Given how many joshi titles I’ve reviewed already, it seems like a mistake that I’ve skipped over the company that brought women’s wrestling to prominence. This title’s origin begins in the ‘50s, but it was created out of the ashes of a belt that began in 1910 when Cora Livingston was recognized as the first Women’s World Champion. Mildred Burke won that title 22 years later by defeating Barbara Ware after Livingston retired.
Burke feuded with Clara Mortenson after winning the title, and during that time she began being recognized as the first NWA World Women’s Champion. Then, in 1954, Burke defended the title against June Byers. They should really make a movie about this match. Burke’s philandering ex-husband and former business partner, Billy Wolfe, was Byers’ father-in-law. There was major heat and legal problems between Burke and Wolfe, and by extension Byers. I don’t completely understand the politics of what happened, but the topline story is that Wolfe froze Burke, and by extension women’s wrestling, out of the NWA. In a 2/3 falls match, the NWA stripped Burke of the title after she dropped the first fall and awarded it to Byers.
In what was clearly the style at the time (given how similar circumstances spun so many championships off of the NWA World Heavyweight Championship), Burke continued recognizing herself as a champion. She promoted shows with herself on top as champion under the banner of the World Women’s Wrestling Association. But after two years, she retired and so did the title and the promotion. But in those two years, Burke promoted women’s wrestling in Japan, helping to bring more attention to it there.
In 1968, promoter Takashi Matsunaga began promoting women’s wrestling shows in Japan with his new All Japan Women’s Pro-Wrestling promotion. Two years later, Marie Vagnone won a (probably fake) tournament “in California” to bring back the WWWA World Championship. She defended the title unsuccessfully against Aiko Kyo, and from then on the title became the preeminent championship of AJW.
The title was active until 2006, though almost half of the title changes happened between ‘70 and ‘79. I don’t know that footage of most of those matches even exists today, so with two exceptions I’ll be glossing over the 70s. \
Deep breath now. Kyo held the title for 17 months before losing it to Jean Antoine, though she won it back six days later. Six weeks after that, Sandy Starr beat Kyo for the belt, only to drop is back to Kyo a month later. Sarah Lee took the title from Kyo a month after that, but a month later Miyoko Hoshino took it from her. I guess 1972 accounted for a glut of title changes. Hoshino bucked the trend and held the title for 10 months before losing it to Sandy Parker. Parker held it for two months before dropping it back to Hoshino. Hoshino lost to Jumbo Miyamoto two months after that. Miyamoto reigned for six months before Bambi Ball took the title from her. Ball was injured and had to vacate the title. Miyamoto beat Jane O’Brien to win the vacant title, though she lost it after just a month to Jackie West. West lost it back to Miyamoto three weeks later. Miyamoto then held the title for 11 months.
March 19, 1975 – Tokyo, Japan
Mach Fumiake def. Jumbo Miyamoto {WWWA Singles Championship Match}
I’m not totally convinced that the iteration of this matchup that’s floating around on YouTube is a title change, though it is Fumiake defeating Miyamoto and the finish is kooky enough that it could be a title change designed to protect Miyamoto. Only 3:23 (of 20:09 supposedly, though neither seem to have 20 minutes worth of sweat on them in the end) was shown, though what’s there certainly had the crowd hot and bothered. Fumiake hit a really ugly double underhook suplex for the win, though Miyamoto clearly kicked out at two. N/A
Miyamoto won the title back two weeks later. This time she held on for just shy of a year before losing to Mariko Akagi, and then she won it back for a record fifth time about a month later. Two months later, Maki Ueda beat her for the belt. Mariko Akagi took it from her five months after that, and then lost it back to Ueda eight months later. Jackie Sato won her first title three months later and held the belt for a record (in AJW anyway) 20 months before Monster Ripper beat her for it. And now we’re all caught up at the tail end of the ‘70s.
