The Crush Gals returned to action on 1/4/87, and it was just like 1985 all over again… except it wasn't. The Crush Gals were still incredibly popular with their fans, but the boom was over, and business was not doing well. In the peak of the groups popularity in 1985, the league ran 269 shows. In 1987, they could only put on 150. The quality of the wrestling, on the other hand, was at its best, only rivalled by 1985 for the best year of the decade based on match on quality (1985 was more consistently good, 1987 boasted more high end matches). The Crush Gals were the reason for this, being involved in almost every excellent match of the year. The team peaked in 1987, Chigusa did too, and Lioness was as good as she was in 1985. They both challenged Yukari Omori for the WWWA World Singles Title in the two major title matches of the year, Lioness came up short in her third challenge for the belt, while Chigusa won it in October, and ended the year as both the All Pacific and WWWA World Singles champion. The JB Angels also peaked in 1987 as a tag team, but were chosen to be the Glamour Girls rivals for a run in the WWF. They had a short six week tryout run from June – August. The run was a success, and they were invited back for a six month tour, beginning in November. Yukari Omori continued where she left off in 1986. Her title matches against both Crush Gals were two of the top 3 singles matches of the year. Dump Matsumoto took a backseat. She was still as over as ever, but did a lot more wrestling in 1987, if you want to see her doing sunset flips, missile dropkicks, enzuigiris, and all kinds of other moves you might believe you'd never see her do, her 1987 matches are ones to watch. Yumi Ogura is a sad case in 1987. She went from the feisty firecracker who always gave more than 100% to going into her shell and looking like she didn't want to be there anymore. Her confidence seemed to plummet after accidentally breaking Hisako Uno's neck with a second rope tombstone during a tag team title match in April. Also in that match was overpushed junior, Yumiko Hotta, whom the Matsunaga's had pegged as being the next Chigusa Nagayo (no wonder business was going down). She was becoming a menace in 1987. In that same match, she kicked Ogura's teeth out of her mouth, and only a few weeks later, she repeatedly stiffed Chigusa with a heavy, ugly head kicks before significantly toning things down afterward. Devil Masami had a quiet year, being phased down and retired in December. She had two standout matches with Chigusa, but very little else. Her retirement was the first in the Matsunaga's planned generational change whereby Devil would retire in December, and in February, both Dump Matsumoto and Yukari Omori would retire. The reason for the retirements was twofold. 1) They didn't want to pay the high salaries of these wrestlers and 2) they wanted to make room in the roster for the younger girls to take their place without being overshadowed. That didn't leave 1988 looking promising… but we'll leave that for 1988.

1/4/87: Lioness Asuka & Chigusa Nagayo vs. Yumi Ogura & Kazue Nagahori 19:13. This was the Crush Gals return after 6 months apart, and all was right with the world again as far as the schoolgirls are concerned. This was a classic Crush Gals tag with an incredible atmosphere, even by the standards of this era. The schoolgirls had pompoms out and tears in their eyes. Their heroes were back! The Crush Gals wrestled as well as they ever did together. Lioness was back at her best, working perfectly with Chigusa. It helped that they were wrestling their favorite juniors, the Red Typhoons, and they were really good here as well. Crush Gals took over much of the early portion, with the Typhoons trying to keep up, but they got Chigusa in some trouble briefly targeting her leg. They were stopped when Ogura missed a diving senton and Lioness came off the top rope with a lariat, then the Crush Gals did stereo topes. They had Ogura where they wanted her, with Lioness hitting a Giant Swing, but she was having fun and didn't want it to end yet, so they did their double team elbow, but Jimmy Kayama wouldn't count for an illegal double team. Ogura managed a backslide on Lioness and tagged out. When Ogura came back in after Chigusa had gotten a near fall on Nagahori, she hit a leg lariat, and then got near falls with a German Suplex, a Tombstone and a missile dropkick, which had the crowd losing their minds. Nagahori threw what she had at Lioness as well, but Lioness wasn't selling much of anything in this. Crush Gals got their big run with a bunch of big moves on Ogura, but she survived and tagged out. Nagahori got a few shots on Lioness, and a near fall on Chigusa, and then another one with a piledriver. The finish came after when Ogura tagged back in, with Chigusa going for a roll up then winning with a German Suplex. Excellent tag team match all the way through. Crush Gals were back, and the Red Typhoons pushed them all the way through the match and got one big run in, though it probably came too early in the match to really buy into it. ****1/4

1/9/87: Devil Masami vs. Chigusa Nagayo 18:45 of 30:00. The rematch of the 1985 women's match of the year. In 1985 they weren't equals, but they came out of the match as equals. Here they wrestled as equals. Chigusa was still yet to gain a victory over Devil. Devil got annoyed with Chigusa early, she'd refused the handshake and outwrestled her, prompting Devil to drag her outside and ram her into the post as soon as she got the chance. Chigusa knew all too well that frustrating Devil was the key to cause her to make mistakes, but it could also mean she kills you, and there have been plenty of examples of both in past. There was always a bit of an edge to this, and you just felt like something could happen at any time. Devil was happy working submissions, and was almost insulted when Chigusa came back with a kneel kick. Chigusa baited her into a striking exchange and went to town on her with head kicks in a great sequence. Chigusa hit a piledriver and missile dropkick, and Devil had already had enough of it. She rolled outside and grabbed her bokken, similar to 1985, except she seemed more intent on using it this time. She was deterred when Chigusa grabbed a chair to defend herself, and they ended up handing their weapons off. They restarted, and Devil won a headbutt contest and took over, wearing Chigusa down and even hitting a flynig knee attack from the top rope. She was too methodical though, and Chigusa exploded back with a German suplex. Devil kept coming, but Chigusa was faster and able to take more control. She couldn't defeat Devil. Chigusa went up top and Devil Electric Chair dropped her, then did the unthinkable, she actually hit the diving rolling senton, but that didn't work. The time was running out, and they scrambled for pins, but neither were able to, and time ran out. Another excellent match from these two, with Devil doing a great job of displaying her frustrations throughout, and Chigusa being happy to add fuel to the fire. Ultimately, she kept her emotions under control and got a draw. After getting clobbered in a one-sided finish in her last big match against Yukari Omori, this was probably more of a win for Devil than Chigusa, though Chigusa still hadn't beaten her. She'd have to wait until the Japan Grand Prix in April to get another chance. ****

