Early JWP (Pre-Split/Interpromotional Era)

[Jetlag]

Early JWP seems to be the biggest mystery of joshi along with LLPW. There's so little discussion about it, even though there is plenty interesting to it: it had future stars like Kandori, Ozaki and Kansai, and veterans such as Devil and Itsuki Yamazaki. Gran Hamada trained the girls, and they used a unique style while still bringing the workrate.

 

I've aquired quite a bit of this old stuff recently, so I think it's time to settle this and discover things such as:

 

- What are the good matches involving pre-interpromotional blowup Kandori, Kansai, Ozaki, etc. that is relevant to their GWE case? (Stuff that was not brought up in the GWE discussion)

- How close were those workers in their early state to their later, more famous versions?

- Who is the lost great worker among the lesser knowns? (SPOILER: It's motherfucking Harley Saito, god bless her)

- Are there any hidden gems/all time great stuff that stands up to the best stuff AJW was putting out? (SPOILER: Yes there was)

 

I'll be posting my reviews in this thread and use it to document my findings.

 

Recommended Matches: (ongoing)

 

Shinobu Kandori vs. Devil Masami (Original JWP, 7/14/88) --- 1988 MOTY

 

Rumi Kazama vs. Plum Mariko (2/12/89)

Shinobu Kandori vs. Miss A (7/13/89)

Mayumi Ozaki vs. Cutie Suzuki (4/26/1989) --- 1989 MOTY

 

Itsuki Yamazaki vs. Plum Mariko (JWP 5/25/90)

Mayumi Ozaki vs. The Scorpion (JWP 6/14/90)

Shinobu Kandori vs. Harley Saito (7/19/90) --- 1990 MOTY

Rumi Kazama & Shinobu Kandori vs. Devil Masami & Itsuki Yamazaki (JWP 9/30/90)

Miss A & Harley Saito vs. Shinobu Kandori & Rumi Kazama (JWP 10/10/90)

Rumi Kazama vs. Mayumi Ozaki (12/24/90)

 

Mayumi Ozaki & Rumi Kazama vs. Shinobu Kandori & Harley Saito (JWP 1/6/1991)

Itsuki Yamazaki vs. Miss A (Dynamite Kansai) (JWP 1/6/91) (UWA Tournament First Round Match)

Miss A (Dynamite Kansai) vs. Eagle Sawai (JWP 1/13/91) (UWA Tournament Semifinals)

Miss A vs. Harley Saito (UWA Tournament finals) (2/1/91)

Miss A & Harley Saito vs. Rumi Kazama & Mayumi Ozaki (JWP 4/23/1991)

Devil Masami & Rumi Kazama vs. Miss A & Itsuki Yamazaki (JWP 4/26/1991)

Devil Masami & Hikari Fukuoka vs. Itsuki Yamazaki & Cuty Suzuki (JWP 5/25/1991)

Utako Hozumi vs. The Scorpion (6/30/91)

The Scorpion vs Cutie Suzuki (JWP 08/30/91)

Harley Saito vs. Eagle Sawai (7/14/91)

Dynamite Kansai & The Scorpion vs. Shinobu Kandori & Harley Saito (8/4/1991)

Dynamite Kansai & The Scorpion vs. Harley Saito & Itsuki Yamazaki (JWP 8/8/91)

Cuty Suzuki vs. The Scorpion (8/11/91)

The Scorpion vs Cutie Suzuki (JWP 10/10/91) (Mask vs. Hair)

Harley Saito vs. Dynamite Kansai  (JWP 11/2/1991) --- 1991 MOTY

Harley Saito & Devil Masami vs. Dynamite Kansai & Madusa (JWP 12/7/1991)

[Jetlag]

Some matches I've watched in the last few weeks, starting with the most famous:

 

Shinobu Kandori vs. Devil Masami (Original JWP, 7/14/88)

 

The original JWP is painfully underexplored. This is probably it's most prolific match, and it's more interesting than a great match. You may theorize that this is Kandori, the dangerous shooter putting the pro wrestler under fire and setting the blueprints for Kandori/Hokuto... which is a good formula, but in reality it was Devil dragging a green Kandori by the nose through a long match. Kandori looks good on the mat, and not very good doing anything else. Devil is as mean as you can want a hardened veteran to be carrying this and brings the goods, downing Kandori with a huge punch, almost ripping her in half with a surfboard, dishing out clubbing blows to make up for Kandori's weak kicks and so on. The biggest problem with the match is that it's needlessly long, as the iconic moment - where they both start bleeding all over the ring - only comes about 30 minutes into the match, and before that, there's a lot of meandering. It felt a bit like Devil redoing the Chigusa match against a far lesser Chigusa with nice submissions. The actual bloodbath was kind of underwhelming too, honestly. There's always charm to watching a rookie and a veteran going along for a lengthy match and this had enough good moments and nearfalls to keep you satisfied, but I gotta say this wasn't as good as I've seen it hyped up. Also, I'll never understand what was up with that restart/overtime they did.

 

Mayumi Ozaki vs. The Scorpion (JWP 6/14/90)

 

This was a pretty fun match between two young and eager workers. The Scorpion works a fun junior/shootstylist hybrid style and Ozaki always adds a ton of personality to her matches. In fact Ozaki looked as good and charismatic as she did in her most famous matches. Her outfit was pure pulp awesomeness and she reminded me a little bit of Negro Casas here in how fast she was thinking and how she would exploit weaknesses relentlessly. Scorpion's execution was a little sloppy at times, so I have no problem calling this an Ozaki carryjob. Whenever Ozaki was able to grab an arm or leg, she would stomp the shit out of that body part to create an opening, then go for the finish. Because this was 1990, moves like a superplex or sunset flip were HOT nearfalls and they timed everything extremely well, resulting in a bunch of 2,9999s that the crowd went bananas for. Weak finish, but I still liked the match a lot.

 

Itsuki Yamazaki vs. Miss A (Dynamite Kansai) (JWP 1/6/91)

I'm not sure why the name change from Miss A to Dynamite Kansai. She looks and wrestles the exact same.

 

This was a first round match in a tournament for the UWA International title(?) and a better match than a lot of tournament finals I've seen. Why have I never heard anyone talk about how awesome Itsuki Yamazaki was in JWP? It's far more interesting than anything I've seen her do in AJW. Right at the go Kansai whacks Yamazaki with a big lariat, but in the following tussle on the outside Yamazaki catches her leg and rams it into the steel post. Yamazaki proceeds to work over Kansai's leg and use this advantage to stay in control. When Kansai comes back, she immediately reestablishes how dangerous she is by crushing the veteran with ultra stiff blows. I thought Kansai's selling was good enough, as she made it clear the leg was bothering her and there were times where she couldn't follow through due to the damage done, on the other hand Yamazaki was super focussed and always aiming for the weak spot to get out of her situation. Yamazaki would add these cool maestra-like touches, such as locking in an octopus hold from her back, or elevating herself extra high when reversing a figure 4 (something I've never seen before). Yamazaki had excellent game, but in the end fell to a crushing shot from Kansai when she thought she had her in the bag. Really good skill vs. Pure brutality match.

[elliott]

Dang I'm real excited for this! I've actually been wanting to take a look at this exact stuff recently.

