7/31/93 JWP: Suzuka Minami & Kaoru Ito vs. Devil Masami & Candy Okustu 14:28
PA: Excellent match where everyone got shine. This was certainly helped by being sub-15 minutes, so it got to be all action without getting bogged down at all, yet was still paced out so well that it was always building as it went. Candy and Ito were the workhorses. Candy usually got worked over, but made hot comebacks. Minami crushed her with some of the most brutal looking backbreakers. The only negative was that Candy was a bit sloppy, but that worked for the whole veteran/young girl story that was going on. Devil was the standout in terms of carrying the match, setting things up for Candy to shine. When Devil was in, she was brutal with her lariats, stomps, Jumbo suplexes and powerbombs. At one point, she tried to Jumbo Suplex Candy onto Minami, but Minami moved. Devil took a lot of footstomps from Ito afterwards, so she got revenge for that with a big footstomp on her own, though Ito got the last laugh in the end by pinning Candy. There’s only one match anyone thinks of when they think of this show, but this one shouldn’t be overlooked. It was one of the top 5 JWP matches of the year. ****1/4

7/31/93 JWP, 60-minute Full Time Tag Team Match: Aja Kong, Kyoko Inoue, Takako Inoue & Sakie Hasegawa vs. Dynamite Kansai, Mayumi Ozaki, Cuty Suzuki & Hikari Fukuoka 60:00
PA: This match had some special, unique rules. The team with the most falls within the 60-minute time limit would be declared the winner, and it was structured into two phases. The First Attack was four 5-minute singles matches: Hasegawa vs. Fukuoka ("Athletic"), Takako vs. Cuty ("Super Idol"), Kyoko vs. Ozaki ("Speed and Technique"), and Aja vs. Kansai ("Top Battle"). The Second Attack was a 4 vs. 4 tag team match for the remaining 40 minutes. This was an incredibly well laid out and dramatic match that was intriguing and exciting for the 60-minute duration, which t flew by with a great interpromotional atmosphere thanks to the hot crowd. Hasegawa vs. Fukuoka was the first match and at the 2:33 mark, Fukuoka held Sakie’s shoulders down with a flash pin that got a three count with Sakie flailing to get out of it but being unsuccessful to give JWP the 1-0 lead. While the wrestling itself wasn’t particularly remarkable, they set the tone that this wasn’t something you could afford to take your eyes off, & Fukuoka showed she belonged after two losses to Sakie earlier in the year. Ozaki vs. Kyoko was next, and they did take things up a gear initially. The crowd exploded as Ozaki came out trying to burst Kyoko down with a rana and DDTs. Kyoko got the upper hand soon enough though, and worked Ozaki over the majority of their match. Kyoko didn’t have the crowd support, so she seemed to be wasting her time trying to get it instead of securing a fall. Ozaki prevented the Giant Swing long enough so that when Kyoko hit it on her, she didn’t have any time to try to the Niagara Driver before the time expired on them. Takako vs. Cuty was next. Cuty dumped Takako with suplexes and booted to the face. They worked each other over a bit, and had some hot near falls. You’d think they would have had the weakest of the singles matches, but it was actually the best of them, with the most exciting near falls and Cuty pushing Takako (although Kansai vs. Aja was the most dramatic). The aces went next, and this is what the crowd were waiting for. Kansai charged in with a kick and Aja went bang! Knocking her out with a Uraken and Kansai couldn’t answer the 10-count. Just like that, it was 1-1 in a manner no one expected, and within both falls, every roll-up and uraken was now a hot move. Kansai spent the rest of the fall in survival mode. She made comebacks, but nothing that threatened Aja, although she did score some heavy kicks at the end. There were no further alarms though. With the First Attack complete, the Second Attack began, and all hell broke loose. Aja had the best of Kansai, and Kansai had to tag out. This resulted in Aja facing off against Cuty, with predictable results. At 23:04, Zenjo took the lead 2-1. The match started again from here, building the match. It took a few minutes to get moving again. There was a funny part with Kyoko getting the tag from Aja while Cuty was recovering. The crowd chanted for her, and she didn’t want to jump on her because she didn’t want to lose the crowd support, so she just toyed with her a little and tagged Sakie. Hikari cartwheeled through Takako to set Kansai up to punt her around. Ozaki took a simpler approach and opted to punch her in the head when she tagged in. Kyoko did get heel heat for preventing Kansai from taking Takako to Splash Mountain. Kyoko got Ozaki into a vulnerable position for Aja, and Aja stacked Ozaki in the corner for everyone to charge into. Aja played bully on Ozaki for a while, a brute, dragging Ozaki around like she was nothing. She put a Dragon Sleeper on her, which everyone tried to break. Cuty and Kansai’s attempts were ignored, while Hikari’s slaps annoyed her enough to break and slug her down with a stiff slap. Kyoko put a camel clutch on setting up a punt for Aja, but before that, Takako established herself as the big villain of the match, running in and stomping Ozaki first to get revenge for earlier. Ozaki was able to make a tag to Kansai, and Kansai and Kyoko had a really nice exchange of Kansai’s kicks vs. Kyoko’s Mongolian chops and boots, which Kansai won, but when she tagged Cuty in again, Cuty returned to getting killed. Sakie hit her best spot in the match, with six rolling double arm suplexes, while Aja continued joining illegally for double teams, which included another camel clutch spot to Cuty. JWP got their revenge soon after with Kyoko on the receiving end of3 of Kansai’s camel clutch punts. JWP’s