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yup

10/31/1997 (ECW TV Title) Taz © vs Sabu Watched this earlier today. Great match, probably the best i've seen between these 2, goes 30, almost all non stop action with and only maybe 1 short segment whear it felt like they were just tryig to kill time. Inbetween all the crazy brawling and big moves they mixed in some nice wrestling stuff with a cool little sub story of Sabu trying to break Taz' leg and Taz trying to break Sabu's arm.

Ok now ppl are just bitching for the sake of bitching. Seriously, the time of day they post content is all wrong? SERIOUSLY?? WTF???

Flair vs Koshinaka from 8/12 & Flair vs Hase From 5/3 were also really good in 95. Looking over my tape list i've got a Flair & Arn vs Sting & Muta match from November but I can't remember anything about it, should give that a re-watch sometime.

Eh, it's just not as big a deal in Japan. Majority of your big name masked guys over thear wrestled maskless for long periods of time before taking on their characters and it was hardly a well kept secret who each guy was. Over thear it was more about the aura/personality the mask gave you then it was protecting your identity.

This ruled, re-wound the finish to the 1st fall 3 or 4 times, so smooth. This is made 100% by the 3rd fall however. Disagree on the pacing being weird as this wouldn't have worked at all the other way around. Didn't see it as putting over what happened earlier either as they pretty much just switch the entire dynamic of the match mid way through after Fiera gets lucky and injurs Atlantis' arm on the dive that ended the 2nd and then smelling blood and trying to capitalize. That it all kind of came out of nowhere helped the story, a swerve, in a good kind of way I suppose. Anyone else besides me hate the ref in this? Replay showed he was clearly looking when Fiera low blowed Atlantis, then later on he tips over Atlantis when Fiera was going for the tombstone allowing him to reverse it. Was ready to riot and kill the bastard by the end.

Heh, naw. Well she has had a kid but that was like 2 or 3 years back. In the 90's she just gradually got fatter. Hell, Kyoko was skinner then this in 90/91

Just watched this match to see what all the fust is about. I'm with Trav & Ditch and fall into the this is good but not THAT good camp. Maybe it would have helped if i'd seen more 92 stuff from both but watching this with no context as a stand alone match it really had the opposite effect I think they intended on me. Like by the end I ended up feeling sorry for Samurai and was rooting him on. Liger just raped him so bad and came across like such an invincible super man in this that I thought "no wonder Samurai had to cheat, a mere mortal would stand no chance". Kept hoping he'd just kick Liger in the balls or something as the match went on. Samurai's little mini come back near the end felt more like a lucky break and soon enough Liger went right back to destroying him on his way to victory. For me I was more botherd by Samurai laying thear and taking it. Liger's comeback atleast I could sorta buy as a "fuck this shit now i'm pissed" moment. Whole match felt like more of a glorified squash to establish Liger as being on a whole other level then the rest though. Nothing wrong with that at certain times, but tournament final between what should in theory be your top 2 guys doesn't feel like the rite moment.

More just wondering what your overall thoughts on 93 would be. Anything surprise you with how good it turned out to be? Anything end up disapointing you went in looking forward to? Pick for wrestler, tag team, promotion of the year, etc.. Happy to see this make it so high, def deserves it.

