Quebrada #39

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

May 20, 1998

http://ohmygod.simplenet.com/quebrada

Jd'

As hard as it might be to believe, Jd' has actually become pretty good. The booking is still bad, but recently it has been a lot better than it was. Most of the featured matches now have some direction. Jd' finally figured out to an extent how to push a few of their younger wrestlers. They also have been booking better people. Instead of booking all of those terrible Mexican women, they have used some talented women from JWP, Neo Ladies, and LLPW. Now, if they would only ditch the spot blowing Morenos and keep the Shark in her tank, things might really be cool.

Jaguar Yokota has always been great, but she's been better of late than she had been since leaving AJW. Her opposition has at least been decent enough that she can carry them to a good match. Lioness Asuka, with the exception of the 4/20/97 match against Bison, was garbage since becoming a Shark wannabe. However, it turned it that she did still have some pride left, so she carved out her own heel style and really turned her ring work up in the second half of 1997. In doing so, she proved that she is still one of the best women around when she wants to be.

The real story in Jd' is that two of the youngsters are finally developing into good wrestlers. I always wondered how all Jd's youngsters could look so bad when they were being by Jaguar. I think that it is just that they were much too small and had no real talent. The two women you could tell looked like they had potential when the debuted in Jd', Sumie Sakai & Yuko Kosugi, are women to keep an eye on because they are improving really fast. I think so much of Hiromi Yagi (she's coming back, YES!), who improved at such a incredible rate that she probably would have become the best of the women if she didn't retire last year, that I hesitate to compare anyone to her. However, if there is anyone out there who is similar to Yagi both in style (judo) and rate of improvement, it would be Sakai. Sakai is 26, so she doesn't have as much time to develop as the other women like Kosugi, who is only 17, but she will become a very good worker this year if she keeps this pace up. In just three months time, these two went from women who couldn't do anything but rookie match spots together to women who not only worked well together, but understood how to play off the other's strengths. Both still have a ways to go, but in September they were miles behind the other league's prospects and now they have passed a lot of them and are pulling up the rear with the top prospects.

Other women like Ryuna, Megumi Yabushita, & Sachie Abe are also improving, but they are much farther away than Sakai & Kosugi. Ryuna doesn't have that much natural ability, but she sticks to what she can do so she doesn't hurt the match. She has added some spots, so she isn't limited to just using her chain now. Ryuna has a good spot to learn as a Lioness understudy, and she has the potential to become a good, albeit limited, heel someday. Yabushita was Jd's junior champion, but that belt seems to mean nothing. Yabushita and Abe aren't lucky enough to have a spot, and Jd' has yet to make them look like anything more than women who occasionally show flashes. Since Yabushita is 26 and Abe is 23, Jd' needs to do something with them soon. Miyuki Sogabe is lucky enough to have a spot, but she continues to show that she doesn't deserve it.

Jd' Drastic Movement '97

Jaguar Yokota & Yuko Kosugi & Miyuki Sogabe vs. Lioness Asuka & Ryuna & The Bloody

6/8/97 Club Citta Kawasaki

From Jd' on Gaora 8/1/97

This was total heel destruction. It was a pretty good match because Lioness felt like working, and she looked really sharp carrying the load. Lioness hit every spot to perfection, which made the match, but also magnified the many weaknesses of her wannabe heel teammates. The two prospects in the match, Kosugi & Sogabe, were relegated to bump girls to get the heels over. However, Yokota also took this role, so the match really put the heels over strong without making the prospects look second rate. The heels disseminated the faces one by one starting with Kosugi. Ryuna was actually better than normal here, but The Bloody was typically bad and neither of the two have any offense. The highlight of the Kosugi destruction was Lioness using Ultimo-esque punts to Kosugi's back. Kosugi came close to tagging a few times, but Lioness was always in control, and she would tease Jaguar by waving Kosugi's hand around so it was just out of Jaguar's reach. Kosugi finally did make a tag, but it was disallowed because The Bloody was distracting the ref. Lioness Liger bombed Kosugi on the floor, with Kosugi taking most of the impact on her head instead of her back. Lioness tried to press on, but Kosugi was unconscious, so they stretchered her out and took her to the hospital. Kosugi wasn't seriously hurt, but nine weeks later Plum Mariko wouldn't be so lucky. The match was restarted as a handicap match, with Sogabe taking Kosugi's place, and fairing just as poorly. Lioness immediately gave Sogabe a Liger bomb, showing that she wasn't trigger shy and also that, as is always the case in wrestling, all accidents are quickly forgotten and never learned from. Jaguar finally tagged in about 18 minutes into the match. She flashed her high impact offense on The Bloody, culminating with a Dan Kroffat-esque back superplex with a 180-degree flip that I believe is what she calls the shuttle loop buster. Lioness made the save on that spot by hitting Jaguar with a pail, and it was all downhill from there for Jaguar. Lioness brought Jaguar outside the ring and piledrove her through a table, bloodying Jaguar. Meanwhile, Ryuna stiffed Sogabe with chair shots. Bloody got a near fall on Jaguar with her rolling German. Jaguar had an opening to come back after ducking Lioness & Ryuna's second sandwich lariat, but Bloody immediately hit Jaguar with a chair. Lioness had Jaguar in big trouble after hitting a Doctor bomb, but Cooga came in and made the save. Lioness was none too happy about this, which heated up their rivalry. Lioness hit the Liger bomb, but Sogabe made the save. Jaguar was selling like she was totally dead, but she pulled out a great schoolboy counter for Lioness's towerhacker bomb (torture rack spun into Liger bomb). Lioness set Jaguar up for a powerbomb, and Bloody and Ryuna tried to spike it with a double diving chain, but Jaguar turned it into a huracanrana. Lioness dangerously jackknifed Jaguar through a table, not throwing Jaguar far enough so it was mainly her neck that broke the table. She then hit her towerhacker bomb, but Jaguar was still able to raise her shoulder. Lioness stood on a table that was set up across the 2nd rope and jumped off it with a Liger bomb. 1....2....3! Jaguar down??! Jaguar never jobs, especially after getting destroyed the whole match and juicing heavily. This was really out of the ordinary, the word shocking comes to mind, and put Lioness over huge. The problem with this match was that it was too long. I understand what they were trying to do, but this was a seemingly eternal squash. I think you could have achieved the same end and improved the match if it didn't take Jaguar 18 minutes to get in the match. I mean, if you are trying to show heel dominance then they should dispense the youngsters a hell of a lot quicker. As Michiko said, "I kept waiting for a big comeback that never came...Too long to be that one-sided, too one-sided to be that long." Still, this match had much more direction the vast majority of Jd' matches, so it was a definite improvement. 25:23 (22:20). **1/2

