New Japan Final Power Hall in Tokyo Dome 1/4/98

Another sold out Dome, another giant gate, another weak show, and all of this is a surprise to no one. What sets this show apart from the rest of the lousy NJ dome shows is that it contained the supposed final match of one of the most popular, powerful, endearing, and influential stars in the history of puroresu, Riki Choshu.

The show, well known to be a mortal lock to sell out, drew 65,000 fans, which ties it with 4/29/96 Takada vs. Hashimoto for the second largest attendance in the history of Japanese wrestling (10/9/95 Takada vs. Muto at 67,000 being the highest), but it made even more money because ticket prices were higher. Choshu, being the wise booker and promoter that he is, could have brought in a legend to face him in his final match, but there was no point to it. He saved himself the headaches of dealing with an outside superstar, and his company the money of paying them. Instead, he opted to face the king of the juniors and four guys the company has plans for that have zero drawing ability, and it sold the Dome out well in advance anyway. It�s just another testament of just how popular Choshu is, and just how much drawing power he had during his final running. However, that doesn�t mean the match itself was a great idea or a memorable way for him to leave the sport.

Choshu�s final match consisted of five separate singles matches. It went on in the middle of the card, which was a great idea because it makes the stars that are staying in the company seem more important than Choshu, even though his match was the real draw on the show. It�s saying to the fans that the franchise isn�t retiring, even though as far as drawing big gates this year, he is. The idea of the match should have been to elevate these undercarders, especially considering Choshu is staying on as booker and promoter, but the results seem to be mixed, at the very best. I think part of the problem was that originally these were to be 3-5 minute matches, but then the time limit was set at 20 minutes each. With the 20 minute time limit well known, fans expected that Riki would be out there for a long time, but he wasn�t at all. I�d like to ask, why even publicize a 20-minute time limit when nothing is even going to remotely approach that length? One unwritten rule of pro wrestling is no one talks about the time limit unless it's relevant.

Choshu�s first opponent in his retirement match was Kazayuki Fujita, a 27-year-old rookie who is one of the few natives they use in the worked shoots due to his legit fighting background. The idea of having Fujita, who has never wrestled Choshu in singles, is that he gets a chance to beat Choshu before Choshu retires. Fujita has no standing in the company, but like Naoya Ogawa, you have to be careful how you use him because you don�t want to kill his shooting aura. Choshu sold for him a little before Riki-lariating him at 3:57 for the win. Had this been a 5-minute time limit, it would have been more exciting (transforming Fujita from a guy with no chance to one that could at least hold court), and Fujita would have looked better. No one expected Fujita to win, especially since he was the first of the five opponents, so this might have elevated him. I think this was too short for Fujita to be losing since it was not a worked shoot. I�m always wary of jobbing a shooter to a traditional wrestler, but Choshu�s status transcends the worker/shooter conversation.

Next was Yutaka Yoshie, a 23-year-old third year wrestler. Yoshie is a no name, no standing, opening card guy who never sees the light of day on tv. This was also Choshu giving Yoshie a shot at him. I don�t see the point of having Yoshie in this match. Several other guys could have benefited from the slot a lot more than Yoshie. Yoshie was just used as a jobber, which is no surprise considering he is about the most obscure wrestler in the company, with Choshu putting him away with the Riki-lariat at 1:42. Why bother having the match at all if it�s going to be that short and this one-sided? Everyone knows Yoshie�s name now, and he can say he was pinned by Choshu at a Dome show, but that�s about it.

Tatsuhito Takaiwa was third in line. This match is the one that really pisses me off. I thought the idea was to push the hot young wrestlers, to use their matches against the veterans to get them over in a loss by having them look good before jobbing. I guess I was wrong, or the concept only applies when the booker�s ego isn�t overinflated. Liger has used Takaiwa really well, and he really came into his own this year. He might have been the most improved wrestler on the planet for 1997. The way this match went makes absolutely no sense to me. Takaiwa didn�t get to use any of his big moves, or get to push Choshu at all. Instead, he was jobbed out like Yoshie, losing to Choshu�s secondary finisher the scorpion in a mere 1:21. If this was 1995 or early 1996, I would have no problem with this. However, after Liger devoted so much effort to getting Takaiwa accepted as practically on an even level with the other NJ juniors, this booking is completely senseless. Neither man gained a thing, as it was just another reminder that small is inferior.

Fourth in line was Takashi Iizuka. Iizuka has always been a guy who was lost in the shuffle. He was a promising talent who developed into quite a worker, capable of carrying the typical useless NJ heavyweight to a good match before losing, or along with Yamazaki, carrying Chono and Tenzan to their only very good tag matches of 1996. His problem has always been that he lacks charisma. More recently, his problem has been that after years of not getting a push, a short tag title reign not withstanding, he has lost some of his desire to work hard against the fodder opponents he typically faces. Iizuka�s big break in NJ came on 7/13/89 in Tokyo when he teamed with Choshu to win the IWGP tag titles from Super Strong Machine (Junji Hirata) & George Takano (The Cobra). At the time, Iizuka was a 22-year-old junior who had barely advanced past the prelims. Nearly a decade later, Iizuka�s 2nd big break would come, this time against his former partner, as he upset Choshu here by reversing his scorpion into an Achilles tendon hold, forcing Choshu to submit at 2:02. This was a major upset and Iizuka�s biggest singles win. After Choshu won the first three rather handily, it looked like he would go into the Liger match undefeated, so this was a nice booking swerve. It was also a questionable move, especially since Iizuka is a 31-year-old eleven-year pro with no singles credibility at all. I�m not sure what their plans for Iizuka are, but they will have to be postponed for a couple of months because he had knee surgery. In any case, a win over Choshu shoots him way up the ladder. I like this move because Iizuka is one of the only guys in NJ whose work warrants whatever level of push they will give him.

Choshu�s final match was against Jushin Thunder Liger. This was the "long" match of the five, lasting a whopping 5:05. Couldn�t they have shaved 6 seconds off this and stuck with the 5-minute time limit? The idea here was this was a battle of the booker and his assistant that handles the juniors, between the mega star heavyweight and the mega star junior. There would have been a lot of symbolism in Choshu putting Liger over, seeing how he always wants his assistants to set a good example by doing what�s best for the company and not necessarily themselves. Certainly Liger, as well as Hase when he was in NJ, have been as unselfish as they come, putting over guys far below their level and doing a lot more jobs than they had to. Aside from Tiger Mask in the early 1980's, juniors have never been a draw in NJ. The idea that they could be a draw is a questionable one. If they were ever going to try, this was the opportunity, as a Liger win would have increased the standing and marketability of the entire division, and given Liger a status of major stardom outside his division. A junior absolutely never pins a heavyweight in a singles match in New Japan, and that remained another of NJ�s many constants. This was a five-minute sprint with some nice high spots back and forth. To make the match memorable, Choshu transformed into a junior for a brief moment, as he actually hit a plancha! Choshu got a near fall with his Riki-lariat then hit a second one for the win. Even in the loss Liger�s star power was increased, but Liger could have reached a new level with a win. I don�t care what size Liger is, the guy is at least 100 times more popular than Iizuka is or can ever be. More importantly, he�s at least 100 times more marketable than Iizuka is or can ever be. If Choshu had to go 4-1, then the loss should have been to Liger. Personally, I would have had him lose to both (perhaps not consecutively), jumpstarting Iizuka on the road to IWGP challenger and putting more emphasis on Liger at least try him as an occasional draw. At worst, it would have given him credibility for his rare gimmick matches against a heavyweight star. Even if Liger couldn�t draw, Choshu really had nothing to lose. I mean, he wouldn�t have been a laughing stock or even been reduced by putting over a junior after four other "grueling" singles matches. After the match they had Choshu�s retirement ceremony. Probably part of the reason Choshu won this was to go out with a win, and his fans were certainly not opposed to that. It�s a nice thing to be able to book your own retirement match, isn�t it?

The general consensus is that the match was a failure, or worse. It was heated, but not good. It was disappointing because the matches were so short. As a whole, the five opponents gained through simple involvement in Choshu�s retirement match. However, the fact that Choshu didn�t do a heck of a lot to put them over made the gain a lot less than it could have been. There were certainly ways this match could have been better for the fans and for the company. Maybe none of it matters though. It�s possible that in a few months, the only thing people will remember is that the legend is no longer competing. I�ve got to believe that even though Inoki will soon become the flavor of the day, Choshu�s retirement is too big to be quickly forgotten.

As important as Choshu�s in ring career has been, changing the face of puroresu with the Sekigun vs. Ishingun fued, holding the titles, selling out the domes, and so on, when all is said and done, his out of ring career is likely to be the thing he�s most remembered for by the hardcore fans. So as one chapter ends, the Choshu led money making machine that is known as NJ has every opportunity to continue to rewrite the book on making money.

As has been the trend, Choshu has packed the house for his retirement road while his pitiful protégé, Kensuke Sasaki, has been in the official main event. Sasaki was defending the IWGP title against Keiji Muto (NWO). This was somewhat of a rematch from last year�s 1/4 Dome show, where Sasaki, under his Power Warrior gimmick, pinned Muto, under his Great Muta gimmick, in an uneventful garbage match. This match was more uneventful, with Muto reaching a new pinnacle in his laziness by kneeling between spots so he didn�t have to overexert himself by chaining them together. Since Sasaki has already defeated two of the "Three Musketeers," Hashimoto and Chono, and Choshu, in big matches during the second half of 1997, and he beat Muta last year, it was thought by some that Sasaki might drop the title. Way off. This was Choshu once again trying to reinforce that his mirror image is a dominant force that you should pay to see now that the real thing has hung up his boots. Muto dominated the match, mainly focusing on Sasaki�s knee. However, Sasaki made a brief comeback and pinned Muto at 25:18, which was way to long for them to work, with his better half�s Northern Lights bomb. Since Sasaki has run through the top challengers, his next title match will be against Osamu Nishimura on 2/7 in Sapporo. From that sense, this is good booking because it�s a logical reason for new challengers to be moved up. However, it makes the prospects of being able to make Sasaki�s match the draw on a major show that much more questionable, unless of course you bring in a special opponent for him.

In news as big as Choshu�s retirement, Antonio Inoki, 54, officially announced he will "retire" on NJ�s 4/4 Tokyo Dome show. Unlike Choshu, Inoki�s final match will be some type of "dream match," and you can guarantee two things. First, it will sellout way in advance, and second, its result will be Inoki winning. His opponent will probably be his protégé Tatsumi Fujinami because egos will likely prevent the few bigger name opponents that are out there from taking the match. I�m sure we�d all love to see them fork over whatever amount of cash is necessary to get Hogan to put Inoki over, just for the sake of seeing Hogan pinned because the match would obviously blow. It would be a lot more memorable than the Fujinami match, even though Tatsumi could at least carry Inoki to something passable. They can save a fortune and still take in as much money with Fujinami, so that�s the best thing for business. Inoki�s retirement bodes well for Sasaki because he�ll be in the main event or semifinal again without being put in the position to draw. Inoki�s still on his martial arts kick, and still among the biggest stockholders in NJ, so there�s no chance that he�s fading from the scene, only a chance that he will never compete in a wrestling ring again. I got a good laugh when it was jokingly mentioned that this could be even worse than Choshu�s retirement because, with Inoki�s ego, maybe the whole company will have to put him over. How about Inoki vs. NJ in a series of 60 minute time limit matches that are all Inoki in 30 seconds with the enzuiguri, except we�ll let Takaiwa lose in 20 seconds to the manji gatame (octopus).

Masahiro Chono (NWO) beat Shiro Koshinaka in the semifinal at 15:05 with his Yakuza kick. Shiro was returning from knee surgery, so there was no way he was going to win this match. It gives the key NWO Japan guys a split, and sticks with athletic credibility. Shiro�s stamina was way down from being out of the ring for so long to the point he blew up. Thus, this was a lot worse than it sounds on paper.

