[1997-04-12-GAEA] Akira Hokuto vs Kaoru

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

More of a fast-paced match than most of the Joshi we've seen so far this year, but without the sometimes grating excesses of the style. This is the first time I've seen Kaoru, and I'm impressed. Even opposite Hokuto's big personality, she feels like a peer and is pretty charismatic in her own right. I've liked the Kudo matches better, but this is my favorite GAEA match so far, and the first Joshi match of the year that really feels like it wouldn't be out of place in the boom years. At just under 15 minutes, I'd call it short and to the point too, which is appreciated sometimes.

 

FLIK, who's jumping Hokuto after this and why? Pretty crazy post-match angle, but I don't really understand it.

[FLIK]

This is the first time I've seen Kaoru

LOL, she was on both the 95 & 96 sets though you seemed to hate both matches she was in so maybe that's why you forgot

Dunno if you have those on your re-watch list but you prob should

 

FLIK, who's jumping Hokuto after this and why?

Uh shit, i'll try & do a cliff notes version

 

Never did say if this was included or not on the set but after the OZ/Chigusa street fight in Feb GAEA youngsters Sakura Hirota & Hiromi Kato get in the ring and pledge their allegance to Ozaki begging her to take them in as a part of her group.

 

Post this match, they & some of the other OZ Academy members jump Hokuto because she was in 2 matches against them at the Anniversary shows later that month

 

During the 2nd one on 4/29, Ozaki & Chikayo Nagashima vs Hokuto & Maiko Matsumoto, post match Chigusa comes out dressed in her ZERO gimmick and attacks Hokuto & Ozaki which leads to them and Devil Masami sort of forming a little bond.

 

There's a lot of stop & start shit though with things and the trigger never fully gets pulled on it due to various things like OZ being absent for much of the rest of the year and Hokuto kinda getting pregnant. But the original end goal was supposed to be those 2 as a top heel team along with the rest of OZ' crew.

 

They ended up putting Aja in Hokuto's spot in 98 when she came in full time and Hokuto eventually joined them in late 99 after she was back from having her 1st kid.

[Badlittlekitten]

Flik, or anybody else, do you have any idea of what Kaoru's theme music is here? It never fails to perk me up when I watch this match.

 

I love the beginning of this where Kaoru stupidly decides to jump Hokuto and quickly ends up paying for it. Hokuto doesn't even need to finish removing her entrance gear before swatting her off. (I wish there was more "wrestler starts fight with belt still on" spots in wrestling. Looks cool and is pretty funny). I love the post match stuff too, especially when Hokuto is seemingly dead and buried under a mountain of chairs only to jolt up from them in a fit of rage. This is one of my favourite matches from the Queen actually. It's the best of vicious meanie Hokuto, and vicious meanie Hokuto is one of my favourite things in all wrestling. Kaoru is quite underrated I feel. I love the calm, breezy presence she has about her which is further brought out by the way she seamlessly flies about the ring. There's a bit where she gives Hokuto a proper death stare after being dropped on her head, that always sticks with me. Good match.

[ohtani's jacket]

This was a decent match. I never really liked Kaoru as I don't think she knew how to use her frame properly in wrestling, but Hokuto brought what was her A game at the time. I'm so used to seeing her in television commercials these days that it was a shock to her when her physique still resembled that of a fitness trainer. Kansai/Fukuoka blew this to smithereens, but for post false retirement, injury affected comeback Hokuto this was really good. It's a shame she couldn't really work like this all the time.

[soup23]

I liked this a good deal as they cut a quick pace and had a ton of desperation but the finish seemed abrupt. I'm not in favor of constant kickouts but I was legit shocked when Hokuto got the win after essentially one high impact suplex. It made Kaoru look pretty weak in my eyes. Post match was a wild scene that I liked how the camera followed to its conclusion. Thanks for the context to Filk as i was really confused.

[PeteF3]

Good match--not as "epic" as the previous bout despite my misgivings about its atmosphere and vibe--but pretty similar in structure and layout. Hokuto's the big dog, Kaoru's the young challenger. Kaoru's a little bolder and friskier than Fukuoka was, but Hokuto ends up asserting herself only to get laid out by Oz Academy afterward. Any match with a prolonged segment of one participant fighting in their entrance gear is generally going to be better than any match where that doesn't happen.

[Zenjo]

Kaoru got the jump start, hit three spectacular moves and I was loving the opening. Then Hokuto totally brushed it off and I was hating the opening. Whilst there was some decent enough action it wasn't enough to win me over. There were several wrong choices made over move selection. GAEA Hokuto was a shadow of her former self with occasional exceptions. After the convincing victory Oz Academy attacked her and buried Akira with chairs. Again totally no sold. Was she taking wrestling advice from her husband?

[Microstatistics]

Kaoru got the jump start, hit three spectacular moves and I was loving the opening. Then Hokuto totally brushed it off and I was hating the opening.

 

This was the only part of the match that was a little iffy for me. Hokuto shrugged that high impact offense off a little too easily. But atleast it was at the start of the match and was basically like a "fuck this, I'm taking over" moment so it wasn't too egregious.

 

The rest was amazing though, to the point that I thought this was one of the best matches of the year (which is really really saying something given the quality of 1997). Great narrative with Hokuto the arrogant bully champion getting more and more desperate and barely pulling through in the end. Stuff like the viciousness of strikes, the hair pulling, the biting, the competitive drive and the general action were all top notch. Excluding the start, Hokuto's selling was the rest of the match was pretty outstanding. Kaoru grabbed an armbar at some point in the middle of the match and torqued it in nasty fashion and Hokuto continued to sell the arm till the end of the match (even though Kaoru never went back to it). Super overall performance. Kaoru was great as the never say die fiery underdog as well. Underrated classic. **** 1/2

[dawho5]

I thought this was really good.  I really liked the struggle throughout as even when somebody was taking offense, they were grabbing for a handful of hair or whatever they could get between the other's offense.  Very fun stuff.  I still struggle to accept the need for 5 straight backdrops, but that's a regular joshi thing.