Kadaveri

I think people aren't aware that this match has a "Submission or KO only" stipulation, which is why it's worked differently to the average AJW match. Anyway I thought this was fantastic and Sakie especially gave a really captivating underdog performance with her selling and the desperation she had in constantly going for the sleeper, which I think she does because it's simply the only way she's ever going to pull out a victory. She's not gonna outstrike Yamada. It is a bit repetitive but I think it's works here considering the context & stipulation. I was really really rooting for her to pull it out the longer this went on. ****1/2

So in about 10 minutes we'll be starting the Jon Moxley Watch Party! We'll be looking at his early indie career, a few WWE matches and his post-WWE run as well. Tomorrow at 9pm EST we'll watching the 2nd half of AJW Queendom 1994, which English subtitles for the promos (you'll be the first people anywhere on the internet to see this). Next Sunday we'll be watching 2 hours of Rick Martel - 9pm Sunday. The Discord link has been posted above but if you want to just jump straight into the watching, here's a link to our CyTube Channel https://cytu.be/r/GWE_WP All welcome!

Of course he bladed. https://twitter.com/KXNGAO/status/1549166923220385793

You know someone made a similar comment in the Bryan thread about this match, which is funny because it's not a short match at all. It's 26 minutes long. It just doesn't feel long because HHH actually wrestles in an interesting way for once. The Rollins match at WM33 was shorter.

He's nominated as Dean Ambrose.

Meltzer's report on Omega this week is that he's not going to be at Double or Nothing because he went to Dynamite recently to work backstage but "in hindsight the travel was too early for the healing needed for his injuries." if that's true he's not gonna be back for a long while yet.

This is an immediate follow-up to the post match angle on the January 9th show. Mayumi jumps Chigusa in her entrance and they brawl outside the arena, we don't actually see what happens in the first couple of minutes we can just see the crowd all on the feet looking at the back of the venue before Mayumi marches to the ring triumphantly, and then Chigusa returns staggered and bloody. The match feels like the first time Chigusa really establishes herself as a power wrestler (e.g. she's doing military presses now) and also Ozaki is a full on savage heel biting Chigusa's head wound. The match is really great, visceral and violent. There's also a fun dynamic with the crowd being split, Chigusa at one point both gives the finger to the fans booing her and then rallies her fans to chant louder in her support. It's great. ****1/4

Heh it's blocked because Devil used that 'Hearts of Fire' song from Rocky 4 as her entrance music. Anyway I've reuploaded it with the entrances cut so you people can watch the match at least.

Thanks a lot. This is quite the find. There's even a guy in the comments saying that these two had a third match after this!

I didn't know there was a second match. Have you got a link?

Tomorrow at 4pm EST we have the Buddy Rose Watch Party. Here's what Elliott said about him in the Discord https://discord.com/invite/3F2CKuZYfx :

Arisa Nakajima & Hanako Nakamori vs. Miyuki Takase & Rina Yamashita PURE-J 3/20/22 was a terrific stiff match with a great start when Arisa refuses to shake Miyuki's hand. Check it out if you can.