September 13, 1979 – Tokyo, Japan
Jackie Sato def. Monster Ripper {WWWA Singles Championship Match}
First things first, the on-screen graphics are in the style of the exploitation movies that were coming out in the country around this time (well, really for over a decade by that point) and I love them to death. It turns out the heel kicking out before two even when there’s a title change was just a thing back then, because it happened here too. Also, Ripper (Bertha Faye) was a colossal dick. She’d rub Sato’s pain in the face of the audience and even made girls in the crowd cry by attacking Sato when it looked like she’d blown out her knee. I love ‘70s Japanese wrestling so much. The rest of this match plays out like it would in an action movie, something modern wrestlers should really learn from. Sato can barely stand, so she stalls for time by bailing and then rolling through Ripper’s legs when she sees opportunities to do so. Then, she gets more confidence and hits a couple of primordial Sling Blades. The crowd is just LOSING IT with every near fall. In the end, she hits a back suplex for the win at 13:03 (shown of 36:36), though as I mentioned earlier, Ripper clearly kicked out. Who cares, this was so much fun. ***½
March 15, 1980 – Kawasaki, Kanagawa
Monster Ripper def. Jackie Sato {WWWA Singles Championship Match}
Both of these women died around the age of 40, which is just a massive bummer. Speaking of bummers, this match was a sorry bout compared to the last go around. Granted, a big chunk was cut from the beginning. What we’re left with is mediocre, though it shows me the earliest use of the Banzai Drop that I can remember courtesy of Ripper. Ripper’s cronies attack Sato on the outside, leading to Ripper winning the title by count out at 5:32 (shown). Not good. Five months later, these two had another match that ended even more controversially than this one and the title was made vacant. In December, Sato beat Nancy Kumi to win the vacant title. **
February 25, 1981 – Yokohama, Kanagawa
Rimi Yokota def. Jackie Sato {WWWA Singles Championship Match}
This one felt like an ESPN Classics Antonino Rocco main event. Do they still air those ever or is that a relic of my early ‘20s? We got a lot of exaggerated consecutive bodyslams and double underhook suplexes, and dropkicks that were meant to be a big deal. The finish saw Yokota hit a bodyslam and then just squirm on top of Sato over and over until eventually she got a three count out of it at 15:28. This doesn’t hold up, but it felt very era appropriate. **¼
May 7, 1983 – Kawasaki, Kanagawa
La Galactica def. Jaguar Yokota {WWWA World Championship Match}
As you can see, Yokota gave herself a new first name. This was also Galactica’s mask vs. Yokota’s hair. Galactica had Ripper in her corner, who would interfere blatantly and often. I’m not sure why that didn’t hand the match to Yokota. In fact, after a promising opening spell, the entire match was Ripper getting involved. The finish saw Galactica hit a diving senton and Ripper hit a Superfly Splash to give Galactica the win at 17:30. This was bad. I guess my take as of now is that Yokota can only be appreciated if you are a huge fan of the ‘70s style. Yokota won the title back a month later. She held it for two years and retired as champion. *
December 12, 1985 – Tokyo Japan
Devil Masami def. Dump Matsumoto {WWWA World Championship & All Pacific Championship Match}
The All Pacific Championship was a secondary title that was held by Masami at the time. I’m not sure if it happened before this, but the version of the title belt that remained until 2006 was in play here, replacing the one pictured above that had more of an NWA Women’s Championship design because of its lineage. In the last match, it drove me nuts that Ripper interfered with impunity. Here, Crane Yu came in to help Matsumoto hit a Doomsday Device, but at least the referee wouldn’t count the pin after it happened. I also liked that in retribution, when a ton of people helped Masami hit her final Electric Chair Drop for the win at 19:22, the referee counted it. The match was nothing special, but that finish got the crowd nice and foamed up. **¾
