Quebrada #28

by Mike Lorefice (M.L.Liger@juno.com)

8/1/97

Devil’s Final Countdown Begins

In what may be both the strangest story I’ve written about and the hardest to determine what parts are and aren’t an angle, Devil Masami, one of the biggest stars in the history of women’s wrestling, has announced that she will retire soon. The strange part is not the announcement, rather the events before and after the announcement, so I’ll try to explain it from the beginning.

On July 18th, Devil teamed with Tomoko Kuzumi against Hikari Fukuoka & Tomoko Miyaguchi in the main event of JWP’s soldout Tokyo Korakuen Hall show. Just before the 10 minute mark, Fukuoka victory rolled Devil. Devil never kicked out of the victory roll, but the ref stopped the count at 2. Since JWP main events, particularly at Korakuen, are almost always around 20 minutes long, it’s possible the ref thought it was too early for the finish, so she just stopped the count. Probably no one outside of JWP really knows why the count was stopped, but it was. Devil stood up and powerbombed Fukuoka then the ring announcer called "10 minutes passed." This angered Devil, who said, "You don't need to call the time! I've lost. I know I've lost. The match is finished. My pride won't let me go (on)." Devil then said, "Ozaki, the talk (content of the talk is not clear to the JWP fans) is over. Devil’s countdown (for retirement) has started!"

Devil went to the lockerroom as if the match was over. Fans chanted "Devil! Devil!" for an extended period of time in hope that she would return. JWP President Masatoshi Yamamoto followed her to persuade her to return to the ring and finish the match, but Devil went to the ladies' room (where Masatoshi Yamamato couldn’t enter) to resist. Yamamoto came back to the ring with tears in his eyes and announced that Devil wasn’t coming back to wrestle, so the only thing he could think of was to have the match continue as a handicap match. Kuzumi, of course, went on to lose the handicap match. Devil left Korakuen Hall in her own car.

On July 20th, Devil appeared at Mie Sun Arena to fight her scheduled match against Mayumi Ozaki. Ozaki hit a dozen of her urakens and pinned Devil at only 5:26. Devil then burst into tears in the ring!

On July 21st, Devil wanted herself to be demoted from the semi-final to the opener. JWP agreed to this, so Devil wrestled rookie Sari Osumi. Koji saw the match and said, "She looked as if her fuel was empty, but of course she pinned Osumi."

On July 27th, Devil teamed with Tomoko Miyaguchi against Ozaki & Reiko Amano. The match started normally, but after 10 minutes, Amano switched Devil’s powerbomb twice. Devil looked like she had lost her self-confidence or energy. Amano shouted, "What happened with ya!" Miyaguchi entered the ring and slapped Devil in the face. Devil tried her powerbomb finisher on Amano again, but she was unable to do it. Miyaguchi then helped Devil execute her powerbomb and Amano was pinned. After the match, Devil was weeping once again. Ozaki took the mic and said, "I don't know what happened with you, but you have to wrestle don't you? I hate you, Devil! Can't you pin Amano (just a youngster) without Miyaguchi's help?" Devil just listened to Ozaki. She didn’t defend herself or argue with Ozaki. Ozaki left the ring. Devil then left the ring without saying anything in response.

What actually happened with Devil is unclear. She is refusing to speak to JWP president Masatoshi Yamamoto now. It seems like this is not an angle. Maybe it can be turned into an angle, but right now, this seems to be Devil’s doing. If this is all angle, then it’s one of the most dramatic angles of all-time and it’s so good that it’s fooling hardcores, not just the marks. It seems Devil may be tiring of the ring wars. All the years of wrestling should be catching up to her by now as she not only has the longest career of any women’s wrestler in Japan, but unlike her AJW contemporaries Jaguar, Chigusa, & Lioness she didn’t have a long layoff when AJW retired her.

Devil hasn’t said anything about her retirement, just that her final countdown is underway. It’s thought that although Ozaki has been involved in many of these events, this isn’t building to a Devil vs. Ozaki match as Devil’s retirement match. Although Devil, who’s in her 20th year as a pro, seems to be the ultimate gym rat (she is always at ringside watching everyone else match, despite having no alignment with most of the women she is watching) it’s thought that she will not remain with JWP in any capacity after her retirement.

The good thing about the way this has gone down so far is that Devil has done the right thing by phasing herself down a bit, putting over the other veterans (Ozaki & Fukuoka), and allowing the younger wrestlers to look good.

*Whatever was going on here it was forgotten when Plum died and Devil remained with what was left of JWP*

All Japan 7/25 Tokyo Budokan Hall

Mitsuharu Misawa retained the Triple Crown, pinning Akira Taue with a German suplex at 20:25. This result is no surprise as it’s thought that when Misawa finally loses the belt, it will be to Toshiaki Kawada. The match was said to be better than previous Misawa vs. Taue bouts, which means this was over 4 stars as expected. The highlight of the match was the invention of an incredible new spot by Misawa. Taue got his nodowa off the apron off, which is the most deadly version of his finishing hold, but in midair, Misawa backflipped and landed on his feet, then gave Taue an elbow. This sounds like an unbelievable feat and it was received by a huge pop. Taue had already gone for the nodowa off the apron earlier in the match, which makes this counter ever more impressive as it must have looked like Taue had the big move this time, only to have Misawa foil him with the new counter. Misawa’s neck injury from the Carnival once again was incorporated into the psychology of the match. Finish saw Taue uses his jumping high kick then his Dynamic bomb for a near fall. Taue hit another high kick. Taue charged at Misawa, but Misawa took him down and used a series of elbows. Misawa hit his discus elbow. Misawa used two back suplexes then went back to his elbows, this time hitting 11 of them. Misawa set up his Tiger Driver, but just dropped Taue. Misawa hit another discus elbow. Taue was apparently "KO’d" by this point as Misawa did the some drop from the Tiger Driver position then German suplexed Taue for the win. Taue’s stamina was said to be as good as ever, so not working many long singles matches in the recent months didn’t effect the match much. However, this was a short match for a Budokan main event.

Steve Williams & Gary Albright defeated Kenta Kobashi & Johnny Ace to win the Double tag titles. Williams scored the pinfall on Ace with a powerbomb at 29:36. This match was said to be quite a bit below the expected level of AJ tag title matches, with the 1st 2/3 of the match being particularly bad. The result along with the finish seem to point to Ace leaving for WWF where his brother Animal "wrestles". Although he’s not much of a draw, Ace's ringwork on the gaijin side is simply irreplaceable. In years past, there were several very talented American wrestlers that weren’t in WWF or WCW, but now that those two leagues have signed everyone with a pulse, the pool of replacements for Ace is not very deep. Williams and Albright is not much of a team to begin with, but they are simply lousy champions for a workrate promotion like AJ. The great workers will have to be at their best to do anything memorable with the unathletic old stiff Williams and Albright. The Williams & Albright & Lacrosse group has been named Triangle of Power.

Toshiaki Kawada was once again successful over Kingdom’s Yoshihiro Takayama. Kawada teamed with Tamon Honda to defeat Lacrosse & Takayama when Kawada stretch plummed Lacrosse at 14:52. This should be leading to another Kawada vs. Takayama match. Their match on 9/11/96 at UWF’s Tokyo Jingu stadium show was said to be very good, but was cut off the commercial tape, so I don’t know for sure.

Hiroshi Hase & Jun Akiyama defeated Johnny Smith & Jinsei Shinzaki (Michinoku Pro) when Hase used his famous Northern Lights suplex finisher to pin Smith at 18:39. This was Shinzaki’s first match in All Japan. The match was originally scheduled to be Smith teaming with Maunekea Mossman. Hase’s comment about the lineup change was that if Shinzaki was a poor wrestler he wouldn’t want to wrestle him, but since he’s a so-so wrestler the change was ok. You can tell Hase has become quite the politician. Shinzaki didn’t change his Buddist Monk style, so he was out of place in AJ rings.

The only other notable result was Tsuyo Kikuchi pinning Battlarts’ Daisuke Ikeda at 11:48 with a German suplex. Battlarts working with AJ isn’t working out for Battlarts as this match was one of their top stars getting pinned by an AJ undercarder that's 5 years past his prime.

The Dream & Future multipromotional Junior All-Star Show

The second annual women’s junior all-star show took place on 7/19 at Yokohama Bunka Gym. The show drew an announced attendance of 4,000, but the actual attendance was estimated to be around 3,000. The attendance is quite a disappointment as last years show sold out Tokyo Ota Ward Gym to the tune of 4,800, while this years shows was held in front of a half full building. This just further shows the decline in interest in women’s wrestling due to the fact that the youngsters aren’t at the level of the youngsters of the 1980's. Although the show was less successful at the gate, it was said to be better than last year’s show from a match quality standpoint.

