Joshi Spotlight: The Japan Grand Prix (Part One)

AJW IN JUNE 2001:
* It’s time to move into Zenjo’s Summer, punctuated by what looks like a hotly contested Japan Grand Prix! This one features the whole company and ends up in a really tight race to the final match, which is very much a “Push the Next Generation” sort of deal! We also have the rising team of MihoKayo taking on Black Joker, plus Manami Toyota & Yumiko Hotta against a jobbery squad of try-hards! And… guys, you’re not gonna believe it… Miyuki Fujii WRESTLES A GOOD MATCH!

TAKAKO INOUE vs. MIKA NISHIO:
* Another day, another “Veteran demolishes a baby” match. Nishio has already upgraded to “actual gear”, dropping the Rookie Swimsuit for a long skirt and stuff. She’s still in such a “rookie mode” she actually starts helping take down the pre-match streamers, hahahah what a dork. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a wrestler do that while in match-mode.

Nishio tries to get a quick dropkick in, but Takako responds by booting her in the chest like a good veteran. Takako kicks her in the ass and swings her around by the head while some lady on commentary is doing a comedy bit with rapid-fire chatter- haha I think she’s annoyed there was a miscommunication error or something because she just spams hair-whips and then Jobber Offense (when was the last time you saw a 13-year veteran put up the “standing back body drop” move?). Like, the standing backdrop, bodyslam and “low-angle backdrop suplex”? Then she just does running kicks, looks annoyed when Nishio’s arm is under the bottom rope so she can’t pin her, then throws a couple more and pins her at (3:20). Good heavens- the most one-sided match I’ve seen in YEARS. Like, she didn’t sell the first move and then gobbled up every last bit of the match.

Rating: 1/2* (kind of amusing from a total squash standpoint, but not really effective at anything other than showing Nishio’s bumps)

MANAMI TOYOTA & YUMIKO HOTTA vs. MOMOE NAKANISHI & CHIE TERASHITA:
* oh my god haha they stuck Momoe with the NEWBIE as she takes on two of the top wrestlers in the promotion. The baby hauls ass to try and fight Manami while Wacky flies in with a missile kick to help, and we’re clipped to…

A fight in the stands! Momoe does okay against Hotta while Manami engages in some child abuse, stomping the poor rookie and doing the “run all the way down the aisle at Korakuen” thing. Hotta throws chair after chair while Manami grabs the microphone from the ringside announcer and starts bopping Terashita with it to her amusement, then she whips him into a sumo wrestler seated near the balcony, haha. Back in, Manami goes for a Moonsault but Momoe Germans her off… and Toyota of course does that shitass “lol I no-sell u” spot, and right when Momoe shoudl put her in her place for that she slips and crotches herself in the corner lollllllllll. They try to save it with a rollup but Momoe immediately headbutts the mat OH GOD SHE HAS THE YIPS- Manami is thankfully so insanely fucking strong she can just haul her off the mat into a wheelbarrow German for two and tags out. At least Hotta’s stuff is easy to sell. Hotta slaps her pretty good, but Momoe knocks both veterans to the floor and (carefully) hits a run-up plancha to both of them. She flies off the top right onto Hotta’s feet but manages her Rana for two, and keeps countering the Tiger Driver but eats a rolling kick and the Driver gets two.

Funny bit as Hotta tries a jujigatame but little Chie runs in and just LIGHTS HER UP with angry stomps to stop it, then scurries back to the apron. She manages to not die for that, as Momoe counters the Ocean Cyclone for two, then when the heels throw a chair to stop her comeback, she dodges one and it nails Manami, whom she Germans for two. Hotta sets up Manami’s plancha to both girls, and Manami’s Moonsault gets two. Japanese Ocean Cyclone Suplex- Terashita saves! Momoe counters another to a Dragon Suplex for two, but tries another run-up and gets caught in another JOCS… and Terashita saves again! Toyota’s finally like “alright, FUCKER” and forces a tag, immediately throwing her to the ropes and dropkicking the absolute shit out of her for the pin at (8:00 shown). lol well that solves THAT. No idea why the ref was cool with Manami casually holding the ropes for the entire pin, though.