*Side note* I'm obviously basing the below on all the joshi I watched from this year not just stuff that made the set 1992 Joshi thoughts & Top 10-20 list Took me longer to complete this year then any other i've done so far due to the much larger amount of footage available. Just from AJW alone there's almost more matches this year that made tape then 1990 & 1991 combined, add in that I didn't just watch AJW this time and also watched a good 25 - 30 JWP/FMW matches and this was quite the year. With so much going on it wouldn't be fair to limit things to just 10 so Top 20 Joshi Matches of the Year 1. AJW 11/26/1992 (3WA World Title) Bull Nakano © vs Aja Kong 2. AJW 11/26/1992 (3WA Tag Titles, 2 out of 3 Falls) Toshiyo Yamada & Manami Toyota © vs Dynamite Kansai & Mayumi Ozaki 3. AJW 8/15/1992 (IWA Title - Hair vs Hair) Manami Toyota © vs Toshiyo Yamada 4. AJW 4/25/1992 (3WA Title Match) Bull Nakano © vs Aja Kong 5. AJW 7/15/1992 (3WA Tag Titles - 2 out of 3 Falls) Manami Toyota & Toshiyo Yamada © vs Aja Kong & Kyoko Inoue 6. FMW 9/19/1992 Megumi Kudo & Combat Toyoda vs Bull Nakano & Akira Hokuto 7. AJW 6/21/1992 (JGP 92) Aja Kong vs Bison Kimura 8. AJW 6/21/1992 (No Time Limit) Manami Toyota vs Toshiyo Yamada 9. AJW 5/24/1992 Kyoko Inoue & Mariko Yoshida vs Manami Toyota & Sakie Hasegawa 10. AJW 8/15/1992 (Fuji TV Tag Tournament FINAL) Bull Nakano & Aja Kong vs Toshiyo Yamada & Akira Hokuto 11. AJW 8/30/1992 Bull Nakano, Yumiko Hotta & Suzuka Minami vs Akira Hokuto, Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda 12. JWP 12/1/1992 Yumiko Hotta & Takako Inoue vs Mayumi Ozaki & Hikari Fukuoka 13. AJW 5/24/1992 Aja Kong & Bison Kimura vs Akira Hokuto & Etsuko Mita 14. AJW 6/27/1992 (3WA Tag Titles 2 out of 3 Falls) Toshiyo Yamada & Manami Toyota © vs Akira Hokuto & Kyoko Inoue 15. AJW 11/26/1992 (All Pacific Title) Kyoko Inoue © vs Akira Hokuto 16. AJW 3/20/1992 (3WA vs UWA Tag Titles - 2 out of 3 Falls) Aja Kong & Bison Kimura (3WA) vs Manami Toyota & Toshiyo Yamada (UWA) 17. AJW 4/25/1992 (IWA World Women’s Title Match) Kyoko Inoue © vs Manami Toyota 18. AJW 6/27/1992 (AJW Title) Mariko Yoshida © vs Etsuko Mita 19. AJW 12/13/1992 (Tag Leauge The Best 92 FINAL) Aja Kong & Kyoko Inoue vs Manami Toyota & Toshiyo Yamada 20. JWP 10/7/1992 (JWP Tag Titles) Cuty Suzuki & Mayumi Ozaki © vs Dynamite Kansai & Hikari Fukuoka This was quite a hard list to put together, the top few and bottom few i'm confident about, on any other day I could probably rearrange the middle a good deal. I'm sure a lot of people will disagree but for me giving the Aja/Bull title change the #1 spot was an easy choice. In a stand alone vaccum the Dream Rush tag has better action, it's a fuckin great match, one of the best ever, but at the end of the day it's just a great match. Aja/Bull is a great match AND it's the end of an almost 3 year story that's dominated the entire company for much of that time and it sets up Aja as the undisputed ace of the company which she'd be for the next 2 years. So yeah, easy choice to have that as my #1. Top 10 Wrestlers of the Year 1. Mariko Yoshida 2. Manami Toyota 3. Akira Hokuto 4. Toshiyo Yamada 5. Aja Kong 6. Bull Nakano 7. Kyoko Inoue 8. Mayumi Ozaki 9. Bison Kimura 10. Dynamite Kansai Little bit easier list to make. No it's not really reflected in my top matches list but night in night out Yoshida was easily the most talented & consistently enjoyable wrestler in AJW. She didn't have as many opportunities to produce classics as others but she had her share and if I were to rank 21-30 she'd be in a good portion of those. Yoshida's rise up the ranks was a joy to watch too. She's someone who doens't have any natural advantages as a wrestler, she's not big or tall, she didn't have a major sports background prior to becoming a wrestler, not the greatest singer, and while she is very attractive, she isn't hot in that exploitable way that leads to one getting outside deals as a bikini model or whatever. To get ahead in wrestling she had to rely on talent alone so she worked really really hard and started putting on really really good matches. The fans saw this, apreciated it and