AJW’s Yoshiko Tamura surprisingly came out as the star of the night. Tamura, 21, won the WCW women’s cruiserweight title pinning Gaea’s Toshie Uematsu at 20:09 with a double wristlock suplex. The result, which further signifies that WCW has no interest in running anymore women’s matches, is not entirely a surprise. What is a surprise is that Tamura was named MVP of the show. These awards can be political in nature at times, however, it was said that Tamura was the best worker of the night. This was said to be the 2nd best match on the show. It’s said that Tamura is sometimes better than Yumi Fukawa and Yuka Shiina now, and on this night she was clearly better than Shiina (Fukawa wasn’t on this show), but she can’t sustain that level (she’s inconsistent). Scheme Gene, on WCW Saturday Night, said something to the effect of people should call the hotline to find out about the major WCW title change.

Reiko Amano (JWP) & Chikayo Nagashima (Gaea) & Sugar Sato (Gaea) went to a 30:00 draw with Yuka Shiina(AJW) & Kanako Motoya (JWP) & Yuko Kosugi (Jd'). This was said to be an excellent match and the best on the show. Oz’s young punks are all good and made the match, but Motoya & Kosugi were also good and are said to be improving. Shiina was said to be subpar. Amano, a very solid submission wrestler won the Ginou-shou (good technique) award.

In the main event, Gaea’s Meiko Satomura & Sonoko Kato retained thier AAAW junior tag championship defeating JWP’s Tomoko Miyaguchi & AJW’s Saya Endo when Kato pinned Saya with a diving spinkick at 18:01. This was said to be a good match. Kato was coming off light surgery on her knee, which helped her as she had been somewhat immobile recently. Satomura, who was in the main event of last year’s show also, was awarded most impressive, but it’s said that she looked too high-tensioned. She would normally be deserving of the award, but maybe the larger crowd got to her a bit. Miyaguchi and Endo were awarded Syukun-shou (good performance).

AJW’s Momoe Nakanishi retained her AJ junior championship pinning Sumie Sakai of Jd’ with her dropkick at 6:59. Sakai, who debuted this year, is one of Jd’s most promising youngsters, if not their most promising. Unfortunately, Sakai broke her leg the day before this show. The fracture was said to not be that bad, but it showed a tremendous amount of guts and spirit to work the day after she broke her leg. Sakai didn’t have a cast on, rather her leg was just taped really tight. It’s said that due to the tape, her leg looked twice as big as normal. These two will both be good in a year or so.

The surprise of the night was that the opening bout was named the best bout. The opener saw Gaea’s Hiromi Kato & Sakura Hirota & Rina Ishii beat Big Japan’s Nana Fujimura & Aya Koyama & Miho Kawasaki when Ishii huracanrana’d Koyama at 9:38. Of the ones that I’ve seen from this bunch, Kato seems like the best as she’s decent worker, who has size, but lacks charisma. Ishii rarely sees the light of day on Champ Forum, but appears to be a good athlete. The others I either don’t know or don’t think are any good right now, so I had to read these about 7 times before I believed that it happened. The key to this being good was that the Big Japan women have been training with Gaea for a long time, so they were familiar with their opponents and were able to pull off a good match. Ishii’s huracanrana was said to be beautiful. Big Japan is just starting their women’s division.

JWP’s Tomoko Kuzumi defeated SPWF’s Chiharu at 9:49 with a German suplex. Kuzumi is good or maybe ever very good, but Chiharu is a rookie that debuted 5 days before this show, so you can’t expect too much of her. SPWF barely runs any shows, so it was thought that JWP might have wanted Kuzumi, who they have a lot of faith in, to wrestle Chiharu as a way to see if she was worth using on JWP shows. After seeing the match, Koji said he didn’t think JWP should use her. Chiharu was awarded photogenic, as apparently she’s quite attractive.

Jd’s The Bloody & LLPW’s Sayori Okino beat Gaea’s Makie Numao & Maiko Matsumoto when Okino pinned Matsumoto at 16:27 following a twisting splash. Numao, with her kicks and submission skills, is the best of these four. The Bloody is Lioness’ understudy, while Okino is Eagle’s understudy. Both suck just like their mentors. Aside from being lousy workers, it’s said that Bloody & Okino can’t even act like heels. Said to be a boring match.

AJW’s Misae Genki & Tanny Mouse defeated LLPW’s Keiko Aono & Miho Watabe when Genki racked Watabe at 12:26. Watabe is really small as she is just 149 cm tall and weights only 99 pounds. Watabe was said to be good though. Watabe won the Kanto-shou (good fighting spirit) award, most likely because she was impressive despite her size disadvantage.

AJW’s Nanae Takahashi & Miho Wakizawa beat JWP’s Sari Osumi & Jd’s Miyuki Sogabe when Takahashi used a blockbuster hold on Sogabe at 12:30. Takahashi has been higher on recent AJW cards due to the plethora of injuries. She is said to have potential, but since she’s still a rookie, she’s weak in the mental aspects of wrestling. Sogabe was working with a fractured wrist. Said to be a comical and good match.

Jd’d Sachie Abe pinned AJW"s Miyuki Fujii at 13:18. These two haven’t shown anything yet. Said to be just boring.

FMW 8/2 Tokyo Shiodome

Masato Tanaka vs. W*ING Kanemura headlines FMW’s major card of the Summer on 8/2. The match will be a No Rope 200-Volt Exploding Electrical Barbed Wire Death Match with the winner getting the right to wrestle Atsushi Onita on 9/28 at Kawasaki Stadium. This should be a good match as both are good workers and can do death matches well. I’d rather see it without the stips, but this is FMW. I think they will do a good amount of wrestling and not just go crazy with the gimmick spots. I think that Kanemura will win this match, but it could go either way. What’s even more in question is whether Onita will do the smart thing and put the winner of this match over on 9/28. Zach Arnold says that if W*ING wins, he’ll job to Onita, but if Tanaka wins Onita will put him over. Zach’s reasoning is that FMW top stars put over FMW top stars, but not W*ING top stars.

Hayabusa & Jinsei Shinzaki (Michinoku Pro) face the F.M.W. team of Hisakatsu Oya & Mr. Gannosuke. This will most likely be an average match. Hayabusa and Gannosuke should work well together again. Oya has not been very good this year as he regressed once he was teamed with the Vicronie’s (a Vicronie is a new slang term invented by Zach for anyone on Victor Quinones payroll) the Head Hunters. Shinzaki will suck and drag the match down. Hayabusa and Shinzaki should win this match with Oya being the most probable jobber of the four as he is the guy that always gets pinned on the big shows.

In a battle of four Vicronie’s, The Gladiator & Super Leather (both F.M.W.) face The Head Hunters (F.M.W.). This match will suck. The Gladiator is the only one of the four who can work, but Hunters are too big (and unwilling) to be his bump boys. No one will want to sell for each other. Hunters should pin Leather.

Koji Nakagawa takes on Hido (W*ING). This is not really the best matchup as Nakagawa is not a good brawler and Hido is not a good technical wrestler. If it’s a straight match, it will be bad. If it’s a brawl, it could be ok. It’ll probably be a brawl with chairs involved. Hido has not been in a good brawl since his neck was injured though. Hido has looked really cautious since the 9/1/96 No Rope Explosive Barbed Wire Double Hell Dynamite match where Tanaka & Nakagawa & Tetsuhiro Kuroda beat Kanemura & Hido & Hosaka. Nakagawa should win this match.

Tetsuhiro Kudoda takes on Hideki Hosaka (W*ING). This match doesn’t excite me at all. Kuroda has shown me absolutely nothing. Hosaka is ok to watch, but he isn’t very good. I think Kuroda wins an uneventful match.

The 3 complete stiffs of women’s wrestling Shark Tsuchiya & Lioness Asuka (Jd’) & Eagle Sawai (LLPW) fill meet Sayori Okino (LLPW) & Crusher Maedomari & Miss Mongol for the LLPW 6-women tag titles. This match should be awful. It’s all the lousy heels lumped into one clearly horrid match. It’s bad when Mongol is the best worker in a match. Shark & Lioness & Eagle will win for sure and this thing is lucky if it’s not a -* match.

