Joshi Spotlight: ARSION Starlet ’99

https://archive.org/details/arsion-03-16-04-14-1999-starlet-99

It’s another one on Archive.org.

HYPER VISUAL FIGHTING ARSION- STARLET ’99:
(March & April 1999)
* It’s time for more ARSION! In another heavily-clipped assortment of matches! From two shows in mid-March and mid-April!

March 16th, 1999:

REGGIE BENNETT vs. LA GALACTICA: An entertaining clusterfuck of styles, with newly-skinny Reggie taking on the grey-clad luchadora. After a couple of ugly-looking, super-slow sequences Reggie spins Galactica around and finishes her with the Global Bomb (spinning ligerbomb) (0:31 of 5:22 shown).

HIROMI YAGI vs. EMIKO KADO:
* The rookie who tragically dies on April 9th (ie. before the second half of this tape!) takes on Yagi, who recently brought ARSION champion Mariko Yoshida to the limit! Yagi’s in gold & black, Kado’s in black shorts and a shirt.

Yagi pretty easily handles the rookie, nearly putting on a jujigatame & anklelock, but Kado stands up out of it and tries a leghold- Yagi just smirks at it and stands up. Kado avoids some submissions, effortlessly escapes everything. Yagi actually gets a pretty full extension on a jujigatame and the kid won’t tap, getting a pop for turning it over- Yagi slams her and tries a splash like a dumbass, missing and eating dropkicks. She bridges out and snags the arm when the kid tries a schoolboy- Kado barely escapes and eats a missile kick, but catches Yagi with a side kick for a close two, and Yagi’s pin is countered to another close one, but Kado overreaches and gets backdrop suplexed into a jujigatame and has to tap at (6:14).

Kado put up a good fight and looked like she was doing well, being able to trade submissions stuff pretty easily, but Yagi was too dominant and crushed her, easily able to spin and swing out of anything the kid did. Actually it’s kind of interesting because I can’t recall seeing a lot of Grapplefuckery Squash Matches before- usually it’s the standard “lots of running dropkicks” stuff, but they kept in only a couple of nearfalls and it was mostly submissions. RIP Emiko Kado, who was looking pretty good for a rookie before her untimely death due to in-ring injury.

Rating: *1/2 (actually really good as squashes go, as Kado tried hard but was just too far out of her league against a superior grappler)

AYAKO HAMADA & MIKA AKINO vs. MARI & FABI APACHE:
* The Apache sisters take on ARSION’s rookie squad in what might actually be somewhat contested. Mari’s in black, Fabi’s in Hopi (?- looks sorta close on Google but the image quality here bites) print, Akino’s in black & Hamada’s in blue.

We’re clipped to the kids being showcased, hitting stereo dives and Ayako punishing Mari (thankfully the ref calls her name so I know which is which). They get twin splashes and Ayako gets a showcase of moves and crowd-pleasing stuff against Fabi, then randomly hits a sleeper but gets double-teamed. Mari gets a variety of submissions and the Apaches get lucha stuff- clipped to Mari’s tope con hilo to both. Fabi & Akino trade lightning-fast pin attempts and Hamada misses her springboard moonsault and a Powerbomb/Flying Senton gets a close one. Hamada roars to life with a headbutt, perfect plex and springboard… somersault ass slam (ouch) for two, and Akino runs into a powerbomb but gets a huge jujigatame that’s sold big. She tries repeatedly but Mari ligerbombs her, but Ayako comes in to stop a double-team and we get a trademark INSANE Akino spot, as she gets leapfrogged into the corner by Mari, who stalls out and stands there to catch her as Akino literally leaps backwards off the second rope and snaps her with a blind Rey-style bundle-up hurricanrana for the pin at (9:36 of 12:41 shown).

This came off like a love letter to Hamada, as they show almost entirely her offense and then her selling, then her comeback, then her saving Akino. Though the final spot was all Akino, though Mari telegraphed it badly by just standing there, stalling out and holding her arms up ready for the catch. It was fine, but rather disjointed, like they didn’t really have a plan beyond “beat on Ayako with random stuff” and were eventually just kinda throwing out stuff (like the Apache offense has THREE powerbombs in it- shake it up a bit!). Never mind that nobody really sold for long and just made insta-comebacks full of perfectly-normal wrestling.

