[1995-08-30-AJW] Aja Kong vs Dynamite Kansai

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[FLIK]

The end of a 2 year journey with Kansai chasing Aja. If Kansai was going to get the belt it HAD to come from Aja, anyone else would have been anticlimactic. A while back I marathoned their whole series and when re-watching this I was really impressed with how much they played off their previous bouts in this. With the 94 set not being out yet ppl going in cold are missing entire middle of the story but at the same time it's not something that's required. This stands alone as an all time great match but knowing the backstory enhances things all that much more. If you watch enough of either over their careers you can start to notice little traits each one brings to a lot of their big matches and this was a perfect blend of their styles. My answer would probably change daily if I had to pick between this and 8/93 as the best of the bunch but either way this is easily my all time favorite singles feud in joshi.

[Loss]

Based on FLIK's comments, I'm going to watch this now, but when I finish all the 90s yearbooks, I will watch this one again after watching the others and see how my opinion changes. I've seen this before and have loved it, but I don't really remember much about it.

 

Sometimes, Joshi feels a little dated, or at the very least, it's a style that doesn't seem relevant to other time periods or styles at all because it's so unique. That's not at all the case for this match, as all of their shots still look really good. This isn't a great Joshi match, it's a great wrestling match with universal themes of a long-time challenger knocking the long-time champ off the throne. There's a great moment where Aja gets her arm popped back into socket and taped up at ringside. Kansai has developed quite a bit of momentum and has some close to beating Aja several times. The moment she's back in the ring she is met with a barrage of kicks. Most of this match is built around stiff shots and matwork, and it's an outstanding match.

 

Again, this is another match worked exactly like a title change should be worked, where the person winning the title overcomes big adversity and is made to look strong in the body of the match in order to fully capitalize on the moment. And Aja's long reign ending was a significantly huge moment.

 

(Highly recommended for childs, as I think this will be right up his alley.)

 

August has been a ridiculous month for great wrestling, and I'm not even done!

[Ditch]

And Aja's long reign ending was a significantly huge moment.

Don't forget the give-and-take with Toyota earlier in the year.

[El-P]

Great fucking match.

[Loss]

And Aja's long reign ending was a significantly huge moment.

Don't forget the give-and-take with Toyota earlier in the year.

 

I don't forget, I just choose to downplay it because it was a horrible, unnecessary title change. Very similar to Hogan --> Luger --> Hogan --> Sting.

[NintendoLogic]

I was a bit confused as to why the announcer kept saying "Die Hard Kansai." But I looked it up, and that's apparently the name for her Splash Mountain off the top turnbuckle. Was the ending where Kansai tried to do a regular Splash Mountain on Kong but couldn't quite get her up so she had to go to the turnbuckle a planned spot or was it improvised?

 

I'm in pretty much the same boat as Childs with regard to joshi in general, and I liked this match a lot. I didn't really understand why they kept going back and forth between pinfall attempts and ten-counts. I also wasn't a fan of Kansai doing a John Cena-esque "I'm completely motionless for the first nine seconds and then get a burst of energy at the last second" job. Great match otherwise.

[FLIK]

Was the ending where Kansai tried to do a regular Splash Mountain on Kong but couldn't quite get her up so she had to go to the turnbuckle a planned spot or was it improvised?

Dunno if it was planed for Kansai to drop her or not but even if she'd hit it clean Aja prob would have kicked out. The Die Hard was Kansai's ultra mega ultimate finisher so it makes the most sense as the ending to this match.

 

I didn't really understand why they kept going back and forth between pinfall attempts and ten-counts.

Joshi's a big melting pot and they've always had a heavy influence from MMA so it's a carry over from that. Milking the 10 count was always a fave spot of Kansai's to do in her big singles matches and trying to knock each other out was a huge part of the Aja/Kansai feud. First time they ever wrestled the very first thing Aja does is KO her w/in 30 seconds, Kansai's only previous win over Aja was via KO, etc...

[Tim Evans]

Overall, this was a very good match. Especially once Aja taped up her elbow. I liked how Dynamite attempted a powerbomb, failed and then just kicked Aja right in the face.

[PeteF3]

I think I liked the '93 match the best, and I thought the 5/94 match was probably about as good--not that this is overrated, but I liked that '94 match more than seemingly anyone else. This was a brutal war that doesn't come off as *too* excessively brutal, and is still pretty steeped in psychology and logical transitions. Kansai was great at playing keep-away from Aja's Uraken, and when she finally goes after Aja's arm it's a great turning point. It goes back to what Loss said in the Arn/Regal review about making fans wait for a psychological payoff. Aja sells it beautifully and she's pretty much thrown off her game for the rest of the match. Dynamite, left for dead at a few points, looks like she's overcome the longest odds in the world thanks to a combination of fighting spirit and smarts. The best joshi singles match of the year and yet another top-10 MOTY candidate.

[ohtani's jacket]

So it turns out that the 8/95 Aja/Kansai match is still their best. It trims most of the dead time and is built almost exclusively around strikes and selling, which is what you want from this pair. Aja puts in a tremendous performance and does a brilliant job of selling down the stretch as her title reign begins to wilt. More of a great Aja performance than a Kansai one, but a good bout for people looking to get into Joshi. A lot of the sequences are based on things they tried in their previous bouts but it's still accessible as a slugfest and the bomb throwing is kept to a minimum. It's too bad the Matsunagas didn't have a clue what they wanted to do with the big red belt after building to this high point.

[SmartMark15]

I seriously love these two together. I didn't know that this was the end of the series so the finish popped me huge. Loved the structure of the match focusing on the strikes. The opening sequence which played off the finishing stretch of their previous singles match. One of my favorite spots is Aja powering out of a camel clutch and Kansai just going "Fuck it" and kicking her right in the face. Of course, the match reaches a whole new level once Kansai goes at the arm. Once she kicks it in and Aja has to tape it up, it's all heat, all great.

 

*****

[Zenjo]

It's 4th time lucky for Kansai as she finally defeats her nemesis. In doing so she becomes the first outsider from a rival Joshi promotion to hold the big red belt. Unsurprisingly it was a power based heavyweight battle. The chemistry and big dawg rivalry soon kicked in. There were some meaty head kicks leading to close down counts. They were superbly done, ramping up the drama and tension. In parts there was a high end feel. Ideally Kansai would've won it after 15m. That could've made it top 10 for the year rather than top 30. As it was the final stages felt a bit tacked on. Dyno viciously attacked the right arm for a spell before putting Kong away. The enormity of the achievement is brought home by JWP man in the victory celebrations. I love that guy!