Joshi Spotlight: AJW Japan Grand Prix Finals

JAPAN GRAND PRIX- PART THREE:
* This is the finals of the Japan Grand Prix! And, in a tournament with like nine billion (approx.) 30-minute draws and preposterous match times up and down the cards… let’s all watch a series of very short matches in the final day to determine the winner!

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand after a miraculously hugely full arena for the “Queendom of WWWA” show that just happened, they have a half-empty hall again. NOT GREAT, especially considering this is the end of the Tournament!

THIS YEAR’S TOURNAMENT:
YUMIKO HOTTA: Former Ace, now a lazybones kicker doing a feud with Rossy Ogawa and ARSION.
MOMOE NAKANISHI: Won the tournament last year and is the obvious “Next Big Star” buuuuuuuuuuut they did a “not yet” where Kaoru Ito completely dismantled her.
KUMIKO MAEKAWA: Last year’s 2nd-runner up and the obvious one behind Momoe.
KAYO NOUMI: Was the lesser one in a “lower-card” tag team last year, but with her partner retired, suddenly it’s time for a push! She’s a big underdog who is a great bumper but has shite offense.
RIE TAMADA: An ARSION wrestler, representing an AJW/ARSION feud that the fans hate. Never even rose to Zenjo’s midcard so is likely here as Card Filler and an easy win… except she’s ARSION’s only entrant so is probably being fed wins.
TOMOKO WATANABE: Career “IC”-level wrestler by this point, bouncing around tag teams and usually being hurt. Currently forced to be in the heel Black Joker.
NANAE TAKAHASHI: Another “future star” they probably want to be better than she is. They’ve been ramping up her powerhouse showcases big-time over the past year.
MIYUKI FUJII: “The Eternal Rookie”, here to pick up a fluke and then feed the rest pins.

So will Momoe win a second year in a row? Kumiko was #2 last year- this could easily be her night. Hotta is the highest in seniority and her push is rarely QUITE finished, either. Naturally, things have ended up in a SUPER-close run-off and everyone is really close together. Oddly Hotta does the worst, which is REALLY damning given her seniority.

UH-OH. A whole assload of empty seats on the hard cam right before the matches start. Always a dreadful sign.

NANAE TAKAHASHI (8) vs. KAYO NOUMI (8):
* Nanae has tied with Kayo- this is somewhat fitting, as a big story of the year is the elevation of both. Nanae should be much higher in “importance” by this point (former Tag Champion while Kayo was a borderline jobber last year) but Noumi’s a fluke magnet. Nanae’s in red tassels & Kayo’s in blue/yellow.

Kayo pounces before the bell, but has to fight for every bit of ground, managing to take control until Nanae can finally find an opening and fight back. Kayo bites free of a clutch but gets X-Factored & STF’d- some running and flying attacks work better, but Nanae just bowls her over anyhow. Kayo gets knocked over again but manages her DEADLY BACKSLIDE for a nearfall, but her double-wrist armsault is countered to a suplex. Kayo’s able to dump Nanae off the top and hit a running dropkick off the apron, then a plancha, but a flying crossbody gets two and she can’t follow up with better stuff (she keeps fighting for Germans and failing), getting knocked to the apron and headbutted off, but Nanae tries to build her SmackDown! meter too long and gets dragged to the floor & Kayo beats on her in the stands. Both throws chairs and take the lead back, but Nanae hits a Superduperplex in the ring for two, but Kayo gets her feet up on the Vader Bomb and hits Rolling Double-Wrist Armsaults for two. We’re clipped to Kayo defiantly slapping Nanae but getting killed with a lariat into a BIG Vader Bomb for two. Kayo stops another but gets missile kicked anyways, but Nanae trying another lets Kayo charge up and hit a Superduper Double-Wrist Armsault! Man, they were CAREFUL with that one- taking a good 10-15 seconds to reposition and steady themselves as safely as possible.

