Akira Hokuto vs Shinobu Kandori (AJW - 12/6/1993)

Second

I agree this one is criminally underrated. I really really like it, but it had absolutely impossible standards to live up it. It has all the intensity, adds layers with more history, but it just never reached that level of emotion that jumps off the screen and digs into the veiwer, for me. Again, that isn't even a knock. Its a great match.

This match and Cena/Umaga at New Year's Revolution 2007 are my picks for the two best "other matches" of a feud ever. A perfect culmination to Hokuto's 1993. Hokuto's legendary pride just can't will her through every time. Sometimes, you're just outclassed.

Rewatched this and loved it. This is a lot tighter and more simplistic than the DreamSlam match but still manages to be epic in scope and brutality. The punches here are beyond insane. Not just the punches to the face, but the body shots from both women are nuts and really unique. I keep calling Shinobu Kandori the female Brock, but she's Brock if Brock wrestled like Fujiwara. Her big performances stand up to anyone else's in wrestling history. Her realistic selling absolutely stands out within her style and within wrestling in general. She has really unique and brutal offense and that legit peak Maeda aura of just the baddest motherfucker around. This rivalry was just the best. They made Aja Kong cry.

So I watched this for the first time there and thought it was unbelievable. Like, this is about as close to "cinema" as I think I've ever seen in a wrestling match (excluding stuff like the Boneyard match that has all the bells and whistles of actual cinema) and the more I think about it the more it feels like it'll land stupid high on my list next year.

The story they told in this might be my favourite in any match ever and I thought both women were exceptional from start to finish. The double KO punch from Dreamslam being used at the very start here might be a touch on the nose for some, but I'm never likely to complain about anybody punching each other dead in the face so for me it was yet another perfect opening from them. This time Kandori coming out ahead while Hokuta is left spitting teeth and blood really set the table for the rest of the match. This was all about Kandori out to even the score, to prove she's the one and only unfuckwithable presence in joshi, and she wants to make Hokuto's life a misery as she does it. Hokuto probably has more pride than sense and like at Dreamslam you wonder if Kandori will need to kill her just to keep her down. You get the sense Hokuto would rather go out that way as well. No matter what she keeps coming, no matter how much punishment, no matter what Kandori does to her she continually finds an answer from somewhere, and as determined as Kandori is to prove she's the baddest, Hokuto is equally determined to prove that title should be hers. She's the Dangerous Queen, fer cripes! Even after that first KO punch where her lights are out, she manages to get up and about take Kandori's jaw off with a spin kick, and I loved her being super aggressive and going to the gutwrench powerbombs from there. Last time she took it to the floor early on and lost six gallons of blood, so why not go for the kill early? At points it feels like Kandori is almost fucking with Hokuto and I loved all the little fake-outs early on, drawing Hokuto into that slap exchange just so she could yank her into the Fujiwara armbar. Then of course she lets her up with a wag of the finger. "Not like that. I'm not finished yet." I don't know if there was some backstory with Kandori's knee being wrapped but Hokuto is obviously smart to go after it...then Kandori just demoralises her by reversing a kneebar into a half crab and Hokuto is left scrambling to the ropes (and nobody scrambles to the ropes like Hokuto).

The longer it goes the more Hokuto withstands, and in turn the more she dishes out in response. At a certain point you need to question whether Kandori's strategy is a viable one because Hokuto clearly isn't going away, and the longer she messes around the more chance there is of Hokuto beating her again. The northern lights bomb on the floor was insane and Kandori sold it like it about collapsed her lung. At that point it looks like Kandori might've made a mistake and maybe should've tapped Hokuto with the armbar when she had the chance, but then she comes back with the top rope tiger driver and that bit about needing to kill Hokuto to keep her down seems like it might've come true. Honestly, the selling from both of them for those two bombs was easily as good as anything in your lauded All Japan classics. Kandori realising she probably needs to stop pissing about and finally going to the kneebar felt like a huge moment, particularly as I'm assuming this was one of the many points in Hokuto's career where her knee(s) were battered to hell. Up until now Kandori never tried to exploit that taped up knee, nor did she bother going back to the armbar even though it nearly ripped Hokuto's arm out back in April. It wouldn't have been as easy as "go after the arm or knee and it's a win" because you knew Hokuto would never have allowed it to BE easy, but there were clearly bullseyes to be drawn and Kandori ignored all of them until that point. I suppose that in itself was a victory for Hokuto, that Kandori had to exploit an injury to prove her point. Not that it would've made Hokuto feel any better considering she wound up getting her nose punched through her brain. The most emphatic uppercut you ever did see.

Incredible match, totally unique in not just all of joshi but wrestling in general. The camera shots of the AJW women in tears as Hokuto faces down the inevitable felt like it managed to capture some real emotion and didn't come across as forced at all. She gave everything she had, went toe-to-toe with the Terminator, threw gut shot for gut shot, punch for punch, but in the end beating Kandori twice is a mountain too high for her to climb. Can't speak highly enough about both women's performance. I don't want to be that guy who's giving it "WELL, I think the less-talked about match is BETTER than the more famous one," because honestly I'm not sure I actually believe that, but I know I was captivated by this in a way I've never been by Dreamslam, as amazing as that one is. Fuck me this was so good. Best thing I've watched in ages.

I've come around on her big time the last couple weeks. It's not that I ever disliked her or anything, it was more that I was sort of apathetic in some ways, which was probably an extension of my apathy for the style. But having immersed myself in 90s joshi recently, watching her in chunks, man she could be fucking great. I still prefer Kandori as my #1 seller in joshi, but Hokuto is a close second and I don't think anyone goes out on their shield better than her. I wasn't really intending to rewatch Queendom but I've gone through every other bit of Hokuto/Kandori there is so I might as well revisit that final arc.

Oh no shit, I re watched this last night and was gonna try and get people riding the Joshi wave to watch it. Awesome match. Not better than DreamSlam but a top 100 match ever for sure

The DreamSlam 1 match seems poised to make a run at 6/9/95 for the #1 spot one of these years. So I hope to see a big jump of at least one other person vote for the rematch this time around. Everyone has had nothing but praise for this match so far. I see it as an undeniable classic. We gonna show some love for Hokuto vs Kandori Part Round 2 this time??? Cap, I'm kinda surprised you're not way higher on this one. Seems like you're kind of match with two utter badasses who fucking hate each other just slugging it out big time.