Joshi Spotlight — page 14

Here’s a tweet of Grizzly hitting people with kendo sticks for 50 seconds: https://mobile.twitter.com/cultofbull/status/1473830077834084362

JOSHI SPOTLIGHT- GRIZZLY IWAMOTO:
Real Name: Kumiko Iwamoto (aka Dynamite Bear)
Billed Height & Weight: 5’5″ 147 lbs.
Career: 1985-1990

-One of the more-ignored wrestlers of the Atrocious Alliance/Gokumon-To stables of heels, Grizzly Iwamoto stands out a little bit because of two reasons: 1) Despite being too small to have the “Monster Aura” of Dump Matsumoto or Bull Nakano, she looks the most to me like the stereotype of a scary, vicious young hooligan; and 2) she is, quite possibly, the LEAST likely person you’d ever have expected to be named “Grizzly” (ally Bison Kimura shares a similar trait).

Grizzly Iwamoto only had a five year career, but it was part of the nutso “Crush Gals Era” in which she was a member of various heel stables, primarily Dump Matsumoto’s Atrocious Alliance. Sporting leather outfits and with wild, curly hair, she actually had the “Juvenile Delinquent” look that you often seen in anime & manga from the time period. So while she didn’t have the mass of Dump, Bull, Condor or Aja, she still came off like she was more dangerous than the honorable, upstanding Chigusa Nagayo & Lioness Asuka.

There’s not a great deal of stuff featuring her online (even matches on YouTube are scarce), but what’s there indicates she’s a perfectly-acceptable brawler with decent moves. In what’s probably her best match (the tag match I’ll review below), she is an excellent seller, doing great “falls straight back looking agonized” stuff, plays up being defiant against dangerous opponents, and gives good spirited comebacks. She fires off kneedrops with great intensity and precision, and can even hit a powerslam on AJA KONG, putting over both the difficulty of it and making the move look like it hurts. This to me indicates she’s a good “utility” wrestler- while not GREAT, and not likely to have **** solo matches, she can be slotted into any tag match and will go all-out and not negatively affect the match at all. You need those types.

THE JWP OPENWEIGHT TITLE TOURNAMENT:
* A double-whammy tonight, as I review both a fantastic JWP Tag Titles match from December, but the two final matches of the JWP Openweight Title Tournament! My memory’s so bad I was about to review the Ozaki/Cutie match because I just happened to find in on YouTube, but then I looked up the rest of the tournament and realized I’d already reviewed it! Which saves me some time- hooray! So this is half-repost, but I have another review coming this Friday, anyhow.

JWP OPENWEIGHT TITLE TOURNAMENT SEMI-FINAL:
CUTIE SUZUKI vs. MAYUMI OZAKI:
(15.10.1995, Korakuen Hall)
* So JWP’s top title had been vacant for a year, right during the Interpromotional Era for some reason, and here’s the semi-final match in the tournament to decide the winner. Cutie’s hair is now MUCH longer, while Ozaki has her signature red gear, covered in ribbons and cut-out bits. Her curly hair, dyed somewhat red, indicates a hooligan/heel nature if I know my 1990s manga.

The Tournament Finals! Manami Toyota & Kaoru Ito vs. Kyoko Inoue & Tomoko Watanabe!

AJW Tag League THE BEST 1995 (Part Two):
* The second part of this tape (which starts off with an October show) sees the 1995 Tag League THE BEST Tournament end, as AJW tries desperately to put over some new stars. This is a very weird one, as we’re extra-close to the end for Lioness Asuka, Bull Nakano, Akira Hokuto & Sakie Hasegawa, which has severe repercussions for AJW. But hey, another ****+ Main Event! Good ol’ AJW!

The Standings:
Kyoko/Tomoko: 10
Manami/Ito: 10
Reggie/Hotta: 9
Aja/Takako: 9
Hokuto/Shimoda: 8
Dream Orca: 6
Yoshida/Sakie: 4
ASARI/Kumiko: 0

-As expected, ASARI’s team does poorly. But I’m shocked that Kyoko & Manami’s teams did the best, since they’re teamed with midcarders. The teams below them would seem to hold a bigger advantage… and then there’s Akira & Shimoda in the bottom half! Like, what the hell is THAT? They’re the Tag Champs! They manage to beat Dream Orca & Aja/Takako, but all the other top ranked teams wipe them out. Orca seems to start fine, beating Sakie/Yoshida, but loses to Manami/Ito as well. But they do beat Reggie/Hotta, who beat Kyoko/Tomoko for their only loss.

