Joshi Spotlight: Neo Ladies- Stage Three

NEO LADIES- STAGE THREE:
(Aug. 14th-16th, 1998)
* It’s time for more Neo Ladies! I can never remember if Neo is supposed to be capitalized at this point yet (the corner pads say “Neo Ladies” so I guess not). The compilation is made up of Korakuen Hall shows over three nights, interspersed, and much of it looks to be Interpromotional. And… my god, NICOLE BASS is on this one! This isn’t long before she becomes part of the Attitude Era in a short-lived run that ends with her accusing the WWF of sexual harassment (WWF? Sexual harassment? Who’d ever believe THOSE charges?). The first-ever match of Neo/NEO mainstay Yuka Nakamura! AND the second match of Hiromi Yagi’s comeback to joshi from her 1997 retirement! And a “Tournament of Neo Stage 1998” deal.

We start with J-Pop singing over a compilation of moves from this show (Nicole Bass looks to fuck up a powerbomb near-fatally on Kyoko, so that’ll be fun to see…). This is an hour and a half with a billion matches, so I can only imagine it’s going to be heavily clipped, but we’ll see (Edit: YUP- gonna do quickie recaps of those).

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

MIMA SHIMODA vs. YUKA NAKAMURA:
* It’s Yuka Nakamura! Who looks to be about twelve, and dressed up in bright pink. She turns out to be a big NEO mainstay, wrestling from 1998-2006 all in Kyoko’s companies. And of course they send her against the nastiest heel in the entire promotion. Shimoda’s in red, and at 5’5″ absolutely towers over her tiny opponent.

Yuka’s rookie fire amuses Shimoda, who eventually stops selling and beats on her. Yuka sells decently, but her limp-wristed punches are awful and Shimoda puts her in THE CLAW~~ for more torture. Yuka gets a clunky inside cradle for two, and the hard camera fans are seen laughing at more of her punches, but she keeps getting pin counters, only to run into a big boot. Shimoda as “the heavy” in a match is super-weird. Yuka misses a cross-body and Shimoda just Ax Kicks her in the back for the easy pin at (3:31 of 5:08 shown).

Rating: * (super-basic “veteran beating on rookie” match, giving her offense only with flash-pin attempts and just beating her down)

HIROMI YAGI (ARSION) vs. YUKA SHIINA (Neo): * !!!!! Hiromi Yagi’s back wrestling! She retired in early 1997 to get married, I think- I know she un-retired- she mostly sticks to ARSION, but puts in reps nearly everywhere (her first match back was the night before in a JWP trios match). Yagi is RIDICULOUSLY tan (like, moreso than Mita!)- Shiina counters a lot of Yagi’s stuff, but gets cocky and Yagi one-armed powerbombs her off and tapes her out with a leghold (about 1:30 of 9:19 shown).

JAGUAR YOKOTA (Jd’) vs. YUKA SHIINA (Neo): They each superplex each other, then Jaguar boots her to the floor & cannonballs her off the apron and nails a NASTY Fisherman’s Buster at (about a minute of 12:16 shown). Eesh.

MAYUMI OZAKI (GAEA) vs. YUKA SHIINA (Neo): Shiina gets powerbombed twice, superduperplexed, and more, but makes a comeback. Two missile dropkicks to the back of the head have Oz reeling- Shiina avoids the Tequila Sunrise & Backfist, rolling her up for two, but Ozaki stuns her with a Backfist and shakes off the leg injury. Another one finishes for Ozaki at (5:05 of 6:36 shown).

Rating: ** (fairly quick and decent for what it was- Shiina isn’t very exciting or credible, but Ozaki fed for her okay and sold the leg enough- the finish was clever in that she needed one backfist just to buy herself some time, then finished for real right after)

We see clips from a Round Robin tournament of the rookies. Tanny Mouse hits a leaping Pedigree-piledriver thing as time expires against Misae Genki. Yoshiko Tamura pins Tanny by reversing a sunset flip. Saya Endo pins Tanny with a somersault guillotine legdrop. Genki pins Endo charging in via a powerslam. Genki nearly finishes Tamura with a flying elbow, but sells her arm enough that Tamura springs up and La Majistrals her for the pin at (1:10), winning the tournament.

