AJW TV 7/84 Summer Fighting Series taped Kamagaya Shimin Taiikukan
Noriyo Tateno vs. Jaguar Yokota
All Japan Single Title Match: Itsuki Yamazaki vs. Kanako Nagatomo
Yukari Omori vs. Devil Masami
2/3 Falls: Lioness Asuka & Chigusa Nagayo & Yumi Ogura vs. Dump Matsumoto & Crane Yu & Leilani Kai
AJW TV 7/84
Leilani Kai vs. Jumbo Hori
Lioness Asuka & Yukari Omori vs. Jaguar Yokota & Noriyo Tateno
AJW TV 8/84
2/3 Falls: Lioness Asuka & Chigusa Nagayo vs. Devil Masami & Itsuki Yamazaki
JWP Handheld 1987
Yu Yamasaki vs. Yuki Ito
Dirty Yamato vs. Mayumi Ozaki
Plum Mariko vs. Russian
Esther Moreno & Rumi Kazama vs. Reyna Gallegos & Maiko Tsurugi?
Miss A vs. Monster Ripper
AJW TV 1/88 taped Tokyo Murayama Shimin Sports Center
Dump Matsumoto vs. Kazue Nagahori
TV show clip of Dump and Bull beating up teenage Crush Gal fans in their bedroom
1/17/88 Dump press conference announcing retirement; brief clip of 85 hair match; Chigusa Nagayo Sings
variety show clip of Atsushi Onita and Crush Gals cerca 1985
Yumiko Hotta & Mitsuko Nishiwaki vs. Drill Driver & Pirate Kuma
Yumi Ogura & Chigusa Nagayo vs. Lioness Asuka & Mika Komatsu
AJW TV 1/89: Yumiko Hotta & Mitsuko Nishiwaki vs. Bull Nakano & Kumiko Iwamoto
1/91 Tokyo Korakuen Hall, 2/3 Falls WWWA World Tag Title Decision Match: Toshiyo Yamada & Kyoko Inoue vs. Aja Kong & Bison Kimura
JWP Handheld 1987
Oscal Tomo vs. Ilia Yonemoto
Eden Mabuchi & Smiley Mami vs. La Sirenita & Dirty Yamato
Cuty Suzuki vs. Yu Yamazaki
Yuki Ito vs. Maiko Tsurugi
Esther Moreno & Rossy Moreno vs. Rumi Kazama & Mayumi Ozaki
Miss A vs. Harley Saito
Eagle Sawai & La Briosa & Nancy Kumi vs. Xochitl Hamada & Plum Mariko & Jackie Sato
JWP HH 1987
Moon Ayako vs. Smiley Mami
The Traitor & Dirty Yamamoto & Maiko Tsurugi vs. Oscal Tomo & Esther Moreno & Plum Mariko
Mika Muramoto (sp?) vs. Cuty Suzuki
Yu Yamazaki vs. Mayumi Ozaki
La Pilota (?) & Rossy Moreno vs. Harley Saito & Rumi Kazama
Yuki Ito vs. Miss A
Eagle Sawai & Nancy Kumi vs. Xochitl Hamada & Jackie Sato
JWP HH 1st half of 1987
Yu Yamazaki vs. Mayumi Ozaki
Maiko Tsurugi & Dirty Yamamoto vs. Cuty Suzuki & Rossy Moreno
Mika Muramoto (sp?) vs. Plum Mariko
Miss A & Lola Gonzales vs. Eagle Sawaii & Yuki Ito
Harley Saito vs. Rumi Kazama
The Lock (Winona Barkley/Winona Little Heart) & Luna Vachon vs. Xochitl Hamada & Shinobu Kandori
Jackie Sato vs. Sherri Martel
JWP HH: Cuty Suzuki vs. Mayumi Ozaki. Cuts off
Rumi Kazama sings
Eden Mabuchi vs. Oscal Tomo
Ilia Yonemoto & Yu Yamazaki vs. Smiley Mami & Plum Mariko
Cuty Suzuki vs. Mayumi Ozaki
The Scorpion & The Sniper vs. Esther Moreno & Xochitl Hamada
Eagle Sawai vs. Yuki Ito
Dirty Yamato vs. Rumi Kazama
Miss A & Jackie Sato vs. Harley Saito & Shinobu Kandori
JWP Handheld
Moon Ayako vs. Smiley Mami
Sirenita & Dirty Yamato & Maiko Tsurugi vs. Oscal Tomo & Esther Moreno & Plum Mariko
Cuty Suzuki vs. Ilia Yonemoto
Mayumi Ozaki vs. Yu Yamazaki
La Briosa & Rossy Moreno vs. Rumi Kazama & Harley Saito
Miss A vs. Yuki Ito
Nancy Kumi & Eagle Sawai vs. Xochitl Hamada & Jackie Sato
JWP Handheld 1987
Mayumi Ozaki vs. Yu Yamazaki
Maiko Tsurugi & Dirty Yamato vs. Cuty Suzuki & Esther Moreno
Ilia Yonemoto vs. Plum Mariko
Miss A & ? vs. Yuki Ito & Eagle Sawai
Harley Saito vs. Rumi Kazama
Shinobu Kandori & Xochitl Hamada vs. Luna Vachon & Lock
AWA World Women's Title Match: Sherri Martel vs. Jackie Sato
JWP Handheld: Cuty Suzuki vs. Mayumi Ozaki No end
JWP Handheld
La Briosa & Mayumi Ozaki vs. Rumi Kazama & Harley Saito
Jackie Sato & Eagle Saito & Maiko Tsurugi vs. Miss A & Xochitl Hamada & Plum Mariko
Eden Mabuchi vs. ?
Oscal Tomo & Yu Yamazaki vs. Ilia Yonemoto & Cuty Suzuki
Mayumi Ozaki vs. Plum Mariko
Esther Moreno & Rumi Kazama vs. Dirty Yamato & Maiko Tsurugi
Yuki Ito vs. Harley Saito
Vicky Carranza & Lola Gonzalez vs. Shinobu Kandori & Xochitl Hamada
Eagle Sawai & Nancy Kumi vs. Jackie Sato & Miss A
JWP Handheld
Eden Mabuchi vs. Ilia Yonemoto
Sirenita & Esther Moreno vs. Oscal Tomo & Yuki Ito
Smiley Mami vs. La Briosa
Maiko Tsurugi vs. Dirty Yamato
Cuty Suzuki & Mayumi Ozaki vs. Rumi Kazama & Yu Yamazaki
Rossy Moreno & Nancy Kumi & Eagle Sawai vs. Xochitl Hamada & Halley Saito & Jackie Sato
JWP Handheld 3/4/87
Rumi Kazama sings
Plum Mariko vs. Maiko Tsurugi
Oscal Tomo & Smiley Mami vs. Ilia Yonemoto & Eden Mabuchi
Cuty Suzuki & Yu Yamazaki vs. La Venus & Dirty Yamato
Eagle Sawai vs. Xochitl Hamada
Diosa de Plata & India Azteca vs. Esther Moreno & Mayumi Ozaki
Miss A & Rumi Kazama vs. Yuki Ito & Harley Saito
Jackie Sato vs. Nancy Kumi
JWP Handheld
Yu Yamazaki vs. Plum Mariko
Miss A vs. Cookie Zula (Vula)
Dirty Yamato vs. Yuki Ito
Esther Moreno & Mayumi Ozaki vs. Maiko Tsurugi & Reyna Gallegos
Mayumi Ozaki vs. Yu Yamazaki
Yuki Ito vs. Ilia Yonemoto
Esther Moreno vs. Dirty Yamato
Cuty Suzuki & Plum Mariko vs. Smiley Mami & Eagle Sawai
Xochitl Hamada & Harley Saito vs. The Lock & Luna Vachon
Nancy Kumi vs. Vicky Carranza
Jackie Sato & Shinobu Kandori vs. Sherri Martel & Miss A
JWP Handheld 1987
Moon Ayako vs. Eden Mabuchi
Oscal Tomo & Smiley Mami vs. Ilia Yonemoto & Cuty Suzuki
Yu Yamazaki vs. Yuki Ito
La Balietta(?) & Dirty Yamato vs. Mayumi Ozaki & Esther Moreno
Zulienta(?) vs. Plum Mariko
The Scorpion & Maiko Tsurugi vs. Xochitl Hamada & Rumi Kazama
Eagle Sawai & Nancy Kumi vs. Harley Saito & Miss A
JWP Handheld 1987
Rumi Kazama sings
Eden Mabuchi vs. Oscal Tomo
Ilia Yonemoto & Yu Yamazaki vs. Smiley Mami & Plum Mariko
Cuty Suzuki vs. Mayumi Ozaki
The Scorpion & Maiko Tsurugi vs. Esther Moreno & Xochitl Hamada
Eagle Sawai vs. Yuki Ito
Dirty Yamato vs. Rumi Kazama
Miss A & Jackie Sato vs. Harley Saito & Shinobu Kandori
JWP Handheld 1987
Yu Yamazaki vs Mayumi Ozaki
Ilia Yonemoto vs Yuki Ito
Dirty Yamato vs Esther Moreno
Smiley Mami & Eagle Sawai vs Cuty Suzuki & Plum Mariko
The Lock & Luna Vachon vs Xochitl Hamada & Harley Saito
Vicky Carranza vs Nancy Kumi
Maiko Tsurugi & Miss A & Sherri Martel vs Rumi Kazama & Shinobu Kandori & Jackie Sato
AJW TV 1980
Jackie Sato sings
Nancy Kumi vs Seiko Hanawa
Mimi Hagiwara & Victoria Fujimi vs Tenjin Masami & Cheryl Day
Golder Pair and Queen Angels sing
AJW TV 1980 2/3 Falls: Jackie Sato & Tommy Aoyama vs Mami Kumano & Yumi Ikeshita. No finish
JWP Handheld 10/24/87
Yuki Ito vs. The Scorpion. JIP
Smiley Mami & Yu Yamazaki vs. Esther Moreno & Harley Saito
JWP Junior Title Match: Mayumi Ozaki vs. Rumi Kazama
La Bruja & Lola Gonzales vs. Xochitl Hamada & Miss A
JWP Handheld 7/18/87 Yokohama Yamato Shataikogyo Taiikukan
Smiley Mami vs. Esther Moreno
Cuty Suzuki vs. Yu Yamazaki
Maiko Tsurugi & Dirty Yamato vs. Mayumi Ozaki & Rumi Kazama
La Valietta (?) & Eagle Sawai & Zuleyma vs. Xochitl Hamada & Harley Saito & Miss A
Jackie Sato vs. Shinobu Kandori. End cut
JWP Handheld 1987
Plum Mariko vs. Yuki Ito
Mayumi Ozaki vs. Dirty Yamato
? (Russian) vs. Miss A
Maiko Tsurugi vs. Yu Yamazaki
Melina Gallegos (?) & ? (luchadora) vs. Harley Saito & Rumi Kazama
? (African American) vs. Shinobu Kandori
Monster Ripper & ?? vs. Nancy Kumi & Jackie Sato
JWP handheld 1987
Sayumi ? & Maiko Tsurugi & Dirty Yamato vs. Mayumi Ozaki & Ilia Yonemoto & Cuty Suzuki
Eagle Sawai vs. Ilia Yonemoto. end cut
AJW TV 1983: Jumbo Hori & Yukari Omori vs Devil Masami & Tarantula. JIP
AJW TV 6/82 taped Hokkaido Muroran-shi Taiikukan
Lioness Asuka & Nancy Kumi vs Wild Kazuki & Velvet McIntyre
All Pacific Title Match: Jumbo Hori vs Leilani Kai
Mimi Hagiwara vs Kaoru Matsumoto
Yukari Omori & Jaguar Yokota vs Masked Yu & Devil Masami
JWP Handheld 1987 (mostly black & white with flashes of color)
Monster Ripper vs Jackie Sato
Shinobu Kandori vs Lola Gonzales
Maiko Tsurugi & Dirty Yamato vs Oscal Tomo & Ilia Yonemoto
JWP Handheld 1987: Maiko Tsurugi vs Vivian Vachon. No Finish
JWP Handheld 10/24/87
Yuki Ito vs The Scorpion. JIP
Smiley Mami & Yu Yamazaki vs Esther Moreno & Harley Saito
JWP Junior Title Match: Rumi Kazama vs. Mayumi Ozaki
Lola Gonzales & La Bruja vs Xochitl Hamada & Miss A
JWP Handheld 1987
Smiley Mami vs Esther Moreno
Cuty Suzuki vs Yu Yamazaki
AJW TV 8/80
AJW wrestlers visiting Guam: market, beach, etc...
Chino Sato vs Devil Masami
Lucy Kayama vs Wendi Richter
2/3 Falls: Nancy Kumi & Jackie Sato vs Mami Kumano & Leilani Kai
AJW TV 1981
Yukari Omori & Mimi Hagiwara & Tomoko Kitamura vs. Devil Masami & Mami Kumano & Wendi Richter. JIP
Lucy Kayama vs Yumi Ikeshita
JWP handheld 1987
Oscal Tomo vs Ilia Yonemoto
La Sirenita & Dirty Yamato vs Eden Mabuchi & Smiley Mami
Cuty Suzuki vs Yu Yamazaki
Maiko Tsurugi vs Yuki Ito
Esther Moreno & Rossy Moreno vs Mayumi Ozaki & Rumi Kazama
Miss A vs Harley Saito
Eagle Sawai & La Briosa & Nancy Kumi vs Xochitl Hamada & Plum Mariko & Jackie Sato
Smiley Mami vs. Eden Mabuchi
Oscal Tomo vs. Miki Handa
Sachiko Koganei & Dirty Yamato & Mayumi Ozaki vs. Cuty Suzuki & Plum Mariko & Rumi Kazama
? vs. Yu Yamazaki
Moon Ayako vs. Yuki Ito
Tag Title: Harley Saito & Miss A vs. Maiko Tsurugi & Eagle Sawai
Xochitl Hamada & Shinobu Kandori vs. Mitsuyo Mura & Devil Masami
Jackie Sato vs. Shinobu Kandori. Kandori was a judo prodigy that Kotetsu Yamamoto trained with men in the NJ dojo. She had the real fighters mentality & was immediately disrespectful of pro wrestling, humbly stating in her debut that she would beat Dump Matsumoto in 10 seconds, which immediately set her up as a heel (even though Dump obviously wasn't a fan favorite she'd earned the respect of all the wrestling fans by running over their heroes). Sato, though returning from a 5 year forced retirement to form JWP, was still arguably the biggest star in the history of women's fake fighting, so Kandori was likely immediately dubious of her opponent for her debut match on 8/17/86, but her problem with Sato seems to have stemmed from Sato injuring her eye. Sato attacked the eye in their 7/6/87 match, which was probably her being used to the typical wrestling concept that the gap between real injuries & pro wrestling storylines should be bridged, but whether or not Kandori understood or cared, it apparently rubbed Kandori the wrong way & she decided she was going to break Jackie's heart by shooting on her in this third match. This starts out with the standard loosely worked mat wrestling, but Kandori seems to put real pressure on and off on her jujigatame. Sato gives her a what's up with that kind of look when she gets up, but Kandori answers with a legit jab under Sato's eye to start a combo of real punches, some getting through, some avoided. Sato tells her to bring it, and it's really a weird atmosphere because Kandori is shooting on her, but she also doesn't take Sato the least bit seriously because she's so much stronger & basketball didn't provide Sato with a self defense background, so it's very much a disrespectful arrogant taunt where Sato is made to pay for not having any legit skills. For instance, Kandori just gets down in an amateur wrestling bottom position & tells Sato to take the top. It's hard to tell if Sato is just that bad or still isn't taking this seriously as she's still just rolling around & giving up position as though it's the usual work. Kandori works an Americana without body control then when she mounts she disrespectfully slaps Sato in the face a few times & lets her up. Sato realizes she's swelling up pretty badly under the eye from that 1st jab & just walks out. Sato decides to return, but is a changed fighter, finally pretty much considering this a fight & trying to defend herself. She finally gets a couple good shots in when Kandori is down, but one of her big problems is she has no clue how to get a takedown (and standup doesn't work given she stands in front of Kandori with her hands at her waist). She basically tries to work from something of a 5 or 10 finger guillotine position without really understanding how to apply any leverage to make either choke work, never lifting to put upwards pressure on Kandori's neck & not understanding how to get body control to drop into a guillotine, so she either just kinda flops to her back on her own or because she's done nothing to impede Kandori from pressing forward & locking her up. Either way, Sato is always so far behind in the positioning battle she's pretty much at Kandori's mercy. Kandori seems to be trying to not be too much of a dick, but Sato is legitimately injured & pissed, so she throws real kicks & punches off her back or when they're locked up while Kandori is now more interested in being a hooker than having a fist fight. The ref is woefully out of his depth & has no clue what to do, not wanting to stop the match but not doing anything to ease the tensions or get them cooperating. He breaks them up when Sato is close to the ropes, but now Kandori takes a cheap shot & lands a soccer ball kick to the already swollen cheek. Sato is lucky that Kandori seems to know the submissions in a vacuum but not how to control the opponent to make them really work, so Kandori does a lot of wrenching on an appendage without the proper leverage. Sato finally taps to an awkwardly applied Kimura & Kandori pulls her hand away from the ref as he tries to raise it & walks off in disdain & disgust. As far as pro wrestling shoots go, I'd say this is well more legit than anything Inoki ever touched. Kandori is out to teach Sato a lesson, & seems to be trying to humiliate Sato & force her to fight back. Kandori takes a few cheap shots, but mostly walks the line where she's hurting Sato but trying to get away with as much as she can rather than obviously horribly beating her up &/or taking her out. Sato keeps trying to fight fair early then is actually defending herself even though she doesn't really know how because she can't trust Kandori & has no idea when Kandori is going to injure her again. This, of course, feeds into the preexisting problem, & makes Kandori more apt to retaliate when Sato actually connects with something.
Shinobu Kandori vs. Devil Masami 22:58 & 4:40
Yu Yamazaki & Xochilt Hamada vs. Cuty Suzuki & Harley Saito
Devil Masami & Miss A & Plum Mariko vs. Rumi Kamama & Xochilt Hamada & Harley Saito
Smiley Mami vs. Eden Mabuchi
Oscal Tomo vs. Mika Handa
Mayumi Ozaki & Dirty Yamato & Sachiko Koganei vs. Rumi Kazama & Cuty Suzuki & Plum Mariko
Yu Yamazaki vs. Reiko Hoshino
Moon Ayako vs. Yuki Ito
JWP Tag Titles: Eagle Sawai & Maiko Tsurugi vs. Miss A & Harley Saito
Shinobu Kandori & Xochitl Hamada vs. Devil Masami & Mitsuyo Mura (Bomber Hikaru)
Vol. 1
Shootboxing Cardinal Weight Title Match: Oichi Otsu vs. Katsumi Omura
Satoru Sayama Shooting "demonstration match"
Muay Thai: Sagat Bontauin (sp?) vs. Racty Munslin (sp?)
Thai Featherweight Title Match: Samran Sak Munslin vs. Beddam Rubora (sp?)
Ishu Kakutogisen: Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. Ismael Changani
Full Contact Karate Tournament featuring Masaaki Satake & Ryuji Murakami
Vol. 2
Karate Tournament Semifinal: Ryuji Murakami vs. Toshiyuki Yanagisawa
Karate Tournament Final: Masaaki Satake vs. Toshiyuki Yanagisawa
Wallid Hassan Mori breaks apples with nunchakus
Harley Saito vs. Miss A 13:38
Rumi Kazama vs. Cutie Suzuki 8:30
Masanobu Fuchi vs. Kenta Kobashi 9:01
Giant Baba & Tiger Mask vs. Abdullah The Butcher & George Skaaland 10:15
Sachiko Koganei vs. Reiko Hoshino
Yukari Osawa & Dirty Yamato & Moon Ayako vs. Eden Mabuchi & Oscal Tomo & Smiley Mami
Yu Yamazaki vs. Maiko Tsurugi
Cuty Suzuki & Plum Mariko vs. Miki Handa & Rumi Kazama
Eagle Sawai vs. Mitsuyo Mura
Yuki Ito & Miss A vs. Devil Masami & Xochitl Hamada
Mayumi Ozaki vs. Esther Moreno
AJW
Kaoru Ito & Miori Kamiya vs. Takako Inoue & Mariko Yoshida. JIP
Kazue Saito & Mima Shimoda & Yumiko Hotta vs. Manami Toyota & Etsuko Mita & Sakie Hasegawa
Monster Ripper vs. Bat Yoshinaga
Debbie Malenko & Suzuka Minami vs. Aja Kong & Bison Kimura
Bull Nakano & Akira Hokuto vs. Toshiyo Yamada & Kyoko Inoue. No end
9/15/88 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Cuty Suzuki & Plum Mariko vs. Yuu Yamazaki & Smiley Mami
5/14/89 Fukuoka: Miss A & Harley Saito vs. Mayumi Ozaki & Yukari Osawa
8/13/89 Tokyo Korakuen Hall, Handicap Match: Devil Masami vs. Mami Kitamura & Utako Hozumi
10/10/89 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Dementia & Kimmie Kozak & Maiko Tsurugi vs. Cuty Suzuki & Plum Mariko & Smiley Mami
JWP Junior Title Next Challenger Decision Match: Rumi Kazama vs. Plum Mariko
Shinobu Kandori vs. Miss A
Miyagi Kobayashi Shimin Taiikukan: Cuty Suzuki & Harley Saito vs. Moon Ayako & Yukari Osawa
Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Cuty Suzuki vs. Plum Mariko
behind the scenes segments such as wrestling practice, reading in the bedroom, hanging out on the beach, etc
8/13/89 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Jr. Tournament: Plum Mariko vs. The Scorpion 7:38
Jr. Tournament: Rumi Kazama vs. Smiley Mami 7:52
Heavyweight Tournament: Harley Saito vs. Maiko Tsurugi 9:56
11/2/89 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Mayumi Ozaki & Moon Ayako vs. Miss A & Smiley Mami 15:17
4/26/89 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Mayumi Ozaki vs. Cuty Suzuki 14:17
7/13/89 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Devil Masami & Maiko Tsurugi vs. Dementia & Heidi Lee Morgan 10:32
Shinobu Kandori vs. Miss A 15:51
Cuty Suzuki Special 2
Wrestling practice
8/13/89 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Cuty Suzuki vs. Miki Handa
Dating game
11/19/89: Cuty Suzuki vs. Harley Saito
Plum Mariko Special
11/24/89: Plum Mariko vs. Sachiko Koganei
11/11/89: Plum Mariko vs. Cuty Suzuki
9/15/89: Plum Mariko vs. Mayumi Ozaki
Cuty Suzuki vs. Sachiko Koganei 11:03. Entertaining but erratic opener. Koganei’s tagline is “Eye of the Wolf”. She’s the more solid and technical wrestler of the two, but despite being a member of Eagle Sawai’s GUREN-tai heel group, she seems to disappear as the year goes on and Rumi Yasuda gets more of a push. Koganei controls the match, grounding Cuty and stretching her out, which allows Cuty to be the “underdog” babyface who takes a beating but makes the hot comeback with some flying. Both worked hard, but their desire to pull off a good match exceeded their ability to do so. Cuty tried to keep the pace up, but the choreography was rather deliberate, so the bout was better, if less entertaining, with Koganei in control. Cuty pulled out something of a flash pin, so good little heel Koganei attacked her after the match. **
Mayumi Ozaki & Dirty Yamato vs. Plum Mariko & Smiley Mami 11:35. Ozaki & Plum aren’t quite stars, but their rivalry to be the promotions hot up and comer is one of the better ones in 1990 JWP. They didn’t work together that much in this match, as they were saving it for the subsequent battle royal. Plum had her moments, but until the finish Ozaki & Yamato preferred to stomp her than run around with her trading holds. Yamato is one of those boring unskilled bite and rake style heels, and Ozaki unfortunately wasn’t wrestling to her ability due to concentrating on being a rudo. Plum & Smiley did a nice job of putting over Ozaki & Yamato’s brawling on the outside. A good finishing segment helped save the underachieving match. Again, GUREN-tai attacked after the bout. **1/4
Tokyo Cable Network Cup All Star Battle Royal 14:07. The combatants were Devil Masami, Shinobu Kandori, Eagle Sawai, Plum Mariko, Miss A, Cuty Suzuki, Mayumi Ozaki, Moon Ayako, Yuki Ito, Harley Saito, Smiley Mami, Oscar Tomo, Dirty Yamato, Yukari Osawa, & Sachiko Koganei. Japanese battle royals generally pale in comparison to the US ones, as it’s a bunch of random pile ups, but today they actually used the stacks to tell the story of the weak rising up against the strong. The result on this very well booked contest was one of the best battle royals Japan was produced. Of course, it helped that once the ring began to clear they did something that resembled a junior heavyweight wrestling match. The big stars Devil & Kandori locked up at the bell, but Ozaki & Oscar kicked them from behind. Smiley tried a high cross body, but was caught by Devil & Kandori. However, Yamato & Plum dropkicked Smiley’s back to knock Devil & Kandori over, and everyone piled on top to eliminate them. #3 star Miss A was piled on after missing a diving body attack, but she reversed and pinned Harley before departing. This left Eagle as king, with all her GUREN-tai cronies to assist her. However, when Sawai bounced off the ropes A tripped her from the outside and her disciples piled on her for the pin. They split into Sekigun vs. GUREN-tai with Cuty’s friends actually saving her from Ozaki’s pin attempts. It came down to Plum & Oscar vs. Ozaki & Osawa, but when Oscar & Osawa were eliminated after dropkicking each other it made sense that Plum & Ozaki were largely kept apart in the previous tag match. Their segment was a hot one – trading bridging suplexes - that stole the show and justified their being the finalists. Plum had Ozaki pinned in a sunset flip, but GUREN-tai interfered, switching Ozaki to the top while the ref was distracted. Ozaki must have held Plum in the ebigatame for 7 or 8 seconds, as it took a while for the official to get back into position and make the three count. ***
Cuty Suzuki sings
Ishu Kakutogisen 3Min 5Rd: Rumi Kazama vs. Miyuki Takayama R2 0:44. Since Rumi’s strength is supposedly kickboxing, they either need to get a weak kickboxer for her to overwhelm or someone from a different discipline that she can beat the crap out of. Instead of promoting Rumi, the goal of these dreadful worked shoots seems to be proving pro-wrestling is a superior martial art. How else can one explain Kazama taking the striking she does use in her regular matches out of her arsenal, and instead relying on a takedown and submission game that plays no part in her pro matches? Kazama would quickly take Takayama down when she tried to punch. The match was fine when Rumi was on offense, as she showed some diversity in her takedown into submission game. Takayama was so obviously pulling her punches it was embarrassing, flailing her misses and short arming her connections. When she didn’t do a terrible job of faking it, she actually hit Rumi, but the ratio seemed to be 100 pitiful punches to one accidentally good high kick. ½*
Miss A & Miki Handa & Harley Saito vs. Shinobu Kandori & Yuki Ito & Mami Kitamura 9:58. Good combination of action and rivalry, building to a Kandori vs. A singles match but giving others a role and a chance to show their stuff. Kandori is a commanding ring presence. Already a finished product, she helped make the match with her antics. A is a better worker with a far more impressive move set, but she hasn’t really found her character yet. Kandori tagged in, slammed Handa into her corner and helped her tag A for the big confrontation. All the heat was on that pairing, but the others made quick tags, working a fast pace to keep it interesting in between what the fans cared about. Kandori drew A’s ire by coming in and slapping her to break up her half crab on Ito. They wound up brawling to the floor after interfering in Ito vs. Harley, which was a good well matched pairing as Ito another athletic kicker. Kitamura’s tagline is “Powerful Spirit”. She is rather green at this point, but faired pretty well anyway. Fun match, but why so short? ***1/4
Devil Masami vs. Eagle Sawai (tape cuts off 14:39 into bout). Despite being the UWA International Champion and leader of the heel group, Eagle is a big underdog against the legend. Devil dominates both the fast paced running sequences and the slow paced matwork, pretty much putting on a one woman show though Eagle has her moments. To make things worse for Eagle, her knee was injured in a figure 4 as Devil took her time respecting the rope break. In the process of finally breaking the hold, Devil managed to role Eagle off the apron, causing Eagle to come down on the knee. Masami dominated her hobbled opponent, who was unable to come back even with the aid of her acolyte Koganei. A chair was no help either, as Devil took it away and scolded her with a few whacks before the double ring out. A good match, but they could have taken it to the next level if, instead of just putting her in her place, they actually allowed Eagle to shine with the expected comeback. Unfortunately, my tape cut off when they were outside the ring at the count of 8, so I don't quite have the double ring out finish on this version, though ultimately it's still more complete than the comm. ***1/4
Cuty Suzuki vs. Sachiko Koganei 11:03. Entertaining but erratic opener. Koganei’s tagline is “Eye of the Wolf”. She’s the more solid and technical wrestler of the two, but despite being a member of Eagle Sawai’s GUREN-tai heel group, she seems to disappear as the year goes on and Rumi Yasuda gets more of a push. Koganei controls the match, grounding Cuty and stretching her out, which allows Cuty to be the “underdog” babyface who takes a beating but makes the hot comeback with some flying. Both worked hard, but their desire to pull off a good match exceeded their ability to do so. Cuty tried to keep the pace up, but the choreography was rather deliberate, so the bout was better, if less entertaining, with Koganei in control. Cuty pulled out something of a flash pin, so good little heel Koganei attacked her after the match. **
Mayumi Ozaki & Dirty Yamato vs. Plum Mariko & Smiley Mami 11:35. Ozaki & Plum aren’t quite stars, but their rivalry to be the promotions hot up and comer is one of the better ones in 1990 JWP. They didn’t work together that much in this match, as they were saving it for the subsequent battle royal. Plum had her moments, but until the finish Ozaki & Yamato preferred to stomp her than run around with her trading holds. Yamato is one of those boring unskilled bite and rake style heels, and Ozaki unfortunately wasn’t wrestling to her ability due to concentrating on being a rudo. Plum & Smiley did a nice job of putting over Ozaki & Yamato’s brawling on the outside. A good finishing segment helped save the underachieving match. Again, GUREN-tai attacked after the bout. **1/4
Tokyo Cable Network Cup All Star Battle Royal 14:07. The combatants were Devil Masami, Shinobu Kandori, Eagle Sawai, Plum Mariko, Miss A, Cuty Suzuki, Mayumi Ozaki, Moon Ayako, Yuki Ito, Harley Saito, Smiley Mami, Oscar Tomo, Dirty Yamato, Yukari Osawa, & Sachiko Koganei. Japanese battle royals generally pale in comparison to the US ones, as it’s a bunch of random pile ups, but today they actually used the stacks to tell the story of the weak rising up against the strong. The result on this very well booked contest was one of the best battle royals Japan was produced. Of course, it helped that once the ring began to clear they did something that resembled a junior heavyweight wrestling match. The big stars Devil & Kandori locked up at the bell, but Ozaki & Oscar kicked them from behind. Smiley tried a high cross body, but was caught by Devil & Kandori. However, Yamato & Plum dropkicked Smiley’s back to knock Devil & Kandori over, and everyone piled on top to eliminate them. #3 star Miss A was piled on after missing a diving body attack, but she reversed and pinned Harley before departing. This left Eagle as king, with all her GUREN-tai cronies to assist her. However, when Sawai bounced off the ropes A tripped her from the outside and her disciples piled on her for the pin. They split into Sekigun vs. GUREN-tai with Cuty’s friends actually saving her from Ozaki’s pin attempts. It came down to Plum & Oscar vs. Ozaki & Osawa, but when Oscar & Osawa were eliminated after dropkicking each other it made sense that Plum & Ozaki were largely kept apart in the previous tag match. Their segment was a hot one – trading bridging suplexes - that stole the show and justified their being the finalists. Plum had Ozaki pinned in a sunset flip, but GUREN-tai interfered, switching Ozaki to the top while the ref was distracted. Ozaki must have held Plum in the ebigatame for 7 or 8 seconds, as it took a while for the official to get back into position and make the three count. ***
Cuty Suzuki sings
Ishu Kakutogisen 3Min 5Rd: Rumi Kazama vs. Miyuki Takayama R2 0:44. Since Rumi’s strength is supposedly kickboxing, they either need to get a weak kickboxer for her to overwhelm or someone from a different discipline that she can beat the crap out of. Instead of promoting Rumi, the goal of these dreadful worked shoots seems to be proving pro-wrestling is a superior martial art. How else can one explain Kazama taking the striking she does use in her regular matches out of her arsenal, and instead relying on a takedown and submission game that plays no part in her pro matches? Kazama would quickly take Takayama down when she tried to punch. The match was fine when Rumi was on offense, as she showed some diversity in her takedown into submission game. Takayama was so obviously pulling her punches it was embarrassing, flailing her misses and short arming her connections. When she didn’t do a terrible job of faking it, she actually hit Rumi, but the ratio seemed to be 100 pitiful punches to one accidentally good high kick. ½*
Miss A & Miki Handa & Harley Saito vs. Shinobu Kandori & Yuki Ito & Mami Kitamura 9:58. Good combination of action and rivalry, building to a Kandori vs. A singles match but giving others a role and a chance to show their stuff. Kandori is a commanding ring presence. Already a finished product, she helped make the match with her antics. A is a better worker with a far more impressive move set, but she hasn’t really found her character yet. Kandori tagged in, slammed Handa into her corner and helped her tag A for the big confrontation. All the heat was on that pairing, but the others made quick tags, working a fast pace to keep it interesting in between what the fans cared about. Kandori drew A’s ire by coming in and slapping her to break up her half crab on Ito. They wound up brawling to the floor after interfering in Ito vs. Harley, which was a good well matched pairing as Ito another athletic kicker. Kitamura’s tagline is “Powerful Spirit”. She is rather green at this point, but faired pretty well anyway. Fun match, but why so short? ***1/4
Devil Masami vs. Eagle Sawai 7:50 shown. Despite being the UWA International Champion and leader of the heel group, Eagle is a big underdog against the legend. Devil dominates both the fast paced running sequences and the slow paced matwork, pretty much putting on a one woman show though Eagle has her moments. To make things worse for Eagle, her knee was injured in a figure 4 as Devil took her time respecting the rope break. In the process of finally breaking the hold, Devil managed to role Eagle off the apron, causing Eagle to come down on the knee. Masami dominated her hobbled opponent, who was unable to come back even with the aid of her acolyte Koganei. A chair was no help either, as Devil took it away and scolded her with a few whacks before the double ring out. A good match, but they could have taken it to the next level if, instead of just putting her in her place, they actually allowed Eagle to shine with the expected comeback. ***1/4
1/6 Tokyo Korakuen Hall, JWP ’90 New Generation Decision Tournament 1st Round: Hikari Fukuoka vs. Yuka Nakajima 5:37 of 10:39. The JWP rookie matches of the period were not all that different from the more well known AJW version. They kept it simply, not asking anyone to try to make a big impression with spectacular moves but rather to get the basics down. Nakajima was a knockoff of the punks with gunk in their hair that were rampant in AJW due to Dump Matsumoto’s legacy and Bull Nakano being the current top star. Basically if you had no offense you were a candidate, and if you also had no sex appeal you were on the short list. Fukuoka showed a dropkick and high cross body in this forgetable match.
