Joshi Spotlight: AJW Stroke ’00

It’s time for another Joshi Spotlight! This one features a Tag Title defense from the new champions, plus a huge Zenjo show from September! This one features Black Joker against a Zenjo team, Miho Wakizawa in her biggest match ever against Nanae Takahashi for the AJW Title, Yumiko Hotta vs. Tomoko Watanabe in an establishing match, and the biggest bout of KAORU ITO’s life, as she finally gets a shot against the Red Belt, held by world champion Manami Toyota!

MOMOE NAKANISHI & NANAE TAKAHASHI vs. KAYO NOUMI & MIHO WAKIZAWA:
(Sept. 9th)
* The two “Young Girl” teams in Zenjo go at it- NanaMomo have reached the level of “Serious Midcarders” but the others are still jobbers. NanaMomo are in matching tiger-striped gear (Momoe with blue; Nanae with pink), Wacky’s in yellow & Kayo’s in blue.

MihoKayo double-team Momoe to start, but soon get beat up and Kayo eats a succession of running moves, but we’re clipped to Momoe eating a rocket launcher. Wacky lands on feet and eats a BIG German for two, but Kayo catches Momoe up top and Wacky’s able to hit a big Super Rana for a nearfall. Momoe counters the Fisherman’s Buster for two, but misses a moonsault and eats it- Nanae has to save. But Nanae charges in and nails her own parner, and Wakizawa hits the Buster again, complete with arrogant pin… and WINS at (2:53 shown)! Oh this is three falls, haha. We’re clipped to Wakizawa trying another Super Rana on Nanae, but in a REALLY ugly spot Nanae grabs hold of the top rope at the land second, sending Wacky landing straight onto her head, and THEN Nanae falls off, also hitting the side of her head on the mat. What was THAT? Momoe goes in and ultra-safely pulls the girl who just landed head-first by the hair and Germans her (well, her head’s up so she’s probably alive). Vicious flying senton by Nanae- Kayo saves. Wacky manages a counter Fisherman’s Buster for two, but Nanae gets the same with a Michinoku Driver. A back suplex and another Driver finish at (3:25 shown). The last fall has Wacky DRAMATICALLY swing some shoteis and Super Rana Momoe again, but they counter the pin repeatedly, Nanae Germans Wacky so Momoe can slide in for two, and Wacky counters THAT pin for two. Another F-Buster- Nanae saves! Momoe moves Wacky around a bit and hits a crazy snap-rana and Kayo FLIES into the ref to stop the count. Dragon Suplex- Kayo takes out the bridging leg! FINALLY, they just knock Kayo away and haul Wakizawa up for a weird double-lift into a flat back- like a two-woman Razor’s Edge and THAT gets the pin at (1:39 shown).

haha well this was a spirited little encounter! An 8-minute video, I was not expecting it to have all these wild nearfalls. Having a sense of the whole match is really hard with three minutes-long falls, but it felt ***-tier or better.

AJW STROKE ’00:
(Sept. 17th 2000)
* Hell yes a full Zenjo show from that one weird joshi channel! This contains the entirety of the event from what I can see, making for a 2-hour tape.

KAYOKO HARUYAMA (JWP) vs. MIYUKI FUJII (AJW):
* The dying JWP throws out one of its younger wrestlers against Fujii, who has now dropped the garish rookie outfit for an all-black one with shoulder-pads, looking like a dyed Vegeta costume. Haruyama’s in orange.

The arena is totally dead as they botch a JB Angels armdrag (letting go but Fujii flips anyways “from momentum”) and Fujii pulls hair. They alternate camel clutches, hairpulls, etc., not being very good (Haruyama hits an X-Factor once). Fujii adds to our “non-communal offense” with some facebusters before doing “sit on butts” restholds. lol Haruyama has to take the babiest run ever into the corner so Fujii can turn around and roll her up- I legit thought she was unathletic but she ran fine in other spots. Fujii gets her rope-assisted headlock takeovers for two. Ten minutes in, they’re tired enough that “pick them up and drop them, then lie on them” is a 2-count move, and Haruyama hits a missile kick & flying splash (begging the fans to get into it) for two. German gets two as the fans are getting a little into the kickouts, then Fujii brings her off the top for two. Bridging suplex & a dramatic counter-punch get two, but Fujii climbs and Haruyama takes her down with a Super Powerslam for three at (10:08).

