MIMA SHIMODA! ETSUKA MITA! before they were UltraVixens! HIKARI FUKUOKA! crushes BOIRSHOI KID! CARLOS COLON! drowning in his own blood! KAORU! And SUGAR SATO! are filled with hate! DIG THE EMI~! And other stuff from this week!

ALOHA~!

WELCOME TO THE DEATH VALLEY DRIVER VIDEO REVIEW #72!

This week is quite the Clearinghouse of Reviews for all the SWANK and non-SWANK stuff that has been lying around our respective houses from the usual and some unusual sundry and- as always- totally WHIP ASS sources. Glenn has been really kicking everyone's ass with true manly goodness by serving up the extra ultraCHOICE late eighties/early nineties AJW stuff that Reverend Ray took a shot at and I'm getting to the creamy goodness at the center of the QUEBRADA-MIKE Lorefice tapes that he sends by the freakin BOATLOAD which are CHOCKFUL of Hikari Fukuoka Goodness. She punts the fudge out of a clown and I GOT TO WATCH! WHOMP ASS! Phil supplies the BUCKET OF BLOOD by getting the Bloody Battles of The Caribbean into his own possession and he also wrangled the Strangely In Existence Big Japan Commercial tape that he passed on to me because HE wasn't gonna touch it. But first, a word from Los Fatboy.....

#$#$#$#$#$#$# JWP TV 9/27/98
(by DEAN RASMUSSEN)
Tomoko Miyaguchi vs. Reiko Amano
Miyaguchi is a big batch of fun and Amano is reeking of OZ academy goodness but this is edited straight to hell. Amano gets in an inverted Fujinami arm bar before Miyaguchi gets in the toprope HottaKick to the head and released toprope Samoan Slam. Just enough to tantalize the fabulousness but not enough to take the feeling home. Or something. Uhh... Miyaguchi gets a cool bowling trophy at the end. WOO-HOO!

Devil Masami vs. Cutie Susuki
Really good match considering the participants. I mean, Cutie IS truly a cutie and she's an okay- if offensively limited- worker, but she is in with Devil Masami who I've never seen a match I've REALLY liked with her in it. Then I remember that Cutie has always been able to take a beating like a champ and Devil -who is Super Heel for the night- has really started to join Mita, Shimoda, Lioness Asuka and Aja in the Old Gals Go All Garbage Style movement; so this becomes more fun than it should be- as Cutie gets to brawl all over the tables and on the floor and use chairs. Devil really busts her up by the end, but Cutie looks great being all tough and feisty against the gargantuan Masami. It's that whole Cutie Suzuki transformation from Schoolgirl-fetish midnight choking material to older, tougher, carrier of the JWP Old-guard flame shtickt. I dug this.

Tomoko Kozumi/ Kanako Motoya vs. Cutie Suzuki/ Tomoko Miyaguchi
This is for somekind of tag tourney. This is clipped all to hell so it's basically the finish with hardly any mention of Delfin's fling- the tres cool Kozumi- or the aforementioned Cutie. Motoya and Miyaguchi handle the finish which has Motoya hitting the awkward totally linear Rolling German Suplex Chain and then they have Kosugi reverse a toprope something into some kind of sunset flip or something. Actually, I'd pan this match as being WAY too sloppy but (and I think Tim Whitehead, where ever you are, can back me up on this) Kanako Motoya has such the Mima Shimoda But Somehow Tinier pants that make me feel like such a TOTAL pig for noticing and I'm not even thirty-two yet. AND I LOVE IT! I think that's the whole disturbing point of the outfit. We all win. My daughter will never wear anything like that while I'm still breathing. HEY! I am so very old.

Mayumi Ozaki/ Reiko Amano vs. Dynamite Kansai/ Sari Osumi
I love Dynamite Kansai. Always have. People criticize her for being limited. People say she isn't a good worker. I tell them to jump up my butt because she delivers the goods in triplicate when the chips are down and I'll miss the hell out of her when her health problems finally force her to retire. This match is too clipped again and she isn't her best unless she's in with someone who can take and dish out a King-sized beating and she never actually hooks up with Ozaki in what was shown here (Because OZ SURE AS HELL has had at least one TRULY Ass-Kicking match with Kansai- the Streetfight was NUMBER ONE AND THE BEST. Probably top five on the gimmick match hit parade.), but the premise of this was that Kansai was beating the hell out of OZ's protege, Amano and Osumi was to keep OZ out and force her to watch. I love this kind of stuff. You only get it in Japan. Of course, it all goes awry because you can't keep the Minkiest of the Minky down for too long and Mayumi gets Amano in position to force the submission on Osumi. Kinda ponderous.

Tomoko Kozumi / Kanako Motoya VS. Mayumi Ozaki / Reiko Amano (Final)
Poor Amano! Her whole reason for being in this tourney was to get the be-jeebers beaten out of herself and Kozumi and Motoya supply the ass-kicking in abundance in this. They do this whole Ode To...thing with Amano doing the Yamada continuous snap suplex thing which Kozumi answers with the Sakie Hasegawa Locomotion Butterfly suplex later. Motoya and OZ hook'em up and it's a freakin Russ Meyer film for about five minutes. {{The heat is on and I'm blowing my stack. I'm in a frenzy.}} And whatever other Screamin Jay Hawkins' euphimism for "HOLY CRUD! Lookit the ULTRAVIXENS who wrestle like MOTHERFUCKERS!" you can think of. Kozumi sentons the hell out of Amano- Amano who is becoming a great wrestler but she is smoked in every other way in this match by the other three. (Hey! I'm making MYSELF sick in this report.) This was freaking CHOICE.

