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Jetlag

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  1. Jetlag
    Overly long, bloated, melodramatic stereotypical japanese big match in the Year of 2018. People have talked about AJPW having a resurrgence, and that it's an alternative to NJPW. Well, I don't know the business side of it, but judging from the match quality here there is nothing too interesting going on. The first half was your typical time killing competition, lots of strolling here and there, waiting for the other guy to get in position, then hit a spot for a pop, etc. Some of the ideas they had were good, but they didn't know how to elaborate them. There was some good legwork happening with Zeus ramming Miyaharas knee into the guardrail, but moments later they simply forgot about it. Miyahara hit a stiff headbutt, and then he went and hit some more for the crowd. Isn't this the year where that guy Shibata almost died doing something like that? Classic Pro Wrestlers are Idiots. I've nothing against stiff headbutts, as long as they mean something. I liked how parts of the match saw Kento acting cocky and cutting off Zeus. However he also did these really zany "I'm crazy" facial expressions for the camera. The 2nd half is trash. Zeus does a job putting the previous apron stuff over, but then just no sells back to offense immediately. It's almost a comedy. Both guys take turns doing this while hitting a zillion knees and lariats. There is nothing wrong with either guys offense, Miyahara in particular has good looking knees and big boots. I also liked his beatdown of Zeus with the stomps to the back of the head, one of the few moments of genuine aggression in the match. I've no idea what people see in Zeus as he's pretty much your standard roided japanese guy. They try to bring some leg attack stuff into it again, but because Miyahara didn't sell it at all there was no sense of threat or drama from it. After about 20 2,99999s Zeus gets the win.
  2. Jetlag
    Classy match. Mostly textbook matwork and exchanges built around hip throws and armdrags. There was no outright rudoism, but the sympathies were clearly on the side of the sun brothers and they played to that. It's another good way to work that kind of match to break up the monothony of skill vs. Cheating. The highlight was easily El Supremo getting his shoulder mangled. Unique spot leads to the finish. This won't blow your mind if you've seen a ton of lucha but it's another good round at Arena Coliseo.
  3. Jetlag
    Monthly Sleaze Indy Review: This time we got Kendo Nagasakis NOW. NOW 8/9/1992 Goro Tsurumi vs. Unidentified Rookie Don Arakwa vs. Kishin Kawabata Apollo Sugawara vs. Hiroshi Hatanaka Goro Tsurumi vs. Fumihiro Niikura (Boxing) George & Shunji Takano vs. Kendo Nagasaki & Kenichi (Hisakatsu) Oya NOW was one of 3 or 4 companies that SWS split into. And well this sure does look like an SWS card without the big stars or foreigners doesn't it? There is some fun stuff to be seen here though. The opener is a 3 minute exhibition with Tsurumi looking the best I've ever seen him as this match was nothing but amateur style grappling. SoTsurumi is not required to do any pro wrestling or match struture and instead is just there credibly putting a nondescript black trunks guy in his place by tapping him repeatedly with nasty crossfaces and toeholds in entertaining fashion. Arakawa/Kawabata was also unexpectedly great as it was that classic japanese material of two tubby guys trading big fucking beatings. Arakawa is known as a comedy worker and while there are some laughs and exaggerated body language this is competitive. Starts great with Kawabata slapping him and Arakawa dumping him with a huge german suplex. Lots of hurty looking slaps and Arakawa punches ensue. We also get some fun Arakawa matwork aswell as a dive tease. This was the most inspired I've seen Kawabata look as he would really lay into Arakawa with kicks and palms and ram him like a bull. What does it say about Kawabata that his most inspired performance is some fancam undercard match against a comedy wrestler from some long forgotten offshoot company? Sugawara/Hatanaka was a long, basic match. Both guys could lay in a stiff shot once in a while and had some nice offense (Hatanaka in particular), but I'd be lying if I said if they weren't slightly over their heads going 15+ minutes when these two belong in tags at this point. Tsurumi/Niikura was a boxing gloves match and much less exciting than Tsurumis grappling in the opener. Niikura always throws boxing punch combos in in pro style matches and that is much cooler than fake boxing. The main event had little story to it but was a string of cool moments. You had Shunji Takano working as sleazy Jumbo Tsuruta walloping everyone with huge kicks and knees, George Takano & Oya having a great moment trading shotais and Nagasaki in his working boots hitting the mat and dishing out big kicks. Oyas execution was sharper than later in FMW but he didn't seem to have a clue on how to add direction to the match. Just when things started to get heated when Nagasaki said Fuck This and went to blast Shunji Takano with the chairs as Kendo Nagasaki does an Umanosuke Ueda run in happens and the match just ends. Kind of a bullshit thing to end your main event of a Korakuen Hall show like this but I actually want to see more NOW now.
