10/13/96 Tokyo Korakuen Hall WWWA Sekai Superlightkyu Senshuken Jiai: Chapparita ASARI vs. Pequena Azteca (Alda Moreno). An exhibition of spots. Cool flying moves, but Pequena is not exactly known for her execution. **1/4
ASARI shows us her parent's shop, her house, and her room. She has a lot of cool originals that she's on, and plenty of stuffed Disney animals.
Costume Collection Part 1. She models in half the costumes she's ever worn to the ring or wrestled in.
11/4/96 Tokyo Korakuen Hall Tag League The Best '96 Koshikisen: Kyoko Inoue & Chapparita ASARI vs. Aja Kong & Yoshiko Tamura. ASARI did her cool moves, but didn't execute close to her normal level, in part because her and Aja didn't work that well together. 3:43 shown
ASARI goes to Mexico, and they show her climbing a pyramid and walking around in a church
11/8/96 Arena Mexico, D.F. CMLL World Women's Title Decision Tournament: Highlights of Lady Apache vs. Xochilt Hamada & ASARI vs. Diabolica then ASARI vs. Apache Final. The final was short, but it was good while it lasted. They got a lot more out of the big spots than I expected by putting them over and doing dramatic near falls.
Interview where ASARI is asked about her various flying moves, which are shown
Short where ASARI saves a little girl from Yone Genjin and his mini estrella thugs. I was amazed that I never realized how short Pierroth was when I saw him in the ring with ASARI...until I realized it was Pierrothito.
Costume Collection Part 2
11/10/96 Arena Coliseo, D.F.: Lola Gonzalez & Lady Apache & Chapparita ASARI vs. Martha Villalobos & La Diabolica & Lady Star. Technicos had a pretty good team, but you have to have something to work with and they didn't. Martha is so good that she makes makes Eagle seem like the greatest big woman in history.
ASARI practices her gymnastics
Kei Akiyama modeling.
Akiyama sexy modeling.
Toshiyo Yamada & Etsuko Mita profile tape. Shows them outside of the ring. Lots of training footage, also shopping, Q & A, etc.
Kind of a bizarre video with Fukawa dressed up in a lot of weird outfits (that cover way too much). It's amazing how much different Fukawa's personality is in ARSION, she's so much more mature than she was here.
This is the video complement to Fukawa's photobook of the same name. Footage of Fukawa's vacation to the Republic of Palau where they made the book. A good amount of the footage is from the photo shoots themselves, with Yummy Yumi in various bathing suits, which I might say she fills out quite well. There's also the usual "different" footage that they show on these longer "personal videos" like Fukawa learning how to fish. The wrestling segment contains two matches; Fukawa vs. Tamada & Fukawa & Bennett vs. Watanabe & Genki. Fukawa comes into the 2nd match with a bad cut and the cut gets opened up during the match. After the match they show very graphic footage of the backstage medical treatment Fukawa receives, including her getting stitched up. Didn't they have any more modeling footage they could have shown instead? Much better than Fukawa's first two tapes.
*Review and vidcaps in Quebrada #44*
This video goes along with the photobook of the same name. Taking everything into account, this ranks right up there with the best modeling videos I've seen. This was really well made. It keeps a good pace and has almost no wasted time. It's also a fun video because they show some of the "bloopers" from the production such as people getting tossed in the pool and Fukawa trying to escape from the crew on her bike. Fukawa is such a babe and she looks that much more impressive than just about every wrestler when she's in a bathing suit, which she is for most of this video. However, the highlight is Fukawa rolling around in bed with no top on. She does wear a sheet to cover herself, but she purposely doesn't do the best job of it when she is turning over. I just love ARSION.:)
* Special Price $18 or $23.50 COOP*
Hikari Fukuoka modeling DVD. This is a companion to her Agelle photobook and Love Fall making video.
This is a weird modeling tape. They actually play up that she has a bad back. For instance, at one point she's wrestling on the beach and her back gives out doing her Mimi special. Because of the nudity you must be at least 18 to order this.
This is much better than the short version. The couple scenes that got scrapped from the 30 minute version are nothing special, but the longer versions of the scenes that are on the short version are pretty hot. Due to the nudity, you must be at least 18 to order this.
Hamada's personal video. Similar in style to Athena in Candy Okutsu. All these ARSION modeling tapes are excellent! Then again, all ARSION wrestling tapes are excellent, so why should this be any different?