advantage was again short-lived, as Aja destroyed Hikari soon after, tearing through her body attacks and suplexes. Hikari spazzed out, but Aja didn’t even react, and put her back down with one headbutt. Hikari came back on Kyoko, boomeranging out of the corner with a moonsault, landing her feet and rolling Kyoko up for two before tagging out to Ozaki. Ozaki powerbombed Kyoko, but Takako broke up the pin, and the crowd decided she’s was villiain of the match. It made sense that Takako was the big heel, though Aja was the one doing all the damage. Takako was the vulture. She couldn’t do much herself, but picked up the scraps Aja left for her. She’d also been the one who’d made the most trips to JWP, and this made the finish later even more sweet. Aja broke up the next pin, but that went all wrong, as she stomped Ozaki’s head into Kyokos, leaving them both messed up; Kyoko was busted open and Ozaki had her eye swollen. This even added to what was to come, with both looking more vulnerable as they became the target of the other teams offense. Kansai proved herself as Aja’s equal by brutalizing and stiffing the hell out of both Takako and Sakie. With over 40 minutes gone now, JWP were still a fall behind, and needed to level things up. Kyoko found herself on the receiving end of another revenge spot, with the entire JWP team charging at her in the corner. She then took a long rolling cradle from Hikari and got destroyed with dives; Ozaki’s senton, diving foostomps from Cuty and Kansai, and a Hikari moonsault for the pin while the other three took defensive line to guard. However, Aja barrelled through and knocked over the whole group to prevent the surefire pinfall. This was an incredible run and visual, but as great as that was, they were only just getting started. If that didn’t work, perhaps chaos was the answer. It began with Kyoko mounting a comeback, and then taking out both Cuty and Kansai with a dive. Meanwhile, Hikari and Ozaki dropkicked Aja out of the ring, allowing Hikari to follow up with a plancha. Ozaki attempted to hit everyone, but Takako and Sakie intervened with a double dropkick. Takako then attempted a tope on Ozaki, but Ozaki evaded, causing her to splat onto the floor. This segment ended with Ozaki and Kyoko trading near falls, but neither could catch one. Sakie got dumped on her head a bunch of times, and Takako got more heat for preventing Kansai’s Splash Mountain. Kansai and Kyoko engaged in another intense exchange, but Kyoko's Niagara Driver was thwarted by interference from JWP, which lead to all hell breaking loose again. Kansai managed to counter Kyoko's Niagara Driver and attempted her Splash Mountain, but Takako intervened again, forcing Kansai to deal with her. After dispatching Takako, Kansai returned to Kyoko, delivering a series of lariats in the corner. Meanwhile, Ozaki had made her way back to the apron, and Hikari and Cuty continued to restrain Aja. Eventually, Kansai successfully executed the Splash Mountain, and JWP finally evened the score 2-2 to end another incredible segment at 50:09. The crowd were in a frenzy at this point as the JWP team tried to catch Kyoko again, but they couldn’t get another fall on her. Ozaki got trapped in the Zenjo corner and got beaten on worse than anyone had been in the match to this point, mainly by Aja and Takako. A backdrop suplex from the top from Aja was sure to put her away, and the Zenjo team lined up in a similar fashion to guard her as JWP had done earlier, but Cuty managed to get past Sakie to interrupt the fall. Aja powerslammed Ozaki from the top rope to follow up, with Kansai barely intervening in time. Ozaki tried to come back with a sunset flip and Aja sat on her, but she managed to scamper off to make a hot tag to Kansai. Kansai came in all fired up on Aja, clobbering her, but she ate another Uraken. This one didn’t knock her out, but it left her in a state where she was in trouble. She took more punishment from Sakie and Takako and had to tag out. Cuty tried to put Kyoko away, but Takako kept interrupting the pins to huge boos. Takako and Ozaki were both legal in the closing moments. Takako hit an Aurora Special for a near fall and then the Zenjo team charged the JWP team to hold them down as she hit the straightjacket version she beat Ozaki with in June, the cluster of bodies pushing and jostling in the corner, all attempting to break up the pin was incredible, but it backfired for the Zenjo team. Ozaki refused to be beaten, and kicked out this time. Takako attempted to set up the move once more, but Ozaki countered her Irish Whip and pulled her into the Tequila Sunrise, and with no one able to intervene, she got the final pinfall and put JWP up 3-2, securing the victory 59:55! Ozaki pulled off a miracle and the underdog JWP team achieved an incredible victory! Ozaki was the hero, and everyone in the building rejoiced. Everyone except Aja, who was pissed. She challenged Kansai for the WWWA World Single Title, setting up the Budokan main event for 8/25. This match was an incredible from start to finish. It was 40 minutes of a great build up that set everything up, and a 20 minute explosion of incredible action that paid it all off, capped off by one of the greatest finishes ever! Eight distinct personalities, and they all played a role, no matter how big or minor it was. It was Aja’s career best performance to this point, but Kyoko, Ozaki, Kansai and even Takako played major roles along with her. Hikari, Cuty and Sakie, who was the worst in the match, also made great contributions. All of the little stories paid off while still leaving plenty left to come. Is is the greatest match of all time? I don’t know that I could call a gimmick match the greatest match of all time, but it’s right up there and a definite contender. *****

