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THE UNDERCARD TOURNAMENT: Mika Akino (0-9) vs. Aja Kong (11-1-2) |
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The think you have to love about Aja's booking is that she pushes the young talent more than any promotion does. That said, this is one match that I have to take issue with. I just don't see the point of having it on this show. Aja means nothing at the gate if she's on the second match of the card against a rookie who hasn't won a match yet. Akino isn't really going to open anyone's eyes if she's pinned after only two moves. "I agree that Aja's positioning of herself on this card was ridiculous. Sure, Akino had little credibility coming in, but that shouldn't have stopped her from having a meaningful match with Aja, even if it was only an undercard match. One of the problems about Aja's handling of herself in ARSION (prior to her REPRODUCE) was that she basically made this her side project once she became heavily involved in 'more meaningful' things with GAEA's SSU. I think that positioning has hurt ARSION because people realize that she's effectively taken herself out of the mix and her 'star status' is rendered ineffective by that move. Compare what happened on this match to the previous ones where Aja was involved in making the matches more meaningful like Omukai and Fukawa's challenges to her. As far as I know, there was no build to this match and therefore no one gave an ounce of a chance to Akino," wrote Keith. "I agree that Aja doesn't mean anything at the gate when she is in a match like this in this spot on the card. That was exactly the point though, she wasn't pushing herself. She wass pushing ARSION and her girls, so she put herself in a position where she was basically unimportant. For better or worse, Aja was letting her girls carry the load themselves, not relying on her name to inflate the gate. This was a long term plan. She was trying to make sure that ARSION will be around even when Aja is not," wrote Chris. I realize this, but you have to pick your spots. If the building was even close to full, then your opinion would be justified, but we know the story when it comes to them not drawing. The main draw was going to be the tournament either way, but Aja in a special match against a credible outsider in between one of the rounds in the tournament would have helped this gate out a good deal. Aja is working in a lot in GAEA, and she did the match with Kyoko less than two months later, so it's not like there's nobody that owes her a favor. This was quite good while it lasted, but be sure to not comtemplate that this match should be called THE TOURNAMENT UNDERCARD rather than THE UNDERCARD TOURNAMENT because you'll miss the match if you do. Akino got off to a fast start with a dropkick and a great huracanana. At her size, it's almost amazing that Aja can take a good bump on a huracanana. Anyway, Akino hit a missile kick, but Aja caught her in a wheelbarrel suplex then lariated her out of her boots for the win. Every spot looked excellent, but that was the whole match. "Akino is one of the better rookies in '98, but you couldn't tell in this match, even (or especially) against Aja. Like the previous ARS tournament, Aja decided to take the night off. The time for this match was about the same, but Aja wasn't putting anyone over here," wrote Keith. "Once you get past the fact that Akino should have been pushed in this tournament instead of Ayako, this match is not totally illogical. Yes it's a squash, but it's the best 0:54 match I've seen. After all, Aja is a legend and a monster, so it's not surprising to see her dispose of the rookie in such a short time. But even in a few seconds, Aja gave Akino the chance to shine and to get over. Aside the fact that the work was perfect, it really seemed that Akino had Aja beaten on two occasions and it worked for the crowd. It also worked for me. I agree with Chris when he said that Aja put herself in an unimportant position to let the ARSION girls carry the load. It was only seven months since the birth of the league so at this point Aja didn't want to take the attention away from her girls by bringing some big name in a card. Of course, she was forced to change that," wrote Jerome. "I am still amazed at Aja's smarts in all aspects of wrestling. She has a great ability to get someone over without putting them over. Sure this thing was only 54 seconds, but she let Akino go to town and even score near falls before clobbering her. She showed that even the ARSION juniors can be a threat. They come to fight, not throw drop kicks and bodyslams for 15 minutes like the other promotions juniors. All women in ARSION are a threat. Aja managed to help Akino get over some and help her company step away from the competition, while still maintaining her monster image. She did all in a 54 second match," wrote Chris. Special thanks to: Jerome Denis & Chris Martinez & Keith Watanabe - Manami Toyota Rules! 0:54
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