Rating: ** (some exciting stuff, but mostly a collection of cool-looking moves)

RIE TAMADA vs. YUMI FUKAWA: It’s a rematch of the bout from last show! Yumi was badly injured and couldn’t wrestle on her messed up ankle, but showed FIGHTING SPIRIT~~ by fighting through the pain, only to have the ref break her heart by calling it off for her own safety. We’re clipped to Rie hitting a missile dropkick to the floor then flinging Yumi all over the ring with missile kicks. Yumi nearly catches her with an arm & leg flash-pin but gets caught with the Dragon Suplex for the pin (1:27 of 13:24 shown). This seemed like it should have been this big, dramatic thing with a healthy Yumi but oh well- just clips!

MARIKO YOSHIDA vs. MICHIKO OMUKAI:
* It’s the Queen of ARSION against upstart Omukai! Michiko made a grandstand challenge last show when Yoshida beat Hiromi Yagi. Time to see if Yoshida’s carrying ability can deal with the gawky, leg-flinging Omukai. This is non-title and massively clipped.

We’re right at Omukai beating Yoshida down with kicks, then the camera catches a HUGE whiff (a knee misses by a foot) into a Tiger Suplex for a “last-ditch kickout” (Yoshida is good at pumping her legs for a failed kickout then doing a last burst to “desperately escape”). Yoshida tangles her up and Omukai escapes the Modified Sleeper, then Yoshida an abdominal stretch (haha, THAT’s a highspot they leave in?)- Yoshida goes nuts to press her, but Omukai catches her FLUSH with a spinkick. Omukai does the “Idol Scream of Effort” but charges right into the Air Raid Crash (over-the-back inverted ddt) into the Modified Sleeper for the tap-out at (3:18 of 14:28 shown). Post-match, Omukai is defiant and angry, throwing the mic at Yoshida and then crawling off. Looked like the standard “Yoshida pretends like the upstart has a huge chance and is pressuring her, but fires off a last-second comeback” thing.

AJA KONG & CANDY OKUTSU vs. HIKARI FUKUOKA & MIKIKO FUTAGAMI:
* Hikari pops up in ARSION! The JWP Champion and Ace for 1997-99, Hikari is real-life best friends with Candy and was someone Rossy Ogawa wanted for ARSION. However, the month before she jobbed the JWP Title to Azumi Hyuga, setting off JWP’s new era! This is pretty much a “last ride” kind of thing as she does some guest shots elsewhere. She comes down in her animal-print & aquamarine cowboy outfit. Gami’s in black & orange. Aja’s in purple/black & Candy’s dressed like 1995 Diesel.

Candy/Gami go, then the Aja/Hikari showdown everyone wants to see- Aja yanks on Hikari’s hair, and Hikari gets a bad rollup. Aja gets infuriated by her throwing back kicks and swats her, but Hikari dominates Candy, who appears to have buggered her knee a bit somehow. Aja bludgeons Hikari, lariating her after a moonsault dodge. Hikari nearly tries a Space Flying Tiger Drop (!) but Candy kicks her in the head from the apron, but Hikari cartwheels through a double-team and ranas Aja for two. There’s some ugliness and Candy ligerbombs Hikari for two, and they trade tough-girl lariats and Hikari counters Candy’s defiance with a POPEYE PUNCH~~. Gami gets a stunner and lariat for two, but Aja sets up a super rana from Candy. Gami gets a slick trip on Aja and dodges her flying elbow, then sets up one last crazy Hikari moonsault to the floor on Aja & Candy. Gami actually gets a full Dragon Suplex on Aja for two, impressing the fans, but Hikari can’t get her Tiger Driver and moonsaults onto Aja’s feet. Aja gets three straight backdrop drivers for two, but climbs up and Gami launches her off so Hikari can hit her Rider Kick somersault missile kick! Hikari lands a Moonsault and a flying stomp, but misses the Moonsault Stomp and Candy Germans her and Aja gets the Brainbuster for two. Candy limps into her Moonsault Trio, but misses a flying headbutt. Candy climbs after her and hits a superduperplex into Rolling Germans for two, but Hikari magically springs up for a Tiger Driver. Gami hits a pumphandle front slam, then impressively palm-thrusts Candy off the top and follows with a flying elbow for two. Gami hits a gutwrench suplex to set up the Moonsault Stomp from Hikari, but takes forever to set up a pumphandle ligerbomb, getting two. Candy is going dead-weight on everything, but Futagami finally blasts her with a backfist into a Running Palm Strike, pinning her easily with a knee on the chest at (21:03). Okay I was expecting Hikari to get something good, not have the match be a showcase for Futagami, BUT…

