Quebrada #41

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

To view this column with the accompanying 70 images visit http://ohmygod.simplenet.com/quebrada

June 26, 1998

I'm currently working on (and for what seems like the first time in my life, I actually plan on finishing at least some of what I say I am working on) reviews of recent AJ and RINGS as well as JWP and NJ juniors that are a bit old because I am so incredibly far behind with those leagues. However, The Awesome One Glenn gave me a good reason to put off my formal declaration of Volk Han as God of mat wrestling by donating three great classic AJW tapes to the Quebrada and Death Valley Driver review bin. The first tape has the best Chigusa singles match I've seen so far when her opponent wasn't Lioness Asuka (disclaimer: I've yet to see the August 1985 match vs. Devil Masami that is supposed to be better than this). The second tape contains four matches that were listed among the twenty best matches of 1991 in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (though I'm not sure that any of the four really belong). The final tape is an excellent interpromotional supershow with JWP, LLPW, & FMW that I've been waiting forever to see. Women's wrestling was so great in 1993 that this show didn't even place in the Best Major Wrestling Card in the 1993 Observer Awards, and you only needed 6 votes to tie WCW Halloween Havoc with the Vader vs. Cactus Jack death match from 10/24 in New Orleans. Of course, this show smokes any PPV WCW has ever presented, but I can't disagree with this show not placing because you have two Dream Slams to vote for and you only get one vote. It's too bad this show couldn't have taken place in 1997 or 1998 (though the reasons no recent women's cards are close to this good are pretty obvious) because I really don't enjoy typing in "none worthy" in the spot for Best Major Wrestling Card.

AJW The War Dream Commercial Tape 10/20/87 Tokyo-ku Taiikukan

Double Title Unification Match: Yukari Omori (WWWA World Singles Champion) vs. Chigusa Nagayo (All-Pacific Champion). Omori had taken the WWWA title from Devil Masami, who was on her way out due to nearing the retirement age of 25, on 8/23/86 at Kawasaki-shi Taiikukan (city gymnasium). In doing so, she accomplished what the veteran member of her famous team the Dynamite Girls, Jumbo Hori, had never done. It was the Crush Gals who had ended the Dynamite Girls only reign with the WWWA World Tag Titles, capturing the belts for the first of four times on 8/24/84 in Tokyo. Omori was now the one approaching the mandatory retirement age. Would she be able to retire with the title like only the legendary Jaguar Yokota had been able to do so far or would Chigusa do what her partner Lioness Asuka had failed to do in the same building six months earlier and once again defeat Omori to gain a coveted WWWA title for the first time?

The audience filled with schoolgirls sure hoped that Chigusa's long quest at the top belt would finally come to an end on this night. They went absolutely crazy for their heroine before the match, screaming CHI-GU-SA CHI-GU-SA at the top of their lungs, waving their pom poms around, and shining their flashlights. There were literally more pom poms in the stands than here than you would see at a cheerleading contest. It was a different era indeed, and not just because the promotion had yet to be ruined by the Matsunagas greed. It was an era with an atmosphere that none of the Crush Gals predecessors, and even the Crush Gals themselves when they came out of retirement, could even partially attain.

One of the main things that made this match great was that it was believable in the sense of when you should and shouldn't be able to hit moves. This was best exemplified by the opening sequence where Chigusa sneak attacked Omori, who had her back turned, with a handspring elbow. The flashy spot worked because Omori had no idea it was coming, but then Chigusa whipped Omori into the corner and charged, but Omori could see this coming so she cut Chigusa off with a lariat. Omori went to the top, but Chigusa wasn't that damaged, so she avoided the diving body attack. Omori went rolling to the floor, and just as she was stepping to reenter the ring, Chigusa caught her with a suicida. Chigusa brought Omori back into the ring and tried to finish it with a German suplex, but it was way too early and Omori was able to keep her shoulder off the mat, preventing even a 1 count. They had opened hot, but in a credible way, and now they were able to begin the body of the match with a hot crowd. The hot opening worked because the schoolgirls were chanting for Chigusa to escape a "deadly" Omori chinlock.

Much of this match was about whose strike was the deadliest. Was it Chigusa's kicks or Omori's karate chop? Omori used her chops first to set up a powerbomb, which was the first move in her attempt to injure Chigusa's back, but Chigusa soon came back with an enzuiguri.

Omori got aggressive, intending to impose her dominance, and unleashed a series of chops and other blows to Chigusa's back. She intermixed these strikes with submissions to the back like the Romero special. The logic behind Omori working Chigusa's back was that it would reduce the effectiveness of Chigusa's kicks because she would have problems arching her back. It's a much more realistic target then trying to take out both of her legs or trying to injure one leg so bad that it can't be used as a point of balance. Perhaps I am the only one that likes this strategy because I'm struggling to come up with anyone else who has used it.

Chigusa came back with a double wrist arm sault and started kicking Omori, but due to Omori's previous attack, the kicks were taking something out of Chigusa as well. Chigusa was able to gather the strength to drag Omori up for a piledriver, which stunned Omori enough that Chigusa was finally able to execute her German suplex.

Omori came back with chops. The schoolgirls were screaming CHI-GU-SA as Omori hit her patented nadare shiki no blockbuster. Omori went to the top and delivered her deadly diving karate chop, which was basically the move that ended Devil's title reign, but Omori didn't go for the pin here. She wanted to end it with her chop, so she whipped Chigusa off the ropes to set it up, but Chigusa came back with her wheel kick. One thing I liked a lot about Omori during her title run was that she played the roll of the champion so well. She was always cool, calm, collected, and confident. She didn't get emotional or worried and she always looked to be in control. She would fire up and get more aggressive when she needed to, but she didn't do so in a superman like way. I guess you could say she was like a Takada or a Hashimoto as far as having the look of a champion. She certainly didn't have their popularity, but her style played well against the super popular challenger. She knew it was important to keep the advantage here, so she unleashed her lariat, which sent Chigusa to the floor and bloodied her. That a lariat would cause someone to juice is pretty incomprehensible, but luckily there were few other weaknesses to this match. What was good about the blood was that it caused Omori's heel tendencies to become much less subtle. She spit water on Chigusa and the seconds that were standing over her to cover the fact that she was blading. As soon as Omori saw Chigusa's head was bleeding, she attacked the head like a piranha using her deadly chops as well as headbutts. This got heat with the schoolgirls, who chanted for Chigusa some more. The more Omori played heel, the less it mattered that her moveset was rather limited.

The bloody Chigusa eventually came back with a series of kicks, which Omori sold well by grimacing for the camera. A couple of the kicks looked pretty weak, but Omori sold them anyway. Chigusa tried a lariat on Omori, but Omori ducked it and used the German suplex on Chigusa, in other words both used the other's spot, for a near fall. Omori took Chigusa's kicks and put her down with a chop. With Jaguar sitting at the announcers table, Omori used Jaguar's double arm piledriver, which was the move Omori had used to put Chigusa's partner away in the 4/15/87 title match. The schoolgirls screamed fearing their hero was done for, but Chigusa managed to kick out. Omori went to the top, but Chigusa knew it was coming and kicked her. This caused Omori to fall off the top, which looked cool because she took a flip bump. Chigusa climbed to the top and pulled out a moonsault for the win! Remember this was 1987 and that move just wasn't used by the women, so today that would be something like her putting Omori away with a 450 splash. Chigusa unified the titles. Shinobu Kandori then appeared, displaying her typically charm as she screamed at Chigusa, and Chigusa, in turn, yelled back at her. I don't think anything ever became of this, but I didn't even know it existed so who knows.

