There isn't a lot of controversy over whether these four had the best women's tag match of all-time. The controversy stems from the debate over which of their matches is the best. Of course, the best way to compare is to watch them in a row, and their third match isn't half bad either, so I decided to create this tape of the series
11/26/92 Kanagawa Kawasaki Shi Taiikukan 2/3 Falls WWWA Sekai Tag Senshukenjiai: Toshiyo Yamada & Manami Toyota vs. Dynamite Kansai & Mayumi Ozaki. Best women's tag match. *****
4/11/93 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan 2/3 Falls WWWA Sekai Tag Senshukenjiai: Toshiyo Yamada & Manami Toyota vs. Dynamite Kansai & Mayumi Ozaki. *****
12/6/93 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan WWWA Sekai Tag Senshukenjiai: Dynamite Kansai & Mayumi Ozaki vs. Toshiyo Yamada & Manami Toyota. *****
10/14/93 Tsuyuhashi Sports Center: Katsuomi Inagaki vs. Joop Van Dam. Exciting striking oriented match.
10/14/93 Tsuyuhashi Sports Center: 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.
11/8/93 Kobe World Kinen Hall: Katsuomi Inagaki vs. Vernon "Tiger" White. The good thing about shoots is two guys that are mediocre can still have an excellent match. This was not great technically, but both men were willing to do whatever it took to win. White rearranged Inagaki's face, and Inagaki was blown up and looked like he was going to keel over, but then he'd find it in him to regain control.
4/21/94 Nagoya Aichi-ken Taiikukan: Katsuomi Inagaki vs. Matt Hume. This was one of those matches where if you can look past the opportunities lost, the guys not being that great made it better. There was action and near finishes for 18 minutes, rather than Hume choking Inagaki out in a few minutes like he should have been able to. Hume even did a cool suplex for a shoot.
4/21/94 Nagoya Aichi-ken Taiikukan: Masakatsu Funaki vs. Yusuke Fuke. Fuke put up a good fight. It was one of those matches that is very even and technical, but not a ton of things happened.
7/6/94 Amagasaki Shi Kinen Koen Sogo Taiikukan: Minoru Suzuki vs. Bas Rutten. Bas' strikes were lethal.
9/1/94 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan: Yusuke Fuke vs. Manabu Yamada. Highly competitive match. Both men kept going for submissions, and came close to winning on several occassions.
10/15/94 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan: Minoru Suzuki vs. Masakatsu Funaki. These two burst out of the gate. Very fast action with constant movement. The fans were really into it. Too bad it didn't last longer.
12/16/94 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan King Of Pancrase Tournament 1st Round: Minoru Suzuki vs. Matt Hume. Good match. Both men were in control some of the time, trying submissions. Hume gave Suzuki a lot more trouble than I expected.
12/16/94 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan King Of Pancrase Tournament 1st Round: Bas Rutten vs. Frank Jaurez (Shamrock). Frank was better than I expected. He was often in control. Bas got some nice strikes in, but Frank was able to negate much of his striking ability by taking him down, where Frank was the better of the two.
12/16/94 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan King Of Pancrase Tournament 2nd Round Frank Jaurez vs. Manabu Yamada. Typical Frank match where they are constantly working on the mat. The advantage changed several times.
12/17/94 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan: Minoru Suzuki vs. Manabu Yamada. Really good technical match. They were always working.
1/26/95 Nagoya Aichi-ken Taiikukan: Masakatsu Funaki (#2) vs. Jason Delucia. Delucia put Funaki down once, but otherwise he was mainly on the defensive.
3/10/95 Kanagawa Yokohama Bunka Taiikukan: Yusuke Fuke vs. Larry Papadopoulos. Fuke gave Papadopoulos a killer knee to the balls, which really had Papadopoulos groaning. Fuke was better in standup, but this was not one of his better showings because the fight was mainly contested on the mat where Papadopoulos was better.
3/10/95 Kanagawa Yokohama Bunka Taiikukan: Masakatsu Funaki vs. Frank Shamrock. Far from the classic you'd expect, but it was competitive. Funaki made too many mistakes. A young Frank was unable to capitilize though, while the more experience Funaki stayed calm and confident.
5/13/95 Tokyo Bay NK Hall: Frank Shamrock vs. Allan Goes. Best Pancrase match up until Bas vs. Funaki 9/7/96. All kinds of fast action, takedowns, and reversals. Tempers were flaring. At one point, Goes had Frank in the hadakajime, but Frank was able to make it to the ropes for the escape. Goes continued to choke Frank out though, refusing to break, so he was given a yellow card.
9/1/95 Tokyo Nippon Budokan: Takafumi Ito vs. Frank Shamrock (#5). Ito did better than expected. Exciting match, although it died out toward the end.
9/1/95 Tokyo Nippon Budokan KING OF PANCRASE Title Match: Minoru Suzuki vs. Bas Rutten (#1). Suzuki was able to take Bas down and was in control forever, but he couldn't finish the job and wound up getting caught in a submission.
6/27/95 Sapporo Nakajima Taiiku Center WWWA Sekai Tag Senshuken Jiai: Manami Toyota vs. Aja Kong. Toyota was such an electrifying performer at this point. This was such an exciting match throughout. The psychology was hardly as good as it could have been, but the basic concept of Aja's brutality and power vs. Toyota's athleticism and flying was enough considering the level they were working at. The counters for the big moves were fantastic and the match had great heat. She was dominating Aja with her speed, but Aja gave her one hell of a powerbomb that was actually credible as a near fall even though Toyota was at near full power prior to the move because the impact was so great. Later Toyota tried her 2 kaiten ebigatame (the move where she rolls up the opponents body into a sunset flip), but Aja flattened her with a Ligerbomb for another great near fall. Another great near fall saw Aja slip out of the Japanese ocean cyclone suplex hold off the 2nd, Toyota land on her feet for Aja's backdrop, but Aja swing around with a deadly uraken. Many of the moves looked better than normal. 11:14 shown. ****3/4 range
9/2/95 Tokyo Nippon Budokan: Aja Kong vs. Bison Kimura. This wasn't in the class with their 6/21/92 match, but it was still very stiff and brutal. Both women bled, with Aja's cut being particularly nasty. Nothing flashy, just well executed high impact brawling. Bison worked on Aja's injured right arm, although not as much as she could have it did set up a near fall where Aja was in too much pain to cover after she hit the uraken. 8:08 shown. **** range
9/2/95 Tokyo Nippon Budokan: Kyoko Inoue vs. Bull Nakano. A wild match that never slowed down. They worked for everything, with the success rate of attempted moves being quite low. They fought on the outside a lot with Kyoko using a DDT (more like a suplex) off a table. Bull held nothing back, doing every version of her guillotine leg drop, the moonsault, and so on. One great move after another with all kinds of finishers being kicked out of. 14:50 shown. ****1/4 range
9/2/95 Tokyo Nippon Budokan: Manami Toyota vs. Akira Hokuto. Amazing duel between two of the best ever. They took huge risks early, but they incorporated the spots so well it was believable that say Hokuto could hit her tope con hilo right off the bat. Lots of crazy moves centered around the tables which wouldn't break in spite of a diving body press, diving senton, and two powerbombs. One awesome spot after another, and they made them work within the context of the match. Very classy performance by Hokuto decided to have the day in and day out top star of the promotion beat her with her own move even though the promotion was willing to make the blunder of having the occassionally wrestling big show draw Hokuto go over. 16:03 shown. *****
11/3/95 Nagoya Aichi-ken Taiikukan: Lioness Asuka vs. Kyoko Inoue. It looked like they were working a match of some length, but after 7 minutes it ended suddenly. The execution was fine and all, but they didn't do anything special and it was basically a big disgrace to the departing Lioness. At least they made up for it with their several choice matches from '98-'99. *1/4
11/3/95 Nagoya Aichi-ken Taiikukan: Aja Kong vs. Takako Inoue. Glorified squash that was basically a joke. Aja was beating Takako in a test of strength even though Takako was using two hands and she was only using one. Takako didn't use her advantages, whatever they might be, so she basically got mauled. She used these lame push kicks that Aja couldn't even sell and other weak offense that made her seem as deadly as a fly. Aja threw her around for a while before the inevitable result. **
11/3/95 Nagoya Aichi-ken Taiikukan: Manami Toyota & Mariko Yoshida vs. Sakie Hasegawa & Kaoru Ito. Well worked match that was kind of disappointing because it was nothing like what you'd expect from these four. It started slow and stayed surprisingly slow paced throughout. It was more plausible than the typical Toyota stuff, but didn't generate anywhere near the excitement. ***1/2
