Joshi Spotlight: AJW Japan Grand Prix (Part 3)- Momoe vs. Hotta & Manami vs. Kumiko!!

AJW- JAPAN GRAND PRIX (Part 3):
* Back to the Japan Grand Prix!

The Wrestlers:
Yumiko Hotta: Former Ace and currently a snide martial arts heel. (6 points- d. Fujii, Kayo, Nanae)
Manami Toyota: Former Ace and about to be reduced in push a LOT. (8 points- d. Kayo, Fujii, Mita, Nanae)
Mima Shimoda: One half of LCO and a reliable “can pick up sneaky wins or just job” wrestler. (8 points- d. Mita, Kayo, Wakizawa, Manami)
Etsuko Mita: One half of LCO with a similar “can win or lose”. Her Death Valley Driver’s been reduced in credibility a lot lately, but she’s also gotten a bigger push as a singles. (6 points- d. Kumiko, Wakizawa, Tomoko)
Kaoru Ito: The current Champion and top star. (9 points- d. Tomoko, Shimoda, Fujii, Noumi, draw: Momoe)
Tomoko Watanabe: Secondary babyface. “2nd tier” star. (6 points- d. Fujii, Hotta, Wakizawa)
Kumiko Maekawa: Martial artist in the 2nd/3rd tier and never quite got the big push… yet. (10 points- d. Ito, Momoe, Shimoda, Tomoko, Hotta)
Momoe Nakanishi: A pint-sized super-athlete tryhard type with a big following. Currently in the 3rd tier but is a tag champion. (9 points- d. Nanae, Manami, Noumi, draw: Ito)
Nanae Takahashi: Momoe’s lesser partner, and a bigger power wrestler. Slowly rising but needs to improve a lot. (5 points- d. Fujii, Mita, draw: Wakizawa)
Miho Wakizawa: Try-hard lower ranked wrestler. (7 points- d. Kumiko, Fujii, Noumi, draw: Nanae)
Kayo Noumi: Lower-ranked wrestler & Wakizawa’s partner. Does great “broken doll” selling but low on the totem pole. (2 points- d. Nanae)
Miyuki Fujii: Mega-jobber- “The Eternal Rookie”. (0 points)

JULY 27th:

* This card is mostly focused around a Tournament to decide the new AJW Champion. This belt signifies “the champion of the lower-ranked wrestlers”- it’s above the Juniors (ie. 1-2 years) but below any other proper “contested” belts. Unfortunately this and the important “tier-defining” matches here (including Yumiko Hotta vs. upstart Momoe Nakanishi and Manami Toyota vs. upstart Kumiko Maekawa) utterly fails to draw, as a fairly large building has a TON of empty seats visible.

And once again, I remember to click on “Closed Captioning” because now the function actually works really well and we can better tell what’s being said! It’s like a whole new angle to the business!

AJW TITLE TOURNAMENT:
MIHO WAKIZAWA vs. MIYUKI FUJII: Fujii, in black, tries for the one belt she might actually win. Wakizawa’s Super Frankensteiner fails and she’s missile kicked, with Fujii following up with a lot of elbow strikes to play up her great performance in the match with Nanae from last month. They play up desperation with a ton of flash-pins, Wacky hitting a German & Perfect Plex, then Fujii rolling her up and climbing the ropes- Wacky hits her Super Frankensteiner but Fujii re-rolls her for two, then tries La Majistral and Miho sits on her for a close two. Wacky hits a quick Fisherman’s Buster, then recovers and hits another for the emphatic three (3:14 of 11:47 shown). Good effort and “gotta win this!” from both.