This was largely just a “collection of random stuff” with not much of a story- just people doing things and Hikari getting in her “greatest hits” and kicking out of everything they threw at her, and sometimes people bumping into each other. Candy appeared to be a bit hurt as she limped a lot while that wasn’t in the story of the match, and every time someone had to reverse, there was often a period where someone just bolts upright and stands there ready to take a move- clunky stuff (that tends to happen when an “invader” comes in to a bunch of people used to fighting each other). And there was some odd construction- lots of beating on Candy, but then Hikari eats tons of offense (without looking desperate or extra-agonized), then is just gone for the last minutes of the match as Futagami just calmly takes Candy apart. The match lacked manic energy- instead of desperate kickouts or run-ins, people just slowly worked there way into big moves, then failed to get the three.

Rating: **3/4 (okay without being great- more of a collection of stuff. A bit clunky at worst and poorly-constructed with some good moves at best)

FIVE MINUTE SPECIAL MATCH:
HIKARI FUKUOKA vs. MIKIKO FUTAGAMI:
* I guess this means Hikari takes on her tag partner- this is a semi-common joshi thing when someone’s about to retire. They win a match but then have to wrestle a “real last match” against their buddy. Gami just makes the challenge after the match, and everyone has a laugh at the announcer for not calling it “5 Minutes” (both girls and the ref hold up “5” with their hands).

Hikari gets to rest while Gami works submission stuff on her, then slaps free with some potatoes and hits a JB Angels armdrag into a cartwheel elbow, but Gami just catches her and muscles her into a nasty-ass German. Gami wastes time and taunts so an EXHAUSTED Hikari can get her bearing, and Hikari just hits a suplex into a Moonsault, but misses the Stomp and gets Palm Striked. Pumphandle Ligerbomb gets two and now FUTAGAMI hits a Moonsault for two, but misses a second and slowly rolls to the matt off a Rider Kick for two. They trade rollups and Time Expires at (5:00). Then Sakie Hasegawa (ex-Zenjo wrestler, now working for ARSION behind the scenes) shows up and she and Hikari trade shots while laughing until Azumi counters one with a big Uranage, then Aja comes in and SHE gets Uranage’d, and Gami & Sakie hold her down for Hikari to hit a Moonsault Stomp and they both count three and the bell rings, as everyone’s just having a fun time.

APRIL 14th:
* So five days after Emiko Kado’s death, they run another show in Korakuen. Everyone’s out in yellow jerseys with “KADO” written on the back and her license number 18.

AJA KONG & LA GALACTICA vs. FABI & MARI APACHE: Shockingly a one-sided clip-job of the Apaches stretching their opponents, missing moonsaults and kicking out of La Majistrals, then pinning Galactica with a Michinoku Driver at (0:37 of 6:38 shown). Aja calls out Michiko Omukai after the match.

HIROMI YAGI vs. YUMI FUKAWA:
* Fukawa’s “tryhard” gimmick gets another chance, this time against Yagi, in silver. Fukawa’s in black.

Fukawa doesn’t do that well at first in this clipped bout, but struggles HARD and pulls Yagi into a wheelbarrow German. Yagi tries to jujigatame her off the top, so Fukawa improvises a SUPER Stone Cold Stunner, which I don’t think I’ve ever seen before, but she just goes for a missile kick after. Leg-trap German gets two, then she PROCURES THE CROSSFACE CHICKENWING, Yagi struggling for a while in that. Yagi whips her off the top with a powerbomb and hits a NASTY backdrop driver counter, but Fukawa gets a pop for escaping a jujigatame, gets her own, but then kinda messes up some stuff and Yagi taps her out to a jujigatame at (6:47 of 10:43 shown). Not a bad little match, but they’d clip things mid-move at points so it’s hard to assess. Yagi looked the best, with Fukawa making little mistakes at the end like trying a flipping-juji but losing her grip, them doing the “awkward stumble” into moves.

Ratin: ** (looked fine but quite filler-y)

AJA KONG vs. RIE TAMADA: Clipped to Rie dominating with speed, and Aja no-selling a German but a Dragon suplex getting two. Aja gets a German, Rie ducks an Uraken, but Aja catches her with a quick one and finishes with the Brainbuster at (1:56 of 9:27 shown). Looking like every Rie match- competent but nothing interesting.