August 23, 1986 – Kawasaki, Kanagawa
Yukari Omori vs. Devil Masami {WWWA World Championship Match}
I’ve never seen a match like this before and it didn’t sit with me all that well. It was more or less a stretched out squash for Omori, as Masami had to take breaks to catch her breath and never gained control in a convincing way. The final few minutes saw Omori hit unimpeded shots to Masami’s chest, sidestep Masami’s pathetic attempts at offense (the one visual bit that I liked quite a bit), and then hit a diving tomahawk chop and a splash for the win at 23:49. I probably would have been more into this if it were half as long. **¼
October 20, 1987 – Tokyo, Japan
Chigusa Nagayo def. Yukari Omori {WWWA World Championship vs. All Pacific Championship Match}
From War Dream. Hearing thousands of young girls scream for Nagayo makes me wonder why no wrestling company in the west has been able to tap into a mass of female preteen fervor. Could WWE be more successful in that arena by looking for athletic women who are also great singers? This tactic is sort of what happens in Japan today, where wrestlers in, say, Stardom are also models or singers. But then it hasn’t led to giant crowds for Stardom so maybe that won’t work. Speaking of things that don’t work, Nagayo got busted open off of a lariat that didn’t hit her in the face. I don’t understand what happened there. However, the blood gave Nagayo the same fire she had at the outset of the match, and her offensive blitzes were the best part of this thing. She kicked Omori off of the top rope and hit a moonsault for the win at 18:11. ***½
August 25, 1988 – Kawasaki, Kanagawa
Lioness Asuka def. Chigusa Nagayo {WWWA World Championship Match}
The Crush Gals explode! These two made up the most popular tag team in the history of joshi (probably). This was pretty gnarly. Asuka controlled early with devastating kicks. Chigusa made a comeback and was able to stand her ground by repeatedly going to a sleeper hold. Things started to pick up when Asuka dropkicked Nagayo from the turnbuckle to the floor. Nagayo must have landed badly because it became clear that she’d suffered a separated shoulder. Back in the ring, Asuka hit one kick before Nagayo could no longer continue and the challenger won by forfeit at 13:10. Asuka immediately gave back the title, not wanting to win it that way. I think that’s kind of stupid, as from a kayfabe perspective the injury came at the hands of Asuka’s actions. But this is wrestling, so the logical thing doesn’t always happen. The match was just getting exciting when it ended. ***
January 29, 1989 – Tokyo, Japan
Lioness Asuka def. Chigusa Nagayo {WWWA World Championship Match}
Alright, let’s do this again. I should have expected this to take a while to get going, given that their last match was only starting to turn up after ten minutes. This took a little longer than that, and I was sitting here ready to be disappointed. But then there was a subtle shift, one that I didn’t notice until I was unable to take my eyes off the screen. I appreciate this slow transition into the part of the match where everything was birthed out of the thing that came before it, because it felt more organic than one of the wrestlers doing a fighting spirit pose out of nowhere and jarringly shifting gears. And that’s not to poopoo on a well-executed fighting spirit spot, it’s just to say that this caught me off guard and I loved it. The crowd was eating everything up from the opening bell, so they didn’t need the final fifteen minutes of genius, but they got it anyway. Asuka hit a Regalplex for the win at 29:27. Asuka held the title for six months before retiring as champion. ****
January 4, 1990 – Tokyo, Japan
Bull Nakano def. Mitsuko Nishiwaki {WWWA World Championship Match}
From the finals of a tournament to crown a new champion. There was no opening bell, so it’s hard to say what the match time really was. But this was very short. It may have been clipped, but I doubt it. Most of the match was Nakano stalking, bloodying, and abusing Nishikawa. Nishikawa had a couple of fun hope spots, but Nakano largely obliterated her here. She hit a really scary Jacknife Powerbomb for the win at 7:35 (probably). ***
