Battle Station LLPW 3/1/98

taped 2/15/98 Tokyo Korakuen Hall (1938)

Miho Watabe vs. Maiko Matsumoto (GAEA). Matsumoto is usually pretty bad, so I didn't expect much. Thus, this match was a pleasant surprise because it was a heated opener with good action. Matsumoto pinned Watabe after her side suplex. 6:06. *3/4

Chris: You know what really pissed me off in this match? It wasn't that Miho lost because if I got mad when she lost, I would be a really angry man. It wasn't the finish because Matsumoto made it look like she had to really work to put Miho away. What pissed me off is that Matsumoto failed to sell the one move that even the LLPW stiffs will sell for Miho, her rotating punch. That's Miho's signature spot, yet Matsumoto only half sold it. She didn't even even take a bump for it.

Noriyo Tateno vs. Keiko Aono. Aono is bad, and seems to only get worse each time I see her. She did do some decent knee work, including a nice Dragon screw into a hizajujigatame. Of course, she was eventually pinned in Tateno's small package. This appeared to be a little below average, but with Aono involved it was probably worse, if not much worse, in unedited form. 11:33 (4:23 aired).

Harley Saito & Mizuki Endo vs. Shark Tsuchiya & The Bloody (Jd'). Harley was fired up here, so she was mainly responsible for the match being pretty good. She worked faster than normal, and Endo and Bloody also stepped up the pace. The other thing that helped was that The Bloody carried the load for her side. Bloody wasn't all that great here, but anything she did right made her better than the alternative. Harley pinned Bloody, but Shark gained a measure of revenge by beating up the undercarders after the match. 12:43. **1/2

Carol Midori vs. Lioness Asuka (Free). This was definitely the best match on the show. Lioness carried the match, but Midori also looked good. Asuka dominated since she's the bigger name, but the main point was that Midori wouldn't stay down. Lioness did eventually pin her with a Liger bomb, but Midori gained respect by trying so hard and withstanding a lot of punishment from the legend. Nice work. 13:46 (13:30 aired). ***1/4

No Rule Match: Shinobu Kandori & Yasha Kurenai & Rumi Kazama vs. Eagle Sawai & Michiko Nagashima & Sayori Okino. LLPW was the most heated women's league in 1998, and this match is part of the proof of that. It was a good brawl, and good that it was a brawl because a straight match between these 6 wouldn't have been nearly as good. The problem with the match was that it was too long, especially given how limited everyone in this match but Nagashima is. The highlight of the match was Yasha trying to do a table spot, but Nagashima countering it but jumping off the top Yasha through it. Yasha juiced heavily at the hands of Shark, who then used her barbed wire bat to make the cut even bigger. Rumi also juiced. The finish was lame, as Rumi pinned Okino following a punch. 25:41 (21:03 aired). ***

LLPW DOUBLE TITLE MATCH SHINOBU KANDORI VS. YUMIKO HOTTA	Commercial Tape 3/21/98 Tokyo Korakuen Hall

Miho Watabe vs. Keiko Aono. Miho did some good things, including a nice handspring to avoid Aono's lariat and used kneecap dropkicks to set up her knee submissions. Unfortunately, she looked green, missed too many spots, and wasn't fluid at all. Aono didn't really do anything. She has turned into a complete stiff, which really hurts Miho as they seem to wrestle on every LLPW show. 6:51. *

Chris: This was Miho's best performance to date. She focused heavily on Aono's leg to set up her new arsenal of Plum like submissions. Instead of doing her sunset flips and roll ups into pins, she now moves into leg submissions. For instance, Miho had a nice counter for a body slam where she crawled down the front of Aono and rolled her into an ankle lock. Most people would go into hiza jujigatame, but Miho is to small to make it look (or really be) effective. She also had a good way to get Aono into a Boston crab. Aono is too big for Miho to turn her over, so she used her own knee to prop up Aono and push her over. This looks a lot better than if Aono just turned over for her. All this stuff doesn't make a huge impact on the wrestling world, but it does show that Miho is not content with being a 3 bump jobber. She tries to improve even though she is in LLPW and may never get beyond bottom card matches. She is working on techniques that could possibly give her credibility despite her size.

Still, she makes mistakes and is far from perfect, but she is probably the ONLY woman in LLPW who really tries to improve. The worst part of this match was the finish. Aono won, of course, but

the way it happened was a total screw job for Miho. When Aono covered her, Ran counted to 2, but Miho got her shoulder up. Obviously, this should break the count, especially since Ran clearly saw it, but Aono just pushed her shoulder back down and Ran counted what should have been one. Instead, the count went 1....2.........3, as Ran didn't restart her count, just counted three as if Miho never raised her shoulder! Miho got screwed completely, but it kind of made her look better since Aono had to take a crappy win. Okay, that's kind of a reach, but work with me here.