Video of Azumi's trip to Hawaii. Kana Mizaki & Cuty Suzuki make appearances.
Akira Hokuto & Suzuka Minami vs. Toshiyo Yamada & Kyoko Inoue 7:57. Entire match is shot in close-up on Hokuto. She mainly works with Yamada. Seems to be a good match, though they aren't working as hard as they typically do on commercial tapes or TV tapings.
Akira Hokuto vs. Toshiyo Yamada 17:53. Early portion takes place on the mat with Yamada working Hokuto's injured shoulder, though in a fairly uneventful manner. They killed the first 15 minutes more than they utilized it, but it picks up tremendously for the final three. The match would have been more interesting if they spread the high spots out over the course of the 18 minutes rather than saving them all for the grand finale. As it stands it's almost like two separate matches, an uninspired 70's style match followed by a hot 90's style sprint. ***
Akira Hokuto & Toshiyo Yamada vs. Yumiko Hotta & Manami Toyota 21:51. Started good, and kept getting better and better. This was a match you believed could end several minutes before it did, but I'm thankful it didn't because Toyota really put on a show in the final minutes. Fierce and furious action between Yamada & Hotta, both in peak form. Yamada worked with Toyota a lot as well, but Yamada wasn't trying to match Toyota or Hokuto in the spectacular department today, sticking with her stiff kicking strength. Hokuto wasn't exactly featured here, but the others were good and motivated so that shouldn't matter unless you are only a fan of Hokuto. Hokuto was excellent in spots, but Yamada was in a lot more lending her brand of credibility and intensity without diminishing the match quality. Hokuto did a post match angle with Rumi Kazama and the LLPW contingent showing up and challenging Hokuto and her LCO group. ****
Akira Hokuto vs. Yasha Kurenai 2:17. Hard to call this a match. Yasha attacked, but Hokuto no sold half of her offense. Hokuto didn't even bother using Yasha's weapon on her when she had the chance. Instead, she literally beat her with her first offensive move. It's amazing LLPW would let one of their stars get embarrassed beyond believe, even AJW rookies were likely to withstand more and last longer. But that's the flaw in their Kandori or bust philosophy, as by not protecting opponents that could be legitimate (Harley for instance) she never had any truly credible opponents within the league (Eagle was the only one that you believed had a 33% chance).
Takako Inoue "lifestyle" video. Activities include a pre-match workout, Takako at a restaurant, modeling, Takako in a wedding dress, and Kyoko & Yamada going through things in her apartment. The tape also has three matches. Toshiyo Yamada & Takako Inoue vs. Suzuka Minami & Mima Shimoda and Kyoko Inoue & Takako Inoue vs. Manami Toyota & Sakie Hasegawa are shot in what I'll call the Takako camera. It's a one camera shoot by a guy running around ringside. It's shot in strobe with all close ups, mainly focusing on what Takako is doing even if she's not in the ring. You can't really judge how good a match is seeing it like this, but it's good as a one time thing because you see a whole different side of the action since all the shots are so tight.
Toshiyo Yamada & Takako Inoue & Sakie Hasegawa vs. Suzuka Minami & Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda. A regular effort on a regular house show, but these women were working on such a high level at this point that it's still a very good match. ***1/2
The tape starts out with a music video for a song Takako sings then is mainly modeling.
Takako sexy modeling
Ishikawa semi-nude modeling. Companion to her Naked of Passion photobook.
Mizuho Ishikawa modeling.
Rumi Kazama naked modeling. Video companion to her Orage photobook.
Sugao more specifically means a face without make-up, so this is kind of Megumi Kudo unmasked. It focuses on Kudo's life outside the ring showing her intense workout routine of lifting weights, jogging, and training at the dojo as well as going clothes shopping, cooking, and working with school children (she used to be a teacher).
Private footage of her trip to L.A. and best bouts highlights.
Kudo image video. Footage includes Kudo at the beach, working out, feeding fish, taking a bath, taking a shower (gratuitous butt shot.:), Kudo's birthday party. Also has some match highlights. Kudo looks SUPER!
Career retrospective video charting Kudo's career from her AJW days to the present. 30 matches shown in highlight form along with Kudo vs. Kandori barbed wire match from 3/14/97 in unedited form. Jaguar, Combat, Reibun, & Onita hang out with Kudo and look back on her career.