Shinya Hashimoto beat former K-1 kickboxer Dennis Lane in a match that was a disaster because Lane injured his leg at 1:34 and the match had to be stopped. This hurt because despite Lane being a nobody, a pro wrestler going over a legit fighter in front of 65,000 helps them a lot.

In a match that was originally planned to be Naoya Ogawa�s big win over Don "The Predator" Frye, Frye beat Ogawa at 8:47 with a sleeper hold. Frye, who remains undefeated in NJ, has really worked well as a heel. I mean, the guy is legitimately hated and gets roundly booed. This win points to a Frye vs. Hashimoto match that has major drawing power. The loss for Ogawa also shows that things haven�t worked out so well with him, and his drawing power continues to decrease. If he indeed faces Tenryu on the 4/4 Dome show, his standing could move up a lot even though he�s going to lose. In any case, Inoki likes Ogawa and he has a future in Inoki�s World Martial Arts Association if that idea comes to fruition. Frye & Ogawa have a rematch on 2/15. I would have Frye go over again, and have him undefeated going into the 4/4 Dome where he would headline against Hashimoto. Hashimoto going over against the hated, undefeated American who is a former UFC and Ultimate Ultimate champion would make up for this Lane debacle 50 times over.

Tatsumi Fujinami and his protégé Osamu Nishimura defeated former IWGP tag champs Satoshi Kojima & Manabu Nakanishi at 12:39 when Nishimura pinned Kojima with his Northern Lights suplex finisher. Nishimura was returning from his second foreign stint, this one being in Otto Wanz�s CWA. One of NJ�s most successful tactics has been shipping guys off for a year, on average, to "grow up" and bringing them back as stars. What�s good about this is that you don�t have to worry about elevating them to stardom, and you don�t have to sacrifice others to move them up. To have a guy leave a mid carder, or not even that, and come back and mean something is a nice commodity, and one that shows that wrestling is all about perception. Nishimura has beaten exactly no one of importance in singles, yet he�s got a shot at the IWGP title on 2/7. That show has a stacked lineup with three title matches, so it will sellout. Nishimura will get more heat than Jun Akiyama did against Misawa back in September, and probably in their upcoming match as well. However, that�s more of a testament to how bad Baba�s booking is, and I suppose the fact that Nishimura will be working in front of a full house while Misawa & Akiyama won�t be for their upcoming match. Once a guy gets an IWGP title shot, he�s accepted, and he can get more in the future without it being really questioned, that is if you don�t book too high a venue for him. Certainly Nishimura will job to Sasaki, but that doesn�t hurt him. Look at the other guys who can�t beat Sasaki. The downside with Nishimura is the same as Iizuka, an excellent worker who is maligned for not mugging and posing. Even though he is the protégé of a legend, who also never did all that nonsense, he has never been over. Kojima is far more over, and a better wrestler. They seem to have bigger plans for him than for Nishimura, but elevating Nishimura first was the smart move simply because it capitalizes on the situation.

Yugi Nagata, in his first match in Japan in a year, returned for one day to defeat Hiroyoshi Tenzan (NWO) at 11:33 with his Nagata lock. Like Kojima, Tenzan is another of their hot young wrestlers. This is good booking because it keeps Nagata in the minds of the fans and builds anticipation for his return in 6 months. When Nagata comes back, like Nishimura, he will be a star. Tenzan, like Kojima, isn�t hurt by this loss and can get his revenge later on. Nagata had a really good year for NJ in 1996, being one of their three best working heavyweights, but this match was not up to the level of his previous NJ stuff because he's only regressed from playing with the big boys.

Shinjiro Otani finally defeated WCW Cruiserweight champion Ultimo Dragon, whose title was not on the line, to defend the IWGP junior title when Otani pinned Dragon with his Dragon suplex at 17:06. Otani had lost to Dragon in their two previous meetings, a great match in the Super J Cup 2nd Stage and in a ***** classic in the J Crown. Even though the result was not a surprise, this was a major win for Otani. This was, to the surprise of no one, the best match on the show, probably by far. However, it was probably the worst of their three matches, or at least will come off that way. As usual, the juniors get little to no heat at the dome and get the bum�s rush on tv. I can see editing the match down for the 2-hour special, but I find it ridiculous that they air the same ruined version on the regular tv show the next week. Otani�s next defense is 2/7 vs. Liger, a rematch of the best junior match of 1997, but with the roles reversed for the first time. Since Otani has already run over all the challengers but Liger, and he even beat Liger in a non-title in their last meeting, it�s a good bet that Liger will take the title from him. Their last two junior title matches were classics, and there�s no reason this one won�t follow suit.

The opener saw Kendo Ka Shin defeat Koji Kanemoto with a jujigatame at 12:01. Liger has been going for parity in his junior division all year. Since the juniors are not a draw, and the division is the same 6 guys wrestling against each other 100+ times a year, that�s the best idea. This is not AJ where the first win over someone, with the exception of Liger, needs to be guarded. With this win, Ka Shin is on the level with the others. Now Liger has a division of guys (though it looks like El Samurai is history, which would be a huge loss regardless of the reasons he�s out) that can beat each other at any time, which means the matches should get better heat. Bringing the underrated and underutilized Hayato Nanjo is a smart move. Unfortunately, it looks like he�s El Samurai�s replacement, which is putting way too much pressure on him, putting him in shoes he can never fill. In any case, look for Hayato to turn up on next year�s most improved list.

AJW WWWA Queens Road Commercial Tape 6/18/97 Sapporo Nakajima Sports Center

This was the best of the three AJW newer commercial tapes I�m reviewing here. The two top matches were very good, but the main reason this was the best was that they hid the problems. The bad undercard matches weren�t shown, Tanny Mouse was not on my TV screen, and my guess is they did a good edit on Takako vs. Yamada which made it a good match, at least in the form that they showed it. As for the 3,700 announced attendance, there must have been some stipulation where everyone in attendance was worth two people.

Kyoko Inoue & Aja Kong vs. Rie Tamada & Yumi Fukawa. Horribly booked match that served no purpose. Tamada & Fukawa could easily be elevated in a loss against the major stars, but they may as well have been two Shark Attack Kids. They attacked Kyoko before the bell, but she no sold their offense and pinned Tamada with a lariat at :40 seconds. In case that didn�t do enough to bury Tamada & Fukawa, their buddy Aja got on the house mic and petitioned for them to restart the match since she didn�t get a chance to destroy them the first time. They had the second match, with Aja making a fool out of Yumi. Aja pummeled Yumi, and was ready to put her away with her uraken when Kyoko came in waved Aja off. While Kyoko and Aja were talking, Tamada & Fukawa hit simultaneous German suplexes for near falls, which got a sizeable pop. Had Tamada & Fukawa been given a minute to get a few more near falls, the match would have served a purpose. Instead, Aja & Kyoko caught them in midair, slammed them, did simultaneous spinning backbreakers (helicopter), and covered them, with Fukawa being the one officially pinned since she was the legal wrestler. Second year wrestlers without a sizeable push like Rina Ishii get more than this from Chigusa, but that�s why we praise Chigusa, and not the Matsunaga�s, for knowing how to get the youngsters over. :40 and 5:09. *

All-Pacific Title Decision Match: Takako Inoue vs. Toshiyo Yamada. Unlike the previous debacle, this was a smart bit of booking. This was Yamada�s swansong in AJW, her last title match, but people didn�t know it yet. They got one last high profile job out of her without the result being obvious because the announcement that she was moving on to Gaea hadn�t been made yet. The match was really clipped down, which makes me think it wasn�t that good. The pluses were the selling, which was really good, and that Takako was willing to take a big time beating from Yamada�s kicks. The minuses were that they had some problems going from hold to hold and some of the spots were partially blown. Yamada is still a pretty good worker who puts forth a top effort far more often than her body can take. Her problem, beyond health, is that she is no longer able to turn it up even a notch. The psychology appeared to be good with Takako working over Yamada�s knee, including a Destiny Hammer to the knee. Also, Takako was continually avoiding Yamada�s reverse Gori special bomb finisher. Takako hit three Destiny Hammers in a row to win the match and the title. The execution was off in what they showed, and it was chopped majorly, but what they showed was enjoyable and good, especially for Yamada�s kicks, so it�s hard to rate. 15:05 (6:38 shown). **3/4

The Destiny Wars: Manami Toyota & Mariko Yoshida vs. Yumiko Hotta & Kaoru Ito. This was a really good match because it utilized the situation and the assets of the performers. Toyota was in really bad shape with the bad neck, an injured shoulder, and gauze pad on her head from Mima cutting her with scissors the day before. She was the worst of these four because of her physical condition, an extremely rare position for her to be in, and that�s the way they played it. Hotta was great in this match, instilling the psychology and executing everything to perfection. Her ability in storyline made for a strong early portion and she was responsible for the spots being incorporated in a way that they were somewhat "believable." Hotta kicked the hell out of Toyota, putting Manami in the sympathetic underdog role. Ito & Yoshida are not likely to get the crowd behind them, that was Toyota�s job here, but they deserve a lot of credit because they picked up the slack on the workrate end, which Toyota couldn�t deliver it here. This was the last day of the Freedom Force, Toyota�s clique of workers that consisted of her, Sakie Hasegawa (pre-retirement), Yoshida & Ito, and this match really showed how Ito had grown up and how her style had changed. Ito took it to Toyota just as fiercely as Hotta, attacking Toyota�s wounded head, and reopening the cut. With Toyota down in the corner, Ito tagged in Hotta, who left Toyota�s bloody forehead alone, opting instead to repeatedly stomp on Toyota�s bad shoulder. Yoshida tried to help her helpless partner out, but Hotta dispatched her with a forearm. Toyota tried to comeback with two big boots that knocked Hotta from the middle of the ring back into the ropes, but Hotta cut Toyota off with elbows. Toyota freaked out, taking Hotta down then standing on her chin and repeatedly stomping her in the face, which got a good reaction from the crowd.

Yoshida tagged in, doing a few nice high spots before working on Hotta�s leg. Hotta tried to punt Yoshida like she had Toyota, but Yoshida quickly turned a kick into a leg lock and tagged Toyota. Toyota had a brief advantage, but Hotta soon stomped on her face and tagged Ito, who did a few hot spots before taking it to the mat. Toyota badly blew her Toyota roll comeback, and really her execution was off on a number of spots, but being that they were playing up her bad condition, and this wasn�t a Toyota workrate match, it didn�t take the match down nearly as much as it normally would have. There were a good amount of wear down holds, but they had the peaks and valleys in the right place, so it was more along the lines of the wear down holds making the opposition "weak enough" that you could use your big spots on them.

