Joshi Spotlight: AJW Japan Grand Prix (Red League)

ALL JAPAN- JAPAN GRAND PRIX (Red League):
* And now, the second half of this “Blast From The Past”, as the Red League is shown!

The Red League:
* This half of the JGP (which was divided into two groups of 8 wrestlers) has… well it seems like Manami is the REALLY obvious winner here. Reggie & Yamada are on the tier below her.

Manami Toyota: Manami won the belt! Except Aja Kong promptly beat her for it months later in a weird turnaround because she needed to job to Dynamite Kansai, and Toyota needed to bring the belt back.
Toshiyo Yamada: Toyota’s tag team partner for a chunk of the Interpromotional Era, where they were the top tag team for years, but were unseated by Double Inoue at the end of 1994 and largely stopped teaming. Set up as rivals for years, they were on-screen friends, but have now gone their separate ways. Toyota got the push and Yamada was made “White Belt”-level, and that was that.
Mima Shimoda: Part of Las Cachorras Orientales, before their split and reformation. About to get a big push by allying with Toyota.
Kaoru Ito: A lower-tier wrestler at this point, back when she was skinny and had the worst fashion sense in wrestling history. Still quite popular but at-best a “rising star”.
Chaparita ASARI: A tiny high-flier, popular for her Sky Twister Press, but so small as to lack credibility. I see her getting some flash-pins, though.
Rie Tamada: Super low-tier and here to eat many pins. A class beneath Ito’s and thus REALLY low on the totem pole.
Reggie Bennett: A big-bodied American who semi-recently joined the company and got an immediate push.
Bison Kimura: Oh YEAHHHHHHHHH I forgot she was still around at this time. A one-time big star and Aja Kong’s partner, but was injured for a while. Uses a LOT of overhand “Bison Chops” and is a power wrestler.

MIMA SHIMODA vs. RIE TAMADA: The pink-clad rookie actually gets a good showing, hitting a plancha, missile kick & huge German for some close calls. Shimoda puts her knees up on a flying splash and hits a huge butterfly superduperplex for the “Fuck YOU!” bridge-out from Rie, but a Tiger Suplex finishes Rie at (11:24).

BISON KIMURA vs. TOSHIYO YAMADA: Bison Chop gets two, but a flying one is countered to an armbar and Yamada spams backdrop suplexes for 2. Yamada works the arm (including modifying her Diving Brain Kick to hit it), but gets caught in a huge STF that causes a dramatic fight and a chant. But a kneecrusher and figure-four end her night at (13:52). Wow, I don’t think I’ve EVER seen a figure-four score a fall on joshi style.

CHAPARITA ASARI vs. KAORU ITO: ASARI gets a superplex but misses her Sky Twister Press, and Ito hits her corner senton and Flying Stomp to win at (13:14).

CHAPARITA ASARI vs. MIMA SHIMODA: ASARI lands counters, but can’t get the Sky Twister. Missile kick & Tiger Suplex end her at (9:44).

REGGIE BENNETT vs. KAORU ITO: Reggie’s lariat & 2nd-rope splash get a close one, but she misses a flying splash and there’s some miscommunication until Ito counters a powerbomb with a twisting rana (Momoe Nakanishi’s Momo Latch) for three at (13:58) in a fluke.

REGGIE BENNETT vs. BISON KIMURA: Bison spams Chops in frustration and can only barely slam Reggie. A Flying Nothing lands on a foot (… kinda- that spot sucked) and Reggie’s 2nd rope splash gets two. Ligerbomb gets two and Reggie just slumps back, exhausted and defeated. For lack of a better idea, she aims for a backdrop suplex, but in a great spot Bison lands ON her and their “heads collide”, leaving Bison crawling helplessly on the mat while Reggie sells it as a KO. The ref starts counting… and neither even remotely attempts to get up- Double KO at (13:38). Good, creative way to “save face” for the two power wrestlers and the spot looked great.

