Megumi Kudo: The Retrospective

[Mr JMML]

She has always been a wrestler that I've never considered to be in the GWE conversation because of her longevity, having a only 7 year career hurts a lot when you compare her to other candidates, I also want to point out that she wasn't only a deathmatch wrestler but also a great singles and tag worker with Combat Toyoda as her partner. I saw that many people underrate her while others overrate her so I'll do my best to see where her career fits with a short retrospective of her FMW and AJW work.

[Mr JMML]

Akira Hokuto & Bull Nakano vs. Combat Toyoda & Megumi Kudo

FMW 09-19-1992 

This match is a handheld from the FMW’s 3rd Anniversary Show, it was the third to last match of the show, it was proceeded by Grigory Verichev & Tarzan Goto (c) vs Brian Theodile & Leon Spinks for the tag team belts and Atsushi Onita vs Tiger Jeet Singh (c) for the heavyweight championship, the match we are discussing today was the best of the show by far. It was a clash between two of the best wrestlers of AJW against the best female wrestlers in the roster of FMW, this match was the first one featured in the Megumi Kudo Queen Of The Death Matches DVD that was a compilation of the best matches in the career of the best female wrestler in FMW history, in this DVD you can find the classic she had against her Combat Toyoda (her partner tonight) in 1996 that is my favourite deathmatch, even better that Terry Funk vs Atsushi Onita in my opinion, I highly recommend that DVD if you are interested in her career.

Now the match, during most of it the Zenjo (AJW) team of Bull and Hokuto were incredibly dominant which was predictable considering how over both of them were at the time, they are far superior wrestlers and they know it, the crowd knew it too, the crowd was pure fire in this one, I think they compensated the state of footage because as I said earlier this was a handheld so the quality isn’t the greatest. The only control segment that the FMW team had was when Combat Toyoda entered the ring and hit a clothesline to the corner then it was cut short by Bull Nakano, from there it was smooth sailing, they got the victory after hitting their finisher simultaneously for the three count ending the match.

It’s one of my favourite handhelds ever, I really like it and if you like 90’s joshi you’ll like it too, the only thing holding it back for some people is the quality of the footage but seriously give it a try.

[Mr JMML]

Manami Toyota & Toshiyo Yamada (AJW) vs. Megumi Kudo & Combat Toyoda (FMW) (April 2, 1993)

Dreamslam 1 

It’s time for another Megumi Kudo match this time against Manami Toyota and Toshiyo Yamada with her usual partner Combat Toyoda, last time I reviewed a tag team bout with those two teaming up against Akira Hokuto and Bull Nakano in FMW. This one is very different from the last one, let’s get the obvious out of the way first, the quality of the footage is way better but what makes this match so different is the match structure, the last one was a spotfest full of big moves and very little in the way of in-ring psychology while this match is particularly good in that department, surprisingly good considering the participants especially Manami Toyota who usually worked without a match narrative with few exceptions luckily this is one of them. This match flies by in part thanks to that match narrative that is followed throughout the entirety of this contest, every move is meaningful and purposeful which is something I didn’t expect going into it when I first watched it a few years ago. It’s overshadowed by the legendary main event of the show, Akira Hokuto vs Shinobu Kandori the greatest wrestling match in the history of the business that I reviewed in spanish two months ago, if you know spanish feel free to read that one first and read this later, if you haven’t watched it yet watch it, it’ll make your day.

Now, the match was great the AJW team especially Toyota sold the FMW girls like a legitimate threat, sometimes it felt a bit sloppy but I think that sloppiness added a profound sense of struggle that worked well to put over Combat Toyoda as a powerhouse, Toyota and Yamada were always ahead, I felt like they always knew what they were doing thanks to that they were able to beat them, they weren’t as superior as Bull and Hokuto were though.

I recommend you to watch the entire event not just this match, there’s two matches that are better than this one but this isn’t a criticism just a testament to the event’s quality.

[Mr JMML]

Mima Shimoda & Etsuko Mita (AJW) vs. Megumi Kudo & Combat Toyoda (FMW) (April 11, 1993)

Dreamslam 2 

Exactly a week after the match I reviewed yesterday, this time their opponents are an up and coming team by the name of LCO ( Las Cachorras Orientales) as you may know one of the best tag teams in wrestling history formed by Mima Shimoda and Etsuko Mita, they began to team up in 1990 but they didn’t have a name until 1992 but their prime years were from 1997 to the year 2000 in my opinion having great matches in AJW, GAEA and ARSION during that time, this time they’re proving themselves against a team that may sound familiar to everyone that has been reading this substack in the last few days, the FMW team formed by Megumi Kudo and Combat Toyoda. Their opponents today are inferior to Manami Toyota and Toshiyo Yamada or Bull Nakano and Akira Hokuto so they might have a chance to win this time after losing the first two matches I reviewed, let’s see how it went.

