Joshi Spotlight: AJW in Fall 2002 (The Debut of Amazing Kong!)

AJW IN SEPTEMBER & OCTOBER:
* Hey look! It’s finally back to Zenjo! So after they lost TV, they were immediately SCREWED and lost a ton of fans. And a lot of their stuff wasn’t taped or televised compared to the old times, so we only get scattered stuff. BUT I did get much of the Japan Grand Prix from the summer- it’s just been GAEA-heavy since then because I wanted to do the whole tournament in one go before switching back. This features two matches from September and four from October 15th- the next thing is a tournament. So I can alternate GAEA & AJW until year’s end for 2002, with one ARSION show in the meantime as well.

When last we left off, Nanae Takahashi won the Japan Grand Prix, marking her as “the next one being elevated”, even as Momoe Nakanishi had beaten Kaoru Ito, the new Champion, clean in the same tournament. And now it’s time to start Tag League THE BEST, splitting up most of the wrestlers in the promotion and bringing in a ton of outsiders to the beleaguered, gutted Zenjo. But wait! They found a giant rookie from America to come in- can this green kid move the needle?

AUG. 27th: 
* Hey, we’re back on Odaiba Island at the Fuji TV building for this one! I thought they’d done their last rooftop show! This is apparently the ACTUAL last one, and did worse than all preceding shows. Ito’s 3WA Title Defense against Nanae headlined the show and was an obvious win for Ito, but was probably intended to show the new JGP champ’s progress, similar to how Momoe lost to Ito last year on her quest to this point.

ALL PACIFIC TITLE:
MOMOE NAKANISHI vs. KAYO NOUMI:
* Noumi’s been getting the “next one to get elevated to the midcard” thing lately, so Momoe the incoming Ace is a good match to see her level. Momoe’s also the person in the promotion having the best matches.

Momoe wins a dropkick war to start, but back away from Kayo’s corner counter but gets sunset flipped and stood on, but quickly overpowers her and starts headbutting her and whipping her around. Kayo escapes a bodyscissors and transfers to a sorta-Liontamer. Momoe fires back, but Kayo dumps her and dropkicks her off the apron and they fight in the stands. Kayo hits the double-wrist armsault out there and waits Momoe out, but Momoe moonsaults past her and knocks her over. Kayo does the slowest run to the corner I’ve ever seen, lol. Good sell, though. Just flops over, limbs all aflutter, then collapses to her knees with her chin hanging over the bottom rope. Momoe with the crab and bow & arrow, then dropkicks her on the top rope (Kayo just flumps over and babies the sell so Momoe just hucks her to the floor) and hits the Orihara moonsault. A splash flies 3/4 across the ring for two and a frog splash from the other corner gets the same. Momoe with the run-up crossbody, but Kayo rolls through to tease a good near-fall, then counters a whip and hits a crucifix bomb for another close one and the fans are biting- Rolling Double-Wrist Armsaults get a struggling two count. Momoe trips her up trying to end that, but goes up and Kayo brings her down after a fight with the Super Double-Wrist Armsault- two! But Momoe won’t go up for her Fisherman’s Buster finisher, then dramatically fights until Kayo’s able to segue to a Bridging German for two. Flying plancha to the floor! Double-wrist armsault- two. Kayo fires off a missile kick but Momoe uses the momentum to roll to her feet and they end up exchanging dropkicks, then elbows, both won by Momoe’s persistence, but an awkward exchange sees Kayo get two. Fisherman’s Buster to a pin transition! Only two! Super Frankensteiner gets two and Momoe can barely be hauled up, but she suddenly pounces and hits a run-up superplex for two. Kayo counters the Dragon Suplex but gets sat on in a sunset flip for two, and Momoe gets a German for two, but they slug it out and Momoe hits a running elbow for two. Kayo’s finally dazed enough for Momoe to charge in and the Momo Latch gets the Struggling Pin at (17:59)- Momoe retains.

