Joshi Spotlight — page 12

JWP 5TH ANNIVERSARY THE RYOGOKU BIG PROJECT:
(Oct. 13th 1996, Sumo Hall)
* And now we’re back to more JWP! They’re fairly absent on YouTube for 1996 for some reason, but the promotion has some very strong rookies now, so can hopefully provide a bit more than the usual “12 minute match drawn out to 22”. And this is the 5th anniversary show, so it’s a big one with a huge JWP/AJW Interpromotional Dream Match in the main- Aja Kong & Dynamite Kansai vs. Kyoko Inoue & Devil Masami! And Aja/Devil NEVER happened during the initial Interpromotional Era so this is a real rarity!

This one features a pretty solid stretch of matches- Mayumi Ozaki’s OZ Academy vs. a trio of babyface JWP wrestlers, a wild 8-Person Tag between JWP wrestlers and Michinoko-Pro guys, a rookie match, and Manami Toyota of all people as a bullying elite heel crushing a rookie with no chance- future superstar Azumi Hyuga! This is the first of her “LOL nope- you suck, rookie!” bullying style, apparently, and against Tomoko Kuzumi, JWP’s hottest rookie, and an incredibly bizarre Mixed Tag Match as Michinoku Pro gets involved- Great Sasuke, Tiger Mask IV, Hikari Fukuoka & Hiromi Yagi vs. Super Delfin, Gran Naniwa, Candy Okutsu & The Bolshoi Kid!

Though really, you’re not gonna top Great Sasuke & Tiger Mask trading moves with Hikari Fukuoka and other joshi.

KANAKO MOTOYA (JWP) vs. YUMI FUKAWA (AJW):
* AJW’s newly pushed Fukawa takes on Motoya, who… I forget how hard she’s being pushed. Like I feel Yumi will win, but I haven’t seen JWP in a while. Motoya’s in a black & orange get-up, while Fukawa’s in a goofy white one with poofy green frill and is half a foot shorter.

GAEA JAPAN- BREAK OUT!:
* It’s time for more GAEA Japan, with a combination of tag matches as the Chigusa Nagayo vs. Toshiyo Yamada mini-feud continues! Yamada of course was an early “Chigusa Clone”, always giving these bouts intrigue, though the boss of GAEA seems to be way above her in the pecking order at this point. This also features a GAEA vs. OZ Academy match that’s one of the first big chances the rookies have had to prove themselves, and has been considered the first truly great all-rookie match for the company!

You gotta love it that they’re advertising clips with the “Angry Baby Meiko Satomura Face” image.

CHIGUSA NAGAYO & MEIKO SATOMURA vs. TOSHIYO YAMADA & SONOKO KATO:
* More of the Chigusa/Yamada series, as they take each other on in a tag bout with their color-coded rookie tag team partners.

It’s a two-match Joshi Spotlight for you today, as there’s a 3WA Tag Title defense between Manami Toyota & Mima Shimoda and upstart midcard team Kaoru Ito & Mariko Yoshida! Come see how AJW tries to fill out shows with their greatly diminished roster as 1996 rolls on! This match is mostly notable for being the first instance I can find of one of the late 1990s’ most spectacular moves- the Air Raid Crash!

Also, I found a random squash from February so this isn’t just a one-match review. I forgot we only saw Sakie Hasegawa retire earlier in 1996.

PS I finally made a “Master List” of all my Joshi Spotlights in order of when the shows happened: https://www.echoesofthemultiverse.com/viewtopic.php?t=2086

WWWA TAG TEAM TITLES:
BEST TWO OF THREE FALLS:
MANAMI TOYOTA & MIMA SHIMODA vs. KAORU ITO & MARIKO YOSHIDA:
(Sept. 28th 1996)
* So it’s come to this- the 3WA Tag Team Champions facing down a pair of midcarders who have no chance in the world. Sometimes these matches produce some real classics, though (Las Cachorras Orientales had no chance against Toyota & Yamada years ago, and that match was ****1/2 or so). Ito has a slick green & silver bodysuit, having escaped her “worst gear in wrestling” tag years ago, and Yoshida’s in yellow. Manami’s in black & gold and Shimoda’s in red & gold.

JOSHI SPOTLIGHT- MAYUMI OZAKI:
Billed Height & Weight: 5’2″ 125 lbs.
Career Length: 1986-today (still wrestles!)

