Megumi Yabushita & The Bloody & Fang Suzuki & Sumie Sakai vs. Drake Morimatsu & Kazuki & Saya Endo & Kurohime
Megumi Yabushita & The Bloody & Fang Suzuki & Sumie Sakai vs. Hiroyo Muto & Sachie Abe & Ranmaru & Obatchi Iizuka
Tsukimaru vs. Torii
Chitose Yamamoto vs. Chiaki Nishi
Miwa Mariyama vs. Chitose Yamamoto
Miwa Mariyama vs. Chiaki Nishi
1/21/01
Chiaki Nishi & Miwa Maruyama vs. Ayano Omori & Chitose Yamamoto 9:53
Megumi Yabushita & The Bloody vs. SAYA & Drake Morimatsu 9:03
Fang Suzuki & Sumie Sakai vs. Hiroyo Muto & Sachie Abe
2/10/01, Sachie Abe Restore Match, LSD 2001 Match: Sachie Abe vs. Fang Suzuki
Jd' 2/24/01
Sumie Sakai vs. Miwa Maruyama. This astress didn't seem to bad, but the match ended abruptly when she hurt her wrist landing improperly on a missile kick. At least Maruyama showed some athleticism. 1:49 shown
Sumie Sakai vs. Ranmaru. Exciting match even if a bit sloppy. 3:31 shown
Sumie Sakai vs. Hiroyo Muto. Sakai was tiring by this point. Muto nearly beat her with her nadare shiki no Russian leg sweep. This was the one match in the series that was probably better unedited because it was a slower, more Muto style match. Some nice sequences, but Muto made it clumsy at times. 2:52 shown
Kickboxing: Ayano Omori vs. Emi Tojo. Tojo was very aggressive in round one, throwing the majority of the blows. Omori almost never threw a punch in this round, and the few she threw weren't good. The second round was totally different though, Omori started throwing a bunch of punches and it was working well even though she has little technique. Omori won via TKO because Tojo got dizzy or woozy from taking all these punches.
5 Min Amaresu Sparring: Ayano Omori vs. Chiaki Kashida. Kind of like a real fake fight. Very dull unless you are really into amateur wrestling.
ID4 vs. Super Terrors: Megumi Yabushita & The Bloody vs. Drake Morimatsu & Kurohime. Bloody had a bad left knee, which the opposition worked over. The match was structured well until the end, which was a quick comeback win after a whole match of getting pretty much dominated. Kurohime was a pleasant surprise. She was pretty much on the level here. She does a "double uraken," which is a two handed backfist. It was decent, which is good for a match where Yabushita & Bloody didn't get much offense in. 12:39 shown
TWF Tag Senshukenjiai: Kamen Tenshi Rosetta & Kamen Tenshi Freia vs. SAYA & KAZUKI. Not good at all. Contrived and not well worked. Rosetta was the only one that showed anything. 6:49 shown
Jd' 3/3/01
SAYA & KAZUKI vs. Ranmaru & Tsukimaru. A little better than the tag title match, but still lousy. SAYA & KAZUKI showed less than nothing again. 3:08 shown
Athtress tryouts. Physical training (running, kicking, sit ups, and some of the worst pushups you'll ever see), modeling in bathing suits, dancing (Ranmaru shows them some rhythm), and some of the worst acting this side of Stephane McMahon.
METAL GARAGE MATCH: Fang Suzuki vs. Sachie Abe 21:21. Not exactly the two most skilled wrestlers in the world, but they did a good job of using the cage to their advantage. A few of the gimmick spots came off as contrived early on, but for the most part they added a lot to the match and helped make up for the liabilities of the performers. They wrestled in a hell in the cell style roofed cage except it had an opening so they could climb up to the top. The match could end in by pinfall and the like or by escape, but there was no DQ so weapons were allowed in the cage (they used a crutch, chair, and especially a ladder) and Tommy Ran was just there to declare a winner. Fang was on offense almost the entire match. The weapons helped make up for her lack of moves, but still she relied on the lariat more than Choshu at his worst. We must have seen the same exact near fall a half dozen times. Abe was like a combination of bad Kanemoto and KAORU. She supposedly did great selling, but what I saw was someone who made super fast comebacks with flying moves every time she went on offense, so how can this be considered good selling? She has added some new moves to make her offense slightly potent, but her execution still isn't good, so now she sloppily performs better and more difficult moves. What I liked about the match was that it was different. Even if it was kind of a WWF ripoff, they did some new and interesting things with the gimmicks. Abe's athleticism was