The JB Angels were the tag team of Noriyo Tateno & Itsuki Yamazaki from 1984-1989. They were one of the greatest women’s tag teams of all time, and were one of the most popular in their time period. They never approached the popularity of the Crush Gals in Japan (though, the only tag team on that level, ever, was the Beauty Pair), but due to their run in the WWF in 1987/88, they did become very popular in the U.S. No one in America had seen anyone like the JB Angels before. Their offense, energy and the pace they worked at was at another level to what anyone else was doing at the time, especially the Fabulous Moolah trainees that dominated the women's scene, and they blew everyone’s minds who saw them. Without any real promotional backing, they got over big as babyfaces in an era where most foreigners were just made into evil invader heels by default. They stole every show they were on, and remain fondly remembered decades later.

Both debuted for All Japan Women at age 15 in 1981, and were the only two graduates of the 1981 class. They were put together very early in their career, but it was shortlived. They were put back together in 1984, initially just a thrown together junior tag team there to lose to the other teams, but they started moving up the ranks in 1985 and eventually won the WWWA World Tag Team titles in 1986.

Individually, the two didn’t get along at all. They barely spoke to each other outside the ring, and never spoke in the ring. They just did their thing and got by on their chemistry. They were polar opposites. Yamazaki was very professional, always gave 100% and expected the same from Tateno. Tateno was a self-professed rebel who broke every rule the Matsunaga’s had just because she could (the no smoking, no drinking, and no boyfriend rules). While she was motivated in the early years and loved wrestling, she lost all of her motivation after they were made to start singing when Lioness Asuka quit the Crush Gals in 1986, so the Matsunaga’s needed another act to sing to appease Fuji TV. She had no love for wrestling by this point, but had nothing else to do, so she just stuck with it.

In 1987, Leilani Kai and Judy Martin formed the Glamour Girls in the WWF. They wanted to find a Japanese tag team to work with in the U.S., and they chose the JB Angels, which was the only choice they could have made if they wanted the run to be a success (which it was until The Fabulous Moolah sabotaged it). Initially, Tateno had no interest in going and was just going to quit, but Yamazaki said "absolutely not!". "How much trouble have you caused me? I want to do my job properly. You are my partner, so I can't play the game without you."

The two actually became friends during the American expedition after two nights of talking without sleeping when they were in the same hotel. Tateno also started having fun wrestling again since she was free of rules and seniors, and was getting paid more than she’d ever dreamed of. With Tateno motivated again, the team were able to reach their peak in 1987, culminating with their great September 14, 1987 match with the Crush Gals, and another excellent match soon after with the Glamour Girls on November 24 in Madison Square Garden when they returned to America.

Two months later, they won the WWF Women’s Tag Team titles. They were supposed to keep the belts until Wrestlemania the following year where they’d drop them back, but as mentioned earlier, The Fabulous Moolah sabotaged the run by telling the Glamour Girls they were winning the tag titles during a match in the Japan. When this happened a furious Pat Patterson, who was the WWF's head booker at the time, canceled the whole thing.

With their WWF run finished, they worked another year or so in Japan, but were being phased down. Yamazaki retired on May 14, 1989, ending the tag team. Tateno continued on, and retired on March 17, 1991. While that was the end of the two in All Japan Women, it wasn’t the end of either of their careers. Yamazaki joined JWP in 1990, and had an incredible run, even better than her All Japan Women run as she leaned more into her heel side, and was a more intense and well-rounded worker now that she wasn't so strictly confined to being a schoolgirl pleasing babyface. Unfortunately, financial issues with JWP's parent company, as well as marriage, led to her retirement on December 22, 1991, and aside from a JB Angels reunion in 2008, she stayed retired, running a restaurant in New York City with her husband. Tateno, on the other hand, joined LLPW in 1992, and didn't retire until October 10, 2010. The early years of her LLPW run were decent, but nowhere near the level of what she was doing in the 80s when she was motivated.

1981: Yuriko Takagai vs. Itsuki Yamazaki 10:06. Tateno debuted on 7/12/1981, Yamazaki's debut isn't known, but would have been around the same time. This can't have been long after her debut, and is the only existing match on tape from 1981. It was a basic junior match, though that may mean something different in 1981 to what we were seeing from juniors in more modern times. They work the basics that they can do well and don't do anything complex, maintaining a level of credibility to what they were doing. Takagai was the more experienced and better of the two at this point. Everything she did was solid, aside from the Samoan Drop she won the match with. Yamazaki didn't show a lot here, but aside from being a little tentative on some things, she did okay. **

1981: Jaguar Yokota & Noriyo Tateno vs. Mami Kumano & Hiroe Ito 10:06. This is interesting for a few reasons; It's the last surviving Mami Kumano match on tape, it's the first surviving Noriyo Tateno match on tape, and it's the first TV match Jaguar had that I'm aware of after she changed her name to Jaguar. It's a fun match too, with a good finish. Jaguar tried to start the match, but Kumano just wanted to beat on the junior, so she dragged Tateno in. Tateno was just there to get beat on, and Jaguar was the protective big sister, trying to save her and providing the bursts and spots. The heels gave the usual Black Pair style choking, brawling, and cheating. ***

8/10/82, All Japan Junior Title Match: Chigusa Nagayo vs. Noriyo Tateno 9:14. This wasn't a particularly good match, but it is a noteworthy one. They tried to burst and go at a fast pace initially, but they were clumsy, and almost tripping over because they were trying to go faster than they were capable of. It turned into a better match once they slowed it down. Mechanically, Chigusa was a little better than Tateno here, but Tateno stood out more because of her fire. The story behind the match is why this is interesting and important. Tateno was not expected to win this. Chigusa was her senior and the match was in Fukushima, where she had a support group, so she had fans in attendance cheering her on, and even had her parents in attendance. The other members of the roster weren't happy about Chigusa having a support group, and all the girls at ringside cheered on Tateno. The finish was determined by hold down rules, and Tateno was able to hold her down after a bodyslam. This was Tateno's first title win, and Chigusa was visibly upset after the match. Chigusa was disappointed and embarrassed by the loss. She decided to quit, with her last match to be on 1/4/1983 against Lioness Asuka, but that would be the match that turned everything around for her, leading to the Crush Gals, and ultimately becoming the biggest star in the history of Japanese women's wrestling. *3/4

10/82: Jaguar Yokota vs. Itsuki Yamazaki 7:06. Entertaining squash for Jaguar, who was as impressive as ever with her matwork and bursts. Yamazaki didn't offer much. She was able to get some control by biting Jaguar, and got a run of offense in. Jaguar bumped around for her, though at this point Yamazaki's offense consisted mostly of stomping, biting and raking. She did one neat spot where she came off the ropes and rolled over Jaguar's back for an armdrag. She tried to rough Jaguar up outside, which proved to be her mistake. **1/2

7/83, All Japan Junior Title Match: Noriyo Tateno vs. Itsuki Yamazaki 10:10. The future JB Angels wrestled each other a lot in their junior years. Their matches were typically the standard junior matches, but this one stood out and was easily the best match they had together as juniors. It was the same basic stuff with a few more advanced moves thrown in, and it wasn't the most graceful match. What they brought here was intensity, they went hard at each other from start to finish. The hold down portion was something else. They never stopped or let up and settled for simple bodyslams and takedowns, they just kept going hard. They were so exhausted they could barely even execute a takedown by the end of the match, but neither one was willing to stay down, and they both hung on for the time limit draw. ***1/2

8/21/83, 2/3 Falls: Jaguar Yokota & Noriyo Tateno vs. Lioness Asuka & Chigusa Nagayo 3:29, 4:47, 5:15. If you want to see the birth of the go-go style (or whatever other name it was christened as) that would become the trademark of Japanese women's pro wrestling as everyone knows it for decades to come, this is it. It's the first time we see the Crush Gals named as such on TV and wearing their trademark colors. Much of this match was contested at a super-fast pace generally only seen in bursts previously. The constant in and out tags that would soon become commonplace were showcased as well. This was undoubtedly the style of match Jaguar always wanted to do, but never had opponents capable of it. Jaguar herself was the standout and miles above everyone else, Lioness was able to go with her and did some great stuff in the third fall. Chigusa didn't stand out much and wasn't a particularly smooth worker at this point, but she was game, and able to keep the pace. Tateno, despite being a junior with limited offense, wasn't a passenger either, she was also game and had a lot of energy (and Jaguar wasn't dropping any falls, so someone had to eat two pins). The first fall was short, only clocking in at around three minutes (all of the falls were on the short side with the other two going around five minutes each). Chigusa and Jaguar started things off, but they all had a go within the short amount of time. Jaguar took the first fall after a couple of seated sentons and suplexes to Lioness. The second fall was the slowest of the three, with the Crush Gals generally in control. At the end of the fall, Jaguar took over and brought Tateno in, but Tateno accidentally whipped Chigusa into her, sending her crashing out to the announce table (making sure it made a loud band for the microphone to pick it up so it sounded nasty), while Chigusa took advantage and quickly finished Tateno off. Chigusa started the third fall with Tateno in a gutwrench position and canned her on her head, which looked horrible in more ways than one. There were loads of tags in and out and we had some terrific fast exchanges between Lioness and Jaguar here, with Tateno and Chigusa being more junior-esque with theirs. Tateno got caught in a Giant Swing at the end, which spelled her end. Jaguar gave referee Jimmy Kayama a beating after the match like always. Historic match from a stylistic perspective, really well worked with tons of action though perhaps not one that will necessarily stand out if you're comparing it to matches that took place in the 20 years that followed. ****

2/28/84, All Japan Title Match: Noriyo Tateno vs. Itsuki Yamazaki 10:24. This was a good, spicy juniors match between these two. Tateno lost the All Japan Junior title to Chigusa on 1/8, and Lioness vacated the All Japan title on 1/18. The wrestling was fine. They had some good bursts and big moves between the matwork. Yamazaki got more frustrated as the match went on. At the climax of the match, they both missed dives and fought out, with Yamazaki choking out Tateno with a microphone cord. Tateno returned the favor and they were both counted out, but Yamazaki was awarded the win, and the belt for some reason. **1/2