This next one is one of the first AJW matches I ever reviewed, but I re-watched it last year to re-assess it, so that version is below:

MANAMI TOYOTA vs. MIMA SHIMODA (AJW Japan Grand Prix- Round Robin, 23.07.1995)
* This is an interesting one, timeline-wise, as Manami is around the top-tier girl at AJW at this point, getting the God Push and having the most exciting matches, while Shimoda, who was a midcard tag team player in 1993, has now elevated herself to a higher level. Both have a history- they were a tag team coming up in the late 1980s before Toyota had better success with the sportier Toshiyo Yamada. Shimoda’s cheating will be an interesting counterpoint to Toyota’s hyper-athletic style. Their pre-match interviews show both women in good spirits- Manami looks so serious most of the time, but here she’s smiling a ton and laughing along with the interviewer. Hey, both these ladies aren’t bad looking- has anyone else noticed this? And HOLY GOD, Manami’s pre-match outfit- this giant, flowing white qipao dress with enormous, fluffy feathered sleeves. Now THAT is style. Manami’s in her black leotard with the arm cutouts, while Shimoda’s still in her black & red two-piece with all the yellow tassles.

Manami jumps Shimoda right at the bell, piledriving her on the floor and even tries to put her through a table! Um, I guess the “Tokyo Sweethearts EXPLODE!” gag is apropos here. Shimoda gets the better of her out there (I mean, LCO has +2 to melee & ranged attacks outside the ring), and even does the Bitch Pose in the corner, to the appreciation of Korakuen Hall. Then they have a literal hairpulling slapfight while trying submissions on each other- amazing, especially when Manami forms a nice ponytail in Shimoda’s hair just to make it easier to slap her in the face. Then uses some graceful martial-arts stuff to toss her around by it. THEN does a Bitch Pose of her very own- +1/4* just for using hairpulling as legitimate offensive moves. She hits her fantastic No-Hands Running Springboard Moonsault thing, kicks the shit out of Shimoda, and stretches her for a while, including the ol’ “pig-nose” stretch.

Shimoda comes back (putting a Boston Crab on so deeply that she literally rolls backwards over Toyota’s HEAD, to the horror of the crowd. And me. How is that even possible?), and like a pro, pulls Manami’s four feet of hair out of her face so she can properly stretch her nostrils and lips out while making kissy-faces at the crowd. ATTA GIRL. A Butterfly Superplex wows the crowd (they’re both standing right on the top turnbuckle!), but Toyota hits a Rolling Cradle, and makes it a LONG one because she’s still pissed off- Shimoda yelps with every revolution. Toyota hits a No-Hands Springboard Plancha, but Shimoda comes back with some murder on the floor- one backdrop suplex to each side of the ring. The big grin on her face the whole time just sells it. Manami botches her trademark “Roll up their body and sunset flip them” spot and just SPLATTERS herself on the mat, and Shimoda tastes blood. The crowd, sensing an upset, is clearly chanting “Shi-Mo-Da!”. And Mima, delighted at her foe’s pain, just plops down in front of her, sitting cross-legged with the most amused smile ever while Manami writhes in agony. Perfection. (Edit From 2025: Hilariously, I didn’t realize at the time this was a legitimate botch and they’re just improvising and stalling for time)

Manami counters a whip to a German, then overshoots a backdrop suplex so Shimoda faceplants. Shimoda eats some dropkicks to the spine but the next Manami Roll sees Toyota powerbombed for two. But she gets her feet up on a splash and dropkicks Shimoda on the floor, then moonsaults her back, staying on a point! Haha- Shimoda throws a shit-fit when her Tiger Suplex (with beautiful bridge!) gets 2, slapping the ref and whining. Gee, maybe you shoulda hit that instead of gloating? And they keep reversing each other’s finishers (Manami tries three Japanese Ocean Cyclone Suplexes, getting Tiger Suplexed once and Victory Rolled for a GREAT near-fall another time; Death Lake Driver is also reversed), leaving the crowd going nuts! Every time they reverse something, somebody gets German’d! SUPER Backdrop Suplex! How can Toyota even WALK these days? But she still pulls off the Bridging Kickout! And then does a Running No-Hands Springboard Somersault Senton! HOW THE FUCK DID SHE PULL THAT OFF?!?! IT’S 29 MINUTES IN!! Then she hits two Cross-Armed Suplexes (wisely choosing not to settle for just one- you can actually see the wheels turn in her head as she goes “no- one more is needed”… though that might just be because she wanted it to look better, haha), and goes up, but Shimoda hits a Superplex… and time is over (30:00)! Shimoda whining at the bell ringing, then STILL going for a pin and desperately begging for the ref to count, is such great heeling. And then she takes Toyota’s outstretched hand at the end… and slaps her in the face, stomping off with her arms raised triumphantly. haha BEST.

