Nine after days after the first ALL-STAR DREAM SLAM, All Japan Women did it all over again in Osaka. This was just short of a sell-out, drawing 6,500 (with fans paying $26 - $177 per seat).

Sakie Hasegawa vs. Hikari Fukuoka (JWP) 18:05. Another hot opening match involving these two. Hasegawa was much improved here compared to the Yokohama show since she was willing to work with Fukuoka. The match was long, and given all the pointless matwork in the first half, it could have stood to have been a few minutes shorter. Once they got into the second half, it was a fiery back and forth battle with the two throwing everything they had at each other, and similar to the quality of the 4/2 tag match. They did a great job with the near falls, kicking out of them late, albeit a little too late in once instance. It would have been nice if Sakie knew a few more moves, with three Rolling Savate Kicks and three Exploders, before putting Hikari away with a fourth Rolling Savate Kick. They had a rematch on 5/30 in JWP, which Sakie won as well, surprisingly. It wasn’t a good match though, nowhere near the level of this one. ***1/2

Kaoru Ito, Tomoko Watanabe & Saemi Numata vs. Utako Hozumi, Leo Kitamura & Mikiko Futagami (LLPW) 15:53. This was not how you follow up a hot opener. This was an amateur hour all-action tag. They tried hard, but whatever points they got for trying they lost because it was such a mess and no one was on the same page. Ito and Watanabe didn’t want give up much offense, but in Ito’s case, that was justifiable because she was the only one in the match who looked competent. She gave a good performance, hitting everything well. She was grumpy, stomping Hozumi in the throat, and crushing everyone with footstomps. On the other hand, Watanabe was the worst one in the match, which is an accomplishment when Numata is involved. She blew almost every spot she tried, and even managed to kick Kitamura in the face when she tried her lead-ass moonsault. None of the others were any good. Hozumi was actually a pretty good worker at this point in her own league, but you wouldn’t know it from this match where she wasn’t being led and looked like a rookie. The match had a couple of good moments. They did a fun spot around 10 minutes in where Numata had a figure four on Hozumi and everyone came in to take free shots on them. It ended well enough with some dives and spots in the ring, with the obvious jobber in the match, Numata, taking some big moves before taking the loss to Fugatami’s pumphandle slam. *1/2

Terri Power & Bat Yoshinaga vs. Rumi Kazama & Miki Handa (LLPW) 14:06. This was a decent enough match, but a little frustrating as well. They were building to the brief Kazama vs. Bat encounters, but aside from a few decent kicks, they rarely did anything interesting nor took the match anywhere when they were together. Handa endured a good beating, usually from Bat throughout the match, and while Bat can dish out a good beating, particularly with her kicks, she can’t bump well and didn’t make Handa’s comebacks look good. I don’t know why they even put Terri in the match, considering her injured shoulder. She couldn’t do much (not that she could do much at 100% either), and it was usually awkward whenever she was in the ring. The highlight of the whole match was Bat no-selling Kazama’s kicks while holding Handa in a crab. Handa got to bridge out of a lot of pin attempts and looked strong before she was put away with Bat’s rolling kick, so at least she was able to look strong in the loss. **

Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda vs. Combat Toyoda & Megumi Kudo (FMW) 17:53. A much better performance from Combat and Kudo here than in the first DREAM SLAM main event. They had good opponents in Mita and Shimoda, who were hungry and out to make a name for themselves. They did a much better job of leading things with a match length (10 minutes shorter) that was more suited to them. Combat was still the lesser of the four in the match, but significantly better here than the dismal performance she gave was against Toyota and Yamada. Her offense was way better, and she worked well with her opponents. The dynamic between the teams worked really well. Mita and Shimoda brought a lot of intensity, while the more experienced Combat and Kudo would shut them down and look to dictate a slower pace. Shimoda and Mita got some bursts and double teams, but they’d get overwhelmed by Combat’s power and Kudo’s experience. Around 12 minutes in Mita and Shimoda got their big comeback, and looked to put Combat away with double team moves in the ring. The FMW team came back and destroyed LCO outside, with Combat powerbombing Shimoda on the floor, and Kudo giving a Mita a tiger driver on the announce table. The finishing run was great with LCO trying to fight back from there. Kudo and Combat hit a brutal looking doomsday device, and Mita managed to save the match. They even got into a position to try double teaming Kudo, but she thwarted that, and once Combat got rid of Mita, Shimoda fell victim to a powerbomb/inverted DDT double team, and then Combat folded her up in a powerbomb to win. ***1/2

