AJ

AJ Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Genichiru Tenryu Series Compilation 1988-90-2hr. Q=Ex. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

10/28/88 Yokohama Bunka Taiikukan: Tsuruta vs. Tenryu. Tremendous match. Great execution, build, excitement, drama, psychology, and heat. Excellent performance by both men. This is everything a big match should be, and more. ****3/4

4/89 Triple Crown: Tsuruta vs. Tenryu. Tsuruta drops Tenryu nastily on his shoulder and head with a powerbomb at 15:45, and Tenryu is unable to continue. This was only very good because the injury caused it to end before it got hot. Heat wasn't as good as the previous match, but the result turned the powerbomb into one of the deadliest moves in the country. ***1/2

6/5/89 Tokyo Nippon Budokan Triple Crown: Pretty much a flawless match that rates right up there with the best men's heavyweight matches of all-time. Both men play their roles to perfection. Great psychology, build, execution, timing, near falls, and stiffness. Really heated. Tenryu takes the TC. As far as I can tell this is the best heavyweight match of it's decade. *****

10/11/89 Yokohama Bunka Taiikukan Triple Crown: Tenryu vs. Tsuruta. Another great match, but not as action packed as in the past. Slower paced, slower building, and not as heated as their past bouts. These guys stiffed the hell out of each other though. Jumbo regains the TC. ****1/4

4/90 Triple Crown: Tsuruta vs. Tenryu. This is known to be their last meeting because Tenryu has already signed with SWS. This starts out really hot with Tsuruta pummelling Tenryu with big spots and it's a sprint so it stays hot most of the way. Didn't have the build or psychology of their previous matches, but the work was great and the match was certainly different from the other for. Tenryu leaves the ring quickly after Jumbo puts him away and Hansen comes out and destroys the ring boys and gets into a fight with Jumbo, thus taking all the focus off the departing Tenryu as the key fued is switched to Jumbo vs. Stan. ****

Mitsuharu Misawa Memorial Fight Collection Commercial Tape Volumes 2 & 4-2hr 20 min.

Q=Near Perfect 1st Gen. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

6/8/90 vs. Tsuruta-Misawa's first pin on Jumbo ****1/2, 6/1/91 vs. Gordy ****1/4, 3/4/92 Triple

Crown vs. Hansen, 8/22/92 Triple Crown vs. Hansen-Misawa wins Triple Crown ****

AJ TV taped 9/1/90 & 5/31/92 taped 5/25-1 1/2hr. Q=1st Gen. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

9/1/90 Tokyo Nippon Budokan

Triple Crown: Stan Hansen vs. Steve Williams. Match was far from graceful, but it was very heated and the spots were utitilized well. Good match.

Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Mitsuharu Misawa. Misawa was trying to usher in the new era by defeating incumbent top star Jumbo for the second time in a a three month span. The heat was off the charts, as the building was rocking from the ring introductions on. Jumbo carried this to a tremendous match that showed both were essentially equal. Both men played their roles incredibly well. The spots were very well utilized. Excellent storyline, psychology, build, and timing. *****

5/25/92 Sendai Miyagi-ken Sports Center

Asai Tag Title: Doug Furnas & Dan Kroffat vs. Kenta Kobashi & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi. 1992 Observer Match of the Year! This is some of the best work you'll ever see. 12 ½ minutes of great high spots and near falls. Awesome heat. Fukuzawa's announcing was as incredible as the match, I think. Most would rate this *****, but I think you'd need to see what they did to lead to all these great spots to justify that, but unfortunately as far as I can tell the complete match isn't available anywhere. Kobashi & Kikuchi win titles. ****3/4

Giant Baba & Rusher Kimura & Ryuma Izumida (aka Jun) vs. Haruka Eigen & Motoshi Okuma & Masa Fuchi. Izumida's debut. Highlights.

Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada vs. The Patriot & Johnny Smith. Very good work. Patriot & Smith get a ton of offense, and are able to get heat. Looked very good.

Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue & Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Terry Gordy & Steve Williams & Richard Slinger. No one really stood out, but it was a good match. Williams pins Jumbo.

Mitsuharu Misawa Memorial Fight Collection The Path To Becoming The Five Crown King Volume 5-1hr 30min. Q=Near Perfect 1st Gen. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

10/21/92 Nippon Budokan Triple Crown: Misawa vs. Kawada. The main event of AJ's 20th Anniversary show, and where it all began so to speak because this was the first time Kawada challenged for Misawa's TC. Excellent performance by both men. Great match with great work. Dramatic match with super heat. Less big spots and not as strong selling or psychology than their future matches, but that is not a knock since these two would go on to set the standard in selling and psychology with their matches together. Fukuzawa is a God on the play by play here, so combined with the great crowd, this match really has the feel of a special match. ****1/2

12/4/92 Nippon Budokan '92 Real World Tag Team League Bout: Misawa & Kawada vs. Taue & Akiyama. Great match that was a lot better than it had the right to be given Jun had been a pro for less than 3 months. Strong storyline and psychology with everyone playing their roles to perfection. This is the final match in the Tag League, and Misawa & Kawada need to win to beat Gordy & Williams and Hansen & Ace out by 1 point. They are not going to let a rookie keep them from thier glory. Jun works most of the match, and he gets elevated big time even though he does the job in the end. Misawa & Jun really work well together, but Kawada vs. Jun is the highlight, as Kawada unmercifully punks Jun with incredible kicks. Great work. Hot crowd. Misawa & Kawada win tag league, but Fuchi & Taue pull Akiyama up and raise his hand because his gutsy performance hanging with the veterans was certainly worth of applause. For winning the tag league, Misawa & Kawada are awarded the Double Tag Titles that had been vacated by Jumbo & Taue. ****1/2

AJ TV 8/15/93 & 3/14/93 & Misawa vs. Taue from AJ TV 3/7/93-2hr. Q=1st Gen/VG. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

8/15 '93 Summer Action Series taped 7/31 Tokyo Nippon Budokan

Dynamite Kid & Johnny Smith vs. Tsuyoshi Kikuchi & Jun Akiyama. Seemed like a good match, but only 2:30 aired.

Terry Gordy & Steve Williams vs. Johnny Ace & Kendall Windham. 2:25 aired and it wasn't all that good. Williams doctor bombed Ace on the floor after the match.

Special Match: Akira Taue vs. Big Bossman. Bossman didn't look good in this setting at all because he isn't stiff enough. He used the same moves he uses in WWF, which just doesn't cut it. Taue did a pretty good job given what he had to work with. *3/4

Special Match: Stan Hansen vs. Kenta Kobashi. A awesome match with both men playing their roles to perfection. Great psychology, timing, transitions, and comebacks. Stan's selling was excellent. Incredible stiffness. Kobashi ran into a stiff boot from Stan that caused immediate swelling and eventually shut his eye. Kobahi's face was a complete mess with welts, red spots, and swelling by the end of the match from taking big shots like this. Fans were so into this that they chanted Kobashi even when he was using the resthold facelock early on. *****

3/14 '93 Excite Series taped 2/28 Tokyo Nippon Budokan

Jun Akiyama vs. Terry Gordy. Jun looked pretty good and got to push a little, but he went down easily. Looked good.

World Junior Heavyweight Title: Masa Fuchi vs. Tsuyoshi Kikuchi. Awesome performance by Kikuchi. His hero Dynamite Kid was at ringside watching him, so most of his offense was Kid spots in tribute. Excellent work. Great heat, as Kikuchi had so much charisma back then. Kikuchi's offense was great, but Fuchi's is pathetic for a junior. ****

Special Match: Toshiaki Kawada vs. Stan Hansen. One of the stiffest matches ever! These two just clobbered each other. Not pretty, but incredibly realistic looking offense. Crowd was into it for the stiffness and because they believed it was Kawada's time to win. Stan finally hit his big lariat to KO'd Kawada as always, but his momentum sent him through the ropes to the floor so Kawada recovered some by the time Stan made it back into the ring. ****3/4

3/7 '93 Excite Series taped 2/28 Tokyo Nippon Budokan

Triple Crown: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Akira Taue. This match started really slow. The first 10 minutes saw Taue dominate with basic offense. Really, the first 13 minutes could very generously be called good. However, from there on out they worked fast and got excellent heat. Misawa's offense was excellent. The selling wasn't that great because the match was very spot oriented, but the action was explosive. There were several near falls that really looked like the could be the finish, which obviously added to the excitement. ****

All Japan Champion Carnival Finals 1994 Commercial Tape 4/16/94 Tokyo Budokan Hall & AJ Commercial Tape 5/21/94 Sapporo Nakajima Sports Center & Genichiru Tenryu vs. Jumbo Tsuruta 6/6/89-2hr. Q=Near Perfect 1st Gen on the 2 comm tapes and Ex on Tenryu/Tsuruta. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Champion Carnival Final: Kawada vs. Williams-Kawada wins Champion Carnival ****1/2, Double

Tag Team Titles: Misawa & Kobashi vs. Kawada & Taue-this match pretty much has it all. Exciting

40 minute sprint with everything that makes AJ great *****, Triple Crown: Tsuruta vs.

Tenryu-Tenryu wins Triple Crown in a real masterpiece. Really intense and "realistic." One of the

greatest near falls I've ever seen when Tsuruta tries to end it with his Thesz press, but Tenryu turns it

into a slingshot and almost gets the flash pin. Tsuruta is excellent here. *****

AJ Misawa Mitsuharu vs. Kawada Toshiaki Triple Crown Commercial Tape 6/3/94 Tokyo Nippon Budokan & AJ Steve Williams vs. Kobashi Kenta Triple Crown Commercial Tape 9/3/94 Nippon Budokan-1hr 35min. Q=Near Perfect 1st Gen. MUST SEE!

Triple Crown: Misawa vs. Kawada. Best Mens Heavyweight Singles match of all-time! Their 6/6/97 match as well as Misawa vs. Kobashi from 1/20/97 and 10/21/97 are all more glamourous, but this match is a bit better because the psychology, build, timing, and selling are off the charts. Everything builds up to one of the great near falls ever at the 25 minute mark and from that point there's nearly 11 minutes of off the charts wrestling with the outcome very much in doubt throughout. Fans totally mark out for Misawa in the post match. What a performance by both men. *****

Triple Crown: Williams vs. Kobashi. Williams is at the top of his game here and Kobashi shows why he's the best of the natives at working with the gaijins. Super match containing all the aspects that make AJ great. Williams suplexes are so dangerous that Kobashi could easily have broke his neck if one of the two made a slight mistake. ****3/4

AJ Misawa Mitsuharu & Kobashi Kenta vs. Kawada Toshiaki & Taue Akira World Tag Team Title Commercial Tape 1/24/95 Yamagata Prefecture Gymnasium & Misawa Mitsuharu & Kobashi Kenta vs. Steve Williams & Johnny Ace World Tag Team Title Commercial Tape 3/4/95 Tokyo Nippon Budokan-2hr. Q=Near Perfect 1st Gen. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Double Tag Titles: Misawa & Kobashi vs. Kawada & Taue. Great match. Perfect work. Stiff match with no blown spots. Built really well. Could have used more near falls early to make it look like a regular match because they way they worked this it was so obvious they were going really long. 60:00 draw. ****3/4

Double Tag Titles: Misawa & Kobashi vs. Williams & Ace. Tremendous match. Basically flawless. The problem was that every spot didn't hit absolutely perfect like in some of the other best AJ stuff. This was greatly laid out though, getting the crowd really pro natives then delivering an incredible final 16 minutes. Doc was awesome at building anticipation for him against Misawa. It builds to everyone getting taken out by a big move between the 24-25 minute mark to set up 11 minutes of great near falls back and forth where the outcome is really in question. *****

AJ Misawa Mitsuharu VS Taue Akira 95 Champion Carnival Final Commercial Tape 4/15/95 Tokyo Nippon Budokan Hall-40 min. Q=Near Perfect 1st Gen. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

'95 Champion Carnival Final: Misawa vs. Taue. Tremendous match! Fairly simple match, but superbly worked with great execution and also great psychology. Close to 5 stars, but Taue has some limitations that prevent him from ever reaching that level in singles. ****3/4

Fuji TV Crush Gals Fighting Spirits Commercial Tape & AJ Misawa & Kobashi vs. Kawada & Taue Commercial Tape 6/9/95 Tokyo Budokan Hall-2hr. Q=1st Gen. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

The Crush Gals were basically women's wrestling in the 1980's, and this tape fully captures their

phenomenon. The tape has highlights of 11 of their favorite matches, along with assorted other

features such as some of their concert footage. The tag match is not only *****, but it's the BEST

MEN'S TAG MATCH OF ALL-TIME. It's also special because it's the first time Kawada pins

Misawa, taking the Double Tag Team Titles in the process.

