Joshi Spotlight: ARSION Tournament Sky II

https://archive.org/details/arsion-07-16-8-18-2000-tournament-sky-2

HYPER VISUAL FIGHTING ARSION- TOURNAMENT SKY II:
(July 16th & Aug. 18th 2000)
* It’s more ARSION! With another SKY tournament- the one devoted to undersized wrestlers. This also features Yumi Fukawa’s last-ever match! And Aja Kong defending the Queen of ARSION Title against Ayako Hamada! And a VIP vs. ReDRUG Gauntlet Match! And MAN these crowds really establishes the different demographics of the joshi pro companies. GAEA Japan has all these late-20s early-30s Crush fans in the crowds and leans heavily female. Meanwhile…

HARD CAM FULL OF BORED DUDES! Hard to say if this is because of their bikini-calendar focus or what, but… well, that’s Rossy Ogawa’s gameplan. Put big-eyed waifus in the calendars and lure in the pervy uncles and create a “strip club except everyone’s weirdly lurking and super-quiet” atmosphere. Like they wanna enjoy it, but only PRIVATELY, so everyone’s silent and cross-armed with serious expressions. totally what wrestlers want in a crowd- stoic, silent guys afraid to reveal that they’re a fan of someone. Are they afraid to start a fight over who is the true Best Girl? OBVIOUSLY IT’S MITA YOU GITSi mean this is just not a great look for a promotion trying to succeed.

TOURNAMENT SKY II:
(July 16th 2000)

LAS CACHORRAS ORIENTALES (Mima Shimoda & Etsuko Mita) vs. AJA KONG & MARIKO YOSHIDA:
* The ARSION super-team takes on LCO- one half of whom took the Twin Star (tag belts) from them. This is mostly just scattered clips to start, LCO divebombing them and kicking ass. Yoshida throws a goofy boxing combo to Shimoda (it loses impact because Shimoda doesn’t react to half the punches so it looks phony) but eats the DVD from Mita for two. Yoshida dodges the tandem finisher and her team fires off stereo finishers for two, and Yoshida flattens Mita with a punch for two (GREAT “flopping dead sell” by Mita), leading to Aja’s Brainbuster for two. A MASSIVE Uraken kills Shimoda when she breaks it up with a yellow chair, and Aja keeps on killing Mita with Urakens until Time Expires at (3:20 of 20:00 shown)- Mita’s dead-eye sell is great as she collapses off each shot, and even Shimoda gets one. Pretty wild to have Aja sacrifice a win just to do more punishment, but at least it wasn’t the Kicking Too Much Ass finish. Aja talks shit after the match, slaps around the VIP stable, and gets into it with them backstage, too.

TOURNAMENT SKY:

Our Entrants: Ai Fujita (rookie; still not good yet), Linda Starr (pint-sized luchadora), Mari Apache (the good Apache), Fabi Apache (the not-good Apache), AKINO (very good; should be pushed), Ayako Hamada (sorta okay now; pushed cuz she looks good), Kamen Tenshi Rosetta (a mystery wrestler!), Sumie Sakai (a judoka from JD’), Chaparrita ASARI (longtime undersized star, now a freelancer).

QUALIFIER:
AI FUJITA vs. LINDA STARR: No idea how a “Qualifier” works. Mostly just a clipped bunch of jumps- very basic. Linda misses a corkscrew moonsault and does some BIG leaps for some Germans and Fujita finishes her with the 450 Splash (1:43 of 5:01 shown).

CHAPARRITA ASARI vs. MARI APACHE: After some clipping, we settle into a well-wrestled bout- Mari gets headscissored, but trucks ASARI with a wheel kick. ASARI victory rolls out of an inverted Gory Special for two, but gets put on the floor and Mari hits a HUGE somersault dive off the top! One in the ring gets two, but ASARI Kidmans out of a powerbomb, hits a flying rana to the floor, and one off the apron, then a regular plancha. Missile kick hits, but Mari catches her and there’s a bit of a wait to set up a Super Rana spot, but ASARI misses the Sky Twister Press. Mari with the Ligerbomb for two, but ASARI keeps reversing Michinoku Drivers and charges right into a lariat that flips her all the way around. Mari then hits a sit-out Inverted Powerbomb for the pin at (6:37 of 9:36 shown)- wow, I would NOT have guessed the Freelancer was doing the J.O.B. today! The match was quite flippy, and fairly precise- a few “they’re taking their time setting this up” spots but otherwise good.

