Joshi Spotlight: AJW at Ota-Ward Gymnasium

AJW AT OTA-WARD GYMNASIUM:
(Oct. 24th 2001)
* It’s some Zenjo in October! With a LONG Momoe/Kumiko match! And the return of the ZAPs, as they face Las Cachorras Orientales to relive old times! This is from Ota-Ward Gymnasium, which is apparently “their MSG” and a legendary venue for the company, which I totally should pretend I’ve known all along cuz I’m the JOSHI GUY WOO! I barely recognize it, lol. The billed crowd is a respectable 3,680, which is probably BS but whatever- it’s a big crowd but the hard cam shows a lot of empty seats on the side facing away from the ring.

Ota-Ward Gymnasium! Which I didn’t recognize until I saw the elevated stage off to one side in some shots. This is also a fair bit of empty seats for a company coming off a hot streak.

BLACK JOKER (Eagle Sawai & Takako Inoue, w/ Rumi Kazama) vs. NANAE TAKAHASHI & MIKA NISHIO:
* Black Joker as rookieslayers continues, as Takako has beaten Nishio in incredibly one-sided matches for months, while B.J. has also apparently been getting in on the fun. So now Nishio has a “spare wrestler” (Nanae isn’t otherwise tied up in other matches tonight) to join her in death. Nanae has been elevated a lot, but her beating any of the three would probably still be a fluke (maybe not Kazama). Nishio looks super-skinny and harmless compared to the bulky Eagle & Rumi, or the very fit and taller Takako. Eagle’s in red, Takako brown, Nanae all red & Nishio in white/pink. Commentary makes a big deal out of the heels not announcing which of the two will be wrestling… and then they attack.

Nanae & Nishio go into the walls and rows of chairs in a 3-on-2 beatdown from the heels, then B.J. gleefully tee off on Nishio for several minutes, bouncing her around like abusive heels. Rumi comes in to cheat, which is pretty amusing given how little a chance Nishio has. She finally ducks Takako and tags out so Nanae can throw a ton of body attacks on her, but Nishio’s double-team goes awry- missile kicking Nanae- and both get beaten up. Nanae takes a double-chokeslam but dodges a flying Takako and nails her again, only to get reversed into the corner, squashed by Eagle, and uraken’d by Takako for two. Eagle comes in and no-sells a lariat… but Nanae ALSO does, drawing a good reaction since Eagle is a top-tier powerhouse in this setting. But Eagle knocks her down with one as she’s coming off the ropes, then does a backdrop/flying chokeslam with Takako for two. Nanae backdrops out of the powerbomb but Takako cheats to set up a lariat into the Powerbomb for two. A Double-Assisted Powerbomb hits, but a beaten Nishio manages to break it up. Eagle accidentally missile kicks Takako to set up the hot tag, and Nishio knocks HER down with one, then when Rumi comes in, grabs her by the hair and throws her down! HAH! She dodges one lariat but another crushes her- she still kicks out, drawing a pop! She counters the Powerbomb to a small package for 2, but Nanae has to save after another Eagle lariat. Nanae throws Germans to the other two and lariats Eagle, and even gets a big backdrop suplex & a Vader Bomb. Flying Back Senton! This sets up Nishio’s flying splash for two, but Takako urakens Nanae into unconsciousness, leaving Nishio alone for a Double-Assisted Powerbomb to pin her at (10:54). Post-match, Nanae insults them for needing all three to beat her team, but Black Joker want Nanae’s tag belts and call out Tomoko Watanabe (her partner), who doesn’t materialize. “Is Watanabe running away?”. Nanae immediately lays out the challenge- the Tag Belts vs. Black Joker!

A good Veterans vs. Rookies match, with Nanae repeatedly saving Nishio from a beating as the kid helplessly flails around, and Nishio never really getting offense unless Nanae was helping. She gets one big “woahhhhh!” kickout, escaping after an Eagle lariat, and has a great bit ignoring Rumi’s latest run-in and just throwing her ass down in a fit of rage, but for the most part she gets killed. Nanae got some good shit no-selling EAGLE’s lariats, then running in to kick all the asses.

Rating: **1/2 (a well-booked match that made good use of a helpless rookie)

TAG LEAGUE THE BEST 2001:
YUMIKO HOTTA & MANAMI TOYOTA vs. MIHOKAYO (Miho Wakizawa & Kayo Noumi):
* Time for more destruction! The Hotta/Toyota superteam combines former Aces and puts them against the “rising stars” who, of course, are about to lose one of their number to retirement.