AJ Commercial Tape 3/31/96 Nagoya Aiichi Gym-1hr 20min. Q=EX. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Champion Carnival League bout: Kawada vs. Taue ****, Champion Carnival League Bout: Misawa vs. Kobashi ****3/4

NJ TV 8/8/98 & AJ TV 4/28/96 & 6/16/96-1hr 40min. Q=Ex. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

World Pro Wrestling 8/8 G1 Climax '98 taped 7/31 Ryoguoku Kokugikan

1st Round matches (most are highly edited)

Satoshi Kojima vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan

Big Titan vs. Tadao Yasuda

Shiro Koshinaka vs. Osamu Nishimura

Kensuke Sasaki vs. Michiyoshi Ohara

Shinya Hashimoto vs. Tatsutoshi Goto

Kazuo Yamazaki vs. Tatsumi Fujinami.

Masa Chono vs. Manabu Nakanishi

Genichiru Tenryu vs. Keiji Muto. Very good match. Muto Ace crushers Tenryu off the top rope to the floor! Amazing, especially considering who did it.

AJ Pro Wrestling 30 4/28 '96 Champion Carnival taped 4/20 Tokyo Nippon Budokan

Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Gary Albright & Johnny Ace. There was a time when it seemed like Misawa and co. vs. Tsuruta and co. delivered a **** match every week, but this was one of the last 4+ star tag matches AJ has delivered. The match did a great job of building to the big spots, in particular Albright's suplexes. ****1/4

AJ Pro Wrestling 30 6/16 '96 Super Power Series taped 6/7 Tokyo Nippon Budokan

World Tag Titles: Steve Williams & Johnny Ace vs. Misawa & Akiyama. 1996 Wrestling Observer Newsletter Match of the Year! Incredible match with a ton of drama. The match was built around guys getting knocked out by a big spot, leaving their partner in a 2-1 situation for a long period with the belts on the line. Selling, comebacks, transitions, and story were excellent. A riviting match where so many of the near falls really looked like they were the finish. Misawa & Akiyama were unbelievable, and the match was such that Williams & Ace mainly had to not screw things up. *****

All Japan '96 Real World Tag Team League Final Commercial Tape 12/6/96 Tokyo Nippon Budokan Hall-40min. Q=Near Perfect 1st Gen. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Real World Tag Team League Final: Misawa & Akiyama vs. Kawada & Taue. The BEST MATCH of 1996 or 1997 if you use those bizarre voting periods. Tremendous storyline. NO WORSE THAN THE 2ND BEST MEN'S TAG MATCH OF ALL-TIME! Read Quebrada #34 if you want more info, as this match was worth devoting the whole column to.

All Japan New Year s Giant Series 97 Commercial Tape January 1997-1hr 45min. Q=Near Perfect 1st Gen. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Ace & Williams vs. Kawada & Taue-Kawada & Taue win double tag titles, Kobashi vs.

Misawa-Misawa wins Triple Crown ***** PROBABLY THE 2ND BEST MEN'S HEAVYWEIGHT SINGLES MATCH OF ALL-TIME!, Hase vs. Shiga, Akiyama vs. Taue-Akiyama's first singles win over Taue

All Japan The Champion Carnival League Series '97 Commercial Tape-2hr. Q=Near Perfect 1st Gen. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Triangular Carny Final match 1: Misawa vs. Kobashi-30:00 draw ****1/4, Triangular Carny Final

match 2: Misawa vs. Kawada-Kawada's 1st singles pin on Misawa but the match is onesided and

extremely disappointing, Triangular Carny Final match 3: Kawada vs. Kobashi-Kawada wins

Champion Carnival '97 ****1/2, Hayabusa & Kanemaru vs. Ogawa & Shiga

All Japan '97 Super Power Series Commercial Tape-2hr. Q=1st Gen. HIGHLY

RECOMMENDED!

Triple Crown: Misawa vs. Kawada 6/6/97 Tokyo Budokan Hall ***** This is probably the 3RD GREATEST MEN's HEAVYWEIGHT SINGLES MATCH OF ALL-TIME! Double Tag

Team Titles: Kawada & Taue vs. Kobashi & Ace 5/27 Sapporo Nakajima Sports Center-Kobashi & Ace win Double tag titles ****1/4, Ikeda & Kanemaru vs. Asako & Slinger 6/6 Budokan

AJ 97 Giant Series Commercial Tape Volume 1 taped 10/21 Tokyo Nippon Budokan Hall &10/11 Fukuoka Kokusai Center-1hr 45min. Q=Near Perfect 1st Gen. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

10/21/97 Triple Crown: Misawa vs. Kobashi-This was named Match Of The Year by Tokyo Sports and by AJ. Tremendous match that was between the 2nd-4th best match of 1997! This match really shows the greatness and diversity of these two, as it had everything. All the elements that make the top AJ matches great, combined with the best high spots you'll see in a heavyweight match. Kobashi uses everything he can think of, including a dangerous released ½ nelson German suplex on the floor to debilitate Misawa's neck. Not as good as their 1/20 epic, but still a MUST SEE ***** match.

10/21/97: Hansen & Baba & Tsuruta vs. Kimala & Honda & Fuchi-Notable because it's a special match for the 25th Anniversary show with the legends Hansen & Baba & Tsuruta teaming up. Not as bad as the regular comedy match, but still the typical slow-motion boredom. -*1/2

10/11/97 Triple Crown: Misawa vs. Williams-A good match, but well below the standard of the Triple Crown because Williams doesn't have it anymore and doesn't seem to care. Misawa works really hard, as always, but the match is only worth what he puts into it and what he can get out of the washed up Doc. Williams strategy is to take out Misawa's knee, but the only thing he does that can get any heat is attempt his dangerous backdrop. This needed to be shorter. ***

All Japan '97 Real World Tag Team League Special Highlight Commercial Tape-1hr 35min. Q=Original. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Contains the entire 30:52 Misawa & Akiyama vs. Kawada & Taue tag league final from 12/5/97. This match was the requisite year end classic/match of the year candidate. BEST TAG MATCH OF 1997! It wasn't as good as the 1996 final because the storyline and heat weren't as good and it was more spot intensive, but the 1996 final is no worse than the 2nd best men's tag match ever, so that's not a knock. The tape also contains the finishing sequences from the tag league matches that occured on the nights the cameras were rolling. So it has 11/15 Korakuen Hall (Misawa/Akiyama vs. Wolf/Smith), 11/16 Korakuen Hall, 11/23 Sendai Miyagi Sports Center (Hayabusa/Shinzaki vs. Kawada/Taue, Misawa/Akiyama vs. Kobashi/Ace), 11/27 Sapporo Nakajima (Kobashi/Ace vs. Kawada/Taue, Misawa/Akiyama vs. Hayabusa/Shinzaki), & 11/28 Sapporo Nakajima (Kobashi/Ace vs. Williams/Albright, Misawa/Akiyama vs. Kawada/Taue). The highlights range from :45 seconds to 4 minutes (the best matches get more time), so you are actually seeing something (unlike on some of the History of the Junior Title tapes where they go crazy showing 6 seconds clips of the Super Junior finishes), but the main thing is the complete version of the final.

*Sale Only $18 or $28 for this on same T-160 tape with the ***** '96 Real World Tag Team League Final Commercial Tape (obviously I'll put the 1996 final on the tape first so you can see them sequentially).

AJ 98 Super Power Series Commercial Tape-2hr. Q=Original. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

*reviewed in Quebrada #48*

6/12 Tokyo Nippon Budokan Triple Crown: Toshiaki Kawada vs. Kenta Kobashi. Unless Tamura vs. Kousaka is better, this is the Match of the Year. Kawada is just awesome here. He's responsible for about 90% of the greatness here. Kawada totally leads Kobashi through this, and it's the style that AJ is so famous for, excellent build and selling and ungodly stiffness, not just a bunch of meaningless head dropping like we've seen of late. Kobashi wins TC. At least *****

Mighty Inoue retirement ceremony

5/31 Funabashi AJ Tag Titles: Wolf Hawkfield & Johnny Smith vs. Takao Omori & Tamon Honda. Highlights

6/5 Sapporo Nakajima Taiiku Center: Jun Akiyama vs. Steve Williams. Highlights

World Tag Title: Kawada & Akira Taue vs. Kobashi & Johnny Ace. ****1/4

6/12 World Junior Heavyweight Title: Maunakea Mossman vs. Satoru Asako. Highlights

6/5: Super Delfin & Gran Naniwa vs. Satoru Asako & Yoshinobu Kanemaru. Highlights

*Sale Only $18*

AJ Toshiaki Kawada vs. Mitsuharu Misawa All Their Matches Against Each Other That Decided The Triple Crown Commercial Tape-2hr. Q=Original. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

*reviewed in Quebrada #48

Super tape! Highlights the first five great Triple Crown matches between Misawa & Kawada (10/21/92, 7/29/93, 6/3/94, 7/24/95, 6/6/97 all from Nippon Budokan) as well as what led up to each of Kawada's challenge.

5/1/98 Tokyo Dome: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada. Kawada finally takes the TC from Misawa. ****1/2

*Sale only $18*

AJ '98 Giant Series Commercial Tape-2hr 5min. Q=Original. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

10/24/98 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Misawa & Takao Omori vs. Kobashi & Jinsei Shinzaki. Main point is Kobashi pins Misawa with his new inverted Death Valley bomb.

10/31/98 Tokyo Nippon Budokan Triple Crown: Kenta Kobashi vs. Mitsuharu Misawa. The best thing about Kobashi not being Misawa's partner, is that they totally have their stuff working opposite each other down pat. They delivered the best men's heavyweight match of 1996 on 3/31, the best men's heavyweight match of 1997 on 1/20, the 3rd best men's heavyweight match of 1997 on 10/21, and now, even with Misawa clearly not at 100%, they produced another awesome match which is probably the third best match of 1998. Most of the credit, as usual, goes to Misawa as he laid out a tremendous match that was more too the style of 1/20/97 than 10/21, which was a plus, IMO. Misawa's psychology was the best it's been this year. Kobashi is still a great worker, and overall he was at his 1998 best here, following Misawa's lead without getting goofy. Match followed the typical storyline of Misawa getting destroyed most of the match. It developed slowly because they were going so long, but the build and utilization of the spots was excellent. Kobashi attacks the neck, as a key is obviously whether he can deliver the inverted Death Valley bomb. Misawa's new Tigerdriver off the apron to the floor was the highlight.

