Yasha Kurenai

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.

Joshi is full of the wildest costumes designs you’ll ever see in wrestling, and wrestling’s most innovative moves… and then the crazy chick in red pants comes in and beats everyone with a stick.

JOSHI SPOTLIGHT- YASHA KURENAI:
Real Name: Rumi Yasuda (note: “Kurenai” is Japanese for “deep red”)
Billed Height & Weight: 5’3″ 143 lbs.
Career: 1989-1999

-One of the weirder “I don’t get it” things I find when I research joshi comments made back in the day is the whole “Yasha Kurenai SUCKS!” thing. I’ve mostly seen it from Mike Lorefice, but I’m sure I’ve seen it elsewhere, too. Her & Command Bolshoi got a lot of hate from old reviewers, arguing that they’re both horrible and ruin matches, and seeing their stuff I don’t get the hate. Bolshoi at least is a comedy wrestler, which has always been a controversial thing among “serious workrate” fans. But Yasha? Yasha seems FINE. Entertaining, even. Like, any healthy wrestling company has room for a Yasha Kurenai.

Yasha’s whole style, though, is a bit contrary to a lot of “MOVEZ!”-loving fans. Where most everyone else is doing “GO GO GO!” stuff and pulling out all these huge moves, here’s this squat, frowning brawler hitting people with a damn staff for a ton of her offense. Not just a “signature spot” like with Bull Nakano and her nunchucks, but using the weapon as a full-on part of her offense. Also, her brawling style is anathema to those who want more and more suplexes and/or flips. And granted it’s not MY preferred style, either, but if it’s only one wrestler, and she’s mostly a midcarder, I don’t mind it. It creates variety! Plus, it makes her look like a huge shitstain when she’s doing it to a babyface, and makes that wrestler seem a lot better for surpassing it and getting a win. And it’s not like Yasha was particularly dominant- she was never much more than a midcard worker!

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.

Oh shit how can I NOT use this picture for this article. This is like a friggin’ Renaissance painting of action shots.

LLPW IN 1994:
* LLPW is the joshi league from this time period with the worst online presence, especially these days, so you won’t find much. But they ran a pretty wild card in July 1994 with a lot of Interpromotional matches, being one of the companies to boost sales by running those kinds of things, and one of the only ones to try and run the cards by themselves, against companies other than AJW (most such shows just feature “AJW vs. xxxx” matches, not mixing up the other companies).

So tonight, we’ll see Shinobu Kandori & Rumi Kazama vs. Eagle Sawai & Harley Saito, a rare LLPW/FMW match where Megumi Kudo takes on Yasha Kurenai, and a FANTASTIC Chain Match between Bull Nakano & Shinobu Kandori!

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

SHINOBU KANDORI & RUMI KAZAMA vs. EAGLE SAWAI & HARLEY SAITO:
(LLPW, June 30, 1994)
* It’s four of LLPW’s top stars in one tag match! Jesus, what’d they fill the REST of the card with? Kandori’s the unstoppable champ at this point, but Eagle always looks strong in matches. Rumi & Harley are nearly always doing the job in Interpromotional Shows, however. This looks like a fancam, so the quality is ass. Harley’s in a blue & green jumpsuit, Eagle’s in red & black, Rumi’s in a black & pink outfit with domino mask (and comes to the ring waving a whip or flail around- so yup, her thing is now that she’s an S&M domme), and Kandori’s in black with yellow stripes.

It’s time for another bunch of Legendary Goddess VHS reviews! Three at a time in this one, since it’s a lot of retread material, but DAMN some of it’s great footage.

LEGENDARY GODDESS IV- AKIRA HOKUTO:
* This one starts with some hilariously overwrought footage of Hokuto stalking around a temple wearing her traditional Noh theater garb, complete with big sound effects, which would be so incredibly stupid on anyone without Hokuto’s credibility. So instead it’s awesome. Partway through, there’s this “normal person” interview of her laughing and smiling on while some silly symphony plays, and it’s so unsettling to see the Dangerous Queen as a human being. Like, her mystique actually makes this stuff come off as odd. Then she strolls around in denim shorts and a floral-print shirt in black & white.

AJW TAG LEAGUE THE BEST 1993- PART ONE:
(10.10.1993):

And as we wind down the crazy-ass 1993 in Joshi, here comes the end-of-year Tag Tournament once again! Except this time… it’s totally random-ass. Like, NONE of these people are regular partners! Except for LCO, I guess. The top teams in AJW are Toyota/Yamada, Hotta/Takako & Bull/Aja, and now they’re all split up. But now we get the debut of a NEW Big Gaijin star in AJW (the incomparable Reggie Bennett), and a trio of tag matches so random they look like a WCW “Lethal Lottery”- except all the wrestlers are good so it should be rad.

“TL;DR- What’s The Big Deal?”: The best wrestlers in the company putting their “big show” efforts into their matches, producing some of AJW’s better stuff.

PS I love that their sashes all read “TAG LEAUGE”.

The Main Event 6-Woman Tag.

AJW GRAND PRIX 1993 (Part Three):
(11.06.1993)
* Part three of this series of shows! I actually reviewed Part Two a year ago, not realizing a more full set was around at the time: https://blogofdoom.com/index.php/2019/10/04/joshi-spotlight-grand-prix-93-semi-finals/. Once more, the tournament includes JWP’s Hikari Fukuoka & LLPW’s Harley Saito on different sides, meaning there’s a lot of never-before-seen Dream Matches here. Hikari/Kyoko, Sakie/Yamada and a big-time 6-person tag await! Oh, and a super-famous joshi match…

“TL; DR- What’s the Big Deal?”: This contains what is easily the most famous squash in Joshi history- a true unexpected gem. Also every match but the squashes is at least “very good”, there’s a few pairings you’ll literally never see again, and a kick-ass main event! Actually a hell of a show!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSiyxLzhd3o&t=15789s

BIG EGG WRESTLING UNIVERSE:
(“AJW Doumu Super Woman Great War”)
(Tokyo Dome- 20.11.1994)

-Now it’s FINALLY time I dive into the ludicrously over-stuffed mega-event- Big Egg Wrestling Universe! This event is the only Joshi event in history to take place within the massive Tokyo Dome, stuffing 42,500+ fans into the huge “Big Egg” for… a one-night super-tournament of Main Eventers (the V*Top). And some legitimate athletic contests. And a midget match. And a “cram every single person onto the card” undercard. It’s… a loaded show. Joshi: So advanced that it was putting on hideously bloated 6-hour stadium shows WAY before WWE was! True innovation!

TL; DR- Why Should I Watch This?: Well, one of the greatest matches in history is fought tonight. Also, Aja Kong surpasses Bret Hart’s “Three good matches in one night” achievement in terms of quality, several people put on AMAZING performances, and you see Joshi in its biggest spectacle in history- something women’s wrestling has never matched since.