Holy shit- what a war. I was an absolutely hateful scrap from beginning till end, with even the REST HOLDS being great (both repeatedly kick the other every time they have a limb free), Manami going all Elphaba Thropp by hitting an insane THREE Springboard moves, and once she hit her head and Shimoda sensed victory, it’s Escalating Finishers and reversals (each ending in a head-drop suplex hold) until you wonder how either woman is still alive today. The execution? Quite sloppy. It pulled off being hateful and manic, at least, but there are a few prominent botches I missed on the early watch excitement I had way back when I started these- stuff like the DL Driver being countered with Shimoda slipping back and hitting the mat standing and THEN Toyota lands on her instead of the mid-air twist they were hoping for. The act of bringing the former & future champ to a 30:00 draw is an epic achievement for the up & coming Shimoda, and should have set her off on a superstar push (they sorta tried; it didn’t work). The crowd was way behind her the whole time and loved every minute of it. But she definitely delivered here- great character bits to contrast Manami getting all her shit in and being unstoppably good in her prime.

Rating: ****1/4 (easily Shimoda’s best solo match ever- nearly unseating the top wrestler of her class. So much great nastiness and hate behind all the reversals)

Fun Fact: I rated this ***** the first time I saw it. Joshi puro and both wrestlers were both so new to me that I found this an incredible scrappy contest and went the full monty. Now I can see more flaws and stuff within, particularly with execution. And now I never want to re-watch and re-assess old matches again because I don’t want any more “GOAT” matches to be downgraded so, lol. SCREW REWATCHING! ACCEPT ALL MY EARLY YEARS OF MAYBE OVERRATING STUFF AT FACE VALUE!

TOSHIYO YAMADA vs. RIE TAMADA: Yamada uses a flying elbow smash but the kid spams rookie-fu on her until Yamada does her counter-kick out of an Irish whip and hits a backdrop suplex at (13:03). First time I’ve seen that move score a pin in ages.

REGGIE BENNETT vs. TOSHIYO YAMADA: Diving Brain Kick gets two for Yamada. She goes for the Reverse Gory Bomb (lol in what fuckin’ world is THAT going to work?), and Reggie fights out and gets her splash. Yamada spins out of the Reggie Rack, Reggie ducks a spinkick, and the Rack finishes at (8:48), quite emphatically.

MANAMI TOYOTA vs. CHAPARITA ASARI: ASARI lands on Manami from a superplex for two, but gets German’d. Moonsault crushes ASARI at (11:32).

BISON KIMURA vs. KAORU ITO: Bison just throws Chop after Chop until Ito goes down running off the ropes at (15:53).

REGGIE BENNETT vs. MIMA SHIMODA:
* Shimoda appearing in two prominent matches in this tape feels quite deliberate. Reggie’s blue & pink singlet is distinctive, I’ll give it that. Shimoda’s in black & red.

