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Jetlag

DVDVR 80s Project
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  1. Jetlag
    Finals of the Tournament Michiko Ohmukai vs. Hiromi Yagi (5/4) Yagi just went through a war against Yoshida, not mention her partner in the 1st round. Ohmukai hasn't even done 7 minutes of wrestling that night. This was Ohmukai's kicks and bombs vs. Yagi's flash submissions. Yagi was really the story of the match, as she tried her darndest to beat Yoshika in the Semis and now had to do it again against the fresher, bigger Ohmukai. Fine bout, altough Ohmukai is nowhere near as good as Yoshida at selling submission nearfalls. Rie Tamada/Hiromi Yagi © vs. Ayako Hamada/Mika Akino (Twinstar of Arsion Tag Titles, 6/30) The Hamada/Akino story continues. Hard for me to say how good this was exactly – the match had a nice pace, was unpredictable, and everything was hit nicely (aside from Akino falling on her head one time), so I'd say it was good. Hamada and Akino were the story of the match because D'aaaawww look at these little puppies going for the big gold! Akino has some pretty intricate rope climbing moves and Ayako looks like total star material at this point. I'm a little grumpy at the lack of cool matwork and Yagi, however. Mima Shimoda/Etsuko Mita vs. Yumi Fukawa/Rie Tamada (7/25) Las Cachorras Orientales enter. God lord how tall are LCO? Or, how short are Fukawa and Tamada? I suspect Mita is like 5'6, but she looked like Kevin Nash next to the other two. And this was kind of worked like Kevin Nash & Scott Hall vs. Dean Malenko & Billy Kidman. Or one of these NOAH opening tags were a pair of old geezers annoy two rookies. Except uhm, it was kind of... good? LCO's uncooperativeness added a lot to the match as it actually meant something when Fukawa and Tamada got a move in on them. Match was worked slow and stayed in the ring and was shockingly efficient for what it was, drawing big reactions from the crowd. It's crazy that Fukawa's flash armbars can still be this exciting after she has done nothing else for so many matches. Credit to LCO, I knew they were capable wrestler before, but they were perfect here in a completely different way than I'm used to.
  2. Jetlag
    A great match! Feels like something that should be a staple for the "joshi for people who don't like joshi" pile. It has the legwork/tease the Figure 4-story that so many wrestling fans can understand, plus a classic story with Aoyama having a go at the ace. It also has that "Wow!" factor with state of the art flying moves and big time bumps used for great drama. Aoyama is pretty overzealous, but Sato is pretty much her ideal matchup and Sato has such a tremendous connection to the crowd that anything she's in automatically becomes above average. The matwork is all freaked out and luchariffic with a ton of indian deathlock work and a bunch of twisting around to escape the Figure 4. I imagine this is how they mostly worked big matches at big shows. Notice how easily they fill the time while still ending the match early enough to leave plenty on the table for the future. Just a great main event that would work anywhere in the world.
  3. Jetlag
    The "no selling" of limbwork is something almost all AJW matches from the time period have. It simply was not what they were going for. They would "sell" as in acknowledge that a leg was being weakened, but didn't do the Rude/Steamboat Beach Blast 1992 style constant selling.
  4. Jetlag
    A very fast paced big match. So fast paced that it almost feels rushed at times. First fall had some nice armlocks, mostly carried by Terry Funk being really great at making even a basic arm hold seem meaningful. He always adds so much urgency to his wrestling - and Terry was pretty on point here in general, throwing punches and doing his ridiculous selling including at one point being draped upside down over the announcers table. He added some much needed drama to the match with his in-peril selling, on the other hand Jumbo and Baba barely seemed to be in trouble. They use tag psychology and double team moves in pretty clever ways building the bout nicely with bomb throwing, toe-to-toe strike exchanges and character work. I don't find Baba to be a very exciting worker - yes I know we are supposed to look at him and remark how smart he is, but his matches always go back to him hitting his signature moves. Dory is mechanically sound, but I was glad his role in the match was limited. At one point, Jumbo grabbed him and launched him in the air with this awesome deadlift suplex, but seconds later Dory was back on offense. Dory really lacks some of the things Terry has to an obscene degree, while Terry is the complete package. Finish was funny in the way life will sometimes leave you on your back and we can all feel on bord with Terry's reaction to it. Good match and a piece in japanese wrestling history as the tag psychology here felt like the same that was at work in all those great 90s tags.
