12/24
Rimi (Jaguar) Yokota vs. Nana Fujimura
Lady Conners vs. Flor Metallica
Yuki Lee vs. Esther Moreno
Jaguar Yokota vs. Lola Gonzalez
Bison Kimura & Chikako Shiratori vs. Bull Nakano & Cooga
12/25
Nobue Endo vs. Nana Fujimura
Esther Moreno vs. Lady Conners
Chikako Shiratori vs. Yuki Lee
Jaguar Yokota & Flor Metallica vs. Bull Nakano & Lola Gonzalez
Bison Kimura vs. Cooga
The Bloody Phoenix & Nana Fujimura vs. Flor Metallica & Lady Connors
Cooga & Esther Moreno vs. Chikako Shiratori & Xochitl Hamada
Jaguar Yokota vs. Lioness Asuka
Manami Toyota vs. Bison Kimura
Sachie Abe vs. Aya Koyama. Standard rookie match. They didn't do anything of note, but as far as we could see didn't screw up. 4:18 of 15:00
The Bloody Phoenix & Nana Fujimura vs. Flor Metalica & Lady Connors. A passable match carried by the Mexicans. Flor looked decent, making her the only Metalica that did anything worthwhile since '88. Connors kind of had an idea what she wanted to do, but seemed to lack the physical ability to quite pull it off. 7:37 of 9:11
Chikako Shiratori & Xochilt Hamada vs. Cooga & Esther Moreno. Shiratori vs. Moreno was pretty good. Shiratori had attitude, and Esther was using her athleticism for smaller things like kip-ups she wouldn't mess up that look good. Had the typical Jd' problem where even though the spots aren't blown, they are done a lot better in other places. Cooga was passable but frustrating because she should step up and carry a match like this, but she isn't even aggressive. Xochilt just doesn't do anything well. 16:08 of 20:28.
Jaguar Yokota vs. Lioness Asuka. Started out with their perpetual motion stuff, but quickly became submission oriented. Initially, this portion was shoot oriented stuff where you had to be cautious trying to make your move, you couldn't just magically apply your submission like most matches. Unfortunately, it switched to more traditional stuff once they broke the ice. The first 15 minutes were mainly slower paced and less spot oriented then the final 5 had all the great moves. Lioness dominated, of course, with Jaguar mainly getting her offense off counters. The tamest and most conservative match I can remember these two having, probably in large part because having not wrestled all year they were rusty. Their styles and strengths play to each other so well, and they have tremendous familiarity and chemistry, so even a less than stellar performance results in a damn good match. 20:04 of 20:44. ***1/2
Shukan Puroresu Presents Velfarre Special Match: Bison Kimura vs. Manami Toyota. These two are too talented not to have a good match, but their styles didn't mesh well and they never developed any drama. Bison & Toyota were given a bouquet of flowers by a Shukan reporter. Bison attacked with her flowers while Manami was recieving them, leading to a strong start where she controlled with submissions and punishing chops. Toyota did Bison's submission style to an extent, but other than it taking longer to get to the spots this basically looked like the typical Toyota match. Toyota was fairly sloppy once they started doing spots at 10:00, screwing up a few of her counters to the point she wasn't able to pull anything off. Toyota's Japanese ocean bomb starts off like a Tigerdriver, but she brings her opponent up to thunderfire powerbomb position still holding the doublearm then slams them like a Ligerbomb. 17:43. ***
Highlights of the 8 woman tournament to crown the first Trans-World Wrestling Federation world champion. Interspersed are segments with the two Jd' representatives, Bison & Shiratori, sightseeing in Mexico, where the tournament took place.
Jd' TV 5/5/96
Nana Fujimura vs. Sachie Abe
Esther Moreno & Lady Connors vs. Flor Metallica & The Bloody Phoenix
Xochitl Hamada vs. Chikako Shiratori
Jaguar Yokota vs. Cooga
Bison Kimura vs. Lioness Asuka
Jd' TV 5/6/96 taped 12/24/96
Jaguar Yokota vs. Lola Gozales
Bull Nakano & Cooga vs. Bison Kimura & Chikako Shiratori
taped 12/25/96
Yuki Lee vs. Chikako Shiratori
Bull Nakano & Lola Gonzales vs. Jaguar Yokota & Flor Metallica
Bison Kimura vs. Cooga
Chikako Shiratori & Mima Shimoda (AJW) vs. Jaguar Yokota & Yuko Kosugi. Veterans Yokota & Shimoda led Shiratori & Kosugi through the match. The match was competent, but Yokota vs. Shimoda was the only pairing that could really be good, and there wasn't enough of that because they wanted to make Shiratori & Kosugi look as good as possible. Shiratori was decent, but Kosugi, who debuted earlier in the night, really couldn't do much. Considering how long the match was, it was pretty impressive that it held up as well as it did. They did a good job of walking the line between keeping it basic and delivering a main event calibre match. **1/2
Fresh Battle: Yuko Kosugi vs. Sachie Abe. Kosugi's debut. Clip.
New Wave Battle: Aya Koyama vs. Kazumi Yanu. Clip.
Esther Moreno & Alda Moreno vs. Neftaly & Princess Blanca. 5 ½ minutes were shown, but what was shown looked great. The Morenos were actually hitting all their flying moves. I'm sure it was much worse unedited, but...
Cooga vs. The Bloody Phoenix. 3 min shown.
The Crushing Spirits: Lioness Asuka vs. Yuki Lee. Lioness did a real good job of carrying Lee. Lee wasn't credible against her though, so it was too short to amount to much. **
Lioness Asuka vs. Yuki Lee. This was a bit better than the previous match because Lee showed more heart here coming back from practically being "knocked unconscious." **1/2
REAL DOG FIGHT: Bison Kimura vs. Li Fua (Jaguar Yokota) 13:37. A quality brawl that could have been a really high quality wrestling match if they scrapped Jaguar's odd gimmick and just had a regular match. Bison was her normal quality self, but Jaguar did an odd mix of brawling and martial arts, going Abdullah The Butcher on Bison's head at the outset to bust her open then working her over with spinning kicks. Jaguar was a bit mechanical, but did a few cool moves such as a moonsault attack off the elevation for the cheap seats and a somersault missile kick. They executed well, but the action didn't flow as well as it should have. After the match, Jaguar cut her head so she could drip blood on Bison. **1/2
Match list coming soon
Sachie Abe vs. Miyuki Sogabe
Princesa Blanca vs. Aya Koyama
Alda Moreno vs. Neftaly
The Bloody & Emi Motokawa vs. Yuki Lee & Yuko Kosugi
Lioness Asuka vs. Esther Moreno
Mima Shimoda & Jaguar Yokota vs. Cooga & Chikako Shiratori
Jaguar & Abe vs. Cooga & Sogabe
Full match list coming soon
Jd' 12/29/96
Jd' vs. Zenjo Super Rookie Crown ONE DAY Tournament 1st Round Highlights - Nanae Takahashi vs. Misae Watanabe, Miyuki Sogabe vs. Miho Wakizawa, Sachie Abe vs. Rumi Sakeguchi, Yoko Kosugi vs. Miyuki Fujii
Jd' vs. Zenjo Super Rookie Crown ONE DAY Tournament Semifinal Highlights - Nanae Takahashi vs. Miho Wakizawa, Yoko Kosugi vs. Rumi Sakeguchi
Jd' vs. Zenjo Super Rookie Crown ONE DAY Tournament Final: Nanae Takahashi vs. Rumi Sakeguchi
Jaguar Yokota & Yuki Lee & Chikako Shiratori vs. Chiquita Arteca & Pequeno Azteca & The Bloody
TWA Title Match: Lioness Asuka vs. Lola Gonzales
Cooga vs. Bison Kimura
Jd' 1/16/97
Chikako Shiratori & Miyuki Sogabe vs. Emi Motokawa (IWA Japan) & Alda Moreno
Kickboxing: Yoko Takahashi vs. Kumiko Maekawa (AJW)
Jaguar Yokota & Esther Moreno vs. Cooga & La Infernal
Megumi Kudo (FMW) vs. Bison Kimura
Jd' 5/11/97
5 Woman Battle Royal with The Goddess Shiratori, Kosugi, Neftaly, Alda Moreno, & Esther Moreno
Kosugi vs. Esther
Jaguar vs. Lee. Good match due to Jaguar.