AJW TITLE TOURNAMENT:
KAYO NOUMI (AJW) vs. KAYOKO HARUYAMA (JWP): This clipped one sees Kayo hit her Double-Wrist Armsault for two, but Haruyama hits a really bad Stunner (“Chotto” from a commentator, aka Japanese for “She didn’t quite get ALL of it, Brain…”) and a slick German for two. She biffs it on a flying splash but gets a wheelbarrow German and aims for a big finish (tying Noumi’s arms behind her), but gets countered and has to settle for an intercepting spinebuster for two. Commentary brings up the “over 10kg” size difference as she finally lands that splash for two, but Noumi gets a super sunset flip powerbomb reversal for two. She tries another Armsault for two, then gets a sunset flip… but it’s the dreaded “too far into the ropes” botch and they have to swiftly improvise- inside cradle gets the pin at (2:46 of 9:51 shown). YUP- when that’s supposed to be the FINISH you gotta make a quick decision. Match seemed fine- mostly Haruyama getting the “you’re winning, so you get all your shit in” booking- Kayo takes a million bumps but more or less banana-peels her with a quickie rollup.

AJW TITLE TOURNAMENT:
FINAL MATCH:
MIHO WAKIZAWA vs. KAYO NOUMI:
* Another MihoKayo match, this one part of a one-night touranment. Kayo’s in a blue/pink outfit this time, while Wacky’s in a tight yellow thing, really emphasizing her beanpole look.

Kayo attacks before the bell but splats overshooting it and takes the Fisherman’s Buster for two. Commentary talks about how they’ve improved from their Black Joker mini-feud, “Wakizawa has mastered rough fighting. She has a different attitude than before”, but they keep messing up stuff and getting sloppy, but Kayo gets a flying splash…. and Wacky’s arm was splayed WAY out on that landing, and quickly she’s outside on the floor rolling around in very clear agony, tears in her eyes like she’s seen a Bret Hart match and moving her wrist around. After a LONG break, she gets back in, with her right arm hobbled. Kayo splats on a flying splash and takes a plancha & some missile dropkicks, Wacky’s arm a bit better, then Wacky fails another Buster. Rollup, perfect plex & flying splash get twos, then her Super Frankensteiner does. She goes up and takes Kayo’s Super Double-Wrist Armsault for two, Kayo counters a German and gets her own, then Wacky gets one, then she gets a Sunset Flip Powerbomb counter in the corner and her Fisherman’s Buster gets only two! She follows up, but Kayo counters her whip with a double-wrist armsault for two, then a sunset flip, Wacky rolls through, then Kayo get a sloppy crucifix hold off another whip and gets three at (10:33). Kayo Noumi is the new AJW Champion!

An interesting look at how much these two have advanced- in that they’re incredibly sloppy at various parts, but their effort level and their confidence has increased to the point where they can go out there and have a lot of high-impact moves and huge bombs off the top and it’s not a complete disaster. Wacky losing seems odd from a Western perspective but I’ve been told (and have now observed) that this is the way Zenjo “levels up” their wrestlers- jobbing out to the lower-level performer indicates to the fans that this is the time the young wrestlers “level up” and move up to the next level. Good job from Wacky toughing it out in there- that looked like it HURT but within moments she’s hitting planchas and Super Frankensteiners (which involves putting both hands on the mat to control direction/momentum) and not reacting. I think adrenaline was a factor in there because she was feeling it by the end.

Rating: **1/2 (good in spite of itself- like it’s sloppy and lots of moves don’t hit right, but both are so innately scrambly it kinda “fits”, and their effort level never wavered, even with the long injury bit)

IDOL WRESTLER DOJO PART 2:
TAKAKO INOUE (w/ Black Joker) vs. MIKA NISHIO (w/ Kiss World):
* It’s the rematch 19 days later! With Nishio having upgraded to NON-JOBBER clothing, as she now has a shiny white & purple skirt combo. Nishio has obviously now gained enough experience to be allowed to wear makeup and have her hair done before matches, too, haha. Is there some kinda hierarchy rule to that? Takako now has her heel stable with her (Eagle Sawai & Rumi Kazama) while Nishio is backed by “Kiss World”, which is the Singing Idol stable of Momoe, Nanae, Miho & Kayo- they actually had some real success there for a bit (ARSION tried to rip them off with CAZAI and such- it failed). Last time, Takako easily beat the shit out of the Idol Rookie and just booted her in the face to win.

Takako when she sees another pretty girl.

