Shiina & Nobue Endo (Saya) vs. Tamura & Misae Watanabe (Genki). Bad and boring AJW rookies match with no one distinguishing themselves. 1/2*
Midget Puroresu (handicap match): Mister Buddhaman vs. Little Frankie & Tomezo Tsunokake. Good for an AJW midget match with some decent wrestling, mainly by Tsunokake, and different spots. *1/4
Zen Nihon Senshuken: Ito vs. Watanabe. Very good match with solid and polished work. Both women looked deserving of a bigger push. ***1/2
Handicap Junior Trial match: Reggie Bennett vs. Rie Tamada & Maekawa & ASARI. Three separate squash matches with Bennett winning each in under 1:30. Really bad way to use the youngsters that you need to become the stars of the company a couple years down the line. DUD
Zenjo vs. Rideen Array: Lioness & Jaguar & Bison vs. Suzuka & Mita & Shimoda. Very good and heated bout. There was bad blood between the teams, especially between Mita and her idol Bison, who went at it during the opening ceremonies and pre-match introductions. Very high workrate. Cachoras team did a lot of teaming, especially on Bison who they wanted to take out. Bison gets a cut on her head when Mita piledrove her on a chair and also got a nasty bruise on her shoulder later on. ****
4/2 Tokyo Dome Shinshutssha Pasen! (advance melee) Zenjo BEST 8 Dead Heat Rumble Survival Elimination Match: Aja Kong & Toshiyo Yamada & Kyoko Inoue & Mariko Yoshida vs. Yumiko Hotta & Manami Toyota & Takako Inoue & Sakie Hasegawa. When there was a pinfall the loser was eliminated, but the winner also left the match as they now earned their spot on the Dome show. Great workrate, exciting match, and very high stakes. Takako turned on Toyota, opting to help her regular partner Kyoko instead. Hotta was also a traitor to Manami. Best action may have been the final sequence where the two lowest ranked wrestlers, Sakie and Yoshida, were battling it out for the last spot. ****1/4
*I have a limited supply of additional 1st Gen SP copies available for $20 or $25.50 COOP*
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
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
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. ****
Zenjo Young Generation 4 vs. 4 Elimination Match: Tomoko Watanabe & Yuka Shiina & Yoshiko Tamura & Nobue Endo (Saya) vs. Chaparita ASARI & Rie Tamada & Naomi Kato (Bloody) & Misae Watanabe (Genki). The wrestling was basic, but it was good for what it was. The problem was ASARI's team eliminated the opposition in 7:38 without even losing one wrestler. Watanabe got like one near fall and that was basically it for her team. Puzzling to say the least. *
Midget Puroresu Handicap Match: Great Little Muta & Buda Ryuma vs. Tsunokake Sabu Masaru. They did poor immitations of the big spots the wrestlers they were immitating do or just purposely blew them. This lasted too long and was a total mess. -**
100th WWWA Sekai Tag Oza Kettei Tournament Ikkaisen
Kyoko Inoue & Takako Inoue vs. Suzuka Minami & Reggie Bennett. Last few minutes made the match with several good near falls that the fans reacted to. Overall there was just too much Reggie though. Even Kyoko vs. Reggie was nothing much. **1/2
Aja Kong & Mariko Yoshida vs. Yumiko Hotta & Toshiyo Yamada. Strong effort. Very stiff match with crisp execution. They tried all the big moves, but they'd counter or break up the finishers so the match would keep going. Yoshida vs. Yamada was particularly good. ***3/4
Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda vs. Lady Apache & Felina. The Mexican team seemed out of their element and were badly outclassed. *1/2
Manami Toyota & Blizzard Yuki vs. Lioness Asuka & Jaguar Yokota. Very good match, but disappointing considering the talent involved. The execution was very good, but the body of the match had too much dead time. The last few minutes were damn good, but that was the quality I expected throughout. The finish was very flukish, and Jaguar having to just roll through and pin herself didn't help matters any. ***1/2
Zenjo vs. Rideen Array Single Match: Kaoru Ito vs. Bison Kimura. This was one of those matches where they younger wrestler is in control most of the time then the older wrestler does a couple moves and it's over. Ito looked good, but the finish kind of negated that. ***
WWWA Sekai Kakutogi Senshuken Oza Ketteisen: Kumiko Maekawa vs. Fumiko Ishimoto. One of the dullest kickboxing matches ever on a joshi puroresu show. They'd throw one strike then disengage and circle and dance around the ring some more. Low punch counts and really no scoring.
Tournament Junkessho
Aja Kong & Mariko Yoshida vs. Kyoko Inoue & Takako Inoue. The match was always good and kept getting a little better until the finish where Yoshida & Takako had a few problems and Aja's uraken that led right to the finish was only a grazing blow. ***1/4
Manami Toyota & Blizzard Yuki vs. Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda. Work was good, but the pacing was too even. It would have been better if the match was shorter, but faster paced and more dynamic. ***1/2
Tournament Kesshosen
Manami Toyota & Blizzard Yuki vs. Kyoko Inoue & Takako Inoue. This was what we were waiting for all night. A fast-paced all action match that showed just how good they were when it came to work and spots. It was a Toyota style match with Kyoko also standing out over Yuki & Takako mainly due to superior offense. This match was so good purely because of the work. They did so many nice looking and difficult spots, with the execution being right on. It could have been more dramatic if it was longer because you didn't expect the final to end before 12 minutes (it went about 15), and also because you were always waiting for the big Toyota & Yuki comeback that never occured. The fans did get into it and there were a lot of nice near falls that they made look credible even if in your head you didn't really believe it could possibly end here. The final was the best match of the tournament, which is the way it should be. ****1/4
*Special price two T-120's for $36 or $47 COOP (two unique)*
Zenjo Fresh Woman: Rie Tamada vs. Kumiko Maekawa
AJ Junior Title: Candy Okutsu vs. Chaparita ASARI. ASARI wins title
Zenjo vs. Shootboxing: Kaoru Ito vs. Noriko Tsunoda
Lucha Libre Rule: Jaguar Yokota & Lady Apache vs. Mariko Yoshida & Felina
UWA World Women's Tag Titles: Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda vs. Suzuka Minami & Tomoko Watanabe. Excellent match.
