Joshi Spotlight: AJW at Kawasaki Gymnasium – 04.05.01

AJW IN MAY 2001:
* It’s a big arena show! Well, Kawasaki Gymnasium, which looks PRETTY big. This is a very unusual show in that they seem to fill the entire thing with HUGELY long matches- Mike Lorefice counts it as 109 minutes of content starring Hotta, MihoKayo & Kumiko. We miss the MihoKayo vs. G-Max (LLPW’s Sayori Okino & Carol Midori) match, which is apparently 27 minutes long, which seems way outside of the capabilities of anyone there. It went to a no-contest, too. Also Manami Toyota beating Miyuki Fujii in (12:06). hahah that had to suck for TOYOTA- everyone else getting all these giant showcase matches and she has to deal with the Eternal Rookie?

The show features three big blood feuds at once- the increasingly-big Momoe Nakanishi vs. Kumiko Maekawa rivalry, which ends in the way only Zenjo likes to end ’em to establish people, then a Tag Title Match- LCO defending against new babyface squad Tomoko Watanabe & Nanae Takahashi, who is being increasingly focused-on and elevated! And finally, a HUGE arena-wide brawl with Yumiko Hotta vs. Kaoru Ito!

MOMOE NAKANISHI (w/ Miyuki Fujii) vs. KUMIKO MAEKAWA (w/ Manami Toyota & LCO):
* The two “upstarts” of the company, and obvious stars of the future, are up against each other in a feud that I’ve learned is to be a BIG part of 2001- as Kumiko has aligned with the heel veterans but is the lowest-ranked, and Momoe is the obvious rising star on the babyface side beneath Ito & Watanabe, this is an obvious choice for a “career-defining rivalry” in which two stars can hopefully rise each other up and become icons of a new era. If all the booking pans out and everyone gets over, of course. On paper, the idea is ridiculously-solid- a new feud with the stars of the future. If both girls are smart, they understand they need to BRING IT here. Kumiko’s in white & blue, Momoe’s in a ton of colors.

They’re hesitant and careful to start, but Manami cheats to put Kumiko in the lead. Momoe shows fire and tries to counter the matwork, but Kumiko is bigger and kickier. Like every time Momoe seems ready to turn the tide, it’s BAM! down she goes. Momoe even tries her run-up move but misses and it’s time for an ass-kicking in the stands. Poor kid even gets GANG-BEAT against a wall and four heels birthday-bump her into a face bump. With great timing, Momoe flashes on a leglock out of a rolling counter, turning the tide at last, and “Engaging with the audience” 101 has her like “HEY HOW ABOUT I BREAK THIS BITCH’S FUCKING ANKLE?” to one side, then the other, dragging Kumiko around to all four sides of the ring and ass-slamming the ankle. A figure-four keeps on the punishment, and she persists in holds even as Kumiko tries to counter, then spams dropkicks like nuts because FUCK HER, right? But Kumiko has too much in her to be tiger driven, instead Pump Kicking Momoe right in the face. PERFECT snap-back bump by the kid, too- like she just got completely wiped out. Kumiko brains her with a pair of brain-kicks (remembering to limp to show the pain), then counters a whip-reversal with her SCISSOR kick as Momoe is in serious trouble. But Kumiko is a bit punched out, allowing Momoe to fire back with defiant strikes- Kumiko won’t sell at first, but finally goes down, but boots Momoe off the top and Ax Kicks her on the floor.

SNUG.

Momoe comes back with a German out there, but they keep whipping each other around, and Kumiko decides to work the brain some more with a running face-punt in the corner and countering a spinning reversal with another face-kick. Momoe halts to avoid another Pump Kick but gets German’d, then dumped off the top trying her run-up move and this is looking increasingly desperate for her. But of course an insta-comeback comes by a rail-whip reversal and she hits her run-up dive to the floor at last. Kumiko keeps trying strikes but now Momoe has her- run-up moonsault gets two, then segues to Rolling Germans, and responds to a failed bridge by just doing ANOTHER one for two. Manami dropkicks in to cheat, but Momoe cleverly backs up to lure Kumiko into another face-punt and Germans her again. But Kumiko catches her up top again and drives her face-first to the mat with her knee, only for a rolling kick to miss- Momoe’s Dragon Suplex gets two. Kumiko kicks free of another and wipes her out a couple times, but Momoe fires back and hits her rana, countered for a close one. Thunderous Ax Kick to the forehead gets two. For lack of anything else to try, Kumiko fires off more Scissor Kicks, but the over-reliance gets her German’d. She tries more kicks and gets dumped and cannonballed on the floor, then moonsaulted.