  5. Jetlag
    This is for the vacated All Pacific title match and a hell of a fight. Wait, it's Yumi Ikeshita - surely there's gonna be a ton of cheating? Well, believe it or not, but Ikeshita actually left her foreign object aside for a few minutes and went at it with Lucy on the mat. And bah gawd Yumi Ikeshita was quite the skilled grappler! She had some swank arm locks and takedowns including a really rocking flying armscissor and was just as good at dominating on the ground as she as at dominating with cheating. Eventually Lucy gets the better of her leg and Yumi actually resorts to foreign object shenanigans while hobbling one one foot and making a comeback. They go back to the wrestling though and work some pretty spectacular spots including both of them crashing and burning on dives (Lucy Kayama surely was not afraid to die) and lots of nearfalls. If this had blood and maybe a bit more ideas from Lucy this would be a slam dunk MOTYC. Still you completists will want to note it down because it's Yumi Ikeshita grappling baby!
  6. Jetlag
    Jaguar Yokota & Jackie Sato vs. Nancy Kumi & Jumbo Hori (AJW 1981) Utterly brilliant match. I've seen this before, but after watching a bunch of 70s/early 80s joshi, this kind of feels like the quintessence of the style. And it emphasizes how distinct the girl wrestling at the time was from everything else. So, this is like a lucha trios or one of those french tags: Graceful, unique wrestling. Just the stuff I like so much. Being that it's joshi the pace is fast, and being that it's the early 80s the match is built around cool throws and hard fought submissions. Tons of awesome flying headscissor work too (I don't mean that in the crazed wrestling fetishist way). This project is about Jaguar, but the standout is Jackie (like in almost any match she is in). You can tell she loved this kind of pure wrestling contest and was a total wrestling machine. Damn what a badass grappler. Jumbo Hori also looks really great, with her size advantage and power adding a different dynamic.Yokota looks like motherfucking Jaguar Yokota, doing some stuff vastly beyond the ability of most wrestlers. Hori and Kumi have to fight hard, and there's the sense that they don't stand much chance against the two women who would compete for the top belt the same year. I could see some people having a problem with the sheer speed and number of spots as well as flowing partner-in-and-out structure, but that was the style of the day and how hard they are sprinting here for 20 minutes and doing all this awesome no-bullshit wrestling is endearing to me. It's way better than the joshi sprints from 20 years later that's for sure. Also, the rhytm of the bout was right and there were a number of really well timed spots, proving that they were thinking on their feet as they went. Great match.
  7. Jetlag
    This was a stupidly effective and smartly worked skill vs. Power match. Sato is a wrestling machine, but Ripper can power out of anything she tries. Ripper even lies down for Sato to pin her and just pushs her off to demonstrate that. Ripper is so self confident here it's lovely. Ripper takes control by grabbing Sato's hand and crushing it with her grip. Ripper throws Sato around and a second has to re-locate Sato's leg at one point. The schoolgirls are in tears at this point. Sato really puts on a tremedous selling performance here and has to use stalling tactics and last ditch takedowns, making this look like Monster Ripper is the challenge of her life and not even she knows how she is supposed to win. The finish and the build to it feel suitably great, everyone freaks out and they continue to brawls afterward with all the seconds getting thrown around. This was a great piece of TV.
  8. Jetlag
    Two fat bastards punching eachother a lot. Same deal as usual with Wanz, right? Well, this was the early 80s and Wanz was in way better shape than later on. He was still a fat bastard, but actually looked like an in shape fat bastard. He doesn't do anything out of the extraordinary but there are some impressive floating style lifts. Sailor White can punch Otto in the ear and does some impressive bumps for a short fat dude with comical arms. Dare I say - he was pretty clever with his bumps. The problem with the match is that it goes needlessly long - pretty sure not even Sailor White himself knew why the hell he would be booked in a match this long, but this was the convention for german main events - so probably could have shaved off a resthold or two. Also, unlike in other matches Wanz didn't seem to be in much peril. As usual the surrounding presentation is of the match is off the charts as all the austrians pile up when the action spills to the outside. Oh and Wanz has Mile Zrno and Steve Wright as his seconds, with Wright doing all kinds of fist pumping and looking like he wants to jump into the fray himself. The unusually gruesome finish makes up for it though as Wanz just kicks a bloody Sailor in the kidneys and ribs until the ref stop. Enjoyable bout.
