The first four months of 1989 saw the final matches of the Crush Gals. They went out with an incredibly strong run, boasting three of the best women's matches of the year, including two tag team matches and a singles matches between them, with Chigusa Nagayo herself adding one more to that with her excellent match with Akira Hokuto. On 5/6/89, Chigusa retired in the Yokohama Arena, putting an end to the Crush Gals era. Lioness Asuka soldiered on as WWWA World Single Champion for a few more months before retiring herself on 8/24/89 in Korakuen Hall.

The Yokohama Arena show on 5/6, WRESTLEMARINEPIAD ‘89 was the biggest show they'd done since 8/22/85, and the biggest gate in league history up to that point. Chigusa's fans came from everywhere to see her retire, but after they'd seen the end of Chigusa, a lot of them left the building, not sticking around for the remaining matches. Despite being a box office success, the Yokohama card was an awful one. The Matsunaga's brought in the GLOW girls and pushed Madusa because she had found some magazine popularity. The result was one of the worst big shows the league ever put on. Madusa was too green, and the GLOW girls didn't fit. Chigusa Nagayo's retirement was huge, but almost everything else was a debacle. It featured horrible filler matches with GLOW girls, a two ring battle royal, and because they had two rings set up, they ran a weird concept match where two matches ran simultaneously (these matches would have been good ran separately, but you couldn't follow both at once, and the concept didn't work), and Madusa's challenge of Lioness Asuka's WWWA World Single Title, which headlined the show, was one of the worst red belt matches that exists on tape. The best match on the whole show was the junior opener (this Dream Orca vs. Tokyo Sweethearts match might have been the sole recommendation on the card had they completely not blown it away with a rematch just a month later).

Lioness's last few months without Chigusa were about as bad as the 5/6 show, she had two title defenses, one against Bull Nakano, which was more an angle than a match, and then wrestled Madusa again (their second match was better than the first, but could only be described as okay, and undoubtedly helped by TV only showing half of its 27 minute duration). Bull Nakano had a strange 1989. On TV, she had to play the role of Dump Matsumoto, with all the chaos and weapons, which made for some wild scenes. On 3/31/89, the Bull Nakano & Delta Dawn vs. Crush Gals ended up with Chigusa being attacked by Dawn and Bull with a live snake, and Bull and Lioness had a violent brawl afterward that cleared out the crowd. On 5/14/89, she challenged Lioness for the WWWA World Single Title, but the goal wasn't to have a match, it was just to be some out of control Dump chaos. On the house shows, she was allowed to wrestle, and as the year progressed, she wrestled more, and got to be the ‘wrestling heel' she wanted to be.

Where 1988 had felt dire, 1989 gave hope. Attendance was awful after the Crush Gals retirement, but the new generation were showing their potential. Bull was heading in the right direction. Akira Hokuto was the shining light of 1989, while nowhere what she would become, she had a breakthrough year coming off a good return year in 1988 and was the standout in almost every match she was in. The others from 1985 class, her tag partner, Suzuka Minami, and rivals, Yumiko Hotta and Mitsuko Nishiwaki were also improving. The 1987 class were hungry, the Manami Toyota & Mima Shimoda vs. Toshiyo Yamada & Etsuko Mita from 6/18/89 would stand up with almost any tag team match their seniors could have done. However, by the end of 1989, the WWWA World Single Title had been vacated ever since Lioness Asuka retired, and they needed someone now, not in two years time. The only one remotely ready on the roster was Bull, the problem was she was a heel, and heels don't get to wear the red belt (at least not as the company ‘ace' and leader). They had interest in Mitsuko Nishiwaki, but either gave up on her or she had expressed her intention to retire in 1990. I don't believe anyone else was considered. On 1/4/90, the Bull Nakano era would begin.

