[1994-12-10-AJW-Tag League The Best] Aja Kong & Reggie Bennett vs Kyoko Inoue & Sakie Hasegawa / Manami Toyota & Takako Inoue vs Aja Kong & Reggie Bennett / Manami Toyota & Takako Inoue vs Kyoko Inoue & Sakie Hasegawa

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[ohtani's jacket]

I only watched the final match. It was short but a decent enough sprint. It wasn't the sort of all-out match you'd expect from a tag league final, however, and I think the slackness with which AJW booked both the Grand Prix and TLTB in '94 was pretty telling in terms of them losing their edge. They really got lazy cashing in on the interpromotional stuff. Big Egg Universe was poorly run, and if that alienated fans then the booking sure wasn't about to hook them back in.

[FLIK]

Big Egg Universe was poorly run

In what way?

[ohtani's jacket]

It was too long and went past the last train times. You don't book anything to go past the last train times in Japan. Plus they reneged on Hokuto's retirement, which made the whole thing bullshit. Honestly, Big Egg has to be a contender for worst major show ever.

[Kevin Ridge]

This is some triangle round robin match up between the three teams. First match is just the ending with Kong’s team winning. I’ve only ever seen Reggie Bennett at Barely Legal PPV where she did a run in. Toyota and Inoue charge in for the next match. Kong whips Toyota pretty hard with a chair. Toyota spends close to ten minutes at the start getting twisted in submissions. They don’t hit the finish clean but it wasn’t the easier type of roll up to hit off the top rope. Third match seems the best of the bunch as more action. I thought we would get the three way tie but Toyota and Inoue end up winning two matches in a row.

[jdw]

It was too long and went past the last train times. You don't book anything to go past the last train times in Japan. Plus they reneged on Hokuto's retirement, which made the whole thing bullshit. Honestly, Big Egg has to be a contender for worst major show ever.

That's funny.

 

John

[Loss]

Just the finish of the first match, which sees Kong and Bennett put away Kyoko and Hasegawa.

 

I really liked the second match a lot more than I expected for something different. Reggie Bennett is not as capable as the other three, but she works hard and is a willing bumper. She reminds me of Sasaki in some ways in how she is willing to try her best to keep up with people who are clearly better than her, which is fun to watch. Toyota puts on a great performance, both in selling and offense. Her selling of Aja's holds is really tremendous. I also thought her and Takako complemented each other well as a team and that seems like a lost team in some ways. Great finishing spot, with Toyota basically doing a rollup from the top rope to catch Aja in a pin. The music that plays and her subsequent celebration makes it seems like her name was just called on The Price Is Right, which cracked me up.

 

The last match was a good sprint and I also liked it, but it didn't really tread any new ground. I think when these four are involved, I prefer the traditional lineup of teams, even if I do like Toyota and Takako as a team, and even though they did a good job still emphasizing the Toyota/Kyoko rivalry.

[FLIK]

So little confused, did footage of the first Toyota/Takako vs Aja/Reggie match make the set, the one from earlier in the night that set up the 3 way final?

 

I also thought her and Takako complemented each other well as a team and that seems like a lost team in some ways.

It's funny, for as long as they were in AJW together, they rarely ever teamed, atleast in matches that made tape. But AJW loved the heck out of whacky mix matched tag teams when it came tournament time so thear ya go

[Loss]

The one earlier in the night did not. Sounds like a possible supplemental pick. Was the match any good?

[FLIK]

Haven't seen. Was just curious & looking at it from the point of view of it telling the full story since the result led to Aja/Reggie, Toyota/Takako & Kyoko/Sakie all being tied for 10 points in the tag league and thus the 3 way final immediatly after.

 

Kinda similar to the 93 final resulting in the 2 back to back matches.

[ohtani's jacket]

It was too long and went past the last train times. You don't book anything to go past the last train times in Japan. Plus they reneged on Hokuto's retirement, which made the whole thing bullshit. Honestly, Big Egg has to be a contender for worst major show ever.

That's funny.

 

John

 

Have you ever missed the last train from Tokyo Dome when you live in Chiba or Saitama or Kanagawa?

[El-P]

That doesn't make it the "worst major show ever". The "most inconvenient one" if you want to. That being said, I have no idea how the audience would not be totally drained. Must have been a cool experience nonetheless to be there.

[NintendoLogic]

The show didn't cause me to get stranded in Tokyo, so why should I give a crap?

[ohtani's jacket]

Who asked you to give a crap?

[jdw]

It was too long and went past the last train times. You don't book anything to go past the last train times in Japan. Plus they reneged on Hokuto's retirement, which made the whole thing bullshit. Honestly, Big Egg has to be a contender for worst major show ever.

That's funny.

 

John

 

Have you ever missed the last train from Tokyo Dome when you live in Chiba or Saitama or Kanagawa?

 

I've missed the last train after a wrestling show in Tokyo.

 

#1 - we got back "home"

 

#2 - the show we went to was still incredibly enjoyable

 

So I happen to think you're comment was funny.

 

I also know several people who went to the show, and thought it was one of the best and/or more memorable (in a positive way) shows that they've ever seen.

 

I'm sure you know people who think the opposite.

 

Since neither you nor I were at the show, we're left with the tape, so gain...

 

I think you're comment was pretty damn funny.