In what should be the best match on the card, Hayato Nanjyo defends his Rocky Mountain middleweight title against Ricky Fuji. Hayato is good. Fuji is pretty good. If Fuji doesn’t fall pray to sucking when he’s in with someone good this time, this will be above ***. Hayato will display good aerial moves, but I fear Fuji will win the title with his brainbuster. This will be an enjoyable match.

Overall, this is a very disappointing lineup. Only two matches have the potential to be good, while every other match has the potential to be bad. How much does FMW miss Megumi Kudo?

AJW Japan Grand Prix 1997

The biggest story so far has to be the push that Kumiko Maekawa is recieving. Maekawa is still undefeated (although way behind on matches), but it’s who she’s beaten that’s the story. On 7/29 in Fuchu, which was one of the few JGP shows that have sold out, Maekawa scored what appears to be her first singles win against Mima Shimoda with a kick at 18:11. This seems to be the biggest upset of Maekawa’s singles career. Shimoda made Maekawa bleed in this match. The biggest upset of Maekawa’s career was only the biggest for 2 days though, as on 7/31 in Numazu, Maekawa pinned Toyota at 16:09 with a rollup. This is definitely Maekawa’s first singles pin on Toyota and definitely the biggest upset of her career.

The other major upsets have all been 20:00 draws. AJW continued to only push Rie Tamada when she’s wrestling her mentor Toyota, as Tamada held Toyota to a 20:00 draw on 7/23 in Kawasaki. Tamada also held Tomoko Watanabe to a 20:00 draw on 7/27 in Makabe. These results clearly show that AJW has not changed their booking plans due to Tamada’s knee injury. As long as Tamada is in, it’s good that she’s getting a bit of a push, but doing it by draws is entirely the wrong way to do it since she’s hurting so much. Even more surprising than Tamada’s draws is the stiff Misae Genki holding Etsuko Mita to a 20:00 draw on 7/29 in Fuchu. This result is one of the biggest singles accomplishment of Genki’s career, but AJW runs to many shows to keep track that type of thing. Mita’s partner, Mima Shimoda, was held to a 20:00 draw as well by lowly heel Saya Endo, who wants to join Shimoda & Mita, on 7/31 in Numazu.

Yumiko Hotta’s U*TOPS group is being pushed to the moon. Hotta is not in the tournament as she already has a title shot on 8/20, and will probably win the title there, but the three other members of her group are involved. The top two wrestlers, Kaoru Ito & Tomoko Watanabe, are both in Hotta’s group and the other member of the group, Maekawa, is undefeated. Out of a a possible 42 points, the U*TOP trio has earned 37, or in other words they have earned 88% of their possible points. In case you were curious, U*TOPS stands for Ultimate Traditional Original Pro-wrestling Survivors. This name was invented by Hotta’s team and is not what the U*TOP match stands for with Survivors added on at the end.

Japan Grand Prix Standings (sorted by points)

Place wrestler wins losses draws points matches remaining

1 Ito 7 1 0 14 3

2 Watanabe 6 1 1 13 3

3 Toyota 5 1 1 11 4

4 Mita 5 2 1 11 3

5 Shimoda 5 3 1 11 2

6 Maekawa 5 0 0 10 6

7 Tamada 4 3 2 10 2

8 Endo 3 6 1 7 1

9 Genki 2 7 1 5 1

10 Tamura 2 6 0 4 3

11 Tanny 2 7 0 4 2

12 Yoshida 1 10 0 2 0

It looks as if Shimoda is pretty much out of the picture. Her remaining matches are against Toyota & Mita. She could win both matches and finish with 15 points, but Ito and Watanabe still have to wrestle so the best she could do is tie for first. If they were to do that, it would have to be more than a two way tie, as Toyota would also be involved, so it seems unlikely. It’s especially unlikely since Maekawa would have to go 0-2-1 in matches against Saya, Tamada, & Tanny, which would defeat the purpose of her other big wins.

Toyota’s remaining matches are against Shimoda, Ito, Watanabe, & Tamura. It looks like she could go 3-1, most likely only losing to Shimoda, and finish with 17 points although they might opt for a draw somewhere. I still think Toyota will win the JGP.

Watanabe’s remaining matches are against Toyota, Ito, & Maekawa. It looks like she should go 1-1-1, losing to Toyota and drawing Maekawa, finishing with 16 points. The other option is to have Ito beat her, so Watanabe would finish with 15 points. It depends if they want a tie for first. They could also have Ito or Toyota draw Watanabe. In any case, she should finish with 16-17 points. Ito’s remaining matches are against Toyota, Watanabe, & Maekawa. It looks as if Ito will go 1-2, losing to Toyota & Watanabe, and finish with 16 points. The other option is to have Ito draw Watanabe, so Ito would finish with 17 points.

Maekawa’s remaining matches are against Ito, Watanabe, Mita, Saya, Tamada, & Tanny. I think Maekawa will go 2-3-1, losing to Ito & Mita & Tamada and drawing Watanabe, so Maekawa would finish with 15 points.

Mita’s remaining matches are with Shimoda, Maekawa, & Tamura. I think Mita will go 2-1, losing to Shimoda, and finish with 15 points.

Japan Grand Prix results from Koji Yamamoto

7/13 Tokyo Korakuen Hall

Saya Endo (10'16" Diving legdrop -> pin) Tanny Mouse

Mima Shimoda (14'55" deathlake drive -> pin) Yoshiko Tamura

Etsuko Mita (14'55" death valley bomb -> pin) Mariko Yoshida

7/15 Osaka

Yoshiko Tamura(2pts) (9'1"double-wrist arm sault) Misae Genki(0pt)

Rie Tamada(2pts) (8'57 fisherman's suplex) Saya Endo(2pts)

Mariko Yoshida(2pts) ( 14'8"la majistral) Kaoru Ito(0pt)

7/16

Tanny Mouse(2pts) (10'31" diving headbutt -> pin) Misae Genki(0pt)

Kumiko Maekawa(2pts) (11'52" brainkick -> pin) Yoshiko Tamura(2pts)

Mima Shimoda(4pts) (15'39" deathlake drive -> pin) Mariko Yoshida(2pts)

Etsuko Mita(4pts) (13'10" roll up) Tomoko Watanabe(0pt)

7/19 Yoka-ichiba

Shimoda(6pts) (14'36" deathlake drive) Tamada(2pts)

Watanabe(2pts) (12'39" screw driver) Yoshida(2pts)

Toyota(2pts) (15'57" Japanese Ocean Cyclone suplex) Mita(4pts)

7/20 Sano

Genki (2pts)(14'29" back suplex with opponent on her shoulder) Endo(2pts)

Watanabe(4pts) (6'52" lariat -> pin) Tanny(2pts)

Ito(2pts) (14'29" double foot-stomp) Tamada(2pts)

7/21 Ueda

Watanabe(6pts)( 8'29" clothesline -> pin) Genki(2pts)

Toyota(4pts)(9'25" Moonsault) Tanny(2pts)

7/22 Hannou

Ito(4pts) (11'4" footstomp -> pin) Saya(2pts)

Toyota(6pts) (14'25" moonsault) Genki(2pts)

Mita(6pts) (14'33" powerbomb) Tamada(2pts)

Watanabe(8pts)(13'50" screw driver) Shimoda(6pts)

7/23 Kawasaki

Watanabe(10pts) (9'56" screw driver) Tamura(2pts)

Toyota(7pts) (20' draw) Tamada(3pts)

7/24 Isumi

Ito(6pts) (12'33" pin) Genki(2pts)

Endo(4pts) (12'11" pin) Tamura(2pts)

7/25 Tochigi

Maekawa(4pts) (11'16" kick -> pin) Genki(2pts)

Ito(8pts) (10'8" footstamp -> pin) Tanny(2pts)

Mita(8pts) (12'35" death valley bomb) Endo(4pts)

7/26 Hiratsuka

Tamada(7pts) (11'28" full-nelson suplex) Tamura(4pts)

Ito(10pts) (18'9" diving footstamp -> pin) Shimoda(6pts)

7/27 Makabe

Watanabe(11pts) (20 minute draw) Tamada(8pts)

Shimoda(8pts) (10'4" Aussie suplex) Tanny(4pts)

Ito(12pts) (13'52" diving footstamp -> pin) Mita(8pts)

7/28 Oota

Ito(14pts) (13'46" diving footstamp -> pin) Tamura(4pts)

Mita(10pts) (8'48" blazing chop -> pin) Tanny(4pts)

Shimoda(10pts) (12'12" Aussie suplex) Genki(4pts)

Toyota(11pts) (14'17" moonsault press) Endo(6pts)