They worked toward Toyota�s moonsault, with Toyota looking to have it, but Ito making a comeback by sloppily suplexing Manami off the 2nd and going to her footstomps. Toyota soon came back the same way Ito did, suplexing her off the 2nd then hitting the moonsault for a near fall. The crowd was behind Toyota, and into her big spots, but she didn�t get to do many because she kept getting cut off and beat on. Yoshida made a hot tag, but Hotta kicked her across the chest for trying to come in with a diving cross body and locked in the jujigatame, so Toyota was right back in the ring to make the save. Later on, Yoshida tried her climb-up cross body on Ito, but Hotta dumped her to the floor. Hotta held both opponents, but they moved out of the way so Ito�s suicida took out Hotta. This allowed Yoshida & Toyota to take out both with their climb-up plancha and springboard plancha respectively. They brought Ito back into the ring and hit her with a double diving headbutt, ala Toyota & Yamada, which Toyota looked terrible on. Yoshida then La Magistralled Ito for a near fall. Hotta held Toyota in the corner while Ito hit two diving footstomps, but Toyota got free and made the save. As Ito dragged Yoshida up, Toyota turned the tide, hitting Ito with a missile kick and allowing Yoshida to do all her big spots for near falls. Hotta turned the tide just as Manami had a minute earlier, catching Yoshida in the face with an incredible wheel kick while Yoshida was dragging up Ito. They tried to double team Yoshida, but Toyota hit both opponents in the face with her missile kick. Ito quickly cut off Yoshida on the top rope and hit her nadare shiki fisherman buster (fisherman buster off the top rope), but Toyota got free from Hotta and made the save. Ito then applied her triangle hold, but this time Hotta was able to hold Toyota off and Yoshida was forced to submit. After the match, Toyota announced the breakup of Freedom Force, and they all hugged. Toyota raised Yoshida & Ito�s hands in the air for a nice applause. The execution could have been better, but that was pretty much the only drawback. 22:11 (21:55 shown). ****

2/3 Falls WWWA Tag Titles: Tomoko Watanabe & Kumiko Maekawa vs. Las Cachorus Orientals (Mima Shimoda & Etsuko Mita). This was more about the heel style getting over than anything else. Las Cachorus were still developing their heel style, pulling out spots that were new to the audience, as well as ones that were still fresh because they had only seen them for the first time the night before. They set Maekawa up in the role to get the big pops for her comebacks, and though I hated how she played her comebacks, they got the desired reaction. The audience reaction to the heel spots themselves was somewhat hard to read. I think they were still shocked by the level of "extremeness" that had overtaken their nice little no rivalry workrate promotion. To me, they seemed kind of undecided about the heels spots they were seeing, but since the heel spots got them to support Watanabe & Maekawa more, they were effective.

The highlight of the first fall, and the entire AJW year, was Shimoda�s work with Watanabe. Both women deserve critical acclaim for carrying their partners all year, but when they get together and neither has to carry each other, it makes you briefly forget all the problems with AJW. For ringwork this was one of the best feuds of 1997, and the feud was predominantly a two-woman show. The heels turned it into a brawl, taking the fight all over the arena, and causing Watanabe & Maekawa to juice. Watanabe & Mita did some big spots for near falls and the workrate was really high, but of course it quickly got higher when Shimoda tagged in. A good sign was the one spot that got a big pop in here was Watanabe avoiding Mita�s chair shot and Shimoda getting hit. Later, Watanabe was on the top rope after stopping Mima�s deathlake drive (released Tiger superplex), and she blocked Mita�s chair shot with her foot at about the same time as Maekawa caught Shimoda with her kakato otoshi (heel kick). Watanabe lost her balance on the block, but managed to only fall from the top to the ring apron, and recovered to deliver a sky high hip drop (diving hip drop with Shimoda on Maekawa�s shoulders). Watanabe then screw drivered Shimoda, but Mita made the save. Watanabe followed with a lariat and screw driver in succession to pin Shimoda. 9:02 (8:36 shown).

Watanabe�s face was a bloody mess, but she told the ref in between falls that she wanted to continue. They teased the requisite quick fall when Watanabe lariated Shimoda, but Shimoda just kicked out. Much of the rest of the fall was devoted to the heels destroying Maekawa. At one point, Shimoda untied the turnbuckle guard and used it on the opposition. The bottom rope had already fallen, so you couldn�t mess up the ring much more. Later, Mita choked Maekawa in the corner and Shimoda clocked her with a chair, so Mita let Maekawa go and she fell to the mat, then through the missing bottom rope headfirst off the apron to the floor. After Cachorus did their dives, Shimoda introduced Maekawa to the section with the most empty seats. Mita powerbombed Maekawa on a pile of chairs then Shimoda did the security rail drop off the top. Maekawa just "lost it" in the ring, mounting Shimoda and reigning punches like she was trying to kill the big bully. Referee Bob Yazawa called for the break, then tried pulling Maekawa off, but she wouldn�t stop pounding Shimoda so Yazawa DQ�d her. Maekawa was in such a rage of anger over being DQ�d that she attacked Yazawa. Meanwhile, Shimoda bladed and like Watanabe, her face was really a mess too. 9:14

Shimoda was selling the finish of the second fall big, staggering to her feet and acting like she could barely walk. However, Maekawa, who had been destroyed for much of the past 9 minutes, was in perfect condition, all fired up hitting Shimoda with her kakato otoshi. Finally, Mita put an end to this by chairing Maekawa, but Watanabe also came in and lariated Shimoda. Watanabe waited for Shimoda to get up then tried her running lariat, but Shimoda kind of fell under it and Mita saved the day by chairing and Death Valley bombing Watanabe. The action was back to the floor, with Shimoda gouging Watanabe with scissors then piledriving her on a table. Shimoda continued to use the scissors, this time gouging Watanabe�s arm. This opened up a disgusting cut that required several stiches, but the camera didn�t really get any shots of it. Meanwhile, Mita dumped Maekawa over the balcony, but Maekawa was hanging on by her hands, so Mita stomped on her head until she fell about 10 feet to the concrete floor. Back in the ring, Watanabe hit her screwdriver, but Mita threw a chair that hit Watanabe in the back and broke the count at 2 1/2. Watanabe & Mita worked really slow, selling as if they were half dead, with Watanabe finally getting her Dragon screw to figure 4 on. Maekawa finally made it back to the ring and went on offense, but her offense was so out of place. It�s fine to be fired up, but given that she just plummeted off a balcony, how can she justify playing it like she was totally fresh? I guess she�s Supermaekawa! In any case, Maekawa�s near falls got big pops. Eventually Shimoda cut off her calf-branding neckbreaker drop to Mita with her deathlake drive and Mita hit a Death Valley bomb to pin Maekawa. The three veterans pulled this off really well, and Maekawa was the most over in the match, so this worked quite well. Maekawa wasn�t even missing spots or out of position, which was a definite improvement over her tag title matches earlier in the year. Her problem was that she looked like she had learned what a brawl should look like from watching New Jackass. In FMW like fashion, Watanabe & Maekawa were taken off to the hospital in an ambulance as the tape ended. 8:29 (7:30 shown). ****

AJW Japan Grand Prix 1997 Finals Commercial Tape 8/10/97 Tokyo Korakuen Hall

The show still sold out, albeit with a weak 1,950, but the specialness of the JGP was clearly gone, and a number of problems were all too apparent.

Nanae Takahashi vs. Miho Wakizawa. This was a very basic and boring match. It picked up with a series of dropkicks by Takahashi. Wakizawa came back with some dropkicks of her own and they teased the finish with Wakizawa hitting her back body drop finisher and struggling for 15 seconds to get the pin. Takahashi took control, using her size and power advantage, culminating with a body slam for the win. Neither youngster showed much. 6:58 (4:16 shown). 3/4*

Next was the retirement ceremony for midget wrestler Mr. Buddhaman. I was hoping this signified the end of midget wrestling in AJW, but Tomezo Tsunokake & Little Frankie remain on the waiting to be paidroll. The AJW midgets are like American midgets, in that they are terrible workers, if that term even applies, who are just there for "comedy." Sometimes they are remotely funny, as they typically spoof their larger male counterparts, but even with all the monikers they have used a division of three gets stale extremely fast. For Buddhaman�s retirement, they did a little impromptu "match" where Tsunokake just collapsed and let Buddhaman pin him in 21 seconds. I could swear I heard Tsunokake say that he�d claim AJW was an unsafe working environment before he�d lay down for someone like that again. I feel a "career ending" knee injury coming on a few weeks before Frankie retires. Anyways, after the match all the stars took turns cutting Buddhaman�s hair, they gave him his final 10-count, and the fans threw a heck of a lot more streamers in the ring than I expected for Buddhaman. Buddhaman is one wrestler employed by AJW that I am not the least bit disappointed to see go. He is about as wide as he is tall, and one of his heinous trademarks was pulling his pants down and giving his opponent the ass to the face. No, can�t say I�ll be missing this joker one bit.

2/3 Falls WWWA Tag Titles: Las Cachorus Orientals vs. Kaoru Ito & Momoe Nakanishi from 7/11 in Hakodate. This was total heel domination. Momoe & Ito attacked the heels before the bell, knocking them to the floor so Ito could back body drop Momoe over the top rope onto both of them. Ito tried to follow with a suicida, but Cachorus avoided it and she took out Momoe. Mayhem ensued with Cachorus brawling all around the building. Mita piledrove Momoe on a chair, and Shimoda threw a chair into Momoe�s head, which caused the 17-year-old Momoe to juice a gusher. Shimoda went after Momoe�s bloody head like a piranha, and Mita did the same when she tagged in. The heels double teamed Momoe freely, with Ito letting it be part of Momoe�s learning process (getting abused by elders 101?). There was some wrestling in this match, highlighted by Mita assisting Mima on her springboard tope con hilo then following with her suicida. However, it was quickly back to the destruction, with Mita piledriving Ito through a table, which caused her to juice. Mita broke a chair over Momoe�s head, which was just covered in blood, then Mima came off the top with a ladder drop. Ito stopped Shimoda�s attempted deathlake drive on Momoe, but Mita came up from behind and pulled Ito down by hair, then Shimoda delivered the deathlake drive for the first fall. 16:29 (5:32 shown).

The 2nd fall was a brief one. The fans were behind Ito, who was getting destroyed, and she made a valiant effort to come back, but wound up running in Mita�s Death Valley bomb. Shimoda followed with her deathlake drive then Mita hit a second Death Valley bomb and, in a mercy killing, pinned Ito. There was nothing technically wrong, but it was basically a glorified squash match. Momoe once again showed a lot of potential. 5:28 (2:09 shown). **1/2.

Chaparrita ASARI & Yuka Shiina & Yumi Fukawa vs. Misae Genki & Tanny Mouse & Momoe Nakanishi. This was a fast-paced, all action, match. It had some good high spots, but it was sloppy in spots. The problem was that none of these six are capable of stepping up and carrying a match like this, so it wound up lacking focus and direction. Not surprisingly, ASARI did most of the best spots, highlighted by a plancha that took out Genki & Momoe. This match had absolutely no heat. The finishing sequence was the strongest part of the match. It came down to the two captains, ASARI & Genki, with ASARI trying to put Tanny away, but Genki desperately struggling to make the save. Genki was able to get past Fukawa and pull ASARI off the ropes, saving Tanny from the sky twister press. However, Tanny showed her inexperience, wasting time on the top rope playing to the crowd. This gave ASARI time to recover and Frankensteiner Tanny off the top, seemingly for the win. However, just before the 3 count Genki made a great diving save. ASARI went for the sky twister on Tanny again, but Genki back suplexed her off the second, allowing Tanny to hit a senton off the 2nd. Tanny made another mistake, going for her Tanny Rocket (falling headbutt from the top) when ASARI wasn�t really in trouble. ASARI avoided it then tried to sky twister Tanny, but pretty much missed it, so she did it a second time. Genki was finally unable to make the save, so Tanny was pinned. ASARI really stood out as a worker, as without her this match would probably have been poor. However, she needed to be the Ozaki or the Chigusa who pulls the match together as a whole, and she�s not close to that level. Genki was actually useful, a first? There were too many blown spots in this match. 16:05 (12:43). **.

Etsuko Mita & Saya Endo vs. Yumiko Hotta & Yoshiko Tamura. This was an interesting match because of the style clashes, which they were able to get around. The match was steeped in submissions with Hotta & Mita�s bad knees both being worked on, but also had the heel flavor through numerous chair shots. Hotta & Mita didn�t turn in any special effort, but the match was designed for the youngsters to both fit in and get over. Saya fits in perfectly as a young Cachorus, and Tamura has improved her submission skills to the point where she fit in with Hotta. Both Saya & Tamura looked good getting near falls on the veterans, but I can�t say they really got over because they may as well have been wrestling in Korakuen Mausoleum. Saya seems like a totally different wrestler since going from pea to heel, as she actually adds to the match now.