Jaguar Yokota vs. Sumie Sakai

6/22/97 Osaka

From Jd' on Gaora 8/31/97

This was your typical veteran vs. promising youngster match. What was atypical was that a good match occurred in Jd' rings. What was even more atypical was that it was a singles match where one of the workers was less than 30 years of age. Jaguar was great here, making Sakai, who debuted just two months earlier, look like an accomplished wrestler and a credible opponent. This match showed how good Sakai can become, but at this point what we see here is a grand illusion from the wand of The Great Yokota. This was a solid match with good work. Sakai got off to a hot start, hitting two of her Uchimatas (a judo takedown that's a single arm shoulder throw), but Jaguar countered her lariat with a handspring then beat Sakai to the lariat to take control. Jaguar's work was right on, as always. She controlled the action during most of the early portion, allowing Sakai to counter her spots for near falls. Jaguar worked a slow pace and held back on her high spots. Thus, instead of it looking like Sakai was trying to beat the U.S. with the vaunted Scud missiles, Sakai's basic high spots could be seen as highlights. Sakai came back just after the 6 minute mark, avoiding Jaguar's lariat with a baseball slide and dropkicking Jaguar to the floor where she jumped off the apron with an arm drag. Sakai tried her Uchimata and juji gatame, but Jaguar avoided. The only blown spot of the match was when Sakai slipped while trying to climb up Jaguar's body and turn it into a juji gatame. Jaguar kept trying to put Sakai away, but Sakai kept kicking out to show her fighting spirit. Eventually Jaguar hit her shuttle loop buster for the win. Good match that would have seemed a lot better if there were actually fans at the show to get behind Sakai. 9:57. **3/4

Jd' Shake Viorently

Jaguar Yokota & Devil Masami vs. Sumie Sakai & Megumi Yabushita

8/3/97 Tokyo Korakuen Hall

From Jd' on Gaora 10/4/97

Bringing Devil in for a veteran vs. promising youngster match is a double edged sword. On one hand, she knows how to work about as well as anyone and she trains youngsters, so she should be able to help their development. On the other hand, she is really big and her in ring persona doesn't allow her to sell for the youngsters, so it winds up looking like a better worked Scott Norton vs. Juventud Guerrera match. I think Devil detracted here because the youngsters had less than no credibility against her. This match was not good or competitive. Sakai looked like a rookie, and while that is expected, it's a regression from her singles match with Jaguar. Sakai's weaknesses were strikes and selling, which are almost always problems for youngsters, but they are ones that can be corrected with experience. No one was really on here except Yabushita, who looked better than anytime I've seen her. The match was considerably more interesting when Jaguar was in because Devil did all kinds of no-selling. The execution was hit and miss, as even Devil was having some problems. Yabushita vs. Jaguar was good though. The coolest spot was Devil press slamming Jaguar over the top rope onto both opponents. The youngsters got to push a little, but they eventually succumbed when Devil lariated Yabushita then Jaguar Tiger suplexed her for the pin. 19:22 (9:44 aired). *1/4

Jaguar Yokota & Cooga vs. Lioness Asuka & The Bloody

9/5/97 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukan #2

From Jd' on Gaora 11/8/97

This was a good solid match. It was slow paced, but filled with well-executed high spots. Cooga never lived up to her potential, and isn't good, but she's not that bad for a #2 in Jd', especially when Jaguar is working most of the way. It is bad when Cooga is in singles or is the leader of her team though. Jaguar mainly got destroyed by the heels again. Lioness felt like working again, so obviously it was quite good when she was in with Jaguar. Lioness and Bloody did all kinds of double teaming to Jaguar, much to Cooga's avail. Lioness got several near falls on Jaguar, with Cooga making saves. However, anytime Cooga came in the ring, the heels took advantage and did switches or double teams. Lioness tried to suicida both opponents, but they avoided and Lioness took out the seconds. Jaguar was finally able to tag out at the 10-minute mark when Cooga broke up Bloody's double arm superplex with her Destiny Hammer. Cooga soon hit another Destiny Hammer on Bloody, but Ryuna came in and made the save. Lioness piledrove Jaguar on a table, but it didn't break. Lioness got near falls on Jaguar with her Liger bomb and towerhacker bomb. She did a deadly jackknife onto a table and took care of Cooga while Bloody tried her diving elbow drop. However, Jaguar avoided the elbow drop and got a flash pin on Bloody with a flying crucifix. Weak finish, but one that kept the heels strong. 14:52. ***

Jd' STIR THE BLOOD '97

TWF Tag League Bout: The Goddess Chikako Shiratori & Michiko Omukai vs. Kyoko Inoue & Sumie Sakai

