Tomoko Watanabe vs. Candy Okutsu (JWP) 12:27. Watanabe’s tendency to sit around in holds doing nothing was only on display early. The second half had plenty of spots and reversals, it would have been good if Candy could actually do the Rolling Germans, but she can’t. **

Chikako Shiratori vs. Harley Saito (LLPW) 2:07. This was Zenjo sticking it to Rumi again. They could have given Harley someone half decent, but nope, ‘Harley has to go over someone? Okay, let’s give her Chikako for a laugh’. If you’re going to book this match then having it be Harley squashing Shiratori in 2 minutes was the way to go, but it’s such a waste. *

All Japan Junior Title Match: Mizuki Endo (LLPW) vs. Chaparrita ASARI 12:59. This would have been a much better match had it gone 2 minutes. Endo was competent, but completely bland and boring. ASARI was clueless, but she did a couple of spots, with perhaps a 20% success rate. I like the Sky Twister Press too, you never know how it’s going to come out; she might smash her ass into her opponent, she might land on her own head, she might completely miss, or once in a blue moon she might hit it perfectly – In this case, it was an ugly one where she kind of corkscrewed herself onto Endo. The best thing however, is that after she hits it, her matches are over. *1/2

Kyoko Inoue vs. Yukie Nabeno (FMW) 12:28. This was another waste of time. Kyoko had no interest in this, and why would she? She just did the bare minimum expected. Nabeno caused an oxygen shortage in Osaka. She got blown up running the ropes, and then screwed up just about everything she tried. *

All Japan Tag Title Match: Sakie Hasegawa & Kaoru Ito vs. Yasha Kurenai & Mikiko Futagami (LLPW) 16:43. Ito and Hasegawa didn’t need much encouragement to eat the younger LLPW wrestlers alive, but after Futagami’s little stunt she tried to pull on Kyoko on the LLPW show, they had the encouragement they needed. Yasha's schtick is typically fun for about 3-4 minutes and then gets old, and Futagami wasn’t any good in these days. The match was best early with the matwork where LLPW were competitive. As it went on, Ito stopped giving them anything (Sakie too, but Ito more so) and ran them completely out of the match. **1/2

Bull Nakano vs. Hikari Fukuoka (JWP) 13:48. Bull gave Hikari a platform, carried a smart enough match and she was happy enough to put her over. The problem was she didn’t actually add much to it beyond that. Bull did little else than wear down Hikari with holds and let her up to make her hot comebacks, which Hikari made the most of. It probably would have been an excellent match had Bull gave her the beating she’d give out when she was her most inspired. After the 10 minute mark, it turned into a really good match when Bull started actually trying to beat Hikari, and it became a competitive match. Hikari hit her hot moves, she didn’t get a credible near fall, but she took enough abuse from Bull before she was put away. ***

Aja Kong vs. Eagle Sawai (LLPW) 18:02. These two had interacted in multiple tag team matches through 1993, and at no point did they inspire much intrigue over their singles match, nor confidence that they’d be capable of producing something interesting together. You’d still figure these two would be able to have a solid, if uninspiring, match, instead it was the worst match of the year both of them had. When Aja was just mauling Eagle, it was adequate. When they were doing those stupid ‘fat guy’ running spots, it was horrible, when they were sitting through holds doing nothing in the middle, it was unbearable. Eagle brought nothing other than lariats and holds because Aja was too big for her to do a lot of her moves to, and Aja didn’t really care to compensate by making the lariats look like credible finishers, so Eagle had nothing. It did take a lot for Aja to beat her – five urakens and a waterwheel drop, but that was probably overkill for a midcard non-title match. Aja cut a lap of the ring afterward to make sure you knew it didn’t take much out of her. *1/2

