Quebrada #45

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

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8/14/98

Big Japan Indy Hyper J Tournament First Step INDEPENDENCE DAY Commercial Tape

2/3/98 Tokyo Korakuen Hall

Quarterfinals

Yoshihiro Tajiri vs. Gran Naniwa (Michinoku Pro). The winner of this tournament would be crowned the first Big Japan Junior Heavyweight champion. On paper this looked like it could be the best match, but it was a huge letdown. I have more respect for Koji Kanemoto after this match, because he's the only guy not in Michinoku Pro to have a top notch match with the crab boy in recent memory. Also Shinjiro Otani deserves a lot of respect for consistently having very good matches with juniors he's not used to working with. The Tajiri match on 1/4/97 at the Tokyo Dome is just one of the many possible examples of this Otani ability.

Naniwa really sucked here. His conditioning was worse than ever, and once again he was lost when in with a junior he's not very familiar with. These guys just didn't know how to work together. The match, even in severly edited form, had weak execution and no fluidity. There were some good miror spots, but that was about the only positive. Luckily, this tournament gets much better from here. 12:27 (4:17 shown). *

Minoru Fujita vs. Minoru Tanaka (BATTLARTS). These two impressed the hell out of me. This match was only 4 minutes long, but it was great while it lasted. They went at it fast and hard mixing pro style highspots with shoot style submissions.

Fujita dropkicked Tajiri before the bell. He German suplexed Tajiri for a near fall, suicida'd him, and swandive missile kicked him all within the first 30 seconds of the match. Fujita continued his hot offense, piledriving Tanaka then spinning into a jujigatame.

The transition to Tanaka's comeback was nothing special, but that was about the only fault of the match. Tanaka Northern Lights suplexed Fujita, but instead of going for the pin he roled over and turned it into a jujigatame, which was such a beautiful spot.

Fujita came back with a fast Dragon screw into a ½ crab, but Tanaka wouldn't submit and he came back with a really stiff enzuigiri. Tanaka focused his attack on the leg using blistering kicks then put Fujita away with a kneebar. Since this was steeped in shootstyle, the match ending so quickly was fine because these guys should tap when they are caught. 4:05. ***1/4

Ryuji Yamakawa vs. Masayoshi Motegi (Wrestle Yume Factory). Motegi is like a AAA hitting star who can't hit a breaking ball. In his setting, he more than gets the job done, but when you call him up to the big leagues he just embarrasses himself. This was the AAA tournament, so Motegi did a good job of carrying this. Motegi's offense was good here.

Yamakawa shouldn't even be considered a junior. Maybe he meets the weight limit, but he certainly doesn't wrestle the style. Yamakawa didn't get any offense in here, but eventually he kicked Motegi low and put him away with a reverse Tigerdriver. The finish was cool, while the match itself was about what it had to be to get Motegi to put Yamakawa over. 12:47 (4:05) ** range

Tomoaki Honma vs. Gedo (Fuyuki Promotion). This was a good solid match. It wasn't too flashy, but they hit all their spots and both men looked good. Gedo sold for Honma a lot because he was going over in the end. However, the problem with the match was that there was no drama. The highlight was Honma's tope con hilo. Gedo abruptly won with a frog splash. 7:20 (5:44 shown). ***

Semifinals

Tajiri vs. Tanaka. This was a really good match. The main thing I liked about it was that it was different. The style of the match was a hybrid between the style Tanaka works in Battlarts and the style Tajiri works in Mexico. This had some excellent matwork, including some holds not commonly used in Japan. The work was very good and very stiff. There was one kick in particular thrown by Tajiri when Tanaka was sitting up that was super stiff. There were no obvious blown spots. There were a couple spots that didn't go the way they had planned, but the match was so different that it wasn't obvious. The downfall of this match, and many of the others in this tournament, was that it just ended.

Tanaka opened with a nice takedown into a jujigatame and he continued to work on Tajiri's arm, looking for an arm submission, until Tajiri made a comeback. Tajiri used a really choice submission that I've never seen before. He sold the previous damage when he was on offense. Tanaka went back to working the worked the arm more when he regained the advantage, highlighted by a series of blistering kicks. Tajiri did some kicks that were equally deadly.