Of course, looking at this list knowing what’s to come… the REAL purpose of this year’s Tag League is to elevate both Ito & Tomoko. Makes sense, as AJW blew 1995 trying to get Sakie over, and she is now hurt and doomed to retirement. The company probably realizes it needs to elevate Ito & Tomoko NOW and this is their way of doing it. It’s kind of transparent, actually- like this palpable sense of “OSHIT we wasted all that time on Sakie and now we have to make do and act like the other two are on her level!”.

Now we hit the portion of the show from December! Two months later, the rankings have sorted out and we get a 3rd Place Match and the Finals.

Can Manami Toyota successfully come out on top of a year of World Title switches? Read on!

AJW MONDAY NIGHT SENSATION:
(Dec. 4th 1995)
* It’s time! JWP’s Dynamite Kansai won AJW’s WWWA World Title in August and has held the rival promotion’s World Title ever since! Takako Inoue took a shot at her, but had no chance and was beaten- but now Manami Toyota’s year-long storyline comes to an head as she takes one more shot at the Gold! So in the year preceding this, Manami Toyota lost a classic match to Aja Kong at Big Egg Wrestling Universe in the Tokyo Dome… but months later, she took another shot and actually won the Title! But then she went to a 60-minute draw against Kyoko Inoue and then failed her very next challenge, as Aja won her Title back. Along the way, Manami took several failed attempts at the WWWA Tag Titles with Sakie Hasegawa as her partner, then had an insane pair of matches against Akira Hokuto (a ***** classic) and Yumiko Hotta (possibly Hotta’s greatest match, nearly getting the same rating) in which Hotta tearfully insisted Manami bring their Gold back home.

The rest of the show is a bit peculiar, as it’s very rookie-focused, with the first three matches featuring them in prominent positions. Then we get a lot of “establishing” matches, as it’s Tomoko/ASARI, Sakie/Ito, Takako/Reggie, Hotta/Yamada & Aja/Kyoko in bouts that seem designed to showcase the bigger stars and where they are in the pecking order. This entire show honestly feels like “So Here’s Where We’re Going”, with a lot of potential up & coming stars. Of course the Ringstarfield account I’m getting these from spoils nearly every single result, making that even more clear, haha.

The other insane thing is the vast majority of matches here are SHORT- kept to about 9-11 minutes apiece, which is just over half the length bouts of great importance would be. Only two matches on the card are left going longer than that and it’s the top two. That’s very unusual for AJW in general and I wonder why that is.

GAEA THE WORLD:
(Dec. 2nd, 1995)

* One more GAEA show- this one has a weird look to it, where the ring is HIGHLY reflective and looks nearly silver on the tape transfer, so there’s these super-prominent dark shadoes of the wrestlers. It’s very odd.

BOMBER HIKARU & CHIKAYO NAGASHIMA (GAEA) vs. BAD NURSE NAKAMURA & MIWA SATO (FMW):
* A weird “Dream Match” of sorts, as FMW’s mid-tier heel team takes on GAEA’s Bomber, plus a rookie. Sato has frizzy, crimped hair (the universal sign of the high school ruffian) and silver facepaint, Bad Nurse has black clothes and ghost-white facepaint, Bomber’s in black/purple/green & Chikayo’s in yellow/black. And the GAEA girls storm the ring during the introductions to go right on the attack!

Bomber stacks the heels up and splashes onto them, then scraps with Sato, who actually does the JB Angels bridge-out before getting caught in a crab. Chikayo takes a beating once she’s in, Sato & Nurse making like LCO and repeatedly double-teaming her and taunting the crowd. This goes on for way too long, with nothing more complicated than a bodyslam, but Chikayo finally hits a Stone Cold Stunner and escapes, only for Bomber to get nailed from the apron and whipped with a flag (?) and struck by multiple soda cans (which a camera close-up reveals are EMPTY). But Nurse eats one by mistake and Bomber steals hers and whales away with it. Chikayo does rookie offense on Nurse but actually nails a rana, then leapfrogs off Bomber’s shoulders with a dropkick for two. But the towel gets involved and they beat on Bomber with some very basic stuff, then Nurse uses a rolling cradle of all things for two. She does an STF so bad even Cena would shame her, but runs into a powerslam for two.