countered when she tried a boomerang headbutt but ate a chair shot and when Fang caught her Frankensteiner and threw her into the cage. Abe used the ladder to grab the roof of the cage and get above Fang then let go for a new version of the diving footstomp. When they got to the top, Fang used moves such as the Ace crusher and Romero special. The finish was memorable for the stunt, and would have been truly awesome if it didn't exemplify all that was wrong with the match. Fang gave Abe an STO into the roof of the cage then tried to climb down. Abe, who has been getting killed for 6/7th of a match approaching 21 minutes, of course is still able to immediately trip Fang up. Fang got away from her and started climbing down the cage, and was so far down that her hands are still holding the top of the cage when Abe decides in "desperation" that there's "no way" she can stop her. She then gets her courage up while Fang is climbing down and does a suicide dive off the top of the cage to the floor, of course with a half dozen wrestlers conveniently set up to catch her, for the win! It was good in theory, but just not well done because Abe didn't sell long enough that the dive was the only way she could possibly win. Fang just grinned, basically tipping her cap to Abe because Sachie wanted the win more than she did. Fang did a good job of carrying the match, but it was no where near her weapon match with Bloody last year because Abe is hardly Bloody. For all it's flaws with execution, selling, comebacks, and repetitivity (they aren't meant to work this long, but a 12 minute match wouldn't have helped Abe nearly as much), it was enjoyable as something different and made Abe seem sort of special because she showed some real guts in getting battered and bloodied all night then finally risking it all for the victory. **3/4
The Bloody & Sumie Sakai vs. Chiaki Nishi & Chitose Yamamoto & Riyudo Torii
Megumi Yabushita vs. Obatchi Iizuka
Ranmaru vs. Tsukimaru
Four Way Dance: Kazuki vs. Saya Endo vs. Drake Morimatsu vs. Kurohime
Fang Suzuki & Sumie Sakai vs. Megumi Yabushita & The Bloody
Jd' 2/24/01
Obacchi Iizuka & Riyudo Torii vs. Chitose Yamamoto & Chiaki Nishi
Drake Morimatsu vs. Kurohime
Sumie Sakai, The Bloody and Megumi Yabushita vs. Yuka Nakamura, Yoshiko Tamura and Misae Genki 17:53
3/4/01
Chiaki Nishi vs. Ayano Omori 5:49
Queen of the Ring & AWF Women’s Double Title Match: Megumi Yabushita vs. Drake Morimatsu 17:39
12/29/00
Chiaki Nishi vs. Chitose Yamamoto
Sachie Abe & Hiroyo Muto vs. Yuki Miyazaki & Kaori Yoneyama
No Ropes Chain Table, Ladder & Chairs Death Match: Fang Suzuki vs. Sumie Sakai
3/4/01
Saya Endo & Kurohime vs. Ranmaru & Tsukimaru
Sumie Sakai vs. Tsubasa Kuragaki
The Bloody vs. Sachie Abe
Kaori Yoneyama vs. Chitose Yamamoto
LSD 2001 Handicap Match: Megumi Yabushita & The Bloody & Sumie Sakai & Fang Suzuki vs. Kazuki
Sachie Abe & Ranmaru & Tsukimaru vs. Drake Morimatsu & Kurohime & Saya Endo
Chiaki Nishi vs. Riyudo Torii
4/7/01 taped 3/18/01
Ranmaru & Tsukimaru & Sachie Abe vs. Drake Morimatsu & Kurohime & Saya Endo
Aja Kong vs. The Bloody
4/10/01 Kazuki & Saya Endo Special
?: Fang Suzuki vs. Kazuki
1/21/01: Megumi Yabushita & The Bloody vs. Drake Morimatsu & Saya Endo
2/10/01 TWF Tag Title: Kamen Tenshi Rosetta & Kamen Tenshi Freia vs. Kazuki & Saya Endo
Drake Morimatsu Special
1/21/01 TWF Tag Title: Kamen Tenshi Rosetta & Kamen Tenshi Freia vs. Fang Suzuki & Drake Morimatsu
3/4/01 Queen of the Ring & AWF Women’s Double Title Match: Megumi Yabushita vs. Drake Morimatsu
4/21/01 taped 4/8/01
Kurohime vs. Tsukimaru
LSD 01 Rules Queen of the Ring & AWF Women’s Double Title Match: Sumie Sakai vs. Hiroyo Muto
2/10/01, Sachie Abe Restore Match, LSD 2001 Match: Sachie Abe vs. Fang Suzuki
2/24/01 Differ Ariake, Metal Garage Match: Sachie Abe vs. Fang Suzuki
4/8/01
KAZUKI and Drake Morimatsu vs. Chitose Yamamoto and Sachie Abe 17:23
Teruko Kagawa Debut Match: Ayano Omori vs. Teruko Kagawa
Kyoko Inoue vs. Megumi Yabushita 11:14
3/18/01, Sachie Abe & Ranmaru & Tsukimaru vs. Drake Morimatsu & Kurohime & KAZUKI
2/10/01: Sumie Sakai vs. Miwa Mariyama & Ranmaru & Hiroyo Muto
4/8/01 QOR & AWF Double Title Match, LSD 2001 Match: Sumie Sakai vs. Hiroyo Muto
4/29/01
Keiko Furuta pro test
TWF Tag Title Next Challenger Decision Match: The Bloody and Fang Suzuki vs. Sumie Sakai and Megumi Yabushita 12:40