Bison vs. La Infernal
Cooga & Sogabe vs. Lioness & Bloody
Megumi Yabushita & Sumie Sakai Debut Match: Megumi Yabushita vs. Sumie Sakai
Miho Wakizawa vs. Miyuki Sogabe
Neftaly & Ryuna & La Infernal vs. Chikako Shiratori & Yuki Lee & Yoko Kosugi
Cooga vs. The Bloody
Jaguar Yokota vs. Esther Moreno
Lioness Asuka vs. Bison Kimura
Sumie Sakai vs. Megumi Yabushita. Both women's debut match.
Sogabe vs. Wakizawa
The Goddess Shiratori & Lee & Kosugi vs. Infernal & Neftaly & Ryuna
Cooga vs. The Bloody
Jaguar vs. Esther Moreno
TWF Title. Lioness vs. Bison. One of Jd's best
#15
Sumie Sakai vs. Miyuki Sogabe
Neftaly & La Infernal vs. The Bloody & Ryuna
Cooga vs. Xochilt Hamada
Jaguar Yokota & Megumi Yabushita vs. Esther Moreno & Alda Moreno
Yuko Kosugi vs. Lioness Asuka
Chikako Shiratori & Yuki Lee vs. Jaguar Yokota & Bison Kimura. Good match.
#16
Kazuko Fujiwara vs. Masami Iizuka
Megumi Yabushita vs. Yuki Lee
La Infernal vs. Alda Moreno
Sumie Sakai & Cooga vs. Sachie Abe & Xochilt Hamada
Chikako Shiratori vs. Bison Kimura 8:16 of 15:55. Back and forth match where Bison really worked hard to try to make Shiratori look credible. Bison roughed Shiratori up on the outside with chair shots and a piledriver, but Shiratori kept using her athleticism to counter Bison and get a few good moves and near falls in. The chemistry wasn't the greatest nor the execution the smoothest, as Shiratori lacks the athleticism to truly pull this match off as fluidly as it needs to be. The effort was there though, and it was a fun and competitive match that tried hard to make Shiratori seem a lot closer to Bison's level than she really is. ** range
Jaguar Yokota & Yuko Kosugi & Miyuki Sogabe vs. Lioness Asuka & Ryuna & The Bloody. A brawl totally dominated by the heels. Kosugi was the bump girl until Lioness Liger bombed her on the floor which injured her legit, so the match eventually continued 2 on 3 since Kosugi had to be hospitalized. Jaguar was dominated, getting bloodied after Lioness piledrove her through a table, then actually pinned after Lioness being jackknifed through a table, towerhacker bombed, and Liger bombed off a table that was set up on the 2nd rope.
This is similar to Kudo's Anthology, but it has more footage and less talk. This does a decent job of detailing her career in AJW and a really good job of detailing her career in Jd'. It has highlights of her most important matches in Jd', but also shows about 37 minutes of her 60:00 draw with Lioness from 5/2/96 Tokyo KBS Hall and about 14 minutes of her bid for the TWF title against Lioness from 4/20/97 Tokyo Korakuen Hall.
Jd' #17 8/31/97 Drastic Movement'97 taped 6/22 Osaka Bayside Jenny
Masami Iizuka vs. Kazuko Fujiwara. Rookie match. 1/2*
Megumi Yabushita vs. Alda Moreno. Another bad Alda performance. 3/4*
Yuko Kosugi & Sachie Abe vs. La Infernal & Neftaly. Very indy looking match. *1/4
Cooga vs. Miyuki Sogabe. Cooga wasn't as bad as usual, but Sogabe looked green. *1/2
Jaguar Yokota vs. Sumie Sakai. Reviewed in Quebrada #39. ***
Bison Kimura & The Goddess Chikako Shiratori & Yuki Lee vs. Lioness Asuka & Ryuna & The Bloody. This turned out to be the last match of Bison's career, as she breaks her arm during the match. They continue it as a handicap match about 5 minutes later, but it's disorganized because they are improvising. *3/4
NJ World Pro Wrestling 10/18/97 G1 Climax Special taped 9/23 Tokyo Nippon Budokan
Kazuyuki Fujita vs. Don Frye. Surprisingly good. Intense and credible enough. Fujita eventually got fed up with Frye's heel tactics and resorted to them himself. Not a great technical match, but it worked because the fans were really into it. **1/2
Naoya Ogawa vs. Brian Johnston. Johnston made his pro debut, and Ogawa can't even work himself much less carry anyone else. This went twice as long as it should have. Finish looked incredible and Frye and Ogawa had a pull apart to build to their matchup, but other than that...1/4*
Shinya Hashimoto vs. Zane Frazier. Bad wannabe RINGS match. Frazier was horrible. 1/4*
AJ Pro Wrestling 30 10/19 '97 Giant Series taped 10/11 Fukuoka Kokusai Center
Akiyama & Shiga vs. Hayabusa & Jinsei Shinzaki. Good work. Everyone looked good, but no heat and pacing was too even. ***
World Tag Titles: Kobashi & Ace vs. Kawada & Taue. Closing minutes were hot, but overall it should have been better. ***
Jd' #19 10/4 SHAKE VIORENTLY '97 taped 8/3 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Handicap match w/ Kosugi & Sogabe's hair on the line: Yuko Kosugi & Miyuki Sogabe vs. Lioness. Not much of a match w/ the youngsters going down so easily. Jd' president got his hair cut instead.
Esther Moreno vs. Alda Moreno. Highlights
Yuko Kosugi vs. Kazuko Fujiwara. Highlights
The Goddess Shiratori & Yuki Lee & Sachie Abe vs. Ryuna & The Bloody & Michiko Nagashima. Last 6 minutes
Jaguar Yokota & Devil Masami vs. Megumi Yabushita & Sumie Sakai. Reviewed in Quebrada #39. *1/4
Cooga vs. Aja Kong. Not really competitive. Aja was good, but Cooga was just plain outclassed. Main thing for Cooga was that she kicked out a lot and lasted a long time. **1/4
Jd' SHAKE VIORENTLY '97 taped 9/5 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan 2
Sachie Abe vs. Kazuko Fujiwara. Clip
Miyuki Sogabe vs. Megumi Yabushita. Clip
Yuko Kosugi vs. Sumie Sakai. Clip
Esther Moreno & Alda Moreno vs. The Goddess Chikako Shiratori & Yuki Lee. Not as bad as expected, but certainly not good. *1/4
Jado vs. Gedo. These two didn't work hard at all. They basically did as little as they could to have a decent match. *3/4
Jaguar Yokota & Cooga vs. Lioness Asuka & The Bloody. Reviewed in Quebrada #39. ***
AJ Pro Wrestling 30 11/9/97 '97 Giant Series taped 10/21 Tokyo Nippon Budokan
Steve Williams & Gary Albright & The Lacrosse vs. Johnny Smith & Bobby Duncum Jr. & Rex King. **
Akira Taue vs. Johnny Ace. Both men worked really hard. They weren't graceful, but they were effective. They worked pretty stiff and they used their spots well, throwing in all their special spots like Taue's tope and Ace's moonsault. The timing was really good, and Ace was pulling his big spots out of nowhere to counter Taue's nodowa otoshi. ***3/4
Jd' #20 12/2/97 Shake Violently '97 taped 9/7 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Sachie Abe & Kazuko Fujiwara vs. Esther Moreno & Alda Moreno. Highlights.
