AJW 6/27/1992
- Kaoru Ito & Cynthia Moreno vs Tomoko Watanabe & Saemi Numata
A solid opening card affair, basic low level action. Pre match we learn Bat's got an injured arm so that's why we've got little Saemi getting slotten into this. Would have been a much better match with Bat in thear but Numata does her part and looked perfectly fine here. Moreno worked pretty well with her actually. Ito vs Watanabe as always is fun too and it comes down to them at the end with Ito getting the W after her & Moreno hit consequtive diving footstomps.
- (JGP 92) Mima Shimoda vs Takako Inoue
Good match once things settle down and they start exchanging holds. Shimoda gets the advantage first working over the arm. Shame Mima didn't work this style more often back then as at the time, she was better at that then any thing else she was trying. Takako takes over and goes into full on bitch heel mode, with a giant smile on her face as she humiliates Mima, happy to have someone she can pick on for a change. Like i've said in the past, Takako Inoue submission queen was awesome, kind of a shame she didn't stick with that style either as the years went on. Here she goes after the back at first then starts picking apart Shimoda's leg in an awesome way, dominating for quite a while. Mima comes back a little later on and goes for revenge trying to take out Tak's leg but it goes no whear. She does come out the victor soon after though, getting the big win with a backdrop superplex. Really liked this a lot.
- (JGP 92) Sakie Hasegawa vs Debbie Malenko
Pretty good match but felt like it was missing something to make it special. They built this up as the big battle of tag partners but it was more or less an average match for these two. Of course, for these two an average match is still damn good, just not anything to get super excited about. Debbie mostly controlls things, she goes to the mat naturally but there's no real struggle or drama involved, just Deb going from hold to hold until it's time for Sakie to make her come back and go all nutty with the spin kick barrage. Things get more interesting once they go to exchanging the bigger moves, some awesome suplexes from Deb in this but that proves to be her downfall as Sakie counters one into a small package to win.
- Terri Power Profile Segment
Cool little special look at Terri training with Debbie, working out in the gym, talking about her training with Brad Rhenigans, working LPWA and other stuff.
- (AJW Title) Mariko Yoshida (c) vs Etsuko Mita
A better version of the match type Shimoda & Takako did earlier. Perfect mix of brawling, mat work, awesome selling, little bit of flying and a great crowd cheering on Yoshida. Mita's really starting to embrace her new bad girl persona since teaming up with Hokuto and this is like her heel coming out party. She goes after Yoshida's bad arm and then turns the match into a chair swinging crowd brawl but keeps the focus still on the arm. Yoshida slowly comes back in, brining a chair with her which is rare but revenge is a bitch. Mita cuts her off though and she gets beat down some more, continuing to target the arm. A few minutes later Yoshida gets said revenge though, she sends Mita outside, hits a really nice dive then goes nuts with chair attacks of her own out in the stands trying to break Mita's bum knee. Both of them continue putting over the limb work late into the match even after the focus changes to other things which just adds to the drama. Yoshida finally gets the hard earned win, catching Mita on top with a DDT then hitting a beautiful looking step up splash. Mita's like bullshit to that and goes after Yoshida's arm with a chair again post match but it's quickly broken up she's sent to the back, limping away while Yoshida celebrates. Easliy the best singles match either had ever had up to this point in their careers.
- Aja Kong Miori Kamiya & Terri Power vs Bull Nakano Yumiko Hotta & Suzuka Minami
Cool, Kamiya's in her whacky Nise Muta mode. So, on paper one doesn't look at this lineup and crazy sprint but that's what they do and it's a damn good one. No major plot beyond Bull & Aja still hate each other's guts, just a lot of fast paced action and bodies flying all over the place. Terri does quite well here which is good since Bull & Hotta and hell probably Minami too would have been quick to fuck her up had she blown something but all goes well and everyone else is on point here too, especially Aja who's all amped up like a mad woman, total ball of energy smashing folks and destroying things left and right. Fun ending with Kamiya knocking Bull off the ropes, Terri hitting a rana on Suzuka and Aja crushing Hotta with the back drop smash all at the same time. Super fun match period.
- (3WA Tag Titles 2 out of 3 Falls) Toshiyo Yamada & Manami Toyota (c) vs Akira Hokuto & Kyoko Inoue
So after the events of the last show Hokuto & Inoue don't appear to be exactly thrilled to be teaming up but promise to make the most of it while the champs seem to be on the same page. 1st fall's all about puttin over how strong & tough Hokuto & Inoue are. Toyota & Yamada have better team work and are faster but they still get their butts kicked and heads smashed in and a good many times just plain outsmarted. The champs make a lot of mistakes early and it cost them as Hokuto & Inoue counter all their stuff and things end with a double pin after they miss a double team diving head butt and HokInoue hit their finishers at the same time on both. Hokuto & Inoue also have some cool moments whear they ape each other's sig spots, Hokuto bust out the mongolian chops and giant swing, Kyoko uses the spin kicks. Both do them really badly but it was neat to see them try, unity and all that. 2nd fall looks to be the same but Yamada shuts that shit down and in the span of like a minute she kicks Hokuto in the head, gives her 7 back drop suplexes, another kick to the head and then pins her with the same move she used to beat Toyota last show, the Gory Special Bomb. 3rd Fall is more Toyota & Yamada's style, as the up the pace. They take Hokuto out then bring Kyoko in and go to work over her for a while. Hokuto comes back a little but is still a little out of it from all she took earlier so isn't a ton of help leaving Kyoko to do all the work again. They finally rally but their team work falls apart and all the big stuff Hokuto & Inoue try back fires such as when Kyoko ends up smashing her parter on a dive gone horribly wrong. Meanwhile all the double teams Toyota & Yamada do hit and that becomes the final story. The champs divide & concor, they trap Hokuto in the ropes so she can't escape and after a few more big moves Kyoko falls to the JOCS. Aside from a few sloppy moments involving Toyota, the was a really great match, especially the final fall as it had that extra something to go along with the great action to put it over the top.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Monday, March 21, 2011
AJW 6/21/1992
- Bat Yoshinaga & Tomoko Watanabe vs Saemi Numata & Akemi Torisu
Total squash by the Goku Wrecking Crew over the dream team of Torisu and the future Numatchi, 2 of my all time fave joshi flashes in the pan. Draged out a little too long as this didn't need to be nearly 15 mins but Bat killing Torisu is always fun, I think the biggest move Akemi got in the whole match was a clothesline. Doomsday flying smash gets broken up Torisu just kinda falling in the way so Watanabe bust out the jackhammer to kill little Numatchi for the win. No clue when it happened, wasn't in this match but I first noticed here that Watanabe had one of her front teeth busted out. Victory though guts and all that.
- Suzuka Minami, Rie Tamada & Cynthia Moreno vs Yumiko Hotta, Miori Kamiya & Kaoru Ito
Cool sprint, everyone hit everything perfectly and there were a lot of fun moments. Moreno mixing it up with Kamiya & Ito to start, rookie Tamada holding her own, spazzing out of folks with drop kicks, Ito & Kamiya taking advantage of being a regular team, tag partners on opposite coliding with Hotta going after Suzuka every time she gets. The last one is what ends up being the underlying focus of the match as it comes down to those 2 for the finish with Suzuka droping Hotta with a powerbomb. Nice to see a match whear lowest on the totem pole isn't the guaranteed jobber. Dug this a lot.
- Mima Shimoda & Debbie Malenko vs Etsuko Mita & Terri Power
"Everyone's going to have their work cut out for them in this one" - Debbie The Wise pre match. Crowd's all "ohhhh ahhhh" at Terri flexin her muscles. Deb calls her out to start and 30 seconds in they're blowing spots. There's a few more awkward moments in this including Terri droping an elbow rite on Deb's face that swelled up her cheek a little but aside from that Terri mostly did ok in this actually. She hit some athletic high spots like a rana and skinning the cat and didn't look 100% lost. Mita was all super extra spunky and fired up in this one, biting away and hurling chairs and what not. Her & Deb didn't work together too well either. After a badly timed move Debbie hits her with an Ace Crusher and Mita bangs her allready bad knee pretty hard coming down. Later on near the end they're both fighting up on top and slip with Mita getting her good leg caught in the ropes, messig that one up. Not her night. Once untangled she gets submitted to the STF from Ms Malenko. "Today's match was not exactly up to par, as good as what we normally do" - Debbie The Wise post match.