1/7 1st Round: Rumi Yasuda (Kurenai Yasha) vs. Sumiko Saito 3:49 of 12:45. The bookers did an excellent job of advancing the girls who would become the best and brightest, with Saito losing in the first round being the one exception. She didn’t have a long career, but became one of the notable workers of the group. Yasuda was more advanced than Saito at the time, actually her growth seemed to stunt quite quickly as the main difference between her “star” days a few years later was not her moveset but rather the Kurenai Yasha gimmick. Aside from a bit of confusion near the finish they put on a better match than Fukuoka did despite Fukuoka clearly being the best worker of the group.
1/13 Osaka, Semifinal: Hikari Fukuoka vs. Mitsue Kobayashi 8:18 of 8:59. Fukuoka was very confident here, controlling the action. Fukuoka pushed the pace, but Kobayashi countered her running attacks with nodowa otoshis, doing a good job of using her size to her advantage. They started better than they finished, both generally and literally as the finisher was botched, but it was good for what it was with both showing promise. *1/2
1/13 Osaka 2nd Round: Rumi Yasuda vs. Shiho Imazeki 4:18 of 10:59. Imazeki was a Yukie Nabeno looking bowling pin who actually managed to wrestle more horrifically than she looked. How she ever graduated the JWP dojo in a time not that far removed from the heyday of teens wanted to emulate their Crush Gal heroes is beyond me. Beyond awful, as Yasuda has enough trouble with a good opponent.
1/23 Semifinal: Rumi Yasuda vs. Mie Dohiki 7:10 of 11:47. Dohiki is a very athletic woman who showed good promise in 1990. Probably the best match of the tournament with Dohiki jumping at Yasuda, who would try to counter with power. A good spot saw Yasuda catch Dohiki’s high cross body, but Dohiki quickly recounter with a small package. *3/4
2/11 Tokyo Korakuen Hall JWP ’90 New Generation League Decision Tournament Final: Hikari Fukuoka vs. Rumi Yasuda 13:02. Ten women entered, the bookers pegged the two who would go on to become stars, having them meet in the final. Yasuda charged before the bell, arriving before Fukuoka turned her back and choking her with a shirt. Fukuoka stood up to Yasuda, exchanging blows, which the crowd reacted to. They worked hard and got the fans into the match, but it’s hard to sustain intensity in the absence of any legitimate offense. It was certainly a passable match, which was all one could ask for. *3/4
Mayumi Ozaki photographed for her record debut. A funny segment in an inept way with Ozaki sitting around in her bathing suit, while little kids are heard playing just off camera, and occasionally run by as if for a silent film gag.
Miki Handa vs. Utako Hozumi 8:00. Hozumi appeared to be far more experienced, as Handa didn’t have any offense yet. The best spot saw Handa try to piledrive Hozumi, who showed her strength countering with what was essentially a bridging back body drop. When Hozumi missed a dropkick, Handa finished her off with a neat pin where she turned her back, stepped inside the near leg, overhooked Hozumi’s far leg with her arms then did a back bridge. I couldn’t believe Handa won as, though she eventually exceeded Hozumi, nothing that came earlier in this match suggested she deserved it. **
Plum Mariko vs. Yukari Osawa 8:49. Passable match with a good finishing sequence highlighted by Osawa turning Plum’s victory flip into a piggyback drop. Osawa has no offense and took Plum, who was already more than a promising worker, down several notches. *3/4
Cuty Suzuki & Rumi Kazama vs. Mayumi Ozaki & Eagle Sawai 14:09. Eagle & Ozaki attacked as the opposition was entering, hitting them with the bouquet of flowers they were presented with before the match. Sawai was in much better shape in these days - no more overweight than Rumi - moving and bending well. She did a good job, and Ozaki vs. Cuty was definitely quality. Rumi did a plancha, but otherwise didn’t add a lot, which was typical of her even in these days. Appeared to be on it’s way to becoming a good match, but got out of control with chair shots. The ref’s back was turned when Ozaki gonged Cuty with the bell, but Kazama was caught retaliating with a chair for the DQ. **1/2
3/13/90: Miss A vs. Sachiko Koganei 2:43. Koganei is a solid worker the promotion unfortunately does nothing with. Despite being from the same 1986 rookie class as Miss A, she is not even allowed to hang with her. What makes Miss A deadly is despite being one of the largest women around, she relies on a move set that could just as easily belong to a junior heavyweight. A attempted to utilize her size at bit more in this bout, not that it mattered given Koganei’s standing.
4/20/90 Nagaoka: Devil Masami vs. Cuty Suzuki 12:46. Most of the effort went into finding ways to elongate this squash. The size differential bred comedy, which in turn allowed Cuty to hang in there without making Devil appear weak for failing to obliterate her. In an effort to make a test of strength even, Devil squatted over so Cuty could reach her arm, and allowed Suzuki to use both hands. Devil had some fun here, and Cuty hung around long enough that she eventually made a comeback with diving body attacks, prompting Devil to get serious and finish her off. Devil and friends beat the ref up after the match for good measure. **
4/22/90 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Plum Mariko vs. The Scorpion 11:29. Hot junior action with both displaying their quickness and athleticism. Not the tightest match you’ll ever see, but a highly entertaining contest of two promising young wrestlers struggling to translate their physical gifts into a notable match. Scorpion controls her body better and gets more out of her litheness than Plum does, as she’s developed a fairly impressive moveset while Plum is more toward providing a short burst of energy to lead up to a move too pedestrian to justify it. A bit short, but this is the sort of bout you think of when you say it’s fun watching wrestlers develop. ***1/4
3/21/90 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Hikari Fukuoka vs. Yukako Fujihara 9:16. This is not the sort of bout you think of when you say it’s fun watching wrestlers develop. Fukuoka clearly had the most potential of the wrestlers in the 1990 Rookie of the Year tournament, but probably lost to Rumi Yasuda in the final because Yasuda was a more mature and competent wrestler, hitting the spots she attempted. The bookers seem to have told Fukuoka to tone things down and make sure pulled executed properly, as she did zero highspots here, even finishing Fujihara with a bodyslam. ¾*
Rumi Yasuda vs. Yuka Nakajima 6:50. Better than Fukuoka vs. Fujihara, as their offense may have been equally rudimentary, but they at least developed the reversals and counters. Nakajima is more experienced than Fujihara, which also helped. Not too terrible. *
Cuty Suzuki vs. Rumi Yasuda
Devil Masami vs. Mami Kitamura
Rumi Kazama & Harley Saito vs. Mayumi Ozaki & Yukari Osawa
Devil Masami vs. Harley Saito
Hiroshi Itakura vs. Hideki Kawachi
Miss A vs. Eagle Sawai
Martial Arts Match: Ryuma Go vs. Masashi Aoyagi
4/5/90 Martial Arts Match: Ryuma Go vs. Masashi Aoyagi
5/25/90
Itsuki Yamazaki vs. Plum Mariko 14:09. AJW’s forced retirements gave JWP a top 10 female performer for 1990. Though Yamazaki is obviously a major worker, this match was all about Plum, who gave a huge effort to prove she not only had a bright future ahead of her, but was ready to push the veterans and deliver one of the best JWP matches of the year right now. The bout started fast with Plum German suplexing Yamazaki as soon as she turned her back. Yamazaki’s offense is too dropkick oriented to stand around in a headlock all night, but she slowed the impetuous youngster down, dictating a more moderate pace where she utilized controlled and measured aggression, allowing Plum to make the hot comebacks and shine offensively. One of the best segments saw Plum come back rolling into her kneebar, and when Yamazaki escaped, she simply pulled out a different jumping takedown into the kneebar. Yamazaki, who was a heel due to being reunited with her pre JB Angels partner Devil Masami, resorted to biting Plum’s foot to escape the submission. Plum piledrove Yamazaki on the floor and delivered a plancha, with both barely beating the count. The fans were increasingly supporting Plum, pulling for the upset. It was definitely the kind of match one could get excited about, as Plum being in top form allowed Yamazaki to work harder because the fans could see she wasn’t simply carrying some pushover by toying with her for 15 minutes. The main downside is the bout didn’t flow as well as it could have, almost seeming to stop and start again on a few occasions. Still, it was a well-worked match that had more drama than most matches of this type where the outcome is never actually in doubt ***1/2
Cuty Suzuki & Oscar Tomo vs. Mayumi Ozaki & Yukari Osawa 14:19. Ozaki’s offense was worlds ahead of her JWP peers, which makes one wonder how she ended up being a heel so early in her career, though obviously the world is much better for it. Ozaki was by far the star performer, though that could be said about most of her matches in 1990, working good sequences featuring quick counters with both opponents. They pushed the pace, delivering good quality action. ***
Ishu Kakutogisen 3 min 5 rounds: Rumi Kazama vs. Chan Mi Chon R4 1:03. Pioneer’s Ryuma Go and Masashi Aoyagi were on hand for a loose, sloppy, unbelievable, and just plain laughable martial arts exhibition that was the worst JWP match of the year by a landslide. JWP’s booking seems pretty competent in 1990, but I don’t get this choice of opponent for Kazama. They fashion her a shooter, but in her pro wrestling matches the only signs of her toughness and “legitimacy” are her kicks. So instead of getting a sambo or an amateur wrestler she could punt, they come up with a Lee Gak Soo protege whose entire offense consists of the world’s most implausible movie kicks. As Kazama couldn’t credibly kick with Chon even in an obvious work, she was forced into submission mode. Chon did an impressive nunchaku display before the bout, but should have quit while she was ahead. They didn’t know enough about what they were doing to make it the least bit credible, looking more similar to two 4-year-olds rolling around the grass in a headlock due to the ridiculous number of reversals. The rules didn’t help, as similar to the later ReMix shows it was flash submission or standup. Chon threw repeated spinning high kicks and axe kicks, but for all her flair, she had minimal impact when she actually did connect. DUD
6/14/90
UWA International Title Match: Eagle Sawai vs. Maiko Tsurugi 10:30. You’d never guess Tsurugi was about to retire, as she was still one of the best workers around. An athletic wrestler with excellent body control, Tsurugi’s style is a mix of junior heavyweight and U.W.F kick, suplex, and submission. An action packed junior style match from the get go, it was not only exciting but well thought out. Eagle was actually a good worker before she turned into big bird. Even if she seemingly weighs half of what she did in LLPW, it’s still somehow odd seeing her superplexed. Tsurugi got off to a fast start, utilizing her all around game, but when she tried a plancha, Mayumi Ozaki climbed up and forearmed her off the top rope to the floor. They put a weightlifting brace on Tsurugi’s lower back, but Eagle turned the tables by going to work on the injured area with power moves, quickly undoing the brace. Just when it was seemingly hopeless for Tsurugi she countered into a flash pin that wasn’t the world’s most convincing for the win. ***1/2
Plum Mariko & Cuty Suzuki vs. Miki Handa & Utako Hozumi 11:40. Fast-paced match that despite their still developing offense was was exciting for the workrate. Plum vs. Hozumi was good, and Handa & Cuty held their own. Cuty was clearly not the wrestler that Plum was, and seemed a little behind the far faster and more athletic Hozumi as well, though she did step it up as the year progressed. In any case, her charms not only worked on the fans, but also the ref. Hozumi saved Handa at 2 ½, but Cuty protested so the ref gave her the win. The fans actually booed this, as it was such a blatant miscarriage of justice. The result was such a crock that they eventually overturned it and restarted the match, at which point they did a 3 minute sprint with their best and fastest offense. ***
Junior League Match: Mayumi Ozaki vs. The Scorpion 14:29. Exciting matchup between two of the best workers in the league. Ozaki kept Scorpion under control, interspersing lightning action in between solid mat segments. Scorpion is actually more of a technical junior heavyweight stylist, but that's not the strength of many of her counterparts, so her offense tends to be the more spectacular stuff they can take (but she can't hit with consistency). Ozaki really worked the submission game with her, and while the offense still seemed great because the athleticism and highspots were inserted at the right time, in actuality they did some quick bursts in between the matwork. They didn't go all to deliver the most exciting match they were capable of, but that may have actually helped because while Scorpion’s work was a bit loose at times, this harnessed version managed to hit all her spots. That being said, the final 4 ½ minutes was particularly impressive, with one near fall after another, though unfortunately the actual finish was rather unconvincing. ***1/2
Mayumi Ozaki & Rumi Yasuda & Yukari Osawa vs. Cuty Suzuki & Plum Mariko & Miki Handa 15:30. Cuty started to turn the corner here, though some credit for her improved work belongs to Ozaki, as their chemistry has always resulted in better than average showings for Cuty. Ozaki has little competition for the crown of JWP’s best wrestler, but she still needs some better partners. The match was one wrestler away from legitimate quality, but instead it was erratic with Osawa & Yasuda predictably dragging the bout down. Ozaki vs. Plum was impressive, and they saved that for the stretch run as they are the only wrestlers involved who have much offense. **1/2
Tag Tournament 1st Round: Harley Saito & Miss A vs. Eagle Sawai & Moon Ayako 1:20 of 12:53.
Tag Tournament 1st Round: Shinobu Kandori & Rumi Kazama vs. Devil Masami & Itsuki Yamazaki 3:35 of 14:37. Eagle ran in to deliver a chair shot to Devil. Kazama bled, and at one point was slow to get up so the ref stopped it to major booing.
Tag Tournament Final: Devil Masami & Itsuki Yamazaki vs. Miss A & Harley Saito 24:34 of 30:00. Long slow-paced match that was built properly and well executed. Everyone exhausted themselves, which was a good. The bad thing is they made the mind boggling decision to do a full time draw as the final of a one night tournament. The match would have been better in all aspects at 20 minutes with a winner, but even though the league asked too much of them and hung them out to dry, no one can fault the worker’s efforts. The bulk of the match centered around Devil & Yamazaki working Harley’s knees, setting Miss A up for the hot tag. At one point, A tried to take matters into her own hands by lariating Devil, but Devil tagged Yamazaki, who stopped Harley just short of the tag. ***1/2
Cuty Suzuki & Miki Handa vs. Luna Vachon & Rockin' Robin 9:30. A total style clash, rendered more unbearable by the fact the natives were treated as Saturday morning jobbers. Luna did a bunch of screaming, spending most of her time arguing with the ref. I suppose that was a good thing, as her hoarse manly growl is actually less intolerable than her awkward and plodding ring work. While watching her lumber around unevenly, I decided the first hurdle an aspiring pro-wrestler should have to pass is running the ropes. If you can do that properly you have a chance, but the graceless wonders wind up making most everything else look bad. Luna was so inept she couldn’t even get any audience reaction calling the opposition bimbos, though the poor quality of the fans gave her a new subject to rasp on about. DUD
Devil Masami & The Scorpion vs. Eagle Sawai & Mayumi Ozaki 12:38. Disappointing match wrestled as though it were going long even though it was on the short side. Everyone was fine, but this wasn’t even close to a major effort, which is a shame as on paper this had the potential to be one of the best JWP matches of the year. It’s weird seeing Eagle so “thin” that Devil clearly outweighs her. Devil & Scorpion worked Eagle’s left knee, but the match failed to develop much after the solid start. **
Itsuki Yamazaki vs. Sachiko Koganei 12:09. The high quality of this contest that could just as easily have been a pointless squash shows how good Yamazaki still is and what Koganei might have been with a role. Yamazaki gave a really good effort, all the more impressive considering she had nothing to gain from working with low level opposition, and Koganei stepped up her game and went along for the ride. An exciting albeit one-sided sprint where they did what they could for Koganei. Devil assisted her early, but Koganei’s advantage was still short lived. Yamazaki began with her regular top-notch offense, but began playing heel as the bout progressed to garner support for Sachiko. ***
Devil Masami & Itsuki Yamazaki & The Scorpion vs. Miss A & Harley Saito & Cuty Suzuki 12:38. More of an AJW style match with good fast-paced action and quick tags. A bit short, but they cut the weardown/submission portion out to deliver wall to wall action. The Scorpion, Yamazaki, & Harley were particularly in their element here, though everyone impressed. Devil acted as though she were concerned she’d injured Cuty on an Irish whip only to push Miss A on top of her and run off. ***1/4
Utako Hozumi vs. Mie Dohiki 9:27. *3/4. Two of the quickest girls in the league. Hozumi kept it simple for Dohiki, who is just learning. Dohiki shows good potential, but the match was only adequate due to her rookie offense being limited to dropkicks and such. *3/4
Mayumi Ozaki & Rumi Yasuda vs. Plum Mariko & Cuty Suzuki 13:48. Plum was considered the star of the team at this point, as her ring work is far superior to Cuty’s. Cuty was doing a lot better here though, displaying quicker counters and crisper execution. Ozaki vs. Plum and Cuty was good, but there was way too much of Yasuda. She sped up in an effort to keep up, but was way too slow for the other three, and had no offense. I liked how Plum prevented a potential ring out by sneaking up on Ozaki and dropkicking her in the back, propelling her into the ref. **1/2
Devil Masami & Itsuki Yamazaki vs. Eagle Sawai & Moon Ayako 15:11. Devil is still quite active and aggressive in these days, enjoying pushing the pace sometimes. Teaming with Yamazaki seems to help keep her moving. The only difference between Yamazaki from her AJW heyday with the JB Angels is she’s far more likely to play heel now that she’s teaming with Devil again. Eagle has heat with Devil as she’s vying to take over the mantle of JWP’s top heel, but her partner couldn’t get her in the ring to give her the opportunity to take care of business. Ayako was beat on for the majority of the match, even Eagle coming in and putting the boots to Yamazaki failed to open up the tag. Eagle eventually wound up taking her frustrations out on the ref. ***
Harley Saito & Miss A vs. Shinobu Kandori & Rumi Kazama 1:39 shown. These old JWP tapes are good, but it’s maddening how they disembowel or simply excise main event caliber matches so they can provide you with a cool hour of blank tape. All they showed was the finish, but it was hot with Harley scoring a rare pin on Kandori, albeit following A’s lariat.
Itsuki Yamazaki & Miki Handa vs. Plum Mariko & Hikari Fukuoka 10:40. Yamazaki basically stepped aside and let the younger wrestlers do their thing. They ran around a lot, but didn’t use their better moves, which, along with the shorter matches, are the trademarks of the shows JWP put on in foreign countries. Mariko, who works as hard as anyone in the league, still put forth a good effort. Fukuoka gave another sloppy performance. *1/2
Mayumi Ozaki & Yukari Osawa vs. Rumi Kazama & Harley Saito 12:39. Kazama gave a better performance than she typically was in 1990, looking sharp with striking sequences built out of avoiding her opponent’s blows. Saito showed confidence and maturity, stepping up to carry the match. The slick strike sequences between Kazama & Saito were quite impressive. Ozaki was in all out heel mode, busting Harley open with double teaming in the corner then repeatedly punching Saito to squeeze every drop out. While Ozaki & Osawa were effective, I wanted to see a few minutes of Ozaki actually wrestling Harley before the finish, rather than her and Osawa basically doing a competent version of Mad Dog Military bloodletting. They had a chance to deliver a very good match, but did a fluke schoolboy finish rather than expanded beyond the body. **1/2
Devil Masami & The Scorpion vs. Shinobu Kandori & Mami Kitamura 8:48. Masami & Scorpion were JWP’s best team at this point, and even though the match was too short, this was the prime example of what made them so good. Masami & Scorpion were certainly in top form, working well individually and together, including Scorpion using Masami’s back as a horse to do a diving body attack off. Kandori deserves a lot of credit here, as with a young scrub her tendency is to be the one man show, setting herself apart from the others, but she was very much a part of this match. Her selling was really good, making Devil and even Scorpion’s offense seem more painful and impactful than it actually was. One funny spot saw Kandori unmask Scorpion... only to reveal another mask. ***
UWA Joshi International Title: Miss A vs. Eagle Sawai 9:39. Though A still threw a diving elbow in, this was the type of slower, higher impact match Eagle & Kansai would became associated with in later years. A really seemed closer to discovering the wrestler she would be in this match than probably any other from 1990. She has better offense, but their ring work is pretty equal at this point as this might have been Eagle’s peak year. They condensed the match for Korea as expected, but they took out most of the weardown rather than the highlights. A attacked Eagle’s knee and Eagle came back with some brawling, but after that it was mostly good moves, at least for the period. They were well matched and gave you the quality of wrestling they were capable of, but it was still a slight disappointment because even though you knew it wouldn’t last too long, you figured they’d give you another couple of minutes. ***
Oh Myon Oh vs. Kaa Hin Go
Rumi Yasuda vs. Lee Ki Su
Devil Masami vs. Plum Mariko
Miss A & The Scorpion vs. Mayumi Ozaki & Eagle Sawai
Utako Hozumi vs. Mie Dohiki 11:17. Dohiki tried to wrestle a fast-paced match utilizing her dropkicks, but Hozumi was determined to stretch her. They are fast enough to make a high cross body look good, but Hozumi seemed to keep it too basic and they showed less offense than their 10/10/90 matchup. *1/2
The Scorpion vs. Yukari Osawa 12:06. Credit to Scorpion for getting an above average match out of Osawa, who is clearly a minus wrestler, though the primary factor was Scorpion’s excellent offense. Osawa sped things up and tried to work Scorpion’s match, giving her best performance of the year hanging with Scorpion and being the base for her flying moves. Granted it was sloppy and deliberate at times, but unlike the typical Osawa match, it was never dull. Basically this was a showcase for Scorpion’s flying, including the cool bounce off the top backflip armdrag that Owen Hart made famous. **1/4
Shinobu Kandori vs. Mami Kitamura 0:52. Kitamura looked good during her fast start, which included a nice arm drag and bulldog, but Kandori submitted her almost as soon as she gained control.
