KAORU! Queen of Shoot-style! YAMADA! Empress of Lucha Libre! WILL o' THE WISP! rules it against SURGE! and MEIKO SATOMURA! is the future of Professional Wrestling!
Dean&Angie
HIYA~!
WELCOME TO DEATH VALLEY DRIVER VIDEO REVIEW #48!!! WOO-HOO!
It's been a long couple of weeks since the last time I spoke with you
gentle readers and I've watched a metric ass-load of tapes but I'm gonna
yammer about the new Glenn tape I got because a.) Glenn rules it too
hard to imagine(GLENN! COME BACK TO THE STATES!), b.) it has some of the
coolest wrestling on it, and c.) it has some of the crappiest things you
can imagine from Japan (i.e.- Takayama and Tamon Honda take it to the
mat and we ((well- hopefully for you, only I)) have to watch.:))
$$$$$>1997 JUNIOR ALL-STAR CHAMP FORUM- 8/2/97
- I don't know if this is the first or second CF with the Jr All-Star
card on it, because it didn't have the Uematsue-Tamara WCW Cruiserweight
belt switch on it. This is pretty damn choice- though I needed the
scorecard to keep some of the young ladies from smaller organizations
straight. The first match is Matsumodo and Numao from GAEA getting
stomped by LLPW girl Okino and the Bloody Phoenix from J'd. Numao is
getting good and Matsumodo is coming along a little slower but both of
these gals shouldn't be putting these to ne'er-do-wells over. Phoenix
is so very passable and Okino is so very passable. Matsumodo does what
she does best- which is sell and take big bumps. Numao never gets to
get all shoot-style so this wasn't all that (as percieved from a major
GAEA-biased point of view. Plus, the more J'd you see, the less you
forgive.) Of course, one should say something nice after handing J'd
it's ass, HEY! HEY! HEY! Judo-girl Sakai works freakin CIRCLES around
the basically useless Momoe Nakanishi of AJW fame. Sakia hits some
monster Judo throws that land at impossible angles on Nakanishi's
shoulders. Sakia also hits the BOSS La Majistral Cross Armbreaker-
which says to me "HELL! maybe J'd CAN be saved." Nakanishi wins with
the lamest combination of AJW prelim dropkicks and a big slam. Sakia is
one to watch. JUDO GIRLS!! JUDO GIRLS!! They showed highlights of the
Genki/Tanny Mouse vs tiny Aono (SPWF maybe?) and the even tinier
Watanabe (who is Big Japan if I remember my Lorefice QUEBRADA pre-All
Star Briefing.:) READ QUEBRADA! IT KICKS EVERYBODY ELSE'S ASS!) Tanny
is so cute and cuddly and... BOY! She ain't good. Yet. Watanabe and
Aono are minute, highflying and thoroughly adorable.
The PINNACLE of the CF is the BOSS (and I mean BOSS) Meiko
Satomura/Sonoko Kato vs Miyaguchi(the fabulous JWP babe! WHOMP ASS!!)
and the Gal Called Endo (of AJW fame). This hits a major stride when
Miyaguchi and Satomura are in against each other- as these two are
pretty intense and INSANELY good for their age and experience.
Miyaguchi does the CHOICE flying cross-body-KNEE-to-the-face a couple of
times and hits some VERY choice Death Valley Bomb variations, including
a great one off the top. Satomura is just faster than ever and tougher
than ever. She hits her patented top rope spinning cross-armbreaker.
Kato stays outta the way and basically makes Miyaguchi look great by
selling her trickier moves like a king, thus evening out Endo and
Miyaguchi making Meiko look great. The ending is superhot and I wanna
see Miyaguchi and Satomura go at it one on one. GET ALL THIS.
*****GAEA CHAMP FORUM- 8/9/97
-I see that Toshiyo Yamada is REALLY digging her new home- and not just
because she doesn't have to wrestle 400 times a year- because in the
span of one Champ Forum she has a good Shootstyle match with KAORU (who
RULES IT 2 HARD 2 B B-LIEVED) and does fantabulous lucha moves against
the newly fiesty again Sugar Sato and Nagashima. The Shoot-style match
against the phenomenally versatile KAORU is really neat. KAORU is not
afraid to kick real hard and sell like KAORU can sell. One can feel
funny about the perfect Luchadore- KAORU- going into a shootstyle match
with Yamada, who is not afraid to hang, kick for kick, with 24-7 badass
Yomiko Hotta- so how could KAORU, who is VASTLY talented but in a
traditional/Luch Libre kinda way, look credible? Easy! Have her kick
Yamada real hard for a while and let her show off her speed as she gets
Yamada in neato submission holds. Then have Yamada kick the crud out of
her and counter her moves. This gets pretty cool by the end- in that
KAORU looks like she could make a living at this style if push came to
shove. The second match is Toshie Uematsue/Chigusa vs Satomura/Kato and
its pretty neat, though I wish Chigusa would have let a youngster fill
in the role that she took. I guess since Chigusa sold Satomura and
Kato's moves the whole time, she is giving them "Big Gal" credibility,
but Chigusa has done such a masterful job of getting the youngsters over
that any more of these kinda matches are sort of unneccessary. Toshie
is progressing as the new greater spunkiness is kicking in double time
and it's magic when she is in with these two. The third match is the
Sugar/Nagashima match where Infernal KAORU puts on the world's least
best mask and goes into Lucha overdrive. KICK ASS!!!!! Her partner is
Reyna Jubuki but something is amiss. She don't look like Akira Hokuto
and halfway through the match they show Akira in the audience laughing,
so it dawns on everyone that the woman hitting the tres cool mid-grade
Lucha roll-ups and hitting the coolest reverse rana into a roll-up is
none other than our gal Yamada! WOO-HOO! I didn't know she had such a
whimsical side. This match was a little clunky but a lot of fun. Sugar
and Nagashima finally figured out how to use chairs as weapons, KAORU
hits the SWANK springboard off-the-toprope dropkick and an ass-stomping
double moonsault, and Yamada gets to wrestle a neato style I've never
seen her wrestle. GAEA kicks ass. GET ALLLL THIS!