AWF Women’s Title Match & Queen of the Ring Title Match: Sumie Sakai vs. The Bloody 21:27
12/29/00: Obacchi Iizuka vs. Riyudo Torii
1/6/01: Obacchi Iizuka vs. Miwa Mariyama
1/21/01: Obacchi Iizuka vs. KAZUKI
4/29/01
Ranmaru vs. Kurohime 9:32
Chiaki Kashida Debut Match: Ayano Omori vs. Chiaki Kashida 6:17
Sachie Abe 5th Anniversary Match: Etsuko Mita vs. Sachie Abe 11:46
Jd' 5/15/01
12/10/00 Tokyo Differ Ariake: Sumie Sakai vs. Fang Suzuki 12:40 of 19:54. Both women were at the top of their game, and this was probably the best Jd' match of 2000. It's what the Fang vs. Abe matches should have been. I suppose that's somewhat unfair to Fang though because Sakai is better than Abe in every aspect of wrestling. She's fiery, she throws some explosive suplexes, and she believes in her flying even though it's not always perfect. Anyway, the point is they did several things to allow the match to reach the level it did. There was a nice contrast of styles, countering each other well and fluidly, but Sakai also wasn't afraid to brawl when she had to. She suplexed Fang on a pile of chairs a few times because the chance to do damage in Fang's style was there, and this made more sense than applying a submission on the ramp, helping to even things up after Fang nodowa'd her off the ramp onto a table. It was mainly an offense oriented match, but they made these moves meaningful, and thus the match dramatic. They put over the toll of the match well, yet there was still a ton of action. Everything was well executed too. The STO was the most notable move because Sakai used Fang's move on her and also came up with a counter for it where she landed on her feet. ***3/4 range
3/18/01 Tokyo QOR & AWF Sekai Joshi Senshuken: Megumi Yabushita vs. Sumie Sakai 18:53. The two judo practicioners are going in different directions with Sakai working on her flying and Yabushita concentrating on her submissions as she's in training for ReMix. The are long time friends with great chemistry though, and delivered a nice mix of flying and submission wrestling. Sakai tended to fly early and late with Yabushita controlling the middle portion, which was very technical, but they did a nice job of mixing the two styles with Yabushita turning Sakai's diving body attack into a wakigatame and rolling Sakai off the top rope into a flying arm bar. Though they counter each other beautifully, they don't structure the match that well. In the middle they relied too heavily on coming close to applying submissions, while toward the end it was mainly highspots with a few submission attempts thrown in. It wasn't as focused as the previous Sakai vs. Fang match, and the selling certainly wasn't as good. The work was strong though, and it was a very even match. In the end, it was yet another good match from these two. It's just that at this point I'm looking for them to take it to the next level, so my patience for a disjointed match is a bit less. Sakai won the double title. ***1/4
Jd' 5/19/01 taped 5/6/01
3 Way Battle: Chitose Yamamoto vs. Chiaki Nishi vs. Obatchi Iizuka. What a pitiful match. It was so deliberate and the execution sucked. Nishi can't even run properly, much less wrestle. 4:51 shown. DUD
Ayano Omori vs. Teruko Kagawa. Kagawa threw a good dropkick and they showed a few flashes of confidence, but that's about it. 1/2*
TWF Sekai Tag Senshukenjiai: Kamen Tenshi Rosetta & Kamen Tenshi Freia vs. The Bloody & Fang Suzuki. Bloody & Fang were very good here and made the match. They controlled after the first few minutes, using the Kamen Tenshi's flying as a change of pace from their brawling offense. The highlight was Bloody putting a ladder on the ramp and doing the Oz flip off of it to put both oppoents through a table. Bloody & Fang won the titles. **3/4
Chiaki Nishi vs. Riyudo Torii
Riyudo Torii Retirement Match: Megumi Yabushita vs. Riyudo Torii
Kurohime & Saya Endo vs. Obatchi Iizuka & Chitose Yamamoto
Drake Morimatsu & Kazuki vs. Ranmaru & Tsukimaru
Hiroyo Muto vs. Fang Suzuki
The Bloody vs. Megumi Yabushita
Queen Of The Ring & AWF Sekai Joshi Senshukenjiai: Sumie Sakai vs. Sachie Abe
4/29/01 Tokyo Korakuen Hall QOR & AWF Sekai Joshi Senshuken Jiai: The Bloody vs. Sumie Sakai. Just an exhibition of spots, but at least they were impressive. The best of which was Bloody German suplexing Sakai off the 2nd onto her head. Lots of fighting on the outside with both women finding elevated areas to do their favorite flying move off. Sakai bled. Silly finish saw 5 fisherman busters in the last minute with Bloody beating Sakai with her own move. ***
