Posted May 12, 200817 yr comment_5431249 1981 TV: Nancy Kumi sings Rimi Yokota vs. Betty Clark - I'm more and more getting the sense that as great as Jaguar was, she didn't have the opposition to have consistently excellent matches in the early '80s. Clark was another in a series of plodding, screeching gaijin who had no hope of going move for move with her. This was a decent showcase for Yokota but nothing set-worthy. Yukari Omori & Tomoko Kitamura (Asuka) vs. Devil Masami & Hiroe Ito - Masami did some great heeling in this one, choking with the tag rope, stomping on fingers and just generally kicking ass. But Asuka and Omori were able to isolate Ito for pins in two straight falls. Match never built much drama. Ayumi Hori & Nancy Kumi vs. Mami Kumano & Peggy Lee - This had great intensity and all sorts of outside intrigue involving Devil's crew. But the wrestling wasn't very interesting. Jackie Sato career clips (Beauty Pair vs. Black Pair; vs. Irma Gonzalez; singing; vs. Maki Ueda; vs. Rimi Yokota) Nancy Kumi vs. Mami Kumano - JIP and damn was it boring. AJW girls in a cruise October 1984 TV: Chigusa Nagayo vs. Kaoru Matsumoto - Interesting to see Dump as an animated, chubby girl instead of a rotund loon. But this wasn't much of a match. AJW wrestlers eating, watch this if you wonder how Dump got fat - This is kind of a funny clip for the extras. Mimi Hagiwara & Lioness Asuka vs. La Galáctica & Masked Yu - Meh. Monster Ripper vs. Jaguar Yokota - Jaguar had this great, intense look at the start as she probed the much larger Rippa for weaknesses. Rippa did a decent job of clubbing her down, dropping her bulk on Yokota's knee a bunch. Yokota rallied with some nasty forearm flurries and big highspots. I won't fight for this one, but it's a decent representation of Yokota's work from the period, so you guys should at least take a look. WWWA Tag Team titles: Devil Masami & Tarantula vs. Dynamite Girls (2/3 falls) - This was pretty fun. Tarantula hit some nifty flippy stuff in the first fall. Hori and Omori then absolutely murdered her in the second, putting her out of the match with a vicious piledriver. Devil, of course, seemed unintimidated by the 2-on-1 scenario and started throwing wicked head butts. She beat up not only the Dynamite Girls but a bunch of workers around ringside. The match seemed to end by countout during the fracas. But then the refs cleared the ringside area and restarted it. Devil showed great determination in the last stretch and ultimately killed Omori with the same piledriver that killed Tarantula. The bell rang at that point though I'm not sure why (DQ? ref stoppage?) Despite the confusion, I liked the story of this match and will throw it on the block.
