JWP TV 2/11/1993

- (Sumiko Saito Retirement Match) Hikari Fukuoka vs Sumiko Saito

Sucks Sumiko didn't stick around longer and retired just as joshi was begining another boom period. The few times i've seen her in the past I was pretty impressed. Match is JIP with Fukuoka dominating things and getting in a big flurry of offense coming close to getting the W a few times but Saito isn't going down easy in her last match. Tide changes once Saito is able to grab an STF, followed up by a few suplexes and another STF for a near submission. They go back and forth a bit more with Fukuoka coming out on top, a couple of big powerslams including 1 off the top rope and a cross armed german get her the win. Good little match for Saito to go out on, about 10 mins aired. Your usual joshi retirement ceremony follows.

- Devil Masami & Debbie Malenko vs Dynamite Kansai & Plum Mariko

Always thought it also really sucked that Debbie got hurt shortly after this and had to retire before getting to mix it up with JWP girls like Plum. Quite excited when I found out this match existed as I didn't know it had even taken place until a couple of months ago. Pre match promo Debbie puts over everyone involved and says she's just happy to be thear. JIP with her locking in a Fujiwara arm bar on Kansai, once she escapes they blow a running headscissors spot but recover nicely. Debbie & Plum have a short section that sees Deb drop her with a few suplexes. Devil comes in and gets worked over for a while, long long boston crab spot from Kansai that goes no where. Things pick up when we get more Deb/Plum action and finally get to see them take it to the mat a tiny tiny bit. Devil comes back in and does that nasty spot whear she press slams folk onto the top turnbuckle which always looks like it sucks to take. Kansai comes in and eats a giant powerbomb to hell from Devil for her trouble as well. Match goes outside and we get a cool dive train starting with Plum climbing up Kansai's shoulders to hit a diving cross body and ending with Debbie doing her crazy suicide dive as a follow up. Back inside Debbie gets the armbar in on Plum as they go at it a little more, her & Devil hit stereo superplexes on both in another big highlight. Finish sees Kansai & Devil throwing bombs at each other, funny moment as Kansai tries to call out Debbie so Devil straight arm lariats her right in the face for ignoring her. Few moments later Kansai makes her pay with some stiff kicks and gets revenge for earlier with a big powerbomb of her own which backfires as Devil reverses the pin attempt into a cradle to get the win. Post match Debbie & Plum talk shit to hype up Dreamslam whear it was supposed to be Debbie in Ito's place vs Plum & Fukuoka. I was pretty disapointed we didn't get more exchanges between the 2 in this, especially on the mat as that's what I most wanted to see. I imagine it got left on the cutting room floor as while we got about 17 mins of this, in full it was 33+. Still, taking this for what it was instead of what I wanted it to be it was a damn good match, especially Kansai & Devil opposite each other, worth checking out for sure.

Quick thoughts on JWP 1/15/1993

Starts with 1 match from 12/27/92 :)

- Cutie Suzuki & Mayumi Ozaki vs Dynamite Kansai & Candy Okutsu

Very slow paced match early on, follows your standard tag formula with Candy getting worked over and Kansai makng the ocasional save. Really bland pedestrian stuff. Kansai's hot tag section is nice and things pick up for the last 4 mins but it's too little too late for this match. Cutie gets the win with a Dragon suplex over Candy in 20 mins. No clue why they included this other then to pad out the running time of this release.

 
- Hikari Fukuoka & Candy Okutsu vs Sumiyo Toyama & Yumi Tenma

Similar to the last match only a little more basic with less advanced moves except from Fukuoka who got to be the star in this one. 1st look i've had at Toyama & Tenma in exstended form and both looked pretty decent. Tenma's switched to working a kicker girl style pulled it off nicely with some cool strikes. For their experience lvl this was ok action. Fukuoka over Tenma with a german suplex.

- (Submission Match) Plum Mariko vs Commando Bolshoi

One of my favorite little hidden gem matches ever. First time around it was one of those "wow this is way better then I was exspecting" type reactions but i've re-watched it multiple times over the years and it still holds up. Things pick up a few mins in once Bolshoi targets the knee and the little clwon girl just goes to town with lots of nifty attacks and the bulk of the math is built aound that. Plum does an awesome job putting it over, really cool spot later in the match whear Bolshoi goes for a splash and Plum gets her knees up but which Plum sold as hurting her knee too which you rarely see but makes perfect sense. In the end it's Plum who gets the last laugh reversing Bolshoi's hold into a tricked out leg crank of her own for the win.

- Devil Masami vs Cutie Suzuki

After what happened the these two wrestled Cutie's a lot more fired up and out to prove herself. Cutie comes in a totall ball of energy but Devil cuts her off and starts tossing her around. Cutie goes on the attack again but things repeat and Devil again starts playing around with her. Ever persistent like a little bulldog Cutie fires off some really nasty forearms upside Devil's big head and that finally gains her the sustained advantage. Match gets really good here as Cutie starts stretching Devil on the mat and the little touhes Devil tosses in, the way she makes Cutie fight to get her into holds, the way she fights to get out of holds, just awesomely cool stuff that makes you realise why Devil's one of the all time greats. In a fun moment they go outside Devil gets whiped into the railing and she crushes like 5 fans who all seemed pretty amused. Finishing stretch is real nice as they get back in after that. Cutie gets in a giant release german suplex and a flying footstomp but can't get the win. Devil comes back and has to toss damn near everything but the kitchen sink at Cutie who survives a ton of big lariats and powerbombs before finally falling to an overhead northern lights suplex off the top rope. This is one of those matches that's gotten a lot better over time to me, something I thought was merely decent years ago but would easily call really good now. Also of note is that Bull Nakano was sitting ringside for this entire show and before the match started Devil came over to shake her hand as they've got a big upcoming singles match.

- Dynamite Kansai & Mayumi Ozaki vs Yumiko Hotta & Takako Inoue

One of the best joshi tags ever, the action is great and speaks for itself. Just a notch below Dream Rush in that department. What I picked up more watching it now was the little things and how well booked the story was. This was absolutely 100% designed to get you hyped for a Hotta/Kansai singles match, they went at it just enough to leave you satisfied and get you excited for it but held back enough as to not blow their wad. They also did a good job of setting up more OZ/Takako fun down the line. Also dug how well they kept to the heirarchy of things with Takako working as weak link of the match. It was subtle but they did a lot to further that aspect. Tak got a lot of offense in but almost none of it came by herself, almost every time it was because Hotta took down OZ or Kansai first ad then Tak came in and continued the beat down until. Also great job of keeping Kansai strong too with very few moments whear she was in significant trouble. After the events of the Fukuoka match last month Kansai was brought in to be the heavy hitter and that's pretty much what she did. For the finish it comes down to Takako & Ozaki with OZ reversing a suplex attempt into the Tequila Sunrise to pick up the win and JWP's 1st victory over AJW. Post match Kansai challenges Hotta to a singles match and they shake hands as the show ends.