3/17/84, 2/3 Falls: Devil Masami & Itsuki Yamazaki vs. Dump Matsumoto & Masked Yu 6:29, 3:27, 2:35. Kaoru Matsumoto was one of Devil's cronies along with Masked Yu. On 1/4/84, she came out as Dump for the first time and got more heelish, using weapons and cheating whilst Devil was on a different path, in her match on the same show with Mimi Hagiwara, the two actually shook hands after their match. On 2/28/84, things came to a head during the Crush Gals vs. Devil Masami & Dump Matsumoto match, with Devil wanting to wrestle cleanly (commissioner Ueda had put a ban on weapons) and Dump showing defiance. Their discord resulted in them fighting more than their opponents as the match progressed, and ultimately led to Dump and Yu parting ways after the match, which effectively disbanded Devil Corps. Devil was left with Itsuki Yamazaki, while Dump was forming her own group with Yu. All of that set the stage for this match, where Dump and Yu, aided by a masked manager (Rossy Ogawa) and biased referee Shiro Abe (who actually turned heel during this match) faced the Devil & Yamazaki. The heels used their weapons and cheating as much as they wanted to keep control, but the babyfaces overcame that to catch the first fall. The second fall was mostly chaos and Yamazaki getting annihilated. She got taken to back afterward, leaving Devil to fight alone. Devil was armed with her bokken, and the heels didn't want any part of that. Devil got some help from the Crush Gals, but eventually got overwhelmed. The heels ended up tying her to the ring post with a chain to win by count out. A wild and entertaining spectacle. ***1/4

4/1/84: Jumbo Hori & Yukari Omori vs. Itsuki Yamazaki & Noriyo Tateno 10:20. After years of going in different directions, with Tateno as Jaguar's babyface protégé and Yamazaki as Devil's heel protégé, the two were thrown together as a tag team again. This was their first match as a tag team, and there's nothing particularly impressive here, it's just a competent squash for the Dynamite Girls. Yamazaki and Tateno were a junior tag team there to play punching bags. They spent almost the whole match being dominated, and what little offense they did get in was by bending the rules. **

6/12/84: Itsuki Yamazaki & Noriyo Tateno vs. Yukari Omori & Chigusa Nagayo 9:56. This was a more inspiring match than the 4/1 squash. Yamazaki and Tateno were largely dominated again, but got some offense in here instead of just being eating alive for 10 minutes. Yamazaki stood out with the few athletic spots she did. They roughed Chigusa up on the outside, and Yamazaki did a plancha. Later Chigusa got her revenge with a tope. Tateno bridged out of a lot of big moves at the end, but was eventually put away with a bridging suplex from Chigusa. **1/4

7/26/84: Noriyo Tateno vs. Jaguar Yokota 8:19. Jaguar gave Tateno a lot here and pushed her out of her comfort zone. Tateno was fine with the basic stuff and the slower pace, but had some trouble keeping up when Jaguar increased the pace and showed some hesitation. **

9/1/84, 84 Fuji TV Cup Tag League Match: Lioness Asuka & Chigusa Nagayo vs. Itsuki Yamazaki & Noriyo Tateno 7:47. First meeting between these two teams. Though it wasn't a memorable one. It was a solid, well wrestled and energetic match, but ultimately little more than a squash for the Crush Gals. Lioness even pinned both of them at the same time after Chigusa stacked Yamazaki on top of Tateno with a slam. **1/4

10/18/84: Jaguar Yokota vs. Itsuki Yamazaki 7:42. The difference between Yamazaki here and their previous match in 1982 is incredible. She was able to keep up with Jaguar's fast pace, and had a few good spots of her own. Yamazaki dominated this in the middle with her heel tactics, and ended up roughing up Jaguar on the outside. The fun for Yamazaki was over when she missed a diving senton and Jaguar blew her away. ***

11/9/84: Jaguar Yokota vs. Noriyo Tateno 6:40. Same sort of match as they'd had in July, with the difference being that Tateno was much more confident, and the hesitation she showed then was gone. **1/2

12/10/84: Itsuki Yamazaki & Noriyo Tateno vs. Jaguar Yokota & Devil Masami 8:45. Action packed match, and the first good match Yamazaki and Tateno had as a tag team. They had no chance, but they got enough offense in to shine and keep it interesting. Devil dominated when she was in and set up for the comebacks on Jaguar, while Jaguar did the bumping around, and was worked over until near the end when she hit her impressive burst damage. There was a count out tease at the end, and a double count out would have been the best result the juniors could have hoped for, but it wasn't to be. They tried stereo sunset flips in the ring, but a failed double team afterward saw them eating German Suplexes from both Yokota and Devil to put an end to it. ***

1/6/85 AJW, 2/3 Falls WWWA World Tag Title Match: Lioness Asuka & Chigusa Nagayo vs. Itsuki Yamazaki & Noriyo Tateno 10:31, 3:21, 3:00. The first WWWA tag team title shot for Yamazaki and Tateno. The early portion was really good, with competitive matwork and in and out tags, with the challengers showing they could go with the champions. Yamazaki decided to switch things up doing six dropkicks in a row to Lioness (though, these were of the weak first-year junior variety rather than the high impact ones Yamazaki was known for). Tateno eventually got dominated, but was able to catch a break to regroup. Things went a little downhill from there. After some brawling, Chigusa and Tateno were legal, but weren't doing much of anything, so Lioness tagged in to get things back on track. Crush Gals eventually looked to put Yamazaki away, but she avoided Chigusa's diving headbutt and then did a primitive version of a springboard plancha, capturing the first fall after a piledriver. At this point, the goal of the match to give Yamazaki and Tateno some credibility and move them out of the junior ranks was complete, so the last two falls were little more than a Crush Gals steamroll. The challengers got in a little offense, but were no longer really competitive. Crush Gals retaliated in the second fall, overwhelming Tateno to even the score, and the third fall was even swift, with Yamazaki being the victim this time. Yamazaki and Tateno simply didn't have the offense at this point to match them, with sunset flips and missile dropkicks being their big moves. This match was a little rough around the edges at times, but overall, it was very good. It was an important stepping stone for the future JB Angels, elevating Yamazaki and Tateno out of the junior ranks. ***1/2

2/25/85, All Japan Title Match: Itsuki Yamazaki vs. Bull Nakano 18:33. Keiko Nakano was rechristened as Bull Nakano, and was sporting a half shaved head with blue hair. This was a wild junior fight. Bull didn't do much other than grind down Yamazaki with basics and lot of heel tactics with plenty of help from Dump and co. Yamazaki would frantically try to fight back, and they'd scrap it out usually with interference putting Bull back in charge. The action might not sound appealing, but it was compelling because of Yamazaki's fire, and the two being of them being out of control in the scrap. Yamazaki went for a springboard to the outside and injured her knee, which Bull went after. Yamazaki came back with an impressively well placed missile dropkick taking out both Bull and referee Shiro Abe, which allowed Noriyo Tateno to give her some help double teaming Bull, though it was a short-lived comeback because her knee was injured. Yamazaki kept fighting back, hitting some hot moves, but all the heels ran in and Shiro threw the match out, giving Yamazaki the DQ win. Yamazaki vacated the belt afterward. It was a little strange that they weren't using the usual rules for this match, I can only imagine they didn't want either to lose, so they went with this instead. In any case, this is exactly what I love to see from junior matches - frantic, fiery, scrappy action. ***1/4

4/7/85, Fuji TV Japan Grand Prix '85 League Match: Noriyo Tateno vs. Itsuki Yamazaki 17:57. The theme of the 4/7/85 show was tag team partner battles, with these two and then the Crush Gals fighting each other. Tateno and Yamazaki rarely ever had good matches together, there was the highly entertaining 1983 match where they went all out in junior competition, but they often went through the motions and didn't click together in the way that Lioness and Chigusa did when they battled. This match was the exception though. Yamazaki had her heel edge in this one, prompted by Tateno stomping on her foot during a test of strength causing her to lose it. They worked hard with intensity, even if they weren't particularly smooth all the time. Yamazaki was great in the heel role, nasty, vicious and relentless. Although her fiery, flashy babyface work was always excellent, particularly in tags, it's a shame that she hardly ever worked heel again until she went to JWP. The crowd still loved Yamazaki, and popped big for a high spots, but it was effective enough that Tateno got a bigger reaction when she made the comeback and got the crowd in a frenzy. Tateno couldn't finish Yamazaki off, and Yamazaki came back again. Yamazaki took it up a notch, leaping onto the top rope and executing a plancha. Tateno fought back again in the ring, kicking Yamazaki off the apron when she tried her vaulting kick, and following up with a tope. They had a back and forth finish with Tateno's downfall coming from Yamazaki boomeranging out of the corner. She did it once, but Tateno made the same mistake a second time, and fell victim to a sunset flip. This match was brilliant! Loads of great action and hard work, and mean Yamazaki was always a win. I'd initially thought they'd peaked around the 10 minute mark, as they seemed to lose a little steam, but I was wrong, as they rebuilt to an even bigger peak with a really exciting finishing run. ****1/4

5/16/85: Fuji TV Japan Grand Prix '85 League Match: Devil Masami vs. Itsuki Yamazaki 9:44. A really fun teacher vs. student match. Yamazaki opted to dive on Devil within the first 30 seconds and refused to let her in, so Devil just dragged her outside and choked her with the microphone cord. Devil worked over her protégé, using every heel tactic short of weapons, and appeared to be enjoying every second of it. They were both very good in their roles, with Yamazaki making spirited comebacks, and fighting well from underneath. There was a great spot where Devil was going for a Romero Special and Yamazaki was trying to claw her way to the ropes, with Tateno trying to help her get there, though it was to no avail. Yamazaki made a decent comeback at the end, but she didn't really have much chance against Devil. ***1/4

