More of an introductory show with early stills then brief match highlights starting with Jumbo Miyamoto. Seems like they were focusing more on "fashion" calling the segments Garter Belts to Beauty Pair then Sexy Queen, but I don't really get their transition from the old champions to recent idols like Shiratori, Noumi, & Omukai
3/19/75 Tokyo Ota-ku Taiikukan, WWWA Sekai Single Senshukenjiai: Jumbo Miyamoto vs. Mach Fumiake. Quite primative. Jumbo's blubber just got in her way, and she didn't seem capable of doing anything. Fumiake did two doublearm suplexes in a row, but with the huge weight difference she was barely strong enough to pull it off even passably. She won with the second, even though Jumbo clearly kicked out. Even the "highlights" were really awful. 3:21 shown
11/1/76 Ichibara Shi Rinkai Taiikukan, WWWA Sekai Single Senshukenjiai: Maki Ueda vs. Jumbo Miyamoto. Jumbo was thinner here, but that didn't help because now she was laughably overacting to try to come off as a wild woman. Ueda did fine, but the whole thing came off incredibly lame because of Jumbo's antics. 5:06 shown
12/8/76 Saitama Koshigaya Taiikukan, WWWA Sekai Tag Senshukenjiai: Beauty Pair vs. Black Pair (Shinobu Aso & Yuki Ikeshita). Totally carried by Black Pair, who seem to be AJW's first really good team. They are better athletes than most of the faces, and though they largely focus on brawling at least they do it credibly and have overall solid execution. Aso pinned Ueda after a tombstone piledriver. 5:59 shown
3/15/80 Kanagawa Kawasaki Shi Taiikukan, WWWA Sekai Single Senshukenjiai: Monster Ripper vs. Jackie Sato. Sato did most of the work here, but was greatly hampered by Monster, who was screwing up Sato's execution. Monster just brawled, using some of the lamest kicks ever. Sato was counted out when all of Monster's cronies ganged up on her. 5:28 shown.
AJW Zenjo Classics #2 4/12/03
5/7/83 Kanagawa Kawasaki Shi Taiikukan, WWWA Sekai Single Senshukenjiai, Kamakiri Death Match: Jaguar Yokoto vs. La Galactica. Monster Ripper constantly interfered on Galactica's behalf. Jaguar tried working Galactica's legs, but Monster would attack her. She used several potential finishers, but Monster would break them up. The ref had no control since there's no DQ's in death matches. Jaguar finally had enough of this and decided to cut Galactica's mask with scissors, losing control with the chair after Monster accidentally hit Galactica with it trying to make the save. Finish saw Galactica hit a diving senton then Monster do a hip drop off the second and a diving body press, the ref conveniently recovering just in time to make the cover. Despite her protest that she lost a handicap match, Jaguar's nice long naturally black hair was massacred after the match. Jaguar only had one sequence where she wrestled up to her capability. She's so talented that she looked good or better the rest of the time anyway, but Galactica was slow and unathletic so they didn't do Jaguar's fast paced style. Galactica's offense wasn't great, but Monster interfered so much it didn't much matter. Not exactly my type of match, but it was a way for Jaguar to get a rare loss without really losing. 17:27. ****
5/7/83 Tokyo Ota-ku Taiikukan, Zen Nihon Senshukenjiai: Itsuki Yamazaki vs. Bull Nakano. Frantic match. Their body control wasn't that good to being with, but they were wrestling in a manner that was closer to purposely out of control. Bull's cronies seemed to do as much damage as Bull did. Finally Tateno held Bull and Yamazaki climbed the ropes for a body attack to the floor, but Bull avoided and Yamazaki injured her left knee on the landing. Bull went right after the knee, and Dump used a chain on it when Yamazaki escaped to the floor. Good storyline feeding the crows desire to desperately root for Yamazaki. Lousy finish though with the whole heel entourage jumping in after Yamazaki finally came back with a few flying moves. 18:33. ***1/2
4/2/85 Nagoya Aichi-ken Taiikukan, Zen Nihon Senshuken Oza Ketteisen Junkessho: Mika Komatsu vs. Kazue Nagahori. More diverse than a rookie match, but very simplistic. Komatsu dominated, but mainly with weardown. Nagahori wanted to wrestle a faster more wide open style, so Komatsu just grounded her. I'm bored with the current stuff that's just show off spectacle, but this type of old match where they just hold an appendage all match is much worse. 13:29 shown
7/4/85 Tochigi Ashikaga Shi: Yumiko Hotta vs. Kyoko Aso. Match wasn't as boring as the previous, but there was just nothing to it. Hotta didn't have any offense, but that didn't stop her from mainly dominating. She just did it with the snapmare and reverse chinlock instead of her "shoot" offense. Aso's offense looked better what little we got to see of it. 6:01. 3/4*
AJW Zenjo Classics #4 4/26/03 Summer Night Festival in Budokan taped 8/22/85 Tokyo Nippon Budokan
Yukari Omori vs. Monster Ripper. Monster actually didn't weigh that much more than Omori in these days. She was pretty energetic and even showed some athleticism. Omori was wrestling a more athletic style, but it didn't suit her. She's most effective when she's at her most simplistic. I'm not sure what they were thinking, but a decent start sure became a disappointment in a hurry with this quick rushed finish. 5:12. *1/4
2/3 Falls: Itsuki Yamazaki & Noriyo Tateno vs. Dump Matsumoto & Bull Nakano. Bull looked completely ridiculous with platinum crap in her hair plus some blue and red in the front, but at least in her case scaring people off was precisely the point. Dump was good at picking her spots to wreak havoc. Yamazaki tagged in and was cautious to lock up with Bull. When she finally did it, Dump blindsided her with a rod then Bull started stomping away. Dump kept taking it to the floor where she'd use anything she found and attack anyone in her path. Not a lot of wrestling here because JB Angels fought fire with fire. Dump did wrestle at times, but she was on offense for the duration of these portions. What hurt the match is, while JB Angels were sometimes competitive, they were never any kind of threat. They countered the heels sometimes, but never really took control. It was another case of the roles and pushes limiting the quality of the match. 11:53 & 6:31. ***1/4
