This show was the biggest show in Japanese women's wrestling in history up to the show's date in terms of attendance, live gate, and number of promotions involved. All Star Dreamslam Part One was one of the pinnacles of AJW and Japanese women's pro wrestling's "glory years" (late 1992 to 1995). Besides the host AJW, other promotions sent wrestlers to the show, these being Japanese Women's Pro, Ladies Legends Pro Wrestling, Frontier Martialarts Wrestling, and Empresa Mundial de Lucha Libre.
With an event like this one in which every match pitted AJW against a rival group, one would expect politics to take over and for AJW to eat up the booking plans. Not so, as AJW lost the first 5 and 6 out of the 10 wrestling matches (one match was a shoot/boxing match). The unpredictability (in most matches) as to who would win created an incredible atmosphere in which the fan heat was amazing for most matches, and strong even for the less important matches.
In the fifth wrestling match (6th overall match), Chigusa Nagayo, who from 1984-1988 generated crowd heat that blew away anything Hulk Hogan received in the States, returned from a four year retirement to face longtime rival and another legend Devil Masami. The crowd heat really reached a fever pitch here and continued at that pitch for the rest of the night.
In addition to the wrestling, a ceremony was held to honor the legends of All Japan Women's Pro Wrestling. Two dozen women, including some who were active at the group's inception back in 1968, were honored.
The 5 1/2 hour videotape of this event began with footage of the production crew setting up the ring, entrance, and testing the lighting and sound systems. They then showed wrestlers from the various federations arriving to the arena as well as a photo shoot with all the wrestlers gathering for a group photo next to an escalator inside Yokohama Arena (which is a real magnificant facility and is generally regarded as the Japanese MSG).
In between matches, pre-match and post match interviews took place with the combatants.
The show itself began with an opening ceremony rarely seen in the U.S. All the wrestlers were introduced with their respective groups and lined up accordingly in the ring. The night's line-up was then announced formally to the crowd and one wrestler from each group gave a brief yet spirited speech on behalf of their group.
Match 1: Sakie Hasegawa & Kaoru Itoh (AJW) vs Hikari Fukuoka & Plum
Mariko (JWP)
This was a super opener and about as good as an opening match gets. All
four women fought at a rapid pace that got the crowd going. All four
used a combination of high-impact, high-risk, and submission moves.
Some spots were sloppy, but most of them were well-executed with some
being breathtaking simply because of how quickly they were done. Plum
Mariko had one of her better nights, but the other three were on a higher
level of quality. After about six minutes of great near finishes, the
JWP team won in 16:44. The rating would have been higher if there were
no sloppy moves. ****1/4
Match 2: Terri Power (WWF's Tori) & Saemi Numata (AJW) vs Eriko
Tsuchiya & Crusher Maedomari (FMW)
This was by far the worst match of the night. Power was working with one
arm because one of her shoulders was badly injured. Numata was decent,
but the other three were lackluster and sometimes bad. The FMW team won
when Numata was pinned in 7:04. 1/4*
Match 3: Mima Shimoda & Tomoko Watanabe (AJW) vs Kaoru Maeda & Ultima
Tigerita (EMLL)
This was a really exciting match with many lucha spots not often seen in
women's matches. All four wrestlers turned in a good showing, but Maeda
& Tigerita stood out with their flying, including each doing an Orihara
moonsault. Shimoda looked strong, but had not yet reached her working
peak in this match. Watanabe was also good, yet strange. This was
fairly early in her career, and she was trying out everything from lucha
spots to submissions. Maeda and Tigerita won in 14:34. ***3/4
Match 4: Etsuko Mita & Suzuka Minami (AJW) vs Miki Handa & Rumi
Kazama (LLPW)
A great match, although mainly because of its length. Kazama was the
worst of the four in terms of execution, but she had good presence and
threw some stiff kicks to generate heat. The other three were very good,
but not awesome. Handa worked a basic, yet fast-paced style. Kazama and
Handa won the match in 22:27, surprising the crowd because it was AJW's 4th
loss on the card. ****
Match 5: WWWA Martial Arts Title: Bat Yoshinaga (AJW, champion) vs
Susan Howard (Independent, challenger)
This was a shoot/kick boxing match that was fought in 5 three minute
rounds. This was generally boring, with neither woman landing a
memorable blow. Yoshinaga won by judges' decision. no rating
The ceremony honoring the legends then took place.