6/25/85 Fuji TV Japan Grand Prix '85 League Match: Lioness Asuka vs. Noriyo Tateno 6:44. This was Japan Grand Prix finals day, with the final match to take place later in the show. Tateno couldn't advance, but if she won it would have meant Chigusa vs. Dump was the final, while a win for Lioness would see her through to the final, with Chigusa vs. Dump becoming a playoff with the winner meeting Lioness. This was a good, energetic match with a great crowd. Lioness had been the standout of the JGP, and Tateno was on fire here. Tateno considers this the match where she truly felt like she was professional wrestler, keeping up with Lioness, who was going all out and being able to contribute. Unfortunately, Fuji TV clipped this down to less than 7 minutes, but what they showed was a good match. ***

8/22/85 2/3 Falls: Noriyo Tateno & Itsuki Yamazaki vs Bull Nakano & Dump Matsumoto 11:53, 6:31. Tateno and Yamazaki never had a chance here, but they put up a good fight. Tateno took the early beating, and once she was able to tag out, Yamazaki cautiously locked up with Bull, only for Dump to jump her from behind. Yamazaki and Tateno were able to hit their hot moves on Bull, but the comebacks were never more than a couple of moves. The first fall ended up in a double count out after a lengthy brawl with no one able to make it back into the ring. Yamazaki and Tateno wanted to fight fire with fire, so Dump tossed away her weapon, and they wrestled cleanly for a while. Of course, Dump only took one move, but they got a run of offense in on Bull. Dump had seen enough of that, and nailed everyone with a bucket to put a stop to that. After another mauling, a spike piledriver to Yamazaki assisted by Bull and Condor Saito put an end to the match. This was a good Dump brawl with the usual carnage, enough drama, and great comebacks from Yamazaki & Tateno when they got the chance. The only issue was you couldn't really buy them as much of a threat. ***1/4

9/8/85 Tag League The Best '85: Chigusa Nagayo & Lioness Asuka vs. Noriyo Tateno & Itsuki Yamazaki (15:00~). Not one of the higher end matches these teams had. It was just a solid match that went along nicely, but just as it was looking like it was about to pick up, it came to an end. Tateno and Yamazaki picked up a rare win over the Crush Gals, albeit a cheap one. Lioness tried to drop a knee from the top to the outside, but missed and was in no condition to continue, so the match was called off and awarded to Tateno and Yamazaki. **1/2

12/4/85 2/3 Falls: Noriyo Tateno, Itsuki Yamazaki & Yukari Omori vs. Lioness Asuka, Yumi Ogura & Mika Komatsu 7:57, 1:06, 4:06. This was wild from start to finish, a total action packed hyper-speed match. Yamazaki was head and shoulders above everyone else here, working as fast as I've seen her. Lioness also excels in this sort of a match, but everyone was good. The younger girls, Ogura and Komatsu, weren't as smooth as the others, but tried and actually did pretty well, particularly Ogura. There was some matwork at the start, but it wasn't long before it was all running and moves with fast tags. In the third fall, Lioness and Yamazaki had the best exchange of the match. It wasn't until the end that things slowed down a little again, with Omori's knee being targeted by Ogura, though when Lioness came in, they slapped at each other, and Omori scored a couple of power moves to fight back. Yamazaki and Tateno almost finished off Lioness with their double teaming, but were unsuccessful, though when Ogura came back in Tateno finished her off pretty quickly with a pair of neckbreaker drops and a tombstone. Fantastic little match from start to finish. ***3/4

1/5/86 2/3 Falls WWWA World Tag Team Title Match: Itsuki Yamazaki & Noriyo Tateno vs. Bull Nakano & Condor Saito 11:52, 2:36, 9:12. Crush Gals vacated the WWWA World Tag Team Title belts in December due to an injury to Chigusa (who wouldn't return until March). So, the New Years show saw Yamazaki & Tateno getting another title shot, this time against the Gokuaku Domei #2 and #3. Bull ran through a bunch heel tactics to gain or maintain advantages, and she was really good in this match. Tateno takes well, and Yamazaki was usually thwarting them to come back. Yamazaki would hit her hot moves, but was never afraid to fight fire with fire, ramping up her viciousness and being happy to throw in some underhanded tactics herself. It was a fun dynamic. Condor was mainly just there to get worked over and help Bull with double teams, though she was the weak link when she had to get some offense of her own in. While Bull might be fairly basic, she displays viciousness and doesn't tend to do the same thing for too long. Towards the end of the fall, Tateno was being worked over, three on one with the masked manager assisting from the outside. Yamazaki bolted around there, but got trapped in a human hanging. However, while that was happening, Tateno made a comeback on Condor. Yamazaki came in, and they double teamed Bull, and then brought Condor in to double team her and get the first fall. While the first fall was very good, the same can't be said of the second fall. Yamazaki and Tateno got off to a fast start, but it got off the rails when Tateno had to hoist Bull onto her shoulders so Yamazaki could hit a dropkick. It just took forever, and killed the spot. Bul came back with the nunchakus, and Condor did an awful diving body press before Bull finished with a diving nunchaku lariat, which probably sounded cool when they thought of it, but looked incredibly stupid. At least that fall only lasted two minutes, and they had a chance to compose themselves for the third. Bull and Condor gave Tateno and good working over, slow but effective, and Tateno's selling was good here. The segment felt like it went on, but it needed to be for the big explosion later. The only issue I had with it was that they weren't feeding any hope for Tateno, so the crowd rallied behind her, with a huge "Noriyo" chant, but it died out because nothing was done for them. Tateno was able to tag Yamazaki, but they did the old referee didn't see it spot, though Yamazaki wasn't having that nonsense, and rushed in anyway. Bull continued attacking Tateno with nunchakus. And then Tateno and Yamazaki snapped! This was a great moment. Tateno grabbed a towel, using that as a weapon, and got control of the nunchakus. Yamazaki brought in a bottle and the heels got theirs and then some, both in and outside the ring. Yamazaki nailed Condor with a chair on the outside. Bull got the advantage back in the melee, and started hitting big moves on Yamazaki in the ring, but she wasn't staying down, and fought back. Bull did kind of an ugly lariat to Yamazaki and they both tumbled outside, with Tateno missing a dive. Bull waited in the ring for Yamazaki to come back, but Yamazaki slipped behind her to win with a German Suplex hold. Sure, they were just keeping them warm for the Crush Gals, but Tateno and Yamazaki were the new tag champions. This was a bit too much for Bull and Condor, though Bull did a really good job of carrying the team. The match had its issues, but they got a lot more right than they got wrong. Most importantly, they nailed the story and the payoff at the end was great. If you can nail that, it doesn't matter too much if you screw a few things up along the way. ***1/2

1/9/86 2/3 Falls WWWA World Tag Title Match: Itsuki Yamazaki & Noriyo Tateno vs. Dump Matsumoto & Bull Nakano 2:20, 2:00, 7:01. After Bull and Condor failed to win the tag team belts on 1/6, Dump came in to take Condor's place. The first two falls were short, and I'll assume heavily edited. Bull and Dump went crazy with weapons and sacrificed the first fall. Yamazaki came back in the second fall, but injured her knee when Bull shoved her off the top rope. The action in the third fall was good with some drama around Yamazaki's bad knee. Yamazaki ended up getting Bull in a figure four and Dump came in with a trash can, and gave the same treatment to Tateno when she tried to help her partner. Bull tried to use the nunchakus afterward, but that backfired. Tateno hit a German Suplex on Bull to finish, but Dump kicked the referee. As Dump was leaving the ring, Yamazaki came in and did her own German Suplex to Bull and picked up the win with it. **1/2

2/12/86 2/3 Falls: Itsuki Yamazaki & Noriyo Tateno vs. Dump Matsumoto & Condor Saito 5:22, 1:54, 5:41. Bull & Condor failed, Dump & Bull failed, so now it was Dump & Condor. Good match with Yamazaki providing most of the highlights, and Condor giving a better performance than she had on 1/6. Bull tried to interfere when the babyfaces made their comebacks, and Dump was using an assortment of weapons, including an oversized metal drum and a fork to attack Yamazaki's injured arm. The finish was bizarre and kind of funny - Condor accidentally kicked Dump, who just looked at her puzzled and walked back to the corner, while Tateno hit a German Suplex on Condor that got them the win. ***

2/16/86 Itsuki Yamazaki & Noriyo Tateno vs. Kanako Nagatomo & Mika Komatsu 10:58. Tateno and Yamazaki dominated this, and it was nice to see them get to boss a match for a change. Nagatomo and Komatsu had a couple of flash pins and made a nice comeback at the end, working their way back into the match, but they were outskilled and never really quite in the match. ***