Humorously, the biggest weapon in Kayo’s arsenal doesn’t even get a pop because the fans expect a kickout, but her running windmill ROLLUP does because THAT might actually win, and Nanae barely kicks out! Kayo tries her sunset flip but Nanae easily escapes and rolls her into a vicious toehold/dragon sleeper, but very quickly runs out of energy on it and lets go- Kayo makes the ropes and counters a NanaRakka (falcon arrow) to a rollup and that was CLOSE. Fans popped for it, too. Kayo suckers Nanae into chasing her up top and gets German’d off the 2nd rope and Kayo FINALLY nails that Bridging German for two! But that’s about all she has, so Nanae gets picked up and immediately hits her backdrop driver. But Kayo fights out of another and hits her Fisherman’s Buster for two… but Nanae threads that into her own pin, nearly getting Kayo with her own kinda shit! Kayo tries a last-ditch punch but Nanae ragdolls her in an abdominal stretch of all things to take the fight out of her, and the NanaRakka finishes at (13:10 of 19:12 shown), two guys on the right side of the screen laughing and marking out hard for the finish. Nanae finally weathered all the rollups!

A decent little match- Nanae has good offense and Kayo has crap offense so they made the most of it, with Kayo’s ACTUAL “this could get the pin” stuff being counter-pins and rollups and stuff, and the fans responded to that because they’ve been trained to associate those moves with pinfalls in a way they haven’t with her weak armsaults and shit. A good display of Kayo’s selling and bumping, while Nanae seemed like she was restraining herself since she’s working more in the show. But the last five minutes was REALLY good, with lots of hot nearfalls that weren’t just from MOVEZ but clever counters- the fans bought most of Kayo’s rollups AND Nanae’s counter-rollup, but in the end it was good old-fashioned murder that won the day.

Rating: *** (they really pulled it out in the end after going really slow for a good while)

TOMOKO WATANABE (8) vs. MOMOE NAKANISHI (8):
* Last year’s winner is mixed up with everyone else at 8 points. Tomoko, more heelish with Black Joker, is a definitely dangerous opponent- despite Momoe’s rise they’re arguably on a similar tier. Tomoko’s in orange tassels & Momoe’s in denim.

As soon as Momoe turns around to take off her jacket, Tomoko smashes her with a lariat from behind and beats the shit out of her in the stands. This goes on in very one-sided fashion, leaving Momoe clutching her head in agony and staggering towards the ring, falling down repeatedly to make this look extra-devastating. And Tomoko immediately pounces and starts working the brain, booting Momoe in the temples and pushing against her head while she screams. A great bit sees Momoe at last score offense by landing on her feet from a backdrop suplex, but immediately do a flipover death bump off a lariat and nearly get pinned. A big vertical suplex & top hammerlock move work Momoe over… and we’re immediately clipped to one Momoe rollup, then another (a fucked-up Momo Latch) for three at (4:03 of 6:10 shown). Well that was a funny way to edit that. All in all a funny quick match, as Tomoko dominates almost every single minute and Momoe fires off a last-minute comeback, scoring what looks like a lucky win even as she writhes in agony. The game is thus set- Momoe’s moving on in the tournament, but is dying in agony. Only a TRULY HEROIC performance can save her now, I bet!

Too hard to rate when the clipping just goes right to Momoe’s win.

And this means we have four wrestlers tied! So they all come out to draw lots to determine who faces whom. This also means that Rie & Kumiko have a big advantage, as they’re fresh and facing injured competition. They draw straws (Kumiko & Rie playing rock/paper/scissors to see who draws first), and it’s Kumiko vs. Nanae first!

NANAE TAKAHASHI vs. KUMIKO MAEKAWA:
* A fresh Kumiko, who received a BIG push last year and is clearly still a big part of the company’s plans, takes on Nanae, who fought a 19-minute match barely 20 minutes before! Kumiko’s in purple.

