AJW TV (Nov. 21st 1996):
* Here’s a few matches found from near the end of the year on AJW TV! This is taped from Kobe World Memorial Hall, which has a sizable 8,000 seats but are bathed in pitch blackness so we can’t see them empty. On commentary is some VERY shrieky, annoying girl, and a card that doesn’t exactly set the world on fire. Mostly random tag stuff- even the main.
Oh, also I found an FMW vs. JD’ Beauty Athlete tag match featuring Megumi Kudo & Jaguar Yokota on opposite sides of the ring, so there’s that!
MISAE GENKI, SAYA ENDO & NANAE TAKAHASHI vs. YUMI FUKAWA, YUKA SHIINA & MOMOE NAKANISHI:
* Oh look! It’s the six bottom-tier wrestlers in AJW! I feel like the “elders” here have been curtain-jerking for like two years by this point, but Momoe & Nanae are very new. This is joined in progress and almost everyone’s in blue, making it super-annoying to recap as I barely recognize anyone. I mean there’s Genki the praying mantis in orange, so SHE stands out…
Fukawa dominates I believe Nanae, then Genki does okay, using her height (atomic drop; electric chair drop). Endo uses jobber-fu on Momoe (I think), who eats a double-dropkick. Genki throws more atomic drops, sold really well by the kid, and the Standing Backdrop of Death finishes her at (3:38 of 12:46).
Rating: DUD (I mean, it’s a clipped rookie match)
MIMA SHIMODA, ETSUKO MITA & CHAPARRITA ASARI vs. MARIKO YOSHIDA, KAORU ITO & YOSHIKO TAMURA:
* An interesting trios bout, as LCO sorta reunites, teaming with ASARI against a random trio- Yoshida’s rising in the ranks again, mostly aroung where Ito is, while Tamura’s maybe the most heated-up of the rookies. Yoshida & Ito are in black & white, looking quite cohesive- Ito has now switched to a black singlet with a huge white “K” on the right side. Tamura’s also in black but with pink & blue. ASARI’s in an unusual white outfit (looking more generic than her Mini-Liger one), Mita’s in a salmon color (with long sleeves and trunks instead of a skirt, which is new), and Shimoda’s in white with red.
Everyone jumps ASARI right away, but she avoids a triple-dropkick and LCO comes in for some CLUBBERING~~ and a double-clothesline on Tamura, but the kid lights a fire under herself and goes nuts with screaming attacks. She goes up but splashes onto feet and then Shimoda bowls her & Ito over with her falling clothesline- a missile kick get two on Tamura. She misses her cross-body on Ito and eats Stomp Spam for two. Ito misses a Flying Stomp but avoids a German, only to run into the Tiger Suplex for two- Mita gets a Northern Lights suplex on Ito, but takes Yoshida’s sunset flip, only to chase her into the corner and hit the Super Electric Chair Drop for two- Ito saves. ASARI hits her Cartwheel Handspring Mule Kick, but gets kicked in the ass on a second, but her team knocks the others to the floor and first Shimoda dives out, then Mita. ASARI planchas out, but nails her partners and Yoshida hits her Run-Up Plancha to the trio. Yoshida’s flying splash gets two, but Mita Blazing Chops her back, only for Yoshida to cartwheel dodge out and her & Ito hit Stereo Flying Headbutts… for two! ASARI reverses a German for two, but charges right in and gets SPIKED by one, but again kicks out! Yoshida hits the Super DDT- Shimoda saves… and then Mita sets her up for a Flying Hurricanrana… for three (7:15 of 18:00)!!! ASARI pins Yoshida!
So this was ASARI’s match mostly all the way, as she gets to kick out of all sorts of cool stuff and then BOOM- surprise victory! Granted she was getting a few lucky wins over the past few months and this one was definitely helped by the vets setting her up, but still- pinning Yoshida ain’t nothing. I do feel bad Yoshida often ends up in this role, though, being over and credible as a midcarder and thus “safe” for these falls. This one again loses a HUGE chunk of the match (then leave in a few minutes of Tamura stuff and then she basically vanishes, and Ito only gets one sequence) but ends up super fast-paced as a result.
Rating: **1/2 (your basic everyday “everyone does a bit of cool stuff and there’s a good sport or two” TV match, but cut way down)
MANAMI TOYOTA & KYOKO INOUE vs. AJA KONG & YUMIKO HOTTA:
(Nov. 21st 1996)
* A pretty big collection of AJW’s big four stars at this point, as they work in a clipped tag team match. Hotta’s in black, Aja’s in white/black, Manami’s in black & Kyoko’s in the hugley flashy white/purple/pink. I hereby dub Aja/Hotta “Potato Force”. Some girl on commentary is super-screamy and shouts EVERYONE’s names like she’s trying to get their attention.
Hotta/Kyoko start, Kyoko countering the kicks with a lariat, but Aja hits her with the oil can and they kick her to death, but she Slingshot Backsplashes onto them. Hotta & Manami scrap in a pretty vicious manner (the speed covering up how sloppy it is in their unique way), then Aja/Manami do a kick war (guess who wins?) ending in a Manami Roll for two. Manami misses a missile kick but gets a dropkick reversal- Kyoko gets her corner DDT and actually hauls Aja upside-down in the corner for a Manami dropkick, but Aja cross-bodies both of them. Aja lariats Kyoko during a Hotta sequence, but eats one in return. Aja mountain bombs her off a charge, but Kyoko shoves her off a Super version and Manami moonsaults… Aja’s feet. Aja Backdrop Drivers her for two but Manami manages a fantastic German for the same, but Manami tries another Roll and gets Ligerbombed for two. Aja tries her second-rope splash and ALSO lands on feet, and kicks out of the Japanese Ocean (double-hammerlock) Suplex at two. Manami tries the Japanese Ocean Cyclone Suplex like a doofus, but throws a fit when Aja easily weighs it down, screaming “Baka!” to the crowd’s amusement and charges straight into a NORTHERN LIGHTS BOMB, Aja spiking her headfirst! Kyoko saves that one.
