Miori Kamiya & Kaoru Ito & Mayumi Yamamoto vs. Tomoko Watanabe & Kazue Saito & Akemi Torisu 12:58. They ran six youngsters in and out, but they had to wrestle when they were in, which unfortunately presented many problems. They attempted to do a solid match by sticking to simpler offense, but they did everything quickly in an attempt to maintain a high pace. It's a formula that can work when you are careful to hold steady at the pace you can actually execute at. That was not at all the case, in fact most of these girls were all rushing so badly they weren't able to connect half the time. If they did one decent kick instead of three fast grazing kicks, the match might have been decent. But alas, it was a rather embarrassing collection of rapidfire grazing blows. Watanabe had a pretty good track record, but Yamamoto fell too soon on Watanabe's huracanrana finisher, nearly doing serious damage to her neck. *
Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda vs. Takako Inoue & Mariko Yoshida 13:40. Fairly entertaining, all action match. Shimoda can't punch or forearm to save her life, but otherwise it was pretty well done. Yoshida seemed the most advanced of the bunch. She was technically competent, and had the crispest execution, looking particularly at home attacking Shimoda's bad knee (for the second match in a row, an injured knee was signified by a knee pad of all things!). Mita was very obviously in developmental mode. She wisely utilized moves that benefited from her size, but she wasn't yet comfortable with them, so she was deliberate if not robotic. Shimoda was more in the Toyota mode, so limber her offense was a bit loose. Takako was pretty much on, and seemed to have more upward mobility at the moment than Mita or Shimoda. **1/4
Sakie Hasegawa & Debbie Malenko vs. Suzuka Minami & Yumiko Hotta 15:45. Hasegawa & Malenko certainly had the talent to move up the cards when used properly, but too often AJW tried to make them something they weren't, particularly by pushing them toward lucha style, which Malenko was downright inept at. This was one of their most successful matches of the period, a well booked match that gave the young team a chance to shine by pairing them with opponents that would keep them in their element. It was a bit odd that she didn't tag after getting manhandled early, especially given how heavily favored Minami & Hotta were, but the logic was to have Malenko worked most of the early portion because that contained the mat/submission work. When Hasegawa finally made the hot tag, the pace picked up dramatically as she began exchanging spots with Minami. Again, it was a bit odd that they'd then slow the match down dramatically when Malenko came back in, but her technical wrestling with Hotta was well done, and actually made the match more diverse and dynamic. Though everyone knew Minami & Hotta would win, they never condescended to Hasegawa & Malenko. On the contrary, they allowed them to be very competitive through heart, determination, and scrappiness, elevating the match to a level that allowed Hasegawa & Malenko to come off as if they were pushing toward being their peers. ***1/4
Bull Nakano & Bat Yoshinaga vs. Aja Kong & Bison Kimura 17:33. Designed to advance the Bull vs. Aja feud without actually giving anything away, the bout started with a big staredown then a couple minutes of fiery action before the pairings shifted to Bison vs. Bull and Aja vs. Bat. Although it really had little significance to the program it should have been working hard to advance, it was a solid match where the rivalry added an intensity and helped justify the stiffness of the brawl. Bat wasn't the right partner for Bull because she lacks the diversity, but this was a perfect match to suit her limited ability. She can't be on offense long because she has no variety, but she can blister you when she connects. She can't take a wide variety of offense because she's not a good bumper, but you can pound on her as much as you want. Jungle Jack certainly gave Bat a beatdown, with the actual wrestling segments coming from Bison vs. Bull. Bat whiffed a few times, but as a whole the match was very well executed. They didn't come close to going all out, but they certainly put more than a satisfactory hurting on one another. ***
Heartbeat The Rival Bout '92: Manami Toyota vs. Toshiyo Yamada 30:00 + 5:00 + 5:00. Korakuen Super Charge was one of the first AJW tapes I owned. The tremendous effort of Yamada & Toyota allowed me to not only endure the jumpy and virtually soundless smear, but fall in love with this 40 minute epic that would have been better at half the length because the best part was the 1st half, and Toyota ran out of steam and got sloppier. I surely didn't truly comprehend how hard they were working to take their match to the next level, which would allow them to become legitimate main eventers, but I could see that the mix of fast, high intensity signature offense segments that were mostly working with the slow, rather basic submission segments that were mostly not working was more necessary than ideal, given the length. They tried to continually elevate the action, which led to errors induced by getting out of control and trying to wrestle too far above their head. Especially in a new viewer, it's often easy to confuse admiration with greatness. While these days I'm not quite as enamored with the actual match, which shows great progress but also exposes them tremendously by being 15 or 20 minutes over what they are really cut out to deliver, I have a greater affinity for its simplicity. I understand they are, for the most part, simply pacing themselves. In essence, the match is Yamada doing her kicks and suplexes and Toyota doing her flying and suplexes broken up by slow mat sequences that are well done on Yamada's part while not so much on Toyota's, and nonetheless are essentially just there so they can rest up for the next burst. I've criticized the matwork in Toyota's matches many times, but there was some genuine effort put into it tonight, with both succeeding in garnering sympathy for themselves. Yamada was, not surprisingly, better at selling the submissions as they were happening, but Toyota was not only screaming in pain, she even remembering to hobble around when she got off the mat to put Yamada's legwork over. By keeping these segments from feeling meaningless, the audience didn't get bored or frustrated with their constant returns to the mat. The breaks from the action made them anticipate the exciting segments more, although that was partly because the matwork was weak, and partly because the action segments were so good the fans were okay with waiting. While far from a great story match, it certainly accomplishes its purpose of making the two teammates seem equal. After playing even for 30 minutes, Toyota demanded a 5 minute extension, eliciting spirited chants of “Zenjo” from the crowd. The overtimes, though quite exciting, accentuated their sketchy execution, and really extended them too far beyond the fatigue point to be successful. However, you want to root for people who just keep wrestling after the first overtime they demanded ends in case someone was thinking of trying to call a halt to it. Read Review ****
IWA World Women's Title: Kyoko Inoue vs. Akira Hokuto 24:53. Overshadowed by all the talk about the great 1992 Toyota vs. Yamada series is the fact that the great 1992 Hokuto vs. Kyoko series showed that Kyoko had arrived as a super, main event caliber wrestler. Although Toyota vs. Yamada is better due to the subsequent two matches, the difference tonight could best be summed up by stating that Hokuto vs. Inoue was the match where they had the ability to fully realize their desires. Of course, Hokuto is far more experienced than Toyota & Yamada, who were getting their first push, but Inoue showed far more crispness, diversity, and charisma than either of her slightly more experienced counterparts. Kyoko was super over in this thrilling match that perhaps had the best start of any women's match in 1992. The only real problem with this match is the first couple minutes of lightning paced acrobatic action were so awesome it was very difficult for the rest of the match to not be a letdown. They came out hyper and energized, doing some of their best lucha and aerial manuevers and generally blowing away Toyota's dropkick heavy offense in the process until Kyoko hurt her knee either getting back body dropped to the floor or taking Hokuto's subsequent dive. This was supposed to ease them into the mat section, but the injury was sadly neglected in favor of generally random body work. The “injury” helped get Inoue over more, but the fans were already doing regular “Kyoko” chants before this occurred. They did a good job of putting over the toll of the match, but that slowed them down, which I'm not sure was a good thing. Spots, even if frivolous, such as Hokuto doing a forward flip to stop a whip into the corner are what made the match so exciting. Everything looked good at regular speed, but the greatness was definitely when they were doing it at exceptional speed, and that was mainly early. This is not to say the match wasn't good, even excellent throughout, but rather the opening was so off the charts that even the closing was never able to regain that level of brilliance. The closing was very important though, at least the result, as though Inoue was the champ, defeating arguably the #2 star in the company in a main event title match lent her a great deal of credibility. ****1/2
Jungle Jack sing
All Japan Tag Title Match: Takako Inoue & Mariko Yoshida vs. Sakie Hasegawa & Debbie Malenko
Bull Nakano & Kyoko Inoue sing
WWWA World Tag Title Decision Match: Aja Kong & Bison Kimura vs. Kyoko Inoue & Toshiyo Yamada
##53 taped 1/4/92 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Takako Inoue & Mariko Yoshida vs. Mima Shimoda & Etsuko Mita
Yumiko Hotta & Suzuka Minami vs. Sakie Hasegawa & Debbie Malenko
Manami Toyoda vs. Toshiyo Yamada
IWA World Women's Title Match: Kyoko Inoue vs. Akira Hokuto
#54 taped 1/5/92 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
All Japan Tag Title Match: Takako Inoue & Mariko Yoshida vs. Sakie Hasegawa & Debbie Malenko
Akira Hokuto & Mima Shimoda vs. Manami Toyoda & Etsuko Mita
Bull Nakano vs. Suzuka Minami
WWWA World Tag Title Decision Match: Aja Kong & Bison Kimura vs. Kyoko Inoue & Toshiyo Yamada
#55 taped 2/1/92 Takasaki-shi Chou Taiikukan & 3/7/92 Yokosuka-shi Sogo Taiikukan
All Japan Junior Title: Saemi Numata vs. Kumiko Maekawa
Debbie Malenko & Sakie Hasegawa vs. Toshiyo Yamada & Kyoko Inoue
Aja Kong vs. Bull Nakano
3/7/92
All Japan Junior Champion Decision League: Saemi Numata vs. Shiho Nakamigawa
All Japan Junior Champion Decision League: Yuki Lee vs. Akemi Torisu
Bull Nakano vs. Akira Hokuto
UWA World Women's Tag Title: Toshiyo Yamada & Manami Toyota vs. Suzuka Minami & Yumiko Hotta
#56 taped 3/20/92 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
All Japan Junior Title: Yuki Lee vs. Akemi Torisu
Kazue Saito Retirement Ceremony
All Japan Tag Title: Mima Shimoda & Mariko Yoshida vs. Sakie Hasegawa & Debbie Malenko
Kyoko Inoue vs. Bull Nakano
2/3 Falls WWWA World & UWA Double Tag Title: Aja Kong & Bison Kimura vs. Manami Toyota & Toshiyo Yamada
Akemi Torisu vs. Kumiko Maekawa
Rie Tamada? vs. Saemi Numata
Little Frankie vs. Tomezo Tsunokake
Miori Kamiya & Kaoru Ito vs. Yuki Lee & Etsuko Mita
Gokumon-to sing (Bull Nakano & Kyoko Inoue & Bat Yoshinaga)
Mint Flowers sing
Bull Nakano & Bat Yoshinaga & Tomoko Watanabe vs. Suzuka Minami & Debbie Malenko & Yumiko Hotta
Aja Kong vs. Akira Hokuto
Kyoko Inoue & Sakie Hasegawa vs. Toshiyo Yamada & Manami Toyota
Aja Kong & Bison Kimura Sing
Bull Nakano vs. Akira Hokuto
Bull Nakano with Kyoko Inoue & Bat Yoshinaga Sing
2/3 Falls UWA World Tag Title Match: Manami Toyota & Toshiyo Yamada vs. Aja Kong & Kyoko Inoue
3/20/92
Zen Nihon Tag Senshukenjiai: Sakie Hasegawa & Debbie Malenko vs. Mima Shimoda & Mariko Yoshida
Miori Kamiya & Kaoru Ito vs. Etsuko Mita & Miho Nakamikawa. Far from the most basic opener, but the execution was sometimes mechanical when Nakamikawa was involved. Since it was short it was action packed and not too repetitive. Kamiya was at her best, execution well and having some impact on her strikes. Mita was solid, but her moveset was lacking compared to a few years later. Not that it was ever great, but more that she'd yet to learn how to make that fact of little relevance. *3/4
Zen Nihon Junior Senshukenjiai: Yuki Lee vs. Akemi Torisu. A real stinker. Lousy transitions, and everything else for that matter. Sometimes looked more like amaresu than puroresu, but either the only thing that saved it from being intollerably bad was they actually edited it down from 20:00 to 3:24.
Yumiko Hotta & Suzuka Minami vs. Bat Yoshinaga & Tomoko Watanabe. Fast, stiff, and well executed. Unfortunately, it was considerably one-sided and had an awkward early ending. Watanabe actually tried la magistral with Suzuka standing, which was all kinds of awkward. **1/2
Akira Hokuto vs. Takako Inoue. Hokuto took it to Takako right away, seeming determined to make this worthwhile. She looked great, and it was a very good match when she was on offense. What really stood out about her offense is how nasty the moves were, particularly destroying Takako's neck with piledriver and suplex variations. The match really couldn't be competitive, but was hurt more by Takako not being able to get some of her moves off quick enough. She looked less experienced than she actually was. **1/2
Kazue Saito retirement ceremony
Zen Nihon Tag Senshukenjiai: Sakie Hasegawa & Debbie Malenko vs. Mima Shimoda & Mariko Yoshida. Considering who was involved, this match was unimaginably bad. It's still hard for me to believe that I'd be describing it as a comedy of errors, especially since the Marinepiad match less than a month later that should be worse given Takako instead of Shimoda was instead very good. Shimoda & Yoshida had just returned from Mexico and wanted to show off some of the stuff they picked up, but Malenko admitted not understanding Lucha in her pre match interview and Hasegawa was in the same boat. That only scratches the surface on the problems here though. It's one thing for a match to have no concept of what it wants to be and keep switching styles randomly, but another to do so because all the undercard matches were uncharacteristically short so something had to kill 25 minutes. The match had it's moments, but there were far more when they were on different pages or just simply screwing up what they were trying. Malenko looked good on the mat. Yoshida sometimes looked good doing Lucha, with a cool spot where she somersaulted over the opponents double elbow. These two didn't get help in other areas, and Malenko was more a detriment in some of those than a help on the mat. Shimoda was way off, losing her balance when she try to climb the ropes. DUD
Kyoko Inoue vs. Bull Nakano. These two had special matches in '95 when Bull's body was in terrible shape, but Kyoko's status had increased tremendously. Bull delivered everything you'd expect from her, beating Kyoko fiercely as this was a Kyoko is very overmatched but has great heart scenario. Kyoko was disappointing though. Not only was she using way too many submissions, especially since she has no submission finisher and Bull never submits, but she was trying to put Bull in onces that Bull isn't meant to take like a ceiling hold. I wouldn't buy Bull submitting, but at least if it looked like Kyoko was hurting her or coming close...Too much talent for it not to be good, but it took way to long to get going having the look of a draw and Bull didn't bump well. Bull using like 20 lariats wasn't a plus either. **1/2
2/3 Falls WWWA Sekai Tag & UWA Sekai Joshi Tag Title Match: Aja Kong & Bison Kimura vs. Toshiyo Yamada & Manami Toyota. Excellent wrestlers going at it for 35 minutes. Three strong falls, all fairly even in time for once, but no dramatic arch in any. No specific style here. They are diverse enough to pull off doing a little of everything, but it would have been better if they gave you something to get into beyond consistently good wrestling. It was never dull since the submissions were still useless but interspersed, but it was never great either. Bison carried her team and the match for that matter. Toyota was the spark plug, but I still enjoyed it more when Yamada was against Bison because their similar styles mesh very well. Obviously with Yamada, Bison, & Aja it was stiff. What separated Aja's offense from the other two is she did a bunch of brutal suplexes and bombs rather than mainly relying on the strikes for impact. Yamada & Toyota win WWWA tag. ****
*1992 Wrestling Observer Newsletter Best Major Wrestling Card Winner*
Yumiko Hotta & Suzuka Minami & Mima Shimoda vs. Miori Kamiya & Kaoru Ito & Tomoko Watanabe. Short fast-paced spot intensive match. Suzuka & Hotta looked really good. Their execution was crisp, but the others often didn't have enough on their spots and the basic wrestling of the younger wrestlers wasn't all that great. **1/4
Shootboxing: Bat Yoshinaga vs. Akemi Torisu. This was the style you'd see in a toughman contest. The technique was poor, but it had a ton of action as they were both bangers with poor defense. Torisu was incredibly active, but she almost never kicked and her punches were swooping roundhouses. Bat's strikes looked much better and did more damage, but her defense was lame.
AJ Tag Titles: Debbie Malenko & Sakie Hasegawa vs. Takako Inoue & Mariko Yoshida. These four were still learning, but they worked their asses off. It was a solid match with a hot final third. The problem was they, Sakie in particular, missed some spots. Yoshida and Malenko were the two best and they worked well together. Mat work needed to be more focused. Takako & Yoshida win titles. ***3/4
IWA World Women's Title: Kyoko Inoue vs. Manami Toyota. An exciting match, with high workrate and big high spots. Last 5 minutes are particularly excellent with Toyota going a tope, a plancha, and a super quebrada in succession. Unfortunately, Toyota's comebacks made Super Koji's look good. Toyota wins title. ****1/4
All Pacific Title: Bison Kimura vs. Toshiyo Yamada. They worked the typical Bison style match with her carrying. It was a solid match with pretty much everything done looking good, but it was fairly traditional with few chances taken. A good match, mainly built around Bison's blazing chops, but the action failed to get hot and the crowd never really got into it. ***1/4
WWWA World Singles Title: Bull Nakano vs. Aja Kong. An excellent battle of the monsters. These two did some great moves for their size, including Bull doing a rolling guillotine leg drop and a moonsault and Aja doing a plancha, but what made this great is they knew how and when to use them. Bull carried this match and had a great performance as Aja wasn't all that great at this point. I don't want to make this sound like a high spot match because it was the typical brutal match from these two, complete with double juice. ****1/2
Zen Nihon Junior Oza Ketteisen: Saemi Numata vs. Akemi Torisu. Basic nothing rookie match. Neither of these two were worth anything in their prime, much less here. 1:33 of 6:54
Kaoru Ito vs. Miori Kamiya. Looked like a pretty good match, but all we got were the spots at the end. Based on that, it had some of the best effort of the night.
