Joshi Spotlight: ARSION Starlight 2002

https://archive.org/details/arsion-07-21-2002

To Archive.org with this one!

HYPER VISUAL FIGHTING ARSION: STARLIGHT 2002:
* Manami Toyota has quit Zenjo and joined GAEA Japan, allying with Aja Kong! Zenjo is all-in on pushing Momoe Nakanishi! Nanae Takahashi wins the Japan Grand Prix and is getting pushed going forwards! Time for… shit, there’s an ARSION show in the middle! I was prepared to do the scattered ARSION matches I have for 2002 but there’s a whole one here, so let’s see if I can do a whole 2-hour tape in one sitting, haha.

JAB QUICKLY READS NOTES TO REMEMBER WHAT’S GOING ON:
* So the company is still losing money, it’s kind of a joke, Lioness Asuka was hired to book and quickly won the belt and then put over Michiko Omukai in May 2002, and Asuka’s team with GAMI were holding the Twin Star of ARSION titles but declared them vacant for some reason. Oh and AKINO is the Sky High of ARSION Champ. And most importantly that stable of three clowns has split up FOR GOOD!

This show is from Korakuen Hall, with an attendance of… 1.35? That can’t be right. Actually that makes sense for an ARSION show but I can see more than 1.35 people in the crowd. *Checks Cagematch* ohhhhhhhh that’s supposed to be 1,350… actually the crowd doesn’t look so bad, though ARSION has that awful set-up where the hard camera is mostly their big fancy entranceway with no fans. This is for the Battle Station TV show, that collected some smaller promotions.

The first of three “first-time in ARSION for me” wrestlers, Emi Tojo.

AJW JUNIOR TITLE TOURNAMENT:
REINA TAKASE (ARSION) vs. EMI TOJO (Jd’):
* wait, who the hell is Emi Tojo? She’s some thin, long-haired girl in a leader skirt & halter top with a whip, so I can only imagine this is a Rossy idea, but… oh, it’s JD’! Which I never watch! OH GOD IT’S THE “ATHTRESS” ERA! With Athlete/Actresses instead of like… well-trained people. Emi debuted right around this time so can’t possibly be good- looks like she lasts about 3 years and uhhhhh google carefully. Other companies were allowed to join this Zenjo tournament by throwing in their own rookies. Takase, in red, has more experience and is a semi-decent newbie.

Tojo attacks before the bell, but Reina quickly takes over, Emi not cluing in she has to turn around for a crab so Reina has to grab BOTH legs. Some falling headbutts get two, but Tojo gets a dropkick and what looks like a bending headbutt for two. Reina works the arm and it’s kind of amusing because Tojo doesn’t know how to work those well but her scrambling almost makes it look more realistic. Clipped to Tojo getting a headscissors submission but missing a 2nd-rope splash (“Squeak!” *splat*), but someone taught her knees & dropkicks, so she manages a bunch of those. Tojo gets a snap suplex with an interesting lift, then a 2nd-rope dropkick & bridging suplex for two. Reina fires back with a tornado bulldog & 2nd-rope dropkick, but Tojo pops up and counters a full nelson to a flash-pin at (6:08 of 10:01) shown.

Rating: * (Pretty decent considering Tojo looks fairly poorly trained- like she can do worked knees but not WELL so they have little velocity and look soft. Her dropkicks, too. But it looked very much like Takase trying her hardest to make a real match out of such a limited opponent)

BABY-A SEVEN MATCH SERIES:
BABY-A (ARSION) vs. COMMAND BOLSHOI (JWP):
* It’s Baby-A time! She shows up a bit on some future events I was looking at, and is apparently LLPW go-nowhere Miho Watabe, rebranded in ARSION as a masked wrestler all in pink. She’s super-tiny, as fitting an ARSION undercard worker. Like, even BOLSHOI is powering her around. Bolshoi has apparently dropped the PIKO/POKO/PIKA naming thing today.