5/6/01 Tokyo Differ Ariake TWF Sekai Tag Senshukenjiai: Kamen Tenshi Rosetta & Kamen Tenshi Freia vs.The Bloody & Fang Suzuki. Bloody & Fang were very good here and made the match. They controlled after the first few minutes, using the Kamen Tenshi's flying as a change of pace from their brawling offense. The highlight was Bloody putting a ladder on the ramp and doing the Oz flip off of it to put both oppoents through a table. Bloody & Fang won the titles. **3/4
11/26/00 Tokyo Differ Ariake QOR Shodai Oza Kettei Tournament Kesshosen: The Bloody vs. Megumi Yabushita. More mat oriented due to Yabushita. Unfortunately, Bloody is not skilled in this area and could do little more than sell the submissions. When they weren't on the mat, which was about half the match, the offense was excellent. All the counters and avoidals they implement adds so much to their already impressive moves. These moves redeemed the match, which wasn't well thought out and relied on a contrived double KO punch where both were "sent flying off the ramp". ***
3/18/01 Tokyo Korakuen Hall The Bloody's BOUT 2: The Bloody vs. Aja Kong. Aja brings a much different style than Bloody's peers. This was less exciting and didn't have as sharply worked sequences, but more structured and dramatic with better selling. Something of a big vs. small match, but Aja actually suppressed her ego and gave Bloody respect. I believed Bloody could win this match even though in the back of my mind I knew it wasn't happening. On the short side, but it was pretty even and with this matchup that's what counts. ***1/4
*Replica package available*
12/26/00 Queen of the Ring Tournament Final: The Bloody vs. Megumi Yabushita
3/18/01: Aja Kong vs. The Bloody
1/6/01 Osaka Bayside Jenny QOR & AWF Double Title Match: Megumi Yabushita vs. Fang Suzuki
3/4/01 Tokyo Differ Ariake QOR & AWF Double Title Match: Megumi Yabushita vs. Drake Morimatsu
4/8/01 Tokyo Differ Ariake: Megumi Yabushita vs. Kyoko Inoue
12/29/00 Tokyo Korakuen Hall QOR & AWF Double Title Match: Megumi Yabushita vs. The Bloody
*Replica package available*
Miwa Mariyama & Chitose Yamamoto & Chiaki Nishi Special
10/12/00: Sachie Abe vs. Chitose Yamamoto
12/29/00: Miwa Mariyama vs. Ayano Omori
1/21/01: Miwa Mariyama & Chiaki Nishi vs. Chitose Yamamoto
3/18/01: Chitose Yamamoto vs. Fang Suzuki
5/13/01
Teruko Kagawa vs. Chiaki Kashida
Ayano Omori vs. Chiaki Nishi
Jd' Army vs. Super Terrors
Kazuki vs. Chitose Yamamoto
Fang Suzuki vs. Tsukimaru
Saya Endo vs. Ranmaru
Hiroyo Muto vs. Drake Morimatsu
Sachie Abe vs. Sumie Abe
3 WAY Battle: Yuki Miyazaki vs. Chiaki Nishi vs. Obatchi Iizuka
Drake Morimatsu vs. Chitose Yamamoto
Ranmaru vs. KAZUKI
The Bloody & Fang Suzuki & Sachie Abe vs. Sumie Sakai & Hiroyo Muto & Tsukimaru
Fang Suzuki Special
12/29/00 No Rope Chain Barricade Barbed Wire Ladder Match: Fang Suzuki vs. Sumie Sakai
1/6/01 AWF & QOR Title: Megumi Yabushita vs. Fang Suzuki
5/27/01
Ayano Omori vs. Keiko Furuta
Obacchi Iizuka vs. Chiaki Nishi
Hiromi Yagi vs. Sachie Abe
Megumi Yabushita Special
4/8/01: Kyoko Inoue vs. Megumi Yabushita
ReMix 12/5/00: Megumi Yabushita vs. Svetlana Gundarenko
ReMix II 5/3/01: Erin Torghill vs. Megumi Yabushita
1/01 Queen of the Ring & AWF Women’s Double Title Match: The Bloody vs. Megumi Yabushita
5/27/01
Sumie Sakai & Hiroyo Muto & Chitose Yamamoto vs. Saya Endo & Kazuki & Drake Morimatsu
Teruko Kagawa vs. Chiaki Kashida
TWF Tag Title: The Bloody & Fang Suzuki vs. Ranmaru & Tsukimaru
Athtress Special
11/26/00: Jaguar Yokota vs. Ayano Omori
4/8/01: Ayano Omori vs. Teruko Kagawa
4/29/01: Ayano Omori vs. Chiaki Kashida
6/10/01
Chiaki Kashida vs. Keiko Furuta
Title Shot vs. Stable Joining Team Jd' vs. Super Terrors Gauntlet Match: Sumie Sakai & Hiroyo Muto & Kyusei Ninja Ranmaru & Ariya & Obacchi Iizuka vs. Sachie Abe & Drake Morimatsu & Fang Suzuki & The Bloody & KAZUKI
Yoko Takahashi & Jaguar Yokota Special
5/3/01 ReMix II: Marloes Coenen vs. Yoko Takahashi
4/14/96: Jaguar Yokota vs. Lioness Asuka
Training features
6/10/01
Kazuki vs. Chitose Yamamoto & Chiaki Nishi
Ayano Omori vs. Teruko Kagawa
TWF Tag Title: The Bloody & Fang Suzuki vs. Hiroyo Muto & Obacchi Iizuka