10/22/97 Tokyo Korakuen Hall

From Jd' on Gaora 12/13/97

The Dream Team for looks of The Goddess & Omukai, Woo-Hoo! They could both easily supplant Rachel Hunter. Oh yeah, I'm supposed to be talking about wrestling here, and believe it or not I did eventually notice there was a match going on. This match had a lot of good and bad. It started off well with Sakai and The Goddess working together on a level that was great for non- veterans in Jd'. Sakai's improvement was noticeable as she was more aggressive and she figured out that her offense works a lot better if she uses her Uchimata to create the opening for her juji gatame instead of using her Uchimata and juji gatame as separate moves. Sakai slipped climbing up Shiratori, but quickly covered it with a different takedown into the juji gatame. Sakai didn't have any matwork to work for her juji gatame, which is also a problem for many women who have been wrestling for years. After Sakai went through her judo offense, The Goddess came back with her Jaguar spots. She hit a DDT off the 2nd, but Kyoko made the save, and was booed by The Goddess contingent for doing so. Shiratori set up her cross-arm German suplex, but Kyoko again interfered, putting Shiratori down with her dreaded lariat. Kyoko tagged in, but The Goddess ducked her lariat and hit a Japanese leg roll clutch hold for a near fall then tagged Omukai. Omukai is tall, about 5'7", and has a solid frame, so she was able to work well with Kyoko. She hit 3 consecutive Destiny Hammers, but Sakai made the save. Maybe seeing Omukai hit a beautiful Tiger suplex on Kyoko gave Shiratori the wrong idea or maybe she was just supposed to look like a weakling who couldn't do anything against the portly Kyoko. I don't think it was that the Jd' booking team was back to being out to lunch because if they were, Kyoko would have been with them. Anyway, The Goddess kept trying to lift Kyoko, mainly with her cross-arm German suplex and it was as stupid as Johnny Ace trying to use his cobra clutch suplex on Steve Williams or Gary Albright. It's possible that the move could have been "executed," but it was going to look like crap if it was, so Shiratori would have been much better just using a different spot. Aside from Shiratori & Omukai doing consecutive planchas, there wasn't a lot that worked when The Goddess was in with Kyoko. The elevated missile kick was nice, but you could tell Omukai was thinking, "Hurry up Chikako, I can only keep this horse up here for so long." Shiratori did eventually do something that somewhat resembled a cross-arm German suplex to Kyoko. Kyoko kicked out of Shiratori's La Magistral, then did her two big spots, the lariat and the Niagara driver, for the win. Kyoko looked "strong," but her performance was certainly weak in comparison to what she used to be able to do. Good indy stuff, but it would look weak in the big leagues. 18:53 (8:35 aired). **1/2

TWF Title: Lioness Asuka vs. Jaguar Yokota

10/22/97 Tokyo Korakuen Hall

From Jd' on Gaora 12/13/97

After more than 12 years, the two best working women of the 1980's finally renewed their singles rivalry. The roles were reversed however, as the younger Lioness was the champion. When you have huge stars from past decades going at it, you usually have a big gate and a lousy match. This was just the opposite. They drew a measly 1,650 fans, showing Jd' has nothing that will draw, but the match was easily the best Jd' match I've ever seen. This was a sprint, and it was loaded with great spots. Actually, it was basically an exhibition of spots. It was peers using everything they could think of to leave with the belt. The ring work was great. The main problems with the match were that the selling could have been better and that there was an over reliance on outside interference by Lioness's cronies. The cronies couldn't wait to interfere, but Jaguar was ready for them and she took the first advantage with a German suplex on Lioness after The Bloody's kick backfired. Jaguar was using her speed and athleticism, including a moonsault press, so Lioness tried to take this advantage away by dumping Jaguar off her shoulders over the top rope to the floor. I wouldn't want to take that bump at my age, much less at 36. Jaguar barely even sold the career shortening bump though, getting up so Lioness could suicida her. Bloody rammed Jaguar into a chair, and Cooga had seen about enough of this outside interference, so she ran Bloody into the chairs. Lioness back suplexed Jaguar on the floor, which Jaguar sold big. Lioness sat Jaguar in a chair and kicked her hard enough to knock the chair over, then piledrove Jaguar on the chair. Lioness was kicking Jaguar when she was down, but she got her foot stuck on Jaguar's body when she was pulling it back and tripped and fell. Lioness came up short on her moonsault, so it wound up being a moonsault knee drop. Lioness' lackeys set up a table in the ring and Lioness piledrove Jaguar through it, then drove the splintery part into Jaguar's head a few times. Jaguar bloody. Lioness continued to dominate. At 10:30, she set Jaguar up in a chair and tried to kick it over again, but Jaguar ducked it and tried her cross-arm German suplex, but Lioness got the ropes and took control again with a high kick. Lioness tried for another moonsault, but Jaguar stopped it with a chair then did her shuttle loop buster for a near fall. Jaguar went through her spots and Bloody got worried, so she tried a diving chain, but Jaguar avoided it and Lioness got hit. Jaguar used the chain on Bloody & Ryuna, then tied it around her foot and did a missile kick off the 2nd that knocked Lioness to the floor. Jaguar followed with a rolling block off the apron and tried to tombstone Lioness on the arena floor, but Lioness reversed it and did a tombstone of her own then a Liger bomb. Back in the ring, Lioness got a near fall with her Liger bomb, but Jaguar countered the towerhacker bomb with a roll up for a near fall. Lioness maintained control though, successfully executing her towerhacker bomb for a near fall. The heels set a table up across the middle turnbuckle, and Lioness Jumbo suplexed Jaguar off the table for a near fall. Very cool new spot, except it didn't work right because Jaguar very obviously landed on her knees. They moved the table to the top rope and Lioness tried a diving Liger bomb, but Jaguar turned it into a huracanrana off the top for the comeback win! There was a big YO-KO-TA chant for the new champion. Jaguar's selling great in the post match was great, playing it like she was totally spent and had to be held up. Meanwhile, Lioness was standing in the corner with this sinister look of disgust. Jaguar was on her knees and she offered a handshake. Lioness grabbed her hand like she was going to shake, but being the heel, she spewed mist in Jaguar's face and ran to the back. Thus, there was even more reason to run the rematch 3 months later on Bison Kimura's retirement show. 15:50. ****

TWF Tag League Bout: The Goddess Chikako Shiratori & Michiko Omukai vs. The Bloody & Sayori Okino

12/7/97 Osaka Bayside Juny (?)