- (JGP 92) Sakie Hasegawa vs Mariko Yoshida
Battle of the walking wounderd, Yoshida comes in with both arms & her shoulder taped up while Sakie's still rocking the back brace and has both knees wraped up. Early portion of this is all about the awesome mat work and selling of attacks on said injuries. Sakie strikes first going after Yoshida's arm but things switch quickly with Mariko trying to destroy Sakie's bad leg in return all the while still selling her arm from earlier like a champ. Even lifting Sakie up for something simple like a slam causes her to wince in pain for a second. 10 mins in they start going to bigger moves. Yoshida changes her style up from "Ms. I will snap your leg" to "Ms. I will crush you with this tricked out lucha flying shit". Yoshida wipes out badly doing a suicide dive but it doesn't keep her down for long, a few minutes later she sends her outside again, fakes Sakie out then hits a sweet leaping springboard dive and much like last month the Kourakuen crowds is in love with them some Yoshida. Sakie makes her come back and goes into her spin kick barrage, gives Yoshida a bloody lip with a leaping one hitting her square in the mush. Since attempting to kick her head off fails, Sakie decides to crack it instead, droping her with a hurty looking back suplex that still doesn't get her the win. 20 mins in things sadly fall apart a little bit. Instead of building off the momentum they'd built up they go back to working the mat but don't put it over as strong as they did earlier so it just comes across flat and out of place this late in the match. It's like they knew they had to stall for time but ran out of shit to do before going to the finish sequence. Once they do make it to the home stretch things pick up again, lots of near falls off cradles, suplexes and the like. Big battle of drop kick vs spin kick in a cool moment. Sakie again spikes her with a back suplex but still just 2. Yoshida in charge a lot during the final min or 2, big german, step up diving head butt, flying elbow can't get her the victory. Time runs out and it's a 30 min draw. If they'd have kept this to 20 mins or had a better finish then going the distance this would have been a MOTYC, as it is it's still a really damn good match but a step below that lvl.
- (JGP 92) Aja Kong vs Bison Kimura
Added bonus, Debbie Malenko is in the booth doing commentary in english for the rest of the show. Soooooo remember in last years JGP these two met, beat the shit out of each other and then Bison riped apart Aja's bad ankle that she came into the match with and made her submit? Aja does and revenge is a bitch. This year they upped the violence, a few minutes in Bison has a bloody mouth and is bleeding hard way from getting head butted. Bison gives as good as she gets though, atleast when given the chance and this is one of the stiffer matches i've ever seen in joshi. Everything from kicks to chops to chair swinging, metal tossing crowd brawls is done with extra intensity. No one's safe either as ring atendants, the ref and who ever else gets in their way takes a beating during this. Aja dominates more often then not though and ocasionally would take a minute to lock in a hold or 2 or bust out a flying shoulder block or dropkick in between the beating whear as Bison's the more crazy of the pair and will just beat you down and then beat you down some more. By the end of this Bison's lost a front tooth, I think from a punt to the jaw mid match. She survives a couple of urakens near the end so Aja choke slams her nearly to hell then locks in a cross arm breaker for the insta tap, Aja flashes back to 91 and holds on a few extra seconds before being drug off. "God made the devil just for fun, but when he wanted the real thing he made Aja Kong" - Book of Shishido Chapter 1970 verse 925. It's all in the family though, Aja tends to her fallen team mate post match, helps her up and they hug. Aja screams at her to make it to the finals so they can meet again. Big Kimura chant from the fans. Great match if you're into the hard hitting, smash mouth (no pun intended) style. One of the best of the year.
- Bull Nakano & Akira Hokuto vs Takako Inoue & Kyoko Inoue
Best I can tell this is the first time W-Inoue teamed up together not counting a 6 woman tag in 89. Soooooo remember 3 months ago when Hokuto crushed Takako like a bug in a few short minutes? "Takako's going to be a handicap" says Debbie the Wise. Story of the match is pretty much a repeat of that. Bull & Hokuto beat the dog crap out of Takako, though the english commentary we learn that Bull's talking crap to her while doing it to boot. Egging her on to put up more of a fight and not be such a loser. Kyoko on the other hand beat Hokuto the last time they met in singles and while she's never beaten Bull she has always held her own against her. Here though things don't go so well, Kyoko gets some good shots in but there's no way she can't fight off both of them alone and it proves too much as she largely gets her ass kicked here as well. "You can tell this isn't a tough match for Bull, her hairs not even messed up yet" says Fumi Saito(?), the bi lingual commentator who's always on these shows and is translating for Debbie. Takako is able to break up a few near pin falls but that's about all she's good for during the home stretch. Hokuto drops Kyoko with the NLB and she breaks that up so Hokuto gives Takako one of her own while Bull drops the leg on Kyoko and we get a double pin to complete the humiliation and destruction of W-Inoue on this fine night. They really put this over as Kyoko failing because she had such a weak partner though. So the coolest ass whoping glorified squash ever. Loved this quite a lot.
- (No Time Limit) Manami Toyota vs Toshiyo Yamada
12/9/89 30 minute draw, 9/7/91 30 minute draw, 1/4/92 40 minute draw and so it comes to this, no time limit, main event, there must be a winner. Funny moment on commentary as Fumi remarks "So the male fans will be more for Toyota OF COURSE, while the wrestling fans will be more for Yamada" and Debbie craps all over his theory in a polite manner saying how great Toyota is in the ring so the "wrestling" fans will be split too. Match starts at a really fast pace as Toyota immediatly gets the rolling cradle but then things slow down for a while, they go back and forth with no one having the advantage for too long. Yamada attacks the leg but it doesn't go anywhear and after Toyota catches her foot mid kick she locks in a leg bar and turns the time. Yamada gets the ropes but she won't break, they roll outside to the floor with the hold still on and Toyota still won't break for a while. Once she does Toyota hurls her through the 1st 4 rows of chairs. Back in the ring, Toyota tries to turn it into more her style of match, hitting a billion drop kicks from all angles but Yamada shuts that shit down with a couple kicks to the head and starts stretching her on the mat. Anouncers make mention of something I noticed in their last match, that Yamada doesn't really have a lot of big moves in her arsenal though they do play up that what Yamada does do, while simpler is really effective. She'll just kick your head in essentially. Debbie also name drops Lex Luger and compares one for the moves Yamada does to the torture rack, so so wish they'd have put her in the booth more often. Toyota gets sick of playing human kick bag and hauls off and punches Yamada upside the head. Match goes outside and Toyota goes splat on a missed dive attempt, taking out a young girl working ring duty. Yamada hits a leaping spin kick off the apron to follow up. Back inside match turns back into a sprint, lot of superplexes and other big moves getting tossed out now. Yamada's working this a lot more aggressive then she did back in January, staying on Toyota with a lot more fury. No stalling for time, hesitation or confusion her part this time. Yamada with the dragon suplex can't get it, Toyota with 3 germans can't get it. Back outside again Toyota with the fucking insane spring board moonsault off the middle of the top rope nearly landing face first on the apron on the way down but she survives. Anouncers bringing up that a lot of Toyota's flashy shit doesn't always register as well with the fans because she does it so effortlessly and fast in an interesting point. Debbie's also pushing heavily how well these 2 know each other being tag partners so they can predict what the other's about to do and that's what becomes the story for the final part of the match. Lots more counter spots, back and forth, Toyota goes for another moonsault but eats knee. Yamada with a series of diving brain kicks for 2. Toyota hitting crazy ass suplexes i've never even seen before but just getting 2. She finally decideds to pull out the JOCS but Yamada has that shit scouted, she escapes and counters with a similar move of her own and FINALLY gets the win over her eternal rival & friend. Awesome match, easily their best yet up to this point. Fans who for the most part hadn't been cheering on either one over the other erupt in a giant Yamada chant to celebrate her victory. Manami Toyota doesn't let her long time tag partner and BFF have her moment in the sun for long though, there's no hug, there's no handshake, Toyota is not a gracious loser. 4 matches, 126+ minutes, spread out over almost 3 years to get a winner in a singles match between these 2 and Toyota can not stand that it's not her so she snaps. She gets on the mic in near tears and challenges Yamada for 1 more match and tells her not only will she put up her IWA title this time time, she'll also put her hair on the line as well. Yamada excepts and we've got hair vs hair.