10/11 Nagoya Aichii-ken Taiikukan World Tag Titles: Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue vs. Kobashi & Jun Akiyama. Probably the best AJ tag match of the year. An excellent slow building AJ style long tag match. They did the little things right, the timing was excellent, and the match had great ebb and flow. Kobashi & Akiyama did little to distinguish themselves as a great team, but individually they are excellent, as is Kawada, but his teamwork with Taue after all these years is obviously light years ahead of the new team. Kawada was also, not surprisingly the best seller and most responsible for the psych. What's funny is that the early portion of this match has strikes back and forth as stiff as as Tenryu/Hashimoto 8/1, but it's just taken for granted because it's AJ and the main eventers work stiff and "realistic" there. The second half where things really picked up was mainly what was responsible for the excellence, as the first 10 minutes was more we have time so we'll stiff each other to wear down before we start playing our cards.

10/11 Nagoya Aichii-ken Taiikukan: Misawa vs. Jinsei Shinzaki. Even against Misawa, Shinzaki was still Shinlazy. The first 10 minutes of this match were almost a complete waste, but they picked it up in the second half and Misawa got a good match out of Shinzaki. This was mainly a work and spot match because that's all Shinzaki has to offer, although Misawa handled the praying powerbomb spot in an interesting way. Shinzaki did a swandive plancha over the guard rail which was choice. The main aspect where the match failed was that you never believed for a second that Shinlazy had even the remotest chance of winning.

*sale only $18*

Michinoku Pro

Michinoku Pro Broken Heart Commercial Tape September-December 1996-2 1/2hr. Q=VG/Ex. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

9/23-Hamada & Delfin & Astro & Otsuka vs. Togo & Shiryu & Funaki & Collins ****1/4,

11/12-Sasuke & Hamada & Delfin vs. Togo & Men's & Shiryu-super stretch run ****1/2,

12/9-Sekigun vs. DX Elimination Match: Sasuke & Hamada & Delfin & Naniwa & Tiger Mask 4 vs. Togo & Men's & TAKA & Shiryu & Funaki-Some of the eliminations come too quick, but other than that it's awesome. Naniwa is the man here. ****1/4. 12/16-Sasuke & Hamada & Delfin & Naniwa & Yakushiji vs. Togo & Men's & TAKA & Shiryu & Funaki-there's about 500 people in the crowd, but these guys have an incredible match that's not as good as 10/10/96 but it's on that level and it's the best match these guys have done since 10/10. 25 minutes of one great spot after another with perfect execution. An incredible display of athleticism. *****. 12/17-TAKA vs. Shinzaki-TAKA probably should have just packed it in since he was doing the job to the lazy stiff, but instead he caries Shinzaki to his best match in a long time. 12/20-TAKA vs. Delfin-TAKA's selling is phenominal. First half is fine, but 2nd half, particularly the finishing sequence, is great. ****.

NJ

NJ Shodai Tiger Mask Commercial Tape-1 1/2hr. Q=Near Perfect 1st Gen. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

5/26/82 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukan WWF Jr. Title: Tiger Mask (Satoru Sayama) vs. Black Tiger (Marc Rocco). Solid match with a really hot finish. Very good.

3/30/82: Antonio Inoki & Tatsumi Fujinami & Tiger Mask vs. Masked Superstar & Don Muraco & Steve Wright. Only the portions Tiger worked are shown.

4/1/82 Ryogoku Kokugikan WWF Jr. Title: Tiger vs. Steve Wright. Definite style clash here. Slow paced for a Tiger match. Wright did some cool stuff that you don't see anymore, but after a while the match began to drag when he was on offense. Good.

7/6/82 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukan WWF Jr. Title: Tiger vs. Ultraman. Smooth work. Excellent when it wasn't on the mat. Very good.

7/23/82 Ishikawa: Tiger vs. Dynamite Kid. Awesome match with tremendous performances by both men. Great fluid work. Execution, timing, etc were all top notch. Cool athletic counters and some beautiful sequences. Interesting to see Tiger refusing to break when Dynamite gets the ropes, which leads to a young Bret Hart interfering on Dynamite's behalf. Normally I hate screw jobs, but this might be the most successful count out ever. ****3/4

7/30/82 Nagoya Aichi-ken Taiikukan WWF Jr. Title: Only about 4 minutes shown. Dynamite tries to lend Bret a hand, but it backfires.

8/30/82 NY Madison Square Garden WWF International Junior Heavyweight Title: Tiger vs. Dynamite. Off the charts work. Tremendous while it lasts, but too short and spot intensive. Great match.

NJ The Final Legend Of Tiger Mask Mohko Densetsu (Fierce Tiger Tradition) II Laser Disk-
1st Dimension-2hr. Q=taped directly from the laser disk. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Note : Some matches on this four volume set are edited, and some are shown in complete form.

2/5/82 Sapporo Nakajima Taiiku Center WWF Jr. Title: Tiger Mask vs. Bret Hart-Very good match. Tiger has tremendous flurries, chaining together spots with incredible speed. Bret is very solid, predominantly taking good bumps and providing a base for Tiger's tremendous spots.

3/12/82 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Tiger Mask vs. Blackman-Very good Lucha style match. Blackman was really athletic in his day, but he didn't have high spots that were in the same stratosphere as Sayama's. Mat oriented early, picking up at the 10-minute mark for a great, albiet short, finishing sequence that was highlighted by Sayama exploding through the ropes with a suicida.

3/31/82 Nagoya Aichi Gymnasium: Tiger Mask & Kengo Kimura vs. Steve Wright & Blackman-
Good, but nothing special. Highlights were Wright's cool cartwheel counters and Tiger and Blackman working together at a super speed. Kimura's work was cut out.

2/9/82 Sapporo Nakajima Taiiku Center WWF Jr. Title: Tiger Mask vs. Baby Face-Good match, but Baby Face didn't have anything to offer. Work was solid, but had no heat and wasn't very exciting. After the match, Dynamite demands a title shot because he's the true champion.

4/21/82 Tokyo Sumo Hall WWF Jr. Title: Tiger Mask vs. Black Tiger-Great match with really good work. Peers throwing bombs. Sayama was forced to sell here. Tiger does a really cool slingshot plancha. Finish was kind of lame because Tiger "snapping" didn't make much sense to me.

7/31/82 Osaka Rinkai Sports Center 2/3 Falls: Tatsumi Fujinami & Tiger Mask & Kengo Kimura vs. Greg Valentine & Dynamite Kid & Bret Hart-Good, interesting match. Hart looked really sharp working with Sayama, who got destroyed in this match, as was Kimura. Valentine worked American style and looked totally out of place.

8/5/82 Tokyo Sumo Hall WWF Jr. Title: Tiger Mask vs. Dynamite Kid-Super ***** match. Tremendous work with great speed and fluidity. Really choice counters. The body was really strong and they took it up and down at the right time. Spots were off the chart for 1982, including Sayama using an incredible suicida over the top and even a moonsault. It's hard to believe this match took place 16 years ago.

NJ The Final Legend Of Tiger Mask Mohko Densetsu II Laser Disk-3rd Dimension-2hr. Q=taped directly from the laser disk. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

9/3/82	Fukuoka Sports Center WWF Jr. Title: Tiger Mask vs. Villano III-Hot crowd and beautiful Lucha action, but only 6:38 was shown.

9/10/82 Kumamoto: Tiger Mask vs. Pete Roberts-Worst match from Sayama's prime that I've seen. Roberts didn't want to do anything but rest holds, and he apparently had less no no high spots. Dull. Only notable because Black Tiger attacked Sayama before the match, but Sayama kicked his butt then Roberts tossed Black Tiger to the floor.

10/26/82 Osaka Furitsu Gymnasium WWF Jr. Title: Tiger Mask vs. Kuniaki Kobayashi-Great match. Kobayashi got build and psychology out of Sayama. Matwork was strong and for a purpose, which was not usually the case in a Sayama match. Kobayashi used simple heel techniques, but they were new spots against Sayama and got bigtime heat. Kobayashi worked at a much higher level than most of Sayama's opposition, though it doesn't seem like most people give him credit for what he could do in his day.

1/28/83 Ibaragi: Tiger Mask & Kantaro Hoshino vs. Black Tiger & Jose Estrada-Very good when the Tigers were in together, but generally nothing special.

2/7/83 Tokyo Sumo Hall WWF Jr. Title: Tiger Mask vs. Black Tiger-1/2 the match was shown and it was another **** or better match. Tiger looked better here than in their previous encounters as his arsenal was larger and his work seemed better.

1/20/83 Oita: Tiger Mask vs. Negro Navaro-Just ok. Navaro was unimpressive. Too much time wasting. Signo & Texano jump Sayama after the match, but Kobayashi makes the save.

2/10/83: Tiger Mask & Hoshino -vs- Hamada & Kobayashi-Very good match. Like the NJ junior tag matches of 1997, it had nice work and told a story. Hamada & Kobayashi concentrate on trying to unmask Tiger.

6/2/83 Tokyo Sumo Hall NWA Jr. Title: Tiger Mask vs. Kuniaki Kobayashi-Great match. Excellent work and a hot crowd. Only problem was that the finish was flat.

NJ Nobuhiko Takada Super Fight Memorial Commercial Tape-2 1/2hr. Q=Near Perfect 1st

Generation. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Takada was awesome in the mid 1980's with NJ and these are some of his best matches. Takada had

such an aura even back then, as all but one match is after he returned to NJ after the first incarnation

of the UWF folded. This tape shows a different side to the NJ junior division because there isn't one

match on here that's about flying. This makes the matches on this tape seem much less dated because

stiffness, psychology, crispness, and heat are never really dated, while high spots age fast because the

bar is continually raised. What's cool about this tape is many of the matches are shown in complete

form. Complete listing:

8/12/83 Calgary Victoria Pavilion: Takada vs. Anthole Foley-Foley was unimpressive, dominating

the match mainly through cheating. Takada finally came back with a flurry in the last two minutes to

put him away.

6/17/86 Nagoya Aichi-ken Gymnasium IWGP Junior Title: Takada vs. The

Cobra-great match. Takada's kicks were so stiff it was taking over the junior division by kicking

Cobra right out. Takada was super over, and this had great heat. Cobra was always a really

underrated wrestler, but in this case, that this match was great wasn't his doing.

8/5/86 Tokyo Sumo Hall IWGP Jr. Title: Takada vs. Shiro-This was joined about 15 minutes in, so it was the typical hot Shiro finishing sequence with near falls back and forth for the 6:17 shown. 8/17/86 __ Sports Center IWGP Jr. Title: Takada vs. Yamazaki-very good UWF style match that was a precursor to what these two would go on to do in the ring together in UWF & UWF-I.

9/19/86 Fukuoka Sports Center IWGP Jr. Title: Takada vs. Shiro-only 4:39 was shown, but this appeared to be an incredible match with super heat. Shiro won the title here.

