Joshi Spotlight: Collision in Korea & Bridge of Dreams

Most North Koreans are relatively small, compact, and conservative in how they handle themselves. When it was time for the Japanese women to wrestle, they didn’t know how to react.

“These female wrestlers were just completely from another planet,” remembers CNN correspondent, Mike Chinoy.

“Bull Nakano had hair dyed blue, and it went straight up about six or eight inches. She was wearing a white sleeveless shirt over a leotard with half-calf boots. Manami Toyota sported a black leotard with partly opened arm coverings and looked like a dominatrix from some S&M movie. And these North Korean men were sitting there staring. Whether they had any idea what this was about is entirely beyond me.”

–https://prowrestlingstories.com/pro-wrestling-stories/collision-in-korea/

COLLISION IN KOREA:
(April 28-29, 1995)
* So today I’ll be doing a double-whammy, as we’ve hit the point in my reviews were they stars of AJW and other Joshi promotions hit both the Tokyo Dome’s Bridge of Dreams show, and go to North Korea for the WCW/NJPW dual-show, Collision in Korea! This is AJW’s contribution to the Collision in Korea double-show, as they apparently stuck to themselves and quietly went out there and wrestled. Though I think this is how Kensuke Sasaki met Akira Hokuto, his future wife.

AKIRA HOKUTO vs. BULL NAKANO:
* So they’re teaming up the next night, but today they fight each other- AJW’s top two stars, even then. Bull’s in all-black, with her giant blue hair, and Akira’s in green & white.

Bull immediately blows minds by helicopter-whipping Akira around the ring by her hair, then hits a monster press slam while screaming- I have no idea what the men in the crowd could have been thinking. She comes off Bret’s Rope with a lariat but Akira snags her in an armbar, then a rana (bonks her head on the mat, there) for two. Bull clobbers her with a lariat and chokes away, getting meaner and meaner during this protracted beatdown. Man, the crowd heat here is either super-artificial or literally at gunpoint, because the roaring doesn’t match the stuff in the bout. Akira throws a flurry of kicks to come back, and a big missile kick gets two. Bull pulls out the NUNCHUCKS, but waves them around after using them and takes a German for it. Bull grabs the hair and hits a Kneeling Powerbomb for two, Gullotine Legdrop! Arrogant cover… two! She climbs again, but takes a pretty bad Super Rana (Akira just puts a thigh over Bull’s neck and falls back for it), setting up a plancha when Bull rolls out. Back in- Northern Lights Bomb gets two! Akira goes for another, but Bull hits a big backdrop for two- but misses the Double-Leg Somersault Guillotine, and Akira snags her with a reverse rana into a Japanese Leg Roll Clutch for the pin (8:05).

Actually pretty good match, though very abridged. Came off like a **** classic that had the middle cut out of it so it was just 7 minutes of start-up and then a finishing series. The finish was pretty out of nowhere by Joshi standards, but would fit in elsewhere- missing a finisher and getting caught is pretty big in any promotion where MDKs aren’t the order of the day.

Rating: **3/4 (fine enough match, and both are awesome enough they can slack off into *** territory pretty easy, but obviously diminished from their best)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaUkJFIz3jM

About 30 minutes in.

AKIRA HOKUTO & BULL NAKANO vs. MANAMI TOYOTA & MARIKO YOSHIDA:
* Kind of an interesting selection, as Hokuto hadn’t shown up since Big Egg Wrestling Universe, Bull was only part-time (and had only recently lost the WWF Title to Alundra Blayze- not sure if this was when she was fired for having coke on her), and Yoshida was still a midcard talent. I strongly suspect she’s here just to eat the pin since the company obviously doesn’t put a lot of “importance” on this bout. Manami’s in black, Yoshida’s in white, Bull’s in a white shirt over black and Akira’s in yellow & white. Eric Bischoff, Mike Tenay and some super-quiet guy are on commentary.

They do a standard joshi opening with Yoshida getting tossed around but luring the monsters into a Toyota dive, but they clumsily catch her and everyone kinda falls over. Bull runs them over with a double-lariat and Toyota goes 1.2 Jannetty off another one, astounding Bischoff. The heels keep playing to the crowd trying to get a reaction- notes on the show indicate that the audience was bewildered and silent for most of the night, and Dave Meltzer pointed out the women had the roughest go, considering how otherworldly this looked in North Korea. Manami eats a hairwhip but gets her dropkick reversal and two second-rope dropkicks. Yoshida’s in but takes a lariat/flying splash combo for two. Roundhouse kick & piledriver earn Akira a two-count, and they work Yoshida over with a variety of stuff until she hits her Cartwheel Dodge and then a cartwheel handspring elbows in the corner! Perfect Plex gets two, but she climbs too soon and eats a Superduperplex for the same!