AJW 1/29/89 WWWA World Single Title Decision Match: Lioness Asuka vs. Chigusa Nagayo 29:28. With the Crush Gals career drawing closer to an end, this was final big match they'd have (or at least that anyone would want to remember). There were about as many streamers as in their August match. As opposed to their previous matches, the title matches were paced out a little slower, with this being by far the slowest paced of the two, which was likely in part due to the girls naturally slowing down as much as wanting to work a different type of match. This was the slowest of all of their matches in the '80s. The atmosphere was the same as always in Crush Gals matches. They started cautiously when they got on the mat, with Chigusa taking over and going for arm submissions, and then moving to a headlock. Like in their last match, she clung onto it through Lioness's suplex attempts, but this time she was a successful in breaking it with a backdrop suplex. Lioness opted to go for Chigusa's leg. Instead of using the matwork to get into a position where they could dominate in bursts, they were more trying to really wear each other down. Around 8 minutes in, they had their first big kicking battle. There wasn't really a winner though, and they both scored lariats on each other for a double down. Chigusa recovered first, hit another lariat and went for the sleeper. She wasn't trying to win with it yet, but here chose to set up for a top rope leg lariat and a missile dropkick, but Lioness forcefully kicked out of the pin, so Chigusa went back to the sleeper again. She again broke to get another impact move, a leg lariat, but Lioness blocked it and went back to the leg. She too, went for a dive, landing a missile dropkick, a piledriver, and then up again for a diving lariat. She was slow to follow, and Chigusa got a close near fall with a backslide. They exchanged armdrags, but Lioness was more fresh. She wanted to grind down Chigusa more, but got reversed on the mat, and Chigusa took over again. She caught Lioness with a kick to the midsection and threw a few more. Chigusa fought for a piledriver, which Lioness held off of for as long as she could, but Chigusa got it in the end. More holds came, sharpshooter and a leglock, and this is where the matwork started feeling a little tedious and drawn out. Chigusa had to keep grinding down Lioness though, and then she delivered more kicks. Lioness looked like she was out of it at this point. Her selling was good. She managed to fire back with kicks and got Chigusa in trouble. A German Suplex got near fall, but Chigusa immediately latched onto a sleeper. Lioness backed into the corner, so Chigusa kicked her in the head. They began moving towards the finish line with Chigusa pressing initially, but Lioness caught in a dragon sleeper. Chigusa gave a classic, dramatic sell of reaching out for the ropes while she was fading, but she made it. Failing that, Lioness kicked her and went back to the piledriver and a backdrop suplex. A brainbuster followed and an amazing Giant Swing spot, where Lioness did the Giant Swing, but lost her grip enough to stall it and Chigusa popped up with a shot to the mouth to break it. Chigusa got a run going with kicks and hit a German Suplex for a big near fall, and then another one. Lioness came with a German Suplex on her own and won. This was the same level of quality of their 1988 match. It would have benefited from 5 minutes being cut from it, and a finish that wasn't a one move comeback with Lioness surviving two German Suplexes and then winning with one. The match itself was excellent though. ****

JWP 2/12/89 Shinobu Kandori vs. Miss A 19:44. Kandori had just defeated Devil Masami on 1/16/89 and moved onto the top of the homegrown talent, Miss A (Dynamite Kansai). The second match with Devil (after their bloodbath in 1988) was a disappointment, very slow and drawn out, and although Kandori looked more experienced, Devil seemed to have far fewer ideas the second time around for them to do, and was unable to keep things as interesting. It got a lot better towards the end, and probably would have been recommendable had it been under 20 minutes (for that matter, the first one may have been the very good match had it been under 20 minutes as well). Miss A immediately gave Kandori a piledriver and northern light's suplex to start, wiping her out. Kandori lay dead in the middle of the ring for a while. So, A wins? No, the match hadn't actually started yet. Kandori got up, so A kicked her in the face and the bell rung, then did a tope after Kandori bailed out. Logic holds aside, that was a great start. Kandori took her time returning and caught A in a crab when she tried an enzuigiri. Kandori jumped on her submissions, but A got out of them. A would take over on the mat, but was more looking to pound Kandori, and get into places she couldn't be countered from. Kandori would still get some submissions on, but never for long. Her transition to offense was dumb though, with A selling a small package so Kandori could take over. Kandori put on a couple of submissions that didn't add much, and then tried her running kick. They exchanged crabs, and Kandori got some offense in after. A came back with a German Suplex and a sharpshooter. This submission portion felt like it ran on a bit too long, and never had the same urgency as the earlier ones. After that, A set about slaughtering Kandori with lariats, but Kandori came back with a missile dropkick when A put her on the turnbuckle. They exchanged flash pin attempts, and Kandori put a half crab on, but Kandori put it on her again. They tumbled outside and A missed a tope, smashing her knee into the guardrail. Kandori hit a backdrop suplex and went for a rear naked choke, but A was too close to the ropes. A hotshotted her in return. Superplex, diving lariat and northern light's suplex all made for very good near falls. Kandori blocked a lariat and went for a jujigatame, but A was too close again. Kandori pounced, hitting three German Suplexes to win the match. This was a really good match for the most part, and far superior to the Devil vs. Kandori matches, but it did drag in the middle. Kandori was there, but Miss A did an outstanding job, particularly when you consider the experience level, and they had people biting on the near falls at the end. ***1/2

AJW 3/4/89 AJW Tag Title Match: Mika Takahashi & Kaoru Maeda vs. Miori Kamiya & Reibun Amada 10:34. There were a lot of genuinely good juniors matches in 1989. They all seemed to be working extra hard trying to get noticed. Amada and Maeda couldn't seem to decide who was taking offense, so they had a spat to sort it out, and their fiery exchange ended in a stalemate as Maeda cartwheeled through Amada. Takahashi and Kamiya had a go too, and then they brawled on the outside. Kamiya's knee was taped up, so that the obvious target, and she got isolated. Maeda was good with the spots and holds, but she couldn't stomp a knee to save her life. Kamiya made the hot tag by simply waiting for Takahashi to tag out and then quickly crawled to her corner before they could drag her back. It didn't go to plan though, with Maeda taking over immediately and Amada walking straight into Maeda's handstand headscissors. Amada was by far the most basic of the four, sticking to her hair tosses, backdrops, and other things she could easily do. Kamiya and Maeda had a good, fast exchange. They all ended up fighting in the ring and then brawling outside. Amada and Kamiya won in, but then Maeda and Takahashi did vaulting body presses to enter the ring on them. They couldn't follow up with stereo dropkicks, as both their opponents pulled up short. Amada hit a flapjack and a gutbuster on, then dropped Kamiya onto Maeda. Maeda wouldn't stay down, so Kamiya came in with a flying knee and Amada hit a diving elbow drop for the pin. This was quality junior action. Maeda got hurt in the match and Takahashi wasn't happy afterward. ***