The match was limited in the number of different holds used, but the spots were their big spots and they were realistically ordered so you could buy just about everything except the blood. The execution, with the exception of a near-miss spot with Omori's footing on the top rope early in the match, was pretty flawless. The match was stiff for a 1987 women's match, but compared to what you see today in All Japan the blows themselves look rather weak. The way the match was built and the move was put over, all Omori's chop had to do was touch Chigusa and it would have been seen as lethal by the schoolgirls. The psychology was great and both women played their roles to perfection. 18:10. ****1/2

AJW We Are Running Through Korakuen Hall ~5.26 Sign of Brave Women~ Commercial Tape

5/26/91 Tokyo Korakuen Hall

Kaoru Ito vs. Kazue Saito. Saito had a brief career and was considered a big bust because people actually expected the wrestlers coming out of the AJW dojo to turn into very good or better workers back then. Ito looked so much different 50 pounds ago. These two had been wrestling less than two years at this time, so it was still worked like a rookie match. Ito was considerably better than Saito, who got lost when they went to high spots. Aside from a few blown spots by Saito, including a backslide of all things, the match was technically sound, but they didn't really do anything because AJW hadn't turned them loose yet. Ito won with her hip attack off the 2nd rope. 9:20. *

Tomoko Watanabe vs. Mayumi Yamamoto. As with the last match, both women were from the class of '89. That was the last good class AJW had, producing the likes of Ito, Watanabe, the nearly retired Michiko Nagashima, Sakie Hasegawa, & Bat Yoshinaga as well as three busts, the aforementioned Saito & Yamamoto plus Hisae Kuhoki. It's pretty sad that nine years later only two of these women are still wrestling (since Nagashima, not surprisingly, put over Yasha Kurenai in her retirement match on 6/21). Anyway, seven years ago Watanabe, like Ito, was still skinny, and she wore a lot of makeup in a failed attempt to be attractive.

This match was wrestled at a lot faster pace than the previous match. It seemed like every spot was something off the ropes. The problem was that the moves, mainly when Yamamoto was on offense, didn't look that great because they either weren't executed perfectly or lacked impact. Watanabe was the better of the two, but Yamamoto beat her after two koppou kicks. 8:42. *1/4

Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda vs. Hirasuine Sonteitam & Bonteipu Sontietam. AJW used to tour exotic places and they thought they could make more money running shows in these places if they had a few natives of that country as stars. The idea made perfect sense, but women like these Sonteitam sisters from Thailand couldn't come close to holding their own with the AJW natives, so the idea never panned out.

Mita & Shimoda carried the match, but it wasn't good at all. The sisters were so green that Mita & Shimoda just dominated them the whole time. The match was very basic and quite dull. Shimoda looked good, but the opposition limited what she could do. Eventually Mita pinned Hirasuine with an airplane spin. It doesn't say much for the match, when the much different (worse) look of Las Cachorras, who wore plain 1 piece outfits and Mita was sporting a butch cut, was more notable than the wrestling itself. 8:33. *

Kyoko Inoue & Debbie Malenko vs. Esther Moreno & Mariko Yoshida. Long before she became the co-master of spot blowing, Esther Moreno was a hell of a worker who was a whole lot of fun to watch. This match was beautiful Hamada's Universal influenced Puro-Lucha. These women had varying styles, but just about everything really clicked here. There were a few momentary lapses, but at its best the spots were so well done that an arm drag could leave you in awe. The match was too short, but while it lasted it had excellent spots, some good matwork, and even a bit of comedy.

Malenko & Yoshida did an exchange of arm drags that was great. Esther came in and did all kinds of gymnastics, highlighted by countering Kyoko's whip into the corner by not just moonsaulting over her, but continuing to go with the momentum and doing a backward roll then springing to her feet all in one move. No description can do justice to how cool this looked. The pace was lightning fast with Esther in, and, at this stage of her career, Kyoko had the athleticism to hang with her in this style. Malenko whipped Esther into the ropes and dropped down on her in the stomach, but instead of Esther running over Malenko, she did a handspring over her into a backflip then dropkicked Malenko when she stood up.

Kyoko & Yoshida began doing near falls back and forth at 7:15. Kyoko & Malenko put Yoshida in a cool double Romero special, but Esther crawled in between them for a near fall. Later on, Malenko went to the second rope and Kyoko pulled her off in verticle suplex position and slammed her on top of Esther.

At 10:35, Yoshida & Esther did simultaneous suicidas. Esther got a near fall on Kyoko with a quebradora con hilo (tilt-a-whirl backbreaker), but Yoshida missed a diving cross body on Kyoko and Kyoko continued earlier legwork with a version of the giant swing that was set up like a Texas cloverleaf. Yoshida avoided Kyoko's diving elbow drop though. When Kyoko got up from this, Esther blindsided her with a missile kick and Yoshida immediately small packaged her for the win. Very appreciative applause by the fans after the match. Malenko was the worst of the four (also the least experienced, which had a lot to do with it), but the other three were great. 12:43. ****

Suzuka Minami & Takako Inoue & Cynthia Moreno vs. Bison Kimura & Mika Takahashi & Miori Kamiya (now everyone's favorite, Cooga). This was a fast-paced workrate style match. The spots weren't off the charts, but the match was all action and they hit everything they did. Suzuka & Bison carried the match and gave really strong performances. Bison, who had very little hair stemming from her and Aja losing a hair vs. hair match to Bull Nakano & Kyoko on 1/11/91 at Kawasaki City Gymnasium, was also a nice change of pace because she gave the match another dimension by doing her heel style. Takahashi looked really good when she was in. I'm sure she would be very popular if she was wrestling today because she was a very good wrestler with a lot of athleticism and she was also a babe. It's too bad her career was so short. Takako was the youngest in the match, so she did a lot of selling, but she took her bumps well. Moreno barely worked and didn't look impressive although she didn't do anything wrong. Kamiya was the worst because some of her stuff didn't have enough on it.

There isn't that much to say about the way the match itself was worked. There wasn't much in the way of storyline or psychology. The matwork was solid when they did it and the rest of the match was pretty exciting. The selling nothing special, but there were a lot of quick tags. Finish saw Takahashi give Takako a sky high facecrusher, but Suzuka came in and powerbombed Takahashi then put Takako on top for the pin. This match was better at the time than it looks today because the spots aren't as cool now, due to many new spots being created, as they were then. 13:47. ****

Toshiyo Yamada vs. Yumiko Hotta. One of the many quality UWF style matches these two have had. This was one of their earlier meetings, so they would go on to do much better together. When the match picked up it was great with ultra stiff strikes and near finishes back and forth. The downfall of this match was that the early portion, which did have some tremendous kicks, wasn't that great overall.