Zenjo vs. Rideen Array Single Bout: Sakie Hasegawa vs. Bison Kimura. Very good
Triangle Match for Vacant All Pacific Title: Toshiyo Yamada vs. Takako Inoue vs. Reggie Bennett. Yamada wins title. Great match.
Zenjo vs. Rideen Array Single Bout Ultimate Rule (worked shoot) Match: Yumiko Hotta vs. Lioness Asuka. Great match. Incredibly stiff and brutal.
WWF World Women's Title: Bull Nakano vs. Kyoko Inoue. Great match.
WWWA World Single Title: Aja Kong vs. Manami Toyota. Toyota wins title. Great match.
*Special price two T-160's for $40 or $51 COOP (2 unique)*
Hokuto & Nakano vs. Toyota & Yoshida, Hasegawa & Toyota & Yoshida & Ito vs. Double Inoues & Mita & Shimoda-2/3 falls, Hasegawa & Toyota vs. Aja & Kyoko Inoue, Mita & Shimoda vs. Fukuoka & Ozaki, Fukuoka & Ozaki vs. Kansai & Yagi, more!
4/28/95 North Korea Mayday Stadium: Akira Hokuto & Bull Nakano vs. Manami Toyota & Mariko Yoshida. Short GAEA style match, but the work was better. They packed a lot into the time they had. It was exciting and everyone was impressive. ***3/4
4/29/95 North Korea Mayday Stadium: Akira Hokuto vs. Bull Nakano. Really good action while it lasted, mainly due to Hokuto. Bull was stiff, but she wasn't made for these kind of spot matches, especially at this point in her career. ***1/4
The rest of the tape is non-wrestling footage shot during the North Korean tour; sight seeing, dancing, etc. There's also backstage footage where we see that Hokuto needs to get 2 needles so she can withstand the pain and go out and entertain us.
*Special price $18 or $23.50 COOP*
*two tapes*
Yumi Fukawa vs. Yoshiko Tamura
Midget Death Match: Atsushi Obuddha (Buddhaman) vs. Tsunokake. Buddhaman dresses up like Onita, and I don't know what Tsunokake was supposed to be, but they make a mockery out of the style FMW death match. They have little explosions and everything.
AJ Junior Title: Chaparita ASARI vs. Nobue Endo (Saya)
Takako Inoue & Tomoko Watanabe & Kumiko Maekawa vs. Mariko Yoshida & Kaoru Ito & Rie Tamada. Good match with Watanabe, who really carried things for her side, being the best of the 6.
Aja Kong & Reggie Bennett vs. Lioness Asuka & Bison Kimura. Aja is pretty awesome in this one. She disregards her former partner Bison because only Lioness is good enough for her. However, Bison keeps coming at Aja even though Aja is brutalizing her just about every time.
Minami Retirement Memorial: Suzuka Minami & Yumiko Hotta vs. Las Cachorras Orientales. Minami is as over as she ever was in her career on this night . Very good workrate match. After the match is over, Bull & her former Marine Wolves partner Hokuto come out and Minami gets incredibly emotional.
3 Minute Exhibition Match: Marine Wolves vs. Bull & Hotta. All action and heated. Minami worked over Bull's bad knees. This, of course, went to the time limit, but Minami didn't want to quit just yet, so her and Hokuto did a double Northern Lights bomb, the only time I've ever seen that, to Bull. Suzuka then covered Bull, and Bull didn't kick out, allowing Minami to go out with an unofficial win. Minami's retirement ceremony followed. This whole segment was one of the best and most emotional retirements in recent years for a women who wasn't a huge star.
WWWA World Singles Championship: Manami Toyota vs. Kyoko Inoue. As close as you can get to nonstop action in a 60:00 draw. Great spots and workrate. Awesome stamina. 1995 Wrestling Observer Newsletter Match of the Year. *****
*T-120's for $36 or $41.50/47 COOP (two unique)*
Akira Hokuto & Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda vs. Reggie Bennett & Mariko Yoshida & Kaoru Ito. They didn't do anything out of the ordinary except a pointless blade job by Hokuto; they are just this talented and work so well with one another. A collective match with lots of tags and several double teams. It was almost equally good no matter who was in. Yoshida was not surprisingly the best on her team and Bennett the worst, but Bennett was able to take a few surprising bumps and the only negative was she screwed up one of Hokuto's spots by guessing wrong on whether to bend over more or stand up straight. LCO worked really well together and apart is was almost a toss up between who was the best and worst. Both sides did a really good job of pulling off the moves, putting as much effort into taking them as doing them. 15:19. ***3/4
WWWA Sekai Single Senshukenjiai: Manami Toyota vs. Aja Kong. Kong got this off to a really good start giving Toyota the big staredown before the match. This baited Toyota into pushing Aja, but Aja didn't fire back, she just got right up in Toyota's face and continued the staredown as if nothing happened. Toyota might have got the last laugh though, as Aja turned to walk to her corner so they could start the match, she snuck up behind Aja and German suplexed her. Aja avoided an early missile kick and actually hit one of her own, but after this the match pretty much went downhill. All the flash in the later stages was going to be there, but what disappointed me is Aja didn't do anything to give it any substance. I was hoping she would develop something that could then be worked into the glamorous portion, but instead there was just a lot of down time early. Aja had some good moments like when Toyota tried to pick the pace up at 7 and she just smacked her down. Just before 14 the match took off, with Toyota starting to fly around then Aja giving her a wicked powerbomb. From here it was all the great moves back and forth. If that's your thing than this match was amazing. However, I just found that to be all there was, flash over substance. There was a great near fall where Aja slipped out of the corner assisted Japanese ocean cyclone suplex hold and tried a backdrop, but Toyota landed on her feet only to have Aja level her with an uraken before she could capitalize on her nice counter. There should have been more of these spots, instead of waiting until Kong was just about ready to take the title to pull one out. 22:45. ****1/4
Note: This tape shows every match in the league in digest form, but has long versions of the following six matches
7/23/95 Tokyo Korakuen Hall Leaguesen: Mima Shimoda vs. Manami Toyota. They did just about every big spot they know, and did them well. Really exciting match with great near falls, and the crowd was really into it. However, there was no psychology whatsoever and basically no selling. ****1/4
7/31/95 Tokyo Korakuen Hall Leaguesen: Mima Shimoda vs. Reggie Bennett. **
Leaguesen: Manami Toyota vs. Toshiyo Yamada. Not as exciting as the Toyota vs. Shimoda match, but a smarter match due to Yamada. They were countering everything, which made perfect sense given how well these two know each other. ***3/4
Rie Tamada & Yumi Fukawa vs. Kumiko Maekawa & Yuka Shiina. *3/4
Aja Kong & Chaparita ASARI vs. Jaguar Yokota & Kaoru Ito. Good match, but unfortunately only 1/3 shown.
