Quebrada #28

by Mike Lorefice (M.L.Liger@juno.com)

url for my columns on the Oh My God Website is http://randell.simplenet.com/quebrada

url for my tapelist on the unofficial FMW home page is http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/6619/MIKETAPE.TXT

8/1/97

Devil's Final Countdown Begins

In what may be both the strangest story I've written about and the hardest to determine what parts are and aren't an angle, Devil Masami, one of the biggest stars in the history of women's wrestling, has announced that she will retire soon. The strange part is not the announcement, rather the events before and after the announcement, so I'll try to explain it from the beginning.

On July 18th, Devil teamed with Tomoko Kuzumi against Hikari Fukuoka & Tomoko Miyaguchi in the main event of JWP's soldout Tokyo Korakuen Hall show. Just before the 10 minute mark, Fukuoka victory rolled Devil. Devil never kicked out of the victory roll, but the ref stopped the count at 2. Since JWP main events, particularly at Korakuen, are almost always around 20 minutes long, it's possible the ref thought it was too early for the finish, so she just stopped the count. Probably no one outside of JWP really knows why the count was stopped, but it was. Devil stood up and powerbombed Fukuoka then the ring announcer called "10 minutes passed." This angered Devil, who said, "You don't need to call the time! I've lost. I know I've lost. The match is finished. My pride won't let me go (on)." Devil then said, "Ozaki, the talk (content of the talk is not clear to the JWP fans) is over. Devil's countdown (for retirement) has started!"

Devil went to the lockerroom as if the match was over. Fans chanted "Devil! Devil!" for an extended period of time in hope that she would return. JWP President Masatoshi Yamamoto followed her to persuade her to return to the ring and finish the match, but Devil went to the ladies' room (where Masatoshi Yamamato couldn't enter) to resist. Yamamoto came back to the ring with tears in his eyes and announced that Devil wasn't coming back to wrestle, so the only thing he could think of was to have the match continue as a handicap match. Kuzumi, of course, went on to lose the handicap match. Devil left Korakuen Hall in her own car.

On July 20th, Devil appeared at Mie Sun Arena to fight her scheduled match against Mayumi Ozaki. Ozaki hit a dozen of her urakens and pinned Devil at only 5:26. Devil then burst into tears in the ring!

On July 21st, Devil wanted herself to be demoted from the semi-final to the opener. JWP agreed to this, so Devil wrestled rookie Sari Osumi. Koji saw the match and said, "She looked as if her fuel was empty, but of course she pinned Osumi."

On July 27th, Devil teamed with Tomoko Miyaguchi against Ozaki & Reiko Amano. The match started normally, but after 10 minutes, Amano switched Devil's powerbomb twice. Devil looked like she had lost her self-confidence or energy. Amano shouted, "What happened with ya!" Miyaguchi entered the ring and slapped Devil in the face. Devil tried her powerbomb finisher on Amano again, but she was unable to do it. Miyaguchi then helped Devil execute her powerbomb and Amano was pinned. After the match, Devil was weeping once again. Ozaki took the mic and said,

"I don't know what happened with you, but you have to wrestle don't you? I hate you, Devil! Can't you pin Amano (just a youngster) without Miyaguchi's help?" Devil just listened to Ozaki. She didn't defend herself or argue with Ozaki. Ozaki left the ring. Devil then left the ring without saying anything in response.

What actually happened with Devil is unclear. She is refusing to speak to JWP president Masatoshi Yamamoto now. It seems like this is not an angle. Maybe it can be turned into an angle, but right now, this seems to be Devil's doing. If this is all angle, then it's one of the most dramatic angles of all-time and it's so good that it's fooling hardcores, not just the marks. It seems Devil may be tiring of the ring wars. All the years of wrestling should be catching up to her by now as she not only has the longest career of any women's wrestler in Japan, but unlike her AJW contemporaries Jaguar, Chigusa, & Lioness she didn't have a long layoff when AJW retired her.

Devil hasn't said anything about her retirement, just that her final countdown is underway. It's thought that although Ozaki has been involved in many of these events, this isn't building to a Devil vs. Ozaki match as Devil's retirement match. Although Devil, who's in her 20th year as a pro, seems to be the ultimate gym rat (she is always at ringside watching everyone else match, despite having no alignment with most of the women she is watching) it's thought that she will not remain with JWP in any capacity after her retirement.

The good thing about the way this has gone down so far is that Devil has done the right thing by phasing herself down a bit, putting over the other veterans (Ozaki & Fukuoka), and allowing the younger wrestlers to look good.

All Japan 7/25 Tokyo Budokan Hall

Mitsuharu Misawa retained the Triple Crown, pinning Akira Taue with a German suplex at 20:25. This result is no surprise as it's thought that when Misawa finally loses the belt, it will be to Toshiaki Kawada. The match was said to be better than previous Misawa vs. Taue bouts, which means this was over 4 stars as expected. The highlight of the match was the invention of an incredible new spot by Misawa. Taue got his nodowa off the apron off, which is the most deadly version of his finishing hold, but in midair, Misawa backflipped and landed on his feet, then gave Taue an elbow. This sounds like an unbelievable feat and it was recieved by a huge pop. Taue had already gone for the nodowa off the apron earlier in the match, which makes this counter ever more impressive as it must have looked like Taue had the big move this time, only to have Misawa foil him with the new counter. Misawa's neck injury from the Carnival once again was incorporated into the psychology of the match. Finish saw Taue uses his jumping high kick then his Dynamic bomb for a near fall. Taue hit another high kick. Taue charged at Misawa, but Misawa took him down and used a series of elbows. Misawa hit his discus elbow. Misawa used two back suplexes then went back to his elbows, this time hitting 11 of them. Misawa set up his Tiger Driver, but just dropped Taue. Misawa hit another discus elbow. Taue was apparently "KO'd" by this point as Misawa did the some drop from the Tiger Driver position then German suplexed Taue for the win. Taue's stamina was said to be as good as ever, so not working many long singles matches in the recent months didn't effect the match much. However, this was a short match for a Budokan main event.

Steve Williams & Gary Albright defeated Kenta Kobashi & Johnny Ace to win the Double tag titles. Williams scored the pinfall on Ace with a powerbomb at 29:36. This match was said to be quite a bit below the expected level of AJ tag title matches, with the 1st 2/3 of the match being particularly bad. The result along with the finish seem to point to Ace leaving for WWF where his brother Animal wrestles. I hope he doesn't leave as he is the best worker of all the American wrestlers and, although he's not much of a draw, his ringwork is simply irreplacable. In years past, there were several very talented American wrestlers that weren't in WWF or WCW, but now that those two leagues have signed everyone with a pulse, the pool of replacements for Ace is not very deep. Williams and Albright is not much of a team to begin with, but they are simply lousy champions for a workrate promotion like AJ. The great workers will have to be at their best to do anything memorable with the unathletic old stiff Williams and Albright. The Williams & Albright & Lacrosse group has been named Triangle of Power.

Toshiaki Kawada was once again successful over Kingdom's Yoshihiro Takayama. Kawada teamed with Tamon Honda to defeat Lacrosse & Takayama when Kawada stretch plummed Lacrosse at 14:52. This should be leading to another Kawada vs. Takayama match. Their match on 9/11/96 at UWF's Tokyo Jingu stadium show was said to be very good, but was cut off the commercial tape, so I don't know for sure.

Hiroshi Hase & Jun Akiyama defeated Johnny Smith & Jinsei Shinzaki (Michinoku Pro) when Hase used his famous Northern Lights suplex finisher to pin Smith at 18:39. This was Shinzaki's first match in All Japan. The match was originally scheduled to be Smith teaming with Maunekea Mossman. Hase's comment about the lineup change was that if Shinzaki was a poor wrestler he wouldn't want to wrestle him, but since he's a so-so wrestler the change was ok. You can tell Hase has become quite the politician. Shinzaki didn't change his Buddist Monk style, so he was out of place in AJ rings.

The only other notable result was Tsuyo Kikuchi pinning Battlarts' Daisuke Ikeda at 11:48 with a German suplex. Battlarts working with AJ isn't working out for Battlarts as this match was one of their top stars getting pinned by an AJ undercarder. Not a wise decision, particularly because Battlarts is supposed to be real (it's worked shoots).

The Dream & Future multipromotional Junior All-Star Show

The second annual women's junior all-star show took place on 7/19 at Yokohama Bunka Gym. The show drew an announced attendance of 4,000, but the actual attendance was estimated to be around 3,000. The attendance is quite a disappointment as last years show sold out Tokyo Ota Ward Gym to the tune of 4,800, while this years shows was held in front of a half full building. This just further shows the decline in interest in women's wrestling due to the fact that the youngsters aren't at the level of the youngsters of the 1980's. Although the show was less successful at the gate, it was said to be better than last year's show from a match quality standpoint.

AJW's Yoshiko Tamura surprisingly came out as the star of the night. Tamura, 21, won the WCW women's cruiserweight title pinning Gaea's Toshie Uematsu at 20:09 with a double wristlock suplex. The result, which further signifies that WCW has no interest in running anymore women's matches, is not entirely a surprise. What is a surprise is that Tamura was named MVP of the show. These awards can be political in nature at times, however, it was said that Tamura was the best worker of the night. This was said to be the 2nd best match on the show. It's said that Tamura is sometimes better than Yumi Fukawa and Yuka Shiina now, and on this night she was clearly better than Shiina (Fukawa wasn't on this show), but she can't sustain that level (she's inconsistent). Scheme Gene, on WCW Saturday Night, said something to the effect of people should call the hotline to find out about the major WCW title change.

Rieko Amano (JWP) & Chikayo Nagashima (Gaea) & Sugar Sato (Gaea) went to a 30:00 draw with Yuka Shiina(AJW) & Kanako Motoya (JWP) & Yuko Kosugi (Jd'). This was said to be an excellent match and the best on the show. Oz's young punks are all good and made the match, but Motoya & Kosugi were also good and are said to be improving. Shiina was said to be subpar. Amano, a very solid submission wrestler won the Ginou-shou (good technique) award.

In the main event, Gaea's Meiko Satomura & Sonoko Kato retained thier AAAW junior tag championship defeating JWP's Tomoko Miyaguchi & AJW's Saya Endo when Kato pinned Saya with a diving spinkick at 18:01. This was said to be a good match. Kato was coming off light surgery on her knee, which helped her as she had been somewhat immobile recently. Satomura, who was in the main event of last year's show also, was awarded most impressive, but it's said that she looked too high-tensioned. She would normally be deserving of the award, but maybe the larger crowd got to her a bit. Miyaguchi and Endo were awarded Syukun-shou(good performance).

AJW's Momoe Nakanishi retained her AJ junior championship pinning Sumie Sakai of Jd' with her dropkick at 6:59. Sakai, who debuted this year, is one of Jd's most promising youngsters, if not their most promising. Unfortunately, Sakai broke her leg the day before this show. The fracture was said to not be that bad, but it showed a tremendous amount of guts and spirit to work the day after she broke her leg. Sakai didn't have a cast on, rather her leg was just taped really tight. It's said that due to the tape, her leg looked twice as big as normal. These two will both be good in a year or so.

The suprise of the night was that the opening bout was named the best bout. The opener saw Gaea's Hiromi Kato & Sakura Hirota & Rina Ishii beat Big Japan's Nana Fujimura & Aya Koyama & Miho Kawasaki when Ishii huracanrana'd Koyama at 9:38. Of the ones that I've seen from this bunch, Kato seems like the best as she's decent worker, who has size, but lacks charisma. Ishii rarely sees the light of day on Champ Forum, but appears to be a good athlete. The others I either don't know or don't think are any good right now, so I had to read these about 7 times before I believed that it happened. The key to this being good was that the Big Japan women have been training with Gaea for a long time, so they were familiar with their opponents and were able to pull off a good match. Ishii's huracanrana was said to be beautiful. Big Japan is just starting their women's division.

JWP's Tomoko Kuzumi defeated SPWF's Chiharu at 9:49 with a German suplex. Kuzumi is good or maybe ever very good, but Chiharu is a rookie that debuted 5 days before this show, so you can't expect too much of her. SPWF barely runs any shows, so it was thought that JWP might have wanted Kuzumi, who they have a lot of faith in, to wrestle Chiharu as a way to see if she was worth using on JWP shows. After seeing the match, Koji said he didn't think JWP should use her. Chiharu was awarded photogenic, as apparently she's quite attractive.

Jd's The Bloody & LLPW's Sayori Okino beat Gaea's Makie Numao & Maiko Matsumoto when Okino pinned Matsumoto at 16:27 following a twisting splash. Numao, with her kicks and submission skills, is the best of these four. The Bloody is Lioness' understudy, while Okino is Eagle's understudy. Both suck just like their mentors. Aside from being lousy workers, it's said that Bloody & Okino can't even act like heels. Said to be a boring match.

AJW's Misae Genki & Tanny Mouse defeated LLPW's Keiko Aono & Miho Watabe when Genki racked Watabe at 12:26. Watabe is really small as she is just 149 cm tall and weights only 99 pounds. Watabe was said to be good though. Watabe won the Kanto-shou (good fighting spirit) award, most likely because she was impressive despite her size disadvantage.

AJW's Nanae Takahashi & Miho Wakizawa beat JWP's Sari Osumi & Jd's Miyuki Sogabe when Takahashi used a blockbuster hold on Sogabe at 12:30. Takahashi has been higher on recent AJW cards due to the plethora of injuries. She is said to have potential, but since she's still a rookie, she's weak in the mental aspects of wrestling. Sogabe was working with a fractured wrist. Said to be a comical and good match.

Jd'd Sachie Abe pinned AJW"s Miyuki Fujii at 13:18. These two haven't shown anything yet. Said to be just boring.

FMW 8/2 Tokyo Shiodome

Masato Tanaka vs. W*ING Kanemura headlines FMW's major card of the Summer on 8/2. The match will be a No Rope 200-Volt Exploding Electrical Barbed Wire Death Match with the winner getting the right to wrestle Atsushi Onita on 9/28 at Kawasaki Stadium. This should be a good match as both are good workers and can do death matches well. I'd rather see it without the stips, but this is FMW. I think they will do a good amount of wrestling and not just go crazy with the gimmick spots. I think that Kanemura will win this match, but it could go either way.	What's even more in question is whether Onita will do the smart thing and put the winner of this match over on 9/28. Zach Arnold says that if W*ING wins, he'll job to Onita, but if Tanaka wins Onita will put him over. Zach's reasoning is that FMW top stars put over FMW top stars, but not W*ING top stars.

Hayabusa & Jinsei Shinzaki (Michinoku Pro) face the F.M.W. team of Hisakatsu Oya & Mr. Gannosuke. This will most likely be an average match. Hayabusa and Gannosuke should work well together again. Oya has not been very good this year as he regressed once he was teamed with the Vicronie's (a Vicronie is a new slang term invented by Zach for anyone on Victor Quinones payroll) the Head Hunters. Shinzaki will suck and drag the match down. Hayabusa and Shinzaki should win this match with Oya being the most probable jobber of the four as he is the guy that always gets pinned on the big shows.

In a battle of four Vicronie's, The Gladiator & Super Leather (both F.M.W.) face The Head Hunters (F.M.W.). This match will suck. The Gladiator is the only one of the four who can work. No one will want to sell for each other. Hunters should pin Leather.