[Jetlag]

More from the 1st round of that UWA tournament...

 

You wanna know how low-budget JWP was back then? They couldn't afford to make a graphic displaying the tournament brackets, so they drew them on a piece of cardboard and filmed two guys talking over that for the beginning of the tape.

https://imgur.com/Op3tQOX

^looks like something from a super low budget splatter movie. Also, all these matches were filmed with 1 camera. I dig the asthetics though.

 

1/7/91: Eagle Sawai vs. Shinobu Kandori

This was sort of interesting, as it was Sawai's heel tactics vs. Kandori's no nonsense style. In practise however it was just a decent houseshow undercard affair. Because Sawai is chunky, her stuff becomes a little more interesting, she has a nice back elbow and missed superfly splash. Kandori nailed her with a stiff lariat to the throat and some hard kicks to the spine, but didn't add much otherwise, not even any cool flash submissions. Eventually Kandori got really upset and hit Sawai with a chair causin the DQ and Sawai to advance in the tournament, proving this was just a throwaway match to get Sawai to proceed in the tournament over Kandori in cheap manner.

 

1/8/91: Harley Saito vs. Devil Masami

This was a weird match where it was two clearly good workers bringing lots of good stuff to the table, but not really putting it together into an actively great match. They were working from a big vs. Small base, with Masami planting little Harley with big powerbombs, gorilla presses and other throws, while Harley was fighting back using sharp kicks and agility. Masami also did some excellent armwork, proving she was still highly proficient in the technical stuff too. On the other hand Masami's personality seemed to kind of eat the match up. There was some bizarre crowd interactions (drunk gaijins in the audience?) and Masami never seemed in serious trouble until Saito picked up the win with a fluke rollup. Fun stuff but not a serious contest.

 

1/13/91 Osaka, Tournament Semifinal: Miss A vs. Eagle Sawai

 

Hahaha, I just noticed Kansai comes out to Conga. „My themesong is goofy latin pop, now watch me brutalize girls with my unpulled kicks.“ This was shockingly good for a Sawai match – it starts fun with Kansai taking one of the hardest guardrail bumps I've ever seen (scaring the audience in that section good) before Sawai works a fun control segment, using chokes and a spinning body scissor. They get into stiff slapfights and trading headbutts on the ground and this is pretty cool big girl wrestling. Kansai takes over with her badass kick to the throat and then methodically works over Sawai's back with headbutts and brutal kicks to set up her Scorpion Deathlock. However Sawai makes another comeback, this time bloodying Kansai by ramming her head into the steel ringsteps. Kansai is selling big and making desperate comebacks now and Eagle continues to work the cut with punches. Sawai impresses me by selling a good deal herself, acknowledging the work on her back from earlier. They do these spots where one girl goes for a suplex and other twists in mid-air to crush her with her weight, which look double cool because these two are chunky. I felt the match was building to a bigger crescendo than we got, but then again this was only the semi final. Still, quite good match for what it was, and I could see this being considered a classic if it happened in a US fed.

[ohtani's jacket]

When I first came to Japan 11 years ago, I rented many of these tapes from Champion. If you think the shows looked low budget you ought to have seen the packaging on the VHS tapes. The early handheld stuff is tough to watch but the commercial tapes and TV are fine. I actually think LLPW is the great unknown as very few people have watched their output outside of the interpromotional matches.

[Jetlag]

Haven't had much trouble with the handhelds so far. I'm used to handhelds by now, though. The camera angle is good though and they always catch everything going on. Anyways...

 

11/11/90 Osaka: Miss A vs. Devil Masami

This was the two biggest women in the fed meeting in a match. It was kind of a disappointment though, as it followed the same basic pattern as all the these other matches: Fast start, work some holds in the middle to kill time, then do a 50/50 run trading 2,9s. It wasn't bad, Devil can throw bombs, and Miss A as always kicks hard to soften up her opponents, still the end run wasn't that grand and A's victory seemed to come too easily. There was also a bunch of work on Masami's leg, and Kansai missed a suicide dive, but neither thing ended up being important. Yes yes, I'm pedantic, but they just really didn't deliver anything overly spectacular to win me other.

2/1/91 Miss A /Dynamite Kansai vs. Harley Saito (UWA Title Tournament Final)

 

This is the finals of the UWA title tournament. In a way this feels like an early Misawa/Kawada match, two young workers having a somewhat basic match upgraded to epic format, while adding their own touches. This is different from the get go, as they start slow on the mat and really work to establish their roles. I don't know whether to call this a match that is extremely unlike joshi, or extremely JWP. There certainly is something really cool about the style they are working, as they mix bridge spots and sunset flips with the brutally stiff shots Kansai is known for (and Harley steps up to her level). The pace was almost like a niggly european bout, as they would stick to wrestling, but occasionally there would be an explosion. Kansai starts the fun, but whiffs on a dropkick and Saito pounces on her with a series of kicks and knees in the corner that would've done Kawada proud. Of course this does not end well for little Harley and soon after Kansai is cracking her with kicks and chairshots. This sets up the rest of the match for Harley refusing to quit despite being in a grueling battle. I could see some people not being overly in love with the generic title match layout for this match (there's even rollup exchanges at one point), but I thought Harley was a phenomenal underdog here and the style they used was awesome. Great match, Harley really should've been a bigger star.

[Noah's_Savior]

It is interesting that the first company to give AJW any competition since formation and founded by one of the biggest joshi stars ever doesn't have more buzz in the west, them and LLPW are the odd, people know the name but don't seem interested in watching or reading about them.

[ohtani's jacket]

I'm talking about the really early handhelds with Smiley Mami and Dirty Yamato.

 

I think it's fairly obvious that Harley Saito didn't have the goods to be a star. Her calling card was underrated midcard worker and she was very good in that role.

 

Yamazaki was excellent in both AJW and JWP. She was a great worker that ought to be discussed more. It's too bad that she retired prior to the inter-promotional era but she'd already had a 10 year career at that point and was one of the pioneers in defying the retirement age.

 

Jackie Sato wasn't the founder of JWP. It was formed by an entertainment group that wanted to cash in on the success of the Crush Girls. Jackie and Nancy Kumi were lured toward the new startup but it wasn't like Chigusa founding GAEA.

[Jetlag]

7/19/90 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Shinobu Kandori vs. Harley Saito

 

This is an amazing match; not just by far the best JWP match I've seen probably ever, but in the top 5-10 of the finest women's single matches I can remember. What made this outstanding was that what they did was stylistically state of the art, mixing 80s NJPW-like shootstyle/wrestling hybrid with something resembling a classic title match, and emotionally captivating: right from the get go there is a ton of disdain, uncooperativeness, and another fantastic underdog performance from Harley.

 

So this is like a joshi version of Fujinami/Maeda, without the blood and more outright hatred. Kandori is naturally really good at grabbing flash submissions and they use their holds really well, while Harley was bringing the violence with her kicks – there are a few moments where she is contorting her body to get out of Kandori's holds and then proceeds to kick Kandori in the face and ear repeatedly. It was awe inspiring. Kandori gives her back some raining angry shots down on her smaller opponent too, and with some of the uncooperative moves, stiff shots and flash subs here I was thinking I was watching some sort of Tenryu/Hashimoto/Fujiwara showdown.

