What's going on, groupies of gimmicky grappling?
We're now in week 3 of one match reviews for the blog! I'll be totally blunt, my wrists have been bugging the hell out of me recently. Probably got a bit of carpal tunnel from all my writing and gaming, not good. That, and I've been prepping for a camping trip this week. So I decided to give myself some grace and take another week to recoup. With any luck, next week will be a two matcher and we'll be back in fighting form for the rest of the year, but I make no promises.
I try and make sure these one match reviews are as good as your usual two match ones. While this weeks outing may have been a shorter encounter, I enjoyed it quite a bit! Read on, dear friends, and find out what I came across this week.
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| AJW |
Weekly Roundup
Here's what I watched for the week;
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Akira Hokuto vs. Rumi Kazama - AJW Legacy Of Queens - 08/25/1993
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| Sizing each other up. AJW |
As I lay in bed the Sunday after my Watchlist drops, my mind begins to wander. "What could I find this week?" I think, "who have I not watched in a long time?" I ask as I rack my brain for names I've neglected. As I'm doing that, a song comes to mind and I start to groove, humming the lyrics to myself. That's when the name comes to me;
Akira Hokuto.
Of course! The combination of her banger entrance theme, (I mean seriously, how good is this song? Imagine hearing this and then getting your head kicked off the next second. Legendary shit) and her incredible ring presence, Hokuto is in a class of her own. I gave her her flowers in her match against Manami Toyota in my Watchlist 024 review, but she's deserving of so many more for her legendary career. A while back I came across her crazy entrance in the Tokyo Dome for the V-Top Women's Tournament Final match against Aja Kong from 11/20/94 and it stands as one of my favourite entrances of all time. I was going to review that match but, from what I was able to read, it's much better if you watch the tournament leading up to the final match. I wasn't really feeling like that task this week, so I opted to find another great match of hers.
Now, this match may not be a certified 5* Meltzer banger, but I don't really care! The general populace seemed to like it, and that's all it took for me! The YouTube version of this match is dated incorrectly, so for those looking for it at home, this match did not take place 08/06/1993, but instead happened 08/25/1993. Just a couple digits off.
This inter promotional match pits Ladies Legend Pro Wrestling-X's (LLPW) Rumi Kazama against All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling (AJW) Akira Hokuto for her All Pacific Championship. LLPW was founded in 1992 and is still active today, whereas AJW was founded in 1968 and went out of business in 2005, a good run while it lasted.
The match starts with a somewhat typical championship introduction. Hokuto tosses the title dismissively to the centre, challenging Kazama from the get go. Flowers are given to the fighters, and individual ring introductions follow. The camera changes to a shot of the arena, slowly zooming in on the ring as the ladies are granted a chance to shake hands. It's hard to see, but Hokuto slaps the hand of Kazama and turns to walk back to her corner, but Kazama jumps her and brings her to the mat, returning to her corner and waiting for the match to officially begin. The tone for this match is clear from the get go, Hokuto does not respect or view Kazama as a credible threat, and Kazama is determined to prove Hokuto wrong. Let's see how well this works out for her.
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| The Dangerous Queen lives up to her name. AJW |
Kazama moves in for a lockup, but Hokuto responds to the pre-match assault as only she can. She drives a boot into the gut of Kazama and doubles her over, pulling her in for not one, but two piledrivers, cracking a punt across her back when she kicks out. She's not called the Dangerous Queen just because it sounds cool, she's as vicious as she is regal, violent as she is beautiful. Hokuto is the real deal and if you take her lightly, you'll pay for it dearly. Kazama might have thought she had this match figured out with her early assault, but the bell has rang and she's been overwhelmed by Hokuto the entire time, doing everything in her power to survive the early onslaught.
Pulling Kazama off the canvas, Hokuto pulls her into a tight sleeper hold, transitioning into a reverse sleeper, also known as a Dragon sleeper. Kazama is defiant in her survival, pointing a one finger salute to the sky as Hokuto transitions her into a heinous back suplex. By all accounts, it looks like Hokuto has this match well in hand and is simply playing with her food, making Kazama pay for her arrogance.
