AJW & JWP announced
the main matches for their first interpromotional shows. 2/10 at Korakuen
Hall show is a JWP show called LIVE AND LET DIE, which is kind of an
ironic name because they'd be dead right now if the Matsunaga's had
done that. Anyway, the Command Bolshoi & Carlos Amano try to defend
the JWP Nintei Tag Senshuken against the ZAPs. Bolshoi & Amano are
weak champions that aren't on Zaps level, which isn't really that high
since they haven't got interpromotional wins, but Watanabe already has
the AJW version of the tag titles with Kumiko Maekawa. I still expect
the Zaps to win the titles here though.
"I think it'd just be smarter to just merge the two tag titles
at this point because they don't need two different sets of champions
in one promotion unless they are running an nWo-type angle, which I
don't see from these line-ups. Obviously you build up to uniting the
JWP and 3WA singles titles over a few months, but the secondary and
tag titles should just be joined now," wrote Michael.
I disagree with this because the titles switching promotions adds to
the interpromotional aspect of the feud that already isn't there nearly
as much as it should be. Anything that makes it seem like on promotion
is getting a point over the other should add to the "rivalry."
Furthermore, we are dealing with the same amount of wrestlers and titles
as we were before, so I don't see where getting rid of belts does any
short term good. Combined belts don't mean twice as much, rather they
mean either no more or only slightly more than if there was just one
belt, so what is the benefit?
JWP's
champion Ran Yu-Yu should get one of her only interpromotional wins
in recent years since her opponent is only Nanae Takahashi.
"Is this a title match or just a waste of time? I mean, I'm not
as down on the cow as most, but giving Miyaguchi a win over her means
nothing and the match will probrably only be ** at best," wrote
Michael.
It's just a waste of time, and if Lan can get ** out of her when they
aren't familiar with each other at all then she really deserves to be
the champion instead of Azumi.
Probably the most interesting match is the ass kickers Dynamite Kansai
& Yumiko Hotta plus Tsubasa Kuragaki meeting the flyers Manami Toyota
& Azumi Hyuga plus Miho Wakizawa. If Kansai & Hotta are willing
to sell then this could be really good and help both companies, but
that is a major if.
"I don't think you have them sell at all here. I really could care
less for Kansai at this point, but her and Hotta would be the team I
build-up as monsters leading to a tag titles shot sometime in the summer.
I think it's obvious Miho is jobbing here, but for their first joint
show you'd think they'd do a better job of booking the matches because
these all suck as far as starting any angles goes because everything
is too predictable," wrote Michael.
I don't see
the benefit in showing Toyota & Azumi aren't on Hotta & Kansai's
level when the point of showing that Toyota & Azumi are above their
leagues respective ass kicker hasn't been fully seen through, especially
in Azumi's case where she got one win but generally appeared to be well
below Kansai. I would rather show these teams were equal because essentially
you have the top two wrestlers in each promotion, so this should be
one of the best series of matches you can present. If Toyota & Azumi
aren't on Hotta & Kansai's level then Hotta & Kansai have no
peers. If they have no peers then who is going to pay for matches like
Watanabe & Maekawa or Clown and Amano against Hotta & Kansai,
even if they were title matches?
"I don't think that one match is going to hurt Manami's standing.
Kuzumi won't gain anything from one match either, so I can afford this
one and then figure out how to rebuild her from scratch. As for Kansai
and Hotta, alot of teams have been successful when they are unbeatable,
so what you do is create someone who can beat them. I'd probrably use
Amano and Maekawa but I'd be willing to sacrifice The Damn Clown and
some others to get Kansai and Hotta to where I want them. I'd even bring
LCO in to put them over (not in a squash but in under 15-20 minutes),"
wrote Michael.
Having an unbeatable team such as The Road Warriors or Hellraisers generally
kills the entire division because no other teams can function properly
when they have to get demolished or close by the unbeatable team in
every supposed big match. Also, I think you'd be better off pushing
Azumi from the start than rehashing the Kyoko & Kansai debacle then
working on rebuilding her.
As far as the predictability goes, I think most people can select the
winning team in every match without giving it much thought. They could
do a surprise or two, but I highly doubt it.
I'd personally rather see Azumi oppose Toyota because pairing them just
makes Azumi a secondary figure since their wrestling style is so similar
and Toyota will just outshine her due to all the charisma that she has
and Azumi doesn't.
"Kuzumi vs. Manami would make Tomoko look a helluvalot more secondary
then them being partners because there's no way Manami would be jobbing
in that match. Besides Manami is Kuzumi's idol, so Smith says she turns
on her and sets up a great angle that culminates with Kuzumi getting
the red belt and the top slot in the company by the end of the year,"
wrote Michael.
Doesn't the first sentence contradict the second sentence?
People already know she is secondary, and I'd rather have her chasing
Manami as a heel then straight up because making an angle out of it
gives her a chance to get over and also gives her some character. You
can't disguise the problem, so why try? Having Manami just beat her
in an extremely close match isn't going to change public perception
of Kuzumi. Just look at Genki vs. Kyoko if you need proof because that
match did nothing for Genki after the fact, and you can't just blame
her push on her not getting over," wrote Michael.