started cheering her which in turn led to the guys in charge seeing this and pushing her higher up the card accordingly. In this day and age whear most wrestling promoters could give fuck all about things like who has the most skill and who gets the best crowd reaction and just shove whoever they like down the throats of fans until they learn to love it watching Yoshida in 92 was really refreshing. Toyota is an interesting case as she on the other hand was given the most chances this year to produce on a high level and in many of those matches she wasn't even the best preformer in them actually. Still, for every match whear she may have been 2nd, 3rd or 4th best, she had a ton more whear she was #1 and she had so many great matches and moments period that you can't really deny her a top spot. Her vs Yamada would be my pick for feud of the year and I would easily, hands down by a large margin call her & Yamada the best tag team, not just in joshi but in the world in 1992. Aja & Bull being a bit lower on my list this year then in previous years doesn't have so much to do with them slipping as it does more with this year focusing on others besides them a lot more. Bull vs Aja while never a dead issue was cooled off for a while in the early part of the year plus Bull having been on top for so long was starting to run out of fresh feuds. Giving her the CMLL women's title and having her recycle opponents to go after that helped stretch things out nicely though. The Bull vs Hokuto feud in the middle of the year was also one of the more enjoyable things of 1992 too, their 7/15 match is one of the better matches that didn't make my top 20 and their cage match on 7/30 would have been up thear too had it aired in full i'm sure. Also worth mentioning is that just from a booking standpoint this was one of, if not the companies best years ever and in general so many memorable and historical moments took place this year that it's hard to keep track. This year saw the end (temporarily atleast) of the careers of Yoshida, Bison & Kamiya, the start of careers for girls like Kumiko Maekara & Rie Tamada and the first major pushes for girls like Sakie Hasegawa & Kaoru Ito. There was the obvious stuff i've allready mentioned like Yamada vs Toyota, Aja vs Bull, Hokuto vs Bull, Aja & Kyoko teaming up for the first time, Akira Hokuto recruiting Mita & Shimoda and start LCO, Yoshida's awesome little run. Except for the rookies and a few other minor exceptions, pretty much everyone on the roster had atleast 1 standout moment or run of somesort this year that made watching everything in order worth the effort. The running theme of Takako Inoue trying to gain respect, bullying anyone on or below her level and getting the crap kicked out of her by anyone above her level and Bat Yoshinaga continuing to wreck things up on the undercards this year were 2 of my other favorite standout things from this year off the top of my head. Of course, the biggest most important happening this year was the start of the interpromotional wars, first with Shark & Crusher from FMW invading after the main event of the 7/15 AJW show, then JWP getting in the mix and lastly the newly formed LLPW showing up. The original JWP splitting in 2 with half their roster bouncing to form LLPW is also a huge thing that took place this year, I personally didn't see enough footage to really follow having watched nothing from JWP early in the year or from LLPW's first few shows but it's still worth bringing up. The few JWP shows I did watch I really enjoyed, they were a clear #2 and couldn't compare to AJW but they had a few great matches that I got to see and a lot of really good talent on their roster with not just Kansai & OZ but Devil, Cuty, Bolshoi, Plum, Fukuoka, rookie Candy Okutsu and hidden gem Sumiko Saito. 19 years later here in 2011 joshi promotions are still sharing talent and we take it for granted but in 1992 it hadn't been done before, ever, it was new and fresh and exciting. Something that produced a lot of hate filled, emotional moments and a lot of amazing matches. Something that literally changed the entire business forever.