Mizuki Endo vs. Keiko Aono. Endo did a good job of working over the knee that Miho injured in the previous match. Aono did less than nothing. 7:20. *1/2

Harley Saito vs. Carol Midori. These two went all out from bell to bell doing all kinds of high spots and near falls, but they still couldn't get any heat. 10:01. ***1/4

Noriyo Tateno & Michiko Nagashima vs. Yasha Kurenai & Sayori Okino. This was the typical solid, but unspectacular LLPW match. The finish was incredibly lame. 15:35. **1/4

Rumi Kazama & Eagle Sawai vs. Lioness Asuka (Free) & Shark Tsuchiya (FMW). Shark cut Rumi up. Lioness was worse than normal and Eagle & Rumi were nothing special. This got out of hand with Michiko Nagashima hitting referee Tommy Ran with her kendo stick, and everyone jumping in, so it wound up being ruled a no contest. 14:04. *1/2

Double Title Match: Shinobu Kandori (LPWA Champ) vs. Yumiko Hotta (WWWA World Singles Champ). This was a UWF style bout. It was a pretty good, but certainly not close to the quality we've come to expect from a WWWA World Singles title match. For that matter it wasn't even close to as good as their 9/29/93 match. The rules of this match were that you couldn't win by pinfall, and that turned out to be the deciding factor in the match. Hotta got the better of the stand-up portions due to her kicking ability and Kandori getting the better of the mat portions. In a totally goofy spot, Hotta's head was badly cut "from headbutting Kandori." Hotta did her Pyramid driver, but remembered there were no pins and went into an udehishigigyakujujigatame. Later on, she forgot there were no pins after doing a really lame piledriver then her Pyramid drivered. When the ref didn't start counting, Hotta leaned over Kandori with her arm between Kandori's legs to attempt God knows what. In any case, she left herself exposed and Kandori capitalized by poorly applying a sankakujime for the win. This finish wasn't as obvious as the horrible Hotta vs. Kyoko 8/20/97 finish, but it was half a "mistake" and half a "please take my arm Shinobu." Hotta remained winless in her career against Kandori, while Shinobu joined Dynamite Kansai as the only women from rival Japanese promotions to ever hold the akai (red) belt. 12:02. **1/2

LLPW Live Battle '98 Commercial Tape

4/27/98 Tokyo Korakuen Hall

LLPW World Single & WWWA World Single Double Title Match: Shinobu Kandori vs. Shark Tsuchiya (FMW). I said Shark getting a title shot was a disgrace to the akai (red) belt at the time, and this match only further reinforced that opinion. This was the desecration of the top women's belt in the sport and the single worst WWWA World Title match I've ever seen by a wide margin. This match got everyone involved as Eagle, Lioness, and co. interfered on Shark's behalf and Tateno & Harley interfered on Kandori's behalf. So, it did help heat up the big feud, but boy did it suck in the ring. Part of the reason it sucked was that there was so much interference it seemed like they never did anything on their own, but then again, what good ever came of Shark doing things on her own? Shark was up to her old tricks, no selling and rather carelessly carving her opponent up with her kama. The no selling just doesn't work when Kandori is your opponent because it hurts her tough shooter aura. 13:45. *

Keith: This was a horrible farce for a WWWA singles title match. It was so horrible that you could see how simple the scripting was. Kandori goes on offensive. Cue outside interference. Shark gets to go on offensive. Cue entry of weapon. Repeat process as necessary. Lioness Asuka was so much better in this match, even though she wasn't the scheduled opponent. Tommy Ran was excellent here, and she even took better bumps than Shark. The thing about Ran is that she does extremely well in garbage gimmick, heel oriented matches; she'll make her presence known by taking bumps, and even has a few gimmick "ref" spots of her own. She isn't as noticeable in non-garbage, heel type of matches, as shown by the Hotta vs. Endo match on this tape. Anyway, this pretty much was G-Max vs. LLPW, considering that Tateno and a few others got involved. The end to this match wasn't redeeming. I think the only time I felt justified in watching Shark was when Chigusa beat the crap out of her in 5/5/96 FMW Kawasaki show. The only positive thing I can say about Shit is that the creature can get cheap heel heat very easily with her kama.

Michael: I thought the match sucked ass in all the important categories, but it was entertaining. I guess this is what a "smart" WWF fan would say. Anyway, Tommy ruled as usual, throwing the chairs at the heels and having that big smile on her face when Kandori won, which was sweet. Shark nearly blinded Kandori twice because she was so sloppy with the ax. Also, when Kandori was headbutting her, Shark apparently thumbed Shinobu in the eye by mistake. At one point, Shit had Kandori in a leg lock, and Shinobu had to tell her how to do it right but she still no-sold, which was classic (although I don't think she applied the pressure right even after Kandori told her how to). Kandori's shooted aura wasn't hurt because she didn't sell Shark's weak submission attempts and only really sold getting attacked with the objects.

Miko: Aside from noticing once again how careless Shark is with the kama, the biggest thing I noticed in this match was the constant outside interference. Neither Kandori nor Shark could really do much offensively on their own. The storyline was advanced, but the match suffered for it in a big way.