3/20/86 2/3 Falls WWWA World Tag Title Match: Itsuki Yamazaki & Noriyo Tateno vs. Lioness Asuka & Chigusa Nagayo 13:00, 2:10, 5:49. This was the return of the Crush Gals, so it was time for the JB Angels to drop the tag belts. The Crush Gals tried to get the jump and blast the JB Angels away at the start, but that completely backfired, resulting in them taking stereo dropkicks and the JB Angels hitting topes on the outside. It wasn't costly, but it was a wakeup call for the Crush Gals, who weren't going to be trying that again for a while. The teams looked to stick to their strengths, with the Crush Gals looking to work the mat game and shut the JB Angels down, while the JB Angels path to victory was blasting them away with their fast paced running offense and double teams. Yamazaki spent a long time getting worked over. She was able to lure Lioness into a brief brawl, but Lioness outwrestled her expertly, countering everything, and stopping her jumping around. Yamazaki managed to work her way out when Chigusa was in and quicken the pace, but again, it was brief with Chigusa clutching onto her leg to stop it, but at least Yamazaki was able to switch to Tateno. Tateno hit her burst on Lioness, but she tagged Chigusa, who did a quick roll up as she was coming through the ropes. Tateno was able to find some control, targeting Chigusa's arm, but once she returned later, she took her foot off the gas, and it allowed Chigusa a reprieve. Tateno tried to go with Lioness but was outwrestled, then it was back to Chigusa vs. Yamazaki. Yamazaki got the upperhand and looked to quicken the pace. Tateno added a diving clothesline, but Chigusa caught a leg lariat coming off the ropes, and the Crush Gals pounced with all the big moves. Hart Attack, Giant Swing from Lioness, a flying bodypress, and a tombstone from Chigusa to put Yamazaki away. That fall was an expert shutdown from the Crush Gals. They never let the JB Angels get on a roll, but changed with the big explosive burst in the second fall displayed why doing so was dangerous. The JB Angels needed to force the pace. Yamazaki immediately tried to blitz Lioness, then Tateno drew her into a slap fight to fire her up. It worked, as Lioness lost her focus and played into her hands. Tateno hit dropkicks, and Lioness kipped up twice before hitting her own. Chigusa tagged in, but the JB Angels pounced with a double dropkick. Yamazaki followed with a flying body attack. Tateno hit a missile dropkick and a butterfly suplex. Chigusa survived that, and avoided another flying body attack from Yamazaki, but Tateno hit a German suplex to finish. Chigusa sold the German suplex like a deathblow, and Tateno hammered away at the neck. Yamazaki missile dropkicked Chigusa, and quickly jumped on Lioness with a piledriver after the tag was made. Tateno and Lioness had a neat exchange which ended with Lioness kipping up again after a kick out of the corner and high kicking Tateno in the head. Chigusa went in for the kill, getting Tateno in big trouble, but she was able to avoid a dive from Lioness and tag out. Yamazaki couldn't get out of the blocks though, with Lioness hitting big moves, including a second Giant Swing and a jackhammer. Yamazaki was able to fight off Chigusa when she was put on the top rope, responding with a backdrop suplex. Tateno tagged in and delivered a piledriver. Yamazaki did a jackknife pin, but got caught in a Sharpshooter. She came back with an Octopus hold. Tateno tagged in, but Chigusa sunset flipped her, and then finished her with a Tiger Suplex hold. The finish was slightly underwhelming, but this was a great match. Top notch wrestling, both with their spot wrestling and matwork. The Crush Gals showed more control, refusing to allow the JB Angels get away from them as much as they would have liked before eventually overwhelming them. ****1/2

4/12/86 Japan Grand Prix '86 League Match: Noriyo Tateno vs. Chigusa Nagayo 8:30. This same show also featured a Lioness vs. Yamazaki match, it was more athletic than this one, but that's about all it was. Yamazaki wasn't much of a threat to Lioness, though the match ended up being a double count out as they brawled on the outside. This match was better, with good matwork and interesting counters, keeping Tateno competitive with Chigusa. They built up to some good near falls at the end, with Tateno looking like she might pull off the upset with a German Suplex. Later, she tried a tombstone, but Chigusa reversed to get the win at the end. ***

6/17/86 2/3 Falls: Itsuki Yamazaki & Noriyo Tateno vs. Yumi Ogura & Kazue Nagahori 10:36, 0:56, 3:33. Hard fought tag match that was more competitive than you might imagine given that Ogura and Nagahori were both juniors. Yamazaki was the best, and Tateno gave a solid, if uninspiring effort. The Red Typhoons held their own. Ogura was quite good by this point. Nagahori wasn't quite ready to hang with the seniors, but was well ahead of most girls with less than two years experience. Much of the first fall was spent with everyone trying to wreck each others knees, with some fiery bursts throughout. The first fall saw an upset victory for the Red Typhoons before they were quickly squashed in the second, and they didn't fare much better in the third. ***

8/21/86: Dump Matsumoto vs. Itsuki Yamazaki 18:44. This is basically the pro-wrestling version of a horror movie. Dump Matsumoto played the role of Michael Myers, while Itsuki Yamazaki played the role of Laurie Strode. Dump didn't get to fight the girls with long hair very often (not that there were too many of them), so you could imagine where this one was going. This was supreme Dump chaos, with some brilliance from Yamazaki thrown in. Yamazaki hurled herself at Dump at the start and that didn't work, so she willed herself into a takedown. Dump mostly looked unamused by that. Dump was just looking to bully Yamazaki and cut her hair, but Yamazaki kept coming at her. Bull snuck in and placed scissors in Dumps hand. Yamazaki looked like she'd seen a ghost, and fled. Dump kept coming after Yamazaki with scissors, while Yamazaki looked scared to death. The babyface seconds would swarm in the ring whenever Dump started cutting her hair. Yamazaki made a great comeback when Dump and Bull tried a double team lariat using a metal pipe. Yamazaki grabbed it, flipped over it, and kicked them both down at the same time. Tateno came in to help out with some double teaming, but it was shortlived because Bull came in and attacked the referee, and everyone piled in when Dump went for the scissors again. The babyface seconds gave Dump a stomping, and in a funny moment, Dump just stood looking unimpressed by it all, and nailed Ogura with the scissors. Dump finally started trying to the win the match, hitting some wrestling moves, a lariat, backdrop suplex. She even did a press slam, but Yamazaki wasn't staying down. Dump did a superplex that apparently she wasn't comfortable doing because it took about 30 seconds to set up, but at least she tried. She even tried a dive, going for the big splash off the top rope, but Yamazaki avoided it, and made another comeback. Yamazaki whipped the referee (Crane Yu) into a Dump, which was certainly different, and then hit a big missile dropkick. The problem was the referee was being held back by the heels. Yamazaki got some revenge for the weapons, cracking Dump in the head multiple times with a shinai, but she got tied up with a chain. The scissors made another return, and now there was a haircut going down. Yamazaki had chunks of it cut off here, and that was about good enough for Dump. From there, it was a melee outside until the double count out happened. Yamazaki started out like a frightened and traumatized victim at the first sight of the scissors, and did a very convincing job of it, but she got past it and came back at Dump all match, never backing down and even getting Dump to wrestle her and try to pin her. Of course, it didn't end well for Yamazaki, after all there was a hair match in November to build up. The only thing that could have put it more over the top was if there was blood, but it didn't need it. ***3/4

9/17/86: Itsuki Yamazaki vs. Noriyo Tateno 17:13. The JB Angels '86 fight was disappointing. It was technically fine, but they were going through the motions here. They weren't the only ones, as the match that followed saw Chigusa work a comedy match in the tag league. The building appeared to be a hotbox, and their offense didn't have the usual oomph to it towards the end. It was mostly a mat battle with submissions before they got to the finishing sequence. Yamazaki fired up here and there, but she wasn't at her usual standards, and Tateno, while technically competent, didn't look particularly motivated. **

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

4/27/87 Noriyo Tateno vs. Itsuki Yamazaki 8:05. This was the final regular televised match these two together - they had two more in 1989, the weird double match at Wrestlemarinepiad and Yamazaki's retirement match. This one was looking like it would be a lot better than their '86 match. The action was good while it lasted, but it was half as long as it should have been and finished with a double count out. **

7/16/87 WWF, WWF Women's Tag Team Title Match: Judy Martin & Leilani Kai vs. Itsuki Yamazaki & Noriyo Tateno 10:31. This was the second televised match the JB Angels had with the Glamour Girls in the WWF. The first one was okay, but it was their first time working together, and they had a few issues. Those were resolved after a few weeks of working house show matches together, and resulted in a much better match here. They were still on their tryout run, and these matches were good enough to convince Vince it would work, and they'd return for the proper run later in the year. ***

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. 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

11/24/87 WWF, WWF Women's Tag Team Title Match: Judy Martin & Leilani Kai vs. Itsuki Yamazaki & Noriyo Tateno 13:59. The semi-legendary Madison Square Garden match. 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 protest, 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. ****

1/24/88 WWF, 2/3 Falls, WWF Women's Tag Team Title Match: Judy Martin & Leilani Kai vs. Itsuki Yamazaki & Noriyo Tateno 6:12, 1:53, 5:51. Far from the best JB Angels vs. Glamour Girls match, but their most famous due to being a title switch, and taking place on a major event. Given the quality of American women's wrestling at the time, and even for about the 25 years that followed, it's easy to see why this match gets overrated. Vince's commentary is something else. He didn't know their names, so he decided to call one Pink and the other one Red. Then later when he learned their names, it was 'Ituski and Norino'. The action was generally pretty good, and it's an easy match to watch, but there's some noticeable sloppiness with both the JB Angels missing moves. The match wasn't particularly fleshed out either, lacking a heat segment which the third fall needed to lead into the finish. The finish was still hot, and the JB Angels got a huge pop for winning, even if the finish was blown. The JB Angels hit a double missile dropkick to Martin, and Tateno got the pin, but she hooked Martin's arm so it was well off the mat. Jesse Ventura was the only one who cared though. **3/4

4/2/88 WWF Women's Tag Title Match: Itsuki Yamazaki & Noriyo Tateno vs. Yumiko Hotta & Mitsuko Nishiwaki 12:11. JB Angels return to Japan. It was fairly back and forth, with neither team having the advantage for long, and there were some clever double teams from the JB Angels to keep control. The action was good throughout. It wasn't a higher end JB Angels performance, but they were good, and carried the youngsters well. Fire Jets were mostly fine, if not particularly impressive. There were a couple of hiccups on the way, though they worked pretty well as a unit. Yamazaki and Hotta had the best exchanges because Yamazaki worked some niggle between the two. It wasn't a lot, but it was enough to make their exchanges a little more interesting. They kept it clean until Yamazaki decided to rough Nishiwaki up on the outside, though it didn't amount to much. The Fire Jets took over in the ring, and looked to put her away with their big spots, with Nishiwaki ending up with a good near fall from powerbomb. Yamazaki fought out of a double team, but came back quickly, and Tateno leapt up top. The two hit missile dropkicks to both opponents. Tateno charged at Nishiwaki, but got dumped outside while Yamazaki was giving Hotta a piledriver. Nishiwaki went over to Yamazaki, but she pinned her immediately with a crucifix. As a match clearly designed to make Hotta and Nishiwaki before beating them, this worked well, and it was a good match. ***

