Michael: While certainly not in the same class that AJW produced from the mid-80s through the mid-90s, I'm optimistic about the futures of Nishio, Maemura, and Sato. That said, they have looked better than they did in this particular match, as none of them really stepped up here. They didn't look bad, but they were each a little sloppier than usual. Overall though, if the Matsunagas don't impede their growth I feel that in 6-8 months they could be the shot in the arm that AJW's midcard really needs right now, and the way things are going in AJW they may wind up being main eventers within 2 or 3 years.

ML: Fujii is the only one in this match that can execute. Sato has the best offense, but her impact on these moves is marginal, at best. She should certainly lose the stomps because they don't fit her move set and they maybe graze her opponent. Nishio has no accuracy on her dropkicks. There was a funny spot where Fujii was lying on her side under the bottom rope and Nishio tried to knock her to the floor with a low dropkick, but she hit the bottom rope instead. Nishio's missile kicks are much better than her regular dropkicks because she doesn't have to create the altitude. She pinned Sato following one of them. Poor match.

15:12 (4:59 shown)

Black Joker vs. Queen Bee: Takako Inoue & Tomoko Watanabe vs. Manami Toyota & Nanae Takahashi

Michael: They cut this up to the point that it was tough to gauge it. Manami looked good and Nanae was competent. Watanabe was okay as well, but Takako appeared to have another off-night.

ML: I thought Takako had one of her better nights here. She was moving rather than being her usual lethargic self. My main problem with her is she still insists on doing bridging moves even though it's seemingly been a decade since she did one that actually went into a bridge rather than her bridging off the canvas after impact.

Michael: Agreed as her backdrop suplex on Nanae had her collapse in attempting the bridge before quickly recovering it into a viable one for the pin attempt. She did hit two nice kicks on Nanae in the first sequence that aired, but couldn't even hold her on the chokeslam off the corner. Otherwise, she wasn't really involved in what aired except making half-assed attempts to block Manami from saving Nanae on pin attempts.

ML: Takahashi worked most of the way with Toyota inserting a flying move once in a while. It seemed like a good match because everyone was into it. Takahashi pinned Watanabe with her Nana rocker. After the match, Takahashi did some mic work to set up the 7/6 tag title match. Rumi Kazama & Momoe got into the ring, with Rumi grabbing Takahashi's hair.

17:53 (6:04 shown)

Japan Grand Prix '02 Koshiki Leaguesen: Rie Tamada vs. Yumiko Hotta

Michael: Tamada actually had a couple of decent matches in the JGP, but this obviously wasn't one of them. Even being blenderized this match totally sucked as they were even slower and (much) sloppier than usual. If all 10-1/2 minutes had aired this would've been a strong contender for worst match of the year; it was that horrible.

ML: It doesn't get much worse than Rossy Ogawa as Tiger Mask! Then again, there's this match that went with it. Cars roll up hills in reverse faster than these three move.

Michael: You're not kidding. It's amazing because when I originally watched and then commented on this match I thought a lot more than 60% of it aired because it just dragged on forever due to how molassified they were.

ML: Tamada was on offense most of the time, but Hotta was more concerned with Rossy and didn't make her seem like any threat. The match was beyond awful on it's own, but just a backdrop for more stupidity between Hotta and Rossy, which made the match seem decent in comparison. At one point Rossy threw deadly spring water on Hotta.

Michael: It would've been deadly had he done it to DDMe because we all know that Page's kryptonite was obviously a shower.

ML: The key spot was Rossy breaking up Hotta's Caribbean splash by hitting her with the ladder he carried to the ring. The thing is Hotta saw him coming from one side of the ring to the other, but just stared at him with her arm bent, let him hit her, and then started chasing him.

Michael: This directly following Hotta selling two of the absolutely worst blown DDT/diamond dust spots in history that you mentioned below.

ML: The only funny part was when Rossy broke up a pin by walking in between the ref and the wrestlers and giving the "safe" sign.

Michael: Agreed, but I was kinda hoping he'd lay down and grab the ref's arm to stop a three count on Tamada because Lord knows ARSION steals every other overkilled spot.

ML: I was kinda hoping he'd dive on the refs arm so it would hit the mat quicker!