7/29 Fuchu

Tamada(10pts) (7'13" kannuki suplex) Tanny(4pts)

Watanabe(13pts) (12'37" screw driver) Endo(6pts)

Mita(11pts) (20 minute draw) Genki(5pts)

Maekawa(8pts) (18'11" kick -> pin) Shimoda(10pts)

7/31 Numazu

Shimoda(11pts) (20 minute draw) Endo(7pts)

Maekawa(10pts) (16'26" roll-up) Toyota(11pts)

New Japan G-1 Climax Tournament 8/1-8/3 Tokyo Sumo Hall

New Japan will run their annual G-1 climax tournament from 8/1-8/3 at Tokyo Sumo Hall. This is traditionally one of the better weeks of the year in NJ, but this year it’s going to suck for two reasons. NJ is mainly gearing toward their 8/10 Nagoya Dome show, so they cut it from 5 Sumo Hall shows to 3 and are running a single elimination tournament rather than a round robin. This means that the big stars can’t do an upset job early then come back later as one loss and they are out. The other reason is that NJ’s heavyweights are just boring and overrated. I have exactly zero interest in this tournament. *Turned out to be the worst G-1 Climax ever*

It seems like Masa Chono was scheduled to win the tournament, but Chono suffered what’s said to be a broken ankle during a boring WCW squash match in Orlando. What supposedly happened is Chono atomic dropped Dusty Wolfe, but Chono’s knee was out of position, so his ankle went out. Chono will compete in the tournament, but depending on the severity of it, the injury could force them to change their plans of him winning (if that actually is or was their plan). Chono said he wants his match against Hashimoto in the 2nd round (if both get that far) to be a title match because Hashimoto is something of a local hero in Nagoya (since it’s near his hometown of Gifu), so he wanted to go into 8/10 as the champion rather than the challenger. It appears that Chono won’t be granted his wish though. Chono takes on Michiyoshi Ohara in the first round. This match will be lousy. Neither guy is worth your time. Chono will win.

Shinya Hashimoto will meet Kazuo Yamazaki. This should be the best match of the whole tournament. If it were me, I would have Yamazaki win this match. It could be Yamazaki’s revenge for losing to Hashimoto in their title match earlier in the year and it would also keep Chono & Hashimoto apart until their title match on 8/10. However, I’m not booking and NJ won’t go in this direction. The favored Hashimoto will win.

Satoshi Kojima takes on Steven Regal. This should be a good match. Kojima is one of the more improved workers this year. I think Kojima wins this one as he seems like he’s the sleeper this year. I think Kojima also wins in the 2nd round.

Tadao Yasuda faces Hiroyoshi Tenzan. Yasuda is a former sumo and he’s just big. Tenzan isn’t very good and will not come close to being able to carry Yasuda. This match will stink. Tenzan wins for sure.

Junji Hirata takes on Scott Norton. Hirata is old, but he can still go. I don’t think he matches up well with Norton though. This match will be average at best. Norton should win as the NWO are getting a big push.

The last first round match is Manabu Nakanishi vs. The Great Muta. It’s Muta, not Muto, so it’s automatically worse than it could be. Although Nakanshi has been getting more of a push recently, mainly in tag, Muta will win.

Buff Bagwell and Kensuki Sasaki both get byes and face each other in the 2nd round. Yawn. Sasaki, aka Choshu #2, should win as Choshu is booking the thing and Sasaki is set to get a title shot on 8/31 if Hashimoto is still the champ.

It looks to me that, barring injury, the finals will be Choshu vs. Sasaki. If that is the case, the match will suck. I think Chono will win the whole thing then lose in his title shot on 8/10.

Pancrase 7/20 Tokyo Korakuen Hall

In easily the biggest Pancrase upset of the year, Jason Godsey, an American small town warrior from the Extreme Challenge NHB shows, defeated King of Pancrase Yuki Kondo. Godsey, in just his second Pancrase bout, was said to have controlled the match from the start. Kondo got behind as he was forced to rope escape twice. The bout was not decided by points though, as Godsey left no doubt as to whom the better man on that particular night was when he locked in a forearm choke. Kondo was unable to make it to the ropes to escape the hold and was forced to tap out at 8:17. This was a non-title match, so Kondo still holds the King of Pancrase. Godsey’s only other Pancrase match was on 5/24, where he was defeated by undercarder Takafumi Ito with a sleeper hold at 11:55. Lasting 11:55 in his first Pancrase match was impressive, but it seems like nothing compared to this mega-upset win. Godsey is no slouch as he holds NHB victories over UFC 3 Champion Steve Jennum as well as superior fighter Jeremy Horn. However, no one expected Godsey to be able to adapt to the Pancrase style so quickly that he could beat arguably their best fighter in only his second Pancrase match.

The main focus of these two soldout Korakuen Hall shows (afternoon and night show on the same day) was the annual Neo Blood tournament, a tournament for young and inexperienced hybrid wrestlers. Ironically, it was experience that proved to be the difference in this year’s tournament as the two hybrid wrestlers with by far the most Pancrase experience, Keiichiro Yamamiya and Satoshi Hasegawa, both of whom debuted in last year’s Neo Blood tournament, would advance to the finals. Yamamiya, 25, made it to the finals by defeating Australian Les Johnston in the first round with a guillotine choke at 4:07 and debuting Kousei Kubota in the semifinal 1-0 after the bout went to the 10:00 time limit. Hasegawa, 21, defeated Australian David Moore with an arm lock at 3:57 in the first round then got past debuting Ikuhisa Minowa in the semi-final in a 13:00 bout by judges decision.

Yamamiya, who’s one of Pancrase’s promising young stars, defeated Hasegawa by ref stoppage to win this years Neo Blood tournament. This result was no surprise at all as Yamamiya has really grown a lot this year. He hasn’t been beating the stars, but he’s been very competitive in his losses to them. For example, on the last Pancrase show, Yamamiya lost to UFC 13 light heavyweight champion Guy Mezger. Guy is the much more experienced and accomplished fighter, but the underdog Yamamiya didn’t lose easily as he took Guy to the 15:00 time limit where Yamamiya lost on points 2-0.

Maybe the most notable thing about the Neo Blood tournament was that all four of the Pancrase natives defeated the foreigners in the first round. The crop of foreigners wasn’t particularly tough, but two of the Pancrase natives were making their pro debut. Kousei Kubota defeating Kim Jong Wan by doctor stoppage at 2:45 is no surprise as Jong Wan absolutely never wins or even lasts 3:00. Ikushisa Minowa defeating Hayger Chin of the Lion’s den at 2:24 with a knee bar is fairly impressive as Chin has both NHB and Pancrase experience. Minowa finished 3rd in the Neo Blood tournament as an injury forced Kubota to drop out of their scheduled 3rd place match.

The main event was scheduled to be Minoru Suzuki vs. Jason Delucia with the winner getting the next shot at the King of Pancrase. Unfortunately, Suzuki blew out his knee at the last minute, and needed reconstructive knee surgery so he’s out for the rest of the year. Suzuki obviously had to forfeit the match, so Delucia will meet Kondo for the King of Pancrase on 9/9 at Tokyo Bay NK Hall.

The other two singles bouts were no surprise as Masakatsu Funaki defeated Osami Shibuya with a guillotine choke at 9:30 and Leon Dijk defeated Takafumi Ito with a choke at 11:05.

In the last column I was correct in saying Yamamiya would win the tournament, I got 3 of the 4 1st round matches right (I was wrong about Chin winning), Dijk in upwards of 7 minutes, Funaki in upwards of 7 minutes with a choke. Of course, I got the Kondo vs. Godsey match wrong, but who didn’t?

Aja Becomes a Freelance

Two-time former WWWA champion Aja Kong has announced that she will leave AJW and wrestle as a freelance for about one year before retiring in Autumn of 1998. Aja’s main reason for this seems to be that she wants to fight a much lighter schedule of matches and is simply tired of wrestling the same old women in AJW. Aja has been wanting to work interpromotional matches, but AJW hasn’t booked her in any. Aja specifically said she wants to fight Chigusa Nagayo, and mentioned in her press conference that she did fight her in tag, but said it was impossible for them to have a singles match. Aja said, "I was very frustrated that I cannot do what I really wanted to do." When Aja heard Akira Hokoto’s reason for leaving AJW, Aja said she didn’t understand her reason, which was that it’s not interesting being inside AJW, but now she knows. "It’s better to face various wrestlers than not to do it," said Aja. To me, it’s pretty stupid of AJW to not just book Aja against some of the women she wants to wrestle. I could see if they were drawing well, but with attendance so low, those matches could help draw a crowd. Instead, AJW has lost yet another top star. "I still love AJW, but I have no regret," said Aja, "I never thought I would have to leave AJW because I love AJW the most. It’s a shame."