Kyoko Inoue, Takako Inoue & Yumiko Hotta vs. Cuty Suzuki, Plum Mariko & Bolshoi Kid (JWP) 21:28. A quality, fun, action packed match. Kyoko was the standout here, more because of her exuberance than her work itself, though her work was the best. She did the comedy sequence with Bolshoi at the start, and it was a lot of fun. Takako was good, taking her pleasure in torturing Cuty, though she was best with Plum here. Hotta was just there to be Hotta. She didn’t much other than punt the clown and everyone else. Her big spots at the end moved the finish along well enough. The smaller JWP team had their moments, but more as a collective, they needed to use their teamwork, double and triple teaming their opponents. There was a lot of Bolshoi, and Plum and Cuty spent a lot of time helping her out or getting bumped around by Hotta. Plum looked great when she was trying to tear up Takako’s knee. Kyoko aimed for the 40-revolution Giant Swing, this time on Bolshoi, but she came up short again (this time in the low 30s). They did a big train of dives at around the 10-minute mark, with Hotta even doing a tope. Kyoko took the footstomp train towards the end, playing off the DREAM SLAM spot, but this time she survived it easier. In the end, Bolshoi was way out of her league and found herself outmatched, getting destroyed with Kyoko securing the victory after a great Helicopter Slam. ****

Suzuka Minami vs. Harley Saito (LLPW) 13:31. These two wrestlers were arguably the most underrated on the scene at this point. The Zenjo crowd never really embraced Harley, and Minami was relatively low on the totem pole, thus they saw it as only a midcard battle, and following the six-woman tag may not have helped them. Regardless, they delivered an excellent, hard-fought match, and both looked great. They executed and sold well throughout. They kept things moving along, staying busy in the slower portion, and built it nicely into the big spots and a good finish. They both stuck to what they do best, Minami working the back and hitting her brutal backbreakers, Harley hitting her suplexes and firing off her kicks. The finish saw Harley hit her Tiger Suplex and get a near fall, but she missed a diving headbutt. Minami hit back with a powerbomb and hit her diving senton to get the three count. ****

Memorial Superfight: Chigusa Nagayo vs. Bull Nakano 15:08. They got off to a great start, exchanging blows, a missed tope from Chigusa and a quality beating outside from Bull. Then the bulk of the match was largely long stretching and submission segments from Bull. Chigusa made some comebacks in between, she did a fighting spirit spot and both exchanged a sharpshooter. Chigusa’s selling and reactions were better here than was against Devil, especially in the latter portion, but she was still underwhelming. She blew a few things, and Bull either covered her or went along. Bull gave a really solid performance, but a pretty stoic one, so it wasn’t as fun as Devil’s. Chigusa demanded that Bull perform her guillotine legdrop to prove she was tough enough to endure it, and it would have been a classic if that had ended the match. Chigusa executed a couple of suplexes afterward, and disarmed Bull of her nunchakus by kicking them out of her hand. However, Bull hit a German Suplex, and finished with a powerbomb and a second Guillotine Legdrop. ***

Aja Kong & Akira Hokuto vs. Shinobu Kandori & Eagle Sawai (LLPW) 20:43. All the tension and hatred was on display here with Hokuto and Kandori from the start. Even before the bell rang, they were ready to spill blood, but Aja and Eagle held them back. Kandori upset Aja during this as well. When Hokuto and Kandori clashed, Hokuto relied on her speed and tried to apply submissions, which included an early insulting one, using Kandori’s spinning sleeper on her. She’d still get caught though, and within about 5 minutes, her cut was reopened. Aja made a difference, intervening to save Hokuto, and when the time came, she wanted to show up Kandori as well. There was a moment where she applied a crab hold on Eagle and defiantly shrugged off all of Kandori’s attempts to break it. Aja's performance was notably improved here compared to the first DREAM SLAM. Not everything worked, a headbutt contest with Kandori was a bit lame, and her flubbed tope that Kandori avoided didn’t quite go to plan, but she was able to come across as near-invincible and cocky while making her opponents look good, rather than cartoonishly invulnerable. Eagle didn’t really have a role beyond being Kandori’s underling and doing a few ‘fat guy spots’ with Aja at the start. She wasn’t bad, but having someone who could’ve bumped around or sold more, like Harley, would have been a better contribution. There were plenty of highlights late in the match. Hokuto took a spike powerbomb on the floor, which saw Aja have to survive a couple of minutes alone. Hokuto stormed back into action with a missile dropkick on Kandori when she was about to apply a sleeper hold to Aja. Kandori continued looking to press Hokuto, but Aja, again, made the difference blindsiding her with a uraken. Aja also took down Eagle with strikes, a powerslam from the top, and superplexed Hokuto onto her. Eagle fired back with her own, and Kandori followed up with two more, with Aja making a dramatic save. Kandori hit a Tiger Driver and Hokuto kicked out. Kandori geared up for a lariat and got caught in a wakigatame, Kandori made the ropes, and then reversed it. Aja managed to save Hokuto twice before Eagle restrained her outside the ring. Kandori turned Hokuto’s Dragon Suplex into another wakigatame, and this time she couldn’t be saved. Hokuto refused the submit, but the referee pulled Kandori off and called off the match. Kandori added further insult by not even paying attention to Hoktuo while she was injuring her arm, focusing all of her attention on Aja. An excellent match and postscript to Yokohama. Kandori got some revenge and Hokuto once again had something to prove. The match did the most effective job of building Aja vs. Kandori though, and a lot of the heat shifted in that direction in the second half, and into the post-match, but it never happened (I’d assume the Mastunaga’s wanted it for Budokan in August or one of the other big shows, but they couldn’t convince LLPW to get Kandori to job twice). ***3/4