Shimoda pounces before the bell, but quickly gets flung around and has to get her foot up in the counter to halt Reggie. She loses a test of strength but chomps the leg to stomp an armbar, and chokes her out until Reggie just double-arms her into the air to impress the fans. Side slam gets two, but Shimoda headscissors out of the spinning Reggie Rack start-up- she hits a falling clothesline but gets belly-bashed in the corner and a delayed suplex gets two. Shimoda dumps her and tries some whipping into chairs, but Reggie overpowers her and makes her laugh by doing a silly pose in the ring. Reggie counters a double-leg by gutwrenching her into an Argentine backbreaker, dropping her like a sack of shit but missing a splash. Shimoda gets a headscissors slam and falling clotheslines, dumps Reggie as they kinda run out of ideas, then Shimoda charges in and takes a NASTY landing on a snap Samoan drop. OWWWWWWWWWW that looked like it was going south in a hurry between her momentum and trajectory. Reggie’s splash gets two and she whispers something, then hits her tilt-a-whirl slam for two when Shimoda escapes the powerbomb. Shimoda dumps her off the top & hits a dive, then a missile dropkick for two. Reggie easily escapes a Tiger Suplex, then lariats her out of a whip attempt and the 2nd rope splash gets 2.8! Shimoda gets a rana counter from the powerbomb for two, and the crowd nearly starts a “Shimoda” chant before a light lariat drops her outta mid-air and the Ligerbomb… gets two! And Reggie misses her Flying Splash and Shimoda climbs and snags her with a flying headscissors from behind… for the pin (10:02)! Shimoda picks up an upset win to pay off her run!

An interesting little match, as it was mostly in Reggie’s favor as nothing Shimoda could do was really hurting her or terribly effective, but then played up the “snap rollup” nature of it- you don’t need a fancy finisher if you can just trap them down for three seconds, right? So she hit counter after counter to make the fans think just maybe she’ll pull it off, even as Reggie keeps kicking out and beating her ass. The fans were getting into those micro-comebacks, too, but the poorer timing of some stuff seemed to be stifling them- like they’d JUST be getting into it and they’d be off into another move instead of letting that moment sink in. Also there were a few “wait, what was the plan?” stall-outs here and there. But overall, a smart little match that had each trying their specialty until Shimoda finally managed a good flash-pin that worked- coming off the top gave her the momentum and stunned Reggie enough for the leverage pin!

Rating: **1/2 (smart, entertaining little match)

Matches between Yamada & Toyota used to be very common. Even during their tag run, they had a memorable rivalry that ended in 1992. They had a 40-minute Time Limit draw, then Yamada pinned Toyota in a rematch, then Toyota demanded a Hair vs. Hair Match which she won, causing her to realize her mistake and that things had gone too far as soon as the final pin was counted. Desperate, she tried to fight off the barber AND the other wrestlers while Yamada went through with the stipulation, to the point where she started cutting her OWN hair until she was finally held down, literally kicking and screaming. The two would win the tag belts that year, lose them in 1993 to a JWP squad, then win them back by year’s end, just in time to lose them to Double Inoue. They’ve wrestled a couple times since then, but not often.

MANAMI TOYOTA vs. TOSHIYO YAMADA:
* The chemistry between these two has always been insane. Billed as rivals since they debuted, Toyota has gone on to the wider push, but Yamada’s athleticism and cardio is among the few that can match Toyota’s, leading to some spectacular high-paced matches full of tons of counters and one-upsmanship. And an interesting dynamic since Manami has all the flips and weird flash-pin moves while Yamada has way more physical toughness and brutal kicks. Reactions from the fans are fairly equal between the two, leaning a bit more towards Toyota.

Both attempt the same blitz attack at the bell, won by Yamada’s thrust kick, but Manami ducks three more strikes and hits the Rolling Cradle at top speed, slowing down before keeping going to get the fans to pop three times for the same move after thirty seconds of revolutions. Toyota with a butterly suplex for only one, but gets backed into the corner & backdrop & snap suplexed, then Yamada fires off brutal stiff kicks to the back. She pours them on and a spinkick gets two- I always liked how Yamada could just easily crush Toyota in stand-up. And to illustrate that point, Manami squirms out of a sleeper and starts throwing the same kicks to spite Yamada, who just absorbs them and gets up, winning a slapfight and dropping her easily. Manami always bit off more than she could chew attempting to play “Can you top this?” with strikers. Yamada with a lariat, spinkick & stretch muffler, but a Manami Roll gets two on her (Manami almost gets caught up top and Yamada has to post an extra bit). Manami gets the pop-up dropkick and fires off Dropkick Spam as again, the psychology of the matches is that her speed & flying can one-up striking. Octopus Stretch & JB Angels armdrag work Yamada over, but she charges into an enzuigiri and Yamada starts peppering her with rapid-fire kicks, then some bigger ones to take the lead. She gets a big thrust kick for two and works a headlock as the pace remains slow but for little bursts. Yamada bends her like Gumby for a bit, a dragon sleeper finally loosening its grip and she switches to a bodyscissors. Manami finally gets whipped to the corner and comes out with another missile kick, then a running dropkick sets up a flying splash (lol I think Manami realized up top she was pointed wrong for a Moonsault and went “fuck it”) for two, then a backdrop suplex into a figure-four move where she just sits back on Yamada’s face (which isn’t a pin somehow).

