All Japan Women at Korakuen Hall - 12/24/01

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This was Zenjo's year-end show and Korakuen was packed.  The show featured a rookie tournament, an All-Japan Singles Title Match and was supposed to feature a continuation of the feud between LCO and Ito/Watanabe.


Turns out for whatever reason, I didn't get many pictures from this show.  In fact, of the 5 rookie tournament matches, this was the only picture I got.

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Tomoko Morii celebrates winning the Rookie Tournament.




Kumiko Maekawa vs Mika Nishio
IMG_0329.JPG (67867 bytes) I think Nishio had a pretty good idea what to expect.
IMG_0330.JPG (72811 bytes) To her credit, Nishio came out strong.  She soon was overpowered.
She showed a lot of heart but eventually fell to Maekawa through a brutal kick to the throat.




Kayoko Haruyama vs Miyuki Fujii
This was a match for the All-Japan Singles Title.  This turned out to be the best match of the show, I've never seen either one better.
But unfortunately, once again, I didn't take many pictures of this match.  And those I did came out poorly.




Yumiko Hotta/Takako Inoue/Manami Toyota vs
Kayo Noumi/Nanae Takahashi/Momoe Nakanishi
IMG_0342.JPG (72722 bytes) Hotta showed off her new buzzcut, courtesy of losing her hair vs hair match to Ito.  Takako in her swank cowboy outfit.
IMG_0343.JPG (94368 bytes) Kiss no Sekai gets psyched up.
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Big time streamer displays for all 6 wrestlers.
IMG_0348.JPG (82930 bytes)IMG_0349.JPG (106562 bytes) Toyota has experienced a Renaissance this year, and that's translated into her having more fun...
IMG_0350.JPG (113046 bytes) And kickin more ass, as in Noumi here.
IMG_0351.JPG (94004 bytes)IMG_0358.JPG (79245 bytes) Momoe tried to turn the tide for her team.
IMG_0353.JPG (100343 bytes) Then Noumi got in the act.
IMG_0355.JPG (102704 bytes) Toyota was sly as her new found sneaky self.
IMG_0357.JPG (83466 bytes) Then Nanae took over and managed to get the momentum turned to her team.
IMG_0361.JPG (114923 bytes) It seemed like the youngsters were going to pick up the win...
IMG_0363.JPG (78236 bytes) But Toyota turned it all around and ended up dropping Noumi on her head for the win.

Etsuko Mita/Mima Shimoda vs Tomoko Watanabe

IMG_0364.JPG (78581 bytes) This was scheduled to be a resumption of one of the greatest wrestling feuds of all time: Watanabe/Ito and Mita/Shimoda.  However, Ito came out to say she couldn't wrestle due to injury.
IMG_0367.JPG (79509 bytes) Well, Mita and Shimoda came out to call bullshit on that, and taunt Ito.
IMG_0368.JPG (96826 bytes) Nabe came storming out to stick up for her teammate and ended up getting snuck by a rampaging Shimoda.
IMG_0370.JPG (94370 bytes)IMG_0372.JPG (118080 bytes) This was a severe mismatch as LCO went about taking Nabe apart.
IMG_0373.JPG (74213 bytes) In one of the great accidents in wrestling history, Shimoda was climbing up to deliver the drop kick to Nabe while Mita was going to crack her with a chair.  But instead, Mita clocked Shimoda dead-on on the backswing.  Shimoda somehow managed to fight through the cobwebs to finish the move.
IMG_0374.JPG (82967 bytes) Watanabe managed to throw together a late comeback, taking it to both Mita and Shimoda.
IMG_0376.JPG (90642 bytes)IMG_0378.JPG (82433 bytes) But eventually the numbers caught up to Nabe and she ended up getting pinned.
IMG_0379.JPG (127550 bytes) After the show was over, I got a shot of all the streamers stuffed under the ring.


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