8/5/93 AJW Japan Grand Prix '93 Red Zone: Akira Hokuto vs. Harley Saito 16:02 of 17:51
PA: Harley was fired up and gave a great underdog performance with her excellent selling and comebacks, while Hokuto spent her time abusing her injured ribs on her way to finishing first place if the Red Zone. Hokuto’s knee was in a bad way coming in, and worsened significantly throughout the match, which caused the match to suffer in one way, but made it more compelling because Harley never had a chance of taking down a full strength Hokuto, but this made her a threat. Hokuto responded in the only way the Dangerous Queen does, she carried on and gutted her way through every spot. Harley never quit fighting back, but by the end of the match, even kicking out of a pin attempt was causing her intense pain. In the end, she almost pulled it off with a Tiger Suplex, but missed a Flying Headbutt afterward, and was put away with the DQ bomb. ****

8/16/93 JWP Openweight Title: Dynamite Kansai vs. Mayumi Ozaki 20:29
PA: Part of JWP's marketing strategy seemed to be doing their title matches on the Osaka house shows to draw. They weren’t shown on TV or released on commercial tape though, so this is only available as a handheld, a bad one too – the quality of the footage is excellent, but it’s shot from a corner angle from the ground, several rows back. It started out interestingly with Ozaki going for a rana and getting caught in Splash Mountain for a near fall, then a diving headbutt before Ozaki hit her Tequila Sunrise for a near fall. The entire middle portion of the match was just boring, and the footage is probably a large part of the blame for that because you couldn’t see much of what was going on, just that Kansai was working Ozaki over with holds. Once they picked things up for the final five minutes, the action was really good. I’m not sure Ozaki was ever a serious threat at any point in the match, but she tried, and the theme of her countering the Splash Mountain was in effect, as it took Kansai three attempts to hit at the end to get the win. ***

8/21/93 AJW Japan Grand Prix '93 Semi-Final: Manami Toyota vs. Akira Hokuto 16:37
PA: Despite her knee being in shambles, Hokuto was still a force of nature. Toyota found out all too quickly, as she tried to blow her away at the start, only to find herself on the receiving end of Hokuto’s abuse. After a comeback, she started to play a smarter match, and went after Hokuto’s knee. She did a great job of it tearing it up, and it wasn’t just Hokuto’s superior selling that made it, Toyota actually matched Hokuto’s intensity and focus both on the mat, and later on when they went into their high spots. As the match progressed, Toyota's viciousness echoed her performance from their previous encounter in 1991. Hokuto made valiant efforts to fight back, and got a breather, but Toyota was relentless, immediately pouncing on the knee after Hokuto returned to the ring. Hokuto fought back with whatever means necessary. She managed to halt Toyota's assault with a chokehold. In doing so, she halted Toyota’s progress, but also broke her focus. Toyota strayed from what was working, and into a more high risk game. Hokuto had no answer for the legwork, but risky moves were always open to be countered. Toyota attempted a Manami Roll, but Hokuto countered it into a powerbomb. Hokuto sought to finish Toyota off quickly with a Northern Light’s Bomb, but Toyota countered that into a Rolling Cradle. She sailed outside when Hokuto avoided her dropkick. Hokuto capitalized by executing her Somersault Plancha. She gave Toyota two piledrivers on the floor, which were the only really dumb spots they did because they were so pointless. Toyota’s comeback was incredible though. Toyota made a spectacular comeback, rebounded with a body press off the announce table, and went in for the kill with dives, including a tope, a plancha, and quebrada. This run of offense was so great that the whole chanted for Toyota for the first time that I can think of since 1990. Toyota hit a moonsault in the ring for a near fall, and Hokuto thwarted her attempt to hit the Japanese Ocean Cyclone Suplex. Hokuto launched a comeback, countering with a backdrop suplex followed by a missile dropkick. Hokuto persisted trying to put Toyota away, once again aiming for her Northern Light’s Bomb, but once again Toyota denied her, this time catching a Japanese Ocean Suplex. Toyota missed a second moonsault, and instead of trying her Northern Light’s Bomb again, which Toyota likely might have evaded, she hit her relatively new finisher, the DQ bomb to get the win. Hokuto carried it so well, it was loaded with drama and her great selling. Hokuto was smart, and played to her strengths, mitigating her flaws, and Toyota was on point with her attacks. Really great match, the best one they ever had together. ****1/2