Rating: **1/2 (pretty much what you’d expect a tourney like this to be like- precise and a flying showcase, if not super fast)

AKINO vs. FABI APACHE: AKINO immediately hits a great rana & run-up plancha, but Fabi sneaks in a DDT. AKINO fires back and hits a run-up plancha, but misses a move and eats a sit-out wheelbarrow slam. She misses a moonsault but hits a run-up super armdrag & twisting plancha, but AKINO slickly counters a Tiger Driver with a rana and spins around in an incredible counter, turning a wheelbarrow slam attempt into an inside cradle at (3:27 of 5:21 shown). This one looked high-speed, but entirely a showcase for how incredibly tight AKINO’s spins were.

Rating: *1/2 (super short but fine- AKINO looked incredible)

AI FUJITA vs. KAMEN TENSHI ROSETTA: Never heard of the latter- looks to be a tiny Japanese woman in a Sentai-like outfit. Ahhhhhhh it’s Hiromi Yagi dressed as a legit tokusatsu heroine from a 1998 TV series- “Masked Angel” Rosetta. Fujita does some no-contact armdrags to total silence, then Rosetta clobbers her and does some weird stop-and-start running like she forgot what to do. Clipped to a Rosetta plancha, missile kick & Perfect Plex as the fans have a very “… yeah I dunno” to the mystery character. Both girls miss flying moves, and Rosetta finally knocks her down and throws on a painful-looking crossface while pulling up on the leg and Fujita taps at (3:04 of 4:24 shown).

Rating: * (just some random stuff then a finish)

AYAKO HAMADA vs. SUMIE SAKAI (JD’): They do some “pause for applause” stuff to start, then Sakai hits some Mongolian Chops into a jujigatame. Ayako hits a DDT counter and some other stuff, but Sakai has some very precise moves of her own, hitting a plancha & rana. Ayako misses a Lionsault but clocks her with a roundhouse, springboarding her for two. Sakai with a super rana & moonsault for two. Two backdrop suplexes get two, but Hamada knocks her to the floor and hits a Super Quebrada, but a Springboard Moonsault gets two. Sakai rolls out of a powerbomb for two but runs into a bodyscissors and Hamada finally gets her submission finisher after a long, fake-looking (like “shit, this isn’t going right… gotta shift over…”) at (6:40 of 8:03 shown). Looked mostly okay, but Sakai was totally showing Hamada up all match, being far more precise while Ayako looked like she was “saving it” for a different match.

Rating: ** (a very fine, ordinary wrestling match- good stuff from Sakai, but Hamada wasn’t going too hard)

SEMI-FINALS:

AKINO vs. MARI APACHE: Mari immediately pounces with a lariat & ligerbomb for two, but misses a swanton and AKINO bootscrapes the shit outta her. Mari takes her down and does rolling surfboards, but AKINO counters a tilt-a-whirl to a crazy rolling pin for two and tries for the arm. Mari lariats & crabs her, then hits a corkscrew body attack to the floor. AKINO DDTs out of a Michinoku Driver and does a run-up plancha and does her Blind Jump Rana… but gets Ligerbombed for two! The Inverted Ligerbomb is countered for two, and AKINO counters a top rope move with a sunset flip powerbomb, and the Rey Mysterio Snap Springboard Rana gets three at (5:31 of 8:06 shown)! More VERY impressive AKINO flipz and counters, Mari having little that could match it so she was mostly just acting as a base for them.

Rating: **1/4 (another impressive AKINO performance, being a little hurricane of rollups)

KAMEN ENSHI ROSETTA vs. AYAKO HAMADA: Interestingly, the match pretty much starts out as just Ayako dominating her with elaborate lucha submissions, pins and armdags, looking pretty clunky, and Rosetta misses a plancha and eats a tope from Hamada. Springboard Moonsault misses and Rosetta gets a rana, but Hamada lands her spinkick thing again for two. Rosetta misses a moonsault but gets a tight German, but climbs and takes the shotei into the Ayaconoclasm, and Hamada nets one of those “wait, how could that possibly hurt?” lucha submissions for the win at (4:44 of 6:03 shown). haha, how is spreading her arms out with Ayako’s legs supposed to hurt? This was pretty bad- clunky, low-effort and almost openly just a showcase of Ayako’s moveset as she does stuff to a mostly hapless opponent who never looks like she’s going to win.