Hikari Fukuoka vs. Boirshoi Kid (JWP Title Match)
SWEET MERCIFUL CRAP! Remember the sick thrill of watching Yomiko Hotta kicking the hell out of the whimsical and mime-like Boirshoi Kid? Get ready for that feeling to be revisited in SPADES. Boirshoi is actually a good little worker these days and has a whole lot to love about her wrestling ability, but- C'MON!- she's gotta freakin Lovable Clown Gimmick. I mean, I hate the Payasos and they are EVIL Clowns, fer chrissakes. The great thing is that she wrestling the BEST WOMEN'S WRESTLING IN THE WORLD CURRENTLY in Hikari Fukuoka. Nobody is better than Hikari except for maybe Misawa, Liger, Kawada, Eddy Guerrerro and Chris Benoit. There you have it. And all of those powdered ass pansies would weep big fat tears of pain if they were on the receiving end of what Hikari doled out to the spunky Boirshoi Kid. Boirshoi gets a big bunch in early as Hikari sells her currently harder-edged offense (as opposed to the Kyoko Lite realm she was the master of earlier in her career) but still pretty much dominates early by working on the Kid's leg and getting her in a figure four early. They hit a pseudo-transition with Hakari missing a dropkick and Kid getting her in position for a baseball slide. Hikari reverses this by throwing the Kid on the floor, body slamming her to the unforgiving concrete and hitting a top turnbuckle moonsault that was just absolutely SWANK. Kid fires back with a hurricanrana and a palmthrust(?!?) and a toprope side suplex for two. At this point, Kid takes off her goofy mask, thus signalling her realization that Hikari was now going to REALLY kill her- and hell I wouldn't want to die wearing a mask that goofy either. Kid hits another shotay and gets two count despite all the dramatic unmasking. She then starts- stupidly- smacking Hikari in the face and Hikari, now pissed beyond belief, misses her own shotay and gets wrangled into a German for 2 3/4. Kid puts the champ on the toprope but Hikari knocks her to the mat and hits the CHOICE somersault missile dropkick. This is the beginning of the end of the Kid. Hikari hits a toprope flying double kick to the head that hits like a mother fucker. She then does a HIDEOUS dropkick to the back of the Kid's head while Kid is draped facefirst across the second rope. Hikari decides that now is a good time to go ahead and take it home and hits a Ligerbomb and gears up for the Moonsault Footstomp. Kid, realizing her impending doom, tries to get Hikari in a halfhearted Tiger suplex hold in hopes of it being reversed into a roll-up, thus sparing her ribs, but no such luck. Hikari wants to kill her and she's bound and determined. So Long Kid- as Hikari gets a WHOLE LOT OF AIR underneath the Moonsault and lands flush- with all of her weight- right in the ribs of the Kid, in what has to be- TRULY- one of the Nastiest spots I've seen in a LONG time. Hikari Fukuoka covers what's left of Boirshoi and- having thus terrified all future opponents- calls it a night. Before she leaves, Hikari picks up the Kid's mask and places it next her head. I guess this was to give her something to cough blood up into later or something. JWP rules the EARTH. GET ALLLLLLLLLLL THIS.

!@!@!@!!@!@!@!@!@ ALL JAPAN TV 1/25/98:
(by REV RAY DUFFY)
Giant Kimala II vs. Skull Von Crush
The greatest match in recorded history. Misawa who? Skull's wearing tights which I guess are supposed to be be the german flag colors, but they make Skull have that Nikita Koloff look. As we join in progress, Kimala is in control until he misses a top rope splash. Skull hits a not-so-super kick and a top rope clothesline, followed by a second rope elbow. Kimala hits some chops, Skull gives him the the Stone Cold Diamond Crusher. Skull does the nazi salute, goes for a move off the ropes and Kimala... sorta hits Crush with a drop kick. Kimala hits a rolling senton for a two. He goes up
top, Skull tries for a superplex, but that just aint happening. Skull moves in and gets hit by a bad looking diving lariat. Kimala wins! Well, at least they ain't Kurrgan.

Kawada/Masao Inoue vs. Misawa/Asao
Asao is in controlling Inoue, Kawada comes in to make the save but Asao fights him off with some elbows. Asao tags Misawa who hits a redirection supack suplex and a camel clutch. Asao tagged in. Inoue reverses a suplex and tags Kawada who starts kicking away on Asao, who answers with elbows which Kawada sells a bit. Kawada suplexes him and starts punk punting. Asao sent out to the floor and Kawada and Inoue work him over. Kawada puts him in a Boston crab, Inoue tags in, works the back over and puts on another crab. Asao rebounds off the ropes with an ok flying
headscissors. Asao gets double suplexed, Kawada does the Taue atomic drop throw on him. Inoue gets in a Canadian back breaker, Misawa makes the save. Asao makes the tag over a face crusher. Misawa elbows on Inoue until Inoue clotheslines him. Kawada tagged in, Misawa and Kawada and they play "Elbow v. High Kick" for a bit. Misawa and Asao double team Kawada until he high kicks the both. Asao gets beat on a bit, Kawada and Inoue do a weird version of the Vegomatic with Inoue jumping over Kawada as he suspended Asao and vertical splashed him. Asao abuse continues after a Inoue slingshot atomic drop into a Kawada High Kick into a Blockbuster Suplex. Asao comes back and starts controlling Inoue with a bunch of near fall pinning moves. Kawada tries to interfere, but he gets Dragon Screwed. With Kawada out of the picture, Asao and Misawa control and Asao wins with a top rope Frankensteiner.