AJA KONG vs. MICHIKO OMUKAI: Omukai fought Aja to the bring in ARSION’s debut show, with Aja working overtime to carry Omukai and sell her strikes as a legit threat, and Omukai’s fit into the ARSION midcard ever since, only ever looking good a couple times. Michiko, in black, comes right for Aja amidst the ribbon-tossing and hits a spinkick. A brawl takes them to the floor, but we’re clipped to Omukai fighting up after a backdrop driver and manages two high-kicks RIGHT to Aja’s head, and those look much better than the typical “puro head kick”, albeit they’re quite slow. Clipped to Aja no-selling a German and hitting her Brainbuster for Omukai’s “Token Big-Move Kickout”, then Omukai does the same after two big lariats, and Aja has to resort to the Uraken at (1:58 of 5:07 shown). Looked okay for a “tired Aja” match as she works three times and has to put over Omukai, who just gets the “fighting hard but can’t seal the deal” run.

AI FUJITA DEBUT MATCH:
AYAKO HAMADA & MIKA AKINO vs. CANDY OKUTSU & AI FUJITA:
* It’s time for another rookie debut! And thankfully this one goes a lot better than poor Emiko Kado’s did. Seriously, imagine THAT weighing on Fujita’s mind for this one- just starting out her wrestling career and her classmate dies in the ring. Fujita kisses a Doraemon plush toy and places it next to Kado’s picture before the match. She’s in a white two-piece outfit with hot pants and a REALLY high belly-shirt, a bit like Hamada’s own signature gear, and backflips into the ring to show off her acrobatics. Candy’s dressed like Diesel again, Akino’s in a black sports top & shorts and Hamada’s in a white & blue two-piece. The psychology will be a bit interesting, as Candy way outranks everyone here, but Fujita has zero credibility against the “Super Rookies” of mid-1998.

A unique opening shot sees Candy scream to “startle” Hamada, who then gets rana’d by the rookie and they trade rapid-fire trips to a pretty appreciative audience response. Candy/Akino go, leading to an extended “Fujita sells” bit- she doesn’t do a good job at this part, just kinda grimacing and turtling up- no big body movements, no screaming, etc. That’s now how a rookie should sell! Even a sharpshooter crossed with a bow & arrow with Akino jabbing her nose doesn’t get anything out of her. haha the guy at the desk keeps having to stand the Doraemon toy up. Eventually Fujita just springs to life and headscissors Hamada to the floor. Hamada immediately scores a lionsault & perfect plex on Candy and tags out like nothing, then they hit stereo dives and dual splashes to Candy get two. Hamada’s super rana & Akino’s regular rana hit, but Candy escapes and Fujita takes another beating. Hamada’s springboard moonsault almost goes REALLY bad (she slips but manages to flip quickly) and Fujita almost gets out of the way in time so she pops up and gets a moonsault. Hamada nails her own partner, but Fujita gets her first big reaction by ignoring Akino and diving onto Hamada on the floor instead! Candy then “shakes the ropes” to trip Akino out of a run-up counter and lariats her. Then, in a big ending, Candy starts her Moonsault Trio… but tags out to Fujita, who eggs the fans on to a clapping start, then hits a *450 Splash* and pins Akino at (11:20 of 12:32 shown), winning her first bout! Humorously Candy had pulled Akino in closer but Fujita overshot it almost exactly that amount and drove her knees into the chest and faceplanted.

This had a LOT of similarities to Ayako Hamada’s debut in mid-1998. An untested but attractive young rookie in a skimpy outfit comes out and does a lot of flips and tries to get over immediately. Here it at least wasn’t a botchfest, but it was mostly Ai & Candy being brutalized with ease by HamaKino. A bigger issue is that Fujita can’t sell yet- she has zero vocalizations when being stretched and doesn’t physically react to things so much as turtle up and make scrunchy faces- a proper rookie needs to SCREAM or at least thrash around. Because if the selling isn’t done right, then the offense doesn’t get over, nor does the “fighting rookie” thing work, which is the poing of having a rookie eat offense. BUT they do give her a big pin, which shows something. And since Akino herself is still young it isn’t like the worst injustice. Especially since Hamada I guess died from that dive, as she didn’t return for like 3 minutes.

Rating: ** (perfectly fine, though it seems like they were aiming for way higher- it ended up being mostly half-hearted selling and HamaKino “Doing Moves”)

They do a LONG thing at the end with Fujita crying with joy, hugging who I presume to be her mom, etc., and she’s in the ring thanking HamaKino as well. Fujita ends up with a 5-6 year career, so I guess she turns out! They give her props and hug it out, and this might be the formation of the stable CAZAI between the four women- I think Fujita said it once or twice.