Rating: *1/2 (not looking like a good tourney for Hamada so far!)

VIP (Michiko Omukai, Yumi Fukawa & Bionic J) vs. ReDRUG (GAMI, Rie Tamada & Red Lynx):
* New wrestler alert! Red Lynx is… okay I’ll try and be surprised. She’s yet another joshi star named after a cat (joining Jaguar, Lioness, Cooga/Cougar, Tiger Dream and I think that’s it. Is there no Jaguarundi? Ocelot?). Lynx is in black pants with red tassels, a mask with kitty ears, and a black top, fitting her stable’s color scheme. The pants make me think this is Candy Okutsu. I thought the stable was ReDRAG but the writing on all their shit says ReDRUG so maybe?

ReDRUG pounce immediately and start kicking ass, then they do an assisted abdominal stretch… where the helping heel on the apron grabs a heel’s hand on the floor, then she grabs a FAN’s hand, and they end up making a giant train of people doing a super-assisted abdominal stretch. Fukawa finally trips up GAMI and VIP do a multi-person pose on her. Fukawa & GAMI work holds on each other, and Fukawa hits a backdrop hold on Rie, then they rocket launcher her for two. Rie gets a German for two, then cannonballs two women while Lynx hits a run-up plancha. Yup- that’s Candy. ReDRUG triple-team Fukawa and Rie gets an awful Dragon Suplex (Fukawa rolling sideways), then they hit an insane SUPER Assisted Wheelbarrow Slam and kill Fukawa at (3:47 of 14:42 shown). So clipped we don’t even get the other women in the ring for VIP. ReDRUG brags after thematch, and recruit JWP’s Command Bolshoi to the stable as well.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand that’s it for Yumi Fukawa’s career. After this match, she visited a doctor who diagnosed her with an acute subdural hematoma and subarachnoid hemorrhage- brain bleeding, more or less. Possibly from basically taking a monster front-face bump off the top rope. They recommend she quit entirely lest we end up with another Plum Mariko or Emiko Kado on our hands. I’ve heard this really broke Fukawa’s heart, as she didn’t even get to have a real “retirement run” or anything- just ZIP, out goes her career, just like that. She has an “Official” Retirement Match in 2001 and largely vanishes for good, but has recently led an ARSION Reunion Show and even married Minoru Tanaka and birthed a series of future pro wrestlers. She was the last wrestler REALLY trying with the “ARSION Grapplefuckery Style” and while too tiny to ever get a serious push in 2000, she was a good worker and it sucks she went out like this.

FINAL MATCH:
AKINO vs. AYAKO HAMADA:
* The former tag team champions of ARSION EXPLODE!!

It’s another rapid “pause for applause” sequence, then another (with armdrags!), then Hamada ties up the legs for a variety of holds. The crowd seems to find all their dramatic attempts at back-bending submissions hilarious. They do some theatrical counters, but AKINO stops Ayako’s Springboard Moonsault and they are definitely flagging. A slo-mo springboard headscissors leads to AKINO’s tope con hilo, but Hamada flings her into the Eddie Bump (sitting out like an X-Factor) and hits her Super Quebrada (sorta- she turns to a cannonball partway and AKINO cracks her head against a chair). Ayaconoclasm gets two. AKINO keeps countering things to near-falls and when Ayako’s turned the other way for the Blind Rana, she just effortlessly spins around on her shoulders for the move anyways. Ayako catches her up top and this time does a SUPER Ayaconoclasm, and … oh, that’s the pin at (7:53 of 10:55 shown). Okay wasn’t expecting that, lol. I mean it IS an upgraded version of her regular move, but I ain’t ever seen the regular one score a pin!

This one was two very, very tired ladies doing lot of things, Hamada at her usual “70% speed” stuff (at least allowing her to hit things precisely), long set-ups for moves, and AKINO having a sharper turn radius than should be humanly possible. But ultimately AKINO didn’t really have any big moves that could get it done, so Hamada dominated and just kept doing stuff until she won.

