Jetlag

Just a heads up - this channel has uploaded quite a bit of this presplit JWP stuff, including many matches that I've added to the recommended list. Check it out: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxJ353H3dEId-YbpDYi60Zg/videos So let's start with this match which is also on the channel: Devil Masami & Itsuki Yamazaki vs. Miss A & Harley Saito (8/12/1990) Especially interesting matchup because it's one of the longer JWP matches I've seen at 30 minutes. Most of these matches don't go over 15, and I was a little surprised how well they handled themselves. You'd think a 30 minute match would start slow, but they start pushing the pace pretty quickly and never really let things drag. Even when they were working holds there was something interesting going on (usually a partner running in to deliver a crushing blow or step on someones face). So on one hand this was a really well executed match with plenty of neat spots and good control segments. On the other hand none of that stuff built to anything grand and the match ended up feeling a little average on the ending. I mean, you are going for a 30 minute epic! I love economic pro wrestling more than most, but if there is ever a reason to go bonkers wth 2.99999s and exciting counters, it's a match like this, and instead they kept it so conservative. I feel like a hypocrite over this. It didn't help that the most exciting moment of the match - an absolutely murderous lariat out of nowhere that turned the receiving person into a stiff - happened in the first 90s seconds of the match. Harley looked good mostly selling and occasionally teeing off on someone with her kicks, while Yamazaki wasn't in the match a ton, but always looked good: she had some really unique, sharp legwork aswell as hitting some nasty elbows to the neck. Devil had her working boots on nuking everyone with powerbombs and gorilla slams and doing some neat wrestling of her own. Miss A was still pretty limited at this point and had some awkward moments. I think this the match one might love as an example of well executed pro wrestling with character work, fun dynamics and neat moments or be completely indifferent to, wondering what's the point. I'm more on the positive side but I'll leave it for the community to decide.

Really fun little match with everyone hitting the mat. It's always fun to see Fishman with his working boots on and Atlantis having something to work with. The Panther/Lizmark sections were especially wonderful and it's pure crazy that these two never had a singles match. Nifty finish. It's hard to think CMLL didn't have the best TV in 1998.

Another quality Kandori/Hotta tag from the depths of japanese YouTube. The pretty girls Handa and Inoue do a lot better in this match than you'd expect. Early on there's a weird long outside brawl which is largely missed by the cameras, but Inoue comes up bloody, which gives Kandori ample opportunity to kick and punch her in the bloody face while mugging and posing for Hotta. Hotta is a great hot tag as you'd expect as she just destroys Handa with brutal kicks. We also get some pretty great retaliation from Inoue on Honda, which was mostly her smashing Handas head into the ring apron and tables which was so much better than the usual move fest. Inoue also hit a pretty boss apron fist drop which was unexpected. The Inoue/Handa sections continue to be way better than you'd expect as they make some kneebars actually compelling. Things get a little over elaborate for this kind of match, but they get it back on track with some great Kandori/Hotta streetfighting exchanges. The bomb throwing finale was really well executed aswell with Handa catching Hotta in some nice rollups, Kandori helping her along before Hotta just destroys her with big darn moves. Could've used a little fat trimmed but on it's own this was pretty great, gritty pro wrestling.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxJ353H3dEId-YbpDYi60Zg/videos This channel has uploaded a fuckton of obscure joshi, LLPW, NEO, etc. Including what seems to be handhelds, and pre-split JWP stuff that I don't see listed on Quebrada, and stuff that seems to have slightly clearer picture quality than what I got from Quebrada.

Lil Taue steps up and tries to take down his bigger and thicker ancestor. Actually liked this match a lot. Dug all the tight basic work. Jumbo is really fun putting over Misawas elbows, and he is also really fun selling Taues high kicks etc. The finishing run was great too with Taue busting out the desperate sumo slaps and Jumbo just waylaying him repeatedly with brutal lariats. I'm a little surprised this hasn't gotten more play because while it absolutely doesn't stand out above the metric ton of GREAT 90s AJPW MATCHES it's a really effective match and totally works.

