AJW Dreamslam 4/2/1993 Quick Thoughts

Re-watched Dreamslam 1 for the first time in I don't know how many years. Show's been talked to death so i'll only post quick thoughts

Plum Mariko & Hikori Fukuoka vs Sakie Hasegawa & Kaoru Ito - Perfect opener, came away really wishing we'd have gotten a Sakie vs Plum singles match at some point as they were great together.

Shark Tsuchiya & Crusher Maedomari vs Terri Power & Saemi Numata - Somehow even more awful then i'd remembered

Kaoru & Ultima Tigrita vs Tomoko Watanabe & Mima Shimoda - Not really a good match but better then I recalled. My memory was that this was really awkward and sloppy but wasn't that bad and for the most part decent.

Rumi Kazama & Miki Hanada vs Suzuka Minami & Etsuko Mita - A lot better then I recalled. Maybe went 5 mins too long but otherwise damn good. Love how the AJW vs LLPW feud had more hatred to it then any of the other interpromotional pairings.

(3WA Martial Arts Title) Bat Yoshinaga © vs Susan Howard - I've got a lot more tolerance for these sorts of matches now and this had a few enjoyable moments but for the most part was boring, draged and is still not my cup of tea.

Devil Masami vs Chigusa Nagayo - Match I was most worried about not holding up but I still found this to be really amazing. I'm sure this exceded whatever exspectations ppl had at the time going in with Chigusa coming out of retirement at the ripe old age of 28 and proving she hadn't lost a step at all. Just two masters going at it in a classic old school style battle. I've seen about 6 or 7 singles matches between these 2 and this is prob my second fave. Best match on the show after Hokuto vs Kandori

Kyoko Inoue & Takako Inoue vs Cutie Suzuki & Mayumi Ozaki - Great match, first 1/2 is really good though not as much as I remembered, 2nd half puts this over the top.

Bull Nakano & Aja Kong vs Harley Saito & Eagle Sawai - Not quite as good as I remembered but still a really solid affair. LLPW team actually seemed game to do more but the Mega Monsters didn't seem up for it.

Dynamite Kansai vs Yumiko Hotta - Remembered this as being a real good match but nothing super special in the grand scheme of things. The only thing that stayed with me was how stiff the match was. Watching it now I have a lot more apreciation for the entirety of it and not just the "oh wow what a kick" moments. The action was just as hard hitting as ever but in between all that I noticed for the first time that there was some really great selling and they built the match in a way to really milk the drama out of everything. Hotta especially steped up and had a good performance in this. Match is pretty much everything you could want out of battle between these two. Great stuff

Akira Hokuto vs Shinobu Kandori - Contender for greatest match ever, nuff said.

Manami Toyoda & Toshiyo Yamada vs Megumi Kudo & Combat Toyota - Fuckin hell this did not age well. Memory of this was being slightly disapointing but decent enough overall. Nope, much much worse then that. First 2/3 of this are abysmall. Ugly, awkward, no chemistry, no heat & doesn't play to anyones strengths. Just 4 great wrestlers having a horribly off night. The last 1/3 is actually pretty good once they get to the give sequence and start busting out the bigger moves and they manage to actually get the crowd back into things but yeah, so not fun up until then. Makes me apreciate their aweome 5/5 rematch even more.

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.

Random Quickie - Chikara 8/17/07 International Invaders Weekend Night 1

- Rahim Ali vs Shane Storm
- Alex Payne vs Tim Donst
- USApe vs Moscow
- Shayne Hawke vs Jigsaw

Ape vs Moscow was kind of fun, helped that they kept it short, the other 3 were some mix between awful, boring & generic. All went short and you were glad of it too. Also random thought, in the monkey vs cow match, Moohamad the terrorist cow came out to distract Moscow and cause him to lose. Why's the terrorist cow have to be named Moohamad? Seems kind of racist if ya ask me. Why can't the terrorist cow be named Steve???

- Olsen Twins & Brodie Lee vs Fire Ant Soldier Ant & Worker Ant

First decent match of the show, Olsen's always rule and Brodie killed folks in a pleasing manner.

- Claudio Castagnoli vs Akira Raijin

Surprisingly good. They took it to the mat and had a real nice back and forth exchange of holds. Made me want to track down more Raijin stuff. One of the few matches on the show to get a decent amount of time and they made good use of it.

- Pac vs Ricochet

For something they were touting as a "dream match" even back then this was kinda disapointing. Not bad per se but they only got like 8 mins, enough to go back and forth with random flashy dives but not enough to build into anything special. Nice for what it was but could & should have been so much more.

- Eddie Kingston vs Brute Issei

Kinda fun in a big guy lumbering slug fest sorta way. Brute kinda struggled a little to keep up and seemed lost at times but Kingston brought it.

- Chris Hero, Larry Sweeney, Chuck Taylor & Mitch Ryder vs Las Chivas, Equinox & Lince Dorado

Wasn't exspecting anything going in but holy fuck this was an awesome match. Great mixing of styles, comedy & faux lucha to start, great old school FIP beat down section on Equinox in the middle and your typical indy style dive fest, 2.9 a thon to end things. Everyone was on, including Chivas & Equinox who I didn't have high hopes for but those 3 stole the show actually. Surpised this didn't make Chikara's best of 07 Smart Mark set.

