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Jetlag

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Everything posted by Jetlag

  1. Jetlag
    I'm on a quest to watch every Yabushita match I can find. This was a very good skill vs. power match. Fang Suzuki is certainly a lot better than you expect a random Dump Matsumoto-midcard heel from a forgotten indy fed to be. Instead of brawling they mostly stuck to a clean, simple wrestling match. It was really cool to see what Yabushita could do to a bigger opponent and Fang was a ton of fun. Fang able to get in a few submissions of her own was a nice touch, and her simplistic back elbows, clubbing lariats and STOs looked great, her selling was neat aswell. Yabushita basically stuck her game plan to two moves, armbars and shotais, and they made good use of them. Her slick bantamweight grappler spots and nifty ways to set up her springboard moves remain a sight to see. I wouldn't say there's great matwork here, but Yabushita has some spectacular ways to get armbars. There was a brief spill to the outside where Yabusita gets suplex into a pile of chairs and hits a dive from a big height which was a little out of place 2000s indy trope for this kind of match, but they quickly went back to the wrestling and delivered a strong, effective finish.
  2. Jetlag
    This was a fast paced joshi match. One thing that stands out about these JD' matches is the slick spots these girls do. It almost feels like watching a CMLL Minis match integrated into a joshi bout. Yabushita was a maniac here taking one psycho bump after another, eating a dangerous spill down a flight of a stairs and a huge german suplex on the floor aswell as getting dumped on her head multiple times including with a Dragon Suplex off the top rope. I thought the match wasn't quite great, as I thought the rhythm was off, there were some slight upfucks and some of the selling and transitions where... you know what they were. Still, I liked how Bloody was able to reverse Yabushita's armbars so Yabushita resorts to vicious palm strikes which they built to a strong finish, and because the match was interesting I enjoyed it.
  3. Jetlag
    I saw this match before and thought it was very good. But now, I have some additional info: Ayako was on an absolute roll, having won the SKY tournament and taken out a bunch of veterans to get to the finals here Ayako had matured insanely as a worker, using her crazy Ayakita Submission Holds to finish people off, and adding vicious strikes and bombs to her arsenal, while keeping the technical and flying moves Yoshida, on the other hand, has added devastating punch combos which she used to beat Aja, who had in turn crushed Ayako earlier And the resulting match was seriously fantastic. They continue from the tournament finale they had years before and show their growth as wrestlers, while still paying respect to eachother's strengths. To reiterate: God damn these two smoke any other junior in the world. The matwork is super, with Yoshida again fighting like an animal and catching everything Hamada tries. Aside from the crazy submissions you get Yoshida working Hamada over with punches and Hamada firing back with some really sharp and well timed offense of her own. Yoshida briefly works over Hamada's stomach a bit and while it wasn't the focus of the match, Hamada sold very well, same for Yoshida with her bandaged arm. The thing that really stands out is Ayako's awesome fire as she was in that sweet spot of a young athlete who has great triumph in reach but needs to push beyond her limits to get it. Also thought Yoshida did a monster job here with her selling, eating the fuck out of Ayako's big shots and creating just the right kind of space between moves to keep Ayako within said spot. Terrific terrific lucharesu/BattlARTS fusion bout that told a great story, this is what ARSION should be all about.
  4. Jetlag
    Gran Apache may be one of the more influental wrestlers of the 2000s with how many wrestlers he trained and helped train. genickbruch.com alone lists 60 trainees. Guy seemed like a hidden wrestling genius, his stuff in the 2011 IWRG vs. AAA maestros feud was great.