JIP to some slightly random back and forth move exchanges before Hansen & Spivey get things on track with some quality armwork on Misawa. Of course, this never ends up being important, and I'm starting to wonder why people started about these female wrestlers and juniors not selling properly when these all time greats here also did it all the time. Fun finish with Kobashi getting all excited only to eat a lariat to the mouth, but the highlight was clearly Hansen & Spivey dropping elbows.

Just another night in All Japan Pro Wrestlings greatest period. Taue and Kawada are OBSESSED with beating the hell out of eachother and it's awesome! Kikuchi takes a beating! Grass is green! This is probably not a must see piece, but still so much fan to watch. Taue and Kawada are exactly fighting each other like two guys in a heated feud should - constantly derailing the match to beat eachother up. There is a good FIP secton on Kikuchi - he doesn't take one of his biggest beatings (thankfully), but still gets slammed and kicked around good - and in a funny moment he gets heel heat when breaking up a pinfall right after surviving said heat section. Nothing mindblowing, but I'm always glad I checked out a match which ends with Kawada punching Taue in the mouth repeatedly.

Long, quality title match that told a good story. The interactions between Trauma I and Pirata Morgan were especially great as they really worked this like a battle between upcoming star and a physically intimidating, aging legend. We also get Navarro stretching out Pirata's kid some and they do a pretty strong job at mixing up the exchanges in order to keep you guessing about who will come out on top. IWRG isn't normally nearfall heavy but this had some good ones due to that. There was some sloppiness, but this was worth watching for Pirata's performance alone.

Slightly more elegan build in this match, starting fun with the lower ranked guys good basic stuff, working armlocks and dropping elbows, before an intense Tenryu/Choshu lockup occurs. The wrestling here is solid as rock, but there's no real direction because you are watching this waiting for only one thing and that is one of the guys losing his cool and stepping in to slap the shit out of somebody. You get that and you also get plenty of fun work from IWE crew. Some well timed spots. Ishikawa throws some awesome slaps like a sumo shit and once again does that thing where he provokes Choshu. This is when Tenryu was trying to get the Cloverleaf over as a counter to the Scorpion Deathlock. No one really bought it but it makes for a fun dynamic in their rivalry. Choshu does a little more wrestling here than usual, but he is a noticeably more intense presence, kicking the hell out of whoever is in the ring before working a snug headlock, and always aiming to hit that Backdrop. Full Choshu point.

Much more compact, better version of the previously reviewed match. Kandori was so fun as a dominant force here, and you got the sense Ozaki & Kazama were pushing hard to contain her. The Kazama/Kandori interactions were foreshadowing the future Kandori/Hotta matches. Kazama is no Yumiko Hotta, Daisuke Ikeda, Koki Kitahara level ass stomper, but when it was time to be a woman she stepped up and kicked Kandori in the face. Kandori was using a half crab as a finisher at this point, which sounds lame but the way she cranks in that half crab you buy it forcing a tap. Ozaki looked good doing some slick wrestling and while Saito was subdued but she is more than solid in her „run in and kick the hell out of whoever is in the ring“ role. Some nifty spots and a funny finish. 

This was just a tremendous match; great, intelligent, character driven pro wrestling and some brutal spots. This was probably Masamis finest JWP performance outside the Kandori match. It's also another great one for Yamazaki. Lord, is there any other veteran wrestler who has an unseen run as great as Yamazakis in JWP on tape? Her retiring before the interpromotional era is certainly a waste. This starts out fiery hot with some massive lariats and kicks thrown before a slowdown and then sprint again which involve Masami doing some pretty fun wrestling and Yamazaki looking super impressive. Masami ends up caught in a Figure 4 which sets up some really nice legwork and Masami finally doing a really good job selling vulnerability. They keep the nifty moments coming and Kansai & Kazama look impressive aswell mostly kicking the hell out of whoever is in the ring but also bringing some well timed spots of their own. Really well executed economic pro wrestling, the kinda match that was missing from joshi in the later 90s.

