Etsuko Mita, Tomoko Watanabe & Numacchi vs. Carol Midori, Mizuki Endo & Mikiko Futagami (LLPW) 18:55. Teasing a time limit draw with these six was a bad enough idea to begin with, and to make it worse, Numacchi and Endo were in the most. There was action, just none of it was any good. Blown spots, miscommunication, Numacchi's godawful Russian leg sweeps were all on display. The last few minutes were alright, and the whole thing was better than seeing a Numacchi singles match, at least. Watanabe and Midori were the only ones who looked any good. *1/2

Roller Coaster 4 x 4 Captain Fall Match: Mima Shimoda, Kaoru Ito, Chikako Shiratori & Chaparrita ASARI vs. Cuty Suzuki, Plum Mariko, Hikari Fukuoka & Command Bolshoi (JWP) 27:49. Shimoda and Cuty were the captains of their teams. It was spotty in the sense that all the mattered was the spots, but it was put together with plenty of twists and turns on the eliminations. Some sloppiness, but it didn't drag, and got better as it went. The questionable three were all fine here. Bolshoi was in the serious gimmick, not the clown one, so she was okay and got eliminated early anyway. ASARI and Shiratori had their best performances up to this point. None of the three added much, but they didn't drag it down. Bolshoi was first out at 8:48, so she didn't last long. Shiratori just did basic stuff, which she was capable of, and could execute moves properly. Her offense was about what you'd expect from a junior from ten years prior, which wasn't a bad thing, especially when it's something she could do. The problem was her timing is such that she's a step late on just about every running move, which makes her look awkward still. ASARI managed to execute the Sky Twister Press flawlessly, and that's all she needed to do. Everyone else was good and had their chances to shine. Ito was maybe the best overall, but Shimoda was all fired up, and Cuty had some really good moments, though with her it was more on defense, as her selling was tremendous and really helped get the JWP over as the underdogs. There was a run of eliminations starting at the 14 minute mark, with Hikari first being eliminated after Ito's flying footstomp, and things weren't looking good for JWP. However, Cuty came back and pinned Shiratori with her diving footstomp at 16:37, and pinned ASARI with her Dragon suplex at 16:50 to quickly even things up. They basically reset and rebuilt from there. The Zenjo team started blowing away JWP with spots. Ito hit her footstomp and paid the price when JWP came back taking consecutive ones from Cuty and Plum later. Shimoda and Plum traded suplexes, and Shimoda went up to the top turnbuckle, only to get rana'd down, which gave Plum the pin on her to end the match. ****

Sakie Hasegawa & Takako Inoue vs. Shinobu Kandori & Yasha Kurenai (LLPW) 11:09. This had a lot of heat because of Kandori, but neither Sakie or Takako were even remotely a threat to her. She respected Takako when Takako fought back hard enough, and did put her over though, and it's what really made the match. She gave her enough without giving her too much. Against Sakie, Kandori just mauled her, but in the way Bull Nakano would where it's more just dominating her and toying with her, looking to get the best out of her rather than killing her off. Yasha didn't add anything aside from a few chokes, and served to give the Zenjo team a chance that they could win. It wasn't the most competitive match, the only credible finish the Zenjo team came close to was a count out tease on Kandori (which was pretty well done), but the Takako vs. Kandori stuff was really fun. ***

Star & Rising Sun 4 VIPS: Yumiko Hotta & Suzuka Minami vs. Bull Nakano & Reggie Bennett 10:57. Bull didn't give one of her more inspiring efforts, but there was nothing wrong with the match while she was in there, and it was even interesting when she matched up against Hotta. Bennett just dragged it down whenever she was in there. Hotta and Minami were fine. Minami was the best in the match, but she wasn't going to salvage it. Hotta wasn't the one to put Bennett over, which was the point of the match, but given the crappiness of Bennett and her wearing a stupid hardhat like she was auditioning to be Numacchi's tag partner, I'm not going to criticize Hotta for being selfish with her. *3/4

Zenjo vs. JWP 3 Match Series #1: Kyoko Inoue vs. Devil Masami (JWP) 19:51. This was the beginning of the Zenjo vs. JWP series, delivering a truly excellent 'Devil-paced' encounter. The match buildup was solid, with Devil methodically controlling Kyoko, and Kyoko making hot comebacks that would usually get off quickly. Kyoko was great in the match as well. She was pretty much perfect in her role aside. You never had to worry about her execution in these days, but she could struggle at times against the bigger opponents. Here, she struggled on a few submissions, but that was about it. Devil got tossed around more than she usually does, and put Kyoko's offense over strongly so you always felt like Kyoko was gaining on her. They kept the crowd engaged the whole time, with Kyoko being the fan favorite and Devil admonishing them, though at one point a brief Devil chant did break out. Devil was constantly trying to powerbomb Kyoko, but Kyoko always had an answer for them. It did come down to the battle of powerbombs. Devil's powerbomb vs. the Niagara Driver, but since the match ended on a flash pin and they kicked out of each others, we never got an answer to that, which was fine, but it would have been nice if the finish was a bit more fleshed out. I have no problem with the flash pin in a match like this where it was so well put together and Kyoko was gaining on Devil the whole time. However, it did seem like the match was missing the last few minutes, and they might have thrown a few more high spots in to build to those powerbombs. In any case, the overall quality was exceptional, with both delivering outstanding performance, and serves as a prime example of how to elevate an underdog in a veteran vs. underdog matchup. ****1/4