Bull clobbers Akira by mistake, but Manami flies off the top, hitting feet- Bull Powerbomb gets two! She tries another but gets Manami Rolled, but manages to reverse a double-suplex and take the babyfaces over! Akira misses a splash and gets double-dropkicked out, the heels eating Yoshida’s dive and the Running No-Hands Springboard Plancha from Manami! Moonsault in the ring gets two- she tries for the Japanese Ocean Cyclone Suplex but gets victory rolled for two! She boots Akira as she tags out, and Yoshida runs right into a perfect Bridging German for two. Bull comes in to mop up, but Yoshida gets tossed into the corner and runs up for her cross-body for two! Bull no-sells two dropkicks so Manami comes in for a double one, knocking her on her ass. But she ducks a double-lariat and Akira flies off with a double-dropkick, and they dump the faces for her insane Tope Con Hilo! And they toss Yoshida back in and Bull executes her with a perfect Guillotine Legdrop at (8:35).

Actually a very good match- they weren’t trying to kill each other but this was still WAY above a House Show match- the pace was blistering and never slowed down, everyone getting their shit in and abridging the AJW Style down to just their signature moves, which creates this kind of non-stop action-packed frenzy of stuff. Like seriously, just recapping that took two paragraphs- about what I’d need for a match DOUBLE that length, because they just left out all the “filler” and went right for the meat.

Rating: ***1/2 (this would have astounded people in the West at the time- women just flying around with a huge assortment of big moves. And they could EASILY have hit ****1/2 with the same talent!)

BRIDGE OF DREAMS:
* This was Joshi’s contribution to the Bridge of Dreams show, when most of the promotions of Japan brought their best acts out to try and show up the other companies. And New Japan ended it with the laziest Hashimoto/Chono match of all time, thus making themselves look ridiculous when All Japan, JWP, AJW, etc. were all bringing ****+ matches. Alas, the show was deleted off YouTube again when Maffew got his account suspended. But here are my reviews written from when it was still there!

JWP PROJECT:
DYNAMITE KANSAI, HIKARI FUKUOKA, CANDY OKUTSU & FUSAYO NOUCHI vs. DEVIL MASAMI, MAYUMI OZAKI, CUTIE SUZUKI & HIROMI YAGI:
* Kansai’s in yellow, Hikari’s in leopard print, Candy’s in black & Nouchi’s in red. Devil’s in purple, Ozaki’s in red, Cutie’s in white & Yagi’s in purple. It’s more or less all of JWP’s top-tier talent in one match, minus the injured Plum.

And the crowd is introduced to the “Joshi Pace” immediately, as there’s a million tags and a four-person boot on Kansai, but she clobbers Yagi. Funny spot as three people alternate kicking Hikari in the head while she crabs Yagi. Candy giant swings Hikari, but this pisses off Devil, who swings Nochi in revenge- oh yeah, they’ve got this crowd already. Ozaki Powerbombs Nochi, then snaps an armbar on Kansai, who stuffs Cutie’s attacks and backdrop drives her to death. Hikari botches a corner move, but recovers with the POPEYE PUNCH that Yagi sells with an “ass over teakettle” bump- lol. I love that ridiculous, stupid, wonderful move. She lands a Rolling Cradle on Cutie, but eats a Dragon Suplex off another Punch. Double DDT, then a Doomsday Device Senton Attack from Ozaki gets two! Powerbomb gets two, but Ozaki eats mat on a Turning Splash and takes Hikari’s Moonsault! Kansai kicks her to hell, but Ozaki reverses Splash Mountain with the Tequila Sunrise (half-nelson/tiger suplex) for two! Powerbomb gets two, but Devil’s Guillotine Legdrop misses and Kansai TRUCKS her with an unbelievable kick. The whole crowd “oohs” as she sells that perfectly.

Devil slips out of Splash Mountain, so Candy Germans her in a cute bit, and a Northern Lights Suplex gets two for Kansai. Nochi hits a missile kick, and the giants annihilate the corner midgets and lariat each other in a great spot. Devil Overthrow Powerbombs Yagi ONTO Kansai, then hits a regular Powerbomb while Ozaki & Cutie do stereo flying headbutts! Yagi Flying Splash off Devil’s shoulders for two! Yagi gets cute and gets killed, but then everyone brawls and it’s QUADRUPLE PLANCHAS from Devil’s team! Yagi takes a flying splash from Candy, but tears into her leg and hits a judo flip and climbs- Pop-Up Northern Lights Superplex from Candy! She hits Rolling Germans (!!) until Cutie interferes to save Yagi’s corpse, and Devil & Kansai lariat each other again. Double Flying Stomp from Cutie & Ozaki, then Devil launches Kansai off the top with an inverted Fameasser (!). Every pin is getting blocked by a swarm of teammates, which is great. Devil climbs again, and catches Candy and LAUNCHES her when she tries another pop-up move, but that costs her- Kansai moves in and hits SPLASH MOUNTAIN OFF THE TOP!!! That gets the easy three-count at (17:29).

Good GOD- what a great showcase of the “GO GO GO” Joshi style, with a match that never slows down. Ozaki led the match because she rules, Masami led the crowd-pleasing spots and character bits, and Kansai got all those “I’M THE ACE!” power bits. Then you get all those inventive double-teams, the great counters, the crowd-pleasing spots (quadruple planchas, etc.), and more. Again and again you saw epic moves delivered and callbacks to earlier, until Kansai took a major shitkicking and reversed one move for the win. And hell, look at Candy- making herself a STAR, there!