Nishio demands a test of strength immediately, Takako being like “… REALLY?” and making her howl in pain. But she’s quickly yanked to the floor by Momoe and Kiss World beats her ass! But Takako soon whips Nishio into the guardrail and STFs her again, but Nishio shows “experience” but slipping her head out after a long struggle. Takako whips out the Nishioslayer kicks to harass her (“Inoue Takako, who was once an idol wrestler- sorry to say ‘once’, but she’s still an idol wrestler” lmaoooooooooo- someone doesn’t want Takako in his face after the show), hits the short backdrop suplex, then pulls the TOMBSTONE out of the mothballs… but Nishio actually hooks onto her hips and hides her head around Takako’s side to resist it- never seen THAT before. Takako finally forces her into it, getting two- you know it’s Zenjo when a TOMBSTONE can’t pin a rookie. Nishio fires off a storm of jobber dropkicks to little effect, but a slapfest actually angers Takako enough to flatten her with one. Another levels her and a DDT gets two, and the Backdrop Hold… has KISS WORLD run in to break up the pin! This provokes a Black Joker run-in as everyone gets their asses beat, Eagle belly-bounces people around, and a kick/facecrusher wipes out Momoe (I think). And Takako lands a Backdrop Hold on Nishio… for two! But Takako fires off a Spinkick to beat her at (7:44). Takako talks smack again (“Write on the side of a pamphlet saying Idol Wrestler Who Can’t Take a Defensive Position”– I assume this sounds more rad in Japanese).

Rating: *1/2 (A better match than last time, but secretly as one-sided since Takako still sells almost nothing, but there’s more goo-gah wrapped around it. This still gives Nishio something to work towards)

MANAMI TOYOTA (10 points) vs. KUMIKO MAEKAWA (12 points):
* The stable-mates fight, Manami, THANK GOD, having dropped her ugly black/red/green gear for just a sparkly black & red one. Kumiko’s in purple.

We’re JIP with Toyota grappling a leg, then slowwwwwlly making her way to the floor to get a chair, only to go along with the ref’s orders to drop it. They must have been at it a WHILE because she is clearly sweaty and just BEAT. She then strolls up to Kumiko to get in her face (and emphasize her height advantage), but Kumiko grabs her by the hair and easily whips her into a pump kick. Lol why did Toyota just go along with that with no fight? Another kick and a bridging suplex gets two, and Toyota’s comeback is messed up when Kumiko slips out of an Ocean Suplex reversal, so Manami just starts slapping away at her. And her actual comeback is nulled by her just grabbing Kumiko by the hair to haul her down instead of what should have been some cool move with impact, so you can almost hear the fans fizzle out. More slowpoke-ery leads to a Manami Roll counter to pop the fans and comes back on the floor to just drag Kumiko to the stands and try to murder her by throwing her off the edge. lol watch the girl in white taking a drink and then immediately realizing “OH WAIT IT’S GONNA BE A COOL SPOT” and puts her drink down and pops up to cheer. And sure enough, Kumiko DOES THE THING, falling off the edge of the balcony, which is twelve feet up or so, “safely” doing it by hanging down as much as possible before dropping.

Kumiko sells the leg while Toyota does her other “surefire fan reaction” bit, climbing the lighting rig and diving onto her. Back in the ring for a missile kick, but Kumiko hits a rolling kick & spinkick, Manami only casually selling it and doing a double-down, getting up for a Japanese Ocean Suplex (double-hammerlock german). Toyota does the Japanese Ocean Cyclone Suplex, and is so hurt she basically COLLAPSES on it and luckily gets under Kumiko enough to still do the bridge, getting two, gets kicked in the head trying another, then casually gets a chair and smashes Kumiko’s ankle up with it. A Chairsault misses and Kumiko fires up, hitting her Ax Kick, but Manami’s so tired/beaten/disinterested that her kick looks totally harmless as it just sorta lands across Manami’s back, hangs there, and she slowly rolls over. Manami’s actually up FIRST, hitting the Japanese Ocean Backdrop Hold (pumphandle german) for two, fires up for the JOCS as the time is announced (ah, so I’m right- it’s near 30 minutes)… and Time’s Over at (9:20 of 30:00 shown), both scoring a point but notably Manami is unable to beat a subordinate. Post-match, she looks sweaty and annoyed with herself, twice refusing Kumiko’s handshake of respect.