AJW 3/4/89 WWWA Tag Title Next Challenger Decision Match: Akira Hokuto & Suzuka Minami vs. Yumiko Hotta & Mitsuko Nishiwaki 9:29. A short, fast paced tag team match. The mat portions were very brief and competitive with no one gaining anything, so they'd look to quicken it up, and no one was gaining there either. Hokuto worked a sleeper on Nishiwaki and reapplied it after Nishiwaki made the ropes. The tactic was working, so Minami followed. Nishiwaki's answer ended up being kneeing Minami in the head to break free. Hotta took over after the tag was made, and put a crab on Hokuto with Nishiwaki dropping elbows. Minami ran in to break up the crab, and slapped Hotta, so Hotta dropped the hold and the two had a spat between each other before Hotta realized she was supposed to be on Hokuto. A Fisherman's Buster from Hotta made for a great near fall. Nishiwaki came in and had good exchanges, hitting bigger moves. The action never stopped moving in this match, and it was all good stuff. Nishiwaki ended up hitting a diving body press on Hokuto for a near hall. She tried to follow up, but Minami cut her off. Hotta and Hokuto exchanged pins, but the referee was out of position for both of Hotta's attempts, and she wasn't happy about it. Hokuto survived a German and tried her own on Hotta. Hotta blocked it, so she rolled through and flash pinned. This was quality sub-ten minute tag match. Plenty of fire and both teams throwing all they had at each other. This win set up the Marine Wolves challenging the Crush Gals. ***1/2

AJW 3/4/89 2/3 Falls, WWWA Tag Title Match: Yumi Ogura & Mika Komatsu vs. Lioness Asuka & Chigusa Nagayo 7:23, 5:59. The Calgary Typhoons attempted to go hard against the Crush Gals, but their efforts backfired, leading to them eating suplexes. The Crush Gals dominated until Ogura grabbed Chigusa's leg during a high kick attempt and went for a submission. Komatsu ran in for a stomp to Chigusa's head and kicked her hand off the top rope. This would be a running theme in the match. Chigusa sold it all huge, as usual. Chigusa managed a snap suplex and Komatsu did a great job of urgently diving over Chigusa to cut off the tag. She then made a mistake of dragging Chigusa too close to Lioness, which allowed the tag, and Lioness immediately hit a Giant Swing. A Crush Gals double team elbow was cut off and Typhoons hit dives on Lioness. They were doing a great job of evening the odds, as they had no chance one vs one, but the quick double teams and run ins were keeping them alive, though it was only a matter of time. The end of the first fall saw Komatsu get a near fall with a rana, and then she tried a Victory Roll, but Lioness prevented her from completing it and pinned her. Ogura hit an ugly knee on Lioness early in the second fall, and seemed to do some damage, causing a break and Chigusa had to take over, taking a receipt for Lioness by giving Ogura a high kick. Chigusa went for revenge for the earlier submission on Ogura as well. Komatsu ran in multiple times, kicking Chigusa while the referee got her out of there. She wasn't successful in breaking anything up, but she pissed off Chigusa enough that Chigusa broke off herself to attack her. Chigusa kicked Ogura, and dared Komatsu to come in. This didn't seem like part of the match, so she just gave her a few strikes and got back on Ogura. Chigusa applied a sleeper hold on Ogura, and Komatsu ran in yet again. This time Ogura was able to take advantage of Chigusa's loss of concentration, and applied a wakigatame. Komatsu was in again and applied one to the other arm. She was a such a tremendous little shit in this match, and this was the icing on the cake. Lioness had seen enough of this, and sorted it out. Chigusa fought back, hitting a piledriver and going up top. Ogura pulled her down, but Chigusa landed on her for a near fall. Komatsu disrupted the Crush Gals' momentum once again, dropkicking Lioness when she tried to throw Chigusa on top of Ogura. Ogura hit a German Suplex for a great near fall, and tried to follow up with a second, but Lioness came off the top with a diving clothesline, and Chigusa got the pin. The second fall is probably the only instance where the match inside the ring was good, yet the wrestler who was illegal for 99% of it was the best one in it. The first fall was great, the second fall wouldn't have been that special, but Komatsu made it with her constant disruptions. It got tedious and that was the point. It would have been even better if they gave the Typhoons the second fall due to Komatsu's constant interference, and then the Crush Gals could have gotten revenge and killed her in the third. But since it was a 2-0 sweep, it's the best 2-0 sweep I can think of. ****

