Goody Bag 75: The hell's a 'marinepiad?'

 

IWA Women's Title Match: Kyoko Inoue v Manami Toyota: From AJW Wrestlemarinepiad on April 25 1992 in Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan. Inoue is dressed like she’s angling to manage the Ultimate Maniacs. Inoue pounds her into the corner to start, then starts running around to frustrate Toyota. Inoue with a tilt-a-whirl slam for two, so Toyota backdrops her over the top, and dives with a flying bodypress on the floor. Inside, Toyota lands a dropkick, then throws a bodypress for two. Toyota goes to a short-armscissors, but Inoue gets into the ropes. Toyota responds with a fujiwara armbar, then shifts to a camel clutch, wearing the champion down. Toyota with a butterfly suplex for two, so she goes back to the weardowns with a bow-and-arrow. Nasty one, too. Inoue escapes, and cracks her with a few v-chops, then lands a dropkick to allow her a Boston crab. Toyota doesn’t submit, so Inoue goes to a surfboard, then a camel clutch, wrenching both on. Inoue with a death valley slam ahead of another Boston crab, but Toyota gets the ropes. Inoue responds by putting her in a modified surfboard, then into a rocking horse. All that leaves Toyota pretty broken, but she still doesn’t submit when Inoue wrenches a camel clutch on. Inoue sets her on the top turnbuckle so she can have the pleasure of slamming her off, and she pounds her with a few more v-chops, but Toyota slips away, and lands a dropkick. Again, but Inoue sidesteps, and Toyota takes a bump to the outside. Inoue in on her with a springboard dive on the floor, but Toyota beats the count. Inoue welcomes her back with a pounding, and a helicopter powerbomb gets her two. A bridging fisherman suplex gets two, but Toyota blocks a pop-up with a dropkick, then lands four more in quick succession, capping it off with a 2nd rope version that gets two. Toyota with a inverted flying bodypress for two, and a bridging butterfly suplex is worth two. Into the ropes, but Inoue rebounds with a backelbow, and traps her challenger in another Boston crab. Toyota gets the ropes, and tries a dropkick, but gets caught in another Boston crab. California here we come, right back where we started from. Inoue goes to a surfboard, but Toyota collapses, so Inoue just starts hammering her with forearms instead. She climbs the ropes, but Toyota dropkicks her over the top, and dives with a flying bodypress on the floor. She follows with a whip into the guardrail, but Inoue springboards off of it to block, and lands a backelbow. Inoue tries bringing her back in with a suplex, but Toyota blocks, and hooks a victory cradle for two. Suplex, but Inoue blocks, so Toyota tries an abdominal stretch, but Inoue hiptosses out right away. Inoue tries a side suplex, but Toyota counters to a rolling abdominal stretch cradle for two. Toyota with four second rope dropkicks for two, and a bodyslam leads to a fifth one, but Inoue catches her in a half-crab. She shifts to a camel clutch to prevent Toyota from making the ropes, then to a Mexican surfboard when Toyota still won’t submit. Inoue with a snap suplex for two, and it’s back to the Boston crab yet again. Is she, like, from Boston, or something? Powerbomb, but Toyota counters with a sunset cradle for two, but a dive from the middle hits Inoue’s knees. That allows the champion a giant swing for two, but another crab gets blocked, and Toyota uses a bridging German suplex for two. Inoue bails, so Toyota dives with a tope, then adds a flying bodypress on the floor. Still not satisfied, the challenger uses a 2nd rope moonsault press on the floor, and a bridging tiger suplex gets her two on the way back in. Inoue scrambles to try a submission, but Toyota blocks. Inoue with a bodyslam to set up a flying backelbow drop for two, but Toyota counters a powerbomb with a sunset cradle for two. Inoue fires back with a victory cradle for two, and an overhead superplex gets two. She lands the sitout powerbomb for two, but Toyota counters a whip into the ropes with a bridging tiger suplex for two. Toyota looks for a follow up, but Inoue blocks her charge with a chokeslam for two. But that’s all Inoue has left in the tank, and Toyota muscles through a bridging electric chair for the pin at 24:37! This had some really cool stuff going on - like the reckless bumps, the blistering pace, and the painful looking submissions - but ultimately felt too repetitive to be truly great. *** ¾  

