Jetlag
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I thought this was really nice. Sasaki looking like a U-Style guy is near surreal. It's a basic match, but their big moments look real good: Sharp dropkicks, Taro takes a sick bump on a german suplex, great looking DDT etc. They worked the match well enough to make you appreciate the more simple spots like the DDT or lariat. Also gotta give Taro some credit for being able to immediately salvage his blown spot with a beautiful flip dive.
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This was the first clipped up match that looked real good. There was a bit of selling and neat transitions going on elevating this above your standard move exhibition. Instead you had Akino being all spunky underdog, pulling off all kinds of wonky complicated spaceman headscissor type moves and turnbuckle climbing dives. And well, Apache when on offense is just blasting her opponent and they kept things interesting with nifty spots. The best move was Mary countering a weird Akino rollup in mid-air by stopping her, pulling her back up and just splatting her with a fat powerbomb. Akino's a tiny girl but still looked like a freakish spot. -
D'aaawww look it's the little cubs fighting for their first big win! And this was actually really, really good! You could tell this was their „young workers trying their ideas for an epic“ match. Except... their ideas worked? This was closer to a lucharesu match than anything and it had to have been the best singles match in that style since... since... Sasuke/Tokyo from the previous year? Oh whatever. The matwork was real good, the lucharesu exchanges looked great and most importantly, fresh. Ayako had great instincts – just little things like doing a kneedrop while working for a submission add so much. They also played up the fact that Hamada was pretty dominant in the tournament while Akino had gone by using her flash rollups. Making Akino's intricate rollups and wonky twisted headscissors into great nearfalls. That's economic working baby! Awesome nearfalls for ROLLUPS!!! Rollups that actually add to a match! Man fuck why can't we get more wrestling like this and less headdrops and thigh slapping. Terrific little match.
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This was quite the badass little war. At this point they had matched up a few times, so to keep things interesting Mariko Yoshida had now started using GLOVES. Which means she absolutely goes nuts with stiff punches on Aja here to even things out a little. Aja also has a barrage of crazy stiff offense, altough that's nothing new. Still, she just ragdolled Yoshida around in ways that just had to absolutely suck and I winced at her brutal kick to Yoshida's hamstring. This had the usual cool matwork were Yoshida has to work hard in order to lock her holds on the beast that is Aja. Also really loved Aja's modified ankle hold here she just hugs and squeezes Yoshida's heel into her thigh. That is such an angry bear grappling move. This matchup is great everytime but this was especially compact, the selling was flawless and you get the usual neat, well timed, violent spots. Plus, punches to the face.
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This was clipped but we get a good picture of it. I imagine this would have been really good if we had gotten the early build, because what was shown was really good. Asari is really sharp, and the contrast between her lucha headscissors and flash armbars and Akino's more basic style made for an entertaining match. They had great rhythm and Akino's arm selling was right on the money. The finish was really neat aswell. Even without the ARSION trademark gone these two are still a welcome antidote to the more overkill-y joshi workers.
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Ayako has done it all in ARSION in 2000. All she has left to go for is the gold. Aja remains unimpressed and thrashes her like she was still a 1st year rookie anyways. Aja really may be the ultimate „do the same shit in every match“ wrestler. If you can get over that this was really good. Aja just gives Ayako a monumental thrashing. I thought it wasn't quite right to have Ayako work this match the same as she would have in her rookie year given how much she had achieved previously, and Aja no-sold her a little too much, but when you get past all that and look at this in isolation this was brutal and efficient pro wrestling. Ayako is just the gutsiest wrestler you've ever seen taking every painful shot Aja has to dish out and getting caught in the ribs with a chair while doing an Asai Moonsault. The finish was fucking brutal aswell and easily one of the best moments ARSION has produced so far.