Suzuka Minami & Mima Shimoda vs. Bat Yoshinaga & Tomoko Watanabe. Appeared to be alright at best. Shimoda relied on her athleticism, but she was far less smooth then in later years when she wisely spotted those moves and focused on things she did better. Bat was pretty useless since she didn't kick. 3:43 of 13:36
Zen Nihon Senshukenjiai: Takako Inoue vs. Mariko Yoshida. If ever there was a match where there was too much effort, this was it. They acted like it was the biggest match of their lives, in total desperation for the duration. This produced a lot of good near finishes, but on the other hand they were too hyper performing some of their moves, resulting in looseness and wasted motion. Much of the match was mat oriented with Yoshida working Takako's back and Takako working Yoshida's knee. Takako hurt her ankle and was hobbling around a bit, but applied a quick tape job and was good to finish. 17:16. **3/4
Debbie Malenko & Sakie Hasegawa interview
Nichipai Shinsedai Tag 5-bon Shobu Saishusen: Debbie Malenko & Sakie Hasegawa vs. Aja Kong & Bison Kimura. Kind of the equivalent of a junior vs. heavy match. Malenko & Hasegawa had the Zen Nihon tag titles, a title for the younger girls, but were trying to hang with the meanest veterans in the land. Hasegawa, who had a bad back but one wonders if that even played into it, was totally overmatched. Malenko didn't fair well, but she wasn't completely destroyed. This was one of those medal of bravery matches where you were rewarded for simply hanging on as long as you good, surviving even in defeat. Work was fine, but there's no drama in this type of match. 22:44. **1/2
Manami Toyota & Toshiyo Yamada vs. Yumiko Hotta & Kyoko Inoue. Yamada vs. Hotta was quite a good rivalry during the 1991-94 period, as they were the main AJW wrestlers influenced by the UWF. There stuff was closer to the quality you'd expect, with Yamada being the standout. Everyone else was good. Consistent quality, but no flashes of greatness. 18:33. ***1/4
Kaoru Ito & Chikako Hasegawa (Shiratori) vs. Tomoko Watanabe & Akemi Torisu
Yumiko Hotta & Suzuka Minami vs. Bat Yoshinaga & Miori Kamiya
Debbie Malenko & Mima Shimoda vs. Takako Inoue & Cinthia Moreno. LCO had been to Mexico, and this match was another that was helping Shimoda learn Lucha Libre. She worked almost exclusively with Moreno, who was the best in the match delivering several nice high spots that were all well executed. Malenko largely worked with Takako, doing ground work early and then their regular high spots. This was not as interesting, and had a few blown spots including what would have been the finish. Good little match with nice offense from Moreno that Shimoda took well. **3/4
Manami Toyota & Sakie Hasegawa vs. Kyoko Inoue & Mariko Yoshida
CMLL Sekai Oza Nippon ? Ketteisen: Bull Nakano vs. Toshiyo Yamada
AKIRA (Hokuto) & (Etsuko) MITA vs. Aja Kong & Bison Kimura
Debbie Malenko & Suzuka Minami & Yumiko Hotta vs. Mariko Yoshida & Takako Inoue & Toshiyo Yamada
Manami Toyota & Mima Shimoda vs. Akira Hokuto & Etsuko Mita
All Pacific Title: Bison Kimura vs. Kyoko Inoue
Akemi Torisu vs. Saemi Numata
Tomoko Watanabe vs. Kaoru Ito
Rie Tamada vs. Cynthia Moreno
Etsuko Mita vs. Bat Yoshinaga
Debbie Malenko vs. Suzuka Minami
Takako Inoue sings
Jungle Jack sing
Sakie Hasegawa & Takako Inoue vs. Toshiyo Yamada & Manami Toyota
Akira Hokuto vs & Yumiko Hotta
Kyoko Inoue & Mima Shimoda & Mariko Yoshida vs. Aja Kong & Bison Kimura & Miori Kamiya
Bat Yoshinaga & Tomoko Watanabe vs. Saemi Numata & Akemi Torisu. 1/2*
Suzuka Minami & Rie Tamada & Cynthia Moreno vs. Yumiko Hotta & Miori Kamiya & Kaoru Ito. *1/4
Japan Grand Prix '92: Mariko Yoshida vs. Sakie Hasegawa. ***3/4
Japan Grand Prix '92: Aja Kong vs. Bison Kimura. Brutal match. Read Review. ****1/2
Kyoko Inoue & Takako Inoue vs. Bull Nakano & Akira Hokuto. ****
Manami Toyota vs. Toshiyo Yamada. The actual wrestling is better than in their more famous hair match. ****3/4
Kaoru Ito & Cynthia Moreno vs. Tomoko Watanabe & Saemi Numata
Mima Shimoda vs. Takako Inoue
Sakie Hasegawa vs. Debbie Malenko
AJ Title: Mariko Yoshida vs. Etsuko Mita
Aja Kong & Miori Kamiya & Terri Power vs. Bull Nakano & Yumiko Hotta & Suzuka Minami
WWWA Tag Titles: Toshiyo Yamada & Manami Toyota vs. Akira Hokuto & Kyoko Inoue ****
Tomoko Watanabe & Akemi Torisu vs. Saemi Numata & Chikako Hasegawa
Mima Shimoda & Cinthia Moreno vs. Miori Kamiya & Kaoru Ito
Terry Power & Debbie Malenko vs. Suzuka Minami & Yumiko Hotta
Japan Grand Prix '92 Blue Zone Koshiki Leaguesen: Kyoko Inoue vs. Mariko Yoshida
Handicap Match: Bull Nakano & Etsuko Mita vs. Toshiyo Yamada & Takako Inoue & Sakie Hasegawa
Japan Grand Prix '92 Red Zone Koshiki Leaguesen: Manami Toyota vs. Aja Kong
Akemi Torisu vs. Saemi Numata
Etsuko Mita & Cynthia Moreno & Tomoko Watanabe vs. Mima Shimoda & Kaoru Ito & Toshiyo Tamada
Little Frankie vs. Tomezo Tsunokake
Takako Inoue vs. Suzuka Minami
Bat Yoshinaga vs. Mariko Yoshida
Takako Inoue sings
Kyoko Inoue vs. Sakie Hasegawa
Aja Kong & Miori Kamiya & Terri Power vs. Bull Nakano & Toshiyo Yamada & Debbie Malenko
Yumiko Hotta vs. Manami Toyota
Yumiko Hotta & Suzuka Minami & Cynthia Moreno vs. Etsuko Mita & Kaoru Ito & Miori Kamiya
All Japan Tag Title Match: Mariko Yoshida & Takako Inoue vs. Debbie Malenko & Mima Shimoda
All Japan Title Match: Sakie Hasegawa vs. Mariko Yoshida
All Pacific Title Match: Kyoko Inoue vs. Terri Power
CMLL World Women's Title Match: Bull Nakano vs Akira Hokuto
WWWA World Tag Title Match: Toshiyo Yamada & Manami Toyota vs. Aja Kong & Kyoko Inoue
#61 taped 7/30/92 & 8/9/92
7/30/92 Mito Shimin Taiikukan
Midsummer Typhoon '92 Fuji TV Cup Tag Tournament 1R: Takako Inoue & Etsuko Mita vs. Mariko Yoshida & Sakie Hasegawa
Midsummer Typhoon '92 Fuji TV Cup Tag Tournament 1R: Manami Toyota & Mima Shimoda vs. Bat Yoshinaga & Tomoko Watanabe
8/9/92 Nagoya Kokusai Kaikan
Midsummer Typhoon '92 Fuji TV Cup Tag Tournament 2R: Manami Toyota & Mima Shimoda vs. Sakie Hasegawa & Mariko Yoshida
Midsummer Typhoon '92 Fuji TV Cup Tag Tournament 1R: Terri Power & Kyoko Inoue vs. Akira Hokuto & Toshiyo Yamada
7/30/92 Cage Match: Bull Nakano vs. Akira Hokuto
#62 taped 8/13/92 & 8/15/92
8/13/92
Midsummer Typhoon '92 Fuji TV Cup Tag Tournament Semifinal: Sakie Hasegawa & Mariko Yoshida vs. Akira Hokuto & Toshiyo Yamada
Akira Hokuto vs. Mariko Yoshida
8/15/92 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Midsummer Typhoon '92 Fuji TV Cup Tag Tournament Final: Akira Hokuto & Toshiyo Yamada vs. Bull Nakano & Aja Kong
IWA World Women's Title Hair vs. Hair Match: Toshiyo Yamada vs. Manami Toyota
Fuji TV Hai Tag Tournament Mid Summer Typhoon '92: Etsuko Mita & Takako Inoue vs. Mariko Yoshida & Sakie Hasegawa 7:20 of 14:37
Fuji TV Hai Tag Tournament Mid Summer Typhoon '92: Manami Toyota & Mima Shimoda vs. Bat Yoshinaga & Tomoko Watanabe 10:09. Shimoda gets bloody nose the hardway.
Kanaami Death Match: Akira Hokuto vs. Bull Nakano 9:32 of 18:16. Double juice. Hokuto does missile kick off the top of the cage, which I believe was a first. Not to be outdone, Bull tries her guillotine leg drop off the top of the cage, but Hokuto avoids.
Fuji TV Hai Tag Tournament Mid Summer Typhoon '92: Akira Hokuto & Toshiyo Yamada vs. Mariko Yoshida & Sakie Hasegawa 2:44. Stopped because Sakie sustains a back injury. Hokuto & Yamada argue about Hokuto using a kendo stick in the ring on the opposition. Restarted as Hokuto vs. Yoshida, which lasts all of 23 seconds. Hokuto then attacks Yamada with the stick, which is important for the dissention angle in the Fuji Cup final on 8/15.
Bull Nakano & Bat Yoshinaga & Tomoko Watanabe vs. Aja Kong & Miori Kamiya & Kaoru Ito 9:01. Aja's attack on Bull backfires, striking partner Ito, and Bull then gets the pin. Aja & Bull buddy up, again setting up the Fuji Cup final.
AJW TV 8/92 taped 8/9/92 Nagaoka Kokusai Event Hall
Fuji TV Tag Tournament Mid Summer Typhoon '92 Quarterfinal: Mariko Yoshida & Sakie Hasegawa vs. Manami Toyota & Mima Shimoda
Aja Kong vs. Takako Inoue
Fuji TV Tag Tournament Mid Summer Typhoon '92 Quarterfinal: Akira Hokuto & Toshiyo Yamada vs. Kyoko Inoue & Terri Power
JWP Handheld 1991
Cuty Suzuki & Plum Mariko vs. Mayumi Ozaki & Yasha Kurenai
Martial Arts Match: Sachiko Koganei vs. Chan Mi Chon
Miss A & Rumi Kazama vs. Eagle Sawai & Yukari Osawa
Itsuki Yamazaki vs. Mami Kitamura
Shinobu Kandori & Harley Saito vs. Devil Masami & The Scorpion
AJW TV 3/91
Manami Toyota demonstrates holds
Akira Hokuto vs. Bat Yoshinaga
Aja Kong & Bison Kimura & Mika Takahashi vs. Bull Nakano & Kyoko Inoue & Tomoko Watanabe
FMW: Reggie Bennett feature and TV show appearance
Aja Kong, Bison, Ito, & Kamiya try to train a fat boy. He can't really even do a sit up, but they put him into a tag match, with Aja reffing
AJW TV taped 1/5/92 Korakuen Hall
Jungle Jack sing
All Japan Tag Titles: Takako Inoue & Mariko Yoshida vs. Debbie Malenko & Sakie Hasegawa
Zen Nihon Senshuken: Sakie Hasegawa vs. Kaoru Ito 11:24 of 18:00. Ito was the better of the two. She was incredibly intense, particularly during a rear naked choke that she made look so deadly though the crowd (granted they probably don't see it very well) didn't respond. Ito tries the simpler moves, but she executes them all very well. Sakie did one killer rolling savate off the 2nd, but half of her kicks missed their target. Early mat oriented portion was somewhat weak, but got quite good when Ito went on offense. **1/2
Akira Hokuto & Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda vs. Tomoko Watanabe & Saemi Numata & Cynthia Moreno 5:17. Well worked, but a complete mismatch. Watanabe got to do a few moves to Shimoda, but basically her team was completely destroyed. Mita & Shimoda showed some of the brawling they'd become known for, and executed their offense well.
Aja Kong & Terri Power vs. Kyoko Inoue & Takako Inoue 16:26. A good match in spite of Terri. She-Man was tripping over it's own muscles as always, which is too bad because it might have been a good wrestler if it's answer wasn't always going to the gym to improve. That said, Power actually pulled off a huracanrana. Inoues did an excellent job working around Power, but of course Takako had very little offense because Power can't bend to take a bump. Takako was better than usual and Aja and Kyoko were as good as expected. Quality was consistent in that they didn't start slow or turn it up a couple of notches for the finish (there were peaks and valleys directly linked to Power tagging out and in but they weren't planned). ***
Bull Nakano & Bat Yoshinaga vs. Toshiyo Yamada & Manami Toyota 20:03 of 22:09. Toyota got roughed up, a victim of both stiff striking and brawling. She even suffered a very small laceration on her forehead. Yamada was the bigger star of the two in these days and got to make the hot tag. Bat was better than usual, which helped since her team was on offense during much of the body. Got hot in the last 3-4 minutes with Toyota doing some of her better moves, and the duo showing good teamwork. Still not a particularly spectacular match because brutality overwhelmed finesse, but always very interesting and surprisingly well executed. ***1/2
Rie Tamada & Chikako Hasegawa vs. Saemi Numata & Akemi Torisu. *
Terri Power & Miori Kamiya vs. Tomoko Watanabe & Kumiko Watanabe. *1/4
Bat Yoshinaga vs. Kaoru Ito. **
Kyoko Inoue & Takako Inoue & Mariko Yoshida vs. Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda & Cynthia Moreno. ***
Fuji Television Tag Tournament Mid Summer Typhoon'92 Final: Bull & Aja vs. Akira Hokuto & Toshiyo Yamada. ****1/4
IWA World Women's Title Hair vs. Hair Match: Toshiyo Yamada vs. Manami Toyota. ****1/2
Rie Tamada & Chikako Hasegawa vs. Saemi Numata & Akemi Torisu. A glorified rookie style tag match. Tamada was the best of the 4, but no one did anything to make you think they'd turn into a great wrestler. *
Terri Power & Miori Kamiya vs. Tomoko Watanabe & Kumiko Watanabe. This is when Power & Kamiya were members of Jungle Jack. They made short work of their opponents. Watanabe was actually the best of the 4 despite her team getting dominated. Power misses one of the most debacled pescados in history. *1/4
Bat Yoshinaga vs. Kaoru Ito. Ito showed a lot of potential here as she out toughed the tough woman Bat en route to the upset win. For the most part this was a stiff match, but some spots didn't have enough on them. **
Kyoko Inoue & Takako Inoue & Mariko Yoshida vs. Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda & Cynthia Moreno. They expected nice high spots and strong work. Mita's team played heel, so that added a dimension. Basically everyone did their spots and got out. Kyoko was the best of the 6. ***
Fuji Television Tag Tournament Mid Summer Typhoon'92 Final: Bull & Aja vs. Akira Hokuto & Toshiyo Yamada. This match had an excellent story. Long time rivals Bull & Aja finally form a tag team, but its the Hokuto & Yamada team that doesn't get along, as heel Hokuto didn't want to team with face Yamada. Hokuto actually attacks her partner during the pre-match interview. The dissention continues throughout the match, predominantly build around Yamada trying to stop Hokuto from using her bokken (wooden kendo sword). This wouldn't have been all that good in America because these kind of dissention angles are so overdone, but in Japan they are rare and unlike most of the American matches, this had the work to back it up. ****1/4
IWA World Women's Title Hair vs. Hair Match: Toshiyo Yamada vs. Manami Toyota. You had two "best friends" and partners battling it out for the title and their hair. Incredible match with great emotion, drama, heat, and intensity. Started out fast, but no one could get the advantage then slowed, but picked up at the 10 minute mark for nearly 10 minutes of great near falls before Toyota Japanese Ocean Cyclone Suplexed Yamada to retain her hair and the title. Great post match with Toyota cutting some of her own hair instead of Yamada's. She had to be restrained by the other wrestlers from breaking up the hair cut, but the teary eyed Toyota got free a few times to temporarily postpone it. Toyota & Yamada hugged after the shaving to a big pop and then a Yamada chant erupted. One of the best women's singles matches of all-time. My only gripe is that the execution could have a bit crisper. The amazing thing about this match is that it came right after Yamada had worked a great tag match, although and most everything else really pales in comparison to this. ****1/2
Tomoko Watanabe & Bat Yoshinaga vs. Cynthia Moreno & Rie Tamada
Debbie Malenko & Takako Inoue vs. Miori Kamiya & Kaoru Ito
Japan Grand Prix '92 Blue Zone Playoff Match: Mariko Yoshida vs. Kyoko Inoue 15:23
Bull Nakano & Yumiko Hotta & Suzuka Minami vs. Akira Hokuto & Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda 17:51. A mostly random midcard six woman that really overachieved because they decided to go all out, perhaps because Megumi Kudo & Combat Toyoda were in the audience, as the first interpromotional match was set up for the 9/19/92 FMW show, though Hokuto & Bull would team there. They delivered an incredibly energetic sprint that was chaos in the best possible way, with useful brawling segments that didn't hijack the whole match. The actual wrestling wasn't the best I've seen, but great effort has a way of elevating very good wrestling. Hotta even did a dive here. Shimoda was arguably the worst worker in the match (I'd say Mita), but she was fearless, and made herself fun to watch taking the veterans head on. Shimoda and Suzuki were the workhorses for their teams, but a lot of the reason this was so good is that Hokuto, Bull, and Hotta contributed a lot more than they really needed to. There was an exciting climax with a lot of saves and double teams, certainly more near finishes than you would expect from a big tag on a show focused on the Japan Grand Prix. ****1/4
Japan Grand Prix '92 Semifinal: Aja Kong vs. Toshiyo Yamada 17:07
Japan Grand Prix '92 Semifinal: Manami Toyota vs. Mariko Yoshida 17:35
Japan Grand Prix '92 Final: Aja Kong vs. Manami Toyota 13:01
#63 taped 8/30/92 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Japan Grand Prix '92 Blue Zone Playoff Match: Mariko Yoshida vs. Kyoko Inoue
Japan Grand Prix '92 Semifinal: Aja Kong vs. Toshiyo Yamada
Japan Grand Prix '92 Semifinal: Manami Toyota vs. Mariko Yoshida
Japan Grand Prix '92 Final: Aja Kong vs. Manami Toyota
#64
8/30/92: Bull Nakano & Yumiko Hotta & Suzuka Minami vs. Akira Hokuto & Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda
9/11/92 Morioka-shi Ice Arena
CMLL World Women's Title Match: Bull Nakano vs. Yumiko Hotta
Aja Kong & Sakie Hasegawa vs. Manami Toyota & Toshiyo Yamada
11/4/92 Fukuoka Nagasaki Kokusai Taiikukan
Akira Hokuto vs. Kauro Ito
Takako Inoue & Kyoko Inoue vs. Toshiyo Yamada & Manami Toyota
Kyoko Inoue & Takako Inoue & Mariko Yoshida vs. Suzuka Minami & Debbie Malenko & Cynthia Moreno