&*&*&*&*&*&* BLOODY, BLOODY BATTLES OF THE CARRIBEAN COMMERCIAL TAPE
(by PHIL SCHNEIDER)
Carlos Colon vs. Joe LeDuc - Barbwire match
Carribean barbed wire matches are different from barbwire matches in Japan. The Barbwire is wrapped around the ring ropes, so you don't see the big bumps. On the Isle of Puerto Rico, it is all about pushing someones face into the spikes and watching the blood squirt- nothing fancy, just gore. This match was kind of an appetizer to the main course of vampiristic bloodletting later in the tape as both men were covered in a fine red mist, rather then the full blown strawberry shake syrup canister poured over the head.

Invader 1 vs. Kamala
Kamala is not a good wrestler. In the pantheon of big fat black guys from Chicago given demeaning African savage gimmicks by racist asshole promoters, he is right at the bottom. Invader 1 is a shitty wrestler too and he killed Bruiser Brody so he belongs in the deepest pits of hell. This match consists of Kamala chopping Invader 1 in the head, and the Invader bleeding a whole bunch. Invader's head is so covered in blood by the end of the match you actually can't see his facial features.

Abdullah The Butcher vs. Al Perez
In the pantheon of big fat black guys from Chicago given demeaning African savage gimmicks by racist asshole promoters, Abdullah The Butcher is right at the top. This is an Abdullah match by the numbers. He stabs Perez in the head with a fork and throws powder in his eyes. Perez does an average blade job. Abdullah slams Perez into the television truck which leaves a nice red splotch on the side. Nothing special and not enough plasma to make it stand out.

Mike Davis Award Ceremony
The Rock N' Roll RPM's were the 713th-best, mid-1980's Rock and Roll Express ripoff- just behind the Southern Rockers and one step ahead of the Todd Morton helmed New Rock N' Roll Express. Mike Davis of the RPM's is celebrating his 6th wedding anniversary in the ring, when Chicky and Ron Starr come in and bust a picture frame over his head- this in front of his wife and two young daughters (who, I am sure, are recounting this to a psychiatrist right now. "And then these horrible men with feathered, dyed-blond hair just smashed this FRAME over his head.... and the outfit my dad was wearing! Ohh the horror!). The true nastiness was the post incident stitching of Davis's shoulder; they had closeups of the Novocain needle and the open wound. Raunchy.

Carlos Colon vs. Hercules Ayala
This was a Texas Death match, which basically consisted of Ayala and Colon punching each other in the head and attempting figure fours. Ayala uses brass knuckels to get an advantage (which Hugo Savinovich gets all righteously indignant about- even though it is a fucking Texas Death Match). Colon starts really spraying goo and then ends up lying face down in a puddle of blood. Top ten bladejobs of all time, the juice was loose, Wagner power sprayer level red, more color then an explosion in a paint factory, more cranberry sauce than a Lee Marshal-Fred Ottman Christmas dinner. BTW the referee for this match was Victor Quinones, so obviously he ignored the brass knuckles because the holy triumvirate of Yakuza/Puerto Rican Mafioso/Freemasons obviously wanted Ayala to have the belt so he could serve as the point man to damage the virility of American men through the use of fluoridated water. The truth is out there.

$%$%$%$%$%$ GAEA G-PANIC SPECIAL
(by DEAN RASMUSSEN)
Hirota/ Uematsu vs Sonoko Kato/ Meiko Satomura
Meiko Satomura- the future of Professional Wrestling- is really all over this tape so ya gotta love it. Here she's in with Sonoko Kato who is real good and getting better every week, Toshie Uematsu who was stagnant for most of 97 but has has a little resurgence as of late and the really pushed and really average, but cute as living hell (and the possible future child-bride of Glen or Joe if they play their cards right) Sakura Hirota. Meiko starts in on Toshie Uematsu with her Kyoko Triple Bock Offense enriched with stiff kicks and neato submission holds and Toshie gets out of it when Sonoko gets in and hits the camel clutch as Toshie's major Lucha influence continues to permeate. Hirota starts kicking Kato in the head while she is being clutched in the camel way so Meiko runs in and punks the pink-clad little gal and starts to get that intensity that says, "Oh yeah, this is gonna be good." They bust up Sonoko for a while, getting a few nearfalls. Sonoko gets the tag to Meiko and they stumble through some stuff but get back on track when Toshie starts kicking the crap out of Meiko and forces her to make the tag where Toshie then hits the bitchy dropkick to Sonoko's bad knee. Toshie tags in Hirota so Sonoko and Meiko kick Hirota at the same time a whole lot all setting up the great bodyslam into the cross-armbreaker double team submission move. It was choice. Hirota survives and tags in Toshie who gets all in Sonoko's face with a head scissors into a Hashimoto arm-breaker which leads to a toprope Butt-butt by Ice-Man King Hirota. Nearfalls galore for awhile with lotsa inventive tag team stuff- especially the altered Death Valley Driver into the Frog Splash combo by Sonoko and Meiko. Sonoko kills Hirota for a while and gets her into the Dragon Suplex for three. Not the smoothest match you'll ever see, but it had a lot of good spots and more intensity than anywhere else on you'll see.