2/5/87 Tokyo Sumo Hall IWGP Jr. Title: Shiro vs. Takada-this is my favorite of the matches vs. Shiro on this tape. The psychology was strong and I liked the storyline of Shiro concentrating on Takada's fingers because it was effective and different. Takada couldn't really get any offense off because everytime they locked up Shiro went back to the fingers. Eventually Takada puts Shiro down with a high kick, but rather than let him up he starts kicking him fiercly. Finish really worked for me because the whole match built up to it.

3/20/87 Tokyo Korakuen Hall IWGP Tag Tean Title League '87 Final: Maeda & Takada vs. Koshinaka & Muto-good match with a hybrid style.

8/19/87 Tokyo Sumo Hall IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title Tournament Round

1: Takada vs. Yamada-brief clip.

8/20/87 Tokyo Sumo Hall IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title Tournament Semifinal: Takada vs. Yamazaki-2 ½ minutes shown.

8/20/87 Tokyo Sumo Hall IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title Tournament Final: Takada vs. Kobayashi-Kobayashi really wasn't over and his offense looked so weak compared to Takada's. Early portion was nothing much with Kobayashi doing matwork, but it turned into a good match with hot near falls back and forth before Kobayashi won the tournament.

3/11/88 Nagoya Aichi-ken Gymnasium IWGP Junior Title: Hase vs. Takada-great match with such precise execution and superb technical work. Basically a technical masterpiece with great heat. On this night, these two looked like the two best workers in the world. They actually did a ref bump so when Takada pinned Hase with his Dragon suplex, there was no one but the fans to count the pinfall.

NJ Super J Cup ~1st Stage~ Commercial Tape 4/16/94 Tokyo Sumo Hall Part 1-1hr 25min. Q=Ex. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Round 1

Malenko vs. Gedo (WAR). Malenko did everything in this match, but Gedo couldn't hold up his end. In Gedo's defense, as usual, Malenko didn't work to his opponents strengths. ***

Otani vs. Delfin (Michinoku Pro). You couldn't tell that these two never worked together before because they really clicked. Damn good work and a hot crowd. Too short. ***3/4

Black Tiger (Guerrero) vs. TAKA (Michinoku Pro). Great match while it lasted. Tiger was awesome. TAKA showed some greeness, but his athletic spots were awesome. ****

Samurai vs. Masayoshi Motegi (SPWF). Samurai did his best. The match had some great spots, but it was marred by the ineptness of Motegi, who even falls off the top rope while trying a plancha. ***

Negro Casas (EMLL) vs. Ricky Fuji (FMW). Casas did a good job carrying the match and his moves were very well set up. Solid and well built, but the typical lack of impact from the Lucha style and wasn't as glamourous as the other matches.

Liger vs. Hayabusa (FMW). Liger carried the match. Hayabusa got to look good doing his great flying, but he blew a couple spots at the end which took the match down a notch. ***3/4

NJ Super J Cup ~1st Stage~ Commercial Tape 4/16/94 Tokyo Sumo Hall Part 2-2hr. Q=Ex. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Round 2

Gedo vs. Delfin. Good showing by Delfin, carrying Gedo to a very good match. ***1/2

Wild Pegasus (Benoit) vs. Black Tiger. These two showed why they are great. Every spot was done to perfection, but the match only going a little over 10 minutes prevented them from reaching the greatness they were capable of. ****

Great Sasuke (Michinoku Pro) vs. Samurai. Excellent work and hot crowd. Very exciting match with an awesome 2nd half, but again too short because like Benoit, Sasuke had to work 3 matches in 1 night. ****1/4

Liger vs. Fuji. Fuji was really outclassed and pretty much sucked. Liger tried to carry him, but Fuji made some spots look bad by taking lousy bumps. Liger does a rare diving footstomp to the floor. ***

semifinals

Wild Pegasus vs. Gedo. Gedo once again proved to be carryable, and Benoit was by far the best of his 3 opponents on this night so this was Gedo's best of the show. Benoit's offense was great, and Gedo generally did a good job of selling it. All spots. ***3/4

Liger vs. Sasuke. Absolutely tremendous match with great work, build, timing, and some incredible spots. Would have been 5 stars if the Sasuke wouldn't have slipped off the top rope near the finish, but even that didn't hurt too badly because Liger did a good job of covering it by mocking Sasuke and the crowd still popped huge for the surprise upset win. ****3/4

final

Pegasus vs. Sasuke. One of the best junior matches ever! Beautiful and perfect action with awesome work, great athleticism, perfect execution, and great flow. Tremendous spots, including more suicidal dives by Sasuke. A 1990's version of Tiger Mask Sayama vs. Dynamite Kid. *****

NJ The Skydiving-J Junior 8 Title Match Commercial Tape 6/17/96 Tokyo Nippon BudokanHall-2hr 25min. Q=Near Perfect 1st Gen. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

International Junior Heavyweight Tag Titles: Yuji Yasuraoka & Lance Storm (WAR team) vs. Norio Honaga & El Samurai. You could tell these guys weren't familiar with each other. It was good and spots, and sloppy in others, but it turned into a good match. **3/4

NWA World Junior Heavyweight Title: Masayoshi Motegi (Wrestle Yume Factory) vs. Shiryu (Michinoku Pro). Shiryu carried the match, but Motegi is so not so very good. Motegi was sloppy as usual and he blew the finish. **

NWA World Junior Light Heavyweight Title: Gran Hamada (Michinoku Pro) vs. Tatsuhito Takaiwa. Hamada carried the match. He sold for Takaiwa and made him look good despite his small move set. Takaiwa's breakout match. ***1/4

Vacant UWA World Light Heavyweight Title: Shinjiro Otani vs. Kazushi Sakuraba (UWF-I). Otani once again showed his diversity here. He worked to the strength of the opposition, and in the process had a great short UWF style bout. Exciting and dramatic. Otani captures the title. ****1/4

CMLL World Welterweight Title: Super Delfin (Michinoku Pro) vs. TAKA Michinoku (Michinoku Pro). Great puro-lucha. TAKA is great here for both wrestling and attitude, and Delfin is able to hold up his end. TAKA's flying is fantastic, especially his new invention the double springboard plancha. ****1/2

International Junior Heavyweight Title: Ultimo Dragon (WAR) vs. Gran Naniwa (Michinoku Pro).

This was great in spots, but there were way too many blown spots. Another match where Naniwa fails to deliver when in with an opponent he's not used to working with. ***1/4

British Junior Title: Dick Togo vs. Jushin Thunder Liger. Best singles match of Togo's career. What was interesting here was that Liger was brutalizing Togo, while Togo didn't really play heel at all. Togo instead displayed some of the flying he used to display when he was Sato (pre heel turn). Great spots and perfect execution. Togo sold really well, and Liger did a great job of carrying him. Togo probably needed to push Liger a little more. ****3/4

IWGP Junior Title: The Great Sasuke (Michinoku Pro) vs. Black Tiger. Disappointing slow-paced match. Some great spots, but the early portion didn't lead anywhere and it never really got hot. ***

NJ 96 G-1 Climax Part 3 ~All or Nothing~ J-Crown Junior 8 Title Tournament 8/2-8/5 TokyoSumo Hall Commercial Tape-2hr. Q=Near Perfect 1st Gen. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

*Note the winner of each match unifies every title that the two wrestlers possess, so the winner of the tournament winds up with all 8 titles*

8/2 Quarterfinals

IWGP Jr. Title vs. NWA World Jr. Heavyweight Title: The Great Sasuke (Michinoku Pro) vs. Masayoshi Motegi (Wrestle Yume Factory). Great performance by Sasuke. Solid match with Motegi attacking Sasuke's bad knee, and Sasuke putting it over well. Motegi's execution wasn't pefect, as always. ***1/2

International Jr. Heavyweight Title vs. British Jr. Heavyweight Title: Ultimo Dragon (WAR) vs. Jushin Thunder Liger (NJ). Excellent while it lasted, but it was only 2:38. It was a big disappointment considering who was involved, but Liger had a brain tumor so it was kept short. Ultimo got an incredible sustained pop for the shocking early finish, and going home so soon got over the idea that these matches could end quickly, thus the fans would pop for near falls even if it was "too soon" for the finish. **1/2

8/3 Quarterfinals

NWA World Light Heavyweight Title vs. NWA World Welterweight Title: Shinjiro Otani (NJ) vs. Negro Casas (EMLL). Casas carried as they were working his style. It was a very good match, but it lacked heat early because it was so Lucha oriented. Otani once again shows his versatility. ***3/4

WWF World Light Heavyweight Title vs. NWA World Jr. Lightheavyweight Title: El Samurai (NJ) vs. Gran Hamada (Michinoku Pro). Just as the match was getting hot Hamada blew out his knee on a plancha. Later on, he blew out his shoulder taking Samurai's nadare shiki no backdrop. In spite of this, they did all the planned spots and there were some really nice moves. **3/4

8/4 Semifinals

Ultimo Dragon vs. Shinjiro Otani. Incredible match. Both men were really at the top of their games here. Super work and tremendous crowd response. Everything ws so smooth and well executed. Exciting and dramatic. Some awesome sequences. ****3/4

The Great Sasuke vs. El Samurai. Spectacular match with great work and awesome high spots. ****1/4

8/5 Final

Sasuke vs. Ultimo. This had all the makings of a great match. It built really well and the timing was perfect. Both men displayed great skill and athleticism. Unfortuanatel, in the biggest match of his life, Sasuke came up short on his tope con hilo and cracked his skull. Sasuke told the ref he had to go home as soon as possible, but Ultimo wasn't clued in, so he actually kicks out of the finish. Sasuke captures J Crown. ****1/4

NJ Tokon (Fighting Spirit) V Special Volume 36-'97 Best of the Super Jr IV Best Bout-1 1/2hr. Q=Ex. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

5/16/97 Kiryu: Liger vs. Chavo Guerrero Jr. ** range

5/20/97 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Otani vs. Yoshihiro Tajiri. ***3/4

5/20/97 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Koji Kanemoto vs. Tatsuhito Takaiwa. **1/2

5/24/97 Okayama: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Gran Naniwa. ***

5/26/97 Takamatsushi Sogo Taiikukan: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Tatsuhito Takaiwa. ****

5/26/97 Takamatsu Sogo Taiikukan: Koji Kanemoto vs. Ian Doc Dean.

6/1/97 Odawara Arena: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Koji Kanemoto. ****3/4

6/3/97 Yamagata: El Samurai vs. Shinjiro Otani. ****1/4

RINGS

FIGHTING NETWORK RINGS on WOWOW FIGHTING-EXTENSION Vol. 7 taped 9/26/97 Sapporo Nakajima Taiiku Center-1hr 55min. Q=VG/EX

*reviewed in forthcoming Quebrada*

Kochkin Youri vs. Malcol Nay. Bad.

Joop Kasteel vs. Peter Williams. Ok

Wataru Sakata vs. Valentijn Overeem. Short, but cool finish.

Frank Shamrock vs. Tsuyoshi Kousaka. Arguably the best shoot match of 1997.

Akira Maeda vs. Andrei Kopilov. Pretty good.

Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Volk Han. Off the charts.

U.W.F.