6/13/98 Toyohashi Sogo Taiikukan

Mizuki Endo vs. Yumiko Hotta (AJW). This seemed like a decent match, but it was shot with one handheld camera and the cameraman was the worst ever to work on a puroresu commercial tape. 13:27 (4:27 shown).

Miko: Memorably bad camera work. On the plus side, we got a good look at the shoes both wrestlers wear, as well as a good view of the ref a few times while the wrestlers are off camera.^)

6/21/98 Tokyo Korakuen Hall

Sayori Okino vs. Megumi Sato. Okino has lost weight, which has improved her athleticism. She has improved as a wrestler, as her execution was smoother. Match was above average when she was on offense. Sato relied heavily on jumping moves despite the fact that she doesn't have good ups. The match was worse than poor when she was on offense blowing seemingly every spot. Luckily, Okino dominated. 10:15 (4:27 shown). *

Miko: I think this is the most I've liked Okino in a match. She seemed a little quicker and smoother. Sato was notably sloppy. I don't think she cleanly executed a single move, and that lemming leap off the top when Okino was right at her feet was just plain bad.

Keith: Sato looked exceptionally green here and so did Okino, but Okino's garbage style helped hide that greeness. Okino and G-Max seem to have an odd cult of fans that sound like a barking cheer leading squad.

Rumi Kazama vs. Keiko Aono. Aono looked bad once again, especially on offense. She was slow, deliberate, and clumsy. Rumi isn't and wasn't close to good, but she looked great in comparison to

Aono. 1/4*

Miko: A DUD. There was really almost nothing good about this, except maybe a couple of stiff kicks from Kazama.

Keith: Rumi books herself for a cheap win. She looked awful here, and should just keep herself in the back booking interpromotional shows. Her weight prevents her from doing things she was barely able to do in '92.

Eagle Sawai vs. Carol Midori. This was a surprisingly good match. Midori was really good here. Eagle deserves a lot of credit because she totally left her gimmick, working a straight match without playing monster so Midori would be credible against her. This had all kinds of big spots and counters, but the selling and pacing were still strong, which certainly aren't Eagle trademarks. Eagle's best performance in quite a while and another strong showing from Midori. 14:26 (6:37 shown). ***1/4

Miko: It's amazing what a little selling can accomplish. Eagle still looked strong while on offense, but her selling made the match a little more interesting. It helped alot that there was not constant outside

interference. Okino jumped in a couple of times, but she did not play an important role in the match.

Michiko Nagashima Retirement No Rule Match: Michiko Nagashima vs. Yasha Kurenai. This was the best LLPW match I've seen in a long time. Nagashima has been LLPW's best wrestler for the past few years, and she went out looking as good as ever despite her bad back. This was a fast-paced spot oriented brawl. It was really exciting, in part because Nagashima was so over, in part because it was something very different than the typical LLPW, and in part because it was simply a strong match. At one point, Nagashima used her desk bomb (diving body press to the floor where she puts her opponent through a table) then got another table out and had Okino put Yasha through it with the desk bomb as she was passing her big spot onto Okino. One funny part was after Yasha was booed for handcuffing Nagashima's hands together, the handcuffs came undone, so Yasha had to rehandcuff her. Nagashima really stepped up here, but Yasha also did everything well and wasn't annoying for once. Nagashima's retirement ceremony was cool because Miki Handa showed up and Eagle rang the bell for Nagashima 10 times, at which point they just buried her in yellow streamers. 17:52. ***3/4

Miko: It's weird to consider that LLPW's best match in some time was by the wrestler retiring. It was a better match than I expected from Yasha, but everything held together. It was cool to see the Desk Bomb passed on. LLPW is somehow getting heat better than any other women's promotion this year.

Keith: Nagashima pretty much carried this one, which was good because it allowed Yasha to do the bare minimum. This also prevented Yasha from taking down the pacing that Nagashima established in the match. Nagashima gave a great performance here, showing that she's a great garbage style wrestler. Nagashima's kohai, Okino, even came in and both celebrated, symbolizing a passing of the torch. Even though Yasha won this one (because Rumi for some distorted reason sees fit to push this lump), Nagashima gave an excellent performance since she knew this was her retirement match. Personally, I would've prefered seeing Nagashima win this one because Yasha sucks to begin with.

Harley Saito & Mizuki Endo vs. Shinobu Kandori & Noriyo Tateno. This seemed pretty good, but they chopped it up too much. It was a NJ heavy like sprint with Harley being the best of the 4. This was Endo's farewell match with LLPW, which is a shame as she was at least becoming a good tag wrestler. 11:56 (5:11 shown). **1/2

Miko: Harley looked good, as usual, but Tateno seemed out of place in the parts they showed. I did kind of enjoy Endo v. Kandori, as Endo worked pretty hard to grapple with Kandori and looked alot better with submissions than Shark.;^) It's too bad this was her farewell match.