Devil Masami sings Silent Goodbye
Crush Gals sing
AJW Zenjo Classics #5 5/3/03 Summer Night Festival in Budokan taped 8/22/85 Tokyo Nippon Budokan
All Pacific Senshukenjiai: Devil Masami vs. Chigusa Nagayo. If you are impressed by the reception Misawa gets at Budokan, you should hear Nagayo's; the "CHI-GU-SA" chants drown out her music. Crush matches work better when they are the underdog because the schoolgirls can keep cheering for their comeback. Devil is the senior wrestler and champion, plus she likes to use her size to dominate, so this matchup suited both parties. It was a great example of how to work a long compelling match that both wrestlers were always in without burning through the spots or being dull. Devil's strategy was to keep it slow since she was fighting a quicker excitable wrestler that thrives on fan adrenalin. She controlled the first 10 minutes with the fans pretty much constantly urging Chigusa on. You could especially hear their excitement when Devil whipped Chigusa into the ropes, as they were hoping Chigusa would beat her to the move. They had the time, so they didn't rush anything, but they didn't stall either. Devil worked over Chigusa's knee, temporarily injuring it, but this didn't start until 17:30. They fought for the big moves, but this didn't start until 20:00 because they were both so good and tough it took that long to hurt each other enough to bother trying them. They didn't use traditional build, they more or less tried anything, slugging it out when they didn't make enough progress with their bigger moves. At some point they threw everything they had at each other, with Devil even doing a plancha, but it was such a long back and forth match it never approached a spotfest. They understood something that has been lost on the younger generation that's constantly tought to "stand out", except with everyone trying to stand out they all come off more or less the same and thus less distinguishable with their stupid antics blending together and any ability they might have getting lost in the shuffle. Anyway, what made this match so good is they realize perception is everything in a work. It's what the wrestlers make of the match that then effects the fans, not the other way around. The reason their moves had effect is they took time before and after them. They didn't just rush from move to move, they showed you the big move by struggling for it. This made you want to see it without telegraphing it through stupid posing that should allow their opponent to come back before they get around to it, and made it seem more important because the opponent was trying so hard to fight it off rather than laying around forever like a putz. After they went for the pin, and made it look like they might get it then showed that it did damage even though they were able to kick out. In actuality they took way more than they should have and didn't put it over enough, but they made it come off like they were hurt and exhausted but were so driven they found a way to keep going. Finally, they both ran out of gas. Devil put Chigusa down after an exchange of punches and dragged her right back up, but Chigusa put Devil down with some kicks then fell to her knees. Chigusa still had something left, but not quite enough to pull herself back up before 10. Even though it was a draw the finish made Chigusa seem the stronger, but the important thing was the belt and that was still around Devil's waist. 36:52. ****1/2
AJW Zenjo Classics #6 5/10/03 Summer Night Festival in Budokan taped 8/22/85 Tokyo Nippon Budokan
WWWA Sekai Single Senshukenjiai: Jaguar Yokota vs. Lioness Asuka. The 6 minute version that everyone based their raves on gave about as much indication of what the match was actually like as any recent Hollyplastic trailer. They made it seem like the ultimate in spot fu fighting. That might be more appealing to most, and I can't argue that 24 minutes at that level would have been better because that was totally blow everyone away level, but I was glad there was a lot more to the match than that. They began with an extremely fast paced series of breathtaking counters. I'm talking a speed sequence that could be matched by very few, ever. This only lasted a minute, but it bought them a lot more. In fact, they were more or less on the mat for the next 17! That fact never killed the crowd, as they were trained to expect a lot of mat wrestling (outside of Dump matches) and this was still good stuff. Though it took much longer, the same principle of equality applied to the mat portion, with Jaguar working over Lioness' knee but Lioness eventually injuring Jaguar's knee when she reversed a figure 4 leg lock. The intensity increased with Lioness dropping knees to Jaguar's bad knee until Jaguar escaped to the floor. Jaguar made a little comeback upon reentering, only to get her knee kicked out. After Jaguar got a rope break on a figure 4 they went to the high spots, wisely keeping Jaguar's knee injury involved. Because of the injuries, particularly to Jaguar, they didn't work at the lightning speed of the opening though it was still very fast. The rest of the match had some of the most impressive spots of the day. Highlights included Lioness reversing Jaguar's tombstone and doing a wicked jumping version into a sitting position rather than just falling to her knees, Lioness actually throwing Jaguar on the giant swing rather than just letting her down, Lioness lifting Jaguar up vertical suplex style and heaving her over the top to the floor to further injure her knee, and Lioness stopping Jaguar's superplex and again doing a vertical suplex position heave while sitting on the second. The match was actually pretty smart, and the work was just amazing. Lioness was one of the few wrestlers that were close enough to Jaguar's level that she could go all out with, and if this match shows anything it's how much better Jaguar could have seemed if she didn't have to wait for the final portion of her career to hook up with someone that could truly keep up with her. 23:46 (of 24:20?). ****3/4
40th Anniversary Part 2. Two more history segments, one focusing on 80s stars Jaguar, Crush Gals, and Dump, which leads into the second which highlights the kamakiri (haircut) death matches.