Total squash by the Goku Wrecking Crew over the dream team of Torisu and the future Numatchi, 2 of my all time fave joshi flashes in the pan. Draged out a little too long as this didn't need to be nearly 15 mins but Bat killing Torisu is always fun, I think the biggest move Akemi got in the whole match was a clothesline. Doomsday flying smash gets broken up Torisu just kinda falling in the way so Watanabe bust out the jackhammer to kill little Numatchi for the win. No clue when it happened, wasn't in this match but I first noticed here that Watanabe had one of her front teeth busted out. Victory though guts and all that.
- Suzuka Minami, Rie Tamada & Cynthia Moreno vs Yumiko Hotta, Miori Kamiya & Kaoru Ito
Cool sprint, everyone hit everything perfectly and there were a lot of fun moments. Moreno mixing it up with Kamiya & Ito to start, rookie Tamada holding her own, spazzing out of folks with drop kicks, Ito & Kamiya taking advantage of being a regular team, tag partners on opposite coliding with Hotta going after Suzuka every time she gets. The last one is what ends up being the underlying focus of the match as it comes down to those 2 for the finish with Suzuka droping Hotta with a powerbomb. Nice to see a match whear lowest on the totem pole isn't the guaranteed jobber. Dug this a lot.
- Mima Shimoda & Debbie Malenko vs Etsuko Mita & Terri Power
"Everyone's going to have their work cut out for them in this one" - Debbie The Wise pre match. Crowd's all "ohhhh ahhhh" at Terri flexin her muscles. Deb calls her out to start and 30 seconds in they're blowing spots. There's a few more awkward moments in this including Terri droping an elbow rite on Deb's face that swelled up her cheek a little but aside from that Terri mostly did ok in this actually. She hit some athletic high spots like a rana and skinning the cat and didn't look 100% lost. Mita was all super extra spunky and fired up in this one, biting away and hurling chairs and what not. Her & Deb didn't work together too well either. After a badly timed move Debbie hits her with an Ace Crusher and Mita bangs her allready bad knee pretty hard coming down. Later on near the end they're both fighting up on top and slip with Mita getting her good leg caught in the ropes, messig that one up. Not her night. Once untangled she gets submitted to the STF from Ms Malenko. "Today's match was not exactly up to par, as good as what we normally do" - Debbie The Wise post match.
- (JGP 92) Sakie Hasegawa vs Mariko Yoshida
Battle of the walking wounderd, Yoshida comes in with both arms & her shoulder taped up while Sakie's still rocking the back brace and has both knees wraped up. Early portion of this is all about the awesome mat work and selling of attacks on said injuries. Sakie strikes first going after Yoshida's arm but things switch quickly with Mariko trying to destroy Sakie's bad leg in return all the while still selling her arm from earlier like a champ. Even lifting Sakie up for something simple like a slam causes her to wince in pain for a second. 10 mins in they start going to bigger moves. Yoshida changes her style up from "Ms. I will snap your leg" to "Ms. I will crush you with this tricked out lucha flying shit". Yoshida wipes out badly doing a suicide dive but it doesn't keep her down for long, a few minutes later she sends her outside again, fakes Sakie out then hits a sweet leaping springboard dive and much like last month the Kourakuen crowds is in love with them some Yoshida. Sakie makes her come back and goes into her spin kick barrage, gives Yoshida a bloody lip with a leaping one hitting her square in the mush. Since attempting to kick her head off fails, Sakie decides to crack it instead, droping her with a hurty looking back suplex that still doesn't get her the win. 20 mins in things sadly fall apart a little bit. Instead of building off the momentum they'd built up they go back to working the mat but don't put it over as strong as they did earlier so it just comes across flat and out of place this late in the match. It's like they knew they had to stall for time but ran out of shit to do before going to the finish sequence. Once they do make it to the home stretch things pick up again, lots of near falls off cradles, suplexes and the like. Big battle of drop kick vs spin kick in a cool moment. Sakie again spikes her with a back suplex but still just 2. Yoshida in charge a lot during the final min or 2, big german, step up diving head butt, flying elbow can't get her the victory. Time runs out and it's a 30 min draw. If they'd have kept this to 20 mins or had a better finish then going the distance this would have been a MOTYC, as it is it's still a really damn good match but a step below that lvl.
- (JGP 92) Aja Kong vs Bison Kimura
Added bonus, Debbie Malenko is in the booth doing commentary in english for the rest of the show. Soooooo remember in last years JGP these two met, beat the shit out of each other and then Bison riped apart Aja's bad ankle that she came into the match with and made her submit? Aja does and revenge is a bitch. This year they upped the violence, a few minutes in Bison has a bloody mouth and is bleeding hard way from getting head butted. Bison gives as good as she gets though, atleast when given the chance and this is one of the stiffer matches i've ever seen in joshi. Everything from kicks to chops to chair swinging, metal tossing crowd brawls is done with extra intensity. No one's safe either as ring atendants, the ref and who ever else gets in their way takes a beating during this. Aja dominates more often then not though and ocasionally would take a minute to lock in a hold or 2 or bust out a flying shoulder block or dropkick in between the beating whear as Bison's the more crazy of the pair and will just beat you down and then beat you down some more. By the end of this Bison's lost a front tooth, I think from a punt to the jaw mid match. She survives a couple of urakens near the end so Aja choke slams her nearly to hell then locks in a cross arm breaker for the insta tap, Aja flashes back to 91 and holds on a few extra seconds before being drug off. "God made the devil just for fun, but when he wanted the real thing he made Aja Kong" - Book of Shishido Chapter 1970 verse 925. It's all in the family though, Aja tends to her fallen team mate post match, helps her up and they hug. Aja screams at her to make it to the finals so they can meet again. Big Kimura chant from the fans. Great match if you're into the hard hitting, smash mouth (no pun intended) style. One of the best of the year.
- Bull Nakano & Akira Hokuto vs Takako Inoue & Kyoko Inoue
Best I can tell this is the first time W-Inoue teamed up together not counting a 6 woman tag in 89. Soooooo remember 3 months ago when Hokuto crushed Takako like a bug in a few short minutes? "Takako's going to be a handicap" says Debbie the Wise. Story of the match is pretty much a repeat of that. Bull & Hokuto beat the dog crap out of Takako, though the english commentary we learn that Bull's talking crap to her while doing it to boot. Egging her on to put up more of a fight and not be such a loser. Kyoko on the other hand beat Hokuto the last time they met in singles and while she's never beaten Bull she has always held her own against her. Here though things don't go so well, Kyoko gets some good shots in but there's no way she can't fight off both of them alone and it proves too much as she largely gets her ass kicked here as well. "You can tell this isn't a tough match for Bull, her hairs not even messed up yet" says Fumi Saito(?), the bi lingual commentator who's always on these shows and is translating for Debbie. Takako is able to break up a few near pin falls but that's about all she's good for during the home stretch. Hokuto drops Kyoko with the NLB and she breaks that up so Hokuto gives Takako one of her own while Bull drops the leg on Kyoko and we get a double pin to complete the humiliation and destruction of W-Inoue on this fine night. They really put this over as Kyoko failing because she had such a weak partner though. So the coolest ass whoping glorified squash ever. Loved this quite a lot.