The Goddess Chikako Shiratori vs. Yuki Lee. The crowd was actually hot, and very pro Goddess, but the match was, not surprisingly, lousy. They tried hard and there were a few nice spots, but the work wasn't too impressive. *1/2
Jd' Junior League Bout: Megumi Yabushita vs. Sumie Sakai. Highlights
The Bloody vs. Ryuna. Highlights.
Gedo vs. Jado. A lame effort by Fuyuki's jokers, who seemed to be wrestling in slow motion. *
Lioness Asuka & Eagle Sawai & Shark Tsuchiya vs. Jaguar Yokota & Cooga & Yabushita. Kodo Fuyuki refed for a while, but he couldn't keep any semblance of order and Jaguar wound up kicking his butt, so Tommy Ran took over. Heel dominated this one. Jaguar was the best, but the match went on forever, especially considering how one-sided it was, so it was kind of boring. Lioness pins Jaguar to set up TWF title rematch. *1/2
NJ World Pro Wrestling 12/20/97 Super Grade Tag League VII Final taped 12/8 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan
SG Tag League Decision Match for slot in final: Sasaki & Yamazaki vs. Hashimoto & Nakanishi. Nakanishi showed a lot of fire for the first time in ages. Stiff match with great heat. I was actually disappointed that only ½ the match aired. ***1/2
IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title: Otani vs. Ka Shin. This had a lot of well executed shoot style spots. They clearly traded realism in that genre for excitement, and they achieved their goal. Match was very good, but Otani was dominated so much that he barely did anything offensively beyond his signature spots. ***3/4
Super Grade Tag League VII Final: Hashimoto & Nakanishi vs. Muto & Chono. Match comes off much better in unedited form on the BEST BOUTS of 1997 tape. ***1/4 unedited. Looks about 3/4* lower here.
Yuko Kosugi vs. Miyuki Sogabe
Esther Moreno & Alda Moreno vs. Kazuko Fujiwara & Sachie Abe
Yuki Lee vs. Chikako Shiratori
Jd' Junior Title Match: Megumi Yabushita vs. Sumie Sakai
The Bloody vs. Ryuna
Jado vs. Gedo
Lioness Asuka & Eagle Sawai & Shark Tsuchiya vs. Jaguar Yokota & Cooga & Megumi Yabushita
Yuki Lee vs. Alda Moreno
Ryuna & Fang Suzuki vs. Yuko Kosugi & Kazuko Fujiwara
Jd' Junior Title Match: Megumi Yabushita vs. The Bloody 5:05. Yabushita's knee was in bad shape, with a huge brace on it, and Bloody devoted the match to abusing it to death. She used chair after chair on it on the floor to set up the kneebar. Fang and Ryuna kept interfering, so Sakai came in to break up the big submission. Bloody quickly reapplied the kneebar, and while Sakai was able to ignore Fang's attacks and pull Yabushita to the floor, but poor Megumi couldn't get back up so Tommy Ran stopped the match. It was good for what it was, but their 1/11/98 match is certainly better since Yabushita's knee isn't an issue.
Cooga & Leoga (Miyuki Sogabe) vs. Esther Moreno & Sachie Abe
Kyoko Inoue & Sumie Sakai vs. Michiko Omukai & Chikako Shiratori 10:03 of 18:58. Shiratori & Omukai were eager to wrestler little Sakai, but looked at each other when it came time to square off with supersized superstar Kyoko. Kyoko wasn't ready to take the idols seriously, but they sort of earned her respect with a couple of planchas and an elevated missile kick. Shiratori continued the run with her cross-arm German suplex and la magistral, so Kyoko used her real offense, the lariat and the Niagara driver for the immediate win. This was way to reminiscent of '96 AJW or the entirety of NEO with Kyoko making the younger, smaller wrestlers look weak, but it was a pretty decent match up until the useless finish.
TWF World Title Match: Lioness Asuka vs. Jaguar Yokota 15:50. An excellent match in the Lioness formula, with Lioness totally dominating an exceptionally worked contest with her impressive big moves and gimmick spots. Jaguar hit a moonsault attack early, but Lioness turned the match by heaving her off her shoulders to the floor and hitting her tope. Jaguar would hit an athletic counter once in a while to give her fans hope, but the legend was badly abused and pretty well overwhelmed by the mighty heel. Lioness piledrove her through a table and using the jagged edge to cut her head. She also tombstone piledrove and Ligerbombed Jaguar on the floor. Finally, Asuka set Yokota up for the kill with a Ligerbomb off a table set across the top rope, but Jaguar pulled a Frankensteiner out of thin, or rather midair to take the title in dramatic fashion! The fans were going nuts for the finish, and thrilled that she found a way to pull it out after being dominated so badly by her protege. One of the best Jd' matches, though their back and forth 1/11/98 match blows it out of the water. ****
Jd' #21 1/13/98 STIR THE BLOOD '97 taped 10/22 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Alda Moreno vs. Yuki Lee. Highlights.
Ryuna & Fang Suzuki vs. Yuko Kosugi & Kazuko Fujiwara. Highlights.
Jd' Junior Title: The Bloody vs. Megumi Yabushita. Submission oriented. Bloody looked good, but the match was too short and didn't amount to anything. *1/2
TWF Tag League Bout: Cooga & Leoga vs. Esther Moreno & Abe. Last 5 ½ minutes aired. Esther and Abe did a lot of flying. A few missed spots, but a surprisingly decent match.
TWF Tag League Bout: Kyoko Inoue & Sumie Sakai vs. The Goddess Shiratori & Michiko Omukai. Reviewed in Quebrada #39. **1/2
TWF World Title: Lioness vs. Jaguar. Jaguar wins title. Reviewed in Quebrada #39. ****
NJ World Pro Wrestling 1/17/98
Choshu, Choshu and yet more Choshu
*reviewed in Quebrada #39*
Kazuko Fujiwara vs. Masami Iizuka
Yuko Kosugi vs. Sumie Sakai. ***
Esther Moreno & Sachie Abe vs. Yuki Lee & Megumi Yabushita
Jaguar Yokota vs. Fang Suzuki
TWF Tag League Bout: Chikako Shiratori & Michiko Omukai vs. Bloody & Sayori Okino. *** range
Cooga & Miyuki Sogabe vs. Lioness Asuka & Ryuna
12/27/97 Octagon Challenge CMA-KPW Real Fight (shoot matches)
Megumi Yabushita vs. Yuu Jitai (or something). Yabushita comes close to winning with the jujigatame a couple of times before finally getting the job done.
Rieko Amano vs. Yoko Takahashi. Pretty good. Mainly a bunch of strikes because all these women are inexperienced in shooting, so their technique isn't too good at all.
Lioness Asuka vs. Cho Oto. Oto was no match, as Lioness just took her down and made her submit.