11/3/95 Nagoya Aichi-ken Taiikukan 2/3 Falls WWWA Sekai Tag Senshukenjiai: Akira Hokuto & Mima Shimoda vs. Bull Nakano & Tomoko Watanabe. The first fall was a 5 second joke, made worse by Shimoda selling Watanabe's cannonball buster to a ridiculous extent. Bull stared Hokuto down after this fall. The second fall was short too, but the third fall, which was basically the whole match, was damn good. Shimoda & Watanabe did most of the work, with the big Hokuto vs. Bull confrontation not really kicking in until late in the 3rd fall. ***1/4
12/4/95 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan: Kyoko Inoue vs. Aja Kong. Way better than Aja vs. Takako. Kyoko was shown to be Aja's equal and this could have gone either way on several occassions. Excellent, well built high impact match with drama and crowd heat. One particularly impressive near fall came after Aja delivered 3 nasty backdrops in a row. Kyoko was always fighting an uphill struggle, which was a perfect storyline for her big win over Aja since Aja had been kicking her ass (and everyone else's) for years. 15:12 shown **** range
12/4/95 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan WWWA Sekai Single Senshuken Jiai: Dynamite Kansai vs. Manami Toyota. I always thought this match was a little bit overrated, but it looked great today. I'm not sure if it's because today's stuff isn't close to this level, but certainly you don't see the kind of excitement Toyota brought generated by a great performer and carrying over to the crowd these days. The crowd was into this from the get go. It seemingly takes 20 shows from 2001 to equal the crowd reaction of this match, and it's not like this was the most heated women's match of '95. Everything Kansai did had such brute force. She was knocking Toyota silly with kicks, many of which were right across the face. One spot I particularly liked happened right off the bat with Toyota trying her springboard plancha to a healthy Kansai, who instead booted her in the gut. I liked how they structured the match, building it up with Kansai using her best offense, even repeatedly, but always saving something that they could work to later on. The big problem was the extremely ambitious finish didn't work well at all, but they stuck with it even though it was no longer believable for Kansai to lose at this point. Too bad they never had a rematch, but I better not get started on how badly Kansai's title run was wasted by AJW. 13:42 shown. ****1/2
1/3/96 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Aja Kong & Mima Shimoda vs. Yumiko Hotta & Etsuko Mita. Aja & Shimoda stood out more, but no one was exceptional. Mita did most of the work for her team, as Hotta did little to distinguish herself and spent plenty of time looking on. It was a good match, but the pacing was too even. This was particularly true of the later minutes, as it seemed to end rather abruptly even though the pin came on a regular finisher. 13:22 shown. ***
1/3/96 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Manami Toyota & Kaoru Ito vs. Kyoko Inoue & Takako Inoue. Not as fast paced, but otherwise the standard Toyota match with very strong work, nice near falls, and so on. Ito was subjected to the brunt of the punishment and nearly pinned several times with the Inoues cutting Toyota off so she couldn't make the save. Toyota wasn't as much of a factor because they were taking it to Ito, but everyone else was good anyway. ***1/2
1/22/96 Tokyo Ota-ku Taiikukan: Aja Kong vs. Kaoru Ito. Well constructed hard hitting brawl that showed the improvement in status of Ito even though she obviously lost. Ito made a good underdog because she fought so hard and showed a lot of fire. She kept coming at Aja even though she was overmatched. Aja did a nice job of carrying her. ***3/4
MCW TV 11/00 MCW Lightheavyweight Title (VG VQ): Spanky vs. American Dragon. Creative but sloppy match. They wasted no time and did a lot of nice moves, but it seemed they were wrestling over their head. The counter sequences were complicated, but weren't performed sharply or smoothly so it was kind of a plus/minus kind of deal. My favorite spots were Dragon getting his knees up for Spanky's slingshot senton (you always see the knees to the stomach to stop a flying move but never to the back), Spanky giving posing Dragon a swandive elbow to the back, Spanky turning a back body drop into a bulldog, Dragon's awesome front necklock suplex, and Dragon's Gori special variation. They did a ref bump that was actually fresh and successful where Spanky stopped Dragon's superplex by pushing him off the top rope into the ref, thus the ref couldn't count when Spanky subsequently hit his frog splash. While these two looked anything but polished, there was enough inspiration and quality to call it a good match. **1/2
MCW TV 9/2/00 MCW Lightheavyweight Title (Gd due to tracking line): American Dragon vs. Rob Brookside. Much more basic than Dragon vs. Spanky. While Brookside is far more experienced than either, he hasn't been working with Dragon for ages. The execution was much better than the Spanky match, but it was so short and not very spectacular. *1/4
ECWA Super 8 2001 R1 (Ex): American Dragon vs. Spanky. Dragon is now wrestling without his mask. Dragon was much improved by this point. He had passed Spanky by, but that just made it more of a solid match. Stiff chops, headbutts, elbows and so on. Dragon was debilitating Spanky's left arm, which Spanky sold on his comeback even while doing dropkicks and his frog splash. The sequences toward the finish were kind of slow and deliberate, but overall there was a big improvement in the execution from the first match on the tape even though it wasn't nearly as creative a match. Dragon did a moonsault off the top to the floor. ***
ECWA Super 8 2001 Semifinal (Ex): American Dragon vs. Reckless Youth. This had the best counters and sequences so far, but the match just kind of went along. I have a hard time watching a match like this because Dragon is ungodly stiff for a guy his size, while Youth's striking just plain embarrassing. **
ECWA Super 8 2001 Final (Ex): American Dragon vs. Low ki. It's weird that arguably the three stiffest wrestlers in America (these two and Tajiri) all weigh less than 200 (and Benoit would be around there if he wasn't roided to the gills). Intense match. I liked the spot where Low ki did a drop down to escape Dragon's Dragon suplex so Dragon punted him in the back. Low ki's handspring enzuigiri totally smokes Muto's weak little elbow. Later Dragon did a counter for it where he caught him in mid air and Dragon suplexed him. Low ki's dive where he sets up like a moonsault but turns it into a forward flip is awesome. ***1/4
ECWA 7/21/01 (Ex): American Dragon vs. Low ki. Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat was the ref. They had a lot more time here so they started slower and built up with strikes and submissions. More of a technical match, which made it a good one for Steamboat to ref. I find it really annoying that the fans keep yelling "Woo" while they are blistering each other with chops. I mean, it sure doesn't look like a comedy spot to me. The execution was really good. Low ki did a cool spot where he shot Dragon up in the air, but rather than let him crash down on his face he dropkicked him in mid air. Dragon had a different counter for Low's handspring, a sliding dropkick to the hand. Dragon worked on Low's arm, highlighted by an arm bar suplex. Low did his Dragon sleeper like submission with both in the tree of woe. Didn't pick up quite as much as I expected, but it was such a solid, stiff, and crisp match. ***1/2
ECWA 9/22/01 4 Way Dance For ECWA Light Heavyweight Title (Ex): Scoot Andrews vs. American Dragon vs. Low ki vs. Chris Daniels. This was a little better than the previous match because it was about another 14 minutes of brutality. While Scoot wreaks of a poor man's Booker T and it was annoying how the others were kind of "afraid" of him, he mainly stayed out of the way and Daniels added more than he detracted. Although I normally hate 3 and 4 way matches, this one didn't get into a million I'll make the save so I can win the title myself spots. Mainly they beat the hell out of each other, and the spots where 3 or 4 guys were involved were good. The highlight was a quadruple German suplex spot where Low ki was on the 2nd rope and everyone got behind one another. There was also a 4 dive sequence and Dragon & Low teaming up to blister Daniels. Daniels was funny sticking his head and shoulders under the bottom rope to break the 20 count to return to the ring. The match went on forever, but it was never dull. Scoot's execution was nothing special, but the other three largely made up for him by being so precise. ***3/4