The heels quickly took it to the floor, with Endo holding both faces so Mita could suicida them. They did the requisite brawl through the crowd, with Mita stiffing Hotta with the Cachorus motif, their specially colored chair. Surprisingly, it was Saya who took it to the mat. She stretched Tamura for a while, but eventually Tamura hot tagged Hotta. Saya backed up and had a moment of indecision, knowing she was overmatched, but unsure what to do about it. She reacted exactly the way a heel should, aggressively attacking Hotta. It didn�t matter that Hotta quickly overpowered her, and she wound up taking some punishing kicks, the important thing was that she didn�t back down or run and tag Mita. Saya blocked Hotta�s attempted jujigatame�s, hanging in long enough that Hotta finally tagged out. Saya eventually took control, and the heels revenged an earlier camel clutch/dropkick spot when Saya put Tamura in the camel clutch and Mita clocked her with the chair. Hotta showed her toughness by not releasing her leg lock on Mita despite Saya using a chair and a kick on her. This no sell of the chair was a one time thing to reinforce Hotta�s tough women image, as the heels later used the chair to knock Hotta down into Endo�s sunset flip and to break her juji-gatame on Saya. Hotta was pretty dominant in this match, as always. She even fended off a double team by facebustering both opponents, which was a hot spot because she followed by finally locking her juji- gatame in on Saya, but Mita made the save. Hotta blocked Saya�s German suplex, so Mita chaired Hotta, allowing Saya to deliver the suplex for a near fall. After Hotta softened Mita up, Tamura got several near falls on Mita, including crossing up her Death Valley bomb.

When Saya came in, both women used their favorite moves, and the tide went back and forth depending on which veteran interfered. Finally, Tamura avoided Mita�s chair shot, causing Saya to get hit, and Tamura took control hitting her double wrist arm sault suplex for a near fall. Saya took Hotta out with a chair and Mita suplexed Tamura off the second with Saya following with a guillotine leg drop, but Hotta was able to make the save. Mita then took Hotta out with a chair, allowing Saya to pin Tamura with a rising star suplex (version of the fisherman suplex). Since Saya was set to challenge Tamura for the WCW women�s cruiserweight title on 8/22, this was the logical finish. Their work together in this match showed that their singles match would be a pretty good one. We should have been seeing more matches of this genre in AJW from 1995-mid 1997 when they had an actual crew (they do them now, but it�s by necessity). This was similar to the way Gaea uses their youngsters, and it works. Chigusa was running this type of match by, at the latest, June of 1995 (see Gaea Champ Forum #3 for Satomura�s learning experience with Eagle), and I�ll give you three guesses where she learned the concept. AJW really only had Suzuka Minami in the developmental role, and they pretty much lost track of the concept (trying to draw with youngster and veteran combos, like in the tag tournaments, in not the same concept) when she retired on 5/7/95. 21:49 (17:06 shown). ***

Japan Grand Prix �E7 League Bout: Rie Tamada (12 points) vs. Kumiko Maekawa (14 points). Both women came into this match mathematically eliminated, but a win for Tamada meant she was finishing right behind the veterans and a win for Maekawa meant she would be beating out some of the top stars in the promotion. The main thing in this match was that Tamada was in no shape to work. Her knee badly needed surgery before she entered the JGP, and it got worse from continuing to work on it to the point where she was only somewhat mobile here. Tamada�s style is patterned after Toyota, with her strong points being her mobility and athleticism, so the bad knee was worse for her then it would be for most other wrestlers. To show how bad her knee was, it gave out when she did the Jaguar bridge-out spot, which is a tough spot, but I�ve never seen anyone who could do it blow the spot. This match was booked the way it had to be, with Maekawa mainly using submissions to Tamada�s bad knee. Tamada did a few nice spots, including a missile kick to the floor, but she took longer to set up all of the high spots because of the injury. Maekawa used several kicks, as always, but she didn�t use any leg kicks, which means that either Tamada�s knee was so bad that she couldn�t take them or Maekawa has no clue of psychology and telling a cohesive story, or both. This was not an exciting match and the crowd reacted even less than they had in the previous matches, if that�s even possible. The sad thing is that the Japanese fans typically get into seeing someone showing as much toughness and tolerance for pain as Tamada was, and the match was built so that they were supposed to pop for her comebacks or make some noise when Maekawa cut her off quickly with kicks. Finish saw Tamada hit her missile kick and set up her Dragon suplex finisher, but Maekawa caught her with a high kick then hit her kakato otoshi (heel kick) twice for the win. Maekawa cried right after the finish, seemingly over Tamada�s condition, and Tamada consoled her. 11:09. *1/4

Japan Grand Prix �E7 League Bout: Tomoko Watanabe (15) vs. Kaoru Ito (16). This battle of the U*TOPS was a big match for both women. If Ito won this match, she took the lead in the JGP and needed a Shimoda win over Toyota to take it or a Shimoda draw to force a final. If Watanabe won, she eliminated Ito and needed Shimoda to beat Toyota to force a final between her & Manami. Ito came into the match with her upper body so bandaged up that Tsuyo Kikuchi would have been proud of her. This match was structured like a NJ juniors match starting off fast, then going to the mat, then a hot finishing sequence with all the big spots. They started off with an exchange of their best running moves, designed to excite the crowd before they hit the mat, but the crowd was quiet. Ito was the first to attack the knee, with Watanabe following suit with her Dragon screws to figure 4 combination. Watanabe tried a leg lock, but Ito regained control, switching it to a leg lock of her own in Pancrase-like fashion. Ito threw in a few high spots at the 8-minute mark, including her rolling senton off the 2nd, but then it was back to the mat with Ito trying for jujigatame�s and leg locks, but Watanabe getting rope breaks. At 10:30, Ito went to her footstomps, but Watanabe avoided the diving one and came back with her lariats. The crowd was still dead. After getting two near falls, Watanabe tried her screw driver, but Ito blew the land on her feet counter. Ito back body dropped Watanabe to the floor, and followed with a suicida and a diving footstomp to the floor, the latter of which finally got some reaction from the crowd, and seemed to knock the wind out of Watanabe. The crowd woke up from their sleep, but still seemed groggy, as Ito got near falls with her diving footstomp and nadare shiki fishermanbuster. After avoiding a diving footstomp, Watanabe came back with a sloppy huracanrana for a near fall. Watanabe went to her big spots, getting two near falls with her screw driver. Ito blew another spot where she was supposed to land on her feet for Watanabe�s henkei driver (Tiger driver set into hanging backbreaker position then dropped like a powerbomb), and there was a moment of confusion before they went to the finish with Ito avoiding Watanabe�s lariat then jumping on her back and taking her down with a triangle hold for the win. The flash finish was a good idea because you have to get over the danger of the locked in submission. However, it came off flat because of the blown spot right before it. This should have been a very good match, but the problems with the execution took it down to just good. Ito is top notch in singles, but as good as Watanabe has been this year in tag matches, she�s not a **** type in singles competition. 15:13. ***1/4

Japan Grand Prix �E7 League Bout: Manami Toyota (17) vs. Mima Shimoda (13). This was the final meaningful match in the Japan Grand Prix. The stakes were incredibly high, as it was not just a match up of the top face (we know that�s Toyota despite AJW�s useless efforts to try to pawn Kyoko or Hotta off on us, the result of which has only done one thing, reduce Toyota�s drawing power) vs. the top heel, but the outcome of the top tournament of the AJW year and a shot at the promotions top title were hanging in the balance. If Toyota won, she won the JGP yet again, and became the #1 contender for the WWWA Title. If Shimoda held her to a draw, then a Toyota vs. Ito final would have to occur at some point. If Shimoda won, then Toyota was done, and Ito would take the JGP for the first time. For Shimoda it was an important match because, as far as I can tell, she had never beat Toyota in singles. Her push in singles has never been up to her work (though her work in singles is never up to her work in tag), and it again wasn�t in this tournament (see Maekawa beating her out as exhibit A), but this was a chance to make up for that somewhat and establish herself as top player in singles. As a heel, the chance to not only get over the hump against her former partner Toyota, but to thwart the enemies championship aspirations should make this match that much more important. Based on genre, we expect an intense, dramatic, heated match, with both women giving their all to win the match. Considering that this match was between two of, at worst, the three best working women on the planet we expect a women�s match of the year, right? These two can certainly work great together, they already had a classic JGP league bout that went to a 30:00 draw in 1995, and Toyota went to ****1/2 with Ito, who is not as good as Mima, the night before. Everything bodes well for this to be around a memorable ****1/2 match, but apparently I�m living on Dream Street because to me this was #1 and the most disappointing match of the year. This match lacked direction, but more importantly failed to capitalize on the circumstances at hand. Moreover, it buried the JGP, which was already in a hole 6 feet deep.

The crowd had been dead up to this point, but they should have been able to get into this match. I have never seen a JGP final or a JGP match of equivalent importance not get heat. In 1994, Toyota & Yamada went 20 minutes before they got heat, but the crowd was rocking for the final 10 when all the near falls kicked in. In 1996, Aja & Kyoko didn�t have heat immediately, but they easily turned that around. Toyota & Shimoda concentrated so much on getting the crowd into the match that they basically forgot the task at hand. This was not the time for comedy or clowning or excessive showmanship. It was the time for heat between the two competitors, a time when winning should have been of grave importance and should have taken precedent over everything else, a time for intensity. I never though the comment that there were not enough wrestling exchanges would be applicable in a Toyota/Shimoda match, but it was the case, mainly because the brawling and time wasting made it somewhat disjointed. What we saw here would have been acceptable if it occurred at a small house show without the JGP at stake. It would have been acceptable if it was a match between two lesser wrestlers. Clearly this year�s Japan Grand Prix was the worst ever, but this night was a chance to turn things around. A memorable match is memorable because it stays in people�s minds, while the lousy matches tend to be easily forgotten unless they occur on a major event. I felt this match was an admittance that the whole JGP has been converted to fodder. Even though that was primarily the case this year, the promotion has to try to hide the fact as well as possible because they need more people to show up for next year�s.

Toyota tried her typical fast start, but Mima knows the missile kick spot by now, so she avoided it. Toyota knocked Shimoda to the floor and got the crowd to cheer as she tried her springboard plancha, which Shimoda avoided because the match had just started and she had taken exactly zero punishment. It was a stupid spot to try so early in the match, especially since it�s one of the slower dives to set up. Shimoda turned it into a brawl, dragging Toyota around the hall and using the available furniture. This did not get the heat it was designed to, which was sad after seeing Cachorus devote the whole 6/17 Sapporo tag match to destroying Toyota with weapons and bloodying her with scissors. The reaction should have been, "Oh no, she�s not going to beat Toyota with athleticism, she�s going to screw Toyota out of the JGP by cheating the whole match." Toyota acted pissed that Shimoda wasn�t fighting fair, but when she returned to the ring, she was conned into thinking Shimoda would do a fair test of strength. Of course, Shimoda double crossed her, taking control by biting Toyota�s arm. Shimoda continued using heel tactics until Toyota got aggressive and tied Shimoda in the ropes then dropkicked her to the floor, which popped the crowd. Toyota initiated a Shimoda chant, mocking the heel. Shimoda took control, biting Toyota on the leg and using assorted chokes. The idea should have been to make the crowd react to the heel spots, so that they would support Toyota more, but the intensity and heat between the workers was lacking. It wasn�t so much that, after all the years of teaming together, the crowd didn�t buy that Toyota & Shimoda really hated each other, it was that the wrestlers themselves couldn�t play the roles and sell it to the crowd. The result was that during the match the audience probably did more laughing at Toyota�s comedy than cheering for her comebacks. At the 8-minute mark, Shimoda brought Toyota into one of the hallways and rammed her head into a table. Another dumb spot because it took all that time to get back there for a spot that almost the entire audience couldn�t see. If it were W*ING, the spot would have been acceptable since a hoard of people would "know" to follow them to the hallway. Shimoda set up a chair in the middle of the ring and sat in it while Toyota slowly made her way back to the ring, a waste of time in a 20:00 time limit match that took away the flow and did nothing to get Shimoda over as a killer heel.