Tanaka came back with a backdrop driver and went for the cover. When Tajiri pushed him off to kick out, Tanaka spun into a jujigatame, but Tajiri made it too the ropes. I thought Tajiri was going to roll into a hiza jujigatame, but instead it was a nice cradle for a near fall. Tajiri did his second submission that I've never seen before, basically using the top rope to assist him on a ceiling hold. The move is illegal because his opponent was in, actually draped over, the ropes, but it was awesome nonetheless.

Finish saw Tanaka knock Tajiri down with a high kick. When Tajiri got up, Tanaka came up from behind and tried a German suplex, but Tajiri elbowed out of it and did a German suplex of his own rolled into a Dragon suplex for the win. This would easily have been a **** or better match if they had gone longer. 8:10. ***3/4

Ryuji Yamakawa vs. Gedo. This match didn't resemble a junior match at all. It was basically an ECW match with no psychology and Yamakawa trying to use gimmicks to mask his lack of skill. They only showed a little more than half of this match, and I'd be willing to bet the editing was done to cut out the mistakes.

Gedo was going over so he sold almost the entire match. His performance was decent because he did sell sell pretty well. The set up in this match was poor, as it took Yamakawa forever to set up his gimmick spots. This also killed the flow and made the pacing suck. At least he hit the spots when he finally had them ready, but it seemed like he was walking out of the ring to get something once a minute.

When Yamakawa charged at Gedo in hopes of knocking him to the floor, Gedo finally turned the match around by hitting an unsuspecting Yamakawa with a bell.	Gedo thin frog splashed Yamakawa for the win. This had no redeeming factors. 9:25 (5:15). 1/2*

Kishin Kawabata & Shunme Matsuzaki (both New Tokyo Puroresu) & Shadow WX (Satoru Shiga) & Shadow Winger (Takashi Okano) vs. Shoji Nakamaki & Gennosuke Kobayashi & Yuichi Taniguchi & Makoto Saito (Wrestle Yume Factory). This was basically a bad brawl with a lot of high spots. The work was mediocre and the execution was less than perfect. This really didn't have anything going for it. The highlight of the match was Shadow Winger doing a springboard body press off a railing onto Kobayashi, who was on an unbreakable table. Taniguchi powerbombed Shadow Winger for the win. These guys know nothing of selling, build, or psychology. The amount they had to cut out should tell you all you need to know. 20:32 (5:00 shown).

Final-Winner becomes first Big Japan Junior Heavyweight Champion

Tajiri vs. Gedo. This match was far better than I expected. It was booked and worked perfectly to get the crowd behind, the only problem was that there was no crowd. If there would have been a real crowd in attendance, instead of the 500 or so people that were there, this would have seemed like a match of the year. Even without a crowd to add to the drama, this was Tajiri's best singles match and Gedo's best since he was in WAR.

Gedo flipped Tajiri the bird instead of shaking his hand before the match, so Tajiri dropkicked him before the bell. Tajiri tried a quebrada, but Gedo pulled him off the ropes. Gedo's psychology was excellent because he saw Tanaka weaken Tajiri's arm and shoulder in the semifinal, so he launched an all out attack on those parts. Gedo began this all out attack when he posted Tajiri. Tajiri put this over big while Yamakawa sprayed his shoulder. Gedo used the post to weaken Tajiri's arm some more then brought him back into the ring to continue the arm and shoulder attack. It was a Big Japan show so chairs were fair game, but Gedo didn't just do senseless brawling. He did chair Tajiri, but he chaired him in the arm to further the storyline of the match. Tajiri did a great job of selling his arm and shoulder throughout the match. Not only did he put over the previous damage, but he did so without compromising his perfectly executed glamourous offense.

Tajiri finally came back after breaking a series of finishers, but he constantly put over the previous damage. He was able to deliver his quebrada this time, but he was still in worse shape than Gedo so he got up slightly later. Tajiri nadare shiki no brainbustered Gedo, but neither man could get up so the ref began a double count. When Tajiri got up and staggered over to cover Gedo, Gedo caught the bad arm in a chickenwing.