U.W.F. Best Bout '88 Laser Disk-2hr. Q=Taped Directly from Laser Disk. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

*These matches are edited down to around half of their original length*

U.W.F. STARTING OVER (debut show of 2nd coming of UWF) 5/12/88 Tokyo Korakuen Hall

Akira Maeda vs. Kazuo Yamazaki. Dramatic and stiff. Not really credible by todays standards due to it being too flashy and containing too many quick comebacks, but it was exciting. Very good.

U.W.F. STARTING OVER 6/11/88 Sapporo Nakajima

Maeda vs. Nobuhiko Takada. Great work, but the comebacks were too quick and the selling was weak. Stiff and exciting with tons of near finishes back and forth. Great.

U.W.F. THE PROFESSIONAL BOUT 8/13/88 Tokyo Ariake Coliseum

Takada vs. Yamazaki. These two used to have such great matches. It's a shame that Yamazaki's standing fell so much in UWF-I to the point where it was obvious he'd be putting Takada over yet again. All kinds of big blows and submissions. Great match.

Mixed Match: Maeda vs. Gerard Gordeau. Boring. Maeda just walks around and Gordeau throws weak blows.

Battle of Slow Motion. These segments are highlights of the big blows in slow motion so you can see how "devestating and real" they are. These segments show brutal strikes and devestating suplexes. Really cool.

UWF FIGHTING NETWORK 1988 9/24 SAT HAKATA

Yoji Anjo vs. Shigeo (Yuko) Miyato. Mainly strikes back and forth. Miyato's strikes look cool, but don't hit hard enough. Anjo does a great job selling here. Good.

Tatsuo Nakano vs. Tsuehito Naito. Mainly standup with Nakano dominating a decent short bout.

Maeda vs. Yamazaki. Very good bout that was pretty even with them trading the advantage, but it wasn't meant to be a MOTY type of match. Maeda beats Yamazaki again(:.

U.W.F. FIGHTING NETWORK 1988 11.10 THU NAGOYA

Nakano vs. Miyato. Good match, but very obviously worked. Some great kicks, but some looked too pulled.

Takada vs. Maeda. Very good bout with Takada looking great. Great comeback by Takada for his first win over Maeda, which was considered a risky move at the time but was definitely a wise decision.

OSAKA SUPER BOUT December 22, 1988 HEART-BEAT U.W.F

Takada vs. Bob Backlund. Interesting to see Backlund in this style. He had a few tricks up his sleeze, and running for office wasn't one of them. This was really heated. Backlund's mannerisms were really out of place. He also reacted differently than a normal shooter would. Takada was awesome in this match though and that combined with a great atmosphere were the keys to this being great.

U.W.F. Official Rule & UWF Best Bout '89 Laser Disk Side 1-2hr. Q=Taped directly from Laser Disk. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

U.W.F. Official Rule

This documents what techniques are legal, gives profiles of the fighters, demonstrates how to apply the holds, etc. A lot of this is in English, so it's not hard to follow. Very interesting. The highlights is once again the Battle of Slow motion.

According to U.W.F. their 10 best bouts of 1988-89 were:

10. Nagoya Fujiwara vs. Suzuki 6/14/89 Nagoya

9. Anjo vs. Funaki 6/14/89 Nagoya

8. Miyato vs. Anjo 9/24/88 Hakata

7. Maeda vs. Yamazaki 5/12/88 Tokyo

6. Takada vs. Funaki 8/13/89 Yokohama

5. Takada vs. Maeda 11/10/88 Nagoya

4. Yamazaki vs. Takada 8/13/88 Tokyo

3. Funaki vs. Nakano 7/24/89 Fukuoka

2. Fujiwara vs. Yamazaki 7/24 Fukuoka

1. Takada vs. Maeda 1/10/89 Tokyo

U.W.F. Best Bout '89 Side 1

*These matches are edited down to around half of their original length*

U.W.F. DYNAMISM BUDOKAN SUPER BOUT 1/10/89 Tokyo Nippon Budokan

Yamazaki vs. Trevor "Power" Clarke. This is wrestler vs. kickboxers and it's one of the best mixed matches I've seen. Yamazaki is great and Clarke really looks like he's fighting for his life everytime Yamazaki grabs him. Very good.

Takada vs. Maeda. Great match with all kinds of submissions and big blows back and forth. Probably the best bout of the 2nd coming of the U.W.F.

U.W.F. FIGHTING BASE TOKUSHIMA PROFESSIONAL WRESTLING 2/27/89

Takada vs. Yamazaki. Very good match. Yamazaki's kicks look weak when compared to Takada's.

U.W.F. Core THE 1st ANNIVERSARY 4/14/89 Tokyo Korakuen Hall

Maeda vs. Yamazaki. Yamazaki headbutted Maeda, but his own head was badly bloodied from it. Yamazaki wanted to fight, but the doctor stopped the bout. This was UWF's way of doing a screw job.

The Battle of Slow Motion

U.W.F. Best Bout '89 Laser Disk Side 2 & 3-2hr. Q=Taped directly from Laser Disk. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

*These matches are edited down to around half of their original length*

U.W.F. MAY HISTORY KICK, SUBMISSION, & SUPLEX PROFESSIONAL WRESTLING 5/14 1st-Osaka Baseball Stadium

Maeda vs. Chris Doleman. Match was nothing special, but Maeda was really over.

U.W.F. MAY HISTORY KICK, SUBMISSION, & SUPLEX PROFESSIONAL WRESTLING 5/21 2nd-Tokyo Bay NK Hall

Minoru Suzuki vs. Kiyoshi Tamura. Tamura's debut. Ok.

Maeda vs. Yamazaki. Yamazaki really rocks Maeda here. Incredibly dangerous captured suplex by Maeda. Very good.

U.W.F. FIGHTING SQUARE 6/14 Nagoya Live

Anjo vs. Masaharu (Masakatsu) Funaki. This really had its moments. Good.

U.W.F. FIGHTING SQUARE 7/24 Fukuoka Live

Funaki vs. Nakano. Great match. Funaki was awesome. Nakano bleeds heavily from the nose, but he continues and shows a lot of heart in the process.

Yamazaki vs. Fujiwara. Fujiwara just isn't on the level of Takada, Yamazaki, or Maeda as a worker. Pretty good.

U.W.F. MIDSUMMER CREATION THE PROFESSIONAL BOUT "YOKOHAMA" 8/13/89 (SUN) Yokohama Arena

Takada vs. Funaki. What makes these guys so cool is that they are always so calm and have so much poise. That and that fact they are tremendous at what they do, of course. Great bout with both men being excellent. Lots of big strikes.

U.W.F. FIGHTING BASE NAGOYA PROFESSIONAL WRESTLING 9/7/89 (Thursday)

Yamazaki vs. Suzuki. Good.

Maeda vs. Miyato. There was a moment when it looked like Miyato was going to win, so this was competitive even though Miyato was really outranked. Good.

FIGHTING ART U.W.F SAPPORO PROFESSIONAL WRESTLING 10/25/89

Anjo vs. Suzuki. Suzuki was already better than Anjo. Suzuki does a running dropkick with Anjo in the corner, which is funny to see given today's Suzuki. Very even match. Very good.

Maeda vs. Tamura. Tamura was badly overmatched. Ok.

Takada vs. Fujiwara. Really close match, but Fujiwara is too limited for this the great match it was booked to have been. Good.

U-COSMOS 11/29 Tokyo Dome

Suzuki vs. Maurice Smith. Rounds style mixed match.

Fujiwara vs. Dick Leon Vrij. Same as above. Bad.

Takada vs. Duane Koslowski. Striker vs. wrestler. Takada made this really good.

Maeda vs. Willy Wilhelm. Slow motion match. This looked awful.

UWF-I

UWF-I The Fight of Champions Commercial Tape 5/6/93 Tokyo Nippon Budokan Hall+UWF-I '94 Pro Wrestling World Tournament Final Commercial Tape 8/18/94+New Japan History of the Fight Commercial Tape Volume 2-6hr. Q=1st Gen. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

The Fight of Champions

Bad News Allen vs. Takayama-Bad News carried the match, and it wasn't terrible, but it was very one-sided and basic.

Jean Lydick & Tom Burton vs. Kakihara & Anjoh-Good match with rivals Kakihara & Lydick tearing it up. Lydick was really good here.

Yuko Miyato vs. Yamazaki-Very good match. Work was really good, and the match was very exciting because there were a ton of near finishes.

Sano vs. Tamura-Very good match. Highly technical and extremely solid.

Tatsuo Nakano vs. Super Vader-Really heated match, with the fans fully behind the underdog native Nakano. Basically a squash, but that type of win was the perfect way to get their new monster, Vader, over huge.

Albright vs. Dennis Koslowski-Decent match with Koslowski dominating the mat, and trying his best to avoid Gary's killer suplexes. Good psychology and a good job of getting Gary's suplexes over as lethal.

Dan Severn vs. Nobuhiko Takada-Severn was pretty clueless, but it was interesting to watch Takada struggle to figure out what he could do with him. He gave Severn openings, but Severn didn't take them. Not too dramatic and well below Takada's usual standard.

'94 Pro Wrestling World Tournament Final

Highlights of the first three rounds

Hiromitsu Kanehara vs. Bad News Allen-Pretty good with Kanehara showing potential

Mark Silver vs. Takayama-0:37 DUD

Kakihara & Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Lydick & Billy Scott-Very good match that was great and really heated when Kakihara and Lydick were facing off. Everyone looked good, and it was exciting as the match went down to the wire.

Miyato vs. Salmon Hashimikov-Work was fine, but the match was very one-sided.

Nakano vs. Yamazaki-Disappointing match with a strong finish, but not a lot before that.

Anjoh & Sano vs. Victor Zangiev & Vladmir Berkovich-A few really stiff shots, but the work wasn't very good.

'94 Pro Wrestling World Tournament 3rd Place Match: Tamura vs. Albright-Tamura did a super job here, getting as much out of Gary as anyone other than Kawada & Takada were able to. Heated match, with the crowd really pulling for a Tamura upset. They really worked their way to Gary's suplexes, with all the teases of them getting over huge. Psychology was strong as Tamura, who was really outsized, tried to keep it on the mat and win the the juji gatame, while Albright kept working to KO Tamura with a suplex. Just an excellent performance by Tamura

'94 Pro Wrestling World Tournament Final & Undisputed World Heavyweight Title Match: Super Vader vs. Takada-Incredible match that's as exciting as anything that can be done within the context of a shoot. Everything was on the line here and these two just threw bombs for 20 minutes to try and come home as the "top fighter in the world." Tremendous stiffness, to the point it was as stiff as anything you'll ever see. Takada's kicks were awesome. Vader's eye was a mess after the match. Great heat and work. Tremendous performance by both men, who were clearly out to put on a classic, and succeeded. Maybe a record number of knockdowns. Such a great match that the fans scream Vader after the match even though he just beat their hero and took his title in the process. MUST SEE!

NJ History of the Fight Part 2

This details the key events in NJ from 1981-1986. Everything is shown in highlight form, typically lasting about a minute. Tons of Inoki, Fujinami, and Choshu.

WAR

WAR Super J Cup 95 Commercial Tape 12/13/95 Tokyo Sumo Hall-4 1/2 hr. Q=VG. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Lion Heart vs. Nakajima, Liger vs. Naniwa, Pegasus vs. Lion Heart-4 1/2, Ultimo vs. Otani-4

1/4, Liger vs. Ultimo-4 1/2, Pegasus vs. Gedo-4 1/4, Rey Jr vs. Psicosis-4 1/2, Liger vs. Gedo-Liger wins Super J Cup 95, more!