Aja’s AJW graduation match will be against Manami Toyota on 8/20 at Tokyo Budokan Hall. This will not actually be Aja’s last AJW match as she still has to work 4 more times, on spot shows, for AJW due to promises made to local promoters. This will however, be her last major match. If it were me, I would have made this match the main event and built the entire Budokan Hall show around Aja’s graduation. Kyoko vs. Hotta for the WWWA title has no drawing power at all, while Toyota vs. Aja does. The last Aja vs. Toyota match, on 10/6/96 in Nagoya drew 6,100, which is more than AJW has drawn for any card this year, most of which have been headlined by Kyoko in title matches. Moreover, Aja and Toyota have a history of having great matches together. Since this is most likely the last time the two will ever wrestle each other, why not bill it as such and see if you can get some bodies in the building. Even though Aja hasn’t been the same this year, maybe due to boredom, and Toyota isn’t 100%, their match should still be better than Kyoko vs. Hotta. The WWWA title really means nothing as a draw these days, so it shouldn’t automatically be the main event match.

AJW Injury Update

Just when you thought there couldn’t possibly be more injuries there’s a whole slew of new ones. Mariko Yoshida fractured her arm and will be out of action for 1 to 1 1/2 months. All Yoshida's remaining Japan Grand Prix matches have been forfeited. *Yoshida never wrestled again for AJW, and wasn't even ready for the first ARSION show 6 months later* Takako Inoue will definitely miss the 8/20 Budokan Hall show. Takako's surgery was only postponed two days due to her sickness, so her injuries were clearly worse than AJW originally expected. Due to this, Takako has vacated the All-Pacific title. Ito will meet Watanabe on 8/22 for the vacant All-Pacific title. Rie Tamada’s bad knee has gotten worse and worse from continuing to wrestle on it. Who knows when she will have her knee surgery. I hope it’s not too late by then. Mima Shimoda cancelled her match on 7/23 due to neck pain, but has not cancelled any other dates. It seems that it is not a serious injury and she was just feeling bad, but with AJW you can never be sure. Yumi Fukawa has a slight fracture in her foot, which has caused her to cancel her recent matches. As of now, it hasn't been announced how long she will be out for.

Naniwa Breaks His Leg

The latest major blow suffered by Michinoku Pro is Gran Naniwa breaking his leg. The injury occured on 7/26 when Naniwa was executing a plancha on Men's Teioh. Teioh threw a chair, which threw Naniwa off, causing him to land wrong on his leg. With wrestlers leaving lately, it seemed as though Naniwa was finally set for a big push, but now he’s out for at least two months. *Naniwa never seemed the same after returning from this injury. Part of the problem was many of his good opponents and teammates were gone, but his skills seemed greatly diminished and he was fairly laid back and lazy most of the time*

AJW Stoops To Having a 17-Year-Old Bleed

The 7/19 issue of Weekly Pro had photos of the WWWA tag title match from 7/11 in Hakodate where Mima Shimoda & Etsuko Mita successfully defended the titles against Kaoru Ito & Momoe Nakanishi. Both Ito and 17-year-old rookie Nakanishi juiced big time in this match. I can't recall an AJW rookie, during the 90s at least, spilling blood in a match, but on the first page, her face was literally a crimson mask. I thought it was bad enough when FMW and Jd’ were having the underage women bleed, but it’s much sadder to hear that AJW has also stooped this low.

Michinoku Pro Pay

Michinoku Pro pay is said to be really bad. For instance, it’s said that TAKA makes around $150 per night, which is terrible considering how great a worker he is. In comparison, TAKA made $300 when he worked the WWF PPV, which still doesn’t sound that good, but it’s double what he makes in Michinoku Pro. Most of the money Michinoku Pro makes is said to be off merchandising, but the merchandising hasn’t been selling like it once was as they burned out their customers. Low pay is at least part of the reason guys are looking for employement elsewhere.

G-1 Climax Day 1 Results from Koji Yamamoto

Kojima (9'45" Diamond Cutter -> pin) Steven Regal

Tenzan (10'31" moonsault press) Yasuda

Norton (6'31" powerbomb) Hirata

Chono (18'39" a version of nelson hold) Ohara

Muta (10'25" Frankensteiner from the top turnbackle) Nakanishi

Hashimoto (11'35" cross arm scissors -> refereee stops) Yamazaki

G-1 Climax Day 2 preview

Shinya Hashimoto fill face Masa Chono. This should be a decent match, but the quality depends on where Chono is physically. I expect Chono to win this match.

Satoshi Kojima will take on Hiroyoshi Tenzan. These two surprisingly had a ***1/4 match back on 10/20/96. Kojima is clearly better now then he was then although Tenzan has basically remained stagnant. I think Kojima will win a good to very good match.

The Great Muta will meen Scott Norton in a battle of the NWO. Muto used to work great with Norton back in 1992, but both men have regressed in since then and it’s Muta and not Muto. If Muta shows up, this could be good, but trying to figure out if Muta will feel like working is totally impossible.

The other match is Sasaki vs. Bagwell, which Sasaki should win.

AJW Zenjo Perfection’97 Commercial Tape 1/20/97 Tokyo Ota Ward Gym

Tanny Mouse & Miyuki Fujii vs. Miho Wakizawa & Remi Sekiguchi. This match was recipe for disaster as you had Tanny Mouse, who sucks, in with 3 rookies. About 40 seconds aired and it looked to be a bad fast-paced match. Tanny gave Sekiguchi her lame falling headbutts for the win. 3:20

Mariko Yoshida & Momoe Nakanishi vs. Misae Genki & Nanae Takahashi. This is more along the lines of what they should be doing as the youngsters can benifit from working with the quality veteran Yoshida. Yoshida used her handspring elbow on Genki. Yoshida applied the jujigatame (cross armbreaker), but Genki made it to the ropes. Yoshida countered Genki’s lariat with a handspring. Yoshida then ducked a lariat and German suplexed Genki for a near fall. Yoshida used her reverse cross body for a near fall on Genki. Yoshida used her Air-raid crush (crucifix position then drop backwards) to pin Genki. Yoshida looked good, but no one else did anything. About 40 seconds aired. Due to Yoshida, it seemed average. 7:50

Rie Tamada & Yumi Fukawa vs. Yoshiko Tamura & Yuka Shiina. These are the four younger women in AJW that are pushable, at least in comparison to their other options. Fukawa used two jumping neckbreaker drops on Shiina for a near fall. Tamada held Tamura so Fukawa could missile dropkick her, but Tamura avoided it so Tamada got hit. Fukawa used her fisherman suplex on Tamura for a near fall. Tamura did a sunset flip off the 2nd for a near fall on Tamada. Tamura & Shiina gave Tamada consecutive missile dropkicks. Tamada ducked a double lariat then gave Shiina a released German suplex for a near fall. Tamada used her kannuki suplex on Shiina for the win. About 2 minutes aired and it seemed like a pretty good match. 8:25

Yumiko Hotta vs. Toshiyo Yamada. Yamada was up for this match and showed flashes of her pre-injured up self. Lots of strikes in this one obviously. Yamada can take a lot more punishment and impact then her skinny frame would suggest. The early portion was strikes back and forth. Hotta used her whip into the turnbuckle then wheel kick twice in a row for a near fall. Yamada used her jumping high wheel kick. Yamada followed with two backdrops for a near fall. Hotta got a near fall with her Tiger Driver. Hotta tried her pyramid driver, but Yamada slipped out. Yamada then got a near fall with her jumping high wheel kick. Yamada tried her reverse Gori special bomb, but Hotta powered out so Yamada gave her a spinning high kick. Yamada tried her reverse Gori special bomb again, but Hotta turned it into a jujigatame for the win. About 5 minutes aired. The work was good. Stiff match. Awfully short. Yamada and Hotta have good chemistry, but this was nowhere near the quality of their 6/3/94 bout. 9:50. ***