  5. Jetlag
    Ayako Hamada vs. Mariko Yoshida (Arsion ZION Tournament Finals 10/17) I saw this match before and thought it was very good. But now, I have some additional info: Ayako was on an absolute roll, having won the SKY tournament and taken out a bunch of veterans to get to the finals here Ayako had matured insanely as a worker, using her crazy Ayakita Submission Holds to finish people off, and adding vicious strikes and bombs to her arsenal, while keeping the technical and flying moves Yoshida, on the other hand, has added devastating punch combos which she used to beat Aja, who had in turn crushed Ayako earlier And the resulting match was seriously fantastic. They continue from the tournament finale they had years before and show their growth as wrestlers, while still paying respect to eachother's strengths. To reiterate: God damn these two smoke any other junior in the world. The matwork is super, with Yoshida again fighting like an animal and catching everything Hamada tries. Aside from the crazy submissions you get Yoshida working Hamada over with punches and Hamada firing back with some really sharp and well timed offense of her own. Yoshida briefly works over Hamada's stomach a bit and while it wasn't the focus of the match, Hamada sold very well, same for Yoshida with her bandaged arm. The thing that really stands out is Ayako's awesome fire as she was in that sweet spot of a young athlete who has great triumph in reach but needs to push beyond her limits to get it. Also thought Yoshida did a monster job here with her selling, eating the fuck out of Ayako's big shots and creating just the right kind of space between moves to keep Ayako within said spot. Terrific terrific lucharesu/BattlARTS fusion bout that told a great story, this is what ARSION should be all about. Ayako & Xochitl Hamada vs. Mima Shimoda/Michiko Ohmukai (10/29/00 Tokyo) The team that I've dubbed Nu-LCO is next on Ayako Hamada's list. It was cool to see someone like Xochitl actually get to be in a longer match. She wasn't a great worker, kind of a sub-Mari Apache, but her chunky girl legdrops, clotheslines and powerbombs were fun. This was kind of a typical crowd pleasing match where they run through their offense and the action is of the roll-out-of the bed type, with the Shimoda/Ohmukai duo not really having much good offense. Ohmukai had one good moment where she really brought it to Ayako with stiff punches and knees, altough that was over all too quickly. Ohmukai really exemplifies the hit and miss worker – or should say, hit and miss and miss and miss and miss... there was one cute spot where Xochitl did the Kobashi cover spot to protect her baby sister. They kept it moving and had clear roles with the Hamada girls having to overcome the evil lingerie model duo, so I guess this was acceptable action for the joshi completists. Chapparita Asari vs. Mika Akino (Sky High of Arsion Title, 12/3/00 Tokyo) 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.
  6. Jetlag
    Really fun match between two undercarders. Ranmaru has really sharp looking kicks and really lays the stiff shots into Kuragaki, while Kuragaki does a mix of power spots and integrated flying moves. I knew Kuragaki was "agile for a thick power wrestler", but her athleticism absolutely blew me away here, approaching Super Astro-ish levels. She did all these slick cat landing on her feet spots and asai moonsaults that wrestlers half her size can't pull off as clean. Most wrestlers will occasionally wobble a little when doing that kind of stuff, but everything she did had a perfect 10 landing. I also really liked how she caught Ranmaru in a canadian backbreaker hold, then followed up with a dropkick to the back and a sharpshooter for a nice submission nearfall. Her twisting moonsault where she crushed the Ninja with her hip was really nasty too. I'll be hunting for more Kuragaki.
  7. Jetlag
    Female worker that doesn't get talked about enough. Great unique moveset with the combo of headbutt variations and shootstyle submissions including the awesome Imada triangle choke. What matches do I need to see? Anything from her run that is considered a "highlight"? Seems like she was midcarder for life while occasionally playing tag partner for Chigusa and other old timerettes. I've really enjoyed her vs. Hyuga, Yoshida, Mizunami, Kana, Ran Yu Yu, AKINO, Chikayo Nagashima, and her vs. Aja Kong is on my to watch list. Also apparently she teamed with Hiromi Yagi was Masked Angel Freia which is total dream matchup. Apparently, only two of her singles matches vs. Meiko Satomura made tape, and one was clipped down to about 2 minutes, the other was in 1999. What a travesty. Any fans of her around here? Maybe an opinion from someone who was watching in realtime?
  8. Jetlag
    Aja Kong vs. Mary Apache (ZION Tournament '00 Round 2, 10/17/00 Tokyo) Ayako Hamada vs. Mikiko Futagami (ZION Tournament '00 Round 2, 10/17/00 Tokyo) Kong/Apache was 4 minutes of chunky girl bombthrowing. Perhaps I'm expecting too much, but I thought Mari was a little exposed as she just wrestled Aja like she wrestles everyone else... throwing bombs. Hamada vs. GAMI was somewhat neat due to GAMI being tricky and heelish, altough Hamada squashes her very quickly. That missed Asai Moonsault bump and brutal unprotected chairshot that Ayako took were probably a wee bit unnecessary in that match. Mariko Yoshida vs. Aja Kong (ZION Tournament '00 Semi-Finals, 10/17/00 Tokyo) 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. Ayako Hamada vs. Rie Tamada (ZION Tournament '00 Semi-Finals, 10/17/00 Tokyo) Rie Tamada is this wrestler who looks like not much at one time and then does some really neat stuff at others. This was less neat moments and more fairly standard, even a little sloppy bomb throwing. Atleast Tamada put up a valiant performance, but there really was no stopping Ayako.
