Joshi Spotlight: Neo Ladies- Lioness Asuka vs. Kyoko Inoue (TWF Title)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thZKtkkzsxM&ab_channel=PuroArchive

NEO JAPAN LADIES PRO WRESTLING- BE HAPPY 1ST:
(May 6th 1998)
* It’s time for more Neo Ladies at last (I found a LOT of March-April shows after already writing this one up), this time with Kyoko Inoue vs. Lioness Asuka in one of the most-loved joshi matches of 1998! The TWF World Title is up for grabs, with Kyoko defending the belt in her home promotion against a veritable heel brigade! The rest of the show is apparently a “random draw” of singles matches, leading to Neo’s top stars again flattening the younger generation!

Neo Ladies Roster: Kyoko Inoue, Las Cachorras Orientales, Chaparrita ASARI, Yoshiko Tamura, Tanny Mouse, Yuka Shiina, Misae Genki, Saya Endo

We start off with everyone drawing names out of a box, setting up matches on the show!

MIMA SHIMODA vs. CHAPARRITA ASARI:
* ASARI was part of a “kid squad” that got demolished 3-on-2 by LCO a while before, and now she’s solo against Shimoda. Mima’s always a bit of a different animal in singles matches, where she doesn’t have as much physical credibility (translation: Mita as a beast to back her up). Both are in red & gold here, looking like a tag team- Shimoda’s snippiness with ASARI reveals that ain’t so, of course.

Classic LCO opening as Shimoda immediately takes ASARI to the stands and buries her under chairs, then gets bored in the ring and comes out to drag her back- the ref shoos her away but she flies in with a boot and runs ASARI the full length of Korakuen into a door and now ASARI’s face is DECIDEDLY covered with blood. You can immediately see the difference selling makes in wrestling because ASARI’s a full crimson mask and Shimoda’s just SHREDDING her with her claws but ASARI’s just lying there and not doing the “Full Chigusa” or anything- there’s a reason Chigusa was able to get entire arenas to shriek in horror at the atrocities heels committed against her, and ASARI can’t. Shimoda’s trying, all “hey look at her bleed!” to the fans but is drawing more laughter than anything. ASARI fights back but Shimoda bites her on the ass to stop it and hangman chokes her for two. Shimoda preens and takes her time, and keeps stopping comebacks- she kicks her after a rana in the corner and shoves her off the top after a German and hits a tope con hilo off the top to the floor. German on the floor and a long-awaited missile kick- “Fuck YOU!” bridge from ASARI!

ASARI now FINALLY gets her comeback, using speed to try for pins and finally kicking Shimoda to the floor, plancha-ing her and paying her back for all that chair shit with some of her own and moonsaults her (sorta) off a ledge! Crowd reacted like it was awesome since they couldn’t see her mostly miss. ASARI finally gets the fans into it and hits a Super Rana in the ring for 2.7 then catches Shimoda with a German off the 2nd rope. Moonsault gets two. Shimoda chairs her in the ass to try and take over, but the Death Lake Driver on a chair is reversed to ASARI ending up on top for two. Shimoda “misses” with a chair but absolutely CRANKS her with the edge by accident and ASARI is clearly feeling that during her comeback. She missile dropkicks a chair into Shimoda’s face and goes up- Sky Twister Press! But only 2.9- she goes up again but Shimoda catches her with the Death Lake Driver (tiger superplex)… but also two! Moonsault gets two and annoyed Shimoda tries to blow it off and hits her Ax Kick for the same, now having a hissy-fit, and misses another so ASARI hits a rana & Northern Lights suplex for two. But she goes up and misses badly with the Sky Twister, and Shimoda finishes her off with a chairshot into another Ax Kick for the pin at (16:33).

This is a pretty interesting one- Shimoda is attempting to be like Dump Matsumoto and viciously tear apart the innocent subordinate, but ASARI is no Chigusa and doesn’t have the credibility nor the fan support to pull it off. And Shimoda, awesome as she is, is more “snotty shit-talker” than “Satan incarnate” so even with all the blood and scratching it’s not as vicious. I mean, Dump brought her own hidden spike to use in the stabbiness, and this was just a monster bladejob over a standard-issue LCO “crowd brawl” opening. BUT they did manage to actually get the crowd into it in the end, taking about 12 minutes to do so, so they got ’em. Some good nearfalls by the end, though they run the risk of killing finishes (doing all THAT and failing to win with a goddamn Tiger Superplex? Against CHAPARRITA ASARI?), and it still ends with the old “Veteran Beats Subordinate” thing regardless, but they’re getting there in elevating ASARI a bit through defeat. I’m disappointed by ASARI’s lack of fire, though- she hits this massive gusher and eats 10 minutes of offense and she can’t even look PISSED OFF about it?