Well that was a nice little bit of trickery. Obviously Momoe is going to win and Kayo will lose, but they have to trick the fans into buying a fluke and they successfully did that with the old “three dramatic nearfalls in a row” thing. Countering moves and Irish whips with dramatic flash-pins is a good way to do it, and then Kayo starts escalating to her finishers and suddenly the fans are buying that she’s leading the match. Momoe’s “fuckfuckfuckfuck NO!” kickouts were a great way to pull that off- the art of the kickout is an important one, as the fans have to be the “that coulda been it”. That’s after a pretty lazy, slack start that had the fans pretty bored, meaning the match overall worked. Kayo is good at selling and expressions (she’s a big fan of the “stretch her mouth out in a grimace”, with the edges of her mouth extending to the sides of her face), but still lacks convincing impact manuevers (a struggle sorta shared by Momoe, whose finisher is a flash-pin). This shows her “not quite” level, while also showing her “nearly beat” the All Pacific Champion.

Rating: **3/4 (kinda dull then proceeds to get exciting and turn into a good exchange of flash-pins)

SEPT. 8th:
* From Korakuen Hall.

NANAMOMO (Momoe Nakanishi & Nanae Takahashi) vs. KAORU ITO & YUMIKO HOTTA:
* It’s the top team in the promotion against the two elders- champion Ito and former ace Hotta. But hoo boy the fans are QUIET for the intros.

NanaMomo attack before the bell and haul down Ito for a double-team and Nanae’s X-Factor, then Momoe’s machine-gun dropkicks, but Momoe tries a standing backdrop of all things and gets crushed in the corner. Hotta adds a beating & piledriver as even here commentary is obsessed with “Zenjoism” and what it means (ie. going all-out no matter what, strength, toughness, etc.). Judging by Hotta’s offense it means restholds. Ito adds more stretching until Momoe finally escapes, and Nanae loses a slugfest but wins a mutual charge, a sign of how much stronger she’s become. Momoe vaults off Nanae’s knee for a dropkick as we add the “double-team shining move” stuff to Zenjo along with GAEA, then flips over Ito and reverses a powerbomb counter with a Manami Roll for two. Run-Up Moonsault gets two, but Hotta stops another run and holds NanaMomo for Ito’s dive. Nanae manages a superplex but Ito gets her feet up on Momoe’s flying splash, then a rolling kick/lariat combo sets up a Ligerbomb- Nanae saves.

Nanae pushes over another, but Momoe just rushes right into another one for two. But Nanae catches Ito up top, hangs her in sidewalk-slam position, and turns THAT into a Ligerbomb, then hits a NanaRakka (michinoku driver) to set up a Momo Latch (twisting rana)- Hotta saves. Ito tries to fight back, but the German/Jackknife Pin combo gets two. Another Momo Latch gets two, then Hotta accidentally shotei palms Ito, who nonetheless manages to sit out on another Latch for two. Best reaction so far. Then the fans pop bigger as a Shotei/Ligerbomb hits and Nanae supermans in to save. But Ito just does a cut-throat gesture and hits a monster Flying Stomp to pin Momoe dead at (10:24 of 21:34 shown). Post match, EVERYONE gets in their challenges- Momoe demands a shot against Ito’s 3WA World Title! Hotta & Nanae are gonna fight! Kumiko Maekawa comes out of the back to lay out challenges for all belts, too!

A surprisingly hard one to get into, but the fans felt the same way- a general slack pace (why did a match cut in HALF include all the half-crabs and camel clutch weardown stuff?), the fact that these people have been fighting FOREVER, etc., might just create a general malaise around the product. They started getting louder in the end, though, as they were trading legitimately interesting falls, and it’s good that Ito gets a pin back on Momoe after doing a clean job in the JGP tournament.

Rating: **1/4 (fine but uninteresting until the very end)

Zenjo: THE MALAISE ERA begins!

OCT. 15th:
* This is at Korakuen Hall again and SWEET FUCK THERE ARE SO MANY EMPTY SEATS. Like holy shit. You can see a space between nearly every customer there. This is sheer hell for the promotion.

KAORU ITO (AJW) vs. KAORI YONEYAMA (JWP):
* JOBBER DESTRUCTION TIME! But wait! Yoneyama is a JWP wrestler who has looked good and competitive in guest shots, doing a kind of “She’s a JTTS but she’s trying REALLY HARD and is getting in people’s faces and being defiant” kind of an underdog thing. And I dig it- she’s been pretty good in stuff I’ve seen and that’s a good character. She’s in a yellow/black bodysuit up against Ito in black. Ito, the patron saint of Japanese jobberslayers, is still gonna eat her alive and probably stiff her though.

