AJW Dreamslam II

1. Sakie Hasegawa vs. Hikari Fukuoka – 6
2. Leo Kitamura, Mikiko Futagami, & Utako Hozumi vs. Kaoru Ito, Seami Numata, & Tomoko Watanabe – 4
3. Bat Yoshinaga & Terri Power vs. Rumi Kazama & Miki Handa – 5
4. Combat Toyoda & Megumi Kudo vs. Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda – 4
5. Yumiko Hotta, Kyoko Inoue, & Takako Inoue vs. Cutie Suzuki, Plum Mariko, & Boirshoi Kid – 4
6. Suzuki Minami vs. Harley Saito – 5
7. Bull Nakano vs. Chigusa Nagayo – 6
8. Akira Hokuto & Aja Kong vs. Shinobu Kandori & Eagle Sawai – 6
9. Manami Toyota & Toshiyo Yamada vs. Dynamite Kansai & Mayumi Ozaki – Best of Three Falls Match - 8

Been sitting on this show for a while now so I figured since it’s puro/lucha month, what better time to drag it out than now. I was really impressed with the first bout, so much that I ended up giving it a recommendable score. Kukuoka laid in a great half crab that had Hasegawa writhing in pain. Hasegawa’s offense was really good, especially the five continuous double underhook suplexes she delivered. The dive sequence was fun, especially when Hasegawa crashed and burned. Ending saw two straight DDTs from Fukuoka that made me cringe and then Hasegawa nailing a spinning back kick for the win.

Second bout really had no sense of direction. It felt for the majority of the match that it was just thrown together at the last minute. Ito’s offense seemed to be very hit and miss and not very impressive. Couple nice moves from the Futagami trio, especially the flying bulldog delivered by Kitamura off of Futagami’s shoulders. Watanabe was the glue for her team, although she had some minor mishaps, including one spot where she went for a moonsault and on the way down accidentally kneed Kitamura right in the face. The end was a giant mess with everyone just randomly running in, brawling, and breaking up pinfalls.

Things got a little better here. Bat Yoshinaga I’m seeing for the first time and boy, does she work stiff. Attitude era WWF fans may recognize Terri Power as Tori. She was very limited in what she could attempt in the match due to an arm injury. Her chops were really awful but she was very vocal during her ring time. Of all the competitors here, Bat really impressed me the most. She almost broke Handa’s back with a half crab and won the bout for her team with a brutal spinning kick. The lone highlight from the opposition team included Kazama hitting some nice spin kicks of her own.

Toyoda and Megumi were two of the few FMW representatives on the card and looked really sloppy at points. Kudo hit a bad double underhook bomb, Toyoda followed it up with an even worse elbow from the second rope. However, they also hit some decent spots with Toyoda dropkicking Shimoda so hard that she probably felt it in her ovaries and the outside segment with Toyoda hitting a crazy powerbomb and then Megumi following it up with a table spot. Didn’t seem to be much chemistry going on in the ring as everyone just sort of did their own thing.

Another six-lady tag and this one started out with a bunch of comedy between Boirshoi Kid and Kyoko Inoue, sporting Warrior-esque face paint, which actually had me smiling at parts. Boirshoi played a great Spike Dudley by getting beat up and bounced around the whole match. There was a big dive spot, similar to that of what can be seen in multiple-man cruiserweight matches from WCW circa ’97. Hotta flipped Mariko over her head in a weird move that made her land face first on the match. Suzuki got a good nearfall off of a backslide attempt and there was another one after Kyoko took three straight mushroom stomps from the top rope. Mariko ended up as an afterthough, sad considering the fact that four years after this show, she’d be dead due to a taking a Liger bomb in a house show match in Hiroshima for JWP that triggered an abscess on her brain to start bleeding.

I enjoyed the Harley Saito match a lot. Not enough to put it into the recommended category but after the foolishness of some of the previous bouts, it was a welcome change. Both ladies were very vocal in the ring, on both offense and defense. Harley has some really good kicks. Minami hit a very nice spinning back breaker and executed a wild dive that almost sent both of them into the crowd, and a senton from the top rop that almost crushed Saito’s chest. Some good nearfalls, including one really hot one off of a double underhook suplex, made the bout that much more enjoyable for me.

Bull and Chigusa had a hell of a fight. Not only did it start off with them trading some hard chops on the apron, but the damn thing broke down into a crowd brawl! Chigusa got thrown so hard into the railing that it broke open the gate! Once the bout settled down and got back in the ring there were some great mat work section where they traded submissions. Bull’s chicken wing looked a lot better than Backlund’s. Wonder what kind of sauce she puts on that? The look on Bull’s face when Chigusa kicked out of a top rope legdrop defies words. Some really good hot nearfalls here and Chigusa’s awesome selling made this one for me. The only thing that brought down the score was that the match seemed to lose steam as it went after starting off so hot.

Kandori’s offense looked really awful but yet she seemed to be getting the most ring time. I think this was built around a Hokuto/Kandori rivalry but I’m not sure. Kong was a beast. She dropped Kandori right on her head and then tossed Sawai over the top rope. This was capped off by a double team senton from Kong and Hokuto where Hokuto just ruined the opposition by landing directly on them. Kong’s kicks were so brutal that they could probably collapse someone’s lung. Not sure how Akira Hokuto got busted open. Great spot where Kandori came in the ring to break a submission and hit Kong. Kong dropped what she was doing, got Kandori back in the corner, and dropped her. I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the kick from Hokuto that just killed Sawai. It was so gnarly that I replayed it 3-4 times. The ending really hurt the score as they just randomly stopped it with Kandori applying an armbar to Hokuto. Too much good stuff here to mention in detail.

Main event time. I’ve heard about this match online so I was anxious to see if it was really going to live up to the hype bestowed upon it from the basement dwellers who inhabit most of the wrestling forums on the net. First fall was over in about 12 seconds when Kansai powerbombed the shit out of Yamada. The remaining falls were what joshi wrestling is all about. Hard ass kicks, wild submissions, whiplash inducing lariats, dive sequences, hot nearfalls, etc. I found Toyota’s moonsault to the outside after she dropkicked Ozaki on the buckle charming. Did I mention the second rope dropkick from her that caught Kansai right in the fucking mouth? I found myself growing tired throught the middle of the third fall, probably by that point I’d been up for about 14-15 hours and a lot of that was spent watching this show, but nonetheless enjoyed the action. I would suggest that any fan go find this match and download it now. It’s a hell of a lot better than what you’ll find on American TV these days.