Kazama is able to get a moment of offence, using her window to target the bandaged knee of Hokuto. She doesn't focus exclusively on the wounded knee either, she snatches an arm bar to bring her down before transitioning down to the knee, catching whatever limb she can to bring Hokuto down to size. She does get her in a tight leglock that grounds Hokuto, but the Queen fights and rolls her way out to the floor to break the hold. Little does she know, this plays right into Kazama's trap, assaulting her leg with kick after kick, bringing Hokuto down on the outside. She has a moment to grab a quick drink and do a lap of ringside before getting back in, resting the leg as much as possible before climbing back inside.
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| Tit for tat, bump for bump. AJW |
They're on more even footing now, with the bad wheel of Hokuto enough to give Kazama a fighting chance. She eats the feet of Hokuto when she comes off the top rope for a splash, but counters Hokuto's dive by sidestepping her, leaving her to crash in an empty pool. Somewhere, Samoa Joe is taking notes. Kazama is able to land a spinning heel kick off the top with Hokuto wounded, going back to the leg with the champ tied up in the ropes trying to recover. She falls to the floor and tries another dive, but Hokuto swaps places with a ring girl and leaves her to take the impact, climbing up to the top to deliver a flipping senton to Kazama!
There seems to be a pretty clear strategy here in this match. Hokuto clearly has Kazama beat from a power and technique perspective, with Kazama aware that she can't possibly match up toe to toe. Instead, she opts for survival techniques. She focuses on escaping her biggest moves wherever possible, slipping free two Dangerous Queen Bombs early, as well as trying to wear the champion down. The saying, "death from a thousand cuts" fits Kazama very well here, knowing that she can't go blow for blow doesn't daunt her when she knows Hokuto can only take so many hits before she's forced to crumple. If she can hold out long enough, she'll come out the other side as champion.
The second Dangerous Queen Bomb escape has Kazama score a close two, with Hokuto going back to the top rope to land a big hit, but instead gets caught with a kick to the gut from Kazama, picking her spots and exploiting the smallest openings. Again, Hokuto tries to pull Kazama in for a hold and again, Kazama snatches the leg and ties her bad wheel up, leaving the champ squirming and flailing for the ropes to break the hold. Slowly, the damage is being done; the champ being brought down to size.
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| Slipping! Slipping! AJW |
Reversing a whip, Hokuto cracks Kazama with a short forearm to the jaw, stunning her long enough to land the Dangerous Queen Bomb! The referee is down to count, scoring a close two before Kazama gets free, her heart forcing her to keep going. Back to the top goes Hokuto, taking flight and firing off a shotgun dropkick that plants Kazama again for a close two count. Another Dangerous Queen Bomb attempt that Kazama gets free from, bridging and pinning Hokuto with a german suplex that grants her a close two as well, her foot slipping as she tries to hold her down. Hokuto is clearly in the mindset of finishing this match, with Kazama trying to survive long enough to do the same.
It's big shot after big shot now, both ladies going for broke as they both realize the end is near. An awkward powerbomb from Kazama scores a two, a backdrop drive from Hokuto scores two as well. The champ shaking the pain away as she rises to her feet, pulling Kazama up into position for a Northern Lights Bomb, spiking her into the canvas. She lays a knee across her torso, holding her down for the cover. And just like that, it's over.
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| Consider your Norther Lights... well, you can guess the rest. AJW |
This was a sprint of a match that told a really tight story. Hokuto was a significant challenge for Kazama and their actions in the ring reflected their level of experience and confidence. Kazama probably could have done more to Hokuto if she kept on her, really weakening the knee and bringing the champ down to size. But at the end of the day, Hokuto is just too fierce, someone that can't be slowed down once she's on a roll. There were a few stops to her momentum when Kazama got her feet under her, but nothing that Hokuto couldn't come back from.
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Sorry for the shorter review this week, I think it's far and away my shortest review on the blog to date. But you guys gotta understand, I've got a lot on my plate and I'm working hurt, brother. I'm just happy I got something wrote up this week.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna rest my wrists.
cliffmorganwstl@gmail.com, you know the drill by now. Send away.
Take care of yourselves, and be well,
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