I'm gonna give this a go: 1977 1. Abdullah The Butcher & The Sheik vs. Dory Funk Jr & Terry Funk - AJPW 12/15/77 2. Dave Bond & Johnny Kincaid vs. Pete Roberts & Kung Fu - JP 8/10/77 3. Billy Robinson vs. Jumbo Tsuruta - AJPW 3/5/77 1978 1. Abdullah The Butcher & The Sheik vs. Dory Funk Jr & Terry Funk - AJPW 12/9/78 2. Dory Funk Jr & Terry Funk vs. Giant Baba & Jumbo Tsuruta - AJPW 12/15/78 3. Blackjack Mulligan vs. Ric Flair - JCP 10/23/78 1979 1. Abdullah The Butcher & The Sheik vs. Dory Funk Jr & Terry Funk - AJPW 7/15/79 2. Bob Backlund vs. Greg Valentine - WWF 2/19/79 3. Lucy Kayama & Tomi Aoyama vs. Mami Kumano & Yumi Ikeshita - AJW 7/31/79 1980 1. Johnny Saint vs. Steve Grey - JP 1/28/80 2. Jackie Sato vs. Tomi Aoyama - AJW 1/4/80 3. Bob Backlund vs. Ken Patera - WWF 5/19/80 1981 1. Andre The Giant vs. Stan Hansen - AJPW 9/23/81 2. Jerry Lawler vs. Terry Funk - CWA 3/23/81 3. Bob Backlund vs. Sgt Slaughter - WWF 3/21/81 1982 1. Jaguar Yokota vs. Monster Ripper - AJW 4/7/82 2. Dutch Mantell vs. Jerry Lawler - CWA 3/22/82 3. Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Ric Flair - AJPW 6/8/82 1983 1. Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Ric Flair - AJPW 6/8/83 2. Terry Funk vs. Stan Hansen - AJPW 4/14/83 3. MS-1 vs. Sangre Chicana - EMLL 9/23/83 1984 1. Sgt. Slaughter vs. The Iron Sheik - WWF 6/16/84 2. Chigusa Nagayo & Lioness Asuka vs. Devil Masami & Jaguar Yokota - AJW 6/28/84 3. Chigusa Nagayo & Lioness Asuka vs. Devil Masami & Jaguar Yokota - AJW 9/26/84 1985 1. Chigusa Nagayo vs. Devil Masami - AJW 8/22/85 2. Jim Duggan vs. Ted Dibiase - MSW 3/22/85 3. Bull Nakano & Dump Matsumoto vs. Chigusa Nagayo & Lioness Asuka - AJW 10/10/85 1986 1. Dump Matsumoto vs. Yukari Omori - AJW 3/20/86 2. Ric Flair vs. Ricky Morton - JCP 7/5/86 3. Chigusa Nagayo vs. Dump Matsumoto - AJW 7/11/86 1987 1. Carlos Colon vs. Stan Hansen - WWC 3/14/87 2. Carlos Colon vs. Stan Hansen - WWC 1/6/87 3. Chigusa Nagayo vs. Yukari Omori - AJW 10/20/87 1988 1. Genichiro Tenryu & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Stan Hansen & Terry Gordy - AJPW 12/16/88 2. Genichiro Tenryu vs. Jumbo Tsuruta - AJPW 10/28/88 3. Devil Masami vs. Shinobu Kandori - JWP 7/14/88 1989 1. Ric Flair vs. Ricky Steamboat - WCW 4/2/89 2. Genichiro Tenryu vs. Jumbo Tsuruta - AJPW 6/5/89 3. Ric Flair vs. Terry Funk - WCW 7/29/89 1990 1. Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Mitsuharu Misawa - AJPW 9/1/90 2. Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Mitsuharu Misawa - AJPW 6/8/90 3. Aja Kong vs. Bull Nakano - AJW 11/14/90 1991 1. Akira Taue, Jumbo Tsuruta & Masanobu Fuchi vs. Kenta Kobashi, Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada - AJPW 4/20/91 2. Akira Taue & Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada - AJPW 11/29/91 3. Kenta Kobashi vs. Stan Hansen - AJPW 9/4/91 1992 1. Dynamite Kansai/Mayumi Ozaki vs. Manami Toyota/Toshiyo Yamada - AJW 11/26/92 2. Dan Kroffat & Doug Furnas vs. Kenta Kobashi & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi - AJPW 5/25/92 3. Akira Taue, Jumbo Tsuruta & Masanobu Fuchi vs. Kenta Kobashi, Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada - AJPW 5/22/92 1993 1. Akira Hokuto vs. Shinobu Kandori - AJW 4/2/93 2. Kenta Kobashi vs. Stan Hansen - AJPW 7/29/93 3. Akira Hokuto & Manami Toyota vs. Kyoko Inoue & Toshiyo Yamada - AJW 12/10/93 1994 1. Aja Kong & Bull Nakano vs. Akira Hokuto & Shinobu Kandori - AJW 3/27/94 2. Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada - AJPW 6/3/94 3. Bull Nakano vs. Shinobu Kandori - LLPW 7/14/94 1995 1. Akira Taue & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Kenta Kobashi & Mitsuharu Misawa - AJPW 6/9/95 2. Akira Taue vs. Mitsuharu Misawa - AJPW 4/15/95 3. Chigusa Nagayo & Dynamite Kansai vs. Devil Masami & Mayumi Ozaki - GAEA 4/15/95 1996 1. Akira Taue & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Jun Akiyama & Mitsuharu Misawa - AJPW 12/6/96 2. Mick Foley vs. Shawn Michaels - WWF 9/22/96 3. Bret Hart vs. Steve Austin - WWF 11/17/96 1997 1. Bret Hart vs. Steve Austin - WWF 3/23/97 2. Kenta Kobashi vs. Mitsuharu Misawa - AJPW 1/20/97 3. Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker - WWF 5/10/97 1998 1. Mick Foley vs. Steve Austin - WWF 5/31/98 2. Shinobu Kandori vs. Yumiko Hotta - LLPW 3/21/98 3. Diamond Dallas Page vs. Goldberg - WCW 10/25/98 1999 1. Hiromi Yagi vs. Mariko Yoshida - Arsion 2/18/99 2. Diamond Dallas Page vs. Sting - WCW 4/26/99 3. Steve Austin vs. The Rock - WWF 4/25/99 2000 1. Aja Kong vs. KAORU - GAEA 2/13/00 2. Jun Akiyama vs. Mitsuharu Misawa - AJPW 2/27/00 3. Mick Foley vs. Triple H - WWF 2/27/00 2001 1. Akira Hokuto vs. Meiko Satomura - GAEA 4/29/01 2. Steve Austin vs. Triple H - WWF 2/25/01 3. Steve Austin vs. The Rock - WWF 4/1/01 2002 1. Bryan Danielson vs. Low Ki - ROH 3/30/02 2. Genichiro Tenryu vs. Satoshi Kojima - AJPW 7/17/02 3. Kurt Angle vs. The Rock vs. The Undertaker - WWE 7/21/02 2003 1. Kenta Kobashi vs. Mitsuharu Misawa - NOAH 3/1/03 2. Bryan Danielson vs. Paul London - ROH 4/12/03 3. CM Punk vs. Raven - ROH 7/19/03 2004 1. CM Punk vs. Samoa Joe - ROH 12/4/04 2. Eddie Guerrero vs. John Layfield - WWE 5/16/04 3. CM Punk vs. Samoa Joe - ROH 10/16/04 2005 1. Kenta Kobashi vs. Samoa Joe - ROH 10/1/05 2. Necro Butcher vs. Samoa Joe - IWA-MS 6/11/05 3. AJ Styles vs. Samoa Joe - TNA 11/12/05 2006 1. Bryan Danielson vs. Nigel McGuinness - ROH 8/12/06 2. Ace Steel/Adam Pearce/Bryan Danielson/BJ Whitmer/Homicide/Samoa Joe vs. Chris Hero/Claudio Castagnoli/Eddie Kingston/Nate Webb/Necro Butcher - ROH 7/15/06 3. Bryan Danielson vs. KENTA - ROH 9/6/06 2007 1. Bryan Danielson vs. Takeshi Morishima - ROH 8/25/07 2. John Cena vs. Umaga - WWE 1/28/07 3. Edge vs. John Cena vs. Randy Orton vs. Shawn Michaels - WWE 4/29/07 2008 1. Bryan Danielson vs. Takeshi Morishima - ROH 12/27/08 2. Batista vs. John Cena - WWE 8/17/08 3. Arisa Nakajima & Chikayo Nagashima vs. Bambi & Mayumi Ozaki - Hirotsugu Suyama Produce 5/4/08 2009 1. Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker - WWE 4/5/09 2. Chris Hero vs. Bryan Danielson - PWG 9/4/09 3. Chris Jericho vs. Edge vs. Kane vs. John Cena vs. Mike Knox vs. Rey Mysterio Jr - WWE 2/15/09 2010 1. Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker - WWE 3/28/10 2. Kana vs. Meiko Satomura - Kana Produce 4/19/10 3. Batista vs. John Cena - WWE 4/25/10 2011 1. CM Punk vs. John Cena - WWE 7/17/11 2. Jun Akiyama vs. Suwama - AJPW 10/23/11 3. Jerry Lawler vs. The Miz - WWE 2/20/11 2012 1. Brock Lesnar vs. John Cena - WWE 4/29/12 2. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Minoru Suzuki - NJPW 10/8/12 3. Big Show vs. Sheamus - WWE 10/28/12 2013 1. Daniel Bryan vs. John Cena - WWE 8/18/13 2. Brock Lesnar vs. CM Punk - WWE 8/18/13 3. Katsuyori Shibata vs. Tomohiro Ishii - NJPW 8/4/13 2014 1. Daniel Bryan vs. Triple H - WWE 4/6/14 2. Bray Wyatt/Erick Rowan/Luke Harper vs. Dean Ambrose/Roman Reigns/Seth Rollins - WWE 2/23/14 3. Io Shirai vs. Yoshiko - Stardom 10/8/14 2015 1. Bayley vs. Sasha Banks - NXT 8/22/15 2. Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns - WWE 3/29/15 3. Bayley vs. Sasha Banks - NXT 10/7/15 2016 1. Io Shirai vs. Mayu Iwatani - Stardom 12/22/16 2. Dash Wilder & Scott Dawson vs. Johnny Gargano Tommaso Ciampa - NXT 11/19/16 3. AJ Styles vs. Roman Reigns - WWE 5/22/16 2017 1. AJ Styles vs. John Cena - WWE 1/29/17 2. Kenny Omega vs. Tetsuya Naito - NJPW 8/13/17 3. Katsuyori Shibata vs. Kazuchika Okada - NJPW 4/9/17 2018 1. Andrade Cien Almas vs. Johnny Gargano - NXT 1/27/18 2. Jordan Devlin vs. WALTER - OTT 8/18/18 3. Kenny Omega vs. Tomohiro Ishii - NJPW 8/4/18 2019 1. Mio Momono vs. Takumi Iroha - Marvelous 11/3/19 2. Daniel Bryan vs. Kofi Kingston - WWE 4/7/19 3. Blue Demon Jr vs. Dr Wagner Jr - CMLL 8/3/19 2020 1. Adam Page & Kenny Omega vs. Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson - AEW 2/29/20 2. Mayu Iwatani vs. Takumi Iroha - Stardom 2/8/20 3. Mayu Iwatani vs. Syuri - Stardom 10/3/20 2021 1. Syuri vs. Utami Hayashishita - Stardom 12/29/21 2. Ilja Dragunov vs. WALTER - NXT 8/22/21 3. Bianca Belair vs. Sasha Banks - WWE 4/10/21

