Yumiko Hotta held her 25th anniversary show Jan. 4 at Shinjuku FACE. Of course the interesting thing about Hotta is she's not exactly the most beloved figure in joshi puroresu. And not just because she's usually a heel. Actually she's been doing a pretty good job lately. It's mostly because she was a miserable failure as a company owner. ARSION was already in trouble when she bought it and renamed it A To Z. She just ran it further into the ground. After cutting back on her schedule a couple of years ago, she's more active today and is involved in major angles at three joshi feds. I've never been a big Hotta fan. Even in her prime it seemed like AJW was forcing her on fans. But she's a sure fire heel even today so give her credit for that.
The show itself was an odd mix of whimsy, comedy, pointless timefillers and ended with a very strong main event. I guess Hotta liked the days of midgets on AJW shows because there was a midget match on the show. Pretty Ota beat Mr. Buddahman. I've never cared much for midget wrestlers but to each his own. The goofiest thing was a costume play match. The match itself was irrelevant. We had wrestlers dressed up as various AJW wrestlers. The most astonishing was Kaoru Ito as Bull Nakano and that's why I have included a pic. Her partner was Sasori as Dump Matsumoto. Yuk yuk. They defeated Yumiko Hotta as Akira Hokuto and Miho Wakizawa as Yumiko Hotta. The pointless timefillers had Tojuki Leon beat Hotta's old pal Sachie Abe and Kaoru Ito & Takako Inoue (two more Hotta pals) win over Ayako Sato & Natsuki*Taiyo. The nostalgia fest continued with Mima Shimoda returning from Mexico and teaming with Manami Toyota. They won 2 of 3 falls from Arisa Nakajima & Kana. Chigusa Nagayo made a surprise appearance at Hotta's 25th anniversary ceremony. The main event was Yumiko Hotta vs Nanae Takahashi. The great thing about Takahashi is her work ethic. She always gives her best effort and that's what she does here. Hotta does her usual stuff with chains and chairs to beat up Takahashi. But as you might expect Takahashi comes back and wins with a lariat. Hotta complimented her afterwards and they shook hands. This might make for a pretty good feud in Passion Red.
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