The following tapes are already made and just taking up space in my house. I don't believe in going over things, especially when they could give someone else enjoyment, so they are available for a reduced price on a first come, first serve basis. All VHS on this list are $3 per tape. However, if your video order is $100 or more, you can have them for $2 per tape.
Tomoko Watanabe & Numacchi & Chikako Shiratori vs. Utako Hozumi & Kurenai Yasha & Mizuki Endo. Basically all spots at a fast pace, but no one really had many spots. Match was average, but it just kind of went along. *3/4
Sky High Fantasy Land: Infernal KAORU & Chaparrita ASARI vs. Bolshoi Kid & Candy Okutsu (JWP team). This match was ruined by the damn clown, who was at her annoying worst. If you can withstand Bolshoi's early antics, there's some nice gymnastics and choice high spots, but even KAORU & ASARI almost left because Bolshoi was such a joker. Worst match on the show due to bad comedy and meaningless spots. Mariko Yoshida refs this. *
Elimination Match: Bull Nakano & Suzuka Minami & Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda & Bat Yoshinaga vs. Eagle Sawai & Harley Saito & Miki Handa & Yukari Osawa & Leo Kitamura (LLPW team). Surprisingly great match. Lightning fast workrate with excellent set up of spots. Booking was great, with everyone in AJW getting a bone and Eagle getting put over huge despite eventually doing the job, even though the storyline was "all wrong" because the home team (AJW) got a 5-2 lead. Really heated. Harley was best of these ten here. ****1/2
Over the Idol ~Summer Heroine Series~:Takako Inoue vs. Cuty Suzuki (JWP). Solid match with Takako doing a good job of carrying Cuty. ***1/4
Toshiyo Yamada & Kaoru Ito vs. Megumi Kudo & Yukie Nabeno (FMW team). Despite Yukie Nabeno lacking everything, the other three, particularly Yamada, made this a very good exciting match. Pretty simple match that built well and everyone was utilized in a way they could impress the crowd. ***1/2
Kyoko Inoue vs. Shinobu Kandori (LLPW). Kyoko worked within the limitations of what Kandori can do, but it was a really exciting match with all kinds of false finishes. ****1/4
High Tension Triple Impact: Yumiko Hotta & Manami Toyota & Sakie Hasegawa vs. Mayumi Ozaki & Plum Mariko & Hikari Fukuoka (JWP team). Toyota style workrate match. Lightning fast pace with everyone using most of the spots in their arsenal. Really exciting with excellent ringwork. Hotta was the best, with perfect execution and timing. ****1/2
All Pacific Title: Akira Hokuto vs. Rumi Kazama (LLPW). Tremendous performance by Hokuto, who was working with blown out knee and broken bone in her back. Rumi is mediocre at best, but Hokuto carried her to a dramatic match with great selling. ****
WWWA Title: Aja Kong vs. Dynamite Kansai (JWP). Battle of the champions of the respective promotions. Mega stiffness. Beginning is fairly weak, but gets dramatic, heated, and generally awesome. ****
Quarterfinals
Francisco Filho vs. Mike Bernardo
Masaaki Satake vs. Peter Aerts
Ernesto Hoost vs. Sam Greco
Andy Hug vs. Ray Sefo
Semifinals
Mike Bernardo vs. Peter Aerts
Andy Hug vs. Sam Greco. One of the best K-1 fights I've seen. Greco was overmatched, but incredibly determined. The third round was really great with big shots back and forth until both men tired and tremendous heat.
Final
Peter Aerts vs. Andy Hug. Hug was dead from the previous fight, so Aerts caught him with a devestating high kick to win the GRAND PRIX.
Super Junior Spirit: Koji Kanemoto vs. Kendo Ka Shin. Very good UWF style match. Koji's ability in shoot style really showed here. Stiff match with cool submission holds, and smooth transitions into them. No psychology and neither had a focused attack, but it's a Koji match so that should be no surprise. ***1/2
WCW vs. NWO Special Japan War: Yuji Nagata vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan. Good stiff match with very little heat. ***
Don Frye vs. Naoya Ogawa. Good heat. Frye's heel tactics are so basic, yet so effective. **
Shinya Hashimoto vs. Dennis "Hurricane" lane. Lane breaks his leg practically as soon as it starts. DUD
IWGP World Heavyweight Title: Kensuke Sasaki vs. Keiji Muto. This match had a ridiculous amount of dead time. It was way too long for these bumbs to work, so they filled the time with rest holds or just standing around. Didn't have heat. Selling was long, but wasn't advancing the match, but really nothing they did was. Match eventually got good, but it was too little too late. *3/4
3/6 Tokyo Kitazawa Town Hall
LLPW World Singles Title Match: Eagle Sawai vs. Shinobu Kandori. Mainly on the mat. Kandori would have Eagle beat, but Eagle's cronies would save her. Pretty chaotic outside the ring with Kandori's cronies and Eagle's cronies going at it. These two could use some more offense. **
3/8 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Sayuri Okino vs. Miho Watabe. Okino dominated this, but Watabe kept kicking out of everything. **1/4
Miss Mongol (FMW) vs. Keiko Aono. Mongol carried this, but Aono isn't good, and Mongol didn't look too good either. Highlights
Mikiko Futagami vs. Emi Motokawa (IWA Japan). Emi put up a good fight. Futagami was willing to sell a lot. Several near falls. **3/4
Rumi Kazama & Mizuki Endo vs. Kurenai Yasha & Carol Midori. Fast-paced, but somewhat sloppy. *1/2
Scramble Tornado 4 vs. 4 3/5 Falls: Eagle Sawai & Lioness Asuka (free) & Shark Tsuchiya (FMW) & Michiko Nagashima vs. Shinobu Kandori & Noriyo Tateno & Harley Saito & Michiko Omukai. A lot of action, but not necessarily good action. Very heated though. Not really good or bad, with no one stepping up. **
3/21-Hansen vs. Omori, Misawa vs. Furnas, Kawada vs. Akiyama, Taue vs. Kobashi 3/24-Furnas vs. Kroffat, Akiyama vs. Omori, Ace vs. Spivey, Misawa & Hansen & Kobashi vs. Baba & Kawada & Taue 60 Minute Draw, more!
8/1/97 G1 Climax Round 1
Kojima vs. Lord Steven Regal. Regal style match. No heat. Not very interesting until the last few minutes. **
Tenzan vs. Tadao Yasuda. American heavyweight style. The match worked well for the hot pro-Yasuda crowd, but technically it was poor due to sloppiness (and the awkwardness of Yasuda never helps make things look good). *1/2
Junji Hirata vs. Scott Norton. Very short, but surprisingly good considering Norton was involved. Good job by Hirata who supplied the psychology and also took stiff blows from Norton. **1/2
Chono vs. Michiyoshi Ohara. This was a good match, but at this length it should have been better. Ohara attacked Chono's bad ankle some, but not to that great an extent, which resulted in him only being fairly competitive. **1/2
Manabu Nakanishi vs. Muta. This was worked at a snail pace and, as usual, Muta did nothing but stall. Nakanishi did look good though. 1/2*
Hashimoto vs. Yamazaki. Good, solid UWF style bout that was strong in technique, realism, and selling. ***
8/2/97
Don Frye vs. Kazuyuki Fujita. Match was nothing special, but it had a ton of heat and was mainly a backdrop for the post-match angle where Frye turned heel by refusing to break his submission after he won the match. This resulted in Ogawa hitting the ring, and Frye even got in an argument w/ Inoki. *1/2
8/2/97 G1 Climax Round 2
Sasaki vs. Bagwell. Dull American style match w/ the typical posing by Buff. Buff really got over, but only the finishing segment was good. *1/2
Yuji Nagata & Shinjiro Otani & Tokimitsu Ishizawa vs. Hiromitsu Kanehara & Kazushi Sakuraba & Kenichi Yamamoto (UWF-I). Worked almost completely like a UWF-I match. Not really that exciting, but had heat and Nagata looked good. *3/4
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Koji Kanemoto vs. Jushin Thunder Liger. Underrated match that's one of the better bouts the juniors have done at the Tokyo Dome even if, as usual, there's little heat before the final minutes. Though their 1997 matches were better largely because Kanemoto reached his peak, this was a solid patient match, building slowly in the junior manner of always remembering to do enough to keep it interesting. The two aspects that separate the match are the stiffness and execution; everything was so crisply and explosively performed. Kanemoto was at his most confident, punking Liger early. Although Kanemoto was acting out in storyline, Liger typically managed to harness him, which meant we saw Koji's great ability without the superman tactics that typically stain his great ring work. The plot was a bit thin with Kanemoto dominating early to prove he was a worthy champion before Liger made a big comeback, winning a battle of hot moves and finishers to regain his title. ****1/4
Yoji Anjo (UWF-I) vs. Fuyuki (Fuyuki-gun). Horrible "comedy" match that killed any credibility that UWF-I had left. Aside from Gedo taping Anjo's mouth shut with duct tape, there wasn't even anything that was remotely funny. If Gedo would have done this taping a few years sooner, maybe UWF-I would still be around. *
Riki Choshu vs. Masahito Kakihara (UWF-I). Matches such as this make it impossible for me to ever like Choshu too much. Kakihara was the only UWF-I guy that had been protected in NJ, so Choshu no sold all his offense and squashed him in 5:46, killing UWF-I dead. The worst incarnation of crap. -*