Yamada used a series of wild slaps at the bell to knock Hotta into the corner, but Hotta staggered Yamada with a shoute then continued shoutes until Yamada was stuck taking shots in the opposite corner. Hotta caught Yamada's thrust kick and back suplexed her on her head then stiff kicked her in the nose as she was sitting up. Yamada's nose bled a bit, and I wouldn't be surprised if the damage was a lot worse than that. Yamada worked on Hotta's leg, but it all looked like rests holds and didn't get any reaction. They did a lot more matwork, but none of it was really notable.

The match picked up at the 10 minute mark with Yamada really laying body jarring kicks in on Hotta. Hotta came back with kicks of her own, but the ones that didn't hit hard almost completely missed. Yamada made the kicks seem so deadly because she really looked out of it. Yamada caught Hotta in a hiza juji gatame, but it got no reaction despite being a legitimate finisher that had been set up by earlier legwork. Yamada dangerous backdropped Hotta, who came up with a great painful expression before slowly falling to her back as Yamada covered her for a near fall. Yamada tried a high kick, but Hotta used a bridging version of Akira Maeda's captured suplex for a hot near fall. Yamada back body dropped her way out of Hotta's Tiger driver and came back with an enzuiguri that Hotta sold incredibly for a near fall. Hotta got the Tiger driver this time for a near fall. Hotta tried to whip Yamada into the ropes, but Yamada reversed it and pulled her back into a roll up for the upset win. Yamada was overjoyed about her win, but her physical condition was "too bad" for her to celebrate. Hotta was very frustrated over her loss and stared Yamada down. Hotta got on the house mic and they would up having an argument that escalated into Hotta running Yamada into the guard rail then delivering a couple more kicks. 13:37. ***3/4

Manami Toyota vs. Aja Kong. Aja was excellent here. She called and carried the match. She supplied all the psychology and timing. Toyota's advantage over Aja is workrate, but Aja was the better worker here because she hit all her spots while Toyota had some problems. Usually you could chalk that up to Toyota trying the much more difficult spots, which was the case here as well. However, Toyota's offense wasn't nearly as glamourous here as it is today and the spots that either were blown or didn't look that good were basic spots and suplexes, the latter of which was a judgement call, and the judgement she displayed Ace-esque. It isn't like Toyota was dragging the match down or anything though. On the contrary, she did a fine job of following Aja's lead. This match was to make Toyota a bigger star (not that it wasn't supposed to help Aja, but to a lesser extent) and in retrospect we can see that throughout her career Toyota always stepped up in the long match (so long as she was physically able) and made the bookers look good for giving her the time to work a great match. Matches like this gave AJW the confidence in Toyota to go ahead and book the draws with Yamada.

They did a fast opening sequence to establish their strengths, Toyota showing her athleticism and Aja her power, then it slowed from there. The match built really well. They did a long solid body before going to the high spots and the timing of when to take it up and down within the body was really good.

Toyota was very fiery, while Aja showed confidence and concentration. Toyota took a long time to get back into the ring after Aja ran her into the bleachers, as she was intent on figuring out how she could gain the advantage. She tried kicking Aja in the gut when Aja tried to drag her back into the ring, but it didn't stop Aja, who took the advantage by bowling Toyota over with shoulder tackles. Aja controlled Toyota for several minutes with submissions focused on Toyota's back, and Toyota made you feel sorry for her with her facials. Aja used strikes to Toyota's back to set up a long camel clutch.

Aja did her King Kong impression, but Toyota turned the gorilla press into a sloppy dropkick then came back with a series of good dropkick variations. She tried abdominal stretches to set up her rolling cradle, but Aja used her size to stop them and went to the top. However, Toyota dropkicked Aja to the floor then followed with a tope suicida. Toyota stopped Aja's German suplex and charged at Aja, but Aja back body dropped her to the floor then did a great missile kick off the apron which both put over huge.

Toyota blew an Indian death lock so she settled for a half crab, which Aja put over by continually screaming in pain as she slowly edged her way over to the ropes. When Aja grabbed the ropes, Toyota just dragged her back into the center of the ring and this time got the Indian death lock on. Aja hobbled across the ring slowly when Toyota whipped her into the ropes, but she came back with a slam then hobbled around some more in between denting her oil can on Toyota's head. Toyota got a near fall on Aja with a German suplex, but her Japanese Ocean suplex wasn't steady enough to hold the bridge. Toyota's next suplex was a total debacle and she pounded the canvas in disgust over blowing the spot. Toyota rammed Aja into the wall and Aja didn't reenter the ring until 17 because Toyota was right next to the rope waiting to pounce on her the second she climbed through the ropes.

Toyota worked Aja's arm then climbed up her body taking Aja down into juji gatame position, but Aja blocked it. Toyota tried the same spot again, but she slipped off Aja both times. Aja covered the second slip by pushing Toyota off her so that one didn't look too bad. Toyota tried her moonsault, but Aja cut it off and tried a nadare shiki no backdrop, but Toyota kind of landed on top of her. Toyota ducked Aja's lariat and tried a German suplex, but Aja did a cool counter where she hooked her leg inside Toyota's to block the suplex then leaned back and took away Toyota's point of balance, which resulted in Aja falling on top of Toyota and squashing her.

Aja did a slingshot backdrop a little before the 26 minute mark and both sold the toll of the match. It was all hot near falls back and forth from here. Toyota got a near fall with a diving body press, but Aja caught her diving body attack in midair and slammed her for a near fall. Aja got a near fall with a German suplex, but Toyota returned the favor with two of her own. Aja got a near fall with a fisherman suplex, but Toyota came back with a nice missile kick off the 2nd and covered, but time expired at the count of two. In Japan they rarely shave time so the match ends at the desired moment, but I only came up with 29:16 for this match, so I think they did it here. 30:00. ****1/4

2/3 Falls: Bull Nakano & Bat Yoshinaga vs. Akira Hokuto & Sakie Hasegawa. This was a big deal for Sakie, a second year wrestler getting probably her first main event at what was AJW's hot arena at the time. Bat was also a second year wrestler, but she was Bull's favorite crony and had credibility as a legitimate fighter due to defeating Kaoru Ito on 3/17/91 at Korakuen Hall to become the first WWWA World Martial Arts champion. The basis of this match was that Sakie was glad to have the opportunity to show her stuff against the stars in a big match.

Sakie's initial opportunity was short lived, as she got pinned in Bull's powerbomb in just 14 seconds. Hokuto returned the favor, pinning Bat with her Northern Lights bomb in just 36 seconds. The first two falls didn't really do anything for me. They were the obvious results that everyone knew were likely to happen. They were set up by the star of the team taking out the opposing star, thus leaving the opposing star unable to save her young partner. Although they were kind of throw away falls, they did build anticipation for the Bull vs. Hokuto matchup.

The third fall was much better. It was exciting because the pacing was just as fast, but this time for a 10 minute span. The work was great when Hokuto was in with Bull, and damn good overall. Bull, as usual, was really annoying with her constant no-selling. Bull took control of Hokuto, but Hokuto avoided her guillotine leg drop and came back with a nice Tiger suplex for a near fall. Bull no sold Hokuto's missile kick, which was typically Bullshit, then potatoed Hokuto with a lariat. Hokuto came back with a revenge lariat and a great double arm DDT, but Bull turned her lariat into a bridging backdrop for a near fall.