QUEEN OF ARSION TITLE:
MARIKO YOSHIDA vs. MIKIKO FUTAGAMI:
* So ARSION has spent 1998-99 building up a few wrestlers- building Omukai from nothing to “credible midcard striker”, pushing Candy to the mains, and giving Fukawa an “underdog spitfire” push… but Futagami was also pushed heavily during all that time, bringing Aja “to the limit” and more. So now it’s her turn to get the “Can Yoshida put them over in defeat?” thing, made interesting but the built credibility of her as a striker (her Shotei palm strike is deadly) and grappler (she’s pushed as one of the best at strangling). Gami’s in a blue top & shorts, while Yoshida’s in the black & red Spider-Woman gear.

Yoshida tries for a headlock and to sneak in the Air Raid Crash (behind-the-back cradle inverted ddt), but Gami nopes out. Gami tries kicks but gets caught & taken down, and Yoshida aims for her other finisher- the Modified Sleeper (where she holds the person against her bent thigh), but Gami finally catches her with an elbow and snaps her down with a good STO, but runs right into a low uranage for two. Gami turns another Air Raid attempt into an abdominal stretch, then threads Yoshida’s momentum into a rolling cradle, stopping to bend Yoshida’s ankle across her shinbone! Yoshida howls in that one, repeatedly shifting weight to relieve pressure, and finally makes the ropes and takes Gami down into a jujigatame attempt, then another- Gami struggles in those, but snaps off a Russian legsweep to buy herself some time, but Yoshida hits a stunner out of a sleeperhold, only to stay flustered and end up Dragon suplexed for two.

Yoshida does that classic side-eyed “almost got me, dammit!” look, but Gami rolls through her fujiwara attempt and hits a SHOTEI, then another and lariats her for two with a high-stack, then misses a rolling kick but busts her with a high one to counter a charge, into the Pumphandle Ligerbomb for two! Yoshida is in a bad way, but keeps finding little shots to stay alive, and pops off a sudden Air Raid Crash for two. She wraps her leg around Gami’s head and twists away, finally fighting her into the Modified Sleeper, and the ref keeps having to dart in to check Gami for signs of life. Gami is fading, but Yoshida can’t angle it right and finally Futagami stuns her with a stretch muffler! Oh that was NICE. Yoshida has to burst into the ropes to break, but is caught with a Shotei and her Air Raid is taken down into a weird (probably improvised cuz Yoshida wasn’t in a pinning pose on the landing) hold and Gami threads it into the Crippler Crossface. Gami fights for a sleeper & a juji, then a brainbuster gets two. Gami tries another pin, then STANDS UP after eating another Air Raid… but Yoshida does the same after another brainbuster, only to stumble badly into the ropes like her body just can’t handle it in a pretty great bit of psychology. She roars defiantly but Gami looks headthier, but Yoshida manages to stun her with a boot and roll her into a nasty arm & headscissors, and that gets the tap-out at (15:49 of 19:13 shown).

An interesting match dynamic, as Yoshida largely dominates at first, but then sells every Futagami move like a “potential win”, barely kicking out before “3” each time. They don’t do the usual “fight for superiority” thing because Yoshida just dominates her every time it goes to the mat. Weirdly, instead of slick holds and counters it’s more “fight them slowwwwwwwly into the hold you want, but they don’t sell it like it’s flush” and so you get these long, dramatic fights while technically in the hold. Yoshida does a great job fighting from beneath, though, spending the last 4/5 of the match on her back and “barely staying in it”, flop-selling, barely kick out, desperately making the ropes, etc. It’s effective enough that the crowd is biting on it, which is exactly how you want them to react to Champ vs. Midcarder matches. Though the grappling wasn’t really pretty and the whole “they slide around trying to fully apply the move” stuff kind of just ends up with them rolling around while the occasional fan yells, the nearfalls were good enough (though Yoshida is kind of TOO over-wrought in her flaily “oh my god I’m SO STUNNED” selling) that they fought into a very good match in the end.

Rating: ***1/2 (some clunkiness but lots of good near-falls with Futagami looking dangerous most of the time)

All in all, another good ARSION show. Fujita has a lot of athletic potential and we got another good “Yoshida puts over another midcarder in defeat” thing. Fukawa is still hovering, and Omukai’s push/improvement isn’t really apparent either, though.