Into the Indies 03.02.10: Merry Old Land of OZ

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Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to Into the Indies, the 411mania column that represents the lollipop guild.

One of the recurring themes in this column since its inception has been my ongoing quest to find some good, old fashioned joshi puroresu that can come close to matching up with the stuff that I watched in the mid and late 1990’s. I wasn’t particularly impressed with SENDAI Girls or Chick Fights SUN, though I did have a good time when I first exposed to Ice Ribbon.

This week, we’ve got a new contender in the race to become Ryan’s favorite place for contemporary joshi: OZ Academy.

OZ Academy, similar to the Perros Del Mal promotion that we looked at last week, began as a stable of wrestlers in another promotion. In this particular instance, the stable was formed in Japan Women’s Pro Wrestling (JWP) and GAEA wrestling in 1997 and headed up by top competitor Mayumi Ozaki. Ozaki, who these days is known for a wild, brawling style, eventually took the concept of her stable and broadened it to the point that the group was running its own shows outside of GAEA and JWP one to two times per year. When GAEA folded in 2005 and the joshi scene became ridiculously fragmented, it was decided that OZ Academy should make the transition from being a part-time promotion to a full-time promotion, with cards usually being held on a monthly basis.

Somewhat surprisingly, despite the fact that there have been many, many offices attempting to run joshi shows in the exact same period of time, OZ Academy has survived over the course of the last five year s and continues to promote shows at a rate of roughly one per month, using a combination of their own trainees as well as wrestlers who were previously competing for GAEA and JWP, some of whom were produced by those promotions and some of whom have roots even further back to the glory days of All Japan Women.

Let’s take a look and see if this promotion could be the one to satiate my appetite for high quality women’s professional wrestling by taking a look at the OZ Academy produced show from November 15, 2009.

Match Numero Uno: Dynamite Kansai vs. Ayumi Kurihara

The first several matches on this show are billed as “Student Confrontations,” essentially matches featuring younger wrestlers going up against veterans. Kansai made her professional wrestling debut in 1986 and Kurihara made her professional wrestling debut in 2005, so we’re definitely fitting that pattern. In all seriousness, though, Kurihara is one of the more inspirational stories in professional wrestling over the last several years, as she shattered in clavicle in a 2007 match and reinjured it when returning to the ring five months later. After that, in order to keep wrestling, she was forced to endure a surgery in which bone was removed from her hip and relocated in order reconstruct her collarbone. Ever since the surgery, she’s been back in the ring and going at it full bore with a ton of spirit.

Kurihara attacks as Kansai is attempting to enter the ring, dropkicking her down to the floor and then heading up to the top rope to nail the veteran with a plancha. Another pair of dropkicks connects as soon as Kansai enters the ring, but Kumihara is backdropped when she attempts an octopus hold. Kumihara misses a dropkick after that and is BRUTALIZED with some big kicks to the back and chest by Kansai. A good looking backdrop suplex connects for Dynamite, and that’s good enough to get her a two count. Dynamite heads to the top rope, though Kumihara avoids her double stomp attempt . . . only to be caught in a claw hold seconds later. Kumihara backs herself into the corner to force a break to the claw hold, and she runs to the opposite corner, where she catches Kansai in a tarantula-esque variation on a cross arm breaker. That softens Kansai up to the point that Kumihara is able to apply her octopus, but Kansai, displaying her strength, walks towards the ropes with Kumihara on her back and forces a break. Kumihara is not deterred, though, as she bounces off the ropes with a codebreaker on her more experienced opponent and then reels of two INSANE dropkicks as Kansai lays in a heap against the bottom rope. The two women begin going back and forth with strikes, and a single shotei from Kansai suffices to take Kumihara off of her feet. The next move in Kansai’s playbook is the splash mountain, but Kumihara slips out of the move and gets a series of rollups, earning a two count on each. It looks like the youngster is building momentum, but she runs straight into a lariat and does an insane flip bump, landing on her face. They actually turn it into a spot in which Kumihara has to answer the referee’s count, and she does so at nine . . . only to be kicked straight in the head by Dynamite when she returns to her feet. The ref applies a count again, and Kumihara is up again. This time she ducks the kick and PLANTS Dynamite with a head and shoulders suplex, hitting a second version of the same move for a two count after Kansai misses a lariat. Kumihara bridges out of a cover at two when a Dynamite lariat does connect, so Kansai kicks her in the face one more top and goes up top for the double stomp. That’s enough to put Kumihara away.