So one advantage of not having complete shows on YouTube for this era, or only clipped matches being findable, means you get to miss out on things like this. Two clumsy, unsure rookies trading basics for ten minutes so they learn the ropes. An all-important kind of training that DID produce ****-***** workers… back when joshi puro was popular enough to draw a lot of candidates who turned out great. This… does not happen here. So it’s a chore without the “X before they GOT GOOD!” energy, haha.

Rating: 1/2* (way too long and boring, both got blown up, and only the last 1-2 minutes was any good)

YUMIKO HOTTA vs. ZAP T:
* PAIR THE SPARES TIME! Hotta isn’t the Champion nor challenging for it, and Tomoko Watanabe’s neither the tag champ nor has a feud right now, so it’s time for her menacing heel character to come out. Still two the AJW’s top four people, though. Hey, Hotta’s got a new theme now.

Zap T smashes Hotta with her shinai (kendo stick) repeatedly before the bell, then does a ramp-run lariat. Hotta gets tossed around ringside as Shinobu Kandori is seen on commentary, grumpy as ever, and Hotta gets draped across her and smashed with the shinai repeatedly, much to Kandori’s annoyance, haha. Sure enough, Zap shoves Hotta right into her, Kandori shoves back and Hotta & Kandori FIGHT, getting a good reaction. They’re dragged apart before anything can happen, but Hotta makes sure to swipe a kick near a frowning Kandori, who looks SO OFFENDED to be treated with such disrespect. Back in the ring, Hotta tries to absorb some lariats, then bounces Tomoko with a back elbow (GREAT bump by Tomoko, just deflecting off her) and rolling kick (Tomoko doing the “death spiral” roll to the mat). Hotta does a resthold, but Tomoko fires back with some kicks and vertical suplexes, Hotta actually SELLING instead of trying to tough it out. Tomoko tries her own restholds, but gets worked into a leglock and bails to sell it. She prepares to enter the ring… but quickly snatches the shinai and hammers away with it. Hotta takes a vicious shot after a whip and even the ref gets wailed, but Hotta’s able to kick her out of a slingshot move, only for Tomoko to grab the shinai to block the next rolling kick (that was FAST, too). Hotta kicks it away, but Tomoko lariats out of the tiger driver for two. A chain is wrapped around Hotta’s neck and she’s dragged around in more rest spots, flung into merch tables and the like.

Tomoko scores some big lariats using the chain around her arm, but Hotta counters the Screwdriver (one-armed backdrop-powerbomb) with an armbar. But she’s too quick to capitalize and eats a MONSTER lariat for two. Hotta ducks a flying move and hits a rolling kick/Tiger Driver for two, Tomoko kicking out and using a VICIOUS shinai shot, but SHOTEIMANIA runs wild and Tomoko’s flattened by the palm strike, needing the rope-break. Hotta dusts her off with the Pyramid Driver (cross-armed ligerbomb), but to establish that she is the boss and far greater, relases to hit a jujigatame, forcing the submission at (12:09) instead. Naturally, afterwards Hotta gets on the mic and calls out Kandori (who I don’t think has said a single word at all). Some people try to separate them, Kandori getting a great reaction for shoving around the dweeby guys trying to hold her (and her boss shirt) back.

Solid match with a good overall story- Tomoko is strong and tough enough to make Hotta SELL and not do her “touch it out” stuff, but still needs to cheat to really take the lead, as Hotta is otherwise too good. So it’s shortcut after shortcut as Tomoko grabs the shinai or a chain to take the lead, using that to counter Hotta’s kicks.

Rating: *** (just a good, solid, impactful “big basher” match, Tomoko firing off her best stuff, Hotta absorbing it, then some weapon shots, then Hotta showing dominance with an emphatic win to set up her next program)

Miho Wakizawa has been doing her RESEARCH in how to put shit over! Now that’s how you impress the bookers.