Rating: ****3/4 (I hope they walked into the back and were like “Beat THAT!”)

LLPW:
MIXED STYLE MATCH:
SHINOBU KANDORI vs. HARLEY SAITO:
* LLPW has a weird one- a Worked Shoot match.

Nothing much to this one, as they work it so quickly you can’t tell whether or not it’s fake. Saito gets a head kick and Kandori’s up at “5”, then she does some judo choke attempts (why are their counts AND grappling?) until the punches get too overwhelming, and Saito gives up at (1:12).

Rating: DUD (I mean, I guess they wanted to show women could do fake shoots, too?)

AJW:
MANAMI TOYOTA & BLIZZARD YUKI vs. AJA KONG & KYOKO INOUE:
* These wrestlers all just won a Survivor-style match to determine who could wrestle here. Manami’s in black, Yuki’s in blue, Aja’s in pink (!!), and Kyoko’s in paint-splatter and tassels. OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHH- Manami makes sure to hold up the WWWA Title right in front of the ramp, so that Aja can see the title she just lost- EPIC MOVE!

Manami fires off a missile dropkick immediately, but the bigger team bowls them over and hit stereo running lariats all the way down the ramp and over the ropes- HAIL JOSHI! Aja beats Manami all over the ring and Kyoko throws on her crowd-pleasing, wacky submissions, but throws Manami to the ropes- Running No-Hands Springboard Cross-Body! Goddamn, how many people in wrestling could ever do that? Yuki throws on Rolling Butterfly Suplexes, but soon gets overpowered and they slug her around. Manami gets the Rolling Cradle on a second attempt on Kyoko, and Dropkick Spam gets two. Kyoko slingshots off the ropes with a dropkick of her own, Aja sits on Manami from a sunset flip but misses a splash, then catches her coming off the top and slams her, only to eat the dropkick reversal! Aja kills Yuki with a Vader Attack, piledriver & Backdrop Driver. Yuki takes a surfboard from Kyoko but manages two Savate Kicks on Aja, then Manami eats a fireman’s toss from Kyoko. Manami gets bent like gumby, turning a series of restholds into a crowd-popping bit, then they splatter her with avalanches in the corner.

Aja Powerbomb gets two, and Kyoko hits the Run-Up Flying Back Elbow for the same, but a Manami Roll (an insane somersault up the body into a rolling sunset flip) gets two! Yuki gets killed by lariats for two- Manami flies in to interfere, but Kyoko nails both with her Slingshot Backsplash move! Toyota/Yuki knock their opponents out of the ring and hit Suicida-style moves that the camera TOTALLY misses, then Manami uses her insane top-rope Quebrada on both. Doomsday Device Dropkick on Kyoko gets two! Yuki climbs, but it’s a Pop-Up Belly-To-Belly Superplex for two! Niagara Driver (over-the-shoulder Ligerbomb) attempt, but Yuki rolls out, dodges a lariat and hits a BEAUTIFUL Uranage! And AJA gets one! Kyoko gets three more, but BARELY kicks out. Manami goes for the Japanese Ocean Cyclone Suplex (straightjacket electric chair drop suplex w/ bridge), but Kyoko snaps off a German Suplex hold for two. Manami dodges Aja’s Uraken (spinning backfist), but tries another Manami Roll and they do the “Powerbomb Reversal” spot out of that. Then it’s ANOTHER Toyota/Aja spot, as Aja aims for the Super Mountain Bomb finisher, but Manami rolls out and hits a Sunset Flip Powerbomb from there, for two! They absolutely crush Manami with a Doomsday Device/Run-Up Flying Back Elbow for a… “Fuck YOU!” bridge! Manami is insane! Aja’s Uraken is blocked again, and Manami hits the Japanese Ocean (double-hammerlock) Suplex… but can’t hold a bridge! Manami charges, but eats a HUGE Uraken, and Yuki has to save her. Kyoko hits the Niagara Driver on her while Aja lands the Super Mountain Bomb for the win (17:46) to deflate the crowd.

This was a very typically-great AJW style tag match with a fast start, slower early period, then rapid double-teams and reversals as time went on. The precision wasn’t exactly there (Manami & Yuki slid out of a fair bit of moves before they hit “flush”), but you could tell they were doing a showcase style “Greatest Hits” of all their big moves and spots, mostly with Manami & Kyoko showing off all the cool shit they could do that nobody else could match. Kyoko’s incredible Pop-Up Belly-To-Belly Superplex and Toyota’s “jump right onto the top rope without using my hands” thing are just… I mean, this is why you watch AJW. It felt like there was still another gear or two in there (Manami didn’t even hit her finisher, and Yuki felt like she was barely a part of the match), but it was still high-tier.

Rating: ****1/4 (your everyday amazing AJW match- ho-hum)

There’s also a Sakie tape around this time, featuring a handful of matches. It’s only an hour and a half long, and the main feature is a rematch of the Tokyo Dome “Bridge of Dreams” match.