We’re JIP with Yoneyama using getting backdropped over the top to hit a missile kick, then smash Ito in the corner, but she overswings and takes a backdrop driver. Ito lariats the snot out of her for two but gets dropkicked off the top and takes a quebrada- Yoneyama was slow getting in there so Ito had to stand there too long. Missile kick/splash gets two in-ring, but a low-angle moonsault hits Ito’s feet and Ito scores a running elbowdrop & powerbomb for twos. Yoneyama stuns her with a headbutt but can’t get a backdrop, but Ito swings into taking two of them, not really leaping into much of a bump on ’em- Yoneyama lands that Moonsault for two. Yoneyama is still too jobbery to have a plan beyond “try that again”, missing and landing on her knees, scoring a clunky schoolboy for two. She goes off the ropes but Ito chases her down and snaps off a bit lariat, then immediately hauls her up for the Spiral Ligerbomb (4:33 of 13:02 shown). Ito does the “hey, good job, kid!” handshake of respect to the dead body of Yoneyama afterwards- the hallmark of Interpromotional squashes. Ito looked solid, but Yoneyama looked pretty unathletic here- her stuff never got elevation AT ALL- way smaller than Ito, she wrestled like she was 100 lbs. heavier, not getting height on moonsaults, splashes or anything, and Ito didn’t bother to go up for her other moves (which I can’t put on the kid). It mostly came off like Ito was humoring her. Looks like it was maybe ** at best. I won’t spoil it, but Yoneyama’s run in Zenjo is going somewhere- one of their old hand angles- “put over their own wrestler in a feud with another promotion’s”.

Tag League THE BEST 2002:
* oh hey! Tag League THE BEST is back! I keep forgetting this runs for like three friggin’ months, lol. This is the first night of the tournament, so everyone’s got zero points. Notably, NanaMomo, the Tag Champions, have been split up. And since Zenjo is so damaged by people leaving or being out, there are a TON of entrants from elsewhere- a JD’ team, Las Cachorras Orientales coming back, and Zenjo wrestlers teaming up with other promotions’ workers (from JD’, ARSION & NEO).

Tag League THE BEST:
MISAE GENKI & KUMIKO MAEKAWA (NEO/AJW) vs. MEGUMI YABUSHITA & SUMIE SAKAI (JD’):
* Now they got a JD’ team in there! They’re super tiny- Yabushita in black & Sakai in blue. Yabushita is actually a legit judoka- a national champion who’s scored highly internationally as well. Their opponents are kind of a killer Interpromotional squad- Genki is the big bruiser of Kyoko Inoue’s NEO, and Kumiko is a Kick Demon hovering around the upper-midcard of Zenjo. Genki’s in a snazzy red leather longcoat with a black/red/silver bodysuit underneath. She looks absolutely ENORMOUS among 2002 wrestlers.

We’re JIP with Genki preventing Yabushita from completing a katahajime/crossface thing, just dropping knees, then Maekawa scores the Pump Kick. But Yabushita quickly scores some hair slams & tries for submissions, but Kumiko easily counters and they tee off on her until she scores a nice judo flip on Genki and tags out. Clipped to Sakai failing to get anything on Genki- she dodges a bunch of chops but is way too small for a backdrop suplex (commentary points out Genki is 1.5 times her weight), but when Genki shrugs off her missile kick she ducks a strike and uses THAT to let momentum carry Genki into a backdrop! Genki easily catches a rana and powerbombs her, but Yabushita stuns her against the ropes so a rana hits next time for two. Yabushita whirls in with a jujigatame attempt, but Genki deadlifts her up into the F5! Yabushita catches a big boot, but Genki just muscles her down and follows with a Chokesla– no, countered to a wakigatame! Genki sells it enough that the fans get excited (helped by Sakai diving in immediately so Kumiko can’t break it up), and when she makes the ropes, she mistakenly lariats and ends up in it again, Kumiko having to save her.