You only listed 3 guys, since this is TNA we're talking about I feel the need to ask if that mistake was yours or Russo's? Remember this being a pretty big deal that mostly got positive feedback at the time. Really liked Raven's original TNA run and his ROH work around then.

(JWP Tag Titles) Cuty Suzuki & Mayumi Ozaki © vs Dynamite Kansai & Hikari Fukuoka Heh, interesting diffrence during the 2 teams entrances. Kansai & Fukuoka just calmly walk out and get in the ring. Fukuoka oddly looking like the spitting image of Jaguar Yakotoa with her all black singlet. Cury & OZ enter and they get mobed by fans and have to push their way through while mother fuckers are tossing confetti in the air. Wonder who as the more popular team here? Before the match gets under way they splice in a LONG clip of original Tiger Mask Sayama who was a special guest for this show, training Cuty and one of the other youngsters at his dojo in the proper way to smash faces and snap limbs. NOT as exciting as it sounds. Then get footage of Sayama giving them a pre match pep talk earlier in the night in the locker room as Cuty & OZ act all star struck like "holy shit, Tiger Mask is here and he's our buddy and we're super cool pals, fuck yeah hehehehehe" Devil Masami randomly barges in and just sits down next to him and starts puttin on lotion like it's no big deal. Sayama has a great "WTF is this bitch doing" look in response. That certainly killed 15 mins. Back to the match, yay. This was a rare case whear I watched a match twice in a row, the first time around I ended up thinking that this was pretty good but nothing special but I was distracted a lot during the initial viewing and had to stop and pause several times so fig that maybe I didn't give it a fair chance. 2nd time through I loved this a lot more. Early portion sees OZ & Fukuoka taking turns playing whipping girl for exstended periods of time, bit slow but not boring as they do lots of little things to keep it interesting. Ozaki being a great person to have as a tag partner is something i've brought up in previous reviews recently but I noticed here that Cuty is also pretty darn good as well. As a team they really compliment each other, always have each others back, always ready to come in and boot somebody in the head to make sure their partner doesn't get in too much trouble, have a lot of cool double team spots, etc.. Fukuoka & Kansai more work as 2 singles stars thrown together for a night. Around 1/3 of the way in they kick things into high gear after Cuty gets frustrated and tosses Fukuoka outside leading to a 4 way brawling section. Back inside they Cuty & OZ dominate most of the rest of the match, they blitz Kansai for a while and then Fukuoka tags in and works most the rest of the match. They don't go full on sprint but for the last 15 mins or so they work at a pretty fast pace and while not the most rabid you'll ever see they really get the fans into things by the end (better lighting and crowd micing would have helped the atmosphere a lot). Last few mins sees OZ & Cuty double teaming Fukuoka but keep failing to put her away, Hikari looks to make her come back, getting in a rolling cradle on OZ but just as quick Cuty rushes in and kills her with forearms allowing OZ to to drop her with everyone's favorite move the JWP special #1, a powerbomb for the win. Ending felt a little abrubt the first time I watched it but I think that was because by then they'd been going for so long with near falls and stuff that I hadn't realised they were allready into the finishing stretch long before then. Anyways, yeah, a few flaws here & thear but overall great match. Another from JWP that goes really long, 27 mins, but doesn't feel it at all, a total breez to sit through a second time.

