7 Major All-Women Wrestling Events Before WWE Evolution
2. AJW Dream Slam I
Twenty-five.
That's how many stars All Japan's huge-crossover show Dream Slam earned from The Wrestling Observer's Dave Meltzer across just six of its eleven matches (plus an extra quarter).
The number twenty-five is important here.
It was twenty-five years after forming that, on 2 April 1993, some 16,500 fans packed into the Yokohama Arena to witness All Japan Women celebrate their silver anniversary. The gate was a record for women's wrestling in Japan (in America, apocryphally at least, Mildred Burke in her pomp drew a supposed 19,000 in Louisville, KY). Even with ringside seats going for an eye-watering $255, punters were not left short-changed. Not only was the card the longest in the history of Japanese wrestling, running just shy of a colossal seven hours, but it was also just about the best - of either gender.
Plum Mariko (who sadly died in the ring four years later) and Hikari Fukuoka tore the house down in their opener opposite Kaoru Ito and Sakie Hasegawa, and a star was born in Akira Hokuto, but it was the tag contest between unrelated Inoues Kyoko and Takako against Cutie Suzuki and Mayumi Ozaki which left Yokohama breathless, if not at times absolutely silent in astonishment. Five of those twenty-five point two-five stars were reserved for the quartet.
That was twenty-five years ago. Don't let WWE convince you they're just now ushering in the zenith of women's wrestling. It's already happened.