IWGP Title: Keiji Muto vs. Nobuhiko Takada. The tale of two matches. The first half was a boring DUD with Muto being a total disgrace. Muto was lazier than ever. Takada gave him all kinds of openings, but Muto wanted to waste time laying around on the mat instead of actually working. The second half was good and very heated with Muto now excited because he could do his high spots. They played off their first match well, and did some great counters. Still a huge disappointment and another stain on Muto, once again sabatoging a match that had every right to be memorable. Takada wins IWGP title! After the match, Koshinaka & Hashimoto, looked to challenge Takada for the title. **1/4
Devil Masami & Mayumi Ozaki vs. Dynamite Kansai & Cuty Suzuki
Plum Mariko vs. Bolshoi Kid
Hikari Fukuoka vs. Sumiko Saito
Only Give Up (submission) Battle Royal
Sweethearts (Toyota & Shimoda) vs. Dream Orca (Mita & Yamada), Ogura vs. Nakano & Tateno vs. Yamazaki simultaneously, Chigusa's retirement match where she teams with Asuka to face 5 AJW tag teams then wrestles Asuka, Asuka vs. Madusa
Bolshoi Kid & Hiromi Sugo vs. Saburo & Tomoko Kuzumi
Highlights of matches from JWP Nintei Musabetsukyu Senshuken league from 8/3 & 8/9
JWP Nintei Musabetsukyu Senshuken League Match: Candy Okutsu vs. Fusayo Nouchi
JWP Nintei Musabetsukyu Senshuken eague Match: Hikari Fukuoka vs. Dynamite Kansai. Kansai carried the match, giving an excellent performance to make this a memorable match. It even had heat. ****
Mayumi Ozaki & Cuty Suzuki vs. Devil Masami & Hiromi Yagi. Match was nothing exceptional early, but got really good when Yagi was against Cuty, of course due to Yagi. This also had heat. Hot final 5 minutes with all kinds of big spots down the stretch. The execution could have been a little better. ***1/2
Japan Grand Prix '92: Mariko Yoshida vs. Sakie Hasegawa. ***3/4
Japan Grand Prix '92: Aja Kong vs. Bison Kimura. Brutal match. Read Review. ****1/2
Kyoko Inoue & Takako Inoue vs. Bull Nakano & Akira Hokuto. ****
Manami Toyota vs. Toshiyo Yamada. The actual wrestling is better than in their more famous hair match. *****
Yumiko Hotta (AJW) vs. Plum Mariko. *1/4
First Attack Single Match Rule 60:00 Full Time Match: Aja Kong & Kyoko Inoue & Takako Inoue & Sakie Hasegawa vs. Dynamite Kansai & Mayumi Ozaki & Cuty Suzuki & Hikari Fukuoka. I was saying the other day that it's a shame they never did a second match under these rules, but in a way it would be pointless because this could never be topped. This is the best gimmick/stipulation match ever and unquestionably one of the top couple women's matches of the decade. Awesome work and perfect booking. My all-time favorite finish. *****
AJ Jr. Title: Numacchi (AJW) vs. Sumio Toyama (Saburo). **1/2
Infernal KAORU (AJW) vs. Command Bolshoi. *1/2
Suzuka Minami & Kaoru Ito (AJW) vs. Devil Masami & Candy Okutsu. Devil Masami & Candy Okutsu. Great performance by Devil, particularly how she carried this match. I mean, she was making Candy look impressive and she wasn't even wrestling against her. ****
Yumiko Hotta (AJW) vs. Plum Mariko. *1/4
First Attack Single Match Rule 60:00 Full Time Match: Aja Kong & Kyoko Inoue & Takako Inoue & Sakie Hasegawa vs. Dynamite Kansai & Mayumi Ozaki & Cuty Suzuki & Hikari Fukuoka. I was saying the other day that it's a shame they never did a second match under these rules, but in a way it would be pointless because this could never be topped. This is the best gimmick/stipulation match ever and unquestionably one of the top couple women's matches of the decade. Awesome work and perfect booking. My all-time favorite finish. *****
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.
Sakie Hasegawa vs. Tomoko Watanabe. Good.
Manami Toyota vs. Takako Inoue. Very good.
Yumiko Hotta & Bat Yoshinaga vs. Toshiyo Yamada & Etsuko Mita. Good.
WWWA World Singles Championship: Aja Kong vs. Kyoko Inoue. Excellent.
Blue Star Cup '95: Yuki Miyazaki vs. Yasuko Kuragaki
Blue Star Cup '95: Rieko Amano vs. Kanako Motoya
Fusayo Nouchi & Hiromi Sugo vs. Tomoko Miyaguchi & Tomoko Kuzumi
The Dead Heat 4x4 (one count pinfall): Mayumi Ozaki & Cuty Suzuki & Candy Okutsu & Sumio Toyama vs. Dynamite Kansai & Devil Masami & Hikari Fukuoka & Hiromi Yagi. The one count pinfall sounds like a recipe for disaster, but they make it work. ****
Miori Kamiya & Kaoru Ito vs. Etsuko Mita & Miho Nakamikawa. Far from the most basic opener, but the execution was sometimes mechanical when Nakamikawa was involved. Since it was short it was action packed and not too repetitive. Kamiya was at her best, execution well and having some impact on her strikes. Mita was solid, but her moveset was lacking compared to a few years later. Not that it was ever great, but more that she'd yet to learn how to make that fact of little relevance. *3/4
Zen Nihon Junior Senshukenjiai: Yuki Lee vs. Akemi Torisu. A real stinker. Lousy transitions, and everything else for that matter. Sometimes looked more like amaresu than puroresu, but either the only thing that saved it from being intollerably bad was they actually edited it down from 20:00 to 3:24.
Yumiko Hotta & Suzuka Minami vs. Bat Yoshinaga & Tomoko Watanabe. Fast, stiff, and well executed. Unfortunately, it was considerably one-sided and had an awkward early ending. Watanabe actually tried la magistral with Suzuka standing, which was all kinds of awkward. **1/2
Akira Hokuto vs. Takako Inoue. Hokuto took it to Takako right away, seeming determined to make this worthwhile. She looked great, and it was a very good match when she was on offense. What really stood out about her offense is how nasty the moves were, particularly destroying Takako's neck with piledriver and suplex variations. The match really couldn't be competitive, but was hurt more by Takako not being able to get some of her moves off quick enough. She looked less experienced than she actually was. **1/2
Kazue Saito retirement ceremony
Zen Nihon Tag Senshukenjiai: Sakie Hasegawa & Debbie Malenko vs. Mima Shimoda & Mariko Yoshida. Considering who was involved, this match was unimaginably bad. It's still hard for me to believe that I'd be describing it as a comedy of errors, especially since the Marinepiad match less than a month later that should be worse given Takako instead of Shimoda was instead very good. Shimoda & Yoshida had just returned from Mexico and wanted to show off some of the stuff they picked up, but Malenko admitted not understanding Lucha in her pre match interview and Hasegawa was in the same boat. That only scratches the surface on the problems here though. It's one thing for a match to have no concept of what it wants to be and keep switching styles randomly, but another to do so because all the undercard matches were uncharacteristically short so something had to kill 25 minutes. The match had it's moments, but there were far more when they were on different pages or just simply screwing up what they were trying. Malenko looked good on the mat. Yoshida sometimes looked good doing Lucha, with a cool spot where she somersaulted over the opponents double elbow. These two didn't get help in other areas, and Malenko was more a detriment in some of those than a help on the mat. Shimoda was way off, losing her balance when she try to climb the ropes. DUD
Kyoko Inoue vs. Bull Nakano. These two had special matches in '95 when Bull's body was in terrible shape, but Kyoko's status had increased tremendously. Bull delivered everything you'd expect from her, beating Kyoko fiercely as this was a Kyoko is very overmatched but has great heart scenario. Kyoko was disappointing though. Not only was she using way too many submissions, especially since she has no submission finisher and Bull never submits, but she was trying to put Bull in onces that Bull isn't meant to take like a ceiling hold. I wouldn't buy Bull submitting, but at least if it looked like Kyoko was hurting her or coming close...Too much talent for it not to be good, but it took way to long to get going having the look of a draw and Bull didn't bump well. Bull using like 20 lariats wasn't a plus either. **1/2
2/3 Falls WWWA Sekai Tag & UWA Sekai Joshi Tag Title Match: Aja Kong & Bison Kimura vs. Toshiyo Yamada & Manami Toyota. Excellent wrestler going at it for 35 minutes. Three strong falls, all fairly even in time for once, but no dramatic arch in any. No specific style here. They are diverse enough to pull off doing a little of everything, but it would have been better if they gave you something to get into beyond consistently good wrestling. It was never dull since the submissions were still useless but interspersed, but it was never great either. Bison carried her team and the match for that matter. Toyota was the spark plug, but I still enjoyed it more when Yamada was against Bison because their similar styles mesh very well. Obviously with Yamada, Bison, & Aja it was stiff. What separated Aja's offense from the other two is she did a bunch of brutal suplexes and bombs rather than mainly relying on the strikes for impact. Yamada & Toyota win WWWA tag. ****
*Replica package available*
Zen Nihon Tag Senshukenjiai: Mika Takahashi & Kaoru Maeda vs. Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda. Decent spot oriented match. Not much thought put into it and it could have been stiffer and smoother. I'm sure it was more impressive in its time because they did do a lot of spots, but the spots have been surpassed. KAORU's handstand headscissors was one cool move that somebody should still use today. **
Kakuto Gisen 3 minutes 4 rounds: Bat Yoshinaga vs. Kaoru Ito. Good for what it was. The 3rd round was particularly good with both women slugging each other back and forth. In the 4th round, they tried to pick up where they left off but they were somewhat fatigued so they weren't as active.