8/21/93 AJW Japan Grand Prix '93 Final: Akira Hokuto vs. Yumiko Hotta 19:52
PA: This was a similar match to Hokuto vs. Toyota, but with Hotta bringing a different personality. She’s more methodical, confident in knowing what she had to do, and less frenetic, which gave the match a different dynamic even though it was telling the same story. Hotta was more dominant and in control, but she still couldn’t stop the force of nature that was the Dangerous Queen. In the initial stages of the match, there was a deliberate pace. Hotta targeted Hokuto's injured leg with her kicks. Hokuto’s selling was perfect, she let out agonized screams for each kick, but in her realistic way, and she never oversold. Hokuto tried to make comebacks, but was quickly cut off. She caught a break outside and got a breather, then took over in the ring. The transition was probably a little too weak compared to how Hotta had been built, with Hokuto simply kicking her in the leg and taking over. Hokuto’s control segment wasn’t so hot either, but the match picked up soon after. Hotta displayed her own tenacity, absorbing kicks to the face and getting angry. Hokuto elbowed her down to put out her fire, and settled into a dragon sleeper and camel clutch. They brawled outside, with Hokuto roughing Hotta up more. In the ring, they moved into the final portion. Hokuto missed a plancha and Hotta hit an elbow attack from the middle top to the outside. Hotta took another risk, going for a leg lariat from the top, but Hokuto avoided it. She repaid the favor when Hokuto went for a missile dropkick, Hotta sidestepped it, and kicked her leg on the way down. They countered each others finishers, and Hotta was able to hit a Tiger Driver for a near fall. Hokuto came back and hit a DQ bomb, but only got two. Hokuto struggled to the top turnbuckle, but Hotta met her here, and hit her Caribbean Splash for a near fall. They’d hit the secondary finishers, and all that was left was to hit their finishers. Hokuto was done for, and Hotta hit a nasty release Pyramid Driver, just dumping her on a neck, but Hokuto was unbeatable and kicked out. Hotta went up for one more risk, and it allowed Hokuto back in again, she backdropped suplexed her down. Now, Hotta was done for, but Hokuto’s knee was too messed up for her to execute the Northern Light’s Bomb normally, so she whipped Hotta to use her momentum to execute it, and got the three count. The post-match summed everything up perfectly. Hokuto came out of the Japan Grand Prix with a perfect record. She was entitled to her shot at the WWWA World Single title, but it came at the cost of her knee, which was so badly injured that it now required surgery. Hokuto's frustration was clear, as she threw away the winners trophy. This was another Hokuto classic, leading her second match of the night, and to directly compare them, this wasn’t far behind the Toyota match. I found Hotta more threatening than Toyota, and I thought the first half was a bit better despite them doing less, but the Toyota match had a better second half. ****1/4

1/16/81 NWA Houston: Billy Robinson vs. Dory Funk Jr 20:00.
ML: A simple, very hard fought technical wrestling match with struggle, resistance, and attention to detail. Robinson kept it interesting in the 1st half using his more elaborate British technical style chain wrestling to outmanuever Dory with flashy quick attacks set up out of the lock up, and occasionally showed off his tumbling when Dory retaliated. There were dull moments, but for the most part, they actually paid off when the escape or counter came, more like in a real fight rather than in cooperative perpetual motion lucha libre. Dory isn't exactly what one would call exciting, but he knows how to handle himself, and isn't a goofball making it silly with overdone selling like his brother. Robinson thoroughly outwrestles Dory, so Dory relied on his great forearms to consistently turn the tide in the 2nd half. Robinson's uppercut forearms to the chest definitely didn't have nearly the same juice behind them. Funk's forearms, which Robinson always made appear to really be jolting his head and neck, and Robinson's back and neckbreakers really looked damaging. Billy easily and gracefully spinning out of Dory's silly, no body control spinning toe hold was legendary. It's what I wish would happen everytime anyone tries the corny ankle lock. One thing that hurt this match is that the draw between these legends was never really in doubt. Both were past their prime, but this is a "great American match" of the era. It might actually be more of a consistently good match than a true recommendation in the grand scheme of things, but I'll err high because this actually kept me focused and paying close attention for the duration, rather than rolling my eyes and waiting for something notable or serious to maybe occur between the shenanigans like with essentially all the WWF from the time period. ***1/2

5/28/25 AEW: Konosuke Takeshita & Rocky Romero & Trent Beretta vs. Kyle O'Reilly & Roderick Strong & Tomohiro Ishii 10:18
ML: O'Reilly is one of the only wrestlers in this company who still brings energy to all his performances, and looks like he actually cares. He was pushing the pace and making the most out of the time he had. For once, the heels were actually fighting rather than stalling after every single thing they did to make sure you couldn't possibly take it seriously as a fight or have any investment in the outcome that they don't appear to care about themselves. This was an actual sprint. It was rushed, but they worked with stiffness and intensity, and actually utilized the time they had. Strong can keep up with if not lap basically anyone, so this is a great style for him as well. Ishii was just there, but short is always beneficial to him as well. Takeshita was the main heel here offensively, an imposing bully with his power moves. The best part of the match was the chaotic opening where O'Reilly countered Beretta's pescado with a jumping knee. Romero then caught Kyle with a tope, but Strong backbreakered him on the barricade. They held Takeshita and Baretta on a chair so O'Reilly could dropkick them off the apron. The finish where Romero low blowed Ishii to set up the blue thunder bomb was abrupt and lame. ***

