Pogo Pete - Reviewed DVDVR
#100
"Come, let us travel to Bunka Gym, where the
AJW vanguard attempt to humiliate the JWP stalwarts in their very own ring.
If we hurry, we can make it in time for the JWP and AJW ring announcers
announcing the main event in stereo! This has got to be the greatest women's
tag match ever. The match starts with four straight singles matches with
a 5-minute time limit ("First Attack") followed by everyone in the ring
for an 8-women tag match lasting the rest of the hour. Most falls at the
end wins. Non-stop action the entire hour with countless spots, brutal
kicks, hardway juice from Kyoko and solar heat all the way from the pro-JWP
crowd. Everything here is just so RIGHT, from the aforementioned stereo
ring announcers to the scoreboards in the building tabulating the falls
to even the first referee getting subbed on the fly when the tag portion
starts. You can't go wrong with this match under any circumstances whatsoever."
Phil Schneider - Reviewed DVDVR
#61
"I have watched a bunch of real long matches
(45 minutes+) and I think the best way to pull one off is to have a bunch
of wrestlers involved (Ex: EMLL 16-man Cibernetico, MPRO 10 mans, etc.).
No matter what kind of shape they are in, a wrestler is going to blow up
after wrestling for 60 minutes. In matches like this, they can tag out
instead of relying on restholds (Micheals vs. Hart) and long periods of
lying on the mat (any AJ 60:00 draw). This match was AJW vs. JWP and there
was all sorts of organizational pride on the line. The rules were very
Lucha-like in their incomprehensibility- with it either being "first team
to three falls" wins or "most falls in an hour" wins. Also the match started
as a singles match between Sakie and Hikari and then turned into a tag
match but HELL! the rules didn't matter- you just have to watch and enjoy.
This match was part of the killer Aja vs. Kansai feud. That was the main
storyline, as both women would just beat the hell out of whoever was in
the ring while eyeing each other, and when they got in the ring against
each other, it was just electric. Kansai and Aja are two of the greatest
workers in wrestling history period and two of my favorite women wrestlers.
Everyone in this match was great - even the usually mediocre Cutie stepped
it up, taking a real beating from Aja - including a cradle piledriver and
several nasty spinning tombstones from Takako. Kyoko was also great - as
this was before she started frequenting the buffet line and was still really
fast and agile. Her reverse rolling Gory special was neat and something
I hadn't seen before. At about the 35 minute mark, Ozaki hits her Liger
Bomb and goes for the pin on Kyoko. Aja comes in and kicks Ozaki in the
back of the head to break the pin, driving Ozaki's forehead into Kyoko's.
This opens up a nasty gash over Kyoko's eye and swells Ozaki's left eye
almost shut. The great thing about this was: instead of letting that kill
the match, they adapted it to the storyline, with each women becoming the
target of the other teams offense because they were hurt. Also, both women
show incredible guts as they wrestle through two nasty injuries and take
a big fat beating as well. This made me love Ozaki even more and almost
made me feel bad about all those Kyoko fat jokes. I don't want to talk
about the falls because they are either real dramatic or surprises, and
I don't want to ruin them. Everyone who likes wrestling should get themselves
a copy of this match - stiff, technically brilliant, well booked, dramatic
- as good as it gets (except for the giant swing and the rolling cradle
which both made an appearance, but, fuck, this match lasted an hour - I
can forgive that). As many stars as there are grains of sand in all beaches
in the world."