Yumi Fukawa

JWP PURE-HEART FESTIVAL:
(Aug. 17th 1997)
* A big JWP show at Korakuen Hall happens on August 17th, featuring a day show and a night show (with everyone wrestling on both shows). If I’m reading the date right, this is filmed literally the day after Plum Mariko was killed in the ring by Mayumi Ozaki’s Ligerbomb. If so, HOLY SHIT.

This one also features the Retirement Match of Candy Okutsu, as her real-life best friend Hikari Fukuoka defends the JWP Title against her, but can’t hold it together for the match- it’s a pretty unique display. How many matches do you see where one person is sobbing the entire time?

Note that there’s a Day Show and Night Show, but I can only find one Day Show match.

DAY SHOW:

TOMOKO KUZUMI & SARI OSUMI (JWP) vs. COMMAND BOLSHOI (JWP) & EMI MOTOKAWA (IWA):
* It’s lowercard madness, with the best of JWP’s rookies (Kuzumi) teaming up with brand-new rookie Sari Osumi against Bolshoi (a midcarder at this point) and the future Emi Sakura, who wrestles for IWA in its tiny women’s division at this point. I imagine Bolshoi’s team is taking this rather easily. Kuzumi’s in neon splatterpaint in an “Idol” outfit (all the cut-outs & fringe is a dead giveaway), Osumi’s in the most hideous black singlet with green leaf designs ever, Bolshoi’s in the same gear as last match & Emi’s in orange/black.

They both abuse Osumi for a while with basic stuff, and she reverses a whip to escape only for Kuzumi to now eat a beating. Bolshoi resthold, Emi flying splash & surfboard, and then Bolshoi misses a moonsault but lands on her feet, then slingshots onto both rookies, only for Kuzumi to do the same to HER team. Bolshoi quickly gets a German, and we’re clipped to Osumi eating more punishment. She gets a pop for kicking out of a rock bottom and escapes after a while, then Kuzumi hits four backbreaker variations on Bolshoi for two. Bolshoi counters up top and moonsaults Kuzumi for two, then Osumi stops a double-team and Kuzumi gets a butterfly superplex- Emi has to save. Kuzumi charges herself up, but is horrified when Osumi tags herself in and is too far away for a top-rope move so just runs up for a shitty splash pin that Emi half-heartedly breaks up. Emi runs into Bolshoi by accident and the kids set up a Doomsday Device, but Bolshoi & Osumi fuck up what was supposed to be a rana reversal and Bolshoi just punches her for the pin at (9:29 of 13:38 shown). Oh come on- at least improvise a better finish!

Boring filler match with Osumi just being abused and even Tomoko not getting to do anything. Bolshoi just kind of ate both of them alive, possibly in anticipation of their attempt to make her a bigger star. Kuzumi got a good run with her backbreakers and top-rope suplex, which means there’s a lot of hope for her. Osumi was sucky but that’s expected in her first year- her size was an issue for Bolshoi (Osumi is only 5’4″ but way taller and bulkier than Bolshoi), who should really be better than this at this point. The finisher is also on Bolshoi- she didn’t get enough elevation to spin herself around Osumi, getting her leg caught on the shoulder and then falling on her ass. Also, who does that spot with a rookie?

Rating: 1/2* (some okay stuff from Kuzumi but awful otherwise- like ten minutes of rookie beatings)

MAYUMI OZAKI (JWP) vs. YUMI FUKAWA (AJW):
* Ozaki takes on AJW’s newest wannabe Idol, Yumi Fukawa, in an interpromotional match! Few are better at getting something out of a green opponent than Ozaki, so this will be interesting. Fukawa’s in a very sparkly white outfit with blue on it- clearly someone is putting a lot of effort into her gear.

AJW AT HAKATA STARLANES (Feb. 15th 1997):
* It’s time for sheer joshi greatness, as AJW wrestlers GO BOWLING!!! This time it’s a bit of February TV and the great Hakata Starlanes building- this looks like such a fun dumpy bowling arena, haha. And eventually the AJW teams split up and bowl against each other.

