Joshi Spotlight: AJW in September 1999

AJW IN SEPT. 1999:
* It’s time for some disparate AJW shows from September! Some feature actual stars vs. rookies, while one pays off the big Kyoko Inoue vs. Yumiko Hotta title switch from July! There, Kyoko was unknowingly helped by her friend Takako Inoue (no relation), who used a STUN-GUN to zap Hotta and leave her vulnerable to Kyoko’s finishers. Manami Toyota, a Zenjoy loyalist, hit the ring to talk mad shit on Takako for cheating in a Red Belt match (something that’s usually HIGHLY frowned upon, as the wrestlers take that belt very seriously), and now they’re gonna fight each other!

But the big selling point in this one is the GREAT Las Cachorras Orientales Tag Title defense against the rookie upstart duo of NanaMomo- the kids put on a hell of a fight and show a ton of heart against the big, cheating bruisers! Actually a lot of this review is just “here’s how good Momoe is getting”, which I’ve heard will be quite important for the future.

Sept. 20th:
* This show is from the Sept. 20th ATHENA TV show at Odaiba.

YUMIKO HOTTA & KUMIKO MAEKAWA vs. NANAE TAKAHASHI & MIYUKI FUJII:
* So the top two kickers in Zenjo take on midcard goobers Nanae & Miyuki. Probably a “put the kids in their place/show how much they’ve grown” match. Fujji’s got short hair and an LLPW-esque singlet that’s white/yellow/blue in a lot of bold angular patterns while Nanae’s wearing a weird white/purple singlet with triangles across the chest. Hotta’s in black & Kumiko’s in white/blue.

The youths attack from behind to start, but Kumiko comes back and boots Fujii with the most hilariously casual look on her face, like she isn’t even pissed- just doin’ work. Hotta of course no-sells all of Fujii’s strikes, but actually falls for the “LOOK OVER THERE!” trick and gets taken by surprise and worked over. But she eventually just quits selling to everyone’s amusement, suplexing her. Kumiko works her over a bit but gets rolled up, and Nanae hits a backbreaker on her but gets pump kicked for two. Fun bit as Nanae & Hotta actually do the “FAT GUY NO-SOLD SHOULDERBLOCKS” thing, because they’re about the same size, but Hotta just elbows her down and hits the rolling kick for two- good “flop over dead” sell by Nanae. Nanae avoids the Tiger Driver and hits a German, but misses her Vader Bomb, but both kids are able to drag down Hotta with a double-armbar. Vader Bomb gets two, but Nanae goes up and flies backwards into Hotta’s foot and Fujii has to save after a Tiger Driver. Nanae gets a POWER SLAP to stun Hotta, but she effortlessly no-sells Fujii’s missile kicks, only for Nanae to flatten both vets with a big running dive. Fujii scores a plancha and then a missile kick Doomsday Device into a bridging suplex for two on Kumiko, but gets booted in the face and the Ax Kick finishes her at (7:56)- Kumiko wins as soon as Hotta holds Nanae back.

Pretty much exactly the kind of match you’d expect it to be, but it amused the crowd, and it’s not like these two had much of a chance against the big stars. Watching Hotta no-sell probably annoyed old-school reviewers but fits her character and level compared to the kids, who had to work to make her sell and got a couple hope spots and fun moments. Just a solid way to spend ten minutes, I dunno. Fujii is a generic rookie who is kinda awkward, but Nanae has some good selling and decent recurring moves already.

Rating: **1/4 (inoffensive and fine)

JAPAN GRAND PRIX ’99:
MOMOE NAKANISHI vs. MIHO WAKIZAWA:
* Zenjo’s up & coming rookie takes on Momoe, who is actually from the same training class, but is way higher on the card. “Wacky” has an elaborate red, green & orange outfit that’s a real stand-out. Momoe’s in the usual white/blue.