Cuty Suzuki & Miki Handa & Mikiko Futagami vs. Sachiko Koganei & Yuka Nakajima & Ayumi ? (1/13/1991) Pretty average action. Lots of half crabs. Yuka Nakajima and the mysterious Ayumi had a Dump Matsumoto-esque punk look and were working a standard heel style, staying in the ring. Nobody except Cuty and Koganei looked above average. Not a terrible match but it didn't have the hard hitting, sharp technical work or psychology that makes JWP what it is. Mie Dohiki vs. ? (1/6/1991) Mie Dohiki faces another mysterious short haired rookie. Not as good as the previous Dohiki match because it ended weirdly, as Dohiki controlled her opponent for a while before a comeback was supposed to happen, but mystery girl blows it and is easily defeated. Dohikis stomps, kneedrops and holds looked great again. The opening work reminded me a bit of the more technical 80s AJW matches. Wonder if I can unearth a listworthy match of hers? Devil Masami & The Scorpion vs. Eagle Sawai & Sachiko Koganei (1/6/1991) Good match, with a similiar dynamic to the Masami/Fukuoka tag where it's her working as a juggernaut protecting her smaller partner. Scorpion is nowhere near as helpless as a young Hikari Fukuoka of course and there were some neat spots involving her. Sawai & Koganei are perfectly solid in their roles. They didn't work towards any epic stretch or grande climax, just a fun character driven undercard tag and I don't mind watching matches like this at all. Mayumi Ozaki & Rumi Kazama vs. Shinobu Kandori & Harley Saito (1/6/1991) Much more compact, better version of the previously reviewed match. Kandori was so fun as a dominant force here, and you got the sense Ozaki & Kazama were pushing hard to contain her. The Kazama/Kandori interactions were foreshadowing the future Kandori/Hotta matches. Kazama is no Yumiko Hotta, Daisuke Ikeda, Koki Kitahara level ass stomper, but when it was time to be a woman she stepped up and kicked Kandori in the face. Kandori was using a half crab as a finisher at this point, which sounds lame but the way she cranks in that half crab you buy it forcing a tap. Ozaki looked good doing some slick wrestling and while Saito was subdued but she is more than solid in her „run in and kick the hell out of whoever is in the ring“ role. Some nifty spots and a funny finish.

JIP match built around Satomura trying to cut down the higher ranked KAORU and Ishii trying to cut down the higher ranked Satomura. Some really good exchanges here especially between Satomura/KAORU aswell as a few neat team spots and great Death Valley Bomb teases. I would've liked the Satomura/Ishii pairing to go a little deeper considering how good their singles match early in the year was but I guess it was not that kind of night. Or they clipped it out. Ishii hits a reall great senton bomb for her troubles.

This is a fun match; which is kind of a disappointment, because there is no reason for these two not to produce a minor classic together, or atleast something close to as good as Aja/Ohmukai. Especially since it's one of a small handful of televised singles matches between the GAEA veterans of the year. I'm as big of an Aja Kong as the next guy but her approach was pretty bread and butter here as she kind of no sold Yamadas kicks early on and went to her standard brawling. They worked hard in the 2nd half including lots of great finisher teases and a big dive from Aja. Still I would've liked something with a deeper story.

GAEA youngster matches can have a weird pace where it's kinda like a heated BattlARTS tag where it randomly breaks into mat exchanges and stiff shots. Especially when you have Satomura in there who will mix up amateur style holds and kicks. I have no idea how the average fan will like this kind of stuff as there is always a ton of neat stuff but also structure and selling are somewhat wonky. Still this had an actual dynamic with Uematsu & Hirota working together to topple their higher ranked opponents and they were quiet vicious doing so. Whenever one caught Satomura or Kato in a half crab the other would run in to stomp on their had. Some neat spots and they didnt overstay their welcome.

