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THE SEVENTH ARSION ARSION
War Dream: Aja Kong vs. Ayako Hamada |
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This was easily Hamada's best singles match and performance to date, mainly due to an excellent performance by Aja. In my mind, this match solidified Aja's as being among the top 7 or 8 women in the world for 1998. That said, the match quality should not have been a surprise to anyone because Aja has certainly proved she can carry aerial wrestlers over the years. To me, this was more impressive than most of her better matches because the opposition was not a polished great worker like Toyota. What made this match very similar to the aforementioned great matches was that Aja basically handled all aspects, pretty much only leaving hitting the great high spots to the opposition. Hamada was able to do this better than expected, which made it a very good match because her flying was excellent. I mean, we still have to be patient with the rookie because she'll do an incredible flip off the top out of rope walk, but then she won't be able to fluidly chain it together with the arm drag. The problem with this match is it was kind of just rolled out. There was no real reason for Aja and Hamada to be wrestling each other. They had been partners for the most part and there was no known resentment between the two. Obviously it was a major challenge for Hamada, but they didn't do anything to set it up. That said, Hamada should have had credibility to anyone who had been paying attention because she made the finals of both the singles tournament and the tag tournament. I know that nobody expects the youngster to beat the master the first time out, especially in Japan, but the idea that Hamada wasn't a credible opponent in the minds of the fans to me is either false or shows that the "fans" weren't paying any attention. The reason I say this is that this was before the Kong ego expanded to the size of the continent she lives in even though she only draws flies, so anyone who followed ARSION at the time ARSION should have known that a wrestler of Hamada's experience had more chance of beating the veteran than in any other league in Japan. I suppose you could argue that no chance is still no chance, but I've seen Tsuruta vs. Tiger Mask, Kawada, and Kobashi when those three had no chance of winning and the heat was awesome. I could come up with similar examples for All Japan or any number of Japanese leagues where the heat was as good, maybe even better. Of course, those wrestlers were over, while Aja can't seem to get it through her head that she hasn't been since 1996. When you can beat Chigusa for a singles title and still not get your heat back then, I'm sorry, but it's never coming back. Hamada got in Aja's face before the match and gave her a very stuck up, snooty look. This showed just how much confidence Hamada has in her ability because in Japan a rookie getting in the face of a former world champion is very disrespectful. Aja let Hamada display her athleticism early, but she didn't let her hit any big flying moves because the match was young. Hamada's sloppiest moments in the match were right off the bat, as she seemed to be nervous despite the facade her pre-match attitude purported. Aja roughed the young punk up, but she was noticeably less stiff with her than she is with most of the rest of the women. She attacked Hamada's bad elbow, and Hamada put this over huge. Hamada came back with a quebrada at 6:45, one of the many versions of the moonsault she would do in this match, but Aja immediately cut her off with the Akino killing lariat for a near fall. That Ayako kicked out after taking much more of a beating than Akino had on 8/31 showed she was indeed a "Super Rookie." Aja did a really good job of incorporating the big spots into the match, as usual. The spot in this regard that worked the best was Hamada's sunset flip powerbomb for Aja's nadare shiki no suisha otoshi because these two moves are such an integral part of the respective wrestlers singles arsenal. Hamada did a (reverse) dobitski swinging DDT for a near fall then went for her swandive moonsault, but Aja (released) German suplexed her off the 2nd. From here, they traded big spots, culminating in Hamada hitting two swandive moonsaults off the second followed by one off the top for a near fall. Hamada "went to the well one to many times" and Aja avoided her moonsault then did her suichoku rakka shiki brainbuster, but much to her dismay, Ayako got her foot on the ropes. Aja dragged Hamada up and botched an uraken then urakened her again. Akino was screaming for Hamada to kick out, but it was not to be. What hurt the match for me was that the finish was not that impressive. It just seemed really flat, especially with Aja blowing the first (and probably only planned) uraken. Instead of having Aja avoid the moonsault, I would have had her cut Hamada off on the top rope when she was trying a regular flying move (by regular, I mean one where you are facing your opponent because that is the setup they needed). Everyone would think Hamada might be able to counter again with her sunset flip powerbomb. Hamada tries this, but Aja catches her on her shoulder and does the nadare shiki no suisha otoshi for the win. Hamada would not be hurt losing to one move because this one move was once the move Aja would finish the major stars off with during her WWWA World title reign. Miko: Aja bodyslams Hamada and climbs up to sit on the second turnbuckle to hit a splash on Hamada. So, presumably we're supposed to believe Hamada is dazed enough that she can't avoid the 200+ pound Kong coming down on her. If so, why is she bothering to brush the hair off her face? Overall, it was a good match though. Both wrestlers seem pissed off at each other, Hamada in particular is stepping up to Aja. The flow of the match was as expected, Aja was nearly unstoppable, but Hamada is more of an athlete and always finds ways to come back, though any attempt to hit Aja with forearms or headbutts is pretty much doomed. This reminded me a lot of the Toyota matches Aja's had, as you said. Hamada still has a ways to go, but she shows a lot of potential and she's young. I have a feeling sometime this year, even if just in a tag match, she'll get a pin on Aja. Jerome: Very good match hurt by the lack of heat. Aja dictated the whole match and was excellent. The one thing I like about Ayako is that she can really take a beating, like in the final of the ZION tournament. Ayako's flying is really good and it shows how much potential she has. She tried to put Aja down with great aerial moves like a quebrada and three swandive moonsaults. She also showed that tradition runs in the family with an impressive reverse swinging DDT. Aja did her best to make you think Ayako could have won, but the crowd was dead, which is sad. Very good match due to Aja carrying Ayako, but also due to the quality of Ayako's work. Special thanks to: Jerome Denis & Miko Kubota - Michiku Pro 13:32
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