Multiple counters end up with Manami running into a boot, then getting tossed off the top and eating a flying elbow smash, but Yamada’s Diving Brain Kick is countered by shoving her off the top and hitting the suicidal missile dropkick to the floor. Manami moonsaults her on the ass for some reason, but Yamada escapes the Japanese Ocean Cyclone Suplex, spinkicks her in the face, then counters a counter-whip with the spinkick for two. Reverse Gory Bomb- countered to a victory roll for two. Toyota goes up but takes a belly-to-belly superduperplex for two. Manami fights off and attempts a second Manami Roll, getting powerbombed for two, but lands on her feet from the Gory Bomb and Germans her for two. She puts Yamada up top but gets thrown off and Diving Brain Kicked for two, but Yamada goes for another and gets pushed off and hit with the Running No-Hands Top Con Hilo. Toyota then dumps her on a table and hits a flying headbutt/splash to the floor on it (in naturally doesn’t break), but Yamada counters the Cyclone Suplex with a victory roll of her own for two. Toyota’s moonsault hits feet and the crowd gets way into “Yamada!”, chanting her name. Another Gory attempt, Manami falling out, and Yamada throws some sloppy kicks that kinda whiff/aren’t sold, but falls out of Manami’s Cyclone Suplex, but is pulled into it… for two! A second one gets the pin at (19:03).

An interesting, weaker version of their old template, which usually involves Yamada dominance until Toyota can fire off little comebacks here and there. The fans weren’t really into the first half as it was very slow to build up to later things. Also I notice a lot of funny bits like Manami pulling out offense she almost never uses, almost as filler or just a desire to shake things up. The counters weren’t quite as clever as in their old stuff- the victory rolls out of their finishers is old hat but the final surge has Manami like… counter a Gory Bomb by falling forward and just pushing Yamada and trying the Cyclone Suplex… failing, then just doing the move on the second try, then doing another for the pin. Like they ran out of ideas for counters and big finishes so were like “Meh, good enough”. I was looking forward to this as the last big Toyota/Yamada match and their chemistry was usually excellent, but it felt diminished here and kind of unimaginative compared to the usual- like many spots were perfunctory and not given much focus by the wrestlers themselves, both of whom sold in terms of “lying down” and “making comebacks while looking messed up”, but not really feeling the drama. Still GOOD, mind you, but the fact that the crowd was only into bits and pieces of it seemed rather potent to me.

Rating: ***1/4 (the athleticism and chemistry is still kinda there, but the desperation and aggression wasn’t- they just sorta slowly fought until they started hitting bigger stuff almost as a perfunctory thing)

KUMIKO MAEKAWA & YUKA SHIINA vs. TAMAFUKA (Rie Tamada & Yumi Fukawa):
* Rookie Mayhem! Oh yeah and I forgot about the TamaFuka tag team. Seeing everyone in their jobber state is funny. Rie’s the only one in real gear- her red & yellow gear. Fukawa’s in a white singlet with blue on top, as is Shiina, and Kumiko’s in that garish multicolor sports top & shorts. Interesting that they’re using tape time to focus on a rookie tag match.