Six-Man Tag Team Match: Mitsuharu Misawa, Kenta Kobashi, and Toshiaki Kawada v Akira Taue, Jumbo Tsuruta, and Masanobu Fuchi: From AJPW Super Power Series card on May 22 1992 in Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan. Misawa’s team cleans house early on, and they dominate things. The heels try to corner him, and Jumbo tags in, but loses a slugfest. A cheap shot allows Jumbo to deliver a side suplex, and he dumps Misawa to the outside for his partners to attack. They work Misawa over as the action heads back inside, but Kenta catches a tag, and the babyfaces get control. They take turns punishing the heels, but Kawada ends up getting clobbered, and the heels take control again, working him over. Kenta gets a tag and uses a bridging German suplex on Fuchi for two, and a bodyslam sets up a legdrop. Kenta goes upstairs, so Jumbo blocks him, but Misawa makes the save. Misawa hits Fuchi with a flying forearm to set up a chinlock, but Taue saves. Misawa beats the piss out of him to clear him out, and it’s back to the chinlock, but Fuchi gets into the ropes. Misawa responds by trying for the tiger driver, but Fuchi gets into the heel corner, and Jumbo clobbers Misawa. Tag to Jumbo, and he throws a high knee. Jumbo adds a facebuster, then a big boot, followed by a side suplex for two. Another suplex, but Misawa topples him for two, and tags Kawada. Jumbo throws a knee, but Kawada pops back up, and starts wailing on Jumbo with right hands. Jumbo manages to deliver a knee before passing to Taue, and Taue drops Kawada with a DDT for two. Fireman’s carry, but Kenta saves, allowing Kawada a clothesline - only for Taue to counter with a uranage for two. A powerbomb gets another two, and a chokeslam is worth two. Misawa comes in to help, so Jumbo brawls with him, but the chaos allows Kawada to recover, and nail Taue with a kick to the head. He gets a dragon sleeper on, but Fuchi breaks it up, and Roseanne Barr the door. Kawada with a powerbomb for two, and he goes for another dragon sleeper. That draws his mates over, but Misawa and Kenta get them each in holds to keep them at bay, and Taue submits at 34:13. This was really long for what they were bringing to the table. Really long. * ½ 