We’re JIP with Bolshoi beating her up, stretching her and YIKES Baby-A lands flat on her head from a backdrop suplex. Yeah she got her feet hitting the mat to spread out the impact but wow. That gets two, then Bolshoi works some cutthroat torture racks, torquing them 3 times in a row to get more pressure. Baby-A finally manages a comback with some helicopter cross-bodies & missile kicks away for two. Man the ref is WAY too loud with his “ONNNNNNNNNNNE TWOOOOOOO…” stuff. Bolshoi misses a shotei but gets a soft uraken for two, gets a Bridging German, but misses another shotei & is German’d herself. Baby-A climbs but finally Bolshoi hits that running shotei and goes to her Super Rock Bottom for the pin (5:18 of 8:26 shown).

Rating: ** (seemed fine but short and simple)

You know things are rough when “not quite as good as Nidia” earns you a spot in the heel stable.

RIE TAMADA vs. TAYLOR MATHENY:
* ??!?!?! TO CAGEMATCH! I … oh dear, her one WWF match reveals she was from TOUGH ENOUGH! She was in fact the girl who was #2, losing to Nidia. She ended up with a super-minor career in the “WWE owns everything” era of indie wrestling, doing a lot of April Hunter/Allison Danger/Cheerleader Melissa matches upon her debut in 2001, then retiring in 2005. She’s been married to Brian Kendrick since 2008, which is a LONG time for a wrestling marriage. Here, she looks hilariously still like a Tough Enough competitor- their generic “gym shorts & tank-top” default outfit. Rie’s in the usual blue & animal print.

We’re JIP with Rie throwing Taylor into a rolling cradle, but they have an elbow fight, Taylor making bug-eyes and cartoonishly frowning. Well, she’s trying. She’s very scampery with her movements, doing the “gathering” by running in place at points- common rookie error (Albert/A-Train calls this out when teaching IShowSpeed to wrestle). They throw each other into chairs and Rie hits a god-awful Tornado DDT off the ring apron. Oh come on why do THAT with the rookie? Obviously she’s just gonna fall right down the second your weight shifts. Rie milks that a while, then does a regular DDT, misses a missile kick, and Taylor hits a low-lift side suplex (almost more of a trip) into an STF (tying her own feet up and having to reposition). Rie goes up but Taylor hits some awful forearm slaps and does a running sit-out powerbomb for two. She misses a theatrical flying splash, but backslides Rie out of her locomotion butterfly suplexes for two, only to charge into a shot to the knee and a bridging capture suplex gets two for Rie. Rolling Elbow sets up the Bridging German for three (5:01 of 7:48 shown). Taylor was really, REALLY green here- I can’t fault her effort, but she was very flaily and had the “Diva Scamper” something fierce. Very theatrical mannerisms, which look outta place in Japan and were very “2000s WWE”, and naturally clumsy movements as befits a rookie. Rie isn’t exactly the one to restrain that, either, but they at least sorta looked like they were having a match.

Rating: * (not as bad as it could have been, but pretty bad)

SKY HIGH OF ARSION TITLE:
AKINO vs. MARI APACHE:
* Mari shows up here and there in ARSION and always seems to be in the lower half of the company but is almost kept credible enough to win the occasional bout against a “pushed name”. Mari’s in blue & AKINO’s in lime green shorts. She’s finally not the masked noki-A for once.