APW 10/27/01 King of the Independents 2001 R2 (VG): American Dragon vs. "The Anarchist" Doug Williams. They displayed good patience, but in the end that may have made me a little disappointed with the match because it looked like it was going to be another grueling match, but ended in less than 10 minutes. Very solid with lots of heavy blows and good selling. Dragon made it look like he was going to do his rolling elbow, but gave Williams an enzuigiri instead. Williams did a nice tornado DDT. **3/4
APW 10/26/01 King of the Independents 2001 R1 (VG): American Dragon vs. Spanky. It was "hard to do anything" because they know each other's moves so well. One counter after another with nice movement on the mat. Dragon did a killer suplex from snapmare position. Spanky doesn't do a very believable job of struggling to avoid a move, but he takes a good bump once you do it to him. He made it look like Dragon totally bowled him over with a shoulderblock, and it's not like Dragon is Vader size. Spanky did a Tiger Mask backflip out of the corner, but he landed on Dragon with a dropkick first. When they finally started hitting the big spots they did some great ones like Dragon doing Benoit's back superplex and Spanky doing Otani's swandive swing DDT. Spanky did Marufuji's shiranui finisher, but when he went for it again later Dragon turned it into his Dragon suplex. So much better worked and executed than their first meeting on this tape. ***1/2
9/14/90 (Ex VQ): Hiroshi Hase vs. The Great Muta. Hase juices a gusher to the point his whole chest is quickly covered with blood. Hase refuses to quit though. This is an excellent match, but the blood stands out so much that you might not realize just how good it is on the initial viewing. Excellent performance by Hase. The finish is pretty lame though. ****1/4
8/11/91 Ryogoku Kokugikan (Ex) G1 Climax League Final: Masa Chono vs. Keiji Muto. Before Chono was shot physical and Muto decided to mail in 90% of his matches, these two had some damn good matches, but this was probably the best of the bunch. It was mainly great because they used every big spot they knew including Chono doing a tope and a plancha. The heat was awesome, and the fans threw sumo pillows into the ring after the match because it was so good. Chono wins G1. ****1/2
4/30/92 (Ex) Top of the Super Jr. III Final: Jushin Liger vs. El Samurai. Liger’s most ridiculously off the charts performance has the king of the juniors giving a virtuoso Jimi Hendrix style performance on lead vocals and guitars carrying drummer Samurai, who at this point is certainly a far cry from Mitch Mitchell much less a John Bonham, to one of the most amazing and spectacular junior matches ever. The Liger vs. Samurai feud was an attempted second coming of Liger vs. Naoki Sano, and this was their attempt to top the 1/31/90 classic, playing off the previous feud as well as their own history, but not putting the cap on the program by any means. A more modern match with the grudge as the backbone to the offensive explosion, they certainly exceeded Liger vs. Sano in some areas, and you could make a serious argument they did so as a whole. Liger was a better wrestler at this time, and the match is super exciting with superior offense. The thwarted handshake is more predictable here as babyface Liger offers only to be spat upon, but this is crucial to the first third of the match, which establishes Samurai as El Super Rudo. From clubbing Liger with a bottle to tombstoning him on the floor to ripping his mask to just being a generally shady rat bastard, Samurai exhausts the heel handbook, eliciting major boos at every turn. The second portion has Liger taking exception to Samurai’s punches and leveling him with a shotei out of nowhere to set up his big comeback where he shreds Samurai’s mask and throws everything in his arsenal to stop the Samurai, including two awesome dives, the senton atomico and moonsault attack. Once Samurai gets himself back into the match, we get a lengthy finishing sequence with super counters and dramatic near falls culminating in the classic finish where an equally spent Liger hits his nadare shiki no Frankensteiner and lays out backwards on Samurai as if he knows he’s finally toppled him, but also that he too may have breathed his last breath. The tournament final by which all-tournament finals are judged by. *****
4/2/93 Yokohama Arena (Ex): Akira Hokuto vs. Kandori. Hokuto's best performance. This might very well be the best women's singles match ever. These two really pull off the idea that they despise each other and really want to kick each other's asses. Intensity, drama, and "realism" are off the charts. A masterpiece. *****
6/10/88 Hiroshima (VG) IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title: Owen Hart vs. Keiichi Yamada. Great work and high spots. Looked to be in the ****1/2 range, but only 5 ½ minutes aired, so how does something like this make the top 100 of the 1980's?
7/31/93 Yokohama Bunka Taiikukan (Ex VQ) The New Dimension 8 Queens 60:00 Full Time: Dynamite Kansai & Mayumi Ozaki & Cuty Suzuki & Hikari Fukuoka vs. Aja Kong & Kyoko Inoue & Takako Inoue & Sakie Hasegawa. The best gimmick/stipulation match ever. This is about as good as it gets. Great drama, perfect booking, excellent work, all kinds of great spots. My favorite finish ever. *****
1/5/87 Tokyo Korakuen Hall (PG): Crush Gals vs. Red Typhoons (Yumi Ogura & Kazue Nagahori). The school girls are very vocal supporting the Crush Gals even though Typhoons are very much the underdogs. Crush Gals do a great job of carrying this, hiding the liabilities of the opposition really well. ****1/4
7/23/84 Tokyo Handheld (Ex): Akira Maeda & Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. Super Tiger & Nobuhiko Takada. This was supposed to be one of the 100 best of the 1980's. Maybe the fact that it was a handheld detracted? Maybe the fact that I'm watching so many years later and this has been so far surpassed was the reason, but this only seemed very good. The work was real good, but it was bizarre. It was a UWF style match, but they threw in pro style high spots that held no water like Sayama's diving headbutt and somersault senton. Kind of like the goofy fun you get today from Battlarts.
4/17/93 Minneapolis, MN American Indian Center (Ex VQ): Lightning Kid (X-Pac) vs. Sabu. This match really had its moments, as both men did some great spots. A lot of the spots weren't perfectly executed though, and at points they didn't seem to be on the same page. Kid blades heavily. A great indy match. ***1/4
2/28/93 Tokyo Nippon Budokan (Gd) Stan Hansen vs. Toshiaki Kawada. Awesome match. Both guys just beat the living hell out of each other. Superb timing, perfect comebacks, great selling and psychology. They created the illusion that Kawada had the match won (upset) on more than one occasion. Just brutal. ****3/4
3/27/93 Kyoto (VG) '93 Champion Carnival League Bout: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada. Obviously a great state of the art match. What would go on to become the typical (for these two) excellent psychology, timing, selling, and stiffness. ****1/2
4/14/93 Nagoya Shi Taiikukan (Gd) '93 Champion Carnival League Bout: Kenta Kobashi vs. Toshiaki Kawada. Only 10 ½ minutes aired, but they were awesome. Really exciting match with all kinds of big spots, tremendous stiffness, and a really hot crowd. A real war. ****3/4
5/5/93 Kawasaki Stadium (Ex) No Rope Explosive Barbed Wire Time Bomb Death Match: Atsushi Onita vs. Terry Funk. The first ever match with this combination of stipulations. This built well with both men really putting over the toll of the match. Onita's body was cut to shreds, and Funk bled like crazy also. The actual wrestling was pretty lousy as is always the case with Onita, but it was a great spectacle. One of the all-time great post matches with Onita trying to save Funk from the giant explosion. ***1/2
11/20/94 Tokyo Dome V*TOP WOMEN Tournament Round 1: Aja Kong vs. Manami Toyota. High spot intensive. Aja carried the match, supplying all the psychology. Toyota did a ton of great spots and was really on. Very exciting match with excellent timing due to Aja. Toyota took a hell of a beating from Aja's stiff high impact offense. Awesome match with great crowd heat, especially in the closing minutes, but it needed to be longer (for obvious reasons it wasn't) to be a 5 star match. ****3/4
11/7/86 Osaka (Ex VQ) Hair vs. Hair Death Match: Dump Matsumoto vs. Chigusa Nagayo. This is a legendary match that has been vastly overrated. The atmosphere is certainly off the charts. The pre and post match are excellent, even though the match takes forever to get started. Dump is certainly the greatest heel ever, but she wasn't much of a worker at all. The actual wrestling here is nothing special with Dump dominating the match, mainly destroying Chigusa with objects. Finally, Chigusa scores a flash pin to avenge her loss in their 1985 hair match. Very good.