  4. Jetlag
    Tubby japanese guys slap the shit out of eachother for 20 minutes. Love this because it's a really good example of how to build a lengthy match around a handful of strikes. Nakano and Kitahara are not over at all due to the SWS midcard being almost meaningless, but they give their all taking on these tanks and get the everliving crap kicked out of them. Hara & Tenryu deserve some credit for selling a good deal for these middleweights while outgunning them completely. Lots of neat spots and there are some good examples on how to make basic strikes interesting by SELLING. See: Tenryu getting caught in the ear by an enzuigiri or selling Nakanos corner dropkick. Hara is also really good at taking kicks to various body parts and refusing to bump. By the end Kitahara and Nakano are basically beaten half to death. There is one great sequence where Nakano is giving everything he has hitting several dropkicks and enzuigiris only to be forced to tag back in and run on empty. Tenryu just powerbombing him is an example of no selling that works because it was done in context of the match with a set up and purpose. Kitaharas leg selling was also cool and added some direction. This is a rare match where one side never comes close to winning but still ends up being great in my book.
  5. Jetlag
    JWP TV taped 11/2/91 Tokyo Korakuen Hall Mayumi Ozaki vs. Hikari Fukuoka Fukuokas Toyota worship was already becoming apparent here. What makes this more than your average rookie squash is Ozaki kicking the living hell out of her and doing some gritty armwork. Ozaki working like Regal rules. She rocks a mean Fujiwara armbar and will pull your fingers apart. Her kicks and stomps were also pretty manly. Eat your heart out, britwres shitters. Eagle Sawai & Reiko Hoshino vs. Itsuki Yamazaki & Mami Kitamura Hoshino is the newly unmasked Scorpion. This was an undercard tag that felt like they made it up as they went a long. The match still had a story with Sawai really roughing up young Kitamura and her going against the vets with Yamazaki helping her along being the plot of the match. Nothing out of the extraordinary here but the match had it's moments and some nice smacks. Cuty Suzuki vs. Plum Mariko I like both these workers, but there wasn't much to this. Just your usual perfunctory holds → filler legwork → couple nearfalls affair. Felt like a touring match, but they were in Korakuen Hall. Shinobu Kandori & Miki Handa vs. Devil Masami & Utako Hozumi The Kandori/Devil matchup is interesting in theory, but they didn't deliver a whole lot. It was a short match to begin with and they wasted a good chunk of time with Boston Crabs and mild outside brawling. Not exactly a working boots performance from Devil and Kandori wasn't exactly fired up either. Match had it's moments such as a few stiff lariats and a big press slam into a splash. UWA International Title: Harley Saito vs. Dynamite Kansai Great ultra stiff fight between two of the stiffest workers not just in womens wrestling. These two had been battling it out fierce for over a year and this was probably their most brutal outing. Just two asskickers cracking eachother with shots. The opening minute are fire, and we get some really good battle for control stuff with Harley making use of the kneebar and both of them really punishing the other. One thing that stands out about JWP is that there was no „I hit you, you hit me“, it's a constant battle for the advantage until one gets control and just tees off on the other. To be honest Kansai doesn't have much character or selling ability compared to Kandori so this wasn't as good and they went for the usual 50/50 exchanges in the last third. However the finish gave the whole thing a touch of epic as it was quite unique for japanese wrestling which has conditioned us to expect a different outcome from that kind of move. I'd say Harley did well here carrying this selling and giving Kansai as good as she had making this the 1991 MOTY as it's more compact than their earlier match.