It starts the way you imagine if you are familiar with LCO, they didn’t wait for the bell to rang at all, they went straight at them without hesitation, things calmed down in the next few minutes though. It’s evident that the match is closer in terms of ability, once again Megumi Kudo has a supporting role while Combat Toyoda is the powerhouse and the anchor of the team as always their opponents’ main goal is to takedown Toyoda. This is one of those matches in which the narrative is secondary as it’s the case with many LCO matches the spots are the protagonists, the crowd loves them and I can’t blame them. The highlights of the match are the table spots,the piledrivers and Combat Toyoda’s powerbomb. Combat Toyoda dropping people head first is always great and Kudo’s Tiger Driver looks nasty every time.

I wouldn’t recommend this match unless you are into spotfests and you like table spots, it’s just not for me.

[Mr JMML]

Megumi Kudo & Combat Toyoda vs. Manami Toyota & Toshiyo Yamada 5/5/93

FMW Origin 

Before we begin, yes Atsushi Onita vs Terry Funk happened in the same show, a match very superior to this one but this project is about Megumi Kudo and she’s a highlight in this match, if you like crazy spotfests full of head drops this is for you if not don’t watch it, sometimes those spots feel uncomfortable to watch, not in the same way that Kana vs Kyoko Kimura was but still pretty unsettling nonetheless. It’s the same pairing from Dreamslam 1 the FMW team of Megumi Kudo and Combat Toyoda vs Manami Toyota and Toshiyo Yamada this time in FMW’s 4th anniversary show, I can’t help but think that the outcome of this match was determined by politics. It’s something similar to what they did four years earlier with the Atsushi Onita vs Masashi Aoyagi trilogy, you win the first two I win the last one kind of deal. I don’t think that the FMW deserved a win considering their position in the world of Joshi at the time, they were basically nobodies in comparison to AJW’s up and comers, I think their win against LCO was justified but this one, there’s just no way to justify it, there’s no build up to the victory, it feels forced, that decision doesn’t feel right.

The match began with some brawling in the outside of the ring, then it settled, in the ring the action was what you could expect, a suplexfest without anything resembling a match narrative and the before mentioned head drops that plagued this particular match, as you can probably tell from the last paragraph the FMW team won against all odds. I can’t wait to do a Terry Funk deep dive so I can review the greatest match of this show.

If you like suplexes and head drops go watch this, this is not a masterpiece or anything but it was fun.

[Mr JMML]

Megumi Kudo vs Aja Kong 12/6/1993

AJW St Battle Final 

Time to end Megumi Kudo’s 1993 with the best of her career yet, a singles match against one of the greatest wrestlers ever Aja Kong, she’s clearly the underdog in this match not just because of the size but also in in-ring ability is not that Megumi is a bad wrestler, it’s just that Aja is a sublime one, once again this match isn’t the best of the show. Remember this show featured the rematch between Akira Hokuto and Shinobu Kandori as the main event after the masterpiece they put together in Dreamslam 1 so the match I’m reviewing didn’t come close but it didn’t have to, it was better than I remembered it being, there’s a lot of good stuff throughout. Aja’s selling is outstanding, it’s something that not many people talk about, her ability to make everyone look like a legitimate threat to her 3WA title while always looking strong. This match is unique in joshi during this time period, it’s a match so different from the others, it’s a style marked by wrestlers that prioritize spots over selling so having this is a pleasant surprise to say the least, the match narrative took the front seat in this one and I’m incredibly grateful for that, some joshi wrestlers around that time should have learnt from this match.

The match is amazing from the beginning, Megumi’s limbwork is incredible, she knew that it was her only chance to get away with the victory, Aja looked visibly weakened by those attacks, at first she’s unable to hit her signature offense because of it but as time passed she began to feel better and once she was able to regain her composture Megumi couldn’t stop her. From there, it was Aja’s show, the only moment when Megumi posed a threat was when she tried to hit her Tiger Driver but she couldn’t, Aja hit a flurry of urakens to get the win and retain her title as expected.