1/9/87 2/3 Falls WWWA World Tag Title Match: Dump Matsumoto & Bull Nakano vs. Itsuki Yamazaki & Noriyo Tateno 14:21, 8:02, 9:22. The initial phase of the match was promising, especially with Bull's involvement. The wrestling between Bull and the JB Angels was good, but when Dump came in, she dominated and didn't do much. This was a slow fall until the end, longer than it needed to be. She ended up introducing a chain and getting annoyed at her own referee, tossing Shiro Abe around. Later, she took a shinai to both opponents, which allowed Bull to take advantage and pin Tateno with a German Suplex. The second fall was way better and far more interesting, with JB Angels strategically targeting Dump's knee. Despite their struggles, they managed to inflict offense on Dump. While she was temporarily down, the JB Angels frantically attacked her, uncertain of their next move. Dump came back with a superplex on Tateno, but she persisted. They focused on submissions targeting Dump's leg, with Bull attempting to intervene and save. Eventually, Bull tagged in and immediately got pinned with a German Suplex. That was pretty funny. Dump could have taken that defeat. JB Angels relentlessly attempted to defeat Bull again while Dump was incapacitated. It wasn't too long before she limped into the ring with a shinai and started attacking both opponents. Chaos ensued, with Bull using the nunchakus and Condor assisting. Yamazaki nearly pinned Bull with a sunset flip while Dump was busy with Tateno. Tateno tried choking Dump with a towel, but it proved futile. She got further with her athletic spots, but not far enough. Yamazaki had the right idea of targeting Dump's leg again, but they couldn't overcome her. Tateno got another 200 IQ idea to slap Dump. She did it repeatedly, but that only caused Dump to retaliate with two savage looking slaps of her own. Yamazaki attempted near falls, but Shiro was slow on the count. Dump executed a big slam from the middle rope, only receiving a two count after Tateno kicked Shiro. Then she'd had enough of wrestling, and nailed Yamazaki and Tateno with a trash can. She went after Yamazaki with a shinai, with Yamazaki narrowly avoiding the blows. Yamazaki managed a great near fall, kicking Bull off the apron and scoring a sunset flip on Dump out of the corner, but no one bought it. Then the stupid finish happened where Dump just smothered Yamazaki and pinned her while she was in the ropes, getting a three count from the crooked referee. Commissioner Ueda wasn't having any of this nonsense, and vacated the tag team belts. Post-match bedlam saw Jimmy Kayama and plenty of others attacked by Dump, Shiro attacked by Yamazaki, and general chaos. Mixed bag of a match that would have been significantly better if 10 minutes were lopped off the first fall. The last two were fantastic, even if the finish sucked. ***1/2

1/31/87 Tag Team Elimination Match: Mika Suzuki, Yumiko Hotta, Hisako Uno & Chigusa Nagayo vs. Drill Nakamae, Condor Saito, Bull Nakano & Pantera Surena 18:42. All action match with the eliminations in roughly the order you'd expect them. Everyone worked hard when they were in, and they were constantly switching in and out. Surena and Chigusa had a really good exchange early. I'd have actually liked to see Surena in the match for longer, but she made the most of the minute or so she had. The main highlight of the match was the Bull vs. Chigusa exchanges. It was just really good action all the way through though. Bull and Chigusa carried it through the end, being the final two, and they had a better one on one match here than they've ever had in singles, with the two trying to win with anything they could do. Chigusa couldn't win with a superplex, so she kept trying to hold the shoulders down, but Bull powered her way to the ropes. They exchanged flash pins, but Chigusa pulled out a German suplex to win. This was really good. ***3/4

2/26/87 WWWA World Single Title Next Challenge Decision Match: Lioness Asuka vs. Chigusa Nagayo 30:00 + 5:00. This was the best Crush Gals fight. Frantic first 30 seconds saw Lioness throwing kicks and Chigusa firing back only to get dumped outside. That pretty much set the tone. A more tentative restart saw the two trying to find advantages. Lioness would take the initiative, but Chigusa would worm her way into positions of strength. They were always trying new things on the mat, but never gaining much ground. Lioness took the initiative and unleashed a barrage of kicks on Chigusa. Chigusa kept thwarting Lioness on the mat, but Lioness was tenaciously grabbing holds. Chigusa managed to shoot in on a restart and get Lioness in a crab. She was already looking tired, while Lioness looked fresh, so this bought her some time to recover, if nothing else. Lioness eventually broke out of a bow and arrow, and then Chigusa burst on her own kicks. The mat battle continued to intrigue. Lioness went after Chigusa's knee, but she made it outside. Chigusa came back looking for a sharpshooter, which Lioness blocked, so she fell backwards to a leglock. The moves they wanted to hit were getting blocked, so they'd have to settle for something else less effective but still something. Lioness hammered Chigusa with kicks again, and avoided Chigusa's enzuigiri. A second attempted was blocked with her hand. Another intense kicking battle led to the two trying German Suplexes again, but still not being able to hit them. Lioness went for broke with a tope, and they fought outside. 20 minutes in, it looked like they were working to the finish, but unable to put Lioness away, Chigusa had to go back to the mat to wear her down more. They continued going for spots. Chigusa was able to hit a German Suplex, but only for a two count. A tombstone got the same result, so she went up top, and delivered a leg lariat. Lioness came back with a German Suplex, and referee Jimmy Kayama got a little excited, counting before Lioness even had her pinned, as she went for a regular pin rather than the traditional bridge, knowing she needed to cover Chigusa's shoulders. Lioness stayed on her until Chigusa initiated a brief slapping battle and immediately shot in to apply her sharpshooter. They were hitting bigger spots now. Chigusa hit a superplex for a near fall, and Lioness came back with the Giant Swing and a missile dropkick. They exchanged suplexes among other moves and flash pins, trying to finish, but the time defeated them. Commissioner Ueda gave them 5 more minutes. They just kept going for broke looking to win. They struggled well, but it was almost too back and forth. The one really good near fall came from Lioness's Giant Swing, and after that there was no doubt that they were drawing again. This match solved nothing about who was facing Omori in April, so Ueda asked the fans who won, and the schoolgirls correctly gave it to Lioness, who was more dominant throughout the match, so that set up Lioness vs. Omori in April. None of the other Crush battles even came close to what they did here. This was an all-time classic. They did what they always do, had an even fight, they just did it way better here, struggling for the moves they could hit, escalating into bigger spots later, and always pressing for a win. ****3/4