  6. Jetlag
    SWS style tag with Fujiwara thrown in the mix. So you have tubby juniors exchanging brutal spin kicks and lariats at a fast pace and Fujiwara throwing in some lightning fast counters and hitting the mat. The 3 young guys are really good and Fujiwaras presence adds just what this kind of undercard match needs. Ishinriki is a former sumo who works like a junior and junior who used to be a sumo is much better than junior who used to be a gymnast. He hits some big dive and also nice palm rushes and lariats. Kitahara and Nakano look good hitting the mat with Fujiwara. Highlights include Fujiwara hitting a huge Bas Rutten style body punch for a near KO aswell as trading some brutal battering ram headbutts with Nakano. Fujiwara fits really well with these energetic dudes. Apparently this match got **** from Meltzer proving he had some taste at one point. It has a few big moves and nearfalls too.
  7. Jetlag
    Fun, super heated, fast paced tag match centered around the megastar charisma of Kandori and Nagayo. Kandori may have been in peak form here with her awesome mugging and flash submissions. Ohmukai didn't have the gloves and kickpads here, but she and Sato were fine secondary girls working stiff dropkicks and body slams for a minute before tagging in the leaders. Also, because Sato is a 1 year rookie, the match felt like it could end whenever she was on the receiving end. Her interactions with Kandori were also really fun, and I loved how frantic Nagayo & Sugar were in preventing Kandori's submissions. Really good main event style wrestling.
  8. Jetlag
    Wee little Meiko flails her arm and pounces on Yamada like a pitbull, trying to force a submission by constantly going for an armbar throwing wild elbows and slaps and generally being a wild house of fire. Yamada wasn't wearing her kickpads so not quite what you expect in this match, but she does nearly kick Satomura's head off with a sickening dropkick (did we just see her passing the curse here?), working some nasty crossfaces and throwing some jaw dislocating slaps. The subsequent armbreaker spot and Yamada selling that shit like a pro was tremendous aswell. Great heated rookie/veteran sprint, exactly how it should be worked.
  9. Jetlag
    About as perfect a 7 minute opener as you can ask for. This was Reds TNA debut and they work a slightly more traditional style (if you can talk traditional when you have crazy moves dished out by the minute) with some arm drags and Ki beating him down good with his awesome neck headbutts etc. They pull out some of their spectacular kung fu sequences later for great effect. Amazing how these two always managed to mix up their stuff.
  10. Jetlag
    Great match in their signature style. Excellent mix of lightning fast intricate counters and evading, crazy moves and stiff blows. It's highly athletic, spectacular wrestling, but they have a great sense for momentum shifts. You also get stuff like Ki obliterating Red with the koppu kick which is ballsier than what most spot monkeys do. Red looks like the greatest Elks Lodge kid wrestler ever. The insane handspring spin kick moves look hurty and they always make sense in the context of what's happening. They basically never let up. Great finish where they tease another reversal with Red escaping but Ki holds on and drops him anyways. US MOTY?
  11. Jetlag
    Another of those really good matches CMLL would produce multiple times a week. We get some quality Virus matwork aswell as unusually heated exchanges between Halcon Negro and Olimpico. It's also really nice to see Kendo doing his awesome thing in Mexico.