NEW YEAR FESTIVAL '98 1/11/98 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Yuki Lee & Esther Moreno vs. Ryuna & Fang Suzuki. Esther was the only one who did much, although no one was particularly good or bad. *3/4
Jd' Junior Title: The Bloody vs. Megumi Yabushita 7:15 of 11:43. A great effort, doing all they could to have a high quality match, even if it was above their means. Yabushita's offense wasn't very developed, she pretty much just used dropkicks and her judo submissions, but they did a really fast-paced, action packed match. Bloody did a good job of carrying her, and threw in some nice suplexes. Admittedly, they tried to do a little too much, but the effort was there and the experience is coming. *** range
Mima Shimoda & Etsuko Mita & Saya Endo vs. Cooga & The Goddess Chikako Shiratori & Sachie Abe. Pretty disappointing match that lacked flow. Cachorras had to lead the Jd' women through the brawl, but the Jd' women couldn't always follow and Cooga didn't want to take even a semi-hard chair shot. Match actually worked better when LCO weren't brawling because the opposition was more at home in regular pro style. Saya was better than all three of the Jd' women. Jd' team eventually got some offense in, but it never looked like they could win. Abe looked pretty good at the end, so that probably made her the best of the Jd' trio. *3/4
TWF World Single Title Match: Jaguar Yokota vs. Lioness Asuka 17:11. This immaculate hyper paced spotfest isn't exactly the match you'd expect from women in their mid to late 30's, to put it mildly! These two have the utmost espect for one another, total trust. They know they can go as fast and as hard as they can, that this is their chance to match spectacular with spectacular and deliver a wild workrate extravaganza. And they broke free from the Lioness formula that kept their 10/22/97 match from reaching the heights it was capable of, this time playing even and holding absolutely nothing back! Lioness' highlights included a Ligerbomb on the floor, hanging Jaguar off the balcony, a piledriver off the apron through a table, and an avalache style towerhacker bomb. Jaguar's highlights included a tope con hilo off the stage, doublearm piledriver on the apron, and avalanche style doublearm suplex. Even if Jaguar turning Lioness' avalache style piggyback drop into a reverse Frankensteiner didn't work perfectly, it's a credit to these two that they are willing to continue to modernize, to try to incorporate the roughest, toughest, and most athletic of today's spots and bumps into a matchup that, in the mid 80's, was way ahead of what pretty much anyone else was doing in these regards. I used to prefer Lioness' 4/26/98 & 5/6/98 matches against Kyoko Inoue, but Jaguar brings a lot more to the table in 1998 than Kyoko does, even if Kyoko is still in her 20's, and this is definitely a more well balanced match as far as getting equally impressive contributions from both parties. In any case, it says a lot for Lioness that she's in arguably the 3 best women's matches of 1998. ****1/2
Jd' #23 3/1/98 STIR THE BLOOD '97 taped 12/28 from Korakuen Hall
*Reviewed in Quebrada #39*
Esther Moreno vs. Kazuko Fujiwara. Highlights.
Abe vs. Fang Suzuki. Highlights.
TWF Tag League Bout: Yuki Lee & Yabushita vs. The Bloody & Sayori Okino (LLPW). Highlights.
The Goddess Shiratori vs. Kurenai (LLPW). *3/4
TWF Tag League Bout: Sumie Sakai & Kyoko Inoue (Neo) vs. Lioness Asuka & Ryuna. ***
TWF Tag League Bout: Cooga & Leoga vs. Jaguar Yokota & Kosugi. Jaguar & Kosugi win tag league and thus become first ever TWF tag champs. *1/2
AJ Pro Wrestling 30 3/1/98 '98 Excite Series taped 2/28 Tokyo Nippon Budokan
Triple Crown: Misawa vs. Johnny Ace. Ace's first TC shot. Reviewed in Quebrada #40. ***1/2
*Reviewed in Quebrada #43*
Yuki Lee & Kazuko Fujiwara vs. Angie & Ryuna. 1/2*
Megumi Yabushita & Sumie Sakai vs. Momoe Nakanishi & Nanae Takahashi (AJW team). **
Cooga vs. Emi Motokawa (IWA Japan). *3/4
Sachie Abe & Miyuki Sogabe vs. Fang Suzuki & Shark Tsuchiya (FMW). 1/4*
Mima Shimoda (Neo Ladies) vs. The Goddess Chikako Shiratori. DUD
TWF Tag Titles: Jaguar Yokota & Yuko Kosugi vs. Lioness Asuka & The Bloody. ***1/4
AJ 4/5/98 '98 Champion Carnival Taped 3/29 Nagoya Aichi-ken Taiikukan
Akiyama & Inoue vs. Takayama & Kakihara. *1/2
Champion Carnival League Bout: Misawa vs. Kawada. ****1/4
Note: First 5 matches are shown in highlight form
The Next Tournament Round 1: Sumie Sakai & Momoe Nakanishi (AJW) vs. Hiromi Kato (GAEA) & Nanae Takahashi (AJW).
The Next Tournament Round 1: Yuko Kosugi & Kanako Motoya (JWP) vs. Sachie Abe & Miho Watabe (LLPW). This was a pretty good, exciting, action packed match.
The Next Tournament Round 2: Sumie Sakai & Momoe Nakanishi vs. Miyuki Sogabe & Emi Motokawa (IWA Japan). Fast-paced sprint with good work, but too much of Emi's comedy
The Next Tournament Round 2: Yuko Kosugi & Kanako Motoya vs. Fang Suzuki & Misa Okoda (SPWF). Looked pretty bad. Okoda is even worse than Fang, and it's not easy to be that bad. Yoko Takahashi vs. Megumi Yabushita. UFC rules type of match.