The ref is a little too forgiving on this pinfall.

Funny little match, as Momoe had some uncharacteristic botches, but the veterans mostly made hash of her, but there was some fun stuff with the green rookie managing to interfere on pins since she was just so small and squirmy she could do that flawlessly regardless of skill level. And it paid off with an annoyed Manami just forcing a tag and One Hit KOing her on the spot.

Rating: ** (mostly amusing rather than an impressive showing)

MIHOKAYO (Miho Wakizawa & Kayo Noumi) (AJW) vs. BLACK JOKER (Eagle Sawai & Rumi Kazama, w/ Takako Inoue) (LLPW):
* The LLPW heels are back against more undercard wrestlers! Operation: Get These Kids Over is still underway! I predict another “they try super-hard, but can’t get it done” heartbreaker ending. They’re dressed like Native Ameicans again, while Eagle’s in red & Rumi’s in purple, looking squat and broad nowadays.

The kids immediately knock an annoyed Rumi around, then swivel their hips at her. Rumi fires back with kicks & lariats, then pays back the swivels with one of her own… and a kick to the trapped Noumi. Noumi gets a sunset flip on Eagle, but gets caught on a flying crossbody… but rolls her up again. Rumi goes through her stuff with a Tornado DDT & Spinkick for two- bridging German- Wacky saves. Another gets two and Eagle gets a 2nd-rope missile kick. Eagle keeps clobbering her despite Kayo’s speed, and a powerbomb gets two- Miho saves. Kayo was too obvious in checking for her, though- ya gotta sell. Rumi misses a flying headbutt but immediately pops up for more strikes, but Kayo’s LAST-second shrieking bridge was great. Okay, this is ALL HEELS making me think it’s a last-ditch win for the kids now. She finally DDTs out and Wacky comes in, nailing a German on Rumi, taking another lariat, but getting a Super Frankensteiner for two. Eagle sets up a Flying Wheel Kick and a lariat gets two, then a Double Assisted Powerbomb hits- Kayo saves. A bridge fails on Rumi’s Tiger Suplex and Wacky lands a jujigatame counter, Kayo adds a senton, and a Fisherman’s Buster… has Takako breaks it up and flip off the crowd. But Eagle accidentally missile kicks Rumi, setting up Stereo Flying Headbutts into a Fisherman’s Buster- 2 count! But they sense their moment- a Double Fisherman’s Superplex hits and Wacky hits a THIRD Fisherman’s Buster- for the three (10:15)! MihoKayo wins over the invading Heel squad! Miho gets on the mic, laughing, and says “EAGLE-SAN… hahahahahahahhhhhhh!”. Rumi says just one win proves nothing, “this victory was a waste!”, while Eagle offers to give the kids dance lessons by joining her stable.

I knew something was up when the heels were able to gobble up EVERYTHING and Rumi wouldn’t sell a damn thing all match long. While she’s always pretty selfish as a worker, she usually wouldn’t do THAT unless it was paying off with her doing the job. The heels cheated a bit, but only a tad, and were actually a bit ineffective in the end as the kids were easily able to deal with Eagle and run her around, preventing pin-breaks. The match was pretty decent, if same-y- Kayo is a great bumper even if she makes the same face every time she sells, staring up over her head, and Miho hits the most energetic comebacks around. Nearly every heel comeback was “ignore a move and hit a lariat”, though, as they repeated offense all match long as if they were sleepwalking.