Gedo continued to work the arm. Tajiri tried to come back by going over the top on a whip into the corner, but Gedo caught him and delivered a shounderbreaker. Gedo hit his frog splash, which he was 2-2 on tonight as a finisher, but Tajiri became the first in this tournament to kick out of it. Gedo had to rethink his strategy. He tried to take it to the floor with a plancha, but Tajiri dropkicked him in midair. Once again both men sold for a long time, but Gedo made it back into the ring at 16 and Tajiri finally made it back after the count of 18.

Both men were spent. They could barely make it back to their feet after a double knockdown spot. Gedo landed on his feet for a German suplex, though he didn't do so nearly as well as Shiryu does, and huracan ranad Tajiri but at the 2 count Tajiri turned it into a pinning move of his own. Gedo escaped that and used a jackknife hold on Tajiri for a near fall. Tajiri tried an Oklahoma side roll, but Gedo turned it into a cradle, which was somewhat reminiscent of the 8/2/96 Liger vs. Ultimo match. In this case though, Gedo Liger got a 2 3/4, and Tajiri Dragon wasn't able to crucifix him for the win. Gedo ran off the ropes, but Tajiri caught him with a kick. He had Gedo in a German suplex, but Gedo kicked him low to break it. Instead of crying foul, Tajiri immediately fouled Gedo right back then delivered his Dragon suplex for the win. Tajiri became the first Big Japan Junior Heavyweight Champion.

Gedo was a sore loser so he opened the door for a rematch by attacking Tajiri's bad shoulder before Tajiri could be presented with his belt and trophy. Tajiri was still doing a great job of putting over the bad shoulder in the post match. 13:31. ****1/4

Tajiri came out of this tournament looking really strong as he had the two best matches en route to winning it.

According to Hadi, "For a Junior wrestler to truly be a solid worker, he must have the	ability to work in any environment and in any style. Tajiri works the pro-style very well	as viewed in the Gedo match, but unlike his peers in NJ, he can also work hybrid-style	very well. Tajiri has as much, if not more, all around ability than Koji Kanemoto and	Shinjiro Ohtani. Unfortunately, he never really had a chance to get familiar with a good	Jr. worker because he was in Big Japan, where good workers are far and few between.
He has the potential to be one of the top 5 juniors in the world. He just needs the
opportunity to work with some half decent wrestlers enough to get to know them well."

Tanaka also had an excellent showing, especially considering he wasn't familiar with either opponent. Naniwa came out of this tournament looking like a real stiff because he had one of the worst matches in the tournament against the best wrestler involved.

JWP on WOWOW 9/21/96 BE READY Taped 9/8 Tokyo Korakuen Hall

Korakuen Hall Tag Titles: Tomoko Kuzumi & Yuki Miyazaki vs. Rieko Amano & Tomoko Miyaguchi. These four wrestled like young wrestlers at this point, and they had fairly small move sets. However, their work was good and they could build a match that played to each others strengths. Miyaguchi was easily the best of the bunch here. Miyazaki was easily the worst of the four, as she blew a few spots, but the execution of the other three was close to perfect.

Amano tried her jujigatame early, but Kuzumi picked her up and slammed her. Amano & Miyaguchi still worked the arm hoping that Amano could win with her jujigatame. The crowd wasn't really into this match, but the action got hot around the 16-minute mark with Kuzumi & Miyazaki turning Amano's jumping lariat into a double wakigatame. Amano tried to come back with a diving lariat, but Kuzumi turned that into a wakigatame as well. However, Amano rolled through and wakigatame'd Kuzumi. Amano & Miyaguchi tried to work over Kuzumi's arm some more, but Kuzumi stopped Miyaguchi's armbreaker and hit some nice flying moves. Kuzumi's bridging doublearm suplex was blown though, and Miyaguchi's neck was legitimately injured.