They both work some snug armlocks until Mari hefts AKINO into a Gory Stretch submission, turning it into a pin until AKINO sits up while upside-down against her chin and impressively sunset flips her. Mari pounces with a DDT but the pin is turned into a headscissors, then a front facelock. Mari counters and works the leg, turning it into a good STF, even blocking AKINO’s reaching hand before it hits the ropes. AKINO dropkicks her in the face & crabs her, but eats a lariat & windmill backbreaker into the surfboard. But AKINO comes off the ropes with a rana out of the next one, then a run-up crossbody & tope con hilo! Both take a long rest, then AKINO hits a DDT into a springboard dropkick for two, but Mari fights out of a backdrop & wheel kicks her. Then a fight up top sees AKINO front-superplexed off and FLYING wheel kicked! They fuck up a slingshot powerbomb so re-do the lift, and AKINO is toast but dodges a flying cannonball, scores a backdrop driver but gets lariated to the floor and Mari CRUSHES her with a flying cannonball suicida, landing flush on her ankle and injuring her. Hope that’s a work. They tape her up and Mari hits the Flying Cannonball Senton with great impact in the ring for two. Mari tries to follow-up, but AKINO snaps her into a great jujigatame, then repositions to a crippler crossface, does a bunch of armsnaps and missile kicks the arm, but Mari blocks a rana/spinning juji attempt and lariats the crap out of her, but ends up in another jujigatame. She manages to fling AKINO onto the top rope and goes for a motherfucking SUPER Razor’s Edge, but AKINO ranas out (Mari late on the bump so it’s not smooth). Two snap ranas get 2s, so AKINO repositions and charges in… Running Jujigatame gets a quick tap-out at (15:53)- AKINO wins!

A very “Mari Apache” kind of match- not terribly interesting as a wrestler or a character, but when giving a lot of effort, she’s a very solid “base” and can easily go past ***, especially with a good opponent. Hitting a Gory Stretch and letting AKINO down for a pin, then managing to let her sit up in the hold is pretty impressive (AKINO’s sitting up, but can only do that because Mari’s strong enough to haul her up off the ground, too). Then later she just stands there trying a tilt-a-whirl but AKINO “spins out” into a rana that’s all Mari standing there with her weight until it’s time to flip over. Like it’s not the flashiest shit but look at how clumsy a lot of ARSION looks and it’s because of people lacking stuff like that. Both had some excellent precision and execution, nailing everything with great bumps and movements (like when AKINO takes the front superplex she makes sure to scrunch up then spring out like a frog splash to make the bump look better). Too bad about that powerbomb but you can’t win ’em all. AKINO did look hurt by that slam to the ankle (Mari is NOT small and landed pretty hard), and was scampering around gingerly but seemed to pick up good speed regardless so it didn’t hamper the match much. AKINO persistently going for similar moves was a good bit, as it keeps you guessing despite the rana, shoulder-spin rana & running jujigatame all having the same start-up.

Rating: ***1/4 (close to Mari’s peak and another good AKINO match- some sloppy bits but mostly really good execution that ARSION rarely pulls off anymore)

MARIKO YOSHIDA (ARSION) vs. TAKAKO INOUE (Freelance):
* Takako’s freelance run typically involves her either fighting alongside her evil stable (Black Joker) or doing random one-offs like this, often as “card filler” but this one actually has some history, as they were on similar tiers way back in the early ’90s. They were from the same year in Zenjo (1988). Takako had showed up at ARSION and immediately argued with Yoshida, getting into it with her after crushing Baby-A with a tombstone. Takako’s a glam cowgirl in brown, Yoshida’s in black & silver Spider Lady gear, with a death’s head skull in the chest logo this time.