TWF Sekai Tag Senshukenjiai: The Bloody & Fang Suzuki vs. Ranmaru & Chiaki Nishi 13:50
Megumi Yabushita & Sachie Abe vs. Obatchi Iizuka & Chitose Yamamoto 7:57
Hiroyo Muto vs. KAZUKI 13:20
Miwa Mariyama, Kanako Nagatomo & Fang Suzuki mini movie
Sumie Sakai & Hiromi Yagi & Ariya vs. The Bloody & Drake Morimatsu & Sachie Abe 18:10
6/30/01
Chiaki Nishi vs. Haruka Matsuo
Ayano Omori vs. Haruka Matsuo
TWF Tag Title: The Bloody & Fang Suzuki vs. Sumie Sakai & Hiroyo Muto
7/7/01
Ayano Omori & Teruko Kagawa vs. Keiko Furuta & Chiaki Kashida
Sachie Abe & Megumi Yabushita & Kazuki vs. Ranmaru & Obacchi Iizuka & Chitose Yamamoto
Hiromi Yagi vs. Drake Morimatsu
7/14/01 taped 7/6/01
Teruko Kagawa & Chiaki Kashida vs. Ayano Omori & Keiko Furuta
TWF Tag Title Series: The Bloody & Fang Suzuki vs. Sumie Sakai & Hiroyo Muto
7/21/01 taped 7/6/01
Sachie Abe vs. Chitose Yamamoto
Drake Morimatsu vs. Obacchi Iizuka
Megumi Yabushita & KAZUKI vs. ARIYA & Haruka Matsuo
Chitose Yamamoto vs. Chiaki Nishi
Sumie Sakai vs. Haruka Matsuo
ARIYA vs. Obacchi Iizuka
Hiroyo Muto vs. Kyusei Ninja Ranmaru
The Bloody & Sachie Abe & Megumi Yabushita vs. Fang Suzuki & Drake Morimatsu & KAZUKI
Kyusei Ninja Ranmaru & Obacchi Iizuka & Haruka Matsuo & Chiaki Nishi vs. Sumie Sakai & ARIYA & Hiroyo Muto & Chitose Yamamoto
7/28/01 taped 7/22/01
KAZUKI vs. Chitose Yamamoto
TWF Tag Title Series Final, LSD 01 Rules: The Bloody & Fang Suzuki vs. Sumie Sakai & Hiroyo Muto
8/4/01 taped 7/22/01
Ayano Omori & Chiaki Kashida vs. Teruko Kagawa & Keiko Furuta
Yoko Takahashi vs. Junko Yagi
Sachie Abe & Drake Morimatsu vs. ARIYA & Haruka Matsuo
Hiromi Yagi vs. Megumi Yabushita
Emi Tomimatsu Debut Match: Drake Morimatsu & Sachie Abe vs. Ariya & Emi Tomimatsu 12:26
8/11/01 taped 8/5/01
Kyusei Ninja Ranmaru & Chiaki Nishi vs. Obacchi Iizuka
Teruko Kagawa vs. Keiko Furuta
Hiromi Yagi vs. Kyusei Ninja Ranmaru
8/18/01 taped 8/5/01
Ayano Omori vs. Chiaki Kashida
Misae Genki vs. Obacchi Iizuka
Sachie Abe vs. ARIYA
Obacchi Iizuka vs. Kaori Yoneyama
Sachie Abe vs. Haruka Matsuo
Megumi Yabushita vs. ARIYA
The Bloody & Fang Suzuki & KAZUKI vs. Kyusei Ninja Ranmaru & Chitose Yamamoto & Chiaki Nishi
Sumie Sakai vs. Drake Morimatsu
Clips: KAZUKI vs. Miwa Maruyama (9/9) & Megumi Yabushita vs. Miwa Maruyama (9/2)
8/25/01
2nd Generation Athtress Yumi Oka Debut Match: Keiko Furuta & Teruko Kagawa vs. Yumi Oka & Chiaki Kashida 7:33
Code-name SEVEN OCEAN Athtress feature part 1
Sumie Sakai Requested Special Match: Sumie Sakai vs. Megumi Yabushita 20:21
9/1/01
Fang Suzuki & Sachie Abe vs. Ariya & Obacchi Iizuka 15:31
Code-name SEVEN OCEAN Athtress feature part 2
Ayano Omori vs. Haruka Matsuo 10:00
2nd Generation Athresses Emi Tojo & Mizuho Ishikawa Debut Match: Emi Tojo & Mizuho Ishikawa vs. Chiaki Kashida & Keiko Furuta 9:25
The Bloody vs. Fang Suzuki 13:57
Fang Suzuki & Drake Morimatsu vs. The Bloody & KAZUKI 4:44
Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda vs. Sachie Abe & Megumi Yabushita 22:43
9/22/01
Sachie Abe & KAZUKI vs. Kyusei Ninja Ranmaru & Obacchi Iizuka 16:42
Chiaki Kashida vs. Teruko Kagawa 8:04
The Bloody vs. Drake Morimatsu 10:05
9/29/01
Chitose Yamamoto vs. Haruka Matsuo 10:05
1st Generation Athtresses vs. 2nd Generation Athtresses: Ayano Omori & Keiko Furuta vs. Emi Tojo & Yumi Oka 8:35
Sumie Sakai vs. Hiromi Yagi 15:14. Jd' was theoretically a good fit for Yagi, as the stars they had left - Sakai, Yabushita, & Bloody - were relatively the same size & from the same generation, so there wasn't the issue of being half the size of Devil & Kansai. Unfortunately, they'd given up on trying to compete with the other leagues via traditional methods & shifted their focus from developing high quality workers to just being an idol league that would give some exposure & experience to women who would theoretically cross over into the Z grade schlock of the owners entertainment company in a few years. Sakai eventually gave up & decided even the US divas scene was more promising than this nonsense, but this isn't the Sakai we saw in the US, this version is motivated, in great shape, & looking to test herself. In any case, while this era of Jd' is difficult to sit through whole shows of, it's worth wading through the darkness to find these really good battles of the judo girls. This one follows an odd, almost reverse junior heavyweight structure where it starts out really fast with the German suplexes, ipponzeoi