@@@@@-NEW JAPAN TV 8/17/97
-Hmmmmmmm. This is the least of the Nagoya Dome show with no Juniors so
I wasn't digging this the most. The Ricky Chosu vs Fujinami match was
short and stiff and pretty okay for two real old guys. If it was any
longer, it would have been a lot more irritating. The Muta vs Ogawa was
basically a Sheik match with cross-armbreakers. The spraying of Inoki
was a nice touch. This match was not nearly as stomach-churning as it
should have been, but you wouldn't want to see it twice. Muta has cool
new pants. Ogawa is looking less lost, but HELL! it's Muta! Forget it!
The Hashimoto vs Tensan match has been covered far more thoroughly in
the TRULY viciously hilarious IdolisDead post. For those who didn't
read that, I'll break it down for you. It's kinda like Sycho Sid versus
Chris Benoit. Tensan sucks. Boy. Tensan sucks. But he's big. And he
has a cool haircut. Hash works REAL stiff. If Benoit was wrestling
Sid, there would be NO WAY that the match would be GOOD.... BUT!!! You
could pray that the good ole Canadian Crippler beats the holy shit out
of him. That is exactly the rationale of this match and Hash delivers
the goods. Tensan has the type of massive offensive arsenal that has
been unseen since the heady days of Nailz in the beloved AWF, so when
Hash puts the boots to him (and thankfully he does abundantly) the real
crappy time you had watching Tensan do those trapezious muscle chops
that made Tony Atlas famous (HEY! more AWF!) seems a lot less painful.
Hash also hits a high-grade, truly spine-fusing brainbuster. I never
want to see Tensan wrestle a real wrestler again. Nope.
#####ALL JAPAN TV- 8/17/97
-I was stoked for this! Ikeda- BattlARTS posterboy and all-around
intense egg- finally gets to kick the crap out of Kikuchi. It's made
the undercard fun, given Kikuchi something to do and it's given Ikeda a
lot of exposure. Baba- fearlessly- only shows the last three minutes
of the match. BOY! What a crock! Ikeda gets to look like shit; Kikuchi
looks like total shit because he sells three submissions, makes the
ropes, and hits a German suplex out of nowhere for the pin, and the
undercard is in disarray again. We do get every second of the (Count
the stiffs) Lacrosse (1)/Takayama(2) vs Kawada/ Tamon "C'mon" Honda(3)
match which has WAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY too much LaCrosse and Tamon Honda
taking it to the mat- practising the sweet science of truly loathesomely
weak shitty headbutts, and scant moments of the only thing that would
save this turd- Kawada beating the holy fuck out of the least of the
Golden Cups- Takayama. How did someone as cool as Yamamoto ever stand
hanging around with this big goof. And watching Takayama try to be
Jumbo Tsuruta is like watching Pat Boone try to be Little Richard.
Kawada does kick him in the face a couple of times, but it ain't enough
to counter the Tamonpain.
%%%%%NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP WRESTLING- May 1997
-I went over to Hangman Tim's Righteous Party Palace (Where the
Laaaddiiees are ALWAYS welcome) for a Saturday Afternoon of Wrestling
and he hipped me to the coolest indie promotion I've seen in a while-
if this one episode is any indication. NCW is out of Silva(?), North
Carolina and GOD! is it great! They wrestle in this bar outside of
Western Carolina University and the fans are seated right up to the
apron. Tim said it seats about 150 and it looked packed with drunk
redneck coeds (where was this promotion when I was 19 years old at VCU?)