Iishi vs Satomura
Rina Iishi is the best of the second-tier youngsters in GAEA. She's more high-flying and gymnastic than Hirota, Matsumodo or Numao and she's really graceful and tough and harder edge than any her classmates so I was stoked about this- the best of the first graduating class of Chigusa's vs the best of the second graduating class of Chigusa's. This was great! Iishi starts off with a Handspring Reverse Stinger Splash and then gets all AJW Rookie Match-Offense-intensive. Meiko does a GREAT Road Warrior impersonation with a flying shoulder tackle and flying fist-drop- all of which I found quite beautiful. Hangman Tim was over at the time and told him, "Hey! She's gonna no-sell a piledriver next." But Meiko is GOOD, so that never happened. Iisha reverses a chinlock into an armbar and gets a SuperOldSchool Yokota like submission that she turns into a body scissors. Meiko gets a leverage advantage and they take turns elbowing the hell out of each other, setting up an opening for the first cross-armbreaker of the evening. Iishi gets to the ropes so Meiko gets her in the STF into a Camel's Clutch.into a Kyoko Special BackBreaker. Iishi escapes and goes back to a basic Jaguar-styled offense of dropkicks and armbar variations topping it off with Handspring Elbow. They then take turns pasting the hell out of each other with elbows which ends with Iisha reversing a Meiko reversal of a Brainbuster into a Fujiwara Armbar with Meiko getting to the ropes. Meiko marks time and finds her place by kicking Iisha in the face a few times and gets Iisha in a Run-Up-The Ropes Cross-Armbreaker Drop and Iisha makes the ropes. Meiko hits a frogsplash for two. Iisha hits topr ope Lariat slam for two. A few nearfalls later, Iisha tries another KAORU reverse Butt-butt but Meiko catches her in mid-air and gives her a PHAT ASS Death Valley driver and knocks off the young punk. I dug this. Chigusa is definately trying to shoot for More Psychology- Less Insane Highspots- the philosophy that permeated AJW during her prime and was not the focus when the spot machines of Manami and Kyoko took the forefront, so she's teaching these gals to wrestle as if 1990-1995 never existed and I think it's making for a great basis for matches and for something as minor as this match to be as good as it was is a good indication that the future of Women's wrestling in Japan is in real good hands. Add in anyone that has any talent that Jaguar Yakota is training in J'd and the future looks bright indeed. Now if the young, really great youngsters in JWP can stay focused as that promotion slowly dies, we're in for years of quality wrestling when all these young punks starting crossing paths.

Sonoko Kato vs Chigusa
Chigusa gets pissed off at Sonoko for SOMETHING and starts beating the hell out of her post match. This pisses off Meiko who tries to make the save and she gets beat on pretty badly by the GAEA matron. I need a translation because this is pretty weird and confusing. What was this all about? Meiko is bleeding hardway from the mouth and I'm baffled. Chigusa is becoming Woody Hayes-like in her old age is all I can figure.

Akira Hokuto/ Chigusa Nagayo vs Sonoko Kato/ Meiko Satomura
This was really great. It starts off as the usual Old Ladies beating the crap out of the youngsters but Chigusa books it to give a WHOLE lot to the next generation before the obvious conclusion. Chigusa makes a bunch of saves when Meiko gets the upperhand on Hokuto so Sonoko decides to take Chigusa out by dropkicking her bad knee. With Chigusa rolling around outside in pain, Meiko suplexes the hell out of Hokuto- including four Northern Lights Suplexes that were great because when she bridges she is basically standing on Hokuto's forehead. By the time Meiko hits the very LARGE Death Valley Driver, Chigusa is recovered enough to make the save. She spin kicks Sonoko and gives Meiko a Running Three, setting up Hokuto for probably her final, ever-nasty Northern Lights Bomb. I'm a miss Hokuto in GAEA-it was WAY too much fun.

Numao vs Chigusa
Basic education match. Numao goes all shoot-style and Chigusa puts her away after a while. The stratification of the first and second classes of Chigusa's training become more pronounced each week.

Sugar Sato/ Chikayo Nagashima vs KAORU/ ToshioYamada
Now THIS was FABULOUS. Realizing that they hate OZ Academy more than they hate each other, KAORU and Yamada decide to work together this week. This is wild as Yamada blades and KAORU does something to cause giant amounts of blood to come out of the back of her head. Sugar and Nagashima are quite effective at menacing the shaky alliance between these two and- with big assists from the underhanded and amazingly attractive Mayumi Ozaki- they put the boots to the older ladies. KAORU flattens Yamada while trying to do and missing a Second-Rope Moonsault To The Floor on Sugar and Nagashima which allows Ozaki to break a chair over KAORU's head. This frees Sugar and Chikayo up to go beat on Yamada for a while- who still hasn't recovered from KAORU's off target but still spectacularly deadly errant moonsault. Yamada has the start of a crimson mask as they start kicking her in the head. Sugar looks thoroughly delighted by enraging the most crotchety of crotchety Yamada as Chigusa stalks around OZ- all cheesed off and shit. They take it all over the building- with Sugar and Chikayo looking like a gleeful and impish Mita and Shimoda doling out all kinds of chair-intensive mayhem. You also get a shot of OZ whispering something to Hokuto in the background. After throwing back in the ring and choking young KAORU for a while, Sugar hits a Tiger Driver for two. Sugar gets KAORU in a camel clutch and gets a reverse El Dandy vs El Hijo del Santo effect as KAORU spews blood out
of the back of her head onto Sugar's white outfit- furthering the Carrie-At-The-Prom Effect. They bust her up for a while longer until KAORU gets in a hurricanrana and tags in Yamada. But Sugar knocks her down and Ozaki throws in a chair, but- in a total reversal of their latest tag matches- KAORU springboard dropkicks Sugar and saves Yamada from the chairshot. Yamada and KAORU throw Sugar into the ropes and kick her in the stomach at the same time and take it to the streets by throwing both little punks into the guardrails and into the walls and into the chairs. They throw Sugar back into the ring after pummeling both the youngsters for a while and KAORU hits a springboard missile dropkick into a Yamada Released Spine-Fusing German Suplex which Yamada then follows up with a Toprope Spinning Kick right to the face that HAD TO JUST SUCK. Nagashima is healthy enough to save Sugar's bacon as Yamada goes for the Reverse Gory Driver. Yamada ducks a double clothesline attempt that hurls both punkins into the throes of a KAORU springboard double dropkick. KAORU hits one of her supercranky BrainBusters and is setting up for her spectacular Springboard Moonsault when {{HOLY CRAP!}} Akira Hokuto throws a chair and hits KAORU while in the face while she's jumping to the toprope! They double team KAORU, setting up Nagashima with a dropkick off the toprope with a chair that sets up Chikayo's Hurricanrana attempt onto the chair. KAORU reverses it into a powerbomb onto the chair, and Nagashima becomes a quivering mass. Sugar goes wild with some uricans that misses KAORU completely but gets Nagashima. She hits one on Yamada and tries to throw Yamada into the ropes and get a fatal urican in but Yamada turns it into a flying kick to the back of the head. KAORU moonsaults onto the knees of Chikayo and Ozaki gets into the act by trying to urican KAORU to seal the win, but KAORU ducks and Ozaki plasters Chikayo as both hit the mat. Sugar, Akira and OZ drag Yamada to the floor and start beating the hell out of her- oblivious to the fact that Nagashima is about to be killed dead by KAORU's nastiest Excalibur yet. KOARU gets yet still another win, as she has more big wins in the last month than she's had in the last two years. Postmatch is angle city as Yamada gets all up in Ozaki's shit while they try to figure out how big the hole in the back of KAORU's is. Mieko and Sonoko bust through the pack to challenge Akira and Ozaki and Yamada and KAORU throw them back to center of the ring to continue glaring while OZ and Aikra leisurely talk smack to Yamada, KAORU and Chigusa. This is all a fabulous set-up for a tourney that Akira couldn't get in because of that pesky thing called pregnancy. This show was great.
 