8/13/95 Tokyo Korakuen Hall Leaguesen: Manami Toyota vs. Bison Kimura. Major style clash. ***1/4
Note: This tape shows every match in the league in digest form, but has long versions of the following matches
7/23/95 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Takako Inoue vs. Mariko Yoshida. 6:52 of 12:49
Kyoko Inoue vs. Sakie Hasegawa. 9:43
7/31/95 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Sakie Hasegawa vs. Tomoko Watanabe. 19:47
Kyoko Inoue vs. Takako Inoue. 11:37 of 30:00
8/13/95 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Bull Nakano & Kyoko Inoue & Tomoko Watanabe vs. Aja Kong & Reggie Bennett & Mima Shimoda. 22:14
8/14: Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda vs. Akira Hokuto & Chaparrita ASARI. 15:19
Rie Tamada & Yoshiko Tamura & Yumi Fukawa vs. Chaparita ASARI & Misae Watanabe & Yuka Shiina. *1/2
Kaoru Ito & Mariko Yoshida vs. Tomoko Watanabe & Kumiko Maekawa ****
Yumiko Hotta & Toshiyo Yamada & Etsuko Mita vs. Jaguar Yokota & Bison Kimura & Reggie Bennett. ***1/4
Lioness Asuka vs. Bull Nakano. *
Mima Shimoda vs. Akira Hokuto ***3/4
WWWA Singles Title: Aja Kong vs. Dynamite Kansai. Kansai wins WWWA title ****1/4
2/3 Falls WWWA Tag Titles: Kyoko Inoue & Takako Inoue vs. Manami Toyota & Sakie Hasegawa. Rapid pace with super workrate tons of high spots and near falls *****
*Special price two T-120's for $30 or either $35.50 or $41 COOP (one unique)*
*The last excellent top to bottom show AJW has presented*
Zenjo Up To Type II: Misae Watanabe & Naomi Kato vs. Yoshika Tamura & Yuka Shiina
Midget Puroresu Gabyo (thumbtack) Match: Tiger Jeetmezucito vs. Buddha Nakamaki Hiroshi
Vacant AJ Tag Titles: Chaparita ASARI & Kumiko Maekawa vs. Rie Tamada & Yumi Fukawa
Toshiyo Yamada & Takako Inoue & Tomoko Watanabe vs. Blizzard YUKI & Mariko Yoshida & Kaoru Ito
UWA World Women's Tag Titles: Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda vs. Jaguar Yokota & Lioness Asuka
THE DESTINY STRONGEST: Yumiko Hotta vs. Reggie Bennett
THE DESTINY BEASTY: Aja Kong vs. Bison Kimura
THE DESTINY MEGA-POWER: Kyoko Inoue vs. Bull Nakano
THE DESTINY CLIMAX: Manami Toyota vs. Akira Hokuto. *****
*Special Price two T-160's for $40 or $51 COOP (2 unique)*
Yuka Shiina & Yumi Fukawa vs. Nobue Endo & Yumi Fujimoto. Short Nothing match. 1/2*
Yoshiko Tamura & Misae Watanabe vs. Kumiko Maekawa & Chaparita ASARI. *1/4
Midget Handicap match: Tiger Jeetumen (?) Singh (Tomezo Tsunokake) vs. Mr. Buddhaman & Little Frankie. Tiger was rolled around in a dolly, hung over the Korakuen balcony, and rolled up in a gym mat so everyone could diving body press him. *
8 Women Elimination Match: Reggie Bennett & Sakie Hasegawa & Mariko Yoshida & Kaoru Ito vs. Toshiyo Yamada & Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda & Rie Tamada. Spot wrestling. Work was really strong, but eliminations came too quick. ***1/4
Japan Grand Prix '95 3rd Place Match: Takako Inoue vs. Bison Kimura. Surprisingly strong match. Takako worked over Bison's shoulder, but in an exciting way as she did things like her Takako Panic to the shoulder and turned Bison's blazing chop off the 2nd into a wakigatame. What they did was excellent, but the match was too short. ***3/4
Aja Kong Debut 10th Anniversary: Kyoko Inoue & Tomoko Watanabe vs. Aja Kong & Reggie Bennett. They tried a lot of things, but too many spots were botched. After the match they honored Aja, with some of her class of 1986 members like Miori Kamiya, Reibun Amada, & Megumi Kudo (who wasn't shown for some reason), as well as obviously Bison, showing up to present gifts.
