(Almost) 5-Star Match Reviews: Akira Hokuto vs. Shinobu Kandori II – AJW St. Battle Final 1993

There are some pairings that just seem to always seem to work together without issue. Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker. Ric Flair and Ricky Steamboat. Roman Reigns and absurdly long entrances. And today we look at another such a paring to see if they could make lightning strike twice in the same place.

The Story

This is a rematch eight months in the making. Back in April at DreamSlam I Akira Hokuto and Shinobu Kandori had an outstanding match together. In fact, it might actually be the single greatest women’s professional wrestling match to ever take place in terms of pure action. Upon more recent rewatching not only would I give it a full ***** rating but I’d also put it somewhere in the top 15 or 20 matches ever, it was that good. Part of the reason why was because of how personal and real it was. Both women threw live rounds at each other. Kandori locked in shoot armbars, to which Hokuto responded, “I want you to break it, idiot!”. Hokuto suffered such a nasty bladejob that several of her peers reported getting nauseous from the smell once she was back in the locker room. And according to Rossy Ogawa, despite the universal praise for this match, Hokuto was frustrated with the end result because in her mind the mismatch between them led to some chemistry issues and the match not unfolding the way she wanted. In other words, she ended up with gold when she wanted platinum.

That match ended with both women punching each other as hard as possible and Hokuto scoring a sudden pin. It was uncharacteristically violent, even by AJW standards, and earned a reputation as something akin to the peak of AJW’s interpromotional war. The best match I can compare it to would be John Cena versus Brock Lesnar from Extreme Rules 2012 except WAY better. After that match ended Hokuto started being called “The Dangerous Queen” and went on to have another strong year as a performer. But at the end of the calendar year there came a need to try and settle the score from DreamSlam. Though considering how incredible their first match was, could these two hope to reach those same heights?

The Match

This took place on December 6, 1993. It was rated **** by the Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer.

The bell rings and both women start by throwing hands as hard as possible. Simultaneous punches knock both women down. Hokuto stiffs Kandori and locks in one of the nastiest-looking leglocks I’ve ever seen, trapping one of her arms as well and bending her as unnaturally as she can. The camera zooms in on Hokuto’s face revealing trails of blood coming from her mouth. Kandori must’ve knocked some teeth out or something. Kandori gets a ropebreak so Hokuto spikes her with two Dangerous Queen Bombs for a near-fall. Another vicious leglock by Hokuto. Kandori escapes, counters another finisher with a judo throw, rushes Hokuto into the ropes, and slaps her HARD. Intense stare-down. Both women dare the other to take a swing. Hokuto goes for a lariat. Kandori locks her in a Fujiwara armbar. Hokuto escapes. Kandori smirks. The fans go nuts.

A long stalemate ends with a snap piledriver from Hokuto which gets a one-count. Kandori counters a heel hook with her own and slaps with her free hand. Kandori lands stiff stomach shots and covers for two. Kandori follows with head-butts, kicks to the head, and then mocking foot taps, to which Hokuto sits cross-legged in the ring and demands more. Kandori lands more shots and bounces off the ropes for a lariat. Hokuto traps the arm and lands body blows of her own followed by a butterfly headscissor lock of sorts. Hokuto follows with two big spinkicks for another two-count.

Kandori escapes a chinlock and fights out of another finisher attempt. She continues taunting and kicking Hokuto on the mat and then adds slaps to the mix. This fires Hokuto up and she returns fire. Hokuto with a snap suplex and a diving shotgun dropkick. Kandori bails to ringside but finds no respite as Hokuto spikes her on the ringside mats with a Northern Lights Bomb. Hokuot gets some much-needed recovery time as the ref checks on Kandori. Kandori makes it to the ring but Hokuto rushes her with another spinkick. Hokuto taunts her only for Kandori to apply a sleeper, which Hokuto blocks via stunner. Hokuto goes back to the top rope but almost loses her balance. Kandori capitalizes with a top-rope Tigerbomb.

