[1994-08-24-AJW] Akira Hokuto & Aja Kong vs Dynamite Kansai & Yumiko Hotta (Elimination)

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[ohtani's jacket]

This was all right, but not a whole lot happened and it didn't seem that special to me. Even with the fresh match-up, Hokuto/Kansai, it still felt like a run of the mill, spotty elimination match.

[Loss]

Agree with OJ here. Couldn't really get into this match very much. LOTS of downtime where nothing at all seems to be happening until Kong gets eliminated. Kong is the dominant champ of nearly two years and is the first eliminated, which I guess had to happen if they were going to spotlight Hokuto, but it still feels wrong. If the champ was going to be so carelessly eliminated, I wish they hadn't made it an elimination match. Also, I know it's an AJW booking thing, but I still don't like the idea of Hokuto and Kong as partners, like Queendom never happened and everything is fine between them.

 

But I continue watching. And the reason I continue watching is that Hokuto fighting the odds is always a narrative that has some teeth, and she is in the ring with the type of dominant opponents that can have some fun with those odds. She fights like crazy to eliminate Hotta, and Hotta kicks out, but I don't know ... Hotta isn't really throwing her normal kicks and wrestling like herself, which doesn't make sense either.

 

Hokuto knows how to channel her athletic ability and charisma into a great performance, and to her credit, she delivers a very good one here. And Kansai is pretty good too. But come on, it's Akira Hokuto vs Dynamite Kansai in 1994! This shouldn't feel so by-the-numbers. But even though Hokuto is pretty good, it's hardly the post-Dreamslam match with Yamada, much less the Kandori series or the Queendom tag. And it's not really enough to elevate this match on its own.

[FLIK]

Kong is the dominant champ of nearly two years and is the first eliminated, which I guess had to happen if they were going to spotlight Hokuto, but it still feels wrong.

Thunderqueen tag 93 - Aja > Kansai in 10 seconds via uraken. Few months later Aja > Kansai via top rope waterwheel drop. 94 JWP Aja > Kansai uraken. Big Egg a few months later Aja > Kansai uraken. 95 Kansai > Aja after taking out Aja's arm.

 

That Kansai got the knockout win here in the middle of all this after chasing Aja for over a year, failing 3 times and about to fail a 4th later in the year, I thought this was perfect booking.

 

but I still don't like the idea of Hokuto and Kong as partners, like Queendom never happened and everything is fine between them.

?????

 

Queendom was never about Aja or Bull hating Hokuto and everything was always fine between them. They weren't reg partners or anything but Aja & Hokuto had been well established as friends by that point actually. It was Aja/Hokuto vs Kandori/Eagle at Dreamslam 2, Aja was front & center with the rest of LCO & Suzuka looking concerned at during Kandori vs Hokuto II, etc....

 

partner/friend vs partner/friend matches have always been a heavy staple of AJW anyways going back to atleast the 70's tho. Dunno, seems a really weird complaint to make. Given their history, Hotta & Kansai makes less sense on paper as a team then Aja/Hokuto..

[Loss]

It's confusing quite a bit of the time, because Kong does her crowdhugging brawling whether she's facing friends or foes. She hits her opponents with chairs and garbage cans whether she's wrestling friend or foe. So it almost doesn't make a difference, because it's not like she's a better sport when she's not facing people she doesn't hate. I remember Kong crying in the crowd, but then she was against her a few months later. The way AJW pairs wrestlers in tag matches with little regard for their history is something I will never fully accept.

[FLIK]

AJW pairs wrestlers in tag matches with little regard for their history

Yeah but that's not really a true statement.

 

It's confusing quite a bit of the time

AJW around this time was running 20+ shows per month of which many were showing up on fancam, they were releasing 2 - 3 comm tapes per month on average and had weekly, later monthly tv.

 

On the yearbook things are boiled down to 2 or 3 matches every few months.

I mean, Queendom was in March, this match is in August and in that 5 month gap you've only watched 1 match that involved Aja, Kansai or Hotta.

 

OF COURSE IT'S CONFUSING

 

I get whear you're coming from since I used to feel the exact same way for a long time, especially when I was starting out, cherry picking random shows and watching them out of order thinking the booking made no sense or was non existent and that a lot of it was all just random big dream matches for no reason.

 

Then 1 day I started actually paying attention, watching everything I could in order the way it naturally occured and realised that I was wrong and the booking was actually pretty deep and made a lot of sense.