*Vidcaps in Quebrada #47*
This is Motoya's first modeling video, which in this case they call "Idol wrestler sexy & image video." This is about what you would expect from a first video. Motoya in bathing suits was all I had to hear, and I wasn't disappointed. Of course, Kanako looks awesome, and if you don't find her attractive, you must not be a guy. Read Comments.
Video of Kana's trip to Hawaii. Azumi Hyuga & Cuty Suzuki make appearances.
Motoya modeling video filmed in Hawaii. Companion to Love Fall making video.
Aja Kong & Bull Nakano & Kaoru Ito vs. Manami Toyota & Kyoko Inoue & Sakie Hasegawa. This was shot in Bull-cam. Basically the showed close shots of what she was doing the whole time. This is interesting since you never get such close shots otherwise, but it's hard to enjoy the match this way since you aren't really seeing what's going on between the legal wrestlers on several occassions.
Bull Nakano & Kyoko Inoue vs. Aja Kong & Akira Hokuto. Not an all out effort, but it shows how good these four were when their matches on non-descript house shows at this point are better than most of the women's matches on the "big" shows of today. Aja seemed to work the hardest. ***1/4
Aja Kong & Bull Nakano vs. Manami Toyota & Kyoko Inoue. Like the last match, it wasn't their A match, but it was still quite good. Toyota looked really good at times, but was also kind of sloppy. ***1/4
Interspersed between the matches is footage of Bull's room, Bull eating, walking around with her leather jacket that says "fuck" on the back, etc.
Kaori's 1st modeling video. Goes along with her ETUDE photobook.
Noumi and partner Miho Wakizawa make their 1st image videos in Hawaii. Since they are both there, Miho is in some of the scenes, including putting Kayo in a udehishigigyakujujigatame on her bed.
Kayo's 1st modelling DVD. This isn't the glamourpuss self promoting crap we are stuck with in the US. For most of the DVD, you can actually see Kayo's face rather than that of an amateur of disguise hiding behind gobs of gook. She doesn't spend the whole time trying to sell you on how sexy she is, which makes perfect sense because this isn't drop a coin in and hope like a peep show; with millions of models you wouldn't spend $30 on her if you didn't already like her. Kayo pretty much goes about her business, not being overly concerned by the camera's presence. She mainly does her normal routine like working out (which focuses on flexiblity necessary for actual women's wrestling rather than tightening her body so she can look more like a Barbie) and taking a shower, letting the production team do their job. On that end their are mixed results, especially the way the lone match highlights (her 5/11/03 upset over Shimoda) are shown with mostly tight shots of Kayo and just a little box in the corner for the regular distance footage that lets you observe the match rather than just Noumi, but putting the rest to classical music almost always helps.
*I have a limited amount of 1st gen SP copies available for $18*
Ofune modeling. Billed as the "World's first masked women's pro-wrestler image DVD".
Yumi Oka modeling.
*Vidcaps in Quebrada #47*
Omukai's first modeling video, which goes along with her (2nd) photobook of the same name. This is one of the great modeling videos. I can't really chose between this video and Fukawa's, but both rule because they are really well made and the women look great. I guess it's a matter of taste. Fukawa is incredibly beautiful, while Omukai is incredibly sexy. Fukawa has an awesome face, while Omukai has an awesome body. Omukai's video has a lot more footage where she doesn't have a top on, so maybe that gives this the edge? Read Comments
Michiko Omukai nude modeling
This is a 5-member personal video. The tape has a feature on each woman which consists of modeling in a dress, modeling in a bathing suit, an interview, and an activity, for example Wakizawa surfing or Motoya taking a trip to an amusement park. In between the features of one woman there are group activities such as them lighting off fireworks, which is kind of funny because Chiharu is so scared of them (she hides under a table). Motoya carries this tape like Shiro Koshinaka used to carry the NJ stiffs. She is incredibly attractive. Kosugi looks prettier than normal and Chiharu is no slouch either, but they simply can't hold a candle to the exotic young babe Motoya.
8/17/95 Osaka: Ozaki vs. Hikari Fukuoka. Excellent match.
3/17/95 Hakata Starlane Street Fight: Ozaki vs. Dynamite Kansai. ****1/2 in unedited form, but this version ruins the build of the match by snipping parts out.
