80s Joshi on Wednesday: Tomi! Lucy! Kumano! Ikeshita!

Disc 1

8. Lucy Kayama & Tomi Aoyama vs. Mami Kumano & Yumi Ikeshita - 4/4/80

K: Firstly, I want to give a little shout out to an old poster called Xalazi. Many years ago, I remember him posting on Reddit that this was one of his favourite Joshi matches. This would have been around the time I decided I was going to make this set. That comment prompted me to decide that I'm gonna include any match I see getting talked up like that by someone who knows their retro Joshi. It's like giving everyone who's influenced this project a personal pick.
I feel like you need to have seen the 7/31/79 tag between these two teams before you see this one. They have a similar vibe, and have a very similar ending, but everything here feels like an escalation from the previous outing, which was already very dramatic. 

In the introductions Queen Angels don't really look like they're here to fight. Tomi Aoyama has recently returned from a knee injury and it's still all taped up. Lucy Kayama looks almost like a stereotypically dainty shy girl the way she's holding her hands and looking at the floor. That may have been misdirection though, because as soon as the bell sounds they both jump Black Pair with dropkicks, stomp Ikeshita out of the ring and go for a beatdown on Kumano. Feels more like how Black Pair would open a match, but after all we've seen involving these teams, you can't fault Queen Angels for not acting like suckers tonight.

The babyfaces aren't able to maintain the advantage in an all out fight, but they do hold their own and there's some extra venom in their offense. Thankfully for Lucy Kayama her big dive actually hits her opponents this time and sets up them winning the first fall. I think it was her dive that busts Mami Kumano's mouth or nose open. Not too badly but there's enough blood to make her believable dazed even into the 2nd fall. The move they got the pin with was a big splash from Kayama kneeling on Aoyama's shoulders. It looked like they didn't quite know what they were doing, but that's cool, like they're pulling out all the stops to win here.

But then, disaster strikes. When attempting a Giant Swing on Mami Kumano, Tomi's knee collapses under her. Ikeshita immediately pounces after spotting she's hurt. Lucy runs in to protect her partner but gets thrown out the ring so Tomi can be isolated and pinned just before Lucy is able to reach out to break it up.

Then it's carnage. Black Pair are desperate to exacerbate Tomi's re-injured knee. It's hard to figure out what's real and what isn't here and they take multiple kicks at her injured knee in between throwing a bunch of babyfaces around the place who're failing to stop them carry out this criminal assault. Even the officials get manhandled. Heck, even Tenjin Masami tries to restrain Ikeshita at one point!

They start the 3rd fall, maybe hoping the match being officially back on will get Black Pair to tone it down. This doesn't work. Tomi's in a mess on the floor and they continue on the maiming. The way Mami kicks Tomi's leg from under her is so callous it makes you mad. The venue is echoing with the shrieks of the audience. This fall barely lasts a minute before the bell sounds, apparently for some kind of 'time out' to assess Tomi's injury as they don't call the match yet. That only lasts about 30 seconds coz Black Pair won't stop attacking her. Tomi actually tries to escape while on her back just flopping up and down across the ring with one leg in the air. It's actually pretty impressive how much she moves from doing that.

Well done to Tomi for escaping, but unfortunately that just leaves Lucy Kayama in the ring having to face off with Black Pair on her own. She doesn't stand a chance, but she fights valiantly, eventually succumbing to the ultimate retro Joshi finisher, just lying across your opponents shoulders and forcing them down onto the mat until you get a 3 count! I know, revolutionary. Works especially well when your powerless tag partner is watching on the outside all teary-eyed incapable to do anything about it.

Could we have got a bit more of an actual match? Yes. Would this have been better if Lucy's final stand was more prolonged, and she actually got one last hope spot? Oh I'm sure it would. It wasn’t entirely believable that the two Black Pair members were able to fight off virtually the entire roster PLUS officials to kick at Tomi’s knee. The stoppages were a bit too randomly deployed as well, I don't really know why they stopped the match in the 3rd fall, only for Black Pair to ignore it so they just sounded the bell again. Yes, you probably know what I'm getting at, this feels like an early draft for better matches down the line. For those following this, keep note of the "1 partner gets injured in tag match, forcing heroic babyface to fight 2 heels on her own in super dramatic circumstances" match layout. It's an AJW staple.

But there's no way a match this effective can be anything less than great.

****

MD: This was a match which more or less became an angle even if it ended as a match. It’s great to see the Queen Angels back together at least for this shot. It started quite similarly to how you’d expect a Black Pair vs Queen Angels match to start. The Angels got the first strike in. It’s funny how they did though. They wanted a handshake but the Black Pair decided to shake each other’s hands instead and then got dropkicked mid-shake. After that they held an aggressive advantage until they missed a move (miscommunication) and the Black Pair took over.

That’s when things shifted from the norm (and this is a time where I am very glad that I know what the previous norm was). This time around, the Angels were much more aggressive in their comebacks. A lot of times they’d flail in a futile manner but get dragged back down quickly. Here, they were able to come back each and every time and only by the Pair dodging a move could they take back over. Lucy and Tomi had grown to the point where they could take up half the air in the match, maybe more. So when Lucy avoided being choked by wire on the outside and then crashed down upon them from the top rope to the floor, it felt inevitable. They weren’t able to dodge this version of the Queen Rocket this time. Instead, Kumano came back up an absolute mess, her nose bloodied, looking like she was out on her feet.

They got a quick fall with Lucy climbing up Tomi’s shoulders and leaping off and then continued putting on the pressure. Either Kumano was really knocked loopy or she was doing some amazing selling (I think the latter given how quickly she recovered) as she was limp and barely present even as she was getting destroyed. Tomi set things up to give her a giant swing and again, it was striking how she was just dangling for the start of it. Ikeshita had recovered though and came in out of nowhere taking out Tomi’s injured  knee. That’s when things took another turn. They got a quick fall but then the ring filled with people as they tried to continue the punishment while others tried to protect Tomi. The Black Pair tossed everyone around including officials. When the match did restart, Tomi was gone and it was two-on-one and the Pair made quick work of Lucy to win back the titles. What made all this work was how dominant the Angels were in the first fall. They had hit a different sort of kayfabe gear relative to previous matches. That Kumano was a bloody, stumbling mess didn’t hurt things either though, but it’s probably a tough one to judge given how it devolved into an angle and didn’t really reform into a match.