 

John

[ohtani's jacket]

You missed your train because the show went past 12:30am? I find that hard to believe or that you were staying so far away that you needed to leave around 11. In any case, why would someone on a wrestling trip care as much as a local? I've never been to an event in Tokyo that left people without a train. It's just not done. Anyway, it's a common complaint about the AJW mega shows of that era. They did the same thing with Dream Slam in Yokohama. Worst major show ever, take it or leave it, but Flik asked why I said it was poorly run and I think a 10 hour card that runs over time with a lousy tournament instead of a real card and a proper retirement is a poor showing for such a milestone show.

 

What's funny is that it's even mentioned on the AJW Japanese wiki page.

[Loss]

OJ, what's being debated is that you called it one of the worst major shows ever, and you seem to be citing that as the reason.

[jdw]

You missed your train because the show went past 12:30am? I find that hard to believe or that you were staying so far away that you needed to leave around 11.

Beats the shit out of me when the show ended: it's been close to 20 years, and when shows ended isn't something that sticks in the mind relative to the quality of the shows and matches and wrestlers I was watching. As far as where we were staying, it was at the very last starting of one of the Tokyo metro lines.

 

In any case, why would someone on a wrestling trip care as much as a local?

Perhaps because I spent more on my wrestling trip than anyone who was at that show?

 

I've never been to an event in Tokyo that left people without a train. It's just not done. Anyway, it's a common complaint about the AJW mega shows of that era.

You do know you're contradicting yourself: it's just not done, except AJW did it several times.

 

They did the same thing with Dream Slam in Yokohama.

So the fans knew that AJW did it at Dream Slam, but 40K of them came out for this one.

 

I think you're projecting.

 

Worst major show ever, take it or leave it,

I think most of us are laughing.

 

but Flik asked why I said it was poorly run and I think a 10 hour card that runs over time with a lousy tournament instead of a real card and a proper retirement is a poor showing for such a milestone show.

Poor show and Worst Major Show Ever are wildly different things.

 

What's funny is that it's even mentioned on the AJW Japanese wiki page.

So? It was mentioned in the WON write up of the show that very week. I'd expect Wiki to mention it since they probably lifted wholesale from Dave.

 

On the other hand, Dave loved the show. So did the guy he went to the show with. Other people I talked to back then who went to the show loved it as well, and they weren't gaijin.

[El-P]

Miss the last train in Tokyo ? Spend the rest of the night drinking and partying in a karaoke in kabuki-chô then go back to your hotel early in the morning to eat breakfast then go to bed until noon. One of the most fun night of my life...

Anyway...

[NintendoLogic]

The Japanese wiki apparently says that people being pissed off by AJW shows running late and causing them to miss the last train was one of the things that killed the 90s joshi boom. Fair enough, but that has nothing to do with how entertaining the shows were. That'd be like calling Wrestlemania X-7 the worst show of all time because the Austin heel turn was a factor in the decline in the WWF's business.

[ohtani's jacket]

The Japanese wiki apparently says that people being pissed off by AJW shows running late and causing them to miss the last train was one of the things that killed the 90s joshi boom. Fair enough, but that has nothing to do with how entertaining the shows were. That'd be like calling Wrestlemania X-7 the worst show of all time because the Austin heel turn was a factor in the decline in the WWF's business.

Hokuto/Kandori is considered one of the greatest Joshi matches of all-time, but people started missing their trains halfway through the match and had to spend the night in Shin-Yokohama station, or so the story goes. That's piss poor time management.

[ohtani's jacket]

OJ, what's being debated is that you called it one of the worst major shows ever, and you seem to be citing that as the reason.

I think they laid an egg as far as running the Dome goes (pun intended.) The show has a false rep among Western fans because it was the first time a woman's promotion had run the Tokyo Dome and for the longest time it was pimped alongside Dream Slam I and II as the three best shows ever, whereas in Japan it's generally remembered as being half full and a failure. Whether it really was the jumping off point for a lot of fans is debatable. I tend to think of the 90s Joshi boom as a borrowed audience who were always going to drop Joshi once the novelty wore off, but if you compare it to when the Matsunagas ran Budokan during the 70s boom period there simply wasn't the same care taken with running the Dome. My point about it being one of the worst major shows ever had more to do with the fact that they promoted it all year as the Dangerous Queen Countdown (as you're well aware from watching the yearbook) then reneged on the whole Dangerous Queen deal when they were struggling to draw the following year. That's hardly knocking one out of the park. To me that was a sign of a company in a major decline.

[ohtani's jacket]

Miss the last train in Tokyo ? Spend the rest of the night drinking and partying in a karaoke in kabuki-chô then go back to your hotel early in the morning to eat breakfast then go to bed until noon. One of the most fun night of my life...

Anyway...

Jerome, that's all fine and good when you're on vacation, but not everyone wants to do that. I was over doing that in my first year. It may seem like I'm being anal and squabbling over a minor detail, but it really was a stupid thing to do in terms of running a major event in Tokyo.

[jdw]

The Japanese wiki apparently says that people being pissed off by AJW shows running late and causing them to miss the last train was one of the things that killed the 90s joshi boom.

That's a hoot. If we were to put together a list of 30 things that killed the boom, that would have a tough time making the list of 30.

 

John

[ohtani's jacket]

So go ahead and give us 30 reasons why the boom ended.