This show needs no introduction. After five months of anticipation and build-up, a crowd of 16,500 fans (paying between $25 and $255 per seat) filled Yokohama Arena for an 11-match interpromotional card, pitting the hosts against talent from JWP, LLPW, FMW and EMLL, with no less than six of those matches being main event caliber. While a large crowd was expected, a sellout hadn’t been anticipated. The line for tickets on the day of the event was huge, with thousands of on the day walk-ups, causing the start of the show to pushed back from 6:00 PM to 6:30 PM in order to get everyone into the building. The show was scheduled to conclude by 11:00 PM. However, with the 30-minute delay and matches running long, April 2 turned into April 3 during the Toshiyo Yamada & Manami Toyota vs. Combat Toyoda & Megumi Kudo main event, and the final bell didn’t sound until 12:21 AM, leaving many spectators with the dilemma of either leaving the venue to catch the final train at midnight and missing the finale, or staying until the end. The opening ceremony was an event in itself. With the five leagues involved being introduced, a rundown of all of the matches and pre-game addresses from Takashi Matsunaga, Dynamite Kansai, Combat Toyota, Harley Saito and Bull Nakano. What followed was the nothing short of the greatest women’s wrestling show of all time (you could arguably remove ‘women’s’ from that statement).

Sakie Hasegawa & Kaoru Ito vs. Plum Mariko & Hikari Fukuoka (JWP) 16:32. Everyone debuted new gear for this event, and for the most part, it was a win. However, not in Ito’s case, who looked ridiculous dressed up like Peter Pan. Originally, Debbie Malenko was supposed to be in this match, but due to her career ending injury, Ito replaced her. This match served as the perfect opener for the show. A high energy Zenjo-style tag, with a good pace, plenty of action and frequent tags. The slowed things down in the middle with some submissions, and then the final portion was filled with great spots and near falls. Sakie got busted hardway, and her eye was swollen later in the match. Each wrestler delivered big spots. Among a lot of suplexes and double teams, Fukuoka did her moonsault and rolling cradle, Plum delivered a powerslam from the top turnbuckle, Ito unleashed about six foot stomps to Plum, and Sakie hit her usual rolling savate kicks and exploders, though her best spot was the rolling double arm suplex. In the end, Plum pinned Hasegawa with a Frankensteiner. Those two did the most, and Plum was technically the best in the match, but it took them a while to get it together, as weren’t on the same page all the time. Ito and Fukuoka might have been the ‘lesser’ partners, but they made themselves stand out the most because of their fire and passion. ****

Terri Power & Saemi Numata vs. Eriko Tsuchiya & Yoshika Maedomari (FMW) 7:41. The two useless FMW stiffs had to have a match, so they gave them a rookie and a gaijin with a dislocated shoulder to beat. It was two green workers against two awful, uncooperative workers. Terri didn’t do much due to her injury, Tsuchiya and Maedomari targeted her shoulder a little, but mostly just did their horrible brawling and choking, with a few spots at the end. Towards the end, they did a few double team moves that were so mistimed you would never guess they were a regular team, before Shark pinned Numata with a powerbomb. Numata was given some offense, but she blew most of it. Otherwise, she did a lot of running at, and colliding with her opponents. Horrible match. The shortest on the card, and it was still 7:41 too long. 1/2*

Mima Shimoda & Tomoko Watanabe vs. Infernal KAORU & Ultima Tigrita (Esther Moreno, EMLL) 14:42. This ended up being a pretty good match, but the opening minutes were so bad that it virtually killed the entire match. There were execution problems, and timing problems. Tigrita was alright, but KAORU didn't move particularly gracefully. The biggest problem was that Shimoda and Watanabe were a step behind on sequences, so they mostly just looked clumsy. Shimoda made up for it with her aggressive working over of KAORU, and the heat segment on her was good. Once they picked things up with the spots towards the end it was good, with the highlight being Tigrita and KAORU hitting moonsaults on the outside. Watanabe missed her slingshot and KAORU pinned ger with La Magistral. **1/2