5/15/88: Chigusa Nagayo & Lioness Asuka vs. Noriyo Tateno & Itsuki Yamazaki 15:07 of 18:19. The final encounter between the Crush Gals and the JB Angels. Lioness pounced immediately, and hit a Giant Swing on Yamazaki, then Chigusa hit a lariat. Yamazaki fought her way to a takedown on Lioness, but had to scramble to get to the ropes. Chigusa aggressively went after Yamazaki with kicks, but got dumped. Lioness was straight in, and the two slugged at each other. It seemed the Crush Gals hadn't forgotten about their tag league defeat in 1987, but their over-aggression cost them early. The match slowed down, which was more in the Crush Gals wheelhouse, but they still couldn't get anything going. When Chigusa tried to outwrestle Tateno, Tateno turned into a double arm suplex and Yamazaki targeted her arm. Chigusa almost suplexed her way out of it, but Yamazaki held onto the arm and then Tateno joined in, jumping on Chigusa's outstretched arm. JB Angels effectively prevented Chigusa from making the tag, frustrating Lioness and the fans. Tateno dove off on the arm, and dropped elbows on her aggressively while glaring at the crowd. Chigusa wanted a tag, so Tateno kicked Lioness, and dragged her back to Yamazaki. Yamazaki did her flying armdrag in, which almost always ensures a tag, but was smart enough to maintain hold of Chigusa's arm. Chigusa once again got fingertips away from making the tag, but Yamazaki pulled her away. Lioness was ready to kill them at this point. Yamazaki didn't care, and hit a double arm suplex, executing her pin attempt with a knee driven into Chigusa's shoulder. Chigusa eventually managed to make the tag to Lioness, leading to a brief moment where the Crush Gals seemed poised to dismantle them. However, the JB Angels had other plans. Yamazaki avoided Lioness's diving elbow, and Tateno bailed out. Crush Gals tried to rough them up outside, but Lioness kicked the ringpost. The JB Angels tried to keep the Crush Gals out for a count out win, with the crowd going berserk, but they weren't successful. When the Crush Gals returned, the JB Angels rammed them into each other. Lioness came back, and Chigusa entered with a flying knee. Chigusa and Yamazaki fought for each others back and exchanged German Suplexes. Yamazaki took to the air with a missile dropkick, and Chigusa came back at her with a Northern Light's suplex. Tateno entered the fray, assisting with a lariat. Lioness got the tag in, but was cut off immediately, and Tateno dove off the top with a clothesline. She wanted to slow it down and work over Lioness's knee, but they should have stuck with the faster paced stuff, as Lioness took over from that. The Crush Gals then completely shut down the JB Angels. This was brilliant. They hit their spots, and the JB Angels would switch and immediately be pounced on. Tateno managed to blind tag Yamazaki to give them a way back in, and Yamazaki snuck in for a German Suplex. Now the JB Angels were back in the game. Tateno hit a piledriver for a near fall. They hit the double diving headbutts that won them the 1987 match, but Lioness survived it. It all broke down afterwards, and Lioness managed to finish the match with a backdrop suplex on Yamazaki. Another great match between the teams. The JB Angels had more viciousness than last time, which added nicely to the match, and the extended heat section was brilliant. The Crush Gals never dominated the JB Angels this time. They got caught in the Crush Gals onslaught, but worked their own way out of it. The Crush Gals were still the stronger team, so they won in the end. ****1/2

6/8/88 WWF Women's Tag Title Match: Itsuki Yamazaki & Noriyo Tateno vs. Leilani Kai & Judy Martin 10:30 of 19:04. This is Moolah's imfamous sabotage. Ahead of this match, she called Judy Martin and told her the JB Angels needed to drop the belts to them on the last night there, and that's what they did. It turned out to be a lie, and screwed up the plans the WWF had for WrestleMania V. The tag belts were scrapped, and the JB Angels were never invited back. Surprisingly, of all the televised matches between these two teams, the worst one was the one that took place in the All Japan Women ring. It was just an uninspiring 10 minutes with a lousy count out finish after a brawl outside. If the WWF really wanted to keep the program going, they could have easily just explained that their titles don't change hands on count outs, and given them back to the JB Angels (or ignored it, because no would have even known the title switch happened outside of Japan). *3/4

7/19/88 All Pacific Title Match: Chigusa Nagayo vs. Noriyo Tateno 12:52 of 18:23. Chigusa's second All Pacific Title defense of 1988, after defeating Bull Nakano on 4/2/88. The early salvos of running attacks went nowhere, so they were quickly onto the mat, and it was good and competitive, Tateno can be known to just sit around in the holds, but they worked for positions. She wasn't afraid to bend the rules, knowing Chigusa was stronger than her there, resorting to biting. Chigusa used running spots to make it easier on the mat, but when Tateno had the chance, she went in for the kill. Chigusa worked on Tateno's leg. Tateno repeatedly kicked her in the head to break a leglock, but Chigusa was stubborn and hung on. She'd upset Chigusa, who changed her game plan to get revenge with her own kicks, and hers did a lot more damage than Tateno's. Chigusa got a near fall with a leg lariat from the top rope. Tateno came back, blocking another leg lariat and hitting a two Germans. She wanted a third, but Chigusa put her in a sleeper, and Tateno made the ropes with Yamazaki pouring water on her neck to wake her up. It must have worked because Tateno countered Chigusa's German Suplex and looked to go on a burst, but Chigusa was too clever. She got the sleeper on again, and there was no escape for Tateno this time. The work here was really good even if it was quite a basic Chigusa match, and the conclusion was never really in doubt. You couldn't really buy Tateno as a threat to her. ***1/2

8/6/88: Mitsuko Nishiwaki & Yumiko Hotta vs. Noriyo Tateno & Itsuki Yamazaki 9:47 of 14:21. This was a rematch from 4/2/88. After being defeated there, the Fire Jets (or FIER JETS if we were to judge by Hotta's swimsuit) were a little more aggressive this time, starting with cheap shots to get them an advantage to start. The problem for them was that the JB Angels can do the same, and they're still more skilled. Yamazaki and Tateno had answers for the Fire Jets, but the Fire Jets found success through double teams. This went in the similar fashion to their April match, but the work was better this time, particularly from the Fire Jets. Once they got control and maintained it they worked over Yamazaki's leg. Tateno made the fired up comeback off the hot tag, but Yamazaki missed a diving headbutt after receiving the tag. Yamazaki's knee was still bad, so Nishiwaki desperately hammered her knee when she was trying to get to the corner and kept her in the ring. Hotta dropped an elbow from the top and looked to put Yamazaki away, but Tateno intervened. Tateno took over briefly, but was countered by Hotta, who turned her body attack into a slam. Fire Jets tried another double team, but Tateno thwarted it. Yamazaki got kicked off the top rope, and they all fought out resulting in a count out. ***1/4

9/17/88 Tag League The Best '88 League Match: Mika Suzuki & Hisako Uno vs. Itsuki Yamazaki & Noriyo Tateno 6:13 of 9:56. Short, and made shorter for TV, this was a good, hyper speed sprint while it lasted. They just got into the spots and blew through everything. At the end, they all missed dives and brawled outside for a double count out. This was the last proper televised JB Angels tag match (until their reunion 20 years later), and even though it's heavily abbreviated, it was fun one to finish with. ***

10/20/88: Lioness Asuka vs. Itsuki Yamazaki 8:50. The match here isn't much to speak of, they were going through the motions, and it was too short. Technically fine, but their matches from 1984 and 1987 were better (though they were always clipped heavily by Fuji TV with most clocking in about 6 minutes). The reason this one is notable is that Yamazaki actually got a clean pinfall over Lioness with a crucifix. I'm not sure what the point of it was though, given that was seen as the main event by the Matsunaga's, and was being phased down, while Lioness was to have a run with the red belt. **

5/6/89 Simultaneous matches: Noriyo Tateno vs. Itsuki Yamazaki 12:00 & Bull Nakano vs. Yumi Ogura 13:48. There were two rings set up for this show for a train wreck battle royal match, so they decided to try a new concept by having two matches at once in the separate rings. The concept just didn't work at all because you can't follow two simultaneous matches with the camera cutting between both. It's an interesting concept that might be workable in more modern times, but not in 1989. Both matches appeared to be good, and were probably better than anything else on the show (this was one of the worst big shows in the history of All Japan Women), but were ruined by both of them occurring simultaneously. **1/2

5/14/89 Itsuki Yamazaki Retirement 5 Minute Exhibition Match: Itsuki Yamazaki vs. Noriyo Tateno. Yamazaki got a nice retirement. Fuji TV did an interview and a career retrospective, and then she wrestled Tateno to finish up her Zenjo career, and they sang their (non) hit song, Chance, one more time.