Kumiko just bullies a tired Nanae before the bell, boots her in the face quickly, then counters a whip with another kick, but Nanae body checks her down and hits a dive. They whip each other into chairs in the stands, but Kumiko PLANTS an Ax Kick right between Nanae’s eyes on the floor, leaving her doing the “dead body” sell, having to be deadlifted into the ring. Kumiko tries her “knee drive off the ropes” move, but that takes so long that Nanae recovers & tries a superplex, but gets pushed off and Kumiko improvises a missile kick. Commentary openly talks about how both are very “straightforward” fighters (Kumiko using kicks; Nanae her power & stamina) and not good at shaking thinsg up on opponents, and Kumiko does the corner ax kick, leaving Nanae limp & dead again. She nonetheless backdrops out of a powerbomb and throws some desperation slams & lariats, but her Flying Back Senton flies off backwards into Kumiko’s boots. Giant spinkick gets two, as does a Rolling Kick, Nanae getting good reactions for her kickouts after doing “flop sells”. She finally catches Kumiko’s spinkick with a leg-trap backdrop suplex, but quickly starts losing again, only to get a very weak counter into a NanaRakka for two- good reaction, though. She tries another and gets kicked in the brain, leaving her in a “FINISH HER!” dizzied stance, and another Ax Kick gets… two! In a great bit, Nanae cross-blocks the Ax Kick, but misses a lariat and gets SMOKED by a superkick and only TWO! And Kumiko carelessly charges in and gets small packaged for two, and when she springs out of the NanaRakka, Nanae swings in with a Lariat and holds her down struggling at (5:43 of 5:53 shown) for the win! NANAE WINS!

A very good little match, played perfectly to their roles- Kumiko lands kick after kick and dominates her tired opponent, easily dealing with her predictable offense, but Kumiko’s OWN stuff is predictable and she starts faltering. The big Ax Kick AND Superkick kickouts were great because both were believable “ah, this is it” finishers, AND Nanae’s small package was perfect because everyone knows those flash-pins are killers, especially in the end-game after a “sure thing” move like Kumiko’s. So they kept fans guessing until Kumiko springs out of the NanaRakka and THEN a lariat gets her for the pin. also lol that they cut out ten seconds.

Rating: ***1/4 (very good in the time used!)

MOMOE NAKANISHI (AJW) vs. RIE TAMADA (ARSION):
* This one has about zero drama attached, honestly- Momoe is as obvious a winner as you’re going to get, and Rie is called in from ARSION.

This starts out as opposite as you can get from the last one, as Rie pounces on an injured Momoe immediately, but Momoe FIRES BACK and they scrappily scrap for a solid minute, slamming into each other and more until SHIRO ABE comes back as the Evil Bias Ref, squabbling with the AJW ref! Rie keeps, like… almost doing something and then botching (running into Momoe and just standing there, then trying a slingshot and just dropping), but manages a Tornado DDT on the floor (using the ring apron for lift) and beats up Abe, sending him away. I guess he’s still biased against ARSION from Hotta threatening him last time. Rie goes for a rolling cradle for two, botching it and getting hung up (it only LOOKS easy), then bullying Momoe some more with a neckvice and vertical suplex, but Momoe’s persistence pays off and Rie’s dropped. Rie comes back with a big stunner to counter, then small packages for two after avoiding Momoe’s flipover German feint. Rolling elbow gets two, but Momoe backslides her, only to charge into a powerbomb. Rie goes up but Momoe tosses her with a HUGE Run-Up Belly-To-Belly Superduperplex (shades of the Kyoko Inoue of the ’90s!) for two, but Rie bridges out and no-sells to hit a German- Momoe bolts out at one and and gets her own, but Rie does the same and both are down. They’re slow to rise and clipping sees Momoe charge into an elbow and Rie Tornado DDTs her for two and does the “cut throat” gesture to signify IT’S OVER- Momoe escapes the full nelson of a Dragon Suplex but gets German’d, but rolls through and roars to life and gets an ugly Momo Latch for two. Now Rie escapes the Dragon Suplex, but her crossface is countered and Momoe ducks her rolling elbow & spins upside-down to flash-pin her at (5:44 of 6:57 shown)- Momoe’s going to the finals!

Another pretty good one, but UGLY- mysteriously, Rie Tamada is the only person who can have a sloppy, messy match with Momoe Nakanishi. A mix of unfamiliarity (different companies since Momoe was practically a baby) and Rie being generally NOT THE BEST is probably to blame, but at least they were just playing it like they were scrappy brawlers and just flung themselves at one another after everything to make up for the odd “what were were we doing again?” log-jams. Oddly they didn’t use Momoe holding the side of her head sooooo prominently in the last match and its aftermath despite the short wait… almost as if Rie didn’t really have the offense to take advantage of such a thing anyways, so we ended up with a standard “fighty wrestlers who fight out of HATE” match instead.

Rating: **3/4 (pretty good for a Rie Tamada match and a Momoe match that was so short)

And now the Tag Team Champions are set to oppose one another for the JGP crown! This is rather fitting, as Momoe’s the “One To Push” while Nanae’s also been getting the “Official Midcarder Rising Up” push this year.