I think everyone should watch this one, if you think joshi is all spots no narrative this match proves you wrong.

[Mr JMML]

Megumi Kudo vs Yumiko Hotta 5/5/1994

FMW 5th anniversary show 

We start Megumi Kudo’s 1994 in a familiar spot FMW’s anniversary show, the only copy we have of this match is clipped so like seven minutes are missing, I think you know the dynamic by now a big name from AJW comes to FMW to face her ace. It played out like that, Yumiko Hotta was a recognizable name at this stage of her career specially when only a few months earlier in January she faced Aja Kong in a match considered by many (myself included) an instant classic so she was a big opponent for Megumi, once again her match isn’t the best of the show, remember the main event of this show was Atsushi Onita vs Genichiro Tenryu in a No Rope Exploding Barbed Wire Deathmatch with the stipulation being that if Onita lost he had to retire from wrestling, spoiler he lost and ‘‘retired’’, you know how retirements in wrestling work so you know that it wasn’t his last match, in fact, he wrestled as recently as June this year. The match I’m going to review is Megumi’s first defense of her FMW Independent and WWA World Women's Championship.

I don’t know how to feel about the match, looks great but almost half the match is missing, I think that if we had a complete version of this I could confidently say that this match is great, as things stand today, I can say that the match was entertaining but the missing parts seem important to understand the match structure, Yumiko Hotta did a great job making it look like she was going to win the title in Megumi’s first defense, the kickouts were very intense, some near falls really looked close but the ace of FMW got away with the victory with a cradle for the three count.

What we have is very good but I can’t help but think that if we had the match in full it would have been much better.

[Mr JMML]

Cuty Suzuki & Takako Inoue vs Megumi Kudo & Hikari Fukuoka 11/20/1994

AJW Big Egg Universe 

This match was a part of the greatest event in joshi history, 10 hours of wrestling in the Tokyo Dome something I think will never happen again, a stack card full of big names from start to finish headlined by the final of the VTOP Woman Tournament that ended up being Akira Hokuto vs Aja Kong, supposedly Hokuto’s retirement match. You know how retirements in wrestling usually work, she wrestled regularly until 2002 when she retired this time for real, that match was better than the one I’m about to review today a tag match that involved two of the biggest personalities in the history of joshi in one side ( Takako Inoue & Cuty Suzuki) against the biggest name FMW had to offer ( Megumi Kudo) and JWP’s copycat of Manami Toyota ( Hikari Fukuoka).

The match was much better than I expected going into it, the level of intensity is amazing but that’s expected out of this four, it’s an awesome joshi spotfest with lots of piledrivers, kickouts and headrops. Takako Inoue is one of the most badass wrestlers ever in the history of joshi so everything she did during the match was incredible, the standout wrestler of the match without a shadow of a doubt is Megumi Kudo, her performance during the finishing stretch of the match was absolutely jaw-dropping. Cuty Suzuki is more of the same, charismatic and hard-hitting, there’s nobody like her on any joshi roster at the time, everytime she wrestled you noticed her, something that I don’t feel when I watch Hikari Fukuoka wrestle, she was fine in this match but nothing if it wasn’t for the title of the video I wouldn’t have noticed that she was involved in this match, she had some good matches in 1993 against Manami Toyota and she was the weakest member of the JWP team in the Thunder Queen Battle 8 woman 60-minute ironman match. The finish of this match was wild, Megumi hit 3 Tiger Drivers in a row to put Takako away.

I recommend you watch the entire show not just this match, this event is legendary.

[Mr JMML]

Bad Nurse Nakamura, Miwa Sato & Shark Tsuchiya vs. Combat Toyoda & Megumi Kudo (Barbed Wire Deathmatch) 9/5/1995

FMW Super Dynamism Tag 11 

This match isn’t only the first deathmatch I review, it’s the first handicap match I review, it’s one of those matches that were booked out of necessity considering that no tag team in the women’s division of FMW was credible enough to pose a challenge to Megumi Kudo and Combat Toyoda after beating Las Cachorras Orientales, Manami Toyota & Toshiyo Yamada and Megumi Kudo beat Yumiko Hotta in a singles match in the anniversary show of the previous year, they were unstoppable at that time. That’s the reason why they booked a handicap match, it’s a very similar reason why AWA in 1982 booked a handicap match with Andre the Giant and Hulk Hogan in one team and Bobby Duncum, Bobby Heenan and Nick Bockwinkel in the other, they were so unstoppable they had to be outnumbered. Her opponents tonight are Miwa Sato, Shark Tsuchiya and Bad Nurse Nakamura, Miwa Sato had been wrestling in FMW since their first year ( 1989), she was trained by Tarzan Goto, in the summer of 1995 she turned heel for the first time after revealing her mystery partner Bad Nurse Nakamura who was a part of Shark Tsuchiya’s stable Mad Dog Military, that heel turn made this match possible.