Puny Fukawa gets dominated with rookie-fu and flung about by her hair. They dominate the poor girl, double-teaming her in a crab and making Rie get all pissed off at them, and she finally escapes so Rie can torture Shiina. She puts some STINK on her running dropkicks and hairtosses, as if to show off now that she’s the elder in a match, haha. She lets Fukawa get in some offense, and then kid starts trying to go for a jujigatame. Ah, ever the mat-wrestler. Shiina escapes that and now Kumiko overpowers Fukawa again and puts on the move herself. Fukawa actually earns a good reaction for bridging up and sliding over to relieve the pressure and they LOVE Rie hitting a bit sliding dropkick when Kumiko reapplies it. Yumi even remembers to shake some life into her arm before it magically heals and she can go on offense again, like a good rookie. Kumiko eats some cross-bodies from TamaFuka, and they brutalize her in double-teams to pay her back that prior abuse until Kumiko powers out with a big kick and an Argentine backbreaker into a toss. Rie comes back with a floatover into a nice tornado headlock takeover. Kumiko throws her out of another and does some sloppy kicks for two. Shiina comes in but just takes two cross-bodies until she fires back with Rookie Dropkick Spam on Fukawa, nearly pinning her with the Rookieslayer Bodyslam. Pump Kick from Kumiko- Rie saves, then openly cheats to save after an Argentine backbreaker and scores a 2nd-rope dropkick. Kumiko Scissor Kick gets two, but Rie’s backslide does too. Kumiko tries one, then a bit thrust kick and Fukawa saves, so they dump her… but Rie flings herself into her Helicopter Cross-Body and pins a struggling Kumiko at (12:00)! Hah- gottem!

A shockingly good, spirited Rookie-Fu match with them handling the mechanics of a match perfectly, even with jobber offense. Proof that it’s not the movez you do, but how you’re about them. Lots of fun stuff like payback spots, repeating offense, then an increasing number of run-ins to break up pins to make things more and more dramatic. Everyone tried to show off and looked half-decent, though Kumiko has a lot of hesitance mixed in with her big kicks, probably not wanting to clock people legit (an… issue with her) and Shiina seemed forgettable except for her dropkick flurry near the end there. Fukawa showed off some selling and a mat-wrestling fight while Kumiko was a solid powerhouse because she was so much bigger. Rie was obviously a step ahead of everyone at this point (which is funny cuz she’s third best by 2000).

Rating: **1/2 (an epic Rookie match)

AJA KONG & CHAPARITA ASARI vs. JAGUAR YOKOTA & KAORU ITO:
* haha, what a bizarre mish-mash. Kong is the top wrestler and current Champion, and Jaguar is the champ from the early 1980s. Teaming up the biggest person in the company with the smallest is great match-making, lol.

We’re JIP with Aja headbutting & piledriving the former Ace as 10 minutes have gone by. The crowd is wowed by Jaguar’s bridge-out AND rana to Aja, then Ito & ASARI go, the crowd popping for Chapa’s cartwheel handspring mule kicks, but Ito kick-counters the second and stomps on her back, then does her Stomp Spam into the senton for two. But ASARI dodges the Flying Stomp and Aja immediately lariats Ito to set up the Sky Twister Press, which only gets two. Aja cross-bodies both opponents and 2nd-rope splashes Ito for two, but Jaguar dives into both her & ASARI and missile kicks Aja into a Flying Stomp from Ito, then again. Ito dares USE THE ASS, but Aja just catches and launches her with a German, but Ito goes behind with a BRIDGING German for two. Jaguar goes for her Head-Spike Pedigree but Aja backdrops out, but catches a rana with a powerbomb for two. Jaguar does her forward-flip dodge but lands on her ass blocking the Uraken, and a Backdrop Driver hits- Ito saves. Jaguar dodges the flying back elbow and hits an impressive Bridging German for two, and is like “that does it” but charges RIGHT into a huge Uraken and she’s out like a light at (5:46 of 15:36 shown). lol post-match, Aja is like “it felt like I was hitting my parents, so I wasn’t feeling very good” with a smirk. But admits that when she was a rookie there was no one scarier (this is a shoot according to every Zenjo wrestler’s shoot interviews) and she was worried, but now feels good about it (“even though her eyes were still pretty intense”).

Rating: **1/2 (what we got was hard-fought and quite impressive, even with comparatively few “that’s GOTTA end it!” moments- interesting to see Jaguar do a total 100% “Aja is better” job, too)

MIMA SHIMODA vs. KAORU ITO: Shimoda hits a superplex, but flies onto feet and Ito cries “Shine!” (“die!”) and Flying Stomps for two. Another one hits, and an impactful fisherman’s suplex… gets three at (16:49)! Wow, interesting result! I woulda figured Shimoda was way above her by this point.

