Posted February 18, 200817 yr comment_5428254 Joshi #12 – 1980, 1989 January 4, 1980 TV: Nancy Kumi vs. Rena Blair post-match brawl Rimi Yokota vs. Chino Sato for the vacant AJW Jr. Title - They did a lot of brawling outside. Yokota sold the pain of Sato's leg work nicely and a lot of her offense was ahead of its time. The crowd was a bit tepid and I thought the wrestlers played into this by repeating some of the same sequences instead of really progressing. I liked Sato's attempt to kill Yokota on the outside and win by countout. But it was weird to see them exchange joyful hugs moments after they beat each other with chairs. Not a great match but a worthy nomination given the precocity of Yokota. WWWA title: Jackie Sato vs. Tomi Aoyama - They achieved a fairly epic feel here. Tomi delivered some real nasty stomps to the back and general viciousness. Sato threw some cutting edge suplexes. They missed big moves to the outside. It almost felt like a mini-AJPW title match from the '90s. Nomination. January 1980 TV: Ayumi Hori vs. Rimi Yokota - Cool to see two excellent workers in a development stage but nothing great about the match. Rimi Yokota vs. Patty Steiger - Meh. Mimi Hagiwara & Chino Sato vs. Temjin Masami & Hiroko Komine (Black Gundam) - There was a fun moment when Komine saved Masami by hitting the ref instead of an opponent. But this ended pretty abruptly and didn't stick out. 1989 Tag League: Suzuka Minami & Mima Shimoda vs. Noriyo Tateno & Sakie Hasegawa - Just a quick clip of the ending. Etsuko Mita & Akira Hokuto vs. Manami Toyota & Toshiyo Yamada - ditto WWWA Tag Team titles: Fire Jets vs. Bison Kimura & Grizzly Iwamoto - More weapons spots and more generally uninspired wrestling from Bison and Grizzly. August 1989: Mixed match: Toshiyo Yamada vs. Anna Maria Delgado (w/ Gerard Gordeau~) - I hate these faux kickboxing matches. WWWA Tag Team titles: Fire Jets vs. Marine Wolves (2/3 falls) - Now this was a really exciting match. Hotta showed her potential as a brutal ass kicker. And Hokuto was already the shit at this point. Her daring and athleticism were a step above and the match picked up whenever she entered. This was a title change with a satisfying ending. Definite nomination. WWWA title: Lioness Asuka vs. Madusa - This cuts out but is featured in full on Disc 6.
