harmless and un-serial killer like. Then again, he was no Leatherface. He did leapfrogs and powerslams and dropkicks and what not. This was perfectly average wrestling, which only went too long at 16 minutes length. 3 out of 4 of these guys really don’t have the kind of offense needed to make such a long match worthwhile, and even Crusher Takahashi can’t salvage a match by his own when he’s tangling with the likes of Metal Face and Katsumi Hirano.

Tortuga vs. Akihiko Masuda

This was clipped down and almost exactly like their previous match. The ref hit a suicide dive. Masuda doesn’t hit any stiff kicks, making himself even less interesting. He really needed to become the Great Takeru at this point and just be mediocre with a mask instead.

Akinori Tsukioka vs. Onryo

Another very clipped down match. Tsukioka tries hard to make this good, suplexing Onryo into chairs to begin and then hitting a swank Moonsault from the bleachers. Onryo however may have been at his worst here. He blew several spots including the finish, and he is just so awkward when controlling the match. To make things worse he did such a bad dust throwing spot the crowd started laughing.

Jun Kikawada vs. Chotaro Kamoi (Rounds)

Jun Kikawada has kickpads and MMA gloves. Kamoi is a sleazy boxer. This was worked MMA fighter vs. Boxer, went about 1 round + 2 minute and consisted mostly of Kikawada taking down Kamoi with judo sweeps before sitting on him and lightly punching him. Really a nothing match although the finish with the towel being thrown in as Kikawada had Kamoi in the STF and Kamoi acting upset about it like fucking Chotaro Kamoi won’t give away a clean victory was amusing.

Kishin Kawabata vs. Takeshi Sato

Classic Japanese wrestling unprofessionalism, the reason why one watches these sleaze shows. Takeshi Sato comes out trying to stiff Kawabata and Kawabata just delivers him a brutal mauling. It’s just a nasty trashing from there, Sato gets his bell rung with open handed strikes and almost gets his chest crushed by Kawabatas knee drops. He mounts a small comeback hitting another potatoe kick of his own and trying a half crab, but Kawabata just muscles out and nails him with a deadlift piledriver. Short match (6 minutes) that I’m sure Sato wished was shorter.

Takashi Ishikawa & Shunme Matsuzaki vs. Keizo Matsuda & Daikokubo Benkei

This is a rough looking match up on paper, but it way over delivered. Shunme is my boy Kazuhiko Matsuzaki, and almost immediately he brains Matsuda hard with chairs. Matsuda ends up bloody and getting kicked in the face a bunch. Ishikawa had a good night, potatoeing people like it’s 1992 again. Matsuzaki also has great looking stomps. I like how Benkei got the hot tag, then did a splash, a lariat and a boston crab and then tagged in Matsuda who was pretty beat up again, “I did all my moves, now it’s your turn”. Benkei was quite fun here though as a tough big guy absorbing punishment and hitting lariats and splashes. I loved how big of a heel reaction Ishikawa got by clocking Matsuda with a chair. In IWA Japan of all places! After the match Ishikawa and crew continue beating down on Matsuda 5 on 1 and I actually wanna see where this feud goes from here.

The Great Kabuki & Masao Orihara & Keisuke Yamada vs. Hiromichi Fuyuki & Gedo & Jado

This is an awesome looking match up on paper, and it really delivered on it’s promise. The Fuyuki & underlings trio really is one of the most consistently entertaining acts of the 90s in their scummy evilness. And Orihara is a sleazy treasure in this match, flying in and out of the scenery, having heated exchanges with Gedo etc. Kabuki is also awesome just tagging in, hitting awesome punches and superkicks and spraying mist. The juicy part is the heat segment on Yamada, which is really well executed and also really bloody. There was also an unusual intrusion when Yamada’s sister(?) tried to save her brother from Fuyukis nefarious tactics and Fuyuki shakes the shit out of her, it was totally unexpected an really underlines Fuyukis scummyness. Yamada survives a ton of punishment in this, almost too much, but then again he was bankrolling everyone and putting all these awessome IWA Japan shows together, so I guess I am fine with it, and the finish is a good one.

 

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