Yuki Lee vs. Kumiko Maekawa (AJW). Maekawa did a good job, carrying Lee as well as you could expect her to, but Lee is just plain bad. Maekawa looked like a star, and Lee looked like she belonged in A ball. This was supposed to be a stiff, realistic match, but Lee's kicks were much too weak. **
The Next Tournament Final: Sumie Sakai & Momoe Nakanishi vs. Yuko Kosugi & Kanako Motoya. Everyone held their own and looked good in this match. Kosugi & Sakai continue to improve. Sakai added hot flying moves and Kosugi is improving her matwork. They are also starting to play off each others move sets now. Sakai & Momoe win tournament. ***1/4
Jaguar vs. Cooga. Hall of Fame performance by Jaguar carrying the pansy Cooga to a very good match. Hot start and finish. Strong body and psychology with Cooga destroying Jaguar's bad knee. Superb selling by Jaguar. ***1/2
Shimoda & Mita & Saya & Goddess Shiratori vs. Lioness & Shark & Bloody & Ryuna. Bad match that had no direction and went on forever. *1/2
AJ 5/10 Showdown at the Egg taped 5/1 Tokyo Dome
Akiyama vs. Hase. Bad AJ booking at it's worst having Hase out there this long in 1998. Too many submissions that weren't advancing the match that could have been eliminated if this was the proper length. **
Jd' #25 5/11/98 taped 3/8 Yokohama Bunka Taiikukan
*Reviewed in Quebrada #39
The Next Tournament Round 1
Sumie Sakai & Momoe Nakanishi (AJW) vs. Hiromi Kato (Gaea) & Nanae Takahashi (AJW)
Yuko Kosugi & Kanako Motoya (JWP) vs. Sachie Abe & Miho Watabe (LLPW)
The Next Tournament Semifinals
Sumie Sakai & Nakanishi vs. Miyuki Sogabe & Emi Motokawa (IWA Japan)
Kosugi & Motoya vs. Fang Suzuki & Misa Okoda (SPWF)
Vale Tudo Rules: Yoko Takahashi vs. Megumi Yabushita
Kumiko Maekawa (AJW) vs. Yuki Lee. **
The Next Tournament Final: Sakai & Nakanishi vs. Kosugi & Motoya. ***1/4
Jaguar Yokota vs Cooga. ***1/2
Mima Shimoda & Etsuko Mita & Saya Endo (Neo Ladies trio) & The Goddess Chikako Shiratori vs. Lioness Asuka & Shark Tsuchiya (free) & The Bloody & Ryuna. *1/4
AJ TV aired 5/17 taped 5/1 from the Tokyo Dome
Wolf Hawkfield & Johnny Smith vs. Jado & Gedo (Fuyuki Promotion). Everyone worked hard. Smith was by far the best here, and he basically saved the match. Jado & Gedo looked good in points. Wolf was annoying and mediocre. Gedo flashed back to his WAR days, pulling out a plancha and his Orihara moonsault off the 2nd. **1/2
Maunakea Mossman vs Daisuke Ikeda (Battlarts). Ikeda did a good job of carrying this and looked sharp. Mossman did all his spots, but he still has problems. A little shaky early, but turned into a good match. ***
Kazuko Fujiwara vs. Fang Suzuki. 1/4*
Jd' Sekai Toso The Single: The Goddess Chikako Shiratori vs. Sachie Abe. **1/4
Ryuna vs. Yuki Lee. *
Cooga vs. Leoga. 1/2*
The Bloody vs. Saya Endo (Neo Ladies). **1/2
TWF World Tag Title Match: Jaguar Yokota & Yuko Kosugi vs. Megumi Yabushita & Sumie Sakai 17:21. In 2 years, Jaguar has elevated her 3 top trainees to the point they can have a good semifinal with her that isn't all her doing. It was a fun action oriented match, even if a bit sloppy and rough around the edges. Kosugi was the most consistent of the proteges, but also the least dynamic. Best portion was when Yabushita hit an avalanche style armbar then when Jaguar escaped to the floor, she followed with another off the apron that led into a 4 dive sequence capped by Kosugi's footstomp. **3/4
TWF World Single Title Match: Lioness Asuka vs. Kyoko Inoue 17:29. Lioness was in top form and did a great job of carrying her now overweight to the point of limiting her opponent the best match she had since leaving AJW. These two aren't the best at structuring a match, but Lioness can sure work, and that's exactly what they relied on. It was a great action oriented sprint telling the simple story of the deck being totally stacked against Kyoko. Asuka hit her with a chain to start the match, and although it didn't do that much damage, Kyoko just seemed to be fighting her way back the entire time. They mainly only paused after the initial barrage so Lioness could injure Kyoko's knee to give her one of many obstacles to overcome. Asuka had the answer to most of what Kyoko tried, and when she didn't Bloody, Fang, and Ryuna were there to make up for it. Lioness took her hardcore brawling to a new level here, slamming Kyoko off the bleachers onto a table (Kyoko took a wicked bump because Lioness didn't throw her far enough), hanging Kyoko of the balcony, Ligerbombing her off a table on the 2nd, piledriving her on a table that just wouldn't break, and so on. Kyoko took massive punishment but kept trying to make fiery albeit hobbled comebacks only to be cut off quickly since she's mainly limited to lariats and powerbombs right now. Lioness understood what current Kyoko is though, and by allowing her to pick her spots, she seemed more like the energetic Kyoko of old. ****1/2
AJ World Pro Wrestling 5/31/98 taped 5/1 Tokyo Dome & 5/23 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
5/1: Taue & Omori & Inoue vs. Gladiator & Kuroda & Hosaka. Started out hot with Gladiator and Taue, and had a few other moments along the way, but pretty much died from there. Too many stiffs taking away from what would have been at least interesting, Taue vs. Gladiator. *1/4
5/23: Kobashi & Ace & Asako vs. Kawada & Taue & Kikuchi. Last 4:30 of 27:09 aired.
Jd' #26 6/3/98 taped 4/26 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
*Reviewed in Quebrada #47*
Fang Suzuki vs. Kazuko Fujiwara. Clip
The Goddess Chikako Shiratori vs. Sachie Abe. Read Review
Ryuna vs. Yuki Lee. Clip
Cooga vs. Leoga. Clip
The Bloody vs. Saya Endo (Neo Ladies). Read Review. **1/2
TWF World Tag Title: Jaguar Yokota & Yuko Kosugi vs. Megumi Yabushita & Sumie Sakai. Read Review. ***
TWF Sekai Single Senshukenjiai: Lioness Asuka vs. Kyoko Inoue. Read Review. ****1/2
Cooga & Miyuki Sogabe vs. Lioness Asuka & Fang Suzuki. *1/2
Jd' Junior Title: The Bloody vs. Sumie Sakai 15:45. A nice step forward as the match contained the usual excitement, but they supported their moves with a more focused and better built match. It started off with Bloody doing more of a technical match. The story was that Bloody injured Sakai's knee to set up the kneebar and Sakai injured Bloody's arm to set up the armbar, but of course Bloody's knee attack included bashing it with a chair. The gradually picked up the pace, and the final minutes were both frentic and desperate with near falls you could believe in. ***1/2
TWF Tag Titles: Jaguar Yokota & Yuko Kosugi vs. Yuki Lee & Chikako Shiratori 13:33. Jaguar let Kosugi sink or swim, and luckily this was a nice performance from Yuko as you figured most of the quality had to come from her team. Shiratori was pretty good doing her routine, but Lee was totally non descript. It was a bit sloppy and deliberate, but they pressed forward with the action. It never had the feel of a title match, and you pretty much knew Jaguar's team was retaining, but she didn't run through the opposition or anything, her role was simply to facilitate as much quality wrestling as they could muster. **1/4
NJ World Pro Wrestling G1 Climax '98 Round 2 taped 8/1 Ryogoku Kokugikan
Satoshi Kojima vs. Tadao Yasuda
Kensuke Sasaki vs. Kazuo Yamazaki
Shiro Koshinaka vs. Masa Chono
Genichiro Tenryu vs. Shinya Hashimoto. ****1/2
Jd' #28 8/16/98 taped 6/5 Club Citta Kawasaki
Sachie Abe vs. Kazuko Fujiwara. Surprisingly, the 2 minutes that aired were pretty decent, as Abe flew around a lot. Execution was alright, but not all that clean.
Angie vs. Megumi Yabushita. Not a good 3 minutes, as Angie is really bad.
Cooga & Miyuki Sogabe vs. Lioness Asuka & Fang Suzuki. A decent spot oriented match due to Lioness. Cooga was ok. Fang & Sogabe sucked as usual. Less than 1/3 aired.
Jd' Junior Title: The Bloody vs. Sumie Sakai. A great indy match. The match was exciting. They wrestled smart, incorporating their holds well with effective teases and counters. The problem was their lack of being smooth and crisp was all too apparent, and it took the match down a lot even though there weren't any totally blown spots. ***1/4
TWF Tag Titles: Jaguar Yokota & Yuko Kosugi vs. Yuki Lee & The Goddess Shiratori. Disappointing match with no one stepping up. Jaguar was the best, but almost by default as the other three didn't show much. **
Jd' #27 7/10/98 SPRING STORM '98 taped 4/29 Osaka Bayside Jenny
The Goddess Shiratori vs. Masami Iizuka. Shiratori was decent, but Iizuka was awful. *
Sumie Sakai vs. Sachie Abe. Pretty bad. Highlights.