  12. Jetlag
    Lots of good stuff in this Cibernetico with the opening exchange between Ultimo Guerrero and Olimpico being especially good. Really fast and intricate knucklelock work. Lots of great athleticism on display throughout. Unfortunately there were quite a few botches, including Bucanero hitting an accidental(?) avalanche Powerbomb on Sendero and then just killing him with an avalanche brainbuster that seemed to have knocked him out cold. It kind of killed the crowd too because everyone was thinking that poor guy might be dead. Buccanero eliminating a bunch of guys added some intensity and the finish was good.
  13. Jetlag
    This is about the smartest Manami Toyota match you'll ever see. Hokuto comes in with a bad arm in a cast and Toyota immediately pounces to kick the shit out of that arm. The transition is supposed to be Toyota (drawing boos) going arrogantly for a dive and banging up her own leg allowing Hokuto to go on offense. This works but of course Toyota sells fuck all and goes back to hitting suplexes. But the focus of the match is Hokuto who probably the most credible tough lady wrestler in history and her selling and one armed comebacks were all credible. She survives longer than you'd expect but it's Hokuto she survived a broken neck and cancer. Predictable match but work thanks to the novelty of it. Great Hokuto performance and Toyota looked good beating her.
  14. Jetlag
    Gentle reminder.
  15. Jetlag
    Love this match. Top 5 US tag ever? Perfectly worked southern tag where they work in luchaesque sequences, double teams and karate standoffs. Inventive as they update the formula without breaking it. The nearfalls at the end are among my favourite moment ever. That Smothers/Lane moment is one of the best in the history of the world too. Great mix of entertaining stuff and work. I should add that even though Smothers gimmick was played for comedy later, his thrust kicks looked great. The fans seemed to be rooting for both teams early on but they get them thoroughly on the side of the Southern Boys. This should have been the future of US tags.
  16. Jetlag
    Mami Kitamura & Hikari Fukuoka vs. Midori Saito & Yuka Nakajima (JWP 4/22/1990) Rookie match. Highspots: dropkicks and a Bulldog. All 4 worked with some nice snugness, thudding back elbows and tight small packages. It reminded me a bit of those stumpy legged IWE juniors. Perfectly enjoyable match, altough they basically just worked to a finish with no real structure or story in mind. Great looking basic moves and a nice finish. Another type of match that is hard to find these days. Plum Mariko vs. Yukari Osawa (JWP 3/21/1990) Undercard match with some fun moments. Pretty much all there is to it. Osawa did some low end heel stuff (chokes and claw holds) but they didn't set out for anything more than some fast food action. Plum is more at home in workrate matches, but she did suplex tall awkward Osawa around nicely, so what do I know. Rumi Kazama vs. Miyuki Takayama (JWP 1/7/1990) Wrestler vs. Kickboxer time. This was short but felt like a fight. Takayama was laying in the punches and kicks. Things got pretty intense for a second when Kazama started kicking the kickboxer when she was down. Kazama dominated most of this taking Takayama down repeatedly and finally forcing a tap with a half crab in under 4 minutes, proving pro wrestling is superior. Not a super impressive performance from Kazama as the kickboxer looked way smaller and lighter, but I enjoyed it. The Scorpion vs. Hiromi Miyagawa (JWP 1/7/1990) Found a masked japanese girl wrestler vs. Female kickboxer match. Life is complete. This went longer than Kazama/Takayama and I imagine would have been pretty good with someone less reluctant than Miyagawa. Scorpion looked good, she has more impressive takedowns and ground game than Kazama, and she also slapped the kickboxer in the face. I also liked how she would complain about an illegal(?) knee from Miyagawa, sell her stomach and give her comeuppance by basically making minced meat out of the kickboxer. Cuty Suzuki vs. Sachiko Koganei (JWP 1/7/1990) Another brief midcard encounter. Cuty Suzuki could work, no lying. Her basic moves - kneedrops, drop toe holds etc look more impressive than a lot of male indy workers. Koganei looks talented but was mostly indulging in heel tactics which was pretty passe by 1990. She also looked sloppy at times. I give her props for being