Kana vs. Meiko Satomura Great Wrestling Feuds 2010-2014

1/5/94 FMW: Sabu vs. Dark Ranger 6:11
ML: Dark Ranger was a brief gimmick of Hayato Nanjo from October 1993-February 1994. Nanjo jad a lot of potential as a high flyer, but his execution could be spotty, and similar to Hayabusa, his work never reached the level of the average Japanese junior due to FMW's lack of quality training. This was a pretty great performance from him given it was less than 8 months after his debut, and probably a little over 30 matches into his career. It probably helped that the match was brief, so Hayato could more reasonably get by on his motivation and youthful exhuberance. He wrestled like he fully believed he could show up Sabu, going hard and fast from the outset, including an early Hokuto style tope con giro. Sabu was never one to shy away from putting in the effort, and answered with a sunset flip powerbomb to the outside. Sabu sat Nanjo on a chair, but took it out when Hayato avoided his pescado. Ultimately, this was mostly a Sabu high flying show, but despite being really short because Nanjo went down easily, this had at least 10 times the action in less than 7 minutes than the awful unfocused meandering mess of a neverending hour 3 way Sabu had with Terry Funk and Shane Douglas on the 2/5/94 ECW shit show. The finish here didn't quite work though, as Sabu climbed up the ropes, but largely overshoot a 450 splash before winning with his Arabian press since Nanjo didn't get up after the botch. ***

7/12/07 SUN: Azumi Hyuga & Kayoko Haruyama vs. Nanae Takahashi & Natsuki Taiyo 26:30 of 30:00
ML: SUN had a very small roster, and kind of followed the JWP format of focusing on quantity in the main event, which was long because this was only a 4 match show. That's not to say this wasn't also good, but it was more a match that was consistently pretty good for half an hour, never dull but also never amazing, despite the 2nd half obviously being considerably better than the 1st. They kept things moving and weren't padding the runtime, but it didn't really tell a story or have many peaks. They just did lots of things. Taiyo provided the majority of the excitement just being herself. She does everything so much faster than the others without trying. Most of the fire, energy, and excitement came from Taiyo. Hyuga took more than half the match to really get going, but eventually distinguished herself, even if no more than usual. She seemed more motivated to work with Takahashi because that was the big battle between the promotional aces. Haruyama and Takahashi certainly tried, and were useful enough. It came down to Hyuga vs. Takahashi, with Takahashi surviving an avalanche swinging DDT and both surviving shining wizards and their big driver (Michinoku driver II and Nana rocker). ***

1/10/09 Passion Red: Nanae Takahashi & Natsuki Taiyo & Kana vs. Meiko Satomura & DASH Chisako & Ryo Mizunami 20:04
ML: Zenjo workrate style tag, with more striking and less flying. The action was nonstop, and the enthusiasm was there throughout. There were a lot of young, inexperienced workers here, but they made up for it by wrestling a frantic, energetic, high effort style. Taiyo was in her prime, and was the standout when given the opportunity, exciting with her speed and energy. That wasn't enough to keep Satomura from beating her down with her precision striking though. Satomura was also excellent, and I wanted to see more of this pairing, as what little we saw was really strong. DASH was the Senjo counterpart to Taiyo, speedy and endlessly energetic, although being inexperienced, her skill and technique were still developing. Mizunami was fine here. She was never fluid or graceful, but in the days under Satomura's tutelage, she took things seriously and tried hard. She was like the young version of Nanae, but since she didn't have any standing, her segments were back and forth and more interesting than Nanae's. Taiyo is so good that she actually managed to have exciting sequences with Mizunami. Kana was very good even though she isn't nearly as fast, crisp, and precise with her kick and submission game as she would become the next year. She had the tools to compete with Satomura, and this was the best stuff in the match that didn't involve Taiyo, as Satomura had to apply herself here, and they went back and forth with strikes in a much more interesting and technical manner than Satomura vs. Nanae. Nanae did some telegraphed strikes, and only Satomura had enough clout to do generic exchanges with her, rather than just get run over to feed Nanae's ego. Satomura didn't sell a lot either, but she made everything her and the other opponents did look good, while Nanae typically mostly just put herself over, looking painfully average in the process. Nanae was energetic like everyone else at least, but the failing of the match was not having another veteran who had something beyond the passion of the younger girls, some of whom were more reasonably getting by on heart and desire. Nanae wasn't in much until later on, which was good, but the whole climax putting Nanae over until she finally pinned poor DASH after the Nana rocker took some of the shine off what started out as a really fun match. ***1/2