Koji Nakagawa takes on Hido (W*ING). This is not really the best matchup as Nakagawa is not a good brawler and Hido is not a good technical wrestler. If it's a straight match, it will be bad. If it's a brawl, it could be ok. It'll probably be a brawl with chairs involved. Hido has not been in a good brawl since his neck was injured though. Hido has looked really cautious since the 9/1/96 No Rope Explosive Barbed Wire Double Hell Dynamite match where Tanaka & Nakagawa & Tetsuhiro Kuroda beat Kanemura & Hido & Hosaka. Nakagawa should win this match.

Tetsuhiro Kudoda takes on Hideki Hosaka (W*ING). This match doesn't excite me at all. Kuroda has shown me absolutely nothing. Hosaka is ok to watch, but he isn't very good. I think Kuroda wins an uneventful match.

The 3 complete stiffs of women's wrestling Shark Tsuchiya & Lioness Asuka (Jd') & Eagle Sawai (LLPW) fill meet Sayori Okino (LLPW) & Crusher Maedomari & Miss Mongol for the LLPW 6-women tag titles. This match should be awful. It's all the lousy heels lumped into one clearly horrid match. It's bad when Mongol is the best worker in a match. Shark & Lioness & Eagle will win for sure and this thing is lucky if it's not a -* match.

In what should be the best match on the card, Hayato Nanjyo defends his Rocky Mountain middleweight title against Ricky Fuji. Hayato is good. Fuji is pretty good. If Fuji doesn't fall pray to sucking when he's in with someone good this time, this will be above ***. Hayato will display good aerial moves, but I fear Fuji will win the title with his brainbuster. This will be an enjoyable match.

Overall, this is a very disappointing lineup. Only two matches have the potential to be good, while every other match has the potential to be bad. How much does FMW miss Megumi Kudo?

AJW Japan Grand Prix 1997

The biggest story so far has to be the push that Kumiko Maekawa is recieving. Maekawa is still undefeated (although way behind on matches), but it's who she's beaten that's the story. On 7/29 in Fuchu, which was one of the few JGP shows that have sold out, Maekawa scored what appears to be her first singles win against Mima Shimoda with a kick at 18:11. This seems to be the biggest upset of Maekawa's singles career. Shimoda made Maekawa bleed in this match. The biggest upset of Maekawa's career was only the biggest for 2 days though, as on 7/31 in Numazu, Maekawa pinned Toyota at 16:09 with a rollup. This is definitely Maekawa's first singles pin on Toyota and definitely the biggest upset of her career.

The other major upsets have all been 20:00 draws. AJW continued to only push Rie Tamada when she's wrestling her mentor Toyota, as Tamada held Toyota to a 20:00 draw on 7/23 in Kawasaki. Tamada also held Tomoko Watanabe to a 20:00 draw on 7/27 in Makabe. These results clearly show that AJW has not changed their booking plans due to Tamada's knee injury. As long as Tamada is in, it's good that she's getting a bit of a push, but doing it by draws is entirely the wrong way to do it since she's hurting so much. Even more surprising than Tamada's draws is the stiff Misae Genki holding Etsuko Mita to a 20:00 draw on 7/29 in Fuchu. This result is one of the biggest singles accomplishment of Genki's career, but AJW runs to many shows to keep track that type of thing. Mita's partner, Mima Shimoda, was held to a 20:00 draw as well by lowly heel Saya Endo, who wants to join Shimoda & Mita, on 7/31 in Numazu.

Yumiko Hotta's U*TOPS group is being pushed to the moon. Hotta is not in the tournament as she already has a title shot on 8/20, and will probably win the title there, but the three other members of her group are involved. The top two wrestlers, Kaoru Ito & Tomoko Watanabe, are both in Hotta's group and the other member of the group, Maekawa, is undefeated. Out of a a possible 42 points, the U*TOP trio has earned 37, or in other words they have earned 88% of their possible points. In case you were curious, U*TOPS stands for Ultimate Traditional Original Pro-wrestling Survivors. This name was invented by Hotta's team and is not what the U*TOP match stands for with Survivors added on at the end.

Japan Grand Prix Standings (sorted by points)

Place	wrestler	wins	losses	draws	points	matches remaining

1	Ito	7	1	0	14	3

2	Watanabe	6	1	1	13	3

3	Toyota	5	1	1	11	4

4	Mita	5	2	1	11	3

5	Shimoda	5	3	1	11	2

6	Maekawa	5	0	0	10	6

7	Tamada	4	3	2	10	2

8	Endo	3	6	1	7	1

9	Genki	2	7	1	5	1

10	Tamura	2	6	0	4	3

11	Tanny	2	7	0	4	2

12	Yoshida	1	10	0	2	0

It looks as if Shimoda is pretty much out of the picture. Her remaining matches are against Toyota & Mita. She could win both matches and finish with 15 points, but Ito and Watanabe still have to wrestle so the best she could do is tie for first. If they were to do that, it would have to be more than a two way tie, as Toyota would also be involved, so it seems unlikely. It's especially unlikely since Maekawa would have to go 0-2-1 in matches against Saya, Tamada, & Tanny, which would defeat the purpose of her other big wins.

Toyota's remaining matches are against Shimoda, Ito, Watanabe, & Tamura. It looks like she could go 3-1, most likely only losing to Shimoda, and finish with 17 points although they might opt for a draw somewhere. I still think Toyota will win the JGP.

Watanabe's remaining matches are against Toyota, Ito, & Maekawa. It looks like she should go 1-1-1, losing to Toyota and drawing Maekawa, finishing with 16 points. The other option is to have Ito beat her, so Watanabe would finish with 15 points. It depends if they want a tie for first. They could also have Ito or Toyota draw Watanabe. In any case, she should finish with 16-17 points.	Ito's remaining matches are against Toyota, Watanabe, & Maekawa. It looks as if Ito will go 1-2, losing to Toyota & Watanabe, and finish with 16 points. The other option is to have Ito draw Watanabe, so Ito would finish with 17 points.

Maekawa's remaining matches are against Ito, Watanabe, Mita, Saya, Tamada, & Tanny. I think Maekawa will go 2-3-1, losing to Ito & Mita & Tamada and drawing Watanabe, so Maekawa would finish with 15 points.

Mita's remaining matches are with Shimoda, Maekawa, & Tamura. I think Mita will go 2-1, losing to Shimoda, and finish with 15 points.

Japan Grand Prix results from Koji Yamamoto

7/13 Tokyo Korakuen Hall

Saya Endo (10'16" Diving legdrop -> pin) Tanny Mouse

Mima Shimoda (14'55" deathlake drive -> pin) Yoshiko Tamura

Etsuko Mita (14'55" death valley bomb -> pin) Mariko Yoshida

7/15 Osaka

Yoshiko Tamura(2pts) (9'1"double-wrist arm sault) Misae Genki(0pt)

Rie Tamada(2pts) (8'57 fisherman's suplex) Saya Endo(2pts)

Mariko Yoshida(2pts) ( 14'8"la majistral) Kaoru Ito(0pt)

7/16

Tanny Mouse(2pts) (10'31" diving headbutt -> pin) Misae Genki(0pt)

Kumiko Maekawa(2pts) (11'52" brainkick -> pin) Yoshiko Tamura(2pts)

Mima Shimoda(4pts) (15'39" deathlake drive -> pin) Mariko Yoshida(2pts)

Etsuko Mita(4pts) (13'10" roll up) Tomoko Watanabe(0pt)

7/19 Yoka-ichiba

Shimoda(6pts) (14'36" deathlake drive) Tamada(2pts)

Watanabe(2pts) (12'39" screw driver) Yoshida(2pts)

Toyota(2pts) (15'57" Japanese Ocean Cyclone suplex) Mita(4pts)

7/20 Sano

Genki (2pts)(14'29" back suplex with opponent on her shoulder) Endo(2pts)

Watanabe(4pts) (6'52" lariat -> pin) Tanny(2pts)

Ito(2pts) (14'29" double foot-stomp) Tamada(2pts)

7/21 Ueda

Watanabe(6pts)( 8'29" clothesline -> pin) Genki(2pts)

Toyota(4pts)(9'25" Moonsault) Tanny(2pts)

7/22 Hannou

Ito(4pts) (11'4" footstomp -> pin) Saya(2pts)

Toyota(6pts) (14'25" moonsault) Genki(2pts)

Mita(6pts) (14'33" powerbomb) Tamada(2pts)

Watanabe(8pts)(13'50" screw driver) Shimoda(6pts)

7/23 Kawasaki

Watanabe(10pts) (9'56" screw driver) Tamura(2pts)

Toyota(7pts) (20' draw) Tamada(3pts)

7/24 Isumi

Ito(6pts) (12'33" pin) Genki(2pts)

Endo(4pts) (12'11" pin) Tamura(2pts)

7/25 Tochigi

Maekawa(4pts) (11'16" kick -> pin) Genki(2pts)

Ito(8pts) (10'8" footstamp -> pin) Tanny(2pts)

Mita(8pts) (12'35" death valley bomb) Endo(4pts)

7/26 Hiratsuka

Tamada(7pts) (11'28" full-nelson suplex) Tamura(4pts)

Ito(10pts) (18'9" diving footstamp -> pin) Shimoda(6pts)

7/27 Makabe

Watanabe(11pts) (20 minute draw) Tamada(8pts)

Shimoda(8pts) (10'4" Aussie suplex) Tanny(4pts)

Ito(12pts) (13'52" diving footstamp -> pin) Mita(8pts)

7/28 Oota

Ito(14pts) (13'46" diving footstamp -> pin) Tamura(4pts)

Mita(10pts) (8'48" blazing chop -> pin) Tanny(4pts)

Shimoda(10pts) (12'12" Aussie suplex) Genki(4pts)

Toyota(11pts) (14'17" moonsault press) Endo(6pts)

7/29 Fuchu

Tamada(10pts) (7'13" kannuki suplex) Tanny(4pts)

Watanabe(13pts) (12'37" screw driver) Endo(6pts)

Mita(11pts) (20 minute draw) Genki(5pts)

Maekawa(8pts) (18'11" kick -> pin) Shimoda(10pts)

7/31 Numazu

Shimoda(11pts) (20 minute draw) Endo(7pts)

Maekawa(10pts) (16'26" roll-up) Toyota(11pts)

New Japan G-1 Climax Tournament 8/1-8/3 Tokyo Sumo Hall

New Japan will run their annual G-1 climax tournament from 8/1-8/3 at Tokyo Sumo Hall. This is traditonally one of the better weeks of the year in NJ, but this year it's going to suck for two reasons. NJ is mainly gearing toward their 8/10 Nagoya Dome show, so they cut it from 5 Sumo Hall shows to 3 and are running a single elimination tournament rather than a round robin. This means that the big stars can't do an upset job early then come back later as one loss and they are out. The other reason is that NJ's heavyweights are just boring and overrated. I have exactly zero interest in this tournament.

It seems like Masa Chono was scheduled to win the tournament, but Chono suffered what's said to be a broken ankle during a boring WCW squash match in Orlando. What supposedly happened is Chono atomic dropped Dusty Wolfe, but Chono's knee was out of position, so his ankle went out. Chono will compete in the tournament, but depending on the severity of it, the injury could force them to change their plans of him winning (if that actually is or was their plan).

Chono said he wants his match against Hashimoto in the 2nd round (if both get that far) to be a title match because Hashimoto is something of a local hero in Nagoya (since it's near his

hometown of Gifu), so he wanted to go into 8/10 as the champion rather than the challenger. It appears that Chono won't be granted his wish though.

Chono takes on Michiyoshi Ohara in the first round. This match will be lousy. Neither guy is worth your time. Chono will win.

Shinya Hashimoto will meet Kazuo Yamazaki. This should be the best match of the whole tournament. If it were me, I would have Yamazaki win this match. It could be Yamazaki's revenge for losing to Hashimoto in their title match earlier in the year and it would also keep Chono & Hashimoto apart until their title match on 8/10. However, I'm not booking and NJ won't go in this direction. The favored Hashimoto will win.

Satoshi Kojima takes on Steven Regal. This should be a good match. Kojima is one of the more improved workers this year. I think Kojima wins this one as he seems like he's the sleeper this year. I think Kojima also wins in the 2nd round.

Tadao Yasuda faces Hiroyoshi Tenzan. Yasuda is a former sumo and he's just big. Tenzan isn't very good and will not come close to being able to carry Yasuda. This match will stink. Tenzan wins for sure.

Junji Hirata takes on Scott Norton. Hirata is old, but he can still go. I don't think he matches up well with Norton though. This match will be average at best. Norton should win as the NWO are getting a big push.

The last first round match is Manabu Nakanishi vs. The Great Muta. It's Muta, not Muto, so it's automatically worse than it could be. Although Nakanshi has been getting more of a push recently, mainly in tag, Muta will win.

Buff Bagwell and Kensuki Sasaki both get byes and face each other in the 2nd round. Yawn. Sasaki, aka Choshu #2, should win as Choshu is booking the thing and Sasaki is set to get a title shot on 8/31 if Hashimoto is still the champ.

It looks to me that, barring injury, the finals will be Choshu vs. Sasaki. If that is the case, the match will suck. I think Chono will win the whole thing then lose in his title shot on 8/10.

Hase To Wrestle Against Big Five

Hiroshi Hase, who as far as I'm concerned is the best working heavyweight in the history of New Japan, will finally wrestle against some members of the AJ big five (Misawa, Kobashi, Kawada, Taue, & Akiyama) on the next tour. AJ has gone about things the right way so far. Hase had been out of the ring for basically a year (actually longer as he was off for a while before the 1/4/96 match vs. Sasaki) due to being elected to the Diet (equivalent to the Senate). When Hase joined AJ in January, he was rusty and not in as good of shape as he used to be in, so they didn't immediately put him in main event matches. When he returned to AJ on the tour that just ended, he had been off 6 months, so he was in basically the same situation as he was in when he returned to the ring in January. Now that he has wrestled for a whole tour, he's going to be in better conditioning and have less ring rust on the next tour (although he still won't be near the level he was once at). Due to this, there's a better chance his big matches will meet the expected high standards.

Hase's first big match is a 6-man tag where his team will meet Misawa's. This should just be to get a feel of working with Misawa. I doubt either man will be pinned, but figuring they will have some good teammates, it sounds like a good match.

The main match that you should be really excited about is Hase vs. Kenta Kobashi on 8/26 in Sapporo. If these guys could have met in 1993, this would have been at least ****3/4. I doubt it can reach that level right now because Hase isn't at the level he once was. However, this should still be a very good if not great match. Hase is almost certain to lose as you have to pay your dues and work your way up in AJ, but that's not the important thing here. The important thing is that two of the greatest heavyweight wrestlers of all-time, both of whom could outwork Ric Flair in his prime, are finally meeting. This is a dream match! I just hope it can live up to that billing.