Lioness Asuka giant swings Chaparrita ASARI while Alundra Blayze, Kyoko Inoue & Sakie Hsegawa look on, alongside an old lady who was WAY into the entire show. WWF Survivor Series (1995).

Here’s a unique one, as I now hit the timeline where AJW runs a decently-big show at the same time as it features their wrestlers appearing on both WWF AND WCW programming! On PPV! In the same calendar week! Read on!

AJW WRESTLEMARINEPIAD ’95 & WWF SURVIVOR SERIES 1995:
* Okay, so we’ve reached the weird era where AJW runs a half-assed Wrestlemarinepiad right the day before they send some girls to the WWF, where Aja Kong is set up as the new challenger to WWF Women’s Champion Alundra Blayze!

My full review: https://blogofdoom.com/index.php/2019/09/13/joshi-spotlight-ajw-wrestlemarinepiad-95/

The Results:
MARI MOGAMI d. KAYO NOUMI (6:56) with a goddamn headlock. 1/2*.
YOSHIKO TAMURA d. MISAE WATANABE (8:22) with the Rookie-Slaying Bodyslam. *3/4. What’s funny is this was early in my reviewing run of Joshi so I was at this point unfamiliar with the notion that rookies were so bad that bodyslams could readily destroy them.
MARIKO YOSHIDA & YUMI FUKAWA d. MINA TAMIYAMA & NOBUE ENDO (8:24) with a Flying Splash to Endo. **1/2. Yoshida was the only veteran in this match so that’s not a surprise. It was a fun thing seeing such an elite wrestler playing chess with some checkers-playing rookies.
TAKAKO INOUE & TOMOKO WATANABE d. TOSHIYO YAMADA & CHAPARRITA ASARI (15:03) with Tomoko’s Screwdriver on ASARI. ***. Yamada’s tumble down the card continues as she is teaming with a baby against Takako and rising star Tomoko, whose “She’s getting a big push next” thing is starting with the occasional win on big shows like this.
MIMA SHIMODA d. ETSUKO MITA (18:29) with the Death Lake Driver. ****1/2. A fucking awesome, bloody war as Las Cachorras Orientales EXPLODES and Mima’s push becomes solidified with a dramatic win over her former tag partner. The best part is when Akira Hokuto comes down after disrespecting Shimoda for their entire Tag Title run, carrying both Tag Titles down like she’s been doing lately… and lays one at her subordinate’s feet, as if to say “Senpai Noticed You”.
BULL NAKANO & LIONESS ASUKA d. AJA KONG & REGGIE BENNETT (14:29) after Aja Urakens Reggie by mistake. **3/4. Interesting result that kinda plays up the Aja/Asuka thing that’s been going on, and one more hurrah for Bull on a major stage. Largely a comedy bout for half of it, doing goofy things and egging the crowd on.
KYOKO INOUE d. YUMIKO HOTTA (15:46) with the Niagara Driver. ***1/2. Kyoko sets herself up as the “Next Challenger” through defeating Hotta, gatekeeping as always. Hotta repeatedly ignores lasting damage and pops up to do her own thing, and is rather plodding- this hurts the match.
REINA JUBUKI & BLIZZARD YUKI vs. MANAMI TOYOTA & BLACK BLIZZARD (17:03) with Yuki’s Rana to Black Blizzard. ***1/2. Jubuki is Akira Hokuto’s masked luchadore self, and she’s with Manami’s usual partner, while Kaoru Ito is now “Black Blizzard” and hates Yuki for some reason. A very bizarre match, with some clumsy lucha stuff wrestled at half-effort for a long period before they revved it up.

GAEA JAPAN- NEVER ENDING BUMP:
(Nov. 3rd 1995)
* We arrive at yet another GAEA show with some one-time-only matches, plus the usual rookies doing their thing. This show was based around a Main Event, as the “Chigusa vs. Bad Nurse Nakamura” match of months ago set up today’s Chigusa vs. Shark Tsuchiya main.