5/3/09 Passion Red: Ayumi Kurihara vs. Kana 15:00
ML: A good match that didn't live up to the reputation these women would build over the next few years. The enthusiasm was there, but they weren't as sharp, and didn't put things together as well as in their prime. This was a mix of both women's styles, combining Lucha Libre and submission grappling. Those aren't the best styles to combine, but they did both well enough individually, and that helped them fill 15 minutes. Still, it was more an eager match than a truly accomplished one. There was some good struggle here, and they were able to apply their athleticism to the technical wrestling as well. Some of the best stuff was when they were able to counter an athletic move into a submission or flash pin. Kana once again worked hard for this opener despite having to wrestle a 6 woman later in the night, that was somewhat disappointing after how good the Senjo vs. Passion Red 6 woman on 1Passion was. ***

3/19/10 PASSION RED, NEO High Speed Title Match: Natsuki*Taiyo vs. Tomoka Nakagawa 19:07
ML: A well executed, very action packed match with a lot of impressive running sequences and athletic counters. Taiyo was clearly one of the best and most exciting wrestlers of this period, and this was a great showcase for her talents. It got off to an excellent start with Lucha sequences that were fast and complex, but also contained some struggle and resistance. Unfortunately, the resistance didn't last long, and it largely became just an impressive display of explosive athleticism. Nakagawa was an underrated athlete who didn't always get a chance to show what she could do, but Taiyo was probably the fastest woman at this point, and enjoyed well developed sequences. Taiyo seemed to get faster and faster the longer these running sequences went. Taiyo was clearly the star, but Nakagawa was able to hang with her, and this was one of the best singles matches of Nakagawa's career. ***3/4

4/29/10 Kana Pro: Meiko Satomura vs. Kana 16:48
ML: The 1st singles match between what ultimately ended up being two of the bigger names and better performing women of the 2010s. Kana was the up and comer encroaching on Satomura's realistic turf. People want Satomura to be a shooter because she mainly uses kicks and submissions, but she is very much an old school technical pro wrestler who worked a few times in Muga, which worshipped 70s technical pro wrestling. Meanwhile, Kana worked some in Battlarts, which worshipped PWFG shoot wrestling, but didn't limit itself to that. Basically everything Kana did here was legitimate, while Satomura did less "silly" stuff than usual because Kana didn't go down that path with her own actions, but Satomura was the one dictating the match because she's the veteran and much bigger star at the time. I don't think there's a huge difference between what these two were after, but there's enough to keep the match from reaching the level it was capable of. Satomura's choice to use too many obvious pro wrestling holds hurt the match, especially since she established a level of fakery early on, and made concessions to pro wrestling there was no real reason for. One can argue that a certain number of people need the action and movement of the charging elbow into the corner, slingshot footstomp, or cartwheel kick, but no one needs a bodyslam or a traditional pro wrestling armbar. With the removal of a half dozen moves, and more emphasis on the intense and aggressive nature of their realistic offense, providing an air of danger to the proceedings, the match would likely be a lot more enthralling, rather than feeling like a safe grappling oriented exhibition during the first half that becomes brutal later on. Don't get me wrong, this is a really good match, even if it's not as big a departure from Satomura's typical match against opponent's who don't actually care about doing her thing as I was hoping due to Kana being willing opposition. Satomura is known to pick her spots to try hard, but she certainly showed up for this match. While the high quality of her opponent helped a lot, Kana had more luck getting Mio Shirai & Shu Shibutani to move a lot further off their normal style towards the realism and intensity Kana was shooting for. Satomura & Kana certainly moved well with one another, put some effort into making the moves look painful and showing a little resistance to what the opponent was trying. This match was very well executed, but both kind of just did their thing on the mat in the 1st half. The second half had most of the striking, which was great, and this was where the match really escalated well and the intensity shot up. Both women were really bringing the brutality in the later stages. They kept this to a reasonable length, so the strikes still had you in awe rather than becoming redundant. Satomura won with a rear naked choke after an axe kick that was the one strike tonight that didn't connect well, seemingly just grazing hair. ****

2/13/11 Triple Tails: Kana vs. Meiko Satomura 18:55
ML: This started like it's going to blow their 4/29/10 other match away with great fire and intensity, but doesn't correct any of the problems of the first match, and lacks the escalation and brutality of the second half of that match. If you could combine the 1st half of this with the 2nd half of their 1st match you would have a great one. If the previous match excelled at escalation, this one actually descalated after peaking in the 1st 5 minutes, arguably even dragging a bit. The opening was so impressive. It was high intensity right from the outset with heavy hitting exchanges. There was more struggle and more danger early on. It had the same problem as the previous match, where it's 90% shoot style, but Satomura undermined the believability for silly moves that detract more than they add. She did this almost right away too, with a running elbow. One minute they were exchanging snapmares, the next they did this great hesitant feint filled kicking segment. I think they worked better together here, but the structuring was way worse. This match was a bit more pro wrestling oriented, with Satomura getting a couple death valley bombs in down the stretch. Kana also did a reverse DDT this time, and tried running the ropes because why not if Satomura was going to do a reverse elbow off the middle rope? About 5 minutes in, things started to slow down as they got into the grappling. This is some good submission wrestling to be certain, with Kana staying after Satomura's left leg, attacking the knee or ankle with most of her submission attempts except the one that actually finished. There's bursts of striking action intermixed, with some brutal head kicks, but the goal seemed to be getting a submission rather than a knockout, so they would pounce on any opportunity to get back to the grappling. I didn't find the finishing sequence where they suddenly showed fatigue during the final kick exchange to be very convincing. Satomura won it with a high kick, but did a corny slow collapse instead of finishing Kana off, so Kana popped back up with a running soccer kick and finished with a chickenwing armlock. This ending at least played into the theme of the strikes setting up the submission win. The ending was extra disappointing because they really went nuts with the brutal kicks down the stretch of the previous match, so since this was mostly similar, I was waiting for an explosive finale that never came. This was a big prestige win for Kana, even if predictable given Satomura won their 1st match. ***3/4