ML: The Rossy stuff was obviously bad, but the wrestlers also sucked more than they had a right to. Tamada did perhaps the worse Diamond dust ever. The funniest spot was when Tamada did her swinging DDT to the floor. This spot is just pointless because Tamada is so concerned about not getting injured that she only worries about using her opponent to slow her landing to the floor. Hotta's head was a good 1 1/2 feet off the apron when Tamada released, so Hotta just kind of fell into it. The impact!

Michael: Considering Hotta leaves her feet less often than Hogan did in WCW it probably winded her for a moment. It truly was pathetic that Tamada hit the floor before Hotta finished her end of the "bump" on the apron.

ML: After getting beat on the whole match, and not putting it over, Hotta won with a shotei and an udehishigigyakujujigatame. In one of the slowest chases ever, Rossy then tried to escape but Takahashi & Noumi cut him off. Hotta feebly hit him with the ladder, pulled his mask off, did an arm whip that it was first an armbreaker because there wasn't enough momentum for Rossy to "jump" over, and then the udehishigigyakujujigatame. This should have been the end of Rossy in AJW. Assuming anyone wanted to see this in the first place, now that Hotta got him alone and had her way with him, what more is there for her to do?

Michael: A better contest than this match would've been to see who was more blown up afterwards, Hotta or Rossy.

ML: If Hotta vs. Rossy must continue, have someone save him here to create a new match rather than giving away the payoff and then having him "retreat" and find a new weapon who is a pathetic rip off of someone else's creation that now stars for someone else's promotion.

10:30 (6:16)

Rating:

Japan Grand Prix '02 Koshiki Leaguesen: Kaoru Ito vs. Momoe Nakanishi

Michael: This was very good, especially Momoe's selling of her back. Ito spent a lot of the match working it over, to the point I was ready to say how Momoe didn't get nearly enough offense here, but she beat Ito with a schoolboy 82 seconds short of a draw. Even though Kaoru was gassed towards the end they did a good job of building towards 2 possible finishes that didn't happen. The first would've been Ito winning since she hit several footstomps over the last few minutes (including one off the top rope to the floor) and had controlled most of what aired. But even moreso they gave the impression that they were going to a draw, so when Momoe got the flash pin it was really cool. It was also nice to see Ito go over and shake her hand after the match in respect of the fact that Momoe not only hung in there but was able to beat her as well. ***1/2

ML: It's nice when one of the best matches of the year follows one of the worst. Momoe's bad back was injured during the portion they skipped. Ito was awesome here - brutal, precise, and totally focused on this weak portion. She dominated the match, but Momoe made several brief comebacks. Pretty much every move she did went into a pin, and after she got a couple in Ito would plant her and regain control. The way they worked the match made it seem like it could end at any time. This made it really effective in the later stages because it was worked so it looked like there was no way it was going to be a draw, yet with all the close calls that result seemed probable. It was ironic that after all the time it looked like it could end, it finally did on a move one would expect to certainly be nothing more than another tease.

The Ito vs. Momoe matches are very dynamic because their styles and offensive strengths are different, but both can do enough to make their opponents offense seem that much more impressive and Ito (mainly) knows the timing and how to get the most out of the style mesh. Many of the spots presented the possibility of Ito's big powerbomb, with Momoe countering to avoid it or Ito countering to get it. Momoe now has a nice new move though called the palestra (sp?) that's kind of a reverse version of her Momo*latch, allowing her to come at her opponent for a pin from either side.

The offense in this match was highly impressive for different reasons. With Ito it was generally the impact, while with Momoe it was generally the speed. Momoe can make moves look so much more impressive though, like when Ito suplexed her onto the top rope and Momoe bounced off and went flying to the floor. Her lack of size and weight also helps make moves done to her look impressive, though it's a minor factor because a lot of the small girls make the moves look worse and are fragile, with Ito really whipping her Momoe down on her powerbombs though. The only problems with the match where Momoe didn't put the submissions over in a way that made them seem like finishers, which they should have been considering the state of her back, and a few times Momoe's rolls into pins wound up a little sloppy. After 5 minutes of near falls back and forth, Momoe pinned Ito with a schoolboy. Now, of only Momoe got a win over Toyota before she left, preferably for the title given the situation...