First Attack Captain Fall Survival War: Suzuka Minami, Akira Hokuto, Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda vs. Dynamite Kansai, Devil Masami, Mayumi Ozaki & Plum Mariko (JWP) 41:45. This was Zenjo’s take on the 7/31 JWP match. They had the four one on one, five minutes segments and then it turned into a tag match. The singles matches were Devil vs. Minami, Ozaki vs. Shimoda, Mita vs. Plum and Hokuto vs. Kansai. Unlike 7/31, the single attack phase didn’t accomplish as much. Each of the mini-matches were good and built the rivalries, it also gave us an epic Kansai vs. Hokuto battle, which was the most dramatic of the four. There was stalling and tension building. Hokuto was just pure arrogance, and got put in her place as Kansai kicked the crap out of her knee. Hokuto fought back, but she didn’t have an answer for Kansai’s kicks. Kansai hit Splash Mountain as the time ran out. Transitioning into the tag match, the JWP team executed superplexes on all four Zenjo members from each turnbuckle to get it started. They went back and forth for a few minutes and then a small explosion happened. Minami managed to dodge a triple-dropkick only to fall victim to Plum's Rana, resulting in a two count. Minami inadvertently crashed into LCO with a cross-body, but she quickly regained control with a powerful Ligerbomb, securing the pinfall over Plum. It was now a handicap match, and it only got worse for JWP a few minutes later. Ozaki began using her heel tactics on Minami while Kansai landed cheap shots from the apron. Masami was accidentally taken out with a missile dropkick, and Mita and Minami thought they’d try a double team, but only got copped a lariat from Devil for their trouble. An attempted powerbomb on Mita was interrupted by Hokuto, and although Kansai tried to intervene, she was swiftly taken out once more, tumbling to the outside along with Devil. Shimoda and Hokuto were launched onto the JWP team, and Minami followed up with a tope that didn’t go to plan. Marine Wolves attempted a double missile dropkick, but Masami evaded, and ran through Hokuto in the corner. Kansai and Masami delivered a sandwich lariat to Hokuto, but a guillotine legdrop missed its mark, allowing Hokuto to capitalize with a victory roll to eliminate Masami at the 32:42 mark. The odds were stacked against JWP now with only Kansai and Ozaki against the entire Zenjo team. Ozaki got worked over with the Zenjo team doing whatever they wanted. They cheated, they cheapshotted Kansai, Hokuto flipped off the JWP president. Kansai came in and got double teamed and then ate four diving headbutts. Hokuto tried the Northern Light’s Bomb, but Kansai had other ideas and walloped her in the mouth. Hokuto was able to hit the DQ bomb though, but Ozaki broke up the fall. Hokuto went after her, but got nailed by Kansai. Ozaki did a powerbomb, but Shimoda broke up the pin, and Ozaki went after her. They clotheslined each other, and Ozaki missed a dropkick. Shimoda tried another clothesline, but Ozaki got behind her, and hit the Tequila Sunrise to take her out of the match at 37:29. Ozaki found herself double teamed and in trouble as the crowd chanted for her. She made a comeback on Hokuto, hitting a boomerang and a rolling senton. A powerbomb and stereo flying headbutts got a near fall. Ozaki went for a Tiger Suplex, but was cut off. Minami hit powerbombs, and Mita hit an Electric Chair, but Ozaki refused to die. She got the tag to Kansai, who thwarted a double team, taking both Minami and Mita out with lariats before eliminating Mita with a high angle backdrop suplex at 41:20. She immediately snatched Minami up in Splash Moutain with Ozaki adding a neckbreaker drop to it to eliminate the captain and get the win for JWP at 41:46. The match was great, it had so much cool stuff, much like the match at Thunder Queen, though it couldn’t be as good as that. They were all excellent in this, no matter how little they were in. The underdog JWP story was really well done, and unlike the LLPW tag from a few weeks earlier, it wasn’t overdone. Kansai just ended it quickly with two fast eliminations after Ozaki survived an onslaught. ****1/2

All Pacific Title Match: Manami Toyota vs. Toshiyo Yamada 30:53. Hokuto vacated the All Pacific belt, so they decided to have these two shoot out for it. Since 1/4/92 exists, it could only be their second worst televised match together up to this point (though all but the 1989 one were excellent to be fair). After you’ve seen their two good matches from 1992 there’s just nothing else to look forward to with them – you’ve seen the best they were capable of, and everything they could do, executed as well as they could. This match was good, but it was stretched out to 30 minutes. Another thing that really didn’t help was the Osaka crowd were quiet, so Toyota’s ridiculous screeching and screaming made it something I’d recommend watching with the sound down, she’s unbearable. By this point in their careers, they weren’t fooling anyone. Everyone knew what was a waste of time, and they were just waiting around for spots, so it took them past 20 minutes to wake up the crowd. The last 10 minutes were damn good though. They both hit their usual spots, and though Toyota didn’t have her cleanest day execution wise, she made the match this time. Yamada didn’t add much to it. In fact, she was the ‘dumb’ one, making more questionable decisions with her spots, and even killed the match briefly when it was cooking because she felt the need to spam half a dozen backdrop suplexes in a row, just to completely kill the move off and make sure no one ever reacted to it again (worse, she kept doing it as a regular spot). It was Toyota bringing the intensity, the better spots, better bump taking and selling. When Toyota’s Japanese Ocean Cyclone Suplex failed, it was the best part of the match, as she screamed at the ref, which fit the intensity she had shown building up to it. She couldn’t hit it again, as Yamada slipped out of her next attempt, and hit the Reverse Gory Bomb to get the win. ***1/2

UWA World Women's Tag Title Match: Yumiko Hotta & Takako Inoue vs. Shinobu Kandori & Miki Handa (LLPW) 21:49. This had more hatred than anything else on the show. It had the intensity. There was a lot of brawling. Handa took an enormous beating, with her and Takako both bleeding. They tried to make this a main event level match, but it needed Harley as Kandori’s partner. Handa did her job well, but she was no threat. Still, her and Takako were the best here. Hotta and Kandori spent most of the match on the apron, slow burning to their big confrontation at the end which wasn’t that good. Hotta did come to the party at the end though, and the finish was outstanding. Handa tried to fight off the Carribean Splash, but eventually got caught with it. Kandori broke up the pin, so Hotta proved herself genius by hanging Kandori up in the tree of woe so she couldn’t go anywhere, then hit the Pyramid Driver with Takako adding a clothesline to it on Handa to get the win. There was a lot to like here, but it really wasn’t big show main event caliber. ***

Best Joshi Puroresu Matches YouTube Playlist