Rating: **1/2 (solid tag bout that puts MihoKayo over big)

JAPAN GRAND PRIX:
* It’s time for the JGP again! Last year, they crowned Kaoru Ito in a big match over Etsuko Mita! This time, it’s the whole company in there, plus LCO split up, and everyone fights everyone in a huge round robin! With have low-ranked Miyuki Fujii in there at the bottom-tier, but there’s a lot of potential drama with all these big stars (Kaoru Ito is the Champion, Yumiko Hotta the top challenger, plus former main Manami Toyota), plus people rising up the ranks (Momoe, Nanae, Wacky, Noumi). A reminder that these tournaments always end up with multiple upsets, random “huge bunch of wins for a mid-level person” runs, and at least one hugely-fought 30-minute draw.

This is the first night of the tournament matches (which run the full summer), so everyone’s tied at 0 points.

NANAE TAKAHASHI (0 points) vs. MIYUKI FUJII (0 points):
* Classmates from the same year, Nanae has eclipsed “The Eternal Rookie” by far. Fujii’s dour-faced in black & Nanae’s in purple. I wouldn’t be surprised if Fujii didn’t go 0-10.

Fujii lands a shock elbow before the bell, but runs into a side slam. Things turn into a tolerable “early years”-style match with all the classic mat holds, Fujii attempting a more heelish persona. She bumps to the floor off the top & eats a dive, but Fujii comes off the apron with a great elbow smash, then hits a suplex out there. Back in, Nanae superplexes her for two to a good reaction, and Fujii avoids a Vader Bomb & hits La Majistral for two. Fujii counters a backdrop and fires off ANOTHER elbow for a close one and the fans are getting nervous. But she overshoots and gets German’d & Vader Bombed for two. Nanae sits on her next time she tries La Majistral, and a backdrop driver gets two. An exhausted Fujii Germans her off the second rope and moves in for another elbow, but walks straight into a huge lariat to the face, but Nanae is too stumbly to take advantage, and carelessly walks into a kneebar! She desperately scrambles for the ropes as I bought this as a potential fall. Fujii’s reliable elbow- two! Nanae gets desperate with a small package & lariat for twos, and then finally hits the NanaRakka (falcon arrow) for three (8:21 of 16:15 shown). JESUS- just about! Nanae puts her over on the mic after and they shake hands.

WHERE DID THIS COME FROM!?!? Miyuki Fujii has been one of the lamest people to watch in Zenjo for a YEAR and has never improved, and now suddenly wrestles like she was told “do well in this tournament or get your resume together, Fujii-san”. Hell I’d bet that’s just what happened. It helps that she has good chemistry with Nanae, who is handling well some of the pressures of a higher level and is at a stage where it’s actually believable she’ll eat some flukes while also challenging top stars. So I 100% bought that kneebar or that a rollup might catch her at some point, because Fujii was selling desperation and pulling out all the stops and Nane was stumbling and looking vulnerable. A very, very good match by Fujii standards.

Rating: **3/4 (the Flair/Steamboat of Fujii matches)

ETSUKO MITA (0 points) vs. MIMA SHIMODA (0 points):
* LCO EXPLODES!!! This is a very rare match between the two- I haven’t seen one since Shimoda was having her failed singles push rev up years ago in 1995 or so. Funny bit as Shimoda goes for the handshake, but Mita’s so wise to her she just kinda stares at her and walks away to Shimoda’s amusement. Shimoda’s in bright pink and Mita’s in a very ruffly white idol-esque outfit.

Mita keeps giving Shimoda either this nonplussed look or smirks of amusement at her antics.

The two appear in total amusement to start, playing Rock/Paper/Scissors instead of fighting, but Shimoda celebrates her win too much and gets kicked in the ass. Mita knows her too well to fall for any counters, so reverses like 3-4 moves in a row until Shimoda snags a rollup, causing Mita to go for a banana-yellow chair. This just AMUSES Shimoda, who is like “oh ya think so?” and threatens to grab her pink one- ultimately Mita is shamed into putting it back (in a great bit she folds it up with her leg so she can keep an eye on sneaky Shimoda the whole time). They prep a lockup, Mita literally doing the “HEY LOOK OVER THERE!” to sneak in a hairpull, helicopter hairtoss & piledriver for two. Mita works a weird camel clutch (no neck grab- just pulls at the shoulders) and bodyscissors, but Shimoda uses her own heel as a melee weapon to break it, but Mita snags it again after they do multiple hairpulls. Shimoda comes up with some clever ways aruond, like going for Mita’s hair then circling around to pull in her arms as they’re holding her up, so she flops back and Shimoda yanks away at her hair, then bites her side to break the hold completely.