From Jd' on Gaora 2/7/98

This was a shockingly good match. The Goddess was fired up and she made the match. Glenn & I agree that her work was as good as it's ever been. Granted that isn't a high level, but it's impressive considering the opposition can't work a lick. Bloody & Okino did their typical bad attempt to be heels, until Omukai took out both of them with a springboard cross body off the 2nd then made the tag. Shiratori did a series of jumping DDT's for a near fall on The Bloody. Bloody tried to come back with her rolling German, but Shiratori turned it into a nice bodyscissor victory roll. Shiratori countered Bloody's press slam with a dropkick then went to the top, but she got caught with a double nadare shiki no brainbuster (superplex). Okino did a released Northern Light suplex and Bloody came off the second with a senton, but Omukai made the save. Shiratori avoided Bloody's second senton of the 2nd and did her La Magistral for a near fall. Omukai and Shiratori showed some teamwork with Omukai hitting a missile kick, which propelled Bloody into Shiratori, who then German suplexed Bloody for a near fall. They did a double missile kick, which worked about as well as that spot ever works. Shiratori had Bloody pinned with her cross-arm German suplex, but Fang Suzuki came in and made the save. Bloody ducked a lariat and Okino spewed mist into The Goddess' face then Okino immediately rolled her up for the win. Shockingly good work. 14:01 (4:22 aired). Surely worse in complete form, but *** based on what aired.

Sumie Sakai vs. Yuko Kosugi

12/7/97 Osaka Bayside Jenny

From Jd' on Gaora 2/7/98

This was also surprisingly good, and especially impressive given the basic and boring 5:42 AJW style rookie match these two had on 9/5/97. Neither of these two had done anything close to this good when they weren't in with veterans. Both had shown the potential, but this was the first time they put it all together into a good match. This was once again a short match, but it was very successful because they only used the spots they could do right. This was almost like an AJW youngster match with better spots, in that they did the same couple of spots they can do and they hit everything. However, their spots were finishers and they were able to build the match around them so it looked like a hot junior style finish. Kosugi had a bad elbow, which played right into Sakai's hands. Instead of going for the flash win with the juji gatame as Sakai had been doing in her other matches, she worked the bad elbow a little bit first. Sakai's first juji gatame attempt was a nice spot, as Kosugi did a springboard arm drag off the 2nd, but as she went for the pin, Sakai hooked the juji gatame. It was a fluid spot, and fluidness is a major weakness of nearly all the Jd' matches. Sakai did an arm drag off the 2nd into the juji gatame, but Kosugi made the ropes before Sakai could extend the arm. However, Sakai refused to release and they went to the floor where Kosugi slammed Sakai and hit a footstomp off the apron. Back in the ring, Sakai avoided Kosugi's diving footstomp and they exchanged bridging suplexes before Kosugi got the win with her diving footstomp. Both showed plenty of improvement from their September match, and this was a great glimmer of hope from the Jd' pit of despair. This was not just a lucky couple of minutes. It was proof that these two are ready to take the next step. ***

Jd' on Gaora 3/1/98	STIR THE BLOOD'97 Final Round taped 12/28/97 Tokyo Korakuen Hall

The first three matches were edited down to next to nothing, but that was just as well because they still couldn't make them look good. Esther Moreno is just the worst, unless she is better than her sister Alda. Even wrestling Kazuko Fujiwara, who's just a rookie, Esther's execution was still the worst in the match. Poor Sachie Abe got stuck trying to carry Fang Suzuki, and I'm not even sure if Jaguar can do that. Abe did all her spots right, but Fang made them all look terrible. Of course, Fang got the victory after the rest of the pitiful working heel contingent interfered. Yuki Lee & Megumi Yabushita (1-5-0 2 points) vs. The Bloody & Sayori Okino (3-2-1 7 points) in their final TWF Tag League match was fair. Bloody usually sucks, but for some reason she's just below average when she's with Okino. I haven't figured out the reason yet, but I don't think Okino actually has anything to do with it. The finish was good as Bloody tried her German suplex on Yabushita, but Lee kicked her in the back and Yabushita did a jumping takedown into her juji gatame.

The Goddess Chikako Shiratori vs. Yasha Kurenai (LLPW). This is one of those puzzling matches that you find in Jd'. For the life of me I cannot figure out the point of this match. As the 4th of 6 matches, I don't think it was to draw. Yasha isn't a draw despite promotions getting the idea she is from time to time. Shiratori never wins a singles match, so even if Yasha was a draw coming off jobbing to Hikari Fukuoka in a JWP title match at Yokohama Bunka Taiikukan a few weeks earlier, Shiratori, whose career record in Jd' through 3/31/98 is 29-84-3, wouldn't be ample competition. The point of this match should have been to elevate The Goddess in a loss, but it wasn't worked that way at all. From what they showed, Yasha pretty much dominated the match. Shiratori got a couple of near falls, but no one would confuse them with pushing Yasha, or even buy that they could be the finish. So as a fan watching this match, you might think that Shiratori was going to win because she sold so much. That would be a big help to her and if Jd' could somehow have gotten LLPW to agree to that, the match would have made sense. Of course, no one actually thought that this was going to happen coming in, and no one was surprised when Yasha scored the pin with the guillotine leg drop. Basically a pointless match that was a waste of Jd's money. When you bring in an outsider, unless they are "putting asses in the seats" your wrestler should get more out of the match with them than getting to kick out of one of their finishers. Especially since kicking out of the nodowa otoshi off the 2nd isn't exactly like kicking out of the Tiger driver '91. If they are building Yasha up for a title shot, then there could be some sense to this match, but it's not as if they have been bringing her back, so I tend to doubt that was the thinking. 13:48 (4:04 aired). *3/4

