WCW Nitro 8/5/96 Orlando, FL MGM Studios: Chris Benoit vs. Alex Wright 8:20
DC: Chris Benoit showed some of the signature intensity and tenacity that always made him stand out so much. This was when he was still one of the best pro wrestlers in the world. Benoit did a very good job of dictating the pace and being at the right time and place for Alex Wright to look good in his comebacks. Good match. *** 
 
WCW Nitro 3/10/97 Panama City, FL Club La Vela: Ultimo Dragon vs. Juventud Guerrera 4:53
DC: This was when Juventud Guerrera was still masked. They had less than five minutes, but they made the most of it, as they went as fast as possible, while still trying to incorporate some sense of intrigue into the match. Execution and excitement were certainly of top-notch quality. By this point, these two had grown quite accustomed to working short matches like this one. They did more interesting things in these four minutes than a lot of wrestlers do in forty minutes. Mike Tenay correctly remarked that Ultimo Dragon once held nine titles at the same time, the eight titles of the J-Crown, and the WCW Cruiserweight Championship as well. Good match. ***¼
 
WCW Nitro 12/18/95 Augusta, GA Civic Center: Mr. JL vs. Dean Malenko 3:43
DC: Mr. JL was Jerry Lynn’s own idea, since he figured that there weren’t many American wrestlers with a lucha-style superhero mask and costume. Dean Malenko was very good at being in the right position and letting the opponent do some cool things, but he was quite uneventful and uninteresting himself. Everything Malenko did looked very telegraphed and not very smooth. Malenko executed the gutbuster off the top rope. Lynn wasn’t comfortable with Malenko performing the move on him, but Malenko somehow talked Lynn into taking the move. Lynn’s feeling was right, as Lynn’s arm actually got injured when Malenko performed the move. Malenko immediately applied a submission and won the match. Decent match. **½  
 
WCW Nitro 7/8/96 Orlando, FL MGM Studios: Eddy Guerrero vs. Psicosis 8:33
DC: This was the TV debut of Psicosis. He had made his WCW debut on PPV the night prior, as he did the job to Rey Misterio Jr. in a very memorable match. These two were still two of the best in the world at this time, and it was really cool to see them work against each other in a singles match. Psicosis executed a corkscrew moonsault of the top rope to the floor! Everything they did had intensity behind it, and they put over the idea of doing damage to the opponent quite well. They actually got eight minutes, so they had time for a bit of selling and storytelling as well. The execution was really smooth. Good match. ***¼ 
 
WCW Nitro 10/9/95 Rosemont, IL Horizon: Sabu vs. Mr. JL 4:28
DC: In 1995, Sabu was in WCW for seven matches before he got fired. Sabu was very over with the smarks in the crowd. Lynn executed a nice tope suicida. Other than that, it was mainly Sabu doing Sabu things. This was a fun and memorable match, albeit a short one. Sabu’s rawness and unrefined style made him such a unique performer at the time. Lynn did a good job of what he was doing, but the match was clearly designed to put Sabu over. Good match. ***
 
WCW Nitro 1/22/96 Las Vegas, NV Caesars Palace: Brian Pillman vs. Dean Malenko 6:19
DC: Flyin’ Brian was a heel and a member of the Four Horsemen. He was mainly focused on his Loose Cannon persona at the time. He was certainly one of the most interesting characters in wrestling at the time. Along with outstanding character work, Pillman also did a really good job of bumping and selling to make his opponent look like a superhero, in spite of Malenko being quite dull and lacking gracefulness. Pillman managed to display viciousness along with the heelish character. Malenko attempted to pretend he cared. One thing Malenko executed really well was a brainbuster. He also could throw quite a decent dropkick. Good match. ***
 
WCW Nitro 8/12/96 Casper, WY, WCW Cruiserweight Title: Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Ultimo Dragon 4:34
DC: Ultimo Dragon executed a great flurry of kicks. Dragon stayed in control with some devastating-looking moves. Rey Misterio Jr. then hit tremendously spectacular moves during the second half of the match. These two worked so well together. Luckily, they got a lot more time at the World War III PPV later that year, as this was obviously shorter than preferred. Good match. ***¼ 
 
WCW Nitro 10/28/96 Phoenix, AZ: Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Jimmy Graffiti 3:24
DC: Jimmy Graffiti was Jimmy Del Ray’s WCW gimmick, which lasted only eight matches. Del Ray was one of the most underrated American workers, most notable for his stint in the Heavenly Bodies with Dr. Tom Prichard. The work here was really smooth on the part of both guys. The timing and executing was superb. Del Ray was such a good base, and Misterio was arguably the best flyer in the world at the time. The finish didn’t look quite as smooth as a Psicosis or Juventud Guerrera would have taken it, but Graffiti was very impressive working lucha style for a man who spent most of his career working Jim Cornette-style Southern tags. Good match. ***

1/11/25 NJPW IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title: El Desperado vs. Taiji Ishimori 20:44
ML: A good traditional slow paced technical match that focused on each working an appendage. Being was less spectacular than their normal stuff didn't help make up for it not being as interesting a technically oriented match as ZSJ vs Hechicero, and it didn't follow that well because Zack's match was so much more spontaneous, flowing, and fluid. This was more for people who like story matches, but the psychology lent a forced nature to it. They brought the effort and energy initially, but the choreography was more obvious than in their best work together even before they started purposely slowing down. After some early speedy offense, Ishimori became very focused on working the left arm. Desperado started working ishimori's left knee about halfway through when he took over. Their focused attacks progressively slowed the match down, and resulted in this not being all that flashy. One of the best segments saw Ishimori land on his feet when he saw Desperado was avoiding his 450 splash, but that injured his knee further, and Desperado immediately clipped it. They did a good job of sticking to selling the body parts, but that largely resulted in a match that never really picked up or hit a higher gear. The finish saw Ishimori, who everyone already expected to lose, progressively be able to muster less and less resistance, which works better in a movie fight than in something we are presuming to be somewhat realistic. ***

AJW 1/4/87 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Yumi Ogura & Kazue Nagahori vs. Lioness Asuka & Chigusa Nagayo
DC: Red Typhoons vs. Crush Gals. The Crush Gals were super popular with the large number of school girls in attendance, who all screamed their little lungs out in support of their heroes. All four workers did a very good job of putting over the struggle they were selling. They all worked hard. The actual wrestling wasn’t always very compelling, though. You have to keep in mind this took place in the 1980s, prior to the mid ‘90s Golden Age of Joshi Puroresu, to really appreciate the quality of this match. The intention to deliver something memorable was certainly there, and that definitely helped. Very good match. ***¾   

