Tuesday, June 5, 2012

LLPW Live Battle '97 8/15/1997

Come on, like I need an excuse to review a LLPW show!

Sachie Abe vs. Miho Watabe
Both girls looked pretty good in this but Miho tends to get a little sloppy when doing highflying moves. The crowd was into this and Miho did some nice dropkicks. Good stuff, Sachie wins. ***

Miyuki Sogabe vs. Keiko Aono
Aono looked like a vet in this match. Reminded me of a young and spunky Dynamite Kansai. Miyuki got better as the match went on after she figured out what she was doing wasn't working. Again good stuff. The Jd' girls were a vastly underrated bunch. **3/4

Harley Saito vs. Noriyo Tateno
Harley was pretty fired up for this, which makes for a good match. Tateno nailed Harley with a great slap in this that seemed to wake Harley up. Tateno hit some really nice powerbombs on Harley. The finish was a little sudden, but it was good. **1/2


Handicap Elimination Match: Rumi Kazama & Michiko Omukai vs. Michiko Nagashima & Sayuri Okino & Miwa Sato
Just a warning ahead of time than I may confuse the girls a little in this match. Omukai would move onto bigger and better things soon after this and Rumi would move onto adult video a long time after this. I love Nagashima's zebra style gear.  She does a La Silla onto Rumi onto a table that seriously had to hurt.  The crowd is into Omukai for this and for good reason.  She had some super fiery comebacks. Matches like these show the beauty of LLPW's filming style as there's no commentary so you can hear most of whats said and the camera shots are great. They really make you sympathize for the girls when they go splat across the canvas.  Nagashima was so good with the cane shots in this that I wondered if the Sandman was taking lessons. Omukai tries to save Rumi from a chairshot in this by diving on top of her which was cool.  Omukai puts down Okino after a failed mist attempted to make it 2 on 2. Rumi hits a nasty backdrop into a powerbomb to take out Sato and make it 2 on 1. Rumi then takes out Nagashima for the win. Great match. ***1/2

Kandori & Mizuki Endo vs. Yumiko Hotta & Maekawa
This is what I'm talking about. Someone's getting kicked. Endo goes down right at the beginning of this after rushing her opponents before the bell. Work or shoot? I don't know.  Kandori launches her robe at Hotta during the announcements and I love it. Endo and Hotta ground and pound each other and it's great. Endo has the worst haircut I have ever seen on a woman. Maekawa hits a totally sweet dropkick early on. Hotta and Maekawa light Endo up like the 4th of July. Tons of nasty shots in this. We finally get Kandori in this and she OWNS. She totally shows Maekawa who is boss and actually holds back on her. The best is when she takes a high kick and laughs at her. Kandori has Maekawa in a sleeper and Hotta tries to come in but Kandori just points at her and looks and Hotta stops dead in her tracks.  Hotta low kicks Kandori later and Kandori wipes it off with her hand. Kandori does a great counter from the position where she would about to be powerbombed. Endo is so spunky in this. She has it, I don't know what it is, but she has it. More nasty shots by Maekawa. There's one part were she kicks Endo in the face three times while holding her leg in the air the whole time, impressive. Hotta and Kandori mess up a pyramid suplex spot and Kandori takes one hardway on her head. Not good times. Another fun spot is when Kandori has Maekawa in a sleeper and tries to interfere again. Kandori points at her and she goes away then Kandori jumps her and puts the choke on her. Maekawa hits a great step kick on Kandori and Kandori goes to GnP her. Kandori lifts Maekawa when Maekawa was sitting on her back and just tosses her like garbage. Kandori puts the fujiawa armbar on her for the win. This was really great stuff. The middle was a little slow but it was heated, stiff, believeable and Kandori showed me what great pro wrestling is all about in this. ****1/4.

Vacant LLPW/FMW/Jd' 6 Woman Tag Titles: Eagle & Shark & Lioness vs. Futagami & Kurenai Yasha & Midori
Eagle/Shark/Lioness are a great gang. They had a great little run with some great matches. They all look really boss and look like superstars. The face girls all wear the same colors which are sweet. More teams need coordinated colors. Tommy Ran gets handed like 6 different belts and can't even hold all of them. There were so many champions and stuff in this the announcer almost had a heart attack trying to say them all. GAMI looks totally unrecognizable in this. Donuts and dreadlocks will do that to you. Again, great camerawork in this match. Sawai CRUSHES Yasha with an Avalanche. The turnbuckle almost gave out on it. I don't know who the masked chick is with Shark's gang but I like it. Shark sickles Yasha and Yasha sells it so well.  10 star selling right there. Yasha goes for the tag and Shark steps on her wrist preventing it while flicking off her partners. Awesome. Lioness does a nice 8 rotation big swing on Yasha and just tosses her. More great selling by Yasha. EAGLE GIVES HER A NOOGIE ON HER CUT. LIONESS puts Yasha in a clutch and waves Yasha's arm at her opponents and gets so close to tagging Yasha out. Then she yells, BAKA. Shark does it too and taunts each girl individually as she teases Yasha's tag. The faces try to make a comeback before getting mobbed by the Gang. Midori and GAMI both do awesome hot tag segments and Lioness sends Gami's brain in the 3rd row with an enzugiri. Gami hits a sweeeet russian legsweep and somehow northern light suplexes Eagle. The faces go for a second top rope powerbomb before getting rushed by the gang again. Yasha gets a wooden Katana and goes to town. We need more katana's in pro wrestling. Midori owns it with a German on Eagle. Super powerbomb attempt on eagle #3 and they hit it with a tandem neckbreak attached. Eagle hits some kind of funky tilt-a-whirl from behind. Yasha gets scraped with a lariat/backdrop combo. Eagle gets the powerbomb for the win. This is pro wrestling. *****. Screw it, I'm giving it 5 stars for this. The faces were great faces 101 and the heels were awesome. I don't know if I've ever seen a a better face trios than this team.

Thoughts: You want all of this. Every match was good and the last three in particular were great. This has something for everyone and I want more. GO GET IT. I hate to sit through more than about 30 minutes of wrestling but this tape made it easy.

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