Bat punted Sakie with kicks and slapped her around. This sequence with Sakie and Bat was much worse then the great stuff Hokuto & Bull did because they were green and got crossed up. Sakie got beat up some more by Bull then Bat came back in and got a near fall after nearly decapitating her with a lariat.

Hokuto got the advantage on Bull and tagged Sakie in so she would get some offense, but Bull no sold everything. Finally Hokuto held Bull and Sakie hit 2 rolling savates that Bull actually sold. However, Bull immediately came back stopping their double suplex and suplexing both. She tried to lariat both, but they back body dropped her to the floor. Hokuto then did a phenomenal tope con hilo and Sakie plancha'd Bat. Hokuto slammed Bat and Sakie did a diving splash for a near fall. Sakie hit a great rolling savate then two more for another near fall.

Bull got more near falls on Hokuto, but when she went to the top Sakie cut her off. Hokuto & Sakie then did a double nadare shiki no brainbuster for a near fall on Bull. Hokuto used a bridging backdrop for a near fall. She tried her Northern Lights bomb, but Bull fell on top of her. Bat did a nadare shiki no suichoku rakka brainbuster then Bull, in Sandman like fashion, plopped down on Hokuto's chest with her guillotine leg drop. She covered and Hokuto kicked out, but she did so just after the 3 count. Tremendous fall.

Hokuto wanted to have another fall to make it decisive and Bull liked the idea so she got the crowd to clap if they wanted to see it. The match was restarted with Sakie & Bat working the extra fall, and it was all Bat, ending in just 50 seconds when Sakie was pinned in a German suplex.

Sakie cried after the match and she bowed to Bull & Bat. That Sakie got crushed didn't matter. One day she would beat these two, but for now she was very gracious that they gave her the chance to try. 11:58. ****1/4.

AJW Budokan Legacy of Queens Commercial Tape 8/25/93 Tokyo Nippon Budokan

This was AJW's third major interpromotional show of 1993. As with Dreamslam 1 & II, the promotion celebrating their 25th Anniversary with a blowout show containing some great interpromotional matches. This was clearly better than any card that has taken place since Super J Cup 2nd Stage on 12/13/95, which is not to say that the second J Cup is definitely better.

Tomoko Watanabe & Numacchi & The Goddess Chikako Shiratori vs. Utako Hozumi & Yasha Kurenai & Mizuki Endo (LLPW team). This was just ok, but given who was involved that was expected. They basically just did spots at a fast pace, but none of these six really had many spots. They tagged so often that no one was ever really in trouble, so the spots were somewhat unrealistic. Although they built up a rivalry between Yasha Kurenai & Numacchi in the press conference, and they did play that up right from the outset of the match, there was no real storyline. Given that Mizuki Endo won the AJ Junior title from Numacchi on 9/29/93 in Nagoya, which was the next interpromotional show, I can't understand why they didn't do something between those two to set up that match. Maybe they chose Yasha & Numacchi were the only "cult figures" in the match, but it wouldn't have been that difficult do script it so Numacchi would come out of the match having rivalries with both of them.

The beginning of this match was a comical routine with Numacchi tricking Yasha into looking the other way, then stealing her rod when she turned her head. The match got good two minutes in when The Goddess & Hozumi faced off for the first time. Even if they had done no wrestling, this would still have been just about the ultimate. Unfortunately, Hozumi almost immediately tagged to Endo, which was like flipping from Baywatch to Beauty and the Beast. Watanabe got in on the comedy, headbutting Hozumi with Numacchi's hard hat. The match was so boring when Numacchi was in. She was just terrible doing the same couple of lame kicks over and over and just being a goof. If you've never seen the now retired Numacchi, you certainly aren't missing anything, but to give you an idea what she was like you can consider her a precursor to Tanny Mouse.

In general, this just kind of went along. Watanabe & Hozumi worked well together, with Hozumi being the best worker in the match on this day. Watanabe also looked good though despite blowing a couple spots. Endo, being a youngster and the lowest ranked wrestler on her side, got no offense in. Hozumi did a nice huracan rana to Watanabe for a near fall and later on countered Watanabe's backdrop and German suplexed her for a near fall. Yasha, who was surprisingly over, got a big pop for giving Watanabe her nodowa otoshi.

The lights went out and Paul Heyman hit the ring, knocking Numachhi out with her own shovel then grabbing the house mic and announcing that Sabu would go on to become the worst IWGP Jr. champion of all-time. Actually, it was just an unplanned power outage. Imagine that?

Numacchi gave Yasha a backdrop that looked real good, but seemed to be partially blown. She must have screwed it up because it was probably the best looking spot she ever did. The finish saw Numacchi ram Yasha into the guard rail and go to the top for a plancha, but Yasha cut her off with a nadare shiki no nodowa otoshi for the win.

Aside from The Goddess & Hozumi, nothing stood out. Basically a weak opener where LLPW went over to help make up for their stars losing later in the show. Hozumi should have pinned The Goddess here to set up a match with the winner of Takako vs. Cuty. Instead they didn't meet until 11/9/93 on the LLPW show in Tokyo Komazawa Gym with Kandori & Hozumi beating Bull & Takako, but then Hozumi retired in 1994 so I don't think they ever had a singles match. 15:40. *3/4

Sky High Fantasy Land: Infernal KAORU & Chaparita ASARI vs. Bolshoi Kid & Candy Okutsu (JWP team). If you have someone that has never seen women's wrestling over, make sure they DO NOT happen to see this embarrassment of a match. The beginning is all "comedy" with the damn clown at her annoying worst. It starts off so bad that most people will be lost by the time the match gets serious.

Bolshoi & Candy did rock, scissors, paper to decide who would start, but KAORU & ASARI thankfully jumped them, so I was actually thinking KAORU might even be cool for once. Bolshoi & Candy did simultaneous planchas, but they did the corniest garbage before and after them, which killed any meaning the planchas, which were not set up well and came too soon, might have had. KAORU & ASARI tried suicidas, but Candy & Bolshoi hid under the ring and came out from the other side with a sneak attack. KAORU & ASARI decided to leave, and who could blame them, but the clown begged them to stay and got the crowd to beg with her.

KAORU tied the clown's sock to the top rope, but the damn clown cried, so KAORU pitied the fool and untied her. It hit an all-time low when KAORU stopped chasing after Bolshoi, who was doing her corner climbing routine, so Bolshoi jumped over KAORU and said, "ne-ne-ne-ne-ne-ne" while doing this hand waving crap we all outgrew by the time we were 3 years old. I was longing for Hotta punting the clown to be revisited, but obviously it was not to be.

ASARI & Bolshoi started doing all kinds of gymnastics, and it started to get interesting in a spectacle kind of way. They were doing follow the leader, but when ASARI tried to duplicate the Sayama tope fake, Bolshoi knocked ASARI to the floor with a kick to the back. Candy finally made her presence felt, but she wasn't for long enough to save this now unredeemable match.