10/28/88 Yokohama Bunka Taiikukan (Ex): Tsuruta vs. Tenryu. Tremendous match. Great execution, build, excitement, drama, psychology, and heat. Excellent performance by both men. This is everything a big match should be, and more. ****3/4
7/18/87 Los Angeles, CA (Gd) Caballera Contra Caballera: El Hijo del Santo vs. Negro Casas. When this match occurred it was the perfect Lucha match, and even 11 years later I'm not sure it has been surpassed (the high spots are certainly more glamorous now though). Incredible drama. 3rd fall isn't the most glamorous Lucha fall I've ever seen, but it's probably the best Lucha fall I've ever seen, and it was incredibly glamorous for its time. Casas is all around awesome. Casas continually fighting his way out of Santo's camel clutch finisher is great. *****
12/16/88 Tokyo Nippon Budokan (Ex VQ) '88 Sekai Saikyo Tag Kettei League Koshikisen: Stan Hansen & Terry Gordy vs. Genichiru Tenryu & Toshiaki Kawada. Pretty much a perfect match, from the storyline to the timing to the execution to the psychology. Crowd is incredible vocal in supporting the natives. Kawada, who is really outranked here, is no match early, but he has a flurry to get him over before they "wreck his bad knee." With the injured Kawada out of the picture, Tenryu has to take on both men by himself. *****
5/85 Tokyo Korakuen Hall (PG) Fuji Television Japan Grand Prix '85 League Bout: Lioness Asuka vs. Chigusa Nagayo. The wrestling itself is awesome, but the fact that the crowd heat is sustained from start to finish is even more impressive. You can't even describe how over these two were. Tremendous kicks back and forth. Basically an entire match of parity. This might be 5 stars in unedited form, but only a little more than half aired on TV. ****3/4
6/1/96 Los Angeles, CA LA Sports Arena (Ex): Ultimo Dragon & Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Heavy Metal & Psicosis. Awesome spectacle due to a number of great spots. Too short. Metal was by far the worst, taking the match down with his blown spots. ****
5/17/96 Detroit, MI Cobo Arena (Ex): Don Frye vs. Amaury Bitetti. This was one sided, but really exciting as Frye continually pummeled Bitetti with strikes. Bitetti was battered and bloody, but he had no quit in him. Very good
9/7/96 Tokyo Bay NK Hall (Ex) King of Pancrase: Bas Rutten vs. Masakatsu Funaki. The best bout in the history of Pancrase. Tremendous drama. Funaki takes a hellacious beating here from Bas' lethal strikes, but refuses to give up.
8/25/88 Kawasaki Shi Taiikukan (Gd VQ) WWWA World Singles Title: Chigusa Nagayo vs. Lioness Asuka. Tremendous heat. Not as good as their past matches because Chigusa's shoulder was injured and the doctor had to stop the match. Lioness was typically great carrying things, but fans were very pro Chigusa. Lioness won the title, but refused to accept a tainted win. Excellent match, but better on the commercial tape version than on this TV version. ****
6/24/88 Osaka (VG-Ex) Vacant IWGP Heavyweight Title: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Riki Choshu. Solid match, but generally unspectacular. Great heat. Strong final minutes. Very good.
5/27/88 (VG-Ex) IWGP Champion Series: Owen Hart vs. Hiroshi Hase. Only 5 minutes aired, but they were awesome. Owen was such a great worker at this point. Owen probably did the fastest rolling cradle I've ever seen in this match. Great.
3/19/88 (VG-Ex) IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title: Hiroshi Hase vs. Shiro Koshinaka. Technical masterpiece. Superb execution. The last 5 minutes were one near fall after another with great heat and drama. ****1/2
5/12/88 Tokyo Korakuen Hall (Ok): Akira Maeda vs. Kazuo Yamazaki. The main event of the second coming of the UWF's debut show. All kinds of finishers back and forth. The crowd was rocking well before the opening bell and throughout much of the match, but this was so long with so many potential finishers back and forth that they lost the crowd at times. Very good.
3/9/88 Yokohama Bunka Taiikukan (Ex) NWA International Heavyweight Title: Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Tiger Mask. Great match with perfect execution. Great build and psychology. Tiger knew he was overmatched, so his strategy was to keep Jumbo in check, predominantly by controlling him with a headlock. Jumbo kept trying to backdrop his way out and eventually he did, which lead to really hot action including some incredible flying by Tiger. Tiger looked really impressive and the fans really got behind him due to the way the match was laid out. ****1/2
6/24/88 Osaka (PG VQ) IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title: Owen Hart vs. Shiro Koshinaka. Excellent technical match. Great action and a hot crowd. Unfortunately, only 6 minutes aired. Shiro wins title. ****1/2 range.
8/29/88 Tokyo Nippon Budokan: Genichiru Tenryu & Ashura Hara vs. Jumbo Tsuruta & Yoshiaki Yatsu. This was the main event of the Bruiser Brody Memorial show. Not the most graceful match, but they really got the job done. Strong psychology and selling. Very stiff match with very precise execution. ****1/2
8/8/88 Yokohama Bunka Taiikukan (Ex) IWGP World Heavyweight Title: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Antonio Inoki. This was Inoki's last challenge for the IWGP Heavyweight title. A very emotional match against his protégé that went to a 60:00 draw. These two had the stamina, but they have such tight move sets and nothing in them is glamorous. At least they did an excellent job of teasing the high spots they do possess. It was mainly on the mat, and while the execution was very good and they really worked the holds, it was dull in points. Strong performances by both, Fujinami in particular since he carried Inoki to one of his last worthwhile matches, but 1 hour is just too much Inoki. Even the crowd wasn't as vocal as I expected down the stretch. ***3/4
7/19/88 (Ex) Asia Tag Titles: The Footloose (Fuyuki & Kawada) vs. Shinichi Nakano & Shunji Takano. Excellent work with tons of near falls. Very heated. This looked like a tremendous match, but only 8 minutes aired. ****1/4 range.
6/5/89 Tokyo Nippon Budokan (Ex VQ) Triple Crown: Tsuruta vs. Tenryu. The best heavyweight match of the 1980's, IMO. Just all around excellent. Even the rest holds were made to look like somewhat meaningful submissions. *****
6/5/89 Tokyo Nippon Budokan (Ex) Asia Tag Titles: The Footloose vs. Doug Furnas & Dan Kroffat. Hot action that the crowd was really into. Kroffat was excellent and Furnas was very good. Fuyuki was bad, getting lost and blowing spots. Several hot near falls. ****1/4
12/22/88 Osaka (Gd): Nobuhiko Takada vs. Bob Backlund. Interesting to see Backlund try to work shoot style. Backlund had a few tricks up his sleeve, but this was almost entirely great due to an incredible performance by Takada. Of course, the crowd going nuts for their guy against the amateur star/former WWF champ helped a lot too. Backlund's mannerisms were really funny for the setting, but Takada reacted so quickly to Backlund's goofy tactics that the match never got corny. ****1/4
1/10/89 Tokyo Nippon Budokan (Ex): Akira Maeda vs. Nobuhiko Takada. This is about as good as the second coming of the UWF gets. The top two stars going at it for nearly 30 heated minutes. Great technical both with submissions and stiff kicks back and forth. ****1/2
8/19/90 Tokyo (Ex) IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Pegasus Kid (Benoit). Great work and crisp execution. Really exciting match, but only 6+ minutes aired. Pegasus takes the title. ****1/2 range.
