*2 tapes*
3-5 minutes of highlights from each match on AJW 1/4/94 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
The Goddess Chikako Shiratori vs. Rie Tamada
Kaoru Ito vs. Numacchi
AJ Title: Mima Shimoda vs. Tomoko Watanabe
Etsuko Mita vs. Suzuka Minami
Kyoko Inoue vs. Sakie Hasegawa
Manami Toyota vs. Bull Nakano
Toshiyo Yamada vs. Takako Inoue
Aja Kong vs. Yumiko Hotta
1/24/94 Tokyo Ota-ku Taiikukan
Captain Fall Survival War: Numacchi & The Goddess Shiratori & Miki Yokoe & Akiko Abe vs. Tomoko Watanabe & Rie Tamada & Kumiko Maekawa & Miho Ikari
Mr. Buddhaman vs. Tomezo Tsunokake
Suzuka Minami & Takako Inoue vs. Sakie Hasegawa & Kaoru Ito
Bull Nakano vs. Kyoko Inoue. The first 2/3 was very slow-paced with too many submission holds. Kyoko accidentally got her ankle caught in the ropes and was screaming in pain so they had to untie her. Althogh Kyoko was a little hobbled, the match really picked up from there, turning into an excellent match in the last third. The fans got really into this, particularly when Kyoko kicked out of and avoided Bull's guillotine leg drop finisher. This match would have been much better if it was 17 minutes instead of 27. Bull pretty much dictated the entire match. ***1/2
2/3 Falls WWWA World Tag Titles: Toshiyo Yamada & Manami Toyota vs. Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda. All action. Excellent work. All the big spots. Near perfect execution over a 35 minute match. Hot crowd that was really pulling for the upset. 3rd wall was particularly awesome. Yamada, who was still at the top of her game here, was the standout. Toyota was the 2nd best. The problem with this match is that the past was so fast that there wasn't much selling. Even after 30 minutes of big spots they didn't slow the pace or do anything to show that all these great moves were taking their toll. ****1/2
WWWA World Single Title: Aja Kong vs. Yumiko Hotta. This was just brutal. It was worked to look like a "real fight," as they were really intense and they stiffed each other back and forth. Another heated match. Hotta got a cut on her hand from one of the times she hit Aja in the head and it bled like crazy. Aja worked over the hand, which was cool because it's not something you see done often. At one point they wrapped it up in gauze, but it wasn't going to be much help so Hotta threw it off to show her toughness. Actually, Hotta did a great job of putting over the brutal beating Aja was dishing out without compromising her tough woman gimmick. The problem with this match is that it was rather onesided, which did kind of compromise Hotta's gimmick. ****1/2
*I have a limited supply of 1st generation SP copies available on two T-120's for $36 or $41.50/47 COOP (one unique)*
AJ Junior Title Sparkling Hussle: Candy Okutsu (JWP) vs. Rie Tamada. *1/2
Little Bigman no Arena Daiboken (big adventure): Abdullah the Kobutcher (Buddhaman) vs. Great Little Muta (Little Frankie). *
AJ Tag Titles: Kaoru Ito & Tomoko Watanabe vs. Miki Handa & Kurenai Yasha (LLPW team). ***
Space Flying Gymnastic: Chaparrita ASARI vs. Hikari Fukuoka (JWP). *3/4
Professional Wrestling Bible: Suzuka Minami & The Goddess Chikako Shiratori vs. Megumi Kudo & Nurse Nakamura (FMW team). **1/4
IWA Women's Title: Manami Toyota vs. Plum Mariko (JWP). ****1/2
Amazon House: Yumiko Hotta & Takako Inoue vs. Eagle Sawai (LLPW) & Reggie Bennett. **1/2
JWP Tag Titles: Mayumi Ozaki & Cuty Suzuki (JWP team) vs. Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda. Mita & Shimoda win JWP tag titles. ***1/4
Demolition Woman Hot Running: Sakie Hasegawa vs. Dynamite Kansai (JWP). ***1/4
All Pacific Title Major League Derby Match: Toshiyo Yamada vs. Kyoko Inoue. Kyoko wins title. ****1/4
Dangerous Queen FINAL Countdown: Aja Kong & Bull Nakano vs. Akira Hokuto & Shinobu Kandori (LLPW). ****1/2
Mid Summer Wrestling Academy: Suzuka Minami & Tomoko Watanabe & Chaparrita ASARI & Rie Tamada vs. Hikari Fukuoka & Command Bolshoi & Fusayo Nouchi & Hiromi Yagi (JWP team). ***1/2
Budokan Midget Retsuden MIN: Tomezo Tsunokake vs. "Little Dangerous Queen" Hokuto Akiracito
Zenjo Fighting Glove (kickboxing): Kumiko Maekawa vs. Kyoko Kamikaze
Reggie Bennett & Kaoru Ito vs. Eagle Sawai & Carol Midori (LLPW team)
Infernal KAORU vs. Megumi Kudo (FMW)
UWA World Women's Tag Titles: Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda vs. Harley Saito & Jenn Yukari (LLPW team)
Pure Heart Deep Panic: Takako Inoue & Cuty Suzuki (JWP) vs. Devil Masami & Candy Okutsu (JWP team)
Chigusa Nagayo (free) & Toshiyo Yamada vs. Sakie Hasegawa & Mariko Yoshida. Very good
Major League Derby Match II All Pacific & IWA Women's Title Unification Match: Kyoko Inoue vs. Manami Toyota. Great match.