4 vs. 4 Elimination Match Lucha Libre Rule: Noriyo Tateno & Xochilt Hamada & Esther Moreno & Takako Inoue vs. Hyper Cat & La Diabolica & Miori Kamiya & Mayumi Yamamoto. Super fast-paced. The problem was they did 7 eliminations in less than 12 minutes. The match was exciting and the work was good, but it was a totally rushed spotfest. This was mainly Lucha since the Mexicans were involved, with Esther being the best because she was so smooth and athletic then and this was her type of match. ***1/4
Yumiko Hotta & Mariko Yoshida vs. Bison Kimura & Madusa. Madusa cut one of her classic interviews here, "We are invincible! We are defeatable!" Yoshida wasn't allowed to do many spots, but her work was really solid and she was the best in the match even though she basically only did basic stuff like dropkicks and monkey flips. Hotta & Bison didn't step up at all, so this was a disappointing match with a lame finish out of nowhere. **1/2
Universal Wrestling Renmai (federation): Gran Hamada & Yoshihiro Asai & Kendo vs. Brazo De Oro & El Brazo & Brazo De Plata. The technicos did a lot of cool moves, with the heels just serving as their foils. Asai's offense was really fantastic for the time, but today his students stuff is a lot crazier. Hamada was top notch, as always. Brazo & Brazo De Oro really did a good job of making the technicos look spectacular. The highlight was a 5 dive sequence that included the Asai moonsault and a Porky suicida. ***3/4
WWWA Sekai Tag Senshukenjiai: Akira Hokuto & Suzuka Minami vs. Manami Toyota & Kyoko Inoue. Toyota's enemy Kyoko replaced Toyota's injured friend Yamada, and the duo fought amongst themselves instead of working together for the common goal of winning the tag titles. It wasn't really dramatic because you never believed Toyota & Kyoko could win, but it was an excellent match because everyone was working on a high level in those days. ****
Kanaami (chain link cage) No Referee Death Match Escape Rule: Bull Nakano vs. Aja Kong. A classic grudge match; stiff, bloody, and brutal. This was a brawl with one gimmick spot after another. However, it made sense for them to take things to this level because they hated each other that much. The thing that made this match great was there was actually focus to these gimmick laden attacks. Bull used the gimmicks to try to disable Aja's uraken arm, while Aja attacked Bull's leg to try to take away her flying and kicks. The seconds helped add to the drama as they were fighting with each other the whole time for chances to help their woman out. Bull's guillotine leg drop off the top of the cage is one of the moves responsible for making a dive off the cage a "required" part of future cage matches. ****3/4
Shinobu Kandori vs. Devil Masami. Bloody match from original JWP.
4/24 Nagoya
Yuka Shiina vs. Chiharu (SPWF). Even worse than a rookie style match. Short and bad. 1/2*
Neo & JWP Special Tag Match: Yoshiko Tamura & Rieko Amano (JWP) vs. Tanny Mouse & Kanako Motoya (JWP). Match had a lot of action, but it had no substance as nothing went anywhere. Disappointing because everyone but Tanny has the talent, but no one stepped up. *1/2
Road to Neo vs. Las Cachorras 4/22 Korakuen Hall
2/3 Falls: Shimoda & Mita vs. Kyoko & Misae Genki. Highlights
4/23 Osaka
Shimoda & Mita vs. The Bloody & Fang Suzuki (Jd' team)
Shimoda & Mita & Saya Endo vs. Kyoko & Genki & Shiina. Highlights
Neo Ladies vs. Las Cachorras Singles 3 vs. 3
Chaparrita ASARI vs. Saya Endo. Mediocre match that was basically spots back and forth with no build or psychology. Spots looked good, but basic stuff wasn't done all that well. *1/2
Mita vs. Genki. There were about 30 people in the building, so they didn't do all that much. The execution was good, but the match had a slow even pace and was rather dull. *3/4
Kyoko vs. Shimoda. Maybe under better circumstances, Shimoda could carry Kyoko to a very good or better match, but a match of this caliber doesn't come off well when no one shows up to see it. 1st half was pretty useless with a bunch of rest holds. 2nd half was quite good with all the big spots. Match was good, but it was lacking a lot of things. **3/4
Mizuki Endo vs. Miho Watabe
Michiko Omukai vs. Keiko Aono
Triangle Match: Kurenai Yasha vs. Carol Midori vs. Mikiko Futagami
Elimination Match: Shinobu Kandori & Rumi Kazama & Harley Saito & Noriyo Tateno vs. Eagle Sawai & Lioness Asuka & Michiko Nagashima & Sayori Okino. ***1/4
Naohiro Hoshikawa vs. Johnny Saint
PWA Heavykyu Senshukenjiai: Wellington Wilkins, Jr. vs. Lenny Lane
Yuki Ishikawa & Alexander Otsuka vs. Daisuke Ikeda & Satoshi Yoneyama
The Great Sasuke & Shodai Tiger Mask & Mil Mascaras vs. Dynamite Kid & Kuniaki Kobayashi & Dos Caras
Gran Hamada & Super Delfin & Tiger Mask & Gran Naniwa & Masato Yakushiji vs. Dick Togo & MEN'S Teio & Shiryu & TAKA Michinoku & Shoichi Funaki. *****
Jinsei Shinzaki vs. Hayabusa
*Replica package available*
9/29: Party for Baba
9/30 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: ceremony for Baba
10/15 Nagoya Aichi-ken Taiikukan
Masao Inoue vs. Maunakea Mossman. Highlights
Johnny Smith & Rob Van Dam vs. Yoshinari Ogawa & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi
Dory Funk Jr. & Mike Anthony vs. Abdullah The Butcher & Giant Kimala
Giant Baba & Rusher Kimura & Mitsuo Momota vs. Masa Fuchi & Haruka Eigen & Mighty Inoue. Highlights
Jun Akiyama & Takao Omori & Kentaro Shiga vs. Tamon Honda & Satoru Asako & Ryukaku Izumida
Gary Albright & Patriot & Johnny Ace vs. Stan Hansen & Doug Furnas & Dan Kroffat
World Tag Titles: Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi
Hasegawa vs. Fukuoka, Suzuki & Mariko & Boirshoi vs. Inoue's & Hotta, Minami vs. Saito, Hokuto & Kong vs. Kandori & Sawai, Toyota & Yamada vs. Ozaki & Kansai-1993 Observer Match of the Year, Davey Boy vs. H.Saito, Dynamite vs. Moffat, B.Hart vs. D.Myers-twice, Dynamite vs. Jerry Morrow, Bad News vs. Morrow
3/27 Matsumoto Shi Sogo Taiikukan
Satoru Asako vs. Kentaro Shiga. Highlights
Yoshinari Ogawa & Masao Inoue vs. Jun Akiyama & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi. Highlights
Doug Furnas vs. Tamon Honda. Highlights
Rusher Kimura & Mighty Inoue & Mitsuo Momota vs. Masa Fuchi & Haruka Eigen & Jun Izumida. Highlights
'94 Champion Carnival League Match: Big John Nord vs. Johnny Smith. Highlights
'94 Champion Carnival League Match: Toshiaki Kawada vs. Johnny Ace
'94 Champion Carnival League Match: Kenta Kobashi vs. Akira Taue. ****
Steve Williams & Dan Kroffat & The Eagle vs. Stan Hansen & Giant Baba & Takao Omori
4/1 Okayama Budokan
Kentaro Shiga vs. Satoru Asako. Highlights
Masao Inoue vs. Tamon Honda. Highlights
Rusher Kimura & Mitsuo Momota vs. Masa Fuchi & Haruka Eigen. Highlights
Big John Nord & Johnny Smith vs. Doug Furnas & Dan Kroffat. Highlights
Akira Taue & Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Doug Furnas & Dan Kroffat
'94 Champion Carnival League Match: Toshiaki Kawada vs. Akira Taue
Stan Hansen & Giant Baba & Takao Omori vs. Steve Williams & Johnny Ace & The Eagle
4/10 Sendai Miyagi-ken Sports Center
Satoru Asako vs. Kentaro Shiga. Highlights
Mighty Inoue & Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Takao Omori & Tamon Honda. Highlights
Johnny Ace & The Eagle vs. Big John Nord & Dan Kroffat. Highlights
Jumbo Tsuruta & Rusher Kimura & Mitsuo Momota vs. Haruka Eigen & Masao Inoue & Ryukaku Izumida
'94 Champion Carnival League Match: Doug Furnas vs. Johnny Smith. Highlights
'94 Champion Carnival League Match: Jun Akiyama vs. Steve Williams
'94 Champion Carnival League Match: Kenta Kobashi vs. Stan Hansen
Mitsuharu Misawa & Giant Baba & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue & Masa Fuchi
4/11 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan
Mighty Inoue vs. Kentaro Shiga. Highlights
Tsuyoshi Kikuchi & Satoru Asako vs. Doug Furnas & Dan Kroffat. Highlights
Yoshinari Ogawa & Takao Omori & Tamon Honda vs. Johhny Ace & The Eagle & Johnny Smith. Highlights
Giant Baba & Rusher Kimura & Mitsuo Momota vs. Masa Fuchi & Haruka Eigen & Masao Inoue. Highlights
'94 Champion Carnival League Match: Steve Williams vs. Big John Nord. Highlights
'94 Champion Carnival League Match: Kenta Kobashi vs. Jun Akiyama
'94 Champion Carnival League Match: Akira Taue vs. Stan Hansen
'94 Champion Carnival League Match: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada
4/14 Nagoya Aichi-ken Taiikukan
Yoshinari Ogawa & Kentaro Shiga vs. Tsuyoshi Kikuchi & Satoru Asako. Highlights
Mighty Inoue vs. The Eagle. Highlights
Rusher Kimura & Mitsuo Momota vs. Haruka Eigen & Masao Inoue. Highlights
Johnny Ace & Big John Nord vs. Doug Furnas & Dan Kroffat. Highlights
Giant Baba & Masa Fuchi & Takao Omori vs. Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama & Tamon Honda
Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Johnny Smith
'94 Champion Carnival League Match: Stan Hansen vs. Steve Williams
'94 Champion Carnival League Match: Toshiaki Kawada vs. Akira Taue
4/15 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Kentaro Shiga vs. Mitsuo Momota. Highlights
Satoru Asako vs. Yoshinari Ogawa. Highlights
Tamon Honda vs. Big John Nord. Highlights
Rusher Kimura & Mighty Inoue vs. Haruka Eigen & Masao Inoue
'94 Champion Carnival League Match: Johnny Ace vs. The Eagle
Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Doug Furnas & Dan Kroffat & Johnny Smith
Stan Hansen & Giant Baba & Takao Omori vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue & Masa Fuchi
'94 Champion Carnival League Match: Kenta Kobashi vs. Steve Williams
Jr League: Kumiko Maekawa vs. Fusayo Nouchi
Jr. League: Rie Tamada vs. Hiromi Yagi
Little Frankie vs. Tsunokake X
Suzuka Minami & Chaparrita ASARI vs. Tomoko Watanabe & Misae Watanabe
Bat Yoshinaga Retirement Ceremony
Mariko Yoshida Rechallenge 7: Mariko Yoshida vs. Yumiko Hotta
JWP Nintei Tag Senshukenjiai: Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda vs. Hikari Fukuoka & Command Bolshoi
Aja Kong vs. Kaoru Ito
Sakie Hasegawa vs. Reggie Bennett
2/3 Falls WWWA Sekai Tag Senshukenjiai: Toshiyo Yamada & Manami Toyota vs. Kyoko Inoue & Takako Inoue
Sasuke vs. Honaga, Hashimoto vs. Sasaki, Kanemoto vs. Nagata, Samurai vs. Otani-excellent, Hase & Muto vs. Steiners, Inoki vs. Sting, more!