off the 2nd, quebrada, etc, but once they soften each other up with the flashy moves they went back to their real sports base & started fighting hard to finish with the armbar. When that didn't work, they went back to flying around with Yagi hitting a plancha & Sakai a quebrada on the outside this time, but Yagi stuck to trying to finish with the armbar while Sakai moved on to her pro wrestling finishers. Though the moves were impressive, the general speed which they were able to work at was what set it apart. This is a match that never slowed down, but beyond just keeping a high pace, they did the individual spots & sequences so fast that Sakai made an occasional mistake just trying to push herself harder & keep up with what they were trying to do. The athleticism was really high, and nice bumps abound. Yagi found so many ways to transition from pro wrestling spots to the armbar, swinging into it after a Northern Lights suplex, countering a lariat with a flying armbar (though this spot was bungled, the diving body attack into the wakigatame was pretty sweet), even countering the fisherman buster with a small package then transitioning into the armbar before the 1 count. When even Yagi's patented bite to break the clasp doesn't get work, Yagi mounted & they do an awful finish where Sakai countered into a rolling clutch for a finish that would already be among the most contrived ever if Sakai didn't fail to get her left leg over Yagi's right shoulder (Sakai's leg is actually keeping the shoulder from being down until they adjust after the one count) & the timekeeper didn't screw up & ring the bell at the 1 count. I really enjoyed this match, but can't rate it too highly given some overall sloppiness on top of a sloppy lame finish. That being said, these two worked really hard & delivered a fun match. While there was still some kinks to be worked out given Yagi had just started working in Jd' so it was a new match, they showed tremendous potential together. ***1/4
9/15/01
Ariya vs. Chiaki Nishi 11:40
Fang Suzuki vs. Megumi Yabushita 18:36
9/30/01
Obacchi Iizuka vs. Chiaki Nishi 13:17
Athress Point Rules Introductory Match: Mizuho Ishikawa & Emi Tojo vs. Ayano Omori & Yumi Oka 7:42
Hiromi Yagi & Kyuseininja Ranmaru & Chitose Yamamoto vs. The Bloody & Fang Suzuki & MARU 14:46
Sachie Abe vs. Kyusei Ninja Ranmaru
Hiromi Yagi vs. KAZUKI
Drake Morimatsu vs. ARIYA
Fang Suzuki vs. Sumie Sakai 21:53
The Bloody vs. Megumi Yabushita 20:23
Obachhi Iizuka & Chitose Yamamoto vs. Yoshiko Tamura & Chiaki Nishi
KAZUKI vs. Kyusei Ninja Ranmaru
Sachie Abe vs. ARIYA
Team Jd’ vs. Super Terrors: Sumie Sakai & Hiromi Yagi vs. The Bloody & Fang Suzuki 30:00
MARU vs. Haruka Matsuo
Mizuho Ishikawa vs. Ayano Omori. Mercifully, it only lasted 41 seconds.
LSD 2000 2 HOUR MATCH Part 1 (about 32 minutes shown):
The Bloody vs. Sachie Abe 10:00. They tried hard, but Abe was exposing her weaknesses rather than Bloody doing anything to hide them. Abe was too slow doing her counters and even moves, particularly her overused magistral, to hang with Bloody. She made sequences deliberate, even awkward.
Takako Inoue vs. Obatchi Iizuka 1:38. They kept it short and simple, which is a good idea for them.
Takako Inoue vs. Sumie Sakai 10:00. Sakai made it a decent energized segment. Her suplexes look much better against smaller opponents though, and Takako isn't exactly large. Sakai's punches were bad, but the high spots looked pretty good, and it was overall a mild success with Sakai getting the draw.
Chitose Yamamoto vs. Kaori Yoneyama 4:54. A pleasant surprise. These women have some athleticism and did a fast-paced segment. The action wasn't exactly what you'd call good, especially with Yoneyama's sloppiness, but it was plentiful and may have been the least contrived segment so far. Yoneyama dominated, but Yamamoto finally hit a couple moves to score the upset.
Chitose Yamamoto vs. KAZUKI 2:11. Better than expected. Good moves and adequate work.
KAZUKI vs. Drake Morimatsu 3:56. They tried to wrestle a more athletic style that doesn't suit their makeup. It was much better when they went to their power moves. Still, for this type of match, it felt long and I was ready for KAZUKI to call it a night as soon as possible. The Drakebomb is set up like a DVB, but finishes with the opponent landing on their back between her legs like a falcon arrow.