Miyazaki tried to turn Amano's doublearm suplex into a Japanese rolling clutch cradle hold, but Amano sat down on her for a pin and Kuzumi had to make a last second save. Miyaguchi did her airplane spin and blockbuster to Miyazaki then her and Amano both did diving splashes, but again Kuzumi made a last second save. Amano tried a doublearm suplex, but Kuzumi tried to break it up with her swandive missile kick, so Amano avoided it then covered for a near fall. Amano set Miyazaki up for a sky high move, but Kuzumi knocked Miyaguchi off the top and Miyazaki countered Amano with a Japanese leg roll clutch hold for the win. The last five minutes were strong, but the first fifteen were nothing to write home about. 20:40 (14:13 aired). ***

Mayumi Ozaki & Rieko Amano & Sugar Sato (Gaea) vs. Cuty Suzuki & Commando Bolshoi & Yuki Miyazaki. This was an exciting workrate match. It would have been 4 stars, but there were some problems with the execution. Ozaki was awesome here. Her work was great and everyone looked so much better then they were in with her. Miyazaki was fairly limited in what she could do, so Ozaki had her launch an all out attack on her bad leg. Bolshoi was quite good here because she can work and she didn't do her annoying comedy. Bolshoi actually didn't even have the worst attire here as Chigusa Nagayo & KAORU were watching in the crowd and Chigusa had this leather outfit that made her look like a reject from Every Which Way But Loose.

They worked over Amano for a while, but she came back turning Cuty's Dragon suplex into a wakigatame then made the tag. Ozaki continued working Cuty's arm, but Bolshoi missile kicked Ozaki then Cuty came back with a German suplex. Cuty tried her Dragon suplex, but Ozaki used the move that would later become known as the Stone Cold Stunner then tagged Sugar.

Miyazaki was in trouble, but she avoided Sato's diving elbow drop. Amano came in and caught Miyazaki with her jumping lariat before she could tag though, so Sugar maintained control. Miyazaki eventually came back with a great Toyota roll for Ozaki's powerbomb.

Later on, Amano set Bolshoi up for a sky high move, but Miyazaki knocked Sato off the top rope and Bolshoi Misterio rana'd Amano for a near fall. Bolshoi moonsaulted Amano, but Ozaki just made the save. Amano & Bolshoi battled on the top rope with Bolshoi trying her nadare shiki no uranage, but Amano stopping it with elbows to the arm. It looked like Bolshoi had won the battle when she finally was able to execute the move, but Amano immediately wakigatame'd her. Amano went to work on the arm, but Cuty stopped her with a Destiny Hammer.

Ozaki got some near falls on Cuty, including a powerbomb off the 2nd and her Tequila Sunrise, but Cuty turned her huracan rana off the top into a powerbomb and did her big spots for near falls.

Miyazaki tried to Toyota roll Ozaki again, but Ozaki turned it into a powerbomb and made the tag. Miyazaki caught Sato with her Japanese rolling clutch cradle hold, but Amano facebustered her before Miyazaki could do the bridge. Sato Dragon screwed Miyazaki, but Bolshoi broke up her figure 4 and Miyazaki put Sugar in a figure 4 of her own. Bolshoi & Miyazaki did a double diving body press to Sato. Sato tried to comeback with her Dragon screw, but Cuty stopped the move with a diving forearm.

Sato did her Dragon screw to hiza jujigatame, but Miyazaki got the ropes. Miyazaki's work was weak when she wasn't in with Ozaki, and again she was blowing some spots. Sato tried a nadare shiki no powerslam, but Miyazaki pushed her off the top and missile kicked her. Miyazaki tried to put Sato away, but Ozaki stopped her with an uraken. Sato soon hit the nadare shiki no powerslam, but Bolshoi saved. Bolshoi used her nadare shiki no uranage on Sato. Miyazaki charged at Sato, but Sato caught her in the Dragon screw to hiza juji gatame for the win.

Miyazaki and Sato got into an arguement after the match and Plum Mariko tried to break it up. To build anticipation for their tag match at Sumo Hall, Ozaki elbowed Plum and Plum went after Ozaki but was restrained.

Really choice NJ junior style bout that was below that level because the work and execution couldn't compete. Sato was nothing special here and Miyazaki wasn't that great, but the other four looked quite good though Cuty looking good was mainly due to Ozaki. 22:35 (19:14 aired). ***3/4

Tomoko Miyaguchi & Fusayo Nouchi vs. Devil Masami & Kanako Motoya. This match was entirely about pushing Miyaguchi, and they did a great job of it. Miyaguchi was leading her team, but they were overmatched because they were against Devil. Motoya didn't really have a role in this match because for Miyaguchi to push, she had to be making a good showing against Devil. Nouchi mainly got destroyed, making Miyaguchi look more impressive when she held her own with Devil and refused to lose.