so delightfully evil, though. Devil Masami & Itsuki Yamazaki vs. Harley Saito & Miss A (1990 or 1991) JIP. Was going good like the matchup promises with some hard kicks being thrown, but then a bullshit double countout happens. They do a restart only to do another brawl into an easy rollup finish. I guess you can file this under „a night off“, altough I love savage Yamazaki can be in these matches. You don't expect her to run in and punch Kansai in the face, but she does. Miki Handa vs. Utako Hozumi (JWP 3/21/1990) Technical undercard match. Loved the flying headscissors and there was some cool back work. Handa wins with a cool rarely seen pin combo. Mayumi Ozaki & Eagle Sawai vs. Cutie Suzuki & Rumi Kazama (JWP 3/21/1990) Another fine match. Ozaki & Sawai start out by bashing Suzuki & Kazama with their flowers and proceed to work the heel stuff well. It just works better in a tag where you can have a faster pace while still building some heat. Kazama looked solid hitting some good kicks and a nice Fujiwara armbar, while Cutie was pretty much working as a technico to Ozakis and Sawais rudoism, doing mostly flash pins and submissions. Seemed a little subdued and you soon found out why when the silly buggers began and they ended the match in a no contest due to chairs getting involved.
  17. Jetlag
    Itsuki Yamazaki & Rumi Kazama vs. Miss A & Mami Kitamura (7/19/1990) Previously unavailable match from the mysterious japanese YouTube page. This was a fun sprint. The highlight was unironically Kazama running in to kick the hell out of whoever was in the ring, something she did pretty well during this time period. Yamazaki was cool as usual. Kansai felt a little subdued considering both opponents were pushing her. Kitamura looked solid doing basic stuff like working a legbar, but also looked crummy hitting a lousy dropkick etc. Not every match can be an epic and stuff like this is part of the reason why JWP is so enjoyable. Devil Masami vs. Eagle Sawai (7/19/1990) Funny match which was centered around Sawai using her heel tactics and Devil soon fighting fire with fire. Funny because Sawai was using eye rakes and chokes much like Masami would do a decade earlier. Not saying Masami didn't have her working boots on, but it got quite silly especially when a minion of Sawai ran in with a chair and Masami went Steve Austin on everyone. Miki Handa vs. Jiang Lee Jun (?) (7/19/1990) Here's an oddity: in 1990, JWP was also doing wrestler vs. Martial artist matches BECAUSE THAT WAS THE STYLE AT THE TIME. I assume the martial artist is always the same in these matches – a girl in a gi with brutal kicks. Most of them are fun because the JWP girls aren't afraid to get kicked in the face. This was probably the funnest of the bunch, weirdly involving rookie Miki Handa. Handa hits some cool judo throws (I'm surprised you didn't see more judo in matches involving one wrestler wearing a Gi) and Jiang Lee absolutely kicks the living hell out of here. Totally up there with any beating you see in other wrestler vs. Martial artist matches. The finish is great too with the martial artist landing a serious of devasting kicks, jumping around and celebrating in a cocky manner only for Handa to clock her with a big punch and sink in a choke.
  18. Jetlag
    Pretty excellent stuff despite feeling slightly mailed in on Jumbos part. We get a fun opening with Kawada slapping the big guy and trying to ground him, while Jumbo hits all his moves double hard on the little punk. I also liked how Jumbo would sell his own leg a bit setting up Kawada transitioning to offense by reversing a leglock. The ending stretch was great, simple and brutal and they just timed everything perfectly. Kawada having Jumbo on the age stomping on his face and hitting repeated lariats ruled and Jumbo swatting him was suitable. It's no surprise the fans were going bonkers for this.
  19. 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.
  20. Jetlag
    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.
  21. Jetlag
    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.
  22. Jetlag
    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.
  23. Jetlag
    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.
  24. Jetlag
    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.
  25. Jetlag
    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.
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