TOURNAMENT OF NEO STAGE 1998:
YOSHIKO TAMURA (Neo) vs. FANG SUZUKI (JD’):
* Tamura, fresh from winning that one-night tournament, now takes on Fang Suzuki, a JD’ goon backed by Shark Tsuchiya, whom Tamura, in blue & white, seems to hate a whole lot.

Fang jumps Tamura immediately with a pole, but Tamura hauls her down for an angry beating, then works the leg until Fang uses the pole again. Tamura uses it herself, but taunts Shark and gets knocked off the apron, leading to another beating. Tamura takes her down with an armbar & missile dropkick, then her Double-Wrist Northern Lights Suplex for two. Team FMW charges in, allowing Shark to run in with a pair of big lariats and that gets the unearned pin for Fang at (3:51 of 8:51 shown).

Rating: *1/4 (kinda not much to it, but despite being only cut in half it’s still only 4 minutes long- Fang seemed pretty hopeless- a slack brawler like most FMW girls)

TOURNAMENT OF NEO STAGE 1998:
MIMA SHIMODA vs. CHAPARRITA ASARI:
* LCO destroyed ASARI’s group of people at an earlier Neo show, and ASARI’s in a weird zone of “above the rookies but below the veterans”. She’s got her hair dyed lighter here, and has a red get-up. Shimoda’s now in pink.

Shimoda repeatedly counters ASARI by booting her in the chest and I’m not sure about the psychology of the bullying heel outsmarting and countering the 100-lb. super-gymnast. ASARI hits a plancha, and we’re clipped to the Sky Twister Press getting two. She climbs for another like a doofus, ending up in the Death Lake Driver (tiger superplex), getting launched off rather than spiked on her neck like usual- but it only gets two! Shimoda sells that with “you gotta be shitting me…” and tries a lazy Ax Kick, but misses and gets release German’d, only to pop back up and hit a Tiger Suplex for two. Shimoda rolls through a Super Rana for a VERY close 2-count- both are stunned, but ASARI charges in… and gets countered to a powerbomb, and the Ax Kick… gets two! Shimoda, out of moves, goes for the Flying Nothing, and that goes about as well as you’d expect… and ASARI hits another Sky Twister! And pulls her more central and does it again, FOR THE THREE at (7:53 of 13:16)! CHAPARRITA ASARI BEATS MIMA SHIMODA!! Given their respective tiers, this has to count as a major upset, and is arguably ASARI’s biggest win yet, as it signals some elevation. Shimoda sells it with a… smirk? Really? Like she’s amused or embarrassed?

An interesting little match- as generic as they come for these two (Powerhouse vs. Speedster, though again it’s odd to see SHIMODA of all people in that role given her status as the “seller” of the LCO duo), but full of Finisher Kickouts, which feels a bit nuts for something like a Tiger Superplex, much less because they’re up and running around barely a minute later. If that’s the “Finisher Surge” then I get it, but they’re just doing normal stuff after. ASARI just hitting her finisher twice more at the end makes for some odd timing, too. As for the elevation of ASARI, it’s probably for the best, given she’s way above the rookies and they probably don’t want her in a JTTS role for the veterans if they’re smart, but the heat for the Sky Twister has faded ages ago once the fans saw it from her every night for ages.

Rating: **1/2 (perfectly acceptable match- we only get 3/5 of it but it was fine and nothing was botched, though it was oddly laid out)

Nicole Bass was a semi-frequent sight in 1998-99 as a “Freakshow” competitor in wrestling, but wasn’t long for the business.

TOURNAMENT OF NEO STAGE 1998:
NICOLE BASS vs. ETSUKO MITA:
* Yes, NICOLE BASS is in Neo Ladies, everyone. And weirder still, her first opponent is the otherwise tallest woman in joshi, Etsuko Mita. As Bass is 6’2″ and built like a bodybuilder, her physical credibility is huge- I imagine they might be trying to emphasize HOW big Bass is by putting her against someone who was usually the giantess. But Mita is arguably the best choice given that she’s big enough to hang, and a veteran with good selling and loads of match-carrying history. That Bass was always horrible and this is her FIRST MATCH EVER according to Cagematch does not bode well, however. Both are in black- Bass in a leather bikini and Mita in the usual black top & skirt.