The match itself wasn’t very good but I think you figured that out just by looking at the lineup, Megumi is the highlight of the match specially in the finishing stretch, there’s many spots related to barbed wire in one way or another, in the beginning it was more the possibility of making contact with it then it escalated, they started using tables with barbed wire in them. The strategy of Tsuchiya’s team consisted on double teaming Combat Toyoda, it didn’t work, Megumi hit a Northern Lights suplex on Miwa Sato for the win.

[Mr JMML]

Megumi Kudo vs. Shark Tsuchiya 12/22/95

FMW Yamato-Nadeshiko II Korakuen Hall 

Megumi Kudo’s second deathmatch and her first in singles competition, the ring is surrounded by barbed wire without ring ropes like the last time, Shark Tsuchiya isn’t the greatest worker so the match is basically a Megumi Kudo carryjob from start to finish, she does a great job selling and putting over the barbed wire throughout the match. She even made Tsuchiya look decent during her control segment, she made sure the match was as good as it could have been, one thing that’s clear about the FMW women’s division is the lack of talent, when the trainees entered the ring it was obvious how clueless they were about putting the babyface over, that’s interesting because Megumi trained all the wrestlers in the women’s division of the company. Shark had a great match by her low standards, one thing I hated about this match specifically is the crowd’s lack of engagement with the match, they were almost completely quiet during the whole affair, it looked like a match from the undercard not the main event of their Korakuen Hall show, they were disinterested in the match.

The match began with Tsuchiya’s control segment, irish whipping Kudo to the barbed wire repeatedly during the first half of the contest, Tsuchiya also used an instrument that I don’t know how to name to cut Megumi’s forehead open so she started bleeding profusely because of that cut, you can see that she also had cuts in her body because of the barbed wire of course. Then Shark used one of her trainees to beat Kudo with barbed wire that she cut herself and another one to bring a kendo stick to the ring, I want to point out how heartbreaking Kudo’s screams are. The final stretch consisted of Kudo’s comeback culminating with her new finisher the Kudome, the same finisher that The Hurricane and Homicide used for the victory.

I don’t recommend this match, the next matches will be much better but this one is skippable.

[Mr JMML]

Megumi Kudo vs. Combat Toyoda 5/5/96

FMW 7th anniversary show

I think this is the match we all think of when the name Megumi Kudo is brought up, the best match in the history of FMW in my opinion, the level of intensity and the use of the stipulation are sublime, everything about it is awesome, from the presentations to the post-match, without a doubt the best retirement in the history of wrestling. First, this is Combat Toyoda’s retirement match, it happened in FMW’s 7th anniversary show, it’s a No Rope Exploding Barbed Wire Deathmatch which means that the ring is covered in barbed wire and it explodes when touched so there will be a lot of playing around with the possibility of touching the ropes and they’ll do their best to avoid them. If you remember, a month ago I uploaded my GME ballot to this substack, this match was very high on that list and I don’t regret putting this match as high as I did because it really deserved its placement, this is one of my favourite matches in wrestling history and the main reason why I decided to make a Megumi Kudo retrospective in the first place, If you haven’t watched it yet watch it now this review can wait.

The match starts with matwork, they set the stakes during the first few minutes establishing the stakes, they put over the barbed wire by avoiding it at all costs, great stuff, Megumi is the first one who had contact with the barbed wire after receiving a dropkick from Combat Toyoda that launched her into the ropes, the ropes exploded and Megumi started bleeding from her arms, Toyoda eventually had contact with the ropes as well. Then, the famous Toyoda suplex to the barbed wire happened and that marked the beginning of the finishing stretch, Megumi hit her opponent with her Tiger Driver, a powerbomb and a Kudome for the win, both had to leave the ring in a stretcher.

Just watch it if you haven’t already, it won’t disappoint you.