Japan Grand Prix '95 Final: Manami Toyota vs. Yumiko Hotta. An excellent match that may be the best of Hotta's career. Pacing and implementation of the holds was excellent. Toyota's selling and comebacks were way better than normal due to Hotta, although they still could have been better. The finishing sequence was tremendous with each move looking like it would be the end if it hit. Hotta was really stiff for the most part, but some of her strikes missed or barely hit which hurt. Toyota took a hell of a beating, but eventually put Hotta away to win the JGP for the 2nd time. Emotional post match with Hotta shaking a crying Toyota's hand and basically telling her to bring the belt back to AJW (this was just after Kansai had won the red belt, and the winner of the JGP gets a title shot), which Toyota would do on 12/4/95. ****3/4
*Special price $23 or $28.50 COOP*
undercard digest
Lioness Asuka vs. Kyoko Inoue. Kyoko pins Lioness out of nowhere. Tremendous disappointment because it was over before it had a chance to become any good. This booking is puzzling to say the least, and I tend to doubt Kyoko got maximum effect out of this win. *1/4
Aja Kong vs. Takako Inoue. Takako did her spots, but none of them are dangerous enough to be a threat to put Aja away, so Takako couldn't even compete. **
Sakie Hasegawa & Kaoru Ito vs. Manami Toyota & Mariko Yoshida. 1st half was nothing special containing matwork that didn't go anywhere, bu the 2nd half had all the big moves. Some of the spots weren't as fluid as normal and the match lacked heat. The finishing sequence was really good as Sakie & Toyota really kicked it into overdrive. Toyota's moonsaults were incredibly fast. ***1/2
2/3 Falls WWWA World Tag Titles: Akira Hokuto & Mima Shimoda vs. Bull Nakano & Tomoko Watanabe. I'd probably think more of this match if it was one fall because the first two falls were too short to even form an opinion on. The third fall was really good though. This also lacked heat and the matwork took the match down because it was obviously just rest holds. Hokuto & Bull, though obviously not what they once were, fired up. They always worked well together and this was no exception. Shimoda & Watanabe being much better than they were in the early days of these units helped make up for what Hokuto & Bull were lacking, but the veterans didn't hide behind them by any means. Hokuto took all the credit for the victory, snubbing her kohai by walking off with both trophies and title belts. ***1/2
Footage of Hokuto & Sasaki's wedding
Lioness Asuka vs. Kyoko Inoue. Kyoko pins Lioness out of nowhere. Tremendous disappointment because it was over before it had a chance to become any good. This booking is puzzling to say the least, and I tend to doubt Kyoko got maximum effect out of this win. *1/4
Aja Kong vs. Takako Inoue. Takako did her spots, but none of them are dangerous enough to be a threat to put Aja away, so Takako couldn't even compete. **
Sakie Hasegawa & Kaoru Ito vs. Manami Toyota & Mariko Yoshida. 1st half was nothing special containing matwork that didn't go anywhere, bu the 2nd half had all the big moves. Some of the spots weren't as fluid as normal and the match lacked heat. The finishing sequence was really good as Sakie & Toyota really kicked it into overdrive. Toyota's moonsaults were incredibly fast. ***1/2
2/3 Falls WWWA World Tag Titles: Akira Hokuto & Mima Shimoda vs. Bull Nakano & Tomoko Watanabe. First two falls were too short to even form an opinion on, but the third fall was really good. This also lacked heat and the matwork took the match down because it was obviously just rest holds. ***1/4
Mari Mogami vs. Kayo Noumi. These two were just starting out. This was a really bad rookie style match.
AJ Junior Title: Yoshiko Tamura vs. Misae Watanabe (Genki). Basic rookie style match.
Mariko Yoshida & Yumi Fukawa vs. Nobue Endo & Mina Taniyama. Yoshida was a women among girls, but she mainly let Fukawa carry the load so as to not show everyone up. Fukawa did a pretty good job, but Saya & Tanny weren't good at all. Overall, it was decent.
Toshiyo Yamada & Chaparita ASARI vs. Takako Inoue & Tomoko Watanabe. Solid match with good work. Watanabe was the best of the four, but she accidentally squashes poor little Chaparita like a pancake at one point. Good match.
Mima Shimoda vs. Etsuko Mita. This should have been at least a very good match, but for some reason these two didn't have it today. In Mita's case, she might have been injured early on. The set up and transitions weren't as good as normal. A double juice brawl with all their big spots, and nice teases of them. Good match.
Bull Nakano & Lioness Asuka vs. Aja Kong & Reggie Bennett. Good work, but not very graceful. Mainly spots. Good.
WWWA Ranking Match: Yumiko Hotta (#2) vs. Kyoko Inoue (#6). Best match on the show. Very solid and built well. Proper pacing and selling.
Reyna Jabuki (Hokuto) & Blizzard Yuki (Sakie) vs. Manami Toyota & Black Blizzard (Ito). Mainly spots. Very good match, but disappointing given the talent. Sakie blows her most glamourous flying spot of the match, and gets injured landing really badly on it.
The AJ tape has highlights of all the World Tag Title and Triple Crown matches from 1997. I'd rather just see the whole matches, but this does a good job of highlighting the most important AJ matches of the year.
