(Almost) 5-Star Match Reviews: Aja Kong vs. Yumiko Hotta – AJW Ota Ward Champion Legend

When talking about the greatest professional wrestlers ever by longevity a few names come up right away. On the men’s side these names include Ric Flair, Terry Funk, The Undertaker, Sting, and The Great Muta. There are far fewer options on the women’s side, with Mae Young and the Fabulous Moolah being the most notable multi-decade wrestlers. One name that should definitely be included alongside them – or perhaps top the list for not just wrestling in multiple decades but also for being consistently good in multiple decades – is Aja Kong.

Aja Kong might be one of the best wrestlers of all time, regardless of gender. She has outlasted virtually all of her female peers and even all of the top male stars to make it big in the late 80s and 90s. Many wrestlers have copied her style, including the likes of Vader and Eddie Kingston. Rossy Ogawa, one of the key minds behind the joshi scene for decades, once lauded her for being one of the smartest and most brilliant wrestlers he has ever worked with. And many of her matches still hold up today, more than three decades later, including the one we’ll be covering today.

The Story

On January 3rd Hotta beat Kong in a non-title singles match to earn the right to challenge for the title. Kong, however, didn’t sell this at all and described “feeling nothing” in the pre-match video going into this contest. But as we’ll see once the bell rings, Kong is very good at playing the stoic and saving her emotion and expression for the ring.

The Match

This took place on January 24, 1994. This is for Kong’s WWWA World Single Championship.

Speaking of which, before ring intros start Kong grabs the mic and dares Hotta to “take the title if you say you can”. They get in each other’s faces, then on intros Kong does a throat slash gesture plus a middle finger/bras d’honneur at Hotta.

The bell rings and Kong wastes no time peppering Hotta with stiff shots. Hotta throws a few stiff right hands but Kong overpowers her into a corner. The ref tries to break it up but Kong throws him aside. Already she has shown more guts than many American wrestlers who find themselves at the mercy of impotent, glass-boned officials. This ref eventually exerts enough strength to move Kong back a bit, but she fires back at Hotta with a stiff Uraken, more slaps, and exceptionally stiff kicks to the face.

Kong demolishes Hotta with piledrivers – both in the ring and on through ringside tables – and throws several objects at her challenger’s head. At one point it looks like Kong’s toying with Hotta, kicking her kinda nonchalantly and without much snap but still hitting hard enough. Hotta fires up, blocks another Uraken, and lands a straight right hand to Kong’s jaw. Hotta hits back some more, including with some palm thrusts to the face. But Kong smirks, not even covering up or protecting herself. Hotta continues hitting hard until Kong does the monster no-sell. Kong with another piledriver and a grounded chinlock. Fresh blood can be seen on Hotta’s hand, but it’s coming from Kong’s mouth. Hotta must’ve knocked a tooth or two out but Kong isn’t phased at all, because of course she’s not.

The women trade head-butts until Hotta goes down. Kong stiff her some more as she gets up but then Hotta catches Kong’s leg and slaps the shit out of her. But this only fires Kong up more. Hotta fights out of a guillotine choke and shoot kicks Kong in the head and spine. These are not worked kicks in the slightest but full-contact live rounds the likes of which you’d find in 1990s shootstyle or early MMA except without pads. Yes its reckless, yes it’s dangerous, and yes it’s a bit excessive, but this is the kind of wrestling Kong lived for and she wouldn’t have it any other way.

After a long struggle Hotta lands a piledriver on Kong but Kong avoids a pin and ends up in a mounted submission. Kong locks in a camel clutch and then kicks Hotta right in the face. More kicks to Hotta’s head. Kong shoots Hotta of the ropes but Hotta counters with an enzuigiri. A top-rope wheel kicks gets Hotta two. Kong wrestles into a shoot pin attempt but Hotta resists so Kong puts her in another chinlock. Hotta resists some more so Kong punts her spine and applies another chinlock until Hotta gets a ropebreak.

A long dragon sleeper ensues until Hotta gets to the ropes once more so Kong does her corner Dominator/body block combo. Then Kong sees Hotta’s right hand extended and stomps on it. Then she starts pulling Hotta’s fingers back, kind of like what Pete Dunne did in NXT but for real. The ref steps in to break this up and attempts to force a time-out but Kong’s having none of it. She eventually backs off so the doctors can check Hotta’s hand as a bunch of rookies wipe the blood off the canvas. As Hotta gets her hand taped up Kong repeats her words from earlier, taunting Hotta on the mic. Hotta gets up and the fight is back on.

Kong demands a test of strength with the right hand and she easily overpowers Hotta and bring her to her knees. Then she stomps on the weakened hand. some fans start booing Kong so she flips them off, which leads to some loud “Hotta” chants. Another attempt at snapping the fingers followed by a kick to the face and hand by Kong. More hand stomping. Kong lands a suplex and then goes back to the fingers. The referee’s getting far more involved than usual in stopping Kong from outright crippling Hotta. In response Kong goes for a cover but gets two.