[Mr JMML]

Shinobu Kandori vs Megumi Kudo

FMW Year End Sensation 12-11-1996 

This is the first match of the two that these wrestlers had between 1996 and 1997, this one is a regular singles match while the other one was a barbed wire deathmatch, it happened 7 months after the famous Exploding Barbed Wire Deathmatch that I reviewed yesterday that involved Megumi Kudo and Combat Toyoda, Toyoda’s retirement match in the 7th anniversary show, the match today is worse than that one mainly because the last one is very hard to top, in fact, FMW never did and I can’t blame them at all, they got close in the past with Funk vs Onita but it didn’t reach the heights that Toyoda vs Kudo reached. Shinobu Kandori is one of the coolest wrestler ever, once she steps in the ring you know what she is going to do, she’s just an absolute badass, even in her later years she still retained that aura, she still wrestles, she had four matches in 2023 and that number might increase considering that we are July so I think it’s fair to assume that she will have a few more over the course of the year.

FMW’s environment is perfect for a wrestler like Kandori, I think she fit the role of heel perfectly in this match, she’s the shooter, the careless wrestler who only thinks about inflicting pain, the best example of this is her match against Akira Hokuto in Dreamslam 1, she’s the perfect big match wrestler, you can see an even wilder side of her in the chain match she had against Bull Nakano, where she went all out against one of the greatest women in the history of wrestling, great stuff all around.

The match began with a fake handshake by Kandori, Megumi never had a chance, since the very beginning Kandori dominated her, Kudo had her moments like hitting a Tiger Driver in ringside but it felt like Kandori was always in control, Kandori won via sleeper in fourteen minutes in a dominant performance.

I’d recommend this match if you love Shinobu Kandori’s work and attitude but if you aren’t into her just skip it.

[Mr JMML]

Shinobu Kandori vs Megumi Kudo 03-14-1997

FMW Winning Road 1997 

We begin the last year of Megumi’s career with another Barbed Wire Deathmatch, this time against Shinobu Kandori, Kandori won in December 1996 and Megumi wanted her win back, this match was a part of Kudo’s retirement tour, she announced her retirement in 1996 after the retirement of Combat Toyoda the same year, I reviewed her retirement match two days ago if you want to know more about it. This match is better than the 1996 one, is way more compelling and interesting to watch Megumi’s performance is awesome, she looked great representing the company, she’s the best woman of the roster by far and I can confidently say that at this point in FMW history she was the best wrestler of the company regardless of gender. Shinobu Kandori is always tough she never gives up when she wrestles I have the sense that you have to knock her out to win and she will always go down swinging, she has an amazing attitude in the ring, I don’t know about anyone who doesn’t get her, as I said in my previous review she is the best ‘‘big match wrestler ever’’ along with workers like Sangre Chicana, people with the best matches without having the best careers.

The match itself played out as you could expect from any FMW barbed wire match, they put over the dangerous nature of the stipulation, the first one to make contact with the barbed wire was Megumi, Kandori cut open Kudo’s forehead which resulted in her bleeding profusely, then Kandori had the displeasure of being in contact with the wire, Megumi took advantage of this by cutting her forehead the same way she did it to her. The final stretch consisted of a few near falls and tense moments before Kudo hit a lariat for the three count.

I’d recommend this match to everyone who likes the promotion, it’s a match that only FMW could do.

[Mr JMML]

Mayumi Ozaki vs Megumi Kudo 04-18-1997

FMW Fighting Creation - Tag 2 

We continue Megumi Kudo’s retirement tour, this time she is going against Mayumi Ozaki, she is dressed up as Street Fight Mayumi so you know what we’re going to get today, a barbed wire deathmatch that FMW named No Ropes Barbed Wire Double Hell Death, that’s literally how they named it, I love the goofy names FMW gave to their stipulation, sometimes it feels like they were making these names funny on purpose, I don’t believe that someone put that name to an stipulation and thought that everyone was going to take it seriously, it reminds of the american names in Super Mega Baseball, you know Stallion Johnson,Slapper Glutes or Immaculo Spectaculo. Let’s get back to wrestling shall we, this match is clipped, I don’t know if we have a full version of this but if that’s the case please notify me, we have only twelve minutes of wrestling in our hands but it looks like the match was twenty minutes long or close to that number, it’s one of Megumi’s last career match, in fact, it’s the second to last match of this retrospective, the last one will be of course her last match against Shark Tsuchiya April 29th 1997, the name of the stipulation is even more ridiculous than this one, it’s No Ropes Barbed Wire Current Explosion Barricade Double Hell Death I swear I’m not making that up, please trust me.