REGGIE BENNETT vs. MANAMI TOYOTA: Reggie hits a Ligerbomb for two, but Manami hits a Bridging German for the same. Reggie recovers first but ANOTHER Ligerbomb can’t get it done, so she goes up…. JESUS CHRISTOOOOOOOOOOOO Splash comes off the top and crushes Toyota at (11:41).

BISON KIMURA vs. CHAPARITA ASARI: Bison avoids a dropkick and easily crushes ASARI with a Bison Chop at (10:42).

MIMA SHIMODA vs. TOSHIYO YAMADA: Shimoda victory rolls outta the Gory Bomb for two, ducks the kick and Tiger Suplexes her, but Yamada manages the “stop an Irish whip” counter-kick and Reverse Gory Bombs her at (13:10).

KAORU ITO vs. RIE TAMADA: Ito hits a stomp and her corner senton (right onto Rie’s leg- owie), then Flying Stomps her at (14:29).

REGGIE BENNETT vs. CHAPARITA ASARI: Oh dear. Clipped immediately to Reggie hitting the 2nd-rope splash for the easy win (6:19).

TOSHIYO YAMADA vs. CHAPARITA ASARI: Yamada hits an enzuigiri and belly-to-belly superduperplex for the “Fuck YOU!” bridge-out, and a regular backdrop suplex ends it at (8:19). Was Yamada working on that as a finisher around this time?

REGGIE BENNETT vs. RIE TAMADA: Rie hits her helicopter crossbody for two, but gets swatted and tilt-a-whirl powerslammed for two. Ligerbomb finishes at (7:32).

TOSHIYO YAMADA vs. KAORU ITO: Ito’s (4-1) at this point and doing great. She rolls through a flying crossbody and stomps Yamada off the apron twice, but misses a flying one, but a fisherman’s suplex/Flying Stomp combo gets two. A DDT hits but she gets kicked out of mid-air and a Diving Brain Kick & German get two. Ito gets two REALLY close near-falls from flash pins, and so Yamada desperately sweep-kicks her and puts on a nasty Stretch Muffler on the mat, hooking Ito’s head and she immediately gives up (12:23). Man, Yamada should have had that as a finisher.

MANAMI TOYOTA vs. BISON KIMURA:
* An interesting one, with both relatively high on points. Bison’s in purple & Toyota black, and they bring up Manami once beating Bison for the All Pacific Title.

Bison immediately throws up a kick and windmills Manami around by the hair, but Manami hits the pop-up dropkick. Bison catches another and slingshots her into the ropes and back onto her knees, then works the back with holds. I think Manami starts having an open chat so Bison has to reposition her arms across the mouth, and they get into a hairpulling slapfight, Jaguar aiding her Raideen Array partner Bison. Manami appears more annoyed/aggrieved that agonized at any of this and finally quits selling and blasts off with Dropkick Spam. SNUG. Manami ties her up in the ropes and fires off another one straight into her ass and keeps working holds of her own, including her Deathlock Bodylock, then a Muta Lock as she repositions, but Bison finally fires back and throws her out for a beating in the stands. lol wtf- Manami gets slammed on the floor and just SPRINTS after Bison so she can chase her down and do the same move, hahaha. But Bison comes back with the same thing, then dropkicks MANAMI in the ass, then throws on her STF.

When you forget to pull Manami’s hair out of her face during stretching so it looks like you threw an STF on Cousin Itt.

Manami makes the occasional noise in the holds but largely acts undisturbed, then botches her Running No-Hands leap, trying to laugh it off as the audience goes “awww!” and runs around ringside. She dodges a Bison Chop and hits the rolling cradle for two, but Bison throws a million hard overhand chops to the chest and blocks the Manami Roll with a powerbomb for two. Another Manami Roll is botched BADLY as Bison stumbles on the lift and sorta hangs Toyota up there as Manami slides off sideways as Bison turns, so she tumbles off and they improvise another rollup. Manami dumps her and hits her Missile Dropkick Suicida, misses a Moonsault, and Bison hits a Leg-Trap Backdrop Hold for two. Bison Chop hits, but Manami straightjacket Germans her for two, but climbs and gets backdrop superplexed- “Fuck YOU!” bridge! Bison puts her up, but gets Popeye punched off the top and missile kicked square in the back HARD, collapsing in a heap. Moonsault gets two off that, but Bison gets a thunderous Bison Chop to stop a dropkick and spams Chops and another power Chop gets two. Crowd’s into it for sure now. Manami counts a whip and hits the Japanese Ocean Suplex… for three at (17:30). Well that was sudden.