2/3 Falls, WWWA World Tag Title Match: Toshiyo Yamada & Manami Toyota vs. Dynamite Kansai & Mayumi Ozaki (JWP) 0:12, 14:55, 16:04. The second match in the famous trilogy, and the crowd were quite supporting of the JWP underdogs from the start. The start of this was legendary. Ozaki shared a tense stare with Toyota, clearly remembering their previous encounter. Those two went at it, but Kansai wasted no time and delivered a devastating kick to Yamada’s head, followed swiftly by Splash Mountain, securing the first fall in just 12 seconds. The crowd lost their minds, It was the last thing they expected, and all Toyota could do was scream about it. Yamada’s selling helped too, normally a quick fall like this would see the recipient pop up as if it was lucky she had been caught, but Yamada sold it like the knock-out blow that it was. If the crowd weren’t already on team JWP, they sure were now. In fact, it wasn’t long before the Zenjo team were booed. Yamada quickly tagged out to Toyota, who came in spamming her dropkicks, and after missing a moonsault, Yamada interfered to keep the advantage and the crowd turned on them for the time being. Toyota didn’t add anything good, and she had the same ridiculous costume from the first DREAM SLAM, dropping feathers left and right (thankfully it would never be seen again). She gave Yamada enough of a rest to recover properly though. Kansai had delivered a camel clutch punt to Toyota earlier, so they got revenge for it on Ozaki. Kansai and Yamada had another great exchange, similar to what they had done at Dream Rush. Yamada’s kicks were ferocious, and she upped her intensity to match Kansai, but was also able to use her agility, which was the one advantage she had over her. Later, when Yamada was working a stretch muffler on Ozaki, Kansai ran in and got some revenge by punting Yamada a few times to break it. The fall kicked up a gear after Ozaki avoided a corner lariat from Toyota with Kansai charging in with her own. Ozaki backdrop suplexed Yamada, leading to dives on the outside. Ozaki and Kansai attempted to finish off Toyota with a double flying headbutt. They followed that with an incredible sequence where Ozaki was perched on the top turnbuckle and Toyota dropkicked her down, immediately following with a quebrada while Yamada returned to blindside Kansai with a kick. They should have just gone home there because the rest of fall couldn’t live up to this, even if it was still good enough to keep you guessing. Toyota and Yamada tried to dump Ozaki with a double-team sidebuster, but Ozaki didn't go around all the way, and ended up on her head. Kansai intervened to help her hit a German suplex on Toyota. From there it was a back and forth to the finish. There was a good Splash Mountain tease when Kansai ducked a Toyota’s charge and Ozaki held her back, but Yamada fought out of the attempt to hit a German Suplex. Toyota returned to tag in and assist Yamada with a double powerbomb on Kansai for a near fall (no idea what even happened to Ozaki as the camera never showed her again, I assume Toyota knocked her off the apron but they never showed it), then Toyota finished the fall with her Japanese Ocean Cyclone Suplex. The third fall started great with Toyota looking for a quick finish with a German Suplex on Kansai before she regained her bearings. That didn’t work, so Yamada came in with a bunch of kicks and an elbow smash with Ozaki interrupting the pin. Yamada worked over Kansai with a stretch muffler and then Toyota rushed in doing her missile dropkick routine, which didn’t fit what Yamada had set up at all. It was the problem with Toyota throughout though. In the first fall, it was her weird stretching, in the third fall, she just came in doing high spots with no regard for anything that was going on in the match. Thankfully, Ozaki cut her off and gave her a thrashing on the outside, while Kansai got a breather and did the same to Yamada. This was the fall for Kansai and Ozaki to shine, and they did. Kansai asserted her dominance and was the real game-changer. Ozaki was the resilient underdog, clutching onto submissions and hanging on, showing fight and getting big near falls, but also being the most likely one to take the loss. Ozaki received the double backdrop and the straightjacket German suplex from Toyota, the same sequence that spelled her end at Dream Rush, but Kansai frantically broke up it up this time. Yamada held Kansai outside, and she could only watch Ozaki as Toyota tried to finish her off, but Ozaki refused to be denied, kicking out of the Japanese Ocean Suplex. Kansai was able to help afterward, clobbering both Toyota and Yamada, and after a Doomsday Device, and a Doomsday Splash Mountain, Ozaki got the pin to a monster pop. Overall, this was a great match, with an exceptional beginning and an equally impressive ending. It leaned more towards the traditional Zenjo big match format, focusing more on delivering thrilling near falls at the expense of the more clever ideas present in their initial encounter. JWP had taken the WWWA Tag Team belts, and the post-match was an all-time great scene, as Ozaki crawled on her knees to Kansai and fell into a big hug with Cuty, Masami and Plum right there. If the first match put JWP on the map, this match legitimatized them, and with the tag team mountain climbed, their next challenge was for the dominant Kansai, to test herself against Aja Kong. ****3/4

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