4/15/87 WWWA World Tag Title Decision Match: Judy Martin & Leilani Kai vs. Yumiko Hotta & Hisako Uno 11:00, 5:27, 4:03. This was Uno and Hotta's first major title victory, though it wouldn't last long. Kai was forming her Glamour Girls tag team with Judy, and came back to Japan to drop the All Pacific Title and secure a tag team for the U.S. run (which ended up being the JB Angels). They worked a basic and logical match. Very southern style. The start was mainly just Uno's leg getting worked over, and it was fine. They worked in a couple of funny spots. Kai wasn't adding anything of any interest, but Judy shone here. She was actually good throughout the entire match, as was Uno. After the comeback, Hotta unleashed a series of kicks on Kai, and then tried something like a rolling senton, but ended up diving headfirst into the mat. That led to some heel double teaming, and Judy won the fall with a powerbomb. Martin got overaggressive and almost got pinned, but they ended up back to the basic work they were doing before. Uno made a comeback, hitting her energetic dropkicks and kicked Kai out of the ring. She seemed to be setting up for a tope, but there wasn't enough room, so she leaped to the top turnbuckle and did the dive from there, crashing down on Kai's arm, and taking her out of the match. So, now Judy had to go alone. Judy fired up pretty well, and started taking them both on alone. Then Dump Matsumoto jumped into the ring, and it sent the crowd into a complete frenzy and saved the whole match. She had the scissors and busted Hotta open, tried to cut her while Judy went to town on Uno with a chair. Dump mostly left Judy to deal with the kids alone from there, but continued to help from the outside. Uno made her big dropkick flurry comeback on Judy, and hit a German Suplex, but it didn't finish the job. Hotta came in all fired up and finished with her own German Suplex. This was better than expected. I have no idea if Kai's injury was legit or not. I assume it was, but it worked out well for the match. Martin and the two youngsters did a good job, and there was welcome Dump carnage thrown in at the end. ***

4/15/87 Japan Grand Prix '87 League Match: Chigusa Nagayo vs. Devil Masami 19:10. Chigusa's game plan from the January 9 match continued here. This time she did shake Devil's hand to start, but then jumped her while she was walking back to the corner to start, angering Devil. She threw in a slap as well. The plan backfired early, and only fired up Devil, who gave her a beating on the outside, and then got nasty in the ring, kneeing her viciously in the face and wrenching back on a chinlock. Devil couldn't dominate like she wanted to. It was always a struggle with Chigusa occasionally taking, but it was mostly all Devil here. Everything she was doing had that heel edge and stiffness to it. Chigusa came back because Devil wanted to strike with her, but Chigusa was too smart, grabbing her and taking over for a while. Devil ended up slaughtering her with a pair of powerbombs, seemingly urged on by the crowd chanting for Chigusa. Devil hit a backbreaker and a legdrop before being dumped outside by Chigusa. It gave Chigusa a break, and she pounced with a pair of German Suplexes when Devil returned. Chigusa started giving Devil some of her punishment back in the form of kicks and stomps, then a piledriver on a chair. Chigusa put Devil on the top turnbuckle, but Devil fought her off and then grabbed her bokken. After teasing it in their previous two matches, this time she actually used it, coming off the top rope and nailing her in the head with it. She wound up to hit her again, but Chigusa moved, and she smashed it on the guard rail. Devil ended up wearing Chigusa out with it, and then beating up the referee, and the match was thrown out. Chigusa and Devil kept fighting after Chigusa got a chair to defend herself. The finish might seem like a cop out, but it was the finish they'd been building to for two matches. Devil's demeanour was perfect throughout, she was one step from going over the edge all match, and it's really what made the match work. Chigusa had a game plan, and it worked this time. Maybe not in the way she wanted, but she finally got her victory over Devil, as she was awarded the match by disqualification. ***3/4