4/3/85 Sagamihara Shiritsu Sogo Taiikukan, Zen Nihon Junior Senshuken Oza Kettei Tournament Junkessho: Yumi Ogura vs. Kanako Nagatomo. They had more moves than I expected. It started out like a rookie match, but they were able to take it up and down, and get some effect out of both situations. They did a fast paced segment that was effective even though the high spots were of the high cross body variety. Good efforts. 16:18. **3/4
4/6/85 Tokyo Korakuen Hall, Zen Nihon Junior Senshuken Oza Kettei Tournament Kesshosen: Yumi Ogura vs. Mika Komatsu. They were out to impress, which made sense because for a title to be credible it needs someone people hold in some regard. Everything was executed pretty well, but it was up and down as far as doing things that were advancing the match and/or interesting went. I don't know that this is the smartest means of attack, but I found it interesting that as part of her knee attack Komatsu pulled Ogura's knee pad down and started throwing punches to it. Komatsu got a bloody nose from Ogura's uppercut. 13:32. **1/4
4/6/85 Tokyo Korakuen Hall, Fuji TV Hai Japan Grand Prix Koshikisen: Yukari Omori vs. Itsuki Yamazaki. Better offense than expected, but it wasn't one of Omori's smart matches. It was pretty much just back and forth. Omori was using more power moves here, but no chops. I like how Yamazaki would jump up to the top rope so she could quickly jump back at her opponent. 13:12. ***
AJW Zenjo Classics #8 5/24/03
4/3/85 Crush Gals sing
4/3/85 Sagamihara Shiritsu Sogo Taiikukan, Fuji TV Hai Japan Grand Prix Koshikisen: Bull Nakano vs. Crane Yu. A rare match between partners, but one without any particular heat or intensity. They used a lot of weapons in their brawl, but it was just a no skill object match that was putting me to sleep. They eventually did a little wrestling, but then Bull used a chain on Crane. 14:21. *1/2
4/3/85 Sagamihara Shiritsu Sogo Taiikukan, Fuji TV Hai Japan Grand Prix Koshikisen: Chigusa Nagayo vs. Dump Matsumoto. Dump attacked Chigusa before she made it to the ring to secure the early advantage. This allowed Chigusa to make some of her hot comebacks. Chigusa soon lost it though, attacking Dump when she was stuck in the ropes. She beat up and bloodied the ref for trying to stop her then attacked Chigusa with a staff for the DQ. It had the makings to be something, but wound up being so imcomplete. 12:23. **1/2
6/4/85 Crush Gals sing
6/14/85 Hokkaido Hakodate Shimin Taiikukan, Zen Nihon Junior Senshukenjiai: Yumi Ogura vs. Kanako Nagatomo. Match was too long for them, but they did their best. Nagatomo tried for an udehishigigyakujujigatame, but Ogura picked her up and threw her. Later, Nagatomo returned the favor when Ogura had her in a bodyscissors. Nagatomo used way too many dropkicks, especially considering her dropkick wasn't very good. 16:09. *3/4
8/28/85 Osaka Jo Hall, Kamakiri Death Match: Chigusa Nagayo vs. Dump Matsumoto. Kind of like a big Onita match, it was notable for the crowd and the spectacle, but the match itself left a lot to be desired. Onita knew how to work the crowd though, this match seemed more like raising the middle finger to them and laughing all the way to the bank. The more I see of Dump, the less she impresses me as a wrestler. You can say all you want about her as a heel, but to me this is one of the matches that best exemplifies her downsides as a wrestler. Dump is good at doing things to distract from from her liabilities, like having Crane dress up like her and stand in for her during the ring announcement. However, as a wrestler she's little more than a no selling weapon striking Abdullah type that in fact doesn't even execute her offense nearly as well as the infamous Match Butcher. Today hitting Chigusa with various objects was basically her only offense, with the scissors being her favorite weapon. Chigusa got a few cuts, but only had a Nakamaki blood trickle going, so Dump kept at her until she had the crimson mask. The ref could do nothing about it since it was a no DQ match, but it was still boring. Almost nothing was done to give any hope or even offense to Chigusa. All these people came to see her, but she was just blown out. A big deal for Chigusa was doing a kip-up after Dump kicked her down. And she still had to handstand her way free into a schoolboy because Dump had been holding her arm and kicking her. Chigusa's other highlight was hitting Dump with her can, which allowed her to try to cut some of Dump's stupid orange hair, but of course the ref stopped her. This was actually a good spot because Dump got the scissors, knocked the ref down, and tried to cut Chigusa's hair, but the ref recovered in time. Chigusa's big comeback was applying a scorpion! I guess the heels suckered her into thinking Dump submitted to this non finisher because she was raising her hands like she won, while Dump kept beating on her. Chigusa "couldn't see" because the blood had run into her eyes, but the ref eventually lowered Chigusa's arms to try to let her know she hadn't won (Dump would likely attack her after the match, regardless of the finish). Nonetheless, Chigusa kept staggering around getting hit until Dump knocked her out with a chair show. I didn't see any drama or excitement here, just one-sided unskilled brawling. The crowd was pretty loud, but nothing was ever done for them. They got to root for a miraculous comeback that wasn't coming, and it seemed like they eventually got somewhat frustrated, I've certainly heard them a lot louder for Crush matches of far less importance. Dump & Chigusa did a few things to allow key spots to work, but the match wasn't really developed. Dump beat on Chigusa, and that was about it. The match wouldn't have been an event and the crowd wouldn't have reacted the same, but as far as the way they did the match, Dump could have been fighting a rookie. What AJW did here was somewhat successful because the fans came back for the rematch 15 months later, but that shows their loyalty, and perhaps what suckers they were. On the other hand, there were 1,500 less the second time, so one could argue whether it was the lack of novelty, the obvious result, or the way the first match went down that kept some people away. Dump winning was necessary to set up the rematch, and her being put over strong was fine, but they didn't need to totally sacrifice this match by making it into a squash. To me the overwhelming nature of Dump's victory overshadows Chigusa's supposed near victory, and the non squash match elements they threw in like the blood. 11:38. **