5/25/90 JWP: Itsuki Yamazaki vs. Plum Mariko 14:09. Itsuki Yamazaki, along with just about everyone else remaining from the pre-1985 classes, retired in 1989, making a return to the scene in JWP a year later and having a great 19 month run before retiring again. Unlike many who retire and join other leagues, Yamazaki's motivation and effort were always at a maximum. She worked just as hard in JWP as she did in All Japan Women, but she was a different worker, more like her mentors Devil Masami and Jaguar Yokota. She still had her high spots, but used them more sparingly. She worked the veteran role, smarter and having the heel edge that we didn't see a lot of by the mid-80s. This match was about getting back into it after a year off. She was working with a good young wrestler in Plum Mariko, who could keep up with her and was easy to lead. The opening saw Plum deliver a German Suplex, catching Yamazaki and doing some damage to her neck, so Plum looked target it, but it wasn't long before she was outskilled. Yamazaki lifted her up while she was in a body scissors and slamming her down. Yamazaki utlilized a sleeper and later, a headlock, but not in the common way. Here she would apply it briefly as set up, then quickly deliver a move before reapplying it. Plum didn't have an answer, but got a reprieve when Yamazaki dragged her outside, and threw her into the guardrail. They restarted, and Yamazaki hit her flying armdrag, and then Plum made a hot comeback. Plum made a good comeback, firing up and hitting a running attacks. The flying knee looked great, then Plum took some revenge for the sleeper, which she had some success. Yamazaki tried to knee her in the head to get out of it, but Plum held on, crossed her legs over Yamazaki's so that wasn't an option, but Yamazaki still worked her way out. Coming off that, Yamazaki hit her diving sunset flip from the second rope, then looked to go for the arm, but Plum took her down into her kneebar. Yamazaki escaped it, but Plum kept finding ways to come off the ropes and reapply it. Yamazaki didn't mind bending the rules to get out of it, and managed to do so. The first thing Yamazaki did after getting out was a big kneebreaker, and then limped over to other side to hit a great missile dropkick. She looked for her vaulting kick, but Plum kicked her off the apron. Plum gave her a piledriver out there, and went for a plancha, but Yamazaki avoided it. They both went for dropkicks in the ring, and Plum got a couple of suplexes, including a superplex. Yamazaki was just one step ahead of her, escaping her crab attempt and hitting a rolling attack. Then Plum leapt over Yamazaki and went into the corner looking for a body press, but Yamazaki walked straight into it to roll through it for a near fall. Plum avoided Yamazaki's missile dropkick. Yamazaki was exhausted. Plum went for a corner charge, but Yamazaki kneed her, and finished with a diving headbutt. Any idea that Yamazaki had come to JWP to coast was dispelled immediately. She pushed herself with Plum, and went until she was exhausted, giving her a very hard working, competitive match. Plum was in top form, keeping up every step of the way. While the result was never in doubt, there was enough drama. It was compelling to see how far Plum could push her and close she could get. ****

8/12/90 JWP Tag Tournament Final: Devil Masami & Itsuki Yamazaki vs. Miss A & Harley Saito 24:34 of 30:00. Properly built long match that really had only one problem with it; they booked a tournament with the final going to a time limit draw. Devil and Yamazaki were reunited, and this was before the days where all Miss A and Harley wanted to do was kill each other. Everyone was in and out early, not wanting to give anyone anything or let anything settle. They all fought for their advantages, but couldn't maintain them. They settled in with Yamazaki and Devil working sleeper holds on Harley and grinding her down. A got the hot tag and worked over Yamazaki's knee. This portion was a little better than the previous one because Yamazaki was trying to fight her way out all the time. She was unable to, though she kept glancing over to Devil, who eventually got the hint and came in, solving things by powerbombing Miss A. Devil worked a choke on A, and when A worked her way over to the rope, Yamazaki dragged her outside and mugged her. They worked in a neat spot where Devil did the Romero Special and when Harley ran in to stop it, Yamazaki dove over A and onto Harley. While the middle section of the match remained compelling, with little mini-battles going on all the time which kept it interesting, it was undeniably slow, even with the 5 cut minutes taking place during this period. Another neat battle was Devil putting the Romero Special on Harley, which A broke up, so she just did it again and Yamazaki did a flying crosschop to Harley while she was in it. Devil started going in for the kill on Harley with a giant superplex, but was accidentally taken out by Yamazaki's missile dropkick. Harley tagged out, and A and Devil clobbered each other with lariats for a double down. The final minutes were excellent, with everyone going for the big spots with believable near falls. Yamazaki caught A with the nastiest missile dropkick, smashing her in the mouth. Harley tried to tombstone Devil, and Devil fell back on her. Devil was probably supposed to reverse, but her amused, prideful reaction to it made it better. It got frantic at the end, with Devil and A going for pins, but the time expired, and it ended up a draw. This was a very good match, but would have benefit from being more like 20 minutes, and obviously, having a winner in a tournament final is preferred to a draw. ***1/2

9/30/90 JWP: Rumi Kazama & Shinobu Kandori vs. Devil Masami & Itsuki Yamazaki 15:15. Devil and Yamazaki controlled much of the action through size, skill, and using underhanded tactics and double teams when needed. Kazama mostly got beat on, but made it count when she'd get her offense in, unleashing a barrage of violent kicks when the opportunity arose. Kandori got dominated a lot more than usual by the veterans, but would always fight back, and it was always clear the match could end anytime if she hooked on a submission. Yamazaki picked up the speed and intensity whenever she was in the ring, while Devil was in full giant mode. After getting destroyed for most of the match, the best exchange came when Devil thought she could wear Kazama's kicks but got rocked by one, then Kazama kept laying them in and took her down. Devil ended up winning the exchange, which hurt it's impact, but Kazama at least softened her up so Kandori could get a nice near fall with a Tiger Driver. Towards the end, the match broke down with all four in the ring, and then they had a big brawl on the outside. It appeared Devil was having her way with Kazama, but she didn't put her away. The finish itself was a creative one where all the saves the veterans were making came back and cost them. Devil tagged Yamazaki, who missed a dive coming in. Kandori came in to take over, but Devil cut her off with a lariat. Kazama tried to thwart Devil's interference while Yamazaki gave Kandori a piledriver for a two count. As Yamazaki was pulling Kandori up, Devil shoved Kazama into Yamazaki by mistake, and Kandori capitalized with a small package to win. ***3/4

12/24/90 JWP: Devil Masami & The Scorpion vs. Miss A & Itsuki Yamazaki 17:53. This appeared to be going in the direction of Devil and Miss A having a slow, heavyweight, hard hitting power match between them while Yamazaki and Scorpion would work fast and more technical, but only lasted a couple of exchanges. It was mainly a slower paced match from there with Yamazaki or Scorpion occasionally quickening things up, but with the match they worked, it meant Scorpion was too small to really fit in, though they gave her plenty of chances to shine, and she did. A and Yamazaki were good, but it wasn't either of their strongest performances of the year. Devil was the one holding things together because of her timing and the micro-stories she works in. It did build up well, and got really good by the end. The first finish was a bit odd though, coming at the 13 minute mark. Miss A hit a lariat on Scorpion and she just didn't kick out of it. That wasn't supposed to be the finish, either Scorpion was supposed to kick out or Devil was supposed to break it up (I think Devil was supposed to break it up, but Yamazaki's attempt to stop her was little more effective than it should have been, knocking her off balance so she wasn't unable to). They just restarted the match with a 5 minute time limit, and this was a really good and urgent phase, with poor Scorpion getting pinned again, this time after a piledriver from Yamazaki and a diving headbutt from A. ***1/2

1/6/91 JWP UWA International Champion Decision Tournament 1st Round: Miss A vs. Itsuki Yamazaki 16:46. Yamazaki is an intelligent veteran technician, while A is basically a straight ahead brute. She's extremely dangerous, but predictable enough for a crafty veteran to exploit. Right from the start, A tried to run through Yamazaki, nailing a lariat and dragging her outside, but Yamazaki caught her leg and rammed it into the post. Yamazaki was focused on the leg, and used it to constantly cut off A's attempts to make comebacks and keep control. Yamazaki's attacks to the knee are good, keeping Kansai constantly looking for ways to fight back, but when she does land a blow, it's a devastating one, re-emphasizing how dangerous she is. Yamazaki remained a step ahead and wasn't afraid to get inside A's head either. After Kansai took a breather to regroup, Yamazaki spat water on her, and taunted her to get back in. A obliged and played right into her hands, going for a predictable kick, which Yamazaki caught and once again put her back in her place. There was a nice simple leglock spot where Kansai tried power out of it, so Yamazaki quickly kicked her to put a stop to that and then reapplied it, forcing her to struggle to the ropes. A was finally able to answer Yamazaki, countering a forearm shot and hitting a Northern Light's suplex. She returned the favor with some leg work of her own, and there was another great little spot where A had a figure four on Yamazaki, and Yamazaki was trying to punch her way out of it with A kicking her in response. Little touches like that and Yamazaki getting brief reversals in and elevating herself for added pressure turned the simple spot we see in every match into something really interesting that you didn't want to take your eyes off of. A had Yamazaki in some trouble, and was able to start teeing off with kicks. Yamazaki couldn't do much with A hammering away, but she was able to avoid a corner charge and quickly hit a missile dropkick. Yamazaki went up again and hit her reverse body attack. The diving headbutt was to come next, but A was stirring, so Yamazaki thought better of it, opting to jump down and give her a piledriver first before going back up top to hit the headbutt. Kansai came back with a tombstone piledriver, but missed her diving headbutt. Yamazaki made it up first and charged, but only walked into a crushing lariat and A got the pin with it. The finish could be described as abrupt, but it did an effective job of putting over how dangerous A is. This was a really smart, and well worked match. ****

3/17/91 Noriyo Tateno Retirement Match 5 Minute Exhibition: Noriyo Tateno vs. Takako Inoue. After a couple of years of doing nothing after Yamazaki retired, it was Tateno's turn. This was a great retirement ceremony, emotional, but more upbeat and didn't have a sad tone like the retirements of most of her peers in the 80s. Even though she would eventually join LLPW and stick around until 2010, she had been wanting to retire since 1989, and was managing a karaoke bar at this time. Everyone who came to the show was given discount coupons for drinks there. She was carried out to the ring with a host of legends with her, Jaguar Yokota, Lioness Asuka, Jumbo Hori (and her kid), Crane Yu, Mitsuko Nishiwaki, and Dump Matsumoto were the ones I could see. Itsuki Yamazaki was there too, she was at the back during the entrance, and could be seen in the crowd, but didn't come into the ring after the match, presumably because she was working for the rival promotion. Tateno did of all her old spots with Takako, and the match was alright. The ceremony followed and afterward, Dump gave her a lariat, Lioness a giant swing, and Jaguar showed she still had the best missile dropkick, even after being retired for 5 years.