The match starts as usual, with both wrestlers playing around the barbed wire putting over the possibility of making contact with the wire, the first one to suffer this fate was Mayumi Ozaki, it’s interesting considering that usually is Megumi the one that goes to the wire first but not this time. Megumi proceeded to beat her up until Mayumi threw her into the barbed wire placed on the floor, then Mayumi used what looks like a dog collar to punish Megumi. Megumi made a comeback that lasted the rest of the match, Megumi got the win with her vertebreaker, the Kudome.

I’d recommend this match if you like barbed wire deathmatches like Bambi & Mayumi Ozaki vs. Arisa Nakajima & Chikayo Nagashima from 2008, unfortunately this one is worse.

[Mr JMML]

Shinobu Kandori vs Megumi Kudo 01-05-1997

LLPW Street Fight Korakuen Hall 

First of all, thanks Kadaveri for telling me about this match, it was absolutely worth it, I missed this Kandori vs Kudo match completely and I regret not acknowledging this one before because seriously it’s the best of the trilogy and it should be regarded as an absolute classic, in the last review the Megumi Kudo vs Mayumi Ozaki Double Hell Deathmatch, I said that it was going to be my second to last Megumi Kudo match I’ll review but that was before Kadaveri recommended this one to me, it’s a Street Fight so no rules either pinfall, knockout or submission, those are the only ways you can this contest, apparently this was also a falls count anywhere match considering how this match ended, this match happened in between the two matches I reviewed previously involving those two so it’s the second match of trilogy. Megumi found herself in enemy territory this time going up against Shinobu Kandori in her promotion LLPW (Ladies Legends Pro Wrestling), Kandori is the undisputed ace of the company and she had the same problem that Kudo had with the lack of talent in the roster to a lesser extent, she was the most talented wrestler by far there.

The match began before the bell rang, Kandori attacked her fiercefully since the very beginning, Kudo never had a chance, her opponent was always ahead of her, they went outside the ring and here’s where the wildest exchanges took place, when Megumi tried to dive Kandori responded with two chairs to the face, they went back to the ring where Kudo hit Kandori with her Tiger Driver on some chairs for a two count, they went back to ringside where Kandori got serious, they went to the stands and she choked Megumi for the win.

I recommend this one to everyone who likes joshi brawls like the Dump Matsumoto vs Chigusa Nagayo hair matches, the crowd was loud cheering for Kandori, I loved it.

[Mr JMML]

Shark Tsuchiya vs Megumi Kudo 04-29-1997

FMW 8th anniversary show 

This is the last match of Megumi’s career so it’s the last match of the project too, it happened in the 8th anniversary show of the company like Toyoda and Onita’s retirement matches, without Combat Toyoda the women’s division suffered a lot, the only great worker in that division after Toyoda’s retirement was Megumi, her opponent that night Shark Tsuchiya didn’t come close to Kudo in terms of wrestling ability, in the No Ropes Barbed Wire Double Hell Death between Megumi Kudo and Mayumi Ozaki I talked about how unintentionally funny the names of the stipulations were, the name of this match’s stipulation is No Ropes Barbed Wire Current Explosion Barricade Double Hell Death, it means that if you touch either the barbed wire or the barricades in the outside of the ring they will explode, simple enough.

Shark Tsuchiya was the only decent wrestler left in the women’s division, she was the leader of the company’s heel stable the Mad Dog Military, she also had a run in GAEA as the leader of Deadly Troops a heel stable in GAEA that lasted until 1996, the members of the Mad Dog Military took part in multi-woman matches like this one in LLPW Megumi Kudo & Shinobu Kandori & Michiko Omukai & Kaori Nakayama vs Shark Tsuchiya & Eagle Sawai & Sayori Okino & Miss Mongol or the handicap match I reviewed in 1995 Bad Nurse Nakamura, Miwa Sato & Shark Tsuchiya vs. Combat Toyoda & Megumi Kudo.

The match was the best match it could have been, Megumi made Shark Tsuchiya look really good, in the other the best style to hide your lack of talent in wrestling is the deathmatch, that also helped making this match good, Megumi took a lot of damage in this match, not only from the barbed wire, from the barricade too. Shark Tsuchiya looked dominant throughout this match, the match ended with one of my favourite spots of her career, both of them touched the barbed wire at the same time, Megumi fell on top of her opponent for the three count in her retirement match.

If you like the stipulation feel free to watch it if not Megumi’s performance is enough of a reason to watch it.