- (No Time Limit) Manami Toyota vs Toshiyo Yamada
12/9/89 30 minute draw, 9/7/91 30 minute draw, 1/4/92 40 minute draw and so it comes to this, no time limit, main event, there must be a winner. Funny moment on commentary as Fumi remarks "So the male fans will be more for Toyota OF COURSE, while the wrestling fans will be more for Yamada" and Debbie craps all over his theory in a polite manner saying how great Toyota is in the ring so the "wrestling" fans will be split too. Match starts at a really fast pace as Toyota immediatly gets the rolling cradle but then things slow down for a while, they go back and forth with no one having the advantage for too long. Yamada attacks the leg but it doesn't go anywhear and after Toyota catches her foot mid kick she locks in a leg bar and turns the time. Yamada gets the ropes but she won't break, they roll outside to the floor with the hold still on and Toyota still won't break for a while. Once she does Toyota hurls her through the 1st 4 rows of chairs. Back in the ring, Toyota tries to turn it into more her style of match, hitting a billion drop kicks from all angles but Yamada shuts that shit down with a couple kicks to the head and starts stretching her on the mat. Anouncers make mention of something I noticed in their last match, that Yamada doesn't really have a lot of big moves in her arsenal though they do play up that what Yamada does do, while simpler is really effective. She'll just kick your head in essentially. Debbie also name drops Lex Luger and compares one for the moves Yamada does to the torture rack, so so wish they'd have put her in the booth more often. Toyota gets sick of playing human kick bag and hauls off and punches Yamada upside the head. Match goes outside and Toyota goes splat on a missed dive attempt, taking out a young girl working ring duty. Yamada hits a leaping spin kick off the apron to follow up. Back inside match turns back into a sprint, lot of superplexes and other big moves getting tossed out now. Yamada's working this a lot more aggressive then she did back in January, staying on Toyota with a lot more fury. No stalling for time, hesitation or confusion her part this time. Yamada with the dragon suplex can't get it, Toyota with 3 germans can't get it. Back outside again Toyota with the fucking insane spring board moonsault off the middle of the top rope nearly landing face first on the apron on the way down but she survives. Anouncers bringing up that a lot of Toyota's flashy shit doesn't always register as well with the fans because she does it so effortlessly and fast in an interesting point. Debbie's also pushing heavily how well these 2 know each other being tag partners so they can predict what the other's about to do and that's what becomes the story for the final part of the match. Lots more counter spots, back and forth, Toyota goes for another moonsault but eats knee. Yamada with a series of diving brain kicks for 2. Toyota hitting crazy ass suplexes i've never even seen before but just getting 2. She finally decideds to pull out the JOCS but Yamada has that shit scouted, she escapes and counters with a similar move of her own and FINALLY gets the win over her eternal rival & friend. Awesome match, easily their best yet up to this point. Fans who for the most part hadn't been cheering on either one over the other erupt in a giant Yamada chant to celebrate her victory. Manami Toyota doesn't let her long time tag partner and BFF have her moment in the sun for long though, there's no hug, there's no handshake, Toyota is not a gracious loser. 4 matches, 126+ minutes, spread out over almost 3 years to get a winner in a singles match between these 2 and Toyota can not stand that it's not her so she snaps. She gets on the mic in near tears and challenges Yamada for 1 more match and tells her not only will she put up her IWA title this time time, she'll also put her hair on the line as well. Yamada excepts and we've got hair vs hair.
Sunday, March 13, 2011
AJW 5/24/1992
- Kaoru Ito & Chikako Hasegawa vs Tomoko Watanabe & Akemi Torisu
The future Chikako Shiratori making tape for the 1st time. Quite the start as she does a ridiculously silly & pointless forward roll as soon as the bell starts only to get up and hit a weak looking elbow smash on Akemi who just shrugs it off and then beats her up with her devestating array of shoulder blocks. Chikako actually looked pretty decent for a rookie but most of the match mostly follows the pattern of being pretty boring & basic whenever the 2 younger girls are in but really fun whenever Ito & Watanabe are going at it. Ito especially brings life to this match as she's just a ball of energy here bouncing around all over. They go a little too long but eh, kids gotta learn somehow I suppose. Ito picks up the win over Watanabe with the top rope footstomp, 1 of the 1st times I can remember her wining a match with that move.
- Suzuka Manami vs Miori Kamiya
Old school, throw back kind of match. Lots of traditional pro wres mat work, Kamiya works over the arm while Suzuka goes after the leg & back and in the middle of it all they take turns smashing each others heads in with chairs just to mix it up. Fun home stretch as they kick up the pace with lot power stuff and going back and forth with roll ups ending with Suzuka getting the upper hand with the leg roll clutch. Really enjoyed this a lot.
- Bat Yoshinaga vs Yumiko Hotta
Always a fun pairing and they put on a really kick ass match here. All about them throwing 9 million kicks at each othe mixed in with a few stiff ass punches and elbows. Bat proved to be the more versitile of the 2 actually though and busted out a lot more varied offense, some of which was shitty like nerve holds and biting but she also did some pretty cool stuff too like flying dives off the top. In general she was by far the star of the match. Like their match in March she gets a lot out of standing up to Hotta's tough girl bully act. Then after establishing she's no longer a push over like she was in their 91 singles match, Bat controlls a lot of the middle portion befor going on to get a lot of close near falls at the end. Real stand out performance for her tonight. Of course Hotta's still the bigger star though and there was to be no upset tonight as she gets the win after cutting Bat off with an elbow and followed by Tiger Driver.
- Takako Inoue & Cynthia Moreno vs Debbie Malenko & Mima Shimoda
They have Debbie cutting promos in broken Japanese now instead of English, Boo. Her & Mima rocking the matching pink & black, Yay. Good to have a Moreno back for the 1st time in over 6 months even if I would rather have had it be Esther. Pretty good match though nothing special. Unlike a lot of times when the Moreno's or some of the other Mexican talent are in, they make her adapt more to their style rather then the other way around. She gets in a few traditional lucha high spots and stuff but nothing major. Probably for the best given who her opponents were tonight as lucha wasn't exactly Debbie's specialty and while Mima was usually game for going down that road she wasn't exactly the best at it either. Instead they largely work this as a mid range joshi workrate match which doesn't make for the best use of everyone's talents but makes for the best possible match chemistry wise between them as they're all atleast good, though not always great at that style. Ironically it's the two native girls who have the worst chemistry as Mima & Takako have a really sloppy sequence late in the match, most of which the blame falls on Mima's shoulders. Tak & Deb who work much better together do some cool stuff for the finish, including Debbie again busting out the sick overhead superplex. Match ends on a little bit of bad note as Takako drops her when trying to do her own shoulder suplex finish but she covers nicely, looks at the crowd and shrugs then goes "fuck it 1 more time" and the crowd responds "YEAH WHOOO" and she hits it cleanly this time for the win.
- Kyoko Inoue & Mariko Yoshida vs Manami Toyota & Sakie Hasegawa
Sakie in to start, still bandaged up from last month but Kyoko tells her to buzz off and calls out Toyota. They do some cool mirror spots & fast paced counters before tagging out to Sakie & Yoshida. Those 2 slow it down a little as Sakie goes after Yoshida's bandaged up arm for a while. Toyota tags in and is like nah to all that, prefering to spaz out on Yoshida with a million drop kicks. Things slow down again with Sakie back in and Yoshida tagging out to Kyoko. Inoue goes to work on her leg and Yoshida tags back in smelling blood and ties Sakie up in a million diffrent knots and then they switch to working over her back. Toyota taged in and once again says "fuck all this shit" more or less forcing the match to become a sprint again. For exactly 1 second was getting a little pissed at her for refusing to work anything but her style here but then the match gets AWESOME and all is forgiven because as far as crazy sprints go this was some top level shit. Just everyone clicking 100%, hitting everything cleanly. Toyota actually ended up being outshone by the other 3 in this match too. Kyoko was her usual great self of course but the real stars of this were Sakie & Yoshida. Both against each other and against Toyota or Inoue who actually didn't even interract that much in this match. Sakie was on point with all her spin kicks (a rarity), nearly taking Yoshida's head off a couple of times and her & Toyota were hitting some cool double team stuff. Yoshida was busting out all kinds of crazy dives and high spots and was mega insane over with the K-hall crowd. Lots of nutty near falls like you'd exspect for the finish and it ends with Yoshida hitting a monkey flip off the top rope on Sakie who then gets pinned after the Niagra Driver from Inoue. Huge Kyoko & Yoshida chants post match and they both get on the mic to talk shit afterwards on Toyota who looks quite pissed. Don't know if i'd put this ahead of Aja vs Bull but at worst this is the 2nd best match of the year up to this point.