The style is Redneck ECW (if ECW was still any fun at all), with
highflying mixed with the hard angles mixed with the festive fun
atmosphere THUS the match between Will O the Wisp and Surge is just WAY
TOO MUCH FUN. This goes over the toprope, through the bar, onto the
pool tables, into the jukebox; fire, chairs, hurricanranas, topes into
the crowd, drunk 20 year old women smoking Marlboro Lights at ringside,
you name it- if its something cool in indie wrestling, it's in this
match. Will O the Wisp (He's Australian!! REAlly! Well...) has the
super whacked out homemade mask and he is pretty freakin crazy; as is
Surge- who isn't afraid to take some hellish bumps to get the crazed
throng into a frenzy. The match lasts 25 minutes and they throw the
entire kitchen sink at this baby- hitting every highspot they can
remember, brawling through the crowd, taking it to the mat, all the way
up to the psychotic ending. I want to see a WHOLE lot more of this
little group.
-Tim also showed me a video tape that he made last weekend (while he was
in Tennessee seeing FREAKIN PSICOSIS VS GOLLDAMN JUVENTUD FREAKIN
GUERRERA!!) that was sort of a video catalogue of Tim Whitehead's
Women's Wrestling Collectibles Collection and GOLLY! do I need to break
into HIS house!:) Must... get... Lady... Gongs...... My fave was the
Megumi Kudo book named STAND UP where I got to make the classy "As in
stand up IN MY PANTS!?!" joke. SWANK YOU, DEAN. FOR LETTING US LAUGH
ABOUT LOVE. AGAIN.
-LAST weekend I visited the buff, tough, the stuff, the ladies can't get
enough Phil and his coolest of cool friend (also) Phil and we watched a
whole bunch of stuff. The problem was that WCWSN was on when the
Michinoku Pro CF from 94 was on so I didn't get to watch any complete
matches. And, for the record, WE ALL marked out WAYYYY too much over
the evil Brad Armstrong. Phil and Phil and I all feared an angle where
Bullet Bob comes back to straighten out his son.:) And Ciclope is the
fuggin KING. Case Closed! Sit on it, Potsie.
NEXT WEEK: JIMINY! I've been hit by an avalanche of Tape! The Walt
Tapes! The Doug tapes! The Pete Tpaes! The Phil Tapes! The rest of the
fantabulous Glenn tape! J'd! Lucha! LUCHA! LUCHA! LUCHA! WOO-HOO! I'm
STOKED!
NANIWA~!
Dean Rasmussen, KANEMOTOCIZED!!!!
Dean&Angie
MASTER OF MEN, Keith Watanabe wrote:
> Dean&Angie wrote:
> > HIYA~!
> > WELCOME TO DEATH VALLEY DRIVER VIDEO REVIEW #48!!! WOO-HOO!
> What's up?
Ain't nothing going on but the rent.:)
> > $$$$$>1997 JUNIOR ALL-STAR CHAMP FORUM- 8/2/97
> > - I don't know if this is the first or second CF with the Jr All-Star
> > card on it, because it didn't have the Uematsue-Tamara WCW
> > Cruiserweight
> > belt switch on it.
>
> Damn! I want that tape! Out of everyone that has come out of the
> 1994-current AJW scheme, Tamura is the only one that shows tremendous
> potential. And to hype my website, I've got a little section devoted to
> her:http://www.cris.com/~Conark
> Click on Pleasure, then Wrestling, then Tamura's picture!
I'm wondering if it ever made it to TV. Do they make a commercial tape
of the Jr All-Stars? I know GAEA was hosting it and they barely get on
Champ Forum so I wouldn't bank on it. I heard it was a great match.
> > tJudo-girl Sakai works freakin CIRCLES around
> > the basically useless Momoe Nakanishi of AJW fame.
>
> I'm still trying to figure out what AJW sees in Nakanishi. She's
> very small and has virtually no moves and has not improved since I saw
> her. As a matter of fact, all of the newbies in AJW (except Tamura)
> suck big time. Saya Endo decided to dye her hair to be cool and "teams"
> up with Shimoda and Mita on the 8/10/97 tape. Either way, she still
> sucks! But good 'ol Kyoko taught the 'lil bugger to respect the
> veterans and gave her a punking! I marked out big time for that.
>
> Nakanishi wins with the lamest combination of AJW prelim dropkicks and a
> big slam. Huh? I'm still trying to figure out how they got a belt
> around her waist. No wonder poor AJW is financially in despair.
I can't figure out how they are pushing her. She isn't a shootstyle
badass type, she doesn't do any cool suplexes and she doesn't fly.
Maybe they are hoping for AWA era Baron Von Raschke wrestling style
revival.:) Sakai was all sorts of fun in that match though.
> > and the Gal Called Endo (of AJW fame).
>
> Does dying one's hair really make one cool?
I didn't want to TOTALLY bust on the AJW youngsters in the post so I
just kinda pretended Endo didn't exist in that match.:) GOD! And Fukawa
is leaving. It just don't look good for AJW. I really can't blame
Fukawa for leaving, really. She is only having any good matches with
other promotions. If she goes to GAEA, she'l be pushed closer to the
top and will have better wrestlers to wrestle in the middle. Hell!