AJW TITLE:
NANAE TAKAHASHI vs. MIHO WAKIZAWA:
* Nanae defends her belt against one of the most energetic, hardest workers on the Zenjo roster. Miho is well beneath her (they debuted together, but Nanae is a double belt-holder and has gotten a push), but these kinds of matches can go a long way towards showing just HOW far someone has advanced. This is kind of important, too, because the company is focusing on both and this is the time both need to be “stepping up” and improving. Nanae’s in purple & red, Wacky’s in white with yellow tassels.

The psychology is immediately apparent- Nanae is easily overpowering Wacky with a smile on her face, and the kid can’t really get anything going. She’ll shove Nanae off from a knucklelock but just get booted down and end up in holds, Nanae just being amused. Wacky finally gets her to sell a bit through persistence, slapping her HARD and spitting and screaming, working some falling clotheslines for two. But Nanae just shrugs her off with a big backbreaker right into a Boston crab, really wrenching on the back. Wacky’s working like she wants a PUSH, I must say- her grimaces of agony in this hold are exactly what the brass is probably looking for. Nanae just pours on the pressure with a missile kick and ANOTHER crab, dead-center in the ring, then a LION TAMER, keeping on the back. But magically Wacky springs to life after a corner dodge and beats on her outside the ring, flinging a chair, but her back’s still sore so Nanae promptly counters her and does the same floor work against her. Nanae ramp-runs at her and does ANOTHER crab, but Wacky finally starts firing up and only gets bounced around, Nanae now wise to those clotheslines. But she misses a Vader Bomb and climbs after Wacky, who flings her off the 2nd rope with a German! But Nanae clobbers her AGAIN and dives into her and the Vader Bomb hits this time for two. Another Vader Bomb for good measure, but Wacky rolls her up and perfect plexes her for two.

Wacky with a good missile kick, but she misses a splash and Nanae starts pushing her around again. Then Nanae saves her life after a terrifying botch where she attempts a super rana and nearly comes off sideways- Nanae is able to steady it again so Wacky can spend a while repositioning and hitting it after a few tries. Fisherman’s Buster- two! Nanae spikes her with a backdrop when Wacky gets too cocky with her follow-up move, and both are down- Nanae superplexes her for a close two. Nanae tries her big Flying Back Senton and gets booted in the head! Nanae follows with a plancha, but tries another super rana and splats! Nanae springs in with two straight backdrop drivers and desperately tries to pin her, then hits a HUGE Flying Back Senton (OUCH) for two. Frustrated, Nanae goes for the NanaRaka (falcon arrow) but gets “rolled up”. Nanae figures she’s done, so goes up again but this time gets German SUPERPLEXED, which still isn’t enough- Wacky gets two straight Fisherman’s Busters, but only 2.9 as the ref has to wave off the bell! A final, almost sideways Buster finally finishes at (20:57). Wakizawa is the AJW Champion! I was taken aback when I had this accidentally spoiled for me, but then I remembered being told that the fans kind of “accepted” these “lower-ranked person beats a higher-ranked person” matches when it was clearly time to elevate a lower-level wrestler.

Man, I was dreading this a bit when I saw the match-time, but it got REALLY good- a bit TOO reliant on the crab as a default, so the match rarely moves out of that gear for like ten minutes, but it does establish the parameters of the battle: Nanae is too good and too strong, and easily able to haul down Wakizawa with the basics. Then Nanae finally has to unlock “the real offense later”, which makes it mean more when Wacky consistently first counters out of it, then KICK OUT after it’s applied! Wacky’s selling was excellent throughout, doing the “grievious agony” sell like a good rookie, then the “I’m dying” dazed-sell off the big moves, and Nanae was excellent selling the desperate “COME ON!” energy of trying to pin the brat. Even things like occasional poor execution (that rana spot was probably supposed to go better, and the rollup out of the NanaRaka just lost Nanae completely) can be made up for with a solid effort like this (good on everyone for just waving off the bell- the timekeeper shoulda waited till the ref signalled him, even though he made the “third slap”), and it eventually turns into both girls’ best singles match I’ve seen so far.