G vs. J 3 ON 3 MIX:
KANAKO MOTOYA (JWP), CHIHIRO NAKANO (GAEA) & REIKO AMANO (JWP) vs. TOSHIE SATO (GAEA), MEIKO SATOMURA (GAEA) & YUKI MIYAZAKI (JWP):
* Rookie Mayhem! Again JWP’s & GAEA’s are mixed up against each other. Motoya’s in white,  Chihiro’s in black, Amano’s in black & blue, Sato’s in white, Meiko’s in red and Yuki’s in pink & green.

GAEA MIRACLE NIGHT:
(08.05.1995)
* Whoops- I missed one in the GAEA list somehow! This one is from early August. I can only find a couple of matches on YouTube. We apparently miss Bomber Hikaru beating Toshie Uematsu (3:35).

KAORU (GAEA Japan) vs. CANDY OKUTSU (JWP):
* KAORU takes on another invader in a Dream Match- Candy is well below her on the pecking order, but it seems clear that JWP has high hopes for her. KAORU’s just the worker to reign in Candy’s slippy-sloppy flying, too. Both are in white with black, KAORU in her singlet and Candy in a tasseled thing.

AJW TAG LEAGUE THE BEST 1995 (Part One):
(Oct. 1995-Dec. 1995)
* So the final AJW tape release of 1995 appears to be a compilation of the Oct. 10th show and the Dec. 10th show, where the round-robin of varied teams is played up for Tag League THE BEST. We start off with four tourney matches, two of which are VERY clipped, then a show two months later where they have the Tournament Finals, with complete matches and some undercard stuff. Most of which is also badly clipped. I’ll split this in two, since it’s two different shows entirely and this would be an immense review otherwise. I’ll post this part part when the matches actually fit into the timeline.

The teams this year are actually sort of bizarre, as nobody is with their regular partner except for Akira/Shimoda- everyone else is in these mish-mash teams. The roster this year: Akira Hokuto & Mima Shimoda (the WWWA Tag Team Champions); Manami Toyota & Kaoru Ito (at least they’re stablemates); Aja Kong & Takako Inoue (called “Beauty and the Beast” entertainingly enough- the team of a dethroned Champ and an up & coming upper-carder); Kyoko Inoue & Tomoko Watanabe (a rising star and her style-clone; former stablemates); Reggie Bennett & Yumiko Hotta (the strongest & best fighter in the company, respectively- both upper-level wrestlers who are a threat to anyone); Sakie Hasegawa & Mariko Yoshida (former feuding wrestlers, now stablemates); Toshiyo Yamada & Etsuko Mita (the reunited DREAM ORCA, though both now as midcarders, sorta); and Chaparrita ASARI & Kumiko Maekawa (jobbers, especially here).

Tag League THE BEST ’95:
REGGIE BENNETT & YUMIKO HOTTA vs. CHAPARRITA ASARI & KUMIKO MAEKAWA:
* Ohhhhhhhhhhh my god someone is going to murder these poor girls. Stiff, unprofessional bully Hotta teaming with the powerhouse against poor diminutive ASARI and a rookie. Yikes. ASARI’s in red & gold, Kumiko’s in blue & white, Hotta’s in black (with much longer hair that any time previous) and Reggie’s in black & purple.

JWP TV (Nov. 11th):
* Hey look! Some random JWP show from Nov. 11th! Slotted right after the huge AJW stuff, and including a random 3WA Title Defense by Dynamite Kansai against AJW’s Takako Inoue, and one of those “Okay, let’s go all-out and show off what we can do” amazing Joshi-Pace Trios matches!

KANAKO MOTOYA vs. TOMOKO MIYAGUCHI:
* Rookie Mayhem with AJW-tier Rookie Swimsuits! Motoya’s in black & pink, and Tomoko’s in one of those “Ellesse” suits in black & red. Motoya obviously quit early- she has no Cagematch profile- while Tomoko became supporting player “Ran Yu-Yu”.

Tomoko hits a good back elbow while Motoya does rookie bridge-outs and dropkicks, then adds some relish in various holds. They fight over a wristlock for a while, actually doing a good job of looking like they’re fighting to get their moves in. And then there’s this great bit where they both get hot and just start punching each other in the face, Motoya finally bringing Tomoko down with a 2nd-rope dropkick. But Tomoko tosses her off the top and spams running face kicks- “Fuck YOU!” bridge from Motoya! Tomoko does the “JB Angels” bridge out of a slam pin and backslides her for two, but Motoya spams running kicks of her own and hits a missile dropkick, only to fly off onto Tomoko’s knees, and shoulderblock spam & a flying splash gets a close two. Motoya gets a rollup, but ends up on Tomoko’s shoulders for an airplane spin into a Samoan drop… for the pin (12:22)!