NJPW 6/10/24 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Hikaru Sato 10:55
DC: These two guys are two of the best technical wrestlers in the world today. They delivered a fascinating quasi-shoot-style wrestling match here with plenty of interesting counters. They were constantly showing a lot of focus, and a sense of purpose in everything they did. These two had a lot of chemistry together, and that made the work look very smooth. The fact that they gave everything a meaning and were into what they were doing made it very plausible that the finishing seemingly came out of nowhere. Excellent match. ****

NJPW 1/11/25 San Jose, CA: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Hechicero 23:42.
DC: This was an enjoyable display of technical matwork. If there was more resistance and urgency shown, it possibly could have been excellent. I liked it more than their CMLL match, but less than their RevPro match. Very good match. ***½

12/22/24 AEW Continental Classic 2024 Gold League: Will Ospreay [9] vs. Brody King [6] 15:30
ML: This had good action of course since it's Ospreay, but was all over the place since King isn't going to lead him to anything beyond a spotfest. It started out interestingly with Ospreay surprisingly throwing low kicks to try to slow as much larger opponent down. Unfortunately, Ospreay abandoned this before he landed enough to amount to anything, and just did his usual running and jumping. So after the first 30 seconds, there was no narrative as to how Ospreay was beating the much larger man, he just exchanged big spots with him, and eventually won without there being any urgency of him avoiding the big offense of the super heavyweight. The did the usual big man vs. little man stuff, and it's generally good when King has an athlete to work with. It was still a more deliberate and obviously choreographed version of his far more interesting matches against Darby Allin though. King hit a big spinebuster on the steps. Ospreay did the sky twister to the floor. King squashed Ospreay against the guardrail with a high cross body. After several kickouts, Ospreay seemed to be setting up the Tiger driver '91 because King escaped his hidden blade, but did the stormbreaker instead for the win. This was good fun, but hard to take seriously, with Will never portraying any danger or showing any urgency, just taking lumps from a guy twice his size because he can. ***

Universal 1/17/92 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Lightning Kid vs. Jerry Lynn 12:16 of 15:00
DC: The unique blend of everything these two guys watched (a combination of American, Japanese and Mexican pro wrestling styles) made this a match that fit well in this unique Mexican-style lucha libre league in Japan, Federacion Universal de Lucha Libre. These two guys clearly cared about what they did. They did a bunch of exciting stuff that had a sense of importance to it. It wasn’t just flying, as there were also submission attempts, which showed the versatility of these guys. However, they clearly had a bit of trouble adapting to the Japanese ring, as here at the Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan, they couldn’t quite deliver the same magic they had been able to deliver in Minnesota and Texas. Things didn’t go as smoothly here as in their ahead-of-their-time American matches. That being said, it was interesting to watch this, and it most likely was a very useful experience for them to be in Japan. Lightning Kid (Sean Waltman) and Jerry Lynn used to hang out together to watch all kinds of wrestling tapes, including Japanese stuff, and it must have been a dream for them to deliver their match at arguably the most famous wrestling arena in the world, as not many American indy workers can say the same. Very good match. ***½    

NWA Grandslam 4/17/93 Minneapolis, MN: Lightning Kid vs. Sabu 14:07
DC: Sabu’s informal style made him an unpredictable opponent, and it made him a favorite of many of those following indy wrestling at the time. Sabu wasn’t going to wow you with great psychology and traditional mat grappling, but you knew that you were going to be in for a treat. Also, at the time, what Sabu was doing was quite a bit more spectacular than what most of the other wrestlers were doing, as he was more exciting and out of control than most of the high flyers of the time. ‘Lightning Kid’ Sean Waltman was also a wrestler who was very ahead of his time, as he had been one of the pioneers of modern American high flying indy wrestling during 1990-1992, mainly through his in-ring feud with fellow Minnesotan Jerry Lynn. In this match against Sabu, we got to see some out of control highspots that weren’t done because they were supposed to be done, as nobody really quite had fully laid out a template for this type of match yet, and the moves were all executed within the context of the story they were telling, which was basically the idea that they were both willing to put their own bodies on the line in order to take out the opponent. For them to deliver such an excellent match at a relatively small show speaks volumes of their hard-working dedication, which eventually rightfully turned them into two of the more memorable heroes of 1990s American wrestling. A week later, Kid would begin his WWE run, with his famous upset over Razor Ramon coming a month from the date of this final indy match. Excellent match. ****¼ 

1/11/25 NJPW: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Hechicero 23:43

1/5/25 NJPW/CMLL/AEW: Kenny Omega vs. Gabe Kidd 31:55

1/15/1993 JWP: Dynamite Kansai & Mayumi Ozaki vs. Yumiko Hotta & Takako Inoue 29:44
PA: Ozaki was 0-2 against Zenjo, and after Hotta spent most of the previous match pulverizing Hikari, who was way out of her league, Kansai had to come in to even up the odds. Losing was simply not an option anymore, they had their best two wrestlers and had to win to prove they could compete with Zenjo. The crowd were red hot, giving this match a special atmosphere. It was the most important match in JWP’s short history up to this point, the crowd knew it , and the wrestlers treated it that way with everything they did. They didn't do much early on in terms of high spots, building the match up and keeping it pretty basic and believable, with the intensity through the roof. The feel was entirely different than the typical mindless Toyota style joshi matwork oriented openings, even before she stopped even trying in the early sections. Here, everything, no matter how basic, had importance. The teams worked so well together, and though they are both similar, subtle contrasts made them very different. Takako was able to get offense in, but only when Hotta weakened the opponent first. On the other hand, Ozaki was more confident in her ability, and able to scrap and wear down her opponent, then bring in Kansai to deliver the heavy damage. They started moving things along after the 14 minute mark with a brawl, which led to Takako getting murdered with brutal kicks from Kansai in the ring, and later, Ozaki getting the same treatment from Hotta. The stiffness from Hotta and Kansai throughout the match was everything you could have wanted throughout the whole match, but especially during these beatings. The last 5 minutes were all the big moves and saves they’d been building towards. There were a bunch of great near falls in there. I liked how they brought it back to Ozaki vs. Takako for the finish. They'd been killed for most of the match, but Ozaki getting the win herself made all of her pain worth it after her two previous failures. Any doubt she belonged competing at this level was erased, and her post-match reaction made it all the more sweet. You could see how much this meant to her, Kansai, and all of JWP. This match accomplished everything it set out to do, and was an all time great tag match. Ozaki and Kansai were the best workers, and were on their game, with Ozaki slipping back into the underdog role this time since Kansai was there to be the asskicker. Hotta gave the best performance of her career. She was in the right environment, and totally on point with her brutality and carrying things. Takako generally did fine, but didn’t do much beyond the standard weak link role she was playing. They perfectly built up the Hotta vs. Kansai single match (which was the main goal and was set up in the post-match), continued the Takako vs. Ozaki feud, and left the door open for a rematch down the line. They were able to do everything they did over the course of a half hour, and still leave you wanting a lot more. *****