November 26, 1992 – Kawasaki, Kanegawa
Aja Kong def. Bull Nakano {WWWA World Championship Match}
From Dream Rush in Kawasaki. We’re on the cusp of some very famous title changes, but this one isn’t so well known and it’s for good reason. I definitely didn’t get what I was hoping for out of this, which would have been stiff violence from two dominant women. This is a rather standard main event match that had the dressing of grandeur without delivering on the execution. Watching both women fly was cool, but it wasn’t done in such a way that it was spectacular. Kong got the win with a diving legdrop at 20:19. ***
March 26, 1995 – Yokohama, Kanegawa
Manami Toyota def. Aja Kong {WWWA World Championship Match}
From Queendom Victory. After two title reigns that averaged nearly 1,000 days in length, the title was about to change hands much more frequently in matches that have been lauded for decades. This was the seventh one-on-one match between the two, and Toyota had lost each of the first six matches. They played that up here, with Kong either anticipating Toyota’s moves and calmly countering them, or knowing that she could withstand her strikes and calmly absorbing them. Toyota got virtually no offense in the entire match until the very end. There, she scrambled around the turnbuckle to catch Kong with an avalanche Electric Chair Drop, and then forced her back up the turnbuckle to hit the Japanese Ocean Cyclone Suplex for the desperation win at 23:22. Brock Lesnar and all the guys he had extended squashes against could have learned something from this match. I’m not mad that they didn’t straight up lift this, but this was more entertaining throughout than most of those. ****
June 27, 1995 – Sapporo, Hokkaido
Aja Kong def. Manami Toyota {WWWA World Championship Match}
From Zenjo Movement. For many people, this is the best women’s match of all time. I think that’s mostly the case because Dave Meltzer told them so. It is an incredible match, probably even better if you were following along with the history between these two. I only have second-hand knowledge and the match I just watched before this. And even just that match helped make spots in this match more meaningful. Kong got in Toyota’s face before the match, but Toyota (in her beautiful white robe) didn’t back down. That informed how much more confidence she’d be fighting with throughout this bout than ever before against Kong. There was a part that didn’t work for me where they spent forever on the floor, but then Toyota used that time to regroup and took back control for the first time in quite a while. Kong knew how to stop the Electric Chair Drop, but got booted to the floor for her trouble. From there, even though she didn’t have the high ground she was able to dominate Toyota. Toyota tried to regain control by countering the spinning back fist to a Japanese Ocean Suplex. That was dope, but it wasn’t enough to stop Kong from regaining control and abusing the champion until the spinning back fist finally put her down at 22:45. ****½
August 30, 1995 – Osaka, Osaka
Dynamite Kansai def. Aja Kong {WWWA World Championship Match}
From Queens Holy Night. This was Kansai’s fourth attempt at beating Kong, having never won a singles match between them before. Watching this match renewed my interest in finding their Oz Academy title change from 14 years after this, so that’s what that link goes to. Kong’s entrance song is the most batshit crazy thing I’ve ever heard. This was right up my alley. These two big broads beat the crap out of each other. The match is chock full of gnarly strikes as part of a terrific story. Kansai knew she had Kong’s number from the start. No matter the position Kong put her in, Kansai either had an out or threw up a taunt before getting hit. Near the end, Kansai injured Kong’s arm, forcing Kong to escape the ring and pop it back into place. This was crucial, because Kong was able to block the Splash Mountain with her spinning backfist up to that point. But with a taped up arm, the backfist was useless. Kansai easily kicked it away over and over and hit the Splash Mountain for the win at 18:09. ****½
December 4, 1995 – Tokyo, Japan