Zenjo vs. JWP 3 Match Series #2: Manami Toyota vs. Mayumi Ozaki (JWP) 20:16. There was plenty of venom here, which isn't a surprise when Ozaki is involved, but can be when Toyota is. There was a lot of matwork here, with the two stretching each other with the intention of weakening them to hit their high spots. The build was excellent, and there was a lot of hate and emotion shown. There was plenty of hair-pulling, slapping, kicking, scrapping. Toyota had some fire during this part that we don't normally see from her, and a real chip on her shoulder. She just wanted to bully Ozaki. Ozaki had to scrap and claw her way back in with Toyota showing more viciousness. The only thing that was really bad was the transitions, which were of Toyota's typically brainless rope running variety. As the match picked up, Ozaki kept coming up with answers for Toyota, but was always the clear underdog. The major turning point for Toyota was when she German suplexed Ozaki on the floor. She hit some big moves, finishing up the run by completing a moonsault and a dragon suplex. Neither move got the job done, and the crowd broke out in an Ozaki chant, which Toyota wasn't happy about. She went for the Japanese Ocean Cyclone Suplex and Ozaki turned it into a Victory Roll for a near fall. She tried her finisher again, but Ozaki slipped out, and hit her Tequila Sunrise for the biggest near fall in the match. She followed that with her body press from the top, but Toyota got the knees up and finally hit the Japanese Ocean Cyclone to finish. The first half of the match was strong. The second half was stronger, although the segments didn't necessarily connect together that well. But it was strong in the ways Toyota matches aren't usually strong, and although it built up to some good spots and near falls, it didn't have that all out explosion you usually watch Toyota matches for. ****1/4

Zenjo vs. JWP 3 Match Series #3: Toshiyo Yamada vs. Dynamite Kansai (JWP) 19:42. Kansai and Yamada had the best exchanges during the great tag team matches, and they had the best match on this show as well. Yamada was at her best in 1992/93 as a worker, but her singles matches rarely lived up to her talent level. Kansai was a smarter worker than she gets credit for, and knew how to get the best out of Yamada. The two gelled together really well. Kansai's execution was never anything you had to worry about. Yamada's was, but she was spot on here. They did a lot of matwork, and struggled their way through, though it was largely Kansai trying to bully Yamada, with Yamada making hot, vicious comebacks. They kicked each other as stiff as you'll see, and held nothing back there. They worked more high spots in as it went on, with Kansai setting up for her diving headbutt. She missed it, and Yamada started levelling her with brain kicks to really put Kansai into trouble. They both countered each other's finishers twice, forcing their opponent to settle for something weaker. Yamada kept going for brain kicks in between, but she lacked the firepower of Kansai, who levelled with a brutal high kick, leading to Kansai hitting a diving back elbow drop. Yamada reversed a backdrop suplex from the top, but Kansai again kicked her down with three nasty kicks. The third one was probably enough to win by itself, but she hit Splash Mountain and Yamada wasn't surviving that. That gave JWP a win. Even though the three match series was gone, they avoided a 3-0 whitewash. A gruelling match with both at their peak. ****1/2

The Marinepiad Biggest: Aja Kong vs. Akira Hokuto 20:09. The imfamous match where Hokuto was just coming off knee surgery, turned up to the building on crutches, in no condition to wrestle, but went ahead with the match anyway. It was supposed to be a title match, but she got on the house mic before the match and wanted it changed to a non-title match because challenging in her state would disrespect the belt. It's a memorable match due to the circumstances. It adds to the legend that is Akira Hokuto, but she really can't go. There's nothing wrong with the work, but it couldn't be anything other than a one sided slaughter. Hokuto did her big dive and then spent the match getting worked over and beat on while making a few comebacks. She even hit a Northern Light's Bomb towards the end. There are some dramatic moments in there, and watching Hokuto gut her way through makes it compelling in a way. But the way she gets controlled and worked over, she had no chance at all. She's really just sacrificed herself because pulling out of the match would have been too embarrassing. She is no threat to Aja, so it had no actual drama, and there's so much padding that it just becomes something to fast forward through. I suppose it's the logical ‘tragic' payoff to Hokuto's Japan Grand Prix story, aside from the small caveat that Hokuto had already had the surgery and shouldn't have been wrestling here. There's no amount of praise sufficient enough to give Hokuto for wrestling the match, much less for a full 20 minutes to give the fans the match they'd paid to see is a level guts only she possessed, but that doesn't mean the match should have happened. This is one of those matches I have no idea how to rate, or whether it even should be rated. It is worth watching as long as you know what it is going into it. Otherwise, it would be a massive disappointment. I think it would be an easier recommendation had they ever had the match they were capable of. ***

Best Joshi Puroresu Matches YouTube Playlist