AJW Zenjo Classics #10 6/7/03
1/5/85 Tokyo Korakuen Hall, UWA World Title Match: Jaguar Yokota vs. La Galactica. Another top performance by Jaguar, though Galactica was the one the match was spotlighting. Jaguar worked a much more Lucha oriented match for her. Without Monster to interfere constantly there was no need for her to sell the whole match, but she did anyway. Galactica did a lot of brawling, using objects to bloody Jaguar, but also used some nice athletic moves. Perhaps because it was Lucha oriented I kept expecting the match to end, but they always kicked out. Another reason the near falls were so credible is they kept the pace down, doing impressive moves but never sprinting or anything that would make them look less than worn down. Jaguar is one of the few wrestlers that would work toward a more moderate pace as a way to put over the toll of the match. 19:27 shown. ****
2/27/85 Chiba Narita Shi Taiikukan, UWA World Title Match: Jaguar Yokota vs. La Galactica. Started off frantic and intense as Jaguar's best matches often did, but wound up mainly consisting of Galactica brawling. Even though this was a bit longer than their previous match, Galactica never got into her highspots and Jaguar wasn't on offense enough to do much. Galactica wanted to use the nunchakas on Jaguar at the outset, but she got them away and ripped Galactica's mask. When Jaguar finally got on a roll, Rossy Moreno quickly put an end to it by pushing her off the top rope. Galactica was a bit vampirish, hacking Jaguar's arm up with a pointy metal object and licking the blood. Quite a good match, but even without seeing the previous match it would have been obvious how much better it could have been. 21:55. ***1/2
1/5/85 Tokyo Korakuen Hall, 2/3 Falls: Chigusa Nagayo & Lioness Asuka vs. Dump Matsumoto & Rossy Moreno. Set up to elicit crowd support, which Crush would get anyway. Great crowd reactions, but rather a dull overlong match with the same old storyline of Dump dominating through weapon use and double teaming. Rossy's Mexican friend was the ref, so her team could do whatever they wanted. Dump kept trying to use a stick, so Crush would try to block with their karate belts. There were all kinds of distractions, but 26 minutes of object use is just tedious and no shenanigans or amount of extra curricular activity can disguise lack of ability for that long. No wrestling move looks good when Dump does it, and Rossy was just a zero. Crush obviously can wrestle, but once again they barely got the opportunity. 14:30, 5:45, & 6:18. **
12/12/85 Tokyo Ota-ku Taiikukan, Shinjinou (rookie of the year) Kettei Tournament Kesshosen: Hisako Uno vs. Akemi Sakamoto. Quite a good rookie match. Hokuto already executed better than anyone in Dump's army. Sakamoto was a lousy Dump wannabe, but Uno managed to have a solid match with her. She understood taking the match up and down, unlike most AJW rookies who do all their basic moves and then throw in a couple dropkicks in the last minute. Short, but as effective as you could ask for. 7:04. *3/4
AJW Zenjo Classics #12 6/21/03 taped 12/12/85 Tokyo Ota-ku Taiikukan
Zen Nihon Senshukenjiai: Bull Nakano vs. Yumi Ogura. Basic stretching early, but they had the capability to pick it up. Bull dominated with heel tactics, getting away with whatever she wanted. Ogura had a few good segments of her jumping moves, staying in the match but not by much. 15:44. **3/4
Crush Gals sing
Jumbo Hori Intai Jiai 5 Minute Exhibition Match: Jumbo Hori vs. Yukari Omori. Hori & Omori were a championship team as the Dynamite Girls, having a year plus run before the Crush Gals took over. Hori was the bigger star but had the misfortune (as far as her push went) of being around during the same period as Jaguar, which kept her in secondary roles. Omori was a few years younger, and wound up surpassing her when she receiving the biggest push of her career at the end. This was part of AJW loosening up their strick policies though obviously overshadowed by Dump being the first not to retire at the mandatory age. Anyway, Hori & Omori could have had a nice match, but for some reason they would have healthy wrestlers in their mid 20s work a 5 minute match instead of going all out for the retirement match since at least one wrestler had the rest of their lfe to rest and recover. The last 30 seconds was pretty heated and intense, especially for an exhibition match, but neither had done enough to have any chance of winning. After the ceremony, the wrestlers carried Hori to the back on their shoulders with Jumbo waving goodbye to everyone. 5:00
AJW Zenjo Classics #13 6/28/03 taped 12/12/85 Tokyo Ota-ku Taiikukan
WWWA Sekai Single Oza Ketteisen & All Pacific Double Title Match: Devil Masami vs. Dump Matsumoto. Jaguar vacated the title upon retirement, the first to have that honor bestowed on her. Devil was in the match since she had the #2 title, and Dump & Lioness basically drew straws to see who would be her opponent. Devil isn't known for being one to sell a lot, so this seemed like a tough matchup because you know Dump isn't going to sell. Dump dominated through her weapon concealing mastery, continually befuddling a ref who was actually trying to keep it clean. Dump quickly stooped to attacking Devil's eyes, "blinding" her. Devil would stagger around, with Dump stalking her and attacking with one of her small objects that she pulls out of her bathing suit. Dump wasn't happy that her opponent merely couldn't see, so she tried to turn her into the second coming of Helen Keller by hitting Devil in the ear with a microphone to pop the ear drum. Devil did a pretty good job of putting all this over, though this unique story would have worked 1000 times better if they saved it for a match Devil was losing. Finish took forever to set up. Devil didn't have the popularity of Chigusa, though she got strong reactions here with Dump acted really disgusted about, but this match is another example of why she's a better wrestler. It was the usual Dump domination, but it was original, smarter and better wrestled. Jaguar trained Devil even though Devil debuted just a year later, so with this result AJW was hoping Jaguar could more or less live on through Devil. 19:16. ***