[G. Badger]

Saw this pop up earlier this year and wanted to wait to share my blog post from January. Adding it here for folks doing research etc.

 

Megumi Kudo vs Combat Toyoda - Street Fight (08/04/1990): 7 minutes of beating the crap outta each other followed by like 3 minutes of wrestling. I'm all for that! This is very good stuff. In contrast to what JWP was doing in 1990, this was pretty crazy shit. 

Megumi Kudo & Combat Toyoda vs. Manami Toyota & Toshiyo Yamada (05/05/93): Fierce fight in Kawasaki Stadium! The rematch from their 04/02/93 fight. All kinds of great action with Combat being spoiler since she's so much bigger than the AJW team. They did a great job  containing Toyoda and beating the crap out of Kudo. If it was anyone else I'd be concerned but I knew she could withstand the pain until she could get Combat in there. Great match with a great final third for sure. The outdoor atmosphere was awesome too!

Aja Kong vs Megumi Kudo (AJW 12/06/93): Great title fight! The opening mat wrestling was pretty awesome. After that Aja dominated Kudo until she finds an opening mercilessly attacks the champ's arm. It's a smart way for the smaller wrestler to get an advantage. Aja sells it all beautifully throughout. It's a slower paced match even towards the end as they are milking the drama of the FMW joshi not just surviving but defeating the baddass AJW WWWA champ. Again this was a great match and in my mind shows Kudo's skill as a singles wrestler beyond just death matches. I wish I knew why they showed Jaguar Yokota... Aja references her post match I assume... perhaps it is in reference to her training the both of them. Jaguar seems to get a little emotional. Later Kudo cries which I think is her thing like Onita. She seems pretty sincere here.

Megumi Kudo & Aja Kong vs. Combat Toyoda & Bison Kimura (FMW 12/21/95): Great tag battle between class of 1986 AJW. This might be as good as the Toyota/Yamada match above as these teams are similar in size & styles and of course the familiarity and backstory are greater. The 05/05/93 match was probably a smoother fight but this felt grittier and more FMW. Bison was great and I've missed her..just blazing choppin' the fuck outta people. I would've like to have seen an Aja/Kudo tag run in either FMW or AJW. They are great together! Gladly could have gone a couple more minutes. I liked it a bunch.

Megumi Kudo vs. Shark Tsuchiya (FMW 12/22/95 -First Ever Women's No Rope Barbed Wire Death Match): This was first No Rope Barb Wire joshi match but on 09/05/95 there's a handicap joshi tag match where they wrap wire around the ropes and boards on the floors. I could only find shaky zoomed in hand cam stuff otherwise I would have watched it. Kudo refers to Sapporo in her pre and post match interview (thankfully subtitled) so I was to find that out if you're interested. This match started out a little slow with Shark dominating Kudo but eventually things pick up when she makes her comeback They did a couple really great spots with the wire. Shark's seconds interfered during the match which annoyed me at first but once Kudome's friends helped her, it evened out. Excellent spot with the sickle, super dangerous. Of course it was best when Kudo was in control. Very good match. I'm guessing this was super gnarly at the time. It would have flipped my lid had I seen it back then -Cobra clutch with a barb wire kendo stick still is pretty awesome. Brutal finish too. 

Megumi Kudo vs. Shinobu Kandori (FMW 12/11/96) : About 15 minutes of all action...you know they could have gone longer. Kudo was the standout for sure. Kandori's performance was good and it got the job done. The story is about Kudo overcoming the badass that is Shinobu Kandori. She was indeed a badass who turned quite a few of Kudo's routine holds/moves into pretty intense submission holds. There were some really great moments too. I dunno, I thought this was a great match. Maybe I appreciate Kandori more after watching JWP 1990 stuff. 

Megumi Kudo vs Shinobu Kandori (Street Fight - LLPW 01/05/97): Almost missed this one but caught it thanks to BAHU's Megumi Kudo bio. This takes place in LLPW. A great match. Very much an FMW type match with good wrestling and spots with tables & chairs and even a chain. The finish was pretty awesome and involved that chain. My only gripe is that it was very much a tale of two matches. Kandori controlled one half and Kudo controlled the other. I think the Kandori half on a whole was not as exciting from an action standpoint. It made sense though so I can't fault it too much. I think this had potential to be a near classic and that's what I am commenting on. It was 20 minutes and maybe this would have been a classic if it were closer to 15? It was really chaotic and I think that helped keep my interest when things slowed down towards the end.