CMLL World Women's Title Match: Bull Nakano vs. Yumiko Hotta
Aja Kong & Sakie Hasegawa vs. Manami Toyota & Toshiyo Yamada
Zen Nihon Junior Senshukenjiai: Rie Tamada vs. Kumiko Maekawa. 6:27
Tomezo Tsunokake vs. Little Frankie. 3:47
Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda vs. Miori Kamiya & Saemi Numata. 9:00
Takako Inoue & Debbie Malenko vs. Yumiko Hotta & Cynthia Moreno. 10:05
Tomoko Watanabe & Bat Yoshinaga vs. Sakie Hasegawa & Kaoru Ito. 20:00 of 30:00
Akira Hokuto vs. Suzuka Minami. 15:37
2/3 Falls: Bull Nakano & Aja Kong & Kyoko Inoue vs. Yumiko Hotta & Toshiyo Yamada & Mariko Yoshida. 12:03, 2:00, & 10:10
9/19/92
Manami Toyota & Toshiyo Yamada vs. Maria del Angel & Tania
Aja Kong & Kyoko Inoue & Lioness Asuka sightseeing in Mexico
Aja Kong & Kyoko Inoue & La Diabolica vs. Lady Apache & La Sirenita & Neftali
9/11/92
Kyoko Inoue & Takako Inoue & Mariko Yoshida vs. Suzuka Minami & Debbie Malenko & Cynthia Moreno
CMLL World Women's Title Match: Bull Nakano vs. Yumiko Hotta
Aja Kong & Sakie Hasegawa vs. Manami Toyota & Toshiyo Yamada
WWWA World Midget Title Match: Little Frankie vs. Tomezo Tsunokake
Kaoru Ito & Miori Kamiya vs. Mima Shimoda & Takako Inoue
Akira Hokuto & Etsuko Mita vs. Bull Nakano & Cynthia Moreno
Tag League The Best '92 League Match: Shark Tsuchiya & Crusher Maedomari vs. Bat Yoshinaga & Tomoko Watanabe
Tag League The Best '92 League Match: Aja Kong & Kyoko Inoue vs. Sakie Hasegawa & Debbie Malenko
Tag League The Best '92 League Match: Yumiko Hotta & Suzuka Minami vs. Manami Toyota & Toshiyo Yamada
Cynthia Moreno vs Etsuko Mita 11:33
Miori Kamiya vs Mima Shimoda 14:02
Yumiko Hotta & Suzuka Minami vs Bat Yoshinaga & Tomoko Watanabe 13:09
Takako Inoue vs Kaoru Ito 15:33
Tag League The Best '92 Koshikisen: Manami Toyota & Toshiyo Yamada vs Sakie Hasegawa & Debbie Malenko 30:00
Special Tag Match: Aja Kong & Kyoko Inoue vs Bull Nakano & Akira Hokuto 18:19
Aja Kong & Debbie Malenko & Sakie Hasegawa vs. Bull Nakano & Suzuka Minami & Tomoko Watanabe
Akira Hokuto vs. Kauro Ito
Kyoko Inoue & Takako Inoue vs. Toshiyo Yamada & Manami Toyota
Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda vs. Miori Kamiya & Chikako Hasegawa. *3/4
AJ Single Title: Tomoko Watanabe vs. Kaoru Ito. Ito wins title. ***
Tag League The Best '92: Takako Inoue & Terri Power vs. Suzuka Minami & Yumiko Hotta. **
All Pacific Title: Kyoko Inoue vs. Akira Hokuto. Hokuto wins title. ****1/2
Bison Kimura retirement ceremony
WWWA World Martial Arts Title: Bat Yoshinaga vs. Kyoko Kamikaze
Sakie Hasegawa & Debbie Malenko vs. Erika Tsuchiya & Yoshika Maedomari (FMW team). *1/2
WWWA World Single Title: Bull Nakano vs. Aja Kong. Aja wins title. ***3/4
2/3 Falls WWWA World Tag Titles: Toshiyo Yamada & Manami Toyota vs. Dynamite Kansai & Mayumi Ozaki (JWP team). Best women's tag match ever. Read Review 14:38, 1:44, 24:00. *****
Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda vs. Miori Kamiya & Chikako Hasegawa. *3/4
AJ Single Title: Tomoko Watanabe vs. Kaoru Ito. Ito wins title. ***
Tag League The Best '92: Takako Inoue & Terri Power vs. Suzuka Minami & Yumiko Hotta. **
All Pacific Title: Kyoko Inoue vs. Akira Hokuto. Hokuto wins title. ****1/2
Bison Kimura retirement ceremony
WWWA World Martial Arts Title: Bat Yoshinaga vs. Kyoko Kamikaze
Sakie Hasegawa & Debbie Malenko vs. Erika Tsuchiya & Yoshika Maedomari (FMW team). *1/2
WWWA World Single Title: Bull Nakano vs. Aja Kong. Aja wins title. ***3/4
2/3 Falls WWWA World Tag Titles: Toshiyo Yamada & Manami Toyota vs. Dynamite Kansai & Mayumi Ozaki (JWP team). Best women's tag match ever. Read Review 14:38, 1:44, 24:00. *****
Miori Kamiya & Kaoru Ito & Chikako Hasegawa vs. Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda & Saemi Numata
Tomezo Tsunokake vs. Mr. Buddhaman
Bull Nakano & Terri Power vs. Yumiko Hotta & Suzuka Minami
Zen Nihon Tag Senshuken Oza Ketteisen: Debbie Malenko & Sakie Hasegawa vs. Bat Yoshinaga & Tomoko Watanabe
All Pacific Senshukenjiai: Akira Hokuto vs. Takako Inoue
Tag League The Best '92 Yushoketteisen: Toshiyo Yamada & Manami Toyota vs. Aja Kong & Kyoko Inoue
12/14/92 1992 All Japan Women Awards
All Pacific Title Match: Akira Hokuto vs. Debbie Malenko
IWA World Women's Title Match: Manami Toyota vs. Sakie Hasegawa
Bull Nakano & Aja Kong vs. Kyoko Inoue & Toshiyo Yamada
#67 taped 1/4/93 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Terri Power & Suzuka Minami vs. Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda
All Pacific Title: Akira Hokuto vs. Debbie Malenko
IWA World Women's Title: Manami Toyota vs. Sakie Hasegawa
Bull Nakano & Aja Kong vs. Kyoko Inoue & Toshiyo Yamada
#68 taped 2/10/93 & 3/11/93
2/10/93 Kumamoto City Gym
All Japan Title: Kaoru Ito vs. Debbie Malenko
Toshiyo Yamada & Manami Toyota vs. Aja Kong & Bat Yoshinaga
3/11/93 Nagoya Sangyo Kaikan
Bat Yoshinaga & Tomoko Watanabe vs. Terri Power & Kaoru Ito
All Japan Tag Title: Aja Kong vs. Yumiko Hotta
Manami Toyota & Toshiyo Yamada vs. Debbie Malenko & Sakie Hasegawa
Rie Tamada vs. Miho Ikari
Masami Watanabe vs. Chikako Hasegawa
Saemi Numata vs. Etsuko Mita
Mr. Buddaman vs. Tomezo Tsunokake
Takako Inoue sings
Takako Inoue & Yumiko Hotta vs. Bat Yoshinaga & Bull Nakano
Kaoru Ito vs. Akira Hokuto
Toshiyo Yamada & Manami Toyota vs. Kyoko Inoue & Aja Kong
Masami Watanabe vs. Sachiko Nakamura
Rie Tamada vs. Saemi Numata
Kaoru Ito vs. Chikako Hasegawa
Mr. Buddhaman vs. Tomezo Tsunokake
Terri Power & Etsuko Mita vs. Mima Shimoda Debbie Malenko
Kyoko Inoue & Takako Inoue vs. Bull Nakano & Bat Yoshinaga
Aja Kong vs. Suzuka Minami
Toshiyo Yamada & Manami Toyota vs. Akira Hokuto & Yumiko Hotta
Chikako Hasegawa (Shiratori) & Masami Watanabe (ASARI) vs. Rie Tamada & Sachiko Nakamura. *
Kyoko Inoue vs. Takako Inoue. ***1/2
Toshiyo Yamada & Manami Toyota vs. Aja Kong & Bull Nakano. ****
Akira Hokuto & Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda vs. Harley Saito & Eagle Sawai & Miki Handa (LLPW team). ****1/4
Chikako Hasegawa (Shiratori) & Masami Watanabe (ASARI) vs. Rie Tamada & Sachiko Nakamura. *
Midget Puroresu: Tomezo Tsunokake vs. Mr. Buddhaman. DUD
Saemi Numata vs. Bat Yoshinaga. *
Suzuka Minami vs. Yumiko Hotta. Really strong work with strong execution and all their big spots. The storyline of Suzuka working over Hotta's bad knee was good, but they made the mistake of dropping it when they went to the near falls back and forth. ****
Debbie Malenko & Sakie Hasegawa vs. Terri Power & Kaoru Ito. ***1/2
Kyoko Inoue vs. Takako Inoue. The beginning had no purpose, but it turned into an excellent spot oriented match with heat when Takako took control and nearly beat Kyoko via count out. Both women worked really hard. ***1/2
Toshiyo Yamada & Manami Toyota vs. Aja Kong & Bull Nakano. Fast-paced, all action Toyota style match. ****
Akira Hokuto & Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda vs. Harley Saito & Eagle Sawai & Miki Handa (LLPW team). Great intensity and story. They really played up the interpromotional aspect, as they needed to because this was kicking off the AJW vs. LLPW feud. Hokuto was born to do this kind of match. Harley was really at the top of her game in 1993, and she was the second best here, trailing Hokuto, of course. The post match added heat to this rivalry and put heat on the upcoming Hokuto vs. Kandori match. ****1/4
Exhibition Match: Sakie Hasegawa vs. Masami Watanabe (aka Chaparrita ASARI).
Chikako Hasegawa (aka Shiratori) vs. Tomoko Watanabe
Midget Single Match: Little Frankie vs. Tomezo Tsunokake. Good work for an AJW midget match.
Suzuka Minami & Etsuko Mita vs. Mima Shimoda & Saemi Numata (aka Numacchi). Good match.
AJ Title: Debbie Malenko vs. Terry Power. This may be the only time two Americans ever met for this title. Surprisingly good match that's the best singles match I've ever seen Terry Power in.
Aja Kong & Kaoru Ito vs. Kyoko Inoue & Bat Yoshinaga. Very good stiff match.
2/3 Falls WWWA World Tag Championship: Toshiyo Yamada & Manami Toyota vs. Yumiko Hotta & Takako Inoue. It was very long with great action, but the execution was somewhat off. Excellent.
Zen Nihon Senshukenjiai: Kaoru Ito vs. Debbie Malenko. Malenko dominated this one. She injured Ito's knee with submissions then Ito reinjured it missing her footstomp to the floor. Malenko showed some nice transitions into submissions, but Ito should have been more involved in the match. It's one thing to showcase Malenko, but to have Ito do so little in a match where she was dropping the title made no sense. Seemed like a good match. 7:42 of 25:41.
Suzuka Minami & Mima Shimoda vs. Yumiko Hotta & Takako Inoue. A lot of action and running around, but the work was nothing special. Suzuka was the one real solid worker. Still, what they showed was entertaining. 11:24 of 30:00
Toshiyo Yamada & Manami Toyota vs. Aja Kong & Bat Yoshinaga. Yamada & Toyota were both excellent. Aja & Bat weren't particularly impressive, but their opponents did a strong job of carrying them. In particularl, Yamada vs. Bat was much better than expected. Very good. 9:03 of 22:26.
Masami Watanabe vs. Rie Tamada
Masami Watanabe vs. Chikako Hasegawa
Mr. Buddhaman vs. Tomezo Tsunokake
Mima Shimoda vs. Saemi Numata
Takako Inoue sings
Tomoko Watanabe & Bat Yoshinaga vs. Yumiko Hotta & Takako Inoue
Manami Toyota vs. Kyoko Inoue
Aja Kong & Kaoru Ito vs. Toshiyo Yamada & Debbie Malenko
Tomoko Watanabe vs. Saemi Numata
Tomezo Tsunokake vs. Mr. Buddhaman
Etsuko Mita vs. Bat Yoshinaga
Takako Inoue sings
Kyoko Inoue & Takako Inoue vs. Aja Kong & Kaoru Ito
Toshiyo Yamada vs. Sakie Hasegawa
Manami Toyota & Yumiko Hotta vs. Suzuka Minami & Mima Shimoda
3/17/93
Kyoko Inoue & Takako Inoue vs. Suzuka Minami & Etsuko Mita. Well worked action packed match with lots of near falls. Everyone was at least good, but Kyoko was particularly impressive. Very good. 9:56 of 18:00
Aja Kong vs. Yumiko Hotta. Short and sweet. It was stiff and they did their good moves, but Hotta wasn't much competition. Good. 7:01 of 16:34
Toshiyo Yamada & Manami Toyota vs. Sakie Hasegawa & Debbie Malenko. Yamada worked well with Malenko. Just when the match was getting really good, Malenko suffered her career ending broken leg. It bucked when she was trying to catch Toyota, who was doing a plancha. The final minutes where Sakie fought alone had nice action, but it was academic since Yamada & Toyota weren't losing to Hasegawa & Malenko much less just Hasegawa. Good. 12:39 of 15:26.
4/2/93
Plum Mariko & Hikari Fukuoka (JWP team) vs. Sakie Hasegawa & Kaoru Ito
Suzuka Minami & Etsuko Mita vs. Rumi Kazama & Miki Handa
Yumiko Hotta vs. Dynamite Kansai
Akira Hokuto vs. Shinobu Kandori
Saemi Numata vs. Masami Watanabe
Terri Power vs. Etsuko Mita
Mima Shimoda vs. Kaoru Ito
Yumiko Hotta & Takako Inoue vs. Bat Yoshinga & Tomoko Watanabe
Suzuka Minami vs. Kyoko Inoue
Manami Toyota & Toshiyo Yamada vs. Aja Kong & Sakie Hasegawa
Saemi Numata vs. Masami Watanabe 7:01. Entirely uneventful curtain jerker with larger and more experienced Numata overwhelming rookie ASARI in the most basic of manners. Watanabe wasn't allowed to try anything, and was basically just bullied with Numata utilizing her advantages in leverage and mass. 1/2*
WWWA World Midget Championship Match: Little Frankie vs. Mr. Buddhaman 3:39. Mercifully brief title match that came off more as a squash with Frankie using his quickness and athleticism to thwart his potbellied opponent. Frankie isn't the most graceful or athletic, but the announcers praised his originality as he managed a Tiger feint dropkick and cartwheel kick. He landed a suicida and a plancha before winning with the diving footstomp.
Suzuka Minami & Mima Shimoda vs. Terri Power & Kaoru Ito 17:53. Ito was a better wrestler in '93 than I previously realized. She lacked the brutality of her later years, but more than made up for it with fire and energy to go along with her crisp execution. She worked the majority of the match, allowing it to be as good as it could be by not giving the barbarian the opportunity to screw things up too much. Still, it was more a competent match than a good one. They ran the ropes often, but it was all low level of difficulty spots that didn't require much timing or cooperation. Power was robotic, but Suzuka and to a lesser extent Shimoda both worked well with Ito. **
Miori Kamiya (Cooga) retirement ceremony
Sakie Hasegawa vs. Tomoko Watanabe 16:00. Solid match, probably better for being a bit on the conservative building block side as Watanabe was still trying to be a flyer here, but her boomerang moves were always iffy at best. Lots of body work with Hasegawa injuring Watanabe's back and Watanabe injuring Hasegawa's left ankle. They remembered to sell these weak points until they finally opened up. Hasegawa was clearly the more confident and competent when they finally let loose. **1/2
Manami Toyota vs. Takako Inoue 22:17. Good technical wrestling match from the idol wrestlers. Takako jumped Toyota as she was entering the ring, and bashed her into some chairs. Toyota reversed a whip into the chairs, but missed a plancha off the bleachers. The hot opening had the crowd into the match before they hit the mat, where they mainly stayed for the next 15 minutes. That would normally be a downer, but the intensity was high with a lot of effort put into the facials and screams. It might not have led anywhere, but there was no question that they were into it, and their determination was clearly recognized by the audience. The sense of urgency increased exponentially when they finally got back to their feet. Unfortunately, despite the major fan support for their high spots and near falls, they weren't able to fully hold up this final portion of the match. Well, it was actually pretty damn good until Toyota ended it with 3 moonsault variations, none of which connected properly, and a Japanese ocean suplex where her right leg slipped out so she had to rebridge before the ref began counting. ***
Yumiko Hotta & Bat Yoshinaga vs. Toshiyo Yamada & Etsuko Mita 22:26. Stiff, intense, crisply executed match that was wrestled with a sense of urgency. Yamada was the standout, her diversity shown by her two best opponents being flyer Toyota and kicker Hotta. Yamada & Hotta didn't produce at the level of their singles matches together, but were certainly still the best combination in this big time striking match where everyone was on their game. Mita was the one who didn't belong, as she mainly had her double chop, which she wasn't relying that heavily upon. She took the majority of the punishment, but had her time to shine in the later stages. ***1/2
WWWA World Singles Championship: Aja Kong vs. Kyoko Inoue 26:05. They wrestled at a pretty high level, but it wasn't particularly dramatic because you never felt Kyoko had much going for her beyond desire. She tried to match Aja, which was a losing strategy that led to her selling much of the first 20 minutes. Aja overwhelmed Kyoko early, working her back and giving her some nasty punches to the face. Kong eventually beat Kyoko with chairs, because she could. Kyoko finally fired up and took it back to the outside where she gave Aja a taste of her own medicine, but Kong had sustained so little previous damage she recovered before Kyoko could reenter and slammed her on a chair. The match finally became somewhat competitive after 20:00 when Kyoko began to use her speed more to run circles around Aja and make her look foolish. Still, Aja caught Kyoko in midair, turning a tope reversa into a nasty released German suplex. I liked most of what they were doing, but with Inoue being such an underdog to begin with, their first priority needed to be finding a way to fool the fans into believing she had a chance. They never even tried, so the match didn't approach the level it should have. ***1/4
This show is just an incredible show. An absolute must see. One of the three best shows in the history of wrestling, perhaps the best ever!
Plum Mariko & Hikari Fukuoka (JWP team) vs. Sakie Hasegawa & Kaoru Ito ****1/4
Terri Power & Saemi Numata vs. Shark Tsuchiya & Crusher Maedomari (FMW team) 1/4*
Mima Shimoda & Tomoko Watanabe vs. Infernal Kaoru & Ultima Tigrita (EMLL) ***1/2
Suzuka Minami & Etsuko Mita vs. Rumi Kazama & Miki Handa (LLPW) ***3/4
WWWA World Martial Arts Title: Bat Yoshinaga vs. Susan Howard
Memorial Superfight: Chigusa Nagayo vs. Devil Masami ****
Kyoko Inoue & Takako Inoue vs. Mayumi Ozaki & Cuty Suzuki (JWP team) ****3/4
Aja Kong & Bull Nakano vs. Eagle Sawai & Harley Saito (LLPW team) ****
Yumiko Hotta vs. Dynamite Kansai (JWP team) ****
Akira Hokuto vs. Shinobu Kandori (LLPW) Must see. Arguably the best women's singles match ever and the best example of a wrestler making a match an all-time classic on their own. Read Review 30:27. *****
Toshiyo Yamada & Manami Toyota vs. Combat Toyoda & Megumi Kudo ****
I could write just about the same heading for this show as I did DREAMSLAM 1. Again, a must see show that's one of the three best shows ever!