10/15/95 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Ozaki vs. Cuty Suzuki
11/4/95 Kawagoe: Ozaki & Cuty vs. Fukuoka & Kansai
Plus extra curricular activities such as Oz learning to ride a horse, learning to scuba dive, etc!
Ozaki & Cuty sexy modelling
The first "all nude" video from the top heavy idol/jockey/announcer/failed shooter, filmed in a "private paradise" in Mexico. This is not one of those making videos videos that plays like an infomercial for the book, and it's a lot more risque than any similar video the wrestlers have put out. . Due to the nudity, you must be at least 18 to order this.
Sakuraba nude modeling. Companion to the photobook and her Ultimate Hunter action movie (from the same Guardless series as the Cuty Suzuki movie).
Shimoda lifestyle video to celebrate the 10th anniversary of her debut. Shimoda looking very hot modeling in bathing suits and lingerie! Footage from her trip to Bangkok including her parasailing and going to the zoo. Some match highlights.
8/16/96 2/3 falls 10th Anniversary Match: Shimoda & Toyota vs. Yamada & Mita. Tons of streamers thrown before the match. ****
The video complement of The Goddess' photobook of the same name. Kind of a cross between the making of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue, without all the wasted time on talking, and a lengthy music video. It's a half hour of The Goddess, IMO, easily the best looking women ever to make a living in the wrestling business, and she's wearing bathing suits or underwear almost the entire time, so what more is there to say?
Being the world's biggest Goddess mark, I probably can't comment objectively about this tape, so I won't even try. I can't help the fact that there's no one I'd rather look at. Anyway, this is the video compliment of The Goddess' #1 and THE BEST modeling photobook Desire. The Goddess wearing bathing suits, bikinis cut off jeans, etc. The Goddess in the bathtub. The Goddess in bed with nothing but a sheet to cover her. Drool~!
Cuty's first image video. She plays around on the Island's beach and trains with Atsushi Onita of all people.
This has a little modeling, but is mainly a behind the scenes video. It shows her wrestling in the dojo (the part where her and Ozaki are practicing a match is pretty good), with her family, at her apartment where Kansai just starts going through all the stuff to be a pain, etc.
Profile, music (Cuty & Takako duet Sailing You), talk, fight (5/22/94 Cuty vs. Takako highlights), private, image, together & tomorrow
This is the video complement to Cuty's photo book. Footage from the photo shoots themselves with Cuty in lingerie, bathing suits, etc along with the usual activities that are shown on these hour tapes like footage from Cuty's trip to Hollywood.
Cuty modeling DVD put out to celebrate the 10th anniversary of her debut. Filmed in California.
Cuty modeling. A DVD rerelease of Love Fall Vol. 1
Cuty modeling. A DVD rerelease of her Scholar video idol video.
This is made by the same company, TAKE SHOBO, that made the legendary Ozaki Fascination image video. They once again did a great job. Cuty looks a lot better than she normally does, which says something. She's not nearly as Cute as she used to be, but she more than makes up for it by being a whole lot sexier. She's become a lot better model than she was a wrestler, which isn't really saying much except that she wrestled full time for 13 years and just did some modeling on the side, but I'm all for her getting more practice if you know what I mean.:) The modeling footage is well shot, sexy and erotic, but the making footage is just a waste. I mean, this was hardly the JWP as long as we have Kana in a bathing suit it doesn't matter how pathetic the production is, they had a lot of style. However, it's not like they are Jeunet, Lucas, or Cameron. They are doing it well, but not exactly doing anything revelolutionary. The making part really killed the SM scene because that needed to be shown all the way through first so it could seem "real" and then maybe it would have all the intensity it needed to work. Instead, it was all disjointed because they just did scenes with a lot of time lapse for the book instead of shooting the footage to fill the gaps for the video, and they showed how fake it was by going to shots of them making it. Mainly the making was just a camera farther back so you could see a photographer snapping photos. Luckily, this portion was hardly an integral part of the video like the title might suggest, and this wasn't one of those videos where they showed 10 different versions of the same 15 second scene. Unfortunately, the nudity also wasn't an integral part of the video. I would have bought it without any nudity and been happier in the sense that it's annoying that they advertise nudity, but then are constantly shying away from delivering any during the portions where she has no clothes on. For me, the video was actually better the second time because I knew what to expect and could enjoy all the top quality portions instead of expecting nudity and making and barely getting any for the former and not getting near the quality of the rest of the video from the later.