[Loss]

Fair point. While the whole purpose of this project is to contextualize, of course there is some cherry picking at work.

 

So I'll just ask these questions:

 

(1) Was there a Hotta match between 1/94 and here where she tried to get revenge on Kong for her hand injury? That was awfully over the top to be ignored after that match.

 

(2) What was the storyline reason for Hokuto and Kandori teaming at Queendom, other than "So they could work a great match built around their conflict"? Who made that match anyway? Why were their opponents Bull and Aja?

 

(3) How did we go from Kong crying in the crowd during Kandori II, to their match against each other, to Queendom, to teaming here, to having a match again in November? Can you help me fill in the missing pieces?

 

So yes, I do agree that the yearbooks sometimes don't tell the full story. But AJW was at a popularity peak, which means they had tons of casual fans that only watched big shows. So it should stand to reason that casual AJW fans were able to follow along and understand what was happening. They weren't watching fancams. I'm assuming the television ratings for the monthly show were fairly strong. Maybe the rental market was strong for the commercial releases? But AJW during a popularity boom should be relatively easy to follow, even if they are occasionally throwing bones to their hardcore audience.

[ohtani's jacket]

I don't think it was about Hokuto and Kong tagging as much as it was about having four wrestlers in an elimination match.

[Loss]

If that's all there is to it, criticizing the booking is fair.

[FLIK]

I don't think it was about Hokuto and Kong tagging

Loss complained that it makes no sense for Kong & Hokuto to be on the same side because of how they wrestled in 1 tag match 5 months earlier.

 

My point is that when you watch more then a handfull of matches per year, you pick up on things like who is & isn't friends with each other, patterns on who tags with who on a reg basis and you can see the diffrence between a match booked around hate, respect, titles, a tournament, a special occasion or just something randomly thrown out thear to fill a slot on a show.

 

Like I said above, Aja & Hokuto weren't reg partners but they were freinds and respected each other. Not unusual at all for them to team and AJW booked partners to face each other all the time too so them being on opposite sides isn't unusual either. Really, friends who are also rivals is an AJW booking staple going back for maybe as long as the companies been in business. And no one changed their style up when wrestling their friends so Aja being Aja against friend or foe wasn't unusual either.

 

as much as it was about having four wrestlers in an elimination match.

Aja & Hotta were thear because they had a lot of significant history with Hokuto and that's what your "countdown" matches are about generally. They also knew Aja/Hokuto was gonna be the big egg final so this furthered it. Kansai was thear because it was a special attraction to see her against Hokuto since it hadn't happened much yet, her & Aja were in the middle of a feud and Kansai FINALLY getting a win over her furthers that and her & Hotta had a lot of history too so they thought it would be an intriging pair.

 

It's a bit more then "uh, let's just toss 4 random ppl in a match just to do it for no reason" the way you make it sound.

 

But AJW was at a popularity peak, which means they had tons of casual fans that only watched big shows. So it should stand to reason that casual AJW fans were able to follow along and understand what was happening.

It's easier when you actually speak the language

 

For the rest of us, yeah it does require a little more effort.

I mean, between AJW, JWP & LLPW in 1994 there's footage of atleast 400 joshi matches available on tape. The yearbook contains 23.

 

I'm in no way arguing you need to watch all or half or most of the matches to get things because that's silly and even I haven't done that. But when you're only watching a tiny fraction of the footage it's natural to not understand the booking, the history & the significance behind things sometimes but it's also not fair to blame the promotion for it.

[ohtani's jacket]

Hokuto, Aja, Kansai and Hotta were there because they were booked to be in the Dome show tournament.

[Kevin Ridge]

Well I thought this was decent enough to keep me watching throughout. Actually enjoyed parts of it. Didn't feel like it was that slow to start but yeah it did pick up after Kong was eliminated. I wasn't aware it was an elimination match so when she was counted out I couldn't believe the match was over like that. This felt a bit strange at times how they were doing the partners hitting each other a few times in error when they were trying to double team Hokuto. Don't know my Joshi so I don't know the in and outs of the feuds or have seen that many matches but I found the last few minutes to be pretty good.

[FLIK]

This felt a bit strange at times how they were doing the partners hitting each other a few times in error when they were trying to double team Hokuto.

Yeah, that's a pretty common transition spot in joshi tag matches. I guess I can see how it'd throw some ppl off if they were only used the US style of accidently hitting your partner = imediate grounds to turn on them.