Miss A & Rumi Kazama & Cuty Suzuki vs. Eagle Sawai & Mayumi Ozaki & Sachiko Koganei 15:07. Stacked match with a rapid pace through constant tags. Eagle’s team attacked before the bell, getting off to a quick start combining brawling and fast action. Sawai & A are pretty comparable workers at this point with Eagle wrestler a similar style to Devil, though more energetic since she’s lighter and much younger. A has great offense for a big woman as she learned it when she wasn’t so bulky, but in her peak days as Dynamite Kansai was still athletic and flexible enough with the extra weight to do moves such as the Northern lights suplex and diving headbutt. Cuty’s moveset hasn’t improved, but more importantly she’s figured out how to impress with it, showing bursts of energy. Good performances all around. ***1/2
9/30/90 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Rumi Kazama & Shinobu Kandori vs. Devil Masami & Itsuki Yamazaki
10/10/90 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Miss A & Harley Saito vs. Shinobu Kandori & Rumi Kazama
12/7/90 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Plum Mariko & Cuty Suzuki vs. Mayumi Ozaki & Rumi Kazama
11/11/90 Osaka: Miss A vs. Devil Masami. Hard hitting, intense battle between JWP's two largest women. Devil was still a fantastic big woman at this point, and again carried the up and coming wrestler to an exciting & spirited affair. They started fast then settled in to the body of the match with A working the knee. Devil finally made a comeback with her powerbomb after avoiding A's dive, which sent them to the finishing segment exchanging bombs for near falls. I liked the sprint at the start, and especially to the finish, and it even had a pretty legitimate finish of A scoring the upset reversing into a German suplex, but the middle portion just being a lot of body work on the mat that went nowhere prevented it from rising to the level of something noteworthy. ***1/4
7/19/90 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Shinobu Kandori vs. Harley Saito 18:54. Most likely the finest performance of both women's careers, really the perfect genesis of the unbridled hatred Kandori brings to a contest that makes it come off as a real fight with a great worker in Harley who could not only clean things up, but was stylistically suitable enough to get away with beating Kandori up. There's not one element, aspect, or style that makes a great match, but perhaps the most important thing once reasonably skilled individuals are paired is they're able to convey that they care enough to do everything they can to beat the opponent. That's why so called entertainment wrestling always falls so flat, once they start stalling, posing, doing their laps after every punch, generally screwing around, it just feels like the uninspired show it is, it no longer provides that visceral feeling that you're seeing a fight. Harley vs. Kandori, on the other hand, feels like two lions were let out of the cage in the middle of the Roman colosseum. This was pure savagery from the opening bell, oozing disdain from every pour. It's not exactly a full on shoot style match in that they deviate here and there, running the ropes, going for flash pins, throwing in a dive & a couple moments on the outside, but few matches feel more like they're shooting on each other. They just put so much energy into their urgent hatred, jerking the appendages on the submissions & striking with the ferocity cranked into overdrive. It's not so much that their strikes were stiff because most stiff striking reeks of cooperation with the opponent standing there like a doofus, but rather that they were filled with anger & rage to the point they came off as mostly being wildly out of control with a bit of calculated disregard for doing the honorable thing when the opponent was in prone position. Even a simple bodyslam was fantastic here because Kandori deposited Harley so hard she bounced off the mat. The match started with a staredown where Kandori acted& Harley answered her back, first with a push then with a slap, quickly establishing that Harley was not only going to stand up to Kandori, she was going to try to beat her at her own game, which made her an even bigger underdog than she already was. Harley then landed a knee to the midsection but got thrown down trying a snapmare. In the next lockup, Kandori got a reverse bodylock, & when Harley did a go behind, Kandori hit an ipponzeio, getting the sort of toss Harley had just failed at. Harley paused for a second on her knees then just exploded to her feet with a sick elbow & buckled Kandori with brutal knees to the midsection, taking her down with a snap suplex, but having Kandori counter into a wakigatame. Kandori's flash submissions were used to great effect throughout, but again it's really the urgency that both performers put into them, Kandori really cranking on them & Harley kicking Kandori in the face or doing anything else she could think of to break the holds before they broke her, & then taking advantage of a prone Kandori, kicking her in the face some more for having the gall to try to hurt her with these moves. Kandori's offense has never been finer because in this match she threatened from every position. When she couldn't get a throw or suplex to set things up the way she'd like she just dropped into a leglock & forced Saito to have another answer. If Harley's answer wasn't good enough, for instance grabbing the ropes, Kandori would just pull her back to the center & reapply. Harley got the worst of the grappling exchanges as you'd expect, but her striking was much better than Kandori's, and it not only kept her in the match, but kind of put Kandori in her place. I mean, when else do you see Kandori just getting beat up, taking all sorts of unanswered shoot kicks to the face & ear? There was a great spot where Kandori whipped her into the corner, but Harley reversed late & went right into an elbow in the corner. Harley's performance was just so fearless. She was going to take everything that the more dangerous opponent she'd ever face could throw at her, and do it right back, for instance a big body slam into mount punches and answering Kandori's leg lock by grabbing one of her own. The match felt a bit sloppy, but that's mostly because they purposely weren't doing clean rolls & tumbles to make the cooperation in a match that's all about being uncooperative less obvious. Harley is probably the most opportunistic of JWP's wrestlers when it comes to winning with the flash pins they booked too often, and when she finally initiated her, it was small packaging Kandori after her kick was caught. What's great is Kandori immediately turned the tables, rolling into her own flash pin attempt. The match arguably would have been better if it was less diverse, but the deviations actually worked really well, keeping the audience on their toes & giving Harley more of a chance. Still, I'm glad it didn't end with the back & forth flash pins sequence after Kandori back body dropped her way out of a piledriver. Harley still gained something from getting the win there even though her victory was quickly overturned because Kandori got her right shoulder off the mat for an instant (surprising given even more obvious kickouts purposely go unnoticed when JWP does flash pins). The thought of actually losing added a lot of wood to Kandori's fire that had already been burning bright all night, and now she just wanted to kill Harley, though this is where the holes in the execution of her striking game were most obvious. The portion after the restart was more a traditional pro wrestling finishing sequence with a lot of suplexes, and Kandori even ascended to the top rope only to get superplexed. Kandori's leglock would have been the more fitting finish based on the match they'd been doing, but good god was the Tiger driver she actually won with brutal, and a match of this caliber kind of needed something that sick & incapacitating to warrant actually ending because neither were going to quit mentally. The ref was just raising Kandori's hand when Miss A cold cocked her with a charging right hand and every woman at ringside hit the ring to stop the brawl, with a good five women holding A back the first time then a few more after Kandori said something to A on the mic. Not merely the best original JWP match I've seen so far by a wide margin, but a true classic for any league at any time. ****3/4
12/24/90 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Mayumi Ozaki vs. Rumi Kazama 17:36. A quality big match that should have been better than it was. Ozaki was emotionally invested from the start, but while Kazama showed better offense, she teetered on just going through the motions doing her stiff kicks & mixing in a couple submissions, suplexes, and a brawling sequence. Ozaki hit a nice suplex here and there, but was more controlling Kazama than doing anything that spectacular. Even though she didn't have a lot of her big moves yet, she had a hop in her step & did everything with conviction. Ozaki had her heel routine down, which gave the match some structure, though it was still lacking in drama. She controlled early, and even though Kazama was lacking fire, I still think the match would have been better if Kazama was making comebacks rather than switching to a more back & forth affair. Kazama had moments where she seemed into it, particularly when she was on top working submissions & slapping Ozaki around, but would also be playing with her hair the moment she finished screaming in pain from Ozaki's submission. The match picked up nicely down the stretch with a series of suplexes which would have made for fine finishers, but instead Rumi won countering Ozaki's flash pin with one of her own. ***
Utako Hozumi & Eden Mabuchi & Hikari Fukuoka vs. Rumi Yasuda & Yuka Nakajima & Mie Dohiki 16:52. Rookie style match trying to surmount the lack of offense by stocking up on youngsters, but sinking in a quicksand of mistiming, miscues, and mistakes including Fukuoka blowing an arm drag. I have to give Yasuda some credit, as she was the only one who tried to step up, but unfortunately she stinks. She implemented her full arsenal of unconvincing heel tactics, for instance this lame maneuver where she stood over Hozumi with Hozumi's head between her ankles and jumped back, stomping Hozumi's hair! After a while, the fans just started laughing at their ineptitude and hesitation. Hozumi was the only one who approached sharpness in this mess, but she couldn't exactly raise the overall standard, if such a thing could be said to exist in this debacle. 1/4*
Cuty Suzuki & Plum Mariko vs. Yukari Osawa & Sachiko Koganei 12:16. Plum held Koganei so close for Cuty’s diving body attack that Cuty practically flew right over Sachiko. Otherwise, it was generally competent if undistinguished action. Koganei is getting good here, as her strength of body control is leading to crisper and tighter execution. **
Shinobu Kandori & Miki Handa vs. Harley Saito & Mami Kitamura 5:44. Harley appears to be in peak form, but again Kandori’s match is so short it’s difficult to discern. The opening segment with Harley vs. Kandori was excellent with Harley using her speed and crisp technique, but Kandori getting pissed and trying to drive her through the mat with a bodyslam. There was a steep decline after the first minute, as the intensity dropped tremendously for Handa vs. Kitamura. Harley vs. Handa was good, but Kandori made short work of Kitamura, so it wound up being a third of a match rather than the fully developed quality contest it could have been if the goal wasn’t simply to make Kandori look tough.
Devil Masami & The Scorpion vs. Miss A & Itsuki Yamazaki 13:02 + 4:51. Entertaining match that seemed to lack the effort to make it as good as it could have been. Yamazaki was beyond reproach all year, and did nothing wrong here, but was a bit subdued, content to fit into Devil’s pace rather than developing a hyper alternative with Scorpion that could have taken the bout to the next level. If the contest started a bit slow, it did continue to get better, though there were few signs of desperation before the final minute. Little Scorpion was the wrestler who didn’t belong, but rather than squash her they let her do her thing, and shine, though she was pinned twice for her trouble. She had her act down here, or was simply on, as there were none of the execution problems that marred her bouts earlier in the year. She’s a good partner for Devil, as Devil holds the match together with good timing and develops the rivalries with clever interplay, while Scorpion provides the offense. The match ended rather abruptly, so they did a bonus five minutes. Devil was really inciting Miss A in the extra session, breaking up a pin then, when A stuck with it, stomping her again before she left the ring. A gave Devil a few none too happy looks, but once she turned her back to hold Scorpion so Yamazaki could come off the top, Devil ran in and Pearl Harbored her with a lariat. ***1/2
Tokyo Den'en Coliseum: Tomi Aoyama vs. ? (bleached blond American)
Jackie Sato & Seiko Hanawa vs. Yumi Ikeshita & Mami Kumano
7/31/79 Tokyo Den'en Coliseum 2/3 Falls: Yumi Ikeshita & Mami Kumano vs. Lucy Kayama & Tomi Aoyama
AJW TV 8/92 taped 8/9/92 Nagaoka Kokusai Event Hall
Fuji TV Tag Tournament Mid Summer Typhoon '92 Quarterfinal: Mariko Yoshida & Sakie Hasegawa vs. Manami Toyota & Mima Shimoda
Aja Kong vs. Takako Inoue
Fuji TV Tag Tournament Mid Summer Typhoon '92 Quarterfinal: Akira Hokuto & Toshiyo Yamada vs. Kyoko Inoue & Terri Power
JWP Handheld 1991
Cuty Suzuki & Plum Mariko vs. Mayumi Ozaki & Yasha Kurenai
Martial Arts Match: Sachiko Koganei vs. Chan Mi Chon
Miss A & Rumi Kazama vs. Eagle Sawai & Yukari Osawa
Itsuki Yamazaki vs. Mami Kitamura
Shinobu Kandori & Harley Saito vs. Devil Masami & The Scorpion
AJW TV 3/91
Manami Toyota demonstrates holds
Akira Hokuto vs. Bat Yoshinaga
Aja Kong & Bison Kimura & Mika Takahashi vs. Bull Nakano & Kyoko Inoue & Tomoko Watanabe
FMW: Reggie Bennett feature and TV show appearance
Aja Kong, Bison, Ito, & Kamiya try to train a fat boy. He can't really even do a sit up, but they put him into a tag match, with Aja reffing
AJW TV taped 1/5/92 Korakuen Hall
Jungle Jack sing
All Japan Tag Titles: Takako Inoue & Mariko Yoshida vs. Debbie Malenko & Sakie Hasegawa
1/13: Cuty Suzuki & Miki Handa & Mikiko Futagami vs. Sachiko Koganei & Yuka Nakajima & Ayumi Taki
Mie Dohiki vs. Yuriko Koya
Devil Masami & The Scorpion vs. Eagle Sawai & Sachiko Koganei
Mayumi Ozaki & Rumi Kazama vs. Shinobu Kandori & Harley Saito
UWA International Champion Decision Tournament 1st Round
1/6/91 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Miss A vs. Itsuki Yamazaki 16:46. While Noriyo Tateno limped through much of the last two decades of her career, her far superior old partner Yamazaki had a brief but excellent run as the top worker in JWP, only to sadly retire at 25 even though that was no longer manditory. Yamazaki was the closest disciple to Jaguar Yokota's style due to adopting the diversity of her game and her general cleverness, and thus was the best Manami Toyota in the game in 1991. This was a fantastic example of what she could do above & beyond the workrate style, an intense & well focused bout that felt desperate & meaningful despite not having tons of fast action. Though at heart the expected technician vs. bruiser bout, they blended the styles really well with A mirroring the leg focus & some of the holds to get revenge. Ultimately, Yamazaki was using a lot of misdirection to gain advantages and get near finishes, while A was the explosive one, either doing something spectacular or crashing and burning. This was a really good tournament for A, who was beginning to come into her own as the big powerhouse who could maul the smaller girls, but was still athletic enough to hang with them in the faster paced sequences. She had illusions of steamrolling Yamazaki, taking her out with a lariat before the bell then whipping her into the guard rail, but Yamazaki caught her kick & injured A's knee posting it. A is obviously the much more imposing physical specimen, but this match was all about the wily veteran Yamazaki beating her with guile. Yamazaki had the answers for A's entries, and kept working over the leg to make them even slower and more predictable. A would overwhelm Yamazaki once she took control, so it was very important for Yamazaki to maintain the advantage for as long as she could. Though less the case in JWP where they had more proper technical wrestling training, normally the early portions of these old joshi matches weren't that great because the matwork was random filler until it was time to start jumping around. That was definitely not the case here, as this wasn't just A laying around letting Yamazaki pretzel her, both were working hard to make the segments meaningful, with A trying to make comebacks only to have Yamazaki reinforce the storyline by cutting her off with another shot to the knee. A eventually regrouped on the outside, but her attempt at a hot comeback was immediately thwarted when Yamazaki again caught a kick & this time went right into a leg lock. Finally, A answered Yamazaki's forearm to escape the Northern Lights suplex with a really stiff one of her own, hit the suplex, and was able to sustain an advantage with the scorpion. A gave Yamazaki some of her own medicine working Yamazaki's knee, leading to one of the better little touches of the match where Yamazaki was desperately punching A's knee to try to get her to break the figure 4. Yamazaki was really thinking about how she was doing things, and she made some nice little adjustments to throw pressure onto A's knee such as a high elevation on the figure 4 reversal. A still sold her own knee here & there, but working Yamazaki's knee also allowed her own to recover, and she began to finally get into her powerhouse routine, really overwhelming Yamazaki with her kicks. Yamazaki eventually avoided a corner charge & hit a diving missile kick from one corner, a reverse body attack from another then climbed a third corner, but actually got down when A rolled to her side & piledrove her to set up a diving headbutt. I know this didn't really change much, but I really liked how Yamazaki reacted to the opponent's recovery rather than making A just lie on her side & take another flying move like probably everyone else would have done. A answered with her own tombstone piledriver, but missed the diving headbutt. Yamazaki was up a bit sooner, but by the time she charged at A, A was recovered enough to charge back & lay her out with the lariat for the win. Starting & ending with the lariat was nice & all, but while the best finish in the tournament, it still seemed forced & rushed, with Yamazaki having the out of that she sort of kicked out though she never really got her shoulder off the mat. In the end, the lead up was a lot more ahead of the curve than the finishing sequence, which is one of the problems with original JWP, the best matches get the rivalry and real competition aspects a lot more right than other joshi, especially anything beyond the 90's outside of the usual handful of exceptions (Yoshida, Kana, Arisa), but, and perhaps this to some extent goes hand in hand, they rarely have lengthy, go the extra mile finishing sequences to bolster them. Still, even with a less than satisfactory closing, this would have been fantastic as the tournament final, much less as the simple 1st round match that it actually was. The only real problem was nothing else here could top it. ****
1/7/91: Eagle Sawai vs. Shinobu Kandori 11:30. Kandori was in top form here, really intense & vicious. Watching some of these original JWP shows, it seems like I've underrated her in the past as she had more talent than I realized and simply wasn't motivated by the LLPW opposition enough for it to shine through, with the energy she generally put forth greatly declining as her top spot was so completely unquestioned. Today, Eagle stood up to her somewhat from a hold for hold standpoint, but while she was still a quality wrestler at this point before she turned into big bird, she just so seeming lacking in the savagery department against such a tough, nasty, fired up version of Kandori. That's really the difference in the early version of Kandori to the later, she'd beat you up in both but here you really feared her because she was motivated to hurt you, whereas later she was much more dismissive. Eagle finally switched to brawling, taking over on the outside, and suddenly Kandori "lost it" and threw a table then tossed 2 chairs in the ring. They dueled with the metal much to Eagle's chagrin, but she had to defend herself, resulting in the cheesy tournament staple of advancing the wrestler who wasn't supposed to win through cornball shenanigans. **1/2
1/8/91 Semifinal: Harley Saito vs. Devil Masami 13:23. Harley was such a great worker in the early '90's and would totally be a legendary worker had she not spent her career squandered in the Kandori or bust LLPW where their big idea for her was to turn her into a farm animal. She took it to Devil here from the start, which is exactly what you need to do against older Devil to get the most out of her, forcing her to step up to answer rather than letting her control with her more methodical pace. Devil did slow it down once they got to the body of the match where she focused on working Harley's arm, but this was a good change of pace as they'd already established the intensity & urgency. It set up a dynamic come back from Harley using her kicks to usher in an aggressive second half. Devil was throwing Harley around whenever she got hold of her, so Harley kept forcing running sequences to use her speed advantage & use momentum to make up for what she was lacking in size. Saito gave a spirited performance here, and Devil was really engaged & on her game as well. They packed a lot more action into this match than you would expect, but partly because it was so good the flash pin finish out of nowhere was even more disappointing because you really wanted another few (or several) minutes. That being said, as with the previous Eagle/Kandori match, you had to like that they were moving the up & coming wrestlers into the forefront even if their methods were sketchy. ***1/2
1/13/91 Osaka, Tournament Semifinal: Miss A vs. Eagle Sawai 13:35. An odd but spirited & energetic match where they did a little bit of everything. It started as the typical Eagle brawl with A really going hard into the guard rail, and that was probably the most consistent aspect of a match that had no real consistency as they at least went back to it with A getting busted open from getting her head rammed into a table later on. The most interesting of the many turns they took was into U.W.F. territory with hard slaps as A got frustrated with Eagle & started "shooting" on her. She took her down, only to get quickly reversed, but A used headbutts from the bottom while Eagle was in her guard. They went right from this more credible stuff to running around & doing some fake weardown submissions where Eagle's back was compromised before Kansai hit a dive. Though both were thinner than in their heyday, they were big enough that the pace they kept & athleticism they displayed was not what you'd expect if you hadn't seen them before. Both had an epic fail on an avalanche style move when the opponent shifted their weight & landed on top before another terrible finish that seemed a lot less justified given there were no big name veterans here when A got a flash pin on a sloppy roll up even though Sawai obviously kicked out. I really wanted to like this match more than I did because they worked hard. It was never dull, & often the individual spots & sequences were impressive, but it was just so random & the finish was groan worthy. ***
2/11/91 Tokyo Korakuen Hall, Tournament Final: Miss A vs. Harley Saito 17:15. Many of the previous matches in the tournament had been flashier, more AJW paced affairs even as they dabbled into UWF & brawling. The final was more of a slow boiler with All Japan ferocity to the strikes, built up in a more realistic manner with a advantages being hard to come by & fatigue setting in down the stretch. For the most part, it was similar to the A vs. Yamazaki match, with a much more standard Harley underdog storyline replacing the outside the box craftiness of Yamazaki, which was some of the most interesting stuff in that match. Again, they did a really nice job of building the match up, even if in a more predictable manner. Still, there were a lot of misses & reversals early on leading to brief runs. It took a series of brutal elbows for A to gain the advantage, and similarly, Harley had to unload on A with a series of nasty kicks to finally take the tide. The format was sort of that smaller underdog Harley would get behind, but then have enough moments of her own to nearly get back to even. This changed midway through the contest when A injured Harley with her leg submissions, compromising Harley's comebacks as speed & agility were her advantages, and her kicks and suplexes require a solid foundation. AGain, this was very similar to A vs. Yamazaki, except with Yamazaki working the leg first it was much more a motif of the match as opposed to a less than stellar bridge to a finishing stretch where A waisn't going to win with a submission & didnn't have time to go back to the leg in another fashion. Both were slower & less explosive at this point, selling the toll of the match, but really the point of the scorpion & figure 4 was to tell the story of Harley being compromised, so she had to try to give up on her delusion of overwhelming A & settle for a cheeky flash pin. The finish wasn't nearly as bad as A's win over Eagle or Eagle's win over Kandori, but nonetheless felt really forced. This was probably the most interesting match of the tournament stylistically, though not as deep or thoughtful as A vs. Yamazaki, and I'd rate it slightly below Harley vs. Devil as well because that was a better worked version of the same underdog Harley finds a way story that didn't fill in the gaps enough to fully come together. While they did a lot of things really well in a vacuum, the match felt more like an outline where Harley went from being a competitive underdog to one who wins the only way she can rather than a fully fleshed out whole that had enough focus to make you buy the finish. Harley was the star of the tournament, as the other top eschelon JWP worker, Yamazaki, went out 1st round. That was by far the match of the tournament, as Yamazaki carried A to possibly her best match to date, while this was more A dictating & Harley raising the level by naturally being such a skilled performer. The tournament was damn good from a wrestling standpoint, but the finishes were so consistently bad that the booking rose to the sort of heavyhandedness that Gedo was surely proud of. I'm not sure the value of the younger stars Harley, A, & Eagle was really raised the way they should have been from a tournament where they got wins over established stars Devil, Kandori, & Yamazaki, but at least JWP was able to keep a number of talented wrestlers at the top of the card. ***1/2
Cuty Suzuki & Miki Handa & Mikiko Futagami vs. Ayumi Saki & Yuka Nakajima & Sachiko Koganei
Itsuki Yamazaki vs. Yukari Osawa
Devil Masami & The Scorpion vs. Harley Saito & Mami Kitamura
UWA International Champion Decision Tournament Semifinal: Miss A vs. Eagle Sawai 13:35
Shinobu Kandori & Oscal Tomo vs. Mayumi Ozaki & Rumi Kazama
2/23: Cuty Suzuki vs. Eagle Sawai
2/24: Mayumi Ozaki vs. Utako Hozumi 10:31. I had high hopes for this match, but they simply weren't into it. They wrestled a very simple style, more toward a rookie match with the most basic athletic moves such as the dropkick being among the highlights. It was well executed, but they certainly should have aimed higher. *1/2
2/24: Cuty Suzuki & Oscar Tomo vs. Eagle Sawai & Yukari Osawa
2/11 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Shinobu Kandori vs. The Scorpion
Eagle Sawai & Rumi Yasuda & Yukari Osawa vs. Rumi Kazama & Cuty Suzuki & Mami Kitamura
Miki Handa vs. Chan Mi Chon
JWP & UWA Junior Senshukenjiai: Mayumi Ozaki vs. The Scorpion 12:52. Fun, energetic, and action packed, albeit rather sloppy contest. ***
Yumiko Koya vs. Yuka Nakajima
Mikiko Futagami vs. Tomomi Kobayashi
Cuty Suzuki & Plum Mariko vs. Rumi Yasuda & Sachiko Koganei
Utako Hozumi vs. Miki Handa
Itsuki Yamazaki & The Scorpion vs. Shinobu Kandori & Rumi Kazama
Devil Masami vs. Yukari Osawa
Mayumi Ozaki & Eagle Sawai vs. Harley Saito & Miss A
4/3/91
Cuty Suzuki & Miki Handa vs. Mayumi Ozaki & Sachiko Koganei 9:41
2/3 Falls: Masa Michinoku vs. Monkey Magic Wakita 10:37
Itsuki Yamazaki vs. Harley Saito 7:38
NAWF North American Heavyweight Title Tournament 1R: Akitoshi Saito vs. Brutal Bushwhacker 7:46
NAWF North American Heavyweight Title Tournament 1R: Mitsuhiro Matsunaga vs. The Suter 4:59
NAWF North American Heavyweight Title Final: Mitsuhiro Matsunaga vs. Brutal Bushwhacker 6:29
7/13/91
Yukihiro Kanemura vs. Kazunori Yoshida 4:08
Cuty Suzuki vs. Yukari Osawa 7:31
Ultraman Robin vs. Ultraman Diablo 3:31
Itsuki Yamazaki & Miki Handa vs. Mayumi Ozaki & Eagle Sawai 7:48
Martial Arts Match: Akitoshi Saito vs. Kim Juyong R3 0:22
Martial Arts Match: Mitsuhiro Matsunaga vs. Lee Myong. No finish
Sumiko Saito vs. Yuka Nakajima
Mikiko Futagami vs. Ayumi Saki
Miki Handa vs. Yukari Osawa
Rumi Yasuda & Sachiko Koganei vs. Cuty Suzuki & Cheryl Rusa
Pink Cadillac vs. Hikari Fukuoka
Mayumi Ozaki & Eagle Sawai vs. Plum Mariko & Miss A
Devil Masami & Itsuki Yamazaki & The Scorpion vs. Shinobu Kandori & Harley Saito & Rumi Kazama
Yumiko Koya vs. Shiho Imazaki
Rumi Yasuda & Sachiko Koganei vs. Cuty Suzuki & Cheryl Rusa
Pink Cadillac vs. Yukari Osawa & Yuka Nakajima
Shinobu Kandori & Itsuki Yamazaki & Hikari Fukuoka vs. Devil Masami & Plum Mariko & Mami Kitamura
Eagle Sawai vs. Miki Handa
Tag Title Match: Miss A & Harley Saito vs. Rumi Kazama & Mayumi Ozaki 11:41. I assumed this was following the typical JWP pattern of having enough action over 20 minutes to keep you interested, but enough submissions to never really gain too much momentum, but it wound up ending quite early. It gains points from A being particularly brutal with Ozaki, who, of course, sold all the punishment quite well, and obviously having three of the best workers in the league, with Rumi being fine when she was actually involved. Definite quality, but certainly didn't reach its potential. ***
Sumiko Saito vs. Mie Dohiki 8:20
Handicap Match: Pink Cadillac vs. Miki Handa & Sachiko Koganei 2:36
Eagle Sawai & Mayumi Ozaki vs. Shinobu Kandori & Harley Saito 15:02. High intensity contest with hatred that eventually boiled over through brawling on the outside. They did a sort of All Japan story where Kandori took Eagle out by charging at her with a table, to the point that she still hadn't recovered when Ozaki finally escapes to her corner for what should have been the hot tag 3 minutes later. Ozaki continued to be brutalized, and Eagle continued to be nowhere to be found. By the time Eagle finally recovered, Ozaki was more interested in using the chair she hade in her hand than actually tagging. Eagle brought a piece of guardrail into the ring, but it was so clumsy to attack with, she wound up taking out the Ref on the way to Kandori. They then set up a big spike piledriver onto a chair and the guard rail, except Ozaki very obviously landed in the ring before Eagle bothered to start the tombstone, and then Kandori's head missed both weapons by about a foot. Unfortunately, the bout was called off as Kandori began to make her comeback, with the entire locker room hitting the ring in order to keep everyone apart. In spite of a few miscues, and the annoying nonfinish, this was a really high quality heated brawl that felt like something out of the ordinary. ***1/2
Devil Masami & Rumi Kazama vs. Miss A & Itsuki Yamazaki 16:30. This was mostly Yamazaki, which boded well even though she wasn't at the top of her game. As she was paired with Devil, Kazama & A had a hard time working their way into the match. A may actually have been the most impressive performer, albeit in limited duty. ***
5/12: Yuka Nakajima vs. Sumiko Saito 13:01
6/20: Hikari Fukuoka vs. Mie Dohiki 12:29
6/21: Shinobu Kandori vs. Yukari Osawa 6:15
5/12: Mayumi Ozaki & Eagle Sawai vs. Devil Masami & Miss A 14:11
4/25 Chiba: Pink Cadillac vs. Sachiko Koganei
6/30 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Mikiko Futagami vs. Sumiko Saito
6/30: Utako Hozumi vs. The Scorpion
6/16: Mayumi Ozaki vs. Devil Masami
3/25: Shinobu Kandori vs. Sachiko Koganei
5/12 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Harley Saito vs. Rumi Kazama
4/23/91 Tag Title Match: Miss A & Harley Saito vs. Rumi Kazama & Mayumi Ozaki
6/20/91 Niigata: Pink Cadillac & Mayumi Ozaki & Yukari Osawa vs. Cuty Suzuki & Miki Handa & Utako Hozumi
6/21/91 Niigata: Mami Kitamura & Rumi Kazama & Devil Masami vs. Miki Handa & Miss A & Harley Saito
5/25/91: Devil Masami & Hikari Fukuoka vs. Itsuki Yamazaki & Cuty Suzuki
6/30/91 Korakuen Hall: Cuty Suzuki & Plum Mariko vs. Yukari Osawa & Sachiko Koganei
Plum Mariko & Cuty Suzuki vs. Sachiko Koganei & Yukari Osawa
Over The Generation Match: Hikari Fukuoka vs. Eagle Sawai
Over The Generation Match: Mami Kitamura vs. Shinobu Kandori
Devil Masami & Miki Handa vs. Pink Cadillac & Mayumi Ozaki
Harley Saito & Miss A vs. Itsuki Yamazaki & Rumi Kazama 12:14. Rumi was a better fit for these tags with Kansai and Harley than Scorpion was, but this was on the rushed side. They sped things up to make up for the brevity, but it was just too compressed, and Yamazaki never really got involved enough to truly make her mark. Definitely a good stiff and intense match, but it didn't feel like a television show main event at this length. Still, there was enough good material here to believe this could have been memorable if it was the usual near 20 min length. ***
Over The Generation Match: Miss A vs. Hikari Fukuoka
Devil Masami & Plum Mariko vs. Mayumi Ozaki & Dementia
Terri Power & Pink Cadillac vs. Shinobu Kandori & Itsuki Yamazaki
UWA Title Match: Harley Saito vs. Eagle Sawai
7/24/91 Noshiro Shiritsu Taiikukan
Cuty Suzuki & Itsuki Yamazaki vs. Terry Power & Sachiko Koganei 13:20
Over The Generation Match: Utako Hozumi vs. Devil Masami 1:04
Harley Saito & Mami Kitamura & The Scorpion vs. Miss A & Miki Handa & Plum Mariko 13:49. The heat and intensity of the A vs. Harley rivalry greatly elevated what was otherwise largely the standard good tag. Scorpion got to shine here, as this was a faster paced encounter for the most part. Kitamura Kitamura kept annoying A by making saves, but was way below the level of the others.