  9. Jetlag
    Semi Finals of the Tournament Mariko Yoshida vs. Hiromi Yagi (5/4) Re-take of their classic from February. Yagi even wears the same outfit as if to intimidate her opponent. Yoshida is wounded from the previous match against Fukawa, and Yagi pounces on her arm from the beginning. For a match that is „another piece“ in the rivalry this was great in it's own right. Yoshida does some really great selling, including contorting her body in crazy fashion to avoid the armbar, and strategic adjustments when she realizes she is too damaged to do her signatures properly, so modifies a few leg submissions so she can do them without using her arms. Pretty great stuff and shows she could do more than just lock in spectacular submissions. Yoshida had been nigh invulnerable before, and even with her not being at 100% they do a fantastic job making you wonder if Yagi can really do the impossible and beat her. Hard to do that kind of that match that keeps you guessing, but they did it here. Another match that was helped by the booking, as the previous tournament matches had established a match can end at anytime. Michiko Ohmukai vs. Candy Okutsu (5/4) Candy has really done a number in 1999, making me hate her and her bullshit moonsaults. I just wanted Ohmukai to flip out and bash her brains in. And bah gawd she actually did it! Uranage, Solebutt, 1, 2, 3 and it's over.
  10. Jetlag
    Even after years of watching shootstyle, lucha title matches, World of Sport and funky ARSION matwork, the deliberate technical work in this bout has lost nothing of it's fascination. The match starts great enough with a tireless chant for Jumbo, while Funk shoots for the leg, Jumbo sprawls and they end up doing a lock up on their knees, with Funk sliding across the ring on his knees. This whole match with it's graceful wrestling and proper title match atmosphere feels like the equivalent to Atlantis/Blue Panther, Myers/Grey, whatever you like.Then Funk brings forth the greatest arm work I've ever seen. I hate when lousy wrestlers go for trite wristlocks over and over, and it is so nice to see Funk making so much out of one of the most simple holds. Really, the whole match is a testament to the greatness of Terry Funk: we love him as the psycho brawler, the erratic madman, but in this match he looks like the greatest wrestler to ever live. Always keeping things interesting with his unique counters and aggression, brilliant transitions, impeccable timing. The headbutts from the greco roman lockup, elbow grinding Jumbo in the face, making great use of the rolling pin combo, working the neck, conveying desperation and of course his awesome signature weeble wobble selling. It's a masterclass if I've ever seen one. Jumbo is quite good as the unstoppable olympic superman - I liked how he would knock Terry's arm down from the lockup, and he can deliver quite the bomb throwing with his slow motion suplex moves, bringing Terry to the edge of defeat, understands how to sell (at times) - still it's hard not to see this match as Terry dragging Jumbo by the ear to a great match, and not be a little disgruntled Jumbo takes so much of the work, with his stuff just not being on the level of Terry. Well, I won't hold it against him, because Terry was #1 that night. Terry Funk, what a wrestler you are.
  11. Jetlag
    Jaguar Yokota vs. Mimi Hagiwara (early 80s handheld) This is some handheld from YouTube without a date. I assume this is early 80s before Yokota lost her hair. A period that seems like one of the best for women's wrestling to me. This match is easy to hate, because it has a bunch of legwork that isn't sold a ton, but there's lots of good wrestling to make up for it. Yokota controlling on the mat and constantly attacking the leg, even reversing Hagiwara's desperation rollups into leglocks, was really great. They make good use of the bigger submissions, with Hagiwara locking in a surprise Scorpion Deathlock after Yokota had controlled her so long that got a big reaction, then move into a finishing run that's as intense and dramatic as in any other wrestling match at any point in history, like a high end lucha title match. They actually build to the big spots well, exhaustion selling kicks in, time limit comes into play and Hagiwara dishes out some insane moves. It's worlds apart from your typical run of the mill workrate match too, as small details such as Yokota taking huge bumps for a posting or Hagiwara following up a piledriver with knee drops to the back of the head add so much to the competitiveness. Is this match a classic, one for your laundry list of all time greats? Who knows, I don't even give a shit anymore. I know the talent on display is incredible.