Tomoko Watanabe vs. ASARI, Hotta vs. Yamada, Kyoko Inoue vs. Kong-excellent, Kansai vs. Toyota-4 1/4 Toyota wins WWWA Title, Taka vs. Tiger Mask 4-great action but a bit too short, Sasuke & Kung Lee vs. Delfin & Naniwa-Eleven Nine's Tag Tourney Final, Miwa Sato & Nakamura vs. Kudo & Tsuchiya-Shark throws a huge at Kudo, Gladiator vs. Super Leather (Mike Kirchner), Gladiator vs. Hayabusa-Gladiator Wins Brass Knucks Title
Zen Nihon Junior Senshukenjiai: Yoshiko Tamura vs. Yuka Shiina
Zen Nihon Tag Senshuken Oiza Kettiesen: Rie Tamada & Yumi Fukawa vs. Nobue Endo & Misae Watanabe. TamaFuka wins title.
Etsuko Mita & Mari Mogami vs. Mariko Yoshida & Mina Taniyama
Zen Nihon Senshukenjiai: Tomoko Watanabe vs. Chaparita ASARI
Freedom Explosion ~RIVAL BEAT~: Kaoru Ito vs. Sakie Hasegawa
IWA Single Senshukenjiai: Reggie Bennett vs. Takako Inoue. Takako wins title.
All Pacific Senshukenjiai: Yumiko Hotta vs. Toshiyo Yamada
Trio Las Revancha
Akira Hokuto & Mima Shimoda vs. Lioness Asuka
Akira Hokuto vs. Mima Shimoda
THE HIGHEST DREAM: Kyoko Inoue vs. Aja Kong
WWWA Sekai Single Senshukenjiai: Dynamite Kansai (JWP) vs. Manami Toyota. Toyota wins title.
*Special price one T-160 & one T-120 for $38 or either $43.50/ $49 COOP (one unique)*
The first 2 hours show highlights of Toyota's best and most famous matches including winning the Japan Grand Prix, the great series vs. Toshiyo Yamada culminating with the famous hair vs. hair match, Toyota & Yamada defeating Aja & Bison to win WWWA tag, teaming with Yamada vs. Ozaki & Kansai in three classic matches, Toyota defeating Aja for WWWA Title, Toyota's legendary 60 minute draw with Kyoko Inoue, & Toyota defeating Kansai for to win the WWWA World Single Title for the second time. The last 40 minutes is the 30 round match for Korakuen Hall on 12/25/95
Yoshida & Fukawa & Azteca vs. Yamada & Asari & Mita, Hasegawa vs. Nakano, Hokuto & Shimoda vs. Double Inoues-2/3 falls, Toyota vs. Hotta, more!
Yuka Shiina & Mina Taniyama vs. Nobue Endo & Misae Watanabe
Zen Nihon Junior Senshuken: Yoshiko Tamura vs. Mari Mogami
Reggie Bennett & Mima Shimoda vs. Yumiko Hotta & Etsuko Mita
Aja Kong vs. Toshiyo Yamada
Sakie Hasegawa Single Countdown 7-ban Shobu: Bison Kimura vs. Sakie Hasegawa
Captain Fall Survival War: Kyoko Inoue & Takako Inoue & Tomoko Watanabe & Kumiko Maekawa & Chaparrita ASARI vs. Manami Toyota & Mariko Yoshida & Kaoru Ito & Yumi Fukawa
Yamada & Hotta vs. Watanabe & Bennett, Toyota vs. Sakie-Sakie's last singles match ****, Kuzumi vs. Saburu, Cuty & Devil & Motoya & Amano vs. Kansai & Yagi & Boirshoi & Miyazaki, Sakie vs. Fukuoka
Nogami vs. Kanemoto, Liger vs. Otani, Sting & Muto vs. Flair & Arn Anderson, Hasegawa & Watanabe & Ito vs. Takako & Yamada & Aja, Yuki vs. ASARI, Hasegawa vs. Toyota
Hasegawa & Ito vs. Watanabe & Nagashimi-Hasegawa's retirement match (she will be missed), Asari & Yoshida vs. Bennett & Azteca (Esther Moreno), Takako Inoue vs. Shimoda, Hotta vs. Olucini-Vale Tudo rules, Toyota vs. Kyoko Inoue-4 3/4, more!
1st Junior All Star Match: Chaparita ASARI & Yumi Fukawa & Yuka Shiina & Tanny Mouse vs. Kumiko Maekawa & Yoshiko Tamura & Saya Endo & Misae Genki. Highlights
Midget International 6 Man Tag Match: Ultramancito & Mascarita Magico & Mr. Buddhaman vs. Tigrecito & Espectro De Ultratroncito & Tomezo Tsunokake. Highlights
Yumiko Hotta vs. Etsuko Mita. Highlights
Toshiyo Yamada vs. Mariko Yoshida. Highlights
Manami Toyota & Kaoru Ito vs. Aja Kong & Mima Shimoda 29:46
2/3 Falls WWWA World Tag Titles: Kyoko Inoue & Takako Inoue vs. Reggie Bennett & Tomoko Watanabe 11:31, 7:07, 12:01
Shimoda & ASARI vs. Hotta & Maekawa, Takako & Fukawa vs. Yoshida & Tamada, Toyota & Tamura vs. Ito & Shiina, Shimoda & ASARI vs. Kyoko & Tanny, Kyoko & Tanny vs. Yoshida & Tamada-Kyoko & Tanny win 1-night tag tourney
Yuka Shiina & Misae Genki vs. Kumiko Maekawa & Yoshiko Tamura. 1:50 shown
Hair vs. Mask: Mr. Buddhaman vs. Tigrijo. A few dives here at least. Tigrijo seemed pretty good actually, but had nothing to work with. 2:52 shown
EMLL Campeonato Mundial De Miniestrellas: Mascarita Magica vs. Espectro De Ultratumbido. Good action, but awfully short. 3:07 shown
WWWA Sekai Midget Senshukenjiai: Little Frankie vs. Ultramancito. 2:09 shown
New Face Pin Up Board: Saya Endo. Not exactly the person that comes to mind when you see the words pin up...