Kaoru Ito vs. Aja Kong. This was Ito’s first major step toward her title shot on 5/11. Aja controlled the 1st 6 minutes of the match. Ito came back with her hip attacks. Aja used a stiff palm strike then drapped Ito over the top rope with a suplex. Aja ran Ito into the rail twice then ran her into a set of chairs. Aja gave Ito a stiff chair shot. Aja brawled into the lobby, where she rammed Ito’s head into some metal thing. Aja hit Ito with a steel guard rail. Aja whipped Ito into the corner, so Ito hip attacked Aja off the 2nd. Ito avenged Aja’s earlier brawling by ramming Aja into the guard rail on all 4 sides of the ring. Ito ran Aja into a set of chairs. Ito hit Aja 3 times with a set of chairs. Aja hit Ito with her can. Aja piledrove Ito for a near fall. Aja piledrove Ito again for another near fall. Aja did her splash off the 2nd for a near fall, the crowd popped for this. Aja used her reverse diving elbow for a near fall. Ito hit a kneecap dropkick. Ito did two of her footstomps followed by a senton. At this point, Ito launched an all out attack on Aja’s knee. Ito put Aja in a figure 4. Ito missed her diving footstomp. Ito toped Aja. Ito hit her foot stomp off the apron. Ito tried her footstomp off the apron again, but missed. I’m not sure if she purposely missed or not as Aja didn’t really do anything to avoid it, but didn’t sell it as a hit even though it missed either. Ito tried a lariat, but Aja backdropped her on the floor. That deadly spot looked like it may have hurt Ito legit. Aja backdropped Ito. Aja backdropped Ito for a near fall. Ito slipped out of a brainbuster and tried a German suplex, but Aja elbowed out. Ito tried her hip attack, but Aja caught her in the air and did a released German suplex. Ito avoided a diving footstomp and kneecap dropkicked Aja. Ito German suplexed Aja for a near fall. Ito went back to the figure 4, but Aja got a rope break. Ito did a diving footstomp to Aja’s knee. Ito applied the figure 4 again, but Aja got a rope break again. Aja avoided Ito’s diving footstomp. Aja hit her uraken for a near fall. The crowd popped when Ito kicked out then started an Ito chant. Aja set up her uraken, but Ito did another kneecap dropkick. Ito tried a uranage, but Aja got to the ropes. Ito hit another kneecap dropkick. Ito was now able to uranage Aja for a near fall. Ito put the figure 4 on again, but Aja got another rope break. Ito did another kneecap dropkick then put the figure 4 on again, but Aja made it to the ropes. Ito tried her Super fisherman buster, but Aja knocked her off the top then did a footstomp off the 2nd for a near fall. Even though it was off the 2nd, a footstomp from Aja is not a spot you are in a hurry to take. Aja powerbombed Ito for a near fall. Aja tried her brainbuster, but Ito turned it into a DDT. Ito did a diving DDT for a near fall. Ito missed her footstomp. Aja urakened Ito, but both sold the spot. Aja crawled over and covered Ito, but Ito kicked out at 2 3/4. Aja tried her back body drop off the top, but Ito turned it into a sunset flip powerbomb. Time expired before Ito could get the pin. Psychology was good. Work was solid, but unspectacular. The crowd got into Ito for once. Ito not winning the match after spending so much time working Aja’s knee seems kind of counter productive to this being a big push for her as Ito gave her best attack, but still couldn’t win. It was good strategy, but I don’t know that it got Ito over as a legit Triple Crown contender. Ito mirroring Aja’s brawling spots early was good as it gave her toughness and credibility against Aja. Match was a bit dull and repetitive. Stiff match. 30:00. ***1/2

Manami Toyota & Mima Shimoda vs. Tomoko Watanabe & Kumiko Maekawa in a 2/3 fall match for Toyota & Shimoda’s WWWA tag titles. Despite Maekawa, this match lived up to the typical standards of Toyota. This was how 3 people can make a very good match, in spite of the fact that the forth is a stiff. Watanabe is probably one of the more underrated wrestlers right now as once again, she was really good carrying things for her side. Shimoda was real good here as usual. She was actually better than Toyota here as, in typical Shimoda fashion, she worked more than her partner and did her typical great selling and bump taking along with flashing some nice high spots. Watanabe used her lariat on Shimoda. Watanabe did her screw driver finisher, but Toyota made the save. Watanabe screw drivered Shimoda again for the pin. 0:35 first fall.

Toyota held both opponents and Shimoda toped them. Toyota then did her springboard plancha to both opponents. Shimoda tried a German suplex, but Watanabe countered with a go-behind, so Toyota swandive missile kicked Watanabe. Shimoda went to the top, but Maekawa suplexed her off. Maekawa set up Shimoda for Watanabe’s sky high bodyscissors drop, but Shimoda slipped out and German suplexed Maekawa. Maekawa ducked a lariat and thrust kicked Shimoda. Shimoda ducked a double lariat and Toyota missile dropkicked both. Toyota moonsaulted Maekawa, but Watanabe saved. Toyota tried her Japanese Ocean Cyclone Suplex, but Watanabe slipped out and tried a German suplex. Toyota blocked the German suplex so Watanabe tried to lariat her, but Toyota avoided it and Maekawa got hit. Shimoda plancha’d Watanabe. Toyota moonsaulted Maekawa for a near fall. Shimoda did a sky high version of her neckbreaker drop, but rather than just fall back with Maekawa, Toyota turned it into her Japanese Ocean Cyclone Suplex for the pin. Another really short, but very fast-paced, well worked, and exciting fall. 2:54 2nd fall.

Toyota and Shimoda did a double jumping neckbreaker drop. Toyota went for a missile dropkick, but Maekawa kicked her to the floor. The action spilled to the floor with Shimoda hitting Watanabe with a row of chairs. Back in the ring, Toyota missile dropkicked Maekawa for a near fall. Toyota put Maekawa in a figure 4 and Shimoda diving splashed Maekawa. Shimoda put Maekawa in a figure 4 then Toyota diving splashed Maekawa. Toyota tried a diving splash, but Maekawa got her knees up. Maekawa thrust kicked Toyota for a near fall. Maekawa put Toyota in the camel clutch and Watanabe viciously kicked Toyota in the face. Watanabe then put Toyota in a camel clutch and Maekawa did a stiff kick. Watanabe whipped Toyota into the ropes, so Toyota hit her springboard reverse cross body. This was not executed well, maybe Toyota was still hurting from the stiff kicks. Shimoda used her jumping neckbreaker drop for a near fall on Watanabe. Watanabe used her dragon screw on Shimoda. Watanabe then put Shimoda in a figure 4 and Maekawa revenged by giving Shimoda a diving splash. Maekawa tried a press slam, but Toyota countered with a dropkick. Toyota missile dropkicked Maekawa for a near fall. Shimoda piledrove Maekawa for a near fall. Watanabe used her diving bodyscissors drop on Shimoda twice for a near fall. Watanabe put Shimoda in a scorpion. Watanabe tried her lariat, but Shimoda countered with a flying crucifix. Toyota ducked Watanabe’s lariat then went into her rolling cradle for a near fall. Watanabe avoided Toyota’s moonsault. Toyota ducked Watanabe’s lariat then Toyota rolled Watanabe for a near fall. Watanabe lariated Toyota then screw drivered her for a near fall. Watanabe tried her screw driver again, but Toyota landed on her feet and German suplexed Watanabe for a near fall. Shimoda tried her jumping neckbreaker drop, but Watanabe threw her off. Shimoda jumping neckbreaker dropped both opponents for a near fall. Shimoda missile dropkicked Watanabe for a near fall. Shimoda tried her Aussie suplex (Tiger suplex), but Watanabe got to the ropes. Watanabe lariated Shimoda. Shimoda ducked a high kick and tried to German suplex Maekawa, but Maekawa went down to her back and kicked Shimoda in her head. Maekawa ducked a lariat and tried to thrust kick Shimoda, but Shimoda ducked that then Toyota missile dropkicked Maekawa. Shimoda Aussie suplexed Maekawa for a near fall. Maekawa hit her floating high kick for a near fall on Shimoda. Shimoda superplexed Maekawa. Shimoda & Toyota double missile dropkicked Maekawa for a near fall. Shimoda hit her deathlake drive (released Tiger superplex) finisher on Maekawa, but Watanabe made the save. Watanabe lariated Shimoda. Shimoda avoided Maekawa’s axe kick and set up her deathlake drive, but Watanabe grabbed Shimoda off the 2nd in screw driver position and Maekawa back kicked Shimoda from the 2nd, which was very lame looking, for a near fall. Maekawa axe kicked Shimoda for the win. Watanabe & Maekawa won the WWWA tag titles. There were Maekawa chants after the match, if you can believe that. This show actually had crowd heat. 15:58 3rd fall. Very good fast-paced match with tons of high spots and near falls. Watanabe & Shimoda were really good. Toyota was her usual self, but didn’t work as much as Shimoda or Watanabe, so she wasn’t as much of a factor as she normally is. Maekawa was not as bad as usual, but still gets out of position and does way too many kicks that are supposed to be flashy, but wind up as slow low impact kicks. Replace Maekawa with a real worker and it would have been a great match. Definitely a very exciting match with nice setup and usually nice transition between holds. Selling was kind of lacking. Finish was kind of lame, but at least it had shock value. 19:27. ****