4/15/87 WWWA World Single Title Match: Lioness Asuka vs. Yukari Omori 22:23. Lioness aimed to leverage her speed for advantages against the formidable Omori, but Omori would simply shrug her off, and wouldn't let her get anywhere. Lioness had to adapt, slowing down the pace and resorting to a chinlock to gain control. Her speed did come to her advantage to counter an attempted Avalanche, turning the tables. Omori was subtly heeling throughout the match, demanding Lioness get right back before she'd re-enter the ring. When she got in, Lioness went after her with kicks, but they didn't have any effect. They engaged in a slap exchange, and stared each other down with nothing but fire in their eyes. This was wonderfully intense stuff, Omori appeared to have as much disdain for Lioness as Devil did for Chigusa. Omori again asserted her dominance with a pair of flapjacks, and the heeling was less subtle when she stomped and grinding Lioness's face in the ropes. Lioness was persistent, but Omori was overwhelming her. They had another great little exchange where Lioness nailed her with a chop, Omori fired back with hers, but Lioness nipped up and took her down for a sharpshooter. Lioness went in for the kill with a diving lariat and a piledriver, attempting to pin Omori multiple times. She couldn't maintain control though, and Omori hit an Atomic Drop and an Avalanche. Lioness worked an injured back from that, selling as if she was seriously injured while Omori nonchalantly took a drink. The crowd willed Lioness back into it, but she didn't have much hope against Omori before the injury. Omori didn't care about any of that, she went straight for the bad back, and all Lioness could do was hang on. It had worked so well that Lioness surviving a Romero Special felt like a huge deal. Lioness made an attempt at a comeback after, taking her down for a Giant Swing, but she couldn't get close to executing it, and collapsed trying. Omori smirked and added insult to injury by doing a giant swing of her own. She didn't do it well, but that made it even more insulting. Lioness managed to mount a comeback, hitting a German Suplex, a Piledriver, a missile dropkick and a Giant Swing followed. The earlier comeback tease was tremendous, but I'd question the proper comeback kicking off with a German Suplex and a Piledriver barely a minute after the melodramatic giant swing collapse. If she'd built up to using her back, it would have worked much better. After that comeback was done with, Omori went back on the offensive, slaughtering Lioness with chops, but missing a diving elbow. She bailed out, and Lioness missed a tope, leading to Omori nailing her with a chop off the apron. Big Kesagiri chop from the top rope finished Lioness off, and Omori won with a piledriver. Omori was a real force in this match. She was amazing, and had a real badass aura about her. Lioness was great too. It was the best she ever sold in any match I can remember. This was a really excellent match, it started out hot, and remained that way with so many little great moments throughout. ****1/2

4/27/87, 2/3 Falls WWWA World Tag Team Title Match: Hisako Uno & Yumiko Hotta vs. Kazue Nagahori & Yumi Ogura 10:06, 6:17, 3:05. I don't know where to start with this one, as there is a lot going on here. This is the infamous match where Hisako Uno takes a tombstone piledriver from the second rope from Yumi Ogura, and works through a legitimately broken neck. Akira Hokuto (still Hisako Uno here) is known for being one of the best workers ever (male or female), one of the toughest (this match went a long way to cementing that legacy), and also one of the most reckless. If she wasn't injuring herself, she was injuring her opponent, so it's ironic that her career was temporarily ended through no fault of her own. Yumi Ogura, who was a good worker, particularly with Nagahori by this point, seemed to lose her confidence and motivation after this, and could never be described as ‘good' again. In some ways, it was a breakthrough match for Yumiko Hotta, who had been pushed hard as a junior, but aside from sharing a vague resemblance to Chigusa Nagayo, had done nothing whatsoever to warrant it. The first fall is good, with the Red Typhoons being the more skilled of the two teams. Uno's explosions make up for it, though generally not for long, with Hotta, who is the biggest of the four, actually being more capable of holding her own for longer periods. By the end of the fall, Ogura immediately blunted Uno, leading to the tombstone spot that put the Typhoons up 1-0. The break between falls was abnormally long, and more uncomfortable than watching Uno take another piledriver later in the match, was watching referee Bob Yazawa pulling on Uno's neck between falls, as she was insisting it was just ‘jammed'. The second fall started with Uno wisely tagging out to Hotta. Hotta was out for revenge, and immediately took over and slaughtered Nagahori with kicks until she had to bail from the ring (Hotta was on the warpath and believed she had to defend herself, legitimately kicking as hard as she could). Ogura's turn came next, and she got it worse, with Hotta knocking her silly with head kicks and knocking a tooth out. Bull Nakano told a funny story that all the girls at ringside were hunting for the missing tooth and laughing that the Matsunaga's would have to pay the dentist bill, though it wasn't established if the tooth was actually recovered or not. The match had a high level of intensity in general, especially this passage which made Hotta come across like a real badass, but the match had broken down, and it was off the rails. Ogura was out of it, so they had to take another break, and then Uno tagged in to get her own shots in. Ogura was able to tag out, and Nagahori took over, leading to another piledriver on Uno. A missed diving senton from Ogura allowed Uno to tag Hotta again, and Hotta was able to even things up to 1-1 with a sloppy throw from the top rope. In the third fall, Hotta tried to kick Nagahori's head off again, since that had worked well in the second fall, but Nagahori was able to duck this time and score her spinning kicks to put Hotta down. Hotta kept trying to come back, but Nagahori kept knocking her down, leading to the Red Typhoons winning the tag belts, ending Uno and Hotta's reign after only 12 days. Uno ultimately wasn't in as much as I remembered, but the whole time she's in you're just cringing at everything that happens (especially that second piledriver). This was an extremely intense, dramatic and gripping match, but the reasons for why that was the case should never have happened. Paradoxically, it could be described as both excellent and awful for that reason. ****

4/27/87: Dump Matsumoto, Condor Saito & Judy Martin vs. Lioness Asuka, Yukari Omori & Mika Suzuki 14:13. This was a ridiculous Dump with scissors match, which was played out by this point, but the crowd always reacted to it, and it was highly entertaining. She was after everyone whether or not they were even in the match. She attacked Lioness to get the girls screaming, and then she went after poor Mika Suzuki, getting a piece of her hair. She went after Tateno later, who wasn't even in the match, and Omori. It did settle down for a while, allowing a wrestling match to break out. Lioness gave Dump a sunset flip and a Giant Swing before Dump once again decided wrestling wasn't for her. When Omori tagged in, Dump went after her with the scissors again while she was being choked from outside. Then she went for Lioness, and the tease was actually brilliant. They milked it for a long time, with Lioness using her strength to keep the scissors up (like their version of Tully trying to drive the spike into Magnum's eye at Starrcade '85). They got done with that tease, and some girl I didn't recognize (I think it was Sayuri Nakajima) got her hair cut, and so did Tateno and Suzuki again. She even got some of Lioness's. It almost settled down again until Omori had Condor beat with an Avalanche, and Dump came in again, this time with a trash can, which sent the match into another breakdown. Everyone hit moves on Condor, but Lioness accidentally nailed Suzuki with a diving lariat, and Dump finished her off with a powerbomb. More chaos ensued after the match. ***