1/24/1993 AJW: Kyoko Inoue vs. Takako Inoue 21:09
PA: The first half was slow, nearly all holds, with the only idea around it seeming to be that Kyoko’s domination would fire Takako up. Once Takako got on offense and started booting Kyoko in the face and slapping her, it got a lot better, and for a while, it turned into greatness. Kyoko initially brushed her off and began to blow her away with spots until Takako was able to turn the tide with a neat counter where she snagged Kyoko’s leg when she went for her run up diving elbow. She followed that with a tope, beat up Kyoko outside, and gave her a double arm suplex on the on the floor. That wasn’t good enough, so as soon as Kyoko got up, she gave her an Aurora Special on the floor as well. Kyoko sold it huge and struggled her way back in, milking the 19 count for all it was worth. Takako tried to put her away and got some great near falls as Kyoko’s selling made it really look like Takako was going to win. The run was over too fast though. Kyoko kept selling and struggled her way back in initially, but then started steamrolling her with spots of her own, ultimately hitting a powerbomb that got a one count, but kept Takako down for a 9 count on the KO. Takako defiantly made it back up, so Kyoko punched her in the face and pinned her. This match definitely worked to elevate Takako, but it could have been so much better with a better start and end. ***3/4

NJPW 1/5/25 Tokyo Dome: Kenny Omega vs. Gabe Kidd 31:55
DC: They did some cool spots, but the match didn’t feel like a cohesive whole, since the cool spots were merely ‘linked’ together by the typical big-match type selling, which basically means a lot of lying around and a lack of urgency shown in between the cool spots. Kenny’s springboard tope looked cool, but all the people around Kidd who were there to help catch Kenny went down like a stack of dominos and sold like they were hit by a comet in spite of Kenny barely hitting any of them (especially referee Bryce Remsberg, who never managed to return). Kidd juiced from the forehead in order to emphasize the ‘epicness’ of the match, even though his bump through the table saw his forehead make no actual contact with the prop. The problem was that it felt like just another Tokyo Dome big match due to pretty much following all the predictable Tokyo Dome big match tropes without giving the viewer something exceptional to see this as a match that stands out from the bunch in any way. Gabe Kidd has been showing potential, but has failed to really make me want to watch any of his matches on purpose. I’m a big Kenny fan, and I’m glad Kenny is back, but this particular match wasn’t for me. I’m sure we could come up with a story that will make this match seem really good, but that feels like trying to find something that’s not really there. It was good to see Kenny can still go, though. Good match. ***¼

1/5/25 NJPW/CMLL/AEW IWGP World Heavyweight Title: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Ricochet 20:57
ML: After what may have been the most boring match of Zack's career, standing around for 45 minutes occasionally posing a lifeless, fireless Shota Umino, he came back with a match that was start to finish action, even though it was mostly from the opponent. Ricochet was clearly motivated for the first time since his 10/2/24 match against Will Ospreay. He was a lot more energetic here, and really stepped it up to try to answer the call of a Tokyo Dome main event. He got off to a really fast start, which was important to move the crowd past the show stealing Kenny Omega vs. Gabe Kidd match, including a space flying Tiger drop and swandive 450 Splash. This had more action in the first two minutes then the entire 43 minutes of ZSJ vs. Umino, and while it had it's issues, at least it was never dull. The announcers were comparing Ricochet to Will Ospreay, who Zack has had many classic matches with. One of the joys of their matches is that ZSJ keeps countering into submissions. Normally Zack is great at transitioning from defense to offense, but here everything was pretty standard. While Ospreay can, at the minimum, move in and out of seemingly any hold that Zack wants to do, Ricochet seemed to be devoid of even the most basic mat skill, and just avoided technical wrestling entirely. This really compromised Sabre's ability to be, well, Sabre, and resulted in him just taking for 80% of the match. Even when Sabre did get offense, it was rarely a submission hold. Zack was a lot more aggressive and chippy today then in the listless endless match the night before, but he was resorting to weakening the body with forearms to the back rather than something more interesting and elegant. Ricochet did a ton of moves rather than standing around helplessly and having Zack hit or pose him, but while he was a lot more entertaining than Umino, he still didn't give Sabre a ton to actually play off of. At least Ricochet avoided the New Japan melodrama, and just proceeded to fly all around the whole time like he would do anywhere else. He's one of the worst choppers around because he doesn't get his body into anything, just throws very slowly, all with the arm, but he didn't suddenly think he was a striker just because he was in New Japan. ZSJ didn't get much opportunity to be himself though, and was just taking all Ricochet's stuff and occasionally landing a strike or some standing move back that didn't go anywhere. Even when they did suplexes, it was mostly Ricochet that actually landed his. There was a cool one where he held on to his vertical suplex on the apron, then did another suplex on the floor. The match was almost over by the time Sabre got a real submission in, going into his armbar after hitting an avalanche Zack driver. Arguably Sabre's best comeback was simply landing the penalty kick and the Zack driver after Ricochet missed the 630 splash. When Zack finally countered the spirit gun, aka the visible blade, it was believable that Ricochet lost because he doesn't have the answers as far as we can tell to being knotted up, but it wasn't the typical modern match where each guy arguably survives five more things than he should, it was basically ZSJ taking all match then winning on his first real chance. ***1/4