Man, this match was SO WEIRD. Manami looked to be a combination of “incredibly hurt” because she was so slow and limping the whole ways (collapsing on a JOCS attempt), and trying to modify her babyface offense to fit a heel character and failing, as she does some old reliable crowd pops (Kumiko has to FALL OFF THE BALCONY for one), like her old “lighting rig jump”… except the crowd is kinda dead for it and only into some of her classics like the Manami Roll. And Kumiko’s ALSO a heel so her big comeback kicks aren’t getting much and her selling isn’t much like a “desperate comeback is needed” thing either, nor is Manami’s selling of them very big- she’s just too tired and too slack, sorta leaning into moves and rolling onto her back from them, but barely acting like they’re KO shots at all. But yeah, if they’re going 30 minutes that explains a fair bit, as Manami going 20+ minutes at her current physical state is a tough “ask”.

Rating: **1/4 (kind of messy and with tons of issues, but many explained by the long match time and thus sorta “fit”… except for all the “Toyota does stuff at weird times and it fucks with the crowd’s expectations and fizzles the match’s reactions” stuff)

YUMIKO HOTTA (6 points) vs. MOMOE NAKANISHI (9 points):
* Can Momoe handle the former Ace, this time? Hotta leads the heels but is a match for anyone in the promotion and way more legit than tiny Momoe is. She’s in white, Momoe’s in an elaborate blue & yellow bit with tons of detail and style to it.

Momoe uses speed to start, but nearly gets German’d to the FLOOR and has to hang on for dear life. Momoe gets whipped into the guardrails (man, give a raise to whoever realized you can stack tables behind the rails so they sound like a car crash on impact), then Hotta takes her for a stroll around the stands, doing almost literally nothing. She throws some kicks (what is making that sound? i can’t see her slapping anything) and stretches Momoe out, so this one’s obviously going long and is in full. Momoe finally counters with speed, stomping & flying headbutting Hotta’s back to set up some back stretching, then switches to the leg, Hottas selling annoyance/anger and a bit of pain in the right moments without looking TOO vulnerable (their tiers are way different). Hotta eventually leverages out and headbutts her, then starts working the brain with knees and a piledriver. Commentary speaks about the slow pace favoring Hotta and “Nakanishi’s typical sharp movements haven’t started yet”, and sure enough Momoe hits a fast counter and flies around a set, but gets too cute with a table piledriver attempt, and Hotta counters & drops her with the same. A vertical drop and Hotta goes to her knees, too- commentary points out the table not breaking makes it even worse.

Hotta flings a table at Momoe’s brain and drags her to the ATHENA TV desks to show off, countering a counterpunch to dump her off. Back in the ring, Momoe tries her lightning-fast run-up crossbody but Hotta’s ready for it and points to her head to indicate intelligence. She nearly pays for it but catches Momoe up top again, only to get dumped off, but catches her coming off with a kick. Momoe escapes a Tiger Driver and FINALLY hits a run-up move (moonsault), but she’s still dazed and walks right into the rolling kick with perfect timing. But Hotta gets too cocky at last and Momoe flips BEHIND her this time and Germans her for two. Crowd has a heart attack when Hotta sits on her out of the Twisting Rana and nearly pins her, and the Tiger Driver gets two. Hotta goes for the Caribbean Splash (straighjacket superplex) but gets flung off, but gets her feet up and Momoe just PLANTS herself on them as they’re outstretched, and does a fantastic “car crash” bump off the Caribbean Splash for two. Hotta blasts her with SHOTEIMANIA and an even more dramatic kickout results. Hotta tries to finish but Momoe flips out and charges… right into a rolling kick, breaking hearts… but she POWERS UP and this time charges up and hits that Twisting Rana- for the pin (16:38)! Momoe beats Hotta! “Nakanishi has opened the door to a new era” says commentary as Hotta is shocked, but impressed, giving the kid a thumbs-up on the way out of the ring.