-One of the great wrestlers I consider JUST outside the “Pillars” of joshi’s all-timers is Mayumi Ozaki- some place her on that tier or near it, while she remains pretty obscure in the West despite STILL being around as an active wrestler (she runs her own micro-promotion, OZ Academy). Truth be told, she was one of the wrestlers who took the longest to really impress me, because she wasn’t as flashy as many of her top-tier contemporaries… but the more I watched, the more I considered her one of the very best, and possibly the most versatile of the elite workers, able to easily do technical, high-spot, and hardcore stuff without missing a beat. Her bloody brawls are spectacular, as unlike most garbage wrestlers, Ozaki was well-trained and had a great, natural sense of timing- the first “Dress Up Wild Fight” against Dynamite Kansai is one of wrestling’s all-time best Hardcore matches. She’s equally gifted at “GO GO GO!” move-fests, hardcore brawls, nasty heel dominance or being a scrappy underdog.

One of the highest compliments I can pay her is that I still enjoy her completely nothing midcard bouts against losers and bad workers- she even did the near-impossible and had a decent 18-minute match… with NUMACCHI! Anyone who’s seen the weak, clumsy offense of that comedy wrestler knows that should be impossible, yet Ozaki made the match work through selling, timing and building everything so that it wasn’t utter garbage. Her snide glee in causing damage was amazing to watch- she was just like Las Cachorras Orientales, but in a more Satanic, “you need to suffer more” kind of way that delighted in people’s pain (whereas LCO seemed more like they were just crazy unhinged lunatics)- she was called “Devilish” for a reason. Like, when people kicked out of Ozaki’s big moves, you actually saw this SMILE come across her face, like “Oh yay- now I get to do more nasty stuff to them”.

Like, some heels in joshi were unpleasant, but Ozaki treated opponents like they didn’t invite her to their child’s christening.

GAEA JAPAN- ENDLESS SUMMER!:
(July-August 1996)
* It’s time for more GAEA Japan! This week we have a variety of stuff from the summer! I guess I should have posted this before the Discover New Heroine show but it was released on a tape after the summer so I didn’t find it in my “Master List” until now. This one features a really fantastic GAEA Japan vs. OZ Academy bout, as JWP’s Mayumi Ozaki brings Reiko Amano and two GAEA traitors into an 8-Woman Tag against Chigusa Nagayo and her GAEA loyalists Kato, Uematsu & Hirota!

Also, we get Toshiyo Yamada show up in GAEA again as she & KAORU work a good match against each other, plus another GAEA/OZ match to start us off.

KAORU, CHIKAYO NAGASHIMA & TOSHIE UEMATSU vs. OZ ACADEMY (Mayumi Ozaki, Reiko Amano & Sugar Sato):
(July 17th 1996)
* It’s Ozaki’s OZ Academy vs. some of GAEA’s loyalists! Except OZ’s Chikayo is on the GAEA side, too. KAORU’s in white, Chikayo yellow, Toshie green, Ozaki red/black, Reiko blue/white & Sato white. The GAEA girls have now all “upgraded” their gear to be still monochromatic, but slightly more “advanced” to show they’re no longer jobbers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcON99jWM30&t=2s

JD’ BEAUTY ATHLETE (August 6th, 1996):
* It’s the fourth of the JD’ Beauty Athlete shows I can find in YouTube! This one features AJW’s Chaparrita ASARI & Yumi Fukawa in a rookies match against Chikako Shiratori & Aya Koyama, then a Veteran/Rookie match between Jaguar & Yuki Lee and Cooga & The Bloody! Finally, our main event is the big star showdown of Bison Kimura (JD’s top star) vs. Lioness Asuka!

This is all shot from a single-camera point of view, similar to the wrestling of the 1950s. It’s odd how static it is, but gives the show a unique look and feel, and probably changes how the matches are wrestled, as people can’t run all over the place this way.

CHAPARRITA ASARI & YUMI FUKAWA (AJW) vs. CHIKAKO SHIRATORI & AYA KOYAMA (JD’):
* An interpromotional tag bout with two of AJW’s hottest rookie stars- the high-flying stunt worker ASARI and the more glamorous Fukawa, who keeps getting focused on around this time as an up & comer. Naturally, Chikako is a good opponent, being her JD’ counterpart. Koyama’s green as grass, though. ASARI’s in good red & white gear, Fukawa’s in a ridiculous black leotard with a pink frill going all around it, Chikako’s in black & blue, and Aya’s in a black jobber swimsuit with red & yellow stripes.