1/5/25 NJPW/CMLL/AEW: Lucha Gauntlet: Taiji Ishimori vs. El Desperado vs. Hechicero vs. Kosei Fujita vs. Mascara Dorada vs. Master Wato vs. Soberano Jr. vs. Titan 16:23
ML: This match isn't going to change anyone's mind about the contrived nature of multi-man matches. Obviously in the absolute, six guys inexplicably pretending to be paralyzed is worse than the usual two, but this match kept moving because there were always at least two guys doing something energetic, whereas the typical New Japan match feels like it has more time where two half dead guys are doing nothing rather than something. The staggered entry actually helped because starting this as a singles match and adding a wrestler at a time made it a little less goofy that only 2 wrestlers were doing anything no matter how many were technically involved. The Mexican wrestlers totally stole the show. They worked really well together, this cooperative chaos setting is much more conducive to the Lucha Libre guys shining because they have a lot of options to be spectacular, and are used to doing brief bursts of crazy aerial offense. They were able to bring enough athletic action to surmount some of the shortcomings of the multiman match. Hechicero isn't a junior heavyweight, but he was the key wrestler here being the base that allowed the other 3 spectacular flying luchadors to do their thing. All of the New Japan guys were fine, but none of them really stood out to the level that even whoever the least of the CMLL guys did. The most annoying aspect of the match is they would literally just stop pretty much during the duration of each new wrestlers lengthy walk to the ring. The one exception was that since El Desperado has the IWGP Junior Title, everyone rushed him on the ramp, and then they made a circle around him in the ring. taking turns beating him up. This wasn't nearly as malicious as it sounds, but even though the gang up wasn't that serious, it's good to see an actual realistic strategy in a match once in a while. Desperado and Fujita weren't really at home in this match in the sense that they are more grappling based wrestlers. Desperado didn't really get a chance anyway because they ganged up on him. He finally got a segment with Fujita at the very end where they were exchanging submissions, which felt very out of place after counting the rotations Soberano was doing in the air. The finish out of nowhere where Ishimori threw the ref into Fujita to break Fujita's submission on Desperado, then pinned Desperado with the Gedo clutch was silly. ***

1/4/25 NJPW IWGP Women's Title Match: Mayu Iwatani vs. AZM 8:46
ML: You know a show has far surpassed the edge of excess when a match with the champion in "zombie mode" is the best example of something that doesn't feel like complete bs. The main event, despite featuring possibly my favorite active male wrestler, ZSJ, was the typical New Japan boredom stretching 5 minutes of action into 45 minutes of no intensity standing and laying around, and Konosuke Takeshita vs. Shingo Takagi, which seemed a surefire winner given it was two actual high quality wrestlers in a match that was short and should be action packed since NEVER title matches are the ones that actually move, was such a ridiculous overdramatic example of jokey overselling 101 (the incredibly obvious overcooperative choreography didn't help either) that it was hard not to just laugh at what they were doing, or more accurately overdoing. This Mayu vs. AZM match, of course, wasn't what one would call realistic either. AZM is one of the most choreographed workers around, but she moves fast enough to mostly hide the obvious aspects of her choreography (whereas you could tell, for example, when Shingo was throwing a shot Takeshita was supposed to duck under because they don't have chemistry and familiarity yet), but this didn't feel like it was simply empty forms combined with looking for every opportunity to take another break. These two went at each other hard, showed passion, and made you believe they were actually trying to win. This was a TV style title defense that was mostly just a showcase for Mayu, which is unfortunate because AZM is one of the most useful under 25 wrestlers. There were a couple ridiculous double sells in this, but they moved fast enough the rest of the time that they at least earned their breaks. This didn't feel like a complete match, and I'm probably overrating it by virtue of it being something that actually had action amidst so much unwatchable silliness. It was rushed because they gave them less than 10 minutes, but actually leaving me wanting more was a novel concept on this show where everything else had me struggling not to move on to something that might feel less like some friendly exchanges occassionally broke out during a Z grade theater practice. Desperado vs. DOUKI presumably would have exceeded this as the match of the show if not for the early injury, so that was real bad luck for everyone, doubly for poor DOUKI. ***

12/21/24 AEW Continental Classic 2024 Gold League: Claudio Castagnoli [9] vs Darby Allin [6] 11:16

12/21/24 AEW Continental Classic 2024 Blue League: Mark Briscoe [9] vs. The Beast Mortos [0] 11:38. Tony Schiavone bragged about Mortos being one of the more successful wrestlers from Mexico ever in AEW even though he was winless in the tournament. So is Komander (he did finally win his last match), and that pretty much sums up why the Lucha Brothers have deluded themselves into thinking WWE might actually do something with Mexicans who don't speak English. Even though Mortos was only here to pad people's points, he was predictably one of the best performers in the tournament. Mark has been good as well, but it's difficult for anyone in this block to have good matches when the featured performers are 20-year veteran Kazuchika Okada, who still wrestles like a rookie minus any of the effort and enthusiasm, and Kyle Fletcher, who now sells everything with the same constipated expression, and spends most of his time on offense looking at the crowd doing some bad The Model imitation with his back to the opponent. This provided good, fast paced action as you would expect. They got off to a hot start, mostly hard hitting, with some lucha that was sometimes a bit sloppy. Mortos had his moments, but he was largely just playing from behind. The structure made you feel like he might find a way to escape with a lucky victory, but this was ultimately just a showcase for Mark. The other issue is the PIP/commercials took up about a third of the match. In the end, it was like a good 5 minute finishing sequence plus a pretty good opening that you kind of forgot about once they came back from break. Brisco hit 3 dives, prompting Nigel to ask, "do you not expect a chicken to fly?" ***

Gran Hamada Hall Of Talent

2/10/91 NJPW: Hiroshi Hase & Kensuke Sasaki vs. Pegasus Kid & Franz Schuhmann 10:24
ML: Hase is the star here because he's smooth and diverse. Pegasus can do everything as well, but he's more brute force and less finesse here. Pegasus and Sasaki mix it up nicely, plenty of stiffness and aggression from them. Schuhmann is fun mixing the European and junior styles, but he isn't able to create a rivalry like the others. The heat and anticipation are on Hase vs. Pegasus, and that delivers when we finally get it, although their segments are too brief. The finish was pretty corny. Hase and Pegasus take each other out with a simultaneous lariats, then make the hot tag at the same time, only for Schuhmann to run into Sasaki's powerslam and get pinned. I'm not sure I can recall anyone getting pinned on the first move after they were tagged in. ***