Tokimitsu Ishizawa & Samurai vs. Otani & Takaiwa. Good match, but no heat. Youngsters were featured and they looked good because Samurai & Otani were carrying them.
Honaga & Hiro Saito & Shinichi Nakano vs. Kimura & Kabuki & Kobayashi. Punches, kicks, and boredom. Bad even by these guys standards.
Koshinaka vs. Yoshiaki Yatsu. Another great job by Shiro carrying the over the hill Yatsu to a good, exciting match with hot near falls. Yatsu was really sucking wind.
Chono vs. Fujiwara. Typical bad Fujiwara match
Hase vs. Choshu. Good sprint. Work was a lot better than you'd expect from a Choshu match, all due to Hase.
IWGP Title: Hashimoto vs. Fujinami. A 6-minute world title match as the semifinal of a Dome show? Garbage.
Sato vs. Genki-Genki wins Graduation tournament, Motoya & Fukawa vs. Yagi & Kaori, Kuzumi vs. Tamura, Chikayo & Sonoko Kato vs. Maekawa & Tanny-20:00 draw, Chikayo & Sonoko & Sato vs. Maekawa & Tanny & Genki, ASARI vs. Uematsu, The Goddess Shiratori & Omukai vs. Satomura & Tamada
Aja vs. Hotta, ASARI vs. Kyoko, Toyota & Tamura vs. Kyoko & ASARI, Ito vs. Watanabe, Takako vs. Yoshida, Mita vs. Shimoda, 8/30/96 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan Japan Grand Prix Final: Kyoko vs. Aja-Aja wins Japan Grand Prix ****1/4
*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. *****
Tommy Dreamer vs. Akira Taue
Stan Hansen & Doug Furnas & Dan Kroffat vs. Steve Williams & Johnny Ace & Johnny Smith
Giant Baba & Jumbo Tsuruta & Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Jun Akiyama & Takao Omori & Tamon Honda
Triple Crown: Toshiaki Kawada vs. Kenta Kobashi. 60:00 draw. Great match.
More
JWP Jr. Title: Tomoko Kuzumi vs. Kanako Motoya. Read Review. ***1/2
JWP Tag Titles: Hikari Fukuoka & Devil Masami vs. Cuty Suzuki & Plum Mariko. **1/2
Yuki Ishikawa (Battlarts) vs. Wilhelm Ruska (Holland)
Mabel (former WWF) vs. Koji Kitao (Bukoh Dojo)
Michinoku Pro 10 Man Tag Match: The Great Sasuke & Gran Hamada & Super Delfin & Naohiro Hoshikawa & Masato Yakushiji (Sekigun team) vs. Dick Togo & MEN'S Teioh & Shiryu & TAKA Michinoku & Shoichi Funaki (Kaientai DX). A great match, as you'd expect. The problem was it was much shorter (16:40) than 10 mans from 10/10/96 or 12/16/96 so it didn't build nearly as well. The pace was incredibly fast though, so that kind of made up for it. Really smooth work, with one great spot after another. The announcer had to talk as fast as Crazy Eddie to keep up with all the action, but unfortunately the fans weren't all that into it until the end. ****1/2
Yuki Kondo vs. Saulo Ribeiro
Genki Sudo vs. Andre Pederneiras
Melchor Manor vs. Masato
Kunihiro Suzuki vs. Luciano Basile
Mario Sperry vs. Hiromitsu Kanehara
Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Jeremy Horn
Rickson Gracie vs. Masakatsu Funaki
4/23/81 Tokyo Kuramae Kokugikan: Tiger Mask vs. Dynamite Kid. Tiger's debut
6/4/81 Tokyo Kuramae Kokugikan: Tiger Mask & Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Chris Adams & Mike Masters
8/2/81 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Tiger Mask vs. Scorpion
9/18/81 Hiroshima: Tiger Mask & Tatsumi Fujinami vs. El Solar & El Solitario
9/23/81 Tokyo Den'en Coliseum: Tiger Mask vs. El Solar
10/30/81: Tiger Mask & Kengo Kimura vs. El Signo & Negro Navaro
11/5/81 Tokyo Kuramae Kokugikan: Tiger Mask vs. Gran Hamada
12/8/81 Tokyo Kuramae Kokugikan: Tiger Mask vs. El Canek
1/1/82 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Tiger Mask vs. Dynamite Kid
1/28/82 Tokyo Taiikukan: Tiger Mask vs. Dynamite Kid
20th Anniversary Party
Masao Inoue vs. Mitsuo Momoto. Highlights
Rusher Kimura & Mighty Inoue vs. Shigeo Okuma & Haruka Eigen. Highlights
Danny Spivey vs. Ryukaku Izumida. Highlights
Doug Furnas & Dan Kroffat vs. Pete Roberts & Nigel Towers. Highlights
Dory Funk Jr. & Patriot vs. Abdullah The Butcher & Giant Kimala
Yoshinari Ogawa & Jun Akiyama vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi
Stan Hansen & Johnny Ace & Johnny Smith vs. Terry Gordy & Steve Williams & Richard Slinger
Giant Baba & Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi vs. Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi
Satoru Asako vs. Scott Armstong. Clip
Fantastics vs. Osamu Teranishi & Masao Inoue. Good match. Fantastics were great, doing all kinds of double teaming. The building was rocking.
Jackie Fulton vs. Mighty Inoue. Clip
Johnny Ace & Richard Slinger vs. Youngbloods. Average
Giant Baba & Rusher Kimura & Mitsuo Momota vs. Masa Fuchi & Motoshi Okuma & Haruka Eigen. Terribly boring, but the fans liked it. Considerably better than todays comedy matches because the old codgers were a bit more spy back then.
Billy Black vs. Yoshinari Ogawa. Fair match. Had less heat than anything on the show so far. Black did some nice spots, but his execution was less than perfect.
Kobashi & Kikuchi vs. Tsuruta & Taue. Choice match with great heat and timing. Kikuchi was the best worker in the match, but Kobashi was the most over. Jumbo got the most out of his spots, while Taue was just kind of there. ****1/4
Misawa & Kawada vs. Hansen & Joel Deaton. Good match, but nothing spectacular. Deaton was much better with Misawa than Kawada. Kawada was really stiff here, kicking the oppositions knees out. ***
Frank Shamrock vs. Goes, Bas vs. Delucia, etc.
Lightweight Semifinals
Guy Mezger vs. Christophe Leininger
Ensen Inoue vs. Royce Alger. Great finish
Heavyweight Semifinals
Steven Graham vs. Dmitri Stepanov
Randy Couture vs. Tony Halme. "We all know the WWF is not a competition," Jeff Blatnick. I took distinct pleasure in seeing Ludvig get beat in less than 1 minute.
Lightweight Final: Mezger vs. Tito Ortiz
Heavyweight Final: Couture vs. Graham
Superfight: Vitor Belfort vs. Tank Abbott
RINGS ASTRAL STEP 1st 5/4/91
Maeda vs. Vrij, etc.
FIGHTING NETWORK RINGS 4.3.92 HIROSHIMA MEGA-BATTLE 3rd. IKAZUCHI Commercial Tape 4/3/92 Hiroshima Sun Plaza
EARTH BOUT: Koichiro Kimura vs. Ted Tenguiz
AQUA BOUT: Nobuaki Kakuta vs. Tom Van Maurik
FIRE BOUT: Willie Peeters vs. Yoshinori Nishi. Intense shoot. Mainly standup with a lot of hard kicks. Not much technique, but definitely a good hard fought bought that went OT.
AIR BOUT: Dick Vrij vs. Marcel Haarmans. This was more like AIR POLLUTION.