The match got good with Shimoda picking up the pace, trying to use her big spots, but Toyota back body dropping her to the floor and brawling around ringside. Shimoda piledrove Toyota on a table. After Shimoda came up short on a suicida, Toyota started bashing her with chairs. Toyota looked genuinely pissed, and she hurt Shimoda when she put a chair on her head and stomped on it. The match was delayed as a host of youngsters checked if Shimoda was ok. Meanwhile, Toyota was standing over the pile, holding a chair behind her head in striking position. As soon as the pile cleared, and Shimoda came up with a cut above the nose, Toyota bashed her with a chair. Toyota continued throwing chairs at Shimoda in the ring, with Toyota showing more heel and brawling potential than you would possibly imagine. She was actually more effective than Shimoda in the gimmick spots. They finally started wrestling again at the 14-minute mark, with Toyota using her rolling cradle and moonsault, but Shimoda slipping out of the Japanese Ocean Cyclone Suplex and delivering her Aussie (Tiger) suplex for a near fall. They went back and forth crossing up each others big spots until Toyota hit her springboard plancha. Shimoda crossed up Toyota�s moonsault, getting a near fall with her deathlake drive, then they cut to a zoom in on Ito�s face, which is a bad idea from more than just the technical aspect of the production. It was all near falls from here with Shimoda countering Toyota�s henkei backdrop hold (bridging pump handle suplex), a move she invented the day before, with a bodyscissor victory roll, Toyota turning Shimoda�s deathlake drive into a sunset flip powerbomb, Toyota using Shimoda�s Aussie suplex on her, and so on. Finally Shimoda hit her deathlake drive, but Toyota just kicked out. Years of frustration boiled over as Shimoda booted the ref twice for his "slow" count. Meanwhile, Toyota recovered and hit a terrible J.O.C. suplex where her legs basically buckled. Toyota seems to have more trouble with her finisher these days than even her springboard plancha, probably due to her neck problem. Then Toyota stood up and Shimoda just rolled her up for the win. The win was the biggest of Shimoda�s singles career, but it seemed overshadowed because it was it Ito who was congratulated in the ring and presented the trophy for winning the JGP. The finishing sequence was really good up to the last two spots, which just killed it. I�ve waited all these years to see a match where Shimoda finally pins Toyota, and it�s with a stinking roll up that Toyota just stands there and lets her do. It reminds me of the part in the movie A Christmas Story where Ralphy finally gets his Little Orphan Annie Secret Decoder Pin. He gets the numbers from the radio then rushes to the bathroom to decode the secret message believing "The fate of the planet may hang in the balance" only to find out it's nothing more than a corporate jingle, "Be sure to drink your Ovaltine." 18:34. ***1/4

Super Maniacs Never Ending Bout: Aja Kong vs. Kyoko Inoue. This was billed as their final singles match. Aja was clearly fired up for this one because she wanted to go out with a bang. It seems Aja is only motivated these days when she has someone she can beat the hell out of, and Kyoko was certainly willing and able to take the brutality. Not surprisingly, this was a very long match, though a few minutes shorter than their 3/23 Yokohama match. As with that match, the current limitations of these two were magnified at this length. This was the tale of two matches, the first half, like with the 3/23 match served little purpose, but the second half, unlike the 3/23 match, was great. The first half was really slow-paced because they lack the stamina, and didn�t really go anywhere because they didn�t tease the big spots or have any clear focus to their attack. It was just two large women wearing each other down for 15 minutes, which didn�t play well because the crowd was dead. In the second half, there were all the big spots back and forth with great false finishes that were well received, and I finally got the feeling that something memorable did indeed lie on this tape. If they aired this on tv with the proper editing, this could easily look like a ****1/2 match. Maybe I shouldn�t be too critical of the early portion because what they did, with a few exceptions, was precisely executed. It�s just that they could make the match a lot richer. Their 8/30/96 Osaka Japan Grand Prix �E6 Final was clearly better because it was faster paced with a lot of spots packed into the 18-minute match. However, though this really didn�t break any new ground from their last meeting, this was clearly better than the 3/23 match, so it�s not a pattern of regression.

The ring introductions pretty much summed up AJW�s talent problems over the summer, Aja, the women known to be leaving, got buried in streamers, while they only threw about 15 into the ring for Kyoko, who was WWWA champion at the time. The early portion was based on both stars being even and struggling to get the upper hand. Kyoko blew la tapatia (Romero special) twice because Aja is too big to put in that move, but Aja was able to use it on Kyoko later on, a revenge spot gone awry. This brings to mind a key problem with these two, neither woman has a submission move that is over. If they did, they could work a body part and it would be very good psychology, both focused and logical.

At 12:45, Kyoko ducked a lariat and did an arm drag with her leg (if that makes any sense), a very impressive spot considering the size of these two women, which popped the crowd. Kyoko followed with her lariat, but then went to a half crab. The action kicked in at 14:30, and the match was great from this point forward, with Aja hitting her diving splash off the 2nd then Kyoko countering her backdrop driver. Kyoko did her lariats with Aja against the ropes, and Aja fell like a ton of bricks, laying on the mat with her arms and legs spread, while Kyoko jogged up the ropes and delivered her diving reverse elbow for a near fall. After they teased Kyoko�s powerbomb, Kyoko tried her springboard reverse elbow off the 2nd, but Aja cut her off and delivered a killer released German suplex. Aja avoided Kyoko�s lariat by scooping her up, then deposited her on the top turnbuckle so she could uraken her then use her nadare-shiki suisha otoshi (a water mill off the top rope) for a 2 3/4 count. Aja tried her uraken (backhand punch), but Kyoko blocked it twice then turned the third attempt into a backdrop, though that was sloppy because the positioning wasn�t right. Aja struggled to fight off Kyoko�s powerbomb, but she finally got it for a near fall.

Just before 19:30, Aja popped the crowd with her suicida. They brawled outside the ring with Aja killing Kyoko with a chair shot and a can off the apron, then pulling the mat away to brainbuster DDT Kyoko on a pile of chairs. However, Kyoko turned it into a DDT. Kyoko then tried a running lariat, but Aja turned it into suisha otoshi, which was a great spot. Back in the ring, they went back and forth with Kyoko�s lariat and Aja�s backdrop driver until neither could stand. Aja did a great job of selling like she was dead, but then popped up at 9 and did an out of place martial arts pose, which defeated the whole purpose of that type of selling. Kyoko hit her lariat then did a truly lethal powerbomb for a hot near fall. The powerbomb was screwed up because it was supposed to be Kyoko�s regular powerbomb, but Aja wound up being dropped like a Tiger Driver �E1. The ironic thing is that it looked so good that it really got the fans to be vocal for the kick out and the rest of the match. Kyoko followed with a Liger bomb where Aja bounced off the mat for another hot near fall. The best sequence of the match followed as Aja blocked Kyoko�s powerbomb and they went back and forth ducking urakens and lariats until Kyoko decapitated Aja. Kyoko set up her running lariat, which looked like it could easily put away Aja, but Aja beat Kyoko to the lariat then delivered her brainbuster DDT for a 2 9/10 count. Aja, who was shocked that Kyoko kicked out, staggered over to the corner, using the ropes to hold her up, and climbed to the second for her diving reverse elbow. However, Kyoko cut her off and rack bombed her for a near fall. Kyoko tried another rack bomb, but Aja countered it with a super fast uraken which looked like the finish, but Kyoko kicked out at 2 9/10 again. Kyoko was out for 30 seconds, and the ref lifted her head up to see if she was still conscious, but Aja couldn�t capitalize because she had to crawl over to the ropes and use them to pull herself up. Finally, Aja dragged Kyoko�s KO�d carcass up and blew her away with an uraken that may well have been her best shot. As she leaned over for the cover, Kyoko came up with a cradle out of nowhere for the win. Kyoko wouldn�t release Aja�s legs from the cradle after the match. Both women put over the punishment of the match, with Aja not really moving and Kyoko only moving from the adrenaline of the win. Aja slowly crawled over to Kyoko, and the two clasped hands out of respect and friendship. I typically don�t like these kind of finishes, but I thought it was exciting because it was so shocking. No one ever rebounds quickly from an uraken, especially not of that level of stiffness. It was believable that Aja could have been caught off guard like that, and she definitely had been putting over that she was hurting. Kyoko had already beaten her clean in the title match in March, so she wasn�t hurt by not scoring another decisive pin. If anything, winning in this manner helped her because the beating the odds type finish plays well in Japan. Aja was protected on the way out, losing the way the big women like Dump have lost in the past, and there�s nothing wrong with that considering all the great years of service she gave them and that they may need to work with her again in the future. 26:54. ****

AJW Japan Grand Prix 1993 Finals Commercial Tape 8/21/93 Tokyo Korakuen Hall

Just to make sure I wasn�t out of my mind about what a Japan Grand Prix Final should look like, and being too hard on my favorites Toyota & Shimoda, I delved into my pile of unwatched tapes and pulled out the 1993 finals. These matches were what the JGP final is supposed to look like, at least in my opinion. This was the peak of the promotion, so it�s no surprise this was as much better show. Korakuen was packed with an overflow crowd of 2,300 and the crowd was, not surprisingly, pretty rabid during the quality matches. This is not a complete review of the show, just the three JGP matches.

Japan Grand Prix �E3 Semifinal: Manami Toyota vs. Akira Hokuto. Like Toyota vs. Shimoda, this was a match of the two best workers in the promotion at the time. The main difference in the matches was that this was heated and intense as hell. There was never any question that these two were out there to win. This was a great match because it was Queen of workrate Toyota vs. Queen of drama Akira, with Akira calling the match and instilling her top notch psychology, which exceeds the combined psychology of Toyota & Shimoda. Even given the talents of these two, the fact that this was a great match is a testament to the gutsiest player in the game Hokuto who wrestled like she was in top form despite working on a knee she blew out in her excellent 8/5 JGP match against Harley Saito. Toyota was the IWA champion here and Akira was the All-Pacific champion, but neither belt was on the line.

Toyota started off with her running dropkicks, but soon missed one, and she sat up with her mouth wide upon, in shock that she missed and almost in fear, as Hokuto ran off the ropes and booted her right between the eyes. Toyota quickly regained the advantage by turning Hokuto�s lariat into a wakigatame (this was really nice, though not to Hamada level or anything, why have I never seen this counter again?), which popped the crowd. After stopping Toyota�s attempted quebrada over the top to the floor, which seemed to hurt Toyota�s knee legit, Hokuto took control, stretching and contorting Manami�s body with an assortment of submission holds. Toyota�s selling was very good, in particular, there was a closeup of her grimacing and screaming from the pain of Akira�s verticle crab.