They are slow to lock up at first, playing it safe until Takako uses a rope-break to score a quick DDT- Yoshida no-sells and immediately anklelocks her. She works armbars but Takako’s able to escape and fires off some good kicks, taunts her with boots, and they slug it out but Yoshida counters to a rollup and dominates on the mat. Yoshida with a DDT and takes some time tying up Takako’s legs for a simple hold, then adds a choke and goes to the Million Dollar Dream. Yoshida releases by just viciously slamming her to the mat, looming over her as a show of dominance, and Takako’s slow to rise, holding her throat. Yoshida taunts her so Takako kicks her RIGHT in the fuckin’ head- hah! Great speed on that. Yoshida quickly leverages her with a headlock, then ducks another kick but the follow-through nails her and Takako goes for a pin, then climbs, catching her with the Super Chokeslam. But Takako misses the Destiny Hammer (flying knee) and is La Majistral’d for two, and Yoshida locks her in her old finisher- the Modified Sleeper! Takako hollers before starting to fade out, nearly making the ropes before Yoshida repositions, and a close-up of Takako’s face looks almost disturbingly realistic vis-a-vis selling being choked to unconsciousness. She barely toes the ropes, so Yoshida pounces with a bunch of running kicks to set her up for a Pedigree, then the Air Raid Crash! Takako barely kicks out. Takako has to be dragged up, but shoves out of another ARC and gets a quick uraken to buy herself some time, just flinging herself at Yoshida. And she manages to get her stun-gun!

Takako zaps the air to make noise to set up the spot, Yoshida trying to counter with a sleeper but getting zapped with it. Takako uses this to slowly recover, hitting some quick backdrop suplexes, then pulling her up for some measured right hands. Takako BRINGS BACK THE “KNEE THEM IN THE FACE” TOMBSTONE HELL YESSSSSSSSS!! But instead of covering, she goes for the stun-gun again, looming over Yoshida with it, dropping it before going “PSYCHE!” and trying to use it, but Yoshida hauls her down into the Rings of Saturn! Takako hollers as Yoshida grabs the stun-gun triumphantly while holding her… then Yoshida repositions to her Modified Sleeper USING the stun-gun, choking Takako with it via both hands using it to force her neck against Yoshida’s thigh! The ref forces Yoshida to release the strangle-hold, drawing her ire, and Takako escapes another ARC with an uraken for two, then two swiping kicks for two, but Yoshida punches her in the face for two as time ticks down. And finally they just starting punching each other in the face over and over again, trying interceptions and both flopping down to the mat, trying to recover, and more, until Takako escapes another ARC and urakens her on the second try for two. Yoshida lands a snap German and hits that Air Raid Crash… but pulls Takako up at “2” so she can smugly do a second one… and Time Expires (15:00) at “2” as she’s like “heyyyyy…”. DUMBASS. But after the match, Yoshida’s like “You impressed me!” or something and offers her hand, Takako taking it and they shake hands, then do a post-match interview together like they’re buds.

I liked it! They had good psychology with Yoshida quick to dominate on the mat and Takako barely surviving, selling “near-unconsciousness” really well and her desperation to avoid moves. They’d learn from each other’s stuff and avoid it, and do moves then curl up to recover, selling desperation and the toll the moves were taking by actually going for a breather once they got a sudden counter (like Takako avoids the second Air Raid Crash by shoving Yoshida over, then literally diving into her with an uraken so she can take a minute to be able to do more offense). The sudden bursts of offense were good and came off as surprises and potential pinfalls, too. Sadly it wasn’t that over- despite Takako’s nasty cheating with the stun-gun, this drew some of the quietest reactions I’ve ever seen for what usually gets good heat, and they didn’t start getting the crowd into it until they were slugging it out with a minute to go.

Rating: ***1/4 (some good psychology and sudden bursts of offense)

It is an never-ending source of amusement to me that no matter how arduous or long a match is, during the “post-match everyone has messy hair and is covered in sweat” interview portion, Takako always looks like… that. Manami Toyota always looks like she walked through a war scene in “Black Hawk Down” in HER post-matches, and here’s “light sheen & good hair” Takako.

Okay I was kinda dreading having to review this full show but it ends up pretty interesting from a “wrestling trivia” perspective.