AJW Zenjo Classics #14 7/5/03
12/12/85 Tokyo Ota-ku Taiikukan: Lioness Asuka & Mika Komatsu vs. Itsuki Yamazaki & Noriyo Tateno. The potential was there, but the match just kind of meandered. Tateno was caught in the ring and did the bulk of the selling, which gave Lioness' overmatched team a chance you wouldn't expect them to have. Komatsu, being the least experienced, didn't have the offense yet but got by on energy. I liked Yamazaki's spot where she hopped over the ropes onto the apron then right back over them with a kick. She might not be the greatest flyer, but I've never seen anyone that minimized the time it took to execute the aerial spots, a great answer to the credibility killing posers we have today. 13:59. **1/2
4/27/89 Saitama Omiya Skate Center: Miori Kamiya vs. Mika Takahashi. To see these two wrestle in the late 80's and early 90's, you'd think they would have been solid mid card contributors, especially Takahashi. Takahashi had a gracefulness to go along with her athleticism that other female flyers like KAORU & Chaparrita ASARI never had. She lacked a great move, but overall she also used her athleticism to her advantage more than those two because she applied it to all aspects. Kamiya executed well and did a pretty good job of carrying the match, two things she was rarely if ever associated with in Jd'. A good little match, though quite brief, probably because they'd only recently graduated to regular matches. 7:56. **
4/27/89 Saitama Omiya Skate Center, Mika Komatsu Intai Jiai 5 Minute Exhibition Match: Mika Komatsu vs. Yumi Ogura. The Calgary Typhoons had recently dropped the tag titles to the Crush Gals since Komatsu was retiring (though Chigusa was retiring less than 2 weeks later, meaning the belt was vacated anyway). The best wrestling on this edition. The lack of time killed it, but they really worked for their 5 minutes. They had good chemistry and wrestled with a decent degree of difficulty. Ogura let her partner pin her after the bell. Komatsu's old partner Kanako Nagatomo came back for the ceremony. 5:00
#16
4/29/89 Saitama Omiya Skate Center: Yumiko Hotta & Reibun Amada & Manami Toyota vs. Kumiko Iwamoto & Nobuko Kimura & Sachiko Nakamura 13:30. No one was particularly impressive, though Hotta did have a few moments. Lots of dull brawling from the heels. Toyota didn't know how to use her athleticism yet, so with an offense consisting of dropkicks and the like her sloppiness wasn't so forgivable. *1/2
5/12/85 Mexico El Toreo, 2/3 Falls: Chigusa Nagayo & Lioness Asuka vs. Lola Gonzalez & Rosa Maria 8:22, 13:23. Gonzalez & Maria were fairly effective rudos that didn't show any great offense. Crush largely fought their style match, though with one or two exceptions from Lioness they didn't do any lucha offense. 1st fall was weak, but 2nd fall had a hot start with Lioness doing the lucha she knows. Rudo then started brawling, bloodying both Crush Gals. You'd think since it was in Mexico Crush could have at least dropped a fall, but all they lost was some blood. ***1/4
#17 taped 5/12/85 Mexico El Toreo
2/3 Falls WWWA Sekai Single Senshuken: Jaguar Yokoto vs. Pantera Surena 13:39, 4:49, 13:41. Jaguar was able to wrestle technically, but not at the usual speed. Part of the problem was Surena, who was servicable at best, and part was that it was simply too long. They paced themselves early, but the third fall was very good. Dramatic action with strong selling putting over the toll of the match. Surena tried hard, but her execution was awkward. ***
4/27/89: Marine Wolves sing
#18 taped 4/27/89 Saitama Omiya Skate Center
Toshiyo Yamada & Etsuko Mita vs. Aja Kong & Erika Shishedo (Aja Kong)
Noriyo Tateno vs. Mitsuko Nishiwaki
2/25/81 Yokohama Bunka Taiikukan, All Pacific Senshuken: Yumi Ikeshita vs. Mimi Hagiwara 7:38 shown
11/9/81 Okinawa, WWWA Sekai Tag Senshuken: Nancy Kumi & Ayumi Hori vs. Mimi Hagiwara & Yukari Omori 1:48 shown
#19
2/25/81 Yokohama Bunka Taiikukan, WWWA Sekai Single Senshuken: Jackie Sato vs. Jaguar Yokota
9/14/89 Kumamoto Shi Taiikukan, IWA World Women's Title: Medusa vs. The Beasty
9/14/89 Kumamoto Shi Taiikukan, Tag League The Best '89 Koshikisen: Akira Hokuto & Etsuko Mita vs. Manami Toyota & Toshiyo Yamada
#20
9/14/89 Kumamoto Shi Taiikukan, 2/3 Falls WWWA Sekai Tag Senshuken: Yumiko Hotta & Mitsuko Nishiwaki vs. Grizzly Iwamoto & Bison Kimura 11:46, 3:27, 5:39. Grizzly & Bison were called The Outsiders, though Hotta made sure no one got the edge on her. Their styles didn't mesh and Nishiwaki was about the only one that did much selling. Very basic offense not trying anything that required much assistance from the opposition, yet the execution was spotty. *1/2
2/87 Chiba, Zen Nihon Junior Oza Tournament Ketteisen: Megumi Kudo vs. Erika Shishedo 11:24. Still pretty much rookie style. Aja didn't weight that much more than Kudo in these days. Neither executed all that crisply or sharply. Very little to nothing here that would make you think they'd become what they were. *
Chigusa Nagayo sings
#21 taped Tokyo Korakuen Hall
12/8/89 Captain Fall Battle Royal: Noriyo Tateno & Miori Kamiya & Mima Shimoda vs. Akira Hokuto & Etsuko Mita & Takako Inoue vs. Suzuka Minami & Mika Takahashi & Kaoru Maeda 18:44. Too many women to start, causing it to be more of a comedy match early because there was simply no room to wrestle. Got good about half way through because they cleared the ring. Hokuto was clearly the standout. Her execution was so crisp and precise, though the finish was blown. **1/2
Madusa sings Who's Madusa
Fire Jets (Yumiko Hotta & Mitsuko Nishiwaki) sing Fire Night
5/14/89 Itsuki Yamazaki Intai Jiai 5 Minute Exhibition Match: Itsuki Yamazaki vs. Noriyo Tateno 5:00. Yamazaki was still the better Bomb Angel, and could have wrestled much longer. They worked pretty hard and did a good little match, though they seem better together than opposing.