KAORU tried to unmask Bolshoi, which I would have thought was cool if I were watching it in 1993. Now that I've seen Bolshoi vs. Hikari 9/20/97, I know why they keep Bolshoi under the hood, and I was praying KAORU would be unsuccessful. Mariko Yoshida, getting a big show paycheck by being the ref for this match since she was out injured, pulled KAORU down by her hair to break up the attempted unmasking. KAORU & Yoshida slapped each other then KAORU whipped Yoshida into the corner so Yoshida could get a little glory doing her patented climp-up body attack. Bolshoi tried to count the fall, but KAORU kicked out.

They did several more athletic spots, including ASARI getting nice air on her sky twister press for a near fall. The highlight was KAORU moonsaulting Bolshoi then ASARI doing her sky twister press for the near fall. Finally, Candy pinned ASARI after the longest rolling German suplex I've ever seen.

Some people might like this match, but I wasn't amused. The obvious rivalry was Candy vs. ASARI, but other than the finish they didn't do anything with it. Meaningless spots and bad comedy, without even the redeeming factor of the damn clown getting punted. 13:01. *

Big Women In The Wildest Part of Thrilling War AJW vs. LLPW Elimination Match: Bull Nakano & Suzuka Minami & Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda & Bat Yoshinaga vs. Eagle Sawai & Harley Saito & Miki Handa & Yukari Osawa & Leo Kitamura (LLPW team). This kind of match had all the makings for a disaster. You have a weak LLPW team with three bad workers, Eagle, Yukari & Leo. You've got Eagle & Bull to no-sell everything, and Bat is another one whose gimmick needs to be protected. In addition, there were so many people involved, all of whom are not familiar with each other, that it would be easy for things to go awry. Just about everything worked though. Lightning fast workrate for most of the match, but the set up of the spots was excellent. Basically everything done was "possible," and all the women hanging around on the apron were utilized well. The main match ups were Bull vs. Eagle, the two monsters, and Harley vs. Bat, the two kickers. Shimoda vs. Handa should have been utilized more because there were more similarities there than they probably even realized. They did eventually run a UWA tag title match with those two opposing, but this would have been a choice rivalry under the right circumstances. It seems there are only a few people who realize just how cool Miki Handa was in the unfortunately much too short period before she retired when she turned heel and transformed into a super bitch in the Ozaki & Shimoda mode. Alas, another career ended way too soon.

Aside from the workrate, what made this match really cool was that it broke the cardinal rule of interpromotional elimination matches. The "book" says the home team, AJW, should get behind on wrestlers so the fans would get behind them and pull for their comeback. This match was the exact opposite of that, but done that way for a logical reason, and it really worked.

Leo got destroyed from the outset, with Bull decapitating her with a lariat. She was stuck in the corner, and the whole AJW team took their shots before Bull did another punishing lariat. LLPW came back with simultaneous planchas by the entire team, except Harley who did a pescado. Yukari tried her kicks on Bat, but Bat took them then punished Yukari with hers. Mima, as always, made everyone look good. The LLPW wrestlers tried diving body attacks, but Shimoda & Mita caught them and dropped them down. Finally, Eagle had seen enough of her team getting embarrassed so she pushed Harley in the back before they could drop her, resulting in her falling on top of Shimoda & Mita.

Leo gave Bat a sky high bulldog for a near fall. Leo looked bad when she was in with Mita because she was slow going from spot to spot. It looked like she couldn't decide what to do. She did hit her moonsault, but Bull saved Mita. Mita tried her Death Valley bomb on Leo, but Harley came in and kicked Mita, allowing Leo to turn it into a small package for a really nice near fall. Leo went up for her moonsault again, but Suzuka held her and Mita suplexed her off the 2nd. This lead to Leo's demise, as the AJW team came in and held the LLPW team at bay while Mita Death Valley bombed Leo for the first elimination at 7:43.

The AJW team had aspirations of eliminating Handa, but she came back with a great bridging fall away slam for Mita's high cross body. Handa held Shimoda, but Harley's wheel kick backfired and Shimoda put Handa away with a missile kick and Tiger suplex at 9:02.

Yukari screwed up Minami's tilt-a-whirl headscissors then was pinned at 9:55 by Suzuka's powerbomb. This showed the difference in the philosophy of the two promotions. AJW was concerned that everyone stayed strong, so Shimoda, Mita, & Suzuka all got pins before they were eliminated. On the other hand, LLPW was always willing to sacrifice everyone to keep Kandori & Eagle looking really strong.

Eagle came in and singlehandedly wrecked the AJW team. She pinned Suzuka at 10:03. She put Shimoda away with a lariat at 10:12. She had Mita pinned with her lariat and Thunder Fire powerbomb, but the AJW team made the save. Harley held of the AJW women and Eagle powerbombed Mita for the pin at 10:51. Thus, booking this the "wrong" way resulted in Eagle getting way over as the "One Woman Gang."

The much anticipated first confrontation between Eagle and Bull saw five consecutive lariats no-sold before Eagle put Bull down with a body attack, which Glenn calls the "breast bomb," for a near fall. The heat was tremendous for Eagle vs. Bull, but the match got sloppy because they are so big they had a hard time lifting each other. Harley came in and started getting near falls on Bull, including her really impressive Tiger suplex and a sky high wheel kick, but Bat made the save.

Bat hot tagged in and her and Harley put on a show with great athletic kicks. Bat's first spin kick was way off the mark, but the second one perfectly clocked Harley in the face. It looked like Harley was out, but Eagle saved her. Bat took Eagle out with a spin kick, and it looked bad for Harley, as Bull was holding her, but she avoided Bat's kick and Bull was taken out. Bat was up before Harley could recover, and she took "KO'd" Harley with her spin kick at 13:59.

The match should have been really bad from here because all the cool people, Mima, Mita, Harley, Suzuka, Handa were all gone, but Bat was really over now and there was credibility for her trying to take Eagle out. Bull soon tagged in though, and there was major heat. There was an especially huge pop when Eagle kicked out of Bull's guillotine leg drop. Eagle did the worst nadare shiki no DDT ever, with Bull's head failing to hit the mat. It looked like the expected suckiness was about to set in, but Bull hit an incredibly stiff spin kick then pinned Eagle with her rolling guillotine leg drop at 15:47 so there wasn't time for it to degenerate.

Everyone on the AJW team got a pin and came out looking strong because they either survived or got pinned by Eagle, which is very acceptable. Eagle still looked monstrous in the loss because she was her whole team. There was also double teaming that lead to her pin, and one of the women ganging up on her was one of the biggest stars in the history of women's wrestling. Handa, and especially Harley, who was the best worker in this match on this day, should have been given a bigger push, but I certainly didn't expect it to happen. 15:47. ****1/2

Takako Inoue vs. Cuty Suzuki (JWP). This was a logical feud because these two were supposedly the most attractive women in their respective promotions. There was a lot of pressure on Takako here because she had to go pretty long with a limited worker and try to get people to pay attention to the work and take it seriously. Takako stepped up and was pretty damn good here. She carried the match, making it both solid and good. Cuty has no edge at all. Maybe she is too Cute, but the only role she can play at this point is one where she gets beat on so we pity the poor overmatched babe. It's better that she plays that role in this match though because that allows Takako to be the bitchy vixen, which is her best role.