Pancrase 7/20 Tokyo Korakuen Hall

In easily the biggest Pancrase upset of the year, Jason Godsey, an American small town warrior from the Extreme Challenge NHB shows, defeated King of Pancrase Yuki Kondo. Godsey, in just his second Pancrase bout, was said to have controlled the match from the start. Kondo got behind as he was forced to rope escape twice. The bout was not decided by points though, as Godsey left no doubt as to whom the better man on that particular night was when he locked in a forearm choke. Kondo was unable to make it to the ropes to escape the hold and was forced to tap out at 8:17. This was a non-title match, so Kondo still holds the King of Pancrase. Godsey's only other Pancrase match was on 5/24, where he was defeated by undercarder Takafumi Ito with a sleeper hold at 11:55. Lasting 11:55 in his first Pancrase match was impressive, but it seems like nothing compared to this mega-upset win. Godsey is no slouch as he holds NHB victories over UFC 3 Champion Steve Jennum as well as Jeremy Horn. However, no one expected Godsey to be able to adapt to the Pancrase style so quickly that he could beat arguably their best fighter in only his second Pancrase match.

The main focus of these two soldout Korakuen Hall shows (afternoon and night show on the same day) was the annual Neo Blood tournament, a tournament for young and inexperienced hybrid wrestlers. Ironically, it was experience that proved to be the difference in this year's tournament as the two hybrid wrestlers with by far the most Pancrase experience, Keiichiro Yamamiya and Satoshi Hasegawa, both of whom debuted in last year's Neo Blood tournament, would advance to the finals. Yamamiya, 25, made it to the finals by defeating Australian Les Johnston in the first round with a guillotine choke at 4:07 and debuting Kousei Kubota in the semifinal 1-0 after the bout went to the 10:00 time limit. Hasegawa, 21, defeated Australian David Moore with an arm lock at 3:57 in the first round then got past debuting Ikuhisa Minowa in the semi-final in a 13:00 bout by judges decision.

Yamamiya, who's one of Pancrase's promising young stars, defeated Hasegawa by ref stoppage to win this years Neo Blood tournament. This result was no surprise at all as Yamamiya has really grown a lot this year. He hasn't been beating the stars, but he's been very competitive in his losses to them. For example, on the last Pancrase show, Yamamiya lost to UFC 13 light heavyweight champion Guy Mezger. Guy is the much more experienced and accomplished fighter, but the underdog Yamamiya didn't lose easily as he took Guy to the 15:00 time limit where Yamamiya lost on points 2-0.

Maybe the most notable thing about the Neo Blood tournament was that all four of the Pancrase natives defeated the foreigners in the first round. The crop of foreigners wasn't particularly tough, but two of the Pancrase natives were making their pro debut. Kousei Kubota defeating Kim Jong Wan by doctor stoppage at 2:45 is no surprise as Jong Wan absolutely never wins or even lasts 3:00. Ikushisa Minowa defeating Hayger Chin of the Lion's den at 2:24 with a knee bar is fairly impressive as Chin has both NHB and Pancrase experience. Minowa finished 3rd in the Neo Blood tournament as an injury forced Kubota to drop out of thier scheduled 3rd place match.

The main event was scheduled to be Minoru Suzuki vs. Jason Delucia with the winner getting the next shot at the King of Pancrase. Unfortunately, Suzuki blew out his knee at the last minute, and needed reconstructive knee surgery so he's out for the rest of the year. Suzuki obviously had to forfeit the match, so Delucia will meet Kondo for the King of Pancrase on 9/9 at Tokyo Bay NK Hall.

The other two singles bouts were no surprise as Masakatsu Funaki defeated Osami Shibuya

with a guillotine choke at 9:30 and Leon Dijk defeated Takafumi Ito with a choke at 11:05.

In the last column I was correct in saying Yamamiya would win the tournament, I got 3 of the 4 1st round matches right (I was wrong about Chin winning), Dijk in upwards of 7 minutes, Funaki in upwards of 7 minutes with a choke. Of course, I got the Kondo vs. Godsey match wrong, but who didn't?

Aja Becomes a Freelance

Two-time former WWWA champion Aja Kong has announced that she will leave AJW and wrestle as a freelance for about one year before retiring in Autumn of 1998. Aja's main reason for this seems to be that she wants to fight a much lighter schedule of matches and is simply tired of wrestling the same old women in AJW. Aja has been wanting to work interpromotional matches, but AJW hasn't booked her in any. Aja specifically said she wants to fight Chigusa Nagayo, and mentioned in her press conference that she did fight her in tag, but said it was impossible for them to have a singles match. Aja said, "I was very frustrated that I cannot do what I really wanted to do." When Aja heard Akira Hokoto's reason for leaving AJW, Aja said she didn't understand her reason, which was that it's not interesting being inside AJW, but now she knows. "It's better to face various wrestlers than not to do it," said Aja. To me, it's pretty stupid of AJW to not just book Aja against some of the women she wants to wrestle. I could see if they were drawing well, but with attendance so low, those matches could help draw a crowd. Instead, AJW has lost yet another top star. "I still love AJW, but I have no regret," said Aja, "I never thought I would have to leave AJW because I love AJW the most. It's a shame."

Aja's AJW graduation match will be against Manami Toyota on 8/20 at Tokyo Budokan Hall. This will not actually be Aja's last AJW match as she still has to work 4 more times, on spot shows, for AJW due to promises made to local promoters. This will however, be her last major match. If it were me, I would have made this match the main event and built the entire Budokan Hall show around Aja's graduation. Kyoko vs. Hotta for the WWWA title has no drawing power at all, while Toyota vs. Aja does. The last Aja vs. Toyota match, on 10/6/96 in Nagoya drew 6,100, which is more than AJW has drawn for any card this year, most of which have been headlined by Kyoko in title matches. Moreover, Aja and Toyota have a history of having great matches together. Since this is most likely the last time the two will ever wrestle each other, why not bill it as such and see if you can get some bodies in the building. Even though Aja hasn't been the same this year, maybe due to boredom, and Toyota isn't 100%, their match should still be better than Kyoko vs. Hotta. The WWWA title really means nothing as a draw these days, so it shouldn't automatically be the main event match.

AJW Injury Update

Just when you thought there couldn't possibly be more injuries there's a whole slew of new ones. Mariko Yoshida fractured her arm and will be out of action for 1 to 1 1/2 months. All Yoshida's remaining Japan Grand Prix matches have been forfeited. Takako Inoue will definitely miss the 8/20 Budokan Hall show. Takako's surgery was only postponed two days due to her sickness, so her injuries were clearly worse than AJW originally expected. Due to this, Takako has vacated the All-Pacific title. Ito will meet Watanabe on 8/22 for the vacant All-Pacific title. Rie Tamada's bad knee has gotten worse and worse from continuing to wrestle on it. Who knows when she will have her knee surgery. I hope it's not too late by then. Mima Shimoda cancelled her match on 7/23 due to neck pain, but has not cancelled any other dates. It seems that it is not a serious injury and she was just feeling bad, but with AJW you can never be sure. Yumi Fukawa has a slight fracture in her foot, which has caused her to cancel her recent matches. As of now, it hasn't been announced how long she will be out for.

Naniwa Breaks His Leg

The latest major blow suffered by Michinoku Pro is Gran Naniwa breaking his leg. The injury occured on 7/26 when Naniwa was executing a plancha on Men's Teioh. Teioh threw a chair, which threw Naniwa off, causing him to land wrong on his leg. With wrestlers leaving lately, it seemed as though Naniwa was finally set for a big push, but now he's out for at least two months.

AJW Stoops To Having a 17-Year-Old Bleed

The 7/19 issue of Weekly Pro had photos of the WWWA tag title match from 7/11 in Hakodate where Mima Shimoda & Etsuko Mita successfully defended the titles against Kaoru Ito & Momoe Nakanishi. Both Ito and 17-year-old rookie Nakanishi juiced big time in this match. I can't recall an AJW rookie, during the 90s at least, spilling blood in a match, but on the first page, her face was literally a crimson mask. I thought it was bad enough when FMW and Jd' were having the underage women bleed, but it's much sadder to hear that AJW has also stooped this low.

Michinoku Pro Pay

Michinoku Pro pay is said to be really bad. For instance, it's said that TAKA makes around $150 per night, which is terrible considering how great a worker he is. In comparison, TAKA made $300 when he worked the WWF PPV, which still doesn't sound that good, but it's double what he makes in Michinoku Pro. Most of the money Michinoku Pro makes is said to be off merchandising, but the merchandising hasn't been selling like it once was as they burned out their customers. Low pay is at least part of the reason guys are looking for employement elsewhere.

G-1 Climax Day 1 Results from Koji Yamamoto

Kojima (9'45" Diamond Cutter -> pin) Steven Regal

Tenzan (10'31" moonsault press) Yasuda

Norton (6'31" powerbomb) Hirata

Chono (18'39" a version of nelson hold) Ohara

Muta (10'25" Frankensteiner from the top turnbackle) Nakanishi

Hashimoto (11'35" cross arm scissors -> refereee stops) Yamazaki

G-1 Climax Day 2

Shinya Hashimoto fill face Masa Chono. This should be a decent match, but the quality depends on where Chono is physically. I expect Chono to win this match.

Satoshi Kojima will take on Hiroyoshi Tenzan. These two surprisingly had a ***1/4 match back on 10/20/96. Kojima is clearly better now then he was then although Tenzan has basically remained stagnant. I think Kojima will win a good to very good match.

The Great Muta will meen Scott Norton in a battle of the NWO. Muto used to work great with Norton back in 1992, but both men have regressed in since then and it's Muta and not Muto. If Muta shows up, this could be good, but trying to figure out if Muta will feel like working is totally impossible.

The other match is Sasaki vs. Bagwell, which Sasaki should win.

AJW TV 6/29/97 taped 6/17 Sapporo Nakajima Sports Center

This was the first night of AJW's Sapporo double flop. Sparse crowd and little crowd heat, so what else is new? Actually a lot is new as blood is back and a rookie was in a match with the veterans and wasn't even pinned. The main thrust was Mima Shimoda & Etsuko Mita in their 1st tv match since their becoming heels. The duo did more heel stuff than I had originally expected and their brawling was strong. I'm not so sure I'm going to like them as much as heels as I anticipated, but how could you not love Shimoda?

Mariko Yoshida vs. Rie Tamada for Yoshida's CMLL title. This match was a definite step back in Tamada's quest to become a star, a quest that is looking more and more grim by the day as her knee gets worse and worse. She not only lost quickly, but really didn't even challenge Yoshida. Tamada's knee was taped up and she wore a knee pad designed for support over the tape. Tamada did a quick start like her mentor Toyota doing 3 dropkicks, the third of which knocked Yoshida to the floor. Tamada did a cross body off the apron. Yoshida did two stomach breakers then her running plancha. Yoshida got a near fall with her flying splash. Yoshida slammed Tamada and covered her, but Tamada did the Jaguar bridge out then twisting high cross body spot. Yoshida toped Tamada. The odd thing about that was Yoshida jumped between the bottom and middle rope rather than between the middle and top rope. Yoshida set Tamada up on the top rope, but Tamada knocked her off. Tamada then tried her missile dropkick, but Yoshida avoided it. Tamada sent Yoshida to the floor with a very lame tilt-a-whirl headscissors. Tamada plancha'd Yoshida. Tamada did two of her missile dropkicks for a near fall. Yoshida used a reverse diving sunset flip, but Tamada turned it into a pinning predicament of her own for a near fall. Yoshida did her handspring counter for a lariat, but Tamada caught her in a fisherman suplex on the rebound for a near fall. Tamada German suplexed Yoshida for a near fall. The bridges on both of those pinning moves were bad. Tamada used her kannuki suplex (not a special name for the move, rather kannuki is the name, derived from sumo wrestling, for the position where she holds her opponents arms in front of them. Basically this is a bridging double arm suplex where her oppoents arms are hooked in front of them rather than behind their back like in a regular double arm suplex) for a near fall. Tamada tried a German suplex, but Yoshida wakigatamae'd. Tamada ducked a lariat and Dragon suplexed Yoshida for a near fall. Another bad bridge by Tamada. Tamada tried a suplex, but Yoshida wakigatamae'd. Yoshida went right into her La Magistal, but Tamada turned it into a cradle for a near fall. Yoshida did a T-bone suplex for a near fall. Yoshida then did her Air-raid crush finisher. Rather than do a regular cover, Yoshida used her La Magistral for the win. Yoshida was good, while Tamada was sloppy. Tamada's bad knee caused her to not wrestle at her previous standard. As long as she continues wrestling with that injury, you can't expect as much of her as you would if she was 100%. It was an action packed fast-paced match with nice high spots. It was the most exciting match on the show, but the worst match on the show from a technical standpoint. What was the point of this match if Tamada wasn't going to look strong or push Yoshida before jobbing to her? 12:46. **3/4

Aja Kong & Takako Inoue & Momoe Nakanishi vs. Yumiko Hotta & Tomoko Watanabe & Kumiko Maekawa. This match showed the difference between the way JWP and Gaea are handling their youngsters and the way AJW handles their's. In JWP & Gaea, the youngsters that are promising or pushed are more than credible against the veterans and the veterans sell for them. Momoe is both promising and being pushed, but she didn't even come close to being credible against anyone but Maekawa, who is a "star" but still at the bottom of the stars totem pole. The main problem is the way AJW trains their youngsters. I don't have a problem with limiting the rookies and youngsters move sets, but by doing so, they can't have the rookies do anything against the veterans. A dropkick or a back body drop can be a big move in a rookies match, but when that's all you do, how can anyone take you seriously against the veterans who all have good sized move sets and established big moves? While it's a good thing that Momoe, now 17, is getting to work with the veterans, she's just selling the whole time like Sakura Hirota, a 19-year-old Gaea youngster who's not pushed in the least, rather than looking good win or lose like Meiko Satomura, 17, who's already good and a star. Granted Momoe is so young, but I see the same problem when watching 21-year-old Fukawa. The youngsters have to work with the veterans now, so there's simply no reason to stick with the old extremely limited move set method. Watanabe hit two nice springboard moves on Takako early. Hotta laid the kicks in on Takako then told Aja to tag in so she would have some competition. Aja and Hotta exchanged stiff kicks with Aja, who was kicking Hotta's bad knee, surprisingly winning. Hotta whipped Aja into the corner then hit her wheel kick. Hotta applied her juji gatamae (cross armbreaker). Maekawa came in and tried to manhandle Aja, but Aja would have no part of it. Aja roughed Maekawa up, culminating with a vicious palm blow. Momoe came in and dropkicked Maekawa, but Maekawa quickly cut her off. Takako DDT'd Watanabe. Aja gave Watanabe a series of stiff kicks. Aja ran off the ropes for a kick, but Watanabe did her dragon screw to kneelock combo. Hotta & Maekawa stood on opposite sides of Aja-who was sitting-and took turns kicking her. Hotta used a ½ crab, but Aja powered out, so Hotta applied a kneelock. Hotta no-sold Momoe's strikes. Maekawa thrust kicked Momoe for a near fall. Maekawa put Momoe in a bodyscissors, but Momoe turned so she was facing Maekawa and began slapping and forearming Maekawa. Momoe slapped Maekawa, but Maekawa then put her down with a slap. Aja canned Maekawa then Takako arm dragged Maekawa off the top. Momoe hit 4 of her dropkicks for a near fall on Maekawa. Momoe ducked Maekawa's high kick. Aja then lariated Maekawa and Momoe German suplexed Maekawa for a near fall. Aja high cross bodied Watanabe & Maekawa. Watanabe avoided Aja's splash off the 2nd. Watanabe hit her diving bodyscissors drop for a near fall on Aja. Aja blocked Watanabe's suplex. Aja then blocked Watanabe & Maekawa's double suplex and suplexed both of them. Watanabe did a back suplex followed by a huracanrana for a near fall on Aja. Watanabe tried her lariat, but Aja went right into her backdrop for a near fall. Takako tried her front kick, but Watanabe did her Dragon screw to figure 4 combination, which Aja then broke up. Takako ducked Watanabe's diving bodyscissor drop. Takako then ducked a lariat and used her bridging back suplex for a near fall on Watanabe. Takako went to the top for her Destiny Hammer, but Watanabe climbed up the ropes, so Takako nodowa'd her off the top for a near fall. Takako tried her bridging back suplex, but Watanabe elbowed out. Watanabe hit her lariat on Takako. Hotta tried her Tiger Driver, but Takako blocked it and DDT'd Hotta. Takako whipped Hotta into the corner and charged, but Hotta wheel kicked Takako for a near fall. Hotta got her juji gatamae on Takako, but Momoe broke it up. Hotta ducked a double lariat and facebustered Takako & Momoe. Hotta tried her pyramid driver on Takako, but Aja broke it up by canning Hotta. Aja canned Hotta off the 2nd. Takako hit her Destiny Hammer for a near fall on Hotta. Takako tried another Destiny Hammer, but Hotta kicked her in midair. Hotta Tiger Drivered Takako for a near fall. Hotta got Takako in her juji gatamae again, but still no submission. Watanabe hit a sky high bodyscissor drop on Takako. Hotta then delivered her pyramid driver to Takako. Aja was supposed to make the save on this spot, but Aja was to slow so the ref simply stopped his count at 2 ½. Takako hadn't kicked out and Aja didn't get there for another second, but the count was just stopped. Hotta then gave the ref a dirty look then put Takako in the juji gatamae for the submission win. Real bad finish to an otherwise good match. Momoe showed good spirit by kicking out and standing up to Maekawa. Maekawa was the worst of the bunch as her kicks are so slow. Hotta & Watanabe were both good and made up for Maekawa's typical suckyness. Aja and Hotta were dominant when they were in. A solid but unspectacular match. 20:00. ***