  12. Jetlag
    Maki Ueda!!! At this point, I'd kill to see some of those longer title matches from the Budokan that AJW had. This was quite the spectacle - as it was a 20 minutes clean technical bout. Just a chance to see Ueda being quite the skillful grappler. Kayama was good too, but kind of along for the ride. Not for the faint of the heart, as they do a bunch of limbwork that isn't really sold, but it's such an oddity that I can forgive it. Interesting holds and throws a plenty. Interesting fact: According to wrestlingdata, both Maki and Jackie Sato were trained by Umenosuke Kiyomigawa. Who is Umenosuke Kiyomigawa, you ask? Kiyomigawa is a guy who has spent quite a bit of time wrestling in central europe, and is the one japanese guy that I've heard european wrestlers speak highly of. Klaus Kauroff even credits Kiyomigawa with training him. Maybe that explains the unique grappling style the AJW girls used that seems more advanced than anything I've seen from japanese natives at the time, besides the occasional Fujinami match.
  13. Jetlag
    Okay, the Fukuoka match makes a lot more sense now. She did get in her Moonsault Doublestomp, and also the Rider Kick. Another great move. ARS Tournament 99 Round 1 Hiromi Yagi vs. Rie Tamada (5/4) Tag team partners do battle! They even wore matching outfits to emphasize that. This was all cool as they did all these nifty standing exchanges, and Yagi wasn't playing nice at all and ruthlessly went for Tamada's bandaged leg, leading to some real drama in the last few minutes. Fine as hell 8 minute match. Mariko Yoshida vs. Yumi Fukawa (5/4) Yoshida just got taken to the limit by Yagi, now she faces Fukawa, who doesn't have the judo throws but uses a similiar armbar-centric moveset. And Yoshida still has a weakened arm, so Fukawa goes out of her way to try every armbar in the book on her. Pretty excellent match for what it is. Fukawa's crazy flying armbars always come across as desperate, and every choke Yoshida busts out looks like a potential match ender. I give them a ton of credit for keeping this kind of match so interesting: it wasn't your-turn-my-turn, they would use eachother's momentums against eachother, and Fukawa gets to look great in the process. I also have to say the booking in this company is pretty damn smart, keeping all the rollups and submissions over as potential finishers. I love a promotion that threats rollups and submissions as special. Mikiko Futagami vs. Michiko Ohmukai (5/4) Another fun match in the WCW syndicated way. Futagami continues to bring the personality and the nifty shooty offense to make things special, and Ohmukai has a bunch of fun ways to kick her in the head. Ungodly finishing sequence here. Not a flawless bout but a fun way to spend 6 minutes. Impressive how they could stuff so much into such a short match while making it never feel rushed. Candy Okutsu vs. Aja Kong (5/4) Candy beats Aja with a roll up in less than 6 minutes. Match was far inferior to the previous 6 minute match. On paper this looks like a fine monster vs. Flyer match, but it had zero drama due to Candy being at her most obnoxious. Really nothing to see here.