Oh yeah, finally getting to it- a very famous joshi match and one of those magical moments in joshi history.

The story here is that Aja & Bull were in the same stable (made from the aftermath of Dump Matsumoto retiring and Bull taking over the Atrocious Alliance), but Aja wanted to move ahead, and so turned on Bull and wanted her spot. So she splits off from Bull’s Gokumon-To stable to form Jungle Jack with Bison Kimura. “Good for her”, Bull said in a French documentary’s interview, “I would have done the same thing in her place”. But now that’s turned into a full-on BLOOD FEUD, and we get the ultimate stipulation in joshi: Hair vs. Hair. And given how 3/4 of the people in this match have awesome hair (poor Kyoko’s dumb ’90s middle-part just isn’t cutting it), this is a major, major stipulation. Bison’s got a fantastic mane, Aja a wicked dyed mohawk, and Bull of course has the greatest hair in the history of the business, so these are REALLY big stakes. Bull is the Ace of the promotion, but Kyoko’s only in her 4th year and is well below even Bison, so the odds are even and Kyoko’s a weak link.

HAIR vs. HAIR TAG TEAM DEATH MATCH:
BULL NAKANO & KYOKO INOUE vs. AJA KONG & BISON KIMURA:
(Jan. 11th 1991)
* They build this up showing clips of prior matches- Jungle Jack beating Bull’s team with Grizzy Iwamoto (I think), leading to Bull & Aja just SCREAMING in each other’s faces in a dramatic showdown. Aja later escapes Bull in a Cage Match, then Bull gets involved when Jungle Jack beat up the Marine Wolves in a tag match using chairs. Bull later slays Aja in another Cage Match, hitting her legendary Guillotine Legdrop off the top. Aja, on all fours, talks smack from the mat, and we set up THIS match- Bison shouts at Bull, Kyoko assures her senpai that she’s good to go, and we have a Tag Team Hair vs. Hair Match.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUsnbxRTksI

A two-match column today, as this is the only Aug. 1996 JWP match I could find- the culmination of the long Mayumi Ozaki/Dynamite Kansai rivalry! But I did find a REALLY good Ozaki vs. Super Heel Devil Masami match I think is from this same time period- read on!

JWP OPENWEIGHT TITLE:
DYNAMITE KANSAI vs. MAYUMI OZAKI:
* Yet another Kansai/Ozaki match, this one for all the marbles! Ozaki has scored a handful of wins over the Ace in recent years, but mostly in her “Dress Up Wild Fight” specialty, not a 1-on-1 like this, and certainly not for the gold. She’s in a more rubbery version of her red & black gear, while Kansai’s in lime green & white. Oz looks nervous before the bout, but soon stares daggers into Kansai.

JOSHI SPOTLIGHT- MIKIKO FUTAGAMI:
Other Names: GAMI
Billed Height & Weight: 5’5″ 161 lbs.
Career Length: 1990-2013

-One of the more long-running minor stars in the 1990s & 2000s joshi scene, Mikiko “GAMI” Futagami actually made the Dream Slam card, but is such a minor star throughout the Golden Age that I’ve barely seen any of her stuff! She mostly did stuff in LLPW as a minor-league wrestler for the first couple years of her career, then moved on to ARSION, becoming a regular star there. The vast majority of her career is made up of tag team matches, where she acts as a comedy wrestler- she’s never won a single solo title in 23 years as a pro! Her push is solidly in the midcard, then- scores of Tag Title reigns in every promotion but AJW, but never becoming a giant star on her own. Asking joshi-learned BOD poster MoskowDiskow, he said “she was a decent junior/midcarder for years, then went to ARSION and was amazing for like 1 year, then became a comedy reject for the rest of eternity”, something more or less admitted by others I asked- like she found a niche in comedy wrestling and stuck with it.

So this is a bio I was almost gonna hold off on, as while she was a minor LLPW star like others I’d done, I learned she had a MUCH longer career than the others, and changed as a worker considerably, all in stuff I haven’t seen. But the hell with it, haha- I got a solid playlist! Her 1998 ARSION stuff reveals a very “complete” worker- not a standout megastar but someone with solid kicks and good suplexes- a 6-7/10 worker, maybe? A bit of a “Generic Puro Worker Moveset”, if anything- where everything looks nice even if the ****+ matches aren’t flying. Nothing looks outstanding but nothing looks BAD, either- it’s just the basic “Communal Joshi Offense”, complete with a fancy powerbomb (a sit-out pumphandle version). She’s fine, but if that was her peak they I can see why she “Bushwhackered” the rest of her career- probably got a lot more longevity out of goofy stuff than being “pretty good”.