4/26/91 JWP: Devil Masami & Rumi Kazama vs. Miss A & Itsuki Yamazaki 16:30. It was the Yamazaki and Masami show, which was a good thing for the quality of the match. A was great here, but didn't feature as much. They spent a lot of the match nullifying Masami's leg, but couldn't get the job done, as Kazama kept running in to break things up. She had a really good match too, but also in a lesser role. She was constantly antagonizing A & Yamazaki, who were getting more fed up with it as it went on. Masami ended up press slamming Yamazaki the outside, but her aggressiveness cost her. She'd demolished Kazama with one lariat earlier by mistake, which resulted in a great near fall, and then tried to jumbo suplex her onto A, but A moved and immediately followed up with a lariat to win. ***1/2

5/25/91 JWP: Devil Masami & Hikari Fukuoka vs. Itsuki Yamazaki & Cuty Suzuki 13:45. Masami dominated whenever she was in, and Fukuoka just got beat on, hitting the odd dropkick here and there and sneaking in for a crab, which was her big moment in the match. Yamazaki was on fire, thrashing Fukuoka, and had some really good encounters with Masami. Masami tried give her young partner a big moment at the end, hitting a diving bodypress, but she missed, and Masami could only shake her head, while Yamazaki easily put her away afterward. ***1/2

8/8/91 JWP: Dynamite Kansai & The Scorpion vs. Harley Saito & Itsuki Yamazaki 18:30. JWP really hit their groove with these tags where they lay into each other every chance they get. Yamazaki was an amazing addition, who made for a much faster paced match than 8/4. It didn't take long for her to make her presence felt, and she got this off to a great start. Kansai was staring a hole through Harley and couldn't wait to start fighting with her, so Yamazaki jumped her, dragged her outside and threw her into the guard rail twice (no one takes a guard rail bump like Kansai) before feeding her to Harley to deliver some stiff kicks. Kansai was pretty much seething. She already wanted to kill Harley, but now she was looking for revenge on Yamazaki too. Yamazaki always got the best of her, and wasn't afraid to break the rules to do it. When Yamazaki was looking to settle into some matwork on Scorpion, Kansai came in with a kick, quickly tagged in but Yamazaki was quick and scrambled to get some room, grabbed Kansai's foot and raked the eyes. Yamazaki's effectiveness in shutting down Kansai was on display, as it had been in their singles match earlier in the year, but here, she was always looking to set her up for Harley to come in with the advantage. Scorpion had Yamazaki in a leglock that wasn't at all threatening, but Yamazaki still had to make the ropes, which put her within arms reach of Kansai, who took another opportunity to attempt some revenge by dragging her outside and throwing her into the guard rail. They brawled in the crowd, but Yamazaki turned the tide on her again, so Kansai still wasn't totally satisfied. Kansai being overaggressive got her into trouble every time, but she's Kansai, so she could survive. Yamazaki missed a reverse body attack on Scorpion, both of them tagged out and Kansai sprinted to Harley with complete tunnel vision, seemingly not realizing Yamazaki was still in the ring, so Yamazaki grabbed her and held for Harley to tee off with vicious kicks. Kansai was once again being dominated, but she was again able to wear the damage and fire back. There was a great moment late in the match when Kansai thought she had Yamazaki right where she wanted her, countering her headlock into a backdrop suplex, and unloading kicks to the chest. Yamazaki isn't a renown shootkicker, but she'll find an answer one way or another. She can boot you really hard and scrap when she needs to, and that's what she did here. She caught Kansai in the mouth and started going for her head, completely overwhelming her in the process. Harley and Yamazaki began to briefly work over Kansai's arm, but couldn't get far, as Kansai returned the favor and kicked Yamazaki in the mouth to put a stop to that. We got back to Harley and Kansai one more time with another brief but intense exchange, trading elbows, which Kansai finished with a backdrop suplex. Kansai missed her diving headbutt and Yamazaki quickly missile dropkicked her, sending her out the floor. On her way out, Scorpion switched in, so Yamazaki set her up on the turnbuckle for Harley, then completely took Kansai out of the match with a tope while Harley finished Scorpion with a Tiger suplex. Scorpion didn't have much of a role in the match outside of holding things over for Kansai again, but she fit in much better with the higher pace and two opponents who she could work her style with. She doesn't really engage in the stiff and aggressive style the opposition was doing with Kansai, but the contrast worked here. Her lucha spots looked good, and they never seemed out of place. The Harley vs. Kansai rivalry continued to build, and both had another excellent showing, but as good as they were, Yamazaki was on another level and really carried this match to be one of the best original JWP matches. ****1/2

8/30/91 JWP Devil Masami vs. Itsuki Yamazaki 19:02. Yamazaki initiated her attack on Devil before the bell sounded with a missile dropkick and a dive from the top rope. Yamazaki tried to continue when Devil was on the apron, but got caught and press slammed onto the top rope. Devil slowed it down on the mat, and they had a good battle with Yamazaki outworking Devil to get the leg while Devil would counter her and try to stretch her, which included a Romero Special with her foot driven into Yamazaki's back. Devil tried to play to the crowd while stomping on Yamazaki's hand and Yamazaki wouldn't let her. Devil tried an early powerbomb and Yamazaki dumped her. Devil tried another powerbomb on the floor, but Yamazaki turned it into a rana, and missed a dive from the top turnbuckle. Devil went after Yamazaki's arm and started to get more urgent and vicious as Yamazaki defended herself, though after a couple of arm wringers, Yamazaki was writhing in pain, and Devil felt all was under control. Yamazaki bailed outside for a reprieve, but Devil didn't give her one until she'd thrown her into the guard rail. Yamazaki returned, wounded, and tried to fight on. She managed a vaulting kick, but missed a missile dropkick. She was able to ram Devil into the ringpost and counter Devil's brainbuster to hit a dropkick. Yamazaki went after Devil's leg, following her outside and stomping it. Yamazaki had wrestled as a pure babyface in the match to this point, but was realizing she'd have to utilize everything she knew to truly compete with Devil. She got more vicious with her knee attacks, and stomped all over the ankle, and now it was Devil writhing in pain, almost in tears and unable to get up. Yamazaki dared her to get up and Devil did, just so Yamazaki could take her down with a toe hold and another submission. Yamazaki waited again for Devil to get up, Devil did and almost fought back. but Yamazaki just took her down again. Devil made the ropes so Yamazaki stomped on her hand, she had everything under control, and was just daring Devil to fight back. Devil hit a neckbreaker drop and a powerbomb, but collapsed afterward. She foolishly went up to the top rope and Yamazaki recovered to meet her, but Devil threw her own. Devil tried a diving headbutt, but missed, and they were both down again. Devil hit another powerbomb for a near fall. Yamazaki tried a rana coming off he ropes, but got powerbombed again. Devil still couldn't finish her. Another powerbomb attempt was rolled through, and Yamazaki pinned her. In the end, Masami only had one trick left, and the protege finally defeated the master. This was a slow paced, at times a little too slow, psychology heavy war with excellent twists and turns. It was a shame Yamazaki would retire at the end of the year. ****

10/10/91 JWP: Itsuki Yamazaki vs. Shinobu Kandori 9:40. Yamazaki attempted to play Kandori's game initially, but that wasn't a good idea, although she was able to slip away from Kandori's submissions before any harm was done. She shifted gears, but that didn't work for long either. Kandori went for submissions in the ring and Yamazaki scrambled to the ropes. Yamazaki almost flash pinned Kandori early, upsetting her, but stunned her soon after when she hotshotted her, and gave her a few of Kandori's own boot scrapes, eventually applying a sleeper and body scissors combination. Kandori managed to work her way out, responding with a slap and a corner lariat. However, Yamazaki quickly rebounded, firing out of the corner with a roll-up attempt. Yamazaki then attempted a top-rope armdrag, but Kandori countered violently by yanking her down to the mat. Kandori attempted an arm submission, but Yamazaki quickly reached the ropes. Yamazaki then evaded a lariat and went for a manjigatame, which she transitoned to a jujigatame, but Kandori worked out of it, went for the leg, but Yamazaki made the ropes again. They exchanged dropkicks after that. Yamazaki aimed to deliver a beating to Kandori outside, but that backfired, and Kandori wouldn't even allow her to return to the ring before she bodyslammed her on the floor. Kandori followed up in the ring with two nasty backhand slaps, but Yamazaki retaliated with a backdrop suplex. Yamazaki continued her offensive with a missile dropkick to the back of Kandori's head, followed by a diving headbutt. Kandori answered with a tiger driver. Yamazaki attempted a crucifix pin. These were some really close near falls. Yamazaki ascended to the top rope again, and Kandori met her but was kicked off. Yamazaki missed her missile dropkick though, and Kandori locked in her crab to get the submission win. 9:40 sounds like a short match, but they did a lot with that time, and didn't need any more. This was one hell of a little match. These two weren't really naturals opponents, but if you'd paid attention to Yamazaki's JWP run, it would come as no surprise that she'd be able to work a strong match with Kandori. ***1/2

12/7/91 JWP: Harley Saito, Itsuki Yamazaki & Hikari Fukuoka vs. Dynamite Kansai, Eagle Sawai & Reiko Hoshino 13:21. After being unmasked in October, the Scorpion switched to using her real name, Reiko Hoshino. This match is the last match for both Hoshino and Itsuki Yamazaki on tape. Yamazaki retired at the end of the year, while I believe Hoshino stuck it out for the last month, and just didn't join either of the splinter groups. Given the state of JWP at this point (no one was getting paid), it's hard to blame Yamazaki for bailing the titanic early, but it would have been great if they stuck it out in the new JWP. Lots of in and out tags, and really good action from start to finish. Fukuoka got beat on and roughed up early, but got a chance later to do Manami Toyota spots on Hoshino later on. Kansai and Harley continued to kick the crap out of each other like they've been doing for months. Hoshino did a couple of exciting spots, and Yamazaki was up to her usual excellent standards. ***1/2