[Kevin Ridge]

Okay thanks, I thought there were trying to tease tag team issues since it happened a few times. But yeah, they weren't really all upset with each other when it happened.

[Exposer]

The first part of this didn't do anything for me at all. Kong's elimination and afterwards I enjoyed a good bit though. Hokuto was outstanding for the rest of the match and Kansai held her own too. I agree this could have been more but I was still satisfied enough with it.

[soup23]

I may be on an island but I thought this was utterly fantastic and by fantastic I mean that I have it as the #4 match of the year ahead of Queendom. Kansai looked dominant. Hotta threw some ass kicking strikes, Aja was the warrior that got knocked the fuck out in a finish I loved, and Hokuto plays the most sympathetic overcome the odds babyface in the world. Not getting the beginning down time hate because of the way the strikes and submissions were mixed in with little niches like fish hooks and what not. Just a great match that I watched once and loved but thought I may have over rated, I then went to the pool and thought about the match some more so when I came back I watched it again and it held up wonderfully. A splendid match that proves sometimes your loss can be someone else's gain.

[Ditch]

I really enjoyed it the first time I saw it so I was surprised by the negative/middling reviews so far.

 

You're not alone Soup!

[PeteF3]

Agreed on the by-the-numbers nature of the opening. Nothing bad, some of it quite good. But nothing worth going out of your way to see. Aja's elimination was a cute way of furthering the feud with Kansai while playing off ThunderQueen, but I didn't feel like it was really earned. I bought the insta-KO quickie finish when Kansai ate the Uraken, but this felt like, "Well, here's where I sell a random kick for a ten-count." And while I'm not asking for Aja to get a concussion or anything, I need a better-looking kick than that from a person noted for kicking the snot out of people for that to be a one-shot knockout.

 

Anyway, misgivings over the execution aside, the 2-on-1 allows this to pick up with much more urgency. Still, this didn't match Queendom for "epicness" because of the wonky stips--both tags are about trying to overcome impossible odds, but here it rings a little more shallow because regardless of the end result you *know* Kansai/Hotta aren't sweeping this 2-0. At Queendom there was doubt over what would happen next all the way through until the final 3-count. Here, the conclusion of the second fall is foregone and it's only a matter of how they get there.

 

Now, all the miscommunications didn't bother me--they were executed well and in a handicap situation it's the only believable way for Hokuto to sustain any offense or for a partner not to make a save. The closing stretch is quite good and this is another fine Hokuto performance, with enough near-falls to keep you guessing but not enough to suffocate things and cross a point of no return like in the previous bout. But this would have been better off as a straight tag. In fact, and not to review another match that didn't actually take place, it may have been far more compelling if they'd dumped the elimination concept but eliminated Aja anyway. She's not "officially" out, she just does a Terry Funk and acts dead on the floor or even does a stretcher job. That leaves the question of whether Hokuto can overcome the 2-on-1 a little more open, with a result that either makes perfect kayfabe sense (if Kansai/Hotta win) or is another feather in Hokuto's cap (if she wins) depending on how you want to go from there.

[...TG]

I'm with Soup and Ditch here - loved loved loved this. Thought this was a great performance by Hokuto in particular, with Dynamite almost as good.

[ohtani's jacket]

This was all right, but not a whole lot happened and it didn't seem that special to me. Even with the fresh match-up, Hokuto/Kansai, it still felt like a run of the mill, spotty elimination match.

 

I still agree with this guy ^

 

The 8/94 elimination tag is a bout I've never been that high on. I watched it twice over the past few days. Once when I was having some drinks and again in the cold light of day. I liked the early part where Kansai and Hokuto got into it but sadly that felt like the height of their exchanges. I can understand why Kansai and Hokuto were kept apart in singles, but it feels like someone, somewhere missed the boat on a Kansai/Hokuto singles match. After some early strike exchanges and some fairly average submission work, this turned into a typical workrate tag. Some of it was good, some of it was bad. There was a bit too much Hotta in peril, but she was in the midst of a singles push and All Japan wanted to put the spotlight on her. She sold about as well as she could. It was kind of average but didn't detract from the bout or anything. At the same time, a compelling selling performance would have made this more than just a Joshi workout. Even Hokuto didn't dig that deep and it was supposed to be her match and her countdown. I guess my main criticism of the bout was that they didn't milk the drama for what it's worth. There wasn't the strong narrative focus of a Southern style tag and the individual personalities and match-ups were drowned out by cutesy double team spots and a clip of nearfalls. Aja's elimination felt gimmicky and wasn't set up well. The stretch run felt academic instead of exhilarating and one thing I noticed was that as good a seller as Hokuto was, and as capable as she was at creating drama out of her backstory and persona, she no-sold stuff at the same rate as any other girl going. Not sure why she gets a pass on that.