- (CMLL Women's Title) Bull Nakano (c) vs Toshiyo Yamada
Always thought it was a shame Yamada never got a 3WA singles title match in her career, not that she should have won it but she would have been a great challenger. This is the next best thing I guess. Yamada waste no time going after Bull and decides she wants to employ the stategy of punching her square in the jaw and kicking her teeth in. Not always the wisest move when dealing with Bull but it works here or atleast it does for a while. Much like she did vs Bison the month before, once Yamada has her opponent down she then tries to follow it up with wear down holds but it has little effect here on Bull. Once she regains her composure Bull procedes to just have her way with poor Yamada for quite a while, torturing her real slow and painfull like. It's not until Bull takes the fight to the outside and then leaves her thear (side tangent - i've noticed this a lot in AJW matches around this time, no clue what the thinking is behind it) that Yamada can take a breather. She comes back in pissed off and swinging for the fences with strikes and then has more success working the submission game as Bull starts screaming in pain. Once out of it Yamada eats a lariet for her troubles and then the big leg drop. She survives though and kicks out at 2. Yamada with a big flurry of diving kicks but can't get the win. Yamada eats more lariets, gets sent outside, Bull with the bad ass suicide dive wiping out a million people on her way down. Few minutes later a 2nd leg drop gets her the V. Best I can tell this was the only time these 2 wrestled 1 on 1 which sucks. Not the best match ever but this was really good match and if they worked together more often i'm sure they could have had some great ones.
- Aja Kong & Bison Kimura vs Akira Hokuto & Etsuko Mita
AKIRA & MITA back from Mexico whear they picked up new gear, wicked tans and the name Las Cachorras Orientales which their debuting in Japan for the 1st time. Pre match promo Aja is not impressed and I believe says something along the lines of "so what those idiots went to Mexico, they didn't bring me back any Tacos, fuck them". Hot start for LCO but doesn't last long as JJ isolate Mita and dominate for a while. Hokuto saves the day in full on Dangerous Queen bitch heel mode. Ripping eyes, stomping faces, droping fools on their heads and the like. JJ again prove too strong though and Hokuto & Mita take turns getting beat down for a while. LCO decide to switch up and use more of their speed game, a strategy that works a lot better as they outsmart Aja & Bison. In a cool sequence for the finish, Hokuto almost ends up getting the win over Hokuto only for Aja to break things up. Mita takes her out with a piledriver on the floor and it becomes 2 on 1 in favor of LCO. Giant whacky cross armed, northern lights suplex from Mita can't get the win, Hokuto takes another turn beating on Bison and still can't put her away. Aja rises from the fucking dead like a zombie then starts wrecking shit up like a zombie from hell with rocket boots and a chain saw, collecting souls, going for brains and destroying all in it's path. Takes Ms. MITA's head off with a uraken which doesn't get her the win but does knock her silly enough that she can't take the finish properly. Mita sluggishly ducks a clothesline which screws up the timing of Hokuto trying to hit Jungle Jack with a plancha. Bison chops her ass on the way down for trying, taking her out of the picture. Aja drags Mita up to the top to hit her back drop splash but Mita just kinda falls over slipping down on Aja's back. Like Takako earlier Aja covers well enough though and a moment later they repeat it again and i'd say Aja killed her with it but Mita was allrady dead by then so this really was more like kicking a dead puppy for fun and profit. Screwey ending aside, this was a great match, just a shade under Toyota/Sakie vs Kyoko/Yoshida from earlier. Seriously thought LCO were going to win this at times and it did a good job of showing how much Mita had grown as she held her own getting to hang with and look strong against main event level talent for the 1st time in her career. Aja talks more shit post match saying I believe "screw Mexico, Japan #1, Jungle Jack #1, mwahahahaha bitches"
The future Chikako Shiratori making tape for the 1st time. Quite the start as she does a ridiculously silly & pointless forward roll as soon as the bell starts only to get up and hit a weak looking elbow smash on Akemi who just shrugs it off and then beats her up with her devestating array of shoulder blocks. Chikako actually looked pretty decent for a rookie but most of the match mostly follows the pattern of being pretty boring & basic whenever the 2 younger girls are in but really fun whenever Ito & Watanabe are going at it. Ito especially brings life to this match as she's just a ball of energy here bouncing around all over. They go a little too long but eh, kids gotta learn somehow I suppose. Ito picks up the win over Watanabe with the top rope footstomp, 1 of the 1st times I can remember her wining a match with that move.
- Suzuka Manami vs Miori Kamiya
Old school, throw back kind of match. Lots of traditional pro wres mat work, Kamiya works over the arm while Suzuka goes after the leg & back and in the middle of it all they take turns smashing each others heads in with chairs just to mix it up. Fun home stretch as they kick up the pace with lot power stuff and going back and forth with roll ups ending with Suzuka getting the upper hand with the leg roll clutch. Really enjoyed this a lot.
- Bat Yoshinaga vs Yumiko Hotta
Always a fun pairing and they put on a really kick ass match here. All about them throwing 9 million kicks at each othe mixed in with a few stiff ass punches and elbows. Bat proved to be the more versitile of the 2 actually though and busted out a lot more varied offense, some of which was shitty like nerve holds and biting but she also did some pretty cool stuff too like flying dives off the top. In general she was by far the star of the match. Like their match in March she gets a lot out of standing up to Hotta's tough girl bully act. Then after establishing she's no longer a push over like she was in their 91 singles match, Bat controlls a lot of the middle portion befor going on to get a lot of close near falls at the end. Real stand out performance for her tonight. Of course Hotta's still the bigger star though and there was to be no upset tonight as she gets the win after cutting Bat off with an elbow and followed by Tiger Driver.
- Takako Inoue & Cynthia Moreno vs Debbie Malenko & Mima Shimoda
They have Debbie cutting promos in broken Japanese now instead of English, Boo. Her & Mima rocking the matching pink & black, Yay. Good to have a Moreno back for the 1st time in over 6 months even if I would rather have had it be Esther. Pretty good match though nothing special. Unlike a lot of times when the Moreno's or some of the other Mexican talent are in, they make her adapt more to their style rather then the other way around. She gets in a few traditional lucha high spots and stuff but nothing major. Probably for the best given who her opponents were tonight as lucha wasn't exactly Debbie's specialty and while Mima was usually game for going down that road she wasn't exactly the best at it either. Instead they largely work this as a mid range joshi workrate match which doesn't make for the best use of everyone's talents but makes for the best possible match chemistry wise between them as they're all atleast good, though not always great at that style. Ironically it's the two native girls who have the worst chemistry as Mima & Takako have a really sloppy sequence late in the match, most of which the blame falls on Mima's shoulders. Tak & Deb who work much better together do some cool stuff for the finish, including Debbie again busting out the sick overhead superplex. Match ends on a little bit of bad note as Takako drops her when trying to do her own shoulder suplex finish but she covers nicely, looks at the crowd and shrugs then goes "fuck it 1 more time" and the crowd responds "YEAH WHOOO" and she hits it cleanly this time for the win.
- Kyoko Inoue & Mariko Yoshida vs Manami Toyota & Sakie Hasegawa
Sakie in to start, still bandaged up from last month but Kyoko tells her to buzz off and calls out Toyota. They do some cool mirror spots & fast paced counters before tagging out to Sakie & Yoshida. Those 2 slow it down a little as Sakie goes after Yoshida's bandaged up arm for a while. Toyota tags in and is like nah to all that, prefering to spaz out on Yoshida with a million drop kicks. Things slow down again with Sakie back in and Yoshida tagging out to Kyoko. Inoue goes to work on her leg and Yoshida tags back in smelling blood and ties Sakie up in a million diffrent knots and then they switch to working over her back. Toyota taged in and once again says "fuck all this shit" more or less forcing the match to become a sprint again. For exactly 1 second was getting a little pissed at her for refusing to work anything but her style here but then the match gets AWESOME and all is forgiven because as far as crazy sprints go this was some top level shit. Just everyone clicking 100%, hitting everything cleanly. Toyota actually ended up being outshone by the other 3 in this match too. Kyoko was her usual great self of course but the real stars of this were Sakie & Yoshida. Both against each other and against Toyota or Inoue who actually didn't even interract that much in this match. Sakie was on point with all her spin kicks (a rarity), nearly taking Yoshida's head off a couple of times and her & Toyota were hitting some cool double team stuff. Yoshida was busting out all kinds of crazy dives and high spots and was mega insane over with the K-hall crowd. Lots of nutty near falls like you'd exspect for the finish and it ends with Yoshida hitting a monkey flip off the top rope on Sakie who then gets pinned after the Niagra Driver from Inoue. Huge Kyoko & Yoshida chants post match and they both get on the mic to talk shit afterwards on Toyota who looks quite pissed. Don't know if i'd put this ahead of Aja vs Bull but at worst this is the 2nd best match of the year up to this point.