- (Chikara Tag Titles - 2 out of 3 Falls) F.I.S.T. vs Los Ice Creams

This on the other hand kinda stunk. The action was OK but there was a little too much stupidity and screwiness wiith their own internal logic that it took away from everything. 2 people in the ring attacking 1 guy = not ok. 2 people pinning 1 guy at the same time = OK. No physical tags needed, just leave the ring & your partner can come in = fine, leaving the ring while the ref isn't looking = not fine. 30 second break in between falls unless 1 team decideds they don't want to at which point the ref says "ok then, ring the bell, go ahead". Dumb dumb dumb...

Random Quickie - Michinoku Pro 12/16/2010 Dick Togo vs Rui Hyugaji

Wrestling's awesome in how simple it can be. I'd never seen or even heard of Hyugaji before this match but they show a short 2 minute video package before this match and it does a great job of setting up the story. A month ago young goody goody Hyugai turned heel to join up with the evil gang Kowloon by attacking Togo and helping them win a match so now they're gonna fight. I'm sure things are more detailed then that but that's the basic jist of things and all you really need to know. Guess i'm a little late to the party on this one as I see it did quite well in the Purotopia best of list. But yeah, this match ruled. Reading over a few people's thoughts on this something that I don't think has been brought up nearly as much as it should is just how much this works as Togo fighting a younger version of himself. They're not similar in move set or skill wise of course but personality wise yeah. Togo's been in Kaientai, Far East Connection, Legion of Violence, the Itallian Horsemen and every other kinda bad ass heel group you can imagine all over the wrestling world. Now here he is in this match, almost 20 years into the business, a few months shy of retirement, bloodied up, in the fight of his life against a young upstart wanna be kid. A kid who's only 3 years into his career, a kid who was fuckin 3 years old when Dick Togo started wrestling, a kid trying to prove he's a man now, a man who's a bigger Dick then Dick. Stuff like this is why wrestling's great.

Random Quickie - FMW 9/19/1992 Megumi Kudo & Combat Toyoda vs Bull Nakano & Akira Hokuto

And so it begins, the very 1st interpromotional match in joshi history. There's a complete fan cam of this floating around some whear out thear but the version I have only shows a little less then half the match. You still get a good feel for how this went and just based on what aired it's one of the best matches of the year. Kudo & Combat, the 2 AJW rejects who weren't considered good enough and got let go from the promotion fighting against 2 of the current top stars from that company. Kudo & Combat step up fully and more then prove they belong at that level and this ends up being pretty much everything you could want out of a match like this. Off the charts intensity, action, hatred, emotion, everything tha makes wretling great and a huge crowd going ape shit for all of it. In the end Kudo falls to a leg drop from Bull crushing team FMW's dreams. The Zenjo girls talk shit on the mic in celebration while Kudo & Combat walk away dejected with their heads down. FMW wouldn't be FMW if they weren't the underdogs though and things are just getting started here.

Random Quickie - Stardom Debut show 1/23/2011

Quick thoughts on Stardom's debut show

1. Nanae Takahashi & Iris vs Natsuki*Taiyo & Yuzuki Aikawa
2. Mika Nagano vs Eri Susa
3. Haruka vs Passion Nakki
4. Arisa Hoshiki vs Mayu Iwatani
5. Yoko Bito vs Yoshiko

Opener was pretty good, especially the final stretch once it got down to Nanae & Yuzu. I'll be blunt and just say I thought Iris stunk. Trying way too hard to do stuff beyond her level. Sometimes simple is best. Yuzu is def the real deal though, a lot of girls in joshi have made a career out of having 90% kick offense and being able to take a good beating so i'm fine with her going that route.

Nagano/Susa didn't much care for. Nagano looked awesome, wish she'd wrestle more often but Susa wasn't impressive at all.

Not a fan of the kids wrestling either. Got 10 secs into Haruka/Passion Nakki and hit the ff button. Cursious to see the Hirota matches if they make tape but otherwise i'll be doing the same for any future matches she's in.

Arisa vs Mayu was quite good for a rookies match. Unlike Iris they actually pulled off their flashy stuff well and Arisa has some nice looking kicks. Arisa seems like she could be a cool heel if they ever wanted to go that way.

Yoko/Yoshiko was just ok to me. Maybe it's because they showed a ton of footage of Yoshiko being a typical giggly, smiling teen, cracking jokes at dinner all happy with everyone else earlier in the show but I had a hard time getting into her "grrrr, now i'm an angry anti social bad girl" act, just came across really forced and un-natural. A lot of her wrestling was clunky too but eh, there's some potential thear. As yet another chick trying to work a kicker gimmick Bito really did come across like the least talented one at it. Not as hurty lookin as Yuzu's and not as pretty lookin as Arisa's. There were some nice moments in this too though.

So overall, 2 matches I really liked, 2 I didn't and 1 in the middle. Won't make me forget GAEA's debut or anything but for a 1st show featuring a roster that's like 75% rookies having their 1st or 2nd matches this wasn't too bad.
Taiyo

1 Shot Quickie :) - Haruyama vs Mita

1/27/2008 (Kayoko Haruyama 10th Anniversary Match) Haruyama vs Etsuko Mita

A few months before she was going to win the title, you kind of take for granted/exspect a good effort from Bari Bari girl and that's we got here. 2008 Mita on the other hand you don't exactly go in exspecting much of anything but holy shit she busted ass here. They smartly worked around her limitations, mainly not being super mobile though she did bust out a sweet running suicide dive and played up her remaining strengths, having great psychology, knowing how to build things well and still being able to bump like crazy and do some cool power stuff. This went from being good for a modern Mita match, to being a pretty good match period to by the end just a damn good match period. One of the better matches JWP's put up on their site in quite a while.