TWF Tag League Bout: Kyoko Inoue (Neo Japan Ladies) & Sumie Sakai (4-2-0 8 points) vs. Lioness Asuka & Ryuna (5-1-0 10 points). Lioness & Ryuna came into the final night with the lead, but 4 teams were still alive. If Lioness & Ryuna won this match, then they became the first TWF tag champs. If they drew, then Jaguar Yokota & Yuko Kosugi could still tie them with a win. If the lost, then Jaguar & Kosugi could win the tag league with a win. Kyoko & Sakie were still alive if they won and Jaguar & Kosugi drew, which would force a three-way final between those two teams and Lioness & Ryuna, or if they won and Cooga & Leoga beat Jaguar & Kosugi, which would force a three-way final between them, Cooga & Leoga and Lioness & Ryuna. This match followed the typical pattern of faces vs. Lioness' heels. The heels did all kinds of cheating and dominated most of the match, but the outcome was different than usual. Sakai had her face painted up like Kyoko. They beat on her for several minutes trying to get heat, but it almost never works in Jd', or really women's wrestling these days. Ryuna is limited, but she once again did what she was capable of and showed improvement. She still mainly used her chain, but she did finally show some moves. I think Ryuna has surpassed The Bloody, whatever that is worth. Lioness didn't seem very fired up today. She worked a slow pace, but she was very solid. Lioness hit her Liger bomb on Sakai, but Kyoko saved. Ryuna then tried to sneak attack Kyoko as she was leaving the ring, but Kyoko dispatched her and had her first confrontation with Lioness, which Lioness won with an eye rake. Sakai finally slid under Ryuna's lariat and hot tagged Kyoko, who hit a big lariat on Ryuna. Lioness came in and hit Kyoko with the chain, but Kyoko fired back with lariats and took out the whole heel contingent. Kyoko tried her la tapatia on Ryuna, but Lioness broke it up with a kick and all the heels came in and stomped on Kyoko. Lioness piledrove Kyoko on a table, but Sakai made the save. The heels controlled for a while, but Kyoko eventually hot tagged Sakai. Sakai got her backdrop on Lioness and ran over to the corner to celebrate with Kyoko, who wasn't even up yet, but as soon as she turned around Lioness punked her with a high kick for a near fall. Kyoko saved Sakai after two Lioness Liger bombs, but Ryuna had her occupied when Lioness set up her towerhacker bomb. It looked like Sakai was in big trouble, but she turned the towerhacker bomb into a small package for a near fall and made the tag. Lioness did a waki-gatame for Kyoko's lariat, but Kyoko rolled through and tried another lariat, which Lioness ducked then put Kyoko down with kicks. Lioness & Ryuna double teamed Kyoko and tried for a piledriver, but Kyoko came back with lariats. Ryuna mercifully stopped Kyoko's sad attempt at a climb up, allowing Lioness to Liger bomb Kyoko for a 2 9/10. Kyoko no-sold Ryuna's lariats, then decapitated Ryuna with one of her own, but Lioness saved. Kyoko Niagara drivered Ryuna, but Lioness saved again. The heels dragged Kyoko to the floor and held her, but she avoided Lioness' suicida. Ryuna tried to powerslam Sakai off the top, but Sakai turned it into a juji gatame. However, Lioness broke it up before she could extend the arm. Kyoko gave Ryuna a released German suplex and Sakai got her juji gatame, but Lioness saved again. Kyoko finally took Lioness out and jackknifed Ryuna then Sakai debuted (I think) her moonsault for the win. Thus, Lioness & Ryuna were tied with Kyoko & Sakai with 10 points and no matches left. 16:31. ***

TWF Tag League Bout: Jaguar Yokota & Yuko Kosugi (4-1-1 9 points) vs. Cooga & Leoga (Miyuki Sogabe) (4-2-0 8 points). As far as the booking of this tournament went, they did a great job in keeping so many teams alive and making the last two matches be incredibly important. Unfortunately, Jd' doesn't have the talent to live up to that booking. When you have someone like Misawa, even if Ace is the competition on the final day, teasing the draw is great booking and you know the match, while it might not be great, won't fall flat. When you have Cooga, a mediocre veteran, Leoga & Kosugi, inexperienced teenagers, what on paper looks to be the most dramatic match is risky in reality. When you have Misawa vs. Ace you are going to get heat, most likely much more than you could get for a regular Misawa vs. Ace match, because the steaks are high and Ace holding Misawa to a draw is realistic. This match failed to build anticipation for the draw or get any heat. The main reason was probably that it just wasn't very good. Kosugi, who not coincidentally wore a Megumi Kudo style outfit, looked good, further proving that'll she'll be one of the stars of the next decade. Unfortunately, she was the only one in the match who wasn't worse than normal. Cooga continues to be disappointing. She is starting to be more consistent than she used to be. Unfortunately, the consistency is that we get bad Cooga a lot more often now. Leoga is over pushed. She has the frailest little body and she just isn't very talented. Jd' is thin on prospects, but Abe should have Sogabe's push. Sogabe has improved, as she's added some moves, but they don't look that great when she does them. That was one of the problems with this match for that matter. The spots weren't really missed, but many of Cooga & Leoga's were executed less than perfectly. Jd' should emphasize that their workers do what they can do right. They can practice the new moves in the dojo and debut them when they've got the kinks worked out. By going this long, they had to dig deep into weak move sets. The other thing was that moves were performed at ½ speed. That might be because this match went way too long and they didn't have the stamina, or just because they aren't that good of workers. I'm sure with Cooga, the latter was at least most of it. The highlight of the match was Cooga giving Kosugi a stiff koppo kick in the corner and Kosugi selling it well with the Greg Valentine flop then Leoga moonsaulted Kosugi. Finish saw Jaguar have Cooga in trouble, but Cooga got out of the way when Jaguar tried to shuttle loop buster Kosugi onto her. Cooga tried to come back with her swinging DDT, but Jaguar cut her off and pulled her off the top in fisherman buster position, planting her in the center of the ring for the win. Jaguar & Kosugi became the first TWF tag champs! 27:44 (14:39). *1/2