Genki had a good match or two, but that didn't get her out of the midcard
jobber ranks. If she would have followed the performance in the title
match up with a win over Mita instead of continuing to trade wins with
ASARI and Tamura, she at least would have had a chance to get over.
The point should be to show that Azumi is close to Toyota. I don't think
she should win the first match, but the main program should be Azumi
chasing after Manami. Kansai is a short term fix that can pop a house
or two, but the focus should be on bringing Azumi up to the point where
she can credibly beat Toyota, and I don't think you need a US angle
to do that.
"I disagree because nobody is going to care after Manami beats
her without having a reason to. I agree that you build her up to where
she can go over Manami, but you can't just do it by having her beat
people she's already beaten," wrote Michael.
The whole problem is that Azumi's wins are over the same couple of wrestlers
that also don't mean anything. She hasn't beaten anyone in AJW so there
are plenty of options.
I think it's a much better idea to keep the promotions separate initially
so it looks like there's an actual rivalry. Mixing the wrestlers up
is fine as something to keep the shows going after the AJW vs. JWP matches
have run their course, but they aren't going to draw as well if everyone
is friendly from the outset.
"I agree somewhat, but you can't do this when everyone already
knows that the Matsunaga's own the Yamamoto's. Of course, they could
have done an invasion angle and had kept the financial situation secret,
but it's too late to start expecting them to do what could've possibly
avoided this in the first place and that's booking angles that could
get asses in the seats," wrote Michael.
Next to nothing has been officially announced, so I don't see where
this is really the case. AJW is giving JWP some money, but I don't even
know for sure if the promotions are truly separate or not anymore (I
think that they still are),and I doubt many people have a clue as to
what concessions JWP had to make to AJW in order for them to give them
the money.
Devil Masami &
Acute Sae should get a win over Kayo Noumi and Miyuki Fujii after a
bad match.
Finally, Kumiko Maekawa should beat Kayoko Haruyama.
"These last two are just SFW? matches. AJW totally missed the boat
with Noumi and jobbing her team to Devil shows (imo) that they've given
up on trying to push her," wrote Michael.
Miho got elevated when the began teaming with Toyota, while at the same
time Noumi got reduced to a hair about Fujii level. Noumi really can't
wrestle to save her life, but they should have done a lot more with
her when it came to taking Takako's spot as the promotions idol. They
could make more money off her than several of their better wrestlers
if they did more to emphasize her looks and less to emphasize how weak
she looks in the ring.
"Agreed because people care about wrestlers if they are 'told to'
regardless of their talent level," wrote Michael.
2/11 at Tokyo Korakuen
Hall is an AJW show TRANSFUSE "J" BLOOD. The main event is
too one-sided. Like anyone is going to believe that Manami Toyota &
Dynamite Kansai & Kaoru Ito will lose to Ran Yu-Yu & Carlos
Amano & Miho Wakizawa. They could have at least put Wakizawa with
her partner Toyota so there was a potential jobber on Manami's side.
"Of course, they could do the smart thing and have Miyaguchi pin
Manami here but then there'd be more shocking here then a power plant
in an ocean," wrote Michael.
Yeah, but would it be more shocking than a good worker coming out of
the Power Plant? Seriously, I think you could get away with Lan pinning
Ito because I don't think they should rush into a singles match between
the two champions.
"I would settle for her pinning Ito since her singles time has
come and gone, and she wouldn't be hurt by it. Also, it wouldn't be
smart to have Lan go over Manami twice that quickly," wrote Michael.
The semifinal is the most important match on either show because if
Azumi Hyuga can't take the All Pacific Senshuken from Kumiko Maekawa
than JWP really has no value or bargaining power at this point. They
are already in trouble with last year's supposed top star being relegated
to going after AJW's secondary singles title, but that shows the level
the JWP wrestlers other than Kansai are at on an interpromotional scale.
"I think Kuzumi wins this one because Maekawa doesn't mean much
outside of tagging with either Hotta or Watanabe, and they'd be truly
stupid to kill off JWP because then they'd be killing themselves off
in the process," wrote Michael.
The thing that doesn't make this match bad is that Kansai & Lan
should be the first to challenge Toyota for the WWWA Single since Kansai
hasn't gotten a rematch since losing the title to Toyota on 12/4/95
and Lan is JWP's current champion, so Azumi could at least get some
"important" wins in the meantime.
"Considering who's she's beaten (or hasn't) in the past any semi-big
win like a Maekawa is important for Kuzumi. I don't think she's ruined
yet, but she's a long-term project as far as image goes and you kill
her dead if she loses here," wrote Michael.
Both women have the same problem in that they don't have much personality,
but Azumi is a lot younger and more talented. Still, I have to admit
that the more of Azumi and Lan I've seen lately, the more I think they
are better off with Lan ahead of her because she got her fire back and
is a lot tougher and spunkier than Azumi. If Azumi can develop a personality
than she should be Toyota's successor assuming the promotions are still
together at that point. The reason I'd put Azumi in with Toyota right
now is that it's more of a natural matchup and Azumi could become what
she needs to be if she can just learn to adopt what Toyota does as far
as getting the crowd behind her.
