When fans reminisce about All Japan Pro-Wrestling, it’s so often about the promotion’s heyday in the ‘90s. With good reason. That was an era stacked with stars and five-star classics.
The ‘70s era, though, is well worth a joshi fan’s time. Not only is it an intriguing view into the past, there are some great wrestlers who ruled that period.
Yuke Ikeshita. Mach Fumiake. Jackie Sato.
The issue with anyone wanting to hop down a ‘70s Zenjo rabbit hole is that it’s much harder to find footage of that time period. Sites that sell DVDs don’t have much in the way of this era. The vast majority of the All Japan Women’s matches you can find on YouTube or DailyMotion is from the ‘90s.
But while the stock is limited, there’s some fascinating stuff floating around the internet from AJW’s early days. The following is a set of matches to kick off your exploration of the ‘70s. If you want more, I’d recommend subscribing to @EvictoXPuro and @wrestlingtv4046 on YouTube and digging around their channels. The latter having more ‘80s than ‘70s footage.
Jumbo Miyamoto vs. Mach Fumiake (March 19, 1975)
Unfortunately, this is a clipped version which cuts a 20-minute match down to five minutes. Still, this WWWA World Championship clash is an informative look at the era as we get a look at two of its biggest stars in Miyamoto and Fumiake.
Miyamoto debuted in the ‘60s and spent much of the first part of her career collecting tag team gold alongside partners like Mariko Akagi and Miyoko Hoshino. She then won the WWWA world title in ‘75, kickstarting the first of five reigns. She was a ferocious force, a crazed dog in the ring. The ideal foil for the rising star that was Fumiake.
Fumiake was a singer who dripped charisma. She was young, cool, magnetic. Her win over Miyamoto here launched her into stardom.
As for the action itself, it’s all pretty basic. There’s a lot of simple-and-effective mat wrestling and some strikes here and there. It’s not a match powered by acrobatics but by drama. Miyamoto’s headlock takedown are vicious. A sense of struggle permeates everything.
Especially thanks to the runtime, this is far more historical relevant and interesting than it is entertaining. There’s a good chance after this sample of who Miyamoto and Fumiake were, you’re going to want to do a deep dive on both of them.
Jackie Sato & Maki Ueda vs. Shinobu Aso & Yuki Ikeshita (Dec. 8, 1976)
Beauty Pair was a cultural phenomenon. Selling out arenas. Hit songs on the charts. Crowds losing their minds.
You have to see this tag team in action to get a sense of the ‘70s and get a deeper understanding of All Japan Women’s history.
Jackie Sato and Ueda defended the WWWA Tag Team Championships in this bout against the duo known as Black Pair, Aso and Ikeshita. It’s classic babyface-versus heel stuff. Beauty Pair wear colorful, striped outfits while their opponents don all black gear. Beauty Pair wrestle with heart and guts; Aso and Ikeshita have zero issues choking, punching, clawing.
The aggressive Black Pair are a machine, taking turns tear at Sato’s face and putting boots on their foes’ throats. They dominate much of the action, allowing for a dramatic, emotional comeback from the champs.
Sato is fluid and full of fury. It’s fun to watch her go off.
The action is engaging. This classic tag style works well. We get an early sighting of the tombstone piledriver to boot.
This is also a clipped version, but far more of it is left intact than Miyamoto vs. Fumiake.
Maki Ueda vs. Jumbo Miyamoto (Nov. 1, 1976)
This WWWA World Championship clash is an interesting match on both the in-ring and historical levels.
You get to see the transition between eras with this one. This was Miyamoto’s swan song and conversely a launchpad for Ueda who would move into a more marquee role. It’s a collision of two very different personalities and styles. It’s classic good versus evil stuff.
Miyamoto is a bulldog here. The champ slams Ueda into sound equipment, hits running double chop to the throat, and puts ample viciousness into everything.
Ueda fights back with heart and technical skill.
There’s lot of energy packed in, but with vastly different amount of action than we’re used to seeing today. For one, a sunset flip ends the match which is pretty startling seen through modern eyes. Even with the pared down style of the day, there’s plenty to enjoy here. The ringside brawl is engrossing. The storytelling is strong.
The question is: who will most make you want to take a deep dive? Ueda or Miyamoto?
Victoria Fujimi & Nancy Kumi vs. Yumi Ikeshita & Mariko Akagi
It’s unclear the exact date this went down. I couldn’t find info on this match on the usual sites. The video title itself isn’t sure of itself, labeling it as being from 1977 or 78. Regardless, this 2-out-of-3 falls match is an exciting glimpse into the era.
There are some fascinating characters in the spotlight in this tag battle.
Yumi Ikeshita and Mariko Akagi are excellent heels. They grab steel chairs and are ready to throw down. Akagi bites her opponent. She spits and throws water at the crowd. Ikeshita wields an animalistic fury. She fires off headbutts and pulls at her foe’s face like she’s Circe.
As for their opposition, Fujimi and Kumi were known as Golden Pair. Like Beauty Pair, they were both idols and wrestlers.
In this bout, Fujimi shows off her impressive power, lifting Ikeshita on her shoulders and then across her back with ease. She employs a meat-and-potatoes offense, but it works, moving the story along.
Kumi, meanwhile, gets put through the ringer for a lot of the match’s runtime. So, you get to see her selling ability plenty. Like most of her peers, her offense is pretty basic but effective.
There’s some intense brawling at various points of this match which really pull the crowd in.
All four wrestlers aren’t talked about nearly enough in joshi circles in my opinion. Hopefully, seeing them mix it up here gets some folks to go hunting around the internet and see what other footage they can get their hands on. That kind of exploration is part of what makes the joshi fandom experience so fun. There is always a new-to-you wrestler worth studying up on.
Zenjo in the ‘70s offers many of those.
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