Both women take time getting up. Kandori attacks first with head kicks. Hokuto blocks another head-butt and lands a massive elbow smash and lariat. Kandori bails to ringside. Hokuto follows with a top-rope somersault senton to the floor.

Back in the ring Kandori bounces off the ropes and lands a hard slap. Hokuto blocks a head-butt and lands a bridging German suplex. Then she hits something called Witchcraft, a neck-clutch-type back suplex, but only gets two. Diving crossbody. Kandori rolls through into an armbar. Hokuto gets a ropebreak and then lands a sudden Backdrop suplex. More stiff face kicks. Another corner struggle. Kandori drags Hokuto away from the ropes and into a heel hook of her own. Ropebreak. Kandori tries again. Hokuto breaks free and punches away. Kandori fires back in kind. The camera pans to Hokuto’s fellow joshis Mima Shimoda and Etsuko Mita and a bunch of them are visibly worried. Even Aja Kong looks concerned. Kandori misses one uppercut but lands the next one. Mita & Shimoda have to be held back as to not interfere. Kandori lands one more uppercut. One, two, three! There’s the match!

Winner after 21:15: Shinobu Kandori

Post-match, Hokuto says something quickly and leaves, this time making it backstage under her own power. The camera focuses on Hokuto hobbling back to her locker room as Kandori gets her moment to celebrate the victory.

You can watch the full match here.

Review

Solid match for sure but it’s not topping any best-of lists anytime soon. Even with a built-in and easy-to-follow story, even with their first match still fresh on fans’ minds and echoed throughout this one, even with a similar level of all-out physicality and ruthlessness, there was something still missing from this one to really reach that next level. They definitely tried: with all those live rounds and stiff shots it’s amazing the match never ended via stoppage or referee’s decision. Almost everything looked and felt real, giving this a sense of legitimacy and animosity. It was as far removed from the term “performance” as one could get. It was a bit closer to an MMA fight or even a schoolyard scrap, with both women showing tremendous guts and fortitude as they absorbed hit after hit. For anyone who might have any misgivings about either AJW’s in-house style or women’s wrestling in general, rest assured that this was much closer to real fighting than to what’s often shown in women’s wrestling these days.

And yet it wasn’t without its faults. Unlike many matches which can be watched in a vacuum this one is inextricably tied to its DreamSlam predecessor which leads to inevitable comparisons. Comparing them side-by-side this one had more down time, a slightly more relaxed atmosphere, and a bit sloppier action. Here the finish came out of nowhere and didn’t have the same level of excitement as DreamSlam. Even with the camera shots of the horrified joshis at ringside this didn’t hit those dramatic high notes. This match also lacked the back-and-forth counter-wrestling featured in DreamSlam and instead shifted towards a more my-turn-your-turn exchange to determine who was tougher. As a result, whereas their first match was a more balanced test of skill in different areas between two athletes with different backgrounds showing their mettle, this was simply a battle of toughness to see who could endure more pain. As such this match was a bit more simplified compared to DreamSlam while still telling the same story and giving fans the same general viewing experience.

Final Rating: ****1/2

This match is impressive on its own rights but is still inferior to the Dreamslam match in every way. The only thing this match might have over that predecessor is that it’s about ten minutes shorter but ten minutes shaved off doesn’t automatically translate into an improvement for the viewer. DreamSlam is a bit slower and goes ten minutes longer but has so much more exciting wrestling and reversals and reaches higher peaks. So, if you’re going to choose between the two matches, I recommend DreamSlam. This is an accompanying piece, not a replacement; a cherry on top and not a different dessert altogether.

But at least AJW knew how to capitalize on big matches in ways that both follow through and subvert expectations. Once this match ended Hokuto and Kandori were tied with one win apiece. Logically one could conclude that a tiebreaking singles match would follow but instead AJW would book these two to team together in a tag match against Aja Kong in Bull Nakano a few months later. That, too, is an absolutely fantastic tag match that you should definitely check out as well, especially since it adds so much to the already brutal rivalry between these two wrestlers.

Thanks for reading.