Sugar Sato and Nagashima are waiting there for a lengthy feud. CRIPES!
the match where Fukawa and Tamada drop the belts to Sugar and Nagashima
whipped ass majorly. I can't remember an AJW tape where Yumi wasn't
getting the paste kicked out of her by Shimoda or wrestling in a tag
match with the crappy youth of AJW. Plus she'll get paid on time. I
dunno. I see her fitting right in with the second tier of GAEA with
Uematsu, Satomura, Kato, Sugar and Nagashima which would be good for her
or maybe just below KAORU with the big girls which would be bad for
her. I'm not sure of the political ramifications of her jumping to JWP.
> > and not just
> > because she doesn't have to wrestle 400 times a year- because in the
> > span of one Champ Forum she has a good Shootstyle match with KAORU
> > (who
> > RULES IT 2 HARD 2 B B-LIEVED) and does fantabulous lucha moves against
> >
> > the newly fiesty again Sugar Sato and Nagashima.
>
> I've recently seen Toshiyo's variation of the Kudo driver and her
> Dragon Suplex. I thought she only did kicks. Someone or some reason
> was really holding her back. Lucha? When did this happen? I've got to
> check out that tape.
I'm guessing she could always do it, but it went against her Shootstyle
gimmick. With the Reyna Jubuki gimmick, she gets to go hogwild and you
can tell she was digging it. Plus it was the first time I've seen her
with make-up.:)
> > The Shoot-style match
> > against the phenomenally versatile KAORU is really neat.
>
> Under rated and under utilized. Probably the best all around
> wrestler in the female leagues.
Give her the goddam belt already. It gets no better than KAORU
anywhere.
> > -Hmmmmmmm. This is the least of the Nagoya Dome show with no Juniors
> > so
> > I wasn't digging this the most. The Ricky Chosu vs Fujinami match was
> > short and stiff and pretty okay for two real old guys.
>
> I think they only had a brief glimpse of Ohtani vs. El Samurai for
> the Super J. Crown. That was the only point where I was awake during
> the entire tape.
When are they SHOWING that? NJ needs to go to three hours.:)
> > If it was any
> > longer, it would have been a lot more irritating. The Muta vs Ogawa
> > was
> > basically a Sheik match with cross-armbreakers. The spraying of Inoki
> >
> > was a nice touch.
>
> Too bad Inoki's chin is the same length :)
>
> > This match was not nearly as stomach-churning as it
> > should have been, but you wouldn't want to see it twice. Muta has
> > cool
> > new pants. Ogawa is looking less lost, but HELL! it's Muta! Forget it!
>
> Too bad Muta didn't frankenstein or moonsault Ogawa. That would
> have interesting to witness.
Muta didn't look like he was up for doing much of anything. Muta is
definately shooting for the second coming of Abdullah the Butcher award
since he has basically given up on actually wrestling at all. I await
the hidden pencil.
> > The Hashimoto vs Tensan match has been covered far more thoroughly in
> > the TRULY viciously hilarious IdolisDead post. For those who didn't
> > read that, I'll break it down for you. It's kinda like Sycho Sid
> > versus
> > Chris Benoit. Tensan sucks. Boy. Tensan sucks. But he's big. And he
> >
> > has a cool haircut.
>
> I recently rented out a 1993 tape which showcased Chono and
> Hashimoto in a video clip from 1986 (obviously, before Hashimoto became
> a marshmellow like me). That brief clip astounded me in seeing how well
> Hashimoto and Chono used to work. Both are shells of their former
> selves. Really sad. I think Hashimoto only kicks, chops, and DDTs
> people now while Chono has a cool trenchcoat.
I love Hashimoto. It's just that with Tensan, you cut your losses and
try to get out of the ring with any semblance of anything left. Tensan
is Hacksaw-like in that respect. Chono is not much anymore, but
Hashimoto vs Chono would have been a lot better than Tensan just because
Hash would have been motivated and Chono can have a good match against
someone who is motivated. (WHEN DOES KOSHINAKA GET BACK TO ACTION
ALREADY?!?)
Yeah, Tenzan is only
> over in Japan because of his haircut and the fact that he says, "Iitsu
> ohwar (it's over)!" to the fans. Aside from that, he has bad ring
> performance, even in 1993.
Tensan... really.... really.... sucks.
> If you get a chance, rent out the 8/10/97 All Japan Women's tape.
> That tape just rocked!
> Shina Yuka vs. Asari Chaparita. Okay, so not everything rocks and Yuka
> really blows (including several spots), but Asari, in her new Wonder
> Woman (?)/ British Bulldog(?) outfit
HOLY CATS! I'm stoked beyond recognition!! WOO-HOO!
seems to be watching a few Eddy
> Guerrero/Rey Misterio Jr. tapes with her top rope frankensteiner, and
> various arm drags. But Yuka, the ever so talentless wins the match
> after rolling up little Asari-chan after the top rope frankensteiner!