Dangerous Queen Final Countdown ~4 Daikyoto (great big names) Pre-Dome Survival!~: Akira Hokuto & Aja Kong vs. Dynamite Kansai (JWP) & Yumiko Hotta. Great match.
This show is right up with Dreamslam 1 & 2 as the 3 best shows ever. Just incredible!
Chaparrita ASARI & Bomber Hikaru (GAEA) vs. Hiromi Yagi & Hiromi Sugo (JWP team). **1/2
Midget Handicap Match: Tsunokake X vs. Great Littlemuta & Buta Genjin. 3/4*
AJ Junior Title: Candy Okutsu (JWP) vs. Rie Tamada. ***1/4
Suzuka Minami vs. KAORU (GAEA). ***1/2
Zenjyo Fighting Glove II: Kumiko Maekawa vs. Sugar Miyuki. Kickboxing
Joshi Amateur Pro Ring 1st Challenge: Kyoko Hamaguchi vs. Doris Blind. Amateur shoot.
Joshi Amateur Pro Ring 1st Challenge: Miyu Yamamoto vs. Anna Gomez. Amateur shoot.
Zenjyo vs. Shootboxing: Kaoru Ito vs. Fumiko Ishimoto. Shootboxing.
Big Heart Power Contest: Reggie Bennett vs. Chigusa Nagayo (GAEA). *1/2
Zenjyo vs. LLPW Doyume (dream which has been yearned for?) Survival War: Toshiyo Yamada & Tomoko Watanabe vs. Shinobu Kandori & Mikiko Futagami (LLPW team). ***3/4
UWA World Women's Tag Title: Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda vs. Kurenai Yasha & Michiko Nagashima (LLPW team). ***1/2
Legend of Memorial Fight: Jaguar Yokota & Bison Kimura vs. Lioness Asuka & Yumi Ogura. ****
Blizzard Yuki Debut Match: Blizzard Yuki vs. Mariko Yoshida. ***1/2
V*TOP WOMAN Nippon Senshuken (championship title) Tournament Round 1: Yumiko Hotta vs. Combat Toyoda (FMW). ****3/4
V*TOP WOMAN Nippon Senshuken (championship title) Tournament Round 1: Akira Hokuto vs. Eagle Sawai (LLPW). ***1/2
V*TOP WOMAN Nippon Senshuken Tournament Round 1: Manami Toyota vs. Aja Kong. ****3/4
V*TOP WOMAN Nippon Senshuken (championship title) Tournament Round 1: Kyoko Inoue vs. Dynamite Kansai (JWP). ****1/2
Miss Wrestling Universe Tag Summit: Takako Inoue & Cuty Suzuki (JWP) vs. Megumi Kudo (FMW) & Hikari Fukuoka (JWP). ***1/4
Michinoku Pro Doyume Lucha Tengoku (heaven): The Great Sasuke & SATO & Shiryu vs. Super Delfin & Jinsei Shinzaki & Gran Naniwa. ****1/4
V*TOP WOMAN Nippon Senshuken Tournament Semifinal: Akira Hokuto vs. Combat Toyoda. ***1/4
V*TOP WOMAN Nippon Senshuken Tournament Semifinal: Aja Kong vs. Dynamite Kansai. ****3/4
WWF World Women's Title: Alundra Blayze vs. Bull Nakano. Bull wins title. *1/2
V*TOP WOMAN Nippon Senshuken Tournament Final: Akira Hokuto vs. Aja Kong. ***1/4
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*
Zenjo Fresh Woman: Rie Tamada vs. Kumiko Maekawa
AJ Junior Title: Candy Okutsu vs. Chaparrita 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.