Toyota finally came back with her springboard reverse cross body, which was not precise, but popped the crowd. Toyota was incredibly fired up for this comeback. After her requisite missile kicks, she launched an attack on Hokuto�s blown out knee. The highlight was the first spot where Toyota applied the hiza jujigatame (knee cross scissors) and Hokuto scrambled to the rope like there was no tomorrow. Toyota got heat by tying Hokuto�s leg in the rope and kicking the bad knee. This spot was particularly good because Hokuto held herself up with her arm so that no part of her body was touching the ground. It made her look really helpless, and at the mercy of Toyota, who wasn�t being merciful. One of the reasons this match was so dramatic was that Hokuto sold her knee so well that you were wondering if she could even stand anymore. Toyota is far from a submission expert or a lethal ass kicker, but simple psychology, playing off the known injury, and great selling, made basic stretch work and spots out of Rudo 101 seem debilitating. When Hokuto finally stood, she was hobbling like crazy, and Toyota immediately took her leg out and stomped on it with Hokuto helpless to resist. Hokuto elbowed her way out of Toyota�s attempted rolling cradle, but her knee "gave out" before she could go on offense. However, when Toyota walked over to her, she tripped Toyota up and put her in a camel clutch. This was a believable spot for Akira to use while she "recovered" from the beating to her knee.

Hokuto finally stood up just before the 10-minute mark, still favoring the knee, as it was time for the match to get hot. Hokuto went for her Northern Lights bomb, but Toyota turned it into her rolling cradle for a near fall. The camera had a closeup of Hokuto leaning on the ropes trying to use them for support to get up, then moving frantically to her left as we see Toyota fly through the frame missing a running dropkick and plummeting to the floor. This allowed Akira to do her tope con hilo. Hokuto hobbled around ringside, dragging Toyota along by the hair, stopping only to deliver piledrivers. However, when she tried to whip Toyota into a table, Toyota came back, using it for a springboard and catching Hokuto with a reverse cross body for a big pop. Toyota then did a fantastic 3-dive sequence, culminating with her moonsault attack off the top rope to the floor, and a loud Toyota chant erupted. The crowd was really hot for the rest of the match. Toyota hit her moonsault and the fans yelled "1-2-aaahhh" as Hokuto kicked out. Toyota had Hokuto up for the J.O.C. suplex, but Hokuto turned it into a victory roll and the crowd yelled, "1-2-aaaaahhhhh (louder than before)." Hokuto tried a lariat, but Toyota turned it into a Tiger driver for a hot near fall, and yes the crowd was counting even louder than before but you probably get the point by now.

Hokuto hit an incredible missile kick just before 15:30, and hooked both legs because Toyota was folded over, but Toyota just escaped. Toyota turned Hokuto�s Northern Lights bomb into a Japanese Ocean suplex for a 2 3/4 count. Toyota, not happy that her finisher was broken, ascended to the top rope, signaling to the crowd that this was it. She delivered her moonsault, but was met by Hokuto�s extended feet. Hokuto then delivered her DQ bomb (similar to the Doctor bomb) which Toyota made look incredible by making her toes hit the mat just about when her neck did. The crowd seemed surprised that Hokuto got the pin with this move, I think they expected a few more near falls (which would have improved the match), but a Hokuto chant soon broke out. Toyota had a little fit in the ring after she lost. Great match with the heat, intensity, and drama that makes (or at least used to) the JGP special. Super work, great build and psychology. There were a few spots that didn�t hit perfectly, but no real flaws other than that. The only problem was that it had to be kind of short because Hokuto had to work later that night. If this went another 5 or 10 minutes, it might have been *****. This was not as good as their 9/2/95 match, but they were able to go as long as they needed then, and how many matches are that good? 16:34. ****1/2

Yumiko Hotta vs. Harley Saito (LLPW) in a Japan Grand Prix �E3 Semifinal. These two had a tough act to follow, but they clearly gave their all and eventually the crowd got into it. This was about what you would expect, with both women kicking the hell out of each other. Despite Harley being similar in style to Yamada, Hotta was not a great opponent for her because Harley thrives on quick transitions, while Hotta is not good at them at all because she isn�t quick or athletic. The thing that makes Harley a good opponent for Hotta is that she is unselfish, and she was very willing to work Hotta�s match here. Harley focused her attack on Hotta�s knee, while Hotta was in I�m just going to kick you to a pulp mode. Hotta wasn�t on today, as some of her kicks were totally missing, and there seemed to be something wrong with her flexibility. She was reminding me of 1997 can�t bend at the waist Steve Williams in some spots, which doesn�t make any sense because Hotta isn�t all out of shape or anything. She really looked bad on simple things like when Harley dumped her over the top to the floor though. Another spot she looked bad on was when Harley went for a huracanrana and Hotta countered it with a powerbomb. Hotta never really bent, just squatted over a little and covered Harley by pushing down on her butt. Hotta even missed her wheel kick in the corner spot once, which is one of her most accurate, hitting Harley in the gut instead of the face.

Harley sold all Hotta�s kicks really well, and, not surprisingly, the same cannot be said for Hotta. Since both women have similar move sets, there were a lot of mirror spots, including variations of the wheel kick. The crowd got into the match just after the 10-minute mark, with the action getting hot due to all kinds of counters. Harley got a nice near fall with a German suplex for Hotta�s short lariat. At 11:00, Harley dropped down out of Hotta�s Dragon suplex and tried to take her over in a cradle, but Hotta stomped on Harley�s face. Harley got the hottest near fall of the match, slipping out of Hotta�s pyramid driver and hitting her Tiger suplex. Harley then went for her Tiger suplex again, but this time Hotta turned it into her pyramid driver for the win. Really disappointing for me because I rarely get any footage of the very underrated Harley, and I finally see her in a big match and it�s marred by a below mediocre performance by Hotta. Too short. The transitions should have been better. The hot period should have lasted more than 1 minute (made Harley look weak). Basically, it was Hotta, so it was pretty limited in scope. There�s a problem when I�m commenting that the Bat Yoshinaga vs. Bull Nakano match on this show was better. 11:39. **3/4

Japan Grand Prix �E3 Final: Akira Hokuto vs. Yumiko Hotta. This is another testament to just how great Hokuto was as, despite not being in top health and having worked a tough match earlier in the night, she carried the one-dimensional Hotta, who was not close to the top of her game for whatever reason, to a dramatic and memorable final. According to the Observer, Hokuto broke a bone in her back on this day. There was no spot that said to me, broken back, but another bad injury only makes Hokuto�s work on this day all the more impressive.

There was no great dislike between these two, but Hotta was out there to take her first JGP, so she attacked Hokuto�s bad knee with powerful kicks before the bell even rang. She kicked Hokuto through the ropes to the floor, so she followed her out and kicked her around ringside. Hotta wouldn�t allow Hokuto to get up, she either kicked her as soon as she tried or let her up a bit then swept the leg. Eventually Hotta went to the mat as well, working the bad knee with submission holds. Hokuto is a master of making the action in this type of match look "realistic," and her selling in this match was typically excellent in that regard. After 7:30 of predominantly getting her knee destroyed, Hokuto got a kick in on Hotta�s knee that allowed her to pick Hotta�s other leg and begin a series of submissions by applying a scorpion deathlock. Hokuto started roughing Hotta up with high kicks, but Hotta no sold everything pretty much saying "Is that all you got?" until Hokuto flattened her with an elbow.

The pace picked up as they began doing near falls at the 12-minute mark, highlighted by Hotta doing a great piledriver where Hokuto�s head really bounced off the mat. Hokuto came back sliding through Hotta�s legs then hooking her arms for a near fall, but this spot looked lousy because it was so obvious Hotta fell back purposely, and because Hotta bent incredibly slow. Hokuto then went for her plancha, getting really high in the air, but Hotta wasn�t hurt enough so Hokuto only took out the seconds. Hotta then followed with a reverse elbow off the second to the floor that was so clumsy that James Fullington special would do it justice. As Hokuto crawled back into the ring, Hotta pulled her up by her hair and set up her Tiger driver. However, Hokuto did a great fast counter into a backslide for a near fall that the crowd was really into.

Hotta came back with a god awful powerbomb that she killed all the impact of by falling to one knee before Akira hit the mat. I was truly wondering if she could bend at the waist. Hotta missed her diving wheel kick and Hokuto got a hot near fall with her henkei backdrop. Hokuto struggled to get to her feet, hobbled to the corner, and climbed up to the top for her missile kick, but Hotta kicked her bad knee in midair. The crowd was going nuts as Hokuto countered Hotta�s pyramid driver and Hotta countered Hokuto�s Northern Lights bomb. Hotta hit her Tiger driver, but Hokuto exploded out at 2 9/10. Hokuto looked to be on the verge of dying, but she somehow came back and got a hot near fall with her DQ bomb. Hokuto did one of the slowest climbs to the top rope I�ve seen when it done for the purpose of selling (not stalling), but Hotta pushed her and Hokuto fell so she was draped sideways, just hanging there, across the metal wire that attaches the ropes to the turnbuckle. Hotta moved Hokuto�s foot over the metal wire so she was facing the ring post. They cut to a long shot of Hokuto with her head hanging down like she was out, her hair was so long that it was hanging a foot and a half above the mat, and the audience standing up in anticipation as Hotta pulled Hokuto up and locked her arms like a cross-arm German suplex. Hotta then executed her Caribbean Splash to a huge pop and she covered Hokuto with one hand raised in the air, waving her fist in triumph, except Akira managed to just kick out. Hotta delivered a released pyramid driver, but again Hokuto managed to kick out. Hotta climbed to the 2nd, but Hokuto suplexed her off for another hot near fall. Hokuto whipped Hotta off the ropes and caught her in her Northern Lights bomb and the entire Hall counted "1-2-3." A loud Hokuto chant ensued as both women just lied there in a pile while the seconds wiped Hotta�s face. Hokuto finally rose so they could raise her hand, then collapsed to her knee as Hotta was being carried off on one of the seconds backs. A Hall of Fame performance by Hokuto, who was a one woman show, taking the match from the usual stiff Hotta match to a dramatic match with very strong psychology, a great storyline, and excellent build to a climactic finish. The work itself was really not much better than the Harley match, but the difference in intensity, drama, and selling made all the difference in the world. Hokuto went on to lose to Aja Kong in her WWWA Title shot on 10/9/93. 19:52. ****1/4

AJW Commercial Tape 8/22/97 Osaka Furitsu Gym

Miho Wakizawa vs. Nanae Takahashi. Not much to say since the match was so short and they only showed half it. Very basic work with Wakizawa doing 5 dropkicks then a back body drop for the win. Wakizawa looked like she was ready to be turned loose, which it seems she has been. 6:21 (3:49 shown). 1/4*

WCW women�s cruiserweight title: Yoshiko Tamura vs. Saya Endo. This was a good step forward for these two. With this match and the 7/19 match where she won the title, Tamura has shown that she can work a pretty decent long match, and unlike in her other singles matches that I have liked, Tomoko Kuzumi & Toshie Uematsu, this wasn�t a match of two athletic women with nice spots. I believe this is the second Saya singles match I ever liked, but the other one was 3/2/97 Korakuen against Toyota, so you can probably figured out what made that one good. This certainly wasn�t close to the level of JWP Jr. title matches, but it was a pretty good match that showed that these two were headed toward being good. Saya has a limited move set, but now that she is a heel she is able to mask that by cheating and using the chair. Thus, she can stretch a match out without it getting dull or repetitive. Tamura tried to dropkick Saya at the bell, but she missed and Saya made her pay with the chair. It was all well executed basic work early on, but Tamura�s quirky rolls that look like they might have been cool when Mildred Burke was in her prime continue to annoy me. Saya�s used a lot of heel spots, but they got no reaction. At 8 minutes, Saya hit three of her swinging neckbreakers for a near fall, and two missile kicks off the 2nd for a near fall. The pace picked up with Tamura flying around the ring, including a missile kick from every corner for a near fall. Saya was unable to fight off Tamura�s double wrist arm sault suplex, but the spot was blown. Luckily Saya had the presence to save it by turning it into a cradle for a near fall. Tamura then hit her double wrist arm sault suplex again, maybe a redo, for a near fall. They continued with near falls, with Saya using her nicest moves, superplex, guillotine leg drop, and German suplex. Saya went for another guillotine leg drop, but Tamura cut her off this time and, after too long of a set up, delivered a nadare shiki double wrist arm sault suplex. Tamura then used her regular double wrist arm sault suplex for the win. Tamura kept her title, but the young heel stayed "strong" because she had dominated the match before jobbing. Not for everyone, but good in a Gaea or Junior All Stars sort of way. 18:38 (14:17 shown). **1/4

Chaparrita ASARI & Yuka Shiina vs. Misae Genki & Momoe Nakanishi. This was your basic 10-minutes, spots match. There was nothing that resembled psychology, just a lot of moves done at a fast pace. Pretty much the same in style as the 8/10 match, except there were two fewer workers. The transitions in this match were weak. ASARI did all her big spots, and no one else had any notable spots. Finish saw Shiina hit Momoe with an enzui missile kick, but like in the 8/10 match, Genki made the save. ASARI then rammed Genki into the security rail, and Shiina hit a second enzui missile kick to pin Momoe. 11:17 (8:32 shown). *1/2.