Manami Toyota & Toshiyo Yamada vs. Mima Shimoda & Etsuko Mita. The first sign that this was a new Shimoda & Mita was seeing them carry their "own" chairs to the ring. Mita is still wearing a knee brace. Mita piledrove Toyota then it looked as if she would cover, but choked out Toyota instead. Mita held Toyota in the air and Shimoda came off the top with what I'll call a diving hair slam. It looked as if Shimoda would arrogantly cover Toyota, but Shimoda chokcd Toyota out with her boot instead. Shimoda did several variations of the choke on Toyota. Shimoda piledrove Toyota. Shimoda wanted a test of strength, but when Toyota agreed, Shimoda put Toyota's hands on the mat and stepped on them. Shimoda put Toyota in an arm bar then tagged in Mita. It looked as if Mita would continue the arm bar, but she bit Toyota's arm instead. Toyota finally did something, hitting her springboard reverse cross body, then immediately tagged Yamada. Yamada gave Mita her single underhook snap suplex then stiff kick to the back combo twice. Mita & Shimoda cheated some more. Shimoda put Yamada in a bodyscissors then put her hands in Yamada's eyes. Toyota & Yamada gave Shimoda a double side suplex drop. Toyota & Yamada then went for their double diving headbutt, but Mita chaired Yamada and Shimoda gave Toyota a Super underhook superplex for a near fall. Shimoda tried her Tiger suplex, but Toyota blocked it, so Mita chaired Toyota. Shimoda then threw a chair at Toyota's head twice. Shimoda used scissors on Toyota's forehead then gave the scissors to Mita to use on Yamada's scalp. Toyota bled heavily, which pissed me off of course. Aside from the fact that I feel it's a waste for anyone with talent to bleed and a triple waste for anyone who's a great wrestler and great looking to bleed, why is Toyota bleeding in the first match against the heels? Why not have other people bleeding first then build up to having the major star, Toyota, bleed. It's not as if the blood here led to anything down the line with these four. I don't think it has anything to do with Toyota & Kyoko vs. Shimoda & Mita on 8/22, so it had little point other than possibly helping to get Shimoda & Mita over as heels and the vaunted shock value which might have got them a bit larger spread in the magazines, but did nothing as far as making money. The weird thing about Toyota bleeding was that Mita used the same weapon, scissors, on Yamada, but Yamada didn't bleed. Shimoda whipped Toyota into the guard rail. Shimoda threw another chair at Toyota's head and Mita did the same to Yamada. Yamada revenged by throwing a chair at Mita's head. Yamada then started walking back to the ring, but Mita blindsided her with a chair. Mita powerbombed Toyota on a table. Shimoda German suplexed Toyota. Mita tried to powerbomb Toyota again, but Toyota countered with her Toyota roll for a near fall. Mita tried her Death Valley bomb, but Toyota slipped out and German suplexed Mita for a near fall. Toyota moonsaulted Mita, but Shimoda saved by using their chair on Toyota. Mita held Toyota so Shimoda could chair her, but Toyota avoided it and Mita got hit. Yamada threw her opponents chair at Shimoda twice. Toyota and Yamada used their old back superplex with overhead flip finisher on Mita, but couldn't put her away. Toyota used her Japanese Ocean Cyclone Suplex for a near fall on Mita. Toyota had trouble doing that spot again. Yamada tried her reverse Gori special bomb on Mita, but Shimoda chaired her. Mita hit her Death Valley bomb on Yamada, but Toyota made the save. Mita tried to pick Yamada up, but Toyota missile dropkicked Mita. Yamada tried her reverse diving brainkick, but Mita chaired her in midair. Mita tried her Death Valley bomb, but Yamada slipped out. Yamada then tried a spinning high kick, but Mita ducked it and tried her Death Valley bomb again, but Yamada turned it into a sunset flip for a near fall. Yamada used her high wheel kick for a near fall on Mita. Yamada tried her reverse Gori special bomb, but Mita Death Valley bombed Yamada for the win. I don't think Toyota or Yamada have been dominated like this in the past 5 years. Yamada at least resisted a bit. Toyota was just plain overwhelmed by the heels. Shimoda & Mita were put over incredibly strong. It seems AJW has no patience at all these days as it looks like they want Shimoda and Mita to be regarded as killer heels overnight. Shimoda & Mita were good as heels as their brawling was strong and all the chairshots in this match were credible. They did a lot of heel stuff early then went to wrestling later although I still thought they overdid the heel stuff. Using the chairs to break up pins and stuff like that gets them over as heels while still allowing for wrestling, so that was good. If this kind of domination, excess brawling, and blood is going to be commonplace in Shimoda & Mita matches then it will start to suck, but if this is just going to happen the first few times to get them over then it's a good idea. Oz Academy is still the best heel group in wrestling. About 14:30 aired and it was good, but not close to the level it should be with these 4. 22:10. ***1/4

Kyoko Inoue vs. Kaoru Ito for the vacant WWWA title. This was much better than I had been led to believe. It wasn't the typical women's style match at all, but it had very good psychology, which is more important than the fact that it was slower paced than it would have been if Kyoko had better conditioning. The match was similar to a great AJ match, although not close to that level of overall greatness, in that it was totally built around the signature spots with both trying like hell to hit the big moves and win the title, but neither making it any too easy to execute the key spots. Kyoko tried her lariat, but Ito ducked it and tried to German suplex Kyoko, but Kyoko blocked it then got to the ropes. Ito ducked Kyoko's lariat again and tried to German suplex Kyoko again, but Kyoko once again avoided it. Ito hit her hip attack twice for a near fall. Ito did her rolling senton off the 2nd for a near fall. Kyoko got a near fall with her reverse diving elbow. Kyoko tried her main finisher, the Niagara driver, but Ito slipped out. Kyoko tried her other key finisher, the lariat, with Ito against the ropes, but Ito back body dropped Kyoko over the top. Ito toped Kyoko. Ito used her favorite move and one of her main finishers, the diving footstomp, for a near fall. Ito tried her diving footstomp off the top again, but Kyoko got up to avoid it. Kyoko immediately tried her lariat on Ito, but Ito ducked it and body scissor victory rolled Kyoko for a near fall. Ito tried to whip Kyoko into the corner, but Kyoko reversed it, so Ito jumped on the 2nd, but Kyoko released German suplexed Ito off the middle rope. Kyoko was slow in getting to the corner in this spot and Ito just waited for her, so it was not the greatest. Kyoko hit 2 lariats with Ito against the ropes for a near fall. Kyoko tried her Niagara driver, but Ito kicked her on the way up. Kyoko then tried her lariat, but Ito ducked and went into a uranage. Ito went to the top, but Kyoko got up and tried her headscissor cradle off the top, but Ito knocked her off. Ito did two of her diving footstomps for a near fall. Ito tried her most deadly finisher, the Super fisherman buster, but Kyoko knocked her off the top rope. Ito got up and knocked Kyoko off the top to the floor. Ito used her diving footstomp off the apron. Ito then used her diving footstomp off the top rope to the floor, which was a sucky move to take even before Ito gained a good deal of weight. With Kyoko now softened up from the deadly footstomps, Ito is able to deliver her Super fisherman buster, but Kyoko kicked out. Ito went back to her diving footstomps, this time hitting 3 before covering for a near fall. Ito went to the top, but Kyoko arm dragged her off the top. Kyoko then went to the top, but Ito cut her off and tried her Super fisherman buster, but Kyoko turns it into her powerslam off the top for a near fall. Kyoko hit her Niagara driver on Ito, but Ito was just able to kick out. Kyoko tried a lariat, but Ito ducked and tried to German suplex Kyoko out of this spot for the third time, finally hitting it, but Ito was still unable to put Kyoko away. Kyoko hit her lariat for a near fall. Kyoko tried to put Ito away with her Niagara driver, but Ito kicked Kyoko on the way up again. Ito tried Kyoko's own move, the lariat, on her, but Kyoko ducked went right into Ito's counter for the move, the German suplex, for a near fall. So the German suplex for the lariat proved ineffective as a finisher in this match, but led to Ito's demise as Kyoko followed with her Niagara driver, which Ito could no longer resist, for the win. Kyoko captured the WWWA title for the 2nd time. After the match, Hotta challenged Kyoko to a title match and Kyoko accepted the challenge (title match will occur on 8/20). Nice set up and counters of the key spots and all around solid work. Not very flashy, just good solid and effective stuff. The sparse crowd wasn't into Ito's offense at all, which may be due to the fact that she is devoid of charisma. Only 12:30 aired, which makes it kind of hard to judge and hard to compare to their 5/11 match as less than half of that was shown as well. Definitely a very good match. 26:01. ****1/4

Champ Forum Michinoku Pro 6/28/97 taped 6/22 Namia City

Great Sasuke & Tiger Mask 4 vs. Gran Hamada & Jinsei Shinzaki. This was billed as a dream tag match. The thought of Shinlazy in a dream match just doesn't sit right with me. The match definitely fell quite a bit short of the standards you would expect from a dream match. Shinzaki used his reverse splash off the 2nd on Sasuke. Tiger did a series of kicks which Shinzaki barely sold (Tiger didn't seem too happy about that either). Shinzaki did his rope walk. Shinzaki tried his reverse splash off the 2nd, but Sasuke got his knees up. Tiger missile dropkicked Shinzaki. Shinzaki's selling was so bad. Tiger & Sasuke tried a double juji gatamae, but Shinzaki ridiculously resisted both. Sasuke & Tiger applied a double heel hold. Sasuke rolled under a wheel kick then tried a wheel kick, but Hamada avoided. Sasuke knocked Hamada to the floor with a handspring elbow then quebrada'd him. Tiger dropkicked Shinzaki to the floor then toped him. Sasuke did a great Liger dive to Shinzaki. Hamada gave Sasuke his swinging DDT off the 2nd. Hamada held Sasuke and Shinzaki tried a diving shoulderblock, but Sasuke avoided it and Shinzaki got hit. Sasuke & Tiger Mask 4 double teamed Shinzaki, including doing the double elimination, for a near fall. Shinzaki ducked a double high kick then chopped Tiger. Shinzaki tried a strike on Sasuke, but Sasuke rolled under it then hit a rolling savate. Sasuke went to the top looking to dive at Shinzaki, but Hamada reentered the ring and Frankensteinered Sasuke off the top. Shinzaki used his diving headbutt for a near fall on Sasuke. Tiger moonsaulted Shinzaki for a near fall. Tiger ran off the ropes, but Shinzaki caught him with a spinning savate. Shinzaki then used his powerbomb on Tiger. Shinzaki applied his gokuraku hold for the win. Work was fine. Shinzaki was bad, but Sasuke can get more out of him than anyone, so he was not as bad as usual. Hamada barely worked in the part that aired, which took the match down a lot. Disappointing. 21:53. ***

Dick Togo vs. Super Delfin. This looks to be the burial of Super Delfin. The crowd was chanting for Delfin. Togo was in the ring first. Delfin was in the dressing room and Gran Naniwa showed up in the ring as he was originally scheduled for this match. Delfin had asked Naniwa to give him the match instead, but Naniwa didn't want to give the match up (Sasuke changed the card against his will). Delfin came out and saw Naniwa in the ring. Delfin & Naniwa had a talk, which resulted in Delfin in the ring to wrestle the match and Naniwa watching in the aisle. The crowd was very pro Delfin. Delfin ducked a lariat and hit a thrust kick, which got a good pop. Delfin got a near fall with a diving cross body. Delfin hit his backdrop. Delfin used his quebradora for a near fall. Delfin hit 3 lariats for a near fall. Delfin did a nice rana into a huracanrana. Delfin hit his swinging DDT off the 2nd. Things were going so well for Delfin that it looked as if he might be able to end it early. Deflin followed the swinging DDT off the 2nd with his Delfin Clutch finisher. Togo not only kicked out of the Delfin Clutch, but kicked out quickly. Togo looked like taking Delfin's best offense had not phased him at all. Delfin acted very scared. Togo went of offense, hitting a DDT on Delfin. Teioh distracted the ref while Togo tried to rip Delfin's mask. Togo gave Delfin a stiff chair shot. Togo DDT'd Delfin off the stage through a table. In the ring, Togo splashed Delfin off the top through a table. Togo used a released German suplex. Togo did a gutwrench suplex. The crowd was chanting for Delfin to come back. Togo backdropped Delfin and covered, but pulled him up. Togo hit a double arm suplex. Togo was taunting and slapping Delfin. Togo used a jumping DDT like move. Referee Ted Tanabe tried to persuade Delfin to fight back, but Delfin said, "No!" Togo got on the house mic and said, ""Shame on you! If you crawl through my legs, I will stop attacking you." In Japan and China, crawling through ones legs means you submit. Naniwa just stood there in the aisle with his arms crossed, while Sasuke tried to save Delfin. Sasuke got tombstoned for his trouble. Delfin crawled though Togo's legs. Tanabe called for the bell since this was the equivalent of Delfin submitting. Togo got on the house mic and said, "Did you really think I was gonna stop?" Togo & Teioh stomped on Delfin then Teioh. Teioh used his miracle ecstasy (nodowa bomb) on Delfin. Togo followed with his diving senton. Sasuke was screaming at ringside, but Naniwa had disappeared. At some point they cut Delfin's costume apart, cut his hair, then sprayed fool on his back, but this wasn't really shown on tv. Sasuke carried Delfin out of the ring. The match was good for what it was. 11:11. ***

