Kim's match reviews and pop culture emporium

 We're going to start well before the bell here with Chigusa's song performance. Now you might asking Jay Chigusa's not involved in this matchup at least officially. Well, that's the thing officially is the keyword here. Chigusa's ambushed by Dump here and Chigusa retaliates by blasting the alliance before the bell of this tag match. This sneak attack leads to a bloodied Dump Matsumoto getting double teamed by Bull and Condor leading to a surprising Dump face reaction. Dump eventually counters with her kendo stick while match breaks down ending in a no contest. Really fun match 8/10. Disk 11 felt like a bit of a lull Disk 12 felt almost overwhelming in the sheer amount of quality especially comparing the tag matches between the two disks. looking forward to disk 13.

 Omori comes out of the gates quick with a chop to the chest. I think there's some clipping in this so I'll go broad strokes with this review. Omori's main target is the back and abdomen of devil with two top rope samoan drops and other slams. Devil gets her foothold in the match after Omori misses a chop into the top rope which devil targets like a fucking shark which i love. An interesting thing i notice is how useful the surfboard is as a submission that can target multiple body parts. Every time Omori uses her size to counter the hand is a consistent vector of reentry for Devil. there is one use of the figure four though that is admittedly minor. There's an instance of Omori using the abdominal stretch escaped by biting the hand grimy love it. the finish comes via chop flurry with Devil desperately trying to get sunday shot off and paying for it every time ending in a top rope chop for 3. 8.5 if this was in full probably 9.

 Wildly quick first fall with the alliance sneak attacking the champions at the bell and Dump blasting Nagahori with a lariat for the first fall victory. the second fall is a synthesis of Chigusa getting ganged up on with Nagahori out of the picture with small moments for Nagahori while also getting bodied. the finish comes surprisingly after Chigusa crossbodies into Nagahori off the top after which Bull gets on the top to try to capitalize. Chigusa is able to recover and get Bull with a superplex for the win. The third fall is simple as the attrition of the first two falls catches up with the champions and the alliance getting a controversial win to become champions via a possible two count turned three count. Blasted through my theoretical ceiling via really smart use of Nagahori plus all the Chigusa vs Dump goodness we expect. 8.5/10

 We start off really chippy prior to the bell ringing. the early game is really defined by Chigusa showing her class on offense and low key dominating. Aside from the usual kicks there's a fun knuckle lock sequence where it seems like Kai might find a way in on offense. Chigusa rolls backward and gains the advantage. The most notable thing from this first stint on offense is an achilles tendon lock on Kai. Kai is forced into the corner by a barrage of kicks where she is able to get chigusa onto the mat and target chigusa's chronically injured legs which is a fun touch alongside building on some early work on chigusa's abdomen. Chigusa starts countering with with strikes and subs the lower ranking alliance members break it up and give Kai the oppurtunity to do a double chop from the chop. The two of them both get off suplexes with the notable ones being german's from both Kai's signature vertical suplex. Notable moves from the end sequence is a crossbody and a tope f...

 Yamazaki starts off dropkicking dump into the ropes before foolishly charging into her post Irish whip lead into a a body charge from Dump. the body of the face in peril segments consist of a really smart vicious attack on the head and body using the trio of dump's own mass, the assistance of the other Alliance members and copious weapon usage including multiple instances of Yamazaki in the fiction getting assaulted via nonconsensual haircut by dump. The hope spots are really fun and pre comeback mostly focus on Yamazaki's agility like jumping off the top rope on to the alliance at one point but being cut by Dump being able to use her size to tank a tope which is a really cool visual. The comeback comes about via Yamazaki doing a 360 counter into a dropkick against a double team attack with a metal pipe. The notable moments are a double team by the angels and Yamazaki Whipping Crane Yu into Dump leading into a missile dropkick. Both sides trade weapon shots as the match breaks...