Sakie Hasegawa vs. Hikari Fukuoka (JWP). ***1/2
Kaoru Ito & Tomoko Watanabe & Saemi Numata vs. Utako Hozumi & Leo Kitamura & Mikiko Futagami (LLPW team). **1/2
Terri Power & Bat Yoshinaga vs. Rumi Kazami & Miki Handa (LLPW team). **
Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda vs. Combat Toyoda & Megumi Kudo (FMW team). ****
Kyoko Inoue & Takako Inoue & Yumiko Hotta vs. Cuty Suzuki & Plum Mariko & Bolshoi Kid (JWP team). This is the classic match where Hotta punts The Damn Clown. ****1/4
Suzuka Minami vs. Harley Saito (LLPW). ****1/4
Memorial Superfight: Chigusa Nagayo vs. Bull Nakano. ***
Aja Kong & Akira Hokuto vs. Shinobu Kandori & Eagle Sawai (LLPW team). Read Review 20:43. ***3/4
2/3 Falls WWWA World Tag Championship: Toshiyo Yamada & Manami Toyota vs. Dynamite Kansai & Mayumi Ozaki. 1993 Observer Match of the Year. Read Review 0:12, 14:55, 16:04. *****
Kaoru Ito vs. Saemi Numata & Masami Watanabe
Midget Match: Mr Buddha Man vs. Tomezo Tsunokake
Bat Yoshinaga & Tomoko Watanabe vs. Mima Shimoda & Etsuko Mita
Toshiyo Yamada & Kyoko Inoue vs. Takako Inoue & Sakie Hasegawa
Manami Toyota vs. Suzuka Minami
Bull Nakano & Aja Kong vs. Akira Hokuto & Yumiko Hotta
Tomoko Watanabe vs. Masami Watanabe
Mima Shimoda vs. Saemi Numata
Tomezo Tsunokake vs. Mr. Buddhaman
Etsuko Mita vs. Suzuka Minami
Sakie Hasegawa sings
Yumiko Hotta & Takako Inoue vs. Toshiyo Yamada & Bat Yoshinaga
Akira Hokuto vs. Sakie Hasegawa
Manami Toyota & Kyoko Inoue vs. Aja Kong & Kaoru Ito
#73 taped 4/24/93 Shimane-ken Masudo Shimin Taiikukan
All Japan Tag Title: Bat Yoshinaga & Tomoko Watanabe vs. Kauro Ito & Sakie Hasegawa
Suzuka Minami vs. Etsuko Mita
Akira Hokuto & Bull Nakano vs. Takako Inoue & Toshiyo Yamada
Manami Toyota & Yumiko Hotta vs. Aja Kong & Kyoko Inoue
#74 taped 6/3/93 Sapporo Nakajima Taiiku Center
Aja Kong & Bull Nakano vs. Akira Hokuto & Kyoko Inoue
Japan Grand Prix '93 Blue Zone League Match: Manami Toyota vs. Hikari Fukuoka
2/3 Falls WWWA Sekai Tag Title: Dynamite Kansai & Mayumi Ozaki vs. Takako Inoue & Yumiko Hotta
AJ Tag Titles: Bat Yoshinaga & Tomoko Watanabe vs. Sakie Hasegawa & Kaoru Ito. All action. They did all their big spots and the execution was right on, but the match had no real storyline and lacked drama. **3/4
Etsuko Mita vs. Suzuka Minami. This got off to a slow start though the brawling was pretty good, but turned into a very good match due to strong final minutes. ***1/2
Toshiyo Yamada & Takako Inoue vs. Bull Nakano & Akira Hokuto. Hokuto was damn good and Yamada had a typically strong performance. Pacing was too even and timing could have been better. ***1/2
Aja Kong & Kyoko Inoue vs. Manami Toyota & Yumiko Hotta. Aja had a strong performance carrying the match. Started slow, but built well and the there were all kinds of big spots and near falls in the 2nd half. Toyota's super fast comebacks even worked here because the crowd really popped for them. ****1/4
Saemi Numata & Chikako Hasegawa vs. Tomoko Watanabe & Masami Watanabe
Yumiko Hotta & Takako Inoue & Sakie Hasegawa vs. Suzuka Minami & Mima Shimoda & Bat Yoshinaga. Very good all action match.
JGP'93 Blue Zone bout: Hikari Fukuoka (JWP) vs. Kaoru Ito. Good match. Should have been very good, but they booked it to go almost 24 min, which was too long for those two, especially because they had barely ever worked together, at that point in time.
JGP'93 Red Zone bout: Etsuko Mita vs. Harley Saito (LLPW). These two went all out. Lots of near falls. Probably if they were familiar with each other this would have been great. Still, considering it was their first singles match and this wasn't a major show, you have to be happy with very good.
JGP '93 Red Zone: Akira Hokuto vs. Toshiyo Yamada. Very good.
5/4/93
JGP '93 Red Zone Harley vs. Watanabe. Digest
JGP '93 Blue Zone: Toyota vs. Hotta. Digest
Aja Kong & Akira Hokuto vs. Bull Nakano & Kyoko Inoue
Chikako Hasegawa vs. Masami Watanabe
Kaoru Ito vs. Saemi Numata
Toshiyo Yamada & Takako Inoue & Sakie Hasegawa vs. Suzuka Minami & Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda
JGP '93 Red Zone Harley Saito vs. Tomoko Watanabe
JGP '93 Blue Zone: Manami Toyota vs. Yumiko Hotta
Aja Kong & Akira Hokuto vs. Bull Nakano & Kyoko Inoue
Mima Shimoda & Masami Watanabe vs. Tomoko Watanabe & Chikako Hasegawa
JGP '93 Blue Zone: Kyoko Inoue vs. Saemi Numata
JGP '93 Red Zone: Suzuka Minami vs. Etsuko Mita. Good.
Aja Kong & Sakie Hasegawa vs. Bull Nakano & Kaoru Ito. Good.
JGP '93 Red Zone: Takako Inoue vs. Harley Saito (LLPW). Harley injured her back during the match, but ironically that's when it got really good as Takako kept it from hurting the match by attacking the back until Harley was ready to come back. This was a really long dramatic match with tons of near falls. The crowd was really hot, wondering if it was going the distance, or if one of the plethora of big moves would finally put someone away. Excellent match.
Yumiko Hotta & Manami Toyota vs. Akira Hokuto & Toshiyo Yamada. Really stiff. Very good.
Chikako Hasegawa vs. Saemi Numata
Tomoko Watanabe vs. Kaoru Ito
Little Frankie vs. Tomezo Tsunokake
Takako Inoue sings
Aja Kong & Bat Yoshinaga vs. Manami Toyota & Suzuka Minami
JGP '93: Akira Hokuto vs. Etsuko Mita
JGP '93: Hikari Fukuoka vs. Mima Shimoda
Takako Inoue & Yumiko Hotta vs. Kyoko Inoue & Toshiyo Yamada
Japan Grand Prix '93 Red Zone Koshikisen: Toshiyo Yamada vs. Suzuka Minami. Well paced and structured with diversity and good selling. Both women worked over the knee - Yamada because her kicks could exploit it and Suzuka to stop Yamada from doing just that. They would do a few spots then go back to the knee, so it didn't get "dull". Somewhat telegraphed, but overall a solid match with good execution. Suzuka got a bloody mouth. ***1/4
Akira Hokuto & Kyoko Inoue vs. Aja Kong & Bull Nakano. Even though she was phased down at this point, Bull was a real powerhouse in the ring. The problem with this team is neither Aja nor Bull sell much, with Bull always liking to come out on top 1 on 2. Basically Hokuto & Kyoko were going to get just enough to stay in the match. Bull dominated Kyoko with Aja continuing this, resulting in Kyoko being in the ring largely getting pounded on for the 1st 6 1/2 minutes. Although she was cleaning house, Bull missed or was outquicked enough to keep it exciting. Kyoko's athletic high energy style is the perfect compliment to what Bull (and Aja) were doing here. Hokuto kind of took the night off, but Bull was so good carrying the match and Kyoko such a good opponent for her that it didn't make much difference. Very well worked and executed match that was both stiff and dynamic. Might have been excellent if the ending was developed more. ***1/2
Japan Grand Prix '93 Blue Zone League Match: Manami Toyota vs. Hikari Fukuoka. Typical Toyota starting fast, meandering on the mat although at least they were selling the holds, and picking up with the flying. There was a ggood segment in there where they tried to get the dropkicks and such doing, but through various backfires showed it was premature and they needed to go back to the mat. Hikari did a good job keeping up with Toyota. Where the match was very much inferior to the previous two is in the early portioning and structuring. While the others were worked to make you think the misses, counters, and lead changes were important, this one had you waiting around for it to pick up. Once it picked up it was obviously the most spectacular, with one flying move after another at the end. Above the usual sloppiness, there were some problems stemming from not working with each other before. Hikari overshot her plancha enough to hit her head on the floor. Hikari had no chance of winning, but she might have gained something matching some of Toyota's spots and surviving a barrage of moonsaults and bridging suplexes. ***1/4
2/3 Falls WWWA Sekai Tag Title: Dynamite Kansai & Mayumi Ozaki vs. Yumiko Hotta & Takako Inoue. This match was more about punking your opponents and letting them know about it than how they were going about it. Lots of attitude. Also lots of weardown, but the personalities and rivalries kept it interesting. Ozaki did so many little things to make the match good. For instance, when Takako made one move and tagged after she'd been beat on from the start, Ozaki got up off her knee real quick and started backpedalling. This not only showed a different level of respect for Hotta than for Takako, but that she was going out of her way to avoid taking Hotta's feared kicks. The JWP team was pretty dominant here because it was their two top wrestlers against mid level AJW stars. It looked bad for AJW when Hotta went down in the 1st fall because she was overpowered by JWP's asskicker Kansai. The 2nd fall finish wasn't too convincing. Takako had a bad back, which they worked over a good deal in the 3rd fall. Ozaki ripped Takako's back support off and started whipping her with it then Kansai came in and laid in the kicks. Hotta's kicks were hit and miss again. She gave Ozaki a nasty lump above her left eye that would have resulted in an immediate stoppage if this was real. Ozaki kept going for the rest of the 60 minutes though, with the injury putting her more in her familiar underdog to the mean big girls role rather than the outsider heel role she began the match with. This was more a match that was consistently good over a very long period of time than one that had some really hot periods. It did build up pretty well though and picke up a lot in the third fall, especially with them battling to get the final pin before the 60:00 time limit expired. The pacing was successful because they had the energy for the last 10-15 minutes, and the crowd was hot for this portion. ****
Akira Hokuto & Kyoko Inoue vs. Aja Kong & Bull Nakano. ***1/2
Japan Grand Prix '93 Blue Zone League Match: Manami Toyota vs. Hikari Fukuoka. ***1/4
2/3 Falls WWWA Sekai Tag Title: Dynamite Kansai & Mayumi Ozaki vs. Yumiko Hotta & Takako Inoue 60:00. ****
All Japan Junior Title Decision Match: Saemi Numata vs. Masami Watanabe 10:19. Watanabe did better than in their 3/20/93 match, but I was hoping for something more competitive given they thought enough of her to give her a shot at the vacant title. Numata still totally dominated with extremely basic offense. She worked Watanabe's back with Boston crabs, but Watanabe finally got to the ropes before Numata can turn her over, and was allowed a few moments to shine before jobbing, landing a series of dropkicks and two of her original londard kangaroo kicks. Numata quickly cut her off though, and put her away with the second Russian leg sweep, having blown the first. *
Mr. Buddhaman vs. Tomezo Tsunokake 5:23. Takashi Matsunaga was the center of attention in this silly match where he did most of the actual damage. Matsunaga looked for every excuse to pop Buddhaman with a fan, which we soon find out contained some low level popper type of fireworks that only went off with a really solid hit, if even then. Tsunokake soon messes with Matsunaga, getting his own taste, but Matsunaga remained partial to him. The finish was pretty inexplicable, with Tsunokake collapsing after headbutting Buddhaman but Matsunaga awarding Tsunokake the victory because Buddhaman was slightly hunched against the ropes, or something. -*
Mima Shimoda vs. Chikako Hasegawa 6:21. Squash match. Hasegawa started with a dropkick and 3 high cross bodies, but was essentially done once Shimoda took over, managing only 2 flash pin attempts the rest of the match. Shimoda did her heel routine and worked Hasegawa's arm en route to the most standard of victories.
Suzuka Minami & Etsuko Mita vs. Kaoru Ito & Tomoko Watanabe 14:47. Active, action oriented match. Suzuka mainly sold, as she had a brace on her right knee that Ito & Watanabe attacked. Otherwise, it was mainly rope running and flying. Ito was the best and most motivated worker, looking worthy of the push she didn't get in the Japan Grand Prix where she finished a whopping 14th. Watanabe was much more effective here, giving a solid performance where she did a much better job of sticking to what she did well. She still did some athletic spots, including a moonsault attack, but wasn't using the boomerang moves she loses her balance on or mistimes. ***
5/19/93 JGP Digest - Akira Hokuto vs. Etsuko Mita and Mima Shimoda vs. Hikari Fukuoka
Japan Grand Prix '93 Red Zone League Match: Toshiyo Yamada vs. Sakie Hasegawa 15:54. Key match for Hasegawa, getting over a bad left knee and gushing nose to score the surprising upset. The first 10 minutes were slow with Yamada working Hasegawa's taped knee, but it quickly turned into a very dramatic match due to a good acting job where they made you feel the urgency and desperation while also putting over the toll of the match. Yamada was very solid and steady here. Hasegawa wasn't completely consistent, but her fire and willpower made her very easy to support, and you really felt like she had arrived, even if the flash pin finish is a bit sloppy. ***1/2
Japan Grand Prix '93 Blue Zone League Match: Kyoko Inoue vs. Hikari Fukuoka 30:00. Disappointing 30 minute draw that wasn't short on effort, but lacked direction and chemistry. Inoue didn't treat Fukuoka as an equal early on. The first 10 minutes were a bit rough as Kyoko tried to lead Fukuoka through the match, but their unfamiliarity with one another was apparent. They found a better rhythm when they began doing more highspots and Fukuoka started to compete, but the offense was ahead of the execution throughout. Fukuoka began to have a chance when she started picking on Kyoko's bad left shoulder. You still figured she'd lose though, so I suppose, in a way, Kyoko's early arrogance helped disguise the draw. They lacked the material for a match of that length though, and it seemed somewhat random and disorganized. They ultimately did a lot of nice moves, but you never felt like you were seeing something special, just a really long match that would have been better if they consolidated their efforts into something more structured and managable. Kyoko's wrestling was generally really good, but she had a long way to go in the leadership department. Fukuoka had a ton of desire, but that may not have been a good thing, as she was probably pressing and certainly never quite seemed comfortable. ***
Zenjo vs. LLPW: Akira Hokuto vs. Kurenai Yasha 2:19. LLPW hung Yasha out to dry here, allowing her to be humiliated in record time. Hokuto made fun of Kurenai's pre match squat, sitting as if ready for yoga. Yasha took exception and bashed Hokuto's bad knee with her staff. Yasha proceeded to throw all her offense at Hokuto, but Hokuto completely blew her off, getting her knees up for a diving body press then finishing her with the Northern Lights bomb.
Yumiko Hotta & Manami Toyota & Takako Inoue vs. Aja Kong & Bull Nakano & Bat Yoshinaga 25:29. Crisply executed high impact match that was by far the most cleanly performed and professional looking match on the show. Strong performances all around. Hotta was really comfortable slugging it out with the monsters, and Toyota is really on today, adding a different dimension. Aja & Bull both did a nice job of knowing when to go beyond being bruisers, so the match had more diversity than it might have. Bat wasn't exactly the ideal wrestler to do most of the selling for her team, but she faired pretty well during this period in tags, as her striking was accurate and effective and she never had any trouble coming off as a tough woman. Takako was the wrestler who didn't belong, but did fine in a minor role. Overall, a really nice if not particularly substantial main event. ***3/4
All Japan Junior Title Decision Match: Saemi Numata vs. Masami Watanabe 10:19
Mr. Buddhaman vs. Tomezo Tsunokake 5:23
Mima Shimoda vs. Chikako Hasegawa 6:21
Suzuka Minami & Etsuko Mita vs. Kaoru Ito & Tomoko Watanabe 14:47
Japan Grand Prix '93 Red Zone League Match: Toshiyo Yamada vs. Sakie Hasegawa 15:54
Japan Grand Prix '93 Blue Zone League Match: Kyoko Inoue vs. Hikari Fukuoka 30:00
Zenjo vs. LLPW: Akira Hokuto vs. Kurenai Yasha 2:19
Yumiko Hotta & Manami Toyota & Takako Inoue vs. Aja Kong & Bull Nakano & Bat Yoshinaga 25:29
12/91
Reiko Hoshino vs. Bolshoi Kid
Cuty Suzuki & Bolshoi Kid vs. Plum Mariko & Hikari Fukuoka
Mr. Buddhaman vs. Tomezo Tsunokake
Kaoru Ito & Saemi Numata vs. Infernal KAORU & Masami Watanabe
7/2/93 JGP Digest
Yamada vs. Takako
Hikari vs. Bat
Takako vs. Harley
7/4
JGP '93 Blue Zone: Kyoko vs. Bat. Bat was not only more competitive than I expected, but she scored the upset. Good match.
JGP '93 Red Zone: Akira Hokuto vs. Suzuka Minami. Very good.
Manami Toyota & Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda vs. Aja Kong & Bull Nakano & Kaoru Ito. Very good.
JGP '93 Blue Zone: Yumiko Hotta vs. Hikari Fukuoka (JWP)
JGP '93 Red Zone: Toshiyo Yamada vs. Harley Saito (LLPW). Very stiff UWF style bout. Harley reinjures her ribs here, and this time it takes the match down. Good.
#75 taped taped 7/26/93 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukan 2
Bull Nakano & Bat Yoshinaga vs. Etsuko Mita & Takako Inoue
Sakie Hasegawa & Kaoru Ito vs. Aja Kong & Infernal KAORU
JGP '93: Manami Toyota vs. Kyoko Inoue
Akira Hokuto & Suzuka Minami vs. Yumiko Hotta & Toshiyo Yamada
#76 taped 8/5/93 Ibaraki Kasumagaora Bunka Taiikukan
Kaoru Ito vs. Bull Nakano
Aja Kong vs. Bat Yoshinaga
Toshiyo Yamada & Manami Toyota & Kyoko Inoue vs. Yumiko Hotta & Suzuka Minami & Takako Inoue
JGP '93: Akira Hokuto vs. Harley Saito
AJW TV 7/28/93
Sakie Hasegawa & Kaoru Ito vs. Aja Kong & Infernal KAORU. Very exciting match with great work and execution. Sakie & Ito both looked really good pushing Aja. ****
Bull Nakano & Bat Yoshinaga vs. Etsuko Mita & Takako Inoue. Lots of action and big spots. Not surprisingly, Bat did all the selling for her team. Mita had a strong showing. ***
Akira Hokuto & Suzuka Minami vs. Yumiko Hotta & Toshiyo Yamada. Very exciting workrate style match with all kings of big spots. Unfortunately less than half the match aired. ****
AJW TV 3/6/95
AJ Tag Title #1 Contenders Match: Tomoko Watanabe & Kumiko Maekawa vs. Mariko Yoshida & Rie Tamada. Watanabe was the best in the match. Yoshida was good too, but not as good as usual. Tamada & Maekawa both looked good in spots, but overall weren't impressive. **1/2
Suzuka Minami & Kauru Ito vs. Toshiyo Yamada & Mima Shimoda. Typical fast-paced workrate style bout. ***1/4
Highlights of AJW 2/26/95 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Watanabe & Kyoko visit Yamada at her apartment. During this segment Watanabe & Kyoko both put an onion and a french fry (I think) in their nose. Then the dip the part of the french fry that was in their nose into something that Yamada cooked for them and eat it.
Etsuko Mita vs. Aja Kong. Brawl with Aja being her typical rough self. Fine match technically, but Mita wasn't able to be very competitive with the champ.