So on this show, Tomoko & Kumiko are our hosts, visiting a temple/shrine and talking to the audience. They bump into Kyoko Inoue praying and they do some joking about, then we’re off to the Starlanes! And a happy Dump Matsumoto is on commentary!

YUMI FUKAWA vs. YUKA SHIINA:
* It’s a rookie fight! Fukawa’s been getting an “almost push/watch this rookie!” build for all of 1996, and Shiina’s on a tier below her- Shiina’s no longer ultra-jobbery though, sporting a serious face and gear with her name on it- a sporty orange top with white shorts. Fukawa’s in white/blue, with… wow that outfit is almost entirely blue ruffles. I dunno if this is clipped or what.

AJW NAGOYA ULTRA WHIRLWIND ’96:
(Oct. 6th 1996)
* And it’s an extra AJW event before “Real Earnest” (the Manami/Kyoko match)! With some big… well ONE big match on it, with Manami Toyota taking on Aja Kong for the WWWA World Title!

PS here’s a list of my full Joshi Spotlight archives: https://www.echoesofthemultiverse.com/viewtopic.php?t=2086

Looks like most of this isn’t on YouTube, but here’s what goes down:

MIHO WAKIZAWA & SAYA ENDO d. NANAE TAKAHASHI & YACHIYO KAWAMOTO (11:18): The super-green rookies (some of whom go nowhere) get 11 minutes!
YUKA SHIINA d. MOMOE NAKANISHI (7:58): Momoe is the best of her generation, but gets fed to a 2nd/3rd year.
KAORU ITO & TOMOKO WATANABE d. MISAE GENKI & YOSHIKO TAMURA (11:53): Oh god- the legendary Rookieslayers of AJW get to murder the “next generation to get pushed”. Poor Tamura especially- she was in the finals of Discover New Heroine and gets to die here.

AJW TV (Nov. 21st 1996):
* Here’s a few matches found from near the end of the year on AJW TV! This is taped from Kobe World Memorial Hall, which has a sizable 8,000 seats but are bathed in pitch blackness so we can’t see them empty. On commentary is some VERY shrieky, annoying girl, and a card that doesn’t exactly set the world on fire. Mostly random tag stuff- even the main.

Oh, also I found an FMW vs. JD’ Beauty Athlete tag match featuring Megumi Kudo & Jaguar Yokota on opposite sides of the ring, so there’s that!

MISAE GENKI, SAYA ENDO & NANAE TAKAHASHI vs. YUMI FUKAWA, YUKA SHIINA & MOMOE NAKANISHI:
* Oh look! It’s the six bottom-tier wrestlers in AJW! I feel like the “elders” here have been curtain-jerking for like two years by this point, but Momoe & Nanae are very new. This is joined in progress and almost everyone’s in blue, making it super-annoying to recap as I barely recognize anyone. I mean there’s Genki the praying mantis in orange, so SHE stands out…

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.

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.

AJW TV (Feb. 1996):
* Aaaaaand everyone who saw me about to enter 1996 AJW warned me “I hope you like rookie matches”, so here’s one of those dreaded bouts. And also Tomoko Watanabe’s education continues, as she takes on the World Champ, Manami Toyota! That one’s not bad!

YUMI FUKAWA, MISAE WATANABE & MARI MOGAMI vs. NOBUE ENDO, KAYO NOUMI & MINA TANIYAMA:
* Rookie mayhem! AJW tries to push up some of their kids with another trios match, with established Fukawa on one team and bottom-tier Mogami & Kayo on opposite sides. Kayo’s in white, Mina’s in blue, Endo’s in black/red, Mogami’s in blue, Misae’s in black/white (and is the tall, gangly one), and Fukawa’s in blue/white. I think Fukawa’s the only success story of this bunch, unless you’re a huge Tanny Mouse (Taniyama) mark. My apologies to her legions of fans. (Edit- according to Manji they ALL did pretty well! Except Mogami, who quit right away)

Manami Toyota: Now Ace of the promotion, but the fans are gonna let her have it on this one.