Suzuka Minami & Etsuko Mita vs. Rumi Kazama & Miki Handa (LLPW) 22:25. Despite being too long and Kazama doing her best to ruin it near the end, this was a really good match. It was a slower, more LLPW paced match most of the way through, focused on submissions. Minami gave her typically excellent, though understated performance, hitting her backbreakers and setting things up for Mita. Mita took it and ran with it, really standing out and showing a lot of intensity with everything she did. When she worked over Handa, she looked psychotic, and Handa did a really good job selling for her, making even a basic crab look like it was pure agony. Handa used her offense effectively later. Mita sold well in return, making an Achilles holds Handa got on her about halfway through look like a potential match ender. Handa got some good near falls with her suplexes. There was a lot of action towards the finish, which was good despite Kazama screwing almost every spot she did with Mita, struggling to hit suplexes on her and trying an ill-advised powerbomb, but at least the German Suplex she beat her with was executed properly. ***1/2

WWWA Martial Arts Title: Bat Yoshinaga vs. Susan Howard. Howard was representing EMLL. I suppose they had to throw her in somewhere for the opening ceremony. Dreadful, boring fight that dragged on to the full distance. Bat won by unanimous decision. This was actually the first win for the home team of the night.

25th Anniversary Champions Ceremony. This was quite the parade of retired wrestlers: Yukiko Tomoe, Miyuki Yanagi, Jumbo Miyamoto, Mariko Akagi, Mach Fumiake, Maki Ueda, Mami Kumano, Yumi Ikeshita, Victoria Fujimi, Nancy Kumi, Lucy Kayama, Jaguar Yokota, Mimi Hagiwara, Yukari Omori, Jumbo Hori (with her daughter), Lioness Asuka, Crane Yu, Dump Matsumoto, Noriyo Tateno, Mitsuko Nishiwaki and Bison Kimura. The only notable missing names that come to mind are Jackie Sato (I assume she declined), Tommy Aoyama (not sure about her) and Itsuki Yamazaki (was living in the U.S. by this point). Shiono did an interview in the ring, and Takashi Matsunaga presented them all with gifts. This was great, Shiono spoke to most of the women and teased them. Dump said she reformed her evil ways and is an idol now. He was to be master of ceremonies at Jaguar’s wedding, but she needed a man first, and wanted to be introduced to someone. Mach Fumiake stole the whole segment with a speech so energetic, Shiono thought she should come back for a match. She'd love to, but she's been retired for 17 years. It’s funny to think she’d be been retired for 17 years, and had barely turned 34 here.

Chigusa Nagayo vs. Devil Masami 17:27. The memorial super fight. Ironically enough, the only match on the show that wasn’t billed as an interpromotional match, despite Devil actually being in JWP. Chigusa had been out of the ring four years, and was trying to find out if she still had it. She could still go, but didn’t add much to the match. She was along for the ride. Devil took her own one, and was exceptional, making the match a memorable one. This was a very well built, slower placed Devil match. Chigusa caught suplexes and tried takedowns, and armwork, but Devil answered everything and dominated her, mocking the Chigusa chants as she went along and happily played up to her own chants when they came. Chigusa fired up, and they both hit lariats on each other. Her blank stares didn’t quite make the moment, but her comebacks later in the match were better. She caught a plancha off the apron, and in the ring, she scored a bunch of kicks and a had a big smile on her face as she was starting to feel it again, which was a great moment. The match became properly competitive from there, with Chigusa getting a Sharpshooter and a Romero Special. The two made comebacks on each other and hit big moves, but Masami had more impact and hit the killer blows. She hit a plancha and a powerbomb on the floor. Chigusa came back in the ring with German Suplexes, but those paled in comparison to Masami’s three powerbombs she hit later. Chigusa survived them, but there was no surviving a Northern Light’s Suplex from the top rope. ****