Before the next match, the trio of American wrestlers (Bionic J, Taylor Matheny & Melissa) speaks to Rossy Ogawa, who explains to them the weaknesses of the opposing side. Lioness Asuka has a bad neck, both of GAMI’s knees are bad, and Fujita just had an operation on her arm. I… wait, is that CHEERLEADER MELISSA? Wow, haha. To be fair, Melissa’s only notable to me for her entire reputation stemming from being… the best US women’s worker… in the 2001-2010 US indies. Which is like being valedictorian at summer school. YEAH I SAID IT. I saw some SHIMMER stuff, and it was very much “decent women’s wrestling, as long as your only access to the product was WWE’s”, with a bunch of 5/10 workers having **-ish matches. Melissa seemed to have a good rep, but never managed to be A Thing, only making promotions with decent TV once (a 2-year TNA run). At this point, she’d debuted 3 years prior, but probably had very few reps.

TWIN STAR OF ARSION:
THREE WAY MATCH:
LIONESS ASUKA & GAMI vs. BIONIC J & MELISSA vs. CYBER JUNK (Michiko Omukai & Ai Fujita):
* The Twin Star belts have been held up for a month, and now it’s a Three-Way Dance for the vacant belts, and… a three- way? In JAPAN? That seems pretty new. And is another sign of Western encroachment into the scene, with some very “90s American wrestling” ideas like that. J’s in purple, Melissa’s in a pastel blue/white “icy skirt” outfit (and is REALLY thin compared to what I’ve seen of her), Asuka’s in black, GAMI’s in black w/ green, and Cyber Junk are in glittery gold & black. Omukai is the Champ and a rival of Asuka’s.

The US team immediately assaults the ex-champs and everyone brawls to the floor into a sea of streamers, Melissa immediately looking lost (briefly selling GAMI’s clacker weapon then standing there like “…” as people move around her). Asuka gets beat up by CJ and GAMI is double-teamed by the Americans. In the ring, J throws chops and a jolting spear to GAMI, then Omukai comes in and acts like a dominating powerhouse, throwing GAMI around and hitting an X-Factor for two. Fujita adds a leglock, then Melissa some wimpy kicks an and awful attempt at the Muta driving elbowdrop and a backbreaker. She looks like she learned wrestling by watching it on TV. Asuka breaks up a Texas Cloverleaf from J and GAMI manages an STO out of a lariat, but the ref doesn’t see her tag out so J just hits a TKO and Omukai a running boot into Fujita’s punch as they’re all-in on taking GAMI out. Fireman’s Carry into Michinoku Driver from J- Asuka saves. Melissa actually does a Super Frankensteiner, GAMI no-selling and ending up behind her, but Melissa ducks & Asuka boots her in the head, allowing Melissa to hit a Flatliner (giving herself a rock bottom), tagging… the air, then realizing she needs to make the pin herself, getting two. Bionic J can’t get a pedigree but lariats GAMI down for two. GAMI finally… FINALLY… manages to eyepoke her way out and Asuka comes in for the usual, smashing J into the black table and flying stomping it while it’s draped over her and the Blue Thunder bomb gets two. Melissa sets up Asuka for a chokeslam from J for two, but Omukai tags herself in and starts “beating on” Asuka, no-selling a comeback and taking out her & GAMI with a double-clothesline. But she walks into some head-kicks and the rolling kick for two, yet manages to escape a powerbomb and ax kicks Asuka down.