Wakizawa is serious-faced as she comes out and immediately bombs the vets and dump them to the floor- lol watch her try to Irish whip Hotta through a ton of streamers. Hotta takes a rocket launcher, but holds the ropes and Toyota missiles in on MihoKayo. Noumi manages some falling clotheslines and a rollup, but Hotta easily rolling kicks her for two. Tiger Driver gets two, then Manami does her “triumphant no-sell” of a missile kick, getting rolled up instead. Manami catches her up top (Noumi’s expression and anticipation of a slap is priceless) and Kayo nearly falls off- fuckin’ OW as Manami hauls her up by the hair to save the spot, as Kayo slides behind her and flings her off with a German. Toyota resists the double-wrist armsault, but Wacky snags her up top so Kayo can hit a SUPER Armsault, then charges in for a Fisherman’s Buster- a regular Armsault hits and Hotta has to save. Manami snags a German on Wacky, but misses a Moonsault & gets rolled up, then accidentally planchas Hotta, so Kayo planchas both, then Miho does. Double Flying Headbutts to Manami, then a Perfect Plex- Hotta saves. Super Frankensteiner- same result. Wacky flies off onto feet and a Wheelbarrow Deadlift German gets two, then Manami PLANTS a Moonsault for two. She can’t get the Ocean Cyclone so Hotta interferes and they hit a weird Samoan Drop/flying grab kinda thingie & Kayo saves. Wacky counters the Ocean Cyclone but gets sat on for two, jackknife pins her for two, then gets whipped off the ropes, but ducks a lariat & catches Toyota with a small package- for three (8:41 of 14:59 shown)! MIHOKAYO BEAT THE VETERANS!

Kayo’s priceless expression as Toyota catches her on the top.

Post-match, Hotta actually smiles with amusement, then Wacky gets on the mic and says “Before I quit, don’t you want to team up with me? That’s what I’ve been saying to the Oba-Chan!” lmao- “oba” is NOT a polite thing to say to someone Toyota’s age (it’s a sign of respect that indicates someone is a venerable elder- similar connotations to “the first time someone calls you ma’am” to Western women, but worse because it’s almost always used for old ladies). This makes even Toyota smirk, and she asks her outright to team up- “THat’s right! I really really like you! I do!” Wacky bawls as she hugs Manami to set up some kinda tag team. Manami even puts her on her shoulders… and then Randy Ortons her, seemingly as a prank. Wacky bows to Ota-Ward probably for the last time and we’re out. Match seemed fine- we ONLY got the Toyota bits for the most part and almost half was missing. Mostly filler on the floor to start, then Manami wrestling her basic match but letting the kids roll her up again and again and missing all her big shit.

Rating: ** (basic-ass wrestling match from what we got)

ALL PACIFIC TITLE:
KUMIKO MAEKAWA vs. MOMOE NAKANISHI:
* oh man, this is a LONG YouTube video! And it’s Momoe challenging against Kumiko’s White Belt! As she’d just challenged for and lost her chance at the Red Belt, this is a good “successor prize”, but also wouldn’t help the rising Kumiko much. Also this is a pretty small show with bad gym lighting. Kumiko now has violet/blue hair. Oh man, these horrifyingly over-detailed costumes… this is like early ’90s Zenjo all over again. Kumiko’s in purple with blue tassels and red trim, and Momoe’s in pastel denim with red/pink trim. The match length here made it look to me like this was a “Job Interview” kind of match- “prove the faith we have in you is correct”. But I was told (and this is kinda obvious) they were already planned to be the next pushed wrestlers so this is probably more to establish them to the fans.

Kumiko immediately pounces at the bell with her rolling kick, but Momoe Germans her, then Kumiko hits the Scissor Kick for 2.9! Uh-oh! But Momoe does her flip-evasion then dodges another kick, slinking back for a breather and they reset and go to the traditional match start. Each do snapmares into their signature kicks (stiff back ones; dropkicks), but in a BOSS move, Kumiko keeps kipping up and laughing at Momoe planting her in the chest! They have to be pulled apart by the ref: “There is something more to this match than just the All Pacific White Belt- there is something more to Maekawa & Nakanishi. The energy in the ring is palpable”- ie. BIG SHIT GOING ON. Momoe butterfly suplexes her, but Kumiko hits a Razor’s Edge (!) into a crab. Momoe works the leg in return, scrambling from the mat, but after slowly working that for minutes, her whip is reversed into Kumiko’s wrist-clutch kick! Momoe still gets a snap German, then absorbs some kicks and hits her run-up plancha to the floor to rack up some speed, then does time-killing guardrail bumps and a suplex… then suddenly bolts up for an Orihara Moonsault! Clever how they alternate time-killing with the hot stuff. Like clapping to the fans to set up these missile kicks. Another kick-reversal stops her, but she immediately uses a whip to run up and hit a moonsault press for two. But she finally takes too big a risk and gets head-kicked off the top. More guardrail bumps now! Momoe teases a table piledriver out there, but gets backdropped onto another one.

