[1995-06-27-AJW-BEST*ONE] Manami Toyota vs Aja Kong

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

This is quite a bit different from your usual Toyota match, and even quite a bit different from your usual Toyota/Kong match. I'll be careful not to overstate that -- they aren't different people. Toyota still starts with an incredibly fast pace. Kong still does the pointless drag-through-crowd stuff. But we get past all of that and this becomes ... a Toyota selling performance and ... she's good at it. Really good. She actually reminds me more of Hokuto here, because she's so good at selling the storyline and even the multiple dropkick comeback at each corner feels like a Hokuto spot. She shows a lot of great babyface fire, and in a singles setting, this may be the best performance I have ever seen from her. Toyota's default was to be the wrestler who never stopped, but this match showed that she was capable of slowing it down, getting over the story and selling in a long-term way for her opponent. She just almost never worked that kind of match. Because of her great selling (shocked I'm typing that), the nearfalls from both are getting tremendous heat. Based on the matches so far, I'd call 1995 her best year of the yearbooks I have watched so far, with this being the best performance I've ever seen from her. Not quite her best match, but her best performance. Even said, this is one of the best matches of the year. As much as I liked the March match, this was a few notches above it.

 

Now then ... the WWWA title changed hands too much during this time! If Toyota was just going to have a cup of coffee, why not just keep the belt on Kong until August to make the Kansai moment bigger, AND make the Toyota victory in December bigger too? I don't see what the quick switch back and forth did for Kong, Toyota or Kansai, considering how long Kong held the belt. Dropping the title needed to be a significant moment, and last time I watched it was, but I'm predicting this will take something away from Kansai's win.

[jdw]

They appear to have changed their minds several times during 1995. I'm pretty sure that the plan in March *wasn't*:

 

Mar: Aja --> Toyota

Jun: Toyota --> Kong

Aug: Kong --> Dynamite

Dec: Dynamite --> Toyota

 

Certainly wasn't anything we got in the building in March, which was a result that surprised the hell out of at least one person affiliated with AJW.

 

I mentioned in the prior thread that it wasn't anything that was around the time they started selling tickets for Toyota-Hokuto, which was being pimped as a title match.

 

It's also not terribly consistent with their past booking of the belt from the time of Jaguar on through... well, how much later in the decade was it when there were four Big Red title changes in a year?

 

They just massively changed their plans.

 

We could on some level argue it would have been better "booking" if they didn't do it. But we also got this match, which was good. Then the Aja-Dynamite title change, which was good. And the Dynamite-Toyota match, which even if people end up finding it didn't age well, at least we got to see the two in a big match in the era. If AJW didn't change their minds after March, we probably wouldn't have had any of those.

 

John

[Tim Evans]

Toyota's first move in this match is a damn german suplex. No use to complain about it I guess. Anyways, good match with Aja just killing Toyota with multiple moves that caused her to fall on her neck. It's a wonder Toyota didn't break her neck multiple times. I find it funny that Toyota kicked out of all these moves and then loses to Aja's backfist. I know it's Aja's finisher and is treated like Big Show's WMD but it's still funny to me.

[PeteF3]

Really good match, but I think I liked Big Egg Universe better. This was certainly different form--Toyota is still full of energy, but Kong keeps her grounded and intently focuses on her back. There's also a lot of really clever counters, counters to counters, and new wrinkles being thrown with the constant battles on the top turnbuckle. Every time Kong goes up, she either busts out a new way to hurt Manami or Toyota figures out a new way to counter it. That leads to some tremendous near-falls before Kong puts her away. Dynamite "Owen Hart" Kansai has a staredown with Kong afterward during her title celebration. It's definitely an agreeable point that both these title changes meant less than they should have.

[ohtani's jacket]

#273

 

This is pretty much *the* Aja vs. Toyota match due to the passion that Aja brings in trying to win back her belt. Honestly speaking, I'd sooner watch a Toyota vs. Yamada match than watch Toyota against Kong, as unfashionable as that may seem, but this was still a quality bout. The caveat being that it's not a bout that I think would crack the top 5 of either woman's career and possibly not the top 10. Big Egg is more iconic in that respect, but I thought this was grittier and more intense than the flakey V*Top tournament.

[ShittyLittleBoots]

As with their March match from the same year, this never really clicked for me. Aja wasn't interesting working on top as the monster, Toyota wasn't interesting as the fiery babyface working from underneath. One thing that I liked about this match was the opening where Toyota dropped Kong with an awesome looking German right away. That was the only highlight of this for me. *

[Zenjo]

There was plenty of backstory to this rivalry. They did a great job of psyching each other out beforehand, really setting the scene. Previously their matches had an underdog dynamic. Now with Manami as champion it felt like a contest of equals. The start was superb and the continued intensity kept the fans on board for the duration. The build did it's job, although the middle stages of their previous two matches were more interesting. The stretch was awesomely constructed. Just the right length, very exciting and all the right moves. Excellent overall.

 

Afterwards Dynamite Kansai issued a challenge to shin champion. Whatever you think about the booking, 1995 was the WWWA Title's best year from a match output perspective.