Wow, actually very good for rookies! Neither had any experience yet they showed real emotion (screaming and getting aggressive), knew how to upgrade their spots over time, and even busted out a unique move for the ending. Great work for young kids.

Rating: **1/4 (a miracle for green rookies)

Yeah, this is like the clearest picture I could find. Truly the sign of a big star.

JOSHI SPOTLIGHT- YUKARI OSAWA:
Other Names: Jen, Jen Yukari
Billed Height & Weight: 5’4″ 143 lbs.
Career Length: 1988-1996

-Yes, it’s time for another edition of “Jab tries to figure out stuff about a no-name wrestler because he’s insane”. Yukari Osawa is a low-tier LLPW wrestler who I only know because of the periodic LLPW shows that end up on YouTube that need to use their entire 12-person roster, and so here’s this random backgrounder, who kind of has that “Bison Kimura” athletic-asskicker look with the strong makeup and mid-length hair… except she’s a jobber.

It’s kind of weird that a company with so few wrestlers would have people who almost never win, but there you go having Osawa beating only green rookies and then jobbing in solo bouts against even the midcard, and never developing to the point where she threatened the LLPW Pillars (Kandori, Sawai, Saito, Tateno, Kazama). Sometimes you’ll see her tag with Miki Handa or Michiko Nagashima and beat another low-tier duo, but for the most part she has no solid push.

In matches, she rarely stood out, despite an interesting look- she is your standard “unconfident, blank-faced rookie” even with some experience under her belt. In 1993 bouts she kept throwing these awful spinkicks with no speed or accuracy- just kinda limply tossing a leg at someone’s belly. Though by some 1994 stuff I’ve seen she’s okay- tolerable and with a few nice moves, but nothing really flashy or setting her apart. REALLY nice bridges on those suplexes, though- you know they’re great when they’re up on the toes like that! I actually called one the “best I’ve ever seen” down below! So she’s not all bad! Just, like… mostly unmemorable and never giving anyone a reason to care. To me these people are almost as interesting to research as the big stars, but man sometimes I don’t turn up much!

LCO, now with a new combination, as Hokuto & Shimoda form a duo!

AJW NAGOYA WHIRLWIND ’95:
(Nov. 3rd, 1995)
* So an entire month after Manami Toyota wins the Japan Grand Prix and is set to challenge Dynamite Kansai to bring the WWWA Title back home to AJW, we have another big-ish show. And something crazy happened in the interim- Akira Hokuto teamed up with subordinate Mima Shimoda to win the WWWA Tag Team Titles from Double Inoue! With Manami busy with World Title stuff, her team with Sakie had to wait, I suppose, and now the nigh-unbeatable Tag Champs are dethroned! I really searched for that match, but couldn’t find it. Nor Yumiko Hotta defeating Toshiyo Yamada for the White Belt on the same show! It’s not even on Mike Lorefice’s list of AJW tapes! Did they even record this one at all? Evito-X says it wasn’t. Missing two major title switches is a rarity for this promotion.

So this show features the first Title defense by Hokuto/Shimoda… and they’re up against BULL NAKANO, former Ace, with Tomoko Watanabe backing her up! Bull hasn’t challenged for gold in years, so this is pretty crazy.

Looks like the card has a bunch of stuff that wasn’t taped:
AJW JUNIOR TITLE: YOSHIKO TAMURA vs. NOBUE ENDO- Time Limit Draw (20:00)- Jesus Christ, glad we missed that’n.

YUMIKO HOTTA, MISAE WATANABE & YUMI FUKAWA d. TOSHIYO YAMADA, CHAPARRITA ASARI & MINA TANIYAMA (10:45): Seems like a pretty quick result.

IWA WORLD TITLE: REGGIE BENNETT d. ETSUKO MITA (15:36): Mita seems to be settling into Suzuka Minami’s old “good wrestler who jobs in 15 minutes” role.

MANAMI TOYOTA & MARIKO YOSHIDA d. SAKIE HASEGAWA & KAORU ITO (16:57): Meltzer gave this **** and Lorefice gave it ***1/2, saying it saved the big moves for the end. It was taped, but I can’t find it on YouTube.