Zen Nihon Tag Senshukenjiai: Rie Tamada & Yumi Fukawa vs. Saya Endo & Tanny Mouse. They clip a bunch of matches that were probably really good after this to show almost all of this match? TamaFuka worked pretty well as a team, but Tamada was deliberate and sloppy as usual, while Saya & Tanny brought nothing to the table. *1/4
Mima Shimoda vs. Tomoko Watanabe. 3:21 shown
Mariko Yoshida & Kaoru Ito & Chaparita ASARI vs. Toshiyo Yamada & Etsuko Mita & Takako Inoue. This had great action and look like it could have been ****, but only 1/3 is shown.
Zenjo G*TOP Week Special Digest: Highlights of Takako vs. Watanabe, Toyota & Yamada vs. Aja & Kyoko, Toyota & Yoshida vs. Mita & Shimoda, and Hotta vs. Ito
Shin Zenjo Greatest 4: Manami Toyota & Yumiko Hotta vs. Aja Kong & Kyoko Inoue. Not the most spectacular match they've ever had, but it was a little over 20 minutes of solid action with every spot hitting. ***1/2
Junior Trial Road I: Etsuko Mita vs. Misae Watanabe 5:15. The pairing was logical as Misae is Mita’s size, but it was nothing more than a competent and well-executed squash.
Junior Trial Road II: Kaoru Ito vs. Yuka Shiina 3:52. The energetic but unspectacular wrestlers delivered a technically sound match that was not surprisingly hard to get excited about considering Shiina’s big offense was a jackknife cradle after avoiding a reverse hip attack off the 2nd.
Junior Trial Road III: Tomoko Watanabe vs. Yoshiko Tamura 1:33. Tamura, AJW’s reigning junior champion, was almost able to hang with Watanabe until Tomoko hit her lariat for the win. Mind you, this took 90 seconds.
Junior Trial Road IV: Yumiko Hotta vs. Saya Endo 3:20. Saya at least showed some character bowing respectfully during the pre-match handshake to get Hotta off guard, only to German suplex Yumiko as soon as she turned her back. Of course, the last thing one wants to do is get the ass kicker mad. Hotta proceeded to toy with and taunt Endo, telling her to throw her best low kick only to laugh it off (it was pretty pathetic) and fire back with one that knocked Saya off her feet.
Heat Up The Junior All Stars: Kumiko Maekawa & Tanny Mouse vs. Chikako Shiratori & Flor Metalica 12:25. Finally, a competitive match. The Jd’ team played heel, roughing the AJW juniors up. Shiratori & Flor at least have full move sets, and did a decent job of carrying the match. Metalica gave her typical Black Album performance, considerably mediocre. Shiratori and Maekawa were a bit better with Maekawa being the most impressive of the AJW juniors so far, at least throwing some good kicks. Tanny has no offense, but is a modern day Numacchi, so bad and goofy the fans react to her. Given Mouse is the worst of all the juniors and someone who could never advance beyond cult laugh at her status, she of course is the first AJW junior to be put over. *1/2
Junior Trial Road V: Mariko Yoshida vs. Yumi Fukawa 6:25. Yoshida took the match seriously even though Fukawa wasn’t going to be competitive, turning in a really good performance. Fukawa attacked when Yoshida was entering, getting off to a “big” start including a plancha before Yoshida took over 35 seconds into the match. Still, they did a fairly exciting match where Fukawa at least showed a bit of heart. *3/4
Zenjo vs. Jd’ Hyper Soul: Toshiyo Yamada & Chaparrita ASARI vs. Bison Kimura & Chiquita Azteca 15:23. Some good action and brawling here. Yamada & Bison turned in good performances providing solid work, while ASARI & Azteca were flashy. ASARI was over enough there was at least the slight notion she could pin Bison with her sky twister press. ASARI greeted Azteca’s tope with a chair and tried to tear her mask off. After the match, they got into a fight with Azteca challenging ASARI to a mask vs. hair match. ***
Junior Trial Road VI: Aja Kong vs. Rie Tamada 14:07. If Tamada is considered their best junior, she should have beaten a lesser veteran such as Watanabe instead of getting destroyed by the best senior. Following in the footsteps of her partner Fukawa, Tamada attacked the entering opposition and delivered an early plancha. The fans reacted to Rie being able to German suplex Aja, but it was quickly all downhill for her, as Kong beat the living crap out of her. That said, Kong did a great job of making this compelling. Though at heart it differed from the previous 5 junior trial road matches only in length, Aja garnered heat and intensity. Tamada kept kicking out, but otherwise showed no signs of life. Aja eventually pulled her up after a piledriver and challenged her to give her a match. Tamada fired up and tried to mount an attack, though Aja countered most of it. Tamada did a few counters of her own, but mostly earned points for hanging in, the fans getting behind her (hoping for a competitive match already) even though no one believed she had even a slight chance. The second best match on the show wrestling wise, but I’d rather see a match where anyone can win. **3/4