Match 6: Chigusa Nagayo (AJW) vs Devil Masami (JWP)
This was the match in which the crowd heat was raised a level. Fans were
into every little move, expression, and sound the combatants made. Both
women worked hard and put on an excellent match worthy of their classic
80's matches, which was impressive since Chigusa was returning from a 4
year layoff. Both women fought at a 1980's pace, but every move and near
fall meant something and generated great heat. Masami, who unexpectedly
did a plancha in the match, was the better of the two, but not by much.
She won in 17:28. ****
Match 7: Kyoko & Takako Inoue (AJW) vs Cuty Suzuki & Mayumi Ozaki
(JWP)
This was an incredible action-packed match that crammed tons of great
moves into less than 17 minutes. The highlight was Kyoko giving Cuty a
40-revolution giant swing. Kyoko and Ozaki were the standouts, although
the other two had one of their better nights. Great heat throughout and
fantastic near falls down the stretch. The Inoues won in 16:44. I would
have rated this 5 stars if it had been 2 minutes longer! ****3/4
Match 8: Aja Kong (WWWA Champion) & Bull Nakano (AJW) vs Eagle Sawaii
& Harley Saito (LLPW)
Another great match, and this had a few lighter moments as well. At one
point, the 120 lb Saito stole Nakano's nunchucks (sp?) and mocked her by
swinging them. The look on Nakano's face was priceless! Saito was the
best worker here, although gernerally the other three had more crowd
heat. Nakano won the match when she pinned Saito after a somersault
legdrop off the top rope in 14:44. ****
Match 9: Yumiko Hotta (AJW) vs Dynamite Kansai (JWP)
This was the stiffest match of the show and a brutal kickfest that went
16:08. The match had a shoot feel to it and the fans ate it up. Both
women went for TKO wins in which they would knock down their opponent and
a 10 count would be used. In the end, though, Kansai ended up pinning
Hotta in JWP's biggest win of the night. However, the ending was
controversial as Hotta's shoulders appeared to be up at the count of
two. Excellent match otherwise. ****
Match 10: Akira Hokuto (AJW) vs Shinobu Kandori (LLPW)
This was the best match of the night and the match with the most heat.
Hokuto bladed severely after being tombstoned on the announcer's table.
Hokuto's shoulder was "badly injured" early on by a Kandori armlock, and
this storyline played out beautifully for the rest of the match. Hokuto
made a comeback, including using her flip plancha off the middle of the
top rope to the floor. Dramatic submission attempts and near falls
highlighted the last several minutes. Hokuto won in 32:07 with a simple
punch, but that was executed to perfection as both women sold as if they
were exhausted almost to the point of collapse. Super drama. *****
Match 11: WWWA World Tag Team Championship: Manami Toyoya &
Toshiyo Yamada (AJW, champions) vs Combat Toyoda & Megumi Kudo (FMW,
challengers)
This match was a bit longer than it should have been, but still
excellent. Both teams took a while to get used to each other as the
first ten minutes saw spotty execution. However, all four worked hard
and worked better with each other as the match went on. Toyota and
Yamada used several double-team moves, including a back superplex on
Kudo in which they flipped her onto her stomach before landing. Toyota
also did her top rope Asai moonsault. Toyota and Yamada won in 28:02
to retain their title. ****
The video itself concluded with a highlight reel of the night's action.
Overall an excellent video in terms of presentation and the best card I have ever seen. I would highly recommend this to any wrestling fan. Someone who has never seen these women in action might watch this tape and still not believe what they are seeing. At the time of this show. AJW presented a far better product than any of the men's groups in wrestling, which speaks volumes for the group's quality and success.