  14. Jetlag
    I didn't watch that Bull Buster match so can't comment on how it could have been better. To be honest, I think I've seen too little of Zrno, because the stuff I have is essentially cherry picked. I guess the no-selling/get your shit in may have been more apparent to someone like Rip who saw Mile wrestling ever day. I think what Rip sees as no-selling/getting your shirt in could be attributed to the general exhibition-y nature those technician vs. technician matches in germany and austria had. From what I've seen Mile's selling is good, as he will sell a test of strength etc. properly, but nothing grand. I know Franz Schuhmann once mentioned that Dave Taylor and Mile had problems in a match one time leading to Dave giving Mile a black eye backstage. But he didn't go into detail what that was about. A little funny because Dave Taylor wasn't big on selling either. Schuhmann didn't mention bad things about Mile otherwise
  15. Jetlag
    Bull and Aja were queen sized here. Hokuto has some nice bits, but from her team this is mostly the Bull Nakano show. Bull and Aja just tear into eachother. Bull throws awesome lariats, and I got a kick out of her refusing to budge for Kimura's stupid Baba Chop. That dive was killer too, as she flies at her opponents like a graceful couch. The only thing I didn't like about Bull is her annnoying habit to go for the nunchuks. Aja was working more generic here than later on, but clearly she was something special and already had the Uraken and puts it to use. Also, Aja did a lot of hard head spots, which I'm cool with given this is pretty much a monster battle. This was a fast, brutal, and fun 22 minutes that just flew by.
  16. Jetlag
    Igor Vovchanchyn. Otsuka had just battled him in PRIDE. How many times can you run a permutation of the same match and get something good? Well, I'd assume many many times, as long as you stick to what works for you, but that wasn't the case here. Yone took up a portion of the match, and that guy is so hit and miss. He can be pretty enjoyable when he sticks to reckless kicks and lariats, but his other signature moves kind of stink and he also likes to do irritating no selling. There was also barely any matwork, so Greco didn't really get to do what he does best. There was some stiffness and clubbering, but the match had that weird semi-comedic feel undercard BattlARTS matches sometimes have. Geco even did a Fargo Strut at one point. You had the stiffness and clubbering and neck-crushing suplex moves aswell as a particularily twisty submission to keep you entertained throughout, but I was hoping for a few more "pure" bits.
  17. Jetlag

    Carl Greco

    Jetlag replied to Jetlag's topic in The Microscope

    Carl Greco vs. Daisuke Ikeda (PWFG 8/26/1995) Early Greco is probably the most fascinating. With his kickpads and bleach blonde hair, he looked like any other 90s/early 2000s indy schmoe, but he was quite the top flight wrestler, and didn't rely on spots at this point. People tend to forget that Ikeda could go on the mat. He is an aggressive striker in this match and essentially a shootstyle heel, kicking Greco in the ropes and stomping on him when he's down, but he can gain the advantage on the mat. As a result this was a really good matchup. I like that Greco, while able to throw strikes, only resorts to them unwillingly and prefers hitting the mat and just tossing Ikeda around. Some really impressive wrestling here and Greco's explosiveness is something else. Whenever Ikeda gave an opening Greco would just hammer him into the mat, even when Ikeda was attacking. This was a short midcard match between two workers with not a ton of experience, so it doesn't progress into some kind of epic, but the finish was nifty enough. Hugely enjoyable wrestling match.
  18. Jetlag
    This has a time limit of just a few minutes, so they go all out. This had the kind of intensity and emotional weight these retirement matches tend to have - still, some of the wrestling was as if Yokota was to scream she is retiring at the height of her game. Damn that stupid "retire at 25" rule. Yokota had some real determination to win this thing. After the match, a heated altercation between Jaguar and a younger girl (Chigusa?) ensues. Then all the lights go dark and Yokota is left to reflect on herself while "Soledao" plays. Amazing imagery. I wish they'd let Jaguar go out with a real bang but the pageantry here was magnificient regardless.
  19. Jetlag
    That Skyler/Lee match really wasn't that brilliant. Props to them for going +30 and doing a fine job at it, but the match lacked urgency and the work wasn't anything extraordinary. Parv is pretty spot on about Skyler. Also, the fashion choices were horrible. 2 man buns + one guy wearing joshi trunks.
  20. Jetlag
    Two tag team partners collide in a sensational wrestling contest. Really, just look at that opening exchange! Aoyama is a lunatic, leaping to the tope rope with no hands on a 70s ring with really loose ropes. Aside from the state of the art offense, these two just engage in some tight, hard-fought wrestling, including a great lock up. A great LOCKUP! Absolutely loved Aoyama's comeback dropkicks – beautiful looking and fit her tall, lanky frame. Insane car crash finish where a blown spot actually adds to the match. Were it not for the commercial break and clip in the middle of the bout, this would be deserving of legendary status.
