Jetlag

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??

The matches in this feud are total bullshit, but they all rule. Heat mongering, some filler work, couple high spots in between, tease a finish, and repeat. It's timelessly simple and it WORKS! Because this is the mid 80s you get all kinds of solid offense from everyone, big firemans carry, snug back elbows, huge back body drops and so on. Ishikawa deliberately pisses off Choshu and is rewarded with a lariat that has his body growing stiff! Tenryu gets knocked down a couple pegs! The lariat that ends the match is pretty much the most brutal thing. Not the tightest match you'll ever see, but it just plain works.

What the hell are all those guys that Goldberg comes to the ring with good for, anyways? The Outsiders assault Goldberg before the match and Sid comes after him, but he ends up busted open himself soon anyways. Sid tries to make a rally but Goldberg makes minced meat out of him pounding the cut with punches and elbows. Sid looks pretty great selling the blood and trying to make a comeback by pounding Goldberg with big boots and punches. Eventually Sid is done for though and the ref stops the match. The ref stop is not a common US finish but with Goldberg looking at the ref and being reluctant to beat Sid further it felt this was building to a ref stop. Sort of NJPW type match but with WCW going off the rails it was merely a hint at what kind of epics they could have produced.

JIP to the HOT DEAFENINGLY HEATED ACTION! This ain't your Granddaddys AJPW anymore as Choshus decision to stick to his 2 moves brings the constant threat of a finish. No more restholds, just 4 lumpy guys getting in and throwing eachother around hard! Surely old Okuma hits some great looking headbutts! Tenryu kicks Choshu in the eye! Hamaguchi is such a tank, and also he FLIES over the top rope like a madman. Hamaguchi comes up bloodied and suddenly you don't know who's the loss post anymore. Tenryu looks almost offended when Choshu clocks him with the dreaded lariat! Losing man gets totally destroyed for the finish! This was a bag of fun and a great introduction to the Choshuism that would sweep All Japan that year.

When you see this matchup, happening in IWRG in 2010, filmed by Black Terry Jr, you know what you're getting. Tons of matwork and fun character dynamics. You get Navarro/Solar in their eternal struggle, Zatura, a really good guy who got lost in the shuffle looking really good, and Cerebro stalking Suicida and acting like a dickhead. Terry and Zatura get to stretch out in a pretty great mat section and Zatura shows off all his wonky cross heel hooks and what not, then Cerebro starts superkicking and punching people before Suicida hits a crazy tope. Things get more intense in the last two falls but they keep to hitting the mat, which is what you want. Cerebro looks great with his crazy holds too, but that's nothing new. For any other 6 workers of the current independent scene a trios like this would be a great achievement, but for these guys it was Thursday.

I've noticed it in Motegi matches, and it was also the case here: 90s junior wrestling was far more unpredictable and fun. Basically any exchange could lead into a crazy dive out of nowhere. When they work the mat, they work almost quasi-shootstyle. Sasuke nearly dislocates TAKA's ankle, and TAKA kicks him in the face for good measure. Later, Sasuke catches a flying TAKA with a kick and then pummels his kidney with punches. Obviously TAKAs athleticism is blowaway great, but I also loved how tightly this was worked. Check out how tight Sasuke cradled him following a moonsault. This is how you make your wrestling look competitive. Obviously the Sasuke spin kicks were great and his selling was flawless. Apparently TAKA was in his 2nd year of pro wrestling here

This is Lawlers wifes hair vs. Dundees Southern Title. It's 80s territory wrestling baby! I love coming home late at night and discovering a previously unseen match in what is arguably the greatest matchup in US wrestling ever has been uploaded. And this is another fucking classic in the pantheon. And it's a great showcase for Bill Dundee as he is basically an unstoppable killing machine here as he beats the shit out of Lawler and Calhoun for +20 minutes. Dundee has about a dozen great punch variations and he makes Lawler his punching bag. Nearly the entire match is Dundee kicking ass and while it can be hard to make a 10 minute control section compelling it is no problem for a wrestling master like Bill Dundee. His demeanor along with Lance Russell commentary made you believe that this short australian psycho would damn well beat the shit out of every single person in that arena. He beats Lawler so bad Lawler can't even make a strap drop comeback. I can't remember that happening in any other match. Arena environment comes into play with Dundee using those chain bareers and steel posts in painful ways. It's Lawler/Dundee so you get some big Lawler bumps (including Lawler getting launched into the ringside announce table), a great hope spot, clever transition and the greatest damn punches you've ever seen. The finish worked as a perfect payoff too and considering these two would produce another super classic a week later there's nothing to grief over.

It did not make the 80s Memphis set. It may have been on one of 70s TV guys DVD sets. It is a fucking awesome match though.

The Satomura/Amano sections were pretty kickass. The rest of this was largely a harmless, mindless sprint starring plenty of convoluted ways to get armbars. The finish run was between Satomura and Nagashima and had some funny spots. Something like Satomura spinning Nagashima around in the fireman's carry position to hit her Death Valley Driver anyways can only really make sense in a joshi match.

A really fun slice of pro wrestling between two all time great wrestlers. This was 1 fall and in front of a silent japanese crowd, and the transitions weren't exactly hard fought, so the match felt a little like an exhibition. Still, there was plenty of excellent hold for hold work and some vicious brawling with Santito hitting especially stiff kicks. He even elbowed Panther in the face when he tried to block the Camel Clutch. That and him trying to prevent the Sharpshooter may have been my favourite moments of the match. Santito really had his working boots on and hit every spectacular dive he knows. I also liked how hard his flying headbutts connected.

I LOVE PRO WRESTLING! Pretty much what you want from your wrestler vs. martial artist spectacle. Short wild match with no downtime or filler, just Onita and Asako absorbing crazy Hong Kong movie flying kicks from the Kung Fu boys, occasionally you get a fat guy suplex or forearm smash to the face before the other Kung Fu boy will run in and jump on somebodys face to make a safe. You also get Onita killing the skinny koreans with powerbombs, and you can't tell what the finish going to be. Also loved the Jackie Chan spot where Sambo pulls the other guys Kung Fu jacket over his head and helps set up the powerbomb. A MILLION STARS!!

Actually may be one of the best car crash sprints I've ever seen. This is my first time seeing Allin and he looks like someone out of the WCW/nWo Revenge roster, so exactly my kind of pro wrestler. He clearly understands how to work like his gimmick dictates, looking like a high on meth gutter punk running around clocking neonazis before getting pepper sprayed at a Trump rally. He was fighting WALTER like a mad dog and getting absolutely manhandled. Needless to say WALTER was a juggernaut and Allins ragdolling bumping was perfect. That splat on the floor felt more visceral than anything from the Almas/Gargano match. Agree about the desperation of the handwork. I actually thought Allin was in control a little much toward the end, altough everything was kept believable and his selling was spot on. It just made the crazy bumps earlier feel a little inconsequential, particularily those knees that he ate. I should add that the strike exchanges near the end felt like actual strike exchanges.