 

Another cool thing is how they interweave their shootstyle stuff with more traditional wrestling, they were working shoot kicks and flash armbars one minute, and then neck bridges and small packages. The rollups make really good nearfalls because JWP was booking a lot of rollup finishes, and thanks to that they can build to big section of 2,99999s for the ending run that doesn't have that big move spam. Some incredibly well timed spots, and there is one false finish that is executed in a way I can't recall seeing in many other wrestling matches, which sets up another angry Kandori comeback to the keep the crowd behind Harley. I mean, watching what they did here felt like the stuff that is missing from so many wrestling matches, they had the folks at Korakuen hall flipping out for a small package or fall-on-top counter.

 

Really great match that delivered beyond expectations, considering this is Kandori years before coming into Superstardom and Saito who was almost completely under the radar (RIP, you magnificient gem). Mindblowing that you can still find shit as good as this in 2017 that has apparently never been talked about.

[Jetlag]

Some matches from 1989...

 

8/13/89 Tokyo Korakuen Hall

Jr. Tournament: Plum Mariko vs. The Scorpion

 

This was a hot 7 minute sprint where they give their all. These joshi sprints work much better when they keep them short instead of dragging them out by doing moves 3 times in a row, or throwing in entirely too many half crabs. Lots of neat moves and impressive suplexes here, especially from Plum. Scorpion busts out a cool back top from the ring apron, and has other nifty moments like an ankle pick, but overall was working a slightly more generic style than she did later on. They keep it flowing really nicely and deliver a bunch of hot nearfull. Fun exciting match.

 

Jr. Tournament: Rumi Kazama vs. Smiley Mami

 

The fun part of watching the original JWP: getting to check out all these workers you knew nothing about previously. Smiley Mami looked like a distaff Kandori here, rocking a grappler outfit and working a shoot submission based style, while Kazama was kickpadded and not afraid to kick her in the face a bunch. Clearly, the JWP crew were watching too much UWF around this time. Mami looks real good, wrenching in her front chokes and kimuras hard so you really buy how bad they suck to be in, and Kazama pays her back by kicking the crap out of her. Mami catches her leg and they do some dueling arm/legwork before Kazama strings a series of kicks to the jaw together, KO'ing Mami on her feet before sealing it with a german. This was also a 7 minute cool undercard match but completely different from Plum/Scorpion, JWP had pretty nice variety.

 

4/26/89 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Mayumi Ozaki vs. Cutie Suzuki

 

The other fun part of watching the original JWP: getting to check out how good Mayumi Ozaki was early on. She was a 5 foot 90 pound girl with 3 years of experience, but the way she wrestled here, she might aswell have been Arn Anderson. She brought the asskicking to the idol girl in a way that made this resemble a US style match, working Cuty over with stomps to the face, big knee drops, stepping on her hand etc. I know this type of stuff is bread and butter joshi, but I still thought the way they paced the match early on was exceptional, with Ozaki dominating and Suzuki having to string a few nifty babyface flyer spots together to regain control. Eventually Suzuki starts working a chickenwing crossface (everyone in JWP uses the UWF submissions), before Ozaki lands a cool leg trip to stomp the hell out of Cutie's leg – which is promptly no sold cause Cutie ain't no Mimi Hagiwara, but okay. They do 50/50 section trading a bunch of nearfalls and keeping a good „this could be decided at a coin toss“ feeling before Mayumi seals it by catching Suzuki flying at her into a bridge suplex that was pretty cool. Oz was queensized in this match, and even though they both made their debut the same year, it felt like a seasoned vet carrying a young flyer to an impressive match.

[Jetlag]

5/25/90 Itsuki Yamazaki vs. Plum Mariko

Itsuki Yamazaki awesome match train continues. Much like the Kansai match this was an extremely effective singles match crafted around the personality of her opponent. Plum is of course completely different from Kansai. I dug the opening of this match a lot, as Plum immediately dumps Yamazaki with a huge german suplex. Yamazaki makes a brief skillful comeback, but immediately rolls outside to sell her neck. Next thing that happens is Plum working over that neck with elbow. The match was full of cool little touches like that to add purpose to even basic moves: Yamazaki controls with some sleeper holds early on, Plum complaining about being choked, so when Plum makes her comeback she almost puts away Yamazaki with a sleeper of her own. When Plum was catching Yamazaki with her rolling legbars, the first thing Yamazaki does after she regains control is drop Plum with a big kneebreaker before stumbling across the ring selling her own leg. I thought the story of the young girl pushing the superstar to the edge of defeat was done in really compelling fashion and Yamazaki's fast moving spots were cool. Also, this was a rare match where the spot where a wrestler gets pushed off the tope rope while the other is trying for a flying move actually ended up being of importance. Really well worked high end joshi match for 1990, Yamazaki is 2-0 so far.

[Jetlag]

More 1989:

 

7/13/89 Tokyo Korakuen Hall

Devil Masami & Maiko Tsurugi vs. Dementia & Heidi Lee Morgan 10:32

The first time seeing gaijins in JWP! And it's... uh. Dementia is working a „psycho killer“ gimmick. She has doll(?) thingy and hockey mask. Heidi Lee Morgan's outfit was ridiculous. There's gotta be a limit for much ass you can have hanging out, even if you're a lady wrestler. The most accurate way I can describe this is „A very polished GLOW match“. It wasn't even extra trainwrecky or anything fun like that.

 

Shinobu Kandori vs. Miss A

They follow a silly spectacle with a badass heavyweight war. Good one. These are the two biggest meanie asskickers JWP ever produced; can they deliver a goodie even in their baby form? Yes they can. Kandori was full on Kandori, completely different from the worker she was the year before, while Kansai was learning the ways of working stiff and exciting. This had a pretty great opening – as they go right at it with the fast submissions, slapping the taste out of eachother's mouth, throwing lariats, Kansai making a comeback by punching Kandori in the face repeatedly etc. The second half was a little more generic and more like a wrestling match, but still interesting enough with some very well timed spots and nearfalls. Whenever Kandori looks in a submission there's automatic drama, so that's really nice. Strong bout, proof these two could go from very early on.

[TravJ1979]

Shinobu Kandori vs. Devil Masami (Original JWP, 7/14/88) --- 1988 MOTY

Agreed. Tremendous match.

[Jetlag]

 

Shinobu Kandori vs. Devil Masami (Original JWP, 7/14/88) --- 1988 MOTY

Agreed. Tremendous match.

 

 

And it's not even the best match I watched for this project so far...

 

12/24/90 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Mayumi Ozaki vs. Rumi Kazama

 

This was another strong match, YMMW on how good exactly. The story was Ozaki's rough style vs. Kazamas brutal kicks. I liked the opening a lot with Ozaki immediately taking control roughhousing Kazama in a way similiar to what a guy like Mick McManus would do, yanking her head violently, putting her toe in her eye etc. After some failed attempts, Kazama makes her comeback by locking in an armbar and after that it's mostly back and forth action. They do a nice job of working a long match with a strong pace, but it was a bit lacking in terms of drama, if you know what I mean. One thing I've noticed is that the wrestlers would do a nearfall with a big move, then follow with a basic move to make the basic move look like a potential match ender too; it's such a simple psychological trick but it's the kind of stuff that's sorely lacking elsewhere. Should point out that Ozaki had really good suplexes and Kazama was kicking really hard. The fans wanted both girls to win, and they delivered another heated finish. I thought the match was lacking in high notes, intensity or epic story, but was a perfectly good quality main event otherwise and absolutely worth watching.