Gran Naniwa & Masato Yakushiji & Naohiro Hoshikawa vs. Men's Teioh & Shoichi Funaki & Hanzo Nakajima. This was actually the 2nd match on the 4 match card, but it was shown last I guess to not leave viewers on a sour note like they did to the fans at the arena. Naniwa was the big star of the face side here as he controlled things when he was in, while his partners were not so successful in doing the same. Hoshikawa ducked Hanzo's lariat and tried to German suplex Hanzo, but after several go-behinds, Hanzo German suplexed him. Naniwa did a cool swinging DDT where he climbs the ropes to Hanzo. Naniwa DDT'd Hanzo. Yakushiji tried his moonsault off the 2nd, but Hanzo got his boots up. Teioh piledrove Yakushiji for a near fall. Yakushiji was dominated. Naniwa powerbombed Funaki for a near fall. Yakushiji missile dropkicked Funaki then Naniwa Doctor bombed Funaki for a near fall. Teioh powerslammed Yakushiji for a near fall. Yakushiji ducked a lariat and tried a German suplex, but Teioh lariated him and covered, but Hoshikawa made the save. Teioh used his old full nelson suplex finisher on Yakushiji. Teioh put Yakushiji in a submission that was kind of like an inverted stretch plum, but Hoshikawa broke it up. Teioh went to the 2nd & Funaki & Hoshikawa were going to hand Yakushiji to him, but Naniwa & Hoshikawa dropkicked them to break it up. The faces did a triple dive with Nawiwa doing a plancha and the other two doing topes. Funaki put Hoshikawa in a ½ crab. Funaki backdropped Hoshikawa for a near fall. Funaki then lariated Hoshikawa for a near fall. Hoshikawa landed on his feet for a suplex and tried a German suplex, but Funaki got the ropes. Funaki tried a lariat, but Hoshikawa kicked him then used his Northern Lights suplex for a near fall. Hoshikawa German suplexed Funaki, but Hanzo saved. Yakushiji missile dropkicked Hoshikawa. Yakushiji moonsaulted Hoshikawa off the 2nd for a near fall. Yakushiji ran off the ropes, but Hanzo Death Valley bombed him. Hanzo used a bodyslam position piledriver on Yakushiji. Hanzo did the Kobashi powerbomb and jackknife on Yakushiji, but Naniwa saved. Teioh ducked a lariat and backdropped Naniwa. Teioh tried his miracle ecstacy, but Hanzo came off the top with a great enzuiguri. Yakushiji hit his swandive spinkick on Teioh. Naniwa used his spinning Doctor bomb on Teioh, but Funaki saved. Yakushiji used a rana into a Frankensteiner off the top for a near fall on Funaki. Yakushiji fisherman bustered Funaki, but Hanzo saved. Funaki rolled Yakushiji into a kneebar for the submission. Real exciting. Great work, highspots, and near falls. Great finishing sequence. Fans were into Naniwa. Hanzo was even good here. A couple of screwed up spots, but definitely a very good match. 16:18. ****

Champ Forum Gaea 6/21/97 taped 5/25 Tokyo Korakuen Hall

KAORU vs. Chigusa Nagayo. This match showed Gaea's move (or at least current trend) toward more realistic submission oriented matches. KAORU put Chigusa in the juji gatamae (cross armbreaker), but Chigusa got a rope break. KAORU hit her swandive missile kick. KAORU tried a springboard move, but Chigusa threw her off the 2nd. Chigusa then put her in the juji gatamae, but KAORU got the ropes. Chigusa used an armbreaker. Chigusa tried another armbreaker, but KAORU turned it into a sleeper. Nice spot, which Chigusa got out of it by ramming KAORU into the corner. KAORU avoided a high kick and went into a choke sleeper, but Chigusa got a rope break. Chigusa tried a backdrop, but KAORU switched it and backdropped Chigusa. KAORU backdropped Chigusa again then went back to the juji gatamae, but Chigusa got another rope break. KAORU used her moonsault 3 times in a row, but rather than cover, KAORU applied a headscissors. Chigusa escaped the headscissors with another rope break. KAORU ducked Chigusa's leg lariat then Chigusa ducked KAORU's springboard moonsault, so the signature high spots weren't working in this more realistic match. Chigusa used a version of the facelock on KAORU, who of course got a rope break. Chigusa applied a kneebar, but KAORU got a rope break. Chigusa used her running three finisher. Chigusa then went to pick KAORU up for another powerbomb, but KAORU applied a headscissor arm bar. Chigusa tried to roll out of the headscissor arm bar, but wound up in the more lethal juji gatamae. KAORU used a series of lame kneecap dropkicks to weaken Chigusa's knee then put Chigusa in a kneebar, but there was yet another rope break. KAORU hit her excalliber (Michinoku Driver II). Rather than go for the pin, KAORU tried for another kneebar, but Chigusa turned it into the heel hold for the win. Totally submission oriented match with the only high spots being the signature spots. The selling of the submissions could have been much better though. They really didn't get the submission over because they went through submission after submission, in many cases with the workers in the middle of the ring, and they were all escaped with rope breaks. Just way too many rope breaks. If you want to get submissions over, you can't have the workers not submitting to locked in submissions and being able to struggle to the ropes time after time. It was kind of like the bad of Battlarts, as in they were going through submissions left and right with little psychology to the workers being able to escape them. Some of the spots were nicely set up. Solid work. This seemed to be the two workers just trying to learn different submission spots and show them to the crowd in the process. This could lead to a very good match once they get everything down as they could incorporate their regular spots with the submission moves and have a more diverse match with better psychology. This style is good for Chigusa because it requires much less movement and athleticism. After the match, Chigusa gave KAORU her shin pads and KAORU cried in joy. 8:46. **3/4

Toshiyo Yamada & Meiko Satomura & Sonoko Kato vs. Akira Hokuto & Maiko Matsumoto& Toshie Uematsu. Kind of a scattered match. No one really looked good or bad here, although Matsumoto is by far the worst of the bunch. Kato had her bad knee taped and wore a kneepad over it. Kato's shoulder was also taped. Satomura's arm was bandaged up. Hokuto dangerous backdropped Satomura and covered, but pulled her up. Matsumoto tried to apply the juji gatamae, but Satomura blocked. Satomura turned to her stomach, which allowed Matsumoto to get the juji gatamae on. Matsumoto put Satomura in an arm bar and Uematsu came off the top with awith a boot to Satomura's bad arm. Uematsu worked Satomura's bad arm some more, then Hokuto joined in the fun. Hokuto put Satomura in a boston crab and Uematsu & Matsumoto both put Satomura in arm bars. Satomura finally tagged Yamada, who came in and dominated Uematsu. Uematsu had knee support on, so Satomura worked her knee. Matsumoto & Uematsu both juji gatamae'd Satomura at once. Matsumoto put Satomura in an arm bar then Hokuto came off the top with an elbow to Satomura's bad arm. Hokuto hit her spin kick on Satomura. Yamada and Hokuto finally squared off. Yamada hit her reverse diving brain kick on Hokuto. Hokuto ducked Yamada's high wheel kick. Satomura & Kato tried to superplex Uematsu, but Hokuto knocked both off the ropes. Uematsu then tried to flying splash Kato, but missed. Kato hit her bulldog on Matsumoto. Kato tried her bulldog, but Matsumoto slammed her off. Hokoto tried her Northern Lights bomb, but Kato slipped out. Yamada tried her reverse Gori special bomb, but Hokuto turned it into her deadly henkei backdrop. Uematsu tried a Dragon suplex, but Yamada got out. Uematsu tried a German suplex, but Satomura picked her leg out and turned it into a kneebar. Yamada's team tried a triple front kick on Uematsu, but Hokuto hit them with a missile dropkick. Hokuto plancha'd all. Matsumoto used her gutwrench suplex on Satomura. Uematsu Northern Lights suplexed Satomura, but Kato saved by pushing Uematsu into the ropes. When Uematsu ran back off the ropes, Satomura Death Valley bombed her for the win. Too long. Some good stuff, but also a lot of filler. Not much in psychology and lacked the workrate required to somewhat make up for it. 18:13. **

AJ TV 6/8/97 taped 6/6 Tokyo Budokan Hall

Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada for Misawa's Triple Crown. A psychological masterpiece. An absolutely fantastic bout that was great in basically every aspect you could think of. Just plain awesome. The match played off both men's key spots as well as any match I can think of. The history between these two in singles matches is basically that Misawa knocks Kawada out every time. Kawada owns one singles pin over Misawa, on 4/19/97, when he pinned him with his powerbomb finisher. A main point in the psychology of this match was Kawada trying like hell to avoid getting knocked out once again and Misawa trying like hell to make sure he didn't become a two-time victim of Kawada's deadly powerbomb. Another main point was Kawada doing moves that focused on Misawa's head and neck as Misawa's neck had been injured in the Champion Carnival. The last 21:30 aired. It started off with Kawada in Misawa's facelock, a move Misawa has used to beat big stars such as Jumbo Tsuruta, but Kawada escaped it by getting to the ropes. Misawa went to his trusty elbow, one of his finishers which can knock his opponent out. After the elbows, Misawa tried his Tiger Driver finisher, basically what Misawa does in the big matches is try to knock his opponent out then go right into a pinning move for the win, but Kawada blocked it. Misawa tried to German suplex Kawada, but Kawada got to the ropes. Misawa then dropkicked Kawada in the back, allowing him to now execute a Dangerous released German suplex. Misawa hit his running elbow finisher. Misawa tried an elbow, but Kawada matadored it. Misawa immediately tried another elbow, but Kawada high kicked Misawa's elbow arm. Kawada used Misawa's own strike, the elbow, on him and both sold. Kawada lariated Misawa (hurts the neck) for a near fall. Misawa elbowed Kawada, but Kawada elbowed him back then hit his spinning high kick, which hurt Misawa's neck. With Misawa down in the corner, Kawada rocked him with a series of knees to the head. Kawada tried his powerbomb, but Misawa turned it into a Frankensteiner. Kawada came back with a jumping knee. Kawada tried his powerbomb, but Misawa did all he could to fight it off. Eventually, Misawa couldn't resist any longer and got powerbombed for a near fall. Misawa ducked Kawada's jumping high kick finisher. Misawa tried his discus elbow finisher, but Kawada ducked it and hit his Dangerous backdrop (this move kills your neck as you are planted directly on your head). Misawa rolled to the floor and sold like he was dead. Kawada tried to powerbomb Misawa on the floor, but Misawa blocked it, so Kawada gave him an axe kick. Kawada was now able to deliver the killer powerbomb on the floor. Misawa lied on the floor for about a minute (they didn't fall prey to the big problem in the great Liger vs. Otani and Liger vs. Kanemoto matches from Feb., not that this should surprise anyone) before Kawada dragged him into the ring. Kawada tried to end it with his powerbomb, but Misawa resisted. Kawada used a series of kicks. Kawada was so frustrated that he was unable to put Misawa away that he punched him in the face. Misawa fired back with his elbow. Kawada hit 3 elbows and a slap. Misawa came back with 3 elbows. Misawa tried to whip Kawada into the ropes, so Kawada did his spinning high kick, but Misawa caught his leg and threw him down. Misawa tried a Kawada-like spinning high kick, but Kawada caught his leg, so Misawa enzuiguried Kawada. Misawa elbowed Kawada. Misawa then delived his Tiger Driver (try to KO then use pinning move), but Kawada kicked out. Misawa tried his diving elbow, but Kawada jumping high kicked him in midair and both sold. Both workers got up at the same time and Misawa tried for the KO with his running elbow, but Kawada once again saw it coming and jumping high kicked Misawa (this doesn't exactly do wonders for your neck). Kawada tried to KO Misawa by delievering two more Dangerous backdrops. Kawada then applied his stretch plum finisher, another move that hurts the neck, after a while he let go and covered for a near fall. Kawada tried to end it with his powerbomb, but Misawa resisted. This went on for 30 seconds before both men "collapsed from exhaustion." Kawada tried to powerbomb, but Misawa blocked it. After 15 seconds, Misawa back body dropped Kawada, which got him out of the hold but did little damage. Kawada was able to get right up and hit an enzui lariat. Kawada hit yet another Dangerous backdrop. Kawada used a brainbuster, not one of his typical big spots, but it was key here as compacts the neck. Kawada used a headscissor and arm bar combination, but Misawa got a rope break. Kawada Dangerous backdropped Misawa once again. Misawa seemingly had about had it, but Misawa was able to summon all his energy to get up and lay Kawada out with his elbow before falling down. Both sold this spot for about a minute. They exchanged blows with Misawa winning the exchange. Misawa tried his discus elbow, but Kawada ducked and tried his Dangerous backdrop, but Misawa elbowed out. Misawa then tried his discus elbow, but Kawada avoided it and tried his jumping high kick, but Misawa blocked it then dropkicked Kawada. Great stuff as either guy could seemingly win with one more big move, but both guys know this and are able to avoid falling prey to one. Misawa hit his Tiger suplex on Kawada, but couldn't hold the bridge and had to do a lateral press for a near fall. This may have been part of the psychology or may have been a partially blown spot. If it was partially blown, it was the closest thing to a messed up spot in the entire match. If not, then the match had flawless execution. Misawa hit a Dangerous released German suplex, but Kawada got up and tried to lariat Misawa. Misawa ducked the lariat and went right into a released German suplex. Misawa tried his running elbow, but Kawada once again avoided the KO by countering with his jumping high kick. This got a big pop and both sold. Kawada tried his high kick, but Misawa blocked it then hit his discus elbow. Misawa did a released version of his Tiger suplex. Misawa tried for another Tiger suplex, but Kawada blocked it, so Misawa delivered his enzui discus elbow. Misawa tried to put Kawada away with a German suplex, but Kawada wasn't done yet. Misawa hit two more elbows. Misawa went for his running elbow, but Kawada saw it coming. This time he was "too injured" to counter it with a jumping high kick, so he simply collapsed to avoid it. Misawa tried his Tiger Driver, but Kawada blocked it. Kawada tried to come back, hitting 3 chops, but Misawa cut him off with 3 of his elbows. Misawa tried his discus elbow, but Kawada blocked it and resorted to punching Misawa (title is on the line, so you do what you have to). Misawa put Kawada down with a discus elbow. Misawa delivered a stiff elbow, which for all intents and purposes KO'd Misawa. Misawa covered, but Kawada somehow escaped at 2.9+ (you couldn't see him budge at all on tv as they had a bad camera angle). Misawa dragged Kawada's limp KO'd carcass up and German suplexed him for the win. Super must see match. Brilliant work and psychology. Extremely stiff and bone crunching match that may have set a record for most times with guys taking bumps directly on their head. In the 21:30 that aired, there wasn't one more that was out of place or one move that didn't add to the match. Very intense and riveting. Great heat. Better than the tv version of the 1/20/97 Misawa vs. Kobashi match. Probably the best match thusfar in 1997 and possibly the best men's heavyweight singles match of all-time. I'll hold off any further comparisons until I see this masterpiece unedited. 31:22. *****

Mima Shimoda Mima 10th Anniversary Commercial Tape

This is what they call a personal or lifestyle video. The basis of these videos is that you get to see the wrestlers in settings that they aren't normally in, so you kind of get a feel of what they are actually like. Of the video's I've seen from this genre, this is most similar to Megumi Kudo's Squall video. As with Squall, this video was broken up into different sections.

