Chikako Hasegawa & Miori Kamiya vs. Las Cachorras Orientales (Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda)
The started off fast and unforgiving with Mita and Shimoda attacking Hasegawa, wasting no time in getting down to business with the hair pulling and face smashing (into the canvas), which is always one of their traits. Kamiya fared much better against LCO with her shoot-inspired offence as Mita sold her kicks and rear-naked choke into a body scissors before tagging Shimoda in, who then worked on the legs. Hasegawa is a total victim in this match as LCO ramp up the intensity and violence of their offence to turn it into a mauling when she gets in the ring. But to her credit, she sells it all well enough and works nicely as that weak link, given her obvious junior status (one year into her career). Miori Kamiya gets a good showcase in the match though. It will actually be her last match for a few years when she returns in 1996. I’m not sure whether it was injuries or if the age rule is still in effect (surely not). But nevertheless, Mita is able to score the win with a fisherman suplex. Decent opening match. LCO kills their opponents and carry on in their eternal quest to impress Akira Hokuto. **1/2
Tag League The Best 1992 Match: Takako Inoue & Terri Powers vs. Suzuka Minami & Yumiko Hotta
Terri Powers (aka Kane’s Girlfriend, Tori) and Takako Inoue are a very interesting pairing. But Joshi is full of pairings that don’t always fit or seem right and that leads to some fun tag teams, even in the short while. The duo had some neat moments of team work, including an atomic drop into a dropkick which was pretty cool. The match never really has a good gust of momentum for me. The match keeps on moving, switching wrestlers and exchanging spots but they never truly gel. The match really lost its steam when the story of the match became around Inoue’s leg. As much as I love Hotta as a wrestler, it was her half crab that did the trick to lose me. Minami, to her credit, does a bit more dynamic work on the leg, trapping Inoue in an indian deathlock sort of hold. Inoue came into the match with a protective pad on her knee so I’m glad that there is some narrative sense to the match. It just happened to be dull, dull, dull. The match finally ends after seemingly an eternity when Hotta plants Inoue with a back suplex off the ropes. Poor match from an entertaining stand-point. Fine technically but oh well. **
Tag League The Best 1992 Match: Eriko Tsuchiya & Yoshika Maedomari vs. Jungle Jack (Debbie Malenko & Sakie Hasegawa)
The FMW duo are both injured coming into the match and aren’t shy about announcing it in the pre-match interview (spoiling the match essentially). Jungle Jack are so white meat on arrival but they have the crowd on their side. The injuries of the FMW Team play into the match with Jungle Jack going for the arm of Tsuchiya and then Crusher (Maedomari)’s leg as they should. Sakie Hasegawa and Tsuchiya exchange blows a few times and that’s cool. Despite her unassuming look, Hasagawa stands her ground and looks pretty badass in the process. The match goes from a scrappy fight to a traditional tag team match with a heat section and loses a little of its quality but Jungle Jack are so good in their babyface role and the crowd loves them that it still works. I didn’t think much of the closing stretch, honestly. The match probably should’ve concluded a while before it happened. Jungle Jack eventually won and got a big hero’s pop. ***
3WA Martial Arts Title Match: Bat Yoshinaga (c) vs. Kyoko Kamikaze
Shoot? Work? It’s not very good either way. No skill on show.
AJW Title Match: Tomoko Watanabe (c) vs. Kaoru Ito
I’ve been watching some late 90s Zenjo recently so seeing two of the more prominent stars and teams of that era in their root stages provides an interesting perspective for me. Watanabe doesn’t wear boots which seems like a big mistake as it’s easy to break an ankle or a heel but combined with her dungey attire, makes for a unique look. What these two lack of experience and skill, they have in spirit. Ito attacked Watanabe before the bell for a quick start and she wasn’t above flat footing her in the hip either. Watanabe is able to get on top with submissions but they mix it up, doing some striking sequences. The match found its way into the crowd, shockingly. Watanabe threw Ito into the chairs before slamming her on the ground for the count out. Ito makes it back in the ring easy enough which made that spot a bit useless at first. However Ito sparks up after it and sends Watanabe into the crowd, making the spot work. Ito had a fun shining spot, hitting more hip attacks than Shiro Koshinaka and getting some nearfall on Watanabe, who bridges out in classic Joshi form. Watanabe is able to hit a few harai goshi to regain her grasp on the match. Ito is still able to win in a way that I can only describe as “youthful”. She hits a diving footstomp, then a spinning senton, then a footstomp, then another, then another, then another. And then goes for the pin. What an awesomely fun finish. The match wasn't great but it had spunk and heart. ***
Goodbye Bison Kimura! You’ll be back but goodbye for now.
All Pacific Title Match: Kyoko Inoue (c) vs. Akira Hokuto
Kyoko Inoue said that she felt forgotten in her pre-match interview so she came in with a lot to prove as champion. The match result doesn’t really reflect that but I thought her performance was really good. It was definitely noteworthy. Worth praising. As was Hokuot’s. I liked how counter heavy this was but in the same way, it allowed everything to breathe at the same time, which made the counters more significant. Each submission was given time to create some drama and give each wrestler time to really create a compelling match. Then the second half of the match was brilliant. It was essentially a ton of false finishes but all were set up in ways that were so compelling. Some of the nearfalls were nail-biting and worth doing instead of doing it just because. And Hokuto calling out Kandori was awesome. It was played perfectly. Plus we got a Shiro Abe appearance, everyone’s favourite heel referee. ****
3WA World Title Match: Bull Nakano (c) vs. Aja Kong
Aja Kong is finally able to best her old rival for the title.And she did it for Bison Kimura! Years of history and story led to this match including these two blowing up, feuding, making up and the only thing that was left was Kong to beat Bull which she did. Bull attacked Kong’s legs and brutalised her back with kicks but Aja Kong kept on coming back, determined as ever. Aja Kong is able to either kick out or avoid Bull’s best moves and hit her own, including urakens before hitting a leg drop - Bull’s move - to win the match and the title. Great match both bell to bell and emotionally. This truly meant a lot to those involved. ****
3WA Tag Team Title Best Two Out Of Three Falls Match: Manami Toyota & Toshiyo Yamada (c) vs. Dynamite Kansai & Mayumi Ozaki
See previous review here. ****1/4
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