Mita finally acquiesces to a lockup on her giant opponent, but Bass sells nothing and laughs her off. Mita grabs her blue chair. Bass literally taunts her, bending over to let her fire a shot, shouting “Come on, Mita! WEAK! WEAK!”, literally yawning at her after the impact, no-selling it thrice and a missile dropkick next. Poor Mita. She sells like she’s already beat, and Bass hauls her up into a powerbomb that has to be terrifying- Mita rolls through Manami-style but Bass over-rolls so she can’t even get a count (oh god), and Bass comes up and no-sells the Blazing Chop, firing back with a bad straight-arm lariat that’s just Bass holding her arm out and lurching forward. Mita’s dead, so Bass comes down, one-arm chokes her, then lifts her into the Chokeslam for the pin at (3:11), squashing her after selling nothing. Holy jesus.

HOW DARE THEY SQUASH MITA LIKE THIS! I’M GOING TO PRETEND I’D BE EQUALLY AS OFFENDED IF IT WAS ANYONE ELSE BUT HOLY SHIT! She gets absolutely humiliated, with Bass selling not even a single move and beating her in three minutes. It’s actually a poor way to be a Monster Heel, too- the most important thing for these giants is SELLING, and if you make your opponent look “Weak!” as Bass is saying, then the victory is meaningless, right? Ideally, a monster should no-sell some shots and then sell the THIRD one, thus putting them both over. Mita did as well as could be expected- you can see her repeatedly feed Bass stuff like the lariat counter and gets into chokeslam position. Which is probably why she was chosen as the first person killed, and had the physicality to make up for any of Bass’s mistakes. The crowd didn’t care about most of this- once it’s established that one person feels no pain from the other, why would they care?

Rating: 1/4* (an utter squash with zero selling from Bass- just some points for Mita trying to do stuff)

TOURNAMENT OF NEO STAGE 1998:
KYOKO INOUE (Neo) vs. HIKARI FUKUOKA (JWP):
* It’s an Ace Fight! Kyoko & Hikari have already fought this year, so them going again is interesting. Kyoko’s in the pastel rainbow gear and in all jaguar-print this time, dropping the blue parts.

Hikari hits a run-up crossbody immediately, then counters a powerbomb to a rana. Clipped to Kyoko eating the Orihara moonsault, and a missile kick & Moonsault get two. Hikari climbs again and Kyoko just LAUNCHES her with a Release Super German, then hits an Avalanche Powerslam for two. Kyoko drills Hikari against the ropes with her lariat and aims for the Niagara Driver, countered for two. Rider Kick (somersault missile kick) from Hikari! They’re both out, but Hikari manages the Moonsault Stomp… for two!? Both are clearly wiped, and Hikari climbs… and realizes Kyoko has gone to the other end of the ring. She tries for a German of all things and gets perfectplexed for two, Kyoko crumpling again from the damage from the stomp, at least still putting that move over. Hikari tries a running rana and gets caught in a snap Ligerbomb with great timing for two. Kyoko tries her Run-Up Back Elbow, but gets German’d off the second rope, takes a SECOND Moonsault Stomp for two, then a THIRD! Kyoko finally avoids a fourth and hits a last-ditch Lariat to buy herself some time- Hikari recovers first and calls her out, but whips her off the ropes like a dingus and gets lariated out of her boots for two. lol I mean what was her plan there? Hikari lands on her feet from the Niagara Driver but gets rapidly Bridging German’d, and Kyoko immediately whips her up into the proper Niagara Driver for three at (7:34 of 14:15 shown).