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[1997-01-05-LLPW-Live Battle] Megumi Kudo vs Shinobu Kandori (Street Fight)
Jetlag replied to Loss's topic in January 1997
I could never really get into this match. Looks like your average wandering brawl to me. They rumage about the place and do stuff for 20 minutes, including some gimmicks, before the awkward finish. Match seemed to be lacking in hatred despite all the goofy attempted murder spots. There were some things I liked such as the work on the cut, but in total the match just couldn't grab/keep my attention. They both look like corny 90s action flick characters so I guess there's that. -
When you find out about Masashi Aoyagi having his own promotion, you picture a bunch of reckless crazy wrestler vs. karate fighter spectacles. Instead it's mostly reckless seedy indy wrestling involving some half baked wrestlers mostly coached by Masashi Motegi. This, however, is the match that you picture when you hear "Masashi Aoyagi booking a sleazy indy fed". Mochi, Taru and Okamura are guys from Koji Kitao's dojo who all dress in black. You won't be surprised to learn they all have terryifing haircuts. Fukuda, Kamikaze and Kotsubo (famous caveman comedian) are the hybrid wrestlers to combat them and this is pretty much a dojo gang war where the karate guys spin kick recklessly and the wrestlers are looking to grab them and go for takedowns and head-dumping suplex moves. While it was more of a professional wrestling match and not like your typical Aoyagi different style, there was still lots of chaos and disdain to enjoy. Super fast paced general anarchy with a bunch of guys throwing kicks and flying around. For some reason the WDF homeboys work as the heels, it seemed the Buko dojo guys had their whole entourage with them so the whole match was ultra heated. Kamikaze despite being on the "wrestler" team took his time to soccer kick the Buko guys in the face. Taru took a good beating, incuding a bunch of dropkicks to his face and getting squished with sentons and double stomps, and the finishing stretch that had all the guys throwing down was pretty great and had a few neatly timed moments despite the mayhem. Especially loved Fukuda who decided he had enough and just hurled one of the karate guys around like a ragdoll with suplexes, then did this really awesome faceplanting bump for Mochizuki leg trip. Kotsubo, for a guy who has been nothing but shit in every match I've ever seen him in, had the night of his life when he went at it with fellow nobody Okamura (not the guy who went to CMLL) and had one submission counter into a chokehold that was probably the greatest thing he ever did. He was enjoying himself too and you know you are watching something special when fucking Tsubo Genjin is bringing it. So yeah, you had different style fighers trying to prove who's best, guys getting hurled around with uncooperative suplexes and decked sideways in the temple by surprise flying Mochizuki kicks, guys in black karate gis doing dives etc. Can't say I didn't love this match. Also note that all the Bukoh guys in this match would go on to be in Toryumon/Dragon Gate. How the fuck did that happen?
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Yeah this was pretty damn fun also. This is Fujiwara & Nakano working as the Anderson brothers, tough veterans roughing up the young highflyers. Fujiwara and Nakano really can dish out a beating aswell as cut off the ring. I especially liked the spot where Nakano cut off one of Yume boys by grabbing his head and bashing it into into Fujiwara's skull to knock him silly. Nakano in his brief wrestling exchanges looked legit too. He had an awesome side throw. Fukuda & Kamikaze work pretty well as poorest mans Rock'n'Roll express. They even do a segment where Fujiwara & Nakano feed into a bunch of bodyslams and then Kamikaze hits a fucking Sasuke Special because he's indy trash. Finish plays off the previous Fujiwara/Fukuda interactions if you are into that.
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Fujiwara and Fukuda had a very good singles match later in the year, and their story began at Yume Factory. This is a match very much carried by Fujiwara, who is really spry and turns it up to 11, totally being in "I can cripple you in two seconds" mode. Fujiwara brings the stiff fucking punches and matwork and Fukuda proves himself a game opponent. Kamikaze is the guy who'd go on to be in Big Japan and Zero1, and while I'm not going to pretend his exchanges with Kotsubo were good, they weren't dull either, and soon your attention will be back to Fujiwara snapping fools arms. I really liked the finish where Fujiwara kills Fukuda dead and seems to have the match in the bag but gets tricked.
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Yes, I'm pimping a Motegi match now. What are you gonna do about it? Altough I'm pimping this mostly because of Shinichi Nakano, who had gotten all MUGA and really darn good at this point, as if he was hoping for getting another shot in NJPW or AJPW, but only ended up doing those weird 90s MUGA shows that never made tape. Dude looked way too in shape to be wrestling in fucking Wrestle Dream. This is easily the most epic a match Motegi has ever been in, as they rip it up on the mat and do a sleazeball BattlARTS match full of super stiff, nasty stomps and kicks to the hamstrings, short headbutts and truely spiteful slaps aswell as a bunch of ultra tight pop-his-arm-out-of-his-arm submission work. I could see some people hating the selling and lack of invetiveness, but the intensity was enough for me. There is a story about Maeda making Nakano pass out with a Boston Crab in the NJPW dojo, and his holds had the feel of a guy who held a grudge about simple holds cranked in to a point beyond human tolerance. Then they build into a gazillion big moves and nearfalls that actually work and don't come across as corny, as they had the selling in place and never did any stupid fighting spirit shit. I kinda got the feel that because Motegi is sorta part owner of this fed the match was designed to make him look good, but to his credit he tried hard to overcome his general crappiness. Motegi landed a really nice missile dropkick, and his desperation dive where he landed on his face was pretty gruelling and added to the match. Nakano has the really great offensive moments, his flash enzuigiri's are amazing, he also has the best powerslam and double wrist flip you've ever seen and also punches Motegi in the face for being such a sad sack. So there you have it, the greatest Masayoshi Motegi match ever. Whatever that means to you.