Devil, with the help of Motoya, delivered a killer powerbomb to little Nouchi, but Miyaguchi made the save. Miyaguchi tagged in and did a series of enzuiguris for a near fall on Devil. Motoya held her on the top rope though, allowing Devil to recover and dump Nouchi over the top rope then nadare shiki no brainbuster Miyaguchi for a near fall. Devil powerbombed Miyaguchi for a near fall. She tried a move off the top, but Miyaguchi cut her off with her nadare shiki no blockbuster for a near fall. Miyaguchi tried to tag, but Devil forearmed Nouchi off the apron leaving no one to save Miyaguchi from Devil's powerbombs. Miyaguchi kicked out of the first one for a good pop, but then Devil Tiger drivered her for the win.

The concept may be simple, but it is a good way to push a young wrestler because it makes for a strong story. After the match, Devil led the hall in clapping for Miyaguchi to get up. When Miyaguchi finally recovered, Devil celebrated Miyaguchi's impressive showing by hugging her. 20:57(8:32 aired). **3/4

HIROMI YAGI BIG CHALLENGE 3 EXTRA! Hiromi Yagi vs. Jaguar Yokota. This was a very technically sound match. Yagi had lost all three matches in her big challege, but was determined to beat the Jd' Queen in this added attraction. Yagi's advantage was on the mat, so she focused on a submission win. She mainly worked Jaguar's knee, but her mat attack was about trying to catch Jaguar in a finisher. When she locked in a submission, Yagi wasn't afraid to stretch the rules. She would bite Jaguar and also she would refuse to break when Jaguar got the ropes.

Jaguar used an ipponzeoi early on, showing that she could do a little judo as well. Yagi came back with three ipponzeois then it hit the mat. Not surprisingly, Jaguar had the advantage in high spots, but Yagi turned her hanging backbreaker into a hiza jujigatame. The execution was really crisp, but the pacing was kind of slow. On some occassions, such as this one, Jaguar sold really well. On other occassions though, Jaguar didn't put the submissions over enough. The crowd was pretty dead, not buying that Yagi had a chance to win, which was very bad because the match was designed to get people to pop for Yagi pushing Jaguar.

Yagi hit a plancha at 10:15 and the announcer went nuts. The pace picked up from here with big spots by Jaguar. However, Jaguar missed a diving knee drop, injuring the knee Yagi had weakened earlier. Yagi used a hiza jujigatame to the bad knee, but it wasn't enough to put Jaguar away.

Jaguar came back with an incredible doublearm piledriver, but Yagi landed on her feet for Jaguar's backdrop and got near falls with a German suplex and her nadare shiki no ipponzeoi. Jaguar did a handspring to avoid Yagi's lariat and got a near fall with her Jaguar shiki suplex (cross-arm German suplex). Jaguar then ended it with a manjigatame, which was kind of a lame finish that came too soon. Obviously this could have been a whole lot better if Yagi's ranking matched her ability. 15:23. ***1/2

JWP KORAKUEN SPECIAL: Hikari Fukuoka & Candy Okutsu vs. Dynamite Kansai & Tomoko Kuzumi. The typical main event tag match. The work was really good and the match was fast paced and exciting. It built well, but the pacing was too even and there wasn't much of a storyline. Kansai was great here, destroying everyone with blistering kicks and killer suplexes. Candy was abliterated here, taking some great bumps in the process. Kuzumi was coming off winning the Discover New Heroine tournament at AJW's Nippon Budokan double flop. She did by far the coolest high spots, but was clearly the worst in the match as her inexperience showed from time to time.

Kansai dominated Candy until Candy slid under the bottom rope when Kansai whipped her into the corner. Hikari came right in and dropkicked Kansai then Candy missile kicked her. Candy tried a diving body attack, but Kansai kicked her in midair to retain control.

Kansai came back in at 10:30. She brutalized Hikari with a couple of ultra stiff kicks. Candy came in to help Hikari out and the Hiichans did a double missile kick then Hikari moonsaulted Kansai for a near fall. Kansai came back with lariats to both and went to the top, but Candy dropkicked her to the floor and did a climb-up plancha then Hikari Orihara moonsaulted both.