Kyoko Inoue-WWWA champ vs. Takako Inoue-All-Pacific & IWA champ in a unification match to form AJW’s Triple Crown. This match was much worse than you would expect. Kyoko had the shoulder on her lariat arm taped up. It seemed as if they thought Kyoko’s shoulder injury was not as serious as it was. If not, than the injury got worse during the match. In any case, Kyoko’s shoulder injury seemed to seriously reduce the quality of this match. The end result was one of two things, either the match was well planned out, but they had digress from the original plan to buy time for Kyoko because her shoulder presented more of a problem then they expected or their were simply holes in the psychology of the match. Takako did 3 DDT’s. Takako whipped Kyoko into the ropes, but Kyoko did her springboard reverse elbow off the 2nd. Kyoko did her whip into the corner then DDT off the 2nd spot. Takako worked over Kyoko’s bad shoulder. Kyoko applied a ½ crab to Takako’ perennially taped up knee. Takako tried her bridging back suplex, but Kyoko blocked it. Takako used her nodowa. Takako tried for her nodowa again, but Kyoko blocked it then threw Takako down. Kyoko used her reverse diving elbow for a near fall. Kyoko went to the top, but Takako arm dragged her off by Kyoko’s bad shoulder. Takako went to the top, but Kyoko revenged by arm dragging Takako off. Takako slipped out of Kyoko’s Niagara driver and hit her bridging back suplex for a near fall. Kyoko hit her lariat for a near fall. Kyoko tried for her Niagara driver finisher again, but Takako kicked her on the way up. Kyoko then kicked Takako and was now able to execute her Niagara driver for a near fall. Kyoko seemed to hurt her shoulder doing this, although I’m not sure how. Kyoko tried her Niagara driver again, but her shoulder hurt so much that she let Takako out. Takako began kicking Kyoko’s bad shoulder. Takako went to do the next spot, but Kyoko rolled out of the ring to take a break. This made me think that Kyoko’s shoulder was definitely that bad and from this point the match was probably have to be changed some. Kyoko was holding the arm with the bad shoulder by her side while she was outside the ring. Takako did a series of front kicks, finally putting Kyoko down with one for a near fall. Kyoko came back with her lariat. Kyoko tried her lariat again, but Takako turned it into a wakigatame (remember the lariat arm is the arm with the bad shoulder). Kyoko made it to the ropes to break the hold. Kyoko tried her lariat again, but Takako turned it into a wakigatame again. Kyoko once again got a rope break. Takako chaired Kyoko. Takako nodowa’d Kyoko off the apron. Takako rammed Kyoko’s head into a table. Takako gathered a series of chairs and started throwing them into the ring. This took forever, requiring Kyoko to sell being rammed into a table for way way too long. I think this gave more credence to the theory that Kyoko’s shoulder was that bad because this sequence made no sense within the context of the match. Even though Takako has used chairs and out of the ring brawling before, I have not seen her do something so absurd as start gathering chairs to use for a spot. If she wanted chairs, one or two would have been ample but she had several more than were necessary. It definitely seemed like she was just doing this to by time for Kyoko. Takako did 3 consecutive nodowa’s on the pile of chairs. Takako back suplexed Kyoko on the chairs. Takako went to the top, but before she could do anything Kyoko climbed up and tried to throw her off, so Takako used her nodowa off the top. Takako Destiny Hammered Kyoko for a near fall. Takako Destiny Hammered Kyoko for another near fall. Takako tried a 3rd consecutive Destiny Hammer, but Kyoko ducked and hit a released German suplex. Takako tried a huracanrana, but Kyoko powerbombed her. Both sold that spot. Kyoko lariated Takako for a near fall. Kyoko tried her Niagara driver, but Takako slipped out. Takako did a reverse Destiny Hammer for a near fall. Takako Destiny Hammered Kyoko for another near fall. Takako went for yet another Destiny Hammer, but Kyoko didn’t get up. The gave Takako a signal not to jump at Kyoko. Kyoko still didn’t get up, so Takako got off the top rope and covered Kyoko for a near fall. Takako backdropped Kyoko for a near fall. Takako tries a superplex, but Kyoko tries her powerslam off the top. Kyoko then tries to lariat Takako, but Takako pulls Kyoko off the top rope by her bad shoulder into a wakigatame. Takako Destiny Hammered Kyoko, but Kyoko ridiculously no-sold like she was the Huckster and German suplexed Takako. Kyoko Niagara drivered Kyoko for a near fall. Kyoko hit her Niagara driver again and Takako never moved, but for some reason the ref stopped the count just before 3. The only reason for this is either the ref or Takako forgot how many Niagara drivers were to be included in the finishing sequence. In any case, it killed the finish as it was obvious to anyone watching that someone screwed up. Kyoko Niagara drivered Takako for the win. Kyoko retained her WWWA title and captured the All-Pacific & IWA titles. They quickly iced Kyoko’s shoulder after the match. Weird match. The match was real good in some points, but nonsensical in others. Too much dead time, which seemed to be due to injury. Psychology was good to an extent because Kyoko’s shoulder was hurt, but it seemed Takako had to leave the shoulder alone most of the time near the end of the match, which hurt the overall psychology of the match. The finish with the no sell of Takako’s finisher and then the cross up over how many Niagara drivers they were doing was just bad. Takako clearly was the better Inoue in this match. She was much better than Kyoko and made it a good match. Takako worked faster and pushed the action. Big disappointment. This is the first time I can think of where Kyoko didn’t come through in a big match. 24:03. ***1/4

Mima Shimoda Mima 10th Anniversary Commercial Tape

This is what they call a personal or lifestyle video. The basis of these videos is that you get to see the wrestlers in settings that they aren’t normally in, so you kind of get a feel of what they are actually like (or at least what they want you to believe they are like). Of the video’s I’ve seen from this genre, this is most similar to Megumi Kudo’s Squall video. As with Squall, this video was broken up into different sections.

To celebrate the beginning of her 10th year in wrestling, Shimoda gets to take a vacation to Bangkok from 9/30-10/4/96. During this time period, she got out of working on at least 4 AJW shows. Since it’s AJW though, you never really get any time off, so the catch is that her vacation was filmed for this video. They showed a bit of sightseeing of the historical sights in Bangkok in the beginning of the tape.

The first segment was Good Morning! Mima. This was a short sequence with the cameraman waking Shimoda up. Since she’s in AJW, it’s not surprising that even on vacation she’s getting dragged out of bed. Shimoda looks good in the morning too by the way, the sign of a real babe.

Fly High! This was Shimoda parasailing. I got the impression that it was like the Mayumi in challenges on Pure Wild or in other words they showed her in activities she had never done before. The parasailing was kind of cool and it was short so it didn’t get boring. Shimoda didn’t like the wind blowing in her face, but seemed to like it.

Sexy! This was Shimoda modeling and it was good! This lasted 4 ½ minutes with Shimoda in various bathing suits. The camera was constantly moving and scoping her down. There were some good close ups. Shimoda is one hot babe.

Q & A. This is where I wish I could understand Japanese. I think Shimoda’s idol when she was growing up was Chigusa Nagayo as they showed highlights of Chigusa beating on Hotta. They showed some old training footage that was just brutal to watch. This was supposed to be flexibility training. Shimoda was sitting on the ground with her feet flush together and her legs forming a diamond shape. They had one guy stand on her ankles and the other stand on her thighs. The purpose was to stretch her muscles so her legs could lie flat on the mat. You’d have to see it to really understand what I mean I think, but this looked like it was so painful. I tried sitting in this position and in order for my legs to lie flat on the floor, I think my muscles would have to be surgically severed. Anyway you could tell this hurt Shimoda like hell. This footage topped the log catch as the most brutal wrestling training footage I’ve seen. They showed highlights of the Tokyo Sweethearts (Toyota & Shimoda) vs. Dream Orca (Yamada & Mita) from Wrestlemarinepiad ’89 as, although that was the opener on that Yokohama show, that was one of Shimoda’s first big matches. They showed highlights of the following matches: Shimoda vs. Yoshida, Hokuto vs. Kandori in their great match from Dreamslam, Shimoda vs. Hokuto, Shimoda vs. Takako, & Shimoda & Toyota vs. Double Inoues. For some reason they decided to film Shimoda in black and white letterbox with a grainy camera during this segment.