Momoe cuts Kumiko off for the 70th time to take back over, but FINALLY Kumiko catches her up top again and flings her off, then ties her in the ropes for some face kicks. She throws a couple scissor kicks while Momoe’s lurched forward, then spinkicks her in the head on the floor. “These are two people who are competing for the Ace position” “Yes, this match can be described as such, it’s heated, high-stakes game”- man they laying it on thick, lol. WE GET IT. Leaving nothing to chance. A good spot sees Momoe try another counter-moonsault, Kumiko’s wise to it and sprays red mist, but it MISSES and Momoe Germans her for a near-fall! Keeps the fans guessing 2-3 times in one spot- very nice. They cover a fuckup pretty well (Momoe stumbles on her flip evasion so Kumiko just sweeps her upside-down and Momoe car-crashes), then Kumiko lands a SNUG wheel kick (0.25x speed is missing a frame so I can’t tell if it’s a tater but probably). Two rolling kicks leave her reeling, but she scores a German, then dodges a kick and blocks the “second try” spinkick and Germans her AGAIN for two! Momoe takes a huge bump missing a missile dropkick, and Kumiko tries a crab, settling for an inverted fireman’s toss into a kick to the back. Then another, better one so everyone can tell as she now has a weak point to strike. Kicks & a crab work the back, then she catches Momoe up top and superplexes her off on the second try (I think they noped outta the superduper version, haha).

Another break on the floor sees Kumiko recover some cardio and flatten a selling Momoe with the Ax Kick out there, working the count in the ring until Momoe rolls in at “19”… and then just blasts her with green mist! Right when Momoe was most desperate! A green-faced Momoe flops around again as Kumiko works rolling kicks to punish her for two, but Momoe small packages her to block a spinkick. She dodges three more and smashes her with an elbow, but is too exhausted to follow up and Kumiko plants her with the Ax Kick for two. Momoe sells to the point she gets counted down, but springs up at “7” for a rolling leglock and frog splashes gets twos. A third backfires but she lands on Kumiko’s injured leg so both are hurt, and both drop when Kumiko hits another Ax Kick. Momoe cleverly small packages her again, but switches right back to the leglock, leaving Kumiko scrambling. Fans don’t bite on this long fight at all, though. Kumiko bails again and Momoe follows her out for a GERMAN, then another, then fires up after Kumiko hits another counter-kick to draw the fans back in. Similarly, she goes up top and eats a ton of kick counters, but this time REFUSES to fall off (and obviously calls spots lol) and missile kicks her in the back of the head! But now KUMIKO fires up and won’t sell… but gets rolled up for two. Kumiko gets the kick counter from another German, but Ax Kicks the top turnbuckle and gets shoved up- they fight over a Dragon SUPERPLEX, Kumiko kicking free and using a missile kick of her own for a close call. The double-kick misses and Momoe backslides her for two! Kumiko tries her whip counter-kick but gets Dragon Suplexed for two! Momo Latch (twisting rana) for two. A flagging Momoe does two Germans for lack of a better idea, then a third turns into a Byers Bridge for two. Kumiko overthrows her to avoid another Momo Latch and plants her with the Pump Kick… and throws on another crab! This lasts a while as she probably wants on last wind for the final points of the match.