WWWA World Singles Title #1 Contender Match: Kyoko Inoue & Takako Inoue vs. Yumiko Hotta & Manami Toyota. The stipulation was that the person who scored the pin in this match got a shot at Aja on the 3/26 Queendom show. This had a great storyline. The Inoues worked as a cohesive unit, but Hotta & Toyota had all kinds of dissention, almost entirely due to Hotta, because both wanted the title shot. Hotta & Toyota wind up breaking up each other's pins and eventually come to blows. Takako is just the opposite of Hotta, as she gives her chances at getting the title shot away to her regular partner Kyoko, most likely because Kyoko would have a much better chance of actually winning the title. Great ring work with all kinds of big spots. Toyota and Kyoko were excellent together. Toyota blew a few spots, including the finish which had to be redone (and that made Hotta look stupid because she had recovered from Toyota taking her out before Toyota even set up the finish the 2nd time and she just had to stand on the apron while Kyoko was pinned), which took the match down a notch. ****1/4
Bull Nakano vs. Kaoru Ito
Aja Kong vs. Bat Yoshinaga
Toshiyo Yamada & Manami Toyota & Kyoko Inoue vs. Yumiko Hotta & Suzuka Minami & Takako Inoue. Fast-paced workrate match. Everyone added to the match, and no one was a step above the rest. ****
JGP '93 Red Zone: Akira Hokuto vs. Harley Saito. Harley really fired up here. At this point she was one of the most underrated workers around. Hokuto was getting more out of her opponents than she had the right to at this point, and this match was no exception. That said, the match could have been a lot better if Hokuto wouldn't have blown her knee out with 4-5 minutes left. Of course, being the gutsiest player in the game, Hokuto just kept on going and did all the planned spots. ****
Buddhaman vs. Tsunokake. DUD
Handicap Match: Chikako Shiratori & Chaparrita ASARI vs. Tomoko Watanabe. Masami Watanabe is getting her first push, now renamed Chaparrita ASARI, which means cute little clam. Tomoko Watanabe dominated both opponents. Her work was pretty good, but the other two weren't very good and their offense was basic. *
Mima Shimoda & Numacchi vs. Suzuka Minami & Etsuko Mita. Mima & Suzuka were very good and worked really well together. "Numacchi in the middle" was funny. ***
Bull Nakano vs. Bat Yoshinaga. Surprisingly good. Bull sold for most of the first 11 ½ minutes, which gave Bat credibility. Bull did a vicious powerbomb where she drops Bat almost like a Tiger Driver '91. ***
Japan Grand Prix '93 Semifinal: Manami Toyota vs. Akira Hokuto 16:36. Toyota has been trending downwards with me for a long time because the early portions of her matches are routine and/or uninspired, leaving me somewhat indifferent once she starts throwing shit at the wall because it just feels like she's there to show off rather than to actually win. This was anything but that sort of match, largely because Hokuto was perhaps the only one who could get Toyota to care about the submission portions after her junior days, and Toyota also really wanted to outshine Hokuto in any or every way possible. In their 1/11/91 match, Toyota was working Hokuto's bandaged arm. Today, it was the blown out knee, and she did a shockingly good job of it, with genuine energy, urgency, and intensity on display. This was actually an exciting, all around performance by Toyota, as the action was spirited whether they were doing big dives or working each others appendages. Both women poured their hearts into this, and while there were still some holes in the logic, they did everything with passion and enthusiasm, and thus it was easy to become invested in their actions. Despite some dives and piledrivers on the floor, this wasn't as big a spotfest as Toyota's normal big match, but they mixed enough flashy stuff in between the well done knee work that you were into everything they were doing, rather than just waiting for the finish spam. The climax was quite impressive, though I would have loved Toyota countering Hokuto's whip into the ringside table with a boomerang body attack then 3 dives a lot more had this not been an immediate comeback after 2 piledrivers on the concrete. Goofiness aside, this was one of Toyota's best babyface performances because she displayed so much fire and exhilaration throughout that it was hard not to root for her, even against the beloved injury riddled Hokuto. There was a great near fall where Hokuto had the northern lights bomb set up, but Toyota twisted out into the Japanese ocean suplex. They had to keep the length down somewhat since Hokuto had to work another match, so the went home with the DQ bomb after Hokuto got her legs up for the moonsault. Stylistically, this might have been the most exciting junior heavyweight match of 1992 because they did enough to make you care about the great action they were going all out to deliver. ****3/4
Japan Grand Prix'93 Semifinal: Yumiko Hotta vs. Harley Saito. Both women kicked the hell out of each other. Lots of mirror spots. Hotta didn't look good here. **3/4
Aja Kong & Infernal KAORU & Kaoru Ito vs. Toshiyo Yamada & Kyoko Inoue & Takako Inoue. Very good and exciting match. Nice work. Aja & Yamada were the best. ***3/4
Japan Grand Prix '93 Final: Akira Hokuto vs. Yumiko Hotta 19:52. Hokuto carried the one-dimensional Hotta to a dramatic and memorable final. Hotta began her all out attack on Hokuto's bad knee with powerful kicks before the bell even rang. Hokuto's selling was excellent, making the match seem "realistic." Very strong psychology, great storyline, and excellent build to a climactic finish. Hall of Fame performance by Hokuto. Hokuto wins Japan Grand Prix '93. ****1/4.
Tomoko Watanabe & Numacchi & Chikako Shiratori vs. Utako Hozumi & Kurenai Yasha & Mizuki Endo. Basically all spots at a fast pace, but no one really had many spots. Match was average, but it just kind of went along. *3/4
Sky High Fantasy Land: Infernal KAORU & Chaparrita ASARI vs. Bolshoi Kid & Candy Okutsu (JWP team). This match was ruined by the damn clown, who was at her annoying worst. If you can withstand Bolshoi's early antics, there's some nice gymnastics and choice high spots, but even KAORU & ASARI almost left because Bolshoi was such a joker. Worst match on the show due to bad comedy and meaningless spots. Mariko Yoshida refs this. *
Elimination Match: Bull Nakano & Suzuka Minami & Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda & Bat Yoshinaga vs. Eagle Sawai & Harley Saito & Miki Handa & Yukari Osawa & Leo Kitamura (LLPW team). Surprisingly great match. Lightning fast workrate with excellent set up of spots. Booking was great, with everyone in AJW getting a bone and Eagle getting put over huge despite eventually doing the job, even though the storyline was "all wrong" because the home team (AJW) got a 5-2 lead. Really heated. Harley was best of these ten here. ****1/2
Over the Idol ~Summer Heroine Series~:Takako Inoue vs. Cuty Suzuki (JWP). Solid match with Takako doing a good job of carrying Cuty. ***1/4
Toshiyo Yamada & Kaoru Ito vs. Megumi Kudo & Yukie Nabeno (FMW team). Despite Yukie Nabeno lacking everything, the other three, particularly Yamada, made this a very good exciting match. Pretty simple match that built well and everyone was utilized in a way they could impress the crowd. ***1/2
Kyoko Inoue vs. Shinobu Kandori (LLPW). Kyoko worked within the limitations of what Kandori can do, but it was a really exciting match with all kinds of false finishes. ****1/4
High Tension Triple Impact: Yumiko Hotta & Manami Toyota & Sakie Hasegawa vs. Mayumi Ozaki & Plum Mariko & Hikari Fukuoka (JWP team). Toyota style workrate match. Lightning fast pace with everyone using most of the spots in their arsenal. Really exciting with excellent ringwork. Hotta was the best, with perfect execution and timing. ****1/2
All Pacific Title: Akira Hokuto vs. Rumi Kazama (LLPW). Tremendous performance by Hokuto, who was working with blown out knee and broken bone in her back. Rumi is mediocre at best, but Hokuto carried her to a dramatic match with great selling. ****
WWWA Title: Aja Kong vs. Dynamite Kansai (JWP). Battle of the champions of the respective promotions. Mega stiffness. Beginning is fairly weak, but gets dramatic, heated, and generally awesome. ****
This tape is put out by Toshiba EMI, and is kind of a precurser to the Story of F tapes. It starts off with still pictures from the beginning of the promotion through the Chigusa period, goes into highlights of key matches from the early post Crush Gals comm tapes, has an introduction of the 20 current (in 1993) stars of the promotion with a highlight video and a profile, then shows highlights of a around 40 interpromotional matches from 10/17/92-8/25/93 plus some of the post match and press conference stuff that set these matches up.
Mr. Buddhaman vs. Tomezo Tsunokake
Infernal KAORU vs. Chaparrita ASARI
Chikako Shiratori vs. Candy Okutsu
Akira Hokuto vs. Numacchi
Bull Nakano vs. Tomoko Watanabe
Captain Fall Survival War: Manami Toyota & Toshiyo Yamada & Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda vs. Kyoko Inoue & Aja Kong & Sakie Hasegawa & Kaoru Ito
UWA World Women's Tag Decision Match: Akira Hokuto & Suzuka Minami vs. Yumiko Hota & Takako Inoue
highlights from Burning Zone Omiya Night 9/18/93 Saitama Omiya Skate Center
All Japan Junior Title Match: Numacchi vs. Chikako Shiratori
All Japan Champion Decision Tournament Semifinal: Bat Yoshinaga vs. Tomoko Watanabe
All Japan Champion Decision Tournament Semifinal: Mima Shimoda vs. Kaoru Ito
All Japan Champion Decision Tournament Final: Mima Shimoda vs. Bat Yoshinaga
Bull Nakano vs. Sakie Hasegawa
Kyoko Inoue & Toshiyo Yamada vs. Aja Kong & Manami Toyota
9/29/93
Michiko Nagashima & Carol Midori vs. Chaparrita ASARI & Chikako Shiratori
All Japan Junior Title Match: Numacchi vs. Mizuki Endo
Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda vs. Infernal KAORU & Tomoko Watanabe
All Japan Tag Title Match: Sakie Hasegawa & Kaoru Ito vs. Leo Kitamura & Mikiko Futagami
Suzuka Minami vs. Utako Hozumi
Takako Inoue vs. Kurenai Yasha
Bull Nakano vs. Noriyo Tateno
Manami Toyota & Toshiyo Yamada vs. Harley Saito & Miki Handa
Aja Kong & Kyoko Inoue vs. Eagle Sawai & Yukari Osawa
Shinobu Kandori vs. Yumiko Hotta
Etsuko Mita & Tomoko Watanabe & Numacchi vs. Carol Midori & Mizuki Endo & Mikiko Futagami (LLPW team). It went along at a good pace, and there were no real lulls in the action, but it got sloppy in some parts and there wasn't much to get excited about. Mita was the lone veteran in the match, so she basically dominated the LLPW women when she was in, making it clear that she could pin them any time she felt like it. **
Roller Coaster 4 x 4 Captain Fall Match: Mima Shimoda (captain) & Kaoru Ito & Chikako Shiratori & Chaparrita ASARI vs. Cuty Suzuki (captain) & Plum Mariko & Hikari Fukuoka & Command Bolshoi (JWP team). This match ruled, and I was suitably stoked because now I have a match with The Goddess that I could send somebody and they would actually want to watch it. This was all action from start to finish with tons of double, triple, and quadruple teaming, including an attempted quadruple dropkick and the requisite consecutive plancha spot. It was fast-paced early with basic moves, building to the big spots later on. Everyone contributed to this match, but Ito was the most impressive of the bunch. ****1/4
Sakie Hasegawa & Takako Inoue vs. Shinobu Kandori & Kurenai Yasha (LLPW team). This had great heat, particularly when Kandori was in. The match was built around Kandori's submissions, particularly her choke sleeper. For ring work, the other three weren't on the same planet as Sakie. However, Takako was pretty effective here, getting big pops when she got stiff with Kandori and when she used her Destiny Hammer on Kandori for a near fall. ***
Star & Rising Sun 4 VIPS: Yumiko Hotta & Suzuka Minami vs. Bull Nakano & Reggie Bennett. Started slow with Suzuka being the best worker, but no one looking particularly good or bad. The match picked up after the 9-minute mark with Bull & Suzuka in, and continued with Suzuka & Bennett exchanging signature spots. Bennett's work wasn't smooth and fluid, which hurt the closing minutes. A big near fall came when Bull hit her guillotine leg drop then Bennett splashed Suzuka. Bennett then put Suzuka in her Reggie rack (Argentine backbreaker/torture rack) for the win. The match kind of got there in the end, but needed a worker in Reggie's place to really balance things out as you already had your big ass kickers in Hotta & Bull. **
Kyoko Inoue vs. Devil Masami (JWP). This was both exactly what it had to be and everything you could ask for from a singles match between these two. The storyline and psychology were great, and the match built perfectly. They worked a slow-paced Devil style match with Devil controlling the match, but Kyoko making comebacks by countering Devil's moves. Kyoko's comebacks were short lived though, as Devil would quickly cut her off, usually by avoiding or countering one of Kyoko's moves. I usually hate flash pins, but based on the body of the match, it was the perfect finish. ****1/4
Rainbow Sensation: Manami Toyota vs. Mayumi Ozaki (JWP). This match had much more mat wrestling then you would expect, but both women were really effective in that aspect. Unfortunately, while the match was solid and the quality was strong, it never really kicked into high gear. There was a conscious effort in this match, and the next, to keep the main finishers strong, with the main psychology here being whether Ozaki could put Toyota away before Manami J.O.C. suplexed her for the win. It was an excellent match, but not as good as expected. ****1/4
Toshiyo Yamada vs. Dynamite Kansai (JWP). This was the best match on the show, and it was a great match. Yamada was at the peak of her excellence during this time period. As usual, she did whatever it took to have a great match, which in this case meant absorbing a tremendous beating, but also dishing one out. This was really stiff, like All Japan main event level of stiffness, and the execution was very crisp. The storyline of this match, to a much greater extent than the last match, was that it was a battle of the two main finishers, Yamada's reverse Gori special bomb and Kansai's splash mountain. As with the last match, they were trying to strengthen the finishers, and it became clear that the women who successfully executed her finisher first would be the winner. Grueling match. ****1/2
The Marinepiad Biggest: Aja Kong vs. Akira Hokuto. Hokuto had knee surgery two weeks earlier, and was still walking with crutches that day. She should have been recovering her meniscus and PCL, but being so banged up she had no business wrestling at all never made Hokuto turn down a big match. It understandably didn't approach the standard of excellence one would expect from these two, but it was a memorable match to the extent that Hokuto's performance was one of the gutsiest of all-time. Aja totally dominated Hokuto, predominantly kicking Hokuto's bad knee or working it over with submission holds. This match epitomizes Hokuto's legendary never say die attitude, but it wasn't that great of a match becase she just wasn't physically able to compete with Aja. **3/4
Midget Korakuen Jikken (experiment) Leaguesen: Mr. Buddhaman vs. Tomezo Tsunokake
Tokubetsu Jiai: Numacchi vs. Reggie Bennett
Manami Toyota & Chaparrita ASARI vs. Kaoru Ito & Tomoko Watanabe
Tag League The Best '93 Koshikisen: Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda vs. Eagle Sawai & Kurenai Yasha (LLPW team).
Tag League The Best '93 Koshikisen: Bull Nakano & Suzuka Minami vs. Yumiko Hotta & Takako Inoue
Tag League The Best '93 Koshikisen: Aja Kong & Sakie Hasegawa vs. Toshiyo Yamada & Kyoko Inoue
#81 taped 10/9/93 Tokyo Bay NK Hall
Etsuko Mita & Tomoko Watanabe & Numacchi vs. Carol Midori & Mizuki Endo & Mikiko Futagami
Sakie Hasegawa & Takako Inoue vs. Shinobu Kandori & Kurenai Yasha
Yumiko Hotta & Suzuka Minami vs. Bull Nakano & Reggie Bennett
The Marinepiad Biggest: Aja Kong vs. Akira Hokuto
#82 taped 11/12/93 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Yumi Fukawa & Miki Yokoe Debut Match: Chikako Shiratori & Miki Yokoe vs. Kumiko Maekawa & Yumi Fukawa
Tag League The Best '93 League Match: Bull Nakano & Suzuka Minami vs. Eagle Sawai & Yasha Kurenai
Tag League The Best '93 League Match: Yumiko Hotta & Takako Inoue vs. Toshiyo Yamada & Kyoko Inoue
Tag League The Best '93 League Match: Manami Toyota & Akira Hokuto vs. Aja Kong & Sakie Hasegawa
Manami Toyota & Toshiyo Yamada POWER ON THE DREAM music video
Tag League The Best '93 League Match: Bull Nakano & Suzuka Minami vs. Eagle Sawai & Yasha Kurenai
Tag League The Best '93 League Match: Yumiko Hotta & Takako Inoue vs. Toshiyo Yamada & Kyoko Inoue
Tag League The Best '93 League Match: Manami Toyota & Akira Hokuto vs. Aja Kong & Sakie Hasegawa
Tomoko Watanabe vs. Candy Okutsu (JWP). **1/4
Chikako Shiratori vs. Harley Saito (LLPW). DUD
Zen Nihon Junior Senshukenjiai: Mizuki Endo (LLPW) vs. Chaparrita ASARI. ASARI wins title. **
Kyoko Inoue vs. Yukie Nabeno (FMW). *
Zen Nihon Tag Senshukenjiai: Sakie Hasegawa & Kaoru Ito vs. Kurenai Yasha & Mikiko Futagami (LLPW team). ***1/2
Bull Nakano vs. Hikari Fukuoka (JWP). ***1/4
Aja Kong vs. Eagle Sawai (LLPW). ***3/4
First Attack Saiyo (employ) Captain Fall Survival War: Akira Hokuto & Suzuka Minami & Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda vs. Dynamite Kansai & Devil Masami & Mayumi Ozaki & Plum Mariko. Similar to the 7/31/93 classic. ****3/4
All Pacific Oza Ketteisen: Manami Toyota vs. Toshiyo Yamada. Yamada wins All Pacific. ****1/4
UWA Sekai Joshi Tag Senshukenjiai: Yumiko Hotta & Takako Inoue vs. Shinobu Kandori & Miki Handa. ***
Tomoko Watanabe vs. Candy Okutsu (JWP). **1/4
Chikako Shiratori vs. Harley Saito (LLPW). DUD
Zen Nihon Junior Title: Mizuki Endo (LLPW) vs. Chaparrita ASARI. ASARI wins title. **
Kyoko Inoue vs. Yukie Nabeno (FMW). *
Zen Nihon Tag Title: Sakie Hasegawa & Kaoru Ito vs. Kurenai Yasha & Mikiko Futagami (LLPW team). ***1/2
Bull Nakano vs. Hikari Fukuoka (JWP). ***1/4
Aja Kong vs. Eagle Sawai (LLPW). ***3/4
First Attack Saiyo (employ) Captain Fall Survival War: Akira Hokuto & Suzuka Minami & Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda vs. Dynamite Kansai & Devil Masami & Mayumi Ozaki & Plum Mariko. Similar to the 7/31/93 classic. ****3/4
All Pacific Oza Ketteisen: Manami Toyota vs. Toshiyo Yamada. Yamada wins All Pacific. ****1/4
UWA Sekai Joshi Tag Senshukenjiai: Yumiko Hotta & Takako Inoue vs. Shinobu Kandori & Miki Handa. ***
Tomoko Watanabe & Chikako Shiratori vs. Utako Hozumi & Leo Kitamura
Midget Puroresu: Little Frankie vs. Mr. Buddhaman
Zen Nihon Junior Senshukenjiai: Chaparrita ASARI vs. Candy Okutsu
Zen Nihon Tag Senshukenjiai: Sakie Hasegawa & Kaoru Ito vs. Miki Handa & Kurenai Yasha
Combat Toyoda vs. Suzuka Minami
Zenjo Izumu vs. Pure Heart Scramble Jungle: Bull Nakano & Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda vs. Cuty Suzuki & Plum Mariko & Hikari Fukuoka
Kyoko Inoue & Takako Inoue & Yumiko Hotta vs. Eagle Sawai & Harley Saito & Rumi Kazama 15:37
WWWA Sekai Single Senshukenjiai: Aja Kong vs. Megumi Kudo 22:33
WWWA Sekai Tag Senshukenjiai: Dynamite Kansai & Mayumi Ozaki vs. Toshiyo Yamada & Manami Toyota. The underrated match of the trio sees them shift completely to the glamorous Toyota style. Read Review 25:33. *****
Dangerous Queen Tokyo Saiban (trial): Akira Hokuto vs. Shinobu Kandori. Read Review 21:15. ****1/2
Chikako Shiratori vs. Kumiko Maekawa
Midget Puroresu: Little Frankie vs. Tomezo Tsunokake
Tag League The Best '93 Koshikisen: Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda vs. Kaoru Ito & Tomoko Watanabe. It's not yet the great rivalry it would become, but these four are all coming into their own individually and as teams. Ito is probably the best individually at this point, but LCO have their act together and are poised for a few excellent big matches. Action packed match with strong tag wrestling, especially from LCO. ***1/2
Bull Nakano & Chaparrita ASARI vs. Yumiko Hotta & Suzuka Minami
Tag League The Best '93 Koshikisen: Aja Kong & Sakie Hasegawa vs. Eagle Sawai & Kurenai Yasha (LLPW team).
