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Selected matches from AJW
WRESTLE MARINEPIAD '90 Commercial Tape 11/14/90 Kanagawa Yokohama Bunka Taiikukan 2/3 Falls WWWA Sekai Tag Senshuken Jiai: Akira Hokuto & Suzuka Minami vs. Manami Toyota & Kyoko Inoue |
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Toyota was supposed to team with her friend Toshiyo Yamada, but Yamada was injured. Toyota begged the Matsunagas to let Yamada wrestle anyway, but they insisted that it would be better for Yamada's health if she just refereed the match, so Toyota was stuck with Kyoko Inoue. These two didn't get along because Kyoko was one of Bull's understudies, and Toyota was against Bull's group. Toyota & Kyoko didn't even try to work together as a team. They just fought among themselves, and their girl fights would comes to blows at times. This gave Hokuto & Minami a huge advantage because they were a top notch tag team and also had experience on their side. Really the only reason the match was even competitive was that Toyota & Kyoko, even at this tender young age, were such talented individual wrestlers. It's weird going back and watching Toyota when she didn't have many moves, but did properly executed the ones she had. Kyoko didn't have many moves either, but like Toyota she mainly got by on energy and charisma as she was developing her style. Hokuto was the best of all the women at this point. She didn't try to steal the show here, which in a way was a bad thing because it would have made a much better match. This was back in the day when they used to try to put young women over in a loss though, and Hokuto not being selfish allowed the focus of the match to remain on Toyota & Kyoko. Toyota & Kyoko both wanted to start, but Kyoko won that battle when she whipped Toyota into the corner. Hokuto did a good job of making Kyoko look good, but Kyoko's one fall being nothing but a joke, pinning Hokuto in a body press at 8:23 when it was obvious Hokuto's shoulders were up, didn't do much for her or Toyota. Yamada was a biased ref in that she preferred Toyota to the others, but since they didn't play that up it didn't seem like she was purposely screwing Marine Wolves or anything. Kyoko tried to cheat by hitting Minami with a chair when Toyota was going for a reverse cradle, but Suzuka ducked it so Toyota got hit. This led directly to the second fall where Hokuto and Suzukia finished Toyota off when Hokuto assisted Suzuka on a moonsault at 1:52. In between falls, Kyoko & Toyota came to blows over Kyoko's miscue. This was not the way to win the tag titles, but it seemed like these two were always more interested in showing each other up than working together. I don't think they really cared about the titles unless, except for bragging rights they wanted to show they could win them on their own. The third fall was the long one. The wrestling was good, of course, but it wasn't dramatic because Toyota & Kyoko had little chance of winning even if they had worked together. They were still so young that to some extent it was a big deal that they were even challenging. However, Toyota had made her first challenge for the 3WA singles title 4 months earlier, so I thought they'd put her over more than they did. The finish came when Hokuto used her northern lights bomb on Kyoko at 12:21. Although this lacked the drama that would become synonymous with Hokuto matches, it was still an excellent match simply because you had four very strong workers. Jerome's review: At this point, Toyota & Kyoko were still in the early stages of their career and their move sets were not nearly as rich as it would become in the following years. The talent was already there though, and since the match was carried by the champions, especially Hokuto, it was excellent even though it lacked heat and drama. The challengers were still kind of young to be credible, but more than anything they worked individually because they couldn't stand each other. Toyota was particularly convincing, getting across the point that she didn't want to do anything with Bull's disciple. She was also the better wrestler of her team, displaying an already impressive level of work. Kyoko was really frenzied, but the match was better when Toyota was in. Toyota & Kyoko both worked long individual sections trying to prove they could win the titles alone. It was a bad idea since the Marine Wolves were in the opposite corner, and their team work was excellent. Hokuto & Minami sold a lot for the youngsters and made their offense credible. There wasn't any great build or storyline except the fact that the challengers despised each others enough to come to blows. Kyoko got the first pin, but Akira clearly had a shoulder up so it looked contrived and fake. The Wolves didn't lose any time to reverse the situation after Kyoko accidentally hit Toyota with a chair. Minami then executed her assisted moonsault to even the score. The pace got quicker from there with Manami coming back from being stretched by Hokuto, and getting good near falls with some of her suplex variations. A part of the crowd chanted her name, but generally the audience didn't think the challengers had a chance. Very good performance from the four, with the champions carrying their young yet talented opposition very well, which is not surprising since both Akira and Minami were on top at this time. Special thanks to: Jerome Denis 23:16
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