Manami Toyota & Mima Shimoda vs. Kyoko Inoue & Takako Inoue 52:11. Memorable for the cumulative effect of putting together 52 high quality minutes, but never truly spectacular the way the 6/22/96 rematch was. The first installment was more suitable for Shimoda & Takako, as it was far slower paced. They built this match up much better than the rematch, though it was mainly softening the opposition up for the high spots, and it was always obvious the match was going to be considerably lengthy. The first half helped the match overall, but not a great deal. The second half was excellent, picking up on the outside with Kyoko tossing Toyota off the top rope to the floor. Toyota injured Takako’s back, delivering a knee off the apron to her kneeling foe. As they tended to Takako, Toyota flipped off the crowd. Toyota followed by putting Takako in a camel clutch where she held Takako’s arm, waving it at Kyoko in taunt. Shimoda put the boots to Takako’s back, but Takako came back injuring Shimoda with a hard slap to the mouth. Double Inoue extracted their revenge with a spot where Kyoko camel clutched Shimoda and Takako stuffed her boot in her fact. This might have been a great match if they had moved these injuries about 20 minutes earlier. Instead, by the time they introduced them they didn’t have that much time to develop them. As it was, they waited until the final 10 minutes to truly kick into gear. Toyota didn’t stand out nearly as much in this match as she did in the rematch as it wasn’t her workrate style, but Shimoda & Takako made up for it with far better performances. Shimoda didn’t do a post match interview, as she was driven off in an ambulance. ****
Chihiro Nakano & Makie Numao vs. Sayori Okino & Keiko Aono
Reiko Amano vs. The Bloody Phoenix
Graduation Tournament 1st Rd: Sugar Sato vs. Aki Kanbayashi
Graduation Tournament 1st Rd: Misae Genki vs. Kyoko Ichiki
Graduation Tournament Final: Misae Genki vs. Sugar Sato
Junior Idol Fiesta: Kanako Motoya & Yumi Fukawa vs. Hiromi Yagi & Kaori Nakayama
Yuka Shiina vs. Yuki Miyazaki
Tomoko Miyaguchi vs. Saya Endo
Tomoko Kuzumi vs. Yoshiko Tamura
Chikayo Nagashima & Sonoko Kato vs. Kumiko Maekawa & Tanny Mouse. 20:00 draw
Chikayo Nagashima & Sonoko Kato & Sugar Sato vs. Kumiko Maekawa & Tanny Mouse & Misae Genki
WWWA Sekai Super Lightkyu Oza Ketteisen: Chaparrita ASARI vs. Toshie Uematsu
Chikako Shiratori & Michiko Omukai vs. Meiko Satomura & Rie Tamada
*Special price two T-160's for $40 or $45.50/51 COOP (one unique)*
Yuka Shiina & Saya Endo vs. Misae Watanabe & Tanny Mouse of 9:32
Mima Shimoda & Toshiyo Yamada vs. Kyoko Inoue & Takako Inoue of 14:46
All Pacific Senshuken: Yumiko Hotta vs. Reggie Bennett of 6:52
Manami Toyota & Kaoru Ito vs. Aja Kong & Tomoko Watanabe of 19:22
All Pacific Crown Decision Tournament 1st Round: Kaoru Ito vs. Tomoko Watanabe 12:49. Probably the worst thing about Watanabe & Ito forming a team in 1997 is their matches against each other tended to be among their more impressive. This one, though shorter due to the tournament final being later in the night, was better than usual, as their matwork was purposeful then they threw all they had at each other. Ito worked Watanabe’s back early, setting up a hot comeback where Watanabe tried to get the crowd involved. The audience was initially reticent, but began to come around when Ito hit a tope but injured her knee when Watanabe avoided her diving footstomp to the floor. Watanabe attacked the knee with her Dragon screw to figure four, but Ito persevered, still relying on her footstomps despite the fact each one hurt her. They execute really well, delivering a very good crisply wrestled match. ***1/2
All Pacific Crown Decision Tournament 1st Round: Mariko Yoshida vs. Reggie Bennett 10:24. Essentially a glorified squash. Yoshida used her athleticism early with a nice climb-up knee, but Reggie quickly took control turning her monkey flip into a sidewalk slam. Yoshida had occasional success jumping at Bennett with dropkicks and flying moves, but was simply overwhelmed. Yoshida does take Bennett’s power moves better than most, but having such a one-sided match in a four wrestler title tournament seemed rather pointless given Bennett has been in the league for ages. **
WWWA World Super Lightweight Title Match: Chaparrita ASARI vs. Rie Tamada 12:09. Given their inexperience, the fact that the finish is very good is quite promising. The fans got into the final portion that contained all the hot moves, including ASARI doing a 450 splash to the floor. The middle is average though, and the beginning is weak, lacking point and direction. The execution could have been a little better, but at least when ASARI was a little off it was with something spectacular, moves no other woman was doing at all. Rie, on the other hand, didn’t even execute the pedestrian dropkicks and body attacks that are all she gets out of her quickness and athleticism to perfection. **1/4
All Pacific Crown Decision Match: Kaoru Ito vs. Reggie Bennett 9:56. Ito, who was the third best wrestler tonight behind Kyoko & Toyota, looked impressive dominating the match, but unfortunately was dispatched of rather quickly and unceremoniously. Bennett did sell more for Ito in the first few minutes than she did in the entire Yoshida match. And it was a good match, it’s just that it really needed to go another 3-5 minutes. Ito took it to Bennett aggressively, punishing Reggie’s right knee. Bennett did a good job of selling the knee injury, which aided the story that Ito was using the speed differential to get off before her oversized opponent. Ito was better in 1996 than from 1997 on when she was heavier, as she was large enough to take it to the big girls but small enough to pull off a huracanrana, and more importantly far more energetic. **3/4