AJW 3/19/89 Chigusa Nagayo vs. Akira Hokuto 17:28. For most fans of women's wrestling, '80s Chigusa vs. '90s Hokuto is the biggest dream match they can imagine. This is closest thing that was ever realistically possible, and it actually happened. This was Chigusa's final Korakuen Hall show before her retirement on 5/6/89, and the crowd were as loud as any you'll hear, staying that way through the entire match. It was a sleeper hold battle from the start. They exchanged suplexes and Hokuto slipped away from Chigusa when she went for it and applied her own, but Chigusa made the ropes. Hokuto switched between the arm and the sleeper, and everytime Chigusa would break it up with anything, Hokuto would tenaciously jump back on her and regain control. Chigusa was able to damage her with an enzuigiri and hit a lariat, and then went for the sleeper, but Hokuto was straight into the ropes. Chigusa got her to go for a test of strength, which resulted in Hokuto landing some nasty kicks and a piledriver, and then some leg submissions. Hokuto screamed in pain and tried to kick her way out. She finished her torture run with a Romero Special. Hokuto tried to fire back with fists, but tenacious as she was, they didn't do anything, and Chigusa gave her a hard slap and snap suplex back before getting back on the leg. Hokuto almost managed a pin while Chigusa had her in an Achilles hold, but she had to make the ropes to break it. Hokuto managed a takedown and a sharpshooter, then head up top and hit her somersault dive for a near fall, following up with a Northern Light's Suplex. They were both slow to get up, and Chigusa struck with a spin kick to the chest and hit a body press from the top for a near fall. Hokuto avoided a charge and hit a suplex and missile dropkick, but couldn't put Chigusa away. Chigusa had more life left in her though and took back over. Hokuto avoided a corner spin kick and kept countering. They went for flash pins, all of which seemed like they might end the match. Chigusa ended up on top, but couldn't put her away with a German Suplex, so she went back to the sleepers they started with, and put Hokuto down. This was a tremendous match with a ridiculously hot crowd from start to finish. Both were on fire. Chigusa gave an excellent performance and set it up for Hokuto to stand out, and Hokuto did that and then some, showing all of her urgency and tenacity, trying to maintain her advantages with everything she had. Easily Hokuto's best match up to this point in her career. ****1/4

JWP 4/26/89 Mayumi Ozaki vs. Cuty Suzuki 14:17. This was from the JWP Best Match Collection tape. It took about a minute for the torture to begin with Ozaki pulling hair, choking her in the ropes, grinding the boot in, savagely ramming her head in the mat, walking on her, stomping away, all while Cuty screamed for her life. She eventually started working actual submissions, though the goal was just to make Cuty scream, Ozaki had no actual interest in ending the match yet. Cuty scrambled to the ropes off a leglock, so Ozaki bit the leg. All of this was quality from Ozaki, the problem was Cuty had the Mimi Hagiwara screaming down, but none of Mimi's fire, and didn't really attempt to work her way out of anything. It didn't matter to the JWP crowd though, they just wanted the Cuty comeback, and chanted for her. She countered a backdrop suplex to comeback, but got caught on the top rope, and Ozaki dragged her down. Cuty hit a flying clothesline afterward and put a half crab on Ozaki, and ran through some more basic holds. This was the bad part of the match, after what Ozaki had built up, Cuty sitting in holds wasn't the right payoff. Ozaki took back over, tripping Cuty and putting her in an Achilles hold. Now she actually wanted the submission, but Cuty wasn't giving up. Ozaki went back to torturing her briefly. They went through the spots they knew at the end, Ozaki's diving sunset flip, Cuty's diving clotheslines, the Cuty Special, Cuty even did a tombstone. There were plenty of suplexes, one of which got Ozaki the win and most of them made for good near falls. Due to Ozaki's brilliant torture act, this was a good and fun match. Cuty could do all the moves just fine and sold the torture well, but her lack of fightback, fire and the ability to pull a good babyface comeback left it a bit lacking. ***