AJW

AJW KORAKUEN SUPER CHARGE Commercial Tape 1/4/92 Tokyo Korakuen Hall-2hr 55min. Q=Original. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Miori Kamiya & Kaoru Ito & Mayumi Yamamoto vs. Tomoko Watanabe & Kazue Saito & Akemi Torisu. *1/2

Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda vs. Takako Inoue & Mariko Yoshida. **

Debbie Malenko & Sakie Hasegawa vs. Suzuka Minami & Yumiko Hotta. ***1/4

Bull Nakano & Bat Yoshinaga vs. Jungle Jack (Aja Kong & Bison Kimura). ***1/4

Heartbeat The Rival Bout '92: Manami Toyota vs. Toshiyo Yamada. ****3/4

IWA World Women's Title: Kyoko Inoue vs. Akira Hokuto. ****3/4

*Sale Only two T-120's for $30*

AJW WRESTLE MARINEPIAD '92 Commercial Tape 4/25/92 Yokohama Bunka Taiikukan- 2hr 40min. Q=Original. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

*1992 Wrestling Observer Newsletter Best Major Wrestling Card Winner*

Yumiko Hotta & Suzuka Minami & Mima Shimoda vs. Miori Kamiya & Kaoru Ito & Tomoko Watanabe. Short fast-paced spot intensive match. Suzuka & Hotta looked really good. Their execution was crisp, but the others often didn't have enough on their spots and the basic wrestling of the younger wrestlers wasn't all that great. **1/4

Shootboxing: Bat Yoshinaga vs. Akemi Torisu. This was the style you'd see in a toughman contest. The technique was poor, but it had a ton of action as they were both bangers with poor defense. Torisu was incredibly active, but she almost never kicked and her punches were swooping roundhouses. Bat's strikes looked much better and did more damage, but her defense was lame.

AJ Tag Titles: Debbie Malenko & Sakie Hasegawa vs. Takako Inoue & Mariko Yoshida. These four were still learning, but they worked their asses off. It was a solid match with a hot final third. The problem was they, especially Sakie, missed some spots. Yoshida and Malenko were the two best and they worked well together. Mat work needed to be more focused. Takako & Yoshida win titles. ***3/4

IWA World Women's Title: Kyoko Inoue vs. Manami Toyota. This is a great match due to the work and high spots. Last 5 minutes are particularly excellent with Toyota going a tope, a plancha, and a super quebrada in succession. Unfortunately, Toyota's comebacks made Super Koji's look good. Toyota wins title. ****3/4

All Pacific Title: Bison Kimura vs. Toshiyo Yamada. They worked the typical Bison style match with her carrying. It was a solid match with pretty much everything done looking good, but it was fairly traditional with few chances taken. A good match, mainly built around Bison's blazing chops, but the action failed to get hot and the crowd never really got into it. ***1/4

WWWA World Singles Title: Bull Nakano vs. Aja Kong. An excellent battle of the monsters. These two did some great moves for their size, including Bull doing a rolling guillotine leg drop and a moonsault and Aja doing a plancha, but what made this great is they knew how and when to use them. Bull carried this match and had a great performance as Aja wasn't all that great at this point. I don't want to make this sound like a high spot match because it was the typical brutal match from these two, complete with double juice. ****1/2

*Sale Only $20*

AJW Japan Grand Prix '92 Part 1 Commercial Tape 6/21/92 Tokyo Korakuen Hall-3hr. Q=Original. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Bat Yoshinaga & Tomoko Watanabe vs. Saemi Numata & Akemi Torisu. 1/2*

Suzuka Minami & Rie Tamada & Cynthia Moreno vs. Yumiko Hotta & Miori Kamiya & Kaoru Ito. *1/4

Japan Grand Prix '92: Mariko Yoshida vs. Sakie Hasegawa. ***3/4

Japan Grand Prix '92: Aja Kong vs. Bison Kimura. ****1/2

Kyoko Inoue & Takako Inoue vs. Bull Nakano & Akira Hokuto. ****

Manami Toyota vs. Toshiyo Yamada. *****

*Sale Only two T-120's for $30*

AJW Mid Summer Typhoon Commercial Tape 8/15/92 Tokyo Korakuen Hall-2hr. Q=Original. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Rie Tamada & The Goddess Chikako Hasegawa vs. Saemi Numata & Akemi Torisu. A glorified rookie style tag match. Tamada was the best of the 4, but no one did anything to make you think they'd turn into a great wrestler. *

Terri Power & Miori Kamiya vs. Tomoko Watanabe & Kumiko Watanabe. This is when Power & Kamiya were members of Jungle Jack. They made short work of their opponents. Watanabe was actually the best of the 4 despite her team getting dominated. Power misses one of the most debacled pescados in history. *1/4

Bat Yoshinaga vs. Kaoru Ito. Ito showed a lot of potential here as she out toughed the tough woman Bat en route to the upset win. For the most part this was a stiff match, but some spots didn't have enough on them. **

Kyoko Inoue & Takako Inoue & Mariko Yoshida vs. Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda & Cynthia Moreno. They expected nice high spots and strong work. Mita's team played heel, so that added a dimension. Basically everyone did their spots and got out. Kyoko was the best of the 6. ***

Fuji Television Tag Tournament Mid Summer Typhoon'92 Final: Bull & Aja vs. Akira Hokuto & Toshiyo Yamada. This match had an excellent story. Long time rivals Bull & Aja finally form a tag team, but its the Hokuto & Yamada team that doesn't get along, as heel Hokuto didn't want to team with face Yamada. Hokuto actually attacks her partner during the pre-match interview. The dissention continues throughout the match, predominantly build around Yamada trying to stop Hokuto from using her staff (or whatever that thing is). This wouldn't have been all that good in America because these kind of dissention angles are so overdone, but in Japan they are rare and unlike most of the American matches, this had the work to back it up. ****1/4

Manami Toyota vs. Yamada. IWA Title Hair vs. Hair match: Toyota vs. Yamada-You had two "best friends" and partners battling it out for the title and their hair. Incredible match with great emotion, drama, heat, and intensity. Started out fast, but no one could get the advantage then slowed, but picked up at the 10 minute mark for nearly 10 minutes of great near falls before Toyota Japanese Ocean Cyclone Suplexed Yamada to retain her hair and the title. Great post match with Toyota cutting some of her own hair instead of Yamada's. She had to be restrained by the other wrestlers from breaking up the hair cut, but the teary eyed Toyota got free a few times to temporarily postpone it. Toyota & Yamada hugged after the shaving to a big pop and then a Yamada chant erupted. One of the best women's singles matches of all-time. My only gripe is that the execution could have a bit crisper. The amazing thing about this match is that it came right after Yamada had worked a great tag match, although and most everything else really pales in comparison to this. *****

*sale only $18*

AJW DREAM RUSH Kawasaki Yume (dream) Toso (struggle/fight/conflict) Commercial Tape 11/26/92 Kawasaki Shi Taiikukan-4hr 20min. Q=Original. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda vs. Miori Kamiya & The Goddess Chikako Hasegawa. *3/4

AJ Single Title: Tomoko Watanabe vs. Kaoru Ito. Ito wins title. ***

Tag League The Best '92: Takako Inoue & Terri Power vs. Suzuka Minami & Yumiko Hotta. **

All Pacific Title: Kyoko Inoue vs. Akira Hokuto. Hokuto wins title. ****1/2

Bison Kimura retirement ceremony

WWWA World Martial Arts Title: Bat Yoshinaga vs. Kyoko Kamikaze

Sakie Hasegawa & Debbie Malenko vs. Erika Tsuchiya & Yoshika Maedomari (FMW team). *1/2

WWWA World Single Title: Bull Nakano vs. Aja Kong. Aja wins title. ***3/4

2/3 Falls WWWA World Tag Titles: Toshiyo Yamada & Manami Toyota vs. Dynamite Kansai & Mayumi Ozaki (JWP team). Probably the best women's tag match ever. *****

*Sale Only one T-120 & one T-160 for $38*

AJW All Japan Women's Pro Wrestling 25th Anniversary Yume no All Star Ikusa (All Star War of Dreams) ALL STAR DREAMSLAM 4/2/93 Yokohama Arena. 6 1/2hr. Q=Original

This show is just incredible. Absolute must see. One of the three best shows in the history of wrestling, perhaps the best ever!

Plum Mariko & Hikari Fukuoka (JWP team) vs. Sakie Hasegawa & Kaoru Ito ****1/4

Terri Power & Saemi Numata vs. Shark Tsuchiya & Crusher Maedomari (FMW team) 1/4*

Mima Shimoda & Tomoko Watanabe vs. Infernal Kaoru & Ultima Tigrita (EMLL) ***1/2

Suzuka Minami & Etsuko Mita vs. Rumi Kazama & Miki Handa (LLPW) ***3/4

WWWA Martial Arts Title: Bat vs. Susan Howard

Memorial Superfight: Chigusa Nagayo vs. Devil Masami ****

Kyoko Inoue & Takako Inoue vs. Mayumi Ozaki & Cuty Suzuki (JWP team) ****3/4.

Aja Kong & Bull Nakano vs. Eagle Sawai & Harley Saito (LLPW team) ****

Yumiko Hotta vs. Dynamite Kansai (JWP team) ****

Akira Hokuto vs. Shinobu Kandori(LLPW) Must see. Arguably the best women's singles match ever. *****

Toshiyo Yamada & Manami Toyota vs. Combat Toyoda & Megumi Kudo ****

*Sale Only One T-120 & two T-160's for $55

AJW All Japan Women's Pro Wrestling 25th Anniversary Yume no All Star Ikusa (All Star War of Dreams) ALL STAR DREAMSLAM 2 4/11/93 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan. 5hr 10 min. Q=Original.

I could write just about the same heading for this show as I did DREAMSLAM 1. Again, a must see show that's one of the three best shows ever! Again, I'll probably write a review, but my ratings the last time I saw it were...

Sakie Hasegawa vs. Hikari Fukuoka (JWP). ***1/2

Kaoru Ito & Tomoko Watanabe & Saemi Numata vs. Utako Hozumi & Leo Kitamura & Mikiko Futagami (LLPW team). **1/2

Terri Power & Bat Yoshinaga vs. Rumi Kazami & Miki Handa (LLPW team). **

Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda vs. Combat Toyoda & Megumi Kudo (FMW team). ****

Kyoko Inoue & Takako Inoue & Yumiko Hotta vs. Cuty Suzuki & Plum Mariko & Bolshoi Kid (JWP team). This is the classic match where Hotta punts The Damn Clown. ****1/4

Suzuka Minami vs. Harley Saito (LLPW). ****1/4

Memorial Superfight: Chigusa Nagayo vs. Bull Nakano. ***

Aja Kong & Akira Hokuto vs. Shinobu Kandori & Eagle Sawai (LLPW team). ****

2/3 Falls WWWA World Tag Championship: Toshiyo Yamada & Manami Toyota vs. Dynamite Kansai & Mayumi Ozaki. Awesome match! Perhaps the 2nd best women's tag match ever, trailing their first meeting. 1993 Observer Match of the Year. *****

*Sale only Two T-160's for $40

AJW JAPAN GRAND PRIX '93 V 8/21/93 Tokyo Korakuen Hall-3hr. Q=Original.