  21. Jetlag
    Some clipping in this match. The clips were pretty annoying as I felt they chopped up what could have been a great match. Some really fantastic wrestling here, great execution, with all these great throws and hold for hold wrestling. It's rare enough to see an old AJW match between two faces that goes to the mat, clean technical like they do here. Tomi goes hard to beat the untouchable Jackie Sato and busts out some moves far ahead of the time. They work me into believing this would go to a time limit draw, but then finish the match in smart and sneaky fashion. Really good stuff from what is shown.
  22. Jetlag
    This was a damn good matchup. Yokota was in tremendous shape here, especially next to skinny Mimi Hagiwara. Yokota puts in a real beating, working absolutely heelish by biting and pulling hair, but also doesn't forget to show off her holds and put Hagiwara in her place with that beautiful vertical tiger suplex. It was closer to Terry Rudge than Monster Ripper. Yokota really cranks in her holds and delivers some blowaway great legwork, while Hagiwara performed really nicely working underneath. Hagiwara's selling of the leg and graceful comeback attempts were awesome. Can't decide what I liked more, Hagiwara desperately going for a small package only for Yokota to roll through and once again punch the fuck out of her leg, or Yokota calmly briding out of a weak pin attempt from her worn out opponent and continueing the beating. Last cover was thing of beauty. Damn good TV bout here.
  23. Jetlag
    The first appearance of the HamAKINO pair. Also the first appearance of the impossibly perky Ai Fujita, another name that has fallen into obscurity. Candy is quickly starting to annoy me with her tendency to do every top rope move 3 times in a row. When this wasn't Candy hitting her 38th moonsault, it was quite good. The other 3 work this kind of quasi lucharesu style, and they kept it nice and interesting. All the flying, fancy submissions and rollups looked polished and served a purpose. Candy thankfully didn't do much making this match feel like a showcase for the 3 promising workers illustrating how far they've come. The finish further underlines this.
  24. Jetlag
    We get to see Fukuoka praying before the match while dressed like a cowboy. Uhm... wasn't Fukuoka a former JWP champ at this point? I guess she got to showcase her spots a bit in this match, but other than that didn't seem much special. She bit Candy in the foot at one point. This was a weird match, it wasn't boring or terrible or anything, but there was not much engrossing about the action. There were also a few blown spots. There was some hard hitting early on, and the sections with Aja and Futagami were solid, but, uh... it started to feel like a move exhibition at some point. It was slow, and there were transitions so not a hyperactive type move exhibit. Aja for some reason did a lot of stooging and gets played like a fool a bunch of times... yeah that was interesting. Futagami does a cool tilt a whirl gutbuster thing... hey Cesaro should steal that. And she ended the match with a nice backfist/shotai combo. Candy and Fukuoka each did about 40 top rope moves. Yeah.
  25. Jetlag
    Jesus CHRIST! The next match that really grows in my estimation through the power of context. So we saw Yoshida destroy all comers. Futagami has no chance, right? Unlike Yagi or Bennett Futagami really doesn't have any overwelming advantage. But Futagami is like this mad wrestling improvisation artist. Crafty and unpredictable! And she ends up giving Yoshida a run for her money. There was not a ton of matwork (who would want to go to the mat with Yoshida at this point), but every single exchange here felt unique and special. Yoshida just goes to kill Mikiko the whole time and Mikiko keeps making up exit doors from nothing like she is a cartoon mouse being chased by at cartoon lawn mower. Not only was the wrestling great, but the timing and selling was brilliantly tricked out. I mean, that is not an easy thing to do when you have these lengthy submission attempts, and the teases and nearfalls were among the best I've ever seen, including one of the hardest struggles for a rope break ever caught on film. They also told the story through their facial expressions, perhaps moreso than in any other match before. By the end Futagami looks mentally scarred, she has made up all this shit and nothing is working, while Yoshida just has a pissed off look on her face and goes for the Air Raid Crash in frustration. It even makes me want to forgive some of the no selling. Brilliant, swanky, unique match. ARSION is on fire.
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