Later on, Kansai rocket launchered Kuzumi for a plancha to Hikari & Candy. Kuzumi & Candy started doing really nice spots with Kuzumi using swandive missile kicks and Candy using her rolling German suplex. Everytime Kuzumi was being covered Kansai would break it up with a kick. Hikari moonsaulted Kuzumi and tried to do another, but Kansai kicked her off the top then did a Sayama style moonsault that was off too far to the right. Kansai tried her Splash Mountain, but Fukuoka turned it into a huracan rana for a near fall. Kansai used her backdrop driver on Candy, but Hikari saved so Kuzumi took Hikari out with her swandive missile kick then Kansai KO'd Candy with a high kick. Kansai dragged Candy up and Splash Mountained her for the win. 18:12. ***3/4

JWP on WOWOW 12/20/96

11/26 Tokyo Ota-ku Taiikukan

Grudge Match: Mayumi Ozaki vs. Plum Mariko. Plum was clearly not close to the top of her game physically, but Ozaki carried her to a very good match anyway. This fued had been going on since Plum returned from injury, but the grudge match lacked heat, and actually the show lacked fannies in the seats.

As Ozaki was making her way to the ring, Plum ran out and attacked Ozaki from behind, which was reminiscent of the start of the classic 3/17/95 Ozaki vs. Kansai street fight. This match looked like it might not be that good because Plum began using a chair and the chair shots lacked impact. As Michael Smith said, "Plum's chairshots were reminiscent of Lance Storm's at Barely Watchable last April." Whether you like it or not, the standard for chair shots is set by talentless stiffs like Balls Mahoney, and when bumbs like that are willing to lose 20 brain cells a night because they are incapable of doing anything else "entertaining," chair shots that are weak just don't cut it. Luckily, they quickly made good use of the chair by using it as an inanimate object. This was the smartest thing to do because they could do their spots just as they always do, but by suplexing or powerbombing their opponent onto a chair the perceived damage of the move is greatly increased.

Plum was noticeably slower than she was in her prime, actually I guess I should say in retrospect what turned out to be her peak (late 1993-early 1994) because her injuries robbed her of her prime and them of her life, but her facials and attitude were about as on as they were when the peaked against Chigusa Nagayo on 2/11/94.

Ozaki powerbombed Plum through an extremely gimmicked table (it bent just from them standing on it) and "used the remains of that table" to bloody Plum. Ozaki beat Plum down for several minutes, cutting Plum off each time she tried to make a comeback. Plum did a really good job here of putting over that she was battered and bloodied. Oz was great playing the villian, but even though they played their roles properly the fans didn't react. Plum finally came back with her roll off the 2nd into the hiza jujigatame.

Ozaki tried to come back, but Plum did a nadare shiki no Frankensteiner onto a chair. Plum then did a series of double arm suplexes onto the chair, a sloppy huracanrana onto the chair, and a German suplex onto the chair for a near fall.

Ozaki did a Thunder Fire powerbomb and high-angle powerbomb (jackknife) onto the chair, but her Liger bomb still wasn't enough to put Plum away. Plum did a desperation Toyota roll for Ozaki's Liger bomb, but she was too spent to capitalize and Ozaki culminated a series of powerbomb variations with a pyramid driver for the win. Amano somewhat apprehensively decided to kick Plum after this match so the grudge between the Oz Academy and Plum obviously hadn't been entirely settled. 13:17 (11:56 aired). ***1/2

JWP Tag Titles: Devil Masami & Hikari Fukuoka vs. Dynamite Kansai & Cuty Suzuki. The first half of this match was bad with blown spots and sloppiness, but it turned into a good match in the second half. Cuty, and to a lesser extent Devil, really dragged the match down.

Cuty survived a Devil Liger bomb and Hikari moonsaulted her just before 16:30 then Kansai saved her by cleaning house. Cuty and Hikari were really putting over the toll of the match. Cuty hit a diving footstomp of Kansai's shoulders. She was on the verge of putting Hikari away so Kansai tried to hold Devil off on the floor, but Devil powerbombed Kansai on the floor. With Kansai out of the picture, Devil cut off Cuty's diving footstomp and held her on the top rope until Hikari nadare shiki no powerslammed her. Devil delivered a diving footstomp then Hikari moonsault footstomped Cuty to take the titles. Disappointing due to the work being subpar as well as the match lacking the aura of a title match due to not having much heat or being dramatic. 22:26 (19:15 shown). **3/4

12/14 Akutoshitei Hamamatsu

Hiromi Yagi vs. Plum Mariko. Yagi was really good here as always. She was such a diverse performer. Plum was similar to Yagi offensively, but she couldn't come close to Yagi as a worker at this point because Yagi was a far superior athlete and her work was so fluid. Yagi also could carry a match very well, while Plum couldn't.