  9. Jetlag
    The SAW deathmatch. Snuff said. Actually I also just saw a Corporal Robinson vs. JC Bailey match on YouTube where are barefoot in thumbtacks fighting over loafers on a pole.
  10. Jetlag
    Ayako Hamada vs. Mika Akino (SKY Tournament II Final, 7/16/00 Tokyo) 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. Mary Apache vs. Lynx (Candy Okutsu) (ZION Tournament '00 Round 1, 10/17/00 Tokyo) Mariko Yoshida vs. Piko (Commando Boirshoi) (ZION Tournament '00 Round 1, 10/17/00 Tokyo) Hey look! Another tournament! More clipped, short, sprints! Also more girls in unnecessary mask gimmicks! Doing these 1 night tournaments without being able to give these matches proper time is probably the one really stupid thing ARSION has done so far. I mean, you have all these awesome wrestlers, but you don't really give them the space to do their thing. That's TNA levels of stupid. For example Piko is Command Bolshoi, and so... Yoshida vs. Bolshoi is a dream match, right? But it's just 2 minutes of clips of a match that was short to begin with and you don't really get a sense of how good the match actually is, even though what's shown looks fun. Lynx is Candy Okutsu and wrestled Candy Okutsu's standard match. Rie Tamada vs. Michiko Ohmukai (ZION Tournament '00 Round 1, 10/17/00 Tokyo) Ayako Hamada vs. Mima Shimoda (ZION Tournament '00 Round 1, 10/17/00 Tokyo) These are two more interesting Round 1 matches. Ohmukai wore this really goofy pink lingerie getup and I was expecting another shitshow, but instead we got Ohmukai dishing out stiff punches and kicks, almost KOing Tamada a few times. Really liked how Tamada worked her way back into the match by taking out the leg and kept surviving against her more dangerous opponent. Hamada/Shimoda had some interesting veteran touches from Shimoda (especially liked her kicking Hamada in the face when she went for her trademark headbutt) and I really liked the finish where Hamada goes mad and KO's Shimoda with a flurrie of strikes which was a cool way to book the rookie going over the much more seasoned veteran. On the other hand the layout was kind of stupid as Hamada basically turned into supergirl and kicked out of every. Single. One. Of Shimoda's big moves. Shimoda has some damn big moves so yeah that was dumb, altough it also signalled that Ayako Hamada's push was not to be messed with in 2000.
  11. Jetlag
    I thought they did a really good job with this match. Amateur wrestler with a ton of skill and power vs. vicious, unmovable beast is such a great matchup. The early goings where it looks like Chihiro can't do anything at all to Aja were so cool. Aja has done this match a million, and she is still crazy good at pro wrestling, so it all works perfect: when Chihiro gets something in on Aja it means a lot, Aja thrashes the rookie and makes her survive a lot of punishment, all leading to Chihiro looking like the real deal. Aja's big bump was totally crazy, as were all of Hashimoto's freakish lifts, leg work was really smart and lead to a great nearfall, and Aja's selling near the end was just amazing. Chihiro still has her green moments and I thought the brawl on the outside was a little slow, other than that this a classic story match done very well.
  12. Jetlag
    Is this thread limited to US guys only, or merely guys who are just "technically solid" without being actively terrible or lazy. I'd like to throw in Keiji Mutoh, aswell as guys like Konnan, Cibernetico, the endless stream of shitty 2nd generation luchadores that seem to have popped up in the 2010s and get pushes based on their name value, etc. Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Hirooki Goto are contenders too.
