Has anyone ever mentioned that Bull is really cool?
We’re onto Episode Eight of AJW Classics, so we’ll definitely get to the end at some point in 2050. It’s another Crush Gals vs Gokuaku Domei heavy show, but we’re not about to complain about that, are we?
Episode seven of AJW Classics is all from the same show, and it’s a biggy. This was AJW’s Summer Night Festival in Budokan, an event that features at least two legendary matches. It went down on the 22nd of August 1985 and it’s time for us to dive in.
There is a theme to episode five of AJW Classics. All three of these matches took place in April of 1985 during the Fuji Cup and all three feature tag team partners facing off. We’ve got Dynamite Girls, Gokuaku Domei and Crush Gals imploding! Okay, maybe only one of these matches falls into the imploding category, but there is definitely some violence.
Episode three of AJW Classics has us finish up 1984 and move into January of 1985. It’s also a very Crush Gal focused hour of television, with three of the four matches featuring them. That shouldn’t be surprising as they were massive at this point, so if you’re going to focus on anyone, they’re probably a good choice.
Meltzer loved 90’s Joshi, didn’t he? We’re back in AJW where Manami Toyota and Toshiyo Yamada are facing off for the IWA World Title with the added stipulation of it being a Hair vs Hair match. It was the blow-off to a long-running feud which grew out of the two having previously teamed together.
I can’t find any pictures of the match. Have Bull instead.
A quick note before we start, the list I’m using for these five-star matches has a Bull Nakano vs Yumiko Hotta cage match on it that happened around this time. However, I can’t find that anywhere. I haven’t even come across any mentions of it outside of that list. I’m assuming it’s a mistake – Bull wrestled Aja Kong in a cage a few months before – but if anyone can clue me in, please do.
Time to be honest. There is no way I am going to be able to write out a match report for this or even anything close to one. There are twelve women in this and – outside of Nagayo and Asuka – I know nothing about them. They also all wear very similar gear and are constantly switching in and out of the ring. What I’m trying to say, is I don’t have a clue who anyone is. On top of that, I don’t think the full thing is out there. As far as I can tell there’s only a seventeen-minute highlight package online. It’s far from convenient but as Meltzer once described this as the best match he’d ever seen, I don’t think I can miss it out. So I’ll have to do my best with what I have.
It’s safe to say that Jaguar Yokota was cool as fuck.
After the discovery of a whole bunch of 5-star matches that we missed the first time around, Meltzer’s Classics has now dived back into 1985 and to the regular setting of Japan. This is our first women’s match to feature on the list as Jaguar Yokota defends her WWWA Championship against Lioness Asuka. Being honest, I hadn’t heard of either of these women, but a bit of research tells me that they are highly respected in Japan, if not in the West.