From Wrestlenomics

Paul Fontaine isn't just a fan; he's a Wrestling Observer staff member/writer.

This is a fantastic hidden gem. Aja and Sakie seem like an odd team at first, Monster Heel/Ace and the loveable underdog midcarder, but they make it work as the story of their partnership is Aja trying to bring out a killer instinct out of Sakie so she can elevate herself. There's nice spots like Aja chopping Kyoko super hard in the corner when Sakie is being half-hearted about it, or get Sakie to hold someone in a camel clutch so Aja can boot her in the chest. Sakie looks a bit "omg I can't believe I did that" afterwards but then rolls with it. Kyoko and Toshiyo are very good as well, Kyoko especially murders Sakie with a lariat when it's her time to take control. ****1/2

Well that makes sense as a kayfabe storyline. "You refused to put me over in Chikara" doesn't.

This match was in 2014.

This is a big battle between generations, Devil debuted in 1978 and Kyoko in 1988. Kyoko gives a sincere bow of respect at the start. Devil controls the majority of this, cutting a slower pace than you'd normally see in a Kyoko Inoue match and making it feel like Kyoko has to dig deeper than normal to keep herself in this. There's a good few moments where Kyoko attempts her usual offense but gets cut off by Devil's size, or needs to really struggle to pull it off. Her Giant Swing looked pretty precarious! I'm watching this thinking Devil has one of the best lariats in Joshi when Kyoko eventually fires back with one of her own and takes her down to a wooooooah from the crowd. She earned that momentum shift. Finish was a cool surprise and Devil had a great facial reaction like "that kid f***ing boomed me". ****1/4

I'm pretty sure Stardom is the only company of its size (or larger) which has increased its live attendence numbers during the pandemic. That's pretty wild, and makes me wonder how well they could have been doing if the pandemic hadn't held things back.

Firstly this is clipped. AJW Classics #55 gives us about 10 minutes of a 14 minute match and the cut is pretty blatant and comes right in the middle of the match interrupting the flow. But still I'll judge based on what we have. This is the least of their 3 matches in 1992 but it actually fits really well with them in terms of a longform narrative arch. Hokuto is still a straight babyface here. After this she goes to Mexico and comes back as Las Cachorras Orientales to challenge Bull again. Hokuto does an upside down Figure 4 + heelhook submission in this that I've never seen anywhere else. The finish is neat. Just a brutal counter to a basic move. ***1/2 (might have been better if in full)

Oh this rules. It's the 4th best match of their rivalry and is more of an angle really. It reminds me of that Steve Austin vs. Bret Hart "fight" on Raw in 1997 where Austin injures Bret, although this one officially is a match even if they barely ever get in the ring, and even when they do it's more to maul each other with weapons than actually wrestle. But they get a title match in two months so this gives nothing away. Just a chaotic hate-filled fight leaving a trail of destruction everywhere. ****

This is a decision match for the tag titles after Aja and Bison vacated them, only to try to win them back right afterwards. I have no idea why. I think this is the best Aja & Bison tag I've seen, Bison's performance in this is particularly good, probably had a better night than Aja actually. ****1/4 Note, if you want to watch this in almost complete form, see the version on AJW Classics 54 that aired on 8/22/11.

To clear up some confusion, these teams had two matches in 1992. The first on January 5th (not on the 4th) and the second on April 25th. PeteF's post is actually describing the April match. This is a really exciting and fast-paced match. Does a great job of putting over Debbie, I loved how panicked the announcers sounded when she put Takako in that leg lock, and Takako's desperation to get out was great. Only downside really is an unfortunate botch when Debbie & Sakie attempted a double team dive thing and it messed up the flow. ***3/4

The dip was probably more caused by the South Park season premiere happening at the same time (pulling AEW's core demographics) and ranking #1 for the night than anything on the actual show.