To celebrate the beginning of her 10th year in wrestling, Shimoda gets to take a vacation to Bangkok from 9/30-10/4/96. During this time period, she got out of working on at least 4 AJW shows. Since it's AJW though, you never really get any time off, so the catch is that her vacation was filmed for this video. They showed a bit of sightseeing of the historical sights in Bangkok in the beginning of the tape.

The first segment was Good Morning! Mima. This was a short sequence with the cameraman waking Shimoda up. Since she's in AJW, it's not surprising that even on vacation she's getting dragged out of bed. Shimoda looks good in the morning too by the way.

Fly High! This was Shimoda parasailing. I got the impression that it was like the Mayumi in challenges on Pure Wild or in other words they showed her in activities she had never done before. The parasailing was kind of cool and it was short so it didn't get boring. Shimoda didn't like the wind blowing in her face, but seemed to like it.

Sexy! This was Shimoda modeling and it was good! This lasted 4 ½ minutes with Shimoda in various bathing suits. The camera was constantly moving and scoping her down. There were some good close ups. Shimoda is one hot babe.

Q & A. This is where I wish I could understand Japanese. I think Shimoda's idol when she was growing up was Chigusa Nagayo as they showed highlights of Chigusa beating on Hotta. They showed some old training footage that was just brutal to watch. This was supposed to be flexibility training. Shimoda was sitting on the ground with her feet flush together and her legs forming a diamond shape. They had one guy stand on her ankles and the other stand on her thighs. The purpose was to stretch her muscles so her legs could lie flat on the mat. You'd have to see it to really understand what I mean I think, but this looked like it was so painful. I tried sitting in this position and in order for my legs to lie flat on the floor, I think my muscles would have to be surgically severed. Anyway you could tell this hurt Shimoda like hell. This footage topped the log catch as the most brutal wrestling training footage I've seen. They showed highlights of the Tokyo Sweethearts (Toyota & Shimoda) vs. Dream Orca (Yamada & Mita) from Wrestlemarinepiad '89 as, although that was the opener on that Yokohama show, that was one of Shimoda's first big matches. They showed highlights of the following matches: Shimoda vs. Yoshida, Hokuto vs. Kandori in their great match from Dreamslam, Shimoda vs. Hokuto, Shimoda vs. Takako, & Shimoda & Toyota vs. Double Inoues. For some reason they decided to film Shimoda in black and white letterbox with a grainy camera during this segment.

Mima Shimoda & Manami Toyota vs. Toshiyo Yamada & Etsuko Mita 2/3 falls for the WWWA tag titles from 8/16/96 Tokyo Korakuen Hall. This match celebrated the beginning of the 10th year of wrestling for all four women. Rather than have the women with their most famous partner, they opted to have them with their original partners. Although Korakuen Hall wasn't sold out, this was a really hot crowd. The match simply had the aura of AJW's glory days at the building, partially because the crowd was so well Mic'd, but mainly because they were into the whole celebration. When each woman was introduced, the fans showered the ring with tons of streamers. Each women had their own color streamer, so it looked really cool when they were all combined. It seemed like everyone in the hall threw a streamer in for every woman. Just unbelievable to see. It started off fast with Toyota & Shimoda both doing released German suplexes right after the hand shake. Mita superplexed Toyota. Yamada used her single arm snap suplex on Toyota. Yamada whipped Toyota into the ropes, so Toyota did her springboard reverse cross body. Shimoda put Yamada in a figure 4 and Toyota gave Yamada a diving splash. Toyota got a near fall on Mita with her rolling cradle. Shimoda slammed Mita then Toyota tried a moonsault, but Mita avoided it. Mita tried a powerbomb, but Toyota countered with her Toyota roll. Shimoda missile dropkicked Mita for a near fall. Shimoda tried her Aussie suplex (Tiger suplex) on Mita, but Yamada thrust kicked Shimoda to break it up. Shimoda slipped out of Mita's Death Valley bomb and Aussie suplexed Mita for a near fall. Shimoda tried her Aussie suplex on Mita again, but Yamada came in and sweeped her leg to break it up. Yamada then gave Shimoda a released German suplex. Mita German suplexed Shimoda for a near fall. Shimoda tried her Aussie suplex, but Yamada went down on her back and kicked Shimoda in the face. Shimoda tried her jumping neckbreaker drop, but Yamada threw her off. Yamada backdropped Shimoda. Yamada set up her diving brainkick, but got knocked off the top rope to the floor. Shimoda held Yamada & Mita so Toyota could do her springboard plancha, but they both escaped and Shimoda got hit. Yamada hit a sky high elbow for a near fall on Shimoda. Yamada tried her reverse Gori special bomb, but Shimoda avoided it. Shimoda held Yamada so Toyota could missile dropkick, but Yamada avoided it and Shimoda got hit. Yamada went to the top for her diving brainkick again, but Shimoda climbed up after her and hit her deathlake drive (released Tiger superplex) for the pin. Since this was a 2/3 fall match, they were able to make this a really fast paced fall and use lots of the signature spots early. However, the spots were well set up and the signature spots were often blocked or countered, so it was lots of great spots done in a very good way. 6:33

The 2nd fall was joined about 5 minutes in. Shimoda gave Yamada a Super double arm superplex for a near fall. Toyota whipped Yamada into the ropes, but Yamada thrust kicked her and tagged Mita. Toyota ducked Mita's blazing chop and tried a German suplex, but Mita elbowed out. Toyota ducked a lariat and ran off the ropes, but on the rebound, Mita caught Toyota in her Death Valley bomb for the pin. 5:55

In the 3rd fall, Mita hig her blazing chop on Shimoda. Mita tried another blazing chop, but Shimoda kicked Mita's hands. Yamada thrust kicked Shimoda then Mita Northern Lights suplexed Shimoda for a near fall. Shimoda hit her jumping neckbreaker drop on both. Mita tried to tope both, but wound up hitting Yamada. Shimoda delivered her Aussie suplex to Yamada for a near fall. Shimoda set up her deathlake drive on Yamada, but Mita pulled Shimoda off the top rope. Mita held Shimoda so Yamada could hit her with a diving somersault block for a near fall. Yamada tried her reverse Gori special bomb, but Shimoda turned it into a victory roll. Yamada hit her high wheel kick. Yamada then reverse Gori special bombed Shimoda, but Toyota made the save. Mita tried her Death Valley bomb on Toyota, but Toyota slipped out and hit a released German suplex. Yamada tried her reverse Gori special bomb on Shimoda, but Toyota missile dropkicked Yamada. Toyota tried her moonsault, but Yamada got her knees up. Mita powerbombed Toyota for a near fall. Toyota & Shimoda got a near fall on Mita with a double missile dropkick. Shimoda went to the top and Toyota set up a sky high move dropped into her Japanese Ocean Cyclone Suplex, but Mita victory rolled Toyota for a near fall. Shimoda plancha'd Yamada. Toyota Japanese Ocean Cyclone Suplexed Mita for a near fall. Shimoda did a sky high hair slam on Mita and Toyota dropped it into her Japanese Ocean Cyclone Suplex. Toyota's bridge on the finish was botched, so she just decided to cover Mita for the win. 7:21. Great work. Everyone looked good, with Yamada in 1996 top form. Nice set up and transition between holds. Hot match, particularly the 1st fall and finish, with all the high spots and near falls. Very exciting. 20:29. ****

Zoo! Pretty self-explanitory title to this segment. Although she didn't want to get on it, Shimoda rode on an elephant. Shimoda watched an elephant show where the elephants were trained to do tricks. The elephants got close to the crowd. One of the elephants trunk got real close to Shimoda and she was really scared. After the elephants there was another scene where Shimoda was sitting next to a monkey. The monkey touched her arm, so she jumped out of her seat.

Shimoda's vacation ended, but the tape was not over as we were treated to another 3 ½ minutes of modeling. This time Shimoda was in her room wearing her underwear. They also showed Shimoda taking a bath. The tape ended with Shimoda at the beach writing something in the sand.

I had the impetus to purchase the original of this tape. The obvious reason that I picked this tape is that I just really like Shimoda. There are simply few women that exceed her for wrestling ability or for looks. The other key reason is that the personal tapes are sale only, so there's no chance I could bug someone to rent them for me. Due to this, I have not seen this tape on anyone's tapelist, so basically there was not much chance of me ever seeing this unless I bought it myself. The tape cost me 5800Yen or roughly $50 before tax and postage (and this is actually a "cheap tape" as 9800Yen or about $80 is average and some tapes like the AJW Real Earnest commercial tape that I reviewed in the last column sell for 16000Yen or roughly $138). Because I spent all this money on the tape, and I'm very far from rich, I am going to do something I have not done in any of my other columns which is advertise that if anyone is interested in this tape, they should purchase a copy from me. I'm not looking to make money off the tape, I'd just like to make my money back. There are several other tapes I am interested in purchasing, but don't have the funds for, so if I make any money off the sale of this tape I will just use it to buy some other originals. I can promise that if you get the tape from me, you will get a near perfect 1st generation copy. If you are interested in this tape, please drop me an email at M.L.Liger@juno.com as I'm not going to stoop so low as to start giving prices for tapes in my column.

Hikari Fukuoka Sunshine & Starlight Commercial Tape

This is Hikari's personal video. It's almost identical to Mayumi Ozaki's Fascination as both are put out by the same company, Take Shobo. The only real difference between the two tapes is that this tape has Hikari rather than Oz. Like Fascination, this tape contained a heavy dose of modeling and a small dose of wrestling. If you find Fukuoka attractive, and I don't know why you wouldn't, you'd enjoy this tape very much. The video was filmed in Hawaii, where Fukuoka was vacationing. Fukuoka mainly poses in various bathing suits. There is one scene in her room where she is wearing her underwear, but basically it's a variety of bathing suits. The tape is well done as far as using some different effects, good lighting, and good edits (dissolves in particular). They also get some nice close ups, which is a bonus.

The video contains highlights of three maches. The first of which is Fukuoka vs. Sumiko Saito from 7/9/92. Saito was a good wrestler who retired young due to a neck injury and her decision to get married. She had some good matches with Hikari back in 1992 and 1993. These highlights were ok, particularly Hikari hitting a nice tilt-a-whirl headscissors, but I've seen these two do better.

The second match they showed highlights of was Fukuoka & Dynamite Kansai vs. Mayumi Ozaki & Cuty Suzuki from 4/3/92. This was the main event of the debut show of the second coming of the JWP. These highlights were predominantly different then the highlights of this match on Fascination as these focused on Hikari rather than Oz. This was a good match and it has historical significance. The third match they showed highlights of was Fukuoka vs. Kansai from 8/11/96. This was really really cool as the highlights were shown in slow motion with the tracer effect (leaves a shadow behind the things that are moving). AJW uses this effect in opening of their tv show. The effects make the moves that hit well look really awesome. Fukuoka is a great wrestler to make a highlight reel of in the first place because she is a very good flyer, so this was all the better. Some Fukuoka spots that looked particularly good were the tilt-a-whirl headscissors, bulldog, & moonsault. Fukuoka's missile dropkick off the top and off the 2nd looked great as you can really see Kansai's head jerk from the impact. The downside of this is that if a move looks fake or is screwed up, it looks really bad. Fukuoka's huracanrana fit this discription as she never even hooked Kansai's neck, but Kansai just jumped and went with it anyway (which she should). This looked like a very good match. Somehow I get the feeling that the quality of wrestling isn't going to make or break this tape though.

I had the impetus to purchase this as well as this was a sale only tape. Like Shimoda, Fukuoka ranks very highly in both wrestling ability and looks. The reason I picked this tape to buy is that you can only enjoy a tape like this if your copy is super, which mine obviously is. You can still enjoy a Kawada match if the VQ isn't perfect as you are watching it for the ringwork, but you simply cannot enjoy looking a modeling intensive tape if the quality of your tape sucks. My copies of Twin Angels are living proof of that. As with the Shimoda tape, if you are interested in purchasing a copy drop me an email at M.L.Liger@juno.com.

Kenta Kobashi & Johnny Ace vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue-champs

for the Double Tag Titles from AJ TV 6/1 taped 5/27 Sapporo Nakajima Sports Center

This was one of those great tag matches that only AJ can present. I don't think it needs any further introduction. The last 12 minutes or so of the 28:40 match aired. Kawada whipped Ace to Taue so Taue could use his nodowa, but Ace threw Taue down so Kawada high kicked Ace. Kawada & Taue used their backdrop/nodowa combination on Ace for a near fall. Kawada applied his stretch plum on Ace, but Ace made it to the ropes. Kawada put Ace back in the stretch plum, but Kobashi broke it up. Kawada tried to kick Kobashi, but Kobashi Dragon screwed. Kobashi hit two of his discus chops then German suplexed Kawada for a near fall. Kobashi tried his powerbomb, but Kawada blocked it, so Kobashi kneed Kawada then powerbombed him. Rather than go into the jackknife, Kobashi picked Kawada up and tried for another powerbomb, but Kawada kicked him on the way up. Kobashi tried his lariat, but Kawada high kicked him. Kawada made his comeback with an enzui lariat and his jumping high kick. Taue tried to nodowa Kobashi, but Kenta got to the ropes. Taue used his jumping high kick on Kobashi. Taue nodowa'd Kobashi. Rather than cover, Taue tried for a 2nd nodowa (he wanted to do his nodowa's in rapid succession), but Kobashi blocked it. Taue tried his Dynamic bomb (Liger bomb), but Kobashi shifted his weight and landed on top. Both sold. The spot was better on paper then it looked in actuallity, but still served it's purpose. Ace used his diving lariat for a near fall on Taue. Ace tried the Doctor bomb, but Taue blocked so Ace used his guillotine facecrusher for a near fall. Ace tried for his Ace Crusher (Diamond Cutter), but Taue punched him in the stomach. Ace tried his Cobra suplex on Taue, but Kawada came in and enzuiguried Ace. Taue then nodowa'd Ace, but Kobashi made the save. Taue used his Dynamic bomb for a near fall on Ace. Taue tried for his nodowa, but Ace elbowed him in the face and immediately Ace Crushered Taue. Ace had been getting pounded, so he had to tag rather than try for the pin. Kobashi came in, but before he could do anything to Taue, Kawada came in and started kicking him. Kawada high kicked Kobashi then Taue gave Kobashi a released German suplex. Taue tried his nodowa on Kobashi, but Ace broke it up with his diving lariat. Kobashi then DDT'd Taue. Kobashi used his powerbomb & jackknife on Taue, but Kawada made the save. Ace took Kawada out with his Cobra suplex. Kobashi lariated Taue, but all 4 workers were down in the ring selling. Kobashi finally made it over to Taue for the cover, but by then Taue had recovered enough to kick out. Kobashi tried for his powerbomb, but Taue high kicked him. Kobashi charged at Taue hoping to lariat him, but Taue got Kobashi in nodowa position. Kobashi used chops to block the nodowa, so Taue tripped Kobashi with a foot sweep. Kobashi popped up and hit Taue with a running lariat for the win. Kobashi & Ace won the Double tag titles. An exhibition on how to build a great match around the workers signature spots. Kobashi was really good and was the star of the match. Ace & Taue more than served their purpose, especially Taue as he worked most of the portion that was shown. Taue's conditioning seems on the decline though, which could prove to be a bad sign. A riveting match with great ebb and flow. It went back & forth, but not in the quick comeback way. This back and forth was with counters and saves in a way that the finish could come at any time if one of the workers could get their big move off, be "healthy" enough to immediately make the cover, and be lucky enough to have their partner hold their opponents partner off so he couldn't make the save. Great psychology and work. Pacing was neither fast nor slow, but was just right within the context of the match. Real stiff, of course. It's hard to give a match a super rating when you've seen less than half of it, but this is one of those matches where the exception has to be made as this might be the best tag match thusfar in 1997. I definitely need to see this in unedited form. 28:40. ****3/4

Women of FMW on Samurai! TV Megumi Kudo Retirement block

This show makes a good complement to Anthology as it adds the matches after 3/14/97 when Anthology ends and shows Kudo's wretched retirement match.

