Posted December 12, 200717 yr comment_5425130 Joshi #3 – 1980, 1984 1980 TV (low sound): Lucy Kayama & Mimi Hagiwara vs. Young Pair (Rimi Yokota & Seiko Hanawa) Fun slaughter, but way too one-sided in favor of the Young Pair. I'm going no on this one. The shrieking in this match is absolutely intolerable. Toyota must have loved this as a child and decided to grow up and emulate it. Lucy Kayama vs. Monster Ripper Good match to establish Monster Ripper as a killer (even though I guess she was already established), but not good enough for this set. It's weird seeing babyfaces relying on outside interference to even the odds with heels with the heels winning clean in the end. 1980 TV (good sound): Nancy Kumi vs. Seiko Hanawa No. Victoria Fujimi & Mimi Haguwara vs. Cheryl Day & Temjin Masami Pretty good match with Hagiwara especially being really good. Nice big momentum shifts back and forth to put the outcome in doubt. You see how good Masami was even before she earned the Devil moniker. Lots of face-in-peril sections on pretty much everyone involved. Good stuff. Worth a nomination. Golder Pair and Queen Angels sing Jackie Sato & Tomi Aoyama vs. Black Pair (Mami Kumano & Yumi Ikeshita) This match cuts off, which is good because I wasn't into it at all. July? 1984 TV: Noriyo Tateno vs. Jaguar Yokota Jaguar Yokota totally schools Tateno on the mat and then does one of the most amazing flash pin finishing combos I've ever seen. Jaguar really understood her role so well, as far as allowing Tateno some offense without giving her too much. Not a great, classic match, but a very good one, one that accomplished everything it should pretty simply and beautifully. Definite nomination. AJW title: Itsuki Yamazaki vs. Kanako Nagatomo Good contrast, seeing Yamazaki, who's been a big surprise to me so far, working the same dynamic as the Jaguar/Tateno match with Nagatomo. Not as good as the other match, but still worth a nomination. Yukari Omori vs. Devil Masami Two of my favorites. A little slower paced than most AJW matches of the time period, but in many ways, that's a good thing. These two complement each other well, and it's hard to say between Devil, Jaguar, Yamazaki and Chigusa who was the best in the promotion at this time. Another nomination. Crush Girls & Yumi Ogura vs. Dump Matsumoto, Crane Yu & Leilani Kai (2/3) Awesome match that feels like the wrestling version of From Dusk Till Dawn, in that it starts as kind of a typical AJW heel/face match, and then totally turns slasher flick when Dump's team freaks out and starts choking the Crush Girls and Ogura with chains. The second fall is AWESOME, with Chigusa Nagayo and Crane Yu having this great pull-apart brawl outside the ring. One of the best matches yet. Fuck anyone who doesn't like Dump Matsumoto. Leilani Kai vs. Jumbo Hori Leilani Kai is preceded by reputation, and finally, she's in a match and I can see where it came from. Both are awesome, and Kai is really good at mixing the heeling with the AJW wrestling style. Hori will be another standout on this set. The finish totally doesn't make sense (I get that there's a heel ref, but Kai won the match by ref's decision??). Still, the body of the match is really good. This goes on the block. Lioness Asuka & Yukari Omori vs. Jaguar Yokota & Noriyo Tateno Not quite as great as it sounds on paper, as it's only between 10-15 minutes long and is all feeling out. No vote. Crush Girls vs. Devil Masami & Itsuki Yamazaki (tape runs out) We see the intros and maybe two minutes of the match. Too bad.