7/14/91 Over The Generation Match: Miss A vs. Hikari Fukuoka 2:48
Hikari Fukuoka vs. Sumiko Saito
Yukari Osawa vs. Pink Cadillac
Over The Generation Match: Mayumi Ozaki vs. Midori Saito
Cuty Suzuki & Itsuki Yamazaki vs. Terry Power & Sachiko Koganei 13:20
Over The Generation Match: Utako Hozumi vs. Devil Masami 1:04
Shinobu Kandori & Rumi Kazama vs. Eagle Sawai & Dementia
Harley Saito & Mami Kitamura & The Scorpion vs. Miss A & Miki Handa & Plum Mariko 13:49
Mizuki Endo Debutsen: Mikiko Futagami vs. Mizuki Endo
Itsuki Yamazaki vs. Hikari Fukuoka
Mayumi Ozaki & Rumi Kazama vs. Devil Masami & Mami Kitamura
Dementia vs. Pink Cadillac. Digest
Dynamite Kansai & The Scorpion vs. Shinobu Kandori & Harley Saito 15:46. A great appetizer for the Kansai vs. Saito rivalry, building up to a UWA International Title match on 10/10/91, and to a lesser extent Kansai vs. Kandori. The booker doesn't have to do anything here but put Kansai & Saito in the ring together. They fight with so much urgency that one can't help but be excited by the prospects of seeing more of this. The early portion is great because it's so frantic, very hard hitting action paced like a real fight where you have to just keep going after it, no time to lose. The pairings are flawed though, as you have the #1 and #3 wrestlers on the same team, with the main rivalry between the #2 & #3 wrestlers, thus essentially leaving Scorpion as a jobber who can't be expected to hang with the others, especially the overpowering bully Kandori. Scorpion is quite a good worker, but the bane of her existence here is exemplified by getting nastily stomped in the face when she goes for a schoolboy on Kandori, after Kandori has been hammering down her with a big chop then pulling her right back up for another. Despite there being a difference of several weight classes, Scorpion fights earnestly enough that Kandori remains interested in beating her up, and even sells for her enough that they can have a match. Scorpion is definitely the change of pace here, the tiny athletic women amidst the striking oriented ass kickers. She isn't a weak link per se, as she provides good action with a dive and a moonsault, but someone who could stay more in tone might have produced better results. All the heat and intensity is on Kansai's pairings, and the Choshu or Tenryu heated rivalry type of action we get from them is more effective in elevating the match beyond the standard well worked tag. Kansai vs. Kandori is quite good as well, there's just a lot less of it, and Kandori is not the athlete that Saito is, so even her striking is less fluid and precise despite being the stronger of the two. Kandori is nonetheless quite good here though, and comes off well as the dangerous star, even though she's outshined by the better workers Kansai & Saito because they are basically staying in her heavy hitting realm. Kansai makes the save after Kandori hits a Tiger driver, but Saito takes Kansai out with a kneel kick, and they fight on the floor as Kandori follows up with a rear naked choke for the win. Kansai seems less interested that she lost than that she was denied more time to beat on Harley, and slaps her after the match for the pull apart. ****
Devil Masami vs. Madusa 12:37
Dynamite Kansai & The Scorpion vs. Harley Saito & Itsuki Yamazaki 18:30. The insertion of Yamazaki changed the entire tenor of the match. Rather than focusing on credible hard hitting, though that's still very much a thing between Kansai & Saito, this was a much faster paced, workrate oriented match. Yamazaki was much more diverse than the later day Jaguar Yokota clones, and while it obviously helped a lot that this was one of the fastest paced JWP matches of the era, and that three of these women are excellent workers and all four were very motivated to go hard, this was as much a war as a sprint, and worked so well because it's a smart and well timed rivalry match. Yamazaki, who again is a bigger star than her partner Saito, had heat with Kansai, having been defeated by her in the first round of UWA International Title Tournament on 1/6/91 in an excellent match that was the highlight of the tournament by far, but she was still more about facilitating things for her partner to set up the rematch of that tournament's final than settling her own score. Yamazaki did a great job at thwarting Kansai to set up Saito, so Kansai kept not being able to meet Saito on equal footing. Yamazaki's brilliance was apparent right away, as Kansai was laser focused on Saito, so when Kansai pointed at Saito and started to get into it with her before the bell, Yamazaki charged at Kansai and softened her up with two hard rams into the security railing, before throwing her back into the ring for Saito to now have her way with. Later, Scorpion had Yamazaki in a sorry Achilles' tendon hold, and Kansai kicked Yamazaki's hand off the ropes, then dragged her to the floor and took her revenge, sending her into the guard rail. When Yamazaki and Scorpion tagged out at the same time, Kansai was so eager to get at Harley that she kicked Harley before Harley could even get into the ring, but Yamazaki then held her from behind so Harley could get several free kicks in, enough to once again dominate their exchange. Yamazaki wasn't pidgeonholed into being a schoolgirl pleasing babyface in JWP, so her old competitive heelish tendencies would come out from time to time, whether that meant going to the eyes or kicking Kansai in the mush. The match built up to Saito and Kansai finally squaring off with neither compromised, and it was a brief but electric elbow exchange that was more energetic than any Kawada and Misawa ever had, finished by Kansai's big backdrop. Yamazaki sent Kansai to the floor with a missile kick, then set Scorpion up on the middle rope so Saito could finish her off before taking Kansai out with a tope. Though again the obious jobber, Scorpion faired much better in this match, as the higher pace suited her much better than the stiffness of the 8/4/91 match, and both opponents were more than capable and willing to do her usual junior style match with her. Saito & Kansai were excellent, but despite doing everything she could to make Saito steal the show, Yamazaki was so great that she still really outshined the others even though they were at the very top of their game. ****1/2
8/11 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Cuty Suzuki vs. The Scorpion 14:50
Mami Kitamura & Utako Hozumi vs. Lady X & Mayumi Ozaki
Over The Generation Match: Rumi Kazama vs. Hikari Fukuoka
Cuty Suzuki vs. The Scorpion 14:50
Shinobu Kandori & Plum Mariko vs. Pink Cadillac & Eagle Sawai
Harley Saito & Devil Masami vs. Dynamite Kansai & Madusa
JWP UWA Double Junior Title Match: The Scorpion vs. Cuty Suzuki
LPWA Title Match: Lady X vs. Eagle Sawai
Devil Masami vs. Itsuki Yamazaki
Dynamite Kansai & Madusa vs. Harley Saito & Rumi Kazama
JWP UWA Double Junior Title Match: The Scorpion vs. Cuty Suzuki
Devil Masami vs. Itsuki Yamazaki
Dynamite Kansai & Madusa vs. Harley Saito & Rumi Kazama
Mayumi Ozaki & Yukari Osawa vs. Plum Mariko & Hikari Fukuoka
The Scorpion vs. Midori Saito
Eagle Sawai vs. Itsuki Yamazaki 13:22
Shinobu Kandori & Miki Handa vs. Harley Saito & Mami Kitamura 8:53
Dynamite Kansai vs. Devil Masami 14:40
Sachiko Koganei Intai Jiai: Sachiko Koganei vs. Utako Hozumi
Eagle Sawai vs. Itsuki Yamazaki 13:22
Shinobu Kandori & Miki Handa vs. Harley Saito & Maki Kitamura 8:53
Dynamite Kansai vs. Devil Masami 14:40
Reggie Bennett & Terri Power & Mayumi Ozaki vs. Devil Masami & Miki Handa & Plum Mariko
Itsuki Yamazaki vs. Shinobu Kandori
JWP UWA Jr. Title Match: The Scorpion vs. Cuty Suzuki. Cuty wins title
Dynamite Kansai & Eagle Sawai vs. Harley Saito & Mami (Leo) Kitamura
Mizuki Endo vs. Midori Saito
Hikari Fukuoka vs. Sumiko Saito
Utako Hozumi vs. Mikiko Futagami
Mayumi Ozaki & Yukari Osawa vs. Cuty Suzuki & Plum Mariko
Itsuki Yamazaki & Miki Handa vs. Reggie Bennett & Terri Power
Dynamite Kansai & Eagle Sawai & Reiko Hoshino vs. Devil Masami & Harley Saito & Mami Kitamura
Eden Mabuchi Intai Jiai: Eden Mabuchi vs. Rumi Kazama 5:00. Mabuchi is one of the really attractive wrestlers few people know about. Match was pretty good for what it was. Kandori took over for Rumi 3 1/2 minutes, with Rumi selling for 30 seconds then getting back in the mix for double teaming. Eden dropkicked Kandori to the floor, ending her role in the match then had a final big run on Rumi but couldn't get the pin before time expired. Though Kandori only sold one move, her participation actually put even over more as she stood up to her and didn't succumb to the odds.
Mayumi Ozaki vs. Hikari Fukuoka 11:26. Good performance by Ozaki with the goal being to have a decent little match. Ozaki kept Fukuoka contained and within herself. She dominated early, but Fukuoka came back with dropkicks and was on offense for quite a while. She wasn't spectacular, but they did enough to keep it interesting. **1/2
Devil Masami & Utako Hozumi vs. Shinobu Kandori & Miki Handa 10:26. Short match. Some decent action, but nothing to give reason to it ending 10 minutes early. *3/4
UWA International Title: Harley Saito vs. Miss A 14:51. The unbridled hatred and aggression displayed by a Kansai and Saito during this program had been exemplary. Unfortunately, by nature, aggression is something that works in short bursts. It's much more difficult to maintain that sort of attitude throughout the course of a singles match than during two minute segments in a tag. The opening was fantastic with Kansai refusing to shake hands and turning her back on Harley, so Harley took her out with a kneel kick. When they were fighting this way, the way they did in the leadup tags, it was once again exceptional, but original JWP was, by nature, a more "patient" style of joshi, and even in this payoff match, for some reason they didn't try to maintain the vigor of the tags. I mean, invariably they were set up for somewhat of a disappointment because they were going to have to fill the time with submissions and whatnot, but technically it was quite good, Kansai was brutal and the submissions were well worked. This just needed to be more of a heated sprint. I wanted Kansai to just keep trying to run through Harley, and Harley would either find a clever counter using her speed and guile, or get plowed over. There was certainly some of this, for instance Kansai trying to shoulderblock Saito off the apron, but Saito instead getting a near fall sunset flipping back into the ring. I'm sounding like I'm down on this match, but it's really quite good. It's just not the culmination of a blood feud I wanted to see, it's one of those matches you appreciate more the second time you watch it once you get over the disappointment of the first viewing, and try to meet it on its own terms rather than the ones they've been teasing you with for literally 10 months. This was a title match, and if one of the big negatives was that they put too much emphasis on actually winning rather than simply destroying their rival, that's not a bad place to be. The story they told effectively was that the match was even enough but in Kansai's hands, and it was the mistakes both were making that were the difference. Kansai using the chair and guard rail on the outside was exactly the direction this program had logically gone in, but overall, this match just needed to be faster and more hellbent. It was certainly a high quality wrestling match, but it lacked the hatred and juice of even the least of their tags. I just didn't have that feeling of them wanting to kill each other that had elevated their rivalry so far above the standard. The go for broke nature that was missing here would have made the finish set up by Kansai's tope backfiring work much better too. This was a more satisfying, and certainly better, meeting than their January encounter, with Saito still the underdog despite being champ, but feeling a lot less so, even to the point of not taking the countout or trying to take the easy win by just pinning Kansai when she dragged her back in. Saito was clearly the better worker of the two at this point in time, but Kansai upped her game a lot more here and clearly outperformed her here, in good part because Kansai's striking was so overwhelmingly brutal, while for some reason Saito's seemed much weaker and more inconsistent than usual. Harley once again escaping with the victory was a surprise, and I really want to see the third match this was surely leading to, but instead we started going down the path of everyone dividing themselves into undermanned little camps because they couldn't find a way to get along for the better of the promotion. ***3/4
AJW TV 4/79 taped 4/6 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
2/3 Falls WWWA Sekai Tag Senshuken: Tomi Aoyama & Lucy Kayama (Queen Angels) vs. Mami Kumano & Yumi Ikeshita (Black Pair) 5:15, 1:22, 1:05. Good 1st fall, but the last two were non-existant. Good story and focus, but that shouldn't be to the detriment of the match quality. Angels showed impressive athleticism and Pair brawled. Kumano got a bloody nose. Key was Aoyama suffering a knee injury. Pair kept attacking it between falls so it took forever for the 3rd fall to start. When it finally started Aoyama was useless, leading to Kayama falling quickly. **
AJW TV 5/79
Chino Sato vs. Ayumi Hori 9:20. Pretty good glorified rookie match. *1/2
Tomi Aoyama & Mimi Hagiwara vs. Yumi Ikeshita & Noriko Kawagai 9:43. Aoyama was a great athlete before the women really figured out hot to utilize great athletes. Ikeshita is very underrated, there are very few heels in the 70's who had face offense, much less ones that were legitimately good brawlers. Some good moves in the last few minutes, but it ended around the time you felt like it was about to become really good. ***
Nancy Kumi vs. Mami Kumano 17:21 of 30:00. It's always disappointing when the lesser half of each team is selected for the singles match. Kumano was brawling almost exclusively. Match was okay when Kumi was on offense, but Kumano was like a miniature Dump minus the heat. **
Mayumi Ozaki vs. Hikari Fukuoka
Eagle Sawai & Reiko Hoshino (Scorpion) vs. Itsuki Yamazaki & Mami Kitamura
Cuty Suzuki vs. Plum Mariko
Shinobu Kandori & Miki Handa vs. Devil Masami & Utako Hozumi
UWA International Title: Harley Saito vs. Dynamite Kansai
Bolshoi Kid & Utako Hozumi vs. Plum Mariko & Midori Saito
Reggie Bennett & Terri Power vs. Rumi Kazama & Mayumi Ozaki
JWP UWA Double Junior Title Match: Cuty Suzuki vs. Miki Handa
Harley Saito & Itsuki Yamazaki & Hikari Fukuoka vs. Dynamite Kansai & Eagle Sawai & Reiko Hoshino
All Japan Junior Title Decision Match: Saemi Numata vs. Masami Watanabe 10:19
Mr. Buddhaman vs. Tomezo Tsunokake 5:23
Mima Shimoda vs. Chikako Hasegawa 6:21
Suzuka Minami & Etsuko Mita vs. Kaoru Ito & Tomoko Watanabe 14:47
Japan Grand Prix '93 Red Zone League Match: Toshiyo Yamada vs. Sakie Hasegawa 15:54
Japan Grand Prix '93 Blue Zone League Match: Kyoko Inoue vs. Hikari Fukuoka 30:00
Zenjo vs. LLPW: Akira Hokuto vs. Kurenai Yasha 2:19
Yumiko Hotta & Manami Toyota & Takako Inoue vs. Aja Kong & Bull Nakano & Bat Yoshinaga 25:29
12/91
Reiko Hoshino vs. Bolshoi Kid
Cuty Suzuki & Bolshoi Kid vs. Plum Mariko & Hikari Fukuoka
Monthly JWP '91 Vol. 10 taped 12/7/91 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
JWP UWA Double Junior Title Match: Cuty Suzuki vs Miki Handa. Last 2 min
Bolshoi Kid & Utako Hozumi vs Midori Saito & Plum Mariko
Mikiko Futagami vs Devil Masami
Reggie Bennett & Terri Power vs. Rumi Kazama & Mayumi Ozaki
Monthly JWP '91 Vol. 12 taped 1/16/92 Osaka
The Dementia vs Bolshoi Kid
Hikari Fukuoka vs Plum Mariko
12/22/91 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Mayumi Ozaki vs Devil Masami
Monthly JWP '91 Vol. 9 taped 11/2/91 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Eden Mabuchi Retirement Match: Eden Mabuchi vs. Rumi Kazama 5:00. Mabuchi is one of the really attractive wrestlers few people know about. Match was pretty good for what it was. Kandori took over for Rumi 3 1/2 minutes, with Rumi selling for 30 seconds then getting back in the mix for double teaming. Eden dropkicked Kandori to the floor, ending her role in the match then had a final big run on Rumi but couldn't get the pin before time expired. Though Kandori only sold one move, her participation actually put even over more as she stood up to her and didn't succumb to the odds.
Mayumi Ozaki vs. Hikari Fukuoka 11:26. Good performance by Ozaki with the goal being to have a decent little match. Ozaki kept Fukuoka contained and within herself. She dominated early, but Fukuoka came back with dropkicks and was on offense for quite a while. She wasn't spectacular, but they did enough to keep it interesting. **1/2
Devil Masami & Utako Hozumi vs. Shinobu Kandori & Miki Handa 10:26. Short match. Some decent action, but nothing to give reason to it ending 10 minutes early. *3/4
UWA Nintei International Senshuken: Harley Saito vs. Miss A 14:51. Harley was riding high in the last year of JWP. She was a hell of a worker from '91-93 or '94; it's amazing how quickly LLPW managed to crush her star. A was also wrestling at a high level today, and both women gave it their all. Good back and forth match that could have gone either way. ***1/2
AJW TV early 1980, 2/3 Falls: Tomi Aoyama & Lucy Kayama vs Mami Kumano & Yumi Ikeshita
AJW TV 5/80
Chino Sato vs Ayumi Hori
Mimi Hagiwara & Tomi Aoyama vs Noriko Kawakami & Yumi Ikeshita
Lucy Kayama vs Mami Kumano
AJW Wrestle Marinepiad '91 Commercial Tape 11/15/91 Kawasaki Shi Taiikukan
Bat Yoshinaga & Tomoko Watanabe vs Miori Kamiya & Kaoru Ito
Yumiko Hotta, Mariko Yoshida & Mima Shimoda vs Suzuka Minami, Etsuko Mita & Sakie Hasegawa (end cut)
12/7/91 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Harley Saito & Devil Masami vs. Dynamite Kansai & Madusa
10/23/91: Cuty Suzuki & Devil Masami vs. Reggie Bennett & Terri Power
12/1/91 Osaka: Reggie Bennett & Terri Power vs. Eagle Sawai & Dynamite Kansai
12/7/91: Eagle Sawaii & Dynamite Kansai & Reiko Hoshino vs. Itsuki Yamazaki & Harley Saito & Hikari Fukuoka
Cuty Suzuki vs. Magnificent Mimi
Mayumi Ozaki vs. Yukari Osawa
Shinobu Kandori vs. Pink Cadillac
Devil Masami & Harley Saito vs. Dynamite Kansai & Eagle Sawai
Mitsue Kobayashi & Mika Kuwahara vs. Mizuki Endo & Sumiko Saito
Mikiko Futagami vs. Midori Saito
The Dementia & Pink Cadillac vs. Cheryl Luther (sp?) & Rockin Robin
Plum Mariko & Yukari Osawa vs. Cuty Suzuki & Bolshoi Kid
Devil Masami vs. Hikari Fukuoka
Mayumi Ozaki & Harley Saito vs. Dynamite Kansai & Eagle Sawai
Mitsue Kobayashi vs. Mika Kukahara
Devil Masami vs. Sumie Saito
Plum Mariko vs. Bolshoi Kid
Mayumi Ozaki & Cuty Suzuki vs. Dynamite Kansai & Hikari Fukuoka
4/3/92: Mayumi Ozaki & Cuty Suzuki vs. Dynamite Kansai & Hikari Fukuoka 65min
5/1/92: Mayumi Ozaki vs. Devil Masami 7min
6/12/92: Mayumi Ozaki vs. Plum Mariko 4min
7/9/92: Mayumi Ozaki vs. Dynamite Kansai 10min
8/9/92 Tag Tournament Semifinal: Cuty Suzuki & Mayumi Ozaki vs. Plum Mariko & Hikari Fukuoka 7min
8/9/92 JWP 1st Tag Champion Decison Match, 2 Fall Count Tag Match: Cuty Suzuki & Mayumi Ozaki vs. Dynamite Kansai & Sumiko Saito 4min
9/15/92 League Match: Mayumi Ozaki vs. Cuty Suzuki 4min
10/22/92: Mayumi Ozaki & Tomoko Okutsu vs. Plum Mariko & Sumiko Saito 6min
1/15/93: Dynamite Kansai & Mayumi Ozaki vs. Yumiko Hotta & Takako Inoue 8min
3/21/93 JWP Tag Title Match: Cuty Suzuki & Mayumi Ozaki vs. Dynamite Kansai & Devil Masami 9min
4/20/93: Mayumi Ozaki & Cuty Suzuki vs. Takako Inoue & Sakie Hasegawa 6min
4/18/93: Mayumi Ozaki vs. Candy Okutsu 7min
6/20/93: Mayumi Ozaki vs. Takako Inoue 26:23
7/31/93 First Attack Single Match Rule 60:00 Full Time Match: Aja Kong & Kyoko Inoue & Takako Inoue & Sakie Hasegawa vs. Dynamite Kansai & Mayumi Ozaki & Cuty Suzuki & Hikari Fukuoka 10min
10/11/93: Mayumi Ozaki vs. Numacchi 3min
11/18/93: Mayumi Ozaki vs. Akira Hokuto 18:26
12/12/93: Mayumi Ozaki vs. Devil Masami 15min
4/10/94: Mayumi Ozaki vs. Hiromi Yagi 3min
6/19/94: Mayumi Ozaki vs. Hikari Fukuoka 13min
7/10/94: Hikari Fukuoka & Suzuka Minami vs. Devil Masami & Mayumi Ozaki 11min
8/8/94 BODY HEAT TOURNAMENT: Cuty Suzuki vs. Mayumi Ozaki 12min
9/18/94: Mayumi Ozaki vs. Candy Okutsu 4min
9/25/94: Mayumi Ozaki vs. Hikari Fukuoka 6min
10/20/94: Mayumi Ozaki vs. KAORU 5min
1/8/95 JWP Tag Title Match: Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda vs. Mayumi Ozaki & Hikari Fukuoka 11min
Sumiko Saito vs. Mitsue Kobayashi 8:16
Devil Masami vs. Bolshoi Kid 15:02
Cuty Suzuki vs. Mika Kuwahara 6:06
Mayumi Ozaki vs. Hikari Fukuoka 17:09
2 Fall Count Match: Dynamite Kansai vs. Plum Mariko 16:10
Bolshoi Kid vs. karate girl
Hikari Fukuoka vs. Sumio Toyama
Plum Mariko vs. Sumiko Saito
Mayumi Ozaki vs. Devil Masami
Cuty Suzuki vs. Dynamite Kansai
Dynamite Kansai & Devil Masami vs. Plum Mariko & Hikari Fukuoka
5/1/92: Cuty Suzuki vs. Dynamite Kansai
6/12/92: Cuty Suzuki & Hikari Fukuoka vs. Dynamite Kansai & Sumiko Saito
7/9/92: Cuty Suzuki vs. Devil Masami
9/6/92: Cuty Suzuki & Devil Masami vs. Plum Mariko & Dynamite Kansai
9/15/92 League Match: Cuty Suzuki vs. Mayumi Ozaki
10/22/92: Cuty Suzuki vs. Command Bolshoi
3/21/93 JWP Tag Title Match: Cuty Suzuki & Mayumi Ozaki vs. Dynamite Kansai & Devil Masami
9/23/93: Cuty Suzuki vs. Fusayo Nouchi
1/9/94 Korakuen Hall: Cuty Suzuki & Mayumi Ozaki & Plum Mariko vs. Dynamite Kansai & Devil Masami & Chigusa Nagayo
1/11/94: Cuty Suzuki & Devil Masami vs. Dynamite Kansai & Candy Okutsu
4/10/94: Cuty Suzuki & Reggie Bennett vs. Dynamite Kansai & Bolshoi Kid
6/19/94: Cuty Suzuki & Devil Masami vs. Dynamite Kansai & Candy Okutsu
9/25/94: Cuty Suzuki & Reggie Bennett vs. Dynamite Kansai & Hiromi Yagi
5/16/95: Cuty Suzuki vs. Mayumi Ozaki
9/23/95: Cuty Suzuki & Yuki Miyazaki & Toshie Uematsu vs. Hikari Fukuoka & Kanako Motoya & Sonoko Kato
2/11/96: Cuty Suzuki & Devil Masami & Rieko Amano & Kanako Motoya vs. Dynamite Kansai & Command Bolshoi & Hiromi Yagi & Yuki Miyazaki
4/7/96: Cuty Suzuki & Hikari Fukuoka vs. Esther Moreno & Hiromi Yagi
12/8/96: Cuty Suzuki & Plum Mariko & Command Bolshoi & Kanako Motoya vs. Mayumi Ozaki & Rieko Amano & Sugar Sato & Chikayo Nagashima
12/8/96 DRESS UP WILD FIGHT: Mayumi Ozaki & Reiko Amano vs. Cuty Suzuki & Plum Mariko
4/8/97: Cuty Suzuki vs. Kanako Motoya
10/10/97: Cuty Suzuki & Command Bolshoi vs. Hikari Fukuoka & Kanako Motoya
1/11/98: Korakuen Hall & Tokyo
Cuty Suzuki & Dynamite Kansai vs. Mayumi Ozaki & Chikayo Nagashima
3/6/98: Cuty Suzuki vs. Command Bolshoi
Highlights of Kansai vs. Plum 2 Fall Count Match, Devil vs. Sumiko Saito, Devil vs. Bolshoi Kid, & Devil vs. Ozaki
Devil Masami vs. Cuty Suzuki
Highlights of Ozaki & Cuty vs. Kansai & Hikari
Dynamite Kansai vs. Mayumi Ozaki. Kansai's really dominated this match, which shows just how Oz had to come in this feud to get to the point where she was close to Kansai's equal. Kansai's kicks were just brutal, causing major swelling under Ozaki's eye.