Tag League The Best '93 League Match: Akira Hokuto & Manami Toyota vs. Toshiyo Yamada & Kyoko Inoue 15:36.
Tag League The Best '93 Final: Akira Hokuto & Manami Toyota vs. Toshiyo Yamada & Kyoko Inoue 14:49. The Matsunagas created some wacky teams for this tournament, with the regular pairing of Toshiyo Yamada & Manami Toyota reclaiming the WWWA Tag Title in the final all-time classic against Dynamite Kansai & Mayumi Ozaki on 12/6/93 in the midst of opposing each other in this Tag League. Kyoko & Yamada needed to win this last league match to tie Hokuto & Toyota for first, forcing a playoff match directly afterwards. This matchup had all the makings of an all-time classic, with every top worker in AJW but Aja Kong, but it couldn't decide if it wanted to be a Toyota style workrate match or a Hokuto style drama, though definitely leaned more towards the former. The good news is there was so much talent involved that it kind of didn't matter, as 4 top workers giving their all at a crazy pace was enough. The 1st match had tons of action and lot of cool things, even if most didn't mean much, and then it grew more story oriented in the 2nd, with Yamada & Kyoko working Hokuto's injured knee, but they waited too long to truly get going on this, and never fully fleshed it out. Given this was simply a Korakuen Hall show a few days after their big year end final at Ryogoku Kokugikan, it's important to point out that this is more toward what made AJW's house show style at the time so great, the frantic pace, the high effort state of the art spot oriented action, with some drama when the right people were involved. These two matches never quite seemed to be as impressive as they should have been on paper, as Yamada & Hokuto were the ones who were great, but it was less Yamada's style than anyone else's, and Toyota was the main worker for her team, so it was less Hokuto's style than it needed to be. While neither portion fully comes together, they are exceptional efforts, and arguably more interesting for managing to be two somewhat different strong variations of what AJW delivered so well in these days. As good as the action was, when taking that this was the interpromotional era into account, it distinctively lacked the intensity and urgency Mayumi Ozaki or some of the other outsiders would have brought to it. The 1st match was an excellent energetic spotfest, though the submission work was typically indifferent because Toyota expectedly put no effort into doing anything on the bottom beyond screaming. Given they were doing something most of the time, it's certainly an impressive match in it's own right, an excellent sprint with some nice dives and teamwork that builds momentum anytime Yamada or Hokuto are in, and climaxes well. Kyoko managed to faceplant her way out of Toyota's JOCS, and Niagara driver her to force the playoff match. Yamada destroyed Toyota with suplex after suplex to start the final. Hokuto had to bail Toyota out, but her knee wasn't in great shape to begin with, and once Kyoko decided she really wanted to win and went after it, the favorites quickly turned into the underdogs. Despite some fantastic selling from Hokuto, slowing the match down this dramatically at this point when submissions have already been established by Toyota to be meaningless was something of a questionable layout. Toyota tagged Hokuto back in too quickly, and Hokuto was hopping around on the good leg. Things were looking bleak for them when they tried for tombstones on the floor, only to have both get reversed. The action was definitely at a much higher level than the transitions, which were not particularly evolved, so really they were just trading runs a big offense more than telling the story of a smarter or healthier Yamada & Inoue trying to exploit advantages to overcome the odds. It was much more about Hokuto once again overcoming, a fitting climax to the greatest, and unfortunately last great year of her career. Though technically two different matches, I'm personally going to rate anything where the wrestlers never return to the locker room in between as one because the whole point of booking something like this is that the second match becomes that much greater by playing off the 1st, and it should be where the real emotional payoff lies. The Hokuto & Toyota win was more of a feel good than something truly convincing, but everyone loves Hokuto, so it's doubtful many people noticed or cared. ****1/2
Takako Inoue "lifestyle" video. Activities include a pre-match workout, Takako at a restaurant, modeling, Takako in a wedding dress, and Kyoko & Yamada going through things in her apartment. The tape also has three matches. Toshiyo Yamada & Takako Inoue vs. Suzuka Minami & Mima Shimoda and Kyoko Inoue & Takako Inoue vs. Manami Toyota & Sakie Hasegawa are shot in what I'll call the Takako camera. It's a one camera shoot by a guy running around ringside. It's shot in strobe with all close ups, mainly focusing on what Takako is doing even if she's not in the ring. You can't really judge how good a match is seeing it like this, but it's good as a one time thing because you see a whole different side of the action since all the shots are so tight.
Toshiyo Yamada & Takako Inoue vs. Suzuka Minami & Mima Shimoda
Kyoko Inoue & Takako Inoue vs. Manami Toyota & Sakie Hasegawa
Toshiyo Yamada & Takako Inoue & Sakie Hasegawa vs. Suzuka Minami & Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda. A regular effort on a regular house show, but these women were working on such a high level at this point that it's still a very good match. ***1/2
5/14/93: Yumiko Hotta & Manami Toyota vs. Akira Hokuto & Mima Shimoda
Yumiko Hotta vs. Saemi Numata
5/2/93: Yumiko Hotta vs. Manami Toyota
Takako visits Hotta's apartment, Hotta shopping at a glass and music box shop, playing golf, riding in a swan boat, eating, etc
5/2/93: Manami Toyota vs. Yumiko Hotta 19:52. Toyota vs. Hotta would have been a great series if it were marked by the sort of positive attitude both displayed here. In a sense it was more Hotta’s match becuse she drilled Toyota with kick after kick, but she also sold Toyota’s aerial attack quite a bit, so it was very much a back and forth contest. They didn’t waste must time, and really stepped the action up at the 15-minute mark. ***3/4
5/8/93: Manami Toyota & Yumiko Hotta vs. Akira Hokuto & Toshiyo Yamada 21:50. Yamada worked so much that, until the later stages, you could almost forget Hokuto was even in the match. Normally that wouldn’t be a positive, but since Yamada was Hotta’s best opponent in these days, it definitely wasn’t a bad thing. Yamada could do the quasi UWF style well, more or less matching Hotta’s stiffness and intensity. The two big hitters traded blows in the best manner, making it a big deal when one broke through in any regard by forcing the opponent to sell, go down, or pretend to be injured. The match would have been much better suited to Yamada or Hotta’s tape. Toyota’s offense is never going to connect with the force or precision of those two, so while she did fine, she’s not going to stand out in a match built around stiffness the way she does in the usual match built around ring work or workrate. ***1/2
5/15/93?: Manami Toyota vs. Etsuko Mita 16:44. Mita didn’t yield to Toyota even though Toyota is the far bigger star. She played her game, using her size and power, turning it into a brawl when she had the opportunity. They generally worked at Mita’s methodical pace, with bursts of action from Toyota. Though you never quite believed Mita could win, she made a good enough showing. The problem here is neither seemed to take it as a particularly important match, so they were content to apply no more effort than was necessary to make it good. ***
Aja Kong & Kaoru Ito vs. Manami Toyota & Toshiyo Yamada
Aja Kong & Akira Hokuto vs. Yumiko Hotta & Takako Inoue
Aja Kong & Sakie Hasegawa vs. Akira Hokuto & Manami Toyota
Also includes a visit to Aja's apartment and Aja eating
Akira Hokuto & Suzuka Minami vs. Toshiyo Yamada & Kyoko Inoue 7:57. Entire match is shot in close-up on Hokuto. She mainly works with Yamada. Seems to be a good match, though they aren't working as hard as they typically do on commercial tapes or TV tapings.
Akira Hokuto vs. Toshiyo Yamada 17:53. Early portion takes place on the mat with Yamada working Hokuto's injured shoulder, though in a fairly uneventful manner. They killed the first 15 minutes more than they utilized it, but it picks up tremendously for the final three. The match would have been more interesting if they spread the high spots out over the course of the 18 minutes rather than saving them all for the grand finale. As it stands it's almost like two separate matches, an uninspired 70's style match followed by a hot 90's style sprint. ***
5/8/93: Akira Hokuto & Toshiyo Yamada vs. Yumiko Hotta & Manami Toyota 21:51. Started good, and kept getting better and better. This was a match you believed could end several minutes before it did, but I'm thankful it didn't because Toyota really put on a show in the final minutes. Fierce and furious action between Yamada & Hotta, both in peak form. Yamada worked with Toyota a lot as well, but Yamada wasn't trying to match Toyota or Hokuto in the spectacular department today, sticking with her stiff kicking strength. Hokuto wasn't exactly featured here, but the others were good and motivated so that shouldn't matter unless you are only a fan of Hokuto. Hokuto was excellent in spots, but Yamada was in a lot more lending her brand of credibility and intensity without diminishing the match quality. Hokuto did a post match angle with Rumi Kazama and the LLPW contingent showing up and challenging Hokuto and her LCO group. ****
Akira Hokuto vs. Kurenai Yasha 2:17. Hard to call this a match. Yasha attacked, but Hokuto no sold half of her offense. Hokuto didn't even bother using Yasha's weapon on her when she had the chance. Instead, she literally beat her with her first offensive move. It's amazing LLPW would let one of their stars get embarrassed beyond believe, even AJW rookies were likely to withstand more and last longer. But that's the flaw in their Kandori or bust philosophy, as by not protecting opponents that could be legitimate (Harley for instance) she never had any truly credible opponents within the league (Eagle was the only one that you believed had a 33% chance).
Aja Kong & Bull Nakano & Kaoru Ito vs. Manami Toyota & Kyoko Inoue & Sakie Hasegawa. This was shot in Bull-cam. Basically the showed close shots of what she was doing the whole time. This is interesting since you never get such close shots otherwise, but it's hard to enjoy the match this way since you aren't really seeing what's going on between the legal wrestlers on several occassions.
Bull Nakano & Kyoko Inoue vs. Aja Kong & Akira Hokuto. Not an all out effort, but it shows how good these four were when their matches on non-descript house shows at this point are better than most of the women's matches on the "big" shows of today. Aja seemed to work the hardest. ***1/4
Aja Kong & Bull Nakano vs. Manami Toyota & Kyoko Inoue. Like the last match, it wasn't their A match, but it was still quite good. Toyota looked really good at times, but was also kind of sloppy. ***1/4
Interspersed between the matches is footage of Bull's room, Bull eating, walking around with her leather jacket that says "fuck" on the back, etc.
Kyoko Inoue & Toshiyo Yamada vs. Suzuka Minami & Bat Yoshinaga
Akira Hokuto & Kyoko Inoue vs. Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda
Bull Nakano & Kyoko Inoue vs. Akira Hokuto & Aja Kong
Also includes Yamada visiting Kyoko's apartment and Kyoko eating
Toshiyo Yamada vs. Kaoru Ito
Toshiyo Yamada & Suzuka Minami vs. Akira Hokuto & Mima Shimoda
Toshiyo Yamada eating with chopsticks
Toshiyo Yamada vs. Sakie Hasegawa
Toshiyo Yamada looks at her AJW masters and plays with her hats and dolls
3-5 minutes of highlights from each match on AJW 1/3/94 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Chikako Shiratori vs. Rie Tamada
Kaoru Ito vs. Numacchi
AJ Title: Mima Shimoda vs. Tomoko Watanabe
Etsuko Mita vs. Suzuka Minami
Kyoko Inoue vs. Sakie Hasegawa
Manami Toyota vs. Bull Nakano
Toshiyo Yamada vs. Takako Inoue
Aja Kong vs. Yumiko Hotta
1/24/94 Tokyo Ota-ku Taiikukan
Captain Fall Survival War: Numacchi & Chikako Shiratori & Miki Yokoe & Akiko Abe vs. Tomoko Watanabe & Rie Tamada & Kumiko Maekawa & Miho Ikari
Mr. Buddhaman vs. Tomezo Tsunokake
Suzuka Minami & Takako Inoue vs. Sakie Hasegawa & Kaoru Ito. Typical good undercard match with regular bursts of fast action interrupted by submissions. Lots of suplexes & dropkicks. Ito is the most energetic, albeit a bit repetitive. Suzuka is good throughout & Sakie comes on toward the end, though her uranage has seen better days.
Bull Nakano vs. Kyoko Inoue. The first 2/3 was very slow-paced with too many submission holds. Kyoko accidentally got her ankle caught in the ropes and was screaming in pain so they had to untie her. Althogh Kyoko was a little hobbled, the match really picked up from there, turning into an excellent match in the last third. The fans got really into this, particularly when Kyoko kicked out of and avoided Bull's guillotine leg drop finisher. This match would have been much better if it was 17 minutes instead of 27. Bull pretty much dictated the entire match. ***1/2
2/3 Falls WWWA World Tag Title: Toshiyo Yamada & Manami Toyota vs. Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda 38:37. Shimoda and Mita were trying to finally strike out on their own with their senpai Akira Hokuto confined to part-time duty. They were huge underdogs, and the point of the match was to try to get them over. The problem was that it was abundantly clear they were nowhere near Yamada & Toyota's level, and Yamada, the best wrestler here by far, and the only one who was capable of carrying it to something exceptional, wound up logging the least ring time of anybody. Toyota has her moments, but was mostly along for the ride, selling to try to get LCO over. LCO were able to control much of the first fall working over Toyota's back. Shimoda still couldn't pin Toyota with an avalanche style double arm suplex though, and once Yamada was able to prevent Mita from interfering, Toyota was able to take Shimoda out with the Japanese ocean cyclone suplex. After a strong last few minutes to a good first fall, they really ratcheted up the workrate and intensity. Shimoda was really determined here, immediately locking a sleeper after Yamada hip tossed her. LCO were giving their all, but were having trouble making people believe they could actually score the upset in a match where a sweep wouldn't have been out of the question, if AJW ever actually booked them. Mita managed to catch Toyota with her Death Valley bomb out of nowhere, and followed with a second one to even things up though. Toyota was still down when the time between falls elapsed, and LCO took it to the floor for some of what would become their signature brawling. Things were becoming quite dramatic, as Yamada lay on top of Toyota to shield her from the stomps after Mita took her out with a piledriver on the floor. Shimoda introduced Yamada to a table for her trouble, and they dragged Toyota back into the ring where they hit their piggy back drop into a diving body press combo for what needed to be the finish because Toyota was dead, Yamada couldn't save her, and there was really nowhere for the match to go from here. Granted, this wouldn't have been an amazing match had it ended here with a quick third fall, but it would have accomplished the actual goal of making people believe in LCO, which was far more important. Instead, the crowd barely even reacted to the near fall because they didn't believe it could possibly end here, and that either threw the workers, or there was just no logical follow up to begin with. The match only slowed down briefly, but a lot of the wind was nonetheless taken out of the sails, and they just seemed to kind of restart, building things up again from the foundation. Yamada's hot tags were by far the most crisply executed and technically impressive portions of the match, and she got the crowd back into it. Shimoda's near fall rolling through Yamada's diving body attack now got a strong reaction, but unfortunately, little was done to follow up on that, or create any kind of a dramatic 3rd fall where LCO were actually coming close. As the fall progressed, Yamada & Toyota got to get some of their stuff in, including Toyota hitting a missile kick to the floor before Toyota picked up the pin over Mita with her Japanese ocean cyclone suplex after Yamada hit the diving enzuigiri. The 2nd fall here was by far the best stuff, and given the length of the match overall, the 1st would have been good enough if they had figured out how to make the third fall work, but in the end, while and excellent match, this had you thinking more about what could have been. ****
WWWA World Single Title: Aja Kong vs. Yumiko Hotta. This was just brutal. It was worked to look like a "real fight," as they were really intense and they stiffed each other back and forth. Another heated match. Hotta got a cut on her hand from one of the times she hit Aja in the head and it bled like crazy. Aja worked over the hand, which was cool because it's not something you see done often. At one point they wrapped it up in gauze, but it wasn't going to be much help so Hotta threw it off to show her toughness. Actually, Hotta did a great job of putting over the brutal beating Aja was dishing out without compromising her tough woman gimmick. The problem with this match is that it was rather onesided, which did kind of compromise Hotta's gimmick. ****1/2
AJW 1993 Awards Party
Manami Toyota & Toshiyo Yamada sing POWER ON THE DREAM
Bull Nakano vs. Kaoru Ito
Mima Shimoda & Etsuko Mita vs. Yumiko Hotta & Sakie Hasegawa
Aja Kong vs. Suzuka Minami
Toshiyo Yamada & Manami Toyota vs. Kyoko Inoue & Takako Inoue
Bull Nakano vs. Kyoko Inoue. ***1/2
2/3 Falls WWWA World Tag Titles: Toshiyo Yamada & Manami Toyota vs. Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda. ****1/2
WWWA World Single Title: Aja Kong vs. Yumiko Hotta. ****1/2
Miki Yokoe vs. Miho Hikari
Kumiko Maekawa vs. Rie Tamada
Midget Match: Little Frankie vs. Tomezo Tsunokake
Numatchi vs. Chikako Shiratori
Bull Nakano & Suzuka Minami vs. Etusko Mita & Mima Shimoda
Toshiyo Yamada vs. Tomoko Watanabe
Manami Toyota & Yumiko Hotta vs. Aja Kong & Sakie Hasegawa
Toshiyo Yamada & Suzuka Minami vs. Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda
Kyoko Inoue vs. Tomoko Watanabe
Bull Nakano & Sakie Hasegawa vs. Manami Toyota & Kaoru Ito
#87 taped 12/6/93 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
Zen Nihon Tag: Sakie Hasegawa & Kaoru Ito vs. Miki Handa & Kurenai Yasha
Yumiko Hotta & Kyoko Inoue & Takako Inoue vs. Rumi Kazama & Eagle Sawai & Harley Saito
Dangerous Queen Tokyo Ttrial: Akira Hokuto vs. Shinobu Kandori
#88 taped 2/18/94 Fukuoka Hakata Starlanes
All Japan Junior League: Miki Yokoe vs. Akiko Abe
Mima Shimoda vs. Takako Inoue
Sakie Hasegawa & Kaoru Ito vs. Aja Kong & Bull Nakano
Toshiyo Yamada & Manami Toyota vs. Yumiko Hotta & Kyoko Inoue
Manami Toyota & Toshiyo Yamada sing POWER ON THE DREAM
Etsuko Mita & Tomoko Watanabe & Rie Tamada vs. Suzuka Minami & Chikako Shiratori & Kumiko Maekawa
Mima Shimoda vs. Takako Inoue
Sakie Hasegawa & Kaoru Ito vs. Aja Kong & Bull Nakano
Toshiyo Yamada & Manami Toyota vs. Yumiko Hotta & Kyoko Inoue
#89 taped 2/27/94 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Bull Nakano vs. Etsuko Mita
Yumiko Hotta & Takako Inoue vs. Kyoko Inoue & Kaoru Ito
WWWA Tag Title: Manami Toyota & Toshiyo Yamada vs. Aja Kong & Sakie Hasegawa
#90 taped 3/27/94 Yokohama Arena
Chaparrita ASARI vs. Hikari Fukuoka
Suzuka Minami & Chikako Shiratori vs. Megumi Kudo & Nurse Nakamura
IWA World Women's Title: Manami Toyota vs. Plum Mariko
Yumiko Hotta & Takako Inoue vs. Reggie Bennet & Eagle Sawai
JWP Tag Title: Mayumi Ozaki & Cuty Suzuki vs. Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda
Manami Toyota & Toshiyo Yamada sing POWER ON THE DREAM
Numacchi retirement ceremony
Bull Nakano vs. Etsuko Mita
Yumiko Hotta & Takako Inoue vs. Kyoko Inoue & Kaoru Ito
2/3 Falls WWWA World Tag Title: Manami Toyota & Toshiyo Yamada vs. Aja Kong & Sakie Hasegawa
Miki Yokoe vs. Kumiko Maekawa
Tomezo Tsunokake vs. Mr. Buddhaman
Tomoko Watanabe & Chaparrita ASARI vs. Chikako Shiratori & Rie Tamada
Kaoru Ito & Suzuka Minami vs. Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda
Takako Inoue vs. Yumiko Hotta
Sakie Hasegawa vs. Toshiyo Yamada
Bull Nakano & Kyoko Inoue vs. Aja Kong & Manami Toyota
Rie Tamada vs. Miki Yokoe
Chapparita ASARI vs. Kumiko Maaekawa
Mima Shimoda vs. Tomoko Watanabe
Bull Nakano & Yumiko Hotta vs. Kyoko Inoue & Toshiyo Yamada
Takako Inoue vs. Etsuko Mita
Aja Kong & Suzuka Minami vs. Manami Toyota & Kaoru Ito
AJ Junior Title Sparkling Hussle: Candy Okutsu (JWP) vs. Rie Tamada. *1/2
Little Bigman no Arena Daiboken (big adventure): Abdullah the Kobutcher (Buddhaman) vs. Great Little Muta (Little Frankie). *
AJ Tag Titles: Kaoru Ito & Tomoko Watanabe vs. Miki Handa & Kurenai Yasha (LLPW team). ***
Space Flying Gymnastic: Chaparrita ASARI vs. Hikari Fukuoka (JWP). *3/4
Professional Wrestling Bible: Suzuka Minami & Chikako Shiratori vs. Megumi Kudo & Nurse Nakamura (FMW team). **1/4
IWA Women's Title: Manami Toyota vs. Plum Mariko (JWP). ****1/2
Amazon House: Yumiko Hotta & Takako Inoue vs. Eagle Sawai (LLPW) & Reggie Bennett. **1/2
JWP Tag Titles: Mayumi Ozaki & Cuty Suzuki (JWP team) vs. Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda. Rather than tone down their heel tactics to get over as the home team, LCO emphasized them that much more. Not to be outdone, Ozaki took the action to the floor. Cuty even tried to play heel, though her efforts seemed half hearted. Things were going well early on, but they made the mistake of settling into a traditional match, which killed the intensity and just wasn't that inspiring. They saved everything for the final 7-8 minutes, which were damn good and got the crowd back. Cuty was far below the level of the other three, causing Ozaki to work the majority of the match. LCO winning the JWP tag titles was huge because they were the first outsiders to do it and they beat two of JWP's top stars. Considering their respective rankings, JWP looked really bad here. Though Ozaki is by far the best wrestler of the bunch, LCO actually looked better because Ozaki wasn't at her best trying to do too much and Cuty supplied little help. ***1/2
Demolition Woman Hot Running: Sakie Hasegawa vs. Dynamite Kansai (JWP). ***1/4
All Pacific Title Major League Derby Match: Toshiyo Yamada vs. Kyoko Inoue. Kyoko wins title. ****1/4
Dangerous Queen FINAL Countdown: Aja Kong & Bull Nakano vs. Akira Hokuto & Shinobu Kandori (LLPW). ****1/2
#091 taped 3/27/94 Yokohama & 3/30/94 Okinawa
AJ Junior Title: Candy Okutsu vs. Rie Tamada
AJ Tag Title: Miki Handa & Kurenai Yasha vs. Kaoru Ito & Tomoko Watanabe vs.