Manami Toyota def. Dynamite Kansai {WWWA World Championship Match}
From Monday Night Sensation. Dear North American wrestlers, sweep the leg! Kansai did a legsweep after avoiding the Japanese Ocean Cyclone Suplex and it was dope as hell. Also dope, the finish saw Toyota counter an avalanche Splash Mountain to a Frankensteiner for the win over a stunned champion at 22:37. Kansai controlled most of this, as she should have, but Toyota’s fire in response was great. This wasn’t epic at the level of the ‘95 Kong title changes, and it’s been a bit overrated over time, but it was a hell of a match and I kind of can’t believe the run on top this company had that year. ****
December 8, 1996 – Tokyo, Japan
Kyoko Inoue def. Manami Toyota {WWWA World Championship Match}
From Kokugikan Chojoden The Real Earnest. I could watch Toyota get powerbombed by bigger women every day for the rest of my life and be no less entertained than I was the first time I saw it. What a trooper. A botched dive to the floor was the only red mark on an otherwise crazy main event. Inoue fell victim to the Japanese Ocean Cyclone Suplex once, and realizing that she’d likely not be able to kick out again, rapidly avoided it from then on. Toyota probably should have done the same with Inoue’s powerbombs, kicking out repeatedly but getting weaker each time. Rather than try the same thing again hoping for a new result, Inoue shifted to a Burning Hammer to finally pu the champion down at 24:52. Inoue held the title for five months, during which time she turned it into something of a Triple Crown along with the All Pacific Championship and the IWA Women’s World Championship. Then, she fought Kaoru Ito to a 60-minute draw and vacated all three titles. The IWA title was deactivated, while the All Pacific title was won a month later by Inoue’s partner (but not sister) Takako Inoue. One night earlier, Kyoko Inoue and Ito had a rematch for the WWWA title and Inoue became champion again. ****¼
August 20, 1997 – Tokyo, Japan
Yumiko Hotta def. Kyoko Inoue {WWWA World Championship Match}
From Budokan Queens: Brightness. This had a few things going for it. First and foremost, it had Hotta’s failed diving Koppo kick. Who would even think to try that? What an insane thing to do. It also had the amazing recovery after Inoue tripped running up the turnbuckle. Rather than redo the spot or ignore it, she played up a twisted ankle and Hotta briefly attacked it. Had Hotta changed her gameplan a bit and continued to work the leg instead of then switching to the arm for the rest of the match (and the finish), I’d have been really blown away. I’d also not be sure whether or not the initial fall was a botch. But because she switched to the arm, the botch is clear. Either way, the recovery was well done. After a wild run up to the finish, Inoue went for a cocky pin so Hotta grabbed her arm and locked in a cross armbreaker for the win at 13:24 (shown of 18:33). ***½
Inoue and over a dozen other AJW wrestlers left the company very shortly after this show, leading AJW on a path of ruin. But I’ll get into that in the next part of this title history.
From Diamond Ring Kensuke Office Changes. They emphasize that Nakajima beat Dragon Gate wrestler Kenichiro Arai 
From Dynamite 131. This is a qualifying match for the Owen Hart Foundation tournament. Joe debuted at ROH Supercard of Honor, saving Jonathan Gresham from Jay Lethal (whose soul searching apparently led him to turn heel) & Sonjay Dutt after the main event. And now that ROH and AEW are the same thing, that seems worth mentioning. Caster’s pre-match rap was cute. This was real squashy, with Joe needing only two minutes to put Caster down with the Muscle Buster at 2:52. Lethal & Dutt pop up on the big screens and Lethal says he’d been trying to get a hold of Joe during his difficult soul searching time, and Joe never picked up. They have a present for Joe next week. N/A
From Dynamite 132. Jay Lethal & Sonjay Dutt were in the front row cheering on Joe. Sarcastically, probably, as they brawled with Joe at ROH Supercard of Honor XV. 
From Rampage 39. 
From Dynamite 137. 
From Dynamite 138. This is a 
From Double or Nothing. 