2/3 Falls WWWA World Tag Title Match: Kyoko Inoue & Takako Inoue vs. Manami Toyota & Mima Shimoda 3:29, 10:47, 16:33. The rematch from WRESTLE MARINEPIAD 5/11/96 was entirely in Toyota’s workrate style. The previous match was slowly paced by mid ’90’s AJW standard, but this was a total sprint with a first fall that was faster than any GAEA Nitro sprint, except these women actually have stamina, for the most part maintaining the pace for the entire half hour. This time they never got any type of story going, just did countless spectacular spots. Beyond her usual bit of sloppiness Toyota was outstanding, and Kyoko may have been even more impressive given she hits all her spots and is able to combine power with the incredible speed and energy. Shimoda & Takako were out of their element though, forced to either rush or slow the pace down. The match kind of died when they did a segment together at the start of the third fall, but for the most part they had Shimoda & Takako opposing the other team’s star, with Toyota or Kyoko dictating and carrying them in the fast paced style. The first fall had a great surprise finish where Toyota did one of her springboard reverse counters to an attempted Inoue double team. Kyoko bailed out, but Takako tried to duck, which seemed a successful strategy until Toyota hooked a sunset flip as she was flying over Takako for the pin. After the crazy start, the second fall was more or less the normal beginning of their match with some weardown, but it didn’t take long to get and remain lightning paced. It wasn’t so much the pace itself, but the speed in which they were pulling the moves and counters off, whether it be Kyoko whipping her opponent over for a fisherman suplex that was a snap at heart or Toyota turning Kyoko’s Niagara driver into a sunset flip. Toyota took a great flip bumb on Kyoko’s lariat for the second fall. Toyota & Shimoda captured the titles, which Double Inoue had previously won from Shimoda with Hokuto on 1/22/96. ****
*two tapes*
Tag Tournament Round 1
Aja Kong & Yoshiko Tamura vs. Chigusa Nagayo & Sakura Hirota (Gaea team)
Jaguar Yokota & Yuko Kosugi (Jd' team) vs. Megumi Kudo & Kaori Nakayama (FMW team)
Shark Tsuchiya & Miss Mongol (FMW team) vs. Tomoko Watanabe & Kumiko Maekawa
Toshiyo Yamada & Sonoko Kato (Gaea) vs. Etsuko Mita & Misae Genki
Mima Shimoda & The Goddess Chikako Shiratori (Jd') vs. Bison Kimura & Yuki Lee (Jd' team)
Takako Inoue & Kyoko Ichiki (IWA Japan) vs. Dynamite Kansai & Tomoko Kuzumi (JWP team)
Manami Toyota & Rie Tamada vs. Hikari Fukuoka & Rieko Amano (JWP team)
Kyoko Inoue & Chaparita ASARI vs. Devil Masami & Tomoko Miyaguchi (JWP team)
U*TOP Tournament (legit shoots) Round 1
Yoko Takahashi (Jd') vs. Rodina Elina
Reggie Bennett vs. Elma Wayhoff
Lioness Asuka (Free) vs. Margot Neyfoft
Yumiko Hotta vs. Valerie Witt
Tag Tournament Round 2
Kudo & Nakayama vs. Bison & Lee
Kansai & Kuzumi vs. Watanabe & Maekawa
Toyota & Tamada vs. Yamada & Kato
Aja & Tamura vs. Kyoko & ASARI
Battle Royal
Tag Tournament Semifinals
Bison & Lee vs. Kansai & Kuzumi
Aja & Tamura vs. Yamada & Kato
Tag Final
Kansai & Kuzumi vs. Aja & Tamura
U*TOP Semifinals
Elina vs. Bennett
Lioness vs. Hotta
U*TOP Final
Hotta vs. Elina
*Special price two T-120's for $36 or $41.50/47 COOP (one unique)*
7/14 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Aja Kong vs. Yumiko Hotta. Very good
7/28 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Chaparrita ASARI vs. Kyoko Inoue. Good
8/4 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Chaparrita ASARI vs. Mariko Yoshida. Good
Kyoko Inoue vs. Reggie Bennett. Good
7/14: Manami Toyota & Yoshiko Tamura vs. Kyoko Inoue & Chaparrita ASARI. Good
8/4: Manami Toyota & Toshiyo Yamada vs. Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda. Excellent
*Special price one extended length tape $23 or $28.50 COOP*
Manami Toyota & Yoshiko Tamura vs. Toshiyo Yamada & Rie Tamada. Good
Japan Grand Prix '96 Koshiki Leaguesen
Kaoru Ito vs. Tomoko Watanabe. Very good
Takako Inoue vs. Mariko Yoshida. Pretty good
Etsuko Mita vs. Mima Shimoda. Good
Yumiko Hotta vs. Reggie Bennett. Poor
Kyoko Inoue vs. Aja Kong. Aja wins Japan Grand Prix ****1/4
Watanabe vs. Maekawa, Sato & Nagashima vs. Fukawa & Tamada, Toyota vs. Okutsu, ASARI vs. Chiquita Azteca, more!
*Regular price + $2.50 for extended length tape so the whole show can be recorded on SP*
Takako & Watanabe & Fukawa vs. Yamada & Mita & ASARI, Hotta & Maekawa vs. Kong & Tamura, Toyota & Shimoda vs. Ito & Yoshida 2/3 falls-4 3/4
Shimoda & Yamada & Mita vs. ASARI & Tamada & Fukawa, Takako vs. Yoshida, Kyoko vs. Hotta, Toyota vs. Aja-4 1/2, ASARI & Mita & Shimoda vs. Yoshida & Ito & Tamura, Hotta & Aja vs. Toyota & Kyoko, ASARI vs. Nouchi, Hotta vs. Elina, Takako & Yoshida vs. Aja & Kansai, Toyota vs. Kyoko-Kyoko wins WWWA Title 4 3/4, more!
WWWA Super Lightweight Title: ASARI vs. Nouchi, Hotta vs. Elina, Shimoda & Mita & Yamada vs. Watanabe & Bennett & Nakanishi ****, Kansai & Aja vs. Takako & Yoshida ****, Toyota vs. Kyoko-Kyoko wins WWWA World Single Title ****1/2