3/30/94 Okinawa Naha Shimin Taiikukan
UWA Women's Tag Title: Takako Inoue & Yumiko Hotta vs. Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda
JAS CUP Special Tag Match: Aja Kong & Sakie Hasegawa vs. Kyoko Inoue & Reggie Bennett
#092 taped 6/10/94 Sapporo Nakajima Taiiku Center
Kyoko Inoue & Rie Tamada vs. Takako Inoue & Tomoko Watanabe
Japan Grand Prix '94: Yumiko Hotta vs. Suzuka Minami
Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda vs. Aja Kong & Bull Nakano
2/3 Falls WWWA Tag Title: Manami Toyota & Toshiyo Yamada vs. Kaoru Ito & Sakie Hasegawa
Toshiyo Yamada vs. Kaoru Ito
UWA Tag Title Match: Yumiko Hotta & Takako Inoue vs. Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda
Okinawa resort fan convention highlights
JAS CUP Special Tag Match: Aja Kong & Sakie Hasegawa vs. Kyoko Inoue & Reggie Bennett
Kumiko Maekawa vs. Rie Tamada. Very short. The work was fine, but the finish was flat. *1/4
Midget Pro Wrestling: Mr. Buddhaman vs. Tomezo Tsunekake. DUD
Chikako Shiratori vs. Tomoko Watanabe. They hit all their spots, but it was a basic match where The Goddess wasn't particularly competitive. **1/2
Kaoru Ito vs. Takako Inoue. Ito carried this and it was very good. Takako has to redo the finish though, which hurt a lot. ***1/2
Tamada slaughters Buddhaman in a juice drinking contest
Manami Toyota & Kyoko Inoue & Chaparrita ASARI vs. Suzuka Minami & Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda. Very good workrate match. No storyline or psychology, but it built well and it had a lot of great spots. ***3/4
Reggie Bennett vs. Bull Nakano. Yawn. *
Combat Fighting: Yumiko Hotta & Sakie Hasegawa vs. Aja Kong & Toshiyo Yamada. Solid Hotta style UWF match. Slow paced because they were going so long, but it picked up for the last 1/3. ***
Rie Tamada vs. Chaparrita ASARI
Midget Single Match: Mr. Buddhaman vs. Tomezo Tsunokake
Suzuka Minami & Tomoko Watanabe vs. Takako Inoue & Kaoru Ito
Zen Nihon Senshukenjiai: Mima Shimoda vs. Miki Handa
Zenjo vs. LLPW: Etsuko Mita vs. Eagle Sawai
Bull Nakano & Sakie Hasegawa vs. Manami Toyota & Kyoko Inoue
Zenjo vs. LLPW: Yumiko Hotta & Toshiyo Yamada vs. Shinobu Kandori & Harley Saito
Zen Nihon Oza Kettei Tournament: Rie Tamada vs. Chaparrita ASARI. I don't know what they were thinking here. This match was so repetitive and it seemed to go on forever. Both wrestled used the same few moves over and over and over again. What made it so boring is that most of these moves you don't even want to see once. It started out with submissions like the crabs and then they moved up to dropkicks, a lifetime's worth. Just when I was relieved that it had gone the distance, they went into a 5 minute overtime. *
Mr. Buddhaman vs. Tomezo Tsunokake
Bull Nakano & Kumiko Maekawa vs. Suzuka Minami & Tomoko Watanabe. Maekawa obviously took all the punishment for her team. Watanabe nearly took her head off with possibly the stiffest lariat I've ever seen. Maekawa was given no offense, or at least none that was sold, so it was not that interesting while she was in. It was very good while Bull was in though. The final minutes were disappointing. **1/2
Aja Kong vs. Sakie Hasegawa. Sakie was a big underdog here. She got off to a quick start jumping Aja as she entered the ring and giving her a facebuster off the apron and doublearm suplex on the floor. Aja piledrove Sakie on the floor and proceeded to beat her more brutally than Aja normally does. The match was a bit sloppy, but the main problem was Sakie wasn't allowed to be competitive enough. ***
UWA & JWP Tag Senshukenjiai: Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda vs. Yumiko Hotta & Kaoru Ito. Hotta brought a good deal of intensity to the match. It started off with good brawling by Hotta & Ito, but then died with restmissions. Most of the match was LCO getting the best of Ito. They did their thing when Ito was in, so it was good even though it was one-sided. Hotta would help Ito out when she was in trouble and give her some opportunities to look good with their double teams. The match lasted almost 27 minutes, but it didn't seem nearly that long. ***1/2
Manami Toyota & Kyoko Inoue vs. Toshiyo Yamada & Takako Inoue. Toyota & Yamada vs. Kyoko & Takako probably would have been a little better, but it was interesting to see the pairs switched up. The work was excellent, but that was all they tried to deliver. It didn't have the crazy pace you might expect and there were a few blown spots including the finish. Yamada vs. Toyota was great, as was always the case at this time. Kyoko really got the crowd going with her antics. Fun match. ***3/4
Mr. Buddhaman vs. Tomezo Tsunokake
Rie Tamada vs. Kumiko Maekawa
Bull Nakano & Toshiyo Yamada vs. Kaoru Ito & Takako Inoue
Kyoko Inoue vs. Sakie Hasegawa
Manami Toyota & Yumiko Hotta vs. Aja Kong & Etsuko Mita
Chaparrita ASARI vs. Kumiko Maekawa
Midget Puroresu: Tomezo Tsunokake vs. Mr. Buddhaman
Japan Grand Prix '94 Koshiki Leagusen: Takako Inoue vs. Suzuka Minami
Japan Grand Prix '94 Koshiki Leagusen: Yumiko Hotta vs. Toshiyo Yamada. Stiff as hell kickfest. ****1/2
Bull Nakano & Kyoko Inoue & Tomoko Watanabe vs. Aja Kong & Kaoru Ito & Rie Tamada
Japan Grand Prix '94 Koshiki Leagusen: Manami Toyota vs. Sakie Hasegawa
JWP Nintei Tag Senshukenjiai: Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda vs. Hikari Fukuoka & Candy Okutsu. LCO disrespected the up and coming JWP team to get them over as faces. They completely had their way with them for the first several minutes, getting the fans to support the road team rather than the home heels. As the match progressed the JWP team used their athleticism to make brief comebacks, though you never really believed they'd win it was a big deal for Candy to simply be in the match. The JWP team has more chemistry with wrestlers from their own league, and thus were more exciting than good. Mita was the standout here, holding the match together, covering a few mistakes, and providing a good base. Shimoda picked on Yamamoto and JWP after the match, dropping the mic at his feet and flipping him off. ***
Japan Grand Prix '94: Yumiko Hotta vs. Suzuka Minami of 16:18
Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda vs. Aja Kong & Bull Nakano of 18:02
2/3 Falls WWWA Tag Senshuken: Toshiyo Yamada & Manami Toyota vs. Sakie Hasegawa & Kaoru Ito of 10:34, 13:32, & 8:47
#93 taped 7/16/94 Omiya Skate Center
Mariko Yoshida vs. Rie Tamada
Mima Shimoda vs. Takako Inoue
Japan Grand Prix '94:
Aja Kong & Bull Nakano & Suzuka Minami vs. Kyoko Inoue & Manami Toyota & Yumiko Hotta
#094 taped 8/24/94 Tokyo Nippon Budokan
Suzuka Minami & Chaparrita ASARI & Tomoko Watanabe & Rie Tamada vs. Hikari Fukuoka & Fusayo Nochi & Commando Boirshoi & Hiromi Yagi
Kickboxing: Kumiko Maekawa vs. Kyoko Kamikaze
Chigusa Nagayo & Toshiyo Yamada vs. Sakie Hasegawa & Mariko Yoshida
Japan Grand Prix '94: Sakie Hasegawa vs. Toshiyo Yamada of 19:47
Yumiko Hotta & Manami Toyota & Kyoko Inoue vs. Aja Kong & Bull Nakano & Suzuka Minami of 23:26
Mr. Buddhaman vs. Tomezo Tsunokake
Mariko Yoshida vs. Kumiko Maekawa
Suzuka Minami & Chapparita ASARI vs. KAORU & Tomoko Watanabe
Aja Kong & Yumiko Hotta & Rie Tamada vs. Bull Nakano & Etusko Mita & Mima Shimoda
Toshiyo Yamada & Sakie Hasegawa vs. Manami Toyota & Kaoru Ito
All Pacific Title: Kyoko Inoue vs. Takako Inoue
Mr. Buddhaman vs. Tomezo Tsunokake
Mariko Yoshida vs. Suzuka Minami
Toshiyo Yamada & Chapparita ASARI & Rie Tamada vs. Suzuka Minami & Tomoko Watanabe & Kumiko Maekawa
Aja Kong vs. KAORU
Mima Shimoda vs. Etsuko Mita
Kyoko Inoue & Takako Inoue vs. Sakie Hasegawa & Kaoru Ito
Manami Toyota vs. Yumiko Hotta
Mid Summer Wrestling Academy: Suzuka Minami & Tomoko Watanabe & Chaparrita ASARI & Rie Tamada vs. Hikari Fukuoka & Command Bolshoi & Fusayo Nouchi & Hiromi Yagi (JWP team) 15:04. ***1/2
Budokan Midget Retsuden MIN: Tomezo Tsunokake vs. "Little Dangerous Queen" Hokuto Akiracito 5:42
Zenjo Fighting Glove (kickboxing): Kumiko Maekawa vs. Kyoko Kamikaze 5rd
Reggie Bennett & Kaoru Ito vs. Eagle Sawai & Carol Midori (LLPW team) 13:04
Infernal KAORU vs. Megumi Kudo (FMW) 13:43
UWA World Women's Tag Titles: Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda vs. Harley Saito & Jenn Yukari (LLPW team) 12:49. A much slower paced match than on the 7/14 show, which didn't help it. Harley was a much bigger star than Handa. Though she's also far better wrestler, LLPW's best, that fact actually hurt this match because LCO was dominating. As Harley was also a bigger star than either of them, it was largely Yukari getting beat on. Yukari once again took the match down; she was simply out of her depth and Harley had to come in and bail her out after one blown spot to keep her from embarrassing herself too badly. Mita was once again very good, and it was basically the typical solid LCO match of the time period. ***
Pure Heart Deep Panic: Takako Inoue & Cuty Suzuki (JWP) vs. Devil Masami & Candy Okutsu (JWP team) 17:15
Chigusa Nagayo (free) & Toshiyo Yamada vs. Sakie Hasegawa & Mariko Yoshida 16:08. Very good
Major League Derby Match II All Pacific & IWA Women's Title Unification Match: Kyoko Inoue vs. Manami Toyota 23:31. Toshiyo Yamada & Kyoko Inoue weren’t Manami Toyota’s best opponents by accident or for their complementary abilities; they were the ones who could match her energy, athleticism, and offense over the long haul, allowing for a highlight reel match. This match lacked any real form, basically just working every highspot they could think of in, but only the most gifted junior heavyweights could match their speed and they were willing to take some wild chances such as a joust on the top turnbuckle where Toyota kicked Kyoko off to the floor then followed her to the outside with a missile kick. Kyoko went solid early, controlling with submissions and setting Toyota up for athletic counters that didn’t really come off due to Manami slipping off the ropes a few times. Toyota’s execution woes were consistent throughout, but what made the match was her typical uninspiring submission opening radically shifted into high gear halfway through the contest, giving way to a 12 minute orgasm of crazy spots and finishers strung together as a seemingly endless series of hot near falls. The quality of the match from any sort of a technical nuts and bolts standpoint was weak, as bad as they ever did together, as they were very immature, just throwing spots at the wall and missing too many. However, it was a superior spectacle with awesome offense. Kyoko was as over as ever, the fan favorite in a bout they consistently went nuts for. ****
Dangerous Queen Final Countdown ~4 Daikyoto (great big names) Pre-Dome Survival!~: Akira Hokuto & Aja Kong vs. Dynamite Kansai (JWP) & Yumiko Hotta 24:39. Hokuto wasn’t working regularly by this point, but that very fact allowed her to still deliver major performances on the most important shows. Hokuto was the best at working the interpromotional rivalry, delivering one smart never surrender match after another that did a superb job of getting the enormity of the stakes both for the leagues and the individuals. Today she got her chance with JWP’s ace Kansai, delivering the expected remarkably heated, super intense war. They got into it before the match with Hokuto just turning her back on Open Weight Champion as if she were nothing, resulting in the disrespected JWP star front kicking her. Kansai was always super motivated for the big matches against AJW. She really asserting herself when she was in early, but was largely kept in reserve, taunted by Hokuto, who was at her pot stirring best, as they took Hotta apart. Hotta, who was in the midst of one of her biggest singles pushes, just 4 days from winning her first and only Japan Grand Prix, was really feeling it also. Knowing the match they were going to try to do where they kicked the speed of everything up about three gears, I’d expect Hotta to be the spot where things broke down. However, aside from Hokuto whiffing on a few kicks when her and Aja were going back and forth on their downed opponent, the execution was almost uniformly perfect with Hotta playing a major role because even though it was a stiff bombs away match, it was more bone crunching moves out of well timed sequences than hard hitting strikes. Hotta, of course, did get her share of kicks in, trying to chop Hokuto’s bad knee down from the outset. Hokuto was the centerpiece due to her trash talking, but as a performer she functioned more as the spark plug, not simply flying around on her own, but also getting the larger heavy hitters to do everything faster and more emphatically. If she wasn’t an underdog for her lack of size and health, the surprising first elimination where Kansai blocked Aja’s uraken and kicked a field goal on her hunched opponent for the knockout certainly made Akira one. Of course, despite going 2-1, Hokuto managed to eliminate Hotta, bringing about the confrontation with Kansai the entire match had been building toward. ****1/2
This tape predominatly uses match clips to chronicle the career of one of the best wrestlers ever.