4/27/87 All Pacific Title Match: Leilani Kai vs. Chigusa Nagayo 15:54. This was the match I wanted them to do in 1986. Chigusa showed her intent from the start. Kai was looking to take it the mat, while Chigusa wanted to kick her head off. When they were on the mat they struggled more rather than just sitting around in holds like they did in the first match, and it was more competitive with faster momentum switches. Chigusa was coming out ahead, so Judy Martin gave her a can, and she slugged away at Chigusa with it. Chigusa bled and Kai stomped and hammered at the cut. After a missile dropkick, Chigusa made her big comeback, kicking Kai in the head until she bailed out. When Kai returned, she was bleeding as well, and Chigusa was straight back to the head kicks. Kai fired up and hammered at Chigusa, who was too fired up herself, and walked her down. Chigusa decked her in response, and killed her with big moves, putting her away. In their first match, they tried to do too much and produce something, dare I say, epic, and the result was a disappointment. This time they had the right length, and it was a more simple match that worked to their strengths. The blood helped, but everything about this match was better. Chigusa was great here, and Kai was much improved. Her nasty and vicious streak was on show this time as well, which was missing from the first match. ***3/4

5/10/87 Japan Grand Prix '87 League Match: Yumiko Hotta vs. Chigusa Nagayo 12:07. Off the back of savaging the Red Typhoons with kicks and knocking out Ogura's teeth, Hotta was just as a reckless in this match, except now it was against the league's main draw. The matwork was good enough, but the standup kicking battles were the highlight. Their first strike exchange saw Chigusa throwing fast, stiff, controlled kicks to Hotta's leg, so Hotta retaliated with her unrefined, heavy, stiff ones. She had no control, and caught Chigusa in the face and put her down. After working her way out of some legwork from Chigusa, Hotta once again threw kicks while Chigusa on her knees, and once again gave her a stiff kick to the face. It came to a head later in the match. Chigusa wore some kicks, and then Hotta grazed her in the head again, and now Chigusa wasn't going to suffer this fool for any longer. Hotta kicked her in the head again, which looked like it hurt, but Chigusa was determined not to react, then Hotta threw slaps, so Chigusa retaliated with three of her own, and put Hotta on her ass. Chigusa looked to wear her out on the mat, eventually putting her down with a flying leg lariat. I don't know how good this was, but it was interesting, and certainly falls into the category of entertaining train wreck. I'd assume Hotta was told off because the next time we saw her on 5/22 (teaming with Chigusa against the Red Typhoons), she was very light with her kicks or missing them entirely. ***

6/13/87 Japan Grand Prix '87 League Match: Chigusa Nagayo vs. Lioness Asuka 16:26. The other Crush Gals fight in 1987. There were two differences between this match and every other match these two had in the previous two years. 1; The crowd was so dead they might as well have been wrestling in a cemetery. I know it's hot in Okinawa, but not a hot place to run a wrestling show. 2; The other was that after 111 minutes and 26 seconds, we had a result in a Crush Gals fight. This was a really good match, but it was on the low end of Crush Gals matches, part of that was certainly the lack of atmosphere. They got off to a frantic start before settling into their usual matwork, which at times felt more like it was killing time than working towards any advantages, but when they were going for their kicks or trying to hit their spots it was really good. Lioness gave Chigusa the usual thunderous kicking. Their final portion was fantastic though, after another kicking from Lioness, Chigusa reversed a tombstone and missed a diving knee. Lioness hit the Giant Swing, but Chigusa was too close to the ropes. After hitting a piledriver, Lioness missed a dive of her own, and Chigusa gave her a hideous giant swing of her own, which you could say cost her the match. She went up for a dive, but Lioness met her up there and did a backdrop suplex. Lioness missed another dive, but recovered to finish with a Fisherman's Backdrop. ***1/2

6/28/87 Japan Grand Prix '87 Final: Chigusa Nagayo vs. Dump Matsumoto 11:41. Chigusa went straight through to the finals here, while Dump had to wrestle Yumiko Hotta to advance just before this match. This was the final singles match these two ever had together, and it's the most bizarre. The reason it's the most bizarre is because it's a straight up wrestling match with no shenanigans, it's also bizarre because it's actually good. Dump had her working boots on, and Chigusa made her work, so it didn't meander along with Dump sitting around in holds. At the start, Dump tossed the shinai away and shook hands. Dump didn't suddenly become Jaguar Yokota for this match, her bumping wasn't much better. She wasn't particularly good, but her wrestling was competent. She wasn't doing anything super complicated (the most complicated spot she did was probably a Romero Special), but she could execute everything she tried just fine, even if some things looked weak. Chigusa was as good as she always was, and led her well. Dump did a couple of a signature Crush strikes and the two dropkicked each other at the same time, which took them into the finishing run, which saw them trying to finish each other off exchanging spots for really good near falls. Chigusa hit a missile dropkick and went up again and did a diving body press. Third time wasn't a charm as Dump brought her down with a suplex. Chigusa avoided a splash and tried a figure four, but Dump kicked her off. She tried a head kick, but Dump evaded. She tried a roll up, and that got the three count. Dump even shook her hand after the match. Novelty might be part of the appeal of this match, but it's genuinely a good wrestling match. ***

