09/08/2025

© Pro Wrestling Illustrated

Recommendations From A History Man

Peter Edge is very much inspired by the “Forbidden Door” concept this week in his throwback choices.

As “Forbidden Door” comes around and the two main players of the alliance to defeat wrestling’s axis meet, AEW and NJPW will put on interpromotional matches (well, as of writing I hope we get inter-promotional matches or this week’s theme was completely wrong) as part of the 4th annual “Forbidden Door” show. Ideally, I would like to have showcased for you guys the best matches from NJPW before its beloved 5 star era (I’m still trying to get this name for 2012-2019 New Japan over), but I don’t want TV Asahi sending a tank to my house — so instead we’re going to look at the art of interpromotional matches and a trilogy that came out of the best interpromotional collaboration wrestling has ever seen.

The AJW/LLPW/JWP working partnership has been delved into in my Reccies in previous editions of SoSu (is it obvious that I am really into this era) with looks into the legendary Kandori/Hokuto bloodbath and the THUNDER QUEEN BATTLE!!!! But to a lot of people, the finest hour – or 97 minutes and 7 seconds if you want to be pedantic about it – is the trilogy of matches between the two teams of Manami Toyota/Toshiyo Yamada and Dynamite Kansai/Mayumi Ozaki. So in this edition of Reccies, we look at the greatest bit of wrestling music from a collaboration of two wrestling companies that this wonderful industry has put together. A rivalry that changed wrestling.

November 26th, 1992

The concept of feeling each other out was alien to all four, with the match starting at a lightning pace that doesn’t let up, but even in the franticness of the action everyone’s role is obvious to see. Toyota was hitting and running. Ozaki was the person in your friend group that starts shit and is either a) oblivious to the consequences, or b) doesn’t care. Yamada was the loyal friend while Kansai hit anything that moved as hard as humanly possible.

The urgency of the first fall came as both teams knew that a 1-0 lead in this 2 out of 3 falls match was half the job done, but as one of the teams took that 1-0 lead, the desperation to make it a 2-0 lead to someone going for their finisher too early, leading to the opposite team equalising.

Fall 3 saw the pace go way down as a more traditional tag structure took hold with cutting the ring in half and all that stuff FTR likes, even if the old Joshi-ism did make its way into the match, such as fighting on the outside for long stretches and Manami doing mad stuff. But Manami’s mad stuff was electric as her firing up spots are just great. But it’s still upstaged by Kansai and Yamada kicking lumps out of each other. Mayumi Ozaki did get left out of the chaos by just being the biggest heel possible. Continually interrupting pinfall attempts, cheap shotting at will, Ozaki was a thorn in the side of both Toyota and Yamada and the audience whose essence of fair play made them detest the break up of pin and submission attempts, even when Toyota broke up a pin attempt on her partner eliciting boos as she did so. Maybe they are just fans of the “one save” rule.

The final five minutes grabbed the fans in attendance and should grab you. Even if the end had a small flaw, the delay between the official’s hand hitting the mat for the third time and the crowd realising that the AJW team won made that moment hit harder with all the joyous scenes afterwards. *****

April 11th, 1993

A rematch was set for April, again being 2 out of 3 falls and again for the WWWA Tag Titles. So how do you differentiate from match one? Firstly, you do what they did with the first fall. I’m not going to spoil it, because I really would love everyone reading to watch the trilogy but every second of that first fall rocks. Trust me, you need to see every second of that first fall because it rocks.

The second fall was weaker than the previous four in the rivalry so far, but the exchanges between Kansai and Yamada electrified with the crowd being with them as the two shoot style devotees did what shoot style devotees like to do: kick each other hard. Ozaki was the shitarse heel and Toyota really showed out as the best wrestler in the world, everything she hit in this fall and the third made even this seasoned watcher give gasps of awe. The level of difficulty in each high spot was ridiculously high and not once did she slip and fall short. It’s matches like this as to why people’s thoughts that she was the best wrestler in the world from 1992-1995 are justified and why if someone says to you that someone who isn’t Manami Toyota is the greatest women’s wrestler of all time, just say the words Manami Toyota.

While Fall 3 wasn’t as good as the deciding fall of their first match, it still rocks. Everyone played their roles perfectly, the near falls worked and the final two bombs of the match were wince inducing but also spectacular in the double team moves that Kansai and Ozaki pulled out, and the post match celebration from the pair is great, with the JWP pair celebrating like it’s the most important win of their careers and an important milestone for the company in their battle for supremacy with AJW. *****

December 6th, 1993

There’s not a lot wrong with this match. Actually, there’s a lot right. Toyota was Toyota, Mayumi Ozaki, who, despite my willingness to sing “You’re the one that I want” to her (I’ll admit she is the clunkiest of the four), was razor sharp in everything she hit. There were moments of awesomeness (the reversal of the Doomsday Device, the first minute of the match that is full of callbacks and the reversals of finishers that defy physics) but for the first 20 minutes, it didn’t slap like the first two do. Maybe it’s the traditional one-fall structure of the match which, after the 2 out of 3 falls of the first two matches, means it came across as the red headed stepchild of the trilogy. But as those awesome reversals made up the final act of the match and the amount of great near falls, I asked myself: why did I give this ****¾ again? And then twenty seconds later I realized why.

A spot (that isn’t a botch but isn’t perfect compared to everything that has happened in the previous two matches) stands out as Manami found out how hard the hardest part of the ring was on an errant moonsault and the finish, which actually sees a very innovative finisher move, got the “that was it” reaction from the fans on the finish.

It is the worst match of the trilogy. ****¾

There are many conclusions to take from watching all 3 of the famed trilogy from All Japan Women and JPW Joshi Puroresu’s best tag teams. Manami Toyota is the best of her generation and all-time in women’s wrestling, a singles match between Kansai and Yamada should rock (hint at future Reccies) and that Mayumi Ozaki is the most beautiful Joshi wrestler I’ve ever seen. I’ve said to Dann Read, the promoter of Pro Wrestling EVE on multiple occasions on the discord server he runs, that he should bring her in for a shot so I can see her live and also present her with a bouquet of flowers and Milk Tray chocolates, and I don’t care if she’s in a long term relationship with Yuko Miyamoto, I will have a fight to the death(match) with him if I have to, and I will……

By Peter Edge

Retro News

TMZ Sports reports that an investigation is now ongoing around the death of Terry Bollea (Hulk Hogan) after allegations of medical malpractice after an occupational therapist present at the time of his death made the claims to Police who attended the scene. It is claimed that the therapist told police that a recent surgery had led to Bollea’s phrenic nerve being severed, a claim reiterated by his widow, who said that the nerve had been “compromised”. Clearwater Police confirmed that there was an ongoing investigation into the case via a public statement that required them to interview multiple witnesses as well as seek out medical records relating to Bollea’s recent procedure.

A documentary which had been commissioned prior to Sabu’s death will begin streaming on September 15th on the Kinema streaming platform. The film will cover his upbringing and history in wrestling before focusing on his journey to his final match with Joey Janela back in April. It is directed by Joe Clarke and lists Rob Van Dam as a producer.

NJPW G1 CLIMAX 35 Final

Konosuke Takeshita defeated EVIL in the final of G1 CLIMAX 35. You might read that line and wonder how we got here..

AEW Forbidden Door 2025

Seán O’Brien takes us through the “Forbidden Door”, as we join him for his London trip.