Genki goes up but gets caught with a karate back throw into a jujigatame attempt, and her counter is turned to ANOTHER wakigatame, Kumiko again saving. Genki takes advantage with a backdrop suplex for 2 and a Sit-Out Spinebuster/Running Kick gets two- Sakai saves! Chokeslam- two! Kumiko runs in like “time to wrap it up, lol!” and of course reaches down and gets hauled into a jujigatame, desperately breaking, then into an upside-down hold in the ropes and Yabushita hits a springboard plancha to both opponents! Sakai adds a plancha, but Kumiko turns a double-whip into a huge Scissor Kick on Yabushita- Sakai has to save. Genki helps and a head kick gets two, Yabushita making the ropes. Yabushita with a double-wrist armsault for two, but she overswings and Kumiko plasters her with a thrust kick- kickout! Team JD’ does a double-double-wrist armsault and twin jujigatames, Genki stomping on them to knock that off, but Yabushita hits a backdrop suplex and holds the arm tight so she can transition to a juji on the kickout, but Kumiko escapes and wipes her out with more kicks so Sakai has to finally escape Genki’s grasp and save. A powerbomb/2nd-rope elbow- again Sakai crawls in. Rolling Kiiiiiiiiiiii- Yabushita grabs the bottom rope, haha. Sakai desperately struggles in Genki’s monster arms and Kumiko happily hits an Ax Kick to pin her WHILE SMILING AT SAKAI AND COUNTING ALONG FOR THE PIN at (12:21 of 20:44 shown). Ohhhhhhhhhhhh BITCH, haha. That fucking smirk while Sakai can’t do anything.

Well this was quite the little showcase for Yabushita! They had a fun little mini-match with her & Genki, the powerhouse easily overpowering her but being caught in counter after counter, the reliable wakigatame consistently nabbing her until fans were sorta into it, then Kumiko ends up in the same sort of stuff. It was funny seeing the match be ALL YABUSHITA, though- Sakai was kept on the apron for almost the whole thing. Her soft, weak offense might be why. But the match was successful- the fans were DEAD for the first half of this, and they had to do consistent, strong work until they were finally into the nearfalls and appreciative of Yabushita, who was doing a good job as an underdog who was actually dominating. Naturally the team that ate most of the offense got to win. This is one of those matches where you realize the “Good match but the CROWD SUCKS” yahoos are wrong when they diss quiet crowds- these guys had a totally bored, uninterested crowd and won them over through hard work and good nearfall practices & selling. Quiet crowds are a failure on the wrestlers and booking; not the fans.

Rating: ***1/2 (see I was expecting NOTHING and got a really good TV match- I love that wrestling can still surprise me. And also that I can’t bias myself through disinterest, haha)

Maekawa taunting Sakai on the final pinfall.

HERE COMES A NEW CHALLENGER! Rossy Ogawa of ARSION presents Amazing Kong, who would become TNA’s Awesome Kong years later. But here is a brand-new wrestler with minimal training!

Tag League THE BEST:
BLACK JOKER (Takako Inoue & Tomoko Watanabe) vs. YUMIKO HOTTA & MARIKO YOSHIDA (AJW/ARSION):
* It’s Black Joker, now a random Takako/Tomoko team as cowboys, and an combined AJW/ARSION squad, Yoshida having earned the respect of Hotta & such after the feud of Hotta against ARSION’s people. But wait! Before the match, the commentator announces Hotta’s opponent for the show 5 days from now… the debuting AMAZING KONG! Yes, that giant woman from TNA. Much younger and far lighter than she was in TNA, Kong comes out in street clothes behind Rossy Ogawa, who announces her name and she flexes for the fans, who give some polite clapping. “Wow, she’s big” says commentary. “I’ve heard she’s also called the female Bob Sapp. The brown-skinned Genie Roller” (um what). And she takes down Hotta and throws shitty worked punches and knees! Yoshida just scrunches up like “oh nooooooo what to do?!” as a bunch of men step in but go sailing across the ring. Well that was probably supposed to come off as more manic and incredible- the fans just kinda did the ARSION thing of “what is this?”. Hotta sells dead on the floor, holding her face and then the BELL RINGS!

Black Joker, always eager to cheat, just beat on Hotta while she’s down and throw Yoshida around. Takako wins a punch series with a head-kick, but a right hand drops her. Yoshida can’t keep up against both opponents, and they hit a double-team facecrusher, but she’s able to get a boot & release pedigree on Tomoko. Takako won’t even allow her to START an Air Raid Crash and Tomoko wipes her out with a lariat as commentary discusses Yoshida’s change since her Zenjo days (going from a Mexican-style flier to a submissions wrestler/powerhouse) as Hotta’s still dead, but they finally drag her in for some beats. Takako urakens Yoshida and a double-team gets two on Hotta, and Tomoko’s Screwdriver (backdrop to ligerbomb) gets two. Hotta scores a sudden shotei for two, but Takako zaps both of them with her stun-gun and Tomoko easily pints Hotta with another Screwdriver (5:33). Amazing Kong comes back down to scream at her and has to be dragged away, and we’re off.