Wacky hits a surprise German to start but flies onto feet, but nails some hooking clotheslines and a rolling headscissors, putting in a lot of effort. She gets a plancha, missile kick and flying splash, really working the Jobber-Fu, and Momoe blocks her perfect plex but misses a run-up moonsault. Perfect Plex gets two for Wacky. Momoe resists another and gets that moonsault for two, then dropkicks her to the floor and gets a run-up plancha. Moonsault to the floor! She resists Wacky’s counter and gets a German off the second rope, but Wacky gets some flaily counters and a flash-pin. She dropkicks Momoe out of a third run-up moonsault and lands a Fisherman’s Buster too close to the ropes and Momoe gets her leg on them. Wakizawa pulls her in for a proper finish, but this time Momoe rolls her up and then counters a whip to her Dragon Suplex for three at (6:51)- Momoe wins!

This was your everyday “The rookie gets all the offense so they look better in defeat” kind of match, as Momoe eats move after move as Wacky hits all the jobber-fu she can. Her style is interesting as it’s more or less the “Zenjo Default” but with tons of effort thrown in and someone who’s clearly a notch or two above pure rookies. But as the match goes on she gets flailier and flailier as technique goes and she’s just using effort instead of skill. I at least can buy that as offense accumulates and wrestlers are sore and get desperate- offense should look a little less “precise” as time ticks by and they’re getting wiped out, especially in a style as quick as Zenjo’s (in AJPW you notice guys generally work a slower pace so they don’t get to rely on that).

Rating: **1/2 (good solid midcard match- Wakizawa is more effort than skill at this point but Momoe’s a good baseline to build the match around and all her stuff was slick- good use of building up moves and then “missing the second/third attempt”)

JAPAN GRAND PRIX ’99:
MANAMI TOYOTA vs. TOMOKO WATANABE:
* This is clipped to less than three minutes. Tomoko’s in a BLUE tasseled outfit which looks way different. Aaaaaaaand oh no, this ISN’T clipped! Manami missile dropkicks Tomoko on the floor right after the bell and Tomoko immediately grabs her ankle in pain! Tomoko clearly mentions something to the referee and they have to tell Manami to stop dragging her by the hair. Tomoko is in tears as she’s carried off, Manami winning by forfeit at like (1:00). The story here is somewhat infamous, as Manami apparently responded to this dramatic misfortune by DOING HER RUNNING SPRINGBOARDS, apparently wanting to get her shit in so badly she was willing to do them to nothing. Like, she literally ran and springboarded off the ropes to the floor. That’s maybe the most “Manami Toyota” thing ever- “everyone came here to see me DO MY DIVES, so here you go!” when her coworker is beset by tragedy and badly hurt. At least that’s everyone’s take on it. Sadly we miss out on the flips here.

BATTLE ROYAL:
(Manami Toyota, Kaoru Ito, Momoe Nakanishi, Yumiko Hotta, Miho Wakizawa, Kumiko Maekawa, Nanae Takahashi, Miyuki Fujii, Yoshimi Shioya)
* Essentially everyone but Tomoko (RIP her leg) and Kayo Noumi (hurt today). These usually have a ton of comedy spots and are mostly “filler” rather than “further angles”. A reminder that these battle royals are pinfall/submission and allow dogpiling, so “flukes” are common.

