Nerd Watch Wednesday - AJW Wrestlemarinepiad 1992

Apr 22, 202017 min read

Updated: Jun 3, 2020

Matt Brummitt was in charge of the selection this week and here he is with his reasoning for the pick!

"An often forgotten but excellent era in wrestling history, early 90s joshi hasn't made an appearance on NWW yet so thought best to resolve that!

The video looks like it was recorded on a potato but hopefully the lads enjoy it."

SIX WOMAN TAG MATCH: KAORU ITO, MIORI KAMIYA & TOMOKO WATANABE vs. MIMA SHIMODA, SUZUKA MINAMI & YUMIKO HOTTA

By Ross Casey

I must admit that I really struggled to watch this match. It was filmed on a potato and the recording has a lot of VCR static throughout. Add in the fact that the match is in full Japanese commentary and the match graphic also features no English and I am completely unaware which wrestler is who.

All that I know is that they all go to the same swimwear store as Pete Dunne. Lovely cossies on show.

It is a shame, because all Joshi that i have seen, I have always been nothing but impressed with the skill and speed of the workers. I yearn for every promotion to have a subscription service as good as the WWE Network. Surely there is a whizz out there that can turn this shitstorm footage into HD gold?

What I can make out is absolutely brilliant though. The strikes are abusively tough, the speed is astonishing and the only thing lacking is any sense of psychology. If this was 1992 Joshi, I can only assume that JCH is right and STARDOM is the fucking bomb.

SUMMARY: These girls are fucking savage.

WINNERS - NOT SURE WHO WON, BUT THE FINISH CAME FROM A DROPKICK FROM EITHER SIDE, FOLLOWED BY A POWERBOMB & TOP ROPE LEG DROP THAT SEEMED TO DISLOCATE THE POOR GIRL'S ELBOW.

WWWA MARTIAL ARTS CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH: BAT YOSHINAGA (C) vs. AKEMI TORISU

By Shafi

Things I've learnt that I didn't know before;

1. This contest is a rematch from the same event held the year before which was won by the champion Bat.

2. This event is held in an actual marina which is why it is titled as such.

Putting a shoot fight on a worked wrestling card is a very Japanese thing to do; they love mixing and blurring the lines between the two. We could take a deep dive into UWF, RINGS, the pro wrestling style booking of PRIDE, the disastrous influence of Inoki-ism on NJPW and countless other examples but in the spirit of conciseness I will leave that as homework reading for those who are interested.

The rules of this contest are unclear due to my distinct lack of Japanese (Wiki says kickboxing rules) . It appears to be 4x 3 minutes rounds, both fighters are wearing Gis and boxing gloves and I can only hope it will be as interesting as the Brawl For All.

Bat is the champion and is very popular with the crowd, Torisu has a noticeable size advantage so for someone with no knowledge of either it is intriguing how this one will play out and whether Torisu has learned from the year before.

Have you ever played a new fighting game and you didn't know the buttons so you just keep spamming the same move over and over? That is Torisu's tactic as she throws SEVENTY SIX looping overhand rights just in the first round.

Her volume output is incredible as she is windmilling constantly looking to land a devastating blow that never comes. Bat is a lot calmer as she looks to deflect the barrage of blows whilst also causing damage with shorter, straighter strikes.

At the start of the second round both fighters come out swinging with reckless abandon as they vie to be the EST of CTE. Torisu lands some solid shots but Bat walks straight through them like a pocket sized Terminator and breaks Torisu's nose. Bat eats a couple of heavy overhands behind the ear that you would expect to at least wobble her she no sells them as well.

It's clear that Bat is the better, more technical fighter but she is drawn into sitting in the pocket and swinging for the fences due to Torisu's insistence on all out attack and trying to break Bat's hands with her face.

How would I sum up this match so far? It's been a lot like a fight after school or in the highstreet at 3am when the clubs have closed. It's not good, the skill level is low and there is no objective reason to enjoy it.

Yet I find myself oddly entertained as I tuck into my kebab and watch the destruction of braincells by those without an abundance to lose. This is the wrestling equivalent of Bumfights but without the morally unjustifiable exploitation.

In the third round Bat decides she's not going to wear her Gi jacket and comes out in just a vest because when you're the champion you can wear whatever the fuck you want and change the dress code on the fly. She follows up this new found arrogance with a variation of a spinning heel kick which admittedly was pretty cool.