GAEA JAPAN FIRST NIGHT IN OSAKA:
(Sept. 17th 1995)
* Another GAEA show, and this one is pretty stacked, featuring a VERY good Ozaki/Chigusa Street Fight, and JWP’s top stars Dynamite Kansai & Devil Masami teaming up against their own Hikari Fukuoka and GAEA’s KAORU! And even though it’s only 10 minutes of a 21-minute bout show, it’s an amazing one that I think would have gotten over huge had a lot of Western fans seen it during this time period.

HIKARI FUKUOKA (JWP) & KAORU (GAEA) vs. DYNAMITE KANSAI & DEVIL MASAMI (JWP):
* Here’s a fun Dream Match of sorts, mostly made by pairing KAORU up with Hikari against the Aces of JWP. Hikari’s in the leopard-print, KAORU’s in the shiny white outfit, Devil’s in purple & black, and Kansai’s in yellow.

We’re joined in progress to Hikari doing a tilt-a-whirl headscissors & rana on Devil for two, and KAORU adds a surfboard & half-crab. Devil Samoan drops Hikari to come back and does her own surfboard (man joshi crowds love that move), wowing people by adding a dragon sleeper, drawing in all the wrestlers. KAORU hits her Thesz press on Devil and leapfrogs Hikari into a stomp, leading to a Tiger Driver for two. KAORU Moonsault! Hikari Moonsault! Devil kicks out at two and avoids the next Moonsault, but Hikari lands on her feet, dodges Kansai’s lariat, then gets blasted by Devil’s- KAORU getting skooshed too! Then Kansai does one and backdrop drivers Hikari for two. KAORU runs in and also gets one, then the Aces hit stereo powerbombs! Hikari gets kicked to death, nearly getting counted down until she snaps awake at “8” and the ref counts her punch-drunk stance as being okay.

JOSHI SPOTLIGHT- MIKI HANDA:
Billed Height & Weight: 5’3″ 132 lbs.
Career: 1987-1995

And now we come to Miki Handa, who is interestingly forgettable given how she’s been in some incredible matches here and there. I mean, I kinda love doing Spotlights on lesser names as there’s often a lot more to discover than in an obviously famous wrestler’s case, but here I couldn’t find squat!

I sorta chalk it up to Handa being like plain bread- no taste on its own, but it soaks up the flavors of stuff around it, so it can’t hurt anything. In a sense, Miki is herself not that notable, but you can slot her in with three great workers and have a great match that she doesn’t detract from in the slightest. Not the most GLOWING of praise… but keep in mind how many potentially good or great matches are wrecked by one sub-par worker. In this sense, Miki works to the level of her opponent, and thus you’ll find a surprising number of ***1/2-**** matches from her if her opponents are good enough.

Starting off with Takako/Bison. 

AJW JAPAN GRAND PRIX ’95 (FINAL):
(Sept. 3rd 1995)
* So we’ve hit the finals of the Japan Grand Prix for 1995, with the World Title shot at stake! Unfortunately I only have two matches from this show, with the Takako/Bison match being clipped a bit. This Round Robin was a bit strange, with some flat-out odd results. You’ve got All-Pacific Champion Toshiyo Yamada tying with Shimoda, Reggie and even Kaoru Ito (!), Chaparrita ASARI getting no wins at all (with Rie Tamada above her!). Then Block B is oddly weak, with the bizarre result of TAKAKO Inoue surpassing KYOKO Inoue in the blocks. This might be because Takako scored some flukes and Kyoko jobbed to Mita and drew with Takako, I dunno. Look at poor Mita struggling in the back end of the block, though… and even Sakie Hasegawa only gets a middling rank, which is shocking given how 1995 is “The Year of Sakie’s Push”.

BLOCK A:
Manami Toyota—–11
Bison Kimura——–9
Reggie Bennett——8
Kaoru Ito————8
Mima Shimoda——8
Toshiyo Yamada—–8
Rie Tamada———-2
Chaparita Asari——0

Block B:
Yumiko Hotta——–12
Takako Inoue———11
Kyoko Inoue———-9
Mariko Yoshida——-8
Sakie Hasegawa——6
Etsuko Mita———–6
Tomoko Watanabe—4
Kumiko Maekawa—-0

Part One

AJW DESTINY:
(Sept. 2nd 1995)
* So AJW is going wild at the moment- we’re in the middle of the Japan Grand Prix round-robin, a rival promotion’s Ace (Dynamite Kansai) is AJW’s World Champion, and ticket sales are suffering in part because we’re outta fresh match-ups. Yet we’re still having ****+ matches all over the place, so fuck it- I’D be buying tickets! This is a mega, mega, mega-event, too, with TOYOTA/HOKUTO as the Main Event- two of the very best on the entire planet at this point. It’s like them, Bret, Shawn, and three of the Four Pillars and that’s it.