Rating: 1/2* (More of an angle than a match, and one that doesn’t seem to be landing much, as they debut a brand-new foreign wrestler randomly before a tag bout and have Hotta sell and sell for her. On paper it’s a semi-strong debut but the fans are more bewildered than anything)

NANAE TAKAHASHI & FANG SUZUKI (AJW/JD’) vs. MOMOKAYO (Momoe Nakanishi & Kayo Noumi):
* NanaMomo has been split up for the tournament, each being paired with a lesser wrestler. Fang is a typically heel wrestler who is now buddy-buddy with Nanae as a cheerful babyface- a bulky brawler-type with facepaint. She’s in black shirt & pants while Nanae’s in a sharp white version of her gear with red tassels.

MomoKayo immediately teams up on poor Fang, beating her up and Kayo throwing her by the ears and standing on her, but Fang boots her down and yanks on her ear for revenge. Nanae hits some X-Factors and a camel clutch and the two pose over Kayo, and Fang sits on her out of a sunset flip but misses a Vader Bomb-style elbow. Kayo hits a falling clothesline but a suplex is reversed- Fang accidentally hits Nanae, but they smash down MomoKayo and hit stereo dives! Momoe finally tags in and spams dropkicks to Fang, then flips over her and takes out her knees, and her team uses stereo Germans- Run-Up Moonsaults gets two on Fang. Momoe tries to win a strikefest but runs into a lariat for two, then a backdrop driver. Kayo stops a double-team and hits a big plancha (nearly ending up vertical on the landing in a dangerous moment) and Momoe adds a run-up plancha. Back in, Nanae takes a double missile dropkick and double flying headbutt for two, but counters a German with a side slam and misses her Vader bomb. Momoe gets a sunset flip powerbomb from the top for two, then a flash-pin & run-up moonsault dodge into her German for two, but Nanae catches Kayo with a Superduperplex for two.

Nanae’s team tries those headbutts two, but Fang’s is stopped and Kayo scores a surprise Super Double-Wrist Armsault into the regular one for two on Nanae- she then splashes onto feet, but catches Nanae with a Super Frankensteiner for two. Fang accidentally hits Nanae and they squabble, letting Kayo hit a sunset flip for two, but Nanae gets her with a backdrop driver, and they take stereo drivers when Momoe comes in! Powerbomb/Vader Bomb combo- Momoe saves! NanaRaka- same thing! Momoe then flings off Fang and missile kicks Nanae in the back for a Kayo inside cradle that gets 2.9 in an insanely close count- Fisherman’s Buster for nearly the same! Momoe accidentally missiles Kayo, but she turns a backdrop over and nearly pins Nanae again, and they exchange flash-pins until Nanae finally catches her by countering a Fisherman’s Buster- Fang comes in and it turns into a Chokeslam/Backdrop combo which finally pins Kayo at (13:47 of 21:01 shown).

This was fairly predictable given how many times the three AJW wrestlers have fought over the years, but kept solid thanks to another “dramatic series of nearfalls”, which is increasingly becoming Zenjo’s fallback plan to empty auditoriums, I think. Kayo had some iffy execution but her facial expressions tend towards good storytelling and they make you buy some of those rollups as they go through her entire moveset in every match. Momoe was less-used, probably since she’s challenging for the belt in less than a week, and Fang was also kept out of it since she’s the outsider and isn’t simpatico with their routine spots.

Rating: **3/4 (not the most exciting match possible but solid)

And that’s it for another Zenjo set! Some high-effort matches, but the death of their TV timeslot has completely ANNIHILATED the promotion- Manami Toyota leaving probably didn’t help, as her departure seems to have sent the promotion off the cliff that losing TV set it on. More than anything, it could have marked the promotion as a “fading company” to the fans. Next up will be GAEA Japan in September and then I’ll review that Oct. 20th show with Momoe/Ito for the belt!