They slapped each other immediately to get heat then kind of grudgingly did the hand shake to start the match. Cuty hit a German suplex, which Takako sold really well by starting to get up then falling right back down. Cuty went to a sleeper and other obvious rest holds, which totally killed the crowd. Cuty has no idea how to launch a mat attack, so she just switches body parts for no rhyme or reason and all of this goes nowhere.

Takako came back with her tombstones and started playing heel to try to give the match some direction and get the crowd back. She launched a focused ground attack, and Cuty used her screams and facials well to make us feel sorry for her. The crowd was still completely dead though. This match stayed on the mat much too long. The previous match had several top workers, but with 10 women working a match that was less than 16 minutes, they didn't have much time. That match could easily have been extended another 10 minutes, which would easily have allowed this match to be cut from 18 minutes to 13 minutes. The problem with these two is that they have tight move sets and their move sets are very similar. This would have played better as a sprint with both women trying to use the same finishers on each other to see who had the strongest Destiny Hammer or something like that.

Takako tried her Aurora special (bridging suplex where the opponent is sitting on her shoulder) just after the nine minute mark, but Cuty, of course, countered it for a near fall. Cuty went back on offense, totally forgetting she should have a bad leg, and beat Takako to her DDT and dragon sleeper. Takako came back with her arm whip and applied a dragon sleeper of her own. Cuty got her foot under the rope, but instead of breaking, Takako hooked that leg to make her hold more painful. Takako tried a high cross body, but Cuty came back by turning it into a bridging fall away slam for a near fall. Cuty hit another German suplex for a near fall and started with her foostomps. Takako avoided the diving footstomp and soon came back getting cold near falls after two nodowa otoshi's and her nadare shiki no arm whip.

The crowd finally got into the match when Takako delivered her nadare shiki no nodowa otoshi at 15:30. It was all near falls from here with Cuty, after a weak comeback and weak set up, hitting her Dragon suplex for a hot near fall. Takako came back with a released German suplex and both sold like they were spent. They finally got up at the same time and did a double punch spot with both going down like they were Balboa & Creed. Takako made it up first and decked Cuty, but Cuty beat the 10 count only to get decked again. Cuty barely staggered to her feet, looking like she was hardly conscious. She was helpless prey for Takako's Destiny Hammer, which finally put her away.

Basically a solid match with a good perfomance by Takako and a decent, albeit typically limited, performance by Cuty. It was kind of like a fashion show that lacked glamour though. It was laid out in a way that it should have got heat, but it had a tough match to follow and it didn't provide the level of work or the workrate to be able to do so. They probably would have been better off if this match went on 3rd and the elimination match went on 4th. 18:15. ***1/4

The Deadly Clash: Toshiyo Yamada & Kaoru Ito vs. Megumi Kudo & Yukie Nabeno (FMW team). You would be hard pressed to find a less impressive physical specimen than Nabeno. She was as wide as she was tall, and she looked like a 14-year-old boy who had aspirations of joining the U.S. Army. Her jumping ability was such that I'm not sure she could even outjump Gary Albright. So, she definitely wasn't physically gifted, but she tried really hard. She probably tried too hard because she was kind of klutzy and it looked like she probably hurt herself doing spots that she wasn't really capable of consistently hitting with accuracy. Ever more than her physical limitations, Nabeno's problem here was that the consensus opinion was that she was way out of her league in this match. One thing she had "going for her" was that she was willing to take a beating, and she certainly took one here. Yamada was still at her peak here, so she gave a typically great performance. Kudo worked a smart match and carried things for her side, but her execution wasn't as good as normal. Ito was her typical self from this time period, a good solid up and comer.

Yamada and Kudo started the match. Their work was extremely crisp, with Yamada delivering all kinds of great kicks and Kudo selling them well. This gave Ito the opening to tag in and control Kudo. Kudo came back using her Dragon sleeper on Ito, but Yamada came in and broke it up with a stiff kick that drew boos from the crowd.

Nabeno finally came in just after 4 minutes and the crowd was excited, but they died as soon as she put Ito in a ½ crab. Yamada tagged in and turned Nabeno into a human punching bag, with some incredibly stiff kicks to the knee. Nabeno got fired up and went at Yamada with forearms and slaps then tagged Kudo. Standing up to the better and higher ranked women was the best thing they could do to get Nabeno over, and it worked. Yamada wasn't going to be shown up by some FMW undercarder though. She made her comeback with even stiffer kicks as soon as Nabeno tagged back in.

Ito came in and did her usual stuff until she got hit when Nabeno avoided Yamada's diving forearm. This gave Nabeno the opening to hot tag Kudo. They tried a double dropkick, but Nabeno only got one leg above Ito's waist, so it looked bad. Kudo held Ito against the ropes and bent over as far as she could so Nabeno could jump over her and mash Ito. Kudo hit three Kudome drivers (Tiger driver) on Ito while Nabeno took Yamada out with a plancha. Yamada came back in time to save Ito from the fourth Kudome driver.

Yamada & Ito tried to double team Kudo, but Nabeno tackled Yamada and Kudo did a sloppy huracan rana for a near fall. Nabeno got a near fall on Ito after a missile kick, but Ito came back with a rolling senton block and made the tag. Yamada intended to use a series of running brain kicks, but Kudo saved her partner by cutting Yamada off. However, Yamada gave Kudo an overhead suplex then had her way with Nabeno. They squashed Nabeno in the corner and Ito had her double footstomp set up for the win, but Nabeno avoided it and Kudo immediately caught Ito with a neckbreaker drop for a big pop. Kudo got free from Yamada in time to save Nabeno from Ito's diving footstomp, but Yamada brought Kudo to the floor and slammed her. Ito then took Kudo out with her diving footstomp to the floor! This finally gave Ito the opening to diving footstomp Nabeno for the win. A pretty simple match, but it built well and everyone was used in a manner that allowed them to impress the crowd. 14:21. ***1/2

The Supreme Master of Wrestling: Kyoko Inoue vs. Shinobu Kandori (LLPW). This was a surprisingly exciting match. It was the first meeting between two big stars, and no return matches were in the works, so they were able to go through a lot of finishers without really having to worry about saving something for Kyoko/Kandori 2. Kyoko pretty much conformed her style to work within the limited parameters of what Kandori can do. Kyoko was the more popular of the two by far, but Kandori was more respected.

There was a big Kyoko chant as the match started, so Kandori just waited for it to die down. When it did, she tried a lariat, but Kyoko ducked it and put her down with one of her own for a big pop. This just pissed Kandori off, and she started unloading on Kyoko, but Kyoko got her in a helicopter. Kyoko did some mat stuff, but she just pissed Kandori off again when she rammed her head into the turnbuckle, and Kandori came back with Fujiwara headbutts then lariated Kyoko to the floor.

Kandori started going for submissions, but Kyoko blocked them or got to the ropes sooner than ASAP. Kyoko put Kandori down, but Kandori tripped her up and used more submissions. Kyoko was standing up to Kandori when it came to strikes, even winning the battles, but Kandori kept putting her in submissions. She turned a suplex into a wakigatame and tried to go into a juji gatame, but Kyoko got the rope.

