Michael: Standard rookie match. Neither girl looked overly impressive, but almost everything Sato did looked good and was on target. Yamane looked decent in some spots, but otherwise she was bumping early on Sato's dropkicks (and as a result they weren't making contact) which made her look bad. She also seemed to forget what they were doing a couple of times as well. Sato looked to have some potential as far as agility goes as she was able to transition moves and recover very well for someone of her experience. Obviously it's too early to tell how she'll turn out, but every time I've seen her she has gotten just a little bit better which leaves me optimistic about her future.

ML: Sato shows nothing but pimples, and the scary thing is she's by far the better of the two. Sato carried this match, and by rookie standards she was passable at that because she kept the match moving. Her biggest problem is offensively where she relies on 3-4 moves, 2 of which look horrible. Actually, horrible is being very kind when it comes to her forearms. It's not just that they have no impact, but that she uses a poor shortarm technique that might be okay if you have a 350 pound body behind it but certainly won't work for a little girl like her. Her dropkick is hampered by her average at best athleticism, but what makes it laughable is she uses this sideways "technique". Since she has no ups, with this style her bottom foot hits her opponent below the belt if not at the thigh.

Yamane has progressed to the point where she should be about ready to make her debut. She's sluggish and doesn't have much stamina because her conditioning is poor. Still, of the two she has more "potential" because of that size. The best hope with her is that Nanae Takahashi was extremely inept in her early years but after 4-5 years she developed into at least a passable wrestler. Of course, as Yamane has already run away, that isn't going to happen with her. Yamane won this with a "shoulder through", which is a lateral press.

6:54

Rating:

Handicap Match: Kaoru Ito vs. Mika Nishio & Saki Maemura

Michael: I've never understood the purpose of these matches. Having two rookies get squashed by an established star who gains nothing from this is pointless in my opinion, and this match was a perfect example of that. After no-selling some double dropkicks, Ito clotheslined both women and pinned Maemura 56 seconds into the match. How does this serve either woman? Kaoru then went on to dominate Mika using mostly submissions. There was one nice moment in this match though. When Nishio was on her 10 seconds of offense she climbed the turnbuckles to attempt a crossbody on Ito. But Kaoru caught her up top and Mika let out this horrified but funny scream like someone just dumped a bucket of cold water on her from behind. Saki and Kayo Noumi ran into the ring and threw Ito to the ground enabling Nishio to hit her with a body splash for a two count. But literally five seconds later Ito had her tap out to a vicious looking Boston Crab.

ML: Matches where it's obvious the 1 could beat the 2 without even breaking a sweat aren't exactly interesting. To make things worse, when Ito just stood there so the two could get their bit of offense it wasn't even credible enough for Ito to sell. Maemura's forearms were so bad that Ito couldn't hold back the chuckling for long. The wrestling was much better than the first match because everything Ito does looks good, but the match was totally pointless and thoroughly unenjoyable.

0:56 & 4:14

Rating:

Kumiko Maekawa vs. Miyuki Fujii

Michael: As expected Maekawa dominated the early portion with kicks and submissions. When she got tired of this she dragged Fujii throughout the arena to the top of the bleachers. After a brief sleeper hold, she threw Miyuki into the wall and kicked her before returning to the ring. Although the sleeper looked great (apparently she really choked Fujii with it as Miyuki was coughing up a lung after it), this sequence annoyed me. I don't mind brawling as long as there is no blood or suicide spots, but this did nothing for the match except add 2 or 3 minutes to it and it came off very lame and useless. Once Fujii finally got back to the ring they exchanged some ho-hum offense and then went right back outside less than a minute after they reentered the ring. Both women took running chair bumps (being thrown into a row of seats) and then the match stayed in the ring for good. Kumiko hit some nice looking kicks after this and got a couple of near falls off them that Fujii was applauded for escaping. Following this Fujii finally got some sustained offense consisting of the usual sophomore set-list. Eventually Maekawa won it with an axe kick that didn't look nearly as good as the ones Fujii didn't get pinned with.