She dumps Momoe and works the back with a suplex out there, then brings her onto a table… for an Ax Kick. Okay I don’t think that makes the move more effective, haha. Another Ax Kick on the apron leaves Momoe, looking near-dead, and a light jog into a corner Ax Kick hits, but Momoes dodges a spinkick and Dragon Suplexes her for two- you can tell Kumiko is flagging because she’s not as fast as and is more openly cooperating and “being moved” without being touched. They’re so wiped (in-universe) that Momoe A slow “counters whip to a thrust kick” plasters Momoe, and Kumiko finally lands that Spinkick, getting two. Kumiko’s trying to finish, but Momoe springs off with the run-up sunset flip for two, then the Dragon Suplex! She gets another as time ticks down, Kumiko rolling over immediately and looking DESTROYED- they lightly strike it out on their feet, unable to even knock each other over, but Momoe elbows her down. Momo Latch- but Kumiko just drops down into a light powerbomb for two! Double-Kick finally hits! Two! A slowwwwww kick is ducked and Kumiko is Dragon Suplexed again, flopping over at “2”. Momoe tries a run-up move but gets caught, ax kicked in the butt, and nearly electric chair dropped, but swings into a sunset flip for two. Kick-miss! Double-kick- both miss! AX KICK! Two-count! Momoe kicks out after a second one, then rolls her up for two. She’s caught out in ANOTHER Momo Latch, Kumiko nearly pinning her! Two rolling kicks result in a weak kickout as “1 minute remaining” is announced. Kumiko scores another corner ax kick, but Momoe does the “duck and Dragon Suplex her” again for two, then another Dragon, then can’t and does a GERMAN, doing a more complicated rollup fall to show desperation, but again Kumiko kicks out, and one final Momo Latch FINALLY h its… as Time Expires at (46:56 of 60:00 shown). I was thinking either “last-minute pin” or “time over”. Momoe pounds her fist once she recovers, and grabs at Kumiko until they have to be separated. THIS FEUD MUST CONTINUE! But then, in a boss move, Kumiko casually announces “I was unable to get a proper hold of the belt, so I would like to relinquish it”. ie. “If I can’t win, I don’t believe I deserve it”. So the All Pacific Title is now held up!

Damn, what a war. So this was a company telling you, in every way they knew how, that “THIS IS THE FUTURE”- over and over again they talk about the effort and intensity of the wrestlers (even as they’re doing light guardrail bumps to kill time in the openly 20 minutes, haha), how they’re fighting for the Ace position (despite it being the secondary belt), and more. Obviously this wasn’t just supposed to be “they’ll both be Champion” but “This is a big feud and a central point for the promotion” and that they’ll probably be fighting for ages. It’s an interesting showcase for Momoe, who controls the first 20+ minutes of the match, to the point where it looks like shes cutting Kumiko off and gobbling up all the offense, but is probably because she’s the smarter, more versatile worker able to actually carry it. Her injured back lets Kumiko do some damage and then show off her own selling. The green mist had EXCELLENT timing- Momoe’s back’s been worked, she’s eating big kick finishers and is vulnerable, and then CHEATING puts her completely on the defensive.

Now… the issues. Things turn to Kumiko’s leg again (it’d been ignored for 20 minutes but now starts to become very effective… before being dropped completely again in a few minutes). That seemed to be nearing the endgame, but NOPE- Momoe just sorta makes a quiet, non-desperate comeback and they start killing more time. By the end both are TOAST, Kumiko more than Momoe, as she does things like “miss a kick and arbitrarily turn around for the suplex” rather than work it- at least the slow kicks fit in kayfabe because stamina would be expected to flag 59 minutes in. They didn’t have quite enough “go” for the full Sixty, but it was close, and they sold the desperation at the end, as the fans kept thinking “just maybe” and Momoe’s stuff is so flash-pin oriented that you knew anything could do it. Both kind of lacked the “legit” moves to pin and kept spamming the same couple, each slower than the last, until trying to rev up the effort in the end, but for the most part the match had little psychology and was a little TOO obvious with its “okay, time to kill some time”. Also what’s with teasing all these moves on a table and then never doing a move through it? Kumiko coulda been cheeky by going “lol you want a table spot? I’ll just do my kick, haha” but yeah. Still, the last minutes were good- lots of desperation and the quieted fans were being won back.

Rating: ***1/2 (they were clearly going for a ****1/2 masterpiece but didn’t have the “go” or cardio- Manami/Kyoko they are NOT. Still good for what it was, though)

THE ZAPS (ZAP I & ZAP T) vs. LAS CACHORRAS ORIENTALES (Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda):
* Old enemies LCO and the ZAPs collide once more! LCO are in their black/pink & black/yellow matching gear. The ZAPs are of course Kaoru Ito & Tomoko Watanabe in their “vicious masked heel” personas, wearing creepy white masks with red bug eyes. Shimoda, unimpressed by their spooky slow-walk to the ring, gets on the mic and calls them out, and a ZAP responds- it looks like this is supposed to be a Mask vs. Career match now! LCO will “be kicked out of your job” (I assume “freelancing for AJW”) if they lose! This was apparently kinda a big deal at the time, as the fans were excited to see the ZAPs return. And them coming back was seen as dusting off LCO for good by fighting fire with fire.