 Omori comes in with a taped up hand and wrist wearing Raiders gear which as a bay area kid yes queen. There's a leverage versus quickness element to the opening stages with a big chop by Omori. the body of the match is defined by a battle between Chigusa targeting Omori's hand in a really focused fashion and Omori countering by building off of that first chop and targeting Chigusa back and midsection. Some notable spots include a second rope Samoan drop and top rope Jackhammer adjacent thing and trading piledrivers with two sharpshooters by Chigusa. the endgame is decided by a flurry of chops followed by a top rope move attempt countered to great effect for the win by Omori. Loved this maybe my favorite limbwork by Chigusa on the set. 8.5-9/10 loved it

 This is really interesting specifically for the team of Nagahori and Ogura as iirc this is the first match on the set for their team against their peers as opposed to the vets. The dynamics are fascinating. The challengers attack at the belland the early section of the match is defined by leverage vs quickness and the individual brilliance of the champions. The challengers take advantage by targeting Ogura's leg and they do a damn good vicious job of it and refreshingly both sides do a really good job of actually isolating the weakened members of the opposition. The comeback comes via double team and stereo missile dropkicks with one of them aggravating the injured knee eventually the challengers get the win after an extended back and forth. 7.8/10 the thing that stops this from being an 8 is some confusing selling of the knee in terms of who was hurt earlier but that may be on me confusing the champions cause of the outfits being almost identitcal

 I liked this more than I expected given the component pieces are very similar to the young lioness's tag with the crush girls. The Youngsters jumping the vets at the bell pushing the advantage but being unable to hold it. They get the first fall via sunset flip. The second fall is really illustrative is why i'm on the verge of saying I like the jba more in these sorts of matches. There isn't the overwhelming gulf in class between the two sides in offense leading to a more credible back and forth plus it takes away the kind of aloofness of the crush girls in this scenario and replaces it with a real mean targeting of a taped up leg for the face in peril segment. Jba win two straight falls. 7.5/10

 Nakano starts off fast attacking Chigusa as she enters the ring putting in some nasty work on of Chigusa's legs even going after the boot. There's what seems like a clip partway through. I think this is the match with the biggest names that has a clip and that did make it a struggle to read the narrative ngl. The thing I noticed is both wrestlers were targeting everywhere they could but it's really the nature of how they do it that makes it work cause it feels like they're scrapping for every possible advantage. ends in a double countout. 7.5 probably would have been an 8 if not for the clip i'd get.

 Dump starts off with a barrage of shots from the kendo stick both to the abdomen and the head of Bull. She chokes Bull momentarily in the ropes before heading out with Bull onto the apron where she rams her head into the metal top of the turnbuckle continuing the assault at ringside. The fun part of this on a factional level is Dump beating up on the lower ranking members for not beating on Bull. Bull tries to hit a body block after Irish whipping Dump except for Dump's mass to cause Bull to take damage. She does hit a sick German on Dump. It turns into a battle of if Bull will get the big shot off to overcome the barrage from Dump and Dump just wanting to swat the pest. Love that while Bull is getting face reactions here both women are clearly playing heel. Bull does use the nunchaku for one flurry but the key weapon in this match is the kendo stick. There's a really cool moment where Dump has two kendo sticks and tosses one to Dump and they have a duel for lack of a better w...

 It's really interesting how views of workers and the hierarchy in a promotion can change when you're just searching out the biggest stuff and seeing it like this in a fairly comprehensive way. The match begins with a kick exchange with a bunch of near misses culminating in a Chigusa leg sweep leading into a short chin lock. Asuka quickly takes control with some armwork and hammerlock backbreaker pivoting into a headscissors. The match continues in a similar manner with Asuka's target primarily being Chigusa's head with a big piledriver. Asuka seems more like the top singles babyface with Chigusa getting off big shots and trying to capitalize in the immediate aftermath with the bit of limbwork coming on Asuka's leg. Neither is able to get the win ending in a draw. 8.5/10 really good start to 86 all the strengths with exciting new talent on the rise