 

6/14/1990 Eagle Sawai vs. Maiko Tsurugi

Maiko Tsurugi was a nimble worker in a funny pink outfit with shoulder armor and liked to kick hard. In a different reality she probably would've been a really good partner for Kansai in those interpromotional wars. This was back and forth action early on, with Tsurugi mostly coming out on top, dropping Sawai with a Superplex in the first minute of the bout, and then another one a few minutes later. However that changes when Mayumi Ozaki (who else) forearms Tsurugi in the kidney as she goes for a dive. Tsurugi injures her back, and this sets up the dramatic 2^nd half where Sawai tries to get the submission with a bunch of holds to torture her back. Sawai bumping big is really fun and Tsurugi made a quite good sympathetic face. This would've been really good with a little more build, but as it stands it was still a quality 10 minute bout.

 

 

[TravJ1979]

This is all the JWP I have pre-1992 split

 

[JWP Handheld - circa late 1986/1987] Yuu Yamazaki v. Yuki Ito

Dirty Yamato v. Mayumi Ozaki[slightly clipped]

Plum Mariko v. Olga?

Esther Moreno/Rumi Kazama v. Reyna Gallegos/?

Miss A v. Monster Ripper [slightly clipped] - cuts off/no ending

[JWP Handheld] Oscal Tomo v. Ilia Yonemoto

Eden Mabuchi/Smiley Mami v. La Sirenita/Dirty Yamato

Cuty Suzuki v. Yuu Yamazaki

Yuki Ito v. Maiko Tsurugi

Esther/Rossy Moreno v. Rumi Kazama/Mayumi Ozaki

Miss A v. Harley Saito

Eagle Sawai/La Briosa/Nancy Kumi v. Xochitl Hamada/Plum Mariko/Jackie Sato

JWP HH - Introduction of wrestlers/A performance

Moon Ayako v. Smiley Mami

The trator?/Dirty Yamamoto/Maiko Tsurugi v. Oscal Tomo/Itsu Manato (?)/Plum Mariko

Mya or Mika pramoto v. Cuty Suzuki

Yuu Yamazaki v. Mayumi Ozaki

The something(masked)/Rossy Moreno v. Harley Saito/Rumi Kazama

Yutuki Ito v. Miss A

Eagle Sawai/Nancy Kumi V. Xochitl Hamada/Jackie Sato

JWA HH - Introduction of wrestlers

Yuu Yamazaki v. Mayumi Ozaki

Maiko Tsurugi/Dirty Yamamoto v. Cuty Suzuki/Rossy Moreno

Mya or Mika pramoto v. Plum Mariko

Miss A/hispanic wrestler v. ?/?

Harley Saito v. Rumi Kazama

The Lock?/Luna Vachon v. Xochitl Hamada/Shinobu Kandori

Jackie Sato v. Sherri Martel

JWP HH - Introduction of wrestlers

Cuty Suzuki v. Mayumi Ozaki (cuts off)

JWP HH - people in green wigs dancing / wrestlers intro and Rumi Kazama sings

Eden Mabuchi v. Oscal Tomo

La Sirenita/Dirty Yamamoto v. Ilia Yonemoto/Smiley Mami

Cuty Suzuki v. Harley Saito

Yuu Yamazaki/Esther Moreno v. Xochitl Hamada/Rumi Kazama

8 Woman Battle Royal (with undercard/midcard talent from previous matches)

Mayumi Ozaki v. Yuki Ito

Eagle Sawai/Maiko Tsurugi/La Briosa v. Plum Mariko/Miss A/Jackie Sato

Rossy Moreno v. Nancy Kumi

JW HH - Rumi Kazama Sings

Eden Mabuchi v. Oscal Tomo

Ilia Yonemoto/Yuu Yamazaki v. Smiley Mami/Plum Mariko

Cuty Suzuki v. Mayumi Ozaki

The Sniper?/The Scorpion v. Esther Moreno/Xochitl Hamada

Eagle Sawai v. Yuki Ito

Dirty Yamamoto v. Rumi Kazama

Miss A/Jackie Sato v. Halley Saito/Shinobu Kandori

JWP HH - Sachiko Koganei v. Fujima?

Yukari Osawa/Dirty Yamato/Moon Ayako v. Oscal Tomo/Eden Mabuchi/Smiley Mami

Maiko Tsurugi v. Yuu Yamazaki

Cuty Suzuki/Plum Mariko v. Miki Handa/Rumi Kazama

Eagle Sawai v. Muto Itsuyo?

Yuki Ito/Miss A v. Xochitl Hamada/Devil Masami

Esther Moreno v. Mayumi Ozaki

JWP HH - JIP - La Briosa/Mayumi Ozaki v. Rumi Kazama/Halley Saito

Eagle Sawai/Maiko Tsurugi/Jackie Sato v. Plum Mariko/Xochitl Hamada/Miss A

Singing

Moon Ayako v. Eden Mabuchi

Oscal Tomo/Yuu Yamazaki v. Illia Yonemoto/Cuty Suzuki

Mayumi Ozaki v. Plum Mariko

Dirty Yamato/Maiko Tsurugi v. Esther Moreno/Rumi Kazama

Yuki Ito v. Halley Saito

Vicky Carranza/Lola Gonzalez v. Xochitl Hamada/Shinobu Kandori

Eagle Sawai/Nancy Kumi v. Miss A/Jackie Sato

JWP HH - Eden Mabuchi v. Illia Yonemoto

La Sirenita/Esther Moreno v. Oscal Tomo/Yuki Ito

La Briosa v. Smiley Mami

Dirty Yamato v. Maiko Tsurugi

Cuty Suzuki/Mayumi Ozaki v. Yuu Yamazaki/Rumi Kazama

Eagle Sawai/Rossy Moreno/Nancy Kumi v. Xochitl Hamada/Halley Saito/Jackie Sato

JWP HH - Ceremony + Rumi Kazama sings

Maiko Tsurugi v. Plum Mariko

Ilia Yonemoto/Eden Mabuchi v. Oscal Tomo/Smiley Mami

La Venus/Dirty Yamato v. Cuty Suzuki/Yuu Yamazaki

Eagle Sawai v. Xochitl Hamada

Diosa de Plata/India Azteca v. Esther Moreno/Mayumi Ozaki

Yuki Ito/Halley Saito v. Miss A/Rumi Kazama

Nancy Kumi v. Jackie Sato

JWP HH - Wrestler Intro + Ceremony (Includes Antonio Inoki speaking)