Cooga vs. Kazuko Fujiwara. Cooga did just about everything, but didn't try anything. A lot of rest holds. Boring. 1/2*
Jd' Junior Title: The Bloody vs. Yuko Kosugi. They didn't do much early on because it was a small show, but it turned into a good match with Bloody being the better of the two. **1/2
Jaguar Yokota & Yuki Lee & Miyuki Sogabe & Megumi Yabushita vs. Lioness Asuka & Ryuna & Fang Suzuki & Angie. The scrubs were eliminated first, but there were so many that it took a while to weed them out. Match got quite good in the second half when Lee and Fang weren't dragging it down. Jaguar & Lioness were pretty much the whole match. ***
NJ World Pro Wrestling 7/11/98 SUMMER STRUGGLE '98 taped 6/28 Nagano & 7/2 Iwate
6/28 Nagano: Fujinami & Sasaki & Kojima vs. Norton & NWO Sting & Hiro Saito. Clip. NWO team, especially Norton, sucked. NWO tried to intimidate Fujinami since he had to defend against Tenzan a few weeks later.
7/2 Iwate
El Samurai & Kendo Ka Shin vs. Koji Kanemoto & Shinjiro Otani. Excellent work. Tons of great spots and everyone but Ka Shin gave a strong performance. Samurai actually kicked out of Otani's Dragon suplex. ****
Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Dr. Wagner Jr. Wagner threw everything he could at Liger, but couldn't get the win even in a non-title match. Liger's comeback win came too soon, but otherwise the match appeared to be excellent. ***3/4
Shiro Koshinaka & Michiyoshi Ohara vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Hiro Saito. Very mediocre match with no one looking particularly good or bad. *3/4
Kensuke Sasaki & Kazuo Yamazaki vs. Tatsumi Fujinami & Takashi Iizuka. Clip
Shinya Hashimoto & Manabu Nakanishi & Satoshi Kojima vs. Scott Norton & Masa Chono & Michael Wallstreet. Hashimoto kicked everyone's ass, but eventually he was overmatched by double teaming and succumbed after taking Hiro, Tenzan, & Chono's finishers in succession. **1/2
Miyuki Sogabe retirement video
Kazuko Fujiwara vs. Obatchi Iizuka. Highlights.
Climb A Steep Cliff: Yuki Lee vs. The Goddess Chikako Shiratori. Highlights
Judo Jacked Match: Fang Suzuki vs. Megumi Yabushita. Highlights
Cooga & Abe vs. Ryuna & Hechicera (Yuki Miyazaki). 1/3 aired.
Sakai vs. Hiromi Yagi. Yagi's re-debut. ***3/4
TWF Tag Titles: Jaguar & Kosugi vs. Lioness & The Bloody. Best Jd' tag match. ****1/4 range
AJ Pro Wrestling 30 8/30/98 '98 Summer Action Series II taped 8/23 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Taue & Honda vs. Kobashi & Ace. Kobashi & Taue worked together a lot to build to their TC, with Taue being pretty fired up. Ace's turn was corny, but the announcer did a great job of putting it over. Akiyama made the save, but Smith and Wolf sided with Ace, so it put the natives and gaijins at odds.
Kawada & Inoue vs. Hansen & Duncum Jr. Fans were into Inoue pushing Hansen, but it was a poor match with slow, unathletic spots. *1/4
Omori & Honda & Izumida vs. Albright & Takayama & Kakihara. Highlights.
Jd' #29 9/5/98 DEPARTURE~Summer Presents 1st~taped 7/5 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Fujiwara vs. Iizuka. Highlights.
Lee vs. The Goddess Shiratori. This didn't look too good. ½ the match aired and it looked to be *1/2 or perhaps a little worse.
Judo Jacked Match: Fang Suzuki vs. Megumi Yabushita. This must have been booked by chimps because Yabushita was on the national Judo team, yet she couldn't beat a colorless and talentless vampire wannabe in her own style match. Thus, it was declared a draw after 15:00 plus a 5:00 overtime.
Cooga & Abe vs. Ryuna & Hechicera (Yuki Miyazaki). 1/3 aired. Miyazaki is still really skinny, and appeared to be the best of the four.
Sakai vs. Hiromi Yagi. Yagi's re-debut. Yagi had clearly trained really hard for this, but she was obviously rusty as she hadn't wrestled in 14 months. Still, she almost seemed like an alien because she was so much better and more advanced than everyone who worked on this card before her. A really cool battle of the Judo girls, with Sakai also having a good performance and probably topping her best ever singles match once again. It was a little sloppy, but it looked like it was one of the best Jd' matches of the year. Unfortunately, only 1/3 aired. ***1/2 range
TWF Tag Titles: Jaguar & Kosugi vs. Lioness & The Bloody. This was a very good match, but they edited so much out (18:21 of 60:00 aired) it was hard to tell just how good it was. The matches in this feud just get better and better because Kosugi & The Bloody continue to improve. Kosugi & Bloody used to need to be carried by Jaguar & Lioness, but now they work quite well together. This appeared to start slow, but everyone wrestled with a sense of urgency once they were deep into the match. Work was really strong. Jaguar's selling was really good. Best Jd' tag match
Jd' on FIGHTING TV SAMURAI! DEPARTURE~Summer Presents 1st~taped 7/5 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Sakai vs. Hiromi Yagi.
TWF Tag Titles: Jaguar & Kosugi vs. Lioness & The Bloody
9/15 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Emi Motokawa (IWA Japan) vs. Sachie Nishibori
Mika Harigai vs. Miyuki Fujii. Emi Motokawa (IWA) vs. Sachie Nishibori (IWA).
Momoe Nakanishi & Nanae Takahashi vs. Miho Wakizawa & Noriko Toyoda.
STOP THE ZAP: Yumiko Hotta & Manami Toyota & Kumiko Maekawa vs. ZAP I & ZAP T & Takako Inoue
Jd' #30 10/17/98 FIREWORKS~Summer Presents 2st~taped 8/2 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Megumi Yabushita & Kazuko Fujiwara & Obatchi Iizuka vs. Ryuna & Fang Suzuki & Hechicera. Match had a lot of action. The heels carried this and pretty much dominated this. They looked decent. Read Review.
Jd' Junior Title Challengers Match: Sumie Sakai vs. Keiko Aono (LLPW). Sakai was pretty good, but Aono was bad again. Read Review.
Jaguar Yokota vs. The Bloody. They did a poor job of editing this match, as it looked like Jaguar totally dominated Bloody when in actuality, Bloody lasting nearly 20:00 with Jaguar means she must have made a good showing. Appeared to be a good match, but only 3:45 was shown. Read Review.
Cooga vs. Mayumi Ozaki (Oz Academy). Slow paced match. Cooga was very slow and deliberate. Her work wasn't fluid. Even Ozaki couldn't get any goodness out of her. Only decent because of Ozaki, and I'm probably being generous by giving it Read Review. **
TWF Sekai Single Senshukenjiai: Lioness Asuka vs. Kyoko Inoue. A very good match, but not on the level of their previous two. Lioness didn't take control like she did in their first match, and Kyoko didn't find some of her old ability like she did in their second match. Lioness dominated with brawling tactics. The match was at it's best when she was on offense, but it was hurt by Kyoko's weak selling and quick comebacks. Another problem was the gimmick spots took too long to set up. Lioness hung Kyoko off the balcony with a chord around her waist. She also powerbombed Kyoko off the 2nd through a table. She then debuted a powerbomb with the table draped across the top rope instead of the second. This should have been the finish, but the actual finish where Kyoko makes a ludicrous comeback and takes the title was one of the worst finishes of the year. Read Review. ***3/4
NJ World Pro Wrestling 10/17/98 '98 Big Wednesday taped 9/23 Yokohama Arena
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title: Liger vs. Kaz Hayashi
Tenryu & Koshinaka vs. NWO Sting & Brian Adams
Hashimoto vs. Muto
Jd' #31 11/20/98 taped 8/24 Tokyo Kitazawa Town Hall
Obatchi Iizuka vs. Kazuko Fujiwara. Obatchi actually looked a lot better, but her gimmick is way too goofy and some of her spots can only be described as bad comedy. Her new spot in this match was jumping off the top rope with a plastic bag filled with powder in her hands and popping it in midair, so it would get in Fujiwara's eyes. A basic match that was totally dominated by Iizuka. The match wasn't any good, but it wasn't as bad as expected either.