AJW Zenjo Classics #25 taped 4/5/87 Tokyo Ota-ku Taiikukan
Japan Grand Prix '87 Koshikisen: Devil Masami vs. Chigusa Nagayo. Like Yamada & Toyota, Crush aren't near the head of the class, but Devil did a good job carrying it in typical fashion. She had things very much under control, with solid work and good selling, and it had all the makings of an excellent match. Started fast with Chigusa hitting a kneel kick when Devil turned her back to walk to her corner. This angered Devil, so she roughed Chigusa up before getting into the matwork. Not a lot of movement on the mat, but good stuff because they changed it up regularly and credibly. Picked up at 12:30 with Devil's powerbomb prompting big "Chigusa" chants. From this point forward it looked like it would be near falls throughout. Unfortunately, because neither could lose cleanly the match got goofy in the final minutes, starting after Devil did her dive where she hits the opponent with her rod. Devil wasn't happy at the outset, but they settled down and were under control until they had to end the match. 19:08. ***1/2
WWWA Sekai Single Senshukenjiai: Yukari Omori vs. Lioness Asuka. Omori tried to fight her usual more methodical style, but Lioness was too fast and energetic for her to maintain it. Omori added some little bits. For instance, they did one of their opponents signature move to them, with Omori doing the giant swing being set up by first injuring Lioness' back so Lioness collapsed trying. As it was more toward Lioness' fast paced style Omori wasn't at her most effective, but Lioness was such a worker she made up for that for the most part. Where the match suffered is in the heat department, which reached near eruption at points but peaked toward the middle. The problem with this being more of an offensive match is that meant Lioness had to fair a lot better than one might expect (then again, seeing later Lioness it's hard to remember the days when she was the one selling), but Crush get their best heat when they are making comebacks. It's hard to complain about an excellent match, but this should have been better than the great Omori vs. Chigusa title match from 10/20/87. Lioness being easily better than Chigusa didn't translate though because Lioness did too much, negating some of the dramatic potential and putting Omori in a situation where her basic move set doesn't work so well. That said, too many of these '80s matches don't give Lioness (or Jaguar especially) the opportunity to show what fantastic workers they are, and that wasn't the case here. 22:23. ****
AJW Zenjo Classics #26 taped 4/25/87 Miyagi Kashima Choritsu Taiikukan
Japan Grand Prix Koshikisen: Crane Yu vs. Dump Matsumoto. Dump's army is always fully behind her when she wrestles an understudy, probably making their presence felt even more because there's extra opportunity with both brawling. Crane was quickly frustrated by this. Bull had more offense than she did, so Crane eventually attacked her and beat on all the seconds with a chair to reassert her #2 rank in the army. She was totally dominated by Dump though, and bled heavily. Dump's only "wrestling" was a lariat and body press. The problem with this match is since the fans don't care about Crane, there's really no reason for them to react to Dump's illegal tactics. 13:28
2/3 Falls: Chigusa Nagayo & Lioness Asuka vs. Jumbo Hori & Yukari Omori. Dynamite Girls carried and made the match. Omori worked the bulk, wrestling with confidence, but Hori was also quite impressive in her briefer periods. What Crush brought was basically the crowd. The match was wrestled in Dynamite's style of throwing people around and grounding them. It was looking like it might be a great match because Dyamite were doing such a strong job of controlling things and Crush hadn't even got started, but things got bizarre toward the end of the first fall. Lioness seemed to legitimately injure her knee, so Chigusa took over for her. The ref wouldn't count a pin because Chigusa wasn't legal, but I guess they quickly decided Lioness was sitting the rest of the fall out because Chigusa was pinned the first time the ref recognized the attempt. The second fall saw Dynamite focus on Chigusa's rib injury, which seemed like something they'd planned, but that put Lioness in the awkward position of having to bail Chigusa out. This came after a good spot where Chigusa snuck around Hori's back for a cobra twist, but the strain was too much so she almost immediately released it and reached for the tag. The other problem is Crush was winning the match, but now with both injured or supposedly injured they had to figure out how to get their two falls in. In these days Crush didn't get a lot of sustained offense, they often sold a lot and pulled out surprise/upset wins. Two of them in 8 minutes when Dynamite were in great shape and Crush were or at least should have been (since Lioness seemed to forget her knee) in terrible shape was a bit much. The final falls could have had great drama, but they were anticlimatic because they just seemed a manipulation to achieve the planned result of the match rather than something that was built up and earned. 13:26, 4:31, & 3:43. ***3/4
6/18/89 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Reibun Amada & Kaoru Maeda & Eiko Waki vs. Hiromi Hasegawa & Kyoko Inoue & Takako Inoue. They were green, but they worked hard. They ran around a lot and it wasn't boring. Hasegawa was the spark plug type, though thankfully not a DUD like Thurman. I liked her twisting high cross body and generally she was exciting for an AJW youngster. 8:16. **
5/15/85 Saitama Omiya Skate Center, 2/3 Falls WWWA Tag Senshukenjiai: Lioness Asuka & Chigusa Nagayo vs. Dump Matsumoto & Bull Nakano. Crane Yu was just becoming a referee here, and there was controversy over who would handle this important title match. She won out over Shiro Abe, the guy that lets Dump get away with everything. Crane wound up taking more bumps than in a lot of her wrestling matches, battling Dump, the heel army, and new nemesis Abe. What made this a good match is that Chigusa finally showed some fire in a match against Dump. Well, actually it was only when Bull was in, but that was often so she finally did some of her fast paced style rather than just selling weapon shots. Bull could do Crush's style and for the most part Crush's matches were much better when they could be themselves. Dump wreaked havoc, but luckily wasn't on offense for 10 minutes straight like she might have been in a singles match. The good thing was that everyone stayed involved and for the most part were doing what they do best. The downside was since Dump was always on offense and Bull was always selling, the match was pretty illogical based on the type of offense Crush implement. They get destroyed then Dump tags, so they suddenly begin a lightning flurry of offense. 4:48, 7:47, 8:09. ***1/4
AJW Zenjo Classics #28 taped 6/18/89 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Japan Grand Prix '89 Tournament Ikkaisen: Miori Kamiya vs. Aja Shishedo (Kong). One-sided, somewhat dull match, but Aja showed good focus and did a much better job of carrying her opponent than she normally did pre 1993. Aja wouldn't sell any shots to the head, not even from the can. Kamiya had a bad knee that Aja beat on. 15:19. **