  13. Jetlag
    More tournaments Ai Fujita vs. Linda Starr (SKY Tournament II Prelim Round, 7/16/00 Tokyo) Mary Apache vs. Chapparita Asari (SKY Tournament II Round 1, 7/16/00 Tokyo) Mika Akino vs. Fabi Apache (SKY Tournament II Round 1, 7/16/00 Tokyo) Kamen Tenshin Rosetta vs. Ai Fujita (SKY Tournament II Round 1, 7/16/00 Tokyo) Ayako Hamada vs. Sumie Sakai (SKY Tournament II Round 1, 7/16/00 Tokyo) 5 matches that weren't that long to begin with get clipped down to about 21 minutes length. Featuring: Swanky rollups! Huracanranas from unusual positions! Twisting flying moves! Mari looking pretty boss again! DIVES!!! Lots and lots of dives. The one complete match we got was Hamada/Sakai at 8 minutes length. There were actual exchanges there so it was an actual match and not just a move exhibition. I wish Sakai had shown up in Arsion 2 years earlier. There was even some cool matwork to boot. Still not a ton of selling there, but it was nice to see a fresh matchup. Mika Akino vs. Mary Apache (SKY Tournament II Semi-Finals, 7/16/00 Tokyo) 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. Ayako Hamada vs. Kamen Tenshin Rosetta (SKY Tournament II Semi-Finals, 7/16/00 Tokyo) Ayako squashes the hell out of the masked superheroine. I liked this as it had an actual dynamic: Ayako has the superior striking and submission ability (ignoring the fact that Rosetta is Hiromi Yagi) and is equal in agility. So Rosetta gets a few short, tricky comebacks in but ultimately can't hang. Would've been nice to get a competitive match but this was still better than just a bunch of clips. Impressive how Ayako is acting all big boss now when her debut was 2 years before this.
  14. Jetlag
    Tanaka's a guy whose stuff looks good, but he's just deathly dull and spotty. Nowhere close to his wife as far as matwork ability goes. She did the flash armbar shit better too. I always thought AKINO looked like a gender switched Ikuto Hidaka. She did the same "lucharesu moves into shoot submissions" moveset too. They had to have trained together in the BattlARTS dojo or something. Anyways, more from the P*MIX tournament. Also, Ayako getting mauled by Aja. Ayako Hamada/Gran Hamada vs. Hiromi Yagi/Tiger Mask IV (P*MIX Grand Prix Semi-Finals, 6/29/00) WOW!!! Okay let me discuss this match. I was surprised by how much substance this had. I mean, they could've easily had another of these lucharesu-ish quick matches and it would have been fine, but this was different. We get a STORY~ with the Hamadas having to work together to combat the younger, more vicious TMIV and tricked out veteran Yagi. There are a few moments where Ayako has to save her Papa and others where Papa is like, „Okay, I'll let my DAUGHTER handle this!“ and awww that's just adorable. But the wrestling was up to par too! There's a really good Hamada/Yagi mat sequence, Yagi busts out one of the swankiest mat moves I've seen in a while and generally reminds me in this match how damn cool she is acting like a tricky veteran grappler. TMIV and Gran Hamada decide to work all stiff and intense and the old man gets kicked in the face a bunch. Could've gone 10 minutes longer but I was surprised by how much they achieved here. Also: Ayako busts out a badass new Ayakita Special! Ayako Hamada/Gran Hamada vs. Yumi Fukawa/Minoru Tanaka (P*MIX Grand Prix Finals, 6/29/00) This was pretty underwhelming. Which is weird because all the previous matches in this tournament where a ton of fun. Fukawa and Tanaka added almost nothing to this match. Tanaka just ran through his stuff. Did I ever mention I hate that guy? There was one cool moment when Hamada decides to get all lucha on the mat with Fukawa and Fukawa is like „fine“ and they go all IWRG. Sadly that only lasted about 30 seconds. There were also a few blown spots. Fukawa tries countering the Hama-chan cutter and both she and Ayako end up falling on their heads. Eventually Tanaka remembered he's a BattlARTS guy and lands some nasty spinkicks on the older Hamada, and the finish was a feel good moment but the rest of this was just not good. Aja Kong vs. Ayako Hamada (8/18/00 Tokyo) Aw lil puppy Ayako tries to get on Aja's grill. No Aja don't do that she's just a kid! Structurally this was barely different from their 1998 match as it's Ayako going at Aja and Aja just CRUSHING her. Seriously Aja puts a deeply brutal beating on Ayako here even for her standards, just bruising her with kicks and slaps and just impaling her when she tried a moonsault. However, NOW Hamada was little more well-rounded offensively, and more importantly she had all the fire in the world to keep her going. Hamada tried her darndest, even taking the fight to the mat in some neat moments, and most importantly really, really laying it into Aja, throwing hands and kicks that were almost reckless. Seriously, I don't recall many „flyer vs. Powerhouse“ matches where the „flyer“ throws flurries as savage as this. Still not quite there, but she was getting there! This was compact, highly violent, and pretty great.