Buddhaman vs. Tsunokake-DUD

Handicap Match: The Goddess Shiratori & ASARI vs. Watanabe-Watanabe dominated both opponents. Her work was pretty good, but the other two weren't very good and their offense was basic. *

Shimoda & Numacchi vs. Minami & Mita-Mima & Suzuka were very good and worked really well together. "Numacchi in the middle" was funny. ***

Bull vs. Bat-Surprisingly good. Bull sold for most of the first 11 ½ minutes, which gave Bat credibility. Bull does a vicious powerbomb where she drops Bat almost like a Tiger Driver '91. ***

Japan Grand Prix '93 Semifinal-Toyota vs. Hokuto-Great match, of course, with super work and great build. Heated and intense as hell. Hokuto carried the match, instilling her top notch drama and psychology. Hokuto was working with a blown out knee, so Toyota attacked it fiercely, and Hokuto sold the knee incredibly well. ****1/2.

Japan Grand Prix'93 Semifinal-Hotta vs. Harley Saito-Both women kicked the hell out of each other. Lots of mirror spots. Hotta didn't look good here. **3/4.

Aja & Infernal KAORU & Ito vs. Yamada & Kyoko & Takako-Very good and exciting match. Nice work. Aja & Yamada were the best. ***3/4.

Japan Grand Prix '93 Final: Hokuto vs. Hotta-Hokuto carried the one-dimensional Hotta to a dramatic and memorable final. Hotta began her all out attack on Hokuto's bad knee with powerful kicks before the bell even rang. Hokuto's selling was excellent, making the match seem "realistic." Very strong psychology, great storyline, and excellent build to a climactic finish. Hall of Fame performance by Hokuto. Hokuto wins Japan Grand Prix '93. ****1/4.

*Sale only two T-120's for $30 or with any tape that's 2 1/2hr or more on three T-120's for $50.

AJW Budokan Legacy of Queens Commercial Tape 8/25/93 Tokyo Nippon Budokan Hall-6hr. Q=1st Generation. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Watanabe & Numacchi & The Goddess Shiratori vs. Utako Hozumi & Yasha Kurenai & Mizuki Endo. Basically all spots at a fast pace, but no one really had many spots. Match was average, but it just kind of went along. *3/4

Sky High Fantasy Land: Infernal KAORU & ASARI vs. Bolshoi Kid & Candy. This match was ruined by the damn clown, who was at her annoying worst. If you can withstand Bolshoi's early antics, there's some nice gymnastics and choice high spots, but even KAORU & ASARI almost left because Bolshoi was such a joker. Worst match on the show due to bad comedy and meaningless spots. Mariko Yoshida refs this. *

Elimination Match: Bull & Suzuka Minami & Mita & Shimoda & Bat Yoshinaga vs. Eagle & Harley & Miki Handa & Yukari Osawa & Leo Kitamura. Surprisingly great match. Lightning fast workrate with excellent set up of spots. Booking was great, with everyone in AJW getting a bone and Eagle getting put over huge despite eventually doing the job, even though the storyline was "all wrong" because the home team (AJW) got a 5-2 lead. Really heated. Harley was best of these ten here. ****1/2

Over the Idol ~Summer Heroine Series~:Takako vs. Cuty. Solid match with Takako doing a good job of carrying Cuty. ***1/4

Yamada & Ito vs. Kudo & Yukie Nabeno. Despite Yukie Nabeno lacking everything, the other three, particularly Yamada, made this a very good exciting match. Pretty simple match that built well and everyone was utilized in a way they could impress the crowd. ***1/2

Kyoko vs. Kandori. Kyoko worked within the limitations of what Kandori can do, but it was a really exciting match with all kinds of false finishes. ****1/4

High Tension Triple Impact: Hotta & Toyota & Sakie vs. Ozaki & Plum & Hikari. Toyota style workrate match. Lightning fast pace with everyone using most of the spots in their arsenal. Really exciting with excellent ringwork. Hotta was the best, with perfect execution and timing. ****1/2

All Pacific Title: Hokuto vs. Kazama. Tremendous performance by Hokuto, who was working with blown out knee and broken bone in her back. Rumi is mediocre at best, but Hokuto carried her to a dramatic match with great selling. ****

WWWA Title: Aja vs. Kansai. Battle of the champions of the respective promotions. Mega stiffness. Beginning is fairly weak, but gets dramatic, heated, and generally awesome. ****

AJW Wrestlemarinepiad 93 Commercial Tape 10/9/93 Tokyo Bay NK Hall-4 ½hr. Q=1st Gen. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Captains Fall Elimination match: Shimoda & Ito & The Goddess Shiratori & ASARI vs. Cuty &

Plum & Fukuoka & Bolshoi ****1/4, Sakie & Takako vs. Kandori & Yasha, Kyoko vs. Devil ****1/2, Toyota vs. Ozaki ****1/4, Kansai vs. Yamada ****1/2, The Marinepiad Biggest WWWA World Singles Title: Aja vs. Hokuto

AJW 1993 Tag League The Best Finals Commercial Tape 12/10/93 Tokyo Korakuen Hall-2hr. Q=Ex HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Mita & Shimoda vs. Ito & Watanabe, Toyota & Hokuto vs. Kyoko & Yamada-final match in league portion ****3/4, Toyota & Hokuto vs. Kyoko & amada-1993 tag tourney final occured right after previous match ****3/4 Toyota & Hokuto win tag tourney, more!

AJW Commercial Tape 1/24/94 Tokyo Ota-ku Taiikukan Part 2-1hr 40min. Q=Near Perfect 1st Gen. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Bull Nakano vs. Kyoko Inoue. The first 2/3 was very slow-paced with too many submission holds. Kyoko accidentally got her ankle caught in the ropes and was screaming in pain so they had to untie her. Althogh Kyoko was a little hobbled, the match really picked up from there, turning into an excellent match in the last third. The fans got really into this, particularly when Kyoko kicked out of and avoided Bull's guillotine leg drop finisher. This match would have been much better if it was 17 minutes instead of 27. Bull pretty much dictated the entire match. ***1/2

2/3 Falls WWWA World Tag Titles: Toshiyo Yamada & Manami Toyota vs. Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda. All action. Excellent work. All the big spots. Near perfect execution over a 35 minute match. Hot crowd that was really pulling for the upset. 3rd wall was particularly awesome. Yamada, who was still at the top of her game here, was the standout. Toyota was the 2nd best. Problem with this match is that the past was so fast that there wasn't much selling. Even after 30 minutes of big spots they didn't slow the pace or do anything to show that all these great moves were taking their toll. ****1/2

WWWA World Singles Title: Aja Kong vs. Yumiko Hotta. This was just brutal. It was worked to look like a "real fight," as they were really intense and they stiffed each other back and forth. Another heated match. Hotta got a cut on her hand from one of the times she hit Aja in the head and it bled like crazy. Aja worked over the hand, which was cool because it's not something you see done often. At one point they wrapped it up in gauze, but it wasn't going to be much help so Hotta threw it off to show her toughness. Actually, Hotta did a great job of putting over the brutal beating Aja was dishing out without compromising her tough woman gimmick. The problem with this match is that it was rather onesided, which did kind of compromise Hotta's gimmick. ****1/2

AJW Yokohama Bishin Okoku (Wrestling Queendom) Commercial Tape 3/27/94 Yokohama Arena-5hr. Q=Original. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

AJ Junior Title Sparkling Hussle: Candy Okutsu (JWP) vs. Rie Tamada. *1/2

Little Bigman no Arena Daiboken (big adventure): Abdullah the Kobutcher (Buddhaman) vs. Great Little Muta (Little Frankie). *

AJ Tag Titles: Kaoru Ito & Tomoko Watanabe vs. Miki Handa & Yasha Kurenai (LLPW team). ***

Space Flying Gymnastic: Chaparita ASARI vs. Hikari Fukuoka (JWP). *3/4

Professional Wrestling Bible: Suzuka Minami & The Goddess Chikako Shiratori vs. Megumi Kudo & Nurse Nakamura (FMW team)

IWA Women's Title: Manami Toyota vs. Plum Mariko (JWP). ****1/2

Amazon House: Yumiko Hotta & Takako Inoue vs. Eagle Sawai (LLPW) & Reggie Bennett. **1/2

JWP Tag Titles: Mayumi Ozaki & Cuty Suzuki (JWP team) vs. Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda. Mita & Shimoda win JWP tag titles. ***1/4

Demolition Woman Hot Running: Sakie Hasegawa vs. Dynamite Kansai (JWP). ***1/4

All Pacific Title Major League Derby Match: Toshiyo Yamada vs. Kyoko Inoue. Kyoko wins title. ****1/4

Dangerous Queen FINAL Countdown: Aja Kong & Bull Nakano vs. Akira Hokuto & Shinobu Kandori (LLPW). ****1/2

*Special Price 2 T-160's for $40*

AJW Budokan Joo Retsuden MAX Commercial Tape 8/24/94 Tokyo Nippon Budokan-5hr. Q=Original. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Mid Summer Wrestling Academy: Suzuka Minami & Tomoko Watanabe & Chaparita ASARI & Rie Tamada vs. Hikari Fukuoka & Commando Bolshoi & Fusayo Nouchi & Hiromi Yagi (JWP team). ***1/2

Budokan Midget Retsuden MIN: Tomezo Tsunokake vs. "Little Dangerous Queen" Hokuto Akiracito

Zenjo Fighting Glove (kickboxing): Kumiko Maekawa vs. Kyoko Kamikaze

Reggie Bennett & Kaoru Ito vs. Eagle Sawai & Carol Midori (LLPW team)

Infernal KAORU vs. Megumi Kudo (FMW)

UWA World Women's Tag Titles: Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda vs. Harley Saito & Jenne Yukari (LLPW team)

Pure Heart Deep Panic: Takako Inoue & Cuty Suzuki (JWP) vs. Devil Masami & Candy Okutsu (JWP team)

Chigusa Nagayo (free) & Toshiyo Yamada vs. Sakie Hasegawa & Mariko Yoshida. Very good

Major League Derby Match II All Pacific & IWA World Women's Title Unification Match: Kyoko Inoue vs. Manami Toyota. Great match.

Dangerous Queen Final Countdown ~4 Daikyoto (great big names) Pre-Dome Survival!~: Akira Hokuto & Aja Kong vs. Dynamite Kansai (JWP) & Yumiko Hotta. Great match.

*Special Price two T-160's for $40*

AJW BIG EGG WRESTLING UNIVERSE Commercial Tapes 11/20/94 Tokyo Dome-10hr 40min. Q=Original. MUST SEE!

This show is right up with Dreamslam 1 & 2 as the 3 best shows ever. Just incredible!

*Note: I haven't had time to rewatch this show to write my review, so I'm using my ratings from a few years ago, which means they might be slightly off*

Chaparita ASARI & Bomber Hikaru (GAEA) vs. Hiromi Yagi & Hiromi Sugo (JWP team). **1/2

Midget Handicap Match: Tsunokake X vs. Great Littlemuta & Buta Genjin. 3/4*

AJ Junior Title: Candy Okutsu (JWP) vs. Rie Tamada. ***1/4

Suzuka Minami vs. KAORU (GAEA). ***1/2

Zenjyo Fighting Glove II: Kumiko Maekawa vs. Sugar Miyuki. Kickboxing

Joshi Amateur Pro Ring 1st Challenge: Kyoko Hamaguchi vs. Doris Blind. Amateur shoot.