Overall, this was a decent match made better by the fact that Maekawa did a great job staying down until 2-3/4 on several near falls. This was important because it allowed the fans to think Fujii might get a flash pin on her, but also because it made Fujii's offense look better than it actually was. I purposely wanted to point this out because I give Kumiko a lot of credit for doing it. Most of the women with her stature (and higher) wouldn't do this for a rookie or second year girl. The fact that Maekawa did shows that she isn't totally selfish and is willing to help the promotion out by doing the important little things like this. *3/4

ML: The biggest problem with Fujii can best be summed up by the fact that it's easy to refer to her as a rookie or second year girl when in fact she debuted just two months after Momoe & Nanae. I can certainly live with a wrestler that doesn't do anything damaging, but only trying to win with flash pins is about the most ridiculous strategy in the sport today. A flash pin is about surprise, but since all she does at the end of the match are backslides, magistrals, and the like, there is less than no surprise. As none of these moves do even the slightest amount of damage, if it were real she should never be able to beat anyone unless they were a complete and total moron.

The other problem with Fujii is you can't do anything to her that's hard in any sense of the word. She is good at going with the standard moves. In matches where that's all her opponent does she is an asset, but that's mainly rookie matches and she's too old for them at this point. No one tries anything complicated with her and she doesn't take anything with much impact. Maekawa used far less kicks than normal, meandering along for quite a while before throwing a couple in and then barely using any more before the finishing segment. These kicks looked good enough, but were nothing impact wise compared to what Maekawa normally throws.

This match was adequate, but it once again showed Maekawa can't carry a match. This had no direction or focus and was marginally interesting at best until it picked up in the final minutes. If Maekawa looked good taking, it's probably more because Fujii's lack of offense hides the fact that Maekawa doesn't bump or sell.

13:08

Rating:

Momoe Nakanishi vs. Kayo Noumi

Michael: Probably the best singles match of Kayo's life up to this point. Most of that is due to Momoe being her usual excellent self, but Kayo seems to have become more dedicated to being as good a wrestler as she can be since her former tag partner Miho Wakizawa retired. She has cut almost all of the goofiness and joking out of her matches and has become focused on actually wrestling. Almost everything she does now looks very good, and if she can ever develop a better than sophomore offense then she has a chance to become a solid worker who doesn't totally need to be carried to a good match (which she showed at the 2/24/02 PPV). Her only drawback is that she's already 26, but that shouldn't be too old for her to continue to get better.

Momoe gave her enough offense to look strong, but not so much that it'd make Momoe look bad by comparison (do to Noumi's somewhat limited move set). What really made this match though was that both women had a plethora of excellent near falls that looked like they'd end the match. And since neither woman even tried out her finisher it made things even better because it left something for a rematch between them. After Kayo surprisingly kicked out of Momoe's running springboard corner moonsault pin attempt, Momoe put her away with a Dragon suplex. And it was only fitting that this match would end on a move that you wouldn't expect it to. It just further emphasized how great a job they did make everything look like it would be just enough to get the three count. ***

ML: I know Noumi is your belle de jour, but come on. This match exposed her far more than her Damage book.

Michael: Considering how stoked you were about the 10/9/93 Captain's Fall match having Chikako in it so you could show people a great match that she was involved in, I think you should be dropping a few of those stones you're casting my way. While you didn't specifically credit her for anything in your comments about it, we both know she didn't do a damn thing there that added to the match in any way. In my review of it I put over how I didn't like the way she was eliminated, but I didn't see her contribute anything of note to the match.

ML: Two problems with your analogy. First, the huge difference in the respective quality. Any match I'm rating **** or higher I'd recommend to anyone remotely interested in the style regardless of any aesthetic or other quality it may feature. You only call this a good match, and they are a dime a dozen considering we've both seen thousands good joshi matches.

Michael: My point though is that I don't see my overhyping Kayo in calling this a good match. Since I gave the same ****1/4 rating for the 10/9/93 match I feel your analysis of it was correct, but you said you were stoked that you could finally send people a match that included Chikako implying that she was a partial cause of the quality. The reason it is implied is because a) your wording made it come off as she looked at least good here and b) you said everyone contributed and realistically the only contributing she did was not dragging the match down.