Rating: *** (a bit long and padded out, and pretty dreary for the first half of stuff in terms of fan response, but they picked it up a bit)

MISAE GENKI vs. TANNY MOUSE:
* The giant up & comer takes on her contemporary the comedy doof- Genki, in dark blue, towers over Tanny, in light blue.

Genki hesitates on the pre-match handshake and gets German’d for two, but eventually starts no-selling Tanny’s strikes and gets defiant. Tanny keeps coming at her and knocks her down a few times. They hit basic submissions and Genki does a belly-to-belly for two. Tanny catches her with a running Tanny Butt and the grounded ones for two. Genki keeps fighting up and drops Tanny across her knee a couple times, but another surprise German gets two on her. Genki manages to catch a charge via a big backdrop driver for two, but Tanny nails her with some absolutely awful European uppercuts, then paws her off the top and hits a big flying senton for two. She misses a 2nd-rope Tanny Butt and gets booted down and a tail-assisted (sigh) backdrop driver gets two. A weak low-angle chokeslam gets the same, so Genki puts her on the second rope and chokeslams her off there for the pin at (7:43). They get into a scrap after the bell that’s better than any of the stuff before it.

Hot Take: Tanny is un-good. She has that classic “rookie hesitation” plus never seems to be where she’s supposed to be, getting lost or just doing “whatever”. She doesn’t get as defiant or loud as she should and she just sorta defaults to token comedy with her “Mouse Facewash” taunt or whatever, then hits loose, awkward-looking offense. And it doesn’t really benefit Genki much after being booked to impress Kyoko in a singles match and then do all this struggling and selling for Tanny’s goofy stuff. Both are too old and experienced to be doing a borderline “Rookie Match”.

Rating: * (basic Rookie Match stuff- weak offense from Tanny and Genki couldn’t really show much aside from some good suplexes)

ETSUKO MITA vs. YUKA SHIINA:
* Mita, coming to the ring in a wedding dress (!!!), takes on another of Neo’s young girls. Mita’s like a head taller to the point where they barely look like the same species- talk about one-sided. Shiina’s in light blue with shorts, and Mita’s in black gear- both look serious and a little nervous.

Shiina tries to pull off some “LCO” stuff to start by slapping her elder, then ignoring a handshake and dropkicking her from behind, then hits a springboard cross-body, but Mita eventually just stuffs her and shoves her around. Mita keeps tanking hits and launches Shiina around by her hair, then muscles her into a piledriver, picks her up, and drags her into the stands for a beating. Shiina eats a guardrail piece to the face, but charges back with dropkicks to the knee and a hold that Mita sells more with annoyance and boredom than pain before just reaching back and pulling Shiina off her- gotta love that height advantage. Shiina catches her with a rana (check Mita’s strong basing there- squatting all the way down and preventing a bad spill). Shiina fires off 2nd-rope dropkicks but her splash hits feet- she counters the electric chair with a German. She counters a whip with a leaping clothesline and missile dropkicks for two, but runs into a short powerbomb. She counters a Super Electric Chair with a sunset flip for two, but Mita’s done fucking around- she comes in off the ropes with the Blazing Chop for two, and immediately fires off a huge Powerbomb. Shiina gets the token “kick out of a big move” and so Mita just crushes her with another one for the pin at (7:22).

This was “Carry the Scrub 101” with Mita just calmly doing the absolute basics to give a kid some shine, letting her control 3/4 of the match but still establishing that she’s the one in charge and was always going to win. She tanks all these shots and sells only “just enough” to drop down without flinging herself around, and always casually kicks out rather than sell desperation (compare Shimoda’s 2.9 kickouts to these casual ones). Shiina really doesn’t come off that well, though- her stuff is FINE and she tried to show some fire, but she’s only firing off dropkicks, clotheslines and other jobber-fu even at this point in her career? No wonder Mita was only barely selling it like an inconvenience.

Rating: *1/2 (basic everyday “Extended Squash”, albeit with the victor giving up a ton of offense to the loser)

Yoshiko Tamura, here with her later visual appearance, was a big part of Kyoko’s Neo/NEO companies. Here she’s still struggling to get out of the midcard zone and show the potential her generation (1994-95) had- most other promotions by this point were pushing their mid-90s kids hard (Meiko, Kato, Kuzumi, Momoe, etc.).