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WDF is the kind of shit you start watching when you run out of BattlARTS. Everyone in this fed has a haircut straight out of Gummo, and everyone here hits stupidly hard. Cosmo Soldier is pretty green/possibly a backyarder who blows half his spots and hilarity ensues. Fujisaki and Saito are the WDF guys while Cosmo and Sato (no idea about that guy) are billed as IWA Japan scum so interpromotional hatred ensues aswell as hatred for no talent piece of shit pretty boy wrestlers, and they brutally beat the snot out of Cosmo. You really don't see this kind of shit anymore. Fujisaki and Saito are your ersatz Otsuka and Ikeda and ready to throw down and pummel a masked tanned goof into oblivion. It's kind of funny to watch these two nobodies puffing their chests and acting like they run shit, but yeah the shots in this match here are no joke. So you are watching this mess of an indy match full of kicks to the face, stomps to the jaw, dropkicks to the kidney and general pummeling anarchy full of awkward painful looking moves (especially the double teams), to the point where the crowd gets behind behind the crappy indy sleazeball and wills him on to keep going despite getting near KO'd a few times and then it dawns on you that Fujigasaki and Saito are Fugofugo Yumeji and K-Ness of Dragon Gate. And then you want to order some wrestling tapes from the alternate reality where Fugofugo Yumeji stayed Tadahiro Fujisaki and ended up saving japanese wrestling. I didn't get much from Sato. He took the dangerous head dropping back suplexes from future Fugofugo pretty nicely. This was 15 minutes of awkward brutal trainreck and pretty glorious.
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DRAKE MF MORIMATSU!!! I'm starting to think JD is indeed the next lost great joshi fed. This was a super fun title match between two workers with great movesets, who mesh really well. Morimatsu is this butch powerhouse who is not afraid to have a go at Yabushita on the mat. The powerhouse vs. grappler style contrast worked really well. Great opening exchange in this match, and they fought like mad on the mat, stubbornly going for arm attacks. Keep in mind I didn't say the submission work here was pretty. I really liked how Morimatsu, when she couldn't get the advantage, resorted to punching Yabushita in the face and then roughing her up good by again attacking her face and finally cracking her with chairs and lariats. Both of them sold the ongoing wear and tear nicely and mixed it up well with some innovative moves and counters. Finishing run had good bomb throwing and drama, altough some people may be annoyed by Yabushita making a few easy comebacks. Still, she's a slick technico (technica?) and I still love her flash submissions. Still thought this was Morimatsu's match, altough that's not a knock on Yabushita.
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Their previous matches were quick tournament finals, with Ayako as a huge underdog. Now, Ayako is the champion and they have their sights set on „epic“. Largely this match was pretty great, but there are some flaws. Yoshida dominating Ayako with submissions and punch combos still works perfectly, and these two still mesh really well. I thought Ayako's selling was great, and the spot that set up her dominance was both brutal and really smart. All of Ayako's stuff was extremely sharp and well timed. However, I expected a little smarter work from Yoshida in the last third of the match. Her selling was pretty spotty and she could've picked her offense a little better as the match progressed, as the previous urgency was a deflated a little. However, they redeem themselves with a great finish that was just fucking awesome pro wrestling. Anyways, this is one of the better and more interesting matchups japanese wrestling had in the store in the 2000s, and to be fair some of the flaws here are par for the course with lesser workers.