BUDOKAN MIDSUMMER NIGHT- DISCOVER NEW HEROINE (Day Two):
(Aug. 13th 1996):
* It’s the next day of the “Discover New Heroine” show! This time we get three straight rounds of the tournament, ending with a final match in this Rookie/Veteran Team tournament concept!

Tonight’s show is INFAMOUS for injuries, with two particularly brutal, violent-looking ones absolutely flattening some of the “New Heroines”. And, of course, those are the VERY TWO women going all the way to the final match!

In addition, we get the worked-shoot U*Top Tournament, where 3/4 of the fighters in it are of course big joshi stars who beat no-name European girls to move on. So come see rookies with potential teaming up with veterans giving mostly half-hearted efforts in matches half as long as the usual joshi contests… which actually kinda suits the style a bit more as the bouts have less padding than joshi typically does.

DISCOVER NEW HEROINE TAG TOURNAMENT ROUND TWO:

MEGUMI KUDO & KAORI NAKAYAMA (FMW) vs. BISON KIMURA & YUKI LEE (JD’):
* Most interpromotional stuff typically involves “Someone vs. GAEA” or “Someone vs. AJW”, so FMW & JD’ mixing it up is interesting for the time period. Both teams are the only representative of their company left, so it’s kinda anyone’s ballgame. Bison & Kudo notably were part of the same AJW training class in 1986. Bison & Yuki are in blue & white again, Kudo’s in black and Kaori’s in red & white.

BUDOKAN MIDSUMMER NIGHT- DISCOVER NEW HEROINE (Day One):
(Aug. 12th 1996):
* Welcome back to AJW, as they release this MONSTER interpromotional show in mid-1996, at the Budokan Hall! It’s just like the old days- AJW! FMW! JWP! JD’! GAEA Japan! Holy crap! It sounds like the biggest show in Joshi history… except it’s this weirdo “Veteran + Rookie” Tag Team Tournament so every match has amateurs in it, AND there’s also the U*Top Shoot Fight tournament on the same show, lol. MoskowDiskow, who regularly posts here, says this is one of those “the Matsunagas were losing their shirts so they let Rossy Ogawa book a show, and he did some weird Gimmick Show” situations.

Cagematch says this drew 4,500 to the Budokan, which is pretty crazy, but might be a lie… and also 4,500 is like 1/3 full, so if that’s papered/lying then HOLY CRAP. So this show is largely seen as a disaster. This show is also apparently quite infamous for injuries, but only on Day Two. So come see future stars and washouts give some decidedly iffy performances and take easy falls to veterans! And the “Joshi Style” wrestled in 5-8 minute matches instead of 16-minute wars!

DISCOVER NEW HEROINE TAG TOURNAMENT ROUND ONE:

AJA KONG & YOSHIKO TAMURA (AJW) vs. CHIGUSA NAGAYO & SAKURA HIROTA (GAEA Japan):
* Okay, so Aja/Chigusa is a huge “get” for a match, as their eras only barely overlap, and Aja was very young when Chigusa retired. I’m like “who the frig is Sakura Hirota?” but it turns out she’s making her DEBUT here, and is a new GAEA trainee to join the other recent ones this year. She’s actually still wrestling, making this a NON-washout GAEA hire! She’s a long-haired rookie in a pink Arena swimsuit (which was worn by Mariko Narita before her, but Narita vanished from the biz). Aja’s still a big, pushed star, and Yoshiko is a rookie getting a very sudden lot of emphasis. Aja is giving Chigusa the death glare to end all death glares, here- like I’m watching this on YouTube and even I’m kinda scared.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfIkfOkmPrI

JD’ BEAUTY ATHLETE:
(July 1996)
* Hooray! More JD’ stuff! This one features AJW’s Mima Shimoda popping in to make a team with Chikako Shiratori (her partner in the upcoming Discover New Heroine veteran/rookie tournament), some focus on “the rookie we want to push” Yuki Lee, and a bunch of JD’s rookies making their debuts. And finally a “REAL DOG FIGHT” between Bison Kimura and Jaguar Yokota (under a mask).