AJW 4/27/89 2/3 Falls WWWA World Tag Title Match: Lioness Asuka & Chigusa Nagayo vs. Akira Hokuto & Suzuka Minami 0:06, 12:04, 16:54. This match marked the final defense of the Crush Gals' WWWA World Tag Titles, and it was also the last proper tag team match featuring Chigusa Nagayo before her retirement on May 6, 1989. This also served as the farewell to the classic '80s ring mat, at least on TV (they used the old mats on spot shows for years afterward), which was replaced by the half red, half cream design used until 1993 (easily the best mat design they ever used). The first fall began with Chigusa getting embarrassed and defeated within 6 seconds, falling victim to a Dragon Suplex from Hokuto. Chigusa was pissed off about that. She hit a leg lariat to start the second fall, but handed it off to Lioness to wear down Hokuto. Chigusa got the tag and hadn't calmed down, and Hokuto hitting a dropkick soon after she entered didn't help things. She took it out on Minami after she tagged in. Minami's leg got worked over. She made the tag and Hokuto decided to slap Lioness, which earned a pasting, but she fired back with a sunset flip. Lioness gave her a brainbuster and tagged in Chigusa to get some revenge for the first fall, but again, Hokuto evaded her. Minami hit a knee from the top rope and a particularly frantic display with Chigusa trying to hold off Hokuto followed, she managed to grab an arm submission, and held onto it. Chigusa looked like she was trying to rip her arm off while Hokuto sold it huge. Hokuto made the ropes twice, but Chigusa kept reapplying it, and she didn't have much more fun when Lioness came in. Crush Gals, without actually doing anything heelish, were giving a great ‘clean' heel performance while Hokuto was selling and trying to fight back, not that the fans were ever going to switch allegiance. It took Minami dropping an elbow on Chigusa to get the switch. Minami tried a tombstone, but Chigusa reversed it on her, and then kicked her with disdain. Lioness hit a Giant Swing. The point was well and truly proven, and the pin was anticlimactic. Lioness continued the brutality from the second fall. Minami, however, scored a backbreaker, and Hokuto added her somersault dive. Hokuto delivered big suplexes for near falls, displaying her determination. Despite Minami taking over, Chigusa stopped her momentum with an elbow, a powerbomb, and a brutal jumping piledriver. Lioness followed up with an even harder powerbomb, and then Chigusa assisted with a Crush elbow. Lioness made Minami wait for the sharpshooter, and despite Hokuto's attempt to intervene, she couldn't stop the submission hold. In response, Chigusa entered the ring, kicking Minami in the head. What followed this was a classic sleeper battle. Chigusa started it on Minami, Minami got one on Chigusa, then Lioness. Both of them sold it like they were really going out. Lioness tried to sandwich Minami to get out of it, but had to walk her over to Chigusa to tag out. Then Chigusa got a sleeper on Hokuto. Hokuto walked over to the corner and tagged Minami, who got a sleeper on Chigusa. Next the Crush Gals went for Dragon sleepers. Minami was almost finished, but scored some knees on Lioness, they mostly just annoyed her but caused her to break the hold. Chigusa and Hokuto exchanged German Suplexes. Marine Wolves got a double sleeper on Chigusa. Chigusa was wobbly, and ate a dropkick, then Minami came off the top with something, and it didn't look good, as she also landed on Chigusa's head. It appeared Chigusa was supposed to move but didn't. Hokuto kept stomping Chigusa, but Chigusa managed to throw her. Lioness then entered the ring, delivering some kicks before Chigusa tagged back in. Chigusa finished the match with a Northern Lariat. If there was a one tag team that deserved to go out as champions it was the Crush Gals, though I don't know why the Matsunaga's decided to put the belts on 3 /4/89, knowing Chigusa only had a few months left if they weren't going to switch them over the Marine Wolves here (mind you, Komatsu retired on this same show, so leaving the belts on the Calgary Typhoons wouldn't have been any good either). This felt like a huge match, and it lived up to it. This was the best use of the short first fall. The third fall felt like a collection of ideas thrown into one fall, but the ideas worked, and they didn't feel totally out of place. Everyone stood out in different ways, aside from Minami, but Hokuto didn't leave her with much of a role. ****1/4

AJW 6/18/89 AJW Tag Title Match: Toshiyo Yamada & Etsuko Mita vs. Manami Toyota & Mima Shimoda 18:30. Dream Orca vs. Tokyo Sweethearts III. The 5/6/89 match was a rock solid tag match, this one felt like the best they were capable of at this point in their career. Dream Orca gave the legs of Shimoda a working over. Toyota took over on Yamada, and there was a nice spot where she hit the Yamazaki crosschop and then quickly dropkicked her in the head to prevent her tagging out. She was back to the armwork from the previous match, and Shimoda followed along. I loved when Shimoda went to some basic stretching, Toyota ran in and started stomping Yamada's arm, as if to remind her partner what she should be doing, and swiftly enough, Shimoda was back on the arm again. Toyota came in fully aggressive, kicking at Yamada, and hit a body press. Yamada tagged out and Mita hit her airplane spin and the Jumbo Hori throw from the turnbuckle. Mita ended up getting bored of Toyota, and threw her away to have a go with Shimoda. Shimoda went through her offense, and went for a pin, but Mita survived. Toyota hit a run of dropkicks and a missile kick, and it was back to Yamada. They were all quickening the pace, and Mita dumped out Shimoda. Toyota dragged Yamada out and gave her a thrashing by the announce table, while Mita and Shimoda fought. Both teams were wrecked and regrouped, but Mita wanted revenge on Toyota for her partner. She dropkicked Toyota off the apron and lifted Yamada presumably to toss her on Toyota, but Shimoda hit her with a dropkick to stop that plan. Shimoda and Toyota hit Yamada with a sandwich dropkick, then Toyota hit a flying crosschop and a dropkick. Double arm suplex for two. Shimoda came in, Yamada was initially one step ahead but avoided a charge and got a roll up a near fall. Mita hit and airplane to Shimoda. Both teams went for it with double teams and dives, all done with a ton of urgency. Toyota got a run on Yamada, but missed a flying body press, and was pinned after Yamada hit a backdrop suplex. The best way to sum up this match is it was like a really good all-action seniors match done with a junior moveset (though they had a little more than just basic moves), but it didn't feel repetitive, and they didn't run out of things to do. All of the urgency, intensity and work was there and it was a very exciting match. ***3/4