3/6/91 NJPW: Shiro Koshinaka & Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Kantaro Hoshino & Kuniaki Kobayashi 10:26
ML: This lacked the energy and urgency of the excellent 6/20/91 match, and without that, it's was a lot more ordinary. Koshinaka was the driving force behind that match, but here is was just kind of there. They put a little effort into creating a rivalry, and Hoshino enjoyed outsmarting the opposition. The match would threaten to become something, but they never followed through with enough energy to actually make it happen. The match was good when they were running around, but it was mostly Liger that was spicing things up, and Kobayashi who was along for the useful segments. Ultimately, this wound up being the Liger show, providing enough action and entertainment to keep it interesting. Kobayashi helped make everything Liger did look good, but while he was good, he typically wasn't doing a lot of his own stuff beyond his signature spots. ***

3/14/91 NJPW: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Norio Honaga 10:18
ML: This was an effective American style match to start Honaga's singles push in the junior division. It was lean and sleezy, but that's what you want from Honaga, as he's a diminishing returns sort of heel, especially the more he tries to be a junior stylist despite not being athletic. Honaga's heeling may not be what I desire for my junior heavyweight wrestling, but this was at least Honaga doing what he's capable of doing, rather than struggling to be something he's not. They should have used this sort of start in their subsequent matches, Honaga getting the initial advantage by dropkicking Liger before the bell when Liger was having words with Honaga's Blond Outlaws partner Hiro Saito. Honaga removed the turnbuckle pad while Liger was recovering from getting draped across the guardrail, and the whole match was worked around the exposed corner, Honaga being a prick, and Liger sticking up for himself. As soon as Liger came back with a quebradora con giro, Honaga snuck in the dick kick. Liger tried to fight fire with fire, ramming Honaga into the exposed turnbuckle, but he had to make another comeback, doing the same thing several times in order to actually gain the advantage. Liger mixed his flying with more turnbuckle shots to a now bloody Honaga. Liger was showing his fire here, but still did enough exciting stuff when he was actually on offense. Liger was distracted by Saito again, and Honaga came back with his German suplex and went on a run. This didn't feel like it was ready to end already, but Honaga actually just got 3 with his diving neckbreaker drop. It was even more surprising that Liger lost given Akira Nogami was at ringside to set up his title shot against Liger at the Tokyo Dome. ***

4/17/91 NJPW Top of the Super Junior II League: Norio Honaga vs. Jushin Thunder Liger 9:44
ML: This was another simple but effective heel performance from Honaga. It's mostly a Honaga beatdown, and it works because he stays within himself. Honaga jumps Liger again with a dropkick, hits a pescado, and brawls around the arena. Liger almost comes back slipping out of a vertical suplex, only to take the dreaded dick kick. Again, Honaga flirted with working the stomach, only to inexplicably drop it. When Honaga finally went out of his box and slowly climbed to the top, Liger cut him off with a superplex to begin his comeback. Liger got a measure of revenge, piledriving Honaga on a table. Honaga got his run of near falls with his usual favorites, the neckbreaker drop and German suplex, but took time out to bring a chair in, only to have Liger back body drop his way out of the piledriver on the chair, use the chair on Honaga, and pin him with a small package. This was some nice revenge from Liger, again without being anything decisive. There wasn't enough Liger offense in this, but since they were keeping things short and Honaga was losing, it made sense that Liger was selling a lot. At least Honaga was solid here, and executed decently. ***

4/30/91 NJPW Top of the Super Junior Semifinal: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Negro Casas 11:14
ML: Liger and Casas were both in good form here, and this seemed like it could have been the match where they took things to the next level, had they been able to do a 15 minute match without either having to come back later. They started wonderfully, with Casas dropkicking Liger out of the air when Liger was slinging himself into the ring for the announcements, then hitting a triangle plancha. Casas re-entered, but didn't want the count out, so he slid back to the floor, only to have Liger avoid and post him, then missile kick him off the apron. Casas ran across the ring apron, but Liger essentially monkey flipped him over the post. Casas was up before Liger could hit another dive though, so they finally started wrestling in the ring. This was a fantastic opening because they kept adding one unexpected twist after another. Unfortunately, they didn't have anything to follow this up, and the match kind of died out with some meandering matwork. Casas is a very poetic mover, and the action was flowing nicely when they were actually taking advantage of what they do well. Even though this was a shorter match, Liger was wrestling a long final later, so they definitely were killing some time and holding back. Liger saved most of his offense for the final, where he wasn't going to get much help from Honaga. Instead of being the one to spice things up, he was mostly being a base for Casas, letting him show his graceful offense, highlighted by a neat boomerang dropkick. Liger won out of nowhere, clumsily countering Casas's headscissors into some kind of odd shoulder submission out of the Mexican school of appendage holding. ***1/4

4/30/91 NJPW: Hiroshi Hase & Kensuke Sasaki vs. Riki Choshu & Tatsumi Fujinami 19:52
ML: This match was inconsistent because Choshu and Fujinami are older and were only going to put so much effort into it. Choshu knows how to do a heated violent strike exchange that doesn't look phony and cooperative like today's tedious forearms, but he wasn't willing to continue the momentum, or escalate it. He kept dissipating it by grabbing a pointless hold. Otherwise, Choshu was effective when he was running, but again, as soon as he knocked the opponent down, he was going for the scorpion or chinlock. Fujanami is obviously more skilled, and he's the more consistent performer, but he doesn't have the highs of Choshu, or the ability to move the crowd. One of the highlights was Hase and Sasaki using The Steiner Brothers elevated bulldog, but Sasaki was kind of at the mercy of the opposition, most useful when he could mix it up with Choshu. Hase was, of course, the best worker in the match, but in with the veterans, this wasn't going to be his match the way most of his other matches this year were. It’s hard to figure why Hase didn’t amount to more, like seemingly every other Olympic wrestler despite few having even half his talent or charisma. Even though they started him as a junior, similar to Fujinami, he was as tall as the other three wrestlers in this match, who happen to have 14 IWGP Heavyweight Championship runs between them. Hase was stealing the show in every tag match this year, totally over, and had begun to seem to be the man in the tag division due to a successful push. Choshu & Fujinami were not only taking him seriously and totally motivated to wrestle him, they were putting extra effort into knocking him off his perch. Hase was diverse and cocky enough to take both on in their own element. He was matching technique with Fujinami, and exchanging intense bruising strikes with Choshu. I like the Hase vs. Fujinami pairing a lot more historically, but Choshu made this his match, for better and worse. Choshu was the disdainful grumpy old man here, on a mission to keep the new generation firmly behind the old one. He was out to put a beating on the tag champs, and it was one of his stiffest and most intense performances of the year. As usual, Sasaki was always alright in a supporting role, but it was very much the Hase show. Hase logging so much ring time in their tags finally didn’t work out here, and I disliked him doing the job out of nowhere to Fujinami's figure 4, which felt counter productive, but overall because the opposition are so legendary, and Choshu did a good job of making the match seem important, it still arguably put Hase & Sasaki on a higher plateau. ***