Rating: ***1/4 (legit good- Wacky’s selling and effort were excellent, and Nanae is very good as a “heavy”)

BLACK JOKER (Takako Inoue, Eagle Sawai & Rumi Kazama) vs. KUMIKO MAEKAWA, MOMOE NAKANISHI & KAYO NOUMI:
* hahaha oh my god Black Joker’s theme is Takako Inoue’s cheesy “Knockout” theme mixed with The Prodigy’s “Smack My Bitch Up” that is INCREDIBLE!! GOAT theme material right here XD. Black Joker is a mix of freelancer Takako with two LLPW wrestlers, and their opponents here are basically “The Zenjo people not in big matches” so I’m not liking their chances. Eagle’s in a bright orange outfit, Takako’s in black leather, Kazama’s in a silver bodysuit, Kumiko’s in white/blue, Momoe’s in blue/silver & Noumi’s in blue.

Team AJW assaults the heels in the darkness and keeps it up on the floor, but quickly Black Joker takes the lead and starts posing over their beaten frames, still wearing their ring robes. They take over on Momoe, the smallest and best-selling of their opposition, and Rumi, who I haven’t seen in FOREVER, works some Muay Thai kicks. Holy cow that silver bodysuit is AWFUL, lol. Her shortstack height makes her look like she has a HUGE head and ultra-squat body in that thing. Like Momoe is ALSO puny but she doesn’t look like a blow-pop. Eagle adds a body attack and does great to show the size difference by repeating just putting one foot on the kid, and Takako adds some kicks (great “little thing” as Takako responds to a “fired-up no-sell” by casually swatting Momoe in defiance). Momoe counters her and Noumi’s in, quickly getting eaten alive by everyone’s “early match offense”. Takako adds a hilarious amount of bootscrapes when they triple-team her against the ropes, and Noumi tries to snarl her way through it but the heels just go “k, time for another crowd brawl” and it’s wildly uncoordinated and full of random stuff. Chairs get tossed and there’s a weird bit where Rumi goes for a table-piledriver on Kayo, gets dragged off by Kumiko, then does the front-piledriver on a DIFFERENT table. haha did Kumiko go “no, not on the commentary table, dumbass”? This actually goes on so long and gets so wild it actually gets REALLY OVER, Momoe chasing Eagle around ringside with Takako’s stun-gun and Kayo getting a pop for throwing persistent crescent kicks at Rumi!

lol after five minutes of that, it’s back to the ring and they’re exactly where they were before- Kayo getting worked over. She eats Eagle’s butterfly backbreaker & Rumi’s spinkick, doing a great “bent leg” sell both times, but Kayo escapes and in comes Kumiko- Pump Kick to Rumi! Figure-four sets up some flying splashes, but soon Kayo’s in again and Takako tombstones her. Man, just leave Momoe in, you dunces. Eagle adds an uranage & tombstone, Rumi a DDT & dragon sleeper, and more- Team AJW keeps breaking up pins, but Takako hits a POWERBOMB for two! Kayo takes a missile kick from Eagle, but avoids a powerbomb and FINALLY tags out- Kumiko fires off a ton of scissor kicks to Eagle, but she lariats her & Momoe. Kazama with a spinkick & German to Kumiko, who fires back with some HUGE running boots.

Kumiko unafraid to get extra-snug with those kicks, lol.

Momoe gets a run-up moonsault & rollup for twos, but takes a lariat & facecrusher. But she Germans Takako as it’s clear they were saving her for the late-match- Takako too, as she avoids the Dragon suplex & backdrop holds her with lightning speed. Momoe dodges the flying knee & uraken so Takako just SPINKICKS her with great precision, then Momoe runs up but goes OVER Takako and Dragon Suplexes her without missing a beat! Momoe’s twisting rana thingie has everyone else break it up, and Kayo’s in with the rocket launcher and persistently tries until a German hits for two. She keeps going to them, then the double-wrist armsault gets two, then… everyone just tags out and people trade stuff and hit the floor. The babyfaces do dives and stereo flying headbutts hit Eagle for two. Black Joker holds off everyone and dust off Kayo with a Flying Knee/Eagle Lariat, but she KICKS OUT! Double Assisted Powerbomb- babyfaces save. Eagle finally just yells a lot as her teammates sit on Team AJW and hits a big ThunderFire Powerbomb for the pin (22:48). Black Joker call out the commentators after the match, especially the lady hosts of the digest show who are always there but never talk much.