*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: Chaparrita 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. *****
* I have a very limed number of 1st Gen SP sets available-two T-120's for $36*
Akira Hokuto & Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda vs. Reggie Bennett & Mariko Yoshida & Kaoru Ito-excellent match.
WWWA World Single Title: Manami Toyota vs. Aja Kong. Kong wins title. Great match.
Rie Tamada & Yoshiko Tamura & Yumi Fukawa vs. Chaparrita 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 *****
*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: Chaparrita 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. *****
All Pacific Title Decision Match: Takako vs. Yamada. Takako wins All-Pacific Title.
The Destiny Wars: Toyota & Yoshida vs. Hotta & Ito. Toyota is the worst worker of the 4 on this day because of her health so they use that as a storyline and had Hotta and Ito destroy her. Hotta was great instilling the stiffness and psychology, Ito & Yoshida supplied the workrate, and Toyota got the pops for her comebacks. Ito showed that she had outgrown her role in Freedom Force, which was officially ended after the match. ****.
2/3 Falls WWWA Tag Titles: Las Cachorras Orientales vs. Watanabe & Maekawa. Cachorras demonstated their heel style using chairs, the turnbuckle cover, scissors, and the security rail. Mita even threw Maekawa off the balcony. Everyone but Mita juiced heavily, and Watanabe & Maekawa were hospitalized after the match. Maekawa was put in the underdog role and she really got over in it. However, her selling of previous damage was non-existent. Shimoda & Watanabe were great against each other as always. Cachorras finally won the WWWA tag titles! ****
ASARI vs. Shiina. ASARI's first match back from her broken hip. Started out slow, but turned into a good match. **3/4
Japan Grand Prix '97 League Bout: Watanabe vs. Maekawa. Much better than I expected, as this is the first time I'm impressed by Maekawa. Watanabe does a good job of carrying Maekawa and Maekawa doesn't screw up her spots today. ***1/4
Japan Grand Prix '97 League Bout: Toyota vs. Ito. This was a great match that may have been the best women's match of 1997. Fast-paced with lots of creative spots. Tons of high spots and near falls. ****1/2
Las Cachorras Orientales (Shimoda & Mita) vs. Aja & Kyoko. Tremendous brawl. Maybe the best garbage style match I have ever seen because there was really good wrestling to go along with all the gimmick spots and there wasn't all the typical flaws of garbage matches. It's incredible that Shimoda & Mita could be this good at this style so soon after they turned heel. ****1/2
Aja Kong Graduation Match: Manami Toyota vs. Aja Kong. ****1/2
WWWA World Single Title: Kyoko Inoue vs. Yumiko Hotta. Hotta wins title. ***3/4
WWWA World Tag Titles: Mima Shimoda & Etsuko Mita vs. Tomoko Watanabe & Kumiko Maekawa. ****1/2
Miho Wakizawa vs. Miyuki Fujii 9:03. Wakizawa is more advanced, but wrestled down to Fujii’s level for this rookie style match. Wakizawa couldn’t cleanly execute the better moves they allowed her due to footing issues. Otherwise, they basically traded rudimentary holds and it was the usual passable but uninspiring opening match stuff. *
Nanae Takahashi vs. Saya Endo 9:40. Wakizawa is better than Takahashi, but since Takahashi had a semi-established opponent she got to do a real match. Saya is adequate, certainly not good enough to raise Takahashi to the level of mediocrity, but in the end Takahashi did okay. They put a good deal of effort into the match, which at least wasn’t boring. Takahashi managed to injure her opponent as usual, waiting so long to fall off the ropes on her superplex she wound up simply dropping Saya, who landed hard on her knees and lower legs, putting a huge stretch on her Achilles’. Saya was momentarily hobbled, but managed to finish. As Saya was leaving as part of the mass exodus they had Takahashi score the big upset. *1/2
Chaparrita ASARI vs. Yuka Shiina 12:40. Dropkick war. The first half saw them haphazardly alternate quick standup sequences of athletic albeit overly choreographed action with slow uninspired matwork. Shiina doesn’t get the most out of her athleticism, as while she does several jumping moves she rarely expands beyond the most pedestrian. ASARI isn’t that much better as a worker, she simply has offense that makes you desire to see her matches. A decent but underwhelming match. **1/4