5/6/91 Handheld (Ex VQ): Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Hiroshi Hase. Excellent technical match. The first half was mainly on the mat with high spots interspersed. The second half had all the great high spots. Hase focused his attack on Liger's arm. The match could have been a little faster paced and more dramatic, but they did do a really good job of putting over the toll of the match (and since they went a little over 28, I'm sure not all of that was selling). ****1/2
1/4/91 Tokyo Korakuen Hall (Gd) WWWA World Singles Title: Bull Nakano vs. Akira Hokuto. Bull tombstoned Hokuto off the 2nd, which was the spot Yumi Ogura had accidentally broken Hokuto's neck on. 6-7 awesome minutes in an unfocused 18 ½ minute match. Hokuto's work was awesome. ****1/2
5/24/91 (Ex): Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Kenta Kobashi. Practically the prototype of a veteran vs. promising youngster match. Great work and near falls . Awesome heat. Both men were great and played their role to perfection. Too bad only 9:31 is shown, because it appeared to be a tremenous match.
4/27/91 Omiya Skate Center (Ex) Top of the Super Jr. League Bout: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Owen Hart. The last half of the match aired and it was near falls back and forth. Great work. ****1/4 range
12/27/91 East Rutherford, NJ Meadowlands Arena Handheld (Ex, but camera is very jittery) WCW Light Heavyweight Title: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Brain Pillman. Great house show match. The idiotic fans actually chanted "Liger sucks" at one point. Great build and teases, but the execution could have been a little better. ****1/4
7/5/92 Tokyo Korakuen Hall (VG) Asia Tag Titles: Kobashi & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Masa Fuchi & Yoshinari Ogawa. Exciting match with great work. Lots of great spots. Hot crowd. ****1/2
4/25/92 Yokohama Bunka Taiikukan (Gd) IWA World Women's Singles Title: Kyoko Inoue vs. Manami Toyota. This was the TV version so it was 9 minutes of one great move after another at a lightning fast pace. Of the charts action, but no psychology and little selling. Toyota wins title. ****3/4
3/7/92 (Gd) UWA World Women's Tag Titles: Toshiyo Yamada & Toyota vs. Suzuka Minami & Yumiko Hotta. Work oriented match with a ton of high spots and near falls. Toyota style match, so she was the standout. ****1/4
2/6/93 (VG): Rey Misterio Jr. & Winners & Super Calo vs. Heavy Metal & Psicosis & Picudo. Great work and spots. Rey was awesome here. Tercera caida was incredible, including a great 5 dive sequence. ****1/2
11/6/94 Los Angeles, CA LA Sports Arena (Ex) Mascara Contra Caballera: Octagon & El Hijo del Santo vs. Love Machine & Eddy Guerrero. As great a Lucha tag match as I have ever seen. One of the things that made this so special was they went against the norm. In both the second and third fall, a member of the Octagon & Santo team was eliminated, leaving his partner to beat the "impossible" 2-1 odds to save the sacred masks. This also had a lot more near falls than normal due to the Eddy puroresu influence. Love Machine was one awesome heel, and it really shows here. *****
4/11/93 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan (Ex VQ) WWWA World Tag Titles: Toshiyo Yamada & Manami Toyota vs. Dynamite Kansai & Mayumi Ozaki. Probably the second best women's tag ever behind their first meeting. Tremendously exciting match with awesome work and spots. The first fall is the thing some people see as a drawback, but I think they are wrong. It puts over Kansai's splash mountain really big, which is always important but even more so given the number of big moves/signature spots that don't put people away here. Kansai & Ozaki win titles. *****
1/25/85 St. Louis, MS Kiel Auditorium (Ex) NWA World Heavyweight Title: Ric Flair vs. Kerry Von Erich. Great heat and excellent psychology. These two don't have many high spots, but the few they have were well utilized. Flair's selling was great. Kerry's comebacks were too fiery for my tastes, but his selling was also good. Of course, the match is seriously dated today, as all of Flair's stuff, past and present, is. Flair deserves credit for leading Kerry to one of his best performances, but this match was too long, even with some edited out. The finish was really lame, which is often the case in Flair matches. Very good match, but not nearly as good as people try to make it out to be, then again I could say that about all of Flair's cookie cutter matches.
3/22/85 (Gd) NWA World Heavyweight Title: Ric Flair vs. Harley Race. Really slow paced. They did an excellent job of putting over the toll of the match. Race was as good as Flair here. Very good, but very dated today.
6/21/85 Tokyo (Ex) NWA International Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Kuniaki Kobayashi vs. Tiger Mask Misawa. Kobayashi carried the match and Misawa did some great spots. The psychology was nothing close to the level Misawa would reach. Overall, this is a very overrated spot oriented match with matwork that went nowhere. The fact that up until 1998, this was the only Misawa match to win Observer Match of the Year, is an absolute disgrace. I love Misawa and think Kobayashi is very underrated, but this legendary match is marginally excellent. ****
6/85 Tokyo Nippon Budokan (Ex) NWA United National Heavyweight Title: Riki Choshu vs. Genichiro Tenryu. Basic, but intelligently worked match. Excellent build, psychology, and utilization of holds. Tenryu attacked Choshu's arm to take the Riki lariat away. Great.
9/16/85 Tokyo (I think) (PG VQ): Bruiser Brody vs. Antonio Inoki. Tremendous heat and intensity. Inoki was incredibly over. The post match went on forever because these two just wanted to kill each other. One of Inoki's best.
8/22/85 Tokyo Nippon Budokan (Gd) WWWA World Singles Title: Jaguar Yokota vs. Lioness Asuka. This has been deemed the best women's match of the 1980's. These two were the best workers and this very well might be the best, but only those in the building would know because you can't judge a long title match based on the 6:30 that aired on TV. What aired was one awesome move after another at a lightning fast pace. Just incredible work and heat. Great.
2/5/86 Sapporo Nakajima Taiiku Center (Gd) NWA International Tag Title: Jumbo Tsuruta & Genichiru Tenryu vs. Riki Choshu & Yoshiaki Yatsu. I kept watching this match wondering why people thought this was the best tag match of the decade until I figured out that this was the rematch that occurred a week later. Choshu & Yatsu take the tag titles.
9/15/86 Fukuoka Sports Center (PG) IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title: Nobuhiko Takada vs. Shiro Koshinaka. Really solid match. Koshinaka's selling of Takada's kicks was awesome. Shiro takes the title. ****1/2
9/87 or 10/87 (Ex) Elimination Match: Now Leaders-Antonio Inoki & Seiji Sakaguchi & Masa Saito & Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. New Leaders-Tatsumi Fujinami & Akira Maeda & Super Strong Machine & Nobuhiko Takada. Incredible heat. Takada was the best worker in the match, not surprisingly. Saito was the only now leader that was particularly good. ****1/4
3/20/87 Tokyo (Ex) IWGP Tag Titles: Akira Maeda & Nobuhiko Takada vs. Keiji Muto & Shiro Koshinaka. Takada & Koshinaka worked great together, as always. Muto wasn't on the level with the others when it came to being able to work the UWF style. Solid match, but not outstanding until the last few minutes. Shiro scores the upset win to take the titles. Very good.