This was a bit funny, and uncharitably you could call it Manami’s increasing influence and power, as Bison is a power wrestler and given an upper-midcarder’s credibility at this point, and Manami barely sells her submission work and quickly gobbles up offense whenever she can despite Bison being her senior. And then she copies Bison’s own floor move like she found a way to get a good reaction- just copy what the heel did to you! The match was scrappy and a bit of a style clash (Which is funny because they wrestled each other a billion times in 1990-92 during their tag feud), as Bison’s power wrestling and dominance was treated as if it was ineffective and she had to try and wrestle Manami’s match, and there were some sloppy-shop counters and spots (each at fault sometimes).

Rating: **3/4 (it was ugly at points and kinda never developed a story, but both are good so it was still pretty good in the long run, especially once they started stiffing the shit out of one another)

BISON KIMURA vs. RIE TAMADA: Bison hits two Chops to win at (15:19). The crickets are LOUD for this outdoor show. Or that’s just the hiss of bad audio recording.

RIE TAMADA vs. CHAPARITA ASARI: Poor ASARI STILL can’t beat someone, as Rie avoids the Sky Twister Press twice, kicks out of a DDT, then catches her with a German to win (8:45).

MIMA SHIMODA vs. BISON KIMURA: Tiger Suplex gets two for Shimoda, then another, but Bison hits a Bison Chop off the ropes for two… and Time’s Over at (30:00), Shimoda going to another broadway.

MANAMI TOYOTA vs. RIE TAMADA: Rie nearly wins with a German, but splashes onto feet and nearly loses to the same move. Moonsault pins her at (17:33!!!).

MANAMI TOYOTA vs. KAORU ITO: Flying Stomp gets two for Ito, but Manami counters her to a Straightjacket German. Manami missile kicks her in the spine, but Ito counters the Cyclone Suplex into a German for two, floatover powerbombs her out of a Manami Roll, then tries the ass attack out of the corner but gets German’d herself. Japanese Ocean Cyclone Suplex finishes at (18:30).

An interesting compilation, as it seems like they want to show off Toyota a lot (three long matches devoted to her and she wins two very long clipped matches, too), yet it’s also a signifier of some of the cracks that are forming with her stuff- maybe the sheer amount of Toyota stuff I’ve seen have left me looking back at her stuff and seeing more botches and sloppiness, but there’s no missing two fucked-up no-hands springboards, the Manami Roll mess-up in the Bison match, and three matches that are all basically “I hit a bunch of shit”. The Shimoda one is still great fun and one of the best examples of that kind of match with some great character bits, and I’m not a big Bison fan so her matches rarely go above *** for me at the best of times, but the Yamada one felt kinda disappointing. And it makes me afraid to go look back at all the Toyota stuff I saw and re-review it, lol. Though her match with Hotta to end the tournament is a legit ****3/4 and one of her best matches.

Other booking things seem interesting, though- Bison does well enough to fight Takako Inoue for third place, but loses in (9:02). Yamada gets “Good Showings But Loses” a bunch. Reggie seems to do well, beating Toyota clean. But the real story is Mima Shimoda coming outta nowhere and running the field with a ton of good showings- two broadways, one against TOYOTA that ends up being her most legendary singles match, and an upset win over Reggie Bennett (one of the other full matches on the show). It seems like the stage is set for her Tag Title push with Hokuto (they win the WWWA Tag Belts in August 1995, and she scores them with Toyota the next year), like the really want to push her as a bigger deal. Ironically it’d never really “take” until the tag team with Mita that ended earlier on is reborn as true heel main eventers.