A very MOVEZ-centric match, given how it was clipped to just them hitting their upper-tier moves on each other. Why Hikari agreed to hit her Mega-Finisher (and the move that won her the JWP Title) THREE TIMES without scoring a pinfall is pretty nuts, because that was the craziest highlight reel move of the era and here’s Kyoko selling it, but still kicking out of everything, then just goes to what’s now her default- spamming Lariats and attempting her Niagara Driver until it works. She doesn’t even do the “Fight up from the pain to show how incredibly hard she’s trying and how brave she is for living through this” thing- she just takes move after move after move and then NOPE- it’s 2.5 count city until she hits too many lariats for them to survive. I had to ask around, and it was explained that Kyoko was so much higher on the food chain than Hikari was that Hikari beating her AT ALL earlier in the year was a big enough “rub” that it was probably the whole deal- she beats Kyoko once, then Kyoko crushes her decisively the second time. JWP, struggling mightily by this point, was probably in no position to protest.

The match seemed okay, but diminished compared to their last one from what I saw. It might be that Lioness Asuka is the only person who can drag true greatness out of Kyoko anymore. Checking back on their match from earlier in the year and it has most of the same spots- Kyoko selling damage, countering a whip to a big lariat, etc., only now a second and even a third Stomp can’t finish her.

Rating: *** (lots and lots of Move Beamspam, but nothing overly compelling, especially once it’s established that Hikari’s finishers are weak against Kyoko now)

Now we’re onto the Aug. 16th show, with Bass, ASARI, Kyoko & Fang hitting the Semi-Finals.

TOURNAMENT OF NEO STAGE 1998:
NICOLE BASS vs. CHAPARRITA ASARI:
* Oh jesus. Because of course. I think the commentator even says “mismatch” as the 6’2″ Bass comes out to Led Zeppelin against the 4’11” ASARI. I mean it’s kinda Booking 101 to throw in a “Freak Fight” like this. “ECW” gets namedropped a few times, as Bass was one of Justin Credible’s goons.

ASARI dropkicks Bass in the back, just annoying the giant, who just holds her arm out in a bored manner as ASARI just runs right into it like a Bugs Bunny villain would. Bass “whips” her to the corner (more like a shove) and puts her on the shoulders, walking around and flexing, but nearly gets caught by a victory roll. Bass is angered, but misses two more lariats, only to catch ASARI and drop her, causing an unrealistic amount of harm given it wasn’t even really a toss. But she picks up ASARI and hits the Chokeslam as the camera zooms in on ASARI’s very neutral, unworried and undazed expression just to make this even worse. Huge bump on the upper back, though, and Bass pins her at (1:57).

Rating: 1/4* (Shockingly better than the Mita match, if only because Bass sells some things- even if it’s annoyance and “gets moved in a victory roll”)

TOURNAMENT OF NEO STAGE 1998:
KYOKO INOUE (Neo) vs. FANG SUZUKI (JD’):
* Fang gets to the next round against Kyoko. Fang’s now in a blue & black version of Shark’s gear. Kyoko’s in the yellow & red this time.

Fang starts off with the metal pole right away, but Kyoko defiantly no-sells a shot to the gut, then a punch, then responds to being whipped off the ropes by Lariating Fang down and PINNING HER (0:15)! Shark talks shit on the mic after the match, leading to Kyoko charging her- the FMW goons attack and get thrown around, Shark escaping.

Rating: DUD (I mean, it’s not even a match!)

LIONESS ASUKA, LA HECHICERA & THE BLOODY (w/ Fang Suzuki & a masked goon) (Jd’) vs. LAS CACHORRAS ORIENTALES (Mima Shimoda, Etsuko Mita & Saya Endo):
* LCO have suffered a horrendous string of defeats on the 8/14 show, Mita jobbing in three minutes to Nicole Bass and Shimoda losing to ASARI in a drawn-out contest, but now they’re bringing their goon against Jd’s top wrestler Lioness Asuka and HER goons. I know The Bloody, and Hechicera is Yuki Miyazaki, a former JWP trainee who quit and went to Jd’. LCO has one fewer scrub than Asuka does, at least. Hechicera is tiny and in a leather two-piece, Bloody’s in red & black Idol-esque gear, and Asuka’s in a leather black, red & gold version of her usual gear- very elite. LCO is in a big hurry to get to the ring with very serious expressions- not their usual glee or disingenuous smiles. Endo’s in white & black, Shimoda’s in pink & Mita’s in pastel blue.