Cuty Suzuki nude modelling. Companion to her Guardless Second Mission photobook and the second part of the shooting for her Guardless action movie.
Cuty Suzuki action movie.
Cuty nude modeling.
Personal video of Yamada & Toyota in Saipan for a photo shoot and to make a rock video for "Power of the Dream." Highlight of the tape is Toyota moonsaulting into a pool.
This tape has a very good Toyota vs. Sakie Hasegawa match from 10/4/95 Tokyo Korakuen Hall, a good Toyota & Ito vs. Kyoko Inoue & Tomoko Watanabe Tag League The Best '95 match from 10/15/95 Hakata Star Lanes, old wrestling footage of Toyota including her Japan Grand Prix '90 win, & highlights of Toyota's favorite spots. It also has several non-wrestling features including Toyota dressing up in a "China outfit."
Miho and partner Kayo Noumi make their 1st image videos in Hawaii. Since they are both there, Kayo is in some of the scenes.
This DVD features several match highlights from the final months of MihoKayo plus out of the ring footage like them posing in the pool, visiting Miho's apartment, bowling, playing tennis, and so on.
12/16/01 Kanagawa Kawasaki Shi Taiikukan Miho Wakizawa Intai Jiai Wacky Final Smile: Miho Wakizawa vs. Kayo Noumi. A good match for them. They kept it simple early on then Wakizawa started going to her "big" moves at 8:00. Wakizawa got the majority of the offense in since she was losing, which boded well since even an injured up Wakizawa has far better moves and execution than Noumi. Everything was well executed for Noumi. Well there was a lot of repetition since neither are capable of doing much, I'd certainly rather see more missile kicks, fisherman busters, and doublewrist armsaults and the usual goofiness. Actually, this was probably as serious as MihoKayo gets. Although it had surprisingly little atmosphere, especially for a retirement match, this is probably the best match they've had against one another. Noumi pinned Wakizawa with her own fishermanbuster. During Wakizawa's retirement ceremony, Rumi & Takako made it look like they were going to have Eagle beat Miho up. However, they "doublecrossed" Eagle with a double DDT and had Wakizawa pin her with a diving body press. **1/2
Michael Smith's comments: The match started out slowly being that they were using very basic moves. The first few minutes were very reminiscent of a "green" girls match from say '94 or '95. That and the strategy of using eardrum piercing screams to make each other deaf took away from this match a bit. There were however a lot of nice near falls (which unfortunately were hurt by the lack of heat) over the last few minutes including Kayo rolling through on a top rope hurancanrana for a two count and another two count off Kayo's rolling doublewrist armsaults. It's a good thing this was Miho retirement match in the sense that Kayo surviving 5 fisherman's busters killed Wakizawa's finisher dead. Noumi eventually got the win with a fisherman's buster of her own that came off more like a regular fisherman's suplex (minus the bridging pin attempt). They kept the goofiness down in this match which helped it be better than I had expected going in. As I said before, the lack of heat hurt them but overall I feel they still put out a **1/2 effort. Miho got alot of streamers before and after the match, which makes you wonder why the crowd couldn't support her during it. I think she could come back though and be successful if she recovers from her injuries and decides she wants to wrestle again. She never was or will be a great worker but she and Kayo both have a lot of charisma as a team and since standards aren't as high as they were in the mid-late '90s, she certainly has a solid place in today's era.
*I have a limited number of additional 1st gen SP copies available for $18 or $23.50 COOP*
Yagi training and working out, working with Amano on her matwork, various stills from her childhood and early career, etc.
1/9/94 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Yagi vs. Hikari Fukuoka. Yagi's debut. 2:43 shown
6/16/96 Tokyo Korakuen Hall HIROMI YAGI BIG CHALLENGE 3: Hiromi Yagi vs. Aja Kong. 6:09 shown
7/7/96 Tokyo Korakuen Hall HIROMI YAGI BIG CHALLENGE 3: Hiromi Yagi vs. Takako Inoue. 6:02 shown
8/16/96 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan 2 HIROMI YAGI BIG CHALLENGE 3 Final Match: Yagi vs. Super Heel Devil Masami. Complete.
9/8/96 Tokyo Korakuen Hall HIROMI YAGI BIG CHALLENGE 3 EXTRA!: Yagi vs. Jaguar Yokota. A very good match that's clearly a level above any that were part of the challenge. 5:45 shown