THUNDER BOUT: Mitsuya Nagai vs. Willie Williams
UNIVERSE BOUT: Herman Renting vs. Masaaki Satake
ASTRAL BOUT: Akira Maeda vs. Volk Han. Very good, highly dramatic match. Not as many cool spots from Volk as in later years, but Maeda was a hell of a lot better here than he was in their later meetings. Maeda's bad knee eventually did him in.
PWFG STACK OF ARMS 10/4/92 Tokyo Dome
Note: This list is from the comm tape, so it may not be accurate for the TV version
Yuki Ishikawa vs. Ryushi Yanagisawa
Joe Sorcoff vs. Georgi Geldaba
Naoki Sano vs. Jerry Flynn
Bart Vale vs. Alexsi Medbji
Duane Koslowski vs. Naniev Oleg
Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. Zaour Otarorich Chabadge
Kazuo Takahashi vs. Superman Sattasaba
Ken Shamrock vs. Don Nakaya Nielson
Minoru Suzuki vs. David Gobediishvili
Mixed Match: Masakatsu Funaki vs. Maurice Smith
Kumiko Maekawa vs. Rie Tamada. Very short. The work was fine, but the finish was flat. *1/4
Midget Pro Wrestling: Mr. Buddhaman vs. Tomezo Tsunekake. DUD
The Goddess Chikako Shiratori vs. Tomoko Watanabe. Basic match, but they hit all their spots. The Goddess wasn't very competitive. **1/2
Kaoru Ito vs. Takako Inoue. Ito carried this and it was very good. Takako has to redo the finish though, which hurt a lot. ***1/2
Tamada slaughters Buddhaman in a juice drinking contest
Manami Toyota & Kyoko Inoue & Chaparrita ASARI vs. Suzuka Minami & Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda. Very good workrate match. No storyline or psychology, but it built well and it had a lot of great spots. ***3/4
Reggie Bennett vs. Bull Nakano. Yawn. *
Combat Fighting: Yumiko Hotta & Sakie Hasegawa vs. Aja Kong & Toshiyo Yamada. Solid Hotta style UWF match. Slow paced because they were going so long, but it picked up for the last 1/3. ***
Kenichi Yamamoto vs. Shinjiro Otani (NJ)
Hiromitsu Kanehara vs. Tatsuhito Takaiwa (NJ)
Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Koji Kanemoto (NJ)
Naoki Sano vs. Hiro Saito (NJ)
Yoshihiro Takayama vs. Kensuke Sasaki (NJ)
Masahito Kakihara & Tatsuo Nakano vs. Shinya Hashimoto & Akira Nogami (NJ)
Yoji Anjo vs. Masa Chono (NJ)
Heavyweight Semifinal: Tank Abbott vs. Yoji Anjo
Heavyweight Semifinal: Conan Silviera vs. Kazushi Sakuraba. This was a good bout until McCarthy made a really bad call to stop it. Sakuraba took a series of punches, but clearly the reason he went down was that he was making a move at Conan's ankle. Sakuraba was really pissed.
Middleweight Title: Frank Shamrock vs. Kevin Jackson. Frank becomes UFC's first Middleweight champ.
Vitor Belfort vs. Joe Charles. This was pretty disgraceful as Belfort and Charles clearly had an unannounced pre-match agreement. Not to strike was definitely part of that agreement, and it looked like to work the match was another part of it.
Heavyweight Final: Sakuraba vs. Conan. They had a rematch because the call was blown and Tank was injured. Best match on the show.
Heavyweight Title: Maurice Smith vs. Randy Couture. This should have been a draw, IMO. Smith's whole ground game is fighting from his back, so that Couture was on top didn't mean much, especially since he didn't do the least bit of damage to Mo. IMO, striking went to Smith because he knows how to strike so his blows do some damage when he gets them in. Couture gets grappling. Aggressiveness should be even because both men were working. If anything I'd lean toward Smith because he was aggressive the little time they were on their feet and Couture was pinning him down and riding the clock at times. This could have went on all night because both had great stamina and conditioning and neither guy sustained any damage.
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. ****
*Note match list is from Laserdisk version, which is 30 minutes longer*
5/25/82 Shizuoka NWA Jr. Title: Les Thorton vs. Tiger Mask. Merely good. This match was all wrong for Sayama. Sayama's style was light years ahead of his time, while Thorton was a throwback technician. So, it was kind of like the 1990's meeting the 1960's. The match didn't work and was too long, even though it was pretty short. Tiger wins the NWA World Jr. Title!
6/18/82 Tokyo Sumo Hall WWF Jr. Title: Tiger Mask vs. Ultraman. Good match. These two blew some spots, but generally worked really well together. Ultraman lacked offense and didn't really push Tiger at all. Sayama did his awesome invention, the space flying Tiger drop!
6/25/82 Sapporo Nakajima Taiiku Center: Tiger Mask & Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Ultraman & El Purago (sp). The 6 minutes were shown were good, but not really notable.
9/21/82 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan WWF Jr. Title: Tiger Mask vs. Black Tiger. This one was edited down. It may have been great, but it didn't seem as good as their match on 1st Dimension. At worst a very good battle of the comic book rivals.
9/17/82: Tiger Mask vs. Chris Adams. Adams was a weird opponent for Sayama because his style wasn't exactly juniorish. Not bad by any means, but Adams style wasn't right and his offense was too limited. Slow paced, with Sayama using mainly strikes and matwork. Crowd really pulls for Sayama's comeback.
10/8/82 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Tiger Mask vs. Martin Jones. Very good match. Jones is like a poor man's Dynamite Kid here. His offense wasn't as spectacular, but it was a wrestled like a grudge match (though it lacked heat) with great work and execution. If the finish didn't come out of nowhere, it probably would have been great.
1/14/83 Yamaguchi: Tiger Mask & Gran Hamada & Kantaro Hoshino vs. Los Missioneros de la Muerte (El Signo, El Texano, & Negro Navaro). Very good to great fast-paced Lucha action. Animal Hamaguchi and Rusher Kimura, among others, destroy Sayama before the match. Highlight is Tiger against Texano, as they do some super counters.
2/3/83 Sapporo Nakajima Taiiku Center NWA Jr. Title: Tiger Mask vs. Gran Hamada. Very good match. Too much matwork, as it got a bit dull and lacked heat. Well booked and worked match that kept Hamada strong.
*GAEA's 3rd Anniversary Tour*
taped 4/14 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Chikayo Nagashima vs. Meiko Satomura. This was more toward Satomura's style, submission oriented, although they went to their spots as the match progressed. Part of my problem with Satomura this year is, unlike Sato, Chikayo, & Kato, her mannerisms are still very childish. She also seems to have too much energy for her own good, as she gets too cute instead of just doing the spot. She seems to be under a lot of pressure, although much of it could be self imposed. Anyway, Chikayo did a good job here. The match had a lot of action, but it was sloppy in points, particularly the ones revolving around Satomura's Death Valley bomb finisher. ***
Toshie Uematsu vs. KAORU. A worked shoot under Pancrase type rules. The match had its moments, but it generally wasn't all that good. Uematsu was fiery and looked better than KAORU in this style. Matched was short and ended abruptly. Decent.
4/24 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan 2: Uematsu vs. Manami Toyota (AJW). Toyota was the same as always against the younger wrestlers, smiling too much, not really taking them seriously, not putting them over enough, not making it look like they really had a chance of winning, but working on a high level so the match is good even if it doesn't serve it's purpose nearly as well as it could. Work was obviously good and the match was exciting even though the outcome wasn't in doubt. Uematsu looked good here, and even pulled out some nice counters for near falls. The heat was disappointing, and even though the crowd wasn't too big and most women's matches in 1998 have no heat, some of the blame for this has to be placed on Toyota. ***1/4
4/29 Kanagawa Kawasaki Shi Taiikukan
KAORU & Toshiyo Yamada vs. Eagle Sawai & Michiko Nagashima (G-MAX). A spot brawl. Yamada juiced heavily, as she was mainly destroyed by Nagashima. Nagashima needed to work stiffer, especially when she was hitting Yamada with the chain. Everything seemed to happen really fast, but it was more toward being chaotic than fast-paced. Selling should have been better. Eagle was, not surprisingly, the worst. **
Highlights of all the first round and semifinal matches in the High Spot 600 Tournament
High Spot 600 Tournament Final: Sugar Sato vs. Meiko Satomura. The winner of this match got a spot in the main event on Chigusa's team against the new team of Aja & Ozaki. This was like a Nitro rush job, as the match had no build and they pretty much just tried their big spots on each other. Satomura gets a rare pin over Sugar to take the tournament. *3/4
Aja Kong & Mayumi Ozaki vs. Chigusa Nagayo & Meiko Satomura. This was a real disappointment because it was just like all the other short Chigusa spotfests rather than being the special match it should have been. The work was good, but not even at the level you would expect as Chigusa wasn't particularly impressive. Satomura, working her 4th match of the night, still carried the load for her team. Satomura vs. Ozaki was the highlight. **1/2
Round 1
Malenko vs. Gedo (WAR). Malenko did everything in this match, but Gedo couldn't hold up his end. In Gedo's defense, as usual, Malenko didn't work to his opponent's strengths. ***
Otani vs. Delfin (Michinoku Pro). You couldn't tell that these two never worked together before because they really clicked. Damn good work and a hot crowd. Too short. ***3/4
Black Tiger (Guerrero) vs. TAKA (Michinoku Pro). Great match while it lasted. Tiger was awesome. TAKA showed some greenness, but his athletic spots were awesome. ****
Samurai vs. Masayoshi Motegi (SPWF). Samurai did his best. The match had some great spots, but it was marred by the ineptness of Motegi, who even falls off the top rope while trying a plancha. ***
Negro Casas (EMLL) vs. Ricky Fuji (FMW). Casas did a good job carrying the match and his moves were very well set up. Solid and well built, but the typical lack of impact from the Lucha style and wasn't as glamorous as the other matches. ***1/4
Liger vs. Hayabusa (FMW). Liger carried the match. Hayabusa got to look good doing his great flying, but he blew a couple spots at the end, which took the match down a notch. ***3/4
Yamazaki & Iizuka vs. Kitahara & Araya, Tiger Mask Sayama & Mochizuki vs. Yasuraoka & Storm, J Crown: Ultimo vs. Rey Jr. ****, Takada vs. Tenryu
Highlights of matches from 7/24/99-8/20/99. The best angle is an 8 man tag match where the mysterious masked executioner who has been chokeslamming all of Justice (Delfin's army) then performing satanic looking rituals to them finally wrestles. They think they are all big and bad because the kick the crap out of him, but when they pull his mask off, it turns out it's their buddy Sugamoto, who had been put under some sort of spell that made him into L.O.V's slave, with his arms tied up and his mouth taped. Then the real executioner comes out, unmasks as Daio QUALLT, and chokeslam's all the faces.
