[1996-12-08-AJW-Real Earnest] Dynamite Kansai & Aja Kong vs Takako Inoue & Mariko Yoshida

[PeteF3]

This is pretty slow and disjointed to start, then picks up at the end as Yoshida and Inoue start throwing every near-fall they have at their opponents. Yoshida shows off some fancy new offense, including one of the first chronological appearances of the Air Raid Crash. We get some pretty good near-falls, but the nagging feeling that this is all for naught persists.

 

I'm not one to go this route in criticizing a match, and in fact I'm pretty sure I've never made this complaint to this degree about any '90s match in this project, but having Aja and Dynamite decisively go over as they did feels like a real missed opportunity. AJW seems desperate for new star talent and this really felt like time to pull the trigger on an upset. Not that it would have made either Inoue or Yoshida an instant main eventer or turned around the company's fortunes or anything by itself, but it would have shaken things up *somewhat.*

[Zenjo]

Solid enough fare, yet hardly the best semi-final for a major card at Sumo Hall. The underdog duo impressed more than the two former WWWA champs. Kansai was slowing down as the years began to take their toll. An upset here would've been a nice surprise.