Joshi Spotlight: AJW in Feb. 2000

FEB. 11th SHOW:
* This is all from the same show, taking place Feb. 11th at Korakuen Hall. Featuring several weird mish-mash matches (Hotta & rookie Fujii vs. Takako Inoue and COMMAND BOLSHOI? Manami Toyota & Kaoru Ito teaming with Dynamite Kansai of JWP against two Class of ’95 JWP girls and AJW’s Wakizawa?), culminating in an All Pacific Title match between Kumiko Maekawa and JWP’s top wrestler, Azumi Hyuga! Also it has Las Cahorras Orientales against Tomoko Watanabe & Nanae Takahashi!

YUMIKO HOTTA & MIYUKI FUJII vs. TAKAKO INOUE & COMMAND BOLSHOI:
* This is a weird one- Hotta is one of Zenjo’s top stars, and she’s teaming with it’s lowest-end rookie against the freelancer Takako and… JWP’s clown wrestler Command Bolshoi? A weird pair the spares match. Takako cost Yumiko the belt last year, and lost to her in a title match, so there’s some history. Also they were a great tag team in the early ’90s. The match is pre-faced by the JWP President and AJW President coming out to greet the fans- haha Matsunaga looks likea Japanese version of my grandpa. That plaid shirt with the giant pockets over grey slacks. Takako’s in black & Bolshoi’s in red & gold, looking like a Power Ranger (er. Sentai, since this is Japan). Hotta’s in black & Fujii’s in yellow & blue. With a more slender look and black leather on, Takako looks basically exactly the same as she does now. Like, still wrestling 25 years later.

Bolshoi easily handes Fujii with a slingshot move and Takako handily bullies her for a while until Hotta comes in, no-selling some kicks and taking her down. Takako eats a piledriver but keeps countering powerbomb-type moves and actually hits her backfist on Hotta, surprising her enough that Fujii tags in and fires off a bunch of right hands while Takako tries to cover up, then clearly gets sick of it and just trucks Fujii with her own, haha. Takako hits a powerbomb, looking annoyed on the kickout, but misses her Destiny Hammer (flying knee) and gets nailed by three straight vertical suplexes for two. Man, Fujii is so stiff when she does this- like awkwardly straight. Takako gets sick of selling for her and fires off more punches, drawing Hotta in- she & Bolshoi get tied up so Takako finishes Fujii with a big backfist, Fujii tipping over like a tree at (4:25 of 13:42). lol, way to help, Hotta. Glad that 4’11” clown was so difficult to pry off you couldn’t be bothered to help the rookie.

This was one of those “just an exhibition” types of things, and cut down to the point where ONLY one aspect of the match was shown- the long beatdown on Fujii, her one bit of offense, and Takako easily killing her with strikes. “MMA Takako” is not exactly her best work, but at least it’s more believable against the kid. Fujii is still pretty bad, of course- awkard, unathletic and ramrod-straight on all her movements, so she stinks. At least she’s not out of position for stuff, though. But it’s funny seeing this match showcase ONLY her & Takako, as Hotta is barely there and Bolshoi sees 20 seconds of use. Obviously the TV people wanted to emphasize Fujii (the company’s only real rookie) for the future.

Rating: * (just a handful of stuff and a finish- huge chunks are missing)

DEVIL MASAMI & KAYO NOUMI vs. ACUTE SAE & TSUBASA KURAGAKI: Good lord, this is a weird one. Noumi’s a Zenjo wrestler teaming with a huge legend in a past-her-prime Masami. The other two are JWP rookies. The match is heavily clipped to Noumi eating a ton of moves from the kids. Noumi and Sae go through some BRUTAL sequences full of screwed-up flash pins (the kid doesn’t go down for a backslide and instead pops up like when you grab a wet bar of soap), and Devil overthrow powerbombs Noumi onto Sae- Kuragaki saves. Double-Wrist Suplex from Kayo gets two- Kuragaki saves. Devil manages to lariat Sae on the second try, but Sae pops out of another Double-Wrist and pins Noumi at (2:12 of 11:48 shown) for the surprise upset!