Standing Bout: Makoto Ohe vs. Arrano (sp?)
Tatsuo Nakano vs. Yuko Miyato
Kazuo Yamazaki vs. Billy Scott
Nobuhiko Takada & Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Yoji Anjo & Jim Boss
*COOP available*
Standing Bout: Makoto Ohe vs. Marb Winon (sp?)
Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Yuko Miyato
Gary Albright vs. Yoji Anjo
Nobuhiko Takada & Billy Scott vs. Kazuo Yamazaki & Tatsuo Nakano
*COOP available*
Bat Yoshinaga & Tomoko Watanabe & Hirosuine Sonteitam vs. Miori Kamiya & Mika Takahashi & Kaoru Ito
Yumiko Hotta & Mima Shimoda & Sakie Hasegawa vs. Debbie Malenko & Esther Moreno & Cynthia Moreno
AJ Title: Takako Inoue vs. Mariko Yoshida
JGP '91: Toshiyo Yamada vs. Kyoko Inoue
JGP '91 Semifinal: Aja Kong vs. Bison Kimura
JGP '91 Semifinal: Manami Toyota vs. Kyoko Inoue
Suzuka Minami & Etsuko Mita vs. Bull Nakano & Akira Hokuto
JGP '91 Final: Kyoko Inoue vs. Bison Kimura. Kyoko wins JGP
Note: some matches are digested
5/28/94
Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Dean Malenko
Shinjiro Otani vs. TAKA Michinoku
5/30/94 Niigata Shi Taiikukan
Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Super Delfin
Shinjiro Otani vs. El Samurai
6/4/94
Tokimitsu Ishizawa vs. Super Delfin
6/6/94 Chiba Koen Taiikukan
Black Tiger (Guerrero) vs. Wild Pegasus (Benoit)
Super Delfin vs.El Samurai
6/13 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan
BEST OF THE SUPER Jr. Yushoketteisen: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Super Delfin ****
8/3 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
Yoshiaki Yatsu vs. Osamu Kido
Keiji Muto vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara
Masa Chono vs. Riki Choshu
8/4 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
Osamu Kido vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara
Riki Choshu vs. Yoshiaki Yatsu
Masa Chono vs. Keiji Muto
8/5 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
Masa Chono vs. Osamu Kido
Yoshiaki Yatsu vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara
Keiji Muto vs. Riki Choshu
8/6 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
Keiji Muto vs. Osamu Kido
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.
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. Chaparrita 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.
IWA Japan IWA Korakuen 5 Death Match Commercial Tape
3/7/95 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Silver King & El Texano vs. Takashi Okano & Yoshihiro Tajiri
Scramble Bunkhouse Death Match: The Headhunters vs. The Iceman & Kendo Nagasaki
No Rope Barbed Wire Thumb Tack Death Match: Cactus Jack & Leatherface vs. Shoji Nakamaki & Hiroshi Ono
4/3/95 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
The Iceman & Keizo Matsuda vs. Keisuke Yamada & Daisuke Taue
Terry Funk & Hiroshi Ono vs. The Headhunters
No Rope Barbed Wire Brick Death Match: Cactus Jack & Crypt Keeper vs. Nakamaki & Leatherface
5/1/95 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Kyoko Ichiki vs. Niitana
Takashi Okano & Lion & Yoshihiro Tajiri vs. Silver King & Super Astro & Tortuga
Barbed Wire Ladder Bunkhouse Death Match: Shoji Nakamaki vs. Crypt Keeper
Barbed Wire Glass Window Crush Death Match: Headhunter A vs. Headhunter B
Rie Tamada & The Goddess Chikako Hasegawa vs. Saemi Numata & Akemi Torisu. A glorified rookie style tag match. Tamada was the best of the 4, but no one did anything to make you think they'd turn into a great wrestler. *
Terri Power & Miori Kamiya vs. Tomoko Watanabe & Kumiko Watanabe. This is when Power & Kamiya were members of Jungle Jack. They made short work of their opponents. Watanabe was actually the best of the 4 despite her team getting dominated. Power misses one of the most debacled pescados in history. *1/4
Bat Yoshinaga vs. Kaoru Ito. Ito showed a lot of potential here as she out toughed the tough woman Bat en route to the upset win. For the most part this was a stiff match, but some spots didn't have enough on them. **
Kyoko Inoue & Takako Inoue & Mariko Yoshida vs. Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda & Cynthia Moreno. They expected nice high spots and strong work. Mita's team played heel, so that added a dimension. Basically everyone did their spots and got out. Kyoko was the best of the 6. ***
Fuji Television Tag Tournament Mid Summer Typhoon'92 Final: Bull & Aja vs. Akira Hokuto & Toshiyo Yamada. This match had an excellent story. Long time rivals Bull & Aja finally form a tag team, but its the Hokuto & Yamada team that doesn't get along, as heel Hokuto didn't want to team with face Yamada. Hokuto actually attacks her partner during the pre-match interview. The dissention continues throughout the match, predominantly build around Yamada trying to stop Hokuto from using her bokken (wooden kendo sword). This wouldn't have been all that good in America because these kind of dissention angles are so overdone, but in Japan they are rare and unlike most of the American matches, this had the work to back it up. ****1/4
Manami Toyota vs. Yamada. IWA Title Hair vs. Hair match: Toyota
vs. Yamada. You had two "best friends" and partners battling it out for the
title and their hair. Incredible match with great emotion, drama, heat, and
intensity. Started out fast, but no one could get the advantage then slowed,
but picked up at the 10 minute mark for nearly 10 minutes of great near falls
before Toyota Japanese Ocean Cyclone Suplexed Yamada to retain her hair and
the title. Great post match with Toyota cutting some of her own hair instead
of Yamada's. She had to be restrained by the other wrestlers from breaking up
the hair cut, but the teary eyed Toyota got free a few times to temporarily
postpone it. Toyota & Yamada hugged after the shaving to a big pop and then
a Yamada chant erupted. One of the best women's singles matches of all-time.
My only gripe is that the execution could have a bit crisper. The amazing thing
about this match is that it came right after Yamada had worked a great tag match,
although and most everything else really pales in comparison to this. *****
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
AJW Handheld matches including Shimoda vs. Watanabe
Watanabe vs. Ito, ASARI vs. Tamada, Ito vs. Bennett-Bennett wins All-Pacific title, Toyota & Shimoda vs. Double Inoues 2/3 falls-Toyota & Shimoda win WWWA tag titles ****1/4
Triple Crown: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada. Kawada wins TC. ****1/2
Jun Akiyama vs. Hiroshi Hase
Akira Taue & Takao Omori & Masao Inoue vs. The Gladiator & Tetsuhiro
Kuroda & Hideki
Hosaka (FMW team)
Tamon Honda & Shigeo Okumura (Shin Tokyo Puroresu) vs. The Headhunters.
4 minutes
shown
Satoru Asako vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru
*Replica package available*
IWGP Title Tournament 1st Round
Masa Chono vs. Big Van Vader
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Vladmir Berkovich
Victor Zangiev vs. Buzz Sawyer
Shinya Hashimoto vs. Riki Choshu
Non Tournament Match
Masa Saito vs. Wakha Evloev
IWGP Title Tournament Semifinals
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Big Van Vader
Victor Zangiev vs. Shinya Hashimoto
Non Tournament Match
Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Salmon Hashimikov
IWGP Title Tournament Final
Shinya Hashimoto vs. Big Van Vader. Vader wins vacant title.
Super Powers Combat Championship
Antonio Inoki vs. Shota Chochyshvili
AJW Slant Eyed Slaughter Commercial Tape
Devil Masami & Wendy Richter vs. Jumbo Hori & Yukari Omori
Nancy Kumi vs. Lucy Kayama
Monster Ripper & Devil Masami vs. Mimi Hagiwara & Jumbo Hori
Jaguar Yokuta vs. Tarantula
Lioness Asuka vs. Chigusa Nagayo
Francisco Fihlo vs. Vander Merve
Stephan Leko vs. Ernesto Hoost
Jean Claude vs. Sam Greco
Rick Roufus vs. Jerome Le Banner
Branko Cikatic vs. Mike Bernardo
Jean Riviere vs. Masaaki Satake. Match was so close it was ruled a draw after 5 rounds and again after the first extra round, so it went 7 rounds total before a winner could be declared.
