Articles by Jabroniville — Page 2

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.

Not the most notable match involving Nash & Wrath, but good enough!

Welcome back to more Dream Matches! This time the headliner is yet another in my “Best of Mortis” run, but features him & Wrath following up their big PPV win over the Faces of Fear against the WCW Tag Team Champions themselves, Scott Hall & Kevin Nash! Come see the Outsiders at their snarkiest and most immature while still trying to put over their opponents just a tad.

Also, remember “Can’t Miss” prospect Sean O’Haire? Well come see me check out just how much potential he really had as he takes on former partner Mark Jindrak on WCW Thunder in 2001! Then  it’s a pair of squash matches featuring “Macho Man” Randy Savage vs. jobber Paul Roma, but separated by four years- in 1985 at the beginning of Savage’s run and 1989 when he’s the “Macho King”! Then finally I have one last 3-Count match, as they defend the WCW Hardcore Title (yes, all three of them) against Silver King, El Dandy and Jeremy Lopez (… wait, who?)!

WCW WORLD TAG TEAM TITLES:
THE OUTSIDERS (Scott Hall & Kevin Nash, w/ Syxx) vs. WRATH & MORTIS (w/ James Vandenberg):
(WCW Nitro, Sept. 15th 1997)
* A very interesting one, as Nash is responsible for a particularly notable victory over Wrath to hamper his push in a year or so, but at this time it was more gonna be an easy win for the nWo. Nash is well into his “lol I’m just gonna make everything a big joke” face, making silly faces and doing funny dances on the way to the ring. This is the night after Fall Brawl, where Curt Hennig turned nWo and betrayed the Horsemen- the theory goes from the commentators that the Outsiders will be a little sore, but they don’t play that up at all. Wrath & Mortis beat the Faces of Fear in a surprisingly good tag match on the same show, at least showing that one of those random feudless midcard bouts on PPV actually LEAD TO SOMETHING!

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.

Lord Alfred: “They made a fashion statement there, but I don’t think anybody was really listening, do you?”
Monsoon: “They left a lot of room for improvement, didn’t they!?”
-Commentary during the match below.

Welcome back to more Dream Matches! This week, I have some interesting stuff, led by a pair of matches between the WWF Tag Champions Money Inc. against High Energy! I also wanted to find more Young Stallions stuff, but I only got a squash they have… but it’s against “Iron” Mike Sharpe and SONNY BEACH! Woo- UWF crossover! Now I demand a Jim Powers cookie!

And then I have a bout featuring RIKIDOZAN of all people, who has a tiny bit of YouTube stuff available! Come see the Japanese legend take on Haystacks friggin’ Calhoun in a pair of ultra-clipped matches! And finally, it’s Mortis & Wrath vs. La Parka & Psychosis, in one of those midcard WCW matches full of crazy spots and huge bumping between guys who are never gonna get a major push.

WWF WORLD TAG TEAM TITLES:
MONEY INC. (Ted DiBiase & Irwin R. Schyster, w/ Jimmy Hart) vs. HIGH ENERGY (“The Rocket” Owen Hart & Koko B. Ware):
(WWF Prime Time Wrestling, July 20th 1992)
* A rare title shot for High Energy, as the parachute-pants duo near the bottom of the tag ranks take on Money Inc.. Owen’s in purple and Koko’s in yellow.

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.

Shockingly judging by these physiques, both of these guys are still alive today.

Welcome back to more Dream Matches! This week, we have a big assortment of tag team matches, plus a couple of random one-off solo bouts! First off, it’s a very “1988 WWF” match, as the WWF Tag Team Champions Demolition face off against The Young Stallions on WWF Superstars! Then a 1993 match where the new Headshrinkers team faces off against the “1992 Job Squad” of Virgil & “El Matador” Tito Santana! And it’s nearly a ten minute match! Over to WCW, as my “Best of Mortis” series continues, as he tries to win the TV Title from Ultimo Dragon on a 1997 Nitro! A request, as Rick “The Model” Martel faces off against a jobber Paul Roma, who is REALLY gunning for a push, judging by his effort here! And finally, a throwaway WCW Worldwide match, as Vicious & Delicious (Scott Norton & Buff Bagwell) take on The Southern Posse!