9/14/87 Tag League The Best '87: Lioness Asuka & Chigusa Nagayo vs. Itsuki Yamazaki & Noriyo Tateno 16:34. Crush Gals and JB Angels clashed with both teams at the peak of their abilities. The synergy between Lioness and Chigusa as a tag team in 1987 was the best it ever was. The same was true for the JB Angels, but more than that, Tateno was once again motivated, after losing interest in 1986. The passionate schoolgirl fans were out in full force supporting their Crush Gals, with more pom poms than I'd seen before, and the match had that special atmosphere. Lioness worked over Tateno briefly, but she avoided a sandwich lariat, and then it was the JB Angels turn, hitting tandem dropkicks. Chigusa got worked over, and when she'd try to take over, the JB Angels would just switch and take back over. The early comeback didn't last long, and when they got Chigusa in the ring again, they targeted her leg. Yamazaki started it, but the schoolgirls lost their minds when Tateno was doing jumping attacks on it, and Chigusa was selling it well. Chigusa was able to tag out after Tateno hit a cradle suplex, but she caught Lioness immediately with two knee attacks, culminating in an elevated missile dropkick. Yamazaki went for Lioness's leg, but she fought out and hit an enzuigiri, but only to Yamazaki's arm. Chigusa hit a German Suplex on Tateno, but Tateno retaliated with her own, which had the crowd worried, following up with a double arm suplex. They did a Hart Attack, and Yamazaki hit her flying crosschop and dropkicks. Chigusa was in big trouble and quickly got behind Yamazaki. She couldn't do anything, but it halted Yamazaki, and allowed her to get the tag. Lioness flew in with a lariat, and hit her Giant Swing. Yamazaki wouldn't stay down and got the tag. Now it was Chigusa's turn to go in for the kill on Tateno with suplexes. The match seemed to be going to same path as the 1986 match, with the Crush Gals on a role, looking like they were going to eat the JB Angels alive and they knew it with their cockiness slowly beginning to show. Tateno wouldn't stay down though. Chigusa opted for a sharpshooter, intentionally close to the corner, which allowed Tateno to make the ropes, but Lioness took over. Lioness was more interested in Yamazaki, and dragged her into the ring. She avoided Yamazaki's flying body attack, but the JB Angels cleverly switched, with Tateno scoring a roll up as she was coming through the bottom rope, but it only got two. It was to no avail, and the Crush Gals continued their run, hitting an elevate lariat. They went for another sandwich, but Tateno avoided it, causing them to take each other out. The JB Angels swiftly capitalized on that, going up top and taking both out with missile dropkicks, and then both hitting flying headbutts on Chigusa and securing the pinfall before Lioness could make it back in to break it up. This was all action and constantly exciting. It was a great match in just about any way you want to look at it, the offense, execution, match structure, the little touches like the repeated pin attempts and the crowd reactions. The finish was great as well, the Crush Gals displaying more cockiness as their assault continued, bordering on arrogance, and as soon as the mistake was made, the JB Angels pounced and won. And this was the best women's tag team match of the 1980s. *****

9/24/87 Tag League The Best '87: Itsuki Yamazaki & Noriyo Tateno vs. Kazue Nagahori & Yumi Ogura 8:41. The JB Angels were on fire here, aside from those swimsuits with the American flag on them. Ogura was never the same after the 4/27/87 match. Her confidence was completely gone and her fire with it. At the start here, she screwed up a leap over Yamazaki, but she held it together for the rest of the match. This was a JB Angels clinic, and although it wasn't a squash, they overwhelmed the Red Typhoons. It was fun to see them dominate a team. It was the basic matwork with spots interspersed with the Red Typhoons attempting to comeback, but not getting much in. Ogura did make a comeback on Yamazaki. They got her down, but she tagged Tateno. Tateno was completely fired up. Nagahori slammed her, and she did the old Jaguar bridge up and ran through all of her spots with twice the speed and intensity that she normally does. Yamazaki kept it going on Nagahori, but when Tateno came back, Nagahori backed her into the corner and tagged. Now Ogura got to have a run on Tateno, and the Typhoons got their double team spots in. When it broke down, Nagahori got kicked out of the ring and the JB Angels hit Ogura with a double missile dropkick to end things. This was short, but it was good. ***1/4

9/24/87 Tag League The Best '87: Lioness Asuka & Chigusa Nagayo vs. Devil Masami & Yukari Omori 12:13. They didn't attempt to do anything too interesting here. It was a fairly simple, well worked match with plenty of action. Lots of matwork early, building into their spots. Omori as the champion, and Devil as the senior felt like it was their right to dominate, and really laid into Chigusa. At one point, Omori almost took her head off with a lariat, and they crushed her with top rope double teams. Lioness tagged in, so Omori hoisted her up immediately and Avalanched her. Lioness made the comeback, and then it was the Crush Gals turn, trying to put away Devil. She hung on, and similiarly to the Lioness tag, once Omori came in, Lioness was all over her. Omori and Devil wised up and whipped them into each other, and then Devil took Chigusa out with a powerbomb, while Omori atomic dropped Lioness. Stereo Romero Specials followed, and then Devil Jumbo suplexed Lioness onto Chigusa. The Crush Gals came back again, and Lioness got the Giant Swing in, but then they all fought outside. They were never beating anyone properly in this match, so Devil and Lioness fought on the apron, and Lioness landed a kick and vaulted inside to get the count out win. By count out standards, that was a decent finish. This was a good and enjoyable tag team match, but only makes me wonder how good a fully fleshed out tag match between these two teams could have been. ***1/4