Shimoda goes for the injured leg and Mita immediately grabs the pink chair, so Shimoda is like “OH!?” and immediately boots it away and throws it herself. But Mita throws the yellow chair, but Shimoda counters the DVD for two. Mita writhes in agony in a figure-four for a while- she breaks after exactly one minute, but Shimoda reapplies, then dropkicks her knee after Mita throws a Blazing Chop and grabs a chair. Shimoda throws a chair at the knee, then does the joshi version of a Van Daminator, throwing it to Mita then charging a kick into it. Mita thus feeds the Somersault Ax Kick, doing a great sell of it. Like that move has NEVER looked so good- Mita just collapses like it shattered her skull. Fun exchange sees Shimoda spam ax kicks to stun Mita, who slugs her back, but Shimoda kicks away another Chop and does the same to Mita, setting up another ax kick for two. Shimoda tries a bulldog but ends up in a Buckle Bomb and Mita hits the Death Valley Driver… and Shimoda kicks out at ONE as they pull that one out! Mita fights her into another for two, then pulls off her constant kneebrace as the crowd murmurs. Another DVD is countered to the Tiger Suplex for two. Shimoda stumbles a bunch and nearly gets DVD’d again, they scrap a bunch, Mita DVDs her but Shimoda immediately small packages her out of it for a close call, then rushes in and punches her out for three at (11:44 of 19:06 shown)- Shimoda wins! Wasn’t expecting that after Mita pulled off the brace. What WAS that about?

As expected, LCO do really well even against each other when both are giving a shit. Mystically, Shimoda’s sloppiness and weirdo mannerisms are all super restrained against a pro like Mita (who is almost never in sloppy exchanges), and both of course have good reason to sell and make each other’s shit look good, since burying one another is counter-productive. I mean, look at how Mita took the Somersault Ax Kick- that move nearly always whiffs or looks like ass, but she knows to sell the knee, barely be able to get up, and thus justify bending over to take the move well, and she does the “oh shit that knocked me cold” flopover sell off it. So Mita dominates the opening stuff with her usual aplomb, but Shimoda can use sneakiness and targetted attacks to hold her down. Mita fires back showing defiance and skill, and then it ends into the kind of typical Finisher Spam that her bouts can end up being, unfortunately. Given it’s her finisher, doing three in a row and being unable to hold down Shimoda isn’t great, especially as she just counters her for the win.

Rating: ***1/4 (maybe not quite as good as it “should” be, but a good performance from both- the best Shimoda has looked in AGES and another good example of how excellent Mita has been over the past year in singles matches)

KAORU ITO (0 points) vs. TOMOKO WATANABE (0 points):
* The #1 and #2 babyfaces in the company go at it now! Ito is the Champion & Tomoko a Class of ’89 classmate, bringing to mind the early ’90s when they were paired up CONSTANTLY and showed great chemistry. Tomoko’s in white, Ito’s in black.

Tomoko immediately charges in with a lariat, missing but cranking the knee with a dragon screw and figure-four. Because they’re friends, there’s a lot of hesitation in lockups and no venom, but Tomoko still targets the knee and crashes onto Ito from the top for two. She keeps defaulting to lariats, but one too many gets her chokeslammed twice for two. Both wildly swing with lariats until Tomoko gets one, but charges in and eats another for two. They lariat each other simultaneously and no-sell, paying off when Ito gets whipped off the ropes and FLATTENS Ito with another- I like how it’s just the same moves over and over again but they’re shaking it up to get something out of it. And Tomoko immediately goes to the “next level” with the Screwdriver (backdrop to ligerbomb) for two. Ito is staggered, but pushes out of a powerbomb and snags another lariat with one of those arm submissions she’s been picking up wins with. Tomoko’s out before it’s even applied fully but still sells it on the floor and gets baseball-slid, but dodges a tope. Tomoko gets a running shove out there but another lariat gets her ligerbombed on the floor! Flying Stomp gets two- Tomoko’s grimacing sell is GREAT. Tomoko springs up with another lariat, but gets Ligerbombed for two, then two more Flying Stomps crush her… but a third misses and she scores her lariat for two! But Ito flips her back over and pins her at (8:33 of 15:51 shown).

