July 11th, 2004
From Jingu Stadium in Tokyo, Japan
Attendance: 48,000
Announce Team: Joey Styles, Tracy Brooks and Bret "The Hitman" Hart
Chigusa Nagayo and Momoe Nakanishi vs. The Darkness (Daffney and LuFisto)There was one plan for this match when it was announced, and another once WWE came to Chigusa and offered her a multi-year contract with terms that I wasn’t willing to match for a 39 year old, especially since she has been pretty clearly bumped out of the #2 babyface role on the brand with the rise of Meiko Satomura. As her time with us is drawing to a close, it was her who suffered a clean pinfall loss against Lufisto. After the match she sold her shock at her stunning defeat, walking to the back with her head in her hands.
We promoted the annual Grand Prix round robin tournament, which will be starting later in July. There were promos from Etsuko Mita, Devil Kong and some of the other women not booked tonight to promote the tournament, though we made a point of saying that the field itself hasn’t been established yet.
Madison Eagles vs. Takako InoueI considered rebooking this match to give Takako a chance to rest her injured knee, but with only one week of TV to set something else up I decided to just have them focus on storytelling and take it easy with their ring work. It was only partially successful though because her injury clearly took a toll on the match. I give her credit for working through it though. She gutted her way through and took the clean loss when Madison finished her with Hell Bound. The match was passable, but that’s about as much as could be expected under the circumstances.
Before our next match we debuted a couple of fresh callups from 5SSW: Lisa Marie Varon and Lacey. They’ve been teaming together regularly for almost a year down there and so I thought it made perfect sense to bring them up as a new heel team. We ditched the bland name ‘The Dark Ones’ and are dubbing them Crazy Rich, Lisa being ‘crazy’ and Lacey being ‘rich.’ Lisa got her crazy joker gimmick over by laughing maniacally, and I thought the fans took to it well enough to start. Lacey portrayed herself as an American city slicker, a savvy, cocky businesswoman, and I thought she did a great job there. They told the fans and everyone at home that Crazy Rich would soon dominate the tag team division on Renaissance. The angle itself didn’t do all that well since they’re both still unknowns, but I think the team has some potential.
Alexis Laree and Allison Corino vs. Wesna Busic and The Beautiful NightmareDespite Beautiful Nightmare being very off of her game as the clear weak link of the match, this was still the best of the night so far. Most of that is down to Alexis and Wesna, who were the focus of the buildup and carried the in-ring action as well. It was Alexis who secured the win for her team when she pinned Nightmare with a tornado DDT, but on commentary we teased the idea that Alexis and Wesna could see each other again soon, especially if they wind up in the same block of the Grand Prix.
Manami Toyota cut a backstage promo where she said she’d heard plenty about Trish Stratus before coming to WCW, but it mainly been about how good she looked on a magazine cover (and she referenced it by holding up the promotional poster for this very show.) She said Trish still hadn’t proven to her that she was skilled enough to make it here in WCW, where the best female wrestlers in the world fought, but tonight she’d have the chance to prove her wrong.
The Women’s Revolution (Amy and Jacqueline) vs. Our Generation (©) for the Women’s World Tag Team ChampionshipI wasn’t sure what to expect out of this match, wasn’t sure how Amy and Jacqueline would hold up in this spotlight. It wound up exceeding all of my expectations. That had more to do with Our Generation, to be fair; Nattie and Melissa were great, but Amy was a clear notch below them and Jackie was well below her. Still, this wound up being a great tag team title match, though the fans booed when Amy knocked Melissa out cold with a belt shot to take a tainted win and steal the titles. Trish came out afterwards to celebrate with the other members of the Women’s Revolution, and then she remained behind for her own match.
Manami Toyota vs. Trish StratusThis was another big test, for Manami and Trish both. Manami needed to try and carry the load and bring a great match out of a popular but largely unproven woman, and Trish wanted to prove that she could come out and perform at a top level in a legitimate wrestling match that didn’t focus on underwear and T&A. They both passed with flying colors. Trish didn’t look like a world beater or a true upper echelon in ring performer perhaps, but she did a very good job of holding up her end. As for Manami, she reminded everyone tonight that she is truly one of the best in the world regardless of gender.
The two women had great chemistry together, and they were able to deliver a superb match with really great heat behind it. Much like the previous match though, this one ended in a less than satisfactory fashion when Trish, feigning an injury, suckered Manami in and pulled her into a head-on collision with the steel ring post. Manami was unable to make it back into the ring, and Trish picked up a count out win over the former world champion.
We had both Meiko and Akira cut last-minute promos before the main event, which led into a recap video of their first two matches (a narrow successful title defense for Hokuto and then a time limit draw during the UFS.) It was a great way to set the stage for the big finale.
Meiko Satomura vs. Akira Hokuto (©) for the Women’s World ChampionshipThese two had surprisingly lofty expectations to live up to after the previous two matches both turned out better than I’d expected. They were absolutely up to the challenge, as while neither of them were quite as good as Manami Toyota in terms of individual performance, their combined efforts turned this into the easy match of the night and about as good a match as you’ll find anywhere in the world, male or female. For nearly 23 minutes they went back and forth, putting on an instant classic that built up perfectly for the big finish.
One of the things we pushed throughout the build was the idea that Meiko had focused on speed in her training while Hokuto went for lethal finishing power. That played into the climax of the match nicely, as Meiko wriggled free from a Northern Lights Bomb attempt, knocked her to her knees and then blasted Akira with a Scorpio Rising kick before she could react to win the title.
Meiko Satomura celebrated with the title after her huge victory, and her occasional partner Chigusa Nagayo came out to congratulate her as the show went off the air in a moment of triumph for the new babyface champion.
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