Cero Reviews AJW Classics ~Retro Hour~ EP 6

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Cero Reviews AJW Classics ~Retro Hour~ EP 6

Post by cero2k » Apr 4th, '21, 22:30

AJW Classics ~Retro Hour~ EP 6
Aired: December 18, 2007

April 2nd, 1985
WWWA World Tag Team Championship Match
Gokuaku Domei (Dump Matsumoto & Crane Yu) (C) vs. Crush Gals - No rating. Good angle.
This was more of an angle than a match, and it being 2-out-3 falls didn't matter, they still made it work. The idea here was that Gokuaku Domei were the unworthy champions after winning them thanks to the heel referee Abe and in controversial fashion. So they want to take the titles of them, but not yet crown Nagano and Asuka, as all 4 involved are heading into the Grand Prix.

What we got were two quick falls, and a count out in the third, that Abe hope would mean that GD would retain, but the commissioner (?) at the end, decides that due to the chaos, the titles are being vacated instead.

In addition, this was the match that set up the dissension between Matsumoto and Yu, that would eventually lead to Matsumoto turning on Yu in their Fuji TV Grand Prix match. As we mentioned there, Bull Nakano is young and rising, and she wants the #2 spot in GD next to Matsumoto, and to do so, she starts antagonizing Yu after this match.

I don't know the full calendar, but with the Grand Prix, I don't think anyone got a shot at this title before the imminent (and main event of this episode) match between the Gals vs Matsumoto/Nakano.

May 12, 1985
Crush Gals vs. Lola Gonzales & Rosa Maria - 5/10
This and the following matches took place al el Toreo de Cuatro Caminos in Mexico City. This being 1985 and with the lack of internet, the Mexican crowd were not as familiar with Nagano, Asuka, or Yokota, and so the matches really hurt due to the lack of fan reaction and emotion.

Lola Gonzales is legendary in Mexico, she's of those names in 80's Lucha that just collected lucha de apuestas wins all over the place. Rosa Maria I don't know much about unless she worked by another name.

The match itself had some good heat. It obviously had lucha tag rules and Australian tag rules, so it offered the rudas a lot of opportunities to double team. They fought in the crowd, the Gals bleed a little, and the rudas quickly got the first fall to establish that the tecnicas were going to be fighting at a disadvantage, and still needed to win two falls in a row. The Gals eventually succeeded and won both in a row.

May 12, 1985
WWWA World Championship Match
Jaguar Yokota vs. Pantera Sureña - 5/10
Pantera Sureña is the unmasked version of La Galactica, who we've been watching feud with Yokota for some weeks in these shows, Yokota is still growing out the hair that Galactica shaved back in 1984.

If the previous match needed fan reactions, this one was dying for it. They went for a more technical match, there wasn't any big heel tactics or chaos here, just straight up wrestling inside the ring. Pantera took the first fall and she celebrated heavily, the second, she straight up gave up to the weakest Figure 4 you've ever seen, she didn't even sell it, it look like they and the referee all sat down and decided that this was it. It really made me wonder if she was no selling Yokota to keep face. The third fall did get better, and the crowd did kinda get into it towards the end. Yokota won with a double underhook piledriver that looked kinda dangerous for Pantera's neck.

At the end of the day, I did love to see matches from 80's Mexico.

May 16, 1985
WWWA World Tag Team Championship Match
Crush Gals vs. Gokuaku Domei (Dump Matsumoto & Bull Nakano) - 8.5/10
This was fucking poetic! This may had been one of my favorite referee pin counts ever, it was just the perfect combination of things happening amongst the chaos.

Here's the quick set up. Gokuaku Domei (Matsumo & Yu) won the titles in controversial fashion from the Gals, thanks to referee Abe. In the rematch, the titles were vacated as the two teams went into a double count out and the referee threw the match out, but unfortunately for GD, the titles were vacated instead of them retaining. Matsumoto (with Nakano in her ear) turns on Crane Yu in their Grand Prix match, she beats her up like there was no tomorrow, and so we come to this match, where both the Gals and Matsumoto, now teaming with Nakano, want to regain the titles, except this match will have two referees, Abe, still in Matsumoto's pocket, and Crane Yu herself.

The story here is that Matsumoto's hate for Yu at this point is keeping her from focusing on the Gals, as the match goes on, Matsumoto can't stop going after Yu. Why are there no DQs? Well, not only is it part of the culture of Joshi, but with Abe there, a lot of the referee calls are being negated, same reason why Yu can't straight up benefit the Gals. First fall goes to the Gals, second fall goes to GD, so it all comes down to the third fall. At this point, Matsumoto only has eyes for Yu, she wants to hurt her, but in doing so, she leaves Nakano to get eaten by the Gals, unfortunately for them, getting Abe to count to 3 is a fucking task on its own!

The match becomes like Doc trying to plug the cable and Marty to hit 88mph exactly at the same time, the Gals need to take down Nakano and keep Abe away, but Yu needs to make it to the ring to make the court, and you know what, she freaking does! Yu drags herself to the ring, with Matsumoto pulling her away, she manages to get half her body in the ring and counts the win for the Gals. The crowd E.X.P.L.O.D.E.S!

The match may not had been a workrate masterpiece, they rarely are with Dump Matsumoto, but in 6 episodes of AJW, this may have been one of my favorite build ups to a match with the perfect escalation, climax, and ending. I can't wait to see what comes next.

OVERALL THOUGHTS
Overall, this was a boring episode of Retro Hour, the first match was more of an angle, the matches from el Toreo de Cuatro Caminos were quite dead, but, as boring as they were, the awesomeness of the main event made up for it and I left this episode with a big smile in my face.

A big issue with this episode was that the matches were heavily clipped, some hurt more than others, and some were not going to be saved by more time. Hopefully this doesn't become common going forward.
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