Peter Aerts vs. James Warring
Michael McDonald vs. Peter Aerts
Masaaki Miyamoto vs. Wrath White
Takeru vs. Andrew Thomson
Mitsuya Nagai vs. Andre Manaart
Musashi vs. Duncan James
Tsuyoshi Nakasako vs. Andy Hug
Freshman Fight: ? Mori vs. ? Tanaka
Sam Greco vs. Smir Benazzouz
Hiromi Amada vs. John Wyatt
Takeru vs. Peter Kramer
Yoji Anjo vs. Duncan James
Tsuyoshi Nakasako vs. Dewey Cooper
Musashi vs. Greg Voyticek
Jim Mullen vs. Peter Aerts
Freshman Fight: ? Mori vs. Daichi Yamazaki
*Note: all matches are 1st Round matches in the GRAND PRIX tournament*
Mirko Filipovic vs. Mike Bernardo
Samir Benaszzoul vs. Ray Sefo
Matt Skelton vs. Jerome Le Banner
Xhavit Bajrami vs. Ernesto Hoost
Stefan Leko vs. Sam Greco
Hiromi Amada vs. Andy Hug
Musashi vs. Masaaki Satake
Lloyd Van Dams vs. Peter Aerts
Sci-fi special effects battle action shorts where Hikari Fukuoka, Mayumi Ozaki, and Cuty Suzuki are bounty hunters that exterminate some bizarre looking monsters.Toyota & Kyoko vs. Yamada & Ito, Kyoko vs. ASARI, Toyota vs. Shimoda, etc.
Quarterfinals
Brian Johnston vs. Ken Shamrock
Gary Goodridge vs. Don Frye. Good competitive slugfest.
Tank Abbott vs. Cal Worsham
Kimo vs. Paul Varelans. Varelans has no skill, but he was so huge that Kimo had a hard time doing anything to him. Good bout.
Semifinals
Steve Nelmark vs. Tank Abbott. Sick looking KO finish
Mark Hall vs. Don Frye
Final Frye vs. Abbott. Short, but very action packed.
Lightweight Semifinal: Rainy Martinez vs. Jerry Bohlander
Lightweight Semifinal: Yoshiki Takahashi vs. Wallid Ismail. Really good match.
Heavyweight Semifinal: Scott Ferrozzo vs. Jim Mullen
Heavyweight Semifinal: Vitor Belfort vs. Tra Telligman
Lightweight Final: Bohlander vs. Nick Sanzo
Heavyweight Final: Belfort vs. Ferrozzo
Superfight Title: Dan Severn vs. Mark Coleman. Coleman
Sasuke vs. Shinzaki ****, Minami & Watanabe vs. Takako & Ito, Shimoda vs. Handa, Toyota & Kyoko vs. Hasegawa & Bull ****1/4, Hotta & Yamada vs. Kandori & Harley
Pancrase Road to the Championship 2 Commercial Tape 7/6/94
Remco Pardoel vs. Vernon White
Manabu Yamada vs. Andre Van Den Oetellar
Wayne Shamrock vs. Matt Hume
Yusuke Fuke vs. Gregory Smit
Bas Rutten vs. Minoru Suzuki
Jason Delucia vs. Masakatsu Funaki
Pancrase Road to the Championship 3 Commercial Tape 7/26/94
Vernon White vs. Katsuomi Inagaki
Gregory Smit vs. Robert Bjornethun
Manabu Yamada vs. Matt Hume
Minoru Suzuki vs. Remco Par Doel
Masakatsu Funaki vs. Scott Sullivan
Yasuke Fuke vs. Jason Delucia
Wayne Shamrock vs. Bas Rutten
King of Pancrase Day 1 12-16-94
Minoru Suzuki vs. Matt Hume
Jason Delucia vs. Thomas Puckett
Christopher Deweaver vs. Manabu Yamada
Bas Rutten vs. Frank Jaurez (Shamrock)
Wayne Shamrock vs. Alex Cook
Maurice Smith vs. Yusuke Fuke
Vernon White vs. Leon Dijk
Masakatsu Funaki vs. Robert Bjornethun
Jason Delucia vs. Minoru Suzuki
Frank Jaurez vs. Manabu Yamada
Maurice Smith vs. Wayne Shamrock
Vernon White vs. Masakatsu Funaki
King of Pancrase Day 2 12-17-94
Katsuomi Inagaki vs. Gregory Smit Non Tournament
Scott Bessac vs. Larry Papadopolous Non Tournament
Manabu Yamada vs. Minoru Suzuki
Wayne Shamrock vs. Masakatsu Funaki
Wayne Shamrock vs. Manabu Yamada Finals King of Pancrase
Katsuomi Inagaki vs. Joop Van Dam. Exciting striking oriented match.
Bas Rutten vs. Yusuke Fuke
Masakatsu Funaki vs. Ryushi Yanagisawa
Minoru Suzuki vs. Vernon "Tiger" White
U.W.F. 11/29/89 Tokyo Dome: Minoru Suzuki vs. Maurice Smith
Wayne Shamrock vs. Yoshiki Takahashi. Takahashi took a lot of punishment, but he really put up a good fight here even bloodying Shamrock's nose.
Sasuke vs. Honaga, Hashimoto vs. Sasaki, Kanemoto vs. Nagata, Samurai vs. Otani-excellent, Hase & Muto vs. Steiners, Inoki vs. Sting, more!
Tournament 1st Round
Damien (Mexico) vs. Gran Naniwa (Michinoku Pro)
Shinjiro Otani (NJ) vs. Masaaki Mochizuki (Bukoh Dojo)
Ultimo Dragon (WAR) vs. Shoichi Funaki (PWFG)
Gedo (WAR Fuyuki-gun) vs. Masayoshi Motegi (Wrestle Yume Factory)
El Samurai (NJ) vs. Dos Caras (Mexico)
Lion Heart (Jericho, WAR Fuyuki-gun) vs. Hanzo Nakajima (Michinoku Pro)
Tournament 2nd Round
Jushin Thunder Liger (NJ) vs. Gran Naniwa
Wild Pegasus (NJ) vs. Lion Heart
J Crown: Shinjiro Otani vs. Tatsuhito Takaiwa
Great Muta & Masa Chono vs. Kensuke Sasaki & Kazuo Yamazaki
Don Frye vs. Kazuyuki Fujita
Naoya Ogawa vs. Brian Johnston
Shinya Hashimoto vs. Zane Frazier
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
10/13/91 Chiba
Super Strong Machine vs. Tatsumi Fujinami
10/18/91 Hiroshima Sun Plaza
Hiroyoshi Yamamoto (Tenzan) vs. Takeshi Misawa
Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Wild Pegasus. From a work standpoint, this was everything you could ask for from a junior match. Every move was precisely executed. The offense was stiff and "believable," and they didn't waste any motion. Toward the finish they were constantly countering each other in such a natural manner. The finish was lame though, not the move itself, that was great. The problem was it basically came out of nowhere, and the guy who was pinned had taken so little after dishing out so much. ****1/4
6/20/92 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
El Samurai & Black Cat vs. Pimpinella Escarlatas & May Flowers. The WWF is usually less disgraceful than the transvestites in this match were.
8/3/92 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Kensuke Sasaki & Takayuki Iizuka & El Samurai vs. Keiji Muto & & Shinya Hashimoto & Masa Chono
9/10/92 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan
Riki Choshu & Takayuki Iizuka & Koji Kanemoto & Hiroyoshi Yamamoto vs. Kengo Kimura & Shiro Koshinaka & Masashi Aoyagi & Akitoshi Saito
10/18/92 Chiba Makucho (?) Messe
Riki Choshu vs. Tony Halme
9/10/92 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan
Kensuke Sasaki vs. Masa Chono
9/11/98 Utsunomiya Shi Taiikukan
Kendo Ka Shin & Tatsuhito Takaiwa vs. Jushin Thunder Liger & El Samurai. **1/2
9/14/98 Sendai Miyagi-ken Sports Center
El Samurai vs. Tatsuhito Takaiwa. ***1/2
Shinjiro Otani vs. Koji Kanemoto. ***3/4
Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Kendo Ka Shin. **1/2
9/18/98 Gunma Arena
Jushin Thunder Liger & El Samurai vs. Koji Kanemoto & Shinjiro Otani. About 1/4 shown.
*Replica packages available*
Squall - Kudo image video. Footage includes Kudo at the beach, working out, feeding fish, taking a bath, taking a shower (gratuitous butt shot.:), Kudo's birthday party. Also has some match highlights. Kudo looks SUPER!
Anthology - Career retrospective video charting Kudo's career from her AJW days to the present. 30 matches shown in highlight form along with Kudo vs. Kandori barbed wire match from 3/14/97 in unedited form. Jaguar, Combat, Reibun, & Onita hang out with Kudo and look back on her career.
*Replica packages available*
Bat Yoshinaga & Tomoko Watanabe vs. Kazue Saito & Shiho Nakamigawa
Akemi Torisu vs. Rie Tamada
Mita & Sakie Hasegawa & Mayumi Yamamoto vs. Miori Kamiya & Mima Shimoda & Kaoru Ito
Suzuka Minami vs. Yumiko Hotta
Manami Toyota & Debbie Malenko vs. Takako Inoue & Mariko Yoshida
Bull Nakano & Akira Hokuto vs. Aja Kong & Bison Kimura
Tag League The Best '91 Final: Toshiyo Yamada & Kyoko Inoue vs. Aja Kong & Bison Kimura
AJW 12/9/91
Bull Nakano & Akira Hokuto vs. Aja Kong & Bison Kimura
Toshiyo Yamada & Kyoko Inoue vs. Aja Kong & Bison Kimura Tag Tournement Final
JWP 9/1/95
Tomoko Miyaguchi vs. Kanako Motoya
Hiromi Sugo & Saburo vs. Bolshoi Kid & Fusayo Nochi
Devil Masami & Rieko Amano vs. Tomoko Kuzumi & ?