Japan Grand Prix '89 Tournament Ikkaisen: Yumiko Hotta vs. Mika Takahashi. Glorified squash. Hotta dominated, showing no weakness so you couldn't even believe Takahashi could possibly get lucky. Takahashi had almost no say in the match. She was a bit sloppy, but that might have been because Hotta was giving her so little help. Hotta did perhaps the best Jumbo suplexes I've ever seen. 8:10. *
Marine Wolves sing
Lioness Asuka & Yumi Ogura vs. Noriyo Tateno & Madusa Micelli. Match was good when Madusa wasn't in, but those segments were far too brief. Madusa was on offense too much and was typically awful never looking sure of what she wanted to do and unable to pull the spots off smoothly. Her strikes were so bad that it was often hard to identify whether they were supposed to be punches, forearms, or what. Best spot was Ogura leaping over Tateno's headbutt and bringing her legs up to hook Tateno's arms and take her down into a pin. 14:49. *1/2
#29 taped 6/18/89 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
All Pacific Senshukenjiai: Mitsuko Nishiwaki vs. Bull Nakano. I've yet to decide if Nishiwaki was good, but certainly she was in the right place at the right time. She was becoming the top face for lack of anyone else during this transition period. Still, I was surprised how much offense she got. Somewhat uneven match and Nishiwaki was having trouble handling Bull's size, but I liked how many moves were avoided or stopped. Nishiwaki's left shoulder wasn't down on the finish, but their bodies shielded the ref. 11:36. **1/2
2/3 Falls WWWA Sekai Tag Senshuken Oza Ketteisen: Kumiko Iwamoto & Nobuko Kimura vs. Akira Hokuto & Suzuka Minami. Heels carried the match, which wasn't a good thing not only because the opposition is smarter but because they were indecisive. Like the previous match it wasn't too smooth, but it had it's moments. Lots of double teaming from the heels, never letting the faces get a good run. Hokuto & Minami bled. Too many mistakes. 8:15, 6:24, & 11:15. **
#30 taped 6/28/84 Kanagawa Kawasaki Shi Taiikukan
Jaguar Yokota & Devil Masami vs. Lioness Asuka & Chigusa Nagayo. Part of Jaguar's brilliance was her ability to make it seem like they were doing a lot more than they actually were. Everyone was excitable and hyper, but they kept the spots to a reasonable level. It was frantic and everyone was fired up, but it wasn't out of control or ridiculous. This skill of Jaguar's was especially important in a long match like this because the match neither dragged nor turned into a spotfest. There was certainly downtime, but it didn't necessarily come off as such. Eventually Lioness was isolated and they worked on her right knee. The moves kept getting better and better and Devil did a good job under Jaguar's command. Crush were kind of along for the ride, but the work was all very good just not on the level of their tremendous 8/22/85 matches. 30:00. ****
2/3 Falls WWWA Sekai Tag Senshukenjiai: Jumbo Hori & Yukari Omori vs. Dump Matsumoto & Crane Yu. With all the matches they have to choose from they couldn't find one where the whole thing fit in the allotted time instead of just the first fall? First fall was adequate with Omori being destroyed but Dump selling a little for Hori. Dump used a juice can on Hori. 8:26
6/28/84 Kanagawa Kawasaki Shi Taiikukan, 2/3 Falls WWWA Sekai Tag Senshukenjiai: Jumbo Hori & Yukari Omori vs. Dump Matsumoto & Crane Yu. Continued from episode #30. Chaotic spectacle. Jumbo did a good job of standing up for herself. She was by far the senior member of the match and Dump was in the early stages of her push, so Hori actually got to give some brawling back to Dump. Dump bled. More surprisingly, she, took an elevated body press, blockbuster off the 2nd, and finally was pinned after Omori's piledriver. Dump is one awful bumper, but overall the match was passable. Everyone at ringside was involved including Devil helping the faces. Shiro Abe, who among other things had choked Hori with a chain, was sent to the back before the third fall started. 5:03 & 6:26. **
10/6/84 Tokyo Korakuen Hall, Zen Nihon Senshuken: Itsuki Yamazaki vs. Yumi Ogura. Yamazaki was the more experienced so she was usually in control. She did a pretty good job of carrying the match. Ogura went along fine, but lacked the offense to be a real threat. She did enough to be competitive, though actually she was mainly using weardown holds. Yamazaki mixed a few good flurries in though. 14:45. ***
Crush Gals sing
AJW Zenjo Classics #32
10/6/84 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Yukari Omori vs. Devil Masami. Well built and executed heavyweight style match. Slow in points, but they did more running around than I expected, and Devil was even using some athletic moves like the flying cross chop and senton atomico. Devil used a good hard body slam that made me remember that isn't a lame move, it's just that most wrestlers use a minimal impact version where they drop or even place their opponent on the mat. Omori was portrayed as nearly Devil's equal in this match. She got off to a good start to establish herself. 16:44. ***1/2
10/6/84 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Jaguar Yokota vs. Dump Matsumoto. These two are about as far about in their strengths as any stars AJW has ever had. It's even somewhat difficult for Jaguar to make Dump look good because Jaguar's tremendous bumping requires something to bump for, and Dump's jabbing and gouging offense basically consists of moves you fall down for. The opening spot was a good example of how they bridged the gap. Dump tried to use a whip on Jaguar on the bell, but Jaguar caught it so Dump pulled the whip propelling Jaguar to the floor. With the possible exception of Jumbo Miyamoto, Dump is by far the worst bumper of any AJW star. Jaguar was still way above Dump, so Dump had to actually take some wrestling moves. This is where the match didn't work because Dump can't even take a dropkick properly. For the most part Jaguar's offense still looked really good though. She built her offense around counters, and with such a slow opponent her quickness and explosion has never been so pronounced. Jaguar had one excellent flurry at the end, which Dump did fine on. 11:40. ***
4/8/86 Sendai Miyagi-ken Sports Center. Devil Masami vs. Hisako Uno. Devil was too big and strong for Uno in standup, so Uno would try for the takedown. No matter what she did, she was just overmatched. What hurts a match like this is that in these days the women were only stiff for the rare big match, so the beating Uno took was nothing to get excited about. Everything looked fine, but it was nothing more than a meaningless squash. 6:28. *1/2
#33 taped 10/6/84 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
2/3 Falls WWWA Tag Title Match: Chigusa Nagayo & Lioness Asuka vs. La Galactica & Lola Gonzalez 10:06, 6:26, 8:38 **1/4
Crush Gals sing
#34 taped 4/8/86 Miyagi-ken Sports Center
