silverwidow

I knew wrestling was fake/predetermined as a 12-year-old kid watching RAW every week in 1993 and it had absolutely no bearing on my enjoyment of the product. So that's never been an issue for me. The biggest eye opener was when I got on AOL around mid '96, shortly after the Hall/Nash invasion stuff in WCW. At that point, I was reading for the first time about future storylines, wrestlers possibly jumping promotions, etc, and just thought it was fascinating. My favorite site was called "Micasa Wrestling News" which was mostly accurate news taken from the Observer 900 line. The story that really captured my interest, though, was Bret Hart's negotiations with WWF and WCW that Fall. It sounded like he was leaving for the huge offer WCW had put on the table, so as a WWF fan, I was ecstatic when he chose to re-sign. A few months later, after hearing the Observer pimped so much, I decided to subscribe and was absolutely hooked. So yeah, learning about the insider stuff really made me a much bigger fan.

I met Bret Hart at a sports memorabilia show during his WWF hiatus in '96. This was a pretty great experience for me at the time since he was far and away my favorite wrestler.

Manami Toyota pinning Akira Hokuto after a second Northern Lights Bomb on 9/2/95.

Mariko Yoshida vs. Candy Okutsu, 12/18/98 (Carnival ARSION '98) Mariko Yoshida vs. Mika Akino, 1/17/99 (Stardom '99) Mariko Yoshida vs. Hiromi Yagi, 2/18/99 (Stardom '99) Mariko Yoshida vs. Mikiko Futagami, 4/14/99 (Starlet '99) Mariko Yoshida vs. Yumi Fukawa, 5/4/99 (ARS '99) Mariko Yoshida vs. Aja Kong, 8/6/99 (Zion '99) This covers Yoshida's incredible hot streak in ARSION. She had really become such a marvelous technician at the time - the best I've ever seen in Joshi - consistently weaving together difficult mat sequences with an uncanny amount of grace and fluidity. She was also a terrific seller - not just in terms of facials and body language, but in maximizing near-falls by kicking out at the last possible instant. Yoshida was just aces at creating doubt and making herself look vulnerable at the right times - much like Jumbo in the early 90s against the Misawa/Kawada/Kobashi crew. Seeing her fight with her back to the wall was often awe-inspiring, simply because of how intelligently she worked her matches. I would recommend getting a comp of this stuff but if you wanted to try just one tape, Stardom '99 is the perfect intro. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask - I always love pimping Yoshida!

Just a quick and dry list from me: 1. Mariko Yoshida 2. Akira Hokuto 3. Jumbo Tsuruta 4. Shinjiro Ohtani 5. Volk Han

Favorite Match involving Blood: Akira Hokuto vs. Shinobu Kandori, AJW Dreamslam I, 4/2/93 Favorite World Title match (any promotion): Misawa/Kawada, 6/3/94 Favorite match that you like but deep down you know it really sucks: Can't say I really like any matches that suck Favorite Tag Team match: Misawa/Akiyama vs. Kawada/Taue, 12/6/96 Favorite cage match (Wargames excluded!!): Mita/Shimoda vs. Ito/Watanabe, AJW Rage in the Cage, 9/21/97 Favorite Wargames: 1992 Favorite three-way match: Santo vs. Casas vs. Dandy, 12/96 Favorite comedy match: Akira Hokuto vs. Numatchi, 9/5/93 Favorite match between wrestlers who have never been World Champion (in any company): Not sure Favorite match involving wrestlers with face-paint: Akira Hokuto vs. Kyoko Inoue, AJW Dream Rush, 11/26/92

Oh, God help us... It was actually Toyota/Yamada vs. Kansai/Ozaki from Dreamslam II.