Watanabe is probably the best seller in the entire company. NOBODY makes shit look as agonizing as she can.

Another solid Ito showing- this was a quite slow, thoughtful match that had the fans mostly quiet, but since they knew their timing, they’d pop them really quickly with a sudden exchange or nearfall here and there. Using Tomoko’s go-to lariat as the match’s early story was clever, as they knew enough variations (counters, no-sells, sudden shots, one on the floor, reversals) that it was always interesting how it was gonna go. Tomoko’s sells of the Stomps was a master-class- her full grimace is top-tier. Having Ito so thoroughly dominate her is an interesting one- after that quick Screwdriver it was nearly all Ito crushing her.

Rating: **3/4 (hard for these two to have a bad match, even when they’re obviously not swinging for the fences)

JUNE 10th:
* The June 10th show has matches of its own. Most of these are clipped.

MIMA SHIMODA (2 points) vs. KAYO NOUMI (0 points): Noumi gets a German, then humorously grabs the poor REFEREE to stop Shimoda from swinging a chair at her. His pleas for safety are the best. Noumi runs into a boot and the Mita-Slaying punch gets two on her. Shimoda gets the Flying Somersault Ax Kick, but pulls her up to do more punishment- Noumi tries some counters, but Shimoda stops a whip with the Tiger Suplex at (1:48 of 7:40 shown)- Shimoda wins.

ETSUKO MITA (0 points) vs. NANAE TAKAHASHI (2 points): Mita gets a small package & DVD, but Nanae kicks out at one, then kicks out of a second, then a third! A furious Mita flattens her with an elbow, but gets backdrop suplexed and lariated. Nanae hits the NanaRakka, but Mita immediately sweeps back for a nearfall. Nanae charges in… and lariats her for three (2:10 of 15:27 shown)! Mita hit her DVD THREE TIMES and didn’t get the pin, which is a crazy push for Nanae. It’s like they’re pushing LCO out the door and using Mita for clout-based jobs, haha. She goes on more of a tear and ends up with one of the best records, at least.

MOMOE NAKANISHI (0 points) vs. MANAMI TOYOTA (0 points): Momoe immediately hits her backflip dodge into a Dragon Suplex for two, but takes the Wheelbarrow German for the same. Momoe Germans Manami off the top, but does the usual “land on their outstretched boots” spot and Manami moonsaults her for two. JOCS is reversed for two, then she’s Dragon Suplexed. This match is pretty much the usual spots they ALWAYS do. Manami catches her with a Ligerbomb counter for two, but then MANAMI flies off onto feet, then Momoe catches her with the Twisting Rana- for three (2:18 of 18:16 shown)! Momoe beats TOYOTA! This is a pretty huge win, but JGP matches kind of inspire flukes. Instead of looking shocked and angry, Manami has this “fuck, did my push just die?” look. *looks at her tournament final record* Yes, yes it did.

KUMIKO MAEKAWA (0 points) vs. KAORU ITO (2 points): Ito gets the Flying Stomp, but gets punted off trying another, then Kumiko gets a WICKED kick combo, going from a thrust kick into a rolling kick, ax kick & rolling through with the decapitation spinkick… for the pin (1:06 of 13:13 shown)! Even Kumiko’s like “… wait, what?” as we get our second big upset, as she pins the champion!

“… wut?”

And that’s it for the first two rounds of matches! Next up, we move into July!

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