@#@#@#@#@# ALL JAPAN WOMEN COMMERCIAL TAPE- 5/26/91from Korakuen Hall
(by REV RAY DUFFY)
Show opens with the wrestlers coming out for ring intros, which is neat. My knowledge of AJW isn't exactly cutting edge, so factor in the fact that no one is wearing their usual outfits, have different hair in some cases and don't have their current trademark moves in some cases, so it's tricky to figure out most of the wrestlers.

Goofy point #1 : Before each match on the tape, the girls are interviewed, just about everyone does a goofy looking fists up pose which looks like someone off camera is coaching them to do.

Kaori Ito vs (Harley?) Saito
Ito is now one of higher level AJW girls. At least i think she is as she's gotten a shot at Hotta and won the tag belts. At anyrate, she appears to be much thinner back here and she doesn't do her now trademark double stomp moves. Nothing to really write home about, for the most part, it's a
rookie match, no crazy high spots, lots of mat work and submission type holds. Ito ends up getting the win with a butt butt off the second rope to counter a whip and corner charge for the pin.

Tomoko Watanabe vs Mayumi Yamamoto
Tomoko is a lot thinner here and appears to be doing sort of a judo gimmick. As we all know, the Arn Anderson rope rake is regularly taught in judo classes. As well as biting the opponent's leg. Tomoko works heelish pretty much the whole match between biting, hair pulls and other classic heel spots. There's not much spectucular or extremely sharp in the match. There were actually a bunch of rough spots (just about any Yamamoto back drop). Yamamoto puts this one way with two Rolling Kappou kicks, the first which- at best- grazed Tomoko.

Birasini Sontitamu/ Pantippu Sontitamu vs Etsuko Mita/ Mima Shimoda:
Mita and Shimoda are not the Minky Hellcats I've come to know and love. Mita looks a billion times better with her long (her hair is short here) plus the outfits they have now look much sharper. Mima's ring gear looks likes she's a space stewardess from some bad 70's scifi show. Mita looks like she beat up Cap'n Crunch for his shoulder pads. The Sontitamu Sisters? jump Mima at the opening bell and start hitting her with double clotheslines. In '98, that would get them piledriven on tables and have railings dropped on them, in '91, it gets them an arm getting worked over. Mita and Shimoda pretty much control the show and make the Sontitamu Sisters scream a whole lot (.75 on the Toyota scale. Muta has juice, Toyota has screaming, so there.) Mita wins with an airplane spin which is much tamer than her spinefusin' finisher she uses today.

Kyoko Inoue/ Debbie "Please don't stomp on my broken leg, Minami" Malenko vs Mariko Yoshida & Esther Moreno:
Malenko says this is only her 3rd month in. Kyoko hasn't discovered that Wednesday is all you can eat day at the Sizzler yet. Kyoko probably has the coolest theme music of everyone on the show, using "Panama" by Van Halen. Debbie and Kyoko shoot fingers to find out who starts, Debbie wins. Debbie shows off a dragon screw and achilles tendon hold and an armdrag on Yoshida. Ester and Kyoko tag in, Ester is all lucha quick, but Kyoko tries to sort of keep up with her, doing a Tiger Spin (the headlock to an arm lock to a drop toe hold) and then does the hand stand flip Moreno does. Kyoko powers around with Ester a bit, Malenko comes in and gets in a few moves before Ester tags Yoshida. Yoshida gets Debbie with a handspring elbow, she goes for a second but Debbie slides out of the way, goes up top and goes for a flying elbow smash (Smothers Jaw Jacker style) except she lands on top of Yoshida with most of her body. Yoshida seems to be stunned. Parnters switch, Ester bounces around a bit, Ester evades some Kyoko moves and takes to long celebrating on the apron, gets chopped from behind and Kyoko gives her an the El Samurai inverted face lock suplex into the ring. Kyoko stretches Ester on the mat with a few Romero chinlock variations and the lucha pendulum submission move. Debbie gets in a Northern Lights suplex on Ester, Yoshida makes the save and gets the hot tag in. Yoshida drop kicks around Debbie, Kyoko moves in and powers around Yoshida a bunch. Debbie and Kyoko get Yoshida in a double torture rack, the go for the double Romero chinlock and Ester slides under Yoshida to break the hold with a pin attempt. Debbie accidentally hits Kyoko with a jaw jacker leading to Yoshida and Ester doing a double tope. Kyoko knocks down a charging Yoshida and Ester with a spring back elbow. Kyoko does a coptor toss for a two. Ester hits a nice Asai moonsault on Kyoko. Yoshida gets tagged in and misses a top rope splash. Kyoko looks like she's going to apply a clover leaf, but does the giant swing. She misses her run up the ropes elbow, Ester Drop kicks her in the back of the head into a small package by Yoshida for the win. Good match and an interesting mix of styles.