Kyoko Inoue & Takako Inoue vs. Mayumi Ozaki & Cuty Suzuki (JWP) 16:44. W Inoue’s entrance was pretty funny. They’re the most odd pairing that everyone just accepts because they share the same name. Kyoko had mini-Kyoko with her, and pretty much made the ultimate babyface entrance jogging to the ring, while Takako wandered down at her own pace scowling at her opponents who were waiting in the ring. This was the third Takako vs. Ozaki tag, and Takako wanted to pin Ozaki after losing to her on 1/15. Kyoko wanted to steal the show, and while she might not have done that, the 38-revolution Giant Swing she gave Cuty was the spot of the show. Kyoko knew she was the best and wanted to show off her abilities, it was up to Ozaki and Cuty to bring out her competitive side. Everyone was at the top of their game here. Kyoko and Ozaki were the best. Ozaki brought the most, whether in the ring or on the apron cutting off her opponents. She always takes you on a ride, and did again her with Kyoko. Takako and Cuty were both excellent in their secondary roles. They started out hot and maintained it, always keeping things moving and escalating. If Kyoko was taking her opponents a little lightly, she got a wake up call at the 10-minute mark, which saw her take a beating on the outside and repeated diving footstomps in the ring. From there, her and Ozaki went on to have the best exchange on the show, leading to a great finish. Takako saved Kyoko from the Tequila Sunrise, and Ozaki hit a German Suplex when Kyoko attempted a slingshot. She hit her diving body press before an attempted rana saw her get caught in a powerbomb. Later, Kyoko hit her slingshot elbow and went for the Niagara Driver. Ozaki countered it twice, the same way she counters the Splash Mountain and then hit the rana for a near fall. The match turned for the final time when Kyoko slingshotted off the ropes into the dropkick, and then she was able to hit a Liger Bomb. Takako tagged in and perched on the top rope for a double team. Ozaki would’ve ordinarily shoved her off, which might have left Kyoko open, but the tag forced her to meet her up top and try to finish her, while Cuty had to switch to Kyoko, whom she was no match for. Takako hit a chokeslam on Ozaki and Cuty made another last second save, but Kyoko easily dispatched her, and a Niagara Driver chokeslam double team to Ozaki gave Takako the pin. This match was on a level way above every match before it on the show, and would have been the best match had it been on most any other show in the history of wrestling. In the post-match, Kyoko was informed we hit 38 revolutions, she thought it was 40, so she was going to aim for that next time. ****3/4

Aja Kong & Bull Nakano vs. Eagle Sawai & Harley Saito (LLPW) 14:08. This was basically about Aja vs. Eagle, but they didn’t actually do anything particularly interesting, mainly just power spots and no-selling, trying to build their rivalry. They were alright. Aja was really hamming up the monster role, no selling oil can shots, and they had some fun spots. Bull and Harley, though in the secondary roles, were the reasons this was good. Harley hadn’t been particularly well liked by the Zenjo crowd, but she won them over with an early exchange with Bull where she hit a plancha. Bull went for the nunchakus and Harley disarmed her and did an exhibition with them, with a fun reaction from Bull. The action between the two was good. Harley got plenty of offense in, and was respected by both Bull and Aja. Bull sold a lot while letting Aja have the spotlight, but she shone when she was in. She was slimmer, moving and bumping as well as she ever did, and her offense was great. The highlight of the match for the crowd was Bull and Aja hitting consecutive topes. Harley was the obvious loser here, but she took a lot to be put down. She ate two urakens and a guillotine leg drop before being put away with the somersault guillotine leg drop. In the post-match, Harley was carried off injured, but not before Bull handed her the nunchakus as a show of respect. ***1/2

Yumiko Hotta vs. Dynamite Kansai (JWP) 16:43. This match was eight years in the making, as the two made a promise to eventually face each other. Finally, the day arrived, and it was on the biggest stage in women’s wrestling. This match was expected to be an ultra-stiff kickfest, and it delivered all the brutality it promised, with both exchanging heavy blows throughout. It was largely back and forth with good transitions. Kansai manages to deliver the most brutal looking kicks of any of the women, while also being arguably the best strike seller, looking completely messed up, glassy-eyed and staggering around after big shots. Hotta did a great job of putting over Kansai as well here. The selling and the brutality are what really made this. Both scored some early flurries, but protected themselves. Kansai attempted to target Hotta's back, but Hotta retaliated with a sucker punch, followed by a series of damaging kicks, later, scoring a nasty high kick. After Kansai regrouped, Hotta positioned herself on the top turnbuckle to execute a flying elbow attack, but it was too telegraphed, and Kansai suckered her in so she could kick her on the way down. Kansai got revenge and unleashed her brutality, targeting Hotta with a series of kicks on the outside while she was pressed against the guardrail. Upon Hotta's attempt to return to the ring, Kansai continued her assault with more kicks, teasing a TKO with an 8-count. Hotta struggled to recover, repeatedly getting kicked by Kansai whenever she showed signs of stirring, eventually forcing Hotta to retreat outside. The match turned into a more traditional pro-wrestling match for a while, as Kansai methodically worked over Hotta until Hotta managed to block a lariat and retaliate with a backdrop suplex. Hotta followed up with kicks and the momentum shifted, but Kansai regained the upper hand. She went to the top turnbuckle, and it worked out as well for her as it did for Hotta earlier. Kansai was hung upsidedown, with Hotta delivered free kicks to the head. Hotta hit a series of big move and kicks, the Pyramid Driver and Caribbean Splash for near falls, but the missed a kicked and Kansai picked her up and delivered her Splash Mountain to win. It’s a shame they couldn’t come up with something a little better than that. Hotta threw out everything she had and Kansai negated it all with one move, and to make it worse, Hotta clearly kicked out before three. Considering how easily Kansai turned her over after such a lopsided run, it didn’t exactly save her reputation. Kansai’s classic reaction to the win almost makes the whole thing worth it though. Weak ending aside, this was a tremendous match that delivered exactly what it was expected to. ****1/4

