Jd star 19960414

Sachie Abe vs. Aya Koyama. Standard rookie match. They didn't do anything of note, but as far as we could see didn't screw up. 4:18 of 15:00

The Bloody Phoenix & Nana Fujimura vs. Flor Metalica & Lady Connors. A passable match carried by the Mexicans. Flor looked decent, making her the only Metalica that did anything worthwhile since '88. Connors kind of had an idea what she wanted to do, but seemed to lack the physical ability to quite pull it off. 7:37 of 9:11

Chikako Shiratori & Xochilt Hamada vs. Cooga & Esther Moreno 16:08 of 20:28. Shiratori vs. Moreno was pretty good. Shiratori had attitude, and Esther was using her athleticism for smaller things like kip-ups she wouldn't mess up that look good. Had the typical Jd' problem where even though the spots aren't blown, they are done a lot better in other places. Cooga was passable but frustrating because she should step up and carry a match like this, but she isn't even aggressive. Xochilt just doesn't do anything well.

Jaguar Yokota vs. Lioness Asuka. Started out with their perpetual motion stuff, but quickly became submission oriented. Initially, this portion was shoot oriented stuff where you had to be cautious trying to make your move, you couldn't just magically apply your submission like most matches. Unfortunately, it switched to more traditional stuff once they broke the ice. The first 15 minutes were mainly slower paced and less spot oriented then the final 5 had all the great moves. Lioness dominated, of course, with Jaguar mainly getting her offense off counters. The tamest and most conservative match I can remember these two having, probably in large part because having not wrestled all year they were rusty. Their styles and strengths play to each other so well, and they have tremendous familiarity and chemistry, so even a less than stellar performance results in a damn good match. 20:04 of 20:44. ***1/2

Shukan Puroresu Presents Velfarre Special Match: Bison Kimura vs. Manami Toyota. These two are too talented not to have a good match, but their styles didn't mesh well and they never developed any drama. Bison & Toyota were given a bouquet of flowers by a Shukan reporter. Bison attacked with her flowers while Manami was recieving them, leading to a strong start where she controlled with submissions and punishing chops. Toyota did Bison's submission style to an extent, but other than it taking longer to get to the spots this basically looked like the typical Toyota match. Toyota was fairly sloppy once they started doing spots at 10:00, screwing up a few of her counters to the point she wasn't able to pull anything off. Toyota's Japanese ocean bomb starts off like a Tigerdriver, but she brings her opponent up to thunderfire powerbomb position still holding the doublearm then slams them like a Ligerbomb. 17:43. ***

Highlights of the 8 woman tournament to crown the first Trans-World Wrestling Federation world champion. Interspersed are segments with the two Jd' representatives, Bison & Shiratori, sightseeing in Mexico, where the tournament took place.