Such a bizarre match- ENDLESS crowd-brawling throughout, then two massive sequences that were just the heels working over Kayo, who is OKAY, but not in the “Wacky” tier of aggrieved selling so it doesn’t get that over. And as I marvel at how little they’re using Takako & Momoe I suddenly remember their old standby of “the people who have to do all the cool shit at the end get saved until then”- been a while since I’ve seen that. It’s funny because I just watched a 1992 match’s clips and marveled at how skinny everyone used to be, while Takako’s the only wrestler who’s skinnier HERE and is blitzing around with Momoe without missing a beat- she is in SHAPE. Like she had some muscle back in the day behind her “knock out” appearance but she’s as quick as the kids are. The insane match length held it back a bit, as the crowd would start dying off, then wasn’t really with them for a lot of kickouts (they weren’t buying any of the pins on Eagle)- it wasn’t until the big Kayo kickouts at the very end they seemed to be buying stuff or being impressed by spots. Like everyone knew Kayo was eating that pin (no way was BJ jobbing to this JV team) but it was just a matter of WHEN. Kayo kind of did okay but didn’t really have the manic selling or effort-level that Wacky did in HER match, which was holding this back… alongside the insane length.

Rating: **3/4 (good in parts, got a bit too long, then got good again, then died down, then got good again- way too long for what they needed to do but fine)

WWWA WORLD TITLE:
MANAMI TOYOTA vs. KAORU ITO:
* So we’ve come to this big moment for Ito- she was sort of ready for the next level in 1997 when the company disintegrated, but her & Tomoko were turned into the heel ZAPs for a year to build a big “company-wide angle”. But she does get a prominent win over Toyota (a friend from their days in the “Freedom Force” stable) at a Japan Grand Prix show. Ito gets increasingly over and credible as time goes on, so this is her big shot. Ito’s “t-shirt and shorts” look looks very “American Indies in the 1990s”, while Toyota’s in an epic red “Flair Robe”. At least Ito reveals it’s more of a two-piece outfit with “Bam Bam” fire designs on it afterwards, while Toyota’s in the black & gold gear she was wearing in the 2000s. The fans absolutely BURY the ring under streamers to start- this is the most cartoonishly over the top I’ve ever seen that. The audience is somewhat muted here at points, apparently a thing with the Differ Ariake arena. I watched this for the first time years ago as my introduction to 2000s Zenjo and was stunned at how quiet the fans were compared to 1993-95.

They tear around the ring to start, typically AJW, Toyota daring to try and no-sell but Ito just walking through her, until Ito hits a Super Samoan Drop when Manami climbs the ropes! We segue to the Ito Weardown Holds of Eternity, but at least Manami’s bendy enough to sell them as agonizing (the “roll her back from a camel clutch” spot always draws a pop, too). Match is long, anyways. Toyota comes back with a 40-second Rolling Cradle and dropkicks Ito right in the spine, then fights with an octopus hold for a while, then a figure-four- they actually get a crowd pop when Manami drags her back from the ropes. I mean, that was a two-minute hold and it kinda worked! We see shots of Ito’s concerned mother sitting at ringside, but she comes back with a Release Uranage and a running attack- there’s a figure-four of her own, but she eats a Manami Roll for two, then earns a missile kick to the back of the head. They fight up top, but Manami dropkicks her from there, flat-backing into the ring while Ito tumbles to the floor.

Missile Kick Suicida and Moonsault get two, and Ito’s mom looks more amused than anything. Straightjacket German gets two, but Ito stuffs the double-hammerlock version and MURDERS her with a lariat, hitting a huge Ligerbomb for two! Manami avoids another, but tries another Roll and eats a huge Floatover Powerbomb for a close call, then takes the Mulkey Bump out of the ring! Ito tries a Flying Stomp out there, but misses, and Manami hits the Japanese Ocean (double-hammerlock) Suplex on the floor! Then, in a crazy spot, she climbs a lightning rig up and leaps off with a HUGE plancha from at least a dozen feet in the air! Manami’s Japanese Ocean Backdrop Hold (underhook straightjacket german) gets two, as does a Japanese Ocean Suplex. Japanese Ocean Cyclone Suplex… TWO! Manami tries another, but Ito reverses to a choke submission, then a Buckle Bomb gets messed up, but she’s exhausted and Manami more or less Hulks Up, recovering quickly, but takes forever for a flying splash, hitting feet.