From PWF York Cougar Football Fundraiser. I didn't know that this match happened until over a month after the fact. This started out as a non-title match, but we'll get to why I've listed it as a title match in a moment. FTR have Mick Foley in their corner while their opponents have Bill Behrens. I’ve never actually seen Behrens do an on-camera gig before. He's holding a tennis racket, presumably as an Umaga to Jim Cornette. But it's confusing because there was actually a tennis player named Bill Behrens. They announce this match as having a 20-minute time limit. Only 11 minutes in, they say there are three minutes remaining. Until then, this was as run-of-the-mill as a modern FTR match gets. But the announcement snapped everyone out of their heat-on-Wheeler funk and forced them to go for desperate pins. They announce ten seconds remaining a couple of times, but no one can get the roll up pin they're looking for. The 20-minute time limit expires at 1
From NXT UK 183. McGuinness started by essentially saying that Fraser is going to pee or poo himself during the match. Unnecessary. Had Shawn Michaels been game to have a good match against Vader, this is what it would have looked like. Actually, a more appropriate and modern analogue is Brock Lesnar vs. Seth Rollins from SummerSlam. Much like that match, Frazer used quick strikes and avoided his larger opponent’s signature big move to stay alive. Here it was the powerbomb whereas there it was suplexes. Here, Frazer also successfully damaged WALTER’s knee, which slowed the big man down and made it hard for WALTER to hit the powerbomb. Unfortunately for Frazer, WALTER was able to bide his time and clothesline Frazer’s legs out from under him. An inevitable powerbomb followed and won the match for WALTER at 14:02. I hate to say this because I’m happy that he’s healthier, but the way WALTER has slimmed down has taken some of the magic away from his aura. At least for me it has. That said, dude can clearly still go as well as ever in the ring. ****
From NXT 659. Strong was feeling it here, which is thanks in large part to the crowd being maniacally loud from the get go I’m sure. His whole game was fast and devastating stick and move attacks. That worked pretty well, as WALTER was dazed from time to time. But as with all good WALTER matches (which is pretty much all WALTER matches), everything WALTER does is devastating here so it takes very little for him to take back control. And eventually he did just that and hit the powerbomb for the win at 9:46 (shown of 12:18). After the match, WALTER gets on the microphone and says that his name is Gunther now. I did not think WALTER would be a victim of the renaming curse this far into his run. What will they rename Strong?! ***¾
From NXT UK 185. Andy Shepherd helpfully announces from inside the ring that the reason for the stipulation is that the feud has gotten so violent that it wouldn’t be safe to have fans around. Devlin says during the match that it’s because he thinks Dragunov could only muster the energy to win if he had the crowd behind him. I like that explanation a lot more. The only real reason I could think of to do this without fans is that there was a scheduling conflict with one of the wrestlers for the regular TV taping date and they needed to get this thing filmed. We just had such a long stretch of empty arena NXT UK episodes that I can’t imagine anyone was dying to get another taste of it. This aired the day after Adam Cole vs. Orange Cassidy in a match that was also no disqualification and falls count anywhere, and this served up everything I felt was missing from that match. Now you might say, “Brad, Cassidy is not the same kind of character as Devlin or Dragunov, how could you expect the same level of violence or intensity?” To that I say, when Cassidy started his match by breaking his own sunglasses and rapidly punching Cole, he was indicating that level of violence and/or intensity. And instead the match was mostly wacky. Anyway, this was not wacky. It was stiff and intense and featured weapons that made sense and spots the didn’t take forever to set up. Dragunov got in trouble when his eye injury acted up. Devlin took control and beat the crap out of him. I wasn’t wild about how meek Dragunov was when Devlin was zip tying his hands, but I did like that in the end it turned out to be an error on Devlin’s part anyway because Dragunov’s finisher requires no hands. And indeed, a bound Dragunov jumped off the steel steps (which had been brought into the ring) and hit the Torpedo Moskau on Devlin for the win at 21:43. NXT UK is still sneaking in these dope matches that no one is watching. Y’all should watch them. ****¼ 
From AAA Triplemania Regia. FTR come out with Vickie Guerrero. This was supposed to be explained at an earlier AAA taping but FTR and Guerrero all missed them. AAA is notorious for having this kind of luck/being incompetent lately. FTR is also wearing Eddie Guerrero tribute tights, with American flags on one side and flames on the other, I suppose to pay homage to his Gringos Locos and Latino Heat gimmicks. This match mostly sucked, but one cool spot saw FTR tie Pentagon’s mask to the ropes and force him to unmask with his hands over his face to stop them from climbing the ladder. That would have been a very meaningful moment to lead up to the Lucha Brothers winning the titles back, but unfortunately instead it led into nothing. He just got his mask back and the match continued on in its lame, derivative way. At one point, Pentagon was the only man standing, but instead of climbing the ladder he grabbed a table from the floor. So the titles mean enough to him that he’d unmask to stop his opponents from winning, but not enough for him to get the titles when he had a clear path to do it? Vickie powered Pentagon, causing him to voluntarily jump through the table and Harwood grabbed the belts at 12:12. This was abysmal. *