Jd' Yokohama Super Break on Samurai TV taped 3/8/98 Yokohama Bunka Taiikukan (gym)

This was the biggest show in the history of Jd'. They drew an announced crowd of 3,400 in the 4,900 seat gym, which was more than I expected and certainly a good crowd considering the state of women's wrestling these days. However, considering you could see a whole section of entirely empty seats, I'm sure there was more than a bit of paper in that figure. This was a good show and a definite winner for Jd', but the show couldn't compete with what JWP has done in this building.

The show was built around a six team interpromotional future star tag tournament called The Next. This tournament was the most successful aspect of the show from a booking standpoint. Jd' chose to split their two best inexperienced wrestlers, Kosugi & Sakai, up, pairing them with the best teenager in JWP and AJW respectively. This was smart because it built their rivalry instead of making it a promotion vs. promotion thing, which is harder to book if you want the other promotions to let your team come out on top. The match was good and Sakai & Kosugi weren't shown up at all. Because they work together so often, they were able to instill some psychology into the final by playing off each other's big spots. With the possible exception of the final, the better team won every match in this tournament. The booking at least worked for me because after watching the final, I really wanted to see a Kosugi vs. Sakai match, and I was even more excited about seeing these two grow. I'm still surprised Jd' is running this year's Junior All-Star show at 2,100 seat Korakuen Hall, as the show seems too big that venue. However, if the promotions continue doing so much interpromotional stuff with the youngsters, there won't be any novelty to the show by the time 11/2 comes around, and Korakuen may not be such a bad place for it, especially with the current economy. The good thing about Korakuen is that the hardcore fans are the first fans that they have to get the next generation of youngsters over with. Speaking of the fans, the main drawback to this show was that there was absolutely no heat for any match.

The Next Tournament Round 1: Sumie Sakai & Momoe Nakanishi (AJW) vs. Hiromi Kato (Gaea) & Nanae Takahashi (AJW). The execution of everything that aired was good, with Sakai & Momoe looking good. The match was so edited that it didn't have any continuity. Momoe pinned Takahashi with a victory roll. 13:43 (2:58 aired).

The Next Tournament Round 1: Yuko Kosugi & Kanako Motoya (JWP) vs. Sachie Abe & Miho Watabe (LLPW). This was a pretty good, exciting, action packed match. Watabe is just so small that she's like a flea even against opposition that isn't that big. Motoya had to give her a big boost so she could get high enough on her attempted huracan rana that it would be credibly when Motoya turned it into a powerbomb. Motoya was worlds better than the other 3. She works like a veteran, while the opposition isn't able to chain spots together with any flow. Abe & Watabe did a few cool simultaneous moves, but were really no match for the opposition. Finally, Kosugi missile kicked Abe off the 2nd into Motoya, who went right into a German suplex for the win. The finish looked really good. 11:04 (3:02 aired).

The Next Tournament Round 2: Sumie Sakai & Momoe Nakanishi vs. Miyuki Sogabe & Emi Motokawa (IWA Japan). This was typical Emi fun. However, it was too much comedy for my taste, which isn't out of the ordinary when Emi is wrestling. A fast-paced sprint with good work. Emi got near falls on Sakai with her La Magistral and a nadare shiki no Frankensteiner, but Sakai countered her suplex and went right into a sleeper for the win. 8:27 (3:04 aired).

The Next Tournament Round 2: Yuko Kosugi & Kanako Motoya vs. Fang Suzuki & Misa Okoda (SPWF). This didn't look good. Okoda is even worse than Fang, and it's not easy to be that bad. The heels, Fang & Okoda, did lots of double teaming of course. Kosugi pinned Fang with her diving footstomp. 14:00 (2:53 shown).

Yoko Takahashi vs. Megumi Yabushita. This was a UFC rules type of match, which is the only kind Takahashi participates in. She is basically retired these days because Jd' doesn't bother supplying her with opposition. Instead, they use her as a referee. Yabushita, as well as Sakai, were on Japanese national judo team before becoming pro wrestlers. This was too edited to really make any kind of judgement about. Very little happened during the portion they showed though, so it probably wasn't too interesting. Takahashi won with a heel hold. 16:07 (2:53 shown).

Yuki Lee vs. Kumiko Maekawa (AJW). This is the style of match you'd see if Maekawa wrestled Mizuki Endo. However, that would be worlds better because Endo smokes Lee like a cheap cigar. To Maekawa's credit, she did a good job here. The match was what it had to be, and she carried Lee as well as you could expect her to, if not better considering they haven't fought since Lee was in AJW. Lee is just plain bad though. This was actually one of her better singles matches, which truly shows how bad she is. Maekawa looked like a star in this match, and Lee looked like she belonged in A ball. This was supposed to be a stiff, realistic match. Maekawa's kicks were stiff enough to be credible, if not stiff enough to be incredible. They were also more accurate than normal. On the other hand, Lee, who is a kicker, has nothing on her kicks and isn't credible in this setting. Lee's transitions were also weak. Both women were guilty of not selling previous damage. Finish was very back and forth. When Maekawa finally caught Lee with her kakato otoshi (heel kick) it was all she wrote. Strong performance by Maekawa. 11:15 (7:13 aired). **