WWWA Tag Team Title Two-out-of-Three Falls Match: Manami Toyota and Toshiyo Yamada v Aja Kong and Kyoko Inoue: From an AJW show on July 15 1992 in Tokyo Japan. Toyota gets annoyed with the heels and attacks before the bell, but suffers the consequences of a double team beat down. Pass to Yamada, and she unloads strikes on Inoue. Yamada with a bodyslam to set up a legdrop, and she puts the boots to Inoue from there. Another slam allows the tag back to Toyota for a springboard armdrag, and she takes Inoue down in a cross-armbreaker. Back to Yamada for a backdrop, but Inoue leapfrogs, and uses a victory cradle for two, ahead of the tag to Kong. Kong stomps the crap out of Yamada, and passes back to Inoue, but too soon, allowing the champs to get control again. Toyota with four running dropkicks ahead of a 2nd rope dropkick for two, and a flying headbutt is worth another two. Toyota with a bridging northern lights suplex for two, and she works an Indian deathlock from there, into a Muta-lock. Inoue doesn’t give, so Toyota shifts again to a surfboard, then into a tiger cradle submission, but none of them go anywhere. Back to Yamada for a corner clothesline, and she opts to hammer Inoue with kicks instead of trying to coax submissions. A snap suplex gets two, so Yamada grounds her in a chinlock, ragdolling her around in the hold. Tags all around, and Kong drills Toyota with an elbowdrop, then cracks her with a cradle piledriver for two. Clothesline, but Toyota ducks. She tries an abdominal stretch, but Kong is too big, and goes back to pounding her. Side suplex, but Toyota counters with a bridging German suplex for two, and she gets the abdominal stretch on - only for Inoue to immediately save. Toyota responds by taking Inoue for a ride with rolling cradles, and Yamada tags in. They double team, so Inoue tries a springboard, but botches it, and wipes out. She has better luck on the second try, and Kong tags in to bodyslam Toyota, but gets toppled for two. Oh, in what world?! The champs take Kong up for a tandem side superplex, but Inoue pulls Yamada out, and gives Toyota a bodyslam to set up a 2nd rope backelbow drop. Kong adds a flying elbowdrop from there, and that combo is enough to win the first fall at 10:01. The dust settles on Yamada and Kong, and they get into a slap fight that quickly escalates. Yamada wins it with a kick, but she can’t muscle Kong through a suplex, and ends up on the mat. Kong slams her around, but Toyota catches a tag, so Inoue comes in to give her a giant swing. Inoue with a bodyslam, but she gets tripped up climbing the ropes, and Toyota shoves her over the top. Toyota preps a dive, but Kong attacks her, so Toyota puts both challengers on the floor to dive at with a 2nd rope moonsault press. She rolls Inoue back in, and Yamada side suplexes her. Toyota with a bridging electric chair from there for the pin at 15:23. Toyota goes right back at Inoue with a running dropkick from there, and a series of three 2nd rope dropkicks get two when Kong saves. Kong drags Toyota to the outside to knock silly, but Yamada assists, and they all brawl into the crowd. Inside, Inoue slams Toyota, but a powerbomb gets countered with a sunset cradle for two - reversed by Inoue for two. Tag to Kong, so Toyota throws a bodypress, but a 2nd rope version gets caught in a slam, giving Kong two. Backdrop, but Toyota blocks, and tags. Yamada rushes in to put the boots to Kong in ferocious fashion, ending in a spinheel kick for two. Yamada goes to a modified kneebar from there, but Kong powers free, and tags. Yamada hits the incoming Inoue with a sidewalk slam for two, and a trio of roundhouse kicks find their marks, so Kong tries interference, but it backfires. Inoue manages a victory cradle for two, so Toyota comes in, and they double team. Toyota goes up with a flying moonsault, but Inoue dodges, and delivers a sitout powerbomb for two. Tag to Kong for her own powerbomb, but Toyota sunset cradles for two, and passes to Yamada. Yamada walks right in to a spinning backfist, however, and Kong takes her up for a superplex, but Toyota helps block. That allows Yamada a flying enzuigiri for two, and both she and Toyota go up for stereo flying headbutt drops, but they miss. That allows the challengers to stack them in the corner for a double avalanche, but a second one from Kong misses. That ends with Kong on the top rope, and Yamada hustles over with a side superplex at 22:55. This was all action here. *** ½ 

Six-Woman Tag Team Match: Kyoko Inoue, Mariko Yoshida, and Takako Inoue v Cynthia Moreno, Etsuko Mita, and Mima Shimoda: From AJW Mid Summer Typhoon on August 15 1992 in Tokyo Japan. Fast and furious action right from the get-go here, with the heels getting control. Kyoko throwing those v-chops is always fun, I’m surprised no one else really does those. Beside Zeus, I guess. Kyoko ends up getting pounded, but dodges a flying bodypress, and uses a giant swing. Emphasis on ‘giant,’ the amount of rotations there was nuts! The heels control, but get dumped to the outside, and the babyfaces take turns hitting dives on the floor. The heels try storming the ring, but Takako gets caught in a bridging fisherman suplex for two, and Yoshida gets slammed while trying something off the top. Kyoko takes a bridging German suplex for two, but manages a powerbomb to put it away at 15:44. Again, this felt long for what it was. Maybe I’m just not a big fan of six-person tags? I’m also a little handicapped because I don’t know all of the workers that well, and since I can’t understand the Japanese commentary, it makes play-by-play a little challenging. And that’s really my way into matches, doing the play-by-play helps me dissect them in a way I can’t by just watching a match unfold. You can always tell when I really like a match because I get sucked in with detailed play-by-play. * ¼