All-Pacific Title Decision Match: Tomoko Watanabe vs. Kaoru Ito. Fairly similar to their 8/10 match. They put more spots in because it was a bigger show. There were 4,500 there for this one, at least in theory. This match was better because the execution was more precise. It was once again steeped in submissions, thought the other match had a better framework, and did more to get the submissions over, with Ito getting the wakigatame right off the bat. Watanabe made it to the ropes, but instead of giving her a clean break, Ito pulled her arm off the ropes and applied the jujigatame. Watanabe came back with the Dragon screw to figure 4 combo, and continued to work over the leg until Ito was hobbling around. Watanabe gave Ito a little time to recover, and it looked like she might have mercy on her fellow U*TOP member, but like Ito with the rope break, she wanted to win so she kicked the leg. Ito came right back with her hip attacks, which seemed illogical. Ito hit her footstomp off the apron, which, along with her bad knee, Watanabe sold for a minute. Watanabe came back, and tried for the jujigatame, but couldn�t extend the arm. 11 minutes in, Watanabe hit a huracanrana and followed with two lariats. Ito then blocked Watanabe�s screw driver, and went back on offense, including hitting a suicida and a diving footstomp to the floor. She used her best spots, two diving footstomps and her nadare shiki fisherman buster, but it wasn�t enough, and Watanabe avoided her next diving footstomp and went to her finishers. After Ito kicked out of two screw drivers, Watanabe tried her henkei driver. However, Ito landed on her feet and went into the triangle hold, which probably was the originally booked finish of the 8/10 match, but this time Ito was not victorious. Ito footstomped the arm, and tried to diving footstomp the arm, but Watanabe avoided it. Watanabe then hit her screw driver followed by her henkei bomb for the win. Though the crowd had been pretty quiet during the match, Watanabe got a pretty good response for winning. Takako said she wanted to lose the All Pacific belt in the ring, so Watanabe wound up not really winning it after all or something like that. Lets just say the match was much better and more coherent than the booking of the titles. Real good work. 17:23 (16:02 shown). ***1/2

Manami Toyota & Kyoko Inoue vs. Las Cachorus Orientals (Shimoda & Mita). A Toyota style workrate match. Very exciting and really good for stringing high spots together in a way that they worked and everything looked fluid. There was pretty much no psychology, and the comebacks were too quick, so it was the NJ juniors, except there wasn�t as much heat and it wasn�t booked as well. The match got off to a fast start with the heels brawling around the arena. They did all their low level high spots early. Toyota was really over, and she had the crowd popping for even her basic spots. Saya Endo helped the heels out against Kyoko and Toyota, so later on Kyoko rammed her into the security rail, which got a big pop. The submission holds had no purpose within the context of the match, being randomly applied once in a while to preserve the bodies of the competitors. The big spots started at the 15-minute mark, and the match was great from that point on. There were all kinds of flying moves, including Las Cachorus doing their typical consecutive dive spot. They teased several of the key finishers. At one point, Kyoko held Las Cachorus and Toyota tried her springboard plancha, but Cachorus avoided and Kyoko took the impact. Cachorus then brawled around the building, with Shimoda leaving Kyoko laying in some dark corner of the building. Cachorus took advantage of this, double teaming Toyota, with that stupid, incredibly fake, rail drop off the top twice. Kyoko finally returned to the ring, but Mita stood over her while Shimoda used her death lake drive on Toyota. However, Kyoko got free just in time to make the save. Toyota tried her suplexes on Shimoda, getting thwarted a few times before hitting her cross-arm German suplex for a near fall. Toyota then scooped Shimoda up for her Japanese Ocean Cyclone suplex, with Kyoko adding to the impact by hitting her diving reverse elbow to start Shimoda�s crash to the mat. Mita was able to make the save, so Kyoko held her down while Toyota hit her Japanese Ocean suplex for the win. Kyoko didn�t have the great spots like she used to, but she was smart, supplying the solid work and letting Toyota & Shimoda flash the fanciest spots. This was a Toyota star vehicle, but not a top this match like we used to see before the effects of that type of match kicked in and ruined some careers. 22:08. ****

U*TOPS vs. L-1 Strongest: Yumiko Hotta & Kumiko Maekawa vs. Shinobu Kandori & Mizuki Endo. One word describes this match, uneventful. One word describes these four, limited, unless you want to add some adjectives like really or very. This match served one purpose, to build anticipation for a Kandori vs. Hotta match, that we might see some century, supposedly it�s going to take place this spring. They finally put together a tease of what we really want to see, and not that good of one at that. They didn�t build anticipation to get a big pop for their first confrontation in the match, nor did they do anything in the ring together that would make you eager to see them in singles. They just played it like the don�t like each other, figuring that was all they had to do, which may well be the case.

The match itself was not very good, having the look of a match that should have been 8 minutes, but was stretched to 17 because it was the main event. One of the main problems is that these wrestlers are one in the same, and with their shooter gimmick there was nothing they could do that wouldn�t have a negative effect on someone�s image. It�s ok to have a tight move set, but when all four have no move set there�s not much that can be done, especially since their submissions need to be protected. That said, it's not the shoot style gimmick that is bad. When done cleverly, for instance Kazuo Yamazaki in New Japan, there's more to the wrestler rather than less because the wrestler turns less into more. These women are unable to even work toward or truly set up a submission, though they are hardly alone as the concept is so lacking in the sport today.

Another major problem is there was no one to carry the match. The match started off hot with Kandori immediately getting a heel hold on Maekawa, and Maekawa struggling to get the ropes. However, this got no reaction and the match died for several minutes after this. Probably part of the reason it had no heat was that everyone knew the LLPW team had won on 8/15, and it was a 2-match series, so the outcome of this was not in question. Maekawa�s head was all taped up as a result of the 8/20 WWWA tag title match. Kandori was really goofy in this match, moving around the ring like some kind of boxing gorilla or something. Here�s a match between four of the top female ass kickers, and instead of it being an intense match, I�m on the verge of laughing at Kandori�s exaggerated movements. Kandori and Endo focused on Maekawa�s knee for a while to give the early portion some direction, but then it was dropped for some unknown reason. Maekawa�s selling in this match fine when the spots occurred, but then she was in perfect condition using her "bad" leg to kick as the main weapon of her comeback.

Hotta & Kandori finally squared off, starting with a shoulder bumping contest where Kandori made her great punk faces. Endo grabbed Hotta, and Kandori started kneeing Hotta in the gut. This was a heel spot, especially since LLPW was the "road team," but it got no reaction. Hotta quickly took control and used all her kicks on Kandori. They did some UFC spots on the mat, with Hotta getting the best of it, until Kandori was able to tag Endo. Hotta didn�t sell for Endo, and Endo quickly found herself getting kicked back and forth by Hotta and Maekawa. The match got more boring as it went along because everything was either a submission that everyone could tell was not going to end the match or bad strikes from the mount. Since Hotta rarely sells for anyone, Maekawa was in the position to work most of the match taking a beating, and that would be a very risky prospect even if the opposition was Las Cachorus. Maekawa and Endo worked some bad sequences together, mainly because Maekawa�s spots are so incredibly deliberate that it kills any fluidity. I guess you could give Maekawa the benefit of the doubt because her and Endo are not used to working together, but her transitions between holds was Indy level, at best.

Kandori came in and ducked Maekawa�s 3 mile per hour high kick then came up with a shotei (palm strike). Kandori started demonstrating the technique of the shotei to the crowd and it was really funny because of her facials. Next I was expecting to hear her say "Daniel-san, wax on, wax off." Maekawa got up at the 9 count and Kandori immediately applied her choke sleeper, but Hotta came in and broke it up with a kick. This allowed Maekawa to unleash the worst series of kicks Kandori has ever sold. This was Maekawa�s big moment, unleashing her "deadliest" kicks on the major star for a near fall, but she screwed it up and it got no pop at all. Hotta then came in and Kandori was making a farce of it again. If these two are supposed to be the deadliest women in the sport, and they are supposed to not like each other, then where is the intensity? Hotta kicked Kandori�s leg, but Kandori blocked them by lifting her leg up so the kick hit her knee pad. Kandori then told Hotta to take all her footwear off, so the match was halted for a minute while Hotta and Kandori got barefoot. Kandori danced around like a fool doing shadowboxing while she waited for Hotta. Kandori then shot at Hotta and eventually got her down, leading to more UFC spots where no one could get an advantage. Hotta staggered Kandori with a knee lift then put her down with high kick. In the best booked spot of the match, Hotta tried to immediately high kick Kandori when she got up at 8, but Kandori ducked it and applied her choke sleeper. Maekawa eventually broke it up with kicks then Kandori tagged out. Endo came in and got her big series against Hotta where Hotta sold exactly two lariats and a backdrop before cutting off her diving splash. I can see Hotta cutting off the "fake" move, but seeing that Endo was doing the job, we could have at least seen Hotta give her a little more. I don�t think this was enough to elevate her at all, and elevating Maekawa & Endo should have been a key point to the booking (but then the booking might make sense). Hotta put Endo in the jujigatame, but Kandori made the save, so Maekawa pinned her in the corner while Hotta Tiger drivered Endo. However, Kandori got free in time to make the save. Kandori saved Endo from Hotta�s jujigatame again. Hotta then put Endo in a sleeper, and Kandori was ready to make another save, so this time Hotta released just the hold. Hotta pointed to Kandori then blasted Endo in the head for a high kick. Hotta taunted Kandori while Endo was counted out. This match could have done more and been better than it was. It was like they were afraid to give anything away between Hotta and Kandori, which would have been okay had they done something with Maekawa & Endo. The finish was good, but the match was neither heated nor dramatic. The work was not good and had too many holes to be "realistic." 17:06. *3/4

AJW �E7 Tag League The Best Finals 12/21/97 Tokyo Korakuen Hall

Glenn & Idol were lucky enough to attend this show, and I bugged them for all kinds of info, only to take a month to finish writing it up...The way I see it, this year�s tag league is either going to be their worst ever or their last. There�s really no way to go down from how lame everyone saw this year�s league as being, so we have to hope that things improve so we can see a real tag league, not this 5-team garbage, next year.

What bodes well for improvement is that the youngsters are starting to get over. Big names pack large arenas and sellout big shows, but the house show business in Japan is different. People come to the local shows to see the youngsters grow.

The youngster that everyone is raving about is Momoe Nakanishi. She was the one AJW wrestler that really benefited from the AJW fallout. If it wasn�t for the terrible financial state and everyone jumping ship, Momoe would still be doing six different moves in a three minute match culminating with three dropkicks for the win. Instead, she�s working with all the stars in long matches that are sometimes the main event. Instead of the snapmare, she�s doing complicated spots. Momoe�s improvement over the last quarter of the year was incredible. I voted for her as most improved on my WON ballot. If you have any doubts about this pop in AJW 12/8/96 commercial tape then watch one of her current matches. In the 12/8 match, Reggie Bennett and Tomoko Watanabe wouldn�t even tag her back in the ring after one short stint where she was totally dominated and got to flash no offense at all (not that she had anything more than a dropkick anyway). Bennett actually got the idea that she needed to carry things for her side. Of course, some people think the most improved Nakanishi was Manabu, but then again, some people are under the delusion that Yugi Nagata showed great improvement this year.