A very solid Big vs. Little match, with Hotta as the calm, thoughtful veteran taking apart the youngster came off very well. She was in charge without DOMINATING Momoe, always acting like those quick counters were going to catch her, which made it great when she was able to sneak in counters due to intelligence & foresight. This meant that Momoe had an even HARDER time with her and was unable to rely even on what physical advantages she had. This pays off when she finally starts hitting her good flash-pins and doing well, at which point Hotta ramps up the “okay, this time for sure” and starts murdering her with huge moves- rolling kick, Tiger Driver, Caribbean Splash, a wind-up Shotei, etc. Now Momoe has the fans in the palm of her hands with last-ditch kickouts, getting more and more desperate with each one (the rana counter is a “struggle the whole way” kickout, the Tiger Driver is a normal one, the Splash is a “she left me open so I can roll over”, and the shotei is a true “last moment” kickout). The finish was great, too- building off of prior spots completely. Like Hotta catches her with the same “intercept a foolish rookie charge with a kick” move but THIS TIME Momoe powers out of it through sheer perseverence, and when the Twisting Rana didn’t work the first time it sets up it working the next, so the flash pin finish isn’t just “some fluke”, it’s baked into the match. Hotta was very good here as this very measured, confident veteran who wasn’t quite arrogant but her intelligence pays off when she’s finally one-upped after a bunch of “sure thing” moments.

Rating: ***3/4 (like… this is how ya do it- Big vs. Little and Veteran vs. Kid should be built up just like this. Even with Hotta at her usual 1/2 speed for most of the match it was great)

WWWA WORLD TAG TEAM TITLES:
BEST 2 OF 3 FALLS:
LAS CACHORRAS ORIENTALES (Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda) vs. TOMOKO WATANABE & NANAE TAKAHASHI:
* So LCO have been Tag Champions since April, having beaten the beloved duo of NanaMomo for the belts in yet another reign for the game’s top freelancers, and now two former champions team up to take them on. Tomoko & Nanae both have long, storied rivalries trading the belts with LCO, but have a failed attempt at the belts already. Mita’s in black leather, Shimoda’s in pink & black, Tomoko’s in neon yellow/green and Nanae’s in purple, copying Tomoko’s tassel style to basically become her Mini-Me- a good way to appropriate some more credibility.

Tomoko, the best seller in the company, swiftly ends up in this position.

FALL ONE: LCO almost immediately attack with chairs and Mita attempts to finish a bleeding Tomoko with the DVD, but Nanae saves. LCO proceed to kick their asses in the stands, Tomoko getting piledriven up on a raised platform and both girls being laid out with chairs on top for the GUARDRAIL DROP, this time from the lighting rig. Back to the ring and Tomoko escapes the electric chair/splash attempt but walks right into Shimoda’s Flying Ax Kick and the DVD… gets two! Nanae tries to interfere but only nails her partner, and the next DVD finishes Tomoko at (4:30 of 6:21 shown).

FALL TWO: Mita tries to finish quickly, but Nanae sets up two dragon screws, Shimoda charges into a Screwdriver (sit-out one-armed powerbomb), and Mita’s put in a figure-four… and Nanae comes off with a flying senton RIGHT to the forehead, haha. Tomoko of course follows that up with the head-bump Screwdriver, Shimoda breaking, and Tomoko catches a knee for another dragon screw to set up the Hellsmasher (vertical tiger driver) for the pin at (1:38 of 3:21 shown). lol at following up a flying potato to the face with two neck-drops- good thing CTE wasn’t invented until the 2000s!