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Lioness Asuka enters. Her License Number is 100! Yoshida is unimpressed and brings the fight right to the legend. Man, this dark looking Asuka is so different from the 80s Crush Gal. It's like some 80s pop star reinventing himself into a dark goth guy. I'd say this was a pretty good Yoshida signature match. Asuka gives an uncooperative & dangerous vibe so is a good match up for Yoshida's style. Altough she brought her own signature table to the match and tried some ECW shit that kind gave me a bad feel about her. Still Yoshida was a total trooper here taking a bunch of cringeworthy stiff shots from Asuka and working good submission nearfalls. Altough it is becoming noticable that move overkill is getting really out of hand in ARSION, seems the promotion is in it's death spiral, altough I'll see where it goes.
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Ohmukai has done a good job at making me hate her and her bullshit. This match was a good way to redeem herself as it was a blood-drenched, stiff puro epic. Basically Hamada wasn't having Ohmukai's crap and forced her to up her game. At this point Hamada is good enough to carry a questionable worker by adding some much needed selling and struggle to everything, and she really knows how to use her intensity properly. Opening stuff had good animosity, and everything that came after the double juice was very good. Hamada at this point is close to masterful at selling covered in blood, beaten to a pulp, and Ohmukai's moveset consisting mostly of kicks, punches and knees to the face worked very well. Could see this being a low end MOTYC for some.
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Ayako Hamada vs. Michiko Ohmukai (Queen of Arsion Title, 7/3/01 Tokyo) Ohmukai has done a good job at making me hate her and her bullshit. This match was a good way to redeem herself as it was a blood-drenched, stiff puro epic. Basically Hamada wasn't having Ohmukai's crap and forced her to up her game. At this point Hamada is good enough to carry a questionable worker by adding some much needed selling and struggle to everything, and she really knows how to use her intensity properly. Opening stuff had good animosity, and everything that came after the double juice was very good. Hamada at this point is close to masterful at selling covered in blood, beaten to a pulp, and Ohmukai's moveset consisting mostly of kicks, punches and knees to the face worked very well. Could see this being a low end MOTYC for some. Ayako Hamada vs. Emi Motokawa (7/21/01 Sendai) Hey look, it's... uh... Emi Sakura? Well that is a random worker to show up and battle the promotions ace. Hamada just wrestles her standard match, same spots as usual and so on, but Motokawa added some fun touches. I really liked her fast, vicious drop toe hold and her „crumbling“ style sells of Hamada's big strikes were fun. Feels weird that of all the wrestlers to show up in ARSION Motokawa would probably end up being the most influental one by training dozens of girls into wrestlers.
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Michiko Ohmukai vs. Ai Fujita (6/9/01 Sapporo) Hey look... it's Ai Fujita. Pretty basic main eventer vs. Lower carder match. Ohmukai tortures Fujita a little before Ai gets some token nearfalls. Ohmukai landed some stiff shots, but she's so disinterested in selling it's hard to get into her matches. Okay take at the trope. Mima Shimoda/Etsuko Mita vs. Ayako Hamada/Mika Akino (Twinstar of Arsion Tag Title, 6/9/01 Tokyo) Bizarro world version of their 1999 match. LCO are busted open and have to fight back valiently against Hamada and Akino who act like pricks! Also, AKINO gets a lot of focus, which was nice for once. This was probably the best LCO performance in a while and pretty good in parts, but also kinda stupid. Hamada and Akino pretty much have LCO at their will and land all their finishers, but can't win the match. Eventually LCO make their big comeback by waffling Hamada and Akino with stiff weapon shots, and literally burying them under a pile of trash. Match wasn't bad though and I like that they are still trying new things. Lioness Asuka vs. Mariko Yoshida (7/3/01 Tokyo) Lioness Asuka enters. Her License Number is 100! Yoshida is unimpressed and brings the fight right to the legend. Man, this dark looking Asuka is so different from the 80s Crush Gal. It's like some 80s pop star reinventing himself into a dark goth guy. I'd say this was a pretty good Yoshida signature match. Asuka gives an uncooperative & dangerous vibe so is a good match up for Yoshida's style. Altough she brought her own signature table to the match and tried some ECW shit that kind gave me a bad feel about her. Still Yoshida was a total trooper here taking a bunch of cringeworthy stiff shots from Asuka and working good submission nearfalls. Altough it is becoming noticable that move overkill is getting really out of hand in ARSION, seems the promotion is in it's death spiral, altough I'll see where it goes.