Kandori countered Kyoko's giant swing the first time, but Kyoko soon got it off. Kandori took a powder, but she still wasn't able to come back until she avoided Kyoko's springboard reverse elbow and put her in a sleeper. Kandori also avoided a diving elbow drop and put Kyoko in her swinging sleeper. Kyoko kicked out of one powerbomb and switched another, but then ran right into Kandori's sleeper. Both women were about equally damaged at this point.

Kyoko did a great released German suplex and both sold before Kyoko got up and finally hit her diving elbow drop for a hot near fall. Kyoko was able to hit her flying moves now that Kandori was more damaged. She came within a fraction of winning with her missile kick, but she couldn't get her Niagara driver off. Kandori was able to get submissions on, but not the key ones and never in the middle of the ring. Kandori hit a Tiger driver for a hot near fall and kept working for an arm submission, but Kyoko countered them.

Kyoko hit a big lariat and finally got her Niagara driver off, but she had to release it because she was in such bad shape. By the time she covered Kandori, Kandori was able to kick out. Kandori got the wakigatame on, but Kyoko made the ropes again, so Kandori pulled her back in the center and did a move that was basically the Rings of Saturn combined with a wristlock for the win. Kyoko put the finish over big, as her arm was continually sprayed and she put an ice pack on it. All these wins for Kandori against AJW were rebuilding her after her big loss to Hokuto at Dream Slam. 17:43. ****1/4

High Tension Triple Impact: Yumiko Hotta & Manami Toyota & Sakie Hasegawa vs. Mayumi Ozaki & Plum Mariko & Hikari Fukuoka (JWP team). This was a Toyota style workrate match. They worked a lightning fast pace and used most of the spots in their arsenals. The selling wasn't much, but there were so many tags that no one was really in for a long enough stretch to get in much trouble. This was definitely a great match to watch. They were out to put on a match of the year caliber match, and they succeeded. Of course, too many of these spot-a-thons will shorten your career. In the case of Sakie, working this style cut her career at least five years short. However, this was the right place to do one of these matches because it was a major show and the sad fact is, the women have to do something that much better than the men to even hope to get equal respect and attendance.

Everyone in this match was at least very good on this day. Hotta was the best in this match because everything she did was so perfectly executed and her timing was really good. She did things like sense that a submission was going nowhere, so she came in and punted the helpless prey to get the crowd back. She was also willing to sell for anyone on this day, which isn't usually the case. Plum was the worst in this match because she just seemed a step slow when it came to going to the next spot. She also blew a few spots.

Hotta punted Plum to the floor early and Toyota & Sakie held the ropes open, urging her to do a dive, so Hotta obliged with a rare (for her) suicida. Plum avoided Sakie's plancha, so Sakie took out Hotta with it, then Ozaki gave Sakie & Hotta her tope con hilo. Ozaki got a near fall on Hotta with a great DDT. Toyota gave Plum as good a dropkick as you'll ever see, hanging more than 5 feet in the air with her knees bent waiting to collide with the chin of Plum, who was running toward her, before straightening her legs out. Sakie gave Hikari her tremendous locomotion double arm suplex, doing eight in a row this time. Hotta then came in and started punting the hell out of Hikari, just like Kansai always does. She literally knocked Hikari from one side of the ring to the other. Ozaki did two great running neckbreaker drops to Sakie, but badly blew her powerbomb. Toyota did a great springboard reverse cross body to Plum. Her verticle leap looks like it was 3 inches better then than it is now. Hotta & Sakie put their hands out to boost Toyota over the top for a plancha on Hikari. The spot wasn't really worth it because it was harder for Toyota to get her footing on their arms and she kind of slipped. Even if it worked perfectly, the regular springboard plancha would have looked much more glamorous.

Plum took two great bumps in a row on Hotta's Jumbo suplex. Toyota came in with Plum in trouble and "had Plum pinned" in her version of the bridging double arm suplex, but Ozaki made the save. Toyota ran after Ozaki and kicked her to build heat for their singles match in October and eventual rematch for the WWWA tag titles (which occurred that December). Ozaki's matwork was the best of the six, not so much because of the application, but mainly because she chained the holds together in logical succession. However, the matwork here was really nothing more than body preservation and rest, and it wasn't like Ozaki worked someone's legs to set up Plum's submissions.

The two up and coming rivals, Sakie & Hikari, really worked well together with lots of fast counters ending with Sakie spinning Hikari's suplex attempt into a wakigatame. Sakie hit her uranage on Oz, and Toyota & Hotta tried to double team Ozaki, but Plum missile kicked both. Ozaki had Toyota set up for a German suplex, but Sakie kicked her and Toyota switched it into a German suplex of her own. Toyota whipped Ozaki off the ropes, but Ozaki avoided Hotta's diving elbow and made the tag. The JWP team tried a triple dropkick on Hotta, but Toyota held onto Hotta when she hit the ropes, causing them all to miss. Toyota then gave the JWP team a diving cross body.

Just before the 17 minute mark, they started doing all near falls until the finish beginning with Toyota & Fukuoka jockeying for position to get the rolling cradle. Fukuoka got it first, but Toyota soon revenged. Toyota missile kicked Hikari and her momentum was supposed to knock her into Sakie's rolling savate, but Sakie totally missed it. Hasegawa & Toyota failed to put Fukuoka away, and Fukuoka eventually rolled though on Hasegawa's diving cross body and made the tag. Plum hit her nadare shiki no Frankensteiner on Sakie, the move she beat her with in tag at Dream Slam 1, but Hotta and Toyota just got free in time to save. Hotta got booed for punting Plum to break Plum's fisher stretch sleeper on Sakie, but that didn't stop her from coming in and booting Ozaki when she tried her Tequila Sunrise on Toyota. Hotta tried her Caribbean splash on Hikari, but Ozaki and Plum pulled her off the 2nd and Hikari tried her moonsault, but Hotta got her knees up. Hikari plancha'd Toyota. Plum eventually got up the ropes and tried to plancha Toyota, but Toyota avoided so Plum took out her own team. Toyota then took out Plum & Hikari with an Orihara moonsault.

Toyota & Hasegawa gave Fukuoka a double sky high missile kick, but Ozaki made the save. Hikari withstood Toyota's moonsault and Hotta's Pyramid driver before avoiding Hotta's diving wheel kick, which took out Sakie. Sakie took Ozaki's rounding body press & Hikari's moonsault then made a brief comeback before Hikari pinned her with a cross-arm German suplex. The finish was more payback for Hikari from her loss to Sakie at Dream Slam 2. It wasn't really that great of finish because you need a decisive end when you do that many near falls and this wasn't a knockout blow and it isn't even a Hikari finisher. This was a pretty big win for JWP and it was good for Hikari's push. It was also a loss AJW could withstand because their two big stars in the match didn't do the job.