I bought the tape. Takagi was using the spike DDT as a finisher in that match. DDT has a ton of interesting matchups. Unfortunately there only seem to be 3 shows available from 1998-1999.

Not an obscure fed, but some really interesting early material from DDT (of which there is far too little): DDT Ichika Bachika THE BATTLE OF THE MILLENIUM Commercial Tape 12/22/99 Issei Fujisawa vs. Nise Onita Daisaku & Yusaku vs. Kengo Takai & Super Uchu Power Three On Two Handicap Street Fight: Naoshi Sano & Poison Sawada BLACK vs. Misae-chan & Mitsunobu Kikuzawa & Shigeo Kato Kamen Shooter Super Rider & Neo Winger & Tanomusaku Toba vs. Exciting Yoshida & Phantom Funakoshi & Yuki Nishino Takashi Sasaki vs. Kyohei Mikami Masashi Aoyagi & Mitsuya Nagai & Ryuma Go vs. Kendo Nagasaki & Koichiro Kimura & Masahiko Orihara Sanshiro Takagi vs.s Masao Orihara I gotta say, this early version of DDT is a lot cooler than what we have now. It's kind of like every DDT side brand rolled into one: you had the bizarre stuff (Fake Onita in the opener, Misae Genki stiffing the hell out of the men in a confusing bloody street fight and Poison Sawada with his rare BLACK look), the fun stiff undertag with DAISAKU and YUSAKU with Daisaku especially looking like he should have been a star (tall, good looking and had brutal kicks) and Super Uchu Power kicking people in the face, and a more experimental shootstyle influenced tag which had Super Rider in a Gi, a bunch of IWE tribute dudes and Tanomusaku Toba kicking and punching everyone in the face, also included MUGA vs. quasi-shootstyle matwork between Rider and Funakoshi aswell as plenty stiffness. Takashi Sasaki vs. Mikami was a pretty great and maybe the ultimate japanese indy epic of the late 90s. The semi main event with the sleaze gods was as fun as it looks on paper. Everyone potatoed eachother, and Kimura had a good night, stomping the shit out of Go and locking in nasty submissions. The one detriment was that Go was there to bring the charisma and the crowd didn't seem to know how to react to him which is weird for a DDT crowd. The main event was a full swing Attitude Era tribute match with copious outside intererence from Oriharas stooges (including a Santa Clause distraction spot), blood, chairshots, low blows and a few devastating moves. Takagi was already using the Stone Cold music but not the Stunner. So there you have it all, you get the more traditional wrestling, some Attitude Era style brawling, stiff quasi-shootstyle stuff, plus a bonafide epic in Sasaki/Mikami. And they showed EVERY match in full!!

Mie Dohiki vs. Sumiko Saito (JWP 4/26/1991) Fun rookie match which was slightly more flashy than your average young lions opener. Some nifty technical moves. I'm a sucker for a good armdrag takeover or leg trip. I didn't get much from Saito, who looked tall and awkward running the roopes, but Dohiki was quite feisty. She wasn't afraid to kick Saito hard in the spine and her fast dropkicks looked great. Of course, true to form, Dohiki doesn't show up again after 1991. Eagle Sawai & Mayumi Ozaki vs. Shinobu Kandori & Harley Saito (JWP 4/26/1991) Was shaping up to be a pretty great match before it ended in baffling manner. Match was built around Sawai & Ozaki trying everything to compete against the badass duo that is Kandori & Harley. There is some ultra sharp, violent work on Harley consisting mostly of brutal looking stomps to the head and elbows to the neck aswell as some nifty evasion spots and Kandori & Saito teeing off on Sawai & Ozaki with slaps and kicks. Then a weird transition happens when Ozaki hits a nice dive to the outside before a brawl erupts. Kandori brings in a table and they teased a double countout, but Ozaki goes back in and is in peril now. Saito & Kandori are just destroying Ozaki now hitting every move they have on that tiny woman. Ozaki wants to tag out, but Sawai isn't there. This is great drama, but then Sawai comes in and some awkward fumbling around with weapons ensues. They brawl outside again and a guardrail is brought in. I admit Kandori and Sawai using the guardrail is quite the epic visual, but I thought all the drama they had with Ozaki in peril just fizzled away when they went to the garbage stuff. I could see some people really digging this. Devil Masami & Rumi Kazama vs. Miss A & Itsuki Yamazaki (JWP 4/26/1991) This was just a tremendous match; great, intelligent, character driven pro wrestling and some brutal spots. This was probably Masamis finest JWP performance outside the Kandori match. It's also another great one for Yamazaki. Lord, is there any other veteran wrestler who has an unseen run as great as Yamazakis in JWP on tape? Her retiring before the interpromotional era is certainly a waste. This starts out fiery hot with some massive lariats and kicks thrown before a slowdown and then sprint again which involve Masami doing some pretty fun wrestling and Yamazaki looking super impressive. Masami ends up caught in a Figure 4 which sets up some really nice legwork and Masami finally doing a really good job selling vulnerability. They keep the nifty moments coming and Kansai & Kazama look impressive aswell mostly kicking the hell out of whoever is in the ring but also bringing some well timed spots of their own. Really well executed economic pro wrestling, the kinda match that was missing from joshi in the later 90s.