28:48 (18:02 shown)

Rating:

Japan Grand Prix '02 Koshiki Leaguesen: Kayo Noumi vs. Kumiko Maekawa

Michael: I wasn't overly optimistic about this match, despite my feelings that Kayo has improved this year, because both women still need to be carried and neither can make someone else look better. Maekawa didn't show much respect for Kayo, but didn't try to embarrass her either. Basically they exchanged offense for the entire match with neither doing enough to make you think that they were close to winning. Maekawa's kicks didn't look that good, but Kayo did a decent job of selling them anyway. The end was pretty nifty though with Kayo going up and over Maekawa with a sunset flip for the win. All things considered, I was happy the match was as decent as it was and while I would've preferred Ito vs. Momoe to be the uncut match, this was worth seeing in it's entirety if you're a fan of either woman. **

ML: I can't believe they cut out 35% of (considering the state of joshi) a match of the year candidate and disemboweled Toyota's match to show all of this bore, which wasn't even the real main event of the show.

Michael: I agree, but I guess they did this thinking that both women would seem more important then they really are or at least Kayo is?

ML: I'm sure that was the reason, but you have to pick your spots for that kind of manipulation. Even if they had a good match it would be foolish to put it on after the show Ito & Momoe just put on.

Michael: Agreed, but when else on this show could they have done it? The best way to do it would've been to cut the rookies match altogether, trim the host segments, and show both matches in their entirety. Of course, that would've been too obvious for the Matsunagas to figure out.

ML: If they wanted to mess with the actual order, they should have had Kayo's match third rather than second and moved Hotta's match from fourth to second. If the match followed the rookie's match and the Hotta nightmare, it would have come off much better than it did because the stuff before it was so awful rather than so spectacular. If they were going to edit the matches, they should have cut much of Maekawa's body because even in defending the match you had to admit it was seriously weak and directionless. Regardless, the host segments need to be shortened. I understand that giving the girls time to show their personalities can help differentiate them, but I shouldn't have had time to put the laundry away and go to the mailbox between one match.

Michael: Agreed. I'd rather they did like a 3-5 minute featurette on two girls per show than have them out there between each match. If you want to show their personalities, show what they do away from wrestling.

ML: Maekawa can't carry a match to save her life. As always, she did her tedious pattern of a few kicks, a bunch of pointless submissions and some wannabe brawling, and then back to the kicks (usually for the win). This time there was a lot more stalling. Generally her opponent makes her presence felt with some counters into flash pins, but Noumi had no defined role and was basically a zero.

Michael: It was obvious even in the first 2 minutes that they didn't seem to have a plan going in and that neither one of them was capable of being a general out there. Maekawa's kicks were at least stiff though, and Kayo did an acceptable job of selling the ones to her back with her facials. Regarding the submissions, if kicking were you're only legitimate offense than you'd need to take it to the mat to rest your legs for a few minutes too.:)

ML: I agreed with your earlier point that Maekawa's kicks didn't look that good.

Michael: In rewatching, I felt her early stuff was good because it was stiff, but as the match progressed most of the kicks looked okay but they had nothing behind them.

ML: Maekawa's light kicks are still better than most wrestlers very good kicks because kicking is her thing, but when you can see she's taking it easy on her opponent then you know they aren't aspiring to much. Noumi's selling of them was more toward the comedy side, which might have been acceptable if they decided to go in that direction but obviously is not the proper way to put over someone who is promoted based on being the real deal.

Michael: True, but I didn't think she was taking it easy as much as most of her latter kicks were overhead/axe kicks that would be hard to get any power on anyway. The thing that hurt the match was that she stayed away from the low kicks that she can get weight behind, though maybe that could be seen as her taking it easy.

ML: An axe kick is far more about speed than power. It's a flexibility move where the power comes from a violent motion where you pick up momentum from going down. Maekawa can do it well. When it's weak it's because she's either too tired or to lazy to do so.

Michael: I know but her kicks didn't look bad in this match; they just weren't overly stiff after the first 2 minutes.

ML: The big problems with this match were they had no chemistry and no idea what they were trying to show. It was so contrived with them standing around waiting for each other and generally making it painfully obvious that they were "cooperating". Noumi was all afraid of Maekawa's kicks in the beginning, diving into the corner and grasping it for dear life. A couple minutes later she was all courageous standing up to Maekawa.

