Here’s a random one-off review, as Evito-X has been uploading old-school joshi among the great rarities on his YouTube channel, and I wanted to check it out.
WWWA WORLD TAG TEAM TITLES:
BEST TWO OF THREE FALLS:
THE QUEEN ANGELS (Lucy Kayama & Tomi Aoyama) vs. THE BLACK PAIR (Mami Kumano & Yumi Ikeshita):
(7/31/1979)
* It’s time for some 1970s joshi! The Black Pair were set up as heels in opposition to the Beauty Pair- this is a latter incarnation, with Mami Kumano replacing Shinobu Aso. Yumi’s in black boots and Mami has red boots (both have black swimsuits and ‘fros, so that’s how I can tell them apart, haha). The Queen Angels appear to be babyfaces, with matching swimsuits with white polka-dots on them- Lucy (in red) is one I’ve seen before in a variety of old matches, usually featuring Jackie Sato. I’ve never seen Tomi (in blue) before, but she’s a hell of a high-flier, apparently: https://www.reddit.com/r/stardomjoshi/comments/87xj1c/tomi_aoyamas_springboard/.
FALL ONE:
Tomi immediately hits running dropkicks on Mami, then Lucy hits a release BUTTERFLY BOMB (!!)- an assisted splash gets a one-count and the Angels work Mami over with shots until Yumi gets tagged. A double backdrop suplex flips Yumi all the way onto her front, but soon Mami’s in with a foreign object and they Pair takes over. And NOW we get some of that good AJW heeling, with the Pair taking turns strangling Tomi- Mami drops her shin across the throat and segues that right into a choke, then they double-team with a choke/stomp combo and finally double-strangle her while Lucy goes nuts trying to get into the ring.
Tomi finally manages to get over to the corner by hauling Mami down, but seconds after Lucy’s big comeback (which finally lights up the fans) she’s knocked to the mat and beaten down, and already her knee is screwed. They rip the tape off it and literally drag her with the tape as OH MY GOD this ref is bad (he keeps pushing Tomi out of the ring but the Pair may cheat with impunity). After several minutes of this double-teaming they finally boot her close enough to the corner that Tomi can tag in, and she starts using speed and suplexes to hammer the heels- but then Yumi just tosses her to Lucy and hauls her in for more of a beating. The Pair take turns coming off the second rope with knees to the leg, and a Backdrop Hold from Yumi gets the pin at (7:36).
FALL TWO:
The medics come in and Lucy is DEAD. Like, literally head lolling to one side with a blank stare and her arm in a palsied position- now THAT’s how you sell a beating. So poor Tomi is left alone and gets jumped by the Black Pair, who take turns beating her up. She gets thrown into the Eddie Bump a couple times and choked, but then she does the NO-HANDS RUNNING SPRINGBOARD!! The Manami move! Okay, so her cross-body hit way low and only on one of the Pair, but still- it’s 1979 and she hit a no-hands springboard! Dropkicks for both heels! Flipover suplex, vertical suplex & Giant Swing on Yumi as the cheering section rallies her on! But Yumi bails to the floor and when Tomi gives chase she’s brained with Mami’s chairshot! They smash her a few more times, then hit powerslams & a guillotine choke in the corner. Mami hits her with a hair-assisted Thesz Press from the top and finishes with a vertical suplex at (3:21), the Pair pretty much being in the ring at the same time for the whole duration.
Haha, this was so enraging and unfair- the ref won’t let the Queen Angels in the ring at once, but the Black Pair are allowed to interfere, cheat with impunity and use choking and weapons? Poor Lucy sold that beating AMAZINGLY, while Tomi was clearly the athlete of the duo (but seemed to be less over). Just a good old-fashioned “Unfair Heels crushing Virtuous Babyfaces”, a formula AJW would perfect in the mid-1980s thanks to the Crush Gals.
Rating: **3/4 (simple stuff and barely had any actual wrestling, but the organized cheating by the Pair and rallying by the babyfaces was great fun)