Ozaki & Cuty & Plum Mariko & Hikari Fukuoka vs. Kansai & Devil & Sumio Toyoma & Sumiko Saito
3 Min 5 Rd: Mitsue Kobayashi vs. Mika Kuwahara
Cuty Suzuki & Hikari Fukuoka vs. Dynamite Kansai & Sumiko Saito
Mayumi Ozaki vs. Plum Mariko
Devil Masami vs. Sumiko Saito
Kakutogi Exhibition Match, 3 Min 2 Rd: Machiko Hioki vs. Shinobu Asada 1:54 shown
Command Bolshoi vs. Mitsue Kobayashi 2:45 of 6:19
Plum Mariko vs. Mika Kuwahara 0:25
Hikari Fukuoka vs. Sumiko Saito 11:21 of 23:33. A spirited battle between JWP's two most promising younger wrestlers. It may have been a bit random (or blame the editing), but they worked real hard, the execution was there, and they had enough offense to handle a match of this length. **3/4 range
Devil Masami vs. Cuty Suzuki 10:31 of 21:40
Mayumi Ozaki vs. Dynamite Kansai 25:11. JWP needed a rival for Kansai if they were still going to be an alternative to AJW now that half their stars were in LLPW, and it couldn't be Devil given AJW put her out to pasture 5 years earlier. They beauty of this match is it accomplished that goal in an organic manner that never seemed to force Ozaki's legitimacy on the audience. It was an excellent story match, but again, it was more allowing an overall story of how Ozaki can actually compete and beat the giant wrecking ball unfold over time. Both were energized, and it was a stiff and intense match from start to finish. The standup portions mixed speed and brutality, but although they exchanged advantages with Ozaki not being too proud to get creative and win a test of strength with a few good old fashioned boots to the kisser, Ozaki was clearly getting the worst of it because Kansai's kicks were just too powerful. Ozaki had to take it to the ground to avoid just getting mauled by the big bully, who was in nasty mode, even shoving Ozaki off the guard rail into the crowd to avoid Ozaki countering an irish whip with a flying move and catching a rolling body attack off the apron for a piledriver on the floor. The matwork wasn't exactly Johnny Saint, but it more than served the purpose of Ozaki making things much more competitive by injuring Kansai's arm. They gave it enough time to be meaningful, and Ozaki was going so deep on the wakigatame that Kansai's arm was literally at a 90 degree angle. The drama increased to the point you believed Ozaki might actually get an arm submission, but I actually liked the more subtle an open to debate finish of Kansai being unable to quite secure the splash mountain and Ozaki pulling her down by the arm into a pin. Their later matches are flashier, but this was real solid stuff that was smartly booked with the workers really developing the concepts while still being themselves. ***3/4
Kakutogi Exhibition Match, 3 Min 2 Rd: Machiko Hioki vs. Shinobu Asada
Command Bolshoi vs. Mitsue Kobayashi 6:19
Plum Mariko vs. Mika Kuwahara 0:25
Hikari Fukuoka vs. Sumiko Saito 23:33. A spirited battle between JWP's two most promising younger wrestlers. It may have been a bit random, but they worked real hard, the execution was there, and they had enough offense to handle a match of this length. **3/4 range
Devil Masami vs. Cuty Suzuki 21:40
Mayumi Ozaki vs. Dynamite Kansai 25:11. JWP needed a rival for Kansai if they were still going to be an alternative to AJW now that half their stars were in LLPW, and it couldn't be Devil given AJW put her out to pasture 5 years earlier. They beauty of this match is it accomplished that goal in an organic manner that never seemed to force Ozaki's legitimacy on the audience. It was an excellent story match, but again, it was more allowing an overall story of how Ozaki can actually compete and beat the giant wrecking ball unfold over time. Both were energized, and it was a stiff and intense match from start to finish. The standup portions mixed speed and brutality, but although they exchanged advantages with Ozaki not being too proud to get creative and win a test of strength with a few good old fashioned boots to the kisser, Ozaki was clearly getting the worst of it because Kansai's kicks were just too powerful. Ozaki had to take it to the ground to avoid just getting mauled by the big bully, who was in nasty mode, even shoving Ozaki off the guard rail into the crowd to avoid Ozaki countering an irish whip with a flying move and catching a rolling body attack off the apron for a piledriver on the floor. The matwork wasn't exactly Johnny Saint, but it more than served the purpose of Ozaki making things much more competitive by injuring Kansai's arm. They gave it enough time to be meaningful, and Ozaki was going so deep on the wakigatame that Kansai's arm was literally at a 90 degree angle. The drama increased to the point you believed Ozaki might actually get an arm submission, but I actually liked the more subtle an open to debate finish of Kansai being unable to quite secure the splash mountain and Ozaki pulling her down by the arm into a pin. Their later matches are flashier, but this was real solid stuff that was smartly booked with the workers really developing the concepts while still being themselves. ***3/4
Note: 1st 3 matches digested
1st JWP Tag Title Tournament Semifinal: Cuty Suzuki & Mayumi Ozaki vs. Plum Mariko & Hikari Fukuoka
1st JWP Tag Title Tournament Semifinal: Dynamite Kansai & Sumiko Saito vs. Devil Masami & Command Bolshoi
Sumio Toyama vs. Mitsue Kobayashi
1st JWP Tag Title Decison Match, 2 Fall Count Tag Match: Cuty Suzuki & Mayumi Ozaki vs. Dynamite Kansai & Sumiko Saito 18:37
Devil Masami & Mayumi Ozaki vs. Dynamite Kansai & Cuty Suzuki
Plum Mariko vs. Bolshoi Kid
Hikari Fukuoka vs. Sumiko Saito
Only Give Up (submission) Battle Royal
One Day Tag Title Tournament 8/9/92 Tokyo Korakuen Hall digest
JWP Tag Title Match: Cuty Suzuki & Mayumi Ozaki vs. Hikari Fukuoka & Sumiko Saito
Devil Masami vs. Dynamite Kansai
4/3/92 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Cuty Suzuki & Mayumi Ozaki vs. Dynamite Kansai & Hikari Fukuoka 23:06
8/9/92 Tokyo Korakuen Hall, JWP 1st Tag Champion Decison Match, 2 Fall Count Tag Match: Mayumi Ozaki & Cuty Suzuki vs. Dynamite Kansai & Sumiko Saito 18:37
9/6/92 Tokyo Korakuen Hall, Devil Masami Puroresu Debut 15th Anniversary Commemorative Match: Devil Masami & Cuty Suzuki vs. Dynamite Kansai & Plum Mariko 25:01
Yumi Nagano (Tenma) vs. Sumiko Saito
Tomoko (Candy) Okutsu & Machiko ? vs. Mitsue Kobayashi & ?. Digest
Leaguesen: Plum Mariko vs. Hikari Fukuoka
Leaguesen: Sumio Toyama vs. Devil Masami
Leaguesen: Dynamite Kansai vs. Command Bolshoi
Leaguesen: Mayumi Ozaki vs. Cuty Suzuki
Tomoko Okutsu vs. Sumiko Saito
Sumio Toyama & Yumi Nagano vs. Mitsue Kobayashi & Mika Kuwahara
Devil Masami vs. Machiko ?
Command Bolshoi vs. Plum Mariko
Devil Masami & Sumiko Saito & Machiko ? vs. Plum Mariko & Command Bolshoi & Sumio Toyama
JWP Nintei Tag Senshukenjiai: Cuty Suzuki & Mayumi Ozaki vs. Dynamite Kansai & Hikari Fukuoka
Note: aside from the main event, everything is severely truncated
Glove Match: Mitsue Kobayashi vs. Mika Kuwahara
Tomoko Okutsu vs. Command Bolshoi
Hikari Fukuoka vs. Machiko ?
Plum Mariko vs. Sumiko Saito
Hikari Fukuoka & Command Bolshoi & Machiko ? vs. Plum Mariko & Sumiko Saito & Tomoko Okutsu
Devil Masami & Mayumi Ozaki vs. Dynamite Kansai & Cuty Suzuki. 18:42
Sumio Toyama vs. Hikari Fukuoka
Cuty Suzuki vs. Command Bolshoi
Mayumi Ozaki & Tomoko Okutsu vs. Plum Mariko & Sumiko Saito
Dynamite Kansai vs. Devil Masami
Tomoko Okutsu (Candy) & Command Bolshoi vs. Sumio Toyama & Yumi Nagano. Highlights.
Masked YAWARA vs. Machiko Hioki
Plum Mariko vs. Sumiko Saito
Devil Masami vs. Dynamite Kansai
JWP Nintei Musabetsukyu Senshuken Tournament Final 2 Fall Count Match: Cuty Suzuki vs. Dynamite Kansai. Kansai gave a good performance here. The match built well with good timing and selling. Kansai becomes shodai champion. Good match.
Mayumi Ozaki & Hikari Fukuoka vs. Yumiko Hotta & Takako Inoue (AJW team). *Reviewed in Quebrada #51* This match looked so much different from the other matches on these two commercial tapes. This was one of the first JWP vs. AJW matches and they wanted to make it special. Everyone turned it up a few notches, and the match was very heated and intense. The pacing was several times faster than anything else on these tapes, as it was wrestled AJW style. Ozaki had what must have been one of her most impressive performances to date, really stepping up and taking control here. At one point when Hikari was in trouble, Ozaki came in and saved her, which led to a big slap fight with Takako. Another time when Hikari was in trouble, Ozaki reached over the ropes and Dragon sleepered Hotta. Hikari really took a hell of a beating from Hotta. She was the worst in the match, but Hotta did a really good job of carrying her. Hotta had a really strong performance overall for that matter, wrestling a smart match and adding to the intensity. Great effort by everyone, but everything didn't work to perfection. Read Review. ****1/2
12/27/92 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Cuty Suzuki & Mayumi Ozaki vs. Dynamite Kansai & Candy Okutsu
Hikari Fukuoka & Candy Okutsu vs. Sumiyo Toyama & Mitsue Kobayashi
Only Give Up Single Match: Plum Mariko vs. Command Bolshoi
Devil Masami vs. Cuty Suzuki
Dynamite Kansai & Mayumi Ozaki vs. Yumiko Hotta & Takako Inoue 29:44. These earliest interpromotional matches had such an incredibly urgent and intense vibe that they seem to exist on another planet we need to somehow find our way back to. They just feel so all or nothing, you either win the Super Bowl or you're Scott Norwood. There's a huge difference between these initial tests and even what we were seeing in the 1994 interpromotional joshi shows, which were still outstanding, but more for the work than for the fervor. Trying to compare this stuff to basically everything we've seen in recent years is like comparing a fight to the death to screwing around nudging your friends just for shits and giggles, or in other words, Orange Cassidy. The brilliance of this match is slightly difficult to quantify because the sum was so much greater than the individual parts. Even though they weren't really doing anything particularly flashy or spectacular during the first 2/3 of the match, it absolutely flew by as if it were 5 minutes. I'm constantly critical of the interminable faux epics we are endlessly fed today because that's how every big show must end. They feel like they are 3 hours because they don't have any sense of urgency, or do anything surprising or most importantly meaningful with all the extra time I want to say they've been granted, but more accurately I should say have been saddled with because that's exactly the feeling I'm left with most of the time. Here is the answer to these current time wasters, the stallers and layers that just leave me with the feeling that they are simply trying to survive their own match, in the worst possible sense of the word, an actual near 30 minute match that feels like the shortest half hour of your viewing life because it's so overloaded with unbridled energy, enthusiasm, pride, and hatred it that can't be delayed, much less halted. This is the mindset that warrants getting extra time, it's the workers living and experiencing every minute to the fullest rather than padding the concert length by doing their corny hit for the 3rd time because they don't have any other songs that are even playable. There's never a simplistic answer when people ask what a great match should look or shouldn't look like, but certainly this and something like the C.M. Punk vs. MJF 3/6/22 Dog Collar match are the two opposite ends of the spectrum, the former being the sort of style transcending relentless all out war wrestlers and bookers should be trying to emulate in a long heated contest, while the later being nothing beyond hokey credibility killing melodrama where everyone just looks foolish because the match is never stopped despite there being a minute of complete and utter nonsensical inactivity after each and every time anyone does even the slightest uninspired motion. Right away, Kansai and Hotta were actually bouncing around and showing footwork in their striking sequence, trying to do something that looked much more shoot oriented. Kansai pretty much showed more energy in the first minute against Hotta than she did in her entire GAEA career, and Hotta was equally juiced. There's not as much natural heat between Hotta and Ozaki, but Hotta kept disrespecting Ozaki because she's tiny, not wanting to fight her or take her seriously, creating a rivalry that allowed Hotta to be at her nastiest, which is where she excels most, and Ozaki to play the underdog that refuses to accept that she's anything but unlimited. Hotta has never been one of my favorites, or particularly consistent in her attitude and effort, but she's absolutely outstanding in this match, a career performance, for sure. Tonight, she's basically everything we are used to Aja Kong being, the hell raising, chaos creating, brutalizing heel who knows how to play things and gets more out of the opposition, especially in terms of carrying things. She's just totally on with her storytelling, timing, and intensity, and even though Ozaki is the best actual worker involved, and Kansai is a much more consistent badass, who at this point could basically work like as big or as small a wrestler as she wanted to, while Hotta was more limited to being an ass kicker, it's really Hotta's cues and more credible based style with some out of control striking and brawling that leads the way here. I really liked the early spot where Hotta broke Ozaki's rear naked chinlock and turned into her guard, then picked Ozaki up and just viciously slammed her like a toy. Early on, Ozaki basically got to attack Hotta first, but once she got that 1 shot in, Hotta just swatted her like a fly. Kansai tried to help Ozaki out, but if we know one thing about Ozaki, it's that she won't back down from anyone, and Hotta's attitude was just making her come harder and harder when she might normally just tag out. Ozaki was already down 0-2 to AJW, and lost to Hotta in JWP when she was the star of her team (with young Hikari Fukuoka), so there was a lot of pressure on her to make good now that her partner was the promotional ace. In any case, Hotta and Takako's game plan quickly became keeping Ozaki in the ring, and Ozaki played right into their hands, which, since JWP were the home team and thus the faces, was at least a slightly different spin on the usual '80s hot tag scenario. This ultimately didn't go down that path though because they were sticking pretty rigidly to the pecking order, so Takako was also purposely being portrayed as the weak link, and even if this was the less focused on portion of the story, would get into even more trouble than Ozaki because she was #4. Hotta vs. Kansai was the money match here, so Ozaki & Inoue being their heavy bags also kept teasing and tantalizing the audience with what they really wanted to see, without giving too much away. Hotta is a natural bully, and a general badass, who when she wants to be is great at creating heat with the opposition, but while her work was technically proficient, Takako struggled to add anything to her standard role of absorbing the pot shots,or do anything that created any real interest in her. That's not to say she was bad by any means, but the charisma and storytelling of everyone else was both elevating the interest in them, this match, and future matches, while one way or the other, Takako was essentially just giving Hotta a breather. Ozaki always knew how to play things in these days, and found ways to create 1000 times the interest in her against Hotta than Takako created in her against Kansai, despite it being almost the exact same scenario. When the match turned, and Takako became Kansai's and even Ozaki's whipping girl, she simply lacked the character to elevate these sequences, which was unfortunate because to some extent this had been a match where it wasn't not so much what they did, but how they did it. In other words, when they were just going wild out there and putting 300% effort and energy in, it didn't matter that they were using a lot of submissions and moves that weren't top notch excitement on their own, but rather that they were jerking and contorting with ill intentent, but it did start to matter now that Takako was failing to be a compelling victim. Ozaki & Kansai did their best to maintain the high level, but when Takako managed to make the hot tag and Hotta got back to bullying Ozaki, it was just utter chaos in the best possible totally out of control urgent manner. Hotta was just a one woman wrecking crew, but she was kind of fighting two on one because Kansai kept trying to run interference to stop Hotta from completely brutalizing Ozaki. Hotta had been both taunting Kansai and keeping her eye on Kansai all night because Kansai could care less about there being rules against just jumping in to help her partner. The first 20 minutes were mostly brutal kicks and submissions, but the final 10 were an all out explosion of ridiculous action. This sounds like a huge tonal shift, but it worked because they had been putting every ounce of energy into everything they were doing throughout, so even though they were on the mat a lot, they were always wrenching rather than resting, and all the standup action was very urgent. This final portion of the match now came closer to matching the action of the Yamada & Toyota Dream Rush match, without sacrificing much of what had made this match different (it obviously felt less credible, but, of course, it was never truly credible to begin with). That being said, this is one of those timeless matches that's not really about the moves, but rather creating a certain feeling, an aura, and thus will still look great in 50 years when guys we aren't even that impressed by are doing 1080 degree splashes, and it's just no big deal. Takako eventually got herself into real trouble, and now it was Hotta who was jumping in any chance she got, trying to turn the tide back. Both Takako, who was in the center of the ring fighting Ozaki, and Hotta, who was in her corner, avoided Kansai's running lariat, but while Hotta was busy choking Kansai in the corner, Ozaki landed on her feet for Takako's suplex and pinned her with her tequila sunrise to finally break through for JWP. There was a classic post match celebration where Ozaki crawled over to Kansai and collapsed onto her with an embrace. JWP had finally done it! Ozaki had finally done it! They were legit, as they always knew they were. Kansai then left the ring and brought back a picture of Ozaki's father, who passed away suddenly the previous month. Ozaki would score more super dramatic wins for JWP this year, and was a good portion of the reason the earliest interpromional shows before AJW dropped the ball with he were so much more memorable, as most of her matches had amazing drama to go along with amazing work. It was through these matches against AJW that Ozaki rose out of the shadow of the steady legend Devil Masami and the marketable idol Cuty Suzuki and became the promotions much needed #2, but she was clearly #1 in JWP in terms of what she was able to deliver in the ring, and in competition with only Akira Hokuto as the world's best female. Tonight was really Hotta's night though, even if in defeat. This is probably the 2nd best match in the history of JWP behind Dynamite Kansai & Mayumi Ozaki & Cuty Suzuki & Hikari Fukuoka vs. Aja Kong & Kyoko Inoue & Takako Inoue & Sakie Hasegawa 7/31/93. It's not a perfect match, if such a thing exists, but this is the way I want to see the fighters interact with one another. There's very few matches in the history of the sport that can compete with the leave nothing on the table, kill or be kill, vanquish the enemy or the kingdom is lost vibe this match was able to sustain for half an hour. The execution had some flaws, and Takako was out of her depth, but for effort, energy, intensity, and intangibles this is incredibly difficult to top. *****
Candy Okutsu vs. Mika Kuwahara
Hikari Fukuoka vs. Sumiyo Toyama
Mayumi Ozaki & Cuty Suzuki vs. Devil Masami & Command Bolshoi. Ozaki gives a major effort to carry this. It's mostly a one woman show, though Devil also considers it an important match, and is quite good. Good match.
Men's Boxing: Hiroshi Nishio vs. ? Tori
Mayumi Ozaki & Cuty Suzuki & Candy Okutsu & Mika Kuwahara vs. Devil Masami & Hikari Fukuoka & Command Bolshoi & Sumiyo Toyama. Ozaki and Devil are at it again 15 minutes later, and this time Devil really takes the lead with an impressive performance, carrying and crushing the youngsters. This match is the least consistent of the three quality matches on this handheld because some of the wrestlers here are much better than others, but it's still a fun action-packed match with tons of rope running.
JWP Openweight Title: Dynamite Kansai vs. Plum Mariko. Both put forth the effort, and did their thing well. They weren't really complementing each other the way kansai and Ozaki due, it was more two good wrestlers doing what they do than something that rose above the sum of its parts. Good match.
2/26/93 Osaka
One Night Tag Tournament 1st Round: Mayumi Ozaki & Candy Okutsu vs. Hikari Fukuoka & Command Bolshoi
One Night Tag Tournament 1st Round: Cuty Suzuki & Plum Mariko vs. Devil Masami & Yumi Tenma
Handicap Match: Dynamite Kansai vs. Mitsue Kobayashi & Mika Kuwahara
One Night Tag Tournament Final: Cuty Suzuki & Plum Mariko vs. Hikari Fukuoka & Command Bolshoi. One of the first big pushes Hikari got, as she pins Cuty to win the tournament.
2/27 Kyoto
JWP Tag Titles: Mayumi Ozaki & Cuty Suzuki vs. Devil Masami & Dynamite Kansai
2/11/93
Sumiko Saito Retirement Match: Sumiko Saito vs. Hikari Fukuoka 26:59
Devil Masami & Debbie Malenko vs. Dynamite Kansai & Plum Mariko 33:36
3/21/93
Rookie of the Year Decision League Final: Sumiyo Toyama vs. Candy Okutsu 21:25
JWP Tag Title Match: Cuty Suzuki & Mayumi Ozaki vs. Dynamite Kansai & Devil Masami 29:16
Mayumi Ozaki vs. Candy Okutsu
Mayumi Ozaki & Bolshoi Kid vs. Cuty Suzuki & Plum Mariko
JWP Nintei Musabetsukyu Oza Senshukenjiai: Dynamite Kansai vs. Hikari Fukuoka
Devil Masami vs. Bull Nakano
Sumio Toyama vs. Yumi Tenma
Only Give Up Single Match: Plum Mariko vs. Command Bolshoi
Dynamite Kansai & Hikari Fukuoka vs. Devil Masami & Candy Okutsu
JWP vs. Zenjo: Mayumi Ozaki & Cuty Suzuki vs. Takako Inoue & Sakie Hasegawa 28:52
Sumio Toyama vs. Yumi Tenma
Only Give Up Single Match: Plum Mariko vs. Command Bolshoi
Dynamite Kansai & Hikari Fukuoka vs. Devil Masami & Candy Okutsu
JWP vs. Zenjo: Mayumi Ozaki & Cuty Suzuki vs. Takako Inoue & Sakie Hasegawa 28:52
Mayumi Ozaki vs. Cuty Suzuki
Dynamite Kansai & Sumiyo Toyama vs. Devil Masami & Candy Okutsu
5/30/93
Sakie Hasegawa vs. Hikari Fukuoka
Devil Masami & Mayumi Ozaki & Plum Mariko vs. Dynamite Kansai & Cuty Suzuki & Candy Okutsu
Hikari Fukuoka vs. Command Bolshoi
Mayumi Ozaki vs. Cuty Suzuki
Dynamite Kansai & Sumiyo Toyama vs. Devil Masami & Candy Okutsu
Hikari Fukuoka vs. Sumiyo Toyama
Candy Okutsu vs. Command Bolshoi
Dynamite Kansai & Plum Mariko vs. Devil Masami & Cuty Suzuki
Mayumi Ozaki vs. Takako Inoue
Hikari Fukuoka vs. Sumiyo Toyama
Candy Okutsu vs. Command Bolshoi
Dynamite Kansai & Plum Mariko vs. Devil Masami & Cuty Suzuki
Mayumi Ozaki vs. Takako Inoue
Mayumi Ozaki vs. Candy Okutsu
Cuty Suzuki vs. Command Bolshoi
Dynamite Kansai vs. Sumiyo Toyama
Devil Masami vs. Hikari Fukuoka
Battle Royal
Mayumi Ozaki vs. Sumio Toyama
Cuty Suzuki vs. Candy Okutsu
Hikari Fukuoka vs. Command Bolshoi
Devil Masami vs. Plum Mariko
Dynamite Kansai & Mayumi Ozaki & Command Bolshoi & Candy Okutsu vs. Cuty Suzuki & Plum Mariko & Hikari Fukuoka & Sumio Toyama
Plum Mariko vs. Sumiyo Toyama
Cuty Suzuki vs. Hikari Fukuoka
Dynamite Kansai vs. Candy Okutsu
Devil Masami vs. Mayumi Ozaki
Dynamite Kansai & Mayumi Ozaki & Cuty Suzuki & Hikari Fukuoka vs. Devil Masami & Plum Mariko & Command Bolshoi & Sumiyo Toyama
7/23/93
Devil Masami vs. Sumiyo Toyama
Dynamite Kansai & Bolshoi Kid vs. Plum Mariko & Hikari Fukuoka
Dynamite Kansai & Bolshoi Kid & Candy Okutsu vs. Devil Masami & Plum Mariko & Hikari Fukuoka
Mayumi Ozaki vs Cuty Suzuki
7/24/93
Mayumi Ozaki vs. Hikari Fukuoka
Dynamite Kansai & Cuty Suzuki & Candy Okutsu & Bolshoi Kid vs. Devil Masami & Hikari Fukuoka & Plum Mariko & Sumio Toyama
AJ Jr. Title: Numacchi (AJW) vs. Sumio Toyama (Saburo). **1/2
Infernal KAORU (AJW) vs. Bolshoi Kid. *1/2
Suzuka Minami & Kaoru Ito (AJW) vs. Devil Masami & Candy Okutsu. Devil Masami & Candy Okutsu. Great performance by Devil, particularly how she carried this match. I mean, she was making Candy look impressive and she wasn't even wrestling against her. ****
Yumiko Hotta (AJW) vs. Plum Mariko. *1/4
First Attack Single Match Rule 60:00 Full Time Match: Aja Kong & Kyoko Inoue & Takako Inoue & Sakie Hasegawa vs. Dynamite Kansai & Mayumi Ozaki & Cuty Suzuki & Hikari Fukuoka. I was saying the other day that it's a shame they never did a second match under these rules, but in a way it would be pointless because this could never be topped. This is the best gimmick/stipulation match ever and unquestionably one of the top couple women's matches of the decade. Awesome work and perfect booking. My all-time favorite finish. *****
Feature on Candy Okutsu
7/31/93 Yokohama Bunka Taiikukan: Devil Masami & Candy Okutsu vs. Suzuka Minami & Kaoru Ito (AJW team). ****
Candy Okutsu vs. Cuty Suzuki
Hikari Fukuoka vs. Devil Masami
Plum Mariko vs. Infernal KAORU (AJW)
Mayumi Ozaki & Sumio Toyama vs. Dynamite Kansai & Command Bolshoi
Devil Masami vs. Candy Okutsu
Cuty Suzuki vs. Bolshoi Kid
Plum Mariko vs. Hikari Fukuoka
Bolshoi Kid & Devil Masami & Plum Mariko vs. Candy Okutsu & Cuty Suzuki & Hikari Fukuoka 24:25
JWP Openweight Title: Dynamite Kansai vs. Mayumi Ozaki
Cuty Suzuki vs. Hikari Fukuoka
Devil Masami vs. Command Bolshoi
Mayumi Ozaki vs. Candy Okutsu
Dynamite Kansai vs. Plum Mariko
Dynamite Kansai & Mayumi Ozaki & Plum Mariko & Candy Okutsu vs. Devil Masami & Cuty Suzuki & Hikari Fukuoka & Command Bolshoi
Candy Okutsu vs. Kaoru Ito (AJW)
Fusayo Nouchi JWP Debut Match: Cuty Suzuki vs. Fusayo Nouchi 9:03
Hikari Fukuoka vs. Command Bolshoi 21:26
Feature on Devil Masami
Super Heel Match: Super Heel Devil Masami vs. Plum Mariko
Dynamite Kansai & Devil Masami vs. Mayumi Ozaki & Plum Mariko
Candy Okutsu vs. Cuty Suzuki
Hikari Fukuoka vs. Devil Masami
Plum Mariko vs. Infernal KAORU (AJW)
9/23/93: Candy Okutsu vs. Kaoru Ito (AJW)
Feature on Cuty Suzuki
Cuty Suzuki vs. Command Bolshoi 24:11
Plum Mariko vs. Fusayo Nouchi
Mayumi Ozaki vs. Numacchi (AJW) 19:11
Dynamite Kansai & Hikari Fukuoka vs. Devil Masami & Reggie Bennett (AJW) 22:58
9/23/93
Fusayo Nouchi JWP Debut Match: Cuty Suzuki vs. Fusayo Nouchi 9:03
Hikari Fukuoka vs. Command Bolshoi 21:26
10/11/93
Cuty Suzuki vs. Command Bolshoi 24:11
Mayumi Ozaki vs. Numacchi (AJW) 19:11
Dynamite Kansai & Hikari Fukuoka vs. Devil Masami & Reggie Bennett (AJW) 22:58
The Queens Road Yokohama Second: Candy Okutsu & Fusayo Nouchi vs. Chikako Shiratori & Chaparrita ASARI (AJW). Good match between the four youngsters with Candy carrying the match and ASARI showing her great highspots **1/2
Solid Black Queens Energy: Hikari Fukuoka vs. Manami Toyota (AJW). Excellent match with Hikari pushing her idol before doing the eventual job. Lots of mirror spots and great spots including Toyota doing a plancha over the security rail ****
Most Special Persons Wrestling Jam: Devil Masami & Plum Mariko vs. Chigusa Nagayo & Cuty Suzuki. Great long match with great build, psychology, and timing, a special aura, and lots of choice submissions ****3/4
Bolshoi Kid vs. Mima Shimoda (AJW). The clown is awful and this is a disaster of epic proportions. This is the only match they don't show in its entirety, and even in this chopped up form it stinks. Worst Mima match I've ever seen, though it's not her fault 1/4*
Pure Heart Meets The Dangerous Queen, Only One Time Singles Match: Mayumi Ozaki vs. Akira Hokuto (AJW). Pretty similar to Oz's match with Toyota on 10/9/93 though the selling here is superior. Breaking the opponent's main finisher was the key. Very solid match that built well ****1/4
Full Throttle Thunder Queen World: Dynamite Kansai vs. Kyoko Inoue (AJW). Very similar to Kansai/Yamada 10/9 with the same finisher vs. finisher storyline and great build and psychology. Not as good as 10/9 because it wasn't nearly as stiff. ****1/4
1/15/93: Dynamite Kansai & Mayumi Ozaki vs. Yumiko Hotta & Takako Inoue 13min
4/18/93: Devil Masami vs. Bull Nakano 8min
4/20/93: Mayumi Ozaki & Cuty Suzuki vs. Takako Inoue & Sakie Hasegawa 4min
5/30/93: Sakie Hasegawa vs. Hikari Fukuoka 7min
6/20/93: Mayumi Ozaki vs. Takako Inoue 27min
7/31/93 Kanagawa Yokohama Bunka Taiikukan
AJ Jr. Title: Numacchi vs. Sumio Toyama (Saburo) 1min
Infernal KAORU vs. Bolshoi Kid 2min
Suzuka Minami & Kaoru Ito vs. Devil Masami & Candy Okutsu 16min. Devil Masami & Candy Okutsu. Great performance by Devil, particularly how she carried this match. I mean, she was making Candy look impressive and she wasn't even wrestling against her. ****
Yumiko Hotta vs. Plum Mariko 15min
First Attack Single Match Rule 60:00 Full Time Match: Aja Kong & Kyoko Inoue & Takako Inoue & Sakie Hasegawa vs. Dynamite Kansai & Mayumi Ozaki & Cuty Suzuki & Hikari Fukuoka 7min. I was saying the other day that it's a shame they never did a second match under these rules, but in a way it would be pointless because this could never be topped. This is the best gimmick/stipulation match ever and unquestionably one of the top couple women's matches of the decade. Awesome work and perfect booking. My all-time favorite finish. *****
9/23/93: Candy Okutsu vs. Kaoru Ito 20min
10/11/93: Mayumi Ozaki vs. Numacchi 5min
11/18/93 Kanagawa Yokohama Bunka Taiikukan
The Queens Road Yokohama Second: Candy Okutsu & Fusayo Nouchi vs. Chikako Shiratori & Chaparrita ASARI 13min. Good match between the four youngsters with Candy carrying the match and ASARI showing her great highspots **1/2
Bolshoi Kid vs. Mima Shimoda 6min. The clown is awful and this is a disaster of epic proportions. This is the only match they don't show in its entirety, and even in this chopped up form it stinks. Worst Mima match I've ever seen, though it's not her fault 1/4*
Solid Black Queens Energy: Hikari Fukuoka vs. Manami Toyota 23min. Excellent match with Hikari pushing her idol before doing the eventual job. Lots of mirror spots and great spots including Toyota doing a plancha over the security rail ****
Pure Heart Meets The Dangerous Queen, Only One Time Singles Match: Mayumi Ozaki vs. Akira Hokuto 21min. Pretty similar to Oz's match with Toyota on 10/9/93 though the selling here is superior. Breaking the opponent's main finisher was the key. Very solid match that built well ****1/4
Full Throttle Thunder Queen World: Dynamite Kansai vs. Kyoko Inoue 22min. Very similar to Kansai/Yamada 10/9 with the same finisher vs. finisher storyline and great build and psychology. Not as good as 10/9 because it wasn't nearly as stiff. ****1/4
Bolshoi Kid vs. Chikako Shiratori
Candy Okutsu vs. Fusayo Nouchi
Mayumi Ozaki vs. Devil Masami
Cuty Suzuki & Plum Mariko vs. Dynamite Kansai & Hikari Fukuoka
12/12/93 Devil Masami Super Heel Match: Mayumi Ozaki vs. Devil Masami
1/9/94
Hiromi Yaginuma Debut Match: Hikari Fukuoka vs. Hiromi Yaginuma. Hiromi Yagi's debut match, under her real last name Yaginuma.