Momoe misses a missile kick in-ring and we get Dumping #3 (!) as Kumiko lets Manami take over entirely for a minute, then comes in and fires Red Mist into Momoe’s eyes on a table, then… calmly gets off it and strolls around again. Okay why set up the tables then? More kicks and finally Momoe hits a run-up sunset flip for two, and Kumiko throws a kick… and Momoe FIRES UP, landing an elbow. Another kick, another elbow, but when Momoe ducks another Kumiko just swings around and kills her on the backswing in a SWEET kick for two. A Rolling Kick finally lands, sending Momoe into a death-spiral for two. She tries her rana again, but Kumiko sits on her for two, but Momoe overshoots her moonsault and immediately Dragon Suplexes her for two! Momoe tries to finish, but Manami hits one of her suplexes to stop, only to missile kick Kumiko, setting up Momoe’s rana for a big nearfall- the crowd goes nuts for that one, so the match is at least still working. Kumiko boots free of a Dragon and Ax Kicks her for two as time ticks down. Momoe trips her and a missile kick/jackknife pin gets two, then Kumiko fires off two big kicks and Momoe grabs the ropes at “2”. They botch a backslide for two, Kumiko does her “stop a whip and face-punt” for two as we’re in the last seconds- Pump Kick misses- German! Kumiko kicks out at “ten”, Momoe does another, and then Kumiko kicks out and fires an Ax Kick JUST as (30:00) hits and Time Expires- the classic “constantly trying for pins as time is over” Zenjo match ending.

This was good! Lots of hard work! Kumiko being “slow & steady” with measured kicks to take on Momoe’s explosiveness (helped by her limitless cardio). Though a bit too long- filling 30 minutes is hard work for even the very best, much less people who rarely do “big solo matches” and aren’t giant stars yet. So you get a lot of fucky-aroundy stuff, like “let’s do lots of hesitation” to start, then once the early section has peaked, repeated “dump to the floor and throw each other around” stuff to kill more time (and to provide easy transitions- like countering a whip to the railing in lieu of doing a complicated reversal or one that requires some thought- very easy, simple work). Momoe does GREAT bumping to put over Kumiko’s strikes, and also did well putting on leglocks to halt that momentum- unfortunately Kumiko was just right back to throwing perfect kicks later so that ended up not mattering. And weird shit like “they fight onto a table, Kumiko sprays mist… and then they just leave the table and do in-ring stuff again”.

Kumiko has some epic kicks, which makes for great psychology with her counters being instantly buyable, but it’s tricky because they get diminished when they can’t score pins or knockouts, and it’s usually her ONLY gameplan. Like every single time Momoe does anything, Kumiko tries a kick. And this takes effect when 18 minutes go by and their gameplans are the same and they’re repeating spots. Ten years into Kumiko’s career, you’d expect a tad more versatility- by this point, Aja, Manami, Kansai and others were cresting ****+ routinely and were Champions. But the crowd was mostly into it, even if they weren’t going nuts. And honestly, putting on 30 minutes of action at THIS pace probably goes a long way towards A) impressing fans, and B) more importantly, impressing the BOOKERS, which is very important to their careers and probably helps them gain that all-important credibility going forward, even if a shorter match would be better, star-ratings wise.