Aja puts her up for the Avalanche Waterwheel Drop, but Manami leaps down and tries the JOCS from the top (her standard application vs. Aja), but Hotta stops it- Potato Force both get dumped, but Manami’s Running No-Hands Springboard move ends in a flipping kick that only hits Hotta, Manami going ass-first straight to the floor. Oh man that sounded like it hurt- just “THWACK!”. Booty muscle be damned, she is messed up- people have to run to check on her, and she kinda limps into the ring. She & Kyoko duck Aja’s second double-crossbody attempt and set up a double-team, but Aja overshoots Kyoko’s powerbomb attempt and Urakens her, then hits the Waterwheel Drop on Manami… two! Manami reverses an Uraken, but Hotta stops another Ocean Suplex- Aja hits a Brainbuster, but Kyoko breaks it up. Aja sets up the Flying Back Elbow, but Kyoko stops it and holds her- Japanese Ocean Cyclone Suplex! Manami even rolls all the way backward for an extra-good pin at (9:47 of 20:05)!
Very solid, if unspectacular, bout. One where they work hard but not THAT hard, nobody swinging for the fences. It was oddly almost all Aja/Manami, with barely any Hotta at all, and Kyoko only getting in rarely- those must have been the bits cut out. Though it’s funny because I was taken aback at how little of the match was here- less than ten minutes of 20:00! Who knows how good or how “filler” the remainder was?
Rating: ***1/2 (pretty well the standard “bottom” for this group, though we’re missing a TON)
About 1:20:00 in here.
MEGUMI KUDO & KAORI NAKAYAMA (FMW) vs. JAGUAR YOKOTA & FLOR METALLICA (JD’):
(09/03/1996)
* Here’s another “outsiders coming to JD'” match, featuring FMW’s Ace woman teaming with a rookie (same one as the “Discover New Heroine” tournament) against Jaguar and… Flor? Well okay. Jaguar trained Kudo, so there’s an extra factor here. Kudo’s in her black “outsider” garb, Kaori’s in red/black, Flor’s in black with a big silver logo on the front, and Jaguar’s in this hilarious lime green swimsuit.
Jaguar & Kudo start with some basic stuff like trips, ending with their signature running attacks (butt-butt & helicopter cross-body), then Jaguar using the ass herself. Flor powers Kudo around but gets headscissored, but manages to overpower the rookie with a headlock. Jaguar continues the punishment, cranking on an Argentine backbreaker, torture rack & camel clutch, really putting some torque on them. Flor snapmares her in such a brutal way I’m thinking they’re putting the kid through her paces- Kaori just trips Flor to escape and Kudo does more basics. Jaguar throws weird roundhouse kicks and a butterfly suplex for two, then an octopus stretch & regular abdominal stretch (… was she just getting tired?), but gets DDT’d. Perfect Plex gets two. Backdrop Driver! Wow, unexpected. Jaguar kicks out, then no-sells Kaori’s rookie garbage and tombstones her- Kudo saves. Flor schools Kaori again, Kaori escapes again, Kudo/Flor is basic as they’re just kinda going through the motions, and Flor superplexes Kaori, but she “F*ck YOU!” bridges out and dodges Jaguar’s missile kick so Flor takes it. Kudo does running stuff and hits a swinging sleeper on Jaguar and gets a German for two. Jaguar casually hits a Straightjacket Suplex for two, and the Vertical Drop Pedigree… earns the “F*ck YOU!” bridge! Jaguar milks the count (unusual in joshi) but Kudo actually copies Jaguar’s bridge-out and hits a Kneeling Tiger Driver for two! Kaori flops onto Jaguar with a moonsault for two, but they miss stereo headbutts and Team JD’ flies onto them on the floor. But Kaori bridges out after a double suplex back into the ring, and when they try to finish her off, Kudo grabs Jaguar and Kaori rolls up Flor from a German… for three (16:00 of 18:21 shown)! Kaori steals one from the veteran!
Fine enough little match, with some very simple, direct movements and selling. Even little things like Flor reversing Kaori’s armbar with a headlock was done pretty well. And MAN they murdered that kid- the twists and turns of her neck in their submissions looked painful as hell. The Kudo bits were much more slack and “yeah, whatever”, looking like a house show (and Kaori’s offense was jobber-ish and bad), though I liked Kudo copying Jaguar’s defensive stuff in the end. Nice ending, though- the kid shows some guts via repeated kickouts and then scores a lucky rollup over the wrestler who means less- I wouldn’t have guessed that result.
Rating: **1/4 (super-slack pace for much of it, but the rookie-murder and opening & ending sequences were good)
So we’re heading into the end of 1996, with Manami & Kyoko still picking up big wins. AJW remains “business as usual” and doesn’t appear to be in any hurry to jack up the roster, though. Many wrestlers appear to have stalled out or are languishing.