Cool, somewhat experimental junior style big match. This was Mikami as a slick junior before he started the Ladder thing, here he was just as prone to bust out slick armbar transitions aswell as fast springboard huracanranas. I really liked how they started out simple working headlocks and hammerlocks and slowly morphed into more tricked out stuff. Mikami looks damn good, technically sound and unpredictable on the mat, while pre-deathmatch kickpadded Sasaki is a perfectly good second rate Ikeda spin kicking him in the throat. The match turns into a style mix where they land stiff kicks and work flash armbars building towards AJPW style headdrops and Mikamis big flying moves. It's pretty much the ideal indy style match as they take from various styles and produce something that feels sound and fresh. The finishing run is great as they just kill eachother. Not only do they bust out the big moves, but there's also some thudding strike exchanges. When a springboard dropkick and lariat feel just as deadly as the big Emerald Frosion style finisher the execution is on point. Really cool to check this out, I would really like this type of indy wrestling to make a comeback.

Quality match. Liked it a lot better than their hair match because this had that classic flow and build. The 2nd fall missing is really unfortunate. I also thought the screw finish looked lame. It's really weird that Olimpico ended up not doing much until he ultimately became Mistico fodder. He was a really good technico who could work the mat stuff aswell as fly with a cool look and mask and it's not like there was an overflow of those.

Love a junior match that actually holds up. Holy lord Kanemoto was beating Liger like he owed him money early on. Kanemoto finding ways to kick Liger to a pulp from any position was really entertaining and better than the usual matwork opening. Of course Liger knows how to make a pissed off comeback (in this case by trying to explode Kanemotos spine with Powerbombs) and this soon turns into a total bombfest while main taining that sense of animosity and unpredictability. Agree completely about the greatness of Liger nearly taking Kanemotos head off in the corner with the unforgiving shotai. Satisfying match.

This was an evenly matched 6 man tag sprint, so naturally it was good. Each team had a kickpadded vixen (Saito/Kazama), a somewhat nondescript young talent (Handa/Kitamura) and a heavyweight monster (Devil/Kansai). Altough they switched the pairings up constantly. The matchups weren't quite stretched out and there wasn't a big conclusion so it's below your higher tier of JWP tags, altough you had your usual goodness, stiff kicks and occasional clever spots. The highlight was easily the Masami/Kansai pairing. Devil had one of her better days and went the full mile here. She has the kind of commanding presence a 3 vs 3 tag needs and her performance here made me think she would kill it in Arena Mexico. Engaging the crowd through her mannerisms, bumping big and dishing out the big blows when it counts. There were also some brief Saito/Kazama exchanges and while Saito looked good it felt like a rehash from their previous matches and very brief. This was the kind of solid cruise control tag they could have in their sleep worth watching for Devil Masami giving the kind of performance that proves she still had some left in the tank by 1991.