"This leads to my angle of turning her heel though. She can learn
from Manami but why let her be a face right off the bat when that could
happen in their blow-off match when she finally goes over and gets the
torch," wrote Michael.
She has no experience as a heel and she already has too much pressure
on her without trying to do a totally different style in matches that
should be much higher profile.
Mima Shimoda &
Etsuko Mita should beat Tomoko Watanabe & Nanae Takahashi to set
up a rematch against Watanabe & Maekawa for the WWWA Tag. Figuring
LCO win here and win that rematch, that would mean Watanabe wouldn't
have both promotions tag titles at the same time for very long.
Unless you're bringing back Mita and Shimoda full-time, I don't see
the value in giving them the 3WA belts. As I mentioned above, I also
don't see the point in having two (or 3 if the AJ Tag Titles are still
around) sets of tag champions in what is basically one promotion unless
you have a ton of young workers. If you could use one set like WCW used
to use the U.S. Tag Titles then I could go for that, but given what
these two companies have done to their under 25 year old workers that
wouldn't be the case here," wrote Michael.
I think LCO are more effective when they aren't used full time. Even
though they are still among the best, their act gets kind of dull if
they wrestle the same wrestlers night in and night out. However, they
are very effective when they come in for an angle that leads to them
coming in for a big match where everyone will work really hard. That
said, I have the feeling that AJW owes them for putting Watanabe &
Maekawa over out of nowhere.
Yumiko Hotta &
Devil Masami should beat Takako Inoue & Miyuki Fujii.
Michael wrote, "Fujii means nothing, but why bring Takako in for
this match when it's obvious who's losing?"
They should keep Takako off the first two shows if they don't have a
role for her. She's not going to feud with Devil and we really don't
need to see anymore of her matches against Hotta. Even if we did, since
Takako lost the last singles match (and basically all their others as
well) it would make more sense to have her and Devil take on Hotta and
Fujii so Takako could beat Fujii, in their mind giving them reason to
prolong this useless series.
"I'd use Takako in an angle with Kana or Noumi, but otherwise I'd
hold off on her until I needed a name to put over Kuzumi or Miyaguchi,"
wrote Michael.
Command Bolshoi
& Kayoko Haruyama should beat Kayo Noumi & Acute Sae.
These shows aren't really loaded, which is good because they shouldn't
give away too much too soon. I think there's enough here for them to
sell the shows out even though aside from the two title matches, there
isn't a lot beyond the novelty of full interpromotional shows.
"I can't see these shows selling out because having a bunch of
meaningless matches doesn't get swallowed by the fact that they are
interpromotional. Maybe I'm wrong, but if they do sellout then they
still better realize that they'll need to do much more then this to
keep people interested for the long haul," wrote Michael.
I think they are right in banking on 1000 fans of each promotion showing
up the first time out, but you are right that these shows have probably
bought this interpromotional series a one way ticket on the nonstop
to nowhere.
"Do you think each promotion actually has their own audiences anymore
(aside from maybe a few hardcores) or they just swim in the same pool?
I'd think it would be the latter," wrote Michael.
AJW, JWP, Neo, and Jd' probably have many of the same fans because they
have a similar style.
The first interpromotional
matches are actually on 2/2 at Tokyo JWP Hall, but Yu-Yu vs. Toyota
and Kansai vs. Wakizawa are 5 minute exhibitions so they will go the
distance. Basically, these matches just give the women a chance to become
more familiar with each other.
"If there's
any sense with them whatsoever then Miyaguchi will flash Manami with
less then 10 seconds left in that match, "exihibition" or not. I guess
Wakizawa lasting 5 minutes with Kansai will help her somewhat but I'm
hardly impressed with these line-ups," wrote Michael.
I can't see any benefit in giving away a result in a 5 minute match
before 500 or however few people JWP Hall holds. I could see where you
would want Lan to take it to Toyota to show she is "on her level,"
but giving away a first that should be so important here doesn't do
them any long term good. The way Toyota probably won't put Lan over
won't do them any long term good either, but if they were to do it right
then Manami would have to show that Lan is someone we need to take seriously
on the top level.
"I think it's safe to have Miyaguchi pin her either here or in
the tag match because it wouldn't be a decisive win that would hurt
Manami in anyway and you can have Miyaguchi dog her about it. What it
would do however is the most important thing you can do, and that's
get people talking and not knowing what to expect. That's usually what
draws in the casuals. The hardcores will come no matter what, but my
focus would be on getting as much buzz I could among the casuals and
figure out how to get them in and keep them," wrote Michael.
As you know, the flash pins on Aja haven't done anyone a bit of good,
and all the unpredictable results ARSION was doing didn't lead to any
more fans attending their shows. I agree that these first two shows
are WAY TOO PREDICTABLE, but you could get a lot more out of a real
surprise win in tag like Azumi over Hotta or Lan over Toyota than a
corny flash pin.
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