Also on the card are matches between upper-midcarders Yumiko Hotta & Reggie Bennett, Kyoko Inoue & Bull Nakano doing another match in Bull’s last hurrah as a major solo act (and she knows it), Aja Kong taking on her old partner Bison Kimura, and even LCO fighting the Raijin Army, which includes their trainer Jaguar Yokota. This show is STACKED, and nearly five hours long. Mike Lorefice darkly notes that this is “the last excellent top to bottom show AJW has presented”.

Of particular note is the fact that this show is literally THREE DAYS after the fantastic “Queen’s Holy Night” show, which featured Aja lose the 3WA Title to Kansai in a ****1/4 match, Akira Hokuto & Mima Shimoda hitting ***3/4, and a ****3/4-***** match between Manami & Sakie and Double Inoue! So everyone on here is busting their ass despite wrestling on the same level three days earlier!

“TL;DR: What’s The Deal?”: One of the year’s best matches in the main event, plus the big stars in assorted other bouts (including what I think is Reggie’s best match). Also shorter match lengths than in many other big shows- only two go over 20:00, so nobody is overstaying their welcome.

We start with like THIRTY MINUTES of assorted stuff, with Bull’s old stable (her, Kyoko & Tomoko) showing up for an interview, assorted signings and even memorabilia (a J.B. Angels magazine cover, ASARI’s gear, etc.). Backstage stuff with Hokuto & Bull putting on their gear together. Everyone comes out in white shirts and red shorts to start the show- the real mark of a “big event”. Biggest reactions by far are for Bull (who almost never wrestles now) and Akira. Manami & Kyoko get the next biggest reactions, but much more muted.

So with my review of AJW Destiny, with a legendary Hokuto/Toyota match on it, coming up this Monday, I figured I would finally review their first notable contest- the Jan. 11th, 1991 show! Back when Manami was the All-Pacific Champion and Akira was coming in injured. You know, for a change.

AJW ALL-PACIFIC TITLE:
MANAMI TOYOTA vs. AKIRA HOKUTO:
(Jan. 11th, 1991)
* So here’s a highly-recommended match from Evito-X’s puro channel. Neither wrestler is remotely as big as they’d later become- Hokuto is already just below the Main Event-tier, however, with a sporty haircut and in her old white & black karate gear, while Toyota’s a rising star in a black… singlet? Wow, it’s so weird not seeing her in the standard leotard. And she’s the current All-Pacific Champion! Akira is sporting a HUGE bandage wrap all up her right arm, as well as all over her right leg, which makes her look close to death and suicidally insane. So truth in advertising, I guess. Suzuka Minami, Akira’s tag partner, is her second here.

Manami hits the JB Angels armdrag immediately, then stomps the shit out of the cast to boos- hey, it’s a big target you judgemental assholes! Akira Flair-Slams her out of another armdrag but gets rolled up for one, then Manami hauls her down by the arm and starts to unwrap her like a cartoon mummy. Manami undoes the entire damn thing like she’s straight out of LCO, sending Akira scurrying to the outside for medical help, then BREAKS THE SPLINT OVER HER KNEE just to show she means it. Then she shreds the arm as soon as Akira’s back in- the medics finally re-wrap the arm while Akira moans in agony, literally heard crying on camera.

AJW OSAKA QUEEN’S HOLY NIGHT (WWWA Championship Night):
(Aug. 30th 1995)
* Welcome back to another Joshi Spotlight, as we take a look at one of the biggest shows of the year! This one has a pretty great concept- it’s just all the top belts being defended, including the fourth match between Aja Kong & Dynamite Kansai! Plus Double Inoue defend their Tag Titles against Manami Toyota & Sakie Hasegawa for the third time!