Yuu Yamazaki v. Plum Mariko

African American wrestler v. Miss A

Dirty Yamato v. Yuki Ito

Maiko Tsurugi/Reyna Gallegos v. Mayumi Ozaki/Esther Moreno

JWP HH - Lola Gonzalez v. Shinobu Kandori

Eagle Sawai v. Esther Moreno

La Briosa v. Smiley Mami

Rossy Moreno v. Nancy Kumi

JWP HH - Esther Moreno v. Rumi Kazama

Zuleyma v. Plum Mariko

Vicky Carranza/Lola Gonzalez v. Xochitl Hamada/Shinobu Kandori

JWP HH - Lola Gonzalez v. Devil Masami

JWP HH - La Esclava/Lola Gonzalez v. Maiko Tsurugi/Devil Masami

Battle Royal with pretty much whole roster

JWP HH - Yuu Yamazaki v. Mayumi Ozaki

Ilia Yonemoto v. Yuki Ito

Dirty Yamato v. Esther Moreno

Smiley Mami/Eagie Sawai v. Cuty Suzuki/Plum Mariko

The Lock/Luna Vachon v. Xochitl Hamada/Halley Saito

Vicky Carranza v. Nancy Kumi

Maiko Tsurugi/Miss A/Sherri Martel v. Rumi Kazama/Shinbou Kandori/Jackie Sato

JWP HH - The Pure Heart 4/11/1992 -- Sumiko Saito v. Mitsue Kobayashi (wrestling v. karate)

Devil Masami v. Bolshoi Kid

Cuty Suzuki v. Mika Kuwahara (wrestling v. karate)

Mayumi Ozaki v. Hikari Fukuoka (cuts off)

JWP Documentary - traning, shopping etc, + clips (Sato v. Kandori)

some type of JWP comm tape with tons of clips and highlights

more clips and craziness (mostly needs cut)

JWP HH - Rumi Kazama sings

Moon Ayako v. Eden Mabuchi

Oscal Tomo/Cuty Suzuki v. Ilia Yonemoto/Yuki Ito

Eagle Sawai v. Esther Moreno

Vicky Carranza/Dirty Yamato v. Mayumi Ozaki/Rumi Kazama

Plum Mariko/Harley Saito v. Yuu Yamazaki/Miss A

Maiko Tsurugi/Nancy Kumi v. Xochitl Hamada/Jackie Sato (cuts off)

JWP HH - Rumi Kazama sings

Moon Ayako v. Eden Mabuchi

Oscal Tomo/Smiley Mami v. Illia Yonemoto/Cuty Suzuki

Yuu Yamazaki v. Yuki Ito

La Valietta?/Dirty Yamato v. Mayumi Ozaki/Esther Moreno

Bulienta? V. Plum Mariko

The Scorpion/Maiko Tsurugi v. Xochtil Hamada/Rumi Kazama

Eagle Sawai/Nancy Kumi v. Harley Saito/Miss A

JWP HH - JIP The Scorpion v. Yuki Ito

Smiley Mami/Yuu Yamazaki v. Esther Moreno/Halley Saito

Mayumi Ozaki v. Rumi Kazama

La Bruha/Lola Gonzales v. Xochitl Hamada/Miss A

JWP HH - Smiley Mami v. Esther Moreno

Cuty Suzuki v. Yuu Yamazaki

Maiko Tsurugi/Dirt Yamato v. Mayumi Ozaki/Rumi Kazama

La Valietta?/Eagle Sawai/Zuleyma v. Xochitl Hamada/Halley Saito/Miss A

Jackie Sato v. Shinobu Kandori (End Cut)

JWP HH - wrestler intros

Plum Mariko v. Yuki Ito

Dirty Yamato v. Mayumi Ozaki

Olga ? .v. Miss A

Maiko Tsurugi v. Yuu Yamazaki

Esther Moreno?/Lala? .v. Halley Saito/Rumi Kazama

african american wrestler v. Shinobu Kandori

Monster Ripper/lola gonzales? .v. Nancy Kumi/Jackie Sato

JWP HH - ?/Maiko Tsurugi/Dirty Yamato v. Mayumi Ozaki/Illia Yonemoto/Cuty Suzuki

Eagle Sawai v. Yuki Ito (end cut)

JWP HH - Monster Ripper v. Jackie Sato

Shinbou Kandori v. Lola Gonzales

Dirty Yamato/Maiko Tsurugi v. Oscal Tomo/Illia Yonemoto

JWP HH - Vivian Vachon v. Maiko Tsurugi (end cut) + diff hh (part of Vivian Vachon v. Xochitl Hamada)

JWP HH JIP - Rumi Kazama v. ?

JWP HH - Dirty Yamato v. Esther Moreno

Vicky Carranza v. Nancy Kumi

JWP HH - Yuu Yamazaki v. Esther Moreno

JWP Handheld - ? v. ?

Sachiko Koganei/Oscal Tomo v. Thunder ?/Smiley Mami

Plum Mariko v. Eden Mabuchi

Moon Ayako/Dirty Yamato v. Yuu Yamazaki/Rumi Kazama

Mayumi Ozaki v. Cuty Suzuki

Witch Warrior v. Yuki Ito/? In handicap match (cut off)

JWP HH - Smiley Mami v. Eden Mabuchi

Oscal Tomo v. Mika Handa

Sachiko Koganei/Dirty Yamato/Mayumi Ozaki v. Cuty Suzuki/Plum Mariko/Rumi Kazama

Yuu Yamazaki v. ?

Moon Ayako v. Yuki Ito

Halley Saito/Miss A v. Maiko Tsurugi/Eagle Sawai

Xochitl Hamada/Shinobu Kandori v. Mitsuyo Mura/Devil Masami

[JWP Handheld] JIP - Eden Mabuchi v. ?

? v. ?

Moon Ayako/Dirty Yamato v. Yuki Ito/Mitsuyo Mura

Mayumi Ozaki v. Plum Mariko

Yuu Yamazaki/Xochitl Hamada v. Cuty Suzuki/Harley Saito

Eagle Sawai/Nancy Kumi v. Miss A/Rumi Kazama

Devil Masami v. Shinobu Kandori

JWP Handheld - Dirty Yamamoto/Jeanne Yukari v. Sumiko Saito/?

Eden Mabuchi v. Cuty Suzuki

Mitsuyo Mura v. Plum Mariko

Sachiko Koganei/Moon Ayako v. Oscal Tomo/Smiley Mami

La Esclava v. Mayumi Ozaki

Eagle Sawai v. Maiko Tsurugi

Yuki Ito/Miss A v. Rumi Kazama/Shinobu Kandori

Lola Gonzalez v. Devil Masami

JWP HH - Cuty Suzuki/Plum Mariko v. Mayumi Ozaki/Yasha Kurenai

Sachiko Koganei v. ??? (wrestling v. karate)

Yukari Osawa/Eagle Sawai v. Rumi Kazama/Miss A

Itsuki Yamazaki v. ?