Rating: **1/4 (another barely above average match with two tired wrestlers)

So that tournament… sure was a one-night tournament. Lots of clipping, no real flukes (unlike ARSION’s norm), and most of the matches were just “try flying moves until one doesn’t work”, as people would stop selling just to hit a perfectly agile move. The wild thing here is that AKINO is more agile, more athletic, and tries harder than Hamada. But Hamada is hotter and so she gets the big push and all the wins while AKINO is some forgettable midcarder, haha.

STARTIST2000:
(Aug. 18th)
* Another show, this one featuring a VIP vs. ReDRUG in a “Single Series”.

RENA TAKASE vs. LINDA STARR: Time to play “Jab forgot someone again”! Oh wait, this is that rookie who just debuted. Rena’s in an ugly shiny red & white thing, while Linda’s in a blue unitard. Rena gets a flash-pin & jujigatame, but Linda mostly easily handles her. Corkscrew Moonsault finishes at (1:34 of 8:10 shown), poor Takase acting like she’s glued to the mat because she’s doing that “trying to recover” thing where she writhes around but is stock-still diagonal to the corner because she has to eat that move, haha. Also why the F was this match included on the tape, lol?

AKINO & AI FUJITA vs. MARI & FABI APACHE: The Apache sisters take on the flippy midcarders! The Apaches do stereo whirling backbreakers but eat stereo ranas, then AKINO just LAUNCHES herself into selling an assisted diamond cutter, just smashing herself diagonally into the mat at high speed. Fujita eats a super armdrag & Ligerbomb for two, so AKINO superplexes Fabi for her. 450 misses, Fujita lands on her feet and hits a German, then she’s caught up top and takes a Double Fisherman’s Buster. Mari does a weird bobble-head swan dive splash to finish her at (2:47 of 12:56 shown). Too little really shown, but AKINO was game to bump and Fujita was her usual forgettable self.

MARIKO YOSHIDA vs. CHAPARRITA ASARI (Freelance): The Freelancer takes on Yoshida, JIP as Yoshida fires off her boxing combo again (this time MUCH tighter; perhaps cuz it’s not as big a deal to bean junior ASARI compared to senior/noted bitch Shimoda, lol). Yoshida keeps throwing hands despite ASARI’s flying, then just casually puts her in the Modified Sleeper at (1:33 of 10:05 shown), winning handily. lol why is this even on the tape?

SINGLE SERIES (Gauntlet Match):
VIP (Etsuko Mita, Mima Shimoda, Michiko Omukai & Bionic J, w/ Yumi Fukawa) vs. ReDRUG (GAMI, Rie Tamada, Red Lynx & PIKO):
* So VIP is now minus Fukawa but still has good ol’ Jessie Bennett (lawlz), while ReDRUG is GAMI’s stable, now with Evil Candy and Evil Bolshoi, the clown now going by PIKO.

GAMI vs. ETSUKO MITA: GAMI pounces with a clacky thing I’m too lazy to look up, but gets thrown to the apron where VIP pose over her.

This is a humiliation spot, as you can tell by the clear and obvious outrage on GAMI’s always-dynamic face.

PIKO comes in with multiple rope-runs but just does a goofy dance, then GAMI tries a clunky rollup, then Mita does the same move after countering a suplex, getting three at (1:30 of 2:45 shown). Not only was it a fluke, but the clipped a 3-minute match, lol.

ETSUKO MITA vs. RED LYNX: Lynx actually does the “kick them in the groin from behind” trick, which Mita seems to be unsure how to sell (like obviously getting hit there would hurt, but not AS much as say, if a dude ate it). Some weird clipping sees ReDRUG try to interfere, Lynx getting a German out of that, then in one of the weirdest finishes ever, Mita just kicks out… then sits back on her chest and pins her at (0:49 of 5:51 shown). lol what?
ETSUKO MITA vs. RIE TAMADA: Tamada gets a missile kick for two on a nearly-dead Mita (having wrestled a brutal… 8 minutes). Mita actually holds Rie in powerbomb position using just her hands and tries the DVD, but Rie fights out Dragon Suplexes her for two. Mita actually pulls off a big superplex, but Rie snags the leg and pins her at (0:59 of 2:38 shown). Well that was sorta clever.
BIONIC J vs. RIE TAMADA: They do some ugly fighting into another fan-assisted abdominal stretch, so Fukawa runs along with the clacky-thing and hits everyone from the fans to the wrestlers with it in a comedy spot. Rie rolls J up out of the chokeslam, but gets caught in the Fireman’s to Michinoku Driver at (0:55 of 4:46 shown).
BIONIC J vs. PIKO: J goes for her finisher again but gets rolled up, then PIKO hits a standing armbar for a near-fall, then catches a thrust kick with a heel hook and J taps out at (1:02 of 2:11 shown).
MICHIKO OMUKAI vs. PIKO: PIKO aims for a Fujiwara armbar, but eats an uranage, then another for a near-fall. PIKO tries SHOTEIMANIA but Omukai slugs her down. PIKO counters her Razor’s Edge but Omukai ax kicks her, bonks her in the face with repeater knees, and completes the move at (1:47 of 6:45 shown). Omukai wins and Shimoda doesn’t even have to come in.