The Next Tournament Final: Sumie Sakai & Momoe Nakanishi vs. Yuko Kosugi & Kanako Motoya. Everyone likes to overlook JWP for some unknown reason. I'm certainly guilty of lagging majorly on getting any of their tapes reviewed, so I can't really complain. Anyway, Motoya was in with the other 4 good prospects in this tournament, these 3 and Emi, and she showed that she is the best and most advanced of the bunch. Gaea didn't send anyone good, but Motoya is probably better than any of their youngsters other than Sugar Sato as well. It's hard to tell just how good Sato and Meiko Satomura are right now because they haven't been working with youngsters they aren't familiar with of late. When she had the chance, Sato was excellent at carrying youngsters she wasn't familiar with. For that reason, as well as being the most well rounded performer of the bunch, I give her the nod over Motoya and any of the others at this point. What makes Motoya so good is that her work is so sleek and polished. She has the speed and technique. Her move set is also the best of the youngsters in this tournament. I would not say her move set is really deep. She's more like Kaoru Ito in that she knows a lot of holds, but likes to do the same couple in succession as a high point of her match. Like Ito, you don't see Motoya blowing spots because she always stays within what she can do. However, Motoya, like her peers Tomoko Kuzumi & Tomoko Miyaguchi, is far from a conservative wrestler. Momoe is the 2nd best of this bunch right now, and she is improving by the day. She has great potential and will be a big star and a great worker in the not too distant future. The thing she does better than Motoya is sell, both actually taking the bumps and the way she puts them over. What she can't come close to matching Motoya in is the ability to work complicated sequences, although a lot of that has to do with the environment the two regularly work in. Momoe doesn't have anyone pushing her to do the workrate style, which overall is more good than bad because that means Momoe should have the longer career. It just means that right now I can't rate her as high as Kuzumi, Miyaguchi, or Motoya. Sakai has by far the best osae (groundwork) of the bunch, and Kosugi seems to be picking some of this up as they work together. Motoya can get it done on the mat when she wants/needs to, but she doesn't have anyone pushing her in that direction, so most of the time you wouldn't think she had any talent on the mat at all. Sakai also has the best conditioning of this bunch, superb abs. Her Nage (judo throws) is great, and it's a major strong point that the others don't have because they don't have the judo background. Everyone held their own and looked good in this match. The main thing these 4 need to improve is giving their match direction. The match went along fine, but there wasn't much in the way of storyline or psychology. The improvement of Kosugi & Sakai was shown by the fact that they are starting to play off each other's move sets. Sakai had been concentrating, as always, on beating Kosugi with her juji gatame, so Kosugi added some depth by going from her springboard arm drag right into the juji gatame. This is a Sakai spot, but I think she took the arm drag part from Kosugi. Both of these two are working better and better with each other, and if they can do more spots like this they can start chalking out very good matches together this year. Momoe uncharacteristically blew a basic spot, a figure four on Motoya, but she immediately covered it by making it simply an ankle lock. Sakai & Momoe both tried to put the opposition in juji gatames. Sakai refused to release her grip when Kosugi made it to the ropes, so they fell to the floor with Sakai hanging onto the hold and Kosugi still blocking. This is a spot they had done before, but this is the first time it really worked well. Certainly the fact that Motoya followed by giving Sakai a diving footstomp off the apron was part of the reason it worked so well. Back in the ring, Kosugi did her arm whip and tried a juji gatame, but Sakai blocked. Later on, Momoe got her legs up for Motoya's diving splash and came back with a nice locomotion German suplex for a near fall. Momoe & Motoya started working great sequences together, avoiding each others spots, but they lost their momentum when Motoya slipped off the top rope. Motoya suicida'd Momoe and Kosugi plancha'd Sakai. Motoya got a near fall on Momoe with a double wrist arm sault, but Momoe avoided Kosugi's diving footstomp and came back with her German suplex for a near fall. Sakai debuted a rider kick (somersault off the top, hitting your opponent, who is standing, with a double kick. This is not the hip wrecking move Sasuke does to the arena floor) to Kosugi, but Kosugi avoided her moonsault. Kosugi hit her diving footstomp at the 15 minute mark for a near fall. Kosugi tried to use her arm whip off the top on Sakai, but Momoe came from behind and released German suplexed her off the second. Sakai then did a totally awesome diving juji gatame to Kosugi for the win. Great finish! This was the best match Sakai & Kosugi have been involved in. Like the rest of the show, the tournament had no heat, but it was a smart way for Jd' to get their youngsters over. The results weren't immediate, but this final will help get all these girls over in the long term. Really, a lot of pieces are starting to fall in place as far as the workrate of the youngsters. No one league has any depth, but there are starting to be a lot of girls in their teens or early 20's that are showing that they will become very good to great workers in the next few years. 15:48. ***1/4