Cuty Suzuki vs. Hiromi Yagi
Mayumi Ozaki & Hikari Fukuoka vs. Dynamite Kansai & Candy Okutsu
Kanako Motoya vs. Tomoko Miyaguchi. Both are green, but they had a good showing. Basic match most of the way with high spots at the end. **
Yuki Miyazaki & Tomoko Kuzumi vs. Saburo & Fusayo Nouchi. All spots, but it was fast paced and the work was good. **1/2
The New Face Attack The Second Ages: Command Bolshoi vs. Rieko Amano. *
Devil Masami & Hikari Fukuoka & Candy Okutsu vs. Mayumi Ozaki & Cuty Suzuki & Hiromi Yagi. Exciting match with all kinds of big spots. High workrate. Excellent when Devil & Cuty aren't in. ****1/4
Takako Inoue feature with highlights of her big matches against the JWP women
WWWA World Single Title: Dynamite Kansai vs. Takako Inoue (AJW). This really had its moments. Stiff match. No heat because Takako just doesn't have the offense to be taken seriously on this level. ***3/4
Tournament 1st Round
Damien (Mexico) vs. Gran Naniwa (Michinoku Pro)
Shinjiro Otani (NJ) vs. Masaaki Mochizuki (Bukoh Dojo)
Ultimo Dragon (WAR) vs. Shoichi Funaki (PWFG)
Gedo (WAR Fuyuki-gun) vs. Masayoshi Motegi (Wrestle Yume Factory)
El Samurai (NJ) vs. Dos Caras (Mexico)
Lion Heart (Jericho, WAR Fuyuki-gun) vs. Hanzo Nakajima (Michinoku Pro)
Tournament 2nd Round
Jushin Thunder Liger (NJ) vs. Gran Naniwa
Wild Pegasus (NJ) vs. Lion Heart
Shinjiro Otani vs. Ultimo Dragon
Gedo vs. Dos Caras
Tournament Semifinal
Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Ultimo Dragon
Wild Pegasus vs. Gedo
Non Tournament
Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Psicosis
Tournament Final
Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Gedo
A more complete version of the video (the same sections have more footage with some of the matches now being complete or fairly close) plus 4 bonus sections. This version doesn't have the Complete ARSION feel because you actually get to see a good amount of wrestling, but there's still a lot of outside the ring footage.
2/18/98 vs. Candy Okutsu. Really good match that was the best singles of Fukawa's career and on par with the best stuff Candy has done with her JWP peers. Exciting, flashy, and well executed submissions and high spots, but also focused attacks. Fukawa is like a new woman with a more mature look and an entirely different move set. Candy looked like her old self. ****
12/7/98 vs. Michiko Omukai. Omukai had Fukawa all but finished, but Fukawa turned Omukai's rolling savate into a hizajujigatame for the win. Not complete.
9/9/98 vs. Mariko Yoshida. Submission oriented Yoshida style match. It doesn't flow as well as it could have, but it's interesting to see them chain the holds together. Not complete
2/18/99 vs. Rie Tamada. Yumi tried to work on a broken foot. Tamada focused her entire attack on the foot, which was good, except Yumi after 3 minutes Yumi legitimately couldn't even stand so the ref had to stop the match. *1/4
5/4/99 vs. Mariko Yoshida. Really beautiful match. Both women were on top of their game displaying smooth, clean technique and doing great counters. Fukawa just keeps improving, the difference between this match and their match from 5/8/98 is incredible. There Fukawa didn't know how to counter, here Fukawa had an answer for everything and it wasn't like she just watched what say Gami did against Yoshida and copied her. This booking of this show wasn't good because it didn't tell any stories, this was the only match that they really made you care who won. Fukawa was made credible and the fans got into her because she was trying so hard and doing so well. There were a couple spots where she had Yoshida beat, and this is what the fans wanted to see. Instead, they got a lot of upsets that just happened without anything being done to make you want to see them. Even though Fukawa lost in the first round, they gave her kanto sho (courageous fighter award) because her performance was so impressive. Normally I'd have a really hard time giving an 11 ½ minute match such a high rating, but I can't say enough about how good this match was. ****
6/30/99 vs. Aja Kong. Aja emphasized the size difference without doing it in a way that helped Fukawa. Fukawa was hardly allowed to get any offense in. All her offense was submissions, but she wasn't able to use her speed or quickness to get them on and Aja showed no disadvantage on the mat as she was able to use several submissions. The match was dull because it was basically a squash, and Aja did dated matwork in a dated way that negated most of the good Fukawa can do on the mat. Too much talent involved to be bad, but hardly the match they could have had. **
7/25/99 Rie Tamada & Yumi Fukawa vs. Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda. The match itself was good, but it was done all wrong. It made no sense to introduce LCO in this manner. I mean, Yumi was the only one that even showed that there was some semblance of a rivalry. It's pretty simple, if anyone is going to think it's a big deal that some evil force has invaded the league, everyone has to fight hard and play their roles right. You can't be nice or indifferent, it has to look and feel like something special. Otherwise, what's the point? A lot of the problem was the match was too long. It needed to be heated right off the bat, but since they were going over 21 minutes, they didn't do that much in the first 10. The pace was kind of lethargic and the action was rathe dull. Some things they did were good like Mita acting arrogant and making fun of Yumi's diminutive size. It was good that LCO didn't adopt to ARSION style because why should they start doing things the ARSION way, wrestling like all these women they are in opposition with? They still had to adjust to Yumi's submission style, of course. It became a good match because three of the four have too much talent for it not to be, but anyone with half a brain should have been able to see that doing it in this manner would kill off LCO's potential as a draw in ARSION. It didn't help TamaFuka either because no one gave them a chance to win. They would get a move in more often as the match went on, but in the end Fukawa only had a few near finishes that you might be able to call credible. I hate the blade, but if there was ever a time for it, this was it. They needed to get LCO over, and they needed to show TamaFuka wouldn't give up even though they were really overmatched. Once again, they failed to give the fans a reason to care. 16:18 shown. **1/2
9/26/99 vs. Mariko Yoshida. One of the last matches that was at least close to Yoshida style. Very technical with great movement on the mat. Not as dynamic or exciting as their 5/4/99 match, but it was amazing how much better Fukawa did, mainly her counters, than when they fought on 5/8/98. Fukawa was on Yoshida's level both in portrayal and reality, which propelled her to the period where she was the most consistently good and entertaining wrestler in ARSION until she suffered another concussion and was forced to retire. ***3/4
5/7/00 vs. Rie Tamada. I was surprised by how good this match was. Nice flow. Everything was so well done, and for the most part even made sense. Fukawa deserves tons of credit for getting Rie to not only leave her spot style, but for carrying Rie to a good match in the submission style which Tamada really is not good at. My only real complaint is at one point either Fukawa really injured her knee or her selling was awesome, but Rie didn't keep on it, instead using a few arm submissions when the opportunity arose. Perhaps the best match of the tournament. 3:21 shown
5/7/00 vs. Michiko Omukai. Fukawa is the only wrestler in ARSION that has stuck to the submission style. Omukai was rusty at it and Fukawa tried some moves she shouldn't have due to the huge size differential, so it wasn't as good as their past matches. Omukai was back to her old top notch ways of showing emotions. It was kind of annoying that Fukawa trapped her in a submission about a dozen times, only to have Omukai win with a Tiger suplex hold out of nowhere. It should be noted that Fukawa's near submissions get no reaction now because all the people that were pulling for her last year now know she'll never beat anyone of note. 4:00 shown.
7/16/00 Michiko Omukai & Yumi Fukawa & Bionic J vs. GAMI & Rie Tamada & Red Lynx. This is the match where Fukawa suffers the final injury, but I'm not sure if it's shown. 4:32 shown
YUMI'S FIGHT in the ARSION - digest of her 250 ARSION matches
BEST BOUT COUNT DOWN - 3-4 minutes of each of her "10 best bouts"
YUMI'S BEST TECHNIQUES - clips of her performing her favorite moves
YUMI'S ROOM - Last Image Video
* COOP available (one unique)*
A Block
8/3
Yoshiaki Yatsu vs. Osamu Kido
Keiji Muto vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara
Masa Chono vs. Riki Choshu
8/4
Osamu Kido vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara
Riki Choshu vs. Yoshiaki Yatsu
Masa Chono vs. Keiji Muto
8/5
Masa Chono vs. Osamu Kido
Yoshiaki Yatsu vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara
Keiji Muto vs. Riki Choshu
8/6
Keiji Muto vs. Osamu Kido
Masa Chono vs. Yoshiaki Yatsu
Riki Choshu vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara
8/7
Riki Choshu vs. Osamu Kido
Keiji Muto vs. Yoshiaki Yatsu
Masa Chono vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara
B Block
8/3
Shiro Koshinaka vs. Takayuki Iizuka
Hiroshi Hase vs. Shinya Hashimoto
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Power Warrior
8/4
Shiro Koshinaka vs. Tatsumi Fujinami
Shinya Hashimoto vs. Takayuki Iizuka
Hiroshi Hase vs. Power Warrior
8/5
Takayuki Iizuka vs. Tatsumi Fujinami
Shiro Koshinaka vs. Hiroshi Hase
Shinya Hashimoto vs. Power Warrior
8/6
Hiroshi Hase vs. Takayuki Iizuka
Shiro Koshinaka vs. Power Warrior
Shinya Hashimoto vs. Tatsumi Fujinami
8/7
Power Warrior vs. Takayuki Iizuka
Shinya Hashimoto vs. Shiro Koshinaka
Hiroshi Hase vs. Tatsumi Fujinami
*Replica packages available*