6/15/13 KanAyu Produce: Ayako Hamada & Meiko Satomura vs. Ayumi Kurihara & Kana 18:45
ML: Kana vs. Satomura was excellent with massive intensity, while Kurihara vs. Hamada was just good. Kana and Satomura were just beating the crap out of each other, while Kurihara and Hamada did some Lucha Libre. This started off pretty pedestrian and friendly with Kurihara vs. Hamada, then became a blood feud as soon as the pairings switched. This was some of the best Kana vs. Satomura stuff right off the bat. They went all out because they would get a break soon enough. There was almost no grappling or submissions from Kana and Satomura here, just heated brutality. They were more willing to do moves here because their teammates were going to anyways. The match was very uneven early on because there was no discernable rivalry between Hamada and Kurihara. Hamada did random body slams after Kana and Satomura mauled each other. Kurihara and Hamada eventually realized what kind of match they were involved in and got with the program, but it took them 10 minutes to decide to actually heat things up. Even though they didn't do it as well, that effort to at least try to wrestle at a similar tone to Kana & Satomura really transformed the match for the better. There was an elbow exchange between Kana and Satomura that actually looked like they meant it, then Kana quickly countered Satomura's elbow into a flying arm bar rather than standing there taking another strike like a doofus. The second half was much more frantic and action-packed because both teams were now going hard. Kana and Satomura played even while Kurihara mostly took Ayako's moves until having a big run at the end. Hamada then pinned Kurihara with 2 of her AP crosses though. ***1/2

2/25/14 Kana Pro: Kana vs. Meiko Satomura 16:00. This still wasn't quite the "shoot" I was hoping for, but it was a little closer than their previous matches because the structuring was superior and the moves were ordered better. It felt more like a fight than their second match, and in some ways also than their first, although that was clearly the most brutal of the 3. What made this match different from their previous matches, and in fact unique in the history of wrestling was the atmospheric. They had a shamisen player on the stage behind them playing throughout the match, somewhat trying to interpret the action and make it more dramatic. The dim blue light also lended a more cinematic feel to the proceedings. Unfortunately, there still wasn't much storytelling going on from the wrestlers. This match flowed better than their previous two, with both performers largely just being opportunistic. It started in a highly technical manner with a lot of struggle and resistance, and pretty much stayed that way until the finishing segment. Very intense and aggressive action. Kana was treated as more of an equal here, and Satomura seemed to have less influence over the direction of the match. Their chemistry was better from being more used to each other now, and both were at the peak of their confidence in their own abilities. Satomura stayed aggressive, and while there were a couple high spots I could have lived without, she at least did things that were meaningful, and did them quickly so it wasn't straining credibility as much as it might have. There was no dead time here, or really in this entire series. Kana was very submission oriented, particularly working Satomura's knee. The best of these spots saw Kana turn Satomura's pele kick into a kneebar. Kana got her knees up for Satomura's diving body attack, but Satomura hit a frog splash later on. Kana won via ref stop with the triangle. This was a huge win for Kana because she managed to win the series over the older, more experienced star from the previous generation, something that has been rare in Japan, especially since the 1990s. The 2nd half of the 1st match was the craziest stuff they produced together because they just tried to kill one another, but this felt like their most successful match as a whole because both had more experience working together, and were in a better place in their career. ****1/4

