[1994-03-27-AJW-Wrestling Queendom] Aja Kong & Bull Nakano vs Akira Hokuto & Shinobu Kandori

[ohtani's jacket]

IIRC, the fans voted for this match-up.

[...TG]

It's also the best match of the decade for me at this point. Only the '96 tag final is in the same conversation.

 

Do you still feel this way?

[Bierschwale]

It wasn't on his 5-4.75 list. I meant to ask Loss about it before; it seemed like a bigger drop than even ThunderQueen.

[Zenjo]

The first time I ever saw this I think that the undercard had drained all my enthusiasm going in. Second time I thought it was an excellent match with flaws. This time around I absolutely loved it and will be putting it in my top 10 for the year.

 

From purely a workrate perspective going 35m was too long. The pacing and structure were quite loose for the most part. Whilst it always felt VG+ it didn't seem likely during the build that it would end up being a great one.

 

Right from the start Hokuto and Kandori were wacky mismatched partners. Their opening tag was a slap to the face! The giants held the upper hand as they were working as a team. It was a thrill to see them facing two such high powered opponents that they could not only withstand this but also fight back. Akira and Shinobu moved from attacking one another to working as individuals before finally becoming teammates. This is why going 35m was actually the perfect decision. They needed that time to make the transformation feel gradual and authentic. In terms of in-match storytelling this was just about as good as it gets. The closing stages were absolutely beautiful with Hokuto finally pinning Kong to win this epic. Great performances all around.

 

The postmatch put across that these two great rivals would never like each other, but respect had been earned. The obvious thing to do would've been Hokuto vs Kandori Part III. Doing this instead was such a clever and thoughtful way to resolve the saga.

[Microstatistics]

The pinnacle of pro wrestling storytelling. The post match is the greatest moment in wrestling history. ****3/4

[Cap]

I watched this match for the first time about 3-4 months ago. I will revisit a lot oft he Joshi I have been going through later. I need to see how well it holds up, especially the more I learn about the nuances or the stories. however, i think part of the appeal is the timelessness of the story here. it is really easy to discern the various stories they are trying to get over. The action is mostly good to great. The matchups this provides are incredible. The layered story they are trying to tell is legible, but not overdone. In short, I loved this match and thought it was more or less incredible, start to finish. It is - at this point - pretty easily my favorite Joshi tag match, a pretty solid ***** to me. I'll be interested to see how it sets later on since I am more or less just getting into Joshi over the last 6-9 months or so, but for now it is top shelf stuff in my book.

[SmartMark15]

Watched this for the first time again after years of not having seen it. The main thing about the match that always stood out was the story of Hokuto and Kandori learning to work together more than any actual moment in the match. I've been watching a lot of joshi recently for the most part to work my way back to this match. And yeah, the match is really just too long. You can feel it drag in the first half where most of the crowd really just can't be bothered. Aside from Kandori and Hokuto's interactions, that section of the match dragged heavily. But once you started getting into Hokuto and Kandori starting to cooperate, things pick up fantastically, and you hear it reflect in the crowd as well. I popped huge for their STF/Fujiwara combo. The final stretch is great stuff but the first 10/15 minutes really seemed superfluous and same-y with a lot of the trends that I don't really like in joshi. I would have enjoyed it more if the crowd had but as it was, they only came into the match 20 minutes in.

 

****1/2

[Kadaveri]

I see the Hokuto/Aja and Hokuto/Kandori angles have been well covered already but there's also a hot feud between Kandori and Nakano going into this match as well. See my review of the 11.09.93 LLPW tag here. That spot people have mentioned where Kandori dodges Bull Nakano breaking up her armbar with a flying leg drop? It was learned psychology from their previous tag match where Nakano successfully hit it. Another reason why this match is possibly the greatest piece of story-telling in wrestling history.

[Microstatistics]

The pinnacle of pro wrestling storytelling. The post match is the greatest moment in wrestling history. ****3/4

 

 

I see the Hokuto/Aja and Hokuto/Kandori angles have been well covered already but there's also a hot feud between Kandori and Nakano going into this match as well. See my review of the 11.09.93 LLPW tag here. That spot people have mentioned where Kandori dodges Bull Nakano breaking up her armbar with a flying leg drop? It was learned psychology from their previous tag match where Nakano successfully hit it. Another reason why this match is possibly the greatest piece of story-telling in wrestling history.

 

That's a great point, I never realized that even though I've seen that 11/9/1993 tag match. This match really is on an another level when it comes to pure storytelling. I can understand the criticisms of the first 10-15 minutes (and even agree with them to a slight extent). Still think everything they did in that time was on point and built and advanced the narrative, they just had to tighten it up a little.

[cactus]

We are only a year removed from Hokuto and Kandori's famous match at Dreamslam and they're teaming together to take on the monster heel team of Aja Kong and Bull Nakano. They still do not like each other and their interactions here are golden and they even start brawling with each other during the match. Aja is a total beast. This is messy and disjointed like a lot of the big joshi matches of the time, but they make the big moments matter. Hokuto is a total babyface and we cheer on Kandori by proxy, even if she isn't completely on Hokuto's side. I can't understand a lick of Japanese, but the post match drama had me completely enticed. Ain't pro-wrestling great? 

★★★★¾