Mita tanks both The Bloody & Hechicera- a pair of LCO Bitch Poses follows, and Asuka’s team keeps interfering. Endo’s rookie-fu is interrupted by Asuka just crushing her with a chain, and she works the back, making sure to taunt LCO, then piledrives Endo while staring them down. Endo comes back on Bloody, but Fang uses that metal pole on her- LCO are being rather milquetoast in their reactions to this cheating. Shimoda finally chairshots Hechicera, but now ASUKA comes in with a chair and absolutely wrecks her when it bounces off Shimoda’s nose by accident. This gets played up after a token crowd brawl, as Shimoda hauls down Asuka and then roars to the crowd with her face looking horrific. Mita Blazing Chops Bloody for two and Endo hits a guillotine legdrop- Asuka’s team invades with weapons, but Shimoda can missile kick the chairs into Asuka & Bloody’s faces! It’s the Endo toss, Shimoda assisted tope con hilo & Mita dive!

Another crowd brawl leads to LCO doing the Guardrail Drop on the heel team, but Endo ass-plants trying another guillotine and with great timing, Lioness powerbombs her on a stack of chairs and Bloody nails a flying senton on the landing, and Hechicera lands a superplex & capture suplex- Mita saves! Flying back elbow from Bloody- two! Super facecrusher/powerbomb with Asuka- two! Ligerbomb- Mita saves. LCO saves Endo with chairs and Mita electric chairs Asuka! Things break down a bit as they seem to want to just pad this out after hitting this peak, and Shimoda’s Tiger Suplex nearly gets Hechicera, who counters Mita’s powerbomb but gets crushed with a Blazing Chop- man the crowd LOVES that spot. Mita’s DVD is countered, but she flips off Lioness and ducks so Hechicera gets clotheslined, then hits a big Kneeling Powerbomb- Lioness saves. LCO runs interference on the goons and Mita hits the big Death Valley Driver… but CRUSHER MAEDOMARI hits the ring with Shark Tsuchiya, taking out the ref! They cheer themselves on and then grind a barbed-wire stick on Mita’s forehead, then bash Shimoda with it until she’s a total wreck in the corner.

Lioness’s team seems to try and bust Mita open, but it doesn’t work- Mita’s so done she’s “collapsing” on whips, actually using it to avoid double-teams, getting a reaction when Lioness blasts her own goon with a chain. Everyone kinda tangles up a bunch as Mita takes two big chairshots (one unprotected)… but she dodges Shark’s stick and Lioness takes it and gets thrown right into the Death Valley Driver! Everyone’s dead as Mita’s selling is tremendous here, but when Shimoda grabs the wire-wrapped stick, ENDO tries to stop her for some reason (too much carnage?) and that results in a beating from Shark when she gets her weapon back. Guardrail Drop on Mita! And Lioness finishes her with the Ligerbomb at (24:14)- Lioness’s team wins. Dammit, Endo. Shimoda slaps her in the end and Endo bows to the fans as we’re out- I wonder how that story will develop.

A very weird match- okay start, then it gets clunky, then they start hitting awesome stuff on Endo to a peak… then it’s clunky again and people make random comebacks and tags to pad out the time. Then Mita gets things going on Heichicera, only for the FMW squad to attack and the match breaks down into a total mess of run-ins… then slows down again as Mita is worked on, then they tangle up again, and only then do we get to the ending. This one was interesting in that the “LCO Trios Template” is very clearly all about Endo taking ages getting pounded and the seniors having to mop up, which is kind of an odd dynamic as it ends up with them being heroes instead of cheating maniacs. Never mind that Endo sucks and isn’t anywhere near as good at selling or whining as Shimoda, who normally would be in that role in tags. But by the end, Endo has disappeared (she’s basically out of the last half of the match) and it becomes The Etsuko Mita/Lioness Asuka Show, as they do EVERYTHING (having been mostly saved until this point), Mita doing her best death-sell as she flops, rolls, and collapses off of everything and looks like she’s being killed out there. Ironically, as Shimoda’s the one who looks like a bloody wreck, Mita now does a great “Babyface Sell” where it looks like she’s worn down and courageous instead of the whiny heel selling LCO normally does.