Hilariously, everyone teams up on Yoshimi Shioya, a brand-new rookie, pinning her in a dogpile after four running moves in a row. And yup- Hotta kicks around Fujii & Wakizawa (also rookies), but they push her over when she grabs Fujii and everyone dogpiles and HOTTA is out. Everyone congratulates Fujii like she scored a legit win, but “Birthday Bumps” lead to her being dropped and dogpiled- Fujii out! People do dives onto the floor, so Manami prepares the most amazing spot EVER, climbing a ladder onto a mobile trailer to leap onto the dogpile in a ridiculous 12-foot dive… but it’s all a tease as everyone leaves and she has to stand there, laugh, and climb all the way back down. Everyone teams up on Kumiko, but then everyone flies onto Nanae when she’s in a figure-four, but Ito Flying Stomps KUMIKO and everyone piles onto the both of them and they’re out. Manami prepares to team with Wakizawa & Nakanishi against Ito, but instead everyone runs a train of stomps on Momoe, hitting like fifteen until Toyota surprises Ito with a missile dropkick and they pile on her for the pin. A bunch of rookies pile on Manami on the floor, but she counters Momoe’s run-up sunset flip and sits on her to pin her- Momoe’s sense of betrayal is great. This leaves Toyota with Wacky, and that’s only gonna go one way. Wacky takes some huge bumps with a Bridging German and a missile kick to the face, but kicks out after a Moonsault and avoids the Japanese Ocean Cyclone Suplex, hitting her Fisherman’s Buster for two. She hits a missile kick, but stupidly tries a victory roll, ending up with her wrists locked for the Japanese Ocean Cyclone at (11:31). Well she only had herself to blame for that one. Manami wins a trophy, but Nanae leads the other rookies in an “Oba-san!” chant, everyone calling the 27-year old “Grandma”.

Good, clean fun- none of the pins mean anything because it’s all dogpiling and even the veterans are pinned through this, but Manami picking on rookies is always funny. Though doing all the goof spots and then acting like Toyota won something real is quite strange- like Hotta is pinned second in a big dogpile and now Toyota gets a five-foot trophy and a long promo afterwards. It wasn’t exactly the Royal Rumble here!

Rating: **1/2 (hard to hate- it’s rare to find Puro Comedy that lands at all with me, but these are goofy and amusing)

Sept. 29th:
* This is taped from the Tokyo Ota-Ward Gymnasium, and is a bit above a House Show but doesn’t exactly look impressive- back to dark halls, but at least it’s lit so you can tell it looks full! The billed attendance is 3,750, which is probably an exaggeration but being able to even claim that is a huge win compared to 1996-98 shows! They’re starting to kinda fill shows again!

CHIKAKO SHIRATORI (Freelance) & KAYO NOUMI vs. YOSHIMI SHIOYA & MIYUKI FUJII:
* Chikako reappears in Zenjo, having trained there but quit for JD’… where she failed to really get over as an Idol-type wrestler and went freelance. She’s teaming with Noumi (from a later generation of rookies) against two total rookies. And Yoshimi Shioya brings back THE GLORIOUS ROOKIE SWIMSUIT! The infamous plain swimming outfit that makes people look like total scrubs! I love it! She apparently doesn’t stick around long, from what I hear, but returns later on and marries New Japan’s Koji Kanemoto. I thought she was Yoshimi Enya, but Quebrada was wrong (I AM BLAMELESS!). Chikako gets almost no reaction at all and everyone looks bummed to be here, haha.

Fun start as the “vets” have fun with a game of Torture The Newbie, Kayo actually stomping on the back of her head and Chikako pulling out the “boot-grinding”. Chikako uses a variation of the Muta Lock of all things until the kid finally rolls her up and bolts away. Chikako actually plays evasion to prevent Fujii from running wild off the “hot” tag and the two take turns biting each other, then they actually start DOUBLE-TEAMING Fujii. Chikako hits a DDT, but finally ends up taking some Fujii offense like her bridging suplex. Chikako does the quick bridge-out of a flying splash from Fujii and actually hits a TOMBSTONE of all things, and they trade rollups until an ugly German & La Majistral gets two- Shioya saves. Chikako hilariously just walks up and slaps Yoshimi to blast her off the apron and they finish off Fujii with a missile dropkick into a Bridging German at (6:49).

Pretty much what you’d expect, but utter dominance from the seniors, who give nothing and show real cruelty to the kids, reveling in beating and double-teaming them, rubbing in their superiority. The most interesting thing is just HOW LITTLE the rookies got- usually these matches would have token flurries of rookie offense for 2-3 minutes, often full of Shioya doing running dropkicks or Fujii getting some nearfalls or an impressive kick-out, but either they cut those out or they got NOTHING. The biggest reaction all match was for Shioya helping Fujii escape La Majistral.