Hikari Fukuoka & Command Bolshoi vs. Candy Okutsu & Fusayo Nochi. Fukuoka was by far the best of these 4. Candy had a good showing, but Nouchi didn't look good and Bolshoi was still a clown.
2 Fall Count 6 Woman Tag Match: Mayumi Ozaki & Cuty Suzuki & Plum Mariko vs. Dynamite Kansai & Chigusa Nagayo & Devil Masami. Really well worked and excellently built match. The downfall was that the gimmick itself wasn't good because it meant less near falls to preserve the finishers, which meant less drama. Really a super match that worked excellently within the limitations of the gimmick, but probably would have been a strong match of the year candidate if it wasn't held back by the stipulations. Read Review. ****1/2
Fusayo Nouchi vs. Hiromi Sugo
Hikari Fukuoka & Hiromi Yagi vs. Plum Mariko & Command Bolshoi
Dynamite Kansai & Candy Okutsu vs. Devil Masami & Cuty Suzuki
Mayumi Ozaki vs. Chigusa Nagayo 26:02. JWP respected Chigusa, who could still go at this point, but were also smart enough to use her to elevate their wrestlers who were in their prime. This was one of the first steps toward Ozaki proving to be on Chigusa's level, a long dramatic double juice war that was actually more of a technical match. Ozaki attacked Chigusa before the bell, cutting her almost immediately. Chigusa quickly made a fiery comeback and settled into her quasi U.W.F. offense. Between Ozaki's brawling and Chigusa's striking, it was a pretty rough match with both women kicking each other's ass in their own way. Chigusa eventually got fed up and took it to the floor, busting Ozaki open horribly with a chair. Ozaki, in turn, began to make progress when she matched Chigusa's submissions. They put over the toll of the match and the bloodless well, but some of the submissions needed more work because it was too obvious they were hopeless. Ozaki eventually succumbed, but got her toughness over in the loss. ***3/4
Fusayo Nouchi vs. Hiromi Sugo 6:38
Hikari Fukuoka & Hiromi Yagi vs. Plum Mariko & Command Bolshoi 26:44
Dynamite Kansai & Candy Okutsu vs. Devil Masami & Cuty Suzuki 23:49
Mayumi Ozaki vs. Chigusa Nagayo 26:02. JWP respected Chigusa, who could still go at this point, but were also smart enough to use her to elevate their wrestlers who were in their prime. This was one of the first steps toward Ozaki proving to be on Chigusa's level, a long dramatic double juice war that was actually more of a technical match. Ozaki attacked Chigusa before the bell, cutting her almost immediately. Chigusa quickly made a fiery comeback and settled into her quasi U.W.F. offense. Between Ozaki's brawling and Chigusa's striking, it was a pretty rough match with both women kicking each other's ass in their own way. Chigusa eventually got fed up and took it to the floor, busting Ozaki open horribly with a chair. Ozaki, in turn, began to make progress when she matched Chigusa's submissions. They put over the toll of the match and the bloodless well, but some of the submissions needed more work because it was too obvious they were hopeless. Ozaki eventually succumbed, but got her toughness over in the loss. ***3/4
1/12/94
Mayumi Ozaki vs. Cuty Suzuki 5:46 of 20:21. Cuty was getting major heel heat pulling Ozaki's eyebrows out by hand (what a waste). She cut Ozaki on the forehead, and attacked the wound. Ozaki got beat on the whole time, but came back and put Cuty away with a few moves.
2 Fall Count Match: Dynamite Kansai & Candy Okutsu vs. Devil Masami & Plum Mariko 4:33 of 20:24
11/29/93
Dynamite Kansai & Hikari Fukuoka vs. Yumiko Hotta & Kaoru Ito 24:16. Hotta had her attitude going in a way that helped the match, looking intense and hateful. She added a lot of small things to the match that helped put over the rivalry between the two promotions. Hotta really carried this, with Fukuoka & Ito doing fine as workers. Kansai was disappointing in that she didn't add more to the story and atmosphere. She played along with Hotta better than younger and smaller Fukuoka or Ito could, but she was ultimately also a follower. ***1/2
Cuty Suzuki vs. Candy Okutsu 4:06 of 14:26
Mayumi Ozaki vs. Devil Masami 5:57 of 17:22. Looked like a very good match. Ozaki was really pushing Devil here. She was on offense most of what was shown and didn't seem at all the underdog. You felt like she would win, but of course if Devil is selling this much...
Mayumi Ozaki & Plum Mariko & Candy Okutsu vs. Devil Masami & Cuty Suzuki & Bolshoi Kid 5:50 of 19:29
Note: tape also contains footage of their vacation activities
1st Battle A Block:
Cuty Suzuki vs. Fusayo Nouchi. 10:07
Dynamite Kansai vs. Candy Okutsu. 11:57
Vol 2
1st Battle B Block:
Hikari Fukuoka vs. Command Bolshoi
Plum Mariko vs. Mayumi Ozaki
Note: tape also contains footage of their vacation activities
2nd Battle A, B Block:
Plum Mariko vs. Hikari Fukuoka. 10:10
Cuty Suzuki vs. Dynamite Kansai. 12:22
Vol. 4
Mayumi Ozaki & Hikari Fukuoka & Bolshoi Kid vs. Cuty Suzuki & Candy Okutsu & Fusayo Nouchi. 15:47
Final Battle Kesshosen Special Tag Match: Devil Masami & Dynamite Kansai vs. Chigusa Nagayo & Plum Mariko. Tournament doesn't have a traditional final, rather the winner of A Block teams with Devil, while the winner of B Block teams with Chigusa. 15:58
Focuses on Chigusa Nagayo's involvement in JWP so far. All matches are edited, and they actually stop the tape of the match to show the wrestlers (mainly Chigusa) talking about it.
11/18/93: Cuty Suzuki & Chigusa Nagayo vs. Devil Masami & Plum Mariko. 12-13 min (all times on this tape include interspersed interviews)
1/9/94: Cuty Suzuki & Mayumi Ozaki & Plum Mariko vs. Dynamite Kansai & Devil Masami & Chigusa Nagayo. 12 min
1/11/94: Mayumi Ozaki vs. Chigusa Nagayo. 17 min
Clips of each singles match in PACIFIC FIGHT Tournament about 2 min each than 3-4 min clip of tag final
Fusayo Nouchi vs. Hiromi Sugo
Hiromi Yagi vs. Command Bolshoi
Cuty Suzuki vs. Hikari Fukuoka
Plum Mariko vs. Chigusa Nagayo
Dynamite Kansai & Mayumi Ozaki vs. Devil Masami & Candy Okutsu
Cuty Suzuki vs. Hikari Fukuoka
Plum Mariko vs. Chigusa Nagayo
Dynamite Kansai & Mayumi Ozaki vs. Devil Masami & Candy Okutsu
Fusayo Nouchi vs. Hiromi Sugo
Mayumi Ozaki vs. Hiromi Yagi
Dynamite Kansai vs. Candy Okutsu
Cuty Suzuki & Hikari Fukuoka vs. Plum Mariko & Command Bolshoi
Mayumi Ozaki & Cuty Suzuki & Hikari Fukuoka & Candy Okutsu vs. Dynamite Kansai & Devil Masami & Plum Mariko & Command Bolshoi
Hikari Fukuoka vs. Hiromi Yagi
Cuty Suzuki vs. Bolshoi Kid
Mayumi Ozaki vs. Plum Mariko
Dynamite Kansai & Candy Okutsu vs. Devil Masami & Fusayo Nouchi
Dynamite Kansai & Mayumi Ozaki & Cuty Suzuki & Plum Mariko vs. Devil Masami & Hikari Fukuoka & Hiromi Yagi & Fusayo Nouchi
All Japan Junior Title Match: Candy Okutsu vs. Fusayo Nouchi 13:53
Dynamite Kansai vs. Bolshoi Kid 14:08
Devil Masami & Mayumi Ozaki vs. Hikari Fukuoka & Plum Mariko 20:40
Chigusa Nagayo vs. Cuty Suzuki 0:49
Hiromi Yagi vs. Hiromi Sugo 12:22
All Japan Junior Title Match: Candy Okutsu vs. Fusayo Nouchi 13:53
Dynamite Kansai vs. Bolshoi Kid 14:08
Devil Masami & Mayumi Ozaki vs. Hikari Fukuoka & Plum Mariko 20:40
Chigusa Nagayo vs. Cuty Suzuki 0:40
Hiromi Sugo vs. Fusayo Nouchi
Mayumi Ozaki vs. Hiromi Yagi
Hikari Fukuoka vs. Plum Mariko
Dynamite Kansai & Command Bolshoi vs. Reggie Bennett & Cuty Suzuki
Super Heel Devil Masami vs. Chigusa Nagayo 28:38
3/12/94 Mito Shimin Taiikukan
Hikari Fukuoka vs. Hiromi Yagi
Mayumi Ozaki vs. Plum Mariko
Dynamite Kansai & Mayumi Ozaki & Cuty Suzuki & Plum Mariko vs. Devil Masami & Hikari Fukuoka & Hiromi Yagi & Fusayo Nouchi
5/5/94
Mayumi Ozaki vs. Fusayo Nouchi
Candy Okutsu vs. Bolshoi Kid
Cuty Suzuki & Hikari Fukuoka vs. Devil Masami & Hiromi Yagi
Command Bolshoi vs. Hiromi Yagi
Mayumi Ozaki vs. Hiromi Sugo
Cuty Suzuki vs. Fusayo Nouchi
Dynamite Kansai & Devil Masami vs. Hikari Fukuoka & Candy Okutsu
Hiromi Yagi & Fusayo Nouchi vs. Kumiko Maekawa & Rie Tamada. Basic young girls match with stretching and dropkicks. Execution was fine. Yagi kept some intensity and suspense on the match even though aside from a few judo based moves she was doing the same offense as the others. She has a sense of timing and an understanding of what makes a match compelling that the others don't. **
Bolshoi Kid (ASARI) vs. Command Bolshoi. It wasn't quite SUPER MAJOR CLOWNS Ariake TRASH!! like I feared, but it wasn't a good lucha or flying match like it could have been. The 10 minute time limit hurt because by the time it started getting good, it was over. The funniest part was when ASARI's hair extension came off in the midst of her turning a uranage into a wakigatame. Commando acted like it was a dead animal and scared the ref with it. The moves were a lot better than the previous match, but the execution was worse and there was no smoothness, timing, or flow. *3/4
Cuty Special vs. Takako Panic: Cuty Suzuki vs. Takako Inoue. These two don't need 20 minutes. Their lack of offense starts to bore you within 10. You know you are in trouble when Takako is doing all the offense, but her offense at least looked pretty good. Cuty's flying in particular looked pretty pathetic; she's just not very athletic. Cuty did an excellent job of selling. The lack of announcers actually helped the match come across better because Cuty was doing a great job of screaming in pain, actually putting some thought and emotion into when and how she screamed. The effort was strong, but too much of the match was just stretching each other out. They didn't get heat until things picked up at the end. **1/4
Over The Generation Grudge Match: Mayumi Ozaki vs. Chigusa Nagayo. This truly looked like a grudge match. There was a major staredown before it started and once it began they just beat each other to a pulp for 27 minutes. Violent and intense. Ozaki was nasty. The match was all about attitude. They wouldn't back down or give up no matter how much punishment they took. Obviously they were both over to begin with, but the match built up a great deal of heat not just because it was long and high quality, but because they earned the audience's respect. Both women had a couple of cuts, with the entire right side of Ozaki's face being covered in blood while Chigusa couldn't really get much blood. It wasn't just a brawl, of course, they each actually wrestled and even did a dive. One of the best matches they've had together. ***3/4
Candy Okutsu vs. Kyoko Inoue. Long before the ego feeding days of squashing everyone in Neo to the detriment of everyone but herself, there was a wrestler named Kyoko Inoue that was more interested in having a strong match. Even though she may never have had to face Candy again, she unselfishly carried her and put her over enough to lead her to one of the best veteran vs. promising youngster matches. They key to this typ eof match is the youngster looking impressive and being competitive. Nobody really believes they'll win, so it's okay if they are overmatched as long as they prove they are not only someone to watch but a player right now, which Candy did. In doing so, Candy got the crowd behind her. Well executed match with a number of nice high spots. The highlight to me was Kyoko doing an overhead belly to belly suplex with both women standing on the top rope. The finishing segment was disappoint, but that was the only major downside. ***3/4
Devil Masami & Bull Nakano vs. Hikari Fukuoka & Sakie Hasegawa. Surprisingly this was supposed to be the first time Devil & Bull teamed up. The best athlete each league had from the current generation faced each leagues aging monster. Unfortunately, the aging monsters didn't seemed cut out to go nearly 30 minutes. While the match was well worked and some excellent moments and exciting stretches, it lacked fire and really anything that would make the match seem important. Too often the match just plodded along. Hikari and Sakie did some nice moves, most notably Hikari moonsaulting off Sakie's shoulders, but the monsters for the most part seemed to just be there. The success of the match was more in having wrestlers that good than in anything particular they did. **3/4
WWWA Sekai Single Senshukenjiai: Aja Kong vs. Dynamite Kansai. This is one of those inexplicable matches where you can't imagine how things could go wrong, but they really did. Before the GAEA days, every time these two had faced each other before or after it was excellent. This match however went on forever without much of anything happening. Aja dominated the match with a lot of dull submissions and some brutal strikes. She did a good job pounding Kansai with different types of shots so she could save her urakens until the end, but there weren't enough strikes or other high impact spots until that point to keep the quality up. Kansai wasn't on top of her game today. It seemed like she was having problems working with someone so big, although I can't figure why since she'd had no problem with Devil or Aja in the past. In any case, here you never got the sense that they knew where their opponent was going to be, so they were more tentative and deliberate than you'd expect. Wasn't a totally dead match, but didn't have anywhere near the heat and urgency you'd expect from JWP's top star vying to become the first native outsider to win the top women's title. **1/2
Candy Okutsu & Fusayo Nouchi vs. Hiromi Yagi & Hiromi Sugo
Devil Masami vs. Command Bolshoi
Dynamite Kansai vs. Cuty Suzuki
Hikari Fukuoka vs. Mima Shimoda
Devil Masami & Mayumi Ozaki & Hiromi Yagi vs. Dynamite Kansai & Candy Okutsu & Fusayo Nouchi
Fusayo Nouchi vs. Hiromi Yagi
Long feature on Hikari Fukuoka including pins over Cuty & Plum
Mayumi Ozaki vs. Hikari Fukuoka. Very good match. It worked because Ozaki did a really good job of carrying the match and acting, allowing Fukuoka to just have to work, which she could always more than hold her own doing. ***3/4
Devil Masami & Cuty Suzuki vs. Dynamite Kansai & Candy Okutsu
Hiromi Sugo vs. Command Bolshoi
Sumiyo Toyama vs. Hiromi Sugo
Candy Okutsu vs. Hiromi Yagi
Dynamite Kansai & Command Bolshoi vs. Plum Mariko & Cuty Suzuki
Hikari Fukuoka & Suzuka Minami vs. Devil Masami & Mayumi Ozaki
Fusayo Nouchi vs. Hiromi Sugo
Mayumi Ozaki vs. Candy Okutsu
Bolshoi Kid vs. Devil Masami
Dynamite Kansai & Hikari Fukuoka vs. Plum Mariko & Cuty Suzuki
Devil Masami & Mayumi Ozaki & Cuty Suzuki & Hiromi Yagi vs. Dynamite Kansai & Hikari Fukuoka & Candy Okutsu & Bolshoi Kid
Hikari Fukuoka vs. Hiromi Sugo. More like the original JWP with a bunch of submissions early then some spots from Hikari toward the end. Sugo didn't have a prayer. *1/2
Dynamite Kansai & Fusayo Nouchi vs. Command Bolshoi & Hiromi Yagi. Yagi was already good. She did her submissions and Kansai did her kicks, but the other two didn't offer much. **1/4
Cuty Suzuki & Candy Okutsu vs. Devil Masami & Mayumi Ozaki. Devil & Ozaki played heel, and dominated the match. Cuty & Candy were alright, but nothing special. Ozaki worked hard and made it a good match. ***
Dynamite Kansai & Cuty Suzuki & Candy Okutsu & Hiromi Sugo vs. Devil Masami & Mayumi Ozaki & Command Bolshoi & Hiromi Yagi. The main players did a good job, but, although they hit their moves, the bottom four didn't do too much. The fans were the most excited about Kansai vs. Devil, which was good. The finish was nothing special. ***
Fusayo Nouchi vs. Hiromi Sugo
Tournament Matches:
Hiromi Yagi vs. Command Bolshoi
Hikari Fukuoka vs. Candy Okutsu
Cuty Suzuki vs. Mayumi Ozaki
Dynamite Kansai vs. Devil Masami
Hikari Fukuoka & Hiromi Sugo vs. Fusayo Nochi & Hiromi Yagi
Cuty Suzuki vs. Candy Okutsu
Devil Masami & Mayumi Ozaki vs. Dynamite Kansai & Bolshoi Kid
Dynamite Kansai & Hikari Fukuoka & Cuty Suzuki & Bolshoi Kid vs. Devil Masami & Mayumi Ozaki & Candy Okutsu & Hiromi Sugo
Tournament Junkessho: Hikari Fukuoka vs. Command Bolshoi. Bolshoi works Fukuoka's bad arm. Good work, but the match seemed very flat due to a total lack of heat. Good match.
Tournament Junkessho: Mayumi Ozaki vs. Devil Masami. Ozaki was real good, but Devil made some of the spots that required athleticism look bad.
8/21 Tokyo Korakuen Hall, Tournament Kesshosen 2 Fall Count Match: Mayumi Ozaki vs. Hikari Fukuoka. Ozaki carried the match and it was really solid with strong psychology, but Fukuoka didn't play her role well as her selling wasn't that good and her comebacks were way too quick. As Bolshoi did, Ozaki attacks Hikari's bad arm. Very good match, but the finish was bad because Ozaki kicks out at 1 but the ref gives Hikari the match anyway.
Devil Masami vs. Hiromi Yagi. Devil doesn't really take Yagi seriously, and Yagi isn't allowed to be competitive.
Candy Okutsu vs. Infernal KAORU. Good work. No real substance, but the spots were good.
8/20/94 Omiya Skate Center, Tournament Semifinal: Hikari Fukuoka vs. Command Bolshoi. Bolshoi works Fukuoka's bad arm. Good work, but the match seemed very flat due to a total lack of heat. Good match.
8/20/94 Omiya Skate Center, Tournament Semifinal: Mayumi Ozaki vs. Devil Masami. Ozaki was real good, but Devil made some of the spots that required athleticism look bad.
Tournament Final 2 Fall Count Match: Mayumi Ozaki vs. Hikari Fukuoka. Ozaki carried the match and it was really solid with strong psychology, but Fukuoka didn't play her role well as her selling wasn't that good and her comebacks were way too quick. As Bolshoi did, Ozaki attacks Hikari's bad arm. Very good match, but the finish was bad because Ozaki kicks out at 1 but the ref gives Hikari the match anyway.
JWP Purebred Fighting -2-: Mayumi Ozaki vs. Candy Okutsu
THE BRAKE DOWN TERRITORY: Cuty Suzuki & Hikari Fukuoka vs. Chigusa Nagayo & KAORU
JWP Open Weight Title Match: Dynamite Kansai vs. Devil Masami
Fusayo Nouchi vs. Candy Okutsu 14:27. Decent match. The execution was right on, but the pace was slow and the matwork was indiscriminate. **
Cuty Suzuki vs. Dynamite Kansai 15:34. Cuty's offense wasn't credible against Kansai, but Kansai sold it anyway. The 1st half was slow, but it there were nice high spots and near falls in the 2nd half. ***
Chigusa Nagayo vs. Bolshoi Kid 0:28. Bolshoi scores the huge upset with a flash pin just before the :30 mark. Seeing the clown take the legend out like that might well be the funiest thing she ever did, even if it wasn't meant to be a joke. Unfortunately, Chigusa ultimately got the last laugh, as she spent the next several years destroying JWP by taking all their stars. DUD
Mayumi Ozaki vs. KAORU (GAEA) 20:25. Beginning wasn't much as KAORU is very weak on the mat, but it was a strong match once the action got hot. ***1/4
JWP Nintei Musabetsukyu Senshukenjiai: Devil Masami vs. Hikari Fukuoka 18:45. Very solid match with very good timing and psychology. Strong body and hot final 5 minutes. Devil press slams Hikari off the apron over the guard rail and Hikari's right arm hits a ringside table, but all the force of the landing comes down on her left arm, so Devil launches an all out attack on that arm. ****
Zenjo & JWP Junior League Koshikisen: Chaparrita ASARI vs. Fusayo Nouchi
Zenjo & JWP Junior League Koshikisen: Rie Tamada vs. Candy Okutsu
Hikari Fukuoka & KAORU vs. Devil Masami & Hiromi Sugo
Dynamite Kansai & Bolshoi Kid vs. Mayumi Ozaki & Cuty Suzuki
Dynamite Kansai & Cuty Suzuki & Hikari Fukuoka & Hiromi Sugo vs. Devil Masami & Mayumi Ozaki & Candy Okutsu & Hiromi Yagi
Sumio Toyama vs. Hikari Fukuoka
Dynamite Kansai & Hiromi Yagi vs. Devil Masami & Hiromi Sugo
Mayumi Ozaki & Candy Okutsu vs. Cuty Suzuki & Bolshoi Kid
Dynamite Kansai & Cuty Suzuki & Hikari Fukuoka & Hiromi Sugo vs. Devil Masami & Mayumi Ozaki & Bolshoi Kid & Candy Okutsu
10/20/94 Sapporo Teison Hall: Chigusa Nagayo vs. Bolshoi Kid 0:23 of 0:28. You can do anything, but don't clown the clown! Chigusa took this match as a joke, mocking Bolshoi by imitating her jig. She thought she was going to just go straight to her finisher, probably win on the first move, but Bolshoi countered the running three to score the huge flash pin upset!
KAORU vs. Hiromi Yagi 7:47 of 12:22. Acceptable veteran vs. youngster match. Yagi didn't have her execution totally downpat, but it was nonetheless entertaining seeing her try to hang with the rival promotion's star because she's so spunky. KAORU didn't take this too seriously, but had no problem selling for Yagi, and was alert enough to save a spot or two that didn't come off as planned. *1/2
Cuty Suzuki vs. Candy Okutsu 19:00. Cuty played heel effectively, doing a good job with her facials and garnering heat roughing up the youngster. Generally though, the crowd was kind of dead because they knew Candy didn't have a chance, and the match was doing little to make them believe anything to the contrary. The crowd got into it when Candy made her comeback with a fantastic, lengthy rolling German suplex and avalanche style front suplex, but Cuty quickly cut her off and finished it. The wrestling was very competent with solid performances from both, but it actually came off as even more of a glorified squash than the previous match. **
Mayumi Ozaki & Hikari Fukuoka vs. Dynamite Kansai & Devil Masami 22:10. After Ozaki & Bolshoi were defeated by Fukuoka & KAORU at JWP's 10/10/94 Korakuen Hall show, Ozaki recruited Fukuoka to team with her and told KAORU she was no longer needed, setting up their singles match on 10/20/94. Ozaki had owned Fukuoka from day one, but Hikari defeating her in their last two singles matches - a controversial win on 8/21/94 to capture the Body Heat tournament and legitimately on 9/25/94 which earned her a title shot against Devil on 10/20/94 - not only showed that Hikari had arrived as a major force, but put her in the main event to stay. Cuty was a good draw for JWP that they'd continue to exploit in tag matches, but JWP was too serious about their wrestling to feature her forever, and it was really the four in this match that would carry the promotion for the next few years, with Cuty being spotted and Candy playing an ever increasing role. The match itself was somewhat disappointing, probably because the two bumpers were on the same team, and they didn't seem to want that team to get dominated nor did they want the large women taking too many bumps. The match was by no means tame, but still, this would have been a good time for a strong storyline. Though they had a few segments that featured a certain aspect (for instance Devil's power) or depicted a strategy (Ozaki & Fukuoka attacking Kansai's knee), the match tended to meander and was thus generally being greeted with indifference until they picked things up in the second half with their signature moves. The wrestling got good, but more due to their familiarity. It lacked spark. There were some intense moments, for instance when Kansai was actually propelling Ozaki off the mat with her kicks or Ozaki was kicking her feet to try to slip out of the splash mountain, but overall it felt more like a really nice house show main event. ***
Hiromi Yagi & Hiromi Sugo vs. Chigusa Nagayo (GAEA) & Fusayo Nouchi
Bomber Hikaru (GAEA) vs. Dynamite Kansai
Devil Masami vs. KAORU (GAEA)
Mayumi Ozaki & Hikari Fukuoka vs. Cuty Suzuki & Candy Okutsu. Well worked main event in the typical JWP style, starting out conservative and building up to an action packed climax with all the favorite moves. Ozaki was the primary force here, directing traffic and holding the match together. Hikari kept it entertaining with her hot flying. Cuty & Candy were fine following, but didn't add much of their own to the match. ***
Reiko Amano vs. Tomoko Kuzumi
Zenjo & JWP Junior League Koshikisen: Hiromi Sugo vs. Candy Okutsu
Dynamite Kansai & Sumio Toyama vs. Devil Masami & Fusayo Nouchi
Mayumi Ozaki & Cuty Suzuki vs. Hikari Fukuoka & Hiromi Yagi
Mayumi Ozaki & Cuty Suzuki & Hiromi Sugo & Fusayo Nouchi vs. Dynamite Kansai & Hikari Fukuoka & Candy Okutsu & Hiromi Yagi
'94 BEST MATCH digest #1 4/10/94 Chigusa vs. Devil, #2 5/22 Nouchi & Yagi vs. Tamada & Maekawa, #3 8/8 Oz vs. Cuty, #4 8/8 Kansai vs. Devil, 11/6 Kansai & Devil vs. Oz & Hikari
'94 WOWOW MVP #1 Devil, 2 Kansai, 3 Oz, 4 Chigusa, 5 Hikari
Lots of behind the scenes footage and documentary footage
Each JWP wrestler stars in a 30-minute Godzilla-like sci-fi monster movie from 1995.