However it caused little damage and allowed Torisu to jump on her and pummel her with blows. Bat displays her fight IQ by doing this kick another two times and getting battered worse each time in the clearest example of diminishing returns you will ever see.

During the 4th round my wife, who has no knowledge of combat sports and hasn't watched the previous three rounds, looks up from feeding the baby and says "I don't mean to be rude but isn't their technique really bad? They are both wide open".

I think that pretty much sums it up. The fight ends and normally as per kickboxing rules it would go to a panel of judges to score each round but there are no judges here so they just instantly announce Bat as the winner despite landing half as many blows as her opponent.

The crowd respond with a chorus of boos. Based on my previous comments it's hard not to think that the line between work and shoot has been blurred again as this legitimate contest appears to have had a predetermined decision.

I don't like shows where shoot and worked fights are mixed because the weaknesses of both are highlighted and the shoot fights are tainted with the idea that they too are predetermined.

This match does more to reinforce my belief than change it. As a palate cleanser in the middle of a show I guess it would be fine but it's second on the card here and it goes way too long as both women are gassed halfway through. I'm glad that I was able to experience watching this match but I have no desire to watch this or any other matches in the title's lineage ever again.

I think I'm going to spend the next hour watching JBL getting knocked out in the Brawl For All so I can remember how fun shoot fighting can be.

WINNER - AND STILL WWWA MIXED MARTIAL ARTS CHAMPION, BAT YOSHINAGA BY LANDING HALF AS MANY BLOWS?

JAPANESE TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: DEBBIE MALENKO & SAKIE HASEGAWA (C) vs. MARIKO YOSHIDA & TAKAKO INOUE

By JCH

First up. I’m not sure who is who in this match as the commentary and all the text is in Japanese. I am making educated guess that Debbie Malenko is the non-asian lady. Meaning her partner is Hasegawa. Hopefully Inoue or Yoshida will get name dropped fairly early. The crowd is massive. From a google Inoue is in the long hair.

Her team appear to be the heels as they forego the handshake to attach Hasegawa and start on top with some intense 2 on 1 Inoue locks in a deep Boston Crab early doors here. Then catches an attempted kick from Hasegawa into an ankle lock which she transitions into a grapevine, almost a single leg figure-four.

Yoshida comes in and continues to work the leg. Debbie gets tagged in and takes a poor looking snap mare before then bridging out of a pin, holding on to the neck and hitting a stunner. Ridiculous to the sublime. I think that was a 5 minute call. That has flown by.

Jumping piledriver from Debbie for a casual 2 as Yoshida bridges out. Hasegawa and Inoue back in now, this time with Hasegawa on offence. We get dropkicks and a big suplex. There is a very goo space to this. There is also intensity in the submission attempts with a lot of transitions. ZSJ style.

This match is so quick it almost feels edited together at times. Superplex gets Inoue a 2 as I’m struggling t keep up with the action. I think that was a combo atomic drop from Inoue as Yoshida came off the top with a drop kick……I need to stop typing here and make sure I’m watching fully.

Checking back in as Debbie channels her inner OJ and locks on a half crab that the transitions into something not dissimilar to a cattle mutilation but the opponents legs are under her bridge rather than facing the other way in Danielson’s version. The crowd get very excited as Debbie puts the surfboard on. There is a dubious tag that Connolly would have hated but I don’t care as Inoue is now wailing on Debbie. This is bloody great.

Yoshida hits a moonsault arm drag, it looked fun bit also totally unnecessary. Debbie getting doubled team a lot, she then catches a back elbow and hold on into a roll up. She doesn’t execute the roll up very well. She is weird. Some insane tekkers but struggling with the basics. Hasegawa in and hits some kicks. Scoop slam sets up Debbie for the diving elbow which she misses, but she meets Inoue on top and hits a huge belly to belly off the top rope.

Hasegawa then with a splash for 2. Yoshida hits a big climbing DDT but Debbie breaks up the count. Then Inoue/Yoshida start hitting dropkicks. Everything has broken down. No-one knows who’s legal. Dives to the outside begin. We end up with Hasegawa and Yoshida exchanging roll ups, both of which looked like they’s be 3.

There is a mad sequence off double teams from Inoue/Yoshida which ends with a double DDT off the top on Hasegawa. The red calls 2 despite no shoulder being up as Debbie sort of hit the back to break it up but no-one noticed. Inoue hits Hasegawa with a bridging fisherman I think for the win.