4/30/91 NJPW Top of the Super Junior II Final, IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title Decision Match: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Norio Honaga 21:54
ML: The absence of Naoki Sano loomed large in 1991, as with Akira Nogami showing he wasn't ready yet in his Tokyo Dome loss to Liger on 3/21/91, we were ultimately stuck with Honaga. Honaga is one of the worst athletes in the history of junior heavyweight wrestling, and was clearly ridiculously outclassed by the performances of everyone else in the semifinals, not to mention he stole a spot from the great Owen Hart. Honaga had yet to show anyone why he belonged in big matches, but alas here he was. This was his coming out party, upsetting the two top juniors in one night (he defeated Pegasus in the semifinal), although he wasn’t sure who he was or what to do, seeming like a Southern heel who was suddenly forced to do dives. Honaga is something like a worse Yoshinari Ogawa minus the ability to be technical, so I don't think a slow "technical" start was what we needed here. Honaga needed to do something dickish to establish himself, as in their 3/14/91 match, and put Liger on the defensive, rather than waste 5 minutes doing nothing in a match that didn't need to be this long, especially after they did 10 minute matches earlier. Honaga finally did that when he ripped Liger's mask around the mouth, but the match had already picked up by that point, and the mask ripping felt throwaway, as it really had no effect on the way either acted or wrestled going forward. The match was good from the point where they picked things up about 6 minutes in with Liger missing a pescado, and Honaga ascending to the top ever so slowly, as if willing himself to surmount his fear of heights, then delivering an unpatented single ax handle style elbow. Honaga piledrove Liger on the floor, then powerbombed him on a table. This was the one junior match so far that got time, but Honaga isn't the guy to fill it with his offense. Honaga needed the credibility though, so Liger was again mostly selling. Honaga wasn't boring, but he doesn't execute his moves very impressively. Some of Honaga's stuff looked a little better here than it did against Pegasus, but the match was still having trouble exceeding the sum of its parts, or even looking as good as it would sound on paper. There was a good near fall that’s exactly the sort of thing Honaga does well, avoiding a back body drop by sliding and quickly hooking Liger’s arms with his legs to almost flash pin him. There was way too little of effective Honaga though, as he wasn’t really setting anything up, instead relying on quantity over quality even though quantity from him isn’t even good heavyweight offense. A Honaga match is much better when he sells and comes up with the well timed, probably shady counter then follows up with some brawling to sustain the heat, but that's not what people expect in a big singles main event, and he simply lacked the credibility, so they did their best to deliver what people expected from a big junior match. There were quite a few good false finishes at the end, aided by a hot crowd. Honaga stopped Liger's avalanche DDT finisher with a low blow, and seemed to have the match won with a diving neckbreaker breaker drop, but Liger kicked out. Liger kicked out of the regular neck breakerdrop and the German suplex, but Honaga got him with a cross-arm German suplex. Honaga did his best, but at no time during this tournament did it feel like he was a guy that should even be in contention. Liger carried Honaga as far as he could, but doing big match things, and having Honaga actually do them well were two different stories. Both men tried really hard, but ultimately Honaga is still a pedestrian wrestler who is in the junior division by virtue of being decidedly too small to be a heavyweight. Liger vacated the title prior to the tournament, so he ultimately lost the title to Honaga here, if only by not winning it. ***

5/31/91 NJPW IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title: Norio Honaga vs. Jushin Thunder Liger 12:32
ML: The grudge match gave Honaga purpose, rather than just occupying a prime spot in the junior division despite doing very little juniorish. This wasn't his typical match where he just chews up time while we wait for the opponent to hopefully do something cool. Honaga's brawling had purpose here, and he forced Liger to stand up for himself, with Liger even using shockingly violent chair shots, considering the time and place. Liger really raged on Honaga long and hard here, busting Honaga open with a chair shot off the top to the floor. The early portion of this match was a lot more compelling than in the limp rematch from 6/12/91 because they put more energy and effort into the matwork. This one also picks up a lot quicker because they had brawling to do rather than just Liger's flying and Honaga's neckbreaker drop and dick kick. It all started when Honaga got heat countering Liger's German suplex attempt with a low blow then ripped his mask a lot worse than he did in the Super Junior Final before hitting his tope and piledriving Liger on a table. By the standards of matches were Liger gets his mask ripped, these Honaga matches are among the worst, but Honaga only looks good against Liger, and while he can blend into a tag here and there, this is one of the only Honaga singles matches one can wholeheartedly recommend. Pretty much the only time this slowed down was when Liger started fooling with his mask because Honaga shredded it so badly that it was in his way. When these attempts to make something of what was left of it failed, Liger just tossed it off, which only pisses him off further. Even when Liger used his flying, he generally still appeared to be trying to hurt Honaga, especially with his big diving knee drop. Liger used a lot of offense he doesn't normally use here, and even when he did a shotei or koppo kick, his anger changed the context enough that it still felt different. These two arguably had too many matches in 1991, but this match still managed to feel fresh and vibrant throughout. Liger definitely fell in love with inflicting pain on Honaga here, and that was arguably his downfall, as the longer you allow Honaga to hang around, the more chance you give him to find another of his many nut shots. Honaga eventually escapes with a cheap victory with a little help from the ropes when he dropped down to counter Liger trying to sunset flip him out of the corner. It wasn't a great finish, but something like that was one of the only reasonable ways Liger could have lost here. Since brawling is Honaga's domain, probably the best finish would have been something like Liger knocking himself out missing a corner charge since he had taken the turnbuckle pad off. In any case, this match massively overachieved the rest of their program. ****