> Sigh!
> Maekawa vs. Watanabe. What can you say? You've got a decent worker
> in there with a fury ferret. Maekawa's big boot stinks just as much as
> Duggan's Taped Fist (don't make any connections there!). However,
> justice was served in this match as Watanabe literally screw drove
> Maekawa into the mat for the 1-2-3.
Kick ass! Is this the meaner, harder, less-cute Watanabe? I'm digging
it the most.
> Manami Toyota vs. Kaoru Itoh. Toyota rules! If and when she
> retires, I'll stop watching wrestling! She is by far my favorite
> performer and seems to improve her looks by the day. The match opens
> with Itoh setting her tone with armbars and other submission moves while
> Manami continuously bags on her (kono yaro! Bakayaro!) Itoh stomps
> Manami to death and I still wonder how Toyota gets up after all of her
> matches. Heck, she's a Goddess! Standard Toyota match with a few nice
> twist like Manami pointing to her head when she out thought Itoh on a
> move.
HEY! The evil Manami! I'm digging it the most! Talk about possible
saucy vixens! WOO-HOO!
Also, her cyclone suplex at the end seemed jacked up, perhaps
> because of her back problems. Hey, it's still a great match, but mainly
> because of Toyota.
I dig Ito and I can't wait to see that match. It's going to be
interesting to see if AJW can reverse it's fortunes, with everybody
bolting, if matches like this will make a dent.
> Kyoko Inoue/Aja Kong vs. Mima Shimoda/Etsuko Mita. Damn! What can
> I say? If you bought a ticket that night, you definitely got your
> money's worth! Again, the Japanese girls have been watching a few
> ECW/WCW/WWF falls count anywhere/Texas Tornado rules, matches. All four
> girls take an incredible beating with chairs, tables and that little
> piece of crap, Saya Endo, trying to get involved too! At one point, Aja
> Kong tries to throw off Mita from the balcony and the fans chant while
> smiling, "Mita's dead! Mita's dead!" These people are sick! Anyway,
> Mita reverses and tries to throw Aja off the balcony! I'd pay top
> dollar to see that! Then Mita tries to strangulate Aja with a rope!
> I'm going nuts and so is the referee! There's so much action in this
> match that I do it an injustice by doing a play by play. Lately, I
> haven't seen Kyoko nor Aja do anything impressive but this match easily
> was the match of the year for me. I was standing on my chair through
> the entire match and yelling curses. They even meshed some good
> wrestling in with all of the chair shots, etc. that made it look very
> good. ECW should take notes on psychology from these girls because I
> think they did everything very well. And the WWF and WCW should take
> notes on booking as well. Good day all!
This Mita/Shimoda thing is gonna save AJW if anything is. Bring on the
evil Superhot ULTRAVixens! HELL! I'll watch. It's like a good Russ
Meyer movie right there in the ring when Shimoda... wears.. the
...little... pants....with....the...the...... OH! Uh
Workrate....Psychology of ...DOH!
Um. HEY! HEY! It shouldn't be long before the omniscent one sends it to
me.:)
NANIWA~!
Dean Rasmussen, SATOMURACIZED!!
Keith Watanabe
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Dean&Angie wrote:
> MASTER OF MEN, Keith Watanabe wrote:
> > Dean&Angie wrote:
> > > HIYA~!
> > > WELCOME TO DEATH VALLEY DRIVER VIDEO REVIEW #48!!!
> WOO-HOO!
>
> > What's up?
>
> Ain't nothing going on but the rent.:)
For me, it's the insurance :)
> >I'm wondering if it ever made it to TV. Do they make a commercial
> tape
> of the Jr All-Stars? I know GAEA was hosting it and they barely get
> on
> Champ Forum so I wouldn't bank on it. I heard it was a great match.
>
I hope they do. I've not seen any GAEA products in the four or so
Japanese video rentals around the So Cal area. I guess I'm going to
have to fly out to Japan just to grab some GAEA stuff :)
> I can't figure out how they are pushing her. She isn't a shootstyle
> badass type, she doesn't do any cool suplexes and she doesn't fly.
> Maybe they are hoping for AWA era Baron Von Raschke wrestling style
> revival.:) Sakai was all sorts of fun in that match though.
>
I think they're pushing her on her fighting spirit alone. The only
half way decent move that she's done was a German Suplex. Strange thing
about her is that they've put her in a lot of the veteran's matches.
Her against Aja Kong (it was a 6 woman tag team match) was just too
hillarious! I can just imagine Aja one day doing her second rope drop.
Splat! Maybe she's learning to take blows initially before she moves
on. My guess is that you learn how to take nasty falls then you get to
do your own stuff.
> I didn't want to TOTALLY bust on the AJW youngsters in the post so I
> just kinda pretended Endo didn't exist in that match.:) GOD! And
> Fukawa
> is leaving. It just don't look good for AJW.
