[1999-02-28-Oz Academy] Meiko Satomura & Toshiyo Yamada vs Aja Kong & Carlos Amano

[Jetlag]

WOW!

 

First of all: how fucking cool was Toshiyo Yamada in this match? Nobody ever talks about what Toshiyo Yamada was up to in the late 90s. She had a normal haircut here and with her bumblebee outfit looked like a Kill Bill character who prepares lunch for her kids and then goes to kick yakuzas in the eye. She was just a killing machine here as she was braining the other women with kicks to the skull left and right. Her timing was fantastic as you could basically track the crucial moments in the match to Yamada recklessly thrust kicking someone in the throat or the back of the head.

 

Next is Aja Kong. I've said it like 15 times, but it's amazing that she goes in and you think "okay, this is her usual spiel" but still looks like a total force. I didn't like the brawl at the beginning, but for the rest of the match Aja was a wrecking ball. The most spectacular about Aja was how non-chalant she was about it all, casually abusing Meiko or walking up to Yamada and cracking her with a trash can like she goes to grab coffee in the morning.

 

Then, Meiko and Amano. For a pair of relative newbies they got to look great. Just really breathtaking athletic workers with innovative ideas that they pulled off great, and a ton of fire to keep them going. Right at the bell they go at eachother with stiff headbutts like wild animals, fast and crazy exchanges. They both take big beatings and get stretched and fire back as is their role, and Meiko shows a lot of disdain especially when she takes the time to kick the shit out of Carlos before making the hot tag. Carlos was a little subdued in the middle portion but really came unglued during the big stretch run where she busted out all these Mysterio-ish counters, spinning into wild submission counters as if she was weightless.

 

The opening of the bout may have been a little standard, but they kept the match getting better and better, and everyone looked fantastic during the finishing stretch. This was a long match from a smaller show and a pretty much just a damn good take at japanese tag formula wrestling.