Bomber Hikaru vs. Sumio Toyama 10:24
Devil Masami & Hiromi Yagi vs. KAORU & Hiromi Sugo
Dynamite Kansai & Fusayo Nouchi vs. Cuty Suzuki & Candy Okutsu
JWP Tag Title Match: Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda vs. Mayumi Ozaki & Hikari Fukuoka 19:54
Candy Okutsu vs. Fusayo Nouchi
Mayumi Ozaki & Hikari Fukuoka vs. Dynamite Kansai & Hiromi Yagi 21:15
Devil Masami & Cuty Suzuki & Sumiyo Toyama vs. Chigusa Nagayo & KAORU & Bomber Hikaru 19:27
2/11/94: Plum Mariko vs. Chigusa Nagayo
3/13/94: Chigusa Nagayo vs. Cuty Suzuki
4/10/94: Super Heel Devil Masami vs. Chigusa Nagayo
5/22/94
Hiromi Yagi & Fusayo Nouchi vs. Kumiko Maekawa & Rie Tamada
Candy Okutsu vs. Kyoko Inoue
Devil Masami & Bull Nakano vs. Hikari Fukuoka & Sakie Hasegawa
Mayumi Ozaki vs. Chigusa Nagayo
9/18/94: Cuty Suzuki & Hikari Fukuoka vs. Chigusa Nagayo & KAORU
10/20/94
Chigusa Nagayo vs. Bolshoi Kid
Mayumi Ozaki vs. KAORU
1/8/95
Bomber Hikaru vs. Sumio Toyama
JWP Tag Title Match: Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda vs. Mayumi Ozaki & Hikari Fukuoka
1/22/95: Devil Masami & Cuty Suzuki & Sumiyo Toyama vs. Chigusa Nagayo & KAORU & Bomber Hikaru
Bomber Hikaru vs. Sumio Toyama 10:24
JWP Tag Title Match: Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda vs. Mayumi Ozaki & Hikari Fukuoka 19:54
Mayumi Ozaki & Hikari Fukuoka vs. Dynamite Kansai & Hiromi Yagi 21:15
Devil Masami & Cuty Suzuki & Sumiyo Toyama vs. Chigusa Nagayo & KAORU & Bomber Hikaru 19:27
4/3/92: Mayumi Ozaki & Cuty Suzuki vs. Dynamite Kansai & Hikari Fukuoka
8/9/92 1st JWP Tag Title Tournament Semifinal: Cuty Suzuki & Mayumi Ozaki vs. Plum Mariko & Hikari Fukuoka
8/9/92 1st JWP Tag Title Decison Match, 2 Fall Count Tag Match: Cuty Suzuki & Mayumi Ozaki vs. Dynamite Kansai & Sumiko Saito
12/1/92 JWP Nintei Musabetsukyu Senshuken Tournament Final 2 Fall Count Match: Cuty Suzuki vs. Dynamite Kansai
12/27/92: Cuty Suzuki & Mayumi Ozaki vs. Dynamite Kansai & Candy Okutsu
4/18/93: Mayumi Ozaki & Bolshoi Kid vs. Cuty Suzuki & Plum Mariko
4/20/93: Mayumi Ozaki & Cuty Suzuki vs. Takako Inoue & Sakie Hasegawa
7/31/93 First Attack Single Match Rule 60:00 Full Time Match: Aja Kong & Kyoko Inoue & Takako Inoue & Sakie Hasegawa vs. Dynamite Kansai & Mayumi Ozaki & Cuty Suzuki & Hikari Fukuoka
10/11/93: Cuty Suzuki vs. Command Bolshoi
11/18/93: Devil Masami & Plum Mariko vs. Chigusa Nagayo & Cuty Suzuki
12/12/93: Cuty Suzuki & Plum Mariko vs. Dynamite Kansai & Hikari Fukuoka
2/11/94: Cuty Suzuki vs. Hikari Fukuoka
3/13/94: Cuty Suzuki vs. Chigusa Nagayo
5/22/94: Cuty Suzuki vs. Takako Inoue
7/10/94: Cuty Suzuki & Plum Mariko vs. Dynamite Kansai & Command Bolshoi
8/8/94 THE BODY HEAT TOURNAMENT: Cuty Suzuki vs. Mayumi Ozaki
9/18/94: Cuty Suzuki & Hikari Fukuoka vs. Chigusa Nagayo & KAORU
10/20/94: Cuty Suzuki vs. Dynamite Kansai
11/6/94: Cuty Suzuki vs. Candy Okutsu
1/22/95: Cuty Suzuki & Devil Masami & Sumiyo Toyama vs. Chigusa Nagayo & KAORU & Bomber Hikari
Kanako Motoya vs. Yuki Miyazaki
Yasuko Kuragaki vs. Tomomi Kobayashi
Sumio Toyama & Reiko Amano vs. Tomoko Miyaguchi & Tomoko Kuzumi
Devil Masami & Hiromi Yagi & Fusayo Nouchi vs. Dynamite Kansai & Cuty Suzuki & Hiromi Sugo
Special Scramble Tag Match: Mayumi Ozaki & Hikari Fukuoka vs. Chigusa Nagayo & Candy Okutsu
Cuty Suzuki vs. KAORU. One of those matches where these two try to be tough girls even though they aren't. It was pretty good when they wrestled, but typically false when they tried to be bad girls. There were some execution problems and they didn't work together so well, but the other big problem was the match was at least twice as long as it should have been so it meandered considerably. Not only did they lose the crowd, but they didn't structure the match so they'd eventually get them back and anyone could see a draw coming from a mile away. *3/4
Dynamite Kansai & Mayumi Ozaki & Sumio Toyama vs. Devil Masami & Candy Okutsu & Hiromi Yagi. The veterans gave this match to Yagi, Toyama, and to a lesser extent Candy. Toyama was never good, while Yagi & Candy were miles from their '96 level. Still, this was a good match because of the action, but more because of the smarts and timing of the veterans, particularly Ozaki. The veterans didn't wrestle each other so much because they were needed to carry the younger wrestlers, but that ensured the quality was always at least decent. Ozaki vs. Devil was quite good when it happened, with Devil still being real sharp. ***
Undercard highlights
Reiko Amano & Tomoko Miyaguchi vs. Hikari Fukuoka & Tomoko Kuzumi. 4:37 shown
Tomoko Kuzumi vs. Yasuko Kuragaki. Rookie style. *
Hiromi Sugo vs. Tomomi Kobayashi. Sugo was pretty good, but this was also a dull rookie style match. *
Sumio Toyama & Tomoko Miyaguchi vs. Rieko Amano & Yuki Miyazaki. Toyama was the best of these 4 here due to being the most experienced. Tons of dropkicks. *1/4
Hiromi Yagi vs. Fusayo Nouchi. Yagi was very good, but Nouchi couldn't match here. Hot finish. **3/4
Neo Street Fight Match: Mayumi Ozaki vs. Dynamite Kansai 22:30. Fantastic match that's everything a street fight should be. In fact, it's the best street fight I've ever seen. This match is a great example of wrestling not being what you do but rather how you do it. Essentially, you had two exceptional wrestlers using a bunch of unskilled & pedestrian garbage wrestling spots, but making all of that irrelevant by putting so much energy into their acting. In the end, every style of wrestling comes down to whether or not you believe it, and there's various forms of that depending upon the style. This style wants belief in terms of the grudge match, and everything they did scored a resounding yes. The action was fast, brutal, & aggressive, they relished the opportunity to injure their opponent even thought they'd likely get injured back with the same weapon. There were numerous great qualities about this match, but what really stuck out is just how inspired the two performers were. Some things work a little better than others, but it's never for lack of trying, they put their all into everything they do & create the perfect illusion. It's not what they do, it's how charged their performances are, and that's exactly what this style needs to succeed because a hardcore match without it feels like watching a wooden actor read lines, it feels like, well, he's using a weapon simply because that's the script. That may be good enough for some fans, but it's never going to create a transcendent match like this that is a must see even for people who aren't particularly fans of the genre. Ozaki/Kansai may be a bloody weapons brawl, but it's such a beautiful match. They just feel so free out there. All their creativity is being unleashed & they've proving that, while they may not be experienced in this style, they know some things & have some actual skills that can provide a far superior result. They destroyed each other with brawling and weapons, but never lost sight of it being a wrestling match, and always came back to wrestling when someone was trying to end it. Generally these brawls have a few big gimmick spots that really stand out, and mostly suck in between. One thing that was so exciting about this match is how opposite it was to that formula. That's not to say there aren't great spots, you have Kansai piledriving Ozaki through a table among others, but rather the high pace & nonstop action are among the aspects that made it stand apart. The early portion was really important because as essentially a new match for JWP (and with they way they wrestled it, pretty much for joshi in general as it doesn't follow the Dump Matsumoto & co variant at all) they had to successfully incorporate the gimmicks, create the atmosphere, and make it intense, all of which was accomplished from the get go with Ozaki sneaking up on Kansai as she was walking to the ring & choking her with the chain, which Kansai soon avenged. They were also able to establish how this would still work as a wrestling match, with Kansai winning the tug of war with the chain, pulling Ozaki into her deadly backdrop then choking her with the chain & clobbering her with it when she was down. Ozaki was just pure evil here, and there were a few great little touches, particularly biting Kansai's forehead to open the cut further then spitting out the blood. This was a great new opportunity for her, as she'd been a heel in the past, but she was opportunistic & crafty. She's still that, in fact she even gets the win countering Kansai's splash mountain into a flash pin, but she's also so much more than that, she's someone that can kick ass, someone to be feared. Although JWP foolishly never gave Ozaki their openweight title, or really did anything with it in general just letting Devil then Kansai sit on it forever then trying to force Fukuoka & Azumi (she was amazing but the booking leading up to her win did nothing to help her), this was the start of a great period in her career where she could shine as the queen of the street fight, beating the tall, the heavy, hell the good, the bad, & the ugly. And all these wins worked because, as always, she had more skill, heart & guile, but this was a better venue for her to get across how big & tough she could fight. Ozaki is the driving force in this match, but Kansai is awesome here as well. Really, there's almost not a wrong note in this match, which is amazing given JWP basically just threw them out as the semifinal & said, do a style that's totally different than what you've ever done before. ****3/4
Devil Masami & Candy Okutsu vs. Cuty Suzuki & Hikari Fukuoka. Candy was the one that "didn't belong" because of her age, but she once again proved herself by being the the hot worker of the match. ***1/4
3/17/95 Neo Street Fight Match: Mayumi Ozaki vs. Dynamite Kansai 12min
5/14/95: Mayumi Ozaki vs. Hiromi Yagi 5min
5/16/95: Mayumi Ozaki vs. Cuty Suzuki 4min
6/16/95: Hikari Fukuoka & KAORU vs. Devil Masami & Mayumi Ozaki 6min
8/10/95: Mayumi Ozaki & Cuty Suzuki vs. Devil Masami & Hiromi Yagi 4min
10/15/95 JWP Openweight Title Tournament: Mayumi Ozaki vs. Cuty Suzuki 5min
12/9/95 DRESS UP WILD FIGHT Yokohama Nightmare: Mayumi Ozaki vs. Super Heel Devil Masami 15min
1/7/96: Dynamite Kansai & Mayumi Ozaki vs. Hikari Fukuoka & Cuty Suzuki 5min
2/11/96: Mayumi Ozaki vs. Tomoko Miyaguchi 5min
4/7/96: Mayumi Ozaki & Kyoko Inoue vs. Dynamite Kansai & Takako Inoue 4min
5/14/96 THE DRESS UP WILD FIGHT TEXAS DEATH MATCH: Mayumi Ozaki vs. Takako Inoue 10min
8/10/96 JWP Openweight Title: Dynamite Kansai vs. Mayumi Ozaki 6min
11/23/96: Mayumi Ozaki vs. Plum Mariko 11min
12/8/96: Mayumi Ozaki & Reiko Amano & Sugar Sato & Chikayo Nagashima vs. Cuty Suzuki & Plum Mariko & Command Bolshoi & Kanako Motoya 2min
12/8/96 DRESS UP WILD FIGHT: Mayumi Ozaki & Reiko Amano vs. Cuty Suzuki & Plum Mariko 4min
4/8/97 DRESS UP WILD FIGHT Tag Match: Mayumi Ozaki & Rieko Amano vs. Megumi Kudo & RIE 12min
8/17/97: Mayumi Ozaki vs. Yumi Fukawa 3min
8/17/97: Mayumi Ozaki vs. Super Heel Devil Masami 10min
9/20/97 JWP Korakuen Hall Tag Titles One Night Tournament Round 1: Mayumi Ozaki & Reiko Amano vs. Dynamite Kansai & Sari Osumi 3min
9/20/97 JWP Korakuen Hall Tag Titles One Night Tournament Final: Mayumi Ozaki & Reiko Amano vs. Tomoko Kuzumi & Kanako Motoya 9min
10/10/97: Mayumi Ozaki & Rieko Amano vs. Dynamite Kansai & Devil Masami 16:08
12/6/97: Mayumi Ozaki vs. Rieko Amano & Sugar Sato & Chikayo Nagashima 13min
12/26/97: Mayumi Ozaki vs. Dynamite Kansai 10min
1/11/98 DRESS UP WILD FIGHT: Mayumi Ozaki & Chikayo Nagashima vs. Dynamite Kansai & Cuty Suzuki 19min
3/6/98 Mayumi Ozaki JWP Graduation: Mayumi Ozaki vs. Rieko Amano 16:11
Fusayo Nouchi & Kanako Motoya vs. Hiromi Sugo & Tomomi Kobayashi
Sumio Toyama vs. Reiko Amano
Hiromi Yagi & Tomoko Kuzumi vs. Yuki Miyazaki & Tomoko Miyaguchi
Devil Masami vs. Candy Okutsu
JWP Tag Title Match: Mayumi Ozaki & Hikari Fukuoka vs. Dynamite Kansai & Cuty Suzuki
Blue Star Cup '95: Yuki Miyazaki vs. Yasuko Kuragaki
Blue Star Cup '95: Rieko Amano vs. Kanako Motoya
Fusayo Nouchi & Hiromi Sugo vs. Tomoko Miyaguchi & Tomoko Kuzumi
The Dead Heat 4x4 (one count pinfall): Mayumi Ozaki & Cuty Suzuki & Candy Okutsu & Sumio Toyama vs. Dynamite Kansai & Devil Masami & Hikari Fukuoka & Hiromi Yagi. The one count pinfall sounds like a recipe for disaster, but they make it work. ****
Blue Star Cup 2 League Bout: Rieko Amano vs. Tomoko Kuzumi
Blue Star Cup 2 League Bout: Tomoko Miyaguchi vs. Yuki Miyazaki
Sumio Toyama & Kanako Motoya vs. Hiromi Sugo & Tomomi Kobayashi
Devil Masami & Fusayo Nouchi vs. Dynamite Kansai & Hiromi Yagi
Blue Star Cup 2 League Bout: Yasuko Kuragaki vs. Tomoko Miyaguchi
Sumio Toyama vs. Bomber Hikaru feud recap
Bomber Hikaru & Toshie Uematsu (GAEA team) vs. Sumio Toyama & Tomoko Kuzumi
Handicap Match: Mayumi Ozaki vs. Hiromi Sugo & Rieko Amano
Candy Okutsu vs. Hiromi Yagi 19:25. Yagi wore her judo jacket and focused on that style but still did missile kicks, while Candy fought her usual athletic style. These two have very good chemistry, so even though they weren't exactly playing to each other's strengths, it all came off. It was far from their best match together, but it was successful as long as you don't think about it too much. **1/2
Devil Masami & Hikari Fukuoka vs. Dynamite Kansai & Cuty Suzuki 15:48. Started out lighthearted, but got serious quickly with some good action from Fukuoka and Kansai. Unfortunately, it was kind of short for a JWP main event, and didn't build as well or develop as much drama. The match was generally quality whenever Fukuoka and Kansai were in, but far better when they were together as Devil really didn't do much and Cuty tried but lacked the skill to distinguish herself. **1/2
Sumiyo Toyama & Hiromi Sugo vs. Tomoko Miyaguchi & Reiko Amano
Candy Okutsu vs. Bolshoi Kid
Mayumi Ozaki vs. Hiromi Yagi
Dynamite Kansai & Hikari Fukuoka vs. Devil Masami & Cuty Suzuki
Tomoko Miyaguchi vs. Reiko Amano
Bolshoi Kid & Hiromi Yagi vs. Sumiyo Toyama & Hiromi Sugo
Mayumi Ozaki vs. Cuty Suzuki
Devil Masami & Hikari Fukuoka vs. Dynamite Kansai & Candy Okutsu
5/14/95
Candy Okutsu vs. Bolshoi Kid
Mayumi Ozaki vs. Hiromi Yagi
Dynamite Kansai & Hikari Fukuoka vs. Devil Masami & Cuty Suzuki
5/16/95
Mayumi Ozaki vs. Cuty Suzuki
Devil Masami & Hikari Fukuoka vs. Dynamite Kansai & Candy Okutsu
Hiromi Sugo vs. Tomomi Kobayashi
Reiko Amano vs. Yasuko Kuragaki
Tomoko Kuzumi & Sumio Toyama vs. Tomoko Miyaguchi & Kanako Motoya
Devil Masami & Mayumi Ozaki & Hiromi Yagi vs. Dynamite Kansai & Cuty Suzuki & Hikari Fukuoka
JWP Nintei Junior Senshuken Shodai Oza Ketteisen: Candy Okutsu vs. Hiromi Yagi vs. Hiromi Sugo 7:08. You had to beat both opponents consecutively to capture the crown, and while the first two falls being so quick might not have helped the match quality if nothing else they made the near finishes in the third fall seem more legit. They put all they had into this match, not wasting any time and making the whole thing come off as frantic and desperate. Yagi was in top form, displaying really smooth and fluid work with lighting counters and transitions, and excellent body control. Candy was also good. Sugo was totally out of her depth, but wrestled so little it wasn't apparent. ***1/4
Hikari Fukuoka & KAORU vs. Devil Masami & Mayumi Ozaki 12:32 of 13:32. Everyone was kept involved, running or usually in the case of Fukuoka & KAORU flying all over the place. Hikari's team did a lot of double teaming, and except for a rare flub worked very well together. Devil & Ozaki did the spectacular style their opposition is known for, including Ozaki doing a diving footstomp off Devil's shoulders with Devil sitting on the top rope then Devil doing a diving leg drop to set up the finish. ***1/4
JWP-GAEA THE CLIMAX ONE: Dynamite Kansai vs. Chigusa Nagayo 22:10 of 23:35. As good a match as you could have hoped for. Chigusa could still wrestle in these days, and both went all out to deliver a memorable main event. Kansai was the monstrous aggressor, kicking the crap out of Chigusa, who was "injured" early. Chigusa made a quick recovery and injured Kansai with her kicks, to even things up in this brutally stiff match. Good drama with teases of the big holds and nice selling by both to put over the impact and accumulation of damage. ****
Vol. 2
J&G New Face Mix: Sonoko Kato & Chikayo Nagashima & Maiko Narita vs. Tomoko Kuzumi & Tomomi Kobayashi & Yuki Miyazaki 16:29
JWP & Zenjo Brand New Scramble Road: Fusayo Nochi & Kumiko Maekawa vs. Kanako Motoya & Rie Tamada 10:45
2nd Blue Star Cup Rookie of the Year Decision Legaue Final: Reiko Amano vs. Tomoko Miyaguchi 15:29
Bomber Hikari & Sumiyo Toyama vs. Toshie Sato & Yasuko Kuragaki 11:09
Cutie Suzuki vs. Bolshoi Kid 12:30
Devil Masami & Tomoko Miyaguchi vs. Tomoko Kuzumi & Tomomi Kobayashi
JWP Junior Title Match: Candy Okutsu vs. Fusayo Nouchi
Hikari Fukuoka & KAORU vs. Cuty Suzuki & Hiromi Yagi
DRESS UP WILD FIGHT: Mayumi Ozaki vs. Dynamite Kansai 36:41. Ozaki vs. Kansai was the best rivalry in the 31 year history of the JWP promotions. This was a really important match for Ozaki because she scored the upset over the JWP champion & ace in the first match, and Ozaki once again got the huge victory, establishing her as queen of the street fight or dress up wild fight as it has now been renamed, opening up big challenges both inside (Devil) & outside (Takako, Kudo) the promotion. This rematch of their greatest bout, and probably the best street fight of all time, isn't nearly as famous or good as 3/17/95 because it's too long & that saps the energy that made the first match so exceptional. They went at it nonstop on 3/17/95 with a charge to everything they did, but without that they weren't truly able to recapture the grudge match atmosphere this time, so even though down the stretch they managed to build upon their previous efforts to do all of their already great offense with an added prop, they never figured out how to fully emerse us in the match, how to make us really believe in it this time. Running the same stipulation match back less than 4 months later is surely too soon, but I watched this match having not seen 3/17/95 in several years because I wanted to be able to view it on its own merits & see how it held up without the giant shadow looming. It's a fine match in a vacuum, not a match of the year or anything, but certainly a fun novelty you don't want to skip. Having been disappointed, I rewatched the original, and that just made the feeling grow as I felt as though I've underrated the original, if anything, and the rematch really doesn't compare favorably to it in almost any way. As much as they got everything right the first time, they just didn't know how to use their time here. Normally adding 14 minutes would probably lead to improvement, they'd have to dig deeper & go further, there was some of that offensively, purely on number of killer spots this match wins though they don't carry the same weight, but the 22 minutes they went the 1st time is simply a much more reasonable length for this style, even that is probably a few minutes longer than ideal. It's not that they don't have 35+ minutes of great wrestling in them, it's that they were trying so hard to stick to the hardcore theme that they wound up filling most of those minutes with some kind of weapon spot, and that kind of match needs to be quicker & more aggressive like their first match rather than the slow burner we got here (or use far fewer gimmick spots but set them up as killer). It's not the amount of brawling that made this worse, the first match was brawling from the first minute to the last too, and that match really changed the landscape of what was possible in JWP, as although there were some random brawls before such as Devil/Bull 4/18/93, they were in the old AJW mode descending from the Dump Matsumoto era. Spending much of the first 20 minutes out of the ring wasn't a positive, but the real problem was that by slowing things down to accomidate a longer match, they weren't able to cover up the holes & limitations of the brawling style with their energy & acting as they did the first time, so things started to look as contrived as they normally do in a brawl, and generally fall flat. Rather than being riveting from start to finish as their 3/17 match was, it was really up & down, and failed to recapture that feeling of an all out grudge match where they were totally free & everything was possible. I absolutely loved how they played the opening where instead of coming to the ring, Ozaki stayed by one of the entrances that wrestlers like to do dives off so Kansai charged her, and Ozaki met her with a chain punch. This was the kind of intensity & set up I wanted to see, and the entire early showdown in the ring, with both holding an end of the chain until Kansai overpowered Ozaki, pulling her into her deadly backdrop was super. If they continued down this line, building anticipation & milking the rivalry rather than just delivering payoffs that didn't really feel like payoffs because they were rolled out & blown through, it would have been another classic. There was still a lot of fun stuff early, such as Ozaki doing a facebuster off the stage onto a pile of chairs which busted Kansai open, but there was too much meaningless time killing brawling & not enough setup or build to the bigger spots that were happening or were coming later on. They used the brawling to set up the wrestling better in the first match, and never seemed to lack purpose because they kept plowing forward decisively & aggressively. During the first half of this match, the bits of wrestling were simply a transition spot to the brawling, such as Ozaki coming back with the jumping neckbreaker drop then going right into a lengthy chain choke. Sure, there were some nice chain spots, I loved Ozaki handicapping Kansai by tying her hands together, but rendering an opponent helpless should end the match not be early fodder so Ozaki got a run of offense. Ozaki's diving knee drop with the chain, or any of the other spots that used a weapon for additional damage were cool, but one aspect that made the later LCO brawls great is they understood not to continuously use a particular weapon in a given match, but to instead move on & then maybe bring it back for a big effect later on. Here we had a chain that should be deadly, but once they commited to using it for such a large portion of the match all the chain spots become somewhat pedestrian. Ozaki & Kansai weren't lacking in creativity, but they took themselves so far outside of what they normally do they lost track of what makes their normal match abnormally excellent. All out aggression is what made the first fight wild, but given that's not plausible over 37 minutes, their biggest failing was doing dull brawling spots that didn't advance the match when they should instead have been setting up the big weapons spots or remembering to have an actual wrestling match. I want to say W*ING was a bigger influence here, with the regular weapon use & brawling all around the arena up to the Korakuen Hall balcony, which Ozaki did her best to throw Kansai off, but that's not really accurate, it's more that when they did W*ING brawling at a joshi pace in the first match it was fun and actually good, but once you slowed things down closer to the pace of Mitsuhiro Matsunaga & Leatherface & added more of their contrived moments & stalling, it felt more like a performance than a fight. I never understood why the ultra contrived dragging the opponent all over the building by the neck/hair was supposed to be interesting whether I was in attendance and couldn't see shit 90% of the time or watching on tape where it just comes off flat, either way it just feels silly when you are controlling an adult in a manner that only works when you have a 5 foot & 150 pound weight advantage on your bratty three year old cousin. Though it started great & certainly has moments here and there, if they weren't going to wrestle with intensity & put the effort into dragging us in, they would have been better off just scrapping a lot of this material instead of working at a full time draw pace to accomodate it. Their acting also wasn't near their normal standards, and I felt like not doing any near finishes in the first 20 minutes made them just kind of give up on any notion of selling the potential of a finish or a regular length match, but again, they didn't do any near finishes before the stretch run of the 1st match & they didn't need them because they made you feel their desire, intensity, & violence. Ozaki did seem more comfortable this time, really embracing her new role, but perhaps the nervous energy helped the first match? When they finally got back in the ring, they did an excellent second half consisting mostly of their usual top notch on it's own wrestling with props to accentuate the impact of their regular big moves. It now felt like a wrestling match, one that was nastier & more dangerous because they were using tables. In the first match the seconds undid the top rope for no logical reason when Kansai was beating Ozaki up on the floor, but thankfully they had the wrestlers do it themselves here. Ozaki used the big metal cylinder that covers the connecting wire between the turnbuckle & the ring post as her newest weapon, which is something I don't recall ever seeing outside of this match. Not to be outdone, Kansai got her own & taped it to her shin to make her kicks even more brutal (or actually much less since she was slowing them down tremendously & generally pulling them because the weapon made it too dangerous for her to even fake kick). One of these should have ended the match, but Ozaki took several including being high kicked over the middle rope to the floor. They did a better job out of getting mileage off the tables than the other weapons, all these spots were successful as it was simply their usual offense onto a harder surface. Ozaki was busted open after getting piledriven through. Down the stretch, they did their usual great counters where Kansai appears to be ready to break Ozaki in half, but Ozaki is too athletic, and manages to slip out just in time. Ozaki avoided getting splash mountained through a table & hit a nodowa otoshi off it. They finally found some urgency & desperation at the end, and that little extra effort they were using was really making a difference in how the offense was coming across. There was a great near finish where Ozaki landed on her feet to avoid a backdrop, caught a high kick, and countered with a Dragon screw into a kneebar that both put over for all it was worth. I loved Kansai booting the table out of the way in disgust after Ozaki kicked out of her piledriver through the table, exactly the sort of gem you expect from these two. Everyone expected Kansai to get her win back here, and she seemed to have taken over with these killer table spots, but Ozaki nearly scored another flash pin victory countering the splash mountain. Down the stretch, the length of the match finally started to have benefits as you began to believe the near finishes a little more because the match should have been over now. They continued kicking out & going back & forth without anyone really establishing dominance though. It took 3 tequilla sunrises, but rather than the predictable Kansai revenge win we instead got Ozaki cementing her status by going over decisively this time. The second half was their usual ****+ level, but the first half did next to nothing to set it up or, for the most part, add to the match, and that seems more of a problem at 36 minutes than in your typical 15 minute match where they kill the first 8 minutes on the mat. ***1/2
Bolshoi Kid & Hiromi Sugo vs. Saburo & Tomoko Kuzumi
Highlights of matches from JWP Nintei Musabetsukyu Senshuken league from 8/3 & 8/9
JWP Nintei Musabetsukyu Senshuken League Match: Candy Okutsu vs. Fusayo Nouchi
JWP Nintei Musabetsukyu Senshuken League Match: Hikari Fukuoka vs. Dynamite Kansai. Kansai carried the match, giving an excellent performance to make this a memorable match. It even had heat. ****
Mayumi Ozaki & Cuty Suzuki vs. Devil Masami & Hiromi Yagi. Match was nothing exceptional early, but got really good when Yagi was against Cuty, of course due to Yagi. This also had heat. Hot final 5 minutes with all kinds of big spots down the stretch. The execution could have been a little better. ***1/2
JWP Junior Senshukenjiai: Candy Okutsu vs. Saburo. They were always working hard, but most of the time they weren't doing much. They didn't do anything bad per se, but it was mainly submissions and just wasn't very exciting. *1/2
JWP Nintei Musabetsukyu Oza Kettei Leagusen: Hikari Fukuoka vs. Cuty Suzuki. Started off slow, but turned into a good match in the last third. ***
Dynamite Kansai & Hiromi Yagi vs. Devil Masami & Mayumi Ozaki. Match was always solid and entertaining, but they didn't really capitilize on the Kansai vs. Ozaki rivalry or the few stories they introduced. Devil & Ozaki played heel, punking Yagi, who was the big underdog here. Yagi looked good and got over in the underdog role, getting the biggest pops of anyone when she'd do something of note. Kansai was particularly brutal with Devil, drilling her with kicks and chops. ***1/2
Kanako Motoya vs. Yuki Miyazaki. 1:50 shown.