No, it's pretty depressing. Asari and Yoshiko look bright for AJW,
but I can't see them holding up the banner alone with the other
youngsters still looking green.
> I really can't blame
> Fukawa for leaving, really. She is only having any good matches with
> other promotions. If she goes to GAEA, she'l be pushed closer to the
> top and will have better wrestlers to wrestle in the middle. Hell!
> Sugar Sato and Nagashima are waiting there for a lengthy feud.
> CRIPES!
> the match where Fukawa and Tamada drop the belts to Sugar and
> Nagashima
> whipped ass majorly. I can't remember an AJW tape where Yumi wasn't
> getting the paste kicked out of her by Shimoda or wrestling in a tag
> match with the crappy youth of AJW.
Exactly. She'll get one or two moves in then it's the splat-o-matic
scenario from there. If she's lucky then she gets teamed with some good
veterans like Tomoko. However, they won't let her pull off anything and
her reward if her team wins is a pat on the back. Also, she's too
quiet. Kind of a shy personality when you see her. But she has a ton
of unreleased potential.
> Plus she'll get paid on time. I
> dunno. I see her fitting right in with the second tier of GAEA with
> Uematsu, Satomura, Kato, Sugar and Nagashima which would be good for
> her
> or maybe just below KAORU with the big girls which would be bad for
> her. I'm not sure of the political ramifications of her jumping to
> JWP.
>
>
Easily. I've seen her exclusively in tag matches which means Rie
usually is the one hitting all the moves. She needs a good singles feud
with someone. And when Rie and her got squashed by those lame, no sell,
female versions of Pogo, Crusher Maedori & Shark Tsuchiya, I was on my
seat screaming at AJW. It's kind of like when Jarrett beat Malenko for
the US belt.
> I'm guessing she could always do it, but it went against her
> Shootstyle
> gimmick. With the Reyna Jubuki gimmick, she gets to go hogwild and
> you
> can tell she was digging it. Plus it was the first time I've seen her
>
> with make-up.:)
>
Toshiyo in makeup? She doesn't have a bad face, a little tom boyish
in figure, but still she isn't too bad. Too bad that she used that
Shootstyle stuff in AJW for so many years. I love watching someone
that's well rounded and Toshiyo just is someone athletic enough to give
you a lot of good surprises.
>
>
> Give her the goddam belt already. It gets no better than KAORU
> anywhere.
>
No kidding. I think she's had the tag belts before, but tag belts
do not allow one's individuality come out. With Kaoru, she has so much
talent that they ought to start pushing her since she's in her prime.
> >
> > I think they only had a brief glimpse of Ohtani vs. El Samurai
> for
> > the Super J. Crown. That was the only point where I was awake
> during
> > the entire tape.
>
> When are they SHOWING that? NJ needs to go to three hours.:)
I know! The finish looked unbelievable with Ohtani doing some
dramatics at the end. It's good seeing him get the belt. I can't wait
for Ohtani vs. Kanemoto! That will rule over the earth! Most of the
tapes I get are clipped because of all the commercials. So the Ohtani
vs. Honaga match, which supposedly went for 18 minutes (or was El
Samurai vs. Liger?) was only 10 minutes. God, I hate Japanese
commercial breaks!
> > Too bad Muta didn't frankenstein or moonsault Ogawa. That would
>
> > have interesting to witness.
>
> Muta didn't look like he was up for doing much of anything. Muta is
> definately shooting for the second coming of Abdullah the Butcher
> award
> since he has basically given up on actually wrestling at all. I await
>
> the hidden pencil.
>
Yeah. Also, we probably won't be able to see Keiji Mutoh come out
for a while until this NWO garbage is over. Hey, but this guy was
immensely popular when he took on Ogawa. He even got pops for spraying
Inoki!
Not as mean I would have liked her to be against Maekawa. Heck,
they shook hands at the beginnning! I was hoping that Watanabe would
have tried shaking Maekawa's hand and then screw drove her into the
ground! But Watanabe seems to have this routine where she receives a
kick to the head, falls to the ground dazed, comes back, screw drives
her opponent, then appears dead! I'd like her to act a little more
arrogant and start whooping people around. Not to mention just smoosh
them!
> > Manami Toyota vs. Kaoru Itoh. Toyota rules! If and when she
> > retires, I'll stop watching wrestling! She is by far my favorite
> > performer and seems to improve her looks by the day. The match
> opens
> > with Itoh setting her tone with armbars and other submission moves
> while
> > Manami continuously bags on her (kono yaro! Bakayaro!) Itoh
> stomps
> > Manami to death and I still wonder how Toyota gets up after all of
> her
> > matches. Heck, she's a Goddess! Standard Toyota match with a few
> nice
> > twist like Manami pointing to her head when she out thought Itoh on
> a
> > move.
>
> HEY! The evil Manami! I'm digging it the most! Talk about possible
> saucy vixens! WOO-HOO!
>
Heck yeah! She'd make a great feline with the way she walks.