Drake Morimatsu vs. Yuki Miyazaki 9:19. Passable counter-laden action. Miyazaki does a pretty good job here, and the chemistry is decent.
Yuki Miyazaki vs. The Bloody 6:20. Best segment. Miyazaki has the quickness, athleticism, and moves to challenge Bloody. The communication and timing were somewhat lacking though, but there's definitely a lot to build off here for a singles match.
The Bloody vs Ranmaru 3:00. Good moves, but short and Ranmuru is too hit and miss with her flying.
Athtress Point Match: Teruko Kagawa & Keiko Furuta vs. Emi Tojo & Chiaki Kashida. Too much RVD flipping and rolling. At least he's athletic and smooth, this was slow and incredibly deliberate. Incredibly fake looking match that couldn't end quick enough. 1/2*
LSD 2000 2 HOUR MATCH Part 2: (about 20 minutes shown)
Fang Suzuki vs. Haruka Matsuo 10:00. Shockingly entertaining little match due to them working a nice basic scenario the fans could get into. Fang squashed Matsuo and was ready for the quick win, when some other Athtresses interfered, giving Matsuo the opportunity to get a few near falls with basic pinning moves that they put over for maximum drama. Fang came back and you figured that was it, but Matsuo showed a lot of heart, and surprised everyone by withstanding a few chokeslams to eke out the draw.
Ariya (Aya Koyama) vs. Sachie Abe 1:45. Passable brief segment
Ariya vs. MARU 5:27. Lousy filler. Even the finisher was poor.
MARU vs. The Bloody 0:08. The entire match consisted of Bloody coming in and applying her Bloody EX.
The Bloody vs Hiroyo Muto 1:06. Had some potential, but they didn't give it the time.
The Bloody vs. Kyoko Inoue 3:45. Annoying match where Kyoko played the size card. Kyoko took the Super Terrors out with lariats early, and when they tried to bail Bloody out later, Bloody she still lost within 30 seconds. The work was good, but I didn't like Kyoko's attitude here, nor the match that resulted from it.
Kyoko Inoue vs. Chiaki Nishi 2:27. Comedy match where inept little Nishi was afraid of Kyoko then came at her with the weakest forearms ever and distracted Kyoko so she could hit some flying moves that Kyoko laughed off. I can't blame Kyoko here, as Nishi was a total joke of an opponent who had no business being in the right with her.
Kyoko Inoue vs. Fang Suzuki 7:40. Super Terrors got their revenge here. Fang threw powder in Kyoko's eyes to start and the heels ganged up on Kyoko on the outside, handcuffing her to a table so Fang could get a count out win.
Fang Suzuki vs Sumie Sakai 4:05. Should have been one of the better matchups, but they edited it down to just the finish.
Fang Suzuki vs Takako Inoue 2:05. Takako came in all fired up, but they ultimately wound up stalling away the last few minutes for a disappointing anti-climax. Terrors broke up Takako's pin, so Kyoko cleaned house. Fang tried to use a chain so Takako to her stun gun, and Fang wisely bailed. By the time Takako put her stun gun down so Fang would agree to reenter, the match was essentially over.
10/28/01
Sumie Sakai & Obatchi Iizuka vs. Ranmaru & Komina Ichikawa. Sakai vs. Maru was pretty good, but it was hard to care with all the stupidity in between. Ichikawa was doing a form of voodoo or something. Totally retarded. 10:00 shown
Catch the Weapon Pail vs. Bat: Drake Morimatsu vs. KAZUKI. Lots of spots, but they aren't the most coordinated wrestlers. Still, the wrestling was decent until Drake got the bat. The moves had impact but were deliberately set up, while the bat strikes were so phony. The pail was basically a waste basket. Drake did a shining wizard off it that was kind of cool for a shining wizard. Adequate. 9:57 shown
The Bloody & Fang Suzuki & Sachie Abe vs Hiromi Yagi & Hiroyo Muto & Ariya 15:17. An okay albeit disjointed match that had good Bloody vs. Yagi segments. The others tended to do their own thing, and there were definitely conflicting ideas. No direction and little flow, but Bloody, Fang, and Yagi executed well. Muto was okay, but not on top of her game. Ariya looked bad when she tried something, although one of her spinning high kicks was nice. Abe didn't try much "difficult" since she's a heel, which in her case is a good thing. The moves were much more impressive than how they were used. **
11/4/01
Athtress Point Match: Chiaki Kashida & Keiko Furuta vs. Mizuho Ishikawa & Teruko Kagawa. They tried, but that doesn't make up for really deliberate wrestling with no flow, bad timing, and tons of screw ups. The execution was even bad when they "got it right." DUD