JWP 7/13/89 Shinobu Kandori vs. Miss A 15:51. This was from the JWP Best Match Collection tape. The rematch from February, and this time they got the match length right. This started as explosively as the first one, with Kandori firing off a slap and two going at full speed off the ropes (you've never seen Kansai move this fast), but it ended in a stalemate. A ran through her with kicks and a body attack, but Kandori grabbed a wakigatame, and then they slapped the piss out of each other. One of the best things about JWP's best matches is how uncooperative they looked, and a lot of what they were doing early on here had that same element. Kandori got A down and tried to work submissions, but A was blocking them to at least some degree. Kandori was relentless, but A was far bigger and more powerful. After A made the ropes, Kandori stiffed her with those boot scrapes and slaps, A wasn't selling it, so Kandori just hit her harder. When she started throwing her weak punches, A came back. A went up top, but got dropkicked down, and Kandori followed with a pescado. Despite her brief offensive in the ring, Kandori was taken down by A's powerful lariat. A applied her sharpshooter, stomping away when throwing kicks. However, Kandori seized an opportunity when A threw a kick, taking her down and applying another submission. A fought back with a lariat, a dropkick, and a tope to the outside. They brawled outside, with A winning the exchange, but she returned to the ring visibly worn out. A kept Kandori outside the ring, but her injuries were apparent, with a noticeable limp and damage to her arm. In the ring, A pressed on, hitting suplexes, including a superplex that resulted in a dramatic near fall. Frustrated, A attempted to go back to the half crab to further soften Kandori. Kandori countered but A made it to the ropes before any damage could be done. A hit a piledriver, but Kandori booted her when she charged to the corner, following that up with a missile dropkick. She hit a backdrop suplex, but was too slow to follow up. A threw some kicks, surprising Kandori with a small package for a close two-count. A executed a tombstone, and went up top for a diving headbutt, resulting in another great near fall. A sloppy rollup followed, which Kandori reversed to get the victory. The start of this was great stuff, and although they couldn't maintain that level throughout, it was an excellent match that fixed the things I didn't like from the February match. ****

AJW 7/19/89 WWWA World Tag Title Match: Akira Hokuto & Suzuka Minami vs. Yumiko Hotta & Mitsuko Nishiwaki 8:55, 3:09, 4:53 of 6:18. This was a really exciting, urgent and action-packed tag title match. The Marine Wolves took turns getting worked over early, largely through a mixture of armwork and running moves. They kicked it up a gear when Minami returned, hitting her backbreakers, and Hokuto followed up with a dropkick and two missile dropkicks. Minami added in a diving headbutt, and then Nishiwaki scrambled to her corner to tag Hotta. Hotta countered Minami's body press into a Fallaway Slam, but Minami was at the ropes. Nishiwaki hit an elevated dropkick double team, missed her dive, then got killed with dives before Hokuto finished the first fall with a German Suplex. The second fall was the familiar formula, but ended in exciting fashion. An early burst from the Marine Wolves to try to finish, but Fire Jets took over, and Minami got hit with all the big moves. She made a comeback, and as Nishiwaki was thwarting it, Hokuto came steaming in with a dropkick. Double teaming from the Fire Jets backfired, but Nishiwaki managed to roll up Minami to take it back. Minami shifted her focus to Nishiwaki's leg, putting her in a figure four leglock, and Hokuto dove onto Nishiwaki. Hokuto came in with a German Suplex, and then Nishiwaki scrambled over to Hotta. Hotta didn't get a chance to get started with both Marine Wolves hitting suplexes. After a double dropkick, Nishiwaki tagged back in, but she ate a backbreaker from Minami and a missile dropkick from Hokuto. She hit a suplex, but Hotta broke up the pin. The onslaught was broken up when Minami took Hokuto out with a dive by mistake. Nishiwaki powerbombed Minami, but Hokuto broke up the pin. The Fire Jets got on a role now, and Minami took the big moves. Jumbo Suplexes from Hotta and a powerbomb and a double arm suplex from Nishiwaki. She caught Nishiwaki in a backside, and the Marine Wolves set up for a double team, but Hotta interrupted it. Nishiwaki quickly hurled Hokuto off, and Hotta finished her off with a double arm reverse tombstone and a tiger driver to win the tag belts. This was another choice tag team match between these two teams. Same quality as their March tag, but longer and more exciting. ***3/4

AJW 8/24/89 5 Minute Exhibition: Lioness Asuka vs. Jaguar Yokota 5:00. This was Lioness's retirement. She had a nice exhibition match with Noriyo Tateno, but she really wanted to do one with Jaguar Yokota, who at this point was the trainer of the young girls and one of the commentators, so Tateno got on the mic after her match and called her out for Lioness. This was just an incredible. They worked it like a proper match, just condensed down to 5 minutes (they actually went about 5:20). Jaguar did all of her spots like she always did. They slowed it down in the middle with some holds while still bursting in quick with kicks and takedowns. The end was another burst where Jaguar hit the rest of her spots she didn't do at the start, and then Lioness did hers, finishing with a Giant Swing, the time ran out and Jaguar let her pin her after the match. Jaguar was knocked out legitimately towards the end of this, and has no recollection of the last minute or so, but you couldn't tell until after the match where she's wobbly. I don't rate retirement exhibitions, but this was legitimately good, even at the condensed length.