SAYA ENDO vs. YOSHIKO TAMURA:
* LCO’s goon takes on the mostly highly thought-of rookie of Neo! But uggggghhhhh I’ve already had the match length spoiled, lol. I always “spoil” that by habitually moving the cursor along the video length to see when the end was. No idea why- maybe just a constant obsession with % completion of shows? Endo’s in green & white, and Yoshiko’s in black & red.

They use rookie-fu to start, Endo biting and choking to take the lead. They’re at least putting in the effort, screaming the whole way. Tamura bites free of a clutch and works a headscissors and bow & arrow, then both do Boston crabs and okay Endo’s constant screeching has gotten annoying. oh god Endo just KEEPS GOING FOR CRABS- man, whoever built her in Fire Pro didn’t add much of a moveset. Both do running attacks, then it’s a crowd brawl as Endo slowly throws chairs onto Tamura in the stands. Tamura tries the mandatory post-beatdown comeback but botches a flying sunset flip and Endo improvises dropkicks and ANOTHER CRAB. At least Tamura is getting bent in half and seems to be hollering in the whistle-register in these.

Tamura gets a Bridging German for two, but the kickout is weak (Endo just rolls over). Two big missile dropkicks and a Super Ace Crusher get two. Tamura gets two Northern Lights suplexes, but Endo reverses to a pin on the last one and hits a straightjacket Perfect Plex for two, but eats shit on a guillotine legdrop and gets her leg worked. Endo finally breaks free from a LONG figure-four, only to end up in the “leg hump” move, but she catches Tamura with a backslide, kick of fear & powerslam as she tries to end the match. Note the lack of leg-selling despite ages in the figure-four, haha. Oh wait, she’s limping again- this lets Tamura catch her up top with the Northern Lights Superplex, and a regular NL suplex gets the “dramatic 2.8 impressive kickout” for Endo. Endo manages a snap German and they’re both justifiably selling death- Tamura gets the next one, but takes her time up top and eats a superduperplex for two. Guillotine Legdrop… 2.8! And a Dragon Suplex FINALLY scores the pinfall at (26:31).

This is one of those “Hey, they can go long- impressive, right?” matches joshi does occasionally, and it’s nearly always a dreadful slog of rookie-fu like this. Tons of restholds made into the whole meat of the match, “screaming in holds” used to tell the match’s story, and more, because it’s usually inexperienced non-stars doing it. Granted these are like fourth-years. But you get stuff like 8 minutes of Boston crabs and then Tamura… just wrestling like normal, as if her back isn’t hurt at all from that, or Endo only sorta selling the leg after several minutes in figure-fours because now it’s time to hit the “actual moves”. THAT JUST REVEALS TO EVERYONE THAT ITS FILLER!

Rating: *1/4 (competently wrestled for the most part and they put in effort but OH MY GOD FUCK THIS MATCH and ever watching it again- a solid 10 minute match padded out to 26)

TWF WORLD TITLE:
KYOKO INOUE (Neo) vs. LIONESS ASUKA (w/ Goons) (JD’):
* And now it’s an authentic Dream Match, as we get the top star of JD’ and a huge star of the ’80s going up against Neo’s Ace- Asuka’s proven to be just about the best women’s wrestler in the world at this point, and Kyoko’s pretty close, so this has some high hopes. Kyoko has just won the TWF World Title at a JD’ show the week prior (it wasn’t on YouTube last I checked- it’s here on archive.org– it looks kinda weaksauce compared to this one, with a lot of time filling stuff. The big spot is Kyoko getting hanged over the stairwell by three women at one point- seems about ***+ thereabouts), and now has to defend on home turf against the woman she beat. With her black gear with white stripes, nasty disinterested sneer and long leather jacket, Lioness looks like an absolute BMF. She gets a chorus of boos, while Kyoko mostly gets polite cheers.