10/11/87 2/3 Falls, Tag League The Best '87 Final: Lioness Asuka & Chigusa Nagayo vs. Bull Nakano & Condor Saito 0:05, 0:33, 14:21. These teams had a good match in the league on 8/20/87, which was won by the Crush Gals, but this match was way better. Crush Gals had yet to win the tag league, having lost to Devil Masami and Jaguar Yokota in 1984 and Dump Matsumoto and Bull Nakano 1985. Chigusa did win in 1986, but that was with Yumiko Hotta. The start of this was a classic, just like 1986 it was a quick one. Bull slapped Lioness in the face, and German Suplexed her to take the first fall. Bull and Condor dragged Lioness back to try to finish her off, but Chigusa intervened, and they hit Sandwich lariats on both with Chigusa pinning Condor after another lariat. That was certainly an eventful start, so it was effectively a one fall match now. Bull and Condor beat up referee Jimmy Kayama, and he had to get taken to the back, leading to controversy. I assume Bull and Condor wanted Shiro Abe, but they didn't get him and Bob Yazawa took over. Bull was competitive and fired up, having great exchanges with Lioness. The heels were younger and outmatched, but used illegal interference and underhanded tactics got them advantages. Condor was bandaged up like a mummy, and spent most of the match getting worked over. Crush Gals did whatever they wanted to her, hitting a long run of moves on her until Bull ran in with nunchakus. Bull ended up getting worked over, and Condor tried to intervene, but Chigusa just threw her down like garbage and got back on top of Bull. The heels did make a comeback leading to Bull getting a really good near fall on Lioness with a guillotine legdrop. Condor took out Bull accidentally soon after, and the Crush Gals did a memorable finish hitting stereo moonsaults on both Bull and Condor to win the tag league, which would make this the very use of the moonsault in the league (at least in a televised match). The Crush Gals were so good at this point they would have had an excellent match with anyone. Condor didn't look she belonged there, but with how banged up she was I doubt she could have done a lot anyway. Bull looked like she belonged though, and was really good. ****

10/20/87 2/3 Falls WWWA World Tag Title Match: Yumi Ogura & Kazue Nagahori vs. Bull Nakano & Condor Saito 4:38, 1:30, 7:04. I watched the Zenjo Classic version of this match, which showed a lot more of the first and third fall, but less of the second fall than the Fuji TV version (which showed over 3 minutes of it). This was a good action packed match. Condor looked better here than in the tag league finals aside from the odd poorly executed move. She always seemed to work the best with the Red Typhoons. The first fall went to the Red Typhoons with Ogura hitting a body press while Nagahori held Condor in a brainbuster position. Bull ran through Nagahori with bicycle kicks. Bull and Ogura scrambled on the mat, and Bull got a pin to level it. The third fall was really good, with both teams going for broke, hitting all their big moves. After Ogura missed a senton, Bull hit a plancha to the outside, and all hell broke loose. The Red Typhoons hit stereo piledrivers and went up top, but Bull and Condor missed their dives, then finished with their own stereo piledrivers and stereo German suplexes. Dump came in the ring to congratulate her proteges, and actually cried with them. ***1/2

10/20/87 WWWA World Single & All Pacific Double Title Match: Yukari Omori vs. Chigusa Nagayo 18:14. After Lioness had failed earlier in the year, now it was Chigusa's shot at Omori. In their last major match in the Japan Grand Prix '86, Omori had won, leading to her winning the WWWA World Single Title. Chigusa followed suit in this match to become a double champion. Like Lioness earlier in the year, Chigusa attempted to gain a quick advantage at the beginning of the match, but Omori wasn't having it, and clobbered her in response. Omori tried an early dive, but Chigusa avoided it, and Chigusa followed her out with a tope. It didn't accomplish much, as Omori took over in the ring, and set about chopping and working over Chigusa. Chigusa couldn't do much with Omori on top, though she broke out of a Romero Special only for Omori to almost pin her. Omori did her gutwrench, and nonchalantly dropped Chigusa, almost on her head. Chigusa mounted a comeback with a suplex and a leg lariat. She couldn't hit the piledriver, but the crowd willed her on, and she got it. Chigusa's run continued with a German Suplex and a sharpshooter. Omori made the ropes once, and emphatically broke out of the second attempt. Omori, now visibly damaged, but fired up and pissed off, retaliated with a chop and an Avalanche. A Kesagiri chop from the top, a move that had spelled the end for most, didn't keep Chigusa down. Desperation set in, as Chigusa went for a leg lariat off the ropes, but Omori skillfully blocked it with her arm, and countered with a devastating lariat. Outside the ring, Omori took a moment to drink water, only to spit it all over Chigusa. Chigusa came up bleeding from the chop, and Omori turned into a demon, clawing at the cut, and nailing her with chops and headbutts. She whipped Chigusa into the corner, and gave her just enough room to try a high kick. Chigusa caught her with the high kick. Omori's slight mistake let Chigusa in, and Chigusa capitalized, throwing repeated kicks. She had Omori rocked and vulnerable, and hit a German Suplex. Omori had one last surge and fired up, hitting a chop and a double arm piledriver. She went up top again, but Chigusa kicked her off and landed the decisive moonsault. Another incredible Omori title match. This was the best of them. She was calm, cool and collected when things were going well, but when the time came, she vicious and nasty here. Chigusa gave the classic babyface performance. At the end of the day, it came to the kicks vs. the chops, and the kicks won today because of her will to win. Classic title match. That wasn't all though, there was a post-match too. Chigusa did an angle with Shinobu Kandori to set up a match between them (Kandori was a freelancer, so JWP had no involvement). This was Chigusa's idea, and Takashi Matsunaga initially said yes, but the crowd didn't care about Kandori. They didn't know who she was, much less her reputation as the dangerous shooter who ended Jackie Sato's career. And since she wasn't coming in cheap, he lost interest in the whole thing, and passed on it. It was shown on the commercial tape, but it wasn't shown on TV. ****1/2