6/12/91 NJPW IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title: Norio Honaga vs. Jushin Thunder Liger 13:42
ML: A really disappointing follow up to Honaga's best singles match. Cooler heads prevailing is a good thing in real life, but the heat between the two completely dissipating in less than two weeks was frustrating, especially since the early portion was kind of lifeless without much attitude or action. The 1st half was slow paced durdling with Honaga cutting Liger off almost immediately anytime he tried to pick it up. They finally got moving when Honaga crashed and burned on a tope, and Liger hit a no touch tope con giro and dove a long way on a diving headbutt. Wrestling was different in these days in that it was taped, and the matches were almost all edited down. For those in attendance, or seeing the whole thing years later on a classics broadcast, it's surely a frustrating was to lay out a match, similar how every AEW TV match coming to a halt when they go to picture in picture is nonsensical. They probably saved everything for the back end so a good TV edit could pick up from this point, but we just saw that they had enough material not to do that if they wanted to. Liger regained the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title with an avalanche style DDT. There were a lot of good near falls once they decided to care. It's just unfortunate that they barely did anything in the first half. This match feels like the least notable in the series. Honaga is better here than he is in the 4/30 match, more comfortable with what he's doing even though it's not his ideal style, but that match had a lot more attempts to make it special than this one. ***

6/20/91 NJPW: Shiro Koshinaka & Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Kengo Kimura & Kuniaki Kobayashi 12:14
ML: I wasn't expecting that much with Kimura involved, but this was really wild, shot out of a canon energetic stuff. Koshinaka was working wonders here, pulling you into a match that could easily have been uninspired filler by ensuring everyone couldn't wait to run at each other and beat each other up. The match was wrestled like it was the Super Bowl even though there were no stakes whatsoever. This wasn't complicated, but they did a lot more than they had to, and the wrestlers being so motivated made a huge difference in their ability to pull the audience into the match. Koshinaka tried to suplex Kobayashi back into the ring after Kobayashi had escaped to the floor following a dropkick, but Kobayashi suplexed Koshinaka to the floor instead. Liger did a senton atomico to the floor. Kimura hurt the match calming things down with a submission sequence that just didn't fit. Otherwise, this was pretty much full speed except when they were striking. The finish wasn't convincing at all because Kobayashi was late with his feeble knee when Kimura backed Koshinaka into the ropes, and then Kimura won with a slow backslide. Kimura was by far the weak link of the match, as expected, but the others were great. ****

8/7/91 NJPW: Jushin Thunder Liger & Shiro Koshinaka vs. Akira Nogami & Kuniaki Kobayashi 14:26.
ML: New Japan didn't really have a junior tag division at this point, but this was pretty close. Nogami was the only one of these four that hadn't held junior heavyweight title, but he would win it from Liger 2 days later. Koshinaka & Kobayashi had graduated to the heavyweight division, which was largely a waste for Kobayashi in particular, but the junior division was also moving on to a more spectacular and high-flying style. This was a spirited and energetic match where the crowd reacted to the near falls, and everything useful Liger and Koshinaka did. Nogami & Kobayashi tried to slow them down because the opponents were making fools of them, but they always kept it moving enough that it didn't get boring. This is the sort of match that would most likely wind up being filler today, but they managed to provide enough action to keep the crowd entertained without killing themselves. ***1/4

Steve Grey Hall Of Talent

11/19/91 WCW World Tag Title: Arn Anderson & Larry Zbyszko vs. Dustin Rhodes & Ricky Steamboat 14:48
ML: Ricky Steamboat is maybe the only guy who could have replaced the injured Barry Windham here, and had the fans thinking "wow, awesome!" Wrestling's greatest substitute was super fired up for his WCW return match after toiling in the circus doing The Dragon act in a bunch of 3 minute squashes for the past 7 months. The crowd was about as hot as they could get, and Steamboat gives them an awesome start where he just goes to town on Arn and Larry, who already believed the titles were lost from the moment they saw Steamboat come down the aisle. Steamboat doesn't have much of a resume for 1991, but he's very clearly still capable of being a top worker. This could have been one of the best WCW tag matches ever if they had any plan to follow up on the great opening segment. Instead, it's the same old heels isolating the face story in every US tag since the camera was invented. Getting more of Steamboat should have been preferable to Dustin, but Steamboat's key strengths of fire and energy were taken out of the equation because he was tasked with selling the toll of the 2 on 1 endlessly. Even though Steamboat is a great taker, Dustin could have just as easily laid there in the opponent's Boston crab, it's not like they were doing anything high level there. Instead, Dustin really added nothing to the match, and that's not even a knock on him because he really didn't get a chance to contribute. The Enforcers were certainly effective, but the majority of the match actually felt like nothing you really need to see, in the sense that it's the same thing you always see in classic US tag wrestling, just done a little bit better. It didn't drag, and for what they were doing, it was smartly worked with the heels executing their shortcuts well. The fans got what they wanted to see with the title change, and the whole emotional response aided by some excited announcing carried the entire segment, but as a match, it's too cookie cutter to single out as being notably better than any number of others. ***1/4

12/1/92 JWP 2 Count Fall, JWP Openweight Title Decision Match: Cuty Suzuki vs. Dynamite Kansai 11:58
PA: This was really good. Cuty had no chance, even with the rules in her favor and Kansai having just gone 18 minutes with Devil Masami, but no one told her that. She took it to Kansai, worked Kansai over when she was able to, but the best thing was she kept making desperate miracle comebacks, hitting big moves and flash pins. No matter what Kansai would do, Cuty would fight back, and with the help of two count rules, you could buy her as maybe stealing a win. She almost did. She survived everything Kansai threw at her, and kept coming back for more. She eventually got wiped out though. A really cool finish saw Kansai go for another backdrop suplex, but flip her around into a Splash Mountain to become the first JWP Openweight Champion. ***1/2