Lioness pounces to start, but immediately takes the slingshot backsplash, but Kyoko’s follow-up is spoiled by the goons, who immediately hit the ring and have to be pummeled. Kyoko gets knocked down but taunts Asuka back in the ring to get the fans into it, teasing her to get into the ring- she pounces the second Asuka gives her an opening, fighting her into a suplex but trying the dancing deathlock, but is AGAIN attacked by the goons, meaning all of Kyoko’s crowd-pleasing spots are being spoiled by these assholes- great booking. Kyoko still manages her corner DDT and THEN pulls off the deathlock. Asuka kicks her down and grabs a chain, but Kyoko just lariats her down in a fun reversal of fortune (nullifying the cheating edge) only to get strangled by the chain. Asuka throws boots at her but Kyoko fights up and lariats her down again and Lioness has to grab a headscissors to stifle her. Asuka fights her into a backdrop suplex, stops the backsplash with a kick, then hits a tope suicida while her goons hold Kyoko, and finally grabs a gigantic slab of wood and beats Kyoko’s ass with it and superplexes her on a big pile of chairs.

Asuka preps a powerbomb on the chair mountain, but Kyoko fights free then ducks a punch for a release German onto the pile (great death sell by Asuka, who slumps to the side), setting off her comeback- or not, as she stupidly tries her Run Up Flying Elbow and crashes violently onto the chairs. Lioness pounces with a moonsault for two! She trucks Kyoko with a running kick, but Kyoko uses the momentum to crack off a lariat- another kick and another lariat sees Lioness against the ropes as Kyoko drills her twice more for two. But Kyoko climbs again and gets dumped off into the guardrail, leading to a Goon/Neo fight on the floor between the rookies and Asuka nails her with a chair (a fan gets hit on the follow-through, laughing his ass off) and she takes Kyoko into the stands, where she tosses her off the bleachers through a table! Then walks her to the other side of Korakuen, where she sits Kyoko on a chair and kicks her off and down the stairs. Her masked goon (The Bloody) beats on Kyoko while Asuka powerbombs Yuka Shiina on the floor for getting her her face, then she hits a Ligerbomb in the ring for two and one of Kyoko’s signature last second arm-launch kickouts. Another one gets the same and Asuka tries another tactic and climbs, getting German’d off the second rope- Kyoko pulls herself up using the ropes and lariats her for two. Another gets the same, but a third try is caught and a cross-armbreaker nearly gets her.

Kyoko makes the ropes, and when Lioness tries another armbar, Kyoko spins around to hit a DDT and her headscissors flash-pin for two. Lioness pounces afterwards and whips her, but eats a lariat! The goons run in… double lariat! Niagara Driver to Asuka… two! Kyoko beats up more goons, but Asuka fights out of another, only to miss her kick and ducks a lariat… only to meet the follow-through for two. But Asuka reverses another by charging her into the corner and her goons set up nother Ligerbomb for two. Her goons set up a table by draping it across the corner on the second rope, but Kyoko snaps off a German and a Ligerbomb of her own for two. Asuka gets a pair of high kicks for two as they’re just flinging stuff at each other whenever an opening presents itself now. Kyoko knocks Asuka back from the Table Superbomb attempt, but the goons put a table up on the floor and Asuka powerbombs her OFF THE APRON, flattening Kyoko in a horrible twisted pile as she breaks through. And Kyoko has no more fight left, as the goons set up the corner table again and Lioness hits a Ligerbomb off of it (!) for the three at (18:12). And then during the belt ceremony with the head of JD’ doing the pronouncements, Lioness and her goons attack HIM, TOO, dragging him to the mat and beating him four on one!

A top-flight joshi match, especially for 1998 when a lot of the best have slowed down but an older vet comes back into the running. Stupendous timing and build on these moves- I love how Lioness, more than anyone in joshi, will slap on her grip and then have to FIGHT to get the move off, making simple things like vertical or backdrop suplexes into full-on fights and make them more important than just random crap that magically hits the second you touch the opponent. Her array of moves is so thorough she has something big for nearly any occasion (running kicks to make Irish whips dangerous, for example), making her a constant threat, and she’s just as good at slapping on a hold to stifle one’s momentum. Kyoko, who’s ALL momentum, keeps getting stymied like this, even as she has some bounce-back. I also love Asuka’s selling- huffing and puffing and leaning helplessly against the ropes so Kyoko can barrel in with those lariats or selling total death with the “body on its side, head slumped off against the mat” sell of the German onto the chairs. There was maybe a BIT too much “we only hit ligerbombs and lariats now” to the last bit of the match, but they came off like they knew only their biggest moves would work and so it was time to hit their biggest moves, culminating with Lioness hitting TWO huge table-based powerbombs, both of which looked horrible to take, for the win.

Rating: ****1/4 (one of the top singles matches of the year, and the best joshi one so far by a long shot)