Fang Suzuki vs. Hechisera. Fang is just awful. Miyazaki tried, but it was quickly apparent that the only thing you can do with Fang is brawl. They did that, but still it wasn't any good. Fang dominated the match with her bad and boring offense. She didn't really make any mistakes, but she didn't try anything either. 1/2*
Megumi Yabushita vs. Yuki Lee. Yabushita's technique was good, but Lee killed the match, as she was missing her mark as usual. The match wasn't as fluid as it needed to be.
Yuko Kosugi & Sachie Abe vs. Miho Wakizawa & Noriko Toyoda. You can't be putting Kosugi in this kind of match if you want people to take her seriously as a star. Wakizawa showed potential here, but she made a few mistakes. Toyoda has no offense and hurt the match, but logging too many minutes during the portion that aired. Kosugi didn't work enough and Abe was kind of a non factor. Not much of a match due to blown and mistimed spots to go along with the fact that Abe & Toyoda aren't much to begin with. *
Jd' Junior Title: The Bloody vs. Sumie Sakai. This was the first time on a TV taping that these two were "the show," and they made it worth tuning in. These are two of the most improved wrestlers for 1998, Bloody coming out of nowhere, and Sakai growing as she gained experience. The work was good and being out there so long didn't expose them. Neither of these two are on the level where they can carry a long match yet, but they did a good enough job of working their spots in to get by. One thing I liked was that they worked all the undercarders into the match. Certainly, the heels have helped Bloody before, but the faces in turn helping Sakai out was a nice touch because it showed that the matches with faces and heels under Jaguar and Lioness are important these days. Both women's move sets could be improved, as Bloody relies too heavily on suplexes to not do any dangerous ones. She has expanded her senton offense to include a senton off the apron and a diving senton through a table though, which along with Sakai's plancha, were the highlights of the match. Bloody showed more mat skills than she had in the past, but she needs to tighten her locks so it's not so obvious that she's not applying much pressure. The match was hurt by some blown spots, most notably Sakai overshooting a moonsault and Bloody missing Sakai with a chair she threw at her. At points things looked too acted or didn't flow as well as they should have, but all things considered it was really a strong match given that they are up and coming wrestlers who are still learning their craft. Their finish showed their inexperience as Bloody got her feet up for Sakai's moonsault then went to the top, but Sakai recovered quick enough to run over and Frankensteiner her off the top. It was a quick comeback and it required a second to give Bloody an extra boost to take the bump. The fact that Bloody kicked out of Sakai's grip before 3, but didn't get her shoulders gave her an out for losing the title. ***1/4
AJ Pro Wrestling 30 12/6/98 '98 Real World Tag Team League taped 12/5 Tokyo Nippon Budokan
'98 Real World Tag Team League Final: Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama vs. Stan Hansen & Vader. Kobashi & Akiyama win tag league.
Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa & Masahito Kakihara vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue & Yoshihiro Takayama
7 Woman Battle Royal
TWF World Championship Tag Tournament Semifinal: Cooga & Sumie Sakai vs. Hiromi Yagi & Megumi Yabushita. Very good
TWF World Championship Tag Tournament Semifinal: Mayumi Ozaki & Sugar Sato vs. The Bloody & Ryuna. Below average.
Battle for the Next Jd' Queen: Lioness Asuka vs. Yuko Kosugi. **1/2
TWF World Championship Tag Tournament Final: Cooga & Sumie Sakai vs. The Bloody & Ryuna. ***1/4
Jd' #32 12/22/98 OFF beat Storm taped 10/2 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan 2
Battle Royal
TWF World Championship Tag Tournament Semifinal: Cooga & Sumie Sakai vs. Hiromi Yagi & Megumi Yabushita. Very good, but only 1/3 shown.
TWF World Championship Tag Tournament Semifinal: Mayumi Ozaki & Sugar Sato vs. The Bloody & Ryuna. 1/3 shown, below average.
Battle for the Next Jd' Queen: Lioness Asuka vs. Yuko Kosugi. **1/2
TWF World Championship Tag Tournament Final: Cooga & Sumie Sakai vs. The Bloody & Ryuna. ***1/4
NJ World Pro Wrestling 1/9/99 '99 Wrestling World in Tokyo Dome taped 1/4 Tokyo Dome
Kensuke Sasaki vs. Atsushi Onita
Shinya Hashimoto vs. Naoya Ogawa
Note: matches that don't have a rating are edited down to 2-3 minute clips
The Cart of Cart (?): Obatchi Iizuka vs. Emi Motokawa (IWA Japan). Comedy match. I'm too serious for this kind of match, but some people will think it's hilarious. Obatchi actually tried to run Emi over with a bicycle at one point. She also tried rope walk daikon chop, but she slipped off and Emi no sold. Later on, Obatchi put pantyhose over Emi's head. Emi won with her version of the firebird splash called a nyan nyan press. 1/2*
Opening Sensation: Mika Akino (ARSION) vs. ZAP Isozaki (AJW). Isozaki has been wrestling longer, but the difference in their styles was tremendous. Isozaki still wrestles like a rookie, in fact, she was constantly going for those lame body press pins. Meanwhile, Akino wrestles like she's been wrestling for years. Her offense looked good, but Isozaki wasn't remotely in her class so overall the match didn't seem to be any good.
Little Girls The Big Fight: Sachie Nishibori (IWA Japan) vs. Miho Watabe (LLPW). I knew Nishibori was short, but I never realized just how short. She's only marginally taller than Watabe! Decent action, but the lack of familiarity hurt the match a lot.
Climb a Steep Cliff: Kayoko Haruyama & Yasuko Kuragaki (JWP team) vs. Momoe Nakanishi & Miyuki Fujii (AJW team). Haruyama was being featured in this clip, but she didn't look good. Momoe was barely shown.
Stand Up For Next Century: Megumi Sato (LLPW) & Yuka Nakamura (Neo) & Mika Hiragai (AJW) vs. Megumi Yabushita & Nanako Kanda & Hiroyo Muto. A poor match where Yabushita was the only one that showed anything.