Kumiko Maekawa & Misae Watanabe (Genki) vs. Rie Tamada & Yoko Takahashi. Clip
Mr. Buddhaman vs. Tomezo Tsunokake. Clip
Mima Shimoda & Tomoko Watanabe vs. Suzuka Minami & Chaparrita ASARI. Good clip
Japan Grand Prix'94 League Bout: Sakie Hasegawa vs. Kaoru Ito. Good work, but lacking in psychology. ***
Mariko Yoshida vs. KAORU. A very different match for these two, as it was predominantly contested on the mat. They tried to really build before going to the high spots, and they were pretty successful at it. This went to a 30:00 time limit, but instead of a draw they had the match continue. Solid work, good psychology, no high spots rolled out. ****
Japan Grand Prix'94 League Bout: Yumiko Hotta vs. Etsuko Mita. Very good match carried by Hotta, who looked strong other than blowing spots at the end. ***3/4
Aja Kong & Takako Inoue vs. Kyoko Inoue & Reggie Bennett. Not much in the way of storyline or psychology, but the work was good by everyone but Bennett, who was at least over doing comedy with Kyoko. ***
Japan Grand Prix '94: Manami Toyota vs. Toshiyo Yamada. Excellent match, but I hoped it would be great like their '92 matches. The crowd was tough, not getting hot until the final 10 minutes when they did all kinds of near falls. Some spots were badly missed, and the match wasn't incredibly dramatic. Yamada beat on Toyota's leg and Manami sold it great. She also bloodied Toyota's lip with kicks. ****
#97 taped 8/31/94 Osaka Furitsu Gym 2
Saya Endo Debut: Saya Endo vs. Misae Watanabe
Mariko Yoshida Rechallenge 7 #2: Mariko Yoshida vs. Takako Inoue
Japan Grand Prix '94: Toshiyo Yamada vs. Etsuko Mita
Sakie Hasegawa & Manami Toyota & Kyoko Inoue vs. Reggie Bennett & Kaoru Ito & Aja Kong
#98 taped 9/23/94 Saga Sports Center
Kaoru Kaneyama vs. Yuka Shina
Reggie Bennett & Aja Kong vs. Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda
Mariko Yoshida Rechallenge 7 #4: Manami Toyota vs. Mariko Yoshida
Kyoko Inoue & Takako Inoue vs. Sakie Hasegawa & Toshiyo Yamada
Suzuka Minami & Mima Shimoda vs. Yumiko Hotta & Tomoko Watanabe
Manami Toyota & Kyoko Inoue & Sakie Hasegawa vs. Aja Kong & Kaoru Ito & Reggie Bennett
Aja Kong & Reggie Bennett vs. Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda
Kyoko Inoue & Takako Inoue vs. Toshiyo Yamada & Sakie Hasegawa
Kaoru Ito & Misae Watanabe & Nobue Endo vs. Tomoko Watanabe & Yuka Shiina & Kaoru Kaneyama
Midget Puroresu: Tsunokake X vs. Buda Genjin
Junior League Match: Kumiko Maekawa vs. Hiromi Yagi (JWP)
Junior League Match: Rie Tamada vs. Fusayo Nouchi (JWP)
Junior League Match: Chaparrita ASARI vs. Candy Okutsu (JWP)
Suzuka Minami vs. Sakie Hasegawa
Tag League Match: Manami Toyota & Takako Inoue vs. Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda 24:12. Everyone kind of did their own thing in this one. Toyota was in a class by herself, seeming to be working at twice the speed of the others and executing precisely. Shimoda worked best with Toyota because she's very good at taking, but didn't exactly distinguish herself on her own. Mita still seems to be the better wrestler of the two, she takes charge and instills a distinct style, which is increasingly influenced by Bison Kimura. Takako was very much outclassed, but didn't hurt the match in any way, usually getting beaten up by Mita. ***1/2
Mariko Yoshida Re-Challenge 7 Match 6: Mariko Yoshida vs. Kyoko Inoue
Tag League Match: Yumiko Hotta & Toshiyo Yamada vs. Aja Kong & Reggie Bennett
7/16/94 Omiya Skate Center 5 Minute Exhibition Match: Mariko Yoshida vs. Rie Tamada. Yoshida returned after being out injured for about 21 months. Although an exhibition match, Yoshida took it very seriously and really worked up a sweat. The match was good for what it was. Nothing too difficult, but action packed and well executed.
8/24/94 Tokyo Nippon Budokan: Sakie Hasegawa & Mariko Yoshida vs. Chigusa Nagayo & Toshiyo Yamada. Fans were into this from the get to, probably because of Chigusa but Yamada was the standout carrying her team. Pretty intense match with crisp execution. Hasegawa & Yoshida were both very good. ***1/2
8/28/94 Tokyo Korakuen Hall Re-Challenge 1: Mariko Yoshida vs. KAORU. Yoshida grounded KAORU after KAORU's quick start, working over her already damaged knee. Yoshida kept at the knee pretty consistently until the final minutes, with KAORU having a few lapses in selling like when she backflipped off the top rope, but generally doing a commendable job of putting it over. This is KAORU's best match because she actually bought into putting effort into the mat work rather than mailing it in until it was time for her to fly around. Of course,Yoshida did a good deal of KAORU's stuff, but the point is the match came together because they were into the portions where they were doing the other person's thing as well as their own. The problem with the match is you really never got the idea it was going to end inside 30 minutes. Then they went OT and it was inexplicably like a different match, ending in less than 2 minutes after moves that didn't seem to fit. Really a brilliant job by Yoshida though, reigning KAORU in for 30 minutes to deliver an efficient and technically excellent blend of submission and lucha. ****
8/31/94 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan 2 Re-Challenge 2: Mariko Yoshida vs. Takako Inoue. Takako did her typically unconvincing heel stuff early on. She wasn't into Yoshida's matwork. It got quite good when they started doing spots, but it took too long to get interesting considering the match itself was on the short side. **1/4
9/15/94 Tokyo Korakuen Hall Re-Challenge 3: Mariko Yoshida vs. Toshiyo Yamada. These two are very well matched with Yoshida doing her more technical style and Yamada doing her kicks. When Yoshida got into her lucha toward the end it didn't work as well. Solid technical match with Yoshida once again taking some wicked kicks. ***
9/23/94 Re-Challenge 4: Mariko Yoshida vs. Manami Toyota. Yoshida started off fighting her high speed lucha style. Unfortunately, the matwork didn't help much because Yoshida had no focus and obviously much moreso due to Toyota being disinterested. Toyota pulled out some of her excellent counters to liven up the early portion, and Yoshida started flying as well at 12:00. The fast sequences and counters were very impressive, but there wasn't enough of this. The work was good enough to get over most of the problems, but it was frustrating that Toyota didn't even allow you to feel that Yoshida had a chance of beating her. ***
10/1/94 Fukuoka Hakata Starlanes Re-Challenge 5: Mariko Yoshida vs. Sakie Hasegawa. Hasegawa always wants to have a hard fought competitive match. That mentality under the ridiculous AJW 28 match a month schedule with no time to heal unless you are seriously hurt burnt her out way too soon, but made matches like this exceed matches that are better on paper like Yoshida vs. Toyota or Kyoko. So much more back and forth here with a real sense of equality. It had it's dull moments, but as a whole it was considerably more exciting than the Toyota match because the outcome was in doubt. Plus they struggled for the moves and did some really nice near falls to build the drama. Hasegawa can be a little sloppy, but this was consistently well executed. ***1/2
10/8/94 Tokyo Korakuen Hall Re-Challenge 6: Mariko Yoshida vs. Kyoko Inoue. Match got off to a mediocre start, Yoshida got a few good near falls, then Kyoko beat her with one lariat. Huge disappointment. *1/2
10/9/94 Kawasaki Shi Taiikukan: Mariko Yoshida vs. Yumiko Hotta. One of those matches where Hotta pretended she was putting her opponent over, but it was pretty obvious that she wasn't. For this one-sided loss, about all Yoshida got from Hotta was a bloody nose and mouth. *3/4
Jr League: Kumiko Maekawa vs. Fusayo Nouchi
Jr. League: Rie Tamada vs. Hiromi Yagi
Little Frankie vs. Tsunokake X
Suzuka Minami & Chaparrita ASARI vs. Tomoko Watanabe & Misae Watanabe
Bat Yoshinaga Retirement Ceremony
Mariko Yoshida Rechallenge 7: Mariko Yoshida vs. Yumiko Hotta
JWP Nintei Tag Senshukenjiai: Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda vs. Hikari Fukuoka & Command Bolshoi
Aja Kong vs. Kaoru Ito
Sakie Hasegawa vs. Reggie Bennett
2/3 Falls WWWA Sekai Tag Senshukenjiai: Toshiyo Yamada & Manami Toyota vs. Kyoko Inoue & Takako Inoue
#099 taped 10/22/94 Nagoya Aichi-ken Taiikukan
Kumiko Maekawa & Misae Watanabe vs. Nanae Takahashi & Nobue Endo
Rie Tamada vs. Chaparrita ASARI
Kyoko Inoue vs. Reggie Bennett
Aja Kong vs. Toshiyo Yamada
IWA World Women's & All Pacific Double Title: Manami Toyota vs. Takako Inoue
#100 taped 11/20/94 Tokyo Dome
Bomber Hikari & Chaparrita ASARI vs. Hiromi Sugo & Hiromi Yagi
Minami Suzuka vs. KAORU
Kickboxing: Kumiko Maekawa vs. Sugar Miyuki
UWA Women's Tag Title: Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda vs. Michiko Nagashima & Kurenai Yasha
Hikari Fukuoka & Megumi Kudo vs. Cuty Suzuki & Takako Inoue
WWF Women's Title: Alundra Blayze vs. Bull Nakano
Suzuka Minami & Kaoru Ito vs. Mariko Yoshida & Sakie Hasegawa. Back and forth match with a lot of nice quick moves and counters into near falls. Good work here, particularly from Ito. 12:24 of 16:56. ***
Kyoko Inoue vs. Reggie Bennett. Reggie didn't work well with Kyoko. Their sequences didn't quite come off, and Reggie was so slow it was all rather deliberate. Reggie totally dominated then Kyoko got a fluke win. 10:39. *3/4
All Pacific & IWA World Double Title Match: Manami Toyota vs. Takako Inoue. This wasn't the typical Toyota carried match that was all about speed and flashy offense. Instead of exposing Takako's weaknesses, they instead focused on attitude and their dislike for one another. That's Takako's thing, but Toyota got into it as well mirroring Takako's heel tactics for revenge. The match got off to an exciting start including Toyota flying through the ropes to the floor when Takako avoided her dropkick then Takako giving Toyota a nodowa otoshi off the apron. As usual, Toyota got it into a rut by doing more submission work than had any purpose or benefit. As a whole though, while the match wasn't as well worked or certainly as spectacular as most prime Toyota, the moves were more meaningful. Some great stuff on the floor including Takako doing her knees to the head tombstone piledriver and Toyota doing 4 dives in a row. Lots of great near falls down the stretch. Toyota was awesome here, and more because she worked around Takako's limitations than because she just took it upon herself to make the match awe-inspiring. Definitely one of Takako's best matches. 24:01. ****1/4
An incredible show that's right up with Dreamslam 1 & 2 among the best shows ever. It's nearly not as consistent though because the tournament has people working multiple shorter matches, it takes a while for the undercard to get going, Akira Hokuto is not the wrestler she was, & they insist on including everyone who is anything in women's fighting except the actual best workers in the 2 main promotions they are working with, Mayumi Ozaki & Harley Saito. Nonetheless, this is the absolute epic wrestling show, with 4 1/2 hours of actual bell to bell action, including 2 MOTYC by Aja Kong & 4 other **** range or better bouts including a legends match where 4 wrestlers come out of retirement and, if not for the time limit being so short, would probably have surpassed the best match that 95% of the active wrestlers had that year.
Chaparrita ASARI & Bomber Hikaru (GAEA) vs. Hiromi Yagi & Hiromi Sugo (JWP team) 6:53. **1/2
Midget Handicap Match: Tsunokake X vs. Great Littlemuta & Buta Genjin 4:44. 3/4*
AJ Junior Title: Candy Okutsu (JWP) vs. Rie Tamada 8:52. ***
Suzuka Minami vs. KAORU (GAEA) 9:35. ***1/2
Zenjyo Fighting Glove II: Kumiko Maekawa vs. Sugar Miyuki 5R. Kickboxing
Joshi Amateur Pro Ring 1st Challenge: Kyoko Hamaguchi vs. Doris Blind 4:00. Amateur shoot.
Joshi Amateur Pro Ring 1st Challenge: Miyu Yamamoto vs. Anna Gomez 4:00. Amateur shoot.
Zenjyo vs. Shootboxing: Kaoru Ito vs. Fumiko Ishimoto 5R. Shootboxing.
Big Heart Power Contest: Reggie Bennett vs. Chigusa Nagayo (GAEA) 8:39. *1/2
Zenjyo vs. LLPW Doyume (dream which has been yearned for?) Survival War: Toshiyo Yamada & Tomoko Watanabe vs. Shinobu Kandori & Mikiko Futagami (LLPW team) 11:30. ***1/2
UWA World Women's Tag Title: Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda vs. Yasha Kurenai & Michiko Nagashima (LLPW team) 15:36. One reason the quality of LCO's matches is so consistent is Mita can give to anyone and Shimoda can take for anyone. The LLPW team was outclassed and didn't distinguish themselves, but LCO plugged them into their formula and got about the same positive results as usual. ***1/4
Legend of Memorial Fight: Jaguar Yokota & Bison Kimura vs. Lioness Asuka & Yumi Ogura 10:00. ***3/4
Blizzard Yuki Debut Match: Blizzard Yuki vs. Mariko Yoshida 12:03. ***1/4
V*TOP WOMAN Nippon Senshuken (championship title) Tournament Round 1: Yumiko Hotta vs. Combat Toyoda (FMW) 16:55. ****1/2
V*TOP WOMAN Nippon Senshuken (championship title) Tournament Round 1: Akira Hokuto vs. Eagle Sawai (LLPW) 11:08. ***1/2
V*TOP WOMAN Nippon Senshuken Tournament Round 1: Manami Toyota vs. Aja Kong 17:19. ****3/4
V*TOP WOMAN Nippon Senshuken (championship title) Tournament Round 1: Kyoko Inoue vs. Dynamite Kansai (JWP) 17:39. ****1/2
Miss Wrestling Universe Tag Summit: Takako Inoue & Cuty Suzuki (JWP) vs. Megumi Kudo (FMW) & Hikari Fukuoka (JWP) 14:04. ***1/4
Michinoku Pro Doyume Lucha Tengoku (heaven): The Great Sasuke & SATO & Shiryu vs. Super Delfin & Jinsei Shinzaki & Gran Naniwa 21:45. ****1/4
V*TOP WOMAN Nippon Senshuken Tournament Semifinal: Akira Hokuto vs. Combat Toyoda 5:48. ***
V*TOP WOMAN Nippon Senshuken Tournament Semifinal: Aja Kong vs. Dynamite Kansai 12:24. ****1/2
WWF World Women's Title: Alundra Blayze vs. Bull Nakano 9:27. Bull wins title. *1/2
V*TOP WOMAN Nippon Senshuken Tournament Final: Akira Hokuto vs. Aja Kong 20:24. ***1/4
Misae Watanabe vs. Kaoru Kanayama
Kumiko Maekawa & Yoko Takahashi vs. Chaparrita ASARI & Nobue Endo
Midget Puroresu: Mr. Buddhaman vs. Tomezo Tsunokake
Reggie Bennett & Rie Tamada vs. Suzuka Minami & Tomoko Watanabe
Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda vs. Mariko Yoshida & Kaoru Ito
Manami Toyota vs. Blizzard Yuki
Toshiyo Yamada & Takako Inoue vs. Lioness Asuka & Kyoko Inoue
WWWA Sekai Single Senshukenjiai: Aja Kong vs. Yumiko Hotta. Shockingly dominant performance by Aja, the beast walking over tough woman Hotta as if she were Takako. Aja exploited Hotta's weak left knee from the get go with a combination of stiffness, brawling, and submission that literally rendered her helpless. Aja's offense was essentially 95% knee, with the other 5 percent incapacitating Hotta so Aja could set up some more knee work. Ref Bob Yazawa actually reset Hotta's knee in the front row after Aja's second stint of out of the ring destruction. The focus was tremendous, and everything about Aja's offense was impressive. However, the main problem is they more or less ignored the other side of the coin, failing to credibly transition to Hotta's comebacks. What little offense Hotta had just seemed to be there because she had to have some. I enjoyed Aja's quick cutoff of Hotta's first comeback, hatcheting the knee then whipping out the tin can and demolishing it over Hotta's knee in a quest to break the challenger's spirit. At some point Aja should have slipped up though, allowing Hotta to make one credible run. The match also would have been better if Hotta's knee injury was highlighted as the reason she had trouble with her power moves so it wouldn't have seemed Aja was simply too big for Hotta to use the moves she was trying on. In the end, the match was at least as one-sided as Aja's WRESTLE MARINEPIAD '93 title defense against a near cripple Akira Hokuto, which didn't make much sense as unlike Hokuto, Hotta actually could have gone. ***
Yoshiko Tamura vs. Mina Taniyama
Misae Watanabe vs. Nobue Endo
Mr. Buddhaman vs. Tomezo Tsunokake
Chaparita Asari & Tomoko Watanabe vs. Kumiko Maekawa & Rie Tamada
Aja Kong & Kyoko Inoue & Reggie Bennett vs. Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda & Kaoru Ito
Sakie Hasegawa vs. Suzuka Minami
Toshiyo Yamada & Yumiko Hotta vs. Manami Toyota & Mariko Yoshida
Kumiko Maekawa vs. Yoko Takahashi
Midget Puroresu: Tomezo Tsunokake vs. Mr. Buddhaman. Tsunokake wears a rubber Gojira suit to celebrate the release of the new movie Gojira vs. Space Gojira.
Tag League The Best '94 League Match: Tomoko Watanabe & Rie Tamada vs. Mariko Yoshida & Chapparita ASARI
Tag League The Best '94 League Match: Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda vs. Suzuka Minami & Kaoru Ito
Tag League The Best '94 League Match: Kyoko Inoue & Sakie Hasegawa vs. Toshiyo Yamada & Yumiko Hotta
Tag League The Best '94 League Match: Manami Toyota & Takako Inoue vs. Aja Kong & Reggie Bennett
Tag League The Best '94 3 Way Playoff Final: Aja Kong & Reggie Bennett vs. Kyoko Inoue & Sakie Hasegawa vs. Manami Toyota & Takako Inoue
a) Aja Kong & Reggie Bennett vs. Kyoko Inoue & Sakie Hasegawa
b) Manami Toyota & Takako Inoue vs. Aja Kong & Reggie Bennett
c) Manami Toyota & Takako Inoue vs. Kyoko Inoue & Sakie Hasegawa
12/16/94-12/20/94 Bali
Bali tropical tour highlights - AJW wrestlers in the pool, at the beach, etc.
Etsuko Mita vs. Tomoko Watanabe. Highlights.
Mima Shimoda vs. Mariko Yoshida. Highlights
Yumiko Hotta vs. Suzuka Minami. Highlights
Kickboxing: Kumiko Maekawa vs. Suriashi (?)
Toshiyo Yamada vs. Kyoko Inoue. Highlights
Manami Toyota & Takako Inoue vs. Reyna Jabuki & Sakie Hasegawa
more scenes from Bali
Zenjo Happy Battle Xmas!! 12/23/94 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Yoshiko Tamura vs. Misae Watanabe
Aja Kong & Rie Tamada & Kumiko Maekawa vs. Yumiko Hotta & Suzuka Minami & Chapparita ASARI
Manami Toyota & Mima Shimoda vs. Toshiyo Yamada & Etsuko Mita
Handicap Match: Kyoko Inoue & Takako Inoue & Mariko Yoshida vs. Sakie Hasegawa & Kaoru Ito