6/16/14 Kana Pro: Meiko Satomura & Minoru Suzuki vs. Kana & Naomichi Marufuji 23:18
ML: The intergender pairings were almost the be all and end all of this match. That in and of itself narrowed the value and effort considerably, but then when you came down to it, this was the men bullying the women, and being pretty deliberate and methodical in their approach to it. There wasn't a lot of movement on their part, especially Suzuki, who might as well have been a statue most of the time, whereas Marufuji eventually worked up to doing a sequence with Satomura before both essentially disappeared from the match. The men took some shots that they barely registered, then hit back a lot harder. This might be realistic, but this was more masochismo than a match, as the only thing really going on here was proving that the women could take a beating. Suzuki was mean, and it's good that he was unleashing his sadistic side rather than clowning, but the match didn't build that well, in part because Kana was never actually competitive with Suzuki at any point, just annoying like a fly avoiding being swatted. The women were fearless, and got punished severely for that. Both the men did what was asked of them, but that was just to stand around no selling then firing back harder to theoretically garner great sympathy for the women, and show Kana's heart and fighting spirit. The men obviously had a big size advantage, so they could afford to just stand in front of the much smaller women in the lazy manner that striking oriented puroresu has become. Both men were solid, but this wasn't a big match for them by any means, so they just did their standard stuff. The men were ruthless, with Kana in particular apparently instructing Suzuki beforehand to give her the rough treatment. While it was good that they didn't ease up one bit, the match was kind of tedious, with a lot of standing around barely registering the volume striking of the women then answering with one big shot that stunned them, wash, rinse, repeat because the story was the women weren't backing down and were showing their heart and determination. They did a good slow start where they focused on building anticipation. Once we saw what the match was though, it didn't evolve much, and the best pairing, Kana vs. Satomura, barely occurred and didn't reach the level of any of their other showdowns. The intergender pairings certainly weren't nearly as heated or competitive as the usual excellent Kana vs. Satomura stuff they largely replaced. They were something different from normal, but at the same time, always very samey. The women wouldn't succumb to being put in their place, but they didn't have any answers either. Instead of changing things up, they just kept trying to strike the guys who still weren't selling, kind of a kickboxing match between a featherweight and a heavyweight, except the featherweight didn't bother to try to use strategy or their speed and movement advantages. They just accepted the momentary setbacks and refused to stand down, repeating the losing battle until their lights went out. Satomura did eventually start ducking Marufuji's predictable big chops, so he had to put a little more thought and deception into his game. Marufuji then began working some sequences with Satomura, as he had already done one with Suzuki, the other pairing we barely saw. Suzuki vs. Kana didn't build in a particularly interesting manner, but had a memorable finish where Kana got tortured, as Suzuki supposedly snapped. Some will love and some will hate this ending, both for "right" and "wrong" reasons. Suzuki started no selling Kana completely towards the end, so she low blowed him to escape the German suplex, and took it to him. He recovered fiercely, and tossed the ref Tommy Ran out of the way so he could continue to elbow and slap her on the ground. This was supposed to look like the most merciless ground and pound ever, and be a clear signal to the ref to stop the match if they ever had the guts to exercise their power, but it wasn't that believable even though Suzuki hit hard. Marufuji tried to save Kana, but Suzuki dispatched of him and went back to work on her. Satomura even came in and tried to save her opponent, but Suzuki tossed her aside as well. Suzuki was a dick throughout all this, but he was also pretty laid back and lethargic, not seeming believably out of control to make anyone buy into the story they were trying to tell. The whole thing was very cosplay even though Kana was taking more punishment than a lot of guys would. Kana somehow eventually pulled herself up and fired back with a lot less force, and Suzuki just stood there no selling everything as usual until he got bored and put her in an endless I flimsily wrap my arm around your tendon hold. Kana eventually got the rope break, but could no longer put weight on her left foot. This was growing more and more contrived as Marufuji and Satomura pretended to be fighting on the outside for the entire endless sequence. Finally, Suzuki decided he did enough damage and pinned Kana after his Gotch piledriver. The talent involved is enough to recommend the match, and it's one of the harder hitting intergender matches, but it struck me as more of a missed opportunity than the truly memorable match a lot of people seem to want to make this out to be. ***

7/26/93 AJW Japan Grand Prix '93 Blue Zone: Kyoko Inoue vs. Manami Toyota 17:14 of 30:00
PA: This didn’t air on TV, and was only showed on Classics. I’m sure having 13 minutes of this cut helped because it would have taken out a lot of the pointless matwork that drags Toyota matches down, but I far preferred this to their overrated 1992 ‘classic’. Kyoko injured her knee on the outside, which gave Toyota something to focus on with her matwork, and a little more substance than we usually get from Kyoko vs. Toyota matches. As always with these two, it’s all about the spots though and they did a lot of them, and their execution was excellent. Kyoko battled her way through, selling her leg throughout, which made her a bigger underdog. It did become a back and forth spotfest by the end as they tried to hit their finishers to win, and there were tons of great counters, big spots and near falls. In the end, neither could hit the Niagara Driver or the Japanese Ocean Cyclone Suplex, and they ran out of time. ****1/4

7/26/93 AJW: Akira Hokuto & Suzuka Minami vs. Yumiko Hotta & Toshiyo Yamada 15:42 of 16:21
PA: If you went to classics to watch Manami Toyota vs. Kyoko Inoue, you might as well stick around for this one as well, as classics aired almost all of it, while the original TV version butchered it and showed less than half of it. Marine Wolves one night reunion against the Zenjo kick queens. This was a really good, fast paced tag match with plenty of hard kicks and brutal spots. Hotta and Yamada controlled most of it with hot comebacks from Hokuto and Minami. Tons of big spots and double teams at the end. Marine Wolves hit a double dropkick on Hotta for old times sake, and Hokuto pinned her with a Northern Light’s Bomb to finish. ****