Match Thoughts: This ran less than ten minutes, but it was one of the best sub-ten minute matches that I have seen in a long, long time. The two women went back and forth on one another with snug, believable offense at a breakneck pace, very rarely slowing down and absolutely never stopping. I frankly don’t know if there was any kind of established feud between the two women heading into this match, but, if there were, this would have been the perfect match for a heated rivalry, as the two dug into each other as though they wanted to do more than just win a professional wrestling match. Because of the length, it doesn’t quite approach the level of being a must-see match, but, if you’re interested in being highly entertained for a brief period of time, you can’t go wrong with this one. ***1/4

Match Numero Dos: Aja Kong vs. Tomoka Nakagawa

The clash of generations continues, with Kong, one of the most prolific champions of the All Japan Women era, being positioned against Nakagawa, one of a handful of women who got her start in professional wrestling circa 2005 under the watchful eye of TAKA Michinoku in his Kaientai Dojo promotion. Also, Nakagawa looks like she weighs as much as one of Kong’s thighs.

The tiny woman wants a handshake to start the match, which Kong initially refuses but ultimately accepts when the crowd chants for it. Of course, that’s the setup for a Nakagawa backslide, though it only gets a two count. The smaller wrestler unleashes a series of dropkicks once Aja is off of her feet, though they’re all shrugged off, including the version off of the second rope. Nakagawa begs off when she realizes that Kong is unharmed, and she manages to evade the monster’s chops and stomps, rolling her up again for a nearfall. A rana takes Kong off of her feet yet again, but it only earns a two count. Nakagawa misses an enzuguiri at this point, and that’s where her world of pain begins, as Kong slaps on a half crab hold. Aja turns it into a surfboard when she senses her opponent getting too close to the ropes, and Kong launches her into the mat when she decides it’s time to let go of the hold. Nakagawa wisely slips out of the ring under the bottom rope when she sees Kong charging at her for a corner attack, and she dares the former WWWA Champ to do battle with her down on the arena floor. Of course, when Kong finally hits the floor at the insistence of the crowd, Nakagawa runs from her. This angers Kong to the point that, when she returns to the squared circle, it’s with a metal trash bin in tow. Nakagawa dodges a few swings that Aja takes with the weapon but makes the mistake of catching the bin when it’s thrown at her, which Kong uses as an opportunity to kick the metal into the younger wrestler’s face. An axe bomber from Kong connects, though her top rope elbowdrop misses. Nakagawa connects with a pair of enzuguiri and a missile dropkick from the top, but Aja is out of the ensuing pin attempt at two. She stays on the beast by dropping a leg across the back of her head, but Kong effortlessly pops up and hits a lariat and a backdrop driver. Nakagawa is forced to eat a brainbuster thereafter, and that’s enough to bring the match to a close.

Match Thoughts: Kong used to be an individual who you could always count on for a ***1/2+ match if she was positioned high enough up on the card but now, with almost a quarter-century in the professional wrestling business behind her, she’s slowing down a step or two. Though she is still capable of looking like the Aja of old on very rare occasions, most of what I have seen from her recently is competently worked though full of a vibe that the woman is now attempting to take things easy and enjoy her last few years in the business. I’m not going to blame her for that in a post-Misawa world. This match was the perfect example of the newer, more reserved Kong. You could tell that she was a veteran because she was in the right place at the right time throughout the match and did a great job of setting the pace, but she allowed Nakagawa to be the wrestler handling anything athletic. It made for a fun undercard match on a greater card but nothing worth watching in isolation or that I will ever need to see again. **

Match Numero Tres: Mayumi Ozaki vs. Hiren

Ozaki, as was mentioned at the beginning of the column, is the founder and booker of this here promotion, another quarter-century veteran who fancies herself the “Queen of the Street Fight.” Hiren, her opponent, is a product of the SENDAI Girls promotion that I reviewed several months ago, and she has branched out in to numerous other promotions since the folks over at SENDAI broke her in. Hiren is a production of the SENDAI Girls promotion that I have taken a look at earlier in the run of this column, though she’s done a better job of branching out and getting work with other companies than the majority of SENDAI’s products.