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20 minutes of matwork? I didn't think so.There were holds, yes, but when I think matwork I think of something more than that. Plus there were a ton of impact moves, flying and rope running. Pretty much just a regular match with a slight emphasis on holds in my book. That aside this was a really nice match as it was just them picking eachother apart over the duration. Plenty of bomb throwing, and Yagi gets to look excellent, surviving some harsh powerbombs and landing some great moves of her own. I tend to belief joshi matches are better when it's (talented) rookie vs. veteran and this was a very good showcase for lucha judoist Yagi in the 2nd year of her career, aswell as Ozaki's competence at putting a match together.
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It's become a cliche, another box to tick off in the "This is Awesome" checklist, just like the shoot headbutt which everyone is doing now. Clueless wrestlers gonna be clueless.
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ARS Tournament '01 Round 1 (4/30/01 Tokyo): Bionic J vs. Rena Takase This was a fun WCWSN 4 minute match. I liked Takase's judo throws and submissions, really liked Bionic J's power moves especially her turning a triangle choke into a sit down powerbomb. Mikiko Futagami vs. Rie Tamada Oh GAMI, you've really let yourself go. The moves her looked good but the stuff between was just...ugh. I expect better from two workers who have been working eachother for years. This just felt lifeless. Ayako Hamada vs. Hiromi Yagi We join the match just as the matwork ends. Seems like they removed the really good part. Yagi still has some amazing lucha cum shootstyle moves, but Hamada can't be arsed to sell for her and just beats her like a jobber. What a joke. Michiko Ohmukai vs. Mariko Yoshida This was okay. Just their standard stuff. Seems the workers stopped giving a damn about those 1st round matches. Semi Finals Michiko Ohmukai vs. Bionic J Man, Ohmukai didn't give a fuck in this match. Bionic J starts the match hitting all her finishers to avoid her jobber fate, but Ohmukai just looks so uninterested. Eventually J busts out a nunchaku and gives her some stiff hits. That may have been unintentional as Bionic J probably didn't have much experience about doing safe nunchaku shots. Ohmukai gives her some pretty stiff shots of her own and Bionic J joins the list of unfairly jobbed out women along with Hiromi Yagi. Mikiko Futagami vs. Ayako Hamada There was one cool moment here where Futagami counters the Ayakita. The rest of this was kind of terrible, however. Never seen Ayako so disinterested in selling and there was one horrid blown spot. This went 9 minutes but felt like half an hour. Finals Michiko Ohmukai vs. Mikiko Futagami Damn I hated this. Literally every 2nd or 3rd move was no sold. I try to be a little lenient in order to enjoy things, but this just couldn't grab my interest at all. Terrible. Mima Shimoda/Etsuko Mita vs. Ayako Hamada/Azumi Hyuga (Twinstar of Arsion Tag Title, 5/6/01 Tokyo) LCO faces the dream team of Hamada and Hyuga.My patience on LCO and their bullshit has far run out, but this atleast had a somewhat interesting layout. Basically Hyuga was barely in the match and Hamada just steamrolled both of them, so LCO were forced to use chairs and odd timing to their advantage. I dig Ayako in the ace role and thought this was a good performance from her. For me the match was a little too focussed on bomb throwing and a few no selling hiccups but overall the exeution was good and the narrative made this an effective bout.
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I have seen Apollo before but not this match. Just leaving this here so people know Apollo was a total cat on the mat. He moved like a panther and did all these crazy Solar-ish moves. Boyer didn't seem to quite know what to do about it altough you need an advance degree in Negronavarrology to do that. I really liked the fistfight after the match too. Short and to the point.
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I didn't think the interference was that bad here. In fact it's befuddling to me that in a match full of really graphic violence and lunatic bumps with one of them mostly taking a brutal one sided beating people are distracted by some (pretty minor) interference. Jaguar is a maniac here, bouncing around like she's not old enough to be your mom and splatting on the floor. Asuka is equally crazy slicing her up with reckless kicks and smashing her with props including chucking the wooden splittered edge of a table in her face. Asuka takes some certified lunatic bumps too for good measure. I didn't think it amounted to a great match like others as it really felt too rushed and ECW-ish in parts but as far as gruesome trainwrecks goes this is pretty high up.
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This was pretty fun. AJ Styles bouncing around for Roman's superhuman strength and Roman just nuking him repeatedly made for an entertaining match. The crowd brawling, prop-focus and absurd overkill made this feel like a Big Japan match with WWE booking. I don't hate Roman but I really thought he shouldn't have won the match especially after AJ's flipping out and thrashing everyone with the chair. I got a kick out of the Usos "Doing it for the bloodline!!!"