Rating: ***1/4 (see, it’d be like ***3/4-**** if it was 10 minutes shorter and they didn’t have to repeat themselves so much, BUT I can see the point of the match going the way it did in the long run, booking-wise)

WWWA WORLD TAG TEAM TITLES:
LAS CACHORRAS ORIENTALES (Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda) vs. TOMOKO WATANABE & NANAE TAKAHASHI:
* Interestingly, NanaMomo has split up for the time being and now Tomoko is paired with Nanae in a lot of future stuff. Humorously, LCO come down on RICKSHAWS. Shimoda’s in pink, Mita’s in yellow, Nanae’s in purple & Tomoko’s in white.

FALL ONE: We’re immediately shown a bunch of clips of assorted mayhem, LCO’s seconds (like Kumiko Maekawa) adding damage- Nanae takes the worst of that, eating quadruple-teams and chairshots until the DVD and two Ax Kicks require Tomoko to save her. A Kumiko ax kick sets up Shimoda’s punch for the three (1:36 of 6:16 shown). Tomoko & Shimoda cut impassioned promos on one another to pop the fans. I believe LCO is shamed into playing fair, because that’s the last of the interference.

SECOND FALL: Nanae scraps with Shimoda a bit and finally escapes, then flies off the top onto Mita’s injured leg. More clipping abounds as Nanae hits a big boomerang senton halfway across the ring on Mita, and Tomoko immediately adds her boomerang elbow, then a vicious judo flip to Shimoda. Nanae misses her Vader Bomb, but gets a superplex, then Tomoko dragon screws Mita and Screwdrivers Shimoda for two. Jeeeeesus the speed of that is always terrifying. Tomoko misses her flying attack and Nanae crashes into her on a tope attempt, too, then Mita adds chairshots to a bleeding Tomoko and LCO do the Guardrail Drop. Alas, that move’s no longer over (too little impact or authority- they just tip it now). Shimoda hits the Death Lake Driver (tiger superplex) for two, then Tomoko tries to counter but falls to Mita’s DVD- Nanae saves. The babyfaces cleans house next, then JESUS FUCK- Tomoko hits the most brutal Screwdriver ever, Mita landing right on the side of her head in a rapid spin. That only gets TWO, so they hit a Doomdsay Hellsmasher (high-angle tiger driver) Flying Elbow combo for the pin at (2:52 of 16:29 shown). YEAH I’D THINK SO! This whole fall looked like murder.

THIRD FALL: All evened up now, Tomoko tries to finish quickly with a THIRD Screwdriver, and Mita somehow kicks out. Tomoko’s running out of energy, so slugs Mita down and tags out, Nanae measuring the giant for a lariat. Shimoda flies in to interfere, hits her double-clotheslines on both girls, then misses her Flying Ax Kick. They pepper her with lariats for two, then Tomoko hits HER with a Screwdriver for two, setting up Nanae’s giant Flying Senton for the same! Shimoda punches free and hits her Flying Ax Kick for two, then tags in Mita to clean up- but she fails her DVD and eats a huge backdrop driver, and Shimoda sets her up for the Avalanche Electric Chair Drop for two. DVD- Tomoko saves! Nanae avoids another and Tomoko sets her up for a NanaRacka (falcon arrow) for two. Another gets the same, and Nanae goes to finish, Mita desperately punching free. Shimoda helps them set up their finisher, but ax kicks Mita by mistake, only for Mita to spring up and take advantage with a DVD for two- Tomoko supermans in to save. Shimoda finally smothers Tomokko so the Death Valley Driver can score the pin at (5:08 of 6:58 shown). Tomoko comforts Nanae while Mita is dead to the world after putting in the whole last fall by herself.

This looked like it was bitching! Sadly we miss a lot to clipping, but the last fall was all desperation saves and last-second kickouts, putting a lot of work into making spots work. I liked things like the first NanaRacka being saved by Shimoda, then Mita kicking out naturally on the second. The match itself also felt very Nanae-centric- between this and her war with Mita last time, I’m getting that they’re decided to elevate her in bigger and bigger matches, so it’s sink or swim time for her. She’s been a weak link in a lot of NanaMomo matches, many of which would go way past **** if she was anywhere near as good as Momoe, so this is good to see. She seems to be ramping up her passion, anger, and moves, as she puts a LOT more into them.