Akira Hokuto vs. Shinobu Kandori (LLPW) 30:07. The feud between Hokuto and Kandori began at Dream Rush in November. Kandori had spoken out about how she doesn’t care for Zenjo, but she came to the show, and Hokuto took exception and called her out for it. Kandori sees herself as superior to pro wrestlers and looks down on them, while Hokuto views Kandori as a failed judo wannabe. These two were under each other’s skin for months. They hated one another, and they were ready to tear each other limb from limb. The press conference showed these two couldn’t even be in the same room together and be civil. Hokuto’s goal in the match was to kick Kandori’s ass and expose her as nothing more than a failed judo wannabe. Kandori wanted to shut her up for good, and even she didn’t know how far she’d go. Everyone knew Kandori was a dangerous shooter, and she might just want to break Hokuto’s heart, just like she did to Jackie Sato all those years ago. The way the match was built and positioned, with Hokuto representing pro-wrestling and Kandori, representing judo, had already captured the imagination of fans, and it was already a classic before the bell even sounded. Not many matches ever manage to live up to such hype. This one not only lived up to it, but far exceeded it. The bell rang, and they cautiously approached each other, demanding the other come forward. When Hokuto finally closed the distance, she immediately punched Kandori hard in the face, and not just a punch, it was a potato, and you could hear it. It knocked Kandori down, but it was more humiliating, Hokuto taunted Kandori over the mic to get up. In response, Kandori retaliated with a violent slap followed by a lariat. She then seized Hokuto's arm and locked in the wakigatame, really cranking up on it causing Hokuto to scream in agony. The way Hokuto sold it like it was seriously injured, she made it seem the match might even end there. Once they restarted, Kandori outwrestled Hokuto, going for some submissions, but Hokuto was quickly into the ropes and fell back on her brawling. The fight spilled outside and Hokuto tried to Tombstone Kandori on a table, but Kandori turned the tide without trouble, driving her into the table. There was a big crack in the table, which drew a pop when the camera focused on it. Kandori was happy with that. When Hokuto reappeared, she was sporting a crimson mask, her face drenched in blood, with her once-blonde hair now stained red from the flow. Kandori had Hokuto where she wanted her, more toying with her now that Hokuto was battered and progressively becoming weaker with the blood loss. Hokuto grabbed her foot, dragging her outside for another brawl. This time Hokuto scored a victory out there, doing a number on Kandori, and busting her open. Hokuto continued laying boots to the face in the ring, but Kandori fought back and pushed her further. She got her in a brainbuster, but instead of doing that move, she just dumped her face first outside and followed up with a pescado, then back into the ring for more abuse. Kandori went for a backdrop, and Hokuto tried to get out of it by scrambling to the ropes, but it didn’t deter Kandori, and she still hit it. Hokuto was successful in making sure she didn’t get it cleanly, but that’s all she accomplished. It’s was enough though, as Kandori jumped back into a submission, and Hokuto was able to get into the ropes. Hokuto slapped her, and hit a nasty piledriver and a spin kick, but she struggled to really follow up again. She had the bad arm, but at this point the blood loss was more of an issue. Kandori continued to outwrestle her, and Hokuto shifted her strategy, taking to the air, but even this was nullified. She hit one diving body press, but Kandori saw a second one coming and got the knees up. Kandori hit a powerbomb for the first really big near fall of the match, just short of the 20-minute mark. She then became overambitious, trying a missile dropkick, which Hokuto easily swatted her away. Hokuto tried a dive soon after, which didn’t work either, as Kandori yanked her out of the corner into a sleeper. Hokuto survived that and Kandori tried another Powerbomb, but this time Hokuto countered it. Hokuto then countered an Irish Whip and hit her own Powerbomb. Both were really struggling now, the toll was heavy, but Hokuto was in bigger trouble. Hokuto fought with desperation and managed another spin kick, sending Kandori outside. She hit her somersault plancha and a missile dropkick out there. Hokuto attempted the Nothern Lights Bomb, but Kandori again outwrestled her, and zeroed in on the bad arm. Hokuto was focused on getting to the ropes, which allowed Kandori to hit the Tiger Driver. After that didn’t get the job done, Kandori just wailed away on Hokuto, knowing that she only had so much energy left. But the key was she still had something left. Hokuto avoided a swing and hit a backdrop suplex for a big near fall. She followed with a Northern Lights Bomb to a huge pop from the crowd and an even bigger near fall. Kandori couldn’t kick out, it was just a small jerk of the shoulder, enough to stave off defeat. Kandori fired back with her own Northern Light’s Bomb for two, in what would’ve been the ultimate insult. They were both down, and neither had anything left. They could barely muster up the strength to slug at each other. They did though, with each striking each other down, and then both went for a punch at the time. Hokuto was a split second faster, and crawled over for the pin to end this war. Kandori was woken up by the LLPW girls, and she was in a filthy mood and stormed off, but not before getting the house mic and telling Hokuto, "this isn't the end". Hokuto couldn’t get up at all. Mita and Minami tried to help, but she just collapsed. She got on the house mic and screamed at Kandori "you’re not a real pro-wrestler! I’ll never lose to a judo wannabe!". This was the full package of build, storytelling, selling, drama and intensity, and is one of the greatest matches of all time. *****