It has been a long while, like maybe 3 years, since a new woman's match has had this quality of workrate. That said, the toll these matches take on the performers is the reason they can't reach this level today. This was definitely a great match, and it served the purpose of delivering something the mens leagues that run the venue can't deliver, but it would have been better for both this match and especially for the long run if they put more thought into other aspects and less into the spots. 25:06. ****1/2

All Pacific Title: Akira Hokuto vs. Rumi Kazama (LLPW). If there was ever a wrestler that worked more dramatic matches than Hokuto, I've yet to see them. It didn't matter that the opponent was, at best, a mediocre worker. It didn't matter that coming into the match, very few people thought Kazama actually had a chance of winning. It didn't matter that Hokuto was working on a blown out knee and had a broken bone in her back. All these good reasons for it to not be anything special couldn't stop Hokuto because she was at her peak at this point, and at her peak, which unfortunately didn't last long enough due to her breaking down physically, there was no woman better.

Hokuto controlled the match early with high impact offense. She had Rumi selling better than ever and putting over the previous damage during her comeback, which wasn't exactly one of Rumi's traits. Rumi soon went after Hokuto's bad knee. The highlight of this was a series of leg sweeps by Rumi where Hokuto would do a little jump in the air on impact to make the kicks look killer.

Hokuto got her legs up for Rumi's diving body press, with the good leg taking most of the impact. She got up and tested the bad knee. It was ok, so she tried a missile kick, but Rumi avoided it. Rumi got a near fall with her typically weak Tiger suplex. Of all the Japanese women I've seen, Rumi is the worst and most consistently bad at bridges, yet she tries a couple of bridging suplexes in every match.

Rumi missed a plancha and Hokuto came back with her tope con hilo. Coming back with a tope con hilo sounds questionable, but it got the crowd popping and gave Rumi a reason to sell long and play possum while Hokuto tested her knee and generally regrouped. Hokuto tried her Northern Lights bomb, but Rumi kicked her in the head on the way up. The match was hot action from here with counters and near falls back and forth. Rumi's huracan rana for Hokuto's Northern Lights bomb was pretty weak, but the rest of the spots looked good. Hokuto tried a German suplex, but Rumi picked her leg and did a hiza juji gatame to the blown out knee. This spot was excellently applied by Rumi and tremendously sold by Hokuto, who made a move that Rumi doesn't even regularly use look like a legit finisher.

Hokuto came back with her DQ (which stands for Dangerous Queen, her nickname) bomb for a near fall and hobbled to the top delivering a missile kick for a near fall. Rumi avoided Hokuto's Northern Lights bomb again, and got near falls that Hokuto made more dramatic by kicking out of at the last second. Hokuto came back with her awesome henkei backdrop for a 2 3/4 count and both were pretty out of it, but Rumi was in worse shape as she was "barely conscious." Hokuto pulled up the helpless Rumi and this time she was finally too hurt to find a way to avoid the lethal Northern Lights bomb. It was one of those matches where you could tell that when Hokuto finally hit that move, it was going to be over. A decisive finish that kept Hokuto's finisher looking really strong. Truly a tremendous performance by Hokuto, carrying Rumi to one of the best, if not the best, singles match of her career. Hokuto and Kandori yelled at each other after the match to set up their big rematch on 12/6/93. 15:50. ****

WWWA World Singles Title: Aja Kong vs. Dynamite Kansai (JWP). This was the first singles battle of the two best large women the sport has ever seen. Both held their respective promotions top singles title, but Kansai's wasn't on the line. This was what a WWWA singles title match should be, a kick ass match with high stakes in front of a large crowd. Not surprisingly, this match was double stiff.

The early portion was parity, and the crowd was into it, popping when Kansai got the advantage of the test of strength. The crowd died as it went to the mat, and the next several minutes were pretty dull as it was just a bunch of rest holds.

The match picked up at the 9-minute mark with Aja coming back with a lethal palm blow and delivering one of the stiffest kicks she's ever thrown for a near fall. Then it was back to submissions though. It had been legwork by both, but no one in their right mind expected one of these two to submit, especially early on. Really, the problem was that these two are limited offensively and kind of out of the same mold as far as being big women who usually kick the ass of someone who is considerably smaller. When faced with having to go long together, especially in their first ever singles, they delivered a fairly weak 1st half.

The match picked up again at the 12 minute mark. It was really high impact, and the crowd that had been dead got back into the match. Kansai ducked Aja's uraken then caught her off the ropes with a powerslam for a near fall. Kansai followed with a suicida. She tried her Splash Mountain twice just before 15:00, but Aja avoided it. Kansai lariated Aja and tried the Splash Mountain again, but Aja put her down with her uraken. The ref started counting, but Kansai made it up just before 10. Aja hit her diving body press off the 2nd for a hot near fall. She went to the 2nd again, but this time Kansai kicked her in midair. However, Aja landed on Kansai's knee, injuring it. Aja hit a dangerous backdrop for a near fall. Kansai then ducked the 2nd of Aja's two urakens, but they got crossed up and Kansai wasn't sure if she should come back with a kick or not. Aja did a halfhearted uraken that was never going to reach Kansai, so Kansai weakly kicked her hand and did a pitiful uraken of her own before putting her down with a kick. Aja lay on her stomach motionless as the count started. She was so staggered when she got up that I doubt they would have let her continue if this was a legitimate sport, but this is wrestling so when Kansai charged at her, she came back with her suisha otoshi. It was out of place, but at least the spot itself looked really cool. Aja tried to climb to the top rope, but Kansai Splash Mountained her for a 2 9/10 count, which got a huge reaction. Kansai tried another Splash Mountain, but Aja went down to her stomach to avoid it.

Kansai laid in the kicks, but Aja eventually ducked one and came back with a German suplex. Aja did a great backdrop for a near fall. She hit an uraken for a huge pop, but Kansai got back up, so Aja urakened her again. Kansai got up quicker this time, so Aja took her glove off and did another uraken. Kansai got up quick again, so Aja hit a 4th consecutive uraken. Kansai got back up, refusing to be KO'd, so this time Aja switched to the suisha otoshi for the win.

Aja won the match, but Kansai still looked tough because she withstood all of the urakens. They seemed to be putting each other over on the mic after the match, with Aja thanking Kansai for a tough fight. Aja held her head saying how much the Splash Mountain hurt, so Kansai, in turn, said how much the uraken hurt, or something like that. Their 8/30/95 match where Kansai finally won the WWWA title was better, but that is the way it should be. The first ever meeting shouldn't be the peak unless it comes too late or injuries are a factor. 22:51. ****

My good friend Michiko Kubota allowed me to be lazy by translating the results of the Oz Academy debut show for me. After months of translating, scanning images, and toying with different formats for the presentation she has finally opened up her Michiku Pro web site at http://www.indra.com/~michiku. Right now the site has detailed profiles for most of the active female wrestlers in Japan and a list of the current title holders for the women's puroresu leagues (their complete title histories are listed in their profiles). She will soon be adding results for the women's puroresu leagues in the same format as the following:

Oz Academy

6/21/98 in Club Citta Kawasaki (800-Overcrowded)

Mayumi Ozaki	13:05	Tequila Sunrise	Bad Nurse Nakamura

Dynamite Kansai	13:48	Splash Mountain	Sugar Sato

Reiko Amano	21:36	Fishermanbuster	X Toshie Uematsu

O Chikayo Nagashima	Sonoko Kato

Mayumi Ozaki	20:19	Liger bomb	Kyoko Inoue

O Sugar Sato	X Yoshiko Tamura

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