ML: I said, "This match ruled, and I was suitably stoked because now I have a match with The Goddess that I could send somebody and they would actually want to watch it." In other words, her other matches I'd seen at the time would scare people away, but you could watch this one without feeling "dirty". I thought it was obvious that Chikako isn't a multipurpose entertainer like Emmanuelle Beart, but if I deceived anyone into thinking I looked forward to her matches because she was growing into a good wrestler then I apologize. The reason I felt everyone contributed was that there were a lot of nice 2-4 team spots. When you are running with the pack you can be effective without being skilled, but when the pack isn't there to back you up your weakness becomes apparent.

Michael: You are implying that she has anything good to do with the match, which is not the case because none of the cool spots involved her.

ML: Everyone did what was asked of them. Obviously a lot more is going to be required of Shimoda than Shiratori, but my big problem with this match is that Kayo couldn't follow Momoe. That's why I feel Wakizawa's retirement match was better than this because even though Wakizawa isn't even close to being in Momoe's league, that was a simple and relatively effective match. You could pick on the way Kayo executes her moves in any match she's ever wrestled, but she was more effective in that setting because Wakizawa didn't push her when it came to the sequences and counters that set up these moves just as Shiratori wasn't pushed in the 8 woman.

ML: Second, while Shiratori was a young wrestler that didn't help the match, she didn't reduce it either. Sure the match could have been better if someone else was involved, but I don't see that as a valid argument because aside from a few examples per era like Kawada vs. Misawa in their prime, that's the case with every match. I have pointed out spots where a far more experienced Noumi clearly took this match down, and could certainly find more if so inclined.

Michael: The point you make regarding Kawada and Misawa I agree with though my point never was that Chikako hurt the match, I just don't think she helped it. As far as Kayo goes, I somewhat stated that she wasn't on target with everything, but my whole argument here is that she is working towards getting more consistent, and since this match, has improved herself. I've never thought she'll be great or even good, but I don't think she did anything that stopped this from being a good match unless you really nitpick. It's not like she made such glaring mistakes that it's ludicrous for me to give her some credit here.

ML: I can't see how you could say it was good unless you want to say every match between the Bloody-Sakai-Yabushita group is at least very good. Now this is just one of many examples, but basically their matches are also only delivering work. The difference in their sequences, the level of difficulty, smoothness, fluidity, execution, offense, and so on is huge.

Michael: A match can be good for many different reasons that have nothing to do with any other match. IMO, a good match is entertaining, with at least decent work, and in this case better than I had expected (of course other things can factor in as well). I also think a lot of the matches that Sakura is involved in are good. Obviously not for work, but I have no problem giving a D-FIX/Eccentric match *** if I feel it's good even if the work doesn't quite hold up to say a Bloody vs. Sakai match. I realize that my ratings are more liberal than yours which is why we disagree so much, but I never feel like I ever blatantly misrepresent a match. As far as this particular match goes, I felt it was good because the work was solid (for the most part) and the fairly exciting finishing sequence elevated it. It wasn't very good or higher because it was a pretty simple match, but a nice one nonetheless.

ML: I'm comparing what's supposed to be the same style, while you are comparing an action movie to a comedy. I'm saying Toyota vs. Kyoko is a classic of this genre and Bloody vs. Sakai or Kuzumi vs. Miyaguchi (generally, they did have the one excellent match 8/97) are good entries. You need measuring sticks so your ratings can come close to coinciding.

Michael: I remember back in the day when you use to tell me that there is no one defined genre of wrestling, so I don't see the problem with my example. A "straight" match can be either Momoe/Kayo or Bloody/Sakai even if they are worked totally differently. I brought up the GAEA example to say that I feel a good match deserves *** or more because it's good not just based on actual workrate. My position has always been to judge something on it's own unless there's a reason not to (e.g. when commenting on the Kayo/Momoe 30 minute draw from 6/7/02, I compared it to the 1/18 match).