Jaguar Yokota vs. Cooga. Jaguar put on a hall of fame performance, carrying Cooga to her best match in years. Jaguar was just fantastic doing all kinds of cool spots early then reaching the level of selling that's a notch below Misawa & Kawada's. Cooga is so deeply immersed in being a pansy that it's getting pathetic. She used to know how to strike when she wrestled in AJW under her real name, Miori Kamiya, but now she would be lucky if her blows could kill a fly. Perhaps she has a mental block and thinks her opponent in each match is Hulk Hogan. Aside from her light impact offense, she is so slow doing her spots. Cooga often goes a whole match without blowing a spot, yet there will be a dozen spots that look bad because she does them so lame. Cooga basically sucked here, but Jaguar is so great that it almost didn't matter. There's no question in my mind that even at 36, Jaguar is easily one of the five best women in the world right now. This match started off looking like a spotfest with Jaguar doing all kinds of cool headscissor type manuevers and Cooga using bridging suplexes and her swinging DDT. After several near falls in the first 3 ½ minutes, they went to the body of the match with Cooga launching an all out attack on Jaguar's bad knee that has been bothering her for months. It looked to be badly bruised and maybe scabbed, but it got progressively worse looking as the match went on and seemed to get busted open. Jaguar tried to come back with her manji gatame (octopus), but Cooga picked Jaguar's leg then worked it over with every single spot. Outside the ring, Cooga whipped Jaguar into the chairs, with Jaguar taking her requisite awesome roll over the chair bump. Cooga chaired the knee repeatedly. With the help of Abe & Lee, Jaguar hobbled back to the ring holding her hand on her kneecap so it wouldn't "give out" when she put her weight on it. After working over the knee some more, Cooga tried her swinging DDT, but Jaguar pulled her off and hobbled back to the center of the ring to fisherman buster her, which was the finish of the tag league match on 12/28/97. However, Cooga turned it into a DDT this time. Cooga tried Jaguar's shuttle loop buster, but Jaguar knocked her off the top and did a moonsault press. Cooga reversed Jaguar's Irish whip, and Jaguar hobbled around the ring and held onto the ropes so Cooga couldn't do a move. Since Jaguar couldn't move too quickly, Cooga seized the opportunity to charge and hit her koppo kick. Cooga used 2 more nice DDT's, dropping Jaguar on the top of her head for a near fall. Cooga got near falls with 2 Tiger drivers and her Destiny Hammer. Jaguar finally came back with a Dragon suplex. Cooga turned Jaguar's fisherman buster into a DDT, except Jaguar countered the counter by handspringing out before her head hit the mat! Jaguar's leg held up enough to do the fisherman buster for a near fall. Jaguar hit another fisherman buster and this time Cooga didn't kick out. A lot better than it should have been because Jaguar called the match so that Cooga's liabilities would be hidden as much as possible. Hot start and finish. Strong body and psychology. 17:13 (13:26). ***1/2

Las Cachorras Orientales (Shimoda & Mita & Saya & Shiratori) (all but Shiratori are Neo Ladies) vs. Lioness Asuka & Shark Tsuchiya (free) & The Bloody & Ryuna. This was a weird main event. It went on forever, but nothing seemed to happen. It wasn't that they were blowing spots or that what they were doing was bad per say. It was more that everything seemed indifferent because there was basically no psychology or storyline. The whole match seemed to be either Saya or Bloody getting dominated, though mainly it was Saya. Unless the point of this match was to show that Saya was the weakest of the bunch, the match wasn't successful. There was absolutely no heat, and for a main event to go on this long without any heat is not a good sign, even if the crowd was dead throughout. Even though Las Cachorras Orientales have their following (which is probably bigger than Kyoko's at this point), the fact that everyone was a heel probably hurt the heat. In any case, they didn't give the fans anything to pop for. Lioness & Shimoda didn't work close to long enough, and didn't do much when they were in. Shiratori played the in between role of wanting to be a Cachorras, but not wanting to be a heel. Sometimes she participated in the team ups, but most of the time she just watched. She came in and saved Saya a number of times, but her blows were low impact and many of them didn't even get sold. Part of the problem was her right arm was all bandaged up under her outfit, and it was really hampering her. She was pretty much wrestling with one arm at points. Shark really didn't do much. She cut up Saya, but she wasn't supposed to cut anyone else up, so she halfheartedly hit them with her barbed wire rod once in a while. The funny thing about this match was that every veteran didn't seem to do much. I know they know that they need to step up and assert themselves on the big shows, so what the hell happened here? Ryuna showed more improvement, but she's still someone who merely doesn't hurt the match. Lioness got a near fall on Shimoda with her Liger bomb then tried her towerhacker bomb, but Shimoda turned it into a schoolboy like Jaguar does. Lioness did a diving footstomp with a table on top of Saya, then Liger bombed her, but Saya was saved just in time. Cachorras buried the opposition in chairs then Shimoda did her security rail drop. Shimoda & Mita did a double powerbomb off the second then Saya guillotine leg dropped Bloody, but Fang Suzuki made the save. Mita powerbombed Bloody, but Ryuna saved. Mita powerbombed Bloody again then Shimoda moonsaulted Bloody. Mita followed with her Death Valley bomb, but Shark saved with her barbed wire rod. The heels tied Shimoda & Mita to the ropes with a chain. Referee Tommy Ran tried to get Shimoda & Mita loose when the heels stepped back so Shark could set up a fireball. Shark blew the fireball before Tommy got them undone, so Tommy took most of it. Since she was just fire balled, Tommy DQ'd Lioness' team. What a lame finish. Way too long with neither quality nor direction. 26:47. *1/4

Jd' still has a number of problems. There are still a lot of bad and uneventful matches and a lot of women who are lousy or haven't shown a thing, but now I have reasons to watch Jd' other than drooling over the unbelievable looks of The Goddess. Speaking of drooling over The Goddess, being that I am the world's biggest Goddess mark, I bought the original of her second modeling video Athena (note that Athena is one of the goddesses in Greek mythology). It is about equal in its excellence to her first video, Naked. Naked was made better and keeps a better pace, but Athena has by far the sexier footage. Since there is no one in the world I would rather look at and my tape was autographed by The Goddess, I would have payed five times what this video cost and even then I would truly care less if I could sell a copy. However, it is on my latest tape update, which will be up on the Quebrada web site as soon as the HTML is coded, along with the original of the Jushin Thunder Liger Premium Issue tape and lots of other cool stuff, in case anyone wants it. Shiratori signed my copy of Desire (her second photobook, which is the one that goes along with Athena, and no I don't have any extra copies), which is the best photobook I've seen by leaps and bounds (sorry Oz, but A La Carte has been dethroned), The Goddess Chikako Shiratori, so hopefully I will no longer have to hear her reduced by being called merely the Jd' Princess (her actual nickname). We can all look past the fact that she was coerced into signing it this way, can't we?

Special Thanks to: Hadi Motiee, Glenn Tsunekawa, Michiko Kubota, & Ramon Lores