Rating: ***1/2 (even with some stuff clipped, they mostly just skipped the transitions and showed the moves, so you got a pretty good sense of it. What we saw was definitely good- the final fall would have been *** all by itself)

STREET FIGHT:
KAORU ITO vs. YUMIKO HOTTA:
* It’s the two biggest stars in Zenjo fighting each other in singles at last! And… oh god. Look at the video length. Can Hotta go that long at all? Both are coming out in shirts & pants, because this is more about hurting that wrestling.

They silently square off at first, then there’s a funny bit when Kumiko runs in for two light shots before just leaving, haha. Ito is too stoic to respond to that and calmly waits out Hotta, but gets jumped again and beaten up in the stands. And it’s time for a leisurely stroll around Kawasaki Gymnasium to beat her up! lmao she just whipped Ito in a FAN because he was in the way of the pop machine. And the guy just shuffles off! KAYFABE, man! It’s a good thing wrestlers are forced to go wherever their opponent does when their hair is pulled because Hotta pulls her entirely up the stairs, and for the first time in my entire Spotlight watchalong, they enter the WASHROOMS!

THERE BE A LADY IN THE MEN’S WASHROOM TONY!

Hotta uses a metal bucket found there as a weapon repeatedly, and after a few minutes, they make their appearance at the top of the stands to remind the fans they’re still around, then run downstairs for more fighting. Ito promptly starts her insta-comeback on the floor and starts throwing rapid-fire punches and big running lariats, as we can see she’s bleeding all over- looks like it’s in her nose and mouth, too. They make their way back to ringside, where Ito USES THE ASS, but Manami trips her on the next one so Hotta can chuck a ladder at her and it’s time for Stroll #2. Repeated ladder shots and a jeans chain used to enhance punches follows, and even Momoe gets beaten up. But Ito finally launches the ladder at her and DDTs her on it.

Always love fans smiling and laughing as they run out of harm’s way.

Hotta casually just makes an easy comeback with the chain, then a length of rope, piledriving Ito on a table. Hotta tosses chairs, but an incensed Ito just lights her up with the same, dumping a row of them on her and throwing more- great energy from her! Then they absolutely waffle the SHIT out of each other with elbow smashes and slam into the chairs, looking every bit like a real fight. Ito wins, brutalizes Hotta with fists, then hits a giant powerbomb on the floor to take a breather. Half a minute later, she’s back with more shots, but Hotta comes back when they do Stroll #3, and we’re back to the ladder & rope. But her goons get a HUGE ladder, and so she carries the rope up to the balcony, where she drags Ito after her (dragging someone up a 12-foot ladder- that’s a new one), with the goons pushing Ito’s ass so she is forced to step higher (SCIENCE!). This leads to ANOTHER stroll through the upper levels, as they find a balcony leading to outside, Ito’s tied to a railing so Hotta can throw some unguarded kicks, and Ito finally comes back with a sleeper, then leads us to some ATTEMPTED MURDER SPOTS, as she tries to pull Hotta over the balcony, then Hotta does the same, leading to what was probably supposed to be a big “money” spot- Ito being dragged down the ladder and “flung off” so she lands in the stands. Okay the fall wasn’t THAT high, though. Like, her ass was level with Momoe’s head when she leapt back, and Momoe is TINY. Then the spot they’ve been building to for ages with Ito “hanging”, except they can’t get her feet off the ground and the rope is noticeably just under her arms.