Toshiyo Yamada & Manami Toyota vs. Combat Toyoda & Megumi Kudo (FMW) 28:13. This was the main event due to FMW politics, but realistically, it was, at best, the 4th more important match on the card, and if you go by fan response during the opening ceremony, it was well below the five matches that preceded it. It really didn’t have a chance from the start considering what it had to follow, and to make matters worse, the show ran so late that the last train was leaving, and that announcement was called just before the match. So, before the match, and as it was beginning, people were filing out (allegedly 2,000-3000 people left), giving the match a horrible atmosphere to start with. The first 20 minutes of were poor. Combat and Kudo were leading the match, and barely gave Toyota and Yamada anything because they were losing, while also contributing little that was any good themselves. There was no chemistry. The teams really weren’t on the same page, with a whole lot of awkwardness when they weren’t just sitting around in holds. The timing was never in tune with what the crowd wanted; for instance, they wanted a Yamada comeback, but by the time they actually got it, minutes later, they barely reacted to it. Combat had a particularly poor performance. She did nothing to make her opponents look good, and her offense was considerably worse than everyone else’s for the most part. She wouldn’t cooperate with spots, and she didn’t bump or sell well, if she even bothered to do either. Kudo was better, she didn’t have those problems. Her problem was sitting around in holds for an eternity. All of this goes out the window in the last 7-8 minutes. The match became excellent with a great finishing run that served to redeem the whole match. While not enough to elevate the match to the "great" status some may claim, they certainly redeemed it and ended things on a high note, making it a good overall contest. Kudo and Combat showed they could keep up. Starting with some big bombs and dives, with Kudo hitting a tope, Combat doing a plancha and Toyota hitting her quebrada this became an interesting match. There were innovative top rope double teams, cut offs, saves and reversals. Kudo and Toyota did the bulk of it and worked really well together in this part. Combat kept saving Kudo, so Yamada baited her into a kick that she could avoid and Combat nailed Kudo with it. Toyota hit the Japanese Ocean Cyclone Suplex on Kudo, a deadly one where Kudo came down on her neck to get the win. After the match, Kansai and Ozaki came out and wanted another fight for the WWWA tag belts. Yamada accepted for Osaka, and the Dream Slam II main event was set. All four were upset with how the match went, and none were willing to give an interview. Toyota was seen crying against a wall, which was actually how the show ended. For all the dumb theories I’ve seen about this, she was legitimately crying because she thought the match went badly. While it was the least of all of the big matches on the card, it was still good, though it would have been much better had it been shortened to 15 minutes. ***

Best Joshi Puroresu Matches YouTube Playlist