11/30/79 match from Tokushima where Inoki wins title and 12/6/79 match from Tokyo where Backlund regains title (well at least from WWF's standpoint)
Stan Hansen vs. Jumbo Tsuruta
4/18/89 Tokyo Nippon Budokan International, PWF & UN Heavyweight Title Unification Match (creation of Triple Crown) Stan Hansen (PWF & UN champ) vs. Jumbo Tsuruta (International champ). Jumbo becomes 1st Triple Crown Champion
4/89 Triple Crown: Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Genichiru Tenryu
4/24/89 Tokyo Dome: Big Van Vader vs. Shinya Hashimoto
4/26/89 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Mayumi Ozaki vs. Cuty Suzuki
4/30/89 Handheld: Atsushi Onita vs. Ryuma Go
2/27/89: Nobuhiko Takada vs. Kazuo Yamazaki
5/6/89 Yokohama Arena World Global Title Final: Lioness Asuka vs. Medusa
Jumbo Tsuruta & Ashura Hara vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Samson Fuyuki
Jumbo Tsuruta & Ashura Hara vs. Dynamite Kid & Davey Boy Smith
5/89: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Shiro Koshinaka
5/25/89 IWGP Jr. Title: Hiroshi Hase vs. Jushin Thunder Liger. Liger wins title
Toshiaki Kawada & Samson Fuyuki vs. Doug Furnas & Dan Kroffat
6/5/89 Tokyo Nippon Budokan Triple Crown: Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Genichiru Tenryu. Tenryu wins title
Nobuhiko Takada vs. Akira Maeda
6/16/89 IWGP Jr. Title: Jushin Liger vs. Beef Wellington
6/22/89: Jushin Liger & Shiro Koshinaka vs. Beef Wellington & Black Tiger
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Big Van Vader
Riki Choshu vs. Big Van Vader
4/2/93 Yokohama Arena: Plum Mariko & Hikari Fukuoka vs. Sakie Hasegawa & Kaoru Ito
4/11/93 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan: Hikari Fukuoka vs. Sakie Hasegawa
5/3/93 Toda Shi Sports Center JGP'93: Hikari Fukuoka vs. Kaoru Ito
7/4/93 Tokyo Korakuen Hall JGP'93: Hikari Fukuoka vs. Yumiko Hotta
6/3/93 Sapporo Nakajima Taiiku Center JGP'93: Hikari Fukuoka vs. Manami Toyota
5/14/96 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Hikari Fukuoka & Candy Okutsu vs. Dynamite Kansai & Tomoko Miyaguchi
6/16/96 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Hikari Fukuoka & Candy Okutsu vs. Saburo & Fusayo Nouchi
7/7/96 Tokyo Korakuen Hall JWP Tag Titles: Dynamite Kansai & Cuty Suzuki vs. Hikari Fukuoka & KAORU
8/10/96 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Hikari Fukuoka & Candy Okutsu & Tomoko Miyaguchi vs. Devil Masami & Cuty Suzuki & Commando Bolshoi
9/8/96 Tokyo Korakuen Hall JWP KORAKUEN SPECIAL: Hikari Fukuoka & Candy Okutsu vs. Dynamite Kansai & Tomoko Kuzumi
11/26/96 Tokyo Ota-ku Taiikukan JWP Tag Titles: Devil Masami & Hikari Fukuoka vs. Dynamite Kansai & Cuty Suzuki. Devil & Hikari win titles.
10/13/96 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan Mixed Tag Match (Gd VQ): Hikari Fukuoka & Hiromi Yagi & The Great Sasuke (Michinoku Pro) & Tiger Mask IV (Michinoku Pro) vs. Candy Okutsu & Bolshoi Kid & Super Delfin (Michinoku Pro) & Gran Naniwa (Michinoku Pro)
12/14/96 Akutoshitei Hamamatsu (VG): Dynamite Kansai & Cuty Suzuki & Fusayo Nouchi vs. Hikari Fukuoka & Candy Okutsu & Tomoko Kuzumi
1/12/97 Tokyo Korakuen Hall (Ex): Devil Masami & Hikari Fukuoka vs. Dynamite Kansai & Kanako Motoya
2/9/97 Tokyo Korakuen Hall WOWOW Special Match JWP Tag Titles (VG): Devil Masami & Hikari Fukuoka vs. Mayumi Ozaki & Rieko Amano
3/9/97 Tokyo Korakuen Hall (VG): Devil Masami & Hikari Fukuoka & Candy Okutsu & Tomoko Miyaguchi vs. Dynamite Kansai & Cuty Suzuki & Plum Mariko & Kanako Motoya
7/6/97 Zushi Marine Garden Pool The Texas Poolside 8 Woman Tag Match (Ex): Hikari & Candy & Kuzumi & Motoya vs. Devil & Cuty & Plum & Miyaguchi
7/18/97 Tokyo Korakuen Hall (Ex): Hikari Fukuoka & Tomoko Miyaguchi vs. Devil Masami & Tomoko Kuzumi
4/8/97 Tokyo Korakuen Hall JWP Open Weight Single Title (VG VQ): Dynamite Kansai vs. Hikari Fukuoka. Fukuoka wins title.
2/23/97 Shinjuku (VG): Hiichan's (Fukuoka & Yagi & Candy) vs. Kuzumi & Amano & Motoya
2/23/97 Shinjuku (VG): Hikari Fukuoka & Candy Okutsu & Hiromi Yagi & Commando Bolshoi vs. Kuzumi & Amano & Motoya & Tomoko Miyaguchi
5/10/97 Tokyo Korakuen Hall JWP Tag Titles (Gd): Hikari Fukuoka & Devil Masami vs. Cuty Suzuki & Plum Mariko
6/8/97 Yokohama Bunka Taiikukan JWP Open Weight Singles title (VG): Hikari Fukuoka vs. Tomoko Kuzumi
4/8/97 Tokyo Korakuen Hall JWP Open Weight Single Title (VG VQ): Dynamite Kansai vs. Hikari Fukuoka. Fukuoka wins title. ****1/2
2/23/97 Shinjuku (VG): Hiichan's (Fukuoka & Yagi & Candy) vs. Tomoko Kuzumi & Rieko Amano & Kanako Motoya
2/23/97 Shinjuku (VG): Hikari Fukuoka & Candy Okutsu & Hiromi Yagi & Commando Bolshoi vs. Kuzumi & Amano & Motoya & Tomoko Miyaguchi
5/10/97 JWP Tag Titles (Gd): Hikari Fukuoka & Devil Masami vs. Cuty Suzuki & Plum Mariko
6/8/97 Yokohama Bunka Taiikukan JWP Open Weight Singles Title (VG): Hikari Fukuoka vs. Tomoko Kuzumi
8/17/97 Tokyo Korakuen Hall (Ex VQ): Hikari Fukuoka & Kanako Motoya vs. Aja Kong (AJW) & Cuty Suzuki
8/17/97 Tokyo Korakuen Hall Candy Okutsu Retirement Match JWP Open Weight Single Title (Ex): Fukuoka vs. Candy
9/20/97 Tokyo Korakuen Hall JWP Open Weight Single Title (Ex): Fukuoka vs. Commando Bolshoi
10/10/97 Tokyo Korakuen Hall (VG)Hikari Fukuoka & Kanako Motoya vs. Cuty Suzuki & Commando Bolshoi
11/7/97 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukan #2 (Ex): Hikari Fukuoka & Tomoko Kuzumi vs. Kyoko Inoue (free) & Tomoko Miyaguchi
11/16/97 Tokyo Korakuen Hall (Ex): Hikari & Commando Bolshoi vs. Yasha Kurenai & Carol Midori (LLPW team)
12/6/97 Yokohama Bunka Taiikukan JWP Open Weight Single Title (Ex): Hikari Fukuoka vs. Yasha Kurenai
12/26/97 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Hikari Fukuoka & Manami Toyota (AJW) vs. Devil Masami & Cuty Suzuki
1/11/98 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Hikari & Kuzumi & Miyaguchi vs. Kyoko Inoue & Yoshiko Tamura & Tanny Mouse (Neo)
1/23/98 Kawasaki Shi Taiikukan JWP Tag Titles: Devil Masami & Fukuoka vs. Manami Toyota & Kaoru Ito (AJW)
2/11/98 Tokyo Korakuen Hall JWP Tag Titles: Toyota & Ito vs. Fukuoka & Tomoko Kuzumi
3/6/98 Tokyo Korakuen Hall WOWOW SPECIAL SINGLE MATCH Queen vs. Queen: Hikari Fukuoka vs. Tomoko Kuzumi
4/12/98 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Hikari Fukuoka vs. Rieko Amano
5/10/98 Osaka IMP Hall Battlarts & JWP Mixed Tag Match: Hikari Fukuoka & Alexander Otsuka vs. Tomoko Kuzumi & Yuki Ishikawa
5/17/98 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Hikari Fukuoka & Tomoko Miyaguchi & Tomoko Kuzumi vs. Dynamite Kansai & Devil Masami & Cuty Suzuki
6/14/98 Tokyo Korakuen Hall JWP Tag Titles: Hikari Fukuoka & Tomoko Kuzumi vs. Devil Masami & Cuty Suzuki
7/12/98 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Hikari Fukuoka & Rieko Amano vs. Dynamite Kansai & Cuty Suzuki
9/6/98 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Cuty Suzuki & Hikari Fukuoka & Manami Toyota (AJW) vs. Tomoko Kuzumi & Nanae Takahashi (AJW) & Momoe Nakanishi (AJW).