Everyone fights in the corner and Omukai brings Asuka down with the B3 Bomb (sit-out razor’s edge) for two. Asuka eats a Shining Wizard but barely sells it and the fans don’t react, and J intercepts the next one with a spear, and Melissa comes in with a Rock Bottom and everyone slaps hands over Omukai’s body, seemingly in favor of Asuka’s win- she hits the Towerhacker Bomb (inverted fireman’s to spinning ligerbomb)… two! Omukai had to kick out as Fujita was late on the save. Omukai casually rolls out so Fujita can FINALLY enter the match, hitting a high-speed boxing combo to Asuka (ah, right- they’re pretending she can box). Fujita gets kicked in the head, but ranas out of a powerbomb, then gets kicked in the head a bunch, Asuka holding both her arms on the cover for two. GAMI misses a flying stomp but gets a jawjacker, then cleverly pulls down the turnbuckle pad so Fujita’s handsrpring elbow hits the metal bolt. GAMI works the injured (surgically-repaired!) arm and smashes it into the post on the floor, then does a Conchairto on it! Man if Fujita was over, this would be doing REALLY well with the fans! Omukai gets beat up by Asuka & Melissa in the stands while this is going on, then Asuka chairshots Fujita’s arm and puts the table on it and stomps THAT, then everyone armsnaps Fujita and Melissa hits a Bubba Bomb and uses her legs to pull back Fujita’s arms- Omukai saves but gets her ass kicked by J, enabling Asuka to hit a jujigatame for a nearfall. The US team is now openly helping Asuka’s team win. Fujita scores a last-ditch Bridging German, but GAMI turns the kickout into a kimura lock, Fujita struggling at first but kinda running out of gas on the selling until she finally makes the ropes. She fires off punches and manages a Straightjacket German/Ax Kick combo with Omukai for two, then Omukai adds a flying knee to set up La Majistral- Asuka saves. Fisherman’s Buster from GAMI, but Omukai fights all three others to break it up. Fujita still kicks out after a lariat, but GAMI immediately ties up her arm and just yanks on it and Fujita immediately taps out at (19:22)- Asuka & GAMI win the Twin Star Belts back!

What a weird match, lol. SIX WRESTLERS and it ends up being ten straight minutes of work against GAMI, who isn’t a great seller and is just kinda bland. Melissa worked like she barely knew what she was doing, having all the markings of a rookie in over their head- a newbie in a foreign country doing things like “hit a move, then spin around for no reason” or “do a move, then tap the top of her head because she feels the need to be doing SOMETHING but doesn’t know quite what just yet”. When J has to control much of the match, you know it’s bad- her stuff is vaguely cromulent yet uninteresting because she’s not a compelling character nor does she have any credibility. Also Fujita not being in any of the match is weird… until she gets tagged in and is in the entire last 5 minutes, doing her best to sell. She actually doesn’t do a bad job of it, putting a lot of effort into grabbing her arm and crumpling repeatedly- the only issue is she’s not really that over so the fans don’t seem that interested. They manage some more intricate spots and double-teams near the end and Fujita’s nearfalls get a bit more interest from the fans, but they start getting tired of it and then it’s a pretty sudden victory after it turns into a 4-on-2.

Rating: **3/4 (mostly okay, but not that good)

Post-match, Omukai gets on the mic to talk shit, and out comes… two rand-os! Oh wait, thank god I looked ahead at future cards- this is Emi Tojo from before, plus Mizuho Ishikawa. uhhhhhh another JD’ wrestler who goes nowhere. Looks like she spends 2004-07 doing a few matches a year and then retires. In any case, these two will ally with Omukai against Asuka, GAMI & J on a future show, then do a couple more matches and return to JD’. Some dream match, lol.

Omukai with her partners- two total rookies from JD’! Times are tough.

So overall, the “US Invasion” (they say that verbatim a few times on commentary) is short-lived- both Taylor & Melissa return to the US for good in September. Bionic J remains with ARSION, then into mid-2003, where she will retire from wrestling permanently, a strange eyeblink to history. ALSO, and I know you were all chomping at the bit to find out what happened there, POKO (Alda Moreno) quits wrestling in late 2001, leaving the 3 clowns down to 2. PIKA (Linda Star) returns to Mexico in February 2002 and never returns, disappearing into the “little-recorded on Cagematch” promotions. Command Bolshoi actually goes back to PIKO periodically, swapping in once in a while as a jokier wrestler. Seriously there’s a PIKO match from 2004!

um, and that’s one of only two full ARSION shows from 2002 I can find! The ZION Tournament from October seems mostly intact on YouTube. It looks like this show was more well-attended than many ARSION had, with slightly noisier fans. Though nobody really came off like they were over or drawing good reactions.