Kong lands more attacks to the bad hand and even bites it, which leads to more booing. She goes for a diving back elbow but Hotta cuts her off and lands a spider back suplex of sorts from the top rope for two. Hotta teases her Pyramid Driver finisher. Kong powers out. Hotta hits back with a kick to the face and another wheel kick for another two-count. Kong counters another Pyramid Driver attempt with a waterwheel suplex for a near-fall. Hotta shoves Kong off the second turnbuckle but misses a diving wheel kick. A nasty Backdrop gets Kong another two-count. Hotta ducks an Uraken but Kong smacks the taste out of her mouth. Nasty Backdrop #2. Another near-fall. Kong attempts Hotta’s finisher. Hotta breaks out and hits Kong with her own Uraken and attempts the Pyramid Driver. But Kong’s too heavy for her. Hotta fights to her feet but eats another Uraken. Kong attempts a corner waterwheel suplex. Hotta tries countering it but ends up landing the avalanche waterwheel suplex to get the pin. Kong retains her title.

Winner and STILL WWWA World Single Champion after 19:43: Aja Kong

Post-match Kong grabs a microphone and demands Akira Hokuto come out. She does. They build up the upcoming tag match at Wrestle Queendom in which Hokuto will team up with Shinobu Kandori and Kong states that no matter who Hokuto teams with her opponent will be Aja Kong. Hokuto leaves but then comes back saying “Kandori is a shit. My partner will be Hotta” (nope, it still ends up being Kandori), while Kong announces that she’s going to team with Bull Nakano, bringing back Team Mega Monster.

Review

If you’ve grown tired of seeing pro-wrestling that’s tacky, phony, theatrical or overly silly then boy do I have the match for you. This was one of the most outwardly brutal and violent matches I’ve seen in a very long time. In some ways it might not even fully qualify as a match: within a few minutes of the bell ringing this went straight into real fight territory with these two women (but mostly Kong) throwing live rounds so vicious they’d made the UWF guys tell them to lighten up. Some might wince at the notion of two professional wrestlers forgetting one of the core concepts of the medium – making it look real without actually hurting each other – and given what we now know about head injuries then all those shots to the head and face might seem excessive, to say the least. But others will still find something oddly captivating in this match’s brutality. Kong was arguably at her best here as the in-ring bully who just mauled Hotta seemingly without conscience. Kong shined in this role and live up to her name as a true monster in the ring. This might be one of Kong’s top career performances and it’s one of the best joshi matches you’ll ever see that doesn’t involve speed and acrobatics like so many others.

The reason this match stands out so much is its inherently chaotic nature. From the very beginning it looks and feels like a legitimate brawl might break out at any moment. Sure enough, the idea that this was a competition, a performance, or somehow cooperative in nature disappeared in short order. Kong, who outweighed Hotta by a substantial amount, literally threw her weight around and stiffed the hell out of her smaller challenger without much effort. Hotta answered in kind, bloodying Kong so badly with a punch that whenever she smiled she looked like something out of a modern horror movie, her mouth turning a dark shade of red that complemented her face paint. But Kong brushed that off, along with almost everything else Hotta did, and took her time beating the piss out of Hotta in what was slowly turning into a one-sided squash match. Normally having a competitive back-and-forth contest is a big plus for me but that wasn’t needed here. It was more of an extended squash, one that Hotta didn’t stand a chance of winning no matter how hard she tried.

Though she had flashes of defiance and bravery in the face of imminent doom, Hotta had no chance of winning. Instead, this match sold itself on how badly Kong would bully her opponent and on how far both women would go. It blurred the line between real and scripted. It got so bad that Aja Kong – who was so good at her job that she brought male fans to AJW because they cheered her when she wrestled elsewhere – started getting booed by her core audience. They thought she was going too far and wanted her to stop. The referee had to get forceful out of concern for Hotta’s safety. It was as if this turned into a shoot shitkicking with Kong punishing Hotta for simply existing. Things came full circle at the end with a wrestling-style conclusion and the audience applauded the ‘performance’ in the end, but this was still an exceptionally violent encounter that might not be for everyone.

Final Rating: ****1/2

Some wrestling fans get a kick out of particularly stiff, line-blurring violence and some don’t. if you don’t then I strongly recommend avoiding this because the sight of both women beating each other bloody and the sound of full-contact kicks to the body, head, limbs might make some people uncomfortable. But for those that understand this style and appreciate the more realistic take on pro-wrestling will find this to be one of the most believable and dramatic wrestling matches in decades. Kong was perfect as the monster bully and Hotta did a great job trying to survive such a vicious onslaught. The match could’ve been better of Hotta did a bit more to play babyface and if she actually made a bit more of a sustained comeback.

As it stands, though, this match serves as an interesting placeholder defense ahead of the much more important Kong/Nakano vs. Hokuto/Kandori tag two months later, which is one of the greatest wrestling matches you will ever see. This is one of Aja Kong’s best singles performances, which says a lot considering her career longevity and her importance to the wrestling business in general.

Thanks for reading.