AJW 9/28/89 2/3 Falls: Bull Nakano & Aja Shishido vs. Akira Hokuto & Suzuka Minami 6:05, 5:23, 5:27 of 6:35. Bull had a strange 1989. On TV she had to play the role of Dump Matsumoto, with all the chaos and weapons, which made for some wild scenes. On the house shows, she was allowed to wrestle, and she was also allowed to wrestle Mitsuko Nishiwaki on 6/18/89, where she won the All Pacific Title. This show was from Taiwan, and there aren't many people in the crowd. Bull liked bullying Miyake, who was the announcer with glasses, any time she saw him, so he got a beating before the match. This was a mixture of the Dump carnage and wrestling. It started out with a brief mugging outside as the heels dragged the Marine Wolves out there. Then it was some really fast-paced wrestling from Hokuto and Minami until the heels took over. Bull mixed her heel tactics with wrestling and worked over Minami, while Aja mainly just heeled. Hokuto came back and quickened it up. Minami came back in with jumping kicks and Hokuto set Aja up for a diving senton, but Minami missed, and Aja pinned her with a foot on her chest. The second fall saw Aja laughing through a test of strength at the start, but the Marine Wolves would take over soon enough, hitting dives. Bull introduced the nunchakus. Marine Wolves got roughed up on the outside, and Bull stabbed Hokuto in the head with a pen once they were back in the ring, causing her to juice. Minami tried to intervene, but had no luck. Aja continued that carnage on with a bucket. When Hokuto hit a missile dropkick, Bull intervened with nunchakus. Aja accidentally hit Bull with the bucket, and looked scared to death after doing so, and that prompted Minami to run in with a chair. Minami nailed Aja with some incredibly weak shots, while Hokuto pounded Bull with Aja's bucket considerably more forcefully. Then Hokuto hit a missile dropkick to win the second fall. All the chaos backfired, so Bull and Aja had a rethink, and wrestling was the answer. The third fall started with Aja hitting headbutts on Hokuto. Bull came in with suplexes and a bicycle kick. Minami came back at her with her backbreakers and German suplexes. Aja was kicking the ref to break the falls, so Minami handed Bull off and got on Aja. The German Suplex got a near fall. Hokuto put a figure on with Minami diving on Aja, so Bull busted it up by misting her. Bull missed the guillotine legdrop, and Hokuto tried a couple of pins, then a diving sunset flip. Bull put her in a sleeper, and then misted her again while she had her in a raised chokehold. The way Hokuto got the tag to Minami was dumb, with Bull attempting to catapult her towards the corner. Hokuto did her neat counter of it, and was in the corner for the tag to Minami. It didn't matter because Bull ran through both with a double lariat anyway, and then finished with a backdrop suplex. This was a good match with both of Bull's styles mixing well, the chaos didn't work, so they went back to wrestling and were victorious using underhanded tactics that didn't backfire. The work was good all round. Aja was even adequate here. Hokuto was the standout like always, both in the ring, but also from the apron, showing sheer desperation as watched Minami get mauled. ***1/2