hahaha I was gonna say “this was pointless” but it wasn’t just that; it was DESTRUCTIVE. Like ReDRUG is a fairly new stable and actively feuding with VIP, and you actively crush them like this, with both Red Lynx (a new heel identity) and PIKO (a brand-new ARSION wrestler) jobbing clean in short matches, plus Mita demolishing two in a row and losing a banana-peel finish. I mean, GAMI is the LEADER of the stable and goes down in 2:45 to a basic rollup. Also Bionic J gets easily tapped out by a 4’10” clown and Rie jobs to J in 2 minutes. All of this just makes everyone look like losers same Omukaiberg, which I guess was the plan all along.

QUEEN OF ARSION TITLE:
AJA KONG vs. AYAKO HAMADA:
* Okay, HERE we go. Aja Kong is still the best carry artist in women’s wrestling, and now her big challenge is making sure the former “Super Rookie” looks ready for the next level, but not quite there yet. They show two prior matches- a late ’98 one and a mid ’99 one, both with Aja winning handily, then the Super Hama-Chan Cutter winning the Tag Titles in late 1999. Aja’s in red & black, Hamada’s in pink & white. Ayako gets the “light scattered applause” that denotes “Future Superstar”.

Some good “Aja is tough but Ayako defiant” stuff as Aja muscles her down and puts all her weight on her while she’s bridged, Ayako refusing to break it and drawing a reaction- Aja just gets annoyed and sweeps her leg out as she walks off, then swat-kicks her in the back. Hamada starts getting fighty with her so Aja just pummels her, losing her temper a bit. Ayako tries a rana but just gets powerbombed, and an attempted at headbutting goes about how you’d expect, Aja just slugging her down again and again with lariats. Aja makes her fight for every last bit of ground, Hamada finally managing a German & enzuigiri to bring her down, but Aja counters the Springboard Moonsault. Hamada does manage the Super Quebrada and is able to manage a backdrop suplex with some effort, Aja being a bit stunned. Springboard Moonsault only gets barely a two-count as NOBODY is buying that. The crowd doesn’t buy her hitting an Ayaconoclasm either, and so don’t react when Aja chokes her out up there. But Aja gets overconfident and misses a splash, only to counter Ayako’s rolling submission attempt. Aja tries to be extra-shitty with an Ayaconoclasm of her own, but again pays for her overconfidence and gets missile kicked. There’s a weird clip as Ayako fights her up and finally gets that Super Ayaconoclasm, but Aja dramatically shoots out at one- she looks a bit stunned and befuddled, but just BELTS Ayako with a slap and Brainbusters her- but Ayako ALSO kicks out at one. Except she looks dead. But Aja gives her too much time to recover and so she powers up and manages to catch Aja up top, nearly hitting the Super Hama-Chan Cutter, but Aja launches her and hits the Uraken- two! So off come the gloves and the gloveless Uraken pins her at (13:39 of 13:56 shown). Lol I wonder if that missing 17 seconds had a botch.

This felt very much like a “Midcarder Fights the Ace” match, with Ayako never really getting to pressure the Champ or look like she was about to win. Her wrestling was okay-ish, but was so clearly not on Aja’s level that nobody bought anything, even her upgraded finisher. Aja did her usual, but never looked QUITE as “this is it” as she often does to put over underdogs- if anything, kicking out of the MDK Ayako finisher at one just buried the kid’s chances. Ayako got her own “kick out at one” spot, but looked so weak and couldn’t even hit her other big finisher, then jobbed out to a mere two Urakens.

Rating: *** (a “pretty good but not outstanding” match- not exactly an Aja Kong Title Defense spectacular)