Bison Kimura/ Mika Takahashi/ Kamiya vs Minami Suzuka/ Takako Inoue/ Cynthia Moreno
Oh the shame of it all! Takako has not yet discovered the joys of leather and/or lace wrestling outfits yet. How did people get by in '91? Bison's girls are sort of in control early, beating up on Takako and Cynthia, including Mika holding Takako just out of reach of a tag. Bison and company work over Takako's leg until she tags Suzuka who starts beating up on Takahashi and works her over with a figure four for a bit, followed by a top rope knee drop from Kyoko. Cynthia is tagged in, she hits a top rope splash, but then Takahashi starts doing martial arts punches on her. It Breaks Down In Tokyo as they all brawl on the floor. When it gets back in the ring, the Suzuka's team try to work over Bison, but Bison gets control and works over Takako and gets a couple of near falls. Kamiya gets in a nice rana out of a Takako corner charge. Takako gets worked over some more until Suzuka makes the hot tag and beats up on Mamiya for a while. Koyoko tags back in and Bison's team gets right in control. They end up hitting a Steiner Bulldog type move followed by a Bison diving headbutt, it looks like they've got it won until a pier-sixer breaks out, Suzuka kills Kamiya with a powerbomb and throws Kyoko on top and holds off Bison for the win. An OK match.

Yumiko Hotta vs. Toshiyo Yamada
To put it blunt you. Hotta and Yamada stiff kick the holy shit out of each other. YOWZA! Hotta has short hair back in '91. Yamada starts at the opening by slapping Hotta and driving her into the corner, Hotta responds by palm thrusting her back. Hotta goes for a kick early and gets Dragon Screwed and baseball slid off the apron. They get in the ring, Hotta ducks a Yamada roundhouse kick, Yamada goes for a hook kick, but Hotta catches her leg and body and dumps her with a suplex. As Yamada sits up Hotta STIFF kicks Yamada right in the face, making her bleed from the nose. OW. And then kicks her in the ass for good measure. Yamada gets Hotta in achilles tendon hold for a bit, then drops her with two super kicks. Yamada goes over the leg some more and gets Hotta in the Texas Cloverleaf. They mix it up a bit more, Hotta gets in a few spinning wheel kicks which don't look all that sharp, but she returns with her roundhouse kicks which are damn stiff. Yamada stops Hotta's progress every now and then by catching a leg and taking her down and going after the leg. They mix it up a bit on the mat which Yamada pretty much in control and reversing Hotta's holds and getting her in a sleeper or two. After wearing her out a bit, Yamada returns the favor by beating on Hotta with roundhouse kicks while they're on the mat. Yamada hails a hook kick, Hotta foot saves. Hotta reverses Yamada and does a face-first tilt-a-whirel slam on her, then kills her some more with some stiff kicks to the head. Yamada is still pretty dazed by them even after taking Hotta down with a leg hold. It looks like you can start seeing bruises on her face. Yamada gets in a belly to belly and a German suplex which drops Hotta on her head. Hotta foot saves on the ropes. Yamada goes for a kick, but Hotta catches the leg and hooks Yamada over in a Northern Lights suplex. Yamada kicks out and back drops out of a Tiger Driver attempt. Yamada drops Hotta with 2 jumping roundhouse kicks, Hotta kicks out at two. Yamada catches an elbow and Hotta hits the Tiger Driver, Yamada kicks out, Hotta goes for a whip, Yamada pulls the reversal and an inside cradle for a win. Hotta's not happy after the match and calls for the ring mic and I'm sure has some unkind word for her opponent, then goes out to the floor, throws her into the railling and stiff kicks her some more. I liked it a lot, I'm a mark for kicking. Yamada's got a good array of kicks and Hotta is scary stiff with her roundhouse kicks. Post match, you can see how bruised up Yamada's face is.

Aja Kong vs Manami Toyota
Do you like screaming? Well we've got the wrestler for you. Toyota opens with some slaps, knocks Aja down with a couple of drop kicks and baseball slides her out on the floor. Aja gets in, returns the slap favor, takes Manami to the mat and tells her to quick, which Manami answer by, you guessed it, screaming "NOOOOOOO!" Aja brawls on Toyota a bit, throws her out into thestands. Toyota comes back in the ring, Aja shoulder blocks her down twice and then hits a flying shoulder tackle. Aja stretches Manascream a bit with a half crab occassionaly adding a cross face to the hold. Aja puts her in a Romero chin lock, let's go and kicks away on Toyota's back. Aja applies a chinlock, which looks extra good due to the fact that Toyota is really flexible to the point she can practically bend over backwards with ease. Manascream gets in control and hits some screaming drop kicks to put down Aja. She gets an abdominal stretch on once, goes for another but Aja just falls on top of her. Manami stays in control for a bit until she gets knocked out to the floor and then Aja drop kicks her off the apron. The bump seems to take more out of Aja as she pretty much landed flat on her back. The get back in the ring Aja with a piledriver, but Manami bridges out. Aja hits a double leg hook pildriver for a two. Manami gets a one on a backslide attempt, gets in a figure four for a bit then works on an reverse ankle lock. Aja suplexes Toyota and dents a few oil cans on her head. They go back and forth with a few moves, Toyota gets in control and hits a German suplex and a Tiger suplex with her cool bridge. It looks like she goes for a belly to belly crossed arms suplex but it doesn't work out so well. Aja gets run into a wall on the floor. Aja heads back and takes off her gloves, Toyota holds the ropes open for her to come back until the ref back her off. Manami starts working the arm and then gets sloppy with a few of her attempted moves, Aja attempts two superplex type moves which Toyota counters (though it looks like she just no-sold a belly to back superplex that was good). Aja German suplexes her a few times, but they're
both sort of out of gas. They do a few near fall situations. Aja almost gets a 3 after she catches a Toyota top rope body press into a powerslam and after a vertical splash counter to a sunset flip... and a German suplex. Manami goes German suplex croazy as the time limit is running down. Aja gets in a 2 fall attempts, Manami hits a top rope drop kick just before time expires, but Aja kicked out anyway. OK match. I was wishing Aja would bust her jaw just so the screaming would be muffeled with her jaw wired shut.