ML: I agree that something should be looked at on its own terms as far as what it's trying to do, accomplish, and so forth. I have a big problem with reviewers that are always comparing everything to what came before it. This is more with movies than with wrestling where you get these lazy asses that throw out the famous entry or two that's similar every time a new movie comes out. It's fine when it's a standard entry, which is what I was saying about this match, but the problem is these people refuse or are incapable of seeing when it isn't and in fact only shares a common subject or method. They only want to see how it's inferior rather than what it's actually trying to accomplish, almost as if no film since their big one is capable of adding a thing much less making a whole set of different points or having a far different effect. It's not like we are talking about something groundbreaking, original, or even different here though. Obviously that I've seen hundreds of similar matches that were better is going to affect my rating, but a more important factor to this specific match is that the same spots and sequences look much better in several other Momoe matches. Since this match didn't have other factors that would make it more entertaining or whatever, I don't see any reason I should rank it among those.

ML: Momoe has more than proven she's capable of blowing their stuff out of the water and she tried to again here, but she couldn't approach their stuff here because it takes two. These kind of matches require immediate reaction, and Noumi is 3 steps too slow.

Michael: I've seen the match twice this week and you're trying fairly hard to look down on Kayo (though you didn't say anything that wasn't true I felt you were nitpicking). She wasn't perfect, but she didn't make one glaring mistake that you can look at and say that killed the match. She was on with almost everything she did and while none of it was complicated, it still didn't amount to her looking pathetic or totally out of her league.

ML: Through all this I've been tempted to go back and nitpick her, but it would be absolutely ridiculous. With Toyota in her prime she was wrestling at such a fantastic level that a glaring mistake or three would often be the difference between a match of the year and simply a candidate or a great match and an excellent one. That is because everything she does she does well, just not 100% of the time. Momoe's execution is actually much better, although her offense and level of difficulty isn't in the same league, so I believe she could be near that level if she had the opponents. Kayo gives a strong effort, but I can't think of a single thing she does well. She hit her jumping neckbreaker drop, but that's not bringing back memories of Norio Honaga for anyone. It is always a bad awkward looking jumping neckbreaker drop, so bad that she shouldn't even do it, but that is also the case with her dropkick and if she scrapped those moves she'd essentially have no move set at all. At least with a big goof like Tadao Yasuda there's comedy and surprise if he actually pulls out a bad looking dropkick, but Kayo weighs a couple hundred pounds less and has no excuse other than she's no good. Thus, it really doesn't make much difference if she makes glaring mistakes because she simply lacks anything to even balance off even her multitude of everyday problems.

Michael: I've said I think that if Momoe holds up she'll be this decade's Manami, but I think she could be better because she sells more and has more than just workrate. But realistically I don't think she can overcome the lack of true quality opponents, and the injuries are still a huge question mark for her and probably always will be. I think it matters if Kayo blows an important spot, but my point has been to not judge her on one match.

Noumi is passable in tag matches or shorter singles matches that are extremely basic. The thing is, Momoe tried to have something of a real match with her. The typical Noumi match hints that she'd do awkward and clumsy rather than fluid and smooth. There's no level of difficulty in these matches where one wrestler just runs at the other though, so that's just shown in the lousy way she does her dropkicks and neckbreaker drops.

To show how outclassed Noumi was here, Momoe would use her as the base for a move and then have to wait around for Noumi to get in position to do the next spot. This happened, for instance, when Momoe did her handstand over Noumi's back. Momoe is the one pulling the trick, while all Noumi has to do is turn around right after, but she's just so slow to react to her opponent. Momoe was working on an extremely high level, but that still couldn't make the match because Noumi wasn't capable of reaching a higher level. Instead, she took Momoe down with her choppy and uneven wrestling, weak no impact execution, and constant repetition. For the most part, the match wound up being versions of the dropkick then one leaning or sitting on the other for 1-2 minutes.

Michael: I somewhat agreed with this in my first paragraph. Momoe totally made the match, there's no disputing that on any level. And I also stated that Kayo's offense isn't much, but my point is that she's making the effort to get better. I do feel, as I have continued to watch her progress over the 7 months since this match, that she in fact has gotten better. Not in the sense that her offense has expanded greatly, but she isn't making many mistakes these days and she doesn't look awkward or out of place in the ring anymore.