Agree on AJW's editors being great, watched a lot of 92 JWP recently and seeing how badly they choped stuff up made me appreciate them all the much more. That said, 100% of the time i'll always prefer to see the full match. Couldn't imagine how clipping out large chunks of Kyoko/Toyota would make it anything but worse. The shorter is better/fuck the build skip to the end bandwagon is one i'm def not hoping on and would just as soon blow up with a land mine

Mayumi Ozaki vs Dynamite Kansai You can feel the tension in the air even before the bell rings. A really violent match, not in terms of brawling & blood and weapons and stuff like their more famous matches but just in the amount of intensity and stiffness they exhibit. They kind of take you on a roller coaster ride in this match though. Kansai brought the stiff kicks, just punting OZ as hard as she possibly could in the back of the skull at times, Ozaki brought it just as hard and wasn't afraid to hop up and boot Kansai in the Jaw. They'd punch each other, thorw elbows, throw each other into the railings, chairs and lots of other things but every time they'd have a brutal exchange like that one or the other would slow it down and grab a hold. Mostly pedestrian stuff, a headlock here, a camel clutch, a leg bar or something to break things up. Gave the match the feeling that chaos could erupt at any moment as you kept hoping for them to stop holding back and go full force. In the later part of the match it looks like they're going for just another rest hold spot but OZ decideds to really crank the fuck out of an armbar and that really picks things up. OZ keeps up working on it and Kansai does an awesome job selling the pain. Even after she makes her comeback she continues holding her arm for quite a while and puts over how much it hurts her to execute moves even if they don't involve the arm directly. Eventually they move away from that to go into the final stretch but by then enough time had passed that it wasn't a big deal. This is one of those cool matches that starts out good but you kind of wonder what the big deal is at first. By the end while I wouldn't call it one of the top matches of the year things just kept getting better and better over time as they built up to the final climax and by then you're loving every minute. Great stuff for sure. OZ wins after a surprise roll up counter to a powerbomb. Went almost 30 mins and it just flew by.

For sure, so many forgotten about classics that year So what'd you like about the 5/26 tag so much? I agree it was really fun but I wouldn't go close to top 10. I guess to narrow things down a little more. My top 10, + the 4 MJH added is 14. I'd for sure add these for 20-21 to work with which is plenty Yamada/Kyoko 8/18 which would have been my #11. Besides being really great matches the JGP run is what firmly cemented Kyoko as a main player in the company 3/17 Bull Nakano & Kyoko vs Bison & Mika Takahashi - seeing how good Takahashi was was a big discovery for me watching early 90's AJW and this is easily her best match. 4/29/1991 (3WA Martial Arts Title) Bat Yoshinaga vs Akemi Torisu - Just an awesome spectacle, the only one of these they ever ran that I really liked. 6/5/1991 Bull Nakano & Kyoko Inoue vs Akira Hokuto & Mariko Yoshida 9/7/1991 Manami Toyota vs Toshiyo Yamada 10/4/1991 (Tag Leauge The Best 91) Toshiyo Yamada & Kyoko Inoue vs Aja Kong & Bison Kimura 12/9/1991 (Tag Leauge The Best 91 FINAL) Toshiyo Yamada & Kyoko Inoue vs Aja Kong & Bison Kimura

BTW for some of the more obscure US indy stuff I recomended i'm not even sure if DVD/VHS versions exist but i've got digital (avi/wmv) copies of all of it so let me know if you want me to upload something.

That would be the little metal barricade gate that's part of Korakuen Hall. It seperates the section between the ringside seats and stands at the bottom of the stairs. It's Aja's 2nd fav weapon after those little trash cans and she tends to chuck it at people's heads any time she gets in a big crowd brawl in the building.