Joshi Amateur Pro Ring 1st Challenge: Miyu Yamamoto vs. Anna Gomez. Amateur shoot.

Zenjyo vs. Shootboxing: Kaoru Ito vs. Fumiko Ishimoto. Shootboxing.

Big Heart Power Contest: Reggie Bennett vs. Chigusa Nagayo (GAEA). *1/2

Zenjyo vs. LLPW Doyume (dream which has been yearned for?) Survival War: Toshiyo Yamada & Tomoko Watanabe vs. Shinobu Kandori & Mikiko Futagami (LLPW team). ***3/4

UWA World Women's Tag Title: Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda vs. Yasha Kurenai & Michiko Nagashima (LLPW team). ***1/2

Legend of Memorial Fight: Jaguar Yokota & Bison Kimura vs. Lioness Asuka & Yumi Ogura. ****

Blizzard Yuki Debut Match: Blizzard Yuki vs. Mariko Yoshida. ***1/2

V*TOP WOMAN Nippon Senshuken (championship title) Tournament Round 1: Yumiko Hotta vs. Combat Toyoda (FMW). ****3/4

V*TOP WOMAN Nippon Senshuken (championship title) Tournament Round 1: Akira Hokuto vs. Eagle Sawai (LLPW). ***1/2

V*TOP WOMAN Nippon Senshuken Tournament Round 1: Manami Toyota vs. Aja Kong. ****3/4

V*TOP WOMAN Nippon Senshuken (championship title) Tournament Round 1: Kyoko Inoue vs. Dynamite Kansai (JWP). ****1/2

Miss Wrestling Universe Tag Summit: Takako Inoue & Cuty Suzuki (JWP) vs. Megumi Kudo (FMW) & Hikari Fukuoka (JWP). ***1/4

Michinoku Pro Doyume Lucha Tengoku (heaven): The Great Sasuke & SATO & Shiryu vs. Super Delfin & Jinsei Shinzaki & Gran Naniwa. ****1/4

V*TOP WOMAN Nippon Senshuken Tournament Semifinal: Akira Hokuto vs. Combat Toyoda. ***1/4

V*TOP WOMAN Nippon Senshuken Tournament Semifinal: Aja Kong vs. Dynamite Kansai. ****3/4

WWF World Women's Title: Alundra Blayze vs. Bull Nakano. Bull wins title. *1/2

V*TOP WOMAN Nippon Senshuken Tournament Final: Akira Hokuto vs. Aja Kong. ***1/4

*Sale Only 4 T-160's for $80*

AJW Yokohama Bishin Okoku (Wrestling Queendom) VICTORY Commercial Tape 3/26/95 Yokohama Arena-5hr 20min. Q=Original. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Zenjo Fresh Woman: Rie Tamada vs. Kumiko Maekawa

AJ Junior Title: Candy Okutsu vs. Chaparita ASARI. ASARI wins title

Zenjo vs. Shootboxing: Kaoru Ito vs. Noriko Tsunoda

Lucha Libre Rule: Jaguar Yokota & Lady Apache vs. Mariko Yoshida & Felina

UWA World Women's Tag Titles: Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda vs. Suzuka Minami & Tomoko Watanabe. Excellent match.

Zenjo vs. Raijintai (thunder god squad) Single Bout: Sakie Hasegawa vs. Bison Kimura. Very good

Triangle Match for Vacant All Pacific Title: Toshiyo Yamada vs. Takako Inoue vs. Reggie Bennett. Yamada wins title. Great match.

Zenjo vs. Raijintai (thunder god squad) Single Bout Ultimate Rule (worked shoot) Match: Yumiko Hotta vs. Lioness Asuka. Great match. Incredibly stiff and brutal.

WWF World Women's Title: Bull Nakano vs. Kyoko Inoue. Great match.

WWWA World Single Title: Aja Kong vs. Manami Toyota. Toyota wins title. Great match.

*Special price two T-160's for $40*

AJW Korakuen G*TOP 5/7/95 Tokyo Korakuen Hall-3hr 20 min. Q=Original

Yumi Fukawa vs. Yoshiko Tamura

Midget Death Match: Atsushi Obuddha (Buddhaman) vs. Tsunokake. Buddhaman dresses up like Onita, and I don't know what Tsunokake was supposed to be, but they make a mockery out of the FMW death match. They have little explosions and everything.

AJ Jr. Championship: Chaparita ASARI vs. Nobue Endo (Saya)

Takako Inoue & Tomoko Watanabe & Kumiko Maekawa vs. Mariko Yoshida & Kaoru Ito & Rie Tamada. Good match with Watanabe, who really carried things for her side, being the best of the 6.

Aja Kong & Reggie Bennett vs. Lioness Asuka & Bison Kimura. Aja is pretty awesome in this one. She disregards her former partner Bison because only Lioness is good enough for her. However, Bison keeps coming at Aja even though Aja is brutalizing her just about every time.

Minami Retirement Memorial: Suzuka Minami & Yumiko Hotta vs. Las Cachorras Orientales. Minami is as over as she ever was in her career on this night . Very good workrate match. After the match is over, Bull & her former Marine Wolves partner Hokuto come out and Minami gets incredibly emotional.

3 Minute Exhibition Match: Marine Wolves vs. Bull & Hotta. All action and heated. Minami worked over Bull's bad knees. This of course went to the time limit, but Minami didn't want to quit just yet, so her and Hokuto did a double Northern Lights bomb, the only time I've ever seen that, to Bull. Suzuka then covered Bull, and Bull didn't kick out, allowing Minami to go out with an unofficial win. Minami's retirement ceremony followed. This whole segment was one of the best and most emotional retirements in recent years for a women who wasn't a huge star. It was so good that one of my friends was going to pay the extra $200 for the original of the whole set instead of paying $100 for just the original of the classic main event (but then I talked him into saving $164 and just getting the 1st gen sp from me).

WWWA World Singles Championship: Manami Toyota vs. Kyoko Inoue. As close as you can get to nonstop action in a 60:00 draw. Great spots and workrate. Awesome stamina. 1995 Wrestling Observer Newsletter Match of the Year. *****

*Sale only two tapes for $36

AJW Sapporo BEST*ONE Commercial Tape 6/27/95 Sapporo Nakajima Taiiku Center-1hr 20min. Q=Original. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Akira Hokuto & Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda vs. Reggie Bennett & Mariko Yoshida & Kaoru Ito-
excellent match.

WWWA World Single Title: Manami Toyota vs. Aja Kong. Kong wins title. Great match.

*Special Price $18*

AJW W.W.W.A. Championship Night Osaka Queen's Holy Night Commercial Tape 8/30/95 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan Part 1-1hr 20 min. Q=EX.

Ito & Yoshida vs. Watanabe & Maekawa ****, Hotta & Yamada & Mita vs. Jaguar & Bison &

Bennett

AJW W.W.W.A. Championship Night Osaka Queen's Holy Night Commercial Tape 8/30/95 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan Part 2-1hr 35min. Q=EX. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Shimoda vs. Hokuto ****, WWWA Singles Title: Aja vs. Kansai-Kansai wins WWWA title ****1/4,

2/3 Falls WWWA Tag Titles: Toyota & Sakie vs. Double Inoues-rabid pace with super workrate tons

of high spots and near falls *****

AJW Manami Toyota vs. The World Commercial Tape-2hr45min. Q=EX. HIGHLY

RECOMMENDED!

The first 2 hours show highlights of Toyota's best and most famous matches including winning the

Japan Grand Prix, the great series vs. Toshiyo Yamada culminating with the famous hair vs. hair

match, Toyota & Yamada defeating Aja & Bison to win WWWA tag, teaming w/Yamada vs. Ozaki & Kansai in three classic matches, Toyota defeating Aja for WWWA Title, Toyota vs. Kyoko 60 min draw that's the best women's singles match of all-time, & Toyota defeating Kansai for WWWA title, the last 40 minutes is the 30 round match for Korakuen Hall on 12/25/95

JWP

JWP THUNDER QUEEN BATTLE in Yokohama Commercial Tape Part 1 & 2 7/31/93 Yokohama Bunka Taiikukan-3hr 10min. Q=Original. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

AJ Jr. Title: Numacchi (AJW) vs. Sumio Toyama (Saburo)

Infernal KAORU (AJW) vs. Commando Bolshoi

Suzuka Minami & Kaoru Ito (AJW) vs. Devil Masami & Candy Okutsu

Yumiko Hotta (AJW) vs. Plum Mariko

First Attack Single Match Rule 60:00 Full Time Match: Aja Kong & Kyoko Inoue & Takako Inoue & Sakie Hasegawa vs. Dynamite Kansai & Mayumi Ozaki & Cuty Suzuki & Hikari Fukuoka. I was saying the other day that it's a shame they never did a second match under these rules, but in a way it would be pointless because this could never be topped. This is the best gimmick/stipulation match ever and unquestionably one of the top couple women's matches of the decade. Awesome work and perfect booking. My all-time favorite finish. *****

*sale only 2 T-120s on sp for $36*

JWP TV 11/20/93 Thunder Queen Battle In Yokohama 2 taped 11/18 Yokohama Bunka Gym-2hr. Q=EX. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

The Queens Road Yokohama Second: Okutsu & Nouchi vs. Shiratori & ASARI (AJW)-good match between the four youngsters with Candy carrying the match and ASARI showing her great highspots **1/2

Solid Black Queens Energy: Fukuoka vs. Toyota (AJW)-very good match with Hikari pushing

her idol before doing the eventual job. Lots of mirror spots and great spots including Toyota doing a plancha over the security rail ****

Most Special Persons Wrestling Jam: Devil & Plum vs. Chigusa & Cuty-excellent long match with great build, psychology, and timing, a special aura, and lots of choice submissions ****3/4

JWP TV 11/27/93 Thunder Queen Battle In Yokohama 2 taped 11/18 & beginning of JWP TV taped 7/11/93 Tokyo Korakuen Hall-2hr. Q=EX. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Bolshoi Kid vs. Mima (AJW)-The clown is aweful and this is a disaster of epic purportions. This is

the only match they don't show in it's entirety, and even in this chopped up form it stinks. Worst

Mima match I've ever seen, though it's not her fault 1/4*

Pure Heart Meets The Dangerous Queen, Only One Time Singles Match: Ozaki vs. Hokuto (AJW)-Pretty similar to Oz's match with Toyota on 10/9/93 though the selling here is superior. Breaking the opponents main finisher was the key. Very solid match that built well ****1/4

Full Throttle Thunder Queen World: Kansai vs. Kyoko (AJW). Very similar to Kansai/Yamada 10/9 with the same finisher vs. finisher storyline and great build and psychology. Not as good as 10/9 because it wasn't nearly as stiff. ****1/4

Plum vs. Toyoma. Solid work, but slow-paced. All kinds of submissions by Plum. **1/2

Cuty vs. Fukuoka. Cuty carried the match, which isn't a good thing, and Hikari blew some spots. *3/4

JWP TV 4/12/97 taped 4/8 Tokyo Korakuen Hall-1 1/2hr. Q=VG/Ex. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Ozaki & Amano vs. Kudo & Rie-The Dress Up Wild Fight Tag Match ****, Fukuoka vs.

Kansai-Fukuoka wins Open Weight Singles Title ****1/2