It’s another match that begins with a dropkick as one wrestler enters the ring, this time with Hiren attacking Ozaki. She gets in a couple of clotheslines as well, though Ozaki is largely unaffected and goes to work on Hiren with a version of the stump puller of all things. Hiren escapes and works an armbar, but it has virtually no effect on Ozaki, who is quickly back to slamming her opponent’s face into the ring mat. A rear naked choke is briefly applied, but Hiren rolls to the ropes to force a break. Ozaki gets a chain at this point, walloping her opponent with it while the referee is distracted by one of the girls from Ozaki’s corner. Hiren manages to dodge a running chain shot, though, taking the opportunity to elevate Ozaki up over the top rope and down to the arena floor. That was probably a bad idea, as Ozaki brutalizes the poor girl on the outside, whipping her through rows of chairs and slamming her head into arena doors and bleachers. This results in blood flowing from young Hiren’s head as she is returned to the squared circle, and now the chain is being used directly in front of the referee to little or no consequence. Eventually Ozaki grabs an even larger chain, which has a dog collar attached to it, and wraps the collar around her opponent’s throat. Hiren is hung over the top rope with the device, a spot that I first saw as a child in an angle involving the British Bulldog and the Repo Man. Ah, memories.

Hiren shows some life when she is eventually freed from the trap, grabbing Ozaki’s leg and tripping her when Ozaki attempts to run the ropes before hitting a running boot to kick off a comeback. Ozaki no-sells several basic kicks from Hiren, but she can’t deny her pain when a running Yakuza kick in the corner connects. Then, in an impressive spot, Hiren gets a victory roll-esque pinning combination but continues to roll through it, applying an ankle lock. Ozaki spends a looooong time in the hold before finally making the ropes, and she’s softened up enough to allow Hiren to hit a pair of top rope missile dropkicks, getting two with a jackknife pinning combination before going back to the ankle lock. The ropes are made again, and Ozaki catches Hiren with a series of slaps when she attempts to run the ropes. That sets up a dragon sleeper, but the ropes are now made by Hiren. Ozaki hits a powerbomb out of nowhere for a two count and then hits a couple of relatively safe chairshots. She places Hiren in the seat and tries to charge in with something off of the ropes, but Hiren pops up, catches Ozaki, and gives her the old Raven facebuster spot onto the chair. Ozaki shows virtually no ill effect, rallying and hitting a twisting senton from the top rope for two. She gets her chain back but misses a wild swing and gets rolled up, getting another two for Hiren. However, coming out of the rollup, Ozaki catches a dangerous armbar, forcing Hiren to immediately tap out.

Match Thoughts: Eh. This one didn’t impress me at all. Though there was some joshi integrated into the match, the brawling style that Ozaki wanted to work in made it feel a lot more like a WWF Hardcore Title match from 1999 than an updated version of a Japanese women’s classic from 1995. That’s a style of wrestling which still feels trite and overplayed to me, to the point that, every time I see it, I’m looking and my clock and BEGGING for the match to end instead of paying attention to the brutal blows that the wrestlers are dealing one another. If I’d seen this twenty years ago, it probably would have blown my mind. However, at this point in history, it felt like a waste of time. *

Match Numero Cuatro: Chikayo Nagashima & Toshie Uematsu vs. Sonoko Kato & Tsubasa Kuragaki

We shift away from the “veteran versus rookie” theme, as this tag team match focuses on four women who all broke into the professional wrestling industry at practically the exact same time. The foursome are all roughly fifteen year veterans, with Kato, Nagashima, and Uematsu all being products of the now-defunct GAEA promotion, while Kurakagi originally came from JWP. Uematsu, in a trivia note that some of you may be aware of, is the only woman to ever be acknowledged on American television as holding the short-lived WCW Women’s Cruiserweight Title.