Tomoko Kuzumi & Tomomi Kobayashi vs. Tomoko Miyaguchi & Yasuko Kuragaki. 1:49 shown.
Fusayo Nouchi & Rieko Amano vs. Bolshoi Kid & Hiromi Sugo. 3:07 shown.
Tomoko Miyaguchi vs. Kanako Motoya
Hiromi Sugo & Saburo vs. Bolshoi Kid & Fusayo Nouchi
Devil Masami & Rieko Amano vs. Tomoko Kuzumi & ?
Cuty Suzuki vs. Hiromi Yagi
Mayumi Ozaki & Hikari Fukuoka vs. Dynamite Kansai & Candy Okutsu
Feature on Kansai winning the WWWA World Single Title from Aja Kong on 8/30/95.
JWP 9/23/95 Korakuen-Super Scramble 6 Woman Tag Match Tournament Round 1
Cuty & Toshie Uematsu (GAEA) & Yuki Miyazaki vs. Fukuoka & Sonoko Kato (GAEA) & Kanako Motoya. Fast paced all action match with tons of saves.
Bomber Hikaru (GAEA) & Bolshoi Kid & Saburo vs. KAORU (GAEA) & Meiko Satomura (GAEA) & Tomoko Kuzumi. Fast-paced exciting match with surprisingly good work. Only 1/3 of the match aired, but it looked to be very good.
Chigusa (GAEA) & Chikayo Nagashima (GAEA) & Tomomi Kobayashi vs. Ozaki & Toshie Sato (GAEA) & Amano. Fast-paced with all kinds of double teams. A little more than 1/3 aired, but it looked to be around ***1/4 to ***1/2.
Devil & Chihiro Nakano (GAEA) & Miyazaki vs. Kansai & Makie Numao (GAEA) & Yasuko Kuragaki. Mediocre.
JWP Jr. Title: Candy vs. Yagi. This looked great, but they only showed 6 minutes of a 30:00 draw.
GAEA 9/23/95 at Korakuen-Super Scramble 6 Woman Tag Match Tournament Semifinals
Chigusa & Chikayo & Kobayashi vs. Fukuoka & Sonoko & Motoya. Fukuoka was the best, but none of the youngsters stood out so it was only ok overall.
KAORU & Satomura & Kuzumi vs. Kansai & Numao & Kuragaki. Youngsters were the focus, but only Satomura looked good.
Super Scramble 6 Woman Tag Match Tournament Final
KAORU & Satomura & Kuzumi vs. Fukuoka & Kato & Motoya. Match was too long (almost 24 minutes and they showed all of it) as it had no real storyline or psychology (no surprise given KAORU) and lacked heat. Some blown spots due to the inexperience of the youngsters. Final minutes had tons of flying, with Hikari in particular putting on a show. KAORU's team wins tournament. **3/4
Korakuen-Super Scramble 6 Woman Tag Match Tournament Round 1
Cuty Suzuki & Toshie Uematsu (GAEA) & Yuki Miyazaki vs. Hikari Fukuoka & Sonoko Kato (GAEA) & Kanako Motoya 15:23. Fast paced all action match with tons of saves.
Bomber Hikaru (GAEA) & Bolshoi Kid & Saburo vs. KAORU (GAEA) & Meiko Satomura (GAEA) & Tomoko Kuzumi 15:45. Fast-paced exciting match with surprisingly good work. Only 1/3 of the match aired, but it looked to be very good.
JWP Junior Title Match: Candy Okutsu vs. Hiromi Yagi 30:00. Really good stuff.
Chigusa Nagayo (GAEA) & Chikayo Nagashima (GAEA) & Tomomi Kobayashi vs. Mayumi Ozaki & Toshie Sato (GAEA) & Reiko Amano 19:53. Fast-paced with all kinds of double teams. A little more than 1/3 aired, but it looked to be around ***1/4 to ***1/2.
Dynamite Kansai & Yasuko Kugagaki & Makie Numai vs. Devil Masami & Tomoko Miyaguchi & Chihiro Nakano 16:08
Korakuen-Super Scramble 6 Woman Tag Match Tournament Semifinal
Hikari Fukuoka (JWP) & Sonoko Kato (GAEA) & Kanako Motoya (JWP) vs. Chigusa Nagayo (GAEA) & Chikayo Nagashima (GAEA) & Tomomi Kobayashi (JWP) 15:07
Dynamite Kansai (JWP) & Yasuko Kugagaki (JWP) & Makie Numai vs. KAORU (GAEA) & Meiko Satomura (GAEA) & Tomoko Kuzumi (JWP) 19:04
Special 18 Woman Battle Royal 23:23
SPLASH "J" & RUNNING "G" Tournament Final: Hikari Fukuoka & Sonoko Kato & Kanako Motoya vs. KAORU & Meiko Satomura & Tomoko Kuzumi 23:59
Hiromi Yagi & Command Bolshoi vs. Candy Okutsu & Rieko Amano
Feature on Hikari & KAORU as a team
Hikari Fukuoka vs. Devil Masami
Highlights of August 1995 tournament matches
JWP Nintei Musabetsukyu Senshuken Tournament: Mayumi Ozaki vs. Cuty Suzuki
JWP Nintei Musabetsukyu Senshuken Tournament Final: Cuty Suzuki vs. Dynamite Kansai. Kansai captures title.
Kanako Motoya vs. Tomoko Miyaguchi. Both are green, but they had a good showing. Basic match most of the way with high spots at the end. **
Yuki Miyazaki & Tomoko Kuzumi vs. Saburo & Fusayo Nouchi. All spots, but it was fast paced and the work was good. **1/2
The New Face Attack The Second Ages: Command Bolshoi vs. Rieko Amano. *
Devil Masami & Hikari Fukuoka & Candy Okutsu vs. Mayumi Ozaki & Cuty Suzuki & Hiromi Yagi. Exciting match with all kinds of big spots. High workrate. Excellent when Devil & Cuty aren't in. ****1/4
Takako Inoue feature with highlights of her big matches against the JWP women
WWWA World Single Title: Dynamite Kansai vs. Takako Inoue (AJW). This really had its moments. Stiff match. No heat because Takako just doesn't have the offense to be taken seriously on this level. ***3/4
Hiromi Sugo & Kanako Motoya vs. Kaori Nakayama & Yukari Ishikura
Plum Mariko & Command Bolshoi vs. Fusayo Nouchi & Saburo
Hiromi Yagi & Yumi Fukawa vs. Rie Tamada & Yuka Shiina
Reiko Amano & Tomoko Kuzumi & Tomoko Miyaguchi & Yuki Miyazaki vs. Meiko Satomura & Sonoko Kato & Chikayo Nagashima & Chihiro Nakano
Dress Up Wild Fight Yokohama Nightmare: Mayumi Ozaki vs. Super Heel Devil Masami
JWP Tag Title Match: Dynamite Kansai & Cuty Suzuki vs. Hikari Fukuoka & KAORU
Plum Mariko vs. Hiromi Sugo
Tomoko Miyaguchi vs. Yuki Miyazaki
Fusayo Nouchi & Saburo vs. Reiko Amano & Kanako Motoya
Devil Masami & Hiromi Yagi vs. Dynamite Kansai & Command Bolshoi
Mayumi Ozaki & Cuty Suzuki & Tomoko Kuzumi vs. KAORU & Hikari Fukuoka & Toshie Uematsu
Command Bolshoi & Tomoko Kuzumi vs. Reiko Amano & Kanako Motoya
JWP KORAKUEN SPECIAL Dynamite Kansai, Cuty Suzuki, Mayumi Ozaki Puroresu Debut 10th Anniversary Commemorative Match: Dynamite Kansai & Mayumi Ozaki & Cuty Suzuki vs. Devil Masami & Hikari Fukuoka & Hiromi Yagi
Fusayo Nouchi vs. Yuki Miyazaki
Tomoko Miyaguchi vs. Saburo
Pure Heart Special Party
Kanako Motoya vs. Yuki Miyazaki
Tomoko Miyaguchi vs. Reiko Amano
Devil Masami & Saburo & Fusayo Nouchi vs. Bolshoi Kid & Hiromi Yagi & Tomoko Kuzumi
Dynamite Kansai & Mayumi Ozaki vs. Hikari Fukuoka & Cuty Suzuki
Tomoko Kuzumi vs. Kanako Moyota
Rieko Amano vs. Yuki Miyazaki
Command Bolshoi & Tomoko Miyaguchi vs. Saburo & Hiromi Sugo
Devil Masami & Hikari Fukuoka & Hiromi Yagi vs. Dynamite Kansai & Mayumi Ozaki & Cuty Suzuki
Kanako Motoya vs. Yuki Miyazaki
Rieko Amano vs. Saburo
Devil Masami & Hiromi Yagi & Tomoko Miyaguchi vs. Dynamite Kansai & Command Bolshoi & Tomoko Kuzumi 22:14
JWP Tag Title: Hikari Fukuoka & KAORU vs. Cutie Suzuki & Mayumi Ozaki 29:47
Kanako Moyota vs. Yuki Miyazaki
Tomoko Kuzumi vs. Saburo
Mayumi Ozaki vs. Tomoko Miyaguchi
Devil Masami & Cuty Suzuki & Rieko Amano & Kanako Moyota vs. Dynamite Kansai & Command Bolshoi & Hiromi Yagi & Yuki Miyazaki
Hikari Fukuoka vs. Sakie Hasegawa
Kanako Moyota vs. Yuki Miyazaki
Mayumi Ozaki vs. Tomoko Miyaguchi
Devil Masami & Cuty Suzuki & Rieko Amano & Kanako Moyota vs. Dynamite Kansai & Command Bolshoi & Hiromi Yagi & Yuki Miyazaki
5/30/93: Hikari Fukuoka vs. Sakie Hasegawa
Hikari Fukuoka vs. Sakie Hasegawa
Tomoko Miyaguchi & Tomoko Kuzumi vs. Hikari Fukuoka & Yuki Miyazaki
Mayumi Ozaki & Reiko Amano segment where Amano basically tries to pledge to Ozaki, but Ozaki wants nothing to do with her
JWP KORAKUEN SPECIAL: Mayumi Ozaki vs. Hiromi Yagi
Mayumi Ozaki vs. Reiko Amano. Impromptu match set up by the post match of the Ozaki vs. Yagi where Amano was begging Ozaki again, but Ozaki ran her into the guard rail and walked away so Amano attacked from behind.
Devil Masami & Kanako Motoya vs. Cuty Suzuki & Reiko Amano
JWP KORAKUEN SPECIAL: Dynamite Kansai vs. Bison Kimura (Jd')
Hiromi Sugo vs. Fusayo Nouchi. Kept moving and had decent work. Back and forth match that was clumsy at times, but generally adequate. *1/2
Candy Okutsu vs. Saburo. Candy kept it simple for Saburo, who is slow with no offense. Neither smooth nor developed. Candy kept it passable, but she's a worker and when work isn't a strength she's in trouble. *1/2
Kanako Motoya vs. Yuki Miyazaki. Selling, execution, sequences, and transitions were all pretty good. What impressed me was the intensitity, especially from Motoya. Not too much in the way of build or spots and the match ended quickly. **1/4
Rieko Amano vs. Command Bolshoi. Amano was the underdog that kept trying and wouldn't stay down, gaining respect through her resiliance. More brawling than I expected, with Bolshoi using a metal rod on Amano right in front of Ozaki and raming Amano's head into the table Oz was sitting at which led to Amano juicing. Oddly, they began wrestling once Amano was cut. The wrestling was much more convincing than the brawling because Bolshoi is pretty smooth, but lacks impact and tough girl credibility. Amano would do a nice counter into a finishing predicament to keep hope alive. ***
Cuty Suzuki & Hikari Fukuoka vs. Esther Moreno & Hiromi Yagi. Nice action and moves for the majority of the match, only flagging in the middle when they went to submission. Yagi was the smoothest worker even though lucha and aerial doesn't really suit her offensive style. Moreno didn't botch anything too badly and showed the flashiest offense including a moonsault from the middle rope in the ring to the floor. Hikari is at home here and was very good, the other key to the impressive high flying action. Cuty knows how to get by in this type of match, though she looked silly when her and Hikari tried diving headbutts from opposite corners and she came up short. ***1/2
Devil Masami & Tomoko Miyaguchi & Tomoko Kuzumi vs. Chigusa Nagayo & Meiko Satomura & Sonoko Kato. Heated interpromotional match with well matched teams wrestling with fire and intensity. Unfortunately, there was some major ego feeding from Devil & Chigusa, who weren't going to sell for the younger wrestlers. Bull Nakano could not sell for somebody, but wind up making them look good because when they eventually got some over on her it was meaningful. Unfortunately, Chigusa never sold and Devil only put over Satomura's udehishigigyakujujigatame, which Meiko grossly overused. Chigusa was throwing some really good kicks, but that was like her only offense outside of a choke sleeper to the Tomoko's at the same time. The younger girls looked good against each other, at least, with the Tomoko's showing a lot of potential when given the chance. The finish was indicitave of the ridiculousness we regularly saw here. Kuzumi was nearly pinned because Chigusa kicked her. She survived because Devil saved with a kick, which meant Satomura was pinned becase Devil intercepted Chigusa before she could break Kuzumi's pin. **
Mayumi Ozaki & Kyoko Inoue vs. Dynamite Kansai & Takako Inoue. Very offensive minded match. They wasted little time and everyone used just about their entire arsenal. Good teamwork, and lots of it including Kansai & Takako doing a Die Hard Kansai/nodowa otoshi combination. Ozaki did the best job of playing up a rivalry with Takako. Kansai was the other standout early because everything she does is so high impact. The match lacked focus and storyline. It wasn't very dynamic, though it rarely slowed down either. Mainly it was a highlight reel with the expected spots and others like Kyoko piledriving Kansai through a table. The last 5 minutes looked like 1 finish after another. ****1/4
4/21/96 JWP Korakuen Tag 1st Champion Decision Tournament 1st Round
Tomoko Kuzumi & Yuki Miyazaki vs. Saburo & Fusayo Nouchi
Rieko Amano & Tomoko Miyaguchi vs. Command Bolshoi & Kanako Motoya
JWP Korakuen Tag 1st Champion Decision Tournament Final: Tomoko Kuzumi & Yuki Miyazaki vs. Rieko Amano & Tomoko Miyaguchi
JWP KORAKUEN SPECIAL Irregular Tag Match 2 vs 3: Dynamite Kansai & Cuty Suzuki vs. Hikari Fukuoka & Candy Okutsu & Hiromi Yagi
5/14/96 THE DRESS UP WILD FIGHT TEXAS DEATH MATCH: Mayumi Ozaki vs. Takako Inoue 35:10. Though Ozaki was JWP's standout in the feud against AJW, she generally got the short end of the stick from Zenjo, being the only notable wrestler not to appear on their Tokyo Dome show. Initially paired with AJW's future ace Manami Toyota, a secondary program with Inoue was obvious, except for the fact that they chose the wrong Inoue! Ozaki was generally able to hit it out of the park with Takako in tag, including the overachieving initial offering on 12/1/92, their Dreamslam match, and a JWP match of the year candidate the previous month, but it was certainly the finish of the immortal 60:00 match on 7/31/93 that forever linked the duo. That said, Takako was a midcard singles wrestler for a reason, she wasn't particularly dynamic and lacked the attributes that would make her credible (size, stiffness, hot moves, etc). This was an interesting match because the Texas Death Match rules essentially required a double finish (first you lost regularly, then you had to still be down for a 10 count), but that also resulted in it being overlong, and seemed to sap some of the drama as the fans weren't reacting to the 10 count as if it were a hot near finish. The length, combined with Takako's relative inexperience in brawls lent a methodical nature to the proceedings that would have benefitted Devil Masami, but certainly isn't the strength of these two, and seemed to further prevent them from generating heat. The ECW influence was obvious as they spent much of the first half on the outside, brawling in front of and through the crowd, though no one seemed to care. They got their act together in the 2nd half though when they got creative, turning their actual wrestling moves into gimmick spots, for instance Takako's Aurora special onto a table and destiny hammer with Ozaki's head hanging off a table. They weren't always on the same page to begin with, and sometimes trying to be more precise so they could benefit from the objects and weapons caused them to simply miss. Despite the match being a major departure from what they do 99.9% of the time, the problem didn't seem to be a lack of comfort, but rather they were confident enough doing different things and move variations, but they didn't seem to know how to tie it together and structure the moves dramatically. In the end, the novelty and considerable bloodletting make this a match Ozaki & Takako's fans will want to see despite it being far from either's finest hour. ***
JWP Korakuen Hall Tag Titles: Tomoko Kuzumi & Yuki Miyazaki vs. Hiromi Yagi & Hashimoto
Rieko Amano vs. Command Bolshoi
Cuty Suzuki & Tomoko Kuzumi & Kanako Motoya vs. Devil Masami & Saburo & Fusayo Nouchi
Hikari Fukuoka & Candy Okutsu vs. Dynamite Kansai & Tomoko Miyaguchi
THE DRESS UP WILD FIGHT TEXAS DEATH MATCH: Mayumi Ozaki vs. Takako Inoue 32:10 of 35:10. Though Ozaki was JWP's standout in the feud against AJW, she generally got the short end of the stick from Zenjo, being the only notable wrestler not to appear on their Tokyo Dome show. Initially paired with AJW's future ace Manami Toyota, a secondary program with Inoue was obvious, except for the fact that they chose the wrong Inoue! Ozaki was generally able to hit it out of the park with Takako in tag, including the overachieving initial offering on 12/1/92, their Dreamslam match, and a JWP match of the year candidate the previous month, but it was certainly the finish of the immortal 60:00 match on 7/31/93 that forever linked the duo. That said, Takako was a midcard singles wrestler for a reason, she wasn't particularly dynamic and lacked the attributes that would make her credible (size, stiffness, hot moves, etc). This was an interesting match because the Texas Death Match rules essentially required a double finish (first you lost regularly, then you had to still be down for a 10 count), but that also resulted in it being overlong, and seemed to sap some of the drama as the fans weren't reacting to the 10 count as if it were a hot near finish. The length, combined with Takako's relative inexperience in brawls lent a methodical nature to the proceedings that would have benefitted Devil Masami, but certainly isn't the strength of these two, and seemed to further prevent them from generating heat. The ECW influence was obvious as they spent much of the first half on the outside, brawling in front of and through the crowd, though no one seemed to care. They got their act together in the 2nd half though when they got creative, turning their actual wrestling moves into gimmick spots, for instance Takako's Aurora special onto a table and destiny hammer with Ozaki's head hanging off a table. They weren't always on the same page to begin with, and sometimes trying to be more precise so they could benefit from the objects and weapons caused them to simply miss. Despite the match being a major departure from what they do 99.9% of the time, the problem didn't seem to be a lack of comfort, but rather they were confident enough doing different things and move variations, but they didn't seem to know how to tie it together and structure the moves dramatically. In the end, the novelty and considerable bloodletting make this a match Ozaki & Takako's fans will want to see despite it being far from either's finest hour. ***
Yuki Miyazaki vs. Fusayo Nouchi
Kanako Motoya vs. Saburo
Tomoko Kuzumi vs. Command Bolshoi
Hikari Fukuoka & Candy Okutsu & Hiromi Yagi vs. Devil Masami & Tomoko Miyaguchi & Kanako Motoya
Mayumi Ozaki & Reiko Amano vs. Dynamite Kansai & Cuty Suzuki
Hiichans feature
Hikari Fukuoka & Candy Okutsu vs. Saburo & Fusayo Nouchi
Ozaki & Amano segment showing Ozaki accepting Amano as her understudy and some Amano's matches from April and May
One Night Special Tag Tournament Round 1: Mayumi Ozaki & Rieko Amano vs. Cuty Suzuki & Tomoko Kuzumi
One Night Special Tag Tournament Round 1: Devil Masami & Tomoko Miyaguchi vs. Dynamite Kansai & Kanako Motoya
One Night Special Tag Tournament Final: Mayumi Ozaki & Reiko Amano vs. Dynamite Kansai & Kanako Motoya
HIROMI YAGI BIG CHALLENGE 3 Match 1: Hiromi Yagi vs. Aja Kong 16:59
Command Bolshoi & Yuki Miyazaki vs. Rieko Amano & Sugar Sato (GAEA).
Devil Masami vs. Tomoko Kuzumi
Candy Okutsu vs. Tomoko Miyaguchi
Candy Okutsu vs. Fusayo Nouchi
HIROMI YAGI BIG CHALLENGE 3 Match 2: Hiromi Yagi vs. Takako Inoue 14:38
JWP Tag Titles: Dynamite Kansai & Cuty Suzuki vs. Hikari Fukuoka & KAORU (GAEA). ****
8/16
HIROMI YAGI BIG CHALLENGE 3 Final Match: Hiromi Yagi vs. Super Heel Devil Masami 6:34. Yagi's work was real good, but Devil did the typically illogical Undertaker crap and put her away quickly. *1/2
8/10
Highlights of the first round of The Junior Body Heat One Night Tournament
The Junior Body Heat One Night Tournament Semifinal: Kuzumi vs. Fusayo Nouchi. Way too short as this was just 3:53. Bad finish
The Junior Body Heat One Night Tournament Semifinal: Yagi vs. Amano. This was only 1:03.
The Junior Body Heat One Night Tournament Final: Kuzumi vs. Amano. *Reviewed in Quebrada #43* Good match. The first ½ is basic and pretty weak, but the second half is very good. Kuzumi wins tournament, thus is crowned the new JWP junior champion! ***
Fukuoka & Candy & Miyaguchi vs. Devil & Cuty & Commando. Very good work. Bolshoi & Hikari looked good. Miyaguchi shows good fighting spirit. ***1/4
JWP Nintei Musabetsukyu Senshukenjiai: Dynamite Kansai vs. Mayumi Ozaki. *Reviewed in Quebrada #43* Tremendous acting by Ozaki. Very good match with solid work, strong build, and psychology. This is what a title match should look like. ****1/4
*Reviewed in Quebrada #45*
Korakuen Hall Tag Titles: Tomoko Kuzumi & Yuki Miyazaki Rieko Amano & Tomoko Miyaguchi ***
Mayumi Ozaki & Rieko Amano & Sugar Sato (GAEA) vs. Cuty Suzuki & Command Bolshoi & Yuki Miyazaki ***3/4
Tomoko Miyaguchi & Fusayo Nouchi vs. Devil Masami & Kanako Motoya. **3/4
HIROMI YAGI BIG CHALLENGE 3 EXTRA! Yagi vs. Jaguar Yokota 15:23 ***1/2
JWP KORAKUEN SPECIAL: Hikari Fukuoka & Candy Okutsu vs. Dynamite Kansai & Tomoko Kuzumi ***3/4
6/16/96 Tokyo Korakuen Hall, HIROMI YAGI BIG CHALLENGE 3 Match 1: Hiromi Yagi vs. Aja Kong 16:59
7/7/96 Tokyo Korakuen Hall, HIROMI YAGI BIG CHALLENGE 3 Match 2: Hiromi Yagi vs. Takako Inoue 14:38
8/16/96 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan 2, HIROMI YAGI BIG CHALLENGE 3 Final Match: Hiromi Yagi vs. Super Heel Devil Masami 6:34
9/8/96 Tokyo Korakuen Hall, HIROMI YAGI BIG CHALLENGE 3 EXTRA! Hiromi Yagi vs. Jaguar Yokota 15:23
Fusayo Nouchi vs. Yuko Kosugi
Kanako Motoya vs. Yumi Fukawa
All Japan Junior Title Match: Tomoko Miyaguchi vs. Emi Motokawa
Mayumi Ozaki & Reiko Amano & Sugar Sato vs. Cuty Suzuki & Plum Mariko & Yuki Miyazaki
Manami Toyota vs. Tomoki Kuzumi
JWP & Michinoku Puroresu Special Mixed Tag Match: Hikari Fukuoka & Hiromi Yagi & The Great Sasuke & Tiger Mask 4 vs. Candy Okutsu & Bolshoi Kid & Super Delfin & Gran Naniwa
Kyoko Inoue & Devil Masami vs. Aja Kong & Dynamite Kansai
Hiromi Yagi & Reiko Amano & Kanako Motoya vs. Fusayo Nouchi & Tomoko Kuzumi & Emi Motokawa
Esther Moreno vs. Command Bolshoi
Mayumi Ozaki vs. Plum Mariko
Dynamite Kansai & Cuty Suzuki vs. Devil Masami & Hikari Fukuoka
*Reviewed in Quebrada #45*
11/26 Tokyo Ota-ku Taiikukan
Grudge Match: Mayumi Ozaki vs. Plum Mariko. ***1/2
JWP Tag Titles: Dynamite Kansai & Cuty Suzuki vs. Devil Masami & Hikari Fukuoka. Devil & Hikari win titles. **3/4
12/14 Act City Hamamatsu
Hiromi Yagi vs. Plum Mariko. ***1/4
Mayumi Ozaki vs. Command Bolshoi. ***
JWP PRESENTS YEAR END TAG TOURNAMENT Round 1: Devil Masami & Kanako Motoya vs. Chikayo Nagashima & Sugar Sato (GAEA team). *1/2
Dynamite Kansai & Cuty Suzuki & Fusayo Nouchi vs. Hikari Fukuoka & Candy Okutsu & Tomoko Kuzumi. ***3/4
Digest of JWP from 4/3/92-12/8/96