  15. Jetlag
    The opening of this was fun like a 1992 WCW tag. Axel Dieter Jr. has found his calling as a technical posturing heel with hitler youth haircut. His technical stuff is still a little too light for my taste but he knows what he's doing. His diving uppercuts are crap, though. I mean... diving uppercut... that move just makes no sense,and he barely connects them. However, I hated the second half of the match as there was fuck all selling or structure and just guys going in and out of the ring to hit their stuff. The british guys tried to act like heels but were very eager to engage in cute workrate stuff. That is really my least favourite kind of tag match. Plus, most of the offense was really dweeby, thigh slapping indy shit that I can't take seriously. My favourite moments of the match where all the bits where WALTER would waffle the tiny dudes. Still, I couldn't really get into this and I thought the finish was fucking stupid considering all the big spots that came before.
  16. Jetlag
    I liked this a lot, felt like a showcase match between two tough NOAH undercarders except these two are way more nimble on their feet. Plenty stiff and generally fresh due to them sticking to what works for them. Ran Yu Yu has good knee based offense and really vicious elbows, Amano has some nasty short kicks. Some damn impressive sequences and moves here: Yu Yu's wheelbarrow lift into spinning argentine backbreaker felt like a move Cesaro should steal.I also really like Amano's flying armbars and they worked some neat counters around them. This didn't have the kind of sustained selling or story that makes me think I'm watching something epic, but they kept bringing the quality and never did anything stupid.
  17. Jetlag
    The ring here is terribly squeaky. It appears to be in a TV studio in front of a psychedelic background. It's Post-Modernist Shootstyle Wrestling Daddy!!! You may want to watch this for gorgeous Otsuka suplexes. A little uneventful undercard match otherwise. The BattlARTS matwork was pretty rough in 1996, and they didn't quite succeed here in making it compelling. I do appreciate the the uncooperativeness, though. Usuda looked legit as hell.
  18. Jetlag
    I enjoyed this a lot. They really put a lot of compelling stuff into a slow, mat-based encounter. Funaki could really, really go on the mat, and the pudgy little technician vs. dirty heel mauler was a good story for the match. Ikeda was super gritty here. His legbar was such a Johnny Valentine move. Great finish. Check it out if you're a fan of this stuff.
  19. Jetlag
    This match was like a joshi version of Atlantis/Blue Panther. Just what the hell was going on with these two girls? I'll just assume that this is how Jaguar Yokota taught them wrestling is supposed to be like. Just a straight up grappling match with a ton of legit ability in both workers and a strange lucha influence to keep it sweet and graceful. I swear to good some of the sequences here wouldn't look out of place in a 1991 CMLL title match. At one point, Sakai floated into a flying headscissor, which turned into a standing choke, that Yabushita then countered into an ankle pick. Really unlike anything I've seen in a wrestling match before. Same for Sakai's strange huracanrana where she slipped underneath almost as if pulling guard and then gracefully rolled into a pin. That kind of stuff could look cute and contrived, but they had their timing down pat and the rhythm was just right, moving from matwork, to sparringly used rope usage, to hellish suplex moves. Yabushita again went for the arm like a bat out of judo hell, and the selling was top, adding just the right kind of fatigue and desperatin. Some of Yabushita's armlocks were straight out of Negro Navarro's book. Really I've no idea what was going on with these two to have a match like this in a dying promotion. I guess it's just a thing between two workers who trained together and just did they kind of bout they enjoyed.
  20. Jetlag
    It's just people generally not paying attention to european wrestling until recently. I remember he impressed a few people in his US match against Eddie Kingston which was more than half a decade ago. I think Walter isn't often in a position where he looks really good. Which is fucking weird considering he's the most talented, legit looking young guy around in the area. He is at his best when's just a beast mauling people like an indy Vader. But he bumps and stooges too much and basically wrestles like a more intelligent Sekimoto with more thigh slapping. Walter outweights Riddle by a 100 lbs. here but that size difference is barely played up at all. I liked Walter in this match but Riddle is getting so annoying, with his popping up, no-selling and shitty missed strikes. I'm starting to think he's just a glorified Kurt Angle. I liked this when Walter was laying a beating on Riddle. His legwork looked real good, his chops and stomps were great. Liked Riddle's nasty barefoot kicks but other than that this was kind of lacking substance and felt like your typical indy bomb throwing match.