Rating: * (seven minutes of a somewhat amusing torture-fest of incompetent rookies)

KAORU ITO & KUMIKO MAEKAWA vs. CHAPARRITA ASARI & MIHO WAKIZAWA:
* A weird mish-mash, as the freelance ASARI teams up with lower-tier Wakizawa against the proven upper-tier stars Ito & Maekawa. It’s in blue & black, Kumiko’s in white & blue, ASARI’s in a REALLY unique black outfit with white & red streaks across it (first time I haven’t seen her in Power Rangers gear in basically forever)and Wacky’s in yellow & orange.

The seniors jump the juniors before the bell, but a do-si-do sees them get dropkicked and Wacky starts going all-out in basic stuff to hold Kumiko down, trying to get the fans into it. It’s interesting contrasting this with the other show, as Kumiko actually has to sell this, even though she pretty handily escapes. Wacky actually looks like she’s going to cry taking some kicks to the back, then gets stretched out. Ito won’t sell ASARI’s dropkicks and just crushes Wacky with her stomp off the apron. ASARI finally gets in, messing up one cartwheel move (“Chotto”- the commentator) but hitting her Cartwheel Handspring Mule Kick, then gets kicked out of the second by Kumiko. Clipped to Wacky getting a perfect plex on Ito and ASARI comes off the top with a swinging rana for two. ASARI uses her speed but Ito rips her head off with a lariat for two, then a big powerbomb into a Ligerbomb hits- Wacky saves. Kumiko gets put on the floor and Wakizawa flies onto the seniors, but ASARI only hits her partner. The seniors get cocky and ASARI hits a Super Rana on Kumiko for two and Ito has to save- ASARI goes up to finish, but misses the Sky Twister Press and eats a variety of kicks. Funny bit as Kumiko realizes she’s out of position for the planned spot so kicks ASARI further to set up Wacky missile kicking her from behind on an Ax Kick attempt. ASARI gets a Northern Lights suplex for two, but Kumiko whiffs a rolling kick and gets a big Ax Kick for the pin at (9:03 shown). Huh- I would have guessed Wakizawa would be eating the pin.

What was shown was fine, competently-wrestled stuff but only Wakizawa was in top gear, as the others were like “hey, it’s just a house show”. Kumiko had her usual mix of “whiffed and good kicks” and ASARI was working okay. We probably had most of Ito’s stuff clipped out but what was there was sharp.

Rating: **1/4 (pretty ordinary match)

DOUBLE INOUE (Kyoko & Takako Inoue) vs. YUMIKO HOTTA & MANAMI TOYOTA:
* It’s a furthering of sorts to the dramatic 3WA Title Match that saw Kyoko win the Red Belt entirely because her friend Takako cheated on her behalf! Manami was enraged when Hotta lost the belt due to cheating, reaming out the Inoues, and now she’s teaming with Hotta to get some revenge! Everyone gets a pretty good reaction during intros- Takako’s may be the biggest as she brandishes her stun-gun.

Double Inoue attack before the bell, but Hotta quickly nails them both and Manami does the Mexican hat dance on Kyoko’s body (oh that does NOT look fun to take), but Kyoko herself manages a double-strike. Team AJW knock the others to the floor and commence a beatdown- Takako DDTs Hotta on the floor but immediately gets choked with a rope while Manami runs a row of chairs into Kyoko. Clipped to Manami escaping a powerbomb but getting turned inside-out with Kyoko’s lariat, landing in a hilarious pile of limbs.