- (CMLL Women's Title) Bull Nakano (c) vs Toshiyo Yamada
Always thought it was a shame Yamada never got a 3WA singles title match in her career, not that she should have won it but she would have been a great challenger. This is the next best thing I guess. Yamada waste no time going after Bull and decides she wants to employ the stategy of punching her square in the jaw and kicking her teeth in. Not always the wisest move when dealing with Bull but it works here or atleast it does for a while. Much like she did vs Bison the month before, once Yamada has her opponent down she then tries to follow it up with wear down holds but it has little effect here on Bull. Once she regains her composure Bull procedes to just have her way with poor Yamada for quite a while, torturing her real slow and painfull like. It's not until Bull takes the fight to the outside and then leaves her thear (side tangent - i've noticed this a lot in AJW matches around this time, no clue what the thinking is behind it) that Yamada can take a breather. She comes back in pissed off and swinging for the fences with strikes and then has more success working the submission game as Bull starts screaming in pain. Once out of it Yamada eats a lariet for her troubles and then the big leg drop. She survives though and kicks out at 2. Yamada with a big flurry of diving kicks but can't get the win. Yamada eats more lariets, gets sent outside, Bull with the bad ass suicide dive wiping out a million people on her way down. Few minutes later a 2nd leg drop gets her the V. Best I can tell this was the only time these 2 wrestled 1 on 1 which sucks. Not the best match ever but this was really good match and if they worked together more often i'm sure they could have had some great ones.
- Aja Kong & Bison Kimura vs Akira Hokuto & Etsuko Mita
AKIRA & MITA back from Mexico whear they picked up new gear, wicked tans and the name Las Cachorras Orientales which their debuting in Japan for the 1st time. Pre match promo Aja is not impressed and I believe says something along the lines of "so what those idiots went to Mexico, they didn't bring me back any Tacos, fuck them". Hot start for LCO but doesn't last long as JJ isolate Mita and dominate for a while. Hokuto saves the day in full on Dangerous Queen bitch heel mode. Ripping eyes, stomping faces, droping fools on their heads and the like. JJ again prove too strong though and Hokuto & Mita take turns getting beat down for a while. LCO decide to switch up and use more of their speed game, a strategy that works a lot better as they outsmart Aja & Bison. In a cool sequence for the finish, Hokuto almost ends up getting the win over Hokuto only for Aja to break things up. Mita takes her out with a piledriver on the floor and it becomes 2 on 1 in favor of LCO. Giant whacky cross armed, northern lights suplex from Mita can't get the win, Hokuto takes another turn beating on Bison and still can't put her away. Aja rises from the fucking dead like a zombie then starts wrecking shit up like a zombie from hell with rocket boots and a chain saw, collecting souls, going for brains and destroying all in it's path. Takes Ms. MITA's head off with a uraken which doesn't get her the win but does knock her silly enough that she can't take the finish properly. Mita sluggishly ducks a clothesline which screws up the timing of Hokuto trying to hit Jungle Jack with a plancha. Bison chops her ass on the way down for trying, taking her out of the picture. Aja drags Mita up to the top to hit her back drop splash but Mita just kinda falls over slipping down on Aja's back. Like Takako earlier Aja covers well enough though and a moment later they repeat it again and i'd say Aja killed her with it but Mita was allrady dead by then so this really was more like kicking a dead puppy for fun and profit. Screwey ending aside, this was a great match, just a shade under Toyota/Sakie vs Kyoko/Yoshida from earlier. Seriously thought LCO were going to win this at times and it did a good job of showing how much Mita had grown as she held her own getting to hang with and look strong against main event level talent for the 1st time in her career. Aja talks more shit post match saying I believe "screw Mexico, Japan #1, Jungle Jack #1, mwahahahaha bitches"
AJW 4/29/1992
- (Vacant All Japan Junior Title) Saemi Numata vs Akemi Torisu
So 2 days after winning the title last month, Yuki Lee would vacate thus leading to another decicion match here. Only around 90 seconds of highlights. You don't really WANT to see Numatchi vs Akemi Torisu fight it out for any length of time but what was shown didn't look like the worst match ever either. Torisu mainly dominated in what was shown and won pretty easyily, forcing Numata down with one of those semi shoot looking pins the Zenjo rookies sometimes did.
- Kaoru Ito vs Miori Kamiya
One of those matches designed to show how much the lower ranked wrestler has grown. They clipped this up but what aired largely had Ito in controll, stomping down Kamiya & stretching her on the mat. It wasn't until she made 1 mistake and got outsmarted that she ended up on the losing end after Kamiya gets her with a kick in the ass followed by a German. Probably really in good in full i'd imagine but we only got a few mins.
- Bat Yoshinaga & Tomoko Watanabe vs Mima Shimoda & Suzuka Minami
Again clipped to just a couple of minutes. Funny moment as everyone gets crossed up, not knowing whear to go during a dive train sequence near the end, other then that just your standard, decent tag from the looks of things. Shimoda over Watanabe with the Superfly splash.
- (All Japan Title) Takako Inoue (c) vs Mariko Yoshida
Basic stuff to start but things really get going a few around the half way mark when Takako takes over and gos after Yoshida's leg. Nothing fancy but Yoshida puts it over like a champ and makes it seem like she's in the fight of her life. Tide gets turned when she and Yoshida returns the favor and starts going after Takako's leg all the while still selling her own from earlier. Cool moment as they go into the stands, Takako ends up on the floor clutching her knee and Yoshida hobbles over and just casually tosses a chair straight at her head. Turns into a battle of who can break who's leg for a while longer with Takako taking back over. Near the end they go into a little bit of "ow i'm hurt except when i'm doing this move, ok now i'm hurt again" type selling, especially Yoshida but it's not overly excessive and they both continue to put over the leg work strong with Inoue getting some nice near falls off flash submission attempts. Yoshida finally comes out on top though, after a double underhook superplex off the top nearly droping Takako on her head. Damn good match.
- Debbie Malenko & Sakie Hasegawa vs Bison Kimura & Aja Kong
Not quite a glorified squash but almost. Jungle Jack probably take about 80% of this and it's not until half way through that Sakie & Deb get any major offense in on them. Along the way, Sakie ends up having to get her ribs taped up which makes for some cool dramatic moments watching her claw and fight her way through the pain. At one point she goes nuts, getting ahold of Bison's night stick and swings away at Aja but it has little effect and the beat down continues. Aja repays her with some nasty trash can shots for her trouble. Her & Debbie make one last ditch effort but like all their previous attempts it's cut off before it ever reallyg gets going and Sakie falls to Aja after a brutal looking choke slam. Not as competitive as i'd have liked but hey, Jungle Jack beat downs are never not fun and this was no exception so I enjoyed this.
- Kyoko Inoue & Yumiko Hotta vs Manami Toyota & Toshiyo Yamada
Total sprint style match with too many highlights to really single anything out. Hotta & Kyoko made for a good team considering they hadn't really taged that much previously. Of Course it helped that these 4 have all worked together a million times so you know what to exspect. Yamada picks up the win over Hotta after a diving kick upside the noggin. Good stuff
So 2 days after winning the title last month, Yuki Lee would vacate thus leading to another decicion match here. Only around 90 seconds of highlights. You don't really WANT to see Numatchi vs Akemi Torisu fight it out for any length of time but what was shown didn't look like the worst match ever either. Torisu mainly dominated in what was shown and won pretty easyily, forcing Numata down with one of those semi shoot looking pins the Zenjo rookies sometimes did.