So THAT’s what that fuckin’ thing is. It’s been bugging me all show. Just sitting in the background as a big amorphous golden blob cuz of the size/distance/resolution.

Also have I mentioned before that Toyota is a GOD DAMNED LUNATIC? Because jesus christ.

Manami hits the floor to recover, and Ito follows with a HUGE elbow suicida, then a Ligerbomb on the floor! Murderous Flying Stomp the floor! Oh FUCK she landed right on her, effectively hitting a Banzai Drop from ten feet up because she slipped. Ref checks to see if she’s alive and we’re off- Flying Stomp in the ring gets two! two more- two! They’re really milking these, so it’s not just BeamSpam. Superplex for two- another two Stomps (okay, now it’s BeamSpam) but Manami dodges a third one, then catches Ito and tries her old reliable Sunset Flip Powerbomb… but Ito resists it, so Manami just spins around and hits the CORNER Japanese Ocean Cyclone Suplex from there! Great counter! That gets two to the shock of the crowd (dig the horrified screams that Ito might lose). Ito gets a snap sleeperhold to fight Manami down, climbs, gets caught, but hits a SUPER RELEASE POWERBOMB, dropping Manami hip-first on the ropes, then follows with a Flying Stomp for the three (24:02)- ITO’S FIRST TITLE REIGN!!

See, watching this the first time for a Spotlight on Ito a couple years ago, I was like “Hey, latter-day Ito is AWESOME!”, because she makes the most of her bits of offense, hitting brutal lariats and fighting like a Power Wrestler. Manami got to do all her flashy shit, interspersed with these devastating looking slams from Ito, mimicking an All Japan wrestler of all things- those Powerbombs and Uranages are TIGHT. The slow build leading to the great stuff outside the ring was epic- Manami flinging herself off the partition of the ceiling was insanity, and Ito’s Flying Stomp to the floor meant all the more because it was built up by her missing it earlier. The build was incredibly slow to start, but fits a match of this length, and it has the requisite build-up to the incredible spots before Ito starts doing her “old reliable” Stomp Spam. I feel like one critique I’d give it is that they just started spamming a tad too much in the end-game, particularly Ito’s stomps as she was getting worn out, but that kind of puts over Toyota and how resilient she is (you can tell she likes Ito because she only attempts to laugh off her offense ONCE), and has to throw killshot after killshot to finally bring her down. But like, that JOCS reversal from the failed Sunset Bomb was AWESOME, but would have meant more if she hadn’t already hit the eight minutes ago. I have no idea what that release powerbomb was supposed to be (with that elevation, was Ito supposed to be powerbombing her into the RING from that angle? Are they that crazy?), but it looked so agonizing it was a fine enough ending regardless.

Rating: ****1/4 (it was like a 4.5 star match they let go on too long, lol)

So the reality of this show is that “THIS IS THE FUTURE”- this is Zenjo telling its fans that this is how things are gonna be moving forward. New champion in Kaoru Ito (who new fans have seen getting built up since 1997, and longterm fans saw debut 7 years before that)- Toyota’s title reign thus proves to largely be a transitional one- Hotta jobs the belt to her to set up Toyota to be stepped over by Ito, thus allowing Hotta/Ito to be the “Big Match” moving forwards. Meanwhile, we get the reestablishing of Hotta as an impossible to beat top star (ie. the next challenger against whom Ito will have to prove herself). Undercarder Miho Wakizawa is now ELEVATED- winning the AJW belt after a long, arduous match showing off her selling. Her partner Kayo Noumi gets a similar showcasing as she’s torn apart by the heels and sells for like ten minutes of match-time. This sets up both Wacky and Noumi as the NEW NanaMomo, months after NanaMomo are finally elevated to tag title level- ie. “the next kids moving up”. I mean, this is obviously a Zenjo booking trick going WAY back- establishing “these are the next kids” just as the new kids get elevated at last, but it’s the first time I’ve seen it made so explicit in my watchalong. Also we get a performance of nasty heels with Black Joker. Interestingly, NanaMomo just got elevated and are merely split up on jobbing teams here- I guess the bookers’ work is done and they needed SOMEONE to do some jobs, haha.

But yeah, a joshi promotion with FORESIGHT actually doing this shit properly. Ain’t it a thing?