This match was a nice combination of high spots and submissions. Plum got much of the offense, doing her typical assortment of takedowns into submissions, because she was jobbing in the end. Yagi sold her leg relly well at points, particularly when she stopped in the middle of the ring during Plum's attempted Irish whip. Yagi worked Plum's arm some then jumped off the top into a wakigatame and really wrenched Plum's arm for the win. 10:43 (6:53 aired). ***1/4

Mayumi Ozaki vs. Commando Bolshoi. Oz rules because she can ever carry the damn clown to a good match. Bolshoi can work, but that is about it. Ozaki wrestled a very solid match, but Bolshoi didn't really show up until got spot intensive.

Ozaki attacked Bolshoi's arm early. It always looks good when Ozaki disseminates a body part because her facials and demeanor are so excellent that the moves come off as vicious and her offense as quite malicious. Ozaki got Bolshoi to attack her bad leg. Bolshoi is just so weak is strikes and submissions that this portion of Bolshoi's offense still didn't look that good even though Ozaki did a really good job of putting it over.

Ozaki got spun around from the impact of Bolshoi's shouda, which looked pretty cool. The lowlight of the match was a handspring elbow on the floor that Bolshoi tried. Perhaps she just didn't have enough room because I know she can do a good handspring, but this one was laughable.

It really kicked in about 9 minutes into what aired with big spots back and forth. Bolshoi got moonsault happy, hitting three in a row at one point. Ozaki's Tequila Sunrise was blocked, but she caught Bolshoi with her uraken for a near fall. Bolshoi tried to win with her uranage, but the nadare shiki one took too long to setup. Oz was again spun around on Bolshoi's shouda, but this time she spun right into her uranage. Ozaki cut Bolshoi off on the 2nd rope and DDT'd her off it. It looked like Ozaki had her Tequila Sunrise for the win, but Bolshoi avoided it and made on last surge with her shouda and uranage, except Ozaki switched Bolshoi's uranage into her Tequila Sunrise for the win. 15:30 (12:22 aired). ***

JWP PRESENTS YEAR END TAG TOURNAMENT Round 1: Devil Masami & Kanako Motoya vs. Chikayo Nagashima & Sugar Sato (Gaea team). The basis of this match was to build anticipation for the final. Devil was far superior to Oz's disciples, and she constantly let Ozaki, who was at ringside, know it. Looking back on the match now, the domination of Sugar was rather shocking. Devil could have pinned her anytime she wanted, but opted to let her out of the pin and taunt Oz instead. Eventually Devil got sick of this routine and pinned Sato with her Liger Bomb.

Devil was truly a woman among girls in this match. Her execution was perfect, and she just really knows how to wrestle. Her problem is that she can't take a bump. Her monster gimmick to masks this, but doing all the no-sell crap here, combined with her complete offensive dominance, totally buried the Gaea youngsters. As one-sided as it was when Devil was in, that was actually the better portion of the match because Chikayo, Sato, & Motoya were all very subpar. Unfortunately, for once these three actually wrestled like you would expect girls their age to. 15:16 (11:26 aired). *1/2

Dynamite Kansai & Cuty Suzuki & Fusayo Nouchi vs. Hikari Fukuoka & Candy Okutsu & Tomoko Kuzumi. This was the requisite JWP main event tag match. Strong ring work, as always. Everyone looked good and they all had their chance to shine. Built well to a hot finish. Kansai was great here as she just punted the hell out of everyone.

Finish saw Kuzumi keep the opposition at bay with a swandive plancha and a regular plancha while Hikari & Candy double teamed Nouchi. Candy helped Kuzumi out, allowing Hikari to pin Nouchi with her moonsault. 18:51. ***3/4

Special Thanks to Hadi Motiee & Michael Smith