7/31/98 Kawasaki Shi Taiikukan JWP Tag Titles: Devil Masami & Cuty Suzuki vs. Hikari Fukuoka & Tomoko Kuzumi. Hikari & Kuzumi win tag titles.
9/6/98 Tokyo Korakuen Hall The Single 4 x 4 New JWP Announcement: Hikari Fukuoka vs. Kanako Motoya
10/21/98 Tokyo Korakuen Hall SHE IS NEW "J:" Hikari Fukuoka vs. Tomoko Kuzumi
12/16/98 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan 2: Hikari Fukuoka & Tomoko Kuzumi & Tomoko Miyaguchi & Kanako Motoya vs. Devil Masami & Cuty Suzuki & Commando Bolshoi & Rieko Amano
12/27/98 Tokyo Korakuen Hall Cuty Suzuki Retirement 8 Woman Tag Match: Cuty Suzuki & Hikari Fukuoka & Devil Masami & Commando Bolshoi vs. Tomoko Kuzumi & Tomoko Miyaguchi & Rieko Amano & Kanako Motoya
Contains several matches from Stampede. Yamada vs. Wellington, Yamada & Owen Hart vs. Muchan & Gama Singh, Yamada & Owen & Hase vs. Singh's & Morrow, Liger vs. Pillman-Pillman wins WCW Jr. at Superbrawl II-great match, Liger vs. Honaga-2/15/92 Liger regains IWGP Jr., Liger & Nogami & Aoyagi vs. Hiro Saito & Honaga & SS Machine, Liger vs. Black Tiger Rocco, Yamada & Inoki vs. Takada & Kido, Liger vs. Takeshi Misawa-Liger breaks Misawa's neck with his abisegeri, Liger vs. Osamu Matsuda, Liger vs. Hoshino, more!
Liger vs. Brad Armstrong, Nogami, Pegasus Kid 11/24/90-Liger wins IWGP Jr. Title, Owen Hart, Takada 8/19/87, Hase, Koshinaka, w/ Matsuda (El Samurai) vs. Muta & Chono, Koshinaka vs. Owen Hart-Shiro wins IWGP Jr. title in a great match, plus 5 matches with Yamada in Stampede including vs. Viet Cong I (Hase) in Alberta Shopping Mall 9/87, more!
All matches 3 1/2 stars or better, Yamada vs. Takada, Funaki, Hase-4 1/4, Owen-4 1/2, Shiro12/88-4 1/2, w/Takada vs. Owen & Rocco-4 1/4, Owen-4, Liger vs. Hase-Liger wins IWGP Jr. 4 1/2, Sano 7/22/89-4 3/4, w/Nogami vs. Sano & Hoshino, Sano 8/10/89-Sano Wins IWGP Jr. 4 3/4, Sano, 9/30/89-4 3/4, Sano 1/31/90-5 1990 Observer Match of the Year!, w/Nogami vs. Sano & Pegasus, vs. Pegasus 8/12/92-4 1/2, more!
11/14/87: Fuji Yamada vs John Wilkie R3 1:38. Wilkie is an unskilled brawler who just puts the boots to you. Yamada showed some hot moves, but they were all isolated spots where he jumped at his inept opponent. *1/2
11/28/87: Fuji Yamada vs. Rocky Moran 10:23 of 11:08. Yamada had the offense and aerial ability to get over. Still, they gave him a Bruce Lee gimmick with the short haircut and a prematch martial arts demonstration with his partner Clive Myers. Fast paced match with nice sequences. Yamada's athleticism exceeds his offense, but his offense was well ahead of his time and Moran did a good job of taking it. Yamada was very smooth in chaining his offense together, and showed a lot more diversity against the capable opponent. ***1/4
Clive Myers & Fuji Yamada vs. Mark Rocco & Kendo Nagasaki 19:43. Myers was a great athlete, but didn't use it well. He was basically a showboater who used generic moves that had all the stiffness of Shawn Michaels. Nagasaki was out of place in a match with three guys wrestling junior style, and typically added nothing to the match. Nagasaki injured Yamada's back with an illegal body slam over the top to the floor. **1/4
1986, Tag Tournament Semifinal: Clive Myers & Fuji Yamada vs John Wilkie & Zigue Zag 14:30. Myers flexability was impressive, but he had about the lowest impact martial arts offense known to man. Wilkie and Zag just cheated. Yamada showed a few hot moves, but this was the typical 80's tag match where the heels cheat to keep the face from tagging. The faces eventually got to show their offense, but the heels were overselling badly. I don't go for politically correct lies, but some of the things the announcer was saying were pretty scary, especially since they weren't intended to be derogatory. When Yamada did a reverse body attack off the 2nd, the announcer said, "Bonzai! The Jap bounces off the corner!" Later when Yamada did a diving headbutt he said, "And now the Jap going for some aerial work. We're talking Pearl Harbor!" *3/4
1986, Tag Tournament Semifinal: Clive Myers & F uji Yamada vs Rocky Moran & Blondie Barrett 11:05. These heels were way better than Wilkie & Zag. Not only did they use wrestling moves they fought a quick pace. Match tended to be more exciting than good as it was a bit sloppy. **1/4
3/12/88, 2/3 Falls Professional Wrestling World Heavy-Middleweight Championship: Fuji Yamada vs Mark Rocco 20:43. Rocco was a very smart wrestler who knew how to make his opponent look good and garner them added support from the crowd. Well worked match pitting Yamada's daring against Rocco's brain. Rocco carried the match, allowing Yamada to showcase his flying. ***1/4
Fuji Yamada vs Skull Murphy 8:34. Yamada didn't do his flying until it was time to win the fall. Before that he looked like a jobber. Murphy didn't do any wrestling, and Yamada began cheating to combat him. I'm not sure if the fans were rooting for Yamada, or mainly just against Skull. *
Fuji Yamada vs Shaun South 8:57. One sided but exciting match with South putting Yamada over the entire time. Yamada was really showing his stuff. **1/4
Fuji Yamada vs Mark Rocco 8:36. Rocco is a clever and crafty opponent who certainly gets a lot more out of Yamada than any of his other UK opposition. Yamada's high spots meant more here because they were his offense in a make or break way. The spots were set up well, and you never know if they'll be successful. Much closer to the classic Tiger Mask vs. Black Tiger matches than the earlier Yamada vs. Rocco. This would have been an excellent match if it wasn't so brief. ***1/4
Liger vs. Hase-2 times, vs. Sano-4 times all great matches, vs. Owen Hart-2 times, vs. Pegasus (Benoit)-2 times both excellent matches, Finlay, & Casas
Liger vs. Pillman, Benoit, Fujinami, Honaga-2 times, Top of the Super Jr. League bout: Liger vs. Samurai, 4/30/92-Top of the Super Junior Final: Liger vs. Samurai-Best Junior Match of All-Time! Liger wins Super Junior Tourney *****, IWGP Jr. Title: Liger vs. Samurai-Samurai wins IWGP Jr. w/ Tiger Mask vs. Benoit & Samurai, great clips, more!
Liger vs. Black Tiger (Guerrero) & Hogan vs. Muta from 9/26/93, Sabu vs. Lightning Kid 4/17/93 NWA Grand Slam, Toyota &Yamada vs. Dynamite Kansai & Mayumi Ozaki 4/11/93 Dream Slam II Observer match of the year for 1993 *****, Tiger Mask Sayama vs. Black Tiger 9/21/82, Ultimo Dragon vs. Samurai 5/20/93, more!