The Scorpion/Devil Masami v. Harley Saito/Shinobu Kandori

JWP "Monthly '91 Vol. 9 - Rumi Kazama v. Eden Mabuchi (5 min exhibition/retirement ceremony

Mayumi Ozaki v. Hikari Fukuoka

Utako Hozumi/Devil Masami v. Miki Handa/Shinobu Kandori

Dynamite Kansai v. Harley Saito - UWA International title

JWP Pre*Stage - Mayumi Ozaki/Devil Masami v. Cuty Suzuki/Dynamite Kansai

Bolshoi Kid v. Plum Mariko

Hikari Fukuoka v. Sumiko Saito

Battle Royal

JWP TV 11/2/1991 - Mayumi Ozaki v. Hikari Fukuoka - JIP

Reiko Hoshino/Eagle Sawai v. Smiley Mami/Ituski Yamazaki

Cuty Suzuki v. Plum Mariko

Shinobu Kandori/Miki Handa v. Devil Masami/Utako Hozumi - JIP

Dynamite Kansai v. Harley Saito - UWA International title

JWP Video Tournament Pacific Fight with Majors 1994 (outdoors -- comm tape)

Plum Mariko v. Hikari Fukuoka

Cuty Suzuki v. Dynamite Kansai

JWP Video Tournament Pacific Fight with Majors 1994 (indoors -- comm tape) PART 2?

Hikari Fukuoka v. Commando Bolshoi

Mayumi Ozaki v. Plum Mariko

JWP TV - Yukari Osawa/Mayumi Ozaki v. Hikari Fukuoka/Plum Mariko (end cut)

Eagle Sawai v. Itsuki Yamazaki (JIP)

Miki Handa/Shinobu Kandori v. Mami Kitamura/Harley Saito (end cut)

JWP Monthly Vol 10 - Cuty Suzuki v. Miki Handa (UWA/JWP Jr Title) (end only)

Bolshoi Kid/Utako Hozuki v. Midori Saito/Plum Mariko

Mikiko Futagami v. Devil Masami

Mayumi Ozaki/Rumi Kazama v. Terri Power/Reggie Bennett

JWP Monthly Vol 12 - The Dementia v. Bolshoi Kid

Hikari Fukuoka v. Plum Mariko

Mayumi Ozaki v. Devil Masami

JWP Monthly Vol 9 - Eden Mabuchi v. Rumi Kazama (5 min Mabuchi retirement match + ceremony)

Mayumi Ozaki v. Hikari Fukuoka

Utako Hozumi/Devil Masami v. Miki Handa/Shinobu Kandori

Dynamite Kansai v. Harley Saito (UWA International Title)

JWP TV - Yukari Osawa/Mayumi Ozaki v. Hikari Fukuoka/Plum Mariko

The Scorpion v. Midori Saito

Eagle Sawai v. Itsuki Yamazaki

Miki Handa/Shinobu Kandori v. Mami Kitamura/Harley Saito

Dynamite Kansai v. Devil Masami (JIP)

[Jetlag]

Double dose of Cutie/Scorpion!

 

The Scorpion vs Cutie Suzuki (JWP 08/30/91)

Ha, forget about joshi, lucha or shootstyle. This is like one of the finest US style matches of the year. Scorpion had all the spectacular moves, and Cutie was grinding her down with holds and stomps. It might aswell be an Ole Anderson vs. Lightning Kid match, with Ole played by an 80 pound idol girl. Scorpion looks cool as hell mixing up the junior and shootstyle. When Scorpion keeps overwhelming Cutie she switches to working the arm. It's fairly basic stuff and doesn't have any consequence so it feels like high end time killing, but the match was well worked enough. Scorpion totally owns Cutie with her last comeback – normally these JWP matches are pretty 50/50 in the end run, but her Cutie is reduced to two last ditch counter moves, which makes a lot of sense in the context of the match and was probably why she got on the mic afterwards looking upset. Other that, really well worked match with fun stylistic experimentation.

The Scorpion vs Cutie Suzuki (JWP 10/10/91) (Mask vs. Hair)

It's a lucha de apuestas! The first match was like a high end formula match, while this was more intensely fought. They start strong with a big slap and it's action from the start. I really liked the blocked moves they did here early on, including Cutie blocking a move as basic as a half crab, as this added so much to the build. Cutie has really good basic stomps, knees and elbows and takes the fight to Scorpion who beat her so badly last time. I liked her ankle pick counter too. They settle into the EPIC stretch when, mirroring the last match, Scorpion hits two dives in a row, but this time Cuty scores the suplex on the floor. The end run was what you expect from this sort of match, huge suplexes from Cutie, some spectacular moves from Scorpion (her Cavernaria/Chickenwing combo was totally awesome and steal-worthy) and they worked in some breathtaking counters for nearfalls. I guess it comes down to taste whether you prefer this or the first match which had less grandeur, but I thought they did a great job her and this was easily a better joshi apuestas match than Toyota/Yamada the following year. Not as stiff or big, but way more substance.

[Jetlag]

It's the holidays. Time to watch some wrestling. No, I'm kidding, I'll be going on a trip and not watch any wrestling for atleast another week.

 

Meanwhile, some matches from 1991:

 

4/25 Chiba: Pink Cadillac vs. Sachiko Koganei

Pink Cadillac is a tall chunky broad in a god awful pink outfit. How awful. Poor Koganei is squashed mercilessly. Cadillac actually had some spots, but is probably better confined to two minute GLOW matches. JWP officials understood this too and this match was kept mercifully short.

6/30 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Mikiko Futagami vs. Sumiko Saito

 

It's the origins of GAMI! She's a bland rookie in a LACOSTE bathing suit! I'm not a huge fan of the joshi young lioness style matches. Lots of shoulderblocks and back elbows. Futagami busts out the admittedly badass rolling triangle lancer and a neckbreaker/chokehold submission, perhaps foreshadowing her future wrestling style. Still they seemed to get their stuff messed up after the 5 minute mark and started repeating spots and blowing sequences leading to a random finish. 10 minute match that should've been kept to 5-7.

 

6/30: Utako Hozumi vs. The Scorpion

The motherfucking Scorpion. This was a really cool match and most of that was thanks to the lady in the mask, who was seriously ahead of the curve with her junior/shootstyle hybrid wrestling, bringing both the flips and the kicks and the kimuras, but this match is good due to STORY~ and not due to style. Utako is on the blander side, as she is Japanese Prettygirl #1245 which is the joshi equivalent to being a hairless kickpadded indy junior. Her offense is not as high end as Scorpion, but she redeems herself with some excellent selling. These two could go braindead and just do some athetic moves, lotsa filler holds and then bust out a bunch of 2,9999s and call it a day, but we get so much more than that here. There is some really cool battle for control stuff including Scorpion working almost a full guard before Hozumi digs her elbow into the thigh and locks in an achilles hold. Hozumi cannot seem to get the upper hand but pulls out a well executed control segment before Scorpion gets her again. A BACK SUPLEX is turned into a nearfall and Scorpion has it all over Hozumi here. Scorpion targets the back and really clever injury spot ensues to increase the tension further. I really liked how while Scorpion was in control so much there was a palpable tension about Hozumi eventually pulling out the victory because JWP is flukey, and Hozumi actually looked strong despite getting in little offense. Really entertaining stuff, this is why JWP was gold.

[Jetlag]

Some matches from february 1991

 

2/23: Cuty Suzuki vs. Eagle Sawai

For a fairly basic speed vs. Size undercardmatch between two not very great workers this was kind of fun. Eagle Sawai has pretty much no rep, but her body checks, back elbows, splashes and slams look real sharp and she knows how to rough her opponent up. This was a little restholdy for a match that wasn't very long to begin with, but they pick up the pace good when Sawai starts targeting Cuties back and Cuty starts countering her power moves in freaked out twisty rollups until Sawai reverses one and uses her massive size to pin her for the 3.

