AJW Japan Grand Prix (6.17.90) review 

 

June 17, 1990 

 

We’re in Tokyo, Japan at Korakuen Hall. This is my first shot at doing a full AJW show. They are out there but they’re quite hard to find. I made a comment in another review about all of the top women’s talent from the 80s retiring (Crush Gals especially) and how it had left a vacuum at the top of the cards. Nature abhors a vacuum, son. As does Manami Toyota.  

 

Toyota debuted in 1986, aged just 15, but has been training to improve and caught the eye in a tag match that opened Wrestlemarinepiad 1989. In late 1989, she wrestled a 30-minute draw with Toshiyo Yamada, which really caught the eye. I went ***¾ on it. By this time next year, she’ll have already cemented herself as one of the top workers in the world. Not just women’s workers, but all workers. She’s going to spend the entire decade having bangers and I am here for it.  

 

Toyota is not the only star who’s about to shine. Yumiko Hotta will be along for the ride. She also debuted in 1986 and has shown recent improvement. Aja Kong, who debuted in 1986 also, is about to get REAL good. Akira Hokuto, who is a year ahead with her 1985 debut, is also really good. 1990 would be a seminal year for top new women’s wrestlers.  

 

Apart from a title match, everything is part of the tournament. Apart from the boxing match that precedes everything. I have no idea what’s going on with that. It is a SHOOT though and a brutal, bloody affair.  

 

All Pacific Championship 

Aja Kong (c) vs. Suzuka Minami 

This belt goes back to 1977, and the first champion was Jane O’Brien, who was trained by the legendary Mildred Burke. Aja Kong won the title earlier this year. Aja feels like a logical successor to Dump Matsumoto, who retired in 1988.  

Aja is a badass. She was born a badass. Some people have a natural ability to lead a match. Minami brings plucky underdog sympathy as her main attribute. Also, German suplexes. Luckily, I adore a German suplex. Aja surprises me by going after a superplex and simply changing it into a powerslam off the top. That was very cool.  

The match devolves into violence and Aja decides to introduce a big metal sign. She whacks Minami with it and then piledrives her on it. The referee calls for the bell and Minami is awarded the title on a DQ. However, she refused the title, and it was declared vacant. Manami Toyota would win the vacant belt, and Minami would beat her for the title, thus winning it legitimately. And that, ladies and gents, is how you do long term storytelling. 

 

Post match Aja Kong beats Minami all over the building and throws chairs at her. There’s a great bit where the referee tries to stop her, and she hits him in the head with that metal sign. CLONG! This was a wild match. The in-ring was great, but the DQ finish does rather taint it, even if it eventually became a good storyline for Minami. Incidentally, Minami is a great worker. Her selling is exemplary.  

 

QUARTER FINALS 

 

Noriyo Tateno vs. Madusa Miceli 

Madusa has been here for about a year now and I’ll be interested to see how much she’s improved. Tateno is a Jumping Bomb Angel, if her name looks familiar. Tateno sets a fast pace here and Madusa just about hangs in with her. You can see her struggling at times, but she’s improved. Her bumps are still less than convincing. There’s no doubt that Tateno is the better wrestler here.  

 

The mat work is neat and Madusa clearly has good leg strength. They do a cool sequence where Madusa gets flipped out of the ring, lands on her feet but Tateno hit the ropes and does a tope. It wouldn’t look out of place in a modern wrestling match and was extremely well executed. The finish is supposed to be Madusa getting a bridging pin, but her shoulders are down too, and the ref counts a double pin. He even warns Madusa her shoulders are down!  

 

Apart from blowing the finish, which is concerning, Madusa looked waaaay better here than the last time I saw her wrestle. She’s still a little awkward compared to the better workers but the level she’s at here is still good. Tateno did carry her a bit. *** 

 

Further proof that 80s hair continued into the 90s. 1990 is the most 80s year there is, honestly, for women’s hairstyles anyway. This is Grizzly Iwamoto’s hairdo.  

 

Yumiko Hotta vs. Grizzly Iwamoto 

Grizzly is a brawler, whose career didn’t run for long. She retired in 1990. Hotta still wrestles now (2024). I don’t know what they’re singing but the sound of schoolgirls singing at wrestling is awesome. More of that. Inspiring the next generation. Hotta is one of the snuggest workers you’ll see (from this era anyway). Her kicks are stiff as fuck. Grizzly seems reluctant to take bumps and almost every time she hits the mat; it’s by sliding down the buckles. A big corner kick drops her in similar fashion and Hotta wins via KO. Great kicks in this from Hotta but her spin kicks all missed, and Iwamoto struggled throughout. 

 

Akira Hokuto vs. Manami Toyota 

This is an early career clash between two of the greats. Toyota is already flexible and graceful, and Hokuto is a great athlete, coming from an athletic background. When I call Manami flexible, I mean Akira puts her in a half crab and her foot is nearly touching the back of her own head. Hokuto pulls out some evil looking stretches. Hokuto has this bridging suplex, which starts out like a slam, but she then throws her opponent over her head and bridges with it. Twisting as she falls backwards. It’s very cool.  