Liger vs. Sasuke-great match 7/8/94, Liger vs. Delfin final match of Super Jr. Tourney, Steiners vs. Muta & Hase, Takada vs. Yamazaki 4/3/94, Liger, Santo, Tiger Mask, & Octagon vs. Blue Panther, Psicosis, E. Guerrero, & Parka 7/2/94-great match, more!
Kaori Matsumoto (pre Dump) vs. Chigusa-2 times from 1983
Dump vs. Bull
Chigusa vs. Dump-hair vs. hair 8/28/85
Chigusa vs. Dump-2nd hair vs. hair match 11/7/86
Dump & Omori vs. Crush Gals 2/25/88-Dump & Omori's retirement match-after the match her longtime rival Chigusa gets Dump to team with her for the first (and last) time and they do a 5 minute exhibition of Chigusa & Dump vs. Asuka & Omori
1986 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Bull Nakano vs. Dump Matsumoto
2/25/88 Kawasaki Shi Taiikukan 2/3 Falls WWWA Tag Titles: The Fire Jets (Yumiko Hotta & Mitsuko Nishiwaki) vs. Bull Nakano & Kumiko Iwamoto. Bull & Iwamoto win titles.
9/88 '88 Tag League The Best League Match: Bull Nakano & Dynamite Jack (Combat Toyoda) vs. JB Angels (Yamazaki & Tateno).
1/4/91 Tokyo Korakuen Hall WWWA World Single Title: Bull Nakano vs. Akira Hokuto
1/11/91Kawasaki Shi Taiikukan hair vs. hair: Bull Nakano & Kyoko Inoue vs. Aja Kong & Bison Kimura
1/23/91 Cage Death Match: Bull Nakano vs. Yumiko Hotta
Bull Nakano vs. Akira Hokuto
11/21/91 Kawasaki Shi Taiikukan Cage Tag Street Fight Death Match: Bull Nakano & Monster Ripper vs. Aja Kong & Bison Kimura
3/20/92 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Bull Nakano vs. Kyoko Inoue
4/25/92 Yokohama Bunka Taiikukan WWWA World Single Title: Bull Nakano vs. Aja Kong
All 3 matches from Super J Cup, Sasuke vs. Shinzaki, vs. Delfin-8/24/93 Sasuke wins Jr. Title, w/ Onita & Goto vs. Pogo & Shinzaki & Toi-Barbed wire (Shinzaki rope walks the barbed wire & Sasuke does Space Flying Tiger Drop over the barbed wire!), w/ Sato & Shiryu & Michinoku vs. Liger & Otani & Samurai &Tokimitsu Ishizawa-awesome 7 dive sequence, plus several 6 man Lucha style bouts!
WRESTLE-1 1/19/03: Sabu vs. Kendo Kashin
Michinoku 8/9/02: Curry Man vs. Macho*Pump
NJ 8/29/02: Curry Man & Ikuto Hidaka vs. Jado & Gedo
Michinoku 10/19/02 Tag Leaguesen: Curry Man & Hayashi Rice Man vs. Jinsei Shinazaki & Kazuya Yuasa
Michinoku 10/20/02 Tag League Yushoketteisen: Curry Man & Hayashi Rice Man vs. Jinsei Shinzaki & Kazuya Yuasa vs. The Great Sasuke & TAKA Michinoku
Michinoku 11/8/02: Curry Man & Hayashi Rice Man & Dragon Kid vs. CIMA & SUWA & Don Fuji
AJ 11/28/02: Kendo Kashin & Exteme Blade (Elix Skipper) vs. Gran Hamada & Gran Naniwa
AJ 11/28/02 Sekai Saikyo Tag Kettei Leaguesen: Mike Awesome & PJ Friedman vs. Taiyo Kea & Satoshi Kojima
ZERO-ONE 1/6/03: Jason Alcatraz & A.J. Styles vs. Mr. Otani & Tatsuhito Takaiwa
ZERO-ONE 1/26/03: Low ki & Yoshihito Sasaki vs. Wataru Sakata & Ikuto Hidaka
6/27/95 vs. Aja-Aja wins WWWA Title, Hasegawa, 12/4/95 vs. Kansai-Toyota wins WWWA Title, w/Yuki vs. Double Inoues, w/Ito vs. Hasegawa & Yoshida, w/Black Blizzard (Ito) vs. Yuki & Jabuki (Hokuto), more!
10/28/88 Yokohama Bunka Taiikukan: Tsuruta vs. Tenryu. Tremendous match. Great execution, build, excitement, drama, psychology, and heat. Excellent performance by both men. This is everything a big match should be, and more. ****3/4
4/89 Triple Crown: Tsuruta vs. Tenryu. Tsuruta drops Tenryu nastily on his shoulder and head with a powerbomb at 15:45, and Tenryu is unable to continue. This was only very good because the injury caused it to end before it got hot. The heat wasn't as good as the previous match, but the result turned the powerbomb into one of the deadliest moves in the country. ***1/2
6/5/89 Tokyo Nippon Budokan Triple Crown: Pretty much a flawless match that rates right up there with the best men's heavyweight matches of all-time. Both men play their roles to perfection. Great psychology, build, execution, timing, near falls, and stiffness. Really heated. Tenryu takes the TC. As far as I can tell this is the best heavyweight match of its decade. *****
10/11/89 Yokohama Bunka Taiikukan Triple Crown: Tenryu vs. Tsuruta. Another great match, but not as action packed as in the past. Slower paced, slower building, and not as heated as their past bouts. These guys stiffed the hell out of each other though. Jumbo regained the TC. ****1/4
4/90 Triple Crown: Tsuruta vs. Tenryu. This was known to be their last meeting because Tenryu has already signed with SWS. It started out really hot with Tsuruta pummeling Tenryu with big spots and it was a sprint, so it stayed hot most of the way. The match didn't have the build or psychology of their previous matches, but the work was great and the match was certainly different from the other four. Tenryu left the ring quickly after Jumbo put him away and Hansen came out and destroyed the ring boys then got into a fight with Jumbo, thus taking all the focus off the departing Tenryu as the key feud was switched to Jumbo vs. Stan. ****
Octagon & Santo & Astro vs. Blue Panther & Fuerza Guerrera & Hijo del Diablo
Genichiru Tenryu & Ashura Hara & Ultimo vs. Kamala & Duggan & Jerry Estrada
Ultimo vs. La Fiera
National Geographic Explorer on Lucha Libre
Mixed Match: Keiichi Yamada vs. Don Nakaya Nielson
AAA Middleweight Title: Blue Panther vs. Super Astro
Octagon & Santo & Perro Aguayo vs. Blue Panther & La Parka & Fishman
Ultimo & Misterioso & El Hijo Del Santo vs. Fuerza Guerrera & Emilio Charles Jr. & La Fiera
Ultimo & Kato Kung Lee & Apollo Dantes vs. Blue Panther & Bestia Salvaje & Javier Cruz
Ultimo & Octagon & Kato Kung Lee vs. Blue Panther & Bestia Salvaje & Javier Cruz
Octagon & Konnan & Perro Aguayo vs. Cien Caras & Mascara Ano 2000 & Fuerza Guerrera
Octagon & Santo & Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Tony Arce & Vulcano & Psicopata
Ultimo & Octagon & Vampiro vs. Blue Panther & Satanico & Fuerza Guerrera
Ultimo & Octagon & Vampiro vs. Panther & Satanico & Guerrera-rematch
Muta vs. Steamboat
Naoki Sano vs. Jeff Jarrett
Ultimo vs. Casas, w/ Atlantis & Dandy vs. Casas & MS & Pirata Morgan, w/ Love Machine & Vampiro vs. Casas & Black Magic (Norman Smiley) & Morgan, w/ Haku & Pierroth Jr. vs. Casas & Magic & Morgan, Liger vs. Pillman 8/11/91-first meeting 4 stars, Flair vs. Tenryu, Flair vs. Kevin Von Erich 6/24/85, plus Tiger Mask!