SUMMARY: Really good match, some sloppiness but was at a real good pace and full of action. The sloppiness came across as a bit real. Loved that. Great choice!

WINNERS - AND NEW JAPANESE TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS, MARIKO YOSHIDA & TAKAKO INOUE BY BRIDGING FISHERMAN

IWA WORLD TITLE MATCH: KYOKO INOUE (C) VS MANAMI TOYOTA

By Brum

When you’re with your WrestleMates, especially in your wild youths & after a few shandies, a topic that from time to time dares to rear its Greg Valentine of a head is that of “best wrestler ever”.

The same names crop up: Flair, Misawa, Michaels, Huxley. People may even throw a modern name into the mix; American Dragon or Okada, for example. One name that doesn’t get the same level of attention is Manami Toyota.

I hope JCH doesn’t read this, because he’ll be fucked off that I’m using Meltzer’s opinions as a barometer, but I find it a helpful guide to match quality & I’m going to use it here. The only wrestlers in history with more 5 star matches from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter than Toyota are The Four Pillars of Heaven, Omega, & Okada.

I’m not saying Toyota is the best wrestler ever. It’s a complex subjective debate & I’m a halfwit grunt. I’m just saying I’m really looking forward to watching this match.

Toyota is in all black with Inoue smashing the tassels in a wonderful way. It’s like if Ultimate Warrior bred with Marty Jannetty but 2000% less problematic.

Match starts off with them both trying a dropkick. Then Inoue pulls off some nice rope running evasions before hitting a spinning powerslam. Some more shit happens & Toyota ends up hitting Inoue with a dive to the outside. We’re only about 20 seconds in. No chance I’m going to play-by-play this.

After the frantic start, Toyota slows things down with a range of submissions, mainly working the arm & shoulder but not being too discriminatory. When Toyota tries to bring things to the feet, she is felled with some double chops & it’s Inoue’s turn to show off her submission repertoire including a crab; some surfboard variations; and family favourite, the camel clutch.

After wearing Toyota out on the ground, Inoue decides to throw her about a bit. We then get a lovely spot where Inoue hits a springboard arse attack to the outside. Back in the ring & Inoue is all over Manami. A bridging fisherman gets a 2 count.

Inoue tries a pop-up move but Toyota reverses into a dropkick! This gives her a new lease of life & she proceeds to missile drop kick the shit out of Inoue. After about 7 of them, including one from the top rope, she gets a 2 count. A bridging suplex gets another 2.

A springboard arse attack brings Inoue back in it though and she’s back to her submission work. When she does get up, it’s the reverse situation to earlier as this time Toyota makes the most of the break with another missile dropkick. A dive to the outside seemingly sees Manami back in control but, still on the outside, Inoue hits her signature springboard arse attack but off the guardrail!

Inoue goes for a German back in the ring, but it’s reversed into a pin! We then get a great sequence where Manami is trying to lock in an Octopus stretch but Inoue keeps fighting out. Toyota then locks in a strange rolling stretch move which results in a magistral cradle variation. Gets a 2 count. This is madness. Crowd are loving it too.

Toyota hits another missile dropkick. And another. And a third brutal one to the jaw. And a fourth to the chin. Is this it? Inoue kicks out! She tries another but is caught in midair & Inoue goes straight back into her submissions focused on crippling Toyota’s back. Crab. Surfboard. Camel clutch. Repeat.

Toyota looks dead. But Inoue makes the mistake of going to the feet again & Toyota shoots off the ropes and does some mad looking flippy pin which I’m not going to describe. It’s only a 2 count and a splash attempt hits Inoue’s knees! Inoue then gives us a Cesaro swing!

The pace becomes a sprint now with Toyota fighting back & hitting a German followed by a series of attacks to the outside! This is great. Dragon suplex. Missed moonsault. Inoue does some weird inverted surfboard. I have no idea what’s going on.

Inoue then hits a coffin drop which only gets a 2. Next it’s time for trading pinfalls. Inoue chases Toyota up top and suplexes her onto her neck. Jesus. Not satisfied, she now hits Toyota with a disgusting neck first sit out powerbomb. Fuck me. This must be it. Toyota kicks out!!! The amount of shit her back & neck have gone through is obscene.

