JWP THE FIGHT 5/10/1997

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

Mayumi Ozaki vs. Sari Osumi

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

Tomoko Miyaguchi vs. Carlos Amano

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

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

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

Kanako Motoya vs. Tomoko Kuzumi

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

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

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

The Library

Command Bolshoi Treasure Trove #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.

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.