Fang Suzuki & KAZUKI & MARU vs. Sumie Sakai & Obatchi Iizuka & Chiaki Nishi. Even against each other, Sakai & Fang weren't at their best. It looked great compared to the athtresses, but there were still a lot of problems and general disorganization. Sakai was the only one that showed anything, and it was more good moves than her usual good work. *
AWF & QOR Double Title Match: The Bloody vs Hiromi Yagi 15:20. An excellent display of quickness and flexibility. The match was a bit disappointing, although still quite good, because Yagi didn't have enough offense to be a real threat and they didn't build up their moves and counters like they are capable of. Yagi got off to a good start doing her avalanche style ipponzeoi to the floor and following with a plancha, but then the Super Terrors got involved and Bloody did a lot of damage brawling in the back. Yagi didn't come back and get some mat wrestling in until after the 10 minute mark. She showed a few super transitions, but like I said they could have done a lot more to make it dramatic rather than simply well worked back and forth countering. Their styles are very different and they didn't quite converge. Bloody lacks a mat game, so Yagi relied more on her athleticism, using flashy counters into submission attempts then getting back up. There were moments of sheer brillance where their athleticism was so impressive it didn't really matter. They did some really nice counters to the big moves, and had fun matching each other, for instance Bloody did a bridge into a standing position kickout right after Yagi used one on her. ***1/2
10/28/01 Kakutobi Tournament 1st Round
Ayano Omori vs. Keiko Furuta
Haruka Matsuo vs. Teruko Kagawa
MARU vs. Mizuho Ishikawa
2nd Round
Yumi Oka vs. Chiaki Kashida
Emi Tojo vs. Chiaki Nishi
Ayano Omori vs. Haruka Matsuo
Chitose Yamamoto vs. MARU
11/4/01 Semifinals
Ayano Omori vs. Yumi Oka
Emi Tojo vs. Chitose Yamamoto
LSD 2001 Rules: Sachie Abe vs. ARIYA
Kakutobi Tournament Final: Ayano Omori vs. Emi Tojo
12/8/01 taped 11/23/01
Athtress Point Match: Ayano Omori & Keiko Furuta vs. Teruko Kagawa & Chiaki Kashida
Hiromi Yagi & Hiroyo Muto & ARIYA & Haruka Matsuo vs. Sachie Abe & Fang Suzuki & KAZUKI & MARU
12/15/01 taped 11/23/01
AWF & QOR Double Title, LSD 01 Rules: The Bloody vs. Sumie Sakai 36:36 of 60:00
Cyber Iizuka vs. Chitose Yamamoto
Fang Suzuki & MARU vs. Ranmaru & Haruka Matsuo
Hiromi Yagi vs. Ariya
The Bloody vs. Chiaki Nishi
TWF Sekai Tag Senshuken: Sumie Sakai & Hiroyo Muto vs. Sachie Abe & KAZUKI
Michael Smith: This was a good match, but pretty basic looking. Sakai was the only standout, and really the only one who looked like she knew what she was doing. The others didn't look lost, but they also didn't look anywhere close to being able to dictate or carry a match. Abe has always been one of my favorites, but unlike when I kept pushing to people how good Bloody was going to be, based on this match Sachie hasn't taken those giant steps foward to becoming a very good worker like Bloody did when she lost the mask & Phoenix moniker. **
12/22/01
Emi Tojo & Yumi Oka vs. Ayano Omori & Teruko Kagawa
Cyber Iizuka vs. MARU
ARIYA & Chiaki Nishi vs. Hiromi Yagi & Haruko Matsuo
12/29/01 taped 12/15/01 Tokyo Differ Ariake
Teruko Kagawa vs. Keiko Furuta
Hiroyo Muto & Kyusei Ninja Ranmaru vs. Sachie Abe & KAZUKI
AWF & QOR 3 Way LSD555 Dance: The Bloody vs. Fang Suzuki vs. Sumie Sakai 9:10. I'm not a huge fan of either short matches or 3 way matches, but this was a good example of both. They were able to work at the level they do in their singles matches, but having 2 opponents and a brief match time allowed them to maximize their good material as well as be creative. The downside of the 3 way is there's always too much time where one wrestler is simply on the sidelines, but they did a good job of figuring out how to involve everyone when they were fresh so they could justify someone laying around later, and they did some spots they don't usually do as well as ones they can't do such as Fang using her STO on both opponents at once. The timing and chemistry were really quite good here, and everyone showed what makes them a good wrestler. ***
1/5/02
Highlights from 2001
1/12/02 taped 12/29/01
Chiaki Kashida & Keiko Furuta vs. Teruko Kagawa & Yumi Oka
AWF & QOR Double Title Decision Weapons Match: The Bloody vs. Fang Suzuki
Jd' TV 1/19/02 taped 12/29/01 Tokyo
Hiromi Yagi & Kyuuseininja Ranmaru vs. Ariya & Cyber Iizuka
Athtress sings "Happy * Happy"
Jd' Jr Tournament Round 1:
MARU vs. Haruka Matsuo
Emi Tojo vs. Ayano Omori
1/26/02 taped 1/13/02 Tokyo
Jd' Jr Tournament Semifinals:
MARU vs. Emi Tomimatsu
Emi Tojo vs. Chiaki Nishi
Athtress live performance & video of "Happy * Happy"
The Bloody & Toshie Uematsu vs. Sumie Sakai & Chikayo Nagashima
Jd' Jr Tournament Final: MARU vs. Emi Tojo