First they showed highlights of the 4/29/97 Yokohama Arena undercard. These were different highlights then the commercial tape. The camera angles on the whole tape were different than the camera angles on the FMW commercial tapes as I guess Samurai has their own crew film this stuff. The angles on the commercial tape were much better in almost every case, which I guess isn't very surprising. Ricky Fuji & Ricky Morton vs. Dragon Winger & Hido looked worse here as the execution was far from good. Koji Nakagawa vs. Katsutoshi Niiyama was much better on the commercial tape as they showed a lot more of the match. Their match was actually well thought out and had a storyline, so it fell flat in this short chopped up version. The 10-woman tag was a bit better in this version. Michiko Nagashima did a spot with Kaori Nakayama was outside the ring on a table where Nagashima climbed up the ropes then splashed Kaori, which cracked the table. Hiromuchi Fuyuki & Jado & Gedo vs. Head Hunters & Hisakatsu Oya looked like it was at least a better than average match. Some highlights that weren't shown on the commercial tape where A using the Michinoku Driver II on Jado and B (?) trying a splash off the top rope with Gedo on a table, but Gedo moved so the Hunter broke the table. The Hunters seemed to finally be trying again. The crowd was popping during this match. Overall, the crowd seemed a bit noisier on this tape, so maybe Samurai! Mic'd it better or maybe crowd noise was added in post production. Hayabusa vs. Mr. Gannosuke was the match they featured during these highlights. They showed a lot of it, more than any of the other matches, which shows that they also recognized this was the best match. They didn't show Quinones bump though, which greatly took away from the enjoyment of the match.

They went through the Kudo vs. Kandori series, showing the 3/14 match. They also showed the 3/21 Kudo vs. Shark match where Shark wins the WWA & Independent women's titles. I've discussed all this before.

Kudo & Bison Kimura vs. the lowest form of life Shark Tsuchiya & Lioness (but I really wish I was a Shark) Asuka in a bunkhouse death match from 3/28/97. This was pretty much what you would expect as Kudo did all the selling. The "luminary" Bison was absolutely useless in this match. She pulled a Rie, as in, she may has well have bought a ticket and watched the match from the front row. Kudo's ribs were all taped up. Shark tried to use her rod on Kudo, but Kudo turned it into a wakigatamae. Kudo gave Shark a flying Frankensteiner. Kudo then toped Shark. Lioness tried a kick, but Bison caught her leg, so Lioness enzuiguried. Lioness tried a kick, but Bison caught her leg and Dragon screwed. Lioness & Shark gave Kudo a sandwhich lariat. Shark used her barbed wire rod to Kudo's taped ribs. Bison tried to save Kudo, but Shark hit her with the rod. Shark used her sickle to bloody Kudo's scalp. Shark swung the sickle at Kudo twice, but Kudo, of course, avoided that. Lioness used a chain to tie Bison to the ring post. That was the end of Bison in this match as she was stuck there. Shark used the barbed wire rod on Kudo. Kudo came back with elbows. Lioness tried a back body drop, but Kudo turned it into a DDT, which was a nice spot. Kudo threw Lioness to Bison, who was still tied to the ring post. Bison was able to hold Asuka for a little while and allow Kudo to go 1-1 with Shark. Shark tried her Tsuchiya bomb, but Kudo turned it into a Toyota roll for a near fall. Kudo tried her spinning Kudo driver, but Lioness broke it up with kicks. Lioness did a henkei powerbomb on a chair. Shark Tsuchiya bombed Kudo with Lioness spiking it. Shark could have won, but chose to pull Kudo up instead. Shark piledrove Kudo on chairs for a near fall. Lioness used her Towerhacker bomb (torture rack turned into a powerbomb) on Kudo for a near fall. Shark then powerbombed Kudo for the win. Real one-sided. Not horrible because Kudo did all the selling, as opposed to Shark trying to sell and screwing things up. Not enjoyable. Shark wasn't ruining as many spots as usual, but there weren't really any difficult spots at all for her to botch or blunder. *3/4

Megumi Kudo vs. Mayumi Ozaki in a no rope barbed wire barricade double hell death match from 4/18/97. For a women's gimmick match, this is about as good a match as you can get on paper and after seeing it, it more than met my expectations. Seeing Ozaki, the coolest of the cool and the minkiest of the minky, against Kudo after seeing the crap Kudo is stuck doing with the lowest form of life, Shark, was like the difference between day and night. Instead of the usual crap where the face, Kudo, takes all the bumps and the heel sells nothing and cuts Kudo up, Ozaki sold even more than Kudo in this match. You would figure Ozaki would be out of her element here as, although she's the queen of the street fights, this was her first (and actually hopefully last) venture into the barbed wire death match. As always though, Ozaki proved that she could more than adapt to any situation she's in and proved once again to be credible against any opponent in any style of match. Ozaki is the best heel in the world right now. The main reason she is such a great heel is that she has so much character, personality, and charisma. As is usually the case with great heels, she is so good and so cool that it's near impossible not to like her. Anyway, this was basically the two babes of wrestling that are willing to put their looks on the line doing a crazy death match which had good wrestling and very good transition, but also sick bumps. The only sucky thing about this match was that Samurai! Didn't air the whole thing (at least not on this show) and what they cut out was the build to the gimmick spots, which is really what makes or breaks these matches. Kudo threw her t-shirt in Oz's face then Ozaki attacked Kudo. Both women tried to slide each other off the apron into the barricade, but were unsuccessful. Kudo tried to whip Oz off the apron, but Oz reversed, but Kudo slid to avoid going into the barricade. Samurai cut out a chunk of the match here. Oz tried to whip Kudo into the barbed wire, but Kudo reversed and ran Oz into the barbed wire. Kudo pushed Oz's head into the wire, but Oz looked to get the blood by blading. Kudo used a studded chain and collar, rubbing it into Oz's head. Oz pushed Kudo into the barbed wire. Kudo didn't bleed as much in this match as she does with Shark, but this match was much more effective as the amount of blood isn't really important at all. Oz then charged at Kudo, but Kudo got her foot up. Oz tried to lariat Kudo to the floor, but Kudo ducked and tried to German suplex Oz to the floor, but Oz elbowed her way out. Oz charged, but Kudo kicked her then Kudome Drivered her for a near fall. Oz's kickout from the Kudome Driver sent Kudo flying off the apron onto the barricade, which had a ton of barbed wire on it. Ozaki put the collar, with chain attached to it, around Kudo's neck and pulled her around the ring by the chain. Ozaki used the chain to whip Kudo into the chairs twice. Ozaki tried to pull Kudo by the chain into the barbed wire, but Kudo hip attacked Oz and sent Oz into the barbed wire. Kudo used her spinning choke sleeper for a near fall. Ozaki actually never kicked out of this, the ref just stopped the count before 3 and checked to see if Ozaki was ok then gave her a 10 count to get up. Kudo German suplexed Oz for a near fall. Kudo hit 2 Dangerous backdrops. Oz and Kudo struggled to knock each other off the apron into the barricade. Ozaki arm dragged Kudo, but Kudo pulled Ozaki and both took the bump onto the barricade (much better in actuallity than in this description). That was a pretty crazy bump. With Oz still lying on the barricade filled with barbed wire, Kudo splashed Ozaki off the apron. Insane spot for both, but especially Kudo as she had to land in the barbed wire. Ozaki delivered a pyramid driver for a near fall. Kudo reversed Oz's whip into the barbed wire, but Oz got her foot up to avoid being sent into it. Kudo ducked Oz's uraken and elbowed Oz into the barbed wire. With Oz leaning against the barbed wire, Kudo charged at Ozaki with a lame elbow. Kudo used a fisherman buster for a near fall. Kudo tried her Kudome driver, but Oz blocked it. Oz tried a lariat, but Kudo caught Oz's lariat arm and went into her Kudome driver for a near fall. Kudo tried a powerbomb, but Oz slipped out. Oz tried a Toyota roll, but Kudo turned it into a spinning powerbomb. Kudo elbowed Oz. Kudo tried to elbow Oz off the apron, but Oz ducked. Kudo elbowed Oz for a near fall. Kudo tried her spinning Kudo driver, but Oz flipped over and landed on her feet then hit her Tequila Sunrise (1/2 nelson German suplex not the submission move the Konehead does) for a near fall and a big pop. Oz wrapped the chain around her hand and swung it at Kudo, but Kudo ducked. Oz swung the chain back in the other direction, but Kudo ducked again and did her spinning Kudo driver for the win. Oz & Kudo shook hands after the match. Real good match with enough wrestling and enough gimmick spots. One of the best death matches I've ever seen. Maybe the best women's death match of all-time, but only about 10:30 aired, so you can't tell. I'm not much of a fan of this style match, but this was just plain good and I liked it a lot. 17:18. ****

Kudo & Kaori Nakayama vs. the lowest form of life Shark Tsuchiya & Crusher Maedomari from 4/25/97. They basically only showed the parts where Kudo was wrestling. Seemed ok as Crusher was actually half decent and this match was a wrestling match rather than the usual Shark cuts up the faces stuff. Shark used her Tsuchiya bomb to pin Kaori.

Megumi Kudo vs. the lowest form of life Shark Tsuchiya in Kudo's retirement match from 4/29/97. This was a tamer version than the commercial tape version as the camera was farther back, so it was much less graphic. The Tsuchiya bomb into the land mine, particularly didn't look as sick as you couldn't see how bad Kudo landed. Most of the match aired, but the post match stuff was barely shown.

AJW Zenjo Perfection'97 Commercial Tape 1/20/97 Tokyo Ota Ward Gym

Tanny Mouse & Miyuki Fujii vs. Miho Wakizawa & Remi Sekiguchi. This match was recipe for disaster as you had Tanny Mouse, who sucks, in with 3 rookies. About 40 seconds aired and it looked to be a bad fast-paced match. Tanny gave Sekiguchi her lame falling headbutts for the win. 3:20

Mariko Yoshida & Momoe Nakanishi vs. Misae Genki & Nanae Takahashi. This is more along the lines of what they should be doing as the youngsters can benifit from working with the quality veteran Yoshida. Yoshida used her handspring elbow on Genki. Yoshida applied the juji gatamae (cross armbreaker), but Genki made it to the ropes. Yoshida countered Genki's lariat with a handspring. Yoshida then ducked a lariat and German suplexed Genki for a near fall. Yoshida used her reverse cross body for a near fall on Genki. Yoshida used her Air-raid crush (crucifix position then drop backwards) to pin Genki. Yoshida looked good, but no one else did anything. About 40 seconds aired. Due to Yoshida, it seemed average. 7:50

Rie Tamada & Yumi Fukawa vs. Yoshiko Tamura & Yuka Shiina. These are the four younger women in AJW that are pushable, at least in comparison to their other options. Fukawa used two jumping neckbreaker drops on Shiina for a near fall. Tamada held Tamura so Fukawa could missile dropkick her, but Tamura avoided it so Tamada got hit. Fukawa used her fisherman suplex on Tamura for a near fall. Tamura did a sunset flip off the 2nd for a near fall on Tamada. Tamura & Shiina gave Tamada consecutive missile dropkicks. Tamada ducked a double lariat then gave Shiina a released German suplex for a near fall. Tamada used her kannuki suplex on Shiina for the win. About 2 minutes aired and it seemed like a pretty good match. 8:25

Yumiko Hotta vs. Toshiyo Yamada. Yamada was up for this match and showed flashes of her pre-injured up self. Lots of strikes in this one obviously. Yamada can take a lot more punishment and impact then her skinny frame would suggest. The early portion was stikes back and forth. Hotta used her whip into the turnbuckle then wheel kick twice in a row for a near fall. Yamada used her jumping high wheel kick. Yamada followed with two backdrops for a near fall. Hotta got a near fall with her Tiger Driver. Hotta tried her pyramid driver, but Yamada slipped out. Yamada then got a near fall with her jumping high wheel kick. Yamada tried her reverse Gori special bomb, but Hotta powered out so Yamada gave her a spinning high kick. Yamada tried her reverse Gori special bomb again, but Hotta turned it into a juji gatamae for the win. About 5 minutes aired. The work was good. Stiff match. Awfully short. Yamada and Hotta have good chemistry. 9:50. ***