Really graceful creature. And in the beginning where they showed her
taking on Yamada Toshiyo, she was in some new PVC outfit, similar to her
typical black velvet one, but a little tighter! God, she's hot. And
she's still great. I thought the missile dropkick to the floor on Itoh
was cool.
> Also, her cyclone suplex at the end seemed jacked up, perhaps
> > because of her back problems. Hey, it's still a great match, but
> mainly
> > because of Toyota.
>
> I dig Ito and I can't wait to see that match. It's going to be
> interesting to see if AJW can reverse it's fortunes, with everybody
> bolting, if matches like this will make a dent.
>
Again, Manami Toyota for me is AJW. I think as long as she, Mima,
Etsuko, Watanabe, Takako, and a few others stay, AJW will be alright.
They still need to build up their youngsters though and give them first
class finishing moves. Itoh was her typical brutal self. Oh, yeah.
Manami did a little comedy too, kind of like the Buff Bagwell
test-o-strength routine, except that she's taller than Itoh and
accentuated that fact by raising her hand higher than Itoh's smaller
self. The crowd and Itoh really appreciated that. Again, the match had
nice subtle twists which might catch on if they continue to do this.
Hey, teach it to the youngsters! Also, the crowd started chanting
"Toyota! Toyota!" at the end of the match. VERY GOOD SIGNS.
Yup! The crowd really were out for Aja and Kyoko. Mima is the
perfect female heel wrestler, with her cocky attitude and awesome
selling. She has that evil smile when she picks on Kyoko that makes you
love to hate her. Saya Endo can definitely learn a few things from
these two to increase her ring performance, especially considering that
she was the one that helped Mima throughout the match. No DQ by the
ref! Also, when Aja threw a bottle of orange juice all over Mima, Mima
looked hot in her new "wetlook!" And Etsuko has yet ANOTHER outfit.
These superhot Vixens just rule. And I predict that they will save AJW.
Mima Shimoda in her wet and green look!
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--------------83D5D40628E1EC8DD5CCE5EB--
Idolisdead
>KAORU! Queen of Shoot-style! YAMADA! Empress
Yup, just the right mix of CAPS and bangs! It must be Dean.
>The Dean of wrestling reviewers
BostonIdol
>The Muta vs Ogawa was basically a Sheik match with
>cross-armbreakers. The spraying of Inoki was a nice touch. This
>match was not nearly as stomach-churning as it should have been,
>but you wouldn't want to see it twice. Muta has cool new pants.
>Ogawa is looking less lost, but HELL! it's Muta! Forget it!
Actually, I "pulled a Dean" and did something else during this match,
but I have that luxury since I'm not a video reviewer by trade.
If pressured I can always pull something out of Dave's "Big Book of
Quick Summaries" like "Said to have been a disappointing match."
>I was stoked for this! Ikeda- BattlARTS posterboy and all-around
>intense egg- finally gets to kick the crap out of Kikuchi. It's made
>the undercard fun, given Kikuchi something to do and it's given Ikeda
>a lot of exposure. Baba- fearlessly- only shows the last three
>minutes of the match. BOY! What a crock! Ikeda gets to look like shit;
This is a real shame, because Ikeda-Kikuchi was the third best match on
the card and every minute of it was worth more than any minute of the "put
Honda over, or at least try and fail horribly" snoozefest. Why even use
Kawada in the match? Just position a cardboard cutout of Kawada on the
apron and play a tape of him on the PA system, exhorting Tamon to kick out,
or to get fired up, or to use an actual wrestling move.
Dean&Angie
Idolisdead wrote:
>
> >KAORU! Queen of Shoot-style! YAMADA! Empress
>
> Yup, just the right mix of CAPS and bangs! It must be Dean.
>
> >The Dean of wrestling reviewers
>
> BostonIdol
HEY! He's dead! Oh...
> >The Muta vs Ogawa was basically a Sheik match with
> >cross-armbreakers. The spraying of Inoki was a nice touch. This
> >match was not nearly as stomach-churning as it should have been,
> >but you wouldn't want to see it twice. Muta has cool new pants.
> >Ogawa is looking less lost, but HELL! it's Muta! Forget it!
>
> Actually, I "pulled a Dean" and did something else during this match,
> but I have that luxury since I'm not a video reviewer by trade.
I reserve that luxury also since I have a day job.:)
> If pressured I can always pull something out of Dave's "Big Book of
> Quick Summaries" like "Said to have been a disappointing match."
Well, actually does he have one that says, "Sucks about as much as you
would expect"?
But that would be splitting hairs.:)
> >I was stoked for this! Ikeda- BattlARTS posterboy and all-around
> >intense egg- finally gets to kick the crap out of Kikuchi. It's made
> >the undercard fun, given Kikuchi something to do and it's given Ikeda
> >a lot of exposure. Baba- fearlessly- only shows the last three
> >minutes of the match. BOY! What a crock! Ikeda gets to look like shit;
>
> This is a real shame, because Ikeda-Kikuchi was the third best match on
> the card and every minute of it was worth more than any minute of the "put
> Honda over, or at least try and fail horribly" snoozefest. Why even use
> Kawada in the match? Just position a cardboard cutout of Kawada on the
> apron and play a tape of him on the PA system, exhorting Tamon to kick out,
> or to get fired up, or to use an actual wrestling move.