12/1/92 JWP: Mayumi Ozaki & Hikari Fukuoka vs. Yumiko Hotta & Takako Inoue 22:05
PA: JWP's first interpromotional match. Fukuoka was given a chance here, and showed aspirations to step up and shine, but it didn't take long for her realize she was out of her depth. Almost immediately, she was on the receiving end of a nasty beating. Hotta was extra brutal, while Takako picked up the scraps, capitalizing on Hotta's offense and working on her new bitch persona. For the better part of 10 minutes, Hikari was destroyed. She managed to make a brief comeback, and executed a hot tag to Ozaki, but the momentum shift was short-lived, and she was back to where she started soon after. Ozaki eventually reached her breaking point, and took matters into her own hands, rushing in and engaging in a heated slapping fight with Takako, which she won. She put a crab hold on, and Hotta came in illegally, delivering a brutal head kick to Ozaki, but Ozaki gritted her teeth and maintained control of the hold, refusing to give up the advantage. Fukuoka attempted to mount some offense, but not everything went according to plan. When Hotta whipped her into the corner, Fukuoka tried to boomerang out, but got stuck. Hotta covered the spot by clobbering her and delivering a Jumbo Suplex. Ozaki tried to help her from the apron, but to no avail. It only got worse for Hikari when Takako held her in a camel clutch, Hotta came in again and delivered a kick to the chest (this would be a common spot later, but it wasn't yet). Later, Hotta had a leglock on Hikari, Ozaki encouraged her, so she fought back with slaps on Hotta. It just infuriated Hotta though, who got up and launched a savage assault with her kicks, easily the most vicious of the match. Ozaki furiously and frantically tried to stop Hotta, and eventually subdued her with a choke. This was probably the best part of the whole match. Hotta got things back under control and switched with Takako. Takako didn't want to fight Ozaki, so she dragged Hikari back in. Hikari gained the upper hand, leaping onto the top rope and attempting a standing moonsault. Takako avoided it, but she landed on her feet. She then tried the rolling cradle, but got stuck in the ropes. After Hotta accidentally took Takako out with a lariat, Hikari executed it properly. Ozaki landed a flying body press and a pescado on Hotta, while Takako was attempting to finish off Hikari. Ozaki was able to stall her out, but Hotta returned and continued to dominate. JWPs real chance came when Takako missed a tope and Hotta missed a plancha. Ozaki followed up by smashing Hotta's head into the announce table. Once they returned to the ring, Hotta fought back, knocking Ozaki off the top rope, but missed a guillotine leg drop. This led to some incredible near falls with Ozaki's Tequila Sunrise, Fukuoka's moonsault, and a straightjacket German. That was as far as JWP got, as Hotta reversed an Irish Whip into the Pyramid Driver on Hikari. Ozaki was able to make the save, but Takako handled her, and Hotta won with a backdrop suplex from the top rope. JWP and Ozaki were now 0-2, and they really needed to get a win on the board. It was a great match with an amazing atmosphere, high-quality action all the way through, and some of the best near falls you'll find anywhere. Hotta stood out with her brutality and did a great job with Hikari, while Takako was excellent picking up the scraps. Ozaki was the standout and the driving force; she really made the match, working the apron and desperately saving her partner when she wasn't legal, and having the best exchanges when she did come in, particularly with Takako. ****1/2

12/13/92 AJW All Pacific Title Match: Akira Hokuto vs. Takako Inoue 12:03
PA: Takako got a hot start and tried to end the match quickly. Hokuto, in response, opted for torture, and gave her a nasty stretching. The highlight was her sitting back on a crab almost bending Takako in half. Takako eventually cut her off, knocking Hokuto off the top, hitting a tope and targeting the knee. Takako didn't have much offense, but she did enough to get by, the only submission she used was the Achilles Hold. Hokuto's selling was good. It made it seem like Takako had a real chance. Hokuto made her comebacks through Takako's run, but couldn't string anything together. Hokuto eventually caught her and hit her somersault plancha. That put Takako out, and Hokuto killed her with suplexes and a Northern Light's Bomb to win. This was quality. ***3/4

12/13/92 AJW Tag League The Best '92 Final: Toshiyo Yamada & Manami Toyota vs. Aja Kong & Kyoko Inoue 27:08
PA: It was nice that there were no semi-finals on the same night as the finals this year, so both teams could come in fresh. Toyota and Yamada attempted to blast Kyoko away at the start, with Toyota hitting her quebrada within 30 seconds. It soon settled into a lengthy control segment that saw Yamada get worked over, and it was so good it flew by. Aja and Kyoko had matching gear, half and half of each other's style; their fashion sense can be questioned, but it was cool anyway. Aja gave Yamada the methodical beating, and then Kyoko came in and followed up just as well. Yamada tried some comebacks, but Aja and Kyoko were smart enough to prevent them. There were neat things in there; Kyoko throwing in a little bit of heeling, the camel clutch punt spot, Kyoko putting Yamada in the Romero Special, which everyone breaks up, so Aja took guard, taunting Toyota. Apparently, all this dominating of Yamada was starting to bore Kyoko, so she decided to start a slapping fight to wake her up. It worked a little too well, as Yamada got a hot tag to Toyota out of it, but Aja cut the dropkick spam off right away, and it didn't work on Kyoko either. Toyota would need to be a little more imaginative. Toyota next tried the rolling cradle on Aja, but she shrugged that off too. She got to do it on Kyoko though. Yamada and Toyota took revenge for the camel clutch punt earlier, and Yamada got some kicks in on Kyoko before the tables were turned. Aja gave Yamada an almighty thrashing on the outside. Toyota and Yamada weren't able to do much with Aja, but they got their run in on Kyoko. There were a lot of double teams, but when Yamada went for the Reverse Gory Special Bomb, Aja broke it up with an oil can. The first big near fall saw Toyota get a sunset flip when Aja went for the waterwheel drop, the same way she defeated her in the Japan Grand Prix. Aja avoided the double diving headbutts, and she and Kyoko hit helicopter slams. Aja got a near fall on Toyota with her chokeslam she won the JGP with. Kyoko was the one who needed the win, though, and Aja knew it, but Toyota and Yamada almost spoiled it. Toyota hit a moonsault and went for the Japanese Ocean Cyclone Suplex, but Kyoko escaped it. Aja cut off another quebrada attempt, and Kyoko hit the Niagara Driver in the middle of the ring. Aja was too busy cheering her buddy on that she didn't cut off Yamada, but it didn't matter. They did the doomsday diving elbow, and Kyoko got the win with that. A really excellent tag match with a feel-good ending. Kyoko was low on here without any major victories over anyone in the match before, and she didn't hold any belts having lost the IWA Title to Toyota in April and the All Pacific Title to Hokuto in November. Everyone was good, Kyoko, Yamada in the first half and Toyota in the second half, but Aja really killed it here and made the match. ****1/4

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