- Kaoru Ito vs Miori Kamiya
One of those matches designed to show how much the lower ranked wrestler has grown. They clipped this up but what aired largely had Ito in controll, stomping down Kamiya & stretching her on the mat. It wasn't until she made 1 mistake and got outsmarted that she ended up on the losing end after Kamiya gets her with a kick in the ass followed by a German. Probably really in good in full i'd imagine but we only got a few mins.
- Bat Yoshinaga & Tomoko Watanabe vs Mima Shimoda & Suzuka Minami
Again clipped to just a couple of minutes. Funny moment as everyone gets crossed up, not knowing whear to go during a dive train sequence near the end, other then that just your standard, decent tag from the looks of things. Shimoda over Watanabe with the Superfly splash.
- (All Japan Title) Takako Inoue (c) vs Mariko Yoshida
Basic stuff to start but things really get going a few around the half way mark when Takako takes over and gos after Yoshida's leg. Nothing fancy but Yoshida puts it over like a champ and makes it seem like she's in the fight of her life. Tide gets turned when she and Yoshida returns the favor and starts going after Takako's leg all the while still selling her own from earlier. Cool moment as they go into the stands, Takako ends up on the floor clutching her knee and Yoshida hobbles over and just casually tosses a chair straight at her head. Turns into a battle of who can break who's leg for a while longer with Takako taking back over. Near the end they go into a little bit of "ow i'm hurt except when i'm doing this move, ok now i'm hurt again" type selling, especially Yoshida but it's not overly excessive and they both continue to put over the leg work strong with Inoue getting some nice near falls off flash submission attempts. Yoshida finally comes out on top though, after a double underhook superplex off the top nearly droping Takako on her head. Damn good match.
- Debbie Malenko & Sakie Hasegawa vs Bison Kimura & Aja Kong
Not quite a glorified squash but almost. Jungle Jack probably take about 80% of this and it's not until half way through that Sakie & Deb get any major offense in on them. Along the way, Sakie ends up having to get her ribs taped up which makes for some cool dramatic moments watching her claw and fight her way through the pain. At one point she goes nuts, getting ahold of Bison's night stick and swings away at Aja but it has little effect and the beat down continues. Aja repays her with some nasty trash can shots for her trouble. Her & Debbie make one last ditch effort but like all their previous attempts it's cut off before it ever reallyg gets going and Sakie falls to Aja after a brutal looking choke slam. Not as competitive as i'd have liked but hey, Jungle Jack beat downs are never not fun and this was no exception so I enjoyed this.
- Kyoko Inoue & Yumiko Hotta vs Manami Toyota & Toshiyo Yamada
Total sprint style match with too many highlights to really single anything out. Hotta & Kyoko made for a good team considering they hadn't really taged that much previously. Of Course it helped that these 4 have all worked together a million times so you know what to exspect. Yamada picks up the win over Hotta after a diving kick upside the noggin. Good stuff
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
AJW 4/25/1992
- Yumiko Hotta, Suzuka Minami & Mima Shimoda vs Miori Kamiya, Kaoru Ito & Tomoko Watanabe
Just your standard AJW 6 woman for the time. Nothing special but decent while it lasted. Notable mainly because you had Watanabe from Bull's gang teaming with Jungle Jack girls Ito & Kamiya, the 1st time we've had a combo like this that I know of shince that feud becan in 1990. They don't really play off their history though. Ito & Kamiya work well together and Watanabe kind of just comes in here and thear to do her own thing seperatly but that's it and she proves to be the weak link as Hotta & Suzuka finish her off with a cool double team powerbomb elmbow combo.
- (3WA Martial Arts Title Match) Bat Yoshinaga (c) vs Akemi Torisu
1 year later it's the rematch of my favorite kickboxing match in AJW history. This doesn't quite deliver in the same way or live up to the hopes I had but it was still enjoyable. Akemi shows she's learned nothing over the past year, she still swings wildly with no technique or strategy other then "swing or die". Like the last match, Bat just toyed with her and got in far more shots. She didn't knock her down as much so atleast Torisu's chin has gotten stronger but she still bloodied her up, leaving no doubt who the winner would be. The only time Bat was ever in trouble was when she decided to get cutesy and threw these crazy ass spin kicks which looked cool but had no chance of actually connecting. Torisu would pounce with Bat down, getting in a few good shots but every time Bat would just get back up, looking pissed and taking back over. Match goes the distance, Bat via judges decision.
- (AJ Tag Title Match) Debbie Malenko & Sakie Hasegawa (c) vs Takako Inoue & Mariko Yoshida
Yoshida back again, this time with regular tag partner Takako to go after the tag belts they lost to Sakie & Debbie a few months earlier. Shit's on to start as things turn into a brawl outside the ring and Yoshida & Inoue go to town on Sakie which is the story of the 1st half of this match. Debbie would get in ocasionally and clean house and Sakie got her licks in too but largely this was Inoue & Yoshida dominating early on. They came in to this match working a lot more aggresively then they have in the past and it paid off quite well for them. There was still a lot of the usual you'd exspect, lots of matwork and submissions and suplexes and all that but they also weren't afraid to just straight up smack someone in the head either. Tak & Deb particularly had a brutal exchange, just wailing on each other mid match. 2nd half turns into really great sprint with everyone busting out their big moves and going all out, my fav spots being Debbie hitting a sweet overhead belly to belly suplex off the top rope and Takako & Yoshida wiping out Sakie with stereo suicide dives. End comes when they hit Sakie with a double team DDT off the top which leads to one of those weird "they forgot to kick out" moments whear the ref just stops at 2 because that wasn't the planed finish but they cover for it nicely and Takako hits her with her shoulder backdrop suplex to regain the titles. Screwy ending aside, this was a great match. One of my favorites of the year so far.
- (IWA World Women’s Title Match) Kyoko Inoue (c) vs Manami Toyota
Whenever a lot of people talk about this feud it gets brought up how similar their styles are. I thought the story of this match was a good example of how diffrent they can be as well. Toyota when on offense just went a million miles an hour most of the time, hurling whatever attack she can think of off the top of her head at Kyoko. Inoue on the other hand seemed to put a lot more thought into what she was doing, she'd match Toyota speed for speed but often it was done more to outsmart her or to take advantage of one of Toyota's mistakes. Toyota would go for a dive, miss & Kyoko would hit one of her own or Toyota would go for something else and Kyoko would quickly counter or move out of the way, stuff like that. And when she wasn't doing that, Kyoko put a lot more effort into other attacks like using various holds to wear down Toyota. Toyota for her part does a good job of selling it all too and putting over the fatigue as the match goes on and when on offense she hits all her big moves perfectly on this night. Final stretch sees all the usual near falls you'd exspect plus a few you wouldn't with Kyoko using a lot of stuff she normally doesn't like choke slams to try and get the win. In the end though it's Toyota who outsmarts her and hits her with the JOCS out of nowhear to pick up the win and the title. Really great match, one of the better ones in the feud.
- (All Pacific Title Match) Bison Kimura (c) vs Toshiyo Yamada
War to start as they just stiff the heck out of each other. Yamada tries to take it to the mat soon after but Bison is having none of that, prefering to wrap her hands around Yamada's thorat and stomp her head in for a while. Yamada gets sick of that and fires back w kicks of her own and then is more succesful on her 2nd try to work the ground game. She goes after Bison's leg and then it turns into them taking turns stretching each other for a bit. Yamada again gets the advantage and alternates between more mat work and punting the bejesus out of Bison. Match ends like it started, as a fucking war and devolves into a battle of Chop vs Kick with Bison going nuts and winning out in the end after getting Yamada down and hitting a discus dive head butt off the top. Another great match.