Yeah, I don't know, but Tamon Honda may be the new BootyMan- except
Bootyman had a larger "moveset". Is Honda from Texas or something to
make Baba so blindly fall in love with him?
NANIWA~~!
Dean Rasmussen, SUGARCIZED!!
Tinoel
A few notes on NCW. I have thoroughly enjoyed what I have watched of the
4 shows that Bubba (aka Playboy Bryan Wayne) gave me. The show most
definitely is "Redneck ECW". When they cuss on interviews, they use a
truck horn to bleep it out--hilarious. Dave Jerrico is on there, a guy
named Heroin who wears a "Rehab is for Quitters" shirt, Jason Arndt doing a
sort-of-Ramon gimmick as Venom, and the Hardy Boys as Surge and Willow the
Whisp. They do RULE!! Hopefully we will see more of these guys. There's
also Kid Dynamo who looks like such a pansy pretty boy that he makes Billy
Kidman look like Stone Cold--think about that one for a moment. The
announcer was so "Jim Ross-Mid-South" that it made the show that much
better. A truly rockin' show and a unique concept where drunk college kids
can enjoy violence/workrate/audience participation once a month. Long live
NCW--"Where the Bad Asses Play"
~Tim Noel
WRESTLING POWER 97--"Richmond's Only Wrestling Alternative"
Twice a month on Media One Cable Channel 38
Idolisdead
Mostly rehash, but there's new stuff in here somewhere...
I'd "*snip*" out the chaff but I don't want to upset Crowbashi.
>>>DVDRV
>>BostonIdol
>Dean
BitchyIdol
>>>The Muta vs Ogawa was basically a Sheik match with
>>>cross-armbreakers. The spraying of Inoki was a nice touch. This
>>>match was not nearly as stomach-churning as it should have been,
>>>but you wouldn't want to see it twice. Muta has cool new pants.
>>>Ogawa is looking less lost, but HELL! it's Muta! Forget it!
>> Actually, I "pulled a Dean" and did something else during this match,
>> but I have that luxury since I'm not a video reviewer by trade.
>I reserve that luxury also since I have a day job.:)
Glenn includes a few duds just to see if you're really watching. :)
>> If pressured I can always pull something out of Dave's "Big Book of
>> Quick Summaries" like "Said to have been a disappointing match."
>Well, actually does he have one that says, "Sucks about as much as
>you would expect"? But that would be splitting hairs.:)
I haven't seen that one, but Dave's response to this was surprisingly
forgiving anyway. Seems that if you're setting up future matches
you're given an exemption for a really lousy match, see Ogawa-Hash I.
>> This is a real shame, because Ikeda-Kikuchi was the third best match
>> on the card and every minute of it was worth more than any minute of >>
the "put Honda over, or at least try and fail horribly" snoozefest. Why
>> even use Kawada in the match? Just position a cardboard cutout of
>> Kawada on the apron and play a tape of him on the PA system,
>> exhorting Tamon to kick out, or to get fired up, or to use an actual
>> wrestling move.
> Yeah, I don't know, but Tamon Honda may be the new BootyMan- except
> Bootyman had a larger "moveset". Is Honda from Texas or something to
> make Baba so blindly fall in love with him?
Nah. Ed "Dizzy Hogan, Brutus Beefcake, Barber, Butcher, Candlestick
Maker" Leslie only used the sleeper and the running knee on a regular
basis. Once in awhile he might mix in a body slam or an atomic knee
if the match was going longer than ten minutes. I defy you to find
footage of him using a suplex.
As for Honda, he shows flashes of promise, such as a great inside roll
into a legscissor submission in the win over Misawa/Akiyama. Then,
he turns around and goes ten minutes using no more than a variety of
headbutts and a side suplex. He's just clueless, but not as lazy, or as
untalented, or as pushed, as Booty. Save that monicker for Takayama.
Honda had a great opportunity to "show his stuff" against Misawa in
a rare singles match early in the year. To say that match was dull is
like saying Takayama is awkward. It's true but doesn't capture the
awful reality. Looking back, I don't remember any blow spots or poor
moves, just absolutely nothing good, with Honda dominating the match.
Top Five reasons Honda still gets pushed in AJPW
5) No one else will ever think of stealing him away.
4) Former amatuer star gives AJPW heavies that NJPW aura.
3) "Filling a void" at the Baba household since Kawada left.
2) Lied on application - Baba thinks he's 23 instead of 33.
1) "Hey, we all thought Akira Taue was a goof in 1990 and look
how he turned out."
BitchyIdol
"John D. Williams favorite troll."