AJW New Wrestlemarinepiad 2002

AJW Title Match: Miyuki Fujii (c) vs. Kaori Yoneyama

Yoneyama has so many titles coming into this match. The Japanese Tag Team titles and the JWP Junior Championship. And of course, she’d win one more after this match. I’m going into this period totally blind and there isn’t much coverage elsewhere to help me along with these two. I know Yoneyama but only the 2022 version. Miyuki Fujii is practically a ghost on my radar. The match JIP during a long stretch of leg submissions, Yoneyama trying to apply an indian deathlock before Fujii counters with a half crab. The match progresses into a string of back and forth counters, which include a lucha-esc springboard headlock takeover. Neither is really able to get the advantage but some of the sequences were rather sweet. Fujii had a wallop of a running elbow on her but rarely followed up on it. Yoneyama won the match with a german suplex, followed up by an O’Connor Roll. This was a cool match. ***

3WA Tag Team Title Best Two Out Of Three Falls Match: Nanamomo (Momoe Nakanishi & Nanae Takahashi) (c) vs. Las Cachorras Orientales (Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda)

This is best 2/3 Falls. So naturally, the match gets the first two falls out of the way almost immediately but the way they did it was fascinating as LCO attacked during the entrances and set a frantic pace that eventually cost them as the champions got the advantage and eventually scored the pin via the Momo Latch Pin. The second fall came soon after with Shimoda getting her revenge after sitting down on a second Momo Latch attempt. The third fall began a total brawl, starting out in the crowds and balconies before coming back to the ring. The more traditional the match got, the more control Nanamomo had. Momoe attacked Mita’s injured knee, giving them a target but LCO (Mima, in particular) would try to use a weapon and turn it into their match. The match really got great once all four women got in the ring. The tag team wrestling really flowed, leading to some great nearfalls, such as Mita kicking Nanae into a roll-up before it got broken up at the last second. Mita and Nanae looked really good in the ring when they were swinging for the fences. Mita would smack Nanae in the face, only for Nanane to give her a receipt with a brutal knee to the face. Mita’s character work was a highlight as well. She couldn’t help but antagonise Momoe on the apron while she’s working over Nanae in the ring. The match ended after a death valley driver from Mita to Nanae to conclude the match. LCO won the titles once again, but they wouldn’t keep it for long as it was vacated a month later. Afterwards, it all kicked off but after it settled down, Takako Inoue and  Tomoko Watanabe seemingly challenged them to a title match. I really don’t like them throwing the stipulation away like they did but the third fall was compelling enough to overcome it. It was a great match in the end. ****

Steel Cage Match: Amazing Kong vs. Yumiko Hotta

AJW loved to use the Steel Cage after the interpromotional war ended, didn’t they? The match started outside of the ring with Kong attacking Hotta and throwing her in the sea of chairs, hitting her with the microphone, which caused Hotta to bleed. Amazing Kong is rather skinny compared to what she’d look like in TNA but she is positioned as a monster that was humbling Hotta. In turn, Hotta showed a rare case of vulnerability, having to work on her back for large periods and sell. Hotta was able to use the chain that Kong was using to get back in the match though. She tried to wrap Kong up in the ropes so she could escape but that didn’t work. The match lost some steam down the stretch, and while the crowd got behind Hotta still, the pace slowed and they didn’t really capture the same sense of drama that the match had earlier on. The finish is a big talking point and could kill someone’s view on the match but I didn’t mind it. Hotta looked like she had the match won, after knocking Kong down, who was on a makeshift ladder, when Shark Tsuchiya entered the cage and attacked Hotta. This led to Kong escaping and winning the match. Boo. But then Momoe Nakanishi showed up and blasted Tsuchiya with a missile dropkick and unloaded on her. Kong then came back in and aligned herself with Shark Tsuchiya. Then I assume Hotta challenged them to a match, which would come next month in yet another steel cage. See what I mean about AJW loving Cage matches? So ending the main event like that can put a downer on what was a good match, considering Amazing Kong had only debuted in October of that year (!!). The inexperience was shown at times with the dead spots but Hotta’s selling was good and I enjoyed the closing angle. ***1/4