  21. Jetlag
    Yumi Fukawa/Minoru Tanaka vs. Mariko Yoshida/Alexander Otsuka (P*MIX Grand Prix Quarterfinals, 6/7/00) AW YES!!! ARSION TEAMING UP WITH BATTLARTS!!! Gee those cheeky BattlARTS guys really love to show up in intergender matches. This was a ton of fun and a throwback to the early Arsion style, so we get MATWORK. GOOD MATWORK. The male vs. Female sections didn't take up huge portions of the match. Tanaka was a total gent allowing Yoshida to have a friendly mat scramble, which was... not very realistic but I don't expect intelligent work from Minoru Tanaka at this point. The guys weren't exactly breaking a sweat here, but even a half-decent effort from these dudes is pretty good and the Fukawa/Yoshida exchanges were class. Ayako Hamada/Gran Hamada vs. Mika Akino/Ikuto Hidaka (P*MIX Grand Prix Quarterfinals, 6/7/00) This was fast paced lucharesu fun where they all mesh really well. Gran Hamada still looks so, so good. His mat section with Hidaka really could have gone 2 or 30 minutes longer. Not much to say about thisother than that it was fast paced, smooth and enjoyable. Hiromi Yagi/Tiger Mask vs. Chapparita Asari/Great Sasuke (P*MIX Grand Prix Quarterfinals, 6/24/00) This got 20 MINUTES and was worked like a big match. It seems to be from an M-Pro show, but I'll let it count as best of ARSION. The early guy vs. Guy sections were pretty filler and resthold-y. The girl vs. Girl sections were good as in „two wrestlers who have fought eachother a bunch doing their stuff“. For some reason, the guys gave the girls a ton of offense and stooging a bunch. Maybe they were trying to be gentlemen. Yagi did a mix of spaced out lucha armdrags, judo throws and armbars which was cool. Asari did her usual athletic stuff and looked quite good. The finishing stretch was built around guy vs. Girl and then girl vs. Girl sections and pretty fun. This took a bit to get going but for this type of lucharesu action I'd say it got going good.
  22. Jetlag
    Liked this a lot, mostly for Shibata putting an intensily violent beating on Okada. Shibata is a weird wrestler who looks like the heir to the Tenryu/Kawada type japanese wrestlers and then decides to work like a US indy trained monkey, but he got that stuff out of the way early and concentrated on stomping Okada to a pulp. This had the usual NJPW diseases, so you had the somewhat choreographed opening, loooong middle portion with the stupid elbow exchanges, sometimes random transitions and "hit a move, then wander around" Dragon Gate shit, but Shibata's general disdain was entertaining enough and the brutal ending moments were some real japanese wrestling. Shibata had all these cool moments here he unleashes his fury and basically tries to make a man out of Okada. I also like how he worked the overly long submission nearfalls. I didn't really like how Okada just absorbed everything Shibata had, but atleast he had the decency not to get overly cute with his comebacks. I agree about all the rainmaker spots being great, as it really seemed Okada was so beaten up he had no hitting power. I also loved the spot where Shibata teases the "finisher steal" and just slaps Okada like a bitch. I guess for such a long match this was indeed great.
  23. Jetlag
    Conclusion of their series of awesome 70s junior title matches. There is some animosity at this point – Go doesn't want to shake Fujinami's hand. The ref makes him do it, but Fujinami slaps him in the face! The body of the match is fantastic as they go back and forth between tight matwork with nifty throws and takedowns and escalating into knocking the crap out eachother. Go slaps Fujinami back, and Fujinam shows he can go there, even kicking Go in the eye! Fujinami really is quite the skillful prick here. Go goes into a greco roman knuckle lock only to headbutt Fujinami in the eye, so Tatsumi does this smooth takedown, into a front headlock... they end up in the ropes, clean break right? Nope because Fujinami headbutts him right back. Fujinami really looks like a worldbeater here, even bridging up from a modified armbar, which was a damn impressive athletic mat spot. They tease the big throws and work a great finishing run where they wipe eachother out with awesome 70s dives and do hanging by a thread-nearfalls. Great little match, and Ryuma Go looked like the best wrestler ever to have fought space aliens.
