https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WE1A6f2lU_8
JD’ BEAUTY ATHLETE:
(May 5th 1996)
* May 5th sees another JD’ show, this one only an hour long. This was apparently taped MUCH earlier, in Dec. 1995, as Bull Nakano is wrestling, teaming with Lola Gonzalez against Jaguar Yokota & Flor Metallica! The show looks to be taking place in a REALLY smoky hall- the kind of place Vince McMahon thought wrestling existed in before 1985. There’s some oddly-tight camera angles as a result throughout the show, and the whole thing comes off like a house show they just happened to film.
JAGUAR YOKOTA vs. LOLA GONZALEZ:
* JD’s founder takes on Lola, the first champion. This looks like it takes place in a smoky bingo hall, with Jaguar in silver & Lola in a hideous floral-print singlet. Christ, are those legwarmers?
Jaguar hits her Straightjacket German IMMEDIATELY, Lola getting the ropes. Jaguar commands “shi ne!” (“DIE!”), but is whipped to the ropes, but slingshots off with a great headscissors, putting Lola on the floor. Some half-hearted brawling on the floor leads to Lola taking over with brawling (the huge close-ups are, um, NOT advantageous), and tosses Jaguar off the top, but she bridges out and hits a rana for two. Another try sees her powerbombed, Lola hauling her up for a spinning/giant swing variation of it for two. Senton off the 2nd rope misses and Jaguar hits an enzuigiri & the Vertical Drop Pedigree for two, but misses a flying thing and Lola ties her up in the “Rock the Cradle” submission & surfboard into a powerbomb & senton for two. She hits another powerbomb, but goes up and takes a butterfly superplex for two. She tries her “lockup to Straightjacket”, but Lola takes a swing at her, ending up in a Leg-Trap Backdrop Hold for the three (5:32 of 19:19) shown.
Looked like a pretty good, competitive match, though Lola wasn’t over with the Japanese fans. I did like her doing simple release powerbombs as set-up moves- they look simple to do yet a lot more hardcore than the usual bodyslams, and her following up with sentons instead of flippy stuff was smart, too. Came off like a power wrestler taking on a mini-fireplug, which Jaguar is good at.
Rating: N/A (too hard to judge with 1/4 of the match shown)
BULL NAKANO & COOGA vs. BISON KIMURA & CHIKAKO SHIRATORI:
* Holy crap, a Dream Match! Almost! Like in 1992 this could have just been a regular match. Bull is an all-time legend scaling her career down, while Cooga’s just come out of retirement. Bison is a star athlete in JD’ but will need rebuilding, and Chikako is a weaksauce idol who’s giving it an honest effort, but still sucks. Bull’s in blue, Cooga’s in blue, Bison’s in hot pink & Chikako’s in black/white.
There’s an attack outside to start as this is REALLY smoky, Bison beating on Cooga but Chikako being eaten alive by the vets. Bull quite rightly does the “defiant veteran commanding the rookie to try sh*t, then effortlessly shoving her off” thing. She easily hands Chikako her ass with only a couple strikes, but Bison comes in with her tonfa rod to even the score. Bull still lariats both down at once, and Cooga crushes Chikako with a flying knee to the face. Chikako’s in the ropes, and escapes with a neckbreaker so Bison can roar in and kick Cooga’s ass- perfect plex gets two. Cooga comes back with a pair of ranas for only one, but Bison unloads with Bison Chops on Bull for two.
Chikako FINALLY gets Bull to sell through sheer attrition- funny bit as Chikako’s got Bull in the ropes and kinda ignores Cooga’s kick… so Cooga just stands their awkwardly and waits for her to turn around, then kicks her flush in the throat- I bet THAT one had a “receipt-like” nature. Bull hits Chikako with a stiff lariat and they all fight outside, and a piledriver gets two. Cooga dropkicks her right to Bison (this late?), who gets her array of submissions (the exact same ones, in the exact same order, as the Manami match, I’m realizing), but Cooga ranas her for two and Bull comes in with the nunchucks and hits a folding powerbomb for two. Chikako saves, and they catch Bull with a Double Superplex when she tries to finish- Bull sets her up, but Chikako hits the ugliest Moonsault ever, and Bison tries with great form, but splatters on the mat. Bull hits her with the Guillotine Legdrop, but when Chikako saves, Bull stuffs her and Cooga finishes Bison with… oh my god, haha… the German Off The Second Rope, for three at (10:07 of 18:16 shown).
Looked to be a very long, semi-competitive “House Show Match” with nobody giving out TOO much effort save Bison, who is still in the “Pay attention to ME!” zone a top wrestler should be. Bull very casually hit her stuff (she was DYING at this point). Chikako did okay-ish in her role but still isn’t much. Cooga was the big surprise, hitting very fluid and pretty ranas and having great speed. Where was THIS wrestler in 1992 AJW?
Rating: ** (just enough to rate, but it’s still a minor-effort match)
YUKI LEE vs. CHIKAKO SHIRATORI:
* Yuki was supposed to be a deal in JD’, but just never turned out. She’s in blue with baggy pants, while Chikako’s in white. This match effectively sets up the “JD’ Midcard”, as both are featured, with their names given in the intro to these videos alongside the proper stars.