3/16/93 LLPW: Rumi Kazama & Miki Handa vs. Noriyo Tateno & Utako Hozumi 12:23 of 15:36. This was a good, ill-tempered match that exemplified what LLPW did well. They put emphasis on matwork and double teams. The action was good, with a nice mid-tempo to it, and heated throughout. Tateno led the way with her heeling. She was biting, hair pulling, and mugging people on the outside, often leading to revenge spots later from Kazama. Hozumi and Handa worked faster paced sections. Handa was the best technically. Hozumi was getting quite good around this time. Tateno brought the heat and Kazama brought… a great resting bitchface. Handa ended up pinning Hozumi with a German Suplex hold, but Hozumi kept fighting after the match. ***1/2

5/29/94 LLPW: Rumi Kazama & Noriyo Tateno vs. Eagle Sawai & Harley Saito 18:58. Got off to a good start, and was really good once Eagle and Harley went after Kazama’s leg. Harley gave a reminder of how good she is with her kicks and submissions, and Eagle was on fire as well. Tateno’s hot tag was lame. She ran in house afire for a whole two moves, then failed a Romero Special on Eagle (not for the first time, and why you’d try that move on someone twice the size of you is beyond me), and then she tagged out. They had a really good final portion hitting big moves, and then it turned into chaos. Tateno and Kazama won a brawl on the outside, so Eagle went nuts with a chair. Kazama did a Plancha and Tateno did a tope soon after, then brought a table in the ring, and gave Harley a spike piledriver on it, causing the DQ. ***1/2

7/14/94 LLPW Harley Saito & Noriyo Tateno vs. Kyoko Inoue & Takako Inoue 7:21 of 13:29. It’s too bad half of this was clipped because it appeared to be a really good match from what they showed. All action and good spots. They were all contributing. Kyoko and Harley were the best. Tateno did a bit more than she normally does. ***1/4

8/14/94 LLPW One Night Tournament Final: Harley Saito vs. Noriyo Tateno 14:08 of 18:55. This was the finals of a three match, one night tournament. Tateno started with a good match with Eagle Sawai, which she won with a little help from Yasha Kurenai, who had advanced onto the second round, and thought she’d have better luck with Tateno than Eagle. She didn’t, as Tateno beat her in 5 minutes in a poor match. Harley blew through Mizuki Endo, and won a good sprint with Miki Handa to get to the finals. This was a really good, slow paced, well worked match, one of the best singles matches in LLPW’s history. It was largely contested on the mat, with Tateno going after Harley’s leg. Harley would fight out and get her chances, only for Tateno to counter back. While Tateno was good with the '80s style matwork, her execution at this point in her career of her bigger spots and faster paced bursts wasn’t what it was in her prime. She was good enough though, and nothing she did looked bad, it just lacked the same impact. The finishing run was well worked with really good runs and near falls from each, and you really had no idea which way the match was going to go. ***1/2

2/10/95 LLPW: Shinobu Kandori & Rumi Kazama vs. Harley Saito & Noriyo Tateno 16:46. As usual, Harley was the best of the bunch here, but everyone gave a proper effort. Kandori had opponents she respected, Tateno tried for a change, and they made it one of the better LLPW matches. They got into a big brawl outside after 12 minutes where Harley was taken out, leaving Tateno to fight alone, which got the crowd chanting for her. She did a really bad la magistral on Kandori, probably the only bad spot they did, but it served a purpose in Kandori getting a hold of the arm, you’d think that would’ve finished, but Harley made it back just in time to make the save, which actually made it seem possible that Tateno might win. It was over soon after though. She got a close near fall from a Harley spin kick, but Kandori grabbed the arm again and submitted her. ***3/4

4/25/95 LLPW Noriyo Tateno & Yasha Kurenai vs. Miki Handa & Michiko Nagashima 16:44. Miki Handa had recently turned heel and went on the best run of her career before it was sadly cut short by injury later in 1995. This was the best match of the run. The match was supposed to be Tateno & Handa vs. Yasha & Nagashima, but Nagashima wanted the teams changed, so they switched. She made the right call ditching Yasha for Miki. Miki and Nagashima went on a chair shot assault and brawled on the outside, Yasha turned the tide though, and took over in the ring. Miki was there to help out her new partner though. They got heat on Yasha, and ran through all the heel tactics they knew. Tateno got the hot tag, and was looking to hit her bursts, but Miki kept stopping her short, which infuriated Tateno, and she just started slapping Miki until Nagashima took over, then Tateno got in her burst on Miki to a huge pop. This part was great, and it was only the start. Tateno fired up, and her and Miki had some really good, hate filled exchanges. This was really good stuff, but it always seemed to devolve into predictable choking. The second half was mainly just brawling with chairs and the bokken. They wound up bringing a table in, and Nagashima gave Yasha a body press through it. Handa gave Tateno a tombstone on the exposed floor. It was effectively over at that point. Nagashima hit all her big moves on Yasha, but she kept kicking out. Handa took a turn destroying her with moves until there was no more kickouts. Miki and Tateno were excellent in this, and the other two were fine. Yasha was unbearable as a heel, but proved here that she could be a really good babyface. ***3/4

8/4/95 LLPW: Noriyo Tateno Puroresu 15th Anniversary Memorial Match: Noriyo Tateno vs. Rumi Kazama 15:50 of 17:25. Given that Tateno wrestled over 2000 matches in All Japan Women alone, this was probably about the equivalent of a 30th anniversary for most wrestlers. Tateno was greeted with flowers by the 80s Zenjo wrestlers, and then Dump and Lioness gave her a bump each and pinned her, that was fun. This wasn’t a bad match at all, it was just a little sad to watch, as it was well on display that both were past their prime. They genuinely tried to have a good, serious, traditional wrestling match, but it’s just not there anymore. They don’t have the fire, they don’t have the zip they had years ago. They did lots of mat wrestling, but it was pedestrian. The spots lacked oomph, and they got sloppy at times. **1/4

11/5/95 LLPW Shinobu Kandori vs. Noriyo Tateno 10:58. They had a good wrestling start with both showing defiance popping up on slams. They had some really fun standoffs. It got more serious when they started throwing each other around on the outside. Kandori had a bad arm, and Tateno went after it. She did a jumping knee attack to the shoulder, reinjuring her, and kept attacking it with knees. Kandori eventually caught leg and gave her a dragon screw, finishing with a nasty half crab. ***1/4

8/10/08 LLPW: Devil Masami & Jaguar Yokota vs. Noriyo Tateno & Itsuki Yamazaki 10:11. The JB Angels reunion. After 17 years retired, Yamazaki looked good here physically, in far better shape than Tateno. Devil was just about to retire, and there was nothing left in the tank. Jaguar was way past her prime as well, but still the best one in the match because she could at least move and take bumps. Unfortunately, Devil worked most of the match. I wasn’t expecting much from this. I was hoping the JB Angels would hit their old double team spots. Yamazaki did her missile dropkick out of the corner, and they hit their double clothesline after Devil cut them off a few times, but that was about it. *1/2

10/10/10 Noriyo Tateno Produce, Noriyo Tateno Retirement Match: Ayumi Kurihara & Harley Saito vs. Noriyo Tateno & GAMI 14:44. Tateno’s final match, and seemingly the last televised Harley match as well. Tateno did her old spots and some matwork. She was okay, just slow and there wasn’t much behind it. When GAMI was in, it turned into a comedy match. At one point, they got Tateno in the corner, and everyone at ringside jumped in the ring to do a running attack on her, though most of them gave her a hug instead. The match got going after that, and aside from GAMI injecting her comedy into it every chance she got, it was a pretty worked well match with Kurihara being the standout. She did most of the work, being the only one in her prime. Harley was okay, but she didn’t contribute much outside of a few kicks and a suplex. Kurihara destroyed Tateno at the end with a bunch of suplexes to take the win. Tateno’s final retirement ceremony came after, with video tributes from Yamazaki and Chigusa, who couldn’t be there. I don’t generally rate retirements, but while far from a good match, this was fun.

9/14/1987 Tag League The Best '87: Lioness Asuka & Chigusa Nagayo vs. Itsuki Yamazaki & Noriyo Tateno *****

3/20/1986 2/3 Falls WWWA World Tag Title Match: Itsuki Yamazaki & Noriyo Tateno vs. Lioness Asuka & Chigusa Nagayo ****1/2

5/15/1988: Chigusa Nagayo & Lioness Asuka vs. Noriyo Tateno & Itsuki Yamazaki. ****1/2

11/24/1987 WWF, WWF Women's Tag Team Title Match: Judy Martin & Leilani Kai vs. Itsuki Yamazaki & Noriyo Tateno ****

1/5/1986 2/3 Falls WWWA World Tag Team Title Match: Itsuki Yamazaki & Noriyo Tateno vs. Bull Nakano & Condor Saito ***1/2

Their post-Zenjo careers were quite different. Tateno had a largely forgettable run in LLPW. She had some good matches here and there, but generally coasted along until 2010. Yamazaki joined the original JWP, and she went on to do her best work yet. She was arguably better than her 80s run, ranking as the best joshi wrestler in 1990 and the 3rd best joshi wrestler in 1991. Unfortunately, her great run in JWP ended after a little over 18 months.

8/8/1991 JWP: Dynamite Kansai & The Scorpion vs. Harley Saito & Itsuki Yamazaki ****1/2

4/7/1985 Fuji TV Japan Grand Prix '85 League Match: Noriyo Tateno vs. Itsuki Yamazaki ****1/4

5/25/1990 JWP: Itsuki Yamazaki vs. Plum Mariko ****

4/6/1990 JWP: Miss A (Dynamite Kansai) vs. Itsuki Yamazaki ****

8/30/1990 JWP: Devil Masami vs. Itsuki Yamazaki ****

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