Japan Grand Prix '86: Mika Komatsu vs. Kanako Nagatomo 15:45 **
Yukari Omori & Itsuki Yamazaki & Noriyo Tateno vs. Dump Matsumoto & Bull Nakano & Condor Saito 12:16 ***1/4
Chigusa Nagayo sings "Stay"
#35
4/8/86, 2/3 falls WWWA Tag Title Match: Chigusa Nagayo & Lioness Asuka vs. Yumi Ogura & Kazue Nagahori 11:24, 6:09 ****
6/21/86 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Lioness Asuka vs. Dump Matsumoto 11:12 **
#36
6/21/86, Zen Nihon Tag Title Match: Yumi Ogura & Kazue Nagahori vs. Mika Komatsu & Kanako Nagatomo 29:00 **1/2
10/11/87 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Yumi Ogura & Kazue Nagahori vs. Dump Matsumoto & Kaharu Kage 10:40 *1/2
6/22/86 Tokyo Korakuen Hall, Japan Grand Prix '86 Kesshosen: Chigusa Nagayo vs. Yukari Omori 27:16. Solid well executed match. Started slow, but built into a dramatic match with the second half largely consisting of near falls. Omori's hand was injured, but Chigusa didn't want to work on it, preferring to try to beat her fair and square. She controlled much of the match, but this strategy didn't pay off. ***1/2
10/11/87 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Itsuki Yamazaki & Noriyo Tateno vs. Yukari Omori & Devil Masami 11:53. Angels were dominated to the point they were never really in the match. The got the flash pin, but I don't know that it helped them. Omori & Devil just seemed too big for them, using the power to have their way. **
#40
2/26/87 Kanagawa Kawasaki Shi Taiikukan, WWWA Sekai Single Senshuken Next Challenger Decision Match: Lioness Asuka vs. Chigusa Nagayo
#43
2/86 Hyogo: Yumi Ogura vs. Dump Matsumoto 16:56. A massacre. Dump's army conspired against Ogura. Ogura had a bad knee to begin with, so merciless Dump hit it with a pipe. Ogura got some flash pins, but that was about it. *1/2
1/5/86 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Yumi Ogura vs. Devil Masami 17:00. Ogura was overmatched, but this wasn't one-sided in a manner that was detrimental to her. Everyone knew she wasn't going to win, but she showed a lot of fighting spirit and heart. Ogura didn't get many high spots in, but was in control some of the time. Solid wrestling. **1/4
#44 taped 4/1/84 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Jaguar Yokota vs. Desiree Petersen 10:08. Jaguar let Petersen do her thing, which wasn't a positive for the match quality. To some extent Jaguar had no choice as Petersen couldn't work her match, but Jaguar usually finds a way to come up with something much better than this. She showed some of her explosive offense, the moves that didn't require much assistance from the opposition. Petersen's offense was so pathetic compared even to what Jaguar did use. She wasted a lot of time and basically stomped, eye raked, and distracted the ref so Judy Martin could help her out. **
Mimi Hagiwara & Tarantula Intai Jiai 5 Minute Exhibition Match: Mimi Hagiwara vs. Tarantula 5:00. Tarantula fought aggressively, showing some nice flying headscissors. A decent match, but the effort wasn't there to make it memorable (if that's even possible in 5 min). Tarantula unmasks for the retirement ceremony.
Jumbo Hori & Yukari Omori vs. Itsuki Yamazaki & Noriyo Tateno 10:11. Competent but uninspiring squash. Hori & Omori controlled the match, keeping it on the mat early then throwing the opposition around later. Angels had almost no offense, with Tateno being particularly dominated. **
#51 taped 2/15/86 Kanagawa Kawasaki Shi Taikukan
Jaguar Yokota Retirement Match: Jaguar Yokota vs. Devil Masami 5:00 Very Good
2/3 falls: Itsuki Yamazaki & Noriyo Tateno vs. Devil Masami & Lioness Asuka 7:06, 2:31, 3:46 ***1/4
#52
8/25/84 Tokyo Korakuen Hall, 2/3 falls WWWA Tag Title Match: Jumbo Hori & Yukari Omori vs. Chigusa Nagayo & Lioness Asuka 11:04, 2:31, 5:39 ***1/2
11/29/86 Mika Komatsu vs. Yukon Erika 4:55 DUD
Jumping Bomb Angels Sing
#57 taped 11/7/86 Osaka Jo Hall
Kanako Nagatomo & Mika Komatsu vs. Yumi Ogura & Kazue Nagahori 11:29 here. Missing the 1st 8 1/2 minutes due to satellite trouble. Red Typhoons looked good wrestling a fast paced exciting even if somewhat basic style. Ogura was clearly the best, followed by Nagahori. Pretty good.
Devil Masami & Lioness Asuka & Yukon Erika vs. Yukari Omori & Itsuki Yamazaki & Noriyo Tateno 3:13 here. Missing 9 1/2 minutes due to satellite trouble (part is ring intros). Looked like a good match for Bomb Angels.
12/6/86 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Lioness Asuka vs. Hisako Uno 6:18 shown. Lioness had her way, beating Uno when she wanted. It was essentially a well executed squash. Lioness kept it simple stretching Uno early then did some better moves. Uno barely showed any offense, a dropkick was about it. Fair.
#58 taped 11/7/86 Osaka Jo Hall
Kamikiri Death Match: Chigusa Nagayo vs. Dump Matsumoto 16:49. The ref bladed before the match began due to Dump attacking him with a chain. Chigusa sold the rest of the way, bleeding heavily. Whenever Chigusa would attempt an offensive manuever, Dump would just block it. Finally Chigusa won out of nowhere with a schoolboy, though it was obvious she kicked out before the 3 count. **
4/27/87 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan: Itsuki Yamazaki vs. Noriyo Tateno 8:04. Good action, but way too short with a lame screw job finish. Should have been a notable match, and looked like that was doable at 15 or 20 minutes. **
#60 taped 4/27/87 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan
Japan Grand Prix '87 Koshikisen: Devil Masami vs. Bull Nakano
Chigusa Nagayo sings
WWWA Sekai Tag Senshuken: Hisako Uno & Yumiko Hotta vs. Yumi Ogura & Kazue Nagahori
#61
8/21/86 Tokyo Korakuen Hall, All Pacific Senshuken: Chigusa Nagayo vs. Lei Lani Kai 22:59. Much too long. Started off poorly with methodical Kai plodding around without doing any sequences and lazy Chigusa laying around rather than trying to save it. Much better toward the end with effort put into struggling for the holds and putting them over. One near fall after another down the stretch. The near falls came from basic holds, but they did a great job of making them dramatic by looking so spent. **3/4
4/27/87 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan, All Pacific Senshuken: Lei Lani Kai vs. Chigusa Nagayo 15:47.The shorter length was a plus in this case. Once again the early portion was largely biding time, but the finishing segment was better than on 8/21 and there was far less dead time. Double juice with the blood adding intensity and urgency. ***1/4
#62 taped 3/20/86 Osaka Jo Hall
Zen Nihon Junior Senshuken: Condor Saito vs. Hisako Uno 12:32. Condor was the bigger star here, and controlled the match working Uno's knee. Hokuto used basic offense, with Condor working down to her level. **
'86 Japan Grand Prix Koshiki Leaguesen: Yumi Ogura vs. Kazue Nagahori 30:00. Might not have been a great match, but it was a memorable battle of partners. They worked hard form bell to bell, wrestling like they were going half the length they did. You got the idea it could be a draw, but never because they were holding anything back. Nagahori's kicking game was in top form. ***1/2