Some matches aren’t available on YouTube as far as I can tell. Mike Lorefice’s ratings are in brackets:
Rie Tamada, Yoshiko Tamura & Yumi Fukawa defeat Chaparrita ASARI, Misae Watanabe & Yuka Shiina (8:56): Basic rookie trios match. (*1/2)
Kaoru Ito & Mariko Yoshida defeat Tomoko Watanabe & Kumiko Maekawa (8:55): The rating seems high, here- not even ten minutes and it gets four stars (****)?.
Yumiko Hotta & Toshiyo Yamada & Etsuko Mita defeat Jaguar Yokota & Bison Kimura & Reggie Bennett (12:55): Interesting use of the Raijin Army, pairing them up with Reggie against… well a Random Grab-Bag team. (***1/4)
Bull Nakano beats Lioness Asuka (1:29): Huh. (*)

LAS CACHORRAS ORIENTALES EXPLODE!:
AKIRA HOKUTO vs. MIMA SHIMODA:
* Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh shit- here comes Hokuto bringing the hate against her stablemate and adoring fangirl, Mima Shimoda! Hokuto’s in pink & white, while Shimoda’s in red, black & gold.

Writing these columns about Joshi produces some great challenges: Finding information on incredibly obscure wrestlers; speculating on angles and wrestlers without the benefit of “being there” in context; and writing anything about Reggie Bennett without turning into a cartoon wolf.

JOSHI SPOTLIGHT- REGGIE BENNETT:
Billed Height & Weight: 5’8″ 249 lbs. (it, um, varies, though- she was very toned in her early career)
Career: 1986-2001

-Reggie Bennett is, in many ways, the perfect Upper-Midcard wrestler. Not credible enough to be World Champion, she’s just this big, powerful wrestler able to be a credible opponent for everyone from the technical geniuses to the strikers to the monsters, yet has a likeable charisma (she’s kind of endearingly cheery in pre-match promos, even against murderous opponents) and just enough cardio to both get the fans behind her and do the long matches that Joshi requires. She kind of came out of nowhere as a forgettable women’s wrestler in the US to become AJW’s new “Big Gaijin” (a role they sometimes utilized), and actually made a heck of a career of it, unlike weaker stars like Terri Powers.

While nobody thinks Reggie’s a great worker, she’s very good at her chosen style, which is “Being Big and Wrestling Big”. Not really athletic or quick, she was big and strong and fought like it. Like Andre the Giant, she wrestled like you thought a bear might wrestle- big bear paws, or just grabbing people and hauling them down. Being, um, top-heavy, she had a somewhat awkward motion, but it still looked like it hurt when she charged in like a rickety freight train. And her Splash is legit one of the best ones ever- just hauling off the ropes and doing a wicked Superman Dive and just SPLATTING people. Like, in a company with Tiger Superplexes, Electric Chair Suplex Holds and Sit-Out Razor’s Edges as finishers, that Splash still looked like it hurt like hell.

GAEA WRESTLE OF DREAMS:
(06.18.1995)
* It’s another GAEA Korakuen show, featuring more of a lesser cast that the previous ones, though if features the #2 & 3 GAEA wrestlers paired off in a match, with KAORU taking on Bomber Hikaru. The Main Event is a peculiar one- Chigusa Nagayo taking on FMW’s Bad Nurse Nakamura of all people! I’ll also add in the next show they did, featuring KAORU vs. Candy Okutsu, and Chigusa, Meiko & Kato against Devil Masami and the two Tomokos from JWP!

This one’s missing a short Meiko Satomura vs. Chihiro Nakano match (2:41), and Chikayo Nagashima beating Makie Numao in (6:03 of 12:05 shown) in Makie’s debut match. She makes a real go of it, lasting about four years, but appears to be a job girl the entire time from a quick scan of CageMatch, almost always losing.

MOST FIGHTING G vs. J:
TOSHIE UEMATSU & SONOKO KATO (GAEA Japan) vs. TOMOKO MIYAGUCHI & TOMOMI KOBAYASHI (JWP):
* Rookie Mayhem starts us off, with Uematsu (green) & Kato (blue) representing GAEA against Miyaguchi (red) & Kobayashi (yellow) from JWP. Miyaguchi is the future Ran Yu-Yu and has looked okay in the past. These names are absolutely awful for my poor typing, lol- I can’t even switch to first names, because then it’s Toshie, Tomoko & Tomomi! Thank God this is clipped.