 This is the first showcase for Ogawa and Kazue as a team and they come out of the gates hot jumping the champions at the bell. In their moments the young lionesses show they have the firepower and technique to get moments of joy which is always fun to see but this is a match really defined by the gulf over time between champions and challengers. It's interesting that both workers in red namely Chigusa and Kazue end up being the ones to end up in relative peril on their teams. The match ends up being about whether the punks can find a miracle or if the champions high end offense will win out which it does in the end. Ogawa and Kazue were both pretty well defined in the time given as technician and striker respectively but the lack of endgame offense puts a cap on this match for me. 7/10

 Man this is a match where expectations fucked with my head. This match is a really striking example of how to be a super generous vet to the succeeding star. Masami has moments especially on the mat in regular time and trying to capitalize off of Asuka's mistakes but the vast majority is Asuka ruthlessly cutting off Masami including a sick spot where devil is on the top rope facing ringside and Asuka kicks her to ringside followed up by a missed dive leading to a double count out. the match is given ten minutes of extra time which is when it clicked that this match was one fall instead of the typical 2/3. Masami finds her feet in overtime ruthlessly going after Asuka's taped up knee and going for bombs hoping for the sunday punch to turn the tide while Asuka tries to find the one shot to finish off the tenacious vet with neither quite getting it finishing in a draw. great stuff. 9/10 but slightly below the first match

 This matchup my Lord this matchup Maybe my favorite singles matchup in 80s ajw. Nagayo fights off the goons before the bell with Matsumoto overseeing on the second turnbuckle. The control segment begins via the abdomen but really focuses in when Matsumoto locks in the sharpshooter which against Chigusa is Maximum shade and I love it. One thing about 86 AJW I love is the consistent struggle between matchups for the german and the sense of danger attributed to the move as a result. Love the seated piledriver esque thing Matsumoto does at one point. There's a sick three person spike piledriver on Chigusa. Some disgusting Trash can shots and knocking the can down onto chigusa. Eventually Chigusa showcases her knockout potential and gets the win via back suplex. 9/10

 Ogura starts quick with a dive off the top pivoting to arm work afterwards. I haven't seen very much of Ogura at all on the set AFAIK but this feels like a breakthrough performance for her. She controls a shocking amount of the runtime of the match against the two heel in the promotion with some genuinely really strong grappling in a promotion that underemphasizes it. Bull is really generous both in terms of the aforementioned time on offense for Ogura but also with some great selling. The face in peril segment is short but super effective with a series of missed dives by Ogura damaging her midsection and copious use of the nunchucks ending in a double countout. Really good if the finish were a bit more convincing I'd give it an 8 but as is 7.5 will be looking forward to Ogura stuff from here on.

 Omori puts in a fun power vet performance. Hisako is in that still young enough phase that her offense doesn't really have an identity as of yet but she's solid and she has fun dropkicks. Itsuki has really good low key heel energy by dint of using the rope whiplash move on Uno. The JBA are really good at blitzing Uno while when given the opportunity to target Omori's bandaged knee. A thing that stands out is how loose teams are in terms of not pursuing harder to keep weakened opponent in their corner. Probably not a thing about this match alone will be tracking this in later matches. Fun undercard match 7/10

 The vibes are huge and I love it. The first fall is interesting as a shift in the dynamic between the Angels cause in contrast to the 85 footage at least imo there seems to be the beginning of an attempt to even out the balance offensively between Yamasaki and Tateno starting with Tateno getting the pin on the last match of disk 10 with the german suplex. The first fall fip segment is still centered on Tateno but the interesting is Yamazaki getting hobbled. the second fall is quick with the notable thing being Tateno again getting the fall via german. The interesting thing across three falls is that Yamazaki stresses her fucked up leg more and more with each missed move the third fall ends with yamazaki eating the pin with the challengers taking advantage of her weakened state. Best Jumping Bomb Angels match to date 9/10