FALL THREE: We’re clipped to Shimoda booting Nanae in the back of the head out of her flying senton, then Flying Ax Kicking her for two. Tomoko lariats her to set up Nanae’s backdrop, but LCO breaks up a double-team and the Death Lake Driver (tiger superplex) has Tomoko saving Nanae. Everyone is constantly interfering, Tomoko lariating her partner by mistake but breaking up LCO’s DVD/Ax Kick finisher, and the NanaRakka (falcon arrow) gets two on Shimoda. Another sees Shimoda roll her up and they counter that a few times (Monsoon woulda been furious at the ref for counting one of Shimoda’s- Nanae’s shoulder was WAY off the mat), MITA nails her partner by mistake, but LCO nonetheless hits the DVD/Flying Ax Kick combo and Tomoko FLIES in to save. Nanae is fading, but she dodges another ax kick so Mita takes it, Tomoko runs in and Screwdrivers Shimoda, and they hit a HELLSMASHER/FLYING ELBOW on Shimoda. Jesus Christ. Mita barely saves and is dealt with- Shimoda escapes the NanaRakka but gets drilled with a lariat for two, and NANARAKKA!! – that finishes at (4:16 of 18:06 shown)- NEW TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS!!

The editing here was crazy, making it look like this insane hard-fought battle with more than half the match missing, lol. Just the “greatest hits” and FOURTEEN MINUTES cut out of the final fall, yet it was riveting and looked like anything could end it. THIS kind of stuff is why I still love Zenjo’s style and will still do this column until we hit that 2005 “death of business” era- the mass controlled chaos of Zenjo brawls is amazing. The way they fire off constant pin-breaks to save even the biggest moves, justifying a “MOVEZ” style because nobody’s actually kicking out so it’s not like “well this move sucks, then”. The frenetic energy of it. The way “this one might get it” because they always keep the camera away from the pin-breaker. The fact that it looks chaotic and a mess but it isn’t ACTUALLY a mess so you know there’s some kind of plan but the style is perfect for making it look like there isn’t.

Rating: ***1/2 (super-good even with so much cut out)

Matching gear! Now that’s a proper-ass tag team!

JULY 29th:

JAPAN GRAND PRIX:
MANAMI TOYOTA (11 points) vs. MIHO WAKIZAWA (7 points): Back to the tiny AJW Garage! Manami hits dropkicks and stretches Wacky out, but Wacky gets her own plancha. Manami does her “rising no-sell” out of a missile kick and missile kicks her in the back for two. Wacky gets some falling clotheslines & a flying splash, but gets straightjacket German’d for two, but misses a Moonsault and is perfect plex’d. Another flying splash sees her hit feet, and Manami planchas her & gets that Moonsault for two. Wacky counters the JOCS and hits a Super Frankensteiner for two, then a Fisherman’s Buster. Manami gets a German when Wacky tries to build her SmackDown! Meter, but fails the JOCS again, and Wacky turns the next into a victory roll for two. Manami reverses for two and stands right in front of Wacky to taunt her, but Wakizawa immediately pops up and hits the inside cradle FOR THE WIN at (7:05), defeating Manami Toyota! lmaoooooo that is the laziest fluke job ever. Manami just stands there to taunt and gets rolled up- not countered, not “missing a move and is stunned”, nothing- just looks like a doofus because she’s caught napping.

Rating: ** (very much a “greatest hits” of some Toyota spots and not TOO hard-worked considering the context & area, but energetic enough)

On July 30th, Kayo (4) beats Fujii, the only person lower ranked than her, then Ito (11) beats Nanae. And that’s where we leave off until August! Man this tournament runs THREE MONTHS.

And so we end this show with yet another clear indication of “This is a new era”. Momoe Nakanishi has now beaten Manami Toyota AND Yumiko Hotta, the last two Champions before Ito, though not quite decisively. Manami’s now done the job to little Momoe and even WAKIZAWA, in a very clear “yeah, so your job is now to put over the young twerps- GTFO” message from the bookers, I have to think. Commentary saying “Nakanishi has opened the door to a new era” is as clear a signal as you’re gonna get for that. Expect her run at the top belt to begin promptly. And at the same time, Kumiko goes to a thirty minute draw with Toyota as well, and reliable veteran “Fallback Plan” LCO drop the tag belts yet again, this time to a Tomoko/Nanae team- it used to be NanaMomo, but with Momoe having to focus on her singles push, it was kind of necessary for Nanae to have something else to do, since she’s the clear and obvious “Next One Up” after Momoe, so emphasis needs to be on her at all times.