Yuki attacks before the bell, but soon Chikako bridges out and hits her swinging neckbreaker, doing this total “Imitation of the AJW Style” thing where it’s like she watched tapes but still sucks at timing and proper body positioning. She even dumps Yuki and throws her into stuff… then lightly presses a chair against her ribs, failing to make it look like she’s actually putting any pressure on. Yuki tries a comeback but takes falling clotheslines for two, but pulls Chikako off the ropes and hits a Perfect Plex for the same. Chikako hits her with a DDT off the ropes, but just starts wandering around at random until Yuki schoolboys her… for what was probably supposed to be “3”, but the shoulders are off the mat and so Chikako tries to snapmare her, but Yuki gets a backslide for three at (3:56 of 13:51 shown). This looked pretty dreadful, with Chikako at her worst “kinda wander around not sure where she needs to be” and Yuki being green, too.
BEST TWO OF THREE FALLS:
BULL NAKANO & LOLA GONZALEZ vs. JAGUAR YOKOTA & FLOR METALLICA:
* It’s Joshi Legend + Mexican Star on each side! Bull’s in blue & white, Lola’s in floral print, Jaguar’s in black and Metallica’s in black & green.
FALL ONE: Bull’s team attacks before the bell, Lola taking Jaguar to the floor so Bull can lariat Flor Metallica for the easy pin at (0:12).
FALL TWO: Jaguar quickly takes over, as the two legends square off- Jaguar cartwheels out of a test of strength then forward-flips through the lariat in some cool evasive tactics, but Bull grabs her out of a cross-body and hits a running legdrop and piledriver for two-counts. Jaguar gets a rollup but Bull lariats down both opponents and they’re set up head-to-head for the DOUBLE Guillotine Legdrop! Another double-team is stopped, though- Flor knocks Bull outside and Jaguar catches Lola up top with a Super Victory Roll for the pin at (3:08 of 9:27 shown).
FALL THREE: Jaguar uses her ass as a weapon to start, but Bull crushes her and she’s hung upside-down in the ropes for a beating- Flor runs in but Bull knocks her down with ease, showing no respect at all. Huge draping DDT gets two on Jaguar. Folding powerbomb- Flor saves, and another try sees Jaguar roll through for two. Jaguar settles for a sunset flip after failing her pedigree-thing, but Bull annihilates her with another Lariat. Bull pulls her up at “2” and adds the nunchucks, then tosses her for a half-hearted beating outside. Jaguar & Flor stuff a double-attack in the ring for stereo ranas for two, but they get taken down with stereo surfboards. Bull misses the Guillotine on Jaguar and gets German’d for two, then Flor flies onto both opponents on the floor, only for Jaguar to dive into her by mistake. Jaguar takes a NASTY bump, being press-slammed into a table, and Bull hits her Flying Flipover Double-Legdrop, setting up Lola for a senton off the second rope for the three (6:17 of 8:28 shown)- Bull & Lola win!
Rating: ** (Pretty mediocre match by their standards, as they just kinda stop & start and do a “House Show Effort”. Granted it IS what looks like a house show, and Bull was falling apart by this time- no real “go” to it but plenty of okay stuff)
BISON KIMURA vs. COOGA:
* Cooga, set up as a secondary midcard-type wrestler, takes on big star Bison. Bison’s in neon pink & Cooga’s in blue and a mask.
Bison slaps Cooga around to start, but gets caught in the ropes and Cooga uses a sleeper & bodyscissors dragon sleeper to haul her down. Cooga lays on the beats outside, blasting her with a chair and an empty metal garbage can, but Bison knocks it out of her hands with another chair and smashes her repeatedly. Bison uses some Moolah Whips (ie. hairtosses) while screaming, trying to get the fans into it, then does her same old submission sequence, but Cooga his three Ranas in a row for two, then does her own restholds. Cooga hits a Tope Con Hilo to the floor, kicks Bison in the face and then uses a Tornado DDT as she’s getting some SHINE on her, getting two, but Bison backdrops her onto her head for the same. Leg-Capture Backdrop Suplex gets two, but Cooga lands on her from a powerbomb for two. Bison swats her out of the air with the Bison Chop, then uses a powerbomb, flying headbutt and Moonsault for the decisive win at (9:26 of 17:02 shown).
Huh- this was very much a typical “House Show” match, but Cooga suddenly started tossing out a bunch of good, precise offense there, making a go of it. But once Bison came back, that was it- hitting a ton of moves in a row is VERY profound for the joshi style- like saying the person is just not in the league of the winner. Bison’s move application wasn’t great, though- just kinda flopping into everything, looking desperate, and screeching to make the fans see her as a bigger star. Hard to judge this overall as it’s clipped to barely half.
Rating: **1/4 (fine enough, but just okay except for some good Cooga bits)
Overall, this was a VERY “meh” show- like someone taped a house show in a smoky bingo (pachinko?) hall and then cut every match down to almost nothing. So it’s kind of unfair to judge a promotion over it, as even the people with something to prove only put SORT OF any effort into their matches.