AJW OTA-KU CHAMPION LEGEND ’96:
(Jan. 22nd 1996)
* Our first big AJW event of 1996, and it’s a doozy. Manami Toyota defends her newly-won WWWA World Title against longtime rival Yumiko Hotta, who set this up by beating Manami during the “Manami vs. 30 People” Gauntlet last month! There’s also a weird one as the former Dream Orca team up with Chaparrita ASARI to take on Mariko Yoshida, a rookie, and a random Mexican lady. Unfortunately I can only find those two matches.

The Rest of the Card:
ELIMINATION MATCH: KAYO NOUMI, KUMIKO MAEKAWA, MARI MOGAMI & YUKA SHIINA d. MINA TANIYAMA, MISAE WATANABE, NOBUE ENDO & YOSHIKO TAMURA (12:39): Mogami d. Taniyama (5:45), Tamura d. Noumi (7:02), Misae d. Mogami (8:02), Kumiko d. Misae (9:14), Kumiko d. Endo (10:19), Shiina d. Tamura (10:19). Kumiko & Shiina survive.

REGGIE BENNETT d. TOMOKO WATANABE (11:20): Tomoko’s getting a bit of a push, but not THAT big- Reggie way outranks her.

AJA KONG d. KAORU ITO (16:05): Wow- Aja should absolutely be beating Ito at this point, but it speaks wonders for Ito that the match goes 16 minutes.

SAKIE HASEGAWA d. BULL NAKANO (11:47): Sakie Hasegawa’s retirement tour continues as she takes on BULL NAKANO of all people in one of Bull’s final AJW matches! Shockingly, Sakie DEFEATS Bull, likely a parting gift from the former Ace.

WWWA TAG TEAM TITLE: DOUBLE INOUE (Kyoko & Takako Inoue) d. AKIRA HOKUTO & MIMA SHIMODA (29:47): Hokuto pins Kyoko at (10:30), Kyoko pins Shimoda at (19:53) and Kyoko pins Akira at (29:47). Thus ends the reign of Shimoda & Akira, the latter of whom actually leaves AJW after a very odd 1995. Seriously, she wins the V*Top Tournament at the Tokyo Dome in late ’94 and is then “just another wrestler” for 1995 until having a ***** match against Toyota and winning the Tag Titles for a run. Hokuto leaving the company kicks a MASSIVE hole in the match quality, too. Meltzer went ****1/2 for this, so I really wish it was on YouTube (looks like an older one was deleted).

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.

This is, bar none, the greatest gear in wrestling history. She looks like a goddamn SUPER-VILLAIN.

JOSHI SPOTLIGHT- MARIKO YOSHIDA:
Real Name: Mariko Morita
Billed Height & Weight: 5’4″ 139 lbs. (varies in body type considerably; translation: gets swole)
Career Length: 1988-2017

-One of the unsung heroes of Joshi would be Mariko Yoshida, probably most notable to Western fans for having almost the exact same name as Wolverine’s lady-love for about a decade, one Mariko Yashida. This is most likely a coincidence, though Yoshida’s real family name is apparently Morita. Her biggest contribution to Western wrestling might be the creation of the Air Raid Crash, an over-the-shoulder move where she drapes the opponent across her back, cradles a leg and their neck, and drops down in an Inverted DDT hold. It was swiped by Mike Modest, appearing prominently in Beyond the Mat (Jim Cornette marks out upon seeing it). This devastating-looking move is STILL a big maneuver, and is currently used by AEW’s Britt Baker, among others.

Yoshida was surprisingly one of the most interesting workers in 1992 AJW (with only four years in the biz at that point), using Lucha Libre-influenced stuff to great success- her sunset flips, quick runs up to the top rope, and more led to a very good “come from behind” rookie style that made flukes seem like a constant threat. Hilariously, she uses a friggin’ Super DDT as a mere “prelude to the big stuff” move, as it had zero credibility as a finisher. – Rookie Yoshida in 1992 was one of AJW’s top eight best wrestlers easily (possibly behind only Bull, Aja, Akira, Yamada, Manami & Kyoko). Her future seemed bright, before a horrible neck injury put her out for nearly two years.