NANAE TAKAHASHI vs. MOMOE NAKANISHI:
* Rie knees Momoe in the butt defiantly and then bows to the fans, as a the Champs face one another, Momoe looking exhausted.

And then once the bell rings we get the best possible opening as they just SLAM into none another off a crazy dual-charge, Momoe gets battered down from another, then Nanae misses a lariat and nearly gets pinned by a Momo Latch, psyching the fans into thinking they were getting a rapid ending. Momoe pounds the mat in frustration and nearly walks into a NanaRakka, but Nanae has to settle for an abdominal stretch. She’s slow with the lariats and gets dumped so Momoe hits an Orihara Moonsault, but Nanae wins a fight on the floor and hits a suplex & lariat out there. Nanae hangs Momoe in the corner and slams into her, but Momoe funnily pops up and startles her face-to-face, leading to Nanae stalling out but just getting annoyed & slapping her. Momoe flings her off the top but flies onto feet and eats a backdrop driver for two, but climbs & gets German’d, Momoe pummelling her and hitting a Run-Up Moonsault for two- they slug it out and Momoe runs up again but gets stopped and superduperplexed off, Nanae going “that’s it!” and hitting a Flying Back Senton for two, but Momoe leans her back for two. Momoe gets her backslide for two, then the rollup that won last match for two, then signals the Momo Latch… and in an INCREDIBLE counter, Nanae stops her in mid-air and repositions, shifts her over and NANARAKKA for two! Momoe’s doing her “flailing around” thing and does a very weak Inverted Momo Latch, Nanae just falling back as Momoe slips off of her and Nanae goes down too late- Momoe tries to jackknife pin her anyways but Nanae gets out and tries another NanaRakka, Momoe flailing out but getting Lariated- two! And Nanae immediately hauls her up- NanaRakka WINS at (6:21)!! NANAE IS THE JAPAN GRAND PRIX CHAMPION!

Very hard-fought, flaily match, making use of both wrestlers being tired as they justifiably flail around and try whatever they can, looking desperate. Amusingly it’s less sloppy than Momoe/Rie was, MYSTERIOUSLY. Nanae was looking blown up at points (many of her “charging” attacks were more like light jogging) while Momoe had maximum speed but was far less precise than she used to be. I loved the Momo-Latch-to-NanaRakka counter- fittingly that wouldn’t be enough to end it but it was obviously an integral part of the endgame. If the Inverted Momo Latch had hit it’d be even better but that’s a tricky one at the best of times, but I liked how they used BOTH finishes from earlier in the show as false finishes (upside-down flash-pin and the “struggling lariat pin”) and Nanae still won with persistent use of her finisher.

Rating: *** (another very solid match from these two)

And so Nanae Takahashi is the surprise winner of the 2002 Japan Grand Prix- an honor that rarely goes to somehow outside of the top level. It’s interesting, sorta clever booking- Momoe or Kumiko were “obvious”, but the company was obviously about to have a depth problem with Manami quitting and god knows with Hotta these days. So elevating Nanae was a risky but possibly wise call. She’s still not quite as good as she should be given her level but MAYBE they can fake it till they make it with her, because she reeeeeeeeeeeeeally needs to step up with Momoe as the obvious “next champion”, Kayo coming in on Nanae’s heels as “the next one to elevate”, and Kumiko as the obvious rival to Momoe and “next champion after her”. That this is all happening when the company loses one of its biggest stars and the lack of TV is killing ticket sales is NOT great.

Overall it’s a fine night of wrestling- lots of 6-8 minute matches after ages of too many “way too long” bout-filled cards is a breath of fresh air, and all the matches were hard-fought and ***-ish.

The final JGP Results:
Nanae Takahashi (10)
Momoe Nakanishi (10)
Rie Tamada (10)
Kumiko Maekawa (10)
Yumiko Hotta (9)
Tomoko Watanabe (9)
Kayo Noumi (8)
Miyuki Fujii (4)
Kaoru Ito (2)
-It was a pretty “safe” tournament, Hotta getting just under the eventual winners so it didn’t look as bad, Fujii doing a million jobs, and Ito, who was gonna be Champion before it was over, bowing out early. Having only 8 women really competing let them spread out the wins a lot.