Bull Nakano/ Bat Yoshinaga vs Akira Hokuto/ Sakie Hasegawa
God, I miss the Bull Nakano hair which Don King fears. Bull is also sporting of all things a Grateful Dead shirt. Hokuto is sporting short hair and doesn't appear to have the "ninja gimmick" that I'm more accustomed to seeing.

The opening fall is quick. Hasegawa and Hokuto rush Bull and Bat, they go for a double clothesline on Bull, who just drops the both of them with a clothesline. She then kills Sakie dead with a Thunderfire Powerbomb in under a minute.

Hokuto starts working over Bat, she hits her with two spinning kicks off the ropes, knocks Bull to the floor, hits a missile drop kick and then kills Bat dead with a Northern Lights Bomb. This takes about 2 minutes.

Third fall starts with Bull and Akira mixing it up. Bull press slams Akira out to the floor, then runs her into some chairs. She tries for the guillotine leg drop, but misses. Akira gets in a Tiger suplex. Bull no sells a drop kick, Akira gets in a nice double arm DDT. Bull gets control for a bit tags in at who misses a top rope body press. Tag to Hasegawa and Bat kicks and slaps away on her. It breaks down into a bitchslap fight. Hasegawa gets in a suplex, Bat comes back with kicks and a half crab. Bull comes in and they hang Hasegawa in the Tree of Woe, Bull holds out her arms and Bat leap frop vertical splashes her. Bull works over Hasegawa until Akira tags in. Akira gets in a weird flip over double arm bar. Sakie comes in but Bull just blows off all her offense until Akira grabs her and Hasegawa hits two jumping back kicks. They try to double suplex Bull, who suplexes the both of them and looks like drops them both on their necks. A messy spot where Bull goes for a shoulder clothesline and gets backdropped out, followed by a great tope con hilo from Akira. Akira and Sakie try to put away Bat, but Bull tags in and throws Sakie to Akira so she can get a piece of her. Bull does a German suplex for a two, Bat hits a top rope drop kick, Bull with a Thunderfire Powerbomb before Saki saves. Repeat, Akira kicks out at two. Bull goes up top, Hasegawa cuts her off and Akira and Hasegawa double Superplex her. Akira hits a German suplex for a two. Akira goes for a slam, Bull falls on her. Bat gives Akira a Super FishermanBuster and slams her. Bull drops the Guillotine leg drop, the ref counts three. Akira protests that she kicked out (it was close). Akira and Hasegawa ask for a restart, Bull says OK. Akira goes over Bat, she gets a two with a German, Saki gets a two with a great bridge German. Bat fires back with some kicks and eventually gets Sakie with a german suplex to end it, 3 falls to 1 :-) Post match, Saki bows to Bull, Bull gives her a "you're ok, kid" pat. Sakie and Bat shake hands, slap each other in the face and then hug. Girls, go fig. Bull seems to be yelling something at Akira (who walked away from this) Good match. Bull ruled the freaking earth. Akira was not spoiled by a million injuries or the demon seed yet. Bat's ok, her kicks could have been a bit stiffer. I'd seen better and later Sakie stuff. All around cool.

#$#$#$#$#$#$ ALL JAPAN WOMEN TV- 2/15/98
(by DEAN RASMUSSEN)
This was the live TV special I believe. It seems the closer they get to oblivion the more AJW spend on production facilities because this had even shinier graphics, swooping cameras on cranes, and (I sworn) nine commentators. WHAT GOES ON?

Manami Toyota vs Tomoko Watanabe
Glenn started taping this with about four minutes left so I only got the Thunderfire bomb and the Japanese Ocean Cyclone Suplex. I'm sure it was quite fine despite what Tim said the dirtsheets said about Manami.

Chiharu vs Noriko Toyoda
Chiharu is the little gal from SPWF and she does a majorette gimmick. Hey! I dated a four-eleven majorette all through High School. She was a gymnast and drove a Karman Ghia also. Maybe this gimmick works on too many levels for me to have a healthy attitude towards it. I dig Toyoda's looks: very stoic and somber. This was a rookie match so you know the drill. They really blow the ending but they count it anyway.