Mima Shimoda & Manami Toyota vs. Toshiyo Yamada & Etsuko Mita 2/3 falls for the WWWA tag titles from 8/16/96 Tokyo Korakuen Hall. This match celebrated the beginning of the 10th year of wrestling for all four women. Rather than have the women with their most famous partner, they opted to have them with their original partners. Although Korakuen Hall wasn’t sold out, this was a really hot crowd. The match simply had the aura of AJW’s glory days at the building, partially because the crowd was so well Mic’d, but mainly because they were into the whole celebration. When each woman was introduced, the fans showered the ring with tons of streamers. Each women had their own color streamer, so it looked really cool when they were all combined. It seemed like everyone in the hall threw a streamer in for every woman. Just unbelievable to see. It started off fast with Toyota & Shimoda both doing released German suplexes right after the hand shake. Mita superplexed Toyota. Yamada used her single arm snap suplex on Toyota. Yamada whipped Toyota into the ropes, so Toyota did her springboard reverse cross body. Shimoda put Yamada in a figure 4 and Toyota gave Yamada a diving splash. Toyota got a near fall on Mita with her rolling cradle. Shimoda slammed Mita then Toyota tried a moonsault, but Mita avoided it. Mita tried a powerbomb, but Toyota countered with her Toyota roll. Shimoda missile dropkicked Mita for a near fall. Shimoda tried her Aussie suplex (Tiger suplex) on Mita, but Yamada thrust kicked Shimoda to break it up. Shimoda slipped out of Mita’s Death Valley bomb and Aussie suplexed Mita for a near fall. Shimoda tried her Aussie suplex on Mita again, but Yamada came in and sweeped her leg to break it up. Yamada then gave Shimoda a released German suplex. Mita German suplexed Shimoda for a near fall. Shimoda tried her Aussie suplex, but Yamada went down on her back and kicked Shimoda in the face. Shimoda tried her jumping neckbreaker drop, but Yamada threw her off. Yamada backdropped Shimoda. Yamada set up her diving brainkick, but got knocked off the top rope to the floor. Shimoda held Yamada & Mita so Toyota could do her springboard plancha, but they both escaped and Shimoda got hit. Yamada hit a sky high elbow for a near fall on Shimoda. Yamada tried her reverse Gori special bomb, but Shimoda avoided it. Shimoda held Yamada so Toyota could missile dropkick, but Yamada avoided it and Shimoda got hit. Yamada went to the top for her diving brainkick again, but Shimoda climbed up after her and hit her deathlake drive (released Tiger superplex) for the pin. Since this was a 2/3 fall match, they were able to make this a really fast paced fall and use lots of the signature spots early. However, the spots were well set up and the signature spots were often blocked or countered, so it was lots of great spots done in a very good way. 6:33

The 2nd fall was joined about 5 minutes in. Shimoda gave Yamada a Super double arm superplex for a near fall. Toyota whipped Yamada into the ropes, but Yamada thrust kicked her and tagged Mita. Toyota ducked Mita’s blazing chop and tried a German suplex, but Mita elbowed out. Toyota ducked a lariat and ran off the ropes, but on the rebound, Mita caught Toyota in her Death Valley bomb for the pin. 5:55

In the 3rd fall, Mita hig her blazing chop on Shimoda. Mita tried another blazing chop, but Shimoda kicked Mita’s hands. Yamada thrust kicked Shimoda then Mita Northern Lights suplexed Shimoda for a near fall. Shimoda hit her jumping neckbreaker drop on both. Mita tried to tope both, but wound up hitting Yamada. Shimoda delivered her Aussie suplex to Yamada for a near fall. Shimoda set up her deathlake drive on Yamada, but Mita pulled Shimoda off the top rope. Mita held Shimoda so Yamada could hit her with a diving somersault block for a near fall. Yamada tried her reverse Gori special bomb, but Shimoda turned it into a victory roll. Yamada hit her high wheel kick. Yamada then reverse Gori special bombed Shimoda, but Toyota made the save. Mita tried her Death Valley bomb on Toyota, but Toyota slipped out and hit a released German suplex. Yamada tried her reverse Gori special bomb on Shimoda, but Toyota missile dropkicked Yamada. Toyota tried her moonsault, but Yamada got her knees up. Mita powerbombed Toyota for a near fall. Toyota & Shimoda got a near fall on Mita with a double missile dropkick. Shimoda went to the top and Toyota set up a sky high move dropped into her Japanese Ocean Cyclone Suplex, but Mita victory rolled Toyota for a near fall. Shimoda plancha’d Yamada. Toyota Japanese Ocean Cyclone Suplexed Mita for a near fall. Shimoda did a sky high hair slam on Mita and Toyota dropped it into her Japanese Ocean Cyclone Suplex. Toyota’s bridge on the finish was botched, so she just decided to cover Mita for the win. 7:21. Great work. Everyone looked good, with Yamada in 1996 top form. Nice set up and transition between holds. Hot match, particularly the 1st fall and finish, with all the high spots and near falls. Very exciting. 20:29. ****

Zoo! Pretty self-explanitory title to this segment. Although she didn’t want to get on it, Shimoda rode on an elephant. Shimoda watched an elephant show where the elephants were trained to do tricks. The elephants got close to the crowd. One of the elephants trunk got real close to Shimoda and she was really scared. After the elephants there was another scene where Shimoda was sitting next to a monkey. The monkey touched her arm, so she jumped out of her seat.

Shimoda’s vacation ended, but the tape was not over as we were treated to another 3 ½ minutes of modeling. This time Shimoda was in her room wearing her underwear. They also showed Shimoda taking a bath. The tape ended with Shimoda at the beach writing something in the sand.

Hikari Fukuoka Sunshine & Starlight Commercial Tape

This is Hikari’s personal video. It’s almost identical to Mayumi Ozaki’s Fascination as both are put out by the same company, Take Shobo. The only real difference between the two tapes is that this tape has Hikari rather than Oz. Like Fascination, this tape contained a heavy dose of modeling and a small dose of wrestling. If you find Fukuoka attractive, and I don’t know why you wouldn’t, you’d enjoy this tape very much. The video was filmed in Hawaii, where Fukuoka was vacationing. Fukuoka mainly poses in various bathing suits. There is one scene in her room where she is wearing her underwear, but basically it’s a variety of bathing suits. The tape is well done as far as using some different effects, good lighting, and good edits (dissolves in particular). They also get some nice close ups, which is a bonus.

The video contains highlights of three maches. The first of which is Fukuoka vs. Sumiko Saito from 7/9/92. Saito was a good wrestler who retired young due to a neck injury and her decision to get married. She had some good matches with Hikari back in 1992 and 1993. These highlights were ok, particularly Hikari hitting a nice tilt-a-whirl headscissors, but I’ve seen these two do better.

The second match they showed highlights of was Fukuoka & Dynamite Kansai vs. Mayumi Ozaki & Cuty Suzuki from 4/3/92. This was the main event of the debut show of the second coming of the JWP. These highlights were predominantly different then the highlights of this match on Fascination as these focused on Hikari rather than Oz. This was a good match and it has historical significance. The third match they showed highlights of was Fukuoka vs. Kansai from 8/11/96. This was really really cool as the highlights were shown in slow motion with the tracer effect (leaves a shadow behind the things that are moving). AJW uses this effect in opening of their tv show. The effects make the moves that hit well look really awesome. Fukuoka is a great wrestler to make a highlight reel of in the first place because she is a very good flyer, so this was all the better. Some Fukuoka spots that looked particularly good were the tilt-a-whirl headscissors, bulldog, & moonsault. Fukuoka’s missile dropkick off the top and off the 2nd looked great as you can really see Kansai’s head jerk from the impact. The downside of this is that if a move looks fake or is screwed up, it looks really bad. Fukuoka’s huracanrana fit this discription as she never even hooked Kansai’s neck, but Kansai just jumped and went with it anyway (which she should). This looked like a very good match. Somehow I get the feeling that the quality of wrestling isn’t going to make or break this tape though.

Special Thanks to (in alphabetical order) Zach Arnold, Bob Barnett, Dave Caldwell, Scott Lacy, Ramon Lores, Glenn Tsunekawa, Koji Yamamoto, & John D. Williams