(Tag Leauge The Best 92 FINAL) Aja Kong & Kyoko Inoue vs Manami Toyota & Toshiyo Yamada Aja & Kyoko came prepared and have swank new matching team gear. Toyota & Yamada quickly try and turn things into a sprint early on but Aja smash ends that mess. Match instead settles into a long stretch of Kyoko & Aja having the time of their life torturing Yamada. Lots of awesome little touches during this part, lots of cheap shots and taunting. Aja bends Yamada over her knee and Kyoko just saunters in and steps on her throat really just for fun. They do the camel clutch/punt spot and Aja with Aja making fun of Toyota. Later on Kyoko puts Yamada in the Romero Special and Aja just walks in and screams at her to give up in another cool moment. All the while Toyota looks on with a sad look on her face whining like "awwwww ref, come on, do something, no fair". Really makes you apreciate OZ as a tag parter even more, she'd have just run in and punched somebody in the face instead Toyota finally hot tags in and goes bonkers but Aja & Kyoko were prepared for it and dodge all her shit for a while until Toyota's endless energry wins out and she eventually gains controll. Yamada tags back in for some sweet revenge, the look on her face getting to do the camel clutch/punt spot on Kyoko is priceless. Soon after the Super Maniacs again shut things down and take back over however. Kyoko blitzes her and then Aja drags her outside and spends a good deal of time tossing her around the building, throwing her into fans, smashing chairs and tables and doors and handbags and anythin else she can find upside her head. Kyoko looks on from the ring amused, Toyota stays in the corner like a good girl with her thumb up her ass doing nothing until Aja's done with her at which point she goes over and pats Yamada on the back like "thear thear, you can do it, I believe". 20 mins in and 85% of this has been all Aja & Kyoko. However, they make the mistake of leaving Yamada outside long enough to recover so when she gets back in she's quite pissed and starts murdering ppl with kicks and suplexes and her & Toyota finally get to rally and make their big comeback. Rest of the match is the usual back and forth big move a thon you'd exspect. Some highlights being Aja catching Toyota off a dive and turning it into a giant powerslam in one motion. Nice sunset powerbomb from Toyota on Aja. Double head butt misses for Yamada & Toyota and they eat the tandem spinning powerbomb after. Brutal choke slam from Aja on Toyta almost wins it but Yamada saves. Ending comes down to Kyoko & Toyota, after Aja breaks up a moonsault attempt, Toyota tries to go for the JOCS but it gets blocked by Kyoko and they spill outside, Aja again saves things, Yamada gets taken out and Aja goes nuts sensing this is their chace and starts screaming at Kyoko to finish her with the Niagra Driver. Kyoko hits it but last second Yamada rushes in one last time, again she gets tossed aside and this time Toyota gets pinned after they hit the doomsday elbow. Toyota weak link theme continues I see. Post match is aswesome, Aja & Kyoko celebrate, Toyota & Yamada recieve a 2nd plce trophy which Yamda accepts alone, 3rd place team Debbie (rocking some sweet Zubaz) and Sakie and 4th place team Hotta & Suzuka recieve consolation prizes too. The entire rest of the roster comes out and Kyoko spazes out and leads everyone in a happy happy "zenjo cha cha cha" chant. ENITRE time this is going down, like 6-7 mins, Tyota's just standing off in the corner, head completely down, sad and depressed while Yamada looks on angirly. Brilliant. Their tag title match from a few months earlier was much better but yeah, this was still pretty damn great in it's own right.

Yumiko Hotta & Takako Inoue vs Mayumi Ozaki & Hikari Fukuoka Story of the match is young Fukuoka wanting to step up, play with the big girls and prove herself and they certainly give her every oportunity as she works about 75% of this. One of those matches designed to get a kid over by showing how tough they are for surviving a massive beating, never giving up and still fighting back. Gotta say OZ stole the show however playing the role of protective big sister. Watching this I got the sense that she wanted Fukuoka to prove herself just as much as Fukuoka did so she gives her every opportunity but when needed she was always thear to step in and make the save, attack someone from behind, get in a cheap shot and generally even the odds, come in and kick ass when things got too overwhelming for Fukuoka. Great moment around 10 mins in whear OZ just says fuck it and has enough of watching Fukuoka get beat up so she goes nuts on Takako, getting in a crazy slap war, which she wins. Between this and Dream Rush I don't think i've ever enjoyed watching someone work from the apron more then Ozaki. A noticeable minority of AJW fans were in the house booing her and she tells them all to fuck off. For their part, dominating bully is a role Hotta was born to play and Takako is quite good here too. Last few minutes are awesome as Fukuoka gets to fight back finally & the JWP team go on a little mini run. Great near fall stretch, Fukuoka bust out some nice moonsaults and suplexes and everything else she can think of but the Zenjo girls are still too tough in the end. Takako gets OZ out of the way keeping her from making any more saves and Hotta drops Fukuoka with the Carribean Splash to win it. This wasn't non stop greatness like Dream Rush, it took it's time a little more but kept going and going and getting better and better and by the end was for sure one of the better matches of the year. Wasn't planning to but re-watching this single handidly made me want to go track down more 92 JWP just to see more of OZ.