MIMA SHIMODA (AJW) & CHIKAKO SHIRATORI (JD’) vs. JAGUAR YOKOTA & YUKO KOSUGI (JD’):
* An interpromotional match of sorts, as AJW’s Shimoda arrives to team with Chikako in a prelude to their team in the tournament coming up in a month at the Budokan show. Their opponents are JD’s most credible star (Jaguar) and brand-new rookie Yuko Kosugi. Shimoda’s in black & yellow, Chikako’s in pink & white, Jaguar’s in purple & Kosugi’s in a white jobber two-piece.

GAEA JAPAN- RING ON THE BEAT:
(July 20th, 1996)
* Back to Korakuen Hall for more GAEA! More mix & match stuff as we get a GAEA trios match, featuring the first actual heel turn of the promotion, as Mayumi Ozaki of JWP comes recruiting for her heel stable! And holy crap would THAT group stick around- Manjiimortal notes that this may be the most influential/important show in GAEA history, just for that! Then it’s a very interesting solo match, as AJW’s Toshiyo Yamada takes on the #2-3 rookie in GAEA, Sonoko Kato, in a long singles match!

CHIGUSA NAGAYO, KAORU & TOSHIE UEMATSU vs. BOMBER HIKARU, CHIKAYO NAGASHIMA & SUGAR SATO:
* A basic GAEA trios match, albeit with the two leaders of the promotion on one side, making this a total uneven contest. Chigusa’s in red/yellow/black, KAORU’s in silver, Toshie’s in green, Bomber’s in blue, Chikayo’s in yellow & Sato’s in white.

GAEA JAPAN- GOLD RUSH:
(July 16th 1996)
* Hey, it’s more GAEA! Since I wanted to do all the AJW Grand Prix stuff in a row, there’s some stuff to run back to. Some summer shows are showcased here. This show features a Battle of the Chigusa Clones, as Chigusa Nagayo teams up with newbie Makei Numao against the ’80s Chigusa Clone, Toshiyo Yamada, and the modern Chigusa Clone, Meiko Satomura! This pays off a prior match where Yamada beat Meiko after giving her a 15-minute match!

We also get AJW’s Mima Shimoda invading for a tag match, then a trios match featuring an invading Ladies Legend Pro Wrestling midcard squad! GAEA’s run of interesting “new Dream Matches” continues! A three-match review today, as I hit another short show later in the week.

WONDER FORTH:
MIMA SHIMODA (AJW) & TOSHIE UEMATSU (GAEA) vs. KAORU & SUGAR SATO (GAEA):
* An interesting mix-up, as AJW’s Mima Shimoda comes in to team with Uematsu against two other GAEA wrestlers. Shimoda’s in red & gold, Toshie’s in green, and the other two are in their usual white gear.

AJW JAPAN GRAND PRIX 1996 (Part Three):
(Aug. 16th & 23rd, 1996)
* And we finally finish the Japan Grand Prix 1996! This one has a handful more clipped matches, but this time we get full clips of the Semi-Finals and Finals, plus a bunch of other bouts! Reggie Bennett vs. Yumiko Hotta and Aja Kong vs. Kyoko Inoue! Also, Etsuko Mita vs. Mima Shimoda in the battle of Las Cachorras Orientales! Plus the legendary rivalry of Manami Toyota vs. Toshiyo Yamada in a tag match, with each paired up with a rookie the company is desperate to focus on. We get the token “flukes can totally happen in round robins” stuff and end with a truly great match- sadly the only one in the tournament.

THE FINAL JGP RESULTS:
Aja Kong—————16
Reggie Bennett——–14
Yumiko Hotta———14
Kyoko Inoue———-14
Mima Shimoda——-12
Toshiyo Yamada——12
Takako Inoue———10
Kaoru Ito————–10
Etsuko Mita———–8
Tomoko Watanabe—8
Mariko Yoshida——-8
Chaparita Asari——-4

-So… more or less what I expected, especially the top four. The big surprises to me are Yamada being above Takako (even by 2 points), and Shimoda rising up that high (even though I figured she SHOULD be, AJW has been half-assed about her singles stuff). Tomoko & Yoshida also did quite poorly… but looking at the tournament, they’re both way lower in the pecking order than almost everyone else, so it’s probably inevitable. But just kind of a shame, and shows a lack of foresight, especially with Yoshida. Poor Mita being in the BOTTOM FOUR seems to sign her death knell as a performer (she even JOBS TO ASARI, looking at the tournament record), so it’s a wonder she’s a main event tag wrestler by 1997- the return of LCO seems to save her career. ASARI’s two wins are over Mita & Yoshida, actually.