11/24/87 WWF, WWF Women's Tag Team Title Match: Judy Martin & Leilani Kai vs. Itsuki Yamazaki & Noriyo Tateno 13:59. This was from the Jumping Bomb Angels U.S. expedition in the WWF. The semi-legendary Madison Square Garden match. They'd have two televised tryout matches to convince Vince that this would work. The matches were good and Vince actually liked them enough to bring them back. This is the first televised match of the proper run, and it's the best one by far. The Jumping Bomb Angels won the WWF tag team titles at the Royal Rumble '88 in a more famous match than this one. That match is more notable for the moment, and Vince not having a clue what their names were on commentary. The match itself was decent, but disappointing because it was sloppy and slow paced (I rated it **1/2, and the other arena matches from 1988 were around the same level). The run was supposed to go through the WrestleMania V in 1989 where the Jumping Bomb Angels would drop the belts back to the Glamour Girls, ending the run, but the run was cut short when Fabulous Moolah sabotaged it over money disagreements (she wasn't happy she wasn't getting her booking fee from the Glamour Girls). The teams met in Japan on 6/8/88 in a match for the tag belts at the All Japan Women's event, and Moolah had convinced everyone that Vince wanted the belts to change hands, so they switch the belts back to the Glamour Girls, and Vince scrapped the whole thing. MSG initially showed lukewarm enthusiasm heading into this match, but it took a mere 30 seconds for Yamazaki to captivate them, resulting in a great atmosphere that persisted throughout the entire bout. Yamazaki was off to a lightning fast start, flipping through Kai, hitting a dropkick, a flying crosschop, and another dropkick. Tateno kept it going with Martin, hitting her knee attacks and a slam. The Glamour Girls were hauling ass too through this part, it was only a minute, but it was a really hot minute, and MSG probably saw more in that minute than they did in any of the other matches. The Glamour Girls tried to slow it down on Tateno, but she did a Jaguar bridge, and Yamazaki followed up with a monkey flip, prompting them to retreat. Glamour Girls were able to slow it down and start the heat section, using all the illegal tactics and stomping. Yamazaki played face in peril, and would get well timed hope spots mainly relying on her sunset flips. An attempted hot tag by Yamazaki went unnoticed by the referee, and the crowd were livid. Kai put a sharpshooter on Yamazaki, and Tateno came in to break that up. The Glamour Girls tried to sandwich Yamazaki, but she moved, and made the hot tag to Tateno. Tateno came in all fired up, bringing a ton of energy into the match, as she delivered a running clothesline and dropkick to Kai. She dragged Judy in, much to the chagrin of commentator Nick Bockwinkel. She executed a flying clothesline on Judy, and then all four were in the ring trying to double teams. The Jumping Bomb Angels had the upper hand, executing a double missile dropkick that seemed destined for victory, but Judy distracted the referee. Yamazaki wasn't happy, and tried to protested, but in doing so distracted him, and Judy powerbombed Tateno with Kai getting the pin. This was an excellent American style tag team match. You could say the heat segment might have dragged a little bit, but it only served the make the crowd hotter when the hot tag finally came. The Jumping Bomb Angels were obviously the highlight, and the Glamour Girls were quick enough to keep up and allow them to really shine here. ****

12/6/87 Team League Final: Chigusa Nagayo, Yumiko Hotta, Mika Suzuki, Yachiya Hirata, Mika Takahashi & Toshiyo Yamada vs. Lioness Asuka, Mika Komatsu, Kazue Nagahori, Mitsuko Nishiwaki, Kaoru Maeda & Sachiko Nakamura 15:46 of 30:00. The only version of the match was captured on a potato and it's clipped (with about 6 minutes shown of the first 15). This was a 30 minute match split into two halves, there were no eliminations. This was all action, all the time with a really hot crowd. Not the most complex high spots you'll ever see, but it was urgent and fast paced to the point where it's hard to even follow. All of the action as climaxed with electric Crush Gal exchanges, and they took falls on each other. It was highly entertaining and impossible not to enjoy, though I don't know exactly how the scoring worked, I guessed it was 3 points per fall, but Lioness's team damn sure had more falls. The New Yorkers (Chgiusa's team) finished with 30 points, Astros (Lioness's team) had 33. ***1/2

1: Chigusa Nagayo. 1987 was Chigusa's peak year, there was no one close to her in terms of match quality aside from her tag team partner. Almost every excellent match involved Chigusa.

2. Lioness Asuka. Lioness was back and motivated in 1987, and picked up where she left off in 1985. Like Chigusa, Lioness was involved in many of the best matches of the year, the difference was Chigusa had a few more of them.

3. Yukari Omori. Two great matches in an otherwise forgettable year were enough to keep Omori near the top of the workers list, but her title matches were incredible.

4. Itsuki Yamazaki. JB Angels hit peak form in 1987, and had the best tag team match of the decade with the Crush Gals, and a high quality match against the Glamour Girls on their WWF expedition. Yamazaki was still the best of the two, but it was a lot harder to separate them this year than previously.

5. Noriyo Tateno. A motivated Tateno is an exciting wrestler, and she was motivated this year. She seemed far more confident, she was really good generally, but stood out with her hot tags, particularly in the Glamour Girls match on 11/24/87.

1. 9/14/87 Tag League The Best '87: Lioness Asuka & Chigusa Nagayo vs. Itsuki Yamazaki & Noriyo Tateno *****

2. 2/26/87 WWWA World Single Title Next Challenge Decision Match: Lioness Asuka vs. Chigusa Nagayo ****3/4

3. 10/20/87 WWWA World Single & All Pacific Double Title Match: Yukari Omori vs. Chigusa Nagayo ****1/2

4. 4/15/87 WWWA World Single Title Match: Lioness Asuka vs. Yukari Omori ****1/2

5. 1/4/87 Lioness Asuka & Chigusa Nagayo vs. Yumi Ogura & Kazue Nagahori ****1/4

Manami Toyota

Toshiyo Yamada

Etsuko Mita

Mima Shimoda

Hiromi Hasegawa

Sachiko Nakamura

Chiaki Ichikawa