Toshiyo Yamada & KAORU vs. Kumiko Maekawa & Momoe Nakanishi 15:40. Yamada had left 3 months earlier, but wrestled as though she was glad to be back for a day. Yamada totally carried her team and was the best wrestler on the show thus far, which was pretty sad considering she’s the one that was put out to the GAEA pasture. Her kicks are far more accurate than Maekawa’s, but if you can forgive a few misses their kick exchanges were quite nice. Momoe was a bright spot as usual, stretched and tossed around early, but utilizing her athleticism for a counter. KAORU wrestled a far more solid match than in GAEA where she runs amok, as you pretty much have to be a main eventer to get away with doing superhero spotfu in the Matsunagas ring. KAORU was a pretty good sport, selling for Momoe in the latter stages without copping the usual veteran attitude. Losing to GAEA might not be what AJW needs, but their up and coming wrestlers looked promising and were competitive. ***1/4
Manami Toyota vs. Yumiko Hotta 30:00. The basic problem with the later Toyota vs. Hotta matches is Toyota is forced to conform to Hotta’s style, which is one she is capable but simply isn’t interested in doing. Toyota was smiling at Hotta when she had her in the figure 4, but did a better job of chaining her groundwork together than usual. They didn’t kill time in the most effective manner, but despite the slow start for a Toyota match it wasn’t obvious they were doing a draw. They did a good job of showing that Hotta was fighting to prevent the high spots. Even after the match picked up 10 minutes in, Hotta was blocking or countering Toyota’s more spectacular offense to maintain credibility, and bringing the match back to the mat to lengthen it as well as stay consistent with her “shooter” drive. As the biggest stars sticking with the company they tried to show they deserved the main event, and while it didn’t hold a candle to their great 9/3/95 JGP final, it was at least a worthy hard fought match. That said, despite the quality wrestling they seemed to lack the spark a match between stars of this caliber should contain, and perhaps the mediocre crowd reaction had something to do with the lack of intensity. Until the final minutes when they hit all their finishers, the fans basically only reacted when the wrestlers, largely Toyota, prodded them to. ***1/4
Kanaami (cage) Death Match VIOLENCE WAR: Mima Shimoda & Etsuko Mita vs. Kaoru Ito & Tomoko Watanabe. The best women’s match of 1997 and possibly the best cage match ever. The intense hateful tone was set right off the bat as Shimoda was hogging the spotlight - standing in the center of the ring while Ito was introduced - so Ito slapped her and they were in each others faces prepared to kill. Watanabe wore football shoulder pads to protect her injured left shoulder, which she did a great job of consistently selling, adding to the drama and psychology, which were plentiful as the moves were ordered properly, constantly building to the peaks of the final minutes. Though all four wrestled at once it was essentially Ito vs. Las Cachorras with Watanabe just being there to take abuse from someone while Ito tried to beat the other, both AJW faces seeming all the more heroic for their contributions. The match started violently with Shimoda & Mita using chairs and the cage to batter and bloody the opposition. Interestingly, when Ito came back after 4 plus minutes of this carnage by using LCO’s chair, she was immediately booed. While it never ceased being a brawl with LCO also using chains and even the guard rail due to Saya taking care of Maekawa long enough to smuggle it in, one of the many great aspects to this match is it developed into a wrestling match. They essentially got the blood, generic cage spots out of the way at the start, so actual wrestling could play an important role in the body of the match. Finally, they brought the cage back down the stretch when they were trying to escape, melding both the wrestling and brawling aspects through moves that were far more spectacular for being done off or with the assistance of the cage. One cool spot had Watanabe escape, but Mita pull Ito back as she was halfway over the top and piggyback drop her from the top rope back into the cage. Ito showed a lot more fire than usual and finally seemed like the star they devoted much of the year to trying to turn her into. Fighting 2-1, she used her diving footstomp on both, injuring Shimoda’s shoulder, but was still unable to escape and had to deal with Saya spraying a fire extinguisher in her eyes so Shimoda & Mita could make a break for opposite corners. Ito managed to stop Shimoda, arm barring her off the top, but Mita reentered to prevent Ito from escaping so Ito pulled her back in and rather than simply escape, delivered a deadly diving footstomp off the top of the cage.Read Review ****3/4
*I have a limited amount of additional 1st generation SP copies available for $20 or $25.50 COOP*