 

Toyota goes up top for a moonsault and Hokuto dropkicks her off and she takes the bump OVER THE BUCKLES to the floor. Hokuto dives out after her and loudly smacks her shin off the rail. AAAARGH. I felt that. Anyone who’s ever hit their shin on something felt that. Toyota is supposed to dive out after her, but Hokuto doesn’t get back up and the match is over. This felt like half of a GREAT match. Like 4+ easily. Unfortunate it had to end prematurely but a fine taster of what both could do. ***¼ 

 

It’s a real shame it had to end that way but think about all the great matches we’ve got coming up from both Toyota and Hokuto. Two of the best wrestlers of the 1990s. There’s only three QFs on tape and I’m not sure the other one even happened. Maybe Nishiwaki got a bye?  

 

SEMI FINALS 

 

Mitsuko Nishiwaki vs. Yumiko Hotta 

Nishiwaki is another worker who retired in 1990, only working in the biz for three years. These two are tag partners as the “Fire Jets”. Nishiwaki is a decent technician and chooses to ground Hotta, presumably so she can’t kick her. She works the right leg too, the kicking leg. It’s a clear strategy. It doesn’t work. As soon as Hotta gets out of the holds, she just kicks the fuck out of Nishiwaki anyway.  

 

One of my pet peeves is when limb work goes nowhere. It felt like we lost 5:00 because Hotta couldn’t be bothered to sell as it would impact her moveset. She doesn’t just do kicks either, there’s a German suplex with a bridge on her toes. It’s like she’s just completely disregarded that whole segment of the match. Nishiwaki clearly had it as part of her strategy too. She goes back to the leg from time to time. 

 

I start to feel bad for Nishiwaki as Hotta doesn’t even go down with her on slams. Just dumps the poor girl. I thought you were friends! Poor Nishiwaki even gets screwed on the pin, as her shoulder is clearly up as the referee counts to three. This was quite disappointing, and Hotta was generally poor here. She does have to wrestle three matches in one night so maybe she was conserving energy, but Nishiwaki got the rough end of the deal. 

 

The Manami Toyota vs Madusa Miceli match isn’t on this tape, sadly. So, we don’t discover how Toyota advanced. I would wager it was better than the other semi-final but who knows, it’s not on here. And yet they left the boxing match intact at the start of the show. Choices were made. 

 

Japan Grand Prix Final 

Manami Toyota vs. Yumiko Hotta 

The referee is still checking Hotta’s boots when Toyota plants her with a dropkick. It’s a beauty too. It’s a vicious assault that follows and Toyota is telling us, plain and simple, SHE WANTS IT MORE. Having dumped Hotta into the front row, she follows with a dive off the buckles. True greats are just fearless. She saw Hokuto’s fucked up leg and still did the same spot. 

Hotta is busted open from knee strikes and comes back HOT with kicks. This is the opening minute, and Toyota is checking herself for blood, she got clocked so hard and Hotta has a split eyebrow. Hotta goes after a Boston crab, but Toyota is so flexible she can just sit in it.  

How far do you lean back in your Boston crab? Yes. Hotta also works in a Mexican Surfboard, which miserably fails the Weezer test. The Weezer test? Hey, I’m glad you asked! Basically, when the surfboard is applied, I should be able to sing until the line “I’m still afloat” from the song “Surf Wax America”. Allow me to demonstrate. “You take your car to work, I’ll take my board, and when you’re out of fuel I’m still afloat”. That’s how I can determine the excellence of the hold. This one collapses immediately.  

 

After Toyota’s initial hot start, Hotta dominates the match. The crowd are invested but it lacks real tension. They soon rectify that for going big on near falls. It’s interesting that one of Hotta’s bridges collapses. Was that the leg work finally catching up? Some of the spots are a bit untidy though and Hotta has to be twice reminded her shoulder is off the mat before Toyota catches her out of the corner for the pin. ***¾.  

It’s a very good match but if they maintained the fire of the opening minute, it would be five stars straight up. Not even kidding. Hotta has a few issues here and they had miscommunication setting up some of the spots down the stretch, or I might have considered going higher. Good stuff though and both are obviously on their way to being fantastic in the ring.  

 

The 411: 

AJW is a promotion that’s going to shine in the 1990s. Based on this show alone and how big the prospects are on it; you can tell we’re going to see some good shit. Manami Toyota and Akira Hokuto stood out here. Hokuto was arguably the best wrestler on the show until her unfortunate injury. Basically; MORE OF THIS PLEASE!  

 

NEXT: time to catch up on more AJPW TV and June’s blocks.  

 

Requests: if anyone has AWA Team Challenge Series (often dubbed as “ill fated”) please let me know. Also looking for WWC’s Anniversario show from this year.