Not really going to bother with secondary nominations, most of these would be what i'd consider the very best, must see matches from each promotion JOSHI AJW 1/19/2002 (Wakizawa Retirement Match) Kayo Noumi vs Miho Wakizawa 2/24/2002 Eagle Sawai, Rumi Kazama & Takako Inoue vs Tomoko Watanabe, Nanae Takahashi & Kayo Noumi 2/24/2002 (Vacant All Pacific Title) Momoe Nakanishi vs Kumiko Maekawa 2/24/2002 (3WA Title) Kaoru Ito © vs Manami Toyota I stoped watching 02 after the feb show but I know based on rep these would be considered the best matches that happened in during the rest of the year 5/26 Momoe Nakanishi vs Kaoru Ito 6/16 Momoe Nakanishi vs Kumiko Maekawa 7/6 (3WA Title) Manami Toyota © vs Kaoru Ito *Toyota's final AJW match* 9/8 Kaoru Ito & Yumiko Hotta vs Momoe Nakanishi & Nanae Takahashi 10/15 Nanae Takahashi & Fang Suzuki vs Momoe Nakanishi & Kayo Noumi 10/20 (3WA Title) Kaoru Ito © vs Momoe Nakanishi 11/29 (3WA Tag) Momoe Nakanishi & Nanae Takahashi vs LCO Also somewhear in the later part of the year Amazing Kong debued, would be cool to include something from that, even if just clips for historical value. I think her vs Hotta from Oct is the earliest she shows up on tape but not sure if that's her 1st match or now. GAEA (listing most of these by air date) 1/25/2002 Aja Kong & Akira Hokuto vs Mima Shimoda & Etsuko Mita 2/15/2002 Akira Hokuto, Mima Shimoda & Etsuko Mita vs Mayumi Ozaki, Dynamite Kansai & Toshiyo Yamada *Last LCO trio match ever* 4/27/2002 (Hokuto Retirement Match) Akira Hokuto & Meiko Satomura vs Chigusa Nagayo & Ayako Hamada *Would include the retirement ceremony & other post match footage too, the match itself is clipped to hell, about 9 out of 22+ aired* 5/24/2002 (3AW Title) Meiiko Satomura © vs Chikayo Nagashima *also cliped but should be included as a lead up to the re-match* 6/21/2002 (3AW Title) Meiko Satomura © vs Chikayo Nagashima *great match, helps to know that they were kind of purposly trying to kill off their old finishers here to get the new ones over* 7/12/2002 (Day show) Mayumi Ozaki & Kaoru vs Meiko Satomura & Aja Kong 7/12/2002 (Night show) Aja Kong, Devil Masami, Toshie Uematsu, Mima Shimoda & Etsuko Mita vs Dynamite Kansai, Toshiyo Yamada, Ayako Hamada, Sugar Sato & Carlos Amano *GAEA's MOTY up to this point, the 7/12 day show match and following angle HAS to be included for this one to make sense though* 8/23/2002 Aja Kong vs Dynamite Kansa *Manami Toyota shows up post match and shit's on* 8/23/2002 Aja Kong & Manami Toyota vs Dynamite Kansai & Toshiyo Yamada 9/20/2002 Aja Kong & Manami Toyota vs Meiko Satomura & Ayako Hamada 10/17/2002 Chikayo Nagashima & Lioness Asuka vs Manami Toyota & Mima Shimoda 10/20/2002 (3AW Title) Chikayo Nagashima © vs Manami Toyota 11/22/2002 (3AW Tag Titles) Meiko Satomura & Ayako Hamada © vs Manami Toyota & Aja Kong OZ Academy 11/24/2002 Chigusa Nagayo, Meiko Satomura, Sugar Sato, Chikayo Nagashima & Toshie Uematsu vs Mayumi Ozaki, Dynamite Kansai, Devil Masami, Carlos Amano & Ran YuYu JWP 3/10/2002 Ran YuYu vs Azumi Hyuga 5/19/2002 (JWP Title Match, Wild Dress Up Fight) Azumi Hyuga © vs Ran YuYu 6/16/2002 (2 out of 3 Falls) Ran YuYu vs Azumi Hyuga 10/13/2002 (Thunder Queen) Azumi Hyuga & Ran YuYu & Commando Bolshoi vs Yoshiko Tamura & Misae Genki & Carlos Amano 11/3/2002 (JWP Tag Titles) Azumi Hyuga & Ran YuYu © vs Misae Genki & Yoshiko Tamura Hopefully someone else can chime in for ARSION, NEO, JD, etc... I know more or less what would be considered the better matches from those feds in 02 but I haven't really seen any of them personally PURO BJW 8/?/2002 (Barbedwire Board Deathmatch) Homicide vs The Winger 8/4/2002 (Thumbtack Death Match) Ruyji Yamakawa vs Hido Michinoku Pro 5/06/2002 Tiger Mask 4 vs Ikuto Hidaka Osaka Pro 6/20/2002 (Osaka Pro Tag Festival Finals) Super Delfin & Super Demekin vs Daio Quallt & Big Boss MaGMa Toryumon 1/2/2002 (Hair vs Hair Lumberjack Match) CIMA vs Masaaki Mochizuki 2/22/2002 (UWA 6 Man Tag Titles) Masaaki Mochizuki, Susumu Mochizuki & Darkness Dragon © vs CIMA, TARU & Big Fuji T2P 1/23/2002 (2 out of 3 Falls) Milano Collection AT, Masato Yoshino & Stevie "brother" Tsujimoto vs Ryo Saito, Anthony W. Mori & Takayuki Yagi 6/28/2002 (NWA Lightheavyweight Title, 2 out of 3 falls) Milano Collection AT © vs Don Fujii WEW 11/19/2002 (Kaori Nakayama Retirement Match) Shark Tsuchiya vs Kaori Nakayama Z1 3/2/2002 Naohiro Hoshikawa vs Naomichi Marufuji 7/11/2002 (NWA Intercontinental Tag Titles) Shinjiro Ohtani & Masato Tanaka © vs Kintaro Kanemura & Tetsuhiro Kuroda 8/8/2002 Masato Tanaka vs Kintaro Kanemura 8/9/2002 Shinjiro Ohtani vs Masato Tanaka 8/11/2002 (Fire Festival Final) Shinjiro Ohtani vs Tetsuhiro Kuroda 9/12/2002 Spanky & Naohiro Hoshikawa vs Low Ki & Yoshito Sasaki 12/15/2002 Tetsuhiro Takaiwa & Masato Tanaka vs Low Ki & Frankie Kazarian 12/15/2002 Satoshi Kojima vs Shinjiro Ohtani US Indies APW 3/16/2002 American Dragon Bryan Danlieson vs Jardi Frantz followed by Battle Royal 10/25/2002 (2 out of 3 Falls) Super Dragon vs Bobby Quance 11/22/2002 Bobby Quance & Jardi Frantz vs Super Dragon & Rising Son ECWA 1/12/2002 (Steel Cage Match) Low Ki & American Dragon vs The SAT vs The J-Team 4/6/2002 (ECWA Tag Team Title Match) Low Ki & American Dragon vs Christopher Daniels & Xavier JAPW 6/07/2002 (Tap Out Match) Low Ki vs American Dragon Millennium Pro Wrestling 3/23/2002 Adam Pearce vs Spanky MLW 9/26/2002 Christopher Daniels, Dick Togo & Ikuto Hidaka vs The SAT & Quiet Storm PCW 6/1/2002 (WARGAMES) Zane Morris, Martin Styles & Jarred Steel vs Action Jackson, Chris Chronic & Iron Eagle 8/10/2002 (Elimination Match) Jarred Steel & Paul London vs Chris Chronic & Mike Foxx Other CMLL 6/22/2002 Ultimo Guerrero, Rey Buccanero & Tarzan Boy vs Shocker, Mascara Magica & El Hijo Del Santo FWA 2/09/2002 Doug Williams vs Eddy Guerrero 2/09/2002 Doug Williams vs Jody Fleish WWA 4/14/2002 Jerry Lynn vs AJ Styles