Michael: I thought the spot were she hugged the turnbuckle padding was funny, but the logic there (convoluted as it might sound) is that being that she survived Maekawa's kicks she didn't have to be afraid of her anymore.

ML: I'd agree with you if she actually survived them rather than hugging mommy's legs. When she stood up to Maekawa she was facing the same danger she was earlier when she ran. If they had the slightest clue they would at least have had Noumi do something to build her confidence and courage up in between.

Michael: This could've been an effective way of selling the match, but since they have no idea how to create a story they failed to do this properly by having Kayo take the kicks for a longer period of time to start the match, then fight back from them and get some underdog face heat for it. Instead, Kayo's big comeback came off as rather weak with no heat even though she was trying to do the rapid fire hope spot with some emotion during the 11 minute mark.

ML: The finish suited the match because the whole thing was so unconvincing. Noumi jumped on Maekawa and was boosted over for a sunset flip like pin (called a dobitski kaiten ebigatame). Maekawa didn't put Noumi over the whole match and couldn't be that surprised by such a move, but somehow couldn't kick out.

Michael: She couldn't be surprised because Kayo did the same move at the 13-minute-mark. The finishing one looked better because Kayo had slightly more leverage on it than the first one by digging her shoulder's into Maekawa's back making it okay in my opinion. You could say that Maekawa was kinda stupid for allowing herself to put in the same position twice in 75 seconds though.

ML: At least it was better than Kayo's small package where she couldn't even hook Maekawa's leg with her leg.

Michael: Maekawa's leg was almost on the mat, which made it impossible for Kayo to hook her. I understand your point in saying it was a flaw on Kayo's part (though under the circumstances it wasn't her fault), but since it wasn't the finish I don't see it as being a big deal.

ML: If Noumi executes the move properly she's hooked Maekawa's leg before it has a chance to be almost on the mat. It's not a big deal in and of itself, but it's symptomatic of Noumi's general ineptness.

Michael: I agree to an extent, but you still need your opponent to help you with the move. I just rewatched the spot twice and Kayo attempted to hook Maekawa on the way down but Maekawa hit the mat so fast that Kayo's leg hit her's but couldn't get behind.

ML: Maekawa being poor at taking moves never helps, but it was not a particularly fast or surprising small package and in my opinion Noumi's leg hit Maekawa's because she simply didn't get it back far enough so it would catch rather than crash.

Michael: She couldn't get it back because Maekawa's legs were too close together to allow Kayo's leg to go between them and hook her right knee.

Michael: So I don't see it as being either woman's fault or something that could be attributed to Kayo being inept.

ML: When a move involving two wrestlers goes wrong it's always one or both of these wrestlers fault unless there's some kind of technical malfunction like the rope breaking.

Michael: So the blame here belongs to Maekawa because Kayo was still trying to hook her right knee during the 2 count.

ML: Just a dull methodical deliberate match.

Michael: I agree that the body (3 minute mark to the 10 minute mark) was rather banal, but the beginning and end were fairly exciting to me because I am a Kayo mark and was happy to see her win. The backslide with about 30 seconds left was a convincing near fall that had some heat, and Kayo's emotions after the match put over that it was a big win for her, so I feel that it turned out to be pretty decent and worthy of **.

ML: I felt that it was the typical cheat we've gotten everywhere in joshi over the last 6 years to keep the younger wrestlers from having any chance of high level acceptance. Noumi won the match but she didn't beat Maekawa, who kicked her ass the whole time and was never hurt for a second. Thus, it was beneficial to neither and despite the result only further reinforced their respective positions in the pecking order.

Michael: If you go further than this particular match, Kayo jobbed to Hotta in tag main events on seemingly every spot show AJW ran this summer. However, she then got an All Pacific title shot against Momoe on 8/27 without any build up to it whatsoever aside from their 30 minute draw during the JGP on 6/7.

ML: Momoe's flash pin, as usual, might not have been the most convincing, but no one will come away from that match singing Dokken's "Just Got Lucky". Momoe actually never wins convincingly, but they've gotten over that she takes a bunch of punishment and keeps coming at her opponent with flash pins until one of them works. Thus, it's become acceptable for her, similar to how a shooter like Enson Inoue would either get knocked senseless or catch someone with a submission from the bottom.

Special thanks to: Michael Smith

14:18

Rating:

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