Honestly, there was so much Mita & Asuka in the end that I wonder if Shimoda wasn’t too fucked up with her nose being busted to do anything, as you don’t normally see a trios match end up with only two people dominating the ring for almost ten minutes. But I did like how the vast heel army of G-MAX is able to wreck LCO’s game mostly by using their own tactics but in greater numbers- charging in with weapons and jacking up the ref are *LCO* tactics, but here’s Shark & Crusher costing them the win the same way, and Mita being unable to eat so many weapon shots and stay standing. The Guardrail Drop at the end was a nice touch.

Rating: *** (good in parts, lousy in parts, then gets messy periodically, but ends up with great selling from Mita and LCO having their own tactics used against them)

TOURNAMENT OF NEO STAGE 1998:
KYOKO INOUE (Neo) vs. NICOLE BASS:
* The final match. Both have had hilariously short nights so far- Kyoko having wrestled 15 seconds and Bass only 2 minutes. But Kyoko wrestled a full match with Hikari yesterday.

They actually pull off the point of the previous no-selling immediately, as Bass shrugs off two Kyoko lariats like they weren’t even there, but then, as I bitched about earlier, SELLS THE THIRD ONE, then gets rushed by more! Then there’s some bad bits where Bass doesn’t know what to do (like when Kyoko charges her in the corner and they just sorta bump off one another). Bass throws some “kicks” the way a 3-year old might, and her “hold the arm out” lariat looks ineffective despite Kyoko bouncing around and shouting out in pain. Kyoko gets forced down in a test of strength- she draws a pop for fighting back up, but before the fans can really explode Nicole just breaks her grip and nearly murders Kyoko with a huge release powerbomb that has Kyoko spiraling to the mat in what could have gone REALLY badly. Kyoko barely kicks out in one of her trademark last-ditch breaks, and eats the Chokeslam (but Nicole barely gets her up). She kicks out at one (!), but Nicole just hauls her up again, taunts her, and hits another Chokeslam for the pin at (4:50)! Nicole Bass wins the Neo Tournament!

Okay, this one paid off a LITTLE from the others, as Kyoko getting Bass to sell made up a bit for Mita & ASARI being unable to even harm the beast. Granted you shouldn’t have to make some of your promotion’s most prominent people look like Duane Gill fighting a Road Warrior in order to do that, but I’m not the booker. Here, Kyoko pulls off the all-important “gets them to sell the third shot” thing and has the monster reeling, then gets a few more reactions for stuff, but ultimately the short match length (no way can the newly-trained Bass do more than 5 minutes) works against the quality as they have to rush to the finish regardless. Probably for the best, given how Bass was 250 lbs. of raw steroids yet couldn’t throw strikes that looked like they could hurt anyone.

Rating: 1/2* (ALMOST looks interesting in parts, until Bass has to sell. Or throw strikes. Or even hit her finish, which Kyoko was apparently too big to take?)

So, uh, that was an interesting three nights of pro wrestling! Almost a year after Kyoko announces she’s leaving Zenjo, Neo Ladies runs this big tournament with a bunch of super-short matches. Las Cachorras Orientales, the #2 stars of Neo, are on job duty big-time as Shimoda puts over the generation 4 years later in ASARI, and Mita gets to look like an ineffectual jobber against a roid-monkey ECW newbie in her debut (this, after ECW’s guys swiped Mita’s finisher a dozen times over!). And then they go lose a match to G-MAX shenanigans! At least they have Endo to blame for that one.

Boy, I sure do wonder what the results of his huge Nicole Bass push will be! Surely they’ll have a pay-off that results in Kyoko getting her win back and looking amazing for beating that giantess, right? … Right? I… *checks Cagematch*. WHAT THE FU–? This was her only appearance in Japan!? She doesn’t wrestle again until April 1999 in the WWF! THEN WHAT WAS THE POINT OF ALL THIS?! She meaninglessly squashes three of the top four people in Neo, including the promotion’s Ace, and all for nothing! There is never any payoff for this! She just crushed them all and left forever! I can only imagine Neo HOPED she might come back, or that she was better than she was. Or maybe they were just going nuts because business was sucking. Evito sez that Bass’s agent said she didn’t get paid for expenses and so refused to ever work for them again, and tried to sell her services elsewhere, so let’s go with that.