 

2/24: Mayumi Ozaki vs. Utako Hozumi

Weird match, which was almost a total squash on behalf of Miss Ozaki. Oz is one of the all time best at beating someone up and making it look good while being a teeny tiny lady herself, and this almost approached Arn Anderson TV squash tier where the jobber actually looks legit. Ozaki has really nice simple moves, nice snap suplex, elbow drop, elbow to the throat etc. but Utako came back with almost nothing before Ozaki drops her with her badass leg capture suplex.

 

2/11 Cuty Suzuki & Oscar Tomo vs. Eagle Sawai & Yukari Osawa

It says 2/24 in the matchlist, but this is clearly in Korakuen Hall like the next match on the tape. This was pretty much your typical run of the mill joshi tag. Some may like it, but for me this kind of tag just holds little interesting. It was just a bunch of control segments that go nowhere before a random reversal and tag and then the whole process started again. They didn't even have high workrate, altough the finishing run was tricked out as is guaranteed with JWP matches. Oscar Tomo had an interesting look – like a mini Kansai, but did nothing so interesting otherwise. Osawa and Sawai played the heel role well but it was nothing you haven't seen in a thousand Black Pair matches.

 

2/11 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Shinobu Kandori vs. The Scorpion

I guess this is the downside to watching old Kandori matches. Scorpion gets a 2 minute string of offense before Kansai catches her in a submission and that's it. It was fun and mildly exciting and they needed matches like this to put over Kandori as a badass.... still, The motherfucking Scorpion deserved better.

 

[Jetlag]

The 7/14/91 Korakuen Hall show... this was filmed by TV crew so much better production than usual.

 

Over The Generation Match: Miss A vs. Hikari Fukuoka

A future JWP ace appears. This was a brutal 3 minute rookie squash and pretty cool. It starts out great immediately with both of them destroying the Korakuen Halls guardrails by bumping ridiculously hard into them. Kansai kicks wee swimsuit wearing Fukuoka to a pulp including a stiff kick to the mouth, but Fukuoka actually gets a nearfall when she catches here in a reverse Achilles Hold! It doesn't last long though as all here dropkicks leave Kansai unphased and a moment later Kansai puts her out with the most hellacious of lariats. About as good as this type of match can be in 3 minutes. Also, I noticed that the ref is TOMMY RAN, which is awesome.

 

Devil Masami & Plum Mariko vs. Mayumi Ozaki & Dementia

Dementia has a great look and very much not great wrestling skills. Masami was working invincible monster here and going to town on everyone with stiff lariats and powerbombs. Eventually Ozaki came after her with a chair. Not much of a much overall, though.

 

Terri Power & Pink Cadillac vs. Shinobu Kandori & Itsuki Yamazaki

Oh god, that Power/Cadillac team is pure cringe. Kandori and Yamazaki look really sharp even in this terrible matchup, but there was only so much they could achieve.

 

UWA Title Match: Harley Saito vs. Eagle Sawai

Long, excellent main event to make up for that shite midcard. These two had really gotten the hang of how to beat somebody up and make it look good while at the same time selling the punishment received, and they built a really good match around these qualities. It reminded me a bit of an AJPW style match rather than typical joshi, with a slow pace and some cool move progressions. Sawai stuck to her rough housing tactics which issomething she did really well at this point, but Harley was determined to lay an epic beating on her opponent. Really punishing contest with Saito teeing off on Sawai with rapid fire kicks and both girls using some grinding holds. The finishing run was not as great as the body of the match but not huge detriment. It could've used few more ideas but opinions on that will vary. They did a really good countout tease and then packed it up to end the match in style. Quality match, which shows Sawai could go and once again Harley Saito being the real deal.

[Jetlag]

Matches from 8/4/1991

 

Mizuki Endo Debut: Mikiko Futagami vs. Mizuki Endo

Oh Mikiko. This was better than the previous rookie match, as there was less rope running and more of a clear ranking going on, with Futagami punishing her opponent, slapping her and no selling a few moves so that the bits where Endo knocks her over mean a little. Nothing mind blowing but a solid rookie match with Futagami doing the leading. Futagami is somebody I want to explore more, as I know she was pretty great in ARSION, but what about the period before that? Was it just that magic ARSION touch? I know judging from stuff like this GAMI always knew what she was doing.

 

Itsuki Yamazaki vs. Hikari Fukuoka

They follow a rookie match up with a rookie vs. Veteran contest. JWP was running on a thin roster. Yamazaki in JWP is a special worker and this was the first time I've seen her work with real disdain for her opponent. Yamazaki was really roughing up young generic Fukuoka here with proto-Curb Stomps on the ground, disdainful kicks and generally acting like a dipshit. My favourite thing Yamazaki did was blocking a Fukuoka leg trip, shit talking, then actively help her execute the trip and reverse the next hold Fukuoka tried. It was a Fujiwara class dick move. Fukuoka was just the typical basic rookie here with boston crabs and dropkicks, her forearm smashes had some vigor, but she also had a surprisingly weak crossbody. Still Yamazaki worked this about as well as humanly possible by threating Fukuoka like crap, allowing her some nice payback and then finishing the match with a dropkick that was plenty brutal.

 

Mayumi Ozaki & Rumi Kazama vs. Devil Masami & Mami Kitamura

This was probably the best showing Devil has had so far. Some strong armwork on Kazama early on (which did not lead anywhere, cause Kazama ain't that good), and lots of fun stuff built around Masami being as big as Kazama & Ozaki together with them flying around trying to topple her. This was a more restrained type joshi tag which you can tell they put some thought into, which I'd like to see more of. Kitamura was barely in the focus, but still hit a nice avalanche powerslam.

 

Dynamite Kansai & The Scorpion vs. Shinobu Kandori & Harley Saito

The first half or so of this was just amazing and easily the best JWP tag I've ever watched. They basically did away with all the cute stuff and just went for the kickpadded joshi version of a Choshu/WAR tag. The Kansai vs. Saito/Kandori interactions were just magic. Stiff blows, lack of cooperation, flash submissions, general frantic pace... this may be my favourite style of wrestling. Kandori had superstar written all over her here as she had amazing presence, disdainfuly kicking Scorpion in the face and standing toe to toe with Kansai. The second half drifted more into a different territory, whichwas still solid, but I was hoping for the sparks to fly a little more of that opening. It was basically a WAR tag that turned into an AJPW tag, and I like the WAR style better. Still, they pulled through with a good story as Saito and Kandori worked a good underdog+major badass team. Saito and Kansai kept brawling after the finish, keeping me excited for their further interactions throughout the year. Ah screw it, this is still the best JWP tag by a landslide so far.

[Jetlag]

Been a while, folks. But old JWP still rules!