We are joined in progress on this one, with Uematsu and Nagashima double teaming Kato, giving her the old Kaientai camel clutch/dropkick spot. Uematsu stays in the ring but winds up eating some leg kicks from a reenergized Kato, though she avoids a kick to the head and gets a quick rollup. She doesn’t avoid Tsubasa, though, who runs in out of nowhere with a clothesline from the apron to set up a cannonball dive by Kato on to Uematsu, who was slumped in the corner. Kato gives Uematsu another flip dive, this time from the top rope, after which Tsubasa runs in and atomic drops her partner down on to Toshie. Tsubasa tags in legally at this point, and she prevents Uematsu’s attempt at high flying offense with the old Ric Flair beal. Kuragaki fires off a pair of axe bombers and heads to the ropes herself, ultimately applying a big Argentine backbreaker to Uematsu while standing on the middle strand. When she eventually drops Toshie she follows her down with a missile dropkick and then places her into the human torture rack. Uematsu manages to slip off of her opponent’s shoulders and turn that into a cradle. It doesn’t get the victory, but it does cause just enough discord that Toshie is able to slip away and make a tag to Nagashima.

Nagashima goes for a version of a triangle choke on Tsubasa, but the veteran is able to pick her up out of that position and slam her into the mat in a pseudo-powerbomb. Nagashima answers with a SWANK standing tornado DDT and climbs the ropes, but Kato prevents her from going anywhere. Then, in an absolutely insane spot, both Uematsu and Nagashima are stacked on the ropes so that Tsubasa can pull them both off and into a torture rack position before dropping them face-first onto the mat. Tsubasa then gives backdrop drivers to both of her opponents AT THE SAME TIME and looks for a splash mountain on Nagashima. That’s turned into a rana for a two count, and a second attempt at the same move is turned into a victory roll for another nearfall. Tsubasa gets a little bit annoyed at this point, firing off a series of rapid fire strikes to her opponent and tagging in Kato. Kato misses a running boot and looks for a dragon suplex, but Nagashima flips out of it and lands on her feet. That sets up Uematsu hitting a Superfly splash and Nagashima following it immediately with a top rope double stomp, but Kato doesn’t feel like selling it and kicks her opponent in the head. Tsubasa hits a second kick to set up the dragon suplex for real, but Nagashima kicks out and then rolls out of the way when Kato attempts the Alabama jam.

Kato hits a beach break at this point, but Uematsu breaks up the subsequent pin attempt. Tsubasa runs in but is suplexed by Nagashima. A fisherman buster from Nagashima to Kato also connects, followed up immediately by a rana that Kato rolls through for a two count. La magistral from Kato also results in two, but there’s a MALFUNCTION AT THE JUNCTION as Tsubasa runs in and accidentally clotheslines her own partner, leading into another fisherman buster by Nagashima that brings the match to an end.

Match Thoughts: This was a perfectly acceptable, entertaining midcard spotfest. The wrestlers obviously weren’t attempting to put together a main event level contest, but they still went out there and, through the various maneuvers they pulled off, highlighted that they could be main event level performers if placed in that position on the card. I was particularly impressed by the power moves that Tsubasa pulled out, because it’s something different in the world of women’s professional wrestling. Though joshi has had its large, strong heels in the past, they’ve usually relied on more of a Bruiser Brody-esque brawling style as opposed to a style that integrates spots designed specifically to highlight their great physical might. Tsubasa was taking that less-traveled road, and it turned her into a performer who I would like to see more of. **

Match Numero Cinco: Carlos Amano vs. Manami Toyota

If you don’t know who Toyota is, chances are that you’ve not been plugged into the internet wrestling scene for too horribly long. She, at the height of her career fifteen years ago, was considered to be the single best professional wrestler on the face of the earth (male or female) by many people. Her opponent here is Carlos Amano, a competitor who debuted in 1994 with JWP and has become quite the performer in her own right.