Kaoru Ito vs. Aja Kong. This was Ito's first major step toward her title shot on 5/11. Aja controlled the 1st 6 minutes of the match. Ito came back with her hip attacks. Aja used a stiff palm strike then drapped Ito over the top rope with a suplex. Aja ran Ito into the rail twice then ran her into a set of chairs. Aja gave Ito a stiff chair shot. Aja brawled into the lobby, where she rammed Ito's head into some metal thing. Aja hit Ito with a steel guard rail. Aja whipped Ito into the corner, so Ito hip attacked Aja off the 2nd. Ito avenged Aja's earlier brawling by ramming Aja into the guard rail on all 4 sides of the ring. Ito ran Aja into a set of chairs. Ito hit Aja 3 times with a set of chairs. Aja hit Ito with her can. Aja piledrove Ito for a near fall. Aja piledrove Ito again for another near fall. Aja did her splash off the 2nd for a near fall, the crowd popped for this. Aja used her reverse diving elbow for a near fall. Ito hit a kneecap dropkick. Ito did two of her footstomps followed by a senton. At this point, Ito launched an all out attack on Aja's knee. Ito put Aja in a figure 4. Ito missed her diving footstomp. Ito toped Aja. Ito hit her foot stomp off the apron. Ito tried her footstomp off the apron again, but missed. I'm not sure if she purposely missed or not as Aja didn't really do anything to avoid it, but didn't sell it as a hit even though it missed either. Ito tried a lariat, but Aja backdropped her on the floor. That deadly spot looked like it may have hurt Ito legit. Aja backdropped Ito. Aja backdropped Ito for a near fall. Ito slipped out of a brainbuster and tried a German suplex, but Aja elbowed out. Ito tried her hip attack, but Aja caught her in the air and did a released German suplex. Ito avoided a diving footstomp and kneecap dropkicked Aja. Ito German suplexed Aja for a near fall. Ito went back to the figure 4, but Aja got a rope break. Ito did a diving footstomp to Aja's knee. Ito applied the figure 4 again, but Aja got a rope break again. Aja avoided Ito's diving footstomp. Aja hit her uraken for a near fall. The crowd popped when Ito kicked out then started an Ito chant. Aja set up her uraken, but Ito did another kneecap dropkick. Ito tried a uranage, but Aja got to the ropes. Ito hit another kneecap dropkick. Ito was now able to uranage Aja for a near fall. Ito put the figure 4 on again, but Aja got another rope break. Ito did another kneecap dropkick then put the figure 4 on again, but Aja made it to the ropes. Ito tried her Super fisherman buster, but Aja knocked her off the top then did a footstomp off the 2nd for a near fall. Even though it was off the 2nd, a footstomp from Aja is not a spot you are in a hurry to take. Aja powerbombed Ito for a near fall. Aja tried her brainbuster, but Ito turned it into a DDT. Ito did a diving DDT for a near fall. Ito missed her footstomp. Aja urakened Ito, but both sold the spot. Aja crawled over and covered Ito, but Ito kicked out at 2 3/4. Aja tried her back body drop off the top, but Ito turned it into a sunset flip powerbomb. Time expired before Ito could get the pin. Psychology was good. Work was solid, but unspectacular. The crowd got into Ito for once. Ito not winning the match after spending so much time working Aja's knee seems kind of counter productive to this being a big push for her as Ito gave her best attack, but still couldn't win. It was good strategy, but I don't know that it got Ito over as a legit Triple Crown contender. Ito mirroring Aja's brawling spots early was good as it gave her toughness and credibility against Aja. Match was a bit dull and repetitive. Stiff match. 30:00. ***1/2

Manami Toyota & Mima Shimoda vs. Tomoko Watanabe & Kumiko Maekawa in a 2/3 fall match for Toyota & Shimoda's WWWA tag titles. Despite Maekawa, this match lived up to the typical standards of Toyota. This was how 3 people can make a very good match, in spite of the fact that the forth is a stiff. Watanabe is probably one of the more underrated wrestlers right now as once again, she was really good carrying things for her side. Shimoda was real good here as usual. She was actually better than Toyota here as, in typical Shimoda fashion, she worked more than her partner and did her typical great selling and bump taking along with flashing some nice high spots. Watanabe used her lariat on Shimoda. Watanabe did her screw driver finisher, but Toyota made the save. Watanabe screw drivered Shimoda again for the pin. 0:35 first fall.

Toyota held both opponents and Shimoda toped them. Toyota then did her springboard plancha to both opponents. Shimoda tried a German suplex, but Watanabe countered with a go-behind, so Toyota swandive missile kicked Watanabe. Shimoda went to the top, but Maekawa suplexed her off. Maekawa set up Shimoda for Watanabe's sky high bodyscissors drop, but Shimoda slipped out and German suplexed Maekawa. Maekawa ducked a lariat and thrust kicked Shimoda. Shimoda ducked a double lariat and Toyota missile dropkicked both. Toyota moonsaulted Maekawa, but Watanabe saved. Toyota tried her Japanese Ocean Cyclone Suplex, but Watanabe slipped out and tried a German suplex. Toyota blocked the German suplex so Watanabe tried to lariat her, but Toyota avoided it and Maekawa got hit. Shimoda plancha'd Watanabe. Toyota moonsaulted Maekawa for a near fall. Shimoda did a sky high version of her neckbreaker drop, but rather than just fall back with Maekawa, Toyota turned it into her Japanese Ocean Cyclone Suplex for the pin. Another really short, but very fast-paced, well worked, and exciting fall. 2:54 2nd fall.

Toyota and Shimoda did a double jumping neckbreaker drop. Toyota went for a missile dropkick, but Maekawa kicked her to the floor. The action spilled to the floor with Shimoda hitting Watanabe with a row of chairs. Back in the ring, Toyota missile dropkicked Maekawa for a near fall. Toyota put Maekawa in a figure 4 and Shimoda diving splashed Maekawa. Shimoda put Maekawa in a figure 4 then Toyota diving splashed Maekawa. Toyota tried a diving splash, but Maekawa got her knees up. Maekawa thrust kicked Toyota for a near fall. Maekawa put Toyota in the camel clutch and Watanabe viciously kicked Toyota in the face. Watanabe then put Toyota in a camel clutch and Maekawa did a stiff kick. Watanabe whipped Toyota into the ropes, so Toyota hit her springboard reverse cross body. This was not executed well, maybe Toyota was still hurting from the stiff kicks. Shimoda used her jumping neckbreaker drop for a near fall on Watanabe. Watanabe used her dragon screw on Shimoda. Watanabe then put Shimoda in a figure 4 and Maekawa revenged by giving Shimoda a diving splash. Maekawa tried a press slam, but Toyota countered with a dropkick. Toyota missile dropkicked Maekawa for a near fall. Shimoda piledrove Maekawa for a near fall. Watanabe used her diving bodyscissors drop on Shimoda twice for a near fall. Watanabe put Shimoda in a scorpion. Watanabe tried her lariat, but Shimoda countered with a flying crucifix. Toyota ducked Watanabe's lariat then went into her rolling cradle for a near fall. Watanabe avoided Toyota's moonsault. Toyota ducked Watanabe's lariat then Toyota rolled Watanabe for a near fall. Watanabe lariated Toyota then screw drivered her for a near fall. Watanabe tried her screw driver again, but Toyota landed on her feet and German suplexed Watanabe for a near fall. Shimoda tried her jumping neckbreaker drop, but Watanabe threw her off. Shimoda jumping neckbreaker dropped both opponents for a near fall. Shimoda missile dropkicked Watanabe for a near fall. Shimoda tried her Aussie suplex (Tiger suplex), but Watanabe got to the ropes. Watanabe lariated Shimoda. Shimoda ducked a high kick and tried to German suplex Maekawa, but Maekawa went down to her back and kicked Shimoda in her head. Maekawa ducked a lariat and tried to thrust kick Shimoda, but Shimoda ducked that then Toyota missile dropkicked Maekawa. Shimoda Aussie suplexed Maekawa for a near fall. Maekawa hit her floating high kick for a near fall on Shimoda. Shimoda superplexed Maekawa. Shimoda & Toyota double missile dropkicked Maekawa for a near fall. Shimoda hit her deathlake drive (released Tiger superplex) finisher on Maekawa, but Watanabe made the save. Watanabe lariated Shimoda. Shimoda avoided Maekawa's axe kick and set up her deathlake drive, but Watanabe grabbed Shimoda off the 2nd in screw driver position and Maekawa back kicked Shimoda from the 2nd, which was very lame looking, for a near fall. Maekawa axe kicked Shimoda for the win. Watanabe & Maekawa won the WWWA tag titles. There were Maekawa chants after the match, if you can believe that. This show actually had crowd heat. 15:58 3rd fall. Very good fast- paced match with tons of high spots and near falls. Watanabe & Shimoda were really good. Toyota was her usual self, but didn't work as much as Shimoda or Watanabe, so she wasn't as much of a factor as she normally is. Maekawa was not as bad as usual, but still gets out of position and does way too many kicks that are supposed to be flashy, but wind up as slow low impact kicks. Replace Maekawa with a real worker and it would have been a great match. Definitely a very exciting match with nice setup and usually nice transition between holds. Selling was kind of lacking. Finish was kind of lame, but at least it had shock value. 19:27. ****

Kyoko Inoue-WWWA champ vs. Takako Inoue-All-Pacific & IWA champ in a unification match to form AJW's Triple Crown. This match was much worse than you would expect. Kyoko had the shoulder on her lariat arm taped up. It seemed as if they thought Kyoko's shoulder injury was not as serious as it was. If not, than the injury got worse during the match. In any case, Kyoko's shoulder injury seemed to seriously reduce the quality of this match. The end result was one of two things, either the match was well planned out, but they had digress from the original plan to buy time for Kyoko because her shoulder presented more of a problem then they expected or their were simply holes in the psychology of the match. Takako did 3 DDT's. Takako whipped Kyoko into the ropes, but Kyoko did her springboard reverse elbow off the 2nd. Kyoko did her whip into the corner then DDT off the 2nd spot. Takako worked over Kyoko's bad shoulder. Kyoko applied a ½ crab to Takako' perennially taped up knee. Takako tried her bridging back suplex, but Kyoko blocked it. Takako used her nodowa. Takako tried for her nodowa again, but Kyoko blocked it then threw Takako down. Kyoko used her reverse diving elbow for a near fall. Kyoko went to the top, but Takako arm dragged her off by Kyoko's bad shoulder. Takako went to the top, but Kyoko revenged by arm dragging Takako off. Takako slipped out of Kyoko's Niagara driver and hit her bridging back suplex for a near fall. Kyoko hit her lariat for a near fall. Kyoko tried for her Niagara driver finisher again, but Takako kicked her on the way up. Kyoko then kicked Takako and was now able to execute her Niagara driver for a near fall. Kyoko seemed to hurt her shoulder doing this, although I'm not sure how. Kyoko tried her Niagara driver again, but her shoulder hurt so much that she let Takako out. Takako began kicking Kyoko's bad shoulder. Takako went to do the next spot, but Kyoko rolled out of the ring to take a break. This made me think that Kyoko's shoulder was definitely that bad and from this point the match was probably have to be changed some. Kyoko was holding the arm with the bad shoulder by her side while she was outside the ring. Takako did a series of front kicks, finally putting Kyoko down with one for a near fall. Kyoko came back with her lariat. Kyoko tried her lariat again, but Takako turned it into a wakigatamae (remember the lariat arm is the arm with the bad shoulder). Kyoko made it to the ropes to break the hold. Kyoko tried her lariat again, but Takako turned it into a wakigatamae again. Kyoko once again got a rope break. Takako chaired Kyoko. Takako nodowa'd Kyoko off the apron. Takako rammed Kyoko's head into a table. Takako gathered a series of chairs and started throwing them into the ring. This took forever, requiring Kyoko to sell being rammed into a table for way way too long. I think this gave more credence to the theory that Kyoko's shoulder was that bad because this sequence made no sense within the context of the match. Even though Takako has used chairs and out of the ring brawling before, I have not seen her do something so absurd as start gathering chairs to use for a spot. If she wanted chairs, one or two would have been ample but she had several more than were necessary. It definitely seemed like she was just doing this to by time for Kyoko. Takako did 3 consecutive nodowa's on the pile of chairs. Takako back suplexed Kyoko on the chairs. Takako went to the top, but before she could do anything Kyoko climbed up and tried to throw her off, so Takako used her nodowa off the top. Takako Destiny Hammered Kyoko for a near fall. Takako Destiny Hammered Kyoko for another near fall. Takako tried a 3rd consecutive Destiny Hammer, but Kyoko ducked and hit a released German suplex. Takako tried a huracanrana, but Kyoko powerbombed her. Both sold that spot. Kyoko lariated Takako for a near fall. Kyoko tried her Niagara driver, but Takako slipped out. Takako did a reverse Destiny Hammer for a near fall. Takako Destiny Hammered Kyoko for another near fall. Takako went for yet another Destiny Hammer, but Kyoko didn't get up. The gave Takako a signal not to jump at Kyoko. Kyoko still didn't get up, so Takako got off the top rope and covered Kyoko for a near fall. Takako backdropped Kyoko for a near fall. Takako tries a superplex, but Kyoko tries her powerslam off the top. Kyoko then tries to lariat Takako, but Takako pulls Kyoko off the top rope by her bad shoulder into a wakigatamae. Takako Destiny Hammered Kyoko, but Kyoko ridiculously no-sold like she was the Huckster and German suplexed Takako. Kyoko Niagara drivered Kyoko for a near fall. Kyoko hit her Niagara driver again and Takako never moved, but for some reason the ref stopped the count just before 3. The only reason for this is either the ref or Takako forgot how many Niagara drivers were to be included in the finishing sequence. In any case, it killed the finish as it was obvious to anyone watching that someone screwed up. Kyoko Niagara drivered Takako for the win. Kyoko retained her WWWA title and captured the All-Pacific & IWA titles. They quickly iced Kyoko's shoulder after the match. Weird match. The match was real good in some points, but nonsensical in others. Too much dead time, which seemed to be due to injury. Psychology was good to an extent because Kyoko's shoulder was hurt, but it seemed Takako had to leave the shoulder alone most of the time near the end of the match, which hurt the overall psychology of the match. The finish with the no sell of Takako's finisher and then the cross up over how many Niagara drivers they were doing was just bad. Takako clearly was the better Inoue in this match. She was much better than Kyoko and made it a good match. Takako worked faster and pushed the action. Big disappointment. This is the first time I can think of where Kyoko didn't come through in a big match. 24:03. ***1/4

Special Thanks to (in alphabetical order) Zach Arnold, Bob Barnett, Dave Caldwell, Scott Lacy, Ramon Lores, Glenn Tsunekawa, Koji Yamamoto, & John D. Williams

not great psychology

broke new ground

no killer moves like Tiger Suplex 85 or Tiger Driver 91

told a new story

released German's injured Kawada

neck was not deep psychology, but psychology that fell right into Kawada's strengths

didn't play off old matches or AJ history much

Kawada used Hashimoto's brainbuster DDT then triangle headscissors, which were both new moves to him, but it was the finish of Hash vs. Takada

JohnDWilli:	It's not 1993 anymore. Hase's been out of competative wrestling since 5/95. He never was a top guy in NJ - one challenge to the IWGP Title in his career... hell. Koshinaka and Tenzan have more.

JohnDWilli:	I love Hase, but there isn't much you can do with him beyond a semi-final role.

JohnDWilli:	There are limits to the credibility you can give him. I can have him beat Jun... and have that lead to a match with one of the Big Four. But he just can't eat any of them. And you do want Jun to come back and beat Hase at some point.

JohnDWilli:	You really can't toss him in competative Tag title matches.

LigerRules:	I realize it's not 1993, but with Hase being in the Diet, he's still very famous. It's not as if he's vanished off the face of the earth and not been heard of for 2 years. In NJ, this could not come close to being a main event, but AJ provides workrate while NJ appeals to the marks. I don't think the match has a ton of drawing power right now. I think it's the wrong time to do the match for that reason. If Hase could show that he still has it, putting on some good matches, and AJ could push him to the point of credibility against the big 4, then to me this should be a good draw.

JohnDWilli:	Really, he need a simple story - Jun. This year Jun and a Kobashi match, maybe at this Budokan in the semi. Next year, Jun and maybe a match with Misawa after he drops the belt.

LigerRules:	He doesn't have to beat any of the big 4. There's no way that would happen and pretty much any AJ fan would know the result of a Hase vs. any of the big 4 match going in, but the result of most Misawa matches is known going in and people still come out because they know Misawa will put on a great show before he gets his obvious win.

JohnDWilli:	I think the role could have been as working with Misawa's group as a guest member.

JohnDWilli:	I need to hit the sack. :) I'm fading as I type.

LigerRules:	ok, thanks for all your help.