After like 3-4 minutes of Ito selling, she finally recovers after a ladder toss and uranages Hotta on the floor. Another one (those bumps look MISERABLE to take) sets up a powerbomb and another “money” spot- a Flying Stomp off the ladder! From like ten feet up… and more of a Flying Ass to the shoulder. OW. A second one hits more flush. They take a stroll down to ringside, both appropriately WRECKED as they can barely throw each other into stuff and are just walking around in a daze with their heads rolling back. Back in, Ito tries a Stomp but Hotta’s up and flings chairs at her, then drapes the ladder over two chairs and drops Ito on it from the top. Ito takes the rolling kick against a ladder as the goons tear apart the ring using the specialized tools, and Hotta gets the piece that hooks onto the rope and uses it as a melee weapon. The ring is now ropeless, allowing Hotta to just shove Ito out off the edge. And it’s Stroll #4 as they wander out AGAIN, Hotta dragging her to a stage ledge where she throws stuff until crashing into Manami’s table when both are carrying weapons, right where all the fans can see them. Ito whips Manami off the ledge (lol Toyota Okadas the bump so bad, just sliding to her ass before Ito even lets her go, then rolling harmlessly to the floor), then Ligerbombs Hotta through a table on the ledge! Flying Stomp off a ladder onto the scraps! Ito dumps scraps onto her and hits a huge elbow off the ledge, and the ref starts a count (the first I’ve seen all match). Ito drags Hotta’s beaten body to ringside for two Flying Stomps off the ladder in-ring, but misses a third and eats a pair of shoteis. The ref gets to “8” before she’s up, and she dodges Hotta and hits another Stomp, only to be attacked by the goons again.

As someone who’s trained with ladders, I suspect this is somewhat unsafe.

Both are DEAD, but Hotta fires off another shotei for a double “7” count. Both shotei each other next, and Hotta has her people set up a ladder so it’s balanced ON the post, with half of it hanging down to the floor. That seems safe! Ito gets hung upside-down on it while Hotta flings chairs at her, declaring it’s OVER as Ito flops to the floor. Hotta sets up a ladder on the floor and tries a Ligerbomb down there, but just sorta rolls Ito off the apron onto it. Hotta practically GANSO BOMBS Ito on the floor, then strolls around to hit a Ligerbomb as well, but Invincible Ito is up and fighting again, throwing lariats and her own Ligerbomb, but charges into a Tiger Driver and sells that while Hotta keeps wrapping a chain around her boot to throw kicks. Ito’s hung upside-down off the ladder and Hotta keeps peppering her with those kicks until she’s dead. And Ito can barely manage to lift her head before the ref hits “10” and it’s over at (51:51), Hotta winning and lobbing a chair as a final insult. Ito is despondent when she recovers, throwing a chair at the ref and screaming and Hotta- it’s a pullapart brawl as we’re off.

Well, this was long! It was… I mean they MOSTLY kept it active so it wasn’t just resting, but I didn’t like this style of match when it was the Attitude Era Arena Brawl style and here it’s even more passe. They were obviously leading to a few big spots but many of them didn’t land quite right- being “flung off the balcony” sounds more incredible when you aren’t halfway down the ladder and doing a guided fall, as much as that landing had to suck. The length of the match meant none of the brawling could be AS venomous as it probably should be, as nobody could maintain a brawl at that pace for that long. Ito still gave pretty good, though, firing back with authority on numerous occasions- her comebacks are a huge part of her skillset at this point. Another issue was the huge length made for about an hour of “general noise”, not big crowd pops or lulls- there’s constantly SOMETHING happening but usually that “something” is “walking around while holding the other person by the hair”. By the end, they were so bagged they could barely do anything- this kind of helps the match in ways, as it looks super-grueling and prevents stuff from hitting “flush” so it’s more believable they don’t score pins, but it leaves the end a bunch of messy execution. There are still fun spots throughout, but they’re intersperesed by a LOT of the “Hairpull & Walk” and lead to a general flat line through the entire match, not a series of peaks & valleys.

Rating: **3/4 (some good stuff and a solid ending, but it’s just TOO DAMN LONG for what it needs to be, with endless ways to stall)

Overall, it’s a very big show, and shows some promise for the future. Yet ALSO struggles at certain things- one match taking 27 minutes, another 30, and the main event THE OTHER FIFTY-ONE (quoth Aaron Burr, sir). The current crop of wrestlers (up & comers and aging veterans) just don’t have the “Go” to fill that kind of time, so you get Maekawa & Hotta the heels acting lethargic at points because they’re going so long, taking on explosive opponents who hit tons of stuff but can’t get it done. Yet the 30-minute Draw probably builds lots of mystique for Momoe & Kumiko as “the stars of the future” while Ito losing only after 51 minutes and tons of cheating also puts HER over while establishing Hotta as a threat to her title.