DEMOLITION (Ax & Smash, w/ Mr. Fuji) vs. THE YOUNG STALLIONS (Paul Roma & Jim Powers):
(WWF Superstars, June 11th 1988)
* I’ve seen very little of the TV from this time period, but this should be fun. The Stallions were at the bottom of the babyface team pecking order, looking like IMMENSE dorks with their generic “Yay!” personalities. Demolition are the Tag Champs at this point (having beaten Strike Force at WrestleMania IV), but it’s non-title.

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.

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.

Sid: A 10/10 in “Look” if there ever was one, with physical charisma to match… it’s a shame he never figured out the other stuff.

Welcome back to more Dream Matches! I have a wild assortment for you today, as I cover WWF, WCW, and even a really cool old-school match from Japan in 1974!

We start off with Sid’s big 1995 return, as he takes on newbie Justin “Hawk” Bradshaw in one of those bouts that is everything Sid is- quick, not highly-rated, yet completely awesome and drives the fans wild. Then it’s the strangest Clash of the JTTS Guys ever, as Virgil faces “El Matador” Tito Santana in the friendliest match ever in Spain! More of Buddy Landel’s weird WWF run, as he gets a jobber squash against a young Matt Hardy and showcases his stiff striking skills! Then it’s a Battle of the Brits in WCW, as Dave Taylor faces off against “British Bulldog” Davey-Boy Smith.

And finally, we hit Japan in 1974, as a 23-year old Jumbo Tsuruta with all of one year in the business faces the NWA World Heavyweight Champion Jack Brisco in a title fight! Come see just HOW GOOD Jumbo was with only a year in the business, and how much the ’70s style resembled the ’80s NWA one.

SID vs. JUSTIN “HAWK” BRADSHAW (w/ Uncle Zebekiah):
(WWF RAW, 1995-ish)
* Okay, HERE’s a wild one- Sid, freshly returned as a babyface out to help Shawn Michaels now that the Ultimate Warrior’s gone again, and he’s up against midcarder Bradshaw, not QUITE as protected as he’d be even a couple of years later. And in a perfect expression of Sid’s power, his borderline S-Tier charisma has the entire crowd eating out the palm of his hand, which tended to happen every time he debuted, even though he had weak promos and worse in-ring skill.

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”.

Booker T’s 1998-ish WCW run is actually very emblematic of the company to me- very few guys had quite that variety of quality midcard matches with multiple opponents and tons of different finishes as him- it’s part of what got him “World Champion” over. He was a LOT more agile than he was in the WWF, too.

Welcome back to more Dream Matches! This week, we have more of Mortis, as he takes on Booker T on the upswing of his WCW career for the TV Title! This one is primarily notable for an absolutely INSANE  screwed up landing that could have killed a man right there on the spot- a good sign of how quickly a spot can turn deadly by accident.

Also, we have a rare old Hardy vs. Hardy match, as Matt & Jeff face each other in the North Carolina indies in 1998, right before their WWF run began! Come watch Jeff use his proto-WWF offense already, while Matt’s still in “Copy Lucha & Japan” mode! Then it’s a rare one-off, as BUDDY LANDEL returns to the WWF in 1999 for one night in a jobber squash taking on Triple H himself on Shotgun Saturday Night! Then it’s Rick Martel in his WCW renaissance, but in a jobber match on Saturday Night as he takes on Hardbody Harrison! And finally, a strange throwaway bout as The Public Enemy take on WWF cast-offs Davey-Boy Smith & Jim Neidhart in 1999 WCW!

As always, all the bouts here are found on YouTube.

WCW TV TITLE:
BOOKER T vs. MORTIS (w/ James Vandenberg):
(WCW Monday Nitro, Jan. 19th 1998)
* Booker T on the beginning of his hot streak takes on Mortis, who by this point is pretty well a JTTS. Booker, in white tights with orange fire, does the “WCW Thing” of screaming random sh*t into the camera as he comes down the aisle. He’s a bit more lithe and athletic at this point in his career- he hadn’t gone Full Roid for a WWF physique yet. He is INCREDIBLY over, though- the huge arena is full of people raising the roof for him. So of course it took forever to actually push him right.

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.

Seriously though, this is an ALL-TIME wrestling look and it’s a shame they wasted it on a “Midcard JTTS” act.