Sounds like my kinda match. Really gotta track this one down

Yeah, def would rank Kansai as the best one in the match. Followed by Yamada, OZ & Toyota in that order. Funny since the style they worked was essentially Toyota's specialty more then anyone else. Felt torn on whether to call this the best ever or not. Jungle Jack vs Bull & Grizzly 8/90 Jungle Jack vs Toyota & Moreno 4/91 Jungle Jack vs Bull & Kyoko 6/91 Not saying the above 3 are better but Dream Rush isn't so far ahead that I wouldn't atleast consider those others as being on or close to the same level.

- (3WA Tag Title Match, 2/3 Falls) Toshiyo Yamada & Manami Toyota © vs Dynamite Kansai & Mayumi Ozaki Another match whear I don't really need to give too many details on the action. It's so famous that I assume a large amount of the people out thear reading this have seen it and those that haven't, nothing I write can properly caputre this match anyways. A few random thoughts and observations though. The backstory of this match is interesting. The 9/19 FMW match had the dynamic of Kudo & Combat being former AJW girls who were deemed not good enough and let go years earlier, this match has the dynamic of Kansai & OZ being 2 girls who weren't good enough to get into AJW to begin with as the story goes that they had gone to their open tryouts but never made the cut so ended up having to go to JWP instead. Also interesting to point out that OZ & Kansai were pretty much just randomly thrown together to represent the company. Kind of this myth that some people have but they were never a regular team or ever even very close allies. They had the 3 Toyota/Yamada matches, the 2 Takako/Hotta matches, Thunderqueen, a few other random multi man tags and that's it really. I'm sure there may have been more on house shows perhaps but if you've seen the handfull of matches I just listed thear then you've seen pretty much their entire run as a team. Almost the entire rest of their careers they spent feuding against each other on and off. Like Aja/Bull there were a lot of cool little moments and touches I caught this time around i'd either forgotten about or never knew about before. The high level of energy & pacing througout this match really impressed me a lot on this viewing as well. Like for the entire 40+ mins there's ALWAYS something going on, like even when someone it put in a hold there's constant moving, with the opponent trying to fight out of it or the partner trying to save. Just non stop action but never done in a way that's over whelming or that loses you from being too hard to keep up with. With a few exceptions, no team ever controlls things for more then a few minutes either but it's in no way a spotfest and there's a definate plot/build to things. In the 1st fall I got a big kick out of Kansai & OZ doing the flying head butt since that's one of Toyota & Yamada's big signature double teams. Toyota getting pined by Kansai to end it continued the subtle story they'd been telling of her being the weak link in the team. Not counting the mini Mexico tour, Her & Yamada hadn't won a televised AJW match in months leading up to this and each time they lost it was Toyota eating the pin. Yamada firing up and blitzing Kansai with a billion backdrop drivers and then the Gori Special Bomb to save the day and quickly tie things up in a short 2nd fall was awesome. At this point they're allready 17+ mins in and if they'd just left it thear it would be considered a great match but the 3rd fall is the best of all and is what really puts this match over the top. The JWP girls throughout the match make the most effort to maybe slow things down a little bit and here's whear they make their strongest attempt trying to wear down Yamada by attacking her arm and then Toyota for a little bit. OZ kind of steals the show at this point. Like Kansai was the bulldozing wrecking machine in this match, just fuckin shit up left and right, muggin folks for their lunch money. Yamada brought a ton of passion and fire and fighting spirit, maybe more so then in any match she's ever had. Toyota did her thing too, not to undersell her because she was great but she didn't stand out as much as the other 3. OZ though, yeah, she brought not only the work but the personality. She turns up the bitch facotor to 10 and then cranks it up to 13 just because. So so awesome just standing on the apron and doing little things, slaping away Toyota's as she reaches for the rope, stomping on her hands, getting in cheap shots. Great moment later in the match whear Kansai has Toyota in a figure 4 and OZ just comes in and puts her in a cross arm breaker at the same time. As time goes on you can tell the JWP team is getting a little more frustrated with things, after a relatively clean match they start resorting to brawling on the floor, chairs, other stuff like that too. Other major highlight of this is the Kansai/Yamada exchanges, like even before the match happened, at the press conference & contract signing they have those 2 get into an altercation and it's clear that's the pairing you're supposed to be most excited about seeing going in and coming out of this match. And holy hell do they deliver, some of the most heated exchanges of the match come between them here, especially the 2 kick exchanges. Kansai wins the 1st easily but Yamada fires up and gains her revenge not long after in just a brutal slugfest. Last observation is again, just how mind blowing it was that they kept up the pace for so long and still had as much energy 40 mins in as they did 5 and also, after that long of a match it dawned on me that they hadn't even done half of the shit they were capable of and were clearly holding back. Toyota & Yamada didn't get in a lot of their usual double team spots. At no point does Toyota even go for a JOCS or a lot of her other suplexes and stuff for example. Ending finally comes when Toyota redeems herself by busting out the straight jacket german on OZ however. OZ kicked out just before 3 but it was counted anyways, but fuck it, that's why god made re-matches which they had to have known they were gonna be doing. Yamada gets on the mic and gloats as the crowd erupts in a huge Zenjo chant. Greatest joshi tag of all time? Unquestionably, no. Up thear as a contender, absolutely.

(3WA World Title) Bull Nakano © vs Aja Kong Won't go into too many details for this match. The action is good, very good but, lots of smash mouth power stuff, brawling, big moves, stiff strikes, etc.. Bull breaks out a freaking diving sunset flip off the top rope in a cool moment. But this is so much more then a wrestling match and about so much more then what went down bell to bell. Bull's been champion a few months shy of 3 years, the undisputed #1 top wrestler in the company and for almost 2 & 1/2 years Aja's been her main rival. A lot of others have come and gone along the way trying to take Bull out. Toyota, Hokuto, Kyoko, Hotta, Yamada, Monster Ripper, etc... some came close, some not so much but none came closer then Aja and in the end it could only, should only have been her to finally take Bull down. Bison is in Aja's corner which is fitting as it was never about just Aja & Bull. It was about Jungle Jack vs Gokumonto, Aja & Bison tearing away from Bull's gang to form their own crew in a war to take her down, in a war for respect. Grizzly Iwamoto bowed out early in the feud, Mika Takahashi retired last year, all the other major players involved from both sides are ringside in addition to Bison. The hatchet between Aja & Bull was allready buried earlier in the year as they embraced as friends once again but so long as Bull still had the big red belt it could never be over. This is the final passing of the torch, this is the ending of an era. Lots of cool little touches I hadn't noticed before in earlier viewings in this match. Bull misses the guiloteen leg drop, Aja follows up giving a shout out to Ito and hitting a bunch of running foot stomps. Bull regains controll a little later on and hits the leg drop this time but it's no longer strong enough to get her the win as Aja kicks out. Bull hits the Megadeath rolling leg drop and what was once an instant win is no longer strong enough to get her the win as Aja kicks out. Bull's last ditch, nothing left in the tank, ultimate move the moonsault misses and that allows Aja to make her final rally. Aja hits a german, 3 big urakens, shouts out to Bison and bust out the blazing chops, all for near falls. Finally, FINALLY, Aja ends this match, ends this 2+ year struggle, surpases her former leader, her rival, her friend by beating Bull with her own move, Aja hits a guiloteen leg drop of her own and becomes the new champ. Lots of emotion post match, Aja & Bull both legit in tears giving speaches, they bow to each other and Bison comes in as well for 1 final group hug. Great match, amazing story, perfect ending.