Ito/ Emi Motokawa/ Fujii/ Nishibori vs Hotta/ Maekawa/ Wakizawa/ Noumi
EMI~! YESSSSSSSS! She looks great in the Film Noir-ish trench coat and she whips ass all around. The spit curl says QUALITY! This was a FORCE FOUR SPECIAL match which had a very complex set of rules, which in the tradition of the Mexican Cibernetica and Thunderqueen match, added to the overall swirliness and foreignness of the match. Basically, it’s like a Cibernetica match but with stricter rules- you had to beat your opponent in five minutes or you’re both out. After you pin someone, number two on the other team goes after you for five minutes. Ito starts off by making fast work of Noumi with a PHATASS somersault senton to set up Hotta and Ito beating the holy crud out of each other. Hotta kicks her a lot with Hottakicks to the head and to the back, tries to get a cross arm-breaker and then succumbs to Ito's double stomp-mania until they suplex themselves until the time limit expires and eliminates both of them after five minutes. The problem with Ito's double stomp is that Hikari Fukuoka has her finisher smoked like a salmon. AJW
youngster Wakisawa and Emi's pal from IWA, Nishibori, go directly to a basic rookie match- except Nishibori is all high-flying and funlovin and little and psyched and stuff. Wakisawa gets her with a Fisherman Suplex and takes on the cumbersome youngster Fujii and the extended rookie match continues as Wakisawa drops her with a cross body. Thus enter EMI- looking all weird and cosmopolitan in the bizarre drum major outfit offset by that tragic face of a young lady, a young lady of lost innocence who was brought into the game through the blood-drenches ropes of IWA and has seen...too much. EMI takes out a knee and hits La Majistral like a champ and EMI vs the suddenly ass-kicking Maekawa are set to square off. Nishibori makes a save for Emi despite the fact that they are on different teams which was pretty cute. Maekawa pretty much beats the hell out of Emi while Emi goes roll-up and suplex crazy. Maekawa gets in about every kick she has, including the SWANK Fall-away head kick. EMI gets in some lucha roll-ups and La Majistral but
finally succumbs to a truly nasty axe kick and the FORCE FOUR comes to an end. As weirdly variable as its participants, the EMI/Maekawa parts were the coolest while Ito and Hotta would have been better if Hotta would have laid it in more. EMI!

Eagle Sawai/ Machiko Nagashima/ Sayuri Okino vs Takako Inoue/ Momoe Nakanishi
The amazingly beautiful Sayuri Okino ONCE AGAIN shows up on my TV screen. LLPW is all over the place since abandoning isolationism after the death of Plum Mariko. This is actually the REAL hefty Eagle Sawai and Okino against the new Chaparita ASARI- Momoe Nakanishi- and a disappointingly un-leatherclad Takao Inoue, but Nagashima runs in so much, it's basically three on two. The divine Okino and the Country-Fried Steak-Enhanced Eagle tear Momoe a new one for most of the beginning until Momoe tags in Takako who goes all 94 Old School on Okino and gives her a Tombstone to slow down the LLPW juggernaut. One Woman Gang comes in and gloms onto Takao so she tags Momoe. Momoe and Okino get all brawling and stuff but you ain't gonna beat a Kandori-trained hotty going that route, so Momoe takes it up top. A Nagashima run-in turns the tide but the LLPW ladies do a comedy of errors that would do a AAA undercard comedy spot proud. Takako and Okina break bad as the OTHER Minky Vixens in Japan bare their claws and go at it. Okino busts up Momoe by slugging her in the head with a chain- getting the suddenly common Momoe Nakanishi crimson mask- and it IS a crimson mask- a quarter Chigusa. Eagle clotheslines the hell out of the rising superstar and Okino drops her with a Fisherman suplex. Eagle then talks shit to Shinobu Kandori. Then Hotta and Kandori get into it to set up the title match. This was fun.

Toshiyo Yamada vs Kyoko Inoue
Kyoko has been showing up as much as Okino these days. HELL! She was in J'd a little while back. Yamada only turns it on for GAEA these days because this match is quite akin to a WCW Worldwide match- kinda hitting a few signature moves and not really killing yourself. Adequately wrestled, but Yamada in GAEA is fun and borderline insane and Inoue had a better match in her J'd tag match and, since finding Neo-Ladies is pretty scarce, I was hoping to see more from Kyoko. You've seen this match a thousand times but all the other ones had SOMETHING else in it. A ten minute draw. Hmmmmm...

I didn't see enough of the Toyota/Watanabe match to say if that was worth recomending, but if you dig EMI waaaaay too much (and you should) this might be worth the effort- though nothing is REALLY great on it. If your an LLPW completist (and who isn't) then GOD! You must running out of money these days. They're all over the place.
 

^&^&^&^&^& BIG JAPAN COMMERCIAL TAPE 7/27/95
(by DEAN RASMUSSEN)
This will be really short. NOBODY has a matchlist of this on the net and I stoked or anything about this tape so I didn't e-mail anyone (but it didn’t deter me from reviewing it! IÕm like that! ) because...Hey! This wasn't good! No Tajiri. No Yamakawa. No Luchadores. No death matches. BUT! It does have Tony Norris in a two minute squash where he misses a toprope tope completely and lands in the stands. It does have Chuck Williams- the Rockin Rebel!- in an even weirder inexplicable cameo. It does have Jimmy James (!?!?) against SPWF Cross boy and James does give the most hilarious interview this side of late eighties Calgary (“It’s awl about BIZNISS, and I’m here to take care of BIZNISS. BIZNISS. A couple of matches between nondescript but quite capable Big Japan and Shin-FMW or IWA or Something heavyweights kill some time. The main event is Kendo Nagasaki and a protege against Tarzan Scroto and a scrotege in a quite long but not horrible at all tag match with the downside being the truly inexplicable Level Six bladejob by Nagasaki's pupil. I have no idea why this tape exists, but I'm glad that I own a copy. You don't want one.

NEXT WEEK: Back to the Lucha Libre, baby! MICHINOKU PRO! JWP! HOTTA vs
KANDORI! WHOMP ASS!

VICTORY THROUGH GUTS~!
Dean Rasmussen, Juventudiac!

If before the morning comes, will I hear your song?
-Nightingale, ROXY MUSIC, World's Greatest Band.