LAS CACHORRAS ORIENTALES (Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda) vs. TOMOKO WATANABE & NANAE TAKAHASHI:
* Tomoko has the issue with LCO, but here she’s got a lower-ranked wrestlers to face them instead of her usual partner, Kumiko, who is watching on the floor.

Mita works on Tomoko, but eats a lariat, only to suddenly lift Tomoko into the Death Valley Driver for a near-fall. Mita gets slugged down again, but doesn’t go for the chance to escape and eats a dragon screw for it. Shimoda runs in and they hit their terrible Double Super Chokeslam spot and a chairshot/DVD gets two. Shimoda accidentally somersaults onto Mita, but they quickly stuff Tomoko and drag the babyfaces into the stands for a beating. Shimoda quickly drags Tomoko to the upper balcony and teases throwing her to her death, and it’s a Count Out at (5:15 of 19:26 shown). Hahah I don’t know if I’ve EVER seen a count-out in Zenjo! I mean, they usually let people wander over all creation before hitting ringside so this is bizarre. The match here was so abridged we literally saw none of Nanae’s wrestling, and it was just a “Tomoko perseveres” showcase of LCO whittling away at her but her surviving. We get a few minutes devoted to the post-match shit-talk, mostly Kumiko (who prevented Tomoko’s death just now) yelling.

ALL PACIFIC TITLE:
KUMIKO MAEKAWA (AJW) vs. AZUMI HYUGA (JWP):
* Now this is an interesting one! Kumiko, holder of the secondary Zenjo belt, goes against the Ace of JWP- Azumi Hyuga! She was actually recently dethroned as JWP Champion by Ran YuYu, meaning she’s beltless against someone I’d imagine… well she wouldn’t outrank her. JWP was far diminished against Zenjo so their champion is probably barely equivalent to the White Belt. Kumiko’s in white with blue and Hyuga’s in all blue.

Kumiko handily wins a knucklelock and immediately puts some savage kicks into Hyuga’s back- back to square one, Hyuga wisely goes to the mat and hauls Kumiko into a giant swing! Hyuga cheers herself on to put it over more, then actually tries a back-kick of her own. But that just fires up Kumiko, who whallops the shit out of her and fires off extra kicks to the chest, Hyuga bouncing around off that for being cheeky. She gets defiant and tries counter-slapping but just gets BRAINED by a huge kick (which likely hit the back and was assisted by a thigh-slap- GREAT technique by Kumiko here). Azumi wisely sells that as a possible KO, lurching to the ropes and looking defeated as she gets up- a DDT avails her not and Kumiko keeps on her with strikes, then boots her to the floor to wait her out in the ring, confident and merciless. And then Hyuga gets smart, countering a whip with a boomerang dropkick, then immediately goes to big offense with some butterfly backbreakers and a crab to work the back. See- WRESTLING and COUNTERS are her game- not trying to keep up with kicks! The work the mat for a bit, Kumiko fighting out and going to the leg, absolutely clobbering Hyuga when she tries to kick free- great selling by Azumi, lolling her head down. Sadly she has to start screaming in the hold again. And so sooner is she out that Kumiko plasters her with a BIG running boot to the face and… goes back to the leg. Got more time to fill, I see.

Hyuga shows the leg-work by collapsing off a whip, then when Kumiko taunts her and tries again, skip-walks to the corner and hits a missile kick reversal. But Kumiko dodges the next one, only for Hyuga to dodge the Pump Kick and elbow-smash her. She hits a DDT, then counters a counter-kick to a leglock. She tries to work this advantage but gets her head swipe-kicked when she charges in carelessly, but makes the same mistake herself and gets dumped to the floor for a cannonball suicida. Springboard dropkick to the head sets up Rolling Germans for two, but takes too long up top and gets superplexed down, and Kumiko blasts another Step Kick for two! Azumi has to grab the ropes, and increasingly and noticeably worn down, is barely able to dodge some rolling kicks but can’t maintain the advantage until the second one and hits her Michinoku Driver finisher for two. But the flying knee misses and NOW Kumiko lands that Rolling Kick for a nearfall! Exhausted, she holds up Hyuga but can’t get anything going and gets rolled up for two, but manages a boot and her Ax Kick. But she climbs like a dumbass and gets caught with a Spider German, Hyuga doing a sit-up from that position while flexing to a great reaction, then a missile kick gets two. But now Hyuga gets caught up top, only to spin into a leg flip (like Toyota’s Victory Star Drop but lower-level). She hauls Kumiko up to finish but AX KICK! Kumiko desperately covers and is aghast at getting only “2”, and tries another, only for THIS rollup to actually trap her- Azumi Hyuga wins at (16:08)! Hyuga is now the All Pacific Champion! Her glee in winning and the crowd pop are both pretty great.