 

Rumi Kazama vs. Plum Mariko (2/12/89)

Cool JWP style match. It's a little hard to discern where the line between your average cool JWP match and the great stuff is. The work isn't exactly high end and there's no overarching story, but then the work is GOOD and you get all kinds of neat spots which set these two apart from your average girly spotblower. I really liked the wrestling they did here – nothing high end, but just well executed basic stuff, such as Plum resisting a toe hold, or Kazama turning an Achilles Hold into almost a figure 4 spot by extending the leg to block the pressure. Here Plum gets the better of Kazama with some impressive counters and Kazama almost breaks her jaw with some whack spin kicks in return. I was also impressed by how they did set up the dive in this match. Yeah, I'm a sucker for a good dive set up. Kazama ends up high kicking the steel ringpost and they do a double countout into a restart and Mariko goes after Kazama with her leglocks like the other Mariko. I thought Kazama's selling was good altough it wasn't overly dramatic as she is not that kind of worker and it was just a good trick to get the crowd all hot and behind Kazama for the crazy 2.9 run. One might frown and say this was just another junior match, but I did enjoy it tremendously. Good layout, some cool wrestling and stiff blows, smart thinking, and they never overreached.

Miss A vs. Shinobu Kandori (2/12/89)

So you look at this matchup and you go „Hm. That can't be that great. They're still babies and not close to their true form.“ But the opening of this match is a house of fire and exactly what an ideal Kansai/Kandori match would look like: Kansai trying to murder the judo woman with thunderous kicks and Kandori going mad grabbing submissions. Kansai hits a huge piledriver and then brains Kandori in the back of the head with a massive kick, leaving her stunned on the floor. One of the more harrowing openings to a match I've seen. What follows is just great – lack of cooperation, disdain, more MURDER and KILLING, but soon things break down and they start fumbling to fill time. It's really hard to do a Super Badass vs. Super Badass going long. At 10 minutes this probably would've been great, but they go 19 and they fill that extra time up with lots of half crabs. I wanna blame Kansai because they lost the crowd when she took control, but Kandori also no-sold a bunch of legwork and she really liked that half crab too. Match picks up near the end again with a big bump that plays of the opening and some fat lariats and Kandori busting out her judo again. Worth checking out for that fiery opening alone, but I couldn't help but be sour at the squandered potential with this matchup.

[shodate]

id like ot see more Sato era JWP ie 88-92

[Jetlag]

id like ot see more Sato era JWP ie 88-92

 

You should check out Kandori/Saito from 1990. Seems like it would be right up your alley

 

 

Some tag matches:

 

Rumi Kazama & Shinobu Kandori vs. Devil Masami & Itsuki Yamazaki (JWP 9/30/90)

Very good tag which was mostly built around the veteran team of Devil & Yamazaki rudo'ing it up and cutting off their younger opponents who were firing back with plenty of spunk. This was probably the best Devil has looked as she was quite the thrashing machine here throwing stiff headbutts and punches and dropping the girls with massive Gorilla slams and powerbombs. She did some cool „monster“ selling aswell and reminded me a bit of Andre. Yamazaki wasn't in the match much but she did work a few cool exchanges and she once again acting like an even girlier Takeshi Ono, running in to kick people in the head and stomp on their hands to break up submissions. Kazama was laying into folks with brutal kicks again and there were plenty of violent exchanges in the process. Kandori was probably the most subdued but it was established that she could end the match at any time so that resulted in a few neat moments. Really effective match with some strong double team work from Devil & Yamazaki and a clever finish.

Miss A & Harley Saito vs. Shinobu Kandori & Rumi Kazama (JWP 10/10/90)

Well you look at this matchup and you go „These are 4 ladies who are not afraid to hit hard and get hit hard in the ring.“ And you are correct. This had plenty of asskicking, but I would've liked them to fire it up a little more and bring that trademark intensity Kandori is famous for. Maybe it was cause they were working a title match so they wanted to keep things cool. Anyways this had enough good stuff to keep you entertained and they delivered another strong finish. They worked the match in such a way that you couldn't tell when and what the finish was gonna be and it paid off with that ending. Not as epic as it could have been, but then the baseline for JWP matches is fairly high and this would be a standout match on any other promotions card.

Dynamite Kansai & The Scorpion vs. Harley Saito & Itsuki Yamazaki (JWP 8/8/91)

This had a GREAT opening with Kansai and Harley facing off only for Yamazaki to step in and smash Kansai into the guardrails. Those guardrail bumps are about the manliest thing. This was a fast paced workrate tag, but another piece in Kansai/Saito rivalry with plenty of boss exchanges between the two. They meander at times and I dislike how Kansai would no-sell all the clever work that Yamazaki and Saito were doing. Ah well, Saito sells well enough and Yamazaki stepping up and kicking Kansai in the face is pretty much the greatest thing. Unpredictable match with lots of well timed transitions. I have no idea whether other folks can warm up to this type of stuff but I'm really enjoying it.

[Jetlag]

Mayumi Ozaki vs. Devil Masami (6/16/1990)

 

This as okay. Houseshow stuff. Devil almost resembled Andre the Giant in how she would work big/small spots with Ozaki here. Some silly buggers begin near the end with a bunch of interference spots like an attitude era match. This is for the completists only.

 

Shinobu Kandori vs. Sachiko Koganei (3/25/1990)

Koganei blitzes Kandori but quickly falls victim to the submission godess.

 

Harley Saito vs. Rumi Kazama (5/12/1990)

This was bordering on being listworthy. I could see other people digging this, and myself going back and adding it anyways. Really brutal match with barrages of stiff kicks being dished out, a missed dive spot and Saito dumping her opponent on her head with ganso bombs. Some cool spots included a nice Fujiwara armbar from Kazama which twisted Harley around aswell as a nasty spinkick. Still some of the action felt inconsequential, e.g. there was a double kick spot which Harley sold for a splitsecond and then just moved on, and Kazama wasn't really able to sell the punishment she was withstanding. Fun match but a little too flawed for me to endores fully right now.

[Jetlag]

Plum Mariko & Cuty Suzuki vs. Mayumi Ozaki & Rumi Kazama (12/7/90)

Mostly back and forth action in this one interespersed with Kazama kicking the living hell out of the prettygirls and some mean stomps and knees from Ozaki. Some good interactions between Kazama and Mariko continueing from their singles match the previous year. Match wasn't bad but the baseline for JWP is a little higher than this by now and I thought the finish was kind of cheap as a bazillion suplexes were thrown before a fluke ending. Perfectly good joshi though and didn't go long.

Devil Masami vs. Madusa (JWP 8/8/91)

We've had Cuty Suzuki work as Arn Anderson, now get ready for kickpadded shootstylist Madusa, throwing thudding kicks and going for kimuras!! This was quite the awkward mess, altough honestly Masami wasn't exactly pushing the action with her hair pulling and scratching. I imagine this Madusa has a fun match in her, but Masami isn't the one to produce it.

Cuty Suzuki vs. The Scorpion (8/11/91)

WAR CUTY!!! I don't know what the hell it is about The Scorpion that brings out Cuty's inner asskicker like this, but it sure has produced a memorable match series. Match opens with Cuty posting Scorpion's arm and then just does her best Arn Anderson impression ripping the hell out of that arm and sinking into armbars at awkward angles. I was a little worried about Scorpion selling all that at first but it ended up being fine. Match was unexpectedly really gritty with Scorpion throwing headbutts and savage kicks and Cuty punching her in the mouth like she's Fuchi or something. Really enjoyed the tricked out finishing run once again which left quite a bit on the table for the rematches. Yeah these two rule together, let it be known that once in a while Cuty Suzuki would step up and be a gritty badass.