I was always kind of down on 1994 Joshi and that hasn't changed much. The bloom had fallen off the rose after a full on '93.

[Zenjo]

This was coming off the back of two excellent matches and rounding off a huge show in Budokan Hall. I'm surprised at the criticism in this thread as it's received high praise over the years. It's about to get some more as it's my #2 match of 1994.

 

It was Hokuto's first match in 5 months. She only appeared on 3 events this year, which not coincidentally were the three big interpromotional shows. Despite hobbling throughout the whole match she managed to produce one of her great performances. All of the individual matchups had something to them. The best part was how they integrated the Hokuto vs Kansai singles dream match into a tag match. It was brilliant booking.

 

It was quite a shock to the fans when Hotta punted Kong and KO'd her. With Akira laying on the floor in agony it looked like a slaughter was imminent. Yet the Dangerous Queen was able to launch a monumental fightback. She was able to defeat Hotta and nearly achieved a miracle comeback. She didn't have to win, it's the climb. It's a measure of Dyno's popularity that some fans were cheering her on as well. Absolutely thrilling and so emotional too. An epic, big match feel. Hard hitting with great selling and perfect storytelling.

 

I loved the postmatch as well. Hotta and Kansai were natural rivals and had only ever fought one another. Yet through this match alone they'd formed a bond and camaraderie through battle.

[SmartMark15]

Yeah, I lean on the side of people who really loved this match. I thought this was fantastic. Some real brutality in the striking, heated encounters between all four wrestlers. Then you have the added factor that joshi works incredibly well with a multiple fall format since it lends itself to more tense nearfalls. Then you have a great moment of Kansai knocking Aja out to avenge their first encounter at Thunder Queen. Since my recent revisit to joshi, this is my first Hokuto match (as I'm trying to work my way towards the Hokuto-Kandori series) and she looked great in this. Fiery babyface trying to overcome the odds. She's born to play that role.

 

****3/4

[Microstatistics]

Establishing Aja as the unstoppable monster, only to knock her out in shocking fashion was brilliant. Kansai selling her foot after that kick made the spot. Hokuto suddenly went from being the cocky bully to a fighting underdog and no one plays that kind of character transformation in a match better than Akira Hokuto. I liked the sympathetic duo Kansai and Hotta resorting to cheap tactics even with the 2 on 1 advantage, because they sort of earned it (though the heel heat it garnered was justified). They do a wonderful job teasing Hokuto pulling off an improbable win in a genuinely dramatic finishing stretch which includes the best nearfalls in history but Kansai/Hotta finish triumphant in an emotional climax. Incredible match. ****3/4

[Jabroniville]

Brilliantly laid-out match. Aja dominates a ton in the early going so her elimination is unexpected, but also doesn't make her look weak. Kansai looks GREAT for outdoing a double-team and ending up the winner. She KOs the goddamn WORLD CHAMPION, too, leaving Akira against impossible odds against two killers. So of course you give her the hope spot and have her pull out a win over Hotta (who is still actively being pushed), only for her to do the honors, so to speak, giving JWP's top star the win in the end.

I also loved the story there of Aja beating Kansai over and over again during the Interpromotional Era (two solo matches by this point I think, plus the TKO fall at Thunder Queen), then taking her own medicine with the same kind of TKO fall here. And a sign of what's gonna happen next year.

Going through a Finisher Surge at 12 minutes in was perfect timing, because you effectively get a whole new match once that's over. Then they kick Akira to death and give her NO chance until a big mistake costs them Hotta. Kansai should easily finish her in this state, but that German on the floor puts the fight out of her and Akira pulls out SO many last chances and nearly brings her down until Kansai proves to just have too much HP left and then it's over. Even Aja & Hotta were fantastic in defeat, cheering on their partners at ringside and getting way into it (Aja sold her knock out for several minutes, too). Remarkable story overall.

Rating: ****3/4 (one of the great one-sided matches- a **** war to begin ending with a lucky K.O., then a come-from-behind win, then a near-win that ultimately breaks the hearts of the fans. Phenomenal storytelling)