A chance to see the lesser featured Osawa & Koganei stretch out and do stuff. Match wasn't bad at all and had it's moments but was more than a hair below the upper tier of JWP tags. Osawa wears the kickpads but aside from a hard kick or two looked noticably less polished than her peers. Koganei was fun and spunky. Osawa & Koganei did some heel tactics – biting, cut play etc but they didn't run it into the ground. Match was worked like your usual JWP tag – constant back and forth with the moves getting bigger and the occasional half crab. Nothing super compelling especially with all 4 being limited on offense (lots of flying clotheslines and crossbodies) and the match needed someone to really push it. I did really like the flying legbars from Plum. I imagine this kind of match would've gotten more play back then. The opening exchange was quite flippy and you had your usual barrage of great looking suplexes and the occasional cool double team.

Borderline excellent character driven tag. This matchup really tells the story by itself, but I give them credit for going the extra mile and really emphasizing the dynamic constantly. You had Fukuoka, the non descript little mouse teaming with the juggernaut that is Devil Masami. So Yamazaki & Cuty are basically pushing Fukuoka, but when Masami comes in she dominates. Yamazaki & Cuty trying to outwrestle Devil and bouncing off of her is all kinds of fun (including Yamazaki hitting maybe the most logical sunset flip in history on Devil) and because Fukuoka is dependant on her partner to survive you get that constant intensity and nifty help spots. Yamazaki really shines in JWP because not only can she wrestle she adds a ton of character without being overly theatric. I've talked about Cuty resembling Arn Anderson and I was getting some dismissive Anderson Bros vibes from her team in how they threated Fukuoka, there was also some really nice armwringer work from Cuty altough she didn't go full bore like in her Scorpion matches. At one point Yamazaki just kicks Fukuoka in the mouth. When Fukuoka puts her in the Boston Crab it feels like a big moment and I love a match that makes me care about a Boston Crab. There was also an ultra gnarly piledriver which is sold like a fucking piledriver so that ruled too. Match didn't have a grand finishing run but there was absolutely no reason for this to go all epic. We do get the absolutely devastating Gorilla Press from Masami aswell as some fat powerbombs and another nasty dropkick finish. Cool character work and cool wrestling, this is what makes old JWP so worthwhile.