She barely kicks out, but bridges out after two Destiny Hammers (flying knees) from Takako, who tries “boxing” but eats the Pumphandle German for two. This must be late because Manami is selling BIG-TIME and can barely get up. Takako’s “boxing” punch totally flattens her for two, then they hit their finisher- the Doomsday Niagara Driver/Super Chokeslam (though it looks like ass since Takako does the “barely touch them” version). Hotta breaks up the pin so they Double-DDT her on the floor, but that lets Manami cannonball the both of them from the top rope, and a recovered Manami hits the Japanese Ocean Cyclone Suplex on Takako- Kyoko saves. Hotta goes to dust off Takako, but ends up flat-backing off a backfist (HOTTA is selling Takako’s strikes, lol), but Hotta manages a Tiger Driver on Kyoko for two. Takako breaks up a jujigatame but Manami wipes the Inoues out with a missile kick, and everyone keeps breaking up everything. Hotta scores a Ligerbomb, then Kyoko, then Kyoko again, but Hotta gets a triangle choke. Kyoko makes the ropes and fights her into a third Ligerbomb, then finishes her off with the Victoria Driver (release inverted DVD) at (9:32 shown).

Well this was less “revenge” and more “they do a bunch of stuff then the match descends into chaos” as all four are in the ring for the last 4-5 minutes, just constantly breaking up every move without much flow to it. Watching “MMA Takako” is getting increasingly funny, as she’s now battering YUMIKO HOTTA around- the woman who infamously wouldn’t sell anyone’s strikes for years unless they were on her tier. As Takako isn’t exactly credible as a striker it’s pretty weird to see, but Hotta obviously likes her IRL enough to flat-back off a backfist like a champ, making it look killer, then sell a “combo” of feather-light punches. The last bit of the match was scrappy, but MoveSpam without much thought behind most of it- not really many nearfalls that the fans would bite on, either (no way a single Ligerbomb or even two were gonna do it). Also, given how much Takako brandished the stun-gun and how important it was to the title match, why wasn’t it here? Unless it was in the stuff clipped out.

Rating: **3/4 (they’re all too good for this to be BAD, but it was mostly chaos and Move Beamspam instead of good character stuff or believab

WWWA TAG TEAM TITLES:
LAS CACHORRAS ORIENTALES (Mima Shimoda & Etsuko Mita) vs. NANAMOMO (Momoe Nakanishi & Nanae Takahashi):
* !!!!!! The Rookie Upstart Squad gets a title shot against LCO! So LCO’s “run through every promotion, ultimately putting over some rookies” run is a big part of their legend, and it usually starts out by them demolishing the undercard first. Hence these two. Meanwhile, a huge part of Momoe’s legend is being spiked onto the top of her skull from the top rope by LCO themselves. She & Nanae are in matching white tiger-striped singlets, looking like total dweebs against the superstar veteran duo, who are in their purple & white elaborate gear.

FIRST FALL: Hot start right out of the gate as LCO divebomb the kids and just LAUNCH them to the floor, immediately impressing the fans with real work and effort being put in. Clipped to LCO hitting their Double Chokeslam/Superbomb off the top rope on Nanae and Momoe having to save. But she flies off the top into her own partner and Mita crushes Nanae with the Death Valley Driver at (0:52) to win quickly.

SECOND FALL: Nanae is still dead so Momoe has to save her from another DVD, and then Shimoda pops right in with a banana-yellow chair and bludgeons Nanae to death, leaving her collapsing off a whip. LCO dump the kids for another arena brawl but rapidly we’re in the ring for a vicious GUARDRAIL DROP, made spectacular by Referee Bob getting fucking crushed between that and the chairs and being deceased as a result. Great selljob by him, too, haha- dude got MERKED. Momoe spikes Shimoda with a German but Mita hits her with the most beautiful chair to the gut I’ve ever seen- that swing is like something you’d use in a video game. Just BLAM! But Mita accidentally chairs Shimoda and gets German’d, and a bloody Nanae hits a Falcon Arrow! Bob barely struggles over to count… and Shimoda just kicks him in the face from the ground hahahahahaah fuck I love LCO. Momoe hits a great missile kick to annihilate Mita from behind, getting the tag and firing off a Dragon Suplex on Shimoda… who roars to life, no-selling it once, then twice, and scores her ax kick into the Somersault Ax Kick only for Nanae to chairshot her in the ass. Turnabout is fair play! Momoe hits a run-up moonsault for two, but gets dropkicked by her own partner… but Nanae hits a Falcon Arrow into Momoe’s Dragon Suplex and that GETS THE PIN (4:56) as the kids do a great come from behind win!