It’s a Greco-Roman knuckle lock to start, which Amano uses to set up some headbutts and then a swank flying clothesline. Carlos heads up to the top rope early in the match and connects with a moonsault press, earning a two count. She also hits Toyota’s own ocean cyclone suplex, but she can’t put Manami away with it. Toyota no-sells Amano’s next bit of offense, a German suplex, and then hits her own version of the move for a nearfall. A Toyota missile dropkick connects, but Amano no-sells THAT, though she’s quickly taken down afterwards by a straight boot to the face. Toyota’s moonsault press gets a nearfall, after which Amano reverses an ocean cyclone attempt into a victory roll. Toyota runs the ropes but gets kneed in the head, and then things get even worse for her as she misses a Yakuza kick and gets rolled up. Toyota rolls through, however, turning it into a nearfall of her own. Amano grabs yet another cradle off of the ropes seconds later, and, in a surprising finish, that actually gets her the victory.

Match Thoughts: Those of you who read this column on a regular basis know that my play-by-play is fairly thorough . . . so, if you take note of how short the paragraph above this one is, you should be able to tell that this bout was ridiculously brief. The women showed good speed and good intensity during the time that they DID work together, but, even though they were working well together, they simply didn’t have the opportunity to make it anything special aside from teasing a much longer, more involved match that is yet to come. *1/4

Match Numero Seis: AKINO & Ran Yu-Yu vs. KAORU & Takako Inoue

And now it’s main event time, with another foursome of veteran wrestlers going at it . . . though they’re veterans from different generations. AKINO and Yu-Yu are from the “lost generation” that I wrote about a little bit earlier, while KAORU and Inoue were actually major stars from the glory days of joshi, particularly Inoue, who had some legitimate ***** tag team matches alongside her tag team partner Kyoko Inoue (no relation).

KAORU and Inoue enter first and then wait for their opponents to come through the entranceway, assaulting them. This leads in to a four-way crowd brawl which is pretty hard to follow because the majority of it is shot through a hard camera on the other side of the arena. This all builds to AKINO doing a high cross off of a guardrail on to both of her opponents, after which she winds up in the ring with Inoue. AKINO winds up taking a flip bump off of a dropkick to the knee to set up an Inoue leglock. YuYu tries to make the save, but Inoue will not relent despite her kicks, and the referee ultimately herds Ran back into her corner. In a brilliant little spot, AKINO begins digging her fingernails into Inoue’s skin and scratching her in an attempt to get her to release the hold, causing KAORU to get pissed off and scratch the hell out of AKINO in retaliation. Inoue does let go of the hold and tags in her partner, who applies a figure four to continue punishing AKINO. Takako is back in after that hold comes to an end, and she tries to choke AKINO on the ropes but winds up getting the back of her calf bitten as a result. Inoue responds in kind by biting the top of her opponent’s head before switching off to KAORU. She decides to continue the toothy offense for a bit before hitting a DDT, though her follow up off of the ropes is cut off by AKINO’s dropkick.

Ran YuYu hits the ring for a sweet little charging knee drop on KAORU, which gets a two count. KAORU catches her with a boot and another DDT, but her comeback is cut off when AKINO kicks her in the back form the apron, setting up some double teaming from the good girls. KAORU comes back for real and attempts a backdrop suplex, but Ran elbows her in the back of the head and looks for a German. KAORU elbows out of that and gets kneed in the gut off of the ropes. AKINO checks back into the match at this point and also attempts a backdrop, but it is cut off by an Inoue run-in. That leads up to repeated big boots on AKINO by the heels, but, in another unique spot, AKINO winds up catching one foot of each of her opponents and hitting them with a stereo dragon screw. KAORU stays in the ring and fires back with a spinning backfist before heading up to the top rope, where she misses a nondescript flying move. AKINO goes up as well and misses her second high cross of the match, kicking kicked in the head and covered for two.