From AEW Full Gear. Silver was hamming it up a lot more here than he was the year before in New York. That said, this had stronger just-a-match vibes than the aforementioned match. After Silver ripped out Cassidy’s pockets, Cassidy turned up the heat and these guys put on a middle of the row undercard match. Not bad by any means, but nothing memorable either. Cassidy hit the Beach Break rather out of nowhere for the win at 9:42. **¾ 
From the second Honor Reigns Supreme. The commentators sold this as Gresham getting a big shot against a top ROH guy after being an also-ran in the Television Championship division for a while. This was terrific. Both guys did a fantastic job selling their respective targeted limbs, and Gresham in particular played the role of the tenacious underdog perfectly. He didn’t just watch to see where Lethal would have trouble executing his finisher because of the damage he’d done to the former ROH Champion’s arm, he pressed the assault whenever he could, taking out the arm to make sure the Lethal Injection would never come. But what he couldn’t do was stop Lethal from battering his knee and ultimately winning with a Figure 4 Leglock at 17:54. ****¼ 
From the second Masters of the Craft. Columbus has way more Gresham fans than Concord did. That’s a neat little advancement to the plot, innit? They both went after the same limbs that earned them dividends in their previous match. And then they went ahead and built an incredible match out of that story. At first it seemed as though Lethal wasn’t going to be able to get Gresham’s leg to give out. But about halfway through the match, Gresham’s knee was in trouble. Gresham was able to escape the leglock this time by using the momentum of Lethal pulling him away from the ropes to shift to an armbar. But Gresham’s focus on the arm bit him in the ass. Lethal went for the Lethal Injection and collapsed again, but when Gresham went for a roll up after that Lethal cut back on it for the win at 18:27. This is one of the best American examples that I've seen of a match building on the match that came before. Rather than try to outdo the maneuvers from their first meeting for the sake of a big crowd reaction, they adjust their game plans in logical ways that, to me, were just as exciting. I think this match is slept on, by virtue of the fact that I’ve never heard anything about it before watching it. ****½ 
From ROH Wrestling 364. In real life, 
From Death Before Dishonor XVII. Gresham and Lethal had been teaming, but Gresham grew frustrated and started heeling. Ultimately, he turned on Lethal. It took them a little while to get there, but once they got into a groove this was exactly what I wanted from this match. It was back to their old tricks, with Lethal targeting the leg to set up for the Figure 4 Leglock and Gresham targeting the arm to block the Lethal Injection and set up for his Octopus. In the end, Lethal tried the cutback trick that worked for him in Columbus, but Gresham countered to a pin and then put on the gnarliest Octopus for his first win over Lethal at 17:20. This is the best kind of wrestling series. And none of it felt stale because it was a year after they’d wrestled last and because they found ways to energize the old tropes. And that’s not to mention Gresham busting out what I can only describe as a sumo-style assault. Gresham and Lethal make up after the match. ****
From ROH Wrestling 500. During the pandemic, ROH made the most of their empty arena shows by kicking them off with a tournament to crown a champion for the revived Pure Championship. Gresham won the tournament, and this was his fourth defense of the title. Lethal and Gresham were still allies here. In an interesting move, the other match on this milestone episode was two other partners fighting in Jay and Mark Briscoe. They cut to a commercial break about six minutes in, though the action didn’t get beyond (admittedly fast-moving) mat wrestling until the 10-minute mark. That had me thinking this was going to go long, but things took a different turn. Both guys had abused the other’s shoulders, and Lethal used that to his advantage best. He forced Gresham to use his first rope break to stop a pin, and his second to escape a crab. Then, he used the failed Lethal Injection to bait Gresham into a crossface, forcing the champ to use his final rope break. But he made the mistake of giving Gresham a breather and was quickly caught in a head scissor takedown giving Gresham the winning pin at 14:06 (shown of 16:40). For an empty arena match, this held my attention. It was totally different than their previous matches while still using a couple elements from the rivalry to elevate it just a bit. Not essential viewing, but if you’re working your way through their series you shouldn’t skip it. ***¼ 
