Kong & Yamada vs. Hotta & Hasegawa, AJW 4/13/1994
Dec 5, 2022 6:35:07 GMT -5
Post by jetlag on Dec 5, 2022 6:35:07 GMT -5
Aja Kong & Toshiyo Yamada vs. Yumiko Hotta & Sakie Hasegawa, AJW 4/13/1994
It’s weird how 90s Joshi in general and AJW especially is considered the peak of womens wrestling yet you can pull up a ton of random matches that nobody talks about yet they are really great. This was UWF rules and a strong match on paper, but they just kicked it up so many notches. Stylistically it wasn’t exactly shootstyle, there is some rope running etc., but in general they keep it really grounded. This match was up there with the absolute most violent BattlARTS/FUTEN matches, all 4 threw strikes and suplexes on an absolutely hellish level, with several hits that were as violent as anything I’ve ever seen in a wrestling match. They go really long (30ish minutes) and you’d think there is no way they can keep it up, but they keep it up.
Hasegawa is kind of the odd one here, she isn’t quite a shooter type, although I liked her face dropkicks. She was giving her all and the disparity between her and the two kickpadded beasts on the other team kind of carried the match, because it means Hotta has to fight and uphill battle and Hasegawa has to dig deep in order to not get blown away. There was a really nice mat section where Hasegawa honest to god grappled it out with Aja which was impressive considering what a beast Aja is. I also liked Hasegawas leg selling, she had a bandaged leg, and she did a pretty real job selling it even when there was never a section where it got worked over, she was cautious to avoid an early leg submission and later there is a really tense nearfall where Aja catches her in a leg hold.
To re-emphasize, this match was absolutely hideously violent with Hasegawa taking some Misawa level crazy suplex bumps and Hotta, Yamada and Aja basically trying to cave heads in with their kicks. Aja was as much of a monster as you expect, mauling people with her hands and feet, while Yamada has the flashier kicks and she was also killing people. Hotta was a lunatic as you expect kneeing and kicking people in the face, there was a moment where she kicked Aja in the back of the head that sounded and looked absolutely abhorrent, and I honestly thought this was just as violent as the famous Hotta/Kong singles, it wasn’t a blood bath but Hotta was spitting blood after getting her face busted by a kick and the grueling onslaught of this 30 minute war was downright psychotic. They also did a really great job working saves and retaliations based around saves, there is a sequence where Hotta is trying to joke out Yamada and you just know what’s coming next. Later Hotta would get up and paste Aja on the apron with a sick thudding blow in retaliation.
They go really long but they just keep going and going and there is so much fight and grittiness in this and then they really pick it up for the last few minutes where we get multiple epic faceoffs with great edge of your seat near KOs. Hasegawa unleashing her inner ass kicker, kicking people in the face and hitting these winded desperation spin kicks was truly awesome and her big slap that knocked over Aja may have been the highlight in a match full of insane highlights simply because it paid off the story. Then we also get the Aja vs. Hotta finale which is as criminal as you expect and yet they somehow manage to not overdo it!!! Granted this match isn’t flawless, some parts were slightly repetitive, but god damn it the sheer fight in this, the grit, the violence, it even had a great underdog story and somehow it left me wanting more. It’s been a long time since I felt a match I was watching for the first time might be the greatest of all time but this gave me the feeling.
It’s weird how 90s Joshi in general and AJW especially is considered the peak of womens wrestling yet you can pull up a ton of random matches that nobody talks about yet they are really great. This was UWF rules and a strong match on paper, but they just kicked it up so many notches. Stylistically it wasn’t exactly shootstyle, there is some rope running etc., but in general they keep it really grounded. This match was up there with the absolute most violent BattlARTS/FUTEN matches, all 4 threw strikes and suplexes on an absolutely hellish level, with several hits that were as violent as anything I’ve ever seen in a wrestling match. They go really long (30ish minutes) and you’d think there is no way they can keep it up, but they keep it up.
Hasegawa is kind of the odd one here, she isn’t quite a shooter type, although I liked her face dropkicks. She was giving her all and the disparity between her and the two kickpadded beasts on the other team kind of carried the match, because it means Hotta has to fight and uphill battle and Hasegawa has to dig deep in order to not get blown away. There was a really nice mat section where Hasegawa honest to god grappled it out with Aja which was impressive considering what a beast Aja is. I also liked Hasegawas leg selling, she had a bandaged leg, and she did a pretty real job selling it even when there was never a section where it got worked over, she was cautious to avoid an early leg submission and later there is a really tense nearfall where Aja catches her in a leg hold.
To re-emphasize, this match was absolutely hideously violent with Hasegawa taking some Misawa level crazy suplex bumps and Hotta, Yamada and Aja basically trying to cave heads in with their kicks. Aja was as much of a monster as you expect, mauling people with her hands and feet, while Yamada has the flashier kicks and she was also killing people. Hotta was a lunatic as you expect kneeing and kicking people in the face, there was a moment where she kicked Aja in the back of the head that sounded and looked absolutely abhorrent, and I honestly thought this was just as violent as the famous Hotta/Kong singles, it wasn’t a blood bath but Hotta was spitting blood after getting her face busted by a kick and the grueling onslaught of this 30 minute war was downright psychotic. They also did a really great job working saves and retaliations based around saves, there is a sequence where Hotta is trying to joke out Yamada and you just know what’s coming next. Later Hotta would get up and paste Aja on the apron with a sick thudding blow in retaliation.
They go really long but they just keep going and going and there is so much fight and grittiness in this and then they really pick it up for the last few minutes where we get multiple epic faceoffs with great edge of your seat near KOs. Hasegawa unleashing her inner ass kicker, kicking people in the face and hitting these winded desperation spin kicks was truly awesome and her big slap that knocked over Aja may have been the highlight in a match full of insane highlights simply because it paid off the story. Then we also get the Aja vs. Hotta finale which is as criminal as you expect and yet they somehow manage to not overdo it!!! Granted this match isn’t flawless, some parts were slightly repetitive, but god damn it the sheer fight in this, the grit, the violence, it even had a great underdog story and somehow it left me wanting more. It’s been a long time since I felt a match I was watching for the first time might be the greatest of all time but this gave me the feeling.