A good, smart little match here, as neither is an OUTSTANDING worker at this point, and are unfamilar opponents, so they work a template that works to their styles- sorta like the big Interpromotional Era style of extended contest, this one dominated by Kumiko (bcuz she’s losing) but emphasizes their differences- Kumiko can bully and hammer Azumi with kicks because she’s tougher and kickier, but once Hyuga stops trying to match that, she can use her speed to her advantage, and has a better pool of moves to wear Kumiko down- watch how every time she manages a big reversal (typically from a high-speed aerial move) she follows with a backbreaker, German or other big impact slam. And then in the end this keeps going Hyuga’s way, as she’s dizzied and stumbling about but is getting crushed by these various kicks, but any time she gets an advantage she fires off a good counter, ultimately hitting Kumiko with a bunch of top rope stuff, barely kicking out of her finisher, then scoring a flash pin for the White Belt. Not the most impactful of victories, but it fit the story (Counters vs. Kicks) and it helps the credibility of flash-pins for the occasional belt switch to happen because of them.

Rating: ***1/2 (a really fun, well thought-out match)

MANAMI TOYOTA, KAORU ITO & DYNAMITE KANSAI vs. CARLOS AMANO, RAN YUYU & MIHO WAKIZAWA:
* Here’s a fun mish-mash team of Veterans (AJW’s Toyota & Ito with JWP’s ex-Ace Dynamite Kansai) vs. Not Veterans (AJW’s Wacky teaming with Ran & Carlos). Ran’s in red (with a non-nazi Swastika on the front), Miho’s in the outfit from her last match, Carlos is in blue/white, Manami’s in red, Ito purple/black & Kansai a white tiger-striped/neon green atrocity. Reactions from the fans are sadly quite muted. Ran is actually the JWP Champion at this point. Wacky amuses me by nearly jumping the gun on the sneak attack before everyone’s turned around, revealing the spot ahead of time.

Manami & Kansai amusingly just ignore the kids’ offense but casually walk away to let Ito eat a triple-team and pose. Ito just takes it with annoyance and makes an easy comeback, leading to Manami leading a triple-pose of their own on Wakizawa. She takes a beating from Manami & Kansai, and we’re clipped to Ito landing a BIG uranage on Amano. Ito scores a big powerbomb, but lots of interference sees Amano score a tope & Miho planchas the veterans. Amano tries to finish Ito and they elbow-smash her repeatedly, but Manami sets up a Ligerbomb for two and Ito hits the Flying Stomp for the three at (5:38 of 21:52 shown). Yumiko Hotta comes out to talk shit on JWP, leading to its PRESIDENT coming out and throwing hands with her! Haha I’ve never seen that dweeb get physical before! Pretty sure Hotta could destroy him in a shoot anyways. Match seemed fine but cut up quite a bit- we didn’t even see much Ran YuYu offense!

Rating: *1/2 (feels even more cut up than the other stuff)

All in all, a fine enough hour or so of TV, but has the typical “AJW Cutting Problem” of all the matches being cut down to ribbons for the most part, with a 22-minute final bout being not even 6, an LCO tag cut by 3/4, and the opener reduced to just the bits with the lowest-ranked worker. So it’s hard to really assess much of the show, or even get a semblance of how the matches went! At least the White Belt match was kept in full, showcasing both wrestlers pretty well.