- (3WA Title Match) Bull Nakano (c) vs Aja Kong
Their underlings may be getting along but these 2 certainly still aren't as Aja's in a surly mood before the match even starts. She gets on the mic and essentially tells Bull "bitch, you die tonight". Battle of the monsters to start, lariet, no sell, running smash, no sell, Aja with the bad ass standing drop kicks to get the advantage. 1 min into this and Bull is allready bleeding. Aja takes the fight into the crowd and starts hurlying rows of chairs at her head then leaves her for dead thear, heading back to the ring. Bull slowly returns, dripping blood and holding her eye. Aja works over the cut some more, punching, biting and headbutting away. Bull has a lot harder time fighting back then usual tonight. This isn't the first time she's been beaten down but usually all it takes is 1 lariet and she can turn things in her favor, here she has to put a lot more effort into it. Perhaps a sign she's begining to weaken, perhaps a sign Aja's growing stronger, perhaps neither or both. When she does finally pull it off she goes for revenge, taking things back out into the crowd and busting Aja open with chair shots of her own. Aja starts swinging wildly but Bull quickly shuts that down and continues her beat down until Aja grabs her can. Ref won't count so Aja starts spamming urakens and taking a page out of Yamada's book and punting the snot out of Bull every time she goes down from one. Each time Bull gets up a little bit slower but won't stay down. Bull hits another lariat followed by a suplex and then the big leg drop but Aja kicks out. Megadeath flipping leg drop misses and Aja hits a top rope plancha to the outside. Back in Aja's back drop smash off the top gets 2 and Bull comes back with a suicide dive to the outside. Bull again hits the Megadeath but this time Aja kicks out, the 1st time that's ever happened I believe and Bull just has this awesome "oh shit what do I do now" look on her face. She digs deep and bust out the moonsault to finally survive this match and come out the victor. Aja is carried out to the back post match and Bull can't leave under her own power either. In the back Watanabe has to hold her up during the post match promo whear she's in near tears. Certainly bot the best match these 2 have had, a little slower then i'd have liked at times but yeah, this was still awesome.
Just your standard AJW 6 woman for the time. Nothing special but decent while it lasted. Notable mainly because you had Watanabe from Bull's gang teaming with Jungle Jack girls Ito & Kamiya, the 1st time we've had a combo like this that I know of shince that feud becan in 1990. They don't really play off their history though. Ito & Kamiya work well together and Watanabe kind of just comes in here and thear to do her own thing seperatly but that's it and she proves to be the weak link as Hotta & Suzuka finish her off with a cool double team powerbomb elmbow combo.
- (3WA Martial Arts Title Match) Bat Yoshinaga (c) vs Akemi Torisu
1 year later it's the rematch of my favorite kickboxing match in AJW history. This doesn't quite deliver in the same way or live up to the hopes I had but it was still enjoyable. Akemi shows she's learned nothing over the past year, she still swings wildly with no technique or strategy other then "swing or die". Like the last match, Bat just toyed with her and got in far more shots. She didn't knock her down as much so atleast Torisu's chin has gotten stronger but she still bloodied her up, leaving no doubt who the winner would be. The only time Bat was ever in trouble was when she decided to get cutesy and threw these crazy ass spin kicks which looked cool but had no chance of actually connecting. Torisu would pounce with Bat down, getting in a few good shots but every time Bat would just get back up, looking pissed and taking back over. Match goes the distance, Bat via judges decision.
- (AJ Tag Title Match) Debbie Malenko & Sakie Hasegawa (c) vs Takako Inoue & Mariko Yoshida
Yoshida back again, this time with regular tag partner Takako to go after the tag belts they lost to Sakie & Debbie a few months earlier. Shit's on to start as things turn into a brawl outside the ring and Yoshida & Inoue go to town on Sakie which is the story of the 1st half of this match. Debbie would get in ocasionally and clean house and Sakie got her licks in too but largely this was Inoue & Yoshida dominating early on. They came in to this match working a lot more aggresively then they have in the past and it paid off quite well for them. There was still a lot of the usual you'd exspect, lots of matwork and submissions and suplexes and all that but they also weren't afraid to just straight up smack someone in the head either. Tak & Deb particularly had a brutal exchange, just wailing on each other mid match. 2nd half turns into really great sprint with everyone busting out their big moves and going all out, my fav spots being Debbie hitting a sweet overhead belly to belly suplex off the top rope and Takako & Yoshida wiping out Sakie with stereo suicide dives. End comes when they hit Sakie with a double team DDT off the top which leads to one of those weird "they forgot to kick out" moments whear the ref just stops at 2 because that wasn't the planed finish but they cover for it nicely and Takako hits her with her shoulder backdrop suplex to regain the titles. Screwy ending aside, this was a great match. One of my favorites of the year so far.
- (IWA World Women’s Title Match) Kyoko Inoue (c) vs Manami Toyota
Whenever a lot of people talk about this feud it gets brought up how similar their styles are. I thought the story of this match was a good example of how diffrent they can be as well. Toyota when on offense just went a million miles an hour most of the time, hurling whatever attack she can think of off the top of her head at Kyoko. Inoue on the other hand seemed to put a lot more thought into what she was doing, she'd match Toyota speed for speed but often it was done more to outsmart her or to take advantage of one of Toyota's mistakes. Toyota would go for a dive, miss & Kyoko would hit one of her own or Toyota would go for something else and Kyoko would quickly counter or move out of the way, stuff like that. And when she wasn't doing that, Kyoko put a lot more effort into other attacks like using various holds to wear down Toyota. Toyota for her part does a good job of selling it all too and putting over the fatigue as the match goes on and when on offense she hits all her big moves perfectly on this night. Final stretch sees all the usual near falls you'd exspect plus a few you wouldn't with Kyoko using a lot of stuff she normally doesn't like choke slams to try and get the win. In the end though it's Toyota who outsmarts her and hits her with the JOCS out of nowhear to pick up the win and the title. Really great match, one of the better ones in the feud.
- (All Pacific Title Match) Bison Kimura (c) vs Toshiyo Yamada
War to start as they just stiff the heck out of each other. Yamada tries to take it to the mat soon after but Bison is having none of that, prefering to wrap her hands around Yamada's thorat and stomp her head in for a while. Yamada gets sick of that and fires back w kicks of her own and then is more succesful on her 2nd try to work the ground game. She goes after Bison's leg and then it turns into them taking turns stretching each other for a bit. Yamada again gets the advantage and alternates between more mat work and punting the bejesus out of Bison. Match ends like it started, as a fucking war and devolves into a battle of Chop vs Kick with Bison going nuts and winning out in the end after getting Yamada down and hitting a discus dive head butt off the top. Another great match.
- (3WA Title Match) Bull Nakano (c) vs Aja Kong
Their underlings may be getting along but these 2 certainly still aren't as Aja's in a surly mood before the match even starts. She gets on the mic and essentially tells Bull "bitch, you die tonight". Battle of the monsters to start, lariet, no sell, running smash, no sell, Aja with the bad ass standing drop kicks to get the advantage. 1 min into this and Bull is allready bleeding. Aja takes the fight into the crowd and starts hurlying rows of chairs at her head then leaves her for dead thear, heading back to the ring. Bull slowly returns, dripping blood and holding her eye. Aja works over the cut some more, punching, biting and headbutting away. Bull has a lot harder time fighting back then usual tonight. This isn't the first time she's been beaten down but usually all it takes is 1 lariet and she can turn things in her favor, here she has to put a lot more effort into it. Perhaps a sign she's begining to weaken, perhaps a sign Aja's growing stronger, perhaps neither or both. When she does finally pull it off she goes for revenge, taking things back out into the crowd and busting Aja open with chair shots of her own. Aja starts swinging wildly but Bull quickly shuts that down and continues her beat down until Aja grabs her can. Ref won't count so Aja starts spamming urakens and taking a page out of Yamada's book and punting the snot out of Bull every time she goes down from one. Each time Bull gets up a little bit slower but won't stay down. Bull hits another lariat followed by a suplex and then the big leg drop but Aja kicks out. Megadeath flipping leg drop misses and Aja hits a top rope plancha to the outside. Back in Aja's back drop smash off the top gets 2 and Bull comes back with a suicide dive to the outside. Bull again hits the Megadeath but this time Aja kicks out, the 1st time that's ever happened I believe and Bull just has this awesome "oh shit what do I do now" look on her face. She digs deep and bust out the moonsault to finally survive this match and come out the victor. Aja is carried out to the back post match and Bull can't leave under her own power either. In the back Watanabe has to hold her up during the post match promo whear she's in near tears. Certainly bot the best match these 2 have had, a little slower then i'd have liked at times but yeah, this was still awesome.
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