Cero Reviews AJW Classics ~Retro Hour~ EP 10

[cero2k]

AJW Classics ~Retro Hour~ EP 10
Aired: April 15, 2008
Kanagawa Kawasaki-shi Taiikukan

January 5, 1986
WWWA World Tag Team Championship Match
Jumping Bomb Angels (Itsuki Yamazaki & Noriyo Tateno) vs. Gokuaku Domei (Bull Nakano & Condor Saito) (C) - 6.5/10
A lot of the stuff we had seen with the JBA in the last weeks had bee mostly squash matches at the hands of GD, which helped make this feel like a big deal, because even with all the stuff that got cut off, we got a really strong story being told of the JBA finally snapping at the violence from GD and turning things on them. Seeing the JBA finally be able to take the fight against GD felt like a big deal.

The match was 2-out-3 falls, and because of the editing, the falls went fast, but the story was that JBA at one point snap and, take Nakano's nunchucks, and just go crazy with the weapon use against Nakano and Saito. JBA got the first fall with a piledriver on Nakano, second fall went to GD with Nakano hitting a top rope nunchuck clothesline. Third fall is the one that the JBA just go berserk, and almost lost to a big piledriver form Nakano on Yamazaki, but at the end, the JBA come back and get the win the titles when Tateno pins Nakano with a German.

This was Saito's first match in these classics shows, but we've seen her around at ringside.

January 9, 1986
WWWA World Tag Team Championship Match
Jumping Bomb Angels (Itsuki Yamazaki & Noriyo Tateno) (C) vs. Gokuaku Domei (Dump Matsumoto & Bull Nakano) - 8.5/10
This was the perfect follow up from the match we just saw. Only a couple of days later, Gokuaku Domei retaliate with the ace team of Matsumoto and Nakano, and they bring out the whole arsenal of weapons. They straight up had a steel barrel with them.

This was a total brawl. GD busted Tateno open in the first fall, just minutes after starting and the first fall ends up going to the JBA just because Matsumoto is going crazy hitting everyone with the steel barrel, to the point that even with the lenient referees, she crossed the line after many referee warnings, and thus Matsumoto and Nakano get DQd. The second fall, Matsumoto and Nakano continue with the beat down, and start the story that Yamazaki's knee gets destroyed, ending with Matsumoto getting the pin over her with a Tiger Bomb.

Finally, the third fall was all about Yamazaki being a super babyface in peril, Tateno having to survive by herself while Yamazaki is suffering from her knee, and trying to get it patched up quickly so she can come back to the match. It all builds to just a crazy badass comeback from Yamazaki, who takes the microphone and tells GD to bring it. The last couple of minutes is a combination of great selling from the JBA and then turning the match on Nakano by stealing her chucks and beating her up, getting a near fall with a German, and a second one with a bridged pin for the win.

Nothing like a feud with Dump Mastumoto to make you a badass babyface. I'm sold on the JBA.

February 15, 1986
All Japan Tag Team Championship Match
The Red Typhoons (Yumi Ogura and Kazue Nagahori) vs. Gokuaku Domei (Bull Nakano & Condor Saito) - 7.5/10
While we've seen Ogura here and there, this is Nagahori's first match in these Classic shows, and also the first time we get to see the Red Typhoons.

This match was the to crown the inaugural champions for the All Japan Team Team titles. AJW already had a red and white belt for singles, so it just made sense to introduce a secondary pair of tag team titles, especially because the cornerstone of AJW at this point, are the tag teams.

Ogura and Nagahori are babyfaces, but as we see in the first minutes of the match, they're not as clean cut as the Crush Gals, or even the JBA, Nakano and Saito introduced weapons early on, and immediately, without a second thought, Ogura and Nagahori a perfectly comfortable taking them away and using them against GD.

The rest of the match was for the most part a back and forward brawl like most of GD's matches. This being Red Typhoon's first match in these shows, I wasn't as invested in them since there was no emotional connection to them, and it also didn't help that in the middle of the match we see a doctor try to pop Condor Saito's arm back in her socket. I don't know if it was legit, but given the way the doctor pulled on it, I have to think it was a shoot, and Saito went back in the ring and kept working, so all I'm thinking at this point is how much of a badass is Saito in real life.

Anyway, Red Typhoon end up getting the win when Ogura pins Nakano after a couple of flying kicks and a pin that also looked like a shoot.

February 15, 1986
Jaguar Yokota Retirement Match
Jaguar Yokota vs. Devil Masami - 6.5/10
As usual, this being a retirement match, it was a 5 minute exhibition match that went to a time limit draw. They went all out and still tried to go for pins. Hard to rate a match that from the start, we knew was only going for 5 minutes and a draw for that matter, but for the sake of rating the action itself, it was as good as it could get.

Post-match - Lioness Asuka, one of Yokota's proteges, challenged her for a quick match and they sparred around a little bit before calling it quits and embracing. All of Yokota's team got in the ring, embraced, gave her flowers and exchanged some words. Jokota had some words of good bye and then we got the ten bell salute.

As usual, this was all emotions from everyone involved. Even if she wasn't always featured in these Classic shows, she still established herself as one of the greatest. In hindsight, knowing that she would come out of retirement years later, it may not feel as big, but I can imagine being there that night, it was a huge thing.

OVERALL THOUGHTS
Great show, everything match had something going for it. While we got to say goodbye to one of the greats, this episode also introduced a couple of new wrestlers into the series, they established the Bomb Angels as a strong team, and we got to see a further look into the AJW roster beyond the Crush Gals and Gokuaku Domei.