That gives her a third wind & she hits another dragon suplex! Only a 2 though! The crowd are loving this. More back & forth but Toyota manages to clasp the wrists! This can mean only one thing: JAPANESE OCEAN CYCLONE SUPLEX!!! It is enough for the 3 & we have a new champ!!

Toyota is ecstatic & so are the crowd. She gets a belt & a whack-off trophy.

SUMMARY: Wowzer squared. The pacing of that match was great. It seemed to flip between gruelling submission stretches & mental sprints. The basic story of Inoue destroying Toyota’s back was punctuated with fast-paced brutal wrestling & a shitetonne of missile dropkicks. Go watch this match: It’s not like you’ve got anything else on.

WINNER & NEW CHAMP – MANAMI TOYOTA WITH THE JAPANESE OCEAN CYCLONE SUPLEX!!!

ALL PACIFIC TITLE MATCH: BISON KIMURA (C) vs. TOSHIYO YAMADA

By Dom Van Dam

G’day lads and welcome to something I have absolutely no idea about. I’m aware of AJW and how important it is to the history of wrestling. I know about Nakano and Kong from 1994-95 WWF and I know about Toyota because of Chikara in the early 2000s, but this is definitely my first experience of watching a full AJW match which doesn’t involve any of those three women.

This is your penultimate match of the evening which to me suggests that it’s either the semi-main or a popcorn match. I have no idea what to expect. But I have it on good authority that this is for a championship called the “All Pacific Title” and we have Bison Kimura, seen here in fabulous leopard print with bull heads instead of spots, defending against Toshiyo Yamada.

Yamada seems to want to play the striking game early, throwing a couple of glancing spinning back kicks but Bison would seem to be the superior mat wrestler because as soon as things go to the mat, it is Kimura who takes over.

These 2 are genuinely booting the piss out of each other. The kicks are absolutely wild, some of them land, some of them miss. But the lack of control of the strikes, completely adds to the realism of the fight and the danger for the competitors.

It’s a little bit like having a bat in the cricket nets against bowlers with different skill levels. You’d much rather face someone who’s a bit quicker but knows where they are bowling than a rubbish bowler who could bounce you one ball, then beam you the next. If you don’t know where these kicks are going, it’s far scarier to watch.

There’s plenty of mat work in the guts of this match, an inverted surfboard by Bison, a horse collar by Yamada. But every now and then someone will just reel off a series of strikes. This Yamada is stiffer than a prom night dick and Bison finally sells one of these kicks, reeling on the outside of the ring.

I make reference to this because Yamada takes the opportunity to take a swig of water from her corner men and have a spit in a bucket; outstanding!

In 1992 I was 5 years old and I loved wrestling but my mum definitely wouldn’t have let me watch this; it’s mad! Everytime Bison looks like she’s in trouble she drills an open hand palm strike/over hand chop and takes back control.

Yamada hits 2 textbook backdrop drivers but as she goes for the third Bison shifts her weight into a crossbody and pinning combination. This must be all...NO!

It feels like the finishing stretch now as Bison takes over with 3 more big palm strikes. Liger would be proud of this as the palm strike count must now be up over 20. The champ is up on top and comes crashing down with a twisting splash/headbutt and that will be all. 1,2,3.

SUMMARY: I was bang into that by the end, buying the false finishes and all. Drink lots of water; look after your mates.

WINNER - AND STILL ALL-PACIFIC CHAMPION, BISON KIMURA BY TOP ROPE SPLASH

WWWA WORLD TITLE MATCH: BULL NAKANO (C) vs. AJA KONG

By Pete Hitchcock

WWWA Women's Championship Match Main event time and there is the dramatic bell ring before the music hits for Aja's entrance. She's got a pair of bins with her and I'm guessing one or two of them is going right over or into Bull's head. Badass lady.

Bull out next and she looks like a goddamn first stage of a final boss. Expecting her to turn red halfway through the match and grow two extra arms. Would you believe this woman is now one of the world's sexiest golfers!? Also, how the hell did they get her hair to stick up like that, she must be on some industrial grade product.

I've seen these two have a cool and hard hitting cage match which I think is later chronologically but this is the first time I've seen this one. Aja gets things started with some stiff elbows but Bull quickly firing back with headbutts until Aja says "nah!" and drops Bull with a headbutt of her own and some dropkicks.