LCO immediately attack when the ZAP lays down the challenge, and a 3-minute brawl takes place that involves tons of wall & chair bumps, chairs being thrown, etc. LCO gets the better of it and pummel a ZAP in the ring with a pink chair, faile their finisher, but but a Stunner into Shimoda’s ax kick. The ZAP escapes the electric chair drop but takes a missile kick, but Germans Mita and powerbombs Shimoda on a chair. OK that’s PROBABLY Ito. But LCO easily comes back by German-ing the ZAP on a chair as Mita electric chairs the other one, and they pile chairs onto them for the Guardrail Drop. But they counter a Double Superbomb attempt and whup on LCO with weapons outside the ring- Tomoko uses a giant shinai (wooden kendo stick) and Ito a chain to strangle Shimoda. Shimoda & Ito do a quick run up to the second level so Shimoda can get choked out viciously while Tomoko gets a dragon screw, then Ito takes out a spike and stabs & gouges Shimoda with it repeatedly. Ito takes a wild swing and nearly gets backdropped over the LEDGE, but Tomoko leaps on to save her. Shimoda’s a bloody mess and we’re clipped back to the ring with Tomoko firing off a Screwdriver (one-armed vertical powerbomb) to Mita and both collapsing. Mita writhes in agony, but springs up with a Death Valley Driver, only to eat Ito’s Flying Stomp while selling. Ito adds a Ligerbomb to Shimoda while Tomoko SITS OUT on another Screwdriver (jeeeeeeeeeeeezus) and I have to check to see how Mita survived that (turns out it was more a “side of the head twisting bump” than vertical).

Sheer chaos, lol.

Mita’s toasted and they hit a Doomsday Ligerbomb/Flying Shinai combo, Shimoda somersaulting in to stop the count. Ito tries a Flying Stomp but misses and takes a chair from Shimoda, who then boots it into her face- the ZAPs dump LCO, but one dives onto the other, then LCO pull the Assisted Plancha/Tope out of the mothballs! The ZAPs take a beating out there and Mita piledrives one through the table! Holy shit that sounded like a GUNSHOT, echoing through Ota-Ward! Back in, the DVD/Flying Ax gets only two. The other ZAP charges in and its shinai strikes for everyone and a lariat gets two on Mita. Ito hits two Flying Stomps, one with her actually balancing on a dead Mita, for two. She climbs for another, but Mita hauls her down with a DVD, then a stunner, then another DVD for two- Tomoko kicks the ref. Ito surprises Mita with a Ligerbomb, then goes up, but Shimoda chairs her, only to accidentally nail Mita next, then Tomoko pounces with a Screwdriver to get rid of her! Ito adds the Flying Stomp to the FLOOR to finish her off, then Tomoko does a Moonsault to Mita, leading to Ito hitting a Flying Stomp and pinning her at (13:49 of 21:14 shown), the ZAPs defeating LCO with comparative ease. And indeed, after finishing up Tag League THE BEST in the early part of 2002, LCO are gone until NEXT year’s tournament, so this more or less dusted them off in Zenjo to cap off their run.

Thus endeth LCO. Destroyed by nastier heels than themselves.

Well that looked pretty vicious- a mix of the LCO brawls of old with the ZAP weapon shots and brutality. Shimoda being spiked gave it some edge, and the dominating performance of the ZAPs showed just how strong both had become, as Tomoko could vertically spike both of them constantly to end their flurries, and Ito’s various stomps flattened them and left them easily pinned. Hitting the DVD/Ax Kick combo and only getting a regular-ass “2” on a ZAP was another “uh-oh” moment. You could see the struggles LCO were having as injuries and age caught up to them (slower than most of their generation, but it got ’em), as things like their recognizable “assisted dives” combo, once a very smooth, quick part of EVERY match they had, now looked much slower and clunkier.

Rating: ***1/2 (another solid, reliable brawl, mixing a bloodbath with some recognizable spots, old-school bits, and big bumps in the end as Tomoko repeatedly spiked them and Ito squashed them)