ML: What I've noticed is not what I'd call an improvement, but a change in direction. MihoKayo were more performers than wrestlers, out there looking ridiculous for shits and giggles. It worked because people got a kick out of them and since they weren't serious wrestlers, their in ring faults weren't much of an issue. Since Wacky retired, Kayo has gone straight. I personally prefer this to a couple fools posing in Native American outfits, but this match shows that she's still far more suited for the cornball. It's hard to get excited about someone that, after 7 years, still hasn't even learned to fall properly.

Michael: You make a fair point here, but I did mention that Kayo is already 26 and it'd be hard to think she will improve so dramatically like Bloody did over the period of 1997-2000. I do think it is more than her just changing attitudes though that obviously has helped because she isn't just doing goofy stuff in the ring. But I think you're painting her with too broad a stroke because while MihoKayo were comedy they weren't just that like Sakura basically is.

ML: I can't disagree that they weren't just comedy, but I think that has more to do with the differences between GAEA and AJW. AJW has had some silly gimmicks and outfits, but I can't think of one wrestler in AJW that was strictly a comedy wrestler. This is because AJW's emphasis has always been on ring work and a pure comedy wrestler doesn't work when everyone else is busting out all or at least many of their big moves in a tough 20-minute match. Emi Motokawa & MihoKayo can be credited for ushering in a more lax era in AJW, though smaller crowds and overworked aging veterans with no replacements on the horizon have to be mentioned as well because the many workers above these three had to go along with them.

Michael: Part of my feelings about Kayo improving are attributed to my having seen her more than hold up her end in decent matches with Rie Tamada and Kumiko Maekawa over the last 2 months. This shows that she has indeed gotten better because neither of those two are capable of carrying anyone themselves and usually need to be led thru any match they are in. She'll never be great or even good, but I think her becoming acceptable and adequate as a worker is an improvement over what she was in MihoKayo and even moreso earlier in her career. So while I'm always the first to admit my penchant for sometimes playing up my favorites a bit, I don't feel that I'm blowing smoke from a fire that isn't there in Kayo's case. In the first 7 years of her career, Kayo only had two other singles matches that may have been anywhere close to the quality we saw here. They are Wacky's retirement from just one month earlier and the 3/1/98 match with Manami that you reviewed in Quebrada #43. I believe that I may've felt the Manami match was better than this one when we originally discussed it, but that being said the fact that she's had some strong performances since this particular match adds validity to my point that she is indeed getting better.

15:58

Rating:

Yumiko Hotta & Nanae Takahashi vs. Manami Toyota & Tomoko Watanabe

Michael: This was totally the Manami Toyota show. She worked her ass off here, and when she was in it was very good. When she wasn't in, it was still good between Tomoko and Nanae but it was decent at best when Hotta faced off with Watanabe. Hotta had that "I'm Back For More Cash" attitude tonight basically doing as little as possible to get paid. Her kicks were stiff, but she looked like she was 60 years old when moving around. Watanabe wasn't too agile either, but at least she tried and had some good moments with Nanae. Nanae had to carry the load for her team and did as well as she could, but she's just not good enough to do it for nearly 20 minutes. For some reason Hotta decided to break up a pin attempt by Manami on Nanae (following a moonsault) by running over the ref instead of Manami. Bob Yazawa gave her a WTF? look as most everyone else who watched the match must have as well. Finally Watanabe got the pin on Nanae following a release Japanese ocean cyclone suplex by Manami and two screwdrivers by Tomoko (the first of which Nanae kicked out of). **3/4

ML: A rather stationary match for the first 13 minutes that was saved by 6 good minutes at the end. Toyota was the only one injecting any life into the match during the first portion. This portion wasn't bad because the execution was fine and all that, it just wasn't the least bit exciting. Watanabe & Takahashi finally picked things up, with the match being "fast-paced" during the final portion. In this segment, we saw about the only heat of the show. It still was hardly what you'd call inspiring, but at least there was some tension and anticipation toward the outcome. Toyota was certainly good. Watanabe & Takahashi eventually tried to be, but Watanabe is considerably slowed by her knee and Takahashi still has the offense of a bulldozer. Hotta, who was seemingly in forever, wasn't her usual annoying self, just an inadequate performer. She's gotten so lazy she doesn't even bother doing a real jump on her double facecrusher.

19:11

Rating:

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