The work is basic but the pace is frantic to start off and Aja is just playing with Bull. You always think of Nakano as a hoss type but I always was under the impression that Aja Kong was still bigger and Nakano was always the underdog in their rivalry but in the early stages they looked pretty physically equal, which was cool.

Aja throws Bull into some chairs and is happy to win by countout, nice touch as the title usually can change on countout or DQ in Japanese promotions. NA-KA-NO chants as Bull slowly walks back to the ring clutching her face, wonder if its her paint or a blade job we will see when she removes her hand. That hairspray didn't last long.

Back in the ring and Kong is having a grand old time punching and headbutting Nakano repeatedly in the face before trying to bite her hair out. Every time Bull tries to get up, a mid kick knocks her back down. A brief bit of fire by Bull is snuffed out and the urgency that was there at the start has apparently vanished before Kong goes in for a chinlock.

Well, there's Orton's case for being an all-time great legitimised again. Kong starts literally kicking Bull's ass when she's in the ropes before casually hitting a piledriver...two piledrivers! I feel they missed a step in the middle. The crowd is not reacting to the piledrivers - a third piledriver - at all, another illustration of how the move is treated in Japan set against the West.

Bull gets sent into the buckles but reverses a body slam attempt into a snap suplex and a pair of big old lariats coming off that wake the crowd up. In Japan, it's all about the lariat. Bull now takes Kong out and whacks her right in the head with a chair. Again, as with New Japan's chair rules, it makes no sense.

Kong shakes herself back to reality, sort of, walking back to the ring and she's doing a great job of selling the chair, walking right into a cool suplex by Bull before she goes for essentially the joshi version of the Stratusfaction.

The role reversal continues as Bull takes a bite out of Aja's face before coming off the ropes with a bicycle kick into a chinlock of her own. Camel clutch follows and Bull just starts kicking the crap out of Kong and Aja is bleeding, now we are in business.

Uraken misses but a second connects! Kong is knackered and bloody though and Nakano takes control back with a big backdrop for 2 followed by an X-FACTOR! Or a Bella Buster, if we are paying tribute to true strong-style joshi legends. Straightjacket stretch follows but Kong rolls back and kicks Bull in the head and bin shot time!

The ref is mildly annoyed by this. Clearly Wrestlemarinepiad does not care about DQs. Kong comes off the top with a splash but it's also only 2, which shocks the crowd. It's difficult to tell how loud they are due to the muffled audio but another Uraken follows and a groggy Bull only survives by grabbing the rope. Each time she gets up, an Uraken follows and she's absolutely back to square one.

This is waking the crowd up but Bull eats too many Urakens and Aja gets 2 on her when she's unable to get up. Bull quickly reverses an Irish whip and lariats Kong in the back of the head in a cool spot before heading up top herself and hitting the legdrop she has pinned Kong with at other points but it's only 2!

Crowd into this now as Bull misses a Somersault Leg Drop off the top and Kong basement dropkicks her to the outside before heading up top for a crossbody to the outside. Perhaps for the best, there were a few people to catch her. Suplex is not quite reversed and looks a bit rough so Kong heads up top. Bull tries to reverse it into a Sunset Flip Powerbomb but doesn't get all the way and Kong comes down on top of her!

That looked rough and is definitely one of those classic "was that a botch or planned" spots, at least Aja goes for the cover but its only 2. Kong goes back up but Bull shoves her to the outside before hitting a suicide dive. Body slam back on the inside and Bull heads up for the Somersault Leg Drop but it's only 2!

Huge shock from the crowd but Bull stays on it and body slams her again and hits a Moonsault for the 3. This was pretty enjoyable but it definitely had some weird pacing issues. I liked how stiff it was wrestled and they made good use out of spamming the Uraken in the middle at least.

SUMMARY: It's a good match but it's not a classic by any stretch like the Toyota match on this show.

WINNER - AND STILL WWWA CHAMPION, BULL NAKANO BY MOONSAULT

PREVIOUS NERD WATCHES:

MATT C - SUMMERSLAM 92

CHARLIE - SURVIVOR SERIES 99

SHAFI - SUMMERSLAM 94

NINETIES MIKE - THE WRESTLING CLASSIC

JCH - WRESTLE KINGDOM 7

DOM - HEATWAVE 98

N/A - SUMMERSLAM 2019

PETE - SAKURA GENESIS 2017

ROSS - WORLD WAR 3 1997