It's been a while gentlemen. But old JWP STILL rules! " JWP '91 First Half Best Match Collection Tag Match Volume " Miss A & Harley Saito vs. Rumi Kazama & Mayumi Ozaki (JWP 4/23/1991) Fun, fun showcase tag between the kickpadded JWP asskickers and the catsuited Ozaki/Kazama pair. This was structured and paced like a BattlARTS match into a joshi match. You would get thudding kicks and big suplexes interspersed with brief matwork and then a big 2,99999 run full of exciting twists and turns. There were little antics with the exception of Ozaki & Kazama running in to kick someone in the head once or twice to break up a submission, which is what I guess their idea of a title match was. I'm really curious to know what joshi purists think of this stuff. It's not typical joshi sprint work, but it's far from US/japanese mens style tag wrestling aswell. The body of the match was back and forth exchanges until the nearfalls got closer and the moves bigger and the action a little more frantic. Some might call it mindless but I thought the action delivered and the finishing run had some cutoffs and tricks that were right on the money proving they were using their brains. There was also one sequence between Kazama and Harley that was cooler than anything you think Kazama can pull off. Saito looked great as usual brutalizing her opponents with kicks, knees and elbows and Kansai is of course a juggernaut. Even Ozaki was laying it in, hitting possibly the most gritty dropkick ever aswell as taking a hideous lariat. At this point maybe I actually prefer this more subtle version of Ozaki. Pink Cadillac & Mayumi Ozaki & Yukari Osawa vs. Cuty Suzuki & Miki Handa & Utako Hozumi (JWP 6/20/1991) Ooof. There's no reason to work hard in a Pink Cadillac match and the only thing you need to know about this match is that they understood this too. I guess some of the 3 on 1 spots would be sort of amusing for some. Mami Kitamura & Rumi Kazama & Devil Masami vs. Miki Handa & Miss A & Harley Saito (JWP 6/21/1991) This was an evenly matched 6 man tag sprint, so naturally it was good. Each team had a kickpadded vixen (Saito/Kazama), a somewhat nondescript young talent (Handa/Kitamura) and a heavyweight monster (Devil/Kansai). Altough they switched the pairings up constantly. The matchups weren't quite stretched out and there wasn't a big conclusion so it's below your higher tier of JWP tags, altough you had your usual goodness, stiff kicks and occasional clever spots. The highlight was easily the Masami/Kansai pairing. Devil had one of her better days and went the full mile here. She has the kind of commanding presence a 3 vs 3 tag needs and her performance here made me think she would kill it in Arena Mexico. Engaging the crowd through her mannerisms, bumping big and dishing out the big blows when it counts. There were also some brief Saito/Kazama exchanges and while Saito looked good it felt like a rehash from their previous matches and very brief. This was the kind of solid cruise control tag they could have in their sleep worth watching for Devil Masami giving the kind of performance that proves she still had some left in the tank by 1991. Devil Masami & Hikari Fukuoka vs. Itsuki Yamazaki & Cuty Suzuki (JWP 5/25/1991) Borderline excellent character driven tag. This matchup really tells the story by itself, but I give them credit for going the extra mile and really emphasizing the dynamic constantly. You had Fukuoka, the non descript little mouse teaming with the juggernaut that is Devil Masami. So Yamazaki & Cuty are basically pushing Fukuoka, but when Masami comes in she dominates. Yamazaki & Cuty trying to outwrestle Devil and bouncing off of her is all kinds of fun (including Yamazaki hitting maybe the most logical sunset flip in history on Devil) and because Fukuoka is dependant on her partner to survive you get that constant intensity and nifty help spots. Yamazaki really shines in JWP because not only can she wrestle she adds a ton of character without being overly theatric. I've talked about Cuty resembling Arn Anderson and I was getting some dismissive Anderson Bros vibes from her team in how they threated Fukuoka, there was also some really nice armwringer work from Cuty altough she didn't go full bore like in her Scorpion matches. At one point Yamazaki just kicks Fukuoka in the mouth. When Fukuoka puts her in the Boston Crab it feels like a big moment and I love a match that makes me care about a Boston Crab. There was also an ultra gnarly piledriver which is sold like a fucking piledriver so that ruled too. Match didn't have a grand finishing run but there was absolutely no reason for this to go all epic. We do get the absolutely devastating Gorilla Press from Masami aswell as some fat powerbombs and another nasty dropkick finish. Cool character work and cool wrestling, this is what makes old JWP so worthwhile. Cuty Suzuki & Plum Mariko vs. Yukari Osawa & Sachiko Koganei (JWP 6/30/1991) A chance to see the lesser featured Osawa & Koganei stretch out and do stuff. Match wasn't bad at all and had it's moments but was more than a hair below the upper tier of JWP tags. Osawa wears the kickpads but aside from a hard kick or two looked noticably less polished than her peers. Koganei was fun and spunky. Osawa & Koganei did some heel tactics – biting, cut play etc but they didn't run it into the ground. Match was worked like your usual JWP tag – constant back and forth with the moves getting bigger and the occasional half crab. Nothing super compelling especially with all 4 being limited on offense (lots of flying clotheslines and crossbodies) and the match needed someone to really push it. I did really like the flying legbars from Plum. I imagine this kind of match would've gotten more play back then. The opening exchange was quite flippy and you had your usual barrage of great looking suplexes and the occasional cool double team. There you go, 4 good matches on this tape. Now I wonder where is the Best Match Collection for the SECOND half of 1991??