AJW 12/9/89 AJW Title Match: Manami Toyota vs. Toshiyo Yamada 30:00. This won the best bout in All Japan Women's end of year awards. Toyota wanted to kill Yamada at the start. She went straight for her before the match started and wouldn't relent, having to be retrained. Yamada responded by nailing her with her ring jacket. The hot start continued with Toyota trying a dive and tumbling out, with Yamada kicking the hell out of her. They took turns controlling the mat with their quicker running spots mixed in. Yamada ended up winning the battle, but Toyota was working and struggling her way out to get out of it. They had a really good exchange when they were back up, with Toyota hitting a series of dropkicks. They fought over a piledriver, and Toyota backdropped her out of it. Yamada was holding onto the arm, and Toyota kept bridging her way out. Yamada hit a sidewalk slam on a high angle, kicked the hell out of Toyota, and went to a Texas cloverleaf. She stuck with the legwork for a while, but Toyota escaped a crab and went with leg submissions of her own. They weren't done particularly well, and Yamada probably sold more than they were worth, but Toyota was actually putting effort into the matwork, so it's an improvement to where we'd be with her a few years later. Once Yamada took over again, she whipped Toyota off the ropes, but got slapped and suplexed for it. She responded by delivering strikes to Toyota's neck, hitting her own suplex then going back to the leg with an Achilles hold. Toyota fought and tried to kick her way out of it. Yamada stuck with the submissions. These were obviously filler submissions, but they were putting effort into putting them over. I can't be critical of them for killing time when they're tasked with going 30 minutes, but they probably put them over too much. The funny thing with submissions is that if they're undersold, people rightfully criticize them, but if they sold them forever and are sold huge, they get praised, despite the submissions and selling losing all their meaning and effectiveness. Toyota made her comeback, and hit a run of dropkicks then leapt up for a diving body press. She hit a double arm suplex and Yamada caught her with a kick coming out of it. Toyota dumped her outside and did hit a weak plancha to the outside. They brawled, but had to scramble back in to avoid the count out. Toyota was getting tired by this point, and Yamada had slowed down a little as well. They were getting into desperate measures, with the strategies out the window and just taking whatever they could land. Toyota got a crab on, and then managed another run of flying crosschops and dropkicks. A diving crosschop got her a near fall. They exchanged flash pins and more suplexes. Yamada had a little more left than Toyota, who's gas tank was just about empty. Yamada managed a burst. Toyota had it within her to block a German Suplex, and wildly elbowed her way out of it. She mustered up the strength for a Dragon suplex, which was a great near fall. Yamada small packaged her to come back and hit a Dragon suplex. Yamada had enough left for a dropkicks, and some kicks in the corner. She dragged Toyota back for a snap suplex. Toyota latched onto her back, but Yamada blocked her. That was about it for them, as the time ran out moments later. This match was excellent at the start and the end. They were getting really sloppy at the end, and though it made some of the exchanges look rough, it made them look more like they wanted it and were willing themselves through. The crowd didn't seem particularly into it early on, but they were invested by the end. The problem was the middle with all the submissions, which was simply them having to stretch the match out to 30 minutes. This wasn't MOTY, or even close to it, but they tried and they succeeded. This was a legitimately good match for anyone to have. ***1/2

1. Akira Hokuto. Hokuto was the standout and there was no one close (aside from the Crush Gals, but they both retired). No one tried harder than Hokuto, and she was having good matches with everyone. She wasn't capable of having excellent matches on her own yet, the two she was in were carried by the Crush Gals, but she wasn't far off. She deserved to take the #1 spot because she the most prolific by far in terms of having good-very good matches, and while she was carried to both ****1/4 matches, she added a lot to each of them.

2. Chigusa Nagayo. Chigusa was in all four of the top Zenjo matches in 1989, two singles, two tags, which should easily secure a #1 spot in any year. What's more? She did it in four months, but that's also the reason she isn't #1. Although Lioness was around four months longer, she didn't have any good matches after Chigusa's retirement due to Zenjo not allowing her to, thus while I consider them both equals, Chigusa edged out her old tag partner of the Hokuto match.

3. Lioness Asuka. Lioness was in three of the four top Zenjo matches, which just shows you how much the Crush Gals dominated the high end. Lioness was around longer than Chigusa, retiring in August, but Zenjo completely wasted her entire run post-Chigusa. She had the unenviable task of getting Madusa to a watchable level, and worked a match with Bull that was little more than an angle. The Jaguar exhibition was the sole highlight of this period.

4. Suzuka Minami. Minami had both the fortune and misfortune of being Hokuto's tag partner. She was legitimately quite good by 1989, but overshadowed by her own tag partner in multiple ways. Hokuto was clearly better, and Minami would sometimes get left without a role in matches because Hokuto would take over everything. Minami didn't appear to have an ego about it, and she was always in the right place at the right time. Whenever Hokuto would get out of control she was right there to get things back on track. She was a good partner for her even if she didn't necessarily stand out.

5. Toshiyo Yamada. Yamada and Toyota were both around equal for this spot, and it really could have gone to either of them. They were in the same good matches and contributed to each of them equally, but in different ways. Yamada was the more technically skilled, precise, consistent and showed more fire at the right times. Whereas Toyota was completely different, her basics were very good, she could do everything fine and she cared about all aspects of a match, but she wasn't as good as Yamada. What she was, was more exciting and fun to watch than Yamada. While Yamada was a wannabe Chigusa Nagayo, Toyota was a wannabe Itsuki Yamazaki.

1. AJW 4/27/89 2/3 Falls WWWA World Tag Title Match: Lioness Asuka & Chigusa Nagayo vs. Akira Hokuto & Suzuka Minami ****1/4

2. AJW 3/19/89 Chigusa Nagayo vs. Akira Hokuto ****1/4

3. AJW 1/29/89 WWWA World Single Title Decision Match: Lioness Asuka vs. Chigusa Nagayo ****

4. JWP 7/13/89 Shinobu Kandori vs. Miss A ****

5. AJW 3/4/89 WWWA Tag Title Match: Lioness Asuka & Chigusa Nagayo vs. Yumi Ogura & Mika Komatsu ****

Sakie Hasegawa

Kaoru Ito

Tomoko Watanabe

Bat Yoshinaga

Michiko Nagashima

Mayumi Yamamoto

Hisae Kuboki

Kazue Saito

Atsuko Suzuki