Momoe is the one youngster in the league that will be a big star. Her lack of size is a detriment, but her athleticism, workrate, and charisma make up for it. In a move that is similar to what JWP did last year with their best youngster, the incredibly talented Tomoko Kuzumi, AJW named Momoe their 1997 MVP.

Momoe�s match was teaming with Kayo Noumi against Takako Inoue & Kumiko Maekawa. Noumi is a youngster who, along with AJW�s 1995 rookie of the year Mari Mogami, was gone by early 1996 before her career got off the ground. She can't wrestle to save her life, but she's easily more attractive than resident idol Takako. This was good while Momoe was in, but went down a lot when Noumi was in because, at this point, she�s so green girl. Takako didn�t have a good night, as she was uncharacteristically having a lot of trouble with the setup of her Destiny Hammer. For some reason, she kept picking the corner that was farthest away from her opponent, and she even had to wave the opposition closer on one occasion. Having youngsters as the opposition didn�t exactly help to mask any mistakes, but even in the main event with Ito & Hotta doing a better job of getting into position for her, she didn�t hit any Destiny Hammers cleanly. Surprisingly Momoe got pinned, but they made her look stronger by getting pinned. Part of the reason this was possible is that her partner was so far out of her league that Momoe had to try to carry the team against two higher ranked women. However, the main thing was that Momoe took all Takako & Maekawa�s best shots before she was pinned. The finish itself didn�t come until she took Takako�s Destiny Hammer and Maekawa�s kakato otoshi in succession.

Another youngster that has really gotten over is IWA cult heroine Emi Motokawa. It definitely says extremely little for the AJW dojo when talent borrowed from Keisuke Yamada is more over in your league than the homegrown youngsters. Then again, anyone who�s payed attention to the AJW dojo must be wondering if they broke the mold after producing Sakie, Ito, and Watanabe in 1989 (Michiko Nagashima didn�t turn out too bad either, but they failed to recognize her talent and potential). I think part of the reason Emi is over is that her kind of biker girl/punk rocker look makes her stand out from the rest of the pack. Then again, so does her trailer parky paleness, and that only gets her over with Rasmussen. Seriously, while still a limited wrestler she does have charisma and is able to use it to mask some of her limitations. Also more important than her look (always way overrated) is she's funny.

Emi teamed with Manami Toyota against Yumiko Hotta & Kaoru Ito. Toyota has lightened up of late, playing to the crowd more and doing some comedy spots. Much of this can probably be attributed to teaming with Emi, but it could also be that her push has declined and these days there typically isn�t a lot of pressure for her to work a great match. I mean, the rest of the women in the league are lucky to be able to keep up with her. Learning psychology would be a better change for Toyota than playing more to the crowd, doing comedy, and now sporting a new outfit and hairstyle, but why harp on what appears to be a lost cause. Still, it's hard to think this will be a positive change, it's one thing for Emi who has to find ways to make herself interesting, but the promotion would die without Toyota working top matches. Toyota did have tremendous energy on this night. One notable spot in the match was that Hotta kicked Emi�s lungs out when Ito had Emi in the camel clutch. Toyota vowed to the crowd that she would get revenge. Later on, Emi got Hotta in the camel clutch and Toyota warmed up, taking practice kicks on the turnbuckle before delivering the big kick.

The most notable thing about this match was that, in a match with the top three stars of the promotion, Emi was the most over of the four. The main thrust was Emi pushing the veterans, getting hot near falls on them. In order to get over as the sympathetic underdog, she took a big time beating from the veterans before she made her comeback. The pinnacle of the beating was Hotta kicking Emi across the ring like she was on wheels. Emi was sitting down and every time Hotta kicked her in the back she�d skid about eighteen inches forward until she ended up eating a turnbuckle (not like George Steele). This sequence was said to have energized the crowd more than anything else earlier in the card. The possibility of Emi scoring the upset with her La Magistral finisher got over really well. According to Glenn, "The two La Magistrals by Emi were picture perfect. They had the crowd popping like mad and counting the falls, since it would be the first pin by Emi on someone of that caliber. By second La Magistral, she had the crowd going nutso." The highlight of the work was, not surprisingly, Toyota working against Ito, which was said to be extremely fast paced and exciting. The final portion saw Emi and Toyota turn the tide, and Emi was use her quickness to wrap up Ito. Hotta made some saves, then Toyota tied her up, but Ito kicked out. Ito hit the footstomp on Emi while Toyota was tied up, but Toyota escaped to make the surprise save. Ito then hit a second footstomp on Emi with no save in sight for the win. In Glenn�s opinion, this was the best match of the show.

Maekawa certainly came a long way this year. In the beginning of the year, she was blowing spots and getting out of position all the time. She was really out of her league in some of the tag matches. While she still has a long way to go, she can be carried to a great tag match, which shouldn�t be taken too lightly, especially given the current state of women�s wrestling. What�s important to the company is that Maekawa is over, though it will take a lot more work for her to be over to the point of being a draw.

The winners of the tag matches alluded to earlier met in the tag final. This meant Maekawa would be facing her U*TOPS teammates Hotta and Ito. Maekawa was once again the underdog, a role that she plays adequately but that also conflicts with her tough girl gimmick. This was the most exciting match on the show because of the stakes. The match was still thought of as important to the fans that attended, and the atmosphere was one of the reasons Idol thought this was the best match on the show. As Idol said, "The final had the big personalities, and the big moves." In addition, the stiffness didn�t hurt things any. After several good false finishes, Hotta pinned Takako with her Pyramid driver to win Tag League The Best for the first time.

Nana Nakahara, a 16-year-old who debuted in late 1997, is another youngster that AJW has big hopes for. She is paler than Emi and not at all attractive, but what�s good about her is that size is at a premium and she is the biggest woman in the promotion, tipping the scales at more than 210 pounds. Nakahara is a heel, and due to her size, they would like her to succeed Dump Matsumoto, Bull Nakano, and Aja Kong as the next monster heel. One big problem with this is that there is no one in AJW that does this style. Bull had Dump to learn from, Aja had Bull to learn from, but Pork Warrior and the others don�t really have any experience in this style. Since AJW has the fued with GUREN-tai on the table, I would have Eagle convert Nakahara. It�s certainly not like joining the incredibly cool Oz Academy, but considering Eagle has gotten by on nothing but size for 11 years, there must be something she can teach Nakahara.

Nakahara was in the rookies match, teaming with IWA�s Sachie Nishibori, who isn�t a heel, against Miyuki Fujii & Noriko "Unfortunately I�m not Combat" Toyoda. This was a well-booked match, getting Nakahara and Nishibori over some. Nishibori started the match and was dominated. Nishibori went to tag out, but Nakahara slapped her instead. Nishibori started wrestling again, this time with renewed gusto, and actually turned the tide a bit. Nakahara came in without a tag, hit a couple basic moves including two of the move Glenn has named the "Breast Bomb," then got back on the apron forcing Nishibori to continue working. Basically, Nakahara was saying to Nishibori, "Look how easy this is." The crowd insulted Nakahara calling her things like "big white cow" and so on, which is the kind of reaction a heel is supposed to get, well, at least on that looks like Nakahara. Believe it or not, there was someone in the Hall with a sign that said "Top Heel-Nakahara." Again, it says little for AJW when a rookie is their top heel, but at least it gives the impression some fans have taken notice of Nakahara (the promotion is probably behind the sign). Nakahara, who hadn�t even taken one bump yet, played to the crowd some more, then just decided to leave the ring and go back to the dressing room in the middle of the match. This added to the anti-Nakahara sentiment, and, more importantly, masked her limited skills and move set. What it really did though was get them to root strongly for Nishibori who had to take on two opponents for the rest of the match since Nakahara never returned. They chanted for Nishibori to "ganbare," which means do your best. Eventually Fujii pinned Nishibori with a fisherman suplex, but since she showed good fighting spirit by beating the odds for a while, she was elevated in the loss.

The problem with all this is that no matter what happens in the ring, the future of the promotion is in the hands of those who are lending the penniless Matsunaga Brothers money. If business doesn�t show an upturn, and maybe even if it does, eventually the promotion will have to shutdown. Events like the tag finals didn�t help things any. Obviously, when you have an event that sells out every year, and not too long ago the tag finals could easily have been put in a bigger building (they wasted matches that would have drawn at Korakuen), and this year the building is just over half full there are major problems. There are no revelations to be made about them though. Anyone could see that reducing the round robin tournament from 10 teams to 5 teams with 2 of the 5 not having a chance in hell was going to greatly curtail interest. Basically there was nothing to get the fans to pay to go see, no new matches, no interpromotional matches, no dream parings or dream matches. It was just the same stale matches with no drawing power among the small group of women who remain. The pitiful result was 1,200-1,400 in attendance.

The 1/3 Korakuen show with two unnamed GUREN-tai (LLPW) members (turned out to be Michiko Nagashima & Sayori Okino) against Hotta & Maekawa drew a sellout. This says that there is still some interest in AJW, but not unless there is a match that hasn�t been seen so many times before. Having Takako vs. Watanabe in the All-Pacific title decision match as the semifinal couldn�t have hurt, but the All-Pacific title certainly hasn�t been much of a draw this year, so I wouldn�t attribute much of the attendance to that match. AJW was back at Korakuen on 1/4, this time with no notable interpromotional stuff, but Akira Hokuto was working, and the attendance was down from 1,980 to 1,820. Missing a sellout by 160 fans is not worth splitting hairs over. What is a terrible sign is that 1/4 is a 12:00 P.M. show that takes place before NJ�s Tokyo Dome show (3:00 P.M. start). Korakuen and the Tokyo Dome are extremely close to one another, so this show is another of AJW�s lock sellouts at Korakuen that are no more. With 65,000 fans that had to be in the area by 3:00 for the Dome show, to not be able to get them to come a few hours early for your show or have them hang around the area in the mall or something instead does not bode well for the promotion�s future. Maybe with Momoe, Maekawa, & Emi there is something of a foundation being formed, but they need more youngsters, and they need them to develop at an accelerated rate. From a talent perspective, things look better in December than they did in September, which is a rare good sign for AJW.

Previous Tag League The Best Finals

1985-Dump Matsumoto & Bull Nakano beat The Crush Gals (Chigusa Nagayo & Lioness Asuka)

1986-Nagayo & Yumiko Hotta beat Yukari Omori & Hisako Uno (Hokuto)

1987-Crush Gals beat Bull Nakano & Condor Saito

1988-Marine Wolves (Uno & Mika Suzuki a.k.a. Suzuka Minami) beat Fire Jets (Mitsuko Nishiwaki & Hotta)

1989-Nishikwaki & Madusa Miceli beat Manami Toyota & Toshiyo Yamada

1991-Kyoko Inoue & Yamada beat Jungle Jack (Aja Kong & Bison Kimura)

1992-Kong & Kyoko beat Toyota & Yamada

1993-Hokuto & Toyota beat Yamada & Kyoko

1994-Toyota & Takako Inoue beat Kyoko & Sakie Hasegawa and Kong & Reggie Bennett in triangular final

1995-Kyoko & Tomoko Watanabe beat Toyota & Kaoru Ito

1996-Toyota & Rie Tamada beat Watanabe & Kumiko Maekawa

Special thanks to: Glenn Tsunekawa, Frank "Idol" Jewett, Chris Zavisa, & Hadi