Welcome back to more Dream Matches! This week, I have a classic case of a WCW “throw together two good workers and give them time!” throwaway match, as Mortis (Chris Kanyon) faces Juventud Guerrera on WCW Saturday Night! Then it’s the end of Rick “The Model” Martel’s WWF run as he faces “The Rocket” Owen Hart in one of Owen’s last babyface matches! The more WCW goodness as a rookie Tokyo Magnum on his learning excursion faces El Dandy!

Then we get another Steiner Brothers/Fire & Ice “just launch each other around the ring” match, and finally, an all-time dream bout of the Beverly Brothers facing the jobber Dream Team of Virgil and “El Matador” Tito Santana! Read on!

MORTIS (w/ James Vandenberg) vs. JUVENTUD GUERRERA:
(WCW Saturday Night, Jan. 3rd 1998)
* Hey, an interesting one, actually! Kanyon in his “Mortis” identity vs. Juvie! This is back when Juventud was still masked (here his mask is an odd dark salmon color) and was kinda/sorta a job guy but sometimes not really? WCW’s midcard was strange because guys would alternate wins & losses randomly. Mortis looks AWESOME and holds up even more in retrospect- 99% of guys don’t look half as cool. The size difference here is profound, too.

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.

Rick Martel didn’t have the best matches during his WWF career, but is often a fountain of surprisingly-good midcard bouts!

Welcome back to more Dream Matches! This week I have an assortment of WWF & WCW stuff, headlined by Rick “The Model” Martel returning to the WWF to face rookie sensation the 1-2-3 Kid! Rick’s well-known renaissance in WCW a few years later actually has some precedent here, given Martel’s showing.

Also featured is the Rock ‘n’ Roll Express showing up in early nWo-era WCW to take on Fire & Ice! It’s Jimmy Wang Yang’s debut in WCW, as Yun Yang faces off against the KISS Demon! A trios match from hell sees “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan & The Bushwhackers take on The Repo Man & The Beverly Brothers! And finally I find two matches featuring a name that’s intrigued me since I saw him like 30 years ago- The Intruder! Who is a masked jobber in a pair of squash tag matches four years apart, as he’s annihilated by both Demolition and the Nasty Boys!

RICK “THE MODEL” MARTEL vs. THE 1-2-3 KID:
(All-American Wrestling, Oct. 3rd 1993)
* Rick is freshly back in the company at this point “after modeling in Europe”, while the Kid is still a newbie in his blue singlet. Martel’s run at this point is seemingly just to put over some of the newer generation guys, but you gotta beat some dudes to regain credibility before you can do that, so this will be interesting!

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.

Possibly the greatest variance in quality between a wrestler’s visual appearance/gimmick and their in-ring ability.

Welcome back to more Dream Matches! I have some extremely rare stuff for you tonight, as the dreaded “1993 WWF” rears its ugly head once more, giving us a pair of beauties- Mr. Perfect vs. Papa Shango and The 1-2-3 Kid vs. Bastian Booger! Talk about main events in any arena in the country!

Then it’s a look at a crazy WCW rookie team I’d somehow managed to miss entirely- our own Oprah Noodlemantra turned me on to The Pit Crew- Dale “Demon” Torborg & Chad Fortune as guys decked out as WCW racing team pit crew guys. Naturally, their opposition is the Dream Matches favorite squad of Mean Mike & Tough Tom- Disorderly Conduct!

Then it’s the most “1996 WWF” match I could find, as it’s Jim Cornette dream match Barry Windham vs. Tony Anthony… except it’s the worst incarnations of both men- The Stalker vs. T.L. Hopper, in The Stalker’s debut! Then it’s more WCW jobberhood, as Al Green gets set up against Lash LeRoux! And finally, one of those great WCW weirdo mismatch bouts that inspired this column in the first place, as High Voltage face WCW’s lowest-tier luchadores- Ciclope & Galaxy!

MR. PERFECT vs. PAPA SHANGO:
(WWF Mania, March 5th, 1993)
* One more from the semi-short run of Papa Shango, where he faces a rising Mr. Perfect. Shango had by this point been jobbing all over the house show scene to guys like Undertaker & Bob Backlund, but was beating El Matador & Typhoon around the horn as well.

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.