  24. Jetlag
    Long junior match! I dunno, this kind of 90s junior epic isn't my favourite match type, but this was very solid. The matwork wasn't anything brilliant, but they kept it interesting enough and Tanaka managed to not embarass himself. Tanaka stuck to shooty offense while Michinoku integrated some pro style into the BattlARTS formula, but never got too cute with it. Tanaka really isn't the most interesting wrestler, but he could throw palm strikes and kicks and lock in a few submissions like you want from a BattlARTS boy trying to take a title off of an outsider. TAKA absolutely sold like a champ and I loved his big punch to show Tanaka who he is. Get rugged, pretty boy!! They may have overstayed their welcome with the giant, grand finishing stretch, but a junior match that has toe holds and missile dropkicks as big nearfalls works better than one that has avalanche brainbusters. I could see some folks being really into this if you like junior wrestling that isn't all spot fu.
  25. Jetlag
    Yumi Fukawa vs. Rie Tamada (ARS Tournament '00 Prelim Round, 5/7 Tokyo) Another tourament! Tamada has grown wild old locks and acts all devilish now! MORE CLIPPED WRESTLING! Fukawa armbars in a flash! Tamada armbars her back and for a bit you remember what made ARSION work so well in the first place. I noticed Tamada's sleeves have an Anaconda pattern, but instead of crushing submissions she's all rolling elbows and tornado DDTs. This was okay – all 4 minutes of it. Mikiko Futagami vs. Bionic J (ARS Tournament '00 Prelim Round, 5/7 Tokyo) Bionic J is the kayfabe sister of Reggie Bennett. Having the initials „BJ“ as a female wrestler seems like a bad idea. This match does not bring the cool matwork, sadly, like past Reggie Bennett matches have. J has some fun power moves. Futagami has dropped her badass shootstyle almost completely and just smacks J around a bunch. This match went 4 minutes so we get to see it aaalmost in full. Bionic J points to her head to show how self-satisfied she is with her cleverness while Futagami climbs to the top rope to add some character. Bionic J deserved better than this. Etsuko Mita vs. Xochitl Hamada (ARS Tournament '00 Round 1, 5/7 Tokyo) Xochitl „The Least“ Hamada is the next foreign style woman to get smacked around. This was pretty uneventful and lousy and really a nothing squash. Mariko Yoshida vs. Mima Shimoda (ARS Tournament '00 Round 1, 5/7 Tokyo) The first somewhat worthwhile match. Yoshida was Yoshida and showed Shimoda what she thought of her bullshit. I imagine this would have been good if we had gotten the early build, but the action was still solid. Michiko Ohmukai vs. Yumi Fukawa (ARS Tournament '00 Round 1, 5/7 Tokyo) These two had a damn good match in 1998. But by 2000 they both seem to have surpassed their creative peak. Execution wise this was good stuff, but as far as structure goes this was pretty much a highlight reel of their stuff which really isn't a type of match I like much. Yes, a nice submission here, a stiff kick there, but the whole picture didn't just quite come together. Aja Kong vs. Mikiko Futagami (ARS Tournament '00 Round 1, 5/7 Tokyo) A 3 minute sprint!! It was actually a fun sprint, because these two knew how to put a few exclamation points into it. Both women like to get surely and they smack each other good here. Fun for what it is and this is actually the first match I'm not sour about being short. Michiko Ohmukai vs. Etsuko Mita (ARS Tournament '00 Semi-Finals, 5/7 Tokyo) LCO Newly teamed up beauty queen duo explodes!! Ohmukai just nails Mita with kicks and punches. Mita fires back some but Ohmukai easily gets this one in her pocket. Aja Kong vs. Mariko Yoshida (ARS Tournament '00 Semi-Finals, 5/7 Tokyo) This was good. Good matwork, well executed power vs. Skill story, good match. Perhaps a little drawn out in the finish, but ended before it got excessive. Seems that Yoshida isn't the dominant force anymore that she was in 1998 and 1999, which is a little sad, but she was facing Aja here after all. Aja Kong vs. Michiko Ohmukai (ARS Tournament '00 Finals, 5/7 Tokyo) Thankfully, they clipped all the previous matches, so we get the final in full! All 6 minutes of it!! These two had a really good match at the debut show, but this wasn't that. They just threw bombs with no real build to make you appreciate what was going on. The energy was very lacking. Atleast the match was plenty stiff as you'd expect from them. Okay, that tournament very short and very disappointing. But: Up next is an INTERGENDER TOURNAMENT! Featuring: Alexander Otsuka! Papa Hamada! And others! Stay tuned~
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