Crush The Ideorookie (?): Fang Suzuki & Hechisera vs. Rina Ishii & Sakura Hirota (GAEA team). Ishii & Hechisera were alright, but Fang & Hirota are so awful that this was another bad match. It got better toward the end with Hechisera doing her spots and the fans getting into a few good near falls, but it was kind of deliberate and sloppy. *1/4
The Scramble 6 Woman: Nanae Takahashi (AJW) & Maiko Matsumoto (GAEA) & Erika Watanabe (JWP) vs. Momoe Nakanishi (AJW) & Megumi Yabushita & Tomiko Sai (JWP) 10:44 of 16:34. I'm not sure it was the greatest idea to put the big girls against the small girls, especially since it was worked as though size were irrelevant. In any case, it was a good effort, though a bit clumsily executed, particularly with Sai vs. Matsumoto. It started slow, but turned into a high energy match in the second half. They did a 4 dive sequence highlighted by Nakanishi's tope cone hilo. Momoe was definitely the standout, doing all her flying moves. Yabushita also did a good job. Takahashi was the best on her side, so it was AJW that was making the match. Watanabe did a nice avalanche style Russian leg sweep, but was otherwise typically undistinguished, and Sai was looking rather mechanical, so it wasn't JWP's finest moment. **1/4 range
All Japan Tag Champion Decision Match: Miho Wakizawa & Kayo Noumi vs. Yuko Kosugi & Sumie Sakai 21:52. The Jd' team was mainly responsible for the quality here. They are the league that tends to get ignored, but they had 3 of the 5 wrestlers you'd expect to become something (Kosugi, Sakai, Yabushita, Momoe, & Akino). The match didn't build and it was dull in points, but they kept a high workrate and were running, jumping, and flying around to make up for their lack of overall ability. Sakai did all her flying moves here, and even some new moves like an in ring quebrada to both opponents. She was the star of the match, although Kosugi's execution was better. Execution was the main problem with the match, as their lack of experience working with each other made it difficult to be on the same page on how to move forward once something went awry. I was surprised that the fans didn't really get that into this match because this is a show where you value effort and potential, which were quite obvious, and aren't exactly expecting polish. **1/2
Toryumon
Elimination Match: Magnum Tokyo & Dragon Kid & SAITO vs. Shima Nobunaga & Judo Suwa & Sumo Fuji
Jd' #33 1/14/99 taped 11/22/98 Kyoto KBS Hall
Ryuna vs. Hiroyo Muto
Obatchi Iizuka vs. Esther Moreno
Yuko Kosugi & Yuki Miyazaki vs. Lioness Asuka & The Bloody. ***
Jaguar Yokota Intai Countdown Vol. 12: Jaguar Yokota vs. Megumi Yabushita. ***
TWF World Tag Titles: Cooga & Sumie Sakai vs. Shark Tsuchiya & Fang Suzuki. **
Jd' #34 2/99 TOGETHER '98 1st ALL STAR WOMEN"S WRESTLING IN ARIAKE
taped 12/26/98 Tokyo Ariake Coliseum
The Bloody & Fang Suzuki vs. Sugar Sato & Chikayo Nagashima. ** range
Mayumi Ozaki (Oz Academy) vs. Lioness Asuka. **
Jaguar Yokota Intai Final Match: Jaguar Yokota vs. Devil Masami (JWP). *1/4
NJ World Pro Wrestling 2/27/99 FIGHTING SPIRIT '99
2/11 Osaka
IWGP Jr. Tag Titles: Kendo Ka Shin & Dr. Wagner Jr. vs. Shinjiro Otani & Tatsuhito Takaiwa
IWGP #1 Contender Tournament Semifinals
Satoshi Kojima vs. Manabu Nakanishi
Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Kensuke Sasaki
2/12 Gifu
IWGP #1 Contender Tournament Final: Satoshi Kojima vs. Kensuke Sasaki
JWP Match: Tomoko Kuzumi & Rieko Amano vs. Tomoko Miyaguchi & Kanako Motoya.***1/4 range
AJW Match: Kumiko Maekawa & Momoe Nakanishi vs. Nanae Takahashi & Kayo Noumi. *1/4 range.
Jd' Match: Yuko Kosugi vs. Shark Tsuchiya (Modukutai). 3/4*
Request Ni Yoru The Heel Taiketsu (showdown): Sugar Sato & Chikayo Nagashima (Oz Academy) vs. The Bloody & Fang Suzuki (Bukyogun team). ** range
ARSION Match: Ayako Hamada & Mika Akino vs. Aja Kong & Mariko Yoshida. ***
Request Ni Yoru Yume no Tag Match: Hiromi Yagi (free) & Sumie Sakai (Jd') vs. Tiger Dream (ARSION) & Chaparrita ASARI (Neo). ***
Jaguar Yokota Intai (retirement) Final Match: Jaguar Yokota (Jd') vs. Devil Masami. *1/4
Bukyogun Shuryo (leader) vs. Oz Academy Kocho (principal/headmaster) Chojo (top/climax) Taiketsu: Lioness Asuka (Bukyogun) vs. Mayumi Ozaki (Oz Academy). **
Zenjo vs. Neo Ikon (grudge) Karyu (whirlpool) Ku Kaisen (outbreak of war): Manami Toyota & Yumiko Hotta & Takako Inoue (AJW team) vs. Kyoko Inoue & Mima Shimoda & Etsuko Mita (Neo Ladies team). ****
*I have a very limited quantity of additional 1st Gen SP VHS'*
AJ Pro Wrestling 3/7/99 '99 Excite Series taped 3/6 Tokyo Nippon Budokan
Triple Crown Decision Match: Vader vs. Akira Taue
Jumbo Tsuruta retirement ceremony
Jd' #35 3/12/99 BE REBORN Jd' Taped 12/29/98 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Jaguar's Cup 1st Round
Yuko Kosugi vs. Hiroyo Muto
Fang Suzuki vs. Megumi Yabushita
Crusher Maedomari vs. Ryuna
Jaguar's Cup Semifinals
Yuko Kosugi vs. The Bloody
Sumie Sakai vs. Megumi Yabushita
Mixed Match: Obatchi Iizuka vs. Tomezo Tsunokake (AJW)
Jaguar's Cup Final: Sumie Sakai vs. Yuko Kosugi
Jaguar's Cup Ikkaisen (1st round): Yuko Kosugi vs. Hiroyo Muto. 1:24 shown
Jaguar's Cup Ikkaisen: Fang Suzuki vs. Megumi Yabushita. 3:01 shown
Crusher Maedomari vs. Ryuna. This was the end of Yuki Morimatsu's Ryuna gimmick. Crusher unmasked her early on. Fang tried to cover her face with a towel, but Ryuna pushed her away, picked up the mask and threw it at Crusher's feet, then attacked Crusher. Otherwise, it was a pretty uneventful match. There was a long stretch where Crusher would hit Ryuna with a chair, wait for her to eventually get up, then chair her again. Crusher totally dominated, selling nothing. Ryuna bled. 1/4*
Jaguar's Cup Nikaisen: The Bloody vs. Yuko Kosugi. Finish was lame, but otherwise it seemed pretty good. 2:10 shown
Jaguar's Cup Nikaisen: Megumi Yabushita vs. Sumie Sakai. A bit sloppy. They sold a lot, but it was mainly the lying around variety. It was alright, but I was hoping for better. 4:19 shown
Midget vs. Woman Mixed Match: Tomezo Tsunokake vs. Obatchi Iizuka. Tsunokake isn't much shorter than Obatchi. Comedy match.
Jaguar's Cup Kesshosen: Yuko Kosugi vs. Sumie Sakai. Sakai was definitely the better of the two. She seemed to be dictating where the match would go, although in several cases her choices didn't make a ton of sense. The match was good, but it wasn't particulary well paced, didn't have a lot of direction, and had too many submissions that weren't really going anywhere. There was a notable improvement once they got away from the submissions. Sakai supplied most of the hot moves, with her flying being particularly impressive. ***
TWF Sekai Heavykyu Senshukenjiai: Kyoko Inoue vs. Cooga. Kyoko kept it simple. The match was fine when she was on offense, but Cooga is practically incapable of looking good offensively because of her weak strikes and imperfect execution. The fans didn't buy into Cooga, not that they had much reason to. Kyoko was far more than adequate, but Cooga was anything but. **1/2