Now we’ve got Inoue back in the ring, and she gets nailed from behind by Ran YuYu to set up a jawbreaker by AKINO. Takako responds with another big kick and looks for a moonsault, but YuYu runs in and pulls her off of the top rope and into a fireman’s carry. AKINO gives Inoue a diamond cutter out of the fireman’s position and sets up for a spinning doctor bomb, but Inoue rolls through with a rana for a nearfall. She’s immediately rocked by a big forearm from AKINO, though, which sets up some more double teaming. AKINO and YuYu ping pong Inoue back and forth with kicks and forearm strikes, but they still can’t put her away. They try again with a variant on the Doomsday Device that involves an enzuguiri instead of a clothesline, but it also can’t finish Inoue. Then, in a breathtaking spot, Ran gives Inoue a top rope stomp while, at the same time, AKINO flies out of the ring with a plancha on to KAORU, who had previously been knocked to the floor after some attempted interference. The stomp doesn’t put Inoue away, and it’s not long before KAORU is back up on the apron to cheap shot YuYu. This gives the heels an opening to interject a wooden plank into the ring, and said plank is slammed against the heads of both babyfaces repeatedly.

AKINO and YuYu clear out of the ring to catch a breather, but there’s no rest for them, as Inoue follows them up with a HUGE moonsault body block from the top rope. The bad girls bring YuYu back into the ring for a Doomsday Device, but AKINO saves at two. Inoue then hits three consecutive moonsaults, but AKINO saves again. The heels get pretty fed up with AKINO at this point, resulting in KAORU SHOCKING HER WITH A CATTLE PROD! Shades of the Mountie, right there. With AKINO out of the picture, Inoue hits a Michinoku Driver #2 on Ran, though she still manages to escape the pin attempt at two. A second version of the same move connects, but YuYu is again out at TwoTwo. On a third attempt at the the move, YuYu is able to get a desperation roll-up, but Inoue reverses it into a cradle of her own. It looks like that is going to finish the match, but Mayumi Ozaki runs in and hits Inoue over the head with her chain. They brawl for a bit, and it allows Ran YuYu and AKINO time to recover, eventually hitting some strikes on Inoue and pinning her.

Match Thoughts: Right up until the finish, THIS was everything that I have been missing about joshi puroresu for the last fifteen years. The wrestlers were athletic, they were intense, and, perhaps most importantly, they seemed to have a very firm grasp on little things that they could do throughout the course of the match in order to make it all the more believable and all the more entertaining. It’s not surprising, as Inoue and KAORU are two of the most experienced wrestlers on the entire show and perhaps the ones who performed at the highest levels, while YuYu and AKINO are representatives of what I sometimes call the “lost generation” of joshi, i.e. the ladies who were trained in the old All Japan Women’s style in the later days of the promotion who never go the opportunity to become the majority stars that they could have been if the company did not collapse. I will have to state the obvious and say that the finish took things down here significantly, though, as it was clear that these women could construct an entertaining conclusion to the bout, with that being taken away by the interjection of boards, shock sticks, and Mayumi Ozaki. Oh well, maybe next time . . . ***1/2

Overall

Over the past several months of writing this column, I’d slowly been coming to the conclusion that I should stop comparing modern day joshi to the joshi of old. I started to feel that there was just no comparison and that perhaps I should just begin to enjoy this new brand of women’s professional wrestling for what it is. However, this show pulled me back from that a bit. Though I though that they Ice Ribbon show I reviewed had a certain degree of charm and was a very fun card, it was this OZ Academy show more than anything that I have seen recently which, at points, transported me back to AJW in the mid-1990’s and reminded me why I kept coming back to joshi after giving it one chance on a complete lark. Granted, this wasn’t as good as the very best shows of the glory days or even as good as a slightl above average show from the glory days, but it was the closest approximation that I’ve come across today, and even mediocre joshi of this style is going to be light years ahead of what a lot of male wrestlers and most if not all other female wrestlers can produce. I would recommend this as a good show for anybody who wants to get into modern joshi, though, be warned, it may be difficult for you to get OUT of joshi afterwards.

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