THIRD FALL: Momoe starts hot with Shimoda, but gets chaired by Mita from the apron and takes the Tiger Suplex… but gets a pop by just charging up and meeting Mita at the corner, gets Blazing Chopped… then rushes up and DECKS HER, roaring to life and no-selling! But Mita still Chops her down a second time- I love her gradually being forced into selling but just beasting past it for the most part- Momoe is TINY compared to her. NanaMomo actually come back and put LCO on the floor, but Mita piledrives Momoe through a table! Mita gets an absolutely monstrous Ligerbomb on two chairs and thankfully the ref refuses to count, saving that spot because Momoe looks like a corpse (one chair swung up and CRACKED her on the landing). Great sequence sees Momoe actually flip onto her feet from a DVD attempt, but get SLAPPED yet turns a powerbomb into a fast Manami Roll for a close count. Mita stoically drags her over for the electric chair drop, but Nanae snap-Germans her and in a great bit releases her “pin” just as Momoe flips over to complete it for another two. Mita is now hurting, but Nanae’s Flying Back Senton hits her knees- Mita springs up but eats a double-team Bridging German for two, getting her toe on the ropes. LCO overwhelm Nanae but try their double-team finisher and Shimoda somersault ax kicks MITA when Nanae moves. Nanae tries to finish, but an exhausted Mita Blazing Chops away and Shimoda tries to pummel Nanae… who is TOO DURABLE and shrugs her off, backdrop suplexing her! But Shimoda dodges Momoe’s run-up moonsault and tries the Death Lake Driver (tiger superplex), but Momoe lands on top of her and hits a Dragon Suplex and Mita chairshots her RIGHT on the “3” so it doesn’t count. Holy CRAP that was close. Momoe gets a run-up sunset flip for another super-close one (the fans bought it as the finish), but a wiped out Momoe misses a shot and eats a red chairshot- the DVD/Ax Kick nearly finishes except Nanae runs in. Mita takes care of her and the Death Lake Driver finishes at (6:45). LCO retains! The kids tried their best and scored a ton of really close calls, but just couldn’t deal with their damage soak and cheating.

A really good, fun David vs. Goliath match, with Momoe being this awesome spitfire of energy. She really gets the fans into things with her “NO I NO-SELL YOUUUUUUUU!” defiance, and LCO handle it perfectly, either roaring back or Mita just steadily Godzilla-ing through all her shit and bowling her over again. It makes for some great comebacks, and her speed and precision make her more convincing against the giant LCO. I also love her “lunge” sell where she eats a shot to the gut and collapses inwards while leaping backwards. The first fall was just the heels overwhelming the kids and scoring an easy, quick one, and the second one was the perfect “totally one-sided beating setting up the miracle comeback” as NanaMomoe eat all this offense and are dying on their feet but have so much energy they can quickly snap up some pin attempts. The third fall has everyone pretty beaten down as LCO tears the kids to pieces with increasingly bigger moves, but still eat those quick comebacks. The only thing holding this back from ****-territory is a few slow bits and “okay, now what?” moments as they move to the next thing. And Nanae also wasn’t really that big a help in the match- it was almost all Momoe doing everything.

Rating: ***3/4 (another fantastic “LCO overwhelm their foes” match as they work as great heavies to bully the rookies but just can’t finish them off until the very end, with so many hope spots that have the crowd biting)le near-falls)