Megumi Kudo vs. Bison Kimura (Jd' 01/16/97): Yup next day. No gimmicks just Bison vs Kudo. And this was a great match! I think what makes this a better match fundamentally than the street fight above is that it felt more natural. There's transitions from offense to defense. There are little windows where one might get an advantage that get closed as soon as they're opened. We get brawling on the floor, we get some chair and table stuff but more importantly, we get a match that has a good layout and pace. Awesome finish too. It's a simpler, shorter match and doesn't have the memorable spots like the street fight but is just as great. 

Megumi Kudo vs Shinobu Kandori (No rope Barbed Wire - FMW 03/14/97) : This was super exciting at the beginning with both wrestlers trying to avoid the wire. After Kudo went into it though it was dreadfully dull. This again was kind of like each person controlling 1 half of the match. Things did pick up when Kudo did a dive over the wire to the outside. This set up the list part of the match. This part was pretty good actually but that should be a given, right? It didn't help matters that the crowd was very quiet. I think Kandori's control section was about her trying to get heat by stomping, cutting Kudo but it didn't work really. It just didn't have a lot of energy, spots or anything to spice it up. I think Kandori felt the novelty of her being in a barb wire match would be enough? Don't get me wrong, Kandori gets the wire pretty good a few times and this is the way to end the feud but I thought this was the weakest of the three matches. This needed more wrestling in the middle. Folks doing the 1997 yearbook liked this more than me so, check it out nonetheless.

Megumi Kudo & Bison Kimura vs. Lioness Asuka & Shark Tsuchiya (Bunkhouse Death Match - FMW 03/28/97) - This OK but Bison is chained up for a good portion and Lioness and Shark beat up Kudo. Kudo makes some comebacks and eh its not worth your time considering the line-up.

Megumi Kudo vs Mayumi Ozaki (Double Hell Barbed Wire - FMW 04/18/97): Argh! If only there was a full version of this out there! Little clips don't matter too much but there's a big clip where suddenly Ozaki is not only in control but she's power bombing Kudo. Yet a few seconds earlier on the tape, Kudo is rolling Oz back in the ring after doing a diving splash onto the barb wire boards on the floor. Anyhow the 3/4ths of the match that's shown is awesome! They are just flying into the wire trying to dish out as much punishment as possible. And they are actually wrestling and bumping the whole time as well. Their styles are pretty similar where both are athletic, tough and not afraid to take bumps. It actually feels like competition. They are not going for drama as much as danger. Who knows what was actually omitted but some key transitions must be on the cutting room floor.  What's shown is great though. This would probably be a classic if shown in full. That said, you should check it out!

Megumi Kudo vs. Shark Tsuchiya (FMW 04/29/97): This was a very good and sometimes great exploding/electric barb wire death match. I think it was a fitting retirement match for Kudo. This features one of the best uses of the sickle by Shark who actually attempts to slash/stab Kudo while she's down on the mat. Shark is pretty limited in her offense but what she did got the job done as Kudo provided most of the good stuff but also took some nasty bumps. She's seriously tough. The finish is kinda cheesy as they did similar stuff during the Attitude Era, later WCW but, hey they didn't get blown up during their matches! It works here so I'm not complaining it's a nice end to this post and her active wrestling career.

[BAHU]

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Megumi Kudo vs Mayumi Ozaki (Double Hell Barbed Wire - FMW 04/18/97): Argh! If only there was a full version of this out there! Little clips don't matter too much but there's a big clip where suddenly Ozaki is not only in control but she's power bombing Kudo. Yet a few seconds earlier on the tape, Kudo is rolling Oz back in the ring after doing a diving splash onto the barb wire boards on the floor. Anyhow the 3/4ths of the match that's shown is awesome! They are just flying into the wire trying to dish out as much punishment as possible. And they are actually wrestling and bumping the whole time as well. Their styles are pretty similar where both are athletic, tough and not afraid to take bumps. It actually feels like competition. They are not going for drama as much as danger. Who knows what was actually omitted but some key transitions must be on the cutting room floor.  What's shown is great though. This would probably be a classic if shown in full. That said, you should check it out!

In doing research of the match, one of the edits is because Ozaki legit fainted while Kudo put her in a swinging sleeper and Kudo covers her and referee Go Ito counts 1....2...and he had to stop the count because it wasn't the finish but Ozaki was not about to kick out, so he stopped the count and took a few moment to try and revive her and she regained consciousness they continued the match.